Ack! I'm such a bad person! I haven't updated for almost a month and I've just had this chapter sitting around for ages! I'm SO sorry for the uber long wait. Like, really, really, really sorry, but with more really's. Anyway, here is the day of the dance for you. I hope you enjoy it.

~Robin

Disclaimer: J.K.R. probably never took this long to write a chapter, and she also never had a Halloween dance, so I am obviously not her; therefore, I do NOT own Harry Potter. I do own Evie and Nick, though. You'll see them later in this chapter.

Chapter 6

November 1st 1998

The sound of her curtains being opened was the first thing that Ginny heard the next morning. Hermione was standing over her bed, dressed in a plain shirt and sweatpants. Today was obviously going to be relaxing. "Come on Gin. It's time for lunch, and then we have to get ready for the ball," she commanded, opening the curtains around her four-poster bed the rest of the way.

"Lunch?" Ginny questioned. "It can't be that late yet ca-" she looked over at her clock. It was one thirty. "Eeep-Why didn't you wake me earlier!" she yelled into Hermione's face. She was wide awake now.

"I thought you could use some sleep. Now, if you want some food before we start to get ready I suggest you change so that we can go down to the great hall for lunch," she said throwing some sweats into Ginny's face.

"Alright, I'm getting up. See?" Ginny sighed in defeat. It looked like it wasn't going to be as relaxing a day as she had thought. But, on the plus side, at least she had gotten to sleep late.

The seventh year girls all had a quick lunch, before going back to Gryffindor tower (the exception being Luna, as she was a Ravenclaw). It was three o'clock before Parvati and Hermione physically dragged Ginny away from her Harry time to get ready for the dance.

"I still can't believe it takes them three hours to get ready," she heard Harry grumbling as she was pulled away by her friends.

"I can't either," Ginny yelled back. She heard him laugh and smiled, happy that she had made him feel better.

They brought her up to Hermione's room to get ready. Lavender was already up there getting everything set up. Lavender was going to the party with Seamus.

After Hermione whispered her password and the door opened, Ginny was shocked at the sheer amount of make-up, hair-styling equipment, perfumes, and other objects of beautification littering the room. Every surface was covered except for the bed. That was where all of their costumes were laid out, each one carefully folded.

Ginny was shoved bodily into the room from behind. As she stumbled forward she caught herself easily on one of the posts of Hermione's four-poster bed.

"Alright Ginny. You take the first shower," Hermione commanded.

Ginny walked quickly to the bathroom before they could force her into something more drastic, like perfume! Eeep. There is no way I'm letting them dowse me in perfume! she grimaced at the thought.

She quickly peeled off her sweats and scrubbed her body with her favorite jasmine scented soap. She washed her hair with her fruity smelling shampoo before carefully conditioning and combing out all of the tangles with her fingers. Her hair went down to the middle of her back, but was stick strait and took almost no effort to take care of.

As Ginny stepped out of the shower she noticed a white robe that was hanging inside the bathroom door. She dried her body off with a towel before using a drying spell on her hair and pulling the robe on over her shoulders. She heard a knock on the door.

"Are you almost done?" came Hermione's muffled voice from the other side of the door.

"I'm coming out right now," Ginny soothed her. She opened the door and quickly stepped out before Hermione entered again. She looked around the room. Lavender was the only one left in there.

"I showered before I came up and Parvati just went down to our bathroom," she explained, shrugging. "Now, Ginny, what are we going to do with your hair?"

"Can't I just leave it down?" Ginny asked, knowing that it would do no good.

"How about a side braid?" Hermione asked.

"Perfect," Lavender agreed. "It won't take too long, and your hair will be a little wavy tomorrow, but nothing too bad," she told Ginny.

Ginny sighed and nodded, allowing them to brush her hair out and slowly work it into a braid that went over her right shoulder and down below her breasts. She looked in the mirror and, to her surprise, it actually looked really good. Her hair was shiny and sleek. It went down her chest in a thick braid that wasn't too tight or too loose.

Parvati then came in through the unlocked door, wearing a white robe like the rest of them.

By the time everybody else's hair was finished, Ginny had been forced back into a chair to be made-up. Hermione was only putting dark eye-liner and mascara on her to enhance the dark pirate look, but Ginny hated make-up of all sorts, so she was not enjoying it. Thank god she didn't have to wear lipstick.

Make-up for everybody else was quickly finished and the girls all eased their tops or dresses on over their hair and make-up, trying hard not to ruin everything with just one slip of their hands.

Ginny pulled the white tank top the Harry had requested she wear over her head, stretching the opening top so that it wouldn't touch her head as she slipped it on. She then pulled on the loose, peasant-style white blouse and checked her hair and face in the mirror. She exhaled in relief as she saw that nothing had been smudged or displaced. The other girls also looked fine, so they continued dressing the rest of the way.

Ginny grabbed her ripped skirt and pulled it up to where it sat low on her waist, a thin belt slung over her hips, not really supporting the skirt, merely decoration. The rip up the side only went up to mid-thigh, so she didn't see why Harry had been so freaked out. Finally, she pulled on the tall black leather boots and her three-cornered hat with a skull-and-cross-bones on it to complete the look. She buckled a fake sword and sheath onto her belt and faced the room where the rest of the girls were adding finishing touches.

Everybody was dressed and it was still before five thirty. They had made good time. Ginny took a moment to admire the other girls' costumes.

Hermione had on a tight black dress that went down to just above her knees. She also had fish-net stockings, and the sleeves of the dress went over her hands with holes for her thumbs to stick out of. To complete the look she had on a black and red cape with a high collar and tall black boots that reached her knees. Her canine teeth were transformed to be long and pointy and she had red lipstick and black eyeliner for even more added effect. She looked just like a Muggle's version of a vampire.

Parvati, as a cheerleader, was wearing a short red and gold skirt and a matching top. The top was sleeve-less and the skirt was slit every couple inches to her upper thigh so that it would flare out if she spun. Even without the slits it would only have gone to the mid-thigh anyway. She had on gold trainers and was carrying red and gold pom-poms. She was a Gryffindor cheerleader after all. Her make-up was exaggerated and she had golden eyeliner around her dark eyes.

Lavender was wearing a long low-cut ball gown. It was a light green with silver accents and she had silver flats on her feet, but you could only see them if she lifted the hem of her skirt. She had minimal make-up on, but she didn't need much. Her skin was smooth and her blue eyes stood out from the rest of her face. She didn't have any accessories accept for the combs in her hair which Ginny thought looked almost like a tiara, now that she saw them better. Lavender was a perfect princess.

It was just before six and they had to meet the boys or they would be late, so they headed down from Hermione's room and out into the common room.

As the girls walked down the stairs, each of the boys' mouths dropped when they saw their dates.

He immediately walked over to her and kissed her chastely and quickly, remembering that Ron was in the room. She rolled her eyes at him and pulled his lips back to hers for another minute before releasing them.

"You do realize that Ron was in the room," Harry said.

"Yes, but he was distracted," Ginny smirked at him. Harry turned to see Ron snogging Hermione intently. "You'd thing that after they almost have–I shouldn't have said that."

"You thing that I don't know that already... but yeah, you would think he would be used to seeing her in–err–somewhat revealing clothing."

"While I do enjoy talking about this extremely awkward subject, what do you say we head for the great hall?" she suggested.

"That sounds alright to me," Harry said, taking her by the arm like a gentleman and guiding her out of the portrait hole, down the stairs, and to the great hall.

By the time they arrived, it was half full of students of all ages; from awkward-looking first and second years who were either with friends, or their (most likely) first date, to pairs of sixth and seventh years snogging in corners. Harry and Ginny quickly found a table where Neville and Luna had already sat down. Neville and Luna weren't quite used to being on a date with each other yet, and were acting strangely ( in Luna's case more strangely than usual). Hermione and Ron arrived quickly afterwards and the atmosphere quickly loosened up, becoming much more like when the friends had gotten together in the past.

They chatted for a few minutes before Professor McGonagall called for attention. They waited for her to speak. "Welcome to Hogwarts' first ever Halloween costume dance." Everybody clapped and cheered. "Remember, first through third years can only stay until nine o'clock, so have some fun while you are here. Enjoy." She opened the menu next to the plate setting that had suddenly appeared in front of her. She looked through it quickly and then said, very clearly, "Shepherd's pie."

Everybody picked up on this very quickly. Harry remembered the same method of dining during the Yule Ball. He opened his menu and ordered. The food immediately appeared and he started to eat. Ron was already shoveling his food into his mouth. Harry looked over at Hermione to find that she was looking at him, too. They rolled their eyes in unison before turning back to their own plates.

Once Harry finished his main course his dessert appeared. It was his favorite: Treacle Tart. He ate that quickly and by the time the last bits had faded from his plate, almost everybody else was done eating. The conversation was starting to grow louder as more people had empty mouths. The talking at their table had been going throughout dinner. They had touched on school work (there was way too much of it), Quidditch (of course), and the girls had gossiped some. Harry and Ron tried hard to avoid being involved in that part of the conversation. In fact, Ron only said one thing throughout the whole meal.

"I heard that Moaning Myrtle was coming to this dance with Peeves. I wonder where they are..." Luna said, dreamily looking around the room.

Then Ron replied, in a scathing tone of voice, "Right. That's about as likely as the existence of crumple-horned snorkacks." Neville sent a glare at him across the table, but Ron just shrugged.

Luna hadn't noticed anything, she just said, "Oh, very likely then." Harry assumed that Ron had only said anything at all because he had finished eating and didn't have any food that was preventing him from saying anything intelligible.

As the last people finished their meals McGonagall said, "Would everybody please stand." Everyone stood and she clapped her hands. The place settings disappeared as the tables and chair moved to the edges of the room. A band that Harry didn't know the name of came onto a stage that Harry hadn't noticed before. He supposed that it was possible that it hadn't even been there before.

The band started to play an upbeat song and Ginny looked at Harry expectantly. "Err, Gin. I don't really dance very well," he muttered.

"That's okay. Follow my lead. Fred doesn't dance very well either and that's never stopped him."

Harry wasn't convinced, but decided to take her word for it. "Alright then. In that case, would you like to dance?" he asked, holding his hand out for her to take.

"I would love to," she answered, taking his hand and pulling him out onto the dance floor which was already starting to fill with couples. Ron and Hermione followed them out and they soon found Parvati and Dean dancing closer to the center of the floor. It was mostly the older and younger students out now; the ones that had been to the Yule Ball four years previously, and the ones that could only stay for two more hours. The younger students were dancing in packs (mostly the girls. The boys wouldn't dance until they were sure nobody would tease them for it) and rather enthusiastically. They were lucky they had gotten to come at all.

Ginny was having a great time with Harry, and they danced for a few songs before a slow dance was announced. The younger students were quickly evacuating the dance floor, except for one pair of first years. They were completely wrapped up in staring at each other. One of the boys' friends nudged him, but the boy paid him no attention. He whispered something to the girl, not looking into her eyes. She grinned and nodded happily at him. His face relaxed into a grin and he took both of her hands. They were the only students from first and second year still on the dance floor.

The slow music started as Ginny looped her arms around Harry's neck and felt her arms snake around her waist, drawing her in close. She leaned her head contentedly onto his shoulder, before stretching up to whisper into his ear. "Do you see those two first years over there?"

He looked to where she was looking. "Yeah," he responded confused.

"Who do they remind you of?" she asked to him, still whispering.

He studied them more closely. The way that they were looking into each other's eyes and were completely oblivious to the world around them and the stares and giggles of their classmates. "Us," he said simply. "when we first kissed after the Quidditch final. That is probably just what we looked like afterwards."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I love you, Harry."

"Love you too, Gin." He pulled her in closer and kissed her gently. It was soft and sweet and she knew at that moment, more than any other in her life so far, how much he really did love her.

"I know," she replied simply. They danced until the slow song ended before going to sit at one of the tables with some butterbeer.

They watched the first year couple some more and Ginny laughed when the girl kissed the boy on the cheek before running away to talk to her friends again. The boy looked shocked and touched his cheek in awe. His friends came over, badgering him with questions and teasing him, but he just shrugged them all off.

Around eight thirty, Ginny noticed the girl's friends had all left for a moment. She went over to talk to the girl. Harry was talking to Seamus and Dean, so he would be fine without her for a while.

"Hi," she said quietly.

The girl looked surprised that a seventh year was talking to her. "Err, hi," she responded, sounding puzzled. Then she remembered her manners, "I'm Evie. What's your name."

"I'm Ginny." Ginny responded. Then the mischievous glint entered her eye.

"Wait. Your Harry Potter's girlfriend?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, but that's not important," Ginny shrugged. "What I came to aske you, is do you like that boy?" she asked nodding to the boy that Evie had danced with earlier.

Evie blushed, but nodded. "Yeah," she sighed dreamily.

"He's pretty cute," Ginny commented, but then heard somebody clear their throat behind her.

"And what about me?" Harry asked teasingly.

"Oh, you know I think you're more than cute. Anyway, why don't you be polite instead interrupting other people's conversations," she admonished teasingly. Evie barely reacted to the fact that the famous Harry Potter was sitting at her table.

Evie went on like she had never been interrupted. "He's adorable," she said. "His name's Nick, and I wish that first years could go to Hogsmeade for the sole purpose that he could ask me to go with him."

Ginny nodded wisely, before saying, "Only two more years. You'll make it. I think he likes you too." Evie looked very happy at that, and went to find her friends after saying goodbye to Harry and Ginny.

"She's adorable," Ginny cooed as Evie walked away. "We're definitely having children someday," she said without thinking.

Harry was stunned by her statement, but recovered quickly. "Yeah, but I think we've got a few years between now and then," he replied.

"Of course," Ginny said, chuckling. "I need to have a few seasons of professional Quidditch before that."

"Of course," Harry agreed readily. He didn't want children right after Hogwarts either. He wanted Ginny to himself for a while, first.

A few minutes later, the younger students were told to leave. As they began to file out of the hall Ginny noticed that Evie was talking to Nick again. They were holding hands as they walked towards the entrance hall and then disappeared from view. Ginny grinned at this and took Harry's hand, once more dragging him out to the dance floor.

They danced for a while with Ron and Hermione. Neville and Luna had also finally come out to the dance floor. It looked like Neville's dancing had improved too, since Luna wasn't wincing in pain every time he took a step. Ginny knew from personal experience how bad a dancer he was.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, Ginny spotted something. It was Lavender and Seamus. They were arguing. She tapped Hermione's shoulder (the boys had gone to get drinks). "Look," she whispered, pointing towards the couple. Hermione looked at them and then turned back to Ginny, motioning for her to follow.

They crept close enough to the couple to hear what they were saying.

"Do you still like him, then?" Seamus questioned Lavender.

"Of course not! I never really like liked Ron! He was just a fling," she exclaimed.

Hermione winced at the mention of her boyfriend's previous relationship and said, "Glad he wasn't here to hear that bit."

Seamus looked taken-aback. "Do you actually like me then?" he accused.

"Of course I do," she murmured, "I'm just not sure if I like you this way."

"Oh," he trailed off, looking awkward. "Err, just friends?" he asked hesitantly.

Lavender nodded, looking relieved. "Yeah, just friends," she muttered before kissing his cheek and walking away, probably to find Parvati.

"Well... that was interesting," Ginny said.

"Yeah, they fought, and are now friends, but I guess it worked out for the best?" Hermione stated, but it sounded more like a question.

"Weird," Ginny shrugged, and turned around, scouring the hall for her boyfriend to tell him what had just transpired.

Harry was quickly found and filled in on what had happened. He looked around for Ron, only to see his two best mates disappearing out of the doors to the great hall. He did not want to know what they were up to, but was at least glad that they weren't about to snog in front of half of the school. He looked back at Ginny, who was staring at him concernedly, probably wondering why he had been quiet for the last few minutes.

He bent down and kissed her forehead before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the exit. She caught on quickly and followed him eagerly out of the hall and onto the grounds, into the cool October night.

They snogged. For a long time, but they weren't the only ones. Hermione and Ron, Dean and Parvati, and several other couples had also managed to find a private place somewhere around the school. By the time Ginny and Harry re-entered the school, with slightly rumpled clothes and messy hair, the dance was over and everyone was heading back to their common rooms. They joined the crowd for the walk back to Gryffindor tower.

"Guess what I have for the seventh years once we get back," Ginny said to Harry.

"Why don't you just tell me," Harry replied.

"You're no fun," Ginny groaned. Harry pouted at her and she laughed. It just looked so strange. "Fine. I've got a bottle of fiewhiskey."

Harry looked at her. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Me and Hermione thought that we should play Never Have I Ever after the dance," she said.

"And Hermione suggested firewhiskey," Harry said skeptically.

"Well, she doesn't exactly know about that part," Ginny said. "Fred and George gave me the firewhiskey before the start of term."

Harry was still skeptical. "Please," Ginny begged him. Then she pouted. Harry sighed. She knew exactly how to get him on her side.

"Fine," he said finally. He was going to regret this. He was supposed to be the responsible one. "But you're convincing Hermione." He could swear he heard her mumble something along the lines of 'dammit' under her breath. He chuckled. There was no way he would be the one trying to convince Hermione to let them drink alcohol on school premises.

They walked in silence the rest of the way, Harry's arm over Ginny's shoulder, her arm around his waist. Ginny was thinking. Then, she got it. She knew how to get Hermione to agree. This was going to be almost too easy.

When they got back to the common room, they found that Ron and Hermione were already there, as were the rest of the Gryffindors from their year. Even Neville was back. Everybody was in the corner by the fire, chatting-or in the case of Ron and Hermione, snogging. Lavender and Seamus were looking slightly awkward, but everybody else seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Harry and Ginny went over to join them. Ginny walked over to Hermione and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hermione," she said in a sing-song voice. "If you would like to disentangle yourself from my brother than we could initiate our plan."

Hermione and Ron stopped snogging, and Hermione stood up next to Ginny, blushing. "Err. Right then. Well, let's get changed first, and then we can all meet in my room."

"Why your room?" Ron asked.

"You'll find out," Hermione said. "Plus. It's private. Go put pajamas on and meet us up there and we'll tell you what's going on."

Harry shrugged as Ron looked towards him. Sure, he knew what was happening, but he wasn't about to tell Ron that.

Hermione and the rest of the girls went up to Hermione's room where all their pajamas waited to change. Except for Ginny. She was going to her dorm to get the firewhiskey first before going up to the head girl's dormitory.

When she arrived the girls were all changed, so she changed into her flannel pajama pants and tank top before bringing up the subject of the firewhiskey to Hermione.

"Hermione," Ginny said, "I thought of a way to make this more fun."

Hermione looked up. "How?" she asked.

"Well, Fred and George gave me this before term, so I thought we could use this instead of just butterbeer," she suggested, holding up the firewhiskey.

Hermione paled slightly, but didn't argue. "Alright." Ginny looked surprised at her agreement. "What? We're all of age, plus I figure you had some way to force me into it anyway, so I might as well save time by just not arguing in the first place." Ginny just stared at her, but then the door crashed open and the boys stormed in, Ron leading the way.

"Of course he has the password," Ginny muttered. Even she didn't have the password to Hermione's room. Hermione must have heard because she rolled her eyes.

"Okay, now that everybody is here I'll tell you what we're actually doing," Hermione said.

"Finally," Ron said.

Hermione shot him a glare before continuing. "We're playing Never Have I Ever." The boys all gave her blank looks except for Harry and Dean. The girls were all excited, though.

"What's that?" Seamus asked her.

"Basically, you all sit in a circle with a glass of firewhiskey. The glasses are enchanted to light up if you lie. So the first person will say something that they've never done, and if you have done it you have to drink. It can be anything from like, writing an essay, to skydiving, to snogging," Ginny explained.

"Oh, and whoever's glass empties first loses, so the last person with firewhiskey left wins," Hermione added.

"Alright," Ron shrugged. "Sounds like it could be fun." He sat down on the floor and the other teenagers all joined him, forming a circle in the middle of the room.

Hermione poured everybody a glass of firewhiskey. "Now remember, only drink a mouthful each time, otherwise you'll run out too quickly." Everybody nodded, ready to start. "I'll go first, shall I? Alright, never have I ever," she thought for a second, "gotten seasick."

"That's boring," Dean complained. He drank.

"You're only complaining because you have to drink," Parvati teased him. He rolled his eyes at her. He was the only one to drink that time.

"I'm next," Ginny said. They were going in a circle. "Never have I ever, ridden a motorbike, because somebody won't let me," she finished, glaring at Harry teasingly.

"What?" he defended himself. "Sirius' bike isn't fixed yet." Ron rolled his eyes at them. Harry, Dean, and surprisingly, Lavender, drank.

"Okay. I guess it's me then," Harry shrugged. "Never have I ever liked my uncle," he said, a smirk on his face. Everybody except for him, Hermione, and Lavender drank.

He looked at them. "We don't have any uncles," Hermione told him.

"Right."

Neville spoke up next, "My turn. Never have I ever had a full blown snog," he said confidently. Everybody else in the room stared at him before, one at a time, taking a drink. "What?" he asked. "Luna's my first actual girlfriend, and our first date was really only tonight." Everybody in the room seemed to shrug in unison.

Dean broke the silence, "Me now." A mischievous smile came over his face. Ginny had a bad feeling about this one. "Never have I ever, been past second base." Ron and Hermione gave each other one nervous look before grabbing their glasses in unison, and drinking. Ron drank a little bit longer than usual. Everybody was staring at them.

"Oh, don't act so surprised," Hermione said, scoffing at Ginny. Ginny smirked at her.

"Honestly, I'm just glad that your and Harry's glasses aren't lighting up right now," Ron said to her. Everybody laughed at this and the lighthearted atmosphere was back. They kept it up for another hour or so. But, by two in the morning, they were all exhausted, not to mention slightly drunk, and decided that they really should head to bed.

"See you all tomorrow," Harry said, then looked at the clock. "Or later today I guess." he said following Ginny down the stairs to the common room. They had a drawn out goodnight snog in the now empty common room.

Harry finally backed away, his fingers still in her hair, which was still wavy from its braid earlier. Maybe there was a benefit of that braid, after all.

"Let's sleep in here tonight," Ginny suggested, pointing to a couch by the fire.

"Why not," Harry shrugged, his sluggish brain not thinking about how Ron would react when he found them in the morning. He conjured a comforter before taking hold of Ginny and lying down on the couch, his arms wound around her.

"I could get used to this," she mumbled tiredly.

"So could I," Harry said before falling asleep, his arms still wrapped around her, and his nose breathing the sweet smell wafting from her hair.

Did you like? If you did, review! If you didn't, reivew anyway! Constructive critisism is always good, and the reviews will remind me to write and update faster, which is always a good thing. Please keep reading and reviewing, and I promise to keep writing and updating.