Ginny tossed her long hair over her shoulder as she entered the Great Hall. She laughed along with Astoria and Hermione, and the trio strutted over to the Gryffindor table. Ginny slowed down as she passed Seamus, trailing her hand over his shoulders, pausing to lean down and whisper a question about some homework into his ear. The two made plans to meet in the library during their free period to look over Charms homework while Ginny kept solid eye contact across the table with Ron. Astoria grinned as Ron's face turned the famous Weasley red, and she grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her off to the Slytherin table before Ginny could finalize her plans with the young Irishman.
"He could not take his eyes off of you," the blonde gushed. "That's so weird!" Astoria glanced over her shoulder to see Ron staring at them as they crossed the hall. She threw the boy a dirty look, and then turned back to her friend with a grimace. "He's so… disgusting, looking at you like that while he's still with Luna. You used to be his sister!"
"I told you! Now shut up and watch, he's gonna have it out for Shay," Ginny giggled as the girls reached their usual spots at the Slytherin table in the back of the Hall, overlooking the rest of the house tables.
Blaise and Draco nodded in greeting, and then returned to their conversation as the girls discreetly watched Ron put something into Seamus' morning coffee. Harry caught onto what Ron had done, then distracted Seamus after sharing a look with Hermione. The blonde and the redhead burst out laughing as Hermione then "accidentally" knocked the cup into Ron's monstrous plate of food, where it exploded, covering half of the Gryffindors and a few Hufflepuffs in a random assortment of half eaten breakfast foods. The entire hall erupted in hysterics as Ron sat dumbfounded, eggs dripping from his orange hair. Luna rushed over; casting a quick charm to clean off her boyfriend, then escorted him out of the hall.
Professor McGonagall muttered an incantation under her breath, quickly cleaning up the mess, then continued eating as if nothing out of the ordinary had just taken place. Following breakfast, Professor Dumbledore stood and called the attention of the room.
"First of all, I'd like to thank the masterminds behind our morning entertainment for setting the mood for my announcement," Dumbledore began. "Your professors and I have decided that in honor of Halloween, we will be having a costume ball for all years above second. A costume is not required to be able to attend, and neither is a date; however you may bring a date if you choose. You do not have to wear a costume, but if you choose not to, the dress code will be semi-formal. The dance will be the Friday after next, which should give you plenty of time to make preparations. I think that should do it. Now, off to class."
As the next week progressed, Ginny tried to avoid most of the boys in her classes. Ginny told herself that she wanted to go with friends, but even she couldn't fool herself that she was just waiting on Draco to formally ask to accomapny her. She had been asked by a number of young suitors to attend the ball, but none of them caught her interest. That is, until Potions that Thursday with the Gryffindors.
As Ginny, Astoria, and Pansy sauntered into the musty dungeon classroom for their third period potions lesson, random ingredients began exploding into dive bombing rose petals that turned into wispy clouds of smoke in the shape of hearts when they came into contact with something. Of course, this caused the entire class to duck and cover under various desks, laughing like hyenas. Professor Snape began yelling and trying to restore order, but every time Ginny tried to get closer to her assigned table, more and more rose petals exploded out of nowhere.
When Ginny finally reached her seat, Slytherin green and dazzling silver glitter started raining from the ceiling over her assigned seat. Groaning, Ginny slammed her head down onto her desk as the Gryffindors continued laughing. She looked over to see Draco smirking, sending out a silent prayer that he wouldn't humiliate her like this just to ask her to a stupid dance. She looked at him with pleading eyes, and he just shook his head. So it wasn't Drake.
Suddenly, a line of tap dancing toads appeared on the Professor's desk. As the toads danced, the hilarity of the situation crept in and Ginny began laughing uproariously. Then, a majestic midnight black owl swooped in over the heads of the students, dropping a black envelope tied with a green ribbon on Ginny's desk, then made a hasty exit. Snape continued yelling until Ginny opened the note, which turned out to be a variation of a howler, which unfortunately also sang.
"GINEVRA MINERVA RIDDLE, MY LOVE FOR YOU IS NOT FICKLE. THOUGH I CANNOT RHYME, I CAN TELL YOU IM WORTH YOUR TIME. PLEASE GO TO THE BALL WITH ME?"
With another burst of green glitter, Blaise Zabini stood in front of Ginny's desk, grinning like a Cheshire cat.