Chapter 6: The Ball
The students were having lunch at the Great Hall when some owls dropped a package to Ginny Weasley. "Finally!" She exclaimed.
"Were you expecting for something, Ginny?" Ron asked out of mild curiosity.
"Dress robes for the Yule Ball." Ginny explained. "I owled Mum and Dad asking for a set."
"What for?" Ron asked in disdain. "As a third year, you won't be allowed to attend unless you go as an escort for a student fourth year or above."
"Harry asked me to go with him." Ginny explained to everyone's shock.
"How dare you lie like that?" Ron angrily asked.
"How dare you call your sister a liar?" Harry angrily asked back.
"Harry, are you saying you actually asked her?" Ron was even more shocked by Harry's confirmation.
"Yes, I did ask her." Harry answered.
"You asked her without consulting me first?" Ron asked in reproval.
"Why should I ask for your permission when she has not only brothers who are older than you but also a set of parents?"
"Are you saying they agreed?"
"Who do you think gave her the dress robes?" Harry asked.
"I thought you were trying to buy her." Ron admitted, secretly refusing to believe his parents would have the money for that.
"Actually, Grand Aunt Muriel helped." Ginny sheepishly admitted. It was one of the few times she was glad for being related to Muriel.
"I can't believe that!" Ron sadly explained. Once again, he got hand-me-downs while Ginny got something new or at least better. Draco Malfoy then approached them and looked at the robes. "One year's worth of your father's raids, I assume." He said with a sneer. "Trying to impress Potter? It might work since he's used to seeing a pair of filthy muggles as his parents." Crabbe and Goyle snickered at that.
"Malfoy, I try to put up with you but you're making it hard." Harry firmly said. "You'd better stop."
"Potter, you're the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and the heir of the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black." Malfoy argued. "You should go with someone of proper standing."
"Are you volunteering yourself, Malfoy?" Harry asked with a malicious smile. Several Gryffindors were laughing at that.
"How dare you insult me, Potter?" Malfoy angrily asked.
"And how dare you insult my family and friends like that, Malfoy?" Harry asked back.
"My Father will hear about that, Potter." Malfoy said as he left.
"I thought he had already gotten over that "father" phase." Harry commented to his friends. They laughed but Ron refused to say any words. He was still upset his little sister would attend the ball.
Later on, Harry was using his two-way mirror to tell Sirius about the recent development. "I thought Draco Malfoy was getting over that phase of pureblood bigot."
"I hope that shows you he's not a good friend and you should stay away from him, Prongslet." Sirius replied. "Either way, I'm proud of you for putting the slimy snake in his place. Your parents would be proud. And so will your… current ones as well, I guess."
"Malfoy's stubbornness seems to be a family trait." Harry commented upon Sirius' reluctance of seeing Vernon and Petunia as his parents.
"True that, Prongslet." Sirius gladly answered as he comically missed the point. "Lucy was quite the stubborn fellow back when the both of us were students."
Later on, Harry and Ginny were taking a stroll during recess when they noticed Hogwarts Triwizard Champion Cedric Diggory ready to dive. Again. "It's the third time this week I see a Triwizard Champion swimming at the grand lake, Harry." Ginny commented.
"I know." Harry replied. "It gives the impression the Second Task involves the lake somehow."
"As if the dragons weren't enough of a challenge for them." Ginny snorted. "Will they have to face the Giant Squid later?"
"I don't think the squid will be much of a threat, Ginny." Harry commented. "Don't you remember what Dennis Creevey said about it being friendly?"
Before Ginny had a chance to reply, several girls showed up and hexed her. "Stay away from Harry!" One of them said. "You're not good enough for him!"
"DETENTION!" They suddenly heard Professor Snape shouting. "When Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to watch over for jealous girls trying to interfere with Potter's love life, I thought he was just exaggerating and it would inflate Potter's ego but now I see his worries were well-founded. I hoped to use it to catch Potter on some wrongdoing but it seems I'll have to settle for docking points from all non-Slytherins involved in this attack. I see there are no Slytherins involved. No surprises there."
"We'd never trust those Snakes." One of the girls huffed. That night, the whole Slytherin House was in a celebratory mood because of their rivals' point loss.
The ball night finally arrived. Out of fear Snape, Moody or anybody else who hated him would want to spike his drink, Headmaster Karkaroff brought his own flask. "Trying to impersonate me, Karkaroff?" Moody grunted. Sirius was proud of himself for scaring Karkaroff. Harry, Ginny, Ron and one of the Patil twins were together waiting for the Champions to arrive with their dates. "See what I told you, Harry?" Ron maliciously asked. "Hermione had no date for the ball. She just made up that story as an excuse to turn down Longbottom." He then turned his attention to his date. "Too bad your sister couldn't come up with an excuse."
Professor McGonagall then announced the champions. "Cool! I can hardly wait to see who Krum's date is! I bet she's the school's most beautiful girl!" Ron exclaimed much to his date's distaste.
It took some time but they eventually recognized Krum's date as Hermione Granger. Ron was shocked and spent the whole night moping over that, prompting his date to comment she should have listened to her sister.
Chapter end.