Sorry this is a bit late, I was working all day yesterday and today. And by the way the last chapter was meant to be shorter, like a prologue.

Disclaimer: I own the Harry Potter books, but not the rights to them. I like waffles

Chapter 2

On Christmas Day, Ginny woke up to a stack of presents as high as her bed. After lunch, she, Harry, and the rest of her family had a snowball fight.

Ducking George's biggest snowball yet, Ginny hurled one at Ron. Suddenly, Harry tackled her, and the two of them lost their balance and fell into a snowbank. Their noses inches apart, brown eyes stared into green eyes. Harry leaned in and closed his eyes, just as he was pulled up by the scruff of his neck.

Fred and George set him on his feet, then reached down to pull his sister up. "Let's keep it PG, shall we?" Fred grinned at them.

"Merlin's pants," Ginny cursed. "I have to go get ready! I-I'll see you in a bit." Reaching up to hug her brothers, she sprinted towards the castle, her cheeks pink from the snow.

She and Hermione helped each other get ready, giggling about their respective dates and fixing their hair. Finally, they were ready to head down.

The common room looked strange, full of people wearing different colors instead of the usual mass of black. Harry was waiting for Ginny at the foot of the stairs. He was looking very handsome, in robes of bottle green. His normally unruly hair had been combed and flattened. He handed her a white corsage to match her dress.

"You look...gorgeous," Harry said. She truly was. She wore a long, flowing white gown with a golden belt and a sweetheart neckline. Her cheeks turned slightly pink as she pinned the corsage onto her wrist. He took her arm and led her down to the entrance hall, where they found Ron and Lavender.

Ron hid behind Harry as Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies passed, then straightened up again, searching the room for Hermione. The Slytherins came up from the dungeons, with Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in the lead.

The doors opened, and the students from Durmstrang entered. Ginny winked at Hermione, who was extraordinarily beautiful and yet almost unrecognizable on Krum's arm.

"Champions over here, please!" Professor McGonagall called.

"See you in a minute," Harry said to Ron and Lavender. Nervously, he headed over to McGonagall with Ginny. Remembering the Transfiguration Professor's advice to let your hair down, Ginny had to stifle a giggle at the professor herself. She was wearing dress robes of red tartan and had arranged a rather ugly wreath of thistles around the brim of her hat.

While waiting or everyone to be seated, Harry finally realized that the girl on Krum's arm was Hermione.

"Hi, Harry! Hi, Ginny!" Hermione smiled at them, if somewhat nervously. She was beautiful, and no one could believe it. Not even Malfoy could think of an insult to throw at her.

Finally, the champions were led into the Great Hall. But, like Hermione, it wasn't entirely recognizable. The walls of the Great Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. Ginny could see several people already making note of where the mistletoe was placed. The House Tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.

Ginny wasn't entirely sure what to think about the judges. Dumbledore was smiling benignly at the champions, while Karkaroff wore a sulky expression not unlike Ron's. Ludo Bagman was resplendent in robes of bright purple with large yellow stars, and was clapping more enthusiastically then many of the students. Madame Maxime had, for once, changed her usual uniform of black satin for a flowing gown of lavender silk, and was applauding politely. But Barty Crouch wasn't there. Instead, her brother Percy was holding out the chair beside to Harry. He wore brand-new, navy-blue dress robes and was smiling smugly as Ginny and Harry sat down next to him.

"I've been promoted," Percy said, possibly even more smugly. "I'm now Mr. Crouch's

personal assistant, and I'm here representing him."

"Why didn't he come?" Harry asked. He obviously didn't want to be lectured on cauldron bottoms all through dinner.

"Does this mean we'll be seeing a lot more of you?" Ginny asked, praying the answer was no.

"You will, Ginny," Percy said. "I'm afraid Mr. Crouch isn't well, not well at all. Hasn't been right since the World Cup. Hardly surprising- overwork. He's not as young..." Ginny started looking around again, much more interested in the decorations than in her prat of a brother. She very much wanted to ask if Mr. Crouch had stopped calling him "Weatherby" yet, but resisted the temptation.

"So, er, when do we get food?" Ginny asked. She was starving. The golden plates before them were empty, but each of them had a small menu. Setting the example, Dumbledore looked from his menu to his plate and said, "Pork chops!" Pork chops appeared. The rest of the hall began placing their orders with their plates. Ginny looked cautiously down the table at Hermione, half expecting her friend to whip out a S.P.E.W. badge and lecture Dumbledore on how much extra work this would be for the house-elves. Hermione, however, was deep in talk with Viktor Krum and hardly seemed to notice what she was eating.

Hermione's conversation with Viktor was...interesting. Karkaroff seemed to dislike others knowing about his school, and held a disdain for Dumbledore. Dumbledore, however, was making a joke about hidden bathrooms. Ginny could have sworn Dumbledore gave her and Harry a tiny wink.

"Zis is nothing," Fleur said dismissively, gesturing to the sparkling walls of the Great Hall. Ginny grimaced at her stew, and Harry almost choked on his goulash.

"I kinda pity Davies," Ginny whispered to Harry conspiratorially. "Oh, look at Hagrid!" Hagrid gave a small wave to Madame Maxime, who returned it before smiling down at Fleur's exaggerated hand motions. Ginny had a feeling someone would be missing an eye by the end of the night.

Hermione's voice caught Ginny's attention- she was patiently teaching Krum how to say her name. "Her-my-oh-knee," she said slowly and clearly.

"Herm-own-ninny."

"Close enough," she said, catching Ginny's eye and grinning. Suddenly, the food disappeared and the tables zoomed back. As the Weird Sisters approached the stage, Ginny and Harry realized they were now required to dance.

Much to Ginny's amusement, Harrh tripped over his own robes getting up. He walked onto the dance floor, trying to not catch anyone's eye. Seamus and Dean were sniggering at him, and a few of Ginny's friends were giggling off to the side. He could have sworn he saw one of them faint.

Realizing her date had no idea how to dance, Ginny took his hand and placed it gently on her waist, gripping the other with her own hand. She steered, so that all he had to do was revolve slowly on the spot. Several teachers had now joined them- Dumbledore was dancing with Madame Maxime, and even Moody was dancing, if rather ungainly, with Professor Sinistra.

"Nice socks, Potter," Moody growled as he passed, his magical eye staring through Harry's robes.

"Oh- yeah, Dobby the house-elf knitted them for me," said Harry, grinning.

"Dobby's funny," Ginny said.

"Yeah, he's a little strange," Harry said. "I think all house-elves are, though." Ginny laughed as the song ended. Harry immediately led her off the dance floor. The two of them went over to where Ron and Lavender were sitting. Ron was glaring towards where Hermione and Krum were dancing, while Lavender was staring at him dreamily, looking like she wanted to dance with him. Ron was completely ignoring her.

Just then, a boy from Beauxbatons asked Lavender to dance. "You don't mind, do you, Won-Won?" Lavender asked.

"What?" Ron was still watching Hermione and Krum.

"Oh, never mind," snapped Lavender, and she went off with the boy from Beauxbatons. When the song ended, she did not return.