Now here is chapter 8. A reminder for all Harry/Ginny haters, this is not the final pairing as I am still not decided who he will be with. The reason he chooses her is that she is a close friend and he can dance with as many girls as he likes if he goes to the ball with a friend. Just thought i needed to clear that part up.

Thanks for all your reviews and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

The Yule Ball

Harry was getting ready for the Yule Ball. He had decided that taking Ginny as his date to the ball would be best for him. While there were many beautiful girls in his year that he had every intention to dance with, Ginny had been in his group of supporters during the year. He knew that if he had asked Hermione, Ron would have been jealous, because even if the redhead didn't realize it, he had a massive crush on the bushy haired brunette. Ginny meanwhile was a good friend and he knew she would grow into a beautiful woman, the first signs were there.

He had been influenced by Sirius and James Bond too much, he had to admit it. Both had cornered him after he had reported to Agent Carter, obviously Sirius' meeting with M had also included James and when they saw him after finishing the meeting both had decided he needed some last minute advice for the ball. It mostly consisted in being a perfect gentleman and not restricting himself to one woman to charm. But he always had to make sure his first date, Ginny, was agreeing to him dancing with other girls. James also told him that the easiest way to achieve that would be to ensure she also had a dance partner when he was dancing with someone else.

Harry had got many offers from girls to go to the ball with them, but he had politely declined saying he already had a date. To compensate them he offered to reserve one dance for them. Most girls were happy with that. When Ron had shown Harry his dress robes, Harry had taken action. He had pulled Ron into the bathroom, made him swear that he wouldn't tell anybody, least of all Hermione what he could do, and transfigured the old-fashioned dress robes in more modern ones. Now they were plain black classic styled robes. Harry told Ron he couldn't really do permanent transfiguration, but the robes would stay the way they were now until the next evening.

Ron enthusiastically thanked Harry for his help; now he wouldn't make a total fool of himself. Harry spiked his hair with gel to have it look less hopelessly messy and more intentional. He was curious how Ginny would look in the dress robes he had given her for a Christmas present. He knew she would have argued if he just bought her the robes, so he had conspired with Hermione, who had got Ginny's measurements, and had her accompany him to Hogsmeade to buy the robes for Ginny. He had also informed Mrs Weasley that he would take care of Ginny's robes so she wouldn't need to send her some.

While he had got a letter back that he shouldn't spend so much money on Ginny, he had ignored it. He wanted to make the ball special for Ginny and he really had more than enough money, especially as he was already earning his own money by working for the MI6. The thirty galleons he had spent on the dress robes were well invested in his mind. He had also asked Neville if he would get him a flower corsage for Ginny, which led to the plant lover creating them for all the fourth year Gryffindor boys. Neville was attending the ball with Hannah Abbott, Ron had asked Hermione, much to the surprise of Harry, perhaps he had been inspired by Harry asking Ginny so early on, Dean was going with Parvati and Seamus with Lavender.

A quick enquiry with Lavender, combined with a little bribe from Harry including a box of her favourite chocolate from Honeydukes, that being dark chocolate filled with strawberry-yoghurt cream, informed the boys of the colours the girl's dress robes had, so Neville could match the flowers to the robes. Parvati had pink robes, so Neville had chosen violets for Dean to present her with. Lavender in her midnight blue robes got white roses. Hermione with periwinkle blue got white camellias, For Hannah and her purple robes he had chosen pink orchids and Harry got red daffodils for Ginny's silver robes.

Where Neville got the flowers and how the hell he got the colours that perfectly stayed Neville's secret. He just smiled mysteriously and told them it was magic.

All the boys finally were done with getting ready and went down to the common room to wait for their dates, except Neville who went out of the tower to meet Hannah at the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room. Harry's dress robes were a deep dark red that sometimes looked black with a silver vest, matching Ginny's robes. He had forgone the idea to wear robes that highlighted his eyes for robes that wouldn't clash with Ginny's hair.

After fifteen minutes of waiting the first girls came down the stairs. Lavender and Parvati got much praise from Dean and Seamus and the two couples went on to walk down to the Great Hall. The next one was Hermione who took Ron's breath away. She was obviously pleased with the effect she had on him.

"Do you want us to wait for you, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"No, thank you, Ginny and I'll catch up with you later." Harry answered smiling. "Make sure Ron doesn't run into any walls." He teased.

She blushed a bit and nodded. They left the common room and now only Harry was left of the fourth years. Then Ginny finally came down and he was stunned how beautiful she looked. He was so lucky to have her as his date. The silver dress robes fitted her perfectly and subtly highlighted her developing body in the right places. Hermione had made sure that the robes wouldn't be too old-fashioned, which would certainly have happened if Mrs Weasley had chosen them. Her hair looked great, being done in wavy curls that surrounded her face. She wore thin, threadlike silver earrings and a slim silver necklace with a red stone as the pendant. From his information that was part of the Prewett jewels that Mrs Weasley normally kept locked except for special occasions. Harry smiled brightly at her and took her hand.

"You're even more beautiful than on normal days, Ginny. The waiting I had to endure before you graced me with your presence definitely was worth it. I want to also present you with a little flowery present to highlight your natural beauty even more." He said.

Ginny blushed heavily. She was not used to Harry flirting that much with her. He normally kept to a bit of teasing, but he obviously was serious in making her compliments.

"Thank you, Harry. You're looking very handsome yourself." She finally managed to say.

Harry put the flower corsage on her wrist and she admired the daffodils.

"Oh, Harry, where in the world did you get red daffodils?" She asked excitedly.

"That, my dear, I also don't know. Our local plant whisperer didn't want to share his secrets with us mere wizards." He informed her. "I just left the job to the professional."

Ginny giggled. Harry was right. Regarding plants Neville was the one everyone asked. Harry offered Ginny his arm and led her down to the entrance hall where Professor McGonagall was waiting for them to join the other champions.

"Ah, Mr Potter and Miss Weasley. Please come over here, the other champions are already here. You'll enter the Great Hall in a line once all the other students and guests have taken their seats. The first pair will be Miss Delacour and Mr Davies. The next pair will be Mr Diggory and Miss Chang, then Mr Krum and Miss Romien and last Mr Potter and Miss Weasley. You'll walk towards the table where the judges are presiding the ball, greet them with a bow or a curtsy respectively and then take your places on the table that is reserved for the champions. First thing will be dinner then you'll open the ball." She explained.

The couples nodded. Then McGonagall went into the Great Hall to see if they could come inside yet. Finally she called them and the four couples entered the Great Hall, which had been transformed into a winter wonderland. Ice sculptures decorated the walls and snow was falling from the enchanted ceiling. The other students applauded the champions walking into the Great Hall. Finally they reached the table with the judges where Percy Weasley had taken the spot of Barty Crouch. The Champions and their dates bowed or curtsied respectively and then took their seats. Harry held out the chair for Ginny, they had chosen the seats furthest away from Percy, and they sat down. After a short period of confusion how they would get their food, Dumbledore demonstrated it and they followed his example of ordering the food from the menu.

During dinner Harry talked a bit with Viktor about Quidditch and how he had become a professional player. To Viktor's massive surprise, Harry conversed with him in fluent Bulgarian. He hadn't really noticed that Harry spoke his language at the World Cup having been dazed by the bludger that had smashed his nose. He also kept Ginny entertained with some funny stories from his first year at Hogwarts she hadn't heard about from Ron yet. Even Cedric and Cho didn't know about some of them.

Fleur was complaining about Peeves and how they would have dealt with him at Beauxbatons already. Roger Davies was practically glued to her voice, missing his mouth with his fork a lot. Obviously Fleur hadn't been able to completely turn off her allure and Roger couldn't resist it at all. Harry didn't notice it. While he had been influenced by the allure of the Veela at the World Cup a bit, they had been full blooded Veela and there had been twenty of them. Fleur as he knew was only quarter Veela.

Then everybody had finished their dinner and Dumbledore announced it was time for the champions and their dates to open the ball. Harry stood up and bowed to Ginny.

"My Lady, would you grant me this dance?" He asked being the perfect gentleman, like he had been taught by Sirius.

"Of course, my Lord." Ginny answered blushing.

Harry led Ginny at the dance floor and whirled her in position. Ginny was surprised by his actions. He just smiled reassuringly at her. The music started with a waltz and Harry began moving in the rhythm of the music. He and Ginny glided over the dance floor, surprising all the spectators with their harmonious dancing.

Harry led Ginny perfectly through the parts of the waltz and she followed his lead. She obviously had been taught how to dance by her mother. Harry was determined to show everybody tonight just how good he was at dancing. After all, he had just barely dodged having to learn with Stacy. But a massive dose of puppy dog eyes targeted at Miss Moneypenny coupled with a box of her favourite sweets got the assistant of M to give him another tutor. Harry was very glad to have dodged that bullet. You never let a 00 agent have blackmail material on you. Sirius had told him that Stacey had pouted hearing that she wouldn't be the one to teach Harry how to dance.

Harry continued dancing with Ginny for the next two dances, then he led her back to their table. He watched the other students and found their group of friends sitting together.

"What do you think? Do you want to get something to drink and go over to the others? I also kind of promised some girls one dance because I already had asked you to the ball." Harry asked.

Ginny had already known about him having promised Susan Bones a dance and had no problems with it.

"Sure, Harry." She said and he held out his arm, which she took, and led her over.

Over the remaining evening Harry danced one dance with each Hermione, Susan, Hannah, Parvati, Padma, Lavender, Daphne Greengrass, who looked utterly unhappy with having to accompany Theodore Nott to the ball, Tracy Davis, Angelina, Alicia and Katie, his teammates had insisted on a dance each after seeing his skill, Mandy Brocklehurst, Cho and of course he danced some more with Ginny. He always made sure Ginny was okay with him dancing with one of the others. She had a lot of fun and was glad that Harry was so open with her also dancing with some of her friends and some older students.

She danced with both Fred and George, who insisted to whirl their stunning little sister over the dance floor, Lee Jordan, Cedric, even Viktor Krum asked her for one dance. But he seemed to be more interested in Hermione, who gladly danced with him as Ron didn't want to dance. But at least her brother managed to keep his tone civil. Perhaps it had been Harry's words which he had with Ron shortly after Viktor had asked Hermione for the first dance; or the fact that Hermione still spent a lot of time with them at the tables and also danced with Harry, the twins, Cedric and Lee.

Close to eleven Harry and Ginny went out for a walk in the enchanted flower garden that had been built for those that wanted to get a bit of fresh air.

"Do you have fun, Ginny?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yes. It's fantastic. I didn't know you were such a good dancer." She said.

"Well, Aunt Petunia had tried to get Dudley to learn dancing, wanting to make him 'a perfect little gentleman'. Of course he complained and said it would be embarrassing. So I was also forced to take the course. Contrary to Dudley I liked it and while he may have mocked me, I learned to dance pretty well then. During the holidays I then took some offered advanced courses which the Dursleys never found out about, of course. It was a nice way to spend time away from Privet Drive." Harry told his official cover story.

"You're a man of many secrets, Harry. What else can you do that nobody knows about? Speaking French and Bulgarian fluently, having started learning German, dancing like a professional, feeding Dragons with mega roosters, what else do we not know about you?" She asked.

Harry ginned.

"That's for me to know and you to find out, Ginny. Women are not the only ones that have secrets." He teased.

"Is that a challenge?" She asked boldly.

"Perhaps." He answered, then they both laughed.

"I'll find out, Harry, believe it." She said still laughing.

"I'll wait for it." He answered.

The walked on and suddenly heard Hagrid's voice.

"When I saw you, I immediately knew." He said.

"What did you know, 'Agrid?" Madame Maxime asked.

"Tha' you're like me. I have never me' another one b'fore." Hagrid answered.

"Anuzzer what?" She asked dangerously.

Harry knew Hagrid shouldn't go on, but he couldn't warn his big friend.

"Another half-giant of course. Who was is with you? With me it was me mum." He said.

"'Alf-giant? I 'ave never been as insulted before. I just 'ave big bones." She said and stormed away.

Harry shook his head at Hagrid's sad face.

"Did you know?" Ginny asked.

"I suspected it. He is too big to be entirely human. And not big enough to be a full giant. But it doesn't matter to me. All those prejudices against those of mixed blood are ridiculous in my mind." He answered.

She nodded. She had been raised with the views of their parents and each of them had talked about Hagrid as a nice man. If he was a half-giant the others couldn't be that bad. And Remus Lupin had shown that not all werewolves were evil.

"It is sad that he is so disappointed that Madame Maxime denied her heritage. If Hagrid is half-giant, she is as well." Ginny stated.

"You're right. Perhaps she is used to the treatment those of mixed blood normally get and tries to pretend to be normal." Harry suggested.

"Possibly. Do you want to return inside, I'd like to dance again." She asked.

"Sure. Whatever my Lady wishes." He answered smirking.

"Anything?" She asked.

"Within certain limits. I don't think I could fit a winged horse in your dormitory." He answered.

"Prat." She replied.

"Sometimes that too." He said.

"You always have to have the last word, don't you?"

"That could be possible."

She groaned while he grinned and led her inside to dance again. He was very glad that Aurora had already captured Rita. With her in beetle form snooping around that story would have caused trouble for Hagrid.

So that concludes the Yule Ball. Did you like it? Till in two weeks.