Chapter 14
Following playing Dungeons and Dragons, Harry headed down to lunch with the girls.
"Hey, Daphne, you want to sit with us at the Ravenclaw table?" Padma invited.
"Sure," Daphne quickly agreed.
As they all sat down and began to fill their plates with food, he got a catalogue out of his pack.
It was supposed to be to order Christmas presents.
"What's that you got there?" Padma asked him curiously as she looked over his shoulder at it.
"Just a Christmas catalogue to send gifts to people," He answered.
Excitement immediately appeared on each of the girls faces.
"Ooh, well then you better get me that!" Daphne replied as she pointed at a picture in the catalogue.
"A week long vacation to Atlantis?" Harry asked in consternation, "I'm sorry but it's pretty unlikely you'll be getting that."
Daphne seemed to expect that.
"You can't blame a girl for trying," Daphne commented unabashedly as she shrugged her shoulders.
"You'll be getting something more like this," Padma said as she grabbed the catalogue and pointed at a picture of fake poo.
It likely was a gag gift.
"Ooh I want that!" Luna exclaimed happily.
Daphne grinned and told him, "that's one present you've got figured out Harry."
"No, none of you are finding out what I'm getting you," He scolded them, "this is for the other girls I went on dates with. You know to let them know I was thinking of them but not going too overboard. I was thinking maybe a rose or something."
"That's nice Harry," Padma agreed approvingly.
Padma would be getting a much better gift than a rose of course.
He marked the boxes to send roses along with the names for each girl.
Since it was all to one location, it was actually pretty cheap.
He was just folding it up, when Luna said, "You can use my falcon if you'd like."
For a second he was a bit confused before a beautiful grey parrot swooped down onto the table.
It was grey and majestic, and a much larger bird than he would have expected of a parrot.
Luna pulled a note tied to its leg off before petting its head affectionately.
The parrot seemed to eat up the attention.
"Where on earth did you get a parrot?" Harry asked curiously.
"On a trip with my daddy," Luna calmly replied, "his name is Perry, Perry the Parrot."
"He's adorable," Daphne told her as she had the bravery to pet him.
From what he could tell, Perry didn't seem to mind the attention.
"Thank you," Luna said, "I was hoping he would play pirate games and stuff, but unfortunately he doesn't do much...other than deliver my mail."
"What kind of pirate games?" Padma asked, "like wear an eye patch and keep him on your shoulder?"
"I actually have a pirate's costume at home and Daddy even made me a small pirate's ship one year for Christmas. Unfortunately all I've got on my crew is Perry. He apparently didn't like the eyepatch I tried to put on him either," Luna answered.
"That's so cool Luna," Daphne answered.
"Thanks," Luna said, "you can be on my crew too if you want and play. Whoever wins gets the best chest."
"The best chest?" Daphne asked as she looked down at her own chest.
"Yeah, a pirate's chest of treasure, what did you think I was referring to?" Luna asked before getting it, "oh, don't worry Daphne, you already have the best chest."
"Thanks," Daphne replied, subconsciously sticking out her chest in pride.
Privately, he had to admit Luna just might have a point.
After a pause in the conversation, Harry handed the filled out catalogue to Luna and she took it.
"Hey Potter," He heard from behind him.
As he turned around to look, to his surprise he found Malfoy standing there smiling with a very disconcerting smile.
Of course Malfoy smiling at all was disconcerting.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry asked gruffily.
"I just wanted to apologize," Malfoy said, sounding sincere, "I know I've been a rough sport in the past, but I just want you to know how much I appreciate and respect you."
Harry really wasn't sure what to make of this.
"Er... thanks I guess," Harry answered suspiciously.
"I understand that I've been a total jerk to you, but it's only because I love you," Draco insisted.
Woah, now that was unexpected.
"You're my hero, and I can no longer deny how beautiful you are with your gorgeous green eyes and black ebony hair. I know this is a risk confessing all of these things to you, admitting my sexual orientation and coming out to you, but I'm hoping that you'll be brave enough to come out and admit you feel the same way about me. Then we can finally be together. I love you Harry Potter," Malfoy told him.
Malfoy tried to lean in to kiss him, but he knocked him out with a spell long before he could.
His nemesis collapsed onto the ground right in front of him.
"What on earth just happened?" Harry demanded, hoping that someone would be able to come up with a decent explanation, and the world was not now totally upside-down.
By now everyone around them was staring at the scene, but Daphne had the presence of mind to conclude, "Love potion maybe?"
"I have to say I'm really hoping you're right," Harry replied as he gave a shudder, "I so do not want Malfoy of all people to be crushing on me."
"Didn't you hear him though?" Daphne joked, "he loves you."
"Sorry, but this is one sailor who only sails one sea," He said.
At the looks of confusion, he explained, "you know, the expression, plenty of fish in the sea? Only in this case Malfoy is a guy so he isn't technically in the sea of girls that I might fancy."
"Oh, I see, so if you're a sailor or a fisherman that would make me a whopper that you caught," Padma commented.
"Well you are quite a catch," He easily agreed.
"Being a whopper would mean that you're either fat or a giant boob," Daphne observed.
"Or a tasty muggle candy," Luna piped in, "although I do like big boobies."
"Is everyone coming out of the closet?" Harry exclaimed jokingly.
"Don't worry, I like big boobies too. My own at least," Daphne answered, as she gave her chest a Luna-ish bounce.
Great, as if he didn't already have enough distractions, he thought.
"What seems to be going on here?" Professor McGonagall demanded, seeming to have just arrived.
"Malfoy just declared his undying love to Harry and tried to kiss him so Harry was forced to knock him out," Padma explained.
"I see," McGonagall said, pursing her lips, "well while Hogwarts accepts all students without prejudice to anyone when it comes to race, gender, magical blood status, sexual orientation, or whether they have hooves, or feet, and solely off of whether or not they are at least partially human and can do magic; trying to kiss another person without their consent is looked down upon."
"I think he may have been given a love potion professor," Harry explained, "at least I'm hoping he was fed a love potion."
"I would have to agree Mr. Potter, while admittedly I can see Mr. Malfoy being gay, given yours and his history I'd find such a declaration to be highly unlikely," Professor McGonagall responded.
He snickered about what Professor McGonagall had said about Malfoy being gay.
Admittedly he could see it too, what with the style of clothes he wore and his tendency to wear makeup to appear even more pale than his already very pale face.
What kind of guy did that? No one else in Britain anyway.
Even if it was discovered he was dosed with a love potion there were bound to be plenty of jokes and rumors about Malfoy told at his expense.
While against rumors being spread, he couldn't deny that he was excited to have that happen.
"What seems to be the meaning of this?" Professor Snape demanded as he came onto the scene.
"It appears that Mr. Malfoy may have been the recipient of a love potion, if you would kindly look him over seeing as that's your specialty if you please," Professor McGonagall asked of him.
"What about him getting viciously attacked?" Snape argued as he glared angrily at Harry, no doubt imaging what sort of punishment he could get away with giving him.
"I'll handle that," Professor McGonagall stated, ""Mr. Potter, might I speak with you privately for a moment?"
He gulped, wondering if perhaps he was in trouble.
After all, he had hit Malfoy with a spell.
Snape did not look happy, but he chose to say nothing and allowed Professor McGonagall to take him.
He followed her outside the Great Hall.
"I was just...," He tried to say.
She stopped him and said, "I'm actually not going to punish you even if I might have led Professor Snape to believe that. As far as I can tell you did nothing wrong. That was only to get him off your back...and so I could speak privately with you about the dating competition you currently have going on."
"Oh that," He replied, "I'm sorry if Fred and George bothered you professor."
"Normally I wouldn't agree to do something like that," Professor McGonagall admitted, "however they were quite persuasive."
He couldn't help wonder what persuasion or incentive they had to have used.
Professor McGonagall must have noticed the expression on his face, because she tried to explain.
"Don't worry, it wasn't anything that would cause me to lower my usual standards. They aren't blackmailing me or giving me any special favors," She said before realizing how that might be construed, "not that I wouldn't be able to perform..."
After stopping again, he decided to help her out, although he found it funny that Professor McGonagall had managed to get her foot stuck in her mouth and also grateful that it wasn't him for once doing it.
"Don't worry Professor I know what you mean," He told her, "I also won't tell anyone either."
"Thank you Mr. Potter," She answered gratefully, "if you must know, they managed to convince me about what kind of mischief they would get up to if I wasn't there. Besides I've found these competitions can be really hurtful and mean spirited."
She did not explain what she meant about the last part and he did not choose to risk asking.
"So about this competition," Harry then said, "I didn't actually decide to do it, they just kind of roped me into it but I still feel obligated to do it."
"That's what I was hoping," She replied, "if I might offer you some advice however, I'd recommend you try to build up both girls for it...or any girl for that matter. Behind every girl is a swan waiting to burst forth although not if she always feels like an ugly duckling."
"I'll try to do that," He agreed, although curious why she would offer such advice.
"I'd like to inform you that I will be available in my office tomorrow at 6. You can bring the girl you've selected for George with you there."
"Yes, Professor," He agreed.
After finishing talking with McGonagall, he went back to the great hall to find out what had happened with Malfoy.
He found Padma, Daphne, and Luna still at the crime scene, but Malfoy nowhere to be found.
"So what did I miss?" He asked them.
"Snape had Malfoy tested. Apparently he was indeed dosed with a love potion," Padma explained.
He was admittedly relieved to hear that. While not a homophobe, it was after all Malfoy who was the one crushing on him.
"Harry, are you okay?" A voice asked worriedly behind him.
He did not even need to turn around to know that it was Hermione.
"I'm fine," He told her.
"He'll just be scarred for life, but otherwise fine," Daphne joked.
"I just want to know who dosed him," Hermione asked, "some sort of joke?"
"Well I wouldn't put it past Fred and George if that's what you're intimating," Harry replied.
"It would seem to be something they might do," Hermione pointed out.
"I'll talk to them and try and find out," He promised.
"At any rate, I'm just a bit disappointed to learn that Malfoy isn't gay, I could have sworn he was," Daphne claimed, "how could he not be after always being sandwiched in between those two studs Crabbe and Goyle?"
All of the girls pulled a face at that.
Needless to say Crabbe and Goyle were not exactly attractive at least not by human standards.
To the average female troll maybe.
Hermione seemed to be contemplative for a moment and then said, "Actually, a love potion only works if you are actually attracted to that gender in the first place. That would mean Malfoy would have to be gay...or at least bi-sexual."
"OH I SO CALLED IT!" Daphne exclaimed loudly.
"What's so wrong with liking boys?" Luna asked, "I like boys, especially Harry."
"Oh, there's definitely nothing wrong with that," Daphne quickly agreed as she gave Harry a wink, "I just think it's funny that Malfoy is gay."
"Oh, I do too," He agreed.
Padma seemed more focused on something else as she then asked Hermione, "I'd really like to know more about love potions and how you know that would make Malfoy gay."
"Well, love potions have to have something to work off of, so there would have to be at least some attraction already there beyond mere curiosity. Let's take a perfectly straight male like Harry," Hermione began.
"We would hope so anyway, it would be a crime for Harry to turn out gay. For all witches," Daphne pointed out.
Hermione surprisingly did not argue with that and continued speaking, "if Harry was to take a love potion to attract him to another guy it wouldn't work, but if he took one to attract him to a girl it would. The exact opposite would hold true for a straight female like any of us."
"I wouldn't say all of us," Daphne observed, "I'd say the verdict is still out on Luna."
"Wouldn't you all like to know?" Luna answered cutely with a big smile.
"At any rate," Hermione continued, "a love potion could even work on yourself. A botched love potion made by an ancient Greek wizard named Narcissus caused him to fall totally in love with himself."
"Imagine how easy things would be if I was in love with myself?" Daphne asked.
"You'd spend an awful lot of time in the bathroom fondling yourself," Padma replied.
"I do that already," Daphne confessed, not at all bothered by admitting this.
Unbidden an image of a naked Daphne touching herself came to mind.
"If I had your body, I'd fondle myself too," Harry claimed.
Daphne grinned and said, "you don't need to have my body to fondle me Harry."
He was unsure how to respond to this, wondering if it was a genuine offer or not and feeling very self-conscious.
"Really Daphne? Really?" Hermione asked incredulously.
Daphne laughed and said, "Don't worry, Hermione, I'm not that easy, unfortunately for Harry."
"So how do you know so much about love potions anyway?" Padma then asked Hermione as she changed the subject.
Hermione blushed and then said, "I like to read about everything."
That sounded like a perfectly good answer to him, but Daphne then joked: "Are you sure it wasn't so that you could actually make a love potion to be used on someone?"
"Of course not, I would never..." Hermione tried to deny.
"Hermione doesn't need a love potion to get all the guys," Padma insisted.
"I suppose you're right," Daphne agreed.
Hermione blushed again at that.
"You can really cut all the compliments," She insisted.
"Unfortunately Hermione, you're only going to get more of it later," Harry said, "McGonagall just told me to meet her in her office with you, the Weasley twins, and their date for me tomorrow to be judged for our little competition."
"Ooh, can we go Harry?" Padma asked him excitedly.
"I want to compete in a sexy competition," Luna pouted.
"It isn't so much a beauty contest Luna; and I suppose if you want you can go Padma," Harry offered as he answered both of their questions.
"Let's all go," Daphne said, deciding to include everyone, "we can be your cheerleaders."
"Just what I need, a group of sexy cheerleaders," He joked.
Luna giggled at that and said, "you just called me sexy."
"Are you saying you actually have a problem with sexy cheerleaders?" Daphne queried, "unless you're as gay as Malfoy, I find it hard to believe."
"Oh no, I definitely want you all there," He agreed.
"That's what I thought," Daphne replied.
"Would you like help getting ready Hermione?" Padma offered.
"That's okay, I should be fine, but thank you for offering," Hermione answered graciously.
After a long pause, Luna then asked, "Can we have a snowball fight now?"
Daphne grinned and said, "I think that can be arranged."
TOOMANYTOOMANYTOOMANY
Harry was now getting ready for his double blind date with George.
He'd spent the last two days simply hanging out and having fun with Daphne, Padma, Luna, and Hermione.
It felt very enjoyable and freeing to him, able to relax from school, the tournament, and other pressures but also spend time with new and old friends.
Surprisingly, it almost felt like he had known them all much longer.
However, he was still excited about his date tonight, and wondering just who it was.
After checking himself over for the 3rd time to make sure he really was ready and still with plenty of time to spare, he decided to check with Hermione.
Hermione would have been in her dorm room, but since Lavender and Parvati had decided to hog the bathroom, she had been forced to use the Gryffindor public bathroom.
He knocked on the door and called in to her.
"Are you okay in there?" He asked.
"Would you mind...oof...helping me out?" Hermione begged.
"I can't go in there, that's the girls' room," He reminded her.
"Don't be such a prude, I'm the only one in here," Hermione answered, "besides it's not like it's the first time you've been in the girl's bathroom."
This was indeed true, having spent quite a bit of time in his 2nd year in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
However he couldn't help but wonder just why Salazar Slytherin had decided to hide the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in a girl's bathroom of all places. A boys' bathroom would at least make more sense and lead to less questions if he was seen secretly entering it.
He couldn't help but wonder if perhaps there was some sort of a sexual joke involved on Slytherin's part, forcing his snake to travel down and out of a hole in a place where women were often at least partially naked.
Sighing, he fearfully tread inside a woman's most sacred and holy of places, worried about booby traps.
Such a fear was actually well-placed as the stairs up to the girl's room was designed to turn into a slide for any guy trying to ascend them.
Who knew if the bathroom had a similar or even worse security measure.
He could just imagine alarms and buzzers going off and a shocked and dismayed Professor McGonagall finding him along with the rest of Gryffindor tower.
After taking his first few steps however and nothing happened he breathed a sigh of relief as he walked forward and into the bathroom.
Hermione was currently dressed in a red, curve hugging dress although the back wasn't fully zipped up.
"Would you mind zipping it up for me?" She asked him as she turned her back towards him.
He grabbed the zipper and pulled it up.
"Whose dress is this?" He asked.
"Parvati's," Hermione admitted, "she said she'd let me have it if I let her and Lavender have the bathroom for tonight."
"Why do they even need to hog the bathroom for so long?" He asked her.
He'd never understand just why girls spent so much time in the bathroom. You go, you wash your hands, you leave, that was it.
She shrugged and said, "I don't know, they wouldn't tell me although I overheard enough of their conversation that I think it's about your date with Lavender tomorrow."
"Isn't that tomorrow though?" He pointed out, "she can't possibly need a full 24 hours to get ready."
"Well they do seem to take an awfully long time getting ready every morning," Hermione admitted.
After a second, Hermione then asked him, "which do you think is better? My hair down or up?"
At first she had her hair up in a bun, but then let it down.
He noted that it was no longer bushy, probably because she had used the spell that Daphne had taught her on how to straighten it.
"Down," He replied easily.
With her hair the way it now was, it made her look almost like an entirely different person. In a good way.
"All right, let me brush it then," She answered.
She held up a brush, but then he took it and volunteered, "Let me do it for you."
"Okay," She answered with a smile.
Turning around, she allowed him to get started.
Hermione's hair was not nearly as long as Padma's or Luna's, but straightened it still went to mid-back.
However his two other experiences with brushing a girl's hair led him to immediately look down at Hermione's butt just to make sure he didn't accidentally touch it like he had with the other two.
Fortunately he still had plenty of space for that to happen, but he still kept an eye on it just in case.
Staring at Hermione's bum from such a close range, however, invoked certain unavoidable thoughts.
She really did have a fantastic rear, he thought. He had become recently aware that Hermione was attractive, but wow.
It more than filled out and hugged that part of the dress. Quite obviously Hermione was bigger in that area than Parvati.
Hermione seemed to have no idea that he was currently staring at her bum, but he still felt guilty. This was his best friend after all.
A friend who had a rear like that.
All right, so he was attracted to Hermione, he admitted to himself.
No biggie. Just the one girl he had relied upon to be only a friend.
Well that was just great. Apparently his recently found love for girls knew no bounds.
He'd just have to learn to behave himself better.
It took some effort but he managed to turn his eyes back to her hair, glancing back only occasionally at her bum.
Her hair was beautiful too, and smelled like apricots, probably the scent of whatever shampoo she used.
Unbidden his thoughts turned to what he thought of his oldest friend.
Even if she liked him too he knew nothing could happen between them. He had already decided he wouldn't be exclusive with any girl.
Unfortunately the relationship between them had changed. She was still his friend, but with many other girls and friends now becoming a part of his life, it was natural to assume that he might not get to spend as much time with her.
That caused him to feel guilty. He wouldn't mind taking Hermione out on the occasional date, but he couldn't be there for her...like a real boyfriend could.
Hermione was a true romantic. As much as she read, she also liked to read romance novels, her favorites being written by Shakespeare of which one of his characters he had created she was named after.
She wanted to be swept off her feet and be considered the only girl in a boy's universe, who loved her unconditionally.
Of course, she had tried to explain all this one day to him and Ron, but Ron had flat out laughed and told her that would never happen, causing her not to bring it up ever again.
He was close enough to her that he only wanted her to be happy, and if that was with another guy than he would do his best to make sure that happened for her.
After finishing, Hermione finished putting on makeup and checking herself over one last time before they left.
They met up with the other girls who were waiting just outside the Gryffindor common room and they all headed down to Professor McGonagall's office.
He was eager to see just who this mystery date would be, but when he saw Fred and George, or more importantly, who they had brought as his date, his jaw dropped.
It was Cho Chang.
That's right, The Cho Chang.
The one he had had a crush on since forever.
George had done his homework when it came to picking his date and scored some major points doing it and actually getting a date with her.
Cho was dressed in a purple dress that showed off some impressive cleavage.
"Hello Harry," Cho said with a smile.
"Hello Cho," He replied back before gulping.
"Pretty good choice huh Harry?" George asked smugly.
He couldn't help but nod, causing George to become even more smug.
"So which of these lovely ladies is my date?" George asked, "unless of course all of them are my date in which case you automatically win."
Hermione stepped forward and said, "I am."
He had the great pleasure to see George choke.
"Hermione? You got Hermione to be my date?" He asked incredulously.
"What? Are you worried you might lose now?" Daphne taunted, "I would be."
"Oh don't worry, he's quaking in his boots," Fred answered for his brother, "he's just not willing to show it."
"Shall we get this thing started?" Padma asked.
"Let's," George agreed as he put an arm around Hermione.
Harry hastened to do the same with Cho, feeling slightly self-conscious.
He'd actually originally asked Cho to the Yule Ball but had declined because she already had a date with Cedric.
It struck him that so much wouldn't have happened if she had said yes.
While he would have been ecstatic to have been going with her, he was now very grateful that she had said no.
He ought to send Cedric a thank you card.
Upon entering McGonagall's office, the teacher was waiting for them.
"I wasn't aware there would be so many of you," She commented.
"Me, Daphne, and Luna are just here for support," Padma told her.
"I see," Professor McGonagall said, "and I'm assuming you Ms. Granger are Mr. Weasley's date and you Ms. Chang are Mr. Potter's date?"
"Correct Professor," Hermione confirmed.
"Before I make my decision, I'd like to hear a short speech from you Mr. Fred Weasley and you Mr. George Weasley on why you believe that each girl that was selected is better for their dates and not necessarily which is better."
"Isn't that a bit silly?" Hermione pointed out, "trying to decide which of us is better?"
"I think she's right, perhaps we had better call this thing off in order to save her any embarrassment," Cho declared.
"I'll try not to be too embarrassed," Hermione said sarcastically to Cho.
Cho winced and said, "All right, perhaps that didn't come out right."
"I really wouldn't make such an assumption Cho. From where I'm standing, you've got some major competition," Padma pointed out.
As for himself however he was willing to give Cho the benefit of the doubt for now and assume that she had really been looking out for Hermione although Padma was definitely right.
"I really must correct you Ms. Granger as I don't believe that any girl is better than another, I think you and Ms. Chang are both attractive and intelligent young ladies. These competitions or the comparisons we women make with other women constantly throughout our lives however have a habit of bringing out the worst in people. I am judging this competition in the hopes that you will understand that. How about we get started? Mr. Fred Weasley, if you please?"
Fred squared his shoulders, milking the attention for all its worth as he appeared to be preparing for the grandest of speeches.
With some bravado and bluster laced in his voice, he began:
"As I always knew, Harry definitely came through for me and made the far better choice. It's no secret that Hermione is Harry's best friend and obviously views her in the most positive of lights and why not? She's always been loyal and brave, going with Harry to places few would dare to go. She's also smart, a total genius in fact and probably the smartest student at Hogwarts. This is something that is reflected not only in her grades, but in so much more as well.
When me and George met Hermione in first year, she considered herself plain and unattractive, but we knew she'd blossom into a beautiful young woman and we would be jealous of Harry for having such a sexy witch around all the time."
Hermione was blushing this whole time and even more so when Daphne cheered, "Go Hermione."
"Can we just skip to the part where Hermione wins?" Luna interrupted.
"Unfortunately I don't think there is a fast forward button for life," Padma observed.
"I'm still working on one," Luna replied.
"Well when you do make one, would you mind giving it to me? I'd love to be able to skip the time doing homework," Daphne commented.
Professor McGonagall gave her a stern look.
"I mean, I'd never want to skip out on doing homework, I love doing homework, especially for my favorite class Transfiguration," Daphne said sarcastically.
Judge McGonagall gave the smallest of smiles before saying, "I think that'll be enough for Hermione. If you would please give your speech Mr. George Weasley."
George nodded and began, trying to emulate the same style of speaking that his brother had had.
"Harry has proven to be very good or just plain lucky at getting dates with girls. I would be hard pressed to top many of the beautiful and wonderful young ladies he's already had the opportunity to enjoy company with. So who did I choose? It's no secret that Harry has had a crush on Cho Chang for quite some time. No other girl has sustained so much of his attraction for as long as she has. Cho is also a smart and beautiful girl."
After finishing, Professor McGonagall sat there for a moment before declaring: "As I said at the start, I am judging based on which date I feel is a better match for their date. In a beauty contest or some other comparison contest I don't believe I could choose a winner. However based solely on which I believe is a better match...I think...Fred and Harry won."
"Hurray," All of them cheered.
Cho started to cry, but Hermione was smiling and Fred wore a smug grin on his face.
"Pay up," He demanded of his twin brother.
George grudgingly forked the money over which Fred took.
Afterwards, George headed over to him and pulled him into a corner of the room.
"I have to give you props Harry," George said, "getting Hermione like that. I'm not happy I lost, but I can't blame McGonagall for picking Hermione. At least I get a decent consolation prize and get to go on a date with her. Hermione's hot! I mean did you see her bum in that dress?"
"What?" He questioned.
"I don't see how you could still not notice," George claimed.
"It's something I only recently realized," Harry admitted.
"So do you mind if I um...you know...give it a go with her?" George asked.
He gave it a bit of thought.
It's not like he was Hermione's prison warden. She was allowed to date whomever she wished and George was a nice guy. Although for some reason he couldn't help feel worried for her.
"I'm not sure if you would be exactly her type," He answered.
"Well I figure I might as well give it a shot," George concluded, "got any tips for me with Herm?"
Harry winced.
"Well first of all, don't call her Herm," He recommended.
He had learned that the hard way after she had finally admitted to him why she hated that name. Apparently in school she was called that by a classmate who also figured out that it was an abbreviation for something else, a hermaphrodite and upon learning that the rest of the students in her school started calling her that. Kids could be cruel.
When Ron heard the story, he had asked her to show him to prove it wasn't true.
Needless to say, Hermione had refused.
That was a story he wasn't about to tell George however.
"Okay got it anything else?" George tried to ask.
Before he could however, Daphne called them back to remind them about the date they were supposed to be leaving on.
Harry went over to Cho and offered her his hand, which she reluctantly took.
He noted that George had done the same for Hermione as they headed off.
Both he and Cho followed them.
"So what are we going to be doing for our date?" Hermione then asked.
"We're going to make and fly kites," George admitted.
"Fly kites?" Cho asked, "isn't that sort of childish?"
"It does seem childish, but sounds kind of fun too," Hermione answered.
From what he could tell, Cho seemed to be a real stick in the mud, but then again so was Hermione.
However in Hermione's case she seemed willing to give it a chance.
They followed George into a classroom to find lots of different colored fabrics all laid out on some of the desks.
Streamers, stickers, and other things to decorate their kites with were also present.
"Go ahead and get started," George invited.
He went over and started picking out things he wanted for his kite, and Cho reluctantly followed him, obviously still hesitant to do this.
After getting his materials together he put them all down on one of the desks and Cho sat down next to him with her own supplies.
"What are you going to make?" He asked her.
"A kite," She said as if it was obvious.
"I mean what type of kite, I think I'm going to make a dragon kite," He answered.
"How am I supposed to even make a kite?" Cho asked, sounding puzzled.
"You need some help?" He offered.
She hesitated for a second then nodded as he went over to help her.
Finally he managed to get her to decide what type of kite she wanted, as well as get some help from George who had a better idea on what the kites needed to do.
As they worked, he tried to make conversation with her.
"So are you looking forward to Christmas?" He asked her.
"Yep," She replied.
"Anything you want in particular?" He asked.
"Nope," She said.
All of her answers were like that. Short one word answers and he was getting rather annoyed that she did not seem to want to talk.
"All right, so what's wrong?" He blatantly came out and asked her.
"Nothing is wrong," She insisted.
"I would say there is likely something wrong. You've been a poor sport this whole date. If you didn't want to come on this date with me, you shouldn't have said yes to George asking you," He argued.
To his surprise, she started crying and through her tears, she said,
"It's just that before George asked me I got into this huge fight with my boyfriend Cedric."
"I wasn't aware that you were even dating, just that you would be going to the Yule ball together," He responded.
"Not anymore," She said tearfully, "I broke up with him. I caught him...kkkisssing…(unintelligible)... girl."
"I-I'm sorry," He answered, not sure what else he could say.
Cho confessed, "what's wrong with me? Have I suddenly gotten ugly? Is that why he cheated on me?"
"Of course not," He insisted.
"Even girls like Hermione are now suddenly better looking than I am," Cho replied.
That would explain why she was crying when she lost to her earlier.
It struck him that perhaps this might also help prove Professor McGonagall's point. Evidently Cho had taken it as a beauty contest and this was the result.
"Well Cedric is an idiot," Harry told her, "I'm sure you have your faults, but beauty isn't one of them. You're gorgeous."
She sniffled a bit and then asked, "You really think so?"
"I wouldn't have had a major crush on you since forever if I didn't," He replied.
Cho let out a small smile and then said, "I knew. It was kind of obvious."
He chuckled a bit at his own failure to be subtle.
"Look that was Cedric's mistake not yours," He urged.
"I know, but it still hurts," Cho answered before admitting, "I kind of accepted this date partially as a way to get back at him."
"I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by that," He claimed, although annoyed to find that out.
He had been hoping that she had taken it because she might actually like him...perhaps more than Cedric.
Apparently not.
The rest of the date proceeded better, but he soon realized that dates taken on the rebound really weren't all that great. Perhaps if Cho was in a better mood things would be better, but as they were, it was only going okay at best.
It was nothing compared to the many fantasy dates he had had over the years with her.
The date turned out not to be all bad however.
After constructing their kites, using magic to speed the process along, he had a red dragon kite, Cho's a panda, Hermione's a white swan, and George's a jack in the box, George used a few various spells to animate and light up each kite.
His dragon began to twitch its tail and puff smoke out of its nose, Cho's panda would raise and lower its front paws, Hermione's swan would flap its wings, and George's jack in the box would go into and out of its box.
They took their kites outside and in the dark, with them lit up the way they were they were quite beautiful to watch as they floated in the night sky.
Of course, actually getting them up into the air proved to be a challenge.
He'd never flown a kite before, and neither had Cho, so they had been forced to rely upon the aid of George and Hermione.
Once he was shown how, he figured it out and was able to help Cho who was still struggling.
He heard Hermione began to sing.
"Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height!" Hermione sang.
"I didn't know you could sing," George commented.
"Not very well," Hermione confessed.
"Actually Hermione has a lovely voice, she just doesn't usually show it," Harry pointed out.
"I only sing in the shower," Hermione answered.
George squared his shoulders and asked him, "So when have you been in the shower with Hermione to hear her sing?"
He blushed and said, "She doesn't just sing in the shower obviously."
"So what song is that anyway?" Cho asked Hermione, "I don't recognize it."
"It's from a muggle movie," Hermione explained, "Mary Poppins. My parents used to put it on for me and insist that I watch it every time they were..."
"Having sex?" George guessed.
Hermione nodded.
"Everytime?" Cho asked.
"Needless to say I watched Mary Poppins way too many times for comfort. They wouldn't tell me what they were doing, but I was a smart girl and figured it out eventually," Hermione answered.
"That would never have worked for my parents," George said, "they don't have 7 kids for nothing. We would have watched that movie until it exploded."
Harry decided not to mention that muggle movies did not explode as far as he knew.
"I'm pretty sure my aunt and uncle are asexual and lack reproductive parts and then adopted my cousin Dudley, so I would have been safe," Harry concluded.
It certainly made sense. He couldn't imagine how they would actually be able to be attracted to each other.
"Well unfortunately, I didn't have that luxury growing up," Hermione said, "I finally got them to at least switch over to nature videos."
"Yep, there is a lot of nature occurring," George agreed.
Hermione only rolled her eyes.