A/N: This chapter took way longer than I expected. It's the longest chapter in this fic so far, but there's just so much happening in it. Also, the Yule Ball! Finally!
I still don't own Harry Potter or any associated characters.
Once again thanks to my beta reader BananaCarrot5
For the past week, the castle had been inundated with talk about the Yule Ball. Nearly every fourth year and above had chosen to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, and they all seemed obsessed with the upcoming ball. Groups of girls whispered in the corridors, giggling anytime boys walked past and comparing notes on what they planned to wear. The boys cast furtive glances, surreptitiously encouraging each other to ask their school crush…
"Why do they have to move in packs?" Ron moaned one night, as he, Hermione, and Harry sat in the Gryffindor common room. A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration lay open on Harry's lap as he absentmindedly stroked Crookshanks. The cat had seated himself right next to Harry and Hermione, who had her feet up on the couch's arm and nestled her back into Harry's side as she alternated between her notebook and The Art of Cursebreaking.
Ron continued his lament, "I don't understand how you're supposed to get one on their own to ask them."
"You're overthinking it, Ron," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "There's plenty of opportunities, especially right after classes end. Just politely strike up a conversation and I'm sure you can figure it out from there."
"Thanks, Hermione," Ron mumbled, carefully adding two more Exploding Snap cards to his card castle. "Seems like a lot of work though."
"Doesn't seem that bad to me," Harry said with a shrug.
Ron let out an exasperated sigh.
"Of course you aren't worried. You're a champion. You beat a Hungarian Horntail. They've been queuing up to go with you ever since the ball was announced."
Ron's voice was laced with suppressed bitterness.
"They have?" Hermione asked curiously, sitting up to look at Harry with amusement.
"Sure, all in the last week or so," Ron said, as Harry glanced at Hermione apologetically. "There was a third-year from Hufflepuff, a second-year, and even this really good-looking fifth-year. He turned 'em all down too."
Hermione grinned. "Good."
"Good! Good?" Ron exclaimed. "The man is clearly insane. If I was in his place, and pretty girls kept coming up to me-"
"Now what's this we're hearing about pretty girls?"
They turned to see Fred and George standing nearby, an identical smirk plastered across their faces.
"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked.
"No, he's off delivering a letter," said Ron. "Why?"
"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," said Fred sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat," said George.
"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" said Ron.
"Nose out, Ron, or I'll turn you into an owl and have you deliver the letters instead," said Fred, waving his wand threateningly. "So . . . you lot got dates for the ball yet?"
"Nope," said Ron.
"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," said Fred.
"Who're you going with, then?" said Ron.
"Angelina," said Fred without hesitation.
"What?" said Ron, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"
"Not yet," said Fred. "Watch and learn."
He turned his head and called across the common room, "Oi! Angelina!"
Angelina, who had been chatting with Alicia Spinnet near the fire, looked over at him.
"What?" she called back.
"Do you want to come to the ball with me?"
Angelina paused, giving Fred an appraising look.
"All right, then," she said, and she turned back to Alicia and carried on chatting with a bit of a grin on her face.
"There you go," said Fred, winking at Harry and Ron.
"We'd better use a school owl then, George, come on…" he said with a yawn, and they walked off.
Ron looked over at Harry. "We should get a move on, you know . . . ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up with a pair of trolls."
Hermione shifted next to Harry so she could glower at the redhead.
"I already asked someone, Ron," Harry said.
"Saying things like that, it's no wonder you still don't have a partner for the ball," Hermione said scathingly.
But Ron was staring at Hermione as if he'd just suddenly had an epiphany.
"Why Hermione, you're a girl…"
Harry groaned.
"Always have been," Hermione said coldly.
"It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone, for a girl it's just sad. Why don't you go with one of us?" Ron asked.
Hermione glared at Ron, before letting out a sigh. "I'm already going with one of you - I'm going with Harry," she said, her cheeks taking on a pink tinge.
Ron spluttered. "Oh, that's… uh great and all. But what am I supposed to do?"
"I'm sure you'll figure that out," Hermione said.
"Might want to keep the calling girls trolls to a minimum," Harry added helpfully.
"Right," said Ron, awkwardly picking at his robes. "I'll… I think it's time I get some sleep." He stood, making for the boys' staircase.
"Goodnight Ron," Harry called.
-:-:-:-
Harry crept down the stairs, clutching the invisibility cloak. His slippered feet were almost silent as he walked into the common room. Embers smoldered in the fireplace, casting a dull scarlet glow across the Christmas decorations scattered throughout the otherwise dark room. He cautiously stepped over a couple of half-eaten gingerbread cookies scattered across the floor, remnants from an early Christmas party, even though Christmas was still two days away.
Hermione sat on a couch by the fire, clad in a plain white top and flannel pajama pants, waiting. Her wand and notebook were in her hands, and she stood upon seeing Harry.
"Hi. Ready?" she whispered.
Harry nodded, unfurling the invisibility cloak. Hermione moved closer to him, ducking as he threw the fabric over both their heads.
Slowly pushing the portrait door open, they made their way out of the common room and into the halls.
As the doors to the Room of Requirement closed behind them, they shrugged the cloak off, leaving it on the floor in a pile. A cluster of practice dummies sat in the middle of the room, which was covered in floor-to-ceiling mirrors.
Hermione flipped through the notebook, pausing to glance at a page before tossing it onto Harry's invisibility cloak.
"What's on the schedule for tonight?" Harry asked, absentmindedly tapping his wand against his thigh.
"Using conjuration in a duel," Hermione said as she walked toward the center of the room. "To start."
She pointed her wand at Harry. "Stupify."
"Protego," Harry cried. The spell ricocheted off his shield, slamming into a nearby wall.
Hermione shook her head. "Try it without using a shield charm. They won't stop a killing curse."
"My turn," she said, readying her wand.
Harry pointed his wand in her direction. "Expelliarmus."
His spell fizzled against her conjured shower of flower petals.
After exchanging stunning spells with each other for a few minutes and being satisfied with their defense using conjuration, they moved on to the next item on the list. For the next half hour, Harry and Hermione made use of the practice dummies around the room to brush up on their previous spellwork.
Reaching the end of their session, the floor of the room was nearly covered in splintered practice dummies and singed rose petals. Against the far wall lay a disembodied torso, thanks to a particularly strong Depulso from Hermione.
Only three dummies remained intact.
"Petrificus Totalus." Hermione's dummy froze in place, teetering slightly.
"Glacius," Harry said, pointing his wand at the other two dummies. A rush of ice-cold air struck the dummies, frost creeping across them as they crackled from the rapid temperature change.
With a twirl of his wand, Harry sent an exploding charm at the frozen dummies, shattering them into icy fragments.
A burst of blue light lit the room as Hermione's reductor curse grazed her paralyzed dummy, blasting half of it into dust as the curse slammed into the wall behind. The mirrored wall shattered as the brick behind it turned to fine gray dust.
"Let's take a break," Harry breathed, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Hermione nodded her agreement as she rested her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
"You have Sectumsempra on the list too, right," Harry asked, leaning against the newly mirror-less wall.
"Yes I do," Hermione answered carefully. "I was thinking we could try using it tonight before we head back."
She motioned towards the dummy torso nearby. "After you."
Harry slashed his wand toward the torso. "Sectumsempra."
Deep gashes appeared in the nearby brick as the dummy's head was severed clean off with a loud crack.
Hermione pointed her wand at the dummy, mimicking Harry's motion. "Sectumsempra."
A ragged laceration, as if made by an invisible sword, split what remained of the torso in two.
Hermione stepped forward, kneeling to inspect the gash in the wall.
"It's certainly very dangerous, but it could be useful," she said reverently. "Ready to call it a night?"
An image of Draco Malfoy's blood-soaked chest flashed through Harry's head.
"Yeah," he said, looking down at the mangled remains of the practice dummy.
-:-:-:-
Harry awoke Christmas morning to find Hogwarts coated in a fresh layer of snow. A small pile of presents lay at the foot of his bed. He turned, reaching for his glasses, only to be faced with a pair of large green eyes inches from his own.
"Dobby!" Harry yelled, scrambling away from the elf so fast he almost fell out of bed. "Don't do that!"
"Dobby is sorry, sir!" squeaked Dobby anxiously, jumping backward with his long fingers over his mouth. "Dobby is only wanting to wish Harry Potter 'Merry Christmas' and bring him a present, sir! Dobby wishes Harry Potter would come and see him sometimes, sir!"
"It's okay," Harry said, his heart rate slowly returning to normal. "I'm sorry I haven't come to see you, I've been rather busy recently."
Harry put his glasses on, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he pulled back the curtains around his bed. His yell had awoken Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville, who were peaking through the gaps of their own curtains.
"Is that Dobby?" Ron asked sleepily.
"Yeah," Harry said. "Go back to sleep."
Spotting the large pile of presents at the foot of his bed, Ron decided that going back to bed was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Might as well do some present-opening since I'm up," Ron said with a shrug.
Harry turned back to Dobby, who stood next to his bed, nervously shifting from foot to foot.
"Can Dobby give Harry Potter his present?" squeaked tentatively.
"' Course you can," said Harry. "I got some socks for you too - I know they're your favorite," he added, reaching for his trunk. He opened it and pulled out the pair of Uncle Vernon's old mustard yellow socks.
"Thought you might want to put them on now, so I didn't wrap them," he explained, handing the socks to Dobby.
The delighted elf ripped over his old ones and pulled Uncle Vernon's socks on. "They has made a mistake at the shop," Dobby said, his eyes widening as he inspected the leg-length mustard socks. "They is giving you two of the same sock."
"Took the words right out of my mouth Dobby, how could they make a mistake like that?" Ron said, looking over from his bed with a grin. He rustled through the wrapping strewn about, pulling out a pair of violet socks and a hand-knit sweater.
"Here," he said, tossing them over to Dobby. "They made the same mistake with these, but now you can mix and match. They're all yours."
After sorting out Dobby's presents and opening his own, Harry walked down to the common room to meet up with Hermione.
Together, the two of them went down to breakfast, taking advantage of how empty the Great Hall was in the early morning.
"Oh Harry, I forgot to get you a present," Hermione said, the realization hitting her as they sat down to eat.
"Don't worry about it," Harry laughed. "I forgot to get one for you too. Actually, I think I forgot to get anyone a Christmas present."
"We have been a little preoccupied I suppose," Hermione said with a smile. "Oh, look! The owl you sent to Sirius is back."
The brown barn owl from earlier circled once overhead before descending on them. It landed in front of Harry, hooting happily as Harry untied the scroll fastened onto its leg. As he unfurled the letter, Hermione leaned closer to Harry to get a better view. It read:
Dear Harry,
Congratulations on getting past the Horntail and first place! Whoever put your name in that goblet shouldn't be too pleased with your stellar performance so far! And I'm very relieved to hear you didn't get hurt. I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitis Curse, but your idea was much more dramatic, I'm impressed.
As for staying with me over the summer, I'll see what I can do. Things are… complicated at the moment, but I'll do everything in my power to make it happen, I promise.
While first place is a great start, don't get complacent. You've only done one task; whoever put you in for the tournament's got plenty more opportunity if they're trying to hurt you.
Keep your eyes open and keep yourself out of trouble.
Stay vigilant,
Snuffles
"Things are complicated?" Harry said, rereading the letter.
"He's probably still in hiding," Hermione surmised.
Harry thought for a moment. "I could probably try encouraging him to go back to Grimmauld Place earlier."
"That might not be necessary," Hermione said. "He's going to be there this summer either way, but now that you made it clear you want to stay with him I think he'll find a way to make it work."
After breakfast, Harry and Hermione spent most of their morning in Gryffindor Tower, where everyone was enjoying their presents. At noon, they returned to the Great Hall for a magnificent lunch, which included at least a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings, and large piles of Cribbage's Wizarding Crackers.
In the afternoon, they were joined by Ron and the Weasley twins and went out onto the grounds. The snow glistened in the sunlight, its surface undisturbed save for the tracks made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students on their way up to the castle.
Rather than watching Harry and the Weasleys' snowball fight, Hermione chose to hurl snowballs at breathtaking speeds with her wand, sending them scrambling for cover.
"Watch it, Hermione!" Ron yelled as a ball of packed snow flew inches past his face.
"Sorry!" Hermione called back with a wide smile, not sounding very sorry at all. "Just don't get hit!"
At five o'clock, Hermione announced that she was going back upstairs to get ready for the ball.
"What do you need three hours for?" asked Ron, looking at her incredulously.
"Just as well," George said with faux disdain. He touched his side, wincing slightly. "Blimey, her snowballs are leaving bruises."
Ignoring them, Hermione just waved at Harry before disappearing up the stone steps into the castle.
-:-:-:-
Harry stood in the common room, tugging at his dress robes nervously. Gryffindors, clad in a variety of colors rather than their usual black robes, excitedly milled about the room.
"Did you hear, Pavati was able to get me a date for the ball," Ron said, glumly inspecting his own dress robes. "It's her sister, Padma. Well, she's not exactly a 'date' date, but it's better than nothing."
"That's great, Ron," Harry said absentmindedly.
Parvati hurried over to them, her dark, gold-braided hair trailing behind her.
"Ron, Padma's waiting for you in the entrance hall."
"I gotta go," Ron said apologetically.
"See you in a bit," Harry said. He watched them hurry out of the portrait hole.
"Hi Harry," a familiar voice said from behind.
Harry turned.
Hermione beamed at Harry. She had twisted her curly hair into an elegant knot at the back of her head and a shiny chestnut brown tress cascaded down past her shoulder. Her periwinkle-blue robes seemed to almost be floating around her as she walked closer.
Her brown eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Woah," Harry breathed, feeling his cheeks grow warm. "Hi."
Hermione's smile broadened as her face flushed a light pink.
"Ready?" she asked eagerly.
They arrived in the entrance hall just as students began to file into the Great Hall. The great oak doors to the front lawn opened, and Professor Karkaroff and the Drumstrang party entered, with Krum leading. He was accompanied by a pretty girl that Harry didn't recognize, likely from Durmstrang.
Beyond them, the front lawn of Hogwarts had been completely transformed into a grotto lit by hundreds of drifting fairy lights. Conjured rosebushes lined the pathways, and marble statues and benches were scattered across the lawn.
Then Professor McGonagall's voice called, "Champions over here, please!"
Professor McGonagall was wearing red tartan dress robes and had adorned the brim of her hat with a wreath of thistles. She ushered the champions off to one side of the doors, telling them to wait there as they were to enter the Great Hall in procession once the rest of the students were seated.
Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies took up a spot right next to the doors. Davies looked as if he was in a daze; stunned by his incredible luck in having Fleur for a partner and almost unable to break his eyes away from her.
Krum and his date were over near Fleur and Davies, deep in conversation. As Harry watched, she laughed at something Krum said, who cracked a smile.
Cedric and Cho were close to Harry. Cedric gave him a little wave and Cho smiled at them. Harry returned the wave before turning his attention back to Hermione.
"I can't believe it's really happening," she whispered to him.
"Neither can I," Harry agreed. "Thanks again for coming with me."
"Of course," Hermione said sincerely.
The noise from the Great Hall died down, and Professor McGonagall told the champions and their partners to line up in pairs.
Harry offered his arm to Hermione. She laced her arm in his, drawing close to his side.
With a fanfare of trumpets, the champions processed into the Hall. Applauding students lined their way toward a large round table where the judges were seated, forming an aisle.
The house tables had vanished, replaced with a hundred smaller ones topped with lanterns, enough to seat about a dozen people each. Chandeliers made of sparkling icicles hung suspended in midair below the starry night sky ceiling. Numerous strands of mistletoe and ivy wound their way far overhead, and the walls were covered in a light silver frost.
Hermione was beaming as she strode down the aisle. Her periwinkle robes trailed behind her, rippling like water. Glancing into the crowd, Harry could make out Pansy Parkinson and Malfoy with similar looks of confusion and disbelief plastered across their faces.
"Is that… Hermione Granger?" someone whispered, just loud enough for Harry to hear. "With Harry Potter?"
As they neared the top table, Harry caught sight of Ron. He was seated next to Padma and watched the two of them pass with an unreadable expression.
Dumbledore smiled happily as he watched the champions approach the top table. Ludo Bagman, clad in bright purple robes, sat next to Dumbledore, clapping enthusiastically. Further down the table, Karkaroff was looking slightly less grumpy than usual and Madame Maxine was applauding them politely.
But Mr. Crouch was missing. In his fifth seat at the table sat Percy Weasley, wearing brand-new, navy blue dress robes and a smug expression to match.
As the champions and their partners reached the table, Percy drew out the empty chair beside him, staring pointedly at Harry.
"Oh, I'd rather we sit somewhere else," Hermione whispered to Harry, noticing Percy's hint. "I want to enjoy the evening."
Thankfully, Cedric saved them.
"Harry, Hermione, over here," he called from further down the table, motioning towards a pair of empty chairs. They quickly took their seats as Harry did his best to avoid eye contact with Percy.
Picking up the small menu that sat in front of them, Harry and Hermione carefully considered it before ordering. The food appeared on the glittering golden plates.
They make pleasant, idle conversation with Cedric and Cho while they ate, drowning out Percy's pompous boasting from the other end of the table.
"Harry…" Cedric said suddenly, leaning towards him and lowering his voice. "I realize I never really thanked you properly for tipping me off about those dragons."
"Don't worry about it," Harry said with a shrug. "I'm sure you would've done the same."
Cedric nodded. "You know your golden egg? How it wails when you open it?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "Only when it's not underwater."
"Ah, so you've already figured it out then," Cedric said with a smile. "I guess I should've figured. Any luck with deciphering the riddle?"
Harry frowned. "All I know is we need to recover something of ours," he lied.
A few seats away, Dumbledore, having noticed that nearly everyone was finished eating, stood.
"Now, if you could all stand up," he asked the assembled students.
He waved his wand, and the tables zoomed back against the walls, clearing the floor. Turning towards the rightmost wall, he conjured a raised platform with a set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes upon it.
Wild applause filled the room as the Weird Sisters made their way onto the stage, dressed in ripped black robes and just as incredibly hairy as last time. They picked up their instruments, and Harry, Hermione, the other champions, and their partners moved toward the dance floor.
"Come on!" Hermione said excitedly, pulling Harry by the hand.
They walked onto the brightly lit dance floor as the Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune. Hermione seized one of his hands, holding it in hers as Harry placed his other hand on her waist.
Hermione took the lead as they started to dance, slowly revolving on the spot. They were only a few inches apart, close enough for Harry to smell her perfume. His face felt warm. Hermione was looking at him, eyes shining and face scarlet.
"Better than last time?" she asked, grinning.
"Loads."
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw that they were no longer being watched, as many of the other people had come onto the dance floor.
Neville and Ginny danced nearby, with Ginny doing her best to keep Neville from trodding on her feet. Madame Maxime was gracefully waltzing with Dumbledore, whose pointed hat was nearly in line with her chin.
A wooden thumping sound drew his attention, and he turned his head to see fake Moody and Professor Sinistra doing a rather clumsy two-step.
"Nice socks, Potter," fake-Moody growled, his magical eye staring through Harry's robes as he passed.
"Thanks," said Harry, awkwardly.
Hermione let out a little gasp, maneuvering Harry between fake Moody and herself.
"I forgot his eye could see through clothing," she said indignantly, glaring at Moody over Harry's shoulder.
With a final, quavering note from the bagpipe, the Weird Sisters finished the song and thunderous applause filled the hall once more. As it died down, they struck up a new song, much faster than the first.
"Having fun?" Harry asked Hermione, who had begun to sway to the music.
"Mm-hmm," she hummed contentedly.
Abandoning the waltz pose, Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and he placed his other hand on her waist as they continued dancing.
Two more songs flew by before Harry and Hermione, feeling rather hot and with their feet starting to hurt, left the dance floor.
"We could get something to drink and walk around for a bit," Hermione suggested, fanning herself with her hand.
"I'll grab them," Harry offered. "I'll be right back."
He returned, two butterbeers in hand, to see Hermione talking with Padma.
"-he doesn't want to dance, he's just been such a bore this whole time," Padma was complaining.
"Oh, hi Harry," she said, as he walked up. "Ron's being so stubborn and refusing to dance. I'm about to just leave him and find someone else to dance with."
Harry sighed. "I'll talk to him," he said reluctantly. Hermione held out her hands towards him, and he handed over the butterbeers.
After a minute of searching, Harry found Ron sitting at an otherwise empty table, looking sullen.
"What's up?" Harry asked, taking a seat next to him.
"Oh, now you want to spend time with me," he said scathingly. "Don't let me stop you two from having a grand time without me."
He's fourteen, Harry reminded himself. You're the mature one here.
"I don't know what you expect me to say," Harry said, holding his hands up in surrender. "We haven't done anything wrong, Hermione and I are ball dates, so we're obviously gonna dance together."
Harry looked over at Hermione and Padma. "You went with Padma, maybe you should go dance with her," he suggested.
Ron grunted.
Harry got up from the table and made his way back over to the two girls. Hermione handed him his butterbeer, which he gratefully accepted.
"Ah, he's coming over now," Padma said, looking past Harry. He turned to see Ron walking towards them.
"Would you like to dance, Padma?" Ron asked reluctantly.
As Padma dragged Ron onto the dance floor, Harry and Hermione skirted along the far wall of the Great Hall and slipped out into the entrance hall.
They passed through the open front doors and went down the front steps into the lush rose garden. Fluttering fairy lights twinkled overhead as they walked down a winding ornamental path surrounded by bushes. Large stone statues and carved benches were scattered along the path, and Harry could hear splashing water nearby.
Rounding a bend, they could see the sparkling jets from a tall fountain that stood opposite a large stone reindeer.
Two enormous figures sat on a bench, watching the water shimmer in the moonlight.
"Momen' I saw yeh, I knew," they hear Hagrid say, in an oddly husky voice.
Hermione froze, looking at Harry with wide eyes. Is that Hagrid? she mouthed.
"We should move on," Harry said frantically.
After a few more minutes of exploring, they happened upon an unoccupied bench. It was nestled among several bushes, almost out of sight from the main path. A snowman statue stood across from it, looking out over the fairy-lit grotto.
Hermione sat, kicking off her shoes and stretching her legs. Harry slid onto the bench next to her.
"It's a beautiful night out," she said serenely, looking at the star-studded sky.
"It is," Harry agreed.
The moon above cast a faint silver glow across the grounds, glinting off the spray from the fountains. Far out over the Forbidden Forest, Harry could faintly make out a thestral soaring over the treetops. A cool breeze drifted over the front lawn, causing Hermione to shiver. She scooted closer to Harry, their forearms touching.
"Are you nervous about tomorrow night?" she asked.
"Not especially," Harry said. "We just need to make sure neither of us puts the ring on."
They sat for a moment in silence, watching the thestral in the distance. Harry put an arm around Hermione's waist, and she laid her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry I dragged you into this," Harry confessed, breaking the silence. "I just couldn't have done it alone."
"I know," Hermione said. She turned her head to look him directly in the eyes, her hair sparkling in the moonlight.
"And don't be sorry, you didn't drag me into anything. I'm here because I want to be."
Her brown eyes flickered to his lips. She was so close Harry could feel the heat radiating off her.
Hermione could feel Harry's breath on her burning face.
Their faces were now only inches apart.
"Cozy are we, Potter," a voice said from behind them.
Harry and Hermione quickly separated, their heads jerking to look in the direction of the voice.
Snape stood by the snowman statue, a sour expression on his face and his wand out from blasting rosebushes apart. Karkaroff was a few paces back, anxiously clutching the sleeve of his robes.
"The Second Task is coming up soon, I hear." Snape scoffed. "Wouldn't want you getting too… comfortable."
Snape's eyes narrowed as whispers and poorly-stifled giggles came from the other side of the grotto.
"It would be wise not to be here when I return," Snape said. His robes fluttered dramatically as turned on his heel, quickly walking in the direction of the whispers with Karkaroff in tow.
Hermione bit her lip. "We should head inside," she said.
They returned to the Great Hall to find Parvati and Padma sitting at a distant table with a whole crowd of Beauxbatons boys, with Ron nowhere to be seen.
"Want to dance?" Harry asked, offering his hand.
Hermione took it with a wide smile.
At midnight, the Weird Sisters finished playing their last song and were met with a loud, long round of applause.
"My feet hurt," Hermione said, giving Harry a tired grin as they made their way into the entrance hall.
"Mine too," Harry said. "That was much more fun than last time."
Hermione slipped off her shoes, opting to carry them as they walked back to Gryffindor Tower with Neville. He had danced the whole night up until the last note and was still humming the music as they neared the portrait hole.
After Harry had woken a very irritated Fat Lady by shouting "Fairy Lights!" until she let them in, they climbed into the common room to find Ron slumped on one of the couches, waiting.
"There you two are," he said, getting to his feet. "What was that about, leaving me all alone at the Ball?"
"We were dancing," Hermione said, confused. "That's what you do at a ball."
"I know that Hermione, I'm not stupid," Ron snapped. "But I don't know what's going on, because you two were in your own little world-"
"Just drop it, Ron," Harry sighed. "We don't need to entertain you. You went with Padma, why didn't you spend time with her."
Ron huffed. "I see how it is. I'm going to bed." He walked off, heading up the stairs to his dorm.
"We'll sort it out with him later," Hermione said. "We have other things to worry about."
Harry nodded. "We should get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a late night."
They walked further into the common room, stopping at the foot of the stairs to the girls' dormitory.
"Thanks again for coming with me," Harry said. "I had a fantastic time."
Hermione stepped forward, pulling him into a gentle hug.
"Of course," she said quietly. "It was a wonderful night."
She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips softly against Harry's cheek.
"I'll see you in the morning, Harry," Hermione called as she disappeared up the steps.