Chapter 25: You're Taking Who?

Thanks for all the reviews.

If you've read my stories before you know I tend to ship my Harry with this person.

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Harry wasn't looking forward to asking anybody for a date. He really didn't want a girlfriend at this time. He felt he was too young for that, but he was looking forward to snogging. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to snog anybody seriously. Then again, he wasn't sure if he wanted to snog anybody on this date. Maybe he'd just pick a girl and show her a really good time. Make it a special night for her. Take her out as a friend. He'd have to give some consideration to that.

As it was right now, he had to get to class. He was walking to class with Hermione and was thinking about asking her when he noticed that Viktor Krum was looking at her. He noticed that the teen was looking at her a lot.

"Hey, Hermione. Krum is watching you," he told her, glancing back over his shoulder.

"Why would Viktor Krum be watching me?" she asked, looking over her shoulder and noting that the quidditch star was indeed looking at her, though he did look away almost immediately.

"Maybe he thinks you're cute," Harry said, giving her an impish grin.

"Don't be droll," she said imperiously.

"Why wouldn't he think you're cute? I think you're cute and I'm one of your best friends," he stated, surprised that she didn't think she was at least cute.

"That's just it. You are one of my best friends, so you're allowed to say that," she said, knowing exactly how she looked. For all she knew, she was a bucktooth, bushy-haired, know-it-all. And people did not find that cute.

"Oh, don't be silly. There's a lot of boys that think you're cute," he said, giving her a quizzical look.

"Oh, really? Name two," she said, with a sniff.

"Well, I'm sure Ron thinks you're cute. And um, possibly Neville," he said, rubbing the side of his nose.

"Ron does not even know I'm a girl. And Neville's too shy to think anybody's cute," she said with a self-depreciating laugh. "Or he thinks everyone is cute, I'm not sure," she added, still laughing.

"Oh, give a bloke a chance, Neville's an alright guy," Harry said, chuckling a bit.

"I never said he wasn't. I just said he's shy," she said, giving him a bit of a shove.

"Well, who are you hoping asks you out to the ball?" he asked, giving her a look as if to ascertain who she thought was cute. There had to be someone she liked in this school.

"I'm sure, I don't know," she answered, not giving him a clue.

"Well, if nobody asks you before we get two weeks to the ball, I'll ask you," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"That's very sweet of you, Harry," she said, putting her arm around his waist.

"It's the least I can do. You are my best friend," he said as they continue to walk down the hall. Everyone was well used to them walking this way. They knew that the couple was not a couple in that sense of the word.

"Why don't you ask me now?" she asked.

"Because I don't feel comfortable asking you. We are friends after all, but I wanted to see if I could ask somebody else," he explained the best way he knew how.

"Oh, I see. So, you don't see me that way," she said with dawning understanding.

"That's the gist of it," he agreed.

"That's okay. I don't see you that way either," she said with a chuckle. To her he was like a little brother.

"At least we've got that settled," he agreed with the chuckle.

"Yes, it's good to have that out in the open," she said as they continued walking.

"Dating you would be like dating Millie," he explained, giving a bit of a shiver. Now that he got over the minor crush he had for the bit of time, the thought of dating Millie gave him the willies.

"Yes, I can see that."

"Ah, I see we are at Charms class now. Let's get inside," he said, removing his arm from her shoulders.

And with that the two entered Charms class and started to go to their desk and to get ready for class. Harry looked around at all the girls that he knew and wondered if any of them would be worth taking to the ball. He thought that Lavander would be a bit too vapid to be taking. Parvati might be a good choice, but he wasn't sure. He didn't know the other two girls. Maybe he'd just take Luna. She wouldn't be able to go if nobody asked her. That and, she would be right fun to take.

He'd ask Millie later tonight.

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"Millie. Do you think I should take Luna to the ball?" Harry asked when they got on the mirror that night.

"That all depends. Why do you want to take her?" Millie inquired in return.

"Well, she won't be able to go unless somebody older than her asks," Harry answered, as honestly as he could.

"Is that the only reason you want to take her?" she asked, making sure that the boy gave her the full answer.

"Well, she's a nice girl and she'd be a riot to take," he said, not sure what the question was pertaining.

"Why do you think she'd be a riot to take?" she asked, trying to get the complete answer.

"Well, she's quirky and she's fun to be around," he said, again, completely honest.

"How is she quirky?" she asked, wanting to understand what he thought the word meant.

"Well, she always talks about her imaginary animals and she's kind of vague and airy," Harry said, still trying to figure out what the answer Millie was shooting for.

"I see what you mean, yeah. But are you just taking her for entertainment purposes, or do you want her to have a good night?" Millie asked, finally getting down to what she was trying to get.

"Oh, I see what you mean. I want her to have a good night. But I wanna have a good night too," Harry said, still completely honest. He wanted everybody to have a good time. And Luna would be very entertaining.

"Well, as long as you see everyone having fun, I don't see any issue. But if you're just going to take her for just your sake, then no, I don't think you should take her, yeah," Millie cautioned. She didn't want Harry to use the poor girl for entertainment purposes.

"No, I think she's a sweet girl and I think I should take her just so she could be able to go. I'll protect her from all the bullies while I'm there. Well, as well as I can," Harry said, knowing that there were some people he wouldn't be able to stand up to.

"As long as you think both of you can have a good time, yeah," Millie said, giving him an endearing smile.

"Thanks, Millie. You've been a lot of help. Maybe I should call Sirius for some dating advice," Harry said, giving her an impish grin.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, yeah," she said, concern showing on her face. Sirius was a ladies' man when he was younger. At least that was what he said.

"Oh, why not? He seems like a serious type of person. Pun intended," Harry said cheekily.

"Oh, go on with you, call him if you must," she conceded, knowing that he was going to do it anyway.

"Goodnight, Millie."

"Goodnight, Harry."

And with that, Harry called his godfather. "Hey, Sirius, I'm thinking about asking Luna to the ball and I was wondering if you could give me some dating advice," Harry said once they connected on the mirror.

"Well, first of all, are you going as a friend or are you going as a date?" was the first question.

"She's only thirteen. I think we'll be going as friends," Harry said, seriously. He really wasn't willing to take a thirteen-year-old out as a serious date.

"I don't know. Girls mature a lot faster than boys. I think you better make that perfectly clear before you ask her," Sirius said seriously, He didn't want the boy to make that mistake.

"I don't think I can call Luna mature, but I see what you're saying. I'll make sure that she knows that," Harry said. He was going to take everything Sirius said seriously. He thought of what would happen if he asked Ginny, and shuddered.

"OK, that's my first word of advice. My second word of advice is to make sure you give her a small gift," his godfather said, with a winning smile.

"Like what?"

"A flower, a handkerchief, something small like that," was the answer.

"Why?" was the next question.

"Because that's what you do. You give them something to remember the date by. They press the flower, or they keep the handkerchief. They keep it to remember the date by. It's a female thing," Sirius explained, waving his hand like it was an unexplainable thing.

"Oh, okay, I'll try and think of something to give her," he said, trying to come up with what Luna would like.

"Okay, and now the next thing you do is to make sure you know how to dance. Do you know how to dance, Harry?" The older man asked with great importance.

"Umm, no," the young teen confessed, with a blush.

"You had better learn, you only have a few weeks till the dance," his godfather instructed, trying to stress the importance of it with just the tone of his voice.

"McGonagall's going to be giving lessons. She doesn't want anybody to embarrass the school," Harry explained.

"Then you better pay attention to what she's teaching you, because you're gonna have to at least dance three times," Sirius said once again stressing in his voice how important it was.

"Okay, I'll pay attention and I'll ask Hermione if she can teach me how," Harry said, feeling that this was actually quite important. He'd pay attention in McGonagall's class and do his very best to do what he needed to do.

"Okay, so small gift, dance. Now, make sure you give her drinks and if there's food, make sure you bring her snacks," was the next piece of advice.

"Anything else I need to know?" Harry asked, making all the mental notes he needed.

"Conversation is crucial on any date. You can't let the date go by with no conversation. That kills the date faster than anything else. It's just a long boring nothing without something to talk about," Sirius said, again, stressing how essential this was.

"This is good advice. Thanks, Sirius," Harry said with great relief in his voice. These were things he would not have thought of by himself. He probably would have fudged the whole date.

"That's all I've got for you, kid. Good luck," His godfather said, knowing that there was probably a lot more, but for a first date, this was all the boy needed.

"Alright, Sirius, goodnight," Harry said with a yawn.

"Goodnight, Harry."

And with that, Harry disconnected the mirror and went to sleep. He did dream, and they weren't all exactly pleasant dreams. He dreamed of embarrassing himself in front of everybody at this ball. He woke up with the sense that he needed to learn to dance if only for himself and his date.

He went to the Great Hall for breakfast, and he noticed Luna Lovegood sitting at the end of the Ravenclaw table, sitting all by herself. So, he approached her and said, "Hey, Luna, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course, Harry Potter, I'd love to talk to you for a second," Luna said in that airy voice of hers.

He took her hand and led her over to a blank area in the Great Hall, near the wall towards the entrance. "I was wondering," he said, "If you had a date for the ball?"

"As a matter of fact, I do not," she said, staring at that space right above his right ear.

"Would you do me the honor of accompanying me? As a friend," he asked, making sure to stress that it was as a friend.

"Of course, Harry Potter, I would love to accompany you to the ball. Though Ginny would be very disappointed that you did not ask her," she said, looking over at the Gryffindor table at her redheaded friend, who was peeking in their direction.

"I have a confession to make, Luna. Ginny makes me very uncomfortable," Harry said, leaning forward to whisper in her ear so nobody could hear them.

"Alas, I always thought that was the case. I think the nargles have infested her," she said, leaning up a little bit to whisper into his ear.

"I think they have too. I don't know where they come from, but I do think they've infested her," he agreed, nodding his head sagely.

"I tried to give her a necklace, but she refused to take it," she said sadly, fingering her own butterbeer cork necklace.

"Well, if you ever see them around me, I would be more than happy to wear your necklace," he said with a grin. He would have no problem wearing one of her butterbeer cork necklaces.

"Oh no, Harry Potter, you are free of nargles. You are infested with wrackspurts. Though, I have noticed that they have dispersed a lot lately. And I don't think you can pull off radish earrings," she said with an impish grin.

"Well, I thank you for that, I think. But I will do my best to get rid of the wrackspurts," he said, shaking his head as if to be rid of them.

"All you need to do is laugh more," she said wisely.

"Oh, thank you for that advice, Luna. Uh, what color dress are you wearing?" he asked, bringing the subject back to the ball.

"Why don't you bring down your dress robes and I will bring down my dress and we will color coordinate. That's what the color changing charm is for," she suggested, making it much simpler for everybody.

"When would you like to do this?" he asked, looking at her with the tilt of his head.

"Saturday next."

"Perfect."

"It's a date."

"I will see you then then," he said, picking up her hand and kissing the back of it.

And with that, the two went to their own table to eat breakfast.

When Harry joins his table, Hermione asked him, "What were you talking with Luna Lovegood about?"

"I was asking her to the ball," Harry said without any shame. And he had nothing to be ashamed of.

"You asked Luna Lovegood?" asked Ron in disbelief, his mouth full of pancakes and syrup.

"Yes, I asked Luna. Why is that so hard to believe?" Harry asked, not looking at his friend's mouth. It was quite disgusting.

"Why didn't you ask my sister?" asked Ron, thankfully having swallowed the mess in his mouth.

"Why would I ask your sister?" Harry asked, looking over at Ginny, who looked mortified.

"Well, because she's prettier than Luna," suggested Ron, who is also looking at his sister, giving her a commiserating look.

"Luna is pretty too," Harry said, looking at the flighty girl and seeing the potential she would grow into.

"But Ginny has a crush on you," said his friend as if that was a contributing factor.

"Which is the main reason I didn't ask her," Harry said, denying that fact. He looked at Ginny who was listening in on the conversation and felt bad for her, but he wasn't going to sugarcoat it.

"That doesn't make any sense," said Ron, rubbing the side of his nose in confusion.

"Yes, it does. I don't wanna spend the night with somebody who has a crush on me. I wanna spend the night with a friend," Harry tried to explain to the boy.

"I still think you should have asked Ginny," Ron said one final time, as if his word was law.

"It's too late now because I have asked Luna. Ginny is just gonna have to find another date," Harry said with finality. He didn't understand why they were having this conversation. He had already asked Luna, and the discussion was over.

"Ginny is not gonna like this," Ron said slowly, once more glancing at the sad face of his sister.

"That is not my problem," Harry said one final time. This time he did not look at Ginny.

"I think it's very sweet of you to ask Luna," said Hermione, cutting into her pancakes and taking a bite. Her's had strawberries and whipped cream on them.

"Oh, who asked you? You don't even have a date," said Ron, cramming more of his pancakes in his mouth.

"I will have you know I do too have a date, thank you very much," Hermione said after she had swallowed. She put her nose in the air and sniffed as if she was angry.

"Oh really? Who would ask you?" Ron asked, jealously.

"Not that it's any of your business. As a matter of fact, it's none of your business," she said angrily. She wasn't going to tell this little so-and-so who was going to take her to the ball.

"I have a feeling I know who, and I'm not going to tell you either," Harry said, starting to think that Ron was a bit of a prat.

"I guess they told you," said Dean with a chuckle.

"Does everybody else have a date except me?" said Ron, morosely. As if it was the greatest sin in the world.

"I don't have a date," said Neville, though he didn't sound too upset about it. He was looking over at Ginny.

"Well, I didn't reckon you would have one," said Ron, looking at Neville if that he was something lower than low.

"Hey, now, that's not nice," said Harry, sticking up for his friend. He really was beginning to think Ron was a bit of a git.

"I plan on having a date before this evening is out," said Neville, glancing one more time in Ginny's direction.

"I don't have a date yet," said Parvati.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck," said Harry, seeing where Neville was glancing and really wishing him the best of luck. Maybe then the girl would stop crushing on him.

And with that, they got down to the business of eating their breakfast.

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The weeks went by. And Harry and his friends got busy with getting their dresses and robes ready for the ball. Harry made sure that his And Luna's clothes matched. They were close enough to begin with. His was a dark green robe and hers was a silver dress. But she decided she wanted to go with the darker silver, so they color-coordinated their clothes. He decided to change his to a chocolate color. To better match her silver.

They decided to go ask Professor Flitwick if he could do the color changing charm, so that it would last the night. The color would change back after the ball was over, but it should last for their date. They went down to Hogsmeade and got their hair done. Well, Harry got his hair cut and Luna got her hair styled. It wasn't an elaborate style; it was just a bunch of braids. That she could easily do herself the night of the ball.

Luna got a lot of flak from her housemates for going out with Harry Potter. Many people thought she was too young or too flighty to be dating Harry Potter and that she was not good enough for him. Harry made a supreme effort to be seen with her as much as possible so that they would leave her alone. It worked in some ways, in other ways it didn't.

On the day of the ball, all the women of the castle over the age of thirteen sequestered themselves inside their rooms so that they could get ready five hours before the ball was set to be commencing. Luna included, even though she swore she didn't need that much time to get ready.

The men kind of wandered around, either playing games or just waiting. They went and got ready about an hour before.

Harry went to the Ravenclaw dorm to pick up Luna at the appointed time. He was there with a bunch of other boys who also had Ravenclaw dates. He made sure to have a flower, which was a pink rose. It was a shade of pink that went well with her silver dress. It could be pinned to her shoulder with a sticking charm. It was special because it was metallic in nature.

When Luna showed up, she looked like a fairy. She was encased in flowy silver fabric, but she looked like she was floating on a cloud. Her hair was arranged in such a style that it looked like it was floating around her head. She just looks so ethereal.

"Miss Lovegood, you look very lovely this evening," Harry said as he held his hand extended towards her so that she could take it.

"Thank you, kind sir. Shall we attend the ball?" she said, placing her delicate gloved hand in his.

"Yes, I think we shall," he said, putting her hand in the crook of his elbow and escorting her down the hall.

"You look rather dapper yourself this evening," she said as they walked down the hallway towards the Great Hall.

"Thank you, lovely lady," he said as they both carried on airs. Then they both broke out into giggling fits. And with that, the two of them went to join the rest of the crowd into the Great Hall, which was decked out like a Winter Wonderland.

They sat at one of the many tables that were scattered around the Great Hall instead of the four great House tables. It was all set up like a huge restaurant. There were even menus on the plates instead of the regular foods in the middle of the table.

When the Champions were in and were seated and they waited for the headmaster to show everybody how to order their food. Everybody was soon eating and chatting, and the hall was soon filled with noise and the smell of wonderfully cooked food.

The champions started the dance, and Harry soon got up and had Luna twirling around the floor. He was an amateur at best, but he did his best to show her what he had learned from McGonagall. She didn't seem to mind that he stepped on her toes quite a few times. She was light on hers, so she danced away from his clumsy attempts, and she seemed to have fun.

He only danced with her four or five times that night, but he kept the conversation going like Sirius told him to. They talked of many things, some consequential, others not. They chatted with friends. Hermione had a date with one Viktor Krum, and she made sure to come and join them in conversation, especially when she had a falling out with Ron, who was dating Parvati of all people. He wasn't being a very polite date, that was for sure.

By the end of the evening, Harry had taken Luna out to show her the Winter Wonderland that the headmaster created outside, and they looked for nargles and wrackspurts. However, they didn't find anything, thank goodness. They did look for a couple of other imaginary creatures, but they didn't find any of those either. But they had a great time looking.

Harry did have to contend with Ginny staring at him the whole night because she was on a date with Neville. Neville seemed to be very put out about this. He did his best to keep her entertained, but she only had eyes for Harry.

All in all, it was a really good night with Harry and Luna. He even got to kiss her on the cheek goodnight, which she seemed to appreciate. That night after calling Millie and Sirius. He talked to his parents.

"Hi Mum. Hi Dad.

"Tonight, I was on my first date, and it was with a friend, and I had a really good time, but it got me to realize this was another first that you guys missed and that made me really sad. And I wanted you to know that I missed you.

"I hope in all these milestones that you miss that you're seeing me up there and you're looking down and that you're proud. I hope I make you see that I am growing up to be a good person. Millie and Sirius are doing their best to make sure that I am growing up to be the kind of person that you want me to be.

"I think Luna is a really nice girl. I'm not sure she's the type of girl I wanna marry, but I think she's a really good girl for a good first date. Anyway, it was my first date and I wanted to share that with you and wish you were here for it.

"I love you, Mum, Dad."

With that he went to sleep dreaming of dancing in the clouds with an unknown girl, with his parents watching and smiling at him.