The Weird Sisters only took a 2 minute intermission before starting back up after the witches' captivating tango. They decided to change it up and play some of their top songs to get the teenagers blood pumping for a different reason.

Some of the attendees snapped out of their daze or private thoughts faster than others and began to fill the dancefloor up again. Other party goers sat down with their friends and chatted; or were chatting with students from the other schools.

The ball was starting to wind down and many of the older witches and wizards were ready to call it a night. They still had a while to go before midnight though and knew they had to tough it out. It was obvious something happened with Beauxbatons' headmistress and Hagrid, although neither would say what. There were a few verbal confrontations throughout the night, as was expected by the seasoned witches.

There was also a highly curious telling with the now icy French champion and her date, who had scratches on his face. It seemed as though no one either bothered or tried to heal him, but Minerva had a chilling rage bubble in her at what she assumed must have happened. She would be sure to give Davis detention with Severus every night for the next month for any infringement she may find on him.

She saw the willowy witch's eyes when she was walking towards Hermione and Krum and knew she had been holding back tears. It didn't take a genius to know that Davis was more susceptible to Miss Delacour's allure than previously thought. Said Ravenclaw was slinking sulkily close to the walls looking extremely put out, watching what had been his date. The older witch was pleased to see that it did not ruin the younger witch's night entirely. The young blonde witch had a grand smile on her face during and after the dance and that seemed to take care of that.

She had seen more of her star pupil than she had ever thought she'd see though. It was quite flustering, but she was quite impressed and moved with her skill on the dancefloor. It reminded her of the muggleborn's wand movements, swift and precise. It appeared that also extended to other activities, and she was proud of her student.

She had seen the kiss, much as everyone who had been watching saw it, and chose to ignore it. They were at a ball after all. What Miss Granger chose to do with her interactions with other people were her business. Who was she to judge? Albus was her best friend and she loved him unconditionally, even if he was a manipulating old codger.

Fleur had stayed with Hermione and Viktor for the rest of the ball, neither minding, and enjoying her company. Hermione was pleased with the new Fleur she was getting to know, and hoped that the witch would continue to be her friend after the night was over.

The trio did make it back onto the dancefloor at some point, if only to enjoy the band. Viktor swayed back and forth while the girls twirled each other. They even got Viktor to twirl them both a few times. They laughed most of what remained of the evening, Viktor chuckling mostly. The other students gave them a little berth, and instead of feeling self-conscious about it for once, Fleur and Viktor took advantage of it to dance with each other and Hermione.

Aside from Fleur's altercation with Davis, the willowy witch had a wonderful time at the ball. After she started to hang out with Durmstrang's champion and his date, her night got better. She was sure she made real friends with the witch and wizard. She almost wanted to thank Davis for trying to push himself on her, almost.

Viktor was having a grand time with Hermione and Fleur, surprised at himself for smiling for what felt like the whole night. It wasn't as grand as when he was flying in the air, but it was close. Hermione was beautiful, smart, talented, and funny. It was a dark and dry humor, but he appreciated it. Fleur was a surprise, but he was happy that she opened up a little and wasn't an ice queen that she portrayed. She also had a dry humor it appeared and they got on well enough.

He was peripherally aware of the attention she got, almost as much as him, but because of her allure more than anything. He was sure her ice queen façade was more of a self-defense mechanism and he couldn't blame her. He got defensive and awkward around fans in a private setting, but for Fleur it must be an everyday almost every interaction thing. It was like having a kindred spirit and it was just as nice as having a friend like Hermione, who didn't care.

Even though Ron didn't like it, he took a page out of Harry's book after Hermione's surprising tango and avoided looking at the dancefloor for the rest of the ball.

With Harry it was because he liked Cho and Ron understood how a bloke couldn't see the girl he liked with another bloke.

With Hermione all he understood was that she a traitor full of surprises. He couldn't understand why she couldn't see that Krum was using her. There just simply couldn't be another reason why someone like Krum would talk to someone like Hermione. She was their bookworm, she wore frumpy ugly clothes every day. She wasn't pretty until tonight, it wasn't like Krum could see into the future; he wasn't a seer. Hermione made it seem as though Krum knew she could be pretty.

'I bet that Karkaroff guy bewitched Krum, that's got to be it. Now I just have to make Hermione see reason!' the red headed wizard thought to himself.

Midnight came sooner than expected for some of the students and not soon enough for the adults supervising them.

Hermione, Fleur, and Krum left as the last song was winding down. They made their way to the door to avoid the inevitable leaving crowd. Fleur decided to take her leave of them there and kissed them both on the cheeks before departing for the night.

Viktor blushed, looking sideways to Hermione, who just smiled at him.

"Bonne nuit, 'ermionee, Viktor."

When the blonde witch took her leave Hermione giggled at the thin boy.

"It's a normal French custom between friends and family. Much like Bulgarian customs." She shot a sly look at him, "After tonight I would like to hope we are friends." She said the last part dryly.

Viktor smiled, agreeing with the smaller witch, offering his arm so he would be able to walk with her just a little longer. Hermione took the offered appendage, pleased with his gentility. It was cute, even with the both of them knowing it was just a short walk away to the entrance doors.

Once they were there Hermione leaned up on her tippy toes, and Viktor took the hint and bent down to meet her, curiously. Internally pleased with Viktor's affability to her whims, Hermione hugged him and kissed him on both cheeks.

When they pulled away Hermione giggled at Viktor again, pushing the dangling bit of her hair behind her ear. The Bulgarian blushed and smiled at the small witch.

"Ah, young love," came a grandfatherly voice a few feet away.

Both of the teenagers blushed brightly. Viktor more so due to his shyness since he had considered this their first date. For Hermione it was because it was her first date with someone from the wizarding world. It was like a coming out that she was available to date. What a lot of people didn't know was that she tried to keep her school life professional.

She had many things she had to do, stay on top of her classes and keep Harry Potter alive. Doing both at the same time was quite stressful, but she managed it. Her grades were very important to her, but so was her life debt. Letting someone take up time away from those two things was something she was very reluctant to do, despite liking the attention.

But she was Hermione Granger, and she was expected to manage. She planned on passing expectations rather than living up to them.

"Good night, Viktor. I had a wonderful time with you this evening."

"I also had good time Herm-own-ni. Maybe ve can spend veekend together soon?" his eyes reminded her of a puppy.

"That would be nice. Thank you, Viktor. Good night."

"Good night, Herm-own-ni."

With that Hermione flounced around and made her way up the staircases. She noticed Ronald and gave him an icy look, still disgruntled with him, knowing that he was still angry. She also noticed Harry, and knew they would follow her to the tower.

"Hey – Harry!"

Hermione heard Cedric Diggory call for her friend and kept her ear on them. Ron kept following her, his footsteps sounding just as petulant and angry as he was at the moment.

Hermione heard the Hufflepuff thank Harry in a typical male roundabout way. She rolled her eyes amused at him, it was charming. The Hufflepuff really was a likeable bloke. Still listening she heard him tell Harry what to do, knowing that it was the answer to his egg. She would make sure to ask him about it soon if he didn't come forth with the information himself.

She barely made it through the portrait when Ron opened his mouth to start another row with her.

"I don't appreciate it, Hermione." He started gruffly.

"Don't appreciate what, Ronald?" she quipped back sharply, glaring at her friend pointedly.

"You going to the bloody ball with Krum is what!" he bellowed at her, going red in the face.

Harry walked through the portrait and froze after closing it shut behind him. He was hoping beyond all hope that if he stood still, they wouldn't see him and he wouldn't be brought into their row.

"Well that's a little too bloody bad!" she yelled back, her face screwing up in a snarl as blood rushed to her face.

"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back.

"Who I choose to go with to any bloody ball is none of your business, Ronald! Especially as a last fucking resort!"

Ron was flabbergasted at hearing his normally goodie-two-shoes friend swear. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound was coming out.

The witch turned on her heel and stormed up the girl's staircase to bed, leaving her friend to imitate a goldfish. She heard him sputter nonsense to Harry and was pleased when her bespectacled friend didn't say anything back. She didn't close the door behind her until she heard the boys make their own way up to their dorm room.

She stripped on her way to her bed, glad that she was the first one in the room. She let her clothes drop to the floor, knowing that Thimi would be glad to have something to do. She wanted to feel guilty, but she also felt it was the least she could do so the elf felt like she was a good elf.

She let her hair down, but left the jasmine pins that room of requirement had given her in her hair. As she sat down on her bed she was pleased to see that her faithful ginger haired cat had taken residence on her bed.

"Hey Crooks, I looked smashing tonight. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow… I had a lot of fun." She curled around her large cat, sharing the bed with him and started carding her finger through his fur.

She had a wonderful time tonight. It was indeed her night, just as she had said it would be. She had rocked the halls of Hogwarts, she stunned everyone, left the purebloods speechless, kissed one of the most beautiful girls at the dance (normally it wouldn't matter, but she was pleased that half the school would be jealous of that tidbit), arrived on the arm of someone most of her peers thought was out of her league, and left on the arms of two people who most of her peers considered to be out of her league, who just so happened to also be tri-wizard champions.

It was a good night. Hopefully Boxing Day would also be good, even though she knew it wouldn't be as good.

Bonne nuit - Good night