Chapter 33

Harry and Ginny mostly avoided each other after that conversation where they had agreed to go together to the Yule Ball. It was like an implicit understanding between them, to go on as usual until they no longer could. Ginny was afraid Harry would change his mind if she gave him an opening, and she suspected that Harry feared a similar thing. Hermione assured her that Harry had not changed his mind, however, so it would seem that going to the ball together would be happening.

Not wanting to be teased or hexed, Ginny had only told Hermione and Neville, the latter because she felt she owed it to him to explain. Fortunately Neville was just incapable of thinking ill of anyone and he didn't seem offended or hurt once she had explained. On the contrary, he seemed glad and relieved that Harry had a date. Ginny really doubted that she could have been so gracious about it if the situation had been reversed, she wasn't nearly as good as Neville was. On his part, Harry wasn't being very communicative with anyone, and no one dared bringing up the ball with him, so it seemed like nobody would know they were going together until they were going, even though they hadn't agreed on keeping it a secret.

Christmas Day was not as merry and relaxed as it normally was, probably due to Harry and Ron's current breach. They had not spent much time close to each other since Halloween, but Weasley tradition dictated that any squabbles had to be put aside on Christmas, so they didn't have much of a choice on the matter. At least Fred and George made sure that they both wore their jumpers (Ginny was relieved to see that Harry's didn't have a dragon on it, her mum must have realized that it would make things worse), and for a while they all looked like a family. Although Ginny noticed that Neville looked forlorn, and suddenly felt bad for him. Even Hermione had a Weasley jumper, maybe she could ask her mum to knit one for him too next year? He was a friend of Harry's, after all, and mum would be happy to do it.

After lunch also no one really had a choice about going out to play in the snow, although the twins were smart enough not to involve Hermione in the snow war against her will. While Ron didn't have any luck avoiding Ginny's and the twins' snowballs, Harry was mostly spared, probably because nobody wanted to make him even more ill-humoured than he already was.

At around five Hermione gave Ginny the prearranged signal so she quickly threw a few more snowballs at Ron and followed her back to the castle. It didn't surprize her much that Harry and Neville came too, since they had both looked rather sad all day and they clearly had not really been in the mood for a snow fight. Once in the Common Room, the boys put aside their wet cloaks and sat to play chess in a corner. Ginny was tempted to hang around and watch to see who was worse (probably Neville, although Ron said that Harry truly sucked), but Hermione dragged her upstairs in a rush.

Taming Hermione's hair with Sleekeazy's Potion turned out not to be nearly as easy as Ginny had anticipated. She wasn't sure if the potion was just hard to apply or if Hermione's bushy hair was somehow immune to it, but by the end of the ordeal they had both decided never to try that again unless their lives depended on it. Hermione had been wise in taking three hours to prepare. Next to that, arranging Ginny's hair was a piece of cake, and in return for her help with the Sleekeazy Hermione cast a few neat spells to make Ginny's second-hand dress fit better. It actually looked as if it were new, once Hermione was done with it.

Finally, Hermione covered herself with a cloak and sneaked out of the tower to meet Krum outside the castle. Ginny stayed in her dormitory for a while (she had it all to herself, since her roommates had not gotten dates for the ball and therefore had chosen to go back home for Christmas) trying to get a grip on herself.

You're a Weasley, she mentally chanted as she stared at her reflection on the mirror. And Harry is family. Maybe someday Harry would like her the way she liked him, or maybe not. That didn't matter right now. It wasn't even certain that Harry would survive the year. And if he only had a little time longer to live, he should spend it with family. That's what Ginny would choose, if she were again the one about to die. Down in the Chamber of Secrets, she had not craved for Harry, but for her mum and dad, and her brothers. Liking Harry had seemed so silly at the time, especially considering how Tom had used that against her.

So tonight, Ginny would be Harry's family. Just be yourself, like you are with family.

When she finally emerged from her dormitory, most people had already gone down so the Common Room was almost empty. Only Harry was still there. She wanted to smack herself in the head when she saw the expression of relief on his face. He probably had thought she had stood him up and that he would die. Shame on her! Why hadn't she come down earlier? True, it had taken her a while to recover from her embarrassing panic attack, but she should have dragged herself down nonetheless.

Harry looked handsome. His dark green dress robes made his bright green eyes stood out more than usual, and also contributed to the dark aura he had been carrying around lately. He actually looked as if he belonged to Slytherin, realized Ginny with a jolt. He was also very like Tom in appearance, although of course Tom had been taller and his eyes had not been green. Why was she thinking these horrible things now? He might look dark and Slytherin, but she could see in his eyes that there was nothing evil about him. He was just Harry.

"You look more nervous than I felt when I met the dragon," said Harry after an uncomfortable moment. Ginny's face burned even hotter in embarrassment. "Er... Sorry," he added immediately, rubbing his neck and looking embarrassed himself. "I just... You don't have to be nervous around me, Ginny. I would never burn you alive."

Somehow, Ginny managed to smile at that.

"You did look awful in the first task," she dared saying. "I thought you were going to be sick."

Harry's lips twisted and a shadow crossed his eyes at the memory.

"I would have, if my stomach hadn't been frozen by terror."

They continued staring at each other uncomfortably, until finally Harry sighed.

"This is stupid, Ginny. We have known each other for years. I've been in your house. I was there when you bought your first wand... It doesn't have to be weird."

She could almost hear him say it: 'You're like a little sister to me'. It hurt, but that was the whole point, right? They were family. Just be yourself. It would be uncomfortable for Harry if she spent the whole night blushing at his every word. Everyone should be comfortable around family. Stop being stupid!

Slowly, she calmed down and the blush receded.

"I will stop being stupid," she promised, more to herself than to Harry. She was a Gryffindor, and a Weasley, she could do this.

Despite her promise, she had another moment of panic and blushing when they reached the entrance Hall and Ginny saw that most couples were holding hands or touching in some way. Would Harry...? Well, of course they would have to touch, this was a dance! But would he take her hand now? She had decided to just be family, but she couldn't ignore the sudden fluttering of butterflies in her stomach. It was so intense a sensation that for a moment she wondered if she had not done accidental magic and conjured real butterflies inside her.

To add to her nervousness, people were beginning to stare at them, and now Harry was glancing at her as if trying to wordlessly remind her not to be stupid.

"Potter! There you are!" called Professor McGonagall suddenly in a voice filled with concern, relief and irritation. "Go stand with the other champions!"

McGonagall's stern tone completely sobered Ginny up and instantly vanished all the butterflies inside her. It also seemed to bring back Harry's dark mood.

"I won't die because of a stupid ball," he muttered angrily, grabbing Ginny's hand without ceremony and tucking it in the crook of his elbow before dragging her forward.

Harry opened a path for them with his dark aura, glaring at anyone who met his eyes in a very scary way. She was barely aware that they were actually touching, and more aware by the moment of the attention they were receiving. Everyone was staring at them, and contrary to what Ron might think, it wasn't fun. She probably would have ran away if Harry had not had her hand firmly secured. Or she would have collapsed. Her legs definitely felt like jelly.

The relief Ginny felt when she saw Hermione quickly vanished at the sight of all the other champions and their dates. They were all so tall! Krum most of all. Part of her was dying to ask him for an autograph, but she refrained. Fleur Delacour was also very tall, and so beautiful that it hurt to look at her. Cedric nodded politely at her and Harry in greeting, receiving curt nods in return. Ginny had still not forgiven him for catching the Snitch last year while Harry almost lost his soul to the Dementors. And as to Harry, no doubt his curtness had to do with the fact that Cho Chang was Cedric's date. Ginny glanced at Harry to see his reaction, but he seemed to be deliberately keeping his eyes elsewhere.

She was distracted from her Cho Chang-related misery by the mysterious look that Harry and Krum shared, as if they were communicating silently. Both their mouths twisted in wry amusement when they eyed their respective dates, but they didn't say a word. What was that about?

People began trickling inside the Great Hall only a few minutes after they arrived. Many stared with mouths open at Hermione, and even at Ginny, who was again blushing and grabbing Harry's arm with more force that it was necessary. She wasn't enjoying the attention at all, probably because most people's looks were not flattering. As she watched Ron pass without sparing a glance in their direction, she wondered if her dumb brother would really enjoy being in Harry's position.

"Is it always like this?" she asked in a whisper.

"Sometimes it's worse," said Harry with an annoyed shrug.

"Just ignore them," advised Krum. "You have to focus only on what you are doing, else it is too distracting. You can't let it annoy you too much."

"Maybe I should practice scowling like you," Harry muttered back.

Krum snorted.

"You are doing it well enough, Potter."

Hermione stifled a snort of her own, earning herself a deep scowl from Harry. He really was learning how to scowl Bulgarian-style.

Ginny was just awed at Harry's and Krum's familiarity. So far she had thought that Harry was being excluded from the champions' circle because he was too young or perhaps because everyone thought that he had cheated to enter the Tournament, but it seemed like Krum had no issue with him.

She was also getting the feeling that, just as Hermione had said, she didn't know Harry at all.

Ginny's impression that it wasn't fun to be the center of attention was strongly reinforced when the champions and their dates finally had to enter the Great Hall as if they were creatures being exhibited for the public's amusement. Everyone was applauding, but all faces Ginny saw directed her way were sneering or laughing in obvious mockery. She felt her face burn again.

"Don't let me trip," she begged in a whisper.

Harry snorted.

"I was going to say the same thing," he whispered back. But he grabbed her hand more firmly, and Ginny felt a bit more secure. It seemed like Harry was just as nervous as she was.

Reaching the top table was a relief. They were received by all the judges, most of whom were applauding and smiling (with the exception of Karkaroff, who had a very nasty expression on his face, which oddly seemed to be directed at Krum and Hermione), and were invited by Dumbledore to take their seats. Only then Ginny realized that there was someone there that shouldn't. Her mouth dropped as she stared at Percy, who was wearing brand-new dress robes and an expression of smugness that made her want to smack him.

He was currently ignoring her completely and staring instead at Harry, clearly wanting him to sit in the empty chair next to him, but Ginny was not about to let him monopolize Harry's attention all night, so she took that chair for herself while smiling smugly at her brother. Percy frowned and she stuck her tongue at him in response.

"Nice, Ginny," he scolded. "Mum won't like to hear about your lack of manners."

"Then don't tell her. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I've been promoted," said Percy, and from his tone he might have been announcing his election as supreme ruler of the universe. "I'm now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm here representing him."

"Really?" asked Ginny, pretending to be interested. "And has he stopped calling you 'Weatherby' yet?"

Next to her, Harry made a sound as if he had choked trying to stifle a laugh. Percy didn't speak to either of them for the rest of the night, which in her opinion was a blessing.

At first Harry seemed to feel guilty about overworking the house elves, stealing nervous glances at Hermione as if afraid she would scold him. The leader of the most absurd organization ever didn't seem to even remember SPEW at the moment, however, so Harry soon joined Ginny in asking increasingly exotic things to their plates in an attempt to see if there was something the Elves wouldn't be able to provide. No doubt the twins would be doing the same thing, and Ginny was hoping to win this particular contest.

She had a moment of worry when she noticed that Dumbledore was watching in interest what they were doing, though. For a moment she thought he was going to scold them for wasting food or annoying the Elves, but the old wizard just winked at her —his eyes twinkling behind his half moon spectacles— before turning back to his conversation with Madam Maxime as if he had seen nothing. She breathed in relief. Dumbledore was cool. He was also a bit crazy, of course, or perhaps senile. Just a few minutes ago she had heard him tell a story about a room filled with urinals that could only be found when one really needed to pee. Hogwarts was a weird, amazing place, to be sure, but Ginny still had to see a room that came and went at a whim.

To her disappointment, it was Harry who first managed to ask something that didn't appear.

"That's not fair," she complained. "You asked for a Muggle food, didn't you?"

"Maybe," he said smiling innocently. Such a beautiful smile... Then the smile suddenly died on his lips. "You don't think the Elves will punish themselves for this, right?"

"Not to worry, Harry," said Dumbledore cheerfully. "I made sure to instruct them not to punish themselves for anything tonight. I had the feeling that a number of Weasleys would be trying that."

Definitely cool, thought Ginny. Although she felt a little guilty, and relieved. Fred and George said that the Elves were nice, she didn't want them to hurt themselves.

At first the conversations were restricted to each separate couple or between the judges, but as dinner progressed things got more casual and people even moved around to sit closer to the ones they wanted to chat with. Ginny didn't know exactly how she ended up sitting next to Krum, nor why the Bulgarian had allowed Hermione to leave his side, but suddenly Hermione had occupied her previous place next to Percy and was discussing Elves' rights with him, while Ginny was submerged in a general discussion about Quidditch that had drawn half of the top table. Only now did she realize that at least three of the champions were players, plus Roger Davis and Cho Chang. Except for Roger Davis, who was too busy staring at Fleur Delacour as to pay attention to anything else, they were all soon arguing about Quidditch leagues and national Teams. Harry and Cedric actually had to break Cho and Ginny apart when their particular discussion about the Tornados vs. the Holyhead Harpies became too heated. Ginny couldn't deny to herself that her annoyance at Cho had a lot to do with Harry liking her, but really, the Tornados better than the Harpies? Please.

"What about you, Harry?" asked Cedric with a friendly smile. "What team do you root for?"

"Er... I don't really know much about Leagues or Teams," admitted Harry, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. "Since I grew up with Muggles. I just play Quidditch."

Krum had barely participated of the conversation so far, but now he regarded Harry thoughtfully.

"Seeker?" he asked. Ginny had the impression that he already knew the answer.

"Yeah."

"He's really good," interjected Ginny boldly. "I bet he could beat you."

Krum raised an eyebrow at her, but she forced herself not to look away. She might be a silly blushing girl with Harry, but she wasn't easily intimidated by anyone else. Not even famous scowling really-tall Bulgarian Quidditch players.

"Your girl is a fierce little thing, Potter," Krum finally said with what seemed like approval.

"I'm getting that feeling," agreed Harry, glancing warily at her. Now she blushed, of course, and she couldn't hold his gaze. Coherent thought and any resemblance of boldness had abandoned her the instant that she had heard herself been referred to as 'Harry's girl'.

She barely heard the rest of the conversation. It sounded like Cedric and Cho were telling Krum and Bagman how good a Seeker Harry was, which seemed to annoy and embarrass Harry to no end. It was really annoying just how nice Cedric was and of course everything about Cho was annoying especially since she seemed sincere in her praise of Harry.

It was a relief when Dumbledore finally stood up and everyone had to shut up and stand up as well. A moment later all the tables had zoomed back along the walls and a platform was conjured into existence.

Ginny watched with increasing excitement as the Weird Sisters trooped up onto the stage and picked up their instruments. They looked even cooler than they did in the magazines!

She suddenly realized that the lanterns on all the tables had gone out and felt her stomach filled with butterflies again. This was it, the moment. Krum had already retrieved Hermione and was leading her to the dance floor just as the Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune. Ginny turned to look at Harry, who looked really nervous.

"Ginny," he whispered urgently, "I don't know how to dance."

Somehow, seeing him so nervous calmed her own nerves and even made her smile. It was really absurd that he could kill basilisks and dragons but couldn't do something so simple as dance. Well, at least Ginny could help with this.

"Don't worry, Harry," she said, gathering all her Gryffindor courage and taking his hand to drag him to the dance floor. "Only boring people really know how to dance this stuff. We just have to manage. The fun part will come later, the Weird Sisters are really good."

Harry sighed.

"All right. Please don't hate me if I step on you," he begged.

"If you step on me, I will just step on you harder and we will be even," she answered with a shrug. As if she could ever hate Harry.

He frowned for a moment, but then smiled. So beautiful!

"That's fair."

Harry did step on Ginny a couple times, but as promised she deliberately returned the favour, which made him wince and laugh every time. Seeing him laugh so up close made hard for her to pay attention to the music, so between his clumsiness and her distraction they definitely would not be winning any dancing contest, but that hardly mattered. Harry was learning quickly, probably to avoid further pain to both of them, and Ginny was simply happy.

She would have never believed that she would someday be capable of being so close to Harry without blushing furiously or running away, but here she was. Not only she felt calmer than she had felt all night, she was even enjoying herself. Perhaps it was true that she didn't really know Harry, but she was coming to know him now and she liked him more and in a more real way by the second.

Very soon other people joined them on the dance floor. Neville and Luna were dancing nearby, which made Ginny bit her lip with guilt. Luna seemed to be dancing alone, turning in circles with her eyes closed, while Neville stared at her completely at a loss and tried in vain to match her movements. Well, at least his clumsiness wouldn't be a problem if they danced several feet apart from each other. They looked cute with their matching necklaces.

"Nice socks, Potter," Moody growled as he passed with Professor Sinistra, his magical eye apparently staring through Harry's robes.

"Oh — yeah, Dobby the house-elf knitted them for me," said Harry, looking slightly embarrassed.

"That was creepy," whispered Ginny as Moody clunked away. It had already been unnerving to know that Moody could see through walls and desks, but she had not imagined he could also see through clothes. She shuddered at the thought of a teacher looking through anyone's robes.

"I guess so..." said Harry distractedly, an amused expression appearing on his face as he looked at something over Ginny's shoulder.

She turned to look too, and saw that McGonagall and Snape were dancing close by. It was a shocking sight. Ginny would have never been able to picture Snape dancing if she had not seen it with her own eyes. And to her surprize he wasn't bad at it, at all, even though it was obvious that he would rather be doing anything else including dying. McGonagall seemed oblivious to his irritation, however, and she was actually chuckling as if she were having the time of her life.

Ginny looked away when Snape caught her staring and glared at her threateningly. She felt Harry tensing too, and a moment later he had steered her in a different direction.

She was about to ask Harry what had he meant about a House Elf knitting his socks when the song ended with a quavering note from the bagpipe and they all stopped to applaud the players.

"Let's sit down, shall we?" said Harry immediately, letting go of her.

"What? But this is a really good one!" exclaimed Ginny as the Weird Sisters struck a new song, which was much faster.

"No, I don't like it," said Harry.

Ginny's little bubble of temporal happiness was suddenly burst. He could see Harry literally walking away from her, and it was plain in his eyes that he intended to spend the rest of the night sitting somewhere and scowling at people.

It was a conflicting moment for her. Of course her feelings for Harry made her feel insecure, afraid of doing or saying anything that might make him dislike her or even hate her. So part of her felt inclined to do as he said and go sit with him. But she was also feeling increasingly annoyed, and it was new to her to feel anything negative towards Harry.

He's family, she reminded herself. That must be why she felt annoyed. Harry had a mulish expression on his face, very much like Ron when he was being impossible. Why couldn't he be more like Krum? The Bulgarian looked as if he would only stop dancing with Hermione if it were to kiss her senseless. That was how boys were supposed to be. Of course Ginny knew that kissing with Harry was not an option, but dancing was harmless enough, something that friends could do. She had even danced with Ron at home.

Maybe some part of her did truly see Harry as family, and that part wasn't having this.

She put her arms on her hips and glared at him, not caring that she might be channelling her mum.

"Don't you dare leaving me alone now, Harry," she admonished. "I dressed up to dance, so you will dance with me."

"We have already danced!" he complained.

"That boring crap doesn't count! And I'm not saying this just for me. You obviously need to have some fun."

"Ginny, I really doubt I will ever have fun dancing."

"You were having fun just then."

"No, I wasn't," argued Harry, getting angry. "I had to come, so I came. I brought a date and opened the ball. That should be enough to not die. You said that you thought this was silly and evil too!"

Ginny hesitated. But then she charged again.

"It is silly and evil, but that doesn't mean that we can't have some fun since we're already here. You asked me to come so you would not die, now you have to dance with me!"

She knew that she sounded childish and girlish, but she didn't care. She also didn't care much about the people who had stopped dancing to witness the scene with amusement. Hopefully they wouldn't be able to hear what they were saying over the music.

Ginny liked Harry and felt sorry for him, but she was also sick of his bad mood and she was convinced that he needed to snap out of it.

"I warn you, Harry, if you walk away from me I will hex you," she said finally, hardly believing the words that were coming out her mouth. This is what family is for.

"You don't even have your wand on you!"

"What makes you think that?"

Harry hesitated, looking at her up and down. She knew that he must just be wondering where she kept her wand, but feeling his eyes on her still made her blush. She fought off the blush, though, knowing that it would not help her case.

"Fine!" he finally exclaimed angrily, sounding defeated. "But if I don't have any fun, I will make sure to bore you even worse later. And I will never again go anywhere with you!"

Ginny beamed in triumph and dragged him through the dance floor before he could change his mind. She needed backup, and she knew just who to ask for help.

She found Fred and George engaged in some exuberant dancing with Alicia and Angelina. Fred stopped when she signalled at him and came to hear what she had to yell at his ear. She could see an evil grin slowly appearing on his face, and knew that whatever he was thinking would land them into trouble. Before she could reconsider her request, however, Fred had drawn his wand and was pointing it at Harry, who was caught off guard and didn't have time to draw his own wand.

"Tarantallegra!"

Harry's legs immediately began to dance on their own accord and rather violently. He scowled at them all and hissed angrily to be released, making Ginny doubt and fear that she had made a terrible mistake. Fred and George had never yet failed to make someone laugh with their highly unorthodox methods, but maybe this was too much for Harry...

"Just go with it, Harry!" advised George, joining in the wild dance even though it crashed completely with the current music. "It can be fun or torture, up to you!"

Fred also began to follow Harry's steps, and soon Alicia and Angelina were also dancing and laughing. Ginny was about to try and finite the hex herself when the music got interrupted and suddenly another, much more compatible melody began to sound —could it be that the Weird Sisters had seen what was happening and were playing along?—. To her huge relief and delight, she saw that Harry finally gave up and seemed to decide to follow George's advise to go along with his legs. A moment later he was laughing and joining arms with Ginny, who was also laughing and dancing ridiculously trying to keep up with Harry's legs.

Several more people had joined in the fun by the time McGonagall made her way to them and put an end to it by finiting Harry's hex, taking thirty points from Gryffindor and berating the twins about the impropriety of drawing their wands in such a fancy event as this. No one cared in the slightest. The hex had done the trick, and now Harry seemed far more comfortable dancing than before. The Weird Sisters regaled them with another Italian tarantella, which this time Harry danced on his own even though he didn't know a single step (Ginny and the twins didn't know either, they were all just making everything up).

After that crazy beginning (that proclaimed the Weird Sisters the coolest band ever without question), the band continued playing their usual style, and Harry kept dancing until it was Ginny who asked for a break.

"I told you that it would be fun!" she said as they made their way towards the tables.

He laughed.

"Yeah, I guess you were right," he admitted. She hadn't seen him so relaxed and happy since last summer. The cloud that had hanged over his head since Halloween seemed to have been temporarily dispersed.

Ginny sat down on their table while Harry went to fetch a few Butterbeers for them (it seemed that the House Elves' service was no longer working, instead there was an open bar on one side of the Hall), but she didn't have time to even fully recover her breath before she heard Harry's raised voice not too far away.

"WHAT THE HELL, RON?"

Turning to look, she saw Harry sprawled on the floor, a hand rubbing his face as if he were in pain. He had drawn his wand, but he was not pointing it at anything, instead staring at Ron angrily. Had her dumb brother just punched Harry?

"YOU TRAITOR!" roared Ron, making to punch him again as Harry was climbing to his feet. This time Harry was on alert, however, and he easily dodged the blow and stepped back.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" yelled Harry, now raising his wand defensively.

"SHE'S MY SISTER!" shouted Ron, searching for his own wand.

Oh, no... Ginny stood up and rushed towards the conflict.

"It's not like that!" Harry was yelling, panic on his face. "We just came together as friends!"

"Right! You know she always had a crush on you! And you're taking advantage of that!"

"I'm not! This is madness, Ron!"

Ginny was FURIOUS. How dare him! She also felt embarrassed, since now a lot of people had heard about her crush, including Harry. But mostly she felt murderous.

"Sisters are off-limit! You stay away from her, you hear me? Else I..."

But Ron didn't get to finish his threat, because little bats began flying out of his nose after being hit with Ginny's hex.

"You shut up, Ron!" she yelled. "You have been a terrible friend to Harry, and you have no right to decide what I can or cannot do! You're being an even bigger prat than Percy usually is! Harry's family. Mum and dad would be ashamed of you!"

Ron stared at her without saying anything for several moments, too occupied trying to shoo away the remaining bats. When he was about to answer, however, they were interrupted again by Professor McGonagall.

"What on Merlin's name is going on here?" she demanded. Most witnesses swiftly vanished, just in case.

"I've just hexed my dumb brother, Professor," said Ginny, still glaring at him. "After he punched Harry."

McGonagall examined Harry's face critically, then glanced around as if looking for someone who apparently wasn't at sight judging by her expression. Finally she took note of the bats still flying over their heads.

"This is unseemly!" she said furiously. "Mr. Weasley, I'm sure you know punching people is against the rules. And I would have thought punching your friends would be against your own personal code as well."

"He's not my friend!" Ron spat with a venomous look that made Harry flinch.

"Well, it's still wrong. Twenty points from Gryffindor, and detention with me the first day of the new term, after dinner. Clear off, now!" Ron directed one last glare at Harry and then shuffled away. "As to you, Miss Weasley..." Ginny stood there with her chin held high. "I thought I made clear not long ago that drawing your wand in this event was not allowed."

"You did, Professor. I'm not sorry, though."

McGonagall pursed her lips.

"Maybe you will be sorry when I confiscate your wand for the remaining of the weekend. You can have it back on Monday morning." Professor McGonagall extended her hand, and Ginny surrendered her wand without resistance. It had been totally worth it, and she could always punch Ron with her bare hands if he annoyed her again before Monday. "You will also have detention along with your brother. And twenty more points. Now, I don't want any more trouble from any of you, you Weasleys have already cost Gryffindor seventy points tonight. Potter, maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey..."

"I'm fine, Professor," said Harry immediately. "I don't want to risk leaving the Great Hall too early."

McGonagall frowned and regarded him thoughtfully for a long moment.

"Well, you might want to put some distance with Mr. Weasley. The gardens outside are considered part of the event, you know."

Harry nodded.

"Thank you, Professor. I'm sorry about this."

"It's not your fault, Potter," she said briskly, pinning Ginny with a stern look. "Off you go, then!"