Chapter 4

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"We have half a week left and I still don't have a date," I say as we walk up to Transfiguration, "I don't want to go by myself."


"Well, you should have asked someone," Lisa says, "I don't know who is left to ask."


"No one, maybe Professor Flitwick," I huff, "I'm going to be the only one alone."


"Well, you and Luna," Lisa points out.


"The only sane one alone," I correct myself.


"You could ask some of the Durmstrang boys," she suggests.


"Yeah and how many do you think I'll have to ask before I find one of them who is free?"


"There's no need to be snarky, I told you to ask Fred weeks ago," Lisa says huffily.


"Well, it's too late for that, so now what?" I ask. Lisa cocks her head.


"I'll talk to Alicia, maybe she knows of a Gryffindor who's free."


"Not Neville Longbottom!" I say quickly. Lisa rolls her eyes.


"Duh, he's got a date."


I groan.


We walk in to Transfiguration and Lisa slides in opposite Alicia.


"Hey, Alicia, do you know of any Gryffindors without a date? Megan doesn't have anyone yet."


"Fred isn't going with anyone, there's a couple of seventh years, but I'm not sure if they're going at all," Alicia replies.


"Wait, Fred hasn't got a date?" Lisa exclaims, nudging me violently with her elbow. Alicia shakes her head and turns to face the front as McGonagall enters. Lisa continues her assault on my ribs until I bat her off.


"I heard, I heard!" I hiss.


"You have to ask him," she states, "you. Have. To."


I make a non-committal noise and turn my attention to McGonagall.


As soon as the bell goes Lisa grabs my arm.


"Ask him!" she demands, "right now!"


"What if he doesn't want a date?" I ask, packing up my books, "what if it's not that no one has asked him?"


"It's not," Angelina says, overhearing, "he's just too much of a wimp to ask anyone."


I gape after her and Lisa digs her elbow in to my rib again.


"Ouch! Okay, I heard," I grumble. We leave the room and head down to potions.


"As him at lunch," Lisa says, "just do what I did, go up to him and ask. Just blurt it out."


"What, 'will you go to the ball with me'?" I say, "it sounds so frigid."


"Try something like 'hey, wanna go to the ball together?' then," Lisa says, "Oh, this is going to be awesome!"


I crinkle my nose.


"That sounds stupid," I say, "can't you ask him for me?"


"Are you twelve?" she says, rolling her eyes, "no, I can't ask for you."


I shrug and walk in the the dungeon. I sink down in to a seat at the back.


"I could write him a note and you could give it to him," I suggest in a whisper, starting to take notes as Snape talks.


"Or you could just ask him."


"Ten points from Ravenclaw."


Lisa cringes. She hates losing points and I know this conversation is over for now. I try to pay attention to Snape, but my head is whirling. How do I ask Fred? What do I say? Is it as simple as 'come to the ball with me'? And what if he says no? What do I do then? Die of shame, probably.


My potions turns out to be a horrible mess, losing Ravenclaw another ten points. I just couldn't focus. Lisa tsks at me, but seems to forget when we walk in to lunch and she sees Fred sitting at the Gryffindor table.


"Go ask him," she says.


"Uhh, maybe later," I say, ducking my head. She shoves me and I stumble catching his shoulder to balance myself. He looks up at me, surprised and I turn bright red.


"S-sorry," I stammer and hurry off to the Ravenclaw table.


"Why did you do that?" I hiss to Lisa as she sits down, "now I'll never be able to look at him, let alone ask him to the ball!"


"You could have just asked him then instead of being such a baby about it," she says. I ignore her, furious.



We walk in to dinner on Friday night and Lisa nudges me towards the Gryffindor table.


"This is literally the last chance you'll get," she says, "I asked Alicia and he still doesn't have a date."


"I'm not asking him," I say stubbornly, "I'll just go alone and it'll be awful and all your fault."


"You're such a drama queen," she says, "suit yourself."

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