The Golden Quartet (Harry Potter x Reader x Cedric Diggory)

Fourth Year - Chapter 16

"Children, come on. Inside every girl is a graceful swan wanting to fly. Every boy has a proud lion waiting to leap. Now a volunteer, please... Mr. Weasley, Ronald."

You hid a snicker behind your hand as Ron looked so confused when McGonagall told him to put his hand on her waist. It was the most awkward thing you had seen and no one seemed to learn from any of the instructions. McGonagall called a different volunteer— Neville being nice enough to stand up. His dancing under McGonagall's guidance didn't seem to give anyone any more clarity than when she was dancing with Ron.You stood up and stomped to the middle of the room. Replacing Professor McGonagall, you grabbed Neville's hands. The boys snorted at how he became suddenly flustered at your directness.

"Oh for heaven's sake, it's not that hard," you said to the entire room before addressing Neville. "It's just a box on the floor."

"What about the moving part?"

"Everywhere that isn't the box... is stinksap puddles and we must avoid them at all costs."

Neville understood that and began to balance more on the balls of his feet to keep himself light. You scrunched up your nose with a smile.

"Neville, you're supposed to lead."

"Right."

He began to do the box move and you followed. Professor McGonagall clapped and told everyone this is what they should be doing. With less embarrassment now that you and Neville were spinning around, everyone began to partner up. You chuckled when you watched Harry look around confused, still sitting on the bench. Neville gave you a cute dip and let you go, finding a new partner to dance with. You stood in front of him.

"You seem lost, Mr. Potter."

"More boys than girls in Gryffindor and I have two left feet so I figured everyone else should have a chance."

"Well lucky for you, there is a single Hufflepuff here to provide service."

"I'm serious about the two left feet."

Harry took your hands and it was apparent that he wasn't joking. You had to move quickly to avoid him stepping on your toes. Harry was looking down the entire time— not that it helped much. You held in a laugh because you were thinking that you finally found something Harry wasn't good at and didn't seem to get on sheer luck alone. You stopped him after he did actually step on your toes.

"How is taking off my glasses going to help... they look good on you, I think, can't see too—"

"Harry, feel the music. I want you to feel yourself leading me."

"But if you're the on—"

"I'm still following, I'm only doing the steps that are following. You still have to lead... look, you're already getting better."

"I feel like I'm getting worse actually."

He wasn't but you were also greatly exaggerating his improvement. You weren't sure if there was enough time between now and the ball for Harry to learn how to be a good dancer— he'd be lucky for decent at this point. The Yule Ball didn't just drum up McGonagall's interest in teaching dance class. It drummed up interest for all three schools.

Aside from first years and second years who were sure they weren't getting asked at all, everyone else put their names down for staying at Hogwarts over the winter break. At first you were really excited for the Yule Ball, the closer it got the less you liked it. You had been rifling through your mother's dresses that Sirius had sent, asking for advice from your house-elf and your cat. The dress wasn't the problem. You would make some modifications once you picked. The problem was your lack of date. Just because you were allowed to the Yule Ball without one since you were in fourth year, didn't mean that you wanted to be the only girl without a date. But you got farther and farther away from the ball's announcement and closer to the actual day— still dateless.