Edited; Y/n doesn't hate Cho or anything. Just saying that just in case some of you thought that. She is just jealous and not going to show it as Hermione or Ron does. And all because you're jealous of someone, don't bring them down...Enjoy.
°:. *₊ ° . ☆ °:. *₊ ° . ° .•
Call Me Yours
▔▔▔▔▔
Chapter Twenty-One: Unexpected Task
About one day after the task, Cho sits with a fellow Ravenclaw girl who whispers in her ear and giggles Cho smiles enigmatically and casts a faint glance toward Harry, who responds by spilling porridge down his chin. As he dabs his mouth with his napkin, Parvati and Padma stroll by and cast him an identical look.
Y/n looked up from the Quibbler from next to Harry. Hermione huffed and slammed the prophet on the table. "I don't believe it! She's done it again!? Y/n" Hermione turned to her friend as Y/n looked away from Harry.
On the Daily Prophet, it was a photo of her and Harry hugging. 'HARRY POTTER'S SECRET HEARTACHE.' "Y/n Sterling, an odd girl seems to develop a taste for Gryffindor wizards at her latest prey Gryffindor's own Fred Weasley, Who was catch calling Y/n his girlfriend, No word from how Harry Potter is taking this-"
The four of them turned to Fred, who looked at them worryingly. "Mate, I think you are in trouble?" George whispered to Fred.
"No, Fred and Y/n are not allowed-" Ron ranted, "Y/n is a sweet girl, Fred is Fred-"
"Agreed-" Harry uttered but no one heard him as he looked down at his pourage.
"Can you go and break his heart already? He's only doing this because of Harry-" Ron continued as Hermione rolled her eyes at Fred.
Y/n sighed and go up walking over to Fred and George. "I'm not getting hurt?" Fred asked as Y/n shook her head.
"Fred, I'm sorry...I have to break your heart..." Y/n spoke putting a hand on his shoulder. Fred's mouth dramatically dropped as George started to burst out laughing. Fred grabbed a napkin and faked cried into it.
Ron rolled his eyes at his brothers as Y/n sat back with them, "That went good-" Harry nodded turning to Y/n who shook her head looking down at the Quibbler reading that instead of the daily prompt.
"Parcel for you, Mr Weasley." A small boy said walking up and holding a Parcel.
The four turned to him as Ron took the parcel, "Ah, thank you, Nigel." The boy stares in jittery awe at Harry.
"Not now, Nigel"
As Nigel stumbles off, Harry and Hermione share a glance as Y/n finally comes back to reality and turned to Ron. "I told him I'd get him Harry's autograph or something. Hey, Mum sent me something....mum sent me a dress......" Ron looked down in awe.
Y/n looked at him, as he lifted a lace-trimmed gown, "Does bonnet? Match your eyes " Said Harry looking through the box, "Ah! here it is-" He continued to tease as Y/n shook her head.
"I think it looks lovely, just needs a little fixing that's all," Y/n said putting the dressing robe in a good view in her head.
"Oh of course you would, Hey Ginny! Here these are for you-" Ron held out the dressing robe.
Ginny shook her head, "I'm not wearing those...There ghastly..." Hermione started to laugh as Fred and George also laughed.
"What're you on about?" Ron asked Hermione.
"They're not for Ginny . for you. Dress robes."
"Dress robes! For what?" Ron asked furrowing his eyebrows.
"The Yule Ball." Said McGonagall as she appeared at the table. "Which, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak to you about, Potter."
McGonagall and Harry's step walk out into the great hall, "The Yule Ball, Professor?" Harry asked looking at her.
"The three, well four -- to be the first to dance. It's traditional during the Triwizard Tournament for the host school to put on a Christmas ball. It is also traditional for the Dance?"
"I'm not going to dance-" Harry spoke looking at the professor.
McGonagall shook her head. "You have no choice Potter, you are in the tournament."
"I have to bring a girl?"
"I leave that decision up to you, Potter. You may bring Neville Longbottom if you desire. But know this: the House of Godric Gryffindor has a reputation as long as it is illustrious. It demands and receives the respect of the entire wizard world. No house has produced more witches and wizards of consequence. You stand upon the shoulders of giants, Potter. Shame yourself and you shame all who came before you ."
Just then, a commotion is heard. Turning, Harry watches Seamus pelt Dean Thomas, McGonagall's face drops and goes after them. "okay, a date..." Harry uttered to himself as he walked back into the great hall.
Right away the only person to catch his eye was Y/n. She was now sitting with Luna as the two talked about Christmas which was coming up and the ball happened to be on. 'She's your best friend, other than Ron, you can't just ask her to the ball...' Harry knew he wanted to go with Y/n.
Cho was a year older than he was; she was very pretty; she was a very goodQuidditch player and she was also very popular. Y/n on the other hand was older than Harry; beautiful to Harry; She didn't get Quidditch, she was known for messing up people's names, But she wouldn't be mean or rude to anyone or anything.
Y/n walked back over to Hermione and Ron as Harry walked over to them acting like he didn't fancy his friend even a little bit.
⁂
Harry had never known so many people to put their names down to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas; he always did, of course, because the alternative was usually going back to Privet Drive, but he had always been very much in the minority before now.
This year, however, everyone in the fourth year and above seemed to be staying, and they all seemed to Harry to be obsessed with the coming ball — or at least all the girls were, and it was amazing how many girls Hogwarts suddenly seemed to hold; he had never quite noticed that before.
Girls giggling and whispering in the corridors, girls shrieking with laughter as boys passed them, girls excitedly comparing notes on what they were going to wear on Christmas night. "Why do they have to move in packs?" Harry asked Ron as a dozen or so girls walked past them, sniggering and staring at Harry. "How're you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?"
"Lasso one?" Ron suggested. "Got any idea who you're going to try?"
Harry didn't say anything, as Y/n and Hermione both walked in from the corridor. "It should be fun, date or none.." Y/n smiled not caring if she had a date or not.
"Yeah-" Hermione agreed with her.
"Listen, you're not going to have any trouble. You're a champion. You've just beaten a Hungarian Horntail. I bet they'll be queuing up to go with you." In tribute to their recently repaired friendship, Ron had kept the bitterness in his voice to a bare minimum.
Moreover, to Harry's amazement, he turned out to be quite right. A curly-haired third-year Hufflepuff girl to whom Harry had never spoken in his life asked him to go to the ball with her the very next day.
Harry was so taken aback he said no before he'd even stopped to consider the matter. The girl walked off looking rather hurt, and Harry had to endure Dean's, Seamus's, and Ron's taunts about her all through History of Magic. The following day, two more girls asked him, a second-year and a fifth-year who looked as though she might knock him out if he refused.
"She was quite good-looking," said Ron fairly, after he'd stopped laughing.
"She was a foot taller than me," said Harry, still unnerved.
"Imagine what I'd look like trying to dance with her." Hermione's words about Krum kept coming back to him. "They only like him because he's famous" Harry doubted very much if any of the girls who had asked to be his partner so far would have wanted to go to the ball with him if he hadn't been a school champion.
Then he wondered if this would bother him if Cho asked him.
⁂
Y/n and Ginny were talking in the kitchen's as Y/n just got pudding and Ginny wanted ice cream. "I wish, I could go...seems fun, we never had a dance before" Ginny spoke eating her ice cream. No one asked Y/n yet, and Y/n didn't try and ask someone.
She was just going along with whatever, if someone asked her she would say yes even to Fred. A tiny bit of Y/n wanted Harry to ask her. But she was thinking about her messing up the friendship if Harry didn't feel the same way.
"You want to go with Harry?" Ginny asked looking at Y/n.
The girl got out of her head and turned to her friend with a grin, "Huh? No..well yeah..."
"Why don't you ask him...I think we all know that Harry is way too awkward to ask you to the ball if he wanted to" Ginny spoke looking at the girl as she continued to eat her pudding. "Where's Hermione?"
Y/n thought about it since she didn't know where her friend said she was, "Library most likely for house-elf research" Y/n softly said looking down at her pudding. "Do you think, if I ask Fred?"
"I wouldn't he is still heartbroken by the 'break up'...." Ginny said as both of the girls laughed a little bit as Y/n grinned brightly.
⁂
A week has passed as Y/n, Ron, Harry and Hermione sat in the common room and Y/n was studying for Astronomy homework. Hermione looked severely over at Harry too. "I'd have thought you'd be doing something constructive, Harry, even if you don't want to learn your antidotes!"
"Like what?" Harry said as he watched Joey Jenkins of the Cannons belt a Bludger toward a Ballycastle Bats Chaser.
"That egg!" Hermione hissed.
"Come on, Hermione, I've got till February the twenty-fourth," Harry said.
He had put the golden egg upstairs in his trunk and hadn't opened it since the celebration party after the first task. "I agree with Hermione, knowing you, You wait till the last minute..." Y/n uttered looking at a book.
"Not true-" Harry spoke as the reference flew over his head. "There were still two and a half months to go until he needed to know what all the screechy wailing meant, after all."
"But it might take weeks to work it out!" said Hermione. "You're going to look a real idiot if everyone else knows what the next task is and you don't!"
"Leave him alone, Hermione, he's earned a bit of a break," said Ron, and he placed the last two cards on top of the castle and the whole lot blew up, singeing his eyebrows.
"Nice look, Ron...go well with your dress robes, that will."
It was Fred and George. They sat down at the table with Harry, Y/n, Ron, and Hermione as Ron felt how much damage had been done. "Hello, Sterling" Fred bitterly stated as a joke as Y/n grinned and looked down at her book. "You look nice..."
"Thank you, Fredrick" She stated playing along with this joke Fred was carrying out.
"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked.
"No, he's off delivering a letter," said Ron. "Why?"
"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," said Fred sarcastically
"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat," Said George.
"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" said Ron.
"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too," said Fred, waving his wand threateningly. "So...you lot got dates for the ball yet? by lot I mean Y/n?"
"Nope," said Ron.
"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate or all the good ones will be gone, Like Y/n..." said Fred as he and George turned to Harry who wasn't even paying attention.
"Who're you going with, then?" said Ron.
"Y/n," said Fred promptly, without a trace of embarrassment. Y/n turned to him since she was confused when this happened.
"What?!" Ron shouted not allowing it.
"Huh?" Harry asked.
Y/n looked over at Fred furrowing her eyebrows, he groaned "Fine...Angelina..." Fred said with a sigh but also without embarrassment.
Harry sighed as Ron did the same thing, "Good, did you even ask her?" Ron asked.
"Good point," said Fred. He turned his head and called across the common room, "Oi! Angelina!" Angelina, who had been chatting with Alicia Spinnet near the fire, looked over at him.
"What?" she called back.
"Want to come to the ball with me?" Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look.
"All right, then," she said, and she turned back to Alicia and carried on chatting with a bit of a grin on her face.
"There you go," said Fred to Harry and Ron, "piece of cake." He got to his feet, yawning, and said, "We'd better use a school owl then, George, come on....Y/n we are breaking up"
Y/n nodded, "okay-"
They left. Ron stopped feeling his eyebrows and looked across the smouldering wreck of his card castle at Harry. "Is he ever going to stop making a move on Y/n it's been four years-" Ron asked.
"It's quite funny," Y/n softly stated looking at her book.
"We should get a move on, you know...ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up with a pair of trolls."
Hermione let out a sputter of indignation, Y/n looked up slowly at Ron. "A pair of . . . what, excuse me?" They both said Y/n more calmly than Hermione.
"Well — you know," said Ron, shrugging. "I'd rather go alone than with — with Eloise Midgen, say."
"Her acne's loads better lately — and she's really nice!" Hermione shouted.
"She's beautiful-" Y/n spoke looking at Ron.
"Her nose is off-centre," said Ron,
"I'm off-centre apparently and Fred still wants to go out with me-" Y/n continued looking at Ron.
"Oh I see," Hermione said, bristling. "So basically, you're going to take the best-looking girl who'll have you, even if she's completely horrible?"
"Er — yeah, that sounds about right," said Ron.
"I'm going to bed," Y/n uttered, and she swept off toward the girls' staircase without another word.
⁂
Y/n was sitting in her room and making a dress for the ball instead of buying one. "I don't understand why you don't just buy a dress?" Hermione asked sitting on her bed after Y/n has sketched out with she wanted the gown to look like.
"None fit, the way I want them to...I want a certain dress-" Y/n uttered looking down and making sure she got all the cloth she needed.
Ginny walked into the room with a knock as Luna followed behind. Even though Hermione wasn't the biggest fan of Luna's but could put up with Y/n since she knew her for four years. "Hello, Y/n and Hermione" Luna greeted.
"Hello, Luna and Ginny,"
"Hi Luna and Ginny"
"Oh I see you are making a dress-" Luna said walking over to Y/n and looking at what she was doing Y/n nodded as Ginny looked at the dress.
"Might come out better than Ron's robes..." She joked.
Luna hit her arm. "Ron's robes are beautiful-" Luna expressed as Y/n nodded, Ginny shook her head sitting with Hermione.
"So do you both have a date, I see the boys are doing everything to get one-" Ginny asked.
Hermione and Y/n exchanged looks and nodded, "I do," Y/n said as Ginny nodded with a grin.
"Harry?"
"You like Harry?" Luna asked turning to Y/n not knowing this information. "You both are cute,"
Y/n heated up and nodded since it was just the girls, "Fine...yes I would like to go with Harry but...he wants to go with Cho...and I understand why, she's nice and beautiful..." Y/n sighed.
⁂
Friday morning, in a tone that suggested they were planning the storming of an impregnable fortress. "When we get back to the common room tonight, we'll both have partners — agreed?" Ron said looking over to Harry.
"Er . . . okay," said Harry.
But every time he glimpsed Cho that day during the break, and then lunchtime, and once on the way to History of Magic she was surrounded by friends. Didn't she ever go anywhere alone? Could he perhaps ambush her as she was going into a bathroom? But no she even seemed to go there with an escort of four or five girls. Yet if he didn't do it soon, she was bound to have been asked by somebody else.
He found it hard to concentrate on Snape's Potions test and consequently forgot to add the key ingredient — a bezoar — meaning that he received bottom marks. He didn't care, though; he was too busy screwing up his courage for what he was about to do.
When the bell rang, he grabbed his bag and hurried to the dungeon door. "I'll meet you at dinner," he said to Ron and Hermione, and he dashed off upstairs.
He'd just have to ask Cho for a private word, that was all He hurried off through the packed corridors looking for her, and he found her, emerging from a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. "Er — Cho? Could I have a word with you?"
Giggling should be made illegal, Harry thought furiously, as all the girls around Cho started doing it. She didn't, though. She said, "Okay," and followed him out of the earshot of her classmates.
Harry turned to look at her and his stomach gave a weird lurch as though he had missed a step going downstairs. "Er," he said.
He couldn't ask her. He couldn't. But he had to. Cho stood there looking puzzled, watching him. The words came out before Harry had quite got his tongue around them. "Wangoballwime?"
"Sorry?" said Cho.
"D'you...d'you want to go to the ball with me?" said Harry. Why did he have to go red now? Why? But he also went red when he talked about the ball with Y/n.
"Oh!" said Cho, and she went red too. "Oh Harry, I'm really sorry," and she truly looked it. "I've already said I'll go with someone else."
"Oh," said Harry.
It was odd; a moment before his insides had been writhing like snakes, but suddenly he didn't seem to have any insides at all. "Oh okay," he said, "no problem."
"I'm really sorry," she said again.
"That's okay," said Harry. They stood there looking at each other, and then Cho said,
"Well —"
"Yeah," said Harry.
"Well, 'bye," said Cho, still very red. She walked away.
Suddenly, Y/n walked down the corridor as Harry studied her every move. "You look dreadful Harry" Y/n spoke looking at the boy who was still red. "What did Cho say?" She asked hiding the fact she wanted to go with him.
Harry got out of his head, "Oh um...she has a date already...how did you know?"
"I saw her walk away," Y/n looked in the direction that she went. Harry nodded before he felt embarrassed.
Y/n couldn't help but feel jealous as the tension between them grew uncomfortable. "Should we go back to the common room?" She asked.
Harry nodded, "Yeah..." Both of them started to walk towards the common room being silent the whole time. Y/n not knowing what to say, and Harry getting over the rejection and wondering who Cho was going with.
⁂
Entering the common room, Harry and Y/n looked around, and to her surprise, she saw Ron sitting ashen-faced in a distant corner. Ginny was sitting with him, talking to him in what seemed to be a low, soothing voice. "What's up, Ron?" said Harry, joining them.
Ron looked up at Harry and Y/n, a sort of blind horror on his face. "Please say you and Y/n are going together? wait- no.. you're not allowed-" Ron spoke looking at Harry becoming a protective brother.
"No" Y/n and Harry both spoke looking at Ron.
"Good, Why did I do it?" he said wildly. "I don't know what made me do it!"
"What?" said Harry.
"He — er — just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him," said Ginny. She looked as though she was fighting back a smile, but she kept patting Ron's arm sympathetically.
"You what?" said Harry.
"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron gasped again. "What was I playing at? There were people — all around — I've gone mad — everyone watching! I was just walking past her in the entrance hall — she was standing there talking to Diggory — and it sort of came over me — and I asked her!"
"Oh yeah, she is going with Ravenclaw..." Y/n spoke.
They turned to her, "You couldn't tell me that BEFORE!" Ron hushed looking at Y/n.
"You didn't ask-" She dreamingly shrugged as Ginny chuckled and nodded.
Ron moaned and put his face in his hands. He kept talking, though the words were barely distinguishable. "She looked at me like I was a sea slug or something. Didn't even answer. And then — I dunno — I just sort of came to my senses and ran for it."
"She's part veela," said Harry. "You were right — her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault, I bet you just walked past when she was turning on the old charm for Diggory and got a blast of it — but she was wasting her time."
Ron looked up "I asked Cho to go with me just now," Harry said dully, "and she has a date" Y/n suddenly stopped smiling a little.
"This is mad," said Ron. "We're the only ones left who haven't got anyone — well, except Neville."
"Neville has a date-" Y/n, Ginny and Hermione said as she walked into the common room.
The boys exchanged looks, "What!?"
"Why weren't you two at dinner?" Hermione said, coming over to join them.
"Because because they've both just been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!" said Ginny as Y/n nodded looking at Hermione.
"Isn't going well-"
That shut Harry and Ron up. "Thanks a bunch, Ginny and Y/n," said Ron sourly.
"All the good-looking ones are taken, Ron?" said Hermione loftily. "Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."
But Ron was staring at Hermione as though suddenly seeing her in a whole new light but with Y/n only saw her as a sister and nothing else. "Hermione, Y/n, you are a girl....."
The two girls exchanged looks and turned to Ron. "Well spotted-" Y/n nodded looking down at her chest.
"Well — you can come with one of us!"
"I have a date-" Hermione spoke as Y/n nodded doing the same thing. Harry looked at Y/n and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Same," Y/n said to Ron.
"WHAT!? Oh come on," he said impatiently, "we need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has..."
"I can't come with you," said Hermione, now blushing, "because I'm already going with someone."
"Same here-" Y/n dreamily said as Harry looked down.
"No, you're not!" said Ron. "You just said that to get rid of Fred!"
"Oh did I?" said Y/n, and her eyes flashed dangerously.
"Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl!" Hermione said looking at Ron.
"Same, Harry seemed to notice-" Y/n motioned over to Harry who nodded looking at his friend. Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again.
"Okay, okay, we know you're a girl," he said. "That do? Will you come now?"
"Ron, I have a date, so does Hermione" Y/n spoke clearly. And Hermione stormed off toward the girls' dormitories again.
Y/n went after Hermione to check in on her. "She's lying," said Ron flatly, watching her go.
"She's not," said Ginny quietly. "Neither is Y/n" She looked over to Harry.
"Who is it then?" said Ron sharply.
"I'm not telling you, it's her business," said Ginny.
"Right," said Ron, who looked extremely put out, "this is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with Harry, and I'll just —"
"No, I'm- Uh...I- Well...bye-" Ginny walked out of the common room quickly as Ron furrowed his eyebrows.
"What's got into them?" he demanded.
But Harry had just seen Parvati and Lavender come in through the portrait hole. The time had come for drastic action. "Wait here," he said to Ron, and he stood up, walked straight up to Parvati, and said, "Parvati? Will you go to the ball with me?"
Parvati went into a fit of giggles. Harry waited for them to subside, his fingers crossed in the pocket of his robes. "Wait- What about Y/n...we all know you fancy her-" Harry turned red and shook his head trying to hide it.
Ron was narrowing his eyes at Harry as he shook his head. "No, I and Y/n are just friends..."
"Oh okay, then!" she said finally, blushing furiously.
"Thanks," said Harry, in relief. "Lavender — will you go with Ron?"
"She's going with Seamus," said Parvati, and the pair of them giggled harder than ever.
Harry sighed "Can't you think of anyone who'd go with Ron?" he said, lowering his voice so that Ron wouldn't hear.
"What about Hermione Granger?" said Parvati.
"She's going with someone else....and so is Y/n" Parvati looked astonished.
"Ooooh — who?" she said keenly.
Harry shrugged. "No idea," he said. "So what about Ron?"
"Well ...." said Parvati slowly, "I suppose my sister might...Padma, you know....in Ravenclaw. I'll ask her if you like."
"Yeah, that would be great," said Harry. "Let me know, will you?"
And he went back over to Ron, feeling that this ball was a lot more trouble than it was worth, and hoping very much that Padma Patil's nose was dead centre. But also thinking about. 'Who was Y/n going to the ball with?'