Some days after the task some people was slightly recovered. They sat in the Great Hall and ate breakfast.
Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet while Ron sat and asked Bree why she was avoiding her which she truly answered. "You were being a foul git" and she just smiled innocent at him.
It's a relief for both of them that they are on speaking terms again.
Parvati and Padma was walking past the Gryffindor table whispering and giggling looking at Harry and said in unison. "Hi Harry"
But he didn't pay much attention to them but did smile at them awkwardly.
He turned towards the Ravenclaw table drinking his pumpkin juice at the same time.
One of Cho's friend whispered to her. "Cho, Harry's looking at you"
Her friends discreetly turned around but then just turned around completely. Cho also turned around looking at him and smiling.
When they got eye contact Harry drooled pumpkin juice on himself which made her friends laughing but she hushed them and smiled at him 'apologizingly'.
Bree turned her head to the side seeing Harry drying his chin and looked behind towards Cho seeing her looking at Harry.
"Should I buy you a potty and feed you like a mum or something? I thought you were 14 not 1" Bree said jokingly and looked amused.
He smacked the back of heat head and shaked his head. "Shut up. I didn't mean to"
"Look at this!" Hermione said angrily putting down the Daily Prophet. "I can't believe it, she's done it again. 'Miss Granger a plain but ambitious girl seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards. Her latest prey sources report is none other than the Bulgarian bonbon Viktor Krum. No words yet on how Harry Potter's taking this latest emotional blow. Ambree Potter a-"
"Please no, not about me. I've already read that I have a 'Secret Lover' which apparently was none other that Draco Malfoy himself" She said and rolled her eyes.
And of course someone glared at Malfoy who just smirked back hearing what Bree said. And he himself knew that Bree didn't like him but still couldn't help but worry.
A little boy with a package came to where the quartet sat and gave a package to Ron. "Parcel for you, Mr. Weasley"
"Ah, thank you Nigel"
Then he turned towards the twins with a block and a pen smiling and they just smiled and looked at Ron awkwardly.
Hermione coughed a little and motioned to Ron to look behind him. He turned around and nudged him. "Not now Nigel, later. Go on"
Nigel ran away after that and they all turned to Ron with an 'explain' expression.
"I told him I'd get Harry's and Bree's autograph"
They sighed and continued with their own bussniess.
"Oh look, mum's sent me something" he said and opened the package.
He took out whatever was inside and showed a brown old dress robe. "Mum sent me a dress"
"Well it does match your eyes. Is there a bonnet? Aha!" Harry said and picked it up and put it infront of Ron to see how it looked like.
"Nose down Harry" and then Harry put it down in the box laughing.
"Ginny, these must be for you"
"I'm not wearing that, it's ghastly"
Bree and Hermione laughed.
"What are you in about?"
"They're not for Ginny" Hermione said.
"They're for you" Bree said.
And the entire Gryffindor table flus some of the other houses laughed.
"Dress robes"
"Dress robes? For what?"
***
"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament" McGonagall said while Mr. Filch tried to put on the music.
All Gryffindor's sat in a small hall listening to McGonagall.
"Since it's inception. On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests gather in the Great Hall for a night of well mannered frivolity. As represetive as the host school I except each and every one of you to put your beat foot forward and I mean this literally because, the Yule Ball is first and foremost a dance"
All the girls whispered to each other exited and the boys groaned and complained to each other.
"Silence! The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly 10 centuries. I will not have you in the course of a single evening besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling bumbling band of baboons"
"Try say that five times fast huh" George whispered to Fred.
"Babbling bumbling band of baboons.."
"Now to dance is to let the body... breathe. Inside every girl a secret swan slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight"
"Something about to burst out of Eloise Midgen, but I don't think it's a swan" Ron said to Seamus, Harry and Dean.
Bree and Ron caught eyes and she pretty much glared at him when she heard what he said. He shrinks down in his seat getting quiet not wanting to break their speaking term.
She mouthed to him. 'Stop speaking bullshit'.
"Inside every boy, a lordly lion prepares to prance. Mr. Weasley"
"Yes?"
"Will you join me please?" She said walking over to him.
He stood up and Harry shoved him forward a bit silently laughing.
"Now, place your right hand on my waist"
"Where?"
"On my waist"
The twins whistled to annoy him and he was on his way to give them the finger when McGonagall stopped him and put his hand on her waist. "And extend your arm. Mr. Filch, if you please"
Filch put on the slow music.
"One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three" and continued as they swayed to the music.
"Oi!"
The twins bend over to Harry to listen what he had to say.
"Never gonna let him tiger this are you?"
"Never"
"Everybody come together" McGonagall said and every girl stood up immediately. "Boys on your feet" she said when the boys shrinked back into their seats except for Neville who stood up.
**
That night Ron and Harry peeked into their room and saw Neville dancing in his sleep with shoes humming the tunes and extended arms.
**
"Why do they have to travel in packs? How are you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?" Harry said to Ron the next day at the courtyard filled with girls.
They stopped infront if a group of Ravenclaw girls who looked at them disgusted except for Cho who smiled.
Harry smiled awkwardly to them before he and Ron walked away.
"Blimey Harry. You've slayed dragons. If you can't get a date, who can?"
"I think I'd take the dragon right now"
He smiled awkwardly to Beauxbaton girls who turned around and walked away.
"Do any of you have dates?" Bree asked coming from nowhere.
Harry and Ron looked at her with the same weird look they're giving her all the time.
"I did nothing but ask!"
"Where did you come from? Is this some girls ability or something?" Ron asked.
Bree just stared at him for a minute. "No? So, do you have dates?" She asked both of them.
"Ehm.."
"No"
"Well, you better ask before all the girls are taken. Even Eloise Midgen is asked Ron which she deserves. She's really nice"
"Well do you have a date?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes.
"Why? Are you going all overprotective or something?"
"Yes, I'm just looking out for you. Boys are.. idiots"
"No need to. I've declined everyone because they're all.. strangers. I don't remember them all but but half of them were some Durmstrang lads"
"How many have asked you?" Ron and Harry asked the same time.
"Uhhh, maybe.. I don't remember. Over 10 at least. Felt bad for saying no but whatever. I'll find Ginny, good luck" she shrugged and walked away but then she turned back to them.
"Oh and Harry no need to get 'overprotective' I know that boys are idiots. I'm with the both of you everyday" She snorted and walked away.
Both the boys jaw dropped to the ground and watched her walk away. They also saw Fleur Delacour and some other Beauxbaton girls approaching her and smiling at her before walking away.
"Bloody hell"
**
"I take after my mum" Hagrid said while walking with Madam Maxime who was humming and laughing as replies.
"Though, I didn't know her very well. She left when I was about 3. No not the mental sort her. Broke me dad's heart though. He was a tiny little fella my dad. I could pick him up at the age of 6 with one hand and put him up on the dresser" Both of them laughed. "He laughed so hard at that"
Madam Maxime picked a hair string from his beard and put it into her mouth which Hagrid furrowed his brows to before he continued.
"And then he died just when I started school, so... So I sort of had to make me own way as it were. But enough about me, what about you?"
**
The quarter sat by the Black lake and just.. sat. Hermione was reading a book and Bree was half asleep with her head on Ron's shoulder.
Viktor Krum was training and walking past them while training by the lake with a bunch of fan girls following after him giggling.
He looked over at her and smirked a little. Hermione cleared her throat looked down to her book and up to him again.
The fan girls just continued to follow him.
**
Now, this time everyone sat in the Great Hall and read and wrote down stuff from DADA Snape pacing around.
"This is mad. At this rate we'll be the only ones in our year without dates" Ron said and Snape heard him talking and shoved down his head. "Well. Us and Neville"
"Yeah but then again he can take himself" Harry said and both of them laughed.
"It might interest you to know that Neville's got someone" Hermione said defending him.
Ron groaned. "Now I'm really depressed"
Fred send over a note to Ron.
Get a move on or all the good ones will have gone.
"Who you going with then?" Ron asked.
Bree's head perked up immediately and looked at Fred.
He threw the paper ball at Angelina who slowly turned around looking annoyed. "Oi! Angelina"
"What?"
"Do you wanna go to the ball with me?" He asked but asked dancing in the same time.
"To the ball? Yeah alright"
Fred turned to Ron and winked.
Bree rolled her eyes and looked down to her notes having this weird feeling she never felt before.
"Oi, Hermione. You're a girl"
Harry tried to get Ron's attention seeing Snape walking towards them.
"Very well spotted"
"Come with one of us" he asked and mimicked Fred dancing.
Snape hit Ron and Harry in the head with his book.
"Come on. It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl, it's just sad"
"I won't be going alone because believe it or not someone's asked me" She said through gritted teeth to Ron and pecked up her stuff and went over to Snape and gave him her book before walking back towards the table getting the rest of her stuff. "And I said yes"
"Bloody hell. She's lying right?" He asked Harry.
"If you say so"
"She's lying. Isn't she Bree?"
"Actually. No she isn't" She said and pursed her lips shut.
"You can go with me Bree? As friends? As I said, showing up as a girl alone is just... sad"
"You're an idiot Ron, an idiot. Someone also asked me and I said yes" She said more calm than Hermione but also angry and gave her note book to Snape and walked out.
"Those girls.."
"Did you just ask my sister out Ron?"
"Oh no no Harry, me and her are only and will forever be bestfriends. Nothing more"
"Well. Brilliant?"
"Look. We've just gotta grit our teeth and do it. Tonight when we get back to the common room. We'll both have partners agreed?"
Snape hears them once again and lifted the arms of his robe.
"Agreed" Harry answered.
Snape shoved their heads down and they groaned.
**
At the same time Bree was walking out of the Great Hall to follow Hermione she was stopped by Malfoy who smirked at her.
"Why the rush girl Potter? I assume Weasel bee and Potter said something"
She glared at him. "You don't have your minions with you to play cool with so let me be"
She tried to walk past him but he just stood infront of her again.
"Just go away Malfoy your presence is disturbing me"
"One condition"
"What?" She asked annoyed.
"If you go to the Yule Ball with me"
She just stared at him with a scowl on his face and she saw that he actually meant that question. "You're too late with that question because somebody asked me and I said yes. And because of the bullying hit you are I wouldn't have said yes to you"
She said and shoved past him and walked away.
Of course she wanted to go with a certain guy. But because he never asked her she thought that he had asked someone else and because she not would go alone. She said yes.
Back in the common room where she got to change out of her school clothes, Hermione, Ginny and Katie sat in the room talking to each other so she went into the bathroom, showered and changed.
"You guys won't believe who asked me to the Yule ball today" Bree said looking at the Bree girls.
"But you already have a date? Or did you decline him after?" Ginny asked.
"No I already have one but Malfoy out of everyone asked me. But you all have to swear not to tell anyone"
The girls stared at her nodding frantically and continued to stare at her.
"Draco Malfoy asked you to..."
"Yes" She said and scrunched her nose. "Obviously I said no"
**
Harry was sprinting up the stairs up towards the owlery and freezing at the same time. At top of the stairs he almost bumped into Cho.
"Cho!"
"Harry!"
They tried to get past each other but blocked eatch others way. Cho put her hand on Harry's shoulder and switched places.
"Uhm, watch yourself in the stairs. It's a bit icy in the top" Cho warned.
"Okay, thanks"
She walked down the stairs down from the owlery and Harry thought for himself for a second before calling out. "Cho?"
"Yes?" She turned around smiling.
"Uhm, I just wondered.. Ijustwonderedifyiuwamtedtogototheballwithme" he said and at the same time the owls made sounds which made it hard for Cho to catch on.
"Sorry, i didn't catch that"
"Uhm, I just wondered if maybe you wanted to go to the ball with me" he said slower this time.
"Oh" Her face turned with a sorry expression. "Uhm. Harry, I'm sorry but someone's already asked me and... well I said I'll go with him"
Harry nodded in understanding but still felt a little little disappointed. "Okay, yeah, great, fine, no problem, okay. Good"
He walked into the owlery.
"Harry?"
And then he walked out again.
"I really am. Sorry" she said and walked away.
**
Later that day at evening Harry sat in the common room with the golden egg looking sad.
The portrait door opened and Harry and Hermione heard voices. They looked up and saw Ron looking petrified almost as if he had seen a big spider again no Ginny, Bree and some other girls helping him.
"It's okay Ron. It's alright"
"It doesn't matter"
"What happened to you?" Harry asked.
"He just asked Fleur Delacour out" Bree answered.
The girls put him down on an armchair.
"What?" Hermione said.
"What did she say?" Harry asked.
"No of course"
Harry scowled at Hermione.
Ron shaked his head slowly.
"She said yes"
"Don't be silly. There she was walking by. You know how I like it when they walk"
Harry nodded understanding.
"I couldn't help it. It just sort of slipped out"
"Actually" Bree started with a grimace.
"Actually, he sort of screamed at her. It was a bit frightening" Ginny said.
"It was almost like Filch when he is singing but... just a tad different" Bree continued.
"And what did you do then?" Harry asked trying to contain his laugh.
"What else? I ran for it. I'm not cut out for this Harry. I don't know what got into me"
"Hi, Harry" the Patil twins said smiling walking past him.
"I always liked looking at them from behind. She's never gonna forgive me, ever"
Harry just nodded and then he looked like he realized something. "Hey!"
_______________________________
Bree's going to the Yule ball with....