Sorry that this is so late! I ended up with a migraine on Thursday and then I was out all day yesterday and today! Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 40
The Yule Ball
Christmas was fast approaching and Harri was getting nervous. She still needed dress robes for the Yule Ball. Though, before she left for Hogsmeade the weekend before the ball she was waiting for Sirius to call her on the two way mirror.
They tried to talk to each other at least twice a month, but Sirius had been too busy to have a proper conversation with her the past few calls, leaving Remus to talk to her. It wasn’t that she minded talking to Remus, but Sirius was like her father. Remus was more like her Uncle.
She fiddled with her braid for a few minutes and sighed. She was about to put the mirror away and just leave, figuring that her godfather forgot about her, but the mirror suddenly went off and she dove for the bed. When she looked into the small object she saw that it was Remus on the other side, again.
“He’s too busy to talk with me again?” she said with a frown. She saw Remus run a hand through his sandy blonde hair. He was obviously stressed about this situation.
“You know he cares about you, Bambi. Sirius is just busy and needs to get his priorities straight. You know how he is,” he replied and Harri’s green eyes narrowed, what priorities would Sirius need to straighten out? What was her godfather doing?
“What is Sirius doing?” Harri asked. She had just assumed it was work.
“It’s nothing important. Did you know that he’s really upset that you won’t be here for Christmas for the first time,” Remus said changing the subject to something that would make her feel guilty.
“I know. I wish I didn’t need to participate in this stupid tournament. Tell Sirius that he better talk to me before Christmas or I’ll have the twins go after him,” she threatened lightly.
Remus smiled at that. “Speaking of the twins, how are you and George Weasley doing? He does realize that if he ever hurts you that he’ll have to deal with an Auror and an angry werewolf?” Remus asked innocently.
Harri laughed, at the comment. “He does know the dangers of dating me, no worries. Though, I’m pretty sure he and Fred can enact revenge on you for anything you do to him...” she replied and looked at her watch, she had five minutes before she had to leave.
“Not if he’s dead,” she heard Remus mutter. The two talked to each other for a few more minutes before Harri heard Hermione call her from the bottom of the stairs.
“I better get going, I have to go and look for dress robes for the Yule Ball,” she told Remus was a grimace.
It looked like Remus was about to say something, but Harri put the mirror away and made her way to the door. She’d have to question her Godfather’s flakiness later.
She was going to go to Hogsmeade with Hermione and Wendi to try and pick out dress robes for the ball. She figured that it was going to be easy to find a dress for her, she wasn’t picky, but trying to find one for Hermione was going to be a challenge. The studious Gryffindor was very critical of the dresses that she looked at and Harri worried that they wouldn’t find one for her before they had to return to the castle.
Harri had found the perfect dress within the first fifteen minutes of their shopping adventure. It took Wendi forty more minutes and Hermione still hadn’t found one by the time they stopped for a break.
The three of them were sitting in the Three Broomsticks when they saw Draco walk in, his hair covered in snow. He was followed in by Dean, Seamus and Ron. Harri frowned, the three Gryffindor boys liked to pick on Draco because of his father, and the blonde Ravenclaw generally let it happen, much to Harri’s dismay.
“Draco, over here!” Wendi shouted across the bar and waved him over. He gladly got out of Dean, Seamus and Ron’s range, but the boys eventually sat next to them while they were talking.
The Gryffindor boys were talking in raised voices next to them. “I would hate to not have a date for ball,” Dean said, shooting Draco a glare.
“Especially if all my friends got dates and none of them asked me,” Seamus added.
“That must really suck for you then because I do have a date and she’s rather lovely,” Draco said loud enough for them to hear.
“What idiot would let a death eater’s son take them to the ball?” Ron sneered.
“One, the girl I’m taking isn’t an idiot, she’s brilliant, and two she’d know me well enough to know that I’m not a death eater like my father,” Draco replied calmly as he took a sip from his butterbeer.
That made the Gryffindor boys quiet for a few minutes and eventually they left, leaving Harri, Hermione, Wendi and Draco sitting in a small group by themselves.
“So, who are you taking the to ball?” Wendi asked curiously. Draco was about to answer, but someone unexpected walk in.
“No way,” he whispered, not believing the sight before him.
“He’s in so much trouble,” Harri muttered, cracking her knuckles dangerously, her hair changed from black to red within seconds. Harri noticed that Hermione and Wendi were looking a little uncomfortable. “You two go ahead and look for more dresses. I’ll be taking care of some business.”
Harri and Draco approached two people on the other side of the bar. It was a young woman, probably in her early thirties, late twenties. She had short layered brown hair. She was dressed in a pencil skirt, blouse and robes. It seemed that she had just gotten off from work. She was hanging on the arm of a wizard, the one that was supposed to call Harri that very same morning.
He hadn’t noticed the two fourth years approach him. Harri had her arms crossed. “So this is why you’ve been too busy to reply to me?” Harri asked angrily. She wasn’t upset that Sirius had gotten into a relationship, she wasn’t a petty person, but he should have told her that he was seeing someone and couldn’t talk to her because of that.
Sirius nearly fell backwards into the table behind him at the sight of Draco and Harri. “Sirius, you haven’t told your kids about us?” the woman asked with a glare. Harri was beginning to like her.
“Well...there wasn’t really a right time for it...” Sirius said backing towards the door.
“Don’t even think about running, Sirius Black, or we’re through. You are going to sit down with your goddaughter and cousin and explain things to them. I’ll be cutting our date short today,” she told him threateningly. She turned to look at Harri and Draco. “I’m Anne Willows, you can call me Annie.”
She put her hand out for one of them to shake. Harri took it hesitantly. “I’m Harriet Potter and from what I’ve seen of you so far, I almost approve of you. I’ll have to get to know you more before I can decide for myself,” Harri replied with a little bit of hostility in her voice.
“Excuse Harriet, she’s been in a bad mood all afternoon. She was stuck shopping with her friends, who are still looking at dress robes. I’m Draco Black. I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing a lot of each other,” Draco told her with a wiry grin on his face.
“Yes, I quite agree. I better let you lot settle things. I’ll see you at work, Sirius,” Anne said with a wave.
The young woman smiled at the teenagers’ attitudes and walked out of the bar. As soon as she was out of earshot Harri and Draco turned on Sirius. Sirius motioned for them to sit. The teenagers took the invitation to sit down gladly. The three of them ordered butterbeers and began talking
“Why didn’t you tell us that you were dating someone?” Harri asked, arms crossed, and foot tapping impatiently on the floor.
Sirius rubbed the back of his neck nervously and sighed. “I wanted to tell you, but with the tournament going on I didn’t want to distract you...I wasn’t sure how you would react to me seeing someone else. I was worried that you would react badly and then that would reflect your participation in the Tri-Wizard Tournament,” he explained and Harri’s anger slowly dissipated.
“I can understand why you did that, but do you really think that I’m so petty that I would be upset that you found someone? Sirius, I’m happy for you! You deserve to be happy!” Harri told him, green eyes flashing with emotion.
“Thanks, Bambi, good to know that I have your approval.”
Sirius ruffled Harri’s hair, pulling some strands out of her braid. And the young girl pulled her braid apart and let her hair fall down and attempted to retie it, but alas, without a mirror it was a lost cause. Harri teasingly glared at her godfather.
“So what have you two been up to today?” Sirius asked as he casually sipped a butterbeer.
Harri groaned and smacked her head on the table they were sitting at. “That bad?” Sirius asked Draco with a raised eyebrow.
“She’s been shopping for dress robes all day with Hermione and Wendi. I don’t even want to imagine the horrors that she’s gone through today...” Draco replied with a shudder. “What’s worse is that they’re still shopping and expect Harri to go back and help them.”
Harri groaned even louder this time at the reminder of shopping and mumbled something incoherently in her arms.
“Aren’t you dating George Weasley? Surely you have a prank product that will get you out of this mess,” Draco suggested and Harri’s head shot up.
“Draco, if I wasn’t in a committed relationship with George I would probably kiss you,” Harri said with glee and pulled out a small candy.
“What is that?” Sirius asked curiously.
“My ticket back to Hogwarts without questions. Draco, Fred, George and I have been in the potion labs working on this for the majority of the year when we aren’t in class. This will make someone violently ill after they take it, successfully getting you out of class. The twins have been testing it on each other and Draco and I work out the kinks in the potion. It’s a lot of trial and error, but it’s fun work,” Harri replied.
“And all the bugs have been worked out of that one?” Sirius questioned hesitantly, not wanting his goddaughter to consume a dangerous candy.
“Well, Harri and I have been working out the last few bugs. We think that this one is perfect...but then again constant projectile vomit is hard to get rid of in a potion,” Draco answered with a smirk.
Sirius smacked the offending candy out of Harri’s hand. “You’re going shopping. I won’t have you consume candy that could cause you to have projectile vomit,” Sirius told her sternly. He tried to keep a straight face, but he broke down laughing a few seconds later.
“Harri, I need your opinion on something!” Hermione’s voice could be heard through the window and Harri muttered something under her breath before getting up and going to face Hermione’s shopping wrath.
Christmas Day couldn’t come soon enough for Harri. She didn’t want to hear another word about dress robes ever again. Harri, Hermione and Wendi were the only ones who took the time to open their presents that morning.
Harri had gotten a few books on Transfigurations and a letter from Sirius:
Merry Christmas, Bambi! I hope that you like the books Remus and I picked out for you! It was a full moon last night so he’s resting in the guest bedroom. You know how it is. I found something interesting in one of the kitchen drawers.
Kreacher had been hiding it. Apparently my brother had been trying to destroy it...maybe he wasn’t all bad. He did try to stop Voldemort. I guess he realized his mistake a little bit too late, he was killed shortly after he got the object. Remus and I are going to do a little bit of research on the item before we destroy it. Maybe it will give us some clues about the other horcruxes that have been made.
Have fun at the ball and don’t do anything that I would have done!
Your Godfather,
Sirius
Harri smiled at her Godfather’s letter and put the note aside and made a mental note to send him a reply later. She opened her gift from the twins and saw that it was their traditional prank tickets and she set those aside for later use. The morning was relatively quiet until Lavender came running in telling them that it was time to get ready.
Gryffindor girls didn’t come out of their dorms at all that morning, they were all busy getting ready for the ball. All the girls in the dorm were determined to try to tame Harri’s hair, to no avail. Even their heavy duty magical hair care products didn’t work. Harri didn’t really care how her hair looked, she was originally going to go with it down, but the girls wanted it up and out of her face...Harri just didn’t understand hair in the least.
By the time they were finished pulling at her hair and wrestling her into a dress it was time to leave. Harri’s dress robes were blood red, with a v-neck neck line. She was wearing a lacy golden colored shawl over it with gold bracelets and a gold lion necklace that Sirius had given to her the year before she went to Hogwarts. Her hair was pinned up in a tight braided bun with a few strands purposely left out to frame her face. She was representing her school tonight and was dressed the part. George looked like he wanted to kiss her as she descended down the staircase.
Wendi and Hermione were still getting ready by the time Harri had left the common room.
“Is it alright leaving them?” George asked as the common room disappeared behind them.
“They told me to go ahead without them. I think Wendi was just about ready. I feel bad for Neville, he has to wait for her after all,” Harri replied.
“She’s going with Neville? I didn’t think that he was her type...” George joked.
“She has a feeling that there is more to him than meets the eye,” Harri said absentmindedly as they approached the other champions waiting to go into the great hall.
Cedric was there with Cho Chang, who was looking very pretty in her lavender dress robes.
Fleur was there in dress robes made of silver silk. She was standing next to Rodger Davis, who seemed to be completely awe struck at the girl he was standing next to. The French girl waved to Harri when she stopped next to them. George’s arm was wrapped around her waist protectively and Fleur smiled at them.
Viktor was the last to arrive, he was talking to Hermione, who had straightened her hair for the occasion and was wearing beautiful flowing periwinkle dress robes.
“Hermione?” Harri heard Cedric whisper from behind her.
McGonagall came towards them a few moments later and gave George a stern look, daring him to do something and embarrass the school. He gave her a sheepish smile and the champions processed in.
It wasn’t long before everyone was dancing. Despite the fact that Harri hadn’t had much experience dancing she had a lot of fun with George, who seemed to know how to dance extremely well. He expertly led her through the champion’s dance and wouldn’t let her sit down until they both needed a drink.
“Who taught you how to dance?” Harri asked him when she sat down next to a fountain that was placed in the great hall for the night.
“My mum, she was insistent that we all learn how to dance a little bit. She gave up after us because there were too many-no way,” George began to explain, but he saw something over Harri’s shoulder.
Harri turned around and saw exactly what had George so surprised. It was Draco’s date...clad in a lovely aqua colored robe with red radish earrings, was Luna Lovegood, who seemed to be having a fun time dancing with Draco.
Harri smiled at the sight. “Those two are so oblivious to their own feelings,” she said, mostly to herself, but heard George agree quietly.
Suddenly, a slow song came on. “Do you want to get back to dancing?” He asked her with a flirtatious wink, holding out his hand for Harri to take.
“Of course,” Harri replied, with a smile on her face.
A cute chapter, if I do say so myself. The second task is coming up fast! I'll be updating on Wednesday if I don't have internet on Tuesday.
Thank you so much for reviewing, you guys are awesome!
~Animerocker
PS
I don't own Harry Potter