\ wherein she goes on her first date /
"PHEOBE, GET GOING!" SAID Ron in the common room that Thursday at around five.
"Why?" I asked over my textbook. He stared at me.
"Your date!"
"Um, very funny," I scoffed. "Who the hell am I going on a date with?"
"Harry, of course."
"What?!" Hermione and I said simultaneously.
"Remember when-"
"No, Ron, that was you joking. As in, not real."
"I wasn't! Harry's upstairs getting ready for your date right now!"
"What!? I can't go on a date?"
"Well, you'd best hurry, Pheeb," Ron said, leaning back on the couch and propping his legs up on the coffee table. I shot him a glare and ran upstairs with Hermione.
Harry's POV
"Hey, Ron," I said, going downstairs to see the redhead sitting on the couch by himself. "Where's Pheeb and Hermione?"
"Getting ready," he said plainly. I frowned.
"For what?" He shook his head.
"Don't tell me you forgot!" I widened my eyes, my heart racing.
What did I forget? A birthday? A wedding?
wait- what?
"Forgot what?"
"Your date!" Ron exclaimed. I froze.
"What? What date?! What?" I stammered, staring at the redhead.
"Pheobe's already getting ready, remember?"
"Getting ready?"
"It's a date, isn't it?" I could feel my jaw drop.
"You're telling me I've got a date with Pheobe Wilson? The hottest girl in our year!?"
"Well, I mean, she might come second to like, Hermione or whatever, but yeah, mate- wait, what did I just say- oh my Merlin-"
"I can't go on a date! I don't know what to do! I'm in a hoodie and sweatpants! I can't go on a date like this!" I panicked, sprinting back up the stairs.
Ron's POV because why not.
"Everything goes according to plan," I grinned, running a hand through my hair and leaning back on the couch. "I'm, like, a genius or something. No, not something, I am a geniu- oh my bloody God my little sister is going on a date. I might cry. I will-"
"Drumroll, please," said a voice. I looked up to see Hermione looking at me expectantly. I frowned.
"What?"
"Drumroll! Oh, honestly- presenting...Pheobe Wilson!" Pheobe stepped out suddenly, smiling bashfully in a pretty black and white flannel dress.
"Made it with one of my shirts," Pheobe said sheepishly. "All thanks to Hermy, though."
"Wow, you look...wow." I said breathlessly. "I feel like a proud dad."
"That's exactly what Hermione said!" Pheobe exclaimed. "It's a sign. Oh, speaking of, Ron, are you free in like five minutes?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Hermione, how 'bout you?"
"Of course. Why?"
"'Cause I'm not," said Pheobe smartly, winking cheekily at me. "Have fun on your date."
"What?"
"You cheeky little-"
"Hey," said a voice. The three of us turned to the top of the boys staircases to see Harry standing there awkwardly in a different shirt and jeans with a coat on.
Wait.
HE COMBED HIS HAIR.
"Hey," said Pheobe.
"Hi," Harry said, approaching her.
"Hey," Pheobe repeated, grinning. Harry chuckled and took her hand before the two of them left the common room, holding hands.
"They're so adorable," said Hermione with a small sniffle.
"My little sister, all grown up," I said, wiping my eye.
"Your little sister? Pheobe, you mean?" said Fred and George as they came down towards us.
"What's happened to her?" George questioned.
"Do I have to beat someone up?" said Fred, holding up a fist. "Name?"
"What? No! She's on her first date," I said proudly. They froze.
"WHAT?!"
"HER FIRST DATE? NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT."
"I DID NOT ALLOW THIS."
"NO DATES."
"SHE'S ONLY LIKE ELEVEN. NO DATING."
"She's fourteen-"
"DID I ASK, RON? NO. SHE'S NOT GOING ON A DATE."
"She's already gone with Harry," said Hermione.
"HARRY?!"
Fred scowled, before looking to me, then Hermione.
"You two. Go on a date and spy on them."
"What?"
"Yeah, that's right! Go spy and make sure they stay five feet- ten feet- apart at all times. No holding hands, and definitely no snogging." exclaimed George, shaking his head. "Her first date."
"Why are you two so protective of her all of a sudden?" asked Hermione, looking suspicious as she eyed my brothers.
"Well, she's got no one else to be protective, does she?"
"She's got m-"
"No big brothers," George cut in. "Maybe Dad will adopt her or something, that'd be wicked."
"I've always wanted a sister."
"AM I A JOKE TO YOU?" Bellowed Ginny's voice.
"Run." I advised quickly.
Pheobe's POV
"So...." I said, ducking out from the Invisibility cloak as Harry rolled it up, my gaze landing upon all of Hogsmeade.
"It's beautiful," I whispered, watching snow gently fall on the buildings and people stroll down the path, the wind swirling around them.
"I know," Harry grinned, watching me.
I was mesmerized by everything I saw, still struggling to realize this was my life now, but a sudden gust of wind snapped me back to my senses as it struck me that I was in a dress in December.
"Cold?" said Harry, already shrugging off his jacket. I shook my head.
"No, not at all! Besides, you must be freez-"
"Just shut up and wear it," Harry rolled his eyes, draping the thick jacket around my shoulders, and I could suddenly smell cinnamon and grass. It was a weird combination, but it somehow worked because it was him. "It suits you," Harry grinned, cocking an eyebrow.
"Yes, everything does," I said breezily.
"Hey- my hand's cold." he said suddenly. I frowned.
"That's specific."
"Oh, hold my hand, idiot." I rolled my eyes as he laced his fingers between mine.
"James Potter really coming through now, isn't he?"
"Thank Merlin."
"So, you've never been, right?"
"No, I've been dozens of times," I said, my gaze falling on Hogsmeade a few feet away. "I go here all the time with my mermaid and vampire friends."
"Very funny," Harry scoffed, noticing that my gaze was caught on the brilliant sweet shop. "C'mon."
"Where're we going?"
"Ireland. Where the fuck d'you think?" we wandered around the store for a little while, me spending several minutes looking at each of the strangest candies, like 'flavored bubbles' and 'shock-o-choc's', and even 'tasty colors' (which was apparently a sweet that would make you taste colors??)
I also noticed Harry, not very discreetly, shoving a couple of the candies I had been looking at into a little shopping bag and suddenly saying he had to go to the restroom, but I saw him at the register not twenty seconds later.
"What'd you buy?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as we left the store together, small bag full of sweets in his hand.
"Oh, you know. Just some...stuff."
"Right.."
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"Okay, that is the dumbest fucking thing I have ever heard."
"Is not!"
"People fucking fly around on little sticks and try to catch dumb balls?!"
"That's completely the opposite of what I've been telling you!"
"No. Shut up." I scoffed. We were sat in the Three Broomsticks, sipping at Butterbeer when the conversation had turned to Quidditch.
"Okay, what do you want to talk about then, if not the best fucking sport of all time?" Harry muttered.
"I dunno!" I raised my hands in surrender. "You're the one who decided to take Ron's joke seriously, you tell me!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know, you went and got ready for the "date" which, you know, I'd assumed you hadn't taken seriously-"
"What?! You're the one who got ready-"
"What're you talking about? I came down and Ron said you were getting ready-"
"No, I came down and Ron said you were getting ready-"
"Did we get tricked into coming here by a ginger?" I laughed, taking a swig of the butterbeer.
"Ooh, you've got a little something right...everywhere," Harry grinned.
"Thanks for the impeccable detail, Potter," I chuckled.
"You know what? Fuck if Ron tricked us into coming here, this's loads of fun."
"Yeah, who said dates had to be stiff where people talk about their future dreams and aspirations?" I rolled my eyes.
"Merlin, I don't have aspirations, I don't actually think I'll make it to next year."
"Yeah, that accurately sums up...my entire life."
We spent an hour talking, walking around in the chilly December air or stepping into random stores, until finally we realized that we should head back to the castle before we got caught.
"This was fun," I said simply as we made our way back to Hogwarts.
"Yeah," Harry nodded, lacing our fingers together.
"Who would've thought the great Harry Potter had a fear of pigeons?" I joked, grinning as he responded,
"And who would've thought the great Pheobe Wilson was allergic to nearly every fruit?" I scoffed and, just as we reached the castle doors and slipped the Invisibility cloak over our heads, I leant up and pressed my lips to Harry's cheek quickly, as I had done what felt like eons ago, right before we had literally battled a dragon. His face turned red as he turned over to me, a wide grin that he was failing to stifle on his lips.
"Does that mean I've just scored myself a second date?" He asked, without even missing a beat. I scoffed loudly.
"You're very cocky for a boy about to get murdered by a bald man with no nose."
"Where have you been." said Fred once the two of us entered the common room, Ron and Hermione on the couch and Fred and George glaring at Harry.
"What? We went out. Why?"
"Did you hold hands?"
"Did you snog?"
"Did anything remotely special happen?"
"The answer to all of those better be no or I will hurt someone."
"What? No. I mean- I guess some of-"
"WE'RE KILLING HARRY!"
"WHAT THE F-"
"Even Voldemort couldn't kill him! What makes you think you can?!" I scoffed. Fred cracked his knuckles.
"We have motivation."
"Um..no, Fred, you guys aren't killing Harry."
"At least some boundaries."
"Boundaries?" Harry and I repeated.
"It was one date!"
"And there's going to be more, is there not?"
"Well- I-"
"THAT'S IT. C'MON, HARRY."
"What? Where are we going?!" stammered Harry as the twins dragged him away.
"To clear some things up," said George dramatically.
"You do realize you aren't actually my brothers, right?!" they stopped dead, glaring daggers at me.
"You say that one more time and we'll tell Mum."
"Wha- why do I- she's not my mother, she's yours!"
"Yeah, 'til we adopt you."
"Excuse me?" without another word, the three of them disappeared into the boys dormitories.
"BY THE WAY WE THINK YOU LOOK REALLY BEAUTIFUL," yelled Fred before I heard a door slam and I turned to Ron and Hermione with wide eyes.
"What in the name of Merlin-?"
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Harry's POV
"Pheobe, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"
"No, you bloody sicko! Get out of my sight! I never want to talk to you again-"
"Shut up, Ron," I groaned, tipping my head back and staring up at the ceiling as Ron ripped off the dark brown wig he was wearing to help me practice- although it wasn't like that wig was making it any easier.
"You can't just say will you go to the ball with me," scolded Ron, "you've got to have chocolates, fireworks, a whole love confession!" I blinked.
"Ron, it's a ball, not marriage!"
"You're saying that now, but when you're having your tenth kid with her, you'll be thanking me."
"Tenth kid?"
"Yeah, you're gonna have twelve," Ron shrugged nonchalantly. I paused.
"Anyways, back to this one ball-" Ron huffed- "what am I gonna do? I don't have chocolates or fireworks!" Ron thought for a moment.
"How about I magick some up!" he suggested, holding up his wand. I eyed it warily; yeah, he was my best mate, but I didn't trust myself with magic very much, much less him.
"Er...maybe we should come up with a plan C."
"Technically this would be plan F."
"Do we have a plan for every letter? What happens in plan M?" he barely hesitated.
"You get punched by Viktor Krum in plan M."
Pheobe's POV (a day later)
"Pheobe, who's your date to the ball?" Hermione said curiously as the two of us headed back to the common room after dinner, the ball approaching closer and closer each day.
"Nobody," I groaned.
"So let me get this straight," Hermione began, "you can go with anyone you want, and you're going with nobody?"
"Oh, hush, I can't go with anyone I want." she raised her eyebrows at me.
"I happen to have intelligence from someone that Harry and Ron were practicing asking a certain someone to the ball."
"Really? Who?" she groaned, rolling her eyes.
"Honestly, I don't know how you've managed to make it this far. You, of course!" I huffed, shaking my head.
"Well, too bad."
"What d'you mean too bad?" Hermione hissed abruptly, glancing around. "You've been in love with him for five years-"
"Yes, yes, thank you for reminding me," I huffed bitterly under my breath, "but there's a huge difference between being in love with a fictional character and liking a real human being. With fictional characters, I can pretend they like me back. With real people-"
"He does like you back, it's so obvious it hurts," Hermione said dramatically, "besides, who's the one he went out with yesterday? Not Cho, not any other girl we know, you."
"That was only 'cause of Ron-"
"Pheobe May Wilson," Hermione began in an official sort of voice, "if you don't ask Harry to the Ball, I will ask him for you." I rolled my eyes.
"Herm-"
"Pheobe! Just the person I was looking for!"
"McCoy? What's up?" I asked, spinning to see the Ravenclaw in front of me
"Want to go to the ball together? Obviously platonically, I'm sorry for you, however, I know you're desperately in love with me," James grinned dramatically as I rolled my eyes, considering it. It would be nice to go with a friend, and James would totally make the whole thing lighter. I opened my mouth to agree before-
"Pheobe? Hi!" said a voice. I turned once again and this time, to my astonishment, I saw Cedric Diggory standing in front of me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hermione's eyes widen and James raised his eyebrows.
"Hi, Cedric," I said unsurely. "What's up?"
"Um, can I speak to you alone for a sec? Just a minute, I promise I won't take-"
"Oh, yeah, sure," I said.
"I'll wait," Hermione said, shooting excited glances at me which I frowned back at.
"Okay...James, I'll catch y-"
"Oh that's fine, I'm okay with waiting," he waved me off.
"Um..okay." I followed Cedric a couple feet away into a little deserted area.
"I, er, I wanted to know if you'd go to the ball with me?"
"What?!" I stammered, wide-eyed. "Well- I mean- why?" I spluttered.
"Oh, I, well, I thought it'd be nice to go with a fellow champion, and, you know, maybe even a friend," Cedric shrugged bashfully. "I've heard loads about you, Pheobe, don't undermine yourself. You're a really brilliant girl."
"But- but you're- two years? Older?"
"Oh, I- I didn't think that mattered-" he began awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"No, I mean, don't you have loads of friends?"
"Yeah, but you know how it is, everyone gets dates early on and by the time I woke up and realized I should ask someone, it was already too late."
"Um...Cedric, who's Cho going with?" I asked cautiously.
"Marietta Edgecombe," said Cedric, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Yeah...she beat me to it. Would you wanna go with me, then?"
"Um, I'm- I'm sorry- no- someone literally just asked me, and-"
"No, yeah, I get it...just..save me a dance, yeah?"
"Yeah," I nodded, still dumbfounded that Cedric Diggory had decided to ask, out of all people, me. "Catch you later, Cedric."
"See you!" and he walked off, talking to a bunch of other Hufflepuff sixth-years who groaned and talked loudly, occasionally looking at me as I ignored them and quickly walked over to James and Hermione.
"What happened?" they asked simultaneously.
"You'll never fucking believe it," I said, "Cedric asked me to the ball!"
"What?!"
"I know!"
"What'd you say?"
"I told him no- you just asked me, James-"
"What? But he's so hot! You should totally get with him!" James exclaimed. I paused.
"You literally just asked me-"
"Well I don't mind going by myself! You're a champion, you haven't got that choice!"
"Oh fuck that. Cedric is way out of my league. Besides, he's depressed 'cause Cho's going with someone else."
"Ooh," James said, nodding. "Soo...best friends dominating Yule ball?"
"Sure, James," I chuckled. "See you tomorrow!"
"See you, Pheobe!" and he headed back to Ravenclaw Tower as Hermione and I continued to make our way to Gryffindor Tower.
"You're very stupid," Hermione commented.
"Oh, what now?"
"What about Harry?!" she exclaimed. "You two belong together!"
"No, Hermione," I said shortly. "Besides. James is a really good friend of mine, surprisingly, and it'll be nice to go with him."
"Okay, but it would've been nicer if you went with-"
"Fairy lights," I said clearly to the Fat Lady, who swung open instantly, only to reveal Ron laughing while Ginny glared at him and Harry chuckling under his breath. "How come you two weren't at dinner?" I asked, climbing through the portrait hole.
"Because- oh shut up laughing, Ron- because Ron's just been rejected by a girl he asked to the ball!"
That shut Ron and Harry up.
"Thanks a bunch, Ginny," said Ron sourly.
"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?" I said loftily.
"Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you." said Hermione airily.
But Ron was staring at Hermione as though suddenly seeing her in a whole new light.
"Hermione, Neville's right - you are a girl...."
"Oh well spotted," she said acidly.
"Well - you can come with one of us!"
"No, I can't," snapped Hermione.
"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."
"No, you're not!" said Ron. "You just said that to get rid of Neville!"
"Oh did I?" said Hermione, 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!"
Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again.
"Okay, okay, we know you're a girl," he said. "That do? Will you come now?"
"I've already told you!" Hermione said very angrily. "I'm going with someone else!"
And she stormed off toward the girls' dormitories.
"She's lying," said Ron flatly, watching her go.
"She's not," said Ginny quietly.
"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 -"
"I can't," said Ginny, and she went scarlet too. "I'm going with - with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought...well...I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year." She looked extremely miserable. "I think I'll go and have dinner," she said, and she got up and walked off to the portrait hole, her head bowed.
Ron goggled at Harry.
"What's got into them?" he demanded.
"Nothing's gotten into them," I scoffed, "they've just found people who'd like to take them to the ball."
"Yeah..." murmured Ron, slouching back in his chair with his arms folded. I rolled my eyes as Harry suddenly walked up to me, looking determined as he looked down at me and the corner of his lips turned upwards.
"Ball with me?" I froze, staring into his green eyes and for a moment considering just forgetting about the timeline and Ginny and Parvati and agreeing.
"I'm sorry, Harry-" I said quickly, frozen in my place. "I- I can't."
"What? Why not?"
"I- I've already got a date." he paused and searched my gaze for a second, apparently trying to determine if I was lying, but then he gave up and said,
"Well...who is it?"
"A friend of mine," I said, "he's in Ravenclaw."
"Lucky guy," Harry said hollowly, spinning on his heel and making his way up to the boys' dormitories, running a hand through his hair. I tried to push the image of a hurt Harry as I made my way to my dormitory and got underneath the covers, but all I could think about was how brightly his eyes had been glowing until suddenly they were dimmed,
and because of me.