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Harry felt his jaw drop as he looked closely at the beautiful witch in a periwinkle-blue dress currently attached to Viktor Krum's arm. It was Hermione, his brilliant, bookish, bushy-haired friend. With the way the dress clung to her body and her hair twisted into an elegant knot, she looked like an angel sent straight from heaven. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks and his heart starting to beat out of control.
"Hi, Harry! Hi Parvati!" She said as she spotted him and his date, snapping him out of his thoughts, but before he could say anything back McGonagall came in and put them in a line. Soon enough the doors opened, letting the champions and their dates into the Great Hall.
As they walked in, it looked like Harry wasn't the only one to notice her makeover. For better or for worse it looked like all eyes in the hall were on Hermione, whether it be from envy or attraction.
She's a person, not a bloody meal, he thought to himself in annoyance when he saw lust-filled eyes, people looking her up and down like she was a piece of meat then shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking this, Hermione was his friend, not his date. Guilt filled him as he looked at the girl on his arm, Parvati was nice, but now he was starting to think she probably would have been happier going with someone else. Just like you, a little voice in his head said. Shut up, he responded as he tried to turn his attention back to his date and the ball.
Hogwarts has gone all out, he thought as he looked around the Great Hall. It was hard to believe this was the same place they ate every day. Gone were the four house tables, in their place were hundreds of smaller round ones. A true winter wonderland, absolutely covered in silver frost and filled to the brim with mistletoe.
Soon Harry walked to the top table with the other champions and their dates, joining the judges. Unfortunately for him, he was stuck right next to Percy, but all worries of a dull conversation about cauldron bottoms were thankfully dashed once Percy started talking about his new promotion.
At some point though, his mind started to wander as his eyes shifted their gaze to Hermione. She's beautiful he thought dreamily as he looked at her. Of course, she's absolutely stunning you git, the little voice in his head responded, she always is, you've just been too daft to notice. He shook his head as if that would clear off these thoughts and tried to focus on dinner. Why was he drooling over her all of the sudden? Hermione would probably only ever think of him as a brother and Harry liked Cho, right?
Cho... he turned to look at her. She was talking to Cedric, laughing at a joke he had just told her. Instead of the regular heat to his cheeks and the feeling of butterflies in his stomach, he felt nothing. He hadn't thought about her all night. With a sigh, Harry turned his focus to the food as he ignored the conversations that were raging about him like fires.
After a while Dumbledore rose, motioning for everyone else to join him as he waved his hand, pushing the tables back, clearing the floor as he created a platform filled with instruments. Soon The Weird Sisters came up and started playing.
"Come on!" Parvati hissed as she grabbed Harry. "We're supposed to dance!"
After a few songs, Harry, being tired of dancing and catching sight of Ron sitting alone came over with Pavati.
"Hey Ron, where's Padma?" Parvati asked.
At first, Ron didn't answer. He was glaring daggers at Hermione and Krum, who were dancing nearby.
"I don't know, she went to go dance with a Beauxbatons boy."
"Why don't I get us drinks? Would you guys like anything?" Harry suggested after almost a minute of uncomfortable silence
"Thanks Harry, I'll take a Butterbeer," Parvati responded.
"I'll just take some punch," Ron said apathetically as he continued staring at Hermione and Krum.
"Ok, I'll be right back," Harry said. Once he had gotten everything, Harry was making his way back to the table when he saw Hermione. A greeting died in his throat when he noticed that she and Ron were fighting in between a very uncomfortable Parvati. They were so engrossed in the argument they did not acknowledge his presence.
"He's from Durmstrang!" spat Ron. "He's competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You - you're -" Ron was obviously casting around for words strong enough to describe Hermione's crime, "fraternizing with the enemy, that's what you're doing!"
Hermione's mouth fell open.
"Don't be so stupid!" she said after a moment. "The enemy! Honestly - who was the one who was all excited when they saw him arrive? Who was the one who wanted his autograph? Who's got a model of him up in their dormitory?"
Ron chose to ignore this. "I s'pose he asked you to come with him while you were both in the library?"
"Yes, he did," said Hermione, the pink patches on her cheeks glowing more brightly. "So what?"
"What happened - trying to get him to join spew, were you?"
"No, I wasn't! If you really want to know, he - he said he'd been coming up to the library every day to try and talk to me, but he hadn't been able to pluck up the courage!"
Hermione said this very quickly, and blushed so deeply that she was the same color as Parvati's robes.
"Yeah, well - that's his story," said Ron nastily.
"Ron!" Harry hissed, but he was ignored
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Obvious, isn't it? He's Karkaroff's student, isn't he? He knows who you hang around with. He's just trying to get closer to Harry - get inside information on him - or get near enough to jinx him -"
Hermione looked as though Ron had slapped her. This combined with the tears starting to form in her eyes was the breaking point for Harry.
"Ron! Stop it, that's enough! What's wrong with you?" Harry said, absolutely abhorred by Ron's behavior.
"Are you seriously taking her side on this Harry?" Ron spat, "Krum is your competition and she's prancing around with him like some - some slag!"
Finally, Hermione had had enough. With fresh tears in her eyes she turned and bolted, leaving Harry speechless. After the initial shock subsided Harry turned to Ron as absolute fury burned throughout his body.
"How dare you talk to her like that? She's been our friend for four years and saved our lives more times than I can even mention! Just because she didn't go with you, doesn't mean you can be an absolute git to her! She can dance with whoever she damn well pleases!"
"But Harry, I-"
"I don't want to hear it," Harry said, "You better apologize to her tomorrow and I don't ever want you speaking or acting like this to anyone ever again, especially to her."
Shooting one last glare at Ron and an apologetic glance at Parvati, Harry began his search for Hermione. Finally, after a few minutes of searching, he found her. She was sitting at an empty table, almost tucked away in a corner as she stared unblinkingly at the dance floor.
"Are you here to yell at me too?" Hermione said emotionlessly, looking at anything but him.
"Of course not," Harry said, "I wanted to see how you were doing."
"Well, I was having a pretty decent night until Ronald came along. Viktor had to go see Karkaroff, so I figured I could just say hi, but then..." She trailed off as her eyes got misty.
"I'm sorry Hermione, he was being such a git, I should have said something sooner," Harry said as he took a seat next to her.
"It's not your fault. You can't control what comes out of that thick skull of his."
They sat there like that, enjoying a comfortable silence for what felt like hours. Soon enough though, a new song started playing, reviving a question in Harry that had probably been festering all night. Gathering up every inch of Gryffindor courage he could muster, he took a deep breath and looked into her eyes as the question left his lips.
"Hermione, would you like to dance with me?" He asked, trying to sound braver then he felt.
The effects of his words were instant. Hermione shot him a look of extreme disbelief before turning a shade of scarlet that would have made any self-respecting Gryffindor banner jealous.
"A-are you sure" She stuttered.
"Oh! Well, if you don't want to..." he said, feeling like an idiot.
"No, I'd love to dance with you! But what about Parvati, and are you sure you want to dance with me?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked with a frown.
"Well it's no secret that I'm not exactly the most beautiful witch in the castle." she replied, not meeting his eyes, "You'd probably much rather dance with someone prettier, like Cho or Ginny or-"
Hermione, what are you talking about? That's absolute rubbish!" Harry exclaimed, not willing to hear his friend put herself down any longer, "You're brilliant, absolutely stunning, caring and any bloke would be lucky to have someone like you! For Merlin's sake, your date is Viktor Krum! I feel like I've been taking you for granted, ever since I started Hogwarts you've always been there for me and you've saved my like more times then I can even remember.”
"Oh Harry, do you really mean that?" she asked, her chocolate eyes sparkling like diamonds.
"Of course I do," Harry said seriously as he squeezed her hand.
"Then absolutely." she responded with a grin as she dragged him to the dance floor.
They danced slowly to the music as more and more looks were shot their way, but if they noticed, they gave no indication as they lost themselves in each other's eyes. Harry couldn't help the grin that just wouldn't stay off his face and flutter that arose in his chest as he and Hermione swayed. Suddenly a lump formed in his throat as another question formed in his mind. The image of him and Hermione together at the Three Broomsticks ingrained itself in his mind. Something must have changed in his expression, because soon enough Hermione frowned
"Are you alright Harry?" she asked, worry clear in her gaze
"Yes, I was just thinking," he said.
"About what?" she asked.
But just before he was about to respond he felt a tap on his shoulder
"May I cut in?" a deep, familiar voice inquired. Harry turned around and was face to face with Victor Krum.
"Oh, of course. Are you ok with that Hermione?" Harry asked feeling a bit disappointed.
"Sure, Parvati will probably be missing you." She said as red crept into her cheeks, "Oh, and Harry, what was it that you wanted to ask me."
"Never mind." Harry responded. He would ask tomorrow, but right now she just looked so happy. He didn't want to ruin that. With a final goodbye Harry returned to his date.
Later that night a soft smile graced a sleeping Harry's lips, the memories of a few hours ago filling him. In his minds eye he could see Hermione and him walking through Hogsmade hands laced together. Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow.