Quite Pleasant

Quite Pleasant

Chapter One

Harry read the new notice in the common room glumly. He had a reason to be glum. There was another Yule Ball on. Dumbledore probably wanted the ball to strengthen relationships in the school, but it didn't explain why the girls had to ask the boys. He turned to Ron and Hermione. Ron had gone an interesting shade of purple and Hermione was scowling.

'Girls asking boys - that'll be a bundle of fun, won't it?' she said crossly. 'I don't want to go.'

'Sounds better than last time,' grunted Ron. 'Save us a lot of humiliation, Harry.'

'I hope neither of you get asked!' snapped Hermione. 'All you care about is yourselves!' She stormed off to breakfast. Ron stared after her.

'She's as mental as Loony!' he exclaimed. 'She had a nice break in fourth year, being asked three times, can't we have one?' Harry shrugged.

'Let's go to breakfast, I'm starving,' he said.

Like it was every Christmas, the Great Hall was decorated splendidly. There were a dozen trees, all covered in icicles and fairies. Tinsel was criss-crossing the ceiling - today the sky was a clear, pale blue - and smoky-looking reindeer were galloping around in the air, strongly reminding Harry of his Patronus.

Hermione was eating her omelette with Neville, who was looking at her very hopefully, as if he wished her to ask him to the ball. Harry glanced at Ron; his ears had gone red and he was glaring at Neville. Harry knew very well what he was thinking.

So Hermione would definitely have a partner, whether it was Ron or Neville. Ginny was apparently going with Dean Thomas, her boyfriend, as they were holding hands under the table. Harry didn't want to have to resort to Parvati again, and Lavender was going with Seamus. As he sat down, he gave Cho a fleeting look. She was sitting with her boyfriend Michael Corner. Thankfully, Harry didn't go red or drop his bag at the sight of her any more. He decided he was well and truly over her.

Ron had settled down next to Hermione and was still giving Neville the kind of glare Harry gave Snape. Neville was looking worried. Hermione didn't seem to notice; she was glowering down at her omelette. Harry had barely started his own when Hermione was striding off and Ron was hurrying after her, leaving half his breakfast, which was a very unusual occurrence.

Harry was ruminating over who he wanted to ask him, thinking it was very unfair that he was being forced to ruminate about this when the girls were meant to be asking the boys, when Neville spoke to him.

'Harry? Is Ron angry at me?'

'I'll say,' said Harry. 'He thinks you fancy Hermione.' Judging by the colour Neville went, Ron was correct.

'Oh,' said Neville. 'Does he like her, then?'

Harry rolled his eyes, slapped himself on the head and put his face in his hands, as he was unable to express how stupid he found Neville using only one of these gestures.

'Yes, Neville,' said Harry. 'That has been increasingly obvious since fourth year.'

'Does she like him?' said Neville in a small voice.

'I think so,' said Harry. 'Sorry.'

'Don't worry, I didn't think she'd ask me anyway,' said Neville, who was obviously lying. Harry shrugged, and made his way out of the hall.

*

Over the next few days, Harry became very annoyed that no one was asking him. He was ready to say yes to Millicent Bulstrode now. It was very ironic (and Harry despised irony) that in fourth year, when he had set his sights on one particular girl, he had a fan club, and now, when he would have gone to the ball with a troll, nobody seemed to like him. It became increasingly obvious, however, that Ron and Hermione both had partners. Surprisingly enough, they were going together.

'So how did she ask you?' Harry said conversationally one day, when Hermione was in the library. Ron went maroon.

'It was on the day the notice came out,' he mumbled, 'after breakfast. I said "Will you ask me to the ball with you?" She thought she was just my last resort first, but I convinced her that was impossible. Well, it is! Girls asking boys, no one had asked me yet, and I asked her to ask me first thing in the morning on the first possible day of asking! I ask you.'

'Well, I won't ask you anything else,' joked Harry.

'I have to ask you something though,' said Ron, grinning. 'Anyone asked you to the ball yet?'

'Don't ask.'

*

Harry flicked through Defense Against the Dark Arts for Dummies, bored. The whole library was boring. It was Christmas Eve and still no one had asked him, apart from Ron for a joke. At the moment, Ron and Hermione were in the common room, playing chess. Their chess games almost always ended in an argument so Harry was glad to be out of the way.

'Hello, Harry.' Harry looked up. It was Luna Lovegood. He hadn't really seen her this term. Today she was wearing a large top hat and a too small gingham dress.

'Hi, Luna,' he said. 'Had a good summer?'

'It was rather nice,' she said dreamily. 'Daddy and me went to Sweden and we found some Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.'

'Did you?' said Harry, determined not to laugh. 'So... what d'you want?'

'I wanted to ask,' said Luna vaguely, 'if you had a partner for the Yule Ball yet.'

'No,' said Harry gloomily. 'There you go, have a nice little gloat.'

'No, thank you,' said Luna serenely. 'Would you like to go with me, Harry?'

'Er... ok,' said Harry, glad that he finally had a partner. 'Why'd you leave it so late?' Luna looked puzzled.

'They only announced it today, though, didn't they?' Harry stared at her, at a loss for words. Was she so out of it that she didn't realise there was a ball when the sign had been up for a fortnight and everybody had been discussing it?

'If you say so,' he said.

'I shall see you tomorrow then,' said Luna dreamily. 'I shall meet you in the Entrance Hall when the ball starts. I hope you like your present, and I promise I won't make you dance.' She drifted off.

Harry watched her leave anxiously. She had bought him a present? He hadn't even thought of her when he had done his Christmas shopping. Luna didn't appear to be one to take offence at things like lack of Christmas presents, but Harry wasn't taking any chances. He hurriedly packed all his things together and strode off to Gryffindor Tower to get his Invisibility Cloak, the Marauders' Map and some money.

Ron and Hermione were, as Harry had predicted, arguing over the chessboard. Under his Cloak, holding map and money under his robes, Harry set off for the statue of the one eyed witch. According to the map, Snape was lurking in his office, Filch was in the Astronomy Tower, telling off Peeves for smearing ink on the telescopes (again) and Mrs Norris was prowling around the Owlery.

Harry tapped the one eyed witch with his wand, whispered 'Dissendium!' and slid down the narrow tunnel, landing in the cellar of Honeydukes with a bump. The sweet shop didn't sound busy at all and Harry didn't want to attract attention to himself, which is difficult when you're famous. He decided to simply take a large box of chocolate frogs, which he knew the price of, from the cellar, and leave the money there. It wasn't stealing at all, Harry told himself, he was doing a perfectly legal thing, and he most certainly would not get his hand cut off for this if he lived in the Middle East.

Hearing someone coming down into the cellar, Harry threw open the trapdoor and leapt down it, clutching the chocolate frogs under his arm. He hurried up the tunnel, slid out and ran back up to Gryffindor Tower.

Harry wrapped the present in his dormitory after putting his cloak, map and wallet away, and took it down to the Great Hall to put under one of the trees. Dobby had told him that the house elves did the job of Father Christmas; they distributed all the presents in Hogwarts, and Dobby, apparently, always did Harry's.

Harry returned to the common room, wondering what he had been thinking in saying yes to Loony Lovegood. Ron and Hermione had apparently resolved their fight, as they were playing Gobstones and looking quite happy about it.

'Harry,' said Hermione. 'Have you found yourself a partner yet?'

'Yeah,' said Harry. 'Finally.'

'Who?' said Ron, fascinated. He paid for this lapse in concentration towards the game when a particularly fat stone gobbed in his face. Hermione laughed. 'Who?' Ron repeated, wiping the gob off his face and throwing Hermione a dirty look.

'Loony Lovegood,' Harry muttered, under his breath and through his teeth..

'Lousy Yoghurt?' said Ron, baffled, while Hermione laughed again. He had apparently misheard.

'Loony Lovegood,' repeated Harry, slightly louder. Ron let out a howl of mirth, if a howl of mirth is even possible.

'You're going with Loony? You're off your rocker! Are you going to spend the whole night discussing Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?' Hermione frowned at him.

'Shush, Ron. Harry, it was very nice of you to say yes, but promise me you won't start spouting all this nonsense about Heliopaths, or Umgubular Slashkilters, or whatever they're called-'

'I won't go mental from a few hours with Luna,' Harry frowned.

'So it's Luna now, is it?' snickered Ron. 'I didn't realise you'd got so attached!' Inexplicably, Harry suddenly became very annoyed with Ron.

'Really?' he said sarcastically, 'because I realised you fancied Hermione two years ago.'

Satisfied, Harry watched Ron (who was now an interesting shade of puce) splutter. Hermione had gone red too, and she got up suddenly and hurried off to her dormitory.

'Sorry, Ron,' Harry sighed. 'But I feel sorry for Luna. She doesn't really have any friends, and she's not that bad, is she?'

'I s'pose not,' Ron grunted, as puce as ever. 'But did you have to say that?'

'Well, it's true, isn't it?' Harry shrugged.

'No!' exclaimed Ron. 'She's the most annoying, insufferable, maddening, irritating, infuriating, frustrating, exasperating, intolerable, difficult, aggravating, bothersome, argumentative, unendurable, unbearable, troublesome -' He seemed to be reading this off a piece of parchment.

'She's been giving you vocabulary lessons, hasn't she?' said Harry quietly.

'Yeah,' muttered Ron.

'She's got bushy hair, hasn't she?'

'Yeah,' muttered Ron.

'She's smart, isn't she?'

'Yeah,' muttered Ron.

'You fancy her, don't you?'

'Yeah,' muttered Ron, then realised his mistake. 'You tricked me!'

'Yeah,' muttered Harry.

*

Harry woke up at eight on Christmas morning, after the peculiar dream that he had been riding a flying kebab. He lobbed his pillow at the deafeningly snoring Ron, who woke up with a start.

'Wozzup, 'Arry? Wotcher want?'

'It's Christmas, you prat!' said Harry loudly. 'Presents!'

Harry's first present was a large book from Hermione. It was called Have a Sherbet Lemon and it was Dumbledore's autobiography. Harry got a small model of a Quidditch pitch from Ron, with coloured brooms and balls, so he could show how you did a certain move.

'Cool, thanks Ron!'

'No problem,' said Ron, carefully examining his gift of eau de cologne from Hermione (Ron had given her a perfume called Eau de Odour the previous year and apparently this was the matching scent for men).

Hagrid had given Harry a book he had wanted in first year: Curses and Counter-Curses (Bewitch your Friends and Befuddle your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and much, much more) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.

The Dursleys had sent a paperclip, and, to Harry's surprise, there was also a small black and white photograph of two smiling girls. One was about five with big eyes and very long, curly, shining hair. The other looked about eight. She had fine, fair hair and a long neck. Harry turned it over. In faded ink, it read Lily and Petunia, 1964. There was a note in Aunt Petunia's handwriting that simply read: Don't tell your Uncle.

Mrs Weasley had sent him a scarlet jumper, a homemade Christmas Cake and a box of fudge. Ginny gave him a Snitch to practise his Seeker skills.

Various members of the Order had sent an assortment of gifts. Tonks' gift was probably the best; it was a set of Quidditch robes, slightly too big, that read Potter, Seeker. She had written a note about the spells to change the size and colour and to make him warmer or cooler. The rest of the Order had sent sweets, apart from Lupin, who had sent some old school photos to add to Harry's collection, along with instructions to contact him if he wanted to talk, and Moody, who had sent a miniature Foe Glass.

Harry's final gift was from Luna. It was wrapped in an old copy of The Quibbler, and it turned out to be a book called Obscure and Supposedly Mythical Creatures. Harry was sure the Crumple-Horned Snorkack would be in there somewhere.

Harry pulled on a pair of jeans and his new jumper, and headed down to the common room. Hermione was already there, sipping hot chocolate with Ginny.

'Thanks for the presents,' said Harry, pouring himself some hot chocolate.

'I was going to get you a cologne called Eau de Pongy Stuff instead to match Ron's present,' said Hermione, 'but I decided the book would be better..'

'You were right,' Harry grinned.

'As always,' said Ron, staggering down the stairs, bleary eyed, tousle-haired and yawning.

'So attractive, eh, Hermione?' giggled Ginny, and Hermione laughed.

'Yeah...'

The four of them went down for breakfast and spent the morning in the Gryffindor common room. Presently, Ron demanded to see the girls' dormitory.

'But you can't go up there,' said Ginny. 'It turns into a slide. Anyway, I'm not sure you'd want to go up there... Parvati and Lavender aren't the tidiest girls alive.'

'Actually, Ginny, they can go up there,' said Hermione, 'but only if they're with girls and their feet don't touch the ground.'

'Piggybacks it is, then,' said Ginny, grinning. Feeling like embarrassing Ron and Hermione, Harry moved towards Ginny. She hoisted him up on her back without going red at all.

'Go on, then, Ron,' said Harry. 'On Hermione's back.' Hermione awkwardly heaved Ron on to her back, both of them blushing beetroot red. Everyone in the common room stared at them. The girls took Harry and Ron up the spiral staircase to Hermione's dormitory. At the top of the stairs they were let down and Hermione strode into her dormitory. The other three followed.

It was, as Ginny had said, a complete tip. Clothes, magazines and make up were littered across the floor, while Parvati and Lavender sat on one of the beds, painting each other's nails. They screamed when they saw Harry and Ron.

'Hermione, how did they get up here?' shrieked Parvati. 'We're getting ready for the ball!'

'I know you are,' said Hermione wearily. 'Ginny and I gave them piggybacks.'

Parvati and Lavender broke off into fits of giggles.

'There you are, Ron,' said Hermione, sounding bored. 'You've seen the girls' dormitories. They're riveting. Can we go?'

'Ok,' said Ron, holding his nose. 'It stinks in here. What do those two do to you, Hermione?'

'It's not what they do to me, it's what they do to themselves,' said Hermione. 'Shall we go?' She and Ginny led the way out, and then pushed Harry and Ron down the staircase, which turned into a smooth stone slide as they came into contact with it. The girls followed them down, laughing.

Chapter Two

It was nine o'clock and time for the Yule Ball. Harry couldn't see why he had said yes to Luna when he could have just stayed in Gryffindor Tower. But then, if Neville had a date, then Harry would have one too, even if Neville's partner was Eloise Midgen.

Harry's dress robes were emerald green once again, and Ron's new ones from Fred and George were navy blue. Ron kept checking his reflection in the mirror, and running his hand through his hair like Harry's father used to do, to make it look rugged and windswept. Personally, Harry thought he looked like a crazy Elvis impersonator.

'Shall we go down, then?' he said wearily, watching as Ron's hair grew more and more stupid. 'I'm meeting Luna in the Entrance Hall. Hermione'll be in the common room.'

'Ok,' said Ron. Harry could tell he was nervous. He tripped over his own size twelve feet on the way out of the dormitory.

Hermione was indeed waiting for them in the common room, chatting with Ginny. She looked very pretty in new purple dress robes, with her hair in a bun again. Ginny's robes were light green and her hair was loose. Harry had never noticed that it was so straight. She looked lovely too.

'Hi, you two,' he said. They grinned at him and said 'hi' but then Hermione stared straight past him at Ron. She had gone slightly pink and there was a small smile playing on her lips. Ron was now the colour of a beetroot and was staring, transfixed, at Hermione, as if she were a Veela.

Harry rolled his eyes and strode out of the common room, with calls of 'Hurry up!' over his shoulder.

Luna wasn't yet in the Entrance Hall, but a few other people were milling around, waiting for their partners. Susan Bones, who Harry knew, was one of them.

'Hi, Susan,' he said. 'Who're you waiting for?'

'Terry Boot,' she said in a bored voice. 'He's very nice, but apparently he insists on being "fashionably late", so it looks like I'll be here for a while. What about you?'

'Luna Lovegood,' said Harry, 'but she probably forgot about the ball or something like that. You know what she's like.' Susan chuckled.

Harry waited in the Entrance Hall for about ten minutes. Terry Boot eventually arrived and he and Susan went, arm in arm, into the Great Hall. Malfoy said, 'Been stood up, Potter?' as he strode past with Pansy Parkinson.

Harry said to Pansy, 'Which toilet did you find that in?'

Harry was about to give up and go in on his own, when he caught sight of a small pale figure floating over towards him. At first he thought it was a ghost, but it turned out to be Luna.

She was appealing, in an odd kind of way. Her robes were off the shoulder white ones with loops in the sleeves joined with small silvery clasps. Her hair was loose and somehow not as straggly as usual. It looked more gold than its normal dirty blonde. Her eyes were still as massive as ever, but Harry decided she didn't look like a freak tonight. She was - there was no other word for it - beautiful.

'Hello, Harry,' she said dreamily. 'You look handsome. We must be early, no one else is here yet.'

'Er... they are, actually,' said Harry. 'We're a bit late. You look pretty,' he added, deciding not to directly voice his thoughts.

'Thank you,' said Luna distantly. 'Let's go in.'

They walked in through the doors of the Great Hall, where almost everyone was already dancing as a blonde witch sang on the stage. Harry saw Neville and Eloise Midgen alternately treading on each other's feet; Ginny and Dean being watched by Ron (who wasn't dancing with Hermione yet); Dumbledore and McGonagall waltzing; and Professor Sinistra and Professor Vector dancing around their handbags together. Harry could never get over how similar the two looked; they both had long, straight, black hair, pale skin and dark eyes.

As he sat down at Ron and Hermione's table, Harry realised he must have taken Luna's hand at some point and not noticed, which seemed fairly impossible.

'When are we eating?' Harry asked Hermione, feeling it would be rude to let go of Luna's hand now.

'We can choose,' said Hermione, sounding eager to talk to someone. 'It's the same method as last year; you just look at the menu and tell your plate what you want, but we don't have to do it all at once. Also, your plate cleans itself so you can keep coming back for more. I tested it with a mint humbug.'

Harry nodded, but, when Hermione turned away to watch Ginny enjoying herself with Dean, Harry whispered to Ron, 'For heaven's sake, ask her to dance if you want to avoid an argument.'

Ron looked surprised, but apparently agreed with Harry as the look on Hermione's face was not very pleasant. He ran his hand through his hair one last time, and muttered to Hermione,

'D'you want to -'

'Dance?' said Hermione brightly, cutting him off. 'Yes, of course!' She jumped up, and pulled the now crimson Ron across the dance floor. The song was very fast, and Harry amused himself watching Ron attempt to dance, whose arms and legs were flailing all over the place. Hermione was more coordinated; obviously she had had some practise with Viktor Krum in fourth year.

Harry turned back to Luna, who was watching the ceiling with a rapturous expression on her face. It was a dark inky blue, dotted with stars. Deciding he had to talk to her at some point, Harry said,

'Luna, I haven't had time to read your book yet. Er - what exactly are Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?'

Luna turned her enormous eyes on him excitedly.

'No one ever asks me about the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks!' she said happily. 'They're rather like those Muggle animals, rhinos, but their hide is much thicker and tougher, and their horns are in a crumpled corkscrew shape. The horns are where they keep their magic, you see, as they possess some kind of magic that only works when they're alive, and they'll run you down if you try to steal it. It loses its magical power even when they're knocked out or asleep, but returns when they are awake.

'Crumple-Horned Snorkacks were created hundreds of years ago, when Hans Christienakoff and his wife tried to defeat the evil Swedish dark wizard, Vlad the Impaler. He wanted to impale them on his special magic Impaling Staff, but he must have said something in Swedish by accident, and the Christienakoffs were turned into the world's first Crumple-Horned Snorkacks! They ran Vlad down and defeated him.'

'Right,' said Harry, thinking that on a scale from one to ten of madness, Luna scored about fifty-eight. 'Where do you find out things like that?'

'Oh, books like that one I gave you,' she said vaguely. 'People sell Daddy stories and he tells me. There's a nice shop in Diagon Alley, called Cankers and Cables. It sells lots of old books. Our house is very old, too, so we find lots of interesting things in the attic. That's where we first discovered the legend of the Heliopaths. You know, spirits of fire. Of course, it's not a legend. Fudge has an army.'

Harry noticed that Luna seemed much more talkative when it was only him with her.

'Shall we get some food?' suggested Harry. 'I'm starving.'

'Yes,' said Luna, and ordered herself a plate of roast potatoes and exactly seven peas. She then proceeded to delicately peel the potatoes with her knife, chop up the skins and mash them together with the inside. She finally mixed the peas in, and started to eat. Marvelling at how queer she was, Harry ordered himself a little of everything and began to eat with enthusiasm.

'Is your family pure blooded?' Harry asked, when he had had his fill.

'Mummy was,' said Luna, neatly folding her napkin. 'Daddy's family has been magic for about four generations.'

'What was your Mum's maiden name, then?' asked Harry interestedly. He then remembered she was dead. 'Oh - sorry -'

'She was a DuLac,' said Luna, 'Juliet DuLac. Closely related to the Blacks. You know, that family Stubby Boardman claimed to be part of.'

'I know,' said Harry quietly.

'You really ought to talk about Stubby,' said Luna softly. 'That's the only way you can accept he's gone, you know.'

'Let's dance,' said Harry abruptly. Ron and Hermione were coming back to the table and he wanted to shut Luna up. He realised too late that the blonde witch was starting a very slow song.

Harry had no idea what he was meant to do, but Luna dreamily put her hands on his shoulders and he gingerly took hold of her waist. Apparently all you had to do was revolve slowly on the spot. Luna was gazing at Harry with her popping eyes, making him feel distinctly awkward.

He could hear muffled whispers from where Ron and Hermione were sitting, which eventually got louder. The gist of their argument was that Ron wouldn't slow dance with Hermione for some reason. Eventually Ron stalked off, and Hermione marched over to another table and asked the highly disagreeable Hufflepuff Zacharias Smith to dance instead. Smith obviously agreed for a change, for in a moment they were revolving on the spot too. Harry saw Ron in the doorway, looking jealous and hurt.

Feeling that he was neglecting her, Harry looked back to Luna. Her starry eyes were focused on the ceiling again. She really was beautiful. Harry began to wonder what he had ever seen in Cho. Luna stared back at Harry again. He smiled, thinking the night wouldn't be so bad after all.

When the song finished Harry decided to dance with Luna again later on. As the witch began a faster song, Harry watched Hermione give Smith one of her Dazzling SmilesTM, and return to her table, leaving him looking rather infatuated.

Harry and Luna went to sit back down with Hermione, and Harry ordered them a Butterbeer each. In approximately two seconds Ron approached Hermione, livid.

'Why did you dance with that bastard Smith?'

'Who was I meant to dance with?' enquired Hermione coldly. 'Just because you refuse to dance with me, does that mean I should miss out on it altogether?'

'YOU WERE MEANT TO BE COMING WITH ME!' bellowed Ron.

'Yes,' shrieked Hermione, 'but that doesn't mean I'm your personal property for the night, Ron! Maybe if you weren't so obstinate -'

'I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU LATER!'

'Well, I didn't know that, did I?' shouted Hermione. Eyes brimming over, she turned on her heel and ran out into the grounds. Spitting with rage, Ron turned to everyone who had stopped dancing to watch.

'Take a picture, it'll last longer!' he yelled. Sure enough, Colin Creevey came prancing up, wielding his camera, and took several photos of Ron. To detract attention from Ron, the singer started a very loud new song that apparently no one had heard before, so they all crowded around her to listen. Harry muttered 'Just go and snog her, mate'. Ron, if possible, went even redder, but hurried off after Hermione.

'They fight an awful lot, don't they?' said Luna calmly.

'Yeah,' said Harry. 'In first year me and Ron both hated her up until Hallowe'en. In second year she was Petrified for half the time so that doesn't count... for the majority of third year neither of us would speak to her. In fourth year she and Ron had loads of fights because she had a boyfriend, and last year wasn't too bad, they just bicker all the time.'

'It doesn't sound like you and Ron like her very much,' said Luna.

'We do!' said Harry indignantly. 'Well, Ron fancies her. But she's a really good friend, she can just be annoying at times.'

Luna simply watched him, her bulbous eyes glowing like lightbulbs.

'So,' said Harry, feeling uneasy. 'Tell me... what's an Umgubular Slashkilter?'

As Luna began to explain exactly how Fudge planned to take over Scotland using this tool, Harry heard Ron and Hermione's voices rising outside. He sensed a full on yelling match coming, when they stopped. Possibly they had been killed, or someone had hit them with a Silencing Charm. Or perhaps Ron had taken Harry's advice...

When he saw Ron and Hermione come back in hand in hand and red faced (particularly Ron), he decided Ron probably had. Hermione was barefoot and her hair was loose with twigs and a rose in it, but she didn't seem to care.

The singer started yet another slow song. Ron and Hermione began dancing, much to Harry's surprise. He decided to dance with Luna again. Harry got up, took Luna's hand and pulled her up to the dance floor.

Harry noticed, as they walked up, that Ron and Hermione were much closer than necessary. Ron began sniggering as soon as Harry started dancing with Luna; obviously he could see the humour when he too had a pretty girl to dance with. Possibly to stop Ron sniggering, or maybe because she for some reason felt the need to, Hermione rested her head on Ron's chest and closed her eyes. Ron's head could be cut off and replaced with a large beetroot and no one would spot the difference.

Harry realised that he too was much closer to Luna than last time. Her head was on his shoulder and he felt remarkably stupid hugging a girl and slowly turning round. It was very pleasant, though, so he and Luna remained up there for the next few slow songs. The blonde witch had started dedicating songs to couples; there was one for Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, one for Lavender and Seamus, one for Ginny and Dean...

Presently the blonde singer called, 'How about something a little faster?' The band started playing a country Western song, and the singer began to screech about how her boyfriend couldn't grow a moustache.

Harry made to take Luna's hand and sit back down, but she had already started to dance. She had devised her own way of dancing to the fast songs. Almost everyone else was doing a boring dance, similar to what the singer was doing, as though they had all been perfectly choreographed, but Luna was being as unique as ever, and doing complicated steps with her feet, intricately twirling around and gesticulating madly with her hands. Her eyes were sparking like diamonds and her hair was whirling around. Harry simply stood and watched her in admiration.

Soon other people noticed Luna, and stopped dancing to watch her. She didn't repeat any movements, Harry was quite sure she was making it up as she went along. It looked as if she had been hit with Tarantallegra, the charm to make someone dance madly. When almost everyone in the hall was watching Luna merrily dancing away, somebody yanked Harry's arm and pulled him into a corner.

It was Cho Chang.

'Hi, Cho,' said Harry uncertainly. He hoped she wouldn't start crying. She merely glared.

'What?' he said, bemused.

'Luna Lovegood?' she said incredulously. 'Honestly, Harry, I'd have thought you could've done better than that.'

'What?' said Harry, perplexed. 'What d'you mean, better? Don't you like her?'

'Of course I don't!' said Cho impatiently. 'No one likes her. She's about the worst possible person to go to a ball with.'

'That's funny,' said Harry sarcastically, 'since right now everyone's clapping because of her dancing.'

'I'm being serious, Harry!' Cho snapped. 'It's plainly obvious that you're on the rebound. Why didn't you just ask me to ask you?' Harry was utterly bewildered.

'I'm not on the rebound!' he said. 'I went with Luna because she was the first to ask me! Why would I ask you to ask me when you're going out with Michael Corner?' Harry wanted to make this quick. Luna was wandering over as if by accident, apparently unaware of the fact that everyone was calling her back to dance again.

'Tell you what, Harry,' said Cho, sounding frustrated. 'I'll dance with you, ok? Just while Michael's in the loo.'

Harry couldn't believe he had ever fancied this crazy girl.

'Cho,' he said. 'I don't want to dance with you. Since when has your self-esteem been this blown up? I'm perfectly happy with Luna, thanks.'

'Ugh!' Cho stormed off, apparently disgusted that Harry was having fun. He shook his head disbelievingly and turned to Luna.

'She's mental,' he said.

'Shall we go outside?' said Luna dreamily. 'I've got some Butterbeers, and I'd like some fresh air.'

Harry nodded. He took one of the Butterbeers as they walked outside, and they settled down on a bench amid rose bushes.

'What did that girl want?' said Luna vaguely, slurping at her Butterbeer.. 'Chow, or something?'

'Cho,' said Harry grimly. 'We went out once last year. She thinks I'm only going with you because I'm on the rebound.'

'Are you?' said Luna.

'No!' Harry spluttered. 'Of course I'm not! I'm going with you because I like you, and because you asked me!'

'Do you like me?' said Luna. 'Are we friends?'

There was an eager, desperate sound in her voice that Harry had never heard before. She sounded like a small child, needing confirmation on whether she had any friends or not. Harry couldn't take it. He was reminded of himself before he knew he was a wizard. No one listened to him, everyone thought he was mad, he had no friends.

'Of course we are,' said Harry, his voice croaking.

He wasn't sure what happened next. There was a beautiful smile on Luna's face. She was leaning in closer, so was he, their lips were touching...

Harry almost pulled away in shock. He was kissing Luna Lovegood. His first thought was, 'Get this mad girl off me!'. Then he realised he was enjoying himself.

It was much, much nicer than the kiss he had shared with Cho in fifth year. For a start, Luna wasn't crying, and he didn't feel that she was thinking about someone else as they kissed. When kissing Cho he had simply forgotten where he was and though, 'What's going on?' Kissing Luna made him feel like he was flying through space on a giant unicorn. It all seemed very soppy, yet still extremely enjoyable.

Finally Luna dreamily pulled herself away.

'That was nice,' she said. 'It's a shame we won't be able to do it again..'

That was when Harry started panicking. What did she mean? Did she have a boyfriend? Didn't she fancy him? Was she going to die? Was he going to die?

'What?' said Harry, bewildered. 'Why? Why can't we do it again? What's wrong?'

'Really, Harry,' said Luna, sounding quite sad. 'It's not as if you want to go out with me or anything, do you? We both know you only came with me because I was the first to ask you.'

'That's not true!' denied Harry.

'I'd prefer it if you told the truth, Harry,' said Luna, her protuberant eyes seeming to read his mind.

'Ok,' Harry sighed. 'At first I only said yes because no one else asked me. And I regretted saying yes for a bit. Then I realised how beautiful you are, and I really have had a great time tonight.'

Luna scanned him with her popping eyes.

'Yes,' she said finally, 'yes, I believe you.'

'So,' said Harry, feeling rather stupid, 'd'you want to - you know - be my - well, that is - only if you want to - I could be - we could -'

'Yes, I should like to be your girlfriend,' said Luna, unabashed. 'It would be quite pleasant.'

FIN