Yuletide Change

"It's fraternization with the enemy, that's what it is!"

"Oh honestly, Ronald."

"I don't need to hear all this!" Ron got up to leave quite forcibly. Seeing Hermione was getting up as well, Harry quickly slid over a seat and held her down.

"Well than, next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does! Not as a last resort!" It wasn't quite certain if Ron had heard this, but his back stiffened as he stormed away. Hermione then turned on Harry. "And exactly why are you holding me back?"

"I think murder would qualify as disgracing the name of Godric Gryffindor," Harry answered with a small smile.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, exasperated, but she was smiling too. "He's just so stupid..."

Harry, upon seeing that she was dangerously close to tears, stood up, taking Hermione with him. "Dance with me, you need to cheer up."

"Oh, all right."

Harry turned to Parvati. "I'm sorry. I'll dance with you at least three times before the night is over, alright? I swear." Parvati gave a small sad smile, but in her eyes she was obviously happy about getting to dance with him more. Then Viktor Krum came over to their table. Harry turned to him. "Do you mind if I steal your date for one dance?"

He seemed to hesitate, but he noticed Parvati and then nodded. "Sure." He went over to Parvati and asked her to dance. Before Harry turned away, he saw Parvati smile widely before accepting.

As soon as Hermione was smiling again and seemed to be honestly enjoying herself, Harry took the two of them back to an empty table. Viktor and Parvati were still off dancing. "Hermione, I think that Viktor stole my date."

"I see you're very devastated," Hermione mocked, taking a swig of butterbeer.

"No, but you are," Harry teased.

"Oh, he'll be back."

"Are you so sure about that?"

"Yes!"

"Are you having fun with him?"

"Oh, yes. And he doesn't ask me anything about you or the tournament. In fact, we don't talk very much. At all," Hermione added, looking slightly disappointed.

"Well, here he comes, let's see if we can't change that." Indeed, Viktor and Parvati were heading their way, and sat down, seeming exhausted.

"Harry, we'll have to hold off those three dances for a little while," Parvati apologized, "I'm exhausted."

Viktor was drinking a bottle of something Bulgarian, so Harry asked him casually, "How are you enjoying Hogwarts, Viktor?"

"Oh, it is very nice, especially the people," he said smiling at Hermione. "I vonted to congratulate you on the first task. You fly very vell. I vos votching."

"Well, right then and there, I would have preferred that Horntail to be Beaters. I thought for a while that my Firebolt might take its name literally."

"Is it a good broom?"

"Oh, yes. Mind you, I'm not an expert, but even compared to a Nimbus 2000, I think it's a huge difference."

"You haff a very good broom there; my coach vonts to get some for the whole team."

Harry smiled and nodded politely, before turning back to Parvati. "Well, Parvati, still want to dance?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed. So, the two of them went back out on the dance floor. After a few more than three dances, they dragged themselves back to their table. They were surprised to see that Hermione was not there.

"Hmm, Hermione already left."

"I bet if Viktor hadn't asked out Hermione, you would have gone with her," Parvati said slyly.

"Unlikely, she would have gone with Ron."

"What about you?"

"I had someone to ask, I just should have asked earlier."

"So that's why you didn't want to dance!" She seemed somewhere between happy and disappointed. Happy because she thought she had it figured out, yet still disappointed because Harry hadn't wanted to dance with her.

"I'm not much of a dancer," Harry admitted.

"That much I noticed!"

"Well, it's getting empty here. You want to go?"

"Sure." She took a last drink of butterbeer, and the two of them stood to leave.

In the entrance hall, Harry caught sight of something very interesting. He stopped Parvati, and quietly pointed out what had made him stop. Parvati followed his line of vision to see Hermione kissing Viktor Krum. Her eyes widened, and she seemed ready to squeal. However, she somehow managed to restrain herself. She smiled at Harry, and the two sneaked quietly away.

When they got to the common room, Parvati surprised Harry by kissing him on the cheek. "Goodnight, Harry!" She flounced away to the girls' dormitories. Harry flopped down on the couch. Before he could think too much about Cho, Hermione came in, looking strangely flushed. She sat down on the couch, next to Harry, but didn't say much.

As she was starting to drift off to sleep, Neville came into the common room. Spotting Harry, he announced, "I've only just got in. Me!" Seeming too amazed to believe it, Neville went to talk with some other people. Soon after him, Ginny dragged herself in. She practically fell onto the couch on the other side of Harry, yawning widely. "Neville sure surprised me toady." She curled up on the couch like a cat, using Harry as a pillow.

Before long, Harry got pretty tired himself, but didn't want to leave the girls, so he turned to Hermione, hoping to convince the drowsing girl to go upstairs. He really didn't want to have to carry her (or Ginny) up to the girls' dormitory. "You know, Hermione, I bet that Parvati wants to talk to you."

The tired girl looked at him skeptically, but nodded, and went upstairs. She was gone soon enough, but Ginny didn't seem eager to go anywhere, so Harry turned to her. "You know, Parvati and I saw Hermione and Viktor Krum kissing after the ball." Ginny squealed, and with a burst of energy from some unknown source, shot up the stairs, presumably to ask Hermione for all the juicy details.

Harry smiled slightly, and went to his dormitory to get some well-deserved sleep. He saw Ron was already asleep in his bed. What he didn't know was that Ron had seen him with Ginny and Hermione and, naturally, had assumed the worst. The next day would not be a very good one for the two formerly inseparable friends.