So Close

Harry made himself scarce the day of the ball and none of his friends knew where he was. This made Ginny feel even more terrible. Harry knew everyone was getting ready for the ball so he made his way to the Room of Requirement and was about to go in when he saw Blaise walking along the hall. "Aren't you going to the ball?" Harry asked.

"No," she calmly replied. "I'm not too popular with the Slytherins right now."

"What about someone from another house? I can't believe you weren't asked," Harry said.

Blaise gave him a small smile and said, "How often do people from other houses ask a Slytherin to do anything?"

Harry shook his head and said, "That's just wrong."

"But what about you?" Blaise asked as they entered the room.

Harry studied her and said, "Long story. I thought I'd spend the time practicing."

Now it was Blaise's turn to study him but she asked, "We're becoming friends, right?"

"Sure," Harry said, confused by this question.

"Well, I had wanted to go to the ball since it's been such a stressful year. Why don't we go as friends?" she confidently asked.

Harry's first thought was no but then knew Ginny was going with the guy from Hufflepuff and remembered how she treated him. "Ok," he said smiling. "But, it's only thirty minutes until it starts. Can you get ready?"

"You think I need longer than that?" she replied, sounding hurt.

"No! I mean..." Harry stammered.

"Relax Harry, I was kidding," Blaise said. "I'll meet you here in one hour." She smiled brightly at him but then turned serious, "One rule, you cannot hex a Slytherin. I'll handle them. You can deal with the rest of the houses but not mine."

"Deal," Harry said as he watched Blaise leave. He felt guilty about going but had kind of wanted to see everyone having a good time. Harry spent the next half hour practicing spells before running back to the Common Room to get ready. Ron was just about to leave the dorm when he came back.

"Do I look ok?" Ron asked still fidgeting.

"You look fine Ron. Don't worry, it's Hermione," Harry said, trying to hold his laughter.

"I don't even know how to dance," Ron admitted.

"Don't be nervous and please don't provoke her tonight. Just let things slide," Harry pleaded.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll try," Ron sighed. "You'll be ok won't you?"

"I'll be fine Ron," Harry replied. "I won't do anything stupid, I promise."

As soon as Ron stepped out the door, Harry took a quick shower before putting on his dress robes and running back to the Room of Requirement, just beating Blaise. "You clean up nice," she said approaching. The girl was dressed in robes made of a silvery substance that seemed to change colors as it trailed her. She had put her hair up and had long earrings that also shimmered to match her dress.

"You look great Blaise," Harry said and then laughed. "This is going to cause a lot of talk, you know that."

Now the blonde girl laughed, "You just remember our deal. I handle the Slytherins."

"Ok, but you might have to keep reminding me of that," Harry said as he led her to the Great Hall.

They could hear the music and talking coming from inside but before Harry could open the door Blaise stopped and said, "Thank you for being nice to me. You didn't have to."

Harry gave a genuine smile and said, "But if I hadn't been, I'd be alone in my common room right now."

The two entered the Great Hall and couldn't help but be impressed by the decorations. There were large floating balls giving off the light and the ceiling was enchanted to look like it was snowing. Seeing everyone smiling and dressed so nice made Harry forget about everything that was normally on his mind. The two watched the people dance for a second then Harry said, "Oh, I'm not a good dancer."

Blaise laughed and said, "I knew that. We all laughed at you and Parvati in fourth year. We'll do ok, you'll see." They each started walking towards their own house tables on opposite sides of the hall before realizing the other wasn't next to them. When they turned and looked at each other, they both broke out laughing.

"Well, what do we do now?" Harry asked.

"I doubt either one will want us. Let's say hi to my friends and they move on to yours. I imagine yours will treat us better," Blaise said before taking his hand and leading him to the Slytherin table. Harry would have been happy to walk around the edge, but Blaise walked confidently across the middle of the hall, ignoring the whispers and stares.

They got to her friends who looked at Blaise like she was crazy before one of them pulled her off to the side and began to talk animatedly. "Trying to upgrade your friends I see," Malfoy announced as he and Pansy Parkinson approached. "I wish you'd quit stinking up our side of the hall Potter." Pansy laughed out loud.

Harry started to say something but heard, "Leave him alone Draco," Blaise forcefully said.

"I didn't think you could sink so low. Joining his club was bad enough but at least you may learn something," Malfoy spat.

Harry again started to say something but was stopped by his date. "Our deal Harry," Blaise said to him before turning to Draco. "I'm warning you Draco."

"Your parents will be very disappointed when they find out," Draco coolly said.

"I wouldn't talk about parents Draco," Blaise said back in the same tone.

"I suppose if you're teaching her Defense she's repaying by showing you her talents. Of course we all know them already," Malfoy sneered.

Harry tensed up but Blaise took his arm and said, "C'mon Harry." Harry glared at Malfoy with his hand resting on his wand. "You promised," she whispered.

"How can you let him talk to you like that?" Harry asked still annoyed.

Blaise smiled and said, "Harry, don't worry about protecting my honor. I lost that a long time ago. Just forget about it. Let's dance." She pulled him to the floor and the two started to move in unison. Harry wasn't paying attention to the dancing; he was still fuming over Malfoy. "You're not so bad at this," Blaise admitted.

Harry was snapped back to thinking about what he was doing. "What??"

"Ah, I see. You're not bad when you don't think about dancing. You're mind should be on me and not on hurting Malfoy though." Harry laughed and actually felt more comfortable dancing the next two songs with her.

"You're friends seem kind of uncomfortable," Blaise said nodding to where Ron and Hermione were sitting. She was right; they didn't look comfortable together at all.

"Let's go talk to them," Harry said leading Blaise by the hand to his friends. "Hi guys," Harry said. He noticed Ginny giving him a strange look but he quickly turned away, not wanting to feel guilty, jealous or angry right now.

"Hi Harry, Blaise," Hermione said.

"You're robes look great Hermione," Blaise replied.

Ron looked very irritated and said, "Can I talk to you Harry?" Ron quickly got up and moved toward the wall. Harry looked at Blaise and shrugged his shoulders before going to his friend.

"What's up?" Harry asked. "You're not having a row with Hermione are you?"

"What are you doing with her?" Ron snapped. "Why didn't you tell me you were bringing her?"

"She just asked me a half hour before the ball," Harry replied, not understanding why Ron was upset.

"You're telling me she got ready in less than an hour," Ron asked, clearly not believing Harry's story.

Harry laughed, still not thinking Ron was that serious and said, "Yeah. I didn't believe she could do it either."

"You're not dating her are you?"

"We're just friends. Why is that a problem?" Harry asked, now becoming irritated himself

Ron glared and asked, "What about Ginny?"

"What about Ginny," Harry quickly replied.

"You want to date her," Ron snapped.

"She seems happy enough with that Hufflepuff bloke. At least she's not yelling at him," Harry snapped back.

"But Harry..." Ron started.

"I don't want to talk about it Ron. I'm tired of her thinking the worst of me all the time," Harry angrily said. "Now speaking of dates, how are you and Hermione?"

Ron got a bit red and said, "It's not a date... We're friends."

"Friends or not, you better dance with her. Remember Panda. You don't want Hermione mad at you."

"I guess so," Ron admitted. "You didn't do so bad out there."

"Yeah well I was just thinking of how to curse Malfoy. Maybe that's the key," Harry said with the mood lightening.

"I can do that," Ron exclaimed. The two went back to the girls in time to ask them to dance when the next song started. After dancing for a while, it seemed Ron and Hermione were both in a better mood.

Harry thought he saw Ginny trying to catch his eye but he didn't want his mood spoiled so he tried to direct Blaise away from her every chance he got. They were standing near Ron and Hermione when Harry saw Ginny say something to the Hufflepuff boy and start to walk towards them. Quickly Harry took Blaise's hand and said, "Let's go talk to your friends for a bit." Blaise gave him a strange look but went along with Harry.

Surprisingly, the rest of the evening went well. Blaise's friends that were also in the D.A. didn't treat them too badly. When the ball was winding down, Harry saw his friends leaving but he slowly walked with Blaise. "Well this is where I need to turn for my common room," Blaise said.

"I know," Harry said with a smile. Blaise gave him a questioning look. "Would you like something for dessert before you go up?" Harry asked.

"I'll always take dessert but even I won't sneak out of the castle for that," she said.

"We'll stay in the castle," Harry said. "Follow me." Harry led her to near the picture of the fruit. "I have to ask you to close your eyes," Harry said. Blaise shook her head but complied. Harry pulled her to the portrait and tickled the pear causing it to slide out of the way. "Ok, open them and follow me," Harry said as he scrambled through the newly revealed opening.

Reaching the bottom, Harry was suddenly struck by the small grey creature. "Harry Potter sir! Sir is coming to see Dobby."

Harry laughed and blushed a bit. "Thanks Dobby. This is Blaise." Harry said and saw Blaise holding back laughter.

Dobby hesitantly shook her hand but seemed to be very nervous. Harry had never seen the house-elf like this before. "But sir, miss is from his house."

Blaise understood and actually looked disappointed. She had been so used to hearing students talk badly about Slytherins that it didn't bother her but hearing it from a house-elf did. "Dobby! Blaise is very nice. She's my friend."

Dobby's ears perked back up. "Dobby is sorry miss. Any friend of Harry Potter is a friend of Dobby. What can Dobby get you sir?"

"May we just have a piece of pie with whip cream? We'll share one piece," Harry said getting a nod from Blaise. Instantly Dobby returned with the plate and two forks. "Sorry about that Blaise," Harry said.

"It's not your fault," she said. Looking around she said, "I didn't know there were so many of them."

Harry laughed. "Oh yeah, there's a bunch. Hermione tried to free them all by making them hats and socks but it didn't work." The two sat there for almost an hour talking before they made their way back out of the opening.

"Thanks for tonight Harry, I had a really nice time," Blaise said.

"Me too," Harry admitted.

"Maybe when we're both out of here we'll still see each other," she said.

Harry's mood suddenly fell but he said, "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Did I say something wrong?" she quickly asked, seeing the change in his mood.

"No, just remembering things I have to do. Goodnight," he said before turning and walking back to the common room. Harry was able to get into bed without anyone seeing him but sleep didn't come. His solemn mood increased as he though about Ginny and what he really expected. For once, he wasn't really looking forward to spending time at the Burrow. He knew it would be uncomfortable. Ginny would probably make him feel worse than he already did and Mrs. Weasley would just fuss over him. That's not what he wanted right now.

He hated fighting with Ginny, more so than fighting with Ron or Hermione. Something seemed so personal when Ginny made him angry and he didn't like when he said things back to her. Sometime later when Harry did fall asleep, it wasn't peaceful. He had practiced Occlumency but that didn't stop nightmares not caused by Voldemort from happening.

A tall thin wizard slowly walked to a darkened room. Upon entering the room he muttered a spell, causing an unnatural light to be cast on the area. The wizard walked to a body kneeling on the ground with a hood over its head. "This will be your sacrifice. Prove to yourself what you have become," the wizard said.

Another, shorter wizard walked up and placed his wand against the hooded person's head but before he could utter a spell, the first wizard said, "Not you, YOU!" Harry saw the wizard seeming to look directly into his eyes. "This is your sacrifice."

The next instant, Harry felt as though he was in the room, seeing through the eyes of the second wizard. "Yes," hissed the first. "Show your true self. But first see what you have caused." The wizard ripped the hood off of the person kneeling and Harry was staring into the face of Ginny Weasley.

"I won't," Harry said through the shorter wizard's mouth but the other wizard just laughed.

"You have no choice," he said.

Harry tried to fight it but his wand was now pointing at the tied up form of Ginny who looked up and said, "I don't blame you Harry."

Harry suddenly sat straight up in bed breathing very hard. He could tell sweat was rolling down him but from the other sounds in the room it didn't seem like he cried out or woke anyone up. "How could I have been so stupid," Harry thought. Harry realized Ginny would be the first one Voldemort or in fact any of the Death Eaters went after if anyone knew how he really felt. Harry cursed himself for forgetting what was destined to happen. For some time now he had been deluding himself into thinking he could actually have something close to a normal life.

Quickly taking out parchment, he scribbled a note to his friend and placed it on his trunk, along with the presents he was going to take to the Burrow. Harry dug into his trunk to get his cloak and the Marauder's Map before sneaking out of the dorm and finding a place to spend the next few hours.

Not long after, Ron woke up and threw on some clothes. Noticing the stack of presents on his trunk, he also saw the parchment.

Ron

I appreciate you and your mom saying I could come to the Burrow, but I have a lot of work to do for the D.A. group right now. It would also be a little uncomfortable if you know what I mean. Can you take the presents for everyone?

Don't be too mad at me, I'll see you when you get back.

Tell Hermione that I promise I won't do anything stupid until you both get back.

Happy Holidays

Harry

Ron instantly got angry and threw open Harry's trunk. After rummaging through it all he exclaimed, "Arg...He took it!"

He saw Hermione and Ginny waiting for him by the exit, ready to catch a carriage to the train. "Where's Harry?" Hermione asked and noticed Ron's foul expression.

Ron glared at Ginny and said, "He's staying."

"What?" Both Ginny and Hermione said.

"And he took his cloak and the map so I couldn't find him," Ron scowled.

"Why's he staying?" Hermione beat Ginny by asking first.

Ron was still looking at Ginny and said, "Says he has a lot of D.A. work to do and that it might be a bit uncomfortable to go right now."

Ginny's expression quickly fell but Hermione looked angry. "Oooh.. He's so aggravating!" She glanced at Ginny who looked like she might cry and said, "We'll talk to him when we get back. He's just being stupid."

"He probably won't ever talk to me again," Ginny sadly said.

"Of course he will Ginny," Hermione said in a comforting voice. "He's such a baby though!"

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed. "He does have a lot on his mind if you'll remember."

Hermione seemed surprised that Ron said this. "Still Ron, he shouldn't be hiding."

"Are you sure you could handle everything better?" Ron calmly asked again surprising Hermione.