Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 21

The Beauxbatons Ball

"Well, well, well! Look at you! You look all tarted-up good and proper!"

"Thanks Agnes." Harry blushed. He still wasn't used to hearing much more, from the mirrors, than; You know, you really ought to comb that hair, dear! "You don't think the hair's too much, do you?" Harry had decided to dispense with the ponytail, in favour of a shorter, more relaxed coiffeur. By no means short, he simply combed it back so as to let it fall into place as the night progressed.

"Not in the slightest dear. Your sense of style is developing quite nicely!"

"Alright, Agnes, old girl, what do you want!"

"Well for a start, young man, I'm not that old! I'm only seventy-five!" she said, with feigned indignation. "I was merely going to ask you if you were looking forward to your date with Cho." Harry spluttered.

"It's not a date. I couldn't ask her for a date! I had enough trouble asking her to the Ball!"

"It's a start though, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it's a..." Harry's eyes narrowed. "Wait a moment! How did you know that I was going with Cho."

"Oh, Harry, dear! You don't really believe that the Hogwarts portraits are the only frame-spirits that can visit each other, do you? No, we talk to each other all the time! The stories I could tell you! Where do you think the phrase "The mirror is a girl's best friend" came from?"

"Even Hermione?"

"Especially Hermione! When she first started Hogwarts she was talking to Chrissie all the time, and when you weren't talking to her because of Ron's rat, the only one she confided in more than Hagrid was Chrissie."

"Chrissie? That's her mirror?"

"Yep. I'm only telling you this, because she said I could. We keep our secrets like you keep changing!" Harry smiled, enjoying her choice of words, kept open to interpretation. "The point of the matter is that you could make confidence, with any mirror, and it wouldn't be broken. I'd just like to let you know that, Harry."

"Did Hermione say, why you could tell me?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me?"

"I could, I'm even permitted to, if asked. But she would prefer to tell you herself, when she's ready. She says, she thinks you already have some ideas, as to why."

"Thanks, Agnes. I think." "Are you guys ready?"

"Yep!" came six voices ringing in his ear.

"Agnes, could you tell Cho, we'll meet her down in the Great Hall, in ten minutes, please?"

"Certainly, dear."

"Thanks." A moment later, a last readjustment of his robes, a very dark green velvet, her voice came again. "She says, see you there, then."

"Thanks."

"You're very welcome, dear. Enjoy yourself."

Down in the Gryffindor Common Room, Gryffindors old and young, tall and short, boy and girl, alike, congregated to prepare to embark on what would be, for the most of them, a first-time experience. A couple of the more adventurous, and curious, of them, had already made a visit or two, with the friends they made from the Hogwarts leg of the visits, and were now babbling excitedly about it, to anyone who would listen.

Harry quickly found the others, apart from Ginny, who had decided to spend this evening with her friends - something she hadn't had much time to do lately, and so welcomed the opportunity. No matter! If the system was anywhere similar to the Hogwarts Ball, she would do her rounds later that evening anyway.

They all made their way down to the Great Hall, and Harry could barely stifle a gasp.

There stood Cho, eyes sparkling, gazing at him shyly, looking somewhat close to how Harry felt. She wore glittering Midnight Blue dress robes, her hair somewhat similar to how Harry remembered Hermione's to be last year, but, somehow, in this light, last year seemed all but forgotten.

Harry could only stand there, and gape.

"Cho! You... you're really... you look... WOW!"

"You look pretty "wow" yourself, Harry!" she said, blushing slightly, although whether from Harry's compliment, or from what she herself said, Harry didn't know. He recovered himself slightly,

"Shall we...?" he said, presenting an arm. She took it gladly, and they all walked together to the fireplace. The instructions were simple. Firstly, they were to use a Dust Repellent Charm to keep the soot out of their hair and eyes, and off their clothes, and then they were to throw the Floo-Powder into the grate, and say "Beauxbatons" clearly. Harry felt confident with the Dust Repellent Charm, less so with the Floo-Powder. He'd had bad experience with Floo travelling in the past - in particular, his first time, when, due to choking on some ashes in his throat, he accidentally ended up in a disreputable shop, in Knockturn Alley, called Borgin and Burkes.

"Après toi!" he said to Cho, winking at her.

"D'accord! Alright then, here goes...!" She cast the Repelling Charm on herself, then stood inside the grate, and cried "Beauxbatons", as she threw the Floo-Powder into the fire. She disappeared in a flash of green flame.

Harry gulped. It was his turn. He waited for a moment, just to give her time to retreat from the great (he presumed) grate in the Beauxbatons... With a start, he realised he didn't know which grate they'd be coming out of, nor where in the castle they'd be, nor who would be meeting with them. Oh well, he thought. He cast the charm on himself, then stood inside the grate, and cried "Beauxbatons!". The emerald-green flames erupted all around him, and he began to spin.

He stepped out of the way quickly, before opening his eyes, and noticing that everything was blurry, and his glasses were cracked.

About to comment on this, Cho noticed Harry looking at the grate, expectantly. A moment later, the green flames flared up again, and Hermione hopped out lithely, holding the hem of her dress robes, wand dangling idly from her right hand. Seeing Harry waiting for her, she shook her head, smiling, raised her wand to his eye-level, and said,

"I thought so! Occulus Reparo!" A moment later Harry could see clearly again, and returned a grin to Hermione. "Really Harry, you know you could have done that yourself!" "Without a wand!" she added silently.

"I know, but it's tradition!" He winked at her. They both blushed slightly.

"True, but I really think you should pay attention to your date now, don't you?"

"Never a truer word was spoken!" He said, turning smiling to Cho. "And I'll leave you momentarily to do the same."

They moved away from the fireplace, which seemed to be embedded in a covered archway, and, from what little Harry could gather by the general acoustics, led into a main corridor. Stepping out into said corridor, Harry felt his jaw plummet to the floor.

It was big! No, it was bigger than big - it was BIG! Harry had the impression that Hagrid could have stood on tiptoes, on the head of Fluffy, standing on the tip of his tail, on the head of Harry's Hungarian Horntail, which he faced in the first task, standing on HER tail, and with all three of them jumping at the others' peak points, he STILL wouldn't have been able to come anywhere near to touching the ceiling.

"It is, euh, a little on ze tall side, non?" Harry whirled around at this voice, and was met with the sparkling blue eyes, and warm, welcoming smile of,

"FLEUR! It's great to see you! You look fantastic! I didn't know whether we'd be seeing you tonight!" They exchanged kisses, and Fleur was looking at Cho and Harry, admiringly.

"You did not sink, zat I would miss out on sampling ze froots of my, euh, labour, did you?" She grinned. "Alzo, I must say, zat it was worss it, if it may be enjoyed by such 'andsome couples as you two!" Harry and Cho both flushed at this, although couldn't help beaming. "I 'ope your bruzzers and sisters 'ave a wonderful time."

"So do I!"

"Alors, venez-vous! Il vous faut vous asseoir!"

"And where are we to be sitting?" Cho asked.

"Follow me!"

"Are the Durmstrang Students coming from another fireplace?"

"Yes, ozerwise we would 'ave much derangement in organising it." Harry grunted his ascent, and looked around. As he gazed around this veritable palace, the sense of size increased rapidly, as the moments passed. He wondered idly, whether he would touch the ceiling, in his Sphynx form.

As they passed through the corridor, Harry noticed, with awe, the sheer size and grandiosity of the suits of armour. Were knights in French history really that tall, or did the previous Headmasters and Headmistresses place engorgement charms on them? Either way, they could easily match Hagrid in sheer height alone.

The doors were closed. Quite deliberately, Harry thought. It gave the great hall a rather forbidding air, and Harry was startled to find himself somewhat nervous as to what he would find within.

As more of them crowded around, the doors creaked open, and there, shadowing the doorway, whilst still being dwarfed by it, stood a beaming Madame Olympe Maxime, eyes smiling, arms open, a broad grin on her face, those magnificent opals around her neck.

"Welcome, welcome, everyone! Please come in, sit down, and enjoy yourselves!" Harry noticed that her words were not in sync with her lips, meaning that she must have used the Personal Translation Charm.

She stood aside, and made her way over to what had to be her place at the teachers' table. It could easily be recognised as her chair - or throne, as was more appropriate, judging by its splendour - quite simply because it was twice the size of the other chairs at the table.

Then Harry noticed the rest of the hall.

As his eyes passed Cho, as he was taking in the hall, he noticed how she too looked as if her jaw had dislocated.

In the gargantuan recesses in the dark grey brick walls, lit up by hundreds of fireflies, were seventy-feet-tall swans sculpted in ice. The ceiling, almost invisible as high up as it was, was enchanted to depict a cloudless starry night, whilst enchanted snow was beneath. Fairies were flitting about here and there, preparing drinks, others were adding the last touches to forty magnificent sixty-feet-high Christmas Trees. The tables, which again appeared to be year-and-house segregated, were covered in white cloths with red and green Yuletide trimmings and bedecked with holly leaves and berries. There were also what appeared to be communal tables, where, after dinner and between dances, the students could sit down and talk to their friends. Finally, there was also a long table, right at the other end of the hall, by the communal tables, which did not have chairs. Harry assumed that this would be something of a snack table, to get drinks and nibbles throughout the evening, once the meal had finished and the dancing had begun in earnest.

In the far corner of the hall, with a ready supply of drinks, and decked out in magnificent black robes, sat a seventy-piece orchestra. Harry had just registered that they were playing, although he had no idea what.

And there, right in the middle of the hall, obscuring the view of the middle of the far wall, was an enormous beautiful ice sculpture. The biggest Harry had ever seen. A man and a woman, eighty feet tall, stood facing each other, bodies slightly turned away; the woman with dark curly hair, length indeterminable, hidden behind a fur mantle, and a small, pretty nose; the man with short cropped light hair, and a large correolanian nose. Their fur mantles were flowing wildly behind them, as if facing a heavy blizzard; their eyes and cheeks, slightly scrunched, along with their slightly hunched shoulders, helped to strengthen the image. They each held their mantles closed tightly around them with one hand, whilst the other hand held a wand emitting three sparks. These wands, they held crossed over about three quarters of the way up; she left handed, he right handed. On the woman's shoulder perched a magnificent eagle, with beady eyes keeping a constant vigil, whilst at their feet, a well proportioned lion, badger, snake were doing the same. All these figures stood on an ornate pedestal, raised about three feet off the ground, with a beautifully calligraphic H carved right into the centre of it.

Harry felt several people bump into him as they moved rather hurriedly into the hall to get a good place, and then stopped when they had seen its true magnificence.

When they had all filtered into the hall, and the teachers were all at their places, Madame Maxime spoke again.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the 'Ouse Elves 'ave informed me zat zere will be fifteen minutes until ze dinner is served. Until then, please dance, or talk. Please to be having fun!" Glancing back at Hermione, Harry noticed that she was bristling slightly at the casual mention of the House Elves, but she seemed to be tempering herself well, so he simply smiled at her supportively.

Then he looked back at Cho, and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Why not?" she said, laughing, and dragged him onto the dance floor.

It was even easier than he remembered. Especially when he only had two legs to think about! As it turned out, there was a singer who travelled with the Orchestra, so there were some up-beat numbers too, which didn't require dancers to be clutching at each other the whole time, and the mix was refreshing.

Cho suddenly had a thought.

"Harry, what's tradition?"

"Eh?"

"When Hermione said, you could have fixed your glasses by yourself, you said, it was tradition that she did it, or words to that effect."

"Oh, that! Well, in all manner and purpose, it is tradition. The first time, we were on the Hogwarts Express, and Ron had just showed us this spell that his brothers had given him. Of course it was a dud, they were just messing around with him, but then Hermione says that she's been practising a few simple spells, and demonstrates by fixing my glasses. They were in pretty bad shape before I came to Hogwarts. The Dursleys bought be new glasses once in a blue moon, and, with all the grief I got from Dudley and his crowd, they were always in bad shape. So you can imagine what a relief it was to be able to see clearly through them, for probably the first time in about three years! Then the second time, it was after the first time I'd travelled by Floo Powder and ended up in the wrong grate! I've only ever done it a few times, and my glasses always break! And when she's there, she fixes them for me. It's nothing I couldn't do myself, but it's special. As I said, it's tradition. Do you have anything like that with any of your friends?"

"Not unless you count doing each other's hair!"

"Isn't that good enough? You could do it yourself, but a friend does it for you, or vice versa."

"Not for the more complicated styles. I'm not that good!"

"Did you do this yourself? It looks absolutely stunning." Harry cursed himself for not being able to give a single complement without blushing.

"Not all by myself. I had help from Jenny."

"Jenny?"

"My friend, who asked you to come and talk to me, at the Halloween Ball."

"You mean the Selkie?"

"Yeah."

"I think I gave her a little shock with my choice of costume!"

"That goes for, hmmm, let me think, probably all fifteen-hundred-odd of us!"

"Maybe, but I still think I should apologise to her."

"Well, she's right here!" she said, as she tapped the shoulder of a red-headed girl in black velvet robes. "Oy Jen! You got a moment?" They stopped, and her partner, a sixth year Ravenclaw that Harry had seen around but didn't know by name, took orders for drinks and went to fill them.

Harry took this moment to take in her appearance before he addressed her. He looked at her face and let his mouth fall wide open. She had the largest pair of eyes he'd ever seen, in a shade of the deepest blue. As he tore his own eyes away and regarded the rest of her face, he saw that they were well matched.

"Enjoying yourself, Harry?" Cho said with a giggle.

"Why yes!" Harry replied, regarding Cho with an equal amount of awe in his voice. The expression on her face had widened her eyes to rival and surpass those of Jenny's, so his awe was genuine. "It's just I was somewhat startled. I knew when I asked a Ravenclaw to the Ball, I'd be surrounding myself with the cleverest girls in school. I didn't realise I'd also be surrounding myself with the prettiest!" He bowed to them both. They curtsied in reply, giggling jovially, and Jenny put in,

"A little corny, Potter, but not bad for a beginner!"

"Thanks, I think!"

"Although, by your own definition, your sisters should also be in Ravenclaw." Harry felt his face turning as almost as brown as Ginny's face went in their first Animagus lesson.

"We were just talking about haircuts, Jen!" Cho said, covering Harry's slightly awkward silence. "You know, girls doing each others' hair as a bit of a tradition."

"Really? Who's your coiffeur, Harry?"

"Me actually."

"REALLY?" came two startled ejaculations.

"How?" Jenny asked.

"Just a little charm. What about yourselves? Did you do each other's hair for this?"

"Yeah." Cho said, smiling. "We're as inseparable as you Ron and Hermione!"

"Speaking of which, look who's getting cosy over there on the dance floor!"

Harry turned his head to see where Jenny was pointing, and he felt his mouth break into a broad and toothy grin.

Ron and Hermione were dancing to another slow number, her arms around his neck, his arms around her waist, her cheek on his chest, eyes closed, his chin resting on the top of her head, eyes closed.

"Soon!" Harry thought to himself. "Very soon!"

"Anyway, Harry, you wanted to say something?"

"Oh yeah! Sorry, the conversation got away from me! Really, I just wanted to apologise for scaring you at the Halloween Ball." He said, extending his hand.

"Harry," she said, taking his hand and smiling warmly, "think about what you've just said!" Harry looked at her blankly. "Well it's obvious why you aren't in Ravenclaw! Harry, it was Halloween! You're SUPPOSED to scare people! I just wasn't expecting your costume to look so genuine!"

"It was just a bit of transfiguration!"

"It looked a bloody complicated piece of transfiguration!"

"Not particularly! I found it in a book in Zonkos! I could do it on you now if you like, but I don't think McGonagall would be too happy about that!"

"Meet us behind the Broom Shed tomorrow after lunch, and you can do it then!" Jenny said, eyes flashing.

"Hey! Should Cho be worried here!"

"HELL YES!" she cried, laughing, and pulled Harry in to dance a quicker-paced number.

Cho laughed too and, when Jenny's partner returned, said,

"Come on Gary! Looks like it's you and me, here!"

"By the way, Harry, I never got to tell you congratulations on the Slytherin match. You were amazing!" Harry blushed a little, but managed to keep it in proportion. He guessed that Cho had been right, and that, what with his upbringing at the Dursleys', he would always find it difficult to take a complement.

"Thanks. Although, I'll have to say, Cho did really well against Hufflepuff. She totally out-flew Susan.

"Aye, that's my girl!" she said, grinning with pride.

"So, how did you find your OWLs?"

"What's the matter, Harry? Getting a little nervous?"

"Just slightly!"

"Well, the format is fairly simple. Each subject has a Theory and a Practical part to it. Well, I say every exam, I don't know about French, as this is the first time, and you will be the first ones to sit. The most controversial one is the History Practical, because you might think, how is that possible?" Harry nodded. He had been thinking exactly that. "It's fairly simple. Another word for practice, in this context, is application, and so that's what you have to do. Boring Binns will tell you nearer the time, but basically, you have to take an event, battles are often sound ideas, and you have to discuss them with your examiner for twenty minutes. He will see everyone after dinner, for twenty minutes each, over the two weeks, and you make a brief presentation on your topic - usually about five minutes - and then discuss it for the remaining quarter-of-an-hour. Simple."

"SIMPLE!" Harry had blanched whilst she had been saying this. Now he looked up at her and gulped.

"History not one of your favourite subjects?"

"I wouldn't say that. I often get to catch up on some much needed sleep!" Jenny chuckled. "But apart from that, I wouldn't say it was my strongest subject, no!"

"So you know what you have to do, don't you?"

"Sure! Pluck a leaf off of Hermione's tree, and study like buggery!"

"And put so eloquently as well! You might yet have a future in Ravenclaw!" She winked at him, smiling.

"What about yourself? Did you decide to drop anything for your Newts?"

"Well, ever since my parents told me stories about my manifesting, I always wondered what it would be like for the parents of Muggle Born children. You know, their friends and families, and whatnot. The only people you can see really accepting it are the parents. I've got a whole collection of newspaper clippings in my room about incidents of accidental magic in young Muggle Born children, and I find it all fascinating how the parents, family, and Ministry deal with it. I think I want to go into the Department for the Reversal of Accidental Magic." Harry chuckled. "What?"

"You'd have had a field day with me!"

"I don't understand. I thought Lily and James Potter were really powerful Wiccas?"

"Don't ask me." Harry said sadly. "I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle. They hated magic! They knew about me, but they tried to discipline it out of me. I don't know what it was like for my Mum's parents. She was Muggle Born too, you know?"

"Really!" she said, wide-eyed. "Anyway, as I was saying, I didn't need History of Magic, so I dropped that. I didn't need Arithmancy, so I dropped that. I didn't need Potions either, but I decided to keep with it. I rather enjoy Potions," Harry's eyes widened at this, but he said nothing. "And I feel it could be useful in the future to know Potions. Especially in the Reversal Squad. You never know who's lurking around, and so a Forgetfulness Potion is sometimes better than a Memory Charm." Harry nodded his head in accord

As the last bars of the piece rang out over the hall, Madame Maxime rose out of her seat.

"Mesdames, Messieurs! Dinner will be served in a moment. Would you all kindly take your places, and enjoy zis fantastic meal?"

Harry and Jenny exchanged brief hugs.

"Lovely talking to you, Jenny."

"Yeah. You too. Maybe we'll get to have a bit of a natter later." Harry smiled.

"Maybe." He caught up with Cho.

"Don't think you're getting off that easily, Potter! You invited me to this thing, so you're damn well going to make sure I have a good time!"

"Yes, ma'am!" he said, laughing, throwing a mock salute.

After escorting Cho to her table, and exchanging a slightly longer hug, Harry made his way over to his own table, and, seeing all his friends there, talking with their partners, Harry couldn't help but feel that this was going to be a wonderful evening.

He sat down opposite Stephane Chevalier, and once again found himself in conversation about Quidditch, before the plates presented themselves. They were remarkable pieces, which, like the magnificent goblets, were made of compacted snow, and the cutlery was made of crystalline ice.

"Qu'est-ce qu'il se faut faire?" Harry asked him.

"C'est même que chez vous." He replied. "You simply 'ave to tell ze plate what you want."

"You mean the House Elves?" Harry couldn't believe he'd just said that. I've definitely been spending to much time around Hermione! he thought, with a grin.

"Ouais, C'est ça!"

Harry looked at the menu, thought for a moment, then decided on,

"Coq-au-Vin," he said to his plate, and, to his goblet he said, "jus d'orange, s'il vous plaît." A moment later, his plate was full and, seeing that his friends' plates were also full, he began, in earnest, whilst keeping up his various conversations.

"And vitch exam are you looking forward to the most?" Jahri Trabikoff wanted to know.

"Well, I'm not sure what they are going to be like, but I am rather looking forward to the majority of the practical exams, apart from History of Magic, Divination, Potions, and French. I can take or leave Muggle Studies; if I understand right, it's just going to be like living with my Muggle relatives."

"You're taking the Muggle Studies Exam?" Dean asked, rather confused. "But you don't even take Muggle Studies!"

"Neither does Hermione. Harry said casually. "We heard that lots of careers are now asking for Muggle Studies Newts, so we're going to take the exams, and just revise for them in our spare time. The practical exam, as far as I know, entails performing some household tasks with traditional Muggle equipment, like Eubanks, Gas Stoves, and Matches. Basically cleaning and cooking without the use of a wand." Ron met his eye at this, and he had to stifle a chuckle. "The hard part is going to be the Theory Exam, because, no doubt it will go into a little detail about what to do if discovered by a Muggle. But basically, I just want to see how I'd cope in a Wizard-Muggle situation." Hermione nodded fervently. "What about yourself?"

"Definitely the Dark Arts Exams!"

"What do they entail? We aren't taught them at Hogwarts."

"It is quvite simple. Ve haff to get information out of the Professor using various inductive or mind-reading Curses." Harry felt his stomach turn over.

"And how is it marked?"

"Vell ve are marked on the efficiency vith vhich ve get the information, and the quvality of the curses ve use." Harry spent the rest of the course thoughtfully, listening to everyone else talk.

After dessert, there was more dancing, and Harry was, once again, doing his rounds.

Firstly, he danced with all his housemates' partners, holding light conversation about how impressed he was with Beauxbatons, and a little more about the exams and Quidditch, and what they had been doing since returning from Hogwarts.

Then he shared a couple of dances with his friends, and sisters, going from Hermione, simply enjoying dancing with her - no doubt they would discuss it when they got back - being then taken over by Ron, Harry felt himself smiling broadly. He found himself dancing with Natalia next, then Marie, then Ginny.

As he stood at the drinks table, cooling down for a moment, he spied his next target at the teachers table, talking animatedly with Professor Black - Harry couldn't help grinning to himself thinking of him in this way - and someone with his back to him. That long red hair looked somewhat familiar, Harry thought to himself. Sirius looked in his element, and happier than Harry had ever seen him, around other people.

Finishing his drink, Harry wandered causally over to the table.

"Good evening, Professor Black," Harry said, winking at Sirius, causing him to growl and bare his teeth. "Good evening sir," he added to the unknown man with his back to him. "Bonsoir Mademoiselle le Professeur, vous voulez danser?"

"Harry, you clot! You don't have to call me sir!" said the man with his back to him. "And I doubt that Sirius would want you to call him sir either! Nor Fleur!" he added, laughing, as he turned around to face a gob-smacked Harry.

It was....

"Bill!" he cried, laughing too. "What are you doing here?"

"But, you 'ave not already guessed?"

Harry gazed steadily, quizzically, into the eyes of his French teacher. Something Ron had said at his party came suddenly to mind.

"He calls her his little flower." Harry gasped, and then grinned broadly.

"You!" he said, looking directly at her. "You!" he added, returning to him. "Your Fleur's date. You've been going out since the Third Task, give or take!" They both nodded, smiling lovingly at each other. "Well, I can see I can be of no further use here! Sirius, would YOU like to dance!"

"Oh no you don't, 'Arry!" Fleur said, laughing. You are ze reason I 'ave met Bill. At ze very least, for zis reason I wish to dance!"

At this point, Ron and Hermione walked over to them, hand in hand, evidently planning on sharing a few words with Sirius. Ron did a double take however, and a look of surprise crossed his face.

"Bill! What on EARTH are you doing here?"

"I'm accompanying Fleur to this delightful Ball."

"It was YOU? You're Bill's little Flower?" Hermione rolled her eyes at this. After a moment, a look of understanding dawned on Ron's face. "Okay, Hermione, yes, I know NOW that Fleur means flower, but I didn't when they first started dating, okay!"

"I suppose so!" she replied, nudging him in the ribs.

"Anyway, 'Arry. You wanted to dance, yes?"

"May I cut in?" Harry said, tapping Bill on the shoulder.

"Why, certainly." He said, smiling. "But be sure to bring her right back."

"I promise you, sir, I'll have her back by ten."

"She's allowed out later than that, young man."

"I know, sir, but I'm not!" Everyone laughed at this, and Harry presented his arm, which Fleur took gladly.

As they waltzed around the half-full floor, Fleur asked Harry what he made of Beauxbatons.

"Actually, truth-be-told, I found it somewhat intimidating to begin with! It is somewhat on the more generous side of big, isn't it!"

"Imagine coming 'ere as an eleven-year-old!"

"I tried! Coming to Hogwarts for the first time was daunting enough, but this place! It makes Hogwarts seem like a cottage in the woods!"

"True, but you must remember zat, in France, zere is more space to build, to grow, to expand. Ze grounds of ze Château Beauxbatons is absolutely breass-taking! I would show zem to you, but I would prefer to show zem to Bill! Perhaps you should be seeing zem wiv Cho, yes?"

"I think I'd like that! Thanks for the suggestion, Fleur. I might very well follow it!"

"You do zat! And speaking of Cho, isn't it time zat you got back to her!" she said, indicating the long black hair and Midnight Blue robes that were dancing with what looked like a Durmstrang boy.

Fleur and Harry exchanged kisses, before he went over to the other boy and tapped him on the shoulder and said,

"May I cut in?"

Cho looked up, and smiled in delight.

"Harry! It's okay, Karl, he's a good friend." She said to him, catching Harry's eye, and blushing slightly. Harry didn't know what to make of it.

"Very vell." Karl said, thickly. "It vos lovely to talk to you, Cho. We will talk again, jess?"

"Okay!" she said, smiling happily.

"Well," Harry said, grinning, as he let Cho lead him round the dance floor. "You're certainly having a good time, aren't you!"

"Oh, Harry!" she sighed, contentedly, laying her head on his chest again. "It's absolutely wonderful! Every girl's dream! My cousin will love it, next year!"

"I think she will, too. What did you think of the food?"

"Almost as good as Hogwarts!" she replied with a laugh. "A little rich for my liking, but delicious all the same." She looked over Harry's shoulder, up at him, smiling down at her, and then looked over his shoulder again. "Er... Harry. You might want to see this!"

"What?" he said, standing slightly back and away from her. What he saw made him grin broadly.

Marie was dancing close to, and chatting quite amicably with Neville, Natalia with a Sixth year Ravenclaw that Harry didn't know, and Evan was getting on really well with Susan Bones, Hufflepuff's new seeker, and their fellow Fifth Year Student. Ginny was talking animatedly with Seamus and a few of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons Students.

And Ron and Hermione.

They seemed lost in a world of their own. They were dancing about seventy feet away from Harry, sideways-on to him, so that he could see both their faces. Hermione was resting her head on his chest, her hands pressed lightly on his chest and shoulder, eyes closed, and a slow smile playing across her lips. Ron had his eyes closed as well, and his chin was, once again, resting on her head.

Harry had a sudden thought, which he relayed to Ginny, who nodded, barely able to suppress a squeal.

Moving slightly away from her table, Ginny removed her wand from her robes, aimed above their heads, and muttered the incantation. Harry then grinned, and said, individually to them both,

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah!" came the contented replies.

"Have you looked up in the last few minutes?"

"No. Why?"

"Look up!"

First Ron looked up, eyes widening in surprise, then Hermione.

Now, floating a few feet above them, was a large sprig of mistletoe.

They looked over to him and he shrugged, as if to say don't look at me! They then turned back to each other, their eyes met, and slowly, tentatively, so did their lips.

They broke apart, a bit flushed, then, before Harry knew what was happening, Ron moved forwards, and pulled Hermione to him for a longer kiss.

"Yes!" Harry cried quietly, hugging Cho to him, around the shoulders. "Nice one Gin!"

"You planned this!"

"Oh yeah! He was taking forever! It doesn't hurt to help things along, sometimes!"

"Well it looks like it's working!" she said, grinning broadly. "Hogwarts Champion, Matchmaker, is there nothing this man can't do?"

"I couldn't tell you!" he retorted.

Later on that evening, whilst Cho went to powder her nose, Harry was standing by the drinks bar, observing the floor. The Hogwarts and Durmstrang ghosts had joined the ball, earlier on, shortly after the meal, apart from Peeves and the Bloody Baron, who had decided that they would stay at home. (Or rather he would stay at home and that Peeves would stay where he did - as the Bloody Baron was the only one who could curb him.) Harry had noticed Myrtle dancing with some of the boys from Hogwarts, and was now having a few with the Students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons too. The Grey Lady was alternating between Boris Dorvsky, the staff, and the ghosts of the three schools, and Nearly Headless Nick was making a few rounds too.

Harry found Myrtle, dark-faced, but looking content, chatting with a few of the Beauxbatons girls at the fourth year Hufflepuff table.

"Hey counter. Have you reached number thirty yet?"

"Dunno. I've not been counting!"

"Well, would you like to dance anyway?"

"I'd love to."

As Myrtle and Harry moved across the floor, they chatted about the Ball, and what a fantastic time they were having. The ghosts, it turned out, didn't need the Floo Network, or Portkeys to get between the schools. There was a network of Portraits they could use. Some of the more noble Wizards in History - Merlin, Galileo, Copernicus - had Portraits in all three schools, as well as many other schools, and organisations, like Hospitals and Ministry buildings, and, when necessary, the Ghosts could pass between them.

"Since when did you get to be so popular!" Harry said, laughing.

"I don't know what you mean." Myrtle blushed, almost black.

"I saw that Beauxbatons Ghost checking you over!"

"What? Frédéric?"

"Yeah! He's cute!"

"Yeah, but look at him! He's wearing pantaloons!"

"So? So does Nearly Headless Nick! It is just the era he lived in! He probably thinks the clothes you wear are odd! It doesn't matter! It wasn't your clothes he was looking at!"

Myrtle, if possible, flushed even darker.

"Yeah, well, you're not exactly going unnoticed, either!"

"WHAT?"

"And not just by the ghosts, I can tell you!"

"But I'm here with Cho."

"I know!" she sighed, wistfully. "But a girl rarely goes window-shopping stark naked, does she?"

"That would be a sight!" Harry said, punching her arm lightly, and they both giggled. "Alright, Fleur!"

Myrtle looked up, a little startled, and giggled when she saw what had caught Harry's eye.

Bill and Fleur were dancing very close, hips swaying gently to the music, her arms around his neck, his arms around her waist. They were kissing, a look of marked contentment on their faces.

He thought that they had been dating since the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but it was wonderful to see it confirmed.

"Just as a matter of interest Harry, why do you like her?" Myrtle said thoughtfully. "She was beastly to you to begin with."

"Beastly is too harsh. I'd call it perturbedly rude. She'd had quite a shock. They all had. They weren't expecting a third opponent. She just took it worse than the others. As much as anything else, she was the only girl, originally outnumbered two to one, and then suddenly I come in and she's outnumbered three to one. I think the first task helped us see that we were all in the same boat. Having to get past a dragon is something you don't forget in a hurry. She definitely lost some of her ire after that. And when I came back with Gabrielle, I think I won a few points in her esteem. Although I didn't like what she said to me, looking back, I can understand how she felt, and I respect her for coming to terms with, and overcoming her prejudice. I am quite proud of her. And I wouldn't be able to get on half as well with the students here if it wasn't for her lessons. So I'm grateful for that. You never know. If you met Olive Hornby now, you might even like her!"

"Well I wouldn't go THAT far!" she said, giggling. "But who knows. You could be right!"

Harry and Cho were dancing again, when they heard a squeal of terror from a second year Beauxbatons Student come from the far corner of the hall.

"Aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee! Un rat! Un rat à la patte d'argent!"