"I'm not denying that, but I think I would rather go with someone I knew."
"I see, then we are talking about a girl you know fairly well. Since you obviously haven't asked me, we can take my name off the list of girls who could have turned down Harry Potter."
"I thought I told you, I didn't get turned down!" Harry said forcefully to Hermione's amusement.
"So who else do you know that it could have been? Ginny perhaps?" Harry looked at her in confusion.
"I think Neville is going to ask her to the Yule Ball. Don't tell him I told you that, though. Good for him."
"Not Ginny then. How about… Parvati Patil? Lavender Brown?"
"No and no. Give it up, Hermione. You are completely on the wrong track here. You are just going to have to wait and see who I am going to take." he added, aware that even he didn't know who he would wind up going to the Yule Ball with. Unhappy with the way the conversation was turning out, Harry decided to turn the tables on Hermione. "And what about you? What are your plans for the Ball?" Hermione smiled and blushed, then turned to look away.
"I've already got a date, and I am not going to tell you who it is." she answered. Harry grinned at her response, knowing that he could use it against her now.
"Well then, I guess we will both have to wait and see." Harry said triumphantly. Hermione realized she wasn't going to win this battle and sighed.
"Ok. In that case I am going to sleep. I still have my notes from third year Ancient Runes, if you're interested."
"Thanks Hermione, I would appreciate it. And good night." She nodded and began walking up the stairs towards her room. Harry was a little surprised at how close her guess about his situation had been, but was satisfied he had not said anything that would endanger his or Daphne's privacy. 'She is going to figure it out if I'm not careful…' he thought with a small sigh.
...
Harry did not see Daphne at all during the next day. She was absent even at meals, when she was normally seated near Tracy Davis and Blaise Zabini. This also happened to be the one day of the week in which Gryffindors did not share a single class with the Slytherins. Normally this was a relief and cause for celebration, but today Harry found it annoying. Even so he was careful not to let it show in his attitude; the last thing he wanted was to encourage Hermione to dig for more information. It was not until the following day that Harry once again felt a hand slip into his pocket and leave something behind. This time he simply smiled, not even turning to act like he didn't know who had done it. The note told him to meet Daphne in the third floor classroom at 8:30 PM and nothing else. Harry was reminded of the spy movies that Dudley sometimes liked to watch and thought it was funny that even with the advantage of magic he and Daphne were sending messages in the same way he had seen those fictional spies communicate.
By 8:15 Harry had grown tired of waiting and decided to get to the unused room a little early. He was a little disappointed to find that Daphne wasn't there, and so he sat down and begin to wait. At exactly 8:30, the door opened and Daphne walked in. After stopping to magically lock the door and silence the room she turned towards him and smiled.
"Hello, Potter. Been waiting long?" she asked cheerfully, knowing that Harry was waiting on her answer.
"No, not long." Harry paused and decided he had waited long enough. "So… what's going on?"
"We have a lot to talk about tonight, Potter. You have no idea how much trouble you caused when you asked me to the Yule Ball. Actually, that's not fair. I caused much of it as well when I decided that I wanted to go with you."
"Would it have been better if I had not asked you?" Harry said, frowning and waiting for her to turn him down.
"It would have been easier, I suppose. But you can't back out now. You asked, I am saying yes, and we are going. That's that." she said, grinning at his reaction. For a moment Harry just smiled but then, feeling a little of that Gryiffindor courage, he stepped towards Daphne and pulled her into a hug. Harry expected her to be surprised by the hug, but she merely returned it.
"I was hoping you would say that." Harry admitted, still not breaking the contact. "There is one thing I may have forgotten to tell you though. Since I'm one of the Triwizard Champions we will have to open the ball with a ceremonial first dance, along with the other champions of course."
"That shouldn't be a problem, assuming you know how to dance. You do know how to dance, don't you?" Daphne pulled back so she could look at his face, which quickly dropped. "I will take that as a no. I guess we'll just have to add that to your training regimen. Now, let's sit and I will tell you what I couldn't say a few days ago." They both walked over to a long table with a couple of chairs surrounding it. Daphne took a seat near the end of the table and Harry took one directly across from her. For a few moments she sat thinking, deciding how to best explain.
"Just start from the beginning." Harry advised.
"Ok then. What do you know about the Greengrass family?" she asked.
"Not much. You parents are still alive and they weren't Death Eaters. You have a little sister who is a second year, in Slytherin like you. The family is pureblooded and considered dark as far as I know. Is that about right?"
....
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