~*~ Hiya! I am SOOOO SUPER Sorry for taking so long to update! But, this chapter is pretty long! So, you'll all have lots to read! ^_^ Anyhoo… this one is ALL about the ball 'n stuff, so yeah…I'll try to update faster from now on! I Promise! … Enjoy! ~*~

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The day of the Ball had finally arrived and the Castles ambiance was remarkably chaotic. Harry and Ron were wandering the halls when, their least favorite person blocked their path.

"So, Potter. Who's the unlucky broad this time? Or, will you be accompanying Weasley to the Ball?" he sneered. Crabbe and Goyle snickered dumbly behind him.

"As a matter of fact, He's going with Cho! Who's your date, Malfoy? That Pug-faced Pansy Parkinson?" Ron said cynically. Harry tried not to laugh, but it was true; Pansy Parkinson's face was oddly squashed, and resembled a Pug very closely. Malfoy never answered the question. He merely gave a disgusted look and turned on his heel.

"Well, I guess we know who Malfoy's going with," Harry laughed. When they entered the Gryffindor Common Room, it was almost empty. Well, except for Neville, Dean, Seamus, and a few other boys from younger and older years. They went over to the other fifth year boys and flopped down on the sofa.

"Where is everybody?" Harry asked them.

"You mean; where are the girls? …It's been nothing but us guys down here for the past couple of hours!" Dean exclaimed.

"Yeah, they're all upstairs getting ready for the Ball…" Seamus explained.

"And there's still two hours before it starts!" added Neville, sounding astonished at the fact that it could take so long for someone to get ready. They laughed at his shock.

"So, Harry… the word is that you're going with Cho Chang! Is it true?" Seamus asked, grinning from ear to ear. Harry nodded, feeling himself go pink again. Dean and Seamus "Oooh'ed" jokingly at him.

"Fancy her, do you?" Dean teased.

"I don't! I just… like her as a friend!" Harry said feeling embarrassed. The five boys sat and waited, and waited, until Ron informed them there was only half an hour left and they should go get ready.

Harry pulled on his emerald green dress robes and surveyed himself in front of the full-length mirror. He tried to flatten his hair as best he could, but it wasn't doing much good.

"Shove over!" Ron said, standing beside Harry and studying his reflection. He was wearing his brand-new robes that were a deep royal blue color that suited him perfectly. Harry and Ron turned to face each other.

"How do I look?" Harry asked, straightening his robes self-consciously.

"You look fine, mate!" Ron told him, "What about me?" he asked.

"You look good!" he said happily, though changing his mood suddenly, "You be careful with my sister." He warned. Ron chuckled.

"Don't worry!" he said slapping Harry on the back. When they were completely ready, they went back down to the Common Room and waited for the girls to finish and come downstairs. However, they didn't need to wait very long. Only ten minutes after they had gotten downstairs themselves, they heard the Girls Dorm door open and the sound of several excited voices. Harry and Ron stood and walked to the bottom of the staircase. As Hailey and Hermione appeared at the top, Ron and Harry's jaws dropped.

Hailey's hair was done up in an elegant bun, with lustrous, curly tendrils that flowed down her back. She was wearing beautiful robes of deep, ruby red. She looked absolutely stunning and Ron was at a loss for words. After Hailey, came Hermione. She too looked extremely gorgeous. Her hair was no longer bushy, but shiny and sleek. It was pulled back into a half ponytail, with curls here and there. She was wearing utterly dazzling robes of a purplish violet color and they seemed to glitter in the candlelight.

"Well? What do you think?" said Hailey, spinning in a circle. She giggled at the look on Ron and Harry's faces.

"You look wonderful, Hailey!" Harry said, "So do you Hermione! You both look fantastic!"

"Yeah, you both look beautiful!" said Ron, his ears going pink as he offered his arm to Hailey. Harry offered his arm to Hermione.

"Shall we go down together?" he asked her.

"Sure," she said smiling at him.

The four of them walked down to the Entrance Hall, where everyone was waiting for the Ball to begin. All eyes were on them as they came down the Marble staircase. Hermione's date, Peter Wellington, was waiting for her at the bottom. He went slightly red as he saw her.

"You look great!" he told her shyly.

Ron, Hailey, Hermione, and Peter all stood together and waited for Harry to return. He had left them at the bottom of the staircase, to go off in search of Cho. He founder a few moments later, and was absolutely stunned.

"Wow…" he whispered. She looked astounding in her robes of soft butter yellow. She blushed at Harry's reaction. "You look wonderful," he said quietly, feeling more nervous than before.

"Thank you," she said taking Harry's arm. They walked over to the other four, and waited for the Ball to begin. The chatter died down almost instantaneously, as the large wooden doors to the Great Hall opened slowly. Professor McGonagall emerged wearing the same horrible looking head garment on her witch hat that she wore last year.

"Before I allow you in to the Hall, I ask that you line up in an orderly fashion!" she called out. Everyone arranged themselves into a line, some moving reluctantly to the back.

Professor McGonagall opened the doors fully, to admit everyone in. The Hall looked magnificent. The usual twelve Christmas trees were there, and they were all beautifully decorated. There was snow falling from the ceiling that vanished the second it landed. There were streamers of gold and silver on the walls, and holly and mistletoe floating in mid air. A stage had been set up, with instruments of all sorts and several tables that seated six to eight people were stationed throughout the Hall. Harry, Cho, Ron, Hailey, Hermione, and Peter found a table and sat down, eagerly awaiting the feast and the dance. All eyes were looking to the front of the Hall where the teachers were taking their seats. Dumbledore stayed standing.

"Good evening everyone!" he said happily, "Firstly, I want you to know that you all look absolutely splendid!" he paused, "Secondly, I hope you all have a wonderful time, as I know how much everyone was looking forward to tonight. I would also like to inform you that we will have live entertainment, though I'm not going to tell you who our guest is just yet. So, with out further ado, let the feast begin!" he finished energetically.

This time, they didn't have to say what they wanted to eat and wait for it to appear. It was a regular feast, just at more tables than usual. The dinner and desert was scrumptious, and now, the dance was about to begin. Everyone stood and watched as the tables were magically cleared from the floor and swept to the side. The crowed roared as the Weird Sisters made their appearance. They had performed at last years ball, as well. The music began to play and the teachers and students began to dance. Hermione and Peter went waltzing away around the Hall, Ron and Hailey doing the same shortly afterwards. Harry turned to Cho. He tried to keep it cool, as he put his arm around her waist, and held her free hand in his. She placed her other hand on his shoulder and they started to dance.

"Quick, quick, slow… quick, quick, slow…" He repeated in his mind. He didn't want to screw up and make a fool of himself. He wanted this night to go smoothly as possible, and so far, so good. He looked down at Cho, only to see her smiling. She looked like she was having fun. When the song finished, they walked over to their table and took a seat.

"That was fun!" Cho giggled. Hermione and her date joined them, and shortly after that, Ron and Hailey sat down, too.

"Having fun?" Harry asked his sister. She was a bit flushed and was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"I'm having the best time of my life!" she said energetically. Harry smiled. He was glad she was having a good time, and that her very first Ball didn't turn out in disaster. The six of them looked out on to the floor and watched everyone waltzing around the room. Harry spotted Sirius dancing with Professor Mitchell, and was again struck with a feeling of happiness. After spending so long in Azkaban, Sirius was quite cheerful.

After a bit of chit-chat and a couple of butterbeers, Hermione and her date, and Ron and Hailey set out on the dance floor, leaving Harry and Cho alone again.

"You dance very well, you know," Cho said quietly while smiling over at Harry.

"Thanks," he muttered timidly, "You too." Cho's smile broadened, as did Harry's. He was feeling kind of stupid at the moment, because of their awkward silence. He didn't know what to say; he was afraid of screwing up and making himself out to be a complete idiot. But then again, not talking kind of gave of the same impression. He was stuck, so he resulted in asking her if she'd like to dance again. 

"I'd love to," she said. So, they too set out onto the dance floor and waltzed the night away with their friends. Five songs later, they decided they'd talk a walk outside. What they saw was astonishing; the grounds were decorated in almost the same way as last year, minus the hedge-maze. They were little pixies flying about, small statues here and there, decorative plants, and light layer of wispy snowflakes on the ground.

"Wow," Harry heard Cho whisper, "It's beautiful." At that moment, Harry had an urge to say "you are to…" but the words caught in his throat. As he stole a glance at her, he was struck with a sudden thought. In fact, he'd thought about it several times before now, but he was thinking about it even more at that moment. He decided it was best he knew, and got it off his chest.

"Cho?" he waited for her to answer, "I… I feel kind of awkward asking you this, but… what about Cedric?" he held his breath as he waited for her tears. But they never came. She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then she spoke quietly.

"Well, I'm assuming you mean, 'why don't I feel more upset about the ball and such?'" Harry nodded suddenly feeling very guilty for ever asking. "I'll tell you something Harry… Cedric told me something a few days before- before he died. He told me that, no matter what happened, he'd always want me to be happy. And I promised him I would be." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I know that if I didn't go to the ball, and I just sat in my dorm moping about, I wouldn't be happy. So I came… I came with you, because I stay true to my word." Harry was surprised by what she had said, but accepted it all the same.

He nodded and said quietly, "I'm sorry if I've upset you by bringing it up… I just felt kind of guilty, you know…" he cut himself off and went quiet.

"It's OK… I appreciate your thoughtfulness." She said smiling sweetly. Harry was glad to get that out of his thoughts, and he even felt slightly less tense around Cho. He always had ever since last year. The events of the Triwizard Tournament had haunted his dreams and thoughts for so long, and he was only now truly starting to feel a bit better. They walked around the grounds, admiring every little detail of the breathtaking sight, and before long, there was only an hour left of the dance. When they entered the Hall, Ron and Hailey went flying by.

"Where were you?" Ron hollered to them as he and Hailey danced to the quick beat of the song. Harry just smiled, not wanting to yell out his business to Ron and the rest of the Hall.

"Let's dance!" Cho said, and she grabbed Harry's hand and almost dragged him on to the dance floor, in a hurry to get by the couples that were spinning and twirling like Ron and Hailey. Before long, Dumbledore was standing on the small makeshift stage, waiting for everyone's attention.

"Good evening, everyone!" he said, "As much fun as I know you are all having, I am sorry to announce that it is time we bring the Ball to a close." A few groans could be heard from the crowd, "I would like to thank everyone for coming tonight, and I hope you all had a fine time. I would also like to thank that Weird Sisters," he began to clap and the rest of the Hall joined in, while the Weird Sisters took a bow.

"It's a shame it's over. I'm not even tired yet!" Hailey said as she clapped along. As the applause died down, Dumbledore spoke once more.

"Now, off to bed! You all need your sleep!" he grinned at everyone and walked slowly down the stage steps. Harry saw Sirius walk up to Dumbledore and start talking about what sounded like a plan for a future lesson. Ron and Hailey went ahead, and Hermione and her date were somewhere behind Harry and Cho.

"I had a wonderful time," Cho said as they joined the horde of students gathering in the Entrance Hall.

"I'm glad," Harry smiled. They stood for a moment in silence, both waiting for the other to say something.

"Well, I'd –" they started at the same time. Chuckling slightly, Harry motioned for her to carry on.

"I'd better be off… Thank you again, for a great time," she smiled genuinely at him. He nodded, and did the gentlemanly thing, and kissed her hand. Cho blushed and shyly waved goodbye. Harry sighed and stood for moment before heading up the marble staircase to the top, where Hailey, Ron, and Hermione were waiting for him.

"You're quite the charmer aren't you?" Hailey teased. Hermione and Ron sniggered quietly.

"Yeah, quite the gentleman!" Ron added giving Harry the thumbs up. Harry shook his head and led them on to Gryffindor Tower.

"Did you have a good time?" Harry asked Hailey as they piled through the portrait hole. She was still grinning from ear to ear as she nodded vigorously.

"Absolutely! It was one of the best times of my life!" she said, "And Ron and you didn't to too bad at dancing either. I was quite impressed!" She gave Ron a sweet smile and walked to the bottom of the stairs. The others followed and they all went to their dormitories to change out of their dress robes.

Harry walked to his trunk and pulled out a pair of track pants and a sweater to change into, all the while, thinking about the past few days. He couldn't believe his luck! He'd managed to steer himself clear of Professors Fobert and Mitchell ever since his time was up. But, he was thinking the same thing before and couldn't help but think that maybe Professor Fobert only said those things to scare him and make him get the job done faster. Perhaps that was true, but he wasn't taking any chances.

As Harry was thinking all this over, he was almost blindly getting himself changed and he had a "spaced-out" kind of look on his face, as he wasn't all their.

"Hey… Harry?" Ron said, waving his hand in front of Harry's face. Harry blinked a couple of times, blushed slightly in embarrassment, and laughed quietly. "You OK? You looked kind of – out of it…" Ron chuckled, throwing his sweater over his head and pulling down. His hair went all 'staticky' and Harry laughed.

"What?" Ron asked, "What so funny?" Harry pointed to his hair.

"You've gone all 'stand on end'," Harry told him. Ron grinned and rolled his eyes as he tried to flatten down his new do. Harry pulled his own sweater on and, him and Ron went downstairs.

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~*~ PLEASE REVIEW!! Thnx! :o) ~*~

neah – Thank you! I'm really glad that you enjoy my fic! And soory for taking forever to update this!

Corrie – Thnx so much! Sorry to you, too, for taking so long to update! ^_^

k00lgirl1808 – Omg! Hi! You never come on to the HP Boards anymore! Where've ya been? We miss ya there! ^_^

The Cod (anonymous) – Thank you for your support! And no worries! I had the Harry/Cho ordeal all worked out! And he doesn't really LIKE-like her…only a tinsy bit… umm, yeah… lol never mind! *rolls eyes* ^_^

sisami – Thank you so much! *blush* You're so sweet! I really appreciate that! And I'm glad you like my story! ^_^