Harry Potter And The Champion's Champion

The Yule Ball

Disclaimer: I still do not own these characters, I just steal them away every once in a while and take them out for a walk.

I pulled some text verbatim from the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for this chapter. That book is owned by JK Rowling.

A/N: I hope anyone reading my Noble story knows I like Fleur, so don't take my depiction of Fleur in this chapter too personal if you like her also. I just couldn't help myself.

Chapter 8

It was the morning of Christmas Eve and Harry was in Gryffindor common room, sitting in his regular chair and waiting for the woman he loved to join him for breakfast. 'The woman I love,' Harry thought. It had been less than two weeks since Hermione's nightmare when they had first spoken the four lettered 'L' word to each other. It's a simple word that has given men an eternity of hope and dreams or cursed them to an eternity of despair and damnation. To Harry though, when that word was said for the first time by Hermione, it was the end of a previous life and the beginning of a new one. He smiled to himself as he recognized the sound of her footsteps on the stairs and looked up to see a sight he wanted to see every day for the rest of his life. His Mione, looking at him with a smile on her lips, first thing in the morning.

"Good morning, handsome," Hermione said as she saw her boyfriend in his favorite chair.

"Good morning, gorgeous," He replied. "Ready for breakfast?"

"Before we go, can I ask you something?" Hermione asked.

"Of course."

"Well, the Yule Ball is tomorrow night…" Hermione started.

"What did I forget to do?" Harry asked nervously. "Was I supposed to get you something or…"

"Oh no, Harry! Nothing like that," Hermione said. "It's well... You said you didn't know how to dance and I have never been dancing, but I thought it was going to be just a, you know, dance dance. Where you can just sort of dance however you want. But I heard Angelina talking to Katie yesterday and it's going to be a lot more formal than that. They were talking about how the first part of the ball will have formal dances like the Waltz and such."

Harry's face paled. "I... I don't know how to do that. I'm sorry, Hermione; I'm going to embarrass you."

"Of course you won't, Harry," Hermione replied. "I don't know how to dance like that either."

"We could just not dance," Harry said with a hopeful look on his face. "We could sit and watch everyone else."

Hermione's expression turned sad. "Well, we could do that, but I was hoping maybe you'd try something with me."

'ANYTHING! JUST SMILE AGAIN!' Harry's inner voice screamed. "I'd do anything for you, love."

Hermione's face lit up in a smile again and she started toward the steps. Then turning back, she said, "Wait here, I'll be right back." She quickly dashed up the steps and brought back a book. "I stopped by the library yesterday to see if there was any way… well, to learn to dance."

Harry grinned. This was definitely his Mione. Need to know about an evil creature that might be petrifying people? Go to the library. Need to find out who Nicholas Flamel is? Go to the library. Need to know how to dance? Go the library. 'Someday,' Harry promised himself, 'I'll build a library for her and fill it with every book she could ever want just to see the smile on her face.' He saw she was looking apprehensively at him. "How can we learn to dance in a day?"

"Magic, of course," Hermione replied as her radiant smile reappeared. "There is a charm in here that will guide your body, feet and arms to the correct positions for the dance."