Brave

The Yule Ball

After dinner that evening, Hermione dragged the rest of the Gryffinfour back to the kitchens to see the house elves. As they all walked in, they saw the usual house elves bustling around, cleaning up the dishes from dinner, however there were two that stood out the most.

"Dobby?!" Harry exclaimed, astounded at the sight of his small friend. The group also saw Winky, who they met at the Quidditch cup.

After the Potter boy asked what Dobby was doing here, the elf responded saying, "Dobby was looking for job, sir. Dobby came to Hogwarts, and Professor Dumbledore offered Dobby work, sir. He offered Dobby money, and Dobby agreed."

The group continued to find out that Dobby had been working at Hogwarts for a week, and Winky showed up around the same time as him, ashamed that she was set free from her former boss.

A few minutes later, the Gryffinfour left to go to the common room.

* * *

A few days later at the end of Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall began speaking to them about something called the Yule Ball.

"Now that Potter and Weasley are kind enough to act their age," the older woman began, glaring at the two fourth years who were previously horsing around, "The Yule Ball- a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament- is approaching. The ball is for fourth year students and above, although you may invite a younger student if you wish."

Hermione and Aurora exchanged glances, both somewhat excited at the thought of a ball.

"Dress robes will be worn," the Transfiguration professor continued, "and the ball will take place in the Great Hall at 8 o'clock Christmas day, and ending at midnight. The Yule ball is a chance for us to -erm- let our hair down, however, we still expect the standard behavior from Hogwarts students. I will give you all a class on how to properly ballroom dance later in the week."

Hermione, Ron, and Aurora were walking to lunch, since Harry had to stay behind to speak with Professor McGonagall. When he joined them, he looked somewhat annoyed.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Aurora asked, concerned for her green eyed friend.

"Professor McGonagall said that I need to have a partner for the Yule ball, and that all of the champions and their dates are supposed to do the opening dance," Harry explained.

For some reason, Aurora perked up at the fact that Harry needed a date. Hermione and Ron reassured him that it would be okay, while Aurora thought about Harry possibly dancing with someone other than her. Just the thought of him going on a date with another person made her jealous, which greatly confused her.

As the Gryffinfour continued eating, Fred and George walked up to them.

"What do you want?" Ron snapped at them, apparently not wanting to see his older brothers at the moment.

"Why dear brother-"

"Why would you assume," Fred continued George's statement.

"We need something?" Ron rolled his eyes at the twins, while Aurora chuckled to herself.

The twins clearly did need something, because they continued switching each others sentences while explaining that they needed to borrow Pigwidgeon. Ron told them that they couldn't right now, and what the twins didn't know was that Pig was off sending a letter to Sirius.

* * *

A few days later, Harry rushed up to Aurora as she exited the owlery after sending Remus a letter.

Before Aurora could ask Harry what he needed, the boy spluttered out, "Auroradoyouwanttogototheballwithme?"

"Erm... what?" Aurora asked, not understanding what he said.

Harry took a deep breath before repeating himself, "Do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

"Um... yeah, of course!" Aurora responded after registering that Harry wanted to go to the ball with her.

"Really?" Harry asked, awkwardly smiling.

"Yeah."

"That's great... I'll see you then," Harry stuttered, "I mean, I'll see you before then, but great, thanks.

"Okay, see you at dinner," Aurora told him, walking off.

The girl smiled, happy that they were going together.

I don't own Harry Potter. The series belongs to J.K. Rowling. I only own Aurora and anything you don't recognize from the books or movies.