I will stay with you

Part 7

Hermoine stared at herself in the mirror, admiring her appearance. Her usual bushy hair was sleek and shiny, and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes that were made of a periwinkle material, which looked absolutely stunning.
The common room was empty as she walked down the steps that led to the girl's dormitory. Everyone was already at the Yule Ball- including Harry. He had insisted that they arrived together, but Hermione eventually persuaded him that they should meet up there.
Hermione walked down the dark corridor that led to the Great Hall alone. The only sound was the soft echoes of the many voices from the Hall, and the sound of her shoes against the stone ground with every step she took. Hermione swallowed nervously, many horrible thoughts running through her mind. What if Harry changed his mind? What if he bailed on her?
Though she knew that he would never do that to her, she couldn't get the thought out of her mind.
Her mind was completely cleared as she approached the Great Hall. Students flooded in and out of the Hall, though only one caught her eye. Harry was waiting for her down at the bottom of the stairs, and he looked absolutely stunning. He was dressed in thick, black dress robes and his long hair was combed back neatly; his scar clearly visible. He turned to look at her, his emerald eyes widening.
Hermione didn't know whether she should have held eye contact with him as she walked down the stairs, but she did anyway.
"You- you look beautiful," Harry said when she reached him. He grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips, planting a soft kiss on it. Hermione blushed and looked away.
"You don't look too bad yourself," she said quietly. She forced herself to look at him once more, a small smile only just visible on the corners of her mouth. Harry linked his arm with hers, and together they followed the other champions into the Great Hall. The walls of the Hall had been covered in a snowy, silver frost, with thousands of garlands of mistletoe crossing the dark, starry ceiling. The House tables were no where to be seen; instead, in their place, there was a hundred smaller, candle-lit ones that would each seat about a dozen people.
Harry and Hermione nervously followed the other champions as they stepped onto the dance floor.
Dancing wasn't nearly as bad as Hermione expected. Yeah, they both sucked. Hermione payed no attention to the hundreds of watching eyes. She was thankful when many of them had come to the dance floor, so the champions were no longer the center of attention.
Her and Harry sat at one of the many circular tables, watching the dance floor swarm with couples dancing.
Hermione saw that Harry's eyes were on Cho Chang- the Ravenclaw seeker- and Hermione couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. Harry must've noticed (she had no idea how), because he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.
"She's nothing compared to you," he said quietly and kissed her forehead. Hermione gave him a small smile, but she couldn't fully believe him. She wanted to; she just couldn't. She knew that he had a crush on Cho Chang, and she was afraid that Hermione had only been his second choice.
Hermione's heart dropped to her feet as she saw Ron approach them. They hadn't told him that they were going with each other. It must've been a complete shock for him.
"Good to know you're having a nice time," their ginger-haired friend said as he sat down. "Nice of you to tell me."
Padma Patil- who was his date to the Ball- sat down next to him. Hermione couldn't help but feel bad for Ron, because his date looked absolutely bored out of her mind.
Harry pulled away from Hermione, "Do you want a drink?" he asked.
Hermione nodded and went to stand up, "I'll go with you-"
Harry shook his head, "Ron needs some explaining to," he muttered. "I'll get you a butterbeer, alright?"
Hermione nodded, taking a seat back beside Ron, and sighed. She watched as Harry disappeared towards the bar reluctantly, wishing she could be with him.
"So," Ron spat. "Care to explain?"
"Harry asked me to the ball and I said yes," Hermione said, and Ron rolled his eyes.
"And you didn't tell me?" he said. "You made me waste my time asking you when Harry already asked you. You could've told me."
Hermione sighed, this was where he would get furious- if he wasn't already.
"Well, he didn't ask me before you did," she began awkwardly.
"Then you bailed on the other person?" accused Ron. Beside him, Padma Patil got his attention.
"Are you going to dance with me or not?" she asked.
"No, I'm talking!" Ron said to her. Padma scoffed and stood up, giving Ron one last glare before disappearing out of the Hall.
"That's a very nice way of treating your date," Hermione growled.
"She doesn't matter right now," Ron said. "I want you to explain."
"No one asked me before you did, Ronald!" Hermione raised her voice, "Harry came and asked me after you two left the study hall."
Ron looked hurt, and Hermione suddenly felt horrible.
"You'd rather go with him than me?" he asked quietly.
Hermione was about to say something when Harry returned, carrying a tray of four butter beers.
"Where's Padma?" he asked, glancing down at the extra drink of his tray.
"She left; Ronald scared her away," Hermione sighed. She took the drink Harry handed her and drank it thirstily. Harry went to hand Ron a butter beer, but he only pushed it away. Without a word, he stood up from the table, and followed in Padma's footsteps, exiting the Great Hall.
"Didn't take it well?" Harry guessed as he sat down next to her. Hermione shook her head and took a sip of her drink.
"Didn't think so..." he sighed.
"Let's not let this ruin the night," Hermione said. "I'm here with the person I wanna be here with, and I don't care what Ron thinks."
Harry smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, "I'm glad you feel that way."
The dance floor was nearly empty as Harry practically dragged Hermione onto it. The Weird Sisters were singing "Magic Works", and Harry practically begged her to dance one more time.
"Harry, I can't dance," Hermione said through gritted teeth.
Harry smiled cheekily, "neither can i, so this ought to be interesting."
When Hermione didn't laugh, he added, "C'mon, 'Mione. I wanna remember this night."
Hermione sighed, "Okay." She said as she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and started swaying to the music.
Hermione thought it was quite romantic, though they probably looked looked very pathetic. She had the time of her life; it was what she had always dreamed of, dancing in Harry's arms. Though it was over far too soon. They were the only people left on the dance floor by the time they stopped.
"See? It wasn't that bad," Harry joked as they stepped off the dance floor. The band was packing up their instruments, and Dumbledore and McGonagall were busy packing up the circular tables.
"I'm pretty sure everyone was laughing at us," Hermione smiled. She glanced over to Dumbledore, who was watching them both closely, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. She could've sworn she saw him wink at her, so she gave him a small smile.
Together, her and Harry exited the Great Hall. The corridors were almost pitch black, and Hermione could tell it was close to midnight. Her heart dropped as she realized she had classes tomorrow, and how much sleep she had lost. Though she quickly pushed the thought away.
Harry and Hermione made their way back to the Gryffindor Tower in a comfortable silence. Their fingers were entwined and their shoulders were brushing, sending goosebumps up Hermione's arm.
Hermione sighed as they entered the Gryffindor common room. It had been possibly the best night of her night, and now it was nearly over.
Harry walked her over to the bottom of the girl's staircase, where they silently stared into each other's eyes for a moment.
"I had a great time tonight, Harry," Hermione spoke quietly, careful not to wake any of their classmates.
Harry smiled, "I did, too. I'm glad I got to spend it with you."
Hermione turned to head up the staircase, but was stopped as Harry's arm wrapped around her waist. He pulled her back towards him and pressed his lips against hers.
Hermione was shocked at first, but kissed back. She didn't know how long they stayed like that- she was sure it was for several moments- but it ended too far soon.
Though she was disappointed, she still had a 100-watt smile plastered on her face.
"Goodnight, Harry," she said, leaning in and planting one last small kiss on his lips. She turned and began to slowly walk up the stairs that led to her dormitory, but not before hearing Harry say, "Goodnight, beautiful."
Hermione quickly changed into her pajamas before collapsing onto her four-poster, sighing with happiness.
She closed her eyes and almost immediately fell into a deep sleep with a smile on her face.
A/N:

AWWWW :3 I loved writing this chapter so much!
This is going to be a short note, btw lol (:
Feedback is appreciated guys, remember that! I love to know that I have fans, and that encourages me to write more