The Yule Ball: The Remake

Change in Plans

Dear Mum and Dad,

I know that I have not updated you recently on what's happened with the Tournament and all, and for that I apologize. I have just been so busy helping Harry with the task, dealing with my personal life, and just plain unnatural things, that I didn't have much free time. I'll update you on the task first.

The last time I updated you was during Harry's first victory during the First Task. The Second Task may be harder this time. Yesterday, we figured out the egg and we were not pleased by the riddle's implications. This is the riddle.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,And to recover what we took,

But past an hour- the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

Apparently they are going to take something of value from Harry and he must rescue it. He will have to go underwater for about an hour to save it or he will never be able to recover it again. We are still wondering how Harry could breathe underwater for a full hour, but when we asked Neville (he helped us figure out the clue), he suggested that we use Gillyweed. It's a plant that you swallow, allowing you to breathe under water. It's our best choice right now. What puzzled us was how the Headmaster – or anyone else, for that matter – could find out what the most important item to Harry is. We then realized that the Yule Ball was before the Second Task. Harry had pointed out that the song/poem said absolutely nothing about an item. He believes that the champion's date would surely become a hostage for the second task. Personally, I don't want to believe that he is right. The first task was nothing but a worthless and rusty silver egg. I don't want to believe that they could just skip to a person. But I think that it is possible. Suffice to say, I'm a little scared of what might happen, but Harry has assured me that Dumbledore will not let anything dangerous happen.

Which brings me to the topic of my personal life. I suggest that at this moment that Dad please stop reading this letter. This section is for Mum only. If you do choose to read this, Dad, I would hope that you keep reading to the end and not stomp off in mid-sentence. As you know, I have two friends that are males. As you also know, I like one of them. Well, two weeks ago, A Yule Ball was announced, traditional for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. On the same day the Ball was announced, he asked me to go to the ball with him. Of course I said yes. If Dad is still reading, then I hope you realize that I will never talk to you again if you give him so much as a scrape. I told you both in the past years that he is a really sweet guy and he's the only person who has ever stood up for me. I really like him, and he told me that he really liked me too. Harry has never lied to me before, and has never spoken out about any feelings before, so I believe him.

Unfortunately, my other best friend – although I don't think I can even call him a friend anymore, if he ever was – Ron, did not like the fact that Harry and I are together. He seemed mad. He hadn't talked to me since Harry and I told him, which was a few hours after Harry asked me to the ball. I initially thought it was because he would feel left out because Harry and I would spend more time around each other. Harry told me something that I thought was preposterous, but still made me nervous and more than a little worried. He said that Ron fancied me. I said that it couldn't be, seeing as we had always argued in the past and the only reason he even talks to me is because I am one of Harry's best friends. I chalked it up to hormones, and I'm positive about it. He doesn't go anywhere near us anymore. He sits on the other side of the classroom from us. Harry says when he goes to his dorm to go to bed, Ron's either already sleeping or not there yet. I have caught him a few times glaring at Harry and me. We believe that his sister, Ginny, is on his side. I told you, Mum, that Ginny has a large crush on Harry. Actually, she has a crush on the Boy Who Lived. I hadn't seen her in a while, and when I do see her, she makes an excuse and leave before I can catch her. We believe that they're planning to split us up. I don't know how they're going to do that, and I doubt it would happen now that we are on alert, but I think they're planning something.