Ginny's Yule Ball (Harry Potter Fanfiction) (not hinny)

The Dress Rehearsal

HEY<3 Ahh, it's chapter2. I've had this written for a while so I'm just going to put all the chapters up I have...enjoy<3

I bit my lip, exited about it finally being the day of the ball. All that anticipation, anxiety, excitement and tension had all been building up to this day and I was incredibly happy. Since no other third year girls were going to the ball I decided to go and visit Hermione in the 4th year dormitory. I climbed the steps and pushed open the door. There at the very end of the row of beds was Hermione looking into a full length mirror, a periwinkle blue dress held to her front. She saw my reflection in the mirror and whipped around to beam at me. I skipped towards her and let the happiness spill from deep within me by beaming back at her. 

“What do you think?” Hermione pulled on the hem of the dress, to show it off to its full extent. It was one of those dresses that had straps and was fairly tight until it got to the top of your stomach then it billowed out, so that if you twirled around it would form a perfect circle around you. I sighed, I loved it. 

“It’s absolutely gorgeous, Hermione.” I stared at it “Better than mine.” 

“Go on. What’s it like, then.” She smiled, enjoying this rather girly chat. I picked up my wand and summoned it. It sped through the door and floated in mid-air in front of us. Hermione gasped. 

“No, it is much cooler than mine.” She said, dreamily, her eyes glued to the dress. It was a nice dress, too. It was gold, to suit my hair, and was relatively low cut straight across the top with thin straps. It was tight so outlined my figure as it went down to mid – thigh, a bit longer than Hermione’s. I planned to wear a pendant on a long chain around my neck to make it less plain. I dropped the dress on the bed as Hermione went back to staring at her dress in the mirror. 

“Oh, good, I’m really thirsty.” I said reaching for a bottle of what looked like water from the bed side cabinet. 

“No!” Hermione shrieked, dropping the dress and diving on to the bed. I paused, the rim of the bottle only inches from my lips. “Don’t drink that, it’s not water.” Hermione said, straightening herself back up. 

“What is it then?” I asked, eyebrows raised. It sure looked like water to me. 

“A potion.” Hermione answered, swiftly, picking up the dress and putting it back in the wardrobe.

 “A potion? What sort of potion?” I continued. It was like pulling teeth; couldn’t she just tell me the full story? 

“Oh, nothing special,” She dismissed my question, grabbing her purple flats from under the bed and getting out the polish. She was stalling and I was getting seriously worried. What potion was that? What was she up to? “A hair straightening serum potion. You know what my bushy main is like. It takes a lot to tame her.” For a moment I believed her. Hermione regularly made straightening potions; it was nothing rare at all. But then I glanced over at the bowl on her dressing table and my heart sank. 

“Hermione, if that is the serum then why is there another straightening serum potion over there?” I pointed to the bowl, slightly annoyed. She sighed and sunk down onto the bed, her face turning red. 

“Oh, Ginny…Please don’t tell. Promise me, that you’ll understand.” She whispered. 

“What have you done? What sort of potion is that exactly?” I frowned at her, warningly. Just then Parvati came through the door and started searching for something in her drawers. 

“When my date asked me to the dance it was merely a pity date, to thank me for helping him pass his exams. So he said “let me repay you by taking you to the ball.” He doesn’t like me, like I like him. I want him to like me, Ginny. I want it so much; I’d do anything, anything at all.” She whispered. My heart hit the soles of my feet now, it had sunk so low. I realised what was in the bottle, I realised why Hermione’s dress was so short. “It’s a love potion, Ginny.” 

“A LOVE POTION!” I exclaimed, voicing what I had just realised and what Hermione had just said. This caused Parvati to look up, shocked. So I realised I had to quickly cover my tracks. “That’s the sort of advice that Witch Weekly give, huh? The stuff you read in magazines these days, eh?”

Parvati, smiled knowingly.  “I know, they’re a lot of nonsense aren’t they?” She giggled and left the room. I pretended to wipe the sweat of my forehead and turned back to Hermione. 

“You can’t do that to him! He’s a nice guy. You can’t take advantage of him like this, no matter how much you’re hurting.” I said. 

“I can!” Hermione insisted “And I will, watch me!” She jumped up off the bed and snatched the bottle out of my hands. 

“I’ll tell him what you are going to do! He will stand you up and you won’t even have him for one night!” I threatened, knowing that I wasn’t capable of doing such a thing but it sounded impressive and it worked. Hermione looked crestfallen. I had convinced her not to do it! But then her eyes began to sparkle. 

“We could split it!” She suggested, evilly smiling at me, “Imagine Harry dancing with you every night, kissing you, hugging you, introducing you to people as his girlfriend…” Hermione continued to list the things that we could do and I felt myself slipping. I would so love to do those things with Harry, it would be my dream come true. If only…  She handed me a smaller bottle that contained half of the original amount. “It won’t work as long but think of how happy you’ll be!” She said, her eyes shining, imagining her and her date getting married, presumably.

I took the bottle and began imagining that myself. I was on cloud 9. But then I fell back to earth. “I can’t.” I stuttered, throwing the bottle away from me onto the bed and edging away from it. That bottle had a strange power over me that made me want to give up all my principles. I felt like a monster for even considering tricking Harry, in such a way. But I still wanted to be with him, but I was going to do it the old fashioned way. “I’m going to tell him how I feel, Hermione.” 

“No!” She looked panic stricken “You can’t! He likes Cho, not you. You telling him will only destroy your friendship.” She threw herself down at my knees “Give him the potion, slip it in his pumpkin juice, just don’t tell him. Or at least take this with you.” She forced the bottle into my hand.

“I don’t care what you say Hermione, I’m not going to do it.” I picked up my dress and began to leave, when I realised why Hermione was suddenly so frantic. “I won’t tell your date, don’t worry.”

Relief flooded across her face.  “Ok, pass me the bottle back then.” I threw it back to her and she caught it.  But as I swung around the door, I said “But remember. You will feel guilty later, you have a conscience.”  I left her standing alone in her dormitory, looking solemn, holding two bottles of love potion.  ***