"Hey Luna, you know about the Yule Ball coming up, right?" Harry asked.
"Seeing as I'm a judge, it would be very remiss of me not to know," Luna responded.
"Right. Well, as a champion I'm kind of required to go. I'm not actually sure what would happen if I refused to go, but I'm sure my illustrious guardian would get a kick out of forcing me to attend, so I kind of have no choice. Bearing in mind that I don't want to go with anyone and give them the impression that I want to date them, forcing me to reject them and make it much harder should I ever decide that I do want to date them, I need your help," Harry said quickly.
Luna raised an eyebrow. "My help with what, exactly? Finding a way to make sure whoever you want to go with really understands that it's just as friends? Lots of people say they understand but really want more and going with someone you don't know as 'just friends' never works out so you could probably use the help."
"True," Harry acknowledged. "There are only two people I can think of who would really get that I don't want to date them right now. One would be Hermione, of course, but I can't ask her."
"Why not?" Luna asked. " You would have a lot of fun with her if she doesn't decide to try and kill you too many times."
"I know," Harry admitted. "But now's around the time that Ron realizes he has a crush on her and I do NOT want to get in the middle of that. Whether they still end up together or not, it's just a bad situation. And I don't think he ever really got over his hatred of Viktor…"
"Krum?" Luna asked. "What did he do?"
"He took Hermione to the Yule Ball the first time," Harry explained. "Then Ron asked, like, a week before the event. He wasn't very tactful either." Harry winced. "I believe he asked me if I had a date, mentioned he had none either, then said one of us could go with Hermione because she obviously had no date and refused to believe her when she said she did."
"And she ended up going with one of the champions," Luna finished. "Wow. Ronald has no tact, sometimes. He does grow out of that, right?"
"…Mostly."
"So who is the other girl?" Luna asked curiously.
"You, actually," Harry told her. "We could probably have just as much fun as Hermione and I and you understand my situation so you know why my choices of 'date' are extremely limited. Can I ask you to the Yule Ball?"
"You're asking me for my permission to ask me to the dance?" Luna sounded amused.
"Well, yeah. I wouldn't want to get turned down in front of everybody. It would be very embarrassing and there are a good three or four people who seem to carry cameras around with them everywhere," Harry replied with a wry grin.
"You don't have to ask in front of everyone, you know," Luna pointed out.
"I know," Harry conceded. "But I plan on doing it anyway. Hey, since you're a judge and I'm a champion, would we ever be allowed to go together?"
Luna considered the question. "I don't actually think there are any rules against it," she decided. "If for no other reason that usually judges are in their late thirties at the very least and the students are no more than seventeen or eighteen. One could argue that that would mean I would be favoring you – especially as representative of your school – but I did give you the lowest score I gave anyone save Krum and if you show off again for the Second Task then I'll probably have to do that again so people really won't be accusing me of that with any alacrity."
"That's good," Harry said, sounding relieved that he wouldn't have a pissed-off for reasons he can't explain Ron on his hands. "So will you let me ask you?"
"Why not?" Luna said.
----
"So the Yule Ball's coming up," Harry said one day when he, Ron, and Neville were alone in their dormitory. It was unsubtle as hell, but hinting about it would do no good, especially as it hadn't been announced yet.
"The what?" Ron asked blankly. "They're having some sort of dance?"
"Indeed," Harry nodded. "Fourth years and up are allowed to go, possibly because of me. It's during Christmas Break and anyone younger can only go if they are a date. I am required to go because of my status as champion but you guys aren't. Are you planning on attending?"
"My gran would kill me if I didn't," Neville said mournfully. "All those years she made me take dancing lessons…she stopped after I got into Hogwarts though. I was never very good at them. Thankfully I was much less clumsy when she abruptly started them up again over the summer. I guess she knew I would need the practice for the Ball."
"After you saved me from the horrors of the moldy dress? Absolutely," Ron declared. "Besides, how lame would it be to have to just sit in the Common Room with all the little kids and the people who couldn't get dates?"
"You realize that the people who are only a year younger than you and in many cases less that that will be not able to attend, right?" Neville asked tentatively.
"Right, Ginny's age," Ron confirmed. "Little kids, in other words."
"She hears you say that, she's hexing you," Harry warned him.
"I'm planning on using you as a human shield," Ron informed him casually.
"Like hell," Harry grumbled.
"So why do you ask about our attendance of a Ball that hasn't even been announced yet?" Neville asked curiously.
"Because I don't want to be the guy who angst about who we want to ask for weeks, finally work up the nerve to ask, find out our dream date is going with a fellow champion, and end up with a classmate of mine who only agrees because I'm a champion and who I just end up ignoring her to stare at my crush and spy on other people the whole night," Harry declared.
"Speaking from experience?" Neville asked sympathetically.
"Sadly, yes," Harry nodded. "So do you have any idea who you're asking yet?"
"Nope," Ron said.
"Not really," Neville agreed. "But then, we just found out about the Ball itself five minutes ago."
"That's no excuse," Harry said sternly. "In fact, I already asked Luna if I could ask her and she said sure."
"Well, that's not really surprising," Ron said. "She's a judge so she would know. Are you allowed to go with her, though, given that?"
Harry shrugged. "If it's not in the rules, why not? And Ron, I recommend you ask Hermione."
"Huh?" Ron looked puzzled. "Why?"
"Because you have a crush on her," Neville told him bluntly.
"W-what?" Ron sputtered. "I do not!"
"Yes you do," Harry told him. "You just haven't realized it yet."
"So let me get this straight…you think I have a crush on Hermione and I haven't noticed it?" Ron asked incredulously. "How thick do you think I am?"
"When it comes to matters of the heart I have no faith in you," Harry told him bluntly. "Besides, remember last year when Professor Trelawney told Lavender to beware a red-headed man?"
"Vaguely," Ron confirmed.
"Well my scar informs me that if you don't ask Hermione right away, Viktor Krum will and she'll accept and you'll be forced to go with Lavender and you'll both have a miserable time until she ditches you for a boy from Beauxbatons because you've ignored her to gripe about Hermione 'fraternizing with the enemy' all night," Harry lied. Well, the story was true, but Ron would be going with Padma, not Lavender as HER problem with Ron was from sixth year.
"So you want me to ask Hermione," Ron said, still sounding skeptical. "Otherwise international Quidditch sensation and teenage heartthrob Viktor Krum will."
"He's been sighted haunting the library and staring at Hermione quite a bit the past few weeks," Neville offered. "Not that she's noticed, of course. She's just annoyed that his fangirls followed him in."
"I'll think about it," Ron agreed, resolving to discover whether or not he really had top-secret feelings for his best female friend that he had never noticed but apparently his other two best friends had.
"What about you, Neville?" Harry asked. "You could always ask Hannah."
"Abbot?" Neville looked surprised. "She's dating Ernie."
"Really?" Harry was also surprised. Still, he supposed he really didn't pay enough attention to them that it was unexpected for him not to know that. Hell, he paid even less attention to them before coming back so they might have even been dating around that time. "So who do you want to go with?"
"I think he should ask Ginny," Ron spoke up unexpectedly.
"Really?" Neville's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "I thought you'd be against anyone taking her to a date-like function such as this."
"Well, I am," Ron conceded. "Seeing as how she's my baby sister and all-"
"She's less than a year and a half younger than you," Harry interrupted.
"But I suppose you two are really the only people I would trust not to take advantage of her and since Harry's going with Luna it will have to be you," Ron said seriously. "Because I know she has those dress robes for a reason and won't be able to go unless a guy asks her."
"Hm," Neville considered. "She is a friend of mine and won't be able to go without an escort and I really don't want to end up by myself so…why not?"
"Okay, now that that's settled," Harry said, trying to ignore the small spark of jealousy that Neville would once again be accompanying Ginny to the Ball (after all, they'd gone together last time and nothing had come of that but Neville was a lot more confident a lot earlier now so…best not worry about that…), "let's talk about how we're going to ask them."
----
The day McGonagall announced the Yule Ball to their transfiguration class, Harry, Ron, and Neville put their plan into action. Ron still wouldn't admit to having a thing for Hermione but did, when pressed, turn a bit red and remark that she 'wasn't so bad', which they actually considered to be progress.
At dinner that night, Harry started things off by letting a female Crumple-Horned Snorkack with a paper hat on it loose and casting a spell to point it in Luna's direction. The little pig-like creature snorted loudly as it dashed across the Great Hall to the Ravenclaw table and caught everyone's attention. Luna, serene as ever, simply plucked the not-so-mythical-anymore creature up and took off the hat.
"I would discover a mythical creature for you, would you please attend the Yule Ball with me?" Luna read off. "Certainly, Harry. I'm thinking about calling this one 'Norberta'…"
The typical response of applause and catcalls died down quickly when Neville stood up next. He walked over to Ginny who was a few seats down from him and handed her a large box of Honeydukes finest chocolate. "Even if you say no, you can still keep the candy but please say you'll go to the Yule Ball with me," Ginny read the note taped to the box. She looked up with a smile. "Of course."
THAT applause was also cut off as Hedwig flew in carrying a bouquet of roses and a hand-written card and landed in front of Hermione. Hermione looked to Harry in confusion before reaching for the note. "Hermione. It might have taken me awhile, but it's recently come to my attention that you are, in fact, a girl and a pretty great one, too. Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" she read, sounding shocked. She opened and closed her mouth a few times.
"Well?" Ron asked, trying not to look as nervous as he felt.
Harry kicked her.
"Yes," she finally said, still unable to believe he'd actually asked her. She had kind of thought he might like her, but acknowledging it…well, that was a bit more than she'd expected of him.
The students hesitated for a few moments in case someone ELSE wanted to take that opportunity to ask someone to the Yule Ball. When no one did, the applause became thunderous and girls swarmed in on the only three with dates to press for details.
Harry managed to hear Draco's annoyance above the clapping, however. "WAY TO GO, POTTER. NOW WE'VE GOT TO PUT SOME THOUGHT INTO THIS!"
Harry remembered how awkward the asking could have gone – Ron didn't even know who Padma was when Parvati set them up – and felt no sympathy.