Jake was feeling better about his situation of not having a date. It meant he didn't have to feel guilty every time he danced with a girl that wasn't the girl he was going with. Not that he figured his date would have cared anyway, but he didn't have to worry about it now.
The Professors had given them a mountain of homework, which Jake and Hermione both had gotten done before Christmas arrived.
Snow had also begun to pile around the School and Jake went on a run every morning before anyone else was up. It was surprisingly fun to run in the snow, even if the deeper it got the slower his pace was, but it built endurance, and he had a lot of it.
On Christmas Eve morning, Hermione had been up in the Common Room when he came back, "Morning, where have you been?" She asked him.
"... Out..." He said, a little embarrassed that she had caught him.
"Out in the Snow? Decided to enjoy it before anyone else?" She asked with a cheeky smile.
"You could put it that way, yeah," he smiled and told her he was going to go and shower before coming back down.
She watched him go up the stairs and went back to reading her book. She didn't make it very far before her mind wandered to imagine her getting in the shower with him, snogging him as the water beat down on their nude bodies. She almost had her hand slipped underneath her pants when she heard someone coming down the stairs.
She quickly went back to reading, but her face was burning. She then saw Jake sit down across from her, 'Has it really been that long?' She didn't realize she had been fantasizing about him the entire time he was gone, and almost did something truly scandalous, and almost got caught by him, 'Not sure if I'd have minded that... honestly...'
"Well, I feel much better," he smiled as he started to read his own book he had brought back down.
'You look much better too,' Hermione thought to herself with a flushed face.
That evening, after Dinner, Jake, Hermione, Harry, and Ron all were leaving the Great Hall after enjoying a series of rich, warming stews and savory desserts, and Fleur was in front of them, leaving to go back to the Carriage, when they heard her complain a bit, "I weesh I deed not 'ave such bad reactions to some of ze food served 'ere... eet makes me feel bloated... eet makes me feel like I weel not feet een my dress..." she had said as much to her fellow Beauxbatons, and probably didn't know the four of them were directly behind them.
Hermione placed her hand on her stomach and hips instinctively, 'Oh... why did she have to say that? Now I'm feeling subconscious again about my body..."
Ron was busy hiding behind Jake so as to not be affected by Fleur's Veela side. She exited the Entrance Hall, and only then did Ron step out from behind him.
"I still can't believe you and Harry are going to the Ball together-"
They suddenly heard a cackling laughter behind them, and turned to see Draco standing there with Crabbe and Goyle, "Wait... wait... Potter, you're taking Granger? I thought you'd have had more respect for yourself by not taking a Filthy Mud-" Draco didn't even get to finish what he was saying as he was suddenly flung up high into the air, and he was screaming the entire time. This, of course, drew everyone's attention, and the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students came back into the Entrance Hall to see Draco falling through the air, and the Professors had all come out to see why he was.
Malfoy was suddenly halted just half an inch off the ground. Anyone there just had to look at Jake to see it was him doing it, with his Eye glowing Red, "Kidd!" Professor Snape's voice roared, "Put Malfoy down, now!"
Jake looked at him with contempt, and he didn't budge; Malfoy was being lifted back into the air.
"Kidd, will you please put Malfoy down?" Professor McGonagall asked in a much calmer tone.
He then looked at his Head of House, and released his hold of Draco, who fell six feet to the floor, impacting with a thud. Draco got to his feet and tried to run to his Head of House, but Jake was on him in a heartbeat, his hands on the collar of his robes, and lifted him off the floor, "Tell me why I didn't let you finish that sentence."
"He's gone completely psychotic!" Draco said in a panicky voice, "Trelawney was right!"
Jake merely held him in the air as that same air around him became thick and heavy, and looked at him with the same stone cold look, "I told you that if you EVER call Hermione that horrible word ever again, I was going to kill you, so why did I not let you finish that sentence?"
"Jake," Dumbledore walked up to him when McGonagall and Snape stepped aside, "Will you please put Mister Malfoy down?"
"Why should I? I should show him that Blood Status means nothing if you are a pathetic Wizard," he said coldly.
Hermione heard Neville whimper behind her. She knew Neville was a Pure-Blood and not very good with his wand, so he took it personally.
Jake finally relented and tossed Malfoy backwards as he hit the floor again, "Next time, I won't stop you, and next time, I will kill you."
If Hermione felt it, then she knew everyone else did; an unusually cold chill ran down her spine. Jake was downright scary when he wanted to be.
He suddenly turned away and went towards the Marble Staircase, "Where do you think you're going?" Snape called to him, but Jake didn't stop and merely held up his hand with his middle finger being the only one visible.
Hermione saw Dumbledore turn around and walk up to Snape, but she couldn't hear what was said.
"Everyone may return to their Common Rooms, Carriage, or Ship," Dumbledore called out to them, and so everyone did.
Hermione heard Lavender talking to Parvati in front of her as she walked on without Harry and Ron, "And that's why he doesn't have a date for the Ball, he's absolutely terrifying, and he got Trelawney sacked."
"He is not terrifying! And Trelawney got herself sacked for revealing a secret she was sworn to not reveal!" Hermione yelled and stormed past Lavender. 'That bitch, how dare she say that about Jake! Oh, if I knew I wouldn't get in trouble for it, I'd have slapped her into next week!' Hermione raged in her head. Lavender was getting on her nerves, and she needed to calm down.
She spoke the password when she got to the Fat Lady, entered the Common Room, and went straight up to the Dorm Room when she didn't see Jake in the Common Room.
She quickly got ready for bed before her dorm mates arrived and she had shut her curtains on her bed. She sat on her bed, eyes closed, breathing in slowly and deeply, and exhaling just as slowly.
She was calm again, mostly. She got under her covers and stared at her ceiling, 'Jake is the most amazing guy I've ever met... no one will besmirch his name in front of me, no one.'
*******
It was Christmas morning, and Jake had gone out for his run like had been the whole week before Christmas, but he was still angry from yesterday. He was running faster than usual, and his blood was running hot, keeping him warm as he ran the perimeter of the Grounds.
That morning, though, as he ran past the Beauxbatons Carriage, the door had opened as he approached, and out stepped Fleur. He slowed to a walk and went up to her, "Morning," he said, breathing heavily.
"Good morning, Jereemiah, ees eet 'appy Chreestmas?" she asked, smiling at him as her hair, which was not up in a bun or ponytail, was splayed across her shoulders and down her back. It proved to be very long.
"Merry Christmas in America... but they say Happy Christmas here," he smiled back.
"Well, regardless, I 'ope your Chreestmas ees wonderful, and I 'ope you 'ave a wonderful time later at ze Yule Ball," she smiled and stepped out into the cold, but not stepping off the Carriages steps, and kissed him on the lips.
"Even though I don't have a date, I know I'll have plenty fun, dancing with any girl that wants to... unless last night ruined that," he shrugged, "but I hope you have a wonderful time as well," he gave her a kiss of his own, "Well, I've got a run to finish, see you at Breakfast!" He then started his run back up, feeling better after talking with Fleur.
He made it back to Hogwarts and the Gryffindor Common Room when he was done running and showered just as everyone else in his dorm woke up, and that was only because of Dobby, "Happy Christmas, Jake Kidd sir!"
"Merry Christmas to you as well, Dobby," he said and walked over to his bed, where there was only one present, and it was from Hermione. He wasn't sure why Molly wouldn't have sent him a Present, but he didn't dwell on that for too long. Hermione's present was a large wrapped box and when he opened it, he found it was actually holding a few things inside: A new Quill set, which he was in need of, some sweets from Honeydukes, and most surprising of all, Magia ad sanitatem Magister Maleficos , the Third and Final book for Healing Magic that Tomes and Scrolls had, "Hermione...?" He asked quietly.
There was a letter in between the cover and first page. It read:
Dear Jake,
Happy Christmas! I hope you don't mind me going ahead and buying you the last book since I saw you reading the Intermediate Spell book a month ago. It wasn't cheap, I won't lie, but you're worth it, because you're my Best Friend.
I'll see you later in the Common Room, I hope you enjoy the Quill Set and Honeydukes Sweets too.
Your Best Friend,
Hermione
He smiled at the letter, "I don't deserve you as my friend..." he had gone to Hogsmeade earlier in the week and bought her a late Birthday Present and Christmas present. The Birthday present was a bracelet that could have a couple of Charms attached to it. He had gone ahead and bought her one, that was an open book, which he was sure she'd love. Her Christmas present was also a new Quill Set, 'Great Minds think alike,' and a Diary/Journal that was Charmed to never run out of pages. He hoped she liked it.
He put away the Book she got him, as he wasn't done with the Intermediate one yet, the sweets, and the Quill set, safely away in his trunk.
He walked down into the Common Room before his dorm mates, and saw Hermione down there, reading a book, like she almost always did. He smiled when he saw the Bracelet on her left wrist, "Merry Christmas, Hermione," he said, walking over to her and sitting down beside her on the couch.
"Happy Christmas, Jake," she smiled up at him, "did you like my presents?"
"Oh, absolutely, I can't believe you bought the final Healing Magic book for me. You're insane, you know that?" He asked with a smirk.
"I know, but you are as well for buying me this Bracelet, which I absolutely adore!" She said and admired it for a moment. "And thank you so much for the Journal. I've already got three pages filled up."
"Why am I not surprised?" He laughed, feeling immensely better now.
Hermione just simply laughed, "Oh... I should probably tell you... about Lavender."
"What about her?"
"She-" Hermione stopped talking when Harry and Ron appeared at the stairs, and she noticed something unusual about Ron; he was wearing a fake or strained smile.
"Shall we go to breakfast?" Harry asked them.
"Sure thing," Jake said and looked back to Hermione, "you can tell me later."
"Okay, sure," Hermione put away her book and stood up to go to the Great Hall. On the way, Harry told them about the letter he received from Sirius, "Well, he is right, you do still have two tasks to go through. If you haven't yet, after today I really think you should start looking into the Egg."
"I gave it a bit of thought before I fell asleep... but I'm still drawing a blank..." Harry said quietly.
"You'll figure it out, or one of us will help you to figure it out," Jake said, "although, I don't know how much help Ron will be," he said, busting Ron's chops.
"Oi! I'm going to help this time, swear it," Ron said as his ears turned a light red.
After Breakfast, they spent most of their morning before Lunch enjoying their gifts. In Hermione's case, she was writing more in her Journal, but in Jake's case, he was continuing the Intermediate Healing Magic book. He was roughly a Quarter of the way through it now, at least with reading it, there was still the Practical Application of each spell.
For Lunch, there must've been at least a hundred Turkey's, and even more desserts. Plenty for everyone to enjoy, and enjoy they definitely did.
After Lunch, everyone went onto the Grounds where the snow looked to be untouched, except for the tracks left by Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Unless anyone paid close enough attention, they'd see a set of footprints leading away from the school and then running the perimeter of the Grounds, but no one did.
While outside they all participated in a Snowball fight where Magic was said to not be used, to which Jake laughed and agreed to, knowing that was in place because of him. Hermione opted to sit on the sidelines at first and just watch. Jake wasn't going to let her get away with it so easily, though. He had a Snowball in his hand and looked over at her, watching her sit there as she looked at Harry throwing a Snowball at Ron. Instead of throwing it hard, he lobbed it towards her, and the look on her face when it hit the top of her head was priceless, "Jake!" Hermione yelled, not angry, but definitely not happy with him. She gathered up some snow of her own for retaliation and threw one right at him.
With how far away she was, he easily dodged it, but as he sidestepped, he got hit by one from Fred. Then Ron threw one at him. Harry threw the next one after that. Then George and Ginny followed, with Hermione throwing another that hit him that time. He was being ganged up on, and without magic or more rules set in place, this was a losing battle. He didn't go down without a fight, though, and hurled many more Snowballs before one caught him in the face, causing him to lose his balance and tumble to the ground.
Hermione was laughing, having a great time, and she walked over to him to help him up. She held her hand out to him, which he took, but she saw the slightest look of deviance in his face, because when he grabbed her hand, he pulled her down onto him, laughing as he did.
Jake wrapped his arms around Hermione, and his laughter subsided, his breathing steady. Hermione's head moved up and down with the rise and fall of his chest; it was a steady rhythm that she could easily have fallen asleep to had she not remembered there were other people around. She quickly grabbed some snow and shoved it in his face, making him let go of her so she could stand up.
It was nearing Five o'clock in the afternoon and Hermione excused herself so she could go and get ready, telling Harry she'd meet him in the Entrance Hall when she was ready. Jake watched her walk away, and he wandlessly and non-verbally stopped a Snowball that someone had thrown at him. He let it drop into the snow before he turned away from Hermione's almost retreated figure.
"Does she really need three hours to get ready?" Ron asked aloud.
"You'd be surprised at how long it takes a girl to get ready for a formal event," Fred said.
Jake left them at Six-thirty to go and get ready himself. It's not that it would take him an hour and a half to get ready, it was to make sure he let nothing be short of perfect for his Dress Robes, his hair, etc. It only took him a half-hour to get completely dressed and fitted to perfection, and he spent another half-hour making sure any minor inconveniences or abnormalities were taken care of.
When he got fitted for the Dress Robes, he actually asked Madam Malkin to style it after an American Suit, so he didn't have the long outer robe going down to his feet. It was a Black Suit, with a Black Blazer, White Vest, Black Undershirt, and White Bowtie, with Black Slacks, Black Socks, and Black Dress Shoes. As he stared into the mirror, he saw his Eye-Patch, and felt like all he was missing was a Cigar in his mouth and a Cat in his arm as he petted it. He felt every bit the typical Villain you'd see in American 80's movies, and he liked it.
He had finished getting ready, ignoring his dorm mates, and coincidentally getting done at the same time they did, but they all looked self-conscious about their looks; he himself was feeling confident and his entire appearance just screamed Class. Out of all of his fellow Fourth-Year Gryffindor guys, only Ron looked the most self-conscious, as he looked at himself with an appalled look on his face. There was no denying that his Dress Robes looked more like a Dress than anything, and he looked like he'd rather run around in his Birthday Suit instead. In a desperate attempt to make them look less girly, he used the Severing Charm on the ruff and lace cuffs. It worked, sort of; at the very least, he was lace-free for the most part, but it wasn't done neatly and they had a jagged look to them.
Seamus saw Jake's outfit and had to comment, "Why are your Dress Robes different from ours?"
"I asked Madam Malkin to Custom Make mine to be a Suit that would be worn in America. After seeing how traditional Wizarding Dress Robes looked, I'm glad I went with this," Jake said, making sure his bowtie wasn't crooked.
Ron was lamenting his misfortune as they made their way down the stairs, "I still can't believe you got one of the two best looking girls in our year..." Dean voiced.
"Who? Ron did?" Jake asked.
"Yeah... I asked Lavender at first, only to find out she was going with Seamus here... then I asked Parvati... but she said that her sister still had yet to find a date, so I'm going with Padma..." Ron said, but it didn't look like he was thrilled about it.
"Heh, Padma and Parvati are two girls I didn't try to ask... but I have to disagree on them being the best looking girls in our year," Jake said in defiance of Dean's claim. Dean may very well have thought Padma and Parvati were the best girls in their year, but that, of course, did not mean he had to agree with his classmate.
"Oh yeah? Who do you think is then?" Dean asked him.
Jake didn't say a word, he just smirked and looked around as they got to the Common Room; he saw a multitude of colors as opposed to the usual Black with Red and Gold accents that were the Gryffindor School Robes. He almost expected to see Hermione, but when he didn't he assumed she was still getting ready. He did see Lavender there as she greeted Seamus with a friendly hug. He also noticed that she did her best to not look in his direction. 'That's right, Hermione had something to tell me about Lavender, but she never got to say it.'
"Harry, where's Hermione?" Ron asked him.
"I dunno, probably still getting ready," Harry shrugged, "She told me to just wait for her in the Entrance Hall anyway, let's go."
Jake looked around at the people in the Common Room, noticing many girls looking at him up and down, as he was wearing something different from everyone else. He had one hand in the pocket of his slacks as the other lazily moved forward and backward with the sway of his walk.
When they arrived down at the Entrance Hall, it was packed, literally packed with students, all milling about, waiting for Eight o'clock, when the doors to the Great Hall would be thrown open. Jake was the last to step off the Marble Staircase, and he saw both Parvati and Padma, both looked rather beautiful: Parvati, who was standing there with Ernie Macmillan, was wearing a shockingly bright pink set of Indian inspired Dress Robes, while her sister Padma wore the same styled ones, only hers were Turquoise. She didn't look that enthused about having Ron as a partner, "Hi," she said to him politely.
"Hi," Ron said back, not paying attention to her.
'Nice, Weasley, nice,' Jake thought to himself. He did notice that Padma was eyeing him, not that she was trying to hide it. He saw Fleur walking towards them with Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, Roger Davies, beside her, "Excuse me for a moment ladies, gentlemen," he said and walked in Fleur's direction. She turned and said something to Davies, and he stayed where he was.
She continued walking towards him, and when close enough, she embraced him, "Jereemiah, you look so 'andsome. I almost weesh I 'ad decided to go wiz you instead," she looked him up and down like Padma did, but her eyes looked more starved.
He looked at her dress, it was a stunning silver-gray satin, and it hugged her figure nicely, "You look quite beautiful yourself."
"Zank you, I can see you 'aving many, many dances tonight wiz many girls," she said, glancing around. He did too and saw that a lot of girls were indeed looking over at him, even through the crowded Entrance Hall.
"My feet are going to be aching by the time midnight rolls around..." he could already feel the soreness rising in the balls of his feet.
"Well, I weel let you go for now. I weel come find you for a dance or two later," Fleur said, kissing his cheek and walking back to Davies.
Jake smiled, his eye traveling down to her butt for a moment. He stopped admiring the view and went back to his friends, "Where is Hermione?" Ron asked again.
"Why does it matter?" Jake asked him.
Before Ron could say anything, a group of Slytherins came up the steps from their Dungeon Common Room. Malfoy was leading the pack; he was wearing dress robes of black velvet with a high collar, which made him look like a rejected vicar. As Jake expected, Pansy was Draco's date, and she was clutching his arm in a clingy manner. Crabbe and Goyle both were wearing a dark green set of dress robes, which made them look like moss-covered boulders. He did smirk at the fact that neither of them had found a date, not that he expected them to. They were too stupid for any female to find them even semi-attractive.
The Oak Front doors opened to reveal the Durmstrang lot, but Jake paid little attention to them when he heard Parvati voice, "Wow, she's absolutely beautiful." He figured she was talking about the girl next to Krum, who was at the forefront of the group with Karkaroff. He looked over at Parvati, but she was looking, not at the Oak Doors, but behind them up the Marble Staircase.
He turned to see the single most beautiful sight that his eye had ever witnessed, and he was sorely missing his Left eye at that moment, because this was something that he didn't feel he could truly appreciate with just one eye. He saw Her gliding down the Marble Staircase, looking more beautiful than even an Angel, at least how he had seen them described. She was wearing a beautiful Pink dress, her hair was done up beautifully, and loosely, allowing some of it to hang around her neck and on her left shoulder. Her entire face was glowing as she descended the stairs, and his eye caught the faintest glimmer of a bracelet on her left wrist.
There was no word to accurately describe just how beautiful Hermione Granger was that night. His heart rate increased, butterflies entered his stomach, his breath hitched in his throat. He quite honestly thought he was going to pass out for a little bit. He noticed he was farther away from the Marble Staircase, which he didn't even realize he had stepped backwards, but he was noticeably farther away.
Hermione had stopped in front of Harry, "Don't you clean up nice?" She asked, smiling at him, hugging him for maybe a bit longer than necessary.
"You look amazing yourself, Hermione," Harry said and she saw his face turning a little red. She looked over at Jake and felt her own face heating up as she looked at him.
'I knew he was going to be the best looking guy here, but wow, he's unrivaled in attractiveness among the guys here, and I haven't even seen most of them,' she thought to herself.
She was about to walk over to him when Professor McGonagall's voice called over to them, "Champions and their Dates over here, please!"
Hermione did a quick once over of her dress and hair, and once satisfied, she and Harry walked forward through the parting crowd, allowing them an easy path towards McGonagall. She heard whispers around them as they walked, but she paid them no mind. When she passed Jake, she looked at him until it hurt her neck to do so. As she expected, he had no date, but the bright side at least was that he had no commitment to one specific girl, and Hermione was okay with that.
They stopped with the other Champions and their dates, Krum had taken some random Beauxbatons girl Hermione didn't recognize, Fleur was with Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain Roger Davies, and Cedric was with Cho. Krum kept looking over to her, which made her slightly uncomfortable, " 'ello, 'arry, 'ermione," Fleur said politely, and Hermione figured it was only because of how close of friends she had gotten with Jake.
"Hello, Fleur," Hermione said and saw her dress, and she couldn't hate on it, "You look beautiful."
"You look beauteeful yourself. I 'ave seen you turn many 'eads seence walking down ze stairs," Fleur said, boosting Hermione's self-esteem.
"W-Well... thank you," she felt her face burn with embarrassment. She honestly wasn't expecting Fleur to be so nice.
Pretty soon, all of the non-Champions entered the Hall, and each of them stalked past, admiring one or another of the Eight standing there. Even Malfoy and Parkinson were at a loss for words when they walked past them, instead just walking on in after one glance. When Ivan walked past, he complimented her on how beautiful she looked, which she smiled at him. Ron, on the other hand, walked in without so much a glance in her direction. She didn't know what his problem was, but she couldn't worry about that for now.
It was when Jake passed, the last one to enter, that she felt her most nervous. He smiled at her, did a slight nod towards her, and walked in with a swagger no one else even came close to pulling off.
Once everyone else had settled into the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall told the Champions and their partners to get in a line in pairs and to follow her. They did so, and everyone in the Great Hall applauded as they entered and started walking up toward a large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting.
Hermione saw that the walls of the Hall had been decorated in a sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garland and mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House Tables had vanished and in their place were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people. She glanced around to find Jake, but wasn't able to. While she was looking around, she did manage to spot Ron and Padma, the latter looking sulky while the former was glaring in her general direction with narrowed eyes. Whether it was at her or someone else, she didn't quite know.
As they neared the Table near the far end of the Great Hall, Hermione saw Dumbledore smiling happily at them as they approached. Hermione glanced around at the five judges and aside from noticing that Karkaroff was wearing an expression similar to Ron's, Mr. Crouch was not there, and instead it was Percy Weasley. She and Harry sat down next to him upon Harry's insistence, but Hermione wanted one night of pure fun, and not worried about anything, so she tuned out their conversation; Harry could tell her about it tomorrow when things went back to normal.
She looked around and noticed that absolutely no food was on the plates, and for that matter, there were no waiters either. Once glance in Dumbledore's direction, however, told her everything she needed to know. He looked over his menu, then said to his plate, "Pork Chops!" And suddenly, Pork Chops appeared on the plate.
For a moment, Hermione's mind wandered to the House-Elves, and how much work they are putting in, but decided it wasn't worth concerning herself over for the night, and she hoped Jake wasn't either.
Speaking of Jake, she did another glance around for him, but was still unable to find him. She hoped he hadn't slipped out or was deliberately hiding from her.
She missed the entire conversation that the Judges were having when she turned to Harry, "Are you enjoying yourself so far?"
"I am having a better time than I expected, but I don't look forward to the dancing... I practiced for sure, but... I dunno, I'm afraid of stepping on your feet," he said, stuffing his face a second after talking.
"Oh, you won't, just follow my lead if you're that nervous, okay?" She offered and he accepted almost too quickly to her proposal.
When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same. Then, with a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed back along the walls leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall within the Great Hall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set upon it.
The Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn. They picked up their respective instruments, and Harry stood up with Hermione, as did the other Champion's and their dates, and she followed him out to the dance floor. She was nervous as well, having to dance and being the leader of this dance, 'Maybe when I dance with Jake, I won't have to lead?' She thought to herself hopefully.
Harry placed one hand on her waist, and the other in one of her hands, and she placed her free hand on his shoulder. She heard him whisper under his breath, "I can do this..."
She smiled at her best friend, and thought his nervousness was a little adorable. When the music started, Hermione did indeed lead Harry around, but he was proving to know some of what he was doing. She was laughing and having a great time, she felt that this was going to be a night to remember for sure.
Pretty soon many, many other couples came to the dance floor and started dancing as well. She looked around for Jake once again, but since he didn't have a partner, he probably wouldn't be dancing for at least the first one, she reasoned out. As the song came to a close, she lead Harry away from the Center of the Dance Floor and closer to the edge, near the Left Wall, "Harry, that was really good, you were great," she said, smiling at him, "I could see on your face you really didn't want to be in the center of the Hall, so I brought you out here."
"Thanks, Hermione," he smiled and caught her by surprise when he hugged her, "I know I asked you here and all, but... you don't mind if I just don't go back to the Dance Floor for most of the night, do you?"
"Of course not. I'll come find you if I want to dance with you again, okay?" She offered up.
"Okay," he smiled and walked off.
Hermione sighed. She had hoped maybe Harry would've wanted to dance some more, but was surprised when he asked her that, "Hello?" A man asked her from the side. She turned and saw someone from Durmstrang, "I vas vondering, could I haff dance?" He seemed nicer than Krum, and not so full of himself.
"Sure," she smiled and let him lead her out to the dance floor. She caught Krum staring at her and the Durmstrang guy, "Might I ask you your name?"
"Mihael Zhelov. I already know you, Herm-own-ninny. I vill be honest, Viktor has not gotten over your rejection of going to Ball vith him," Mihael said to her.
"He'll be just fine. Maybe not getting everything he wants will teach him some much needed humility?" Hermione asked as she danced with Mihael.
He chuckled, "Maybe, but he is not used to girl saying no. He does not forgive easily, either."
"It was creepy, honestly, the way he pursued me after I told him no almost half a dozen times... I'd have never gone to the Ball with him. He thinks too highly of himself..." Hermione said without really meaning to.
"I guess it comes vith being Bulgarian Seeker. He has fragile Pride, Viktor does," Mihael said.
"I'm not concerned with him... but thank you for offering a dance with me," she felt her cheeks burning slightly.
"I could not help but ask pretty girl to dance, especially after Viktor said you probably wouldn't go vith anyone but that Harry Potter. I vas honestly expecting you to say no to my proposal to dance," Mihael smiled at her, "Do not take wrong vay, but this is first time any of us at Durmstrang haff gotten... how does saying go, a leg up on Viktor?"
"Yeah, I believe that's right," she was still smiling, and she didn't know why. She had a little issue with being asked by Mihael only so he could gloat to Viktor, but with how much she loathed the man, she didn't concern herself with it much. If Mihael tried to kiss her, though, it was going to be a knee to the groin situation, and she really didn't want to ruin her dress.
When the song ended, Mihael sent her off with a twirl and away from him. She came to a stop, and was smiling; she had more fun than she expected. She figured that he asked her for a dance just so he could gloat to Viktor. She'd be turning away any other Durmstrang guy, though, as she wasn't in the mood to dance with them. She really just wanted to dance with Jake for the entire rest of the night, but she shouldn't deprive the other girls of their one dance with him. She decided to go and get something from the refreshment table.
Jake had just finished his first dance of the night with Susan Bones of all girls. She knew how to dance, he learned that much, and she was blushing the entire time, but that may have been her makeup, he wasn't sure. He looked over and saw Harry sitting with Ron and Padma, who looked like she really wanted to dance. He seized the opportunity, "How's it going?" He asked as he walked up.
Ron didn't answer, but Harry did, "I've realized how much I dislike dancing, even if Hermione said she had a good first dance..."
Padma was looking at him, "Well, Miss Patil, would you like to dance?" He asked her and she practically jumped at the opportunity. As she stood next to him, he followed Ron's gaze to Hermione over at the refreshments, drinking what was probably some kind of juice, but he'd have to go over there to know what Witches and Wizards drank during formal events. He led Padma out to the dance floor, and she had to stretch her arm to rest her hand on his shoulder. He only just realized how tall Susan was, because she didn't have a problem with it.
He saw Hermione pass them, and looked to be on her way to sit with Harry and Ron. He smiled and turned back to Padma, "Thank you for asking me to dance. I thought I was going to be sitting there all night."
"It's no trouble at all," he smiled down at her, "You didn't seem thrilled from the start about being Ron's date anyway."
"No, I really wasn't. Had I known you had yet to find a date, I probably would've just walked up to you myself and asked, tradition be damned," she said, looking like it was something she definitely wouldn't say in front of her parents, but she didn't seem to care, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." She didn't seem sorry at all.
"No, it's okay. I'll be honest, I should've gotten to finding a partner more actively from the start... I had banked on Fleur asking me since she's a Champion, but she said she wanted us to go with other people, let them enjoy the Ball with a date too... some good that turned out for me, huh?" He laughed at himself, and Padma joined in.
"So, are you and Fleur together?" She asked him.
"No, no we're not. Hermione asked me the same thing, and I had to explain to her that if Fleur and I were together, then I'd have told her. That's not something I'd keep secret," he explained.
"Hermione asked you herself?"
"She did, yeah..." he trailed off for a moment, "we got into a bit of an argument, it ended quickly, but... it shouldn't have happened in the first place."
"Did you see Hermione dancing with a Durmstrang fellow a little bit ago?" Padma asked him just as the song ended and they stopped dancing.
"I did... it looked like she had fun, and that's what matters, her having fun," Jake said with a strained smile.
"Even if that fun were to potentially lead to something more?" Padma asked as another girl came up to Jake, wanting a dance.
He didn't say anything for a moment as he held his hand out for the other girl, which she accepted. He turned to Padma again, "Yes."
He turned away and smiled down at Katie, "Oh, hello, Katie."
"Hello, how is your evening going?" She asked as they started another dance.
"It's going we-" he was cut off by the sound of yelling.
"- fraternizing with the enemy , that's what you're doing!" It was Ron's voice that was yelling, and Jake had a sudden bad feeling.
"Don't be so stupid!" Came Hermione's voice as she yelled back. "The enemy ! Honestly - just because he's from Durmstrang, doesn't mean it's wrong to socialize with him! Or any of them! It'd be no different if you were to be with one of the girls from Beauxbatons Academy!"
"So what did you and him talk about, huh? Was he trying to get information on Harry? Or was he hoping you'd tell him about the Egg so that he could tell Krum!" Ron yelled back. It wasn't so loud that it could be heard throughout the Hall, but loud enough to cause people to start staring.
"Could you excuse me just one moment," Jake said and let go of Katie. She stood there, and silently agreed to wait for him to come back.
Hermione looked like she couldn't believe a word coming from Ron's mouth, "For your information," she said with a quivering voice, "he didn't ask me a single thing about Harry, or that stupid Egg!"
"Okay, okay, that's enough," Jake said, coming in between them. He looked at Ron, "Go cool off."
"But-" Ron tried to dispute it, but he faltered under Jake's cold stare.
"I said go cool off , Ron," Jake reiterated.
"Come on, Ron, let's take a walk outside," Harry had grabbed Ron's arm and pulled on him. Ron agreed easily and was taken away by Harry.
He turned to Hermione, "You okay?" He asked in a calm, gentle voice.
Hermione's lower lip was quivering as she calmed herself down, "This night is supposed to be a fun night, why on Earth did Ron have to start? On Christmas of all nights?"
Jake pulled her into a hug until she calmed down, which happened only after the current song ended. He let go and she looked up at him, "Better?"
"Yes, thank you..."
"Herm-own-ninny," came a voice beside them.
"Oh, Mihael, um... did - did you hear any of that?" She asked with a stutter.
"Never mind redhead, vould you like to dance again?" He asked her.
"Um... s-sure," she said and said goodbye to Jake for now and went to dance with Mihael.
Jake went back to Katie, "Sorry about that."
"No, it's okay... but I will say, you've had to come between those two more often than not... I'm surprised they're still friends," Katie said as they danced to the next song.
"It's strained..."
"Strained is understating it," Katie pointed out.
He nodded, knowing that it was amazing how they were still friends.
Jake ended up dancing with many girls over the next couple of hours, all of them coming up to him to ask him to dance. His feet were hurting, much like he expected them to after dancing almost non-stop. He finally told them he had to take a break and went to sit down, each of them swooning over him as he did. He sighed when he was far enough away, "These girls are going to be the death of me..." he started laughing as he sat down. He had taken his Blazer off and set it on the chair next to him.
A moment later, Fleur had sat down with some drinks, "Eet looks like you are 'aving fun," she said, smirking.
"Oh, I'm having loads of fun, as are the girls I've been dancing with, but damn... my feet needed a break," he said, accepting a drink when she handed it to him.
"Well, I 'ave been dancing wiz Roger and a few ozer guys, but zey all look at me for ze Veela een me. None of zem look at me like you do, none of zem see me as Fleur like you do," she said, placing a hand on his knee and gliding her fingers up his leg teasingly.
His breath hitched in his throat, but he enjoyed the feel nonetheless, "Once I've rested a bit, would you like to dance, Fleur?"
"Of course I would," she said, taking a drink from her goblet. "Zis Castle... I 'ope you do not get offended, but eet ees not as amazing at Chreestmas time like Beauxbatons Academy ees."
"Nah, I mean it's wonderful at Christmas time, but I guess other people are just used to what they only know. If I saw Beauxbatons Academy at Christmas time, it's quite possible I'd prefer Hogwarts," he said, smiling at her.
"Possibly, but you'd 'ave to see eet first," she winked and he just gave a hearty laugh.
When his feet felt well enough, he stood up, offered his hand to Fleur, and led her to the dance floor when a slow song started playing. Fleur put both of her hands around the back of his neck and both of his hands rested on her between her waist and hips. He gave a quick glance around, "I haven't seen Hermione in a little while... I'm starting to get worried..."
"After our dance, you should go look for 'ermione. She ees your Best friend, after all," Fleur suggested to him.
"Yeah, I think I shall," he said and they swayed slowly to the song, in time with the rhythm, they never broke eye contact the entire dance.
The song ended after a few minutes and the both of them shared an embrace, and Fleur told him she'd talk to him tomorrow, and that she hoped he had a wonderful Christmas. He wished her the same and decided now was a good time to go and find Hermione. He walked out into the Entrance Hall and to his dismay, he saw Hermione sitting on the Marble Staircase, crying her eyes out.
"Hermione? Hermione, what happened?" He asked, walking up to her and sitting down next to her.
"Ron... he-" she hiccuped from her sobbing, "- He's being a stupid prat! He saw me dancing with Mihael for my final dance with him, a-and he took up issue with it again... I yelled at him, and told him to go to bed... Harry tried to stick up for him, so I sent him to bed too..." she flung her arms around him and cried into his Vest.
His arm went around her, as his other one was restricted by her embrace, "Don't worry, Hermione, it'll be just fine..."
It was a few minutes before she calmed down, "Th-Thank you..."
"Don't mention it, Hermione... well, I don't know about you, but I think I've got one more dance in me," he said.
She picked up on what he was saying, "I think I do as well," she stood up and offered him her hand. He accepted it and stood up, waving his hand in front of her face, making it so that her crying didn't seem like it ever happened. "Thank you," she smiled as he led her to the Great Hall.
The song that started by the Weird Sisters was a slow song again, and Hermione did as Fleur had, and rested her hands on the back of his neck, and he rested his between her waist and hips, staring down at her. It wasn't long into the song when Hermione had leaned forward and rested her cheek on his chest. His hands had to go to her lower back for it to be comfortable, but neither of them minded it.
When the song ended, they stayed in their position, but only because Hermione was exhausted, "Come on, Hermione, you should go to bed," he said and gently pushed her away from him.
She looked at him with sleepy eyes, "Okay..." she said and he guided her up to Gryffindor Tower. He spoke the password to the Fat Lady and her friend Violet, and was permitted Entrance into the Common Room.
As they stood in the deserted Common Room, Hermione looked up at him and she was smiling. He was looking down at her, and he noticed that her hair had loosened to the point where it was on the verge of falling down to how it usually looked. Whether her hair was up or down; whether she had makeup on or not; whether her front teeth were large or normal; she was Hermione, and she was more beautiful than any female he'd ever met.
He brushed her hair back out of her eyes, and even though they were sleepy looking, they were the beautiful chocolate orbs he had fallen head over heels for. They both stared at each other for a moment, then they both did something that would definitely be considered acting on impulse;
They placed their lips upon the others, and they shared their first, true kiss.