4 – A date?
At one December morning there is a bubble of students surrounding the announcement board in the Slytherin common room. Weirdly, everyone is a bit giggly and apparently talking very animated to their friends.
Louis finds Zayn coming out of the crowd and asks him what all of this is about.
“At the weekend before Christmas there will be a Yule Ball.”, Zayn answers and adds, that everyone is already looking for a date they will attend it with.
“Great.” Louis answers, not at all looking like he is happy about the event.
He doesn’t know at all who he should ask because last year he would have happily chosen Hannah but now his only thought is Harry and that’s clearly not happening.
“How am I supposed to ask someone if I don’t know who to ask at all?”
How am I supposed to ask the one I like if he’s a boy and totally out of my league? And definitely straight.
Zayn gives him “Same, no idea.” as an answer and with that they start walking to the Great Hall to eat their breakfast.
At the table there are Niall and Harry waving at the Slytherins and as they sit down, Harry seems really excited. “Have you seen the announcement?”
“Of course, hard to miss with everyone talking about a ball.” Louis answers grumpily.
“It’s not just a ball, it’s the Yule Ball. An event all Christmas themed. It’s perfect!”
Of course Harry would like this. I should’ve known. I wish I could take him and dance a little. Even if I can’t dance for shit.
“So who are you going to ask?” Niall throws in.
Zayn replies that both of them don’t know who and Louis looks down at that. He can’t look at Harry right now because he would probably be too obvious.
"I'll look for some girl." he decides to say.
Niall is pretty optimistic that they all will find someone and already makes plans for each of them.
The result of the breakfast is that Zayn will need a girl that isn’t part of the giggly group they saw this morning. Someone smart would be good. At that Harry suggests Hermione, one of the Gryffindors.
On the way out of the Great Hall Niall suggests “Harry, you could just ask Ginny. You would make the perfect Quidditch couple.”
At that Louis looks up to see Harry’s reaction. He looks at Louis and blushes.
Why the hell would he blush about asking Ginny out? He clearly likes her.
“Maybe.”, the curly one answers.
In the following potions lesson Louis may or may not have ruined their potion because he was too distracted by the thought of Harry and Ginny at the Yule Ball dancing and having fun.
Also, he still has no idea who to ask himself.
^-^-^-^
That changes in their charms lesson the next morning. They get taught by Flitwick together with the Ravenclaws.
Walking into the room, Louis sees how Luna, the quirky blonde Ravenclaw, talks to the person sitting next to her which is obviously not listening.
Luna helped him with one of the spells, he struggled with last year. She is really nice and can be funny to talk to. The ball wouldn't get boring with her, that’s clear.
If I need to ask someone then I should ask her. Better having some company than watching Harry and Ginny on my own.
“Hey Luna! Do you remember me from this class last year?”
“Louis, of course! Do you want to read the new quibbler? I have one with me.”
“No thank you, I was wondering if you want to go to the Yule Ball with me. As friends, I mean.”
“That is so nice of you. I’d love to go with you. But what about Hannah?”
“Uh, we actually broke up a while ago. So that would be pretty awkward, don’t you think?”
“Okay that’s good then, I will look for my favourite dress to wear.”
“Cool, see you!”
Relieved, Louis joins Zayn at their seats and tells him about his success.
“I mean next to her being the Luna Lovegood you made a good deal. Now I only need to ask Hermione and hope she says yes.” Zayn replies.
The day is really productive for the Slytherins because after their charms class they have care of magical creatures with the Gryffindors. There Louis can watch Harry fonding over the animals and Zayn can ask Hermione. Both goes well and after the lessons each of the boys has a date for the Yule Ball.
Unsurprisingly Louis finds out that Harry did ask Ginny at dinner though. That kind of dampens his mood but it is what it is.
Liam and Niall are going with two Hufflepuffs. Liam doesn’t look as happy about the constellation as Niall does but in the end nobody has to go alone.
^-^-^-^
After finishing his dinner, Louis decides to write a letter to his mother. He hasn’t done that in the last weeks and a ball would be the topic she would be interested in.
Hey mum,
I have some news that you could find interesting. How are you and the girls at home? I hope you found Lottie a cute dress for the birthday party you were writing about last time.
Maybe I have to look for one too. Well not a dress but we do have a Yule Ball here this year. I even had to find a date for this. That’s why I asked Luna to go with me as friends. I told you about her, she was the one helping me in charms last year. I don’t know what to think about all of this yet so yeah, we’ll see how it goes and I can tell you at Christmas.
Do you remember Harry, the curly Gryffindor I wrote about? He actually fell of his broomstick because of a bludger in the last game. Luckily, magical healing is quicker than the one in normal hospitals. I was so afraid after seeing him fall, I left the game to visit him in the hospital wing. I may have overreacted a bit but you should have seen the accident, it was brutal.
He is going to the ball with Ginny, the other chaser on their team. Niall said, they’d make a perfect couple. I don’t really see it but whatever.
I miss all of you and I’m looking forward to Christmas.
Give the girls a big hug from me
Lou
As he walks to the owlery, Louis meets Harry who returns from his Quidditch training.
“Louis, what are you doing here?”
“I just want to send this letter to my mum.”
“Maybe I should write one too, one for my sister would also be nice.”
“You also have a sister?”, Louis asks.
“Yeah, Gemma. Didn’t know you had one too.”
At that Louis laughs. “One? I have four.”
“Really? How old are they?” Harry's face lights up.
“All younger than me. Lottie is ten, Fizzy eight and the twins Phoebe and Daisy are only four.”
“Wow, that’s a lot. You must be a great big brother.”
“I hope so.”, Louis replies, of course blushing.
“Well, I have to go. Sleep well Lou!”
“Sleep well curly!” Oops.
Louis did not plan on calling Harry that. He clearly spends too much time in his own head.
Harry just smiles though and leaves.
Sending the owl off, Louis yawns and takes this as a sign to go to bed.
I should write more letters to his mum if it means he can talk with Harry alone. These are the best conversations.
The curly one is just too charming for his own good.