Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter twelve

"Aurora!" 

I turn around and see Cedric, a large smile on his face and his Hufflepuff scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. I smile and skip over to Cedric, practically jumping into his open arms and I hug him tightly.

"Hey, what's got you so happy?" I ask as I pull out of the hug. He chuckles slightly and says, "I asked Cho Chang to be my partner to the Yule Ball."

I gasp and place my hands on my heart, like it will burst out of my chest. "That's amazing! Aww, I'm so happy for you, Ced," I exclaim, jumping up and down a little and clapping my hands. He chuckles and ruffles my hair slightly, which makes me push his hands away. 

"Hey, why are your hands all bandaged up?" He asks. "Oh, the night before the first task I was just really overwhelmed with emotions and I punched the walls for a few moments. I'm fine, Harry took me to get them bandaged up this morning before breakfast."

He takes my hands and pats them lightly. "At least you're okay. Has anyone asked you to go to the dance with them?" I shake my head and sigh slightly. "I don't know if anyone will either, as I'm only really close friends with Harry and Ron, both of whom aren't really going about asking a girl to go with them in the best way.

"What about Fred or George?" Cedric asks, but I shake my head, telling him they've both got dates. "Well, you could always ask a boy out to the dance," he says as he walks away, leaving me in the middle of the corridor.

"Huh," I say, the idea finally settling in my brain, "maybe I could do that." I start to think as I make my way back to the Common Room.

-

I get inside the Common Room to see Harry laying on the sofa, Golden Egg on his stomach and a blank look on his face. I sit down in front of him and ask him what's wrong. "I went to ask Cho to go to the ball with me, but she's already going with someone."

I feel a slight pang in my chest, not going to lie, but I smile and decide to go for it. "Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about the ball..." I see something glisten in his eyes and he sits up, looking down at me.

"Cedric suggested that I ask someone to go with me as no one has, so... would you want to go with me?" I ask, smiling at him. He gasps slightly and his lips curl into a cheeky smile. "Really? You want to go with me?"

I nod my head and chuckle. "Yeah, we've grown closer as friends, so I thought it would be a really fun thing for us to do together." Harry nods his head eagerly. "Okay, great! I'll meet you outside the Great Hall on Christmas Eve night!" 

I smile and go to say I can't wait, but then the door opens and Ron looks in, a shocked look on his face, Ginny and the twins bringing him inside. "It's okay, Ron, it's alright. It doesn't matter," Ginny says in a reassuring tone.

"What's going on?" I ask, walking over to them with Harry and Hermione. "He just asked Fleur Delacour out," Ginny says. 

"What?!" I exclaim in shock, sitting on the back of the sofa and looking at Ron. "What did she say?" Harry asks, followed by Hermione saying, "No, of course." Ron slowly shakes his head.

"She said yes?!" Hermione gasps, bringing her hands up to her mouth in shock. "Don't be silly. There she was walking by, you know I like it when they walk," Ron starts, "I couldn't help it! It just sort of slipped out."

"Actually, you sort of screamed at her. It was a bit frightening," Ginny adds, stroking his shoulder either supportively or pitifully. "Well, what did you do after that?" Harry asks. 

"What else? I ran for it! I'm not cut out for this Harry, I don't know what got into me..."

Then, the Parvati sisters walk past, simultaneously saying, "Hi, Harry," and walking off. Me and Harry look at each other and I nod at him, to which he nods back and walks over to the sisters.

As he talks to both of them, I help to reassure Ron and manage to convince him that everything will be alright, it's just one night and Fleur will forget about the whole thing with the tournament still going on.

He, Hermione and Ginny then walk away to sit by the fireplace, and my attention is drawn to Neville, who's talking to Dean and Seamus. "Hey Neville, can I talk to you for a quick minute?" I ask. He nods his head and we walk up the stairs slightly.

"So... I hear that you're taking someone to the ball," I say, making him blush slightly, "can I know who it is?" He nods his head and leans in closer. "I asked Ginny," he whispers, which makes me gasp in joy. "Gosh, Neville, that's amazing! I'm so happy for you," I gush, his cheeks growing even pinker.

"I'm really happy," he says, his smile large and sparkling, "I've been practicing my dancing and Ginny also said she's very excited." I can feel my heart practically glowing with warmth and I hug Neville tightly, his arms returning the hug.

"I'm going to head to bed, but good luck with Ginny and hope you have fun at the ball," I say as I head up the stairs, waving goodbye to a grinning Neville.

I enter the dorms and get out my pyjamas to get changed when Hermione and Ginny enter. "Aurora, did you find someone to go to the ball with?" Hermione asks, a cheeky smile on her and Ginny's faces. I smirk and say, "You heard me, huh?"

They both nod and rush over to hug me. "You'll have such a great time together, we've seen you both getting closer recently," Ginny says, to which I thank her and say the same about her going with Neville and Hermione with Krum.

"It'll be so wonderful."