***Annie's hairstyle*** 

"This is mad!" Ron complained. "At this rate, we're the only ones in our year without dates —" Professor Snape shoved him in the head, forcing him down to face his work. He groaned. "— Well, us and Neville."

"But then again, Neville can take himself," Harry joked. 

"If it really interests you, Neville's already got someone," Annie stepped in bluntly.

Ron groaned in complaint. "Aw! Now I'm really depressed."

Fred passed Ron a note. He made sure that Professor Snape wasn't watching, before reading the note. " 'Get a good one or else all the good ones will be gone'." He passed the note back to Fred. "Who are you going with, then?"

He responded by crushing up the piece of parchment paper and chucking it at Angelina Johnson, a fellow Gryffindor. "Oi, Angelina!"

"What?" she hissed back.

"Do you wanna go to the ball with me?" 

Her eyes immediately lit up. "To the ball? Yeah, alright!"

He looked back at Ron and winked. 

"Oi, Hermione," said Ron. "You're a girl."

"Very well spotted," Hermione answered flatly. 

"Wanna come along with one of us?" 

Professor Snape shoved their heads into their homework again. 

"I mean, we know that Annie is already going to the Yule Ball with Dante. And it's alright for a boy to show up on their own. But for a girl, it's just sad."

"I won't be going alone, because believe it or not, someone has already asked me!" She walked away and handed her homework to Professor Snape. He snatched it and glared at her before she walked away. She walked back to Annie, Ron, and Harry. "And I said yes!" 

"She's lying, right?" Ron immediately asked once Hermione was out of earshot. 

"If you say so," Harry answered, though he sounded full of disbelief. 

"Listen, tonight when we get back to the common room, we'll both have partners. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Harry responded. 

Professor Snape shoved their heads again. 

"Well, if Dante hadn't already asked me shortly after the announcement, I would have gone with you, Harry," Annie admitted. 

Harry's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"You're my brother. I'm sure that it would be a bit easier to ask your sister instead of asking another girl." 

"Well, thanks, sis."

"Just promise me one thing, though."

"What's that?" 

Annie smiled. "Save me a dance, will you?" 

And with that, she got to her feet and walked away, handing her homework to Professor Snape before leaving the Great Hall. 

Later that evening, Harry had come back with no luck. He had tried to ask his crush, Cho Chang, to the Yule Ball, but she'd already agreed to go with someone else. But Ron had no luck. He was surrounded by a group of girls, a look of anxiety on his face, led and consoled by his sister. 

"It's alright, Ron. It's okay, it doesn't matter."

Annie, Hermione, and Harry walked over. 

"What happened?" 

"He just asked Fleur Delacour out," Ginny declared.

"What?" said Hermione in awe.

"What did she say?" Annie asked. 

"No, of course," Hermione answered at once.

Ron made noises. 

"Oh, she said 'yes'!" 

"Don't be silly," Ron groaned. "There she was, walking by. You know how I like it when they walk. And I just couldn't help it. It just sort of slipped out."

Annie tilted her head, giving Ron a look. "Sort of slipped out?" 

Ron ignored her. Harry spoke up next.

"Well, what happened then?"

"What else? I ran for it, Harry! She's not going to forgive me now that I've made a fool of myself in front of her!" 

"Hi, Harry. Hi, Ron," said the voices of Padma and Parvati Patil, Gryffindor twins. 

"Hey," Harry responded in a flat voice. He then looked back at them. "Hey, wait!" 

****

The Yule Ball approached quickly. Harry and Ron had finally found their dates — the Patil twins, another set of twins their age. The girls were getting ready in their dorms, talking excitedly about their dates. 

"Are you sure you won't tell us, Hermione?" Lavender pleaded as they got ready. 

"Nope. You'll have to see when we get down there," Hermione answered happily. 

"Fine. Annie, who are you going with?"

"Isn't the answer a bit obvious?" Annie answered with a raised eyebrow. 

"No."

Annie sighed, her face turning slightly pink. "Dante. He asked me right after the tutorial was over." 

"You're still into that guy? Really? I've heard rumors that he's always, y'know, kinda crabby. And mean," Lavender declared, full of disbelief about the fact that Annie, a popular girl in school, would even consider dating a loser like him. 

Annie gave her a look. "He's nicer than you might think, Lavender. Trust me. I've seen it for myself. You can't judge him because he always appear to be grouchy and mean. He's got a . . . . softer side to him once he knows that he's ready to talk. Trust me, I've been down that road before. It took me nearly a year to get him to open up. He's been through a lot." 

Lavender glared suspiciously but still didn't say anything. She leaned towards the mirror and applied more mascara on her lashes. Annie scoffed quietly but didn't say anything, annoyed that Lavender could ignore something like that. 

People didn't know how to react around Dante. Sure, he came off as mean, at first. But once you get to know him, well, he's actually really nice. Just a misunderstood boy who's had a horrible past. 

"Are you girls coming?" Lavender asked cheerfully as she slipped on her shoes. 

"We'll be down in a minute. Go grab your date!" The two girls left at once. "Hermione, help zip my back up, will you?" 

Hermione helped her with the zipper before going back to applying foundation on her face. Once Annie and Hermione were done, they examined themselves in the mirror. Annie grinned, ready to dance with her boy and to see her brother. 

They made their way down to the Great Hall. Annie was nervous, wondering how people would react when they saw her. Hermione sensed Annie's nervousness and grabbed her hand, squeezing it comfortingly. 

Together they descended down the stairs. As they descended, Parvati, who was Harry's date, turned around. Her eyes widened at the sight. 

"They look beautiful!" she breathed. But Annie could still hear the shock in her voice. 

"Yeah, she really does," Harry answered, a little too quickly. 

Parvati nudged him sharply in the ribs. He quickly turned around and stared at the two girls in awe, mainly his sister. As they continued to walk down the stairs, both Viktor Krum and Dante came up to the girls. Both extended their hands out for them to take, which they gladly did. Hermione went to where the other Champions were, and Dante and Sera went into the Great Hall. 

Soon after the Champion's dance was over, a rock-and-roll band began playing. Annie and Dante had so much fun, dancing alongside Viktor and Hermione. when the first real song was over, Dante and Sera went over towards Ron and Harry. Both of their dates had left already, probably bored of just sitting there. Hermione joined them shortly after being treated politely by Viktor before he went off to get drinks. She sat next to Harry, a dreamy look on her face.

"Hot, isn't it?" she finally commented. "Viktor has gone to get some drinks. Would you care to join us?"

Annie was about to open her mouth, but Ron spoke rudely first.

"No. We would not care to join you and Viktor!" 

Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "What's got your wand all up in a knot?"

"He's a Durmstrang!" Ron sneered in return. "Y-You're fraternizing with the enemy."

"The Enemy?" Hermione echoed, looking shocked. "Who wasn't the one wanting his autograph in the first place? Besides! This whole thing about the tournament is to have magical cooperation. To make friends."

Ron clearly wasn't buying that. "I think that he's got a bit more than friendship on his mind." 

Hermione jumped to her feet and began to walk away. She turned back as though she was about to say something, only to be ignored by Ron once again. 

"Well. Do you want to go join them, Dante?" Annie quipped. 

"I think that I'd like that very much, thanks," Dante answered hastily. 

They both got from their seats and joined Hermione and Viktor. Hermione's eyes lit up momentarily before Annie noticed that they turned dark when she turned to glare over at Ron, who was most likely gossiping about her to Harry. 

"We saw you at the 422nd Quidditch World Cup, Viktor," Annie spoke up, trying to strike a conversation to include him. He passed her a drink. Hermione gave her a slight smile. "You were amazing."

"Thank you," Viktor answered. "Rumor has it, you played Quidditch for a few years here at Hogwarts?" 

"I did. I passed that role on to my brother, now."

"What made you stop playing?" 

Annie shifted uncomfortably on her feet. She looked down, acting as though the floor became very interesting all of a sudden. She could feel heat rising on her face. 

"I was attacked. By dementors in my third year. That was last year when the dementors were guarding the school. After that, I had an extreme fear of heights. And I figured that it was time for my brother to have a turn. So I let him take over that role, now." 

"Dementors are nasty things," Viktor sneered. "Whose idea was it to have dementors guard every entrance of the school?"

"The Ministry's, apparently," Annie answered, shrugging. "Thought that it would be a good idea to station them at every entrance."

"Professor Lupin, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher last year, had to teach her the Patronus Charm at a young age. She said that she wanted to protect herself when more came."

"Are the rumors true that you can produce a real, fully-fledged Patronus?" Viktor interrupted. 

Annie stared, blinking a few times in shock. She finally nodded. "Yes. Yes, I can. When did the rumors of that start flying around?" 

Viktor shrugged. "One of the ghosts told me here at Hogwarts as I was wandering around. I wasn't sure if the rumor was true, and I knew that I had to personally ask you." 

"The rumors are true. Thank you for asking." 

Ron eventually came over and managed to get Viktor away from Hermione, being incredibly rude. Then, they began to argue. 

"He's using you!" Ron whined. 

"How dare you?!" Hermione shrieked. "Besides, I can learn how take care of myself!" 

"Doubt it," Ron scoffed. "He's way too old."

"What?! What?! Is that what you think?!" 

"Yeah! That's what I think. Harry." 

Hermione whipped around to face Annie's brother. "Where have you been?! Never mind, off to bed, the both of you!" 

"Actually, Harry promised to dance with me at least once," Sera interrupted.

"Well, go on and dance!" 

"They get scarier when they get older," Ron complained loudly to Dante, who went with Ron. 

"Ron, you always spoil everything!"