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The morning after the first task, Zinnia felt the uneasy sting in her stomach remembering the events from the night before. Not only did the whole situation make her throat feel dry, but she had awoken fully clothed in her outfit from the night before, which raised a series of questions from Hermione.

As the two walked to breakfast Zinnia was berated by questions from Hermione about what happened last night and where she went. She simply shrugged them off as the bushy haired girl lept from either side of her. When they approached the great hall full of the morning rush of hungry students, Hermione pulled Zinnia's are right before she could enter

"I'm serious Z, what happened last night" she stared intently into the eyes of the tired girl. Zinnia looked around in a sigh and stared into the great hall, at that moment she spotted Harry idly sipping his morning juice at the Gryffindor table. Hermione looked in the direction of her gaze and gasped slightly.

"Harry? Did something happen between you two?" she muttered out, drawing back the attention of Zinnia's eyes.

"Not right now hermione" she softly said back to her, looking at her feet in a sort of shame. Hermione let out a sympathetic sigh for the girl, even if she didn know what was wrong, she knew it wasn't good and she had to comfort her friend. Hermione gently took her hand and led her to where the boys were sitting.

There were no words to describe how utterly awkward it was sitting at that table. Hermione and Ron greeted each other niceley, however Harry and Zinnia shared an emotionless head nod at each other. The group sat in silence for a bit as the boys continued to eat and the girls stacked their plates.

"Why do you two look like you were in The Eagles together?" Ron obliviously asked Harry and Zinnia with a mouthful of toast when he finally noticed the coldness of the table. He was eagerly met by a foot to the shin from Hermione who gave him a scornful look. He winced and muttered a quiet 'what?' before going back to eating his toast.

Hermione reached across the table to pick up the newspaper, she aggressively opened it and started speedreading the daily news. Zinnia was poking around the cereal in her bowl when interrupted by the flirtatious tone of the Patil twins.

"Hi Harry," they uttered in synchronicity as they passed the heedless boy. Harry returned a smile to them and then caught the gaze of Zinnia. His face fell immediately to a shy frown as he missed the ease between them.

He turned around shyly to look at the hall and catching the eye of Cho, he sarcastically thought that the timing could not be any better as he spilled his pumpkin juice down his front. He looked back at Zinnia to find her crestfallen and avoided his leer with uneasy eyes. His stares immediately interrupted by the sound of paper rustling and a scoff from Hermione.

"Look at this!" she loudy remarked as she aggressively removed the paper from her view in front of her face. "I can't believe it, she's done it again!"

"Done what" Zinnia asked with raised eyebrows, moving the paper over next to her slightly so she could read.

"Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards. Her latest prey sources report is none other than the Bulgarian bon-bon Viktor Krum, sources report them having secret Library dates in their free time!?" She spat at the table unbelievably

"And there's more: It seems things were steaming up in the Champions tent as Zinnia Beaumont, daughter of the estranged Tristan Beaumont, indunged in a secret rendezvous with the famous Harry Potter. Much to the objection of the lover boy Cedric Diggory." Hermione huffed. Zinnia widened her eyes and snatched the paper from her. Zinnia's eyes skimmed the page in disbelief.

"Merlin, they make it sound like i'm your secret mistress" she grumbled, her eyes not daring to look up at the table. Harry thanked her in his head for that as she wouldn't see the wide eyed shocked expression he had on his face.

Just then, the group was interrupted by the small figure of a first year student. He passed a large package to Ron and smiled idly.

"Parcel for you Mr. Weasley" she said as he passed the package.

"Oh, Thank you Nigel" he replied, ignorant to the stares Harry was now receiving from the boy. Hermione and Zinnia coughed awkwardly until he noticed.

"Not now Nigel, later" he whispered to the boy as Harry looked around uncomfortably under his gaze. "Go on" he dismissed. Once Nigel had disappeared everyone gave Ron a strange questioning look as to what on earth that was all about.

"I told him I'd get him Harry's autograph" he admitted as he started to open his package.

"So we're exploiting the first years into doing your biddings, nice" Zinnia laughed at the situation, anawaare of Harry's staring at her, he wondered if he'd ever laugh like that with him again, if they would ever regain the comfortability between the two.

"Don't act like you wouldn't do the same" Ron threw back at her in a chuckle

"No, I have Aster for that, I just threaten him by saying I'll tell Mum and Dad about all his detentions, and he does what I say." she said back as Ron unwrapped the brown box.

"Oh look, Mum's sent me something" she enthused as he pulled out a horribly coloured coat adorned with aging frills and drowned in ancient embellishments. He stared at it as he stood up to get a good look at it. His face screwed up as the table bagan to break out in giggles looking at the attire.

"Mum's sent me a dress" he said in disgust, looking down at the robes as if it were mouldy bread.

"Well it does match your eyes" Harry said jokingly whilst looking around in the box. "Is there a bonett, Aha!" he exclaimed as he pulled out an aged frilly collar and held it up to Ron's chest.

"Nose down Harry" Ron replied with a smile

"Very vintage Ron, what is that? Circa 1623?" Zinnia laughed at her friend as she received a strained smile back from Ron who went over to talk to Ginny.

"Ginny these must be for you" He told her, sure he was right

"I'm not wearing that, it's ghastly!" Ginny pouted, looking at the monstrosity of fabric before her. Hermione and Zinnia looked at each other and broke into laughter, trying to avoid the confused glare of Ron.

"What are you on about? '' he looked around dazed and confused, having no clue what was going on.

"They're not for Ginny, they're for you!" she told him as everyone broke into laughter, Zinnia struggled to keep her head up as he laughed into her bowl of cereal. "Dress robes"

"Dress robes? For what?" Ron asked, bemused at everyone.

"God knows, but i'll definitely be catching photo of you in that getup" Zinnia let out through her tremendous laugh

"The Yule Ball, Ron" Hermione laughed at the boy as he sat back down and tried to hide his new piece of wardrobe.

"What on earth is a Yule Ball?" Harry asked

"It's a ceremony at Christmas, for the Tournament. Did None of you read into the history of the Triwizard Tournament?" Hermione asked, looking around at the blank faced group.

"Do you reckon that's what McGonagall is calling us for a meeting about this afternoon? Zinnia asked the table as she messily scooped up the last soggy bits of cereal out of her bowl and pushed it to the middle of the table.

"Probably, we should get to class" Hermione hinted nonchalantly as she looked at her watch and got up from the table. Zinnia too got up, gulping down the last drops of her juice.

"Oi Ron, maybe you can wear your robes early today at the meeting, you know so you can wear them in" Zinnia Laughed as she was being pulled away from the table by Hermione.

"Piss off Z" Ron shouted back at her as the girls exited the hall.

Once the girls were past the carved doors, Hermione turned to her and gave an expecting look.

"Now, Harry?" she asked, wanting to know what's happening at all times.

"I heard we were discussing Harry and Zinnia" Fay stepped in from behind them to the other side of Zinnia. Now stuck between the two and unable to escape, Zinnia had no choice but to explain.

"Where the hell were you at breakfast?" Zinnia avoided the question by asking Fay.

"Sat with Kian at the ravenclaw table, however, irrelevant. What's with the two of you?" Fay pushed, poking Zinnia's arm with her pointer finger. Finally Zinnia decided to give in and disclose the gruelling details of her embarrassing encounter with Harry last night as they walked to class, to which the girls could not respond when Zinnia escaped into the safety of their transfiguration classroom.

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Later that evening, The entire Gryffindor house from fourth year and up were gathered in an empty hall. The boys were instructed to sit on one side and the girls on the other. As Zinnia entered the room she seriously questioned why they separated the two.

"Maybe they're going to give us a sex ed class" Zinnia laughed to Fay as they sat at the front of the group of girls.

"Seriously Z?, ew" Fay laughed back at her, pushing her arm playfully.

"Well why else would they separate us?" she explained back, rubbing her arm jokingly and gestring across the room.

"Some stupid gender-conformist reasons I think" Fay suggested off the top of her head as if she were reciting something as simple as the alphabet.

"Tell it how it is" Zinnia replied, shaking her head and holding out her knuckles for Fay to fist bump.

The chatter of the room suddenly died down at the sound of the terrible scratching of the record player. Filch struggled to get the megaphone to play correctly as McGonagall began to proceed forward and address the room.

"The yule ball has been a tradition of the Tri-Wizard tournament since its inception. On Christmas eve night we and our guests gather in the great hall for well mannered frivolity." McGonagall emphasised as he paced the small gap in between the stands.

"As representatives of the host school, I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally because the yule ball is first and foremost... a dance." She lingered, letting the room break into small chatters and groans. Zinnia's eyes widened, she wasn't very well balanced on her feet. Sure she had danced in her room alone to various ABBA songs, but never a ballroom dance.

"Silence." McGonagall demanded as the hall quickly ceased their conversations

"The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you in the course of a single evening besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons." the professor sternly demanded the room.

From across the hall the whisper of Fred and George could be heard repeating "babbling bumbling band of baboons" to each other with grins on their faces. Zinnia couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at this.

"Now to dance is to let the body breathe, inside every girl a secret swan slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight." the professor animated with her hands towards the girls. Zinnia didn't know what sort of animal was inside her but she was sure it was definitely not a swan. McGonagall turned around at the voice of Ron laughing to Seamus and Harry and proceeded towards him.

"Inside every boy a lordly lion prepared to prance. Mr Weasly" she eased towards him with outstretched arms.

"Yes?" Ron replied timidly, much to the amusement of Fay and Zinnia who struggled to keep a straight face.

"Will you join me, please?" McGonagall invited the boy to stand. Ron stood up embarrassingly as Harry pushed him forward. The room began to break out in smiles as they both assumed a position to dance.

"Now, place your right hand on my waist." the professor instructed, lifting her arms onto his shoulders.

"Where?" Ron replied as if he had just been asked to fight a dragon.

"My waist" she replied firmly as she instructed his arms. Ron looked around the room as the boys whistled at him. Zinnia hid her face in Fay's shoulder as they both shook from trying to contain their laughter. Mr Filch began the music as per McGonagall's instruction and she began to lead Ron in a dance.

Fred and George looked as if they were trying to imprint this image in their head for a forever memory as they joked with Harry. The light tones of the professor's counting accompanied the ballroom music as Ron stumbled his way through the waltz, much to the enjoyment of his housemates.

"I am going to bring this up every day of my life" Zinia whispered to Fay as they both laughed.

"Everybody come together!" McGonagall instructed. The majority of the girls eagerly stepped forward upon her instruction as the boys grimaced an sunk back into their chairs

"Boys, On your feet!" the professor shouted once again. Zinnia regrettably stood from her seat and ventured to the middle of their room, catching the attention of Harry. He began to sit up and approach her but not before Geroge waltzed in front of the girl and spun her around.

"Care to dance M'Lady" he asked as she regained her balance. He swung her arms up as they began to walk in time to the music, leaving Harry rather ticked off in the middle of the floor.

"I don't know if dancing is what you'll get, more like a giraffe learning to walk" Zinnia said as she glanced at her feet, desperately trying to keep in time with the music.

"Just step on my feet, ill guide you" George said smugly, flailing both of their arms up and down.

"As if youre doing any better than me, plus I'll break your toes." She told him, laughing as her body strained to keep up with the jarring movements George was making.

"Yeah probably with those scary clunkers on" she pointed to her chunky Doc Marten shoes she wore with her uniform. She returned with a shocked gaping mouth at his smiling face.

"It's fashionable, you tosser!" She hit him on the chest as they continued to attempt to dance, demanding clearance of the area as their body movements could be graded as potentially harmful to others.

Once the lesson was over, and the whole room was left with untucked shirts and discarded ties from the tireless routine they were learning, Zinnia picked up her jumper and bags as she hurried out of the hall, quickly catching up with Fay and Hermione.

"That is definitely not what I was expecting" Zinnia laughed as she caught up with the two walking back to the common room.

"You would have, if you read the book I gave you about the Tournament history" Hermione berated the girl with a smug smile

"Well I would have, but it was full of so many long paragraphs about facts, nothing else, just facts." She justified, unawarely pointing out the difference between her obsession with books and hermiones obsession with books.

"Who are you guys thinking of taking?" Fay asked, keen for some gossip with the girls. Zinnia immediately thought of Harry before she was reminded that they were no longer on comfortable speaking terms. Even if they were going to go as friends it would still be weird. Although she wanted to, she didn't want to be a pity date to him.

"I'll have to look over my list," Zinnia remarked sarcastically. "What about you?"

"No clue but I definitely don't want to go with Seamus, I just danced with him the whole time and he wouldn't stop stepping on my feet and he had really sweaty palms." Fay grimaced at the thought "might go looking into years beyond mine" she wondered with a smile as the two girls beside her laughed.

"Well no doubt that Miss Granger over here will be asked by a certain Bulgarian bon-bon" Zinnia teased Hermione as she watched the girl blush in return.

"Oh shut it Z '' She laughed as the girls proceeded back to their dorms, awaiting the eager stares they were to receive from the boys of the Gryffindor Common room.

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(A.N- Heyo a bit of a shorter update for today because i just got a burst of desire to write so here ya go. let me know if you like the shorter or longer chapters better. also tysm for 300 reads omg ily❤️)