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Chapter Twenty Eight: Bonds of Destiny:

The day many had been waiting for since it had been announced had been arrived. The Yule Ball was this very day and all the rumors that had been spread through the air had ended. It was time to see if any of the rumors turned out to be true on the day of this grand, extravagant event.

Of course, despite this being Christmas and many relaxing due to the fact of the holiday and the Yule Ball, there was one person who was most definitely not resting. Deep underneath the school in the recesses of the Slytherin library, Harry Potter practiced to sharpen his ninjitsu skills. There would be talk that Harry was merely attempting to keep his mind off of his nervousness. Oh sure, he did like Ginny but that’s exactly why Harry was extremely nervous. What if he didn’t do something right and upset Ginny? Harry couldn’t live with himself if he did something like that. What if he was not polite enough? What if he was too polite? He didn’t even know how to dance and Harry felt he would be largely making it

As Harry pulled out a mannequin that suspiciously resembled Darthmorth in appearance, he took aim with his practice sword but Harry imagined what he would do to himself if he did something wrong during the Yule Ball during his date with Ginny. Harry twirled his practice sword, thinking about how he had no experience whatsoever with girls in a romantic environment. The Daily Prophet wouldn’t dare believe that but it was true.

Harry raised his practice sword high into the air, slashing at the practice mannequin, causing stuffing to fly everywhere. He closed his eyes, attempting to cause his mind to go blank, shutting out any and all doubts that may be flowing through it. Ginny wouldn’t hate him if he fell flat on his face and looked like an idiot tonight, would she? Harry decided to Ginny a little more credit than Harry would give himself if he was in this position and decided that she would probably give him the benefit of the doubt.

Harry closed his eyes. He felt he didn’t have too much to worry about, as tonight could be a great night if he allowed it to. Picking up the mannequin, Harry repaired it before putting it away. He resolved to enjoy himself tonight, no matter what doubts slithered through his mind. The Yule Ball would prove to be a grand occasion and nothing was going to stand in Harry’s way. Nothing!

Later that night just before the Yule Ball, Ginny was waiting for her date. She would be deluding herself if she didn’t feel a bit nervous but still the fact that she hadn’t seen much of Harry all day kind of disturbed her. Ginny hoped Harry wasn’t worrying himself to death, as she had all the confidence in the world that he’d be fine tonight.

Ginny looked up, as she felt she could sense Harry coming and she turned around, seeing Harry nervously come up from the Slytherin Common Room. He probably slipped in there when she wasn’t looking.

“Harry, I’m over here,” said Ginny softly.

Harry turned his head looking for his date; here it came, the moment of truth. He looked over, seeing Ginny and Harry checked his jaw to see if he needed to pick it up off the ground.

“Ginny, you look beautiful,” said Harry saying the first thing that came to his mind as he looked at his date in awe, looking as the light reflected off of Ginny’s hair. “I would say I died and went to Heaven, but I doubt angels look that beautiful.”

If anyone but Harry said that, Ginny would have slapped them for being so incredibly cheesy. However, it was the way Harry said it, not the words he said that made a feeling of warmth course through Ginny’s body.

“Thank you Harry,” said Ginny finding her voice.

“So shall we go now?” asked Harry.

“That’d be good Harry,” said Ginny as Harry took Ginny’s arm and they locked arms before walking towards the Great Hall to attend the Yule Ball.

The Great Hall was expertly decorated for the occasion. The house elves appeared to have out done themselves. Several tables were set up around the edge of the hall, leaving an area in the middle of the Great Hall for the couples dancing at the Yule Ball.

Several of the couples had already arrived before Harry and Ginny.

“Harry, Ginny,” said Hailey, waving them over, as she was standing next to a very nervous looking Neville, who appeared to have the same doubts going through his mind that Harry had earlier. He eyed Harry in a tentative, slightly nervous matter as Harry and Ginny both walked over.

“Hello Harry,” said Neville. “I must say it’s been a while since I’ve talked to you. How’s everything?”

“Pretty good Neville,” said Harry in a cheerful voice, as nothing could ruin his mood tonight due to the fact he was with Ginny. “I think this is going to be an excellent night if I may say so myself.”

“Yes, Harry, I’ll have to agree,” said Hailey, looking at Harry and Ginny and it struck her more than ever that those two looked right together. They didn’t look out of place at all. “Enjoy your night with Ginny. I know I’ll enjoy mine.”

Harry and Ginny walked off to go to the table where the champions and their dates were supposed to be meeting. Neville turned to Hailey.

“I really thought he was going to be upset with me going to the Yule Ball with you,” said Neville in an honest voice. “After all, you’re his adopted younger sister and he seems to be extremely protective of you. “

“Yeah, but it does have some benefits,” remarked Hailey, wanting to tell Neville that Harry and her were actually related by blood as brother and sister, but she couldn’t, as that would lead to Hailey having to reveal that her mother was alive.. “Malfoy and his goons are afraid to look at me wrong, because they’re afraid that Harry would jinx them for bothering me.”

“Yeah, Malfoy’s finally learning his lesson and is starting to attempt to annoy Harry less and less,” said Neville nodding his head. “So you and Harry live with Muggles in New York. What’s that like? I’ll understand if you don’t want to say anything, as Harry seems rather secretive on the subject but…”

“Well, they are definitely unique,” said Hailey nodding her head.

Harry and Ginny arrived at the table for the champions. Karkaroff was eying Harry as if he wanted to curse him but Harry didn’t pay him any mind. Harry pulled out a chair from by the table so Ginny could sit down.

“After you my fair lady,” said Harry.

“Thank you Harry,” said Ginny, sitting down in the chair. Harry sat down beside her as he joined Ginny in looking around for the other champions.

They saw Fleur Delacour sitting with the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, Roger Davies. The Ravenclaw seemed to be more interested in looking at Fleur then taking any interest in what he was saying. Krum was sitting with a seventh year Gryffindor girl who Harry didn’t know.

“Hey, Ginny, look at that girl who is sitting with Diggory, doesn’t she look very familiar?” asked Harry. “It’s almost as if Hermione caused her hair to go straight but…”

“Harry, Ginny!” yelled the girl causing Harry to do a double take. It was Hermione. “I was just talking to Cedric and I didn’t see you two sitting down here. How are you this evening?”

“Good Hermione,” said Harry before turning to Cedric Diggory with an indifferent expression on his face. He still hadn’t forgotten that slimy Slytherin crack “Cedric.”

“Harry,” said Cedric, nodding his head curtly hiding the fact it strained him to be polite to Harry.

Cedric hoped going to the ball with that bushy haired, buck teeth know it all would be worth it. He could have went with Cho Chang, one of the most popular girls in the school, but he decided for the good of Hogwarts he would go with that Granger nightmare to get some inside information on Potter so he could beat him in the Triwizard Tournament. After all, Hogwarts would be shamed forever if Potter, a Slytherin, won the Tournament. It was a real shame as Cedric felt the kid would be halfway decent if he wouldn’t have been sorted into that cesspool that is Slytherin.

“So Ginny, I wonder when this Yule Ball thing will begin,” said Harry.

Before Ginny could answer, Dumbledore walked into the Great Hall, sitting at the end of the table with the champions. He then rose to his feet, turning to address the various couples that had arrived.

“The Yule Ball will begin rather shortly, but first let us all enjoy ourselves by digging into this feast that has been prepared for this grand occasion,” said Dumbledore.

They looked at the plates, but no food appeared on them. Harry wondered if this was someone’s idea of a joke but Dumbledore bent down by his plate and muttered “lamb chops”. Sure enough, lamb chops appeared on Dumbledore’s plate.

“Pepperoni and chocolate sauce pizza,” muttered Harry, but nothing appeared on his plate. Ginny looked at Harry, fighting the urge to smile. “Well it was worth a try. Note to self, give Dobby pizza recipe next time you see him.”

The Great Hall was filled with talking in the matter of a couple of minutes.

“So Hermione, what did you think of the first task?” asked Cedric in conversationally.

“Well, it was pretty interesting, but I think Harry had the most effective way with dealing with the dragons,” said Hermione. “I definitely believe Harry should have received the most points, as he was the definite winner of that task.”

“Yeah, we all know Harry did extremely well,” said Cedric in an extremely strained tone of voice, attempting to manipulate Hermione into giving up some of the information. After all, there was a reason Cedric was in Hufflepuff, he worked extremely hard to get what he wanted. “I thought he may have been marked a little too low and he did have the hardest dragon, but he had a plan that worked.”

“Well, yes I believe so, but let’s not talking about the Triwizard Tournament,” said Hermione. “It’s such a nasty piece of business and besides Harry didn’t even want to enter the Tournament in the first place.”

Cedric did not quite believe this. After all, if Potter did not want to be in the Tournament, why did not he do something to throw the first task? Surely, Slytherins would be more concerned with self preservation then being competitive in doing something that they didn’t want to.

Harry ate very little at dinner; he was too busy talking to Ginny through most of the dinner and just enjoying his date’s company.

“So, Harry, mind if I ask what exactly you were doing most of the day?” asked Ginny.

“Well, no, I suppose it is a bit foolish and I eventually calmed down,” said Harry.

“Harry, you can tell me, I won’t think it’s foolish,” said Ginny quietly.

“Well, I was worried about if I would do something wrong to upset you, I don’t think I could have lived with myself, Ginny,” said Harry.

“Harry, you’re just doing just fine, don’t worry,” said Ginny. “We’re going through this together, but I’m not sure that even I know how to do the right thing at the right time either. Neither of us is perfect as much as you strive to be. I don’t think it’s exactly healthy for you to push yourself so hard Harry. Just be yourself. That’s who I like, you, not someone you’re not.”

“Thanks Ginny,” said Harry feeling grateful that a huge weight was being lifted off of his shoulders.

“My pleasure Harry,” said Ginny but at this time, Dumbledore rose to his feet.

“Champions, please follow me to the dance floor so we can commence with the opening dance for the Yule Ball of the 1994 Triwizard Tournament,” said Dumbledore in a jovial voice.

Ginny and Harry both rose to their feet at the same time as Harry took Ginny’s hand and they walked towards the dance floor. The other champions and their dates went to the floor, as Harry had a feeling of incoming doom coming along so he just decided to come clean with Ginny.

“You know Ginny, I hate to break it to you but I don’t really know how to dance all too well,” said Harry.

“Harry, I’m not too decent myself on the dancing front, so we’ll just have to wing it together,” said Ginny.

“Wait a minute, I thought all girls were supposed to be great at dancing,” said Harry.

“That is a gross misconception,” said Ginny shaking her head. “In all my stubbornness, dancing is one of the few things I have been unable to learn with a moderate level of success. As long as we don’t step on each other’s toes, I think we’ll be fine.”

Harry nodded as he wrapped his around Ginny’s waist before grabbing her arm in his other arm.

“Am I doing this right Ginny?” asked Harry.

“Yes, Harry, you’re fine, don’t worry about it,” said Ginny in a reassuring voice as the music began and all of the couples began to dance slowly.

Hailey thanked the fates that she had the foresight to put a cushioning charm on her shoes before the ball. Neville was a sweet boy but he needed to work on the direction that his feet were going as Hailey felt the light prickle of Neville’s feet brushing against hers. Still, it did keep Hailey’s mind off of the sickening sight of Pansy Parkinson looking at Draco Malfoy in a way that nature didn’t really intend. Now that was a face only a mother could love and even then, Hailey wasn’t too sure about that. Also, from what Hailey saw, Crabbe and Goyle didn’t seem to have any dates unless they were going to the ball with each other. Hailey shuddered at that disturbing thought.

“Harry, Ginny, how are you doing?” asked Theodore as he was dancing with Daphne close by Harry but Harry just nodded, as he seemed too engrossed in looking in Ginny’s eyes to pay an attention to what he was saying. “Harry, hello, are you there?”

“Theodore, I think Harry’s mind is elsewhere tonight, so why don’t leave those two alone,” said Daphne.

“Yes, I believe you’re right,” said Theodore, as they moved away from Harry and Ginny.

Dumbledore watched Harry and Ginny closely with frustration. He could sense the bond that was forming was the strongest it had ever been and that disturbed Dumbledore. There was no way to sever this Compatibility bond. Dumbledore felt years of well placed planning slipping through his fingers but thankfully he had the foresight to make a couple of backup plans just in case Harry was led away from underneath his manipulative thumb. Still, Dumbledore wished Voldemort’s spirit would have killed the Weasley girl in the Chamber of Secrets. It would have saved Dumbledore a lot of headaches later on.

The first song had ended but neither Harry nor Ginny really paid that fact much mind, they continued to dance during the short break during the song. It was as if the entire world around Harry and Ginny had just shut down completely. If everyone in the Great Hall had dropped dead at that moment, Harry and Ginny probably would not notice as they were too busy gazing into each other’s eyes and slowly dancing around the Great Hall as if no one else was there at all.

Ron sat down at a table, sulking. He wondered if Ginny got him this particular girl to date to get back at him for something that Ron did to her that he couldn’t quite recall. Ron felt that Luna was nice enough but she was a bit on the eccentric side. Still, Ron felt that this date may have had a positive ramification, as Luna didn’t seem too bothered that he hadn’t asked her to dance.

Ron looked at Harry and Ginny, and he couldn’t count quite recall the last time he had seen her sister so happy. It was also apparent to Ron for the very first time that Harry could care less about his fame. After all, hadn’t his parents died at the hands of You-Know-Who? If that was the price of fame, then Ron did not want anything to do with fame at all, no sir.

Ron had to admit that Harry and Ginny looked perfect together but he knew that Harry would not have anything less than honorable intentions towards his sister. Most of Ron’s family seemed to be happy about the fact that Ginny was either dating Harry or getting rather close to.

“Wazzsprut in your ear, Ronald?” asked Luna, speaking for the first time since Ron escorted her to the Great Hall tonight.

“Huh,” said Ron, pulling himself out of his thoughts, the longest time he had been deep in thought ever.

“Yes, I can see it was but it must have flown out now,” said Luna before looking at Harry and Ginny. “Yes, I would agree those two are destined for each other. Their inter cosmic energy perfectly intertwines, forming an unbreakable bond. They are extremely powerful alone but I think that together they will accomplish great things, changing the world for the better. Including totally eradicating that foolish rivalry between the other houses and Slytherin, I always thought that was a waste of time.”

“If you say so Luna,” said Ron but his attention was grabbed by a sound of a slap to the face and a shrill yell.

“You used me Diggory!” yelled Hermione angrily as she brushed past Blaise Zabini and Padma Patil who were dancing nearby. “You didn’t want to be my date for the Yule Ball. All you wanted was information on Harry and what his strategy was for the first task. Well, he hasn’t told me anything but still…”

“Now come back here, no one tells me no,” said Cedric but he backed off slowly as he attracted the focus of Harry and Ginny who moved in to defend their friend with their wands pointed straight at Diggory.

“Neville, I’ll be right back in a second,” said Hailey, before she joined her brother and his date in pointing her wand at Diggory. They were joined by Daphne and Theodore.

“That’s the only way you can face me, you rotten cowards!” cried Cedric.

“We do look out for each other Diggory,” said Hailey in a cold voice.

“Shut your damn mouth you horrid little bitch,” hissed Cedric losing his temper at Hailey. “You are nothing but a disappointment to the Hufflepuff house with all the points you lose. You should go to Slytherin with all the rest of the slime.”

Cedric walked off as Harry, Ginny, and surprisingly, Neville all raised their wands, ready to curse Diggory for what he said to Hailey, but Hailey raised her hand up in the air.

“Let him go, he isn’t worth the time or energy,” said Hailey before dropping her voice low. “Besides, I already jinxed him when you weren’t looking. Diggory and any girl that is foolish enough to dance with him will be in for a nasty surprise”

Harry smirked at his sister’s deceitfulness; she was definitely a true Potter and Marauder through and through.

“Hermione, are you okay?” asked Ginny.

“Yes I’ll be fine,” said Hermione quietly. “I can’t believe I didn’t see through him but…I’ll be leaving, I don’t want to ruin the rest of the night on your account. I’m going up to the Gryffindor House and going to bed. Good night, Hailey, Harry, Ginny, Daphne, Theodore, Neville.”

Ron looked at Hermione quizzically from a distance as she walked off but Ginny and Harry both saw his interest, and they walked over to join Ron and Luna, so they could sit down for a few minutes and relax.

“What’s gotten Hermione so upset?” asked Ron.

“Diggory’s apparently attempting to get information about how I’m going to handle the second task from Hermione and she didn’t take it too well,” said Harry.

“Well, I think you might be understating the situation just a little bit much Harry, I think he’ll have that mark on his cheek from where Hermione slapped him for weeks,” said Luna casually.

“I think you might be right Luna although Hailey did something to him when he left that might be ten times worse than Hermione slapping him,” said Ginny.

“It’s just as well because after what Diggory said to her, I would have most certainly done something to him if Hailey hadn’t,” said Harry darkly. “I think that’s enough talk about that subject. Ginny would you want to…”

“Harry good to see you, really well, if you don’t mind I would like to talk to you for a brief moment,” said the excited voice of Ludo Bagman who was walking up with Percy Weasley at this moment. Harry wondered what the most uptight of the Weasley brothers was doing him.

“Ginny, if you don’t mind, I’ll see what he wants,” whispered Harry softly.

“Harry, go ahead, I’ll wait for you,” said Ginny waving Harry off.

Harry rose to his feet and walked off with Bagman. Percy decided to sit down in Harry’s seat and make himself at home.

“Hello Ginny, Ron” said Percy calmly totally ignoring Luna who really didn’t seem too perturbed at this turn of events. “I’ve been promoted; I’m Mr. Crouch’s personal assistant and I’m attending the Yule Ball in his place.”

“Why isn’t Crouch here?” asked Ron.

“Oh, the poor man’s been sick and that’s Mr. Crouch to you, Ron,” said Percy in a stiff voice. “He is taking a well deserved, much needed vacation and I have been filling in for him a lot recently. But never mind work, Ginny, I want to talk to you about a very serious matter.”

“I’d say you do because you are in Harry’s chair,” said Ginny coolly.

“Ah yes, Harry Potter, that’s what I wanted to speak to about,” said Percy. “I’m sure you’ve must have heard what is being written about him in the Daily Prophet.”

“Oh you mean those lies written by Darthmorth,” said Ginny in a calm voice. “I really didn’t pay it much attention or take it seriously.”

“Well maybe you should Ginny, because the Ministry is and the Ministry of Magic should be trusted in these serious matters,” said Percy. “Associating with a rising dark wizard such is Potter is bad for your reputation and surely our parents have cautioned you about getting too close to Potter.”

“Mum and Dad approve of me and Harry dating one hundred percent,” said Ginny. “He isn’t a dark wizard and the Ministry is nothing but a bunch of fools to believe anything written by that Darthmorth fool.”

“Ginny, the Ministry of Magic is just looking out for the public’s best interests,” said Percy.

“The Ministry of Magic was a big lot of help when I was at the mercy of the fifteen year old spirit of Voldemort,” said Ginny causing Percy to flinch.

“Well, to be honest Ginny, you were kind of foolish trusting a diary like that and it nearly ended it tragedy,” said Percy. “Potter is a lot like You-Know-Who in some respects and trusting him with lead you to your demise.”

“Percy, you’re supposed to be smart, so why don’t you act like it sometimes?” hissed Ginny. She couldn’t stand for anyone to badmouth Harry.

“Ron, help me, surely you agree with me that Potter is nothing but trouble for Ginny,” said Percy.

“No Percy, maybe a younger more naïve version of me might have believed that but no longer,” said Ron. “He’s changing how we view the Slytherin house for the better and I think he is the best thing that’s ever happened to Ginny.”

Percy looked as if he had swallowed soured milk. He apparently had not been paying attention to his family recently and was counting on Ron to back him up due to the opinions that he remembered Ron having of Harry during his first two years of Hogwarts.

Harry walked over at this moment and Percy rose to his feet and quickly left.

“Bagman was asking me how I was coming along with the egg,” said Harry. “He seemed awfully keen to help me for some reason. So I saw Percy talking to you Ginny and you seemed pissed off at what he said.”

“Damn right she should be,” said Ron. “Harry, Percy called you nothing but…”

“Harry, that’s not important right now,” said Ginny, grabbing Harry’s hand. “Shall we go back to the dance floor?”

“I’d like that Ginny,” said Harry calmly leading his date back towards the dance floor. If anyone told him a few weeks ago he’d readily would dance, Harry would laugh in their faces. But now, he couldn’t get enough of it. Of course it was more spending time with Ginny that Harry enjoyed more than dancing.

Ron looked at Luna nervously, deciding to throw caution to the wind and use some of that bravery that Gryffindors were so famous for using. He turned to Luna slowly.

“Luna, would you er like to, you know dance?” asked Ron nervously.

“I’d love to Ron,” said Luna in a bit of a surprised tone of voice. “I thought you would never ask.”

“Yeah, neither did I,” said Ron quietly.

Hailey and Neville were sitting down at one of the tables, joined by Daphne and Theodore.

“I think Diggory is asking Chang to dance,” said Daphne, looking over towards the dance floor.

“Oh excellent, a two for one special,” said Hailey happily, as she didn’t care too much for Cho Chang as the Ravenclaw prefect was rather rude to her when Hailey accidentally bumped into her as Hailey hurried to class during her first week at Hogwarts.

“What exactly did you do to her?” asked Neville with interest.

“Just wait and see, it will be worth the surprise I think,” said Hailey with an evil smirk spreading across her face.

On the dance floor, Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory were dancing. They were taking turns trashing Hermione as they squeezed past Madam Maxime and Hagrid, who were cutting a very wide path across the dance floor.

“I warned you about going with that muggleborn Granger and she disrespected you,” said Cho. “I swear, how Potter and Granger are the smartest people in the school in their year is beyond me. They swiped the glory that should be Ravenclaw’s away from us.”

“They are a disgrace to the traditions that have been in place at Hogwarts for several years,” said Cedric. “All of the other houses are supposed to be against the Slytherins, as we know they all turn out to be Death Eaters.”

“I agree,” said Cho. “Potter seems to be disrupting how it was for all these years. Mum was just telling me that back when she went to Hogwarts, none of the other houses would say even a good word about Slytherin and now Potter is going to ruin tradition by uniting the houses in the lower years. Him, that Weasley harlot, that insufferable Granger bitch, and there other misfit friends are going to screw up tradition at Hogwarts. They are going to radically change how it’s been for years and I really don’t think they have the right to do that.”

Cho paused, feeling her arms suddenly beginning to itch.

“Cedric, I itch like hell,” said Cho itching madly at her arms but the more she scratched, the more her arms itched but there wasn’t a rash at all visible.

“Damnit Cho, I do too,” said Cedric, scratching his arms madly but all that did was made it worse. “I don’t know what’s it’s coming from, either, because I sure don’t see a rash anywhere.”

At the table, Hailey looked rather pleased. She thanked Padfoot, Moony, and Prongs for the creation that wonderful, yet slightly evil hex. Wormtail could burn in hell for all she cared.

“Cowabunga, it actually worked!” cheered Hailey in a low voice.

“Cowabunga?” asked Neville in a quizzical voice while raising his eyebrow.

“Never mind,” said Hailey quickly.

“How long will it take for that hex to wear off?” asked Daphne.

“Eventually,” said Hailey with a smirk.

Percy Weasley was in an extremely irritable mood. Why couldn’t his sister listen to reason? The Ministry of Magic believed that Potter was going dark, so that should have been good enough for everyone else. Percy looked for someone to take his frustrations out on and he saw Fred and George appearing to be bothering Ludo Bagman.

“Fred, George, don’t bother senior Ministry officials!” hissed Percy, walking over to attempt to boss around his twin brothers.

“Yes Mum,” said George sarcastically.

“Seriously Perce, don’t get your knickers in a knot,” said Fred.

“We’re just talking business with good old, Mr. Bagman, isn’t that right?” asked George.

“Oh yes, of course,” said Bagman nervously. “Fred and George were just telling me their ambition to open up a joke shop and I promised to get them in with some contacts at Zonkos for a little, heads up you know. “

“Now, I’m not so sure about that…” started Percy but Bagman cut him off.

“Nonsense Percy, it’s rather healthy for the boys to show ambition,” said Bagman. “They want to make there own way in the world, by doing something that appeals to them.”

Percy just tutted angrily, as he made plans to write to his mother to tell her that Fred and George were still going about these foolish plans of creating a joke shop when they should be going about getting nice honest jobs at a respectable place like the Ministry of Magic.

Ginny and Harry were walking around outside, as it was getting late in the night and the Yule Ball was starting to wind down. They had made plans to go to the Room of Requirement to spend the night, as they didn’t want to be bombarded with questions if they were really dating or not to ruin this perfect night.

“Now, Severus, you can’t pretend this isn’t happening, it’s clearer than it’s ever been,” muttered Karkaroff. “If he is truly coming back…”

“Then I will be remaining here,” said Snape coldly. “You may flee like a coward if you would like but I’ll be remaining at my place in Hogwarts.”

“Now, Severus, surely after what has happened...” began Karkaroff but Snape raised his hand.

“There are people who can hear us, Igor, so I would suggest you be extremely discreet,” said Snape.

Harry and Ginny walked past quietly, not even acknowledging the presence of Snape and Karkaroff. Snape figured that those two didn’t really show any sign of caring about what was said, so they were safe for the moment.

“So, Harry, I’ve had a great night,” said Ginny. “I didn’t expect anything less from you.”

“Thanks Ginny, I’m always glad to spend time with you,” said Harry as they stepped into the Room of Requirement which had became a sitting room with a nice cozy couch in front of the fireplace which Harry and Ginny sat down on.

“Harry, you really shouldn’t have gone to this much trouble,” said Ginny.

“Well, the Room of Requirement did supply this,” said Harry.

“Still, you had to think about it,” said Ginny, looking at the firelight flickering in the distance. “So, technically you came up with all this and I love it.”

“I love you Ginny,” said Harry quietly before straightening up, not quiet believing what he said. He wondered if it was normal to have these kind of reactions at such a young age but then again in the past Harry felt things were with him were far from the norm.

Ginny did a double take, she wasn’t quite expecting Harry to say what he just said but all the same she felt pleased that he did.

“I love you too Harry,” said Ginny as she leaned forward, by some kind of unspoken agreement and their lips met in a kiss.

Both Harry and Ginny could agree that they felt as if they didn’t want to think again as they continued to kiss each other in front of the fire in the Room of Requirement, a very powerful feeling coursing through each other’s bodies. Eventually, they broke, looking into each other’s eyes,

“So, I think we’re officially together now Ginny,” said Harry.

“Damn straight,” said Ginny smiling before leaning forward to kiss Harry again. This went on for quite some time before Ginny fell asleep in her boyfriend’s arms.

Harry sat up, just looking into Ginny’s face for quiet some time before dozing off himself, with a smile on his face as he held his girlfriend. This was definitely a night to remember for both of them.

The first time Harry and Ginny kissed, a small tingling feeling went through the spines of everyone with even the tiniest bit of magic but only Lily Potter and Albus Dumbledore understood that it was the Compatibility bond between Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley reaching completion. At this turn of events, one of these people was extremely happy and one felt extremely pissed off. It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to realize which person was which.