And here's the seventy ninth chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!

* Review Response:
Venator1995, WHYBERD, Brockster550, Hudy Leak613, DarkRavie, Mitkon2001, BMS, D.J. Scales, guest, dianaanne, L0rdr3d, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Clavyus, I will not deny being terrible at writing non-protagonist characters (and being just bad with the protagonist), but hopefully I can get more of their PoV with shopping for the new Potter manor furniture in the next chapter or so and with the career counseling a short while later. IIRC the books had that happen around March, so probably the next event after the Second Task to focus on.
magitech, was there at any point in the book any mention of anyone who refused a badge? Or is it an offer you can't refuse in canon?
erbkaiser, I actually need to think of what Harry will do while Flora and Hestia are getting ready for the OWLs, which he can skip due to being a Champion, at the end of the year. He might even decide to sit the exams anyway, if only to know where he actually stands when it comes to those subjects. And as a form of moral support for the twins.

* AN: This chapter has not been beta-read.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.

"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
written text
spells

A Year Too Soon
Chapter LXXIX: The Yule Ball

The day that would end with the Yule Ball started actually pretty mundane - well, as mundane as a Christmas day in a school of Magic can be - without much to actively remind the students of the grand event that would take place later that day.

That changed by early afternoon as, once lunch was over, the students of all three schools were directed back to their quarters, giving Hogwarts' staff space to work on getting things ready for the ball. And since all of the adults were quite busy at the time, the task of maintaining order fell down to the Prefects. And Harry, unfortunately, was still one of the Prefects for Slytherin, meaning he had to spend his afternoon making sure that none of his housemates got too rowdy.

Most 'Snakes' were quite content with just lounging in the common room, waiting for the moment to begin their own preparations for the ball. A few, though, had found something to argue over quite heatedly and Harry had to step in and assert his authority to keep the things from escalating beyond just angry words.

As evening settled over Scotland, the students began slowly dispersing to the dormitories in order to get ready for the ball, until pretty much only those not attending the event for one reason or another remained in the common room. At that point Harry finally felt like his presence wasn't needed there to maintain order anymore and so he too went to change into his dress robes.

Thankfully for him, his robes weren't some impractically-elaborate mess and putting them on took only a few minutes. He actually needed more time to somewhat tame that mess that was his hair. It was still rather wild by the time he decided he was done, but at least it looked way more presentable than usual.

Somehow, despite being one of the last to start changing, Harry still managed to return to the common room - now ready for the ball - before most of his housemates.

It wasn't long before he was joined there by the Greengrass sisters. He had coordinated with them a little, so Astoria was wearing dark-green dress robes that matched his own ones pretty well.

"You look stunning, my Ladies." Harry 'greeted' them with a compliment.

"Thank you, Heir Potter." Daphne replied both for Astoria and for herself. There was a short moment of silence before she spoke again: "Take good care of my sister, Harry." She ordered.

"Always."

"I'll hold you to that." She said before stepping away to hang out with Tracey as the two of them waited for their dates to arrive, thus leaving Harry and 'Tori pretty much by themselves for the moment. Which ended up being quite awkward for the two of them.

This awkwardness was soon shattered to tiny pieces when a certain blonde showed up and decided to make a scene.

"Oi, Potter!" Draco Malfoy announced his 'arrival' on the scene. "Did those two blood-traitors finally decide to drop you like a piece of half-blood shit that you are and you had to bribe a poor and naive second-year who doesn't know any better to have any date for the ball at all?" He sneered.

Harry took a deep breath and counted to ten in his mind to make sure he had some control over his emotions, before responding:

"Malfoy." He said coldly and with a very dangerous edge to his voice. "You have just insulted my intended and my friends. Consider yourself very lucky that I've promised Professor Snape not to cause trouble tonight because otherwise you would have found yourself on the wrong end of my wand already. And we both know how that ended for you in the past." Draco's face definitely showed that he did remember what had happened the previous times he had tried to match his Magic against Harry's. Nevertheless, he decided to keep going:

"So you're all bark and no bite, eh, Potter? How fitting for a dirty half-blood beast." He goaded, trying to get the Potter heir to strike him first and land into trouble for that. "No wonder those useless wenches decided to abandon you."

"Useless wenches are we now?" The Carrow twins asked from behind his back, making their presence known. "You are so full of shit, Malfoy." Flora said then, just as her sister hit Malfoy in his back with some Curse. A couple of seconds passed and the blonde nearly doubled over as his stomach rumbled angrily. "I suggest you hurry up and find yourself a loo - no one wants to see you empty your bowels here." She paused for a moment before adding thoughtfully: "And if you're lucky, you might still make it to the ball. You wouldn't want to stand up Ms. Parkinson, would you?"

"You shouldn't have." Harry said to his girlfriends once the blonde hastily vacated the area. "I could've handled this. Oh well…" Letting out a deep sigh, he continued: "Let's hope that there will be no more jerks trying to ruin the night for us." This earned him three nods of agreement.

"That would be really nice." Hestia voiced the shared sentiment. This was followed be a few long moments of silence before Harry spoke again:

"I think it's about time for us to head for the Great Hall. Shall we?" He asked as he gave Astoria a hand. The younger witch took it and they set off, with Flora and Hestia following them a step behind.

Thankfully, their trek out of the Slytherin dungeons was peaceful and without incidents. And upon their arrival at the castle's Entrance hall they were greeted by Professor McGonagall. The Deputy Headmistress was wearing surprisingly-stylish dress robes now and has let her hair down a little, but in spite of those changes she remained her usual stern self.

"Mr. Potter and… Ms. Greengrass? Please join other Champions and their dates in the antechamber. You will be called in when the ball starts." She said before turning her attention to the twins. "And you can proceed into the Great Hall, Misses Carrow."

"See you again soon." Harry said to Flora and Hestia. The girls gave him a quick hug before heading into the Great Hall, prompted by Professor McGonagall directing a stern gaze at them.

"I believe we should get moving too, my lady." Harry said then.

"A-Alright." Astoria said as she once again took his hand.

And with that they stepped into the antechamber they've been directed to. The usually-empty room now had several cozy armchairs for the Champions and their dates to lounge in. One pair of those was occupied by Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang, while another, on the opposite side of the room - by Victor Krum and… It took Harry more than a few moments to recognize his date as one Hermione Granger. Granted, he didn't interact with the Gryffindor girl a year below him all that much, but they had talked to each other a handful of times over the years. And, well, the young Potter had to admit that she certainly cleaned up nicely.

Flora and Hestia were so much prettier to him, though. And, of course, 'Tori was cute as a button.

Greetings were exchanged, after which Harry and Astoria claimed a pair of armchairs for themselves. There was no general conversation going on though, and despite being friends, they couldn't think of anything to talk about right now. Thus, the two of them once again found themselves waiting awkwardly for something to happen.

A couple of minutes passed and the Beauxbaton Champion arrived along with her date, a sixth-year Ravenclaw student Roger Davies. And while Fleur was clearly doing her best to control her allure, poor Roger seemed to be unable to handle even that without losing half of his brain-cells. His attention was completely fixated on Fleur to the point of barely noticing anything else happening around him. He even ignored others greeting him!

Finally, at five minutes to eight in the evening, Professor McGonagall entered the antechamber and announced that the Champions and their dates were to enter the Great Hall now in procession. Initially she wanted Flear and Roger to be at the front, but upon seeing the state the Ravenclaw was in, she quickly changed her mind and placed Harry and Astoria there instead. Once the older witch was satisfied, she told the Champions to proceed to the Great Hall.

And as they passed through the doors, the eight youths saw that in a few hours since lunch Hogwarts' staff had done an impressive work redecorating the hall for the ball.

The walls were now all covered in silvery frost and hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy were crossing under the starry black ceiling. The usual tables were all gone, even the Professors' one, and instead there now were several dozen of smaller round ones, each lit by an ornate Magical lantern, situated along the walls. And a bigger one where the Professors' table used to be. This particular table was reserved for the Champions, their dates, the Headmasters of the three schools and the Ministry officials in charge of the Tournament. A corner to its right had a currently-empty stage for musicians to perform, while the one to the left had a very opulent Christmas tree decorated with all sorts of decorations known to the Magical world, and even living fairies.

The central part of the Great Hall, though, was completely empty and will, without a doubt, become the dance floor once the actual dancing started. But given how everyone was currently seated at the tables - and the fact that it was dinner time - a meal of some sort would come first.

Shaking his head, Harry took his eyes off the Great Hall's decorations and scanned the smaller tables, trying to find where Flora and Hestia were seated. It wasn't long before he finally spotted them at a table near the middle of the 'Slytherin' side of the Great Hall.

Upon arriving at the Champions' table, Harry drew out an empty chair for Astoria before taking a seat himself. Victor did the same for Hermione. Seeing that, Cedric hastily followed the example and drew a chair for Cho. Poor Fleur however wasn't as lucky with her date: Roger seemed to be so enthralled by her - restrained, mind you - allure that it was a small miracle he actually managed to seat himself without assistance. The Beauxbaton Champion had almost resigned to having to do everything by herself when Victor proved himself to be the gentleman here and gave her a helping hand.

Once the Champions and their dates were seated, Dumbledore stood up and gave a short speech. He then passed the proverbial floor to Madam Maxime and Igor Karkarov. Ludo Bagman also decided to say a few words before the dinner finally started.

Unusually, though, no trays with food had appeared on the tables. Instead, everyone was 'given' a small menu. This deviation from the norm caught many by surprise, but Professor Dumbledore quickly dispelled their confusion by providing an example: picking up his menu, he scanned through the options before requesting pork chops. Which promptly appeared on his plate. This got everyone moving and soon people around the Great Hall had their plates full with the dishes of their choice.

The dinner passed in a rather pleasant atmosphere with discussion of how Durmstrang and Beauxbaton were different from Hogwarts dominating the Champions' table. Obviously, everyone was extolling their schools, and Fleur was particularly boastful about the greatness of Beauxbaton, going on and on about the chorus of wood Nymphs serenading for the students and the vast flower gardens surrounding the castle.

Eventually, the dinner came to an end. Dumbledore once again stood up to make an announcement that the ball was about to begin and that the four Champions and their dates will have the opening dance. He also introduced The Weird Sisters, a very popular band of Magical musicians, who, despite their name, were all wizards. Harry hadn't even noticed when they had arrived and set up on the stage. And, judging by the reactions from the people around the Great Hall, he was far from the only one to miss that.

Dumbledore then waved his wand in a somewhat complicated pattern, causing the lanterns on the tables dim significantly, which a number of previously-obscured candles floating in the air lit up, with most of the light being directed at the 'dance floor'.

"May I have the honor of having this dance with you, my lady?" Harry asked Astoria as soon as the Hogwarts Headmaster finished announcing that the Yule Ball was about to start for real.

"It would be my pleasure." She replied with a small curtsy before accepting his offered hand. They then followed the three other pairs onto the dance floor and waited for the music to start playing. And, indeed, only a few moments later The Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune. Then the dancing started.

Harry had actually gotten quite into waltzing with Astoria, so much so that the tune coming to a 'sudden' end and the applause from the audience caught him by surprise a little. He did his absolute best not to show that.

Now that the first dance was over, Harry wanted to uphold the promise he had made to Flora and Hestia. Namely, that after this first dance he was theirs for the rest of the night. 'Tori, of course, knew about that promise too and silently followed the young Potter's lead as he made his way to where the Clique stood.

"Heiress Greengrass." Harry said with a polite bow as he addressed Daphne. "I bring your sister back as promised, safe and sound and, hopefully, in high spirit"

"Thank you, Heir Potter." Daphne replied, gently pulling Astoria to her side.

"Now then." Flora and Hestia said. "Let's go dancing, Harry." And without really waiting for his answer, the twins practically dragged him back to the dance floor. The next song was already playing - thankfully something faster and much more upbeat than the first one - and the people were already dancing. And not just the students; the Professors were dancing as well: Dumbledore was currently waltzing with Madame Maxime who moved with incredible grace for someone of her stature.

From there on the world turned into a blur for Harry as for the next hour or so it was one dance after another for him. Flora and Hestia were taking turns, changing over every time a new song started playing, or sometimes even mid-song.

Eventually, though, the three of them needed a bit of rest and, after navigating through the crowds on the dance floor, escaped into a Magical garden the Professors had set up on the lawn in front of the castle to cool off.

"Want me to get you some drinks?" Harry asked his girlfriends. "I think I saw a table with butterbeers and other stuff on our way here."

"That would be great." Hestia said. Her sister nodded in agreement.

"Alright." Harry said then. "I'll be back in a minute." With that he got up from the bench the three of them had 'claimed' is a quiet alcove within the garden and headed back into the castle.

As he made his way into the Great Hall, the young Potter almost immediately heard some people arguing in raised tones. Letting out an annoyed sigh, he went to see what was going on and why the Professors or other Prefects haven't dealt with this yet.

"...It's about winning!" A boy shouted angrily. "And I bet you've been feeding all of the information you can on what our Champions are doing! Or, I suppose you've been putting your heads together during those cozy little library sessions to solve that puzzle box before anyone else can!"

"I'll have you know that Victor never asked me a single thing about the Tasks. And he hasn't asked for any help with the puzzle chest either." Hermione replied angrily, obviously annoyed by that boy. Pushing through a small crowd surrounding the arguing duo, Harry saw that Ms. Granger's opponent was none other than her red-haired classmate, Ronald Weasley.

"What is going on here?" Harry asked. He actually had some idea already based on the part of their argument he had overheard, but it was better to get the information from the involved parties directly so that there is no misunderstanding of the situation on his part.

"This traitor has been helping our enemy win the Tournament!" Ron accused, pointing at Hermione. "She even went with Krum to the ball instead of picking one of our own like she should've."

"And I'm telling him that Victor didn't ask for any help with the Tournament from me." The not-so-bushy-haired brunette replied. "Plus there is no rule that says one can attend the ball with a date only from their own school." She paused for a moment before adding: "In fact… I don't hear you complaining about Mr. Davies being Ms. Delacour's date."

"There indeed is no rule against coming to the Yule Ball with a date from another school." Harry confirmed. "And given how the purpose of the Tournament is to build connections between the schools, I don't see why such a rule would ever be put in place."

"See." Hermione said, sounding quite smug in a 'told you so' way.

"B-But…" Ron tried to come up with some retort, but couldn't and so just glared angrily at Hermione, Harry and anyone else in the small crowd around them who wasn't taking his side - which was pretty much everyone.

"Drop it Weasley." Harry commanded, summoning his authority as a Prefect. "Tonight is supposed to be a night of fun and dancing, and no one wants to listen to you raising jack over something only you see an issue with." The red-haired boy let out an unintelligible growl before storming off.

"Thank you." Hermione said.

"Don't mention it." Harry replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Now, if you excuse me, I'll be on my way." And with that he continued on his way towards where he thought he had seen a table with butterbeers. Only to run into Victor Krum - who was carrying two bottles of the drink - as soon as he cleared the crowd. Without really meaning to, the young Potter ended up giving him a glare.

"Vat is ze matter, Mr. Potter?" He asked, apparently completely unaware of what had just happened down here. Harry sighed and shook his head before pressing ahead. Hermione could deal with that on her own.

From there on, it wasn't long before he finally found the table with the refreshments. It was only half-full at this point, but still had plenty of drinks and snacks left. So he quickly picked three bottles of butterbeer before heading back into the gardens where the twins were waiting for him.

"You've been away for so long, Harry." Flora …whined when Harry finally rejoined her and Hestia in the garden. "What happened?"

"Had to step in and deal with some commotion that no one else was willing to stop." He explained himself as he handed the butterbeer bottles to the twins.

"Only you, Harry…" Hestia said with a small sigh, shaking her head slightly. "Cheers!" She then called to click glasses - well, bottles.

The lover trio spend some time in 'their' alcove relaxing and exchanging some kisses. Nothing that would bring the Professors, should any of them decide to patrol the garden, down on them, of course. But it was still a pretty fun time for the three of them.

After some time, the twins decided that they had been resting for long enough and it was time for them to return to the Great Hall for some more dancing before the Yule Ball was officially over. Which wouldn't be for at least another hour yet: The Weird Sisters were definitely nowhere near done with their performance for the evening.

Mercifully for everyone's feet, the band was playing slow songs more often now. Otherwise, Madam Pomfrey would have had her hands very full the following morning… On second thought, she'll probably have to deal with a large number of students with sore feet regardless. But that was something for the Matron to worry about.

For the students, the ball was a chance to cut loose and enjoy themselves. And Harry, Flora and Hestia certainly did enjoy themselves immensely as they glided across the dance floor.

Eventually though, the ball came to an end. The Weird Sisters played the final song for the night and were given a long round of applause by everyone still in the Great Hall. Then the Professors sent the students to their dormitories.

"Did you enjoy tonight?" Harry asked his girlfriends as the three of them were slowly making their way back into the Slytherin dungeons.

"It's been great." Hestia said while her sister nodded in agreement. The ball has indeed been very enjoyable, especially with how many of the songs played tonight weren't something one would ever hear during the stuffy upper-class parties adults organized for each other. And dancing to those songs was so much fun!

"But who said it's over?" Flora asked mischievously next. She then glanced around to make sure no one was paying much attention to them, before nudging them onto a different path, one that led towards Harry's 'secret' hideout. "The night is still young."

That's all, folks!
Read and review.