George could hear his brother as he went over how he was going to ask out Harry as they made their way down to the Great Hall. "You know, Freddie, I'm sure Harry won't care if you don't ask him out in the most extravagant way possible."

"But this is Harry we're talking about," Fred protested. "He deserves everything to be perfect, including the way I ask!"

George rolled his eyes as Fred continued his mantra of "Want to go to the Yule Ball with me?" under his breath. A couple times, Fred messed up, causing him to squeak and moan about Harry laughing at him.

"Want to Yule to the Ball with- no, that's not it. Ball Yule- what the fuck?"

"Calm down there, Romeo," Lee said as the twins took a seat. "You'll do fine."

Fred looked over at the Ravenclaw table, where Harry sat with Luna as usual.

Harry suddenly laughed at something Luna said, and Fred inwardly melted at the sight.

When breakfast was over, Harry stood and began heading for class. Luna, however, walked right up to Fred and said, "Now's a good time."

Fred could only stare in bewilderment at the third year as she smiled and skipped off after Harry. He jumped as George nudged him.

"You heard her," he said. "Go!" He laughed as Fred scrambled to his feet, knocking over a goblet in his haste.

To Fred's relief, Harry and Luna were alone. "Hey, Harry!" he called.

They both turned. Harry gave Fred a warm, brilliant smile. "Hey, Fred. What's up?"

"Uhh-" Fred looked at Luna.

"I'll leave you two alone," Luna said. She wandered off, humming a little.

"Got a date yet?" Harry asked.

Fred was so startled he answered. "No."

"Me, neither. Have you seen all those girls, though? Pretty overwhelming." Harry shuddered.

"Oh, so you don't want to go to the ball?" Well, there goes my chance, Fred thought ruefully.

"Not really, but as a champion, I have to open it. Yay me," Harry said, voice heavy with sarcasm. He looked up at Fred. "Do you want to go with me?"

Fred, who had been about to say "Do you Ball to the Yule with me?" (which would not have made any sense whatsoever), was caught off guard. "Us?"

"Sure, why not? We've been friends since my first year here, and-" here, Harry paused and gathered up his courage- "I've had a crush on you since third year, so why not?"

"Oh!" Fred had definitely not been expecting that and he was definitely blushing. "Sure. I'd love to."

"Great. Can't wait." And then Harry gave Fred a warm smile. "See you later."

Fred was left staring after him with a gobsmacked expression on his face. Then he stumbled back into the Great Hall.

When he reunited with George, Fred still had that dazed smile on his face. "I take it he said yes?" George said.

"Actually, he asked me," Fred said. "And I said yes."

George grinned. "Nice."

Ron was walking down the entrance hall when he saw Fleur talking with Cedric. As he passed, he suddenly blurted out, "Do you want to go to the ball with me?"

Fleur turned to him and eyed him up and down dismissively but gave no response.

A moment later, Ron snapped out of his daze and, with an extremely embarrassed squeak, turned and sped off.

Ginny found him in the common room with his head in his hands. "What's wrong, Ron?"

"I asked Fleur out to the ball," he moaned. "I don't know what came over me!"

"She's part Veela," Ginny said. "You must've gotten affected by her allure."

"This is mad," said Ron. "We're the only ones left who haven't got anyone- even Neville asked out someone!"

At that moment, Hermione came in. "Why aren't you two at dinner?"

"Ron was turned down," Ginny said.

"Thanks," Ron snapped.

"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?" said Hermione loftily. "Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."

Ron was suddenly staring at her as if he had never seen anything more interesting. "Hermione, you're a girl..."

"Well spotted."

"Well, you can come with me."

"No, I can't," snapped Hermione.

"Oh come on," Ron said impatiently, "I need a partner, I'm going to look really stupid if I haven't got any, everyone else has..."

"I can't come with you," said Hermione, "because I'm already going with someone."

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!" And then she stormed off.

"She's lying," said Ron flatly, watching her go.

"She's not," said Ginny quietly.

"Who is it then?" said Ron sharply.

"I'm not telling you, it's her business," said Ginny.

"Right, this is getting stupid." Ron then spotted Parvati and Lavender coming through the portrait hole. "Hey, will either of you go to the ball with me?"

Both girls giggled. "Lavender's going with Seamus, but I'll go with you," Parvati said.

"Great."

"Wait, what about Hermione?" Lavender asked.

"She said she's going with someone else," Ron said, still not believing her.

"Oooh- who?"

"I don't know. Doesn't matter. Thanks, Parvati."

Meanwhile, a letter had been sent off.

Remus nearly leapt out of his skin when Sirius let out a whoop. "What got you so happy?"

"Luna said Harry asked Fred to the ball," Sirius said, grinning widely.

"That's great," Remus said, a grin of his own forming.

"Hell, yeah!"

"But it also means you lost the bet."

"What bet?"

"You said Fred would ask Harry. I said the opposite would happen."

Sirius blinked a few times, his grin vanishing. Muttering under his breath, he handed Remus a Galleon. He cheered up when Remus gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

Frarry (or whatever their ship name would be) is a go