Chapter Text
Harry stared at the parchment he had been writing on, brain working on overdrive, although not on the assignment in front of him. He had to find a date. By the end of the day. Harry went through the list in his head of every possible girl that he could ask and every option just didn’t feel okay. The thought of dancing with most of them made anxiety constrict his chest; he knew the champions had to do the opening dance. But then he thought maybe he could go with one of his friends as a friend. But the only girl he was comfortable going with as friends was Hermione and she was taken.
Groaning, Harry let his forehead thud against the table. There was no way he was going to find a date to the Yule Ball.
“Harry?” Ron whispered concernedly, but Harry just waved him off. He didn’t think it’d be any use sharing his crisis with his best friend. Ron was probably also trying to think of someone to ask before they went to sleep that night.
He forced his frantic thinking to stop and he made himself work the problem over slowly. Harry had to find someone he was comfortable dancing with, which meant his date was most likely going to be someone he knew he was already comfortable hugging. Okay. That was an okay list of people, but it became really slim when he cut it down to girls at Hogwarts who didn’t already have dates. The list actually became nonexistent, Harry realized. He also realized he’d come to this conclusion already and let out another frustrated groan.
Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind that made him freeze momentarily. What if he didn’t go with a girl? What if he went with another boy as friends? It didn’t seem like such a bad idea after contemplating it for a moment. Harry thought of some of the boys he’d want to go with and the first person that popped into his head was sitting right in front of him. Fred Weasley. Fred didn’t have a date yet and Harry knew he was perfectly comfortable with most physical affection from the twin since Harry was already fairly close with him, so dancing would be no problem. Asking Fred seemed like the perfect solution.
The thought of going to the ball with the older twin made his cheeks heat up. That was new, Harry thought, but he pushed that out of his mind for the moment. Harry sighed in relief at his brilliant idea and sat up to continue his work. The thought of going with Fred was the only thing so far that didn’t make him nervous. Now he just had to hope he said yes. Harry decided he’d ask Fred later that day after classes.
When he finally found the redhead later, him and George were sitting in the common room with Lee Jordan. Harry took a deep breath before steeling his nerves and walking over to the three boys.
“Fred?” Harry asked once he was standing in front of them. He felt three pairs of eyes focus on him and it made him want to turn back around. He was already nervous and being the center of attention didn’t help settle him.
“Whatcha need Harry?” Fred flicked his hair out of his face with a quick jerk of his head as he turned to face Harry. For the second time that day the eldest twin made him blush. It was from putting himself in the spotlight, Harry told himself. It was not because he thought the hair flick or the lopsided smile that accompanied it were really cute.
“Could I talk to you for a moment?” Harry clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back on his heels a little bit as he waited for an answer.
“Sure,” Fred said. He got to his feet and followed the younger wizard off to the side of the common room where there was no one to really listen in on their conversation. Fred leaned against the wall. “What can I do for ya?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to go to the ball with me,” Harry said, looking down at his feet, then added to clarify, “As friends.” He looked up at Fred with a hopeful look and saw surprise on the redhead’s features. “I don’t think I’m comfortable going with anyone else who doesn’t already have a date. Not that you’re my last choice! The champions have to open the ball and I don’t think I can dance with anyone else and-”
“I’d be happy to go to the ball with you,” Fred cut him off.
“Really?” Harry stared at the twin in shock.
“Yeah,” Fred smiled. “It’ll be fun. I was just gonna ask one of the girls to go as friends anyway. This’ll be way better.”
“There’s no other boys you’d want to go with?” Harry asked, still a little bit in shock and wanting to make sure the twin really did want to go with him. He didn’t want to ruin Fred’s chance at an actual date to the ball.
“Nah,” Fred shrugged. “No one’s really caught my eye.”
“Okay,” Harry smiled, letting his skepticism melt away and standing a little taller. He ignored the strange pang in his chest when Fred said he wasn’t interested in anyone. “Thanks.”
“Anytime,” Fred said and reached out to ruffle Harry’s hair, then pulled him into a side hug. “I should get back to George and Lee.”
“Wait!” Fred still had his arm around Harry, but stopped moving away. “Are you any good at dancing?”
“The best,” Fred grinned cockily. Harry couldn’t help a small laugh.
“Good. I don’t know how to dance,” he said, pushing his messed up hair out of his face. “You can lead.”
“Don’t worry,” Fred said. “I’ll make sure you look great on the dance floor.”
Harry nodded with an amused look and watched as Fred walked away. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, then went to go sit with Hermione. She was reading what looked to be a textbook at one of the tables.
“What were you talking to Fred about?” she asked Harry as he sat down next to her. Hermione looked up at him, waiting for him to answer.
“I asked him if he wanted to go to the ball with me as friends,” he answered.
“And?”
“And what?”
“And what’d he say?”
“Oh! He said yes,” Harry grinned. It was odd how light and happy he felt saying that out loud, but he didn’t think too much into it. He was just glad to have found a date to the ball. Harry glanced over at Fred. He was laughing and Harry couldn’t help that his cheeks turned heated up once again or the strange fluttery feeling in his chest.
“You’re just going as friends?” Hermione asked with a curious look. Harry turned to look back at her and cocked his head slightly.
“Yeah, why?” he asked. He had just said that they were going as friends.
“No reason,” the witch said. Hermione looked deep in thought for a moment before blinking a few times and turning back to her book.
“You’re really not going to tell me who your date to the ball is?” Harry asked.
“Nope,” Hermione said, not even bothering to look up from her book.