Disclaimer- I wonder what would actually happen if I claimed all the credit for Harry Potter. Oh well, I really don't care to find out any time soon.

Chapter 12- The Halloween Dance

Harry's breath was caught in his throat. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Voldemort, here at Hogwarts, this was not good. Immediately Harry whipped out his wand and prepared to start firing off every spell he knew. But then something very odd happened, another Voldemort stepped into view. Something was not right. There was not two Voldemorts. Harry decided to stun them both and see what was going on, but before the spell left his mouth there was a loud POP! And both of the Voldemorts disappeared. Instead, there were two third year boys lying on the floor with grins spread wide over their faces.

Harry just scowled at them as they began laughing hysterically. "Someone go get Dumbledore. I'll stay here with them." Harry said out loud, but before anyone could do anything McGonagall came running down the corridor, hand on her hat to keep it from flying off.

"What in the world is going on here?" She asked, cheeks flustered.

At once, everyone in the hall began talking.

"It was YOU-KNOW-WHO, Professor!" A second year boy shouted.

"No it wasn't. It was just Malcolm and Graham. They are in Slytherin Third Year. I have Potions with them!" Another third year Gryffindor responded.

"I saw YOU-KNOW-WHO; I know it was him!" A Hufflepuff said from behind Harry.

It was then that Harry realized that it wasn't only Gryffindors standing in the corridor. It looked as if the whole school had come when they heard all the shouting. Everything was still in an uproar. Students were shouting and others looked scared to death. Still, no one could get the story straight.

"It was HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED! He was here, but he got scared and fled. Those two Slytherins must have been in his way, and they got knocked when he disapparated." A Ravenclaw was telling her friend.

"That isn't possible. No one can apparate or disapparate in Hogwarts." Hermione said coming up behind the Ravenclaws.

"Well then, what happened if you're so smart?" The first girl asked.

"These two Slytherins decided that it would be funny to eat some Boggart Bubblegum and scare the entire school." Hermione said fuming. "I am going to kill Fred and George. That was the stupidest invention they have ever come up with!"

But it seemed like Harry, Hermione, and Professor McGonagall were the only ones upset by the third years joke. Everyone else was laughing and slapping the two boys on the back. McGonagall was yelling and screaming at everyone in sight, Hermione was holding her chest and breathing heavily, and Harry just held his wand to his side and stood in disbelief.

"Mr. Allen, Mr. Sooner, follow me to my office immediately." McGonagall told the boys who were still grinning widely. "Harry, Hermione, can you get all the other students back into their houses? If anyone gives you any problems just send them straight to the headmaster."

"Yes, Professor." They said in unison.

As soon as McGonagall was gone Harry turned to Hermione and sighed. They each began to herd the students back to their houses. After about 20 minutes they met back up in the common room and collapsed in the armchairs by the fire.

"Well that was fun, don't you think?" Hermione asked Harry smiling.

"Oh yea, loads of fun. This is all I need. The dance is in a week and I'm already about to die from nerves. Now this. What else can go wrong?"

"Nothing else is going to go wrong, Harry. Everything will be fine. Why are you so worked up about the dance? You have no reason to be. Ginny is crazy about you and will stand by you no matter what. Even if you embarrass her by you're dancing." Hermione smiled at Harry.

"Am I really that bad of a dancer?" Harry asked panic stricken.

"Of course, not, Harry. Well, I'm going to head on to sleep. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Hermione."

A week later, Harry and Ron were in the boy's dormitory getting ready to go to the dance. Ron came out of the bathroom in a set of casual robes of deep blue that contrasted perfectly with his flaming red hair. Harry, however, had on a set of crimson robes that matched with the color of his eyes and was identical to the red color of Gryffindor.

Together they walked down the stairs and into the common room to meet Ginny and Hermione. Hermione came down first in a spunky pink dress with black lace trim that fell just over her knees and a pair of strappy black heels. It was not Hermione, though, that Harry's attention was fixed on. It was the girl behind her.

Ginny had on a short little black dress with a thick strap over one shoulder. Harry couldn't help noticing how fitted the dress was and how perfect each color shined on Ginny's face. When Ginny came up to Harry, he sputtered trying to get the word out of his mouth.

"You look amazing, Ginny. Here, this is for you." Harry handed her a corsage full of bright red flowers, and a small box wrapped in gold paper.

Ginny let Harry pin on her corsage, and opened the small gift. She smiled when she picked up the beautiful silver chain and tiny pink jewel charm out of the box.

"Harry, it's beautiful. Thank you so much. I love it." She turned around and let Harry put the necklace around her neck. "Are you ready to go?" She asked, when she turned back around.

"Absolutely." He replied not feeling nervous at all anymore. Ginny looked perfect, she had loved his gift, and he hadn't managed to trip yet. Everything was going all right.

The four of them headed down to the Great Hall where Ron and Hermione were meeting their dates. Susan Bones was waiting on Ron just outside the door and she looked very cute and classy in a long pink silk dress. Ron greeted her very politely, but kept turning and looking in Hermione's direction. He was obviously waiting to see her date, Justin Flench-Fletchly. Hermione had only told them the day before that he had asked her, and Ron seemed oddly cold towards him ever since.

When Justin arrived he sweetly took Hermione's hand and kissed it softly. Ron had the biggest look of disgust on his face. However, the look seemed to disappear as the six of them began to head into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall looked similar to how it had on the night of the Yule Ball. Instead of Christmas decorations, though, everything seemed to be black or orange. And there was not a "champions" table either. In fact, there were no tables at all. Dinner was to be served later in each house common room.

As far as music was concerned, Harry had no idea where it was coming from. Common wizard songs could be heard throughout the whole hall, and yet there was not a bad nor speaker in sight. Harry didn't give it much thought, however, because a slow song could be heard, and Ginny was tugging on Harry's dress robes to get his attention.

"This is one of my favorites, Harry. Let's dance." She said softly to him.

He nodded, took her hand, and led her to the middle of the dance floor. Girls dancing all around Harry and Ginny kept shooting Ginny envious glares, while the guys around them were patting Harry on the back and saying, "Nice catch."

Ginny laid her head on Harry's chest, and Harry let his eyes wonder around him. He noted that Hermione seemed to be really enjoying herself with Justin. It was obvious that they were not seriously into each other, but were having a great time dancing as friends. It was common knowledge that Justin had previously had a large crush on Hermione, but it seemed as if he was over that and was just enjoying her company now.

Ron was doing a much better job than at the Yule Ball. He was actually out on the dance floor, dancing happily with Susan. They looked to be having a good time, but Harry noticed that Ron still kept glancing at Hermione whenever she was in his range of vision.

The odd thing was that Hermione was doing the same. It was at exact opposite times, however, so the two kept missing each other. Harry knew that they each had a thing for the other, but it was getting them to accept the fact themselves.

It wasn't his two best friends that held his attention for the majority of the dance, though. Most of the time, Ginny was his sole fixation. He could hardly keep his eyes off of her, and when he wasn't looking at her, he was thinking about her. Through all of the fast songs, in which Ginny got a good laugh at Harry for his horrible dancing skills, her smile and the light in her eyes mesmerized him. Then during each slow song, he got to hold her close and decided that he would never let her go unless it was to protect her. He would never let anything bad happen to her.

Ginny was so different from Cho. She made him feel so happy and alive when she was with him, while Cho made him feel sad, depressed, and worried. Harry was so happy now, and he didn't want that feeling to ever go away. He wanted to stay in that moment forever.

As the final song came to a close, Harry bent down and gave Ginny the deepest kiss he had ever given. It was short, but he put all of himself and all of his feelings into it, and Ginny did the same in return.

All right, everyone. I give you all complete permission to cuss me out as much as you want for taking so long to update. I had honestly given up on the story and didn't want to write any more. But I was bored one morning and decided to at least finish chapter 12 which I was already half way through. So I did, and it isn't near as long as any other chapter in the story, but it covers what needs to be covered, and it doesn't end in a cliff hanger, so at least if I don't write any more or it's a long time before I can write again, then you won't be left on a cliffy. I really don't know if I will write again. But if I do, then it will be a very long time once again before I post. That's really all I have to say, so I hope you enjoyed this very very short chapter.