Who: Ginny, Neville What: Post Yule-Ball When: Backdated! 1994 Where: Hogwarts Rating: S for Snog.
The ball was winding down. Ginny had been nervous about it going in, and a little. . . well maybe more than a little chagrined that if she hadn't accepted Neville's invitation, Harry might have asked her. It wasn't that she didn't like Neville, she did! But still, old crushes died hard.
As the night went on though, Ginny had seen how dismal a time Harry's actual date was having. (And Ron's. Though given what a git her brother had been about everything, Ginny wasn't surprised by that one.) Still, she was a bit glad that it wasn't HER sitting around bored while Harry mooned over Cho.
Instead, she was there with a friend, and having fun. And all right, Neville might have stepped on her toes a few times at first, and he'd dripped some punch down the front of her robes. But she'd accidentally elbowed him in the stomach, and managed to hook his cuff links on her sleeve, so it worked out.
And as the night went on, Neville had relaxed, and so had she, and it turned out he wasn't a terrible dancer, and neither was she. They'd actually had fun, and Ginny hadn't had to worry about Neville wanting to be with anyone else - as far as she knew, anyway.
So she was glad she'd come, and as the band started to pack up for the night, Ginny gave Neville's hand a little tug. "Come on - I think everyone's heading out. Want to get a little air before we go up to the Common?" If there was ever a night they could get away with being out after hours, it was tonight after all.