"Ugh, boys."

Hermione walked into the dorm she shared with Analeigh, dropping her bag on the side table and flopping down on her four poster bed. Analeigh, who had been reading to kill time after she and Cedric worked on the clue together in the prefect's bathroom, closed her book and raised her eyebrows questioningly at the bushy-haired girl.

As if sensing Analeigh's curiosity, Hermione sighed. "After years of being stuck with Harry and Ron, they never fail to annoy me."

Analeigh laughed, scooting towards the edge of her bed and letting her legs dangle. "How was the rest of the Hogsmeade trip?"

"Same old, same old. Went around, looked at shops, and drank Butterbeer. How about you?"

"Well, Cedric and I figured out the clue."

"You did?" Hermione gasped, sitting up. Crookshanks, who had just settled himself beside her, hissed loudly and jumped off the bed, walking out of the room. "How? Where? What is it? Why is your hair so wet?"

Analeigh felt her face grow warm a bit. "Oh, that's the thing. We had to open the egg underwater."

"Don't tell me you swam in the Black Lake."

"Is it that bad? Viktor Krum swims there for his morning workout — of course, you would know."

Hermione blushed. "Actually, I wouldn't. I don't watch his every move unlike some of the girls here. Now, back to the topic: did you really swim in the lake for that? Cedric too?"

"Well, no..." Hermione stared at her expectantly. "We went to a bathroom —"

"What?"

"The prefect's bathroom. It's huge and there's a tub the size of a pool in there."

"So, were you, you know, nake —"

"No!" Analeigh exclaimed. "Of course not. Anyway, while the egg just screeches on land when you open it, it actually sings underwater. It was the voice of merpeople, and the song is pretty... chilling. It said that they've taken a treasure of some sort and that we have an hour to take it back."

"But, if merpeople took this treasure... then you'd have to search underwater?"

"Exactly."

★ ★ ★

Days had passed since Analeigh and Cedric worked out the clue, and it was already the day before the Yule Ball. Analeigh had told Harry how to open the golden egg. Cedric said it was only fair that they tell him considering it was he who told him about the dragons before the First Task. However, Harry wanted to hear the song himself, so he planned on sneaking into the prefect's bathroom sooner or later.

During study period, many students were gathered in the Great Hall. Snape was watching over them, ensuring that everybody did their work and preventing anybody from talking.

"This is mad," Ron whispered to Harry. "At this rate, we'll be the only ones in our year without dates."

Analeigh, who sat in between Hermione and Dean, glanced up from her work in mild interest. However, Snape, who could hear Ron despite his efforts to whisper, briskly walked towards the boy and whacked the back of his head with his pocket book. The redhead grumbled in annoyance, but continued talking when the professor left anyway.

"Well, us and Neville."

"But then again, he can take himself," Harry joked.

"It might interest you to know that Neville's already got someone," Hermione interrupted, taking offense in part of the shy boy.

Ron groaned. "Now, I'm really depressed."

Suddenly, a crumpled piece of paper was thrown in Ron's direction. Analeigh looked to where it came from, and it turned out it came from Fred. Out of curiosity, Analeigh couldn't help but lean forward to see what Weasley twin wrote. It was a slight struggle, but she was able to read upside down:

GET A MOVE ON OR ALL THE GOOD ONES WILL HAVE GONE

Ron frowned and said in a low voice, "Who are you going with, then?"

Analeigh watched as Fred raised a hand, signaling his brother to wait. The sixth year tore out another piece of paper, crumpled it, and threw it somewhere else — to the current Gryffindor Quidditch team captain, Angelina Johnson.

"What?" Angelina hissed.

"Will you..." Fred pointed at her. "Go to the ball with me?" He raised his arms up slightly, pretending to dance.

Angelina tried to look disinterested, but she couldn't fight the small smile making its way onto her face.

"Sure."

Fred beamed at her before turning back to his younger brother, a triumphant smirk plastered on his face.

"Hermione," Ron suddenly began. Analeigh was about to get back to her work, but upon heard the tone of Ron's voice, she knew this wasn't going to be good. "You're a girl."

Hermione glared at him. "Oh, well spotted."

"Will you..." Was he actually going to do something as unoriginal by copying Fred? Analeigh thought. Her thoughts were cut short, though, when she noticed Harry frantically tapping Ron. It confused her for a split second, but it all made sense when Snape reappeared behind the two boys, tugging their hair harshly before pushing them down, forcing them to continue with their homework.

Still, Ron kept on talking. "Come on, it's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl, it's just sad."

"That was pretty sexist," Analeigh side-commented.

Dean heard and nodded in agreement. "Downright rude."

"I won't be going alone because believe it or not, someone's asked me," Hermione defended, fuming. She stood up abruptly, stepping out of the bench and walking towards Snape to hand over her already finished work. The two boys and Analeigh watched as she came back and angrily collected her things.

"And I said yes." With that, she stomped away, being the first to leave the hall.

With Ron being the daft and stubborn boy he is and Harry as his best friend, Analeigh chose to leave them be and headed straight to the Gryffindor tower after that study period since she completed her work not too long after Hermione. She was debating whether or not she should check up on the girl up in their room, but decided against it, assuming that she'd want her space to cool down. And so, she made herself comfortable in one of the plush armchairs in front of the fireplace, reading a muggle novel to take a break from studying. About an hour into reading, Harry walked into the common room, but Ron was not with him.

"Where's Ron?" Analeigh asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know if he was being serious, but he said he's going to ask someone to the ball."

Analeigh laughed, slightly impressed. "Is that so? I'm surprised he has the guts to do that."

Harry dropped into the seat next to her. "Me too. I have no idea who I'm going to take."

"To be honest, you can ask pretty much anyone," a new voice said. It was Hermione, whom Analeigh guessed was in a much better mood than earlier. Perhaps it was because Ron was nowhere in sight at the moment. She sat on the other side of Analeigh, joining in on the conversation.

"That's true," Analeigh said. "Everybody loves Harry Potter — well, except of course the Slytherins, maybe some Hufflepuffs, and possibly some Ravenclaws who are still annoyed that you're a Triwizard champion — but other than that, I think you'll do fine."

The green-eyed boy sent her a pointed look. "That doesn't help at all, Leigh."

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Got carried away."

"Seriously though, you can ask any girl in Gryffindor, especially those in our year, and they'd most probably say yes." All Harry did was sigh.

"Come on," Analeigh encouraged him. "What have you got to lose?"

Before he could reply, the portrait door swung open and they were met by the sounds of multiple concerned voiced. Analeigh instantly spotted Ron in the center of a couple of girls, all who seemed worried for his wellbeing. A few of them were even holding him up as if he couldn't walk properly, and one of them was his own sister.

"What happened to you?" Harry asked as he and the two girls stood up.

"He just asked Fleur Delacour out," Ginny explained, setting him down on the couch.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed.

"No way. She already asked Roger, though," Analeigh muttered sympathetically to Ginny.

"He didn't know that," the girl said back, feeling bad for her brother.

"What did she say?" said Harry.

"No, of course." When Ron shook his head at Hermione's words, her jaw dropped. "She said yes?"

"Don't be silly," Ron finally spoke. "There she was, walking by — you know I like it when they walk."

"You like it when they walk?" Analeigh repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, I do. I couldn't help it, it just sort of slipped out."

"Actually, he sort of screamed at her," Ginny cut in. Apparently, she witnessed the entire thing. "It was a bit frightening."

"What did you do, then?" Harry prodded.

"What else? I ran for it. I'm not cut out for this, Harry. I don't know what got into me."

"Your bravery is still a bit... admirable," Analeigh tried to comfort Ron. "But since you clearly didn't know, Fleur already asked someone."

"What?" he said, shocked, not having heard her say it earlier to Ginny. "Why didn't you guys tell me?"

"I'm assuming Harry didn't know," Hermione said.

"Come on, Harry," said Analeigh. "Even the other champions are talking about each other's dates."

He shrugged, guilty. He obviously hadn't been paying attention to the latest events. "Sorry, Ron."

"Besides," the blonde added. "It's not like we knew you were going to ask her out of all people."

"Who'd she ask?" Ron groaned.

"Roger Davies, a seventh year Ravenclaw."

"Now I'm even more embarrassed."

"Sorry."

"Hi, Harry." The Patil twins walked by, completely ignoring a shaken Ron and only focusing on Harry. He smiled slightly in passing, but suddenly, it was as if a switch had turned on in his brain. He had an idea.

"Hey, wait up!"

A/N: I know it's a short filler chapter, but it's my birthday today so I decided to post earlier ✿ Consider this my birthday treat to you guys for never updating consistently lol! Also, the Yule Ball is in the next chapter so YAY! I'm getting closer to finishing all the chapters from the original book, so get ready for some new and much better chapters later on ⚯