Destiny

The Dance

Chapter 13

Looking carefully in the mirror, Destiny wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue at her reflection.

"Beautiful," Lily whispered.

"I guess..."

"You'll be the Belle of the ball," James said softly, giving her a gentle smile.

"We'll see. We'll see..."

*****

In the boys' dorm, Harry was trying to calm a panicked Ron down enough to show him how to knot his tie.

"Ron! Calm down! It's just Hermione!"

"But it's not! This is a date! It's different!"

"No, it's not. It'll still be Hermione- the same bossy, know- it- all Hermione who won't let us copy her notes or homework."

"You're right," Ron said taking a calming breath. "I'm calm."

"Good," Harry replied. "Now hold still and let me tie that!

*****

Waiting in the common room for Hermione, Harry sighed. His dress robes were made out of a heavy winter material and were way to hot to be worn in doors. They were a dark green with a black interior and fell perfectly on his lithe six foot frame.

'Not that it matters if I'm sweating; I don't have a date.'

He had originally decided to go without a date and to just hangout with other people, but now he was starting to regret his choice. He was positive that as soon as Hermione came down those stairs, Ron would completely forget about him.

And indeed he did.

'Not that I blame him,' Harry thought with awe.

Hermione was dressed in the lightest of silver. Her dress was floor length with a low cut back and a front that went all the way up and snapped behind her neck. Her hair- like in fourth year- had been straightened and seemed to shine. She had done her make-up so that while light, could still be seen. She looked great and her dress would match Ron's navy blue robes perfectly.

"Wow," Ron breathed.

Noticing with a smirk that Ron seemed to be temporarily stunned into silence, he stepped forward and said, "You look great, Hermione!"

"Thanks!" she replied, grinning. "You don't look so bad yourself. Ron?"

"You pretty very! I mean- you look very pretty."

Snorting at his friend's loss of speech, Harry stated, "We need to go or we'll be late."

At the entrance to the Great Hall, people were meeting their dates and exclaiming over dresses, while the boys' complained about how uncomfortable their suits were. After entering the Hall, Harry looked around. Christmas trees had been set up all around the room. The long house tables had been removed; in their place were little round tables and a space had been left in the center of the room for dancing. Little fairies were twinkling around the room; landing in people's hair and making everything shine. The most spectacular thing was the light snowfall that was coming from the ceiling- which was not only warm but also not sticking anywhere.

"Hermione, would you like to dance?" Ron asked, drawing Harry out of his thoughts.

"I'd love to." Turning to Harry, she asked, "You don't mind do you Harry?"

"No-"Smiling, they hurried off. "I'll just go stand by myself somewhere..."

Thirty minutes later, Harry was still sitting alone at the table he had chosen. Girls had come up to ask him to dance- especially the younger years- but Harry just didn't want to embarrass himself with them.

Shifting uncomfortably, Harry sighed with relief when he saw his friends approaching him.

'Finally,' he thought.

"Hey there, Harry. You been having fun?" Ron asked with a stupid grin on his face.

"Yeah," he said sarcastically, "loads."

*****

Stepping cautiously off the Ghost Roads, Destiny shook her hair off her shoulders and started towards the school.

"Someday my prince will come..." she sang softly to herself as she strolled up to Hogwarts. Smiling charmingly, she opened the door and entered the ball.

*****

"Wow!"

Looking over at Ron from where he had been staring at the wall, Harry raised his eyebrows at him. When a sudden hush fell over the crowd, Harry followed everyone's gaze.

"Destiny..." Harry whispered in awe.

Standing before him was a girl that could easily be mistaken as a goddess. Everything about her seemed to shine, from her dress, to her hair, to her very eyes. She was a vision. She wore a thigh length dress that had a shear piece of material that swirled around to her feet except in the front where it opened to an upside down V. It was the lightest of blues- a topaz that accented her eyes perfectly. She had let her hair out of the usual up do' and it swirled around her in perfect ringlet curls that fell to her waist. Some of it had been piled up with flowers, leaving little curls to frame her face. The glitter in her hair had been spread to her arms and face, giving her the illusion of being an angel.

Looking around, she caught sight of him, smiled dazzlingly, and started in his direction. Nobody made a sound.

"Hello Harry," she said in her American accent. "Ron, Hermione, how have you been?"

"You're gorgeous!" Harry exclaimed. Giving himself a mental kick, he immediately realized how Ron had felt.

As Destiny started to giggle, he opened his eyes. Shifting nervously, he looked around himself trying to feel more grounded. He was immensely relieved to see that people had gone back to minding their own business with only the occasional glance in their direction.

"Harry?" Destiny asked worriedly. "Are you okay? You're just kind of standing there..."

Smiling, he said, "I'm fine. I'm great!" Reaching out, he took her little hand in his and asked her to dance.

Nodding her acceptance, she admitted quietly, "I'm a horrible dancer. I'll be stepping all over your toes."

"Good," he said decisively, "We can embarrass ourselves and spend time in the hospital wing together!"

Laughing good-naturedly, she tightened her grip on his hand and allowed herself to be pulled onto the dance floor.

"So how do you Brits usually go about this?" she asked curiously.

"I have no idea!" he admitted with a snort. "How do Americans dance?"

Smiling, she started bouncing up and down, moving her body around provocatively while raising her arms in the air. "Like this!"

Harry's eyes widened when he saw the slinky moves. As the song ended and the music suddenly changed, he breathed a sigh of relief. 'Thank you God!' Hearing the slow tune, he stepped forwards and pulled her into his arms, resting his head on top of hers.

*****

Feeling Harry's arms wrap around her waist, she tightened her grip on his neck, moving closer. When he rested his head on top of hers, she laid hers on his shoulder and allowed her eyes to drift shut. When they opened again, out of the corner of her eye, she could see Lily jumping up and down while grabbing James' shoulders.

'She must be ecstatic. She's been pushing this for so long...'

Stirring a little, Destiny murmured to Harry, "Where's your date?"

"I don't have one; I was hoping you would show up. If you didn't, there's no one else I wanted to be here with..."

Feeling a fluttering sensation in her stomach, she whispered, "And here I am... Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Waiting for me?"

"Because-"

"I have to ask you something," she interrupted. Gently Destiny pulled away from him.

"What is it?" Harry asked concerned.

"You do realize that I am completely screwed up right? I mean, my life- my entire world- will never be normal."

"Neither will mine. I've got a psychotic freak trying to kill me all the time!"

Shaking her head sadly, she said earnestly, "But sooner or later Voldemort will be defeated and you'll be able to have the life you deserve... a normal life with friends and a family. I'll never have that. I'll always be different; I'll always be on the run. No matter how hard I try, I'll never be equal..."

"Isn't that what you were trying to change with your bargain with Dumbledore?"

Looking down at her feet with a blank look, she whispered almost to herself, "Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to believe in equality? It won't happen, there's no such thing. I'm campaigning for Dark Creatures to be able to hold real jobs. Nothing more, nothing less. But... I've learned you have to think big to be able to achieve even the minimum of results. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"You're free to walk away now... Before it gets anymore complicated, no hard feelings."

"No." Shaking his head, he added, "Now it's my turn to ask some questions. Why are you so insecure? Do you really believe that nobody has the brains to look past a branded title to see the real person?"

"That's the way it's always been for me. Why should now be any different?"

"Because I'm not everyone else."

She knew an amazed look must be passing over her face but she didn't care- not anymore. For the first time she realized that he truly was going to accept her the way she was. What better a person could there ever be?"

Smiling happily, she leaned up against him, listened to the music and just enjoyed the feeling of his arms around her. She knew that in a few minutes she would have to return to the real world where loneliness and pain were her very existence. For the moment though, all that mattered was being in Harry's arms.

As the song drew to a close, neither of them moved. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, "Would you like to take a walk with me around the lake?"

"I'd love to," she answered with all sincerity.

Taking her hand, he led her through the crowd and out of the school. Walking down the stairs, past bushes with sparkling fairies, and the light snowfall coming down, it was perfect.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked concerned.

"Perfect. Why do you ask?"

Chuckling softly, Harry said softly, "You're shaking."

"I'm a little cold is all. You know, what with this stupid dress and all."

"I like your dress." Harry smiled, stepping closer and wrapping an arm around her.

"I suddenly do too!" she said pressing closer to him.

As they approached the lake, she sighed. There was a crescent moon in the sky and it glistened on the lake. Walking over to a rock by the water, she carefully lowered herself down. Squeezing Harry's hand, she pointed to the sky.

"That's Sirius, the Dog Star. Very appropriate, huh?"

"Yeah."

"And there's Orion's Belt, which is part of a constellation. And that's Andromeda."

"Do you know all their names?"

"Yeah. When I was little, I used to spend hours just gazing up at them. They were so peaceful... No matter what happened below them, you could always count on them to keep right on shining. They were a total constancy of my life... I've never had many of those... Tell me something about yourself."

"Well..." Thinking for a while, Harry finally told her about his love for Quidditch and flying. "...I always feel so free. Like nothing can hurt me while I'm up there... You missed the game against Hufflepuff."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You still have the spot if you still wish to play."

Giving a shriek of happiness, she threw her arms around him and hugged him close. "Thank you!" Drawing back, she froze mere inches away.

"You have the most beautiful eyes," Harry murmured, reaching out and cupping her check in his hand. "I've never seen that color before..."

"Yeah..." Destiny whispered scooting closer to him. "Creepy."

"No, just unique..."

Leaning down, Harry brushed his lips against hers. Looking into his eyes for a moment, she let her eyes flutter shut and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his lips to hers for her first real kiss.