Just Before Midnight

It's nothing, it's so normal

Just stand there I could say so much

Bit I don't go there cuz I don't want to

I was thinking if you were lonely

Maybe we could leave here and no one would know

At least not to the point that we would think so

Everyone here, knows everyone here is thinking about somebody else

It's best we all keep it under our heads

I couldn't tell, if anyone here was feeling the way I do

But I'm lonely now, and I don't know how

To get back to good - Matchbox Twenty

***

Potter was dancing with Patil again. Can't tell which one, though, they were dressed in identical outfits of purple and bronze and didn't charm themselves a new hair or eye color. They're worse than the bloody Weasley twins to tell apart.

I can tell it's him because his hair is still as messy as it always is, even though it was charmed blue for the evening. His glasses had been transfigured into weird goggle-like things making him look like a complete git.

This stupid party was that Muggle loving headmaster's idea. No house colors; no house rivalries. Let's have a happy memory for our last year. Leave all prejudices behind and blah, blah, blah.

Ridiculous idea. No fun.

Permission to alter our bodies in any way we wished (within reason, I mean, couldn't you just imagine a stupid First year with horns on his head?).

Weasley, unimaginatively changed with crayon-red hair and yellow eyes, was dancing with a hot number with loooong blond hair and eyes charmed gold. She was wearing a blue-green dress that hugged her all the way to her toes. I caught her profile and gasped. It couldn't be...

An overheard part of their conversation confirmed it: "This is the first time in two hundred years that..." The Weasel's response was a long, drawn out, "Her-myyyyy-kneee!"

Who knew a Mudblood know-it-all could be so hot? And a Weasel so lucky.

I had charmed my own hair into a sleek, shoulder length bob a color of silver so bright it shone like a mirror with eyes to match. The results are dazzling, if I do say so. I attired myself in tasteful black. One can never go wrong with black, Father always said.

I feel like a fool here. Am I the only one who thinks this was the stupidest idea to end all stupid ideas? Anyone with half a brain could figure out who was whom. Longbottom charmed his hair, one could only hope unintentionally, a noxious green that clashed horribly with his muddy gray suit. He was dancing with Hannah Abbott (orange hair, blue eyes, and deep green robes) and stepping on her toes all the while. No sense of style or rhythm in that one.

Crabbe and Goyle were lumped together at table, snickering and pointing at the dancers. They both had changed their hair color to brown and their eye color to green. No imagination in these two. Why do I bother with them?

I was getting restless and shifted in my seat. One can only look so long at their fellow classmates without embarrassing themselves.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my head wishing for a headache or some other life-threatening trauma so I had an excuse to escape this childish dance. I felt a body sit beside me and opened my eyes, prepared to say something snarky so the imbecile would leave my presence.

She was an enchantress.

Her hair was long and inky blue-black. Her eyes were blue flecked with silver sparkles. She was wearing rose -colored robes that brought out the flowers in her cheeks.

I didn't want to turn away.

"You'll catch flies if you keep that mouth open longer, Draco Malfoy. I've always wanted to say that," she chuckled at me.

I closed my mouth with a snap. The enchantress knew my name.

"You have me at an advantage. May I ask who you are?" A Malfoy never concedes in a battle even it was a social one.

She grinned at me. "I'm not going to ruin a perfectly good evening with that. Call me Jenny."

She grabbed my hand, "Let's dance."

I allowed it and followed her as if she were the snitch in a championship game. The song was slow and she leaned against me.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time, but I don't think my brother would have approved of you. He doesn't think straight when your name is mentioned. I never understood the house rivalries. We all go the same school and learn the same things. What's the point? Just show each other up? I can understand at Quidditch, but academically." She stopped and blushed, "Listen to me blathering on and on and not letting you get a word in."

Delightful. "I could never tire of listening to you, 'Jenny.' Tell me why did I attract your attention?"

She blushed even deeper. "There was this... incident my first year here and I got really close to the darkness. I kept pretty much to myself after that and I noticed you after that. You were like shining light; an inspiration for those who have gotten to close the darkness. You didn't let it defeat you. But you hid it from those who could break you. You left them to believe what they wanted to believe and harbored your own beliefs close to you. I saw this and knew you were just like me, fighting to keep the dark away everyday." She sighed and looked down. "Now I've gone a blown it by being too mouthy with the great Draco Malfoy."

She had it right. Hoe could she know? The Malfoy edicts were ingrained on my soul but not the Malfoy beliefs. There was such a thing as free will, after all. Just because I am my father's son doesn't mean I would follow blindly that ugly snake-faced git. His way leads to the ruin of the Wizarding world, even I could see that even if Father couldn't. So I keep my opinions to myself and behave, as any good Slytherrin should until the day when I walk these halls no more.

I placed my hand under her chin and raised her head to reach my eyes. "You see me better that anyone else ever has. How?"

She didn't answer me but leaned in closer still, her arms wrapped around me.

We stayed together for hours. Longbottom tried to cut in but all I had to do was glare at him and he left, whimpering.

The clock struck midnight and McGonagall announced that dance was over, amidst the groans and protests of the couples on the floor.

My angle hugged me. "Thank you for a wonderful evening. I've got to meet my brother and go back to the dormitories." She reached up and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Will I ever see you again?" I asked.

"I've no doubt," she answered as she walked away and disappeared into the crowd.

I strained over the heads of the other students, hoping to catch one more glimpse of 'Jenny'. I saw her by the Weasel. He reached out and rubbed her on the head.

"Where have you been all night, Ginny? We hardly saw you at all."

"I was around, Ron. Honestly, I'm not a baby anymore!" She punched him on the arm.

My sight narrowed into tunnels. Ginny.

FIN.