Dance With Me

Dance With Me

Harry was upset. Not only was he being dragged to yet another dance he didn't want to go to, but this time he wasn't allowed to sit and drink butterbeer with Ron and wallow in his misery. No, this time it was mandatory that every student dance at least twice, with assigned partners. The only bright side to the entire situation was that everyone was being forced to wear the same robes and masks. Even their shoes were required to be black, flat dress shoes of unisex description. Harry had wondered about all the uniformity in outfit being required when hair colours and styles would proclaim so many people's identities, until he'd been told that black hoods were also mandatory.

For his part, Harry loved the idea of so much cover. For once at Hogwarts he could be just like everyone else. No legends, stories, or scars directing all the attention towards him. No, all he had to do tonight was wear his hood low and he could finally blend into the crowd, dancing his two mandatory dances and then sitting on the sidelines for the rest of the night and watching.

Ron had already devised a strategy so smart to find each other that Harry had been calling him Hermione all week (not around her of course!). After the two dances, the boys were going to sit at the table closest to the main doors of the Great Hall, on the Gryffindor side of the room. And to avoid mistaking someone else as their friend, they even had a secret phrase to recognize each other. Ron was to be the one to speak, and had to ask Harry if he could go for a ride on his Firebolt. Harry was to respond with something along the lines of his never having said no to him before.

So while neither boy was happy about the situation they were in, they had decided to get the dancing over with and then spend the rest of the night making fun of their classmates who were obviously going to make fools out of themselves.

When it came time to walk down to the Hall, all of Gryffindor's upper year students stood waiting to go down. They had been prewarned that anyone going downstairs before Professor McGonagall arrived would be serving a week of unpleasant detentions. Once she arrived, she ordered them all to hood and mask, then let them leave one at a time, waiting a minute between each one.

When it was Harry's turn, he left and slowly made his way to the hells that awaited him. As he came around the last corner, he saw another student approaching from the opposite direction. They silently nodded to each other, having been forbidden speech in the hallways, and entered the Hall together.

What they saw was half of their schoolmates silently standing around in pairs. Apparently each house released a student at the same time, and the two pairs were made out of those four students.

Dumbledore stood beside the door, directing traffic and maintaining the silence. The Headmaster followed the logical course and paired Harry with the person beside him, motioning them to the side of the room while telling them, "the Hall is under a custom spell this evening. You may talk to each other using sign language, which you will instinctively know. But beware, if you reveal your identity before it is allowed, there are dire consequences. Oh, and no playing twenty questions to try and guess identities either."

As Dumbledore finished talking, Harry looked him in the eyes and noticed a stronger than usual twinkle there. Getting uneasy, Harry started questioning the entire ball. "Dumbledore wouldn't arrange this just to play matchmaker, would he?" Gulping, Harry realized that yes, Dumbledore would indeed do just that. This made him worry even more, and Harry started to closely examine the pairs of students surrounding him. He could tell that the majority of the pairs were boy/girl, but was never able to distinguish exact identities. There were three people he knew were Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent Bullstrode, but even after staring at them, he still couldn't pick out the girl from the boys.

Shaking his head at this mind boggling thing, and the realization that these pairing could be any combination of sexes, Harry noticed that his partner was waving at him to get his attention. He looked at the mystery person and was surprised to find himself completely understanding what the person was signing to him.

"Can you believe all this stupidity? I'd rather be doing homework than forced to be here, and that's saying a lot."

As amazed as Harry was to understand the signing, he was even more shocked to find himself instinctively signing back, "I know, this is crazy. Why on earth would something like this be mandatory?"

"Because the people who run this school are insane? Who knows for sure? Sometimes I truly believe that Dumbledore is high on more than just life."

"How can you say that?" Harry immediately replied. "He's an amazing man, just look at everything he has accomplished in his life, not to mention the number of people who admire him!"

Harry failed to notice how the brightness of his partner's eyes intensified the farther into Dumbledore's defense he went, not to mention his grin when Harry finally paused for breath.

Their conversation was interrupted by Dumbledore's clapping his hands to get the room's attention. The last of the students had been paired and the four heads of House walked into the Hall closing the doors behind them.

The string quintet which floated over the heads of everyone began playing a slow waltz, and the couples all took the floor.

Unsure of how to properly ballroom dance, Harry's embarrassment of not knowing what to do. His mystery partner saved him though by signing, "First we bow to each other, then put your hands in mine. I'll lead, you can follow, okay?"

Harry simply nodded, afraid to do more. They bowed to each other, and after a little confusion of where exactly Harry's hands were supposed to go, they started gracefully gliding around the room.

Across the Hall, Hermione had watched the whole interaction. If it hadn't been for the fact that it was impossible, she'd have sworn her partner was Neville as her feet were already quite sore. Ignoring her pain, she instead watched her two friends. Ron was quite near her doing an alright job considering he'd only done this once before. She almost lost him when he turned and she looked away for a minute, but she quickly found the luminescent 'R' she'd spelled on his robes earlier, visible only to her of course.

What was happening with Harry was much more thought provoking. The fact that Harry's partner was trained in waltz etiquette, and moved with an amazing beauty on the floor was intriguing, especially when coupled with the fact that Harry wasn't the one leading. How many women were trained to not only waltz, but lead their partner?

By the time the first dance was over, Harry was starting to wonder what it was he had against dancing. It was actually quite enjoyable to be swept across a dance floor by someone.

For the second mandatory dance, people were allowed to choose partners. Hermione quickly angled her way to Ron and claimed him. Harry meanwhile instinctively kept his partner. He really didn't want this happiness to end. His partner must have felt the same way, as no argument was made and Harry was not only swept into another dance, but was held a little closer than before.

At the close of the song, Harry's partner bowed to him then took a step back. Dumbledore then announced that people could begin talking, but that the masks and hoods were to remain on. Harry quickly made his way over to the meeting spot and took a seat. He failed to recognize the fact that his partner from the dance was the person who approached him.

"Hi."

"Hi yourself," Harry responded in a confused way, fully believing this to be Ron in front of him. His suspicions were, in his mind, confirmed when the person asked, "Would you be interested in a midnight ride on your Firebolt with me?"

It wasn't the exact question they'd practiced, but was close enough that Harry never questioned it, even though it was said very quietly, hesitantly, and in an almost, dare he say, sexy manner. But this was Ron so Harry never thought about these things and said, "Anytime," motioning for the person to sit beside him.

The two quickly became engaged in a conversation about broomsticks and Quidditch, and since the mystery person's favourite team was the Chudley Cannons, Harry had no reason to assume that it wasn't his best friend beside him.

On the other side of the room, as the second dance ended and conversation began around them, Hermione whispered, "I know it's you, Ron. It's me, Hermione."

Ron gave her one of his trademark facial expressions, this one showing mostly shock, then asked, "How did you know it was me?"

"I marked you and Harry using a spell only I can see. Harry is over in the back corner."

"Guess you've proved yourself the smartest once again Hermione. That's brilliant!"

"Thanks," she almost bashfully said. Then after a hesitant pause, she asked, "Will you dance with me again, this time knowing who I am?"

After swallowing a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, Ron said, "Of course," and quickly all thoughts of his pal across the room was forgotten.

An hour later, Professor McGonagall stood up and called for quiet. After getting the attention of the room she said, "You may now all remove your masks and hoods to reveal your true selves."

There were small gasps around the room as people found out who they were with. The biggest surprise was the fact that the two snogging in the corner for the last half hour were Crabbe and Goyle, who both quickly ran screaming out of the room.

In his own corner, Harry was quick to remove his mask, as it meant he and Ron could go upstairs and finish their chess game from earlier. He was really surprised when the would-be Ron removed their mask briskly, and not giving Harry a chance to register their identity, leaned in and kissed him. And not just any kiss. This was one where questions were asked, answers demanded, and love was declared.

When Harry didn't pull back right away, it became loving, and while gentle, it was possessive as well, as though the person's lips were claiming their right to be there.

The kiss lasted long enough to draw the attention of the rest of the room, and when people realized who it was kissing, more than half of them dropped their masks on the floor. For her part, Hermione gasped along with the crowds, then smiled when she realized that her earlier suspicions had been confirmed.

Pulling away reluctantly, Draco looked down at the now dreamy-eyed and swollen-lipped Harry and said, "Harry Potter, would you do me the honour of the next dance?"

"Malfoy? But . . ." Harry was confused. He had never imagined this to be Draco. Then he remembered how much he enjoyed that kiss and said, "Why not?"

Smiling to himself, Draco pulled Harry onto the dance floor and started waltzing with him. It only took a few turns before Harry realized that Draco and his mystery partner were one and the same. Suddenly curious he asked, "How did you know it was me? Did you plan this all?"

"Only you would defend Dumbledore so strongly as you did earlier. And while I didn't plan this outcome of the evening, I am very much enjoying it," Draco suddenly dipped Harry and just before he kissed him again, Draco could have sworn he heard Harry whisper, "So am I."

As their lips finally parted a little while later, and with the music fading around them, Draco asked, "So how about that midnight ride on your Firebolt?"