Dare to Dance

Dare to Dance

For as long as anyone could remember, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had been enemies. Since their first day at Hogwarts, they couldn't stand each other. As soon as each of them graduated from school, they refused to acknowledge the other's existence. Harry Potter had gotten married to Ginny Weasley about a year after graduation, while Draco Malfoy tied the knot with Pansy Parkinson, much to his parent's pleasure.

Harry and Ginny had a very happy marriage, with three children, two boys and one girl. The boys looked a lot like Ginny, with flaming red hair and freckles. The older, Hans, looked so much like Ron that in his first year at Hogwarts, McGonagall almost called out Hans' uncle's name instead of his. Hans could be really nice at times, but could also be even more stubborn than a mule. Tommy, the youngest, looked a lot like Ginny, and was quite shy. Of course, the middle child and only girl, was Misty.

She looked incredibly like Harry, with the same jet-black hair, only it was longer, and bright, green eyes. She also loved nothing more than to get into trouble. Ginny said it was from her hanging around her uncles Fred and George all the time at the family get-togethers. The twins loved her knack for causing this much mischief; she had even discovered a few more secret passageways during her first year that they hadn't realized were there. Harry had secretly given her the invisibility cloak in her first year, and the Marauder's map in her third, which was unknown to Ginny.

Draco and Pansy were quite rich, with only two children, both boys. The older, Randal, was a perfect image of his father. All the girls in his year absolutely loved him, with his electric blue eyes, almost glowing skin, and white-blond hair. He was also just as snooty as his mother and father put together, perhaps even more so. Randal was one year older than Hans.

Randal's younger brother, Jess, couldn't have been more opposite him. He had huge, dark blue eyes, and spiked forward black hair. Draco had tried many times to get Jess to put his hair into more of a style like his brother's, but Jess simply refused. Jess was the same age as Misty, and the two, like Harry and Draco, didn't start the year off very well.

There had been a bit of a misunderstanding on the first day, causing Misty to believe that Jess had started a rumor about her. One thing led to another, and soon the two were enemies.

However, in their sixth year, things changed a bit.

On September first, Misty and her brothers headed to the King's Cross train station. Harry led the three of them onto platform nine and three quarters, and helped them get all of their luggage on the train. Harry gave his two boys a hug, and watched them run onto the train. Then he turned to Misty.

"All right, Misty, I don't want to see any more letters from Dumbledore telling me you've turned the entire staff into rabbits for an afternoon again, or anything of the sort." Harry smiled, remembering when Misty actually did turn the staff into rabbits. He hadn't sent her a howler, remembering how embarrassed Ron had been when he had gotten a Howler from his mother. Ron was married also, now, with five children.

"But dad..." whined Misty, looking up at Harry with huge, puppy dog eyes. Misty's eyes were larger than Harry's, and the tall, skinny girl didn't have to look up much to reach his eyes.

"I'm not asking you to be a perfect angel," sighed Harry, "Just...don't do anything extreme, okay?"

"I'll try," Misty got an evil grin on her face, and hugged her father before running off to meet her friends on the train, "Bye, Dad!" she called. Harry waved before turning away from the train, and walked back to his car.

None of Misty's friends had arrived yet, so she walked around the platform, waiting for them to arrive.

However, the first person she saw was not someone she had looked forward to seeing.

It was Jess Malfoy, sitting in a chair by the train and looking around. He spotted her, and she pretended not to notice. But instead of minding his own business, Jess got up, and walked over to her.

"Hello, Misty," said Jess, in an unbearably snooty voice. He looked her over and notice she looked...different. She was still quite tall, but she had taken on a more womanly shape...and her once completely straight black hair had a slight wave to it. Her gorgeous, green eyes just made her seem all the more beautiful to him. All of his Slytherin friends detested her, after all, she was a Potter, but Jess was beginning to see that there was more to this girl than her unfortunate lineage.

"What do you want?" asked Misty coldly. She glanced at Jess. He was so handsome, he always had been. His black hair and dark blue eyes were breathtaking, Misty had always thought that. If only he wasn't such a prat!

"Oh, nothing," replied Jess, "I heard that you've been appointed a prefect."

"So? You have, too," spat Misty, staring hard at the train.

"So...you can't avoid me, then, like you have been."

"I have not been avoiding you! I just can't stand the sight of you!"

"Really." Misty hated how he stayed so cool all the time, his voice never showing his emotions. Just because he was a Malfoy didn't excuse him from his feelings.

"Yes, really!" At last, Misty heard a call behind her.

"Hey, Misty! Come over here!" Misty looked behind her, and saw Anna Jordan. She ran over to her, muttering a quick, harsh good-bye to Jess.

"Jeez, I haven't seen you all summer!" cried Misty, embracing her friend.

"I know!" smiled Anna, returning the hug, "Why were you talking to Jess?"

"He just came up to me and started talking, and claimed I've been avoiding him. He's a prefect, too. It's going to be like an extra potions."

"Oh, that stinks!" said Anna, shaking her head, "That's the thing about boys, when they're hot, they're just plain rude, and when they're nice, they don't even look half as good as the hot ones. Except for Den." Misty laughed. Den Weasley, her cousin, had been Anna's crush for the past year, and he knew it. Actually, Den planned to ask Anna to the Halloween ball this year, (there had been a few balls added to the Hogwarts schedule: a Halloween one, Christmas one, and an End-of-Year one). But Den made Misty swear that she would not tell Anna.

Slowly, more people showed up, including Beatrice Patil, Tanya Creevy, and Elise Wood. Once the five girls met up, they found a compartment on the train. Soon, a few of their guy friends, Will Finnigan, Ern Zabini, and Den Weasley joined them. Anna got a huge smile on her face when Den joined the group, and motioned for him to sit by her, which he did.

After a while, the train whistle blew, and they were off. The compartment was filled with lots of talking, joking, and laughing. Misty told them some of the ideas she had for pranks this year.

"I was thinking..." she said, "Of replacing some of Snape's ivory dust with powdered sugar on the first day. You can't tell the difference, I compared it. It's a very common ingredient, and guess what happens when the two are mixed up?"

"What?" asked Will.

"Let's just say we'll be able to see what's going on in the McGonagall's class for a few days." Everyone started cracking up. The transfiguration room was right above the potions room.

"I swear you've had more detentions than the rest of our year put together," sighed Tanya, smiling.

"Ah well," Misty shrugged, "It's fun."

"How did you even get selected as a prefect?" asked Ern.

"Grades," said Misty, "Otherwise I wouldn't of even had a chance."

After a while, it got dark outside, and Anne, Tanya, and Ern had fallen asleep. Misty was telling about her situation with Jess to her friends who were still awake.

"And the problem is," she said, "I think I'm falling for him."

"Misty, he's a Malfoy," said Will, Tanya's head in his lap, "All he'll do is hurt you."

"I know," sighed Misty, "It's just...why would he even waste time talking to me? He keeps doing that!"

"Don't pay attention to him," said Beatrice, "He's just trying to annoy you."

"I'll try," said Misty, and looked out the window, "Guys! We're there!" Anne, Tanya, and Ern slowly woke up.

"We are?" said Anne sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"Yep," said Elise, as the train pulled into the station, "Let's get out of here!" she bounded off the train, closely followed by Misty and Will. Everyone else took their time, slowly getting up and stretching.

Everyone took their seats in the Great Hall. Misty saw Jess at the Slytherin table, surrounded by his awful friends. How could he associate with people so mean? It was beyond her.

Dumbledore called everyone's attention. He gave the usual speech, stating basic rules, what to do if you wanted to be on the Quidditch team (Misty was a beater), and also rules for the dances, such as no dirty dancing, et cetera. The new DADA teacher was a rather scary old lady, and the first time that Misty looked at her, she sensed something... wrong about her. Then the sorting took place, and finally, it was time for the feast.

Everyone was famished, and the food disappeared from the serving plates in minutes, and onto the students' plates. A few very small owls went out among the students, dropping letters to all the prefects. There was to be a meeting tomorrow, right after lessons. Misty sighed and looked over at the Slytherin table. So, that was when the torture was to begin.

After everyone was done eating, Misty led the new Gryffindors to the dorms.

"All right. You'll all need to remember the password to get into the common room."

"What if we forget it?" asked a stringy, sandy-haired boy.

"Hope and pray you're not the last one in for the night," said Misty, and laughed, "Only kidding, McGonnagal will probably still be around, you can find her and ask her. Right now, the password's Snip fwippet." The fat lady's portrait swung open, and the first years all ooed and ahhed at the common room.

"Boys dorms are up the stairs to your left, Girls, to your right. Good luck with your classes tomorrow," said Misty, watching them run up the stairs. She then walked up the stairs, turned right, and entered the door with the words sixth year on them. Sure enough, Anne, Beatrice, Tanya, and Elise were already asleep in their four-poster beds. Misty threw on some pajamas, and fell asleep in the place she had come to know as her home away from home.