Dare to Dance

Misty's friends could not believe it when she told them about her and Jess.

"What do you mean?" cried Anna, "You two have been fighting since your first year!"

"It wasn't him who started that rumor," protested Misty.

"But, still!" shouted Elise, "He's been making fun of you, tormenting you..."

"Only because I was mean to him after I thought he had been mean to me," sighed Misty, "Just...talk to him, I promise, you'll see."

Eventually, Misty's friends decided to talk to Jess. At first, they were all quite stiff with him. The first time they talked to him was the worst.

"All right, guys, you know Jess," Misty said. Jess smiled a little, but no one smiled back.

"Hey," Jess tried again.

"Why the sudden friendliness?" spat Anna, "I bet you're just being nice to us so you can get to Misty, probably take advantage of her!"

"Anne..." Misty tried to council her friend, but she would hear nothing of it.

"That's not true," protested Jess calmly.

"Oh, sure!" yelled Ern, "look. Just get out of our faces, and we'll be fine."

Everything went downhill from here, and ended with Misty walking away, quite frustrated, dragging Will behind her, since he had tried to start a fight. She sent an owl to Jess, asking him to meet her around midnight in the abandoned classroom next to the only bronze suit of armor.

He wrote back shortly, agreeing.

Later that night, as soon as all of her friends were asleep, Misty slipped on her inherited invisibility cloak, and quietly made her way to the abandoned classroom.

Sure enough, Jess was there, playing with the edge of his own invisibility cloak.

"Took you long enough," he said, smiling and getting up. He made his way over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You idiot, I'm five minutes early," Misty said, her voice muffled by his cloak. Jess pulled back a little, so his nose was barely an inch from hers.

"Fifteen," he said, and smiled, indicating how early he had been, "Things didn't go as planned today, did they?"

"No," Misty sighed, and looked at the floor, "it's just because...you're a Slytherin, and on top of all of that, a Malfoy. All the Gryffindors are too caught up in that to notice there might be something else in you besides your bloodline."

"Except you."

"Yeah." There was a pause.

"Don't worry," said Jess, running his hands through her hair, "I'll keep trying. Maybe they'll come around."

"I hope so," replied Misty, and smiled, "cause I'm not giving you up, no matter what they say!"

"Same goes for me," Jess smiled back. Misty opened her mouth to reply, but he silenced her with a kiss.

Luckily, things went steadily uphill after Jess' first meeting with Misty's Gryffindor friends. The second time, everyone was a little cold to him, but after that, they started being friendly, until Jess Malfoy became the only Slytherin whose friends were a group of Gryffindors. This made all of the other Slytherins ignore him, but that wasn't much different than they had treated him before. Obviously, all the Malfoys who had gone to Hogwarts hadn't given themselves a very friendly reputation.

Meanwhile, Misty and Jess grew very, very close. They often sneaked out of their houses in the middle of the night so they could be together, alone. It was quite hard to get time alone in the middle of the day, because of classes, friends, and Misty was a beater on the Gryffindor quidditch team.

Soon, Christmas grew near. Misty was staying at Hogwarts, since her parents were going to Puerto Rico on a vacation. Jess, however, was going home, but was returning for the Christmas ball. Sadly, his parents were coming with him.

"It's something to do with the school board," Jess explained to Misty, after telling her the news, "my father...and my grandfather, are on it."

"Wasn't your grandfather taken off of it?" asked Misty.

"For a while, yes, but he's done a lot of bribing."

"What if..." Misty sighed, "what if we can't be together? What if your parents find out?"

"Let them," said Jess, a determined look in his eye, "I'm long past caring what they want." Misty smiled, "You feel the same way?"

"I do care slightly about what my parents want," she replied, "but I could care less if they say I can't be with you." Jess slipped his arms around her waist, and whispered in her ear.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

The day came for Jess to leave. He got on the train, and waved at Misty from a window. She waved back, and made a face at him. Trying to hide his laughter, Jess stuck out his tongue at her, and she laughed. Wheels starting to turn, the train whistle blew, and the two said silent good-byes to each other as the train moved out of sight.

Beatrice walked over to Misty.

"Hey!" she said, "Let's go get something from the house elves. They probably have some extra peppermint shake for us."

"Sweet!" cried Misty, running off towards the kitchens, "Race ya!"

"That's not fair!" shouted Beatrice, laughing, and ran to catch up with her friend.

Misty thoroughly enjoyed her time off at Hogwarts. Most of her friends had stayed, and they made a point of having enchanted snowball fights at least three times a day. Sometimes they used broomsticks.

For two weeks this persisted; everyone basically did very meaningless and pointless things, that were lots of fun. All-night tournaments of wizard chess and exploding snap, seeing who could get Snape so furious that his face would turn green, (Will actually made it to purple, and Misty to blue), and those were but a few of the things they did. Eventually, though, everyone started to return for the Christmas ball.

Jess stepped off the train, and looked around for his mother and father. Sure enough, they were waiting for him. Draco motioned for his son to follow him as he walked toward a fireplace used for Floo transportation. Silently grabbing his luggage, Jess followed his parents.

Draco handed Jess a pot of Floo powder, and took a pinch out of it. He then stepped into the fireplace, cried out, "Malfoy Manor!", and disappeared. Jess' Mother did the same, until only he was left. Jess dragged his luggage into the fireplace, took out a pinch of the powder, and threw it in the air.

"Malfoy Manor!" he shouted.

Jess tumbled out of the fireplace with his belongings. Before his father or grandfather, who was also there, could see him, he brushed off the soot from his clothes, and stood up straight. Draco nodded at him, while Lucius merely stared at him, and instructed one of the house elves to bring Jess' things upstairs. Jess followed the house elf up to his room. After the elf had done its job, Jess shut the door and threw himself on his bed. It was going to be a very long holiday.

Early the next morning, while it was still dark, Lucius roughly shook a still sleeping Jess. He opened his eyes a slit, and tried to turn away. Realizing that it was Lucius who was trying to awaken him, Jess sat up straight in bed, all thoughts of being tired gone.

"I have been hearing some rumors, boy," said Lucius. Jess could tell that he was angry, even though he used the same drawling voice as he always did. Thinking it best to not say anything, Jess remained silent.

"There are rumors," Lucius continued, "That you have been seeing...someone's...daughter."

Oh no, Jess thought, What if he knows...

"Who is this someone?" asked Jess, not daring to show any emotion.

"That is what I hoped to learn from you," said Lucius.

Jess let out an inward sigh of relief.

"Well, I am seeing someone," said Jess, knowing that with Lucius staring directly into his eyes, he would be able to tell if he was lying.

"I see," Lucius replied, getting up from the bed and walking over to the door. With his back turned, he asked, "I trust they are Slytherin purebloods?"

"Of course," answered Jess, in the most convincing voice he could muster. Lucius left the room, and closed the door. Jess inhaled deeply, and exhaled again. He had been lucky this time, but what if Lucius decided to question him again?

Fortunately, Jess was ignored for much of the holiday. He stayed in his room mostly, played wizard chess with the house elves, and wrote letters back and forth with Misty.

It was quite boring, but time passed. Finally, it was the day before Jess went back to Hogwarts. Having already packed, Jess took out a piece of parchment and a quill, and wrote a letter to Misty.

Dear Misty,

Hey! I can't wait to see you tomorrow. It's so BORING here. The house elves are afraid of me losing at wizard chess, so they loose on purpose. I remember about three weeks ago when we were all playing...I thought Will was going to hex Elise, he looked so angry! Has Den asked Anna to the dance yet? It's about time, if you ask me. You can TELL they like each other.

I forgot to tell you. The first day back here, Lucius asked me if I was seeing anyone. He was staring right at me, and for some reason, if you lie when he's looking right at you, he KNOWS. Believe me, I've tried. Luckily, when he was leaving, and not looking at me, he asked if the person I was dating was a Slytherin pureblood. I told him yes.

If you're mad at me for lying, I understand completely. It's just...well, I need to tell you something in person when I get back. About what Draco and Lucius do when the Ministry's back is turned. It has nothing to do with You-Know-Who, although...well, I guess it's no big secret that those two are big suspects for having dealings with him.

Don't let me get you down in the dumps, though!!! How was your Christmas? Did you get my present? I got yours, you know, the book? It REALLY helped with passing the time.

Well, I'll let you enjoy the rest of today. I'm SO excited about seeing you, I'll probably need a sleeping potion to help me get to sleep. See you tomorrow!

Jess

PS I love you

Jess folded up the paper, and gave it to his owl, who was an ebony black. The owl nibbled his finger affectionately, and flew out the window. He didn't expect to get an answer that night, so he opened up his book from Misty, a book titled three hundred and twelve ways to annoy your older sibling. It was a very funny book, more than once Jess found himself doubled over in laughter at some of the ideas the authors had thought up.

At about ten-thirty, Jess decided to try to fall asleep. While brushing his teeth he noticed his owl had come back. He held a letter in his beak.

Jess rinsed out his mouth with water and took the letter from his owl. Stroking the owl's feathers, he read it. It was from Misty.

Dear Jess,

Can't wait to see you either!!! I can't really write for long, the holidays seem busier than regular school days! Of course, they aren't busy with classes, but that's besides the point. We all miss you here, especially me ;). I got your present, and I LOVE it! I wear it everyday.

I wish I could help you with what Draco and Lucius are doing, and don't worry, I'm not mad that you lied to Lucius. You definitely had a good reason, so it's okay with me. I'll try to meet you as soon as you come into the school, but if Draco and Lucius are with you, the usual classroom, around eleven.

Try to have a good rest of the night, I'll see you tomorrow!

Misty

PS I love you, too

For Christmas, Jess had gotten Misty a necklace, that had a charm of two dolphins embracing, to form the shape of a heart. He stared at her last four words and smiled.

Turning off the lights, he crept under the covers, and waited for sleep to overtake him.