Dare to Dance

Jess was coming back today.

Misty flew out of bed as soon as her eyes opened, threw on some clothes, finished getting ready, and ran out of her dorm before the sun had even risen. She practically inhaled her breakfast, returned to the common room, grabbed a book, and ran outside to the train station in her cloak to wait for Jess.

She had only been waiting a few minutes before she heard a faint train whistle. Leaping out of her seat, she saw a streak of red in the distance. Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped.

"Jeez, Misty, it's just me," said Anna, coming out from behind her.

"Oh, sorry," apologized Misty, "it's just...Jess is going to be here in a matter of minutes!"

"What if Draco and Lucius are with him?"

"Then I'll have to wait until tonight." There was a pause.

"They're going to find out, you know," said Anna.

"Yeah," sighed Misty, "I know. They'll find out at the dance, if not sooner."

The train pulled into the station, and Misty abruptly hid herself in her book, so Draco and Lucius would hopefully not notice her if they were accompanying Jess. Anna got the hint, and suddenly became very interested in the contents of her purse.

Sure enough, Jess was the first one off the train, followed by Draco and Lucius. Jess spotted Misty, and smiled apologetically. Misty smiled back, but not without being unnoticed by Draco.

"So," he said, walking over to her, his trademark Malfoy smirk in place, "Potter managed to get himself a wife. Very surprising." Misty glared at him.

"Excuse me," she said, getting up. Draco was slightly taken aback, for the girl was standing nose to nose with him, "but I would suggest you keep your opinions to yourself, for the better of your well-being. Not that I'm concerned with it."

"He would normally," said Lucius, stepping in, "but scum such as yourself don't deserve such consideration." Misty stared at him, her mouth open. Temper, Misty, she tried to remind herself. But her anger was growing unbearable...

Wham! There was a flash of light, and in place of Lucius Malfoy there stood a toad. A few people around them gasped.

"Anyone care to pucker up?" Misty smirked at Draco. Jess was having a hard time controlling his laughter, while Anna was outright roaring, along with several other viewers. With another wave of her wand, Lucius was back to his human form, looking quite disgruntled. Misty shrugged, her smile still remaining, grabbed her book, and headed off to the castle with a wink at Jess. Draco and Lucius, still fuming, didn't even notice.

That night, Misty walked to the abandoned classroom that Jess and her usually used for their nighttime meetings. Sure enough, he was already there. Misty threw off her invisibility cloak and ran into his waiting arms. Laughing, the two embraced.

"I can't believe you did that to Lucius!" cried Jess. "It was hilarious!"

"He deserved it," said Misty. Jess nodded.

"I don't know why he said those things," he said, shaking his head. "He's never even met you before."

"I'm Harry's daughter. That's good enough for him."

"What do you think he's gonna say tomorrow?!" asked Jess excitedly.

"I can't wait to find out," said Misty, smiling. Jess hugged her again, this time, keeping her in his arms.

"Misty?"

"Yeah?" she looked up into his eyes. She had been waiting for two weeks, just to be right here.

He pressed his lips against hers, slightly opening his mouth. She did the same, and wrapped her arms around his neck. A while passed before the two finally drew back.

"I missed you," Jess spotted the necklace she was wearing. It was the one he had given her.

"I missed you, too," Misty said, and gave him a little kiss on the cheek, "you said to me, in your letter, that you wanted to tell me something?"

"Yeah," Jess nodded, and looked at the floor, "it would really be easier to show you..." he took off his cloak and unbuttoned his shirt. Letting it fall off his shoulders, Misty gasped.

There were scars, so many scars. Against his pale skin they stood out so vividly, the former bruises and cuts and scrapes. Misty ran her fingers over his shoulder, and stared into his eyes, which were filled with tears.

"Oh my...." she was at a loss for words, "This is what they do to you?"

Jess nodded, sniffing.

"Ever since...ever since I was eight," he said, "and this is only half of it. I mean...sometimes they do unforgivable curses...that is, two out of three..."

"Crutacious?" asked Misty.

"Yeah."

"Oh, Jess," Misty said sympathetically, wrapping her arms around him. He was now sobbing openly into her shoulder.

"I...don't...know...why," said Jess, between sobs, "I...try...but...it's never good enough...for them."

"Do they do this to your brother?" Jess shook his head.

"Just me." Misty was silent for a moment.

"They shouldn't be doing this to you. It's against our laws, even muggle laws, and you don't deserve it. If you tell Dumbledore, then maybe you could stay with me, or something." Jess smiled, his sobs slowing.

"That'd be nice."

"Yeah," Misty hugged him again, "hey, it's not all bad! The dance is tomorrow! And after that, Draco and Lucius will be gone, and you won't have to see them till the end of the year."

Jess smiled, and dried his eyes.

"Maybe you could come over sometime during the summer," he suggested.

"Yeah, that'd be great! And after that, you could come over to my house. My parents might be kinda quiet at first, but once they get to know you, they'll be great, you'll see."

"Sounds good."

The two smiled at each other, and kissed again.

"Well," Jess said, "I'll meet you in the great hall at seven tomorrow night."

"I'll be there."

Jess and Misty embraced one last time, before saying goodnight, and departing to their separate houses.

The next morning, Misty got up and showered. Surprisingly, people were already getting ready for the dance. It was quite funny, really, since there was still nine hours until the dance started. Misty waited until the rest of her friends were ready to go downstairs, and they all headed to breakfast together.

Jess wasn't at breakfast. Misty figured that he was trying to stay away from Lucius and Draco, who were sitting at the teacher's table.

After breakfast, Misty, Anna, Tanya, Will, and Den headed outside for another enchanted snowball fight. A few hours later they headed back in, red nosed, rosy cheeked, snow-covered, and laughing.

Everyone decided to do their homework then, which took a while. By the time they were all done, it was time to get ready for the dance. Misty took another shower to warm herself up after the snowball fight, and magically dried herself off. She then took out her dress robes, which were spaghetti-strapped, and made out of a seemingly weightless dark blue and green material. It was decorated with swirl patterns of rhinestones.

After her, Anna, Beatrice, Tanya, and Elise were all in their dresses, the five sixth-years all did each other's hair. This consisted of an overheated hair curler, a hoard of bobby pins, very sharp chopsticks, and a bottle of hair spray. It took quite a while for everyone to get finished.

Sooner or later, everyone got ready, and was in the common room, running around for no particular reason.

Den had asked Anna to the dance, so she was hanging around him, their arms locked. Someone had asked Beatrice, but she had decided that she wanted to go single. Tanya and Elise weren't going with anyone either. Misty, of course, was going with Jess. Beatrice, Tanya, Elise, and Misty were running around simply because they had nothing else to do, which was quite difficult to do in dress robes.

At last, it was time to go to the Great Hall. The occupants of the Gryffindor common room herded down the stairs, and stared at what had once been the Great Hall.

It looked as if half the stars of the solar system had fallen, and had ended up here. Upbeat music was playing, enchanted by the lights all around the room. They were not overpowering, but just enough light to amaze the viewers. Overhead, the enchanted ceiling showed the starry sky peering down at them. Misty looked around, and spotted Jess. The two ran towards each other.

"You look beautiful," said Jess sincerely.

"You look even more handsome than usual," Misty smiled. Jess looked over at the teacher's table, where his father and grandfather were sitting.

"Dare to dance?" he asked, holding out his hand. She took it.

"Of course." The two spun out onto the floor, twirling in one another's arms. Misty tapped Jess on the shoulder, and the two looked over at the teachers' table, laughing outright at the horrified look on Draco's face.