Dare to Dance

"That boy is really asking for it."

Draco paced around the hallway, Lucius standing still, leaning slightly against the wall.

"You will have to have to punish him for this, Draco," said Lucius, turning to face his son, "It's one thing that he has shunned all of the Slytherins that he should be associating with. Quite another that he is dating a Potter." He spat out the word as if it were an insult.

"I'm looking forward to it," Draco smirked, "I plan on teaching the Potter girl a lesson, also."

"Make sure she doesn't tell anyone about it."

"She won't when I'm done with her."

The dance was still in session, but Misty and Jess had fled to an abandoned classroom.

"I am in so much trouble," said Jess, smiling at Misty, who looked a bit worried.

"How...much trouble?" she asked. Jess shook his head, and gathered her in his arms.

"Don't worry," he said, "they can't do anything to me while we're here."

The door creaked open, and Jess suddenly stepped away from Misty. As soon as she saw who entered, she did the same.

"Well, boy," said a drawling voice, smoothing back his head of platinum blonde hair, "you managed to not only strip yourself of the family honor, since you disowned all the people who tried to befriend you in Slytherin..."

"You degraded yourself to an even lower level by associating with filth such as that," another voice said, entering the room and pointing an accusing finger at Misty. It was Draco and Lucius.

"At least I'm not frog spawn," said Misty smugly. The slight smirk that Lucius had sported on his face disappeared.

"Crucio el ensilan!" Lucius cried, and Misty dropped to the floor, writhing in pain. She appeared to be trying to scream, but couldn't.

"Stop it!" shouted Jess, running towards his grandfather, but Draco stopped him.

"Be grateful that isn't you he is cursing," Draco hissed. Lucius raised his wand, leaving Misty gasping on the floor. Jess sat down on the floor beside her, and helped her sit up.

"An unforgivable curse," she murmured, looking up disbelievingly at Lucius, and then looked at Jess, "you go through this..." Draco's face twisted with rage. He grabbed Jess by the collar of his robes.

"You told her!" he hissed, raising his wand, and shouted out the same curse Lucius had previously used on Misty. However, a moment after he said it, he felt a fist connect with his temple. Draco slid to the floor, unconscious. Jess looked up and saw Misty standing, with her fist raised. She looked at Lucius, and quickly hid her hands behind her back. Jess stood up.

"Our friends will be wondering where we went," said Jess, "They'll come looking for us."

"They will most likely assume that you two are off for a snog session," Lucius spat, his eyes giving off a flash, "however, since Draco and I are gone, that fool you call a headmaster might actually make a connection." He turned to look at Misty, "If you tell anyone of this meeting, you will wish you had never even glanced at my grandson."

"I really doubt you could make me wish that," said Misty, "he's the only one who could." She looked over at Jess, and started walking towards the door, "but I won't tell, for his sake." Jess started to follow her.

"We'll talk about this later," hissed Lucius as he walked out of the room.

Once they were out of earshot, Misty smiled weakly at Jess, who tried to smile back, but couldn't, instead threw his arms around her, and held her tightly.

After a few moments, Misty spoke up.

"I'm so sorry," she said, her voice starting to shake, "I should've known not to say that you told me anything..."

"No. It's not your fault," said Jess comfortingly, "Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it? Your own father put the Cruciatous curse on you!" whispered Misty harshly, stepping away from Jess, "Your own father. I didn't think anyone could do it to their own kin. It's just too...inhumane."

"Inhumane is Draco's middle name," Jess snaked his arm around Misty's waist, "Don't worry about it."

As they sighted the Great Hall, she turned to face him.
"I don't know how I'll accomplish that," she said, "but I guess we had better manage it tonight, or your father will know a curse with my name on it." Jess smiled, and followed her into the Great Hall.

The rest of the year passed fairly uneventfully. There were no more problems with Lucius or Draco, thankfully, although Misty still hadn't told her parents about Jess. The two were still planning to come and visit each other over the summer, but nothing was official yet.

It was Hans' last year at Hogwarts, and Misty would have been fine with this, except for the fact that he got nervous about finding jobs about once a week and would wake her up at various times at night to talk to her. After a few hours' reassuring, Hans would go back to his room, and Misty would fall back asleep.

It was after one of these visits that Misty heard a knock. Thinking it was the door, she called out for Hans to leave her alone, and to go back to sleep. There was another knock, and Misty realized then that someone was knocking at the window. She got up, rubbed her eyes, threw back the curtains, and gasped in surprise.

Jess was sitting on a broomstick, and obviously had just discovered that the windows at Hogwarts could only be opened from the inside.

Misty quickly opened the window, allowing Jess to float inside.

"What are you doing here?!" she whispered harshly, slightly more awake.

"You have got to come and see this!" he replied, and threw her on the broomstick. In her half-asleep state, she couldn't quite tell whether he was excited or worried, so she didn't struggle.

A weightless feeling overcame her, letting Misty know that they were flying. She grabbed onto Jess, who was sitting in front of her, and in her way of getting a hold on the broom.

"What is it?" she said into his ear. He didn't answer, obviously too intent on getting to wherever they were headed.

They landed close to the forbidden forest. Jess hopped off the broom, and dragged Misty into the forest, who was too bewildered to object. He stopped in front of a very thick circle of trees, and peered through the branches. Misty followed suit, and almost made quite a bit of noise, but Jess' hand clamped firmly over her mouth prevented her from doing that. Instead she shivered, turning to Jess for comfort, and watched the scene, quite terrified; praying that she would remain unscathed from whatever horror was being planned.

It was a meeting that included the presence of death eaters, but sadly, they were not the only ones present. Voldemort was there, of course, and a great number of werewolves, vampires, and many other creatures that Misty seriously doubted her Care of Magical Creatures book could name.

Dumbledore was also there.

"You can no longer ignore us, Albus," said a hissing voice, probably a low-level death eater, "we are close, very close to penetrating the wards...if you give us the one requested, you could be saved from their fate."

"Quiet, fool!" hissed another voice, only this one had a certain quality to it that made Misty shudder, and made her glad for Jess' presence, holding her tightly, strong arms preventing her from moving. It took only instinct to know that this was Voldemort. As he spoke, it seemed as if he caused an eerie breeze to stir the death eater's cloaks, and drop the temperature several degrees, making Dumbledore shudder.

"Albus," said the dark lord, in a cunning, horribly smooth voice like bitter honey, "It is not only your own life that you will be saving, but all of your friends, the teachers...why, the lives of your students." It was easy to tell by Dumbledore's face that he had struck a nerve.

"You are so eager for them," he said weakly, "why?" Voldemort chuckled.

"I think that you underestimate how important they are in the way of things," he said, but would not say any more.

"I cannot sacrifice a student!" Dumbledore said firmly, "No matter the price." Voldemort got a sour look on his face.

"Very well," he said, "it will not be long, now." Smoke filled the clearing, but Misty did not get a chance to see what happened, because Jess had thrown her back on the broomstick, and they were flying as fast as the broom would go back to Misty's dorm.

Luckily, the window was still open, and the two flew back into the room. Thinking they would wake up her friends, Misty motioned for Jess to follow her, and walked out into the common room.

"Sorry I was a little rough with you," said Jess. Misty waved him off, quite calmer than she had been a moment ago.

"Oh, that's fine," she said.

"It's just...I had a feeling that the 'student' they were talking about..." Jess paused, "was one of us."

"Yes," agreed Misty, "I thought the same thing. But...if there were any wards, wouldn't they be past them already? They were in the forbidden forest!" Jess nodded.

"That's what worries me. But...Misty?" she looked up, "be a little...extra careful."

"I will if you will."

The final day of Hogwarts came, and everyone was boarding the train. Gryffindor won the House Cup, as usual. The Gryffindors had continued their tradition of winning; even after the famous Harry Potter graduated.

Misty, Jess, Anna, Den, and Beatrice sat in one compartment, while Tanya, Elise, Will, and Ern sat in the one next to theirs, since there wasn't enough room for all of them in a single compartment.

The two groups spent most of the train ride banging on the wall separating them, successfully waking up anyone who had been previously asleep. However, Professor Flitwick came down after a few hours to try and convince them to find another way to amuse themselves. Flitwick couldn't lecture any better than Snape could recite Shakespeare's comedies.

Towards the end of the train ride, Jess took a walk with Misty out in the hall.

"I wrote my father...about you coming to stay over the summer," he said.

"And his reply was...?"

"He'd see Voldemort start a day-care for muggle children before he even considered it." Misty smiled, shaking her head.

"Well, I had expected that. I'm guessing the answer would be the same if you asked to stay with me?"

"Yep," said Jess, "but if you'll owl me over the summer, maybe we could meet in Diagon Alley or something."

"I'll owl you anyway." The train's whistle blew, indicating the arrival at Platform nine and three-quarters.

Misty and Jess briefly embraced, and went to get their baggage, slightly down, along with the rest of the students. For, although the summer holidays might be a relief to many, for the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it was nearly always a disappointment.