A Dance to Remember
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Duh. If I did, I'd have a lot of money. Not like I do now. :)
This story is told from Ginny and Harry's points of view. It's a Ginny/Harry fic with some Ron/Hermione in it too. wink And yes, Luna's in here, causing Ginny trouble, but please don't hate her! Please review!
Ginny Weasley sat in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, pretending to work on her O.W.L. Transfiguration essay. Her book was open to a page on switching spells, but the parchment on her knees did not sport her neat handwriting answering Professor McGonagall's prompt (What is the main function of a switching spell? Discuss the pros and cons.).
For the last half hour, Ginny had been writing, in beautiful calligraphy, the name 'Harry Potter,' outlined in a scarlet heart. Sighing, she wrote 'Ginny Potter' in minuscule writing at the bottom of the parchment.
'If only,' she thought. She crumpled up the parchment, crossed over to the fire, and dropped it into the low flames.
She thought she had been happy with Dean, but she had noticed him flirting with Lavender. When she broke up with him, she realized that her old crush on Harry was back.
"Ginny, come and join us!" She looked up to see Hermione beckoning from an overlarge armchair she was sharing with Ron. The two of them looked squished, but happy. Harry sat in an armchair across from them. He patted the arm of a chair next to him.
"No thanks," Ginny said dully, avoiding catching Harry's eye. "I have a Transfiguration essay due in two days, and I want to finish it early." She closed her Transfiguration book, gathered up her parchment and quill, and headed up for her dormitory.
Ginny was lad to see that it was empty. She abandoned all thought to finishing her essay, and began to draw instead. Dean had been giving her lessons, but those had ended along with their relationship.
She drew Harry, a romantic expression on his face, looking at a girl with red hair….
'I've gotten good at this,' Ginny thought, admiring her work. Considering that it had been done in a quill, it was pretty good.
She sighed again, and rummaged around in her trunk for her sketchbook. Flipping through it, she found that almost all of her pencil drawings showed her and Dean. She altered all of them so that Dean had turned into Harry by the time she tucked her quill drawing into the book.
Tossing her sketchbook and Transfiguration book into her trunk, Ginny decided to shower and turn in early. She left her hair wet, and climbed into bed, dripping all over her pillow. She reached out with a slender arm to twitch the hangings shut, and stared up at the dark red canopy.
Pretending to dip a finger into an ink bottle, she wrote HP + GW on her canopy. Sighing for the third time, Ginny rolled over onto her stomach, and, hugging her pillow, fell asleep.
Ginny was in History of Magic class, zoning out as Professor Binns droned on and on about trolls. She looked around, to see Hermione sitting next to her. She gasped, as she looked toward the front of the room to see Harry and Ron sitting a few seats in front of her, Ron in her row, Harry one to the left. She looked to her right to see Dean, Lavender, and Parvati.
'I'm in Harry's year,' Ginny thought. She placed her cheek in her hand, and leaned on it as she watched Harry and Ron whisper jokes to one another. Harry's quiet and stifled laugh sounded like the most wonderful sound in the world to Ginny. She wished he was laughing at a joke she had told him.
Harry looked around the room, as if checking to make sure nobody had heard him laugh. His eyes landed on her. She couldn't look away quick enough. He saw her expression and the dreamy look in her eyes.
To her surprise, Harry didn't look at her strangely or quickly look away. He returned the look of adoration, locking his green eyes on her brown ones.
Then he was standing up, he had jumped over his desk to land in her desk's aisle. Everyone else seemed oblivious to Harry's sudden leap; in fact, everyone else seemed to have disappeared. She stood up, and walked towards him. They met in the middle of the aisle; he took her into his arms and kissed her.
Harry was kissing her, and she felt as if every bit of sorrow, jealousy, and anger inside her washed away. This was better than when Michael or Dean had kissed her, for this was Harry Potter. She had liked him for four and a half years, and now he had chosen her, when he could have any girl he wanted. He had chosen her….
Ginny woke suddenly. She heard her roommates jabbering away about some upcoming event.
'Curses,' Ginny thought, stretching her arms. 'Harry was kissing me, and they had to start talking and wake me up.'
"I heard that Dumbledore turned the Halloween Feast into a costume party!" One of her roommates squealed. She heard footsteps, a door open and close, and the voices disappeared, most likely down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Ginny dressed into her robes quickly, pausing to wash her face and brush her teeth. As an afterthought, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, leaving a few loose strands framing her face. She remembered that Cho had worn her hair like that when she and Harry had gone on their first date.
Ginny met Hermione on the steps down to the common room.
"'Morning, Ginny," Hermione said. "Your hair looks nice."
"Thanks," Ginny replied. What was with you and Ron yesterday?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, blushing.
"You know," Ginny beckoned to the armchair as they entered the common room.
"Nothing," Hermione said, turning her face so Ginny wouldn't see her burning cheeks. "Well, anyway, did you hear the Halloween Feast rumor?" Hermione changed the subject as she pushed the Fat Lady's portrait open.
"About it being a costume party?" Ginny closed the portrait. "Some of my roommates woke me up from the best dream of my life, jabbering away about it. I mean, who wants to be woken up from a roman—" Ginny hastily cut herself off.
"What happened in your dream Ginny?" Hermione asked slyly. "Was it about a special someone? I heard the word 'romantic' no matter how you tried to cut yourself off."
"You tell me about you and Ron, and I'll tell you about my dream," Ginny bargained.
"Fair enough," Hermione's face now matched the red on her prefect's badge. "If you really must know, Harry kept dropping hints to Ron that I like him and vice versa. Don't worry, he was right." Hermione assured Ginny, her face now purple. "So, Ron asked me to go to the costume party with him, if it is a costume party."
"What about Harry?" Ginny asked.
"He'll find someone," Hermione waved this away. "So, what happened in your dream?"
"Later," Ginny murmured, for they had just entered the Great Hall. Ron had saved Hermione a seat next to him. Harry sat across from Ron, and although the seat next to him was empty, Ginny sat down between Hermione and Neville.
"Hello, Ginny," Neville looked up from his buttered toast as she sat down.
"Hi, Neville," Ginny said, helping herself to a slice of toast. She looked at Harry, who was cutting up his scrambled eggs while staring, as if hypnotized, over Hermione's shoulder.
Ginny followed Harry's gaze over to the Ravenclaw table. Rolling her eyes, Ginny saw that Cho and Luna were sitting next to each other, though Luna was reading The Quibbler, and Cho was chatting with Michael Corner.
'Which one is he looking at?' Ginny felt a twinge of envy. She looked over at Harry again, who was still cutting his scrambled eggs, apparently unaware that his eggs had turned into something that resembled mashed potatoes.
Ginny decided to take a stab at a conversation, hoping she wouldn't embarrass herself.
"Hi, Harry," She said the usual morning greeting. "What's up?"
Harry jerked out of his hypnotic state.
"Nothing," He answered. "Your hair looks nice."
"Thanks," Ginny felt her cheeks turn pink. "So, have you heard the Halloween Feast rumor?"
"Naturally," Harry smiled. "I got Ron to ask Hermione to the party, haven't you heard? I thought Hermione would run to tell you the instant Ron asked her."
"Yeah, I heard," Ginny glanced at Ron, whose face was the color of his hair. She heard him say, "Don't even try to convince me to go as Tarzan. All that ape wears is a pair of knickers. Harry told me." Ginny giggled, and Harry's grin widened.
"Are you going to the party with anyone, Harry?" Ginny asked. She knew that his answer would contain one of the names of a Ravenclaw girl….
"Well," He leaned his head in closer, "I was hoping to ask Luna."
'Mystery solved,' Ginny thought dully.
"Well, she doesn't seem to be busy. Go on, ask her!" Ginny punched Harry's arm, feeling stupid.
'Why did I say that?' She shook her head.
Harry grinned, but as he began to stand, Professor Dumbledore's voice boomed out across the hall, and Harry quickly sat back down.
"It has come to my attention that a rumor about the Halloween Feast has penetrated the school," He smiled, his blue eyes twinkling in a mysterious way nobody could remember seeing before. "I must, of course, stop this one before it gets out of hand. The Halloween Feast will not be a costume party."
There were loud protests at this. Ginny looked at Ron to see that his face had fallen.
"However," Dumbledore began again. Ginny noticed several of the disappointed students perk up a bit. "The Halloween Feast will be a Masked Costume Ball." The hall broke into applause. Even those who had been happy at the cancellation of the party were cheering.
"Now, this brings up the problem of costumes," Dumbledore shouted to be heard. "You all need not worry, for there is an excellent room," Ginny noticed Dumbledore wink at Harry, "that will provide everything you need. You will all write down what you need on a slip of parchment, and hand it into your head of house by next Friday.
"We feel that in light of the horrific event of Voldemort's return to power," Half the school flinched as one, "you need a night to enjoy yourselves to the fullest. Thank you for listening."
"The Room of Requirement," Harry murmered to Ginny.
"Yeah," She answered.
"Well, I'm gonna go talk to Luna," Harry winked (Ginny's pink face started to turn redder), and set off for the Ravenclaw table.
'How does he do it?' Ginny thought. 'The moment he complimented me, I blushed, but he can talk about Luna and not a single tinge of pink can be seen in his face.'
Ginny, trying to hide her red face, turned to look at the Ravenclaw table. She tried to conceal her envy as Luna's face went from dreamy to almost normal, at which point she hugged Harry's neck so hard his face turned purple.
Ginny's face purpled to match Harry's, so she turned back to the Gryffindor table and attacked her toast.
"Ginny," Hermione's voice broke in on her jealous thought.
"Yes?" She turned to Hermione politely, noticing that Ron's face was no longer red.
"What should Ron and I go as: Romeo and Juliet or Merlin and Nimue?"
"Who are Romeo and Juliet?" Ginny had never heard of Shakespeare's masterpiece, preferring to read wizards classics instead of muggle ones. As Hermione explained, Ron mouthed, 'Merlin and Nimue' behind Hermione's back.
"Well?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"Romeo and Juliet sounds wonderfully romantic, but I don't think many people will know who they are," Ginny replied truthfully, not because Ron had told her to.
"You're right," Hermione said. "I never thought of that. Thanks Ginny." She and Ron bent their heads together, no doubt drawing up the perfect costume.
Ginny rose from the Gryffindor table, and headed up to the Gryffindor common room. The very last thing she wanted to do on a Sunday was listen to Harry, Ron, and Hermione talk about the ball. She sank into an armchair by the fire, barely noticing that it was the same chair in which Harry had sat the previous night.
"Mandrake roots," She heard someone give the Fat Lady the password. Craning her neck around her chair, she saw Harry come in, looking crestfallen.
She thought of ignoring him, but his face looked too wretched to ignore. She immediately jumped up and walked over to him.
"Harry," She patted his back comfortingly. "What's wrong?"
"How is it possible to be snubbed by two girls in one day?" Harry shook his head slowly.
"Come," Ginny led him to an armchair, and pulled one close to his. "What happened?" She asked, after sitting down.
"I thought I had it bad when Cho decided she hated me," Harry sighed. "I asked Luna."
"She looked happy," Ginny mumbled, hiding her coolness as best she could.
"Happy?" Harry jumped out of his chair. "She was extatic! She was all over me, saying things like, 'You're one in a million, Harry!' and 'I never thought anyone would ask me to a dance!'
"So there she is hugging me half to death, when she suddenly released me from her death-hug and says, 'Sorry, Harry, but I don't go to dances.' So I asked her if she wanted to hang out instead. You know what she said? 'Sorry, Harry, but the crumple-horned snorkack comes out on Halloween, and I want to be the first to get it on camera.'"
"She put a made-up animal before you?" Ginny couldn't believe it. "I could never picture anyone doing that!"
"Then Cho looks away from Corner, and says to Luna, 'Don't worry, sweetheart, you're not missing much.' Then she smirked at me, remarkably like Malfoy."
Harry sighed, and walked up the girls' dorm staircase, only realizing his mistake when the stairs melted.
'What's the betting he finds someone else to ask by the end of the day?' Ginny thought bitterly. 'Luna Lovegood? LUNA? Was he nuts? He heard her on the Hogwarts Express last year, didn't he? She said that she didn't like dances!
'Why couldn't he have asked me? He knows I have nobody to go with! He knows how I feel.'
"No," A voice in her head said, "He knows how you felt. He thinks you're over him, and will never like him that way again."
Ignoring the voice, Ginny trudged up to her dormitory to do her Transfiguration essay.
Congrats! You have finished reading chapter one. Um, now review!