Disclaimer: I own none of the characters (except for Carter), Hogwarts, or anything resembling JKR's work. I also would like to point out that anything you recognise is work of VB everything else belongs to me.

BodyLanguage

CHAPTER.ONE

-the.unexpected-

You can dance -every dance with the guy
Who gives you the eye, let him hold you tight
You can smile -every smile for the man
Who held your hand beneath the pale moonlight
But don't forget who's takin' you home
And in whose arms you're gonna be
So darlin' save the last dance for me

- Sam Cooke

"Arithmacy is such a fascinating subject!" Hermione enthused from behind a textbook which hid her entire upper body. "Professor Vector has promised us that this year we'll begin to study how the proper runes, with the aid of an invocation, can work together without the use of a wand to create the illusion of wandless magic…"

Ron cast Harry a pained glance, silently apologizing. Harry grinned in response, shaking his head. Whenever Hermione launched into a long tirade about schoolwork, the entire Gryffindor student body groaned as a whole.

"So," Ron cleared his throat loudly, interrupting a still-chattering Hermione. "What new subject did you pick up this year, Harry?"

"Oh yes, Harry, you had to pick up a new subject to fill your Divination spot, didn't you?" Hermione dropped the massive book into her lap and sniffed disdainfully. "Good on you for finally walking out of that ridiculous class. Honestly, if that woman is a prophet, then I'm a Krinkle-Horned Snorkak."

"Well," he said. "I put in a request for Muggle Studies. It's required for Aurors, and I figured I could use an easy course this year so I could concentrate on my N.E.W.T.s"

Hermione sighed, her mouth turning down at the edges. Harry knew the lecture by heart. Hermione wanted Harry to go to University, but Harry and Ron both wanted to become Aurors. Hermione was leaving to attend the School of Advanced Arithmatic and Runic Learning in Greece next year. She and Ron had had a great row about her moving so far away, but eventually Ron had reluctantly given in.

"So, er... what time do you have Muggle Studies then, Harry?" Ron asked with an odd smile.

Harry glanced at his friend but Ron shrugged sheepishly and looked away. Faintly intrigued by the strange display, Harry tore the ribbon from the roll of parchment containing his Seventh Year schedule. Unrolling the crisp, yellowish paper, he scanned the list of familiar courses; Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, until he found a new addition to the list. His eyes bulged from behind his round, plastic frames and his mouth fell open in shock.

"Dance magic!" he shouted.

Several people in the Gryffindor common room jumped and turned around, seeking out the cause of the disruption. A few people close by gave him confused, yet slightly interested glances.

"What?" Hermione snapped, clearly disbelieving. "Let me see that."

Snatching the parchment out of Harry's nerveless fingers, she quickly scanned the page, her eyes widening.

"There's been some sort of mistake," Harry muttered dazedly.

He turned to Ron for support. Ron, however, was blushing furiously and avoiding his gaze. The redhead couldn't have looked guiltier, and Harry knew that there had been no mistake.

"Ron…" he prodded in a low tone.

"Honestly, Harry! It wasn't my idea," Ron burst out, sporting a pathetically imploring expression.

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione gasped.

"It was Fred and George, and I helped because... well, because Harry, you haven't exactly had a girlfriend. Ever. And, the yule ball, and Parvati said you were a right terror at dancing, and-"

"So you decided to enroll me in dance magic!" Harry exclaimed, clearly astounded by his friend's logic.

"No!" Ron denied hotly. "No, that was all their idea! They told me they were going to help you meet girls. I had no idea that this was what they meant! The two of them only owled me about the dance magic bit before I left for school this morning, and by then it was too late to do anything about it. Harry, you've got to believe me!"

Harry, still dazzled from the news, only nodded in response. Hermione, however, wasn't about to let the subject drop. She rounded on him.

"What, exactly, did you do to help those wicked brothers of yours?"

Ron swallowed hard before answering, attempting to give her his best doe eyes while he was at it.

"I gave them one of the letters Harry had written me this summer. They said that they needed his signature. I asked them what for, but they only said not to worry, that they were going to help Harry get a girlfriend. I never thought they'd go this far, though!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "The words 'signature' and 'girlfriend' didn't raise a few alarms in that thick head of yours?"

"Oi!" Ron pouted.

"It's okay," Harry said quickly. "Ron, it's okay, really. Just another good prank from the twins, that's all. I'll go to McGonagall tomorrow and have her switch the class for Muggle Studies. No harm done."

When Hermione and Ron glanced at each other before turning to look anywhere but at him, his stomach lurched disturbingly.

"What?" he asked warily.

"Well," Hermione began, clearly uncomfortable. "You see, Harry, if they have your signature on the documents, you can't simply switch, just like that."

"What? But you did it! When you dropped out of Divination, you took up Arithmancy," he argued.

"Well, yes, but that was different. This class is purely elective. It's not even technically on the roster. You require the professor to sign a form in order to add or drop the class." Hermione explained with a pained expression.

"Which means you at least have to go the first day," Ron added.

"So I'll go and ask the professor to allow me to drop their class. What could happen on the first day?" Harry sounded a bit desperate.

Hermione and Ron tried to nod encouragingly but did not end up being very convincing, and Harry began to feel increasingly anxious.

He drew his gaze away from his best friends to stare off into the empty fireplace. The warm familiarity of the common room little to thaw the dread settling in an icy knot in the pit of his stomach.

Not only was Harry a bad dancer, he'd only ever kissed one girl. And that single kiss with Cho had been embarrassing, not to mention highly un-enjoyable. After that singularly horrible experience, he hadn't been very inclined to go searching for a girlfriend. Harry hadn't even really given dating let alone dancing that much thought. Why in the world would he need it? With schoolwork, Quidditch, and trying to avoid the seemingly endless attempts on his life, he'd been extraordinarily busy these past six years.

It had seemed surreal when the news had come at the end of last year that Voldemort had disappeared once more. Harry felt a sense of foreboding; Voldemort was gathering power, forces, legions of sycophants in order to come back and strike when least expected. After months of waiting, Harry was on edge. He woke up every morning wondering if that day would be the day.

He had thought that this year would provide a nice, mundane distraction. Now, however, with only a single kiss as experience, he was being thrust into a highly powerful form of sexual magic. He was expected to practice magic based on experience he didn't even have.

Suddenly, Harry felt very ill.

But then again, wasn't that the point of the class? To learn how to do it? It was a class after all, how hard could it be?

--

Taking a deep breath Harry entered the perfectly ordinary classroom of D.M. and took a seat next to Neville, who looked even more terrified than he felt. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked him in a hushed tone.

"My grandmum suggested it," Neville, wide-eyed and shaking, mumbled back. "She said it was the only way I'd ever get married."

Harry winced. Sometimes Neville's grandmother could be a real hag.

Feeling slightly more relaxed that he wasn't the only one forced to participate in this lesson Harry surveyed the rest of the classes' occupants.

Harry saw that the class consisted of purely Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Slytherins. He supposed that made sense. Gryffindors were curious by nature. Ravenclaws would be interested in learning absolutely every facet of magic possible. And Slytherins...well, it was Dark Magic, after all. His gaze narrowed as it landed on Draco Malfoy, who was snickering over something with Pansy Parkinson. No doubt that the two of them would be paired together. The disgusting thought that he might have to watch Malfoy grinding against the pug-faced Parkinson flitted through his mind and he recoiled. Malfoy looked up and grinned at Harry.

"Can't dance, Potter?" he asked maliciously, and Harry's eyes narrowed further. Had Malfoy forgotten that he was also a student in this class?

"Bit rich coming from you, Malfoy." Harry said pointedly.

The smirk that appeared on Malfoy's face only served to infuriate Harry more but before the dark haired gryffindor could comment the door opened to admit one more person. A witch in long, loose, deep purple robes walked to the front of the room and turned to face the class. She had long, slightly wavy black hair that was pulled back from her face and tucked behind her ears. Her eyes were bright blue, and she had a light amount of freckles across the bridge of her nose.

"Hello class, I am Professor Donovan and I will be your Dance Magic instructor for the semester. I'm sure many of you are surprised by the briefness of the class, given its content, but this is not a subject that requires much study. It is unique to each person, and therefore lengthy discussions of the theory behind it and when they may or may not apply to you are frivolous. Much of the class will be spent in practical applications of the concepts you'll learn in the first few sessions. Dance Magic was brought to Hogwarts by Albert The Amorous in the late 1940's," Professor Donovan explained. "Some have speculated that if Armando Dippet, being rather feeble-minded, had not been Headmaster at the time, the subject would never have been introduced. See, back then what seemed like a dance was so much more. It was, if matched with the right companion, the meeting of two souls. A passionate and most discreet act of making love. Such a meeting of two magical people with their mingled abilities - not to other aspects which tend to become mingled during such activities - of both partners involved can create quite a bit of energy. With enough training, that energy could then be focused and funneled into other things. Under the right circumstances, with the right partner, the magical potential created can be amazingly powerful."

"Now if there are no questions, we can begin. Today we will be sorting you into groups of two. These will be your partners that you'll maintain for the rest of the semester."

Harry blanched inwardly. For the rest of the semester? He opened his mouth to protest but was quickly cut off.

"The partners that you are paired with during this course will likely become, at the very least, extremely dear to you for the rest your life. Most people find that they meet their future spouse here in this very room, as the selection method that we use chooses your partner based on a number of compatible elements, both personal and sexual. I'm sure you're all familiar with the object that we use to pair off students; the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet is a supremely beneficial tool to this course, as it is both fair and unbiased on the criteria which it bases its selection, even though you might harbor such biases towards your fellow classmates yourself. Do not be surprised if you are partnered with someone you do not expect. The Goblet sometimes makes shocking, yet intuitive choices. When I call your names, please move to sit next to your partner."

Harry fought to keep his breathing at a normal level. He didn't want to be partnered with anyone! He opened his mouth once more but Professor Donovan had already brought out a rough wooden cup that was crackling and spitting blue sparks, and set it on her desk. Small pieces of paper, knotted together in the middle, began to fly out of it and Harry closed his mouth as she began to read them out loud.

"Theodore Nott and Padma Patil..."

Harry watched as Padma rose from her seat with an unreadable look on her cool face and Goyle moved from his place next to Nott to take her vacated chair.

"Neville Longbottom and Lavender Brown," Professor Mason called out impassively.

Lavender squeaked indignantly. Neville hung his flushed head and gathered his things to sit next to an obviously displeased Lavender. Harry imagined one of the other girls in class reacting similarly when their names were called together and felt his ears burn.

More names were read, and with each passing couple Harry became more agitated. He was working his third nail down to a stub when he heard the names Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson called out. Swiveling around in his seat, Harry grinned nastily at Malfoy and was surprised to see the slytherin looking calm and collected. Didn't he care that he would end up being partnered with another?

"Michael Corner and Parvati Patil..."

Harry glanced around the room, noting that most everyone had been paired off already and were either blushing shyly at their partner with pleased half smiles on their faces, or looking distinctly unhappy. Then he heard his own name called.

"Harry Potter and Carter Sullivan…"

Carter Sullivan. A boy. It seemed that the twins hard scheming had been wasted. If what Donovan had said was true then this boy would be his partner for the rest of the lessons. Harry would not be getting a girlfriend, instead he got to look like a fairy. He glanced to the other side of the room where the slytherins were seated. A tall boy with messy blond hair had stood and was striding confidently towards him.

"Potter" he greeted taking the empty seat next to Harry.

"Er… Sullivan." Harry said back, timidly.

The blond smirked, sitting back in his chair and crossing his long legs.

Harry scowled in annoyance. This was going to be an interesting semester.

Annoyed as he was, Harry didn't pay much more attention to the sorting of the other students until the end when Hannah Abbot was paired off with Byron Simms, leaving Draco Malfoy the only student sitting un-partnered.

"Alright then, you are finished for today. Our first lesson begins on Wednesday with the first chapter in, ' Erotic Dance - Dark Magic or Magic in the Dark?' Please read it carefully and come to the next class with questions ready. You are dismissed." "Professor Donovan said clapping her hands together.

"But professor, Malfoy wasn't paired up with anyone." Harry stated fighting to keep the whine out of his voice. Several students nodded their heads in agreement.

"Of course not Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy is already very skilled in the art of Dance Magic, he will be assisting me with the lessons."

Harry wasn't the only one who groaned.

Firstly I would like to say thankyou to VB, for the inspiration that helped bring about this story.

Secondly I would like to say a very BIG sorry to Charlotte. What I did was rude, immature, and completely unacceptable. Please accept my honest apology.

Thirdly if you can take the time to read this then you can most certainly take the time to review it. -hint hint- lol

So please reveiw. (All credit should go to VB)

-Sunako