Author's note:
Just a little something I felt like writing. Maybe it's been done before. If it has, I'm sorry. And maybe you find the prospect of dancing lessons at Hogwart's rather unlikely, but it was just an idea I had, and it refused to leave me, so I figured I should make it into a story.Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and Co belong to JK Rowling (in case anybody didn't know and thought I'd made them up). The song quote is from "Let's face the music and dance", written by Irving Berlin.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~Face the Music and Dance~
*****
"There may be trouble ahead
But while there's music and moonlight and love and romance
Let's face the music and dance"
*****
"Dancing classes?"
Ginny stared at Colin Creevey, utterly bewildered. He looked back at her eagerly.
"Yes! Isn't it exciting?"
Ginny found she couldn't answer him. She was completely dumbfounded by this unexpected information.
It was after lunch that Colin had sought Ginny out, positively bubbling with excitement over something professor McGonnagall had talked about at the end of Transfiguration. Ginny had missed the last fifteen minutes or so of the class, as she'd been called by Madame Pince to the library for a quick briefing on what her duties as the students' literary consultant would be. It was a task Ginny had taken on the moment professor McGonnagall had asked her at the start of the term. Partly it was because it felt nice that the professor had thought of her, Ginny, when asked by Madame Pince to seek out someone suitable for the job. But mostly it was because Ginny absolutely adored the idea of getting to spend more time in the library, and she loved it even more if it meant she was there to do something meaningful, like help students who were looking for certain books or texts while studying.
The meeting had been over in half an hour, and afterwards, Ginny had headed off to the Great Hall for lunch, accompanied by Hermione, whom Ginny had found in the library, hunched over a frighteningly large book on weather spells. In the Great Hall, they'd met up with Ron, who was sulking over some comment professor Sprout had made on his general inability to gain the trust of flowers and plants. Hermione hadn't made him any less grumpy with her statement that plants were considered to be excellent judges of character. The two of them had bickered throughout the meal, and meanwhile Ginny had sat silent, her mind in a general state of wandering. Without giving it much thought, she'd let her eyes roam the Hall, and subconsciously noted that Harry was nowhere to be seen. She'd been about to ask Ron and Hermione about it, but they'd still been engaged in their fierce conversation, of which the topic now had changed from the care-taking of plants to Ron's discipline (or lack of it, rather) when it came to doing his homework. So Ginny had stored the question in the back of her mind, from where she could retrieve it at a more suitable time.
It was outside the Great Hall that Colin had come running up to her, rambling about professor McGonnagall and the information she'd dispensed at the end of Transfiguration. He'd been too excited to form any full sentences, but in the midst of the messily put together mass of words, Ginny had managed to make out something about dancing classes. And now here she was, trying to come up with some sort of response to Colin, who was looking at her expectantly.
"Colin, I…" she began, but didn't get any further. He kept looking at her, waiting for some sort of sign that his news had made her seethe with excitement and curiosity. She shook her head, so as to clear it, and tried again.
"Dancing classes, you say?"
He nodded eagerly, clearly relieved that she finally showed some sort of interest. "Yes! On Friday."
"But whatever for?" Ginny said. "Why do we have to take dancing classes?"
Colin shrugged. "Dunno. The professor didn't say. But my guess--", and at this he lowered his voice as if he were about to dispense a confidential piece of information, "--is that they want us to practise for the Yule Ball."
"The Yule Ball?" Ginny exclaimed, incredulous. "But that's ages away!"
Colin shrugged again. "Maybe they weren't pleased with the students' performances last year, and want us to be well-prepared this time."
"But why do we have to take dancing classes?" Ginny realised she was coming over all whiny, and knew Colin must be getting annoyed with her and her obvious lack of enthusiasm. But she couldn't help it. The memories of last year's Yule Ball were all too vivid in her mind. She and Neville had been equally terrible dancers, and she'd spent the whole night waiting for the teachers to announce the ball to be over, so she could go to bed and sleep away from all of it.
"Oh, come on, Ginny!" Colin said, starting to sound desperate. "It'll be fun! Professor McGonnagall told us we'll mostly be dancing wizard dances, but we might do some Muggle ones as well! There's one called the waltz, which is really elegant. It's usually danced at Muggle weddings."
This caught Ginny's attention. "Weddings?" she said, and Colin looked pleased at the sudden hint of interest in her voice.
"Yes! I danced it with my mum, when her sister got married. I can teach you if you want, it's really rather simple."
Ginny nodded absent-mindedly, and listened with half an ear as Colin proceeded with giving her a detailed account of his aunt's wedding. As he talked, Ginny let her mind wander.
Weddings. If there was something she had a weak spot for, it was weddings. Ever since she, at the age of three, had heard of her parents' marriage ceremony and seen pictures of them on their wedding day, she'd dreamt of the day she herself would get married, and what it would be like. She'd imagined the dress she would be wearing, what the cake would look like, which people she'd invite, and, most importantly, whom she'd be marrying.
These fantasies had appeared less frequently in her mind the past few years, what with all the drama going on around and inside her, but now that Colin mentioned weddings, she found herself once again fantasising about her own wedding day. She could see herself gracefully striding down the aisle, dressed in a beautiful, cream-coloured set of robes and carrying an armful of handpicked flowers. Her whole family was there; her mother and father, and every single one of her brothers, and they were all smiling at her, looking so proud. Now Ginny looked behind her and met the eyes of her bridesmaid – Hermione. She looked beautiful, dressed in pale blue dress robes, and she tilted her head and smiled at Ginny, who then turned her head back to look at the man she was marrying.
Harry was waiting for her, looking like he always did, with tousled hair and round-rimmed spectacles, but the expression on his face was different. He looked a bit nervous, but also happy and at ease. He smiled at Ginny, and she smiled back.
Ginny found her heart was racing at the mere thought of receiving a smile from Harry, and silently cursed her stupid and hopelessly romantic self for allowing her mind to drift off like that. Her fantasising days were over; she was too old to be imagining her own wedding anymore. Especially if it meant she was marrying Harry. It was thoughts like those that she'd promised herself, at the end of her third year, never to allow into her mind again. They only ended up making her miserable, and misery was something she got enough of from other places, what with the current situation in the wizarding community.
She let out a small, involuntary sigh.
"Oh, sorry, am I boring you?"
Ginny's head snapped up. She'd forgotten Colin was there. "No, not at all!" she said hurriedly, adopting what she hoped was an expression of interest. "You were saying…?"
But apparently she wasn't all too convincing, because Colin frowned and picked up his book-bag, which he'd thrown on the floor in his previous state of excitement. "Never mind," he said. "I have to get going." Before Ginny could say anything further, he had left.
She sighed to herself again. Brilliant. Absolutely wonderful. Not only had she allowed herself to once again fantasise stupidly about wedding days and beautiful dresses and Harry Potter; as if she were still that hopelessly romantic little girl she'd been during her first year at Hogwart's. She'd also managed to upset a classmate, which – even though it'd been completely unintentional – made her feel really guilty. She picked up her bag and started walking towards the stairway, but discovered her shoe-lace was untied and stooped down to tie it up, so as to avoid tripping herself over and being laughed at by all the fifth- and sixth-years that were strolling about the corridor at the moment.
When she was finished, she once again grabbed her bag and rose to continue her walk towards the stairs. Seeing as she was determined not to let her shoelace come undone again, she kept her eyes on her feet as she walked. As a result of this, she ended up crashing into the back of somebody who was standing a few feet away from the staircase.
Startled, Ginny took a step back, just as the person she'd knocked into turned to see who his attacker was.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Ginny breathed, then felt her heart virtually stop beating as she looked up into the bewildered, green eyes of Harry Potter.
"Ginny?" he said, frowning. And Ginny found she couldn't speak. She stood rooted to the spot, her mouth opening and closing like that of a stranded fish, as she searched her mind for something clever to say. But nothing came. Harry kept looking at her, probably waiting for an excuse or an explanation, or at least a spoken word of some sort.
Ginny swallowed, her heart racing. "Um, I…" she managed, but then her throat went all tight again and she couldn't get anything more out.
"Would you like to use the stairs?" Harry knitted his brows, clearly puzzled by her silence.
"Yes, please," she said in a tiny voice, feeling the blood which had drained from her face a moment ago now rush back at a dangerous speed. Not giving any further word of explanation, just wishing to get as far away from there as possible, Ginny took her flushed face and hammering heart and started making her way up the stairs. She'd gotten no longer than five steps when she was stopped by somebody speaking her name. Slowly, and as gracefully as she possibly could in her current state, she turned around and looked down at Harry. He was looking back up at her, and she had to use every ounce of self-control she possessed to keep her eyes locked with his.
"Yes?" she queried, glad her voice didn't insist on cracking at the short word.
He reached up to set his glasses straight, then placed one hand on his head and another on his hip. "Did you hear about the dancing classes?"
The dancing classes. She'd forgotten about those. "Yes, just now, actually," she said, and then she had to break eye contact for a moment, for fear of her voice failing her. When she glanced back, she found he was still looking at her, so she shifted her gaze to her shoes. But then she reminded herself that her swooning days were over, and took a deep breath before turning her head up to meet his eyes.
Harry seemed unfazed by her many head movements, or if he was, he didn't show it. "We heard about it this morning."
Ginny nodded. "Oh?" she said lamely.
"Yeah. Me and Ron thought about skipping them, but then Hermione kindly informed us that we better not, seeing as they're mandatory and all."
Ginny smiled in spite of her nervousness, imagining Hermione's face when Ron and Harry started talking about cutting class. "So you don't like dancing?" she asked, amazed at how she managed to get a full sentence out without choking on her own words.
Harry shrugged. "I don't mind it," he said. "It's just, the idea of dancing classes…"
"I know what you mean," Ginny said. "It's a bit silly."
"Yeah, a bit."
There was a pause, and Ginny found her moment of inner calm was over. Her heart started beating faster again, and she searched her mind for something clever to say. But before she could get anything out, Harry checked his watch.
"Damn," he muttered, then looked up at her again. "I better get going. Snape won't let me hear the end of it I'm late for Potions. Neither will Hermione, for that matter."
Ginny motioned with a shaking hand up the stairs. "Yeah, I should… too."
Harry nodded. "So, I'll see you around." And before Ginny could answer, he'd disappeared down the hallway.
Ginny sighed deeply and squeezed her eyes shut. Typical. How very typical. Just when she'd thought she was finally getting over Harry Potter, he showed up right in front of her, all sociable and nice and… wonderfully Harry-like, and she could do little but fall right back into her old habit of fantasising and swooning and being all-around girlishly silly. Well, old habits die hard, she told herself.
As do old crushes.
Clutching the shoulder strap of her bag, she started making her way up the stairs, head hanging heavily.
*****
"Oh, isn't it terribly exciting?"
Hermione's eyes positively shone as she leaned over the table, closer to Ginny, clearly expecting her friend to take part in her giddiness.
Ginny shrugged and served herself some potatoes. "I guess. A bit."
Hermione frowned, obviously having expected something a bit more enthusiastic. "A bit?" she echoed.
Ginny shrugged again. "I don't know. I just can't seem to work myself up as much about it as everyone else is doing."
"But Ginny, it's dancing classes! How can you not be excited? They'll be having a live band there, and we're allowed to dress up if we want to, and…"
"Oh, don't tell me you're talking about those bloody dancing classes again."
The two girls looked up in time to see Ron seat himself by the table right next to them. He immediately filled his plate with food and dug in. "A daft idea is what it is, if you ask me," he continued through a mouth full of mashed potatoes and stew.
"Well, nobody's asking you, Ron," Hermione said testily. "And don't talk with food in your mouth."
Ron grunted something inaudible in reply, then continued his meal in silence, allowing Hermione to turn her attention back to Ginny.
"So you're really not looking forward to it? Not even the slightest?"
"No, not really," Ginny said honestly, having tired of trying to keep up an excited facade. The dancing classes were all people had been talking about ever since she got back from lunch, and, frankly, she was rather fed up with the mere thought of them. The girls in her class had chattered and giggled and shot looks at the boys all afternoon, whilst she herself had done her homework and tried to avoid any type of conversation, knowing it would only lead to talk of the stupid dancing classes.
Hermione looked at Ginny, with an almost concerned look in her eyes. "Alright, then," she said, clearly not understanding how Ginny could be so unenthusiastic about such an event. She turned to Ron, who'd already finished his food and was presently serving himself a second helping.
"Where's Harry?" she asked, and it was first then that Ginny noted Harry's absence.
Ron topped his already cluttered plate off with a spoonful of peas. "Quidditch-practice, I think. He said he'd be coming in a little later tonight."
Harry had been made captain of the Quidditch team this year, and he took his job quite seriously. If he wasn't holding a team practice, he was out on the field by himself, polishing his flying-techniques and maintaining his broom, as he put it.
Ron raised his fore-finger, a sign that he was about to say something, then shoved a forkful of food into his mouth. As he chewed, he waggled his finger, preparing to speak, but Hermione beat him to it.
"Ron, don't you dare utter a single word with all that food in your mouth."
Ron glared at her, but obeyed – something that made Ginny turn her head away with a smile – and swallowed before he spoke.
"Is it alright if I talk now?" he asked and scowled at Hermione. She nodded and waved her hand, motioning for him to go ahead.
"Right. So anyway, speaking of Harry – which we were doing at the time when I was interrupted--", here Hermione received yet another glare, "--I thought it was sort of interesting to hear what he had to say about these stupid dancing classes everyone's going on about."
Ginny subconsciously sharpened her ears at this.
"Oh?" Hermione said. "And what did he have to say, then?"
Ron took a big gulp of his drink before continuing. "Well, I don't remember exactly, but when I pointed out to him, right after we heard about it, what a stupid and bloody useless idea it really was--", at this, Hermione snorted in disapproval, "--he just stood there. You know, not agreeing with me. So I said it again, just to make sure he'd heard me, and then he said something like "I don't really mind it." So I told him yet again how stupid dancing is, and I also reminded him of how little he enjoyed last year's Yule Ball. But he still didn't seem to quite get what a ridiculous idea it all was. And then he said – and this really made me rather worried – that he was sort of looking forward to it! Would you believe that?"
"Yes, I would actually," Hermione said. "It makes sense that Harry wouldn't be as quick to condemn it as you were."
Ron shot her a glare. "Well, hopefully he'll soon come to his senses and see it for what it really is."
Hermione crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Oh, really? And what is that, then?"
Ron shrugged. "A waste of perfectly good studying hours." He glanced up at Hermione, who was about to deliver a comeback, but couldn't seem to find any words. He pointed at her, triumphant. "Ha! You can hardly argue with that, now can you?"
Hermione scowled at him and put her nose in the air. "Oh, Ron, as if you're not absolutely thrilled we'll be missing classes because of this."
Ron shrugged. "Can't say I'm not. But I'd rather we'd miss classes because of something a little less stupid and pointless."
"Well, it looks like you're the only one with that opinion," Hermione said. "Not even Harry agrees with you, and that says something, seeing as the two of you are practically joint at the hip when it comes to everything else."
"Harry will come to his senses," Ron repeated. "You just wait and see."
"Did he really seem like he was looking forward to it?" Ginny asked, joining in on the conversation for the first time.
Ron looked at her, surprised. He seemed to have forgotten she was even there. "Uh… what do you mean, Gin?"
Ginny shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems a bit strange, 'cause to me he said he didn't really like the idea, and that the two of you had thought about skipping it."
Ron stared at her, incredulous. "You had a conversation with Harry?"
Ginny felt her face go hot. It hadn't seemed strange when she'd said it, but now she saw how peculiar it must seem to Ron and Hermione. "No, not really," she mumbled, looking away. "We just talked for a bit."
"Talked for a bit?" Ron echoed. "Isn't that pretty much the definition of a conversation?"
Ginny felt her face go even redder.
"Ron," Hermione said sternly, then turned to Ginny. "Harry never said anything about skipping the dancing classes."
"Really?" Ginny asked, struggling to return her face to it's normal colour.
"Yes," Hermione said, before looking at Ron disapprovingly. "It was only your brother who considered doing that."
Ron immediately shot something back at her about how he couldn't see who would possibly care whether he attended the bloody classes or not, and the two of them bickered on throughout the rest of the meal, leaving Ginny to her own thoughts. She sat, chin in hand, and wondered why it was that Harry had seemed so unenthusiastic about the dancing classes when she'd met him, yet told Ron he was more or less in favour of the idea.
But she came up with no answer, and when the three of them rose to return to the Gryffindor common room, Harry still hadn't returned from his practice.
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A/N: This was chapter one of two. At first this story was supposed to be just one part, but then it became a bit longer than I thought, plus I really really really felt like posting something, so I decided to post it as two parts. I'm working on the final part at the moment, and it's as good as finished, so it should be up in a couple of days (note "should": I can make no promises, my inspiration insists on abandoning me at times). Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and please leave a quick review to let me know what you thought!