Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from the Harry Potter series.
Since I was a little girl I dreamed of ballroom dancing. I could see it happening in my head. Gracefully moving along the floor in the arms of a gorgeous, perfect guy – spinning, twirling, dipping and even ending in a knee weakening kiss. It would be perfect. Now, at the age of 19, I'm still waiting for my perfect dance. Sure, I had been to the Yule Ball my third year at school – you could hardly call that dancing though. The night pretty much consisted of trying to avoid Neville's feet with mine. Even though he's sweet as can be, it was bloody awful. The only comfort from that night was that most of the Gryffindor girls all had bad dancing partners.
We actually came to the conclusion that it must be a problem with the Gryffindor boys. Hermione and Parvati had both danced with Durmstrang boys and they were apparently excellent partners. Even the few girls who had gone with either Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs had better dances than us. That only left the conclusion that it must be the boys of our tower.
Now that I am to attend a Ministry Ball I this will be my chance. I'll get my perfect dance that night. I'll do anything to make it happen. I even owled the few Durmstrang students I had met and kept in touch with when they came for the Tri-Wizard Tournament to see if any of them would be willing to give me a few lessons so I can be ready for my dance. Surprisingly enough, Viktor Krum is the one who ends up helping me. Apparently while keeping in contact Hermione had given him extra thanks for taking her to the ball and then explained the dancing dilemma most of the girls in our tower had. In his reply he said, "No lady should have to suffer in a dance." It's good to know that at least one guy understands.
Now that my dancing was taken care of, I have to move on to the matter of a date. I had a few offers already but declined them all. You see, I had been asked by Seamus, Dennis, Ritchie and Dean, all nice, but Gryffindor guys. Well that certainly would not do. I don't want to risk not getting the chance to have my dance because I was with one of these boys who were sure to be horrid dancers. Regardless of how good looking Seamus and Dean both grew to be, if you can't dance, then you can't be my date. I think I would even go with a Slytherin before a Gryffindor. Slytherins are bound to be good dancers. Nearly every single one of them grew up in the high-class society; this must be a second nature to them. If only I didn't hate every one of them and wasn't hated in return.
Come to think of it, why bring a date at all? I can just go and dance with every non-Gryffindor possible. I'm bound to have my perfect dance that way. Then after I find it I can dance with the Gryff guys. I won't need to look for my dance anymore so I can just have fun with my friends and their horrible dancing. Yes, that sounds like a brilliant plan!
I'm just finishing getting ready for the ball now, opting to keep things simple; minimal makeup, stud earrings that match the color of my dress, and a simple twist for my hair. My dress is a sleeveless midnight blue with silvery, strappy heels. With one last twirl in front of the mirror I grab my wand and disapparate.
As I walk in the doors I take a quick look around to see how many possible dance partners I have. I figure I'll start with a drink and wait for the first offer. Before I can even get my first sip though I hear someone ask me to dance. Unfortunately it's Seamus and I just can't dance with him, not yet. I feel a little guilty for a moment, first he asks me to the dance and I say no and now I'm declining is offer to dance. I do have the manners to tell him that maybe I'll dance with him later though. By the end of my drink I've gotten an acceptable offer and am being lead to the dance floor.
The Ball is nearly over now and I am immensely disappointed. I danced too many times to count and nothing. Some were pretty bad, some were okay, just nothing special, and a select few had me wondering if they even understood the concept of dancing. I've also had to say no to Seamus a handful of other times, along with Dean, Colin, Dennis, Ritchie and Jimmy. I even refused my brothers. They certainly can't give me my perfect dance – stupid Gryffindors. I decide to just give up searching for this Ball. Maybe the next one I'm invited to will have a better turn out. Yet, as I'm sitting here in my misery I see Seamus approaching for what has to be about the seventh time tonight. Did the boy not understand what no meant?
"May I have the honor of the next dance?" he asks while extending his hand and, though I'm terribly annoyed, I have to admire the fact that he sounds confident and not like he'd been rejected repetitively.
"Seamus," I begin frustrated, "I thought you were a smart bloke. So please explain to me why you can't get a simple 'no, I will not dance with you' through your head."
"I just want to dance with you Gin," is his quiet reply.
"Well, I'm done dancing for the night," I say, feeling slightly guilty at the dejected tone in his voice.
"That's not fair Ginny," he practically whines, "every time I asked you to dance tonight you said you would later!"
"Oh, why the bloody hell does it matter so much? Go find some other girl to dance with," I say, my guilt slipping away as my annoyance rises again.
"I don't want to dance with some other girl," he says fiercely. "Just give me one bloody dance. That's all I'm asking you for. I've been waiting the whole damn night and I will not let my money go to waste!"
Confused and slightly exasperated I say, "Seamus, what are you talking about? What money are you wasting? You didn't have to pay to come here."
Looking thoroughly embarrassed, he mumbles something that for the life of me I can not understand which only proves to anger me more.
"What?" I snap out.
"I said I've been taking lessons so I could improve my dancing," he admits quietly, flushing red on every bit of skin visible.
"Oh, well, why?" is all I can manage to say.
"Look," he sighs, sitting down next to me, "after the Yule Ball, Lav kept nagging about how awful my dancing was and that every guy in our tower was disastrous. I believe her illogical theory was that the sorting hat must have sorted us by our dancing skills. I don't know. I don't try to understand some of the things she says. Anyways, I really wanted to be able to dance with you and not muck it up. So as soon as I got my invitation, I started taking dancing lessons in the hopes that I could impress you. Now you won't even bloody dance with me though."
Try as I might, I can't stop myself, I burst out laughing so hard I think I might fall out of my chair. It was just too hilarious to me. Looking startled and offended, Seamus stands to leave. My hand shoots out to grab his just in time and I tug him back in to his chair. I signal for him to hold on while I calm myself enough to explain.
"I didn't mean to laugh at you Seamus. I find that rather sweet actually. The whole situation just cracks me up," I begin to explain. "I've been looking for my perfect dance you know. And the reason why I kept saying no to you is because every Gryffindor girl knew our tower was full of boys who simply could not dance." I start laughing again and take another few moments to calm down. Still chuckling lightly I continue on, "And this whole time, you have been trying to dance with me because it could very possibly be a great dance, maybe even the perfect one I'm looking for. You never know really. And if that's the case I could have saved myself all the trouble I went through tonight and just accepted when you asked me to be your date. Well, I guess there is only one way to see."
With out waiting for his reply I stand and drag him to the dance floor. Though at first he looks very confused as to how this conversation finally ended with us on the dance floor, his face quickly turns to one of determination. He seems to understand that he only has one chance to not only impress me, but try his hardest to make this that perfect dance I mentioned. We wait until the current song ends and the next begins and get into position. 'Here goes nothing,' I think as we begin to move.
Surprisingly, it was turning out to be perfect. He moves with a shocking grace that I assume he learned to have in lessons. He's doing all the required spinning, twirling and dipping too. There isn't even a question if he met the gorgeous guy requirement. He is one of the best looking guys in attendance. The only requirement left to meet was the knee-weakening kiss. And I'm pretty sure Seamus can manage that so I wasn't too worried.
As the song and dance comes to an end, I flash him the most encouraging smile I can. Apparently that's all he needs because he promptly swoops down and covers my lips with his own. When he pulla away and I open my eyes I immediately notice that he's supporting my weight. 'Well,' I think, 'that would definitely fall into the knee-weakening category then.'
"So, how'd I do?" He asks smugly and I can see the pride shining in his eyes.
I smile and whisper, "perfect," before beginning to lean up to kiss him again. He simply grins and leans to meet me for the kiss.
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