Title: Falling

Penname: Captain of L'Emeraude

Summary: Late one night at Hogwarts a dancer keeps falling. What if someone were to catch her?

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the setting. I probably don't own the plot either but hey, I thought I'd write it down anyway.

Author's note: I just watched a movie about dancers so since I can't dance I decided to write about dancing. I hope it's OK. Flames are welcome and encouraged.

Falling

I train and I work and I stretch and I cry and I still fall. Every. Bloody. Time. I can't take this much longer. OK, OK, I'm cool, I'm calm, I'm collected. One more time tonight and then I'll go back to the dormitories to sleep.

She walks over to the corner of the room with a grace never shown around her peers. Her magical peers, at least. A flick of the wand starts the music over. She pulses her body with the bass, letting it flow through her and waits for the melody to take over control.

This is magic. Not spells, not wands, capes or silly potions. This. Feeling the life and the music run through you. Dance. This is real.

Her body moves. Turns and leaps flow though her like water in a stream. Her eyes closed and her face relaxed, she looks as if what she is doing is as easy as walking. The music going faster, her body spinning with her hair fanned out around her, she gets to the climax, the part she has been working on all night. Her feet leave the air and for a moment, everything is perfect.

For a moment I let myself believe that I can do it. My feet leave the air and I am sure that nothing can go wrong. I let the music control me, but I'm still in control. And then it stops. The air is wrong. The music is wrong. It's as if there was a skip in the CD of my life and suddenly everything is either a step ahead or a step behind. Nothing is with me.

He jumps out of the shadows where he was watching and races towards her falling figure. She lands in his arms and suddenly…

Suddenly everything is right on track again. It's as if the skip moved me so I could land in the right spot again. It feels so right in this moment. But wait, who is he? Whose arms make me feel like nothing could go wrong even though nothing is going right?

Her eyes turn and for an instant he tries to turn his head, to avoid her gaze. She smiles, the words blossoming on her lips; "Thank y- Malfoy?!" He sets her down, trying to hide the hurt in his eyes. "You should really incorporate a partner into your dance so you can have some help on that jump. You do know that no one has ever landed it without a partner, right?" He starts to walk away.

Oh. God. He caught me. I have been falling all night and suddenly he was there. And he caught me…

She sees him walking away, shoulders slumped.

And I just let him fall. I could use a partner. I just didn't think anyone would want to dance with me… Maybe Malfoy…

"Malfoy! Wait." He turns around. "I'm sorry. I guess I was just a little shocked. Thank you for catching me." She pauses. "And for the advice." She smiles shyly. "Do you think you could help me find a decent partner?" He smirks. "I don't know… I can only think of one guy. You might not be too happy about it though." She walks over and looks him straight in the eye. "As long as he catches me every time I fall, I'm OK."