Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognize!
A/N: Well, here it is, sorry for the wait. Thanks a lot to all the reviewers and for their input as well as to Rishi for his help with my grammar and spelling.
To those who are lost by the dance linguo in the story, I'm sorry, but I want to try and keep it accurate. I had posted a Dance linguo appendice, but I had to take it down in order to comply with rules. I put it on my yahoo group if you want to have a look.
Well, hope you'll enjoy this chapter.
Naia
Chapter 7
She was eating her lunch quietly when Padma stormed at the table and throw the new issue of Gossip on the table.
With a frown, Draco took it, opened it and his features transformed in an icy mask.
"She is dead…."
He laid down the magazine and everyone saw a big picture of Harry holding Hermione in his arms. The title stood out easily.
'Hogwart's love story, all about the seducing of Harry Potter! The ex girlfriend find comfort in the arms of a fellow actor!'
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
Harry took the magazine, an eyebrow raised, and his fork in the other hand, eating while reading Skeeter articles.
He skimmed over the paragraphs concerning his liaison with Hermione and how he was seduced by said ballerina. He arrived at a photo showing Emily in a young man's arms. He recognised Jonathan Trent easily; after all, the actor was making the front page of half the teenage magazines at the moment. Tall, nicely proportioned and muscled, a golden kissed skin, dark brown long hair for the purpose of the film, Harry couldn't see his face since, he was embracing a young woman who was, unmistakingly, Emily. However both of them were wearing their costumes, so the probability of this being the proof of a liaison was close to nil.
Harry read as Skeeter wrote that the 'heartbroken' young and promising actress Emily Varrington had sought 'comfort and support' in her fellow actor, Jonathan Trent, who, in a true 'knight in shining armour' or in this case, lion skin, had helped the distraught young woman.
The 'stunning Miss Varrington' had apparently not been immune to the 'charm and genuine concern' Jonathan Trent had displayed for her and a 'friendship which would soon turn into a pure love' had been born between these 'two rising stars in the Hollywood sky'. If this 'beautiful love story which had gone beyond the scenario and allowed those two souls to meet each other' would last, 'one could only hope for the sake of miss Varrington' who was recovering from the hurt she had suffered due to the greed and ambition of a 'unnamed ballerina' who had been quick at getting the 'oblivious and obviously misled Harry Potter in her clutches'
Skeeter had illustrated her articles with several photos showing Trent hugging Emily, another with his arm around her shoulder as both of them were laughing and a third, once more in costume were they were locked in a heated embrace.
Harry dropped the magazine.
"What a pile of rubbish! I can't believe people believe anything written in this rag." He sighed. "Was it not for the part against Hermione, I would find it really funny."
"So you don't think there is any truth about the Emily-Trent part?"
Harry shook his head.
"Nah. If there is one thing I learnt if that you can't afford to be jealous if you're dating a future actress. I mean I can't count the number of time Emily had to kiss other guys and had to be convincing about it for her plays. If I was to harp on her every time, we would not have lasted a week. I accepted it and she accepted my dancing, though she can be quite possessive…"
Draco was nodding, seeing his point while Ron looked a bit disapproving.
"Well, I don't know how you do it… I know I couldn't."
The red head shrugged and returned to his meal.
"You're the one to talk," replied Ginny. "You still haven't managed to keep a girl for more than two months…"
Ron didn't even bother to answer.
"Anyway," said Harry, "All these photos shows are two actors working together and playing their parts… That's the parts about Hermione who has me worried."
"I'll speak with my dad. He told me he would have a word with the editor, but that I would have to tell him if Skeeter took no heed of the warning."
Harry seemed doubtful.
"I don't know if he can do much. When my parents tried to have her fired or at least to stop those articles, she used the freedom of the press card."
Draco seemed thoughtful.
"True, but there is a difference between reporting facts or spreading lies and disparaging someone without proof…"
Harry shrugged.
"If you say so, I never was that fond of law, so I can't say. That rag put aside, don't we have classes today?"
Hermione who had stayed silent for the most part nodded.
"Yes, Ron and Padma with Snape and you know how much he likes lateness…"
There was a groan as the two got up. The other four had Vector this morning as they were presenting their work on Shakespeare.
They met for McGonagall's lesson and Ron was laughing with mirth.
"You'll never guess what happened!"
Draco raised an eyebrow.
"No, but you're going to tell us, aren't you."
Ron didn't spare him a glance.
"Snape caught Lavender and Parvati gossiping about Skeeter articles, they had the magazine opened on their knee… You should have heard him! There are in detention for the week!"
The youths laughed at that.
"That must have been priceless!"
"It was," said Padma. "I thought Snape was going to have a stroke"
Chuckling, they made their way to the changing before entering McGonagall dominion. As they worked on new lifts, Harry bent on Hermione.
"We're still going together for the ball?"
Hermione shrugged, lifting herself on her pointe, arm in second.
"As you want."
"Of course I still want to. You're too good a dancer to stay all the night in your room."
"I don't mind…"
Harry didn't answer immediately as he concentrated on his move.
"I noticed, but you can't stay all the time cooped up there… so it's still okay with you?"
"It is."
Harry smiled at that as he lifted her by the waist.
They stopped talking as they caught Madam McGonagall's disapproving eye. But as they had made no mistake, she couldn't fault them.
The rest of the day went quietly. And soon, they were leaving Vector's classroom, being done for the day. Hermione headed for the library, wanting to do some homework. The next day's night would be the Valentine's ball night and so she wouldn't be able to get anything done. Harry and Draco joined her, Ginny having tricked Padma and Mandy into helping her with the decorations.
Draco left after two hours, curious to see what his girlfriend had been up to and getting quite fed up with his history paper. Harry had stopped working soon after that, daydreaming and examining the people in the library.
Despite what he had said about the paper in the morning, he couldn't help being a bit hurt by this. Emily hadn't phoned him for a week now and he was starting to imagine things. He had tried to call her a few times already, but every time, he got her voice mail box. He had left her several messages, but she hadn't answered yet and it was worrying him… He told himself he would phone this weekend. The issue dealt with, he reported his attention to his surrounding. The library was quite deserted since it was nearly dinner time. Only the workaholic kind still haunted this place. Usually, he wouldn't be found here for the life of him, but he hadn't wanted to leave Hermione alone.
She had not spoken a word for the past hours, completely focused on her work. Biting her low lip or tapping it lightly with her pen when she was thinking hard, rubbing her left eyebrow or playing with a hair strand which had escaped from her ponytail as she read over a book for reference.
He shook his head. He definitively needed a change of scenery if he was starting to notice details like this…. He closed his book and started to pack his things. Moreover dinner was about to start, so he had a valid excuse for dragging them out of Mrs. Pince's territory.
"You're done?" he asked Hermione. "Dinner will start in ten minutes, so we should get a move on."
Hermione nodded distractedly.
"Yeah… I just have to finish this equation…."
She glared at her paper, before her face brightened as she snapped her fingers and scribbled several lines of numbers and letters. "Here, done!"
She packed her bag and followed Harry out, saluting Mrs Pince on her way out. The usually cold woman smiled at the ballerina, nodding her head in response.
Classes had been cancelled the next day, the professors having thought it would be useless to try to hold their students' attention on the day of the ball. That did not stop people from working on their own if they so wanted. Hermione and her friends spent their time out, deciding to take the day off for once. Well, more accurately, they dragged a protesting Hermione out. Cho, Cedric and Blaise, Seamus and Mandy had come with them. They took a walk in the woods, talking and laughing before going to see the grounds' keeper. This time, there weren't a lot of wounded animals there. Hagrid had took the habit of taking in every injured creature he found, no matter how dangerous and caring for them until they could be set free.
That time he only had a pair of birds, one deer and a fox, as well as his dog, Fang. Harry had found out the hard way that the beast loved to jump the visitor and cover then with drool by licking them. Since then he had been a bit more wary when entering Hagrid's home. They went back in for lunch and set up a small game tournament during the afternoon, including chess, poker, tarot, pictionnary. They continued with a game of truth and dare which ended with Ron running from Filch after being dared to kiss the man on the cheek by Draco. By this time, Harry had a hot pink "I'm a drunk flamingo" written in bold on his forehead, and had to make a tour of the school wearing one of Ginny's dress. Draco had had to go declare his undying love for Sirius on one knee. The blond had been mortified when the man had played along, acting all girly on him and hugging him, fake tears rolling down his cheeks, and a disapproving Remus looking at them, who had his face painted yellow as he had to imitate a canary. All in all every participant had undergone some modifications to their appearance.
The girls retreated to Ginny's room, having brought all their things there to get ready together for the ball, while the boys went to their room to clean themselves.
An hour before the ball, the girl having chosen to eat sandwiches in their rooms and knowing some food would be available at the party as well as drinks, were putting the finishing touches. Ginny was applying her make up while Hermione was doing Padma's hair. The former was nearly finished, only needing to put on her jewellery and some mascara.
To escape Ginny's nagging, Hermione had agreed to wear something less simple than her black dress, but she wasn't feeling really at ease in the red dress, having had her friend picked it out for her. It was ankle-length but showed too much of her cleavage in her opinion, though Padma and Ginny heavily disagreed that point. The dress was tied in the back with a criss-crossing red strand and covered with a shimmering veil which caught the light from time to time. The skirt flared slightly from her knee and she had to admit the feel of the material shifting around her leg was very nice. A thin silver chain hanged loosely around her hips. For once she was wearing her hair down and clipped with a few strasses.
Twisting the last strand of hair into the bun, she held it in place with a few more pins before showing her friend her handiwork.
"Great! thanks Hermione!"
Standing up, Padma lightly touched the bun before walking to the mirror where Ginny was finishing putting her make up on.
Taking her jewel box, Hermione clasped a small flower pendant her parents had offered her for Christmas, as well as putting on the matching earrings. With a suffering sigh, she tied her black heeled shoes, hoping she wouldn't sprain her ankle dancing with those shoes.
Finally finished, they took the lift down the hall, knowing their escort would wait for them there. Padma was going with Blaise Zabini. At first the young woman had planned to go stag, but the black-haired dancer had asked her that very afternoon, once he learnt she had no escort, being in the same case, he had said that birds of a feather flocked together and that they would spend the night laughing at people's attire.
Ron was going with his current girlfriend, a nice sixth year called Joanne. Draco was organizing a betting pool on how long they would last.
As the girls expected their boys were talking quietly, smartly dressed. Hermione smiled as Harry offered her his arm after tucking a white pink flower in her hair.
"For a talented dancer," he said with a smile.
"Talent?" said Hermione, looking at her reflection in a window. "I didn't think you would know flower language."
Harry sent her a pained grimace.
"My mother had me learn it, she's a sucker for this, drive my father crazy every time he want to buy her flowers, or to buy some for friends…"
Hermione stifled a laugh as he led her to the Great hall that had been decorated and readied for the ball. Since the party was semi-formal, he was wearing black pants with a white dress shirt, a black vest and a red tie, silvery grey tie, having asked Hermione her dress colour before.
They walked through the room, speaking with their friends before taking some lemonade and sitting down, talking lightly about people's clothes, escort…
Then Dumbledore who had come with Mme McGonagall, fuelling some rumours mills, opened the ball on a Strauss valse, joined by many couples. Harry forcefully dragged Hermione on the dance floor, barely allowing her to put her drink down. Ginny and Draco preferred to sit this one down, watching the twirling couples before them, heads close. A second valse followed and Harry and Cedric exchanged partners after a bow which was answered by a playful curtsy from their escort.
Hermione was smiling at something Cedric was saying, answering him, as she didn't have to concentrate on her footing, letting herself be swept across the room.
A twist and a madison followed, then the first salsa. Harry had got Hermione back for this one and took to making weird faces at her for the whole dance, nearly making her trip the first time.
Hermione then walked to the sides to drink a little, before being asked by Ron for a new valse. Flitwick was in charge of the music and it had been decided by the organisation committee that it would be ballroom dancing, something Hermione enjoyed far more than the wild dancing at some of Rosemerta's parties where it was more pop, techno, rock and disco music.
After a few more dances with other boys, she sat back next to Padma who was sipping on her apple juice. Hermione slumped on her chair, taking a big gulp from her glass.
"Having fun?"
The brown-haired girl nodded, a bit out of breath. Terry had danced with her a fast-beat rumba.
"Yes, I'm glad you made me come…"
Ginny and Draco who had arrived heard that and the red head put an arm around her shoulder.
"I'm so happy! You finally saw the light!"
Hermione shook her head as she sipped her drink, relishing in its coldness.
Harry joined them soon after the end of the current dance, leaving Cho to Cedric's tender care. He drank avidly what little had been left in his glass, looking with longing at Hermione's.
She rolled her eyes.
"Oh! Stop it with the puppy eyes…."
Harry only pouted, looking every part the lost puppy. Hermione only smiled, raised her glass and emptied it. All of them laughed as Harry clutched his heart.
Flitwick announced the next dance, and immediately, Harry perked up, stopping his antics. He offered his hand to Hermione.
"As compensation, May I have this dance, my lady."
"Tune down the charm, Romeo! And come on, or will miss it!" exclaimed Ginny, as Draco led her to the dance floor.
Hermione took his hand and he brought her close to him.
"Ready to rock, Hermione?"
She looked up dubiously at him.
"Will you be able to keep up?"
"Is that a challenge?"
Hermione did not like the gleam in his eyes. He had had the same when he had given Draco his dare…
"Harry James Potter! Forget about whatever you were thinking."
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"But Hermione, this is an acrobatic rock music, not plain rock 'n roll."
Hermione shrieked as he launched her on the dance floor, twirling her expertly.
"Harry, don't you dare lift me with this dress!"
Harry ignored her. For all her protests she still allowed him to lead her and he once again couldn't help the admiration he felt at seeing that she had not missed a step while they were bantering. Both of them were smiling widely as Harry twirled, pushed, pulled Hermione around the floor, spotting Draco and Ginny as well as a few other couples, including Sirius and Sinistra dancing too. Most of the others had cleared the floor and were watching the ones dancing.
Harry spun Hermione in his arms, before lifting her and swinging her from his right to his left hip, then high in the air as she made a 180° turn. They resumed their steps, enjoying themselves. Finally they stopped as the music ended.
Harry gave her a cheeky grin.
"I knew there was a reason I liked dancing with you."
Hermione blushed slightly.
"Quit it, Harry, flattery won't get you anywhere…"
The rest of the night passed quickly and Hermione slumped in her bed, classes had been cancelled for the morning.
The ball was the talk of the following weeks, students gossiping about who had come with who, what couples had broken up, who had tripped on the dance floor, who had kissed who… Ginny was in the thick of it, keeping her friends updated on the latest findings of Hogwarts rumour mills.
That didn't stop the professors from working their students harder than ever. The end of the year was approaching and they were set on making the Galas a grand affair and wouldn't settle for any mistakes on stage…
Harry had seemed a bit depressed after the ball, and he finally told Hermione why during one of their runs. He had phoned Emily right after the ball, but had been a bit surprised by her behaviour.
Eagerly, Harry grabbed his phone and dialled his girlfriend number. He had been careful of the time difference and Emily had assured him that she wouldn't be on set at that time.
He waited for two rings when Emily answered.
"Hello, Emily Varrington speaking."
"Hi, sweetheart!"
"Harry!"
Harry had been a bit puzzled at this.
"Yes? Why you were waiting for someone else?"
She had chuckled.
"Don't be silly! How are you, darling? I really miss you, even if everybody is being really nice to me here…"
"I really miss you too, Emi, why didn't you answer my messages, I was worried there was a problem."
"No, it's just that the days are really hectic, when I'm not shooting, I'm working on my lines or practicing with the other actors, or trying on costumes…"
"You seem really busy…"
"You can say that, and the journalists are being a pain! But John gave me pointers and helped me with some of them."
"John?"
"Johnathan! You must meet him, Harry! He's such a dear! He has been really helpful to me. And you know those photos really don't do him justice, he's absolutely gorgeous."
Harry was bit amused at that, but a bit troubled too. Emily had never been this way about a guy… Telling himself he was imagining things that Trent was just a nice guy being friendly and helping a beginner around, he focused his attention back to what Emily had been saying.
"And I told her: Darling, blue is really not your colour. I mean, could you believe the nerve of her! Trying to step in for me. She's just jealous she didn't get the role. Everyone told me she wanted to be Megara, but apparently, when Bill, our director, saw the videos of the selected students, he knew I was Megara…"
"Don't worry, sweetheart, she'll stop once she'll realize it isn't working…"
Emily laughed.
"You're naïve, Harry, she won't stop and I know she's trying to undermine me with Bill, but Jonathan told me she wouldn't have made a good Megara. He told the press when she tried to shot me down, spreading rumours about me…"
Harry took this opportunity to bring Skeeter up.
"Really, we're having our share of rumours here too. Can you guess Skeeter's latest article? Apparently I was seduced by evil, calculative and greedy Hermione, and you, the heartbroken angel found true love in Trent's arms…"
Emily laughed.
"She's getting better… But you don't need to worry, John is handsome and really nice, but he's just a good friend and a fellow actor. What did Hermione say? It must be horrible for her…"
"She's trying to ignore it, but I know it's hard on her. Draco is trying to see if his father can get Skeeter to stop writing those articles, but I don't think he'll manage, that woman absolutely love nothing more than ruining people's life… And these articles are not the worst; she's being harassed by a stalker…"
There was a moment of silent.
"My God, how is she? Did you do something? Do you know who it is?"
Harry sighed.
"No, we learnt it by accident and took her to the headmaster. He called the police and Mr. Malfoy is also lending a hand. She changed her phone number and her mail is being screened. We try to distract her as much as possible and she throwing herself in her work and practice for the Galas…"
"Send her my best thoughts, please…"
"Thanks Emily, she'll be happy to know it…"
"I hope she'll be alright…. On merrier subjects, do you know what happened! I couldn't believe it! I received three offers for different shootings! Apparently, John talk to his agent and said he absolutely wanted to work with me again, so I'm being considered for his next film: Silent Memories. But I also received the script of two other films…"
Harry smiled, though the Trent part was unsettling to him…
"You deserve it, Emi. You're talented and you were just waiting for a chance like this…"
"Thanks Harry, I'm sorry, but I need to go over my lines for tomorrow… I'll phone you soon, alright?"
"Alright, don't overwork yourself though…. Talk to you soon, I love you."
"Love you too, darling."
She ended the call and Harry put the phone back on his bedside before slumping on his bed. He really missed her…
They had phoned each other a few more times, but she was busy with her work and his practices and work usually made him so tired that he only wanted to lay down and sleep once he was finished with the day.
The police was still searching for Hermione's stalker, but he or she had seemed to get a bit tired with the letters as he or she now only sent one per week.
Inspector Kingsley was leading the investigation and had come to speak the ballerina. He had been gentle, since Hermione was obviously really nervous about this. Harry and Draco had also been present and had helped their friend answering the questions: When had the first letter come, how often did she receive them, by what means? During the phone calls, could she describe the voice, was it male or female? Did she know people who could resent her for any particular reason? Did she have someone in mind? Had someone she knew started to act strangely?
He then asked more questions to Harry and Draco, about what they thought about this situation. He focused more particularly on Harry as the person behind these letters seemed to obsess with the relationship between Harry and Hermione. Before leaving, he told them to keep an eye out. The profiling of the letters was starting, and for now they had narrowed it to people who had met one of them, most probably a woman, but that still to be confirmed.
Finally, it was time for winter break. Ron and Ginny were going home, as Mrs Weasley had managed to get her older children to come home too, though Ginny had bargained a lot with her mother to be able to see Draco. In the end, she was spending, half of the break with him, at his family's manor.
Padma was staying as well as Harry, since his parents were on a tour. Hermione's had decided to go on a second honeymoon as their daughter had agreed to stay at Hogwarts for once. She was relieved she wouldn't be the only one staying and had decided to use the break to work and get a head start of sort.
This was why she was on her pointes, in front of a mirror, music in the background as she worked on her turns and her jumps.
A shine of sweat was covering her body as she slowed down, bending forwards, her arm ondulating, and then rose back up, arm in second. She held the position for a minute then fell back on her feet. She had been working for three hours now and decided it was time for a break. Walking to the sides of the room, she took her water bottle and drank some, turning sharply when she heard people entering the room.
"See! I told you she would be here!"
She rolled her eyes.
"Am I that predictable?" she said with a smile for Harry.
He laughed.
"To people who know you well enough, yes."
Chuckling, Hermione put her bottle on the floor. And started to stretch, as she didn't fancy being sore for the next three days...
"So, Mr. Potter, what have you here, while you could be... what was the word... procrastinating?"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"Please Hermione, use plain old English for us, mortals, but I wanted to know if you could come with me to see Remus and Sirius. I promised them I would visit, but I really don't want to go there alone..."
Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"What, scared to meet with your godfather?"
Harry nodded.
"You don't know him, Hermione, he's evil, I tell you, evil."
She flattened herself to the ground, her legs spread, wincing a bit as she stretched her back and thighs.
"You're being a baby, Harry, just let me finish my stretching and I'll come to protect you from your big bad Sirius..."
Harry did the mature thing to do. He stuck his tongue out.
"I was wrong; a baby is still too old for you to be..."
After a few final stretches, she took her things, took off her shoes, put on sock and comfy trainers, as well a sweat-shirt.
"Here! Let's tackle the monster!"
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
Harry and Hermione found themselves comfortably seated side by side on the couch in Sirius' room, enjoying the warmth of a good fire while drinking hot tea, laughing their head off at the man's antics. Remus was smiling, shaking his head.
Hermione put down her mug and turned to Harry.
"You mean Mr. Black managed to rope your father into serenading to your mother... At 4 am..."
Harry only laughed.
"Yep, and believe me, you don't want to listen to my father singing... It's a wonder the whole region wasn't flooded by rain."
Hermione chuckled.
Sirius raised his own mug.
"To James and his singing prowess!"
"Aye" All raised their drinks and downed some.
The older man shot a glance at his friend as he looked at the two young people sitting in front of him. He liked this Hermione. She's a bit shy, but Harry had done wonder with her and she was one of them. She understood how dancing could take over you, something Emily never would. If he hadn't sworn to Remus he wouldn't interfere, he would have given the two a little… push in the right direction. After all, Emily was away for her shooting and this Trent seemed to gather quite a lot of attention. And as the saying said: Far from the eyes, far from the heart.
He shot another look at his godson as he was retelling a story to his friend, eyes alive, moving his hands with wide movements. Hermione was smiling and laughing a bit, eyes on him.
They made a nice picture, and he really thought Hermione would be good for Harry. She had a good head on her shoulder. Maybe if he… He looked at Remus who had a warning glint in his eyes. Maybe not.
Well, time would tell…
They talked for another hour before Harry and Hermione left. Remus turned towards his friend.
"Sirius, you promised, don't meddle with them."
Sirius looked like a puppy that had lost his favourite toy.
"But, Remus…"
"No, stay out of this."
The black-haired man sighed.
"Alright."
A few days passed during which Hermione and most of the graduating students worked every day on the ballet and their part for the End of the year Gala.
One night, as Harry came back from a talk with his godfather, he heard someone playing the cello. Only knowing one person possessing a cello, he quickly walked towards the room from which the music was coming. Opening silently the door, he smiled as he saw Hermione, sitting on a chair, slightly bent over her instrument. He recognised the music as an adaptive version of the Moonlight Sonata.
She had her head down and was completely focused on her play. Harry shook his head fondly as he saw her biting her low lip. As she came to the end of the piece, he started to clap, startling her out of her musical trance.
She blushed a little when she saw him standing in the door way.
"What are you doing here, Harry?"
He smiled.
"I was listening. You play well."
"Thanks, I didn't think someone would hear me."
"Why aren't you playing in your room? It must be a pain to drag your cello down here…"
She shrugged.
"Not really, I use the lifts. But I can't play in my room, as it disturbs some of the girls on the floor…"
They were silent for a moment.
"Was there something you wanted?"
Harry looked pensive.
"Well, I'd like to have a lesson, if you don't mind…"
"A lesson?"
"A cello lesson," he précised. "I've always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, and the cello is as good as any other…"
Hermione sighed.
"Why not, but be careful."
She stood up and Harry noticed she was wearing a nightgown covering blue pyjamas.
"Here, sit down and put your leg on the cello side, back straight."
She moved his legs a bit and placed his left hand on the top, thumbs behind and fingers over the strings.
"Now, you hold the bow this way, she demonstrated then handed it to him carefully. She chuckled as he tried awkwardly to mimic her hold.
"No, not like this, you look like you're holding a knife, more relaxed, no need to grip it that tightly, it won't run away…"
Once she had corrected him, she showed him a basic hand placement over the strings.
"Now, this is the C position. Now you slide the bow, a bit more downward… yes, like this."
A quivering C echoed in the room, ending very off key as Harry moved his right hand a little.
"Alright, now, a D, yes, that's it…."
After five more minutes, Harry's hands were aching and the sounds coming from the cello were sounding more like cat's howls than music.
"That's not easy…"
"What did you expect… that you would be able to play at a snap of your fingers…?"
"Well-"
She smiled.
"Move your right hand, I'll show you."
Harry obeyed but was a bit surprised as she covered his hand holding the bow with her own."
"Now, see how you move your bow… Don't try to do it, let me move it, OK?"
She was standing behind him, pressed against the back of his chair, bent heavily forwards to hold the bow.
She started to play and Harry recognized the first bars of the Godfather song.
Hermione's hand had a firm grip on his, and he couldn't help but enjoying the feel of a body pressed to his own. He was a guy after all and he hadn't seen his girlfriend for a month now. He would have had to be made of stone to remain unaffected.
Hermione's face was focused once more on her playing, though she was feeling a bit awkward from having to lean that much on Harry. She could feel the muscles in his back through the fabric, but ignored this and immersed herself in her playing. Harry sneaked amused looks at her. She was once more biting her low lips and with a roll of his eyes, he raised his right hand to free it. Unfortunately, by doing so, he broke up her concentration; she missed her finger's position. They both winced at the sound made, before laughing.
"Nice doing, Miss Granger," he said playfully, to clear the air.
She looked at him.
"What was that about?"
Harry's was now feeling a bit foolish, but ignored it.
"You should stop molesting your lip or you'll end eating it one day." He tapped lightly on said low lip, trying to tell himself this was just light banter, like they always did.
Hermione blushed a little and pulled away from him, a bit embarrassed.
"Well-I … Did you see how you have to hold the bow?"
Harry stood up carefully, handing her the bow and cello back.
"Yep, thanks for the lesson, Hermione, but I think I'll call it a night, I don't want to expose you to more of my playing."
She smirked then carried the instrument to its box and started to pack it.
"I'll got to bed too…"
A minute later they left the room and walked back to their rooms, silently.
The break passed quickly and soon they found themselves back to their classes and working their asses off…
"And step up, Down, up, down, up, down, up, down, left foot, up, down…"
Mrs. Hooch was doing the exercise at the same time.
Since Christmas break she had decide to add steps to their warm up routine, an exercise most came to dislike.
"And to the sides!"
Some panting was starting to be heard, but Hermione concentrated on the music, staying in sync with its beat.
"Pause…. Arms to the side, bend on the right, on the left, right…"
With a groan the students obeyed, most of them looking at the clock signalling the time left of this 'torture'.
Finally, to the relief of most of them, the lesson ended and after drinking a bit, they headed for McGonagall's room.
The day passed in a whirl, as usual, and soon they were in Flitwick's class, working on their expressivity.
"Now, today, we'll work on feelings. You'll work with your partner and every pair will be given a paper with an emotion on it. You'll then have to perform together and express this feeling to us. We have to be able to guess it. You'll have to modify the sequence we just learned and complete it. I leave you ten minutes, not one more. Now, come pick a paper."
Hermione motioned to Harry to go take one. He came back and handed it to her, a bit awkward. She read it quickly and looked up at him, blushing heavily.
"Love?"
"I didn't choose it…"
"But,.."
"Hermione, we can do it, alright… Now we'll go over the sequence once to be sure of it, and then once more to agree on what we're doing…"
She nodded, still blushing.
They did it quickly, then looked at each other a bit.
"So… we still have eight minutes."
Hermione was stuttering, clearly uncomfortable with the whole idea.
Harry seemed deep in thought.
"Alright, is there a love song you really like?"
Hermione took a few seconds to answer.
"Well, there are a few…"
"Think of your favourite one and close your eyes. Feel the melody and the lyrics and try to act them. Alright. You are dancing on this song with me. We don't know each other, we just met, this music started to play and its love at first sight. Close your eyes and try to picture this scene…"
Hermione nodded and did so. After a few seconds she nodded and opened her eyes.
"Alright, I can do it."
Harry smiled at her, "then let's see…"
They went over the sequence and Harry tried to play his part too. They then worked on what they could do after that…
After the ten allowed minutes, Flitwick clapped, gathering everyone's attention.
"Mesdemoiselles, Messieurs, time to show us what you came up with. Who wants to go first? Yes, Miss Chang, we're watching. For this exercise, you won't have music to back you up.
Cho and Cedric readied themselves then started to dance. It soon became obvious that they had picked Curiosity.
Other groups followed and finally, Flitwick called them.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, if you would?"
They nodded and readied themselves. Inside, Hermione was shaking, she was so embarrassed… He had a girlfriend, how could she danced as if she loved him? And how could he respond to her… She sent him a panicking look and he only smiled, a challenging gleam in his eyes. She took a deep breath. He believed in her, and she would show him that she could do it!
She made her moves languorous, always seeking his eyes and keeping eye contact for as long as possible. They danced around each other, only parting to embrace each other again, and finally, Harry swept her, spinning, as she abandoned herself in his arms, back arched, head falling backwards, one leg trailing behind. He slowed his turn and leant on her until their noses touched and their eyes were locked on each other.
Harry was breathing hard. Not only because of the dance, but also from Hermione's response. He had not thought she could dance like this… or at least, not in front of the classroom. He felt a bit uncomfortable at having enjoyed this thoroughly. Did it mean he was cheating on Emily, if he had enjoyed holding Hermione like this? He dismissed the thought. He was being completely silly. Hermione was a skilled dancer, he had known it since the start. She was just starting to show what she was made of and he had played along. They were to play lovers and they were convincing, of that he was sure… He danced like this with other ballerina before for some of his parent's shows and during lessons.
A clapping broke them from their trance as they noticed the gob smacked looks on a few faces as well as the stormy expression of several girls.
Flitwick was beaming.
"Excellent! M. Potter, I must commend you on the progress of Miss Granger. I assume you picked the Love paper… Lovely, absolutely lovely. Now Mr. Malfoy and Miss Weasley."
As Hermione walked with Harry back to the sides, she had a hard trying to fight the heavy flush rising up her face as she realised what she had just done…
"And they say they're only friends! Did you see how they looked at each other?" she heard someone whisper in her back.
"I heard she was the reason why Harry and his girlfriend broke up."
"Did you read that article… Maybe it was true…"
Hermione, covered her face, she was never going to live this done…
Harry put a hand on her shoulder.
"You were fantastic, Hermione."
Ron nodded.
"Yes, for a moment, you nearly had me going…" said the red-head, looking back on his sister who was performing with her partner and boyfriend. Apparently they had picked the Jealousy paper…
"Nice right hook Gin," he muttered.
Hermione didn't really know what to do with herself. She didn't miss Lavender and Parvati's angry looks, nor the muttering of several ballerinas.
Why did they have to pick this paper, and why did she always have to prove herself to Harry. Why couldn't she allow herself to disappoint him by not dancing this to the best of her abilities.
She tried to forget about this and focus on her peers. Ginny and Draco had been brilliant, as usual. Finally, to her relief, the lesson was over and she escaped the room quickly, not waiting for her friends and heading straight for her room.
She worked on a few of her assignment and phoned a friend to talk for a bit.
Finally as dinner was about to be served, she headed for the Great Hall and went to sit next to the others who were already seated.
They shot her curious looks.
"Why did you ran out like this. I knew Sprout cancelled her class, but I didn't think you needed to go to the library that badly…" joked Ron.
"I went to my room. I had some work to do."
Seeing they wouldn't get anything from her when she was like this, her friends let it go and rose to their feet to take their turn at the self.
Once they were seated once more, they talked about the coming Galas. Soon, however, Ron and Draco were involved in a heated debate over two soccer teams, watched amusedly by Padma, Ginny and the others next to them. Harry took this opportunity to lean on Hermione.
"Hermione, you weren't embarrassed about Flitwick's class."
She shook her head quickly.
"No, no, of course not… I just had a lot of work and I really needed to take a shower…"
"You're sure?"
Hermione sent him - at least what she hoped was – a reassuring smile.
"Yes, besides, Flitwick seemed quite happy with our performance…"
Harry laughed quietly.
"Indeed, I thought he was going to bounce to the ceiling."
Hermione smiled back before returning her attention to her salad.
This night she had a harder time finding sleep.
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
The next day, as Hermione walked to her usual place in the Great Hall, after having taken her tray and filled it with her usual breakfast, she heard whispers starting in her back.
"Yes, that's her, didn't you read the article in Gossip. And I heard she's also been sleeping with that Bulgarian boy, you know the one from the casting, just so that she would get the role…"
"That's disgusting… Are you sure?"
"How do you explain her getting this role otherwise. One of my sister's friends told me she had never been chosen for lead before… And you don't go from nobody to lead like this…"
Hermione felt ill as she heard this.
Keeping her head high, she keep on walking to her seat and sat down, drinking her orange juice as usual. She kept looking at the door, praying her friends would come soon as she could feel eyes on her.
Finally Harry, Draco and Ron entered and took their turn at the self, piling food on their tray. Boys and their stomachs…
They sat down, Draco next to her, Harry in front and Ron to his side.
Ginny, Padma and Mandy joined then soon after that and were apparently discussing a new perfume.
Two girls passed them, whispering.
"And do you know what else I heard? Apparently she cheated during the last tests… I was told she managed to steal the test paper from Sprout and Vector…"
"No… and here I thought she was really intelligent."
The brunette shrugged.
"What can you expect from someone who only befriend people to use them?"
"That's not what Ginny is saying…"
Her friends dismissed the point from a flick of her hand.
"Ginny doesn't see who she truly is…."
Hermione had paled and was shooting hesitant looks at her friends.
They had all stopped speaking as they listened to the two girls who seemed unaware of their audience. Ron had his fist clenched and his knuckles white.
Ginny had a murderous glint in her eyes and Draco had draped his arm around her shoulders, his eyes cold and calculating.
"Hermione? Since when are those rumours running around."
The ballerina sighed.
"I only heard those and another about how I supposedly slept with Viktor to get the role in Phoenixia."
Mandy gasped.
"That's disgusting, who would spread things like this!"
Hermione shrugged.
"No idea, there was a few at the beginning of the year, but I always thought that ignoring them was the best thing to do…"
Ginny and Draco exchanged a look, one eyebrow raised, but Hermione paid them no heed. She didn't care about those gossipers, as long as those she called friends believed in her.
With this comforting thought, she finished her breakfast and waited for the others to do so. Standing up and gathering her things, she held her head high, ignoring the looks sent her way and walked with her friends to put their tray away and to their first class: Snape.
They had showed her she could be more than a wall flower. It was her turn to show them she could hold her own.