Chapter 9 – The Dance
During the train ride back to Hogwarts, Albus couldn't look at Selesta the same.
She's a thief! Horrible and judgmental thoughts filled his mind. But she's your friend!
Selesta and Albus were the only people sitting in their compartment. Rose had gone off to sit with Scorpius somewhere, Lily was with Hugo and Alice, James was probably with Delilah and Veronica was with her other Slytherin friends. It was extremely quiet until Albus could no longer take it anymore.
"Why did you do it? Why did you steal those books? You could've just asked to borrow them," said Albus.
"What? Albus I would never! I could not live with myself if I ever stole anything. It wasn't me," said Selesta. "How can you even accuse me of that?"
"Oh I don't know… we found your bracelet lying around!"
"Al, I didn't do it! Don't you believe me?"
"I don't know what to believe right now." Albus crossed his arms and faced the window.
Selesta took her things and tried her hardest to not cry in front of him. She could not stand how he wouldn't believe her! Her own best friend thought she was a lying thief! Selesta slammed the compartment door behind her and went to look for another one. She would gladly be anywhere else as long as it was far away from Albus.
For the next few days, Selesta and Albus avoided each other as much as possible. And that was pretty hard since they had almost all of the same classes together. They wouldn't talk or even have any eye contact. Albus was also struggling in Potions since he refused to ask Selesta for any help. And Selesta started hanging out with fellow Slytherin Patty Parkinson and Kourtney Pettigrew from Gryffindor.
"So how are you and Selesta?" Rose asked Albus during lunch one day.
"Still not talking," he replied.
"I thought you liked her," said Rose. "And by that I meant more than friends."
"I do… but it's complicated," Albus sighed. "That was her bracelet my father found. She stole those books. She was even obsessing over the Deathly Hallows!"
"I don't know Al. It doesn't sound like something Lesta would do. And I believe in the saying, 'Innocent until proven guilty.' Plus, maybe she just dropped her bracelet earlier that day and someone else stole those books."
"I hope so," said Albus.
During Potions, Selesta finally spoke to Albus. "Um, can we talk?"
"Uh…okay," said Albus.
"Listen, I know you wanted to go as friends to the dance, but we hardly even talk anymore."
"Yeah I know. I want to apol—"
"And Nicholas Fledge from Ravenclaw asked me, so do you mind?"
"No, I guess not." Albus muttered.
"Okay thanks …I guess. Bye."
~.~.~.~.~
"What do I do Rose? I'm losing her— as a friend I mean." Albus said as they headed for Arithmancy class. "I tried apologizing but then she told me she's going to the dance with that tall, buff guy Nicholas Fledge. She hates me."
"Now I'm not that Muggle Dr. Phil, but I'm sure she doesn't hate you." Rose replied. "I shouldn't be telling you this but she …never mind."
"Well then she's giving me mixed signs! During the holidays we almost kissed, and then the next day she told me she wanted to go to the dance as 'friends' and then we stop speaking for a while and BAM! Now she's going out with some other guy to the dance. Girls are confusing," Albus babbled.
"Hey guys!" Veronica called after them.
"Hi Ronnie," said Albus. "So who are you going to the dance with?"
"Oh, I've been so busy with getting the votes for the dance theme that I completely forgot about that!" said Veronica. "And no one asked me anyways."
"I vote for the Robot theme!" Rose started dancing like a robot.
"I'm dateless too. Do you just want to go together?" asked Albus.
"Sure!" smiled Veronica. "By the way Rose, so far most of the students have been voting for the Rockstar theme and the Royal Ball theme. Robot and Disco are tied for last place."
"Aw, fiddlesticks!" Rose groaned. "Me and Professor McGonagall will not be happy about this!"
In the end, the Royal Ball theme won and Rose was left crying in a corner sadly doing the robot dance alone. Professor McGonagall was also a little bummed out about the Disco theme not winning, but there was a rumor going around that she was planning to wear an afro to the dance anyway.
When the day finally came, Albus wore a brand new black silk robe from the wizarding clothing shop, Twilfit and Tattings. He didn't really know what to do with his hair so he just shook it back and forth and brushed it with a comb.
Albus then headed down to the Great Hall. Drapes that were the colour of all 4 houses were hung around the glistening gold walls. By the front of the room where the teachers usually sat, was a magnificent castle made of diamonds. Attached to the castle was a glass stage where a band called Witch Direction was performing. Albus recognized them for he had seen posters of the band all over Lily's room. There was a singer with curly hair that Albus believed was named Hurley Stiles, a blond guitarist who was Neal Huron, a very good looking man Zane Mulyk was dancing with a smiley guy named Louie Thompson and another singer who was usually compared to Michael Bublé, Lio Paine was making all the girls swoon.
Albus looked around the room and saw Rose and Scorpius slow dancing, Hugo holding hands with Alice Longbottom as they stood by the table filled with food, and the usual James and Delilah who couldn't keep their eyes off of each other. He also saw Lysander and Lorcan fighting over his own sister, Lily.
"I asked her to the dance and she said YES!"shouted Lorcan as he took Lily's arm.
"NO! She said yes to me!" Lysander took Lily's other arm.
"Boys! I'm so sorry. I knew there was something strange going on when I thought one of you asked me to the dance twice! It's so hard to tell you guys apart!" Lily put her hand on her forehead. "I totally forgot you were twins."
"Since you both said yes to us both, why don't we just all hang out together?" suggested Lysander.
"Okay, sure!" smiled Lily as both boys linked their arms with hers.
Albus looked elsewhere and saw Professor McGonagall spinning Professor Flitwick around as they danced laughing. Indeed the rumors were true, she was wearing an afro. Horace Slughorn was leading Pomona Sprout onto the dance floor, and Professor Trelawney was enjoying herself as she danced with Hagrid. Just behind his kooky teacher and his father's old friend, Albus saw Veronica. She had worn a sparkling peach dress with glass slippers, a tiara and her usually messy curls were tied up in a neat bun.
"Al!" she ran up to him and took his hand. "Let's dance!"
Albus put one hand on her waist and the other held on to her hand. It was pretty awkward at first since it was a slow love ballad, but it quickly turned into an upbeat and fast paced song. They quickly let go of each other and started jumping up and down fist pumping.
"You look great!" shouted Albus.
"Thanks, you're looking quite spiffy yourself." Selesta winked.
From the corner of Albus's eye, he caught a glimpse of a stunning girl wearing a strapless dark purple dress that was made of soft satin fabric which fell effortlessly onto the floor. Her hair was kept in an easy updo with a simple peacock feather sticking out of her bun. She held onto the arm of tall, muscular boy Albus recognized. It was Nicholas Fledge …so that meant the girl on his arm was— Selesta.
"I'm going to go get some punch, okay?" said Albus. "You want some?"
"Sure. Oh, and can you get me a cupcake? The one with the black icing please, thanks!" Selesta was still super energetic on the dance floor even though she didn't have a partner at that moment.
Just when Albus was about to reach for a cupcake, a hand already snatched it away. Selesta stood right beside him stuffing her face with the small cake. She stared at Albus in shock and grabbed onto the collar of his robes.
"Albus you have to help me!" Selesta whispered worriedly.
"Huh?" said Albus confusedly.
"They're back!"
"Who's back?"
"The Death Eaters," she cringed.
"That's impossible," Albus shook his head. "Voldemort is dead."
"Lately I've been feeling sleepy and I keep forgetting about things I have done. Well I think either someone is messing with me or someone is controlling me. I can't explain it. There's just a voice in my head and—"
Just then, Veronica flashed a smile at Selesta.
"It's her! She's the leader of the Death Eaters," said Selesta.
"What? Veronica…no she can't be."
"B-but I saw them! In the forest …"
"What are you talking about?" asked Albus.
All of a sudden Nicholas Fledge took a hold of Selesta's wrist and said, "Hey let's dance!"
Only they didn't head for the dance floor. Instead Nicholas dragged her through the doors that led out of the Great Hall when none of the teachers were looking.
"Let me go!" Selesta cried.
Albus looked around the dance floor and realized that his own date, Veronica, was nowhere to be found.
