Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long, I've been really busy lately. To make it up to you guys, I'm posting two chapters tonight, so here's the first one. Hope you enjoy and please review! -Kelly :)

CHAPTER 10

THE NIGHT OF THE DANCE

Rose temporarily stopped her research on the ghosts, mostly because of the incident that night, and the next few weeks flew by quickly in a blur of studying for midterm exams and Quidditch and dodging questions from Al about Dominic, who she was more than happy to spend as much time with as possible, if only to annoy Scorpius. She felt a little bad, but then, they weren't really together anyway, it was just for the dance. She hoped.

The dance arrived quicker than Rose had expected, and their parents had sent sets of dress robes to the boys that were honestly quite awful the week before. There had been a Hogsmeade trip that week, and Al and James came back with Muggle formal suits. Rose was a little worried that they'd be in trouble, but she noticed that the majority of the boys in her House had similar ideas and decided to let it go; they couldn't all possibly get in trouble. The night of the dance, Rose was wearing a borrowed dress from Min, which was a dark shade of green and seemed a little lower cut than Rose would have ever bought herself, but it wasn't unmanageable. Emma insisted on taming her hair, and Rose came down to the common room a little after seven to find her and saw Hugo sprawled out on one of the couches, homework littered around him. He looked up as she entered and said, "You look different. It's weird."

"Er, I'm going to take that as a compliment," Rose said, shrugging, and peered over his shoulder. "Potions?"

"It's going to kill me, Rose. I'm going to die," he said very seriously. She rolled her eyes.

"You'll be fine. You'll be ahead of anyone in your grade who got asked, anyway."

"I want to go!" Hugo exclaimed. "It's not fair, we get to go to Hogsmeade, why can't we go to the dance?"

"Sorry, Hugo, fourth years and up," she said. "You wouldn't want to go with anyone anyway."

"Well, yeah, ew. But Al's going stag, so is Blake Collier, it's not unheard of," he said.

"Well, yes, but Al's awkward and Blake's asexual," Rose said. Hugo just shrugged. "I've got to find Emma."

"Commons bathroom," he said, pointing to the opposite end of the room, and Rose hurried into the girls' room.

She sat awkwardly as Emma whirled around her with a curling iron until Emma finally said, "You know, I really didn't think you would care about Scorpius and I."

Rose sighed and said, "I don't, really, it was just… a bit of a shock. It's not like he's my ex or anything, you can date whoever you want."

"He was your friend, I should've told you," she said. "…Anyway, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Emma, I'm not mad at you," she assured her. I'm mad at him. I don't know why, but I am.

"Okay. This is a really good color for you."

"Oh, er, thanks. You look great, too."

"I hope I don't clash with him. He wouldn't talk about it, he didn't think it mattered."

"He'll be in some 18th century traditional thing, I'm sure." Emma laughed and kept working on Rose's hair until there was a knock on the bathroom door. Min came in after a second.

"Er, Dominic's outside the portrait hole with some Hufflepuffs."

"I'll be out in a minute!" Rose said quickly, and Emma finished up the last curl as she stood up and ran to the mirror. "I look okay, right?"

"You look great, have fun," Emma said, and Rose ran out of the bathroom and through the common room to the portrait hole. Dominic was standing outside, talking to Adam Finch-Fletchley and a girl Rose didn't recognize, and smiled when he saw her.

"Hi, Rose! Er, this is Adam and June."

"We have Runes together," Adam said. "Hi."

"Hi, er, if you all are ready to go, I'm ready," Rose said, and Al poked his head out of the portrait hole curiously.

"Wait, you're going with them?" he asked, looking confused.

"Yes, I'm going with Dominic, you didn't know?"

"I sort of assumed you were just coming with us," Al said, shrugging, and Rose felt herself get embarrassed.

"You assumed no one had asked me?"

"Um…" Al sensed danger and backed away. "I'll see you there, then." He disappeared and Rose turned to the Hufflepuffs, smiling.

"Okay, let's go." As they walked, Dominic and Rose walked a few paces away from the other two.

"You look brilliant, by the way," he said, and Rose smiled. "Your cousin won't be too upset you went with us, will he?"

"Oh, no, he's fine," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "He's going stag and tagging along with Emma Dursley and Scorpius Malfoy."

"Right, well, still I don't really want to upset him. If his brother's any indication."

"Oh, James is full of it, don't worry. And there's nothing Al hates more than conflict."

"I'm glad to hear that, I got a goal past James last week and I thought he was going to kill me." Rose laughed again and they soon reached the ground floor. As they entered the Great Hall, Rose was pleased to see the decorations had been put up according to the plans the prefects had drawn out. The walls were lined with ornately decorated Christmas trees draped with silvery curtains that shimmered in the light of the candles floating from the ceiling, and the ceiling showcased the outdoor snowstorm clouding the stars above. The House tables had been pushed aside to create a large dance floor in the middle of the Hall and there was a stage where the staff table was usually placed. "Is someone playing?" Rose asked.

"I heard they got Silencio," Adam said. June and Dominic looked excited and Rose pretended that she knew who that was. The Great Hall was soon flooding with people and Dominic had gone to get punch when James came running through the crowd and jumped onto the stage.

He pulled his wand out of his pocket and amplified his voice to say, "All right, how's everyone doing? You all look wonderful tonight—especially you, Alice Longbottom, where are you—all right, sorry, Professor," he added much more quietly when he saw McGonagall glaring from the corner. "Ava's running a bit late, so on behalf of the Prefects and staff we wish you all a happy Christmas and hope you have a great time tonight. Are we ready for some music?" The crowd responded enthusiastically and James grinned, looking like he liked this a little too much. "Brilliant. All right, then, I'll finish up; please welcome Adonis Thorne and WWN Choice Award-winning Silencio." Everyone cheered while four men in their twenties, dressed in all black and carrying various instruments, walked onto the stage and started playing a dance song. The crowd quickly started dancing and it was significantly more difficult to navigate. Rose tried to find Dominic, but she was still pushing through to the punch table when James found her. "Hey, Rosie."

"Hey," Rose said. "Ava's late? Doesn't seem like her."

James snickered. "Yeah, er, not exactly. She and Lucy didn't quite make it as far as the Hall. She offered to come with me, but she wasn't all that put together and we figured it'd look bad."

"Nice," Rose said. "What about you? Where's Hannah?"

James turned slightly pink and he said, "How'd you know about that?"

"I just… guessed. I don't know. A few people have guessed."

"Oh. Well, no, we're not here together. Think of how it'd look, our teams are rivals. Ours is a forbidden love," James said and Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm hoping I'll find her later though. I know you probably don't notice but really… damn."

"Well, I'll let you go dance to this… apparently popular band," she said.

James snickered. "Too mainstream for you? Yeah, they're cool, actually; they used to be more alt but you were too young to remember."

"You're two years older," Rose scoffed.

"I was too young too, I just knew about them because of Teddy," James said. "They're actually mid-30s, they just have a lot of anti-aging enchantments going on. It's not bad, though. You're here alone too?"

"Er—" Rose started to say, and at that moment Dominic pushed through the crowd holding half glasses of punch.

"Hey! I got bumped a few times, but there's still some punch," he said, handing her one. "Er, hi, James," he said cheerfully, and James blinked several times.

"Er… hi…" he said blankly, and then looked at Rose in alarm. Rose looked back at him, pleading for him not to say anything, and he slowly smiled. "Good match last week."

"Oh, yeah, I thought so too. You shouldn't be too put out, it was a really close one," Dominic said, and James nodded curtly. "You put all this together, then? It's well done."

"Thanks. Well, I should go. Keep the people happy," James said. "Unless the Head Girl pries herself away from her girlfriend, I'm emceeing alone, so…"

"Bye, James," Rose said. James disappeared into the crowd and Dominic chuckled.

"Yeah, he doesn't like me, and you can't tell me otherwise," he said. Rose was embarrassed and he shook his head. "No, it's fine, don't. Big families are mad, I know."

"Thanks," she said, smiling, and he grinned back.

"Let's dance," he said, and Rose decided then that she wasn't going to care what her frankly insane cousin thought of her date and let herself let go for the rest of the night. Before she knew it, it was fifteen minutes before midnight and the second slow song had just ended. They were at the drinks table when Professor Rudomin approached them and said, "Rose, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I'll wait here," Dominic offered, and Rose followed the professor to the corner of the room.

Once they came to a stop, Rudomin's voice dropped to barely above a whisper and he said, "Professor McGonagall wanted you to know that we've just received word the Department of Mysteries was broken into earlier tonight." Rose was confused before he said, "We don't believe they found what they were looking for."

Rose tried to think of how this could have anything to do with her before it dawned on her. "You mean the prophecy?"

Rudomin blinked. "No. I meant the Resurrection Stone. How did you know about the prophecy?"

"We heard Uncle Harry and Kingsley over the summer. No one stole that, did they?"

"No, that's safe too," Rudomin said. "The Aurors got there quickly. We believe they were working with Nott, but no one was captured."

"Okay," Rose said. "Is that all?"

"For now, yes," Rudomin said. "McGonagall would like to see you right when we return from holiday in her office."

"Okay, thanks, Professor." Rose tried to go back to the table but Rudomin stopped her.

"Rose? Don't tell anyone else who doesn't know about the prophecy. The last thing we need is that getting out."

Rose was a little startled and said, "Okay, I won't, Professor." Rudomin went back to chaperoning and Rose found Dominic again quickly.

"Sorry about that," she said.

"It's all right," Dominic said. "Er, I'm not sure another dance'd be… well, do you want to get some air?"

"Sure," Rose said, and they walked out into the grounds of the castle, where several couples and groups were wandering along the paths and several more hiding in the shadows.

"The world isn't ending or anything, is it?" Dominic asked. "Rudomin looked a little…"

"No, everything's fine," Rose said, glad that she was telling the truth, at least for now, though she wasn't sure how permanent that statement was if Nott's people were breaking into the Ministry.

"Good. I had a really good time tonight," he added, and Rose smiled.

"Me too." She was happy that it was true; granted, she had been a little concerned after Scorpius's comments but Dominic had been nothing but sweet, not to mention how completely handsome he was…

"I'm glad." They slowed down on the path and he said, "Er, I don't want to push it, but can I kiss you?"

Rose's stomach flipped and she considered quickly, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. No one was, but she did see a flash of what looked like Emma's dress in one of the alcoves of the castle and made a snap decision. "Yes, of course," she said, and he did, swiftly, bending down a little to reach her due to the significant height difference. Rose's heart skipped a beat as she realized he wasn't a bad kisser. She knew she didn't want a boyfriend right now, but something about kissing someone in full view of someone who hated the very idea of them associating with each other was thrilling, almost more so than the kiss itself, and she let it continue for a minute or so and probably would have for longer if there hadn't been James's amplified voice shouting out into the grounds, "It's midnight, you all have to come in or it'll be a teacher next time."

Dominic pulled away and smiled at her. "I'll walk you up to Gryffindor."

"Sure," Rose said, still breathless, and they fell in with the crowd of mildly embarrassed couples running back into the castle as James stood by the doors, smirking a little. She tried to hide her face but saw his expression grow a little hardened as she passed through the doorways. They hurried up to the Gryffindor common room, as much as she might not have wanted to, and soon they were standing outside of the Fat Lady portrait.

"I'll see you after Christmas?" Rose said, a little unsure.

"Only if you'd like," Dominic said, shrugging. "Anytime, Rose."

"…Good night," she said, smiling, and Dominic turned around to go back down the stairs to the Hufflepuff dormitories on the ground floor. "Baubles," she added to the Fat Lady, who swung open without a word, looking tired. Rose entered the common room, a little dazed from the evening, and saw James and Al on the sofa near the door, ties undone and jackets hanging off the arms.

"She's finally in," James said. "I felt I couldn't go to bed till I knew you made it back."

"I'm fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "I can handle myself, you know."

"Heard you were perfectly fine with Dominic handling you," Al muttered, and James stifled chuckles. "You had a better night than Scorpius, at any rate."

As much as she did not at all want to talk about Scorpius, Rose asked, "How do you mean?"

"Emma and him are through. They had some row. Apparently he wasn't paying attention to her or something. I don't know." Rose felt herself go red at her feeling for some reason slightly happy about this, and attempted to change the subject.

"Did Rudomin talk to either of you?"

"About the Stone? Yeah," Al said. "Little frightening."

"I might have accidentally told him we know about the prophecy," Rose said, and both Potters looked at her in alarm.

"What did he say?"

"He said we just have to keep it quiet. He didn't look happy, either."

"Well, I thought we were forgetting about that entirely," James said.

"I'd like to, but if someone that'd very much like to kill all of us broke into the same department it's hidden in, I'm going to be a little concerned," Rose said.

"Yeah…" James sighed. "I don't know, Rose. I don't like this."

"I know. It doesn't sound like Nott knows about it anyway, if he didn't look for it, so that's a good thing. But don't be surprised if our parents are talking about it tomorrow," Rose said.

"Yeah. Thanks for the heads up, at least. I'm going to go up to bed," James said, standing up. "Coming, Al?"

"Yep," Al said. "Night, Rose."

"Good night," Rose said, and headed up the girls' stairs herself. She fell asleep uneasily that night, wary about what would happen when they got home the next day.