Disclaimer: all recognisable characters, events, spells etc belong to JK Rowling. There is not copyright impediment here as I am writing purely for entertainment purposes and I'm not making a profit out of this story.

A/N: right my lovely readers here's the thing! I will be going on a two week hiatus whilst I try and pass my exams! As a sort of consolation, I am going to update both chapters 10 and 11 for your perusal. Hopefully this will tide you over until I get back. But I promise I will make up for it as I have a whole two weeks off school after my exams in which I can do plenty of writing and updating! Xoxox

NOW ON WITH THE STORY! :D

Chapter Ten

Alyssa was having more fun dancing with her friends then she could ever remember having before in her life. As a young girl, she had always day dreamed about going out with friends, shopping or hanging out, having a boyfriend, all of the normal things that girls her age did. She couldn't believe that it was actually happening.

'Whoa, I think I need a break for a bit!' Ginny said as she collapsed into one of the chairs around the outside of the hall.

'Yeah I agree, and I think drinks are in order!' Hermione breathed out, to out of breath to speak any louder.

Ron, who had been trying to blend into the background out of fear that he would be pulled onto the dance floor, readily jumped up and practically sprinted over to the refreshments table that had been put at the back of the hall. He'd been doing that all night, Alyssa had noticed. Just waiting for Hermione to say that she needed something, and then he'd be off hunting down for her whatever she asked for. It was really quite sweet, if not bewildering to Hermione, who was stunned that he was suddenly showing so much interest in her.

Alyssa laughed to herself, wondering how long it would take for those two to, officially, get together. It could only be a matter of time, she surmised.

It was a few minutes before Ron returned with their drinks. Counting only four glasses of butterbeer, Alyssa realised that someone was missing.

'Hey, where's Harry?'

'Oh, he said that he needed some air, I think he went out into the entrance hall a few minutes ago.' Ron replied, before he turned back to Hermione, asking her if she was having a good time.

Alyssa tuned them out, and after some deliberation, went in search of her brother. She told herself that if he wanted to be alone then she would leave, but she doubted that someone like Harry wanted to be alone for long. He had been alone for so much of his life, and she just wanted to make sure that he was ok.

She found him by the entrance doors, just like Ron had said. He had his back to her, looking out at the night, but he seemed to be aware of her approach, as even before she had reached him, he turned around to look at her.

'Are you alright Alyssa? You don't feel sick or anything, do you?' he asked, confusing her completely.

'Um, no, I'm fine. Why would you ask that?'

'Oh it's just that most people always come outside at parties when they feel sick, or when the person they're in love with is dancing with someone else, one or the other.'

Alyssa laughed, knowing he wasn't being serious, and went and linked her arm in his, as they both sat on the entrance steps.

'And where exactly did you get that information from?' she asked him jokingly.

'Oh just the crummy films that were always shown on TV in the evenings. Whenever my aunt and uncle and cousin would go out for dinner or something, I would come downstairs and watch whatever was on, it was the only chance I got.'

Alyssa stiffened when he said this; she hated hearing about his upbringing.

'It's not fair.' She stated quietly.

'What's not fair?'

'That you ended up having such a horrible childhood, whilst I got everything I could ask for. I mean, you, you're the saviour of the wizarding world; you didn't deserve to be treated with such contempt and hate. And me, well I'm just the other one, the other child. You should have gotten what I got.'

'Hey look, that's all in the past. I never have to see those people again, and trust me I have no intention of doing so. And yeah, admittedly the first ten years of my life were rough, but if not having gone through that meant that I wouldn't be able to have what I have now, well then I wouldn't change anything. I mean look at me! I have the two most amazing best friends any guy could ask for, I have a beautiful girlfriend whom I love completely, I have a whole new family, and now, now I have you. All those things just make everything I've had to go through in my life that much more worth while. So stop feeling sorry for me! Especially when I don't feel sorry for myself.'

'Well if you're not out here feeling sorry for yourself, then what are you doing out here, all alone, when there's a roomful of people in there having a good time?'

'I thought I'd just told you that! The person I'm in love with was dancing with someone else! Namely my sister and my best friend, but it still counts.'

Alyssa stared at him in disbelief for a moment, actually wondering if he could be being serious. Then she saw the slight quivering of his mouth, the little crinkles by his eyes, and before she knew it, he was out and out laughing!

'Oh wow! Your face…priceless…I really fooled you didn't I!' he managed to get out between bouts of laughter. It wasn't long until Alyssa was joining in, and anyone who happened by would see the two twins rolling around on the steps, shaking with laughter.

'There you are!' Ginny came stomping over to them, with a very Mrs Weasley like expression on her face.

'Hey Gin.' Harry's face lit up when he saw her, and he stood to join her at the top of the stairs, pulling Alyssa up with him.

'I thought you had tried to run away and hide before I could force you to dance with me. Come on it's the last part of the evening, and the bands going to play a selection of slow songs for us to dance to before going off to bed!' Ginny seemed wholly too excited with the idea of slow dancing, and with a grimace that only Alyssa could see Harry followed her back into the hall.

Alyssa herself was in no rush to go back inside. Having come with no date, she was not looking forward to sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else dance with someone they were close to. She knew that not everyone in the year would be going out with someone else, or at least not someone who went to Hogwarts, but they would at least know each other well enough to feel comfortable dancing with each other.

There was no one that she knew that well yet, and therefore, no one to dance with.

She decided to stay outside for maybe one song and then make her way back to the Gryffindor common room. She wasn't feeling too bitter about turning in early. She had, after all, had an amazing night, and she would carry these memories with her forever (no, literally she would, because she planned to extract them and keep them in a vial until the day when she could unload them into her pensive at home).

So she would just go to bed, and make sure that she was fully revitalised for the next day.

'Sounds like a good plan to me.' She said to herself.

But of course, being a Potter and all, her evening wasn't going to exactly play out the way she had expected.

Wow, Draco thought to himself, this is more boring then History of Magic.

Draco had spent basically the entire night: on a chair, in a corner, alone. The only time he had vacated that space was when both Blaise and Pansy had begged him to stop sulking and come and dance. To which he replied that he wasn't sulking, and just to prove them wrong, he got up and danced to a couple of songs with them.

Merlin he hated reverse psychology.

He had chosen his particular perch, because it gave him a perfect view of the dance floor and all its occupants. Needless to say it was only one very specific occupant that he was concerned with.

He had been cursing Pansy all evening for bringing up that thing about her necklace. Alyssa had obviously felt uncomfortable talking about it, and that's why she had been in such a hurry to leave their company.

Now, instead of talking to her, dancing with her, he had to be content with simply watching her as she had fun with Granger and the Weasley girl. He felt an inordinate amount of jealousy towards the two other girls, and at one point was about to get up and cut in, when all three of them decided to leave the dance floor and make their way back over to Weaselbee, who like him, had decided to stay as far away from the dancing as possible.

Draco just sat there watching them for a while, before he noticed something different about Alyssa and Granger. It seemed that at some point in the night, the skirts of their dresses had been magically shortened.

Now this was not something Draco Malfoy would normally notice. He had happened across this discovery purely because his eyes had been staring at Alyssa's…assets, for most of the night. So when her skirt suddenly changed and was now showing off far more leg, not to mention being a whole lot tighter, well; is it any wonder that he noticed?

He knew that whilst she was over on that side of the room, especially with Weasley around, he had no chance of talking to her. He would just have to wait for a better opportunity to present it. And so it did. Within a few minutes, he saw Alyssa make her way out of the room and into the entrance hall. Within a split second of seeing her leave, Draco got up and followed, discreetly of course. It was perfect, outside there would be no interruptions and Draco could finally get some answers to those questions zooming around in his head.

But it was not to be, as coming out of the great hall doors, he could see not just Alyssa but also her annoying prick of a twin brother. As much as he hated the guy, Draco didn't particularly want to interrupt them at that point, as that would mean that he would have had to explain what he had been doing following Alyssa. So, being the stealthy man that he was, Draco slipped into the shadows by the doors and was able to reside there unseen, whilst the two Potters talked about whatever it was that twins talked about.

Unfortunately he couldn't make out what they were saying, but he was able to figure out the mood quite easily. First, there was some laughter; then they fell silent (or at least silent to Draco) again for quite a while, and then: they ended up rolling around on the floor and clutching their stomachs.

Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. For the life of him he would never understand Gryffindors! How they could go from a pretty sombre and serious mood, to a completely carefree one, was beyond him.

He was about to abandon his plan and slip back into the hall, when a flash of red caught his eye, and he quickly ducked back into the shadows before Ginny Weasley could spot him.

'There you are!' he heard the youngest Weasley exclaim to her boyfriend. He didn't hear the rest of the conversation but he did see Potter being pulled towards the Great Hall, from which slow music was now emanating. He also saw Alyssa's face drop and her turn her back on her brother and the others in the hall.

Draco put two and two together. The music, the couples, the forlorn rather lonely expression? The ball must have been wrapping up, and was time for that infamous slow dance, that all women adored and all men tried to get out of.

Draco figured that Alyssa looked so sad because she had no one to dance with, since she had come with no date.

Oh Merlin, someone up there loves me!

Things couldn't have played out more perfectly for Draco. Here he was, finally alone with the girl he had been trying to talk to all evening; they were both dateless, and the band was playing a slow song.

It was time for him to approach her.

Alyssa heard the beginning of the first song, and decided that she just wanted to go to bed. She definitely didn't want to be seen moping around outside, all alone. So it almost scared her to death when, just as she turned to leave, a hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist!

'What the Hell!' Alyssa exclaimed before spinning and preparing to deliver a roundhouse kick to the stomach of her attacker. But it didn't quite pan out that way, as the mystery person simply grabbed her ankle before it could connect and used it to pull her further towards him.

Suddenly she found herself pressed quite intimately against none other then Draco Malfoy. It was a surprise to say the least. She had looked out for him on the dance floor all night, and whilst she had frequently seen Pansy and Blaise, there had been no Draco. She had thought he had left, and finding out that he hadn't flooded her with relief.

She hadn't realised until that very point, basically wrapped around him (well as far as her skirt would allow), just how disappointed she had been at the thought of not seeing him again that evening. She had realised that her departure from his table had been somewhat hasty and that it had probably provoked far more questions then she had the ability to answer.

'You weren't leaving were you?' he asked with that trademark smirk on his face. He obviously felt proud about the fact that he had been able to prevent her assault on him, but she knew that was only because she hadn't been ready, plus the fact that she was wearing heals. She bet that she could best him in a fight any day.

Seeming to catch on to her thoughts, his smirk widened and his grip on her knee tightened once, before he let go and helped to steady her on her feet.

'Thank you,' Alyssa said tersely, her face beginning to grow hot from his continual stare.

'And yes, as a matter of fact, I was just about to make my way back to the Gryffindor common room, the evening is over for me.' She said without bothering to elaborate. Any hopes she had of him just accepting her excuse were dashed with his next statement.

'Oh it's because you have no one to dance with isn't it?'

Alyssa started, and immediately turned round to face him again. He wasn't smirking this time, but that didn't do anything in his favour. What kind of person says that kind of thing to another person? She couldn't believe how utterly rude he was being. Harry and the others had warned her about this, but she thought he might be different from what they had said. Clearly she was wrong.

'Well, if that's what you believe then fine. Goodnight, Malfoy.'

The use of his last name startled him. He had obviously said something wrong, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what had upset her. Then he realised that commenting on her lack of date may not have been the most sensitive thing to say, so he ran up to and around her, facing her again and blocking her escape path.

'I only meant,' he began, and she raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest, obviously waiting to judge his excuse.

'I only meant,' he started again, 'that since you don't have a date, and I don't have a date, the most practical thing to do would be for us to dance together. That way we both get to enjoy the evening to the end.'

'So you want to dance with me, so that you'll get to enjoy the rest of the evening?'

'Yes.' At her incredulous expression, he quickly corrected himself.

'No, no that's not what I mean. What I'm trying to say is…'

'Well come on Draco, spit it out!'

The use of his first name caused him to look up at her again, he could see the mirth in her face and realised that she knew exactly what he was trying to say, but was making him work for it.

Fine he thought if she wants formal, I'll give her formal.

He took a step back, cleared his throat, and said with the extension of his arm;

'Miss Alyssa Lily Andromeda Black Potter, May I please claim your hand and your exquisite company for this next and last dance?'

These declarations of formality made Alyssa giggle and blush a little, but she put her arm over his and replied, quite simply;

'You may.'