Hello again :) I'm so happy with the responses this story is getting! xD I can't believe people actually like it teehee
So, this chapter is lighter than the previous couple. It's a nice little break in Tabbi's very stressful life I fink :)
Well enjoy and let me know what you think ;)
I'll never know if I just walk past
I really wanna dance so I guess I'll just ask - Come Dance Wiv Me, Dizzee Rascal
Chapter 10
As soon as Madam Pomfry let Tabitha out of the hospital wing, she went straight to the Great Hall where everyone was busy eating breakfast. When she walked through the doors, Remus' head snapped up and looked directly at her. She smiled and he beamed back. The rest of her friends then looked to see what Remus was grinning at and they all then broke into smiles. "Tabbi!" Lily shouted as she jumped up from her seat and ran over to hug her best friend. "I'm so glad you're out! You can keep those boys from annoying me! They've been terrible these past few days, any moment they weren't with you, they were harassing me!" Tabitha smirked at Lily until Lily finally finished her little rant. "Oh no, you're smirking like them too! Tabbi how could you?" Tabitha laughed then carried on walking towards the boys. She then sat down next to Remus and grabbed a slice of toast.
"Tab! We missed you!" James said and she laughed again.
"I know, I mean who wouldn't?" She then proceeded to shove the buttered toast into her mouth before she could say anything else to the group. The only person who looked the slightest bit disgusted was Lily, the boys had only rolled their eyes and continued eating.
The hall went silent as Dumbledore stood up halfway through dinner. Tabbi shared a confused look with Lily then paid attention to the headmaster. He smiled down at them all then started his speech. "Good morning everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful term at Hogwarts! Now I have a quick announcement to make about the Halloween parties that occur in each house's common room. This year, myself and the other Professors, have decided that these should be cancelled," Everyone in the hall groaned at this. The Halloween party was one of Tabbi's highlights of the year! "Let me finish!" Dumbledore said over the talking. "Instead, there shall be a Christmas Ball! This will be a formal ball, and each year group shall attend special dancing classes with Professor McGonnagal twice a week." Tabbi glanced at her group of friends and saw they were all looking confused but slightly excited. "Have a good day!" And with that Dumbledore sat back down and started up a conversation with Professor Slughorn who looked very excited about the topic, bobbing up and down enthusiastically. The sight made Tabbi snort into her juice which then caused 5 minutes of teasing about it.
On their way to History of Magic after lunch that day, Lily started talking to Tabbi about the ball. "Wow, this is going to be amazing Tabbi! Just imagine the dresses we get to try on! And think of all the people we can dance with! How exciting is that?" Tabbi shook her head at Lily and rolled her eyes.
"Yeh, very exciting." Tabbi had been to too many posh parties in her life to ever enjoy them like Lily or the rest of the school would. "Anyways, how do you know all of this Lils?" She asked and Lily shrugged.
"I was talking to McGonagall about the dance classes earlier. Are you nervous? Ours is today." Tabbi scratched her face uncomfortably then shrugged nonchalantly.
"Not really, dancing isn't that hard." Thankfully Lily accepted her answer with no further questions, instead they carried on talking about the boys they could dance with.
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The atmosphere surrounding the crowd of 6th years waiting outside a large spare classroom on the 5th floor was thick with nerves. Tabbi was one of the only people there who wasn't feeling the slightest bit worried. The only other people being the posh pureblood Slytherins who probably were all taught to dance like she was for their Death Eater parties. Glancing around, Tabbi noticed the Marauders had yet to arrive. They managed to slip into the classroom and squeeze onto the bench next to her just after McGonagall had let the rest of them in. "Right, so as this is the first class, I shall be going through the basics to begin with." As McGonagall started her lecture on representing your houses and good spirit and all that stuff, Tabbi turned to James and nudged him with her elbow.
"Oi, why were you lot late?" She asked and he smirked.
"No need to worry, just a little prank that was needing to be done." Tabbi rolled her eyes.
"I should have known. You don't seem very nervous about this." She pointed out and James shrugged.
"My parents taught me how to dance for their parties, so I know the basics. I'm not that good but at least I'm better than Peter or Remus." Both boys looked up and scowled at their friends as Tabbi and James stifled their sniggers.
"So, to demonstrate the first few steps, I would like a volunteer pair." McGonagall's eyes swept the room and Tabbi couldn't help but say loudly,
"James and Sirius would love to!" Everyone laughed and the two boys grinned at McGonagall's cold glare.
"Thank you for volunteering Miss Thorne. Mr Potter, since you seem to find that very amusing, you can come join her." James rolled his eyes discreetly at Tabbi and she laughed before getting up and walking over to their Professor in the middle of the room. "Now, get in the starting position." Tabbi positioned her arms in the right place and James hesitantly moved one of his to her waist, obviously trying not to give anyone the wrong idea. Suddenly Filch started the music and James began the first few steps. It was a dance Tabbi knew well, so she soon fell into the routine of the steps and twirls. James wasn't bad, and she tried hard to not look like she had much practice.
They were soon stopped and everyone else was made to partner up so they could give it a go. James watched enviously as a tall Hufflepuff guy asked Lily to dance, and Tabbi had to keep ahold of him to stop him from marching over there and beat the poor guy up. After a few minutes, McGonagall called everyone to a stop, showed them a couple more steps, then asked them to change partners. Surprisingly, before Tabbi got the chance to grab Remus, a Ravenclaw boy asked her to be his partner. She accepted hesitantly but didn't regret the decision as he was quite a good dancer, therefor she didn't have to try so hard at looking worse. "You can try harder than this Miss Thorne." Someone whispered in her ear as she spun round, their breath making a shiver run down her spine. She recognised Sirius' voice straight away, even though by the time she had looked up he was already lost in the small crowd.
"Well, that actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't stand on anyones feet the whole way through!" Alice said, sounding pleased with herself. Tabbi and Lily laughed.
"See, what did I tell you?" She said to her.
"So, out of everyone, who do you think can properly dance?" Lily asked them.
"I dunno, obviously those slimy Slytherins could, but what do you expect?" Lily nodded in agreement. "Then a couple of the Ravenclaws were pretty good."
"Yeh, I saw the one you were dancing with for a while. He seemed pretty capable." Tabbi nodded and dropped her bag on the floor before sliding into a space on the Gryffindor table.
"And I saw you rejecting my poor friend James again." Lily rolled her eyes and sighed.
"He's relentless. Every time I say no, he comes back even more determined!"
"You know, if you just agreed to give him a chance, you might actually enjoy his company?" Lily shook her head furiously as she watched the boy walk into the hall with the rest of the Marauders, laughing loudly at something Sirius had just said.
"Nope, no way. No way on this earth would I ever agree to go out with James Potter."
"Was that my name I just heard coming from your beautiful lips Lily-flower?" Said boy then plonked himself down in the seat next to Lily and she huffed angrily.
"How many times do I have to tell you Potter, don't call me Lily-flower!"
"Ok, Lilykins."
"Or Lilykins!" Just as James opened his mouth she cut in. "Or any other ridiculous name you come up with!" James then proceeded to close his mouth and frown for a minute. While he thought, Tabbi became hyperaware of Sirius' arm which kept brushing hers accidentally as they ate.
"So, if I promise not to call you any nicknames, no matter how cute I may think they are, will you call me by my first name?" James tried to reason, but it was no use with an angry Lily. Lily glared at him and huffed in frustration.
"No Potter! I will not! I will only decide to call you by your first name when you have earned it. And a word of advice to doing that, don't be an insufferable toe rag!" And with that Lily jumped up from her seat, mumbling something like 'homework' to Tabbi and Alice before storming out of the Great Hall.
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"Lily, have you calmed down enough yet?" Tabbi asked as she knocked gently on her dorm door, but decided not to enter as 'piss off' was screamed from the other side of her barrier. Sighing, she made her way back down the stairs and plonked herself down on the sofa by the fire, throwing her legs up on the other person sitting there. Remus didn't complain, instead he continued to read his textbook with out even looking up.
"Still no change?" Sirius asked from one of the armchairs closest to the fire. Tabbi shrugged.
"She's calming down, slowly. I was only told to piss off this time." James groaned from the other armchair and rubbed his face.
"I didn't even do anything this time!" He whined and Tabbi laughed.
"You say that every time."
"But this time it's true!"
"You've said that the last 10 times too!" James, too frustrated to reply, just picked up one of Remus' spare books and started to hit himself on the head with it. At this Remus looked up and shook his head then turned to Tabbi.
"This is getting ridiculous! I thought you said Lily was close to admitting her true feelings?" He said, glancing at James and Sirius incase they heard. Tabbi didn't worry though, considering James was still hitting himself and Sirius was too busy watching with interest to bother listening in to them.
"Erm, well maybe I over estimated slightly." Remus sighed and sat back, taking a long time to carefully fold the corner of his page and put his book down on the table.
"We need a plan." He said and Tabbi grinned.
"Well, I know the two most perfect people for the job." She winked and Remus grinned too.
"Really? And when do you think they could meet to plan this?" She hummed.
"How about in here tomorrow night after everyone has fallen asleep?" She suggested and Remus nodded.
"Deal." So the time was set, now all they had to do was come up with a plan that would make Lily change her views on the boy who she had hated since first year. Tabbi always loved a challenge.
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On wednesday night, Tabbi waited until the girl's breathing had slowed and she was sure they were asleep before slipping out of her bed and making her way slowly downstairs. She crept over towards the dying fire and saw Remus was just making his way down the boys' stairs. Tabbi smiled at him, only just able to see his face due to the dim light. She watched as he tried to avoid looking at her bare legs and quite tight tank top. Damn it! Shouldn't have worn these pyjamas! She thought, but couldn't be bothered to go back up and grab a jumper or something so she just ignored it. She wrapped her arms around her legs once she had sat down and smiled at Remus. "How'd you manage to get away?" She whispered but he didn't seem to be paying much attention to her words. Tabbi cleared her throat impatiently and he looked away, blushing deeply.
"Sorry?"
"How'd you get away? From James and Sirius?" Tabbi asked again and he shrugged.
"It was pretty easy actually, they fell asleep quite quickly." Tabbi nodded then they sat in an awkward silence for a while.
"So.. Erm.. Should we get to it then?" She asked and he nodded then moved to take the seat next to her. Tabbi unwrapped her arms and sat forward, glancing at Remus. She then leant over him to grab a quill that had been left on the other side of the table, and jumped in fright when James suddenly appeared before them.
"AHA!" James shouted over her scream. Tabbi stared at the beaming boy before finally realising what was happening.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep!" She hissed at him, glaring at Remus like it was his fault he managed to fool him.
"Well, I thought it was odd that dear old Moony here wanted to go to sleep so early, so I pretended to as well and followed him out when he tried to sneak out 'unnoticed'." James said in a proud tone, like he was some sort of genius.
"But why?" Tabbi watched as the boy sauntered over to the pair and sat down in one of the armchairs, scooting it closer so he could stare directly at them.
"Well, I assumed he would be here meeting a girl, considering he was being all sneaky about it." Remus blushed at this, but Tabbi ignored it and motioned for James to continue. "I just didn't expect it to be you. I mean, who would have thought? Remus and Tabitha, sitting in a tree. Well, common room, but you get the idea." James grinned and Tabbi watched him in horror. He thought they had snuck down to meet each other so they could snog? Oh no, no no no! Not good. Again, she glanced at Remus and saw his face was a very Gryffindor red, and he was sending some serious 'shut up now' glares at James, who was happily ignoring them. Tabbi's eyes then narrowed, which James noticed, causing his stupid grin to fade.
"No James, we are not here to have a good snog. We are actually here to help you, but since you ruined that, I'm going to bed." And with that, Tabbi stood up, smiled briefly at Remus, then left the room without even a look towards James.
Hmm drama at the end. What do you think about that then?
I also want to know what you guys think of the whole 'dance lessons' thing. They aren't massive in the story, in fact I think this is probably the only major one.. but if you all like them I could put in a few more scenes.
Another thing I want feed back on is the characters themselves, such as the Marauders. What do you guys think about the way I have written them? Constructive criticism is very welcome :)
I have actually been searching for a while, and I think I have finally come up with the final contenders for Tabbi's dress for the ball. I'm debating whether I should put the link up to my photobucket page just yet..? Because I really want you all to get the final say on which dress she should have. (I already have Lily and Alice's so I could put those up too)
Let me know if you want it up now in the reviews and I will put the link at the bottom of the next chapter or if lots of people are desperate to see them I might put it up on my profile.
review review review! 45 for the next one! (I've been nice this time and put this up before I got all the reviews)
-ellie xox