Chapter 12: We Can Dance If We Want To
My brothers and I are going home for the holidays. Sirius didn't look too thrilled when I told him that I was going and then insisted that he come with to make sure I would be all right. I'm not sure why, but I have a feeling this Christmas holiday will be different from the last one. Perhaps because I now feel stronger than I ever have in my entire life? One thing's for certain, I won't let them hurt me or my brothers ever again.
The Hogwarts staff, demonstrating a continued desire to impress the visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, seemed determined to show the castle at its best this Christmas. When the decorations went up, Leo noticed that they were the most stunning he had yet seen inside the school. Everlasting icicles had been attached to the banisters of the marble staircase; the usual twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall were bedecked with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and Leo had been tasked with bewitching the suits of armor to sing carols again whenever anyone passed them. It was quite something to hear "O Come, All Ye Faithful" sung by an empty helmet that only knew half the words. Several times, Filch the caretaker had to extract Peeves from inside the armor, where he had taken to hiding, filling in the gaps in the songs with lyrics of his own invention, all of which were very rude. Leo was hoping this would happen and was quite pleased as a result.
Harry and Ron weren't able to get dates until the Friday before Christmas. They had both been turned down by their first choices and ended up having to go with the Patil twins. Ginny was going with Neville, having given up hope that Harry would ever ask her. Hermione had already agreed to go with someone else, something that peeved Ron much to Leo's enjoyment.
Remus and Sirius had their reply sent back the day before Christmas, congratulating Harry and Leo on a job well done as well as warning them to be careful. Leo laughed when they said that this didn't really apply to him, as he would ignore their warnings regardless. They know me so well. He sighed fondly.
Leo was awake well before everyone else in his dorm the following morning and took that opportunity to open all his presents before running down to breakfast and staring up at the windows, bouncing in his seat with excitement. It was only after most of the students came down for breakfast that a single tawny owl swooped down, landing in front of Leo with a package attached to its leg. Ron asked what it was and the blonde told him to nose out before taking it back upstairs and putting it in his trunk.
He went out onto the grounds with his friends in the afternoon; the snow was untouched except for the deep channels made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students on their way up to the castle. Hermione chose to watch Harry, Leo, and the Weasleys' snowball fight rather than join in (Leo cheated using his flame shield), and at five o'clock said she was going back upstairs to get ready for the ball.
"What, you need three hours?" said Ron, looking at her incredulously and paying for his lapse in concentration when a large snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head. "Who're you going with?" he yelled after Hermione, but she just waved and disappeared up the stone steps into the castle.
"Unlike boys, girls work hard and actually put in effort to look pretty for fancy events like this," Leo informed him, waving his hand and pulling the shield around him as Fred lobbed a snowball at him. "Boys are just lazy."
Ron looked grumpy and threw a snowball at him, which he blocked. At that point, it became a bit of a game to see who could get past Leo's defenses. For the first time since school had begun, Leo was glad neither Sirius nor Remus were there as he would have been strung up by his ankle by this point.
There was no Christmas tea today, as the ball included a feast, so at seven o'clock, when it had become hard to aim properly, the others abandoned their snowball fight and trooped back to the common room. The Fat Lady was sitting in her frame with her friend Violet from downstairs, both of them extremely tipsy, empty boxes of chocolate liqueurs littering the bottom of her picture.
"Lairy fights, that's the one!" she giggled when they gave the password, and she swung forward to let them inside.
The boys all dressed inside their dorm, all of them except Leo feeling extremely self-conscious. This wasn't the first time he had worn dress robes – he wore them on several occasions the summer before his second year, after all. He did, however, take more care with his hair this time round, styling it into a sort of faux hawk and coloring the tips a faded pink color. He wanted more color in his wardrobe than black and dark red and felt that was about as much as McGonagall would let him get away with.
He grabbed the box he received in the mail, opening it to reveal a pink corsage in an ornate glass box. He wasn't sure if wizards and witches knew what they were – or if they even used them at dances – but he figured it was a gentlemanly thing to do. That and he'd really wanted to try it ever since he'd seen it one of those older Muggle movies.
Leo made his way down to the common room, out the portrait hole, and down the grand staircase. He paused at the steps to the entrance hall, looking around at the milling students trying to find their dates before he spotted Luna. She was looking rather pretty in a pale pink dress, her radish – she informed him they were dirigible plums – earrings dangling from her ears and a necklace with a white seashell rested on her chest. He approached her, handing her the box.
"In the Muggle world, it's customary for guys to give corsages to the girls they're dancing with," Leo informed her, his cheeks blushing red slightly in mild embarrassment.
Luna opened the box and took out the corsage, examining it for a moment before sliding it onto her left wrist and giving him a bright smile.
"It's very pretty, thank you," she said. "I like how it matches your hair."
He touched the tips of his hair lightly, grinning broadly in response.
"Thanks. I wanted a little color in my wardrobe – but not so much that it would get me in trouble with Professor Minnie," he explained to her, holding out his left arm for her to take. "Don't fancy getting turned into a wombat or something on Christmas."
Luna let loose a loud laugh, garnering looks from everyone in the hall as they located the noise. Leo merely observed her with a look of faint amusement as he led her through the crowd of people toward Great Hall just as the oak front doors began to open.
Everyone turned to look as the Durmstrang students entered with Karkaroff. Krum was at the front of the party, accompanied by a pretty girl in blue robes that Leo recognized as Hermione. Over their heads, he saw that an area of lawn right in front of the castle had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights — meaning hundreds of actual living fairies were sitting in the rosebushes that had been conjured there, and fluttering over the statues of what seemed to be Father Christmas and his reindeer.
Then McGonagall's voice called, "Champions over here, please!"
Luna stifled her laughter as they made their way through the rest of the Great Hall to see McGonagall. McGonagall, who was wearing dress robes of red tartan and had arranged a rather ugly wreath of thistles around the brim of her hat, told them to wait on one side of the doors while everyone else went inside; they were to enter the Great Hall in procession when the rest of the students had sat down. Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies stationed themselves nearest the doors. Cedric and Cho were next followed by Hermione and Krum, then Harry and Parvati, with Leo and Luna bringing up the rear.
Once everyone else was settled in the Hall, McGonagall told the champions and their partners to get in line in pairs and to follow her. They did so, and everyone in the Great Hall applauded as they entered and started walking up toward a large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting.
The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe – Luna informed him they were filled with Nargles - and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.
Dumbledore smiled happily as the champions approached the top table, but Karkaroff was watching Krum and Hermione with a rather disapproving sort of gaze. Ludo Bagman, tonight in robes of bright purple with large yellow stars, was clapping as enthusiastically as any of the students; and Maxime, who had changed her usual uniform of black satin for a flowing gown of lavender silk, was applauding them politely. Leo didn't know whether to be happy or disappointed that Percy was there instead of Crouch.
Leo sat on the other side of Parvati as Harry was forced to sit next to Percy. As Luna settled onto Leo's other side, Percy went into this long spiel about how he had been promoted to Crouch's personal assistant and chosen to represent him. When Leo asked if Crouch had stopped calling him Weatherby yet, his ears turned red and he abruptly shut his mouth. Harry managed to cover up his snort of laughter with a cough.
There was no food as yet on the glittering golden plates, but small menus were lying in front of each of them. Leo picked his up uncertainly and looked around — there were no waiters. Dumbledore, however, looked carefully down at his own menu, then said very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!"
And pork chops appeared. Getting the idea, the rest of the table placed their orders with their plates too. Leo ordered a bloody steak while Luna ordered a Greek salad. Not for the first time, he wondered if she was vegetarian as he had never once seen her eat meat. He ignored it for the time being, not seeing how it was any of his business what she ate as long as it wasn't poisonous.
"Is your favorite color pink?" Luna asked suddenly, startling Leo out of his thoughts.
He opened his mouth to confirm that it was before stopping and frowning in thought.
"Honestly? I'm really not that sure. I usually wear it to annoy other people, but I never stopped to wonder if I like it," he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'd say that I like it – but red is my favorite color. Gryffindor pride and all that." He paused to look her over. "You seem like a yellow or pale blue sort of person."
Luna merely smiled in response before they lapsed into a thoughtful conversation over what color would best suit each person. They were in the midst of debating whether or not McGonagall would look better in green rather than red when Dumbledore stood up and asked everyone else to do the same. With a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed back along the walls leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set upon it.
The Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn. They picked up their instruments as the lanterns on all the other tables went out and all the champions rose to their feet, Harry and Leo following somewhat belatedly.
The Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune as Leo led Luna onto the dance floor, placing one hand on her waist and holding the other in his hand as he had seen on the telly. Luna rested her other hand on his shoulder and they sort of revolved on the spot, neither of them quite sure what they were doing but finding amusement in it all the same. He heard the ring of Zabini's laughter and glared at him as he waltzed past with Pansy Parkinson, not quite liking the way his eyes glinted maliciously in Luna's direction. He made a mental note to set the boy's robes on fire at the earliest opportunity.
Draco came by not long after with a rather pretty second year Slytherin that bore a strange resemblance to Daphne Greengrass. Leo teased him about robbing the cradle, to which Draco merely raised an eyebrow and gave a pointed look at Luna, who was telling his date all about how she should avoid mistletoe at all costs unless she wanted her things stolen. Leo grumbled at him to shut up as the Weird Sisters finished their song and started up the next one.
"Do you want to keep dancing?" he asked Luna as Draco and his date walked away.
"Not really," she said, gazing off past him in the direction of the entrance hall. "Do you mind if we walk around a bit outside?"
"Not at all," Leo grinned, looping his arm through hers and escorting her out of the Great Hall and to the Entrance Hall.
The front doors stood open, and the fluttering fairy lights in the rose garden winked and twinkled as they went down the front steps, where they found themselves surrounded by bushes; winding, ornamental paths; and large stone statues. Leo led the way through the bushes, not quite sure where they were going but not really caring either. Luna merely stared around at her surroundings in her usual dreamy sort of way.
They eventually reached a large stone reindeer, over which they could see the sparkling jets of a tall fountain. Luna dipped her hand in the water, smiling as it drizzled over her fingers while Leo surveyed the reindeer, trying to think of a spell that would allow him to bring it to life and ride it. He was about to give up on the idea and just make it fly around when cold water hit the side of his face. He whirled around, quirking an eyebrow up at Luna, who was smiling at him.
"You're too serious."
"No I'm not, that's my uncle," Leo joked.
Instead of the loud groan that would normally accompany the statement, Luna gave the same loud laugh she had given in the Entrance Hall. Leo gave a broad grin in response. Finally, someone who appreciates my humor. He sighed as she doubled over with laughter. He was startled when she tripped over her own dress and fell into the fountain. He quickly ran over to help her out and was surprised to find that she was still laughing.
"This isn't exactly what one would call 'perfect swimming weather', Luna," he informed her, as he quickly cast the Hot-Air Charm to dry her off.
"Sorry," she continued laughing, not seeming sorry at all. "It was just so – so funny!"
"Trust me, the hilarity factor will wear off by about the tenth time I use that joke," he assured her as he took off his robes and draped them around her shoulders.
"Thank you," she stated, finally calming down enough to talk properly. "But won't you be cold?"
"Nah, cold doesn't bother me," he replied, leading her back toward the castle before she could fall in again. "Perks of being an Elementalist -"
He stopped when she tilted her head to the side curiously before explaining what an Elementalist was and what they could do. Luna listened intently, the dreamy expression never leaving her face as he spoke. When he was finished, it took less than a second for her to respond.
"Can you breathe fire?"
Leo stopped dead in his tracks, mouth slightly agape. He'd never thought of that.
"Dunno, reckon I'll have to give it a go," he finally replied, moving once more. "Thanks for the idea, Luna. Got any other ones?"
"I have a lot. But I don't think you'd want to hear them. No one ever does," she said this in such a matter-of-fact tone that Leo was temporarily taken aback.
"On the contrary, I'd love to hear more," he told her as they walked into the empty Entrance Hall and stopped in the middle of it. "C'mon, give me something -"
"We're standing under a mistletoe so we should probably move before the Nargles get us."
Leo blinked before glancing upward in mild surprise. Sure enough, there was a bundle of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling directly above them. Leo kept his mind and his face carefully blank as he looked back at her.
"Generally speaking, you're supposed to kiss under the mistletoe. But, if we have Nargles to worry about, perhaps we shouldn't -"
He was cut off for the second time as Luna stood up on her tiptoes and briefly pressed her lips to his before stepping back. She was smiling slightly at his dumbfounded expression as he tried to process the fact that he had had his first kiss. He hadn't expected it to be so brief – but it had been nice while it lasted.
"Thank you for inviting me to the Ball, Leo," she told him, handing him back his robes. "I had a wonderful time."
"Yeah - yeah me too," he replied in a dazed tone as he took his robes. "We should do something like this again sometime – maybe lunch next Hogsmeade trip?"
"All right, I'll see you then."
She then turned and walked toward the grand staircase without another word, leaving Leo to stand there staring after her in a bemused sort of way.