"…and you all come from renowned families so I don't have to tell you how to behave…in this event," Snape said looking at his students in the Slytherin common room. "Don't make a fuss about it and just pick a partner for yourselves." He then looked at Daphne who was standing at the back with her sister. "And you will not force others to go to the dance with you. If I hear anything about it then you'll all regret it."
As he left the common room the students all started talking to each other when Tracey nudged Daphne who looked at her.
"So, who're you gonna go with?" she asked.
"I won't be going," Daphne said simply.
"What? Aw, come on!" Tracey said making a sad face. "It'll be fun. We both can dance together. Who do you think is good enough in our house..." she paused and looked around before stopping at one boy, "…other than probably Zabini?"
"He's one of the closest friends of Draco," Daphne said when she saw Draco coming towards her. "Speak of the devil."
"Davis," Draco said looking at Tracey before he turned towards Daphne. "Would you like to go to this dance with me, Greengrass?" he asked in a surprisingly confident and calm voice.
"I'll let you know, Malfoy," Daphne responded in an equally cool tone as everyone looked at them. It wasn't easy to woo the ice princess of Slytherin and everyone knew what her response to Draco meant including Draco himself as he smirked before walking away, his hands in his pockets.
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"Now, place your other hand on my waist," McGonagall said as she guided Seamus' hand on her waist as the boy looked mortified while everyone enjoyed the situation he was in. "Just like that," she said. "Now, match your moves with mine and we're good. One, two, one, two…" she said as she slowly started to sway while Seamus did his best to follow her until he got into the rhythm. "Very nice, Mr Finnegan," she said before stopping as he sighed in relief and immediately let go of his house head faculty.
McGonagall then looked at her lions as she stopped the music. "I know almost all of you are excited so let me tell you that if I hear anyone of you creating a ruckus or tarnishing the name of Gryffindor house by one of your shenanigans," she said looking at the twins, "it will not end well for you. Other than that, I want you all to just enjoy the ball night," she smirked, "and get to know each other a little more closely."
"So, who're you going to the dance with?" Harry asked Neville.
"I think I'll ask Susan" Neville replied. "Unless, someone had asked her first, that is."
Susan was Amelia Bones' niece and since last few weeks he'd noticed her and Neville talk to each other ever since they both had been made partners during one of the herbology classes. As it turned out Susan also shared a somewhat similar love for plants and while it wasn't as much as Neville's it definitely had the two talking about plants in general and their friendship had started from there and Harry was happy for that. Neville had also introduced Harry to her along with Hermione, who was now completely recovered and had started her classes.
"What about you?" Neville asked looking at Harry.
"I don't know," he responded.
"Harry, you will be amongst the champions who are to start the dance," Neville said. "You have to find someone to take to the dance to. What about Hermione?"
"Viktor asked her this morning and she said yes," Harry said.
Neville then thought for a few seconds before saying, "Then what about Daphne?" he asked with a smirk. Harry looked at him with a 'really?' look. "Sorry," he muttered.
"I don't wanna go to this dance with any of the girls in Gryffindor," Harry said. "I also don't know any girl outside of Gryffindor house. I think I should talk to McGonagall and tell her that I wouldn't be taking part in the ball. Besides, I never wanted to be in this damned tournament in the first place so why should I care about going to some dance?"
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Sirius walked out of Gringotts, smiling wide and wearing lord-like clothes as he looked at the Black family ring on his finger. He only smiled even more as he thought of his mother's reaction when he'd show her portrait the ring as he apparated over to Grimmauld Place.
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"He's really been busy ever since the trial," Anna said as she looked at the newspaper headline. 'Sirius Black, once accused and now a free man takes back the lordship of his ancient and noble house of Black!' the headline read. "Did I tell you about the letter we got from him?" she asked.
"Yes, love you did," Matt said looking at her with a sad smile. "You don't want him to go, do you?" he asked slowly.
Anna said nothing for sometime as she looked towards the gardens, her eyes becoming wet as they glistened in the sun's light. She sniffed. "Can't we talk to Sirius to let Harry stay with us…just for a year at least?" she said.
Matt got up and hugged his wife as she cried silently. "If you've forgotten, Harry can make his own decisions since he's emancipated," he said. "Why don't we let him make the decision? Who knows if he wants to live on his own? I hear Potter manor is something to live in."
Anna looked at her husband, wiping her tears. "I just don't want him to be alone," she said. "I promised Lily in her death that I will look after her son but then news came that he was sent to Petunia's family. I thought who better than Lily's sister to take care of Harry even though I knew how much Petunia despised her. I thought maybe taking care of Harry would change her but no and then we come to know that Petunia was never supposed to take care of him!"
"Hey, look at me," Matt said putting his hands on her shoulders, "what's happened has happened and we cannot change the past. What we can do is make a future for Harry where he no longer has to worry about anything. He's a bright boy who's learning about things very quickly. You know that we cannot be in his way of progress, right? All we can do is help him in tough situations if he can't get out of them on his own."
Anna nodded. Matt was right. They needed to give Harry space in order to let him grow on his own. But she still wondered if Harry would leave them to go to live with Sirius who seemed to be very excited looking forward for it to happen.
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It was a sunny day, a rare occurrence on the Scottish mountains where Hogwarts was located and despite being a week day the school grounds were filled with students enjoying the sun in their free periods.
Harry was sitting by the black lake under a tree with the golden egg on his lap as he looked at the lake or rather the docks and platforms that were being built for the second challenge. Although they hadn't been told what the challenge was going to be seeing the construction of the docks on the lake it was pretty clear that the challenge was going to take place over the lake…or in it.
Nobody knew what lay beneath the lake. Its depths were unknown and rumored to be unending with its water so dark that one could barely see anything a few feet below the water surface except for the giant friendly squid that would occasionally come up to the surface in order to enjoy the sun as it was doing that day.
Harry cast a simple shield spell protecting himself from the water splash that was a result of the squid pulling back its tentacles into the lake. He looked at the egg in his lap and grabbed its knob. He then remembered something as he cast a dense bubblehead charm around his head to protect his ears from the egg's deafening shrieks. He'd tried casting silencing charms on the egg but they didn't work.
Once assured that the bubblehead's thickness will be enough he opened the egg as its shrieks filled the surroundings, even reaching up to the workers who were building the platforms as they all looked towards him with their hands on their ears. Harry realized that others were being disturbed and was about to close the egg when suddenly the giant squid pushed out its tentacles out of the water sending a rather huge amount of water towards Harry. Unprepared and startled Harry let go of the egg in order to cast a shield to protect himself from the incoming splash when he watched the egg roll towards the lake.
He dived but was too late as the egg went into the lake but Harry hurried and caught it before the egg could sink any lower and was lost probably forever. It was then that he realized that the shrieking of the egg had stopped. He looked at the egg and it was still glowing from it being open. Confused, he took it out but the moment the egg was out of water its shrieks filled the air again. Harry quickly closed it and took a sigh of relief when he thought of something.
He submerged the egg in the lake again, this time intentionally before opening it. It glowed but there was no shrieking noise coming from it. Curious Harry put his head inside the water and was surprised to hear a song coming from the egg.
'Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.'
The song started to play again as Harry realized this and closed the egg before pulling his head and the egg out of water. He looked at it and then towards the lake as the lyrics to the song played inside his head back to back.
They needed to find the clue as they'd been told it will tell them what the second task will be, Harry thought. The song that he'd heard from the egg said something about taking something important from him and that he'll have an hour to find it. He then thought about it with a calm head as he realized the meaning of the first two lines as well as he looked at the lake and then the platforms that were being built over its surface.
"Harry?" He turned around and saw it was fleur. He wondered what she wanted as she came and stood in front of him when she noticed the egg in his hand. "Did you find the clue?" she asked.
"I think I did," he said. He knew her information for the first task had turned out to be true and he was grateful to her, Cedric and Viktor for standing up to Skeeter for him so he wanted to return the favor. "Did you find the clue?" he asked as he wanted to know if she had.
She shook her head. "I did not," she said. "It just makes such a loud noise that it's hard to keep it open long enough. Also, no concealment charms are working on it."
"Try putting it in water and then open it," he said.
"Did it work?" she asked.
"It did for me," Harry said. "I don't know about the clue though. I think it might be different for all of us but that is just a guess. I'll leave that part to you however I do want to thank you, Cedric and Viktor for telling me what the first task was going to be."
She waved it off. "That is just good sportsmanship," she said. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What?" he asked.
"It's about the ball," she said. "Have you found a partner yet?" He shook his head so she smiled. "Oh, I haven't either. I was thinking, if it's okay with you will you go to the dance with me?"
Harry couldn't believe that this was happening as he looked at her with wide eyes. "Bu…But why me?" he asked. "You can ask anyone."
"Well, I don't know any of the boys other than you, Cedric and Viktor," she said. "Cedric and Viktor have already found partners to go to the ball with and I heard that you hadn't so I thought that maybe we two could go together…as friends?"
He thought about it for a second before nodding. "Yeah, I think that'll be great," he said. "There is one problem though. I don't know how to dance."
"Oh," Fleur said. "Well, you can learn it. It's not that hard."
"Well then…can…uh, can you teach me?" Harry asked.
"I wish I could but it's going to be a very busy few days for me," Fleur said. "I don't know if I will be able to take time out of my schedules. Can't any of your friends teach you?"
Harry thought about it for a second before he remembered Daphne talking about how her family had taught her the etiquettes that a young girl from a pureblood wizarding family should have as he smiled. "I think they can," he said.
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"Okay, what is it?" Daphne asked as she entered the chamber. Harry was already there as he looked at her climb down the stairs and coming up to him.
"I am supposed to do the opening dance…I mean us champions are," Harry said slowly.
"And…?" Daphne said.
"Well, I don't know how to dance," he said.
"So?" she asked.
"Do you remember telling me how your parents taught you the basic etiquettes of being a girl from a pureblood magical family?" he asked as she looked at him with a raised brow. "I was wondering if you could…you know…teach me how to dance?"
She looked at him from top to bottom as she put her hands on her waist. "You really are in a miserable shape," she said. "Wasn't Granger available?"
"I…I don't want to bother her much after what happened between her and Ron," Harry said.
"Understandable," she said looking around before coming closer to him. "Now, I know you share all of this with Longbottom just like I've started to with Tracey," she said. "However, if you told anyone, especially my parents and Neville about this then I think you know what happened with Collins and McNair."
Harry gulped as he nodded. "Good," she said. "This must not get out of this place. Now, put your right hand on my shoulder and your left hand on my waist."
Harry just stood there so she rolled her eyes and guided his hands onto her shoulder and waist before noticing his forehead sweating and smiled a little. "Don't keep your body that stiff," she said feeling he was tensed. "Loosen up, Potter." Harry did slowly as she nodded. "Good. Now, the movement of the dance is really easy. Just follow my lead."
She began to move slowly as Harry did his best to follow on her steps. He was looking down, making sure not to step on her foot unlike Seamus who'd stepped on McGonagall's foot at least three times if not more when the deputy headmistress had showed them how they needed to dance during the ball in their one and only practice session.
"Good," Daphne said after a little while. "You're natural at this. Now, obviously you don't need to look down all the time." He looked up as they continued to sway slowly. "If you practice two-three times you won't be stepping on…" she paused as she looked at him with angry eyes as Harry looked extremely sorry before removing his foot from her. "…your partner's foot," she said the last two words with a low growl as Harry gulped again.
Daphne sighed. "It's alright," she said. "It's your first time. I should be the patient one. Now, let's start from the beginning," she said as they stopped and Harry adjusted his hands on her shoulder and waist. He was barely touching her waist which Daphne had noticed. She didn't say anything as it was just as awkward for her as it was for him. However, she was much better at hiding her nervousness compared to him and that showed.
They started moving again and this time Harry didn't step on her foot. He was, however, continuously looking down to make sure not to repeat his mistake when Daphne stopped. "Now," she said as he looked at her, "I know you're worried about stepping on my foot so don't. Remove your shoes," she said as she removed hers. Harry looked at her but said nothing as he, too, removed his shoes. "Now, even if you step on my foot it won't be as painful," she said. "So, another thing to make sure is to maintain eye contact with your partner. You don't want be seen looking at your partner's feet the entire time you're dancing now, do you?" Harry shook his head. "Good. Now, eyes on me and as usual, follow my lead."
They continued to practice for ten-fifteen more minutes. Harry did step on her feet a few times but luckily Daphne didn't get angry about it. She stopped their practice after a while as they separated. Their bubblehead charms were about to wear off so they cast new ones. "We really need to get this thing out of here," she said looking at the basilisk's skeleton.
"Do you think it will be alright if we got some help in order to break it down?" Harry asked.
"Like who?" she asked.
"Like Neville and Tracey and probably Hermione as well?" he asked.
"You told me about this place so if you feel comfortable telling about it to other people then be my guest," Daphne said. "I can vouch for Tracey. She won't tell anyone about this place."
Harry nodded. "Alright," he said, "then I'll tell Neville and Hermione."
Daphne nodded as she prepared to leave when Harry stopped her. "So, uh, who are you going to the ball with?" he asked.
Daphne turned around and looked at him. "You don't have to worry about that," she said before walking towards the exit as he watched her go before he too, followed her out.
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Harry entered the dorm and found a letter from Sirius on his bed. His godfather had finally received his family head's position and had asked Harry if he'd like to come live with him. Harry didn't know if he could answer something like that. He hadn't told anyone but he'd really come to enjoy Daphne's company and he owed a lot to Matt and Anna. While he knew that him living with them would eventually bring danger to the Greengrasses…as was his luck, a part of Harry didn't want to leave them.
He decided to give his decision some time and wrote back to Sirius telling him about his decision during the winter holidays. December was quite near and they'd all soon be leaving for Christmas holidays a few days after the second task.
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Thanks for reading…