CHAPTER 17: THE HALLOWEEN DANCE

The morning of the Halloween dance, Harry was anxious. He hadn't heard anything more from Cho, but when he told Hermione about the encounter, Hermione seemed a bit apprehensive as well.

"Harry…" Hermione proposed. "You don't suppose Malfoy's going to the dance with Cho, do you?"

Harry pondered this for a moment. No, he thought, Cho wouldn't sink to that level.

Harry would turn out to be completely wrong. Cho did sink to that level. Harry heard the two talking about it at lunch.

"So, Draco, you excited about the dance?" Cho giggled flirtatiously.

"Sure am, Cho… and I'm so happy you asked me." Malfoy stared directly at Harry as he spoke.

That night, when Madeline and Hermione came down the hallway from the girl's dormitory, Harry and Ron extended their hands and escorted the girls to the dance.

Harry's jaw dropped as he beheld the Great Hall. Suspended in midair were burning tapers. More than a thousand, Harry thought. Tiny dots of light all through the air. Sitting on the tables were Jack-O-Lanterns, all of them singing the same song:

Oh, It's a Hogwart's Halloween

With Jack-O-Lanterns orange

And dragon slime juice green.

There was an audible "Ew…" from students who were listening to the vulgar song at the notion of Dragon Slime Juice. Usually, Pumpkin Juice was served at the Ball. The Jack-O-Lanterns were not finished with their song.

Have yourself a good time

Dance the night away

But don't go back to bed tonight

You might die on the way.

For tonight is Halloween

Where ghouls and goblins scream

And screech and holler all night long

And that's the end of our great song.

The Jack-O-Lanterns stopped singing. Hermione began to applaud slowly. Harry joined in, as did the other students.

"I wonder how long they've been rehearsing that…" Hermione leaned over to Harry and whispered. She giggled quietly. "Because it's not terribly clever."

Harry laughed. He looked up at the ceiling in the Hall, which was always bewitched to give the illusion that there was no ceiling at all. Tonight, clouds swirled viciously in the abyss. As streaks of lighting illuminated the ceiling, the clouds lit up in an eerie lavender color.

Harry shuddered as he glanced over to where the Slytherins stood. They were in a gang that greatly resembled a pack of wolves. All of the boys stared menacingly at the Gryffindors. They had their arms crossed. The girls stood together in groups of two or three, whispering behind their hands at one another, laughing occasionally as they stared at the Gryffindor girls.

Harry watched in horror as several Slytherin girls, along with two Ravenclaw girls, headed over to Hermione.

"Hi, Hermione…" The thin Slytherin girl named Amelia Sandwaverly could hardly say the words without laughing. "Could, uh…" She began to snicker. "Could we please talk to you for a minute?"

Hermione appeared curious. She followed the girls over to their right a few feet until they were out of anyone's earshot. Anyone, that is, except for half of the Slytherin house. However, Harry shimmied around behind the girls and heard every word they said.

"So, Hermione…" Hermione winced. A girl by the name of Uma Petterblu had pronounced Hermione's name 'Her-mee-own'.

"It's: 'Her-my-oh-nee." Hermione ran her tongue over her teeth in annoyance.

"Right. Whatever. Anyway," Uma continued, "We just thought we'd tell you, Draco Malfoy is madly in love with you." Uma raised her eyebrows and blinked several times, looked innocently at Hermione, and awaited her answer.

"Liar." Hermione stared at the other girls in disgust. They glared back in disdain.

"Look, Her-mee-own, We just thought we'd tell you." Uma hissed.

"Liar." Hermione said again, calmly. "Malfoy despises us Muggle-borns. He hates me." Without waiting for another word from the Slytherin and Ravenclaw girls, Hermione turned around on her heel and sauntered away.

"What's the matter? What did they want?" Ron questioned.

Hermione looked perturbed. "Nothing. It's not a problem." She insisted.

"Hermione…" Ron looked worried.

"It's not a problem!" Hermione yelled firmly. Harry raised his eyebrows at Ron. He cleared his throat.

"So, Hermione, would you like to dance, then?" Harry led a shaken Hermione out onto the dance floor. A lovely waltz began to play, and Harry bowed. Hermione giggled as she curtsied. The two shared a wonderful time.

Harry noticed around halfway through the song that Ron was dancing with Parvati Patil.

"So, you think it'll work out… between Ron and Madeline?" Harry asked Hermione.

Hermione sighed as she pondered the proposition. "I don't really know… it seems as though they're both a bit shy. But I'm not keen on the idea that Ron asked Parvati. That was rotten of him."

"Oh, come off it!" Harry exclaimed, "Ron's so sweet on Madeline. He wouldn't have asked Parvati. She must have asked him."

"Maybe so." Hermione said. "I'm not sure… I just don't know. Give them time, I suppose. And, in any case, it doesn't matter because Madeline's dancing with Seamus Finnegan."

The dance carried on. Hermione began to laugh. Her laughter grew as the song carried on and on.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked.

"Look." Hermione nodded towards the Slytherin/Ravenclaw side of the Great Hall. Malfoy was dancing with Cho Chang, but he kept stepping on her feet. Cho looked very exasperated indeed.

Harry chuckled. Malfoy was a terrible dancer.

The song ended, and Hermione surprised Harry by taking his hand as the walked off the floor.

"Erm, Hermione… would you like some Dragon Slime Juice?" Harry asked with a smile.

"No thanks, Harry." Hermione laughed. "But is there any pumpkin juice, then?"

Harry nodded and went to get two goblets of pumpkin juice. At the table, he met up with Ron, who was getting juice for himself and Madeline.

Also there was Malfoy. He sneered at Ron and Harry, backed up by Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry completely ignored him and turned around to walk away. He hoped Ron had done the same.

Several songs later, Cho Chang approached Harry.

"Harry, would you like to dance?" She sounded reluctant, as though someone had told her to ask Harry to dance.

Harry raised an eyebrow in confusion. As of yesterday, Cho Chang had been very mad at Harry. "Erm…" he looked back at Hermione, who raised her eyebrows, smiled as though she felt bad for Harry, and nodded as she sipped her pumpkin juice. "Sure, then." Harry said slowly.

Cho grabbed Harry's hands and rushed him out onto the floor to dance to the song, a lively reel. Not a word was spoken between the two during the dance.

Two songs after that, Harry and Hermione were laughing with one another, making fun of Professor Snape. Just then, Malfoy approached Hermione from behind.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked. Surprisingly, Malfoy sounded sincere.

Hermione looked at Harry in a panic. Harry breathed heavily but looked away. He tried to smother any hint of a smile.

"Erm, all right…" Hermione began.

Malfoy burst out in cruel laughter. Hermione looked confused. But when the rest of the Slytherins joined in the taunting, she began to get the gist.

"All right, Malfoy, you've had your fun…" Harry said, but he could barely hear himself, and he knew none of the tormentors were listening.

Hermione's eyes brimmed with tears. She put her chin up and attempted to appear unaffected. But when Malfoy yelled,

"Come off it, Granger! As if I would ever dance with a Mudblood like you!" He guffawed. The crowd began to chant:

"Mud-blood! Mud-blood! Mud-blood!"

Harry's ears burned with anger. He stepped forward and, his days as a Muggle-raised boy burst forward.

Instead of using his instinct of whipping out his wand, Harry whipped out his fists.

"Nobody talks to my best friend like that!" Harry roared.

He swung blindly at Malfoy. It became obvious after several punches that Malfoy had very little experience with street fighting.

"Harry, no!" Hermione shrieked.

Harry grabbed Malfoy around the neck and slammed him in the shoulder blade with his fists. The crowd of wizards and witches who were making fun of Hermione stepped back and formed a circle.

Malfoy fell onto the ground on his back as Harry threw a punch hard to Malfoy's stomach.

"Oof!" Malfoy howled.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Harry shouted. He jumped on top of Malfoy and attacked his face. He lost complete control. Although he knew silence had fallen throughout the hall, one word kept echoing through his head: Mudblood. Each time Harry thought of someone talking to Hermione like that, he gave Malfoy a harder punch. Before long, Malfoy had a bloody nose. He was begging for mercy.

"All right, all right! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He wailed, tears running down her face.

Harry didn't hear. Even if he had heard, he certainly wasn't listening. All he could hear was: Mudblood, Mudblood!

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder. Soon, he felt 6 hands on his shoulders, and soon recognized them to be the hands of Hermione, Ron, and Madeline. They were wrenching him off of Malfoy.

Harry's head was swarming with rage.

"Take a deep breath, Harry, take a nice, deep breath…" The voice was that of Professor McGonagall. Harry was surprised to hear her being so calm, rather than angry.

Just then, Harry heard a voice he hadn't wanted to hear.

"Potter!" It was Snape.