~*~ Hiya! Told you I'd post #23 (well, it's actually #24, but yeah…) soon! …I couldn't really think of a title for this chapter, so I called it "Learning to Dance!" teehee! ^_^ Anyhoo! Enjoy! ^_^ ~*~

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Back at breakfast, people were beginning to shuffle out of the Hall and head to classes. Hailey, Ron, and Hermione were first out; they wanted to find Harry, before the teachers started to go to their classrooms. It was common sense, of course, if they just went straight to Transfiguration; Harry would probably be there. And sure enough, he was. Harry was leaning against the wall, and had a glum sort of look about him.

"Hey Harry…" Ron said, leaning on the wall opposite him.

"Hullo… So, did you guys see any sign of Fobert at all?" he asked, sounding hopeful that the answer was no.

"Besides seeing her at breakfast… No." Hailey informed him. Harry sighed with relief.

"I think it would have been a better idea to tell someone, whether or not Fobert told you, you shouldn't… at least someone would know, and could do something about it…" Hermione stated. Harry just shook his head.

"I get the feeling that, if I told someone, it would only put you guys in danger…" He gave the three of them a "keep it quiet, now" kind of look, because students were starting to show up and he didn't want anyone hearing about the situation.

Harry managed to get through most of the day without seeing Professor Fobert, and when it came time to go to Charms, he headed upstairs to his dorm. He sat and read, and even attempted to try playing a one-man game of chess. It didn't work to well, though. After Charms was over, he went downstairs to lunch. He was lucky, when he saw that Fobert wasn't at there.

"So, what happened?" he asked as he took his seat beside Hermione.

"Surprisingly enough, nothing… she just asked where you were, and I told her that you weren't feeling well." Hailey replied. Harry nodded and started on his lunch.

Around one o'clock, they went up to DADA, where they hoped everything would go smoothly. Taking their accustomed spots at the front of the room, they waited for Sirius to start the lesson. He came in five minutes later, Professor Mitchell at his heels. Smiling, he turned to the class and clasped his hands together.

"Pop Quiz!" he announced. The class groaned, and shuffled to put their books away. After the test papers were handed out and everyone was working quietly, there was a knock at the door. Everyone turned to see whom it was and, to Harry's horror, it was Professor Fobert. She eyed him with mixed emotions of anger and spite.

"Hello! Can I help you, Professor?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, would it be possible for me to-steal -Harry away for a moment?" she requested, eyeing Professor Mitchell in the back of the room.

"I'm sorry, he's writing a test at the moment. He'll have to speak to you after class." He replied, completely oblivious to Harry's sigh of relief.

"Very well. I will speak with you later, Mr. Potter." She said in an undertone. She stalked away, leaving the class to finish their test. Harry swiveled in his seat to look at Hailey.

"What happens now?" she whispered. Harry didn't answer. He just shrugged and turned back to his test. When the period was over, Sirius went over to Harry, Hailey, Ron, and Hermione.

"Breaking more rules?" Sirius teased, nudging Harry in the arm.

"Yeah…" Harry laughed quietly. He smiled weakly, wishing that was all it was…just him breaking more rules.

They were getting through potions all right, even though Snape took ten points from Gryffindor (Neville had answered a questions incorrectly). And in the last five minutes of the class, Harry watched the clock on the wall, counting down the seconds. He was planning to just go straight to his dorm, or any other place he could think of, that Professor Fobert wouldn't go looking for him. Hailey watched him with unease. In all the time she'd known Harry, and from all the stories she'd heard of his bravery, she had never seen or thought of him being this uptight. When she thought about it, she figured that it was just the fact that, things were going really well for him at the moment; he was beginning to feel like he had a family again, and just didn't want to lose it for a second time, or ruin any chance he had of having a normal, happy life. The bell interrupted her thoughts.

"All right, I'm going to go drop my stuff off, and maybe I'll think of something there," Harry told his friends.

"OK. Well, we'll go drop off our stuff, too." Hailey said, looking to Ron and Hermione, who agreed. As they got to the fourth floor, they heard what sounded like thunder. Looking out the window, they saw rain begin to pour down from the gray clouds that had been hanging over the school since the night before.

"Well, I guess going outside is out of the picture," Harry said dryly. They gave a small laugh, and walked in peace the rest of the way, listening to the muffled pattering of the rain drops on the castle windows. They didn't end up doing much of anything. They mainly stayed in their Tower, or on the 7th Floor, running around; Harry didn't want to go too far, considering he was trying to keep away from Fobert. By the end of the night, as luck would have it, he hadn't see any sign of either of the Teachers-in-Training.

The days had passed incredibly quickly, and the Christmas Ball was to be held the next evening, which meant that the Holidays were about to begin. The Ball was going to take place on the Friday of the last week of school, before the Holidays. That way, the students could attend the Dance and still go home for Christmas. Almost every student in the castle was eager for the Ball to come. Girls were fussing even more than before, over their dress robes, the way they'd do their hair, whom their dates were…the boys on the other hand, were feeling either slightly unexcited, or rather nervous, like Harry and Ron. They were feeling a bit tense about the whole "dancing" part of the Ball; Harry with his two left feet, and Ron with his very large ones. They were trying to get the basics of a simple Waltz down pat, and were being taught by none other that Hailey and Hermione.

"There! That's it! Now you're getting it!" Hailey was saying happily, as she watched Harry dancing with Hermione.

"This is kind of easy… I think I'm as ready as I can be. Thanks!" he said as he let go of Hermione and stepped aside for Ron to take his lesson. This time Hailey danced and Hermione watched and judged.

"Quick, quick, slow… Quick, quick, slow." Hailey was saying quietly, as she watched their feet moving simultaneously. "Now you getting the hang of it!" she said, looking up at Ron. Hermione was counting the beats, as she watched.

"That's great, Ron! Now I'm going to go a bit faster," she said, increasing the tempo of her steady beat. After a half an hour of dancing and a few sore toes, Harry and Ron were ready for the Ball. They went down to the Great Hall, for some well-deserved relaxing time. Harry didn't need to worry about Professor Fobert, because he'd found out earlier, that she was away with Professor Mitchell on somewhat of a business trip for their training program. As they reached the Hall, someone unexpected came up to them.

"Hi Harry!" It was Cho. She was smiling brightly at him. "Umm…I was wondering if you still needed a date for the Ball?" she asked shyly. Harry felt himself go pink.

"Oh, I – I was going to go with Hermione… Why?" he asked, sounding a bit hopeful.

"Oh…well, I know I told you that I wasn't going to the Ball, but there's been a change of plans. So, I was going to ask you if you still wanted to go with me… but, I guess not…" she said, sounding a bit put down. Hermione looked over to Harry, and smiled.

"It's OK," she whispered, "I'll find someone else." She smiled at him, and urged him to ask Cho again.

"Thank you…" he whispered back to her. He was so thankful to have a friend like her. She knew that he really wanted to go with her, and she had no problem with that. Hailey, Hermione, and Ron left Harry and Cho to talk.

"Umm… it looks like you're free again, huh?" Cho giggled slightly. She had obviously noticed that Hermione had told Harry she'd find another date.

Harry chuckled quietly, "So, uh, would you go with me?" he asked timidly.

"Of course!" she said giggling again. A few of Cho's friends at the Ravenclaw table called her, "Oh, I've got to go… I'll see you later, Harry!" she waved to him while trying to hide her face as she blushed deeply. Harry grinned broadly to himself. He was going to ball with Cho Chang! He was still smiling as he took a seat across from Ron and Hailey.

"So I take it your going with Cho?" Hailey asked, trying and failing, not to laugh at the look on Harry's face.

"Uh-huh," Harry mumbled. Now, he was look forward to the Ball more than ever, "What about you, Mione?" he asked, suddenly realizing that it would be easy for her to find a date at the last minute.

"Oh, I have someone in mind," she told them. Ron groaned.

"You're not gonna tell us are you? You're gonna do exactly what you did last year!" Ron whined.

"No, I won't!" Hermione said in her defense.

"Then who are you going with?" he asked.

"There's a boy in my Arithmancy class who asked me yesterday. I told him I was going with Harry, but if something should come up, I'd let him know… And something's come up, so I'm going to talk to him when I see him." She informed them. Ron nodded, acting very much as if he were her father.

Just then, a group of Hufflepuffs came in. Among them was the boy from Hermione's Arithmancy class. He was a tall boy, with light brown hair and blue eyes. Hermione tried to catch his attention, and was successful. She got up from her chair and walked up to him, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hailey to watch. The three of them sat and waited for Hermione to return, hopefully with a date. No more that five minutes later, she came skipping back to the Gryffindor table, looking satisfied with herself.

"Well? How'd it go?" Hailey asked

"We're going together," Hermione said, sounding happy that she had triumphantly found a date in almost no time at all.

On their way back up to the Common Room, Ron asked Harry something that made Hailey and Hermione exchange worried looks.

"How are you going to get through the dance, if Fobert's there?" he asked.

"I've got nothing to worry about… When I over heard Professor Mitchell and Sirius talking, she said that her and Fobert weren't going to be back until Monday. So I'm safe until then." Harry told them. Hailey gave a noticeable sigh of relief.

"You know, this whole crest thing has really boggled my mind. I don't mean to sound pushy or anything, but I'm surprised that you aren't so concerned about it, Harry." There was a note of frustration in her voice as she spoke. Harry didn't answer.

That night, Harry lay awake thinking about what Hailey had said. And she was right. Harry was beginning to notice that he wasn't really showing any concern for the situation at all. Finally deciding that he'd put further thought into later, he drifted off to sleep.

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