Dracula, Ballet with a Bite

"Icicle who beat you and dragged you behind a hippogriff?"

"No one Ron," sighed Icicle, "You know that ballet group I am in called YBT? Well every year for the past few years we put on Dracula right before Halloween and I am Lucy. I was wearing stage makeup when I walked in but your wonderful brothers decided to soak me and everything kind of ran together in a black and red mess when I rubbed the water off my face."

"Sorry about them.  No one can really control them," apologized Ron with fake sincerity.

Harry gave a small smile, "Who is Lucy?"

"One of the main characters in the ballet. She is best friends with some of the other main characters then she gets bitten, turns into a vampire and then her boyfriend has to kill her and OOOooo… look at this," said Icicle as she pulled something out of her bag and popped it into her mouth. She had a pair of fangs on. "Pretty cool huh."

"That is one the most disturbing things that I have seen in my life," replied Hermione dryly.

Icicle just gave a wicked grin, "They hurt after a while though. Hey Hermione can you give this to the teachers tomorrow and Friday. It is the work that I am going to be missing."

"What, why," asked Hermione.

"I have to perform for some little kids the next two days. It is going to be great. All the dancers get in some bonding time and even some extra sleep between performances. The best part is we are going to make a few kids cry."

Hermione scolded Icicle "That is really terrible of you!"

"Yeah I know. Hey do you guys want to come see a performance. Dumbledore and maybe some other staff members are going so I can make them drag you along if you want to get out on a Saturday night."

"We would all love to go." said Hermione.

"Hey," protested Ron

"Ron, you above all need some culture," replied Hermione

Ron looked insulted, "You know you want to Ron," said Icicle.

"Yeah I did but I could have said yes for myself."

Icicle jumped and landed next to Harry on the chair he was sitting on and gave him a grin not that different from Sirius's, "They will never let me out away from the protection spells." said Harry.

"They'll agree," assured Icicle, "The great Dumbledore will be sitting next to you the whole time so they'll have no problems."

* * * *

Professor Figg had been adding a little more work every other week or so to what was being known as the my life story project. Hermione had become so uptight about keeping her defense grade up that the boys had agreed to work on their projects. Icicle had been killing everyone when it comes to defense grades and Hermione didn't like coming in so far behind, even if it was to one of her best friends. "This project is so big how does Icicle manage to finish it all in less time then us and with a higher quality?" wined Ron as he slaved over his Defense project.

"I was complaining the same thing to her last week and she said that last year in high school she had a major projects due every single week so she because very good at throwing things together," said Harry.

"She only works that hard on her homework for Defense and Potions." stated Hermione, "I wonder why?"

"Snape is an evil git and anything less then perfect could make him mad. But she seems to have something up her sleeves for defense." muttered Ron, "I think someone is bribing her."

The trio had gotten permission to go see Dracula since they were going to be accompanied by Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall so at around 4:30 the portrait opened and Icicle dashed in wearing some dance warm ups. "Hey guys, how is the project going?"

All three of them just groaned and kept working. Icicle rolled her eyes. "Well, I have come back to make sure that you dress appropriately for a muggle ballet. That and give Dumbledore the tickets. So get off your big derrières and let's get going. I have to be back for warm up by 5:45 and I still have to find some food. Harry, Ron you first."

Icicle grabbed their arms and dragged them up the stairs to the boy dorms. Seamus was sleeping on his bed while Dean appeared to be writing a letter home. "What are you doing up here?" asked Dean when he saw Icicle.

"Making sure Harry and Ron have appropriate attire for tonight." replied Icicle as she looked on both Ron's and Harry's bed for something.

"Where are they going?"

"To the ballet to see me dance." Icicle sighed and shook her fist at the ceiling in a comical manner, "Dam it."

Ron and Harry snorted at her while she murmured, "Winky, where are you?"

With a pop the familiar house elf showed up, "Sorry Miss Vera, Winky was ironing your friends outfits."

"Thank you Winky, could you do me a favor?" asked Icicle as she took the neatly ironed clothes from Winky.

"Oh yes Miss Vera, you ask Winky will do."

"Could you please pack me a light dinner and have a big water bottle ready for me when I leave? I am kind of running short on time."

Winky bowed "Right away Miss Vera." and with a pop she left.

Ron looked at Icicle, "You know Hermione will kill you if she finds out that you are using a house elf like a servant."

"That is why I don't tell her. Winky was so miserable all least year because she lives to serve just one person so Dumbledore told her to watch after me. She has been much happier since then and as long as she is happy I am happy." Icicle took some clothes out of the bag and handed it to them, "Here is what McGonagall got for you two. She was the only one that had a faint idea of what size you two are and had the time to go out and get it. I'll magic you some shoes when you come down because I have to go get Hermione going."

Harry looked over at what he had been given to wear. People have been getting him a lot of clothes lately and telling him to wear them, I think that I should take the hint thought Harry. He had been given his trade mark color of a green collared shirt and black slacks. Ron had been given a dark blue collared shirt and gray slacks. When the boys got dress they came down and saw that Icicle and Hermione weren't out yet so they sat down and waited. A little while later Icicle bounced down the stairs and cooed like she would when talking to a baby, "You guys look so handsome, now all you need is shoes."

With a flick of her wand Harry and Ron found that they were ready. "Hermione is almost ready and I have to leave. The show starts at 7 but you guys are leaving at 6." Icicle looked at a clock on the wall, "That gives you 30 minutes to get down and get some dinner. Bye!"

As Icicle ran out of the doorway they saw that Winky was waiting for her and gave her some food. They saw her thank the elf and dash away. Almost right after Icicle had left Hermione came down and Ron's jaw hit the floor. Her hair was all the way down and in loose curls that gave it a calmer more stylish look, her dress was red and long and to finish off her look she wore red shoes and silver jewelry. "I love the hair Hermione and the dress," said Harry who nudged Ron, who just nodded.

"Thanks, Icicle and I have been trying to figure out how to control my hair and of course McGonagall is responsible for the dress." said Hermione as she joined Harry and Ron.

"Well let's go down to the Great Hall for dinner." said Harry.

* * * *

Six o clock arrived and the three students and two professors met in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore had enchanted himself so that he didn't look like a wizard out of a muggle book and McGonagall was just wearing fancy muggle clothes. "Well we are suppose to floo to one of Icicle's friends house and she will drive us from there because she is going to the show too," stated Dumbledore as he grabbed a vase off of his desk, "Take a pinch and say Plante house."

Harry took a pinch of floo powder and waited for his turn. After Hermione, Harry stepped into the fire and yelled, "Plante house," then the spinning began. A great time later Harry rolled out of the fireplace into a decent size family room where Ron, Hermione and some other girl that must be Icicle's friend waited.

The stranger was beaming, "That is so cool! Are anymore people going to come out?"

"Two more," replied Hermione, "I am Hermione Granger by the way and you are?"

"Mary Plante, Icicle and I grew up together." said Mary as she eagerly shook everybody's hand.

One by one everyone showed up and dusted off the last one to arrive was Professor Dumbledore. "Hello Mary! How have you been?"

"Dumbledore what happened? You look so different!" exclaimed Mary as she hugged Dumbledore.

"It's only a simple charm. I am afraid that I tend to scream wizard when I go into the muggle world." said Dumbledore as he smiled at everyone, "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah, some people are going to have to ride in the trunk area though." Mary caught the look on Harry's face, "Don't worry, it is an explorer. The trunk isn't a normal isolated closing trunk."

When they got into the car Dumbledore sat in front with Mary, McGonagall, Harry and Hermione were in the back seat while Ron lounged in the trunk. Thankfully Mary was a good driver and they got to the small theater in one piece. As they entered the lobby there were several stands set up selling flowers and different types of things that you could buy and send to the dancers back stage. Mary went to send Icicle a flower while the rest went to find their seats. When Mary got back she looked a little sad. "What's wrong?" asked McGonagall.

"Icicle's mom, the muggle one, use to be in charge of selling flowers." replied Mary, "It is just weird to buy and flower and realize that she isn't there anymore. Everyone still misses the whole family. It was a big loss to the community since her older brother was the star of the baseball and football teams and her parents were really involved in a lot of important groups. Does she still miss them like she did?"

Dumbledore gave a somber smile, "If you ask her she would say no, but I know better."

The lights dimmed and the conversation stopped as the show began. Act one was fairly uneventful when it came to parts that Icicle was in. It mostly revolved around Dracula, Jonathan and the undead. When they got to act II, Icicle was in practically every dance. Harry sat mesmerized as Icicle danced across the stage and how she interacted with the other dancers. Harry hadn't ever been to ballets but there was no doubt that she was good, not the best technically but her acting made up for it. The whole company was better then Harry thought they would be.

Lucy had just been bitten by Dracula and was dancing with her friends who were oblivious to the fact that she was a vampire. The dance was very mellow and out of no where Icicle jumped over a few dancers and grabbed a little boy and bit him. The undead had crept out of a hole if front of the stage and surrounded the whole group. Her friends, Jonathan, Mina, and Author, were too busy pulling her off of the girl to notice but thankfully Jonathan, Mina, and Author escaped. Lucy started to get a hang of hunting people when Jonathan, Mina, and Author made the hard choice that they needed to stop her. Harry saw Lucy fall into a trap and with a blood-curling scream, Harry watched Lucy die when her boyfriend staked her through the heart. As Lucy was carried away by her mourning friends, Harry saw Dracula come out and seduced Lucy's friend Mina. Taking Mina to his castle Dracula bit her before help could come. Jonathan came in to save Mina but fell into her trap. All seemed lost when Lucy's boyfriend came in and gave his life giving Jonathan and Mina time to kill Dracula and break the spell before Mina permanently turned into a vampire.

The show ended and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mary, McGonagall and Dumbledore all clapped like mad when Icicle came out for her final bow. Smiling she took and bow by her self and with the group before the curtain closed for one final time.

They all got up and headed out to the lobby to wait for Icicle. There were parents, grandparents and friends all waiting around for the person that they knew to come out. A while later they saw Icicle come out, hug a few dance friends while struggling to balance her self with a heavy looking bag. "That was wicked," said Ron as he patted Icicle on the back knocking her down.

"Thanks Ron."

"You just keep getting better and better every time I see you dance!" exclaimed Mary as she pounced Icicle for a hug.

"Being a jazzerina does have its advantages for certain roles."

The group kept talking about the ballet and met a few of Icicle's dance friends and even her director, Thom, who was Dracula. "Ready to head home everybody? I am wiped," said Icicle a while later.

Dumbledore was talking to Thom and looked at his watch, "Yes I do believe that it is about time that we head back."

Saying their good-byes, the whole group headed back to Hogwarts for a night of sleeping and a Sunday of homework.

* * * *