Disclaimer: Yea. Got nothing funny… so no I don't own Harry Potter but I do own this particular storyline ^_^ ::pats self on back::
A/N: I'm holding the next chapter hostage until I get 170 reviews. Yes, I know that is blackmail and greedy… but hey, I can do what I want… I know what happens ^_-
Chapter 12: The Halloween Ball
Everyone at Hogwarts was talking excitedly about the Halloween dance, which was finally upon them. The teachers had all began to get used to the fact that none of the students were particularly interested in what was going on during class. They stopped giving detentions and taking House Points as it seemed pointless as students were inattentive in all of the houses.
Harry was not particularly beside himself about going, but he figured that a little bit of fun just might be what he needed. Things had returned to normal with his friends and he had done his best to put both the prophecy and the Veil in the back of his mind.
Ron and Hermione were both acting slightly out of sorts, as if the dance was going to solidify something about the intensity of their relationship. Not that they had a relationship. Harry had never seen them so much as hold hands. He guessed it was because they were still only 16 and it was Ron that he was talking about.
Ginny seemed to be looking forward to her big plan to get Neville and Luna together. That week during their DADA lesson she had the class do written work, something she never usually did, in order to fill Harry in on all of the details.
The plan was not very difficult to follow. He was to go with Luna, and she with Neville and then in the beginning of the dance Harry would excuse himself and proceed to leave the Great Hall. Ginny, who would be dancing with Neville, would urge him on to dance with Luna. Harry was not sure how he was supposed to go back into the dance or if that was even part of Ginny's plans. All that he knew was that this plan did not exactly paint the best picture of his character. He did not really wish to be viewed as the bloke who ditched his date. Memories of the Yule Ball from his fourth year came floating back into his head.
Harry had ranrun into a problem in the beginning of the week when he was finally coerced by Hermione to try on his dress robes to make sure that they fit. Much to his annoyance, they did not. He had grown a couple inches in the two years since he had last had to wear them.
Professor McGonagall had noticed that many students had this problem, despite being told to bring them, as all fourth years and above were. The students had not used them in so long that they neglected to get new ones. So, with Dumbledore's permission, she had arranged a robe owl order service. Each student who needed a new robe had to write down their measurements and chose a color. The orders were taken by owl post to Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions in Diagon Alley. The day before the ball they received the robes. Harry was happy to discover that his robes fit very well. They were again a bottle green color.
Ron wore the robes that the twins had bought for him, which were a deep navy blue. Hermione was keeping her robes a secret. She of course had gotten them while she had been home with her parents over the summer. She refused to tell anyone except Ginny what color they were.
Neville, of course, didn't have things going as smoothly. He had apparently messed up on the measurements. Because of that, when he tried on his new robes, which were a deep purple color, his ankles were exposed. Harry tried to console him, but Neville was very nervous about the dance. Harry had to wonder to himself if it was Luna that Neville liked.
The morning of the dance had passed by rather quickly. Ron and Harry had passed the time playing wizard's chess. Harry could tell that Ron was extremely nervous, because he had actually managed to win a game. Worse than that, Ron didn't even seem to have noticed.
All of the Gryffindor girls had left the common room with hours to spare. As Harry realized they had half an hour until they had to be at the dance he stood up.
"Ron, we should go get ready."
Ron jumped up from the seat and his eyes were wide, as if he had just been shocked out of a trance.
"Err… yea sure Harry."
Harry watched as his delirious best friend walked up the stairs to their dormitory. He smiled to himself as he thought of how many different ways the night could unfold.
The sixth year boys quickly showered and dressed. Neville and Dean looked almost as nervous as Ron. Seamus was his normal talkative self. Harry concluded that he had no reason to be nervous, he and Lavender had been dating for a while.
Ginny told Harry that Dean was going with Pavarti. He figured that this had been a last minute thing, although it fitted with two best friends dating two best friends.
Harry swept his hand through his hair, he was trying to make it look styled if he couldn't make it flat. This was also unsuccessful. After five minutes, he reluctantly tried to make it stay flat as it was now going in every direction. He shrugged in defeat and looked over to where Ron was sitting on his bed, his face drooped towards the floor.
"Ron, are you alright?"
Harry watched as Ron nodded dumbly but got up and proceeded toward the door. Following behind Neville was Seamus and Dean, followed by Harry and Ron as they slowly made their way down to the common room, which was surprisingly not empty. On the couches sat Hermione, Ginny, Lavender, and Pavarti. They all stood up as the boys made their way across the room.
Hermione smiled smugly, "It appears boys aren't always the ones who are kept waiting."
Ron returned the smile and held out his arm, "We are worth the wait."
Harry couldn't believe how quickly Ron had recovered from five minutes before that. He hoped that Ron had just realized that it was just Hermione. He didn't want them to get into any fights during this dance.
Harry noted that Hermione looked very beautiful. She was wearing robes of a deep purple. She had again used her hair tonic to make it super smooth. She had worn it up in a French twist.
Harry turned toward Ginny and Neville who had just linked arms. Ginny looked very beautiful in her emerald green robes. She had apparently decided to wear her hair down. It was slightly curled and fell just beneath her shoulders. Neville smiled with his mouth closed, which made him look like he was going to be sick. Harry motioned for them to go before that could happen.
"We should head down I am meeting my date outside of the Great Hall."
He moved past the couple and went through the portrait hole. He could hear Ginny talking to Neville softly, as they were following behind him, but he could not make out what they were saying.
As they neared the Great Hall, Harry saw Luna standing close to a group of Ravenclaws. As he approached she looked up and Harry could have sworn he saw almost a look of relief swiftly pass over her face. Her long hair draped down long past her shoulders. It almost totally hid the upper part of her pale yellow robes.
Harry valiantly put out his arm, which Luna obligingly took. Neville and Ginny had caught up to them. Neville looked very relaxed with Ginny that was until he saw Luna. From that point on Harry had no doubts about who Neville liked.
Neville immediately lost his footing a tripped, falling to the floor and inevitably taking Ginny with him. Heads turned as Luna and Harry rushed over to help the two people off of the floor. Harry reached down and grabbed hold of Neville's hand, pulling him back up to a standing position. Ginny got up and Harry noticed her cheeks colored slightly but she smoothed her hair and once again held her arm out to Neville. Neville, was redder than a marathon runner, quietly whispered some words of apologies to Ginny.
They all slowly entered the Great Hall, which had been decorated extensively. The room was lit by candles which were suspended in mid air throughout the room.
As soon as Harry entered he could see the Professors that were in attendance. Hagrid was talking animatedly to Professor Sprout. He could see most of the other teachers sitting at the Head Table, which was the only normal table that remained in the room. Instead of the usual large house tables, there were many small round tables forming the perimeter of a square which was not doubt intended to be the dance floor. McGonagall and Dumbledore were talking quietly with Snape and turned to face the students as they entered.
The one thing that stood out the most to Harry was a person sitting all alone at the end of the table. Viktor Krum sat by himself, determinedly staring at the table and not at the students. Harry could not believe that he had even attended the dance. He hoped that his presence would not cause any problems between Ron and Hermione. Harry figured that with all of the things that they had gone through because of him, they deserved to have one night of peace where they could just appreciate each other's company.
The students slowly filled into the tables. Harry and Luna sat down at a table with Neville, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Seamus, and Lavender. Dean had gone over with Pavarti to the Ravenclaw table because she wanted to sit with her sister.
The room quieted down as Dumbledore stood up. It was not until all of the teachers were seated that Harry noticed that they were all wearing black robes.
"Welcome Everyone to our Halloween Dance. We will be having dinner first and then I invite all of you to dance the night away… that is until about one when we expect you all head back to bed." He smiled and gestured with his hands. Suddenly all of their empty plates were filled with all kinds of delicious looking food.
Dumbledore once again took his seat and the Great Hall was suddenly filled with noise. People were talking and yelling to each other. Harry enjoyed the warm atmosphere that it created.
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Once everyone had their fill of dinner, the plates disappeared off of the tables. The candlelight dimmed even lower and music started playing as if from nowhere. It started off with a rather fast song that Harry had never heard of before. He knew that it had to be a wizard song because he didn't think it sounded like the kind of thing that muggles listened to. At least not anything he had heard Dudley listening to the previous summers.
The large square of empty floor was quickly filled with students. Harry even watched as Hermione dragged Ron onto the floor where Ron proceeded to bounce around in an awkward manner.
Harry laughed until he felt a hand rest on his arm. He turned to see Luna looking at him.
"Harry, aren't we going to dance?"
Harry felt his stomach flip before he nodded his head once quickly.
He got up and entwined his arm with hers as they made their way to the floor.
Harry stepped from side to side as the music played. He tried to stay on beat as well as he could. He could feel people starting to stare in his direction but he was pretty sure that it was not his dancing that was causing all of the attention.
Luna was throwing her arms up in the air wildly. Harry guessed that she was not dancing to the song that was playing because she was twirling around and going faster than the music.
Harry started to become more embarrassed, as he did not like being put in the spotlight. But then he realized something. He got attention because of something he did that he could not even remember. Luna got attention for a totally different reason. He knew that sometimes people made fun of her, but she didn't care. He assumed that was the reason that Luna probably intrigued him so much; that she didn't care what anyone else thought. He wished he could be more like that, not as much as Luna, but more at ease with being Harry Potter.
After about the third song a slow song came on and Harry and Luna moved together, somewhat awkwardly. He saw Ginny and Neville slowly maneuvering their way over to where he and Luna were dancing.
Ginny winked at him, she had told him earlier that that would be the signal.
He looked away and thought for a second. He could not just excuse himself from dancing with Luna. He could not just leave her stranded on the dance floor even if she was going to be rescued by Neville. He quickly searched his mind for the best solution. He knew that Ginny would probably kill him, but he had to do what he thought was right.
He stopped moving and backed away from Luna so that he was looking at her face to face. She looked at him through a confused expression that she wore on her face.
"Luna look, I am supposed to tell you that I don't feel like dancing anymore and I am supposed to leave you here."
Harry watched as Luna's face fell. He knew that she was probably used to having jokes played on her. He also saw Ginny smiling over Neville's shoulder, no doubt thinking that he was just carrying out the plan. He knew that Ginny only had people's best interests in mind, but he knew from experience that the Weasley way was not always the right way.
He quickly averted his attention back to Luna. "Don't worry I wasn't going to just leave you here. You see I'm probably not supposed to tell you this but – well… Neville likes you. And he didn't have the courage to ask you to the dance himself. So Ginny… sort of had this idea that we could get you two together tonight."
He waited silently as Luna appeared to be thinking to herself, formulating a response in her head.
"Harry,
why didn't Neville just ask me?"
"Well," Harry began "I am not sure… nerves I guess – but you should probably ask
him yourself."
For the first time since the conversation began, Luna smiled. She leaned in close and whispered, "I'll tell you a secret… I like Neville too."
With that she walked away from Harry toward a rather confused looking Ginny. She stopped and talked to them. Before Harry knew it he watched as Ginny excused herself and Neville started dancing with Luna. He looked like he was rather tense, but happy nonetheless.
Ginny walked over toward Harry. He smiled innocently when he saw the look on her face, "Want to dance?"
She looked reluctant for a second but finally put her arm on his shoulder.
"Harry, why didn't you go with the plan?"
"Ginny, I don't think it would have been nice for Luna to feel abandoned, even for just a second" he paused before continuing, "call it the hero inside me."
Ginny smiled, "Making jokes are we? I'm glad to see you are back to your old self… I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean for her to feel abandoned…"
Harry interrupted, "I didn't think that for a second… I know you just wanted to help them… It's sweet. But I also know that Weasley's are sometimes notorious for being short sided and passionate about somethingssome things."
She giggled, "I have no idea what you are talking about."
Harry started to list the names, "I don't know… Ron, Fred, George, Percy, Molly…"
Ginny lightly punched his ribs, "I get the point."
Harry laughed and they continued to dance. From the corner of this eye he saw Snape enter the Great Hall. He had not even realized that he had left. He watched as his hook-nosed professor made his way over to the Head Table where Dumbledore was sitting.
His attention was brought back when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Dean facing him, "Mind if I cut in for a little while?"
Harry smiled and backed away, "Ginny I am going to sit down for a while."
She nodded and seemed almost hesitant while taking Dean's hand.
Harry turned and made his way over to the table. Hermione and Ron were also sitting down. They were talking to each other when Harry plopped himself in a chair across them.
"Having fun are we?"
Hermione nodded and Ron smiled. "How about you mate? I see the plan for Neville and Luna worked."
Harry smiled to himself, "More or less."
Hermione looked like she was about to say something but she closed her mouth as Professor McGonagall appeared next to the table.
"Mr. Weasley I need to talk to you and your sister immediately… alone."
Ron looked startled but determined, "Whatever it is… you can say it in front of Harry and Hermione."
McGonagall looked apprehensive but finally nodded shortly, "Very well… please get your sister and go to Professor Dumbledore's office."
Harry looked over to the head table and noticed that Dumbledore was not there. Neither was Snape.
Harry couldn't help but notice the uncomfortable feeling of uneasiness that was growing inside of him. He got up and followed behind Hermione. Ron had walked over to the dance floor where he was going to get Ginny.
Harry and Hermione waited for Ron and Ginny outside the doors to the Great Hall. As soon as they closed the doors behind them they made their way to Dumbledore's office.
Harry tried to think about anything besides the horrid thoughts that were going on inside his head. The year had been relatively crisis-free and he was finally learning to enjoy not having the spotlight on him all of the time or having to worry about people that he loved being attacked.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Dumbledore had been sitting at his desk when they entered. Snape was standing next to him on one side and McGonagall was on the other. Harry felt very much like he was facing an inquisition. It took him a second before he finally realized that he was not the one that they had asked to speak to: It was Ginny and Ron.
Dumbledore motioned for them to take seats.
Ginny and Ron took the two seats and Harry and Hermione stood back behind the chairs. Hermione gave Harry a sideways worried glance. He smiled weakly and then turned back toward Dumbledore.
Dumbledore folded his hands and placed them gently on the desk in front of him. He looked up and Harry could tell at once it would be bad news. He saw Dumbledore's eyes, which revealed fear and apprehension, something they usually never did.
"I'm afraid that I have some bad news… We don't know the full nature of what has happened so I do not wish to worry you unduly, but rather keep you informed – and unfortunately this news affects you personally."
Harry saw Ron sit up straighter in his chair, his face still as if carved in stone, staring intently at the headmaster. Ginny let out a small gasp and then leaned forward.
"It has been brought to my attention from members of the Order that the death eaters have become active once again. Early this evening there was a kidnapping, no one was killed but I am afraid that several people had the Cruciatus curse used on them."
He paused as if formulating what to say next.
"Percy was the one who has been kidnapped. We don't know why – but I assure you that the Order is working hard to try and figure it out. Kingsley Shacklebolt was the one of the Aurors who was sent over after the attack. Miss Penelope Clearwater had been with him at the time. She was taken to St. Mungos, as I am afraid she received a rather large dose of the Cruciatus. Once they were able to make her comfortable, Kingsley asked her a few questions to learn what happened."
He paused for several more moments, "She wasn't able to identify the death eater who took Percy…only that it was in fact a death eater."
Hermione gasped, "Is the Ministry planning on keeping this quiet?"
Dumbledore continued, "Yes well apparently they are choosing to cover up many things as of late… even Kingsley was ordered not to tell anyone about what happened tonight."
Ron spoke up for the first time, "So no one is going to find out what happened? Aren't they going to even look for him?"
Dumbledore looked squarely at Ron, "The Ministry is not planning on telling anyone… we have contacted your parents and they said they would get in touch with your brothers. I think that we should keep this to ourselves for the time being. I don't understand why Percy was taken. The only connection that we have made is that he was at one time extremely close to the Minister. Our only guess is that he knows something that Voldemort wants to know. We need time to find out where he might be and why exactly he was taken. But like I have said, we don't know the severity of the situation at this time. I have informed your parents that if you wish to go home we will excuse you."
Ron shook his head and stood up, "Who cares if he was taken? For all we know it's just some trick… probably is working for you-know-who."
With that he turned and stormed out of the office, the door slamming shut behind him. Harry knew that Ron probably did not mean what he said. If anything he guessed that Ron was fighting an inner battle about how to deal with Percy being taken. Percy was not one of any of their favorite people at the moment but he was still family.
Hermione had already excused herself and followed closely behind Ron. Ginny finally stood up from her seat, tears threatening to escape from the corners of her eyes, "I'm sorry he doesn't mean it – he just…" But her wavering voice trailed off and she quietly exited following the other three.
Harry was left alone with his teachers and the headmaster, all who had their eyes fixed on him. He stood still for a second, "Will you tell us if there is any more news?"
Dumbledore nodded gently and Harry turned to leave. He stopped however as the headmaster spoke one last time, "Harry I hope that you will not continue to keep other's in the dark… It has proved useful in the past to have outside help."
Harry nodded and left the office. He decided not to go back to the dance as he figured that the others probably wouldn't have gone back anyway. Harry was bewildered as he thought about what Dumbledore had said. Did he know that he hadn't discussed the prophecy with his friends? Did he know that Harry had been looking into the veil? Harry secretly vowed to one day discover how Dumbledore knew so much.
Harry returned to the common room to indeed find the other three sitting on the couches. Ron sat staring at the fire silently while Hermione sat next to him, leaning against him slightly.
Harry took a seat on the same couch as Ginny, who was curled up in the corner, her robes wrinkling in the process.
They sat in silence before Harry decided the time had come where there was too much at stake to be keeping secrets, no matter of their importance at the moment. Dumbledore was right, if they had any hope of getting through any battles through the year, they would have to do so together.
Harry began slowly, "I think that all of you might want to know about some things that I haven't talked about with you…" And with that, Harry slowly began divulging the information about the prophecy as well as the research that he had been doing in reference to the Veil.
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Avid Reader: thanks for another great review… as for your question I do not divulge personal information… heehee ^_^
Pointy-eared bow twanger: absolutely love the name! and thanks!
Vamperfly & Debbie: hmm… nice point… looks like I am going to have to use my "literary license" and pretend that the *rules* were changed… nice catch though and thanks!! ^_-
Thanks to everyone as always… reviews are extremely helpful and encouraging, thus is my reasoning behind wanting to thank everyone who did: Alynna Lis Eachann, bee11, ginnygal189, PhoenixPadfoot89, Star06, starryn1ght. Again my goal before next is to reach 170…. Hehehe ^_^
Thanks to my awesome beta reader! Bootstrap Jim ::applause:: Who has been extremely understanding so far… ^_^