West Side Story
ACT I SCENE IV
The four students left the dormitory and walked down to the Great Hall, occasionally stopping to say hello to other students or compliment somebody on a dress or set of robes.
When they entered the Great Hall, the tables had been reduced to two long ones located on both sides of the room, and lighting was a dark bluish purple making it seem very late but still pretty. Nobody was dancing yet, and the students stood mainly along the walls chatting with friends. McGonagall stood up.
"Welcome to the first dance of the school year," she said briskly. "Headmaster Dumbledore is going to be away for the entirety of this week, although he sends his best wishes."
The students still stood around, moving slightly to the music of the Weird Sisters playing in the corner. There was a sharp divide between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors, and the other two houses acted as the only bridge between them.
McGonagall cleared her throat loudly, wand magically raising the volume of her voice like a muggle microphone, and the band stopped playing. "Alright," she said. "Since this is the first dance, the professors and I came up with something of a game. (The students groaned in unison.) Now, I need you all to form two circles, ladies on the inside and gentlemen on the outside. Then I'm going to place the Entesincara charm on all of you, so that your faces will be hidden while you dance in the line of your circles. With me so far?" Everybody nodded. "Okay. So when the music stops and I remove the charm, I ask that whichever person you are lined up with be the person you dance with for the next song. Everybody ready?"
The students did not look very enthusiastic. The Slytherins stood scowling and laughing, while the Gryffindors looked exceedingly uncomfortable. Nobody moved until Malcolm, sneering, was pushed onto the dance floor by Blaise, who followed after him. They both turned and looked at the Gryffindors, challenging them to follow.
Harry looked at Lavender, and they walked out to meet the other two. Harry did not look nearly as confident as his date.
"There you go," shouted McGonagall. "Everybody!" she barked. The rest of the students reluctantly formed the rest of the circles. "Okay, I'm going to place the charm on you all now." With a quick flick of her wrist and a curve of her elbow, she muttered "Entesincara Encantem!"
There was a mutual gasp of shock as everyone's face was suddenly blurred out and covered with a blue mist similar to the color of the lighting in the room. The only facial feature not blurred out by the charm were the eyes. "Begin!" shouted McGonagall, and the band struck up a jovial promenade.
The students began to laugh as they circled round a few times until the music was cut off abruptly by McGonagall shouting "Stop!" She took out her wand and began to say the counter spell in order to give the students their appearances back.
"Finite Incant—"
"Hold up!" shouted an unrecognized voice.
"Yes?" said McGonagall, sounding skeptical.
"Why take off the spell now?" asked the voice. It was female. "Do you really think that we'll dance with the person once we know who they are?"
There was a murmur of assent from the rest of the students and McGonagall looked fairly surprised. "Fair point," she said. "I'll take off the spell after the dance."
People started laughing again as they took their face-less partner and began to dance to the upbeat song pulsating throughout the room. Hermione was having an especially good time dancing with the boy she was partnered up with.
"Who are you?" the boy asked after a time.
"That's not the point of the game, now, is it?" Hermione teased.
"I recognize your voice, but I can't figure out..."
Hermione laughed. "I've heard yours before too. Seventh year?"
"Yeah."
The two continued dancing for a while longer, chatting randomly, and straying farther and farther from the center of the Hall and over towards a darkened corner. The song had begun to slow down, and their bodies were gradually inching closer and closer.
"I hope I won't be disappointed when the spell is off, you know," Hermione said.
"So do I," said the boy. "But I don't think I could mind you whoever you are...you're a good dancer."
Hermione laughed again, and the boy continued to speak. "I've been expecting something different to happen for a while now, and I think this is it."
"What do you mean?"
"I never would've danced with just anyone before," he said quietly. "But there's been something nagging at me for awhile, telling me that something is about to come. Something good. So I accepted this as a chance for that something to come."
"And you think this is it?"
"Yes," said the boy. They had practically stopped dancing by this point, and they were so close that their faces could have touched if they were visible. Both of them were looking into the others eyes, trying to name the person behind them. Hermione's were a deep brown, lined with faint traces of gold. The boy's were a shining gray so pure that no hint of any other color was visible. "I think it's you."
The music stopped. McGonagall had begun to talk again but neither of the two was listening.
"Thank you," said the boy, and he leaned in with closed eyes to kiss the face that was slowly beginning to appear in front of him. Hermione complied, and her eyes fluttered shut as she leaned forward too, standing on the tips of her feet to meet the height of the mystery boy.
"HERMIONE!" shouted the frantic voice of Harry Potter as he boomed over towards them. "WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"
The two jerked apart, breaking the kiss and opening their eyes for the very first time to see who the other was. The boy was Draco Malfoy. He and Hermione stood, staring at each other in absolute shock. Draco silently mouthed "Hermione?" and he tilted his head to the side as if that would turn her into any other person. Hermione half expected him to spit on her or something, but he didn't. He continued to look at her, and then he smiled, and then he laughed.
"HERMIONE!" Harry shouted again, Lavender rushing over to keep him from attacking Draco. "Malfoy, get away from her, or I swear I'll make you regret the day you were born!"
"Harry! Please, calm down!" shouted Lavender, reaching forward to put her hands on his shoulders.
"Get. Away. From Hermione. NOW!" He said, his face turning red this time. His knuckles were clenching and unclenching and he looked absolutely murderous.
"What's going on—" Ron said as he finally made his way over to the disturbance. He didn't need his question answered, for his eyes had found Hermione and Draco, who were still standing next to each other the way they had been during the dance. Draco was wearing a smirk and Hermione looked like she needed fresh air and a glass of water. Blaise had sauntered over and joined Draco's side.
"Didn't you notice that you were dancing with Malfoy?" Harry asked Hermione. "What happened to your head, couldn't you see his eyes or something?"
"I was trying to be active in the game and meet somebody new," said Hermione rationally.
"Get out of here Malfoy," snarled Ron randomly.
"Oh, shut up Weasley," said Draco. "Don't listen to them, Hermione." Hermione looked desperately between him and her Gryffindor friends in search for an answer.
"How dare you tell her that!" shouted Lavender.
"I can say whatever I want," said Draco.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" interrupted McGonagall. "What is this? We were having such a lovely time, don't go and ruin things!" The humor in the irony of her statement was lost because nobody listened to her except, possibly, for Hermione.
"You've gone daft, Hermione!" shouted Harry.
"Don't yell at her!" interrupted Ron.
"She's being stupid!" Harry continued irrationally. Lavender looked embarrassed, and tried to calm him down. "Ron, why don't you and Hermione go up to the common room."
"But—" Hermione began to say.
"Please, Hermione. Go!"
Ron looked blankly at Harry, fazed by his outburst. "Come on, Hermione. He's being weird..." he said, and reached over to her arm to guide her out of the room. Lavender watched this and smiled, sighing happily before she quickly masked her emotion and put a scowl back on her face to glare at Draco, who was still looking at Hermione. He seemed completely awestruck.
Harry finally tore away from Lavender, and she stumbled on her high heels for a second. He strode swiftly over to Draco, surely about to punch him, when Blaise jumped out in front of him.
"Get out of my way," he growled.
"No," said Blaise strongly. "I need to talk to you. I want to have a pre-duel conference between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors."
Harry looked skeptical at first, but his anger denied him complete control of the situation and he agreed.
"We'll meet you in a half an hour in the Room of Requirement?"
"Deal." Blaise strode off and left no breach between Harry and Draco. Their eyes locked and the hatred seemed to become so thick between them that neither could manage to go after the other.
"Aren't you coming Draco?" came the voice of Pansy Parkinson. She got no answer. Harry had strode off to find Hermione and Ron, leaving Draco alone in the Great Hall, surrounded by oblivious Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.
A/N: Hmm...long chapter. I know that Draco was all wierd and OOC but...I'm trying to make him like Tony, who actually starts out as a decent person. I needed Draco to fall in love and switch really fast to somebody like that...well...really fast. You can make up the reason why he's acting so accepting. Whatever...flame me...I'm the author and I can do what I want! W00t!