A Kiss Isn't Just a Kiss Chapter Two: Lessons in Dance and Other Stuff

Hermione headed down the stairs from her dormitory, book tucked under her arm. Her heart was pounding. She was trying her hardest to make as little sound as possible. If anyone caught her leaving, she'd have to make up some excuse about needing to get some more studying in or something. It wouldn't be too hard to convince anyone of that.
She arrived at the empty common room and realized how stupid part of their plan had been. How was she supposed to know if Harry was there or not? She supposed that she should just wait around for him to tap her on the shoulder or something.
Why was she being so absentminded these days? Maybe what Pavarti had said to her the other day had bothered her on a subconscious level. She seemed to be thinking an awful lot about Harry since that conversation. Maybe because they were going to the Ball together she was feeling a little awkward. That was probably it.
She was hoping that her plan would help alleviate some of the awkwardness that had been going on between them.
Just as she was about to walk over to sit on the sofa, she heard it. It sounded like a thud and a gasp. A split second later, she was being knocked on her back to the ground by some unseen object. Her book went flying. She stifled a yell.
It was Harry. He was now twisted up on top of her, his left arm pressing into her ribs.
"Shhhhhh," he whispered into her ear. She still couldn't see him.
"What are you doing?" she whispered back.
"Sorry! I tripped on my cloak."

" Merlin's beard, you gave me a fright!" she whispered as he lifted the cloak and brought it over her head. Now she could see him. His face was inches from hers and they were both struggling to get off the floor. She could feel his warm breath on her face and smell his minty toothpaste. Then for a second that seemed like an eternity, they just stopped and stared at each other, trancelike. Hermione lips started to tingle, and she felt compelled to continue staring into his emerald green eyes. She vaguely noticed that she was holding her breath. It was Harry who came to his senses first. He pulled himself off of her and helped her get up. It was a little difficult doing all of this under the cloak since they had to be very close together and Hermione wondered why he just didn't pull it off for a bit so they could both get up.
Hermione could hear her heartbeat in her eardrums. She had been caught entirely off guard by her reaction to being so close to him. She tried hard to recover her composure. Maybe she was just getting over the shock of being knocked over unexpectedly. Yes, that had to be it.
"So what is this all about, Hermione?" Harry whispered to her, as she led him over to pick up her book.
"I'll explain when we get there, just follow me," was all she said, tucking the book under her arm.
"Okay, but I'm surprised at you, Hermione. I mean, breaking the rules and all. Ron and I are a bad influence."
"Ha! Ha! Now let's get going."
They stepped out of the portrait hole. The Fat Lady was snoozing and didn't seem to care. They walked for a while and reached a dark, empty classroom that looked like it hadn't been used in years.
"Phosphoro," Hermione murmured, taking the cloak off their heads. The room was instantly lit with what looked like hundreds of small white candles, some levitated, and others on the floor and windowsills. It made the room sparkle in a magical sort of way.
"Impressed?" Hermione asked, noticing Harry's wide-eyed look.
"Where did you learn to do this?" he asked.
"I just put a charm on the candles, it was pretty easy really."
Harry was getting more nervous. He was still recovering from knocking her over and now he had a strange feeling about this place. He felt like he'd been here before. What was Hermione playing at?
Hermione opened up the book that she had been carrying with her. Harry read the title on the front cover: The Enchanting Spell of Dancing. He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering why the heck Hermione had a book out on dancing. Then remembered his daydream earlier that evening. He almost choked. His eyes widened and he took a deep breath to calm himself. He thought his heart was going to break down it was beating so fast.
"Hermione," he said, trying hard to hide the fact that he impulsively wanted to run away from there as fast as he could.
"Just a second," she said, looking up from the book. "I hope you like this little surprise I cooked up for you," she continued before he could say another word, "I think this should cure us of our nerves."
"Our nerves?"
"Yes, our nerves. Haven't you been feeling kind of nervous about this whole Ball thing lately? I know I have. I have been noticing you acting kind of funny in the last couple of days. I figured you were probably experiencing the same sort of insecurity that I'm feeling about this."
"And what's that?" Harry asked, realizing that he probably already knew the answer that was coming.
"Well, neither one of us knows how to dance very well, do we? I mean, the way Pavarti steered you around last year, I could tell you didn't know what was going on. As for myself, I know that I danced a lot with Viktor, but I was only able to do it because he led me. Maybe if we learn the basics, we'll feel much more comfortable about the whole affair."
Harry just stared at her. He was having an internal struggle and he didn't know which side would win. This couldn't be happening! He wished he had a few moments to think, to figure out what he wanted and how he could manage this without upsetting one of his best friends. His mind reeled in a confused mess of thoughts.
If he stayed and learned how to dance with Hermione, he risked something happening that would make Ron really angry with him. If he tried to beg off and leave, he risked disappointing Hermione, leaving her wondering at his strange behavior and possibly raising her suspicions that he had feelings for her.
As if to make matters worse, he wasn't even sure how she felt about him. She seemed to equate his nervousness with his lack of confidence about dancing. One positive thought that did cross his mind was that she had went to the trouble of decorating the room with candles, a very romantic gesture for someone who was supposedly just a friend.
But what if she preferred it that way: just friends? What if he stayed and tried to kiss her? How would she react? If she rejected him, would it destroy their friendship? If she didn't reject him, would he be breaking his word to Ron? In either case, how would this affect his friendship with both of them? He hated the idea of losing Ron as a friend – last year proved how miserable that could be. And he needed Hermione, desperately. He did not want to risk losing her.
"I was right, then. Wasn't I?" Hermione said, noticing the confused expression on Harry's face and a lack of response.
Suddenly, Harry was hit with a bolt of inspiration. He could get through this without alienating either one of his friends! He shouldn't have let that silly daydream taint his head! He had control of his destiny, by God, and he wasn't about to act like the impulsive, hormone-crazed boy from his dream. All he had to do was exercise some self-control - some focused, concentrated, calming self-control.
Harry exhaled and said, "Of course you were right, Hermione. This is a really good idea. I already feel relieved." He smiled at her.
"Great! Then let's get started." Hermione put the open book down on the floor and moved closer to him.
"So, you put your right hand on my hip, like this," Hermione explained. She took his right hand and he let her place it on her left hip.
"Then I put my arm over your shoulder, like this," she said, putting her left arm up over his shoulder, her hand resting on it lightly.
"Then we hold hands on this side, our arms out." Her voice quivered slightly.
"So, is this it?" Harry asked, looking down at her with a sarcastic smirk.
"I think so, but let me check the book. Don't move." Hermione let go of him and stepped back to check the book, turning and bending her knees slightly, her back to Harry.
When she stood upright and turned around, she noticed that he had dropped his arms and was looking pensive.
"What's wrong, Harry?"
"I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"About our friendship, and how important it is to me."
"Aw. That is so nice, Harry." Hermione rubbed his arm. "It is important to me too." She looked into his eyes and smiled warmly.
"I mean, we've been though so much together," Harry said as he put his arms back in position for dancing, Hermione following his lead.
"Yeah, the other day I was thinking about the time we had to use my time-turner to save Buckbeak and Sirius. That was mad! Remember that?" Hermione reminisced, shaking her head.
"Of course I remember that. That whole night was such a close call! How about that time we got through that potions task when we were looking for the Philosopher's Stone our first year? I was so relieved that you were with me, because I wouldn't have had a chance on my own!"
"You don't know how many times I have had nightmares about that night and dreamt that I messed it all up, gave you the wrong potion, and drank another wrong one myself." Hermione giggled. They were both laughing now with a sort of nervous energy.
Harry stopped laughing suddenly, a serious look on his face.
"You've been with me through a lot of really difficult stuff that would frighten away most people. You're really brave, and really smart," he said, looking in to her eyes.
"Well, I think you're really brave and really smart too," Hermione responded, almost in a whisper. She looked up into his eyes and then, rather shyly, looked down at her feet.
They paused. It seemed like time was standing still.
Hermione could feel Harry looking down at her – gosh he'd gotten taller since last year. She felt his stare warming the top of her head and tried to decide if she should look up. She could feel something inside her trying to break free, but she didn't know what it was. She could feel herself trembling and hoped he didn't notice. She realized then that she would kiss Harry if she looked up into his gorgeous green eyes. What would happen if they did kiss? How would he react? What if he didn't want her that way? She started to feel dizzy, not able to think clearly.
Then the book on the floor caught her eye. She had pushed it closer to them and left it open to a picture of a witch and wizard dancing. Except, they weren't dancing anymore, they were kissing. Feeling strangely embarrassed, she quickly looked up at Harry to see if he had seen the picture too.
He grinned at her. "So where do we go from here?"
"What do you mean?" The question had caught Hermione off guard. She twisted her hair nervously.
"Well, I'm supposed to lead, right? So what are the steps?"
Yes Harry, she thought. Why don't you lead? Why don't you bend down and kiss me right now so I don't have to worry about what it would mean?
"Hermione? Did you hear me? What are the steps?"
"Steps? Yes! Steps!" Hermione quickly regained her composure and went into academic mode, demonstrating the steps as she spoke. "It says that we are supposed to move to the music in a box shape, you stepping to your left, then forward towards me, then to your right, then back to the original position. I just follow your lead by doing the opposite of what you're doing."
"That seems pretty easy. Let's try it again," Harry said enthusiastically.
They practiced the box step for a couple of minutes before getting the hang of it. Harry stepping on Hermione's toes a few times, and Hermione fighting hard not to take the lead. There were a lot of laughter and eye rolls, but when they were finished, it felt pretty comfortable and easy.
"Now, we should be practicing to music, but I didn't have access to a wizard's wireless, so we'll just have to count," Hermione said matter-of-factly.
She started counting as they practiced the steps some more. "One-two-THREE, four-five-SIX. One-two-THREE, four-five-SIX." They started laughing and playing around again as they tried to master dancing to a beat.
"Why don't we try humming a merry tune?" Harry said sarcastically, fluttering his eyelashes teasingly.
"I don't know any good ones, do you?" Hermione pulled away from him, her hands on her hips, snickering. Concentrating on the dancing was making it easier for her to keep herself together. Thankfully, she was no longer feeling dizzy. Instead she was filled with a feeling of warmth and caring for this wizard who was kind enough to indulge her by trying very hard to learn how to dance.
"No, but Professor Flitwick has a wizard's wireless, let's sneak into his classroom and borrow it. We can set it really low, no one will hear."
"Good idea. I wish I had thought of that myself."
Hermione grabbed her book, closing it quickly so Harry couldn't see the picture. They got under the cloak and headed out the door, Harry in the lead.