Author's Note: Hoohah, Chapter 22. No one really seemed that impressed with Chapter 21, so I thought, what the hell, let's make an even worse, really corny and slap-stick humor chapter. So here it is. Don' expect too much from this, but hopefully it will buy me some time to come up with a really great ending for a horrible story. Ha, yeah right. But, here's to hoping! Cheers.

Disclaimer: Not mine unless it is, like all other four hundred and sixty twelve (yes, that's a real number according to me) times I've had to disclaim the talent I wish was mine...sigh...going to go throw myself off a bridge now. Enjoy.

Dancing Life

Chapter 22: Poke.

"Stop poking me."

"I'm not poking you."

"…"

"Stop poking me."

"I'm not poking you."

"…"

"Stop poking me."

"I'm not poking you."

Poke.

"BLAISE!"

Blaise laughed readily, clutching his sides. Heather was absolutely stone-cold…most of the time. But when you managed to break through her icy exterior she was like a fire trapped in a frozen mountain: she soon burst out with passion and heat.

"Blaise!" Heather repeated, shoving his hand away. For the past half an hour they'd been sitting in an empty room (which Blaise had discovered) in front of a fire. They had been comfortable enough just sitting with each other, not talking…until Blaise had gotten bored (typical male Slytherin) and found a rather interesting and comical way to spend his time.

Gods how he loved getting her riled up.

Heather flicked Blaise's ear; a trick she'd seen Ginny use on Draco many times. Blaise reached up and caught her hand; unlike Ginny, she hadn't quite figured out that you were supposed to flick someone's ear, then run away as fast as possible before they could get you back.

Blaise reached out with his free hand and poked Heather's forehead. Heather crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. Blaise grinned. "Child." He poked her again.

"Infant." She threw back, brushing away his hands and viciously poking Blaise in the side, causing him to double over, tickled.

He straightened back up. "Baby." He poked her nose, smiling as she wrinkled it as if she had an itch, staring down at the end of it.

"Toddler." She quipped, reaching up quickly and flicking his nose. He wriggled it, and suddenly scrunched up his face in a humungous sneeze.

"A-Ach-ACHOOOO!" he sneezed, his shoulders heaving forward with the force.

Heather snickered somewhat meanly, taking the opportunity of his exposed head to fluff up his hair roughly. "Floof!" She cried triumphantly. Blaise straightened up, his normally neat hair fluffed and tangled messily so that it poofed out in all directions.

Needless to say, Heather had neither the ability or will to keep a straight face. She bent over in gasping laughter. Strategic blunder. Dark eyes glinting maliciously Blaise reached out with both hands and (pulling her hair from the band holing it up) proceeded to ruffle Heather's long hair brutally.

"Arrggghhhh!" Heather's muffled exclamation came from under the tangled mass that was her hair. Pushing away Blaise's hands, she flung her head back, tossing her hair out of her face.

"Bugger!" she hissed, shoving him roughly. Losing his balance, Blaise fell off the couch he was seated on, and landed on his back. "Ow." He commented to the ceiling. After a moment, Heather's victorious face appeared in his line of vision, just above his own head.

"Ptthhhbbbttt!" Heather blew a raspberry at him in success.

With one swift movement, their positions were switched, and Blaise had her flipped onto her back, staring up at him in shock. "Oy…how'd you do that?" She breathed. "That was…fast."

It was Blaise's turn to grin triumphantly down at her. "I believe, Mademoiselle Rambinski, that I have won this little battle." He grinned pretentiously.

Heather sat up suddenly, her lips meshing with Blaise's slack, surprised ones. She ran one hand up behind his neck and through the thick hair there. She teasingly poked Blaise's lips with the tips of her tongue. When he finally parted his lips, she kissed him once, passionately and hard (enough for him to gasp down her throat) and then pulled back.

Apparently satisfied with his dazed and murky eyes, she sat back on her elbows. "But I 'ave won ze war, no?" She said in a slight French accent.

Blaise finally closed his mouth and stared at her with a look that quite clearly said "no shit" and nodded dumbly. "Darling, you've not just won the war; you've fucking conquered the world."

He reached up to cup her head, pulling her face closer to his. Heather smiled a second before their lips touched again. "Here's to world-domination." She whispered before he covered her mouth with his. They had time for discussion later.

"So Dean's in the hospital wing after all." Ginny speculated dryly, not the slightest trace of sympathy in her voice. Not even Draco could get jealous with that statement…not with the tone she used.

Draco nodded once, pulling his arms around Ginny's front. They were still on the top step, with Ginny sitting snugly on the step between Draco's legs, her back pressed to his chest as he hugged her to him. Realizing she couldn't see his nod, he spoke: "Yeah. Bludger glanced off you and hit him anyway." He said gloomily.

Ginny turned her face up to kiss him on the lips. The soft caress soothed him. Pulling away, Ginny smiled and leaned in again to line tender, butterfly kisses along his jaw.

"Don't sound so guilty, Draco." She whispered against his ear. "Well…you can feel guilty about Dean, though I know you won't. But I know you weren't aiming at me. Right?"

Draco smiled softly. "Right."

"Hey Draco?"

"Yes?"

"Have you decided on a dance? We're supposed to have them for dance class in the morning." Ginny asked.

Draco bit the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. Over the past few days, he'd been giving this issue a lot of thought. He knew how much it meant to her, and he wanted it to be…well, perfect, as corny and hokey as it sounded.

"Erm…well…you didn't have any ideas?" Ginny shook her head. She'd been through countless dance books, and gotten numerous paper cuts, and still, she'd found nothing that would suit. How could she? She didn't even really know what she was looking for!

"Well, there was this one dance that I glanced at." Draco bit back a laugh at his words. Glanced? Hell, he'd studied that dance inside and out, despite his initial distaste for it, which was only fueled for his aggravation at Skye for being so knowing and confidant and assured.

"It's called the dance of life. Heard of it?" Of course she wouldn't have heard of it. As if to confirm his thoughts, Ginny shook her head." Nooooo…I don't think so…" she shook her head again.

"If you want, we can give it a try." Draco said nonchalantly, shrugging slightly. A smile lit up on Ginny's lips. "Do you like it?" she asked. Draco shrugged. "It's okay." He said indifferently. Ginny arched an eyebrow. "What kind of dance is it?"

Draco shrugged yet again. "Some peculiar dance from the Dark Ages England or something. Skye recommended it…she said it fit your personality." He shrugged, as if he had no idea what that meant…

Ginny flushed and grinned appreciatively. "Sounds great. Let's give it a whirl." She turned around and pressed her lips firmly against Draco's.

Harry glanced up from where he was sitting. The hospital wing was dark and dreary, which was very unfortunate, as the young dark-haired man was feeling exceptionally down. His Beater was recovering from a few broken bones and a slightly punctured lung. Dean was doing quite well, though. Madame Pomfrey was going to keep him overnight, but he'd hopefully be fit enough to resume Quidditch within a few days.

That wasn't entirely what was depressing him. His star Chaser, best friend's sister, and personal friend was going through a rough time. Poor Ginny. Harry could imagine that dating someone like Draco Malfoy would be something along the lines of suicidal. At least from Harry's point of view…

Harry had caught a glimpse of Ginny's terrific crash landing, though he'd been a bit busy with Dean at the moment…still, he was rather worried that Ginny might have gotten hurt. And if not in the game, by Draco. He had managed to see the anxious-looking Slytherin poke his head into the hospital wing before storming off, raving madly.

Harry shook his head exhaustedly. Though he hadn't seen anything really, he had a strange feeling that Dean's accident and Ginny's absence from dinner (he'd ducked in to check on her, but she wasn't there) had something to do with the pale blonde Slytherin.

Harry turned at the sound of feminine footsteps. Madame Pomfrey was hurrying towards Dean's cot. She gave Harry a slightly surprised glance before bustling over to check on the inert dark boy.

"Still here, are you Potter?" She asked brusquely. Harry nodded silently, standing and stretching his cramped limbs. Dean was fine, and Madame Pomfrey was giving him that If-you're-not-going-to-do-something-useful-get-out-of-my-way look.

"I'll just drop in tomorrow, then shall I?" Harry commented dryly, picking up his spare shoulder bag with his Quidditch kit. Madame Pomfrey made no comment, but scoffed derisively, as if to say "If you come, at least do something useful."

Giving her back a mocking bow, Harry exited the hospital wing.

What a fucking piece of shit day.

"BLAISE! Can you keep your goddamn lips off mine for ten consecutive seconds while we dance?" Heather shoved Blaise (laughing) off her. Fuming, she turned and glared over her shoulder, stifling the laughter from Draco and Ginny, who were preparing behind her.

"Shut it, you two. Draco, please. Can you do something? He's absolutely incorrigible!" Heather whined, stamping her foot impatiently and groaning as Blaise came up behind her and wrapped her in a huge embrace.

"Like he pays any attention to what I say." Draco commented sarcastically as Blaise twirled the younger girl around for another kiss.

"Like anyone does." Ginny quirked, grinning and dancing just out of Draco's reach as he tried to swat her. Draco managed to hide his grin remarkably well, looking sullen and cross. Immediately Ginny was at his side. "Look, Draco. I didn't mean-" Draco swiftly took her in his arms and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss.

Ginny sighed happily, for once glad that Draco had conned her. His tongue quickly parted her lips to taste her mouth and his arms wrapped around her back and shoulders, hands wandering.

She was vaguely aware of Blaise and Heather whistling and catcalling, Ginny slid her arms around Draco's waist, bringing him closer to her, his body pressed firm against hers.

"Whoa! Draco, mate! Get a bloody room man, before you start taking her clothes off!" They heard Blaise laugh, and something that sounded oddly enough like "indecent" come in a violently fake cough from Heather.

Draco broke off from Ginny, breathing somewhat laboriously. He looked down at her, her eyes clouded and wild and her hair messed up from the hands he didn't even recall running through her hair.

He grinned ruefully making Ginny's battered heart do flip-flops. "Sorry. Forgot we had an audience." He shrugged his shoulders carelessly, heading back to the table where the blue dance book was laying open.

While Blaise and Heather had decided to work through the steps of their dance to learn them (and had been doing until Blaise started kissing Heather), Draco and Ginny had planned on working out the dance steps before trying them out.

Draco sat down on a stool and leaned over the book. Ginny lifted herself up to sit on the table, which made it very difficult for Draco to concentrate on the dance steps. Her shapely rear and legs so close in touching range were putting all sorts of indecent thoughts in his head.

"This is quite the…er…physical…dance." Ginny commented with a slight blush, staring down at the moving picture as the woman melded against the man, wrapping one leg around his side and slipping her arms around his neck and pulling him close as he lifted her off her other foot and swung her around gracefully.

A smile slid onto Draco's thin lips. "I think I'll rather enjoy practicing this part." He said silkily, pointing down as the picture man set the woman down and ran his hands down her neck, shoulders, arms, and sides before picking her up by her hips and quickly transferring her to his other arm, tucking one arm under her knees and spinning her around.

Ginny sighed, staring down at the picture. The woman there was perfect. Her legs were straight and poised delicately over his arms, her arms wrapped tenderly around the man's neck. She was so tall, slender, and graceful. While Ginny shared the first two traits, she was rather lacking in the latter one.

Draco looked up at her, and saw the ache in her deep brown eyes. "Hey," He said softly, reaching up and brushing aside a stray strand of red hair. "you know I love you, right?" Ginny's eyes widened and she nodded. "And you know you're beautiful, right?" this time Ginny rolled her eyes. "Please, Draco. If you think I'm attractive, that's your insane, psychotic opinion. Don't pretend like I'm some great beauty. I'm not even-"

Again, Draco's lips cut her sentence off. Draco's lip touched hers softly, tenderly, and Ginny could have cried from the gentility of the gesture. His hand came up to barely ouch her cheek, and Ginny couldn't help but lean into it. Her self-image aside, at that moment, she felt beautiful.

After a moment, Draco pulled away, staring deeply and somewhat unnervingly into her eyes. His cold grey eyes were unusually expressive, and Ginny saw pain, sadness, and a world of love in them. "You are beautiful." Draco said softly. "Physically, you're absolutely divine. Spiritually, you're gorgeous. Even if you weren't pretty, your soul would make you outstanding. As it is, I don't know why a poor fuck like me has you. I know I don't deserve you, but I do love you. More than I think you'll ever know."

Ginny's jaw had dropped. She flung her arms around Draco's neck, nearly sobbing. "Oh gods, Draco. I love you. More than I'll ever know. Gods, I don't know why I do, but I love you more than life itself. You don't know how blissful life is with you."

Draco drew back at her serious words, which weren't meant to be so serious. "Are you serious?" Ginny looked up, her eyes tearing. "How can you ask that? I'm more serious than I've ever been in my life. I love you, Draco Malfoy."

Draco looked torn. His eyes kept darting back and forth, as if he was trying to find the answer he was looking for. "I-do-it's just-would you-you…" He sighed, frustrated and ran a shaking hand through his hair. He took a deep, steadying breath. "I know we're young and all, but-"

"Hey Draco! We've got to go in a few more hours! Are you two going to talk all day, or are you actually going to dance?" It being Sunday, but before the dance, Skye had left the dance class open for two couples at a time to practice. The two couples from Gryffindor and Slytherin had booked the room for a good four hour block.

Draco actually moaned, slamming his fist down onto the table and turned around to yell at Blaise. Ginny watched on in vacant amusement, her chin on her hand, her elbow on her knee, which was curled up on the table. She studied Draco's face as he ranted at Blaise across the room. He was so lovely, even when he was angry.

How could she not have seen how amazingly attractive he was? Granted, he'd always been sexy, but now she saw him as utterly handsome. Perfect and breathtaking. Next to him, she looked like some poor, plain peasant standing next to a perfect, prim, groomed prince. She still couldn't believe he loved her. Love! That was serious. And looking at him, she had to admit that he was serious about her. Absolutely. And it frightened her a little. Love of that depth, that nature, was reserved for the fantastical fairy tales she had banished from her heart and mind long ago. Could it be possible that she was wrong? That she could actually find love?

Glancing at Draco warmly, she had to acknowledge that she already had.

"Blaise, shut up and get over here! Worry about your own dancing; I swear, you have three left feet." Heather motioned for him to join her.

Draco turned back to Ginny, opening his mouth to say something. She broke him off, standing suddenly. "Come on Draco. Though I can hardly bear to say it, Blaise is right. We need to practice dancing. We've got one week to get this thing down." She moved out into the middle of the classroom, beckoning for Draco to join her.

He came up in front of her, staring down at her outstretched hands. Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes. Reaching out to grasp Draco's hands, she placed them firmly on her hips. She reached up on the tips of her toes to plant an even firmer kiss on his lips. "Now stop being a berk and dance." She commanded.

The dance went smoothly, with them stopping every once in a while to correct a flaw or readjust their arms. Unfortunately, not everything can always go perfectly. They got to the part where Draco was to pick Ginny up by her hips. Extremely unfortunately, he misplaced his hands and picked her up by her middle, his hands falling on her sides, and directly on her bruise.

"Aaarrrggghhhhh! Fuck!" Ginny dropped her arms and clutched at her side. Draco quickly sat her down on the floor, paling. "Jesus Christ Ginny, what! Are you alright! What's wrong?" Ginny doubled over, her face pulled tightly in a grimace. "Ohhhhh myy g-g-godsssss." Ginny cried, biting on her lip until it bled.

Draco glanced down at where she was gripping her side in pain. Before she could stop him, he reached down and pulled up her shirt. He gasped audibly, loud enough to drown out the "oh shit" that came from Blaise. Her entire side was a sickly purple color, going a pale green around the edges. Most obviously painful.

Draco's eyes came up to meet Ginny's. Her large brown eyes were guilty and horrified under the intense pain. Draco's were pained in an entirely different way, also tinged with pain. "Did…did I do this?" He asked softly, touching her side tenderly, as he had unknowingly during the game after she'd first been hit. Ginny hissed in pain. When she finally opened her eyes, they were blurring with tears. She nodded once, and Draco felt a resounding pain pounding in his chest, threatening to suffocate and smother him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I know you didn't mean to, and well, I just didn't think it would do any good to tell you. You'd just get pissed at Dean and try to do something stupid again, which is how this happened in the first place, or you'd feel bad, and I didn't want to do that to you…I'm sorry." She said again, waiting for an angry outburst.

Draco looked absolutely thunderous and black right then. Ginny was so shocked at the hate and rage boiling in his suddenly dark grey eyes that she started, almost jumping backwards. Draco looked up, tearing his gaze from the stone floor he'd been glaring darkly at. Immediately his gaze softened.

"Ginny, you…you didn't do anything wrong. You have nothing to be sorry for. I just…I was afraid I'd hurt you. I thought I had, but someone" he turned his black glare onto Blaise who wisely made a move to hide behind Heather "assured me you'd be fine."

"And I am!" Ginny said quickly. "Honestly, after the initial healing, it was just bruises. And…well…we're just learning to heal, and my abilities are a little less than perfect, so…well…I just got tired and decided to let the bruises heal by themselves. Honestly, I'm fine, it's only a few bruises. I'm no whiny wimpy delicate girl…I grew up with six older brothers, I can handle myself." She grinned wryly.

Her smile dripped off her face under the intense heat of Draco's stare. That hard edge was creeping back into his eyes, and Ginny unconsciously coiled back. "What do you mean 'after the initial healing'? What initial healing?'

Ginny grimaced, and restrained herself from smacking her head against something hard and painful, though it took much willpower. "Oh, that was stupid. Way to fuck things up, Ginny." She murmured to herself. Then, realizing Draco was now fixing her with one of his special sanity-questioning looks, she hastened on to explain.

"Erm…well…Bludgers are brutal little things, and…it was just a couple of cracked ribs. Really, it was nothing. It's happened in other games…it's happened playing with my brothers. Hell, with my two left feet, it's happened just walking down the stairs. It's nothing." She said convincingly.

Draco gave her a quick look. "Hmm," was all he said. Ginny must have caught something hidden in his voice, because her head snapped up. "Draco…" she said warningly, making him look up almost guiltily at her.

"What?" He asked, sounding far too much like a culpable child hiding dirty hands behind his back. Ginny shook her head, biting her lip to stop it from curling up in a smile. Trying to assume a reasonably stern face, she frowned at him.

"Promise me something."

"What?"

"Just promise me something."

"What do you want me to promise you?"

"Just please promise me something."

"What?!"

"Draco!" Growling in frustration and annoyance, Ginny leaned in. Capturing Draco's surprised thin lips with her own, she pressed her body to his. She could feel him stiffening against her. Half-smiling into his mouth, she slipped a hand up his back to toy with his hair, alternately running her fingers through it and twirling it around her fingers.

Draco groaned and moved to pull her closer. But Ginny pulled away, grinning satisfactorily as he moaned in disappointment. "Damnit, Ginny! You just can't do that to a guy!"

Ginny smirked. "What, you looking for more than just a kiss?" she waggled her eyebrows suggestively, causing Heather (all the way across on the other side of the room) to gasp disapprovingly. Draco arched an eyebrow.

"Well, if you're offering…" he trailed off, running a finger lightly up her thigh against bare skin. Ginny gasped and swatted away his hand. "Draco!" she groaned, rolling her eyes as he grinned.

"What's wrong, Ginny dear? Can't take the pleasure?" He sneered arrogantly.

"Narcissistic prat." She growled, leaning in closer. Draco eyes widened. There was something singularly scary and sexily dangerous flashing in her eyes. She leaned into his chest, smirking victoriously.

"It depends…can you handle the pleasure?" she teased, placing her hand firmly on his upper thigh. His eyes practically bugged out, and it was all he could do not to cross his legs.

"Ginny…" he said, in a strangled voice. Ginny sat back, cocking an eyebrow. "What? I didn't do anything." She shrugged her shoulders innocently.

Draco sucked in a breath. "Mmmm…you certainly did something." He managed to choke out.

Ginny looked slightly worried. "What did I do?" she asked, concern edging into her voice. She leaned forward anxiously, inadvertently placing her hand on his thigh again. He growled deep in the back of his throat, the sound becoming gargled and strained.

He shoved her away gently. "Go…go…just go away. Over there, just get far away, or I swear to Salazar Slytherin, you're going to kill me." He pointed to the other side of the classroom, where Blaise and Heather were hanging all over each other, laughing hysterically.

Ginny had the distinct impression there was something vital that she was missing. Some important piece of information that was essential to her comprehension of their very odd conversation.

As it was, she nodded and walked over to the other side of the room, dazed and confused, while Draco attempted in vain to regain his cool. Coming over to Blaise and Heather, who stifled their laughter, Ginny cocked her head to the side. "What did I do?" She asked again.

Heather rolled her eyes as Blaise fell over, laughing. Kicking him purposefully, Heather cleared her throat. The laughter ceased. "Perhaps you'd like to explicate for dear innocent, chaste, pure Ginevra Weasley."

Blaise hopped up, grinning madly. He nearly broke up again as Draco made a mad dash out of the room, banging the door behind him.

Turning back to Ginny, Blaise pulled on a straight face and cleared the laughter from his throat. "Right. Sorry, but that was priceless. Gods, what I wouldn't give to watch that again." he seemed on the verge of cracking up again, so Heather headed him off with a well-placed elbow to the ribs. Spluttering, Blaise hastened on.

"Well, you see, Ginny…when a guy kisses a girl or touches her, or does something that makes him feel pleasure, he…reacts." Blaise said delicately.

Ginny turned her head to the side. "Well, yeah, I react to him whenever he kisses me or touches me…" she trailed off as Blaise was shaking his head, looking vastly amused. "Erm…a guy's reaction is more…physical…" Blaise stared meaningfully at Ginny, who just stood staring at him in confusion.

Blaise rolled his eyes and quickly flashed his eyes down to his lap. This time, Ginny caught the insinuation. Her eyes widened. "What?! I mean, I know about…that, but I didn't think just doing something like kissing him would…oh gods!" She covered her mouth with a hand.

Blaise stifled a laugh. "Yeah, well…apparently your Draco is very much affected by you." He shook his head softly. "You two might have to cut down on the kissing and touching…if you're not going to sleep together any time soon, which I gather you're not." He laughed suddenly. "Poor Draco." He sniggered again, making his statement seem very inadequate.

Ginny rolled her eyes, flushing a wild red. "Shut it, Blaise. Draco and I have a dance to practice." She waltzed off, giving him a very rude gesture behind her back as Draco peeked hesitantly into the room before entering.

At this point, they'd never have the dance memorized.