Haunted

By Be Boring

Chapter 8: The Yule Ball

Necia bit her lip in concentration as she kept one eye on the clock, the other on the potion she was stirring. There were two reasons for this. First, she needed to stir this potion for exactly two minutes, no more, no less. Second, she was anxiously waiting for her lesson with Snape to be over so that she could run and get ready for the Yule Ball. Only Snape could come up with the cruelty of making her work with him on the last day before the break. Her bags were already packed for Ron's house, and nothing had ever excited her more. It would be nice to be in a family setting again, and from what she had heard about his brothers, it would be an event to look forward to.

Suddenly, she realized that Snape was no longer standing behind her, but was only peeking in on her occasionally from the door to the corridor. When she had finished her potion, she snuck over to the door to peer around the corner for when he returned to check on her again. What was he doing? That became very clear when he entered the corridor again. He was now wearing black dress robes and some very attractive dragon-skin boots. Just as his eyes were starting to head in her direction, she dashed back into the room and threw herself down onto her seat. She tried to look as disgruntled as usual when he looked in at her, but after he let her know she could leave, she couldn't help but call out as he was walking away and she was slipping out the door, "Nice boots!" She had already disappeared up the stairs as he eyed her suspiciously from around the corner of the corridor, wondering how she could have seen them.

Hardly able to keep from laughing at the prospect of Snape having a date for the ball, Necia made her way back up to the Gryffindor common room, stunned at how empty it was of anyone over third year. 'If it weren't for Snape, I could have been getting ready like everyone else too.' Still, she had enough time to make herself look halfway decent. As she dashed up the stairs, she heard excited giggles from behind some of the closed doors, while the sixth years' door was open, giving her a full view of Ginny, who was nearly finished getting ready. Necia had to admit that her friend looked stunning. She had chosen soft, creamy, light beige robes to set off her eyes, which also had the pleasant side effect of making her hair color more vibrant than ever. The top half of her hair was pulled back into a regal twist, and the little makeup she had used only succeeded in setting off her elegant features. If she had used more, it would have ruined the effect.

"Necia!" she called out excitedly, then got a better look at her friend. "You haven't even started getting ready yet!" she gasped in horror.

Necia rushed up the stairs, calling over her shoulder, "Then I'll just have to hurry!"

Only moments after she had entered the seventh years' room, Ginny followed her inside, and between Ginny, Lavender, and Parvati, Necia ended up looking as though she had been preparing for as long as they had. Hermione sat nearby to watch, but she was hardly suited to constructing a makeover. Necia's dress robes were a glossy white, forcing her dark hair to stand out, and Parvati had used a clever charm to make her hair slightly more curly, giving it an extra thickness it hardly needed but which looked amazing combined with the touches of eyeliner and brown eye shadow around her eyes. Lavender came up with the idea of placing an elaborately decorated diamond pin just above her left ear and pulling all of her hair over so that it rested in front of her right shoulder. The final touch was two pearl drop earrings, which were an old gift from her mother. When their work was done, everyone stepped back to inspect the finished product. Necia couldn't believe they had finished so quickly, and she still had a few minutes to spare before going down and meeting Harry in the common room.

When Lavender and Parvati had moved off to take care of a few last minute things for themselves, Necia asked Ginny, "Are you going with Neville?"

Ginny nodded, trying to ignore the sympathetic look Hermione was sending in her direction. "Yeah, but I think it will be okay. If he turns out to still be a bad dancer, I'll just attach myself to you guys for the night." Suddenly, she looked mischievously at Hermione. "So, did Ron ever ask you?"

Hermione shrugged, obviously not catching Ginny's meaning. "Yeah, but it's not like it's a big deal. We had no one else to ask, so why not go with a friend?"

Necia and Ginny both smiled condescendingly. "Right."

Hermione looked at them both in confusion for a few seconds, then realization dawned on her face. "Wait, are you thinking this is something more serious?" At the bright grins on her friends' faces, a look of horror passed over hers and she moved into a defensive posture. "You couldn't be more wrong. Ron isn't bright enough to realize that I'm female, as he demonstrated at the last Yule Ball, and neither one of us is looking for a relationship right now. We're just going together to get rid of the stress that naturally comes with going with someone that there could be higher possibilities with. We didn't want to deal with that, so we're going with each other."

Ginny nodded slowly, obviously not buying a word of it. "Of course, I completely understand. I'm sure that's why he wanted to ask you."

Hermione was still sending them dark looks as they descended the stairs and entered the common room, but she had to stop when Ron spotted her and came over. At the deep blush on his face as his eyes rested on her, Ginny and Necia decided it was probably best if they moved away and gave the two of them some privacy. Soon Ginny headed towards Neville, leaving Necia on her own. She stood on her tiptoes to look around. Where was Harry? Suddenly, a finger gently tapped her shoulder and she turned around, smiling at Harry. He looked rather handsome in deep red velvet robes, and he had even managed to tame his hair for the evening. She suspected that had taken several potions and charms to succeed.

His eyes were almost startled as he looked her over, then a blush clearly settled into his cheeks. "You, uh, look really beautiful," he stuttered nervously, having a very difficult time meeting her eyes.

She flushed at the compliment. "You look really good, too," she echoed, wondering why it felt so much more awkward now that this was an official date. Even after their first kiss, things hadn't been quite like this. In fact, the kiss hadn't changed much of anything, and they had enjoyed a fair few snogging sessions since then. Now, however, was more nerve-wracking than public speaking, which was easily her least favorite activity.

They were saved the trouble of having to find something to talk about by the arrival of Ginny, Neville, Ron, and Hermione by their sides. Things seemed to fall into a more normal flow as they headed out for the Great Hall, with everyone speculating on what the room would look like and what the musical entertainment would be. They hadn't managed to book the Weird Sisters, so no one had any idea who would be providing the music. As it turned out, it was a magical version of a Muggle disc jockey. Rather than CDs, however, the wizard in charge of the music simply prodded a strange floating purple orb that was completely transparent, revealing gold swirls inside that were constantly on the move. Whenever the wizard wanted to select another song, he simply pressed his wand against the orb again. The music seemed to surround them, as though the singer were right next to their ears, but it wasn't overpowering.

It wasn't too long before a great number of couples had moved to the dance floor and started wriggling wildly, making Necia wonder what the fascination was. She preferred slow songs, otherwise she ended up looking like she was being electrocuted. Of course, schooling with your mother didn't provide much opportunity for dancing. When the first slow song finally came on, Harry looked around for a moment as though he was trying to work up the courage to ask her to dance, but she decided to do it for him. If he was a little nervous about progressing things right now, then she would help him along.

"Want to dance?" she asked cheerfully, smiling when he looked at her with an expression that was a perfect combination of nerves and relief. He could only nod, but at least he led the way out to the dance floor. As they started, Necia thought things were actually going pretty good until Draco and Pansy moved to dance next to them.

"At least you're finally being open about it," Draco sneered, all the while with Pansy rubbing herself most unflatteringly against his side.

Harry looked at Necia in confusion. "Open about what?" Draco had never presented his theories on Necia's activities in front of Harry before, he only did that when he had the chance to speak with Necia alone.

Necia shook her head, struggling to hold back her quickly bubbling rage. There was no way she was going to let that foul-mouthed bastard ruin her evening. "Nothing, Harry, Malfoy doesn't know what he's talking about." Very quickly she pulled Harry away from the pair, positioning them in a more open area. She tried to shrug off the slight drawback to their date with a smile. "You'll never believe who I saw getting ready for the ball tonight."

Harry thought for a moment, but couldn't seem to come up with anything. "Who?"

"Snape."

"What?" Harry's eyes bugged out of his head and he stopped dancing for a moment, twisting his head around wildly to see where the Potions professor was. "Do you know if he actually had a date?"

"I don't know, but he's wearing some really nice dragon-skin boots. If he were just coming alone, I don't think he would have put those on."

Harry looked completely dumbfounded. "Did he wear something other than black for once?"

She laughed and shook her head. "I think he's colorblind, otherwise he would have noticed there are actually colors in this world." Suddenly, she froze and her mouth dropped open. "Look over there!" she gasped, hardly able to believe her eyes. Harry turned to follow her gaze. To their amusement and horror, Snape was dancing with Madam Hooch, but rather than looking revolted by the physical contact, Madam Hooch seemed perfectly content as they conversed quietly. If anything, it was Snape who looked as though he would rather be somewhere else.

Necia's mouth moved silently for a few moments, then she finally managed to get some words out. "Who do you think asked who?"

"You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I think she asked him. Do you think she fell off her broom?" They both laughed and turned their attention back to each other, too disturbed by the sight of Snape and Madam Hooch to say much more on the subject.


Although he wasn't as miserable as he could have been, Severus was far from enjoying the ball. Dumbledore had made it clear that he wanted all the teachers present as chaperones, so he didn't have much choice by way of attendance. This was why when Rolanda had asked him to come with her, he had agreed. She was a clever woman and normally a good conversationalist, so he figured at least he wouldn't be completely bored, but he hadn't quite counted on just how much she liked to talk about Quidditch. Of course he knew that it was her favorite pastime, but how much could there possibly be to talk about on the subject? Finally, he managed to extricate himself from her by saying that he thought it was best to check if Dumbledore needed him to do anything, then briskly took off for the edge of the floor where Dumbledore was talking to Hagrid.

Dumbledore looked up with his usual twinkle in his eye as he approached. "Are you enjoying yourself, Severus?"

He looked around sulkily. "I don't see why you decided to have this ball, Albus, or at the very least why you felt the need to drag me into it. I'd be much better off sleeping right now."

Hagrid chuckled, although he didn't often speak to Snape. "I think it was a good idea. The kids need somethin' to celebrate. After all, if You-Know-Who was still alive, they'd have a war to worry about."

Shrugging off the comment and gazing around the room, Snape commented, "I just wish you didn't choose a celebration that would require so much supervision. I'm sure if I walked outside right now, there would be several couples in the bushes thinking they were well enough hidden to do whatever they pleased."

"There were nine, to be exact," came Professor McGonogall's weary voice as she walked up beside them. "I only managed to confront three of them, the others got away before I could punish them. It's to be expected, though. At that age kids tend to react more with their hormones than with their brains. I asked Rolanda to take over the job for a little while; she didn't seem to have anything else to do." As another slow song started to play, she turned to Severus. "Would you like to dance? I need to take my mind off things for at least a few minutes, then I can get back to giving detentions."

Snape would have gladly taken over the job instead of Madam Hooch, but he decided to give her one dance. At least he could count on Minerva not to bore him with sports talk. They made some small talk as they slowly circled the dance floor, never talking about anything serious in the least, and finally determining that seeing as how it was December, the weather was going to be cold, and would likely be cold for a while. They had just reached the center of the floor when the song ended and the music wizard charmed his voice to a higher volume.

"Just to mix things up a little, I would like everyone to switch partners with the couple closest to them. Don't think about sneaking off the floor now, I'm watching each and every one of you," he joked, motioning with his arms for everyone to make the switch. Minerva stepped away from him and looked directly to their right.

"Hello, Harry," she said lightly, holding out her hand to none other than Harry Potter.


Necia wished she knew a good invisibility spell right now, because there was no way to avoid Snape seeing her and realizing who his dance partner was to be. There was a very pregnant pause as they stared at each other, both their faces clearly expressing that this was the last thing in the world that they were interested in doing. Harry looked at her in horror, but McGonogall had already pulled him away and was clumsily dancing with him, due to the fact that he wasn't paying attention to her at all. Suddenly, Necia realized what the most horrifying part of her predicament was. She was going to have to touch him! All of a sudden she felt like a seven-year-old girl who fully believed that the opposite sex had cooties.

Upon seeing their hesitation, the music wizard strutted straight out into the dance floor to join them and stood there with his hands on his hips, making everyone near them turn to watch the scene. "You know, I do know how to charm you so you stick together and have no choice in the matter," he said teasingly, a ridiculous smile plastered on his face.

Snape's lip curled slightly. "Then you're not giving us a choice in the matter to begin with," he said coldly. When the wizard didn't budge an inch, he glanced over at Dumbledore, who only smiled back in amusement, then he looked at Necia as though he would like nothing more than to disinfect her first. Finally, he stepped forward and picked up one of her hands, placing his other on her back.

Necia's stomach rebelled furiously from the contact, churning until she wished she could just cut it out. The song began finally, now that everyone was with a partner, but she and Snape hardly moved. At the most they tilted back and forth, but their feet moved barely more than two inches from their starting position. If she had thought things were awkward with Harry earlier, it was nothing compared to this. Neither of them said a word the entire time, both praying for the song to end as soon as possible. The longer the song trailed on, the more noticeable every tiny detail became. She could smell his aftershave combined with his natural husky scent, she could feel his breath on the side of her face, and she was always aware of the hand on her back, seeping warmth through her dress robes. It had never been more apparent than right then just how very tall he was, how much thicker his frame was than Harry's, and when she happened to glance at their loosely linked hands, she realized that his completely enveloped hers. When she didn't think she could take any more of it, the song finally ended and she was able to very quickly remove her hands from his hand and shoulder, rubbing them on the legs of her robes once he had turned away, which he did very quickly and without a word. 'I absolutely never want to do that again,' she thought disgustedly, then hurried off to find Harry.


Now Severus was completely against being anywhere near the ballroom. What malicious invisible force had invented the idea of making him dance with Necia Holt? What he hated even more was that although the dance had been assuredly uncomfortable, there were aspects he had enjoyed. First of all, she had been wearing some kind of perfume that, while not very heavy, was still sticking with him very pleasantly. If he lifted the hand that had been holding hers to his nose, he could still smell it clearly. Second, her discomfort had been enough to make him at least have some fun. And finally, although he hadn't yet admitted it to himself, it was very nice to have such an attractive dance partner. The efforts she had taken to look good for Harry were not completely lost on him. He had very quickly noticed how stunning she looked tonight, and at a few points he had been forced to notice how perfectly her robes rested against her curves. Still, he had no interest in dancing with her again. If anything, he no longer cared to dance with anyone tonight.

Stepping behind a gargoyle as Madam Hooch came back into the ballroom, he determinedly made his way outside. As he found a couple kissing passionately in the bushes, he felt a rush of relief. Now he could get back to real life.


The night began to pass quickly once she was back with Harry. His sympathy for her earlier discomfort quickly wiped away any emotional distance between them and they were able to spend the night pleasantly, enjoying every slow dance and even tentatively experimenting with some faster dances, although neither was very good at it. Finally, Necia began to tire of the dance scene and just wanted to be alone with Harry, away from the bustling, happy students. When she first suggested the idea to him, he replied, "I have a good idea of where to go."

Soon he was leading her through secret passageways and up staircases until they were standing in front of a bare piece of wall. She looked at him expectantly. "And why exactly are we here?"

"I want you to think of something you need, then concentrate on it and walk past this spot until a door appears." She didn't understand, but he looked so pleased with coming up with the idea to come here that she complied. After thinking for a second, the only thing she could come up with that she needed was her mother. What could she need more? Following Harry's instructions, she began to pace up and down the passageway, finally stopping when Harry called out, "Okay, it's there now." When she turned around, she realized that a door was in the middle of that bare patch of wall, and Harry was already reaching for it. "What did you wish for, anyway?" he asked as he held the door open for her, politely not looking inside until she had seen it first. Necia rushed through the open doorway, then stopped dead in her tracks.

She was looking at the inside of her house. It was as though she had stepped through her front door, because the living room was directly in front of them, with a hallway off to their left leading to the bathroom and the two bedrooms, and the large kitchen to their right. Tears automatically burned at the back of her eyes as she stepped inside, closing the door behind her. Without a word to Harry, she took off down the hallway to look into her own room, choking back a soft sob when she saw her own bed right in front of her, looking as inviting as ever. It didn't take Harry long to figure out what she had wished for.

"Is this where you lived with your mother?"

She could only nod in reply, gazing around at everything in awe and dashing from room to room to see if everything was as she remembered. Everything was perfect, even down to the basket of clean clothes that was always sitting in the corner of the bathroom. In the end, she finished the tour in her mother's room, even though she could have easily visited it right after her own room. Somehow it just felt right to save it for last. She picked up a picture on the bedside table and held it up to show Harry. "That's Mum and me on my fifth birthday."

He took the photograph from her and looked down into the smiling face of Cassandra Malfoy as she swung her happily squealing daughter in circles through the air. "You look just like her," he commented, obviously not sure how to handle the situation. Necia wiped away the tears that were threatening to spill over and crossed the hall to her own room, flopping out on the bed just to feel the familiar softness beneath her.

"I didn't realize how much I missed it until just now," she whispered, afraid that if she spoke too loud, she would shatter this perfect vision around her.

Harry came over to sit beside her. "Would you like to be alone for a little while?" he asked kindly.

She shook her head. "No, I want you to stay. I really don't feel like being alone." She raised herself back to a sitting position and leaned forward to kiss him gently. They had both improved at it significantly, so it wasn't nearly as awkward, and Necia automatically deepened the kiss. She slid closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and just enjoying the scent of him. He always smelled clean, like he had taken a shower just moments ago. Tentatively his tongue touched her lips and she parted them to give him entrance, while something in her mind registered that their energy was very different this time, more focused than ever before. For the first time, Necia was very aware of her breasts pressed against his chest and of his never-ending warmth. It felt so natural to be curled against him, feeling every breath he took as his hands gripped her back, pulling her as close as possible. It occurred to her that this might not be a very good idea, but with the impact of seeing her own home again, albeit a copy, she felt like she needed him.

Time seemed to slip away like water as eventually curiosity got the better of them. His fingers clumsily reached up and started undoing her robes, sliding them down her shoulders to reveal his only obstacles remaining, her undergarments. For the moment, however, he didn't bother with them, he just kept kissing her. She felt completely exposed, and with the surprising coolness of the air on her skin, her doubts started to spring forward again. In her own attempt to force away her fears, she reached behind herself and undid her bra clasp on her own, startling Harry when he awkwardly reached up to touch her breasts and found bare skin. He paused and leaned away from her for a moment, unabashedly staring down at her exposed breasts, making her breath catch nervously in her throat. Her stomach balled up into a tight, painful knot, and when he returned to kissing her and slowly started moving his lips down her neck with an obvious target in mind, she automatically pushed him back, panic rising in her chest.

"Is something wrong?" he asked quietly, trying to clear his own head against the haze of lust that was distracting him.

She took a deep breath and shook her head. "No, I'm fine." She leaned forward and kissed him again, pulling away his robes as she approached. There was one thing for sure, neither one had much idea of how to proceed. They knew what the general goal was, but getting there was an entirely different story. His hands fumbled gently over her breasts and she shivered against the sudden warmth, sliding closer and allowing his hands to travel lower and rest on the edge of her last remaining scrap of clothing. She froze suddenly as his fingers hooked the edges and started to remove her knickers, not fully panicking until they were completely off and his hands started sliding up her legs, one settling on the swell of her buttocks as the other eventually started venturing for the only place left unexplored. Suddenly, she couldn't hold it back anymore. She jumped backwards, breathing heavily and quickly covering her breasts, feeling far too exposed.

"I…I think we're going too fast," she gasped, unsure of what to do or if she had even done the right thing in bringing everything to a halt. She still felt the distinct tingles of pleasure racing over her skin, but she couldn't deny that she was terrified of going any further. On top of that she was embarrassed that she had let things get so far before realizing that she couldn't go through with it.

Harry looked startled at the interruption, but to his credit, he recovered very quickly. "You're right, we are going just a little too fast," he agreed after sitting quietly for a few seconds. After several moments of silence during which Necia redressed herself and sat miserably on the edge of the bed, he asked, "Should we head back to the common room? The ball is probably over by now." She nodded gratefully at the suggestion and followed him towards the front door, watching him refasten his robes just before they exited.

It wasn't until they reached the Fat Lady that she felt she absolutely had to speak. "I'm sorry, Harry."

He looked at her with an eyebrow slightly raised. "What for? You're right, things were moving too fast. I think seeing your home again just really got to you."

She smiled with relief at his understanding and followed him into the common room, giving him a swift kiss on the cheek before heading up to the dormitories. Surprisingly, nobody was in her room at all, not even Hermione. 'Apparently Harry and I weren't the only ones with the idea of getting closer to our dates,' she thought with some amusement. She would have to talk to Hermione about it in the morning and find out what happened between her and Ron. As she prepared herself for bed, she had one object of solace in her mind: she would be going to the Weasley house tomorrow. Things couldn't be too uncomfortable with Harry there, could they?