Darkness Rising: The Unicorn Hunt

by Three Craaaaaaaazy Aussies

In Harry’s seventh year, the Unicorn Hunt is to be held at Hogwarts, and the eight great schools of the Western Magisphere are called together to participate. With the darkness rising, nothing will go to plan.

16. The Moonlight Ball

Chapter Sixteen: The Moonlight Ball

In the Great Hall, Aurors crawled over everything like a disturbed hive of ants, busily checking everything. Balconies had been added around the edges of Great Hall for the dignitaries who didn't want to dance. One team of Aurors was checking that the spells holding up the balconies were properly set, and wouldn't be able to be meddled with at all during the course of the night.

The floor of the Great Hall had been meticulously cleaned, and Professor Flitwick had charmed an illusion of rolling grassy planes with the aid of Fred and George Weasley, who were applying the same sort of thing as the removable swamp that they had created two years previously. They had decided not to make the illusion reality, because most of the women would be wearing high heels, and they had been instructed by Daphne Greengrass to make the Hall "Heel friendly".

The theme for the Ball was "Midsummer Night's Dream", and had been chosen by Hermione, as the Head Girl of Hogwarts. She had given the decorators directions that could be brought down to "a swirling forest of fairies, pastels and magic". To go along with this theme, Firenze had been chosen as the MC for the night.

For the moment, the Hall was set up with a huge stage at one end, and seats, theatre style across the floor. The seats were ornate, and decorated with squishy purple cushions, and it was suspected that Dumbledore had something to do with it. This set up was for the initial performances by the first four schools, the other four would be performing after dinner.

In the Entrance Hall, a red carpet ran down the centre, and thick ropes of flowering vines were suspended by golden poles alongside it on either side to keep the media back from the arrivals, at least to some extent. Hovering in mid air above the crowds were chandeliers that were glowing with candles to provide light for the evening, and each chandelier was festooned with flowers and vines.

The media was gathering around now, jostling for positions at the front of the crowd and setting up cameras as well as enchanted Quills that would write down what they dictated about the arrivals of the guests. Just as everything with the media was set up, the great oaken doors swung soundlessly open as the first carriages arrived.

The carriages were artwork in themselves, each drawn by a pair of perfectly white horses, the carriages themselves were gleaming white open air carriages with white leather interior. They, like the chandeliers, were decorated with flowering vines and fairies had been enchanted to fly around the immediate vicinity of the carriages.

Twilight had been brought on early in the grounds of Hogwarts, and the sun was setting over the lake. This had to have been a carefully crafted illusion that had been cast over the Hogwarts grounds by Dumbledore, so the entire thing was fake, although had you not known the time, you would have never realised that it was fake.

Cameras started flashing, and voices started babbling as the first carriage was drawn up. The door was opened by a half-human half-goat enchanted creature called a Fawn – these creatures had been enchanted to become servants for the evening, taking drinks around to groups of people and generally being butlers – and Harry and Hermione stepped down from the first carriage.

Harry blinked as the lights on cameras flashed brilliantly at him, but he walked forward as if he could actually see, with Hermione walking beside him, one of her hands resting lightly on his arm. He hadn't particularly wanted to come with Hermione that night, but when he had gone to her to ask if they were still going to ask if they were still going to the ball together. Her response had been "Yes, of course", and there had been no arguing with her.

Once they were past the media crews, Harry led Hermione to the seats that had been designated for them, and they sat down, not talking to one another. As they waited in an uncomfortable silence, Draco and Ginny walked in and took the next seats. Harry smiled at them, and Ginny smiled back, although Draco looked completely out of it.

"Draco, are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Don't go there," Ginny advised him, and laughed softly.

"What?"

"Just remembering something that happened earlier," Ginny replied, but she didn't say what.

Ginny had not yet organised a date for the ball. She had been going to go with Ron, because there wasn't anyone she actually liked, and if she went with her brother, no one could take it as being anything. But now she didn't think she could handle that. More than likely she would want to hang out with the Australians, and Ron would take that very badly.

That meant she had to either find someone else who wouldn't take her going with them as being anything other than a partner to a dance … who else in the school wouldn't? Well, Harry, obviously, but he hadn't been able to get out of going with Hermione. Then she had an epiphany – Draco Malfoy. He had just found out that Justine had always loved him, and she was pretty sure that he still loved her; therefore he wouldn't take the fact that they were going to the ball together as a forerunner to something serious.

She'd gone to his door and knocked, waiting for an answer. There wasn't one, so she knocked again. She knew he was in there. There was still no answer. "Draco, if you're doing something that you don't want to be interrupted in, stop it now because I want to talk to you," she called.

Still no response from inside. "Well, I warned you," she called, and pushed the door open. Draco was lying face down on his bed, but she didn't think that he was asleep. "Draco, are you awake?" she asked, just to make sure.

There was a mumble from the bed which she took for a yes. "Are you alright?"

This time the response was coherent, "No."

"Do you have a partner for the ball tonight?" she asked him.

Draco rolled onto his back and looked at her with blank eyes. She was relieved to note that he hadn't been crying, because Draco crying would make it seem like the world had gone completely and utterly insane. "What Ball?" he asked her.

"The Moonlight Ball," Ginny said slowly. What the hell was going on here? Draco couldn't remember that the Moonlight Ball, one of the biggest social attractions to the Unicorn Hunt, was going on tonight?

"Oh, that," he said absently, "I was going with Daphne, but I told her to find someone else. Why?"

"Well, as the Head Boy of Hogwarts, you do have to go," Ginny pointed out.

"I don't want to. If I don't have a partner, then I can't go anyway. It would be embarrassing to turn up to something like that without a partner."

"Then you can go with me," Ginny told him firmly. "You have to go, after all."

Draco just shrugged and rolled over onto his stomach again. Ginny took this as being a "yes".

If Ginny hadn't organised him, Draco wouldn't have managed to even get ready for the Ball. He seemed to have gone into shock after hearing the truth of what had happened.

---

Slowly the rest of the Hogwarts students came in and took up their seats. Hermione and Draco, along with their dates were required to stand near the inside of the doors to welcome any dignitaries that arrived, and to over see the Fawns that were working as ushers in the Great hall. The schools were arriving first, though, and as each school filled in their places, the room began to hum and murmur with exited voices.

Outside the Kallaix students were just arriving. Fist to arrive was Alyson and Adam, both in white, and Jacque and Jeffery. Both boys were wearing formal suits. They walked down the red carpet, the Australian press pushing them to talk, but Alyson just stopped, smiled prettily and waved. No one else even acknowledged that the press was there.

The next Australian carriage to arrive bore Ax and Tanya, both of whom looked resplendent in black, Ax in a suit with black shirt and satin tie, Tanya in a black satin dress with a full skirt and long sleeves, although the whole top half of the dress clung to her figure, and the neckline scooped between her breasts to show her jewelled bellybutton.

Ax smiled charmingly at the ladies in the crowd, and Tanya had a strained looking smile on her face and was trying to act casual – it wasn't really working. As they cleared the area in front of the carriage, Saul and Tegan got ready to step out.

Tegan stepped lightly down, wearing lethal looking pointy white boots, her ivory pants clung to her curvy hips, then fell loosely and from the way they moved they were made of silk. She had on a female double-breasted jacket, which clung to her figure like a corset. Both were shot through with silver pinstripes, and her hair was sitting dead straight, thanks to Justine's potion.

Saul then stepped down and the crowd began to laugh and yell in delight, he too was wearing a double-breasted sit, except his was charcoal with pinstripes and ridiculous shoulder pads. He looked something like a gangster from an old movie, complete with tilted hat and pretend Tommy gun slung under one of his arms. Tegan looked back and blinked, somehow, that wasn't what he had been wearing two minutes ago. The little bastard had put a charm on his clothes that she wouldn't kill him before they arrived.

He strutted up to her and plopped a silver version of his gangster hat on her head, and only then did Tegan realise that together they now looked like the nineteen twenties mafia. She let out a giggle and grabbed his arm; they began the long walk down the red carpet.

"I'm going to kill you for this…" Tegan muttered through her plastered on grin, "you're gonna wish you never pulled this one."

"Oh, Tegan, why pretend, you know you want me…" Saul said with a grin as they entered the Great Hall and breezed past the Hogwarts students.

Tegan thought of the perfect comeback, and executed it perfectly. "And if I do, what are you going to do about it?" She said with a suggestive grin, and plopped herself between Alyson and Jacque, joining in their conversation animatedly as Saul was left gaping.

Saul and Tegan had been the last of the Australian's that Draco had seen arrive, and he was beginning to doubt Justine or Kris were coming.

---

He had managed to pull himself together and as the first of the non-student guests began to arrive, he had to admit that it was in great part due to Ginny that he was staying focused now. Before each dignitary she had taken it upon herself to tell him their name and a comment to say to each about their families. He didn't even know Ginny knew the French Minister had a five-year-old daughter who likes ballet.

Draco peered out into the Hall, and saw Gregory Crompton step out of a carriage and help Jean Wadsworth down to his side.

Harry drew Draco's attention suddenly by giving Nymphadora a hug and welcoming her. She was looking particularly lovely tonight, her hair long and soft caramel in colouring, and it was drawn back off her face. She was wearing a long velvet sheath in emerald green.

Her face paled as she saw the next guests arrived, however.

Severus Snape and Julia accompanied Gregory and Jean. Tonks took one look at the beautiful woman dressed in shimmering sky blue on Severus's eyes and her eyes filled with tears. No one but Draco and Harry saw her turn and take a seat in the darkness at the back of the theatre.

Harry arched an eyebrow at Draco, who only shrugged. He didn't know anything about it either. Greg beamed at Harry, "Good evening Harry," he was cheerfully, completely ignoring Draco.

"Good evening, Mr. Crompton," Harry said formally.

"Hey, didn't I tell you to call me Greg?" he asked, "You come and have a chat to me later on when you've finished greeting people. I think Jean would like to talk to you too."

"I'll do that," Harry said hurriedly. Someone else was coming up behind Greg, and they didn't want to have a hold up. Greg nodded, smiled once more, and headed to his balcony box seat with Jean.

"Soon the celebrities will be here," Draco remarked, "Then things will get interesting around here. Celebrities are usually a lot of fun."

Harry nodded. He hadn't had much to do with celebrities, but he knew that Draco had, even since Remus had married his mother. Draco liked to keep up with the social scene, after all.

Finally the dignitaries were through, and the celebrities would be following. Suddenly the air was filled with white flashes as what seemed like every single camera in the area went off. "Must be someone really famous," Draco remarked, craning his head to try and see who it was through the blinding glare of camera flashes.

Finally their visions cleared and Justine came strutting up the carpet, jaws dropping in her wake. Her dress was halter necked, with a low neckline, the thing was completely backless, falling very low. But the phenomenal thing was the fabric, a liquid silk it hugged and caressed every line of her body, and there was no way she was wearing anything underneath – but the thing that seemed to have attracted most of the media attention was the fact that she hadn't come with one partner. She had brought two.

On her right arm was Kris resplendent in a charcoal three piece suit, with crisp white shirt open at the neck, and her left was the world-famous Mark Grey who was wearing a black suit jacket and pants teamed with a white turtle neck. Justine was smiling at the press, and looped around one arm was a necklace with Mark's Gal facing up, then, as she turned her head to answer a question that Mark had answered, the necklace flipped over to say Kris's Gal. The camera's went nuts again. The trio approached the doors.

"Hiya Harry!" Justine smiled at him, seeming more cheerful than he would have expected after what he'd seen of her earlier. Kris nodded at Justine and mouthed "Cheering charm" at him. Harry nodded his understanding.

---

Tonks hid in the shadows, tears streaming down her face trying to decide what to do. She'd already agreed to come to this thing – well, actually, she'd pulled in a couple of favours so that she could come, because she figured that she'd be able to talk to Severus about what had happened between them.

She didn't know what to do. He'd turned up with the most beautiful woman she had ever seen standing at his side, laughing and talking softly with her – they obviously knew her well. Maybe she was his wife … good lord, had she never considered the fact that he could already be taken? She'd acted without any thought of the consequences, as usual.

Maybe Severus had never intended for them to be anything more than a one night stand. Had he cheated on his wife with her, and now he just wanted to forget about it all? Well, she couldn't leave now – she was here and she would have to spend the whole night staring at Severus and his partner, and wishing that she was walking beside him.

---

Harry was sitting between Hermione and Ginny, with Draco on the other side of her, sitting in the isle seat, and he was feeling rather uncomfortable. Ginny he was fine with, but he didn't know how to act around Hermione anymore. So he was just staying quiet. Ginny seemed to be the same as him – the one thing that they really had in common at the moment was the Australians, but with Hermione and Draco there, discussing Justine and the rest of them probably wouldn't be such a good idea.

He just wanted to the performances to start so that he wouldn't be surrounded by the uncomfortable silence any more. The first people up would be the Egyptians, and from little Draco had said so far this evening, they would be doing some sort of dance – and they wouldn't be wearing much in the way of clothing.

The curtains at the stage parted gracefully and Firenze came forward, hooves clicking as the struck the floor in the sudden silence of the hall. He walked up to a standing microphone and smiled into the crowd. Harry could hear some of the girls who hadn't seen much of the centaur gasping in delight at his features, which the girls seemed to find attractive, even with the horse body beneath the well defined human chest.

"Good evening," Firenze's mellow voice seemed to fill the Hall entirely, the relaxing tones washing over everyone and, as it passed over Harry, he felt his uncomfortableness declining as he relaxed. There had to be a spell in Firenze's voice. "Welcome to a Midsummer Nights Dream. I am your MC for the evening, my name is Firenze.

"Through the evening you will be delighted by feats of amazing magic, fantastic talent and delicious foods and drinks … throughout the entertainment the Fawns will be bringing refreshments for those of you who require them, but now allow me to introduce the first act, done by Thundreds. They will be beginning with a traditional belly-dance."

Firenze gave a slight bow and walked backwards off the stage as the curtains closed around him again.

When they opened again, the five Thundreds girls were standing in a line across the stage. Two of them were wearing see-through chiffon pants, falling from the hips and then bunching at the ankles, the other three were wearing flowing skirts made of layers and layers of see-through white material. All of them had metal charms and belts adorning their waists and were wearing crop-top style tops.

The boys were behind them, half in the shadows, topless but with long flowing white pants, each of them holding a curved sword in one hand. Somewhere in the background a tune was struck up, and the dance began, the girls and guys danced together, the girls swaying their hips a lot, which was drawing the eyes of most of the males in the audience, while their female partners eyed off the Egyptian boys bare chests.

Electra suddenly took over the dance, as the others moved back and left her the stage. She was a brilliant dancer and her talent shone through amazingly in this dance. The entire audience was completely focused on what was happening on the stage, mesmerised by her supple body.

As the act closed the Hall burst into appreciative applause. Smiling and laughing, the Thundreds performers bowed while they curtains closed around them. When the curtains pulled back, Firenze was there again.

He clapped politely as well, "Congratulations to the Thundreds students for an excellent dance," he smiled, "Next when have Beauxbatons doing a Poetry reading. They will be starting with a poem in their native French, then we will have a translation of some of the more important parts of the poem."

Two of French students, one boy and one girl, came on stage, standing facing one another, and gracefully launched into a poem in their native French, using Charms and spells to enhance the performance. Down in the Kallaix stands, Justine was crying silently between Mark and Kris.

"What's wrong?" Kris muttered into her ear.

"It's so sad," Justine replied, "And so well done!"

A few seats down, Alyson was crying on Adam's shoulders, as the emotion of the play was obviously getting to her as well. "Just imagine what we could do if we added sorcery to that," Justine remarked as the tears wound down her cheeks. Kris nodded, although he wasn't completely sure what was going on – it was obviously getting to those who spoke French, but he didn't understand a word of it.

Finally, the French poem wound to a conclusion, and the English translation began. Just a few minutes in which the French explained the vague outline of the poem, which was about two lovers in a plague struck country, and the only way that they could see one another was to stand across a field and just stare at one another. Then one day the girl didn't come, and the boy waited a year for the quarantine to lift, only to find out that his love had died.

Again, Firenze appeared after the act, and he was actually looking rather emotional. "Although they were unable to translate the full poem due to time restrictions," Firenze remarked, "As one who speaks French, I can assure those of you who were unable to find the full beauty of the words, you missed out on something special.

"Next we have Durmstrang, who will be performing a musical piece by a band native to their lands – this time, I might add, it will be in English, so all here will be able to understand the meaning behind the words."

The curtains opened again to show all of the Durmstrang boys standing at their instruments, all of them wearing black, one of them standing out the front at the microphone, standing waiting for the tune to start, since he wasn't actually playing. The beat started up and there was a loud whoop from the Kallaix students as they recognised the tune.

The introduction came to a close, and the song began,

"O-oh, o-oh

O-oh, o-oh

O-oh, o-oh

O-oh, o-oh

No sleep, no sleep until I'm done with finding the answer

Won't stop, won't stop before I find the cure for this cancer

Sometimes I feel like going down I'm so disconnected

And somehow I know that I am haunted to be wanted

I've been watching,

I've been waiting

In the shadows

For my time.

I've been hoping,

I've been living,

For tomorrow's all my life…"

Harry listened as the song continued, looking at the Kallaix students, who had all gotten up and where dancing as much as the limited space allowed them to, most of them mouthing along with the words, though not actually singing them, to give the Durmstrang boy his glory – although Justine didn't seem to be able to stop herself when the 'o-oh's' come along. The first song came to a close, and the band launched straight into the second.

"Feel I can stop, I wanna be alone just for awhile x

Along way from home,

And you say, I'll heal you, I'll always be yours

And you say I'll kill you if I do something wrong yeah yeah yeah

Still feels like the first time

To stand here by your side

Together regardless

We'll walk through the darkness

Still feels like the first day of my life…

By this time, a few other students had gotten to their feet and were dancing, and a lot of the adults looked as though they felt very out of place, and weren't particularly enjoying it. Not so for Greg and Waddy, who were bopping together up in their box. When that song came to a close, everyone was waiting for the third, because there was easily enough time for one more.

"Come on

Feel the dark tears me apart

Won't leave me alone time keeps running out

Just one more life I'm so sick and tired

Of singing the blues as you turn my life around

Come on

Tell me why do I feel this life all my life

I've been standing on the borderline

Too many bridges burned,

Too many lives I've hurt

Had a life but I can't go back

I can't do that, it'd never be the same again

And I know I don't have any time to burn

Come on…

At the first 'come on', most of the students had gotten to their feet and were dancing around as much as possible. During the confusion, the Kallaix band-group slipped away to go behind stage and prepare for their act, which would be next.

When the Durmstrang students finished their piece, many of the adults in the Hall were clapping more from relief that the ordeal was over than anything else, although most of students were clapping enthusiastically. Draco had even managed to pull himself out of his stupor and was smiling, which Harry took to be a good thing.

Of course, since the indicator board that showed who would be performing next was flashing "Kallaix Academy", Harry was fairly sure that the good mood would not last very long.

"Well, that was … different," Firenze remarked as he came back on stage, and there was a bit of laughter through the Hall. "But a good show of talent non-the-less, and it demonstrated a sense of national pride that is to be applauded.

"Next we have Kallaix Academy of Australia, also performing three musical items, although they are all from different bands," he bowed and departed, and everyone got ready for the next act, most hoping that it would not be much like the one before – they had very little to worry about.

When the curtains were drawn again, the lights on stage were dark, and the Hall was filled with silence. There was undiscernible movement on the stage and suddenly a single spotlight picked out Ax sitting behind a shining black grand piano. He was still wearing his suit shirt, but had lost the jacket and tie, He smiled and said to the crowd, "My Immortal."

He began to play and a hushed awe fell over the crowd. Just by playing the fist bars Ax's talent came through, and he put everything he had into the music, his body moving with the keys.

The black curtain at the back of the stage suddenly parted and Justine walked through, also spotlighted. She was still wearing her silver silk dress and as she walked forwards her entire body seemed to be fluid, the diamonds at her ears, throat and wrist glimmering and sending out sparks of colour. She stepped up to the mike and her voice washed over the audience, and each and every one couldn't help but feel the emotion right down to their souls.

"I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears.

If you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave.

Cause your presence still lingers here, and it wont leave me alone…"

The crowd suddenly noticed as the lights came up that Tanya and Alyson were standing to the back of one side of the stage, both holding Violins, and Tegan was next to them, sitting with her Bass. As the song continued they joined in the tune, and again the audience felt a jolt of sorrow, a physical reaction, reaching deep into their souls.

"These wounds wont seem to heal, this pain is just to real

There's just to much that time cannot erase…

When you cried I wiped away all of your tears,

When you screamed I fought away all of your fears

And I held your hand through all of these years

But you still have, all of me."

As Justine finished the chorus she reached one hand out over the audience, the other wrapped around the microphone. Around him Harry could see tears trickling down cheeks and had felt the wave of an unfamiliar magic sweep over him. So this was Sorcery. Magic that used body movement and one's voice to enchant the Audience. Harry figured it had something to do with the fact that he was a Magai that he was able to both feel the sadness, and also see through it. Poor Hermione at his side was sobbing silently, and Ginny at his other side was holding a crisp white hanky fiercely.

Looking past her, Harry saw Draco, and wondered how his brother was coping with this new development. Draco didn't look sad, as such, but there was that look on his face that he got whenever a normal person would be showing emotion, Draco looked up and saw Harry's eyes on him, he gave a half smile. Harry knew then that Draco was masking his emotions completely, but there was a blackness expanded around his pupils – soon his eyes would be black with the magic.

As he watched, something changed in Harry's vision. Looking at Draco, he could suddenly see the sorcery in the air, weaving its spell around the crowd, but it was just washing over Draco, forming loosely around him, then moving on. Looking at himself, he noticed the same effect.

"You used to captivate me, by your resonating light

Now I'm bound by the life you left behind

Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams

Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

These wounds wont seem to heal; this pain is just too real

There's just to much that time cannot erase…"

Harry swore subconsciously as Draco listened to the words of the song. This was bad, Justine was putting every ounce of her emotion into the song. Suddenly Justine threw out her hands, sending a powerful wave of magic twining around the audience, and Harry watched as Draco's eyes focused on her wrist, on the diamond bracelet that Justine was wearing, the small heart shaped opal radiating rainbows over the crowd. Harry watched as Draco's face contorted briefly as the power of his emotion threatened to overwhelm him, then suddenly the mask was back in place, stronger than before, and his eyes were glinting completely black.

"I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone

But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along."

Justine was looking directly at Draco, her eyes seeming to search for something on his face, and a tear was trickling down her cheek, as if the sorcery she commanded was affecting her too, in some way. Behind him, Harry heard someone break out sobbing loudly, and twisted his head around to see, two rows back, Electra curled up against Leon's side, sobbing her heart out while he struggled to stay calm and comfort her – although he looked like he was about to cry as well.

When you cried I wiped away all of your tears,

When you screamed I fought away all of your fears

And I held your hand through all of these years

But you still have, all of me,

All of me …"

As the song came to the end, one last flood of emotion poured from Justine over the crowd, and even those who had so far managed to control themselves began to lose it. Draco, stone-faced and utterly still, just stared into outer space, as if he'd forgotten the world existed.

Justine suddenly grinned and bowed and the wave of sorrow was broken. The crowd leapt from their seats and applauded loudly as Justine took as second bow and the others came forwards to join her. The piano suddenly disappeared and Alyson, Tegan and Tanya left the stage as Kris walked out carrying two guitars, one looked electric although no cord issued from it, the other looked to be acoustic and Tanya came out with a pair of maracas in her hands.

Five seats were arranged in a semi-circle suddenly and the group sat down, Justine still holding her mike minus its stand, but Ax putting a lapel mike on his shirtfront that he took from his pocket. He grinned and looked up, and his voice rang out in to the assemblage, "Hey, are you all having fun tonight?"

The crowd cheered and Ax counted himself and Kris into a sensual rhythm. Tanya began gently shaking her maracas and Justine just smiled and sat back, draping herself over the chair seductively. When the singing began, however, it was Ax who was singing. His voice was sensual and seductive, and Harry could once more feel the waves of sorcery, this time woven by almost everyone on the stage, boys and girls. As he heard he opening words to the song, Harry decided that he was very glad that he was immune to the power of the magic. Those who had moments before been sobbing were now looking utterly ecstatic.

We got the afternoon
You got this room for two
One thing I've left to do
Discover me
Discovering you

One mile to every inch of
Your skin like porcelain
One pair of candy lips and
Your bubblegum tongue

Every now and then Ax looked up at the audience and flashed a charming grin. Every time he did that, Harry felt the magic threaten to completely overwhelm him. Damn, Ax was good at this. In the air, Harry could feel the emotions of the entire room reaching boiling point.

And if you want love
We'll make it
Swimming a deep sea
Of blankets
Take all your big plans
And break 'em
This is bound to be a while

Your body Is a wonderland
Your body is a wonder
(I'll use my hands)
Your body Is a wonderland

As the chorus finished, Harry jumped as he felt Hermione's hand on his arm. Looking at her, he could see an expression that he'd never really seen in her before. Pure transfixion – her gaze was fixed on Ax, but she was pawing his arm.

He froze. Even though he knew that he was completely over her, his body wanted to respond to her advances, and he was suddenly caught by the urge to kiss her. He'd never realised how powerful this sorcery magic was. A full sorcery mage would almost be impossible for even a Magai to disarm.

Suddenly, Justine's voice joined Ax's, their two voices harmonising perfectly. The magic around the room intensified greatly, and Harry felt desire washing over him – he was really feeling the urge to start making out with Hermione.

On his other side, suddenly Ginny's hand found his arm, and Harry found himself sitting between two girls who were both pawing at his arms and staring at the stage – he wasn't sure whether to be flattered, amused, or annoyed.

Something 'bout the way your hair
falls in your face
I love the shape you take when crawling
towards the pillowcase
You tell me where to go and
Though I might leave to find it
I'll never let your head hit the bed
Without my hand behind it

As Justine's voice fell out again, Harry mustered the courage to look around, and saw that roughly half of the room was making out with whoever was next to them. The other half was just staring at the stage with expressions of lust that made Harry feel rather uncomfortable.

With an interest that made him feel a little guilty, Harry turned to look at Draco. The expression on his face made Harry feel embarrassed. Draco was just staring up at Justine, open mouthed, eyes wide. Harry could see the memories in his eyes – memories of love.

Harry knew that Draco had honestly loved Justine, and that Justine had loved him back. That bond must be making the sorcery magic even stronger. Justine had never stopped loving Draco, somewhere deep inside her heart, and Harry now believed that Draco had never stopped loving her either.

Pushing thoughts of Draco and Justine aside, Harry went back to examining the audience. Struck by a thought, he searched out the Australian Minister of Magic, interested to see how Greg would be reacting to this magic.

He found Greg and Jean Wadsworth up in one of the top boxes, and his first thought upon examining them was to wonder if they'd raided the Hogwarts greenhouses. Both of them were 'bopping' to the music, but completely out of time. They could obviously not hear anything that was going on and were purposefully not looking at the stage.

Suddenly Greg stopped 'dancing' and seized up with laughter that Harry couldn't hear over the sounds from the stage, pointing at something down on the floor. Harry turned to look where he was pointing, and immediately wished that he hadn't. In the staff row, Dumbledore was trying to fend off Professor McGonagall, who was looking very … into the music.

You want love?
We'll make it
Swimming a deep sea
Of blankets
Take all your big plans
And break 'em
This is bound to be a while

Your body Is a wonderland
Your body is a wonder
(I'll use my hands)
Your body is a wonderland
Your body Is a wonderland

As the song came to and end, the sorcery clung in there was Ax played a little solo on the guitar, gradually falling away into silence until he stopped altogether and the spell was lifted. Everyone in the hall jolted upright, gasping for breath, as the spell released them, mostly looking acutely embarrassed – upon checking, Harry found McGonagall on her feet and heading for the door, her cheeks a deep scarlet. Dumbledore looked … disappointed?

"Wonderful!" he called out jovially. "Best display of sorcery I've seen in years! You almost had me fooled for a moment there!"

"Well, I have to admit, I'm rather glad we didn't," Justine said, not thinking, then held up a hand as the Hall broke into giggles, "Not meaning to be offensive or anything but that would be a little … besides, you aint seen nothing yet!"

---

Tonks, hiding in the corner of the Great Hall, was looking for an exit. That song … she'd never felt anything like it. She'd looked for Severus instinctively when the magic took over her mind, but when she found him, she decided that she'd have been better off with mindless delusions. The beauty that he'd come with had been wrapped around his arm, and while they hadn't been making out, they were obviously more than simply friends – she could see it. It wasn't just the music talking. Looking up at him now, she saw the woman still holding onto Severus's arm and laughing up at him, while he just smiled back down at her.

---

"I agree with Albus, the best display I've seen of sorcery in some time," Severus remarked, "Look at Saul over there, I'm surprised at his professionalism. The boy is not renowned for his finesse." Sitting behind the stage, Saul was wearing earmuffs and staring at his mixing table with an expression of concentration on his face, obviously preparing for the next song.

"You should meet his father," Julia sighed.

"Do I really want to?"

"On second thoughts, probably not. Where the children have an amazing amount of intelligence … the father just has the humour, really. Adorable guy, really, but … over the top. Very over the top."

On the stage, Justine was back standing at the front, Ax was back at the piano, while Kris had taken over the electric guitar. Tegan still had the electric bass, and Alyson had rejoined the group, holding a violin, and Tanya had quickly set up a drum kit at the back, Jacque stood beside the drum kit. Everyone had a small mike issuing from one ear, except Justine, who had the main mike on a stand in front of her.

The audience silenced, wondering what was going to happen to them this time – they'd had heart-breaking sadness, followed by sexual ecstasy … what next?

Justine raised her arm slowly above her head, and as she moved, the curtains pulled further back to show Saul sitting in a room behind the stage, sitting hunched over mixing boards, earphones snapped firmly over his ears so that he could actually concentrate. Some of the Muggle-born students were expressing whispered opinions about whether it was actually technology working there, since it wasn't supposed to work in Hogwarts.

Suddenly Justine arm came crashing down and with a boom like thunder the music boomed through the air, all starting out together, just playing together for a moment, but as Justine began to sing, the guitar, bass and drumming stopped, and instead, Saul mixed a funky sound under Justine's voice, accompanied by the piano and violin still.

Catch me, as I fall say your here and it's all over now

Speaking to the atmosphere no one's here and I fall into myself

This truth drives me into madness

I know I can stop the pain if I will it away

If I will it all away

Justine was belting out the song with immense force, and all the instruments came crashing back into the chorus, with an immense rock sound.

Don't turn away (Don't give in to the pain)

Don't try to hide (when they're screaming your name)

Don't close your eyes (Gods knows what lies behind them)

Don't turn out the light (never sleep, never die)

I'm frightened by what I see

But somehow I know that there's much more to come

Immobilised by my fears and soon will be blinded by tears

I can stop the pain if I will it all away

If I will away

Don't turn away (Don't give in to the pain)

Don't try to hide (when they're screaming your name)

Don't close your eyes (Gods knows what lies behind them)

Don't turn out the light (never sleep, never die)

As the next part began, Tegan and Jacque's voices joined Justine, first in a harmonic undertone, almost operatic in it's sounds and the audience a wave of something wrong. Nothing they could put a name to, but there was something.

Fallen angels at my feet

Whispered voices at my ear

Death before my eyes

Lying next to me I fear

She beckons me, shall I give in

Upon my end shall I begin

Forsaking all I've fallen for

I rise to meet the end

Justine suddenly sang out one high pure note under which the music strengthened, with Kris leading on the electric guitar, Justine abandoned the microphone and danced around the stage, wandering up to each of the males and dancing with them for a moment before moving on.

When her next line came, however, she was back at the mike and ready to sing with Jacque singing the lower harmony for the next chorus, Justine had a sadistic little smile on her face as she increased the melody belting out a strong lead line, and as the chorus ended, a chant began under them,

"Servatis a periculum

Servatis a maleficium"

"What the?" Hermione muttered at Harry's side, Harry could feel fear washing over the audience, something tangible in the summer evening air. "Slave to danger, slave to evil? Why are they singing that?" Harry could tell that the song was getting to her – the whole thing wasn't as powerful as previous magic, he supposed that they didn't want to incite full scale panic.

"They're making us feel of the aspects of the emotion plane," Draco's voice came from beside Ginny, "Sadness, happiness, now get ready for fear. This should be good."

"Only you would say that, Draco," Hermione hissed on Harry's side.

"Shut up," Harry and Ginny said simultaneously before Draco could respond and the pair of them got into a fully fledged argument, as often happened when statements like this came up – no matter how scary it might become, Ginny wanted to hear the rest of the song.

On the other side of Hermione, Ron grabbed his friend's hand, as well as Luna's, on his other side – he was already scared, staring up at Justine as though she was the devil come to steal away his life. The last chorus ended on a single note, held by Justine as the boys and Tegan took over the chanting, then the note changed to become a part of the chanting.

As the song itself was finished, the instruments played on, but the girls drifted away from their instruments to stand across the front of the stage, each an equal distance from the other apart from one another, apart from Tegan, who was anchoring the girls physical forms, standing with her arms arched around her head and her palms flat together just above her head. Standing just in front of Tegan, in line with Justine and Alyson, where Kris and Ax. They were standing side on, one had extended out towards the girls, palm up and fingers splayed, their back feet in line with Tegan, and their back hand in mimicry of the extended hand, but pointing to the ground instead, anchoring the magic. On the far sides of Kris and Ax were Jeffery and Adam, who were anchoring Jacque and Tanya respectively.

Through this, the instruments continued playing magically, and Saul was mixing busily in the background, hardly even seeming aware of what happening on stage.

Around the girls at the front of the stage, pillars of light began form, twisting, around them, white around Alyson, gold around Tanya, pink around Justine and red around Jacque. For a moment, the girls were completely obscured by the light, and when they appeared again, they crowd gasped.

Dressed in a contraption that seemed made entirely from tiny cherry-blossoms, which only covered the essentials before the back of the dress fell away in a train of pink, leaving her legs free, and there were cherry blossoms threaded through her hair. Jacque was wearing a black dress that seemed to be on fire, Tanya's body was covered in large patches of golden-red leaves loosely forming the shape of a dress with a crown of leaves around her head, and Alyson was wearing a dress that seemed to be covered in icicles and fairly whole, her anchor was her brother after all, and her white-blond hair was floating spectral-like around her in a cloud. All four of them were hovering just a little bit off the ground.

Harry, watching the girls, was feeling a little out of it. These new forms that the girls had taken were hovering spectrally in front of their real bodies, which he could also see, though he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be able to, a quick look at Draco confirmed that his brother could see the dual forms also. The real bodies were standing; heads bowed and hands in prayer pose, chanting.

He looked across at the Kallaix students, wondering what they were making of this display, and he was a little worried to note that every single student was surreptitiously lowering themselves in their seats. In the third row back, Mark was shoving Oliver as far down in his seat as was possible, and then sank down himself. Up in the top box, Greg and Wadsworth were pushing their chairs back, getting as far from the stage as possible. Harry knew that this was not a good sign. He reached out his arms, putting one around Hermione's shoulders and the other around Ginny's, and, without knowing why, both girls snuggled closer to him, as their subconscious minds were filled with a fear that they didn't understand. In an unexpected act of kindness Draco reached out and rested his hand over Ginny's.

Harry watched as the spectral forms drifted away from the real bodies, although he could see, just, a pale link of magic between the forms and their real bodies, and then the link continued from there to the boys, and then from them back to Tegan, who was holding the entire thing together.

The four seasons, the words echoed, unsaid, across the utterly silent hall, as Tanya's form lifted away from the stage and flew out across the Hall, and a gale wind blew before her, so strong that it was frightening, and there was malice blowing through the gale, creeping into the minds of the audience, then suddenly her form swooped towards the ground and the air filled with screams, almost lost in the howling cry of the wind.

The wind tossed her, sweeping her around the Hall, tumbling her through the turbulence, then sweeping her towards the stage, just as Jacque's form took off. She didn't flew through the air, but rather swirled low across the audience's heads, and everyone was hit with a dead heat, and sense of gut-clenching terror that the heat would envelop their bodies and turn their very bones to ash. The screams intensified as terror burrowed deeper, following the trails that malice had left behind.

She passed over the crowd, then rose suddenly up into the air, and threw out her hands, sending fire flying from her spread fingers towards the top boxes, but the flames died out just before they reached their targets. Then she swooped, headed for the stage, where Tanya was hovering, just out over the crowd, sending gusts of wind every little while, and Jacque joined her, sending sparks to play on the wind.

Alyson moved slowly out towards the crowd, floating lightly on the air, cloud like, her hair rippling around her face, but unlike the others, she didn't move right out over them. Just a little way ahead of Jacque and Tanya, she stop, and held a hand up in front of her face, blowing out across her palm, sending a wave of ice cold suspense out across the audience, and as the icy wind spread, it left behind a frozen wasteland. As the cold reached the far walls, Alyson snapped her fingers, and the ice in the air shattered and fell over the crowd, who, momentarily caught up with their bodies seeming incapable of movement, screamed again, re-finding their voices.

Harry watched as in her physical form, Alyson seemed to wince slightly, then still again.

Then it was Justine's turn, she floated up and then, almost as if she was dancing, she moved out over the crowd, and blessed serenity followed in her wake as cherry blossoms rained from her form down upon the upturned faces of the audience, she spun and twisted over the audience, but as the serenity removed their fear, it didn't go away, deepening until they were so completely calm that they didn't know that they could bring themselves to do anything, to even keep on living. This was Justine's own brand of fear, when serenity became depression.

Then, gracefully, she turned and came floating back toward the other three girls, and each of those floated back to hover just before their bodies, Justine coming in to land last. Then, as they hovered their, Harry watched as Tegan brought her hands down in front of her chest, and the white lines of magic she held yanked backwards, dragging the girls spectral forms back into their physical bodies, then pulling their physical bodies back towards the boys who'd played their anchors, then further back from the boys and into Tegan, who then threw her arms back and down behind her, sending the magic into the ground where it could do no one any harm.

As the girls flew backwards, Justine managed to twist and get caught by Kris in a firm hug, while Tanya simply allowed her self to be pulled backwards and caught around the waist from behind by Adam, Jeffery caught Jacque who'd managed to slow herself down quite a bit off to one side of his body, bringing to rest gently against his chest, and Ax caught Alyson gently, swinging her into a princess hold, spinning right around, then setting her lightly on her feet in front of him.

Justine walked over to the microphone while the audience recovered themselves. The Kallaix people were the first to recover from the shock of the wave of emotions that had swept over them, and they all rose to their feet and cheered loudly, clapping and screaming their appreciation. In the top box, Greg and Jean were returning to their original seats and cheering as well, neither of them looking as if the students had done anything particularly bad.

Slowly, the rest of the Hall began to clap, and then, as they realised exactly what had just gone on, they started cheering until the Hall echoed with the force of the cheers. Justine, at the microphone, smiled happily, glad to have impressed everyone so much. "Not bad for twelve minutes of entertainment, was it?" she remarked into the microphone as everyone started calming down to listen to her. The crowd cheered again, and she laughed.

"What you just witnessed was, of course, not merely singing – that was an example of Sorcery, a magic that seems to have been most developed in Australia, with a few exceptions worldwide. Sorcery is a magic that works with the body and with emotions – the piece you just experienced with a great example of what it could do. Sorcery, however, works primarily with illusions, so what you felt was not real, and never actually happened, the magic simply told you that it did."

---

Harry looked over at Draco to see what he'd made of this speech, and saw Draco staring a tiny cherry blossom that was resting in the palm of his hand. Harry blinked – hadn't Justine just said that it was illusion only? He could see on Draco's face that the other boy was confused by this same thing.

His shoulder felt suddenly weird, colder than the rest of his body, and he lifted up a hand to brush a couple of snow flakes off his shoulder, which made him pause. What was going on here? Glancing around the crowd, Ron seemed to have a singed finger, but he could see no one else with the same sort of problem. He figured that he would ask Justine about that later on.

The Kallaix people bowed again and headed off stage as Firenze came back onto the stage. "Well, that was … unexpected," he remarked, and he looked visibly shaken by what had just gone on. "An excellent example of sorcery, I must admit. But I will not keep you long now, for dinner awaits you."

Everyone applauded politely and Harry caught movement at the corner of his eye, turning to see Draco standing up – he must be going to look for Justine. Before Harry could speak out to stop him, Mark had slipped from the Kallaix seats, heading across the hall as if he was going to join someone else, and shoved Draco down into his seat, muttering softly, "Not right now." Before Draco could say anything, he walked off on his way.

The lights began to raise and Harry could get a better look at the room, and it's decorations. The ceiling was still enchanted, but it was covered in shooting stars and comets, and the walls themselves were no longer stone, rather they now all seemed to be standing in a clearing in the forest, as they were a solid mass of tree's.

With everyone still seated, the seats around them sudden morphed and moved from where they had been to form high backed, elegant silver seats, grouped around golden circular tables in groups of around twelve, each table covered in Roses and other beautiful pastel flowers, their scent wafting around the people present.

The dignitaries were called down from the top boxes to take their seats amongst the crowd – Greg and Jean immediately came to join the Kallaix table, while Adam stood up and went to join Oliver Wood at one of the other tables, which left Alyson without a partner, not that she seemed in the least fazed by this.

Fawns appeared in droves carrying golden menu's, decorated with white tassels and purple writing. One menu was placed in front of every person in the Hall and Firenze, who was standing at one of the tables since chairs were obviously not appropriate, spoke to the crowd with a magically enhanced voice, "When you wish to order your meal, simply speak the name of it clearly into your place, and it shall appear. I wish you pleasant dining at our sumptuous feast."

Saul led a quick round of cheering for this, as everyone turned to their menus.

Appetizers:

Thai Laksa

Walnut and Pumpkin Ravioli

Main Course

Honey Soy Chicken, served with light Chinese fried rice

Blade Steak, served with plum sauce on a bed of potato

Cheese Quiche

+ All meals served with a choice of salad or vegetables

Justine turned to the single Fawn who'd remained at their table and ordered a drink, everyone else on the table followed suit, and the Fawn darted away to collect the drinks.

---

Harry, seated between Hermione and Ginny again, sighed as he looked over the Hall. Hermione, he knew, had made the menu deliberately short so that the House Elves wouldn't have as much work to do. Hermione was looking particularly splendid in periwinkle blue, a colour extremely similar to the colour of the dress robes that she had worn to the Yule Ball in forth year, but instead of dress robes, she was wearing a strapless sheath. Although she looked incredibly pretty, Harry didn't feel in the least bit attracted to her any more. His lack of feeling confused him, because although he didn't like how she was acting, he had thought that beneath this he did still like her … but perhaps he didn't after all.

His wandering gaze focused on the Australians, just as their Fawn returned with drinks. Justine had, predictably enough, ordered the strange silver drink, as had Draco, Harry noticed. Harry watched as Justine took a sip and smiled with a happy little shiver – she obviously liked this drink that she'd ordered.

Harry turned the Fawn that was taking the drink orders from his table, "Could have the same thing as Justine Snape from that table of there," he asked, pointing the table out to the little creature, which nodded slightly in acceptance, then scuttled over to the far side of the room to where a small opening in one wall was serving as the bar for the fawns to work from… it was bordered on both sides by heavily flowering frangipani trees, each festooned with hundreds of fairies.

"Oh, so now you're even drinking the same drink as her?" Hermione asked, "Honestly Harry, just stick with something that you know is good, like Butterbeer."

"Stuff that I know is good? Like Ron is supposedly good?" Harry demanded.

Hermione paused for a second, not sure how to react to that, then her eyes filled with tears, "Harry, why can't you understand where Ron and I are coming from?" she asked him, "Why do you have to support foreigners over your friends? Over Draco? He's obviously upset."

"Don't bring Draco into this," Harry snapped at her, "I'm supporting the people I know are right."

"Hermione, how dare you say that Harry is not supporting me? Do you even have a clue as to what is going on here? Keep your incredibly big nose right out of my business. Harry is supporting me – I just didn't realise it for a long time," he gave Harry a faint smile, then turned back to his meal as if he'd forgotten the conversation had even taken place.

"Then why don't you tell me what's going on? Why am I always getting left out nowadays? If you told me what was going on, then maybe I could understand where you're coming from! Why does a bloody Snape know more than I do?"

"Maybe because that "bloody Snape" happens to be involved in this situation, Hermione, and you aren't," Ginny told her, "And for once everything isn't revolving around you and your stupid books. Why don't you find a dictionary and look up the word "confidentiality", then apply it to this situation. Those who need to know, know, and you aren't one of them."

Everyone on the table fell silent, even those who weren't even involved in the conversation. "Did someone just call books stupid, in front of Hermione?" Seamus asked, "I wish I'd had the guts to do that years ago!"

For a moment Hermione just stared at Ginny, and the tears were welling in her eyes again, "Then why do you know?" she asked Ginny, stalling for time to try and collect herself without letting the situation fall away before she could come up with a proper come-back.

"I shouldn't be involved," Ginny shrugged, "But I was, without intention. I wish I wasn't."

Before Hermione could say anything, Mark walked up to Harry and slapped a hand down on his shoulder, "Mate," he greeted him, "You promised Greg you'd come and see him. Since there's a free seat between him and Aly, we need you over there soonish, cos otherwise you'll miss the first meal!" without waiting for answer, he gave a firm nod and wandered back to his table

"You aren't going," Hermione told Harry immediately.

"Yes I am," Harry replied and stood up straight away, stalking over to the Kallaix table, then leant over Justine's shoulder, placing one hand on either side of her to whisper in her ear for a moment. Suddenly she laughed and held up her drink for him for a sip. Harry took one and then gave her an amazed look, gesticulating madly in an attempt to convey supreme pleasure. She just laughed again, and he went to sit down between Greg and Alyson.

---

Justine started slightly as a hand appeared on either side of her and Harry leant in close to her ear. "Who's idea was it to save me from them?" he asked.

"Kris noticed there was something nasty going on over there, so I told Mark to come and get you over here," Justine replied.

"Thank you," he told her, "Can I have some of your drink? I ordered one, but I don't think I'll ever see it."

"Sure," Justine replied and held up her drink for him to take a sip. The moment he did, Justine could see it in his eyes, he fell in love.

"That's good! I'll never knock Draco about drinking that again … sorry," Harry said.

"Don't worry about it," Justine shrugged, but Harry could see a slightly melancholy look appear in her eyes, and hurried over to sit down between Greg and Alyson.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Harry asked Greg, who glanced at him when he sat down.

Greg snorted loudly, "You want to talk to an old decrepit man like me when there's a beautiful young girl your age sitting abandoned next to you? Are you insane, or just plain stupid? Chat her up! Do you need to borrow a pick up line? Ax is just across the table, he's a master, mate, you got no idea!"

Alyson lent around Harry and slapped Greg over the head, "I don't think Harry needs pick up lines … and definitely not from Ax – those are so stupid it isn't funny … he's been using them on me for years and they aren't working, so I wouldn't advise you to try - just be yourself if you want to win my heart," she fluttered her eyelashes at Harry before going back to her food.

Greg leaned furtively towards Harry and then said in a very loud stage whisper, "You're in!"

Calmly, Alyson reached around Harry and slapped him, a second behind Jean Wadsworth, and Greg flinched as someone under the table kicked him. "I don't know why I even bother. I'm so unappreciated!"

"I really do value your advice," Harry told him sincerely.

"No you don't," Justine told him, "Don't worry, Geggly won't get offended."

"Who's Geggly?" Harry asked, then looked at Greg comprehendingly.

"Don't ask," Greg said, and Harry looked imploringly at Justine, obeying the instruction but still eager to know what was going on.

"I was three, and how was I supposed to know how to pronounce Gregory? The closest I could get was Geggly, and it kinda stuck. I'm the only one in the world who gets away with it?"

"What, calling him Geggly?" Saul asked.

"It's my experience that anyone can call him Geggly, but only Justine doesn't scowled at when in public," Tanya remarked. Sure enough, Greg was glaring daggers at Saul.

"So, Tanya, how did you get that dress? Isn't it the same one that Justine discarded at the shop?" Harry asked Tanya.

Tanya rolled her eyes, "Well, it turns out that Ax stayed behind and bought it for me," she told him, "He said that I looked a 'vision of perfection' when wearing it, and therefore would have to wear it again so that the world would not miss out. I told him he was stupid, but I could hardly turn it down, after all, it is the most beautiful dress I've ever seen."

"Don't you mean second?" Justine called out, gesturing at her own outfit.

"Whatever," Tanya called back.

Saul was glaring at the menu, "Do these people not have any decent food?" he demanded.

Tegan looked at him, "Saul, you spent ten minutes between your first bite and the second one of the Laksa going on about how great it was, and now there 'isn't anything good' on the menu?"

"The appetisers were great – the meals suck," Saul informed her coolly, then turned to his plate and said, slowly and clearly, "Vegemite toast," to the utter amazement of the rest of the table, his plate immediately filled with steaming toast covered in vegemite.

"Bonza!" Saul yelled delightedly, "Take that menu!" then he turned to Tegan and said in an outrageously fake gangster accent, "Darlin', we're gonna dine on the vegemite, that which is the giver of life."

The rest of the table laughed, and ordered the food on the menus, more to be polite than anything else, although Tegan stole several pieces of Saul's toast, and he stole bits of her steak, while they laughed and made small talk.

Once the main course was over, an elegant Lazy Susan appeared in the middle of the table with a selection of deserts, and everyone on the table selected one. Harry and Greg got into a discussion on defence spells and the times when it was appropriate to use them, a discussion which Jean was happy to contribute too, and the subject soon got around to DA, which Harry was more than happy to explain to the Headmistress and Minister of Magic.

Once the deserts were finished, the Hall returned to the theatre style layout for the last five acts.

The first act after dinner was the Villefort students, who performed a very good flamenco dance, the ladies wearing long ruffled skirts swishing across the stage with lots of fancy footwork, the dance was incredibly sensual, but after watching the Kallaix performance, the emotion in it didn't seem quite so profound as it might have otherwise, and had the entire Hall cheering their skill as the act came to a close, and were followed by Nhi-Lon Fohs, who told the tale of Sinbad. After them was Grendwell, who performed a South-African tribal dance.

As the stage opened again, the Hogwarts people were standing at their instruments and Ginny was standing at the front with a guitar in her hands. Behind her, Draco was on the drums, Seamus was on the other guitar, and Dean was on the base. Ginny smiled at the crowd and spoke into the microphone, "Well, you don't need to worry, we won't play with your emotions … we don't know how," she grinned, and the beat started up.

Tried to tell me what I shouldn't do

You should know by now I won't listen to you

Walk around with my hands up in the air

Cos I don't care

Ginny was hardly moving at this stage, but she looked like she really wanted to – the song did seem to make you want to move, but because she had the guitar in her hands she was a little restricted in her movements anyway, so she seemed to be trying to channel her feels into the music, and the whole hall was already starting to feel the desire to move.

I'm alright, I'm fine,

Just freak out let it go

I'm gonna live my life

I can't ever run and hide

I won't compromise, cos I'll never know

I'm gonna close my eyes,

I can't watch the time go by,

I won't keep it inside

Freak out let it go

Just freak it out let it go

By the end of the chorus, most people were on their feet, dancing, and Ginny was pacing around behind the microphone whenever she wasn't singing, still obviously wanting to dance – the audience danced for her., but it wasn't quite enough.

Yeah, yeah, yeah ..

As she finished the second chorus, her eyes were closed and she was grinning, singing her heart out. The boys behind her were watching her every move, and it was obvious that she was leading the song with her voice and her guitar, not one of the boys behind her.

Just let me live my life

I can't ever run and hide

I won't compromise cos I'll never know

I'm gonna close my eyes

I can't watch the time go by

I won't keep it inside

Freak out let it go

Gonna freak out let it go …

As Ginny's voice faded out, the curtains closed briefly again while they reorganised, and when they opened again, Ginny was gone, and Seamus was standing at the microphone, grinning happily at the crowd. Draco was still on the drums, and Seamus still had his guitar, and Dean remained on the base. Draco had a small microphone coming down from behind his ear, as the second singer.

The music started, and soon Seamus's voice came in, a thick Irish accent turning the song from humorous to hilarious,

"I heard you're doing OK

But I want you to know

I'm a dick

I'm addicted to you

I can't pretend I don't care

When you don't think about me

Do you think I deserve this

I tried to make you happy

But you left anyway

Seamus had sung the first few lines with one hand clenched over his heart, a phoney heart-broken expression on his face, which inspired a lot of laughter from the audience, although that didn't seem to deter him at all.

I'm trying to forget that

I'm addicted to you

But I want it, and I need it

I'm addicted to you

Now it's over, can't forget what you said

And I never want to do this again

Heart breaker

Heart breaker

Heart breaker …

As he sang, Seamus overcame the obstacle of his guitar and pranced around the stage delightedly, doing little Irish jigs and kicks, putting every ounce of emotion he had into the song, causing it to become even funnier. The audience was up and dancing too, since Seamus's enthusiasm was infectious.

Ginny suddenly reappeared back on stage, looking very much a flirt and walking in circles around Seamus, pushing him away whenever he got too close, then beckoning him back again with a flirtatious smile on her face. The song faded out to much applause.

Again, the curtain went down and the stage shifted around. Now it was Draco's turn at the microphone, and this time, most of the other people in the band were a little unsure of themselves, as if they didn't know exactly what they were doing now, Ginny was on the drums, looking very like Tanya, Dean had base and Seamus had a guitar. Draco, however, looked perfectly assured of himself.

I'm not a perfect person

There's many things I wish I didn't do

But I'll continue learning

I never meant to do those things to you

And so I have to say before I go

When Draco started singing this song, which Harry knew was not the song that had been planned for the last item, he knew that something had definitely changed. Harry had wondered just how Draco had reacted to Justine singing 'My Immortal' – now he knew.

And he was surprised. Draco was displaying public emotion, which was a very big thing for him, as Harry was well aware. For all of his life, Draco had been taught to hide his emotions completely, and scolded whenever he slipped up … to do this was a big thing for him – Harry just hoped that Justine appreciated it.

Although the only people who would be able to find the true emotion in his words were those who knew what had gone on in the Draco-Justine fiasco, which meant it was him, Ginny and the Australians, that Draco could do this was a big step in the right direction.

That I just want you to know

I found a reason for me

To change who I used to be

A reason to start over new

And the reason is you

As the first chorus finished, Harry started to look for Justine, wondering how she would be reacting to this, glancing occasionally at the stage, because he knew that they hadn't practiced this song at all – Ginny, Seamus and Dean were pulling off the song remarkably well.

When he found Justine, he didn't see the pain that he thought he would find, she was completely blank – it was impossible to tell if she felt any emotion at all at the moment. It being Justine, he was pretty sure that she was feeling something, but it must have taken a lot for her to keep in control of herself right now.

He wondered what she made of the song. Did she see it as the apology it really was, or did she see it as a challenge? Did she see it as anything at all, for that matter? Or did she see it as Draco throwing her past in her face, trying to hurt her … from her face, it was impossible for him to tell. Perhaps he should look for her in the dancing to make sure she got the significance of what had happened … it was hard to tell with her these days, she was that torn up.

I'm sorry that I hurt you

It's something I must live with everyday

And all the pain I put you through,

I wish that I could take it all away

And be the one who catches all your tears

That's why I need you to hear

I found a reason for me,

To change who I used to be

A reason to start over new

And the reason is you

And the reason is you

And the reason is you

And the reason is you

Justine gazed up at Draco, and while her face might have been blank throughout most of the song, her emotions were all completely out of control. She didn't know what to do – she could see that Draco was doing his best to tell her that he wanted her to come back, and let him in again … that through the song he was apologizing for what he had done to her, promising that he would be a better person for her.

As Draco finished the verse that he was on, she couldn't control herself completely anymore, and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, to be quickly dashed away as she took control of herself again, and her mask returned. Tearing her eyes from Draco for a moment, Justine looked around at the Kallaix students.

Immediately she knew that they had picked up on what was going on as well, all of them were looking at Draco with a certain respect in their eyes, and when Kris saw her glance at him, he covered her hand with his own, giving her the support that she needed through this.

I'm not a perfect person

I never meant to do those things to you

And so I have to say before I go

That I just want you to know

Harry had spent most of his time watching Justine, and when she had let those few tears escape from her eyes, he knew that she knew what Draco was trying to do, and he thought that she might have actually forgiven Draco … though midnight would hold the real test for that theory.

Harry wondered if Draco had realised that Justine was crying – looking up at the stage, he got the impression that his brother had not seen. The lights on the stage would blind Draco to a lot of what was going on below him, especially something so small as a scattering of tears.

I found a reason for me

To change who I used to be

A reason to start over new

And the reason is you

I found a reason to show

A side of me you didn't know

A reason for all that I do

And the reason is you.

As Draco finished the song, he was gazing straight at Justine, and it was all he could do to keep singing – he was glad that he had not looked at her before now, with the end of the song in sight, he didn't have to worry so much about keeping singing in time with the music.

Her face was so blank that he couldn't tell if the song was having the desired effect or not, and whether or not she had decided to come and meet him at midnight … if she had made a decision, wouldn't it be showing, somewhere, on her face? Draco turned his eyes away for the last words of the song, in disappointment.

As Draco looked away from her at last, Justine listened to the final words of the song, then smiled slightly. She had made her decision. At midnight, she would confront Draco – if only to tell him that his singing had improved a lot since the last time she had heard him, and to complement on his choice of song, and congratulate him on turning himself around, that at last his life had the direction it needed.

As the last bits of applause died away, everyone rose to their feet as the seats completely disappeared in clouds of rainbow lights, and the band Savage Garden took the stage to start of the dancing. The Aussies lost the plot as the two wizards and their entourage came on stage – they were Australian wizards, after all.

At this time, Mark slipped away from the group of Australian students to mingle with the crowd and meet up with all the celebrities that he'd stared alongside in various movies, leaving Justine to dance with Kris, once the whooping had died down.

"Kris, what time is it?" Justine asked him, as they bopped along to the music.

"Only eight, still hours of partying to go yet," Kris assured her. She smiled at him, thinking well, that minus the time I need to spend with Draco.

---

Tanya and Ax were dancing at the edge of the crowd, Ax had his arms around her and they were dancing slowly to the music. Being this close to Ax was driving Tanya insane. He was intoxicating, but at the same time, she knew that allowing herself to grow close to him again was dangerous. Was he going to hurt her again? If she let him close again, would he just tun around and break her heart? Could he help it?

Although he was holding her close, Tanya could almost feel himself holding back, not wanting to push her. Why wasn't he pushing her? Was he not interested? Or was he trying to pretend he wasn't interested? Or was he just not pushing her so that she could get used to what she was feeling on her own?

Having Tanya this close to him was driving him insane. He wanted her – badly. But how could she still want him? After what she'd seen him do? Sure, she'd forgiven him, but that didn't mean that she wanted anything to do with him …

Do you just want her? Or is it more than that? The thought surfaced, but he pushed it away angrily. She was a pretty girl, why wouldn't he want her? She even had a personality, which as an added bonus … but it was nothing more than the physical attraction that he felt to any other girl that he knew. It couldn't be.

But could it? The thought returned, NO he thought back angrily, pushing it away and unconsciously pulling Tanya a little closer, trying to lose himself in the dancing and the music, pushing his stupid subconscious far away so that it couldn't make unfounded questions to which the answers were perfectly obvious.

Tanya sighed softly and lent against him. Dancing like this she could forget the past, forget the future, just live in the present. And in that state she could admit it – she was still completely head over heels in love. It wasn't just a crush any more. Getting to know Ax had just made him all the more attractive.

But even if anything came of this, could she keep him faithful to her? Or would he turn and follow the first pair of the pretty legs that walked past him, of the first pair of pretty eyes that battered their lashes in his direction. She sighed softly, giving up on trying to think and letting the music take over completely. She could think later, when she had a clear head.

As Tanya lent against him, Ax tightened his arms around her and smiled to himself above her head. So maybe this was love … maybe this was what he had been searching for all of his life, what had constantly eluded his grasp … no … there was no maybe about it … this was love.

---

With the dancing to cover him, Draco slipped away from Ginny, leaving her to dance with one of the other boys who were hanging around, and went to drown his sorrow in some form of strong alcoholic drink … Justine hated him, and she would never talk to him again … and now he decided to realise that he still loved her. Wonderful.

As he was attempting to drink himself into a stupor and forget the world and it's stupid twists and complications, Draco remembered something that Harry had told him – Ron had enlisted the help of his two older brothers, Fred and George, to break Draco's heart.

Well, he'd promised that he wouldn't take revenge on Ron, and he supposed he had better hold to that … but there was nothing to stop him from killing the twins before anyone realised what he was doing … he might end up in Azkaban for murder, but in his drunken mind, it would be worth it. If Justine would never love him again, then at least he could let off steam by killing something.

Draco looked around to see if he could find the twins, and when he discovered them, they were standing on either side of Alyson and flirting with her. She was just standing and laughing with them, letting them flirt and responded with little glances at each of them and small smiles.

And now they were taking advantage of someone as innocent as Alyson. Draco didn't know that Alyson could tell the exact emotions of whoever was around her, and that if she thought that either of the twins had bad intentions, she would know and get out of there quickly and run to Mark, Kris, Adam, Ax, or even Saul.

He walked over, and suddenly Alyson smiled prettily up at the twins, and excused herself from the conversation, darting back into the crowd – heading, although no one knew it, for Harry Potter. The one person that she thought might be able to get Draco out of his mood. She had sensed that he had dark intentions.

"So," Draco said, looking at the twins, who smiled and nodded at him, looking after Alyson and obviously paying more attention to her figure than to his appearance.

"Hey Draco, how's it hanging?" Fred said, obviously attempting to copy the Australian accent, and failing rather abysmally.

"You two. I have something to show you in the hallway, come with me."

Fred and George looked at one another and shrugged, then followed him. Obviously they had no reason to distrust his intentions. Draco smiled to himself – oh, he would show them. They thought that they were safe now that all this time had passed but no … nothing would save them from him now.

When they reached the Hall, Draco spun around to face the twins the moment that no one outside could see what might happen. With a malicious smile, he threw up his hands and sent both twins up against a wall using his Magai powers. "Let's have a little chat. All pleasant and friendly like."

"We'd be happy to talk, but wouldn't it be just as effective on the ground?" Fred asked.

"Let me rephrase that," Draco said coldly, "I'll be talking … you just have to listen … and stay quiet," as he spoke, the twins lost the ability to make noise. "I want to talk about … let's see … two years ago sounds a good topic of conversation, what do you think?"

Both the twins looked momentarily confused, then their faces cleared and Draco knew that they remembered what had happened then. "So, let's clear up exactly what happened, shall we … your idiot younger brother comes running to you, because the girl of his dreams has chosen me after dating him … that's right, isn't it? This is what confuses me – why help him? One would have expected that you would have just laughed and brushed it off, thinking that your brother was too young to experience true love, and heartbreak was a natural occurrence … obviously that wasn't quite right … Your family must be closer than I thought. Instead, you decided that it would be fun to destroy someone else's life.

"Unlike your younger sibling, I found love – the kind of the love that lasts forever, the kind of love that nothing should be able to destroy … and Justine found it to … so not only did you ruin my life, you ruined hers as well. Neither of us could love another person – we were lucky, perhaps, or maybe we weren't, finding love so young. We couldn't fully appreciate it, I suppose … Well, that won't happen again …

"But we should have never lost that love – and it's your fault that we did. Now it's time to say goodbye to life. I can't hurt your brother, because I promised I wouldn't, but he couldn't have done it without you. If you had done the sensible thing and left well enough alone, I never would have lost my love … so now you can die for what you did to me."

Suddenly the door crashed open, revealing Kristopher, Severus and Narcissa, with Alyson walking behind them. "Draco! What are you doing?" Narcissa demanded.

"I'm not sure – I'm about to get creative. Don't interrupt please – while I might want them dead, I don't want to hurt you."

Kris looked between him and the twins, fast thinking of a way to negotiate Draco, play his weakness . "Oh … so this is your half-hearted attempt to get revenge on what happened? Well done, now you want to make Justine feel like she drove you to murder! She's delicate enough as it is because of you – now you're trying to destroy her completely, is that it?"

"I'm trying to make it up to her!" Draco yelled at him. "I made a mistake, and I bloody well know it! But they did something worse, and I'm gonna fix it!"

"Killing them will fix nothing, brother," Harry appeared behind the group and pushed his way carefully through. "Death solves nothing. Do you want to show the world that you really are your father's son? That's the only thing that you'll get out of this."

Draco looked between the twins and Harry and Kris. "I don't know what else I can do."

Harry held up a hand that glittered with rainbow sparkles, the light spread from his fingers and wrapped gently around the twins, breaking Draco's weakening hold on them, then walked over and put his arms around Draco. "You can get sober, for one thing," he informed his brother quietly. "Come with me and we'll have a talk – outside. The cold air should help to clear your head. And if it doesn't, I'm sure that the lake would make a difference."

Draco tried to struggle against Harry, but the Gryffindor boy caught hold of him by one hand and forced him out of the doors and into the chilly night air, leaving the others to deal with the twins.

Severus looked at the twins. "Unlike Draco, I'm not about to kill you … but I warn you – if you ever look at Justine, breath near Justine, even attempt to apologize to Justine you might find yourselves the victims of a tragic, fatal accident …"

"Severus, I have to point out," Kris spoke up again, "Justine wouldn't appreciate having you telling them that they can't come near her. She never blamed the twins for what happened – she likes the twins. She wouldn't want to be left without their company – just one piece of advise for you: Don't try to tell Justine who her friends can be. She'll only hate you for it. Come on Alyson – let's get back to the dancing. Everything's alright now."

"Fred, George and I were having a conversation … I was enjoying it – if they're alright, I would like to get back to it," Alyson replied, smiling at Kris, Severus and Narcissa, then beckoning the rather dazed twins after her.

"How did those people know to come and get us?" Fred asked when they were out of earshot.

"I went to get them, of course. I knew what Draco was feeling at the time, and I went to Kris – he's good at dealing with things like that. He looked for Severus, and he was talking to Narcissa … I can only assume that Harry saw the disturbance and came to investigate," Alyson shrugged, then fixed them with a silver stare. "I saved your life then – but I expect you to apologize to Justine. She deserves to hear what happened just then from you. And I expect to hear of you talking to her about it … very soon. Not tonight though."

Fred and George nodded. "If you don't, I'll tell Kris and Harry," Alyson added, and headed away to join the Australians again, dancing with Adam and seeming to forget that the conversation had taken place.

"You know," Fred remarked.

"I'm feeling rather tired right now," George put in.

"So am I. So-"

"Let's retire for the night."

"Sounds good to me."

Fred and George made a hasty and unnoticed departure from the hall, and left the dancers to enjoy themselves. Harry and Draco arrived not long after they had left – Draco now looking rather sullen, but no longer drunk. His hair was a little damp too.

---

"Now that you have all loosened up after our delightful dinner," Firenze's voice echoed through the hall as the music died momentarily, "We have decided to hold some dancing games – the first to be suggested was the elimination game. The rules are these: When the music stops, you have to find another partner before it starts again. If you don not manage to find a partner, you are out. Once you have danced with one partner, you cannot dance with that person for at least another five rounds. This, however, only applies until the point where there are only ten couples left. You will be warned when this occurs. Everyone grab the nearest person to you and let the game began."

For the first ten or fifteen minutes of the game, the dance floor was a place of utter chaos as everyone tried to play the game. By the time about fifteen minutes had passed, a lot of the not so good dancers had been eliminated and the better dancers were clearly beginning to show themselves.

Tanya and Justine were doing well – Justine was running on auto-pilot, just falling into the arms of the nearest person of the opposite sex, but Tanya was limited because she generally looked for someone she knew, and got thrown a little when a random guy caught her and they had to dance till the music stopped again.

Electra was also going well, as were Harry, Draco and Ginny, the stars amongst the Hogwarts people. Hermione was standing on the sidelines, having been eliminated early on in the piece.

Almost half an hour later the game had come down to five couples only, among them were Tanya, Justine, Electra, Ax, Harry, Adam and Oliver Wood. Tanya and Justine were quickly eliminated – Tanya because her unwillingness to approach people she didn't know really stuffed her up and Justine because while going on autopilot was well enough, it didn't work when you got to this stage of the game.

Finally, it was down to Electra, a girl from Nhi-Lon Fohs, Adam and Oliver. When the music stopped to two couples were a distance apart, and the girls were further away than Adam and Oliver were from one another – the pair of them glanced at one another, then caught each others hands and started to dance as the music started again. The two girls were too late and moved from the stage and Justine let out a cheer at their originality.

"Adam Childs and Oliver Wood are the winners of the Elimination game," Firenze announced as the music came to a final stop. "Congratulations, and very original both of you." The two boys blushed slightly and moved off stage, amid the applause of the watchers.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let me take you back to an era of honour and beauty, when to dance with a woman, to hold her in your arms, was one of life's greatest pleasures. These intricate and beautiful dances although not celebrated as often today have lost none of their charm or splendour. Let us relive them now. We shall begin with the Viennese Waltz."

Justine turned to her uncle, who was standing not far away, having not deigned to dance in the elimination game, and waved him over. "Fancy a dance?" she asked him.

"I'm sure you will make my life a living hell should I dare to refuse, so I suppose so," Severus replied, taking her hands.

"Don't cha know it!" Justine replied, letting him lead her onto the dance floor, laughing at the look on his face before allowing him to spin her into the sweeping movements of the waltz. Severus was a good dance partner, Justine knew, and she would rather be dancing the waltz with him than with anyone else, because they didn't have to change partners in this dance, and she was ensured a dancer that could keep up with her on the floor.

Tanya was dancing with Ax, and they were a good pair as well. Electra was teaching Leon the moves as they went along, since he had never danced it before. Jeffery and Jacque were beautiful to watch – Jeffery in particular moved with a cat like grace that made him a brilliant partner.

Seamus was dancing with Ginny and Draco was dancing with his mother, while Remus danced with Tonks, and Julia danced with Gregory, talking softly to him, most likely gossiping, Justine thought watching them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I trust that you enjoyed the Viennese Waltz, we will now move into the progressive waltz, so if you could gracefully move into a circular formation, we shall begin."

Justine and Severus found themselves next to Tanya and Ax, who grinned at them in greeting. Justine's next partner would be Ax, which was a good thing, because the boy on the other side of her didn't look like a particularly great dancer. As they swirled around the circle of men, Justine and Tanya were always next to one another, exchanging smiles whenever they passed boys who weren't good at dancing.

Tanya danced with Draco, and glanced back at Justine as they moved on, wondering how her friend would react to this – Justine seemed fine, so she didn't do anything, merely kept going with the dance … then she saw Ron. Justine would not deal well with having to dance with Ron. Judging by the expression on Ron's face, Tanya knew that the other boy was likely to try and talk to Justine, which would not be a good thing.

She looked at Justine, to see if the other girl and noticed this, but Justine seemed totally engrossed in the dancing. When Tanya was dancing with Ron, however, Justine realised who her next partner would be, and her face fell. Tanya looked around her and signalled with her eyes. Justine smiled and nodded.

When the next time to change partners came, Tanya just didn't move on, and Justine wove gracefully around her, as if this was exactly what was supposed to happen. Ron was utterly confused and missed the first few steps to the next round of dancing, but picked up the pace quickly after that.

Tanya gave him a cool smile just before she moved on, and Ron glared after her.

"You should now have danced with all of the members of the opposite sex here," Firenze said, as Tanya spun into Severus's arms and Justine into Ax's. Severus arched an eyebrow at Tanya who mouthed 'Ron' at him – Severus nodded in understanding.

There were several more foundation dances, before a different tune struck up, and the fairies, which had been floating prettily overhead all evening suddenly came in full force over the dance floor. "Ladies and gentlemen, the fairies will now dance the ballet."

Everyone moved to the sidelines and watched the fairies overhead, dancing gracefully overhead, tiny legs twirling in kicks and flicks, all of them seeming utterly confident and perfectly at ease. Tanya watched them for a few minutes, then the desire to dance overcame her shyness, and she waved her wand at her feet, transfiguring her shoes into ballet slippers, and rising herself on her tip toes, then darting gracefully out under the faeries, copying their dance herself.

Justine and Alyson glanced at one another, then transfigured their own shoes as behind them Ax and Kris nodded and sent spells after them, changing the shapes of the skirts so that it would be easier to pull off the moves that ballet required. Justine and Alyson mirrored Tanya's eyes, but for the crowd, it was hard to take their eyes from the first girl to come out on the floor beneath the fairies.

Jeffery quickly transfigured his shoes and changed the fabric of his pants into something that he could dance properly in. Of the boys present, he was the one who was best at ballet – it was a dance that Kris, Ax and Saul all refused to go near and which Adam would never be brilliant at.

Jeffery spun out to join Tanya as her partner in this dance, and together they pulled off several amazing lifts, although at one stage when Tanya came into for a leap, Jeffery just caught her and hugged her to his chest, then grinned down at her, "Try that again," he muttered to her, and they did.

All of them stuffed up several times, since it had been a long time since they had danced together and they had never heard the music that was playing now. Several students of other schools looked at one another and transfigured their own clothing to come out and join the group of Australians on the dance floor, but ballet was not something that the majority of the people gathered here seemed to know very well.

Celestina Warbeck was on stage, using her own sorcery to lighten people's hearts, rather than something like that dramatic display that the Australian's had put on earlier. She had had a long conversation earlier with Jacque and Jeffery about what was going on with Sorcery at Kallaix these days – she had graduated from the school some ten years previously, but still remembered a lot of the teachers.

As the clock neared the strike of midnight, Justine excused herself from her present company and slipped away out of a side door, heading for the clearing where she was to meet Draco. Isaac and Daniel, who had been watching her closely all night, nodded to one another and followed her out of the room to see where she was going.

Unnoticed by them, James noticed them leaving, which also drew his attention to the fact that Justine had left. He too excused himself from his companions and headed after them, wondering what business his girl might have with the two boys from sixth year. Surely she had more taste than to cheat on him with them.

He found her a few minutes later alone in a clearing, sitting on a stump that loosely resembled a bench. She was completely alone – obviously Daniel and Isaac had gone somewhere else after following Justine from the room. He walked into the clearing and sat down in front of her.

She looked up with a smile, but it faded the minute she saw him. What, had she been expecting someone else? After her display earlier tonight? "Don't try to play coy Justine, I know that you were singing for me about lust and love earlier tonight, and it was perfect … but you never lost my love, and you have no need to be sad about anything in our relationship – it's perfect."

Justine looked up at him, seeming confused, "I wasn't singing for you. I don't love you James, I wouldn't sing for you! I was singing for Draco."

"Oh, so you love him do you?"

"Yes!" Justine exclaimed, frustrated. She didn't want to love him, but it was hardly something she could help, was it? The moment she said it, she knew it was a mistake, and she got up to get out of here, realising suddenly how very alone she was out here – if he attacked her …

James slapped her across the face, hard. "Slut! You're mine!" James spat at her. Justine's vision blurred with tears of rage and remembered pain. It was here, two years ago, that Draco had done the same thing … it had been as false an accusation then as it was now. She turned and ran, because her magic could not protect her now, and she had to get to Kris – Kris would make everything better. Her Magai powers were crashing against the confines into which they had been forced, and she wished suddenly that Harry's magic wasn't as strong as it was. She knew that her powers would not be able to break free until Harry allowed them to.

James caught her arm in a vicious grip just as she reached the edge of the clearing and she gave voice a little shriek as he spun her around and punched her in the stomach. She stumbled to her knees, winded and he grabbed her by the throat, forcing her up against a tree, his fingers biting into the delicate skin of her neck.

---

Draco was sitting at one of the tables, considering trying to get drunk again as midnight struck, and it was there that Harry found him. "Draco! What are you doing here! It's midnight!" Harry exclaimed.

"She's not going to come," Draco replied morosely.

"No, she just cried through your song for no reason at all! Of course she's going to be there – get your ass out there now Draco, before you lose your chance for ever," Harry told him sarcastically, pulling Draco to his feet and propelling him in the direction of the door.

Draco hurried a little until he was out of the door, then slowed to a dawdle to try and put it off. Suddenly he heard a scream from the direction of the clearing – a female scream … it was Justine! She was there! His face brightened, then darkened again – she'd screamed. Something bad was happening. He took off at a run for the clearing.

---

Although he didn't know it at the time, Daniel and Isaac had by this time reported to Kris, who had found Ax and Jeffery and was heading outside to make sure that Justine didn't get hurt out there. James's friends had told Kris that the other boy was missing, and Kris was worried about his Bunny … if James hurt her, he was dead.

Suddenly the back of his watch started to burn, and he gave a soft hiss – Justine really was in trouble. It was there that he kept the sensor the necklace around Justine's neck, something that would warn him when she was in danger and that would guide him to her so that he could protect him. With a yell, the boys took off in the direction of the clearing that Isaac and Daniel had told them about.

---

Draco raced into the clearing and snarled softly, a sound of animal fury that would have frightened anyone who heard it. Justine was lying on the ground, desperately trying to fight off the boy that he recognised as one of the Kallaix students – he was trying to rape her.

The boy suddenly punched her in the side of the head and she lost consciousness. Draco leapt into the clearing and threw out his hand, sending negative black energy in a wave straight for the other boy, who was thrown off Justine just as Kris, Ax and Jeffery thundered into the clearing, with the sounds of someone else following behind them.

"James! You're dead!" Kris yelled at James and launched himself straight for the other boy, sending him off his feet and landing on James's chest, punching him in the face repeatedly. Draco and Ax were trying to wake Justine up while Jeffery prowled dangerous towards Kris and James, pulling Kris off the other boy, then kicking James viciously in the side, making James curl up in a ball around the wounded area.

"You should have realised James … Justine said she was over you – you should have respected that. You should have realised that if you didn't take the hint, we would have made you, that if you hurt her, we would kill you… what gave you the right to touch her? You will die James – but not tonight. I want to see your life in ruins first," Jeffery informed the boy on the ground. Jeffery was coolly holding onto the back of Kris's shirt while the football player tried to attack James again. "Leave him alone Kris. He's not worth your time."

At that moment Mark came crashing into the clearing, obviously also summoned by Justine's necklace, which now hung limply from one of her wrists. With him was Harry, who had been talking to him when he felt the call. "I need you to get everyone out of this clearing, right now! Draco … I think you should stay."

"Why should he stay!" Kris demanded.

"I'm about to release the dark magic held inside of her – Draco has the same magic, he will be able to sit through it and protect her. I cannot – the moment I release the spell, we all need to be as far from here as possible, and getting farther away as fast as we can," he looked at Draco. "When she wakes up, she's going to be hurting. When she calms down enough that she won't destroy anything that comes near her, take her back to the boat. Don't bring her back to the party, whatever you do."

Kris looked at Mark, Jeffery and Ax. "Ok, let's get out of here," he said, and walked started towards the edge of the clearing.

Harry gave them a look, "Take James to," he told them.

"Why?" Kris demanded.

"Because if he stays here, he will die."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Kris remarked.

"If I don't release the power that Justine is holding within her, she could die, and I won't release it until James is out of here. Is that clear, Kris? I will not cause his death, no matter what he might have done. Now get him out of here so I can release Justine's power."

Muttering under their breath, Ax and Kris walked over to James, who didn't seem to possess the ability to move, and hoisted them up between him, utterly ignoring his half-formed protests. "If you don't shut up, we'll drop you and you can deal with the consequences on your own," Kris informed him, and he promptly shut up.

Harry turned back to Justine and Draco, and found Draco sitting on the bench-like log, with Justine held gently in his arms. "I'm ready when you are," Draco told Harry.

Harry smiled at Draco, thinking what a cute picture these two might have made – at least, if Justine hadn't been unconscious and Draco wasn't looking so grim. "Ready or not," Harry muttered under his breath and tapped into his powers. To touch his magic was pure joy, to feel it racing through his body, waiting on his command was something that delighted him more than anything else. He had to be careful that he did not lose himself him the glorious power of his magic.

He extended his hands towards Justine, and the sparkling rainbow that was the visual effect of his power covered the gap between him and the unconscious girl, gently seeking out the spell made of his power that waited for him there. Before he removed his spell, he gently reached into her hurting mind with his magic and worked a delicate spell to stop some of the pain, and bring her back to consciousness.

Justine awakened to find her world seeming to be made up of a beautiful, gentle, amazing magic that made her feel better than she had in a long time, and she smiled. Then she felt her power within her, raging at the boundaries that had been placed there, and she winced a little. Around her, arms tightened protectively, and she snuggled into the safe, warm chest of the male she presumed to be Kristopher.

She wasn't sure where she was, or what had just happened, but she knew that Harry was about to release her power, and that it was going to be a powerful reaction. "Kris, you should go," she muttered, only half awake. The arms tightened further, and she felt the chest sigh in relief.

"I am not Kris. You are safe, Justine, and so am I," Draco! What was Draco doing here, and more importantly, why was he holding her?

"Relax Justine," Harry spoke now. "Draco has the same magic as you, and he will sit with you through the release of your powers – he can withstand their force, and I don't think it would be a good thing for you to stay here alone."

"OK," Justine said, feeling calmer than ever before. Something Harry had done, perhaps …

Then the rainbow magic that surrounded her, holding her gently, keeping her safe, condensed around her, then pulled rapidly back, and she felt her power rushing after the retreating magic, filling her mind and the air around her with negative black. She nearly cried at the loss of the beauty that had been there before, but within moments emotion was forgotten as she struggled to contain the rising powers.

The moment that he pulled his magic back, Harry started running as fast as he could out of the clearing and back towards the castle. Behind him he heard an inhumane scream of fury and despair, and when he glanced back, he saw a pillar of purple-black magic exploding into the sky, obliterating the stars.