A/N: Phew, it's been AGES since an update, and by ages I mean months 00; I hope you die-hard fans didn't give up on me! School started and I kinda got distracted from fan fiction and blah blah blah… but now that Christmas break is coming up, I figured I'd try to start up again. Since I disappeared from the fanfiction world, I've thought up about three new possible Harry Potter storylines, one action/romance, and the other two humor/parody. I predict this story… I COULD possibly finish it by January if I decide to persist with this, so I hope you all stick with me And without further ado, the next installment of "Forgotten!"
Chapter 10: The Dance
Harry guessed that you could have cut the tension in the air of the Gryffindor common room with a knife. He was almost attempted to pull out his wand and double check, but he decided against it. Almost every boy taking a girl to the dance in years five through seven were mulling around in the common room, waiting. Most of the boys had fought over which girl they would take, or secretly had angry feelings towards the boy who got the girl before they did. Harry wondered if the girls were having this big a problem. He slouched down further in his chair with a sigh.
Draco and Zacharias stood on either side of him, Zacharias glancing at his watch every now and then. Draco seemed a bit more relaxed than Zacharias, but judging by the far-off look in his ice blue eyes, Harry knew there was something big on his friends' mind. Suddenly there were footsteps from the girls' dormitory steps. Every boy in the room practically jumped up, but it turned out to be just a second-year girl on her way to the library.
"Hey, kid, what's taking all the girls up there so long?" Zacharias asked the second-year. The girl shrugged and rolled her eyes.
"I dunno… they must have really killer costumes I guess," she said, continuing on her way out the portrait hole. Zacharias sighed and leaned back against the back of the couch, his flowing black and red velvet Dracula cape flowing around him. He moodily took out his fake fangs and wiped his mouth. Draco crossed his arms, the slight frown on his face half covered by the patch over his right eye that went with his pirate costume. Harry wondered if his friends would be able to move in their costumes. He himself had just worn his qudditch robes and bewitched them to look as if he was on the Chudley Cannons.
After several more minutes of waiting, some girls finally came down the dormitory stairs. They were not Pansy, Luna, or Susan, but at least it gave the boys a sense of relief.
It was Susan who first emerged from the dormitory steps. When Harry caught a glimpse of her, his breath caught in his throat. She was absolutely beautiful. She looked nothing like the tom-boyish girl who was a star chaser on the qudditch team. Susan was dressed as a woodland fairy. She had a forest-green colored short-skirted outfit. She had translucent green wings protruding from her back, and had cast a charm that made sparkles float around her in a mysterious way. Her hair was done up on top of her head in an elegant fashion, with pieces spilling out the sides and back. All in all, Harry could almost not believe it was the same girl.
"Wow… now I know why they were taking so long," Harry murmured with a grin, standing up to greet Susan. They met at the bottom of the stairs, and Harry taking her hands. "You look… amazing!" Harry stammered, realizing how plain he looked compared with her.
"And you look like the next seeker for the Chudley Cannons," she said with a mischievous grin. Harry let out a low laugh.
"Sorry my costume is so... lame," Harry said slowly. Susan let out a laugh.
"I don't care about the costume, you're all that matters," she said sweetly, linking arms with Harry. They walked over to where Draco and Zacharias were standing.
"Hey, what's taking Pansy so long? Is she okay?" Zacharias asked Susan.
"Oh don't worry," Susan said, rolling her eyes. "She'll be down in a few minutes... same for Luna," Harry and Susan sat down on one of the couches, deciding to wait for their friends to go down to the Great Hall.
Luna emerged about three minutes later, and she was even more breathtaking than Susan. She had dressed as a water fairy, and her costume was the same as Susan's, only blue. Draco wasted no time in pulling her into a deep, sweet kiss when she reached the bottom of the dormitory steps. Zacharias sighed deeply and glanced at his watch again. Everyone else had gone down to the Great Hall by now, and they were the only ones left.
"Don't worry, Pansy's almost finished," Luna said, leaning against Draco. And sure enough, Pansy came down the dormitory steps just a minute later. She was the biggest shock of all. She had dressed as a fire fairy, so her main color was red. She had gotten some wild extensions for her hair, and she looked nothing like the best friend Harry knew. Harry noticed Draco's jaw drop lower and lower as Pansy descended the stairs. When she reached the bottom Harry was relieved to find she just took Zacharias' hands and did not notice the fact that Draco's mouth was hanging open.
"Sorry I took so long! These stupid hair extensions are a bother... oh man, the whole common room is empty! Well we best be off," Pansy said, tugging Zacharias towards the exit. Harry, Susan, Draco, and Luna followed them out the portrait hole and into the candlelit hallway.
A few minutes later the six teens entered the Great Hall. The large room had been completely re-done, but Zacharias and Pansy just grinned as the others oohed and ahhed at the transformation.
"The committee really did a fantastic job!" Susan said.
"Yeah, this place looks great," added Luna. Neon lights, black lights, disco lights, and other crazy colored lights filled the room, spinning and swirling everywhere. The sides of the hall were lined with tables and tables of food. The back portion of the hall was filled with tables, all with a neon glowing centerpiece. The front of the hall held a large wooden dance floor. The DJ was set up beyond that. He had obviously just started playing music, for there were few kids on the dance floor.
"Well it looks like we were only fashionably late," Pansy said with a grin. "Come on Zach, I'm starving," Pansy said, pulling Zacharias towards the food table. Luna turned to Draco and took his hand.
"Let's dance!"
"Sounds good to me," Draco said, following Luna to the dance floor. That left Harry and Susan standing alone in the neon lit room, not sure of what to do. They both turned to each other and started talking at the same time.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You go ahead," Susan said, clasping her hands together.
"Oh no, no, you go ahead, I don't care what we do," Harry said with a nervous shrug. Susan looked around the large room.
"Well, I think we should get a table, they seem to be filling up fast," Susan said. Harry nodded, and the two found a table with six seats, just in case the others came back.
"This is certainly... erm... cozy," Harry said nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah..." Susan said. There was another few moments of awkward silence, when all of a sudden Susan turned to him.
"Harry, I know dances aren't your thing, and they sure as hell aren't mine. So what do you say let's just forget about embarrassment and forget about nerves and just have fun!" Susan said in a quick rush. Her eyes poured into Harry, and he smiled.
"You read my mind," he said, standing up. Susan stood up after him and the two looked each other in the eye. "I'm glad you got that out of the way. Care to dance?"
"Why thank you Mister Potter," Susan said with a grin, taking Harry's hand as the two hurried to the dance floor.
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They danced for awhile, Harry was not sure quite how long, but by the time the music stopped and the DJ said he'd be back for another set in about ten minutes, Harry felt like he knew Susan Bones a whole lot better. They were much more open and definitely not shy anymore, but not as quite upfront as Luna and Draco were.
They walked hand in hand to a nearby table that Pansy and Zacharias had managed to claim, and collapsed into chairs with breathless laughter. Luna and Draco already sat there, drinking butter beer.
"Mad DJ you guys got," Drano said, running a hand through his hair.
"I don't think I've ever danced that much in my LIFE!" Susan said breathlessly, glancing over at Harry.
"Me either," Harry said with a laugh, casually reaching over and grasping Susan's hand.
"And this food is great," Luna said, taking a bite of what seemed to be a pastry of some sort.
"Well we try our best," Zacharias said with a smile, looking over at Pansy. Pansy looked down at the ruby and diamond necklace that had caused everyone so much trouble earlier.
"Zach, I cannot get over how well this matches my costume! It's like... you knew what I was going to go as to the dance before I did!" Pansy said smiling.
"Well it's not exactly out of your character to dress up as junk," an icy cold voice came from behind Pansy. The six whirled around to face the speaker, none other than a smirking Ginny Weasley, surrounded by Ron and several other Slithering.
"Weasley..." Drano muttered.
"What do you want?" Zacharias said, standing up to loom over Ginny.
"Oh, nothing... just wanted to congratulate you and throwing such a fantastic party!" Ginny said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I'd like to see you throw a party for the whole school... oh wait that's right... you're to busy making sure your devil horns don't show," Pansy said coolly. Ginny narrowed her eyes, and Ron stepped in front of his sister.
"Shut up Parkinson. As if you're one to talk about looks," Ron said.
"What, and you are?" Draco said, causing each of the Gryffindors to laugh.
"Just bugger off already," Zacharias said, waving his hand. Ron and Ginny scowled, frowns filling their pale faces. At a loss for words, the Weasleys and their Slytherin counterparts just stormed off, leaving the table of Gryffindors in a right mess of laughter.
"Nice one Draco," Pansy said with a smile.
"Ah, those dopes had it coming," Draco said. "There's no way they can spoil tonight," All of a sudden music began to pump through the room, and the teens turned to each other and hurried back out on the dance floor.
Harry was having a great time dancing with Susan, but for a few minutes he could not shake the words of the Weasleys out of his mind. For some reason, it still did not seem to him as if it would be something in their character to do. Diss his friend like that? But wait... THEY were his friends! Or maybe he was really hallucinating. Harry shook the thoughts away and began to dance more rigorously. Who cares if he thought that the Weasleys had been his friends? They weren't now. Now he was with Susan, Draco, Pansy, and everyone else... friends that were his for sure.
So Harry left his thoughts behind and literally danced the night away, until finally, quite awhile later, the DJ came to the last song of the night, a slow, romantic tune. The spinning neon lights slowed down, and Harry almost felt like everything was going in slow motion. He took Susan waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Harry could not recall slow dancing with anyone, although he guessed he probably had... or maybe he hadn't. It didn't matter, he was now.
He felt the distance between his and Susan's faces becoming smaller. He could see the sparkles scattered all across her face in more detail now. Harry pulled himself closer to her until finally their lips met. He was sure time stopped for this moment in his life, and when the kiss finally ended Harry was surprised to find the song had finished and people were beginning to leave the Great Hall.
"Oh I just love watching other couples, it's so cute!" Luna cooed, popping out from nowhere beside Susan and Harry.
"But isn't it a lot funner when it's you?" Draco said, putting his arm around Luna's waist and kissing her on the cheek. She laughed and nodded. "Well we're outta here," Draco said. "Night all," Draco and Luna waved goodbye, and hurried out of the Great Hall to go who knows where.
Harry caught a glimpse of Pansy as she watched Draco and Luna disappeared into the crowds. He could almost swear that she looked as if she were about to start crying, but all of a sudden Zacharias jumped in front of her and began talking. Harry shook his head and turned back to Susan.
"Well eh... wicked party, huh?" he said, shoving his hands into his quidditch robe pockets.
"Yeah. To bad everyday isn't like this," Susan said with a smile. "In a way, I'm kind of glad. I wouldn't really like to dress like this everyday," she said with a laugh. Harry laughed too, but secretly he wouldn't mind if she did dress like that everyday. Harry and Susan decided to walk back up to Gryffindor Tower, parting with Zacharias and Pansy who had to stay and clean up the mess leftover from the party.
Harry and Susan walked along the dimly lit hallways, not really noticing that no one else was milling around the corridors or walking back to their dormitories. The two were so wrapped up in the night and each other that it took them a few moments to realize the candles lining the corridors had all somehow been blown out, leaving them in complete darkness.
"Well this is brilliant," Harry said nervously.
"I never knew it was this dark in the castle at night," Susan said nervously.
"Don't worry, I've got it covered. Lumos!" Harry said, lighting the area. A wild, mangy face filled Harry's vision, and he was slammed against the castle walls. Susan let out a shriek and fumbled for Harry in the semi-darkness.
"Harry Potter! You musn't let yourself be fooled! Dreams do not last forever!" said the low vicious voice of the person who pinned Harry against the wall. Harry was too surprised and frightened to react quickly, or to take a detailed note of who it was pinning him against the castle walls. Before Harry could get his bearings, his lumos spell went out and the corridor was in complete darkness once again. Moments later the hall was illuminated once more, but the only people in it were Harry and Susan. Harry leaned against the right side of the wall, and Susan stood a few feet away in the middle of the corridor.
"Oh, Harry!" Susan asked, throwing her arms around Harry. "I'm so glad you're okay. What... who was that? And what did they mean?" Harry awkwardly put his arms around Susan and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"I... I don't know," he said slowly. Harry was now as confused as he had been the day he woke up and accused his friends of being his enemies and vice versa. Perhaps he was dreaming again, and this whole night had been just a dream? But as he looked down at Susan, he realized that he did not want this to be a dream. He would face his problems... whether he understood them or not. But for the moment he just stood there in the hallway hugging Susan, not sure what would happen to him next.