Sadly, I can't take credit for the quote below, I stole it from a collection of banners by digitaljazz, who rocks btw. This chapter's a little on the short side, I know. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and even to the readers who haven't reviewed. You guys are all awesome, thanks again.

Chapter Six: Dancing With Wolves

You've got a secret smile and you use it only for me

A girl could fall in love

Don't let the stars get in your eyes

He's a heart breaker

My parents were, as usual, determined to have the knockout party of the season and so came about our annual New Years Masquerade. I wasn't very keen on them as the theme was hardly original, not to mention my date for the past two years had been Greg, and before that it was only other boys my parents found for me. This year however I was holding out the tiniest vestige of hope. Not only because I would be with Tom but because this was my last year as an under aged witch and there was a certain amount of confidence that came with that territory. As though I was suddenly so much closer to be really being an adult, rather than simply acting like one. And as adults were the majority of our party guests, it did mean something to me. Such a pity I had to burn the three invitations that had been made out for Gregory, Celeste, Jonathan and their families. After all, I couldn't have them storming up to my parents and stirring up trouble over Tom, not after all that I'd worked for. Not after all I'd achieved to win back the good grace of my family.

Mum and I went shopping for new robes and, as Tom hadn't had any money to bring with him, we explained that he had forgotten his own dress robes at home and needed to come with us as well since his parents had of course requested that the Floo Network disconnect their house whilst they were away.

The only robes Tom had ever owned or worn had been for school, so needless to say he was rather excited about purchasing dress robes for a formal occasion. The dilemma of him being without a knut of wizard's money was easily solved by my slipping him a bit of saved up allowance; 50 galleons in all, though I was sure the total wouldn't climb quite that steep.

Honestly, I don't know why the store assistants at Madame Malkin's had him try on six different colors of the robe style we picked out for my dirty blooded friend because I tried to tell them black was the way to go the second he tried it on first. Simple, elegant and a sure bet; it was exactly what we needed. Alas, I was forced to sit by the window and watch Tom model disgusting shades of puce and magenta (Merlin help me, I swear I gave it my all in trying not to laugh when he strut out in magenta. It wasn't my fault my attempt was unsuccessful.) while the female clerks blushed and gushed over how handsome he looked. Whether this annoyed me out of my own territorial nature, or because they seemed to be more dependant on giggling and dishing out compliments than breathing, I hadn't really felt like working out. I was starting to greatly agree with Miss Tabitha Townsend about a youth's hell consisting of knowing you're right and being brushed off anyway.

Either way we went with the black and I left Madame Malkin's giving my mother a rather large attitude I knew I'd pay for later. Her own robes were relatively easy to find, as were my own. Mother went with a dark blue gown trimmed in navy blue fur. It was nice, but I fancied my own something fiercer. The dark grey gown merited a black velvet border, hood and matching leather gloves. I adored it from the second it courted my eyes and so it was mine. Father already had his, a grey-green caftan with dark green satin borders. My pride couldn't have swelled much greater as I thought on the stunning choice in sophisticated fashion my family possessed. Tom seemed to think so as well, though at the time it never occurred to me that he may have been playing the sycophant.

An hour or so before the ball I barked at Shiny to finish up the French fold she was styling in my mother's blonde locks so she could get busy with the knotted chignon that would go in my own dark brown hair. I was anxious to see Thomas all done up in his robes. I wanted to make sure he looked alright and to get in some last minute reminders before putting him on display for the entire pureblooded population of Great Britain to judge. Finally, twenty minutes later I was able to start up to the guest room. Knocking swiftly, I was met only with, "Come in."

I did so and couldn't help but smile. He'd styled his hair as apposed to simply combing it back the way he usually did. The boy's eyes were looking brighter than ever and shone in contrast with his dark hair, darker robes and pale complexion. Turning from his mirror, Tom found his own smile, one that was much warmer than normal.

"Lydie love, you are a sight this evening."

"They're beautiful aren't they?" my gaze turned down at the skirt of my dress and I twirled on the spot. Once I was faced forward again I found Tom waiting for me suddenly just two inches away.

"It isn't the clothes you're wearing." his breath fell in warm, invisible tufts over my lips before they met his own. The heat of his hand seeped into the back of my neck and I pulled away sharply, laughing.

"You'll mess up my hair! The house elf's only just finished with it."

"Apparently you're not in a rush to repeat the experience." he smiled, still close enough to…

"I was just anxious to speak with you." a blush graced my cheeks at the thoughts that just flittered through my head. And here I was preaching etiquette. His eyebrow furrowed in amusement.

"Were you now?" again his hand began petting at my hair.

"Yes, I just…" my own hand came up to swat away his. My goodness he made it difficult for a girl to concentrate. "Keep your manners about you tonight, please."

"Everything'll be fine, I promise. You've seen me with our superiors." a smirk found his lips and I found myself licking at my own.

"I know…just don't forget to fix your napkin in your lap before you eat…and don't make any noise when you chew…don't walk too fast, but don't walk too slow…and don't stop smiling for a moment"-

"Lydia!" my name came out in a laugh, "My dear, don't you trust me?"

"Not entirely, no." I admitted as I stepped over to his windows. Of course, he only followed. Snow fell gently on the blankets that had already coated every bit of landscape for leagues. The windows were cold as the air outside and covered in fog from the warmth of the fireplace. Barely aware of it my hand strayed to the frozen glass panes as I looked out, longingly.

"You don't want to be inside tonight do you?" Tom's voice was low in my ear. So honest, he really seemed to care. I should have remembered then, a real Slytherin only ever seems to care.

"It's just so clear out." I pouted, "The clouds are moving fast and during the winter it's usually overcast every night. I want to go out and look at the stars, I want to go flying."

"It's too cold."

"Then we'll freeze." I sighed.

"Might we be seen? There's a muggle village just down the valley beyond your woods."

"We could walk the border of the woods until we're too far west of the valley to be seen."

"You do not fear wolves at this hour?" I couldn't tell whether he was trying to discourage me

or if he was simply in awe of my passion.

"Isn't that the fun of life?" I turned around, resting a hand on his chest and playing with his collar a little in thought, "That at any moment such beautiful creatures could tear through the blinding dark and steal your life, just out of fright from the sight of their very eyes."

"That's fun for you?" his amused look seemed also to posses a kind of empathy, as though he knew what I meant on at least some level.

"The danger and the beauty so close together. Haven't you ever found it captivating?"

"Certainly my dear." he took my hand to his mouth, kissing the tip of my ring finger. "If you want we can leave the ball early."

"You're tempting me." I fought the smile his eyes were already feasting on.

"Of course, would you expect anything less?"

"Less than Thomas being a tease? Never." my tone was savagely mocking.

"I don't tease you, I'm serious."

I laughed, "Then you are simply mad because we could never."

"Why? You are scared of retribution yet you seek the company of wolves?"

"Never scared, only wary. And with reason. You may act the part Tom but you are no Pureblood. You don't understand our world any more than you can understand death." I said, pulling the last word out of a hat in hopes that he would just understand what I was telling him. I could swear a flash of red tainted the purity of his emerald eyes just then. But no, it had to be my own worked up nerves playing tricks on me.

"Tom, those people down stairs are more like wolves than you could possibly know. You're mother would be happy to tell you the tale I'm sure, were she alive. My intent here isn't to add insult to injury, only to try and make you see. Don't you see?"

His hand took my own once more, "You speak of beautiful creatures taking lives with the very sight of their eyes. Would you believe me if I told you I could show you such things, at Hogwarts?" a manic sort of passion had stirred up in his eyes now.

"At school?" a frown danced on my features. "But how is that even"-

His finger on my mouth shushed me tenderly as the smile returned to his own.

"I can't wait to tell you, but not tonight." his arm came to my side, gesturing for me to take it. "Tonight, we dance."

"Do you even know how to dance?" the giggle that rose there after couldn't be stopped and I had to admit I was in much better spirits.


New Years passed in a haze of Champaign, goose liver raviolis, ballroom dance and midnight canoodling. Tom's waltzing ability hadn't been beyond box stepping before that night, but by the time I was done with him we were sweeping across the marble floor as if we'd been dance partners for years. His capacity to learn things so quickly was astounding and Tom proved himself a most stunning pupil. Surely everyone else thought just as well since by the end of the night he'd succeeded in charming most of the guests and had danced with every pureblooded female aristocrat this side of Wiltshire. When he left my side I couldn't find it in me to mind, possibly because my date was brown nosing women in their late forties, but more or less because it was bloody amusing. Here was a mudblood orphan, the likes of which I had treated as dirt for the past 5 or 6 some odd years, in the DelaTorre mansion captivating pompous gentry with more prejudice in their blood than magic.

Things were back to quiet after the ball. I tended to keep to myself, studying and napping, finishing essays and downing plenty of tea to keep me awake. My parents didn't bother me since they were busy keeping up with their own affairs and Tom was kept busy as well, though it wasn't clear to me with what. I had been under the impression that his prep had been taken care of before Christmas yet still he was just as shut up in his room, absorbing one book after another, as I was. Crazy bugger…

My dreams returned once or twice but it was becoming hard to remember any of my dreams at all. That was simply going back to normal I supposed, but why had they gone from vivid to murky? It was strange, my entire sleep pattern had shifted. I didn't wake in the middle of the night anymore as I had since before I could remember, I couldn't recall my dreams and my parents seemed to be suffering from the odd memory recollections that I had experienced at Hogwarts. I was sure something was going on but Tom was determined to set me straight and keep my mind from wandering into hysterics. At the time I had been grateful and took it as a sign that perhaps he genuinely could be trusted.

On the 16th of January, the night before we went back to school, he visited me in my room for the first time. I had only been to his own quarters throughout the holidays and he smiled when he saw the color scheme for the first time: creamy white, light green and a few hints of gold. I had always been proud of my heritage and the house my ancestors had called home. He told me the room was brighter than he had expected, though as far as luxury his assumptions had not let him down. I had just smiled and shook my head, remaining seated at my desk as I watched him take full liberty to look around my chambers.

"You shouldn't assume so much." I told him playfully.

"I was right wasn't I?" a shrug fell from his shoulders.

"You're always right Tom," I snickered, "And if ever you aren't you don't rest until you have proved your point valid."

"Are you laughing at me?" his steps advanced him towards my desk.

"Yes, I believe I am." my stare was a jestful challenge as I looked straight up into his eyes.

"Well, that simply will not do." before his sentence had even been finished I was being tickled as he leaned forward from behind my chair to nimbly rove his long fingers over the sides of my torso. My laughter was broken by a shriek or two as he went on with his dirty work. I'd only ever been tickled by my family as a child and his actions had come as more than a surprise.

"Miss? Miss! Is Miss alright?"

"Tom…" I lost my voice in hysterical, wheezing laughter once more, "Tom!" I finally managed to shout, "Open the damn door for her, it's Shiny!"

"All right, all right," he chuckled, leaving my side as I caught my breath, "No need to yell."

The scrubby elf tumbled in and ran for my desk.

"Shiny is hearing you scream Miss! Is Miss Lydia alright?"

"Yes Shiny," I nodded still breathing a bit deep, "I'm fine, Tom was just…we were just practicing school work is all and Tom made a joke." He smiled brilliantly at her and nodded half as well. She gulped, looking back and forth between us with her great hazel eyes.

"If you is putting yourself in so much danger, to school you should not go Miss…Shiny has never liked it, always leaving the masters are and for what? To be in danger where Shiny can't help them…" her voice trailed away very slowly as the somewhat stunned house elf made her way down the hall. She was a good elf, just more protective than my own parents. I already had one mum, I certainly did not need another. What was she so worried about anyway? As if there were even a remote chance of some kind of threat at Hogwarts, I was fully capable of handling myself.

Tom leered at me from the door way.

"Shiny is hearing you scream, Miss Lydia!" his imitation of Shiny's high pitched squeaky voice sent me into another boatload of hysterics.

"Stop it, she means well you know." I was still half laughing when I forced the words out.

"I know," he sauntered back to my desk, "But what does she honestly think she can do if something were to happen to you?"

Dipping for more ink I answered him, "House elves have terrific magical ability, didn't you know?"

"Yes, but they aren't permitted to use it unless their masters tell them so, and I'm sorry but if you're lying passed out on the floor it's a bit late for that."

"Well, that's what I've got the heir of Slytherin for." I smiled at him for a moment.

"To watch you pass out and then tell your house elf she's allowed to help?" he chuckled.

I looked at him flatly, "Ho ho, very funny."

"Speaking of funny, you don't get tickled very often, do you?"

"Not particularly, if you were looking to catch me off guard you did well."

"Care to go at it again?"

"You stay away from me," I pointed my quill at him wand like, grinning.

"Or what? You'll ruin my shirt with ink stains?" again his fingers ran up and down my sides, occasionally stopping off along the skin under my jaw and arms. "Dear God, I think she's enjoying herself!" his words only provoked the laughter flowing like a waterfall from my mouth. "You can't laugh Lydie, Shiny might think you're dying!" He was laughing now too and I could barely breath. I'd fallen from my chair some moments ago and was now writhing as he continued his relentless attack on my torso. Finally he began to let up as my complexion took a turn towards reddish purple from lack of oxygen. We fell back, laying panting on the floor, my breathing considerably more labored than his own.

"Well there we are, you taught me to dance and I taught you to have a good laugh for no reason at all, we're square." he said in a breathy chuckle.


Two days later found us back at school and back to classes. We turned in our work and received high marks much to my relief. A worry that perhaps the stress of having a mudblood in the house might have messed with my work's potential had been growing in the back of my mind. Our teachers didn't hesitate to pile more work onto our plates afterwards however, which was only expected.

Tom shut himself up in his dorm around the clock for a good week, doing what I could only guess. He didn't even come down to meals and two afternoons in a row he skipped class all together. It was no bother to me however, as he could only serve as a distraction from my work nowadays and that was the last thing I needed in my second to last year at Hogwarts.

Amelia Tresky was back in the bathrooms when lunch came around. On and on her mouth would chatter away about the holidays and I could barely concentrate on applying make up while finding the strength in me not to jinx her beyond all reason. That's why, when the poor idiot managed to get her foot stuck in one of the toilets somehow, I quite honestly wasn't about to abandon my personal bathroom time just to answer her pathetic cries for help. If she was smart enough, she'd flood the bathroom by flushing her toilet enough times.

'That ought to catch some one's attention.' I laughed to myself as I left her there helpless.

Tom was missing from class after lunch for the third time that afternoon and once more went unseen at supper as well. By now no one really cared, as we all were sure he had been keeping his nose buried in more books, or perhaps on duty doing something…prefect-y. But when the castle underwent a lockdown and our head of house came to call on the common room following supper I wondered different.

"There was a mudblood girl attacked this evening during dinner. While the loss isn't substantial, Headmaster Dippet is right to have the school put under alert. We do not know what caused the attack and it is most certainly still roaming about the castle. Everyone is to remain in their dormitories until we are sure that the hallways are safe. No one is to leave without permission from a teacher. The prefects are in charge until we've finished scouting the castle. Simmons, Blarney, come with me." Professor Sator beckoned our head girl and boy to aid him with patrols and in a swirl of robes whipping out the door, they were gone.

I must admit it was extremely difficult to sit and watch as Tom stood guard of the door with our other prefects, two purebloods, and another mudblood Theresa Green. Whether he knew anything about the attack I wasn't sure, I only wanted someone to talk to about it. I doubted he could know anything anyway, he hadn't been seen for days.

Who could it have been? Was she dead? Sator had only said she'd been attacked…but he'd also said that it was a loss. A battle began between what I had been taught all my life and the feelings I was being forced to realize in the face of real tragedy. I looked down at dirty blood, of course. It was the basis of my world. But I was sure I had never wanted any of them dead…


The embers in the grate, though still brightly aglow like a bleeding sunset, were dying in the face of the late hour. I was one of the few who had stayed in the Slytherin common room past 10pm. My entire house had taken quite a fright at the news of the attack, or lack of news as it were. Nothing more had been said to us and we were all of us anxious to know exactly what was going on.

Finally, a few moments after the bells tolled midnight Sator and his troops marched back into the common room. He barked at the prefects to get to bed and for me to follow. Catching Tom's hand on the way, I whispered for him to meet me back there in five minutes. Each of us waited on our separate staircases until we heard our head of house leave for his own quarters before slowly creeping down once more.

"Tom, what's going on?" I blurted out the moment I saw him, "Who was the girl that got attacked?"

"No one, just a mudblood girl." he shrugged and took a seat by the fire.

"And you're just a mudblood boy!" I was shaking, but barely. My eyes were wide and livid. He didn't quite grasp how much this had affected me until that moment. "It could have been you…" I said softly.

He took my hand and pulled me to sit with, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"Is she dead?" I asked, my voice high and shaky. My blue eyes stared fixedly into the fading fire.

"Yes." his whisper seemed so soft I'd wondered if my ears had deceived me for half a moment.