Chapter Twenty-Nine
Keeping in Step
Ray stepped into Frank's room to see Frank and Asher had hunkered down with some pizza, deciding not to risk going out again that evening.
"Is he gone yet?" Frank wanted to know.
"No, I don't think so," Ray said. "I asked Dean Elk if he'd seen him, and he said he saw Severus playing in the garden with Jennifer..."
"Playing in the garden," Asher repeated, and Ray sighed and attempted to ignore him.
"And then I ran into Lav when she was on her way to dinner, and from what she said, it sounded like he was planning on staying over," Ray went on.
"Staying over..."
"Asher, would you cut that out? Especially the way you say it, you're such a toad!" Ray snapped at him.
"Make that a horny toad. Have some pizza," Frank suggested.
"Besides, if the two of you were that worried about what his response might be to that dossier, maybe you shouldn't have put it up in the first place," Ray told him.
"It's worth the risk," Asher decided. "I've moved up into the top ten contributors now, and you should see the followers I've gotten since putting it up. I even got a text from the guy who did the dossier on 14."
"Wow, seriously? 14?" Frank gawked.
"Yes, and she's just my type too: easy. See?" Asher said, and Frank went over to the computer to stare at the screen.
"Would you two just grow up?" Ray snapped, looking through the pizza boxes until he found the one he wanted. "I think it's time you let that site cool off for a while, don't you? Especially considering how quickly that dossier is moving up the list. If it gets too high, it's more likely that someone is going to see it who knows her, you know."
"Don't worry about that, the 'off limits' ones never break the top fifty," Frank informed him.
"That's good, because there doesn't get any more off limits than being married to the most powerful wizard on the planet," Ray said dryly.
"Do I hear a hint of irritation there?" Frank noted tauntingly. "Whether you want to admit it or not, Ray, you have a thing for her too."
"Did you even hear what I just said?" Ray snapped.
"I can't blame him for being grumpy," Asher said, propping his head in his hand. "Jennifer is one of the hosts for Rose quarter. That means they're probably right above our heads at this very moment, spending time together. We can only imagine what they must be doing right now," he murmured wistfully.
As Frank got a pillow and threw it at him, Ray rolled up a full slice of pizza and stuffed it in Asher's mouth.
Leu crawled out of the Sparring Ring, helped out by Ginny Potter, while Diana stood up and brushed herself off before walking out on her own. He had won that match; but for some reason, it didn't feel much like winning.
"Two for two against Diana! Well done, mate!" Keir said, enthusiastically and gave him a clap on the back that made Leu cringe again. "If you keep winning like that, you may get laid up in the Hospital Wing more long term!"
"Yes, alright, that'll do, Mr. Box," Ginny warned, helping Leu to the bench to look him over before rolling her eyes and taking him to the Hospital Wing. From the bench, Charles and Amy watched as she walked him out, noticing that she was holding up his wand arm as if he had done something to it.
"I can't believe Rel let that match keep going after he hit the mat like that. I wonder if he dislocated his shoulder," Charles whispered softly. "I'm glad I'm in Andrew's match tonight."
"I'm in Auror Snape's, but he doesn't seem to be letting any of the other matches go as far... see?" Amy pointed out, and the two of them looked up as Culver was benched for using a spell not approved for first years. "Other than that one match, he's been following Andrew's club rules."
"Ginny and Sagittari have always been pretty accepting of how rough Diana plays for some reason, while I've heard them both come down on everyone else for unsafe play. I've even heard Sagittari come down on the staff on occasion for not stepping in sooner," Charles said. "I wonder if it's like Lucky at all? I mean, Lucky used to get away with stuff all the time in school, she had a lot of aggression issues because she had an abusive father."
"I'm sure that's not the reason behind it," Amy said.
"Well, something is, or the staff wouldn't be looking the other way..."
"Chuck Willowby! Are you coming or did you want to forfeit?" Andrew called out, and Charles quickly jumped up, realizing that both Andrew and Aurelius were looking at him now, along with a great deal of the other club members as he hurried over to take his place in the ring.
Friday afternoon, Chuck walked to the library with copies of Hogwarts, a History and Hogwarts, a History Addendum that he borrowed from Professor Weasley, going towards the Owl Room to work on the museum project with Amy.
Sitting at a small table near the window was Leu and Diana, having their planned study date, and Chuck found himself slowing down to stare at them, because Diana was smiling. It wasn't that she didn't smirk and even snigger on occasion, especially when she was winning at something, but it was quite rare to see Diana show more expression than that, and right now she was showing a lot of it. In fact, she didn't seem to be acting any different than any other witch in that castle behaved when they studied with a boy that they particularly liked. It was so different than what he was used to seeing from her, it made her normal behavior seem all the more strange...
"Have you forgotten where the door is, Chuck?" Librarian Boulderdash asked, and Charles suddenly realized he had almost run into the scroll rack. Grimacing sheepishly, he took a step over and went into the Owl Room.
Lavender took one look at Jennifer and marched her back up into the Gazebo.
"You can't go to the dance in that! How could you even dance in that dress? And what's with all the buttons, anyway?" she asked critically.
"Actually, this is the dress I have with the least amount of buttons," Jennifer admitted.
"Well, the dress makes you look like you're a vampire afraid of getting sunlight on you. I know Brenda suggested to dress conservative, but there are limits, you know," Lavender complained. "You can tell you're not from around here! You're better off going in school overalls than that, at least then you can dance. Do you have any black leggings? If you do, I'm sure I can cover the rest."
"Well, yes, but I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of dancing, especially when Severus isn't here," Jennifer said firmly. "I'll watch the punch bowl."
"We don't even use a punch bowl anymore, Jennifer! We have drink dispensers!" Lavender replied, Jennifer scrunching up her face at that.
Soon she found herself being pushed into Lavender's room for a quick fix. An argument quickly ensued as to how low of a neckline was acceptable, and under no circumstances was Jennifer going to have her shoulders uncovered. But somehow, after finding a black shirt that had skimpy yet present short sleeves covered in a small bit of black lace, Lavender was somehow able to coax Jennifer into it despite the fact that it was definitely tighter than she liked. Well, at least the neckline wasn't so low that it made her feel uncomfortable, Jennifer mused, and it did show off her heart locket.
"I look like I'm ready to go burgle a building or something," Jennifer said critically. "It rather looks as if I'm in a leotard... and wearing this much black makes my skin look too pale."
"Goodness, you are pickier than Hanna is! Here, put this green skirt on," Lav insisted.
"This is a skirt?" Jennifer said dubiously. "I've seen shorts longer than this. I'd rather wear the leggings."
"No, no, put this over the leggings, silly!"
"I think it's silly to wear both!"
"Just trust me!" Lavender said. "Or at least humor me!"
"I swear... nobody had better be bringing a camera to this thing, Lav. If Severus saw this, I would never in a hundred years live it down," Jennifer complained, putting the skirt on, then realized it covered her hips. "You're right, this does look better," she admitted. Lav grinned.
"Do you have any earrings or bracelets that's going to go along with this stuff? Something flashy, maybe."
"Well, I don't know about flashy, but I definitely have a lot of jewelry," Jennifer replied.
"Good, then go take care of that so I can get ready," Lavender said, nudging her out the door.
A bit reluctant to go out in the hall, Jennifer hurried over to the stairwell and ran up the stairs, grateful that most of the students preferred to use the Floating Gazebo instead. She slipped into her room and shut the door, walking over to the Rogue Painting, who stared at her. Then he signed, asking her who she was.
"Yes, that's very funny, Rogue. Lavender talked me into some American fashion tonight... and don't you dare tell Severus about it, you know how he would tease me," Jennifer said. The Rogue agreed, believing that his real self would have very good reason to. "Just ask him to stick my jewelry box in my Chest Cloak, will you? I need to finish getting ready for this silly dance thing tonight." The Rogue squinted and gestured again. "No, of course I'm not dancing. I'll just... find some dark corner to stand in. I should blend right in with this getup." The Rogue glanced at her flashy green skirt dubiously and shook his head, but stepped out of the painting to run his errand.
After waiting a few minutes, Jennifer opened the pockets on her cloak, somehow managing to get her jewelry box through it. But as she set it on the bureau, she paused when she saw there was a note attached to it and she took it off thoughtfully.
Jennifer ~ I really don't know what the Rogue is going on about at the moment, but ignore him. You're beautiful no matter what you're wearing. ~S.
Beaming happily, Jennifer carefully folded up the note and put it inside her jewelry box to keep it safe, then decided on going with Lav's advice and went with a pair of twisted green earrings that Lucky had bought her when she was a girl. Finally she had an excuse to wear them, Jennifer thought with amusement, putting on her Charm Bracelet, and on a whim, grabbed the chain with the little black potion bottle and wore it along with her locket, feeling a lot more confident as she walked out the door.
Several students went down in the Gazebo with her, greeting her with "hi" or "hello" before going back to their conversations, some in whispers and others in excited, overly loud voices. They stepped off and went in different directions, despite the fact that Jennifer knew that they all had the same destination. Jennifer was certain she knew a trick or two about navigating the gardens that they didn't, and managed to get there well before them. She walked over to Kay before the students arrived, grinning at them with amusement when they finally made it.
The room had a very fall-heavy theme in the decorations; giant silk leaves were hanging from the ceiling near the doors, casting gold and red lights across the floor. Hay bales and scarecrows were in a couple of corners as well as yellow, brown, and gold streamers, and the scent of pumpkin spice hung in the air. Quite a number of students were wandering around the lower dance floor still talking and meeting up with friends, while the ceiling dance floor was empty at the moment as they waited for the music to start up.
"Hey! Look at you! I kept thinking you'd come down in full robes or something," said Kay, who was wearing a brown satin dress that was much too high for Jennifer's tastes, and an orange sash. Kay's hair was uncharacteristically down and she had taken extra pains to tame it for the evening.
"Lavender ambushed me," Jennifer explained with a chuckle.
"You should get a drink before it gets crowded over there," Kay said, pointing to two glass dispensers and a stainless steel one, each one with a tap and paper cups nearby. "There's infused water, fruit punch, and the hot one has apple cider... oh, that doesn't have alcohol in it, I should say..."
"Yes, I remember," Jennifer assured her with a chuckle and walked over with her. Gretchen came up beside them, getting some water. It seemed she had opted for white leggings herself, and Jennifer was glad to see that she was wearing a gold skirt over them, feeling a bit less conspicuous after seeing that someone else had worn something similar.
"The room looks good, yes? I helped the student decorating committee put it together," she said.
"Yes, lovely," Jennifer agreed with a grin. She watched with interest as Asher Smith entered the room, wearing a white trench coat with a rhinestone version of the school crest on his back and gold lens goggles on his head. He walked right by them, intent on getting to the Wiztech tables long enough to throw on some music before stepping away from it. Then he checked the speaker setup and made sure the dance floor and dance ceiling was set up properly.
"Looks like Doc Smith is on the tables tonight, doesn't it?" Gretchen said with amusement.
"Yeah, these kids are pretty lucky," Kay chuckled. Jennifer gazed at her questioningly. "Usually Asher only does a Wiztech set during college dances and high school proms, so they're getting a treat tonight."
"What's Wiztech?" Jennifer asked curiously, and Kay rolled her eyes at her.
"It's dance music created through mixing recordings and adding elements to give it a new rhythm and interesting," Gretchen explained. "The kids are really into it these days."
"That sounds like it's going to be really loud," Jennifer decided.
"That's an understatement," Kay said, and Jennifer wondered if she should preemptively get out the earplugs she had brought with her. "Asher's the best Wiztech synth musician in the school, though, so I bet they're going to really enjoy it."
"Hey! There you are!" Lavender said, walking over to them. She was wearing a great deal of jewelry that flashed light across the dim room; even the pumpkin embroidered on her shirt had eyes that were glowing as if there was a flickering candle inside. She also wore a black skirt even shorter than Kay's, but with orange leotards underneath.
"What the students must think of us, seeing all their teachers all dressed up like this!" Jennifer exclaimed in surprise.
"Nah, they're used to it," Lav said with amusement.
"Where's Hanna at, Lav?" Gretchen asked.
"She'll be along. She had to work late, so I get to hang out with you guys for the first half hour," Lav said. "Hey, is Doc Smith in the box tonight?" Lav said, loud enough to get his attention. Asher used getting some water as an excuse to come look them over. "How did they rope you in on a middle school night?"
"I heard the decorations were going to be good tonight," Asher said with an enigmatic smile. "And as usual, it doesn't disappoint."
"Thanks," Gretchen said, while Lav and Kay both rolled their eyes.
"So you're doing the music tonight, Asher?" Jennifer asked. "I don't know what Wiztech is, exactly, but everyone was just telling me you're good at it."
"Yes, well, you know doctors. We're always good with their hands," Asher said. Lavender, Kay, and even Gretchen gave him a dirty look. "Any requests?"
"Maybe something that isn't loud," Jennifer said, chuckling to show she was joking. "I'm used to waltzes and classical music."
"Well, I don't know about the volume part, but I'll see what I can do about the other... if you dance to it," he said with a wink.
"I promise to listen," Jennifer said.
"She's afraid she's going to look silly if she dances," Lavender informed him.
"No, lady, you already know how to move. You just need to channel that energy out," Asher explained, doing a few simple moves himself. "Just be yourself. It'll be sexy."
"Oh, go back to your tables," Lavender suggested with a chuckle. "Just don't forget this is a middle school dance not a college rave and accidentally put on music with obscenities this time!"
"I won't. Frank is going to help with the light show and he promised to remind me," Asher said, half walking, half dancing his way back to his booth.
"Now that he's out of the way, I gotta say that I agree with him," Lav said with a grin. "You find your own groove, and you'll have every male in the place staring at you."
"All the more reason not to," Jennifer said firmly. "I'm not dancing without my husband present, and I'm certainly not dancing to modern music, even if it's Second Chance," she added for good measure when she noticed there were a few popular selections being played. "Besides, I don't like the idea of freestyle dancing anyway."
"Lav, show her some of your moves. Lav is a great dancer," Gretchen explained to Jennifer.
"Maybe when my date gets here," Lav decided.
"Uh huh," Jennifer said with a knowing smile. "Now you know how I feel."
"Oh, don't use that against me!" Lav protested, seeing that look.
"Ms. Craw!"
The teachers looked up as Truman ran up to them. "I have a problem!" Truman announced. "See, Becky Mason already made plans to go with friends, but she promised she'd dance with me later. But I don't know how to dance! If I screw up in front of all her friends, I don't think I can handle what everyone's going to be thinking afterwards. Can you show me? Quickly?" he asked in a panic. Jennifer groaned loudly, while Lavender laughed outright.
"Alright, Lav, you now have one panicked student and a reluctant one," Jennifer said resignedly.
"I'll help!" Kay said with a grin.
"I want to learn some new moves too," Gretchen put in.
As Truman and the group of teachers gathered around Lav, Brenda and Wind Elk walked in, watching them for a moment with amusement.
"I think Lav's got her work cut out for her this time," Brenda observed.
"When I see a group gathered in a circle imitating each other like that, I am never certain if they are doing a modern dance, or if they are attempting a Prairie Chicken Dance," Wind mused, earning another chuckle from Brenda.
Frank, who was staring at the group when he strode in the door, nearly bumped into the two of them and quickly excused himself with a chuckle on his way towards the booth where Asher was playing with his complicated board of knobs, wheels, sliders, bells, whistles, pulls, pushes, flashing lights, and displays next to several vinyl tables. At the moment, he was setting up records, flipping them over by holding each one between the palms of his hands and refusing to touch the surface.
"How long before we start?" Frank asked.
"Half an hour or so," Asher said. Frank didn't miss that when his eyes glanced up from the record, they went straight to the back of the room where Jennifer and her friends were playing around with dance moves.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say Lav was falling for her too," Frank confided.
"Gretchen doesn't seem to mind," Asher commented.
"Actually, I'm not so sure those two are going out any longer," Frank admitted.
"Huh. Interesting," Asher said, putting a record on the second table and kept his finger on a switch. "We'll have to watch that one then," he decided, switching over to the next table.
Down below, Jennifer and Truman were working some basic shuffle dancing when Wind finally walked over to them.
"Getting the hang of it, are we?" Wind asked with a smile.
"I don't mind this one, it's all footwork," Jennifer said, then smiled innocently. "Like a Stomp Dance."
"The feet only tell part of the story, Jennifer," Wind reminded her, wagging a scolding finger at her now that he knew what she was after.
"Perhaps you could show us," Jennifer coaxed, and the other teachers grinned at each other then back at Wind.
"Good luck, Jennifer. It's been a few years since we were able to coax him into that," Lav said.
"Then it's about time isn't it? After all, it is fall. The harvest is coming, the corn is growing," Jennifer pointed out with a sly smile.
"There's no corn in the garden," Kay said.
"Yes, there is," Jennifer, Lav, and Gretchen said at once.
"What? I've never been there," Kay pouted.
"I take it she's a fairly new hire," Jennifer said glancing at Kay then back at Wind. "You could lead a dance for Kay's sake, at least."
"What are you talking about?" Truman asked, gazing at Jennifer intently. "You're trying to talk him into a Cherokee dance with everyone? I can't do that!"
"You sure can. It's simple," Jennifer said. "Dean Elk does something and then we copy it. And he says something in Tsalagi, and we try to repeat it... and butcher his language with our attempts," she added mischievously. "Dean Elk, please. After all, I'll only be teaching the one year," Jennifer reminded him, giving him a beatific smile.
Back on the stage, Frank and Asher were watching them with interest.
"Is it just me, or is Jennifer actually over there flirting with Wind?" Frank murmured to him.
"She's so cute when she flirts, isn't she?" Asher said, watching them intently. "Why do you suppose she's doing it?
"Only one reason I can think of," Frank said. "Where's the drum and the sticks?"
"I hope the charms are still holding up, considering how long it's been," Asher said. Frank went to the back of the stage and pulled out a large drum, gesturing to Ray. Looking at the drum in surprise, he then saw Jennifer and the girls coaxing Wind, and Jennifer seemed to be on the verge of getting him to cave in. So he gestured for Luke to come over, while Kevin, who had been standing behind Wind and Brenda a moment before, ran over on his own, grinning.
"I think he's definitely going to do it," Kevin informed them.
"Good, because if he doesn't, we are all going to look like idiots," Ray said, using his wand to bring over some stools for all of them.
"I think I want to dance. I am going to be behind the tables all night," Asher decided. He handed Kevin his drumstick and hopped off the stage, rummaging in a box and taking several Cherokee rattles with him to pass out to some of the others.
"I think it's going to rain soon. These old joints are starting to creak like a rusted door..." Wind explained.
"Don't be silly, you're as healthy as I am," Jennifer said knowingly.
"Besides, I heard that my once favorite student said something about not dancing at all tonight because her husband isn't here," Wind pointed out.
"I'll make an exception in this case," Jennifer said. "Besides, everyone else is hoping you'll lead a dance too."
"I doubt these students are even aware of the ritual. What makes you think anyone would be interested?" Wind asked. But Jennifer smiled and pointed over to all of the wizards sitting by the drum. Ray hit the drum a few times for good measure, getting the students to look over curiously. "Ah, me! How am I to lead if my faculty is always one step ahead of me?" Wind asked with a chuckle.
"Well, this is one time that you have to lead, because none of the rest of us know what we are doing," Jennifer pointed out with a grin.
"Very well, Jennifer! But this is the only time this year," Wind said firmly, wagging his finger at her again.
"Come on, Truman," Jennifer said, "Come on, Lav."
"We're right behind you," Lav agreed with a grin.
Wind stepped into the middle of the floor.
The sound of a growling bear was enough to startle the students who were lingering nearby and made them take a few steps back. Asher fell in behind Truman with Lav, Gretchen, and Kay close behind him. Brenda and several other staff members, including Sharon Miller and Sue Williams, eagerly jumped in line, all of them attempting to coax other students to join in. Finally, Wind gestured, his hand moving up and down to signal a specific beat.
The wizards around the drum circle obligingly matched it, and when he was finally satisfied that they had it, he put his hand down and started what looked at first to be a shuffling walk. Saying something in his native tongue, the others in the line said the same words, and as he changed to a different step that moved them a little faster, the others joined in. It didn't take long for Truman and the other students to see that this was like a complicated game of follow the leader. And seeing that some of the teachers were having just as much of a hard time speaking the unfamiliar tongue as anyone, they decided to join in as Wind led them around in a circle. It went on long enough that everyone in the room began to join, and Wind intentionally led the circle right past the chairs so that both staff and other students could encourage those not participating to join in, managing to include everyone in the room in some fashion before the end. Then he began to spiral in, drawing everyone in the room as tight as they could go and still move before putting out a cry that signaled the end of the dance.
Everyone clapped in appreciation, and Jennifer rewarded Wind with a quick hug as they began to spread back out again.
"And you said you couldn't dance," Asher teased Jennifer.
"No, she said she didn't want to look silly," Lav pointed out.
"That didn't feel silly. It was fun! I've always wanted to do something like that," Truman said, and several of the other students around echoed that sentiment.
"All right, all right. You've had your cultural lesson for the evening. Asher, I believe the students are probably ready for the music of their present culture," Wind suggested.
"Right away, sir," Asher said, then glanced at Jennifer. "Classics?"
"Oh, yes, please," Jennifer agreed enthusiastically.
"Hm," Asher said with a knowing smile, walking over to his music devices.
"Heh, well this will be fun," Lav decided with amusement. "I bet you have no idea what a remix is, do you, Jennifer?"
"You mean like in Potions?" Jennifer inquired.
"That's what I thought," Lav said, and she pulled her over to the wall near where Asher, Frank, and Ray were.
Frank and Ray sat much lower than Asher and couldn't really be seen over the box of device, but apparently the students seemed a great deal more interested in what Asher was doing anyway.
He was, in fact, making a great play of standing in a heavy fog that was developing around his feet and the tables, and the room began to flash yellow, causing the students to rush up in a group to watch as Asher performed his own sort of ritual, making such a dramatic play at putting down his golden-lens goggles. The students went crazy with cheers when he finally put them on.
"Doc Smith is in the house!" he announced, and the students cheered again, and he began the Toccatta and Fugue.
Jennifer had heard the Fifth Floor Phantom play that Bach piece hundreds of times, and at first it started out as she expected... but suddenly and quite dramatically began to turn into something completely and wildly different as Doc Smith began to play with it, pushing it up so quickly and loudly that Jennifer at first had trouble picking out the melody. Slowly she got used to it, and found herself stunned in amazement, sitting close by to listen while the students and her friends danced. At some point, Lav's date had come in, and after an exchange of shouted introductions that neither her date or Jennifer could hear, they went back to enjoying the music. Swan Lake followed, and he somehow managed to make it sound even more dramatic as it intensified, and then the Wizard Waltz, being played so fast that she was sure that some of the students didn't know the original melody... come to think of it, they might not have known most of them, Jennifer thought with amusement.
She looked out into the crowd to see that Truman had found Becky Mason and was busy showing her some of what Lav and Kay had been teaching them. Looking amused by that, Jennifer watched them for a while before Kay and Gretchen came along and pulled her out of her chair, coaxing her to at least copy what they were doing and somehow managing to keep on her feet for the rest of the night.
Jennifer managed to get to her room completely exhausted, pulling a foot balm out of her cloak.
"Rogue, remind me the next time someone is planning a visit that I need to hand them a list of potions I need refilled," Jennifer said with a yawn, and she heard a violin note and looked up.
"Oh really? Is he up late, or early?" she asked, and he gestured again. "Yes, alright," she said and grabbed her contact mirror. "Get me Severus." It was only a moment before the mirror connected and Severus appeared. "Good evening, Severus! Aren't you up late? I thought there was a Hogsmeade trip tomorrow."
"I talked Andrew and Laura into chaperoning, so I don't have to drop by until later," Severus replied. "Any thoughts as to what we should get Leu for his birthday?"
"Speed flippers?" Jennifer suggested mischievously.
"I'm fairly sure that'd be cheating. And anyway, I still don't think he's figured it out yet, although he keeps going along with it any time she challenges him," Severus said. "However, Ravenclaw managed to beat Hufflepuff's football team tonight, so now she has to study with him again next week."
"She lost two challenges in one year? That is progress," she teased. "I don't know, Severus, since I've not really been around Leu enough to read him, and we didn't talk about his birthday the last time we had a family day. You're just going to have to figure it out on your own."
"Figure it out on my own?" Severus said blankly. "I never figure out the children's presents on my own."
"Now, that's totally untrue, Severus. Rel's Invisibility Cloak was yours, after all... as was Lucky's charm bracelet," she pointed out.
"Yes, but those were things they needed for protection," Severus said.
"I'm sure there are plenty devices that would help protect him while he's in the ocean, Severus... and don't you dare suggest Shark Repellent or some silliness," Jennifer warned.
"I wasn't going to, but point taken," Severus replied. "How was your evening? I suppose every wizard in the place was asking you to dance."
"I danced with everyone... well, in a Stomp Dance."
"A what?" Severus inquired.
"As Kay put it after the fact, it's ritual dance that's rather like a Cherokee conga line," Jennifer said with a chuckle. "Other than that, all of the dances were Pop, Wizard Rock, and Wiztech."
"I see. So nothing but noise," Severus said.
"Well, yes, I suppose, although it did grow on me after a while. And there was some classic... sort of... but Asher did all sorts of strange things to it and turned it into something loud and fast."
"That does sound like Asher."
"No, honestly. It was actually pretty interesting... you should have heard what he did with Bach, Mozart, and Handel..."
"Oh really? I thought you implied he was into witches."
"Thank you, that'll do, Severus, I'm much too tired to come up with an appropriate comeback," Jennifer protested. "Was there anything else?"
"No, I was just checking in," Severus said.
"Yes, well, as you can see, I survived. I just can't say the same for my feet," Jennifer said. "I'm going to be going over to Rosemary's tomorrow to ask her about my memory project. I'll let you know how it goes."
"Yes, and I'll let you know how Hogsmeade goes," Severus agreed. "Take care, Jennifer."
"Yes, you too. Good night, Severus! Give Quintin a hug from me," Jennifer said.
"Of course," Severus said, and broke contact.
He glanced around the bedroom. Oh, well, at least that last request will be easy, he thought, as Quintin had decided to fall asleep on the bed. Attempting to wrestle some blankets away with limited success, Severus gave him a comforting hug and a pat on the back, then finally settled in for the night.