Soul of the Enemy

By Willow Spirit

Disclaimer: I only own the plot. Everything else belongs to the wonderful J. K. Rowling.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews.

Chapter 17 – Prelude to Hell

It was the week after the "Draco Wars" and everything had returned to normal…well, almost. Emotions were still running high, especially after news of another Death Eater attack reached Hogwarts. The entire school seemed on edge. Teachers and students were frazzled and tired over lack of sleep. Something had to be done but a certain someone was already concocting a plan…

One late evening, Harry and Alex were sitting around the common room doing homework. They heard the entrance open and both looked up to see Hermione, Ron and Ginny returning from a Prefect meeting. The three newcomers gladly plopped down next to their two friends. Something was up. All three had extremely sour looks on their faces.

"Alright…" Alex asked them. "What's with the 'I-just-sucked-on-a-lemon' look?"

"It's Dumbledore," Ginny got straight to the point. "For some reason, he has this mad idea in his head that we should have a dance; a ball. It's supposed to relieve all the stress we're feeling right now."

In an instant, Harry and Alex both wore similar expressions. A ball!

Now there was an absolute, 100 certainty that the four original Gryffindors were vividly remembering the disaster from three years ago that disguised itself as a dance. Oh yeah, required dance partners, jealous dates, famous Quidditch stars, unrequited crushes…good times, mate, good times.

No one knew why Alex shared their glare, but they didn't care. They had their own bad memories to worry about.

"Oh, and that's not all," Ron voice rose slightly in pitch. "Dumbledore would like all the Prefects and the Head Boy and Head Girl to do the first dance!"

"But that's you guys," Harry said lamely, referring to Ron and Hermione, and Ginny, who was a sixth year Gryffindor Prefect.

"Yeah!" Ron exclaimed, now his voice was nearly cracking. "So you know what that means, huh? That means we have to find a dancing partner, otherwise known as a DATE! Harry, mate, I don't know how you did it last time, dancing in front of everyone."

"Oh this is just wonderful!" Harry muttered.

"Tell me about it," Hermione almost hissed in annoyance. It was official.

They were totally screwed.

-----

As it turned out, the five Gryffindors chose to handle the situation the best way they could: with procrastination. For the next few days they completely avoided the topic. Then one day, Ron surprisingly took the initiative and brought the subject up as the five of them sat around the library on a slow Saturday afternoon.

"Alright, people, here's the thing," Ron leaned in and spoke in a serious tone. "This situation is not going away and it's only going to get worse if we leave it alone. I think we just need to suck it up and make a choice. Three of us have to have dates anyway and do we really want to wait until the last minute?"

Everyone unanimously agreed that that would be another disaster waiting to happen.

"So what are we going to do?" Harry asked, looking around the group. "Ron suggested last time that we stick together but things are different now…"

The others knew exactly what he was implying. Any simple person could see that their group currently had two males and three females. They had one too many girls. No one said anything as they anxiously glanced at each other. What were they going to do? Alex saw how conflicted everyone looked, so she immediately decided to end the dilemma.

"It's okay," she said, drawing all attention to herself. "It won't be a problem because I won't be going."

"What?" Ginny looked confused. "Why not? Don't you want to come at all?"

"Actually, dances aren't my thing," now that she thought about it, Alex was really glad that she had an excuse not to go. It was the perfect reason to get out of it. Now the remaining four didn't know what to think. They all exchanged worried glances. Dare they go with the same pairs Ron had suggest three years ago; Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione?

But in the end, no one had the guts to bring it up. Ginny and Ron would never dare, Hermione would demand that her date ask her to go in a proper manner, and Harry, for some reason or another, thought that maybe he would like to go with someone else.

-----

A few nights later, Ginny found herself sitting by herself in a corner of the common room. She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice when Hermione came over to join her.

"Oh, hey Hermione," Ginny gestured to an empty seat at the table.

"A lot on your mind right now?" Hermione asked.

"I suppose," Ginny answered vaguely, which only made Hermione smile.

"Thinking about a certain person we'd like to go with to the dance?" Hermione had a mischievous sparkle in her eye.

"No!" Ginny exclaimed as her eyes grew wide.

"Oh, come on Ginny," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why not go with Harry? Sure he's not the best dancer in the world but I know that you probably wouldn't mind going with him. Didn't you want to go with him last time?"

Ginny thought long and hard about that last question. Of course she had wanted to go with him to the ball three years go. But when it came to Harry, things were never that simple. He had never asked her and hadn't even thought about it before Ron suggested it. By that time Neville had already asked her.

Poor Neville. Ginny had never really wanted to go with him to the dance but she figured she didn't have any change in the world of going with Harry. Then it happened; she had the perfect opening with he and Ron were desperate for dates. Ginny could have cried then, she was so upset. But in the end, how enjoyable would it have been anyway. Everyone knew that Harry fancied Cho back then, and he still would have been pining over her. Ginny could never figure that one out. Cho was such a whiney girly-girl.

"That was three years ago, Hermione," Ginny shifted nervously in her seat. "Things have changed since then. New people are in the picture now."

"So?" Hermione shrugged as if it didn't matter.

"So I'm talking about Alex," Ginny said. "I don't know why Harry hasn't asked her to the dance already. I can tell that he likes her. He's always worried about her, ever since the beginning."

"That's true," Hermione admitted. "But as far as I know, he hasn't said anything to me or Ron. Then again, this is Harry we're talking about. He's not exactly an open book when it comes to his thoughts and feelings."

"Tell me about it," Ginny sighed. "Look, even if he hasn't talked about it, I think I know him almost as well as you and Ron. You don't know how much time I spent observing him over the years."

"Ginny!" Hermione looked positively scandalized. "You aren't becoming a stalker, are you?"

"Of course not!" Ginny flushed as she tried to explain herself. "That was back when I still had a crush on him. And even then, it was just a few subtle glances here and there. Besides, don't tell me that you haven't ever looked at someone before because you thought they were cute."

"Can't say that I have," Hermione replied with a perfectly straight face.

"Yeah, right," Ginny snorted. "Anyway, Harry only thinks of me as a friend. I'll always be little Ginny Weasley, Ron's little sister."

"So that's just it?" Hermione asked. "You're just giving up on him?"

"I wouldn't call it giving up," Ginny said slowly. How could she explain it? How could she explain how hard it was to forget your first crush? "I think this is me moving on. The realistic part of me is saying that nothing will ever happen so I should just get on with my life. I suppose in some ways that's why I went through all those boyfriends during the past few years."

"I noticed that," Hermione said. "But you aren't with anyone now, right?"

"Yeah, I sort of needed a break," Ginny replied. "Everything seemed so trivial after a while. And it actually feels nice to be single for a change. I swear, men complain about women in relationships but they can be just as bad, especially when they're still hormonal teenagers."

"Looks like we're in the same boat then," Hermione gave Ginny a soft smile. Sure, Hermione had had her own small experiences with guys (cough Krum!) She knew all about trying to stay friends with a guy who wanted to go out with her. But before Hermione could get lost in her own thoughts, Ginny had a sudden idea.

"Hey there," Ginny had an indignant look etched on her face. "Why are we only talking about me? What about you Miss Granger? Why don't you go to the dance with Ron?"

Uh-oh, now the tables were turned! Hermione's felt her jaw drop open as Ginny's question completely caught her off guard. "What are you going on about?" she asked. "Why would I want to go with your brother? It's not like I fancy him or anything."

"Really?" Ginny looked skeptically at her older friend.

"I don't, honestly," Hermione shook her head. Where did Ginny get these ideas? She did not like Ron. Period. They were only good friends. "Seriously, though, there's nothing going on between us. I hate to disappoint you Ginny, but you're absolutely wrong."

Ginny almost didn't know what to say. Hermione looked and sounded like she really meant what she was saying. Either she was telling the truth or this girl had one terrible case of denial. "So who's going to be your partner at the dance, then?" Ginny challenged her.

Oh, another difficult question. Hermione tried to think of someone else but nothing seemed to fit. She couldn't picture herself going with anybody else, even if he was someone in Gryffindor like Neville, Dean, or Seamus. Besides, she'd probably end up spending most of her time with Harry, Ron, and Ginny anyway…and Alex if they could convince her to go. If only she had an actual boyfriend, then she wouldn't be in this mess. Hermione sighed in exasperation.

Why do relationships have to be so complicated?

-----

Ron was slowly making his way to a Prefect meeting but his mind was totally on another planet.

Why do relationships have to be so complicated?

He was certainly not paying any attention to anything around him, so he nearly jumped out of his skin when Alex was suddenly walking beside him, stride for stride.

"We need to talk," Alex said as she grabbed his arm, and without missing a beat she guided them into an empty classroom. Once they were safely inside she let go and turned to face him. 'Please let this work,' she thought to herself. 'Everything depends on this.'

"Alex!" Ron was clearly confused. "What the bloody hell are you doing? I have to be at a Prefect meeting in ten minutes or else Hermione will kill me herself!"

"Don't worry about that right now," Alex said urgently. "I actually wanted to talk to you about her. You still don't have a partner for the dance, right? Why didn't you ask her, then?"

"Have you gone completely insane?" Ron asked bluntly. "You really think I'm going to ask Miss "I-Must-Be-Asked-Properly-Or-Not-At-All"?"

"Oh, is that your only problem?" Alex waved her hand dismissively in the air. "That's easy. Just don't be a complete idiot when you ask her, be polite, and make sure that you ask instead of telling her that she must."

"I…you…I can't…now wait a minute!" Ron glared at her. "That's easy for you to say; you claim you're not going. Hermione is my friend. I don't know if I want to go with a friend."

"Fine," Alex shrugged. "Then go with someone else. Pick anyone else and see how comfortable your evening will be. Think about it Weasley, how will you enjoy dancing with some stuck up she-devil who'll just make fun of you and your dancing skills. Still, if that's what you want, then I'm in no position to stop you. It's your funeral."

"What do you want?" Ron looked at her suspiciously.

"I want everything to work out for you guys!" Alex exclaimed. "Take a good look at yourself and your friends. You're all avoiding the issue like it's the plague or something. One of you has to do something quickly before someone else comes along and asks one of you guys to this deadly fiesta."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Ron asked her. He honestly didn't know how to proceed. He and Hermione got so mad at each other last time, and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why she had been so upset. Hermione was one of his best friends, but sometimes he just didn't get her.

"I already told you: ask her, don't tell her," Alex explained slowly. "She'll appreciate it if you give her the option. What else do you have to lose? You'll all be hanging out together anyway, won't you?"

Alex did have a valid point. And extra dancing partners would only make their group more crowded. "I suppose I can give it a try," Ron said. "I could always talk to her right after the meeting. We usually stay behind afterwards to finalize things for our next meeting."

"Excellent," Alex nodded in approval. "I would highly recommend it. The sooner the better, in my opinion."

"Well your opinion had better not get me into a bloody mess," Ron warned.

"Trust me it won't," Alex spun around to leave the classroom. As she passed through the door, she shouted back to him over her shoulder. "Be a gentleman, Weasley. Be a gentleman."

"A gentleman!" Ron shook his head as he exited the room as well. "That'll be the day."

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The Prefect meeting was pretty uneventful. They discussed the upcoming dance and a few other topics. The Head Girl, however, noticed that the Head Boy was somewhat distracted during the entire meeting. She wondered what it was that was making him so "spaced out" and made a mental note to talk to him afterwards.

Soon afterwards came, and all the other Prefects left the room as usual. Hermione and Ron turned and faced each other at the same time.

"We need to talk," they both said in unison. For a split second, they just stared at each other. 'Why would he/she want to talk?' they both thought.

"You go first," Ron offered. 'Must be polite, must be polite.'

"Alright…" Hermione said uncertainly. "I was only worried about you. You couldn't seem to stay focus during the meeting and I was wondering if you were feeling okay."

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Ron tried his best to look casual. "I was thinking that…well you know the dance is coming up and…well, maybe we should…I mean if you think it'd be a good idea…"

"Ron, what are you trying to say?" Hermione looked at him strangely.

"Hermione," okay, it was now or never. "Would you like to go to the dance with me?"

Nothing. Hermione wondered if she heard him correctly. Did he, Ronald Weasley, ask her to a dance? Ron quickly became unnerved at her silence, believing that she was too repulsed to speak.

"I mean, I was thinking that it'd be real easy, since we're Head Boy and Girl," he stumbled on. "We have to find a dancing partner anyway, so we could go just go together, as friends. That is…if aren't going with anyone else yet. I'd completely understand if you already have a partner, I just thought I'd mention it just in case…"

"Ron," Hermione gently interrupted him so that she could hear herself think. "You surprised me, that's all. And no, I don't already have a partner, but since you're asking I guess we can go together. It makes sense like you said. We'll all probably stick together anyway."

Ron had to keep his jaw from dropping. What it really this easy? "Err, you haven't talked to Alex lately, have you?"

"No, why?"

"Oh, no reason," there was no way he was messing this up now.

-----

'One pair down, one more pair to go,' Alex thought to herself the next day.

They all knew by now that Ron had asked Hermione to the dance; they meaning the entire school. Hogwarts was certainly not the best school for keeping secrets.

Several Gryffindors, Harry, Hermione, Alex, Ron, and Neville, were on their way to their next class, when they suddenly came across a small group of Slytherins.

"Well, well, look who it is," Malfoy sneered. "Rumour has it that Weasel here actually had the nerve to ask Granger to the dance. Can't imagine why, though. Who would ever want to go to a dance with a thing like that," Malfoy nodded his head in Hermione's direction.

"Hey!" Harry, Ron, and Neville shouted simultaneously.

"Don't be so revolting, Malfoy," Hermione scowled in return.

"Oh, your words hurt me," Malfoy put a hand over his heart. Then his attention suddenly turned to his other favorite target. "So, Longbottom, have you found a girl who would dare go to the dance with you? Can't imagine that, though. No girl in Hogwarts is that desperate."

The other Gryffindors could only watch as Neville tried his best to keep a straight face. They knew that he had come a long way from being the shy, timid boy he was back in first year, though there was only so much ridicule he could handle. Malfoy's comments ripped away at his fragile self-esteem. Neville never really had much luck with girls and everyone knew it. Malfoy, unfortunately, used that knowledge to hurt him.

Neville's friends were all thinking of different ways to defend him. But as their smart retorts came to the tip of their tongues, one retort came out loud and clear before all the others.

"Of course he has a date."

All heads turned in unison to stare at Alex, whose face looked flushed and angry.

"Who?" Malfoy blinked at her.

"Me," Alex replied with complete seriousness.

"You have got to be joking," Malfoy quickly recovered himself and sneered at her.

"I don't think so," Alex took a step closer towards him. "Now you'd better get out of my face right now, Malfoy, before I pound you into the ground."

"Sure, whatever," Malfoy laughed as he turned around and left, while all the Gryffindors were still staring blankly at Alex. She turned to them with a huff.

"What?" she asked them, like nothing at all was wrong.

"I thought you weren't going to the dance," Harry looked very confused, and maybe even a little hurt.

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind," Alex glanced at Neville. "So how 'bout it, Longbottom?"

"That's alright," Neville replied softly. "You don't have to go with me. I know you just said it to get at Malfoy."

"Nah, it's okay," Alex waved her hand in the air. "We'll go. We'll all be there together."

"Okay," Neville was still a little uncertain about it all, but hey, why not go with it? Now that he thought about it, it could be worse. He might have no date at all, and Alex was kind of pretty…albeit a bit insane at times…

So the Gryffindors continued on their way to class. As they began to walk away, the consequences of her actions finally caught up to Alex. She nearly stopped in the middle of the hallway.

'Oh, crap, what have I done now?'

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A/N: I like feedback, people. Please review.

Next Chapter: The ball...what more can I say...drama, anyone?