Shouting, Touching, Dancing

"Come on, let's go." Daphne's voice came out impatiently and annoyed.

"Go where?" Minka didn't even glance up from her work. She sat hunched over at her desk, ignoring the aching feeling in her back from sitting for too long.

"Because you've been sitting up here for weeks working."

"Well that's generally how you stay in business."

Daphne's heels clicked across the floor defiantly. She ripped the tools out of Minka's hands, forcing her to look up.

"Hey!"

"Hiding up here behind your projects isn't going to make me go away just the same as it's not going to make any of your problems go away." Daphne held the tools away a bit so Minka couldn't get them back.

"I'm not hiding, I'm just trying to replace all of the merchandise that was des-"

"Don't feed me that rubbish. We have way more Dream Catchers than we could possibly imagine and three new ones. Business is doing better than ever but you wouldn't know that by the way you hide up here. You also don't know that there is a very handsome ginger across the way horribly worried about you. He's too chicken to give you this tough love speech so…it was up to me." Daphne's glare from lecturing was almost comical. Minka scrunched her lips, trying not to laugh.

"Okay, I get it. I'm shutting everyone out again." Minka came out from behind the desk and stood in front of Daphne. "I'm sorry. It's cowardly and I'm not proud of it. I'll stop."

"Good. Because you also don't know that that very handsome ginger is going to be at a club tonight for a party that I was also invited to. And you will be my plus one. Then maybe you can be his plus one to his bedroom."

"Daphne!" Daphne simply laughed and headed back down the stairs.

"Everything's closed up. I'll meet you at your place in an hour. Dress…fit." And with that, Daphne was gone.

An hour later, Minka had tried to doll herself up as much as she could. She needed to make up for the time she had wasted hiding up in her office. She would start with George, who would hopefully still be talking to her and still be interested.

She wore a light grey, knee length halter dress that was backless. A grey silk band went around the waist to cinch it. She paired it with metallic high heels and twisted her hair into an elaborate up-do. A few loose tendrils of hair hung down.

Sure enough, Daphne came knocking on her door. She was wearing a strapless, knee high dress with ruching, the deep purple made her olive skin completely glow. Her heels made her stand even taller than her already modelesque height.

"Wow, Daphne."

Daphne put a hand on her hip and gave a dramatic look to the ceiling.

"Yeah, I know." She shrugged a shoulder and then smiled. "You look fantastic too. George is going to love it."

Daphne apparated them to the club called 'The Newt.' Music vibrated through the walls and echoed down the street. Daphne flashed an invitation to the wizard at the door. She linked arms with Minka just as his eyes fell on her.

"She's with me!" She shouted as the music blared out the open door. The man nodded and let them through. They found themselves standing at the front of the club. The dance floor was filled with couples and groups dancing close and intimate. The stage behind the crowd was filled with different instruments. They all floated in the air, playing without an actual person. A woman was in the middle of the stage, her arms waving with the different beats, clearly controlling the music being formed.

Daphne tugged Minka over to the bar that was off to the side. She tapped the shoulder of someone sitting on a stool. He turned around, and his eyes lit up seeing Daphne. He got up to hug her. The hug seemed so personal, Minka felt herself blush and look away.

His skin was so pale, the colours bouncing around the room reflected off him vibrantly. Freckles dotted every inch of visible skin. His hair was clipped short to his head and she assumed it was brown but couldn't be sure with all the technicolour in the club. He wore a black collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up. It fit him quite well. They exchanged a few sentences at each other, all the while grinning.

Daphne turned to Minka and then pulled her forward.

"This is my friend Minka! Minka, this is Seamus! This is his party!" She shouted.

"Hello, Minka! Nice to meet you!" His words curved with an irish accent, causing Minka's stomach to tighten. She immediately felt guilty. She couldn't group an entire country as dangerous thanks to one git she met. It was stupid and she kicked herself mentally for even being scared in the first place. She wouldn't run from her fears anymore, and she certainly wouldn't cower from things that weren't even a danger. She put on the biggest smile she could muster and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you! Great party!"

"Thank you! No idea who half these people are!" He leaned in to speak close to her ear, a hand resting on her arm. She recognized this movement. She quickly leaned away from him and laughed, attempting to hide her discomfort. Daphne seemed to be unphased by this exchange despite their intimate hug earlier.

"I'm going to go find George!" She said to Daphne.

"George Weasley?" Seamus asked. Minka nodded.

"He's out there somewhere, dancing." He waved a hand to gesture to the crowd. "My friend asked him."

Minka felt a pang a jealousy hit her hard. Seamus seemed to notice. Daphne leaned in to Seamus to explain.

"Minka sort of has this whole having issues confessing each other's true feelings, sexual tension type thing going on with him." He sucked in some air and shook his head like it was something he saw all the time.

"Brutal! Want me to help?" He offered.

"How?"

"You know, we could pull a switch! I'll distract the girl and you go swoop in and work your…"

"Broody charm!" Daphne offered to finish his sentence. Minka glared at both of them, but ultimately agreed.

She took Seamus' hand and he led her out onto the dance floor. They began to dance together to the beat of the music.

"So tell me, Daphne still available?" He asked, hope glistening in his eyes.

"As far as I know! She works for me so I don't know much about her social life!"

"Taking her boss to a party? Risky business! Then again, Daphne was never one to follow the rules."

"I definitely know that much about her!"

Minka got lost in the music for a moment, forgetting how good it felt to dance. She put a hand on Seamus' shoulder only because the crowd was huge and she didn't want to accidently lose him in the crowd.

They both began to scope the floor for George. Seamus eventually caught him dancing-sure enough-with a girl Minka had never seen before. George looked mildly uncomfortable as she danced with her back facing him. Minka couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face.

"Okay, here we go!" Seamus yelled. He grabbed both her hands and they slowly began to dance closer and closer to them.

Instantaniously, as if they had done it before, they broke off and Seamus began to dance with the girl, who responded easily. He took one of her hands and twirled her so she was pulled away from George. She seemed to be okay with this as she knew Seamus.

Minka stood behind George's tall frame as he watched his dance partner being pulled away. She took a breath and then reached a hand up to touch his shoulder. He turned to look at her. He went from surprise to confusion.

"Hi." She said timidly.

"Hey." His eyes drifted from her face to her dress, seeming to drink her in. A wave of self-conscious brushed over her for a moment.

"Dance with me?" She asked, unsure of what else to do. He quickly looked back into her eyes and nodded. Minka immediately got back into the rhythm of the song, just letting everything go. She didn't worry about if she looked stupid, or about the store, or about Killian. She took this moment to just enjoy two things: the music and George. For a while, she kept her eyes closed, just concentrating on the beat of the song. She felt George's hands hold her waist gently, and felt his hips bump into hers every now and then. She opened her eyes to look up into his. He was smiling down at her. Minka let out a small laugh as they continued to dance, having more fun than she had had in a while. He leaned in closely to her. Minka automatically putting her hands on his shoulders.

"You're a great dancer. And you look beautiful. If I wasn't holding you right now I think about ten guys would have tried to cut in."

Minka laughed and leaned into his ear.

"Thank you, but I think I'll stick with you." She felt his cheek rise from smile. His head bent a little and kissed her shoulder. She felt herself intake a sharp breath, goose bumps rising on her skin despite the heat of the club.

She pulled back to look into his eyes. Familiar flairs of passion swirled in her mind and body. His look of intensity seemed to mean he was in a similar state of mind. Minka tried to clamp down on it, knowing this wasn't the time and place and then continued to dance.

They danced for a long time, simply enjoying the silence of their troubled minds. The heat eventually became too much and they were out of breath. George grabbed her hand and lead her over to the bar. He ordered them something that Minka couldn't hear over the music. Whatever it was he ordered, Minka found it delicious as she sipped at it slowly.

"I wanted to say I was sorry. I keep hurting you, and I don't mean to."

"It's okay, Minka."

"No! It's not! You're there for me, and I need to start treating you like someone I trust. Because you are." Minka felt herself blush and pulled back from his ear. Saying she trusted him was just as hard as saying she loved someone. She let it slip and she felt self-conscious all over again. She had told him not long ago that she didn't want to touch on the serious parts of a relationship and here she was, offering one of the biggest things you can offer: trust.

"Hey, I trust you too." He brought on hand up and tucked the now several loose strands of her hair behind her ear. She smiled nervously. "And I know that means a lot to you. So I'm not taking it lightly that you do." He added. They looked at each other for a moment longer and then Minka snapped out a little.

"You want to dance again?" She offered.

"Sur-"

"George! It's time!" Seamus yelled, putting a hand on George's shoulder.

"Okay! I'll meet you outside!" Seamus nodded and disappeared back into the crowd.

"What's going on?" Minka asked. She felt the rasp in her throat. She wasn't going to have a voice tomorrow.

"You'll see!" He set his drink down and tapped on the bar. The bartender came over and George leaned over to ask him something. They nodded and ducked down behind the bar. He came back up with a large duffel bag. George thanked him and slung the bag over his shoulder with a little trouble. He held his hand out to Minka, which she took.

"Follow me, Ms. Maye." They began to head for the door when the music came to a hault.

"Cheers everyone for coming out to the party tonight! My friend has offered up his valuable services of his infamous firework displays if everyone would care to take a step outside." Seamus said from the stage.

The crowd made an unanimous cheer and all began to crowd for the door.

A while later, they were out on the field behind the club. Everyone began to form a large circle around Minka and George as he began to pull different fireworks out of the duffel bag.

"Another Weasley Wizard Weazes specialty?" She asked, looking around at the crowd.

"You got it! I managed to make one that doesn't need to be set off individually but rather in one long timed continuous light." He lit the end of it and then grabbed Minka's hand, running back into the crowd.

Everyone waited in anticipation for the fireworks to start. After a little too long, nothing seemed to go off.

"That's odd…it should have-" BOOM!

The first firework went off with such force, it practically knocked everyone to the ground. It lit up the light sky practically as bright as the sun. Everyone cheered as the rest went off in a perfect rhythm.

Minka found her arms wrapped around George's waist, her head resting on his chest as they watched them go off.

"They're beautiful, George."

"Thank you. So hey, how about I take you on a real date? We haven't had one of those yet." He leaned in close to her ear, whispering into it. This was unnecessary now that they weren't in the club, but she enjoyed his closeness. She felt her eyes close briefly from his breath on her ear.

"Sounds good." Her voice came out a little shaky, which she tried to cover up by clearing her throat.

He then kissed her slowly and methodically as the fireworks crackled above them.