Four hours later Annie was rushing home, briefly checking her watch as she sprinted along the pavements.
She grimaced. 4.55pm. Her mum was going to kill her.
Her and Imogen had lost track of time, gossiping and listening to music so now Annie was completely up to date. Unfortunately as a result of that she was now running late. Very late.
Five minutes later she burst through the door into her house and ran into the kitchen.
"Sorry I'm late" she shouted before realising that a bemused Finnegan family were all sat around the kitchen table, and Dean was leaning against the counter smiling.
"Hey twig, take it you had a good time at Imogen's then?"
"Yeah great thanks dad, sorry I'm late you guys" she said, turning to the Finnegan family who were still looking at her after her dramatic entrance.
"No worries pet, we've only just arrived" said Seamus who was chuckling.
"Annie, your mother's on the warpath" Dean said gravely, warning his daughter.
"When is she not?!... I mean it's not like I'm dead or anything" Annie joked.
"Not yet anyway" came Katie's icy tones from behind her.
Annie spun round and seemed to shrink under the glare she was getting from her mother. Niamh snorted before shoving her fist in her mouth, trying desperately to muffle her laughter. Dean and Seamus also looked like very hard to control their smiles, while Mrs Finnegan gave them all disapproving looks.
"Hi mum, sorry I'm late" Annie said shiftily, not meeting her mother's gaze.
"Let me just ask you a question Annie, what did I say to you as you were leaving the house?"
"You told me to be back before five"
"Oh good so there's nothing wrong with your memory then, because I thought we might have to take you to St. Mungos if you had managed to forget something that simple… but if you didn't forget, would you mind explaining why you're late?" Katie said pointedly.
Annie mumbled staring at the floor, whilst Niamh was sat in the corner in silent hysterics, unable to control the occasional snort slipping out.
"I'm sorry what was that?" asked Katie expectantly.
Annie shot a death glare at Niamh, whose laughter was not so silent now, apparently unsympathetic to the plight of her best friend.
"I said, I lost track of time and I'm sorry" Annie said, turning to meet Katie's derisive eyes.
"Well next time maybe you could actually use the watch your father and I gave you, rather that it just being on your wrist for no reason!"
"Sorry ma, won't happen again"
Katie's stare softened slightly, "That's ok, now why don't you and Niamh head upstairs until dinners ready."
"Thanks ma" Annie said quickly before glaring at Niamh who was STILL snorting and they both left the room, much to the amusement of their parents.
As they made their way up the stairs Niamh was wiping tears of laughter from her eyes while Annie huffed.
"Honestly that woman has mood swings that are more extreme than a blast-ended Skrewt!"
Niamh looked at Annie and snorted.
"What?!" Annie said, rounding on Niamh.
"Oh nothing, it's just funny coming from the girl that had to resort to dance as an emotional outlet because she couldn't control her emotions…" Niamh drawled.
"Shut up"
"Ooh witty response there Ann"
Annie huffed before stomping into her bedroom and flopping onto her bed face first.
Niamh walked into the room and gasped.
"Annie, have you still not unpacked yet?!"
Annie groaned into her duvet before rolling onto her back.
"No… I got distracted"
"But you could've just used magic; it would've taken you ten seconds…"
"But I like unpacking my room without magic, then you know what you have and where it all goes, it makes me feel at home…"
"Yes, but it takes longer, and it's also more of an effort" Niamh pointed out.
"Fine" Annie said before locating her wand and pointing it at the half unpacked boxes, and with a complex swishing movement, the boxes started unpacking themselves.
When her room was finally in order she and Niamh collapsed on her bed, after a minutes silence Niamh interrupted.
"Annie…"
"Yes Niamh"
"Can you show me you're dancing now?"
"No."
"Whyyyyyy?" Niamh whined, rolling onto her side to face Annie.
"Because I'm… busy."
"Annie…"
"Yes?"
"You're lying on a bed… that's not being busy" Niamh pointed out.
"Fine" Annie groaned before rolling out of her bed.
"Yes! I won! I never thought you cave…" Niamh gloated.
"Well I can always go back and lie on my bed if you're too busy celebrating you're victory to watch me dance" Annie teased.
"It's fine, I'm done, I can watch you now." Niamh said as she followed out of her room, into the newly developed dance studio. Niamh gasped as she entered the bright room.
"Wow… you did this?" Niamh said whilst turning to look at her friend appraisingly.
"Umm yeah" Annie blushed.
"It's amazing…"
"Can you show me you're dancing now?" Niamh said eagerly, turning to look at Annie expectantly.
"Well… what style do you want to see?"
"Umm … I don't know… hmm… BOTH!" Niamh practically shouted, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Alright Niamh calm down… I'll do both" Annie said placatingly, and headed over to the radio plugging her Ipod in and scrolling through songs.
"What's that?"
Annie jumped and turned round to see that Niamh was so close to her, they were practically touching faces.
"Niamh if you don't go and sit in that corner now and stay there, so help me I'll cast a permanent sticking charm on your arse then you'll be stuck there forever, whilst I head off to Hogwarts and play Quidditch without you!"
Niamh smiled at Annie before skipping off to the other side of the room, plonking herself down and continued to stare at Annie, slightly resembling a crazy pigeon.
Annie shifted uncomfortably before turning back round to deal with her music.
"Annieeeeee…"
"Yes Niamh." Annie said, starting to lose her patience.
"Well I was just wondering…"
"That's dangerous" Annie muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing… anyway what were you wondering?"
"Oh right… yeah… well I was wondering, what exactly are the different styles you do?"
"Oh umm, well I do Ballet and... Contemporary" she said, turning a deep shade of red, and thinking to herself how much she must look like a beetroot right now…
"HA oh Annie I love it when you get embarrassed… you've practically turned into a beetroot" Niamh chuckled.
"Shu'up" Annie huffed, and if possible getting even redder.
"Oh come on Ann, What's Contemporary dancing and why are you getting so embarrassed about it?"
Annie huffed.
"Annie….." Niamh pleaded.
"You'll laugh…"
"No I won't, I promise" Niamh said solemnly.
"Ok… well Contemporary dancing… is basically… mixingloadsofdancestylesandfittingthemtothemusicandtheemotionofthedanceandmyfeelings." Annie rushed, before glancing at Niamh to see if she showed any sign of laughter.
"…What?" Niamh said confusion etched all over her face.
"Basically…I mix loads of dance styles and fit them to the music and the emotion of the dance and my feelings, I guess I find it a little embarrassing because i'm exposing how I feel and stuff..." Annie trailed off.
"Oh right… See I'm not laughing… yet" Niamh grinned.
A wicked glint came into annie's eyes as she picked up her wand which was lying beside the radio and with a flick of her wand, sent a non-verbal jelly legs jinx at Niamh.
"Annie WHAT THE HELL?" Niamh cried, as she completely lost control of her legs.
"Now really Niamh we're going to have to teach you how to dance properly if that's your best attempt" Annie said, grinning evilly and advancing on the unstable Niamh.
"Oh no, stay away from me, stay away I say, or I'll tell my dad that you specifically asked for him to coach you 12 hours a day, every day for the rest of the holiday!"
"Great I'd love too, but we both know you'd never follow through with that threat as he'd make you join in too!" Annie grinned, and before Niamh could protest anymore, Annie swept her into the waltz hold.
"Now Niamh, if we make it one lap around the room, I will undo the jinx and you can watch me dance, ok? Great …. And 1, 2, 3…. 1, 2, 3….."
Niamh cursed and uttered death threats at Annie as she attempted and failed to follow Annie's steps, whilst Annie was laughing uncontrollably.
After they had made one complete lap of the room, Annie released her hold of Niamh, who promptly fell to the floor, producing another bout of hysterical laughter from Annie that caused her to collapse alongside Niamh.
"For Merlin's sake woman LET ME GO! I have been punished enough and I really want to see you dance now… " Niamh whinged, and still hiccupping, Annie swished her wand and Niamh's legs suddenly stilled.
"Thank you" Niamh sighed whilst rubbing her legs before glaring ruefully at Annie.
"Dance. Now." Niamh ordered at the hiccupping form of Annie sitting next to her.
"Ok, ok, keep your hair on" Annie said giddily, before standing up and heading back to the radio again. She decided she'd show Niamh a mixture of her two styles, and chose a song which happened to be one that Imogen had showed her earlier which she loved and fitted perfectly to her idea and now thoughtful mood. Also, she knew it would impress Niamh.
Music swelled through the room and Niamh gasped in appreciation.
Annie headed in to the centre of the room where she grew completely still, letting the music wash over her, and as the first line of lyrics started up, she started to dance.
When she was just a girl,
She expected the world,
But it flew away from her reach,
So she ran away in her sleep.
She pirouetted and glided around the room, making graceful shapes with her body, letting the music consume her from the inside.
As it reached the chorus her style changed with the music as a Dubstep (some form of Muggle music) rhythm picked up; her movements becoming sharper and less refined, all flowing into one. She was literally creating a story from the music and living it.
Life goes and get so heavy,
The wheel breaks the butterfly,
In the night the stormy night away she'd fly
In the night the stormy night she closed her eyes
Annie threw her body into the dance, putting all her energy into every single move. It seemed she had almost transformed into a different person.
As the slowed music drew to the end, she reverted back into Ballet, slowing all her movements down until she was eventually back to her starting position in the middle of the room, unmoving, as the last line of the song echoed around the now still dance studio.
Every time she closed her eyes.
She looked over to where Niamh was sat and smiled.
Niamh's jaw was practically on the flaw in shock, and she was staring at Annie with a mixture of admiration and shock etched all over her face.
"Annie that was… well I mean… how did you… when did you… that was bloody amazing." Niamh stuttered, getting up and running over to hug her best friend.
Annie laughed and hugged the still shell shocked Niamh.
"So you liked it then?"
"Liked it?! Annie that was amazing, that was more amazing than, oh I don't know, than Merlin riding a dragon the size of Hogwarts, purely in his undercrackers." Niamh said earnestly whilst still staring at her friend.
"Oh I do love your imagination Nim" Annie said, before turning round to unplug her Ipod and putting all the equipment away. She picked up her wand and headed out of the studio to her room to get cleaned up.
Niamh followed her into her room still slightly dazed and sat down on her bed, whilst Annie changed.
"Annie…"
"Yes Niamh" Annie said, muffled by the t-shirt she was currently yanking over her head.
"Can I come and watch you practice at school occasionally please?"
Annie paused for a second, deliberating her answer, t-shirt still half over her head.
"Yeah of course you can, but as long as you don't tell anyone else. I don't want anyone else knowing! My parents have never even seen me dance like that…" Annie replied shiftily before continuing to tug the t-shirt over her head.
"Yeah, sure, of course! Oh I can't wait! Ooh and we'll have Quidditch practice together as well and we'll be…"
"Hold up there Niamh, I may not even get on to the Quidditch team" Annie said cutting Niamh off mid-ramble.
"If you don't get onto the team, I'll eat my potions book." Niamh stated with a deadpan look, whilst Annie chuckled at her friends remark.
"Come on, we'd better get downstairs dinner will be ready soon" Annie said as she finished tying up her long dark blonde hair and heading out the door.
"Ooh yay dinner, I'm starving" Niamh said as she pushed past Annie in the doorway, eager to get down the stairs first.
"Niamh have you done any secret strenuous exercise that has made you so hungry you have to push past a friend who is in dire need of sustenance" Annie teased.
Niamh seemed to debate this statement.
"Yes I have, I watched you dance, which I would definitely class as exhausting" Niamh grinned and then proceeded to run down the hallway to the stairs and yelled over her shoulder "Last one there has to talk to my dad about Quidditch every night at Dinner for a week!"
Annie quickened her pace and ran after Niamh, thinking to herself that however much she loved Quidditch, she might resort to pulling her own hair out if she lost that race.