Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/n: I don't have much to say so I'll just I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks for reading.
"Five six, seven eight. One two, three four, five six, seven eight. Come on guys keep with the beat, five six, seven eight. Alright, alright, stop."
Nathan frowned at us as we all dropped to the floor out of exhaustion. "See, I knew exploring the city was a bad idea."
"That was two nights ago, Nate," Marshall mumbled from where his face was pressed up against the floor.
"Well then what's wrong with you guys?"
"We've been practicing this same routine since five thirty this morning," Ashley moaned.
"What time is it now?"
"Nine bloody thirty," Barty practically growled.
"Fine, fine, take a bloody ten minute break then," Nathan said throwing his hands over his head. "But don't complain to me when we dance poorly during our first performance."
"A ten minute break isn't going to hurt us any, Nathan," I said, rolling my eyes. Sometimes, Nathan could be as bad as Oliver Wood.
"Yeah, I know. . . . Fine, you guys have twenty minutes only. Not twenty one, not thirty. Twenty. Am I understood? Samantha?"
"Oy, why do you always call me out, then?" Samantha asked, angrily.
"Because you don't know how to tell time," Marshall mumbled. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet, running out the room as Samantha jumped to hers and chased after him.
"Twenty minutes!" Nathan called.
Barty and Ashley stayed on the ground, chatting, but I took the chance to escape up to my room. It's not that I didn't mind sharing a room with Ashley and Samantha. They were like two of my best friends (besides Ron and Hermione) but they had already dwelled deeper into my personal life what with the flowers from Harry.
Speaking of, the person in question was sitting outside of my room, his long legs sprawled out in the hallway. I stopped where I was, considering turning around and heading (running) back to the auditorium where we'd been practicing. But he looked up, grinning. "There you are. I wondered when you were going to get out of practice. That guy works you almost as hard as Oliver worked me."
"How long have you been sitting there?" I asked, slightly monotone because I didn't really care.
"Not long really. I stood by the door and watched you guys dance for a minute. I told you can dance. What's the name of your group?"
"Wild Fire. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm not out of practice yet, just a twenty minute break." I slipped the key card into the slot opening the door. I was about to close it but Harry stopped me, and truth be told, Harry was a lot stronger than I was.
"Come on, Kat," he said. "Don't act like that."
"Don't act like how, exactly?" I said, folding my arms across my chest.
"Don't act like you don't want to talk to me, like you don't want me here."
"Hmm, funny thing is, I'm not acting. Now if you'll please, just –"
Harry moved forward quickly and kissed me.
Oh my damn.
I tried my best, I tried my hardest not to kiss him back but I am absolutely pathetic when it comes to self-control and will power. And I hated the fact that he still had this effect on me after a whole year and after the fact that I was so bloody ticked off at him.
What is wrong with the world?
But just when the kiss was getting good, Harry leaned back with a smug smile on his face. "Not acting, eh?"
I so could have just slammed the door in his face at that moment. But instead I looked down on my watch, sighing angrily. "You've got twelve minutes, Potter."
"May I come in?"
I sighed again, just to let him know how aggravated I was at him, before I stepped aside and let him come into my room. Luckily (since she was known for it), none of Ashley's unmentionables were on our bed. I plopped down on the bed, crossing my legs as Harry sat down in the desk chair.
"So . . . explain yourself," I said, sounding like McGonagall.
"Well the truth is, Kat . . . I don't really have a way to explain myself," Harry said. ". . . . It's kind of like you said. I remember fighting Voldemort and he shot a spell at me at the same time I shot a spell at him. I think they bounced off each other. I woke up here and . . . Voldemort was killed, right?"
"Of course . . . not like you came back to check."
Harry frowned at me. "It's not like I didn't want to come back."
"Then why didn't you?"
"It's . . . complicated."
"Not really. All you had to do was Apparate."
"You know I don't mean that it was complicated to get back."
"I don't think I understand what you mean at all. . . . Five minutes."
"Why are you acting like this?"
"I think the answer is pretty obvious. . . . Why didn't you come back, Harry?"
Harry looked down at the floor, clasping his hands together. I watched he shook his head slightly, a lock of hair falling in front of his eyes. "I don't know, Kat. I really don't. I suppose . . . I just didn't want to come back and know people were expecting things from me, expecting me to be this great person. I was just an eighteen-year-old kid. I'm still a kid. It was all too much."
"Sorry to hear that and I'm sorry to tell you that's not a good enough reason." I got to my feet and headed for the door, grabbing a bottle of water.
Harry followed me, grabbing onto my shoulder and turning me around. "Didn't you get my note? I love you Kat. I never stopped loving you. My decision to stay here had nothing to do with us and I missed you so much."
I lifted his hand off my shoulder and continued out the door. He still followed but he didn't grab onto me again. "I'm not giving up on you Kat, though it looks like you've giving up on me. I'm not giving up on us."
"Sorry but this is a closed rehearsal," Nathan said as Harry walked into the auditorium right behind me.
"Oh, don't mind me," Harry said as he leaned against a wall with a smile on his face. "I'm a friend of Kat's. Don't worry, I won't make a sound."
Nathan frowned at me as I stepped towards him. "Don't ask," I said, angrily.
He shook his head, turning to the rest of the group. "All right, you guys, we're going to practice the routine together a couple of times and then were through and you guys have the rest of the day off. So let's get this right."
We got into our positions and Nathan pressed play.
This was my absolute favorite dance. El Tango de Roxanne, from Moulin Rouge, one of my all time favorite musicals. Ashley, Sam, and I played the parts of the prostitutes (wonderful), though I was 'Roxanne', while the guys were the 'clients'.
It was a very provocative dance, so it was a good thing we were all really close. Most of the dance, the guys hands had to be practically all over us. I remember the first time I learned this dance I had been so uncomfortable and embarrassed that I kept bursting into a fit of giggles, especially at the part where I had to wrap my leg around Nathan's waist and let him swing me around.
But the dance in itself was very fun, seeing as how we were portraying this very disturbing scene of sex and love and excitement.
Merlin, I love dancing.
The whole time I dance with Nathan, Harry's eyes were on us, his mouth set in a straight line.
I told him not to come and watch, so being jealous is exactly what he gets.