Dani walked determinedly, yet with a slight limp, over to where Katie was standing beside Harry over near the wall. Neither of them seemed to be enjoying themselves, but when Katie looked over and saw Dani coming her face brightened.

Until she realised Dani didn't look happy at all, and then she panicked.

"Dani," Dani said, wanting to keep the act up so that Harry didn't find out he'd been ditched. "Come with me again, I need to tell you something else."

Grabbing Katie's arm, Dani dragged her away from Harry quickly. Glancing over her shoulder, she was gutted to see that he had leant his head back against the wall and was staring up at the roof sadly.

Once Dani had reached the empty classroom they had been in before, she turned on Katie.

"We have to-"

Stopping and frowning, she turned around to see a couple kissing in the back corner of the classroom.

"We have to find another room." Dani amended, shaking her head and then pulling Katie out of the room again to find another one which was thankfully empty this time.

"What is this all about?" Katie asked, yanking away from Dani once they were alone. "Did you or did you not succeed?"

"Not. And I told you it wasn't going to work." Dani said, reaching back to start undoing Katie's dress so that she could give it back to the rightful owner.

"Why did he take you outside then?" Katie asked, seeing what Dani was doing and reluctantly doing the same.

"To tell me in private that he didn't want to go out with me and to get over it." Dani said shortly, hoping Katie never found out what had really happened.

"I'm glad it was you and not me." Katie sighed, handing Dani her dress and accepting hers.

"What's been happening with you and Harry?" Dani asked anxiously, pulling on her dress as Katie pulled hers on as well.

"I don't know what you see in him, honestly," Katie groaned. "He's a horrible dancer."

"You danced?" Dani squeaked, wide-eyed.

"He insisted!" Katie turned to leave the room. "But how badly did you stuff up my relationship with Draco, then?" she asked as she paused at the door.

"It's not my fault he just doesn't like you!" Dani said angrily, even more frustrated than before now that she was being blamed.

"No matter what you say, I won't give up. And if I need you again..." Katie trailed off, letting her words sink it, and then left. But Dani was quick to follow and overtook her despite her broken shoe, making it back into the Great Hall first and then searching for Harry.

After a moment or two, she saw him standing with Bri and Dayn, who were talking excitedly about something. Heading over there, she wondered what she would say to him. How could she ever make up for what had happened?

"Hey Dani!" Bri shouted as Dani got there. "I'm going to Paris!"

Dani looked at Dayn and raised an eyebrow. "Is she drunk?"

"How could you tell?" Dayn joked with a laugh. "But she might actually be telling the truth, depending on how she feels tomorrow."

"What do you mean by that?" Dani asked with a frown.

"We're getting two French exchange students but they need two people to replace them, so I asked Bri if she wanted to go with me." Dayn explained, his words coming out slower as Dani's expression darkened.

"You only just got here and you want to transfer again?" Dani asked.

"Why don't you talk about it later? I'd like to spend some time alone with you." Harry said to Dani quietly. Turning to face him, she noticed he still looked upset.

"Harry, I'm so sorry-"

"Please," Harry interrupted her. "Can we go somewhere else?"

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Sure."

Bri giggled as Dani and Harry walked off, her arms going around Dayn to help herself keep standing and not fall over. It was obvious someone had spiked the punch, because what she was doing would not have happened otherwise.

Harry led Dani out the doors and, unfortunately, to the exact same place she had just been with Malfoy. She felt an odd sensation of deja vu but tried to push it aside, wanting to only focus on Harry now that she was out of sight of Katie. She was also glad that so far he hadn't noticed she was walking differently.

"Harry, I really am sorry about before." Dani said, touching his arm and looking into his eyes, trying to convey her feelings to him.

"I'm glad you're back to your normal self, now." Harry murmured. "Did Katie do something to you before?"

"I... honestly couldn't tell you if she did." Dani said quietly.

"Well it doesn't matter, so long as we keep you away from her from now on." Harry said, attempting to joke a bit to ease the tension in their conversation.

"Please do." Dani said with a nod of her head.

"Well, do you want to dance again?" he asked nervously. Smiling, she nodded her head and stepped closer towards him slightly. Thinking about what was about to happen, she completely forgot that she would probably find it incredibly difficult because with no heel on one foot she was lopsided.

Gently taking his hand in hers, she put her other hand on his shoulder and shivered as he put his hand on her waist. They could both hear the music from inside and slowly began swaying to get a feel for it.

Then the music suddenly cut out and Dani frowned, glancing over at the doorway they'd come through and wondering what had happened.

Dumbledore's voice cut through the silence.

"Students, you are all looking absolutely stunning in your suits and dresses, however ever since I organised the ball I've had a bit of a surprise hidden up my sleeve. You see, for this night to be even more memorable than it already is I've decided that we need to find a way that we can overcome the House differences. So, please step away from your partner and close your eyes. That's it, everybody now. And now..."

Dumbledore's voice faded and there was silence again. Dani glanced at Harry, who shrugged briefly before closing his eyes. With a smile, Dani also closed her eyes and waited.

"Thank you to everyone for being cooperative. You may all now continue on with your evening and enjoy yourselves." The music began again.

Dani frowned and opened her eyes to see whether Harry was as confused as she was, but gasped and stepped back when she saw that he was now wearing a bronze mask that shone brightly in the moonlight.

"Dani?" Harry asked, looking at her with a confused expression also.

That was when she realised she could feel something on her face and slowly reached up a hand to feel it.

"What colour is it?" she asked him.

"White," he replied softly. "But it's almost silver."

"Yours is gold." she said to him and it was then his turn to feel his own mask.

"Your dress..." Harry murmured. Looking down at herself, Dani gasped as she saw she was no longer in the red dress she had chosen at Hogsmeade, but a silver dress that she guessed must match the mask she was wearing.

"What is Dumbledore playing at?" she asked quietly.

"Maybe we should go inside and find out." Harry suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"I suppose," Dani said. "Are you sure you don't mind?" Harry chuckled and put an arm around her shoulders, leading her towards the doors to go back inside.

"It's fine. Really."

As they re-entered the Great Hall, Dani smiled to herself when she realised she had new silver shoes on as well. At least it made things simpler for her.

"Whoa." Harry said, his feet failing to keep moving as he took in the sight before him. Dani's eyebrows rose in shock as she stared before her as well and she suddenly realised how Dumbledore had planned to 'overcome the House differences'.

All the girls were wearing identical dresses and masks, and all the guys were wearing identical suits and masks. The entire room was silver, black and bronze.

"I have to say, Dumbledore has some interesting ideas sometimes." Dani said with a giggle.

"I absolutely agree." Harry said.

"Do you want to dance in here?" Dani asked, turning to smile at him. He nodded and they walked towards the middle of the room where the dancing was taking place, before beginning to move to the music.

After a while, Dani and Harry were becoming bolder with their dance moves. Rather than just swaying and taking a few steps forward and back, Dani began to do some twirls and Harry even dipped her a few times.

Smiling, Dani was glad that Harry was finally enjoying himself again.

Loosening her grip on his hand, she turned to the side and began spun away from him until their fingers were only just touching. Harry laughed and closed his eyes for a moment as she grinned at him.

In the next moment, she was pulled away from him and was watching as Katie took her place, taking hold of Harry's hand and spinning back in to him with a smile. She had changed her hair back to brown again. As the two of them danced in the opposite direction, Katie glared back at Dani over Harry's shoulder and Dani just knew what she wanted her to do.

With a sigh, she turned around.

And was met with Malfoy.

"You just can't keep away from me, can you Monroe?" he asked with a snigger.

"Blame it all on Katie! She's the one who seems to think that I'll be able to make you like her again!" Dani exclaimed angrily.

"Well seeing as you realise the truth that you can't do that, why don't you just enjoy yourself anyway? Forget what she's told you to do. Have some fun." Malfoy said.

"I would if she hadn't stolen my date." Dani scowled, turning to look over to where Katie was actually doing a good job of pretending to be her now.

"Do you want to get back at her for that?" Malfoy asked curiously.

"Definitely." Dani said with a sharp nod of her head.

"Then steal her date." Malfoy said in such a way that Dani half expected him to say 'duh' right after.

Then his words actually sunk in and she looked up at him again, frowning.

"What?" she asked.

"Dance with me."

"No!"

"What are you going to do, storm over there and have Potter find out you ditched him to be with me?" Malfoy asked, folding his arms.

"Of course not, but that doesn't mean I'm going to dance with you." Dani replied.

"Why don't you at least try to have some fun while you're with me?" Malfoy sighed, letting his arms fall to his sides again.

"Why aren't you acting normal and telling me to get lost?" Dani retorted, putting her hands on her hips. "Ever since I first pretended to be Katie you've been... civilised!"

"Is that a crime? Maybe I've just learnt to respect you because you wanted to help out a sister who's in Slytherin." Malfoy said innocently.

"Look Malfoy, I'm tired of arguing with you. I don't care what-"

Dani stopped speaking as Malfoy stepped forward and slipped an arm around her waist, grabbing her hand with his and beginning to dance.

Grumbling, she put her other hand on his shoulder and went along with it.

"See, this isn't so bad is it?" Malfoy smirked.

"Actually it's not, but every time you open your mouth it gets that little bit closer to being unbearable." Dani said, not looking at him.

"Perhaps you should amend your sentence. You don't like it when I talk." Malfoy said.

"That's what I said, just in different words." Dani pointed out, looking up at him to try and get a better understanding of what he was thinking.

"I'm sure I could make it more pleasant by opening my mouth." Malfoy said, raising an eyebrow at her and chuckling when she blushed, catching on to his innuendo.

"That's- I didn't-" Dani clenched her teeth.

"Want me to prove it?" Malfoy asked, leaning his head closer to hers but stopping when she flinched. "It'll be better than last time."

Suddenly pulling away, Dani shook her head. "I have to go."

She didn't wait for him to reply, but instead slipped through the crowd of people quickly as she searched for Harry and Katie. Seeing them up ahead, she hurried towards them.

Two metres from them, she called out, "Katie!" before getting closer and reaching out to grab her twin sisters arm, quickly pulling her away from Harry and towards the doors of the Great Hall.

"Dani!?" Harry gasped in shock.

Turning to look over her shoulder, she called, "I'm sorry!" and disappeared out into the hallway beyond.