phantasyphoenix: thanks! Yeah i was sad not pairing them up too but i think it'll be cool to see them compete against each other for awhile! unicorngirl14, TheFlyingCat, TtoboggI, Poppy Quinn, Thanks for the reviews:D
A/N: The story is not gonna be compliant from the sixth book onwards. Sorry, it fit my storyline better to have the war occur in the sixth year so I tweaked everything a bit!
Chapter 3: That. Conceited. Inconsiderate. Brat. Malfoy
Hermione put her hand supportively around Ginny's shoulder as the walked down the hallway to their room. The hallway was covered in different portraits that were the size of doors, framed in ornate gold. However, the luxury escaped both girls due to the crisis at hand.
"Malfoy! Ferret Boy and Git-of-the-Year. How on earth are we ever going to get along, let alone dance together!" Ginny complained, glaring murderously down at her black ribbon as if she could scare it into writing another person's name.
Hermione nodded understandingly. She knew all to well that feeling of being saddled with Malfoy. Back in seventh year, the ferret also had been given the dubious honor of being Head Boy alongside with her. Needless to say, he wasn't exactly jumping for joy. In fact, he did the bare minimum and made her life a living hell. "You'll be able to deal with him. I bet Malfoy wants to win just as bad at you do, so he won't be that much of a prat if it means he might get kicked out first round. And you could always hit the coward with one of your infamous Bat Boogey Hexes that scared the living daylights out of him in Umbridge's office back in our fifth year . Anyway, isn't that our portrait?"
They were in front of a woman dressed in an dusky blue beaded empire waisted gown, seated beside an iron wrought table in a garden. The painting was so lifelike, even by wizarding standards. Hermione felt as if, if she walked forwards, instead of hitting something solid, she would actually join that beautiful woman and partake of the delicious looking tea and biscuits. The woman's black curls were swept into an elegant updo that was held in place by a silver comb. She blinked, her large green eyes standing out against her pale skin. Lifting her teacup, she nodded graciously to them. "Good day, Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasely."
The girls smiled. "Well, good day to you too," Hermione replied. She nudged the redhead beside her. "Earth to Ginny! What shall be our password?"
After conferring with each other, Ginny leaned forward to whisper the password to the portrait. "The Amazing Bouncing Ferret." She grinned vindictively, as if by insulting Malfoy through the password to her room, she was exacting some terrible, life altering revenge. She collapsed into giggles, soon to be joined by Hermione. The lady in the portrait looked snootily down at them, but the twinkle in her eyes betrayed her reluctant amusement. "I will not even try to understand." Then the portrait swung forward, and Hermione and Ginny stepped into their room. It was very modern and new, nothing like what both girls had at home. Along one wall were twin beds with fluffy sky blue duvets and pillows, each bed with a bedside table. Their trunks were stacked in a corner. They had a dresser each, and in the corner was a white sofa, designed with swirls of blue and trimmed with gold. Along the other wall was a long stretch of mirror, and there was a lot of empty space, which the girls assumed for practicing in the privacy of their own rooms. Hermione peeked into the bathroom and her eyes lit up with delight. Besides a shower and a nice bathroom counter, there was a large luxurious clawed foot tub. She walked briskly back out to her trunk and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, noting that Ginny was sprawled across her bed, face buried in the pillows. She smothered a laugh and went to change.
As she left the bathroom, she felt a curious warm sensation on her arm. She looked down and saw that the black ribbon was glowing, and there was more writing on it. Protean Charm, she thought. She had performed it herself in her fifth year. She lifted the ribbon up to eye level. It read "Meeting Place, 3.30". A quick look at the clock told her she had about 5 minutes left. "Ginny!" she called out. "You ready?"
Ginny was standing by the portrait hole, dressed similarly in a tank top, but wearing black tights instead. "Ages before you were," she teased. "Let's go!"
The pair climbed out and saw that several others were making their way out too. Hermione spotted her partner, Sean. Ginny saw who she was looking at and waved her ahead. "S'okay. Go ahead and get to know your partner! He already has one thing going for him." She grimaced. "He's not Malfoy."
"More's the pity," an all too familiar voice put in assertively. The golden haired boy brushed past them wearing grey sweatpants and a tight, form fitting black T-shirt. Hermione stiffened at the contact. Once he was out of earshot, Ginny gave a low whistle. "If he wasn't such a git, I would totally go for him. Did you see his abs? Such a looker. Utter gorgeousness-"
"Whoa, hold your horses there girl! 5 minutes ago, you were moaning and groaning at your misfortune." Hermione interrupted.
Ginny gave a wolfish grin, an abrupt change of mood from earlier. "I know, I'm completely torn." Hermione noted she didn't look torn in the least. Not even the littlest bit. It bothered her somewhat. "He's a horrible, Slytherin, pureblooded prick...but so unbelievably good looking," she continued. "If i have to dance with a ferret, at least he's a hunk of a ferret." Catching the look on Hermione's face, she held up her hands, "Hey, I'm just kidding. I still don't like him, and I wouldn't go for him either, so he's all yours!"
"What? What did you say?" Hermione sputtered.
"I said, he's all yours, Malfoy's not my type anyway," Ginny waggled her eyebrows ridiculously.
"Yeah, but Harry is right?" Hermione cut in, and seeing Ginny's cheeks tinge red, satisfied herself with the knowledge that she had gotten the last word and strode ahead to talk to Sean.
Draco stood with the rest of the contestants in the Meeting Place. Meeting Place, what a stupid name. So juvenile, so common. He was distracted from his thoughts when a petite, pretty witch walked into the room. "Hello everybody, I'm Elphie! Follow me, I'll take you to the dance studio." Without pausing she, walked out again. After hesitating, the group trailed after her. She began to talk as she led them through the lobby and down a winding hallway.
"Once you know your way to the studios, you'll be able to apparate there. Even though the competition is open to witches and wizards above fifteen, we seem to have no underaged wizards here! So there will be no issue of underage magic to worry about. Okay, we'll start off with round of introductions then I'll be leading you folks in warm up, a bit of contemporary, and you'll be dancing in your pairs. After that we'll introduce you to your choreographers for your first routine, your performance will be on friday. You'll work a bit more, and then you'll be up for dinner and you'll have free time after that. I'm the host for the show, by the way. Just a note on how the voting will be done, for now, you'll be voted off in pairs, then after awhile, we'll switch things up a bit and it'll be one boy and one girl, not necessarily from the same pair. Luckily for you guys, since most of you dance contemporary, we decided to ease you into the competition and all your routines will be modern dance. This will be the first and the last time. After that, it'll be all salsa and rumba and waltzing and maybe, just maybe hip hop to spice things up a bit, and other types of dance, you get what i mean." She turned behind and beamed energetically.
Her hair was midnight blue in colour and it framed her young, pretty face in a pixie cut. Draco noticed she was wearing a leotard and a pair of shorts. He also observed that most of the males found her deeply attractive. Many of the guys were blatantly staring. He smirked. They were so obvious, lacking finesse and charm. "If you could attract a decent woman you only met 5 minutes ago by staring at her ass then I would be a flobberworm," he muttered to Blaise, who snickered. They had reached the dance studio, a large dome shaped area with mirrors stretching the entire length of the place.
Elphie clapped her hands twice. "This may be seem slightly juvenile to some of you," she looked pointedly at the sniggering Draco and Blaise, "But lets gather round in a circle and introduce ourselves. I'll start. I'm Elphie. I'm 26 years old and I was homeschooled so I didn't attend Hogwarts or Beauxbatons like most of you. I major in contemporary dance."
The group formed a circle and the a leggy, stick thin blonde stepped up to introduce herself. "Hello, I'm Iris LeFay. My mother is british, my father french. I'm 18 years old and i just graduated from Beauxbatons. I major in ballet, but I also dance jazz. My partner is Blaise." She smiled charmingly at all of them, her gaze lingering in the very general direction of Draco, Blaise and the tall, black haired dancer on their right.
The dancers took their turns and Draco paid scant attention, such that he could not put the name to the face for a couple of dancers. He rolled his eyes at the reaction that Hermione and Ginny elicited during their brief introductions. War heroes indeed. However he did manage to recall the black haired guys name, apparently he was Sean Finnegan, another self righteous ex-Gryffindor and Hermione's partner. He took an instant dislike to the man. Blaise, said a few short sentences, then it was his turn. Without smiling, without softening the look in his steely gray eyes, he drew himself up to full height and gazed at the bunch of dancers. "I'm Draco Malfoy. I'm eighteen and I was from Hogwarts, Slytherin. My partner is Wea-Ginny. I dance contemporary and salsa."
After introductions were finished, Elphie instructed them to break up into their pairs. He stayed where he was, and watched Ginny stride over to him quickly. She appraised him coldly. "Malfoy."
He inclined his head, "Weaslette." After a pregnant pause, Ginny broke the silence. "Look here, you don't like me and I don't really fancy you either. But I propose we try to get along as long as we dance together, because Merlin,I swear if you screw me over in this competition, I'll hex you to China and back."
Draco allowed himself a smirk. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, carrot top."
Ginny had to satisfy herself with his vague consent.
Hermione, on the other hand, was getting along with Sean very well. He was a friendly, funny, and a gentleman in every respect. However they hardly had anytime to talk, because Elphie quickly set them warming up with stretches and such. Soon after she gave them a short routine to learn, full of jumps and twists and turns. She had to focus entirely on perfecting the steps and getting them down pat. Sean seemed to be getting along fine, no sign of difficulty whatsoever. It seemed to Hermione only a minute had passed when Elphie called out "Alright dancers! Time to dance it out. Split up, half of you on this corner of the studio and on the other side, the other half of you. You will dance in tandem with your partner, one pair from each corner will go at once and cross each other so you will end up at opposite ends of the studio." She waited for about 30 seconds then tapped her wand on the wall nearest to her. "Ah five, six, seven eight!"
Iris and Blaise and Selma and Josh started them off, and Hermione watched anxiously. It would be her turn soon. She looked at the other row of dancers and carefully counted...oh! She was going to be with Ginny and...Malfoy. Well, she'd show him! Looking behind her to give Sean an encouraging look, she prepared herself, listening to Elphie's counting. Trying not to over analyse her movements, she started off with a running leap, followed by a grand jete. She felt herself move in perfect time with Sean. They made a great pair, dancing so well together and-"OUCH! MALFOY!"
Draco Malfoy had lept in front of her, obvious over-estimating the distance he would travel, and crashed right into her. Both of them landed in a tangled heap on the floor. "Granger!" he growled. "Can you not dance in a straight line? Or were you too busy dreaming about your boyfriends Saint Potter and Weasel." Not the best insult ever, but the most he could come up with after getting the wind knocked out of him. Elphie called out "Are you alright? Anything sprained, broken?" They both groaned in response. "Okay then! Up, up, up, we don't have all day!"
Hermione sat up, flushed. She glared at Draco who was still lying flat on the floor, one of his legs thrown over hers. "This is all your fault," she accused, jabbing her finger at his chest. Draco couldn't help but notice at such close proximity that she had rather pretty facial features, and she did posses, well, other deeply attractive bodily qualities. Hey, he knew how to appreciate a girl. Hermione was still venting. "I was minding my own business, haven't even done a thing to you since the competition started, kept our contact to the minimum, but you still have to go out and knock me down in our very first session-"
"Just keep talking, Granger. I'm starting to think that you're enjoying the position you're in now. If only you had told me back in Hogwarts, I could have had you long ago." he remarked indifferently.
"Do us all a favour and keep your crude comments to yourself," she hissed, her cheeks flaming brilliant red. "Quit being so crass." Hermione pushed herself up and stalked away.
The rest of the class progressed without a hitch. Elphie smiled at sweating, tired and limp dancers. "Well done! Now, I will introduce you to your choreographers." She tripled tapped the mirror and slowly, in sections, the names of the pairs appeared along the wall. "Just tap your wand on your section and say your name, and you'll be able to enter your own private learning areas. Have fun!"
Heaving a sigh, the dancers lumbered towards their sections, muttering spells to refresh their tired bodies. However, one of the dancers was still full of energy. "That. Conceited. Inconsiderate. Brat. Malfoy!" Hermione fumed.