Chapter 08 - Conversations and Dancing

"Hello, Mione," Harry said as his bushy haired friend entered the mirror, "Hi, Harry. It's nice to see you. How you like your new school?" she wanted to know.

"So far it's awesome Mione. Everything is going well," he answered as he flopped on to his stomach on the bed, "I've already had a few classes and tonight we are having a ball to kick off the new school year. And I've already made a few friends: Flora, Bloom, Stella, Musa, Tecna and Aisha. Last night Musa gave me a quick crash course in dancing. Both, leading a partner and following, so I could be ready for tonight," he continued and then paused, took a deep breath before speaking again, „I'm nervous Mione," he got out. She smiled and asked, „What about Harry?"

He gathered his thoughts before speaking, "Do you remember how nervous and bubbly you were when Victor Krum asked you to the Yule ball?" he asked her. She nodded her head and gave an affirmation, "Well, we invite another school that's down the way, called Red Fountain, school for heroes. A few days ago me and my roommates -same girls I've told you about- went shopping to help me picked out and outfit to where and we ran into three boys from that school, two of them were boyfriends of Bloom and Tecna, and the third was a friend of theirs. So I was introduced to Sky, Bloom's boyfriend, and Timmy, Tecna's boyfriend, and their friend Helia, and..."

She smiled as he trailed off and said, "It's all right Harry. You can open up to me." He gave her a warm smile back and quietly continued.

"I'm nervous about making a fool of myself tonight..." he trailed off, not really knowing how to continue.

He looked back up at the mirror. 'When had he looked away?'he thought, as Mione laughed, before saying, "That sounds perfectly natural, Harry," she assured him, "Just try and have a good time tonight. Let things play out slowly, don't rush into anything head on," she said getting in other lecture at the reference to my past actions and behavior.

After they talked for a few more minutes, in which she informed him that Hedwig and the new baby owlets were doing fine, he finally had to say goodbye so he could finish getting ready.

Red Fountain

The boys were getting ready when Timmy noticed that Helia was somewhere in his dreamland. "Um... Helia?" Helia turned to him with a dazed look on his face, "Yeah, Tim?" he said, calling Timmy by his favorite nickname for his best friend.

"Are you all right? You seem to be a little..."

"Spaced out," Riven put in when Timmy couldn't find the right words to describe their quieter friend.

"Oh I'm well. I'm just thinking," he answered as he slipped his uniform's boots on.

"About?" Sky asked him.

"Hmm, Tim, Sky, you guys remember the dark-haired boy, Harry, who was with the girls, when we saw them the other day right?" he asked turning to the two. Timmy and Sky gave him a nod. "Well, he has been on my mind ever since then," he told all of them in the room. They all thought about that as they made their way to their hover bikes.

The boys were quiet during the 10 minute ride to the school. Sky and the others were thinking about what Helia said to them. Sure, they knew their friend sort of swung that way, but he had never to their memories had a thing with another boy.

Back at Alfea

The ballroom looked fantastic. Decorations had been strung up with lights. The tables surrounding the dance floor were covered in a very light pink color that was so light it was almost white. There was a small group of tables across the other side of the dance floor, which had snacks and drinks for them to eat. Each of the tables had a lovely bouquet of white lilies as their centerpieces. The girls were looking for the guys when they heard Sky's voice, "Bloom! Girls! Over here!" Bloom turned her head towards the right and there she saw Sky and the others surrounding two tables closest to the big window, through which you could look over the grounds of the school. The girls made their way to the boys and when they got there, they each gave their respective boyfriend a kiss on the cheek and took a seat to talk.

Tecna sat with Timmy with Helia already sitting next to him on his right. Bloom and Sky joined them. Stella, Brandon, Flora, Musa, Riven and Aisha sat at the other which left one seat open next to Helia. Sky and Timmy had made sure that this seat next to their friend would be left open for Harry and they told the girls to let it open for him as well.

A couple of minutes later when there was a slight flaw in the music, whispering began. The girls stopped their discussions and looked towards the door, where an elegantly dressed figure came slowly, hesitantly through the doors, trying to inconspicuously glance around the room for someone. The girls thought he looked charming. Bloom quickly stood up careful not to mess up her dress and made her way over to where Harry had stopped to glance around. As she approached him she greeted him, "You look charming Harry."

Harry glanced at himself. He was wearing a pair of black ankle boots, which Stella had picked out for him when they went shopping, a pair of slim black dress pants and a black leather belt with a silver buckle. His shirt was a silvery gray color with green and black swirls around the trim and trailing up the front of his shirt around each of his buttons and over that a black cloak. On the back of the cloak was a moving picture of a white lily that opened and closed as he walked. He had brushed his hair off to the side and put a little gel in it. He wore some simple jewelry: the bracelet, which he bought when they went shopping. The bracelet also contained a small charm, but it wasn't a charm it was actually Harry's camera, which he got for his birthday. He would it charm back to its normal size to take pictures, and hidden in his boot was his holly and phoenix feather wand to have in case of an emergency, and a necklace that had belonged to his mother that he had found when he was cleaning up in the attic one day.

He realized that Bloom was still standing next to him and gave a quiet "thank you". As Bloom led him to some tables where the other girls were sitting with some gentlemen, he recognized Sky, Timmy and Helia, so he figured that the rest were other boys from Red Fountain.

"Ok Harry, you already know Sky, Timmy and Helia," Bloom said as she led him two the seat next to Helia, "So let me introduce you to the rest of the gang. Sitting next to Stella is her boyfriend Brandon and the guy sitting next to Musa is her boyfriend Riven," Bloom finished and then took her seat next to Sky. Every buddy said "hello" before the Red Fountain boys got up to get everybody drinks. When they returned, they started chatting. The boys asked questions about Harry and about his schooling before this. Their laughter sounded through the night as the boys got to know Harry and Harry got to know them. Eventually the couples all started to migrate to the dance floor, and soon enough it was just Helia and Harry.

Harry took a sip of his drink and looked over two the dancing couples before setting his drink on the table and removing his shrunken camera from his bracelet, with a quick unshrinking charm he brought the camera to his eye and focused the lens before snapping a few rapid pictures of his friends. As he put the camera away he turned to see Helia looking intrigued about what he was doing. He gave a shy smile before turning to tell him about his camera.

"I got this for my birthday from my friend, to be able to take pictures. This is the first time I've used it since I've gotten it," he said and looked down, "Um..." he paused before he started speaking again, "I'm feeling a little bit hot," he said looking down at his camera, "Would you maybe want to join me for a walk around the courtyard?" he asked quietly and heard a laugh before looking up and seeing Helia with his hand stretched out towards me. "May I escort you around the courtyard, Harry?" he asked me with a charming smile. The questioned boy nodded before Helia offered his hand as he stood up and he led me towards the doors and out.

Bloom's pov

Bloom watched as Helia took Harry's arm and led him out of the hall. She smiled and turned back to Sky. "So, what do you think of him?" she asked as her boyfriend spun her around. Sky smiled and glanced where Helia and Harry had disappeared. "Harry seems nice," he started, "He seems to be a little shy, but that's probably because he still getting used to all of this. I might just have met him the other day and just got to know him better tonight but..." he trailed off and Bloom gave him a questioning look. He continued, „He seems to have an inner strength, something that will show itself in time," he said as he dipped his girlfriend giving her a lingering kiss before bringing her back up.

Outside

The breeze ruffled Harry's hair as they walked. While the walked they talked about little things, "So Harry," Helia started, "have you enjoyed your first classes at Alfea?" he asked. Harry nodded and told him about his first metamorphosis class and the conversation that he and the professor had about the differences between metamorphosis and transfigurations. They made it to a bench in the middle of the courtyard where they sat and admired the beauty of the majestic building. Harry sighted before saying, "when I first found out I had a creature inheritance I was nervous and a little freaked out," I said, "you see, in the society I've been in since I was 11. Some people look down on those with different blood."

Harry went on to tell Helia about the early war his parents fought and lost their lives in and of voiding the prophecy at this point. They sat there for a while of sitting and listening to the night air. A song drifted from the open door that they came from, "Um... Harry?' he looked up from the flowers he was admiring to see Helia contemplating such thing, "Yes? What is it Helia?" Harry asked. Helia looked into green eyes before asking, "Harry..."he paused for a moment, "May I have this dance?" Helia asked the small breath-taking teen in front of him. Harry blushed and gave a hesitant nod trying to remember what Musa had shown him the night before. Taking the hand that was presented to him he let Helia lead him away from the bench. They started out slow just moving in small steps, as the music and the sound of the animals continued. Harry started to relax slightly into the dance. He let Helia twirl him a couple of times. When the song ended they stared at each other for a moment before they heard a click, they turned away from each other's eyes to see their friends standing there. Stella had grabbed Harry's camera from where he had left it on the bench and obviously had just taken their picture. Harry quickly blushed before stepping away from the firmness of Helias warm chest and blushed more as he realized the situation their friends had found them in. After glancing at Helia one last time Harry made his way over to the bench and gave Stella a scowl and extending his hand for his camera. She laughed once, before handing him back the camera. He smiled and got the group to stand together in front of the bench and set the camera to take an automated picture he ran over two the group and said, "Everybody say: cheese!" They all laughed and said 'cheese' before the camera snapped a photo of them and with that the Red Fountain boys said their goodbyes to everybody before making their way back to their school.