The day of the dance arrived. I am standing in front of my mirror in the common room trying to make my tie lie flat on my chest but it is not co-operating. The rest of the boys are already finished and are sitting on their beds talking about their dates and how the evening is going to go. Apart from Ron who left as soon as he was dressed. Dean is going with Parvati and looks quite pleased about it and Seamus snagged a Ravenclaw girl but won't tell us who. Neville looks the most pleased as he is going with Ginny Weasley. None of them knows who Ron is going with and I really couldn't care less. After a few minutes of chat we all hear the bell ringing out 7 o'clock.
"Come on Harry. We are gonna be late" dean says as they stand and start to move towards the stairs.
"Coming" I say having given up trying to make the tie comply.
We all make our way down to the great hall where we arranged to meet our dates. Seamus sees them first and calls out. The three girls turn and wave back. Dean bounds down the stairs and puts his arm around Parvati's waist and gives her a small kiss on the cheek. Neville stopped just in front of Ginny and bows, she responds with a small curtsey and she proffers her hand which Neville takes and kisses lightly before taking it and standing next to her. Seamus seemed to be in a state of partial merging with his date. She was slightly smaller than Ginny and her hair was a dirty blond. She pulled back and looked at me.
"Hello Harry Potter" she said politely.
"Hi" I replied still not sure who she was.
"Oh sorry everyone." Seamus says, going slightly red. "This is Luna Lovegood"
I was about to answer when I heard a mocking sneer from behind me. I turned to see Draco and his two attack hounds looking at our group with a disgusted look in their eyes.
"What do you want Malfoy" said Neville to my surprise. He isn't usually so sure of himself. Maybe all this dancing has given him some confidence.
"I was just seeing what gutter-sluts the "best" of Gryffindor could dredge up" he answered while Crabbe and Goyle nodded their agreement.
"Well I see you pulled the best slut for yourself" I said as Pansy Parkinson strode up and wound her arm around Draco's. Draco nodded for a second until he realised that I had just insulted him at which point his hand went into his jacket pocket. As his wand came out and levelled against us he realised that all 7 of our wands were also pointing at him. He started to lower his wand and I saw a sight over his shoulder that I will never forget until the day I die.
Rationally I knew who it was, but there was one point when my brain didn't recognise the figure gliding down the stairs towards us. The woman's hair was sleek and gleaming and pulled up into a glamorous knot at the back of her head. Her robes were clinging to her body in a way that almost defied gravity but at the same time seemed to float around her. The robes themselves were a light periwinkle-blue colour and finished just above her shoes so that the light blue heels showed.
For a second I kept looking around the hall for my date until the rational part of my brain kicked in and I realised that the angel floating down the stairs was Hermione.
At this point my tongue decided to pack its bags and take a vacation to the floor next to my shoes.
"Ububub" I said, like a complete idiot.
"Breath Harry" she said calmly.
"You look amazing" I said when my tongue had arrived back in my mouth.
"Thank you kind Sir" she replied with a small smile.
I looked at Malfoy and his face was a picture. He looked like his mouth was glued to the floor. Pansy looked at him and saw his expression.
"You don't like her do you Draco" she said in a nasal whiney voice.
"No of course not, I just thought that Potter had gone as low as a wizard can go by hanging around with these losers" At this he nodded towards my friends "But obviously he has chosen to go even lower by asking the Mudblood out" As the words came out of his mouth his friends started to smile while my friends all scowled and shifted into a stance that looked like they were going to pounce. They never got the chance. As soon as I heard his comment and I saw Hermione's face falter and her eyes started to water in the corners, I did something that I had wanted to do since Hermione had done it in third year. I could feel my blood boiling. I can stand up to people insulting me because I have had years of practise at ignoring, but I would not stand by and let Malfoy upset this beautiful creature that was standing beside me.
I took two steps forwards and Draco's face fell slightly as he seemed to see the anger in my eyes. My arm came up and my fist shot out and contacted Draco's nose with an audible crack. He fell back in to Crabbe and Goyle who stumbled trying to catch him and they all fell over into a heap, dragging Pansy down with them. We all turned our backs on them laughing and walked into the Great Hall. As I went I snaked my arm through Hermione's and smiled at her and she smiled back at me.
For the next few hours everything went brilliantly. Me and Hermione danced the first dance with the assembled host of students looking on, but I wasn't nervous because I had the girl of my dreams in my arms. After a few dances we took a short break and caught up with Dean and Neville and their dates. Seamus was still dancing with Luna and looked like he would be stuck to her for the rest of the evening. As the music increased in tempo me and my date had a couple of twirls around the floor before deciding that it was getting a bit too mosh-pit. About 11.30 we retreated to the quiet of the garden adjoining the dance floor. We found a small bench in a secluded alcove and we sat down with me at one end and Hermione leaning against my chest with her legs stretched out across the rest of the bench.
"Good evening?" I asked her.
"The best" she answered with a dreamy voice.
"Your favourite?" I said, meaning the evenings activities.
"Definitely the best ever. Yours?" she replied.
"Yea, lovely dance and perfect company" I said with a contented sigh.
"Harry?" Hermione said after a couple of minute's silence.
"Yea"
"Where are we?"
"Hogwarts" I said slightly confused.
"No I mean US Harry" she said sitting up and turning towards me.
"Oh, I dunno really. I mean I like you a lot and I think we could go further"
"What do you mean?" she asked with a quaver to her voice.
"Well Hermione, I love you and I want to be with you forever. Does that answer your question?"
"Forever?"
"Forever" I confirmed.
"That's an awful long time"
"I could do forever with you. If you will have me."
In answer she leant in and pressed her lips to mine and I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my lap. Just as my hands started to roam down her back I heard a rumbling sound. We broke apart to see a growing red-green glow coming from the direction of the Forbidden Forest. But even with this warning we still nearly jumped out our skins when a red bolt hit the top of the tower which we sitting under and we had to dive to avoid the falling masonry.
We ran back in to the hall and saw a massive confusion. Students were screaming and some were running out of the room until Dumbledore called out.
"QUIET!" he yelled using his wand to amplify his voice. At this point the entire hall shuddered under a huge sound assault from outside.
"Students and teachers of Hogwarts, this is Lord Voldemort. Hand over Harry Potter or I will destroy this entire castle and anyone who stands in my way."
There was a deathly silence for a second until a voice from the back of the room called out,
"Grab him!"
I recognised it as Pansy Parkinson's voice and I turned to face her as the crowd parted and she and Draco and a half dozen other Slytherins marched towards me and Hermione.
"It's over Potter" Draco said when he was 10 or so paces from me and the rest of his group had come around in a semi-circle around him. As he said this I saw over his shoulder a large group of Gryffindor's and a few Ravenclaw's coming up behind him.
"Yes it is Draco. For you" I said calmly and gave a nod to the mob behind him. There was a flurry of spells from the assembled group that impacted Draco's band of thugs. The Slytherins thudded to the ground in various forms of unconsciousness.
"Teachers, defend the castle!" called Dumbledore from the platform. "Students retreat to the dungeons for your safety"
As the prefects that were present started to herd the students out of the hall, me with Hermione in tow made our way to Dumbledore.
"We are not going" said Hermione. The headmaster looked down at us and smiled slightly.
"Very well, join the defence." We both nodded and ran off to Professor McGonagall who was organising the rest of the staff.
"Hermione, are we doing the right thing?" I asked as we wormed our way through the mass exodus of students.
"What do you think Harry" she asked.
"I think we are" I said.
"So do I Harry. So do I" at this she took my hand and squeezed it and we continued on to join the defence of the Wizarding world.