Chapter 13- Dancing by the firelight

A/N: Hi! I know I haven't updated in a few weeks, school has been quite busy. But I then felt the need to write some adorable Al and Claraness so I did. Please review! :) Hope you like it!

The moon shone brightly, seeping through the half closed curtains, casting small strips of light around the room. The whole room was silent, save for the soft crackle of the fire; it made their faces glow a golden yellow. Still no one spoke, and they sat in a watchful silence. They had finished their homework ages ago, but had stayed despite the fact it was Saturday the following day, and a few of them would have to get up early for Quidditch practice.

Ava sighed heavily as she rested her head on her closed fist.

"What?" Lewis asked, breaking the silence. Everyone jumped out of their dazes and turned to him.

"Oh, nothing?" She said distantly, her mind clearly was on other things, but she didn't obviously care to talk about them though.

"Oh okay," Lewis said as he stared into the bright golds, reds, and oranges burning on the hearth.

"Oh elephants- "Eliza shouted suddenly as she turned to her school bag. Everyone stopped and stared at her.

"Oh elephants!" Poppy said laughing, "Seriously El! Oh Elephants"

"Oh stop it!" Eliza said as she gave her a long and hard stare, "its Hogsmeade next weekend isn't it?"

"Yeah why?" Lysander asked, "I already asked you to go with me. Please stop panicking."

"Yeah, yeah. I know that," Eliza said as she swivelled around and scrummaged around her bag.

"What the hell are you looking for? It's like midnight on a Friday…wait Saturday. I don't know days," Clara exclaimed.

"A list!" Eliza said, with a sort of A ha! To it as she got out a thick blue notebook.

"Eliza you don't need a list it's over a week away!" Poppy said rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I do!" Eliza said as she started scribbling stuff madly in her notebook.

"Eliza," Lysander said as he took her pen away and closed her notebook. Eliza stared back looking like a lost puppy until he handed them back. She had the sense to put them away.

Scorpius stood up stretching his back,

"Are we ready to go then?" He asked as he put his hands on his hips. They all shook their heads; he sat down awkwardly.

"I'm not tired at all," Clara said smiling as she lay down on her front and rested her head on her chin.

"Well what shall we do then? We can't just sit here till Saturday," Scorpius said.

"Ooh I have an idea," Al said suddenly, as he got up and walked over to the shelves, where all the random stuff was kept.

"What are you looking for?" Scorpius asked.

"Aha! This!" Al said excitedly, as he pulled out a rather large cassette player.

"Oh god, why?" Poppy said.

"Those are so old. Even my mum has barely any tapes anymore," Clara said.

"I have vinyls and tapes in my room," Al said as he rifled through his school bag, clearly looking for something.

"What? Are you serious?" Louis asked.

"Dead serious," Al said as he out his black coat and picked up a shimmery cloak and some old battered papers.

"Al, it's like midnight, you'd get caught and get no end of detentions," Clara said.

"Well that sentence made no sense. And that's why we got these," Al said as he waved up the cloak and papers, "But I do need someone to go with me please?"

"I'll go," Louis said standing up, and following Al out of the door.

"Right, get under the cloak," Al whispered, as he chucked the cloak over both of them.

"How the hell is this going to disguise us? The prefects sure won't notice two figures walking in a bright and shining cloak at midnight, through the halls having no idea where they're going, bumping into random objects. This is such a great idea Al! Sure whatever can't wait to waste my evenings and Saturdays in detention," Louis complained, Al rolled his eyes and sighed heavily.

"It's an invisibility cloak it was my grandfathers. I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," Al said as he pointed his wand at the papers and the maps ink started to show, "And this is the marauders map, so we don't get lost."

They walked in silence, steeping wearily when they saw the pairs of prefects.

"So you annoyed then?" Al asked as they walked up the stairs.

"What?" Louis asked, very confused.

"About El?" Al asked as if Louis was asking a stupid question.

"What?" Louis asked again.

"Ugh. Are you annoyed about Eliza and Lysander?" Al asked annoyed.

"Oh that? No I don't like her like that, she's just a good friend," Louis said relieved.

"Right sure," Al scoffed.

"No right sure about it," Louis said mimicking Al, "She's just my friend. And she's with Ly now anyway. They're going to Hogsmeade together."

"Oh my god lay off it Louis. I know you like her, you really just need to talk to her," Al said suddenly, practically shouting.

"No I-"Louis started.

"No Louis please you're kidding yourself. We've all seen the way you look at her. It's like the way Rose and Scor look at each other, and we all know that they need to just get together already. Your eyes bloody light up whenever she speaks to you. I may sound like a girl, but for god's sake, for your benefit and ours please just bloody speak to her. I bet she even feels the same and I'm sure you could explain to Ly, and he'd understand," Al said as they reached the common room. Louis was about to protest again but when they stepped into the portrait hole they found some seventh years asleep on the sofa, textbooks still in their hands.

They crept through the room, silent bar the distant rumble of snores. They reached their room, still standing on tiptoes as John was asleep on his bed. Al took off the cloak and put the map on his bed. He quietly tried to get his trunk open, but there was loads of stuff on top of it. Louis helped him chuck the strewn clothes onto his bed. And then Al riffled through his really messy trunk, until he found an old battered cardboard box with tapes and vinyl's in.

"Aha!" Al called as he got one out and shoved it in his coat pocket.

"Really? Already?" Louis asked as he ruffled his hair.

"Yup! Come on let's go" Al said as he picked up the cloak and map. They left the room, quietly pulling the door shut.

"So what about you and Clara then?" Louis asked, with a grin on his face, as they left the tower, and started walking down the stairs.

"What? No. She's like my best friend." Al scoffed, and it was quite clear that he was lying.

"Yeah, sure," Louis said suspiciously.

"Hey! No! She is just my friend! She has been for like four years now as well. We see each other every day. I don't think she could like me like that at all. There is nothing going on between us," Al said as they crept past a group of prefects.

"Well I will say I told you so when you end up going to the ball together, and dancing together all night," Louis said. They walked in silence to the Room of Requirement.

"Oh, you're back. That wasn't long," Ava called as she clambered over the pillows and blankets on the floor.

"Did you get it?" Clara asked as she stood up and stretched her back.

"Yep," Al said as he took of his coat and took out the cassette. He walked over to the shelf and put the cassette in the tape player. The Piña Colada song started blasting through the speakers.

"Are we going to like dance or whatever?" Eliza asked.

"Of course," Al and Clara said in unison. Everyone then stood up and started dancing, admittedly very badly, around the room. They shoved the pillows and blankets to the side. They were all just jumping up and down, smiling gleefully and not caring at all that they couldn't dance at all well, and looked like idiots. After a while they all began singing along, doing a weird conga around the room.

The song finished, and Hooked on a Feeling started playing.

"Oh I haven't heard this song in so long. I remembered dancing around the kitchen to it when I was younger," Clara said as she started doing the dance routine she'd done with her sister when she was younger.

"Ah yeah!" Sophie said.

"This was a mixtape my dad made for my mum as a sort of like engagement present years ago. I was sorting through some boxes in the attic a few summers ago. I found a few old boxes of like tapes and vinyl's with dad. We got out the old record player and a cassette player, and played them as we sorted the stuff out. He said I could pick out whichever ones I wanted, as long as I ran it past my mum first," Al said, " And she was fine with me taking them. She always said she loved these songs. We play this tape every Christmas before the family swarms the place. No offence."

"None taken," Louis and Rose said at the same time.

"Christmas is hell for us lot," Rose said glumly.

"You do have a huge family," Scorpius said.

"We have like," Clara started before she abruptly stopped jumping and ran all the number through her head, "10 of us at my grandparents at Christmas."

"Try 18. I think…at last count at least," Rose said.

"Must be tight," Ava said.

"You think," Louis said.

They stopped talking and continued with their dancing and bad singing. There were seven songs on the tape and it was 2am by number six, Viva La Vida by Coldplay. But despite them all being so tired they still were really loud and enthusiastic, screaming the words and jumping frantically up and down.

When the last song came on everyone slowed down, it was O children by Nick Cave, the song Rose's mum and Al's dad had danced to when they were running from the death eaters and looking for the horcruxes. It was a lot slower than the other songs, but held some sort of sentimentality between Rose and Al's parents. It was a big marker of their friendship really.

Lysander and Eliza started dancing together; Lysander took her hand and started twirling her around. He reeled back for a moment and put a piece of her hair behind her ear. They were smiling right at each other, Lysander's eyes lit up. Al saw this and glanced over at Louis, who had a sad puppy look, rather like Eliza's. He then took Sophie into the middle, and they started dancing together as well, giggling as they attempted to waltz.

"Want to dance?" Clara asked Al after a few moments, as she stood with her arms crossed, standing on the side next to him. Everyone else was now dancing in pairs but them. Al nodded and Clara took his hand and led him to where everyone else was dancing. He put his arms around her neck; she was little bit shorter than him, and they started just swaying and twirling around. She smiled and looked into his green eyes; he smiled back staring into her luminous blue ones. They learned in and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Aww look, they so love each other," Eliza whispered to Louis, everyone else had stopped dancing, they high-fived.

"I know, I was talking to him earlier. They are so denying it," Louis whispered back.

"Yes, they so need to ask each other to Hogsmeade," Eliza said as she crossed her arms and started chewing her nails.

Al and Clara were oblivious to them and were just zoned out from the rest of the world, and were just dancing with each other. The song ended, and she took her head off his shoulder. He kept her arms around her neck. They hadn't stopped swirling, or taken their eyes of each other. They stopped, still not letting go of their gaze and leaned in. Al put his hands in her hair and kissed her.