When Allyna joined her fellow Slytherins at lunch in the Great Hall, everyone was still abuzz about the Yule Masquerade Ball. From listening to several conversations, Allyna gathered that while a Yule Ball was common yearly, it was not usually a masquerade. Suddenly the entire student body went quiet as Professor McGonagall stood at the podium on the high dais that housed the professors' table.
"Good afternoon students. Headmaster Dumbledore forgot to mention that fourth through seven years will have a mandatory dance class after Dinner this evening. The Heads of House will all be in attendance. That is all." Allyna would have sworn she saw Professor Snape roll his eyes, she was certain he had much better plans for the evening besides watching students dancing. She caught herself wondering again just how well the Potions Master danced.
She ate her lunch quickly, pushing her plate away and pulling her Arithmancy homework out and working on it. When she finished, she stepped over to talk to Hermione. The students seemed to be becoming used to Allyna's table-hopping now, and there wasn't much of a whispered conversation about her. Hermione smiled at her, as did Neville. "Hello!" Hermione said, motioning for her to sit. Allyna sat beside Neville, who began to blush brightly red. Hermione had been speaking to a young red-haired girl, who Allyna thought must be related to Ron, her eyes were the same and her facial features were similar.
"Ginny, meet Allyna. Allyna, this is Ronald's sister Ginevra." Hermione introduced them.
Allyna smiled shyly. "Hello, Ginny, is it?" She reached a hand out to shake and without hesitation, Ginny took it, much to Ron's disgust. She heard him whisper to Harry, "Am I the only one that remembers she's a Slytherin?"
Allyna laughed. "No, Ron, you're not the only one who remembers I'm a Slytherin. But honestly, I was sorted into Slytherin because I wanted to work with Professor Snape. I want to be a Potions Mistress, and he's the best Potions Master in England, perhaps the world." Ron blushed at having been overheard, and Hermione reached across the table and punched him in the arm, making him yelp.
"You're a git, Ron!" Ginny said, glaring at her brother.
"It's all right, honestly, Hermione. I'm used to the doubt by now, even after only a day or so. I see the way the other students act around the Slytherins and vice versa. It's quite an interesting phenomenon." Allyna grinned. She knew from personal experience that some of the Slytherin's bad reputation was well warranted. But it was still fascinating to her how the students in each House drew together against Slytherin, though Allyna knew for a fact that several of the Slytherin students weren't so bad. Suddenly, they all realized that the lunch hour was almost over and they gathered their books and began to leave the Great Hall when a small blonde girl came skipping over.
"Hello, you must be Allyna. I'm Luna," she said with a smile on her face and eyes that looked both dreamy and incredibly observant. Allyna smiled at the younger girl.
"Pleasure to meet you, Luna. I love your name, by the way. I've always had a fascination with the moon. I was born under a full one, as a matter of fact, as my Grandmother tells me often," Allyna said, surprising Luna. Most people shied away from the strange girl, or at least made fun of her. Allyna noticed the magazine the younger girl was carrying. "What are you reading?" she asked politely as they walked to the Astronomy tower for Trelawny's class.
"This? Oh, my father's magazine, The Quibbler. I'm reading a most interesting article about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. A new expedition is leaving in a month, the leader says he believes that they may be nocturnal and that's why no one has seen them," Luna explained, waiting for "the look" that she got from everyone else when she began to speak about creatures most people didn't believe in.
As she seemed to do to everyone, Allyna surprised Luna. "Well, it would make sense if no one had seen them. And there's always the possibility that they have a natural disillusionment spell in their genes that prevent people from seeing them unless they wish to be seen. Perhaps someone like Professor Hagrid, who has such a way from animals, from what I'm told, would know more about the possibilities of that."
Luna blinked in confusion. Allyna was actually giving her advice on how to find Crumple-Horned Snorkacks? And she wasn't being facetious, Luna would have known that immediately. No, Allyna was being completely straightforward. "Do you mind if I write this down? It might be an interesting idea to owl to the expedition leader!" Luna was excited.
"Please, feel free to owl him, I'd love to hear his thoughts. Oh, if I were to give you the money for it, could you set me up with a subscription to the Quibbler? And does your father take free-lance writing? I have some articles that I could write up about animals from the United States that your readers might enjoy," Allyna replied.
The rest of the walk to the tower, Luna and Allyna talked of animals that most people didn't believe in. And once they were there, Allyna was bombarded by questions from Professor Trelawney who claimed she had known that Allyna would be arriving and bring great peace to Hogwarts. When the class was finally over, Allyna was more than happy to be leaving the tower. On the way down to Dinner, Allyna asked Luna about the dance.
"Are you going with anyone, Luna?"
"I don't know. I went alone last year and everyone laughed at me," Luna replied.
Allyna felt bad for the girl. "Why not go with a friend. I think that Neville would like to go, but I think he's afraid of the same thing, of everyone laughing at him if he goes alone. I think you'd have a good time if you went to the dance with Neville."
Luna looked as though she was considering the idea. Then she smiled brightly and bounded off, skipping away, to ask Neville to the Yule Ball. Allyna stopped by her room to put away her books and place a warming charm on her bed and to levitate a log into the fire. She knew from last night that she'd be exhausted after dancing lessons and blade lessons with Professor Snape. When she reached the Great Hall, students were milling about before sitting down, talking about the dancing lessons and the Yule Ball. Professor McGonagall asked all the fourth through seventh years to stay after for the dancing lessons.
So Allyna stood with Hermione, Neville, Luna, Harry, Ron and Ginny talking while the Great Hall was cleared of tables and benches. She heard Luna gasp and looked up to see that it had begun to snow, the ceiling of the Great Hall reflecting the weather outside. "It's beautiful," Allyna whispered, staring up at it, before her attention was drawn to Professor McGonagall.
Allyna watched as the professor turned on a magicked phonograph player and a beautifully-composed waltz filled the room. "Severus, would you help me demonstrate a simple waltz?" Professor McGonagall asked the Head of Slytherin house. Severus rolled his eyes, but walked towards the older woman, who smiled at him. With great decorum, Severus bowed to McGonagall and took her hand in his, placing his other at her waist. And then they were dancing, spinning around the room in a flurry of robes and graceful movements. Allyna was stunned by the grace with which Professor Snape moved. It was clear that the agility he showed in dueling and blade-wielding was as well-used in dancing. Allyna dearly wished she could move as gracefully.
Finally their dance ended, both of them bowing politely to the other. Allyna began clapping without thinking and the others soon copied her. Severus glared at her, he did not want the attention. "Now each of you take a partner and we will begin!" McGonagall called out. Before Allyna could turn, Draco Malfoy was by her side, a smirk on his face. It was all Allyna could do not to roll her eyes.
But she consented, bowing to him as he had bowed to her. Before she could say a word, he'd taken her hand and kissed it, and she could have sworn she felt his tongue touch her hand as well. Thoroughly disgusted, she frowned at him, but he took her hand and placed his other on her waist in a proprietary grip and as the music began again, he led her around the room. Her anger made her even less balanced than usual, and she took great pleasure in ruthlessly stomping on his toes every now and again. His face was becoming red, but he didn't dare shout at her in the middle of a lesson, though the was pretty sure that she was doing it on purpose.
Finally McGonagall called out for them to switch partners, and Allyna was quite happy to hand him over to an angry looking Pansy Parkinson, much to Draco's dismay. Allyna's next partner was, to both of their surprise, Ron. He looked horrified, and gulped when he took Allyna's hand, as if waiting for her to hex him. She had to admit that she was surprised when Ron turned out to be an excellent dancer. Not quite as good as Professor Snape, but still quite good. "You're very good, Ron," she said softly and had the pleasure of seeing his eyes open wide.
Allyna continued, hoping to put him more at ease. "What's it like having so many brothers and a sister? I'm an only child, it's always been kind of lonely." She smiled at him to show she was being truthful, and allowed her emotion to leak through her shields. It made him immediately feel at ease, and he began to speak.
"Most of the time it's pretty nice. But once in a while, I've wished I was the only kid, ya know? Doesn't help that we're not rich like the Malfoy's, that huge mansion for 3 people. And Mum's always bossing everyone around. I love her, but bloody hell!" he said as their dance was coming to a close.
"At least you still have your mother, Ron. Mine's been dead for a few years. Cherish your parents while you have them." she said softly, giving him something to think on as the music stopped. He nodded, looking thoughtful and gave her a real smile, finally. He They bowed and Ron went to dance with Hermione as Professor McGonagall made one last announcement. "Now will each of the Heads of House select the student closest to them for the final dance?"
Severus sighed, he was currently standing next to Allyna and Gregory Goyle, and he was certainly not going to dance with Goyle. So he bowed to Allyna, smirking as he noticed her blush, certain she was horrified at having to dance with a teacher. He then took her hand, placing his other on her tiny waist. When the music began, they began to spin around the room and he realized that while her balance was slightly better, her dancing was still sub par. Unacceptable, he thought. That a student in his House, who would no doubt be under close scrutiny due to her being a student from the states, wasn't graceful and stately was completely unacceptable.
He would have to focus on dancing for a few lessons, perhaps, instead of blade-work. He smiled to himself and looked down, a little surprised that Allyna hadn't yet stepped on his foot. Oh, he knew well enough that all her mistakes and stomping on Malfoy's toes had been deliberate. But when she wasn't paying so much attention to worrying about falling over, she could be a little more graceful than he'd expected. When the music ended, he was almost loathe to let her step out of his arms. they bowed to one another and Allyna joined her friends once more.
McGonagall ended the class and the students began to file out of the room. Severus caught Allyna's attention, reminding her of their lessons still planned for this evening. He nodded to her and left, his robes flowing behind him as he went to his quarters to change and prepare for a rather interesting evening.