PART 1 OF THE WELCOME BACK DANCE
BREAKFAST - SATURDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER - HOGWARTS CASTLE
Draco repeatedly banged his head on the table as he felt the stares at him. The post had just come in and of course, on the front page of the Witch Weekly was him dropping one Hermione Granger on the floor of Balderic's Wizardry Boutique. He groaned loader as Pansy grabbed a copy off a second year.
"Malfoy Heir drops War Heroine!" She read.
"Now we owe Dean 10 galleons!" complained Blaise.
"How did he guess the headline!" mumbled Theo grumpily. Pansy slapped them both on the head.
"Shush!" she glanced at who wrote the article, "Oh Merlin, Draco, you might what to read this for yourself. Rita Skeeter wrote it,"
Draco's head shot up from the table and he grabbed the newspaper, "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He read over the article.
"That's right, witches. Hermione Granger has struck again in stealing one of the Wizarding World's wealthiest bachelors, Draco Malfoy Hogsmeade got a first look at the musical curse that has swept through Hogwarts. The vocal moment broke out in Balderic's Wizardry Boutique and not only was Malfoy and Granger dancing but a mix of well-known Gryffindors and Slytherins were seen together, dancing such as the famous Harry Potter and his girlfriend Ginny Weasley. Sources say that the two groups, known for the rivalry were spotted mingling and laughing together. Surprisingly Pansy Parkinson, who if I recall correctly referred to Granger as 'really ugly' two years ago, was seen grinning and chatting with Granger. Is there a reason for this sudden change in behaviour? Are the Slytherin's trying to gain their reputations back after they were tarnished by their fathers? Has Draco Malfoy become another victim of Hermione Granger's love potions? Are Draco and Harry together? Don't worry Witch Weekly readers, I will be keeping a close eye on this unlikely group of 'friends'
Draco crumpled up the paper, ignoring the whispers that fluttered around the school. His attention was bought to the Gryffindor table as he heard the sound of a hand slamming down onto the tables.
Far across the room, Hermione was sick of the whispers that were surrounding her.
"Didn't she do the same with Harry?"
"No wonder, Krum paid attention to her?"
"I hate Pansy, but she would never be friends with her,"
Hermione stormed out of the Great Hall, ignoring Ginny's calls for her. She stomped to an empty classroom, fuming about being a victim of another one of Skeeter's articles.
"Rita Skeeter," tutted Bellatrix as she materialised in front of Hermione," She hasn't changed a bit,"
"Where have you been? I started to think I just imagined you," Hermione said.
"Here and there. I see Rita is still begging for that recognition she craved during our Hogwarts days," she tittered. Hermione gasped.
"You knew her?" Bellatrix laughed
"Sweetie, we were roommates. 'Friends' you could say. Though really she just followed me around like she had a crush on me,"
Hermione gaped, "You can help me then! I already know she an unregistered Animagus but I doubt that would work this time," she glanced at Bellatrix, "I once blackm-"
"You blackmailed her to stop wring for a full year, yes. Mudblood, remember I'm in your head,"
Hermione flinched as Bellatrix said that word. She had thought they were past that.
"Well, you can still help me,"
Bellatrix thought for a second, "Fine. But not now. You have to get ready for the dance remember?"
Hermione groaned loudly.
GREAT HALL - 7:45 PM
Blaise smirked as he observed Draco viciously whipping his head at every brunette that walked past. He shared a look with Theo.
"Looking for someone?" he questioned enjoying the blush that covered Draco's face.
"No. I am not," he muttered, eyeing the grins on two boys faces. Pansy rolled her eyes.
"Please, Draco we all know that you're looking for Miss Hermione Granger,"
Draco sighed in defeat, "Okay yes. But not for the reason you think!" He spluttered out when he saw his friends exchange looks, of excitement "I just want to make sure she's okay," he scrunched his nose as he looked up at the stage, "I can't believe Dumbledore decided to let students sing for the night,"
"I believe his exact words were, 'Why should we pay for entertainment when we can provide our own?!'" quoted Theo.
Blaise shook his head, "Who knew Britain's greatest wizard was so cheap!"
"I think it's great!" Luna Lovegood chirped as she trotted over to them. She was wearing a short ruched yellow dress. The sleeves were long with gigantic puffs going down them.
"Wow. Luna. That dress...It's bold," admitted Pansy, ignoring the glances of the crowd as they watched the unlikely sight of Loony with the Slytherins.
"Thanks! Sue helped me pick it," The Slytherins then notices Sue Li behind Luna wearing the same thing in blue.
"How did I not notice her standing there?" murmured Blaise. Sue smiled at them.
"Trust me, in the future, puff sleeves will be in," Pansy nodded at them in respect.
"Getting ahead of the trends. Luna, I have just found some more respect for you from inside of me. Every day that passes I feel more and more bad for being mean to you for being different,"
Draco, Blaise and Theo gaped at Pansy's bluntness while Luna just grinned at her.
"Pansy, you can't say stuff like that!" Draco complained.
Pansy turned to him, a terrifying expression on face, "Coming from you! You literally bullied anyone who fit into these categories: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or mud- muggle-born!"
Theo whistled, "Nice save," He was ignored.
"Well, there were reasons!" Draco argued, "The muggle-born thing, well come on pansy we were raised for it. The Gryffindors, you have to admit are sometimes, mostly, extremely annoying and the Hufflepuffs... Pansy, they are potion addicts!"
"And here I was thinking we were becoming friends, Malfoy" Draco rolled his eyes as he instantly recognized the voice behind him.
"Potter," He turned to face his rival, who flanked by Neville, Dean and Seamus, "Where's Weaselette and Granger?"
"They were still getting ready when we left," Dean told him. He and Seamus turned to Blaise and Theo. Seamus waved hip flask at them.
"Want to join us?"
Theo and Blaise grinned wickedly at them.
"Count us in!" Theo cheered as the foursome walked towards the drinks area, a nervous Neville following them.
"Our friends get along well," observed Draco. Harry stared at him.
"I guessing that still doesn't make us friends,"
Pansy snorted at them, whispering "Boys" sarcastically to Luna and Sue. She decided to mess with them a bit.
"I can smell the sexual tension from here," she said loudly, fanning her face. Giggles escaped from her lips when she was people react to her loud remarks. The angry looks on Draco and Harry's face did nothing to stop her joy. As she swayed to the singing from the stage, she felt a tap on her back.
"You look gorgeous, Pansy!" grinned Hermione, Ginny looking oddly red in the face behind her. Hermione was wearing a one-armed pink dress, while Ginny wore a square neck ruched red dress.
"You two are the ones to talk. I'm serious!" she insisted catching Hermione playfully roll her eyes.
"I hope someone heard you say that, so they can have that as your opinion of me instead of your 4th-year thoughts," Hermione laughed.
Pansy joined her laughter, well aware of the students who were watching the two of them,
"Granger, you should know by now. I do not lie about looks. Something was going on in 4th Year. But now? You're glowing. Are you pregnant?"
The two (plus Sue and Luna) burst out laughing. When they calmed down Sue asked, "Is Ginny alright? She's been swaying quite a bit?"
Hermione groaned, "She was given some firewhiskey by Dean and Seamus. I need to hand her over to Harry,"
The girls looked over at Harry who was arguing with Draco. Hermione shook her head.
"Those two will never be friends, will they?"
The girls shook their heads. Except for Ginny, she just laughed at an extremely loud volume. That caught Harry's attention. He strolled over, Draco in tow and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
He sighed at Hermione, slight annoyance sprinkled on his face "Seamus and Dean?" When he received a nod in confirmation, " Come on, let's go sit down," he guided Ginny away to sit at one of the decorated tables. Once they were out of sight Draco immediately glided over to Hermione. She looked at him.
"You look stunning, Miss Granger,"
Hermione rolled her eyes playfully, "Why do I feel like you're just trying to start a conversation?"
"Because I am," Draco's expression turned serious and he gave Pansy a side-eye.
Pansy glared at him, then sighed in submission.
"Luna, Sue, come dance with me!" The two girls followed Pansy into the crowd, dancing to the song a student was singing loudly on stage.
Draco looked into Hermione's eyes, "Hermione, I'm so sorry for what happened yesterday. I don't know what came over me,"
Hermione grinned slyly, "The great Draco Malfoy apologising to me? The world is ending,"
He cracked a smile, "How are you not majorly pissed with me?"
"Draco. You didn't kill me. I'm not a doll who break at the slightest injury,"
"I find that I agree with you. I did receive a punch from you in 3rd year so I should know,"
Hermione felt her face colour, "Will anyone ever let that go?"
Draco was about to reply when he saw someone unexpected walking onto the stage where the singers were, "Longbottom?!"
Hermione faced where he was looking and felt her jaw drop. The boy was on stage in his wizarding robes looking nervous, and as if he didn't want to be there. She quickly realised that the curse was making Neville sing.
"You're in my arms
And all the world is calm
The music playing on for only two" Neville began to sing. The crowd exchanged looks of shock. Neville Longbottom was singing a nice slow song. Slowly everyone overcame their shock and pairing up. Draco faced Hermione and grabbed her hand.
"So close together
And when I'm with you
So close to feeling alive"
"Dance with me? Just to show house unity to these peasants"
Hermione took his hand and smiled, "Of course,"
"A life goes by
Romantic dreams must die
So I bid my goodbye
And never knew
So close, was waiting
Waiting here with you
And now, forever, I know
All that I wanted
To hold you so close"
The two rivals felt eyes on them as they swayed to the music. Hermione laughed as she watched Colin Creevey take a picture of Dean, Blaise, Seamus and Theo slow dancing together in a circle, clearly already drunk off their heads.
"So close to reaching
That famous happy end.
Almost believing
This one's not pretend.
And now you're beside me,
And look how far we've come.
So far we are. So close..."
The pairs all began a choreographed dance around the Great Hall. Draco twirled Hermione, covertly admiring her dress. Pansy had managed to pull Theodore away and was whirling around with him too. No one noticed Theo tripping over himself bit.
"Oh how could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?"
Draco dipped Hermione.
"You're not going to drop me, are you?" she gasped, out of breath from the drop.
"Not this time," Draco pulled her back up and bought her closer to him as they danced around the room.
"We're so close to reaching
That famous happy end,
And almost believing,
This one's not pretend.
Let's go on dreaming
For we know we are...
So close, so close
And still so far..."
As Neville stopped singing, Draco and Hermione were creeping closer together. Their faces were inches apart, their lips parting.
FLASH!
The two turned, half expecting Colin Creevey to be standing there. But instead was his little brother in 3rd year, Dennis, grinning wildly at the picture he got.
"Wait till I show this to Colin!"
FIRST FLOOR BOYS' BATHROOM - 8:06 PM
Splashing sounds echoed around the empty boys' bathroom, as Harry freshened up. What was meant to be a fun night, had turned into babysitting job. Ginny, Dean and Seamus were drunk, nearly tripping over themselves. Blaise and Theo were slowly making spaces for themselves in Harry's friendship group so he guessed they could be included in his list of worries too.
"Never thought you'd end up hanging with the snakes, willingly and enjoying it,"
Harry whipped around to find Ron entering the bathroom.
"I saw you, cuddling up with them in the Hall,"
Harry tried to reason with him "Ron, come on. What's going on? We've barely talked this school year,"
"Because you've been with them!" he roared back, surprising Harry by slamming his fist on the wall. Harry had never seen his friend act like this.
"Calm down! What the hell is wrong with you?! We're meant to be friends-"
Ron snarled, "We're not friends! Not anymore. Why would I want to be friends with someone as lame as you?" He stomped out the bathroom. Harry quickly cast a locking charm on the door. Although Ron's insults were extremely childish, they still cut Harry deep.
What did I do wrong? thought Harry. He was bought out from his thoughts by banging on the door.
"Oi! Who's in there? Open up!" the voice yelled. Harry panicked for a second. He then put on the most girlish voice he could.
"I can't, I'm on my period!" he squealed. The knocking stopped
"Oh. Okay, you take your time babe,"
Harry sighed and looked in the mirror.
"I am hanging in the bathroom at the biggest party of the fall" sang Harry. Of course, a song would start now.
"I could stay right here or disappear, and nobody'd even notice at all" Harry sometimes felt like he was invisible even though he was the "Boy-Who-Lived"
"I'm a creeper in a bathroom 'cause my buddy kinda left me alone
But I'd rather fake pee than stand awkwardly, or pretend to check for a scratch on my robe" Harry decided to stay in the bathroom for a while.
"Everything felt fine when I was half of a pair
Now through no fault of mine, there's no other half there" Harry really missed Ron's friendship.
"Now I'm just Harry in the bathroom, Harry in the bathroom, at a party
Forget how long it's been
I'm just Harry in the bathroom, Harry in the bathroom at a party
No you can't come in!
I'm waiting it out 'til it's time to leave
And picking at grout as I softly grieve
I'm just Harry who you don't know, Harry flyin' solo, Harry in the bathroom by himself
All by himself" Harry belted out, his emotions going through the song.
"I am hiding, but he's out there, just ignoring all our history
Memories get erased, and I'll get replaced, with a newer, cooler version of me
And I hear a drunk girl sing along to Whitney through the door, "I wanna dance with somebody!"
And my feelings sink, 'cause it makes me think: now there's no one to make fun of drunk girls with anymore!" He and Ron loved making fun of the Hufflepuff girls, who would get drunk at every single House party.
"Now it's just Harry in the bathroom, Harry in the bathroom at a party
I half regret the beers" Harry admitted he had drunk the tiniest bit from Seamus's hip flask before leaving for the party.
"Harry in the bathroom, Harry in the bathroom at a party
As I choke back the tears
I'll wait as long as I need, 'til my face is dry
Or I'll just blame it on potions, or something in my eye!
I'm just Michael who you don't know, Michael flyin' solo
Michael in the bathroom by himself!" Harry began to hear loud knocking on the door.
"Knock, knock, knock, knock
They're gonna start to shout soon
Knock, knock, knock, knock
Oh hell yeah, I'll be out soon" The knocks began to get louder.
"Knock, knock, knock, knock
It sucks he left me here alone
Knock, knock, knock, knock
Here in this teenage battlezone
Clang, clang, clang, clang
I feel the pressure blowing up
Bang, bang, bang, bang
My big mistake was showing up
Splash, splash, splash, splash
I throw some water in my face
And I am in a better place" Harry breathed in and out as he dashed cold water on his face and walked towards the door.
"I go to open up the door
But I can't hear knocking
Anymore" Harry walked back to the middle of the bathroom.
"And I can't help but yearn
For a different time
And then I look in the mirror
And the present is clearer
And there's no denying, I'm just..." Harry hung his head as he felt tears begin to roll down his face.
"At a party
Is there a sadder sight than...
Harry in the bathroom at a party
This is a heinous night
I wish I stayed at home in bed watching wizard porn
Or wish I offed myself instead
Wish I was never born!" Harry raged. Why was he burdened with problems all the time?
"I'm just Harry who's a loner
So he must be a stoner
Rides a Firebolt Zero
God, he's such a loser
Harry flyin' solo
Who you think that you know
Harry in the bathroom by himself
All by himself
All by himself
All you know about me is my name
Awesome party
I'm so glad I came" and with that Harry dropped to the floor, exhausted.
A/N I think this is my longest chapter
1st song - So close by Jon McLaughlin
2nd song - Micheal in the Bathroom from Be More Chill
Hope you're enjoying the story x
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