CHAPTER 17: WOULD YOU CARE FOR A DANCE?

"Here you go." Snape said, handing him the papers over. "Now I have a lot of things to do, so…." He made a gesturing movement towards the door.

"Wow, it's been ages since I've been here, but it still looks the same as I remember it." Remus said looking around amazed. "Could you perhaps give me a tour?"

"No, I'm quite busy and so are you." Snape snapped, to hide his true emotions.

"Aah, what about a quick peek in the bedroom? I'll have the grant tour some other time then." He asked cheekily, immediately wanting to hit himself on the head repeatedly for his forwardness. Thankfully Snape merely gave him one of his top 5 worst glares. "You're right, maybe some other time, huh?" Remus quickly mumbled.

"Yeah maybe, we'll see." With that he took a seat behind his piano and started to look through some papers.

"Did you really write the songs for tonight?"

"Well not all of them of course, but quite a lot yes. Why?" Severus asked, looking up at him.

"I don't know. I hadn't expected you to be so into music. That's all." The werewolf shrugged.

"You don't even know me, so there are lots of things that would surprise you about me." Snape snapped, slamming down his papers.

"True, but you don't let anyone close to you, so how should I get to know your likes and dislikes then huh?" Lupin told him as calmly as he could. "Anyway could I read some of your lyrics?"

"Why? You'll hear them tonight anyway." Came the suspicious reply.

"Well, maybe I can fill in for one of the songs from Brandon."

"You can sing?" Severus asked disbelieving.

"What makes you say I can't? You can sing too after all."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Severus asked angry.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it the way it sounded. I'm sorry." Remus apologized, resting his hand on Severus' shoulder. "I should better get going anyway."

"Why are you so interested in me all of the sudden?" Snape suddenly remarked, when Remus had almost walked out of the door.

"Because."

"Because? That's your only reply?"

Remus nodded his head.

"Well, why would I tell you where my interests lie then?"

"Because I'm asking you to tell them to me."

"What? Do you need a list or something?" Severus asked irritated.

"Well that's a start."

"Argh, just go and make yourself useful by visiting those kids, alright." The Potions master said, ending the conversation.

"See you later and I really would like to get that list you were talking about." Remus said grinning, whistling as he walked out of the dungeons and towards the Gryffindor Tower.

Snape glared at his retreating form, not really knowing what to think of the whole situation.

"Ron, hurry up! We are going to be late!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

"Argh, what's taking you so long?"

"Here I am." Ron said hurrying down the stairs, almost tripping over his large feet. "Wow Hermione , you're looking great!"

"Thanks sweetie, you're looking quite smashing yourself tonight."

"Only tonight?" Ron joked.

"Of course not, now come on Harry and Ginny are waiting."

"Geez, what took you so long?" Harry questioned when Ron and Hermione arrived just outside the Great Hall. "Oooohhh." He said, smiling at Ron approvingly, who stared back confused, not sure how to interpret the look on his friend's face. Harry, who by now realized what kind of look he was giving his best friend, quickly averted his eyes to Hermione. "You're both looking great." He complimented them.

"Thank you Harry, you're looking pretty handsome tonight as well and you too of course Ginny, but I think I've already told you so like a thousand times tonight. Your dress is just too beautiful." Hermione told her.

Ginny smiled in return.

"Now let's get inside: dinner will start soon."

They all seated themselves at the Gryffindor Table

After a few minutes Dumbledore rose to attract their attention.

"Good evening everyone, tonight the festivities of Hogwarts' millennium anniversary will commence. As you all know by now, we will start off with a dance, which I hope you'll all enjoy. But first let's have something to eat."

He summoned the food and took his seat again.

"At what time is Gimli coming?" Legolas whispered to Pippin, who was seated next to him.

"Around nine o'clock." The Hobbit informed him.

"Great! I can't wait to see his reaction when he finds out you lied to him."

"I think I'll better hide when he does." Pippin laughed.

"I would indeed do that if I were you. The wrath of a Dwarf can be vengeful." Legolas remarked quite serious.

"Had some first handed experience with that I presume?"

"Yes, you could say that." the Prince spoke mysteriously, refusing to say anything else about the matter.

All the students chatted excitingly as the time slowly went by until at last the time of which the ball would start had come.

Dumbledore rose from his seat to attract the students' attention once again.

"If you would all be so kind and move towards the centre of the room…… thank you."

All did what was requested, so Albus quickly removed most of the tables, moving the rest to either side of the room, added some couches plus chairs, and last but not least he also heightened the floor on which the Head table used to stand as to make a stage of some sort.

The Teachers all stepped off the stage as the host of the evening a seventh year Ravenclawer, called Tom Paris, would be taking over for tonight.

"Good evening everyone my name is Tom Paris and I'll be your host for tonight. In a few hours you will have enjoyed all different kinds of performances from a variety of artists.

But for we begin: it's my sad duty to tell you that the lead singer of most of the school acts has the flu. Fortunately they have still managed to found a replacement. Who this person is, I do not know. What I do know, is that he is quite talented as he wrote most of the songs and composed them too. He is also going to play the piano for us tonight. But let's begin shall we?

I bid you all a wonderful evening as we start off with the 4 four famous witches who call themselves: The Four Elements!"

A wave of excitement coursed through the Great Hall as the adored celebrities appeared on stage.

They really got the party started. In a matter of minutes the dance floor was crowded with people; even some teachers dared a shot. Not all of them of course, but some, like                McGonagall, Trelawney and Dumbledore.

Legolas stood a little to the side, unsure of what to do. The decision was made for him when Aragorn approached him.

"Care for a dance?" he asked.

"You… I … that is to say I'd love to Estel, but you know we cannot, love."

"I know, I was merely joking."

"It's indeed hilarious that we can probably never dance with each other in public." Legolas replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Aragorn questioned, surprised by his lover's outburst.

"Do you honestly think that my father would ever approve of our relationship?" the Elf asked incredulously. 

"Why would he not agree? Most Elves are really open-minded about male/ male relationships." Aragorn told him a little confused.

"Well my father is not like most Elves. A long time ago he found out that one of our servants was infatuated with another Man and he banished him at once, saying that he would contaminate others with his presence."

"Oh love, I am so sorry." Aragorn said softly, taking him in his arms.

"What do you suggest that we do then?" Legolas asked, sniffing softly, while pulling away from the embrace. "How can I ever choose between you and my people?"

Aragorn looked at him, hurt showing in his eyes.

"I understand." He said softly, before walking away.

"Aragorn, wait!" The Elf said suddenly grasping the King's arm. "I do not know where that came from, as I do not mean it. I would choose for you every single time."

Aragorn looked at him, unsure of what to say or do.

"Let's talk about this tonight alright?" he said, looking around the room, when he suddenly spotted someone awfully familiar. "Gandalf, you have returned!" he exclaimed, while running up to him, with Legolas following closely behind.

"Yes, I have. Although because of the time difference I was only gone for mere hours, but that is from my point of view of course." The Wizard told them smiling broadly.

"Was that enough time to make the potion?"

"Yes it was. Galadriel had already collected all of the ingredients just to be on the safe side." Gandalf explained to them. "I've just talked to Albus and Severus and they both agree that we have to do something and fast. Severus told me that Sauron is planning on attacking the school any day now. He doesn't know the exact date as the Dark Lord has the growing suspicion that there is a traitor amongst his followers."

"It is indeed best if we strike before they do, because then we will still have the element of surprise." Aragorn told them wistfully.

"You're quite right about that, my dear friend. That is why we are going to have an extra meeting tomorrow night." Gandalf informed the both of them. "But tell me; did anything happen while I was away?"

"You could say that yes. Ron, Hermione and Harry found out about our little secret."

"Did they? Hmmm, I was hoping it would take them a few days longer." Gandalf said casually. "How did they find out anyway?"

"Well they performed some kind of spell, which showed them my true facial features and those from the Hobbits as well."

"I see, very clever that girl. I presume Hermione had the most suspicion about you?"

"Yes, she had. Anyway when they realized I was an Elf, they left the table. After thinking about the best course of action I decided to follow them, which turned out to be a huge mistake on my part."

"Oh, how so?" Gandalf questioned curiously.

"Well uh… they wiped out the memories of me finding out about them, at least they tried to. It resulted in me losing almost every memory. I couldn't even speak the human tongue any longer. My memories did start to float back almost immediately, but it took me a while to regain all my previous knowledge. I didn't even remember Aragorn and that's saying a lot." Legolas explained.

"Thankfully he remembered us pretty quickly. I hated to see him being so scared." Aragorn said, looking at Legolas lovingly, who smiled back at him stepping a little closer towards him.

The old wizard looked at the both of them with interest, his eyes twinkling.

"Anyway we…" Legolas stopped at mid sentence as he saw that the doors of the Great Hall were being opened by no one less than Gimli the Dwarf himself.

He was dressed in a very strange costume and had one of his hands tucked inside his jacket. Legolas didn't know what or who he was supposed to portray. The person who he remembered him the most of, was some kind of soldier.

Soon Gimli had spotted him as well and started to walk up to him with big angry steps; many people were staring at him amused and curious.

"Why is nobody wearing a costume?" He asked, sounding very furious indeed.

"It was not a masquerade after all." Legolas replied, trying to hide his grin behind his hand.

Gimli pulled his hand away. "If you even think about laughing at me, I swear you will regret it until the end of my days." He hissed.

Legolas composed himself, which was quite hard as Aragorn kept looking away with an amused smile on his face.

"Who are you dressed as, if I may ask?"

"Oh a very important man from the Human history here called Napoleon Bonaparte. He actually started a war over a hundred years ago."

"Did he?" Legolas asked, trying not to sound amused.

"Yes, where are those nasty little Hobbits?" Gimli asked, looking around with narrowed eyes.

"I think they followed my advice and hit themselves." Legolas remarked, searching through the crowd with his Elven eyes as well.

The Dwarf looked at him, his eyes growing wide with anger.

"You knew? You knew about the little prank they were going to play on me and you did not tell me?" He exclaimed.

"Well uhm … no …uh yes. I indeed did not tell you."

The Dwarf jumped towards him, meaning to slam him down to the dance floor, but was quickly stopped by Aragorn, who grabbed his arms from behind, restraining him.

"I would not harm him if I were you." He spoke threateningly. "Remember he still has not fully recovered from the spell and the tumble down the stairs."

Legolas looked at him amused.

"I can take care of myself, thank you. Besides Gimli is no match for me." He said, taunting the Dwarf.

Gimli eyes went wide with anger.

"Well you…..!"  He exclaimed, breaking away from Strider's grip.

Legolas sprinted away, only to be chased by a very angry Gimli.

"Come back you!" he yelled, attracting the attention of most of the students nearby.

They all looked surprised at the unfamiliar little fellow, who was chasing a seventh year student.

The cat and mouse game didn't last long as Legolas ran back towards Aragorn and Gandalf and hit behind the Man's body. Gimli reached them shortly afterwards and stormed towards Aragorn, meaning to throw him onto the floor as to trap Legolas beneath him.

"Gimli!" Gandalf said suddenly. "We do not want to attract too much attention now, do we? You being dressed up is worse enough…. And yes I know it is not your fault as it isn't Legolas'. Now just enjoy the ball and let Legolas and the Hobbits be."

"If I may have your attention please." Tom Paris' voice sounded through the Great Hall.

"Thank you. I hope you all enjoyed: The Four Elements, give them one last applaud people."

A thundering applaud could be heard.

When everybody had calmed down a little again, Tom resumed his little 'speech'.

"Now we have had some professional artists, I think it is time for some performers from our very own school. Give it up for Robin Green!"

"Hey, what's up? Are you all having a great time, or what? I'll try to make it even better." Robin said grinning broadly. "Like Tom here said before. There is one Man, who helped us all by writing or re-writing our lyrics and helping us with picking out the right background music. I promised to not to reveal his name. Hmmm, what were his exact words again…" she said thinking out loud. "Oh right, one word about my identity and you'll regret it for the rest of your life. So… uh .. professor your secret is safe with me." She said smiling and looking at the person behind the piano.

"Now enough of this, let's paaaaaaartyyyyyy!!"

Pink – family portrait

Pink – Vietnam

Pink – Hiccup

"Hello, Gimli is it?"

"Uh yes, my lady and what is your name if I might ask?" The Dwarf asked, looking at the woman surprised. She was wearing a beautiful green dress, which was wonderfully decorated by beats of silver. The colour of her dress brought out her eyes even more, which were already magnified several times by her humongous glasses.

"Trelawney, Sybil Trelawney."

"It is a pleasure to meet you lady Trelawney."

"The pleasure is all mine Gimli. It's okay if I call you Gimli, right?"

"Yes, yes of course."

"You may call me Sybil, if you like."

"Alright lady Sybil, how are you faring this evening?"

"I'm doing quite well, thank you." She answered smiling. "Why are you all dressed up, if I may ask?"

"Ah well, that was just some stupid prank some friends played on me." Gimli explained, blushing slightly.

"I knew that of course, being the great See-er that I am, but it would have been impolite not to ask of course, still it's a nice costume. You really paid attention to the details." Sybil complimented him.

"Why thank you, lady Sybil." The Dwarf said, blushing a little deeper.

They both stood there smiling at each other for a while, before…

'Would you care for a dance Gimli?" She asked out of the blue.

"Uh… I would love to." Gimli replied, turning crimson by now.

She took his hand and let him towards the dance floor.

Legolas, Aragorn and Gandalf looked at them amused.

"She probably took pity on him." Legolas remarked, staring at the couple, who where dancing through the entire hall, not really caring whether they were knocking people over or not.