Chapter 8

J.K owns all the settings and most of the characters! No infringement intended!!

Chapter 8

 

I was patched up quickly, but the X from the centaurs, of course, couldn’t be removed.  The scar would be with me forever.  Albus hadn’t taken as long to patch up, though neither of us were asked to spend the night.  Once he was all healthy and ready to go, he sat next to my bed and told me that I was his hero, and that we both would’ve died if not for me.  That didn’t really help, but I figured I’d take the compliment.  He held my hand and looked at me for a while, and I guessed that he was thinking about the kiss.  I’d been thinking about it a lot lately too.  When the nurse pronounced that the scar would be with me forever, I said that was all right.  Once she was gone, I felt the tears coming again.  I’d never been so afraid.  Al held me while I fought them back this time.

“Let it out, Soph… I won’t think any less of you.”

So I did.

When I was discharged, I listened to Albus tell our story over and over again in the common room until they were all satisfied.  We spent a long time celebrating the fact that we hadn’t died.  And I spent a long time trying to forget how I’d cried like a little girl, not like a 6^th year Hufflepuff at all.  We had two more tasks to complete before I could truly relax.  I hadn’t found time to tell Al about the key heating up, but I figured we’d have time to sort that out after later.

The next week was mostly horror stories and testimonies about how we should’ve died, getting more and more fabulous with every retelling.  Albus seemed to enjoy his fame, which his brother gladly boasted about.  It wasn’t long before the Yule ball was announced, and we were all told to find a date.

Rose was asked by Scorpius before the day was out.  I had been there when he asked her.  We were sitting at our usual table at dinner when he’d grabbed her hand.  She blushed and he asked her.  “Rosie,” he’d said, smiling like a fool, “Will you be my date to the Yule ball?”  Of course, what with the fact that she was totally in love with him, and the pressure of her friends being there, besides, she’d said yes.  In another one of our late-night talks on her bunk, she finally told me all about what they’d said in their secret talks.  Most of it was about Scorpius’s past, the spitting, the fights, and the pain he’d gone through because of his father and grandparent’s past.  But he’d learned to live with the pain and get on with his life.  Eventually, he’d moved on to talking about more simple things, now that the pain of no one caring about him had been gone.  Before they knew it, they were both in love and thinking of ways to keep their relationship a secret, though it wasn’t really.  She explained that they only one she’d told was her grandmum, and that they’d invited Scorpius to Christmas dinner with the family, along with me, of course.  Then she asked me if I thought Al would want me to be his date.  I explained that I officially had no clue, and she just laughed.

“They’re curious boys, aren’t they.”

“Yes, they are… Those darn Potters.”  I laughed and crawled into my own bunk, where I tried to sleep but failed miserably.

The next day passed without any sort of invite to the ball.  We did have waltzing lessons in class, though.  That was fun.  We were also informed that Champions and their dates would be expected to lead the dancing.  I still didn’t have a date three days before the big ball, though my partner in waltzing lessons had alluded to asking me.  I hadn’t asked Al about it, though he’d seemed to grow more distant recently.  We spent a lot of time being asked about things and dragged away every time we got the chance to talk.  In the Common Room one night while Al had gone to bed early, James sat down with me.  The next day would make two days until the ball and I HAD to have a date.

“Has my dumb brother asked you yet?”  James asked.

“No, sir.”  I replied, staring at the fire.  I was wearing my pajamas.

“Well, if he never has the balls to, I’d be happy to go with you.”  He smiled.

“Thanks, James.”

“Want me to talk to him for you?”

“You could find out if he’s got his heart set on some other girl…” I sighed.  “You’re a good friend, James.”

“I’ll let you know tomorrow.  Where is he?”

“Sleeping.”

“Little liar, it’s only 9.  I’ll go wake him up.  G’night, Soph.  Nice pajamas, by the way.”  He winked.  I blushed and walked off to the girl’s dorms.

 

The next morning James found me at breakfast and popped down right next to me.  “Got any news for me?”

“The kids a dummy.  He doesn’t think he wants a date.”  James replied.  “They’re gonna chew him up one side and down the other.

So what was that kiss all about? I wondered, sadly.  One by one, all my friends filed in and Scorpius stopped by, giving Ro a kiss on the head, boldly.

“Hello, beautiful.”  He said, smiling.  I was jealous; I wanted a guy like that.

“Hey, baby.”  She put her arms up and hugged his neck.

“Would you two cut that out?  There’s a kid here!”  James pointed at Al.  Al rolled his eyes and came back with “No, please, continue…” But they stopped regardless.

“So, Sophie,” James said, loudly.  Gryffindors turned from their morning cereal and toast to see what James was about to do.  Albus shook his head, furious.  “Will you,” Al sat up, slapping the table as he did.  “Be my date to the ball?”  Everyone looked at me expectantly.  Al was glaring at the table, and then looked at me.  I couldn’t quite read his expression.  I looked to James, whose expression was one of complete seriousness.  I thought about what he’d said earlier about Al not wanting a date.  As he stared at the table, I wondered if he was serious.  James sure was.

“Yes, James.  I’d love that.”  I smiled.

The night of the dance, I was wearing a dress that Ro had loaned me.  It was a deep blue color and went all the way down to the floor, it was covered with see-through toole fabric with shimmer to make it sparkle.  It floated when I walked and hid the fact that I wasn’t wearing heels.  Ro helped me do my hair and makeup to match, and we spiraled it up so it framed my face perfectly.  I wore pearls to match the dress.  I thought I looked lovely.  Al had asked Trillie to be his date, out of desperation.  Ro told me that she’d started to say no, explaining that she didn’t like boys, but he’d begged.  She said yes, but only one dance.  I was unaware that Trillie liked girls, and Ro just laughed at me.

“She’s not gay, she’s just not attracted to anyone.  She prefers to live with her nose in a book.  Ravenclaw, through and through.”  Trillie wore a sparkly pink dress with sneakers, of all things.  Rose looked gorgeous next to me.  Her red hair was pulled up with two flaming spirals next to her ears.  Her dress was a velveteen purple, with gems and embroidery in the middle to frame her figure.  The bottom fell down softly, ending just above her manicured toes and bold heels.  Scorpius waited for her next to Al and James in front of the Great Hall.  She took his arm and told me she’d talk to me later.  I took James’s muscular arm.  He looked very handsome in a suit.  Though Al wore his better.  Al looked hot.

I sort of regretted not making him take me.

Was it so unheard of for a girl to ask a guy?

Ah, well.  James walked me in, and Albus walked with Trillie.  We lined up with the other four Champions and their dates to start of the ball with a classic waltz.  James smoothly took my waist and raised my hand.  My steps didn’t falter; I’d always been an okay dancer.  I wouldn’t say I’m good, but in comparison to Edmund’s date, I was a gazelle.  I caught sight of Albus and Trillium dancing, both wore frowns.  I smiled up at James, who twirled me around.  My dress spun out and shone under the lights to a small amount of applause.  Albus retorted by spinning Trillium into a dip.  This received more applause.  James winked at me and spun me twice, quietly telling me to jump.  I did and he caught me, dipping me low so my hair brushed the ground.  This received the most applause yet.  The other couples were watching us with uncertainty and some amount of contemplt.  Albus turned red and grabbed Trillie’s waist, picking her up and spinning her in the air so her feet just left the ground, ending with a graceful dip.  James laughed and hissed that I should follow along.  He lifted me and I was afraid at first, but then remembered flying on the Hippogriff and let my arms go wide like I was flying as he lifted me up over his head and spun me.  He set me back down and we fell into the original dance position effortlessly to hoots and hollers from the Hogwarts students and not surprisingly, Hagrid.  The dance ended, then, and we had obviously won.  People asked us about our little performance as James took me to get a drink, but we didn’t say anything other than that it was completely unrehearsed.

“Where did you learn to dance like that?”  I asked, my hand on his arm.

“Swing dance lessons.  Mum was crazy about them.  Al actually knows how to do lots of that stuff, but only so much of it would work with that slow-a*s music.”

“James!”  I scolded, smiling.

“It’s true!  Punch or water?”

“Mm… Punch please.”  He left me standing by the tables to serve up my punch and Al showed up.  Trillie was long gone.

“What the hell was that?”

“Language.”

“Why did you do that?”

“We were just dancing, did it bother you?”

“Yes!”

“You played along!”

“You were with my brother!”

“He asked me out!”

“I was going to!”

“That’s not what you told him!”

“I would’ve asked!”

“Not because you wanted to.”

“Maybe it was!”

“Then you would’ve sooner like Scorpius did!”

“I was nervous!”

“And why should you be?”

“Because!  Because you’re… You’re…”

“I’m what.”  I demanded, hurt.

James showed up with our punch, then.  “Oh, sorry.  Am I interrupting?”  He asked.

“No.”  I was sure Al was about to say something hurtful.  “We were finished.”  I took the glass he held out for me.  “Thanks.”  We walked over to the tables, downed it, and returned to the floor.  Another slow dance was playing.  I wrapped my arms around James’s neck as I saw the other girls doing, and he took my hips.  We swayed back and forth to the music and I smiled.  James was very attractive up close like this, and if Al wouldn’t have me, James was a close second.

We finished the dance and I saw Al sitting by himself.  At the time I felt no pity.  James and I fast danced, then slow danced through almost the whole dance, and he just sat there.  At the end, they were announcing the last slow dance and James took me to where his brother was sitting.

“I want you two to hug it out, okay?  Use this last dance, eh?”  He gave me a nudge towards Al

“Hey.”  I said.  “Sorry, if I offended you…  I was hurt.”

“I was too.”

“It was a pity date.”

“It didn’t look like it.”

There was a pause.

“Do you want to dance?”  Al asked.  In answer, I grabbed his hand, not his wrist, and took him to the outside of the dance floor, where I wrapped my arms around his neck.  But unlike with James, where he touched my hips, the skin buzzed, and it felt… right.

“What were you going to say earlier, before James came with those drinks?”  I asked, our eyes locked.

“I was going to say that…” He took a deep breath and let it out.  “That you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen and I was afraid to mess up.  And I’ve never been so jealous in my life as I was seeing you with my brother.”

I looked into his eyes and saw that he was telling me the truth.  “I’m sorry.”  I said, honestly believing him.  I closed the space between us and his hands moved to my back.  He was a lot taller than I remembered, for some reason, and I ended up putting my head on his chest as we danced.  The song ended all too soon and we were dismissed to go to our dorms, as it was well past curfew.  On the way up to our dorm, Albus pulled me into a little corridor where no one else was and drew me close with a hand on my hips.  He leaned in close and kissed me again, just like last time.  My body was on fire as I put my arms up around him and kissed him back.

The heat of his body mixed with mine as we stood there.  I pulled back and looked into his eyes.  He leaned forward and kissed me again.  His hand moved slowly up my back, pulling me closer and closer.  I pulled back again and leaned into his chest.  His heart was racing.

“Al…” I said, softly.

“Yeah?”  His voice vibrated right next to my ear.

“We… I mean…”

“It’s late.”  He finished for me.  We had to get back to our dorms before old Filch caught us.  We were all shocked the man wasn’t dead.

We slipped back into the common room, where James was waiting.  We both blushed involuntarily, and tried to act like we hadn’t just been kissing.

“Well hello you two love birds.”  He put his arms behind his head.  “How did it go?  Did you kiss and make up?”

“Sure.”  I laughed.

“Ooh!”  He winked.  “I see how it is.  You two want some alone time?”

“No…” I whispered.  “I’m actually really tired and this dress is getting tight.”  I said, quietly.  I noticed a couple of Gryffindors kissing passionately in the corner and gave James a look.  Why had he sat there and not given them some alone time?  I crept up to bed, saying goodnight to the both of them.  Of course, Rose insisted that we have a little chat.  She told me all about her night with Scorpius, and how they’d kissed while they danced until McGonagall herself came to split them up, whereupon they snuck out and kissed again.  I told her about James, the fight with Al, what he’d said during that last dance, but I left out the parts about Al kissing me for his sake.  I wasn’t sure if that was frowned upon.

We ended up talking about the Burrow again, and I told her that my parents had agreed, so long as I came home at some point to celebrate with them.  She wrapped me up in a hug and told me to pack some of my things for the trip, because everyone would be so excited to see me.  All I could think about was seeing Al there, though.  She hugged me again and sent me to bed when our dorm-mates could be heard making the noises of sleep.

I tried to sleep again, but my body was warm and my mind wouldn’t shut up, so I ended up playing the song we’d danced to in my head over and over again, and when I finally did sleep, I dreampt of his hands on my hips, and his arm around my shoulders.

Was I in love?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading! You passed the halfway point sometime in this chapter or the last, congrats! I think this is one of my favorite chapters, how bout you guys? I just love dances, but they are ALWAYS dramatic. I hope I captured the emotion how it really is. Love you all!