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Harry Potter and the Cracked Reservoir
Chapter 21: Dancing and Defense
By Musings of Apathy
Chapter 21: Dancing and Defense
Thank you to my Beta’s Donalddeutsch, Cateagle and Sparky40sw.
"Professor Tonks," said Harry with a happy smile. "I understand the Waltz and other traditional dances, but when are we going to be able to use this dance style?"
Ginny grinned at his question. Harry was really being a good sport in volunteering for dance lessons. She enjoyed dancing and had a bit of intuition that there may just be a dance this year.
Besides, he was a fast learner at physical things like this; she guessed it was all of the years on a broom, learning coordination and timing.
"Yes, Mister Potter!" Tonks said in a playful snarl. "And I told you two to drop the ‘Professor’ routine when we are alone."
She smiled sweetly at the young man and his love.
"Besides," Tonks continued, "some of the faster songs, even in the wizarding world, are suitable for this style, and the Aggie Swing sure gets the attention."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Just what I need…more attention. Isn’t there any dancing that we could do that would make people ignore us?"
Ginny hugged him tightly and then held him out at arms length while she overtly raked her eyes up and down his body.
"Not a chance, honey," she said with a lascivious grin. "How you look, it won’t matter how you dance, the females will stare. The best you can hope for is to learn how properly so that you can impress people with your skills too."
"Okay, okay," Harry conceded, melodramatically. "This type of dancing is just hard on my shoulders. I seem to be finding new muscles with every dance I learn."
"Don’t worry, Harry," Tonks added. "During a real ball, you won’t have to do this one more than a time or two."
Ginevra Weasley woke up and found a note under a purple rose facing her from her second pillow. How Harry managed to get her correspondence to her dorm was beyond her. Yet this wasn’t the first time, and hopefully wouldn’t be the last. She just hoped to wake up with him putting the gift there so she could take advantage of him.
She sat up excitedly and tore at the envelope. After a quick read, she found that this would be another good Friday.
After several lengthy discussions on the subject, the Defense Association was well up and running. It was structured to be open to the entire school, without prejudice, a goal that was difficult, even as it was worthy.
The meetings were between the last class of the day and dinner in a two-hour block three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All students were welcome to each class, with the advanced material being taught in the first half hour, less advanced in the second and Harry helping each group with suggestions until the end of the meeting. This allowed the more advanced members time to practice while lower levels were being taught. Anyone who Harry saw to have mastered a lesson was asked to help others with the effort. Most often the group that accompanied him to the Department of Mysteries was the core of the helpers.
The Friday meeting eight days before the first Quidditch game, this first game quite early in the year, was well underway before dinner when the door opened once again; a rare occurrence, as members were seldom late.
Harry glanced up from his position with a second year student to see a familiar blond head and two mounds of muscle and fat entering the room.
Harry made his apologies and gave brief instructions to the student before walking swiftly to the entrance of the Room of Requirement. Several students and friends perked up at the action. The situation could get rather messy.
"Hello, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle. What brings you to our club meeting?" Harry said as he reached the area of the door. With a wave and a silent request to the room, the entrance, along with the four Hogwarts students, was enclosed in a room of its own, with a new armored door leading to the previously open practice area.
Malfoy studiously observed the change to the room.
"What’s wrong, Potter?" Malfoy spat. "Worried that we will see something that you are teaching and get you in trouble?"
"No," said Harry confidently, "Just don’t want us to be hit with an errant spell. When students are practicing, it’s best to have your attention focused. Besides, the Headmaster is aware of all of the magic being taught here."
"Whatever."
"Now," said Harry in a civil voice, "how may I help you three?"
"I heard that this is an open club and I want to join," Draco proclaimed, "as do Crabbe and Goyle."
Harry smiled.
"Certainly," he said, "just read and sign the wizarding contract and you are joined."
Harry waved his hand and a pedestal appeared with three parchment contracts atop.
Malfoy grabbed the offered quill and scratched onto the paper.
Nothing happened.
"What is the meaning of this, Potter?"
"Just a contract, Draco," he answered. "But it won’t accept your signature until you read it and understand the conditions and clauses. We believe in informed consent."
Draco grumbled and started to read. Harry simply stood near the door to the Room proper with a look of disinterest on his face.
"This is ridiculous, Potter," raged Draco after a few minutes of reading. "You can’t possibly expect to say that we can’t use what we learn however we like? This is utterly absurd."
Harry put on a serious expression.
"Of course I can," Harry returned acutely. "Everyone that I am teaching has agreed to these conditions. No one may even observe a meeting without a signature. These are dark times and society must be protected."
Draco was outraged. "There is freedom of choice. You can’t impinge on my free will like some ponce lord or something."
"But, Draco," Harry said with concern, "didn’t you know that free will is always an option. I’m not telling you which side to fight on; I am telling you that if I teach you anything, it will not be used against the good guys or innocents," he said before continuing in a calmer, even voice. "Feel free to go grovel on your knees in front of the great half-blood ponce dark lord himself. Feel free to receive cruciatus curses for his entertainment. That is your choice, but it will leave you dead or rotting in a cell for the rest of your life."
"What do you know?" Draco asked with venom and acid in his voice.
"I know that you still have a choice," Harry said assuredly. "You haven’t done anything to warrant your removal from society…yet…but your father would have you kissing all of the right boots to steer you in that direction if you don’t grow a bloody backbone and make your own choices in life. The only thing more pathetic than a Deatheater choosing to grovel at Moldieshorts feet is one that never had the backbone to make the choice one way or the other to begin with."
Draco was so incensed that he pulled his wand, intending to teach this git a lesson.
Big mistake.
Slytherin rule number one: Don’t draw your wand unless you can win.
Harry pulled his wand before Draco could finish his incantation and banished the fool before the Slytherin’s magic was cast.
Mistake number two came when Draco Malfoy had used a spell more complex than he needed. Had he finished the seven syllables, Harry certainly would have been in pain with an assortment of missing parts from his body, but it was no match for the two syllable banishing hex.
Draco Malfoy lay, crumpled, against the sturdy wooden door, with nothing good to show for his arrogance.
Crabbe and Goyle just looked between Harry and their leader with a snarl on their lips, however, they were indeed helpless without a leader. Harry simply gave them a command that they could understand.
"Please take Malfoy to his dorm and let him sleep it off," Harry instructed them. "He may be thinking better by the morning."
The thugs-in-training did as commanded, leaving Harry to return to the meeting already in progress. As if to illustrate his earlier point, Harry had to duck a misdirected curse as soon as he cleared the doorway.
Harry sat waiting in the common room in his new suit. While shopping, his fashion experts had insisted that someone of his wealth would need several suits, so here he was standing by the fireplace in his darkest Italian cut suit. Strangely, Ginny wouldn’t let him buy an all black wardrobe.
Ron and Hermione walked through the portrait hole into the common room, only to stop in their tracks upon spotting their best friend.
"Harry," Ron said, "what are you in that get up for?"
Hermione, however, was not - saying - anything…just staring…and smiling.
Harry smiled at his friends. "I’m taking Ginny to dinner and dancing under the stars."
"What?" Ron asked again. "You know that you can’t leave Hogwarts. How are you going to pull that off?"
Harry showed a sly grin. "Magic."
Any retort that Ron was going to make was cut off, as Ginny came down the stairs in all her glory…well, dressed beautifully, not that other meaning.
Harry and Ron’s jaws dropped at the same instant. Harry had been rendered utterly speechless. Ron, however, had been rendered apoplectic. This was his sister! How dare she walk around in a ‘Little Red Dress’?
Harry recovered first and he walked, transfixed, over to his girlfriend.
"Ginny," he whispered with hungry eyes, "you look beautiful."
Ginny had eyed her boyfriend up and down as he walked over from his waiting pattern. Harry looked stunning in his graphite grey Italian suit with black dress shirt and stunning royal blue silk tie. The suit was tailored to fit his lean frame and compliment his shape.
"Mmm, Harry," she growled, "you look amazing. I am so glad that Tonks came with us when we went shopping."
She made a good show of raking her eyes over his suited frame.
"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" Ron exclaimed. "What, exactly, do you think that you are wearing?"
"This, Ron," Ginny said with heat, "is a dress. It is what a woman wears when she wants to look nice."
"But…But…it’s too short. You can’t wear that!"
Ginny went from patronizing to boiling in less time than it took for the words to clear her brother’s lips.
"I can and I will!" she exclaimed for the entire common room to hear.
"I forbid you!" Ron declared with equal volume.
Harry was still by Ginny’s side, but he turned to Hermione for a question of his.
He whispered to her, "Would Ginny appreciate me helping her right now?"
Hermione whispered back, "No, she’ll win. Just tell her how beautiful she looks later, after you two are alone."
"Thanks," Harry said sincerely.
Luckily, their conversation went unnoticed by the two combatants.
"I will wear anything that I please," Ginny yelled back. "And it is either this or I go starkers."
"You are too young to be wearing clothes like that," Ron declared. "You look like a scarlet woman."
"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Ginny returned. "If you don’t stop trying to control my life, Harry here will know exactly what a scarlet woman is and there is nothing that you can do about it, so SHUT UP!"
Ron was sputtering with rage. Others in the common room stared. Harry decided that now would be a good time to end this show, or rather showdown, and, as always, the best way to end an irrational argument is to walk away.
Harry looped his arm through Ginny’s and turned her to the exit.
"Shall we, Ginny?" he said with a calm voice. "I believe that we should take a walk before we go to dinner. Give us a chance to relax."
Harry steered Ginny out of the common room and shut the portrait behind him, leaving Ron with steam pouting from his ears.
"How dare he?!" screamed Ron. "I wasn’t done yet and she shouldn’t be going anywhere in a dress like that! She should be properly dressed. That dress did not even cover her knees…and…and that was…that was…she was showing her…"
"Cleavage, Ron," said Hermione in an exacerbated voice.
"Yeah! That," Ron agreed.
"Ron," Hermione reasoned, "you’re wrong. You can’t control your sister’s life and until you realize that, I am afraid that I can’t be attracted to you."
After she said that she crossed her arms over her chest and trudged up the stairs to the girl’s dormitories.
Ron was left thunderstruck, looking between the portrait hole and the girl’s stairs.
Harry started out at a quick pace, if only to keep up with the storming Ginny. It took five minutes and four floors of tirades before she slowed enough to be embraced and comforted.
"Ginny," Harry said in comfort, "do you know why Ron reacted like that?"
"Why?" she growled out.
"Mind you, you can’t let him rule your life, but it’s because he loves you and wants to protect you from the big bad world. It’s misdirected, but he does love you."
She leaned her head on his shoulder in frustration, looking for understanding and comfort.
"But why does he have to ruin my night?" Ginny asked, frustrated. "Why did he react like that?"
"He reacted like that because he’s used to seeing his little sister. As long as he’s able to see you that way, he can’t see the changes that you’ve gone through from little girl to young woman. Your normal clothes and Hogwarts uniform kept him in the comfortable setting that he remembered," Harry said. "But when you came down in this dress, you presented him with an image that he wasn’t ready for, and probably never would be. You presented him with the image of a beautiful and sexy woman. Frankly, his mind wasn’t ready for that. I think that you may have broken him."
Ginny smiled and turned to face him. She began to lightly play with his tie.
"I thought that I had broken you for a second," she teased. "You just stared. Do you really find me sexy?"
"I think that I was off kilter, but not quite broken," he smirked. "And, yes, I find you incredibly sexy. Mind you, much more leg and you could have shorted out my poor little mind. Do those things go all the way up?" he asked with a lecherous grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Ginny broke out into laughter, hanging onto Harry’s shoulder for support. Really, heels weren’t meant for gales of laughter.
"Oh my god, Harry," Ginny laughed, "that has to be the worst line that I have ever heard."
"Oh, then you haven’t heard; ‘Is it hot in here or is it just you?’" Harry finished, mocking a deep sexy voice.
Harry brought his arm around Ginny’s back to support her in her mirth.
Harry continued, "Or the ever classic; ‘Hey babe, I seem to have lost my phone number, can I have yours?’"
"Oh, Harry, that has got to be the worst," Ginny said, her eyes shiny from laughing. "Please no more. I don’t want to test my magical mascara with tears of laughter."
"If you insist," Harry smiled.
"Thanks Harry," she said, looking into his eyes, "Not minutes ago, I was ready to remove limbs, but the heroic Harry Potter braved the female Weasley temper just to make her laugh; the best cure."
"Psst, Sarah," said a Ravenclaw girl amongst a group in the entry hall. "Get a load of those two," she said, indicating the Red and Black couple walking casually through the entry hall.
"Oh, wow," Sarah said. "He looks delish. Think that Ginny Weasley would loan him out for a bit? I could just eat him up."
"I don’t know," Ravenclaw girl number one said. "But if I get the chance, I won’t waste it."
"Harry, that was delicious," Ginny declared.
"Thank you."
"How do you do it?" she asked.
"Hmm?" Harry said, trying to identify the ‘it’.
"How do you set up this kind of a date inside Hogwarts without us being interrupted and with a gourmet meal to boot?" Ginny asked.
"Ah…I have many secrets, but this I shall tell you," Harry said, imitating a shao lyn master. "If you wish to accomplish your goals, seek ones that will make the effort themselves, not ones who would but ask others."
"Sage advice," she nodded. "Translation; you asked Dobby and he took care of it."
Harry smiled back. "He took care of the dinner. I provided the atmosphere and table."
"Really?" she said in appraising approval.
"Oh, and the music," as he said this the music changed from the light string quartet affair to a more bold but equally slow enchanting ballad. Harry rose from his seat. "May I have this dance?"
Despite herself, Ginny giggled.
"Of course, kind sir."
That Sunday was spent like most Sundays so far in the year. Harry sat and read his research books in one of two places. When the weather was fair, he, Ginny, some of her friends and, many times Ron and Hermione, could be found on the grass near a shade tree. When the weather was foul, they could be found in the Room of Requirements.
Here, in addition to the group of friends, you could often find others; students asking questions, needing help. Harry and Ginny weren’t sure how it happened, but this was how it went. The older students aided the younger ones when they could and offered encouragement when they couldn’t.
"Dawn," Harry said to a Hufflepuff second year, "Why are you worrying about this? You don’t take Arithmancy yet. That’s not for another year."
She smiled at him.
"I know, Mister Potter," the sacond year said, "but I wanted to get a head start because I like the subject and it looks so interesting and hard, I’m already halfway through next year’s books but I wanted to answer this question and this doesn’t make it clear and it is one of the basics."
Harry smiled at the babble.
"First, call me Harry," he said. "Second, Hermione," he said to his nearby friend, "is there a better book in the library for beginning Arithmancy?"
"Sure," Hermione said, "Just ask Madame Pince for Magic in the Numbers: a Beginners Guide to Arithmancy by Wilhelm von Toothree."
"Thank you," the student smiled.
"How did you not end up in Ravenclaw, Dawn?" asked Harry.
She blushed, "I asked the hat not to be a Ravenclaw. I heard from my sister how they are not very nice or accepting and I didn’t like that idea."
"Of course," said Hermione. "Just don’t judge a whole house on what you have heard, or the actions of a few."