Chapter 28
The Cupid’s Arrow Dance
Before Harry could have ever guessed it, the night of the dance was upon him. It was like living in a slow motion dream. After spending the day hanging out with Ron and Neville, he headed up to his room to get ready. He was so nervous that he was trembling. Ron sniggered as Harry tried to smooth down his unruly hair.
“What are you so nervous for?” Ron asked. “It’s just a dance.”
Harry smirked. “No, but I’m going with Katrina Figg.”
“So,” asked Ron. “She’s just a girl.”
“Yeah, I know.” Harry replied. “But we both know that she’s different.”
“Well, I guess she is a little weird. Especially with her clothes. Why can’t she just wear robes like everybody else?” wondered Ron.
“She grew up in America, Ron; I think there all a little weird over there.”
Along with Neville, they headed down to the common room to meet up with Hermione, Ginny, and Katrina.
“Are you nervous about your date with Hermione?” asked Neville.
“Of course, I’m not!” protested Ron. “Hermione is just my friend.”
“Yeah, sure.” Sniggered Harry.
But the Ron’s feelings for Hermione were clear the moment he saw her. She was wearing her blue dress robes again, the same ones that they had seen her wear at the Yule Ball. Ginny was wearing yellow robes that did not go well with her hair. Katrina was not wearing robes at all. Instead, she chose to wear a formal evening gown. It was made out of a satiny silver material, with three quarter sleeves, and a long flowing skirt. Up in the slit were many embroided dragonflies. The dress was a two piece, a spaghetti strap dress with a matching dragon fly jacket on top. Around her slender neck, she wore a long matching silver scarf that fell to her knees. Harry saw her and his heart caught in his throat.
“Hi Harry. I despise dress robes,” she said, as if that was a perfectly good greeting for the beginning of their date. But then, as he slipped his arm into hers and led her towards the Great Hall, maybe it was.
The dance floor was very crowded. Harry really didn’t like dancing, but Katrina did. Harry didn’t really mind the slow songs. All he had to do was put his arms around Katrina and slowly twirl around in circles. It was an easy task, but it made him a bit dizzy. Maybe it was Katrina’s perfume. Harry thought she might have been nervous about their date; she seemed to have put a little too much on. Harry liked the ocean and citrus fruit as much as the next guy, but too much was too much. He smiled though, when he saw a silver chain around her wrist. She was wearing the charm bracelet that he had given her for Christmas.
Ron and Neville apparently did not care much for it either, so the girls danced together, while the three guys found some chairs in the corner and talked about their dates.
“Okay, admit it, Ron, your crazy about Hermione,” Neville said.
Ron frowned as a reply. Harry stared at him. “Yeah, Ron, just go ahead and get it over with and ask her out.”
“Alright, I admit it, I like Hermione.” Ron half whispered. “I just wished I knew if she liked me.”
“Obviously, she does, Ron. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to the dance with you,” said a voice behind them. The voice belonged to Drew Fordson, the defense against the dark arts teacher.
He had a rather large and well decorated box of candy in his arms, and he sat it down on Harry’s lap.
“Will you give this to Katrina for me?” he asked. “They were sent as a Valentine’s Day gift from one of her old schoolmates. Very expensive, fine chocolates.”
“Sure,” said, Harry and slid the box under his chair. Drew Fordson wished them a nice evening, and went to ask Professor Sinastra to dance. Soon, the girls came to join them.
Hermione asked Ron to go with her to get a glass of punch. Then Neville pulled Ginny onto the dance floor.
“I could use a breathe of fresh air.” Katrina said. Harry was more than happy to lead her outside into the beautifully decorated gardens. It was just like it had been decorated the year before with the Yule Ball except now there were statues of Cupids.
It was dark out in the garden, and the beautiful paths (made from fresh rose petals) were lit by only moonlight. They walked around for awhile debating whether Ron would have the courage to ask Hermione out or not. Harry tried to lean forward to try and kiss her, but her silver scarf flew into his face from a slight cool breeze. He laughed as he pulled it away, and then when he tried once more to kiss her, they heard noises, coming from a clump of bushes nearby. Apparently, they were not the only ones who had come outside for a bit of kissing. Standing in an early corner, they spotted Ron and Hermione. Ron must have somehow managed to get the courage to ask out Hermione, because he had his arms around her waist, and she was running her fingers through his red hair. Harry was happy for Ron. After all, it was Ron’s first kiss, and he knew how much he liked Hermione, but he didn’t want to be in this situation. So, he and Katrina (who was giggling madly) snuck back into the Great Hall.
Later on, after Ron and Hermione had came back inside, (Harry had to ask Katrina not to tell Ginny or Neville about what they had saw – she was covering her mouth and giggling insanely the moment Ginny approached her back inside.) They all went back outside into the gardens to hang out, and talk. They ate a lot of those chocolates that Drew Fordson gave them. Maybe it was the night air, or the chocolate, or just that they were all feeling happy, but they were quite giddy. Maybe it really was the chocolates. The sugar certainly put Ron into a good mood, he was even brave enough to put his arm around Hermione and even kiss her on the cheek.. They sat out there for what seemed like hours, having a blast. But then, slowly Harry began to feel sleepy. His eyes drooped, and his breathe got heavy. He felt very drossy, as if he would fall into a very deep sleep. Why was he so sleepy all of a sudden? It wasn’t that late a night? He couldn’t fall asleep like this in front of us his friends. They’d make fun of him. The world was getting dark……very dark. Where had all the stars gone? It was becoming harder and harder for Harry to keep his eyes open. He was sooooooo sleeeeppppppyyyyyyyy……..
Harry awoke with a jolt. He had slipped off the park bench that he and his friends had been sitting at, and onto the cold ground. He felt very foolish. He must have fallen asleep and fell onto the ground. But what had made him wake up like that? He thought he had heard a scream, a woman’s scream. But he must have been dreaming. Great, now Ron was really going to make fun of him. Then Harry saw something that made his entire body turn to ice. Lying on the ground next to him was the long silver scarf Katrina had been wearing, and it looked as if it had been trampled by a pair of muddy boots. He put his glasses back on. They must have slipped off. He gasped as he looked at the scarf. It had a small red stain on it. It was Katrina’s blood.
“What happened here?” asked Hermione.
“What’s going on?” asked Ron.
“Why did we all fall asleep?” asked Neville.
“Harry, why are you on the ground?” asked Ginny.
He held up the scarf. “She’s gone,” Harry said. “And I don’t know if anyone can help her. That’s blood on the scarf.”
Hermione pointed to the ground. Under where the scarf had been was a note.
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