Chapter Text
“May I have the next dance with you?”
Harry looked up, surprised to find Leo’s hazel eyes twinkling mischievously at her; the comfortable warmth of Leo’s magic penetrating her subtle notice-me-not.
Harry could admit to herself that Leo did look very dashing in his royal blue dress robes.
“Leo,” Harry exclaimed happily, getting up from her secluded seat, “I hadn’t expected to see you here. This isn’t really your scene.”
“I’m the Rogue, lass,” he replied with a jaunty grin and a deep bow. “King of Thieves. Of course I’m going to steal a dance from the most sought after girl at the Ministry’s Revelry of Romance.”
Harry groaned at that description. “The Prophet and that awful algorithm have a lot to answer for; I’ve barely had a moment’s peace all night.”
“So I saw, lass. Regulus Black, both Rabastan and Caelum Lestrange, Draco Malfoy, Aldon Rosier, Theodore Nott, Lucian Bole, Cedric Diggory, Eric Albright… Was there an eligible bachelor you haven’t danced with tonight?”
“I’m impressed that you recognised so many pureblood nobles, but I’m not sure I’d consider any of the above particularly eligible,” Harry replied as Leo led her towards the dance floor. “At least not as far as I’m concerned. But I did my duty as a good little Book of Gold Heiress, danced with them, and largely held my tongue.”
“Then why did I see scowls on several faces afterwards?” asked Leo with a laugh as they waited for the current dance to come to an end. “Particularly Master Black.”
“It can’t be because I accidentally stepped on their toes—” she smiled mischievously, “because I would never accidentally step on anyone’s toes—but I think Uncle Sirius might have said something to his brother, and I know my father spoke to Regulus and Rabastan. In fact,” Harry said with a sigh as she spotted her father glaring at Leo from the other side of the ballroom, “I think he’s been having a word with everyone I’ve danced with tonight—I suspect he’ll want to have a word with you after this dance.”
“I can’t say I’ll be looking forward to being interrogated by the Head Auror,” Leo said with a smirk as they stepped onto the dance floor, “but I think I’ll survive.”
There was little opportunity to talk after that. Unlike Harry’s earlier dances, the tempo was fast paced, and Harry required her full concentration to keep up with Leo’s complex steps.
And just because Harry could split her focus, didn’t mean that she always wanted to. She soon found that this dance was something she wanted to fully savour.
As the music concluded and the dance reached its inevitable end, Harry was both exhausted and exhilarated.
“Wow,” she said, eyes shining, as the last notes faded away, “that was some dance. You’re a spectacular dancer, Leo.”
“It takes two to dance like that, lass,” Leo replied with a smile and a gentle bow. “You’re pretty good yourself.”
“I did practice for tonight,” Harry admitted, applying a surreptitious muffling charm as they left the dance floor, “I knew not everyone would be as understanding as Archie at the Yule Ball.”
“Besides,” she said with a cheerful wink, “dancing with the right partner’s actually quite fun.”
Harry waited until they reached the edges of the ballroom, well apart from the press of people, before she took a deep breath then asked “Do you want another spin around the dance floor?”
“Are you asking me for a dance, lass?”
“It looks that way,” Harry said with a smile.
“Aren’t you limited to one dance with each partner tonight?” Leo asked.
“You’re the Rogue,” she scoffed. “Since when do you care about rules?”
“Since I don’t want to get youin trouble,” he emphasised, “and I know that you in particular are being watched tonight.”
Harry scowled.
Leo continued. “Madam Umbridge has adopted the Dancing Phoenix as a place for her plotting. It clearly hasn’t occurred to her that the ‘uneducated swill’, as she so charmingly refers to us of the lower alleys, might be interested in the affairs of the Upper Court. But she made it clear that the Ministry is paying careful attention to who you—and certain other targets—dance with.”
“That last dance was the first real fun I’ve had tonight. I came to this ball and danced with all those who asked me because it was expected of me, but I’m not going to let Dolores Umbridge, Tom Riddle, or the halfblood marriage initiative,” she sneered, “dictate my life.”
“Well, you wouldn’t be the only one disobeying the one dance per partner rule,” mused Leo. “Your cousin hasn’t danced with anyone other than Hermione tonight, nor has she danced with anyone other than him.”
“Hermione is not even supposed to be here tonight,” chortled Harry. Muggleborns had not been invited to this event—it was the halfblood marriage initiative after all—but Harry had also spotted (and avoided) Jacob Owens.
“Archie and Sirius smuggled her in—it was Archie’s price for being forced to come to this event—and the Marauders certainly don’t let anything stand in the way of true love.”
“They’re not the only repeat couple on the dance floor, but none of the others are on the Ministry’s watch list. You are.”
“So?” asked Harry.
“Perhaps I’m also not supposed to be here tonight?” Leo suggested cheekily.
“You and your family were listed in that Daily Prophet article even though you didn’t attend Hogwarts. So while I’m pretty certain that you weren’t invited to tonight’s little shindig as the Rogue of the Lower Alleys, Book of Bronze Heir Lionel Hurst would have an official invitation. Although, I bet your father was surprised when he heard you were attending.”
“Not at all,” laughed Leo. “Da offered me etiquette tips and mum volunteered to go dress robe shopping with me as soon as they read about this in the Prophet.”
He sighed. “It’s not like I don’t want another dance with you, Harry, it’s just that I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“I’m more than capable of getting myself into trouble, Leo,” she said with a smile. “Or have you forgotten the Rigel Black Child? But aren’t you a master of disguise?”
“ This is my disguise,” Leo replied, pointing to his dress robes. “You’ve never seen me wearing anything like this before, have you?”
Harry chuckled. “Point taken. I suppose I’m in disguise too. No potions boots,” she said mournfully. “And dress robes would be very difficult to duel in. No space for weapons.”
Leo winked at her. “Only if you haven’t had them specifically tailored. I told you my mum took me dress robe shopping—she knows what I need. But I’ve an idea. Give me ten minutes.”
And with that, Leo slipped back into the crowd, leaving Harry alone with her thoughts and a notice-me-not.
Leo was right that Harry didn’t need any more trouble—she certainly didn’t want to draw any attention to herself, but she had done what was expected of her tonight.
She felt it was only fair that she had some fun tonight, and dancing with Leo had been different from dancing with the other partners she’d had that evening.
Of course, she’d wanted to dance with Regulus Black about as much as Regulus had wanted to dance with her—which was to say not at all—but both knew of the expectations on them. Harry may not particularly like Archie’s uncle, but she didn’t really want any harm to come to him. Besides, rumour had it that Riddle’s temper was on a hair trigger these days, and that Regulus Black was his favourite chew toy.
Still, Harry had taken the opportunity to suggest to Regulus that Riddle’s marriage law was not the only way to solve the Fade; Team Cure’s work on the Fade was showing a lot of promise, and there were still many fertile avenues to investigate, not that she could share details yet.
Regulus hadn’t seemed particularly interested or trusting in an alternative solution though.
The following dance with Rabastan Lestrange had been even more painful. Rabastan had not hidden his displeasure at dancing with her, so Harry could only guess that Riddle’s entreaty to all unmarried SOW party members to get married for the good of magical Britain had more than a little force behind it.
At least it made her next dance—with Caelum Lestrange—almost amusing. He scowled when she mentioned her dances with his uncle and cousin, but as she was no longer willing to blithely ignore his bigoted attitude, it was a relief when that dance was over.
Dancing with Draco Malfoy was difficult; she had still not fully overcome the rawness of Rigel’s goodbye to Draco. But needs must, and thankfully Draco asked her for a dance with little opportunity for conversation, and her Occlumency supported her through it.
Aldon Rosier was far more interested in Harry than she was comfortable with, but she had at least been prepared for that after reading his letter. She gently reiterated that she was not interested in marriage at this point—she was more interested in advancing her potions career. It was the truth, after all, even if Aldon would not be her choice, regardless.
As expected from their courting letters, Theodore Nott, Lucian Bole and Cedric Diggory displayed little real interest in Harry. Like her, they were being good little Heirs and dancing with the partners they were required to dance with.
She was pleased to see that Theo had at least overcome (or hidden) his overt distaste of halfbloods; he seemed somewhat in awe of her ostensible escapades, although she didn’t expect to see him in Knockturn or the lower alleys anytime soon.
Eric Albright was another level of obnoxiousness altogether. He’d managed to trap her into a slow dance with lots of opportunity for conversation, and his monologue on the evils of dark wizards and the wonders of his alchemic talents was a bit much. Particularly when the alchemic array he’d sent with his bag of sand hadn’t actually worked, leaving Harry with … just a pile of sand.
A gentle tug on her magic and a quiet “Lass,” was enough to break Harry out of her thoughts.
She smiled at the wizard in front of her. His robes were an obnoxious combination of bright colours that would have given Dumbledore’s finest ensemble competition for being the most eye-watering, his hair blue-black and his eyes a deep green that almost rivalled Harry’s. But his magic … the warmth of his magic was unmistakably all Leo.
“Nice look,” she chuckled, “how long will your glamours last ?”
“Long enough,” replied Leo. “I’m not the only one here tonight wearing glamours. You don’t think Madam Umbridge really looks like that, do you? There is definitely no anti-glamour charm component in the wards. The old biddies would revolt if they couldn’t wear their beauty spells at a ministry function.”
“And I suppose everyone will be too busy shielding their eyes from your robes to notice anything else about you.”
“Plus there’s a minor distraction planned, courtesy of the Weasleys.”
“Is that why I haven’t seen them tonight?”
“Well, they have been busy. Let’s just say that tonight hasn’t gone quite the way Madam Umbridge intended. This was originally intended to be a masked ball, with golden masks for the purebloods and black masks for the halfbloods.”
Harry screwed up her nose at that. “Eww. I hadn’t realised.”
“Unfortunately for Madam Umbridge, the masks kept inexplicably vanishing. The love potioned punch was replaced with an unadulterated version. And that’s not to mention the random hors d’oeuvres that were dosed with the twins’ latest prank products.”
“It’s a shame they didn’t do anything to the decorations,” Harry said, pointing to the pink monstrosities that adorned the ballroom.
“That would be telling,” said Leo, “as I believe that might be part of the up and coming distraction.”
“Why don’t you tell me about it while we dance? A slow dance, this time, I think.”
“No problems lass,” replied Leo, sweeping Harry onto the dance floor, “with pleasure.”