Year 4 Chapter 15

There was a skip to my step as I entertained the notion of bringing an animated mannequin to the dance. I had managed to avoid both Amanda and Megan with quite the successful thinking of hiding in my Hall of Shadows, and coming out only to grab some lunch from the House Elves themselves. For dancing lessons, I had gone as far as actually animated a mannequin as the spell dictated to have a partner, and thus there was no need to do much more than buy a wig, some makeup, and be done with it.

The mannequin was a ruthless dance partner, and as I quietly got the hang of it, I started to regret and quite severely miss the human contact. I couldn't hide forever, of course, just long enough that nobody would ever bother me again.

I would have loved to do all of that.

Unfortunately, I feared skipping lessons just as much as I feared the retaliation of my two friends. And anyway, it was just a ball.

I decided that the next person that I would meet would be invited to the ball by me, no questions asked. Whoever they were, whatever they wanted, no matter whom they looked like.

Unless they were Daphne Greengrass. I had the inkling that if a Slytherin girl invited me, and it turned out to be cardboard non-existing Daphne Greengrass, the world would end in a matter of minutes. Actually, I could invite a Slytherin girl.

I blinked as the thought, the really evil thought, made its way into the back of my head.

Slytherin would be acceptable targets of retaliation. I could claim a Love Potion. They were the cookie-evil enemies. They were the arch-nemesis that I could defeat and it still wouldn't solve the problem.

"Would you go to the ball with me?" I asked in the end, looking at Amanda's surprised expression. "You're my friend, so I think there's no one else better suited to suffer through the dancing than you. Though I'm just asking as a friend asking another friend out, mind you, and-"

"Sure," Amanda said, cheerful enough. "I thought you'd ask Megan."

"She might misunderstand," I said. "When I mean as friends, I really mean as friends, since-"

Amanda sighed, and then gave me a quick peck on the side of the cheek. "Then the answer's no," she said next. "First you ask Megan, then you ask me. I wouldn't want you to go to the ball with someone else just because you didn't first ask the one you really wanted to go with."

I blinked. Amanda grinned. "I'm the best, ain't I?" she said, "Best friend ever."

She spun me around, and then pushed me out, "Now go ask Megan, you silly boy!" and then she closed the door of the Ravenclaw common room behind me.

I blinked. I waited a heartbeat. Then, I made the noise of my footsteps grow ever dimmer with a simple enough charm.

At the sound of the first hiccup, I sighed and literally opened the door with a Alohomora charm, rather than solve the riddle. The crouched form of a sniffling Amanda was easy to see, and as I knelt in front of her, she barely glanced up and then quickly pressed her face against her thighs. "I tripped and fell on the carpet," she whined.

"Yes, I'm sure," I sighed and sat down next to her. "I came to you first because I'd rather go with you than with Megan. That's true. It's a bit selfish of me, but I really think I'd have more fun with you than I'd have with Megan. You're energetic, wild, and really great as a friend. You may make my heart skip a few beats out of sheer terror, but it's always something that makes me laugh when I think back about it," I chuckled. "Also, my first pick was the Giant Squid, just so I wouldn't hurt anyone, but-"

"Shade, please," Amanda sniffled, "You suck at consoling crying girls. Picking a squid over Megan or me...really!" she sniffled some more. "I'm not cursing your nose off because I don't want to," she mumbled some more, clutching her knees with her arms, and turning her head to the side to look straight at me. "Fine, as your friend, I'm coming to the ball with you."

"I promise I will dance with whoever asks me to after the starting ball," I answered.

"You are really horrible at this talking with girls thing, aren't you?" Amanda snickered, and then chuckled bitterly. "Boy you're horrible. Does your charm only work with the French or what?"

I sighed, and then plopped my right had down on Amanda's head. "Maybe, one day, we'll look back at this and laugh ourselves silly." I plopped my head against the back of the armchair, "Until then, though, would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me, just as a friend, knowing fully well I'll be dancing with whoever asks?"

"Fine," Amanda answered. "You better give me the first, most wonderful dance of my life, or I'll grab the beater's bat and beat you with it."

"I am a gentleman," I answered. "My word, once given, is an oath that binds me."

Amanda snorted, and shook her head. "Yeah, yeah...Philosopher Thief," she snickered a bit more.

I chuckled by her side.

Communication, clear and crystalline, though it may hurt the other party, was a much needed step on the road of a better future. Though it may hurt, though it may not deliver us what we wish, it is still better than to live a life of illusions and lies.

The day of the Yule Ball arrived, and not a day too early. For Christmas Morning came with gifts, wonderful, interesting gifts. Someone had gifted me an actual, beautiful and pristine suit for the ball. It glittered like a thousand stars, and had a golden and silver motif to it. I had a black one, because black hid well the colors, but this was quite pretty all things considered.

For no gift can be greater than forgiveness, but still I must try. There was no sender, just like there was no sender for the gift of a Herbology book on aquatic plants, a Charm Book that dealt with underwater spellcasting, and a Transfiguration book about the delicate art of constructing underwater tunnels, an unnamed vial containing a murky liquid rested inside a pouch. Those gifts had all come from secret admirers, clearly, just like the vast amount of chocolate, cakes and stuff that someone had delivered following a strange and wonderful article that Rita Skeeter had written about the tragic, heroic apprentice of Dumbledore.

Thankfully, this year's gift had been relatively easy. My Draghuls, once shrunk, were portable guardians. One for each with a nice, nifty ribbon, and the commands to get them to guard some places, and I was sure everyone would appreciate them.

It was strange how, not really asking for it, I had reached a spot which others would have fought tooth and nail to attain. It really was true; it wasn't power that one had to seek, but merely to live a happy life. If that happened, then the people would flock to you if they found you similar to them.

Though I still had to wonder about how I'd ever be able to chew down on everything, but maybe I'd share the bounty with everyone else.

Still, the Yule Ball was approaching.

The greatest festivity of them all.

They day I would prove beyond a shred of doubt that I, Shade Umbrus, was capable of much more than what a simple wizard could do.

I was a man, a real man.

And I knew how to dance.