Chapter 108: Dance!

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"Next time talk me out of it."

I mutter. Then, louder, "good evening, Ms. Delacour. We spoke earlier? My name is William Lerner." When her dark blue eyes meet mine, I feel a wave of desire to please her wash over me.

I can feel blood rushing to my face, and an inane urge to show off somehow. It's enough to make me clamp my mouth shut and force it down.

"William," Harry says, nudging me.

"Ms. Delacour, I was wondering if you would do my the honor of—" my voice strains as she tilts her head forward slightly and the urges become stronger. My eyes flicker to the girl next to her, looking annoyed at me. "—of introducing your beautiful friend here."

Shocked silence reigns for several moments, until Harry clears his throat. "It's true, Fleur, he's been bugging me to accompany him all night. I don't suppose you would do me the honor of joining me for this dance?"

Her composure is quickly recovered when Harry speaks. "Of course, 'Arry." Then she turns to me with thinned lips. 

"Monsieur Lerner. Zis is Veronique Dubois, anuzzer Seventh Year at Beauxbatons." She spins away and drags Harry out to the dance floor, and I immediately sag in relief as I feel the pressure lift.

"I can't believe you did that," Veronique says once she's recovered from the surprise. She seems to have far less of an accent than Fleur.

"I am partial to brunettes, Ms. Dubois," I say with a shrug as I offer her my hand. She accepts and allows me to lead her back out onto the dance floor.

Surprisingly she pulls me in as close as Hermione when we take our positions, but she doesn't seem to think it that big of a deal. 

"She will not be pleased that both of you resisted her aura...I could feel how strongly she was laying it on, you know. You did admirably, but your friend didn't even flinch."

I blew out my cheeks, thinking how relieved I was to get out of there. "I would not have lasted much longer, I think."

Her mottled green eyes search mine. "You were going to ask her, were you not?"

"I was," I admit. "But I do think I came out ahead of Harry in this one."

She snorts at that.

"Hey, I was telling the truth, I really do prefer brunettes," I insist. "The whole not having to struggle to maintain my sanity is just a bonus."

She finally smiles and shakes her head at my antics. I manage to wheedle quite a bit of information about Beauxbatons out of her, which I get the impression she is happy to provide since we're not talking about Fleur. 

I also found out that she had hoped to become the Beauxbatons Triwizard Champion since she gets better marks than Fleur in Defense, but apparently the Cup favored the quarter-Veela's abilities in Charms and Transfiguration. 

When she asks about Hogwarts I offer to show her around, but she doesn't take me seriously since I am supposedly a couple years younger than she is.

When we part I say I'll see her around, but she just smiles indulgently as an older guy offers her his hand.

Continuing my misfortune, I had no particular target for Durmstrang, and the girl I asked ended up having a rather thick accent and didn't understand much of what I said. She also said I talked too much.

"I had to cover for you, William," Harry says when we meet back up. "Fleur thought you were making fun of her before we came in, and then when you asked about her friend..." He shakes his head and chuckles. 

"I had to duck my head behind you to hide my face, by the way."

"Thanks, and sorry about that," I say with a smile. "What'd you tell her about before?"

"I said you'd told a joke to Krum earlier and he was a little slow on the uptake with the language barrier, and that the girls were snickering at him."

"Nicely done! So she's not going to pull an aura sneak attack on me?"

"Well, no promises there, but I did get a kiss on both cheeks after the song," he finishes with a grin.

"Lucky bastard," I say. "Maybe I should go back and try a—"

Harry laughs to cut me off. "You go ahead and do that. I still need a Hufflepuff."

"In that case, I'll see if I can't grab Hermione and boast about my achievement," I say thoughtfully, "I've only danced with her once anyway."

Harry snorts.

"Did I say boast? I meant...uh...let her know what humble sacrifices I've made in the name of inter-school relations."

"Yes, I'm sure she'll see it that way," he says, smiling and shaking his head. "Good luck with that."

Unfortunately Hermione is already taken, dancing with Ron of all people. I admit to some measure of pride that my manipulations have made the Ball much more enjoyable for Harry, Ron, and the Patil twins – the latter are wonderful dancers, by the way. 

Continuing my wandering around the dance floor, I come upon a humming Luna, rocking back and forth on her heels with a pleased expression on her face.

"Hello, Luna," I say pleasantly, attempting to emulate her mellifluous voice.

She smiles as if she notices that. "Hello, William," she says in a deep voice.

I laugh. Yep, she noticed. "May I have this dance?"

In response she takes my outstretched hand and allows me to guide her to the dance floor. As before she seems to float as she moves.

One of the things I love about Luna is that silence is never awkward; she is content to be led and spun around the dance floor without a word, even if we're looking directly at each other. 

Although, that probably unnerves anybody outside of me, Harry, and Neville.

"Thank you for this year, William," Luna says, totally ruining my point about silence.

"What do you mean?"

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