Valentine's Dance

Unfortunately, Lily forgot one thing when she erased Rhia's memory: Rhia's glass of butterbeer. When Lily had obliviated her, Rhia had raised her glass for a drink, resulting in the spell reflecting off the glass of her bottle and hitting some poor nearby Hufflepuff. But unfortunately for Rhia, the stunningspell hit her, and Rhia crumpled on the floor, obviously stunned.

Chris walked in right after Lily had used a spell on Rhia.

"What has happened here?" Chris asked.

Harry, who hadn't realized that Rhia had doubled back to get her Butterbeer, looked over at her just in time to see Lily stun her. Running from the others, he reached them just in time to shout a stunning spell at Lily, and watch her fall. Zexion didn't do anything throughout the encounter, but stood still as stone. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny arrived shortly after Harry to see him bounding ropes around Lily. After he was sure she was secure, he muttered "Enervate" and woke Rhia up.

Rhia's eyes opened groggily. "What in the name of Merlin happenned? I have a huge headache." Rhia stopped and thought for a moment. "Wait a sec, Lily?" She looked around at Chris, Harry, and Zexion. "Lily stunned me?"

"Yes, Rhia, Lily stunned you. And then I stunned her. Chris, would you mind getting someone to contact the Ministry," and with that he reached down and lifted up Lily's left sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark, "and let them know we have a Death Eater in custody."

Turning to Rhia he asked, "Rhia, what do you remember?"

"Ugh..." Rhia groaned. "Okay, I remember first when I went back for my butterbeer, Lily was saying how she wanted you dead and how you were some selfish pompous prince ... or something like that. And THen I overheard her adn I asked her if she really said that. Of course I knew she had, but I was just shocked. And then she asked me to step out into the hall for a moment adn I stalled for time but she insisted. It kind of blurs here...oww." Rhia rubbed her head. " I pretended to be a ditzy fangirl and went on and on about how she should smile more often or something. I took a drink of my butterbeer and then ... well... then I got stunned. But it doesn't seem like Lily to just stun me if she knew I would remember what she said. Lily's meticulous. Maybe seh tried to obliviate me but missed?"

Chris ran out of the room.

"I think she did try to perform a memory charm, but something must have stopped it. You said you were taking a drink? I wonder...maybe the spell hit the bottle." He then performed a healing charm on her head when he saw her rub it again. Holding out his hand he helped her up and noticed that Zexion had dissappeared.

"Damnit, I wanted to talk to him." Ginny walked up next to him and Rhia.

"Who, Harry? Are you okay, Rhia?" She asked in a rather qucik fashion.

"Yeah. I'm fine, Ginny. Thanks for asking," said Rhia. "And thanks Harry, for healing my headache."

"No problem, Rhia. Damnit, though, I knew something was going to happen. Nothing like this can ever go on uninterupted in this school." Harry was very upset, and Ginny knew it even before Harry started talking. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. He squeezed her back and pulled her into an embrace.

Rhia sighed. "You're right, Harry. It does seem inevitable, doesn't it? But we can make a difference, Harry, by lowering the percentage of how much inevitability there is in a situation by fighting against it." Rhia picked up her butterbeer bottle for another drink. "And that's just what we're doing now, Harry. What we did tonight, by stopping Lily, we, as in the DA and the Order, have probably stopped the death of a witch, wizard, or muggle. And that's what counts Harry."

Harry looked at Rhia thoughtfully for a moment. You know, she sounds an awful lot like Dumbledore right now, he thought.

"I know, Rhia. I'm happy we caught another Death Eater and helped stop whatever it was she was planning. I just can't stand how Voldemort keeps getting himself involved in Hogwarts. I mean how many spies has he had sent here now? It's just like, when will it ever end?" He sighed and went on, "I guess the only thing we can do is keep fighting. One day, though, I'm gonna kill him. I just hope I get to him before anyone else I know dies." He grabbed Ginny protectively and held onto her; she, in turn, held onto him. He suddenly realized how tired he was.

Lily - very quickly recovering becsause she herself was very good at coming out spells woke , and disappeared like zexion so often did from the ropes. She walked out and slid down the wall rubing her head. Willing herself not to loose control for a second time that night. She accioed herself a firewhiskey and quickly took a drink. SHe'd jus blown her cover and she was not all that pleased. Bu the again, some time in Azkaban might be nice. She felt a chill go down her spine.

She kneeled on the ground breathing hard. She needed to stop throwing her power away. She could've pulled that little trick off if she hadn't blown off so much energy earlier.

"Crap," she muttered.

Then and there she decided that she would take Zexion's advice and try knowledge for opening up the mind. Not pain.

Another chill ran down her spine

Zexion, how had became bored with Harry and the group, had walked over to grab a Butterbeer. 'He /is/ good at finding things out..' he thought to himself, glancing back at him. 'I'll have to be more careful.' while he was glancing back, he saw the problem that was going on back there. He took his Butterbeer and quickly strided over to them.

"What happened here?" He frowned, directly his question at Harry and Lily. He glared at her, knowing that he had to play cool and not side with her. "Lily!? You attacked a student?"

Harry looked down and realized that Lily had escaped; how he couldn't say but he saw she wasn't there and the ropes were just laying on the ground.

"Guys, Lily escaped." Almost at once, four voices shouted, "What?" and looked down at the ground to see that indeed she was gone.

Harry wasn't panicking although he was close to it. Suddenly he had an idea.

"Guys, throw shields over yourselves, all of you. If she comes back in here, there's no telling what she'll do and we need to protect ourselves. Ron, Hermione, Rhia, will you all please let the other members of the DA know what happened and ask them to put shields on themselves as well?" Seeing them nod their heads he turned back to Ginny and saw her shield already up.

Lily looked up to him, with a blank expression. "Yeah, must have lost control," she said in a would be telling the truth tone.

She sighed hard and took a big swig of firewhiskey.

"No more pain on me on purpose," she said quietly, "Knowledge. I need knowledge."

She put her head in her hands as her mind raced.

Sky Black stood there listening to Hallie, a smirk slowly forming on her red lips. Thos girl was not who she appeared to be, definitely not. What Sky wondered is when and how she was going to get her to reveal her true identity.

Sky glanced over once more to the vision of Fated dancing with Rose. He must not have found anything out yet because the two were still dancing. The dance would be over soon and things would have to revealed soon or the opportunity would not come again for a while.

“Guys here are much more charming then I remembered. Back in my day…” Sky heard Hallie say and she fixed her green eyes on her. "Well, back in your day?" Sky asked. Her voice hinted curiosity. This was proof in Sky's eyes that Hallie must have already graduated. She was an Order member alright but Sky would remain silent about this right now. She needed more information before she would confront her. "I mean back at home guys aren’t charming at all.” Sky tried her hardest not to laugh at this poor excuse for a recovery. She nodded to Hallie. "There are a few charmers here I must say." She slowly turned her head to get a quick look at Fated and then fixed her eyes back on Hallie.

“Well, of course I plan to become involved. Everybody will get affected by this one time or another. And I must admit I too have started to choose sides.” Hallie spoke. Sky just stood there nodding. She knew full well that Hallie was already involved.

“Of course, there are sides that you would admit to being on to the public and others that you would truly be on.” These words of Hallies made Sky smirk. She might have an idea that she was a Death Eater, but she would never give her the satisfaction of admitting it to her. Sky was dangerous, very dangerous, as were her fellow Death Easters, especially Fated, Kylee and Jaden. If Hallie was stupid enough to try and pin something on Sky, or even to suggest it, it could be a very dangerous, if not deadly mistake. You do not want to upset a Death Eater, especially, one of Voldemort's most trusted.

Sky stared deeply into Hallies eyes, a slight look of curiosity played on her face, she would have to play along with this girl, at least, for now. "I know what you mean. So many are on the side of the Ministry, but there are a few who have other beliefs. Those that do are not so public to admit it, but that is understandable. I mean, if they were against the Ministry and what it stood for, to come out and blurt that out would get them thrown in Azkaban, right?" Sky faked a slight smile and then listened to the last thing that Hallie spoke to her.

“Which answer do you think you’d prefer?” Sky was a bit amused by this question. Did Hallie actually think she was going to just out right admit to being a Death Eater? She tried hard not to let her face show her amusement. She was good, Sky would give her that, but Sky was not stupid, not even close. She had an instinct to pick up hints of trickery and this one was not a good attempt. She took in a deep breath. She would have to answer this one carefully. "Well, lets just say that I personally prefer the ones who truly know what side they are on and do not faulter from thier beliefs, no matter what. To me, that is the most important. They don't have to openly admit it, they only need to do all they can to make sure that they are doing what is best for them and the ones who are truly on their side."

She paused for a moment, still looking into Hallies eyes and then, finally looking away towards the refreshment table. "It's hot in here and I need a cold drink. Care to join me? Or would you rather go back to dancing with the head boy? Many would love to be the one dancing with him, he is after all, one of the best catches at Hogwarts. Comes from a very good wizarding line, His family is as pureblood as they come." Sky was trying to shake this girl, get her away for a moment so she could talk to Kylee or Fated. Fated was a bit busy trying to gain information on Rose but Sky would have to talk to someone about this. She decided she better not push it though. If Hallie was her running to go chat with one of them then Hallie would be more suspicious and maybe figure things out. So Sky decided to stay put and watch Hallie's next move.

Harry looked back at everybody walking to one another telling them what had just happened. He and Ginny decided to walk out and see if they could track Lily down. They walked out into the Entrance Hall, but no one was there. That didn't surprise him; he didn't expect her to stay any longer than it took to get out of the building. He turned to Ginny and saw her looking back at him.

"Harry, do you think she might have gone up-" but her words were cut off when someone shouted "Obliviate!"

And suddenly Harry forgot all about Lily. Oh, he still remembered that a student was attacked and that he saw her fall, but he couldn't remember who it was that attacked her. Looking at Ginny he asked, "What are we doing out here?"

"I'm not sure, Harry. Let's go back." She grabbed his hand and they walked back into the hall where Ron, Hermione and Rhia found them entering.

"What were you two doing out there, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know. One second we were here and then...I just don't remember."

"Hmm, I wonder. Anyways, the DA's still looking for whoever attacked Rhia. But so far, no luck." Harry looked at Rhia and saw she looked pretty much okay, perhaps a little pale but otherwise okay. The five of them walked back over to the drinks table and grabbed a butterbeer while they searched the room with their eyes for anyone who was looking suspicious.

Lily reappeared, thinking it might be safe to go back in now. But she wasn't ready to. She took her head out of her hands and looked up.

'what a mess." she mumbled.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Rhia kept looking around and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary with the partiers. The DA members kept walking up to Harry to ask him some questions, but as soon as they did they forgot what it was they were doing and went back to the party. Harry suddenly realized that someone was missing.

"Guys, have you seen Lily around here?" Seeing the four of them shake their heads he started walking across the Great Hall again and strode out into the Entrance Hall looking for her. He found her sitting against the wall.

"Lily! What are you doing out here, why aren't you at the dance?"

Lily looked up. he didn't remember.


"Just thinking," she said sweetly and stood up.

"I guess i can come back in now..."

Harry watched Lily stand up and together they walked back into the Hall where they met up with Ron, Hermione, Rhia, and Ginny. Rhia still looked a little pale. Ginny grabbed his hand again and they walked out onto the dance floor. Ron and Hermione did the same.

Rhia thought, I feel as if I should remember something... but I can't! She sighed in frustration and gave up, deciding to try again when there was some peace and quiet. She saw Sky and Hallie talking together and decided to join them;rhia didn't really feel like dancing yet.

Harry and Ginny were spinning around the dance floor as another, slower song started playing. They pressed close together and slowly revolved around each other. Harry was lost in the person that was Ginny; he buried his head in her hair and smelled the scent of her shampoo. He felt her squeezing her arms around his neck and he tightened his grip around her waist. He realized that they hadn't had a really nice dance like this in a while. She was running one of her hands through his hair while the other was laying on the back of his neck. He caught a glimpse of Ron and Hermione a short way away locked together dancing, or more like slowly revolving, staring into each others eyes. He turned his attention back to Ginny and felt her hand move down to his back. She backed away a little and looked up at his face into his eyes. He leaned his head down as she leaned her head back and they met in a long, tender kiss that quickly turned into one of passion.

////Fluffy post #1! I thought they needed it lol\\\\

Ebony took a sip of her butterbeer and took a look around the dance floor. And saw Harry and Ginny kissing. She made a disgusted face.

'Must they do that in public' Ebony thought.'

She continued to look around and saw Sky and Hallie talking and Rhia going to join them.

'I wonder what there all up to?'

A quiet pop sounded behind Ebony, and Zexion appeared behind her, a serious look on his face, he made sure to keep his voice lowered, so only they could hear it. "You know what's happened to Lily, yes? Got herself caught. Be careful tonight." He frowned, his bangs falling infront of his face. "Don't do anything stupid..Not that I would suspect it from you, but just a warning."

Ebony turned to Zexion and spoke in a low voice, "I'll be careful. Don't worry."

Sara lingered with Kylee, chatting lightly for a few more minutes about several well known Hogwarts couples, NEWT examinations comming up, and how they hoped the weather would hold out till the end of the quidditch season. Kylee seemed...well there was simply no other way to put it-transparent. Her smile did not extend to her eyes and revealed a calculating, shrewed and suspicious person. Sara didn't trust it, and she was fairly certain that the girl was involved in the Dark Arts.

Sara surreptisiously checked over her shoulder, looking for Claire and Jenn. She smiled when she saw the two involved in their conversations, pleased that their plan seemed to be working smoothly. Seeing Claire speaking with Fated gave Sara an idea.

Making a mental note to stay away from any conversation too incriminating of Sara's loyalties, and trying not to sound too prying towards Kylee, Sara serveyed the Great Hall.

"So..." She asked, "Do you know that guy over there?" she asked innocently, pointing in the direction of Claire and Fated. Might as well find out who this girl knew and who she didn't.

Sara was growing slightly uncomfortable with the feeling of being watched. It wasn't Kylee, she was talking to her...it wasn't Sky, or Claire, or Jenn...someone...somewhere...in the shadows of the room...it was beggining to freak Sara out. Her parents had been targets of Death Eaters, she couldn't pinpoint the person watching her so she could keep an eye on him or her. She didn't like to feel so helpless. She didn't like it one bit. She fingured the outline of her wand strapped to her hip, cleverly concealed in her dress so that it didn't show at all, but she could easiliy access it. She didn't feel as vulnerable knowing she had her wand.

~Fated looked surprised at first and then shook his head and keeping his voice low so that only 'Rose' could hear him he stared at her with a wicked gleam in his eyes~ "I knew there was something off about you and since you picked up on my legillimancy, I'm sure you are aware of what I have found out about you in that very small window of a few seconds." ~He then pulled her back close to him and whispered in her ear.~ "I know your real name isn't Rose. Why not tell me? If you are indeed on my side, I'd like to know. And might I say that it is a pleasure to have you with us."

~He turned his attention away for just a moment to glance around then let his blue eyes lock back onto Rose.~ "It's kind of hard to tell who is on my side anymore."
~He then leaned forward and whispered into her ear. "I haven't seen or heard of you among the ranks of the Dark Lord. Perhaps, you aren't being completely truthful with me?" He couldn't help but notice how good she smelled, almost too good. He raised a brow, falling into thought for a moment then chuckled. "However, you might have been in hiding and finally came forth, so I shouldn't be so quick to judge so harshly." He slid his arms around her waist rather tightly to make it look as though they were engaged in a bit of a romantic moment. An easy way to deter suspicion.~
"So, are you aware of the meeting later?" He asked letting his warm breath flow across her ear as he spoke with such a low, warm seductive tone.~

Krista Dawn wondered onto the dance floor not knowing why she had come. "It's just another stupid place where i don't belong." She huffed, as she longingly looked at the couples. "It doesn't matter just give it up he'll never feel like you do." She shooked her head, "You came here to forget about him not remimiss him." Then she started to make her way over to the table to eat chocalate, to make her misery lighter.

Ebony saw someone approach the table. She looked over to krista,'Who do we have here?'Ebony thought,'Might as well say hello.'

"Hello there."Ebony spoke and put on a sweet smile,"Name's Ebony Derslane"

Krista looked at her, then forced a smile, "Hi my name is Krista Dawn." She held out her hand for a handshake.

Ebony saw Krista offer her hand, and hesitated for a second before shaking it.

"So what brings you to this bore of a party," Ebony asked in curiosity.

Krista sighed, "food and, and recless firting." She smirked, "But i have no worthy victems."

Ebony chuckled,"Reckless flirting thats always fun."

Ebony grabbed some choclate behind her and took a bite.

"Ya also if your trying to recover from a relationship." She rolled her eyes, "Boys... once you give them some attention they think they con controll you." She growled.

Rhia wandered around the dance floor, butterbeer in hand. She dropped it off when she'd finished with it and grabbed a firewhiskey instead. She wandered over to Krista and Ebony. "Hey,"she muttered as she opened her firewhiskey.

"Hello" Krista said, stealing more chocalate from the bowl, to saticfied her cravings. "So are you having fun?" She motioned over at the dance.

Rhia slanted her hand right and then left. "Kind of....," Rhia said. "But it's sort of depressing..." It reminds me of him, Rhia added silently.

Krista nodded, "I know what you mean." She glared at the guys, "misrable creature who can't stand not ruining some sweet innocent girl's life."

Rhia laughed as she realized that in front of her was a fellow victim of the horrible yet totally lovable species: men. "Why is it that we can't help liking them, but that makes us hate them, d'you think?"

Krista thought for amoment, "maybe it's instink that we're cursed with." She frowned, "But some weird women are able to overcome it...lucky them."

Ebony nodded in agreement,"Yeah lucky them."

Ebony took another bite of choclate and then said,"Men are like drugs. They can be addictive and can be bad for you."

Krista nodded, "And some people are stupid enough to take both of them." She point to herself, "i'm smart enough to just take one." She motioned her head towards the guys.

"I take both sometimes," Ebony chuckled.

"Medicine is a drug,"Ebony explained.

Krista nodded, "Ya, to bad boys arn't that useful."

Ebony took another bite of her chocolate.

"Some are that useful at times," Ebony spoke,"But those are so rare."

Krista nodded, "true, but then they prove to be junk in the end..."

Ebony nodded,"Tis true...lowsy men."