No Place Like Home

The Dance

Ashlynn

Ashlynn sat at the small desk in the corner of the room, bent over her sketch pad, eyes closed, drawing the ministry. Behind her, Seamus paced impatiently. "Would you quit it? You're going to wear a hole in the floor."

"At least we'd be out of this room. I didn't think we'd end up sitting here for hours, waiting for something to happen."

"I don't like it either, but we have to go along with it. They could easily just obliviate us and send us home."

"Not with your nunchucks, they couldn't." Ashlynn considered them.

"That's a good point, actually. When I picked nunchucks to be my weapon of choice, my father explained that, while nunchucks work well enough on the offensive, they don't exactly block very well. That's why he had them enchanted. But the enchantment is only defensive, and, with two of us to protect, it would eventually get overwhelmed. So we need to learn how to use them offensively as well."

"Don't you already know how?"

"Of course. I love my nunchucks and I practice with them almost every day. But you don't." Seamus didn't like the look on her face.

"Ashlynn, I don't know about this. I'm not exactly the most coordinated person..."

"All the more reason to practice."

"Something would end up getting broken..."

"It's not like they can't just wave their wand and fix it."

"I'll just end up hitting myself..."

"That's actually part of the fighting style. You bounce the nunchucks off your body to change directions."

"I don't know..."

"What else are you going to do, Seamus? We're stuck here. We can't even leave the room. Who knows how long it'll take Olivander to come up with something. We might as well do something useful." She held out the nunchucks. Seamus hesitated, but took them in the end.

Ashlynn showed him the proper grip and set him to spinning it forward and backward, catching it in between. When he got the hang of that, she showed him how to strike across his body and then catch it again. She showed him the first basic release, inverting his grip on the nunchucks. Releases were far more difficult, as evidenced by the dented walls and floor from the countless times the nunchucks had slipped from Seamus's hand. One such time, Ashlynn hardly saw the nunchucks as they flew from Seamus's hand straight towards her, but suddenly the nunchucks changed direction and landed neatly in her hand. Ashlynn recovered the strike without even thinking.

"See? What if I hit you?"

"Seamus, you can't hit me. I'm serious. Try." She handed him the nunchucks again. "You need to learn to control them, and they need to learn to trust you. Try and hit me." Seamus gave a halfhearted swing that missed by at least a foot.

"I'm not going to hit you, Ashlynn."

"I know you're not. I didn't ask you to. I asked you to try." There was something playful in her voice now that she didn't quite recognize. "Come on. You don't seriously think I can't dodge your strikes, do you?"

"No, I just..."

"Well then come on! What are you waiting for?" Ashlynn bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, ready to dodge.

"Oh, fine then. But if I hit you-"

"You won't." Seamus's eyes narrowed slightly, and suddenly the nunchucks were swinging towards her face. Ashlynn dodged easily, never breaking eye contact, an excited smile forming on her face. Seamus's eyes narrowed slightly again, and again Ashlynn dodged easily. Seamus struck again and again and again, and each time Ashlynn dodged easily, never breaking eye contact except to spin lightly on her toes as if dancing, moving to the melody of Seamus's wild strikes. She laughed. "Faster!" Seamus's eyes narrowed as he frowned, trying as hard as he could to catch her. But she was always a beat ahead of him. It was as if she was dancing to a song that Seamus had never heard before, and he was trying to keep up with her dance. She laughed and spun again. "Faster faster faster!" She urged. The song of the nunchucks picked up speed, and Ashlynn with it. But Seamus's strikes were no longer controlled, and they swung wild. The dance ended with a crash as the nunchucks flew from his hand and a lantern smashed to the floor, setting fire to the rug.

Seamus swore, and stamped it out. He turned to Ashlynn. "Sorry. I lost control. I -" He stopped when he saw Ashlynn's face. "A - are you ok? Did I - did - did I hit you?" She was staring at the place where the fire had been. The fire. But it wasn't that fire, it was another fire. She was surrounded by fire, choking on smoke, watching her bedroom burn in the heat, screaming for her parents, the fire, fire everywhere...

"Ashlynn. The fire's out. It's not going too hurt you. It's not going to hurt anyone. Hey, Ashlynn." He took her face in his hands. "It's ok. I've got you. Look at me, Ashlynn. The fire's out. I won't let it hurt you." He kissed her gently, slowly, murmuring her name against her lips. She leaned into him, letting him put out the fire that raged in her mind. Letting him bring her back, letting him save her.

"Do you dance?" Seamus asked late that night. Sitting on the bed with Ash.

"Is that an invitation?" He blushed in the darkness.

"Only if you want it to be. I was thinking of the way you were dancing earlier, with the nunchucks. And when you draw."

"Art is a dance, if you can listen for the music."

"I'm afraid you'll have to elaborate on that one, Ash."

"Most people live their entire life without ever listening to the music all around them. The music of life, the music of art. It is a difficult thing to learn, and few ever do. I was born this way, listening. I can hear the songs others can't. The song of the charcoal, the pencils, the paint, the blank page, and the music within it. That's my power, Seamus. I can't draw, I can listen. That's why you can't hit me. I know the song. The dance. The music of the nunchucks. Also, you have a tell."

"A tell? I do not have a tell."

"Sure you do. You narrow your eyes every time you're about to strike. I don't even have to break eye contact."

"Can you teach me to listen?"

"I haven't the first clue how. You just, listen." Ashlynn placed her ear to Seamus's chest, slowing her heart to the same beat. "Listen to your heart. Hear it beating. It's your song, your life." A long silence passed.

"Ash?" But she was already asleep.