After we get dressed, we meet everyone else downstairs. As I descend Blaise, and Ron wolf-whistle, Ronan punches them each in the arm.
"Where are the girls?" I ask, plopping as carefully as I can onto the couch.
"They haven't let us see them!" Blaise sighs.
"Well, stand up, all three of you," I demand. Then, I look each of them over. "Oh, Ronald...." I sigh, straightening his tie, fixing a stray hair, and buttoning his coat. All the while he squirms and calls me mother. "Much better. Oh, stop whining." Blaise was next in line. "Honestly Zambini! I thought you knew how to dress yourself, Mr. Self-Proclaimed-Fashion- Expert." I tease, buttoning his shirt correctly, and unfolding his socks. "Brother, your glasses are crooked."
Finally, the girls come downstairs. I glare at the boys to stop their dumb comments.
"Shall we?" Luna smirks, linking her arm with Blaise's.
"Indeed we shall!" Ron exclaims, offering his arm to Pansy.
The rest of us link arms with our respective partners, some a little touchier than others, *cough* Ginny and Ronan *cough*. We reach the Great Hall staircase, but before we make our entrances, Professor Sprout pulls us aside.
"You lot are to end the procession. Professors, Headmistress, Prefects, then Head Boy and Girl." Noticing our confused expressions, she clarifies, "It's a Hogwarts tradition for the beginning of every dance."
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture began, and the professors file out in pairs, then Headmistress McGonagall, Ginny, and Ronan followed her, Luna and Blaise next, trailing them are Pansy and Ron.
"You'll be fine," Draco whispers. "Act confident, and no one'll know the difference."
I kiss his cheek as we process.
The Great Hall still makes me sick to my stomach. I can see everyone injured lying there on cots, vividly, every time I walk into the room. Some kids still request meals in their dorm. Often we don't go down for breakfast or lunch, but every night at dinner, the houses sit at their respective tables, and Draco and I have to make announcements. It's not easy, to look at the house tables every night and see all the empty seats, I often find myself crying silently. But I'm not the only one. Ginny and I often leave dinner early due to the emotional trauma held in that room.
I regularly play over scenes from that night. Seeing what could've been changed, how many more could've lived.
It's odd to know that people say my name in honor and reverence for one awful night. I did fight with Harry all through school, but that was never an object of interest. Half of the time the government told us that we were lying. I fought because that's all I knew how to do. I fought because of the suffering I went through. They were honestly pretty selfish, my motives.
Hopefully, these dances help me create new, happy memories in a room that held so much blood and death.
