Bound To You

Chapter 37: Yule Invitations

'I'll write a song to you
One you'll never ever see nor read.
I'll put you to sleep
Your destiny's yours to lead.

I may be pretty
All sparkly and glittery,
But remember one thing about me;
Danger lurks in those that are pretty.

Be they sparkly or glittery
Or colourful or glowing
They'll make you feel jittery
Blood and poison freely flowing

You won't know until it's too late;
I'll give you a chance, so choose your fate.'

Yule Ball was coming, and dancing classes were Hell on earth for Harry. He hated that he couldn't dance well--even Neville, who practically had two left feet--could dance far more gracefully than he. It frustrated him to no end, and made him grumpy. He'd snap at anyone who offered to teach him, to anyone who'd ask him out to the dance, and he'd even sometimes startle the triplets with his dark glare, making them cry and hit at him.

He exhaled a soft yet long sigh. He needed to get his acts together! He couldn't be all angsty and angry just because he couldn't dance!

A hand sharply tugged at his arm, and he yelped as he was trapped into a wall by two arms bracing his sides.

"Harry James Potter, will you be my dance partner?" Fierce dark blue eyes gazed into his startled green ones unwaveringly. Harry gaped at the older girl before he glared at her.

"No."

"Why?" she asked firmly.

"I..." Harry hesitated. "Well, I'll embarrass you and you won't want that!" he whispered.

"Well, we'll see how that goes, hm?" she purred, her German accent thick. It was a 180 degrees turn from her usually quiet and reclusive personality, Harry thought she was another person completely. Anna laughed when Harry looked at her suspiciously. "Ah, I apologize..."

Harry nodded cautiously. Anna noticed and gave him a tight smile.

"The Freund I intended to bring as my date already had a date himself, and I noticed that you haven't gotten one yet, so... Tut mir leid."

Harry shifted uncomfortably at the suddenly awkward atmosphere between them.

"Well," Anna coughed to clear her throat a little, "how about we try one dance now, and if you're alright with it, you go to the Ball with me?"

"Alright," Harry mumbled and accepted her hand after a slight hesitation. He was surprised when she took lead instead of him, and that despite their height difference, it was quite comfortable to dance with her. He soon relaxed into the dance, and they glided through the dance floor, and Harry beamed when their dance ended.

"Why did you take the lead?" the younger teen asked curiously.

"Hmm, my Freund is a sub, so he likes it more when I take the lead rather than him leading me through the dance floor," she explained.

"Your friend is a... sub? What's that?"

"Ah, you don't get these kinds of education over here, don't you?" she smiled, sitting down and gesturing Harry to do the same. He complied. "In the creature world, there are two, sometimes three, kinds of types. There's the Dominant, Submissive, and in pack terms, Alpha, Omega, and Beta. Now, Alphas are usually Dominants. They are more like a leader, though, especially in packs, while Dominants are people who has... Dominant traits.

"They aren't necessarily Alphas, though all Alphas are Dominants. Now Subs, or Submissive are people who submit to those who are more dominant, like the Dominants. They are also referred to Omegas, and are always carriers no matter their gender."

Harry listened with rapt attention to her explanations.

"What about the Betas? Are they... in between Submissive and Dominants?"

"Yes they are," she nodded with a proud smile, which made Harry's mood lift a little bit more. "Betas dominate those who are more submissive to them, but are submissive to those more dominant to them. They usually act as protectors and, well, comfort dolls."

Harry giggled at the term.

"You're naturally a submissive, Harry, so I knew you'd need someone to lead you instead of you leading," she winked.

"Alright, I get it now," he smiled. "Thank you for sharing."

"No problem. Now, Auf Wiedersehn!"

Ginny stared at the pearl in her hand. What was that? She swore she could hear a poem coming from the pearl, but she couldn't figure out what it meant. It's warning her against something, but she didn't know what. She placed the pearl into the small box once more and placed said box onto her ear. The poem sounded once more, and she wrote it down, but for the life of her she couldn't get what it meant.

It was driving her crazy, and she knew it. Maybe she was thinking too deeply about it? Maybe it was as straightforward as it sounds? Who knows...

She flopped onto her bed and closed her tired eyes. She needed some rest. Figuring out how to activate the pearl's hint was difficult enough that she didn't care about the Yule Ball, which was about a month away. She'd need a beautiful dress to go with Harry's--gold, red and black, made of silk and satin, frills around her chest area and waist area to emphasize it's sizes--maybe some more along the skirt?

She didn't need to ask her Harry, he'd been rejecting other girls' invitations, she'd heard. It was a sure sign that he'd go with her, she was sure of it! He'd forgiven her for putting his name into the Goblet! She sighed dreamily as she imagined how rich she'll look, standing in her imaginary dress, next to her Harry, both wearing big smiles of happiness...

The door opened and she heard her year mates talking excitedly in hushed tones. But seeing the she was still and lying in her bed, they assumed that she was sleep and began talking in earnest.

"Did you hear?"

"Yes, yes! That German girl... Uhh...."

"Annabelle Blau, right?"

"Right!"

"Yes, her!"

"Have you heard? Harry Potter accepted her dance invitation!"

"Really???"

They squealed excitedly.

"I'm jealous!"

"I know right!"

"I wonder why he didn't accept our invitations before?"

"Don't you guys know he's bad at dancing?"

"He's bad at it?"

They sounded surprised at the statement.

"Yeah, he's actually worse than Ronald Weasley!"

"Like, way worse!"

"I guess he didn't want to embarrass himself?"

They giggled.

"That's so adorable!"

"I know right!"

They all agreed.

"He's older than us, but it feels like he's actually younger!"

"True, like a little brother, right?"

"Oh, you should've seen how he grumbled about not being able to dance properly!"

"Oh, I saw that!"

"Yeah! Me too!"

"So cute...."

They all sighed, but Ginny didn't notice. She'd tuned them out when she heard that they were talking about other things now. Her Harry... with that unattractive German girl?! What a whore! Stealing her Harry even though she's the only one eligible enough for his attentions!

Her face darkened, but she was too exhausted to act upon it. She succumbed to sleep as she thought, 'I will kill her for taking him away from me!'