Dance with me, Malfoy

Part One

Hello lovelies!

Since I published this story, you have all had one single piece of feedback in terms of structure: "pleeeeease break this 15,000 words behemoth into chapters!". Let it not be said I do not deliver. Dance with me, Malfoy is now a Six Part story that will make you laugh and cheer and maybe even assure you that you, like Hermione, will be just fine. I love reading all your comments, even if it is just, "haha!" so please, please share your thoughts with me.

All the love,

K.S.

*** 

Hello loves,

This is my first story for the Wattpad platform; if by any chance you have seen my old work in fanfictionnet, you'll have to let me know what you think of my writing when comparing the two.

This short story was inspired by a random musing I had walking down a random street in Paris to the tunes of Mint by Qveen Herby.

All the love,

K.S.

***

"The Minister for Magic cordially invites you to his annual New Year's Celebration," she groaned loudly, cursing out whatever deity was out there listening and sending this rotten lot her way. Blowing away at few chestnut curls that had fallen out of her messy bun and onto her face, she picked up the rest of the post her owl had dropped off earlier in the day. As was now the rule, among the many missives she had received from worried friends was, of course, the latest edition of Witch Weekly's 'Granger Hunt'. The annoying magazine had been trying to track her down ever since her engagement to Ron had gotten called off on her birthday. Now being December, they were desperately publishing whatever rubbish tip they got, or fabricated, on her whereabouts. The alleged 'hunt' was made all the more ridiculous when one considered the fact that they never bothered to try and reach out to her in the first place. "Not that I would answer, either wa—oh no," she said catching sight of the iconic red envelope. "Bugger."

"HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!" the howler opened with a loud roar upon coming in contact with her trembling fingers; the brunette was certain this was caused by some charm placed on it by the terrifying Weasley woman. "HOW DARE YOU!!!" Ginny's reproachful voice became more and more like Molly's with every passing day. "I understand that Bilius is a MORON," Hermione chuckled a little at all the poison her friend was able to imbue into her brother's god-awful middle name, "BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN CONTINUE TO LIVE IN WHATEVER HIDEOUT YOU'VE CARVED OUT FOR YOURSELF GODRIC ONLY KNOWS WHERE!"

"Try me," she mumbled stubbornly.

"WE ARE WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU. HARRY IS BOUND TO DO SOMETHING INSANE IF HE DOESN'T HEAR FROM YOU SOON. I HAVE NOT SEEN OR HEARD FROM YOU SINCE SEPTEMBER." The possessed letter continued, "YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND, BLAST IT ALL TO HELL! JUST... at least let me know you are okay, please? I love you, you IDIOT witch." She felt a pang of guilt in her heart as the howler tore itself to angry shreds. She missed Ginny more than she cared to admit. Sighing to herself loudly, she looked down first at the shreds and then at the elegant invitation from Kingsley.

"Sodding conscience," she mumbled as she went to her desk and prepared a short missive.

December 22, 1999

Dearest Gin,

I just needed time and space to catch my breath, and we both know I would not have gotten either with all of you rallying around me; as much as I love you all, our lot can be too much to handle at times. I hope you can understand or, at the very least, try to. That said, I just received Kingsley's New Year's invitation, please do not tell anyone, but I will be there. See you soon.

All my love,

H.

"Gigas!" She hurriedly called on the ironically named Little owl she had purchased following her disastrous birthday celebration. She needed to send out the message before she lost her nerve or changed her mind. "Take this to Ginevra Weasley, she might be either at the Weasley's family home, The Burrow, or at Potter House, 12 Grimmauld Place. Do not allow anyone else to receive it. Once you are done, do not come back here, but rather meet me at the house."

Once the bird was out of sight, lost among the clouds, she went to her nightstand and pulled out her wand for the first time in a while. Tears flooded her eyes as she felt a part of herself that had been dormant come back to life. "It has been a minute, dear friend," she spoke to her wand quietly, which warmed on her palm as if embracing her. She had not put it past Harry to have somehow gotten a trace placed on her after her abrupt disappeared, so she had kept her magic use to a minimum.

"He might not be part of the Ministry, but his sphere of influence really knows no limit," she murmured to herself a bit annoyed, "or boundaries, for that matter". The only magic she ever used with any regularity was the floo network, and even that had felt, at times, like too much risk. "Not that it matters, anymore. Expecto patronum!" her otter came to her, "go to Kingsley and only pass on this message when he is absolutely alone: "Kingsley, I apologize for the secrecy and for the untraditional RSVP, but please know I will be at the party. I ask that you please not speak of this to anyone. I look forward to ringing in the new millennium with you and your beautiful family."

She did not bother identifying herself, knowing in her heart that the Minister would recognize her patronus on sight. With all her messages out, and having left herself no escape, she turned to the hole in the wall she had been calling a home for the last few months. "We had a good run," she said to the cottage after a swish of her wand had packed all traces of habitation from the place into her legendary beaded purse. No one would ever know how many tears she had cried in her Scottish hideout; nor would they ever comprehend how much soul-searching she had done every night until it was so late, it was suddenly early. "Mum and dad were right," she said to what used to be her living room as she began taking down her wards one by one, "some of the hardest work one will ever do is truly spending time with oneself, determining who one wants to be or become. And you," she said to the small room, "gave me peace, quiet, and a safe space in which to do that. Thank you." Without another word, she disappeared via floo, making a mental note to notify the Ministry to send a worker to disable the network.