So She Dances by Starmaiden
Chapter Notes: This story was written for the SPEW 007 Challenge (prompt word: seven), and is based around the Josh Groban song "So She Dances". Thanks to Cinderella_Angelina and Ennalee for their astute comments!
Neville slowly climbed the stairs to Gryffindor Tower. He was not particularly sad that the Yule Ball was over, but he had no desire to return to the common room.
The expected blast of chatter hit him as he entered. The couches and chairs were full of girls, taking off their ridiculously high shoes and complaining about their blisters. The tables and floors were covered in boys, their ties loosened or draped carelessly over the furniture. It seemed to Neville that the number of furtive glances crossing between the boys and the girls was even higher than usual.
He waded through the common room, trudged up to his room, and sat on his bed with a sigh of relief. The Ball was over. No more endless discussions about who to ask, what girls were better-looking, which ones might say yes, who could dance, what to wear –
His coat was still in the Great Hall.
Resigned, Neville made his way back down the stairs, through the noisy common room, and into the quiet of the halls. He saw Filch, but luckily, the man was busy peering behind statues for miscreant students.
Moonlight poured through the windows lining the hallway, bathing Neville’s path in ghostly blue, though it did not touch the shadows at the corners of the floor or the deep darkness of the high ceiling.
He stopped in the open doorway of the Great Hall. A girl stood silhouetted before one of the high windows, her dress robes floating around her. He would have known it was Ginny even if he had not spent most of the night looking at her.
Her hair, he remembered, had been piled into a mass of curls on top of her head. It was still curly, but now fell loose down her shoulders. As he watched from the protective shadows of the doors, she pulled an elastic from her wrist and, making one of those mysterious twists with her hands, pulled her hair into a knot at her neck.
She set something down by the wall, fiddling until soft music began to play – a small radio. She straightened to face the window, a full moon lighting her sad face.
Why she should be sad, Neville wasn’t sure, but he thought it was probably Harry. His fellow Gryffindor had taken another girl to the Ball and never so much as asked Ginny to dance. Her graceful steps seemed to echo with unhappiness.
She stepped and spun by herself, depending on no man to lead. Sometimes she danced out of the moonlight, but always came back. Once, she raised her arms to the height of a fourteen-year-old boy’s shoulders, but dropped them a moment later. The wordless music floating from the radio played accompaniment to her tears.
Neville thought of her, dancing at the Ball. She had smiled through the Ball, but she must have been pretending – surely true happiness would not have left her like this. He wished that he had had the nerve to ask her to dance more than once. He had been so nervous that he had stepped on her repeatedly, despite his gran’s classical training.
Neville liked Ginny best of the seven Weasley children. She had such a quick, easy laugh and good sense of humour, and Neville noticed that she never made fun of anyone who couldn’t handle her teasing. And she was beautiful. He dreamed sometimes of laughing with her, of her looking at him in that special feminine way that she had.
Now, he watched her dance alone until the moon had risen above the top of the window. Less light shone in, but she danced in the dark, unheeding. Once, she paused by the window to stare longingly at the snowy outdoors, but she resumed her lonely waltz for the next song. Back and forth she went, from the window to the shadows, from dark gloom to pale light.
Neville could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He wanted so badly to stride out, to take her in his arms, to lead her in the dances she performed solo. It was only a desire, though; he was sure that she would never forgive him for spying on her.
Finally, she sank to the floor, resting in the shrinking patch of moonlight. Neville found his large, clumsy feet carrying him to the place where the young girl sat, head on her arms, tired and lonely.
“Hi, Ginny.”
She did not leap up or cry out. She just looked at him. “Hey, Neville.”
He sat tentatively beside her. “You look – nice.”
“Thanks.” Her expression did not change.
“You look cold. Do you want my jacket?”
Wordlessly, she accepted the coat, which Neville had scooped up on his way over. Silence fell.
In desperation, Neville blurted, “I’m sorry I asked you to the Ball.”
Ginny did look at him this time, puzzled and a little hurt. Flushing, he stumbled to correct his mistake. “I mean – I’m sorry I asked before Harry did.”
Ginny turned bright red. “No – he – I – he wasn’t really going to ask. He might have, but it wasn’t because he wanted to go with me, it was because he didn’t have a date.”
There was no answer to that. Only one thing came to Neville, and he blurted it out before he could take it back as a bad idea.
“Do you want to dance?”
Ginny looked at him for a long moment. His eyes pleaded for her approval, for the chance to help her.
Neville looked at her sad brown eyes, the tearstains on her young face. The tiny smile that wavered bravely.
“Okay.”
He stood, offering his hand. She dipped a little curtsey, placed her small hand in his, and let him lead her carefully around the room.
He did better this time, with no one watching and no one to bump into. He remembered the steps and the turns. The slowness of the music helped.
After a few minutes, Neville heard her give a little choking sound. He did the only thing he could think of and pulled her into his arms to let her cry on his shoulder. She was a wonderful girl, and he would be there for her, though he would never ask her out. He held her for a long time.
Much later, Neville lay in bed, having guided a tired Ginny to the base of her staircase. The moon was not visible from his window, but he left the curtains open anyway, so he could look out at the unreachable stars.
So She Dances
Performed by Josh Groban
A waltz when she walks in the room
She pulls back the hair from her face
She turns to the window
To sway in the moonlight
Even her shadow has grace
A waltz for the girl out of reach
She lifts her hands up to the sky
She moves with the music
The song is her lover
The melody's making her cry
So she dances
In and out of the crowd like a glance
This romance is from afar calling me, silently
A waltz for the chance I should take
But how will I know how to start
She's spinning between constellations and dreams
Her rhythm is my beating heart
So she dances
In and out of the crowd like a glance
This romance is from afar calling me, silently
I can't keep on watching forever
I'd give up this view just to tell her
When I close my eyes I can see
The spotlights are bright on you and me
We've got the floor
And you're in my arms
How could I ask for more?
So she dances
In and out of the crowd like a glance
This romance is from afar calling me, silently
I can't keep on watching forever
And I'm giving up this view just to tell her