"What else can I do? He's had occlumency training. If I pushed any harder he'd probably throw me in Azkaban himself," Harry sighed. "Oh, I forgot to mention, he used to be an auror or something. He said something about catching criminals himself. Did you know that?"
"So maybe he was lying about a criminal he caught himself?" Hermione sighed. "We can't get at the court records from school. This might have to wait until summer, when we can visit the Ministry ourselves."
"Put that on our to-do list, then," Harry said. "Let's just enjoy the rest of the evening. You up for another dance?"
"Actually, I'm thinking pictures first," Hermione said, pointing to Colin Creevy, who was apparently talking to the first-year girl Ron had brought with him. Ginny was looking rather pleased with herself.
"How did Colin get in here? He's only third year! And I don't mean this badly, but he's not exactly brave enough to ask an older girl out to the ball with him, I think."
"I think he may have special permission from Professor McGonagall to be the official student photographer," Hermione said. "He is one of the only students with his own camera, after all."
As Colin saw Harry approach, he stopped talking and nervously stuttered, "I-I haven't been t-taking any pictures of you this evening, Harry, Hermione! I s-swear!"
"Relax, Colin. We want you to take our pictures this time," Harry explained. "In fact, I'll even pay you for it."
"Really?" Colin took his camera out of his bag, eager to snap a few right away.
"With certain conditions," Hermione added quickly before he pressed the shutter. "You don't give or sell these pictures to anyone. In fact, we want all the copies. And we'll want duplicates of the ones we like best."
Colin nodded in understanding. Harry and Hermione posed for several pictures, trying different positions. They started off with relatively normal, side-by-side picture, then some with Harry holding Hermione from behind. Grabbing a chair, they tried a few shots sitting. Eventually they began to have some more fun like they did at home, although they were still stuck in the Great Hall. They had a shot of themselves dancing, pretending they were better than they actually were. There was a mock utensil fight at their table, which led to a few shots of Hermione feeding Harry. They ended their photo session with their arms wrapped around each other, their lips locked in a soft kiss. They could hear a few wolf-whistles in the background, but they ignored them.
"Okay, that picture doesn't get to mum and dad, alright?"
"Agreed. But I think I'll keep it with me all the time," Harry said. "Maybe I should put it in a locket to keep it close by."
"I want one too!" Hermione squeaked.
"Of course you'll get one! Maybe it should be one of those lockets that snap together like a puzzle. A heart-shaped puzzle or something."
"Ugh, no! I can't imagine myself wearing that after I graduate from school. Pick one that's classier, please!"
"Fine, fine," Harry said as his idea was partially shot down. "Let's go dance now."
They made their way back to the dance floor, where there were really only a few couples dancing. The Weird Sisters were playing a quick, upbeat song, and very few people could truly dance to it, most of them opting to just move around in place. Fleur and Cedric, however, had stolen the dance floor as they jiving perfectly to the music, causing many people to stop and watch. Harry was glad that everyone's attention was on them, which allowed him to learn how to dance properly with Hermione without cheating with legilimency. The only other couple who was really dancing was, surprisingly enough, Luna and Neville. At least, Luna was dancing. Neville was getting the hang of moving his feet, and Luna was very good at avoiding his. Every once in a while when Neville froze, unsure of what to do, Luna would just continue and add a flourish, like a spin or even jump into Neville's arms until he recovered from the shock and continued dancing.
The two of them decided to settle on a very simple dance like they had just did at the beginning of the ball. Going at half the speed of the music, they just danced in a simple square, using the same steps as before but without any legilimency tricks. Both of them were surprised how much easier it was this time.
"You know, this is pretty fun," Harry said. "Maybe we should have taken those lessons after all."
"Especially when you've gotten much better with your footwork," Hermione sniggered. "I'm just wondering how long it took Cedric to learn how to dance like that."
"We could ask," Harry said.
"Oh, I wouldn't want to interrupt them. We can always ask him some other day."
Fleur and Cedric tired each other out after a while, spending the rest of the night at their table chatting. Harry and Hermione continued to dance their slow, simple dance until 11:50, when the floor was cleared and they readied the countdown to the new year. Sitting down at the table, Harry watched as sparkling numbers appeared on the ceiling of the Great Hall, displaying the time. They looked like clusters of stars, blending in with image of the actual night sky outside that the ceiling showed.
"We don't have any drinks to cheers with!" Hermione suddenly realized. She got up from the table to grab two champagne flutes, which were filled with non-alcoholic Sparkling Squash Cider instead.
"Ten!" The crowd cheered as the final countdown began.
"Nine!"
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said as she returned with the glasses just in time.
"Three!"
"Two!" They raised their glasses.
"One!"
"Happy New Year!" Everyone shouted as the hall filled with cheers and clinking glasses.
"Happy New Year," Harry said as he took a swig of the cider. Seconds later, his eyes rolled up as he crumpled to the floor.
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