One Two Three And ((Harmony))

[phantomlynx]

Skyler still was in awe. He was too flabbergasted to do anything. He had won the title of Prince. Prince? Skyler. A first year who had only made one friend this entire year. Okay, that was an exaggeration. He had met lots of people in his travels at Hogwarts. Although most of them seemed to be years ahead of him and didn't have time for a lowly first year. There were all very nice but he was sure they had their own lives to run. His first encounter was with Aurora and Cougar at Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. The two older students had spent some time arguing about which house Skyler was going to be in. He couldn't remember the exact conversation but he thought that Aurora had been right. Then in the first few weeks at school he had might Alex. Ah, Alex. Skyler was still embarrassed to admit that he had not known the answer to the Ravenclaw knocker. Luckily Alex had come along and saved him. 'Time' he should have known that. Then Alex and he had sat in the common room and Alex explained to him that things were going to get better it only was a matter of time. Then shortly after his encounter with Alex he had met Mackenzie Holden! Mack, to her friends. Skyler had literally fainted when he met her. An event that was painful to remember but it had been worth it to meet Mackenzie Holden! She promised that she would sing to him sometime. A private concert just for him. Maybe he had made a better impression on them than he first thought. Obviously he had, to be crowned Prince like this!

He took off the newly placed crowned and looked at it in his hands. It was the color of royalty. At least that is how he tried to justify it. The truth was the thing was purple. Skyler glanced at the Queen and King and secretly wished that he had a silver or gold crown. Still, he couldn't complain. They had been many boys at this dance who had not been crowned King nor Prince. Although the purple color of the crown did go well with his outfit. It didn't exactly fit but at least it did not clash. The purple went well with white of his tunic. Will's cat Jeremy had inspired him to make this outfit when the cat had carried in a dead bird to present to his owner. The feathers of the bird made him think of flight and that made him think of a person in history. He had thought of many people in history that he wanted to imitate but the problem was that he was eleven and when they became legends they were not. He supposed that he could have dressed up like them anyway but he wanted to look somewhat realistic. Anyway, taking the idea of feathers from the dead bird he thought of one of his favourite Greek myths. He quickly tore apart his bed and stole the sheet. He tied it around his body so that it mimicked a Greek tunic. He then riped open his pillow spilling feathers everywhere. He then took a piece of parchment and cut it into two pieces each looking like a half a piece of a heart. He attached the feathers from his pillow to the pieces of parchment and charmed them to hover and occasionally flutter behind his back. He was going to the ball as Icarus. The boy who had flown too close to the sun. He hoped that at least somebody would get it and not think he was trying to be a cherub or something. Regardless, the purple crown did not do much for the costume. Icarus was far from a Prince if anything he should wear a jester's hat.

By this time many people had taken their dates onto the Great Hall floor and started dancing. Skyler didn't want a date. He was too shy and wouldn't know what to say. But know that he was crowned Prince he thought it was foolish that he did not have a date. He looked around and happened to see the crowned Princess, Harmony Chan. Skyler wondered idly whether she was related to Aurora or not. That would be neat. She was dressed in a beautiful dress, one that reminded Skyler of Disney's Mulan. One of his favourite movies. He thought maybe since he was the Prince and she was the Princess she might want to dance. But if she doesn't, Skyler told himself, don't take it personally. She probably has a date herself and doesn't have time for you. Skyler timidly approached Harmony and cleared his throat to get her attention. "Hi, I'm Skyler. Seeing as I'm the Prince and you're the Princess, do you want to dance?" he asked her and then quickly added, "You don't have to if you don't want to."

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony tried not to sit in her seat and look utterly flabbergasted. Princess? This was the last thing she had expected. Never had Harmony thought, or wanted, to win the silver crown. Timidly she moved her head sideways, feeling the light weight of the object on her head tilt somewhat. Careful not to cause it to collapse, Harmony put effort into keeping her neck still, still aware that most of the school students’ eyes were trained on her and the other court members. Her self-awareness catching up with her, Harmony blushed a little, her eyes withdrawing from looking at anyone. Somewhere down there Aurora and even Ari were probably lurking around. Tugging at her dress, Harmony managed a small smile; despite the shock, she was still pleasantly surprised rather than distraught at being crowned Princess. Harmony was extremely flattered to think she had been chosen over girls such as Ezzie, and made sure not to look at Odette Boswell or Anastasia Castlerock; goodness knows what they would be thinking…

The music began soon after the announcements, and whilst Harmony continued to let the surprise sink in, couples before them started to dance across the floor. Glad of a distraction and that people’s attention was likely to not be on the King, Queen, Prince and Princess anymore, Harmony let out a long sigh of relief, her eyes skimming the room to look for Aurora, or maybe even a quick glimpse of Ari. However, in the masses of different costumes, Harmony failed to make out a Chinese girl in a large lavender ball gown and an odd hair style. Dismissing any worries from her mind, Harmony glanced round at the other Court members, noting their responses. Bryce and Ashley were heading to the drinks now, Bryce with his golden crown on his head. Aaron, who had sat beside her, had disappeared too, leaving the seat next to Harmony empty. Wondering what to do with herself, she wrung her hands uncomfortably. What to do now, what to do now? Harmony knew she should probably go dance with someone, but with who? She had never gone to any of the Hogwarts balls with a date; Harmony was too timid to go with a boy she barely knew, and Ari wouldn’t gone crazy… just like that day with Rex…

Speaking of Rex, Harmony glanced around to where Ezzie was sitting, and noticed Rex beside her. Harmony surveyed him uncertainly, remembering the incident from several days ago. She hadn’t spoken to him since, though when she had passed him around school she had bent her head low and walked briskly away. A part of Harmony really wished to speak to him again, clear up any misunderstandings from that fateful day and apologise for Ari’s unacceptable behaviour. However, she simply couldn’t summon up the courage to do so. She was scared of Rex in the first place, of what he was capable of, and she was worried about what Ari would say and/or do once she found out – because yes, it was only a matter of time before she found out, Harmony couldn’t keep anything from her older sister. Not only was Harmony scared for herself, but she was fearful for Rex too; she didn’t want to drag an innocent bystander into Ari’s wrath. Harmony’s sad gaze lingered on Rex’s face, until he turned her way and caught her gaze with an intense, but surprised, expression. Alarmed, Harmony immediately turned away, her hands clasping together in anxiety.

Hoping that Rex wouldn’t approach her, especially with so many people around, Harmony panicked and stood up abruptly, preparing to do anything but stand here and let Rex have the opportunity to catch her. It was then a voice from the other side of her caused her to jump in surprise, and Harmony turned in fear to find only the Prince, Skyler Willis, speaking to her. Relaxing somewhat, Harmony focused her attention on the first year Ravenclaw rather than Rex sitting behind her, and smiled as friendlily as she could at Skyler, who was inviting her for a dance. “I’m Harmony, and I’d love to.” She couldn’t help but beam brightly, ever so grateful for an escape route from Rex. “We’d better stick to tradition.” Shyly, Harmony let Skyler lead them to the dance floor. “Congratulations on being crowned Prince.” Harmony smiled gently at the younger boy as she took his hand. “You must be thrilled.”

[phantomlynx]

Skyler breathed once again when Harmony accepted his invitation to dance. He had no idea what her response was going to be so he was glad that it was a good one. He held out his hand toward Harmony with his palm facing the ceiling. He had watched many muggle movies where the gentleman did this action for a lady. She wanted to stick with tradition and he thought offering his hand might be traditional. He led her out to the dance floor where he turned to face her once again. Skyler was still pretty nervous. He could feel the butterflies in the pit of his stomach as if they wanted to come out. Sure, Harmony was a nice young lady but she was still a stranger to Skyler. Suppose that she didn't like him after all? What if she just said yes because she was bored? What if she was just toying with him? A lot of silly thoughts were running through Skyler's head so that he had to concentrate on her words.

"Thanks. The same to you. Congrats getting Princess. I am excited but I didn't expect to win. Truthfully, I was not even going to attend the ball until I was told that nominees had to attend the ball. I didn't even think that I was going to be nominated much less win. It just seems like there are so many other first through fourth year boys that deserved the title more than me." He smiled at his comment. They were a lot of other boys that probably did deserve the title more than he did, but he won. They didn't. "I have always thought that these things were popularity contests. You know, the most popular always won the contest. So I didn't think that I had a chance. But..." he pointed to the purple crown on his head. "I'm wearing the crown not anyone else."

"Shall we then?" he asked her. He took her right hand in his left and placed his right hand on her left shoulder blade. Many other dancing couples had a more "intimate" stance. The boys' hands around the girls' waist and the girls' hands around the boys' neck. Skyler supposed that he and Harmony may have looked foolish with their more traditional stance but he tried to ignore the feeling. After all, the only reason that he was dancing with Harmony was that he was crowned Prince and she was crowned Princess. If circumstances had been different and another boy had been crowned Prince, he would be standing here instead of Skyler. But Skyler was standing here now. And he felt more comfortable with a more traditional stance. He began to shift the his weight with Harmony in his arms. Hoping that she would know what to do and take over.

If you have ever danced with a total stranger you know that staring directly into their eyes in silence can be rather uncomfortable. "I really like your outfit," Skyler began to try and fill the void of silence. "It reminds me of this girl from a Disney movie named Mulan. Oh, I don't know if you know, but Disney is a muggle movie company. It looks like you took a lot of time and effort for the dress. It looks really good. I just thought I'd let you know."

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony’s smiled at Skyler’s modesty. “Thank you. I didn’t expect to win either… but life is full of surprises!” Her beam concealed her inner thoughts; how did she maintain happiness when life so far had little happy surprises to offer? “Oh, you should attend the first event at Hogwarts in first year, even if you’re scared to.” Harmony said with honest conviction, recalling the winter events during her first December at Hogwarts. “It’s always magical.” Her eyes roamed the entire Great Hall as she said this, surveying the beautiful décor that the professors had arranged this year. “Like always this year is no different. You’ve just got to learn to enjoy these things. I think it’s sad not to participate, but my sister never does.” Harmony shrugged casually; she was quite disappointed that Ari had refused the invitation to attend once again, but it hadn’t been a surprise. “I thought Ezzie should’ve won.” Harmony continued woefully as she cast her glance back to her Gryffindor classmate. “But, I am pleasantly surprised at the outcome. You should be happy, and don’t worry about the others.” Harmony smiled encouragingly. She understood Skyler’s feelings, but at the same time, since they had been crowned Prince and Princess, it would be rather sad if they did not enjoy the moment and the privilege.

Harmony nodded when Skyler commented that these events were merely ‘popularity contests’; that was a general conception most people, including Harmony, harboured. “I’m glad this year it’s obviously not been a popularity contest.” Harmony smiled happily and admired the purple crown on Skyler’s head. “It works really well with your costume.” She complimented with a smile. “Icarus, right? I’ve read the myth before in my primary school. It was a muggle one, and we studied the Greeks. I thought those lessons were always really fun.” Harmony recalled her childhood studies with a fond, but sad grin. “Yes, of course.” Harmony’s grin widened and she moved forward to place before Skyler on the dance floor. Thankfully they were about the same height, Harmony being one of the shorter girls for age, and Skyler somewhat tall. Had Skyler danced with another girl he might have been dwarfed easily. Harmony was also wearing pretty flat shoes, which helped.

“Have you danced before?” She asked Skyler, aware of other couples swirling past them with different stances; intimate ones for couples, more rigid ones for others. Harmony looked at Skyler’s face with a gentle smile, aware that he was nervous. Perhaps he had never done this before. “Don’t worry. I know the man is supposed to lead, but I’ve been dancing for years. Just follow me.” Harmony instructed, for a rare first time taking charge of a situation. She just felt much more comfortable around younger people; they had less preconceptions about you, and although Harmony didn’t expect them to look up to her, or respect her, the relationships she had with younger students was much more easygoing. Harmony began to carefully lead Skyler on the dance floor, her ears straining to listen to the music. The chatter in the room was building gradually, the excitement and heat also increasing with it. Harmony was so engrossed with thinking about the dance that when Skyler’s voice shook her out of her reverie, she smiled apologetically. “Sorry. I zoned out… I do that a lot when I get into the music.” She explained, before replying to his words with a grateful smile. “Thanks. It is modelled on Mulan, I’m surprised you know! But it was not based directly on Mulan in the Disney film. I have watched Disney before, I was raised a muggle, and didn’t know magic until I came here. I’m a half blood though, it was just a secret my da—father, kept from us.” Harmony forced a small smile. “Mulan is an ancient story in Chinese history, which the Americans then made into the Disney film. They stuck to the story quite well though.”