Seeing the disappointed looks on the twins' faces, Parvati the easier to read of the pair, he offered a compromise. "Hopefully, there will be time for a couple more dances later this evening."
"Bye, Harry," the twins cooed together before giggling between themselves.
...
As soon as they were out of hearing range, Sirius erupted with joy. "Twins, Harry? How ambitious of you! Your father would be so proud right now," he said, grinning like the maniac he was, attracting several looks as they walked past. "Now, have you considered my quarry for tonight?" he added, sweeping his arm around the hall.
"Honestly, Sirius, I just said it to get you riled up, but if you insist," his lips quirking with amusement. "Madam Umbridge needs a good snog and a 'banging,' as you put it," he said, watching in amusement as his godfather's face rebelled at the mention of the Senior Undersecretary. "I did rather publicly embarrass her earlier; it's only fair you make her feel better," he added, grinning with mischief at the very thought.
"What did you do?" Sirius enquired, desperately trying to change the subject and rid his mind of the horrifying images it had conjured up.
"Well, the Minister told a small crowd of listeners that dementors were going to be deployed to Hogwarts and then gave credit to her in front of half a dozen people. I spoke up and pointed out how utterly stupid the very idea was of having soul-consuming monsters right next to a school full of defenseless kids," Harry expressed with a smirk. "The Minister did what every politician does when he realized how unpopular that idea would make him and promptly made a U-turn on the spot. It was rather funny to watch," he admitted.
"Good, I hope you never meet the dementors," Sirius expressed soberly, taking a champagne glass from a passing waiter.
"I hope you're being careful with how much you drink tonight, Sirius," Harry observed, giving Sirius a look that promised untold pain if he wasn't.
"Yes, I am, mother," Sirius retorted. "Sometimes I wonder who the adult is out of the two of us. I even have the potions you gave me in my pocket if need be; besides, this late in the evening, they've already started watering down the drinks," he said, shaking his head. "What happened at the Greengrass' was an accident and won't happen again, Harry. I'm really sorry; I just didn't realize how much the whiskey and wine together would affect me. I forgot a simple rule: don't mix drinks."
"So, do you accept Umbridge, or do you forfeit?" Harry asked, not allowing himself to be distracted by his godfather.
"Harry, be reasonable, no man should have to do… that!" his godfather whined, very similar to a dog, before deploying the age-old puppy dog eyes trick.
"All right," he said, allowing his godfather off the hook. "Madam Bones then," he added, mentioning the ball-busting head of Magical Law Enforcement.
"Are you trying to get me thrown back in jail?" Sirius exclaimed.
"If I was trying to get you thrown into jail, I would have said to her you were flirting with her niece," Harry countered with a cunning smile. "You should have been more specific when it came to terms earlier, Sirius," Harry advised, seeing his godfather sober up at his remark.
"How about this for a deal? You allow me to pick my prey tonight, since you clearly don't know how to play this game," Harry's lips quirked at this, listening to Sirius' offer. "In exchange, I'll give you an easy first heir task, something you can do tonight on the spot."
He smiled at the offer, realizing he could score an early lead. "I'm interested," he said, nodding his head, signaling his agreement to the bargain. "But you will have to provide proof of your sexual conquest—either a picture or an undergarment, but preferably a picture," he grinned lewdly for a moment before stopping abruptly, noting that the champagne was undermining his own judgment and letting his hormones get away from him.
"Now you're playing the game," Sirius cheered, looking much better at Harry's terms. "You, my chosen heir, will have to get both those lovely twins to kiss you at midnight on the lips. It doesn't have to be with tongue or anything fancy, since you're new to this game, but it has to be on the lips. If you can't, however, you've either got to wait until next year and try again at midnight, or steal the Head Girl's knickers at Hogwarts, with her badge and photo for proof."
It didn't even take him a second to decide. He knew he could do this, considering that both Pav and Pad had already been trying to steal kisses from him while dancing throughout the night. "Done," he said, offering his hand to Sirius to shake on it and seal their agreement.
"Done," he replied, shaking his hand in agreement, his godfather smiling wickedly before giving Harry a quick toast with his champagne glass, just before disappearing into the crowd. "Good hunting, Harry."
Watching his godfather vanish, he quickly concluded that Sirius had already chosen his prey for the night and had actually played him rather well after seeing Harry with the twins. Looking up at the magical clock slowly building with energy as its hands slowly turned, he saw that he still had roughly an hour and a half till midnight—thus plenty of time to get the twins on board with the idea of a midnight kiss with him. 'Maybe I should say it's a good luck thing?' he mused.
"Harry," the all-too-familiar voice of Daphne could be heard, bringing him out of his scheming.
He smiled automatically at seeing his friend again, even though he had just seen her on the dance floor dragging Blaise around. "Daphne, you look lovely this evening," he complimented and was rewarded, in turn, with a beautiful smile from the cold heiress in her ball gown of white acromantula silk with a fur trim, clearly going for the winter queen look that her mother had long ago perfected in daily life.
"You don't look so bad yourself, Harry," Daphne expressed. "How was dancing with the twins? They seemed to be enjoying themselves this evening."
His genuine smile could have answered for him, but he decided to give voice to his emotions. "Fun, and thank you for the dance lessons, otherwise I'd have been treading on their toes like a three-legged troll," he expressed, his smile never fading.
"Three-legged troll, that's a new one," the heiress expressed, her lips curling with amusement. "So are you going to offer me a dance? I did spend my free time over the last couple of days teaching you."
"Of course, how rude of me," he said, offering his arm to his friend. "Forgive me for not asking earlier, but I thought Blaise would be busy keeping you too entertained to have time to dance with another," he apologized, while already guiding her to the dance floor. "I must confess, though, that I promised the twins another dance or two."
"That's fine; I just wanted to have one dance with you this evening." As they stepped onto the dance floor, Harry's hands automatically slipped gently to the correct positions, one on her waist, the other holding her hand, as they started to twist and turn in time with the music. Harry took the lead and successfully navigated them around the other couples with even more grace than he'd shown during their lessons. The added practice tonight and his enjoyment of the evening had granted him a bit more confidence and experience, which came through in his more skillful dancing.
"Much better, Harry," Daphne praised as they moved.
"What can I say? I'm a fast learner and had an amazing teacher," he bragged with a boyish smile, which wouldn't have been out of place on Sirius' face, as Daphne shook her head in amusement, her silky blonde locks dancing as Harry pulled them out of the path of another couple.
"You know, Pansy is actually sending us jealous looks," the Slytherin teased as they moved around the floor, changing direction in time with the music, before the singer started again. This time, the vocals were in Latin. Unfortunately, he was unable to understand the song's words since his Latin was rather limited at the moment and still firmly in the development stages.
"I don't know why; she's here with Draco, isn't she?" Harry replied, not caring much at all about the couple as they moved, enjoying the moment rather than souring it by giving the other couple a whit more attention than they merited.
"Yes, but Draco is ignoring her in favor of his goons," her lips twitching in amusement at this. "You should be a gentleman and offer her a dance." Harry spun her around to surreptitiously get a better look at Draco, noticing the Malfoy heir was talking to Crabbe and Goyle instead of his date, the former having just scratched his bum with a rather put-out-looking Pansy nearby.
"I'd much rather spend the time dancing with you, my dear, or the twins—but preferably you," he said sincerely, getting another rare smile from his often-reserved dance partner. "You're not trying to kiss me every minute of the dance—not that I mind the idea of those kisses—but I'd rather not have them fighting over me," he offered, but nonetheless found it rather flattering that the twins were competing for him; now that was certainly an ego boost.
"I suppose that could be an issue," Daphne observed casually as the twins spotted them on the floor. "Consider it repayment for the dance lessons," causing his lips to twitch, his smile growing at the statement.
"Plus, Pansy will owe me one if I get you to dance with her. She will never admit it, but she loves the attention and the spotlight, and that is almost assured with you, given the attention you've been receiving tonight.
Plus, it gives you a chance to embarrass or annoy Draco whilst appearing to be the perfect gentleman coming to a lady's obvious distress. If Draco creates a scene over it, he loses face, and so does his family. There are few downsides to it, really." The ice dragon bellowed more blue flames.
...
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