you have bewitched me, body and soul [parvati]

[Deleted]

The Yule Ball. Marcus had known about it for a long time, and had made his plans under the assumption that he was attending with Pansy, but obviously he wasn't going to bring his separated (and almost divorced, if he could ever get her to sign the damn papers) wife to an event that was supposed to be fun. Of course, there was something to be said for the fact that the Ball was occurring at Hogwarts. There was going to be a certain school counselor there that Marcus was definitely interested in seeing dressed to the nines. He doubted that Parvati would be caught dead talking to him, especially with Longbottom within seeing distance, but it was nice to dream. Marcus had taken a flute of champagne that was offered to him by a passing waiter and then sat himself out a small table at the far corner of the dance floor, not much interested in schmoozing or doing anything other than looking for Parvati Patil.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

Promising herself that Marcus Flint wouldn't become a distraction for her had worked for as long as it had taken Parvati to notice the man sitting on his own at one of the tables that had been placed in the Great Hall for the night. She knew that he was separated from his wife now, too, which should have made it much easier for Parvati to justify going over to him. Their children were in the same room, as were a number of people in the Order who would be wondering if she had lost her head, but it was almost as though he was waiting for someone.

It couldn't have been Pansy. Parvati knew how quickly someone of Marcus's standing could put on airs, and, while he looked as though he had come to the Yule Ball out of obligation to the Ministry, he looked relatively relaxed. She had tried not to be too overt as she finished up her conversation with one of the Ministry wives, a woman who had worked at Witch Weekly with her, but listening to her former colleague ramble on about something that was clearly not as anecdotal as she had first believed was becoming far too boring.

Parvati excused herself as soon as she could without coming across as terribly impolite, then, heading Marcus's way, she quickly apologized to a waiter with a tray of champagne flutes as he brushed past her. The seat next to Marcus's, she saw, was still empty, and she took it without a second thought. Before speaking, she readjusted the placement of her dupatta, which was draped over her arm.

“Enjoying yourself?” she asked, hoping that, if she behaved casually, no one would question why she was conversing with him.

marcus

[Deleted]

Marcus would never presume to have such an attractive force that Parvati absolutely had to come over to speak to him whenever they two were together, but really, what else was he supposed to think when all evidence pointed to that exact notion? All he had been doing was sitting there, enjoying his flute of champagne and casting furtive glances in her direction, and she came over, uninvited. Marcus knew he ought to be a little concerned with how this would look to an outsider, but really, he couldn’t muster the energy to care. At least she was a pureblood Gryffindor and not a pesky Mudblood or something of the sort. “Surprisingly, the night got infinitely more interesting with your arrival here.” Marcus said, feigning nonchalance despite the fact that it was most certainly the truth. “Were you the one who taught the Champion how to dance?” He said. Marcus had seen the girl during the Champion’s dance, and she hadn’t been bad. Not as good as any pureblood girl who was brought up properly, but it was passable dancing, at worst.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

“Surprisingly,” Marcus remarked, “the night got infinitely more interesting with your arrival here.” There was something in his voice that made Parvati want to take his word for it. She hadn't seen him dancing yet, for one thing. “Were you the one who taught the Champion how to dance?”

“…Anna, you mean?” Parvati made the clarification, in part, to remind Marcus that Hogwarts's Champion had a name, as there was no reason why she would have taught the other two Triwizard Champions how to waltz. She nodded her head. Anna Weasley had looked lovely during the Champions' Waltz, so she knew that there wasn't anything about which Marcus could reasonably complain. “I held a lesson for all of Gryffindor House.” Now, Parvati couldn't claim that all of the students present had cared to pay attention to it, but she had given them the opportunity.

“You're not a dancer, Marcus?” she smiled, glancing out at the floor before she made eye contact with him again. He couldn't have been too gauche. With his background, Parvati wouldn't have been surprised to find that he could, in fact, waltz circles around her.

marcus

[Deleted]

Marcus rolled his eyes at Parvati. “Do you have a reason to be teaching either of the other two to dance?” He asked. Why she would bother consorting with the foreign students was beyond Marcus. Their blood purity was unknown, and Parvati wasn’t even contractually obligated to tolerate them like she was to tolerate the Hogwarts students she would rather not spend time with. When the counselor said that she had held a lesson for the entirety of the Gryffindor house, Marcus shook his head. “I’m sure that went well.” The lot of them probably had two left feet.

“I am a dancer.” Marcus said, trying his best not to sound defensive despite the fact that the question had doubted his abilities and, in part, his upbringing. “But seeing as I have no one dance with, I thought it unwise to enter the floor alone.” The worst part about no longer having a wife was no longer having someone who was obligated to dance with him. “Unless you’re offering, in which case I will gladly dance with you.” That would cause quite a stir at the High Table, of Marcus wasn’t mistaken. He would enjoy seeing Longbottom squirm.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

“Do you have a reason to be teaching either of the other two to dance?” The roll of Marcus's eyes wasn't unexpected for Parvati, who had reached the point where she was no longer fazed by it. It was Marcus, and that was just how he was. He was blunt, yes, but his intentions weren't as malicious, Parvati was certain, as she had once believed them to be. As for her having taught all of the Gryffindors who were present at the ball how to dance—or, at the very least, how not to look ridiculous while attempting a few basic dance steps—Marcus sarcastically commented that it must have gone well.

Parvati laughed, having caught sight of a few of her own students at the time of Marcus's remark. “Well enough. Let's put it that way.” It hadn't been a total waste of time.

“I am a dancer,” added Marcus, despite his not being out on the floor. It was because he didn't have a partner, he explained, that he wasn't out there alone. “Unless you're offering, in which case I will gladly dance with you.”

Without hesitation, Parvati nodded. “Of course,” she told him, already standing from her chair. “Shall we dance?”

marcus

[Deleted]

Well enough. It didn’t take a genius to read a whole world of meaning into those two words. Well enough, to Marcus, meant that there had been at least some improvement in some of the clumsy cats who had attempted to learn to dance. Obviously they weren’t good dancers by any stretch of the (civilized) imagination, but they had improved from not being able to count or dance with grace. Parvati accepted his thinly veiled invitation to dance by proposing a dance herself, and Marcus smiled charmingly at her. “We shall.” Marcus responded. He extended his hand to her and led them both to the dance floor, grinning like the cat that got the canary the whole while. His smile dimmed and became a little less manic when he turned back to face Parvati. “Is your ex-husband here?” Marcus asked lightly. She already knew about his wife, so turnabout was only fair play.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

Marcus accepted her invitation to dance and led her out onto the floor. Knowing full well that they must have been receiving some strange looks already, Parvati kept her attention focused only on him.

“Is your ex-husband here?”

Parvati shook her head. “I haven't seen him.” Chances were good that Ernie was probably wherever Pansy was, not that she cared to dwell on that fact. It was probably for the better, though, that he wasn't around.

She got into her dance frame, placing her left hand lightly against Marcus's arm. People could say what they wanted to say—even Padma—about her sudden fondness for Marcus, but Parvati knew that she hadn't ever felt the same way with anyone but Ernie. And who could fault her for that?

marcus

[Deleted]

Ernie wasn’t there, which made everything infinitely easier for Marcus. If he had brought Pansy as a guest…sparks would fly, and not the good kind of sparks, the sparks that he felt when he looked at Parvati. There were a lot of other people looking at her, looking at them, but he was not going to pay attention to them. He was going to dance. “I assume that since you taught them to dance, you’ve been formally trained?” Marcus asked, beginning to lead Parvati across the floor. “As I already said, I’m a dancer.” He told her with a smirk. “What are you going to tell Longbottom? And the other professors?” Marcus asked, getting an odd surge of delight from the whole situation.

parvati patil macmillan

[parvati patil macmillan]

Marcus voiced his assumption that, since she had taught the Gryffindors to dance, Parvati had been formally trained, herself. She hadn't, and she found satisfaction in being able to tell him that. “No,” she said nonchalantly, following his steps. Instead of looking over his shoulder, she kept her eyes on him.

“As I already said, I’m a dancer.”

He wasn't a bad one, either.

“What are you going to tell Longbottom? And the other professors?”

“They'll see, won't they?” she asked with a laugh. “I'll just have to tell them that it isn't their business.” It wasn't as though she and Marcus weren't giving the entirety of Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic something to talk about.

marcus

[Deleted]

No? Well, that was a shock. Marcus had thought that Parvati was pureblood, but maybe she was one of the blood traitor types, or her parents didn’t think it was important to learn to dance. Either way, Marcus was simultaneously surprised and not. He didn’t offer any comment on her reply, choosing instead to focus on what she said about telling her colleagues that her romantic pursuits weren’t any of their businesses. “Well, tell them something from me, too.” Marcus leaned over to whisper his message into Parvati’s ear, chuckling warmly when he finished. He continued to lead them through a series of dances, until, well, things got more interesting…

parvati patil macmillan
(end, to don't pretend that you don't want me)