Harry Potter and the Lost Half-Bloods. *1*

Leo

I sing and other less important things happen
LEO: Sometimes amidst the confusion and the drama, it's refreshing to take some time to relax, forget about your troubles, and dance.

That's what my hope was for tonight. Piper and I would have a heck of a time. She was the best person I could have asked at this school. Not only was she fun to be around, but she was the one consistent thing I'd always had at Hogwarts. Even when we fought and she was buddy-buddy with Draco Malfoy, I knew that if I really needed her she'd be there.

I walked into the Slytherin common room all fancied up—I'd even put on deodorant! I was ready to escort Piper into the great hall and have the night of my life. I was especially excited for the special punch the Weasley twins had snuck in. Piper and I had always managed to snag a taste of fire whiskey from Hogsmede every year, and every year this resulted in us running for our lives and the bar tender chasing us out with a stool. It was the best thing you could ever taste.

Apart from that, I was just excited for a night with Piper and I. We had hardly had any Leo Piper friendship time ever since all of the craziness began. It's hard to have a good time when all you can think about it when the next vision will come or how to control yourself when you keep subconsciously bursting into flames. Piper and I deserved this night together.

So yeah, I was a bit passive-aggressive when I saw wolf boy.

Jason and Piper were standing beside each other in the common room as I came down. I expected to be greeted with a smile, and a laugh as I made some pun about Piper. I'd even rehearsed it: Piper McClean, you look like a McQueen--and she did. She was wearing a magnificent black and gold dress that made her eyes glisten. Piper didn't do heals, she wore sparkly gold sandals to match.

Jason wore a simple tuxedo, not much different than mine. What else can you say about a tuxedo? I had always envied dresses in a way. They had a way to accent everything. They could show off your curves, your eyes, whatever else. Tuxes were boring.

"Hey, Pipes. Uh, Jason! Buddy, what are you doing here?" I greeted. Piper looked annoyed at herself.

"Yeah, uh...Jason is my date. I asked him last night."

"You—wait, what? Ouch. I asked you last night." I tried not to look to hurt, but Piper said I always got a wounded puppy look when I was upset. I'd tried to repress it, but I never could.

"I'm sorry, Leo. It was last minute. But Jason said he's fine if the three of us go as a group." Piper said.

I glared at Jason.

"I didn't even know you two were friends. Suddenly you're each other's dates?"

Piper sighed.

"I use the term date very, very loosely in this situation."

Piper extended her arm towards me.

"Please escort me. I've dreamed of the two of us badly dancing to some cliche music at a basic school dance for years now. This is the only opportunity you're going to get to see me do something basic. You don't want to miss your chance, do you?" I asked.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, you can both be my dates! As long as you too cheer for me when I go on stage and rip out some sick vocals. I heard there's going to be a karaoke machine."

They both rolled their eyes.

And we were off to the dance!

***

Basic school dance? No, not at Hogwarts. Nothing is basic here, especially when Annabeth Chase designs it. The decorations were awesome. But of course, you already knew that. Curse you, Will Solace, for stealing my description thunder a few chapters ago. Jokes on you, I bet he didn't use cool, description words such as awesome, wicked, and fan-freaking-tastic.