"Huh, hello. Yes, I’m Lucy, and you’re Andrew, is that correct?" She answered, embarrassed now that she realized she was watching for too long.
“My apologies, I didn’t want to disturb. I heard the music and came to check what it was, and then I was distracted with your dancing, but I didn’t mean to bother.” Lucy continued, apologizing, a bit shy with the situation. “You can continue, I’ll go, I have to do… something, anyway.”
"Yeah, I am. It's nice to officially meet you, although I've seen you around the common room." Drew grinned, thinking the girl seemed a little uncomfortable although he didn't mind the interruption.
"It's all right. I've been here for a while so I probably could use a break anyway. You're not a bother." He fidgeted for a minute, running his hand through his hair. "I mean, if you've something to do I don't want to keep you."
“One can see that you enjoy it, you must have been practicing for quite a while? Because I think I would jinx someone to be able to move like that,” Teddy laughed, because while he was able to play the guitar pretty well, his dance moves were basically reduced to … well. Jumping up and down to the music or tapping his foot along.
“That’s a nice spell, I think you have to show it to me some time. And I can imagine that your own music must be better than this. Do you have any set choreographies, or is it just moving along as it comes to mind?”
"I suppose so. I mean, I've been dancing for a long time and I usually do find an empty room around here somewhere. But it's the practice that's important, really. I mean some people have a natural talent but practice helps more than that." Drew shrugged, but felt much more comfortable now than he usually did.
"Oh yeah, I can do that. It worked on my computer too, although I don't use that as much. And yeah, having my own music is a lot better. Um, it's a mix. I do have some set choreography but sometimes I just sort of do what comes to me."
"I’m pretty shitty at dancing, but it seems like it’d be nice to do it well. Though honestly, I’d probably get bored of lessons quickly." Rose smiled and shoved her hands in her pockets. "I’m alright. Not much going on really, how about you?"
"I'm sure you're better than you think. Most people are - like Katie, she says she's terrible but she's pretty good. The lessons were interesting to me, but I think it all just really depends on what you like." Leaning against a desk, he shook his head. "Not much for me either, really. Just school and I decided I'd had enough of that for today."
"Procrastinating?" Teddy looked around the room before his gaze settled back on Drew. "Well, for simply procrastinating, this looked pretty damn good. And how did you even get that thing to work?" He asked, pointing at the ipod.
"Yeah. From school. And life." He shrugged and laughed again before walking over to his iPod and turning it off. "Thanks though. I enjoy it. Oh, I found a charm that lets it do the music still. I'm not really sure how it works, but I can get my music and that's all I care about. It's a lot more convenient that radio or anything."
Taking a break from her studies, Lucy decided to use her time to go for a walk at the school. At some point of her amble, she listened to music coming from a room, and decided to take a look at what was happening there.
Entering the room, she was surprised at seeing someone dancing there. She watched him, amused by his movements, and got too distracted to notice that if he was in an empty room, he probably wanted to be alone.
With the music going, Drew lost himself in the movement, enjoying the rare opportunity to express himself and let go of the stress of the school year. But eventually he turned around and realized he wasn't alone anymore, and stumbled to a stop. "Oh, hello. Didn't see you there. It's Lucy, right?"
Drew didn't often lie to his mother, but sometimes he had to. It was lying exactly - he was meeting Katie in Diagon Alley, just not this early. But wandering around alone would be better than staying home and listening to his mother go on about his future. He couldn't take another lecture on the importance of his NEWTs.
After flooing to Diagon Alley, he found himself a bit lost as to what to do. Normally he and Katie would get ice creams or go to the bookstore, but since he'd been meeting her in a couple of hours, it didn't make sense to do any of that yet. He ended up just walking with no clear goal, watching all the excited first years, tired parents, and bored siblings.
And then he found himself staring at Ollivander's. His own wand came from Madame Liu, another wandmaker - one his mother preferred. He loved it; the wand had served him well and never given him any difficulties but he'd always been curious about Ollivander's. Making up his mind quickly, he ducked into the shop.
It was different from Madame Liu's; her shop was pristine and cool but Ollivander's was warm and comfortably dusty. It felt more personable than Madame Liu's.
"Ah, a new face. I don't believe I've seen you in my shop before," said a small man, presumably Ollivander.
"No, sir. I went to Madame Liu's when I got my first wand. I . . . I don't know why I came in, really." Drew's wand worked well still. He had no difficulties performing his spells an it would be a waste of money to buy a new one.
"Come, let me take your measure nonetheless."
Without really knowing how it happened, Drew found himself being measured, enjoying the quiet chatter from the wandmaker and answering more questions than he usually felt comfortable with. By the time the tape was put away, Ollivander was pulling boxes off the shelves. Drew obediently took each wand, although none of them came to life the way his did. Just when he was ready to leave - it had to have been nearly an hour and Katie was usually early - Ollivander held up a hand.
"One more, Mr. Chen. Then I'll let you go." He held the last box out. Drew hesitated before taking it; he didn't think it would be any different, but Ollivander had been so kind that Drew hated to say no.
As soon as he touched the wand, however, he knew that this one was special. It seemed to glow, warming in his grip as he lifted it from the box.
"Unicorn hair and kaya wood. I don't usually work with kaya but this particular wand seemed to call me. Ten and three quarter inches, sturdy." Ollivander said, just a hint of pride in his voice.
Drew knew he couldn't let this wand go. He could work out what to do with two of them later, but the way this responded to him was different. "I'll take it."
Victoire was walking through the halls when she heard music coming from inside a classroom. Curious, she stopped and looked in the room, only to see Drew Chen dancing. “Wow,” she said after a minute. “You’re pretty good.”
"I’m pretty shitty at dancing, but it seems like it’d be nice to do it well. Though honestly, I’d probably get bored of lessons quickly." Rose smiled and shoved her hands in her pockets. "I’m alright. Not much going on really, how about you?"
"I like it. It helps me relax. Katie likes it too, so that helps." He grinned self-consciously at that. "Um, but I enjoyed the lessons. It was a nice break from my other stuff." He nodded, leaning against the desk. "Um . . . just busy with school is all. I haven't even had a chance to see Katie much lately."
Curious as he was, Teddy couldn’t help but push the door open from where he could hear the music coming, but he had never expected to find his fellow seventh year schoolmate, Andrew Chen, dancing in what looked like quite an amazing way.
"Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I just … wow. That looks awesome!"
Hearing the door, Drew spun around and let out a breathless laugh. "It's fine, Teddy. You're not interrupting, really. I'm just . . . procrastinating." He ran a hand through his hair and grinned. "How are you?"
"You’re quite good at dancing." Rose watched as he turned off the music and shook her head. "No, I just heard music and was curious. I can leave you, if you want?"
"Thanks. Um, I took some classes when I was younger so I guess they paid off." Shaking his head as well, Drew fidgeted with his iPod. "No, no it's fine. Like I said, I was just letting off some steam. How are you?"
"Unfortunately I know only too well. I’m trying to forget that NEWTs are slowly creeping up on me." She raised an arm and wiped the sweat off her forehead and then bent down, hands on her knees.
Groaning, he ran his hands through his hair. "I was hoping to avoid thinking about that today. My mother's already owling me about finding work at the Ministry after I graduate."
Rose was walking through the halls on the way back to the Gryffindor common rooms when she heard the faint sound of music coming from a classroom. Curious, she opened the door and peeked in, smiling at the sight of Drew dancing. “Bravo!”
Drew spun around in surprise, grinning sheepishly when he saw Rose. "Um . . . thanks? I was just letting off steam, I guess." He shrugged and turned his music off. "Did you need this room?"
Finding an empty classroom, Drew cleared a space in the middle of the room and turned on his iPod. Although he only did it for himself, he loved dancing - and especially when he needed a break, like now.
