As if Henry couldn't get any more adorable that evening, he was set out to prove Hope wrong, as he stood before her as they were getting to dance along with the other champions. While Hope had an ever-growing grin, Henry was carefully reciting the steps to the dance under his breath. However, he missed one key step and flushed a bright red as Hope directed one of his hands to rest on her waist. She could feel how warm and sweaty his hands were as he fixed his other hand, grabbing hers.

Hope leaned in to whisper something reassuring, but Henry jerked back as his nerves were getting the best of him. 

"Henry, everything is going to be alright. You know, if it's too much for you, we don't have to dance." She suggested.

"But..but it's tradition." He muttered to her.

"Who cares?"

"You always said when we were younger that we had to uphold to tradition." Henry reminded her.

Hope thought back on their earlier years of Hogwarts and how they were supposed to live up to the reputations of their parents and families, that had left their legacies well in the castle. She had practically preached it the majority of the time. But suddenly, it wasn't about tradition to Hope as she gave a shrug of her shoulders.

"Some traditions are meant to be broken to create new ones, right? After all, I'm not wearing a traditional gown like everyone else, we can switch things up-"

Henry shook his head at her as the music began playing. "I don't mind switching up other things for the sake of breaking tradition, but I really want to dance with you, Hope."

"That's fine with me, lead the way, Sir Guppy Puppy."

Nixie and Tonks stood beside her as they watched the fellow champions take to the first dance.  Tonks seemed beyond thrilled to watch her son dance about Stella, it was quite the sight to see the two teens so close together and not trying to kill each other.  She went to point out Teddy's goofy grin to Nixie, but the older woman was too preoccupied with watching her own son dance with Hope.

Henry had certainly put all his effort in and the dance lessons had certainly paid off tremendously as he led the ballroom dance.

"Look at him.." Nixie whispered to Sirius as she leaned into him. "He hasn't stopped smiling since they started dancing, he's so happy."

"I wonder where he learned to dance like that." Sirius said.

"I was questioning the same thing, because he certainly didn't get those dance moves from either one of us."

There was a clearing of the throat and the two professors turned around to see Neville straightening his bow tie with Kefira by his side. He flashed them a small innocent smile before he offered his hand to his wife and invited her to dance. 

"That little pup..." Sirius chuckled. "He didn't even ask us to teach him."

Nixie snorted. "Let's be real, darling, would you have come to either one of us for dance lessons? I sure as hell wouldn't. Henry knows what our talents. He'll come to me for swimming and he'll come to you for...begging or something."

"Begging or something!?" Sirius's jaw dropped as he pressed his hand to his chest with an offended look. "Is that what you think of me?!"

"No, certainly not. I think you're a gargoyle's nipple." 

The offended look vanished as Sirius broke into laughter and grabbed his wife's hands to pull her along to dance with him. 

Tonks peered up at Remus, who seemed all too content with standing and watching the others dance around. 

"Well..." She said, bringing him to look down at her.

"Well what?" Remus's eyebrows knitted together tightly as his wife gave him a knowing look.

"Aren't you going to ask me to dance, Remus?"

"Oh! I...well I..." the man suddenly became shy as he rubbed at his face, but it only made Tonks laugh before she took hold of the sleeve of his robe and pulled him along. 

"Now it's a party!" Hope said happily as she noted everyone joining in on the dance floor. She had to admit that Henry' dancing had proved her wrong about Professor Longbottom being the best dancer in Hogwarts. Then again, it was probably because she was slightly biased in her decision making.

"I didn't do too bad, did I?" Henry asked her.

"Are you mental, Ry? You're the best dancer here. Although, by the end of the night, I'm requesting you and Professor Longbottom to have a dance off." She said before wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug. "You were fantastic, still are."

She pulled away and saw Henry use the sleeve of his robes to wipe at the sweat that was beading at his forehead. She pressed the back of her hand to the sides of his face.

"You really are burning up, Henry. Are you alright? Are you feeling sick?"

Henry was feeling sick, but not in the coughing type or stomachache sense of sick, he was just becoming a lovesick guppypuppy with every passing second, and Hope had no idea the effect that she was having on him, just by touching the sides of his face. 

"No, I'm not feeling sick. It's just really...really warm in here." He said pulling at his robes trying to air out.

Hope glanced around and noticed that he was the only one that was breaking into a sweat. She was wearing a thick knitted dress and she was feeling fine, even though her mother had probably knitted it so that she wouldn't overheat. 

She thought back to the other times where Henry had nearly gotten sick by neglecting getting into the water regularly, bringing an idea to her head.

"Do you need to get in the water? Go for a swim?"

Henry went to shake his head and say no, but an idea jumped into his head and he quickly stopped himself.

"Actually, some fresh air and water...sounds really great right about now." He said. "Do you mind leaving the ball for a little bit?"

"Of course not." Hope told him. "It's just getting started, we have plenty of time.  Come on."