Sunday morning came, and Toni refused to leave the comfort of his sheets. The night before, he had returned to his rooms with a tub of cookie dough ice cream and curled up in front of his fireplace, trying to dispel memories of Salvo. Before he managed to slip into an ice cream induced coma, Toni had crawled into bed and buried himself in his blankets. He wanted to scream, and curse Draco Malfoy for reminding him, and talking about it so casually, but in truth, Toni just couldn't be mad with the blond.

As he was slipping back into the sweet comfort of dreams, he heard knocking. He tried to ignore it, but the knocking only became more persistent. Giving in, he moved his arm slowly out of his cotton cave, and reached his wand. One quick wand movement and word, the door opened for the intruder.

"What?" he mumbled from the heap of sheets and blankets.

"Well is that how you greet your sister?" Toni quickly lowered the sheets from his head and broke into a grin.

"Em! Sorry, I didn't know it was you. Care to join me?" Toni lifted one of the edges of his fort and invited her in.

Emilia smiled softly at her brother, before removing her cloak and shoes. Walking over, she carefully crawled into the nest Toni had built around himself and wrapped her arms around him.

"Care to tell me why I found you in a comfort cave and an empty tub of ice cream?" she gave him one raised eyebrow while he smiled sheepishly at her.

"Um… just memories that got me down. But enough about me, why are you here?" Toni asked.

"We'll revisit you in a moment. I am here because you are supposed to receive a check up every two weeks. Anna had plans with her husband today, so I offered to visit. Plus I missed my little brother." Emilia affectionately messed up Toni's hair.

"Father has been here every Monday night though."

"Yes, for business purposes, but not a genuine visit. Now up and out of bed, I want to see your Great Hall and have a tour." The duo argued for a few minutes before Toni submitted and left his warm cave to shower and get ready for breakfast.

He had tried to convince Emilia to go to the kitchens but she was adamant that she eat in the Great Hall. Toni only conceded after she agreed to avoid the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables. They enjoyed a silent walk, and only after they were both settled at the Hufflepuff table did they speak.

"So why are we avoiding two tables?" She asked while she spread strawberry jam on toast. Toni knew she would pursue this topic until she was satisfied and answered honestly.

"There's two Gryffindors that are on Dumbledore's payroll, but are doing the worst possible job of befriending me. Then there is a Slytherin that was the one who reminded me of some bad memories. As you can see, I'd rather avoid both parties."

Since the Hufflepuff table was by the wall, the brother and sister team sat so they faced the entire hall. This arrangement made it easy for Toni to point out the culprits when Emilia asked. He found Granger and Weasley easy enough at the lion table and gestured to them first.

"The tall redhead is Weasley and the fuzzy haired girl latched onto his arm is Granger." He explained. The both observed as the pair were conversing with their housemates and seemed to be relaxed and actually enjoyable company. Emilia thought they looked like pleasant company and asked why Toni was so against them.

"Well, besides trying to initiate a fake friendship, Granger always tried to be better than me. She only recites from books and then has such a superior attitude around me that I can't help but be bothered by her. Weasley agrees with everything she says, and is too short tempered for my liking." He explained.

Emilia slipped into a pensive state for a minute. When she finally returned her focus to her surroundings she made a request.

"Brother dear, can you walk over to them and ask a question or something. Just for a few moments so I can observe them." Toni nodded and gracefully rose from his seat and walked over to the pair.

"Granger, may I interrupt you for a moment?" he asked the Head Girl. He watched her turn and was faced with a cold expression.

"What do you want, Potter?" she glared at him. He ignored her use of his old name.

"I just wanted to know how your dance assignment was coming along. I am looking forward to the song you chose to represent Rapunzel." He spoke in a friendly tone and managed to hide an eye twitch.

"We haven't found a song yet. I have been too busy with Head Girl duties, and Ron has been training his new Quidditch players. Besides, it's almost impossible to find a song about Rapunzel in Hogwarts." She continued to glare at him, but Toni went for a friendlier route this time.

"Well may I make a suggestion. You are muggleborn correct?" Granger simply nodded at him so he kept talking. "Well there is U.K band that just released a popular song that I think you can make work." He asked a nearby seventh year boy for parchment and ink, before he wrote down a band name and song. He handed the parchment over to Granger, and bid farewell before returning to his sister.

"Well, now why did I have to play nice with the children?" he asked as soon as he sat down.

"I think there's a spell on them." Emilia stated simply.

"What?"

"Well they appear normal and friendly to their housemates, but as soon as you approached their postures stiffened. When you spoke, Granger went instantly from nice, warm, to cold, and rude. I think someone cursed them against you." Toni was too stunned to speak, but hid it well, and gestured for her to continue.

"I believe it's the 'Nodomu Intensīva' curse."

"What's that and how do you know about it?" Toni managed to regain his bearings enough to ask.

"One of my tutors was Latvian, and she was teaching me interesting curses from her home country. I remembered that one because I thought it would interesting to test. Basically it is used to take a mood, desire, or intention and intensifies it. So I'm guessing Granger likes to excel, so the curse made her act overly superior. She was paid off to befriend you, but because of this spell, she is instead completely driving you away." Emilia explained.

"So did this person cast the spell on her to help me, or are they behind their own nefarious plot to get to me? Oh! And is there a counter curse?" Toni asked. He looked back over at the lion table and took in the same observations that Emilia had. Granger and Weasley did seem to be enjoying the company of their table, and held none of the cold demeanour they used around him.

"I believe there is a counter spell, but I don't know it. I can owl my old tutor, but it may be awhile. Also I will tell father about this new development before we start assuming the caster is friend or foe." Toni nodded in acceptance before he thought of something else.

"Can you test to see if that spell is on someone else?" He thought about Malfoy's actions and wondered if he suffered the same thing as the Gryffindors.

"Yes, but I would need you to approach them." Toni nodded and gracefully stood from his seat, and walked towards the Slytherin table. Upon reaching the table, he approached Blaise and Malfoy and quickly searched for an excuse for his visit.

"Blaise, Malfoy, I was wondering how your project is coming along." That was a good reason. Nice neutral topic and to the point to avoid any unwanted comments.

"Hey beautiful!" Blaise started "It's coming along great, we spent all of yesterday night rehearsing and hope you like it. We chose a nice Chopin piece to accompany it." He explained. Toni smiled at the Italian and responded.

"I'm glad to hear that Blaise, I look forward to seeing it tomorrow night. I may have a presentation to show you as well." Toni decided to ask Emilia if she would mind spending the night and assisting him tomorrow.

"You can do more than dirty dance? Well aren't you an all purpose toy." Malfoy commented. Toni froze as his words from the previous night returned full force.

"Draco!" He heard Blaise hiss before he could remember how to speak.

"Well if you'll excuse me, my sister is visiting and I really should return to her." Toni managed to whisper before turning and walking back to Emilia.

"Em, I think it's time to go." He presented his arm and waited for her to take it after she rose from her seat. Once they were ready, Toni led her out of the hall and straight back to his room, where he resumed his position under the covers.

It took Emilia an hour to convince Toni to tell her what happened. He explained his theatre classes; why he was helping the two snakes, Malfoy's comment after, and the one from this morning. Emilia looked like she was ready to storm the castle, but Toni managed to calm her down and instead ask her to do a dance routine with him. Emilia agreed instantly, but promised that if Malfoy ever said something like that again, she would not be deterred.

They quickly chose a fairy tale, and began working. The rest of the day was full of music and laughter between the pair, and they only took a break to eat in the kitchens, and send a note off to their father, and Emilia's fiancé. By the time they were confident in the routine, it was midnight, so they settled into bed and fell asleep.

Over the years, when Toni used to have a nightmare or flashback to the Dursley's, he would crawl into Emilia's bed and cuddle up to her. She never complained, but instead wrapped her arms around him and sang a soft lullaby. After two nights, it had become Toni's most comforting place. As he grew up and his nightmares lessened, he would sometimes crawl into her bed, for no reason. Later whenever he became frustrated or sad, he would instantly flee to Emilia's room and tell her everything that was wrong. It was just the close relationship the shared. That night, Toni was reminded of the later years of his childhood, as Emilia once again wrapped her arms around him and sang to him softly. He fell asleep with a smile and wiped all memories of Salvo and Malfoy from his mind.

When morning came, Toni skipped class, and finally took Emilia on a tour of the school, grounds, and village. They ate lunch in the kitchens, and dinner at The Three Broomsticks. Once they returned the gathered everything they needed for Toni's class and left.

For once, Toni arrived first. He set up the music player and cleared the front of the room, transforming it into a mini stage area with curtains. He transfigured a few wooden chairs, into more comfortable padded seats, and then set up two dressing areas. He finished just in time for his four students to walk in.

"Okay everybody, please remain standing and form a circle on the stage area with me." Toni instructed. Once everyone was in place, he didn't allow from them to talk before he jumped right into the physical warm ups. He kept them moving and prevented them from talking, before he ushered them to their seats and explained that he had his own presentation to show them.

Emilia disappeared behind the stage left dressing room, and Toni took the stage right one. After receiving the signal that Emilia was ready, Toni started the music. Celine Dion's 'A New Day Has Come" filled the air. Once the music started Emilia entered from stage left. She wore ragged clothing and acted as if she had been thrown to the floor. She did a quick ballet routine, imitating cleaning, before she ended with a quad pirouette, and her dress changed into a white flowing dress.

Toni walked on from stage right, and they did a short Viennese waltz. Part way through, Emilia lost one of her white ballet slippers, and ran off. Toni gracefully picked it up, and ran off stage. As soon as he left Emilia returned wearing her ragged dress once more, and was back to cleaning, but this time in a contemporary style of dance. Toni entered and they did a routine together to show happiness, as the music ended.

The brother and sister turned to see the stunned expressions on all four faces. Taking a small bow, both turned and returned to the respective dressing areas to change. Once Toni emerged again, he addressed the class.

"So who wants to take a guess on the fairy tale we portrayed?" he asked.

"Bloody Hell! You expect us to do that?" Weasley yelled.

"No, I don't think you could do that. That was an example of different dance styles. Ballet, Ballroom, and Contemporary. I expect you to choose one dance style and base your presentation off that. Most dance performance focus on one style, but to show you a broader range, I chose three." Toni explained.

"But why do we need to learn dance?" Granger spoke up in a haughty tone. Toni hoped Emilia would find the counter course soon, because that tone was really starting to irritate him.

"For many reasons." Toni stated simply before calling forth Blaise and Malfoy. He asked which song they chose and then let them get ready. They chose Chopin's 'Fantaisie-Impromptu' to showcase Snow White. Emilia sat beside him, and they started. The first movement was dedicated the confrontation between Snow white and the evil witch, and then flowed into Snow White running away. The second movement was Snow White dancing in the forest and making a home. Finally, the third movement showed the 'death' of Snow White, and finally ended with the prince arriving to revive her. Malfoy had played the Witch, and Prince, while Blaise was a very pretty Snow White. They had used the contemporary style that Toni showed them on Saturday, and did a fairly good job.

Toni and Emilia compared their notes quietly, while Granger and Weasley got ready. Once they signalled they were ready, the Cortalioni pair took out fresh parchment and started the music. Toni smiled when he found out Granger took his suggestion and used 'Wonderwall' by Oasis to showcase Rapunzel. Their movements were hesitant, and jerky, while the choreography was simple and repetitive. They appeared to also be trying a contemporary style, but Toni guessed they started yesterday and didn't have time to smooth out things or get overly creative.

After they finished, Toni and Emilia gave out their notes on the performances. They gave constructive criticism and kept the students talking to a minimum. It was Toni's new strategy to avoid rude conversations, or a repeat of Saturday night into Sunday morning. Once they finished, the class was dismissed, with the assignment to rework their performance, and use the advice given to develop a more complete and smoother routine.

Brother and sister returned to Toni's apartment, and were greeted by the sight of their father. Toni was used to his presence, and took a seat opposite the Italian Head and waited for him to start. Once Emilia was settled and everyone served their drink of choice, Tony Cortalioni decided to be blunt.

"Toni, a young gentleman approached me a few days ago, asking permission to court you. After an extensive background check, I have decided to allow the boy to begin the courting process."

"What?" Toni was stunned. He had always assumed that he would be present when his father finally let someone court him.

"All the information we have on him is in this folder, so be sure to read it. He will begin the courting dance next Monday, so you have to cancel your class. There is also a folder of some business deals that have been presented to me that I want you to look through, and we will talk further at a later date." Tony said in his straight forward business voice.

Toni just stared at the two manila folders in his lap. He hesitantly took them after his father presented them, but was still too stunned to open them. Emilia had left with their father, over an hour ago, but Toni had yet to move. Normally a court-ee could refuse the courter, but with Tony Cortalioni, if he finally gave permission to someone, then that meant he expected his son to accept them.

Glancing at the time, he snapped out of his daze and got ready for bed. He placed both folders on his desk, but refused to open them yet. Once he was ready, he made his blanket cocoon, and settled in for the night. With his mind racing with thoughts, he slipped into a fitful sleep.

The next morning, Toni woke and got ready for the day. Once he had everything he entered the Great Hall, earlier than normal and approached Granger and Weasley. He informed them, that due to some unforeseen circumstances, they had an extra week to work on the assignment. He quickly excused himself and went to the Slytherin table. Seeing his two targets, he approached them quickly and interrupted their quiet conversation.

"Excuse me Blaise, Malfoy."

"Well if it's the sexy man I was just thinking about!" Blaise exclaimed. Toni sent him a small smile before speaking.

"I have to cancel next week's class, so you have an extra week to choreograph your routine.," he said.

"Is everything okay, Toni? Why are you cancelling the class? Can't you just reschedule it to another night?" Blaise asked quickly.

"No, next Monday a young man will come here to start courting me. As per tradition, the first week, I will be exclusively his during the evenings." Toni decided to just be honest with Blaise. He was also raised with the knowledge of the Italian courting ritual, so he would understand why Toni could not just reschedule.

"Oh, so who is the lucky guy then?" Blaise let some sadness leak into his voice.

"I don't know. I have yet to read the file my father has given me. I will probably will not be available during the day to help you either. I have a stack of business proposals to go through. Sometimes I dislike business season." Toni's statement got a small laugh from Blaise.

"Well I'm glad I don't have to worry about business season. Toni, I hope this guy turns out to be alright. I would hate to think you're stuck with some arse." Blaise stood and placed a reassuring hand on the smaller boy's shoulder.

"Thanks Blaise, but I should really go." Toni made his exit, and left the Great Hall.

"Poor Toni." Blaise said while shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Draco drawled from beside him. He had been silent during the entire exchange and was now curious about the courting ritual and what they meant by business season.

"Well in Italy, there is a three month period they call business season. Any Family Head can be approached by hopeful business partners, and they must read any proposals they are given. It starts August first, and then ends on Halloween. For example, Everyone seeks an audience with Antonio Cortalioni, but he is so selective that during business season, he gets flooded with business proposals since tradition doesn't allow him to refuse. Toni, as his heir, assists him and reads majority of them, before passing the most promising onto his father." Blaise explained. Draco took some time to think on the information.

"So, if my father wanted to approach the Cortalioni Head, during this business season, Cortalioni is obligated to at least have someone read over his ideas." Draco said slowly.

"Yeah, too bad he didn't think of that years ago. You could have avoided years of him being rejected by Cortalioni, if he just approached him during the right months." Blaise was oblivious to his friends current thought process, as he buttered another slice of toast.

Draco now had the information to make his father proud of him. After all this time, of listening to his father rant about how exclusive Cortalioni was, he had the means to get the Malfoy family onto the Cortalioni radar. He admitted to himself that technically they were already on the radar, but that was in a negative light, and this was politics and business, not dancing and prancing. Draco left quickly to compose a letter to his father about this wonderful bit of news.

Meanwhile in another part of the castle, a person was cursing Antonio Cortalioni, for finally accepting a courting proposal. This hopeful young man would ruin the plans that were set in motion, and that was unacceptable! Entering a secret passageway, the person exited the school and apparated to a manor. Entering the lounge the figure spoke before anyone noticed them.

"We have a small problem."