A.N.: Just a silly little story about the HP characters having a little New Year's party. Somewhat pointless, but I hope you'll have fun with it anyway! Please read, review, and have a nice day! Oh, also I'm starting an RPG at http://www.geocities.com/hermine87/ so if you'd sign up I'd appreciate it a lot. I'm waiting to have enough students and teachers so that I can put the rest of it up and start the school year. There will be a place to post fanfics when the site is up, so I'm encouraging you to come! Thanx in advance!
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter related stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling, her Publishers, WarnerBros (unfortunately), and anybody else that has the rights to them.
"Hey look, Dumbledore's coming out!" Harry pointed out.
"I wonder why he's coming out," said Ron.
"Well, today's New Year's eve, so maybe he's making some kind of announcement," Hermione speculated.
Harry and Ron appeared to be about to say something, but then Dumbledore started to speak: "I've been noticing spirits have been a little low since Voldemort --" most of the room seemed to flinch at the sound of the name, but Dumbledore simply continued "-- so I have decided that Hogwarts will be having a New Years Eve Party tonight. All people are invited, although if anyone doesn't want to attend they are welcome to abstain from participating, and we will have a variety of activities tonight, as well as an all-night dance! After dining, students can go up and change into their dress robes, as well as do any other preparations." At the phrase "any other preparations," his eyes drifted to several girls, including Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, who seemed to be avidly discussing what type of make-up to wear. "The festivities will begin at 8:00! All right, you can continue with your meal!"
And so the people in the Great Hall continued to eat, now discussing the party avidly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were, too, discussing it:
"I can't wait!" Ron said. "I've heard that Celestina Warbeck is in England and is performing all over the place! Maybe she'll come in."
In a stage whisper, Ginny, who was sitting next to Hermione, said, "Ron thinks Celestina is simply glamorous."
Ron glared half-angry at Ginny and said, "I do not!" He reached over to punch Ginny playfully on the arm, but in the process spilled Hermione's milk.
"Ron!" Hermione said angrily. "Now look what you've done! This is the second time today, you know!"
"Oh, Hermione," Harry said, "It's not such a big deal." They conversed for a while longer and Hermione cleaned up the milk. Then they went up to the Gryffindor commonroom.
When they got there, they saw that Lavender and Parvati were both already dressed up in glittery dress robes and high-heeled wobbly shoes ("How can they walk in those things?!" exclaimed Hermione), and were now looking at their numerous make-up kits. They were saying things like, "I, like, totally don't know which I should wear...Ruby Red or Rosy Red!" and "Like, which eye shadow do you think compliments my eyes best, like totally?"
Hermione said, "Well, I better go up and change into my dress robes...this looks kind of dressy."
"What, going to do up your hair all fancy again? Maybe Vicky will be there!" Ron teased.
"Oh shut up. I'm not going to do that anyway...too much of a trouble," Hermione said, giggling in spite of herself. Ron and Harry also went up to their dorm and changed into their dress robes. Ron had gotten new ones from Fred and George, and they looked a lot better; there was no lace, for one thing. They were soon all ready and went down.
Hermione was already out there. Unlike the Yule Ball, Hermione had merely changed into some dress robes and put some fairly nice shoes on. When they looked at the clock and noticed it was nearly seven, the three walked down.
The room looked beautiful. There was much decorative splendor, and Auld Lang Sine was playing quietly in the background. There weren't a lot of people yet, and Ron noticed that "the house-elves haven't brought the food yet."
"And a fine thing for them, too," said Hermione. "They deserve a break! Now don't you be too hard on them for the food not coming just now! They don't deserve this enslavement!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ron muttered, rolling his eyes. "I just want food!" Just that moment, Hermione's stomach rumbled. "And you do too, Hermione, I can tell!"
As if in answer to this, a lot of food and drink suddenly appeared. The crowd, which had been steadily growing, quickly converged in a mad stampede for the food. The school ate ravenously and chattered loudly until someone entered that caused everyone to shut up.
It was a glamorous woman with bright blond hair, blue eyes, and a smiling expression. She was tall and slim and dressed in the most beautiful dress robes money could buy.
Ron looked as though he was about to faint. "Look it's...it's...it's Celestina Warbeck!"
Hermione said, "Celestina Warbeck? Who's that?"
"Celestina Warbeck? Only the most beautiful, amazing, glamorous singer in all the wizarding world," Ron said, as though it were a federal offense not to know who Celestina Warbeck was. Harry, too, was looking star-struck, as were most of the boys in the room. Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Boys!"
But when Celestina started singing, even Hermione couldn't deny that she had a pretty amazing voice. And her songs were a lot better than those awful ones the muggles listened to...like "Hit Me Baby One More Time," and "Oops I Did it Again." Hermione had a muggle cousin who loved Brittany Spears and constantly played it, so Hermione knew the names of all the songs (unfortunately). Those songs were so awful! So anyway, Celestina was a lot better.
People danced a whole lot, and Harry even had one dance with Cho, although it obviously didn't mean anything; Cho was just trying to be nice. Neville also managed to persuade Hermione to dance a dance with him, but she was certainly glad when it was over because Neville had been stepping on her feet so much.
Then, at about 11:00, Dumbledore finally came up. "Now, for one of our activities, I'm going to pull random names out of the hat and these people have to say some of their New Year's Resolutions. So the first person is...Hermione Granger.
"Oh no," Hermione muttered. But her two best friends were urging her on: "Go on, do it! C'mon, we want to hear your New Year's resolutions!" so she soon went up.
"Well, my first resolution is to read more. My second is to study more for the exams. My third is to pass my exams with higher marks this year. My fourth is to break the record of the most O.W.L.S. ever received. My fifth is to practice my piano more often."
At this, Harry and Ron looked startled. "She has a piano here?" Ron said.
Lavender, who was sitting across from them rolled her eyes. "Duh she does. She practices it like, the whole time she's not studying or reading. It is SO annoying! I swear, she practices like five hours a day. No kidding. And I have to listen to it. If I hear those songs one more time, I think I'll kill myself! Why did she have to make that resolution? She practices enough anyway. Oh god help me!" Lavender obviously wasn't to pleased with this.
Anyway, Hermione was still going on this whole time: "Sixteen, to write more. Seventeen, to get some muggle textbooks so I can study all the muggle subjects too. Eighteen, to help free the house-elves. Nineteen..."
By now, it was getting pretty boring, and the school was tuning Hermione out for the most part. Finally, after thirty-one of these, Dumbledore said,"Hermione, I think that's enough."
"But I'm not even halfway through!" she protested. Then, seeing the look on Dumbledore's face and seeing the way everyone was so bored, she grumbled, "Oh fine. But lemme just say one more. Number thirty-two is to spend more good time with my two friends, Harry and Ron."
"Well that was nice," Harry said appreciatively.
"Yeah, but how can she? She's spending more time reading, studying, writing, playing piano, doing muggle subjects, etc. etc...how's she supposed to spend more time with us on top of that?" Ron said skeptically.
"Oh, I dunno, but being Hermione, she'll find a way," Harry said.
Anyway, then it was time for Dumbledore to choose a new person. It turned out to be...Neville! Neville came up, falling down about twenty times, and said, "First, I want to stop falling down so much. Second, I want to remember the trick staircases and stuff. Third, I want to do better in Potions. That's all."
Everyone applauded loudly, mostly because they were glad at the shortness of his resolutions.
"Next is Parvati Patil," said Dumbledore.
Parvati said, "One is to get better-looking earmuffs to wear when Hermione plays piano," Hermione looked hurt but Parvati continued, "Another is to get more make-up, Another is to get better clothes, like totally, and another is to like think about my clothes and make-up more, like totally!" Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "How can you think about something more if you already think about it all the time?"
"Now I'd like to have Fred Weasley," Dumbledore announced.
Fred said, "Well, one is to help George open our joke shop. Another is to play more pranks. Another is to make our own map of the school. Another is to scare Prof. Snape so bad that he never comes back. That's about it."
So the resolutions went on pretty uneventfully. The other ones were pretty average -- lose weight, do better in school, etc.
Anyway, then it was over. Harry checked his watch (he had gotten a new one that worked) and said, "Hey, in five minutes it'll be 2001!"
"Cool, we're almost in the new millennium!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Huh?" Ron said, "We already are in the new millennium. That was last year, remember?"
"No, it wasn't!" Hermione said. "Don't you pay any attention to mathematics? 2000 wasn't the new millennium. See, we started in the year 1, not the year 0..." Hermione went off in a long explanation, finally culminating with, "and so therefore, the new millennium doesn't start until 2001!"
"Yeah, whatever you say," Ron said with a poorly-hidden yawn.
"It's true!" Hermione insisted.
"Look Hermione, you're probably right, but for all practical purposes, let's just call 2000 the new millennium.
"No!" Hermione insisted. "We have to be right!"
"Fine, fine," Ron said, "I'll call this the new millennium. Happy now?"
Hermione nodded.
"But really, I think it's kind of stupid --" Ron began, but he never finished. Just then, there was a huge bang. It was 2001! Everyone started cheering and doing noise-making charms. They had a great time. Then, a huge creature entered. It was...a dragon! Several girls squealed, and Celestina Warbeck turned positively pale and let out the most terrified shriek ever.
Dumbledore looked amused. "Hagrid, really, did we need the dragons to welcome in the new year?"
"I was jus' bringin' 'em in fur ennertainmen', jus' to 'ave a li'l fun," Hagrid said sheepishly.
"Well, they might amuse some people, but I think they rather scare others," said Dumbledore, looking pointedly at Celestina Warbeck, who was still shrieking and was now in tears. "So I'd advise you take it out."
"All righ', Dumbledore," Hagrid said, and he lead them out.
Celestina seemed to calm down and, taking a deep breath, resumed singing. However, Lavender and Parvati were in hysterics because the dragon had made them cry from fright, and therefore now their make-up was running. They looked like it was the apocalypse, just because their make-up wasn't perfect.
The rest of the evening they just danced, and danced, and danced. Ron eyed Celestina, and after getting Hermione to sub for her by playing some wizard pop-music on her piano -- Hermione was pretty good at sight-reading the stuff, actually, -- Celestina and Ron even danced once, Ron turning very red. Cho danced some more with Harry. Hermione danced with some Ravenclaw boy who she obviously liked a lot. Draco was now dancing with Millicent instead of Pansy. All in all, it looked like 2001 would be a new year full of new adventures, new jokes, and new romances.
A.N.2.: Well, that was it. Stupid, but what can I say? I was bored, and today is New Year's Eve. Anyway, Happy New Year's everyone! Hope 2001 is a great year for all of us! Remember to come to my RPG soon!