"Rose, the party starts in half an hour. Please come?" Lily pleaded with her cousin.

"No." Rose didn't even look up.

"But Rose, you hardly ever do ANYTHING! Please, just come to this one party?"

"I came to a party a month ago. End of story." Rose dipped her quill in ink and prepared to start writing the next paragraph of her essay. They were in the library. Lily fingered the door to the Restricted Section.

"I'll introduce you to Scorpius..." Lily pleaded.

"Scorpius doesn't know I exist," Rose muttered.

"But he will if you'll just come to this party!" Lily groaned. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to him, and he'll like you, you're only the first in your class."

"Like smarts matter to him." Rose rolled her eyes and turned around in her chair to face Lily. "I'm not going, and that's final."

"Going where?" A new, deeper voice interrupted. Rose groaned inwardly and turned to face the new visitor. Yep, it was Albus.

"To the Ravenclaw party, of course. I told Rose I'd introduce her to Scorpius, but she won't go."

"You shouldn't be going to that, either." Albus lowered his voice, concern filling his green eyes he had inherited from his father.

"I'm a fifth year, for Merlin's sake, Al!" Lily protested.

"That's too young." He rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't go to one of those until at least seventh year."

"You mean that you don't want me to go until you are out of Hogwarts, so Mum and Dad can't blame you." Lily laughed slightly. Albus reddened.

"You know what?" Rose interrupted the siblings. "I'll go." She was starting to feel a little... rebellious against her mother, come to think of it.

"Yes! Rose, thank you!" Lily erupted into cheers, and Madam Pince started yelling at them to get out. Pince was at least one hundred, and yet, she still worked there. Apparently, she had been ancient even when their parents were in school.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Lily. Not for anyone but you, though." She gathered up her parchment and started to walk away, leaving Albus and Lily to begin arguing again, as they were more than likely to do.


The party started at eight. Hurley manipulated the door to only ask calculus questions for three hours. After that, the little ones could come back in. This happened about once a month, and yet the teachers had never found out about it. Usually, Rose just answered the calculus question, walked in, and went straight to bed. Only people who could answer the questions could get in, and Hurley had passed out an answer sheet to the people invited. Which always included Rose, even though she never came. This time, though, she was already in her dormitory, staring into her mirror. She was going to be introduced to Scorpius Malfoy! She had straightened her frizzy red hair, curled it, and put it into a long, wavy hairdo that fell down past her shoulders and down her back. She was wearing a deep purple dress. It was strapless and poofy, and only came to her knees, if that. She had done her makeup for once in her life, and her blue eyes were accented by the grey eyeshadow. Lily burst into the room wearing a fluffy skirt and tube top. She nearly screamed when she saw Rose.

"Ohmygawd, you look beautiful Rose, you'll be the queen of the party like that, what shoes are you going to wear, I heard Scorpius was wearing green, you'll complement each other..."

Rose didn't bother to point out that purple and green didn't exactly complement each other.

"... and there'll be firewhisky, and butterbeer, don't you just love butterbeer, and Al isn't going to be here, he's going out with Sola tonight, so we won't be hounded after the whole time, and OMIGOD, Sola, you look amazing!" Lily spewed as Sola Longbottom entered the room. She was wearing a long red slinky dress that looked amazing with her bobbed silvery-blonde hair. Her brown eyes sparkled.

"Oh, Lily, your brother is amazing, I still can't believe he asked me out, can you imagine it? We'll be going to Hogsmeade, of course, and Madam Rosemerta knows, and she promised to have extra light Butterbeer on hand for us, and..." Sola spoke in her normal rapid-fire fashion that was so unlike her mother's. Lily was the same way, of course. Rose sighed and walked out of the room. Those two girls wouldn't even remember she had been there. People fifth year and up were pouring down the spiral staircases into the common room. It was five minutes 'til eight, and Rose was actually getting excited. She saw Albus waiting in his blue dress robes near the door, obviously not wanting to wait much longer for Sola. Rose laughed and walked up to him.

"Sola started talking to Lily, so they might just be a while. Why don't you join the group in the meantime?"

"Nah, I have to wait for Sola. Honestly, her mum named her right. She shines like the sun... oh here she comes..." Albus trailed off in a daze, staring at Sola. The disco ball that someone had conjured up (literally) shone colored lights onto her hair, so that she was blonde one moment and pink or green the next. She saw Albus and her eyes widened. Tripping over her high heels, she ran over to him.

"Albus! I figured you would have left without me!"

"Now why would I leave you like that?" Albus gazed, in a trance, at Sola. "Come on, Hogsmeade won't be there forever... er... it will, but... um..." he trailed off as Sola giggled. Rose laughed too and pushed them towards the door.

"Have fun, you pair of lovesick idiots!" she called after them as they left, almost letting in a third year who was trying to get in and failing. Rose took pity on the poor guy and let him in, closing the door quickly after him. He grinned at her and ran towards the staircases to put away his homework.

Soon, Rose spotted Lily on the 'dance floor' Hurley had rigged up. She hurried over to her, trying not to fall over as she was pushed one way and another by the swaying bodies. Hurley, a tall, muscular guy with headphones stuffed onto his head over his curly black hair, stepped up to the microphone on the side of the room.

"Okay, folks, we have a special guest tonight. She's always invited, and this time she's come... ROSE WEASLEY!" he grinned, and the crowds around Rose parted so that everyone could get a good look at her. Rose blushed and waved, not quite sure what to do. "Rose Weasley has to be one of the most beautiful girls in our fifth year, folks. I defy any other girl in Ravenclaw to match that hair. I mean, look at that!" Hurley waved his hand at Rose's specially styled locks. "And her eyes! If she would wear makeup more often, I bet she'd have a date to the Christmas Dance this year!" everyone laughed, and Rose felt her cheeks burning crimson. "I'm just kidding folks, I'm sure she's already got one. I mean, it's only what, a month away?" he chuckled. "Well, everybody, here's the moment we've all been waiting for, and you know it. Rose?" he grinned and winked at Rose. She lowered her head. "Will you come to the Christmas Ball with me?" Hurley crowed into the mic, and Rose looked up, stunned. Hurley Peterson was asking her to the Christmas Ball?

"Yes," she said in a low voice.

"Speak up," Lily muttered in her ear. "Everyone wants to hear you say it. They'll love you, Rose, you'll be a Ceee- lebrity." She drawled in a very overdone southern accent.

"Yes!" Rose called. "Yes!"

Everyone cheered and Hurley beamed at her. "Great! Well folks, that was the special event this month, tune in next month for Rory Pattinson's date! Now back to our regulary scheduled... danceoff!" He yelled into the mic, and everyone screamed in ecstasy. "What two lucky folks will win this contest? One boy and one girl will be presented with a special prize at the end of the danceoff. You know what to do, let's do this thing!"

Rose looked at Lily in confusion. "Okay, what do we do?"

"Well, you see that line on the floor?" Lily pointed to a line someone had drawn in marker on the floor.

"Yeah. Um, shouldn't someone wash that off?" Rose asked, worried.

"Oh, Hurley does, at the end of each party. Don't worry about it. Anyways, if you're on that side, you're on team one. This side, team two. Each team has five minutes to choreograph a number to the song Hurley selects. The losing team has to lose a player. The winning team gets to start the next round. Hurley and the losers are the judges."

"I can't dance, though!" Rose protested.

"Then hope you get out pretty quick." Lily laughed.

"The first song," Hurley boomed into the mic, "is Super Bass by Nicki Minaj!" Everyone clapped, and he gave each team's leader a CD with the song on it. Team one's leader was Scorpius Malfoy. Team two's leader was a blonde girl named Keisha.

"Okay, guys, gather 'round. So I figure that we'll put the worst people in the back, where Hurley can't see them. We'll start Rose in the back to begin with, and if she's good, we'll shift her up." Keisha began, and looked at Rose to gauge her reaction. Rose nodded goodnaturedly. "Good. Okay, well, we'll go upbeat and fun for this one." Keisha began assigning people moves and cues and things. Rose grinned when she figured out what she was supposed to do. It was almost a cheerleader-like dance, and she and three other girls would be doing it in the background the entire time. They practiced once, and Keisha declared it 'good enough to start with', so they waited the remaining twenty seconds for Hurley to announce the start of the competition. Team one, obviously, would start.

"All right, guys, enough chitchat!" Hurley beamed at the two team leaders. "It's time to start! Scorpius, your team is UP!"

"You got it, Hurley!" Scorpius called back, and Team one walked onto the dance floor as Team two cleared off. Scorpius took his position in front, and Rose did her best to see from behind two rows of people watching.

"This one is for the boys with the booming systems,

top down, AC with the cooling system.

When he come up in the club, he be blazing up,

got stacks on deck like he savin' up.

And he ill, he real, he might gotta deal,

he pop bottles and he got the right kinda bill

He cold, he dope, he might sell Coke,

he always in the air but he never fly coach

He's a motha-fucking trip, trip

Sailor of a ship, ship

When he make it drip, drip,

Kiss him on the lip, lip

That's the kinda dude I was looking for

And yes, you'll get slapped if you're looking hoe

I said, excuse me, you're a hell of a guy,

I mean, m-m-my my, you're like pelican fly,

I mean, you're so shy, and I'm loving your tie,

You're like slicker than the guy with the thing on his eye!

Oh, yes I did yes I did,

somebody please tell him who the F I is,

I am Nicki Minaj, I mack the dudes up,

Back coupes up, and chuck the douce up."

"That was Team one, folks," Hurley roared, as the crowd cheered with appreciation. Scorpius bowed and walked off the stage.

Rose stared, remembering the moves he had made. Sexy moves, definitely, and was it just her, or did he make eye contact with her several times throughout the dance? It was probably just her.

"And now, coming in for the second verse, TEAM TWO EVERYBODY!" Hurley boomed, and Team one filed off the stage. Rose grinned appreciatively and walked onstage, taking her position. Thank goodness she could remember moves pretty well...

"This one's for the boys in the polos..." Nicki started to sing, and Rose heard her cue immediately. She jumped, rolled, arms outstretched toward the audience. She spun around, twisted low, lifted her arms high. The verse ended before she realized it, and she beamed at the crowd as Hurley yelled, "That was Team two, everyone! Give 'em a round of applause. Now gimme a minute while I figure out which team has to give up a person." Hurley paused, apparently deep in thought.

"I think it'll be..." Hurley paused for dramatic effect... "TEAM TWO WINS THIS ROUND!" Team two cheered, Rose included. "Team one, choose one person to boot off within ten seconds, or I'll do it for you."

After a few seconds of muttering, a sixth year girl was pushed towards Hurley. She grinned sadly and stood beside him.

"Alright! Angela Simons has joined me in judging for the next round, everyone! Let's take a short break, then it'll be time for round two!"