Disclaimer: I don't own anything that J. K. Rowling owns and I trust you to be able to tell the difference

Language Warning: The characters in this story are adults and British and as such are prone to mild swearing. This is not intended to offend readers and will not be any worse than a Richard Curtis film, in fact it will probably be milder.

If you happened to be walking through a particular Georgian Square in London on a Tuesday evening in September it is likely that you would be unaware that something magical was happening just below you. In fact it didn't have to be Tuesday, any night of the week the unseen magic persisted. It wasn't unseen because of imperturbable wards or invisibility charms, it was unseen because most people are fairly unobservant and a little self-absorbed. They don't wonder what is happening down the basement stairs of the ancient houses they are passing. Wards and disillusionment are not as powerful as people's busy lives.

Scorpius Malfoy looked suspiciously down the dark, wet steps and once again at the scrap of paper in his hands. He was almost certain this was a practical joke and even if it wasn't it could still be a mammoth waste of time. He was decidedly disgruntled to find himself in such an unfashionable part of London, about to embark on something deeply embarrassing. At least all the possible witnesses would be Muggles. He didn't want this getting around the office but he did really want this plan to work.

He'd had a bad week and it was only Tuesday. He'd been passed over for promotion; granted he hadn't really wanted that, not enough of a challenge, but his pride was wounded. His girlfriend had dumped him. They were always mostly for convenience. She was presentable, ambitious and intelligent. They got on well. But now she wanted to call it all off because she'd met "The One". He was a short agricultural wizard from Ecuador apparently and she was in love with him. It went against the whole spirit of their arrangement to fall in love. Scorpius was seriously annoyed. So this ridiculous experiment had better work. He needed something to go right.

He made his way down the dark slippery steps with a scowl on his face. He noted the bars on the basement windows and knocked on the heavy door. Once opened light and loud jaunty music flooded out. The door was held open my a dapper elderly gentleman in a striped suit with a red carnation in the lapel.

'Evenin' sir, here for the class?' Scorpius nodded. 'Good, good, always good to have a spare gent. Come in and we'll get you all signed up. Tea?' Scorpius nodded again 'Flo, get another mug will you?' he called to an unseen woman who was presumably making tea.

The room they were standing in looked like a run-down doctor's waiting room, except with more abandoned shoes. Although every piece of furniture looked well-used, to put it mildly, it was also spotless. Scorpius retained a ridiculous wizarding prejudice that Muggle places and things were simply not clean as they'd never been scourgified. Everything here had been thoroughly scrubbed though, he could tell.

'Righty ho' the elderly man continued 'classes are paid for individually, a tenner a week for one hour teaching and one hour social.' He took out a larger ledger, started a new page and meticulously wrote the date with an effort at concentration, Scorpius was suddenly reminded of the goblins at Gringotts. He was annoyed by the information, that meant he'd have to arrange Muggle money every week, a nuisance.

'I'm Stan, what's the name sir?'

'Pius Malfoy' said Scorpius 'M-A-L-F-O-Y' he spelled as Stan looked a little stumped rather than repelled as often happened in the Wizarding World. Maybe this wouldn't be such a nuisance.

'Unusual name, very distinguished' said Stan with a grin. 'Would be great on the stage' he sighed wistfully.

'Continental wealthy relatives' said Scorpius with a smile 'worth naming a child a ridiculous name for apparently.'

'Bet it didn't help in the playground though eh?' Stan grinned.

'Not really no' said Scorpius knowing he hadn't really understood the reference. When Stan moved off to welcome more students he surreptitiously recorded the exchange in a small notebook. He'd do some research later and try and work it out. Thinking about it, he added the comment about his name and the stage. It hadn't sounded like an insult but you never could tell with Muggles.

When he looked up again he noticed all the other students were already in pairs. Had he broken some social convention by coming alone? He truly hated not knowing these things, it made him nervous.

'Did you bring shoes' said Stan but looked down at Scorpius elf-made Italian Leather brogues and added 'oh you can easily use those, very good.'

'Erm is there a bathroom?' asked Scorpius. His discomfort had increased as all the couples changed their footwear.

'Oh yes through there' Stan indicated a door across the room. Scorpius walked through it and found the music got louder. He was in a corridor with bathrooms marked 'Ladies' and 'Gentlemen' and a third door, slightly ajar through which the Spanish sounding music poured. He washed his hands and smiled at the handwritten fliers that adorned the mirror above the sink. Some of them were for events that were months old. It seemed the school's bathroom also served as a noticeboard. There was something endearing about it. There was something endearing about Stan too and his effusive welcome. Scorpius rarely received an unqualified welcome in life. It may not be the type of Muggle-world experience he was training for but it was stimulating nonetheless. It was also terrifying. He felt very out-of-place, as if everyone around him was suddenly playing a game he didn't know the rule to, this was either a perfect plan or a ridiculous idea. With his family tree it was hardly surprising that around so many Muggles he was ill at ease. Perhaps a sneak preview would calm him, remind him why he was here. This was what he told himself anyway. It was nothing at all to do with the fact that he didn't really want to go back into the waiting room full of strange strangers.

Thus he gravitated towards the partially open door and the music. He could see a large room with no natural light and one wall of mirrors. It was narrow and the ceiling was low. He could see in the mirror that there were just three couples in this, hopefully, advanced class. They looked very impressive and sexy. They were all doing different things but his eyes were drawn to one couple, in the middle of the room. A black man and a red-haired woman who moved together with extreme grace. He was particularly taken with a move where she leaned into him and he described an arc on the floor using her feet as the central point. He had a sudden laughable vision of himself doing this at some glittering gala. It was laughable because it was after that move that he saw the kicks. They were so fast and intricate. They were perfect. He would never move like that, not with anyone. These Muggles were doing this with pure skill, no magic. If it wasn't right in front of him he wouldn't have believed it possible. They were telling the story of a grand and passionate love with their movements, that much he understood. As he watched in the mirror the face of the red-haired woman came into view and he froze.

It was Rose Weasley.

What? Mousy, plain, ginger Rose Weasley was dancing like that? And what was she wearing? He'd never seen her wearing anything that didn't cover her neck to ankle in the most boring way possible. It was like he'd passed into some sort of opposite land. Maybe he'd had a stroke? His surprise was so great he almost forgot about the wider issue. This was supposed to be a secret. What was she doing here? Shit! Bloody Morton! He'd specifically asked for a totally Muggle place! So why was the most highly connected witch of his school year here then? He knew it was a set-up, he would prank Morton to within an inch of his life in the morning!

As a sneer settled onto his face and he was thinking of the perfect put-down for Morton just as he was about to turn on his impeccable elf-made heel and leave two things happened. Rose Weasley caught his eye in the mirror, her expression went from abandoned to surprised as she recognised him. Secondly Stan pushed past him and turned down the music announcing 'You've run over again Rosie-dotes' with a lilt of affections in his voice that belied his attempt at a school-master tone.

'Sorry Stan' Rose, or Rosie-dotes apparently, responded and proceeded to address the rest of the people dancing. It took a minute for Scorpius to get it. She wasn't a student. She taught the class. She taught the class. He was disappointed. There he'd been internally waxing rhapsodic about the thoroughly non-magical beauty he was viewing and he's been manipulated all along. She was using some sort of magic. Well it explained the kicks at least.

The other students shuffled in past him as he stood awkwardly blocking half the doorway. He had no idea what to do. He'd been spotted so a tactical retreat was now pointless, the entire vast clan of Weasley-Potters would her the hilarious story of Scorpius Malfoy at a ballroom dancing class. Her class was over so she wouldn't see how bad he was bound to be. He decided to be the Gryffindor he was and stepped through the door, standing diffidently off to the side of the room, hands in his pockets watching this undeniably totally changed Rose Weasley pack up her things and chat to Stan. They both looked over at him, he tried to study his manicure convincingly but failed. His curiosity got the better of him, he openly watched them. They came towards him. Rose wearing quite a grin, that showed and intriguing set of dimples that either he had forgotten or just never noticed.

'Pius, this is our Rose, she'll be dancing with you this evening, Flo's knee is playing up. I hope you don't mind?' Stan asked.

'Pius? What an unusual name!' said Rose extending her hand.

'Is it?' said Scorpius in a panic. He'd been delighted when he'd found it in a baby-name book, thought it was a very clever solution to the problem of his name.

'Yes' she replied slowly nodding her head and widening her eyes. Whatever she was signalling he wasn't receiving it.

'He has posh continental relatives don'cha Pius?' said Stan taking the reins of the odd exchange. It wouldn't be the first time that springing Rose as a partner on a newcomer knocked the wind of out someone, although they usually looked more pleased. 'I'll leave you two to get acquainted.'

'Continental? That's a new euphemism for it' grinned Rose.

'Worked didn't it?' Scorpius returned bitingly.

'Touché' said Rose, when she saw confusion in his eyes she added 'it's a continental term' with a grin.

Stan then moved the class into a large circle for warm up. 'As we have some new faces tonight we'll warm up with something everyone knows. Sing along is you want to.'

This was it. Scorpius was about to completely fail at blending in. Rose caught his eye in the mirror and leaned in and said 'just follow the words' as the music started.

He put his left arm in.

He took his left arm out.

He put his left arm in and he shook it all about.

And thus, did Scorpius Malfoy, at the age of twenty-six, dance his first ever Hokey-Kokey. He was awkward and stilted but he looked no more or less mortified that the Muggle men surrounding him. He was going to chalk that up as a win.

His smugness soon vanished when the warm up finished and the real lesson began. Attempting to master the basic elements of the waltz took all of his concentration. It was totally foreign to him. He wasn't even sure what it was supposed to look like. Just when he thought he'd remembered it they turned on music and he was lost again. He at least had the advantage that Rose knew what she was doing. The other women were beginners too and he noticed the difference forcefully when Stan asked them all to swap partners. What little finesse he'd gained evaporated when Rose was dancing with someone else. He's have to ask her what she was casting.

Now that he could see her at a little distance he could see how assured and comfortable she looked. These were not words he'd associated with her at school. In fact he'd have struggled to describe her at all. There was no need for introspective music to rise as he though back to his memories of their interactions at Hogwarts. There weren't any. Scorpius had squeezed every last drop of experience out of school. He'd adored it and left his mark as extensively as possible. Rose had been shy, quiet, very academically successful but somehow dispassionate about her studies. She had certainly blossomed now. Scorpius hadn't thought of her in years despite having acquaintanceships with many of her cousins. Come to think of it he hadn't seen her in years. He was sure he'd have noticed the change.

When he got her back as a partner she leaned in and whispered 'lead me toward the door' conspiratorially. Scorpius obeyed albeit with no real idea what was going on. Just as they got there Stan announced a tea-break. Rose nearly pulled his arm out of its socket racing through the door. She stood triumphantly beside the tea mugs, dimples once again on show.

'There are only ever a few good ones' she said as she scooped up several biscuits, all of them chocolate covered. Scorpius couldn't help but grin at her childish glee. He tried a few biscuits himself and once Flo had poured their tea Rose nodded her head at the front door before leaving through it. Scorpius walked through it too expecting a friendly catch-up chat away from the Muggles. Instead he was faced with a suddenly furious Rose Weasley on a dark and slippery set of steps.

'Let me guess you're getting married?' she accused and it really sounded like an accusation.

'What?'

'And it's all a bit too much, too stressful, you're too young. Am I missing anything?'

'I repeat my previous 'What?''

'So you thought you'd come slumming around Muggle London and pick yourself up one last fling. It wouldn't be cheating really, Muggles don't count do they? But now you've been lumbered with Rose Weasley, which foils your plan so you might as well dance around with a face like a slapped arse to indicate to any other woman present that you aren't enjoying yourself. Well you aren't leading on some poor woman on my turf Malfoy and I'm not teaching you to dance to help you seduce someone either.'

'Are you quite finished?' Scorpius said in controlled clipped tones. Inside he was stunned. He'd never heard Rose say so much all together ever before but with his lineage he was good at responding to surprising rants coolly. 'Firstly I am not getting married. Secondly my entire purpose in being here is to learn how to ballroom dance, that is all. Thirdly that's how my face looks when I concentrate thank you very much.'

'Why should I believe you?'

'Why shouldn't you?'

'Because every time I run into someone from Hogwarts in Muggle London that's exactly what they are doing.'

'Really? That's horrible. People really do that?'

'Oh yes. Roger Macmillan was so drunk that the Muggle he picked up was me. I hear he still wasn't able to sit down on his wedding day after the hex I put on him. If you are lying to me I won't hesitate to use it again.'

'I'm not but you seem intent on believing I am' Scorpius responded with a shrug.

'Is that really the face you make when you're concentrating?'

Scorpius nodded.

'You poor sod' said Rose swigging down the last of her tea and heading back in to the class. Scorpius thought about whether he'd follow her. He could easily leave. He was in a ridiculous situation, the only person who knew him at all hadn't seem him in nearly a decade and currently seemed to be unhinged. Leaving and never returning had almost no negative consequences. There was the reason he had come of course. He really wanted this plan to work. Also if he just walked out Rose Weasley, as off-kilter as she may be, got to keep her assumption about him. There was nothing that annoyed him more than people making assumptions about him. Granted, never before had anyone assumed he was an inveterate seducer of Muggles. She had at least achieved a level of originality in her suppositions, he had to give her that. If she wasn't there at all would he be considering leaving? He thought not. Well then the self-righteous Rose would have to endure him for the social hour and them when Flo's knee had recovered next week he could continue on course, unimpeded by the temper tantrums of the progeny of war heroes. Scorpius Malfoy never backed down from a challenge. His resolve now thoroughly firmed and with a face that looked unfortunately like he was concentrating he returned the classroom to experience the magic of dance.

Author's Note: Well that was lots of fun! This is my first Scorpius and Rose story so I hope people like it. If you want to see what type of dance Rose and her partner were doing when Scorpius was watching them go to youtube and put the words Vincent,Flavia, Argentine and Tango into the search box and watching a video certainly won't be a waste of your time. If you don't know what the Hokey-Kokey looks like then I'm sure there is a youtube video for that too :)

And sure I'd love an auld review, go on, you know you want to :)