Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: A party in the trio's sixth year reveals a secret the trio could never have imagined. Starts off funny and silly, but will evolve once it gets started.
It was the second day of Christmas vacation in the sixth year, so most of Hogwarts' students had gone home to bug their parents for food and gifts. Of the Gryffindors, only Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Parvati, Lavender, Katie, and Colin remained. They were all sitting at their table in the Great Hall after breakfast, looking at each other and feeling quite bored. The weather was too cold and rainy to go outside, and there wasn't much homework left to do.
Ron, tired of being bored, asked, "Anybody up for a game of wizard's chess?"
"What's the point? You'll just beat us all," Harry grumbled.
"I can't help that," said Ron apologetically.
Hermione piped up eagerly, "We can always knit hats and sweaters for SPEW..." She stopped when she saw the looks on their faces. "Well, fine then."
Neville turned to Hermione and said wisely, "Hermione, if you want to free the House-elves, you have to do it in a better manner than tricking them into freedom and giving them heart attacks."
Hermione sighed, "Well, I guess we can always work on inter-House relations"
Ron rounded her and hissed angrily, "If you expect me to sit and have tea with the Slytherins..."
"No, but we can have a party with the other Houses," suggested Parvati.
Hermione shook her head and skeptically said, "I don't know, I was thinking more of something that we can sit and talk about how we can get along better in a rational manner away from the influences of firewhiskey and butterbeer."
Lavender rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Hermione, you have got to learn how to lighten up. You'll never get the Houses to unite if we have to be so formal about everything."
"But this is a serious issue!" Hermione protested indignantly.
Harry reassured her, "You'll get more people to unite if we're relaxed and having fun than if we have to sit through some type of board meeting thing."
"Yeah, and you will get more people to join SPEW if they are drunk off their arses," Ron added.
All but Ron at the Gryffindor table held their breath as Hermione began to visibly swell with fury and Ron prepared to rise to the challenge. In order to prevent a possible WW3, Harry interrupted, "It's settled then. At five o'clock tonight, get everyone to meet in the Room of Requirement. And remember, anyone who brings a Slytherin will be the human piñata."
The Gryffindors split apart and went to invite people of other houses to the party. At the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy and his crew of misfits curiously watched the Gryffindors swarm around the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. Draco, ever the nosy Slytherin, decided to find out what they were up to.
He leaned across the table to catch the attention of Blaise Zabini, a handsome yet inconspicuous stoner that was innocently reading the morning's Daily Prophet. "Zabini," hissed Draco.
Blaise lazily looked up and mumbled, "What?"
Draco nodded in the direction of the Ravenclaw table, the nearest, and ordered, "Go see what the Gryffindors are up to."
"Why me?" demanded Blaise.
"Because if I go over there, there will be an uncomfortable silence, followed by them asking what i want, then they'll threaten me and shoo me away, resulting in me not knowing any more than I do now. If you go, there won't be any problem because I don't think they even know who you are," Draco explained matter-of-factly.
Blaise sighed and glanced toward the Ravenclaw table, where he saw Ginny approaching Luna Lovegood. He looked back at Draco, who was grinning. "You expect me to spy on the Weasel and her hippie friend?" he asked incredulously.
Draco nodded, cheerful that he was getting his way. Blaise heaved another sigh, then stood and threw Draco a final glare before easing around the table to spy on Ginny and Luna. Draco's euphoria at outsmarting someone smarter than him didn't last long, for he felt a rolled-up newspaper hit him squarely on top of his head.
"Ow!" he cried, rubbing his head and whirling around to see Theodore Nott, a boy that resembled a human house-plant, standing behind him, looking ticked off.
"You really shouldn't use Blaise's unpopularity against him," Theodore scolded.
Draco rolled his eyes and snapped, "It's not any of your business you little Muggle fudger."
"I'm a what?" Theodore inquired, lifting an eyebrow.
Draco was saved from explaining what exactly a "Muggle fudger" is by Blaise's reappearance. He took his seat and continued on reading the Daily Prophet as if he hadn't been interrupted. Draco stared expectantly at him.
"Well" Draco said, prompting him to say something.
Blaise reported, "The Gryffindors are throwing a party tomorrow at five o'clock in the Room of Requirement to promote inter-House relations. Apparently they have also all sworn not to tell any Slytherins about the party."
"How dare they think they can throw a party without inviting us," said Draco indignantly.
Theodore and Blaise exchanged glances.
"If they want to throw a party, let them have it. We can have our own party in our Common Room," suggested Theodore.
Draco shook his head and protested, "No, that will be too easy."
Crabbe, who had awoken from his stupor, questioned, "So, you think we should crash the Gruffleclaw party?"
"Of course," answered Draco.
Goyle, who had also awoken from his stupor, shook his head and said skeptically, "I don't know, maybe we should just have our own in our Common Room."
Draco rounded on him angrily and snarled, "What did I tell you about listening to people that aren't me?"
Blaise rolled his eyes and stated, "Trust me, this will be a bad idea."
"What can go wrong?" Draco asked arrogantly. "Besides, you said the little Weasel told Loony that Granger wanted to help build 'Inter-House relations'. How can they possibly do that if there is a House missing?"
"I just get the feeling that for some unexplained reason, the Gruffleclaws don't like us," Blaise explained.
"Who cares. This is a free party, even if it is with a bunch of losers. They will need some cool people there, after all," Draco said.
"I don't know if I told you this lately, but you are truly an idiot," Blaise said sincerely.
Theodore snickered at this, as did Crabbe and Goyle. A cold glare from Draco quickly silenced them.
Draco huffed angrily, "Fine. I will go, and I will make those Gruffleclaws sorry that they didn't invite us willingly."
He looked down to the other side of the Slytherin table to see if Pansy Parkinson was there. She was indeed, talking with Millicent Bulstrode about what potion best removes beards from women.
"Oi, Pansy!" Draco called loudly.
Everyone else in the Great Hall ignored him, since the Gryffindors were still going around inviting Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to their party.
Pansy called back just as loudly, "Yes, Draco?"
"Wanna go to the Gryffindork's party with me?" Draco asked.
This certainly got everyone else's attention.
"Okay!" Pansy accepted, then returned to complaining to Millicent about her beard that just wouldn't go away.
Around the Great Hall, there were now angry hisses of "I thought you said there would be no Slytherins!" and "How the bloody hell did they know?" Draco, satisfied, stood up and beckoned to Crabbe and Goyle.
He ordered, "You two are coming with me. As for you" he glared at Blaise and Theodore. "You will come too or I'll write to both your parents and tell them I saw you kissing a Mudblood."
Blaise gasped, "You wouldn't dare!"
Draco nodded at Hermione, who was deep in conversation with Ron and Harry. "That Mudblood."
"The bushy-haired chipmunk?!" breathed Theodore in a terrified voice.
Draco nodded, grinning. He then swept out of the Great Hall, followed closely by disgruntled Crabbe and grumpy Goyle. Blaise turned to Theodore and sighed, rolling his eyes to the enchanted ceiling, "Some days I wish I could have just been a Hufflepuff."
Gruffleclaws is the combined name of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.
Read and review! In the next chapter, the party gets underway with a game of 'I Never'. The title refers to Truth or Dare because that is when the huge secret comes out, and it won't be about some romance either.