Do I look like J. to you? Or Nicki Minaj? Or... um... whoever wrote Wicked... or Justin Bieber or Sean Kingston? Honestly?

Scorpius: Yeah, you do.

Me: Shut up.

Rose walked over to where Scorpius was laughing at some girl's joke appreciatively. "All right, we've got two minutes. So talk. Who is this girl, and who asked her?"

"Hmm?" Scorpius looked up and saw her glowering at him. His automatic reaction was to cower in fear. Who wouldn't? Rose Weasley, angry? BACK AWAY SLOWLY. "Um..."

"Tell. Spill. I want to know."

"Why are YOU asking? If it was Lily Potter, or Sola Longbottom, or any of those girls, I'd understand, and I might actually tell them, but you're usually so quiet and... in the box, if you know what I mean."

Rose looked at him, smirking. "Well, I find that it's better to go without compromise. In other words, if I have a mind to be quiet, I don't want to talk to anyone. You'll probably find me in the library studying. Or looking at the guy I have a crush on."

"Hurley?" Scorpius asked with a sneer. Rose responded with a brief shake of the head.

"Definitely not. I'm just hoping that my real crush gets jealous enough to ask me."

"And who might that be?" Scorpius looked at her expectantly. "YOU spill."

"If you haven't noticed, you haven't answered my questions."

"And I'm not going to until you answer mine."

"Um, well, he's a little older than me..." Rose started, and Scorpius glared at her.

"Guessing games, eh? Well, she's got hair the same color as you."

"His father was in Slytherin," Rose supplied.

"Her mother SHOULD have been in the same house as her, but was placed elsewhere instead."

"His mother was Pureblood."

"Her father was Pureblood."

The two stared at each other. Suddenly, Rose broke the silence.

"His mother has the name of a flower."

"Her mother is just as smart as she is."

"His father has a very bad reputation, even though it was HIS father that deserved it."

"Her father has the same color hair as her."

"His name starts with an S."

"Her name starts with an R."

They stared at each other some more. Rose was blushing. Scorpius was going pale. Well, paler.

"His name was chosen by his father."

"Her name was chosen by HER father."

"How do you know that?" Rose asked.

"You're asking me this? How do you know any of that?"

"I pay attention to the things he says."

"I... I pay attention to her hair most of the time..." Scorpius admitted. Rose grinned, blushing.

"Folks, everyone back to their teams. It's time to do Round Three," Hurley called out.

"And this time, the stakes are yet again doubled." Rose heard Keisha gasp as the rules most likely changed.

Keisha gathered the remaining dancers close as Hurley read out the name of the next song. "The third song is... Eenie Meenie by Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber."

Most of the girls in the room sighed. The boys groaned at the girls. Hurley and Rose and Scorpius all laughed. "You've got FIVE MINUTES! GO!" Angie called.

Keisha laughed delightedly. "Okay, we've got three main roles for this one. Two main singers, and they're singing about a single girl. So Rose, you're the girl. Can you be a player for us? And I want Ethan and Matthew for the guy roles. Got it?"

"Yeah," they all responded at the same time, then high-fived. Keisha grinned.

"So... Rose, you're a player. You're going between the two. They'll be on opposite ends of the floor. You other five?" Keisha pointed to the remaining background members. They nodded out of sync. "You guys will be dancing regular, club dances. You know. So... I want you..." she pointed to one of the boys- "trying to teach him..." she pointed to another guy- "how to dougie. Later, he'll dougie for the girl he's trying to impress, her..." she pointed at one of the three girls. "And you two are trying to get the attention of one of the boys. You, try and get his attention with amazing moves." She motioned to one girl, then one of the guys. "You-" she pointed at the remaining girl- "the same for him. Got it?"

Everyone nodded briefly and went off to practice how this would work. Keisha remained with Rose, Ethan, and Matthew. "Okay, guys, I'll be helping at the end. We're number two, so about three fourths of the way through, you're going to discover that she's playing you, and force her to choose between her. Rose, you'll be choosing Matthew. I'll walk on, and Ethan will start dancing with me. Got it?"

"Yeah." Rose began to say something, but was cut off by Keisha.

"One more thing. Rose, at the end, you're going to kiss Matthew. Got it?"

"In front of Hurley and Scorpius?" she gasped.

"Yep." Keisha nodded firmly. "And you will look completely infatuated with him."

Rose nearly screamed. She was going to the Ball with Hurley, in love with Scorpius, and being forced to kiss Matthew on the lips in front of them both. And look completely infatuated with him. Crap.

"ALL right, folks, let's wrap up the prep and get to the show! Up first is... TEAM ONE!" Hurley yelled.

Scorpius took his position on the stage, along with another guy. And the stupid girl with the pimple.

"Eenie meenie miney moe, catch a bad chick by the toe.

If she hollas, if if if she hollas let her go!

She's indecisive, she can't decide

She keeps on looking from left to right

Girl come a bit closer, look in my eyes

Searching is so wrong, I'm mister right." Scorpius motioned for the girl to come closer. She ran off, and another girl replaced her. This girl obviously wasn't as good of a dancer, but she was beautiful. River Zambini, Hufflepuff, and one of the invitees to the party. Only about five people came to the parties from out of house, but River was the best dancer of all of them. River trailed her finger down Scorpius's cheek, down his abs, fluttered away. Scorpius reached out to her, but she had twirled around to the other boy's side. It was Patrick Goyle. People called him Pat, to be as far from his last name as possible. He was actually in Gryffindor, but came to the parties. He had actually solved the calculus problem without the answer sheet, so the Ravenclaws accepted him, although he didn't get an invitation. Pat twirled River into his arms, and she lay her head on his shoulder, appearing to sigh.

"You seem like the type to love 'em and leave 'em

And disappear right after the song

So give me the night to show you, hold you

Don't leave me out here dancing alone."

The music cut as River ran from Pat towards Scorpius, arms outstretched, a look of longing crossing her face. Her red hair flew behind her as she ran, fluttering down to her shoulders as she came to a halt at the end of the music. Her father, Frederick Zambini, was Blaise Zambini's older brother. He had red hair and brown eyes. Rose almost snarled as she processed this. River had pressed herself against Scorpius, and as soon as the music ended, she kissed him fiercely. Rose did snarl then. Hurley laughed appreciatively.

"Well, what a show, folks! But I'm afraid that it's Team two's turn. Let's see what they have up their sleeves, eh?"

"Lemme tell you what you're missing

Paradise. with me you're winning, girl,

You don't have to roll the dice." Rose started by Ethan, caressing his abs and mussing up his hair. Then she looked at an invisible watch on her arm, kissed his cheek, and walked quickly away. To Matthew. She ran her fingers up and down his sides, dropping low, twisting high, trying to act kind of... sexy. And by the fact that all of the guys in the audience seemed to be watching her, it was working.

"Tell me what you're really here for

Them other guys?

I can see right through you.

You seem like the type to love 'em and leave 'em

And disappear right after the song." Rose finished her ministrations, looked at Matthew apologetically, and ran towards Ethan. But he followed her, and soon they all met up. Rose acted quite embarrassed, and Ethan and Matthew pretended to fight for a minute. Then she started clinging to Matthew's arm, and Keisha walked on right on cue, and took Ethan's hand.

"So give me the night to show you, hold you

Don't leave me out here dancing alone..." The music cut off, and Rose felt herself being dipped down low by Matthew. She leaned in and felt his lips on hers. She responded in time with Keisha, making sure that they were doing the same thing. Then the boys stood up, bowed, and carried Rose and Keisha off of the floor. Hurley whistled.

"Well, I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. I can tell you, all of us have been rather bowled over. Team two wins this one. Definitely." The judges all nodded in agreement, and Keisha high-fived Rose. "But Rose?" Hurley called. Rose looked at him guiltily. "Don't try that again, how about?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say, boss." Rose called back. Everyone around them laughed, and the tension was gone. Suddenly, Scorpius stalked over to Rose.

"So, who are you in love with, huh? Cause it isn't me. You couldn't love me and do that to me."

"Hey, I was the best dancer in the group, so Keisha chose me to play that part. I didn't want to do it, honestly."

"So you admit you're in love with me?" Scorpius asked. Rose gulped. He had her cornered.

"Only if you admit your love for me... and NOT RIVER ZAMBINI!" Rose whisper-shouted at him. Scorpius held up his hands in surrender.

"Yes, I admit it, I'm in love with you. And I have been since first year. Honest to goodness." He made an 'x' on his chest.

Rose did something unexpected then. She kissed Scorpius. He was too shocked to respond for an instant, then kissed back with a fiery, burning passion.

"ROSE!" Hurley yelled, stomping over. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm kissing the man I love," she responded innocently. Hurley gaped at her. He closed his mouth, then opened it, then shut it again.

"But... you said... but..." he stammered.

"Honestly, I said I'd go to the ball with you because 1) nobody else had asked, and 2) I wanted to get Scorpius jealous."

"You bitch." Hurley scowled at Rose and stomped away.

"Well, that went well, I think," Scorpius laughed, and kissed Rose. "Go to the Ball with me?"

"Don't you know it," she laughed back.