Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns all the Harry Potter characters, although I created Julianne Michaelson and any other characters not part of the original Harry Potter 'cast'.

Chapter 5: Some Unexpected News

Juli looked nervously from Harry to Ron to Hermione and then back to Harry, confused. She had no reason to speak to Dumbledore; she hadn't even spoken to him personally since the middle of her first year when she had been upset over the death of her brother. Professor Lipton walked over to Dobby the house-elf and began talking with him.

"What could Dumbledore want to talk to me for?" she said, a little nervous.

"I don't know," said Harry. "I'm sure it's nothing serious though."

"But he's never called you down in the middle of class, has he? I mean, we have a free period the hour after next, so it could have waited," Juli replied nervously. "What if it's something about my O.W.L.s? Or something's happened at the orphanage or ---"

"Juli, it'll be alright," Harry said, and took her hand. "Nothing serious has happened, everything is going to be okay," he told her firmly, and smiled. "Just go and don't worry about anything. It's going to be alright," he said, and she smiled. He just had a way of making her see the light.

"Alright Juli," said the Professor as she stood from where she was squatting next to Dobby. "You can go, but you'll have to answer a question about yourself first," Lipton said, walking towards the front of her class.

"So, if I refuse to answer, do I get to stay?" Juli said, half-joking. She really would rather stay and just relax here with Harry, but was also a little anxious to find out what Dumbledore had to say.

"Well," Lipton said, grinning. "I'm sure the Headmaster would find some other way to get you to his office if he really wished to speak to you, but I'm going to ask you a question anyway," Juli nodded. She wasn't the type to oppose authority.

"What's your favorite color, and why?" asked Lipton as she sat down on top of her desk again. That seemed to be her favorite place to sit.

"Well, er," Juli said. This was a fairly easy question; green. But how could she explain the reason? She'd just have to make something up. "Green, definitely," she paused for a moment, trying to come up with a decent explanation. "I love the summertime, and green just always reminds me of it," Juli said, smiling as she let go of Harry's hand under the table and grabbed her things. She looked up at him and winked before standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"Thanks, Juli," said the Professor before nodding her head, indicating Juli was dismissed. She squeezed Harry's hand one last time and smiled at him, then followed Dobby out of the room.

.:-----:.

"Er, Dobby?" asked Juli tentatively after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes. "Do you know why Professor Dumbledore wants to see me?"

"Yes, Dobby knows," he said. "But Dobby will not tell. Miss Julianne will find out soon." Dobby stopped in front of a large gargoyle which was guarding the door to Dumbledore's office. Juli recognized it, having been here once before.

"Fizzing Whizbee," he announced, and the gargoyle jumped aside, opening the doorway. "Dobby will see Miss Julianne later, good bye!" Dobby said, almost squeaking, before leaving Juli alone to go up the stairway alone. She climbed the long spiral staircase until she came up to a large wooden door with a brass knocker on it. She heard Dumbledore's voice and two other indistinct voices and knocked on the door, hoping she wasn't disrupting anything.

"Hello, Juli," said Dumbledore a few moments later, as he opened the door. "Please have a seat," he said as he closed the door behind Juli. She took a seat in one of the large cushioned seats. Next to her was a younger dark-haired dark-skinned Hufflepuff boy who very much reminded her of Lee Jordan, one of the Fred and George Weasley's friends. Next to him was the unmistakable Cho Chang, a 7th year Ravenclaw Prefect. 'I can't be in trouble if the two of them are here,' Juli thought to herself gave a sigh of relief. 'But that boy is too young for O.W.L.'s,' she thought, puzzled.

"Peter, Cho, this is Julianne Michaelson. Juli, this is Peter Jordan and Cho Chang," Dumbledore said, from his desk. Juli nodded to both of them and smiled. "We're just waiting for one more, then," he said as a knock rang through the room. "And I believe this would be him," he said, opening the door.

"Welcome, Draco, please have a seat," Juli spun around, and there he was, Draco Malfoy. She was determined not to get upset over him, he wasn't worth it. Especially since she wasn't in any trouble. 'What am I thinking? This is Malfoy I'm talking about. He deserves any grief he ever gets himself into,' she thought to herself. She watched him silently sit down in the only empty chair next to her. She was surprised that he didn't have any insults ready. He must have been just as shocked as Juli was.

"Now that you're all here, I have something to tell you," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "As you know, we held the Yule Ball two years ago as a part of the Triwizard Tournament. We had the Weird Sister's perform, if I remember correctly." He smiled. Juli didn't know what was going on. Why was he telling us this? 'It probably has to do with the Masquerade Ball,' Juli thought to herself, trying to piece the puzzle together.

"This year, the Masquerade Ball will be held around the Christmas holidays, and our musical guest will be the four of you, in our very own Hogwarts band." Juli felt her jaw drop and covered her gaping mouth with her hands.

"A Hogwarts band?" asked Peter, whose curiosity had gotten the better of him.

"One moment, Mr. Jordan, I'm not quite finished," said Dumbledore, raising his hand to silence the young Hufflepuff. "The four of you are the best musicians in the school for your instrument," he continued. "Cho will be our keyboardist, Peter the drummer, Juli the guitarist and Draco the bassist."

'Guitarist? Lead Guitarist? Oh my… oh my,' Juli thought to herself. She had to restrain herself from jumping up and running around Dumbledore's office. She looked over at Cho who seemed quite excited herself. The two girls grinned, and then looked back up at Dumbledore as he continued.

"The four of you will have to schedule rehearsals once a week, and also come up with the name of our band. We can't go around calling you the 'Band from Hogwarts' now, can we?" He smiled. "I will expect nothing but the best from you and you will be exempt from homework once a week in order to rehearse. I've already spoken with your teachers about this, and they all have agreed. So, do you have any questions?" he looked at them, as if expecting questions.

"Professor," Juli said before anyone could open their mouths. "How are we going set up the amps?" Juli asked as Draco snickered.

"You didn't think we'd actually use Muggle amps, did you?"

"Obviously not. The electricity won't power them here," Juli snapped. Cho and Peter were silent, and Juli figured that they were simply stunned by their sudden argument, but Dumbledore silently (and definitely not angrily) rose to his feet.

"Draco, please, I'll answer the questions," he said, surprisingly calm, and then he turned to Juli. "You're right; the electric amplifiers won't work inside this castle. However, we have special sets that will work here, everything has already been arranged. Anything else?" he said, and then sat back down.

"Er, Professor," asked Peter, who, to Juli, seemed quite shy. "You said we're going to be a band, so who's going to be singing?"

"You four will have to figure that out, because for now, I'm leaving you to decide. Now I'll show you the room where you'll be practicing, away from the rest of the school." He walked around his desk as the four students stood up from their seats and followed him out of the room.

.:-----:.

Dumbledore led the students as the group walked down to one of the roomier dungeons. He walked up to the door and took out a key, unlocking the door. As they walked in, Juli looked around for a few seconds and then clasped her hands over her mouth. She quickly stepped to examine two brand new scarlet and gold guitars; an electric and an acoustic. 'Oh, my,' she thought to herself, picking it up carefully. Next to the new guitar was a green and silver bass, and a similar electric guitar which Malfoy stepped up to and picked up.

"Is it mine?" Juli was stunned. She didn't even bother looking up at Dumbledore.

"Yes, Juli," Dumbledore said, smiling. "It's yours. They're all yours."

Juli looked up him, shocked, yet pleasantly surprised. She looked over at her band-mates, all in awe, even Malfoy. Juli had been expecting him to not want to touch anything Dumbledore had given him. He was, however, just as happy as Juli was for new guitars. Cho's fingers were gliding over her new keyboard, with blue and bronze colored keys; Peter was spinning his black and yellow drumsticks, obviously ready to start pounding on his new drum set.

"This and the three rooms adjacent to it are spelled to keep in all sound. They're soundproof, you might say. This way you can practice without disturbing other classes or the Slytherin dormitories. The instruments are to be left here, where they will be safe until the night of the ball. Then, you are free to take them with you back up to your dormitories," Dumbledore said, and then paused, as if contemplating his next thought as the students looked up from their new instruments to listen to his instruction.

"Each of you will have a key to this room, where you can enter it whenever you have free time. The only ones with copies of this key are your Head of Houses and I, in case you do lose it," he looked over at Peter and Peter blushed instantly. He probably had a habit of losing things.

"I will not tell you that you cannot eat down here or come here to get some quiet studying or practicing done. However," he said, looking at the four students who were trying to pay attention but were being slightly distracted by their newest possessions. "You may not invite another student down here, as it is also a private space for the rest of your band-mates," he looked at Juli who could feel his eyes on her, and blushed. "The only other rule is that you are allowed to come here after curfew, but you must be back to your dormitories by midnight." All four students looked up at him and grinned. An extra hour than all of the other students.

"Here are your keys," he handed them each a small brass key, each with their name engraved on the side of the key. "I am leaving you for now," he smiled at each of them and then walked towards the door. "But please, do not forget your next lesson, in half an hour. Good day," Juli grinned as he walked out and bent over her guitar again. Juli looked at it and slowly ran her finger across the golden strings.

After a few moments of silence, Cho spoke. "So, what are we going to call ourselves? I haven't got any ideas," she shrugged.

"I don't either," said Juli. "I haven't a clue as to where to begin," she said truthfully.

"You never do," said Malfoy's cold voice.

"Oh, and like you have any ideas," Juli said back to him. She was going to have to be stuck with him for a while, and she didn't know if she was going to be able to handle it!

"As a matter of fact, I do."