A/N- R/R!

Meanwhile, in a galaxy far, far away, more commonly known as the other side of the Great Hall, Percy Weasley and Penny Clearwater had just walked away from giving Ginny and Harry and unsuccessful lecture. "So, what do you want to do now?" Penny asked happily, relieved that that episode was over.

Percy started to shrug; then a thought occurred to him. "Wait a minute. Ginny may be the baby of the family, but I have other siblings to lecture too! I mean, Fred and George are completely immature, and Ron is more naïve than Ginny!" he said, looking worriedly at Penny.

Penny groaned inwardly. "Percy honey, you need to relax. They're all going to be fine, and they'll only be worse if you lecture them. So why don't we get some refreshments? Or- we can just skip the dance and go "study" in the common room," she said, hoping to get Percy's mind off messing up their evening, in addition to Fred's, George's, and Ron's.

But Percy being Percy, it didn't work. "No Penny, I really do have a lot of responsibility to my family, as well as to Hogwarts. We really ought to go make sure they're all right," he insisted, taking Penny's arm and leading her to the closest of his brothers, which happened to be Ron.

"Hi Percy," Ron said in a bored tone. "Hi Ron, hi- er- what's your name?" Percy said, turning to Ron and Pansy in turn. "I'm Pansy Parkinson," Pansy said fakely, "and you must be Percy Weasley. What do you want?"

"I just wanted to give you guys a little advice on what you should and shouldn't do tonight," Percy said. Ron looked horrorstruck at this idea, and Pansy was smirking at how embarrassing this would be for Ron. "Penny, help," Ron said sickly, looking pleadingly at Penny.

Penny sighed. "Sorry Ron, there's nothing I can do. My date here is dead set on not letting me have any fun until he lectures all his siblings," she said unhappily, looking pointedly at Percy. Percy didn't even look miffed.

"Yes, well I think it's very important to know your limits at a dance," Percy said. Before he could continue, Pansy interrupted. "Look Weasley. This is going to be the date from hell, I promise. I don't like your brother in the slightest, and he doesn't like me. So don't worry about anything bad happening. I would be just as disgusted as you would. Now if you and your date would do us all a favor and buzz off, we could get back to NOT enjoying our date in peace," she said, annoyed.

Percy looked highly shocked. He actually didn't know what to say for once. So Penny spoke for him. "Well thanks for your time Ron, I'm sorry about this. I'll see you later, I'm sure. We'll be going now," she smiled, and she dragged Percy off before he could say another word.

"That went a whole lot better than I expected," she continued after they were a safe distance away from Ron and Pansy. Percy nodded. "At least that's one brother I don't have to worry about tonight," he said calmly, "Now we just have to talk to Fred and George."

Penny did not look at all pleased. She had thought both Ron and Ginny had gone as well as they could have given the circumstances. They were both pretty young, after all. But Fred and George were sure to be a whole different story. However, there was no reasoning with Percy at this point. So she remained silent, and allowed herself to be dragged off for another lecture, this time with the twins.

But it seemed like Penny was going to get lucky, because scanning around the Great Hall, neither she nor Percy saw Fred or George anywhere. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to get away with things that easily.

"No way are we giving up now," said Percy hotly, "The fact that we don't see them is even worse. They could be anywhere! They could be in the common room, they could be on the grounds, or gods forbid that they're up in the dorms. We're going to look until we find them! Let's get going!"

Penny sighed. "Percy, couldn't we just give up and go sit down on one of those nice, comfortable couches in front of the fire?" she asked hopefully, frowning. As she had expected, though, Percy shook his head vehemently. "No way. I know Fred and George too well. I'm *going* to look, and you're *going* to help me," Percy said. Penny had no choice but to follow him.

While Percy and Penny were looking for the twins, Cho was looking for Lucius. She was almost afraid that he had gotten lost in the kitchens, as it was taking him such a long time to report back to her. Luckily, before she started to panic, she saw him enter the hall. Unfortunately, he had not had the sense to stash the ice creamy items before entering.

She ran over to him and pushed him back out the door. "Lucius, you have to leave the supplies *outside* the Great Hall. Otherwise, people might be onto us!" she exclaimed jumpily. Lucius laughed. He would never have thought of that on his own. It was a good thing Cho was there to keep him in check.

Like she suggested, he stashed the items in a barrel outside the Great Hall. That way, it would be easy to come back for it later, when they put their plan into action. "Okay, so how did your meetings with people on the finer points of our plan go? What happened? Who's doing our bidding?" Lucius asked anxiously after he had finished stashing the supplies.

Cho hesitated before answering. She knew Lucius wouldn't be too impressed with her choice of people. But that was the way the ball rolled. She had to do what she had to do. "Well, I talked to Dumbledore, and he said it was fine," she began, starting with the easy part.

"And may I inquire as to *why* you asked the old fool's permission?" Lucius asked curiously. Cho shrugged. "I didn't want to jeopardize my chances for Head Girl," she admitted. Lucius laughed. It was so *her* to do that.

"Anyway, moving on. The person I chose to give us the dare was Parvati Patil," she said, going with the second easiest. Lucius didn't look worried. "She's that flirty girl, right?" he asked, "She'll do fine. I'm sure people would expect this from her, so it makes our excuse even more plausible. Great. Now, who did you choose to initiate the game of Truth or Dare?"

Cho paused. She knew how much Lucius wouldn't like this. But she figured that it was too late now- what was done was done. "Well," she said, a little hesitantly, "That's going to be Sirius Black."

Lucius arched a perfectly groomed blonde eyebrow. "Sirius Black? What the hell did you choose him for?" he asked, looking a little peeved. Cho had an answer ready. "He was Parvati's date. It was easy and natural. I had to pick him," she said easily, hoping that Lucius wouldn't mind too much.

"Oh," Lucius said, "I guess it's alright then. As long as I don't have to sit anywhere near him. He's a moron, honestly." Cho nodded. She didn't care where Lucius sat. "So now, all we have to do is wait for Sirius to start up the game!" she said, becoming more excited by the minute.

Lucius grinned. He was obviously getting excited too. "Wow. The fate of our plans is in the hand of Sirius Black. We are dead meat," he said sardonically. Cho rolled her eyes and laughed. "We'll deal," she said, and they settled down to wait.

Meanwhile, Percy and a less than happy Penny were marching out of the Great Hall. They barely noticed Lucius and Cho standing near the exit. "Percy, remind me again why I'm going along with this?" Penny asked, bored. Percy smiled. "Because you love me and wouldn't want to let me go by myself?" he suggested. Penny half-nodded. "That and because I don't have a choice," she laughed.

Penny wasn't sure where they were headed, but it became clear as the picture of the Fat Lady came into view. "Password?" she asked, looking sternly down at the pair of them. Percy gave the password, and they walked into the common room together.

"Do you see them? Do you see them?" Percy asked. Penny had to laugh. He sounded like a little kid in a candy store, which was completely ridiculous considering their 'mission'. "No, I don't see them," Penny said, looking around.

They were about to head upstairs to look more (much to Percy's dismay) when they heard a noise. "What was that?" asked Penny, looking a little nervous. Percy looked baffled. "I can't imagine. I'm sure that the house-elves- or *someone*- would have noticed if there was anything- er- unsavory in here. But nevertheless, we should check. We own it to Gryffindor," he said, putting on a brave face.

Penny nodded, although, for some completely unexplainable reason, she looked scared. Percy caught the look on her face. "Don't worry Penny, it'll be fine," he said, offering comfort and caring for the first time that night. Penny smiled. It was nice to know that Percy did care. He was just a very responsible person; that was all. She was very relieved to be reassured that he really did care about her, after all.

Together, holding hands, they walked over to where they had heard the noise. It had been coming from behind a big, comfortable couch facing away from them into the fire. "Okay, on the count of three Penny, we jump onto the couch, and that way, we won't give whatever made the noise any time to react," Percy said, very quietly. Penny nodded, a little calmer now that she felt like Percy would actually protect her from whatever was there.

"One-two-three!" he said, and they hurtled over the back of the couch onto the other side. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Penny as she landed on something. "AHHHHHHHH!" Percy shouted, as he too felt something under him. "AHHHHH!!!!" yelled Fred Weasley, "get off me!"