A/N- Hey everyone! Sorry again and again for the wait. I feel so bad and I am sooo sorry. Please forgive me! *blinks* Don't hate me, hate the teachers who give me the piles of homework. A/N- Anyway, here's the next chappie. I finally had time, and I am so happy. I hope you won't hate me for taking so long, I know it was not cool. I've learned my lesson, and I'll TRY not to do it again. A/N- I can't promise that I can do a once a week update. I'd like to, but I know that it's just not realistic. So you can expect them sporadically, like once every 2 weeks or if I'm lucky more than one in a week if I have time. I'll cross my fingers that I have time. A/N- THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! You'll know when it's over, because I'll say 'The End'. So keep reading! R/R!

"I'll take two," Draco said, trading in two of his own cards for two that Katie handed him. Everyone went around in a circle, doing the same thing. Once everyone had gone, before anyone could say anything else, Fred broke in.

"I forgot to tell you guys this before. You don't bet money or whatever. Everyone stays in, no matter how bad the hand is. When Oliver says to, you show your cards. And like I said, the lowest hand either takes off an item of clothing, or answers an invasive personal question. And jewelry and hair stuff doesn't count," Fred said, proud that he knew what he was talking about.

George and Oliver rolled their eyes, but Hermione looked like she appreciated the information. "So what now?" she asked. "I believe Fred said that I get to tell everyone to show their cards now that we've gone around in the circle," Oliver said happily, "so, everyone show your cards!"

Everyone flipped down their cards, some looking more confident than others. Hermione, of course, was completely freaked out. She had only played poker once before, and didn't have a very clear idea of what was going on. Katie, on the other hand, looked like a complete pro, and was able to keep a poker face, which Fred found hilarious.

"Ha! Hermione, you lost!" Draco said, looking from her cards to everyone else's. Hermione frowned. "Why?" she asked, a little confused. Oliver rolled his eyes. "Because you have the worst hand, Mione, that's why. Do you want to take something off, or get a question?"

Hermione hesitated. The last thing she wanted to do was take off an item of clothing, but she even preferred that to being asked a question which she was sure she wouldn't want to answer. "I'll take off my shoes," she relented, and she put them neatly to one side of her.

"Good, because I changed my mind. No invasive personal questions count. You have to take something off if you lose," Fred said decisively. Everyone rolled their eyes. They were all sure why Fred had suddenly had a change of heart. If Angelina was playing, he wouldn't want to get cheated out of seeing her in next to nothing.

The next hand, Fred had the lowest. "I'll lose the shoes," he rhymed, then started sniggering, because what he had said was so stupid it was funny (at least to him). Judging from the looks of wonder he got from the others, they didn't quite agree.

After they had gone through some more rounds, everyone had lost sneakers and socks except Ron, who hadn't lost anything. Surprisingly, he was turning out to be a pretty good poker player.

Draco, on the other hand, was the only one who had gone so far as to lose a shirt. It was eye candy for Pansy, but the others weren't impressed. "Is the game over yet?" Hermione asked, not quite sure what she would do if she lost another round.

"You wish!" Fred said, "Like I said, it ain't over till somebody loses!" Hermione looked worriedly around the circle. There was nothing else for anyone (except Ron) to take off that was not going to be embarrassing. "Come on, Fred, maybe we should just end the game now," Ron said, shooting Hermione a sympathetic look.

"Ron, come on," Fred sniggered, "like it isn't completely obvious that you're trying to save Hermione any more embarrassment?" Ron and Hermione both blushed, and Fred laughed. "Fred, you know they would make such a cute couple," Angelina admitted, touching Fred's shoulder.

Fred rolled his eyes. He didn't even want to think about his little brother being part of a 'cute couple'. Cute couples were people like him and Angelina. They were *not* people like Ron and Hermione. "Let's just keep on going," Oliver said as Katie dealt everyone another hand. With grumbling from a few, everyone agreed.

This time it was Ginny who lost. "Oh God," Fred said, looking at his younger sister nervously. She had already lost her shoes and socks. Whatever she took off next was not going to be good. "Oh God," Ginny repeated, looking around the circle and turning redder than all the Weasley hair in the room combined.

She looked especially nervous when she noticed that Harry was blushing too. "Please can I just pass, just this once?" she begged. Fred, George, and Ron looked ready to agree. All the other girls in the room felt bad for her too. She probably would have gotten let off the hook just for being so much younger and being the sister of three other guys in the room. But of course, things didn't work out that way.

"You wish. You are not letting her off just because she's your sister. You didn't make exceptions for anyone else. You're not making one for her. It just wouldn't be fair," Draco drawled decisively. Ginny looked pleadingly at everyone else, hoping beyond hope that they would appease. No such luck.

"Sorry Ginny. I hate to admit it, but Malfoy is right. I mean you have no idea how much I hate to admit it," George said, looking daggers at Malfoy, "But it's true, sadly. You have to take something off, Gin. It's only fair."

"Okay," Ginny said, trying to be brave, "It's only fair." Even her ears turned crimson as she went to take off her top. But just as she was about to do it, the door to the common room from the dorms opened, and Percy and Penny walked in.

Everyone froze right in the middle of what they were doing. Ginny stopped abruptly and turned even redder, if that was possible. "What in the world is going on here?!" Percy asked incredulously, looking at everyone who was less than fully dressed.

"I can definitely explain," Fred began, looking guiltily at Percy. "Then do so," Percy said, appalled that just when he had been starting to relax and enjoy the dance, he had to get snapped back to reality so abruptly.

"We definitely weren't playing strip poker," Ron put in, smiling in what he hoped was an innocent way at his serious older brother. "Oh, that was smooth, Weasley," Draco sneered.

Percy cocked an eyebrow. "If you weren't playing strip poker, then why are there shoes and socks all over the floor, two decks of cards in Katie's hands, no shirt on Draco, and why in the world was Ginny about to take off her shirt when I walked in?"

"Well you see," Fred improvised, trying not to start sniggering, "We were having a contest to see who had the smelliest feet. And then Ginny found an-umm-she found a knarl quill in her shirt and she was trying to get it out. And the cards? We were-um-playing Exploding Snap. But with regular cards, as practice. And Draco-his shirt was itchy."

Percy shook his head, in disbelief that that was the best excuse all of them combined could come up with. "Hmm. And who thought of the idea of playing Exploding Snap with regular cards?" he asked curiously.

Everyone pointed at everyone else, completely blowing their cover (as if it wasn't already blown). "That's what I thought," Percy said, "I really ought to give you all detentions."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Percy, it doesn't matter. It was just an innocent game. We've all done it once in our lives. How about you just ask them nicely to stop, and then we all go down to the dance and enjoy ourselves like we should?" she asked sensibly, looking from Percy to the offenders and back.

Percy bit his lip. He hadn't really given out any detentions all night, and he did love giving detentions. But he loved Penny more even than giving detentions. "All right," he relented, "Fred, George, Ron, all of you. The game is over, and you aren't going to play it again. So would you please just leave the common room and go down to the dance and enjoy yourselves in a safe and appropriate way?"

After rolling their eyes at Percy's typical uptight Prefect-ness, the whole group breathed a collective sigh of relief. They had been so sure that this time Percy would be going detention-crazy. But they got lucky. "All right, fine, we'll go down to the dance," Oliver said, giving in. It was the least they could do after Percy had spared them all detentions.

"Good," Penny said happily, "Percy and I will be down there waiting for you, if you could just clean up the cards and everything before you go." Everyone agreed to that, and Percy and Penny started to head out the portrait hole.

"Wait!" Fred said, and Percy turned around to listen, "I have a question." "What?" Percy asked curiously. He was quite sure that he didn't want to know, but he asked in spite of himself.

"Well, George, Alicia, Angelina, and everybody including me went pretty much straight to the common room after we gave you your lecture. And if you and Penny had been down to the dance already we would have seen you pass. So there was quite a bit of time where the two of you were unaccounted for. So Perce, care to tell me what you were doing during that time?" Fred asked, sniggering.

Percy gaped at Fred. His brother acted stupid, but he was pretty smart sometimes. "That, Fred, is absolutely none of your business," Percy said, trying to save some dignity as he began to blush the trademark Weasley red. And with that he and Penny left the common room to go down to the dance.

Penny looked over at him as they walked, and couldn't help noticing that he was blushing. "Oh Percy, snogging is nothing to be ashamed of," she laughed, looping her arm through his. Percy continued to blush, now even more embarrassed because of how open she was about it.

"Is that what you call it? I thought it had a different name," Percy commented, remembering all of Oliver's talks, and now wishing that he had listened more closely when Oliver was harassing him.

Penny grinned. "Well, so it wasn't quite snogging. Well I mean it was. But if I was to say that we shagged madly, would you prefer that?" she asked, knowing exactly how to push Percy's buttons.

Percy looked slightly appalled, but couldn't help cracking a smile. "Well-just don't tell anyone," he requested, "if people knew how lucky I was, I might start losing my reputation as Lord of Detention Giving."

"God forbid," Penny almost sniggered, "Perfect Prefect Percy is no longer perfect. But you'll always be perfect to me, Perce. Always." With that, she pulled him against the wall into a snog that even Sirius would have envied.

As soon as they broke apart, Percy grinned. He couldn't believe how great the evening was ending up. "Wait," he said, a little confused, "Who still calls me Perfect Prefect Percy anyway?"