1Thanks for the reviews! For people who flame, or inform me that I'm not worth the time to flame, whatever. They judge my story by the first chapter, which is incredibly stupid. Anyway, I have realized that they aren't worth my time, so there.

Chapter 7: Rum, Coke and Moshing

Hermione and Malfoy worked speaking to one another as little as possible. At one point Malfoy even took to writing requests on a piece of parchment, but Hermione punched him in the arm so he stopped rather quickly. The day passed quickly, as schooldays tended to for Hermione, and before she knew it she was at her animagus lesson with Malfoy and Jule.

Jule came waltzing into the room five minutes late, pulled Hermione from her chair, and made her dance with her by force. "Hermione, dear, what a pleasure to see you!" She exclaimed as they twirled about the room, Jule's scarlet hair streaming behind them.

"You're late," Malfoy said sourly, glaring at the laughing girls. "I have places to be tonight, so can you hurry it up and get this over with?"

"All right children, settle down now," Jule said pseudo-seriously as she shoved Hermione back into her chair. "I showed you what you need to do to change last week, so just do the same damn thing for another half an hour and we'll all be on our way."

"Last week the lesson was an hour long," Malfoy pointed out quickly.

"Malfoy, do you want to leave soon or not?" Jule said slowly, as though she were speaking to a rather special child. "Hermione and I have places to be as well, so I decided that half an hour is enough time to give the two of you to sit around, sprout some hair, not quite turn into your animal forms, and throw things about and curse." She had said it all in one breath and was panting by the time she was finished.

"Whatever, don't get your panties in a twist," Malfoy lifted his hands in surrender.

"Nice," Hermione said coolly.

"What'd I say?"

"Do you really need me to explain it to you or would you like some nice diagrams as well?"

"Huh?"

"Good comeback, you spend much time thinking of it?"

"Well, at least I'm not some stupid bitch like you!"

"Another winner."

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

"Children, children, please settle down before I open a can of whoop-ass on the two of you!" They both stared blankly at Jule. "What?" She asked innocently.

"Maybe we should just get to work," Hermione suggested to Malfoy.

"Yes, I really think we should," he replied.

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After another unsatisfying practice session, during which Hermione managed to sprout a tail and Malfoy's teeth grew longer and sharper, Hermione and Jule decided to go back to the un-named club.

This time they agreed to get ready in Hermione's room so as not to annoy the other Gryffindor girls again, so Jule ran to her room, got some clothing, and then brought it back to Hermione.

The outfit Jule had chosen for Hermione that night was rather different than the one from the week before. The skirt was long, black and flowy, reaching down to the ground and trailing pleasingly behind Hermione. The shirt was a black, velvet corset with a plunging neckline that laced up the front, zipped up the back, and had frilly black lace along the neckline and the bottom.

Jule gave her a pair of black, steel-toed boots that reached half way up her calf saying, "Keep them, I made them especially for you," which made Hermione look closer at them and notice that little roaring lionesses surmounted the top of the tongue of each.

"I don't know what to say," Hermione said, not really knowing how to respond to a gift like that. "It's a rather odd gift, don't you think?"

"Not at all," Jule said casually, pulling on an identical pair that had, instead of lionesses, bats at the top of each tongue. "I believe that every girl should have a pair of steel-toed boots. They're great weapons for when a guy corners you and they protect your toes when you mosh."

"Mosh?"

"You'll figure it out."

So Hermione shrugged, pulled the shoes on under the skirt, and inspected herself in the mirror. She looked allright, she guessed, but her neckline made her nervous and her face still looked too much like it usually did to make her very happy.

"Are you sure about this top?" She asked, covering the exposed tops of her breasts with her hands.

"May, dearest, your breasts are one of your most attractive features. Use them well."

"Um, thanks?" Hermione didn't know how to respond to something like that either.

Jule wore a skin-tight black vinyl dress that zipped up the back and had a neckline to rival Hermione's. The bottom of the dress didn't quite reach mid-thigh, and when she bent over to retrieve her wand, which she had dropped, Hermione caught a glance of a pink thong before quickly looking away.

"So," Jule said, aiming her wand at Hermione. "How do you wanna look tonight?"

"Can't you just make me look the same as the other night?" Hermione asked nervously.

"But that's so boring!" Jule pouted. "Don't you want to try new and interesting things? Come on, live a little!"

"Well, alright." Hermione thought about. "Just do what you want to. You have better taste in this kind of stuff than I do anyway."

"Just what I wanted to hear!" Jule exclaimed happily.

She shot some rapid fire spells at Hermione that she didn't quite understand and then turned her towards a mirror saying, "Check it out!"

Hermione's hair was longer than usual. Much longer in fact. It reached down to her butt and was black shot through with gold that actually seemed to glitter. Her eyes were outlined in black and golden glitter accentuated her eyebrows and cheeks. Her lips were as gold as galleons and glittered like the rest of her face. Her skin had once again been magically bleached, although she wasn't as pale as last time and still had the faintest hint of a tan which set off the gold nicely.

"Nice." Was all the stunned girl could say.

"I thought you might like it," Jule said smugly.

Jule stayed the same as she had been all day: scarlet hair, eyelids, and lips. Hermione thought she looked a little like she had been bathing in blood for some reason.

Once again they flew away from Hogwarts and out over Hogsmeade towards the edge of town. Hermione's long skirt billowed behind them and she laughed out loud in exhilaration.

Again the bouncer let them pass with a few words from Jule that promised at much more if he kept this treatment up. They left the broom at the broom check and headed straight for the dance floor. Hermione quickly hiked her long skirt up to keep it from getting stepped on. A live band performed on the small stage in the corner and the music shot through Hermione like a drug, making her shake her hips and toss her head like everyone else, losing herself in the crowd. When another body banged into her she automatically banged back and was assaulted by more shoving. Her feet were stepped on and she felt bruises forming as she and the other dancers thrashed against one another. She was so lost in the beautiful violence that she almost tried to hurt Jule when she was pulled roughly from the crowd.

"And that, my good friend, was moshing," Jule proclaimed proudly. "Ah, my sweet little May survived her first mosh pit. I'm just so damn proud."

Hermione could only nod and pant. Without the adrenaline of the constant fight to stay alive in the mosh pit she felt suddenly exhausted. "Can we get something to drink?" She asked.

"But of course."

Phil the bartender was once again on duty, so after a few playful kisses 'May' and 'Leela' were set with a rum and coke each. Hermione downed the sweet drink and sat for a moment, already feeling her energy returning. The night was young and so was she and she wanted to dance.

With a quick farewell to Jule and Phil Hermione rushed back on to the dance floor. Things had calmed down a bit, so although people were still dancing and the music was still pounding the mosh pit had died. Hermione was only disappointed for a moment as she rushed towards the stage and danced directly in front of it.

There were three wizards on stage playing drums, a guitar and a bass and one witch who sang into a mike. The music flowed over and through Hermione, blinding and deafening her to the world and all her troubles. The band played several more songs while Hermione danced right in front of them but after a while they grew tired and took a break. More music immediately flooded the club as they headed off the stage, even though Hermione didn't see a DJ or any speakers anywhere.

Hermione headed back towards the bar and was given another rum and coke. She barely even noticed when a young wizard sat beside her. "Can I buy you another drink?" He asked politely.

Hermione looked at him. He was the wizard who had been playing the guitar. He appeared to be a few years older than she was and he had brown hair and eyes and a sweet smile. "Certainly," Hermione smiled back, trying to imitate Jule's flirtatiousness.

She finished her drink and he bought her another one. She didn't feel like admitting to him that all her drinks were already free and that he was just wasting his money; she felt too flattered.

"My name's Tom," he said as he watched her sip her new drink.

"I'm May."

"I saw you dancing by the stage," he continued. "You're the most beautiful woman here."

Hermione knew that was a lie. There were plenty of prettier girls than she in the club, Jule being one of them. But she blushed nonetheless and smiled sweetly nonetheless and accepted his blatantly false flattery.

"I would ask you to dance, but me and me mates are about to do another set in a minute or two," Tom explained regretfully.

"Well, maybe some other time then," Hermione said.

But at that moment the young witch who had been singing stormed up to Tom, obviously rather drunk. "That's it!" She shrieked. "I won't take any more of this crap!"

"What's wrong this time Shayla?" Tom asked slowly.

"I just saw that fucking bitch Alex making out with some little whore!" She yelled, drunken eyes glazed with fury. "I told him last time that if he cheated on me again I would kill him and he did it anyway! So that's it, I've had enough; you can find yourselves a new singer!" And she stormed out of the club.

"Excuse me," Tom said, marching angrily over to the nearby bass-player, another young wizard who looked to be about the same age as Tom himself. "What did I tell you about dating the chicks in the band!" Hermione heard him yell. "That's the third one we've lost because of you!"

"I can't help it if monogamy's impossible for me," Alex replied defensively.

"If you can't stick to one chick then don't fuck the one in the band! Go find some groupies for God's sake!" And Tom moved towards the stage. "I have an announcement to make," he said into the mike as soon as the music had stopped. "There will be no more live playing tonight as our lead singer just quit the band. We will be holding auditions here on Saturday morning and until then there will be no more live music."

The crowd groaned but as soon as the music started again they danced like nothing had even happened.

Hermione spent the rest of the night alternately dancing and drinking at the bar. She really rather liked rum and coke; it was a lot better than a whiskey sour. At one in the morning an inebriated Hermione flew back to the castle on the back of Jule's broomstick where she was rather noisily sick in the Head Girl's bathroom.

TBC……

Preview for next time:

"You know how that singer quit the band at the club?" Hermione nodded mutely. "Well, there's an audition to replace her today and I think you're gonna be the lucky lady who gets the job."