a/n: should practise, as in Quidditch practise, be 'practise' or 'practice'? I never know whyyy it's sO CONFUSING ugh

disclaimer: if I owned anything to do with The Rocky Horror (Pitcure) Show I would be a lot older and richer than I am now. So no. I don't own.

twenty-three - violation

James realises, when the song begins to play and the guitar thrums through the common room, just how many Muggle-borns there are in Gryffindor, because they all look up at the sound. Not that it matters to him, of course; they're just as capable as him and just as entitled to be there, but in some ways he is a little jealous that they can effortlessly mould between their two worlds: if he was stuck in a Muggle house he'd probably have burnt the thing to the ground within a day.

"It's astounding," the voice on the record drawls, and James has to agree with them. Really, though, there's one girl who he thinks is more astounding than the others, and she's looking right at him.

Biting her lip, she turns back to Mary and Judy who are both singing along, jumping around in time to the beat. Not for very much longer, they sing, along with a new voice on the record, and fall about laughing, attracting the attention of most of the Gryffindors.

Timothy Marshall and Ed Atherton, seventh-years who are good enough at Quidditch for James to have given them places on the team but obnoxious enough for him to want to whack them with their Beater's bats at the end of every practise, are heading over to the three sixth-year girls, drinks in hands.

James turns back to his mates as the song picks up a bit, grabbing a Firewhiskey shot from Peter. They're downing them together, Peter patting him on the back, congratulating him on the team's win, when Lily jumps in front of him, rather to close for James to be able to breath properly. She's got her legs apart and one knee bent and her arms propped at a weird angle, and James is starting to doubt her sanity when let's do the time warp again!

"Evans?"

She grabs him by the arm and drags him away from the edge of the common room toward the others. "C'mon, dance with me. I'll teach you."

"I don't -"

He stops protesting when she slips her hand in his and stands directly in front of him. He can count the freckles dusting her cheeks and there's a small strand of hair falling in front of her right eye and they're twinkling and looking straight at him and if he leaned down just a tad then he could -

"Let's do the time warp again!"

Or not.

"It's just a jump to the left," Lily tells him, in time with the song and jumping to the left, crouching down, wiggling her hands, "and then a step to the ri-i-i-i-i-ight."

"Evans -" She pulls his hands over each other, crossing and uncrossing them, laughing at the protest written on his face.

"With your hands on your hips -" she places hers on his "- you bring your knees in ti-i-ight!" Lily knocks her knees together but keeps her feet apart, raising her eyebrows until he does the same. "But it's the pelvic thrust -"

"Evans! I feel - I feel violated!"

She merely flashes him a cheeky grin. "That really drives you insa-a-a-a-a-ane; let's do the time warp again!"

Mary runs over and takes Lily's hand, singing to her and nodding her head. The beat is beginning to get to James and, never one to ignore a good song or turn down a dance with a pretty witch, he can't help but grin at her. She smiles back, and he can't help but notice her gaze flickering down to his lips.

When Ed worms his way over to them the grin drops from James' face - he's sure the other bloke isn't interested in dancing with Lily - but then the girl hops up on the table right next to James and starts to sing.

"Well, I was walking down the street just-a having a think when a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink!" Jude rushes over, wand in hand, and Transfigures a shot glass into a top hat for Lily. "He shook-a me up, he took me by surprise: he had a pick-up truck and the devil's eyes!" James has to privately admire Jude's handiwork given the intoxicated state of the girl in question and her general uselessness at the subject during sobriety. The redhead puts the hat on gleefully and winks at her friend. "He stared at me and I felt a change; time meant nothing never would again!"

Lily slips off the table and links her arm through James' as the chorus begins again. Mainly to spite the Atherton prick and not because he's having fun (he's not, honestly, even though Lily's smiling at him and holding his hand and her eyes are twinkling again) he dances with her, and she can't help the laughter escaping her lips. He'd picked up the steps quickly, she later tells him, when they're sitting together by the stairs to the boys' dorms, and when she says it she leans in so close, and he really, really wants to kiss her.

"I'm impressed," she says, poking him playfully, and she's tilting her head and her eyes are dark and -

"Come on, Lily! Bohemian Rhapsody's on!"

Mary tugs Lily away from him, and he's left holding two drinks at the bottom of the boy's staircase.