Chapter 23

Harry spent the next hour and a half playing various games in the tent. He wasn't particularly happy with the upright games usually seen in a real Muggle arcade. The kind with joysticks and buttons with a screen deep set in the box it came in. the only one he could really play well was Pac Man and even that was stretching it a bit.

He spent a few minutes playing something called Pong on the TV set on the wall of the tent, but it was a little boring, though it brought him great pleasure to see McGonagall and Molly playing it and really getting into it too.

"Ha! I'm beating you Minerva! You can't get past me," Molly said loudly after Minerva's little white line missed the ball, and she lost a point to Molly.

"I beg to differ Molly, I have the reflexes of a cat. HA! I told you! I won! 21- 20! Woo-who!" Minerva cheered. Neville, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, George and Harry stood there watching their reserved professor dance a jig after somehow jumping up off a low, bright neon green beanbag chair. Their eyes were almost popping out of their heads and their jaws touching the ground.

"Oh no, who let her in here?" asked Professor Flitwick as he rushed forward as fast as his little legs could carry him.

"Why can't she be in here? Looks like she's having fun…letting her hair down so to speak," Bill asked. Ron snickered at the phrase his brother used. McGonagall never let her hair down. She had sat back down after Molly challenged her to a rematch and they were still going. They were very evenly matched and neither let the ball past their bar easily.

"Oh, dear, if only Albus and Severus were here. The last time she got caught up in this blasted game, it took us weeks to get her to stop leaving the castle and going to her daughter's house. Meehan McGonagall married a squib man after school and they have three kids, one of which isn't magical. They have plenty of Muggle things at their house, including this dratted invention. Now it looks like she's had a relapse," he said shaking his head as Molly made a point and Minerva yelled out, "No! I will not loose!" A moment later she earned another point by getting past Molly and then another when Molly groaned and lost her concentration.

"Of all the things I imagined seeing her do, this is not one of them," Hermione muttered.

"Hey, we all have to have out own vices, this one apparently is hers," Harry said back.

"Albus's vice was candy as we all know, but another was Muggle art. He loved going to the Louvre Museum in France. He'd gone once a month for decades. Mine is polka music. Severus' was yoga," Flitwick's announcement almost didn't register in Harry's mind as the little man walked away. He'd said it so casually.

Harry did a double take and had an image of Snape in the Lotus position or a Downward Dog pose and shuddered. An image of the advanced Scorpion pose would not leave his head and the feeling of being unclean made him want to shower quickly.

"Minerva, don't you think you should stop playing this game. Remember last time we had to tie you down to your bed for three days. Please, don't make me do it again!" he begged. Minerva just continued to play, ignoring her colleague.

Harry pulled his friends over to a different corner, anticipation the dispute to get ugly as Madams Pomfrey and Hooch, and Professors Sprout and Sinistra entered the tent. He saw them groan and go to help Flitwick.

"Well, that was horrifying," said Ron. The others burst out laughing.

"What was horrifying?" asked Luna, who'd been on the other side of the tent playing something else.

"Er, nothing important, just McGonagall loosing her mind. What having you been playing Luna?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, I always thought she's loose something, though I imagined it would have been her hair or her fingernails. I've been playing pool with your father, Ronald. He's quite adept at learning the new moves I taught him, though perhaps a little more enthusiastic than I thought. I think I lost count of how many times the balls bounced off the table or he gouged the green stuff. It was quite fun," Luna said in her usual serene way.

"So Harry, what's it like having parents again?" she asked. Her question was so innocent and unexpected her nodded.

"It's been okay. I'm still…Ow! Wait, how did you find out?" he asked after Ron smacked the back of his head.

"Oh, it's the way they've been behaving. They also look like you, or would it be you look like them?" she looked puzzled for a moment. The others were aghast.

"Luna, you haven't told anyone have you?" asked Hermione.

"No," Luna replied simply. Hermione waited to see if she would say more, but shook her head in frustration.

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone that's who they are. We'll be telling the public tomorrow or the next day, but for now we don't want too many people from the press to hound us, alright?" Harry said.

"It's okay, Harry. Your secret is safe with me, but I'd watch out for the Blibbering Humdingers, they live to ruin secrets and try very hard to help break them," Luna said sweetly as she turned and headed towards a large, flashing monstrosity of a game.

"Hey, this is the game that Bill said was a new one. A floor model," Ginny said. They watched Luna press a button and get on to the arrow covered platform. The decided to try a demo song to learn how to play it, and the others lost interest watching the slow arrows scanning the screen. Bill and Charlie walked up.

"How goes the Muggle Arcade experience, Harry?" Charlie asked.

"I love this whole thing! I can't believe McGonagall is a Pong addict!" Ron said emphatically. Harry grinned.

"Yeah, that was a shocker for us all I think," Bill said derisively. "So you guys are checking out the DDR? This was the kicker of the sale. The guy went nuts when we asked for this one also. Apparently we're the first to be able to afford it's rent price."

Harry looked at them.

"How—"

"Nope, don't even bother asking Potter. We're not telling how much," Charlie said. Luna then decided to try a faster song and they all watched her step on the arrows. It was only her second song and she was hitting almost nearly all Perfects. Charlie and Bill were gawking at her.

"I can't believe that! I tried in the store and I was horrible at it. How is she so good?" asked Charlie. Harry watched and he could see how the game was played. Just tap the correct arrow when the corresponding arrow on the screen hit the top of the screen. He watched her for the rest of the song, and when it was over he jumped up on the platform.

"Hello, Harry. Are you joining me?" Luna asked.

"Yep, I think it looks kind of easy," he said.

"It's not as easy as it looks. I just have amazing eye-foot coordination," she said with a smile. How someone could have good eye-foot coordination was beyond him, but he didn't voice his doubts. Luna picked another song, and looked at him.

"This one is a might bit faster than the last one. I hope you can keep up." She pressed start and the music began. Harry started stepping in time with the beat but kept missing the notes by a mere moment. Booing was sounding almost continuously. He paused for a moment and started again, this time tuning out the music and stepping right as the arrow made it to the top.

Still, he wasn't getting perfects like Luna. Good's were okay and the occasional was Great but by the end of the song, when it showed them their stats Harry was disappointed. He had gotten 13 Boos, 53 Goods, 13 Greats and 1 Perfect, to her 80 Perfects.

"How the hell did you do that so well the first time?" asked Harry in disbelief. Luna smiled and looked at her foot as she wiggled it. Luna and Harry got off the machine and let the others try.

Ron seeing that Harry was okay at it, thought he'd give it a try. Hermione joined him and they did a much slower song. They did about as good as Harry did and for their second song they tried the same song he and Luna had done. Unfortunately, they failed it miserably.

"Now, it's my turn to ask, how the bloody hell did you do that song so well on your first try?" Ron asked Harry quietly as Hermione gave Ginny tips.

"I have no idea. I tuned out the music after the first few boos, and that helped a little, but I was still missing something."

"Well, if you were tuning out the music, that's what was wrong Harry," Luna said behind him. He jumped when she spoke and spun around.

"What do you mean? Some of the arrows weren't on beat," he said.

"Well, they weren't on a normal beat, but on an off beat. Remember the name of the game, Dance Dance Revolution. The whole point of this game is to dance. You have to listen to the music and tap to the beats, and off beats sometimes too. If it helps, blur your eyes just a little bit when you watch the screen, you'll see when the arrow is about to hit the top.

"Ronald, your problem is you tap an arrow then return your foot to the center. It is okay to stand on the arrows for a moment and switch the weight of your body to the other foot." Luna gave her advice loudly enough for Ginny and George, who were next, to hear and they both shared a glance.

When they started their song, slightly faster than Ron and Hermione's first song, but not nearly as fast as Harry's first. Ginny was finding it harder than it looked and couldn't help but only moving one foot out of the center square at a time like Ron. George however took to it like a kitten to milk.

After the initial boos and a few missteps, George was getting each arrow perfectly on time. Bill and Charlie shared a glance. They wondered if Fred would have been as good as George.

Several more turns each, and DDR was officially the most popular game in the tent. Luna was by far the best, no one could understand how the eccentric girl had gotten so good at it, when it wasn't even released in arcades around London yet. Luna just claimed natural talent as she waggled her foot when someone asked.

After Luna was George. He didn't know why it was so easy for him, but he admitted to everyone he wasn't in league with Luna. It would take a few more weeks practice to get that good.

Harry was very good, but still couldn't get past the off beats and they usually threw him off for a few beats if he missed one. He had the tendency to stop and watch the dancing figures on the back of the screen if he was loosing to Luna, but usually he was able to stay focused. Luna's advice to blur his eyes didn't help really because he didn't understand how until George reached over and took off his glasses. After that Harry got better and better.

Bill and Charlie each took a few turns but claimed old age and sat down to watch the young 'uns, as they called the younger siblings. After a half an hour of playing the Dance game, a musical rift sounded from outside the tent calling everyone to the real dance outside.

a/n: So this is my last backlogged chapter. I have no more written back up chapters, so they might come a little more spaced out than one a day. It is so hot where i live right now and out A/C broke down, so i am finding it hard to sit in front of a laptop that tends to overheat. It's just too hot, 90 degree weather, no a/c, and a hot lap top on a tv tray in front of me. And i live in the attic of a four story house...can anyone say heat stroke? BTW, last night there was a meteor shower in MN. Did anyone else see the shooting stars at about 2 am? It was sweet! Thank you all for reviewing, Hope you enjoyed this one. I felt like all teachers need a vice to release stress, i remember reading s story where Snape's vice was Abba's Dancing Queen song...it was hilarious. But i wanted to give them something unique. McGonagall had a child named M. G. McGonagall who one an award in the movie version of Sorcer's Stone, It was the prof we all know and love, so i gave her a daughter. Can anyone just see little itty bitty Flitwick dancing a polka? HA! And look up the poses of yoga i mentioned...see if you can picture Snape doing them, i laughed for days! Please REVIEW! And thank you!