One morning is much like another at Hogwarts. You get up, get dressed, and go to breakfast. You sit at the same table, in the same spot, with the same people you've sat with since first year. You pass the plates around, selecting the same food off them as you always do, and finish the meal with a mint from the overflowing bowls. This is where, one morning, it all goes wrong. You really should have noticed your brothers snickering further down the table.

You're not the first one on your feet fortunately, that's a seventh year Slytherin. Oliver is next, across the table from you, and you'd laugh if you hadn't realized that something was wrong with the mints, and some strange compulsion is drawing you to your feet as well. All around the room seventh years are rising from their seats and heading to the back of the room. The other students are confused, and you have to break out of this, you're the head boy! The head boy does not eat magicked candy and make a fool of himself. You manage to get a half glare at Fred and George who are smiling with gleeful anticipation, and just from the expressions on their faces, you know it's going to be bad. You find yourself at the back of the room with the rest, standing at the front with Oliver and Marcus. The others are arranged in groups of three as well.

Swirling lights surround you, and when they fade, and you blink yourself back into the world of sight, you realize Marcus is now seated in a chair, and he is wearing a dress. You want to look around, but you are frozen in a strange position, one arm out to the front, one leg tucked behind the other in a position that seems almost balletic. With a start, you realize you're also in a dress. And the blush of humiliation begins to creep up your neck into your face. Why do the twins do this to people?

You manage to slide your eyes sideways, to see Oliver in a pose that precisely mirrors your own, wearing a similar dress. Brown eyes are filled with frustration. He's not embarrassed, like you are. Nothing embarrasses Oliver. It's one of the many reasons you admire him. But he hates being out of control. You try to speak, and can't, still frozen in the spell. It's only been seconds probably, but it feels like eons. You try to tell him with your eyes alone. Fred and George. The twins. And you see the acknowledgment form in his eyes. You wonder that the two of you can do this... have a wordless conversation. And you wonder if you could communicate with anyone, were you eye to eye, or just Oliver. You could swear Oliver now looks amused, and can almost hear his common plaint to you as if he said it aloud "You think too much Percy!"

Then you are moving, beginning to dance, and the humiliation comes back full force as you can now see the wide eyes of your audience of students and teachers alike. You can hear music, seeming to come from nowhere, and can't help but think that Fred and George just might be geniuses after all, which is rather sad since you're killing them the first chance you get. The words burst out of your throat just a second behind everyone else's, as if to indicate that you really are just that little bit more stubborn. This is ridiculous! You can resist the Imperious curse better than any wizard to ever go through Hogwarts; it was Dumbledore that told you that. But you can't shake this.

You must walk feminine, talk feminine, smile and beguile feminine, utilize your femininity, that's what every girl should know, if she wants to catch a beau!

The ridiculous lyrics ring through the room in perfect harmony, as you are trapped in the dance with all the rest. It must make a pretty pattern, you find yourself thinking, as you see Penny spin by you over to your left, looking lovely as always, a picture of grace. A smile is on your face, but it's just the effects of the candy. Your body bends of it's own accord to let you harmoniously admonish Flint.

"Let him do the talking,"

Oliver does a little spin before leaning in as well to earnestly add, "Men adore good listeners".

"Laugh, but not loudly, if he should choose to tell a joke," the entire group continues, "Be elegant, but radiant, memorize the rules of etiquette! Be demure, sweet and pure! Hide the real you!"

Laughter is running through your audience now. You can see Ron has actually fallen off his seat. You have reached a part of the song that is wordless, you hum and twitter, as you spin around the chair and Marcus, reaching for Oliver's hand. When he takes it, you could swear fire trails through you from the point of contact, but that's not from the magic, that's as it always is. And as it always is, it's everything you don't want to think about, don't want to believe in, and everything you'd die to have. But this time it isn't a casual brush of the hand and you can't back away, break the moment like you always do. And you're swinging your skirt and gazing coquettishly at the audience, drawing nearer and farther away from Oliver in turn, and suddenly you wonder if the twins have finally found a way to kill you. Because you can't breathe.

Your hands part as Flint leaps to his feet to join the dance, and the three of you link arms, and skip about merrily, weaving in and out amongst the other trios as the song comes to and end. Then you all line up and curtsey as the applause fills the hall. Real applause, not magically generated applause you realize. They're howling with laughter, but they are cheering for you, not mocking you. The spell is breaking, and you're staggering. You realize you're dizzy from all that twirling and reach out for something to steady you.

"What was THAT?" Oliver's voice in your ear, and Oliver's hand at your waist, steadying you, as always knowing what you need before you ask. And you can't move away, but this time there's no excuse, and the guilt screams through you even as you grasp his arm and lean closer.

"The Twins," you say.

"I know," he answers, and his voice sounds odd suddenly. You really should move away. "I need them for the next Quidditch match though Percy, so we can't kill them."

"Torture them?" You can hear the hope in your voice and are amused. Even you wonder if you might not really mean that this time. Surely not. After all, no harm done, they've proven they're brilliant, or whatever it was that this was supposed to prove. They didn't mean to burn through all the lies you've told yourself and leave you fighting for air.

"Torture sounds good," Oliver says, and you both draw your wands at the same time, as you step away from him finally. All across the line others are drawing their wands as well.... the seventh year Slytherins are already halfway to Gryffindor table before you even begin to move. But are you moving now to punish them, or protect them? Some in your year are laughing, able to take a joke. But some of them are humiliated, and angry, and the twins, nightmares though they are, are your brothers. They never mean any harm.

"Enough!"

Everyone freezes and turns to Dumbledore. "Put your wands away," he orders, but you can see the amusement in his eyes. You've got to know him better this year, as head boy, and have seen nothing to dissuade you from your belief that he is the greatest wizard alive. You feel a bit foolish now. The Twins will be dealt with, and protected, by those better able than you.

McGonagall collects the twins, by their ears no less, and you take a certain pleasure in their yelps of pain. Penny is approaching you. And all you can think of is how warm Oliver feels standing behind you silently. Penny's shaking her head, but she's laughing. Penny can take a joke... she'd have to be able to, to hold her head up about being in a relationship with you. "C'mon," she says, "we've got class." And when you move away from Oliver it's like everything turns to ashes. Penny's beauty, intelligence, and kindness are nothing to you. She can never be anything to you but a cold duty, and there is no one to blame but yourself. You can't resist looking back, and he IS looking at you. Such a strange expression, and it makes you want to curl up on the floor for the pain of it, and you almost turn back, but you can't. Can't do that to Penny, can't cause any more damage than you already have. As you walk out of the room you can almost hear the crunch of the ash beneath your feet.