They stared at the letter, and then at each other. The one with short, spiked hair falling towards eyes covered in glitter eyeshadow said, "This has to be a joke."

"Like she had a sense of humor," said the girl wearing heavy black eyeliner and black leather bands on her wrists. "A pretty voice, sure, but..."

The last member of the trio currently standing over an innocent looking scrap of parchment hummed a bit and toyed with a long strand of dirty blonde hair. "What will we do?"

"Strangle a certain Miss Serenity Galadriel Van Helsing," snarled Ginny, shoving her hands so deep into the pockets of her jeans that her armbands disappeared.

"But it'd be expensive to follow her," Luna said, still twirling her hair. "Besides, I hear that American school she said she's transferring to is full of violent and hostile mutants."

Cho ran her hand irritably through her hair, rearranging the spikes to fall in even messier lines. "The point is, we need someone who can sing the parts that Ginny doesn't have the range for, who can hopefully also keep the beat."

Ginny muttered darkly, "Not like that cow could do anything with the drumsticks besides shove them--" She cut off as both of the other girls eyed her and sighed. "All right, so I never liked her ever since that incident in the Hall."

Cho and Luna discreetly looked away as Ginny leaned her head forward, letting her snarled red hair hide her face as she blushed painfully. It had been bad enough when Malfoy had come over to taunt Ginny, as he usually did, but Serenity's attempts at defending her had been what truly humiliated Ginny beyond all measure. Cho hadn't seen it, of course, but Serenity had been all too willing to describe it at length, mistakenly believing that she had cowed Malfoy with her brilliant comebacks. Finally, when the silence was seeming much too awkward, Cho cleared her throat to speak but was cut off by Luna saying, "We could get a boggart and have it turn into Serenity. Boggarts have lovely singing voices."

"But how would we keep it from changing form in mid-song?" Cho answered with calm logic.

"That's it!" said Ginny excitedly.

The other two turned to look at her, and Luna said, "So you read about boggarts in last month's issue?" just as Cho said, "You want to use a boggart?"

"Of course not," said Ginny, waving a hand dismissively. "But I know precisely who we need to get to join the band."

~~~~~~~~

"No! Absolutely not, no! Just... No!"

"Come on, Hermione, I know you can sing, I've heard you in the shower," said Ginny.

Hermione shook her head emphatically. "Singing in the shower is very different from singing in front of people. Besides, didn't you say I'd need to play the drums? I understand that takes skill, and years of practice, and--"

"Goyle can play drums," interrupted Ginny.

Hermione blinked and looked at her, then picked up steam again to continue, "All right, so I could probably play the drums, but I could never sing in front of people."

Cho and Luna looked at each other behind where Ginny was once again pleading with Hermione while the other girl was shaking her bushy head emphatically. It should be noted that, while Slytherin House gets all the publicity regarding deviousness, Ravenclaws are simply smart enough to avoid the press. With studied nonchalance, Cho said, "I told you she wouldn't do it. Come on, let's just go figure out a way we can do this without you dropping out of school."

Hermione's head snapped around. "Without what?"

Ginny glared at Cho. "You weren't supposed to talk about that in front of anyone."

"I thought it was just in front of your brothers," said Luna with wide eyes. "I mean, except Fred and George, since you'd be following in their footsteps."

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, what are you planning?" said Hermione, bristling with fury.

Ginny shrugged, crossing her arms in front of her chest defiantly. "It doesn't make sense for my parents to pay another year's tuition when I know what I want to do," she said. "If I can't make a go of it with music, Fred and George have a spot for me in their shop."

Hermione's hand flew to clutch her chest and her face went white. "You... You'd leave Hogwarts? Before you had to?"

Luna nodded blithely. "We both will."

"NO!" Hermione bellowed, her voice shaking the windows slightly. "I forbid it! I'll, I'll.. I'll tell your Mum!"

"It will only accelerate the time-table if you do," Ginny said calmly. "Because then I'd just go lodge with Cho and Luna as soon as we get off the Express instead of at the end of the summer."

Hermione looked aghast, but Luna and Cho just nodded. "You know we'd love to have you," said Cho. "We could get in some more serious practice if we're all in one spot, not to mention the fun we could get up to--"

"It'd be so marvelous," chimed in Luna. "Daddy's arranged for an excellent flat for us, with a recording studio and everything."

"Sounds bloody brill," said Ginny, breaking into a smile. "And it's not like I wouldn't be over at all hours this summer anyway. Yeah, let's do it."

"All right!" shrieked Hermione. "I'll do it, but you have to swear that you'll finish school, both of you. And you can't move out of the Burrow and leave me alone with Ron and Harry and nothing but talk of quidditch all summer."

Cho stuck her hand out and shook Hermione's firmly. "Agreed."

Ginny's smile was a bit sly as she said, "All right, then, let's go."

"Go where?" asked Hermione, even as she was being dragged to her feet and had her wand shoved into her hands.

"To go practice," said Ginny as the other two girls disappeared amidst the library stacks they'd found Hermione buried in. "We need to figure out how much work you need."

Hermione's mouth opened and closed before she said, "Oh, bugger," in resigned tones and allowed Ginny to drag her away.

They finally arrived in a fair-sized room with tiered seating and acoustic tiles, where Cho and Luna already sat on the small podium at the front, warming up with their instruments. "Um, Ginny? I thought you said this was a rock band."

"It is," said Ginny blithely, picking up a bright red electric guitar from a stand next to where Cho sat.

"She's holding a sodding oboe," said Hermione, gesturing towards Luna, who just blinked innocently at her. "The cello I could somewhat understand," she continued, and Cho graciously saluted her with the bow. "After all, it's not that different a way to carry a bass line, and Jimmy Page proved that a bow could be used for great rock and roll, but really, an oboe??"

Ginny simply nodded and turned back to tuning her guitar. "You wouldn't believe what she can do with that oboe."

Cho, who had been flexing her fingers before picking up her bow once more, said, "Cherry Lips."

Hermione looked at her with a confused expression, but Ginny just nodded and Luna brought her horn to her lips. They launched into the song, Cho's bow-work making the bass line pop and Ginny singing archly while batting her eyelashes and tossing her hair in the parts between choruses, when she would focus on her guitar. The main melody, however, was bouncy and somewhat electronic sounding, and completely carried by Luna's oboe.

The song drew to a close and the three girls put down their instruments and looked expectantly at Hermione. She blew out a breath and said, "I can't believe what she can do with that oboe." This led to a chorus of giggles, after which Cho said, "All right then, girly, pull up a chair and a drum kit and let's get started."

"Are you sure you actually need me? You guys sounded fantastic," said Hermione, still lingering a distance away from the other girls.

"Whoever heard of a rock band without a drummer?" said Luna, adjusting her reed.

"And I can't concentrate on vocals if the guitar part's complicated, plus I don't have that big a range in the high notes," Ginny added.

Hermione still looked hesitant, but Cho had stood up, doing something complicated with her wand to a spot behind where their chairs were set up. A section of floor shimmered and a full snare kit seemed to float up through it. "We’ve all got storage space here," said Cho. "This used to be Serenity's, but it's yours now. I'll show you how to open it afterwards, and then you can reset it to only open to you if you like."

"Th- thank you," said Hermione, gingerly seating herself behind the drums and folding her hands in her lap. "It's certainly, um, here."

"Hogwarts used to have a band," said Luna. "And a choir."

Hermione looked bright. "Oh, how lovely! I wonder why they don't any longer."

"I understand it involves Fred and George Weasley, a bassoon and a set of tubular bells, although Professor Flitwick goes very grey whenever it's mentioned, so no one I know had the exact details," said Cho, waving her wand at the floor once more and scowling when nothing happened. "Stupid cow must've taken the sticks," she muttered.

Ginny shrugged. "They were only first years. Youthful high spirits."

"He still limps on cold days," said Luna. "And winces at the sight of a glockenspiel."

Ginny simply shrugged again, and Hermione fidgeted until Cho handed her a pair of drumsticks she'd transfigured from a pair of sticks pulled from Luna's hair. "These should do for now, although real ones will sound better."

Hermione took a deep breath and thought about the drum solos that she and her father would flail along to when she was younger, listening to his long playing records from bands like Cream and Yes, or the wonder of drumming virtuosity that was "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". She closed her eyes and thought, "I can do this," then took the sticks in a firm grip and starting beating on the drums with verve and enthusiasm.

She finally stopped and looked at the others, her hair falling in her eyes and her face flushed from the exertion. Cho sucked in a breath and said, "That was, um..."

"It was certainly very, er, active," said Ginny.

"Just think how great it will be when she doesn't suck any more!" was Luna's contribution.

The next day, Ginny was getting the Hogwarts music room ready for her band to rehearse when she felt the particular chill run up her spine that always indicated the presence of the person who most irritated her in the entire world.

"You know, Weasley, if you'd dress with the lights on sometime, you could be hot," drawled Malfoy. "Might even get some people to actually vote for your band."

Ginny turned, red hair flying around her, and gave him a brilliant, false smile. "Thank you for the advice, Malfoy. And may I return the favor by saying that if you took some time away from your mirror and spent it practicing instead, I'm sure you could actually master a fourth chord."

He leaned back against the wall in a pose that was pure sex, with maybe just a small dash of sneering defiance. "What and alienate the audiences like you do? The masses like pap, so why not give it to them?"

"Artistic integrity? Oh, no, wait, I forgot who I was talking to," Ginny said, with a fair sneer of her own. "Just bugger off, Malfoy, we're going to practice."

He looked around ostentatiously to highlight the fact that the two of them were alone in the soundproofed room, then pushed off the wall and moved much too close to her before purring, "And just what will we be practicing, Weasley? My vote is for--"

"Celibacy," she snapped. "And keeping a civil tongue in our heads."

"And just what head will your tongue be in? Or on. On would be good," he said with a smirk. She scowled at him and stomped over to a spot on the wall, tapping her wand on the stones until they slid aside and revealed her electric guitar. Still ignoring him, she put the strap around her neck and started inspecting the strings carefully. "Come on, Weasley, you're disappointing me. Where's my tongue lashing?"

"I'm not in the mood, Malfoy," she said, still looking carefully at the strings. "Maybe you can go find Parkinson, I'm sure she'd... Lash you."

"Jealous?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and shoved her hair back from her face. "Of course. Parkinson's just so hot. I dream about her every night."

"Catch me on a good day, Weasley, I'll make your dreams come true," came Pansy's amused voice from the doorway.

"Oh baby, don't tease," said Ginny, making a kissy face at the Slytherin girl.

Draco looked from one to the other and said, "You know, it'd only take a minute to prepare... Silencing charms, locking charms, a camera, maybe some exciting lingerie... I'd be happy to make the arrangements."

"Who said you were invited, darling?" said Pansy, opening her assigned storage space and pulling out her bass guitar, moving to sit on one of the large amplifiers as she tested the strings.

Ginny missed Draco's response as she finished tuning her guitar, totally focusing on making sure the sound was right. Once it was she put down the guitar and started setting out the instruments for the others, who were apparently running late... Again. She'd hoped at least Hermione would arrive on time, as Luna and Cho had proven they were incapable of it. Maybe she should start coming late herself, since it always happened that she and Malfoy had a few minutes alone before anyone else arrived.

"Sorry, Ginny, I--" Hermione skidded to a halt in the doorway and stared at the Slytherins. Trying for nonchalance, she strolled up to Ginny and whispered, "What are they doing here? I thought you said we were rehearsing now."

"We have to share the room - no one can book it exclusively, Dumbledore said. Doesn't matter," Ginny said with a shrug. "We cast a charm and they can't hear us, and they do the same so we can't hear them."

"But they can see," said Hermione frantically.

"Don't worry, Granger, no one wants to look at you anyway," said Pansy without looking up from her strings. "Especially not when my lover the Weasel is available."

Ginny blew Pansy a kiss on the tips of two fingers formed into a crude gesture. "Only in dreams, baby. I'd chew you up and spit you out."

"Promises, promises."

The banter was cut off by the arrival of Cho, who was panting slightly and very disheveled. "Sorry, Gin, I--"

"Got Roger-ed?" Ginny said with a leer. Cho blushed and threw a music book at Ginny, who ducked and laughed. "You know, given how you're glowing, I think there's something to be said for living in sin... Shut up, Malfoy."

He didn't even have the grace to look abashed, although he did close his mouth, which had been opened in preparation for making a comment. Hermione looked confused, so Cho took pity and explained. "Do you remember Roger Davies, the quidditch captain? He and I share a flat, and Ginny likes to tease, even though there's nothing happening."

"More's the pity," said Ginny in the tone that Hermione recognized as being designed to wind someone up.

"So where's Luna?" she asked hastily, determined not to spend much-needed rehearsal time on watching Ginny sharpen her wit on someone.

Cho looked grateful for the change of subject and waved a hand. "I passed her in the hall, she should be here soon. She just had to take a moment to lecture Zabini about the health effects of hand cream, or something like that."

From the door, a deep bass rumble came. "Lipgloss."

Hermione shook her head and edged closer to Ginny. In a hissed whisper as close to the other girl's ear as she could get, she said, "Who on earth is that?"

"Blaise Zabini. He's in your year, a Slytherin. Doesn't talk much." Ginny nodded to the boy, who might've tilted his head in response, or might've just been focusing on his keyboard.

Hermione looked the boy over. She'd seen him before, shared at least one class with him, but she couldn't recall ever noticing him before... Which was odd considering the boy was certifiably gorgeous. He had light olive skin and inky black hair which hung in loose curls around a face that wouldn't have been out of place stamped on an ancient Roman coin. Full lips with just a hint of redness, sooty lashes that even the very best mascaras and charms couldn't imitate, and all topped off with an intense, brooding look that made him seem a bit, well, dangerous, in an exciting and yet stalker-ish kind of way. "He was discussing lipgloss?"

Luna wandered up at that point, and started to talk, then paused to remove the reed from her mouth. "Lip balm. It's addictive, you know, and if you use it too much, your lips could develop bacteria and fall off." The reed went back into her mouth and Ginny shook her head at Hermione before casting a spell that enclosed them in a soundproof bubble.

"Let's rehearse."

In case you're wondering, Voldemort's defeat happened some months ago and was really terribly anti-climactic. * Or it was all a mass hallucination and he never rose the second time, so Harry's heroism was in ending the delusion. Or some other wildly improbable explanation that allows me to skip all the angst and drama and go straight to a frothy guilty pleasure of a fic.
(*Shoutout to Cave Laborem, who caught my typo so that Voldemort's defeat was a let down rather than a bias against the weather.)

Also, any suggestions of songs for the challenge (you'll see what I mean) are welcome. As soon as I've picked a song, I'll be able to get the next chapter out. While normally I worry about the timeline, for this fic I'm suspending all that and just picking out songs without regard for whether they'd actually have been around and popular in England at the time the books are actually set.

--------


They'd been rehearsing for two weeks when Ron finally noticed Hermione was with Ginny rather than in the library, and that was only because he'd wanted to copy her homework and discovered she hadn't finished it yet. Ron's comments and sniggers were sufficiently annoying that Ginny and Hermione fled to the rehearsal room rather than listen. He followed them, and an ominous silence descended as he noticed who else was there.

Just as his face had shaded over from red to purple, he was hit with spells from two directions. Malfoy's spell meant that the explosion of wrath was completely silent, and then Hermione's sent Ron reeling backwards until he fell into the hallway. Standing over him and looming in the doorway, Hermione said, "I am doing this because I want to, and if you try in any way to make a fuss, I will teach Ginny how to actually hex off certain body parts of yours. If you can be civil, then we'll discuss this." She slammed the door and Ron sat on the ground, staring, until it opened again. "And do your own bloody homework!"

This time the door slammed so hard that the frame rattled, as did the windows further down the stone corridor. Deciding in favor of the better part of valor, Ron decided to avoid storming back in at the moment and instead went to find Harry.

After Harry was found, a certain amount of pantomime, and then some shouting once the silencing spell was removed, Ron finally shook his head and said, "There's nothing for it, Harry. Bang a tambourine if you have to, but someone has to be there to make sure nothing happens." Ron's hand landed heavily on his friend's shoulder like a harbinger of inevitable doom.

Rebelling despite the probable futility of it, Harry said, "Come on, Ron, they've been practicing for ages, you said so yourself, and nothing's happened so far."

"Not yet," said Ron darkly. "And we don't know that for certain, do we?"

Desperate, Harry said, "How do you know they'll even let me in?"

"Simple," said Ron, smiling and magnanimous in victory and secure in the knowledge that he'd left out mentioning Hermione's threat in his recounting to Harry the story so far. "If they don't let you in, you'll just use your cloak and sneak in anyway."

Harry groaned. "It's at times like this I almost miss Voldemort."

-------------

Harry had hoped to approach Hermione privately to bring up the idea of attending rehearsals, but it was not to be. When she called out for him to enter her private room, he found himself confronted with all the band members. Looking from Hermione to Ginny to Cho to Luna, he had the thought that if they just added Parvati Patil and perhaps Fleur Delacour, every girl he'd ever had a crush on while at Hogwarts would be staring at him quizzically. It was not a situation designed to allow him to form words, or even thoughts. The closest he could manage sounded a lot like "Bwergh."

"Come on in, Harry," said Hermione, looking at him expectantly and shifting on the bed to move papers aside. They could've been plans for blowing up the school for all Harry cared; the presence of a bed in proximity with so many pretty girls was making him incapable of thinking or moving. "Harry?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake," snorted Ginny. Rolling her eyes, she strolled over to Harry and smacked the back of his head, making him stumble forward.

"Let me guess - Ron sent you." Ginny shook her head and flopped back down on the bed. "We should just be glad he didn't try sneaking you both in under the invisibility cloak."

"He's got quidditch," Harry muttered. "Says I don't need as much practice."

"Oh, honestly," said Hermione with a sniff.

Cho held up a hand. "Not a word against quidditch or I get to sneer at the collection of library cards."

Before a fight could start, Luna piped up. "So, if he's staying, can we do his hair and nails?"

Harry did not like the looks he got. Not at all. Thankfully, Hermione took pity on him and said, "We have to find the right song for Ginny's challenge, remember?" After a speculative look at Harry she added, "Maybe later."

"Hermione!" he yelped.

"You shouldn't let Ron push you around," she said with a shrug.

"What about this one?" Cho said, holding up a sheet of music. "Simple, but catchy."

"Pass it over." The sheet music made its way to Ginny's hands and she read it over, scowling. "It's sugary, but is it sugary enough?" She hummed a few bars and turned to Harry. "What do you think? Does it sound like the kind of things Malfoy's band plays?"

"Malfoy has a band?" The girls all stared at Harry as if he'd grown another head. "What? Ron just said they were Slytherins."

"You really don't notice anything that doesn't have anything to do with you, do you?" Ginny said with disgust.

"Hey!" Harry cried in outrage. "I was busy! Defeating the Dark Lord, remember?"

Luna shook her head. "It's all right, we understand," she said, standing up to pat Harry's arm. "You can't help that you haven't noticed the bands performing in the Great Hall after dinner once a month for the last six months." He blinked at her, completely at a loss. "You've got the worst case of thieving echissans I've ever seen, but that's not your fault, and once we've won the battle of the bands, we'll all help track down the reticulated negative poppy that should restore most of your observational capacity."

After a long pause for staring at Luna, Hermione seemed to decide in favor of acting like the other girl hadn't spoken. "Well, Harry, in addition to the main competition, which is focused here at Hogwarts but not strictly limited to students, Malfoy and Ginny made a bet during one of their arguments."

That Malfoy and Ginny would argue seemed to be a given, and Hermione continued. "For the next performance, Malfoy's band has to play in our style, which is more stylistically complex, primarily alternative and heavy metal in style with a strong influence from classic rock ranging from the Beatles in their experimental period to Pink Floyd and even some American singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan and Carol King, while we have to play--"

"--Crap," said Ginny.

"Pop," Hermione said, ignoring Ginny as handily as she'd ignored Luna. "We're just trying to decide what to play and how to arrange it for oboe and cello."

Harry blinked. "An oboe?"

"You wouldn't believe what she can do with that oboe," said Hermione.

When Hermione had agitated for magic-equipped televisions and DVD players to be provided for the common rooms, she'd never quite thought that someday she might return to Gryffindor Tower to find various Slytherins scattered around in front of the television and all the lights off. She looked around as best she could and scurried in to sit down next to Harry, who'd just hit play and flopped on the nearest couch. "What's going on?"

"We're watching a traditional muggle Christmas story," said Goyle from the other side of Harry. "Pass the fluff corn."

"Popcorn," Hermione said absently as she looked at the screen, then turned to Harry. "Die Hard? Are you serious?"

"It's a classic," he said happily, picking up what looked like a fast food cup, except for the fact that it was made of silver. "We forgot cups when we were ordering the food, but the house elves came through as best they could."

"Pass the caramels," came a basso profundo rumble that could only belong to Zabini. Harry picked up a box of candy and tossed it back. Luna was the one who actually caught it, and she said dreamily, "I love caramels. Can we share?"

Hermione didn't hear the answer, as Ginny was snapping, "Get your filthy hand out of my popped corn, Malfoy!"

"Popcorn," Hermione said again, then oohed as Harry handed her a Dr. Pepper and a bag of licorice.

The next few hours passed much the same way, with random pauses for explanations. Afterwards, someone restored the lights, and Hermione looked around. Luna was calmly popping caramels alternately into her mouth and Blaise's, Harry and Goyle were both digging through a single large popcorn bowl, and Ginny and Draco were separated by a fuming Ron, who had come in halfway through the movie. The big surprise was on the couch furthest from the screen, where Pansy was wrapped around Neville Longbottom, kissing him like she was a parasite and he was an endless source of food.

"Oh, for God's sake, Pansy, don't molest the boy," snapped Draco. "You know he couldn't possibly handle you."

"Jealous?" Ginny asked archly, but Pansy snorted a laugh as she detached from Neville.

"We're going to get a room," Pansy said, standing up and adjusting her robes. "Come on, Longbottom."

"Call me Neville," he croaked, holding his robes away from his body as he stood hastily and took her up the stairs to the boys' dorm.

"Well," said Hermione into the long silence that followed. "Um, that was a good movie, didn't you think? I don't usually watch it at Christmas, but I do like it a lot."

No one was responding, and Hermione found that she wasn't capable of stopping the flow of babble. "I practically had it memorized at one point, especially Hans's lines. I know he's the bad guy, but he's so terribly sexy, and--"

"Sexy?" Ron sounded shocked and horrified. "The bearded git? The one who looks like Snape?""

"He does not!" Hermione said indignantly. "He was one of my first crushes, and he's still dreamy."

Ron looked at her with disbelief. "He could be Snape's bloody twin."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione declared, "You're mad. That's just all there is to it."

"Actually..." was Harry's contribution."

"Don't you start," she snapped, "you're always on his side."

"No, he's right," said Ginny thoughtfully. "If Snape cut his hair and grew a beard, maybe got out in the sun a bit..."

Hermione shook her head and looked around for support, but everyone was nodding. "He doesn't! Does he?"

"You keep telling yourself that, Granger," said Draco, standing and stretching. "Come on, my lot. We need to get down to the rehearsal room, I've got an idea."

Goyle sighed and heaved his bulk off the sofa, tousling Harry's hair as he walked past. "Thanks, Harry. We'd have to do it again sometime."

"Any time, Greg," Harry said. "I've got the two sequels, too. We could make a night of it."

This prompted a few odd looks from the other Slytherins, but Hermione decided that trying to explain to Harry how it sounded would be too daunting a task to take on at the moment.

***

The night of the concert, Hermione still didn't know several key things. First of all, she had no idea what kind of competition they faced; the Slytherins had been very careful not to let on even the slightest hint of what they were planning, and she didn't know anything about the other contestants because the previous concerts had just been so much background noise while she was studying. Worse, she had no idea what she was doing there - as far as she could tell, a metronome could play her part. And, while it was a totally trivial detail, she really wished she knew her own band's name.

She didn't dare ask, though, because Ginny was about to have a nervous breakdown. The tips of satin slippers and a white-knuckled hand were all that was visible outside the cloak that covered her from neck to floor. "I still don't see why Hermione couldn't do the singing," Ginny grumbled, a slight tinge of hysteria in her tone.

"Because you're not a wimp," Luna said calmly.

Hermione backed away, trying to make herself inconspicuous. She ended up almost knocking over Blaise's keyboard, and as she righted it her attention was caught by the various markings. Touching them didn't seem to do anything, and the keys were silent as she pressed them.

"Use your wand." Blaise's rumbling voice came from right behind her, startling her badly. He jabbed his finger at the keyboard. "Here for amplified, here for normal, and here so only you can hear it."

He walked away then, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how gorgeous the boy was, something about him just made her jumpy and nervous. Shrugging it off, she touched her wand to the privacy rune and started experimenting with how the keyboard worked.

The rest of the members of the two bands were in the wings, watching a group from Hufflepuff, all handsome and well-groomed, singing about love while dancing in ritualized choreography to music that was piped in. Ginny sneered. "Well, they're certainly good at being pretty."

Draco stiffened, but when Ginny looked at him, clearly expecting a comment, he closed his mouth and glared. "Come on," he snapped to his band mates, cutting Ginny off as she was taking breath to speak. "We need to go get set up."

Hermione looked up and started to step back from the keyboard, but Blaise just walked by with a muttered, "Camouflage."

"Does that mean Hermione can keep playing with it?" Luna called out. The smile he gave her in response made Hermione weak in the knees, and it hadn't been directed at her. Luna remained unaffected, just smiling back and calling out thanks as Draco and Greg dragged Blaise away.

"Poor boy," Luna sighed. "He really needs to be more careful about the dyes in his robes. They're really starting to have a detrimental effect on his communication skills."

Discretion being the better part of not getting a migraine from trying to talk to Luna, Hermione turned back to the keyboard. "Hand me the sheet music, would you? And after we perform, someone's going to explain why no one ever showed me a wizard keyboard before, and tell me how to buy one."

"I've got some catalogs," Cho said, "but keyboards are looked down on. They're not really seen as taking any skill to play."

Hermione snorted. "Tell that to the six piano teachers I ran through before magic precluded arts in my education."

"In the future," said Ginny carefully, "perhaps you could focus more on sharing information instead of having hidden depths."

Thankfully, Hermione was spared the necessity of floundering for a comeback by the announcer barely getting two words out before wild applause and cheers from the audience drowned him out - making Hermione miss the name of the Slytherin's band. As the stage continued to stay dark, the applause died out, until the hall was entirely silent.