Heading out the Slytherin common room, and exiting the dungeons, she sighed. Not really wanting to go to the library, she wandered the halls, stalling around the library entrance, when she noticed a sign tacked up against the stone wall beside the door.

Come one come all
Join us in the dancing hall
For those with iching feet
You really can't beat
The Gryffindor dancers

Laughing outloud, she weighed her options. See what the Gryffindors were up to now or go to the library and finish her homework. Shaking her head, she headed up to the dancing hall, wanting to see what in the world was going on.

Regulus waited for a few moments after Erica left, sipping slowly at his steaming cup of tea. He savoured the delicious taste of the flavourful beverage and sighed happily. 'What a wonderful thing it is to be able to enjoy some of the finer things in life' he thought to himself.

Finished his tea now, Regulus waved his wand lazily and vanished the dirty cups and saucers. Standing up, he stretched his arms above his head and stood on his tiptoes, extending his body to its full height. Grinning to himself, he tugged his sweater back into place before picking up his belongings and heading out the common room door.

Regulus wandered aimlessly around the halls of the school, taking every opportunity he could to terrorize some of the Gryffindor first years, without them knowing of course. Particularily pleased with his most recent trick, magically tying a first year's shoelaces together, he was chuckling to himself as he rounded the corner. Finding himself at the library, he was just about to go inside to look for Erica when he noticed a strange advertisement pinned to the wall. As his eyes quickly scanned the notice, he couldn't help but laugh to himself. 'Oh this is priceless,' he thought to himself, 'and definitely something I can not miss. Oh my brother will make such a fool of himself! I can not wait!' And with that happy thought on his brain, Regulus quickly made his way down to the dancing hall, a decided spring in his well polished tread.

With Stacey's approval, I'm gonna be playing Snape, too, to keep you Slytherin guys some company

Severus Snape was in the library, sulking. He was so good at sulking that he received compliments on its behalf, and it came as natural to him as perhaps pranking and causing mischief was to the Marauders. He was never the good-humoured chap, our Snape.

And while this occupation of his (sitting alone in the library, pouring over books, with a frown in place) was nothing out of the ordinary, that particular day Severus had darker thoughts circling his mind. He had heard some very unpleasant rumours that were making him brood even more than usual. Lily Evans and Potter...

Naturally, the event in the bathroom was more than recent, and it was therefore a bit unlikely rumours had already spread across the school, but Snape had his own means of finding out the ongoing of the Marauders. Well-placed spies happened to be one of his favourite means. And while the news didn't surprise him as much as he'd wanted it to, Snape couldn't help but hate Potter even more. He had thought better of Lily Evans - he had thought she was above falling into Potter's dim-witted trap. Yes, he was angry at Potter and delved on ways of making him pay; angry at Evans for losing the battle, and first and foremost, he was angry at himself for even allowing these thoughts to form.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the younger Black almost enter the library, and then change direction. Wanting nothing more than to distract himself from that fabled line of thinking, Snape crushed the book shut, and exited the library. He was fast when he wanted to be, and soon enough, he saw Regulus' retreating form ahead of him.

"Where to, Black?" Snape inquired, as he caught up with Regulus in an instant, his dark eyes dropping on the younger boy with a quick, inspecting sort of glance. The younger Black looked pleased, and this made Snape curious in the slightest. Perhaps with a bit of luck, it was something to do with James Potter and his band of wannabe's getting in some deep and deadly trouble. One could only hope.

Regulus was jarred out of his revelry by the slippery voice of his fellow Slytherin, Severus Snape. Although not friends, they were nevertheless on speaking terms, and so Regulus pushed away the thought to ignore his question with a grimace.

"Severus. Where did you come from?" Regulus asked curiously. It was true that Snape often found ways to appear as if by magic....."I was just off to watch my brother and his stupid marauder pals make absolute fools of themselves. Would you like to join me? I know how much you despise that group and this should provide highly entertaining, to say the least."

Severus eyed him not without a certain amount of satisfaction and decided not to comment on Regulus' first statement. All those years in Slytherin dedicating himself to his mystery work had certainly taught him more about stealth and concealment than even Aurors knew. A weird sort of glazed look took him over as Regulus spoke onwards.

"Isn't that what they always do?" he referred to the 'making absolute fools of themselves' part. Severus wondered in what way this occasion could be different, but his bitter previous line of thoughts pushed his curiosity. "I'll join you," Snape agreed, at the same time taking his wand out of his inner pocket, for any eventuality.

"This has everything to do with McGonagall, I suppose?" Snape stated more than asked, recalling the incident for which the Marauders were hopefully now in trouble.

Regulus grinned. "True, that is what they usually do, however, I believe that this will be one of their most spectacular foul-ups ever." He rubbed his hands together in an expectant gesture.

"Oh yes, and that is why it will be so spectacular. McGonagall is forcing them to give dance lessons if I understood the notice correctly. Ever since they pulled that little stunt of theirs, McGonagall has been on their case more than ever. If she keeps this up, I might even begin to like the old bird! She has got a downright devilish streak! I highly approve."

Regulus's blue eyes flashed with glee as they continued walking down the corridor. The sunlight shone through the dusty windows, sending spirals of particles whirling as they walked briskly over the stone flooring. Nearing McGonagall's classroom, Regulus grasped the blackened metal handle of the giant wooden door and pulled it open with a little bit of effort. Bowing slightly, he held the door for Severus. "After you, good sir." he said as he motioned for Snape to enter.

McGonagall gathered her thoughts on Peter’s actions and shook her head. She knew this boy was a bit strange at times, especially hanging around the rest of the Gryffindor students, but he was beyond the realm of coherency.

“Mr. Pettigrew, you have had your chance to go to the nurse and yet you tend to stay here,” she spoke with a snooty attitude as her nose poked up in the air. She took out her wand and silently tapped the air and the room began to clean itself. “There,” she spoke silently to herself as she looked over the rims of her glasses to make sure everything was back in place for their dance lessons.

“Now, if I can stand here with my cane in hand and bear the action of the rest of the Gryffindor boys, I believe you can do the same.” She turned her back on Peter as she heard the creep open. “Ah yes,” she smiled as she walked over to the door. “Please do come in.” She was not sure exactly who was on the other side but she knew that it was time for the boys to fulfill their punishment and help the students in need.
*********************************************

James watched as McGonagall walked off and didn’t pay attention as to where she was headed off too, he just knew that she was out of hearing distance. He carefully took his wand out of his inside pocket and held it to his side, making sure that no one noticed.

His eyes shifted from Sirius to Remus and then to Peter. Peter was more engulfed in his own area that he seemed to not pay attention to anyone else at the moment. James lifted his wand in his hand and aimed it at Peter. With one flick of his wand, he sent a spell causing Peter’s trousers to disappear and turn into a tutu.

James began to snicker, holding back the tears in his eyes but it was too much, he threw his head back with laughter as he placed his wand inside his robes once more. “Now we are ready Professor McGonagall,” James blurted out through tears rolling down his cheeks.

Severus turned a defiantly incredulous expression towards Regulus. Dancing lessons? Yet the younger boy didn't seem to be joking. And either way, he should have known better than to 'joke' with Severus Snape. "Dancing lessons, you say? Then Potter and your stain of a brother will feel right at home, showing off their extraordinarily striking lack of talent. Pity the whole school isn't here to watch." Severus spoke, some obvious bitterness in his tone.

Snape was about to enter when two things happened at once, one more brusque than the other. Lily Evans appeared from behind the corner, and McGonagall blasted the door open, actually managing to sound inviting.

"Don't mind if I do, professor." Throwing a quick sideways glance towards Lily, Severus proceeded to enter, his already prepared taunts now slightly downcast at the sight of Evans.


Meanwhile, Sirius was busy rolling around with laughter at the sight of Peter in his tutu, and not even bothering to pay attention to what McGonagall was saying. Not that he tended to do that generally.

Once his grey eyes landed on Lily, who was standing closest to the door, and heard McGonagall extend an invitation to enter, he elbowed James. "Looks like she can't stay away today, can she?" He grinned contentedly, but had plenty of reasons to wipe the expression off immediately, as Lily was followed by the greasy-haired hermit, Severus Snape, and Regulus.

And while the rift between him and his family had long been a cause of further rebellion and independence for Sirius, giving him a sort of vengeful satisfaction for acting more Gryffindorish than ever, the fall-out with Regulus was far from the same status. No matter how deeply he resented his little brother's failure to resist the Black family's antiques, Sirius still cared for him, somehow. He shot his brother an ambiguous look before gritting through his teeth: "Professor, what are they doing here?"

The smile on McGonagall's face lessened as she took notice to the Slytherin's entering the room. "O-Oh yes," she said as she opened the door. "You would like dance lessons?" She slightly puzzled by Regulus and Severus needing dance lessons that she decided she would need to stay around and help them learn their dance moves. "I'll be there in a moment to help give you dance lessons," she spoke in their direction and then looked Lily at the door.

"Come in, come in, Ms. Evans," she spoke happily as she noticed the students beginning to enter the room. "The signs must work," she smiled once more as she propped the door opened.

James chuckled with Sirius for a moment until he watched his eyes move towards the door. Turning a bit more, he noticed Lily and all her beauty standing. "Let's hope she can't stay away," James spoke as he raised a sly eyebrow in her direction but it quickly vanished at the sight behind her.

"What are they doin-Yeah, what he said," James tried to speak but realized that Sirius asked the same question. His attention turned to McGonagall as she spoke to the students. "Oye," he spoke in a surprised. "My dear best mate, they have come to encounter a dance with the Professor," James said in a smart voice. "Oh Snivellus, Professor McGonagall said that she will be ready to dance with you in just a bit." James began to show an evil grin in the direction of the Slytherins.

Still a bit perplexed as to why there would be dance lessons at Hogwarts, Lily continued to linger at the threshold of the door. Also the individuals within the room made her weary of what might be happening.

About to turn and walk away, Lily stopped when she heard McGonagall’s voice coming from the other side of the door. McGonagall was in on this? Maybe it wasn’t a joke.

About to enter, Lily stopped when Severus and Regulus passed right in front of her. The urge to roll her eyes at their rude behavior was strong, but she resisted.

When Severus glanced at her she simply gave him a faint smile. Everyone was always so cruel to him that she had somehow managed to develop a soft spot for him. It was most likely out of pity, but she honestly didn’t know why she cared, he wasn’t exactly nice to her.


Hearing McGonagall’s voice again, Lily smiled at her and entered the room. “Thank you Professor.” Looking around she saw the boys and a very ridiculous looking Peter. Not that he ever looked normal, but the tutu was a bit much…even for Peter.

Not far from Peter was James, a small smile came to her face when he raised an eyebrow at her, and she could feel her cheeks go pink. The pleasure that she felt at the sight of James soon vanished when she heard him insult Severus.

Looking away from him she fixed her eyes on the floor as she tried to block out the inevitable.

Entering the Great Hall, she ducked her head to mask her face in horror. What were Regulus and Snape doing here? Of course, here to make a fool of the Gryffindors She thought to herself. Sighing, she stood up straighter and looked around the room to see who was there already and what was going on with this dancing nonsense.

Joining Regulus and Snape, she gave them both a small smile. "Here to enjoy the show?" She asked, quietly.

Remus's head was throbbing with embarrassment, shameful embarrassment. The laughter in his surrounding was some sort of a wake up call that made him his mind focus again to glance around and figure whats revolving in reality. The sight of peter in a tutu made his eyes grow so enormous that for a moment he thought he'd feel them dropping onto the desk below him any moment, but the presence of Professor McGonagall in the room was giving it an icy flare that made it impossible to laugh even if he wanted to. Instead he shook his head and sulked more into his seat as if it was the only means in disillusioning him.



++++++





Fay was skipping down the hallways enjoying her yogurt ice-cream as she did so. Her body came to a hault at the sight of a flashing sign, "dance lessons?" she whispered more to herself "who would want to enter such a class?" snorting some ice-cream out of her nose she peaked inside the classroom out of mere curiosity and more interest since she saw Snape's head near the doorway, she always knew Sirius hated Snape, it was always good to keep your enemies closer? eh?

The sight of Sirius inside the classroom gave her heart a small jolt while her lips grinned making her toes skip some more into class. "HII Sirius" she waved with her ice-cream hand while her face carried a dreamily look to it, "I didn't know you liked dancing? I love dancing" shoving Snape and Regulus out of the way to reach Sirius. "Oh Sirius, we can dance together!" licking the remaining part of her ice-cream and throwing the biscuit part of it at Peter unknowingly.

Distracted by Erica's sudden appearance, Severus managed to take his eyes off the stupid Marauders at last.

"Obviously," he replied in his usual drawl. He eyed her curiously for a second, imagining why she had come there. She wasn't a trademark Slytherin, in fact, she seemed to be struggling hard to belong with the rest of them. "And why are you here?" he asked, shooting a quick glance in Sirius' direction, as if that sealed matters completely.