Same Time Next Year:

05:00

"Why do I let you drag me to this every year?" Ginny whinged. She was rubbing her eyes with her left hand while the other was clinging to Draco's elbow since she couldn't rub and walk at the same time.

"Do you want some cheese with that whine?" Draco asked sarcastically. They both knew that when Ginny first got some coffee in her system and fully woke up she would be even more excited than him. Besides, it was she who was dragging him to this thing every year

"Yes, please. Some brie would be nice," she snapped back.

The two of them entered a huge ballroom. Many people milled around and the noise and the light were a little too much for Ginny's still sleepy mind. This year it seemed that the room was more full than usual.

"Ugh. We're not doing this next year, Draco," she said while burying her face in his shoulder. "We're getting way too old."

Draco looked at her disdainfully, sniffed, and said, "Watch who you're calling old. Age is just a number. Malfoys do not get old."

Ginny giggled.

To change the subject Ginny said, "There're a lot of people here this year." A quick survey told her that it would be at least fifty couples. "I'm willing to bet half your money that half of them will be out before midnight," Ginny smirked. This year they were going to win!

Draco chuckled, "You're willing to bet my money?"

"Of course, honey," she simpered and batted her eyelashes at him. She couldn't hold up the act for long and broke out in giggles. Draco rolled his eyes.

Behind them someone was calling their names. They turned around to face their fiercest competition.

There stood a beautiful woman with long legs and long, dark hair. She was looking at them, her beautiful face sporting a scowl.

"Think you're going to win this year?" she spit out, glaring daggers at Ginny.

"We don't think, Parkinson, we know," Ginny said back acidly.

Pansy tried to keep her cool, but couldn't, she giggled. A wide smile spread over her face. "Hey Ginny!" she said.

Ginny smiled back and hugged her. "Hi Pansy! How are things?"

"Everything is great. Blaise and I have been preparing for this all year, so be ready to get your arses whipped!" Pansy said with a smirk.

Ginny looked at Draco and they both raised their eyebrows.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Pans," Draco said. "We have also been preparing all year, and our ballroom is better than yours," he lazily drawled.

"Draco Malfoy! Have you really been training for something other than Quidditch?" Pansy said, faking a gasp and throwing her hand to her forehead in a dramatic gesture.

Draco scowled at his friend. "You try living with this… bunny on sleepless potion," he made a gesture towards the redhead at his side. "'This is very important Draco. We can't loose this year again, Draco.'" Draco imitated Ginny's voice.

"Ooph!" The impact of Ginny's elbow left Draco clutching his stomach.

"You watch it, mister, or you'll need to find somewhere else to sleep tonight!" she said, wagging her finger in his face. Abruptly she turned around to Pansy again, and said, "Where's your husband, anyway?"

Pansy made a vague gesture with her hand towards a corner of the ballroom. "Over at the signup desk."

Alarm spread across Ginny's face, but before she could tell Draco to hurry and sign them up, he sighed and said, "I'm on my way."

"Thank you, dear," she said in a sugar sweet voice. He waved his hand over his shoulder without turning around.

Pansy raised a perfect eyebrow, and made a whipping sound and gesture. "Someone's got their husband whipped," she said in a suggestive voice.

Ginny blushed, but said, "Not as well as you've got yours!"

"Touché!"



05:15

"Welcome, welcome, to the Fifteenth Annual Twenty-Four Hour Dance-A-Thon sponsored by Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. This year all proceeds will be donated to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. The winners will be the ones to choose which Department our money will go to!" A familiar voice rang through the room, too familiar.

Ginny spun around and saw her twin brothers sitting in the commentator's box.

"What the…"

Pansy interrupted, "Why didn't you tell me your brothers were commentating?"

"I didn't know," Ginny said, a bit confused.

Draco came stalking over and asked the same. "Why are Fred and George in the commentator's box?"

"Probably because they're commentating?" Blaise answered Draco's rhetorical question, when he came up behind his best friend.

"I don't know!" Ginny shouted. "They didn't tell me," she mumbled absentmindedly, before walking briskly over to her two older brothers.

"Hi, Gin!" Fred said, grinning. Ginny didn't say anything, nor did she return the smile. She just continued to glare at them.

The grin slipped from both of their faces and George said, "Uh oh, I think she's mad at us, Fred."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Fred said under his breath.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" she hissed through her teeth. If there hadn't been so many strangers in the room she would have screamed it at the top of her lungs.

Fred and George looked at each other, then at her. Their eyes looked like deer's caught in headlights. Good, Ginny thought with glee. They knew that this was her charity, what Draco and she liked to do every year. And each year she relished in the fact that none of her family were here. Sometimes it felt like they were everywhere and she never got to be just her. She was always someone's sister.

Recognising their sister's mad face, George said quickly, "They called on us when Carelius Perriwinkle lost his voice and couldn't do it."

"We said yes. It is for charity after all!" Fred said, trying to end it with a joke. Ginny didn't laugh.

"Why are you so mad, Gin?" George asked, using his wounded puppy voice, "We thought you'd be happy."

Taking a deep breath, Ginny tried to reign in her anger. "This is my thing," she explained. "This is our thing, Draco's and mine. We come and spend a lot of money for the charity, and we dance all twenty-four hours trying to win." She sighed. "And I’m afraid I won't be able to concentrate when you are here."

"It'll be okay," George said.

"Yeah, we'll be good," Fred added.

An incredulous snort escaped her. She highly doubted that they would be "good". Nevertheless she smiled.

"I'm cheering for you!" George said, enthusiastically.

Ginny smiled and turned to Fred. When he didn't say anything she said, "Wait? You're not?"

Fred squirmed and anxiously looked at his twin. Ginny tapped her foot and crossed her arms. The similarity to their mother was striking.

"Well, it wouldn't be much of a bet if we both cheered for you," Fred said finally.

"You have a bet?" she asked in an icy voice she had picked up from Narcissa Malfoy.

"Um… yes?" George's statement turned into a question. It was scary how much she acted like their mother when she was mad at them.

"Then who are you rooting for?" she asked Fred, deadly calm.

"Harry."

"Harry!" Ginny shouted. "Harry is here? Competing?"

Fred and George nodded. "Didn't you know?" George asked.

"No, I did not fucking know," she said, scanning the room for the tell-tale mop of black hair. "Have you all just stopped telling me things?" she muttered under her breath. "Oh well, now we have to win. There's no other option. How much have you and Fred bet, George?" Ginny asked, ignoring Fred completely.

"A hundred Galleons," George answered.

"Well, my brother -my favourite brother- prepare to be a hundred Galleons richer," Ginny said sweetly.

"Oi! He's suddenly your favourite brother?" Fred said, indignantly.

"Hush, don't speak, you traitor! Betting against your own sister, your own flesh and blood! For what? A boy you've known for only 20 years? You are a disgrace!" Ginny said in scandalous tones.

She was preparing to storm off when Fred said, "We brought Victoire!"

Ginny turned around with a big smile on her face. "That's great! Where is my niece?"

"I'm not sure. She went to find you…" George trailed off, and started looking around the big room.

"She's over there with Malfoy," said Fred.

"Well, I'm going over there. I'll see, or hear, you two later."


05:30

"Why do I let you two drag me here every year?" The redheaded girl at his elbow said while rubbing her eyes.

Draco chuckled, "That's exactly what your aunt said, too."

"But, why Uncle Draco? It's so bloody early!" said twelve- year-old Victoire Weasley.

"Don't swear, Victoire," Draco scolded.

The girl sighed. "It's so very early. Better?"

"Much." Draco's lips twitched. He knew that Fleur would skin him alive if he return her daughter with more swear words in her vocabulary than she'd left with.

"But why?" she asked again.

"Why? Because your aunt and I pay you ten Galleons to be our assistant, and if we win, I'll give you forty more, how does that sound?" Draco had found out with experience that the best way to get a person to do what you want them to is to offer them money for their trouble.

Victoire's face lit up. "When do we start?"

05:35

"Potter is here," Ginny said as she walked up to her husband and niece.

Draco, who was just taking a sip of water, choked. He spun around to face his wife. "You sure?"

Ginny nodded. "That's what Fred and George said."

"Fuck."

He looked down to see Victoire tugging at his shirtsleeve. "Don't swear, Uncle Draco!" she said, with an annoying smile.

"Darn?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, Mum says that's a swear word, too."

He dug around his pocket until he found a Sickle. He put it in her hand and said, "Darn is allowed, but don't tell your mother!"

Victoire grinned and pocketed her newly earned coin.

Draco turned back to Ginny and said, "Darn!"

Ginny lifted an eyebrow but didn't comment on her husband buying their niece off. "My sentiments exactly," Ginny said dryly back. "They have a bet going, you know?" Ginny added.

Draco quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes. Fred is betting that Harry will beat us."

"Not fucking likely," he spit out. Victoire held out her hand silently, and he gave her another Sickle.

"That's what I said, too!" Ginny looked around the room. Why was he here anyway? Harry couldn't dance. He didn't give a shite about dancing…

"Potter is here," Blaise said, walking up to them with Pansy in tow.

"We know," Draco and Ginny said in unison.

"Have you seen him?" Draco asked. Ginny could see his mouth tightening, a sure sign that he was anxious.

"Yeah," Pansy said, "He's over there with Weasley and Granger." Pansy pointed to the farthest corner of the room. Following the line of her finger, Ginny saw her brother's red hair and his wife's bushy mane. Standing beside them stood Harry Potter.

"Ron and Hermione are here, too?" Ginny almost yelled in exasperation. She threw her hands in the air and mumbled, "Why don't people tell me anything anymore?"

"You do realise that now we have to beat not only Potter, but your brother and Granger, too?" Draco drawled. To anyone else it would seem that he was bored, but Ginny could see that this was very important to him. Old habits die hard.

Ginny ran her hand down his arm and sighed, "Yeah, or we'll hear about for the rest of our lives." She refused to lose to her brother. That just could not happen. While Draco wanted to beat Harry, Ginny wanted to beat Ron.

"Come with me. I'm going to go over and talk to them," she said to her husband and her friends.

They nodded. "Yes, let's freak out the golden trio," Blaise said with a smirk.

"What about you, Victoire?" Draco asked.

Ginny found it very endearing how close Draco had gotten to her niece. When Victoire was eight and Fleur had wanted to start teaching her French, Draco had volunteered to help. He spoke French almost as well as Fleur, and Bill's wife had been happy for the aid. Fleur reckoned that Victoire would be more perceptive to learning if someone other than her mother taught her.

"Yeah, I want to say hi to Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione," the twelve-year-old said.

05:45

As they ventured closer to the trio standing in the corner, Ginny could hear what they were talking about.

"Oh God, why are we here again?" Harry groaned.

"Because, Harry, this is an important charity," Hermione said, curtly, in a manner that made Ginny think that Hermione had told them both this more times than one.

"Have you totally forgotten the Yule Ball?" Ron asked his wife. His voice clearly conveyed that he was just as excited as his best friend to be there.

"What about the Yule Ball?" Hermione asked stiffly. Her back was ramrod straight and her manner told the two boys that no matter what they said, they were staying.

"We are rubbish at dancing!" Ron almost shouted. "And don't make me mention our wedding," he said, pointing at her. Hermione coloured slightly.

Ginny sniggered. Ron and Hermione's wedding had been beautiful. At least up until the dancing had started. Ron had fumbled around and stepped on Hermione's toes more than once and he had almost ruined the wedding cake. Ron had made her promise that they wouldn't do much dancing in the future. Looks like she broke that promise today.

"Well." Hermione bristled at the words, "Now you'll have twenty-four hours to practise."

"Hello!" Ginny said, stopping before them.

"Ginny!" Hermione said with a smile. She gave her sister- in- law a hug, "It's so good to see you."

"Yes it is," Ginny answered, "but what the hell are you doing here?" Ginny's smile was a tad tight. Great, more family.

"Oh, isn't it wonderful?" Hermione perked up, not seeming to hear the strained note in Ginny's voice. "A witch at the office mentioned it. You didn't tell me it was for charity!" Hermione scolded.

There was a very good reason to why Ginny hadn't mentioned that the Dance-A-Thon was for charity. This reason. She knew that Hermione would insist on participating if she knew it was for charity.

Ginny's smile tensed even more. "It must have slipped my mind."

The presence at her back and the hard edge to Harry's face told Ginny that Draco had finally caught up with her. He took his bloody time, she thought with a grumble.

"Potter," Draco said with a curt nod.

Harry nodded back. "Malfoy."

Harry and Draco had come a long way from their schoolboy days. Not to say that they were friends or anything, but they did manage to remain in the same room without hexing one another. After Ginny had married Draco two years ago, they really hadn't had a choice. Molly Weasley insisted on having the whole family over for family dinner once a month. Harry, of course, had been as good as adopted into the family and came every time. Draco and Harry had learned to tolerate each other and discovered after some time that their humour was quite the similar, to the horror of both.

"What're you doing here, Potter?" Draco asked. "Didn't you make fun of us for doing this just last week?" he added with a sneer.

Harry scowled and tossed his head towards Hermione, "It’s all her fault!"

"And here I thought you were your own person," Draco mocked. "You can't say 'no' to your best friend?" Draco said.

"You have no idea what she can do," Harry said bitterly. He threw Hermione another dirty look. Hermione pretended she didn't see.

Ginny grinned. "In Harry- speak, that means that she has blackmail material on him," she said with glee.

Harry winced, and Draco's smirked widened into a full-fledge smile.

"Really?" Draco drawled with a raised eyebrow. He glided over to Hermione. "Hello, Granger!" he said in a sweet voice.

"I'm not telling you, Malfoy," Hermione said, deadpanned. "And it's Weasley! How many times do I have to tell you?" she asked, annoyed.

Draco smirked. "I'm sorry, but you will always be Granger. I can't call you Weasley because then what will I call your husband?"

"What about actually using our first names, Draco?" Hermione said slowly, enunciating his own first name.

All the Slytherins gasped. "What is this new unfamiliar idea proposed?" Blaise asked snobbishly, in a voice sounding terribly like his mother.

"I do not know, Zabini," Pansy said, in the same scandalous tone her husband used.

"Obviously she's not suggesting to use people's given names! That cannot be borne. Are we not, after all, boarding school children?" Draco said, feeding upon his friends.

"Harr di harr, harr," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I thought it was funny," Victoire piped up from behind Draco's shoulder. "Hi, Aunt Hermione. Hi, Uncle Ron!" She did a small wave.

"Victoire! Draco managed to trick you into being his helper this year, too?" Ron asked.

"Of course!" she chirped. "Uncle Draco pays very well, you know."

A look of disgust appeared on Ron's face. "You're paying her? She's only twelve!"

"Yes, I'm paying her. She'll have to be awake the next twenty-four hours and do quite a lot of work. She deserves something for her trouble," Draco said condescendingly.

Ron coloured slightly.

Victoire went to hug her uncle. "Who is going to be your helper?" she asked, looking up at Ron with her arms still around him.

"What? Oh, Teddy. Teddy is going to both ours and Harry's helper," Ron said.

Victoire abruptly let go of Ron's waist and stepped back, "Teddy?!" she demanded.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Ginny asked the girl. "You and Teddy not getting along?"

"He's just so annoying, Auntie Ginny!" Victoire whinged. "Bloody Ravenclaw."

"What was that?" both Draco and Hermione asked.

"Darn Ravenclaw?" she asked looking at them sweetly.

"Humph!" Hermione said.


05:57

Draco and Ginny walked over to a secluded part of the room. Looking around, as if fearing that people would be spying on them, they stopped.

Victorie's job as their helper was to bring them food and drink while on the dance floor. Anything they might require, she would fetch for them.

This year, Draco had put down a game plan that, if executed correctly, it would help them enormously on their way to victory.

"Okay, today we have a better plan than last year. This time we won't let Pansy and Blaise win over us!" Draco said. "We will use our green cards every sixth hour. We will charm our shoes to not give us blisters."

Ginny lifted an eyebrow, "That's it? If you ask me that's not much of a plan. It's common sense!"

Draco sniffed. "It's a nice and simple plan. Not everything has to be complicated you know."

It was a very good plan, if he did say so himself. Why they hadn't thought to charm their shoes before was beyond him. Contestants were allowed to use their wands up until the bell rung.

They managed to just charm their shoes before Fred's voice rang throughout the ballroom telling them to get ready.

06:00

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for the Twenty-Four Hour Dance-A-Thon to begin. If the couples would come on to the dance floor and get ready, we'll tell you all about the rules."

"Rule number one: The couples will dance for the next twenty-four hours. You must be moving at all times. No exceptions!"

"Rule number two," George said, taking over from his twin. "No wands are allowed on the dance floor. You are not allowed to use magic even when you use your green card. Your helper may not use magic, and if you were to get hurt you are not allowed to use magic to fix it lest you want to be disqualified."

"Rule number three: each team has three green cards at their disposal. Each card equals fifteen minutes off the dance floor were you are allowed to do anything you like, except leave the premises. You may use your green cards whenever you like, but you have to be back on dance floor before the time is up or you will be disqualified," Fred continued.

Ginny and Draco walked out and found a spot in the middle of the dance floor. Pansy and Blaise took a spot beside them. The four of them had an ongoing competition where the losing couple pays for dinner at the LeFay. LeFay was the most exclusive restaurant in Diagon Alley and was mostly populated by people who were the same age as their parents. But, they loved having one night a year when they could dress up and act as snobbish they wanted, order ridiculously expensive food and send it back if it wasn’t just right. Sometimes they would send it back even if there wasn't anything wrong with it.

"You ready?" Draco whispered into her ear. A slight shiver ran down her spine. Even after all these years he still had that effect on her.

She nodded, "Yes, let's do this."

The music started up. It was a nice upbeat tempo song from the 1930's, and the bell that signalled that the competition had begun rang.

08:00

Ginny was getting a little breathless. The tempo of the songs playing had been upbeat the last two hours and she was starting to feel it. This wasn't good at all. If she was supposed to last another twenty-two hours then she couldn't be tired now. She bit her teeth together and signalled for Victoire to bring her something to drink.

"What's the matter, Gin?" Draco asked her, when he saw her signal for Victoire.

"Nothing," she answered. "I'm just a little thirsty. I am allowed to get something to drink, aren't I?" she said, raising her eyebrows at him.

He held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "Yes, of course you are!" he said. “You don't have to bite my head off," he added, muttering under his breath.

Ginny squeezed his arm a little tighter. "You think this is bad? You wait 'till we're halfway," she growled.

Draco looked at her in alarm. Then, something dawned on him, "You never did get that second cup of coffee, did you?"

"No."

Victoire came over with two bottles of water. "Here you go, Aunt Ginny."

Ginny tore off the lid and gulped down half of the water in the bottle before saying, "Thanks dear. I really needed that."

"Victoire, could you please also get your aunt a big cup of coffee with sugar and cream? She needs to get her blood level up, and she never did get that second cup of coffee she always needs to wake up properly," Draco said, while twirling his wife around.

Victoire nodded. "Do you need anything, Uncle Draco?" she asked before leaving.

Draco shook his head.

Five minutes later, Victoire came back with a hot mug of coffee for Ginny. The coffee had been bought at the shop in the hall since that was the charity's biggest source of income. It was encouraged that the couples bought all their food and beverages from the charity since all money went to a good cause.

10:00

They'd been dancing for four hours. Ginny was having a very good time. It was this time of the competition that she enjoyed the most. People had finally come out to watch and her brothers were actually great commentators, much more fun than Carelius Perriwinkle ever had been. Her feet did not hurt and she was thankfully free of blisters. It looked like Draco's spell had worked after all.

"So, honey, where exactly did you learn that nifty shoe spell?" she asked.

He looked down at her and smirked. "Where do you think I learned it?" he drawled. "From my mother, of course."

The first time Ginny had met Narcissa Malfoy had been a terrifying experience. She and Draco had been dating for five months and he had finally taken her home to meet his parents.

Narcissa had looked her up and down, sniffed and said he could do worse. All Lucius said was that at least she was a pure-blood. And, that was that. They didn't say anything mean and they didn't interfere.

When Draco proposed, Narcissa had insisted on a large wedding, bigger than Ginny really wanted. But, Narcissa was impossible to argue with, so Ginny ended up with a gorgeous garden wedding in Narcissa's rose garden. Through the days of intense planning Ginny had gotten to know her mother- in- law and found her to be quite a likable woman when she first got to know her. Ginny discovered that Draco was much more like his mother than he was his father.

"Well, your mother is a very resourceful lady," Ginny said smiling. "Why has she not shown that to me before? After all those balls she insisted we go to. My feet were killing me at the end of every event!"

Draco looked thoughtful. "I think she felt you had to earn it," he finally said.

"Earn it!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Yes. Being a Malfoy wife is not easy and she did not have any charms to help her feet either," Draco answered, and gave her a twirl.

"Oh, so she's making me pay for all the suffering she had to go through!" Ginny said offended.

"Hmm… yes," Draco said with a nod.

"You do realise that I'm going to do the exact same thing to your son's wife?" Ginny asked, pointing a finger at her husband.

"That's the circle of life, babe."

12:00

Victoire was standing ready with the green card the minute the clock struck twelve. Her job, so far, hadn't been hard at all. She had brought drinks once an hour or so, but the rest of the time she had spent in the bleachers reading Pride and Prejudice in French.

When she punched in the first card her aunt and uncle's names came up on the break board with a down- counting clock. "Draco and Ginevra Malfoy: 15:00"

Both Ginny and Draco ran off the dance floor and into the other room where one could find a place to sit or, if necessary, lie down.

"You signed me up as Ginevra?" Ginny hissed angrily. Anybody in the Weasley clan knew that Ginny wasn't very fond of her real name.

"It is your name, you know?" Draco drawled back. "Besides, Ginevra Malfoy sounds better than Ginny Malfoy."

Ginny just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Mature, very mature."

"I thoughts so," she snapped back. "Ah! I need something to eat and somewhere to lie down."

Draco led her over to a couch and sat down heavily in a nearby chair.

"Victoire, could you please get us something to eat and drink? Preferably something light," Draco asked her while rubbing his eyes.

She nodded, turned around and ran to the shop. She quickly looked through the menu. She had studied it before, so she wouldn't take long when she was on the clock, and she found what she had decided on an hour ago and ordered it. Three minutes later, Victoire came back with two plates of warm chicken salad.

Her aunt's face lit up at the sight of food. "Thank you so much, Victoire! It smells delicious," Ginny praised.

Victoire smiled and gently put down the two plates on the table.

"How are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"It's going well. I'm having lots of fun," Ginny beamed through a forkful of chicken.

"No aches anywhere?" Victoire asked suspiciously.

"No, none at all. Draco's spell seems to have worked," Ginny answered.

"You doubted my spell-casting skills?" Draco said and sniffed.

Ginny laughed and bowed forward to pat his knee. "No, not at all."

Draco turned to Victoire and asked, "How much time do we have left?"

She turned around and checked the clock on the board: "Draco and Ginevra Malfoy: 07:06"

"Six minutes until you need to be back on the dance floor," Victoire said turning back.

Ginny and Draco sighed and leaned back in their seats. "Tell us when we have two minutes left, please?" Draco mumbled with his eyes closed.

She nodded, and sat down beside them and pulled out her book again.

Five minutes later, she shook them awake and a minute later her Uncle Fred's voice rang through the hall:

"Draco and Ginevra Malfoy needs to be back on the dance floor before the minute is up unless they want to be disqualified."

They both jumped up and ran to the dance floor.

14:00

"God, this song is annoying," Draco muttered. "Why can't they just skip it? They are doing this on purpose; they know I hate this song!" Draco ranted.

As the commentators, Fred and George were in charge of the music. They had discovered earlier that winter that Draco had a strong hatred for a particular pop song that was very popular these days and was playing on the wireless constantly. Draco would violently switch the channels every time it was played including once during a dinner at the Burrow.

"Don't you liiike this song?" Fred said sliding up behind Draco and turning up the wireless again. Draco clenched his teeth and said nothing.

"But how can anyone not like this song?" George said pouting, sitting down on the other side of Draco and putting his arm around his shoulder.

"Isn't it just so fun?" Fred said excitedly, and put the volume up.

"Doesn't it make you happy?" George said, bouncing on the arm of Draco's chair.

Draco's face was like stone. The only indicator that anything was amiss was the ticking in his jaw. "Would you please turn off that god awful song?" Draco said in a very measured voice.

Fred just cranked up the volume even higher.

Bill, who was the one of Ginny's brothers that Draco liked the most, took pity on him and told the twins to please turn down the wireless.

"Now, why, William Arthur, would we do that?" Fred asked, in an overly curious voice.

"Because, Fredrick Gideon, your sister, Ginevra Molly, will have your balls for annoying her husband," Bill replied in a civil, matter-of-factly voice.

This was a game they had played many times where they used all the people in the room’s full names. All the Weasley children had two and when said out loud they sounded quite ridiculous; something the twins had discovered early. Bill was perhaps the one who got away with the best one.

"What do you say, George Fabian? Should we let Draco Lucius off the hook?" Fred turned to his twin and asked in mock seriousness. Draco flinched at the use of his middle name.

George tapped his chin and considered Draco and then the room. "What do you say Charles Septimus? Should we turn down the wireless because our dear brother- in- law has something against this wonderful song?" he inquired to the second oldest son of the Weasleys. Charlie was sitting in the corner hoping he wouldn't get dragged into it. He looked up from the paper he was reading and sighed.

"Let it go, George," he said tiredly.

George still looked at him as if he hadn't gotten an answer. Charlie sighed again and said in a bored voice, "Just let it go ...George Fabian."

A smile crept over George's face. "I still think we should get more opinions, don't you, Fredrick Gideon?"

Fred nodded with glee. Both of them could clearly see the tick in Draco's jaw intensify. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the kitchen, discussing something, but all three of them came when Fred called. "We need your opinions, dear friends. Should we turn down the music just because Draco Lucius has a problem with it? What do you say Ronald Bilius?"

Ron coloured slightly at the use of his full name, but he quickly recognized the game and turned to Draco with a serious expression and then again to the wireless to listen to the song in question. A slow smile spread across his face as he answered “I rather like it, Fredrick Gideon. Why should we have to turn it down just because one person doesn't?"

"My point exactly, Ronald Bilius!" George exclaimed. The twins then turned to Hermione.

"What is your verdict on the matter, Hermione Jean?" George asked as if they were in a courtroom.

"I think you are all acting terribly childish!" she said and turned around to go back to the kitchen, but not before sending a sympathetic look towards Draco.

"And what do you think, Harry James?" Fred asked the remaining member of the trio.

Harry smirked and said, "The song is cool, leave it on."

"Well, well, my friends! It looks like we have a winne-" Fred started to say.

"No you don't!" said a voice icily from the stairwell. Ginny Malfoy stood there in all her furious glory. Draco noticeably sagged in his chair. "I vote we turn the damn thing off, Fredrick Gideon and George Fabian!" She managed to make their names sound like the foulest swear words in the book.

"Ginevra Molly! It is so nice to see you!" Fred gestured wildly.

"Then it looks like we have a tie," George said, in the voice of a sports commentator. "If only we had Percival Ignatius here to break it!"

At that, all the Weasley siblings fell over with laughter. Harry and Draco looked at each other in confusion. Draco raised an eyebrow, and Harry shrugged in reply. Taking the opportunity while the Weasley twins were down, Draco went over to the wireless and turned the damned thing off.

Ginny patted his back consolingly and looked over at her grinning brothers. They were obviously enjoying Draco's discomfort. "They're only playing it to get a rise out of you. You were very foolish to open yourself up for such an attack. You knew they had been looking for something to bother you with for months!" she lightly scolded.

Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. "How long can one song last anyway?" he muttered.

A long time.

16:00

"It looks like some couples are already using their second green card," Draco remarked with a certain amount of glee.

The couple in question was one of the ones Ginny had bet on earlier would quit before midnight. The Wentworths were known for their active contribution to every charity around. They always came to the Dance-A-Thon and managed to use up all their cards before the six hour mark was up. The fact that Mr. Wentworth was ninety years of age may or may not have something to do with it.

"It's only the Wentworths, Draco," Ginny said with a bored voice. "They use their green cards at the same time each year."

"Well, it's still nice to see people going," Draco said sullenly.

18:00

It was finally time for their second break. Ginny stumbled gratefully off the dance floor and fell onto a couch. Draco was faring a little better than his wife, but fell onto the other couch as well.

This time Victoire brought them pasta with beef. They ate slowly both knowing that if they ate too fast they would pay for it when they started dancing again.

They didn't talk this time, and the minute they finished eating they laid down and closed their eyes. After a minute, both of them were snoring lightly. Victoire knew without having them tell her that she needed to wake them before the time was up.

Ginny got brutally woken up by her husband shaking her. It felt like she had only just closed her eyes, and by the way Draco looked, it seemed like he felt the same.

"C'mon, Gin," he mumbled. "We need to go back."

"Mmhhff!" Ginny managed to say before turning around as if to go back to sleep.

"Ginny!" Draco said a little louder. He shook her shoulder until she popped her eyes open again.

"Leave me alone," she whinged.

"Do you want to win?" Draco asked annoyance lacing his voice. "Because if you don't get up, we will be disqualified."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Ginny said and rolled off the couch.

"And here they come, the elusive Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. You are lucky; you have just two seconds left on your clock!" Fred said as they trudged back onto the dance floor.

Ginny started dragging and dancing Draco over to Fred and George. Her eyes were shooting daggers at them. She was tired. Her feet were starting to ache, and she had another twelve hours to go.

"You two need to shut the fuck up, or else I will find a way to bodily harm you," she hissed.

George made a clucking sound, "Tsk, tsk, Ginny, threatening the commentators!"

"You know the rules, little sister, no use of magic," Fred said in a sing-song voice.

Ginny smiled a terrifying, sweet smile. "Who said anything about hurting you now?" she asked in a honey voice. "I know where you sleep."

A shudder went through her two brothers. They seemed to remember what she could do when provoked, and she relished in their fear.

Ginny and Draco moved away from them and left them to imagine what horrors their sister could, and would do, if they did not behave.

"I love it when you threaten people who aren't me," Draco said.

Ginny just grinned.

20:00

"How are you two doing?" Hermione asked a little breathless, dancing her and Ron's way over to them.

When Ginny looked at the two of them she could never quite determine who the one leading was. She had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't Ron.

"Everything is going great," Ginny said brightly. "We've done this before. You don't start to feel it before rounding the fifteen hour mark," Ginny lied. Her feet had been aching for an hour or so, but she would never admit thatt to Hermione.

"Oh, I don't feel a thing either!" Hermione chirped back, but there was a little strain in her voice.

"I do," Ron muttered.

Ginny smiled at her sister- in- law. "Just you wait, Hermione. You won't be able to walk for days!"

Hermione looked at her horrified. "Surely, it can't be that bad?"

Draco chuckled at her and shook his head, "Wait and see, Granger. Wait and see."

When they left their side, Draco looked over at her and smirked. "Don't feel a thing?" he drawled.

Ginny scowled. "Like I would ever admit that it's starting to hurt!" Draco twirled her, "And why exactly are my feet starting to hurt?" she asked forcefully.

Draco sighed, "Because the spell only protects you from blisters, not the fact that your feet are starting to get tired."

Ginny grudgingly nodded her head and agreed that made sense.

22:00

On the dance floor there weren't many couples left. Ginny's prediction of most of the elderly couples quitting before midnight had rung true. Only young couples were left, and three of them were friends and family.

Pansy and Blaise were still going strong, and Hermione still had an iron grip on Ron and wouldn't let him quit. In the other part the room was Harry and his partner Romilda Vane.

Both Ginny and Draco had been surprised to see that Harry managed to keep up for so long. They remembered how bad Harry had been at dancing both at the Yule Ball, (Parvati had been telling the story of how bad Harry had treated her for months afterwards, making sure that every female in Gryffindor knew,) and the few weddings he had been forced to attend. Mostly he had gotten away with dancing once with Hermione, once with Ginny and once with Mrs. Weasley before calling it quits.

"I can't believe Harry hasn't stopped yet," Ginny remarked, looking over at Harry and his incredibly annoying partner.

"I know! Does Vane have steel-tipped shoes or something? He must have stepped on her toes a hundred times by now," Draco said incredulously. They had seen the evidence of this happening several times during the night, but Romilda Vane hadn't even pulled a face.

Feeling herself being moved towards the couple in question, Ginny looked at Draco with a questioning glance.

"Let's find out," Draco answered the unasked question.

They could hear the shrill voice of Romilda Vane long before they got close enough to smell her perfume, and even then they weren't in talking range.

Romilda was telling Harry all about her thought process behind her outfit.

"I was in Gladrags and said that I needed something very nice for my date with you. The lady was looking at me like I couldn't afford it and I was like, do you know who I'm dating? Harry Potter! And I need your best dress for the Twenty-Four Hour Dance-A-Thon," Romilda said waving her hand around. Harry was nodding and making agreeing sounds, but it didn't look like Romilda needed a second contributor to the conversation.

"So the lady in the store showed me this absolutely hideous yellow dress and I was like, you really think I would wear that?" she said, and looked at Harry like he should answer the question.

"Mhm," said Harry and rubbed his forehead. This seemed to satisfy Romilda and she continued to talk about the colour of her dress and why she chose the shoes she was wearing.

Romilda Vane was dressed in a shock pink dress with feathers. On her feet she was sporting six inches in the same colour as the dress and the shoes was also covered in feathers.

Harry looked up, spotted them and suddenly he didn’t look tired at all.

"Malfoy," he said and nodded.

Draco smirked in return. "Potter."

The black- haired girl in Harry's arms turned around to look at them. When she spotted Ginny, Romilda smiled, "Heeey, Ginny!" she squealed.

Ginny's smile was tight when she answered in kind. Romilda had been Ginny's least favourite person while at Hogwarts. The younger girl had fancied Harry for years and had been after Ginny to tell her all about the Harry Potter. How Romilda had managed to get Harry to take her out, Ginny had no idea, but the look at Harry's face every time Romilda's voice reached a particular high note told Ginny that it wouldn't last very long. For that she was glad. If Harry decided to keep her around, Ginny would need to have a talk with her mother about banning all girlfriends from coming to the Weasley dinners.

"How are you doing?" Ginny asked, cocking her head to the side and smiling compassionately. "Any pains?"

"No, not much. My heel is a little sore; I think I'm getting a blister. I don't think it was such a good idea to use new shoes for this," Romilda said, wrinkling her nose.

Draco chuckled and tried to camouflage it as a cough. "No, that probably wasn't such a good idea, Miss Vane," Draco said politely.

"Was there anything in particular you wanted, Malfoy?" Harry asked, clenching his teeth.

"No," Draco said as he and Ginny continued to dance beside Harry and Romilda. "I just had a question for Miss Vane."

Romilda looked up. "Me?" she said puzzled and a little flattered.

Draco smiled sardonically and said, "Do you not have any feelings in your toes at all, or do you fake it just to get into Potter's trousers?"

The girl blushed. "I have no idea what you are talking about," she said raising her head defiantly, looking into his eyes. It didn't last long though, for she quickly bowed her head again.

"Malfoy! Leave my date alone," Harry said going all purple in the face.

"I'm sorry, Potter," Draco apologized, not sounding sorry at all. "It's just that I've seen you step on her toes ten times in the last hour, and I'm wondering why she hasn't cuffed you over the head yet or stalked out of here in a huff." He looked at Romilda and grinned. "I mean that's what she did last year to Theo Nott."

"That's none of your busine- What?" Harry started and turned around to face his date. "You said you'd never been to this function before," he said accusingly.

Romilda shrugged. "I might have been to a couple." She waved her hand.

"She's a dance-a-thon whore," Ginny said simply.

Romilda stamped her foot, but since she was dancing it could have just been part of the dance. "I am not a whore!" she exclaimed.

"I did not say you were a whore. I said you were a dance-a-thon whore. There's a difference, dear Romilda. You go to the dance with the highest bidder, and you've done so the last three dances," Ginny answered, and started to dance away from the other couple.

They could not escape them; Romilda was dancing Harry after them.

"So, I like going to this dance. So what?! There are a lot of rich young men who need partners when their parents force them to contribute to charities. I'm just advertising my assets," she said, waving a hand down her body.

"Well, Potter here doesn't seem to have known. How much are you paying her?" Draco asked, grinning.

Harry looked faint and didn't answer, just looked at the dark- haired girl at his side.

"Oh, Harry here isn't paying. I'm doing him for free!"

Ginny made a very unladylike snort. "I bet you do," she muttered under her breath.

"And why are you 'doing' him for free?" Draco drawled, making air quotes around the word doing.

"Because I want to beat you or your stupid friends," she said with force and gestured to Pansy and Blaise. The last three years Ginny and Draco had won once, while Pansy and Blaise had won twice. Romilda, and her partner for the year, had gotten in behind them, if you excluded last year's fiasco with Theodore Nott. "And I figured the best person for the job would be Harry here. Nobody would like it better than to whip your arse in something, Malfoy," she said sweetly. "So when word got around that Hermione Weasley was forcing Harry Potter to go to the Twenty-Four Hour Dance-A-Thon, I grabbed my chance."

Suddenly, it seemed as if Harry came out of his stupor. He grinned and leaned over to whisper something to Romilda. She giggled and nodded.

"We are definitively going to beat you," Harry said with a smirk.

"No fucking way," Draco sneered.

Harry looked at Romilda and raised an eyebrow. "It can't be that bloody hard dancing for the next six hours without quitting, can it? I mean, Malfoy has done it many years in a row…"

She giggled.

Draco scowled and dragged Ginny away. "We will not loose to that idiot and his slut!"

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Ginny murmured, trying to placate her husband.

"No. 'Mors ante Infamiam'" he said.

Ginny raised an eyebrow, "What does the Malfoy family motto have to do with a dancing competition?" she asked with laughter in her voice.

"It will be a disgrace and dishonour to lose to Potter!" he exclaimed, "I would rather die!"

A great guffaw came from somewhere behind them. "You are such a drama queen, Draco!" Blaise exclaimed.

A grin spread over Ginny's face. "I was just about to say that myself."

Blaise winked at Ginny. "We know we're getting close to the end when Draco starts huffing and puffing."

"Ginny! My feet are hurting me" Pansy said, pouting.

"Does this mean you're thinking of quitting?" Ginny asked hopefully.

A wrinkle appeared on Pansy's brow. "Of course not!" she said scandalised. "It means that we are going to use our last green card now." She dragged her husband towards Fred and George to use it and shouted over her shoulder, "I'll see you two losers later!"

24:00

This time, when they used their last green card, Ginny went lie down immediately.

"Do you want something to eat, Aunt Ginny?" Victoire said through a yawn. The girl had been sleeping the last few hours, and had woken up right before they came off the dance floor. Her red hair was tousled and her clothes rumbled.

"No, Vicky, I only want to sleep. I'll eat on the floor later if I need it," Ginny said, eyes already closed.

The twelve- year- old nodded and turned to her uncle. He was also lying down and said before she could ask, "I don't want any food either, but could you get me some coffee I can drink right before going back on? Have it ready in ten minutes or so."


Victoire nodded and sat down again. She set the watch on her wrist to go off in five minutes and closed her eyes.

When the timer went off, Victoire went and woke up Draco.

With a groan, Draco stood and went over to Ginny to wake her. "I hate this part of the competition," Draco muttered as he tried to shake Ginny awake.

"Leave me alone," she groaned as she tried to escape Draco's probing fingers.

Draco sighed and put the remainder of his coffee under her nose. "You'll get this delicious coffee if you wake up," he teased. When she went to grab it, he put just out of her reach. "You'll have to get up, Gin." He continued to needle her off the couch.

"Okay, I'm up. Give me my coffee!" she demanded, grabbing for the half- full cup. She gulped down the remaining liquid and looked up disappointed. "It was only half- full!" she said accusingly. Draco sighed and looked at Victoire questioningly.

"Can you get your aunt another cup of coffee, please?"

"Yes, of course."

He checked his watch and added, "You'll have to give it to her on the floor, because we need to go now!" He grabbed hold of Ginny's arm and dragged her towards the dance floor.


02:00

"I'm so tired, Draco," Ginny whispered. They really hadn't gotten any better from the previous years. Draco blamed work; Ginny blamed their old age.

"Yes, our ripe old age at thirty," Draco had said with a roll of his eyes, when she'd voiced her opinion.

"I know, Gin," Draco said soothingly and stroked her hair. "Four more hours and it'll be all over."

"I need to rest now," she said.

The music was slow and the dancing had turned into a sort of wagging from side to side. Draco had to hold Ginny up most of the time and Victoire was keeping Ginny on a running supply of caffeine. There were only five couples left, not counting them.

Pansy was hanging on Blaise's arm and was looking as tired as Ginny was. In the other end of the room Ron was struggling to keep up with Hermione at a pace that was too high and didn't match the music at all. Harry and Romilda seemed fine, but Ginny could see Harry's eyes drooping.

The other two couples left consisted of Catherine Wood and her partner, Thomas Barker. Both of them looked to be sleeping and Draco and Blaise had a bet going on as to whether they would fall over on the dance floor or not. Blaise said yes; Draco said no.

The last couple was Aurora Munster and her brother, Eric. The two of them were hardcore, and they had competed every year since the competition's conception. It had been years since they had last won, but they never gave up hope. Aurora, who was starting to get on the chubby side, was sweating horribly, and her brother was all red in the face.

Fred and George were drowsing. Since they had not terminated the Sonoros charm, their snores could be heard throughout the room.

"Please, tell me something so I can keep awake," Ginny mumbled.

Draco thought about and looked around for inspiration. His eyes landed on Thomas Barker and he whispered in her ear, "You see the guy Oliver Wood's sister is dancing with?"

She looked over at the young man and nodded.

"His mother used to be Tabitha Flint, now she's Barker. Tabitha Flint was the same age as my father," Draco said.

"This isn't going to end as a 'and she married a muggle, can you believe it?' kind of story is it?" Ginny interrupted.

Draco smiled. "No, it isn't. But she did marry a muggle." He continued, "Tabitha was madly in love with my father while at Hogwarts. This is a kind of story my father would never tell anybody. I only know this because my mother told me. One day, Miss Flint decided it was time for my father to notice her, so she got all dressed up, or down," he said, and swallowed heavily.

"Down?" Ginny remarked, and cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, down. She came into his dormitory, only dressed in underwear and pushed him down on his bed, got on top of him and started to give him a lap-dance. Now you need to be extremely glad that you have never laid eyes on Tabitha Barker, because if you did, you would be having some very disturbing mental images right now. Let's just say that she isn't a pixie." Draco shuddered.

"What happened next?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"My father pushed her off and ran into the common room, yelling for Professor Slughorn," Draco said with an evil grin, probably imagining his father running and yelling in public.

"And how come your mother told you this?" Ginny curiously asked.

"Tabitha Flint Barker came up in a conversation, and I asked if she was related to the Flints, and which family the Barkers were? And my mother, who can be very mean sometimes, told me the story. Apparently it had become common knowledge and was possibly one of the reasons Tabitha married a muggle. She had to get away from the shame," Draco finished his story.

A large thud rang through the room and Blaise shouted, "You owe me ten Galleons, Malfoy!"

Catherine Wood and Thomas Barker had fallen on the floor asleep.

04:00

"I hate you."

"Love you too, Ginny."

05:30

It was the last thirty minutes of the competition. In thirty minutes she would be able to go home. The only ones left were Pansy and Blaise, Harry and Romilda and themselves. Ron and Hermione had been disqualified around three when Hermione had stumbled and they had to quit. The siblings had also been disqualified because they had stopped moving. Ginny was not sure why, but suddenly they had just stopped and Fred and George had to tell them to leave.

"We are closing in on the last half hour of this competition," Fred said, fully awake now.

"Hopefully we will have a winner by the time the clock tolls six. If not, you all know what will happen then…" George added in a too cheerful voice for Ginny's comfort.

The remaining pairs groaned. They did know what would happen then. If there was more than one pair left when the bell rang they would be forced to run around the ball room three times and the couple finishing first would be the winner.

Blaise and Pansy came over to them and they eyed Romilda and Harry together. "You got any power left in your legs?" Pansy asked in a hushed voice.

Ginny, who was barely holding things together, shook her head, "No, dear god, please let them trip or get a cramp or something!"


06:00

The bell rang and still none of the couples had had any accidents.

"I don't care which one of us wins as long as it isn't Potter," Draco said as they went to the line George had conjured on the floor.

"The rules go as follows," Fred said. "Since there are three couples left we need to settle it with this. You run around the room, no cutting corners, three times. The first couple that crosses this line wins!"

The Bell rang again and a blaring song from the popular rock group Cruciatus blared over the speakers. Draco kept a tight hold of Ginny's wrist as he dragged her into a run around the room. For the first two rounds it seemed as if they were going to win, but when they were approaching the finish line two dark- haired people came up from behind and finished just before them.

Ginny fell down on the floor, unable to breathe, let alone see who had won.

"What the hell happened there, Romilda?" She could hear Harry shouting at Romilda.

"Well, if you had listened to anything I've told you the last twenty-four hours you would know that I can't run!" she shrieked back.

"Can't run? Everyone can run!" Harry yelled back.

"I can't! I lost my two big toes during the war, which, by the way, is the reason I can't feel it when you step on my feet all the time!" she retaliated.

Ginny felt the insane urge to laugh. She was tired. They hadn't won, but neither had Harry. She felt a cool hand lift her up and carry her to a sofa.

"I guess we didn't win this year either?" she mumbled into his shirt.

He heaved a sigh. "No, those damn Zabinis slipped in right in front of us."

Ginny giggled, "Aw! I guess we'll be buying our friends an insanely expensive meal soon, then?"

"Yes. But not until a week or so, because I won't be up before then," Draco said, yawning.

He went and shook Victoire awake, who had been sleeping since their last break.

"Did you win?" she mumbled.

"No, I'm afraid we didn't. But I'll give you the forty galleons, plus the extra ten, anyway. You were great!"

Victoire smiled and said 'thank you' before going back to sleep.

They gathered up their things and went to the nearest Apparation spot. Victoire was going home with Ron and Hermione.

Ginny was hanging off of Draco's arm while rubbing her eyes, because she couldn't walk and rub at the same time. "We are not doing this next year!"

The end