Chapter 1

It's Just A Party

"What do I wear?"

"I dunno—that?"

"Are you kidding me? That makes me look fat!"

"Then why'd you ask?"

"You're so bleeding useless!"

"Don't get pissy with me—you're the one that's been staring at your wardrobe for literally the past hour!"

"If you'd actually been helpful, I would have been ready fifty-seven minutes ago!"

Pepper Hastings let out a frustrated groan as she flopped back down onto her best friend's bed. Not for the first time since having arrived at Simon's house more than an hour previously, Pepper seriously considered Death By Smothering: Pillow Edition. She just wasn't too sure whom she was going to kill; Simon or herself. Propping herself up on her forearms, she watched as Simon continued to scour the shirts in his closet, occasionally taking one out and sniffing it in his frantic search.

"How about this one?" Simon asked anxiously, holding up a blue shirt to his chest. Pepper made a face at it.

"I thought I told you to Incendio that one last term. I've never seen a more horrid collar,"

Simon pouted, sticking the shirt back into the wardrobe. "You know, ever since The Return, you're sassier than usual. A little too fiery for my taste,"

Pepper rolled her eyes. After spending the last six years as a brunette, her sister had forced a few potions into her hair and practically water boarded her to return her hair to it's natural ginger color. She was still getting used to it; the event, dubbed as The Return to Ginger by Simon, had been all Ajowan's idea, and none of her own. Ajowan, or as she preferred, AJ, had given her youngest sister a makeover. At the time of the makeover, Pepper had thought it would have been worth it; AJ had promised that Pepper wouldn't have to apologize for her role in their biggest fight yet if she allowed her to make her over. Prideful Pepper had considered AJ foolish; a day as her older sister's doll was better than swallowing her pride.

Now she wasn't so sure.

Ever since Pepper could talk, she had always looked for an excuse to change her hair color, but her mother, a proud ginger, had never allowed it. Of their mother's five children, only Pepper had inherited her ginger locks, something Pepper swore was proof the universe had a vile sense of humor. Because, of all of her mother's five children, only Pepper was biracial, and therefore it was only on her that ginger curls were particularly er, eye-catching.

None of her sisters had had to deal with the same level of jeering and teasing that Pepper had thrust upon her at muggle primary school. Pepper had a different dad than her other siblings (not that she had him in any sort of sense of the word) and unlike her siblings, she had mocha skin that contrasted brilliantly with her red-orange hair. Then, when she'd arrived at Hogwarts, she'd been unfortunate enough to start her first year alongside Roxanne Weasley.

Roxanne Weasley, brilliant, beautiful, and bold was also biracial like her, but her curls were a considerably less rare black-brown. For whatever reason, students had always mistaken Pepper for Roxanne (because apparently, Red=Weasley) and once people realized that she wasn't in fact a Weasley, she'd been accused of trying to be a Weasley. The teasing had been absolutely merciless.

The ginger hair had got gone pretty quickly after that. Away at Hogwarts, her mother hadn't been able to stop her, and as a Squib, she hadn't been able to change it back. Until AJ, that was.

"Stupid bint," Pepper murmured under her breath, thinking of her older sister.

"Huh?" Simon asked.

With a groan, Pepper pushed herself off of Simon's bed and made her way over to the wardrobe. Simon was a very particular seventeen-year-old; one of his particularities included color-coding all of clothes. He claimed it was so that he wouldn't buy too many things of the same color, but that didn't explain why the books on his shelf were also color-coordinated and then alphabetized, nor why he had a separate sock and underwear drawer, or why he gave special importance to the number three.

Simon's parents wrote him off as an eccentric; Pepper had explained to him he was just a little OCD. OCD, to his pureblood parents, was nothing more than silly muggle oddness and therefore to be ignored.

As annoyed as she was that Simon was getting so worked up about what to wear, she also knew that a part of him couldn't help his rising anxiety, and so she snapped her fingers in three consecutive snaps to focus him.

"This, this, and this," She told him, handing him a pair of his best jeans in a dark color and then a light cotton t-shirt and a pair of casual Oxfords. She took her place back on the bed, kicking up her socked feet.

Simon, who had been standing in his Harry Potter lightning bolt boxers (he swore they were lucky; she believed him) for the last hour, quickly put them on.

"Are you trying to get laid or something?" asked Pepper, flipping half-heartedly through Simon's copy of Quidditch Weekly.

"Sorry?" asked Simon. She looked up at him and grinned, seeing how flustered he was. His curly brown hair was even in disarray; he must have reflexively run a hand through it.

"Well, you're putting paramount importance on your outfit—seriously, it's never taken this long for you to get ready, and you're wearing your lucky boxers," said Pepper. "Evidence points to: you're trying to impress someone,"

Simon groaned as he shoved the hem of his t-shirt into his pants; when Pepper shook her head, he groaned, unhappily letting the t-shirt rest against his belt buckle.

"Don't 'evidence' me, Hastings," said Simon, doing a bad job at trying to sound intimidating. "And if you must know, I wouldn't mind losing my virginity before leaving Hogwarts, so no—shut your face!"

Pepper had dissolved into a fit of laughter, and she quickly shook her head. Simon's face was red enough to rival her curly locks.

"No, no! I'm not laughing at you! Have you taken a look at this?" she asked, crawling across the bed to the edge closest to him. She held out the magazine, and it took only a quick glance for Simon to join in her laughter.

"James Sirius Potter led his team to victory and scored more than just the House Cup—he has also captured the hearts of witches (and some wizards!) across the nation'—Merlin, I'm officially ending my subscription. They used to publish noteworthy news," said Simon, reaching up to fix his glasses. "He might have won the Cup, but he called so many bad plays during the first hour of the match!"

Pepper had to agree with him. James Potter was a classmate of theirs, and a very famous one at that. He had been famous since birth, as the first son of two war heroes: Harry 'Chosen One' Potter and Ginny 'Holyhead Harpy' Weasley. Fate had served him an enviable hand: he had fame, wealth, good looks, and most of Hogwarts wrapped around his little finger. He was something of a playboy, though recently he'd turned a new leaf, as he was with the most popular girl in school since Victoire Weasley and Pepper's own sister AJ: Callista Brown.

Callista Brown was the type of girl that had spun gold instead of hair and sapphires where mere mortals had eyes. Boys liked to say that her legs went on for miles—but Pepper was pretty sure that Callista was her very same height, and Pepper wasn't taller than average.

Most annoying of all to Pepper, besides the outright privilege that people like James Potter and Callista Brown enjoyed, was that she knew everything that there was to know about them, and not because she wanted to. It was impossible to avoid knowing the business of families like the Potter-Weasleys, who were often the subjects of newspapers and gossip magazines; the Hogwarts rumor mill loved nothing more than a juicy Potter-Weasley story, and it was impossible to even go to the loo and not overhear a rumor about James Potter or Freddy Weasley. Pepper was sick of it, sick of the world revolving around people who probably didn't even know she existed.

Which was also why Simon's stupid crush on Callista Brown rubbed her the wrong way. Simon Llewellyn was the best person she knew, smart, loyal, and the best friend she could have ever asked for. So it bothered Pepper that when it came to girls, even he was susceptible to the shallow charms of Callista Brown, even when he knew perfectly well that he had a better shot with the ghost of Bellatrix Lestrange. The boy couldn't even form a proper sentence around her, and that was when she wasn't even talking to him directly.

Boys are idiots, Pepper reminded herself. Complete and utter idiots.

"Whoa—what in Merlin's pants did AJ do to you? This is good! You did in three seconds what I couldn't do in an hour! This looks good, but not like I'm trying too hard,"

Simon, who had been admiring his outfit in the mirror, turned to Pepper with a bright smile. It was the sort of boyish smile that made her forgive him for having the same idiot hormones as every other boy at Hogwarts.

"Easy," said Pepper, tossing Quidditch Weekly face down on the bed so that she wouldn't have to look at James Potter's obnoxious smirk any longer. She recited AJ's rules to him. "'If it's night go for dark wash jeans; if the shoes are fancy but the event is casual wear brown instead of black, and if it's designer avoid logos and motifs because they make you look like a pretentious twat',"

"Huh," said Simon, clearly impressed. "So what's your excuse for your outfit?"

Pepper chucked a discarded pair of pants at him; this seemed to remind Simon he had to clear up before they left the house, and he pulled out his wand to quickly clear up the clutter. For a pureblood, Simon was remarkably skilled at household spells.

"There's nothing wrong with my outfit," Pepper said defensively as she dodged a pair of socks. "Just because I didn't want to go somewhere half-dressed,"

"I think you're taking this Spice Girls thing a little to seriously," snickered Simon. Pepper glanced down at her outfit; okay, so yes, lately Sporty Spice had inspired a lot of her outfits. So what? She'd developed abs in the last few months! Why not show them off? She'd put on a pair of dark blue trackie bottoms and a white sports bra top with a pair of trainers. It had pretty much been her uniform over the summer, and she hadn't seen the point in changing her outfit choice now…especially because she didn't have much else, and AJ hadn't been around to force her into a skirt or dress.

"Are you ready or not?" asked Pepper. Simon reached over to flick her ponytail.

"Let's party,"

Pepper threw up a mocking fist pump, causing her best friend to laugh.

Although the party was open to any Hogwarts student fifth year and above, Pepper and Simon both still felt as though they were crashing some sort of private event as they arrived in front of a beautiful mansion big enough to rival Simon's house (which was saying a lot; he came from old Pureblood money, the sort of Purebloods that had taken an extended vacation out of the country when Voldemort rose to power, both times, to avoid their fortunes being squandered on murder of Death Eater fallacies). They had apparated to the designated alley and had to walk over; now that they'd found the house, even Pepper had lost her bravado about going in.

It was quiet on the street; the sun had gone down hours ago, and although a party was surely raging in the house they stood before, it was quiet except for the odd hooting of an owl and the rustle of trees in the wind. Pepper and Simon huddled beneath the nearest lamppost; magic was clearly keeping party noises contained.

Simon had been the one to apparate them, and Pepper realized now that she'd forgotten to even ask where they were, if they were in a magical community or not. Actually, come to think of it, she didn't even know whose house this was.

"Whose house is this again?" asked Pepper. She was stalling, she knew it, but Simon didn't seem to mind.

After all, this was their first house party. The only parties they'd ever attended was the occasional Gryffindor party or Quidditch party, and usually they'd only last about ten minutes before the awkwardness of not being on speaking terms with their classmates overwhelmed them and Pepper nicked a bottle of Firewhiskey and they went to share it on the Quidditch Pitch.

But Simon, Simon had gotten it into his head that they'd squandered the last six years of their Hogwarts career by making themselves into outcasts, and he'd made the most ridiculous bucket list of all time. Included on that list? Going to a summer party.

"Samantha Remington's," murmured Simon. He was looking a little green.

"Samantha Remington?" scoffed Pepper. "Okay, that's it, we're going in. How is swotty Samantha Remington, top of the class, a better partier than we are? We've hit a new low,"

"Okay, okay, okay," said Simon, bouncing on the balls of his feet and shaking his arms out. "Okay, we've got this,"

Realizing how pathetic Simon was, and in turn, she was, Pepper lifted up her chin and squared her shoulders. She might have been antisocial, but she was a Gryffindor, dammit, and if her best friend wanted to go to a stupid party, they were going to a stupid party.

"C'mon," she called over her shoulder. Simon was quick to follow on her heels as she strode up to the front door. When her knocks went unnoticed, she pushed the door open.

"Hello?" she called out, stepping in cautiously. The faded pulse of the music was heavy in the air; magic was keeping the loudness down, but she could feel that they were close to the party, the vibrations of the repressed music dancing across her skin. Despite herself, Pepper felt a shiver of excitement go through her.

"Oi!" someone called out

Strolling—or more like stumbling towards them—was Freddy Weasley. His dark skin had been splashed with glow in the dark paint and he'd lost his shirt and shoes at some point in the night, leaving his sculpted chest bare.

"Merlin, it's barely eleven o'clock," said Pepper, reeling in disgust as Weasley's alcohol breath hit her.

"Nearly midnight, actually," muttered Simon.

"This is a fifth year and up party only!"

Pepper threw him a scornful look. "Do we look like we're fourth years?"

Freddy's eyes, glossy and fazed from the drinking, settled on her. A smirk settled on his lips as he through an arm around her shoulders. "Merlin, I 'ope you're not a forth year,"

Pepper flicked his arm off with a look of disgust. It was so like him not to recognize them—even Simon, whom he shared a room with. He was absolutely sloshed.

"Well, soz to say, mates, this is a Hogwarts party only, and I've been tasked with keeping any unwantables out," he slurred.

"No, you haven't, you prat—oh, Simon,"

Malachi Thomas, fellow seventh year Gryffindor and prefect, had arrived too, shooting an apologetic look to Simon. He looked every bit as surprised to see Simon and Pepper as they were to see a half-naked, glowing in the dark Freddy Weasley. He wore a button up with a t-shirt underneath, jeans, and trousers. Pepper knew that Simon was instantly more confident in his own outfit; then again, he was fully clothed, so…

"You know these two?"

"Yes, you drunk prat," laughed Malachi. Pepper decided she liked him a lot more than she liked Weasley. "You do too,"

"He really doesn't," Simon said dryly.

"Freddy, go find your shoes at least, mate. I'll point them in the right direction,"

"Of m'shoes?" asked Weasley, rather stupidly. Pepper thought that, when things had been forming in the womb, his twin sister must had also appropriated his half of the brains.

"Of the party, you dolt!" laughed Malachi. As Weasley finally ambled away, Malachi turned to greet Simon properly; Pepper watched through surprised eyes as Malachi clasped hands with her best friend and they clapped each other on the back as though they were old friends.

UM—since when the fuck? She wondered. Malachi Thomas, although a good deal kinder (and smarter, as far as she knew) than most boys, was still one of the more popular blokes at school, and he was friends with the likes of Weasley and Potter. Even though he shared a dorm with Simon, it wasn't like Simon was on great terms with Potter or Weasley.

"I've got to say," said Malachi as he led them out of the atrium and into a large kitchen. Drinks and cups were strewn about, though the kitchen was mostly empty sans a few students that greeted Thomas eagerly and had little more than awkward waves or nods for Pepper and Simon. "I was fairly surprised when you wrote me asking about the party, Simon,"

Malachi handed Pepper a light muggle beer to Pepper and a shot of firewhiskey to Simon. He didn't seem to notice when they traded. "These things aren't typically your thing, no offense,"

"None taken," Simon grinned. He appeared much more at ease with Malachi, and Pepper wasn't entirely sure it was an act; she thought he might genuinely like Malachi. "Pepper and I thought we'd give being social people a go,"

Malachi laughed; he seemed to do that a lot, and Pepper was starting to find it annoying, mostly because she was finding him cuter and cuter with each flash of his pearly white teeth. There was something about him that came across as so wholesome, like the kind of guy that would take you wouldn't have to worry about being splinched by if he took you along for Side-Along-Apparation. She tipped the firewhiskey back in one quick gulp.

"On behalf of us social people, welcome. Hope you guys enjoy the party. It's just through that door there, into the garden. Unfortunately, I've got to go track down Freddy and make sure he still has his pants on, at the very least. You know how he is at parties,"

"Pretty sure we just established we wouldn't," Pepper said slyly. Simon deftly elbowed her side, but Thomas was, predictably, laughing.

"He laughs too much," Pepper complained as Thomas headed back the way they'd come. She poured herself another firewhiskey, this time in a larger cup, mixing it with a can of Coke she found half under the kitchen island.

"You promised you'd try!" Simon reminded her as he found a bottle opener. "Are you really going to go back on a promise?"

Pepper jutted her bottom lip at him in a pout; he quickly looked away. "Don't even try it!"

"Ugh. You know I don't go back on my promises anyway," mumbled Pepper. "But I don't have to be happy about it,"

Simon made an annoyed sound; Pepper's brown eyes darted up to look at her best friend in surprise. The look on his face was not a common one: he was irritated. Irritated with her.

"There's no point in being here if you're not going to give this a real shot, Pepper. And if you're just going to sulk and be snippy with everyone here—then what's the point? We might as well as apparate home and drink alone,"

Pepper bit the inside of her cheek; her instinct was to snap that at least she didn't think there was anything wrong with how they usually spent their summers nights: alone, just the two of them, drinking and dancing to muggle music and watching muggle films. But for whatever reason, this party seemed to really matter to Simon, and so Pepper had to suck it up, because she'd do anything to make her best friend happy.

"Fair warning," said Pepper, adding a little more firewhiskey to her cup. "We might get kicked out tonight,"

"Um—what? Why?" Simon asked in alarm.

"Because I'm going to drink, which means I'm going to dance, and to be quite frank with you, Si, none of these asshats will be able to handle my moves,"

Simon let out a laugh, the sort of laugh that took him from geeky to, well, cute; Pepper wondered what the hell was wrong with her. First Malachi Thomas, and now her best friend Simon was cute?

"Just—one more thing," said Simon. His neck and cheeks were flushed pink. "T-the Pact,"

Pepper internalized groan. As if The List wasn't dramatic enough, Simon had also come up with The No Regrets Pacts. Although she knew that making lists was all part of Simon's way to ease into the things he wanted to do.

The No Regrets Pact was something he'd come up with right after The List had been finalized; it was meant to combat his cautious, anxious nature and her penchant for shooting down social situations and interactions. They would, essentially, veto the word 'no', leaving themselves open to adventure, mischief, and what Simon hoped would be exciting and thrilling stories to look back on.

And yet, after an hour of milling about Samantha Remington's backyard, it appeared that the No Regrets Pact was useless, because no one approached them. Their fears of random strangers approaching them with shots of alcohol, perhaps a few puffs off a joint and public dancing were unfounded.

"Well, this is cool," said Pepper. She watched with mild horror as a pair of fifth years sucked face right next to them. She and Simon and been standing in their little corner of the garden (edit: enormous fucking lawn) beneath enchanted lights for twenty minutes, but the young couple didn't seem to notice. The girl's elbow even dug into Pepper's side a few times as she wildly grabbed at her boyfriend;

"Yup. Awesome," agreed Simon, rocking back on the balls of his feet three times.

"Super,"

"Fantastic,"

"…"

"…"

Pepper glanced down at the watch on her wrist. They'd made it an entire hour; approximately forty-five minutes longer than she'd thought they'd last. "So, you wanna—"

"—go get some health code violation gyro at Jorge's?" finished Simon. "Merlin, I thought you'd never ask. Just let me go to the loo first. You know how I feel about apparating on a full bladder,"

Laughing, Pepper watched her friend go. As she did, another elbow—this time to her head—caused her to scowl.

"Honestly, do you mind? Can't you be horny literally anywhere else?" she snapped. The young couple disentangled, looking miffed.

"Sorry, didn't see you," said the boy.

"You know—you could move too. Don't be bitter just because you can't snog anyone,"

Pepper's eyes narrowed at the couple even as her cheeks grew heated. "I could snog someone if I wanted to!"

"Um—okay? Good for you? Then why don't you? Sounds like you need it," said the girl. She dragged her boyfriend away, and even though the boyfriend shot Pepper an apologetic smile, Pepper was left apoplectic and her hand itching for the wand strapped to her thigh.

It wasn't like she couldn't find someone to snog! Not that she'd ever snogged anyone, but she didn't have to be just another horny Hogwarts student to know it took nothing to snog someone. All you had to do was walk up to any bloke and plant one on them—what was so fucking special about that? It wasn't weird to be seventeen and never have snogged someone. Even Simon—

…Even Simon had snogged someone. Pepper cursed the reminder, remembering that Simon had been snogged by a girl who wasn't technically his cousin at a wedding a few weeks ago.

Annoyed suddenly with the party and her best friend, Pepper kicked out at a loose stone on the ground, wondering what the hell was wrong Simon Llewellyn. What the hell did it matter that they weren't friends with the rest of the tossers in their year? They were just that—tossers! And what was so great about people like Malachi Thomas?

And just where the hell was Simon Llewellyn?!

Just as she realized that her best friend had been missing for far too long; even if there had been a massive queue for the bathroom, surely that mansion had more than one—she realized that the garden's atmosphere had changed. The music had been turned down some, and people were quickly flocking to the corner of the garden opposite hers, the one closest to the house. The air was alive with electricity that could only mean one thing: someone was about to fight.

Interest piqued, Pepper let herself be moved along with the crowd: she loved a good duel. She recognized one of the students, probably the instigator, very easily: his headful of messy black hair was the subject of many Witch Weekly articles, and unfortunately she'd been stuck sitting behind him in half her classes for the past six years. She wondered what poor sucker had ignited James Potter's wrath; the boy, broad shouldered and muscled from hours spent training for Quidditch, was every bit as lethal with a wand as he likely was with a fist.

Then she realized what poor sucker was behind held up against the wall; her poor sucker.

"Think you can go around and snog my girlfriend and not get the shit beat out of you?" Potter was yelling at Simon. Pepper would have laughed if the git didn't have his hands on her best friend; whoever he had Simon mistaken for was currently very lucky for the case of mistaken identity. Simon, however, was not, and he was stammering too badly to even explain he wasn't the guy that had snogged Potter's girlfriend.

Pushing her way through the crowd, Pepper yelled out at Potter. "Hey, back the hell off!"

When she reached them she gave Potter a harsh shove, surprising him enough that he stumbled away in surprise. His eyes, a crackling green, were blazing with fury.

Pepper stepped between Simon and Potter, eyes set as she glared at the jackass with the so-called perfect hair.

"Who the fuck are you?" Potter asked, so thrown for a moment that his murderous anger died down. Perhaps it was because he didn't expect interference, or perhaps it was because she was a girl and therefore hadn't dropped readily to her knees for him.

"You can't be serious—we've been in the same classes for six years!" Pepper exclaimed incredulously. Sure he recognized her—if not by name, just by sight alone. She couldn't think of anyone she didn't know at least somewhat in their year. "You've had to at least seen me around,"

Judging by the whispering going on around them, James Potter wasn't the only one that didn't recognize her. This only made Pepper angrier.

But Potter seemed to revel in the crowd. When he realized how many people were watching, his anger became more controlled—but it was there, Pepper could see, simmering in his eyes—and his posture became loose, his smirk cruel.

"Wouldn't mind seeing you on your knees, if that's what you mean," said Potter cockily. There was a lot of laughter from the crowd around them, laughter and jeering. From behind her, she heard Simon say something quiet, pleading to her: probably urging her to back down so they could get the hell out of there. And, ordinarily, Pepper would have listened. Ordinarily, Pepper would have backed down, because no one who insulted her was worth the hassle of a duel—no one who insulted her could even duel her.

But this was different, because Pepper realized that maybe Simon really was onto something: being invisible absolutely sucked, even if she wasn't too concerned with earning any approval from their fellow students. Someone called for Potter to stop; out of the corner of her eye, Pepper recognized Albus Potter and Rose Weasley. In that split second, she noticed everything; how intoxicated Potter was, how tight the crowd was around them—where Potter's friends and allies stood, where an empty crate of butterbeer lay strewn not too far behind Potter.

How his wand was sticking out of his back pocket (awful place to keep it), right within reach.

"Right, look here sweetheart, I'll get you an autograph later, now kindly shove off. I'm sort of trying to hex the git behind you," said Potter, gesturing for her to step aside as he took a step forward. But again, Pepper quickly mirrored his movements, keeping in front of Simon. Her hand was poised to reach for her concealed wand; Simon noticed this.

"C'mon, let's go. He's not worth it," he urged quietly, tugging at her non-wand arm. But the party around them had gone hushed, listening in to the new entertainment of the night, and everyone heard his nervous words. Including Potter.

Potter laughed incredulously. "I'm sorry, I'm not worth what, exactly? Is your little girlfriend here going to hex me?"

"Simon's just trying to spare you further humiliation—he's already snogged your girlfriend, he thinks having you hexed into humiliation by his little girlfriend might be a bit much for even an ego as inflated as yours, Potter," Pepper said, offering up her sweetest smile. The crowd around them seemed to draw a collective breath; even Potter's jaw dropped momentarily.

"I don't know who you think you are—"

"I'm sort of Hogwarts best dueler, since you seem confused," interjected Pepper. The groan behind her told her she'd really done it now; challenging James Potter of all people, with an audience at that, was hardly smart or necessary. But she couldn't help herself, not when he was such a dick, not when he was threatening her best friend, not when he didn't even have the decency of recognizing someone he had sat in a classroom with for six fucking years.

And, if she was being completely honest with herself, not when she was enjoying each and every look of surprise and shock that crossed those pretty-boy features of his. Standing this close to him, closer than she ever had, she had to smirk; Witch Weekly definitely edited pictures of his, because the real James Potter had a nose that was slightly crooked to the left.

Potter laughed. He wasn't the only one at this point; once her words registered, people laughed. Everyone knew Potter as the top DADA student. Pepper knew she was better than him in a duel, but she'd never felt the need to prove it until now. She wasn't like him; she didn't bask in the glory of attention, and yet right then, knowing she was about to kick his arse in front of all of his friends, she could see the amusement he must have taken pushing people like Simon around.

"You're the best. Better than me, you think?" he laughed. He turned and met someone's eyes, a friend's, saying can you believe?, sharing in his amusement before turning back to Pepper.

"I'm sure I can teach you a few things, yeah," said Pepper with a casual shrug. "Just—do you really want to be embarrassed in front of all your friends?"

"No, no, no," Simon was chanting under his breath behind them. He was ignored by everyone.

"Honestly sweetheart—I'm giving that mouth of yours a pass because I can think of a lot of things it's better suited for," Potter said suggestively. "So run along, before I lose patience, yeah?"

"Oh, that's right," said Pepper, snapping her fingers three times in quick succession; this time it was a signal, to Simon, to get ready. "You're not used to actually fighting your own battles, are you? That's what daddy's name is for,"

The look in his eyes told her she'd hit the nail on the head; it also tipped her off, and so she was ready for his first hex. Simon was too, as he dove out of the way—the crowd around them did not. Everyone screamed as they ducked for cover.

"Why must you always hex people?" Simon hissed her way as she rolled back onto her feet.

"Take cover, yeah?" she asked with the breathlessness of exhilaration, of excitement—eyes sparkling with merriment for the first time all night even as she slashed her wand to the side, blocking one of Potter's jinx's.

Someone was laughing like a maniac, even as Potter was seething. Pepper caught Freddy Weasley, still shirtless but this time with a hot pink bra strapped across his chest and still no shoes, darting behind the DJ booth. Seconds later, a recognizable beat started echoing across the garden.

"Knew I could teach you something, Potter!" called out Pepper. She was enjoying the frustration playing out across James Potter's features as she danced out of the way of his spells.

Oh, let's go!

"See, I know we're already facing each other," said Pepper, leaning out of the way of a purple flash of sparks. She felt the feat of the magic as it soared passed her cheek. "But then we bow,"—Pepper made an exaggerated show of bowing, flourishing her hand out as she did, then twisted it to start snapping along with the beat of the music.

Steve walks wearily down the street

With the brim pulled down low

Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet

Machine guns ready to go

Pepper blocked the next spell with a lazy flick of her wrist; Potter's spell went wide, causing a nearby bush trimmed in the shape of a unicorn to burst into purple flames. Pepper's head began bobbing in time with the music, soon her whole body was in time with beat as she danced, shimmied, and deflected Potter's spell.

Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this?

Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

Out of the doorway the bullets rip

To the sound of the beat

"Then, after bowing, we duel!"

Another one bites the dust

Another one bites the dust

And another one gone, and another one gone

Another one bites the dust

Hey, I'm gonna get you, too

Another one bites the dust

The duel didn't last long after that, and Pepper wasn't quite sure it was even fair to call it one, not when she started fighting back. She would have been the first to admit that Potter's movements weren't as sharp as they would have been—he was, after all, somewhat drunk—but it was quickly obvious who was more skilled. After a slew of Pepper's spells forced him backwards, Potter tripped over the discarded butterbeer crate she'd been herding him into, and seconds later he was down on his knees, his wand in Pepper's hand and her own pointed at his throat.

"I get it now," said Pepper, using the tip of her wand to force his chin up so that their eyes met. "I don't mind the sight of you on your knees, either,"

Someone wolf whistled. Freddy Weasley strikes again, thought Pepper.

And James Potter, his once green eyes now burning dark with hatred, didn't flinch away from hers, his jaw set in a defiant way as he glared up at her, still breathing hard.

And Pepper, still looking down at him with the most casual look she could muster, called out over her shoulder to her best friend, "Yo, let's bounce,"

…

Yo, let's bounce? Had she really said that out loud, after kicking James Potter's arse, she had to go and fuck it up by saying something like that? Even Potter seemed surprised—the hatred in his eyes flickered, settling on dumfounded, as though he couldn't believe that the same person that could say something like yo, let's bounce was also the same person that could beat him in a duel.

But, instead of cringing as she wanted to, Pepper kept her expression cool as she felt Simon clamber over to her side. She tossed Potter's wand over to Weasley. Everyone stayed quiet as they made their way from the garden, parting silently to let them through, and she didn't tuck her wand away until they'd made it to the street.

Jorge's was a tiny, dirty restaurant near King's Cross Station that Pepper and Simon had discovered during first year, after their parents had failed to collect them at the station for the Christmas hols. Simon's family had been under the impression that would be spending the holiday at the school, and Pepper's mother had been under the impression one of her sisters was picking her up; they'd assumed their mother was picking them up.

And so, tradition was born.

It was grimy, it wasn't very well lit, and it was muggle, but Pepper and Simon didn't mind it all that much, because the gyro was tasty and the chips were crisp and they'd learned long ago only bottled water and fizzy drinks were safe. The last two summers, since Simon had his apparating license, they'd taken to hanging out in the crumbling restaurant after drinking.

"…and his face!" Pepper exclaimed, munching on another chip happily. "Priceless! You were so right, Simon, we should have started going to these things ages ago!"

"I dunno," said Simon carefully. He'd been quiet since they'd arrived; Pepper knew that drinking and apparating upset his stomach, so she'd chalked it up to that. She pushed the basket of crisps closer to him. "I mean, you completely humiliated him in front of his friends and family—and at his own birthday party,"

"I didn't know it was his birthday!" defended Pepper. Inwardly, she thought that wishing the prat a happy birthday would have been a far better and badass ending to her yo, let's bounce; that still made her cringe. "Oh, come on, Si! He was being a prat, and yeah, maybe I taught him a lesson, but he was asking for it, talking like he was! Are you forgetting he was about to hex you or worse?"

"He definitely shouldn't have spoken to you the way he did. That was uncalled for," agreed Simon. Then, "Well, to be fair to him, I had just snogged his girlfriend—ex-girlfriend?"

Pepper snorted. "Oh right," she laughed. "Honestly, why did he think you snogged Callista Brown? Who could he have possible confused you with?"

It was a great testament to their friendship that Simon did not bristle at her comment; where others might have found her disbelief insulting, he understood it perfectly.

"Erm, well," Simon ran his hand through his hair once, twice, three times. "In fact, I did snog Callista Brown,"

Pepper's mouth slid open.

"You're actually being serious. Holy shit, you snogged Callista Brown?!" she exclaimed. Simon flushed.

"Yeah, but it wasn't really like that! I went looking for a bathroom without a massive queue, but I found her crying in a bedroom instead, and then she kissed me—but she was so drunk, and I told her I couldn't snog her like that—but then she bloody threw herself on top of me, and then Kieran Wood walked in—I was just looking for the loo, I swear!" he said miserably.

Pepper bit her lip to keep from laughing. But soon she couldn't, and once she started she found it hard to laugh.

"You should have let him hex me," Simon added miserably. Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Okay so fine, yeah, shitty to find out your girlfriend is snogging another bloke at your own birthday party, but that didn't give him the right to try to hex you, or speak to me the way he did," reasoned Pepper. "She's the one he should be upset with. And you should be too. It was so bad of her to put you in that position,"

They sat in silence for a moment.

"So…was it good?" Pepper asked hesitantly.

"Am I Voldemort reincarnated if I say yes?" Simon asked anxiously. Pepper laughed, though her good mood soured.

"How is it that you've snogged two people—including the most popular girl in school—and I've only ever snogged a poster of Victor Krum?" she whined.

"Since I'm such an expert now, I'll snog you, if you want," offered Simon.

Pepper threw chips at his face.

So what were your first impressions of Pepper, Simon, James and Fred? Let me know in the comments! I've got a few chapters written out of this, and I'm excited for it!

{{Obviously I don't own Queen's music or HP}}