Author's Note: a very, very belated birthday present to my little brother Michael.

Dear everyone (I'm too lazy to write all of your names down, I shall pretend you are all here even if you're away for University or something),

Linny fought a dragon!

I did not! If you're going to be telling the story Rose at least TRY to be right.

Stop interrupting my letter Linny! You said I can tell them! All right, all right, so Linny is right, he didn't fight a dragon but he did out-fly one on his Firebolt! The First Task of the Triwizard Tournament was terrifying – not that I was scared or anything –

Right, and the fact you were clinging to Tom crying was because you lost your pencil?

I DIDN'T CRY!

Notice that she didn't deny clinging to Tom? Ouch!

Linny has now gone crying to Hermione because I accidentally sent a bat bogey hex. Anyway! The First Task of the Triwizard Tournament was dragons! They had to get past them to get hold of a golden egg; it's not a very good golden egg either, it wails and shrieks a lot like Buttercup and his sisters when they're really upset. The twins thought it was their brother singing in the shower after listening to it again I thought it sounded more like Daddy. The first champion, Cedric Digger or the other changed a rock into a dog, how awesome is that? One day I'll be able to turn Midnight into a rock! Then Flower, the French girl, did something that made all the boys stupid and drooling, it was a lot like being at a feast or the World Cup. Her skirt ended up on fire! Krum, the Qudditch player that Ron worships the ground he walks on, shot some sort of curse or hex at the Dragon that made it faint and destroy most of the eggs! Poor unborn dragon babies! And then it was Linny! It was the best bit of flying he ever did, you would have loved it if you weren't scared out of your wits (I love that phrase).

The Second Task isn't until the end of February so we have lots and lots of time to help Linny solve the puzzle in the golden egg!

I can't wait to see what Linny has to fight next!

Lots of love,

Rose (and Linny, and Tom, and a few others that I can't be bothered to name).

"Interesting letter writer," Sirius said in a strangled voice.

"She always was," Bill sighed.

"Do you ever think we'll be able to get a letter from them without having a heart attack?" Sarah asked cheerfully.

"No that would be asking for a miracle," Saffy muttered as she placed the letter back on the table. They had returned for a long weekend neither able to focus on their lessons knowing that Linny could possibly die on Tuesday. It did mean a hell lot of catching up once they returned to London the next day. Something Saffy was not looking forwards to. "Just once, one blessed time, I would like to come home knowing there isn't a disaster coming round the corner."

Indigo, Sarah, and David all murmured agreements while Sirius grinned at the idea and Bill just rubbed his face.

"Unfortunately, Saffron," he said tiredly, "not even God himself could perform such a miracle."

PRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPR

Rose was making her way back from the kitchens weighed down with food.

Last week after the First Task Hermione had managed to persuade the Weasley twins into telling her where the kitchens were and once she went in their she was surprised to see Winky, Mr Crouch's Ex-House Elf and Dobby's friend. Rose had only met her once before shortly after the Qudditch World Cup when she arrived to spend some time sobbing on Dobby's shoulder. Bill had refused out-flat in hiring another House Elf, one was more than enough apparently, and Winky left still sobbing much to Saffy's disgust (Saffy had also become a member of Hermione's society...well sort of, she just did law research). This, of course, led to disaster as Hermione tried to cheer Winky up and persuade her and her fellow workers that they were better off with paying jobs, health care, and clothes.

It was needless to say that Hermione was no longer welcome in the kitchens but Rose was. The House Elves loved Rose. They cooked her all the extra snacks she asked for and cleaned her clothes she wore as she munched her way through cakes and biscuits galore.

This time round she disliked dinner so much (boring Sheppard's pie again with peas...blergh!) and ended up in the kitchen with Luna asking for something else. After a delicious pasta dish and garlic bread, as well as extra pudding much to Luna's delight, they left with some extra cakes and hot chocolate to take back to the common room. Rose hadn't seen Linny all day for some reason and hoped to share at least one of these cakes with him but if it turned out he was avoiding her because he was a jerky older brother like Ron then she'll smash it in his face instead, so ha!

To her surprise though she almost immediately walked into Linny on the way out. "Oof!" she mumbled as her cake went straight into Linny's chest.

"Oh thanks, Rose," Linny groaned.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Getting dinner, what are you doing here?"

"The same," Rose said glaring at his cream covered chest...her yummy éclair lost forever...oh the tragedy. "It was disgusting food tonight but why did you miss dinner?"

"I was hiding from all the girls," Linny confessed blushing a bright red...hmm Rose couldn't help but wonder if she could get that in a paint colour... "Professor McGonagall announced that we were having a ball over Christmas and I have no choice but to go since I'm a champion and now..."

"You have to go," Rose finished pulling a face. She hated dances and parties unless there was good food like marshmallows. Will there be marshmallows at the Yule Ball? She should ask the House Elves. "So apart from being tortured one night what's wrong?"

"I have to bring a date," Linny said gloomily.

Oh...

Oh!

Linny wasn't very good with girls unless they were sisters or friends. He had a bit of a crush on Cho last year but that was a total waste of time where he ended up tripping over and dribbling down his shirt and then died of shame. In all fairness though Indigo and David were just as bad with girls the only reason why Indigo had a girlfriend and the others didn't was because Sarah decided 'right that's it' and snogged Indy. In all fairness, Michael was just as useless with Caddy, Derek failed with Eve, Bill was a moron, and Tom, Ron, and Dean were prats when it all came to girls, and Neville...well he makes David look like a suave (new word! She learnt it from Saffy when she was ranting about Sirius slash Midnight over the summer) playboy. Poor Linny, it was no wonder why he was so useless when talking to a girl that wasn't a Casson or Sarah, Luna, Hermione, and Ginny.

"Would you like some pudding, Linny?" Luna asked suddenly, "I find pudding always helps."

Both Linny and Rose jumped suddenly.

"Luna! I forgot you were there!" Rose said clutching the rest of her cakes before they were lost forever on the floor.

"I wasn't there," Luna said dreamily, "I was here," she tapped her head, "I was working out an Ancient Runes puzzle but I could not help but overhear Linny, if finding a date is a problem why not ask a friend? That way you don't have to worry if she likes you for yourself or for Harry Potter...pudding?"

Linny stared at Luna as if he had never seen her before. It was a lot like when Indigo suddenly started staring at Sarah...

Oh no!

No! Definitely not!

Rose opened her mouth with a desperate attempt to get rid of Linny so she and Luna can eat their pudding in peace when it was all too late!

"You are right, Luna," Linny nodded, "I need a friend I can trust, would you like to go to the ball with me? As a friend only!"

Luna looked delighted. "No one has ever asked to go anywhere as a friend, apart from Rose of course, I would love to go but I'm not very good at dancing," she admitted.

"Neither am I," Linny confessed.

Rose snorted. Now that was an understatement the only thing that was worse than Linny's dancing was a giraffe doing ballet in jelly slippers.

Luna and Linny then stood there smiling at one another shyly and Rose felt like banging her head against a wall. What is it with brothers and their sister's best friends in this family?

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ron laughed right in Linny's face when he announced who he will be going to the ball with. Hermione slapped him for it and he landed in a rather miserable looking Ginny's lap, Neville, however, smiled a little uncertainly at Linny and Dean had hurriedly decided to just draw and not get too involved in this.

"Well I think that's wonderful, Linny," Hermione declared loudly, "you deserve to have a good time and if you went with someone who wasn't a friend then you'd be objected to all sorts of misery. And it will save Luna from any sort of horrible bullies who might have used this to take advantage of her."

Ron rubbed his cheek and looked up worriedly, "Why would they do that?" he asked.

"They think it's funny to get her hopes up," Neville said sadly, "earlier this year one boy asked her to Hogsmeade as a date...she said no, thankfully, but well..."

"We heard the boy laughing how she thought he had been serious when he was just playing a joke on her," Hermione said disgustedly, "he said it'll work the next time because she'll become desperate when no one will want to go out with Loony Lovegood."

"How dare they?!" Linny snarled. "I hope Rose curses them to pieces for that!"

"Yes, it's not nice on her at all," Ron agreed looking rather furious, "She's not bad, our Luna, is she? There's no need to play a mean joke at all. Now to a more important matter, Linny has a date to the Yule Ball that just leaves the three of us to find one."

"Two of you," Hermione sniffed, "I already found a date."

"WHAT?!"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

"But...how...why...who...what?" Ron stammered.

"Your shock is very unflattering."

"Well then," Ron said trying to get back his dignity (he failed), "you're lying, aren't you?"

Linny quickly tuned out as Hermione's face flushed a crimson red and her nostrils flared out like Professor McGonagall's did when she was really angry. An argument was happening and he didn't want part of it. Instead he paid attention to Neville and Ginny, Neville was very pink and was stammering a lot as he asked Ginny to the Yule Ball.

Ron's attention was now torn between brotherly duty to protect his sister, finding a date to the Yule Ball before he was the only one out of his friends that was dateless, and arguing with Hermione. In the end it was his need for a date that won over since he beamed at Neville, "excellent idea mate, Linny you don't mind if I took Rose to the ball, do you?"

Linny opened his mouth to answer when Tom's voice came out instead (perhaps Tom had turned Linny into one of those puppets, like Pinocchio?), "too late, Weasley, I've already asked Rose to the ball and she said yes," they all looked up to find Tom glaring down at them rather menacingly.

"You have?" Linny asked a little sceptical. Rose would surely be bouncing on the walls instead of sulking in the corner doing her homework if that had been the case. "When?"

"Just now," Tom smirked, "OI! ROSE!" Rose snapped her head up and glared at Tom. "Fancy being my date to the ball?"

Rose stared blankly before she shrugged, "all right," she said before scowling down at her homework.

Inspired by Tom, Fred suddenly stood up and bellowed to Angelina, "Oi! Angelina, wanna go to the ball with me?"

Soon enough all the boys were shouting out date requests much to Hermione's horror. Linny personally admired each and every boy's courage for doing that he barely managed to say hello to any girl he fancied let alone ask them out. Thank god Luna was such a good friend and made her suggestion before he humiliated himself further than he has to.

PRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPR

"What is it with this family and their need to date a sibling's best friend?" Saffy grumbled on Christmas morning. Linny and Rose were snuggled up on Linny's bed having just unwrapped their presents (and woken up the whole dormitory thanks to Linny screaming Rose's name when she suddenly attacked him) and experimented with Linny's brand new present from Sirius – a two-way mirror that used to be his biological father's. "First Rose fancied Tom, Indigo's best friend-"

"I do NOT fancy Tom!" Rose snapped.

Several loud coughs echoed as Linny, Saffy, and the entire eavesdropping ("Hey! We're all in the living room!" Sarah snapped indignantly) Casson Family coughed their disbelief at this. Even Dobby coughed – okay squeak was more accurate – in disbelief and Rose had managed to convince him that chalk was edible last year! Sirius just burst out into hysterical laughter right there and then and had to be calmed down by the visiting Professor Lupin.

"And now they're going on a date," Saffy continued as if Rose had never spoken, "then you have Indigo and Sarah, less said of that the more likely I'll be able to eat my dinner today, and now we have Linny and Luna, what's next? Am I to fall madly in love with Caddy's best friend?"

"Oh no darling," Caddy laughed, "all my dearest friends are no longer around for you to fall for. It will have to be David or one of Linny's little friends."

Saffy looked like she would rather eat something revolting, like spinach, than kiss David or Ron or Neville.

Linny and Rose laughed and after some more Christmas greetings and thanking people they signed off to enjoy their Christmas Day. They filled themselves up with lots of food, played in the snow for a couple hours, and then Rose was kidnapped by Hermione, Ginny, and Luna to 'get ready' (for some reason it sounded more like a torture session than dressing up for a dance). This became the boys cue to come inside and start showering, eventually after playing chess with Ron, and doing some sketches in his new pad from Caddy and Michael, Linny dressed in his new bottle green robes (picked out specially by Saffy, Sarah, Caddy, and Eve).

He came downstairs to find Luna was waiting for him in the common room wearing a pretty silvery dress. Like liquid moonlight, he had thought idly as he approached her, "You look nice," he said cheerfully.

"Thank you," Luna said dreamily as ever, "So do you."

"Ah thanks," Linny said feeling a little hot for some reason, "do you want to head downstairs?"

"Sure."

The entry hall was filled with colour – a beautiful and unnatural change to the sea of black Linny had struggled to get used to – different shades of blues, greens, reds, pinks, and yellows filled the room like a kaleidoscope as someone moves and changes the shape. Linny could almost make out Ron in his terribly frilly maroon robes next to Pravati looking rather exotic in her hot pink sari.

"Hey," he called out.

"Oh hi Linny, hi Luna," Pravati beamed out them, and Linny grinned back immediately. His classmates have all virtually fallen back on calling him Linny now. All the Gryffindors, a handful of Hufflepuffs, a couple Ravenclaws, and perhaps some of the Slytherins he really wouldn't know since Malfoy is the only one to speak to him. "You both look wonderful."

"Thank you," Luna said, "so do you, I must say Ronald maroon is the perfect choice to fend off all those nargles they find it so ghastly."

"Err...thanks?" Ron blinked before mouthing something along the lines what the hell to Linny, "Have you seen Hermione?"

Before Linny could say no McGonagall made a call for all Champions and he regretfully pulled away from his friends and went to line up with the others. Cedric looked dashing as always with Cho dressed in Chinese garb beside him, Fleur was in a darker shade of silver – more grey than anything but the shiny aspect of the material made it look silver – with Roger, and Victor was in a more formal variation of his uniform with a very pretty girl in blue.

"Hello Hermione," Luna said cheerfully. Linny's mouth dropped open at that. Hermione? His best friend Hermione with silky straight hair and a pretty blue dress? Without her books? Looking a bit like Sarah with that mischievous smile? Hermione Granger? "Oh dear," Luna giggled, "I think Linny just suffered an attack of the wrackspurts."

"No Luna," Hermione shook her head, "he is simply suffering the misfortune of being a boy."

Linny wondered if Indigo, David, Tom, and Michael ever solved the mystery of girls last summer and if so why they hadn't told him.

It could be really useful right now.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Rose had the best night of her life.

After being thoroughly tortured by her so called best friends with evil appliances like an eyelash curler (honestly who would want to curl their eyelashes? It sounded like something Snape might do to a student in detention) and then forced into a dress that her family sent to her when they heard about her going to the ball (by the way she really didn't appreciate all the jokes and laughter she got from Indigo, Michael, Daddy, and Sirius, they were all going to get a swift kick in the arse when she next sees them) she was allowed to escape from their clutches and into Tom's arms – NOT LIKE THAT! SHE DID NOT FANCY TOM! Besides within two minutes she kicked Tom hard in the shins.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You laughed at me!"

"Well you look ridiculously unlike Permanent Rose."

"Blame the other girls for that," she huffed.

She would have spent the whole night sulking about the fact she was wearing probably the most hideous lacy, frilly, puffy skirted, pink and black dress in the world, (it had a bow on it, oh the horror, surely she was too old for a dress like this anyway?) but Tom being...well Tom cheered her up and it was nice to look at all the other colours everyone was wearing that night as well. Dinner was really good, Rose got to pick what she wanted to eat in the first time for months, and watching Linny trip all over the dance floor with Luna just twirling round and humming to herself was hilarious. Then some really decent music came on and following Fred Weasley and Angelina Johnson example Tom and her danced some very ridiculous over the top dance moves pretending to be one of those Jane Austen characters from those silly films Caddy cries over and Saffy and Sarah swoon about Mr Darcy or Pansy or whatever his name is.

Then they sat down with the lovely delicious butterbeer and lots and lots of chocolate while taking the mick of all the other dancers and teachers who were trying to be cool (and failing). Then they ended up racing one another in the garden, bumping into an irritable Snape, and almost tripping over a snogging Fleur and Roger before finding Linny and Luna who overheard Hagrid's secret.

"Prejudiced gits," Tom muttered, "it shouldn't matter who their parents were! Hagrid and Madame Maxime seem to be fine teachers. Hagrid is awesome and yet his ashamed of who he is because of what his mother was? It's not fair."

"It must be so cool to have a giant for a parent," Rose murmured imagining her Daddy as a giant as he stomped on all the bullies and built them a house on a cloud...she needed to draw, now!

Tom smiled down at her warmly and suddenly kissed her cheek.

She flushed with happiness and warmth and knew this was the best moment of her night – no her life – and it was not because she fancied Tom BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T! ALL RIGHT?! But because at the same time Pravati snapped (Ron has apparently been in a huffy mood all night since Hermione arrived on Krum's arm, according to Luna and Linny when they hung out earlier, and he had been ignoring Pravati the whole time while causing an argument or two with Hermione) and poured her drink all over Ron's head.

Oh if only she had a camera!

Luckily though, the twins did.