“Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal! I mean, come on, you do it every day anyway, so it won’t be any different or any more difficult with her here.” Seungri mutters furiously as paces up and down the length of the dance room that the Room of Requirement had provided.

Seungri was giving himself a pep-talk. It was nothing new, really; all of the words were some type of variation of things that Daesung and Youngbae had said to him over the years. The familiarity, however, was not helping him to feel any better.

“You’re nickname is ‘Seungri’ for a reason!” He says, punctuating the end of the sentence with a rather vicious turn toward the other direction. “It’s ‘victory’ for Merlin’s sake! Come on, pull yourself together!”

Seungri had been tied up in knots ever since Erato had asked him to teach her to dance. It had only gotten worse when she had suggested a date for the first practice during their latest study session.

“How about tomorrow night.” She had said, her head resting on her hands as she watched him struggle with his Potions assignment. “Friday nights are normally so dull anyway, right?”

All he had been able to do was nod, because he was starting to have a hard time being around her. It wasn’t all the time that he found it hard for him to breathe in her presence. He usually was able to still come up with quick and witty responses, he could normally still talk to her and banter and nobody would ever be able to tell that she sometimes had this effect on him…but he was so worked up about spending time alone with her while dancing that he couldn’t really keep it together when she brought it up.

Truth be told, Seungri wasn’t even certain why she would want to learn how to dance in the first place. Any time they had talked about dancing before, she had shown no interest in actually being able to do it or learning. In fact, Seungri was fairly certain that she had even admitted to being far too clumsy to dance; a fact punctuated by her inability to keep upright while walking. He couldn’t even count the number of times she had fallen down or up the stairs while he had been with her…

“Why does she even want to do this anyway!?” Seungri says more than asks, as he finally stops pacing. He honestly couldn’t think of a single reason why she would want to… “Unless she wants to spend time with me…” He says quietly, as if it were some kind of traitorous thought that shouldn’t be voiced.

But once he said it, he couldn’t help but to let a small smile creep onto his face. Once it was said, he couldn’t help the hope and excitement that blossomed within him. Once it was said, he lost all nervousness and felt normal for the first time in a couple of days. Because, if she likes him, then he really has nothing to worry about…right?

***

Seungri had been waiting for Christmas all year. He was going to spend a few days with his friends before spending the holiday with his family, and he couldn’t really think of a better way to end the semester.

Except maybe he could. “Erato! I thought your great-uncle twice removed or something was coming to pick you up from Hogsmeade this morning.” Seungri says with a slightly smug smile on his face that Erato noted briefly before rolling her eyes almost imperceptibly and continuing toward him.

“You’re part right,” She says, a smug smile of her own dancing its way across her lips. “Of course by ‘part right’ I mean that yes someone is coming to get me in Hogsmeade…but it was neither this morning nor my great-uncle, who probably shouldn’t be out picking people up anyway as he’s rather old and confined to a wheelchair.”

Seungri lets out a small laugh and his head to the side, glad that he had already been leaning rather coolly against one of the giant windows on the 4^th floor; this way he looked completely at ease and as utterly collected and confident as possible. “Alright then, so I was a bit off.” He says with a bit of a squint to his eyes.

“Only just a bit.” She agrees; an amused smile on her face before she nods at him. “And just what are you doing up here all by yourself? Leaning against a window frame all casual-like. It’s a bit weird.” He’s caught off-guard by that statement and sputters a bit as he moves to stand normally.

He runs a hand through his hair and looks at the ground, hoping that his face isn’t red. “I was just thinking.” He says quickly. “Can’t help the positions my body takes while I’m thinking.”

“Right, of course not.” She says, trying to hold back her smile while nodding in agreement. “Anyway, I actually came down this way hoping that I would find you.”

Seungri stops his shuffling and looks up. “Oh yeah?” He says, the almost-arrogant smile returning to his face.

“Oh stop it!” She says, shoving him lightly in the arm. He tones down the grin and she nods. “Right, what I wanted to say was that my family has this big New Year’s party every year, and I want you to come… if you can, that is. Don’t feel obligated or anything.”

Seungri is almost speechless at this. He had heard Erato talk about the big parties that her family liked to throw, but he hadn’t ever heard about them from her; they were more like rumors that the pure or half-blood and exceedingly rich kids at the school would talk about. She had never mentioned them to him, so he hadn’t really thought much about them. Except for every time you heard about one and you agonized over why you hadn’t been invited when other boys your age and older had…

“Ahh,” Seungri says after what he hoped was a short moment. “Of course, I’d love to!”

Erato’s face, which had fallen into an uncertain frown while Seungri had been thinking, broke into a wide smile. She leans forward and gives him a quick hug and then backs up again. “Excellent! I will send you an owl later, ok? I’ve got to meet my Great-Aunt Sylvie down in Hogsmeade soon. Can’t be late!” And with that she dashes off.

Seungri is stunned for a second after the hug, but as she dashes away down the hall he collects himself enough to shout after her: “Great-Aunt! I wasn’t that wrong!” She doesn’t turn around but he hears her laugh as she turns to go down the stairwell.

Excellent, he thinks as he turns to look out the window. Now for time to move a bit faster…

***

Daesung would go to the grave claiming that it was not his idea, and Youngbae was the same. Seungri kind of wished that he could say the same, but then, he knew that he would only be able to hold onto that lie for so long before he cracked. Jiyong and Seunghyun though? Nope, wouldn’t even think of denying this; because this was far too epic of an idea for them to even try to deny it.

And besides, they brought her back in the end.

Since it was little Seunghyun’s 6th year, and it had become a new tradition for the five of them to have their own New Year’s party (TOP had decided that anything that happened two years in a row was a tradition), they had all thought that they should do something grand and exciting. The year before, it had just been the five of them and they had gone out and seen a movie and then come back to GD, Taeyang, and Top’s apartment and had hung around playing games and singing and dancing until they all fell asleep.

This party, they had decided, would be a little…different. For one thing it was going to start at a party that Erato’s parents were holding. Basically every rich kid they had known from school was also attending, and there was a lot of dancing and talking and just general socializing. Well, at least that’s what they heard from Seungri as they waited outside.

Seungri had been invited directly, and had very defiantly held his ground on this matter as he had very desperately wanted to go. So, since they were amazingly brilliant young men and wanted to have their own fun party-time, they devised an amazingly ingenious plan, and were currently working on stealing Erato and one of her friends…

At 9:38 (and 14 seconds) Erato and her friend Devera (a Slytherin) were standing in an unknown area with blindfolds over their eyes.

"So, this is fun." Devera says, trying not to be terrified by the situation; she was a Slytherin, after all.

"Yes, yes, this is terribly fun. It feels so very mythical. It’s like the of Persephone, except without the god of the underworld and mostly just with the being stolen from under my parents’ noses."

"How does that even…never mind." Devera was unable to put her frustration into words, because she was secretly grateful that Erato  was at least acting calm.

"It doesn’t really, but it’s mostly because Seungri didn’t put my blindfold on tight enough and I see one of the books I lent him last year over on the coffee table over there."

"That’s not fair! Erato!!" Seungri’s voice cut through her musing and she fights a grin. They could hear the other four boys also trudge into the room.

"Gosh Seungri, you can’t even blindfold someone right." Jiyong says teasingly as he brushes past him to turn on some music.

"I hope you guys aren’t upset" Daesung says as he unties Erato.

"No, that was entertaining! My parents will be a bit miffed though I suppose." Erato replies with a bright smile. Once untied she rushes over to pat Seungri on the head and apologize for getting him in trouble.

It was then that the alcohol was broken out and the music was turned up loud. The dancing became more entertaining the more alcohol that was introduced, and so did the conversations. When it came time for the countdown everyone was waiting, watching the clock. When the clock struck midnight, everyone cheered and gave awkward tipsy hugs and sloppy cheek kisses… And Seungri watched as Jiyong pecked Erato on the cheek as he returned a quick hug from Devera.

And after all the dancing and the excitement wore down, Daesung and Youngbae were the responsible ones who brought the two girls back to the party at Erato’s house, and Seungri cursed an opportunity lost; because she gave everyone else a hug or a kiss, but she didn’t give him one.