What Is and What Should Never Be | Sirius Black

3. The Dancing Queen

AS THE FIRST Hogsmeade weekend falls on the first week of October, Remus is absent from classes, no doubt because the full moon falls on Friday the 8th. Coincidentally, Jane's birthday is the following Saturday.

Debbie, Iman and I wake up early in the morning, knowing Jane will be spending her birthday weekend with David. We think we could at least get in a couple concerts before breakfast - besides, the muggle group ABBA has just released a song that is perfect for the occasion (seeing as the rest of us are still 16 for the time being).

"Debbie." I whisper so as not to wake up Jane. "Please come help me with this."

The girl abandons her bed making and moves over to my trunk where I'm uselessly trying to pull out our most needed prop. Debbie just 'tsk's at me and helps.

"Merlin's beard, what is that?" Iman asks, brushing her hair into the correct style.

"It's a record player." I smile at her. "Muggles use it to play music."

Iman walks over in her dress, Debbie and I have our jump suits on and our hair and makeup are made to look like ABBA. As the only Muggleborn, they're one of Jane's favourite groups so we think this will be a good way to start off her day.

"That's huge." the pureblood whispers, eyeing the phonograph as I place the record on.

The three of us get in our places just like we rehearsed, clutching our brushes, and I place the needle down, hoping I put it perfectly on the edge and not halfway through the song. A slight scratching can be heard before the piano riff blasts throughout the dorm and the music starts playing, I turn it up. Jane immediately rips open her curtains on the four poster bed with a snarl before her face drops at our dancing.

"You can dance, you can jive." We belt out. "Having the time of your life!"

Jane's eyes search the room frantically in confusion as they settle onto the record player, the open album on the floor, then her three roommates dancing and singing. The song playing finally registers within her and a smile breaks her mouth out so wide I worry her face will crack.

I awkwardly shimmy towards her, still holding my hairbrush mic as Jane starts to laugh at us. I grab her hand and pull her off her bed, giving her a twirl as we get to the chorus.

"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen."

Jane starts dancing and singing along with us to the end of the song. She tries teaching Iman some disco moves, while Debbie just goes wild and I jump on my bed to hit the notes very off key. When the record finishes, and it plays those last seconds of scratching before coming to a stop, we all catch our breath, having become a bit sweaty during our performance.

But Jane is ecstatic.

"That was amazing!" She cries, grabbing us all for a group hug as the rest of us start congratulating her birthday. "I love the outfits."

Debbie says, "we got one for you."

Her eyes light up as Iman pulls out a box from under her bed.

Jane accepts it politely before ripping off the top in earnest, coming into contact with the jumpsuit that matches ours and clutching it to her chest, repeating a 'thank you' with a smile on her face.

"Not only that." I say, reaching for the certificates on my nightstand. "We each made donations to your favourite charities."

"No way!" She cries, grabbing the papers from my hands. I swear, the room lit up with her joy. "This is incredible! Thank you, guys."

"It was Des' idea." Iman admits, but I wave her off because it was nothing.

"Well don't just stand there, go put on your jumpsuit." Debbie says.