Mary stood in the corner of the room. In this room, everybody looked a little intimidating. The Weasley's Annual Christmas Bash was a who's-who of the wizarding world. The guest list ranged from Quidditch stars to Ministry officials, and, at the center of it all, the Weasley family. Molly and Arthur, beaming as they looked at the pride and joy that was their children. Bill and Fleur, enjoying a night away from the baby. Charlie, attracting the attention of half the single girls in the building. Percy, trying to keep his girlfriend from thinking his family was weird. George and Angelina, the gracious hostess and entertaining host. Ron, sneaking kisses with Lavender, who was hanging off his arm. Ginny and Harry, leaning against the wall and lost in each others eyes.
All of the Great Gryffindor Team was there, too. All except one. The one that Mary was looking for.
A pair of hands covered her eyes. She smiled and turned around, only to come face-to-face with Cedric Diggory.
"Hey, Mary," he said, smiling suggestively. "How are you?"
"Fine, Cedric," she replied coolly before going over to the refreshment table to pour some punch. She didn't much like Cedric, but her parents adored the son of their next-door neighbors. They'd love if she would marry him. Or at least if she would break it off with her boyfriend.
"Oliver!" she cried, spying him entering the party. She set her glass on the table and practically skipped toward him, while he nearly ran toward her. As they came together in the middle of the room, he picked her up and swung her in a circle. He set her down and kissed her.
"I missed you," she whispered.
"I missed you, too," he replied. It didn't matter that they had had lunch together five hours before. They belonged together.
"I'm going to run to the lavatory right quick," Oliver told her.
"But you just got here," Mary complained.
"I ran out of the flat so fast, I forgot to put my tie on." He pulled a tie out of his cloak. He could only tie it in front of a mirror and she couldn't tie one at all.
"Hurry back," she insisted.
As he headed away, Hermione bounced up to Mary. "You will never guess what I did!" Hermione proclaimed.
"Probably not," Mary admitted. As Hermione's best friend, she was well aware that Hermione could do some pretty eccentric stuff.
"I gave Cedric a glass of punch spiked with Amorentia!"
Mary gasped. Almost everyone knew of Hermione's thing for Cedric, except possibly Cedric himself. She knew that, no matter how many times Mary rejected him, Cedric kept crawling back, asking for a date. Still, Mary had never dreamed that Hermione would go this far just to get Cedric.
"It's just till I can convince him that he actually can love me. Shouldn't take long. Maybe an hour. I won't give him anymore after that."
Mary struggled to find the words to express what she wanted to say. She settled with, "I hope it all works out for you."
Cedric sipped a glass of punch, leaning against the wall, watching Mary. She was talking to Hermione now. Hermione was actually the one who had given him the punch. She was nice, but not his type. A little too know-it-all for his taste.
Oliver came out of the restroom, loosening the tie he just put on and fiddling with something in his pocket.
"Ced," he said. Cedric turned toward him. "How do I look? Be honest."
Cedric looked him up and down. "Good, but the shakiest I've seen you since I beat Potter to the Snitch the year you won the cup. You're nervous as hell, man. Here," he passed him the glass, "take a drink and tell me what's up."
Oliver gulped the half-full cup, then passed the empty glass back to Cedric before composing himself. "I'm going to propose to Mary."
Hermione stood looking at the punch bowl. She wondered if Cedric had drunk his special drink yet. It shouldn't take long to act.
"Oi, Hermione!"
She turned, confused. Oliver was striding toward her.
"Have you seen Mary?"
That makes sense. "I think she went to the ladies'."
"Good," he said. Then he closed the gap between them in one step and covered her mouth with his.
Mary walked out of the ladies room and headed back toward the refreshment table. Oliver had been gone for a while, but she figured he was just looking for her. Being the wallflower she was, he would always be able to find her near the food. What she saw stopped her in her tracks. Cedric was stalking angrily toward Hermione…
…who was snogging Oliver.
Oliver was preoccupied kissing a stunned Hermione, so he was completely shocked when Cedric pulled him away, only to punch him in the gut. As Oliver caught his breath, Cedric hauled him to his feet and delivered a few quick shots to his head. Oliver reached up and wound his fingers in Cedric's hair to yank his head back and to the side.
While the boys fought, Hermione slipped away toward the loo. As she neared it, Mary grabbed her arm and spun her around.
"What?" Mary yelled. "You can't get your own guy, so you decide to steal my boyfriend, you little bitch!"
"I didn't steal him! He just came over and started kissing me! Besides, it's not like you can't spare a guy, what with two hanging off of you. You're just a whore!"
"Whore? You little…" Mary brought her hand around and slapped Hermione square across the face.
George and Angelina, seeing that some of their guests were getting a little unruly, decided it would be best to break of the fights that were certainly attracting a lot of attention. Actually, George was all for letting it go until Percy popped a blood vessel, but Angelina sent him and Charlie over to pull apart the guys before she grabbed Alicia to go separate the girls.
Angelina and Alicia were able to pin Mary's and Hermione's upper arms to their sides and drag them out of kicking distance of each other. Alicia looked toward the refreshment table to see George with Cedric in a headlock and Charlie holding Oliver against the wall.
"I think this is all a misunderstanding!" Hermione squealed, no longer fighting to get loose from Angelina's grip, but attempting to hide behind her.
"Misunderstand this!" Mary retorted, before making a very rude one-fingered gesture.
"Cool it," Alicia ordered, twisting Mary's arm so she obeyed. "Misunderstanding how?"
"I spiked a cup of punch and gave it to Cedric, and if he let Oliver have some…"
It was totally silent in the corner until Mary said, "You drugged my BOYFRIEND? Oh, you-"
Mary's mouth kept moving, but no sound came out.
Katie came over, putting her wand away. "It was for the best," she explained. "Now," she turned to Hermione, "do you have an antidote?"
"Um," Hermione stared at the ground ashamedly. "No."
"Okay," Angelina said. "We'll tie up all four so they can't hurt each other."
"For the guests' sanity, it would be better to Stun them so they aren't yelling at each other," Alicia offered.
Without waiting for approval of this plan, Katie whipped out her wand again and Stunned the two girls before taking off across the room to take care of the two still-struggling former house Quidditch players.
After dragging the bodies to a side room, Angelina Apparated to the shop. Not knowing what the guys had been given, she grabbed two of every antidote and a pair of rather large goblets to mix each super-antidote in. She looked at the prices, and, reminding herself to snatch some gold out of Hermione's purse, went back to the party.
Katie helped with the emptying of three dozen thimble-sized vials into each goblet, swirling after each one was added.
"You know," George said behind them, "that blend could really screw up their insides for a few hours."
"So can a bad batch of mixed drinks," Angelina muttered darkly. "They ruined the party for me. They can suffer a stomachache for a while."
She took a full goblet and poured it down Oliver's throat, massaging it to make him swallow. She glanced over Mary and Hermione's unconscious forms to see Katie doing the same to Cedric. They waited a few minutes for the antidotes to take effect, then, hoping that at least one worked, all four people were awakened.
Mary was the first one aware of what was going on and began struggling against the ropes Charlie had gone ahead and tied everyone in. Oliver and Cedric looked around, confused, before seeing each other and glaring. Hermione just kind of curled up into a ball to protect herself.
"Why the hell are we tied up?" Mary burst out.
"Mary!" Oliver cried. He tried scooting over to her, only to fall over. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me."
"I do. That one," she nodded toward Hermione, "spiked Cedric's punch. Did you drink any of it?"
"Yeah, he told me to. He said it would help make me less nervous." He tried to face Cedric. "Did you know?" he asked angrily.
"Nah, mate. I wouldn't have done that to you. Not even after…" He trailed off, looking at Mary.
"Not even after what, Cedric?" He looked down guiltily. Mary turned to Oliver still struggling to sit up again. "Oliver? Not even after what?"
Oliver stopped doing an unintentional impersonation of a worm and lay still. "I was nervous, and still am a little, because I was going to ask if you wanted me to be your husband. I told him that."
Mary stared at Oliver. "You were going to ask me to marry you?" she whispered.
"Yeah."
"Are you still going to?"
"Yeah. Can you guys untie us?"
Alicia, always a hopeless romantic, slashed her wand across all four captives, murmuring "Diffindo." As the ropes fell away, Oliver sprang to his feet, helped Mary to hers, hugged her, and then got down on one knee. He reached into a pocket of his robes and pulled out a ring. "Will you marry me?" he asked, sliding the ring onto her finger.
"Of course," Mary replied.
"Congrats, mate," Cedric said, clapping Oliver on the shoulder. He walked out of the room, got his cloak, and Apparated home. Hermione slipped out of the room and did the same. Everybody else rejoined the party, leaving Mary and Oliver alone in the side room. Alicia, the last one out, shut the door behind her.