MAYA

'Smile,' Arnav hissed in my ear. 'I promise you I'm not going to feed you to dragons.'

'These clothes looked nice in the store but I swear they just make me look fat now. And my make up looks disgusting. I don't know how to put make up on my face,' I hissed back. 'I want to leave.'

'You are the furthest thing from fat,' he said. 'And your make up looks fine. Believe me.' He held my face in his hands. 'Just breathe,' he said. 'You look beautiful and Fred Weasley is an idiot if he doesn't think so.'

I breathed deeply and we walked to the bar where Rose Weasley, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy were laughing loudly about something. I had desperately hoped that Daemon would be here. He always managed to make me comfortable.

Rose narrowed her eyes when she saw me. 'Hello Arnav, Taylor,' she said coolly.

I suppressed the urge to shiver in fright. This wasn't school and Rose Weasley could no longer do terrible things to me.

'Hello Rose,' I said matching her tone.

'Hey Maya,' Al said grinning at me. Malfoy just nodded.

'Hi,' I said.

'So,' Al said awkwardly. 'What've you been doing since you left school?'

'Erm I got a job at the Ministry. I'm doing Law,' I said.

'That's cool,' he said. 'I got into the Auror programme.'

'Isn't that ridiculously competitive?' I asked. Albus Potter wasn't the most energetic of people. He was smart, I'll give him that but pretty lazy too.

'Fairly,' he said.

Arnav sat down next to Rose and pulled me into the barstool next to his.

'So how's work going?' he asked her. Rose was in the Auror programme too. I was less surprised that she had made it in. Rose Weasley was a lot of things but a coward she was not. Coupled with her incredible intelligence and tendency to always get what she wanted, it was no surprise that she had walked the preliminary tests. I knew rather lot about Rose because of Arnav's tendency to ramble on about her.

'Pretty good,' she said. 'We still haven't done any fieldwork but since it's just been a week I suppose it makes sense. Uncle Harry's given the new lot of Aurors to Baddock who's a fairly decent teacher. Dad used to handle newbies but ever since he's gone to work with Uncle George, Fred and James at WWW they've got some rotating system thing. I'm kind of glad though. How weird would it be to basically work for your dad?'

'That's cool,' Arnav said, though I could tell he had stopped listening halfway through the speech and was just staring at her. That boy was so whipped.

Rose evidently realized too because she smirked. 'So are you coming home with me tonight?' she asked seductively.

Arnav pulled himself together. 'No I have a date,' he said managing to sound like her proposal hadn't succeeded in giving him a boner.

'Yes Weasley I would prefer it if you didn't proposition him,' I said sounding far braver than I felt.

Her lips curled up into a smirk. 'Of course,' she said sounding suspiciously sweet. 'Wouldn't dream of it.' She got up and walked away.

'Have I ever told you how much she scares me?' I asked Arnav.

'Relax,' he said. He looked rather happy.

'Stop smiling like the Cheshire Cat,' I snapped. 'All we've achieved here is possible death for me.'

'It's fairly obvious that we've managed to make her jealous. Don't be so dramatic,' he said, rolling his eyes. 'And what's a Cheshire Cat?'

'It's from a muggle story,' I said, not bothering to explain fully.

'Now it's your turn,' he said. 'Where's Weasley?'

'I'm not doing this,' I said. 'It's just too weird.'

'You are such a chicken,' he said.

'Whatever, you've managed to get Rose all annoyed so can I please leave now?' I asked.

'Fine,' he said. 'I'll come with you.'

'You really don't need to do that,' I said. 'In fact I would much rather you didn't.'

'Why?' he asked. 'Am I really such bad company?'

'No but I just want to go home and be in bed before Fred brings one of his bimbos back for the night.'

'I'm sorry,' he said sympathetically. 'But really I feel like a bit of an idiot too. I did just turn down mind-blowing sex with Rose so I could be faithful to my date who doesn't seem to want me.'

'Damn,' I said. 'You really do know how to make a girl feel guilty.'

'It's a talent of mine,' he said with a smile. 'Now can we just stay here and enjoy the party?'

'Fine,' I said. 'But you owe me for the whole Rose jealousy thing okay?'

'How about I buy you a couple of drinks?' he asked grinning, knowing I wasn't serious. 'Will that cover it?'

'Maybe,' I said.

'Okay, let's get you drunk Maya Taylor,' he said.

'I do stupid stuff when I'm drunk,' I said. 'So you have to make sure my behavior is impeccable.'

'Merlin Taylor who uses words like impeccable anymore?' he asked teasingly.

'Shut it Corner,' I said with a laugh. 'Now let's get completely smashed.'

'Fine by me,' he said laughing too.

He ordered two Firewhiskeys. He downed nearly the whole thing in one shot. I sipped at mine. He was already on his third by the time I finished it.

'You're going to have to do better than that if you want to get anywhere close to inebriation,' Arnav said looking distinctly amused.

'Maya?' I heard someone say from behind me.

I turned around knowing exactly who it was and feeling something akin to elation in my stomach. But that just might've been the Firewhiskey.

'Hey Fred,' I said.

'You look different,' he said.

'Good different or bad different?' I asked.

'I'm not sure,' he said, his brow furrowed. I could see he had already been drinking for quite a while. 'You just look different.'

'Maya,' I heard someone yell.

I grinned broadly. 'Daemon,' I said reaching up to hug him. I didn't miss Fred's annoyed look or Arnav's amused one.

'You look incredibly hot,' he said.

'Why thanks love,' I said. 'So do you.'

'On a date?' he asked.

'Yeah sort of,' I said. Fred looked at me his expression unreadable.

'What do you mean sort of?' Arnav said putting his arm around my waist. 'I'm terribly insulted.'

'Oh shush,' I said laughing.

'Hello Maya,' a voice said from behind Daemon.

'Lorcan,' I said. 'It's good to see you.' But I was lying. I could've done without seeing Lorcan Scamander for the rest of my life.

'Erm yeah you too,' he said, his tone making it clear that the feeling was mutual.

I suddenly felt incredibly awkward. This was a situation I had never quite envisioned. I looked at the men surrounding me. My fake date, my best friend, the one I was hopelessly in love with and the one I had lost my virginity to. The awkwardness was literally coming out of my ears. How on earth had I gotten myself into this ridiculous situation?

a/n: So this is the last one for a month :( I'm sorry but I've got a bunch of ideas for the next couple of chapters. I still have Internet so I can definitely answer any questions you have about stuff so just PM me if you want to know anything. So anyways please review this chapter and I shall update the minute I get home :)