For visual support and update-updates go check out the tumblr I created for HNTBAW:

nhstadler. tumblr. com

15

WHERE THERE'S A WEASLEY, THERE'S A POTTER

MUSICAL MOOD FOR THIS CHAPTER: WE THREE - I WANNA LOVE SOMEBODY

"I'm having a hard time taking you seriously with those fluffy mouse slippers."

"He came back for you," Katie said in a low voice but the underlying squeal was still evident. "That's so sweet!"

"Yeah." I looked up from the plethora of books and parchment on the table, frowning at nothing in particular as my thoughts strayed from my DADA homework once more. "It is, isn't it? I feel bad somehow for being so rude to Asher before."

"What?" Katie said so loudly that a couple of people in our closer vicinity shot reprimanding glares at us. "I wasn't talking about Asher," she continued in a whisper that couldn't hide her indignation. "I meant James."

"Potter?" I stared at her in disbelief for a moment. "He didn't come back for me. He just came to gloat."

Katie arched an eyebrow, a definite look of exasperation on her face. "About what?"

I twisted my hair into a messy top-knot that failed to hold half of my cropped hair and bent over my half-finished essay again. "Obviously about the fact that I lied about meeting someone."

Katie snorted in response. "OK, why would James Potter do that again?"

"Because he's a git!" I said hotly, but the words got stuck in my throat as suddenly the wiry figure of Madame Pince appeared behind the shelf next to where we were sitting, swooping down on us like a vulture.

"This," she hissed in a menacing tone, "is a library. If you cannot be silent, you have to leave."

Katie and I both mumbled an apology before sheepishly returning to our homework assignments. A hard rain was pounding the high windows of the Hogwarts library, filling the vaulted hall with callous thrumming, and, after only a few minutes, I found myself staring into nothingness again. I hadn't gotten much sleep; the Kick-Off party had gone on well into the night and the mixture of music and cheerful yells had carried up all the way to Ravenclaw Tower, preventing me from closing my eyes for longer than a couple of minutes. It was not until the wee hours that the sky had suddenly cracked and unleashed a torrential downpour over Hogwarts, putting an end to the 20th annual Quidditch Kick-Off.

"Have you seen Albus Potter lately?" I had turned to look at Katie who surfaced behind a gigantic rune dictionary, her eyebrows drawn to a frown.

"Yes," she said, "we're hanging out all the time, didn't you know?"

I rolled my eyes at her and leaned back in my comfortable wing-back chair, brushing my palms over the velvet cloth. "It's just, I saw him yesterday and, well, he looked strange somehow. Different."

"Different in what way exactly?" Katie had carelessly dropped the dictionary and leaned towards me with an eager expression on her face.

I shrugged before taking a quick look around to make sure no one would overhear. "His hair and clothes, it just looked odd; not like him."

"Oh that." Katie sighed, waving her hand. "It's probably just his new girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

"Yes." Katie gave me a scandalised look as though she couldn't believe I would miss a chunk of Hogwarts gossip of such magnitude. "Haven't you heard? Apparently he's dating Laura Valenti from Hufflepuff. She's in his year, extremely pretty, very popular…"

"Oh, right." The image of Albus snogging a petite Brunette appeared in front of my mental eye; so they had made it official after all.

"Yeah." Katie sighed wistfully. "They are such a cliche."

"That's enough!" A shrill voice bellowed out and we both jumped, staring into Madam Pince's bulging eyes. "Out! Out! Out! The both of you! OUT!"

"But we haven't-"

"OUT!" Madam Pince cut Katie off and, barely leaving us enough time to gather our things, literally shooed us out of the library.

The Ravenclaw common room was bustling with students like it usually did when the weather was as bad as today and it seemed like every chair, nook, and corner was occupied. I sometimes forgot just how many students actually lived in Ravenclaw Tower, although – as far as I could tell – there were always guests from other houses.

"Great. I'm going to bed." Katie was looking daggers at a couple of first-years in wing-back chairs who crumpled under her disapproving glare.

"I'll come with you." I stretched my arms above my head, thinking that it wouldn't be too bad to call it a day and go to sleep but, just as I made to follow Katie upstairs, I spotted Sam, leaning against the wall, looking quite miserable.

What had he gotten himself into this time?

"Go on," I told Katie, who had stopped as well, looking extremely grumpy. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Sure," she sighed, not bothering to ask me what I was doing, and simply continued to climb the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

"We need to talk."

Sam looked up at me, a confused expression on his face. He seemed to have been so deeply immersed in his thoughts that it took him a moment to even register that I had been talking to him.

"Seth? Is everything alright? Was something wrong with the potion that-"

"No," I said quickly, "but something odd happened at the Kick-Off yesterday. Felicity accused me of breaking you guys up?"

I had expected Sam to look shocked, or puzzled at least, but his face had turned an unhealthy shade of white as he bit down on his bottom lip. "She did?"

"Sam!" I hissed, ignoring his feeble attempt at feigning ignorance. "What the fuck is going on?"

He looked at me for a moment, probably sorting through his thoughts, before finally letting out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry." He brought his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose before looking back up at me. "You - you don't deserve this."

"Deserve what?" I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but the way he was looking at me made my stomach writhe. "Why does Felicity think I broke you up?"

"She, um, she found a couple of – well - letters in a box underneath my bed."

"Letters," I repeated stupidly as I let the information sink in. Hadn't Felicity mentioned something like that? "Like, love letters?"

Sam nodded, his face now turning a light shade of pink that extended all the way to the tips of his ears. "She became furious and demanded to know who they were from and – well-" he trailed off, looking thoroughly uncomfortable as he watched my face fall.

"You told her they were from me?" I could hardly control my voice as the words tumbled out in a high-pitched wheeze. "But, why?"

He hesitated for a moment, looking at something behind my back. "Felicity was always a little jealous of you; because - you know…" He gave me a sheepish look and I felt slightly uncomfortable as I remembered his initial attempts at flirting with me. "She just jumped to conclusions."

"But why didn't you tell her the truth?" I still couldn't follow; if Sam had fallen in love with someone else, surely he could have told Felicity who it was, instead of dragging me into this. This just didn't make any sense

"I - I can't, Seth," he finally said,looking down to his shoes. "No one can know."

"But-" I began but Sam just shook his head, cutting me off.

"I'm really sorry I dragged you into this." He pushed himself off the wall and dived into the bustle of students, leaving me standing there alone, even more thoroughly confused than I had been before.

Wednesday had started just as grey and dull as Tuesday had ended; with heavy rain pounding the castle windows and soaking the grounds, transforming the grounds around Professor Hagrid's hut into a muddy glissade. As interesting as Billywigs were, the cold, wet weather simply didn't allow for an enjoyable Care of Magical Creatures lesson and, after shouting over the rain for half-an-hour, Hagrid gave up and sent us back up to the castle to get dry before our next classes would start.

"I guess, summer is really over, then." Katie looked somewhat mournfully at the closest window where rivers of rain ran down the glass, obscuring the view.

"Yeah." I sighed as I dried my uniform skirt with the thin stream of hot air that issued from my wand. Even though it was only the end of October it felt as though the term had been going on for much longer than merely two months already.

"Oh Hector, I'd love to!" A loud squeal echoed through the Entrance Hall and heads turned towards Adina Singer who had latched onto Hector Chang's arm like clinging moonlace. She seemed to be examining something in his hand, a delighted expression on her face.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Ugh, nauseating."

"Are they dating?" I asked casually while checking if the books in my bag were still whole and dry.

"Jesus Christ, Seth!" Katie threw an indignant look at me. "Are you living in a cave? They've been dating since the Kick-Off."

I laughed, mostly because Katie's incredulous look was hilarious. "How was I supposed to know that?"

"They've been snogging in the common room, like, every night since Saturday – disgustingly so. How could you not see that?" She was laughing too by now, throwing an arm around my shoulders as we began to climb the stairs together. All around us, students were pouring out from their morning classes, instantly filling the corridors with cheerful chatter, which multiplied as it bounced off the high ceilings.

"Tarquin asked if we wanted to come to the Hufflepuff common room after the feast tonight – they are having something like a costume party."

"Uh, when have you been talking to Tarquin?" I could barely suppress a grin which earned me a deadpan look from my best friend. "I'm sorry." I pressed my lips together, trying to not smile as I cleared my throat. "Sure, why not. Hufflepuff sounds fine."

"Yeah." Katie sighed. "Better than spending Halloween eating sweets in bed. Again."

"Although - "

"No!" She cut me off before the word was even out of my mouth. "You can do your grandma stuff any other night of the week. Let's just act like young people. For once."

"Sure," I said, barely able to keep a straight face. "I can bring my knitting things in case it gets boring."

Katie's lips twitched. "That's a great idea! Maybe you should also bring a pillow, in case you get tired and want to take a nap."

"Good thinking," I said and we both began to laugh, leaning into each other and barely watching where we were going. It wasn't such a bad idea, actually.

"Seth! Watch out!" Katie had stalled suddenly, tugging on my arm as though trying to pull me to the side, but it was too late already; there was a hard bump as my body collided with something solid, and I slammed into the obstacle with full force.

"Oh, sorry!" A deep voice said somewhere close to my ear and I felt a hand close around my arm, steadying me enough to keep me from actually falling over. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

Still slightly disoriented, I snapped my head up and looked straight into a pair of deep blue eyes.

Augustus Cotton smiled, revealing a row of perfectly white teeth.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked in a low voice, the smile never fading from his handsome face.

"Um, no," I said, still quite perplexed. It even took me a moment to realise that his fingers were still wrapped around my arm and that something pointy was digging into my wrist.

"What-" I looked down confused, shocked to find his wand pressing into my skin, the tip glowing in a pale purple light.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" I yanked my arm away from him, tumbling backwards a bit as his grip slackened again.

"Nice to meet you, Elizabeth." He winked, still smiling as though nothing weird had just happened, and then simply walked away again, disappearing into the crowd.

"What was that?" Katie had pulled me closer to the wall, shielding me from the curious stares of passers-by. If I looked half as spooked as I felt, I couldn't even blame the group of first years for giving me a wide berth as they scrambled past us.

"I don't know," I said, looking down at my wrist; right where Augustus' wand had touched my skin, thin writing had appeared, almost like a tattoo: Barnabas the Barmy.

Katie, who had looked deeply worried just a second ago, suddenly gasped, her eyes widening as she yanked on my arm to get a better look at the words. "Do you know what this means?"

I raised my eyebrows at her, feeling that she sounded much too enthusiastic considering the circumstances. "Um, that Augustus Cotton is a psychopath who has marked me for murder?"

"No," Katie said, rolling her eyes as though I was being ridiculous. "It's a clue."

"I don't-"

"Seth. It's an invitation." She paused, probably for the dramatic effect, and then looked at me with a mixture of excitement and disbelief. "It's the invitation."

I was sitting on my bed, looking at the plush cat-eared slippers on my feet as I kicked my legs back and forth. The bathroom door was closed, but loud clanking and occasional cursing could be heard as Katie probably went through every single make-up product she had ever bought.

"And what if it's a trick?" I said loudly, examining the words on my wrist once again. The whole thing just seemed too weird. Sure, Katie and I had been invited to one or two common room parties before, but this was distinctly different. And not in a good way.

"Stop overthinking this, Seth!" Katie called back. "It's happening, OK?"

"Fine." I sighed though I wasn't convinced at all. The fact that there was no information about the location or anything, really, bothered me. I didn't even know why I had been invited in the first place.

"OK, I'm ready!" The bathroom door had swung open and I was momentarily blinded by a startling amount of teal glitter. "Ta-dah!" Katie sang, throwing her arms up as she twirled on the spot to show off the long, sparkly dress. "What do you think?" She ran her hand over her auburn braid which was adorned with bits of glittery shells and tropic flowers.

"You look great, Kat,"

"I know." She had positioned herself in front of the floor length mirror she had magically glued to the inside of her closet door and ran her hands over the snug dress. "I make such a cute mermaid. What about you?"

"I'm ready." I slid off my bed and stowed my wand in the front pocket of my fluffy blue bathrobe.

"What?" Katie's voice had come out unnaturally high as she stared at me, her mouth slightly open. "You can't go like that!"

I looked down at my flannel pyjama bottoms and the furry slippers. Sure, it wasn't very sexy, but I was extremely cozy. Also, I really didn't own anything else that might have passed as a costume.

"I'm a sleepy person."

Katie groaned in an almost comical way. "I love you but that's the lamest thing I have ever heard."

"It's a Halloween party. Everyone is going to look lame." I waved my hand airily and then linked my arm through hers. "Now, are you coming or not?"

I would have bet ten Galleons that Katie and I would be back in our dorm room within a couple of minutes. Finding the way to a secret party with only a vague clue to guide us had seemed like an impossible task. Most surprisingly, however, it had been positively easy. Inhabitants of various portraits had been eager to point us into the right direction when they had overheard us discussing Barnabas the Barmy and it didn't take us long until we actually ended up in front of a gigantic tapestry of a man, teaching ballet to a couple of trolls in tutus.

"Over there," Katie whispered, pointing at a lanky boy who was sitting on a stool in front of a bare stretch of wall, reading a Quidditch magazine. He looked entirely bored and, even after we had approached him, he took his time to finish his article before finally looking up.

"Invite only," he grumbled as he distinctly frowned at my cat-eared slippers.

I exchanged a nervous look with Katie and then rolled up the sleeve of my bathrobe, holding the tattoo-like markings on my wrist under his nose. For a moment, he looked thoroughly taken aback but then he got up, put his magazine down on his stool, and began to walk up and down in front of the empty wall, mumbling quietly to himself.

Maybe I had been marked for murder after all.

To my surprise, however - after he had passed the wall for the third time - the faint outline of a door appeared in the stone, seemingly materialising out of thin air. I couldn't help gaping thickly as I watched the door grow solid, looking like it had been there for a thousand years already. For more than five years I had been living at a magic castle, but the palace never ceased to amaze me.

"Have fun," the boy drawled in a monotonous voice and returned to his magazine as though he had not just made a door appear out of nothing. He was obviously quite unimpressed and I wondered how often he had already performed the trick tonight.

"This," Katie said, her voice quivering, "is going to be the best night ever."

It was one of those moments; when you just knew that you were the odd kid on the playground. The one everyone was avoiding because it had ominous goo smeared all over its face and snoot dripping from its nose. Only that this was about a hundred times worse.

"Seth," Katie said slowly, sounding almost as though she had fallen into some kind of shock-induced trance. "Seth."

"Yes," I replied, unable to take my eyes off of the scene in front of me. We were suddenly standing in what looked like the latest London it-bar: low-slung lounge chairs were grouped around drink-laden tables and a pulsing crowd moved to thick beats that reverberated from the floor. Countless bare light bulbs were hanging from the high ceiling, dipping everything into a soft glow that was just bright enough to create a cosy yet enticing atmosphere.

It was, however, not the place that made Katie hyperventilate next to me, but the mass of beautiful people in tiny dresses and crisp shirts that pushed past us, giving us looks that suggested we were a pair of slimy flobberworms.

Well, we probably were to them.

"Seth, why is no one wearing a costume?" Katie wheezed, her eyes wide with mortification as she hid her glittering self behind me a little. The group of people that occupied the table closest to us were staring at us by now, examining my bathrobe and then collapsing into hysterics.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's not a costume party."

Katie's fingers were still digging into the plush fabric of my robe, the collection of shells in her hair clinking softly as she moved in front of me, a panic-stricken look on her face. "What do we do?"

"I - um - OK. OK. No problem." I had composed myself quickly and grabbed Katie's hands to give her a reassuring look. "We'll just go change and then come back."

"No!" Katie grabbed the sleeve of my bathrobe, pulling me back to her. "We can't."

I wasn't sure what she was talking about at first, but when she pointed at my wrist I realised that the words on there had vanished. Apparently, after leaving the party, we wouldn't be able to get back in.

"Maybe we could fake it?" I suggested, trying to remember the exact look of the words that had been written on my wrist until a couple of minutes ago. It couldn't be too hard to perform the spell, but to make it look exactly like the one Augustus had conjured might be a bit of a challenge.

"No." Katie shook her head, making the sea paraphernalia in her braided hair jingle once more. "We just need to find a bathroom."

I took a doubtful look at one of the full-length mirrors that covered the bathroom walls. While Katie – who was standing behind me, fussing with my hair – looked almost normal without all the shellfish jewellery, I was still wearing my flannel pyjamas (the bathrobe had been cast aside) and the cat-eared slippers. Our countless cries of Accio had had virtually no effect, which might have been connected to the magic of this strange place.

After finally accepting that, apparently, things couldn't just be magicked in, Katie had announced 'plan B', which was basically trying to make us look as normal as possible. It had worked fine with her outfit; she might have looked slightly overdressed in her all-sparkly dress, but without all the seafood it was actually alright.

I, on the other hand, still looked like a numpty that had wandered in here by mistake in my loose, checked pyjamas and fluffy slippers and Katie's vigorous attempts to style my hair – no matter how skilled she was – weren't going to change that.

"You know, I think I should -"

"No!" Katie's eyes were wide as she gave me an imploring look. "You can't leave me alone here!"

I sighed and leaned against one of the sinks with my arms folded across my chest. "Kat, I'm wearing pyjamas. I look like an idiot."

"So what? You ran around Hogwarts looking like a boy in a girl's uniform for almost five years." She arched her eyebrows at me. "You didn't care what anybody thought about you back then, did you?"

She was right somehow. Even if her argument had sprung solely from her desperation to be part of this party, she did have a point. Of course, it was considerably more embarrassing to wear pyjamas to a fancy party but, then again, I doubted anyone here even knew my name.

"I'm a spineless pushover." I groaned, but my voice was muffled by Katie's spectacular hair as she engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug. "Just so we're clear, I get to be a granny for the rest of the semester."

Katie beamed. "Anything."

Katie had vanished.

Without a trace.

After about half-an-hour of running around aimlessly, looking for hints of glittery teal cloth, I had given up and settled at the bar, which stretched in a circle across the middle of the room, hoping that my best friend would find me again somehow.

It should have been obvious, really. After everything that had already gone wrong tonight, I should have realised that it wasn't a day to follow strange invitations to secret – and most probably illegal – parties, but a day to build pillow forts and wait for the day to be over. Instead, I was sitting amidst beautiful people on a barstool in my most unflattering pyjamas, wanting nothing more but to crawl into my warm bed and read until I fell asleep.

"I'm so sloshed, I don't even feel my legs anymore!" A girl told her group of friends as they staggered past me, apparently finding this a valid reason to squeal with delight, and I watched them with vague interest. Demeter Notte's dress had ridden up her thighs, exposing probably more than it was supposed to, but she didn't seem to notice nor care as she stumbled towards the dance floor, leaning against an equally unstable Vala.

This really wasn't my kind of thing; parties and dancing and stretchy mini dresses. I sighed quietly to myself and raked my hand through my hair as my eyes drifted to a particularly glamorous-looking group in the back. They were occupying one of the few tables on a raised platform, looking more like a couple of celebrities in a VIP section rather than regular teenagers. Among them, I could spot Freddie Weasley, dark and freckled, his arms wrapped loosely around the waist of Genie Patil, who was sitting on his lap.

And, of course, wherever Freddie Weasley was, James Potter couldn't be too far; he was leaning forwards in his chair, elbows on his knees and a smile on his lips as he said something to the broad bloke opposite him who was a beater on the Gryffindor team. Meanwhile, the stunning blonde to his right could barely take her eyes off of him, leaning towards him in an obvious attempt at getting as close to him as possible. She seemed so immersed in making moony eyes at Potter that she didn't even notice Athena Notte staring daggers at her from the side.

I rolled my eyes at the scene, yet I was strangely enthralled, unable to look away. It was like watching one of those absolutely ridiculous teen dramas on television, really. Augustus Cotton, who I hadn't seen until he had bent over Freddie and Genie, tapped James on the knee and then whispered something into his ear. Potter gave him a grin and then, after taking a generous sip from the glass tumbler in front of him, suddenly turned his head towards the bar.

It took me a second too long to realise that he wasn't actually looking at the bar, though.

He was looking at me.

I sat up a little straighter, feeling caught. Why for the love of Merlin did Potter always have to find me staring at him? Especially when I looked like I had sleep-walked in here by mistake.

This could not be happening.

To make things even worse, Freddie and Augustus had joined him and were very obviously looking into my direction as well. It wasn't hard to guess what they were thinking, judging by Freddie's amused grin as he checked out my flannel top, and I felt a surge of heat trickle down my back.

At least they couldn't see the cat-eared slippers.

I was thoroughly mortified, but I also didn't dare to swivel around on my barstool just yet. Reacting too abruptly would have just drawn attention to the fact that I had indeed been staring and made me look like the pathetic stalker James already was convinced I was. So, instead, I let my gaze wander a little further until I could naturally turn back towards the counter again, hoping that it looked as though I had merely been brushing over them while taking in the scene.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as smooth as I thought.

"That's quite an interesting outfit, Woodley."

Shit.

For a second I contemplated ignoring James; I could see him from the corner of my eye, leaning against the bar counter next to me like he owned the place, and I cursed under my breath. His dark brown hair looked windswept again and the usual half-smile was tugging on his lips as he took in my ridiculous getup. Unlike me, he had obviously not bungled the dress code, fitting right in with the sleeves of his dark blue sweatshirt pushed up to his elbows.

"I don't know if I should get you a drink or a glass of warm milk." He was still smirking - infuriatingly so - and I narrowed my eyes at him in an attempt at feigning coolness.

"How about you don't get me anything?" I sounded almost convincingly nonchalant considering I was still at a party in my pyjamas, but James clearly wasn't impressed.

"Come on, Lizzy." He slid onto the barstool next to me and I noticed a couple of people looking our way. There was a hint of a slur in his voice and his eyes shone a little too brightly, but he still seemed relatively sober otherwise.

"Please don't call me Lizzy," I groaned, but he didn't seem to have heard me over the considerable noise and turned to the bartender, ordering two glasses of Firewhiskey.

"No, I don't - " I tried to protest, but the lanky guy behind the counter had already slammed two tumblers onto the bar and filled them to the brim with deep amber liquid from a bottle of Odgen's Old Firewhiskey. "- drink."

I only stared at the glass for a moment, reluctantly remembering last Christmas when I had had some of my grandfather's impossibly expensive Firewhiskey and ended up chanting 'wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure' over my grandmother's favourite string quartet version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.

It had been quite entertaining, really, until I had woken up with a pounding in my head the next morning.

"So, what's up with the pyjamas?" James asked, not even trying to hide his amusement as he examined my fluffy slippers.

"I thought it was a costume party." I shrugged, sounding much cooler than I really felt about this whole thing. Instinctively, I reached for the whiskey, cradling the glass in my hand to have something to do other than trying to find things to look at besides Potter, whose eyes - I had stupidly noticed - were almost the same color as the Firewhiskey in my glass.

James frowned, though still looking infuriatingly amused as he took his time to scan my outfit, his eyes wandering from my slippers to the loose flannel shirt. "And what exactly are you dressed up as?"

I could feel my cheeks burn but I tried to hold his gaze nonetheless. "A sleepy person."

He snorted. "That is honestly the worst costume I have ever seen, Woodley."

"Oh, shut up." I picked up the glass I had been pushing back and forth between my palms, and, without really thinking this through, took a large sip. I knew it had been a mistake as soon as the thick liquid burned all the way down to my stomach and I struggled to suppress the coughs that were shaking my body.

James was watching me as I pretended that I wasn't on the verge of suffocating, but I didn't look up to see the expression on his face. The last thing I needed tonight was a sloshed James Potter judging my lack of drinking skills.

"How's your brother?" He said out of nowhere, swivelling his tumbler lazily so that the amber liquid rolled around the glass. "I hope he didn't hurt himself in the Forbidden Forest."

I almost choked on the swallow of whiskey in my mouth, this time unable to stifle the coughs as a bit of the burning substance trickled down the wrong pipe. "You mean Asher? He's not my brother."

"Cousin, then."

I narrowed my eyes at Potter, the familiar prickle of irritation that I had come to associate specifically with him flaring up again. Was he actually insinuating that I had asked one of my relatives to pretend to be my boyfriend in front of him? "You really do think a lot of yourself, don't you?"

James was grinning by now. "Generally." He took a sip from his drink, his eyes never leaving my face. "I'm pretty awesome most of the time."

I rolled my eyes at him. "More like inflated."

The infuriating smirk was still in place as he leaned his back against the countertop and I noticed the edge of a thin, black line peek out from underneath the pushed-up cuff on his right arm. Katie was going to be chuffed.

"I'm having a hard time taking you seriously with those fluffy mouse slippers."

"They're cats," I said firmly, because there really was no way of pretending I wasn't so phenomenally uncool that I had shown up to a party in my pyjamas, "and, just so you know, they are very comfortable and warm."

At that, James laughed and it caught me off guard; mostly because it wasn't a mocking sort of laugh but unexpectedly warm. I had never seen him laugh like this and I was wholly unprepared for the dimple that had appeared on his right cheek.

"What?" The indentation was still clearly visible, even in the dim light. It was only then that I realised that I must have been staring at him weirdly and I quickly shook my head as I felt an unsettling flutter behind my chest.

"Nothing." I took a sip from my glass - mostly to give myself something to do - but forgot that it was filled with alcohol and spluttered once again as the burning sensation took me by surprise. "Merlin, that's awful."

"You don't drink much, do you?" James's elbows were leaning on the counter, his long fingers holding on to the brim of his almost empty glass, tilting it in a slow circle. Behind us, a group of girls passed by - a little too closely to be casual - and one of them brushed her arm against James's back. Strangely, he didn't even so much as glance over his shoulder, even when they settled at the bar just a few seats away.

"I know it's hard to believe," I said, my voice still sore as I pointed at my comically unsuitable appearance, "with my sense of style and all. But I'm not exactly a party girl." The smile I gave him felt a little too goofy and I inwardly cursed the Firewhiskey that was obviously starting to go to my head.

James grinned back at me, looking somewhat puzzled, before - suddenly - the smile on his face froze and his eyes shifted their focus. He was frowning at something behind me and I thought that maybe he had noticed the group of girls after all, but when I turned my head to follow his gaze, I immediately realised what had caught his eye:

Standing just a few feet away from us with a pretty brunette hanging on to his arm was Albus Potter. Laura Valenti was following him to a waving group of people, which seemed normal enough, and he was leaning into her, apparently struggling with his balance a little, which also wasn't anything out of the ordinary considering we were at a party; yet, the scene seemed slightly off, and not only because he was dressed like he was about to play a game of golf with a bunch of snooty businessmen in pressed khakis and his black hair forced into a slick side-part.

"Um, are you OK?" I asked James who had taken a too large sip of his drink to be entirely casual, looking distinctly irritated as his dark eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, just-" He shook his head and raked a hand through his hair before looking back at me again, his eyes narrowing. "It's my brother. We - um - we had a fight. A pretty bad one."

"What did you do?" The words had been out before I could stop myself and James looked up momentarily, the corner of his mouth pulling upwards as his eyes darted to my reddening cheeks. I definitely shouldn't drink. Ever again.

Least of all with James Potter.

"Let's just say I'm not a fan of his new girlfriend." He sounded as though he had just stopped short of rolling his eyes at the last word and then looked down at his drink, an almost puzzled expression on his face over finding it empty.

"Oh," I said, because it felt like I should say something, but I had no idea what, really. Sure, I could have come up with some lame cliche about siblings and fights, but the truth was that I had absolutely no experience with these things. After all, I was an only child and the inner workings of sibling-relationships were as much of a mystery to me as when Katie tried to tell my future with a clump of soggy tea leaves.

"Yeah." James snorted and then bit his bottom lip which made me feel oddly uncomfortable, and I shifted in my seat. "I might have also told him that he looks like a fucking prick with that slicked-back hair and that Rosie is right in calling Laura a prissy little bitch."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, I know." James winced, one hand clutching at his hair. "But all that beige and those creases – that's not him. She's fucking dressing him up and the git is too smitten to notice. I just don't want him to get hurt."

I didn't mean to smile, but I could feel my facial muscles work on their own accord and so I resolved to stare at my Firewhiskey instead, noticing that it was almost empty. It was weird to realise that James had this whole other side to him - that he was a big brother who tried to look out for his siblings - and I didn't know if I wanted to know, really. It was much easier to deal with his strutting-arrogant-prat side and leave it at that.

"It might just be a phase." I told him after a moment of silence because it just felt too strange to just be sitting here next to him, watching him frown at the melting ice cubes in his glass. "My friend Katie once dated this Muggle boy, Kevin, who was really into bomber jackets and had about three brain cells." I couldn't help but snort at the memory. "He set his own hair on fire just to see what would happen, but she still insisted he was a secret genius."

James laughed and I tried to not notice the dimple on his right cheek. "When did she realise that he wasn't?"

"She just outgrew him at one point." I shrugged and reached for my drink to take a sip but then thought better of it and put the glass back down again. "People grow all the time. Things change. Faster than you might think."

He gave me a long look that did absolutely nothing to make me feel less tipsy. "You're kind of smart, Woodley."

I rolled my eyes at him in an attempt at regaining my wits and slid from the barstool, feeling a definite surge of vertigo that threatened to throw me off balance. "And you're kind of tolerable when you're drunk, Potter."

He frowned, watching me roll up the sleeves of my pyjama top. "What are you doing?"

I didn't feel sufficiently sober to deal with him, but I couldn't tell him that, obviously, and so I pushed my hair behind my ears and channelled all of my remaining sobriety into pretending that I wasn't drunk from one lousy glass of Firewhiskey. "I should go look for my friend. I lost her a while ago and, while I know she can take care of herself, I also know that she thought Kevin was a good idea."

"Right." James's eyebrows furrowed the slightest bit and, for a dumb second, I thought he was going to say something else, but then he jsut gave me that noncommittal half-smile that seemed to be perpetually etched onto his face. "Good night, Woodley."

"Good night, Potter." I gave him a sort of awkward wave and then quickly turned away from him before my legs decided that they didn't know how to function properly anymore after all. Even as I walked away, I noticed that the group of girls from before were still there, eyeing me strangely as I passed them by, and I knew that it would be only a matter of seconds until they would swoop in to claim the empty spot besides James Potter.

My search for Katie was thoroughly unsuccessful; I had looked everywhere - even in the boys' bathroom - but she didn't seem to be at the party anymore.

It wasn't until I discovered her empty bed in our dorm room that I began to panic, though.

One horrible thought chased another as I paced the forsaken common room in circles, thinking of places I hadn't checked yet. She hadn't left a note, which wasn't at all like her, and scenarios in which she had been poisoned with Crapula again even had me running up to the Astronomy tower like a lunatic, completely ignoring that I could have been discovered by a teacher or Filch.

It was nearly three o'clock in the morning when I finally sank into one of the wingback chairs in the common room, my arms wrapped around my legs as I tried to fight off sleep. The fires had already been extinguished by the house elves - probably a while ago - dipping the vaulted tower into complete darkness that made it even harder to stay awake, but I couldn't just go to bed when my best friend was missing.

Even if my eyelids were growing heavy.

I just needed to close them for a second.

For a minute, maybe.

Rain was drumming a soft pattern against the windows, filling the room. It was almost like a melody; a lullaby.

Crack.

I jerked up, blinking rapidly. My head was still drowsy but I had definitely heard something. Someone was in the common room; I could hear the rustle of their clothes as they moved across the carpets.

For a sleep-drunken second, I was convinced that it had to be Katie. Who else would sneak around Ravenclaw tower at this hour? But then someone talked; and it wasn't a girl's voice.

"I can't believe you're doing this," the guy hissed, "you're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Don't be ridiculous." The answer came promptly, but the second speaker sounded much calmer, soothing even. "I'm just trying to keep up appearances."

The other one snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Sam, I swear."

At the sound of Sam's name, the last traces of sleep were pushed out of my system by a surge of adrenaline. Something about this felt fishy and I shifted in my chair, careful not to make a sound as I peered over the backrest. Two people were clearly silhouetted against one of the windows, their heads bent towards each other, but one of them was shaking his head.

"Whatever." This time, I recognised Sam's voice. "I'm going to bed."

"Sam," the other boy pleaded, "don't go." I watched him grab his hand, effectively holding him back, and then pulling him into him. It was then that a sliver of light fell onto his face and I only just managed to stifle a gasp.

Right there, kissing Sam, was Hector Chang.

"I don't like Adina," he said quietly, his forehead resting against Sam's. "I like you."

There was a dull thud as my knee slid from the chair, banging against the wooden frame, and the two boys whipped their heads around in shock as I bit my lip to stifle the groan that worked its way up my throat. I had ducked my head, feeling my heartbeat crawl up to my ears as I waited for them to discover me, crouching behind the backrest like a creep.

"What was that?" Sam whispered, sounding thoroughly scared.

"Who's there?" Hector's deep voice rang out and I squeezed my eyes shut like a toddler who was trying to become invisible.

"Let's go," Sam said after a long stretch of silence and then I could hear them climbing the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Only when the sound of their footsteps had faded away completely, however, I dared to breathe again with my heart still thumping wildly against my chest.

Great. This was just what I had needed.

Another bleeding secret.

A/N: OK, first things first, THANK YOU FOR STILL BEING HERE… I have re-written this a couple of times, which is why it took me so long to upload. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I'm an annoying perfectionist. As always, I can't wait to hear what you guys think! Your feedback is greatly appreciated and always makes my day, which I spend studying for enormously boring exams these days. You people are seriously awesome!