After standing there awkwardly for a few minutes Malfoy was pulled away by Tara who had arrived earlier. Fred and George went of in search of a joint, leaving Ron, Hermione and Harry to sit on an empty couch.
"There's Claire" Ron said suddenly. Harry stood up, ignoring the warning glance from Hermione, and went over to her.
"Hey Harry!" she yelled, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing him.
"You
know this guy?" a macho guy with short cropped hair was leaning
against the wall where Claire had been standing.
"Shut up, Rhys!
He's my guy!" Claire was wearing khaki coloured cargo pants and a
sweater with the sleeves pushed up. She smelt strongly of marijuana
mixed with vodka.
"Lets dance!" she hollered, dragging Harry away and into the middle of the dancing bodies.
Hermione sat with Ron for a long time, watching the goings on. A few fights broke out but Blaise always appeared and told them to get outside. Malfoy was becoming incredibly close to Tara who was handing off his neck while they danced and she couldn't even see Harry anymore.
After sitting there for half an hour she finally got up and told Ron she was going to the bathroom.
She had no intention of going to the bathroom so she just wandered around the rest of the house. The more quiet parts of the house were filled with couples trying to hide their love. Hermione soon found herself on the top floor in a family room. Most of the people in this room were just talking. It must be where the sober teens went.
She had a chat to a few girls then decided to make her way back downstairs. In the hall outside the boys' bathroom she was cut off by a group of boys. Their leader put his arm around her waist.
"Hey there pretty face" he said, running an eye over her. "Want to get away from here?"
"What ever" Hermione thought this boy was cute with his brown hair, blue eyes and handful of freckles. She didn't mind following him and if he tried something she knew what to do.
Tod, he said his name was, led her up the hall and along another dark, deserted hall. Suddenly he grabbed her and pressed her up against the wall. She could feel his lips pressed hard against hers and she tried to accept it. After all, she had planned to show Claire up tonight. That's why she wore a skirt in the middle of winter.
She put her arm around his neck and let him press his crotch against hers. She was starting to feel slightly scared but this was what teenagers did. She wanted to be a normal person for once, not a witch.
Tod put his hand on her thigh and tried to hitch up her skirt.
"No" Hermione tried to push him away. He'd gone to far now.
"Aw come on! You can't put out that much then stop!" he tried again and Hermione became more forceful.
"Aw come on!" he was a lot stronger than she expected.
"Stop it!"
Tod wouldn't stop. Suddenly, when Hermione found herself almost giving in, he was torn off her and thrown back against the floor. Hermione could see Malfoy's body silhouetted against the light of the rooms next door.
"What the hell, man? Me and the lady was just getting comfy!"
"She's my lady" Malfoy growled. He put a firm arm around Hermione's hips and led her away.
"Fucking slut!" Tod called after her. Malfoy took her down stairs and Hermione began to wonder what he'd do with her.
"You owe me," he said simply, letting her go and walking away.
Hermione found a chair and sat down. She'd almost been raped. Now she knew why she wasn't like Claire; Claire would have had sex with a total stranger. There was something up with that girl.
"Hermione? Oh my god! Hermione Granger!" a sassy brunette with her hair in braids stood over Hermione with a huge grin on her face.
"Leyla? God! Look at you! How have you been?" Hermione jumped up and hugged her old friend.
"Fine! I haven't seen you since you left for boarding school! How is that, anyway? Its co-ed right?" Leyla tugged on her shirt, watching Hermione in amazement "have you got yourself a fella?"
Hermione told her about the incident with Tod and how Malfoy had saved her.
"Jeez girl! You've gone a long way from the nerd I knew at primary school. You've even got boobs!" Leyla scanned the crowd. "You gotta show me this Malfoy guy."
"Alright but remember we aren't a couple. He just saved me, that's all" Hermione warned her friend before leading her to the kitchen where she saw Malfoy head. He wasn't there so they went out into the garden. Draco was sitting on a bench with Blaise they were chatting quietly.
"Over there" Hermione whispered, pointing in their direction.
"Oh he is fabulous! And that's the guy who owns the party, right? He's cute too. I want to dance with him"
Before Hermione could stop her, Leyla had dragged her over and sat down between them.
"Your Blaise, right? Come dance with me, aye?" Blaise grinned at Malfoy, took Leyla's hand and led her back inside. Hermione was about to follow but Malfoy stopped her.
"Sit down, Hermione"
"No…I have to-"
"Just sit"
Hermione sat awkwardly beside him, avoiding eye contact. Malfoy watched her for a moment then threw his head back and stared at the stars.
They just sat there, for a long time, very quietly, watching the sky. Hermione even began to relax. She watched a star fall across the sky; it had a magnificent tail of red, yellow, green and blue.
"Make a wish" Malfoy said suddenly, jerking her out of her daze.
It started to snow.
Harry, exhausted from dancing, finished off his last can of rum and sat back on the couch. Claire snuggled up to him and stroked his chest.
"What was life like in France?" Harry asked. Claire was finally coming down from her high and was a bit sleepy.
"I was a bit of a nerd. I had no friends. So when we moved her I put on a sluttish appearance. You know, flirting, wearing hardly any clothes. It was a bit awkward but I got used to it. I'm trying to dumb it down a bit. Hermione and Parvati hate me."
"Hermione thinks you're a death eater"
"I was"
"…What?"
"I'm not anymore. That's why we moved here. I was under that curse… I forget what it's called. Oh Harry sit down!"
Harry had jumped to his feet and was staring wildly around the room.
"I can't believe it! All this time you're the enemy!"
Claire began to cry.
"No! No I'm not! I'm not a death eater! I never wanted to be. I never was! I only have to mark! I didn't do anything! Harry comes back!"
Harry walked away. He believed her but he needed to think about this.
He stormed out of the house and over to the suite where his guards had gone. Claire was close behind him, bawling her eyes out and calling him.
"How do you find out if someone is a death eater?" he said, storming into the little living room and startling the adults.
"Why, Harry?" Lupin asked, glancing at Mr Zabini and his wife.
Harry pointed at Claire who had Mascara smeared across her eyes. "She has the mark but she claims she isn't. How do I find out?"
"I'm not, Harry!" Claire grabbed his arm as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I guess we can test her," Kingsley said slowly, exchanging a look with Lupin.
"You can use the bedroom," Mrs Zabini offered and Lupin led a bawling Claire in there with Kingsley close behind.
"Thanks for that warning about Voldemort" Harry said shyly to Mr Zabini.
"No worries" he smiled kindly "anything to bring that son of a bitch down"
"Kev!" his wife said.
"How are the rest of them going, Harry?" Tonks asked, examining her nails.
"Dunno. I haven't seen them for a while."
It took Lupin and Kingsley fifteen minutes but finally they came out with triumphant smiles across their faces.
"She's clean. She was under the Imperious Curse, she never went to a meeting and she and her family are indeed in England for hiding purposes."
Claire ran to Harry, still sobbing hysterically.
"Stoned" Harry mouthed over her shoulder when Tonks and Lupin exchanged a glance.
Satisfied, he led Claire back to the house. She was drunk of her head and was wobbling so much that Harry practically had to carry her.
"Harry?"
They were in the almost empty entrance hall that was as big as the one at Hogwarts. Harry turned and found himself face to face with none other than his good old cousin, Dudley.
"How the hell did you get invited to a party like this?" the piggy boy turned and laughed with his friends.
"The guy who owns this place is a mate of mine." Harry hoisted Claire up and she looked blearily at Dudley.
"God your fat"
Dudley let the comment fly over his head.
"And who's this?"
"My girlfriend. You got a problem with that?"
"Bullshit. You don't have any friends!" Dudley and his mates laughed again.
"Why are you here?" Harry asked wearily, trying to keep the peace. He'd have a hell of a time trying to fight Dudley with no backup.
"I know the guy who owns the party, too" he said boldly.
"You know Blaise?" This generally shocked Harry.
"Yur" Dudley looked up as Blaise came through the front door, his arm slung around a brunette.
"What's up, Harry?" Blaise reached out with his free hand to help Harry hold Claire up; she was almost collapsing. The brunette offered her a drink from the bottle of vodka she was nursing. Harry pushed it away.
"Who the hell are you?" Dudley scrunched his face up and glared at Blaise.
"I wouldn't talk to your host like that," Harry laughed, watching his cousin go pale.
"C'mon" Dudley led his friends away.
"Did you know him?" Blaise waved to a few girls who were passing through.
"Yeah, he was my cousin"
"No kidding?"
Draco wandered up.
"Can you guys feel that?" he was frowning. "It feels kind of…Magical."
Blaise and Harry stood perfectly still. There was a strange vibrating in the air.
"It's probably just the snow," the brunette said. The boys had forgotten she was a muggle.
"Malfoy, can you take Claire and get her some water? I'll go find Ron"
Harry wandered back into the living room. There were heaps of people there now, all dancing wildly around the room. Harry found Fred and he told him Ron was out in the Rec room. Harry had no idea where that was so he continued to wander. He bumped into Hermione who looked slightly worried.
"Can you feel that?" she whispered as she joined him in his search for Ron.
"Yes. Malfoy and Blaise already know."
They found the rec room and in the middle of the rec room, surrounded by people, was Ronald Weasley. He was showing the people 'magic tricks'.
"God, Ron!" Hermione grabbed him and dragged him away; he was swaggering all over the place.
"Who did you get drinks off?"
Ron shrugged and held up a joint. Hermione hit it to the ground.
"There's something not right, Harry" Hermione sounded worried and Harry agreed. The vibrations were becoming stronger.
At the bottom of the stairs they ran into Kingsley.
"Someone cast a spell. We have to get out of here."
"What about Fred, George and Draco?" Hermione asked, watching Kingsley shunter Harry toward the front doors.
"Lupin'll get them"
They ran to the car but didn't make it. About a foot from the car they ran into an invisible wall.
"Fuck!" Kingsley pressed against it and it turned electric purple. There was a huge bubble shield over the house.
"Hello, Harry" Harry turned and found himself face to face with Salazar Slytherin.
"Back in a sec." he said and followed Salazar to a quiet part of the estate.
"Death eaters are surrounding this place. I think they may be after Draco, though, because there are only three fully-fledged Death eaters. The rest are juniors getting practice." Salazar squeezed the bridge of him nose. "You can't get out. You'll have to fight them. Get rid of the muggles, find some black capes and use the darkness as your advantage" the god suddenly shimmered away. Harry ran back to the car were Kingsley was watching a group of muggle run through the shield. He replayed Salazar's message.
Kingsley contemplated it then led them back to the suite.
"Kev, we need some capes. Cut of the power, we're under attack"
Review! Need I say more…