Author's Note: Some of these chapters I've had a hard time reposting because I want to go into them and fix all the mistakes and silly things my characters do. But then I remember that's kind of the point of this story, everyone's supposed to mess up and learn from it. Some lessons are so hard, and I think they bother me so much because they are lessons I have had to learn the hard way as well. But one of the most important things to me is creating dynamic characters who feel like real people, which is why my characters are very much flawed and contradictory and illogical. Especially if we're talking teenagers in a school setting, emotions can make you do crazy things. As well as the fact that so many of us are still struggling to recover from past traumas and figure ourselves out and unlearn unhealthy behaviors and thought processes. Not to mention fresh traumas that crop up as we go through life. So, something I've been reminding myself as I've been reading back over my story, is that just because I don't like the behavior, it doesn't mean I don't like the character.

Content Warning: Strong language, alcohol, sexual content.

Chapter 7

Hearts and Silhouettes

(Lacey)

Tuesday morning, the 8th of November (three days after my little brother's fourteenth birthday): Ancient Runes. That is where I sat, finding myself doodling on the piece of parchment I was supposed to be writing notes down on. I pulled my gaze up to the teacher with the red face, trying to force myself to focus more. I never have problems focusing in class or understanding any of the coursework or doing it. Nothing like that. Doing well in school is the easiest thing in the world. Possibly because I'm in Ravenclaw. Or I'm in Ravenclaw because I do well in school. If it even makes a difference.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Tibbin," a voice interrupted the teacher's lecture and he nodded curtly at the tall blonde girl that had just entered the classroom. She handed him a note and then scanned the room for an empty seat. The only one was in front of me, at the very front of the class. She set her stuff down, then sat in the chair, turning back briefly to smile at me politely. I didn't really recognize her, so I leaned forward a bit, stealthily, I hope, and caught a glance at her schoolbooks. I saw her name on an old test: Carlie Stephens. Must be a seventh year. This is a seventh-year class anyway.

By the time the class ended, the only things I had learned were the girl's name as well as that we had a test on Friday. I shouldered my book bag and hurried up seemingly never-ending stairs until I had made it to the Hospital Wing, a little out of breath. I had promised Scorp that I'd save him from Madame Luxill today at lunch.

When I walked in, I found him attempting to get out of bed, while the older woman repeatedly pushed him back down. He was almost on the verge of arguing with her, I could see. That was something he rarely did. Scorpius always tried his hardest to not get in disputes, especially with teachers. The only exception, I suppose, would be James Potter. The one kid who can never fail to heat Scorpius up.

"I'll take over from here, Madame Luxill," I called as I entered.

"Oh, Lacey, so nice to see you, dear," she crooned, standing up. "I'm glad this young man has someone to keep his temper in check! No one better than you, Miss Macmillan."

"I absolutely agree," I replied good-naturedly, "Scorpius does have quite a history with explosive anger."

"Oh dear, oh dear," the nurse said, nodding and turning around. "To think; that poor, young Potter boy assaulted so unjustly." She shook her head to herself as she disappeared into her office.

"That lady's barmy, I tell you," Scorpius announced, sitting up in the bed.

"I know," I smiled, sitting down beside him.

"'That poor, young Potter boy assaulted so unjustly'! Sickening is what it is," he grumbled to himself. "You know what happens, don't you? I never instigate it! First that twat fouls me in the game, then at the end, the sore loser taunts me, equates my mum to a prostitute, and attacks me! And I'm the one who gets beat up, and I'm the one who gets forced to spend all night in the Hospital Wing and miss my first two classes."

"I know, I know, hun, it's unfair," I said, stroking his hair.

"Hey, isn't there some kind of rule against mocking someone in a hospital bed?" he asked, "you know, at least some kind of feel-good-kindergarten-rule?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, your request rendered no results."

"Robot," he muttered, frowning at me. "What'd I miss, anyway?"

"Ah," I said, "well, a girl named Carlie sat down in front of me." Scorpius raised an eyebrow, indicating that he was more interested in the coursework than in the attendance list. "I'm not quite sure...I think we were learning about Calibrinal runes?"

"Now Lace, tell me you didn't spend the whole class staring at the girl in front of you?"

"What? No. She only came in like, ten minutes before the end of the class," I shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I was just spacing out a bit today."

"Right," Scorpius nodded, pulling the blankets off of his legs. "I'd love to get out of here sometime today, anyway. Best to do it now before that crab comes back and straps me to the bed."

"Good thinking," I said, standing up. "Oh, here, Zaid gave me these to give to you." I pulled a pile of clothes out of my bag and handed them to Scorpius. He took them gratefully and quickly removed his shirt. He paused awkwardly, glancing at me, then summoned a divider over to him where he finished the job. I rolled my eyes. "Nothing I haven't seen befooore," I said in a sing-song voice. He glanced over the top of the divider and gave me a warning look. "Just saying," I shrugged.

We walked back down the stairs until we entered the great hall where we sat at Ravenclaw table. Shortly after we were seated, however, a big hubbub arose. This hubbub included grains of salt growing and turning into something else as soon as it was applied to food. There were several screams as people spat out mouthfuls, laughter as everyone looked around at the chaos, and even angry grumbles at the meal being ruined. A great, loud clapping noise came from the front of the hall, and we all looked to the staff table. Professor Ward, the headmistress, was standing at her full height (which was high). She looked around at all the students with pursed lips and hard eyes.

"I would like to announce that it is not okay, under any circumstances, to tamper with the food served here at Hogwarts," she began in a voice that reached even the farthest corners of the hall. "And though some of you may find the presence of evaporated dinosaurs in your food humorous, it should be known that it is unacceptable and if I find out who the culprit or culprits are, you will face detention. Am I understood?" The students nodded at her, some of them muttering "yes," some of them muttering "no." I looked back at the table where a red salt brachiosaurus strolled leisurely past my plate. None of the salt dinosaurs were much larger than an average hand.

I looked over at Gryffindor table where I saw James, Riley, Lucas and Henry laughing hysterically and discussing something, probably their prank. June, Rose and Aminta were sitting with the Potter Pack, joining in with their conversation. At one point I saw each of them picking up a different colored dinosaur and acting out a scene with them.

After we had eaten a lunch without dinosaurs, as if on cue, Scorpius started patting his pockets, looking for something. Then he seemed to remember that I had brought him his clothes and he frowned in disappointment.

"Oh, don't get that look," I shook my head. I reached into my purse and brought out a small patchwork drawstring bag. His face lit up.

"Did Zaid give you this too?" he asked, taking it. I nodded.

"Did you know there's a hole in it?" I asked him and he shook his head, turning the bag around and examining it. "I fixed it, don't worry."

"Oh, cheers," he replied, then he set the bag down and opened it. He reached in and pulled out a handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, his all-consuming addiction. He offered me one and I took it, gagging when I found it to be eggplant-flavored. "I wonder how long it had a hole in it..." he pondered.

"Who knows," I shrugged. "I did find a couple beans on the floor somewhere a couple weeks ago. Shoulda known it was you."

"On the floor...yeah, I guess that makes sense..." he muttered thoughtfully, then a small smile came across his face.

"Scorpy!" the voice of Eve Stroud carried over to us. Scorpius looked up just as she slid her arms around his shoulders from behind. "Hey, Lacey, I like your hair today," she said to me sweetly and I smiled and said thank you. "I'm sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital wing, but I was so busy. Did you see what that dozy bitch, Angela did to her hair?" We looked over to where Angela Fenn was sitting with the rest of Eve's friends. Her hair looked normal. "Oh, well, there's no use looking now, thanks to me. I fixed it. The sweet girl owes her social life to me, I swear."

"She's lucky to have you," Scorpius said, kissing her hand.

"So are youu, Scorpy," Eve sang as she sat down in between me and Scorpius. "And don't you forget it." She grinned and kissed him, then she turned to me. "Oh, I invited you to the Slytherettes' cocktail party next weekend, right?"

"No. Invitation must be stuck in the post office," I shrugged. I knew she hadn't intended to invite me unless she had to, and she always had the most sickening way of being overly sweet to me whenever Scorpius was around, being one of his best mates and all. The treatment she gave his male friends was quite similar to the treatment she gave, well, every male that crossed her path.

"That's so funny!" she said with a giggle. "Let's see what we can do though." She reached into her purse, dug around for a bit, then her hand came back up, manicured nails clutching a silvery envelope. The name written across the front in green ink was not mine, but that of Madison Spurling, a seventh year Ravenclaw. "We'll just fix this," she muttered, waving her wand. The name was erased, to be replaced with my own. "There you go!" Eve handed me the envelope, beaming brightly.

"Oh thanks, I'm really looking forward to it," I replied in a chipper voice that would hopefully make her ears bleed as much as mine have been. "I don't know whatever else I would fill my time with except spending it all getting moderately buzzed at a party with a group of sl-" Wait...what? I slowly raised my hand to my mouth, as I stared at Eve's unmoving grin.

"Yeah, it'll be a laugh," she said, then she kissed Scorpius on the cheek, stood up and hugged me. "How about you just make sure not to get horny and sexually harass all my guests, hm?" she muttered in the sweetest of threatening whispers. Then she stood up and left.

"Lacey?"

"Hm?"

"You don't like Eve, do you?"

"Not particularly," I sighed. "I can't believe I said that out loud. I was beginning to get carried away with sarcasm, then I realized that you know, I was on the way to getting quite nasty. Why am I in Ravenclaw, again?"

"It's okay," Scorpius laughed, patting me on the back. "A lot of people don't like her. But that's just because they don't understand her." I gave him a disbelieving look. For Merlin's sake, man, you're dating the dragon queen of the bitch universe! Don't you get how much of a skeeze she is? I wanted to scream all of that at him, but this time I kept my mouth shut. He'd see it if he wanted to see it.

The next day in Transfiguration, I found myself spacing out again during a test. When I came back to myself, I found that I had drawn a series of hearts on the test paper. It happened again on Thursday in Muggle Studies. That time I found that I had drawn two silhouettes, holding each other close, not kissing, but the tips of their noses were touching just barely. It was like a plague; I was suddenly finding similar doodles cropping up all over my notes. I didn't know what was inspiring them. Hell, I didn't even know I was doing it. I kept trying to find methods to stop myself, but nothing worked. I've never been a doodler in my life.

Another new development is that Scorpius seemed to be happier lately. Whenever I'd be with him, he'd keep getting small, dreamy, secretive smiles on his face, but whenever I asked him about it, he'd just tell me he was remembering a joke. It happened when he ate jellybeans too; back when it was just his addiction, he'd get happy when he ate them, now he ate them as if the love of his life was just walking around the corner.

I had a test, of course, in Ancient Runes on Friday. Aura helped me and Scorpius out on the stuff we missed, and I'd been studying it like crazy since then. The sad thing was that the more time I spent studying, the more tiny hearts, stars, flowers and people appeared on my parchment. And when I have a test coming up, I spend a lot of time studying.

I didn't feel too confident when I walked into the classroom that afternoon and, what's more, I had just discovered a monster zit on my nose. I'd usually just dab a bit of "Zap-It!" on and it'd be gone in a couple hours but wasn't it just my day: I found that I was all out. So, I had to go around with a zit on my nose and I had a test that I wasn't at least 75% sure of. I let out a huff as I sat down in my usual seat.

"Holy. You renting your nose out now?"

I looked up to see Carlie Stephens turned around in her chair and looking at me.

"Huh?"

She tapped the tip of her nose and I put my hand to my own.

"Oh! Right," I said with a laugh as I realized she was referring to my zit. "Out of zit cream," I explained.

"Here," she said, reaching into her bag. "Use this." She pulled out a small glass jar with cream the color of crusty mustard. I crinkled my nose automatically as I saw it and she laughed. "It's gnarly-looking and -smelling, but it's a lot more effective than 'Zap-It!'"

"Thanks," I said as I opened it. The substance did smell disgusting; like vegetable stew that had been dried up, buried and then burned. I stuck the tip of my finger in and dabbed a tiny bit of the cream on the zit (using a small mirror to see it). I gave the jar back to Carlie with a smile, then we introduced ourselves. Professor Tibbin strode to the front of the class and announced that the test was about to begin. I glanced across the classroom at Scorpius who was in the middle of a parchment-people war with Zaid.

Professor Tibbin sent the test booklets out to each desk, then sat himself down behind his own. I started in right away, writing my name neatly at the top of the page, then scanning over the questions. I was about halfway through, not feeling exactly as comfortable as I usually do when writing tests, and then I started seeing things. The runes on the page, in the questions and in my answers, began to shift and move. They blended together until they formed two people, both with long hair, flowing in some invisible wind. The outlines of the people themselves were unsteady and ever wavering.

Sometimes the figures were small, holding hands in the distance, sometimes they were very large, only their faces visible, staring at each other. They kissed, then they recoiled. There was a swirling where they became one, and then that turned into a large heart. Once the two people had reformed again, their hair was short, and their outlines were even less stable. One of them reached out a hand to touch the other, but the other figure turned and walked away. The person that remained on the page seemed to crash, exploding and bursting apart into tiny fragments of ink, as if it had been dropped from the top of a very high building. And the tiny fragments were scattered all over the page.

I gasped a little, then turned the page over, looking for the other person, but all I found was more unanswered questions. I flipped back to the page where the two people had been, but they appeared to have gone back to being runes and letters. I bit my lip, watching the ink intently, waiting for it to do something. When it didn't, I realized that I must really be losing it. I shook my head, wanting to go and get a drink of water or wash my face or slap myself. Something to get me back to my senses. But as my only option was to continue writing the test and try to do my best, that was what I did.

Despite my brief dip into insanity, I was still one of the first to turn in my test booklet. When I sat back down in my seat, I rubbed my face with relief. Then I noticed that my nose felt like, well, a nose. There was no bump, not even any residue from the cream. It was as if the zit had never been there at all. Perhaps I imagined it...

"I don't think that genie's coming out anytime soon," Carlie said as she returned from giving her booklet to the teacher. She sat down in the chair facing me.

"That stuff works fast," I said, still rubbing my nose.

"It does. My gran makes it," Carlie explained. "She used to teach Herbology here. Stop rubbing your nose though, or it'll come back." She laughed. I took my hand away, then she turned back to the front of the class.

I left the classroom, walking with Scorpius and Zaid who boasted about how easy the test was for him. Scorpius and I know better though: the only reason Zaid is passing Ancient Runes is because of the two of us. The goodness of our hearts and all that. Zaid is never one to pass up an opportunity to make himself look good, though. I paused to glance out a window as the view outside was distorted by rain running down the glass in streams and waves. Outside was a mess of dark grey and dark green and every now and then little splotches of color that were people, hurrying to get out of the downpour. Behind me, Scorpius and Zaid had gotten into a scuffle. When I glanced back, Zaid had Scorpius in a headlock.

"Oh, Lacey!" someone called, and I looked around. The four Slytherin Slags were standing in a group a little way away from me, and Angela had just separated herself from them to begin moving towards me. "I was just wondering how well you did on that last Transfiguration test," she said in a voice that must've been meant to be nice, because it was accompanied by a smile, but it seemed like she had some kind of speech impediment where everything came out like an insult.

"I got an E," I told her. I hadn't been very certain about that test, due to the amount of doodles on it, but when I got it back, I found a little note from Professor Thurlow complimenting the family of turtles I drew next to my paragraph about the development of Schumann's Theory of Transfigmentation.

"I knew you'd get a good mark; you're pretty much the smartest in our class!" Angela said, which wasn't saying much. "So, I was wondering if you'd possibly lend me some of your notes? I'd ask Katie or Olivia, but they're just as lousy as me."

"Oh, yeah, sure," I muttered. "I don't have them with me, how soon do you need them?"

"Well, the three of us were going to have a major study sesh over the weekend, so..." she said, trailing off as if she didn't find the end of the sentence to be of importance.

"Right. I'll give them to you at dinner."
"You're a doll," she grinned, then she hurried back to her crowd. I noticed them all look over at me like a bunch of hawks eying over their prey. Zaid bumped into me after being shoved by Scorpius and I hit my head on the cold window.

"Jerk," I laughed, shoving the taller boy as hard as I could. I have arms like noodles, Zaid hardly budged.

"So, you still coming to the practice tonight?" Scorpius asked me then.

"Oh, I don't know, Mr. Malfoy," I replied with a snide grin. "Are you sure you should be engaged in such physical activity so soon?"

"Thank you, Madame Luxill." Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I s'pose I'll be there," I said. "Mind if I bring someone though? I'm sure I don't have to tell you how utterly boring it is to watch five boys and two girls doing exercises and flying around." Scorpius and Zaid each raised their eyebrows, and I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I'm sure the friends I bring will be interested in the aforementioned five boys."

"All right, that's what I was waiting for!" Zaid grinned cheekily.

"Just don't bring anyone from another team, you got me?" Scorpius said seriously.

"Yeah, yeah. These are normal people; they don't give a shit about Quidditch." I smiled innocently as he let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, gruesome!" June groaned as she, Rose and I stepped through the main doors. The grounds consisted of mucky soup, as far as the eye could see, and the constant rain was only making it worse. This weather never failed to depress me. Especially when it seemed to be consistent from the end of November, all the way through to May, with possibly one or two brief periods of cloudlessness, and often some frigid temperatures with an abundance of snow (or slush).

"Cheer up, ladies," I said as I cast an umbrella charm above us. "In just a few short moments, you shall have the privilege to view the gentlemen of the Slytherin Quidditch team rolling around naked in mud."

"A privilege indeed," Rose said. I exchanged a glance with June who merely shrugged. We sloshed our way through the grounds until we came to the Quidditch pitch. The team was just coming out of the dressing rooms as we took our seats on the soggy wooden stands. Scorpius and Zaid waved to me, and I waved back, while Rose flung an empty juice box that had been left on the bench at the blonde Quidditch Captain. Her ferocious arm rather startled June and I, but Scorpius responded by casually changing his wave to a middle finger in her direction, then he dived right into Quidditch business. Rose huffed grumpily, folding her arms across her chest.

The last player to emerge from the changing rooms and make his way to the pitch was a dark-haired young man with possibly too much energy. When he glanced at the stands, he let out an "aaahh" of interest and blew a kiss to June who giggled.

"Looks like you've got a fan," I muttered to her, and she waved her hand modestly.

"The sweet boy nearly killed me, on a couple occasions, but he sure knows how to compliment a girl, so that makes up for it."

"How'd he nearly kill you?"

"Uuhkhk," June grumbled. "It's some crazy invention called 'exercise.' He does it daily. I thought it was something to look into. I was wrong."

"Oh, poor June." I nodded in understanding. "Yet another victim of Albus Potter's morning jog."

"Mmm, yes," June said. "There is one very significant difference between him and his brother."

"And what's that?"

"Well, if I were to go running with James, we would both be too out of breath to do much of anything."

"Oh? Continue, please."

"Well, we'd begin running. After about five minutes, I would be panting and coughing up my lungs, which would cause James to end up on the ground laughing his little head off. And then we'd have to call it quits."

"You really do know James."

"Yes. But when I went running with Al, after five minutes of running, I was begging him to let me stop or kill me then. And he was genuinely concerned for my wellbeing. Now tell me: why in the name of Merlin's pet owl are they in the houses they are in?"

"Hey, that's the exact question my whole family's been asking since, well, ever!" Rose cut in.

"Mystifying," I mused. We cast our eyes to the pitch where Scorp and Al were pulling brightly colored rubber balls out of a bag.

"What's that? Dodgeball?" June asked with a laugh.

"Oh yeah. Scorp says it's part of their reflex training program," I explained. "But don't tell anyone; he'd kill me if any other teams found out and started using it. And he'd crucify the three of us if James found out."

"Cross our hearts and hope to die, right Rosie?" June said, then she nudged Rose when she didn't respond. The redhead was looking thoughtful.

"Rose." I turned to her, speaking in a low, serious tone. "Do I have to tell you that Scorpius is my best mate? And that if you did anything as stupid as, say, revealing the Slytherin Quidditch team's tactics, I would be royally fucking pissed. And that I might set the Slytherin team on you? Hm? Do I?"
"Huh? Oh. No," Rose said lightly, flashing us a smile. June rolled her eyes and I laughed, then we turned back to the pitch to watch as the team was split into teams of three, with one person sitting out. They started to play.

"This is the lousiest game of dodgeball I have ever seen," June said disapprovingly, then she sighed and stood up. "I think we might have to join in."

"You're mental," I said, also standing up.

"I'm a genius," she corrected, beginning to step carefully from slippery bench to slippery bench. As her distance from Rose and I increased, the weaker the umbrella charm got, until it eventually popped like a soap bubble.

"Well, you coming?" I asked Rose and she shook her head firmly, crossing her arms. I shrugged and followed June's path. The team of Slytherins paused their game of dodgeball when they noticed the two of us make our way through the field towards them.

"What is it?" Scorpius asked me and I nodded to June.

"We decided that six-person dodgeball sucks," she explained, "therefore we're making it eight-person dodgeball. It would've been ten-person dodgeball if only that party-pooper up there had decided to join us." June pointed to the place where Rose still sat, arms folded crossly, looking away and holding her nose high in the air. Scorpius looked at me and shook his head, but he agreed that June just might be right.

So, we played a game of dodgeball, with June and I on different teams. Then we played another, mixing the teams up. That time there was a lengthy period where Zaid and Al were the last two standing. A third time, Scorpius and I were the last two standing, but of course I lost. After about five games, the whole team was unrecognizable, due to the amount of mud and grass that had covered us from slipping and falling or from the dirty balls. That's right; we're playing with dirty balls. The rain had stopped by now, so the mud remained on us.

We took a short break, to catch our breath. That's when Rose arrived. She stood primly on the outskirts of the group; bare feet almost completely buried in messy earth. She claimed that we looked like we were having a "heaping helping" of fun.

"Alriiight! Everybody take your shirts off!" June yelled at this point, throwing her arms up in the air. Albus promptly obeyed, to reveal a pale, skinny torso. It looked a little odd for that one part of him to be so white and clean, while the rest of him was brown and green.

"Whaaat?" he asked as everyone either just looked at him or outwardly laughed at him. "Where's your sense of fun, guys?"

"No one else removing articles of clothing?" June asked in disappointment.

"Aren't I enough man for you?" Al asked, a tad sulkily. June twisted her mouth in thought, then shrugged.

"Buuuurn!" Freddie roared, only to receive a handful of mud in the face, thrown by Albus (exactly where he had aimed: good chaser, good). Freddie was only too happy to return the favor, and then an all-out mud-war commenced. The balls were incorporated in the war at one point, then, by some strange twist of fate, it was all turned back into a game of dodgeball.

It seemed, for all the remaining games, like Rose and Scorpius were always on opposite teams, and they seemed to only have eyes for each other, if you'd like to hear it in a romantic way. The reality of it was, however, that they were calling out insults and hurling balls with all their might at each other. Even Scorp seemed to be enraged which, again, is strange for him. He once threw a ball so hard that it hit Rose in the face with a very loud smack! and she took several steps backwards, red in the face.

Scorpius was just beginning to apologize, realizing what he'd done, but she flew forward and rammed into him, her small body in comparison to his looking strange as she took him down where they both squelched into the sloppy ground. She took a handful of mud and slapped it heavily onto his face, then she got to her feet and marched away. Scorpius sat up, spitting and wiping his face, then he stood to watch Rose's receding body.

"Psychotic bitch!" he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to make sure he was heard.

"Don't do that! She doesn't need any more reason to hate you," I scolded, shoving him as forcefully as my noodles would allow. He glared at me with cold blue eyes that I wasn't accustomed to seeing.

"I don't fucking like her, Lacey," he told me. "And I don't like James Potter. I know they're your friends, but you'll just have to get used to it."

"Well, I don't like Eve or any of her friends," I responded, my jaw shifting in anger. Then I leaned in to mutter low in his ear, "also, if you hadn't already noticed: Freddie is a bleeding prick." I turned and started walking back to the castle. I heard footsteps behind me, so I looked back to see June hurrying to catch up with me. She gave me a comforting hug, then we removed as much of the mud that we could at the time before entering the warm interior of Hogwarts. A fine mist of rain had begun to fall, nowhere near as heavy as it had been the past week or so, but still rain.

"I don't want to be here," I sighed, glancing at Aura who towered by my side.

"Neither do I," she agreed. We stood just a few strides from the door to the Room of Requirement. There was a silent pause in which neither of us moved.

"Are you ill?" I asked her after a while. She looked at me to clarify. "You missed Ancient Runes yesterday."

"Oh." She looked down at her shoes. "Just been...a bit peaky lately..."

"Any reason?"

Silence.

"Aur?"

"I'd tell you but...I refuse to cry," she said.

"All right," I replied, examining her face. She was looking away from me though. "Is there any way you can tell me without crying?"

"I don't think so." She shrugged.

"Tough..." I muttered as she walked to the door.

Do you ever get those moments where you're standing still, like at a crosswalk waiting for the sign to change from the orange hand to the walking man, and the sign changes and you begin to walk forward, or at least, your brain sends all the right signals to set you up for walking forward, but you just don't move? And it's like your whole body has been completely frozen for just one moment in time, but your brain isn't aware of it. But then the moment is over, and your body jerks back into motion, back into doing what it was supposed to do.

Well, that happened to me then, there in the hallway as Aura reached for the door. In my head I had already grabbed onto her arm, I was about to pull her back, look into her eyes with serious gravity and tell her that I knew something was troubling her. So she should tell me. It was no use bottling emotions up...or at least, that's what everyone said. It was obvious it wasn't working for Aura, anyway. But she had already stepped through the door by the time I took that first step forward.

I entered the room to find a romantic little outdoor setting, complete with stone fountains and tables and ornate pillars. There was a night sky above, clear, with twinkling stars, unlike the actual sky outside. There was even a cool breeze, just the right temperature. Silver and green candles in the shapes of moons and stars floated in the air. I was standing on a stone balcony overlooking a courtyard below. Two sets of curved stairs branched off of the balcony, leading down to the main floor, each of them with a silver-trimmed green carpet going down the center.

When I got to the foot of the rightmost staircase, I looked around at each of the guests. There were about fifteen tonight, including the Slytherin Sluts. I recognized them all, being all sixth or seventh years save two, who were in fifth year. The fifth years were Slytherins Bella Thorn and Annaliese Dreyer. The sixth years were Joy Lane, Audrey Breckenridge, April Lawson, Kari Morris, Angela Fenn and me. The rest were Aura Thomas, Jade Swindlehurst, Daphne Stark, Bonnie Teel, Katie Heath, Olivia Tennison, Eve Stroud and Sydney Rowland. June wasn't there, though I knew she'd been invited. She had told me that her loyalties were with Rose and that she was also quite uninterested in the school drama.

"Oh, Lacey, there you are!" Eve called to me gaily and I smiled at her. "Little Miss Tardy! You're the last one. Come on; let the party commence!" She strode over to me, putting an arm around my shoulder and guiding me toward the hub.

"I love this, watch!" Olivia called, brandishing a green bottle. The group of girls in cocktail dresses gathered around the table upon which was a sculpture of champagne glasses, built into the shape of a pyramid. Olivia flipped back her long brown and blonde hair, then popped the cork out of the bottle. We all watched as it flew quite a distance, then bounced all over the courtyard. Most wizarding champagne bottles have super bouncy corks.

Olivia held the bottle over the highest glass, then she tipped it so that a steady stream of effervescent golden liquid poured out. Her full lips were parted in concentration as she held the bottle still. We all watched as the first glass overflowed, letting champagne flow into the next layer of glasses, each of which also overflowed, going on into the next layer, and so on, until each glass was full to the top. There was a layer of the leftover beverage in the silver tray beneath the champagne fountain. "Drink up, ladies!" Olivia cried joyously, taking the topmost glass for herself. We each grabbed a glass, and Eve held hers up high.

"To the lovely ladies of Hogwarts," she toasted with a captivating smile. We repeated the toast, clinking our glasses together, then we all drank long and deep of the bubbly substance. It is well-known that champagne tastes like dirty socks, but I've always had a strange love of the stuff. Maybe it's because I always forget how exactly it tastes when it's not on my tongue. Maybe it's just the idea of how classy it is that appeals to me.

To my surprise, the party was a lot more fun than they usually were. Perhaps it was what I had said to Eve the past week, perhaps it was just because there were more guests than usual. Whatever it was, the drinks just kept coming. We actually played drinking games, something I always assumed the Slytherettes thought beneath them. They also seemed, oddly enough, nice. It had been something that was nagging at me from the beginning of the night, something that was off, and I couldn't figure out what it was. Then it hit me, and I was taken aback for a moment. But I figured it might just be my level of intoxication, or theirs. Usually, whenever I'm in a group of drunken girls, there tends to be a lot of hugging and "I love you"s. I never really saw it happening with this particular group of girls though.

"Your face is so red." Eve smiled as she put her hands to my cheeks. I could feel the cold silver of her rings. I laughed, the champagne making my whole body feel electric. My usually logical thoughts seemed to be running wild, and everything was just... brilliant. Eve's cornflower blue eyes looked over my face as she spoke to me, words that bounced around in my head for several moments before they made any sense. Her eyes seemed to see everything, know everything. They were vivid, vivacious, powerful. Her lips parted in a small smile, then she turned, her almost black hair seeming to float through the air, and she ran over to where Katie and Olivia were holding each other up, tears of laughter streaming from their eyes.

My feet turned me around, then they led me down a pathway of stone, bordered on both sides by shallow pools of clear water, fountains spurting water up in the center of each. Aura, Jade, Audrey and Joy were standing in the pool splashing water at each other, making messes of their dresses. I laughed to myself as my feet kicked off their shoes and stepped into the pool.

It wasn't long before we were all in the pool, all but Angela and Katie, who refused, possibly because of their dresses, possibly because of their makeup, possibly because of their hair. It didn't matter though, because the other fourteen of us were drunk and having water fights and laughing. After a while Eve stepped back, out of the water, to sit cross legged on the stone floor of the courtyard to watch us all with an almost invisible smile.

I pulled myself out of the pool, leaving most of the rest of the girls to either drift around lazily or just sit in the water. Most of the excitement was over. I lay myself down and looked up at the fake sky. Someone lay down beside me and I turned my head to see who it was. It was Aura.

"All right?" I set my head back down to look up.

"I'm an awful person," was all she said in response. I glanced at her, but her dark eyes were firmly set on the constellations above. "Let leave it at that, yeah? For now?"

"Mm," I replied, not quite able to say anything else. I reached down and squeezed her hand comfortingly. She closed her eyes. I did the same. The ground was very comfortable, and I was warm, despite being soaking wet. I steadied my breathing, trying not to think.

It happened very quickly, but I soon realized that I had slipped into a dream. I was wearing false eyelashes, the ridiculously long kind that tickle your cheeks and eyebrows when you blink. They were distracting for the most part, but it wasn't long before something more interesting happened. There was a girl standing in front of me, with her back to me. She was wearing my favorite jumper. I called her name; I knew it in the dream, though afterwards it was like I never did.

She turned around and I remembered being so taken aback by the brilliance of her eyes that my heart skipped a beat. I walked forward and told her that no matter what happened I would always wash the cheddar twice. Something strange and dream-logical like that. She told me that that wasn't enough, that it had never been enough, that she had never had me, I was like a ghost. No, her exact words were: "You slip through worlds then come back to me, but I can't hold you because you're not here."

I didn't understand it in the dream. I took her hand and put it to my cheek, and I asked her if she could feel it. She started crying and I couldn't take it. She was so beautiful; her face was one that I had memorized in the dream, but upon waking, just like her name, it had dissolved. I told her that I loved her. She told me that I didn't. She knew I didn't. She gave me my jumper, then she left. And then for some reason my brother was standing there, holding a glass of water. He stepped forward and whispered in my ear: "if they catch us robbing the monkey sanctuary we'll be done for life."

"What?" I asked, frowning in total confusion. He reached forward and flicked me on the nose. I sat up with a start, rubbing my nose. Audrey and April were kneeling over me and laughing. "What was that for?" I asked them.

"You were making weird noises," April giggled.

"You were twitching too," Audrey added, poking my leg.

"You know I do these things in my sleep, ladies," I said grumpily, rubbing the back of my head. "We share a bloody dorm room."

"True," Audrey said. "But get up; the party's far from over." I stood up and they lead me back to the rest of the girls. They were playing a strange game that involved tons of very long ribbons in different colors. As far as I could tell, it was all just a big jumble of ribbons, all mixed up together, with each girl holding the end of one. Audrey and April ran into the midst of them, apparently to join in the game, but I had no clue about it. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and I turned to see Eve disappear through the door to the rest of the castle with a swish of hair and skirt. She was barefoot.

It might've been a stupid thing to do; it was probably none of my business, but I followed her.

"Eve?" I called as I closed the door behind me. I glanced both ways down the hall, but she was nowhere in sight. Then I looked down at the floor where faint footprints were visible. I followed them for a few steps, but they were soon unnecessary as I could hear her now. It was only the occasional quiet sob, but they hung in the still air. I rounded the corner to see her sitting on a window ledge, looking down at her hands clasped loosely in her lap as her legs dangled just above the floor. Her hair, a little frizzy as it dried, hung about her face in subtle, erratic waves. "Are you okay?" I asked, awkwardly standing several paces from her.

"Oh...Lacey..." she murmured in surprise as she saw me. There were trails of tears on each cheek. "I'm fine," she added after a while, wiping the tears away, sniffing and then smiling weakly. I sighed and walked forward, sitting down on the ledge beside her. She shuffled over a bit to make room, then looked at me with an expression in her eyes that I'd never seen before. It was as if they belonged to a completely different person. They weren't the controlled, powerful, ice queen eyes that I had always seen. They were softer, kinder, almost helpless.

I pulled her into a hug and her whole body shuddered as she began to cry again, only a couple tears every now and then. Her body felt surprisingly weak and fragile in my arms, but her skin was soft and luscious, almost like flower petals. She smelled incredible.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. "Is it Scorpius?"

"No, not him," she choked out over my shoulder, "he's been wonderful. A bit more distant than usual...but lovely." She pulled away from me, took a deep breath, and let it out. "It's...it's my mum." This short sentence released a whole surge of tears. "She's dying."

My mouth fell open as Eve screwed up her face and released an anguished groaning sound, the tears flowing stronger than ever. I put my arms around her, and she leaned her head against my chest, linking her arms around my waist. We remained like that for several minutes, then the shuddering lessened, and so did the tears, until there was just silence, just sniffling.

"Thank you," Eve breathed softly. "You're a proper friend, you know that?" I looked down at the top of her head and I nodded silently. She straightened up and smiled sadly at me, then she took my hands in hers and stroked them lightly with her thumbs. "God," she whispered, brilliant eyes fixed on mine, "you're so beautiful." Then she laughed, as if in embarrassment, and brought her hands to her face to thoroughly dry her cheeks. "I'm sorry if that sounded weird. It's true though."

"Oh," I muttered, feeling a smile spread across my face. "Thanks."

"That's the nicest smile I've ever caused," she said. "If that makes sense," she added with a laugh.

"Oh, stop with the compliments, you're going to make me blush!"

"I'm sorry; I must be on nice mode, let me just fix it," she said, "oh, okay, here we go. Your hair looks like garbage." She smiled at me as her eyes twinkled with mischief.

"That's a terrible insult," I told her, shaking my head.

"I know," she replied, then she reached forward and gently brushed a bit of my hair back, smoothing it down. "It's a bad insult and it's not even true anymore." I let out a soft laugh. There was a feeling in the pit of my stomach like a mixture between all my organs being tied up in a nervous knot and all my organs being drenched in a warm, fuzzy, all-healing magic. Maybe it was just the alcohol. My body felt electric again. Eve hadn't moved her hand from the side of my face. She was still looking at me, examining every detail of my face just as I did the same with hers. And then she leaned in, and her soft lips caressed mine. I felt like my heart was melting at the center of a fireworks show. I wanted it to go on forever but...

"What the fuck!?" I cried, pushing her away.

"What-"

"What are you doing?" I stood up and backed away from her. "You're dating my best mate! Who happens to be a bloke. What are you playing at?"

"I-I don't-"

"Oh, you don't, huh? Well, that's a brilliant answer! Really original too!" I yelled, using my arms to emphasize my anger. "I notice you're not crying anymore. Were you using that shitty fucking sob story to seduce me? Huh?"

"Seduce you? Is that what you think of me?" she asked with a truly insulted expression on her face as she stood up. "Do you not trust me?"

"Of course, I don't! Who the fuck do you think you are? You're Eve Stroud! You fuck with people!"

There was a silence. She just looked at me with those eyes and that beautiful face that everyone in Hogwarts knows. And I tried to keep the anger on my face, but she just didn't look like that Eve Stroud.

"You're right," she said as her eyes filled with tears again. "You're absolutely right. I'm just a no-good bitch with a hot body. That's all I am." She stood there for a moment longer, then she walked past me and around the corner, without looking back. My lungs tried to continue their regular process, but they failed. I opened my mouth to breath in, but it didn't work. I put my hands to my stomach where I felt a sickening sensation. I sat back down on the window ledge and then I was finally able to breathe again. I sucked in deep breaths, then I leaned my head against the window and looked out at the dark night.

I couldn't believe Eve. I knew it was some sort of scheme to get back at me for something that I'd done. Like what I'd said to Eve, or maybe Scorpius had told her some of the things I'd said behind her back, or maybe she just wanted to get rid of me so that I wouldn't ruin her relationship with Scorpius. Or maybe I was just overthinking everything. Whatever it was I was going to stay away from her.

But then, oh lord; I started to cry. And the tears just kept coming and coming and I couldn't stop them. And then I was sobbing out loud. If only she hadn't been Eve... Is it so much to ask for to just have someone to compliment you like that, to look at you like that, to kiss you like that? It felt like it had been years since I felt valued. I knew of course that plenty of people loved me and that I had family and friends. But it wasn't the same kind of love. It just didn't cut the mustard.