Dominique stood talking to Chloe for several more minutes, mostly about the party and the people currently causing another scene over at the card table. She was already looking for an excuse to leave when a person suddenly came flying through the crowd straight at her. Chloe had gotten pushed off to the side in the bustle and Dominique had just enough time to identify Annabelle reaching out to wrap her arms around her shoulders. She was now hugging her as if she'd returned from war, and Dominique didn't really know how to deal with this. She wasn't a hugger.

"See, right where I left her," came Durrin's voice from somewhere behind Annabelle. It was hard to tell since her curly hair was obscuring Dominique's entire line of sight.

"You came!" said Annabelle, who wouldn't let go. "I'm so happy to see you!" She smelled like smoke and when she finally pulled away after what seemed like ages, Dominique noticed her eyes were glassy and a little red.

"Are you high?"

"Maybe a little," Annabelle said, reaching up and placing both of her hands on Dominique's cheeks. "You look so pretty." She turned around. "Durrin, doesn't she look—?" She'd instead found herself face to face with Chloe, which confused her. "I don't know you. But you're pretty, too." She reached out to touch Chloe's face, but Durrin stepped forward and grabbed her by the elbow, directing her away.

Annabelle reached out and grabbed Dominique's hand then, pulling her from the wall. "Well, come on. Come with me. I want you to meet some people! There's nothing going on over here."

She let herself be pulled away, leaving her comfortable wall spot and Chloe behind without so much as a goodbye. She was led around like a ragdoll, pulled in one direction one moment and another the next. Annabelle seemed to know every person in the room, and a high Annabelle apparently had to talk and hug every single one of them. There were some twin girls from Serbia whose party trick was to literally finish each other's sentences. There was a girl from Lithuania who could drink three cans of beers at once—much to the cheers of onlookers. There was a bloke who could fold himself into a pretzel shape and walk around the room, and another who claimed to do dead-on impressions of any of the coaches. Dominique didn't catch any of the ones she recognized, but given that people were laughing, he must have been doing a good job. These were just the people who stood out to her. Everyone else she was introduced to was relatively normal, drunk, or boring. They all knew Annabelle and she knew them.

She eventually got pulled down onto the corridor and into one of the rooms, where a hazy fog hit her the moment she entered. Annabelle immediately shut the door behind the pair of them before gesturing to the other person sitting inside. It was a girl with red hair and a strong jaw. She was lying on her bed, listening to music on her own.

Dominique turned behind her to look at the closed door. Durrin had been with them a few minutes earlier, but had since disappeared. She glanced at Annabelle. "Where'd Durrin go?"

"He doesn't like this stuff," she said, walking over to sit down on the other bed. She immediately picked up an older looking pipe from the nightstand and then pulled out her wand. "Says it makes him paranoid."

Dominique blinked her eyes a bit. They were beginning to sting due to the haze. She already felt a little lightheaded and was probably well on her way to a contact high if that was really a thing. She oddly began thinking about her breathing for some reason, which in turn made her start to breath heavier. Her throat began to feel prickly.

"You remember Felicity?" Annabelle asked as she lit the pipe with her wand. The action immediately reminded Dominique of an old man since they were the only kinds of people she'd even seen use those pipes.

"Hey," Felicity said with a lazy smile. "I remember you from school. You were that bitchy little Seeker who was always yelling."

"I think I still am."

"Yeah, the one who always looks like she'd rolled out of bed and never bothered to pull yourself together," she added. "But look at you now. You look good. I'd do you."

"She does look good, doesn't she?" Annabelle said. "But yeah, compared to a few years ago-" She inhaled from the pipe before handing it back to Felicity. "She always did have a really pretty face underneath all that, though. The whole family's fucking gorgeous."

"Whose family? Who are we talking about?"

Annabelle proceeded to then bring up Victoire and Louis and their perfect looking faces; she and Felicity went back and forth talking about her and her siblings as if she wasn't standing directly in front of them. They were both completely stoned out of their minds. That must have been some serious dragon grass.

Dominique had tried dragon's grass before—earlier in the summer at Sarah's house. Sarah had a considerably older brother called Andrew from her father's first marriage who lived far away from the chaos of the real world and grew the stuff in secret on a farm in Wales. Sarah always claimed that the war had really done her brother in; he'd not only lost his mother to it, but was right in the thick of things at Hogwarts and had been tortured by the Death Eaters during the year they'd taken over the school.

Dragon grass was one of the few things that helped him with his post traumatic stress, so he'd gone all in on it. Their father always referred to him as a nutter who needed to find a real job, but he seemed to be doing alright for himself. Sarah had gone to visit him on his farm earlier in the summer, and as a belated seventeenth birthday present, he'd given her a large quantity of dragon grass as a gift—unbeknownst to their father or her mother.

She and her friends had all tried some, burning—quite literally—though the supply with a week's time. Dominique had found that it certainly mellowed her out to the point where she finally felt "off" for once in her life, but that it always made her antsy once the high started to dwindle. She hadn't had any since then.

Felicity noticed her staring and held up the pipe. "You want some?"

She mulled the question for a moment. She'd certainly preferred the idea of a mellow evening over an alcohol driven one. A little wouldn't hurt. She went and sat next to Felicity, noticing that she had several bags of dragon grass beside her bed. "You've got a lot of this stuff."

"It really helps me deal with people," Felicity said. "I love Quidditch, but I hate crowds and people. This place is full of that, so…" She handed her the pipe.

When Dominique had tried it with her friends, it had been rolled into a cigarette thanks to Sarah's brother, so this pipe was new territory. Luckily for her, Felicity didn't hesitate to light it for her. She waited momentarily for the grass to catch the fire and then inhaled deeply. After exhaling, she did it again.

"This stuff makes me feel so peaceful," Felicity said, taking the pipe back. "Better than that usual stuff. Glad that bloke from D had extra."

"What usual stuff?" asked Dominique, coughing a bit.

"Regular dragon grass. This stuff is enhanced a bit."

"Enhanced with what?"

Felicity slid herself back onto her bed so that she was now leaning up against the wall. "Slight traces of veritaserum."

Another preemptive cough suddenly began to make Dominique's lungs feel as if they were on fire. She tried to hold it in as she processed what Felicity had just said, but it forced itself out with a vengeance and she coughed multiple times. "The truth telling stuff?" She managed to stammer between coughs. "Why the fuck would someone lace dragon grass with veritaserum?!"

"It frees your mind in the most amazing way," Annabelle said, now looking awfully smiley.

"Why would anyone…?" She stopped speaking when she suddenly felt everything in her body just let go. It was as if every ounce of tension and angst in her was gone. She felt light as a feather and as calm as a millpond. She was so intensely relaxed that she felt as if she was existing within a cloud. The world was a beautiful place—as long as not a single thing in that moment ever changed.

"Word of warning," Felicity said. "When you're at your highest, the filter between your mouth and your brain is essentially gone. So, watch yourself for the next hour or so."

"I don't have much of a filter anyway," Dominique said, realizing that Felicity's voice was actually sort of oddly high pitched in a grating sort of way. "Do you always talk like that? It's really annoying."

Felicity started to laugh, which made Annabelle laugh as well. It didn't make any sense because nothing she had said was funny.

"Careful who you talk to," Annabelle finally said after she'd worked her giggles out. "Merlin knows some of the shit that comes out can't be taken back. That's another reason Durrin disappears." She frowned. "I've said some shit I shouldn't have before."

"Like what?" Dominique asked. "What even is the story with you two? I know you two fuck around, but you seem keen on him and him on you. I can't tell if you're just fucking or something else."

"It's so complicated," she groaned. "It's such a story. And I'm too high to tell it."

"Oh," Dominique said with a shrug. "Well, that's good because I really don't care enough to listen to a story. Don't bother if you can't sum it up in three sentences."

Annabelle looked as if she considered that a challenge and smiled confidently. "I can do three sentences!" She sat up straight. "He's in love with me. I'm not in love with him like that, but I still love him. We hook-up whenever we're here." She stopped and began silently counting on her fingers. "Was that two or three?"

"I stopped listening after the first sentence," Felicity mumbled. "I've heard enough about you and Durrin to last me my entire life. I genuinely don't care anymore."

"Oh, fuck off," Annabelle said, flipping her off before her eyes landed back on Dominique. "Want to go back out to the party?"

Dominique immediately shook her head rapidly back and forth far more times than was necessary. Was she serious? Had she not just told her she was a walking truth bomb ready to do some damage? "I can't. If I go out there right now, I'm going to say a lot of shit that I don't need to say."

"The more your high wears off, the more control you regain of your filter," Felicity offered. "You can just wait it out here."

"You already said that," Annabelle said, sounding bored. "And Dominique, why would you want to sit here all night? What's the fun in that? You won't even see most of these people ever again."

"I don't care about those people," Dominique said. "I'm more afraid of the ones I will see again. They're the ones I could do some damage with."

"Just tell me who," Annabelle said. "I'll keep them away! I'll be your bodyguard."

"Until she gets distracted by something shiny," Felicity mumbled. "Or someone she knows, which is everyone. She knows everyone."

"You, shush," Annabelle said before she began pointing at Dominique. "Seriously. You point them out. I'll keep them away. Just tell me who."

Dominique didn't even have to think about that. An answer came immediately and she spoke it before she had time to think otherwise. It came out of her without the slightest hesitation or resistance. "Jack Ians."

"Oh!" Annabelle said excitedly. "I know him! Durrin always talked about him!." She cocked her head to the side in a curious manner. "Why don't we like him?"

"We do like him," Dominique said. "That's the problem. We like him far too much."

Even she had to stop after those words had come out of her mouth. It was almost as if someone else had spoken them and she'd heard them for the first time. Had she actually said that? That had been her voice. Her mouth had formed the words in that sentence. She wasn't going to be able to get those words back now that they were out in the universe.

"Ohhhhh," Annabelle said, now giving her a thumbs up. "I get it. Right. Right. Right. And you're not ready to tell him that?"

"I wasn't ready to tell myself that," she muttered.

"I'm too high to know what that means," Annabelle said, blinking her eyes multiple times. "And so we're on the same page, you don't want to tell him, right?"

Dominique nodded her head. "Right. He's my friend. He's my brother's best friend. He's my Quidditch captain. He's my teammate. He's my roommate while we're here-"

"Wait, you're rooming with a boy you fancy and you're letting that opportunity slip by?" Annabelle said, now squinting at her. "You are dumb."

"You're dumb," Dominique countered. "You get to claim your shit with Durrin is complicated, but I'm dumb because I don't want to tell my friend I have a crush on him—which, you know what? Maybe it's not even real."

"Of course it's real," Annabelle said. "You may be able to trick yourself the rest of the time, but veritaserum doesn't lie, darling."

"No, it's different. I know I'm attracted to him, but…" She took a deep breath. "My ex and I split up not long ago. That fucked me up more than I'll admit and I'm not over it. But I'm definitely attracted to Jack. But I don't want something new because I'm still dealing with my ex, so what do I want from Jack? Sex? You can't have sex with your friend. That fucks everything up. I don't want that." She paused for a moment. "I mean, I do want that because he's really fit, but I can't because that would cause so many issues. So what do I do?"

"That was so many words," Annabelle said, rubbing her temples. "You're one of those people who gets high and talks a lot, aren't you?"

"Maybe you just need to find someone else to smash," Felicity offered. "Get shagged and get it out of your system. Then maybe you won't be so hung up on this other one. A good orgasm could settle you down. Help you see things clearly."

"Oh yes, a proper rebound!" Annabelle agreed. "Someone to hit and quit. Who do we know?"

"I barely know anyone," Felicity said. "And that's the way I like it. You, however…"

"I know people!" Annabelle said, standing suddenly. "Come on, Dominique. We're going to go and make some new friends."

She started at her. Was she suggesting that they exit this room and go back out into the party? "But there are people out there. I don't want to talk to people."

Annabelle reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her up from the bed. "This the ultimate game of Quidditch and you are its Seeker. You just got to avoid all the bad Bludgers until you can find a proper Keeper."

She let herself be pulled up and led toward the door, but still resisted slightly. "That doesn't even make any sense. The point is to score on the Keeper, not to get one. And if I'm a Seeker then all I want is the Snitch. You have played Quidditch before…?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, it's a metaphor. Just go!" She opened the door and pushed Dominique out into the corridor, where the music and noise from the common area was now overwhelming. The room had been so quiet that she'd forgotten how much was happening just outside its walls.

Annabelle walked ahead and began to scan the room. People would walk by and she would stop to chat and say hello to all of them, though her attention still remained focused on looking for something in particular. She eventually turned to Dominique and said, "Let's do a lap. If you see anyone who strikes your fancy, let me know."

She had no idea why she was even letting herself be led around to do this, but something inside of her felt the need to go with it. It seemed Annabelle was perfectly happy doing most of the work, so as long as there wasn't much for her to do she may as well play along.

There was something about the way Annabelle introduced her that awarded her plenty of suggestive smiles and looks, but not a single one did anything for her to warrant much of a conversation. The first guy who attempted to chat her up lasted a good two minutes. He started off by complimenting her in an aggressive manner, but she was immediately wary when he wouldn't look her in the eyes. He would look at the top of her head, her chin, all around the room, her shoulder, his feet, everywhere else instead of making actual eye contact. When she'd finally had enough and asked him what was his deal, he muttered something about a spell that allowed women to steal your soul if you made direct eye contact with them.

Even if she hadn't been under the influence of laced dragon grass, she would have had a hard time not telling this nutter where to go, so the fact she was made it impossible for her to let that one slide. She'd thrown some choice words at him before Annabelle grabbed her and immediately informed her that no one in their right mind talks to Wallace. "Sorry, I should have warned you. He's batshit."

She then introduced her to an average looking bloke with nice, green eyes called Regis who at first seemed a bit promising. That was until he really started talking—which was all about himself. He claimed to be a invitation Keeper out of Durmstrang. His stats— if true—were quite impressive, but in the five minutes they spoke, he dominated the entire conversation. He never waited for a response and didn't bother to even ask her for her name, which seemed like a red flag as far as she was concerned. She'd eventually held up her hand in a silencing manner, which did make him finally stop. She didn't even say anything after that; she merely walked away.

The next two could have been identical in personality; they even looked a little alike. Typical meathead Beaters—big, burly, same dark and short kept hair, both with deep voices—clearly looking to get shagged and laying it on thick. According to them, she was the "most beautiful girl there" and her—this was where they would pick a random feature, like her eyes or her hair—was perfect. They refused to believe she didn't have a boyfriend, because after all, what boy wouldn't want to scoop her up?

She finally asked them both if the shit they were saying ever worked, and when they both got offended that she didn't fall head over head for their dumb act, she had to walk away before the giggles overcame her entirely. On the plus side, these two did bring her a drink so she didn't have to retrieve her own. It was the only benefit of that conversation given she was never getting those ten minutes of her life back.

They were all the same and they were all boring or typical. She would have to get drunk in order to want to sleep with any of them since she was turned off almost instantly by the attempt. They were so obvious and blatant. Yes, she was new to this whole world of flirting and meeting people, but she had hoped there'd be a little bit more to it than regurgitating stale pickup lines and doling out the most basic of compliments. It was exhausting.

A skinny Chaser had stopped her now, taking advantage of the fact that she was alone. Annabelle had wandered away to greet someone else she knew, which she did often. The Chaser felt the need to lead with the fact that he didn't think women really understood Quidditch on the same level as men did. Their brains just worked differently.

"Are you fucking serious?" Dominique said, throwing him one of the nastiest looks she could muster. "That's the dumbest shit I've heard all night, and I just spoke to a bloke who said I could steal his soul by looking at him. So congratu-fucking-lations for that."

Annabelle reappeared just then, tugging gently on her arm. "Uh, I just need her for a second," she said to the Chaser, though once she'd pulled her away, she added, "Well, that one seemed all wrong."

"That guy's a knob," she said. "Where does he get off saying-?"

"Yeah, he's gone now," Annabelle said, tapping her on the shoulder in a reassuring manner. "They're not all winners, unfortunately."

"I'm done," she said with a shake of her head before she drained the last bit of her drink. "I don't care anymore. I'm calling it a night."

Annabelle seemed disappointed, but also said that she understood. "I've noticed that when I try, I never find. It always happens when you least expect it. A watched pot never boils, they say."

"Why would anyone watch a bloody pot?" Dominique mumbled, feeling her head start to clear a bit. She was coming down from her high and was likely starting to regain most of her filter.

"There's Durrin," Annabelle said pointing over toward the card game near the side of the room. Sure enough, there Durrin and Stuart stood drinking and talking to another man. Something exciting was apparently happening in the game because their attention—as well as the attention of several onlookers—was rapt. Eventually, someone at the table stood up and let out a loud, but joyous scream. Some people started clapping while one girl yelled "Fuck" loudly.

"I'm coming down," Annabelle muttered, rubbing her face vigorously as she led the way across the room toward the boys. "I hate when it wears off."

"Me too," said Dominique, now feeling rather gloomy. She'd gone from a happy, light as a feather feeling—albeit one that was fueled by harsh words and an inability to keep her mouth shut—to a grumpy

and agitated mood. She didn't like this feeling. She suddenly was thinking about Henry and how they had fallen apart.

She needed to go. A nearby clock said it was just after eleven o'clock; still plenty early for most people, but late enough for her. It had been over two hours; she'd come, she'd seen, and she now wasn't a complete loser who'd hidden away all week. She didn't meet any cute boys, just a bunch of losers, but she'd made the attempt. She could tick that box off of her Quidditch Trials bucket list.

"Hey," Annabelle said once they'd reached Durrin, slinking her arm around him once she could. He immediately did the same to her, though never took his eyes off the card game. The man he'd been talking to was now pointing to something on the table while actively commenting on something one of the players was doing. He seemed to be explaining some rules in a very in depth manner. Both Durrin and Stuart were nodding as if listening, though after a minute, Durrin finally turned to look at Annabelle. He seemed to be examining her face.

"Don't worry, I'm coming down," she said, suddenly kissing him. "Don't get your wand in a knot."

"I didn't say anything," he said, noticing Dominique beside her and nodding hello to her before focusing back on Annabelle. "Where have you been all night?"

"I've been trying to find a handsome, normal bloke who's looking for one night of mindless, attachment free sex, but that seems so much harder than you'd think it'd be."

Durrin made a face directly for Annabelle's benefit. "Uhhhh…" He suddenly gestured to himself.

She swatted him in the chest. "It's not for me."

"If she's fit," He raised his hand as if volunteering, "I still may be available." It caused Annabelle to slowly take her arm off of him and throw him a sharp look, though it only made him shrug in an unbothered way. "You are not allowed to get angry. Unless you've changed your mind about you and me?"

"You know I don't want a boyfriend-"

"Great, then who's the girl?"

She suddenly seemed particularly annoyed with him, but made an obvious gesture toward Dominique. When he realized she was the girl in question, he slowly lowered his hand. His face grew sheepish, as if he'd just done something very awkward. "Nevermind."

Dominique laughed. She wasn't even offended considering the source because that would have been a hard no for so many, many, many reasons. "I appreciate you doing that so I don't have to feel like a complete arse for not being interested."

"Glad we agree," Durrin said, reaching over to give her a high five.

"I can't believe you would even say…?" Annabelle began, clearly still annoyed with him. She was practically boring a hole into his head with her stare. She turned then and muttered, "I'm getting a drink," before setting off in the opposite direction.

Dominique watched her go before turning back to gauge Durrin's reaction. He sighed heavily; his eyes practically rolling back into his skull. At the very same moment, Stuart had torn himself away from the card game to check in with his friends, though seemed to sense the new tense energy that had emerged. "Where'd Anna go?"

"Hell if I know," Durrin muttered, though he was still watching the exit path Annabelle took. "She's angry with me. Again. I'm not chasing after her this time. It's what she wants. She gets high and starts acting like she always does, and then I'm the one who needs to fix things. But I'm not doing it tonight."

Stuart made eye contact with Dominique at that moment, shaking his head and his expression clearly saying, "I'll believe that when I see it." but he said nothing other than, "Do what you have to do, mate."

"Where does she even get off...?" Durrin ranted to Stuart, though Dominique took the opportunity to absently glance around and keep out of their business. She liked Annabelle and Durrin, but she wasn't about to invest an extra minute in someone else's relationship drama when she had enough of that to deal with on her own.

The thought of her own drama made Jack suddenly pop into her head, and she found herself curious if he was still here. She hadn't seen him ages and wondered if he had he left. She assumed he wouldn't stay out all night given that he'd been working too hard this week to blow it for some girl, but attraction made people do dumb shit all the time. Who knew if he was above any of that? She also wondered what he would do if he actually successfully pulled this girl. Were they back in the room—the room they shared? They hadn't even discussed that. Why hadn't they discussed that?

She suddenly stood up on her tiptoes and started scanning the room in search of him, which didn't help much considering she was surrounded by tall athletes. She could barely make things out, but if he was still here, she was fairly certain he wasn't on her side of the room, or near the corridor, or anywhere in plain sight in the common area. He could have been in any of the many rooms down the hall, but she wasn't about to go and search them.

"Hey, you haven't seen Jack lately have you?" she asked Durrin, clearly interrupting his rant to Stuart; she was past the point of caring. She may have been coming off of her high, but being blunt still felt right.

Durrin looked back at her, his face now switching gears from annoyed to his regular, default self. "Not since he was with you earlier. Did you lose him?"

She scoffed a little. "No, he met a girl."

"Oh wait, yeah, shit," Durrin said, as if remembering, "I did see him, actually. He was talking to a girl. Two girls. One was a brunette and the other was a blonde. They were cute."

"How long ago was that?"

He shrugged. "Hour ago."

She inhaled sharply. That didn't help. She started looking around the room again on her tiptoes, which even on those, she was still shorter than both Durrin and Stuart standing flat footed. Stuart alone was over a head taller. He could probably see most of the room up there without even trying.

"What's he look like?" Stuart asked.

"Do you know Jack Ians?"

"Sounds familiar. But I'm pretty shitty with names and faces." He smiled. "I feel as if you and I have already been through that."

She found herself smiling despite it not being particularly funny. "He's about Durrin's height. Dark blondish hair. He's a Beater, so he's got that kind of build."

"That's roughly a quarter of the guys in the room. What color shirt is he wearing?"

She had to think about that. What color had he pulled out of his bag earlier? Blue? Grey? Bluish grey?

"Sort of a dark blue."

Stuart stood up taller and gave the room a once over. He looked for a bit, as did Durrin beside him, though they did get distracted by another loud cheer from the card table. Durrin continued to watch the spectacle now playing out in front of him, but Stuart actually returned to having a look around. After a minute, he used his bottle to point across the room. "That him?"

She followed his gesture but shook her head. It was close given the descriptors she'd given, but that guy had quite a few stones on Jack and looked like he actually lived in a gym, not just visited. She shook her head.

Stuart then looked the other direction, immediately pointing once again—this time toward the exit. "That him?'

She couldn't see who he was referring to since there were so many people crowded around the door. Durrin had returned to help them and was now looking to where Stuart was pointing. He quickly started nodding. "Oh yeah, that's him. He's with the same girls I saw him with earlier. Got his arm around the brunette one, so he's clearly done something right. They look cozy—"

She didn't wait for him to finish and instead stepped away, walking straight through the crowd and around the large, makeshift card table. After maneuvering around several people, she managed to arrange herself with a semi-unobstructed view of where—sure enough—Durrin had been correct. Jack definitely had his arm around Vanessa and they certainly looked cozy.

Something in her stomach dropped. She clearly still had some of the dragon grass's effects coursing through her because she was suddenly overcome with immense jealousy. She'd never in her life been this kind of jealous. She'd been jealous over lots of things, of course, but never in her life had it been over a person.

It was then that she realized she'd never had a real crush on someone until now. With Henry, there had been no crush. It had just happened, and it had happened so fast that by the time she had feelings for him, she also already had him—at least in their own bizarre way. Now, she was simultaneously experiencing what it felt like to have actual feelings for someone while, at the same time, realizing they did not feel the same way.