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Chapter 20: Dancing on Moonstone

It was the night of the party. The coffee tables and mantelpieces were laden with goodies pilfered from the kitchens and the Hungry Horntails were blasting "Dancing on Moonstone" from the common room gramophone. Róisín and Anna worked on de-shrinking the butterbeers they had snuck in from Hogsmeade as winged glitterbuds Anna had cut from a glitzshrub in Greenhouse two drifted around the room, bouncing into the Ravenclaws who had started gathering around and chatting.

The two girls nipped up to Anna's room to slather on a few final glamour charms and knocked on Ida's door to drag her from her new favourite textbook, "Medieval NEWTS Potions". As they trotted downstairs into the now crowded common room, a whiff of air blew past Róisín's upper thigh; Anna had charmed her skirt shorter.

"I saw that," Róisín said and brushed her hand along the hem while muttering a lengthening charm.

Anna whistled at her.

"Your wandless magic is unreal, Róisín."

"Oh, that's…I've been practicing."

The three girls pasted the walls with silencing charms as they moved around the room making small talk. Anthony had taken a rare study break to wish Róisín a happy birthday and before long they were discussing the optimal ratio of memorisation versus note-taking.

Something popped and crackled. Róisín turned from Anthony, glad for the distraction.

"The Gryffindors have arrived," Anthony sighed.

Sparks shot above the party-goers and burst into red, green, blue and amber. The colours morphed into caricatures of their heads of houses who began squabbling and chasing after a sparkly house cup with wings. The Weasley twins, Angelina Johnson and Lee Jordan were controlling the cartoon professors like video game characters.

A hand grabbed Róisín's arm.

"The Weasley's are here!" Anna exclaimed as she pulled her away from Anthony.

"Yeah, so? It's not like them to miss a party," Róisín said. "Oh yeah, you kissed one of them at the Yule ball last year, which one was it again?"

"That's the problem; I don't remember!" A snort burst from Róisín. Eóghan's friend Richard passed by and slipped a glass of bubble brandy into each of their hands. "Think Anna, think!" Anna said to herself, "I definitely kissed one of them twice, once on Snacker's Staircase and another time behind the one-eyed witch…" She smacked her hand to her mouth. "Or maybe… I kissed both of them once!" Anna popped her head up and must have seen the Gryffindor beaters coming because she shouted out, "BIRTHDAY KISSES!" with an amplifying charm so loud it left Róisín temporarily deaf and choking on brandy bubbles.

Róisín felt the floor leave her feet. Angus, the Ravenclaw beater, lifted her onto his shoulders and carried her into the middle of the common room. As per tradition, the young men began lining up. The brandy bubbled up Róisín's throat. Angus plonked her back on her feet.

Richard came first. He winked at her and said,

"As prefect, I suppose I'll let this little transgression" – he gestured at the party – "go this time."

"Oh, will you?" Róisín teased, as she raised the brandy he had given her pointedly. Richard gave her a polite kiss on the check. Anna cried out "One!"

A Weasley twin kissed her next, "Two!", then Lee Jordan, "Three!", then another Weasley twin, "Four!", then Angus, who picked her up and swung her around, giving her a loud kiss on the ear which Róisín gave him a light smack for.

Anna shouted "Five!"

Another face of orange freckles popped up.

"You've already got your kiss!" Róisín protested.

The twin shot his eyes to heaven,

"No, that was Fred stealin' a second kiss." Róisín lifted her eyebrows skeptically. "Don't punish me for his transgressions, it's the story of my life," the Weasley objected.

"Oh fine!" Róisín conceded and presented her cheek.

"Only, joking, Fred hasn't kissed you at all yet," the twin admitted, before kissing her cheek and pointing to his partner in crime who was chatting up Angelina on the other side of the room. Róisín shook her head in faux annoyance.

"Six!"

The strapping Roman Jacquet came next, kissing her cheek, "Seven!", before presenting her with a very nice bottle of Elvish-wine on behalf of house Hufflepuff.

More kisses came.

"Eight!"

Kiss.

"Nine!"

Kiss.

Then it was Eóghan.

Róisín's face was already flushed when he placed his hands on her upper arms and kissed her cheek, his stubble rough against her skin. He pulled away, her cheek tingling, and she threw her arms around him as Sting from the Police cried "so lonely" from the gramophone. He whispered in her ear,

"Happy Birthday, Róisín" and Róisín let him go.

She didn't feel the next eight kisses; Eóghan's kiss was branded on her cheek, eclipsing the rest.

"EIGHTEEN!" Anna roared, before grabbing Róisín and kissing her square on the lips. The rest of the room erupted into laughter and whistling. Anna pulled back and cried with a gasp, "NINETEEN!". Róisín grinned and hugged her best friend.

"Look at you, disrupting the gender roles!" Róisín teased.

"All nineteen kisses for the boys? We can't be having that," Anna said.

The frog's tongue whipped towards the fly. The black dot dodged and continued racing towards Ida's open mouth. Fly-Tongue was the second drinking game of the night. The first game, Giggly Goblet Guzzlers, had gone badly for Róisín. She'd drank eight goblets of gigglewater before she'd managed to sing the Guzzle song without erupting into giggles. She suspected a discreet sombre charm from Ida had saved her.

Now, Anna had to charm her chocolate frog to protect Ida from a sugar fly which was bewitched by the Weasleys to invade her mouth. If the frog caught the fly before it reached Ida the twins would have to drink two thimbles of firewhiskey, otherwise Anna and Ida would have to.

Mid-hop, the frog fell to the floor. The fly hit the back of Ida's throat and the frog cracked into pieces like an Easter egg. Ida shot Anna an annoyed look. But Anna wasn't looking at her Fly-Tongue partner.

Zoltan Kun and Charles Balthazar had entered the room. They were followed by Julien Marchand, Graham Montague, Naishiye Kiserian and Sofia Nott.

The Slytherins had come.

The room shrank as the other guests parted for them like water for a ship.

"Did Nott just arrive at my birthday party?" Róisín asked aloud.

Sofia Nott, Queen of Slytherin, Head Girl, and the most beautiful person Róisín had ever seen, looked around the room like a landlady visiting her tenement. Her strawberry-blond hair stood out beautifully against her emerald robes. In fact, the Slytherins were all immaculately dressed in wizarding attire. Surrounded by students in jeans and t-shirts they looked as though they had come to see a play with muggle characters.

"Hey, the arrival of the snakes doesn't get you off the hook," Fred or George stated and gestured to the smoking thimbles. Anna threw hers back like a pro, but Ida hesitated, scrunching her face in disgust. Ida hated drinking. Róisín took the firewhiskey from her and downed it, grabbing her neck as the burning liquid incinerated her throat.

"You owe me," she croaked at Ida.

"We better go and say hello," Ida said, nodding towards the Slytherins.

"Why did they even come to a Mudblood's party?" Róisín wondered aloud.

"Maybe they don't know you're muggleborn," Angelina suggested.

"Well they can bugger off," Fred or George said.

"Yeah I've got a Cornish pixie in my pocket, should I slip it down Balthazar's robes?" the other twin suggested.

"No, they're guests," Róisín asserted. "Maybe they're trying to get to know people from the others houses and move beyond that pureblood malarky."

"Maybe," Angelina replied incredulously.

"I don't want precious Sofia Nott here," Anna spat. "A member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight truly-pureblood club at my best friend's party, a muggleborn."

"I think there's more than one sacred twenty-eighter here," Ida commented.

"Nah, the Balthazars were struck off because of Loki Balthazar; the son Charles' grandfather had out of wedlock with his muggle servant," Anna reported.

"Loki Balthazar's a half-blood? But he married an Avery!" Róisín interjected.

"Ehem," Fred and George interrupted loudly. The girls turned to them. "I think you'll find there are other members of the sacred-twenty eight present."

There was a pause.

"Oh the Weasleys!" Anna exclaimed. "Of course, the proudest of the purebloods, tell me, how does it feel to be part of the wizarding elite?"

"Pretty awful actually," one twin replied.

"Yeah it's our family's biggest shame," the other said. "Dad keeps introducing us to local muggle girls in the hope that we'll fall in love."

It turned out they didn't need to go and welcome the Slytherins. Balthazar and Nott were heading towards them.

Balthazar was uncommonly tall, but unlike the Weasley twins, who stuck out like giraffes in a field of horses, Balthazar was statuesque, giving the impression that he was the correct size and those around him were miniature. His jawline was infamous for breaking hearts. Although too unruly to be made head boy or prefect, he was captain of the quidditch team and de facto leader of Slytherin house. Most importantly however, he was Sofia Nott's boyfriend, and everything about him was perfect for the job.

"Gods, we may hate them, but we can't deny their babies will be gorgeous," Anna whispered to Róisín.

"Róisín Feral, happy birthday," Sofia said cordially and air kissed both of her cheeks. "And of course Anna Battworth, I'm delighted to see you fully recovered." Sofia's words pulled a knot in Róisín's stomach. "Very generous of you to extend your invitation to all four houses."

"In Ravenclaw we don't exclude people," Anna replied. "Thanks so much for coming."

"I was expecting a cosy kind of attic up here, but it's actually quite pretty," Sofia commented ignoring Anna's remark.

"Yes, we have a beautiful common room," Anna said.

The four Gryffindors stood behind Anna and Róisín like bodyguards.

"I hear we'll be playing the entire Weasley clan next week," Balthazar said to them.

Róisín and Anna glanced at each other. Everyone had heard the "Weasley is our King" chants from the Slytherins mocking Gryffindor's new keeper, Ron Weasley. Even Róisín had caught herself humming the jingle, it was so damn catchy.

"Yeah, apparently the saviour of the wizarding world told your head of house where to go, so Malfoy'll have to watch our little sister catch the snitch instead of Harry for a change."

Potter's been kicked off the team because he spoke back to Snape? That was news to Róisín.

Anna cut in before Balthazar could respond,

"-I'm sure you're parched, there are drinks and snacks over there, why don't you try some?" She gestured to the other side of the room. After the Slytherins walked away, Róisín hugged Anna tightly.

"What was that for?" Anna asked.

"Nothing," Róisín replied, beaming at her.

More people from the other houses continued to squeeze into the common room. Someone had scrawled the evening's riddle, My eggs are second best. I dwarf dragons in the sky and steal woodpecker hidey-holes, what am I? and the answer, an occamy, onto a piece of paper and pinned it outside, much to the disdain of the bronze eagle knocker. Ostensibly it was so they wouldn't have to open the door every five minutes to newcomers but many suspected it was a dig at the other houses' intellects. Róisín was certain that half of the people laughing and dancing didn't know who the party was for and for that she was glad; the liquor had begun to make her feel wobbly and silly.

Angus and Eóghan challenged Róisin and Anna to another drinking game, "pin the tail on the hippogriff" and they accepted, hoping to fare better against them than they had against the Gryffindors. Unfortunately the alcohol from the previous games had blunted Róisín's accuracy; she pinned the tail on the hippogriff's face twice and on poor Angus once. She ranted between gulps of cider and hiccoughs about how drinking games were just a downward spiral for the weak where the worst players got drunk, lost more and therefore had to drink more in a horrible cycle that went on and on, while the rest of her friends howled in laughter.

She went to pee, certain that at this point she was only a liability to the team, leaving Anna to play for them both. On her way back from the bathroom she met Zoltan Kun, who stepped out of a group of Slytherins to greet her.

"You sure know how to throw a party Miss Feral," he said.

"Well, Anna knows-s how to throw one," Róisín slurred. She blushed. She was well-oiled in firewhiskey and Kun knew.

"I've never been to Ravenclaw tower at night, it's breathtaking," he said, gesturing to the windows encircling the common room. Outside, the castle lights shown below and stars sparkled above, as though the whole world had been studded with diamonds. "My apologies for missing your birthday kisses." He kissed her cheek.

"I'm s-surprised you came. I didn't think Slytherinss fraternised with the en-enemy," Róisín teased.

"Gryffindor is our enemy, Ravenclaw is just some light competition."

"I wouldn't call a two-huuuundred-point lead light competission."

"Well aren't you cheeky?" Kun said as he leaned closer. Róisín could barely hear him above the crescendo of Tonight Tonight by the Smashing Pumpkins.

"I'm not being cheeky, you can only be cheeky to yer superiorss."

"Is that true?" He lifted an eyebrow at her.

Tonight Tonight hit its climax and Róisín did a little hop.

"God, I looove this song!" She stumbled back and Kun caught her neatly with an arm around her back. His hand lingered as she steadied herself against him.

"S-sorry," Róisín slurred.

"What has you so merry?"

"Gigglewater mostly, firewhissky, oh and this" - Róisín raised the bottle of pink bubbles in her hand, as though she had forgotten it was there - "Angus's lethal home-brewed truckleberry cider. I didn't know it was possible for something to be both so sweet and sso bitter."

"Maybe this" – Kun produced a bottle of Elvish champagne – "will rinse the taste from your mouth."

"That looks expensive," Róisín blurted.

"On behalf of House Slytherin, and courtesy of the Montague's French vineyard, happy birthday," Kun declared. He took the bottle of cider from her hand and replaced it with a conjured champagne flute, which he filled generously with the golden bubbles.

The glass was gone from her grip. Róisín examined the floor, looking for where she had dropped it.

"Mmmm delicious." Anna smacked her lips beside her.

"Hey, don't steal my presents!" Róisín teased. She grabbed the glass back from her friend and took a gulp. It tasted like strawberries and cream eaten in the sunshine.

The hottest muggle track of the year, "Gangsta's Paradise", started to play and Róisín started laughing so hard she doubled over. Kun and Anna grabbed her shoulders and the concerned looks on their faces just caused her to squeal with more laughter.

"You have - " Róisín's couldn't get the words out - "no idea how " - more giggles burst out - " bizarre it is to see a room full of teenage wissards, WISSARDS, dancing to muggle gangster RAP!" She howled the last word, her sides aching with the absurdity of it.

Kun and Anna, both pure-bloods, obviously didn't understand just how ridiculous this was, so Róisín decided to find Eóghan and split their sides together over it. "Have you s-seen Eóghan ressently?" Róisín asked Anna. Her best friend wasn't paying her any attention though; she was watching a certain red-head make his way towards her.

"I'm gonna go chat up that Weasley," Anna said.

"I thought you were avoiding them?" Róisín asked, but Anna had already marched away towards the Gryffindor.

Róisín shook her head at her friend. Then her head lay against something warm and firm. She put her hand on it. Oh, it was Kun's chest. The shaking had made her dizzy. He must have caught her again. She took a step back. Where was Eóghan?

The rapper's American twang rang in her ears:

Fool, death ain't nothin' but a heartbeat away

I'm livin' life do or die, what can I say?

"Jaysus, the music is sooo loud!" Róisín exclaimed.

"Would you like to dance?" Kun asked.

"Yeah, I think sso. I'm attracted to you and want to be closer to your body, but I'm s-stressed because I need to find Eóghan."

Kun smiled at her. All white-teeth and sharp jawlines. Róisin's heart fluttered.

"Let's dance first and then we'll find him," Kun said. He took her hand, leading her as he pushed through the horde of teenagers rubbing against each other with little skill or rhythm. The room was throbbing with people. When did the whole castle show up?

Róisín started bobbing her head and moving her hips to the beat. The music was pumping. Kun said something but Róisín only saw his lips moving.

"What?" she mouthed at him. He bent down and whispered in her ear,

"How's the champagne?"

Her flute was full. Weird. She thought she had drank it all. Not wanting to seem ungrateful she took another big swig.

"It's probably the most delissshuss thing I've ever put in my mouth! Although I am worried dat I'm drunk."

Róisín rubbed her pinky finger. It was tingling. The sensation reached through her haze of drowsiness and drunkenness as though it had been trying to do so for some time.

The music slowed. The dancers started to pair up as the lead singer of the Charming Conjurers crooned over his Veela lover and Róisín found herself in Kun's arms. A blanket of sleepiness wrapped itself around her and she lent heavily on him, her hands around his waist and his thigh supporting her, pressing between hers. His smell made her chest swell as though she wanted to trap and keep it there.

It was too much. This wasn't where she was supposed to be. She slipped her hands away from him, and something crinkled against them. A piece of paper was poking out of an inner pocket of his jacket. The paper had a grubby look as though it had been read and reread many times and the lettering across it looked like something out of Lord of the Rings.

"Hey, Róisín, are you alrigh'?" She looked up to Angus' broad face, the set of his jaw stern ."It's gettin' late maybe you should head to bed."

"So it's true," Kun replied before Róisín got a chance to, "Ravenclaw parties do end before anyone has too much fun."

"Well I don't know about you Slytherins, but in this house we look out for each other," Angus snapped back.

"Oh, I didn't realise I was at a Hufflepuff party," Kun drawled.

Róisín looked back and forth between them. Angus' face was ruddy and puffed with indignation. Kun looked faintly amused. Who was Angus trying to look out for? Why was he so angry? The Weird Sisters were screaming from the gramophone,

Your hands are shaking baby

You ain't been sleeping lately

She stumbled away from the two men.

"Are you ok?" Angelina asked kindly. Róisín had bumped into her.

"Oh, s-sorry, em, I don't know, the boyss around me are acting strange," Róisín replied and continued wandering.

The silver stars in the carpet zoomed towards her face. A strong hand gripped her upper arm and pulled her roughly to her feet.

"I see you're celebrating the Irish way," Charles Balthazar remarked as he snapped his hand away as though she were unclean. Graham Montague, the lump of muscle infamous for his violence on the Quidditch pitch and Julien Marchand, the snide Slytherin Róisín knew from potions, sniggered at her.

"T-Tanks for catching me. Although der's no need to be racisst," Róisín said and stomped away. She heard the three Slytherins roar with laughter behind her. Her eyes stung with tears.

She nudged through a group of students playing Gobblet Guzzlers and almost tripped on someone's shoe when she felt a hand covered in cool and silky fabric catch her forearm and steady her. She looked up to thank the hand's owner but they weren't there. She looked around, trying to find Anna, but she couldn't see through the wall of taller students around her.

"Ego levi", she whispered. The floor dropped from her as she drifted a few feet upwards. She wobbled, suspended in the air. Then a hand grabbed hers and pulled her gently down. She landed in Kun's arms. He grinned at her.

"It's probably not a good idea to let anyone see you doing wandless magic, right?" Kun said as he put her back on her feet.

"Yeah, that's right, Snape'd be so angry if anyone finds ou-" Róisín's throat closed up, and for a horrible moment that seemed to stretch forever she couldn't breathe. Then she coughed and spluttered. Kun patted her back and held her upper arms firmly in his hands. His green eyes fixed on hers with thin, cat-like pupils.

BANG

The sound was so loud Róisín's whole body felt it. Kun spun towards the noise and Róisín saw a whip of Ida's blond hair before she grabbed Róisín's upper arm and pulled her into an adjacent door. Ida didn't losen her grip as she dragged Róisín farther into the narrow library.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Róisín yelled, her eardrums ringing like a brass cymbal.

"A Weasley firework," Ida replied, marching her through the maze of books and up a narrow staircase. The ringing continued.

"IS THERE FIRE? WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" Róisín urged.

"No, it can't set anything on fire, it's fine."

"Why did the Weasley's set it off? They're sso fucking stup-"

"They didn't. I did." Ida shut the door behind them. They were in a tiny annex in a turret off a turret. Here, the music hummed softly like a distant beehive. Ida turned to Róisín. "Anna's saying things she shouldn't. Secrets she would never say. Your secrets."

"Wha-, I don'-" Róisín stammered.

"Richard saw you and Kun together and asked Anna what was going on," Ida explained, speaking quickly and clearly. "Anna started talking about that day you kissed Eóghan and ended up in the hospital wing like two months ago, the thing we promised not to talk about, focus, Róisín!" Róisín was shaking her head, pressing her hands into her temples. "You need to listen to me! Kun shouldn't be interested in you, not like that, it doesn't make any sense."

"That's kinda mean-"

"Listen Róisín!" Ida begged. "You were right! Baumidgers don't eat loquitiflos flower heads, nor do they eat African spider ivy, especially when it's so badly infected with fungi as mine and Anna's that it glows, but the spider ivy can be used as a substitute for bioluminescent mushrooms when it's infected, and, along with thestral blood and loquitiflos heads, it can be used to make-"

"Veritaserum," Róisín whispered, her eyes wide. She saw what Ida was getting at like she had wiped her mind clear like a fogged mirror. "The thesstral foals didn't cut themself in the undergrowth, s-someone… someone took their blood."

"Exactly."

"And the other stuff, the other ingredients?"

"I know distilled moonlight can be collected in a lunaquidator, which I've seen before in Dervish and Banges. The rest could be found in the forbidden forest, if one tried hard enough, except ghost mantis legs, which I suppose could be stolen from Professor Snape's stores-"

"Ornickedfromthefloor!" Róisín exclaimed, her words tumbling from her mouth in a rush. Ida shot her a confused look. "Lee Jordan dropped a jar of them when we were makin' invisibility potions. Snape took twenty points from him."

"I don't remember that."

"You weren't there, mostly everyone had already left."

"Who was there?"

"Well, Jordan em… Anthony, oh and Kun."

Ida shot her a meaningful look.

It was as though she were an ant on a spinning top, everything in Róisín's head seemed to move so fast.

Her little finger tingled again.

"Anna's telling a pinky promise secret, I hope she doesn't talk about the thing with Eógh-" Róisín lost her voice. The muscles of her face strained painfully.

"RÓISÍN!" Ida cried, "What's wrong?!"

Róisín's brain shouted at her lungs to breathe but they refused. The pressure built in her skull like it were going to pop.

"Maledicto Revelio!" Ida shouted and digged her wandtip into Róisín's chest. A ghost of Róisín appeared between them, it's tongue squirming, twisting, knotting painfully around inself. Through her ghost-self, Róisín saw Ida's pupils expand with fear. "Tongue-tying curse," Ida whispered.

Róisín still couldn't breathe.

"Ok, ok, ok, I don't care Róisín, don't try and talk about it, forget it, what's your mother's maiden name?" Ida asked desperately.

"M-McCarthy," Róisín spluttered. She gasped for breath. The air was delicious.

"Who's our head of house?" Ida pressed to make sure the tongue-tie was interrupted completely.

"Filius Flitwick." Róisín's chest went in and out like she had been sprinting, but she could breathe.

"Go get help. Now. I'll stay and get everyone out."

"But how?"

Ida produced what looked like a black marble from her robes.

"A stink bomb," she stated. "Summon Eóghan's broom."

"What, why?!"

"It's more likely to come to you than me, it knows you!"

"But-but there isn't a clear path," Róisín said, puzzled.

"Make one," Ida ordered.

"Accio moontrimmer," Róisín said timidly. She felt her magic nudge against a barrier. Suddenly the music got a fraction louder, like one of the doors between them and the common room had been opened. "ACCIO MOONTRIMMER!" Róisín cried.

Seconds later, the broom burst through the ceiling and hit Róisín's stomach, winding her. She gagged for breath. A red stain grew in the belly of her t-shirt as her adbomen began to sting painfully. Something sharp had nicked her skin. Róisín twisted the broom in her hands, confused. It had glass shards stuck in it's handle, as thought it'd broken a windowpane to get there.

Ida thrust her wand at the window behind them and shouted,

"Reducto!"

Róisín jumped with shock as the glass exploded into a sandy mist. The icy wind gushed into the room, howling as it whipped their hair.

Ida couldn't be thinking what Róisín thought she was thinking.