Chapter Nine:

Strangers Of The Night

The air was dead, which was an accurate symbol for how I was feeling at the moment. I pulled my knees to me as I sat surrounded by towers of things I didn't usually have a particular have an affinity for, ironic due to the fact that they now sheltered me and kept the evil out.

Nobody would ever look for me here. He hates this place. I (usually) hate this place. This was the longest time I'd actually been in here for.

The library was growing on me, that`s for sure.

As long as that red haired snake didn't come in here looking for a book, I was safe.

The corner in which I was hidden in was very small; the space where I sat was only about a foot and a half wide. I couldn`t see anything but books and starry windows, neither of which had ever talked about me behind my back, so therefore were currently competing for Lily`s old spot as Friend.

Hours passed.

Eventually, I fell asleep in that room of paper dreams.

Three days after the night Mattie hadn`t come back to their dorm room to sleep, Mary was still waiting for someone, anyone, to apologize. Since the incident in the Marauder's room, Mattie had been stony to almost everyone. With the exception of Mary and Mel, she spent most of her time away from Gryffindors, choosing instead to put all her energy and frustration into preparations for the party. She was still friendly around Melody, Peter, Remus, and Mary, but she was careful around Alice and James, due to their strong connections to Lily (and Sirius, but only in the case of James), and thoroughly avoided Lily and Sirius.

Everyone she was talking to, however, she enlisted to help hang up the posters that littered every corridor and staircase. Each of the posters were swirling with orange and black, with shimmering gold writing that said:

Strangers of the night, welcome!

This Friday night, everyone who reads this is invited to join us at 7`o clock for a truly ghostly party. It doesn't even matter if you are living. Ghosts are welcome. Teachers are not.

Come one, come all, but here's the catch – just not as yourselves. Be someone else.

That's right. This is a masquerade party. Anyone without a costume or mask on will be sent away.

So, come in costume to the seventh floor corridor and pace three times while thinking of this party.

We'll see you there-if you dare!

The posters were, of course, charmed so teachers couldn't read them, or anyone who would seek to sabotage the festivity.

Hogwarts was constantly buzzing with the whispers of what was being called 'Party of the Shadows'. From the sounds of it, everyone from first year to seventh year was coming, at least according to the writing Mary had seen on the walls of the girl`s bathroom, where an uproar of gossip of the party had broken out.

"Hey May, did you hear that Nearly-Headless Nick might go to Party of the Shadows?" Remus asked her as they were walked down the charms hallway, on the way back to the common room.

"He is? I knew Peeves was going, but I didn't hear Nick was." She replied.

"Yeah, I heard him telling the Fat Lady about it. I don't think Mattie should have been so open to inviting ghosts though. Peeves is definitely going to wreck whatever decorations they`ve got planned."

"No, actually, he won't. Mattie personally invited the Bloody Baron if so he`ll help Peeves in line. Rumor has it the Gray Lady might be going with him."

"Ah, ghost gossip." Remus smiled. "How is Mattie? I`ve barely talked to her since, you know…"

"She`s been swamped with preparations, organizing food deliveries and such. Honestly," Mary conducted a quick sweep of the area to make sure no one was eavesdropping before lowering her voice to a whisper, "…it`s pretty clear she`s using this to give herself an excuse to avoid everyone. Kind of coincidental that Lily`s already sleeping by the time she slinks back into the room every."

"Wait…" They`d reached the door to the common room, but for some reason Remus hesitated, straying too far away from the Fat Lady to be heard say the password. "So I was wondering… doyouwannagotothepartywithme?"

Mary didn`t catch a single word of that. "Huh?"

"Do you want to go to Mattie`s party with me?" He said, more confident this time.

"Sure!" Remus` eyes lit up, and Mary tried not to laugh at the cartoonish look it gave him. "Troll`s blood."

The excitement that had been building up for days kept on welling up inside Violet, making her so exited she could burst. It was as if she was a balloon, floating higher, higher, higher. The party was exactly 27 hours and 23 minutes away, not that she was counting. Well, she was. Everything was perfectly in place.

22 minutes now…

Fabian, Vi, and I had started something great. A conspiracy, maybe, but it was a great one.

Friday morning, tension was running high. If the excitement had manifested itself into a hippogriff, even Hagrid wouldn`t be able to tame it.

Teachers must have been wondering what was happening, but no way was anyone telling them.

It was perfect. Everything was falling into place.

Soon enough, dinner came and ended in a flash. I skirted up to my room to get ready, and was met by every single female Gryffindor, who must have decided to do the same. I had to squirm and shove to get up to the room, finally slamming the door to my room, exhausted.

I took the delicate black dress out of the closet and slid it on as quickly as possible, making sure to snatch my shoes as well. For now, none of my roommates were back from dinner, but I don't think my luck will hold long. I used magic to do my hair, grabbed my mask, and the last of the decorations.

Showtime.

"Oh no, Black. Go away! You can't go up there, that`ll would ruin her night. I just saw her, and she is the happiest she's been all week. Don't crush that. As her unofficial bodyguard, I demand you got to your dorm and stay there all night."

Sirius's face fell, and Mel felt sorry for him, but not sorry enough to let him past and watch as he put another dagger in her best friend's heart. Or, worse, pulled the other one out, letting all the metaphorical blood spill out.

"I promise I won't ruin her night, I just want to talk! I've been sending her letters all week, but she just lights them on fire with her wand without reading them!"

Lily walked over, pushing through the crowd of Gryffindors.

"What's going on?"

Mel cast a withering glance at Sirius. "Black here wants me to help him get in to the girl's dorms so he can talk to Mattie, but I told him not on his life. He`s totally going to ruin Mattie's night."

Sirius started to object, but Lily cut him off. "Come on Sirius, just leave Mattie alone. Whenever you try and do something to fix this, it makes it worse, so let her be. If she meets someone tonight at this shadow party, please don't sabotage her. She didn't for you and your many girlfriends."

Even though Mattie was in denial about it, Melody knew Lily hadn`t meant to hurt her friend. If only Mattie could hear the protective force behind Lily`s words.

With a disheveled and melancholy demeanor, Sirius sauntered away.

As Lily watched him go, Melody studied her. She looked exhausted. They all did.

"You should come," suggested Mel finally. "You'd have fun. Everyone will be wearing masks. Mattie won't know who you are, and maybe you guys can make up."

Surprised, she grinned appreciatively. "Okay."

Lily's words bounced around in Sirius` head.

"If she meets someone at the shadows party…"

…And then, what Melody had said to her as he was leaving….

"Everyone will be wearing masks. Mattie won't know who you are…"

Then, as he was reaching for the doorknob, it hit him. Sirius knew how he could talk to Mattie without her friends stopping him.

He'd just have to become someone else.

A Black in a party of shadows? He was sure to fit right in.