Chapter Five: In Which There is a Party
"Want to dance?" He shouts in her right ear.
Tairi Malfoy turns around, sets her Butterbeer on the table, reflecting that she won't dare pick it up again in case someone doses it with mallowsweet or something worse, and looks up into Weasley brown eyes.
"Hey, Louis," she smiles.
"How'd you know it was me?" He sounds annoyed.
Tairi laughs. "Who else would dress up like Joey Jenkins from the Chudley Canons?"
"My uncle Ron," Louis says without hesitation. "You're looking lovely yourself."
"Thanks," Tairi grins. "I told James, if he shows up to this thing, it'd better be as Marc Antony." She's dressed in flowing, multi-colored robes and somehow she's made her long pale hair settle like a dark cloud around her face. She certainly looks exotic enough for Cleopatra.
Louis offers her his arm, and they move a little ways away, onto the makeshift dance floor. Both find it rather surprising that the dungeons are this spacious, considering the party is being held neither in the kitchens nor the Slytherin Common Room, but they chalk it down to magic.
"Hey—isn't Tairi going out with your brother?" Luther asks Lily, watching the dancers.
Lily shrugs. "Sort of. Mum's furious, of course. Called Tairi some nasty names last summer."
"Well, I think they make a great couple," Lottie Rosier says from behind the two friends.
"Eavesdropping, Lottie?" complains Lily.
"You've got to shout just be heard," Lottie explains without the least bit of embarrassment.
It's true; the music is so loud Lily can feel it in her bones, almost like it's taking her over. Ordinarily, this would make her want to run as far away as she could, to remind herself that no one is in charge of her destiny except her, but this is the Blue Disillusionists, who are amazing, and so she likes it—she even sways a bit, not quite dancing.
Nearby, Luther is leaning against the wall trying to look bored and sophisticated, and V is twirling and jumping around on the dance floor, all by herself, looking like she's having the time of her life. Sometimes, Lily wishes she were in Gryffindor, just to be brave enough to dance alone, when anyone might be watching.
Her brother Albus, she notes, is watching Scorpius and Rose dance with a scowl on his face. She doesn't understand why he won't loosen up about Scorpius, who is really a darling, and not at all evil.
"This isn't bad," calls Lottie, popping a chocolate frog into her mouth, and leaning on the wall next to Luther.
Lily's about to agree, reluctantly, when there is sudden silence.
The absence of the Blue Disillusionists singing—they've been literally cut off mid-phrase ("And I'm gonna show you, show you, who you re—")—is as deafeningly loud as they were, until a second ago.
"Someone turn the music back on!" cries a disgruntled voice from the dance floor, and suddenly everyone starts babbling, and then—
All the lights go out.
Melanie Jordan doesn't know what to think. Is this an invasion? Or is Headmistress Beaumont about to appear and demand everyone go back to their dorms at once, this is a disgrace, so disappointed, etc.? Or maybe the school's under attack and they've had to divert all available magic to defense?
Melanie's not sure, but her responsibility as Head Girl is clear; she has to keep everyone calm and organized. And she'd better find Louis, too—it's clearly her duty.
Melanie opens her mouth to cast Lumos and Sonorus in rapid succession, when suddenly—
There's light everywhere.
It's blinding; Louis can't see Tairi, can't see his own hand in front of his face. All around him, light flows from every conceivable surface. He has time to wonder if this is some kind of prank, a la his cousin James, except that James would never purposely blind his own girlfriend, brother, sister, and half his cousins, or maybe it's one of his sister Dominique's wittier ideas, she loves this sort of thing—
Louis is Head Boy, and he knows he has a responsibility to do something, even if he has no better idea what it should be than anyone else. "Obscuro!" he mutters, pointing his wand vaguely in the direction of his face.
The good news? He's no longer on light overload. The bad news? He still can't see.
Louis makes a conscious effort and stands absolutely still. And he listens.
Unfortunately, there isn't much to hear, besides people screaming. Still, there's something on the edge of his awareness—he's not hearing it, exactly, but it's there, teasing at him. He should know what it means, should understand—
Tairi has both hands covering her eyes, and her hair is tangled around her fingers, scratching at her face. She's bent over on the dance floor, and the only reason she's not curled up in the fetal position is because she's afraid she'll get trampled. Some people are running toward the exits, she can hear them—but she's too far to follow their example, and there's probably a huge traffic jam at the doors anyway. Tairi wishes she could Apparate the hell out of here.
Just when she's not sure how much more she can stand, the blinding light fades, and she cautiously puts her hands down, straightens up, and opens her eyes.
The words are written in red, yellow, and blue fire. Her first glimpse carves their image on her retina; even though she closes her eyes at once, she can see them long afterward.
Beside her, Louis's eyes are covered. She Vanishes his blindfold, and he cringes, before realizing the lightshow has been replaced by something else.
"Wow," he breathes, taking it all in. "Somebody really, really hates you."
The words are everywhere. Lily, Luther, and Vulpecula can't take their eyes away.
On every wall, the fire-words gleam, and people scrambling to get out the doors turn and stare to read them.
"SLYTHERIN MUST DIE! SLYTHERIN NECANDA EST! SLYTHERIN DEBE MORIR! SLYTHERIN IL FAUT MOURIR! SLYTHERIN DEVE MORIRE!"
There are more; every language spoken, or not spoken, at Hogwarts. Lily recognizes picturesque Ancient Runes, sloping Arabic characters…she can barely take it in.
"So, what?" V asks, breaking the silence in their small bubble. "Lure the whole school here just to say what the Ministry already has? Someone doesn't have much of a life."
"Or maybe," Luther suggests. "They just have a lot of hate."
Lily shivers.
The fiery letters don't fade for at least an hour, by which time the teachers have arrived. Apparently, this Halloween party was neither strictly allowed nor approved by the powers that be.
"But the flyers were everywhere, Professor!" objects Melanie. "How could you not see them?"
"Somebody's been awfully clever," Tairi comments sardonically. "Latin? Greek? Ancient Runes? Show-off."
Headmistress Beaumont makes Melanie, Louis, Tairi, and most of the other seventh-years explain what happened in turn, while Professors Joshi-Yap, Fenn, Longbourne, Parkinson-Bulstrode and Longbottom examine the walls, frowning and muttering to one another.
There are a few members of Slytherin's Army hovering on the fringes of the discussion, and Lily, Luther, and Vulpecula are eavesdropping from behind an orange curtain. They assume (correctly) that the Headmistress won't take kindly to including second-years in her conference.
"Well?" Professor Beaumont asks, when Parkinson-Bulstrode and Longbottom approach her, glaring at one another.
"There are traces of some powerful Charms here, Headmistress," Longbottom says. "You'd have to ask Professor Simmons for a more exact estimate."
"Come on, Longbottom," Parkinson-Bulstrode says, rolling her eyes. "You can do better than that!" She turns to Beaumont. "This powerful an illusion is very advanced. A student at N.E.W.T. level could probably do it, but nothing less."
"I see," says the Headmistress. She raises her voice to include Joshi-Yap, Fenn, and Longbourne. "I'd like all Heads of House to question their students about this, with a focus on the sixth and seventh-years. We can't have this sort of disruption occur, as you all know. I'd like you, Pansy, to question those students formerly in Slytherin, as you undoubtedly know them best."
"And can tell whether they're lying?" Luther whispers, grinning.
"When do they do anything else?" Vulpecula whispers back.
Lily watches the professors go, sure that she and the others can find the culprit much faster than a professorial inquisition. After all, this doesn't really matter so much to any of them, with the possible exception of Parkinson-Bulstrode, ex-Head of an abolished House, and Joshi-Yap, who at least seems to care about the gross injustice.
But for Lily, if it wasn't personal before (which it certainly was), it would be now. Someone ruined a perfectly good party and added insult to injury for her and the other Slytherins. After all, why "Slytherin must die!" when, according to the Ministry of Magic, it was already long-buried under mountains of parchmentwork and political correctness?
It looks to Lily, hiding behind her orange curtain and watching the Head Boy and Girl (both Gryffindors, and if that's a coincidence she'll eat her cauldron) clean up pieces of candy and trampled streamers, that she's not the only one for whom Abolition is more than just a move on the chessboard of life.
It's a war. And it's one she's determined to win.