I do not own the Harry Potter series or Pokémon.
Chapter Twenty Four: Christmas Gala, Part Two
The rest of the meal couldn't get rid of the cold sensation that had settled in Moon's stomach. Engaging in pleasant conversation was a function she couldn't, or rather wouldn't, turn off when she was surrounded by aristocrats. Dinner and dessert passed by in a semi-blurred state. She knew she had spoken about her pokémon again, and mentioned Alola at some point, but the details were lost.
Fawley, the cheerful Healer who wanted nothing more than the ability to help find a safe cure for lycanthropy, had lost a close relative to a werewolf attack when he was a child.
Moon didn't know what to think.
It was easy believing that werewolves meant no harm when she was around people like Lupin, or those few in the test group. When the worst of the lot had only attempted to attack her in broad daylight to no avail. When she was around Aidan, who constantly talked about how they were helping people with their work.
"Sickle for your thoughts?"
Draco, the second time that week, appeared near her when she was deep in thought.
"Work-related stuff," Moon said, before nodding towards the crowd. "Shouldn't you be dancing?"
"I only need to dance with a few people before I can decide how to spend the rest of my evening, although I'm expected to stay here," he answered. "What about you? Don't care for waltzing?"
"Not really," she confessed. "I know how to waltz. There were mandatory classes that saved me a lot of embarrassment later on, but… I don't know. It's not my idea of fun."
"Is dancing really ever fun?" the blond asked rhetorically.
Dancing could be fun in the right place and at the right time. Her championship celebration was something she'd never forget. The food, the bonfire, the speeches, the erratic dancing, and of course, running off with Lillie to the temple where she caught Tapu Koko. That was how a party was supposed to be.
"In that case, I won't ask you for a dance," he said with a smile. "It's about time I took a break anyway."
Moon laughed. "Let me guess, you're hiding from Pansy."
His smile dropped. "How did you know?"
"She really likes you. She practically fawns over you at school. If I didn't know better I would say the two of you were dating."
The edges of a frown crept onto Draco's face, but they vanished as soon as they appeared. "It's not like that. We're just friends… for now at least."
The last bit was mumbled, so it took Moon a second to understand it. "For now?"
"I mean, we're a little young to be dating, aren't we?"
"That's a matter of perspective, but most people would agree with you in this case."
"And Pansy… she's… sweet, I suppose, when she wants to be, and I have to admit the attention is nice, but spending the rest of my life with her…"
"Who said anything about the rest of your life?" Moon asked. "Date her for a few weeks if you want, and if you don't like her, drop her."
"It's not that simple," he said with a grimace.
"Then explain," she countered. Draco's face began to turn red.
"There's… this…"
"Draco?"
The two had been so focused on talking that they didn't notice Pansy approach.
"I've been looking for you," the Slytherin girl said sweetly. "Your parents are talking with the Notts over near the staircase. They've been wondering where you are."
The relief was evident on Draco's face, and yet he almost seemed sorry when he said goodbye. He went over to the staircase to talk with his parents and the Nott family. Pansy's eyes followed him until he stopped, and then she turned to Moon, her previous smile being replaced with a cold imitation.
"Should we get something to drink?" Pansy asked. "I'm simply parched."
'The correct word for you is thirsty, although I have to applaud your newfound success in using a thesaurus.'
"Of course," Moon answered.
The two of them walked along the edge of the wall to avoid any potential collisions with the dancers. The refreshment table was on the opposite end of the room from the staircase. Waterfalls of drinks stood next to mountains of cut fruit, cheeses, breads, and pastries. Moon had been deliberately avoiding the table because everything looked too delicious.
"So, Moon," Pansy drawled, "you're the Malfoys' guest tonight?"
"They invited me to stay over the Christmas break, and to attend the gala tonight."
Pansy hummed. Her dark eyes wandered over Moon's dress. "Is that all you had to wear tonight?"
"Well, yes," Moon admitted. "Mrs. Malfoy picked it out for me. I couldn't say no to such a kind gesture."
Parkinson's eye twitched. "I haven't seen you out dancing yet. Afraid you will trip over your heels?"
"I'm not wearing heels. Not everyone feels the need to show off their new footwear to anyone passing by."
"I was dancing with Draco earlier," Pansy said, ignoring Moon's comment. "He's excellent at waltzing."
"That sounds nice," Moon said, eyes darting over to the staircase. "Unfortunately for me, I'm not much of a dancer."
"We can't all be naturally talented," Pansy replied. "Classes can only do so much in certain areas."
"There's always one-on-one tutoring, although I'm sure you have plenty of experience with that. How is your Transfiguration mark nowadays?"
"Better than your Ancient Runes mark, I'm sure."
"Just above nonexistent, then. Good to hear it has improved."
"I've seen you talking to Professor Babbling," Pansy said, sounding rather confused.
"That's on my own time. I find the subject interesting, but I didn't have time for it."
"Can't juggle so many subjects at once?"
"I'd need to be able to time-travel to keep up with the workload," Moon pointed out. "Until I work out a way to do that, I'll need to stick with my current classes."
"But you're not going to be around forever," Pansy said, a smug glint in her eye. "You're trying to get back to that dimension of yours."
"We're trying to find a way to travel back and forth," Moon countered. "I'm not that easy to get rid of."
Pansy opened her mouth for a retort, but was stopped by a hand decorated with rings being placed on her shoulder.
"Darling," the woman said, "you never mentioned that you knew Champion Blakesley."
Pansy winced. "I didn't think she'd be so important to you, mother."
"Since when has someone who's caused so many rumours not been important to me?" the woman said. Pansy's mother removed her hand, reaching it out for Moon to shake. "I'm Eleanor Parkinson."
"Moon Blakesley," the young champion said. "Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Parkinson."
"You've caused a stir amongst the Ministry workers."
"So I'm told."
"You're all anyone's been talking about since November," the woman continued. "Something about you being a politician?"
"Close enough."
"That's rather impressive for someone your age."
"Impressive, yes, but not completely unprecedented where I'm from," Moon clarified. "I wasn't the first eleven year-old to become a champion. That honour goes to my mentor, Red."
"That's a strange name," Eleanor remarked.
"It's a nickname."
"Why would you name a person after a colour?"
"We have our reasons," Moon said. "If you ever met him, you would know why."
Eleanor huffed. "I suppose that means it is not a private joke of some sort?"
"Far from it."
"Isn't it a bit disrespectful to call your superior by a nickname?" Pansy asked scathingly.
"He actually prefers being called Red," Moon countered. "Says his first name is irritating to use every day. He even signs his documents as Red."
"He sounds… charming," Eleanor said carefully.
"He's really not," Moon said. "I'd say he's more along the lines of terrifying."
Eleanor tried—and failed—to keep a pleasant smile. "I'm sure he's not all that bad. Not if someone as nice as you calls him your mentor."
"He's nice once you get to know him as a friend."
The woman gave a nod. "Since he is your mentor… would you say that, if someone is trying to reach you, or set up a meeting or a deal with you, they would have to go to Red first?"
"I'd… prefer to talk to people directly," Moon said, somewhat annoyed at the idea of people communicating with Red to discuss her life or her work. "If the choice was between talking with my parents and Red though, you'd probably have more success with the latter."
"Fair enough," Eleanor said. The woman turned to her daughter, a smirk playing on her lips. "I need to find your father. Have fun chatting with your friend."
Pansy nodded tightly, her cold smile hanging on by a thread when her mother left.
"Your mother is friendly, isn't she?" Moon commented.
"Sometimes she is too friendly," Pansy said briskly. "Especially to people who don't deserve it."
"Why, Pansy, I thought I was your friend here. Friends don't talk to each other like that."
"We're not friends and you know that."
Moon put a hand to her chest in a dramatic fashion. "You wound me. I don't know how I will ever recover from such a slight."
"Miss Blakesley?"
The two girls turned to see Lucius Malfoy standing with his family and the Notts.
"Yes, sir?"
"I was talking with Oliver Nott here, and I realized that we have not seen any of your creatures as of yet. I understand it's rather sudden to be asking, and I wouldn't expect for you to carry the containers wherever you go, but I know that many of the guests would enjoy seeing one of your pokémon."
"It's fortunate that I brought one with me then," Moon said. "Could you get everyone to clear a space for me? I'd rather not have any incidents."
The blond man nodded, heading off to where the musicians were playing with his wife, leaving the Notts and his son behind. Draco's eyes flickered between Moon and Pansy.
"Having fun?" he asked.
"Plenty," Moon said with a smirk. "Pansy and I were having the loveliest chat."
"It's always nice to see young ladies getting along," Mrs. Nott said, her voice cool. "Especially in cases like yours."
"Hopefully everything will be resolved soon," Mr. Nott said. "The faster the decision is made, the better."
"We can't rush things, dear. Wouldn't want to make any mistakes."
Moon glanced at the two adults curiously, then at her three classmates. Pansy's face had gone pale with anger, while Theodore and Draco were trying to ignore her. Before Moon could ask what was going on, Lucius Malfoy's voice cut off the music.
"I'd like to thank everyone for attending our gala this evening," the man said, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "It's an important tradition in our society to gather at this time of year to discuss our plans for the future. As our world progresses, we must decide how we will guide it towards the right path.
"As many of you know, there's been a recent discovery of an alternate reality, where magical creatures roam the planet freely without complaint. These creatures and their magic are, for all intents and purposes, an accepted part of life. Some years ago, one of our own fell into this universe. Now his daughter, a young and talented witch, is here tonight, and has graciously agreed to give a small demonstration of the power of these magical beings."
The people moved away from the centre of the room, pressing closer to the walls to give Moon space. Some were craning their necks to get a better view. Moon slowly took a few steps towards the empty space, reaching for her handbag as she did so. Ninetales' pokéball rested at the bottom of the small purse. She removed it from the bag, aware of how many eyes were on her, expanded it, and pushed the button a second before she threw the ball in the air.
"Ninetales!"
The snow spirit pokémon leapt from the pokéball in a shower of light. Ninetales preened at the crowd's shock and awe. Moon held back a snort. Ninetales was her most showy pokémon, and the fox delighted in the attention that she received from others.
Moon smiled brightly and stepped closer to her pokémon. "This beauty here is Ninetales. While her kind can basically be found anywhere back in my dimension, she's a variation of the typical Ninetales that can only be found in my home region of Alola."
"What can it do?" someone asked in a loud, snobbish voice. Moon looked in the general direction, but couldn't find the person who had asked.
"She can do plenty of things, but her specialty is manipulating ice," Moon explained. Then, turning around to face Lucius, asked, "Would you mind if I showed everyone some of Ninetales' tricks?"
"I have to ask that you don't break anything in the process, but please, feel free."
The young champion nodded. "Fair enough."
She took a few steps back from the fox pokémon, silently evaluating the room. She couldn't tell Ninetales to start a hailstorm, or confuse any of the guests, or start roaring at people. There wasn't enough room to use her regular battle strategies. The space she had been given was large, but any misfiring could result in an injury. The ceiling, however, was notably high.
She met her pokémon's eyes, and both of them nodded.
"Prepare yourself with Agility," she ordered. Ninetales stretched her legs, went into a crouch and flicked her tails before standing back up.
"Launch some Ice Shards upwards," Moon directed. Blocks of ice the size of Quaffles were formed and thrown up into the air. One particularly large one, three times the size of the others, was thrown last.
"Now jump and use Tail Slap!"
Ninetales bounded into the air and smashed the nearest ball of ice with her tail. The previous use of Agility allowed the fox to propel herself between the Ice Shards using minimal force, becoming a blur in the air as she leapt from shard to shard. Each of the Ice Shards was turned into glistening powder as the fox destroyed them. The largest block of ice was starting to fall as Ninetales landed back on the ground, right underneath the falling ice.
"Finish it with Moonblast!"
Soft light spun around Ninetales, rapidly becoming brighter until the fox gathered it up with her tail and launched it at the ice. It shattered on contact, sending sparkling snow around the room. Ninetales dropped in a bow as a flake of snow landed on her nose.
The entire room erupted in applause. There wasn't a single witch or wizard that Moon could see who wasn't clapping. Even Pansy was reluctantly joining in, if only for appearance's sake. That was the best thing Moon could hope for.
Moon went back to Ninetales' side, allowing some people to come forward and pet her pokémon. Astoria was one of the first to approach, and although the girl was shy, her curiosity overrode any fear she may have had.
"She's a Ravenclaw," Daphne said to Moon as her younger sister stroked the fox's nose. "Always looking for a new thing to research."
Moon decided that she liked Astoria.
She eventually recalled Ninetales so as to not keep people from their planned evening of dancing. She walked back to the refreshment table and picked up a glass of punch. The champion looked back at the centre of the ballroom to see couples starting to dance again.
"Figures you work with wild animals."
Moon tensed at Pansy's voice. She turned around slowly to see the Slytherin girl standing next to her, holding her own drink.
"I'm aware that I'm better at Care of Magical Creatures than some," Moon said coolly. "Although whether I'd attribute all of that success to working with pokémon, rather than to listening to the professor and actually trying, is another subject entirely."
"Are you still playing this game?"
"You started it, and I intend to win."
"Fine. You win."
Moon blinked. "Well, that's no fun. I thought we had an understanding when it came to snidely insulting each other?"
"Look, Blakesley, I get that you're a high-profile person—"
"Self-made millionaire, champion, prodigy, and countess if you take that title seriously."
"—but the fact remains that you do not belong here," Pansy continued. "Your mother isn't a witch, making you a half-blood at best. Many people have had to marry those with Muggle ancestry out of necessity, but we keep a close watch on those people to make sure their bloodline doesn't become too tainted."
'Great, another reason to hate you,' Moon thought.
"You're just an addition to the Malfoys' list of political allies. They're not considering you as another option, not for long anyway."
Moon raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'another option'?"
Pansy's frown became more apparent. "Don't act stupid, it doesn't suit you."
"I know, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't know what you're talking about."
"Are you just trying to get me to say it?" Pansy seethed, clutching her glass tightly.
"Well, yes, I'd like to—"
Moon didn't complete her sentence as the contents of Pansy's glass was thrown directly at her face. They were frozen for a moment, with punch dripping down Moon's face and Pansy's expression of fury on hers.
"What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?!"
Eleanor pulled her daughter away, a look of horror slowly setting in. The other guests were starting to notice what had transpired.
"Now, what was that for?" Moon asked, eerily calm. "All I was asking was for you to explain what you meant by 'another option'."
Pansy's face twisted into a sneer, and whatever scathing remark she was thinking of was kept back by Eleanor tightening her grip on the young Slytherin's arm. Moon would have repeated her question, had Narcissa not laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Let's get you cleaned up," the blonde woman said softly, contradicting the harsh glare she sent in the Parkinsons' direction. She gently led the young champion out of the hall and away from any onlookers that might have tried to follow them, and away from the explanation Moon was still waiting to hear.
Any guesses as to why Pansy freaked out?