"Oh, come on, Dirk! What's the worst that could happen?"

Levi stopped his pacing and waited for the other boy to reply to him.

"Esmerelda!" Dirk called up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, ignoring what he'd been asked.

"Seriously, Dirk," Levi continued to pace back and forth in front of the fire place in the Ravenclaw common room, "Just let me go with you."

Sighing, he replied, "You've been asking all week, why would I answer differently tonight?"

"Because I'm dressed up." Levi stopped to gesture to the clean white shirt and black trousers he was wearing.

"Esmerelda!" Dirk shouted, "Are you nearly ready?" Yet again, as it had been for the past fifteen minutes, he was met with no reply.

"It's not like it means anything, obviously." Levi continued on, "Just let me go with you."

Dirk ignored this, and called out again, "Avery! Get down here!"

Before Levi could speak again, they were interrupted by a knock on the common room door.

"Oh, hello." Regulus greeted with an awkward half-wave, "You scrub up well."

Dirk looked down at his own navy blue suit and bow tie and hummed in response before stepping aside to let Regulus in - who was donning his own black suit, though the jacket seemed to be made of a velvety velour material which revealed a white shirt underneath with a open neck.

Levi collapsed down onto the sofa in front of the fireplace, "So can I go to the Slughorn party with you now, Dirk?" He asked.

"Fine. Yes, okay. What's the worst that could happen?" The Ravenclaw boy begrudging gave in.

"Brilliant!" Levi clapped in succession.

Regulus raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, you might regret that soon, Levi; it's really not that exciting. Oh, and where's Esme?"

"I think she's stumbled into a portal - lost forever." Dirk rolled his eyes and sat down beside Levi in front of the fireplace before continuing, "I've been calling her forever."

"Ever so dramatic." The boys turned to see Esme stood at the foot of the stairs with an entirely unimpressed expression sketched over her features.

The atmosphere, up until then, had been utterly chaotic. Although that wasn't too unusual for the group at this point.

Rather, what had cast a sudden quiet over the room was the sight of Esmerelda. Though from first glance, the boys might not have even recognised her had they not heard her voice.

It was Regulus who spoke first, mostly because they all knew he was least likely to earn a telling off from the girl for whatever he said. He approached her slowly, his eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights, and said, in a quiet voice so only she could hear, "Can I say wow? Because that's the only word that seems appropriate."

"I look like Salazar Slytherin himself threw up on me." Esme replied bitterly, looking down at her emerald green dress. It was a long gown, reaching from its turtleneck-line down to skimming the floor that cinched in at the waist and had elegant balloon sleeves with cuffs. Around her eyes was dark, slight smudged eyeliner which made her look almost older - though not in a bad way, but in a way that showed maturity from how much she had seen and done in her young years.

If someone were to look at a picture of Antoinette Avery as a teenager, they would barely have been able to tell the difference between that and the girl stood in front of them.

"Wow." Regulus reiterated, sliding his hands to rest comfortably on her hips, "I really-wow."

She rolled her eyes and groaned, "Ugh."

Looking past her boyfriend, who was still staring intently at her in the dress, she took note of Dirk and Levi who had now stood up from the sofa and had started quietly bickering amongst themselves.

"Levi, did you convince Cresswell yet?" She asked with a grin.

The boy smirked, "Obviously. Do you even know me? Dirk never stood a chance denying me."

She let out a laugh, "How adorable. Levi, it seems you might be Dirk's rebound date after being dumped by Piper."

"You're a real comedian, Avery. Make me laugh every time." Dirk replied, his voice laced with heavy sarcasm.

Esme flashed him a wicked grin, "Oh you're incredibly welcome."

"Right, shall we go then?" Regulus asked, "It won't bode well with Slughorn if we're all late."

"Nothing I do bodes well with him. He doesn't like me at all." She retorted.

Levi scoffed at this and folded his arms, "And you get invited to the stupid party instead of me? At least Slughorn kind of likes me - though I was never any good at Potions."

"Yes, well I suppose one of us it good at Potions and also Head Girl, whilst the other isn't." She prodded him in the arm.

It was a long walk down to the party, particularly as Esme often had to stop as she was stumbling over the bottom of her dress, which was designed to be worn by someone in heels and she was only in trainers - though they were discretely hidden under the dress.

"Is this velvet?" She asked, running her fingers along the shoulder of Regulus' jacket as they reached the entrance to the party.

"Er..." He looked down at his clothes, "I think so, yes."

Esme let out a slight laugh, "You just love to remind everyone you're rich, don't you?"

Regulus raised an eyebrow, "My surname is Black - that tells everyone I'm rich."

"Alright..." She scoffed with a smirk, "Show off, much?"

"You bet." He grinned, "I'm going to spend the whole night showing you off."

Esme grimaced at this, "Dear god you're disgusting."

"You're very welcome." He bowed his head playfully and then reached forward to pull open the curtain and allow the others to enter the party before him.

The room had been utterly transformed - the walls and ceilings lined with large sheets of fabrics in hues of silver and blue and black. It was crowded around the edges of the room, where people were lining the long tables stacked high with plates of food. At the middle of the room was a small open space where a few couples were swaying too and fro in rhythm with the melancholy guitar playing in the corner, though it was enchanted to perform without a guitarist.

In the centre of the ceiling was a large, glowing orb which cast a pale blue light over the room, generating a very wintery feel.

And over in the far corner of the room, where there was more loud laughter than anywhere else, was a heavy haze of smoke as Professor Slughorn and a few elderly wizards were engaged in a very heated conversation whilst smoking pipes.

"Oh dear god..." Esme muttered under her breath in utter discontent.

"Play nice." Regulus warned in a low voice as he guided the group around the circumference of the room.

Levi was utterly mesmerised as he dropped his jaw open and said, "If I'd have known the parties looked like this I'd have started sucking up to Slughorn years ago."

"Just be glad you never had to go to the dinner parties. I had to make dreadful conversation with Rae Parkinson and I thought she might hex me." Dirk remarked.

"Oh!" Levi pointed at a tall stack of miniature cupcakes piled high on a silver platter, "Can we go get some of those?"

Dirk sighed, "I'm not actually your date, Levi. We don't have to walk around together. People are definitely going to get the wrong impression of us."

"Oh what does it matter?" The boy shrugged as he started shuffling through the crowds and towards the food, "It's not like either of us ever had any luck with any girls anyway."

"Hey!" Dirk pouted, "I had a very significant relationship with Piper."

The other boy scoffed at this before clearing his throat and replying, "Well then everyone will know you're not gay because they think you went out with Piper. Worry over."

"I guess they're off." Regulus pointed out as he watched Levi and Dirk wander off into the midst of people circling the tables of food, "And not so much as a goodbye." He shook his head.

Esme had not been paying attention to this and had already begun walking in the opposite direction across the room. "Do you think if I go and say hi to Slughorn now, I could leave early? Because then he'll know for certain that I showed my face." She spoke, though this was just out loud and not aimed at anyone in particular as regardless to what anyone said, that was exactly what she planned on doing.

"Esme!"

The girl stopped walking and turned to the boy who had just called out her name. She rose a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter ad she watched Regulus attempting to politely push his way through the crowd.

"What..." He panted, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to go chat to Slughorn for a few minutes and then leave. It's a win for everyone." She explained simply.

Regulus looked at her sceptically, "Who wins, exactly? Because it sounds like only you win."

"Well if you really want me to win, I suppose I can do that for you." Esme smiled sweetly.

"You know I don't like it when you twist my words." He sighed, but nevertheless gave in and allowed a smile to spread across his lips.

She let out an airy laugh, "If I wasn't gifted at twisting words, I never would have convinced you to help prank Selwyn."

"Well I can't believe you two actually got away with it." He replied.

In the dense crowd of bustling partygoers, and perhaps their own ignorance, the couple had made a very clear error in judgement.

This became obvious as they were promptly interrupted by someone behind them.

"What did you just say?" They both slowly turned to see Selwyn glaring at them, his hands on his hips as he waited for an answer to his question.

-

so i'm thinking i might change the title of this book, so if that suddenly happens dw

the cover shouldn't change (except obvs the title part of it)

also i'm open for suggestions as i'm currently brainstorming ideas