Victoir
The Winter ball was beautiful. Everything was covered in silver. The Christmas trees that stood in every corner of the room glistened. The Great Hall was separated into two parts, one was littered with circular tables, each with chairs around it, and the other side was cleared for dancing. I was sitting with James, Alice, Cynthia, and Teddy. Fred was off at some other table (Or perhaps he didn’t come).
I was wearing a short light blue prom dress with an Edwardian high-neck black lace collar, and black peep toe heels. Cynthia wore a flamingo pink coloured dress that made her look like a princess straight from a fairy tale, and silver stilettos. Alice was dressed in a sleeveless sage green ball gown and black converse. James and Teddy were both in tuxedos.
The boys were lecturing us on how to properly kick someone in his balls, and I was actually very interested in the conversation, so interested that I didn’t notice Vincent Goyle and Annalise Zabini walk up to our table.
“Hey there, Lupin.” Goyle said, leaning on the table, “That storm during the game was really something, wasn’t it?”
Teddy chuckled nervously and stood up, “That was nothing, and is not worth talking about at all. But we do need to talk about that outfit.” He eyed Goyle’s dress robes with distaste.
Goyle’s face turned red, clashing with his robes, “Go fuck yourself.” he grumbled.
“Actually,” I said, standing up, “That’s what I’m for.”
“Damn right.” Teddy agreed. He turned back to Goyle, “But I’ll bet that you’re still a virgin, aren’t you Goyle?”
He turned even redder (I didn’t think it was possible, but here we are.) and flipped Teddy and me off. We returned the gesture and he and Zabini walked away.
“So, what was he saying about the storm?” I asked Teddy once the Slytherins were out of earshot.
James stared at Teddy, “You didn’t tell her?”
Teddy just looked down at his empty plate.
“Tell me what?” I prompted. Cynthia and Alice leaned in to hear the news as well.
“Erm, well, during the game, I—” he stopped abruptly.
“Goddamn, what is it?” I asked again.
He put a finger to his soft pink lips and pointed to the front of the room where Professor McGonagall stood.
After she gave a little speech about how alcohol is bad and whatnot, Teddy and James stood up and asked me and Alice to join them on the dance floor. We happily obliged. Cynthia danced with us for a while, too, but when a love song started playing, she sat back down.
“So, what happened during the game?” I asked, still swaying to the music and leaning against Teddy.
“Ah, yes. Promise you won’t freak?” he asked.
“Sure.”
Teddy sighed, “I got struck by lightning and it was all Goyle’s fault, but I’m okay now, so everything’s fine, and you don’t have to worry about it at all.” he said in one breath.
Every muscle in my body wanted to walk over to where Goyle sat and snap his neck. But then his blood would get all over my dress, and Professor McGonagall would probably give me detention,
“Oh.” I said instead, but I know Teddy could tell how angry I actually was. Even so, we continued to dance.
To my surprise, Cynthia had come back onto the dance floor, and was now dancing with none other than Charles Zabini. I was right. I’m always right.
When Teddy and I sat back down several hours later, we found that James and Alice were already at the table, Alice with a very sour look on her face.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“We were trying to go to the common room because I twisted my ankle,” Alice explained, sighing, “And my dad saw us. He misread the whole situation and now we’ve both got detentions.”
James shifted uncomfortably as Alice explained. Probably because of his shitty relationship with his own dad. Three years ago, James had received a letter saying that his parents were divorcing. His father, the infamous Harry Potter, had run off with Draco Malfoy. This bit of information surprised everyone, seeing as they were enemies when they were in school together.
But Harry left his wife (my aunt Ginny) and their kids to become a multimillionaire and live in a mansion in southern Wales with his new fiancé.
“I’m going to the toilet.” Teddy announced, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Don’t slip and break your wrist again.” I called after him. I watched him go into the lavatory after Charles Zabini, and Goyle followed soon after the both of them. Five seconds later, Goyle walked very quickly to his table. Another three seconds, and Teddy came running out. He ran past my table to where Professor McGonagall stood. The two of them ran back into the bathroom.
When they came back out, Teddy sat back down at the table, visibly shaking.
“Are you okay? What happened?” I asked. I could see that his hair, which had been teal to match my dress, was starting to change to a soft purple.
“I’m not supposed to—” he was cut off by Professor McGonagall.
“I assure you, this was not my intention, but due to an unexpected circumstance, I’m going to have to ask you all to head back to your common rooms.” She said, trying to stay calm, but clearly a little stressed.
There was an uproar of complaints and refusals. Some students left right away, but others stayed and demanded answers, and soon a large crowd began to form around Professor McGonagall.
Petra Bea Jordan, the Quidditch commentator, stood on top of a table and shouted, “Oi! Dipshits! She said to leave, didn’t she? Get to your fucking common rooms!” Petra then jumped off of the table and started for the door, quickly followed by Fred.
With a collective groan, students started to file out of the Great Hall, but when Annalise Zabini started to leave, Professor McGonagall stopped her, “Not you, Miss Zabini. I would like a word with you in my office.” she said.
...
When we got to the common room, Teddy sat down on an armchair and fidgeted nervously. His hair was now a vibrant shade of purple. I’ve known him long enough to know what each colour typically means. Blue is happy or neutral, red is angry, brown is tired, yellow is sick, white is in pain, black is sad, and purple is afraid or stressed.
James and I glanced at each other and shared the same thought. James ran upstairs and quickly returned with a small bottle of brandy. He placed it on the table next to Teddy, “Drink.” he said.
Teddy looked hesitant, “I don’t really—”
“Just drink the brandy, goddamnit.” I said.
“But—”
“You’re stressed.You don’t have to tell me why, but at least make it easier for yourself to deal with it.” I looked around at all of the other Gryffindors. I stood up on a table and shouted, “How about an after party?” Everybody happily agreed.
Someone (probably Fred) started some music, and many people started dancing. When I turned back to Teddy, his hair was still purple, but he offered me a small smile and we started to dance. I noticed that the bottle was empty, and I subtly muttered an incantation to fill it.
As the night progressed, he drank more and more, and his hair turned back to its usual blue.