Evan Rosier looked out at the crowd before him.
It was certainly a large party, people from all houses were here - at least, the somewhat liked ones. Evan himself, along with Regulus Black and Dorcas Meadowes had got in purely through connections. Very Slytherin-esque of them, he thought.
‘Hello.’ A voice at his side called out to him. A somewhat familiar yet not quite well known one. Marlene McKinnon - Gryffindor, blonde, popular. She certainly had a lot of friends to party with.
‘What are you doing?’ She asked him. He still had not looked at her, gaze fixed on those who weren’t aware of his presence, or simply had forgotten it.
He could see Marlene’s friends, Evans and Macdonald, dancing happily together, in their sparkly dresses and glittery makeup.
He could see Potter and Black cheering at something Evan was not aware of, and Regulus rolling his eyes as he left them to lean against a wall to the side of the room.
He could see Dorcas and his sister Pandora, flicking their long, bejewelled braids over their shoulders and laughing at something Barty - Barty Crouch Jr - had said to Lupin, another Gryffindor.
Evan didn’t really know him, but it appeared Barty wanted to. Evan blatantly wished he didn’t.
‘Evan?’ He finally turned to her, Marlene, but he didn’t speak. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to. He would, though. Just not yet. He wanted to hold on to his silence a little longer.
‘Are- are you okay?’ She asked. He noticed her mascara had run a little, along with some of the glitter around her eyes.
He inclined his head to the side, before nodding at her slowly, attempting to return the question without speaking.
‘I Uhm… it’s been - a night.’ She finished lamely, looking out wistfully toward the crowd - or, more specifically, one Dorcas Meadowes.
Evan knew Marlene liked Dorcas - maybe even loved them. How could he not? But Evan knew Dorcas, knew they weren’t ready, weren’t prepared for a relationship. He saw the way they looked at other couples, the sadness when they turned away. But they weren’t ready.
‘I…’ He tried to speak, but the words got stuck on the way out. All these thoughts, yet nothing to say.
‘It’s alright, you don’t have to talk,’ Marlene told him.
‘We can speak another time.’
Evan nodded at her, turning back towards the crowd. Earlier, he had seemed to be looking at it from above, but now he felt closer to ground level. It was louder, but he didn’t really care.
‘For now we can just watch.’ She said.
‘Observe.’ He murmured.
‘Observe.’ She agreed.