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𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐀 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 the arrived in the entrance hall at eight o'clock that night, she found an unusually large number of girls lurking there, all of whom seemed to be staring at Harry, Marina rolled her eyes as she walked past the giggling group of females and looked at Neville.
Neville, who looked almost like he was going to vomit, stood in some black robes with a pair of party shoes that looked as if they had been shined at least one hundred times.
"Hi Marina!" squeaked Neville. "You look great! I was really nervous that you were going to stand me up. Someone did that to me once as a prank and I'm scared of it happening again to this day."
Marina smiled, "Neville, I could never stand you up. Friends don't do that to each other. And you look nice as well. Your um shoes, did you polish them? They're quite shiny."
Shiny was a understatement. The polish of the shoes glared in Marina's eyes. It seemed like Neville had polished them as if he needed them to live.
Neville's face lit up. "Wow! You noticed? Luna said polished shoes are the best way to go to a party. Gets rid of the Nargles."
Marina smirked. "Luna eh? Come on, let's get inside."
They were already approaching Slughorn's office and the sounds of laughter, music, and loud conversation were growing louder with every step they took.
Whether it had been built that way, or because he had used magical trickery to make it so, Slughorn's office was much larger than the usual teacher's study. The ceiling and walls had been draped with emerald, crimson, and gold hangings, so that it looked as though they were all inside a vast tent.
The room was crowded and stuffy and bathed in the red light cast by an ornate golden lamp dangling from the center of the ceiling in which real fairies were fluttering, each a brilliant speck of light. Loud singing accompa- nied by what sounded like mandolins issued from a distant corner; a haze of pipe smoke hung over several elderly warlocks deep in conversation, and a number of house-elves were negotiating their way squeakily through the forest of knees, obscured by the heavy silver platters of food they were bearing, so that they looked like little roving tables.
"Marina, dear! And Longbottom, what a surprise!" boomed Slughorn, almost as soon as Marina and Neville had squeezed in through the door. "Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet! And so many people have been waiting to meet you!"
Marina looked at him. "Er — why is that sir?"
"Well McGonagall's told many people about you and your mad Transfiguration skills. It's absolutely brilliant! As well as your past, but if your not comfortable dear, I'll tell everyone not to speak of it." Slughorn added.
