Unforgivable Curse

Chapter 12: Halloween Part 3

As you all headed back towards the castle, the wind didn't feel quite as cold. You could feel your own blood pulsating around your body, radiating you with warmth. Despite this, you were still shivering slightly, but it wasn't particularly noticeable. The boys had the same jittery reaction as you, you looked over to Ron who's cheeks had blushed a light pink where the cold had been pushing against them, and yet his forehead was covered in sweat. Whatever Fred and George had given you was sure as hell effective.

"So where are we planning on heading to?" Dean asked as you all walked into the castle.

"Well, I don't know about anyone else but I am rather quite hungry" You replied.

Fred and George started to walk down towards the stairs and you all followed. They bypassed the great hall, but still no one said anything. Whether or not this was because they were too high to know where they were or they just had full trust in the twins you did not know. 

"When are we going to stop walking down stairs Fred, surely we will end up in Malfoy's snake den soon enough" Ron moaned as he stumbled down the staircase.

"Oh quit moaning we are nearly there now" Fred replied.

"And... where exactly is there?" Dean asked. Fred and George exchanged a mischievous look at each other and then just carried on walking without saying a word.

Soon enough the smell of food entered your nose, alerting yourself to the fact that you were absolutely famished, despite only eating a couple hours earlier. You came into a relatively well lit corridor with three portraits. George walked up to one that had a pear on it and stroked it gently. The pear appeared to chuckle and then a green door handle appeared which he turned and then pushed the door open. You all burst through, following the sweet smell of food.

You had never seen the Hogwarts kitchens but they certainly were not what you had envisioned. The facilities looked very basic, steel countertops and a couple of ovens, nothing overly fancy. Considering the size of the school and the quality of the meals, the kitchens certainly weren't fitting. Ron ran straight over to a worktop where some left over food was sat from your dinner earlier tonight. He lifted up a chicken wing and drew it up to his mouth and then it just disappeared.

"What the...." Ron began looking around for his wing, as if it would be just floating somewhere else in the kitchen. "Winky for gods sake give me back my food" He moaned.

"Winky? Who is Winky" Dean questioned. 

"The bloody elf" Ron moaned still looking around the room.

Hermione had mentioned to you before that Hogwarts had house elves working in the kitchens, but you had never imagined that she had actually been down here herself and introduced her friends to them. Students definitely were not allowed in the kitchens, and it was so unlike her to break the school rules.

You glanced around the room and over by the freezer you saw a large pair of bright blue eyes. You slowly walked over to them and then crouched down, extending your arm. "Hi I am Ashley, it's nice to meet you. Are you Winky?" You asked. The creature slowly nodded, staying in the shadows as much as possible. "You don't have to be scared of us, we won't tell anyone we were here, I promise". 

"It was nice to meet you too" The elf replied before vanishing into thin air. House elves weren't particularly talkative creatures, Hermione had told you so, they felt threatened by wizards and witches due to their suppression by them for so many years, she had come up with some sort of organisation for their equality but you had honestly zoned out by that point. 

The six of you helped yourselves to all the food you could fit in your stomachs and then headed out back into the corridor. 

"What do you guys say we head to a party" Fred proposed.

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement and so the twins led you further down the corridor. Ron was concerned that you were heading towards Slytherin but you didn't think that you could access it this way, and you were right, because when you came to a halt you were not at the Slytherin entrance. 

The rest of you stood perplexed for a moment before Harry let out a moan "Please tell me this grand party is not in Hufflepuff. It's like 11 pm they'll all be asleep from tripping so hard by now"

George and Fred laughed. "No... no they wont". And with that they opened up the doors to reveal strobing lights and loud music. The Hufflepuff common room was almost unrecognisable. All the furniture had been pushed right up against the wall and a pop up bar had been placed under the stairs. The yellow carpets were now covered up with a flashy dance floor and last but not least, there was a whole DJ stand with none other than Lee Jordan spinning on.

You all went over to grab a drink and then headed straight onto the dance floor. You lost almost everyone instantly as they disappeared off into the crowd and all that remained was you and the twins. You pushed your arms up around both of their necks, bringing them down to your level and shouted "there is no way you can convince me that Hufflepuff's head team organised this". The two of them nodded their heads in agreement and glanced around the room.

"My bets are on Ravenclaw, this seems pretty organised to me" Fred shouted back.

"As far as I am aware it was definitely not Gryffindor" George added. 

You all carried on dancing, you felt yourself becoming lost in the music as you twirled around your friends. After a while the heat from the crowd had gotten to you and so you decided to sit at the bar to cool off. 

The bartender was currently Katie Bell and so you sat their talking to her for a while about quidditch, mostly joking about how angry Oliver was going to be about you all showing up late tomorrow morning for practice. She wandered off after a while as the queue on the other side was growing significantly and so you sat playing with your straw staring into your double vodka coke. 

You felt someone brush up behind you, their finger traced slowly down your neck as they brang their mouth to your ear. "You know, you look pretty when you dance. Why did you stop?" You recognised Draco's voice straight away but it was now deeper, as if he had been smoking all night, which he probably had. 

"I got too hot" You replied bluntly. Refusing to look at him and keeping your head down over your drink.

"Well you want to know what I do when I get hot" He murmured, his mouth against your neck. Each word he spoke sent a vibration down your neck, tempting you to look at him and allow him to see you. 

Fighting this urge you snappily replied "What Malfoy"

He tutted at you "I thought we were past that and on a first name basis now darling." He stroked your neck another time but this time let his hand continue down your side until it was resting gently on your thigh, his chin now on your shoulder. "Well... when I get hot I swim" 

You turned around to look at him, which you knew was a big mistake as once you were met with his bright blue eyes you became completely intoxicated by him. You gulped nervously "And where do you swim, Malfoy" you replied, not breaking eye contact. 

Draco then grabbed your hand and pulled you up off the seat. Then with a loud snap the party blurred away and it was just you and Draco left.