The Founders

Chapter 24

The party had been going on for about an hour, and Grace was having a fabulous time. After she and Kyra had made it back to their dormitory, Kyra had showered in scalding water and they had both done their make up in preparation for the party. Since it didn't start for another couple hours, though, they had put on comfortable trackies and sweaters and gone to dinner early, the hall half-empty and candle-lit, rain sliding against the dark window panes.

Once the hall started properly filling up, at around seven o'clock, they wandered their way back to the dungeons, taking a mug of coffee each with them.

Kyra sat down cross-legged on the end of her bed, and held out her mug in offering as Grace dug around in their wardrobe and pulled out a bottle of whiskey; she poured a generous amount in each of their mugs. Cradling her mug in her lap, Kyra cheerfully helped Grace decide what to wear and picked out a top and jeans for herself, her hair now and loose and dry over her shoulders.

Joining Grace on the carpeted floor, she lay down on her front. They spent the early evening playing cards and drinking their coffee, the music from downstairs steadily pulsing louder, and the rain steadily beating harder against the windows.

An hour after the party had started, when they finally emerged at the foot of the stairs, the entire common room was filled up with people from all houses; even the Gryffindors had come, to drink the Slytherins' alcohol out of spite if nothing else.

Blue and green light pulsing over the crowd made the scene seem even more as though it were underwater, as did the fact that someone had somehow managed to turn the fire roaring in the grate a startling cobalt colour. The sofas were untidily bunched around the fire, people perched on their backs or sprawled on the floor, and a drinks table consisting of what was probably a very valuable mahogany desk, inlaid with a mother of pearl pattern, had been set up beside the French windows, which were black in the light.

Lights from further up the castle were reflected in little blurred fireflies on the lake's surface, corresponding to illuminated spheres of water under the surface, the blackness lightened to a brief spark of sapphire. Rain roughened the surface, making the lights uneven. Leaving Grace, who was immediately pulled over to the sofas by a sixth year Ravenclaw that she had had Potions with last year, she went to the drinks table to get them both a drink. Focused on opening a bottle of rum, she jumped when she felt someone's arm brush against hers.

Alexander was leaning back against the table, framed by the black lake and sky outside, the blue lights casting strange shadows on his face. His eyes grazed her body for a moment, she thought, lingering on her sheer long sleeved top, bra clearly visible, and flickering back to meet her gaze. He blushed slightly, glancing away into the crowd before meeting her eyes again and smiling. "Hi."

"Who invited you?" she asked in mock surprise, abandoning the bottle of rum and opening two cans of cider instead. She waved a hand in his direction. "I thought we had established that you, for no suspicious reason at all, have no friends."

He shrugged one shoulder and looked into the crowd, smiling. "I broke in." Kyra dropped a straw into the top of each can and turned around, leaning against the table like him.

"Very cool," she nodded approvingly. "Very suave." She gave him a sidelong look, taking a sip through her straw. "So, the portrait was left open?"

"Yep."

Grace emerged from the crowd of people on the makeshift dance floor, looking slightly sweaty and plucked the second can from Kyra's hands.

"They're playing ABBA next," she said, out of breath, with a nod of recognition in Alexander's direction.

"Not ABBA," Kyra gasped in excitement that was only half faked. "Well, if it's ABBA, we've got to dance," she said, setting down her drink and letting Grace pull her back to the scrum of people. She looked over her shoulder at Alexander, yelling, "Will you dance if they play Gimme, Gimme? I know you love that song." His answering laugh was cut off by the crowd converging around them.