Only the Brave

Chapter 19: Halloween

Interlude: Dorcas' POV

Dorcas is nervous. She's nervous because she's convinced her friends to come to this party with her so she can introduce them to Marlene. In her head, this was a brilliant idea. A natural step, because they've been doing this for three weeks and Dorcas has already met Marlene's friends so.

Except Dorcas apparently forgot her friends are allergic to socialising. She can't put all the blame on them, though. Perhaps this party wasn't the best setting. She should have considered that they're three awkward Slytherins in a sea of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Quite literally. No one else from their house is here because they have their own Halloween tradition in the dungeons.

Pandora is with her divination crowd, and she's obviously oblivious to how much Regulus, Barty and Evan are standing out. They're near a glass wall (greenhouse for a party is a cool setting, she'll give them that!), arms over their chests and sceptical looks on their faces. Regulus is, of course, scowling. It wasn't easy to convince him to get into a costume. Dorcas had a hell of a time with it.

She scans the greenhouse one more time to confirm that Marlene hasn't arrived yet. None of the Seventh year Gryffindors have. Fidgeting with the fake sword strapped to the back of her Wonder Woman costume, she bites her lower lip. Dorcas hopes Marlene likes her fancy dress.

They were all her idea. As in, Dorcas came up with all the costumes for herself and her friends, based on comics that she sneaks into muggle London to read when she can.

Barty is in a Wolverine outfit which looks a little big on him but is otherwise quite flattering. Dorcas has caught Evan staring at Barty's butt eight times already and they've literally only just arrived two minutes ago. Evan is Batman, and he keeps complaining about the mask hurting his nose. Barty uses this excuse to touch Evan's face at all times. Honestly, they're adorable in their awkwardness. She's very happy for her friends. Barty and Evan make a good couple, she thinks. Evan soothes Barty's roughest edges.

Dorcas is particularly proud of Regulus's costume because he looks ridiculous in it. Hands down swoon-worthy. If Dorcas wasn't gay, she'd hit that. For real. He's dressed as the Green Arrow, which was one hundred percent deliberate on her part because the dark greens and black combination brings out the colour of his eyes.

It took her close to two hours of loud, relentless arguing before Regulus gave in and put it on. Every single minute was worth it. Dorcas highly suspects Regulus has a crush on James Potter and she'll be damned if she's not going to help him get his attention any way she can.

She tailored the costume so it fits Regulus almost perfectly, and even used her eyeliner to smudge some kohl around his eyes. Regulus looks dangerous, and it suits him. This made her a little sad, because Dorcas doesn't want Regulus to give into the dark side. But it makes him look hot, so for tonight she'll ignore that and just hope James agrees Regulus looks like a snack.

"I want a drink," Barty says. "I'm going to get a drink."

"I'll go with you," Dorcas volunteers. "Reg?"

"Not drinking," he says.

Barty and Evan roll their eyes. "How are you going to get through this sober?" Evan asks him, gesturing around.

People are pouring in by the second, crowding the rooms. There's music blasting, and some kids are already dancing. Costumes range from the scary and grotesque to the detailed and accurate to the scandalously scant. There's a bit of everything, and Dorcas quite likes it. She understands his friends perhaps do not.

"I am not drinking," Regulus insists. And then, something catches his eye behind them. A glint flashes in them, and he does a complete U-turn. "Firewhisky. Get me a firewhisky."