ROSIER

23

The plan
...

Slughorn's Christmas party was scheduled on the last Saturday before winter break, and Gwen counted the time passing like it was the thread keeping her sane. She wished Professor Tilney had been in Hogwarts still so they could drink tea together. She would've told her vaguely about her fears, and somehow, the woman would still know exactly what answer was needed to calm them.

They detailed the plan out to the very minute in which everything was over, including every imaginable way it could go wrong by a coincidental fateful disaster. If that was the case, Garg would come rushing to the party to warn Gwen and Remus. And for the first time, the blonde dearly hoped not to see her friend.

Remus' part of the plan began two hours earlier as he had to help Slughorn with the final preparations, as well as go through a fast lecture about the etiquette of a waiter in these occasions. Initially, all positions of waiters were vastly filled, had it not been for a couple of mysterious accidents creating a need for replacements.

"Remember," Emmeline went through the plan again while Gwen was getting ready for the party. She braided a crown of hair across her head. "Make sure people see your entrance. We don't know for sure if or how many spies Red might have here and if they attend the Slugclub. Go through the hallways like we talked about it. Make sure people see you and let them know you're doing nothing but going to a simple Christmas party."

"I am just going to a simple Christmas party." The blonde reminded. The closer their plan came, the more she hated her uselessness in it.

"Great, so you can't mess that up,"

"Just try to have fun tonight," Dorcas suggested. She was sitting on her bed, putting her braids into a ponytail. "You're going with Connor Abernathy, after all."

"I suppose," Gwen nodded. Her arms grew heavy from the braiding. "And you two make sure you get back here in one piece. I think by now we all know how dangerous Red is."

"Don't worry, I think we can handle stealing a box," Emmeline let out. "And in case something goes wrong, we still have our wands." She looked at Gwen. "And we actually know how to use it."

Gwen rolled her eyes as the two girls left for the secret passage to Hogsmeade. They wouldn't begin their mission just yet, but neither of them used the path before, and Remus' hand-drawn map wasn't exactly the most decipherable piece of parchment. They didn't want to risk being late.

The blonde waited for Issa and Helena to get back from their task of finding out what Connor was wearing tonight. She gave it to them to have an excuse to be alone with Emmeline and Dorcas, benefitting from the perfect ordinary of being on her own once they came back. Officially, the four of them decided it was better if no one knew of their newfound symphony.

They helped her with her dress she could finally wear outside her dorm room, and Gwen didn't come around to notice the glances the two girls shared. They both knew very well this wasn't the kind of dress proper in the eyes of a Rosier but neither dared to mention it.

Connor picked her up right on time as he waited outside her common room. He looked marvellous like the diamonds hanging from her ears. She wished the occasion was just a party. That there weren't storms of thoughts clouding her mind when she should've listened to his melting compliments. Instead, her hand wrapped around his arm like a mechanical step, a necessary task to keep from catastrophe.

She wondered if it still counted as a date when the main purpose of being with the golden boy had turned into being seen. Of creating rumours hopefully taken toward Red.

The Christmas party was held in Slughorn's enlarged office. He was an elitist man at heart, and he didn't fail to make it seen in his creation for his most promising students.
The walls were hung with deep velvet curtains. The ceiling was falling snow, halting just above their heads. There was a decorated tree in the middle, a golden star on top, and tables filled with a grant buffet. A band was playing in perfect harmony. One of the kinds that was pictured on one of Sirius' secret posters that he hid carefully in the loose floor planks of his bedroom. Only now they played classical in favour of Slughorn rather than their usual metallically sounding melodies.