Yule Balls and Old Foes

Chapter 20

A/N: Kisses ahead, it's Spin the Bottle after all. And, the song featured is Bad Dreams by Neon Trees. 

-

It's 2AM and the city is sound asleep
But the scene keeps playing to the groove of my heartbeat

"Does everyone want to know what the rules are in Spin the Bottle?" Charlotte declared as many of them gathered in a circle. "Or do we need to refresh it for many of you?" A sly grin was plastered on her face, especially as she saw Norah, Ominis, Sebastian, and Amit taking their places after being coerced by Henry and Natty. Poppy and Andrew were already sitting across from each other in the circle, exchanging knowing looks. No doubt Poppy had told him the rules of the game, which they never got to play when it was first introduced.

"Alright then, remind us," Eric Northcott raised a brow as he sat down.

"This is an enchanted bottle," Charlotte brought out what looked like an ordinary soda pop bottle from the table behind her. "It'll spin, and whoever is on both ends of the bottle, well," Her grin grew wider. "Will kiss."

In real life, I would stutter
With you in technicolor
At 2AM in my head, we're bound to meet

Amit's cheeks turned a shade of pink, but he wasn't the only one. Norah suddenly felt anxious at the thought. She spotted Caleb and Adele come in, hurrying to join the rest of them that were already seated.

"I'll bet a few chocolate frogs Norah's going to get a lot of boys wanting to be on the other end of the bottle," Imelda was enjoying the spectacle that would unfold as soon as Charlotte would say it would. When Norah looked over, having overheard her, she gave a thumbs up.

"That seems like regular spin the bottle, doesn't it?" Caleb was confused.

"Revri, you need to pay attention," Charlotte blew a raspberry at him, making him shake his head. "It'll spin yes, but it won't just point to people sitting across from each other. It can also point to the others out of your line of sight. Ready?"

They all agreed, and Charlotte spun the bottle, getting out in time before the bottle started pointing at anyone.

I don't want anyone to wake me up
I fall asleep, it's never been so fun
I know it's wrong but it's true
I like the things that we do in my
Bad dreams, bad dreams
Bad dreams, bad dreams

"Merlin, this is interesting," Natty looked on as the bottle finally pointed to a Gryffindor and Slytherin. Both of whom crawled to the middle to exchange a shy kiss followed by cheers and claps from everyone else. The pair sat back down in their places with ruddy cheeks.

Norah noticed Ominis fidgeting in his place next to her. "You okay?" His cheeks were a little pink.

"Yes, Norah, I'm fine," He said, almost in a whisper. "I didn't think this would be an outcome of the game."

"Muggles play this at parties a lot," Norah chuckled. "Especially muggles our age. It's a way to get close to whoever you fancy. At least for many of them."

I'm still on stage, and you're watching me count the stars
Then I eat you up like milk and Lucky Charms
In real life I'd be patient
Fantasy adjacent
So I indulge the sum to see the parts
Fuck you, I love you, I need you

The bottle stopped to point again to Leander and Nerida, who gaped at each other and exchanged amused expressions. Leander reluctantly made the crawl toward Nerida, who took the initiative and kissed him. They also pulled away with red cheeks. "This never happened," Nerida pointed out.