𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐘 𝐀 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐒 . . . 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐭

𝟒. 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐢 𝐬𝐢𝐭

𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞

After quite a long pregame and getting ready session in the dorms, Elaine and all of her friends made their way down to the dungeons. Elaine usually stayed within distance from the Slytherin house, due to the fact that Easton was far too protective of her to let her around his friends. She and Draco had met in Charms second year, and they had been friends ever since, but that was the extent of her knowledge of any of her twin brother's friends.

Of course, she knew of them from the various stories she heard, but she couldn't put a face to any of their names if she tried.

"This better be a good night." Elaine muttered as she walked through the dry, cold hallways of the dungeons, her arms interlocked with Cara's and Ginny's. Hermione walked on the other side of Ginny, her arm looped into hers. The four girls walked through the door to enter the Slytherin common room, the noise and chaos of the party immediately flooding their ears.

"Holy shit." Cara said as the girls looked around, noting the amount of sweaty, drunk students that were in front of them. The entire room reeked of firewhiskey and bad decisions, which told Elaine that this night would, in fact, be great.

She gazed around for a couple of minutes before she saw a figure that caught her eyes. He was sitting on the couch, right next to her brother. The two of them were in an intense conversation, a cigarette sitting between Easton's fingers and a cup in the other boy's hand. Elaine knew who he was, but she had never spoken to him before. Easton would rather die than let Theodore Nott anywhere near his sister.

"Cara, I think I found my soulmate." Elaine whispered as she tugged on Cara's arm, subtly pointing in Theodore's direction. "Merlin, he's beautiful."

"And so are you." Cara encouraged her. "So talk to him."

Elaine looked over at her best friend, her head cocked and her brows furrowed.

"Maybe in about four drinks, Car."

The group of four girls followed each other through the dark room filled with students of all ages toward a table full of alcohol. Elaine swore that she could feel a pair of eyes on her; she assumed it was Easton making sure that she was "behaving herself", as he liked to call it. Unbeknownst to her, it was the boy sitting next to him that couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Theodore Nott knew who Elaine was, almost everyone in their school did. He thought she was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen, but he quite liked living and breathing, and he knew that staying away from her was how he would stay in fine condition. He cares for his best friend, and that's why he knows that Easton would not hesitate to lay a hand on him if he so much as looked Elaine's way.

However, she looked tempting tonight. And plus, Easton was the one that invited her. He had to know something could happen.

Elaine poured herself a large drink, the ratio of liquor to mixer extremely uneven. Her friends followed suit, other than Hermione, who was drinking lightly tonight.

"I need to talk to him." Elaine told all of her friends as they crowded in a corner of the room, gulping their drinks down. "I need him now."

"Lainey, you sound feral." Cara told her best friend through a chuckle. "Just go talk to him."

"About what, Cara?" Elaine asked her desperately. Elaine Knoxfort usually had no issues talking to anyone, especially attractive men, but she was feeling rather hopeless right now.