Hogwarts Nights

Chapter Forty-Nine

Cadence POV:

On Saturday morning, there was a brunch in the Great Hall. McGonagall, Mr. Fischer and Hagrid had organised this in order to give the new students a chance to meet us all, especially those who were in different years and houses. Amy and I went down to the Great Hall together with Violet. While Amy and I were wearing our Hogwarts uniform, Violet had decided to wear something else again. This time she was wearing a black skirt, a t-shirt with a band on it that I didn't know, a grey flannel and brown boots.

"You don't like the Hogwarts uniform?", Amy asked her. Violet looked at her and I was afraid she would answer with an irritating comment again.

But instead, she smiled and said: "Of course, I actually find it nice. I'm glad I got sorted into Hufflepuff, because I love yellow. But I just like to be independent and I want to try out my own style. Do you think that'll be a problem? I mean, is everyone always wearing their uniform?"

"I don't think it's a problem", Amy said, "many students are always wearing their uniform. But on weekends, some don't."

When we arrived in the Great Hall, we saw that the four house tables had been replaced by smaller tables. We spotted Diana and Selena immediately; they had gone down before us. When they saw us, they waved.

"You can sit down next to us", Selena said.

"Are you alone at this table?", I asked and looked around.

"No, Matthew, Jayden and Bailey are here too", she said, "but they are at the buffet right now."

She pointed at the buffet, which was set up where the teachers usually sat.

"Let's go to the buffet as well", I said.

"Someone needs to wait here", Selena said, "otherwise someone will steal our table. I'll stay, you can go!"

The buffet was amazing: Dozens of different marmalades, honey, Nutella, bread, croissants, different yoghurts, fruits and drinks like milk, tea, hot chocolate, coffee and various fruit juices. We had to wait in the queue for about ten minutes, but it was worth it. When we came back to our table, Matthew, Jayden and Bailey were already back. I introduced Jayden and Bailey to Violet and we began to eat.

"Selena is at the buffet", Matthew informed us, "together with Albus and Rose; they are going to sit here as well."

"God, how big is your group of friends?", Violet laughed.

"Well", I said, "We all like each other at Hogwarts anyway. But I guess the closer circle is us who are sitting here, then Albus, Rose, Daniel, Leah and Mary from Gryffindor."

"Don't forget Scorpius, Charlotte and Levi from Slytherin!", Amy laughed.

"That's a lot of people", Violet commented, "and from a lot of different houses. I think it's nice that you all get along so well. Ilvermorny, the magic school in North America, where I used to go before I came here, is much bigger and therefore there are also more rivalries between the different houses and students in general."

"Is it really that much bigger?", Matthew said with a sceptical voice.

"Yes, of course", Violet said, "it's the only wizarding school in North America and people from the USA, Canada and sometimes Mexico go there. So naturally, it's bigger than Hogwarts. Especially since Europe has got two other wizarding schools. Did none of you know that? You really have got a kind of Eurocentric view of the world sometimes."

Matthew grinned: "So is Ilvermorny the biggest wizarding school in the world?"

"I don't know", Violet shrugged, "but it's a very well-respected one, I can tell you that."

"So how do you know your view of the world isn't American-centric?", Matthew asked.

"I didn't say it wasn't!", Violet said. Then she got interrupted by Albus, Rose and Selena coming to our table, their plates filled with food. I introduced Violet to Albus and Rose, but I felt like Violet now wasn't in the best mood anymore. I wondered why: Was she offended because Matthew had challenged her on her views about the magic schools? When we're alone again, I need to explain to her that Matthew is always critical of what people say and that he likes to challenge them, I thought to myself, but he never means to offend anyone.

The rest of the brunch was really nice, although Violet didn't say a lot anymore. I tried to talk to her about the whole thing during the afternoon, but I didn't really receive that much of an answer from her and it seemed clear to me that she wasn't in the mood to talk. When we went to dinner at 6pm, her mood seemed to have brightened up.

"Are we going to the party in Ravenclaw tonight?", she asked.

"Yes, that's what we had in mind", I smiled.

"Great", she answered, "do we need to get dressed up?"

"I'm not sure", I said and looked at Selena.

"Normally students don't wear especially nice clothes to house parties", Selena answered, "but Ravenclaw is probably the most sophisticated house at Hogwarts, so I'm not sure. I'll ask Bailey about this."

Two hours later, I was in the bathroom getting dressed together with Diana, Selena and Violet. Bailey had told us that most Ravenclaw girls would probably be wearing a dress, but of course we didn't have to. Amy didn't feel very well, so she told us she would not come to the party. "I'll be back with you soon", Diana said to her, "I can't stay too long at the party, because I have to go to the funeral of my grandmother tomorrow."

"Oh, you are going?", I asked.

"Yes, they were able to arrange it so I could attend the funeral", Diana explained, "which I'm glad about."

"Your grandma died?", Violet asked, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you", Diana said and smiled.

When we arrived at the party, the Ravenclaw tower was already quite crowded. We spotted Bailey right when we entered. "Did you help preparing?", Diana asked her and she nodded, "it looks pretty great." She was right: The whole room didn't look like a common room anymore, but like a real disco. There were many drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) to choose from. The DJ was just a student from Ravenclaw but he played pretty great songs and sometimes he stopped so a small band could perform some covers of famous songs and the rest of the crowd joined in. Later, more Gryffindors and Slytherins arrived. There was that cliché that people of both Gryffindor and Slytherin arrived late at the parties and then tried to be the top-entertainer. Albus, Rose, Daniel, Leah, Mary, Scorpius, Levi and Charlotte were all there. For about one hour, we just spent our time dancing and having fun. Then, Diana, Selena, Violet and I were all tired and got ourselves some drinks.

"Okay, I have to go back to our common room now", Diana explained after a while.

"Alright", I said, "good night!"

When I was left alone with Violet and Selena, it was sort of awkward. The two of them clearly weren't becoming best friends anytime soon. I thought that dancing might improve the atmosphere so I suggested to go back to the dancefloor and luckily, they agreed. After a while, we lost sight of Violet and I was left alone with Selena. When a slow song came on, Selena said to me: "I'm not in the mood to dance with any boys tonight. Let's just dance together and then sit down and stalk all the couples."

I laughed: "That sounds like a great idea."

After having danced together, we sat down and looked at the people who were dancing. I saw James, Albus' brother, and his girlfriend Jessica.

"Look, there's Sara and Andrew", Selena said and pointed at the head girl of Hufflepuff and the head boy of Gryffindor sharing a dance.

"And there's Albus and Rose", I said and smiled. I was kind of glad that Albus wasn't dancing with Mary...

"And is that... Violet?", Selena.

"Yes. Wait – she kissing someone?"

"Who is that boy?"

Hey everyone! I hope you all liked this chapter, don't forget to vote if you did <3 Does anyone have an idea who Violet might be kissing? Leave a comment if you do or if you have anything else to say! All the love, @alohomorahogwarts