Flawed *EDITING* (Chronicles of Narnia & Harry Potter Crossover) (PeterxOC)

23- Dinner Party

Chapter Inspiration:

- 100 Bottles of Milk on the Wall

I sat next to Harry and Hermione in an olive green-gold dress. Tonight was Slughorn's party and we were sat at a large table in his office. It was quite big I might add. The office, not the table. Slughorn stood at the head of a table, goblet raised to us.

"To Hogwarts’ best and brightest!" he crowed. "Here, here!" Cormac yelled. I shared a wry glance with Hermione, who noticed that one setting is empty. We both knew it was driving Harry mad; I could see his knee bouncing impatiently under the table. Neville, sat on my left side while Harry was on my right, stared at the large array of forks, knives, and spoons placed beside his plate.

"Which one do I use for the soup?" He asked me in a whisper. I smiled at him and pointed to a spoon. He nodded his thanks and turned back to his plate.

~

As I ate my dessert, I stared, bored, at my plate, listening to Slughorn talk to McLaggen. "So tell me, Cormac. See much of your Uncle Tiberius these days?" "Yes, sir. In fact, I’m meant to go hunting with him and the Minister for Magic over holiday." The professor looked at him, impressed. I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. What a try hard.

"Well, be sure to give them both my best. What about your uncle, Belby? Working on anything new? For those of you who don’t know, Marcus’ uncle invented the Wolfsbane Potion." I looked up and shared a look with Harry, both us of us reminded of Lupin.

As he spoke, Belby never once looks up from his plate, shoving more and more food down his throat. "Dunno. He and me dad don’t get on. Probably because Dad thinks potions are rubbish. Says the only potion worth having is a stiff one at the end of the day." Slughorn nodded and surprisingly turned to me.

"How about you Miss Collins? You're parents are Muggles am I correct?" I looked up from my plate and put my spoon down. "Yes sir." He looked genuinely intrigued. "What do they do?" "Well, my parents flew to Germany two years ago where my father could focus on his work. He's in the automotive industry."

"Why would they leave you here? You have a Second Year, Eva?" Slughorn looked shocked. "Yes, sir. I told them to go because I was worried Voldemort might torture them for information about me or my friends." I told him nonchalantly.

The room became deadly silent. Suddenly I wished I had phrased that differently. Shit. Slughorn, whose eyes had widen to the point they looked like saucers, cleared his throat. "That's...quite noble my dear...And you, Miss Granger? What is it your family does in the Muggle world?"

Hermione, seeing me beat myself up mentally, quickly answered, "My parents are dentists. They tend to people’s teeth." "Fascinating. And is that considered a dangerous profession?" "No." She looked around the room to see everyone except Slughorn, Neville, Harry, and I looking rather bored. "Though, a boy named Robbie Fenwick did bite my father once. Needed ten stitches."

"I don't exactly blame him." I muttered. Hermione and Harry chuckled, getting it because they too had been raised in the Muggle world. As Slughorn nodded, the door groaned, telling us that someone was coming in. Everyone turned to look at Ginny.

"Miss Weasley! Come in, come in." Slughorn smiled at her. "Sorry, I’m not ordinarily late–" She faltered, uncharacteristically flustered. I noticed her eyes were red and suddenly realized what she had been doing.

"No matter. You’ll be just in time for dessert. That is, if Belby leaves you any." he joked. As Ginny moved to her seat, I hear Hermione whisper to Harry, "Look at her eyes. They’ve been fighting again. Her and Dean."

Harry nodded, then stood as Ginny reached the table—the move of a true gentlemen. Ginny looked up and watched him, the only one to stand. Hermione caught my eye, giving me a look of amusement. I nodded and smiled to her. It was so obvious he had a crush on Ginny. Not Lavender obvious, but enough to be noticed.

As I continued to eat my dessert, I realized how cute Ginny and Harry would be as a couple. It also dawned on me that Ron would probably kill Harry, but it would be completely worth it. As Harry sat back down, he looked between me and Hermione.

"What?" He asked us, furrowing his eyebrows. "Nothing." Hermione grinned. I bit back a laugh, but a quiet snicker came out, drawing the attention of my dear brother. "Nothing." I grinned widely. He rolled his eyes and turned back to his dessert, but not without noticing me and Hermione's last shared look. 

~

"Thank you, one and all, for a most stimulating evening. We’ll have to do it again." Slughorn called as we exited his office. As Hermione and I walk back to the common room, I noticed Harry stay back. "Probably going to do something for Dumbledore." I muttered to her. She nodded and we fell into a comfortable silence.

"He's probably not going to invite me back." I sighed, rolling my eyes. Hermione laughed out loud. I caught her as she almost tripped in her heels. "What's so funny?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. "Oh! Just remembering Slughorn's face when you said You-Know-Who's name so carefree. Priceless!"

I remembered too and joined in. I almost fell this time, but caught the nearest bannister. "You know Laurel, he probably will invite you. Your Harry Potter's brother now. Remember how Harry said Slughorn was going to try and 'collect him'? He'll probably want to collect you too."

I smiled and faced the Fat Lady's Portrait. "Cauldron Cakes." She opened the painting and we climbed inside. I noticed Seamus reading by the fireplace and came up behind him, resting my head on his shoulder. "What'cha reading?" I asked in a quiet voice.

He looked up and smiled at me. "Charms. What're you all dressed up for? Can't imagine it's for me." I chuckled and sat down on the couch next to him. "Had to go to Slughorn's party thing." He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? An' how was it?" I sighed. "It was actually pretty boring. Luckily, however, he's having a Christmas party too and we're to bring a date. That means I won't have to bear the boringness alone next time." I told him, smiling. He grinned at me. "Oh? And who're you bringing?"

I shrugged, "I was gonna go ask Dean." He looked up from his book, alarmed. "What?!" I sat back and laughed, tucking my high-heeled feet underneath me. "I'm just kidding Seamus. My gosh, you're face was priceless." He chuckled and brushed my hair behind my ear.

"So who are you bringing then?" He asked in a low voice. I mock thought for a moment. "Hm I dunno. Maybe my boyfriend?" He kissed my cheek. "Who's your boyfriend?" I ruffled his hair. "You doofus." "Way to ruin the moment." I snickered. "Oops."

"Oops is right." He leaned forward and kissed me properly. I placed a hand on his cheek while his hands found my waist. Somehow, I realized during the kiss that there was no sparks. Sure, it was pleasurable but not 'true love kiss special'. The clock on the wall chimed loudly, scaring the crap out of both of us. "So is that a yes?" I asked him when we broke away.

He smirked and nodded. "Yes." I managed a small smile, still thinking about my new discovery, and stood up. "See you tomorrow yeah?" He saluted me. I snickered and saluted him back, running up the stairs with my heels in one hand.