In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter LXI: Shining Just For You

Hush

I know they said the end is near
But I'm still on my tallest tiptoes
Spinning in my highest heels, love
Shining just for you

I want you to know
I'm a mirrorball
I can change everything about me to fit in
You are not like the regulars
The masquerade revelers
Drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten

"mirrorball"
Taylor Swift

LUCY:

I dutifully made my way up to the Room of Requirement fifteen minutes before the moon would rise --- or at least, I tried to. The door didn't reveal itself to me.

"I know I'm in the right place," I whispered to myself, looking around desperately. I swore under my breath and reached forward to touch the wall. "Please, not tonight, please. It'll be so cold."

But the door didn't appear, so I tore my eyes away from the wall and started running. I ducked around the corner, and, to my shock, ran smack into someone.

"Sorry!" I squeaked, peeling myself off of... "George? Fred? Wh-What are you doing here? Wait, no, don't answer that, I-I need to go, I'm sorry-"

"Where are you going?" George asked, gripping my arm. "Lucy, it's okay, we know. We know about, well, you."

"You- what?"

"Lucy, where are you going? We'll go with you," Fred said.

I shook my head. "N-No, don't, you c-can't, I... I'm sorry."

I ripped myself away from George and started sprinting. I would have so much to explain in the morning...

I turned around when my feet hit the grass. They were still following me. I wanted to shout at them to turn around and that I would explain everything in the morning, but I couldn't risk anybody hearing me and also deciding to follow me. So instead, I gestured for them to keep following me and continued my mad dash to the forest.

As soon as I reached the trees, I sagged against a tree, panting. They caught up a minute later, and I glanced at the setting sun, already beginning to shiver in the December chill despite the raging fever.

"I don't have much time," I said. "Promise me you'll tell me how you figured it out in the morning?"

"Promise," they replied in unison.

"Oh, and would you mind telling Cedric I'm out here and not in the Room of Requirement?"

"The Room of Requirement?" Fred echoed.

"I usually transform there, but it didn't open tonight, as I'm sure you saw." I bit my lip. "I wonder who was in there. Anyway, as soon as the sun sets, you need to get out of here, as fast as possible. Don't let anyone see you, with Rita Skeeter lurking, we can't have any unnecessary questions. She heard me telling Hagrid that Harry doesn't know my secret yet, so I know she'll be trying harder than ever to get to me, and I'm sure she saw us together at the first task."

They nodded.

I managed a laugh. "No need to look so worried. I'm sure she won't ask you questions, I'm just being overly cautious."

"Cub, do you honestly think that's why we're worried?" George asked incredulously.

I looked down at my shoes. "I'm guessing you didn't figure it out until last month?"