Sera laughs, throwing her head back, her silvery halo glinting in the light. He looks so awkward, so uncomfortable with her extroverted personality all over him. He so clearly doesn't want to be touching her. Or is that just what I hope I'm seeing? Gods, why doesn't he just push her away? No, what if he likes it, he just doesn't know how to show it. She's been dancing against him for what feels like minutes but the same song is still playing. Or what if he doesn't want to be embarrassed in front of all his friends? If he hated it that much, he'd have pushed her away by now. Right?
Sera leans up away from him laughing as she gets pulled into a spinning dance with Andie and Ophelia instead, clearly preferring the girls energy. They actually want to dance and I hallucinate Tom taking a deep breath of relief. Because why would he be relieved to have her off him? She stays close to him though, still trying to get him to join in with the others dancing away.
My breathing starts to calm down now she's away from him and I do more than just sway awkwardly to the music. Pansy suddenly grabs my arm and her shrill giggle cuts through the jealous haze I'm in. I turn to look at where she's pointing, and I instantly feel calmer, grateful for the distraction. Immediately I cover my mouth, trying to hold back the pure belly laugh I want to let out.
All around the hall, students erupt in laughter as they take in the Halloween costumes of my three idiotic friends. For a second, I didn't recognise them, assuming it was just teachers moving through the crowds, keeping an eye on all of us. My instinct to protect made me immediately move to Pansy to force her to hide her hip flask. When the lights catch on the boy at the front, I realise I'm not looking at the teachers at all.
Well, he wasn't kidding. That is quite the costume. And of course, where one musketeer goes, the other two idiots will follow.
Mattheo is dressed in floor-length silver robes with a sparkly silver tassel hat, a long grey beard, and what looks like two pillows stuffed under his lavender robes to make a big belly. He looks like a cross between Santa and Professor Dumbledore. If a teacher sees him, Lucius Malfoy is taking him home tomorrow and shipping him off to Durmstrang by Monday morning.
To his left, Theo dons emerald-green robes with a tartan scarf wrapped around him as a belt and a lopsided, black traditional witches hat, crooked glasses hanging off of his already tipsy face. I would bet five galleons that the voice he's shouting into Mattheo's ear with right now is some offensively bad Scottish accent too. To his right, Enzo has grown his hair out with a spell into a long, greasy black mop and oversized black robes, with a black Slytherin bedsheet tied around his neck, billowing behind him as he tries to dance.
Gods, these boys have balls. Especially dancing like that. I cringe as Mattheo bends over double, backing himself up on Theo who grinds against him, making people screech and yell louder with laughter, some scrambling for their phones to take pictures. Well, Dumbledore being bummed by McGonagall wasn't what I expected to see tonight, but there you go. Mattheo and Theo (or Dumb and Dumber, as Tom once referred to them as) always doing the unexpected.
I snap my head back over my shoulder to see Tom's reaction to his brother's latest escapade, but he's gone. Sera is now on the other side of the crowd, dancing with Ophelia and Annie. Dammit, I missed the end of their dancing. Did he shrug her off? Did he leave because of her or because he had something to do?
A hand on my elbow makes me spin back around and a warm voice in my ear makes me nearly shudder at the closeness of my friend. His warm aftershave smell of pumpkin, spices and oud hits my nose as he leans close and pushes a drink into my hand.
"Hello kitty," Mattheo smirks at me through his spectacles, his chocolate eyes dancing with flirtatious amusement.
"Professor... Nice stomach." I nod, poking the soft stomach protruding from him, trying to keep my smile to myself and acting like his look was funny but not as hilarious as he clearly thinks it is.
