The Vanishing Cabinet...Black

seven. sluggie's party

tw: prejudice, minor ptsd

"MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE?" came the whisper.

"What? No!"

"Please!" Clorfan said. The hand he reached out was shaking. "No one will suspect anything, with Prince Regulus Black and Zeynep Shafiq dancing,"

Malka looked over, and indeed, she spotted Regulus dancing with an extremely short girl with beads in her hair. A third year. A bit of disgust curdled in her chest, partially because of the age gap, partially because of something else.

"Fine. But it's a quick one, and you are not spinning me in the air," she warned, and they stepped into the dance circle to the sound of Slughorn's clapping. She really didn't want anyone to draw connections between her, Cass, and Clorfan, especially when the news of the latter two's breakup was still fresh in the gossip circles. There needn't be any more rumors.

Thank heavens Malka could dance. She was much better at it than Clorfan, and dare she say most of the young people in the room. After all, she did grow up in Italy.

"Does Cassana really hate me?" Clorfan begged in a whisper as Malka stepped a circle around him.

"I don't know. But I think you should respect her boundaries," Malka murmured back. Though in her head she wanted to scream.

"Can you tell her I love her? Please?" Clorfan said, spinning Malka on the ground.

"I think you should make sure you two are in private first, then tell her yourself,"

"But she's never in private! She's either with you in your Tower or with Talkalot and Carrow!" Clorfan pleaded. The yellowy brown colors of Slughorn's office spinned as Malka whirled around and around. The way Clorfan spun her made it a lot worse, she wished he didn't push her so much and just let her dance herself. 

"Well, then, I can't help you," Malka said, feeling impossibly stuck as she was dipped downwards.

"Please? I know you're more reasonable. Can you just tell her?" Clorfan asked, and something in his green eyes triggered a deep string of pity inside her.

"Fine. No promises," Malka muttered out, and she ended their dance to grab a Gillywater.

She'd barely snatched it off an elf's plate before running into someone. She got a hold of herself quickly, before catching the sight of red robes and a musk that left her feeling sickly. "Mister Cresswell," Malka said, trying to move past him. 

"Malka," Dirk said in surprise, before his face softened in a reaction that Malka didn't want. "I haven't seen you in- wow, you look amazing- I'm so sorry for what happened, by the way-"

"-I don't need you to apologize, Mister Cresswell. Now I need to find someone," Malka said, and shouldered past him in a very unladylike way before ducking under a banister, flinching as she saw two people snogging, and ducking under a different one. She didn't actually need to find anyone.

She maneuvered past a few people before she found a good secluded corner, and sighed, leaning against the stone wall as she sipped her Gillywater and nibbled on three raspberry tarts. But that place was soon taken over by another couple, and Malka sighed, trying to avoid Slughorn and step out.