𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 | draco malfoy ✔️

83. slughorn's party

TRAINING WHEELS

SLUGHORN'S PARTY

20th December 1996

For the past few nights, Amora had been having nightmares of Draco being caught and exposed as a Death Eater. Every morning she would wake and feel anxiety over the situation, which seemed to increase and increase each time, much to her dismay. Her dreams were filled with Draco being sent to Azkaban or, worse, killed, and her family and old friends shunning her away when they found out that she had something to do with it.

However, last night was the worst dream yet. Nobody found out that Draco was working for Voldemort, rather, he had actually managed to win the war on his side. It was Harry that was killed, right in front of her, and then Voldemort (or she assumed this was Voldemort, she had never seen him in person), thanked her for keeping quiet and aiding his cause. And then she joined them.

When she woke up that morning, Amora was so disturbed that she ended up throwing up in the bathroom. Her stomach felt queasy all day and she nearly thought of cancelling on Blaise, but at lunch he had given her some flowers as a 'thank you' present, and she swallowed her words and zipped her mouth shut. It was just a dream, anyway. The queasiness wore off into the afternoon and she was mostly able to forget about Voldemort's nails digging into her arms as he hugged her, or the way he hissed her name and smiled in a way that was definitely not human.

Amora smoothed down the skirt of her dress, in awe of herself as she stared in the mirror. When Kathy had offered to let her borrow it for Slughorn's Christmas party, Amora had been a little reluctant, but now that she was wearing it... Amora was pretty sure that the last time she had felt this beautiful was on the night of the Yule Ball.

It reminded her of her Yule Ball dress quite a bit - the way it was decorated in stars. However, rather than a peachy colour like before, this dress was a yellow-gold colour, nearly cream, and the skirt ended mid thigh. It had a sweetheart neckline that would have been sleeveless, if not for the mesh that extended to her wrists and her neck, loose and also covered in the silver stars.

"It's not too flashy for a Christmas party, is it?" Amora asked Kathy worriedly as she finished pinning her long hair up into a bun, pulling out curls to frame her face. "I don't want to be overdressed."

"Well, I was talking to Hermione and she mentioned how she's taking McLaggen to the Christmas party in spite of Ron and she's wearing something really nice too," Kathy rambled as she put her earrings on in the mirror beside Amora. "Which, by the way, Lavender and Ron? I mean... I always thought Lavender would like someone a bit more..."

Amora shrugged. "I know what you mean. I had no idea about them, though."

"Oh, they're terrible, Amora." Kathy shook her head. "Snogging everywhere they can. The other day, I thought Lavender was going to swallow him whole. Though I suppose Leon and I weren't much better, were we? Oh gosh, I feel so bad for you now. Not that Leon matters anymore. I'm excited to see Pansy tonight. Has she mentioned anything about it? Did she say that she was excited or nervous? Or -"

"Kath!" Amora placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Calm down. You've been rambling all night. Pansy said she's a bit nervous too, but don't tell her I told you that, okay? Just take a few deep breaths and remember that Pansy asked you on this date. She wants to see you."

Kathy nodded and chewed her bottom lip anxiously. "I just feel bad. I sort of ignored her for a while because I was really freaked out over everything and now I feel like I have to give her the best date of her life or something to make up for it. What if she realises I wasn't worth the hassle?"