Elusive // The Weasley Twins

67. Two's Company, Three's a Crowd

"So what happened to dinner?"

Cosette turned towards Hermione who had just approached her for the first time since they arrived. Instantly, Cosette could tell that Hermione was drunk and while she had seen her loosen up before, it was definitely a rare occurrence.

Hermione wasn't a quiet drunk, that was for sure. She was more outgoing, especially in social settings like this party, wanting to speak to absolutely everyone. But with that, a nosier, somewhat cheeky, side of Hermione showed. She was less careful with her words.

"Sorry?" Cosette asked, watching as Hermione had to lean against the windowsill for balance.

"Dinner," she repeated. "George said something about taking you out for dinner but you were gone for less than half an hour. Certainly didn't give us much time to clean up this place."

"Oh," Cosette glanced across the room to where George stood with Lee. For the last hour, they had avoided each other so as to not raise suspicion, but everytime Cosette looked up, he was in her line of sight. He was keeping an eye on her.

Hermione snapped her fingers in front of Cosette's face, pulling her attention back to the conversation and Cosette rolled her eyes, pushing Hermione's hand away, "You're not nice when you're drunk."

"Was the food bad?" Hermione questioned. "After spending so much time in the wizard world, muggle restaurants just seem so bland."

Cosette hadn't even thought of an excuse, so she nodded her head and went along with what Hermione was saying.

"Are you mad?" Hermione then asked. "That we threw this party?" Before Cosette could respond, Hermione went on in a ramble of excuses, "Nick said that it would be fun for you and that we would have to force you to be social otherwise, well, you know what happened last time. No one saw you for three years. And I know that what you went through was traumatic but we still love you, Setty. Maybe we're a little scared, but-"

"Mind if I interrupt?"

Cosette jumped at the new voice joining their conversation and some of her drink spilled over onto the floor. She glanced down at the spot on the carpet before turning and seeing Elliot standing there.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Elliot chuckled, smiling at both girls. Hermione was not at all subtle when she playfully raised her eyebrows and walked away, leaving Cosette alone with the Quidditch player.

"I'm just a little on edge," Cosette admitted, and it wasn't a lie. She glanced over her shoulder again, something she had been doing all night.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concern evident in his expression. "It's your birthday, Cosette. I don't mean to be so straightforward, but you just seem as though you really don't want to be here. At your own party."

"Well I didn't plan this party."

"So you don't want to be here?" He worded it as a question now, but Cosette opted to stay quiet, giving him a shy smile instead. She didn't want to be impolite and tell him that it was driving her insane that there were a crowd of people in her home when they really were all there for her.

She was thankful for her group of friends and that they went through the trouble of putting something like this together, but it really wasn't what she was wanting.

Majority of the people here had absolutely no idea what had just happened within the last few days. They didn't know that she was without magic because George still hadn't given her her wand back. They didn't know she had almost murdered someone and they certainly didn't know that she was worried about that said someone showing up unexpectedly to the point where it was difficult to take a normal breath.