Star Crossed

Chapter Twenty Three- Among the whisperings and the champagne

'The only true aristocracy is that of consciousness.' 

The guests were all leaving the table now and following Slughorn over to a large set of wooden doors, 
"And now," he smiled, "let the real fun begin!" The large doors flew open and revealed a large room beyond, I stepped through the threshold and gasped, there was no denying that the old aristocrat had style. A jazz band played in the corner of the room, golden drapes covered the ceiling, glittering with floating tea lights that hovered among them, white balloons hung from the tall ceilings like pearls, glittering golden sequined table cloths decorated  an assortment of circular tables dotted around the round, with impressive center pieces of  white peacock feathers (if the rumors where true these were no doubt donated by the Malfoys). There were already a collection of wizards and witches stood around conversing and drinking but they were not students, they were adults ranging from mid twenties all the way to one hundred years old or more. I looked to Tom who was beside me with confusion, 
"Just follow my lead, do as I do and do what I say," he whispered, slipping his arm around my own and leading me further into the room, usually I would tell him where he could deposit his demands but at this moment I did not resist his instruction. The contact of our arms was making me scream instead, but on the outside I was stiff and robotic as we moved through the crowds. I had lost sight now of Wiglaf and Charlotte and more worryingly Lazarus and Myrtle. 
 A tall, thin pale man approached us, he looked almost ghostly his black hair slicked back into a long silky pony tail. His attire was also very peculiar, with a high raised color and long red tail coat, he almost reminded me explicitly of a vampire but I laughed at how outrageous such a thought was. 
"Ah Mr.Riddle, Slughorn has said great things about you," I gasped as I caught a glimpse of two very sharp looking front teeth, possibly recognising my less than comfortable body language, he turned his bloody eyes down upon me,
"Sanguini, a pleasure as always. This is Miss Grisha McLaggen, she is my date for the evening." Riddle smiled, gesturing to me. The vampire named apparently Sanguini, smirked at me creepily,
"A very beautiful choice... good blood?" he asked, my eyes widened as I began to pull on Tom's arm to drag us away, but Tom held us firm and shot me a look to continue to follow my instructions to do as he did. 
"Only the best of course Sanguini," Tom grinned, the vampire grinned back with hungry eyes before bidding us farewell and disappearing into the crowd. 
"What on earth is a bloody Vampire doing here Riddle!? What is Slughorn thinking!? What are you thinking!? 'only the best' don't tell him that! Tell him I have horrible blood!" I hissed, causing Tom to chuckle, his eye brows raised, 
"He is a close friend of the writer of 'Blood Brothers: My Life Among the Vampires', Eldred Worple one of Slughorns old students," he hissed, as he directed me through the crowd. 
"I bet he is," I mumbled, looking around myself half expecting to see a werewolf or mountain troll around the next table, 

"Grisha," Tom stopped and turned to face me, he looked at me for a moment, the intensity of the gaze made my skin feel as if it was on fire. He looked to be contemplating something as he closed the gap between us a little more, my breathing hitched in my throat as I smelt his strong cologne. 

"My- Riddle," Avery interrupted correcting himself, "Can I have a word... in private," he hissed, fixing me with a resentful look. Riddle backed away from me, a realisation of reality coming back to his eyes, he seemed a little unnerved by something but then he nodded curtly to him, causing Avery to nod and walk away. 
"Oh no! You're not telling a vampire I have good blood and then leaving me alone in here with Merlin knows who and what," I exasperated, 
"I'm sure you can handle yourself," Tom smirked before walking off into the crowd. Mouth agog, a threw my arms up and span on the spot, "Bloody brilliant," I hissed to myself as I made my way discretely around the room, being careful to keep an eye out for any sparkling sharp teeth. 
I was not however looking out for much else as I collided with something or someone with a thud, 
"Oh sorry," I mumbled, making to sneak on past them but they grabbed my wrist, rounding on them I rose my hand and punched them. 
"Hey!" they shouted back. Lazarus! 
"Sorry!" I flustered, stroking his arm where I had just punched him.
"I thought you might have been a vampire," I told him, 
"A vampire?" he asked, looking confused, 
"Don't ask," I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest, 
"Where's Riddle?" He asked, a hint of bitterness in his slightly slurred voice, 
"Oh he is off talking to one of his Slytherin cronies," I said wafting it away with my hand, 
he scoffed, 
"Can't even treat his date properly," He hissed more to himself than to anyone else,
"Well I can't see Myrtle," I retorted, transferring my weight to one leg and putting my hands on my hips. 
"Good," said Lazarus, taking another large sip of the drink he was holding, 
"Don't you think you've had enough?" I asked gently,
"Who are you to tell me when I've had enough, you're not my date," he spat, "Go and check up on Riddle," 
"What is your problem?" I snapped back, "Slughorn asked us to go together," but he just scoffed at me once more. 
"Look your drunk, I'm not getting into this with you now," I groaned, I looked around the room hoping to see Wiglaf or Charlotte. 
"There you two are, are you okay?" Wiglaf had appeared behind us, he had obviously been looking for us too. 
"Yes I'm fine, you?" I replied, he nodded curtly and Charlotte continued to smile at me. 
"Where's Riddle?" she asked conversationally, completely unaware at what she had just re started, I cringed.
"Good question," spat Lazarus, taking yet another gulp of wine. 
"I've told you, he is just talking to someone," I said exasperated, 
"So he's told you," He spat,
"What do you think he is doing? Go on then, what is it?" I asked, getting a little irritated now. 
Before he could answer however Tom appeared from out of the crowd and came to join us. 
He nodded at Charlotte and Wiglaf before turning his gaze on an unsteady Lazarus,
"Where is your lovely lady Laz?" He asked smirking, I dug my heel into Tom's foot making his wince and shoot me a fiery look. 
"Don't ask me where my date is, you just *hiccup* done off on one to your date," Lazarus drawled,
"I'm sorry would you like to try that again? Try English this time," Tom replied, 
"You're an orphaned little prick," Lazarus spat, my eyes went wide, 
"Lazarus what has gotten into you!" Wiglaf said sternly, holding onto his shoulder. "No more drinks now, you don't know what you're saying," Wiglaf hissed,
"Oh yes he does." Tom replied, "Go on Laz, continue," I looked between the two of them feeling completely useless, 
Myrtle then appeared holding a cupcake in each hand, this was all we needed. 
"Oh there you are," she said, looking at the intoxicated Lazarus with a slightly disgruntled look,
"And you're with Tom," she giggled, causing Tom's face to tense, "Hello, Tom," she waved,
Tom did not reply to her but instead pretended he couldn't see her. 
"You always look so... dreamy," she continued, oblivious to Tom's ignorance. She had now made her way over to him and had placed her hand onto his thigh, making him jump back away from her, looking furious,
"Do not touch me,"  he hissed dangerously,
"Oooo hard to get," she giggled, and she growled pretending to claw at him as she did so, Tom looked at her with the upmost look of disgust that I had ever seen him give anyone. 
I felt torn between laughter and something, something that made me hate a girl that I gardly knew. "You're embarrassing yourself," I hissed, I looked around, "Where did Lazarus go?" I asked, 

"Oh no," sighed Wiglaf, "I don't know whats gotten into him," 
"Wine," stated Tom. 
"Well you can come and help me get a hold of him." he instructed, Tom merely smirked,
"Must we? I'm quite content to let him make a fool out of himself." 

After a while of traveling around the room, occasionally stopping to polity engage in conversations with people, particular Tom as he seemed as popular as ever. We spotted Lazarus stood arguing with an aggressive looking wizard, who was so big he could have been part troll. 
"Lazarus," I hissed at him, 
"Stay out of this Grisha," he said holding a hand towards me, "He offended you," 
"Offended me?" I asked confused, 
"Bloody kid is mental, I asked him who his attractive blonde friend was that's all," the burly man replied, 
"Creep!" Lazarus growled, almost falling over. 
"Right that's it," Wiglaf said, "Parties over, 1, 2, 3," on que him and Tom grabbed Lazarus roughly under the arms and dragged him off towards the door, while he kicked and argued that he wasn't finished yet. Tom then let go of Lazarus at the last moment as he tried to pull away causing Lazarus to tumble into a curtain and pull it from the ceiling, landing in a fabric covered heap on the floor, Wiglaf gave Tom an irritated look, 
"My hand slipped," Tom smirked, 
I managed to catch Tom's little nod to a few of his Slytherin friends who were stood off to the side smoking with a gaggle of girls, they nodded back at him with a smirk. Something told me that tonight had been a rather good night for 'business'.