The Oldest Potter

13. After Party.

I held Stephanie's hand as we exited our room; Stephanie began to climb the stair.

I thought we were leaving the dormitory. "Where are you going?"

           "We're taking the secret way out." She glanced back at me before continuing up the staircase.

          "There's a secret passage in the girls' dormitory?"

            "Of course," I could hear the 'duh' in her voice. "Would you be surprised if I said it leads to the boys' dormitory?"

              "ugh!" I laughed and pushed her a bit. "You snake."

She stopped with this look of horror on her face. "Honey we both know I'm not interested in those pompous little boys." She laughed turning away from me to take me higher up the tower.

The painting that she stopped in front of was of a snake coiled in a boil, it lifted its head when Steph placed her hand on the portrait. The snake hissed the painting swung forward into a small hallway. She removed her wand from a thin slip inside of her dress.

            "Lumos." She slowly stepped into the hole in the wall, checking behind us to make sure we weren't being followed. "Follow me."

She tugged on my hand pulling me in after her; the hallway was dark and I had to duck so I didn't hit my head on the door frame. "Jesus Steph."

She glanced back at me. "What?" She took a left at the corner. "Scared of a little adventure." The mocking tone in her voice was unmistakable.

             "You wish." I watched the light from her wand as we crept through the small hall, with my free hand I reached for my own wand. "I'm more afraid of twisting my angle in these heels."

She stopped slowly and turned towards me again. The hallway was so narrow and dark I couldn't see over her shoulder. Her eyes roamed over my form; without hesitation, she commented. "They're hot though."

I giggled and looked away from her, she was so close I could smell the peppermint on her breath. When I looked up to meet her blue eyes again I notice how dark they looked under the silver glow of her wand. I sucked in a breath, "How do you even know where this party is?"

            "I have my ways." She shrugged; slowly twirling her lit wand between her fingers. "An ex-girlfriend of mine invited me to one of his parties when I was 12."

Excuse me? "Wait," I raised my hand, aiming my wand away from her face, to point at her. "When you were 12?" I narrowed my eyes and took a step closer. "What were you doing?"

She smiled with a roll of her eye. She tugged on my hand once then continued to walk. "Nothing bad, obviously, but this was when Diggory wasn't all that and a bag of crisps." She shook her head like she was replaying memories in her head. We turned right and descended down a spiral staircase. "Before puberty, he wasn't all that cute."

          "Damn."

            "I know I'm a bitch." But I could hear her joking.

             "I'm not complaining."

She let go of my hand to reach out towards another snake painting; he rested her hand on the snake and once again it swung open. She turned towards me with a grin. "There are a bunch of these around the castle." She poked her head out to make sure the coast was clear before stepping out. "It's cool because only Slytherins can use them."

I followed closing the painting softly behind me. "It that how we're getting to Cedric's party?"

She glanced up and down the hall before pointing left. "Sort of." I turned, lighting my wand so I could see better in the poorly lit hall. Steph quickly caught up with me stepping in pace as she snuck around. "We're actually going to the East Dungeons."