GLORY // book one

- PART 9 -

THEO

~

AFTER YEARS OF DEALING with me, you would think my roommates had more sense than to goad me into anything. They clearly didn't. Here I was, hair pinned back painfully, dress on, makeup done. The girls of my nightmares were flirting with whatever male gaze they attracted, leaving me alone for once.

Cassius had disappeared into a corner with some girl and neither Flint nor Adrian were insight. My so-called roommates were all flirting with various boys, only the Pure-blooded of course. After prior awful experiences hexing drunken fools, I had learned better than to be alone at a Slytherin party. People liked to drink, no matter what house it seemed. A few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were inside the Room of Requirement— a clever place Cassius had discovered our second year —with the mostly Slytherin crowd, food served and music humming.

The worst thing about one of Cassius' parties was his rule about coming and going; you came within a half an hour of dinner ending and couldn't leave before midnight. That way, if you got caught and Filch found the party, at least it had lasted a while. That rule was one of the reasons I avoided Cassius' parties. Spending hours at a time forced to watch teens swap spit and pretend that they could dance— it wasn't something that interested me whatsoever.

Still, as the ambassador of Slytherin or whatever, I was forced to be in the public eye, it seemed. And not even my lack of patience and possible anger issues could keep me from this travesty tonight. My chest felt tight and at this point, I didn't know if it was from the dress or something else.

I could feel my years of street cred washing down the drain, like dirt after a Quidditch match. It made me want to start a fight. And after seeing Potter and his little friends sneaking in, I got an idea of who the perfect target would be.

Striding past the trio, I sent a glare towards the Weasley twins. After seeing their younger brother and realizing fighting a couple of Fourth Years would just make me look like an idiot, Fred was the next best option.

I got in the redhead's face, well, I tried to— seeing as everyone at this school seemed to be freakishly gigantic. The annoyance's brother wriggled his eyebrows, claiming he was going to go get a drink.

George offered me a grin, unfazed by my scowl. "Hello, love—"

"You are the most— most— the biggest jackass that I've ever met, George Weasley!" I announced, fumbling over my words as I struggled to find an insult. I hated this. Hated it.

All of a sudden— it seemed —everyone was just walking all over me. Forcing me into hats and dresses and messing with my glasses— Like I was some invalid who couldn't take care of myself! Like I hadn't been taking care of myself for the past sixteen years!

And yet, even facing me looking as pissed off as can be, George just raised an eyebrow. "You're very cute when you're angry, my love."

A noise of discontent left my lips, a huff of built of anger coursing through me. Still, that annoyance just smiled at me, oblivious or just uncaring. I turned on my heel, moving as far from him as I could get. My attempt at fighting had failed, and now I needed to regroup.