if one of them is dead.

chapter forty-two.

Lilith.

"Do you think green is the right choice for tonight?"

"Lil, you look good in anything," Mattheo says as we're getting ready for Slughorn's end of year party in his dorm. Luna is with Blaise in his dorm. Pansy is with Draco in his, not getting ready, but probably talking shit about one of the younger Slytherin girls that has been talking to Theodore Nott lately.

Mattheo comes around to me. He's already in nice pants, but he doesn't have his shirt or tie on yet. I'm at the foot of his bed, looking over my three choices that I pulled from my wardrobe. He wraps his arms around my waist and puts his chin on my shoulder. "I don't think that it matters. It'll be off by the end of the night anyway." I roll my eyes and he kisses my cheek. "The black one," he says, walking away from me to go to his desk.

I roll my eyes again and grab the black dress from his bed. He grabs his shirt, putting it on. He starts to button it up when I start to undress. He slows his buttoning as I slip the dress on and walk over to him. "Zip it for me?" I ask, turning around.

He clears his throat and nods, zipping the back of my dress up. He places his lips on my neck for a moment before turning around to grab his tie.

✨da dwess✨

He flips up his collar and starts doing his tie. He flips the collar back down, and I go over to his nightstand. Hoops are a good enough choice for any outfit, so I put those on.

"Lil?"

I turn to him, clipping the back of the earring. "Hm?" I ask, walking over to him.

"Do I look okay?"

I laugh at him and shake my head. "You look amazing, as always. And, please don't get as nervous as you got when we had dinner with my dad."

"Oh," he says, pulling me in by the waist, "I'm never doing that again. That was the scariest few hours of my life. I got a death glare the whole time, and I know where you get it from. It was terrifying. Please never make me do that again."

"Never again," I agree, placing my lips on his.

"Ding dong, bitches," Blaise says loudly, pushing open the door. We break apart, and I smile at the sight of them.

Blaise is in black pants and a black button up. Luna is holding onto his arm, wearing a cotton candy pink dress that goes to her knees. There is a slight sparkle to the fabric, but it could just be a mesh fabric over it. There are ruffles starting at the middle of the skirt. There are very thin straps. And the bodice is a little shiny. It's minimalistic for Luna, but I still love it.

"You two look amazing," I say, going over to Mattheo's bed to grab my shoes. Basic black buckle ones, but they're velvety.

"As do you," Blaise says, mocking an old Englishman that would be alive back in the 1800's.

"I love your dress, Lilith," Luna says as I sit on Mattheo's bed and start to put on my shoes.

"Thank you, Luna. I love yours too. It's beautiful."

She smiles and does a little twirl. Blaise looks at her and smiles, admiring her.

"Blaise," I say when Mattheo wraps his arm around my waist and I do the same, "the googly eyes are kind of freaking me out. I've never seen you do that before, and it's creepy."

He rolls his eyes and chuckles, still looking at Luna.

"Shall we?" Mattheo asks, nodding to the door.

"We shall," I say, and we start out the door with Blaise and Luna following behind us.

☯︎︎

"Are you thirsty?" I ask Mattheo, moving my head to look at him. We still have our arms wrapped around each other's waists, and we haven't changed that since before we got into this place.

He turns to me, moving his head back slightly. "I'll go grab some punch." He kisses my cheek quickly before walking away to the food table.

I cross my arms around my body and look around. Blaise is near the food table, and Luna is trying to feed him a weird looking fudge. He keeps shaking his head, but eventually gives in. He tries to hide his smile but fails miserably. Luna chuckles and smiles, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. I smile, tilting my head slightly.

"Odd couple aren't they?"

I glance over at Cormac McLaggen. "I mean, sure they are. But everyone around here is an odd couple, don't you think?"

"Sure," he says, nodding and shrugging. "You're back from the dead," he acknowledges.

"Indeed," I say. "I've been back since March."

"I haven't gotten a chance to talk to you since you came back. How have you been?"

I turn my head to him, tightening my arms around myself. "I'm doing great. You know, minus the whole fighting with my boyfriend thing. But that's not important, is it?"

"Well, everyone could tell you were angry at each other. By the way," he turns to me, "are you two sill together?"

I nod, still looking at him. "We are."

I look forward again, and Mattheo stops in front of me, handing me my punch. I say a 'thank you' and he nods to me before turning to McLaggen. "Get the fuck away from my girlfriend, McLaggen, or I will throw this drink on you. Don't worry, it won't be the first time I've done it."

McLaggen stiffens and slowly starts to back away. "Bye, Lilith," he whispers, backing away faster.

"Bye," I say sweetly, waving at him as he leaves.

Mattheo rolls his eyes, wrapping his arm around my waist again. He takes a sip of his punch. "Why were you talking to him?" he asks, not looking at me, but looking directly forward.

"Because he came over to me. What was I supposed to do? Slap him?"

"I would appreciate it," he says against his cup. "Oh how I would love to see you punch him in the face."

"Lilith," Hermione breaths, suddenly in front of us. She nods to Mattheo. "Riddle, hello to you both." She turns back to me. "Have you seen Cormac?"

I nod, pointing to the way McLaggen just ran. "Yeah, he was just over here. He kind of ran away, and went that way. Why?"

She smooths over her dress, glancing around the room. "Well, I took him to the Christmas party Professor Slughorn had, you know, just to make Ron jealous, and now he won't leave me alone. Ron was busy, so I couldn't even ask to take him. Harry is off somewhere else, so I can't hide with him. I just need to get away from him."

"Well," I say, pointing to a curtain, "if I were you, I would hide behind the curtain, just disappear."

"Hermione!"

"Oh no," she says before running away.

And Mattheo and I have to contain our laughter as we watch Hermione hide from McLaggen.