Degazo's Delirium

Lughnasadh; P1C7 (2/2)

Every guest wore their masks, complying with the rules of this party. Their true identities must be entirely discarded before the party can continue. A shot girl waited at the front of the line up, ready to give the guests new aliases as they showed their paper invites and spoke their true names for the last time that night.

Harley decided not to stay for that part, as he had already set aside and chosen aliases for himself and his people.

As he walked away from the guests, he took his own name tag out of his pocket, reading 'Nerium.' Everyone's name tonight would be a flower.

Ron's was Eucharis, Elvira was Gypsophilia, and Riordan was Trachelium.

Harley prepared wine glassed to start the night with as people began to fill in the nightclub, mingling.

Harley spent the entire night behind the bar until a few of the shot girls began rounding up the guests to the smaller tables. The matchmaking had started. While Harley was prepared to keep himself away from the match making, Elvira and Riordan approached him in their matching outfits and masks, dragging him to the smaller tables, which was a struggle to do even for two.

"I don't want to!" He protested.

"You've been lonely too long!" Elvira cried. Finally giving in, she let the shot girl guarding the area of tables tell him where to sit.

"So, Mister De- I mean Nerium. You will be seated at station 7, unmoving." She told him, pointing to a table that had a small basket in the middle, a number seven floating over it.

This matchmaking part of the festival was almost like a game. Half the people would be unmoving, meaning they sat at a single station while others rotated through the stations every two minutes. Once a round was complete, the stations would be reassigned for round two.

Harley sat down glumly at station 7, like he was told. Just a few moments later, everyone was placed and the matchmaking was ready to begin. The first few people he was matched with he didn't recognize at all, which led to some very silent and awkward conversations. Then, a platinum blond sat down across him. The blond he recognized, but the man he did not.

His hair was long, pulled back into a pony tail tied off with a black ribbon. His suit was the epitome of Slytherin; fancy, green, silver, and black. His mask was a silver piece that showed only the bottom third of his face, fangs coming down his cheeks from the mask. While the mask had a very angry appearance, kind sky blue eyes stared at him behind it.

"Hello." He greeted, his voice seeming somewhat familiar as well.

"Hello." Harley replied curtly.

"I saw you earlier. Throwing a fit because you didn't want to join in." The man said, his name tag reading Dianthus. That was a Carnation if Harley wasn't mistaken.

"I don't particularly like interacting with new people." Harley replied.

"Any adult could suck it up. Are you a child?" Dianthus asked.

"I'm fifteen, actually." Harley stated, pursing his lips in annoyance.

"Oh!" Dianthus replied. "I know I asked the question but I didn't expect that answer. I'm thirty seven, I almost expected you to be the same age."

Now, Harley was interested.

"What would cause you to think that?" He asked, leaning in as a look of amusement and interest took over his face.

"Well, I must admit the features that I can see would lead me to believe you to be a young man, but your height and presence was what convinced me that you were older." Dianthus explained to him.

"Yeah? I bet you would love to feel my height and presence right now." Harley smirked at him, leaning closer so that Dianthus could see his amusement.

Dianthus spluttered in surprise, an embarrassed blush drawing onto his face though his mask hid it well. Harley let out a laugh so hard his shoulders shook and he lowered his head. He stayed that way for a few moments before lifting his head to shine his gorgeous smile onto Dianthus, who just now got a beautiful view of the other man's silver canines and other pearly whites.

"You are... an interesting creature." Dianthus laughed slightly as the original shock wore off. "A very shocking joke from a very shocking character."

"Who said I was joking?" Came Harley's immediate reply. An open mouthed Dianthus stared back at him, unsure of what his next move should be. After all, he hadn't really had any romance in his life after his father arranged for him to marry a woman. Women were something he had no interest in whatsoever, which actually made the pair of them quite perfect for each other as his 'wife' wasn't exactly interested in men either. Though, he knew enough to know that whatever this Nerium character was doing was not romance. He was definitely not romanced. Especially not by a fifteen year old. For god's sake, the boy was his son's age!

"Putting aside the jokes, I actually really like your outfit. It's the epitome of Slytherin." Harley told him.

"Thank you. I'm glad you could see what I was going for. I'm a pureblood slytherin after all." Dianthus explained proudly, almost puffing his chest out.

That was when it clicked for Harley. He was speaking to Lucius Malfoy. The other clearly had no clue who he was talking to, considering the last time they actually came face to face, Harley was Harry Potter. To abide to the laws of the festival, Harley did not reveal that he knew.

"I can one-up you on that one." Harley laughed.

"One-up me? Impossible. I am the epitome of Slytherin and blood purity. You said so yourself." Dianthus scoffed.

"Do you know of vampires?" Harley asked, acting as if it was a sudden, off-topic question.

"I do. I know everything there is to know about what exists in this world." Dianthus stated proudly. "You are not a vampire."

"Am I not? Take a good long look into my eyes" Harley told him, leaning in closer. Lucius did as well, searching the other man's eyes for a clue as to what he was talking about as the other searched his.

It came to a point where Dianthus was about to admit defeat before a shot girl tapped Nerium on his shoulder. As the man turned to look at the shot girl, light suddenly reached his eyes and the telltale sign of gold shimmered in his eyes. Dianthus's eyes widened as he realized just who he was talking to.

In shock, he barely registered the shot girl whispering into Nerium's ear and then Nerium turning back to face him.

"I must take my leave now. Something important has happened." Harley explained, kissing the blond on the cheek in a flash moment before walking away.

His shock now doubled, Dianthus stood up in a huff, attracting the attention of all the others.

"ROYAL!" He shouted after the man, who hid a smirk.