What Sirius never said

Chapter 17

As it was, I let Eric lead me down into the dungeons. It wasn't hard to find the party. Slughorn had decked out the largest dungeon with streamers and silks to make it more intimate. Candles floated above the fabric, creating a dim, romantic light. A band of dwarves were playing stringed instruments in the corner and house elves wafted between guests holding trays of canapes above their heads. And the guests themselves. Where to begin. There was at least 100 people in this room. A few score were students. Mostly older students, but every now and again I spotted a band of first and second years who had clearly only been invited by association. But the adults were all recognisable. They were big names in the wizarding world. I recognised Monique Clapton, editor of the daily prophet, Janice Kartwrite was the minister for international cooperation at the ministry of magic, Eiselworth Cunningham had been published in all notable journals recently for his work in mapping magical creatures. I was... shocked, flabbergasted. My friends had told me about these parties for the last two years but I could never have imagined this. Eric took a firmer grip on my arm and pulled me towards Professor Slughorn himself. He seemed to be truly in his element, a sherry in his hand, his bronze velvet dress robes straining against his protruding belly, and his walrus moustache quivering as he talked to none other than Theodore Cheadle, the author of one of our AMT text books.
"Professor" Eric interrupted the conversation "splendid party".
"Eric! Dear boy, I hope you're enjoying yourself" Slughorn put an arm round Eric's shoulders, pulling him closer.
"Very much, Sir, thank you".
"Ho ho, and who is this? I take it Ms Greenwood here is your plus one? Hmmm. You do know how to pick 'em" he gave Eric's shoulders a squeeze.
"Thank you for having me professor" I inclined my head. Slughorn just smiled in his attempt at a fatherly way.
"Well, she caught my eye when she showed up at a duelling practice, you see sir. She had been asked to demonstrate the uses of silent spellwork in a duel and the way she faught... She was pitted against Black you see, Sirius Black, and she was truly incredible". I looked down at my feet to hide my blush.
"Whose method of silent conjugation do you practice?" A snide voice entered the conversation.
"I tried yours, but found I got on better with Lucianus Tattlebergs. I am, after all, much more versed in his theories and ways of thinking than your own great works" I responded swiftly to Theodore Cheadle, looking him in the eye. He peered down his nose at me, sceptically but before any true animosity could grow between us Slughorn jumped in.
"Ho ho. She is brilliant" he eyed me, as if trying to assess whether I could become another 'asset' to add to his collection. "You have been invited to take part in Advanced Magical Theory have you not?" He asked and I nodded curtly. Between one thing and another, I wasn't particularly enjoying this conversation.  Slughorn interpreted my silence differently.
"Hmm, a bit shy in the company of such a great name as Mr Cheadle? Well, that's understandable. We can't all be used to such high company. But where are my manners. I don't think I've introduced you properly. Ms Greenwood, you seem to have worked out that this is Theodore Cheadle. Eric, dear boy, he wrote some great works and developed some interesting theories into magic, such as Cheadles 5 rules of summoning which I am sure you've heard of. And Theodore, this is Eric Roswell. His father is Kenndrick Roswell, he wrote the ammendments for the defense against dark magic laws, and his mother is the celebrated healer Katalia Roswell. I'm sure you know her of course. They were both my pupils. Spectacular students". So that was how Eric got invited to these parties. Powerful parents.
"And this here is Trudy Greenwood. Evidently a brilliant witch, though not very good at potions if I must say" he chuckled. "Well now, I must move on. Can't spend all night ignoring the rest of my guests hmm" and with that, he left. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Cheadle took the same queue, bowed and turned away without another word.
"Well, that was interesting" I muttered to Eric. "They do say don't meet your heroes".
"Cheadle was your hero?" He asked, taking my arm and steering me towards the drinks.
"Well, not really. But I did admire him for his research. I just didn't know that he was such an arse. And the annoying thing is I don't even know what he was being an arse about. Should I accuse him of being sexist and assuming I can't do silent spell work because I am a witch, because that is such an outdated theory, or should I accuse him of being snooty and looking down on other excellent theorists like Tattleberg just because they're not him?" I huffed. Eric just looked at me like I was going crazy.
We reached the table and helped ourselves to glasses of elderflower wine. I assumed it was non alcoholic, though who knew with Slughorn. We turned to look at the rest of the party. I could see Adam dancing with Sophie on the dance floor, Jane and Charlie were stood off to one side, grinning at each other, Kate and Andy were sat at a table eating canapes off a tray they had commandeered and Helen seemed to be wafting through the guests sharing conversation, smiles, laughs as if she was born to be at parties. Although, as the daughter of a politician, she probably was. I couldn't see Sirius or James, but that wasn't too surprising really. They were probably off making mischief.
"Shall we go and sit down with Andy and Kate?" I offered, but Eric shook his head.
"No, let's socialise. I've a list of people I want to meet tonight, and I must show you off while I've got you" he winked again.
An hour or so later and I was about done. We had met politicians, researchers, quidditch players, and it was finally my turn to have a say in what we did. The elderflower wine was definitely alcoholic and I was starting to feel the effects. My brain buzzed and I was feeling tired, but I at least wanted to dance while I was here. There must have been a silencing charm around the musicians because as soon as we stepped onto the dance floor, the volume increased a lot. The dwarves were playing a jive and we joined in with gusto, jiving and jitterbugging. Moving in time with the music. I let Eric lead as we wove our way through the crowd on the dance floor. I was having a great time, laughing and dancing away. Eric seemed to be having a good time too. But suddenly he turned serious. I realised Eric's hands were on my arms, clamping them to my body. He was holding me in place as he pressed in close to me. I looked up at him, at his hard eyes trained on mine, then over his shoulder. We were on the edge of the dance floor, alone. No one was looking at us, everyone else was far too focused on their dancing. I was uncomfortable, I didn't want to be here, least of all with Eric, and I couldn't get away. With a chill I realised that over the volume of the music, no one would hear if I shouted out. No one would notice. No one would come to my aid. My friends weren't there, no one was. In that moment I felt so alone. So scared.
"I'm going to kiss you now" Eric said.
"Don't" I protested, but he took no notice.
I felt so powerless, so pathetic, so... stupid for not bringing my wand!! Why had I not brought it? Why?! Time seemed to slow down as Eric moved his face closer to mine, coming in for a kiss, when I felt it. In my desperation I had a strange feeling of the magic all around me. Of the magic inside myself. And I don't know what happened but in my fear, my desperation, my anger that he would do something like this, I sent a surge of it through my skin and into Eric. I hadn't felt anything like that since I was a child, since I had learnt to control my powers. It had the desired effect. He let go and took a step back as if he had been stung. His hands were already swelling up, but I didn't wait to watch. I ran. As tears pricked my eyes I pelted across the dance floor, through the crowd and out into the silent corridor. I kicked off my heels, scooping them up as I went, putting as much space as I could between me and that bastard who had tried to take advantage of me. As I ran I felt a hand catch my wrist. I wrenched my wrist trying to pull it free from my assailant. I spun on the bare balls of my feet to yell, only to find Sirius looking back at me, concern filling his eyes.
"Tru, what..?" He started
"He tried to... tried to... force himself on me" I choked out between my sobs.
Immediately Sirius' face darkened, his eyes grew hard. He let go of me and turned back towards the party. I caught his wrist this time.
"Sirius don't. I don't want people to know. Just leave it".
He spun back around, hissing angrily into my face "He deserves to rot in hell for what he did to you Trudy. I don't care who knows, he deserves to be ruined. The fucking bastard".
I had never seen him this angry. "Sirius don't" I begged. His eyes softened slightly when he looked at me.
"Go back to your dormitory Trudy. I'll deal with him".
I fled.