Callisto

11

Christmas Day in the girl's dormitory could be described in one word: Pandemonium. The girls were scurrying back and forth, talking a mile a minute, and Callisto was glad to get out of the chaos and go to breakfast, though things weren't much better there. Sarafina was still gloomy, Adele was distracted, and Louisa was with Tadhg, all giggly and loved up.

"Can't you two get a room?" Sarafina snapped after another eruption of giggles as Louisa tried to throw a grape into Tadhg's mouth and it fell onto the stone floor.

"Yes," Callisto supported this view. "You're sickening."

"Hark at Miss Grumpy Guts," Adele said. "What about perfect Jaron?"

Callisto shrugged, looking over at where he was laughing with his friends.

Sarafina continued lowly, jerking her head to where Montague was sitting alone. "Who do you think he's going with?"

"Nobody," Tadhg supplied. "He couldn't find a date."

"What a surprise," Adele said, as Louisa threw the grape into his open mouth perfectly.

Callisto bit into her toast and looked towards Montague – he noticed her, raising his head from his cereal, and he stared right at her with cold green eyes, and grinned the special Montague grin, the grin that came when Orson would find his possessions thrown over the seventh floor staircase, or his books scribbled on. She looked back down at her toast, but her appetite was gone.

Callisto got ready in the dormitory with the other girls. Louisa helped with her hair, and Adele said she had earrings to match the dress, then was disappointed when Callisto told her she didn't have her ears pierced.

"Never mind," she said. She was rather pale herself, wearing long black dress robes, her hair loose around her face. When Louisa and Callisto suggested fetching Sarafina, she said she had to go and meet Grace, and disappeared down the stairs.

Louisa sighed. "Those two," she said. "I swear."

They to the Ravenclaw Common Room, where they asked a fifth year to get Sarafina. They waited outside for a moment before the door opened again. Sarafina wasn't dressed. She was wearing fluffy pyjamas and sheep slippers.

"Sarafina!" Louisa said, scandalised. "Why aren't you dressed?"

"I told you, I'm not going."

"But – but you have to go! Everybody else is."

"Well I'm not. Besides, I don't have a date."

"That doesn't matter! You can stick with me and Tadhg."

She snorted. "Yeah, and be a third wheel."

"Come on. Please, Sarafina. It won't be the same," Callisto said. "Please."

Sarafina sighed. "All right, then," she said. "But I'm not dancing."

Eventually, she came out, resplendent in dusty pink robes and high heels, her long brown hair in a complicated crown of plaits. She looked lovely, but she had set them back so much that they were late. Jaron and Tadhg were waiting in the Great Hall as they came down the steps.

"Where have you been?" Jaron demanded.

"Emergency!" Callisto huffed. "Has it started yet?"

"Just then. We'll have missed the opening," he looked annoyed. "What sort of emergency?"

"Oh, just Sarafina's dress," she said vaguely.

"Couldn't you have let Louise sort it out?"

"Louisa," she corrected. "No. We had to wait. We're friends."

"Friends," he said, unusually sourly. "Well, it seems like they matter more to you than I do."

Callisto stared at him. "Oh Jaron, it's different! Please don't make a scene. Let's go in, then."

He was still irritated, but took her arm, going through the doors to the Great Hall, which had been decorated with frost and mistletoe. The house tables were gone, replaced with smaller ones which were lit by small lanterns. Jaron had been right, the opening had finished. All of the champions had already been seated, and the others were following. Adele was sitting with Grace at one of the tables, and Callisto made to move towards her, but Jaron stopped her.

"For pity's sake, Callisto, you can have a girly chat later. Can't you sit with me?"

Callisto was a little annoyed by how he was acting, but sat with him beside his friends, who grinned at her. "This is the bird then, Jaron?" one asked.

"On the nose, mate," he said, putting his hand on her knee. Callisto gave an uncomfortable smile. "Hi," she said quietly.

They started talking about Quidditch, which Callisto wasn't interested in. The food arrived, and she picked at hers, not really listening. Jaron kept trying to pull her close, practically drawing her into his lap, but she pulled away, making his friends laugh again. She wished she hadn't sat here. Jaron was unfamiliar around these friends, louder, more crude, and she hated it. Sarafina came over after a while, and hissed, "I hate this."

Some of the lads whistled.

"She's Callisto's friend?" One of them said in wonder. "Looks like you picked the wrong one there, Jaron mate!"

"Oh fuck off, you neanderthals," Sarafina snapped. "Take your brain out of your arse, if you can find it. Will you come to the bathroom with me, Callisto?"

"Yes," she said, taking her bag and getting up.

In the bathroom, Sarafina topped up her makeup. "This ball is such bollocks," she fumed. "Why are you sitting with those bastards anyway, Cal?"

She shrugged uncomfortably. "They're Jaron's friends. He's....acting differently."

She hadn't wanted to sound hurt, but Sarafina gave her a sympathetic look.

"Come and sit with me when we go back," she said, uncapping her mascara. "We can judge them all together."

Callisto paused. "What about....Adele?"

Sarafina's hand slipped and mascara went around her eye. "Oh fuck!" She said, fetching tissue and wiping it quickly. "What about her?"

"Well...." She hesitated, not wanting Louisa to get in trouble. "I think....you like her."

Sarafina didn't deny it like she thought she would. Her shoulders slumped and she lowered the tissue from her face, where the mascara mark was still there, like she'd been crying.

"It's not like I can do anything about it," she mumbled. "She hates me now. And anyway, my mother...." She swallowed, then wet the tissue under the tap and wiped the mascara mark off. "Whatever," she said. "Let's get back."