Oshun had no clue how she got here, but she was here.
Between the tall blond and the tall redhead. A boy on each arm.
They stood at the doors of the Great Hall in their suits and dress and masks. Observed the alluring masquerade ball that began a bit ago.
Oshun wore a missord velvet black dress with spaghetti straps that had a slit run down her thigh, exposing her long legs. She paired the dress with black strappy heels, exposing her perfectly painted toenails.
She kept her hair natural, her curls shiny and silky as the angelically framed her face. Her mask covered the area around her eyes only, a thin black metal with black majestic designs.
Half of her mask was covered in gold designs and gems, shimmering. Her mask winged out over her temples and tied around the back of her head.
She had her usual jewelry on; her Buddha necklace and her paper ring. She added some gold bangles and gold earrings that she borrowed from Da'Shylah. She only had a red lip tint on with clear gloss over and mascara on since she was wearing a mask anyway.
Fred—on her left arm—had a tuxedo on, but instead of a blak bow, he had a dark red tie, paired with black shoes.
His diamond studs gleamed with every light that hit it and his red hair was brushed back sexily. He wore a smooth, plain white mask that had black outlines and sharp designs, covering around his eyes only.
Draco—on her right arm—wore an elegant black suit with a black button down underneath and black dress robes. His shoes were shiny and polished with his watch dazzling.
His hair was brushed back and his mask was a simple black, covering around the eyes. It had velvet designs in black and tied around the back of his head.
The three of them stood at the entrance of the Great Hall and observed the party with their siren eyes.
There was black decoration hanging on the walls and draping on the edges of the circled tables. There were gold roses in the middle of each table in vases.
There was a band at the front playing music and a dance floor. The lights were dim and flickered occasionally to red, purple, or grey.
Oshun was quite proud of her plans for the ball. It had all turned out just the way she planned.
Everyone had their masquerade masks on and their outfits on, all looking mysterious and beautiful. She couldn't even tell who was who at the moment with everyone's face hidden behind dainty or excessive masks.
With each arm looped through one of the handsome boys' on either side of her, she darted her gaze to both. "Ready?" she asked them over the music.
They nodded at her and then the three of them strolled into the ball.
Draco stopped walking for a moment, causing them all to stop. He turned his body slightly towards the girl.
He slid his hand into hers, bowed slightly, and brushed a kiss on the back of her hand. "You look absolutely enchanting," he said with a heartfelt smile.
"Why thank you. I clean up quite nicely, don't I?" Fred said smugly as he used his free hand to brush off the pretend lint from the breast of his suit.
Draco's jaws visibly set hard, his iced eyes scoring at the redhead.
Oshun lightly nudged Fred with her foot. "Thank you, Draco," she softly said to the blond.
"I'm going to find my mates first, alright?" Draco leaned in to brush an electrifying kiss on her cheek. "I'll find you soon, sweet girl." He then disappeared into the crowd.
Oshun was holding Fred's arm as he made a clear pathway for her to walk through. Her heart rate was a bit erratic at the moment with the big crowd of people, but she tried to keep herself calm.
She couldn't get over how incredibly handsome her boys looked on this night at the ball. The two boys were waiting for her solemnly at the bottom of the girls' dormitory steps.
She'd felt really flustered when both of their eyes had trailed up and down her as she made her way towards them.
She actually had no idea how she ended up having both boys as her dates, but she wasn't complaining. She just hoped that Draco wouldn't try starting anything.
Tonight was going to be fun.
Oshun was now dancing with Fred on the dance floor. She would usually never do this because of her social anxiety, but the redhead made it feel like they were the only two people on the dancefloor—in the room in general.
She focused on his amber eyes through his mask as she danced with him to this uplifting song the band was playing up front.
Her fingers were tightly locked with his, refusing to let go of him because she needed to feel him there with her or else she'd have a panic attack. A fear of being alone in the big crowd and such.
Fred was smiling with her as he spun her in a clean three-sixty before drawing her back into him. He dipped her down and his large hand ran up the slit of her dress to sneakily caress the sensitive skin of her leg.
She felt tingles rip through her core at his touch. Since he knew she wouldn't want to kiss because of her lip gloss, he inched in until there was merely a gap between their lips to give her an air-kiss.
He moved his lips to the side, so he could actually give her a kiss on the cheek.
She smiled as he lunged her back straight and continued to dance with her. They did all sorts of dance moves like the shimmy, the twist, and more she couldn't even remember the names of.
They were both laughing and messily dancing now as he swayed her and did all sorts of spins and twirls with her. He was always good at that. Always good at making her forget about the rest of the world.
But as a slow song began to play, everyone on the dance floor slowed and got together with their partners. They began to move slowly with the music.
Fred pulled Oshun into his arms before he slid one hand down to her waist, the other hand holding hers. Her one hand curled around his neck and their bodies were split by only about an inch of a gap.
Sweat sheened over her skin due to her movement and the body heat. But she didn't focus on that. She decided to focus on the redhead before her.
"Angel, have I told you that you look completely breathtaking tonight?" Fred murmured as they swayed to the song.
"Only a couple times on our way here," she said softly with a starstruck smile.
"Not enough." His head shook as he gave her hand an affectionate squeeze. "You look so irresistible, Takahashi. You're glowing."
"You don't look too bad yourself, Weasley," she said playfully with red cheeks. She leaned closer to his ear and in a hushed purr, she said, "And you'll look just as good after I rip off all those layers."
She saw in the corner of his eye as his Adam's apple bobbed when he gulped and his hand stiffen on her waist. She leaned back from him and smiled innocently at his flushed face. Even through the mask she could see his sudden fluster.
"You're going to be the death of me, Takahashi, you know that?" he said in a near rasp, eyes narrowing slightly at her. "The absolute death of me."
She shot him a curving smirk as they slow-danced to the song. "I wish we could be like this forever," she whispered to him, unable to tear her eyes from his gold ones.
"What, stuck in some annoying situation with Malfoy?" he mused as his hand left her waist to quickly brush a curl from her cheek before resting back on the curve of her waist.
"I meant in love," she clarified with a scoff, shaking her head at him. "I wish we could be in love forever."
"We can't be?" His low voice was hushing down as he drew her in closer to his large frame.
"We all die eventually," she replied with a faded smile, fingers combing through the back of his hair. My death will just be sooner than we want, Freddie.
Fred was quiet for a beat too long. "Are you in love with Malfoy as well?"
Oshun's chest fell as she exhaled a light sigh. "He doesn't know," she told the redhead quietly. "I don't want to tell him yet, so please don't say anything."
"So you're in love with him." His lips settled into a firm line.
"Is there a rule saying I can't be in love with two people at once?" She tilted her head to the side.
"It's not a usual thing," he stated blandly, blinking slowly at her.
"But it's a thing." Her hand smoothly slid from the back of his neck to the side. She grazed her fingertips gently along his jawline, keeping her gaze locked tightly with his.
"So I've heard." He nodded curtly.
"It bothers you," she said after reading the emotions behind his hooded eyes. "Why— actually, that's a stupid question. I probably shouldn't ask you why it bothers you."
"I thought what we had was... more," he said, nearly hesitating. His jaws loosened and he licked his lips. "But you have—"
"A different kind of love with you than I feel for Draco," she cut him off as gently as she could. "My love, what we have is something indescribable. Something that makes my heart feel held—makes me feel held. I don't have that with Draco. I have it with you, Fred Weasley."
Fred's entire expression softened. Nearly crumbled with such tenderness.
"So don't think for a second that I have the same love for Draco that I have for you," Oshun said firmly and sweetly, palming his jaw. "We have something I can never have with anyone else, alright? Something I don't want with anyone else."
He nodded against her touch, turning his head to plant a kiss on the inside of her palm. His eyes averted hers, now looking over her head.
She opened her mouth to ask him something, because of the wan look that overcame his face.
But before she could even say a word, she was being twirled away by Fred and her front collided with another hard chest. A soft grunt fell from her lips and her dark eyes lifted to meet with pale blue ones.
Draco smoothly and easily began to slow-dance with her, swaying with the music. His hand rested on her waist and held her hand in his other. The look on his face was calm, pleasant.
"You look very dashing tonight," Oshun crooned as her opposite hand rested upon his broad shoulder.
"I'm always dashing," he replied with a knowing look in his eyes.
"And modest too." She smiled, because how could she not with him?
He angled his head down and inched closer to kiss her, but she swerved him.
"No kiss on the lips," she said as her gaze collided back with his. "My gloss will smudge."
"That's the point." A sly grin etched on the corners of his mouth.
"No. Kissing. On. The. Lips. Mister Malfoy." Her hand cupped under his jaws, her thumb on one of his cheeks and her fingers on the opposite. She squished his cheeks with a loving smile. "Later, though. When I wipe it off, yeah?"
He nodded with an unmasked expression. He wasn't hiding from her. Not anymore. She loved it.
She let her hand rest on his shoulder once more as they swayed from side to side. Her stare never wavered from his.
"Looked like you were having a good time with Weasley," he pointed out, almost bluntly. "Dancing and laughing and smiling."
"Don't be jealous." Oshun's eyes squinted at him as she shook her head.
"I'm not jealous," he clarified. "I'm possessive. There is a big difference."
"You don't dance, Malfoy."
"Neither do you." His brows arched in challenge.
"Yeah, but you only live once, right?" she chimed with a cheerful smile. And my only life is coming to its end.
"Huh..." He glided his tongue on the inside of his cheek, intently studying her. "So that's your new mantra, is it? 'You only live once'? You've been saying that quite often."
"Let's just say I had a real eye-opener recently," she replied coolly, and lifted her shoulders in a subtle shrug.
"And that was?" He cocked a single eyebrow up at her.
"My eye-opener?" she uttered, blinking rapidly.
"Mhm." He nodded shortly.
"Well, m-my— er, well, I— my eye-opener was my eye-opener," she stammered sheepishly, feeling the heat tint her cheeks.
"When you killed Vane," Draco said, lowering his voice to a shy of a whisper, "Was that a you-only-live-once spontaneous sort of action too?"
"Draco." Oshun blew out an exasperated sigh, in spite of the tiredness that weighed her body down. It was getting more difficult to ignore. Her expression was utterly strained. "I don't— I— Why must you always interrogate me on everything? We're at a ball and we're together. Can't we just enjoy it?"
He stared at her silently for a couple seconds before he nodded. "You're right. My apologies, darling," he said earnestly with an underlayer of warmth in his tone, tightening his grip on the curve of her waist. "Let's enjoy tonight. I'm sorry, okay?"
"It's okay." She nodded with a grateful smile.
_____
"We didn't have to stay for so long." Fred knelt down in front of her. His large hands grasped her left foot and placed it on his thigh to unstrap her heel.
"I just wanted to have fun," Oshun mumbled tiredly. She was sat on the edge of her bed in her dorm, her mask now off and on her dresser. "And we still didn't even stay long. Everyone is still there."
His mask was off as well. Even his blazer, which was now around her shoulders. "Doesn't mean you still have to be there too," he reminded her, and he took her right foot to unstrap her heel.
"I guess." She sighed wearily as her shoulders visibly slumped.
He set her heels aside and took one of her feet in his grasp to rub it softly. "Do you need help to take your makeup off or with anything else before I go to grab my things to spend the night?" he asked, raising his eyes to meet hers.
She didn't answer him right away due to an itchy spot on the inside of her thigh. "Fuck," she hissed, and slid her hand under her dress to rub her skin.
"What?" Fred followed her gaze and slid his hand under her dress to feel where she was feeling. "Something hurts?"
"Itches," she mumbled, and opened the slit of her dress to look at her thigh.
On the inside, she saw redness and irritation due to her thighs rubbing together and the heat from the ball. Her skin was getting irritated and bumpy, feeling ever so itchy.
"What happened?" He looked both mortified and worried.
"My thighs were chafing," she told him as she melted under the delicacy of his fingers running over the itchy spot. "When my thighs rub together with heat, it gets all itchy and irritated."
He frowned at her. "Really?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Life of having fat thighs."
"No. Don't you dare bash your beautiful thighs." He shook his head with a stern look on his face. "Your thighs are my personal pillows, so don't talk bad about them."
"Even with my stretch marks?"
"Oh, your stretch marks." He scoffed playfully at her. "I don't know. I think they're probably the most beautiful things I've ever laid eyes on."
"You think so?" A small smile was curving onto her lips.
"Your thighs are perfect—everything about them," he told her with a flirtatious look. "They feel and look amazing when they trap my head between them."
She smiled genially at him.
He always had a way of making her feel better about something she was insecure about. She had her moments of insecurities. Everyone did. It was a part of being human.
"Do you want me to get you some cream or ice or something? Does— Does ice help?" he asked softly, gently brushing his fingertips over the irritated spot on her thigh.
She shook her head and tossed him a thankful smile. "I'm okay, Freddie, thank you," she assured him.
He set her foot down and she reached out to cradle his head in her arms. As she held his head to her chest, he leaned in and wrapped his safe arms around her waist.
She buried her nose in the top of his hair and softly breathed in his scent. Her eyes shut and she just held his head to her beating heart.
He held her back, still crouched down in front of her. "You sure you're okay, my love?" he murmured.
"Mhm." She didn't move though. Didn't let go of him or even nod. Instead, she kissed the top of his head. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." He sounded it too as he closed his own eyes.
After a few sweet minutes, she let go of his head and he stood. "I'll be back." He lowered a kiss on her head before he left her dorm.
She just sat there for a moment, too tired to even breathe. She was feeling an ache everywhere now.
Eventually, she built up the strength to stand from her bed. She shrugged off the redhead's blazer and went to hang it on the hook before heading to the bathroom.
She shut the door and stared at her reflection. To others, she would seem normal because they lacked the knowledge of her sickness.
All she saw now was a sick and tired girl, destined to be gone in less than a couple months. She couldn't unsee it.
She turned on the sink and drowned her face in puddles of water carried by her palms over the sink bowl. Her fingertips rubbed the cold water against her eyes in hopes it would make her less drowsy.
She removed her ruined mascara with a washcloth and whatever was left of her lip gloss before rinsing her face once more. She patted her face dry with a towel before shuffling out of the bathroom.
"I didn't hear you come in." She crossed to him since he was seated on the edge of her bed.
"Did you want me to stomp like an obnoxious elephant to make my presence known?" Draco's brows shot up as his hands circled to the side of her chubby thighs, rubbing up and down. His mask was off as well, his pretty-boy face exposed.
"Yeah." She nodded slowly, her eyelids droopy with fatigue. "I think I would've liked that."
"You took your lip gloss off," he pointed out as he pulled her briskly onto his lap, so she straddled him. "May I please kiss you now?"
"Yes, you may." Her hands positioned on either side of his neck.
He covered her mouth with his and this was a chaste kiss at first. But with Draco, kisses usually tended to build up into something not so chaste.
She pulled back with a scrunched nose. "You went out to smoke, didn't you?"
"Just a couple hits with Blaise—barely enough to even get buzzed. Why?" His brows furrowed in slight confusion.
"You taste like weed." Her thumb ran down his bottom lip, tugging it down gently.
"Want me to rinse my mouth with mouthwash?" he asked softly. He knew she disliked weed and any sort of smoking.
"Please." She nodded as she got off his lap.
He nodded and rose from the bed to head into the bathroom for her mouthwash. She lay down on the bed, her head on the pillow and forced herself to stay awake.
When he came back, he wasted no time before he met her mouth in another kiss, this time a messy one. He crawled onto the bed and between her legs, the mint tasting fresh on his tongue from the mouthwash.
"This dress looks almost as beautiful on as it will off," he mumbled into her bottom lip as his palms rested on either side of her head. "Do I have the honours of taking it off you tonight?"
"Mhm. Yeah." She nodded quickly as her arms curled around his neck, drawing him down to her. "Do whatever you want with me, Draco Malfoy," she whispered before kissing him hard.
Against her mouth, she felt him smirk as he kissed her back. Kissing him, she brought her hands to her chest and slid off her gold bangles. Her arm stretched out and she placed them on her nightstand.
She pressed her hands against his chest and slid them over his shoulders to pull off his dress robes. He lifted one hand from the pillow and whipped the dress robe sleeve from that arm before doing the opposite arm.
He tossed his dress robes to the floor as his kissing got more feverish and slow with heavy breathing. Her breaths fell in sync with his, equally fiery and vehement.
She fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, undoing them with ease. When she finished, he propped himself on his knees and pulled back to shrug off his shirt. It flew to the ground as he met her mouth again.
She hummed sensually into their hot kiss as her fingertips roamed his defined chest, down to his toned abs. As they kissed and took their sweet time doing so, anticipation riled up in her veins, shitting all over her fatigue.
"Are you going to rip this dress too?" she whispered between her heavy pants.
His slender fingers grasped the centre of her dress and he easily ripped it open, exposing her bare front. "Yes," he answered as his hands hungrily caressed her body. "I'll take you shopping soon, don't worry."
She hadn't worn a bra since her dress wouldn't have looked good with one, so she was in nothing but her thong and the ripped material of her dress.
She shivered at his cold hands and cool rings touching her sensitive skin. She sat up and he helped her pull off her dress, tossing it to the ground.
She lay down and tugged him down with her. His large figure fell on top of hers and one forearm rested beside her head whilst his other hand greedily glided down her body.
His hand stopped at her thigh and kneaded her flesh affectionately with a low rumble of a groan escaping his lips. He tossed her leg between his and her thigh over his hip as his body nearly grinded over hers.
They both froze their doings and their heads snapped to the door when it opened and closed.
A confused looking Fred stood there with his small bag of his belongings.
Oshun and Draco exchanged glances before looking back at the redhead.
She gave a nod at him to come over.
Everything dropped onto the floor from Fred's hands as he made his way to the bed and messily undid the buttons of his shirt. He kicked his shoes off and climbed onto the bed, his lips aggressively crashing into hers.
Draco's mouth brushed down her jawline as he moved to trap one of her legs between both of his. His kisses down her neck became more aggressive with teeth and sucking and pulling at her skin.
Oshun was melting completely under the two sexy boys above her. Her chest rose and fell too rapidly and her heart was beating triple-time in thrill.
She brought one hand to tangle in the back of Draco's platinum locks and her other hand trailing down Fred's freckled chest. She kissed the ginger hungrily and their breaths were all becoming heavily erotic.
The redhead tugged his shirt off from his broad shoulders and it flitted to the ground. His one leg got between hers, trapping her other leg between his muscular ones. He planted one hand on the headboard, the other by her shoulder.
She was wide awake now.
She was pooling in her thong and her desire for pleasure was growing rapidly. Draco's teeth bit and pulled at the sensitive skin of her neck. He left dark hickeys and kissed over them before moving onto the next piece of skin.
His cold hand travelled down her bare body and palmed her boob. He closed his fingers around the tender flesh of her breast and groaned into her neck as he squeezed it.
Fred's tongue thrust into her mouth as the hand on the headboard fell down to her body. His hand snaked all the way down her body and between her legs.
He cupped her cunt through her thong, pushing some pressure that caused her to moan tremblingly into his parted mouth. He grinned devilishly against her lips as he tore his own from hers and kissed down the opposite jawline of the blond.
Oshun took this time to catch her breath and her back was unconsciously arching from the bed. Both of her hands were threaded through both of the boys' hairs as they kissed and praised her body with their lips.
Her eyes were fluttering and breathy sighs were eliciting from her parted lips. She was expecting a lot to happen tonight, but this was certainly not one of them. She wasn't complaining though.
Draco's mouth covered the boob closest to him and he swirled his tongue around her hard nipple. She knew he had a sort of obsession with her boobs, like Fred had an obsession with her ass.
It was hardly even a sexual thing. It was more of a comfort thing. Fred just loved cuddling with his face snuggled into her bum or palming her bum cheeks and Draco just loved cuddling with her boobs in his hand or his face buried in them.
Fred peppered kisses along her collarbone and down her bicep. His hand was still cupping her cunt, feeling her arousal through the thin lace material of her thong.
The blond pulled back, propped on his knees. His chest was heaving, lips parted, and hair all messy. He studied the sight before him with lust-glazed eyes.
The ginger drew back too, propped on his knees. His amber eyes were on Oshun, staring at her intently with dilated pupils.
They towered over her. It made her abdomen flutter vividly.
She felt so exposed and so vulnerable under both their heavy gazes. Seeing them both now in front of her—abs out and toned chests exposed with both of their heads of hair messy and breathing ragged—was making her feel unexplainable things.
But the surprise on her face was unmistakable when the two boys' heads turned to each other and they stared for a moment before their lips were fused together.
Though she was stunned, she was grinning at the sight. She sat up and brushed her lips over Fred's abs as her hand caressed up Draco's abs.
The blond's hand was cupping the ginger's jaw. Fred's hand was scrawled on the back of Draco's head, pushing his lips harder into his own.
Oshun's hand circled around to Fred's lower back as she licked a stripe up his abs. She swapped and went to Draco's body, planting kisses up his defined abs.
Draco's hand was tangled in the back of her silky curls as he kissed the ginger. His hand cradled her head.
The three of them all gasped in start and their necks snapped to the door when a shrilling scream rang from the common room.
"What the fuck was that?" Fred got off the bed in a rush and jogged out of the dorm, shirtless.
Oshun and Draco both scrambled off the bed urgently. He put his button down shirt on her and buttoned up the first few buttons to cover her up.
They both rushed out of the dorm and jogged down the girls' dormitory stairs. Oshun nearly collapsed at the mortifying sight, but the blond caught her and pulled her protectively into him.
Fred was kneeling next to yet another limp body, two fingers on the neck to search for a pulse.
There was a small, horrified crowd around the body, but she got a glimpse of who it was.
Colin Creevy.
Another Muggle-born.
His body lay dead on the floor by the chairs and the table. There was a pool of blood spilling around the body and his navy-blue button down got drenched in the crimson liquid as it poured out from his lower abdomen.
His eyes were opened and staring up, unmistakably frightened and his arms and legs were sprawled out, like a star. His skin was still full of colour, but when Fred's hand dropped from his pulse-point, it told everyone in the room that Colin Creevy was dead.
Oshun gripped onto Draco, her arms painfully tight around his middle, her body turned to the grisly sight. His arm was around her, holding her close as his serious eyes stared at the body.
"Who found him?" Fred asked in a hard, urgent tone. He stood from where he was knelt down.
"I did." Parvati Patil raised a trembling hand before hugging herself. Fat tears were chasing each other down her cheeks, eyes lifting to catch Fred's. "Padma and I were on our way to our dorm since we decided to have a little girls' night with a few other mates. Then we saw Colin here."
She broke into a sob and buried her face into Padma's shoulder, who was silently crying as she held her sister.
"Someone call Dumbledore," Fred demanded as he stared down at Colin's dead eyes. In the redhead's voice, Oshun heard a tiny tremor.
A group of three rushed out of the common room to go get Dumbledore.
Oshun stared at Colin's body, her legs unsteady below her. Justin was found dead eight days after Hermione.
Eight days later, Colin turned up dead after Justin. Oshun kept count.
Dumbledore rushed into the room with a few other professors after a long time and he pushed his way through the crowd that grew. Everyone kept their distance from the body.
McGonagall gasped as a trembling hand hovered over her mouth, her eyes wide at the sight.
Dumbledore knelt down next to the dead boy and examined the body closely. "Another suicide, I presume," the headmaster said grimly. "I'll contact the authorities."
Oshun's heart was jack-hammering in her chest as her veins sped like ice. She clung tighter onto Draco.
Once was an accident, twice was a coincidence, three was a pattern.