20. Chapter 20

"What the bloody hell was that?" Finn whispers as the seventh years stagger out of the D.A.D.A. classroom on Friday morning.

"A disaster, is what." His girlfriend's round, cute-as-a-button face has gone gray at the edges, almost sickly-looking. "I was doing fine until boggart-Paige started scolding me. In Vietnamese. That means she's really mad." Rose shudders. "I didn't even know boggarts could talk."

"I handled mine all right, but the wardrobe wouldn't budge," Bazel Warv says mournfully as he lumbers past them. "And I've been working on that Knockback Jinx since September, too."

"The wardrobes were resistant to magic." Korr Sella's cool, confident tone belies the fact that she and the other Slytherins had looked just as traumatized as the rest of the class upon exiting the room. It's only now that they're in the hallway that they've begun to regain their composure. "I don't know how Professor Solo did it, but they were. You had to target certain spots in order to blast the whole thing backwards."

Rey had figured that out almost too late, casting a successful Knockback Jinx on her wardrobe when there were only seconds left on the clock. Before that, she'd been shaken by the form her boggart had assumed— one of the school owls had flown out of the wardrobe, clutching in its talons a scroll of parchment that bore her N.E.W.T. results, every subject marked T for Troll. She'd managed to center herself enough for the marks to transform into renditions of actual trolls in tutus, just like in the tapestry on the seventh floor; this had allowed her to defeat the boggart with the Riddikulus charm, but her quick thinking had barely been enough to make up for the time she'd lost wrestling with the essay portion of the test.

A written exam and a practical— Solo was very much off his rocker.

"Forget the magic-resistant wardrobes," Jess says. "What I want to know is— how did Professor Solo round up so many boggarts?"

"Maybe that's why he never joins us for meals," quips Elliver Olim. "He's too busy tramping about in the woods, shoving boggart after boggart into a sack."

A burst of much-needed merriment ripples through the crowd, but it's not enough to alleviate some students' anxieties.

"If the N.E.W.T.s are anything like this, I'm going to fail!" cries Reeqo Swen, one of the Ravenclaws. He then promptly bursts into tears.

"C'mon, mate, hospital wing for you," Seff says, leading his friend away. "Madame Kalonia's always got loads of Calming Draughts at the ready during exam week."

Rey feels a twinge of guilt as she watches Seff and Reeqo go. Instead of giving Seff her answer, she'd avoided him all of yesterday— in her defense, Mothma's Transfiguration exam had been similarly brutal, and it had driven all thoughts of the ball to the back of her mind.

She's running out of time and excuses, though.

As she makes her way to the Great Hall with Finn and Rose, Rey can't help but shoot one last glance at the D.A.D.A. classroom over her shoulder. It should be empty now save for Professor Solo, who's probably packing up his things. He had presided over the exam with his usual sternness, with those piercing eyes that had refused to meet hers— although she can't exactly blame him for that, it's not like gawking at her the same way she probably gawks at him will do anything to help their situation. He'd nodded at her after she shoved the wardrobe back, and she'd murmured a soft "Bye, sir" that went unanswered as she scurried past him and out of the room.

She has to hand it to him— he's great at pretending she wasn't bouncing on his lap last Wednesday.

Rey feels a little sore from that, but in a more pleasant way this time.

"Eurydice." Tallie takes her by the arm once their little Gryffindor contingent— and one Hufflepuff, in the form of Rose— reaches the second floor landing. "We're all waiting with bated breath— are you going to the ball with Seff Hellin?"

"I haven't spoken to him yet," Rey says. "It's been a bit mad, with exams and everything."

"Never pegged you for the type to be grade-conscious, Niima," remarks Gandris Dyun. "Saw your boggart, too. I guess we're all really buckling down for this final year, yeah?"

"I guess," Rey mumbles. She knows why her boggart had looked like that— her future in the wizarding world depends on how well she does in her N.E.W.T.s. If she flunks, she'll never be able to be independent, she'll never be free from her parents and the kind of life that she lived before getting her Hogwarts letter.

The mere thought is too much to bear.

"You could do worse than Seff, you know," Tallie says to Rey. "He's not a bad sort."

Jess smirks. "Didn't you once tell me back in first year that you wanted to bully him?"

Tallie makes no effort to deny it. "He was such a teacher's pet. Still is, but—" She shrugs— "he's more tolerable now, or perhaps I've learned to tolerate him. Anyway, my point is, you should say yes, Rey. It's going to be so much fun."

Noticing Rey's discomfiture, Rose charges in to quickly change the subject. "Who are you going with, Tallie?"

"My boyfriend, of course!"

"Oh, are you and Keyan back on again, then?" Rose asks politely. "I didn't know that."

"Well—" Tallie took a deep breath, then launched into one of her trademark monologues with enthusiasm— "he was the one who wanted to get back together. This is your last chance, I warned him, and he promised he wouldn't be an ass anymore, and so I said..."

While Rose's tactic had worked in taking the heat off of Rey, it does mean that she now has to listen to yet another chapter in the never-ending saga that is Tallie's tumultuous relationship with Keyan Farlander, the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Rey darts her best friend a grateful look; in response, Rose makes a face at her that plainly states, You owe me one.

Later in the afternoon, Rey sits her Potions exam and it doesn't go any better than Defense Against the Dark Arts— it's even more of a travesty, as a matter of fact. She mixes in the armadillo bile that turns her Wit-Sharpening Potion purple, and then she forgets to let the brew simmer for ten minutes before adding ginger root.

Her cauldron explodes in Hux's face as he's inspecting her progress.

An enraged Hux assigns a thoroughly depressed Rey a detention and sends her out of the dungeons without completing her practical. There's only one other student in the corridor— Seff, who's a dab hand at Potions and had finished early, and is now waiting for his friends.

"What was that?" He peers at Rey in concern. "I heard an explosion, then yelling."

"I think I failed my exam," Rey says, ashen-faced.

"Not to worry," Seff rushes to assure her, "you can make it up in the next one. And, remember, your N.E.W.T. won't be affected by whatever final mark Hux gives you, you just have to scrape by enough that he'll clear you to sit the test in July. I reckon you could get away with two more failed exams, even."

Rey snorts at that. Seff grins and, as she looks at his open, honest face, she knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that if she were to have a nervous breakdown like Reeqo had, he would escort her to the hospital wing for a Calming Draught with no hesitation, even if she hasn't given him her answer yet.

She remembers Professor Solo telling her that she would someday regret it if she missed out on this experience. She remembers how impassive his expression had been.

"I do want to go to the ball with you," she finds herself saying. Watching as Seff's eyes light up and his smile widens. "But," she continues, because she needs to be honest, he deserves it for her to be honest, "I'm not really looking for— for anything at the moment, and this probably won't change. I'd like for us to go as friends. If that's not all right, I understand. You still have time to ask someone else."

Seff blinks. He looks a little crestfallen at first, and then gradually, ruefully accepting. "I would love to go as friends."

"You would?"

He nods. "You're great company and it'd be fun to hang out with you and Finn and Rose for a night. Even if you lot are Gryffindors." She chuckles and, encouraged, he adds, "I won't lie, I was hoping for something more, sort of, but I understand. It's going to be brilliant either way."

And Rey smiles at him, and she thinks that it actually might be.

✨✨✨

At lunch the next day, Hux— his pointy face riddled with the plasters that Madame Kalonia had slapped over the boils caused by the rogue cauldron— marches over to the Gryffindor table and hands Rey her detention slip without a word. She reads the contents with a sinking heart as he walks away to take his place with the other teachers.

"Blimey, a night detention." Finn lets out a low, sympathetic whistle, perusing the slip over Rey's shoulder. "Doesn't the man know it's a weekend?"

"That's probably why he assigned it," Rey grumbles. She has to polish the suits of armor in the Vastus Vestibule starting from nine o'clock later tonight until she's done. Without magic.

If memory serves, there are twenty suits of armor in that antechamber. It'll take her hours.

She won't be able to meet Solo at the Room of Requirement.

"Hux is such a wanker." Finn glares in the direction of the faculty table at the front of the Great Hall. "Want me and Rose to help out? We can hide under the cloak."

Rey's tempted by the offer but, in the end, she tells Finn that she'll be fine on her own. Her friends badly need their rest after a grueling week. So does she, come to think about it, but there's nothing to be done. Hux had added a note stating that he'll check the Vastus Vestibule first thing in the morning, and if he's not satisfied she'll have to do it all over again the following night.

Wanker.

She spends most of the remaining day playing Monopoly with Finn and Rose in the Room of Requirement— they find the Muggle board game tucked away under a pile of old textbooks. Friendship— and Finn and Rose's relationship— is put to the test dozens of times. Afterwards, Rey sneaks away to Professor Solo's office, rapping sharply on the door until it swings open and he's gazing down at her, a hand on the doorknob and his quizzical expression turning into one of slight alarm.

"Rey. It's not a good time. Headmaster Kenobi is coming over for tea. He should be here any minute."

She fights down the crushing tide of disappointment after disappointment. "I just wanted to let you know that I can't meet you tonight. Professor Hux gave me an evening detention and I have to polish all the armor in the Vastus Vestibule. I'll be at it for hours, probably."

"What?" Solo's dark eyes narrow. The hand that's not holding the doorknob clenches into a fist at his side. "Did Hux give a reason, or is he just being a power-tripping weasel as per usual?"

"Well, I may have forgotten to let my Wit-Sharpening Potion simmer for ten minutes before adding the ginger root, and I may have called him over in a panic when things started getting— bubbly—"

"Ah. So it exploded in his face." A hint of a reluctant smile flickers at the corner of Solo's mouth. "That's why he has all those bandages." He seems inordinately pleased for a while, and then he sobers again, a wrinkle furrowing his pale brow. "But that's part of the hazards of the job of training young witches and wizards. He shouldn't give you a detention for that. I can talk to Obi-Wan—"

Rey's already shaking her head. "That'd be really suspicious, you going out of your way to cancel a punishment given by another teacher. It's fine, we can meet some other night—"

"Rey." Solo interrupts her with a curt edge to his tone. "I am less concerned about meeting you than I am about you having to perform this exhausting menial task right on the heels of exam week."

"Oh." She flounders for a bit, startled. "Well, it's still going to be suspicious, and Hux'll make the rest of the term hell for me if I manage to worm my way out of his detention. I'll be all right, I've got all of Sunday to rest."

He sighs. "Very well."

They stare at each other. The moment hanging on the sense of something unfinished, like there's something else that she needs to do.

Solo's eyes drift to her lips but he stays where he is. It's almost like he's waiting.

"Er— goodbye, then!" Rey says in a panic, then she turns and flees.

As she starts to descend the staircase that leads to the classroom, Solo calls out a soft, "Goodbye, Rey." He sounds disappointed, but— just as she's about to stop and look back at him— she hears the door of his office creak inexorably shut.

✨✨✨

Nine in the evening finds Rey lugging a bucket filled with rags, a can of Madame Glossy's Silver Polish, and a can of Winky Crockett's Elbow Grease into the Vastus Vestibule. It's an antechamber to the main entrance of the Clock Tower, located on the third floor, and the walls are lined with suits of armor bearing various heraldic emblems on their shields.

It's grueling work, rubbing a rag dipped in cleaning solution over a patch of metal until it gleams and then repeating the process all over again. A pleasant surprise comes in the form of Jess and Kaydel dropping by at the end of their rounds to keep her company until it's time for them to head to their respective dorms— not even prefects can stay out all night. A much less pleasant surprise comes in the form of Unkar Plutt, who pokes his head in from time to time to cackle at her as she grits her teeth and fantasizes strangling him with the dirty rags.

Then there are the castle ghosts. Less trafficked areas of Hogwarts such as the Vastus Vestibule are their usual abode, and several of them occasionally drift past Rey en route to their customary haunts, the friendlier ones stopping for a brief chat.

By one in the morning, though, Rey is well and truly alone, sweat dripping down her brow and five suits of armor left to polish. She hasn't paused to catch her breath at all, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible, but this is proving to be ill-advised as her arms and back hurt like there's no tomorrow.

"Stupid Hux. Bloody tosser," she chants under her breath until it becomes her own personal mantra.

A gleam of opalescent silver flashes at the corner of her eye. At first, she thinks that it's another ghost but, upon looking around, she sees Ben Solo's Patronus gliding gracefully towards her, the radiant outline of a white stag burning through the shadows.

Rey's heart skips a beat. She goes back to her polishing with a soft smile curving her lips.

The stag stays with her all through the night, a silent guardian. When she's finally done, it keeps pace with her as she puts the supplies back in the storage closet and then as she heads to Gryffindor Tower. Despite the weariness gnawing at her bones, her steps are as light as air, as light as the Patronus walking beside her, accompanying her through Hogwarts' deserted hallways.

The Fat Lady is fast asleep, snoring like a chainsaw. Rey has to say the password four times before the portrait cracks one bleary eye open and swings aside to reveal the passageway to the common room, muttering all the while about inconsiderate students.

Rey turns to Solo's Patronus. It regards her quietly, glimmering as if carved out of stardust, and she's reminded of him— soft-gazed and tentative, standing in the doorway of his office, waiting for something.

Rey leans forward, pressing a kiss to the tip of the stag's silvery nose. It doesn't feel like anything, but when she closes her eyes she can almost imagine that it's Solo's lips against hers.

A Patronus is an extension of the soul, after all.

"Good night," she murmurs, straightening up. The stag's ears twitch once, twice, and then it bounds away, vanishing into the gloom.

✨✨✨

On Monday, December sixteenth, a sort of fevered state engulfs the student populace. No one can concentrate during lecture and more than a few spells go horribly awry. When the exasperated professors teaching the last classes of the day finally give up and dismiss, it seems as if the very foundations of the castle shake with the footsteps of hundreds of teenagers stampeding to their dormitories in order to get ready for the Celestial Ball.

It's utter pandemonium in Rey's quarters.

"Jess!" Tallie screeches, barefoot and clad only in a pink bathrobe. "Have you seen my mascara, I was holding it only a second ago—"

"Who cares about your mascara, Tallissan!" Jess is near tears as she holds a mirror to her face, staring at her reflection in absolute horror. "I have a pimple!"

Tallie pauses in the act of rummaging through her sheets for the elusive mascara. "A pimple? You?"

"It's all the stress of last week's exams!" Jess wails. "Staying up late, eating crisps, having only enough time to do three steps of my skincare routine everyday—"

"Merlin's underpants, how many steps does your skincare routine have?" Jannah demands, fluffing out her wiry mass of dark hair until it frames her features like a particularly exuberant cloud.

"Ten, but that's not the point." Jess drops the mirror onto her vanity so that she can wring her hands. "The point is that Kaydel can't see me like this!"

Jannah and Rey exchange the kind of glances that can only have been mastered by two people who've had to room with Tallissan Lintra and Jessika Pava for the last seven years.

Rey's sitting in one of the many beanbag chairs that dot the room, already dressed and just passing time until they can head down to the Great Hall. She's trying not to feel too uncomfortable with the long, gauzy sleeves encasing her arms and the equally long and gauzy skirt fluttering around her ankles. Tallie had tried to get her to wear heels but, in the end, Rey couldn't be persuaded to put on anything fancier than the other girl's blue ballet slippers, charmed a couple of sizes up because "Good lord, Eurydice, you really do have big feet, don't you?"

In contrast to Rey's fidgeting, Jannah is supremely unbothered in her pale gold trouser suit with the relaxed fit and the buttons shaped like stars. Languidly putting the final touches on her hair, she's an oasis of calm in this chamber where Tallie and Jess are running around like headless chickens and Rey is contemplating just forgetting the whole thing and going to bed.

"Found it!" Tallie emerges from her tangled pile of sheets, raising a tube of mascara triumphantly in the air. "See, the important thing is to not panic—"

"You told Niima you'd kill her if she wore her trainers with her dress," Jannah points out mildly.

"That wasn't me panicking, that was me being completely serious." With a huff, Tallie turns to Jess. "Now, Jessika, pull yourself together, I've got a pot of Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher lying around, everything'll be all right..." She trails off, her sapphire gaze swinging to Rey. Then she screeches again. "Why aren't you ready yet?"

"Er— I am ready," Rey says.

Tallie and Jess round on her, grabbing their makeup pouches and various hair products. "No, you're not," they chorus, a determined glint in their eyes.

✨✨✨

An hour later, Rey is glued to the full-length mirror where a girl she doesn't recognize is standing still, peering back at her.

The first and what she'd thought was the last time she wore makeup and had something different done to her hair, she'd just been in her school uniform. The effect hadn't exactly been dazzling.

But now— now that she'd known better and insisted that Jess use a lighter hand in applying cosmetics— now that she's clad in a beautiful blue dress— she looks— she looks—

Well.

She looks quite nice.

Tallie had gathered Rey's hair into an artfully messy sort of... half-bun... thing. It keeps pesky strands away from her face while still allowing a cascade of glossy chestnut waves to flow down her shoulders. Jess had swiped "a nude matte with pinkish undertones, it's very light and hydrating and not sticky, I promise" on Rey's lips, dusted her cheeks with a shimmery blush, and done something frightfully complicated with a liquid black liner that she called "a cat-eye look."

Rey has to admit that the hair and makeup flatter her features. She's no longer as uncomfortable in her outfit, after the many subtle alterations Tallie had made that she'd assured Rey can all be undone with a quick Finite Incantatem. Paige Tico's old dress clings and flows in the right places; Rey looks taller and even slightly curvier in it, the slenderness of her waist more defined against the flare of her hips.

She just wishes that the neckline wasn't slashed almost to her navel in a deep V and that her back wasn't so similarly exposed.

"It has to be like that because the sleeves are long and the skirt is an A-line. Otherwise, you'll look frumpy," Tallie had insisted. "Anyway, I've charmed the bodice to not budge under any circumstances. Your nips are safe."

"Unless you don't want them to be," Jess had snickered, prompting Rey to choke on her own spit.

Now, as her roommates finish their own preparations, Rey's studying the girl in the mirror, who looks so grown-up and ever so slightly mysterious. Who looks capable of having a secret affair. Her pulse quickens.

She can't wait for Professor Solo to see her like this.

She turns left, and then right. The tiny silver stars embellishing the midnight blue fabric swirl in a slow, hypnotic dance, like the movement of the constellations through the heavens.

"Oh, Rey, you look gorgeous!" Tallie claps her hands together in delight. "We all do. This is going to be the most awesome night ever!"

"Too bad we'll miss it," Jannah drawls, "seeing as we should've assembled at the common room five minutes ago."

"Jannah, why didn't you say anything?" an apoplectic Tallie cries. She grabs Jess, who grabs Rey, who grabs Jannah, and the four Gryffindors stumble out of their quarters, a happy grin blooming shyly and tentatively on Rey's face as the other girls laugh and shriek around her.