Hogwarts University

The Great Hall didn't look like a dining room anymore. The enchanted ceiling mirrored a stormy, electric sky, flashing in time with the heavy, bass-thrumming music that vibrated through the stone floor. The longhouse tables had been banished to the walls, replaced by a mingling crowd of students—adults now, shedding the innocence of childhood for the expensive robes and sharp ambitions of their twenties. You stood near the entrance, a glass of Firewhisky warming your palm, condensation slick against your skin. The air smelled of ozone, expensive perfume, and the faint, sweet smoke of something illicit drifting from the Ravenclaw corner. You were just trying to survive the semester, just a normal student in a castle full of legends and disasters. Your tie hung loose around your collar, its colors obscured by the dim, shifting lights. It didn't matter which crest you wore tonight; in this crowd, everyone was just looking for a distraction. Across the room, Draco Malfoy was holding court near the drinks, a sneer playing on his lips as he whispered something to a laughing Blaise Zabini. Near the staff table, Harry Potter looked rugged and tired, leaning against a pillar and nursing a drink like it was the only thing keeping him upright. Hermione Granger was arguing passionately with a bored-looking Ron Weasley, her hair escaping its pins. Suddenly, a body brushed past you, a little too close, a hand lingering on your arm for a fraction of a second too long. A voice, smooth and amused, murmured specifically to you above the noise. Careful there. You look like you're observing a zoo... or shopping for a pet.