"Our gift to you is a feast - prepared as a token of gratitude for the sacrifice and effort that you finalists have made, and to encourage you all to perform even more splendidly in the final game. Now, please relax and enjoy your food."

In the centre of the dormitory, a large square dining table was intricately set, complete with crisp white tablecloth, candles creating mood lighting, and cutlery laid out for each course.

"What the absolute fuck?" Draco murmured beneath his breath as we wandered back out of the bathroom, all three of us suited and booted.

I cannot lie, Draco looked so good in his suit that it made me want to literally weep. It was as though it gave him magical powers: in this suit, he owned the room simply by being in it.

My own hung off me awkwardly and made me feel frumpy. Although, the way Draco's eyes had widened when I had emerged from the bathroom stall earlier, suggested he thought otherwise.

Harry was already seated at the table, his napkin tucked down the front of his collar, grinning from ear to ear like a kid in an ice cream shop.

"Over here!" He waved, as though we couldn't fucking see for ourselves where we were supposed to sit. "Apparently first course is fish!"

Rolling his eyes, Draco led the way while I stayed close to Nico who was hobbling slowly behind. He'd tried to convince me that the bleeding had stopped and was feeling much better, but I wasn't fooled.

Draco took the seat opposite Harry, glaring at him as he lowered himself into the chair. I took Draco's left, and Nico, his right, wincing as he sat down opposite me.

Harry hadn't been wrong. The first course was, indeed, fish. Pink guards brought out great big platters of seafood, enough of which could fill an ocean.

"Mmmmm! Superb, divine... exquisite!" Harry exclaimed, licking his fingers between mouthfuls of lobster tails and shrimp.

We all stared at him, our seafood platters untouched, as Harry washed his down with a large goblet of wine, clicking his fingers at the waiting pink guard to top him up.

"I hope you're finding your meal satisfactory, player 218?" the guard asked sincerely as he bowed down at Harry after filling his glass to the brim.

"Could do with a bit more salt, if I'm to be perfectly honest." Harry said, smacking his lips together. "And some tartar sauce wouldn't go amiss, either. You can't have fish without it, my uncle Vernon always said. I never liked him much, but you can't say the Muggle didn't know his food."

"I shall get onto that right away." The guard replied merrily, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he surveyed the rest of the room. "In the meantime, can I interest anyone else in more wine? Or perhaps some Prosecco? I'm sure we have some chilling out the back."

Nico, Draco and I mutely shook our heads.

"I wouldn't say no to some bubbles," Harry piped up.

The guard nodded, before eagerly sweeping out of the room.

Sighing heavily, I looked down at my starter, the seafood on my plate looking as though they were coming alive.

"Are you alright?" Draco whispered quietly across the table, a frown creasing his brow as silver eyes burned intensely into mine.

"No." I muttered, pushing my plate to the side. "I've suddenly gone off fish."

"I hear ya," Nico drawled, waving a piece of squid around on the end of his fork, "who the fuck would eat this shit?"

"Can't we just call it quits?" I asked, looking from Nico to Draco. "Didn't the rules speculate that if the majority agrees, then we could walk out of here with our freedom?"

"Don't you fucking dare!" Harry glowered. "I didn't get this far just to walk away now! And think of all those who have sacrificed themselves along the way. It will all be for nothing. Friends... family... dead. That will all be on you if you don't at least try."

"I hate to agree with him, kiddo," Nico sighed, throwing me an apologetic look, "but he's right. I'll have Longbottom's ghost haunting me forever more if I don't come out of here filthy rich or in a box."

I glanced at Draco, hoping he'd at least be on my side. But the way he kept his gaze determinedly cast downwards and the whiteness of his knuckles as he fiercely clutched his knife and fork told me everything I needed to know.

A hopelessness overcame me. I was too exhausted to play anymore. I just wanted to curl up and grieve for everything that had been lost. I realised I was still very much in shock and the only way I could begin to face what had happened was to get the fuck out of this place.

"I promise you, whatever happens, I'll make sure you get out of here alive," Draco said insistently, finally meeting my eye.

A loud derisive snort fell from Harry's lips. "Draco Malfoy making promises he cannot possibly keep? Sounds about right."

"Shut the fuck up, Potter," Draco gritted as a small muscle began to pulse along his jawline.

"Oh, perlease," Harry scoffed thickly through a mouthful of shrimp. "Remember that promise you made to your mother about killing our dear old headmaster? Or the promise you made to Voldemort about staying true to his cause? Last time I checked, you never went through with either of those things."

"Harry, shut up before I cut out your voice box with a spoon," I snarled, seeing red as I snatched one up from the table to point threateningly towards him.

Harry stopped chewing, his eyebrows knitting together as he stared at me.

"Why a spoon?" He asked once he'd swallowed down his mouthful. "Why not a knife... or even a fork?"

"Because it'll hurt more, you idiot," Nico seethed between clenched teeth.

I glanced at him, alarmed to see just how much paler he'd become. A sheen of sweat began to glisten at his brow, and he looked as though he was having trouble sitting up, hunched over his dinner as though in a great deal of pain.

Before I could say anything, the dormitory door swung open, and the pink guard came skipping back in with a tray: sitting atop of it a bottle of Prosecco, four flutes, a dish of tartar sauce, and a salt shaker.

"You're in luck!" He hummed gaily. "Our last bottle. Apparently it was left over from last year's staff Christmas party, so I had to dust it off a little."

"No problem, no problem," Harry chortled, rubbing his hands gleefully together, "bubbles are bubbles at the end of the day."

"Most certainly," the guard agreed as he popped the cork, bubbles fizzing everywhere. "Oop- got a little over excited there!"

Harry and the guard continued to snicker like teenage boys who'd just discovered that pissing wasn't the only thing their dicks could do.

Despite the rest of us having turned down the offer of sparkling wine, the guard still moved around the table pouring us each one, badly whistling 'Always look on the bright side of life'.

As Harry joined in with the chorus, I was beginning to wonder if this was actually the final game: anyone who got to the end of the dinner without slitting their wrists was the winner.

I'd still probably lose.

When the steak came out next - rare, it took everything I could not to spew up all over it, being reminded too much of the dead bodies of the last few days.

Only Harry and Draco picked up their cutlery, the both of them glaring at one another as they vigorously sawed into their steaks, matching mouthful to mouthful, swig of wine to swig of wine. It was as though they were in a silent competition of their own.

Forcing myself to eat something, I stuck to the vegetables, which was more than Nico appeared to consume.

My heart raced at an uncomfortable rate every time I glanced up at him. Both Harry and Draco seemed to be oblivious to his rapidly deteriorating state.

When the guard announced that dessert would be trifle, I threw my napkin down on the table and marched across to Nico, determined to get him into bed.

"But it's a traditional English recipe!" The guard called after us, sounding incredulous that anyone could not possibly be enthralled by the idea of eating something that looked like cat's puke. "Made with custard and sherry!"

I heard the sound of a chair scraping back, accompanied by Draco's drawling voice. "You can count me out too. I don't do custard."

"Well, all the more for me, then!" Harry exclaimed delightedly. "Boy, what a day!"

Nico was barely conscious when I helped lay him down onto his bunk, his breathing shallow and skin clammy with sweat.

"Shit," Draco muttered as he pressed a hand against Nico's forehead. "He's burning up."

Raucous laughter rose up from the dining table, and I glanced up to see that the pink guard had taken my place and was merrily clinking glasses with Harry ("Cheers to your good health, player 218!").

I stayed with Nico, holding his hand as Draco strode off to locate a damp towel.

"You could do a lot worse, you know," Nico said breathlessly noticing me watching the white-blond haired Slytherin slip through the bathroom door. "When he cares, you see, he cares."

"Shhh, save your strength," I murmured, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Do me a favour, we both know I'm not going to last the night. Now listen to me, before Draco comes back. I- I've got something important to tell you."

And I sat and listened in horror as Nico disclosed the fact he had had a child snatched from his arms after being a victim of rape.

"It's why Neville let me live... he wanted me to win the money and use it to go and find my son. He- he could be happy... but equally - and most likely, knowing my parents - he could be in need of saving."

"Nico-" I breathed, my heart thudding furiously against my chest as I held his hand tightly in mine, "who- who did that to you?"

Nico's eyes flicked upwards, staring at something past my shoulder. I turned my head to see Draco walking towards us.

I looked back at Nico, confused. Because if he was implying Draco had been the attacker, then that made no sense after the way he had just spoken about him.

"Not him," Nico murmured, reading my mind, "but he is involved in ways he doesn't yet know."

"Involved?" I frowned, trying to get my head around this flood of information. "But... how?"

Nico swallowed, tears swimming in his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak, memories of his horrific and unjust past tormenting him in ways I just could not comprehend.

"Because my son," he whispered, his voice barely a croak, "my child... he's Draco's brother."

*****