Again, the chapter had to be divided in two, guys. This is over 6000 words long, and there's still a lot to happen in the party, so this is pretty much part one of the Potter Soirée.

LEAVE COMMENTS!!!

Indian Readers: feel free to correct or warn me about anything here. I'm basing myself on the internet and a single friend of mine alone. I have not been to India before and I have little to no contact with the culture in my everyday life, so I might make a mistake, even though I'm doing research, but some sites might not be trustworthy.

Slight TW: Luna's eating habits.

(we all know it's bad, but it's talked about here)

Luna was quite glad that Fleatmont Potter had taken the boys out of the house for the morning to buy the food that needed to be fresh, which meant that she was left alone with Euphemia for hours in the house.

"We hired a few people to finish the cleaning, while you and I are going outside," Euphemia had said as soon as Luna had gotten into the house that morning and Remus was whisked out as soon as their stepped into the Manor. "We have a lot of work to do!"

The people that the Potters had hired were a team of Squibs that were specialised in cleaning magical homes by hand; it was something usually done before big parties to impress guests, or something equally as stupid, but in the Potters' case, Euphemia often hired them at least twice a month since the Manor was too big for her to clean it by hand alone and, with magic, she felt like it didn't feel the same.

While the sun was not too strong, Luna and Euphemia sat on the edge of the backyard's water fountain with baskets and baskets of flowers.

"It wasn't here before," Luna said, frowning as she sat, crossing her legs covered in denim trousers.

"No," Euphemia confirmed, sitting beside her. She wore joggers and a shirt, she had no shoes on. Apparently, that her sleeping clothes. "I leave the backyard open so James and Sirius can play Quidditch during the summer away from my greenhouse, but I can assure you that my water fountain is here when they're not trying to destroy my house."

Luna giggled. "They're rather... animated."

"They're little gremlins," Euphemia dismissed her politeness. "Now, dear, listen. We'll do some patterns with the colours here, and you'll put the flowers in the string, alright?"

And for the next two hours, at the very least, Luna sat with her trousers' legs pulled up and with her feet inside the cold water of the water fountain beside Euphemia, who was doing the same thing as they put flower after flower in the strings, creating garlands with lilies, marigolds, roses and jasmines.

"Pandora would like this," Luna said, stringing up a button of rose at the very top of the jasmines. "She'll be sad she'll miss this and that she didn't do this in her own wedding."

"Her wedding was memorable regardless, and I was perfectly delighted to see her bouquet!" Euphemia said, she finished her garland, putting it to the side so she could start another one. She was much faster than Luna.

"And why is that?"

"She had pink lilies; they are my favourite flowers. And the thing tying the flowers together, it wasn't rope of a ribbon, it was enchanted moss – Rangel's Moss, if I'm not completely out of my mind yet. It's natural to Scotland," Euphemia said.

Luna smiled to herself.

"Pandora's new house is in Scotland. I'd imagine that the moss was taken from somewhere nearby her new home. Pandora is quite sentimental," Luna answered with a little smile on her lips. "Once we're back in school, I believe that she'll let me visit at least once during the holydays. She's been telling me it'll be a beautiful home, and Evan helped Xenophilius build it himself – and quite certain Regulus has been there a couple of times to help here and there, but he's not really into that sort of work."

"Building?"

"Outside work," Luna corrected.

Euphemia chuckled.

"Well, he is quite the pale one," she said.

"So am I, and I rather like the sun," Luna said, turning to her with a little laugh. "You're the one becoming quite pale, Auntie. You need to sunbathe more, it's good for you sometimes, you know?"

"Why do you think I dragged you out here?" Euphemia said, poking Luna's rib with her nail. Luna smiled. "When the boys are out here, I usually stay inside or in the greenhouse to give them some privacy for talking. They always change the subject when I'm nearby, but they don't think I already overheard them."

"Oh?"

"Do you know who's the Head Girl this year?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

It didn't take much for Luna to make the connection, so her eyebrows shot up and she allowed a huge grin to come to her face.

"No!" she gasped.

Euphemia looked back at the string in her hands, humming in confirmation as she nodded her head, lips pressed together to hide her own grin.

"Lily Evans," Euphemia said.

"Lily bloody Evans!" Luna said. She gasped again. "My! James must be jumping in joy."

"Contrary. He's terrified," Euphemia said.

Luna ended up laughing at that.

"Quite understandable, Lily Evans can be terrifying when she wants to be. I saw her scolding a seventh year Slytherin not too long ago and taking his wand out of his hand without magic when he threatened to jinx her, so she plucked it out of his hand, put her hands on her hips and just stared at him, waiting for his reaction as if he was a toddler, and he stood there, confused about what to do. I admired her ever since," Luna said.

Euphemia chuckled at the story, stopping her work for a moment to imagine the scene. Then, a moment of silence as she went back to work and glanced at Luna before looking down again at her work.

"Why aren't you a Prefect, Luna?" she asked.

Luna turned to her, blinking in surprise before looking back at the flowers again. Her nose twitched. There was still a lot of work to do.

"I don't know, I just wasn't interested," she said.

"Remus said that you got the invitation last year, it was your Fifth. He said you sent it back, refusing the spot," Euphemia said.

"He remembers that?" she mumbled, not looking up. "Well, I was rather busy during the summer and daydreaming a lot. And I knew I had to study a lot to get into Alchemy, which I did." Euphemia knew it wasn't the whole truth, but she wasn't willing to force anything out of her just yet, so she stayed quiet. But Luna ended up continuing after a while. "I suppose I didn't want to be exactly like my brother."

Euphemia's hands stopped.

"Because he's a Prefect?"

"Because everybody thinks of me as his little sister. I wanted to have something that was mine, you see? I can't do Quidditch, and he was a Prefect with a wonderful mischievous group of friends. So I had academics," she said. Luna took another rose to finish her garland. "Remus is good at it, too, of course, but I am better. I have never stayed behind a subject other than Astronomy, which I quickly fixed as soon as I saw my grades slip. There had to be something out there that I was better than him, that I could get faster than him."

"Is that why you went after Sirius?"

Luna's eyes widened as she turned to look at Euphemia.

The woman knew, and she had admitted knowing it from the very moment Luna had stepped into the Manor for the first time, but it was still shocking that she was talking about it again, especially after so long.

"What?" Luna croaked out, voice weak.

A pathetic response; a genuine one, however.

"Did you go after Sirius because you wanted to get him before Remus?" Euphemia asked, not looking at her. "Remus has liked Sirius for years now, and I saw it, I'm certain that you did as well, even if you didn't do it consciously."

Luna put the finished garland to the side, pulling her feet off the water.

"I didn't do this to hurt my brother," she snapped.

"No, you did it so you could feel better about yourself. And the mistake isn't yours, Gudiya, don't get me wrong. I would've done anything to make me feel better when I was fifteen. A cursed age, I say," Euphemia said. She reached for another marigold, stringing it up in silence. She looked at it. "I understand why your favourite colour is orange whenever I see marigolds," she added at the end, as if she had said nothing at all.

"I'm not selfish!" Luna said.

Euphemia turned to her and smiled.

"No, you're not. You're young," she said, calmly. "And we're done with garlands."

"Auntie –"

"Luna, it's alright," Euphemia said, reaching to put one of her two braids over her shoulder. "I'm sorry if I'm wrong, it was just a question. Let's change subjects now, alright?"

But Luna wanted – no, needed Euphemia to know and to understand what really happened. She couldn't bear the idea of Euphemia seeing her as a selfish, vengeful young girl, even if sometimes she felt so.

"I did it because he was everything I couldn't have," Luna said. "He was handsome, popular, and he wouldn't touch me if my brother knew it. I wanted it, because if I could convince him that he wanted me, then someone might actually want me someday – and Regulus does. He wants me, and he doesn't mind being seen with me or holding me in public."

Euphemia was taken aback by the accelerated words leaving Luna's lips in desperation. She reached for Luna's hand, unsure of how to calm her down when her cheeks were flushing and her breathing was changing.

"Dear, anybody would want you –"

Luna pulled her hand away.

"But they didn't. Sirius didn't. Not that I want him now, I really don't, but... it does hurt. I hope you never understand the feeling of disgust I was left with," Luna admitted. Then, for a moment, she understood who she was talking to. "I know he's your son –"

"It doesn't make him a saint."

Luna looked up at Euphemia, feeling her hands shaking while her heart sped up.

"He's not a bad person," Luna insisted, shaking her head side to side. "What he did to my brother, he made up for it. He's trying to be a good friend."

The truth was that she still liked Sirius somewhat, not romantically speaking, but he had done a lot to prove that his mistakes wouldn't be repeated; his every action had become a silent vow that his action would offer no echo to their future. Sirius truly loved her brother, and she couldn't blame him for that.

Euphemia frowned, watching Luna's face as if she had never seen her before.

"You don't need to protect someone that hurt you, Luna, even if he's my son," Euphemia said. "What he did was wrong. He knows that, and I know that, and I mad at him for that. Just because your brother seems to have forgiven him, it doesn't mean that you have to, and that doesn't mean that either of you have to forget what he did. Sirius would understand both of your parts. Did you talk to him?"

Luna looked away, crossing her arms, hands under her armpits.

"Briefly," she admitted. "Never deeply."

"You should talk to him, honestly and seriously," Euphemia said. Luna shook her head again, frowning. "I don't mean today or anytime soon; I mean that when you're ready you should talk to him. Sirius' cruelty needs to be addressed. He didn't just hurt your brother, he hurt you, too."

"I'm aware."

"I don't think you are. As soon as I spoke of him, you spoke of what he did to your brother, not to you," Euphemia said.

"I went into whatever thing we had completely aware that he had no romantic interest in me, he was after comfort. I offered it. I was there when we talked of rules, I accepted it," she explained. "My hurt was on his shame, not on our situation. I loved the idea of someone like him loving me, but I don't think I was ever in love with him. I just needed an excuse to stay with him."

Euphemia reached for her again, caressing her hair.

"Are you in love with Regulus?"

"I love Regulus and I'm in love with Regulus," Luna said, nodding firmly.

"Then I want nothing else from you but your happiness. I'll help you in any way that I can to get it," Euphemia said. She leaned forward. "Sirius might be my son, but you are my little girl as well."

"You barely know me," Luna said with a chuckle.

"But I wished for you, exactly, for a very long time, Gudiya," she said, kissing Luna's forehead.

It was a miracle that Luna didn't break down crying right then and there, but they had so much to do to prepare for the party that Luna simply didn't have time.

Less than an hour later, they were having lunch, and the boys were back with all the several bags of food that the Squib Team would cook with Euphemia's help later on.

"Sirius, Remus, you two are the tallest, so go outside and hang the decorations – and no, Sirius, I don't want a peep about the sun!" Euphemia ordered as soon as the plates were on the sink. "Remus, do be a dear and wash the dishes for me. Husband, please, make sure my greenhouses are spelled and prepare the side garden for the children."

Luna raised her eyebrows, sipping her water.

"The children?" Luna asked.

"Of course!" James said, smiling in excitement. "There'll be Gilli Danda!"

"And you won't be playing James, you're the host," Fleatmont reminded him. James grimaced, turning to his father to argue in favour of playing the game with the children. "The whole party is to celebrate your Head Boy position, you're as good as the host."

"Maa was planning to have a Soirée before that," James said, pouting.

"Well, that's the excuse she found, so you'll play your part," Fleatmont said, putting a hand on James' head. He didn't mess up his hair, unsure his fingers would untangle from the thick hair if he did that on a day that James had not brushed his hair yet.

Sirius laughed at James, pointing a finger at him to make sure he knew he was mocking his situation. James glared at his friend, threatening to throw a piece of bread at him, but Sirius just leaned back on his chair casually, knowing that James wouldn't do that in front of Euphemia.

Remus looked at his sister.

"Help me with the dishes?" he asked.

Luna was about to open her mouth to agree when Euphemia did a little noise and then clicked her tongue.

"Luna is to help me with the Rangoli," she corrected Remus' assumption that Luna was to rest after working in the morning. Even Luna looked up, surprised at the information. "Do you know what to do?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Luna admitted.

James chuckled.

"A household needs a clean entrance and a rangoli for auspiciousness," James said, enjoying Luna's confused face. "It's a drawing on the floor, colourful. It uses coloured sand, rice, anything really," he did a little movement with his left shoulder.

Discontent with James' shallow explanation, Euphemia did a little noise and raised a bag plastic bag, taking from inside a bottle with red sand.

"You will help me to keep the evil eye away from this house and invite Lakshmi in today, Luna," she announced.

Luna had no idea who Lakshmi was, but if Euphemia wanted them in the house, then she would certainly help. Hence why she spent the next two hours on her knees on the floor, back hurting and knee aching as she created her first rangoli, smiling happily through the pain as Euphemia nodded and corrected her.

At the end, the kaleidoscope of red, orange, light pink and white left Euphemia proud enough to nod and kiss Luna's head.

"You did so well," she said.

Luna smiled the whole way up to her bedroom to showed and wash her hands even though her knees would certainly bruise.

It was James, much to Luna's surprise, that knocked on her door to help her get dressed before the party started.

He was ready, wearing a navy-blue kurta that went almost to his knees in thick cotton and small details in silver, both the buttons and the small flowers. He had white trousers underneath it and was barefoot, though he had brown shoes on his hand, which he would most likely put on later.

"May I come in?" he asked once she opened the door just a sliver. "Maa still getting dressed, so she asked me to come and help you. Are you decent?"

Luna opened the door completely.

She already had put on the blouse and had leggings on; she was decent, of course, otherwise she wouldn't have opened the door, but still she felt exposed with just a little part of her stomach showing. Besides, the end of her scar just threatened to poke out if she breathed too deeply; the start of her scar was fully on show since the neck of the blouse was quite deep.

The blouse was well-fit, leaf green and cotton. The sleeves ended up above her elbows with a golden band that was slightly tighter than the rest of the blouse, it had a sweetheart neck, which surprised Luna, who was used to Euphemia's blouses, which were more modest.

"Where's the rest of it?" James asked.

Luna pointed to the bed, where an open white box was.

"I wasn't sure what to do, so I just put the upper part and tied it," she admitted.

James casually sat on the bed to pull the box closer to him, taking the thinner part of the cloths and giving it to her.

"Underskirt first. Draw the strings firm, we don't want anything slipping," he said, turning the box again as she stepped into the underskirt and drew the strings. He pulled the yards of fabric from the box. "Oh, this is a nice one!"

It really was. Euphemia had a wonderful taste.

Much like the blouse and underskirt, the saree was leaf-green, but it had tiny details in darker green, brown and yellow, even some red. The details were so intertwined and intricate that it took a moment for Luna to understand the symmetric drawings amongst the golden ends of the pallu.

"That's beautiful!" Luna said, getting closer.

James nodded, also somewhat interested in the saree.

"Alright, so, this part, the simpler one, will be mostly hidden," James said, showing it to her as he gathered the fabric on his hands and arms. He threw some over his shoulder, letting it rest there. "It's a Bandhari Saree, so it's like my mum usually uses, alright? Over the shoulder, down to the arm." Luna nodded. "Now, excuse me," he said, getting closer.

He held the plain end of the saree and tucked it into the waistband of the underskirt, not looking at her as he did so. Gently, he turned her and adjusted it so the saree would just skim the floor before wrapping it around her waist until he reached the front again.

When she started turning again, he stopped her.

"No, it was enough. Now, we pleat," he said.

Just with his fingers and wrist, James gathered the remaining fabric in wide pleats before gently tucking them in front of the waistband of the petticoat (underskirt) just slightly to the left of her navel and, with that done, he fixed the length of the skirt again, making sure it was evenly down to her feet.

"This is difficult," she said, focused on everything he was doing.

James chuckled.

"You get used to it."

"How do you know how to do this?" she asked.

James smiled to himself, gathering the rest of the fabric in his arms again.

"I used to do see my mum do it, and when I was younger I asked her to teach me to do it for her," he said. "Mum said that when she was old and her fingers couldn't do it, she would be sad, so I asked her to teach me so I could do it for her."

Luna smiled as well.

James stood in front of her and draped the pallu over her shoulder and let it drape it across her chest, covering most of her front. From a look in the mirror, she could see that the fabric would reach the back of her knee.

"Mum said you have the Gupta brooch with you?" James said, looking around, a hand on her shoulder, over the pallu.

"It's over there," she said, pointing at the bed again.

He found it quickly near the box and took it, pinning the pallu to her blouse, letting the fabric fall slightly to her arm. Automatically, she folded her arm.

"Ah!" he did, stepping back to look at her. "Looks wonderful! I did a good job!"

She giggled.

"Thank you for the compliment and for the hard work, James," she said.

He winked at her, making a playful bow at her with a little smile.

"At your service, Gudiya," he teased her with his mum's nickname for her. She rolled her eyes. "You are her little doll, I suppose. She always wanted a girl to dress up and show off."

"She's more than happy with two sons," Luna said.

"That doesn't stop her from wanting a girl, and I don't feel too bad that you're here," he admitted. "It's good to have you here."

Luna narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

"And why is that?" she asked.

James took a deep breath and looked at his feet before looking back at her.

"Luna, what do you do with your scars when they itch? Or what do you do when you're so hungry that it feels like no food will ever be enough the day before the full moon, and at the same time like every type of food will make you throw up?" James asked.

She watched him, a lump forming on her throat as she tried her best not to let it show. She gulped.

"Those are questions you could've asked Remus," she said.

"I don't want to ask him," James whispered.

Luna looked away, quickly walking to the side of her bedroom and closing the window that she had left open for the afternoon, but now that it was dark the breeze was becoming cold enough. She sighed as she locked it in place.

She knew why James didn't want to ask those things to Remus. It was just a reminder of how Remus had hurt James, slicing his back open after James jumped in front of Severus while in his stag form. It had been luck that it had been just the werewolves' nails tearing into his flesh, not the monster's teeth; a bite of a werewolf received while in Animagus form was an unstudied phenomenon and would've been a study-case throughout the world, but it would also out him and his friends' outlawed activities. Reminding Remus that someone had gotten hurt due to his condition again would be cruel.

"Silver extract in chickweed paste when I scratch enough to bleed, peppermint paste if I didn't tear the skin," she said, back still to him. "I can make you some when we're back at Hogwarts. I usually get some from Madame Pomfrey every month and make more if I need it." She turned to him, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. "If I'm terribly hungry and it doesn't seem to go away, I just stop eating. If I'm nauseated, I drink ginger tea, but I don't eat either."

"Is that why you don't eat?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"No."

He seemed to want to ask her more, but he pressed his lips together and thought for a moment, watching her as if she would spook away from him at any moment.

"I don't mean to pry," he said.

"Then don't," she warned.

James took a deep breath before nodding, giving up momentarily in asking for more information that he wasn't entitled to. Still, as he walked towards her door he stopped and turned to her, taking her in again.

"Sirius won't say it, but he's worried," he said.

Luna's teeth clamped so hard with one another that James heard it.

"He has no reason to. I'm well, I'm happy," she said.

"Even so... he says you're eating less again," James said. "Maa has been paying attention it as well."

"I'm fine," she said.

"I'm not saying that you're not," James said, opening the door. He knew how angry Luna looked like and he didn't want to be caught in her way, so he was already preparing a way out, but he needed to say it. "Remus doesn't seem to realise this a problem because his relationship with food isn't the best either, but I know what a healthy person looks like and my mother shouldn't have to put a self-adjusting spell on the blouse for you. She had your measurements, it was supposed to be perfect for you, but it was too big."

"I lost weight," she said with a shrug.

"I know."

James walked out of the room and closed the door.

Luna looked out of the window. There was a beautiful moon outside.

The first guests to arrive were Euphemia's family.

The visiting Gupta family was made out of three men, two wives and their children (six of them, in total). The three men were Euphemia's brothers – Hari was the eldest of them and a very well-dressed men, married to a beautiful woman named Chanda. Then there was another older brother to Euphemia, Naresh, who was someone that smiled broadly from the very moment he stepped into the manor (and he looked quite a bit like James), and he was married to Ektaa, the shier of the women. There was then Euphemia's younger brother, in his early thirties and with a shy disposition if compared to well-spoken Hari and extroverted Naresh, after all he was just Mohan.

Hari, who had taken over their father's shop, and Chanda had four children together. The eldest being a boy named Gopaal at twenty-two, then a girl named Indira at eighteen, another girl named Hema with fourteen and, finally, another boy with just ten years of age named Suneel. They were Hari's pride and joy, that much as clear about how he showed them off, speaking loudly at Gopaal's spot at the Academy of Healing in Delhi and Indira's wishes of becoming a teacher now that she was done with school as well. Hema was a wonderful Quidditch player as well and planned on going professional once she was done with school, which left Suneel – a more academically inclined boy – quite eager to speak of his school results to Euphemia.

Naresh also boasted about his children though Chanda poked him in the ribs whenever he spoke too loudly. They had two daughters, which led Naresh to speak of suffering more often that Chanda seemed to allow, grimacing when he spoke of his daughters leaving him once they were married even though his eldest daughter was just seventeen. Jaya, the eldest daughter, grimaced at her father much like her mother did when he spoke of marriage, insisting that she wanted to study abroad before thinking of that. Thankfully to Naresh's suffering, his youngest daughter, Maya, announced that she would never get married and would forever be there to take care of his and her mother – quite the certainty for a six-year-old, but it was impressive, nonetheless. Naresh spoke very little of his own job with producing the fabric that Hari would sell.

Still, throughout most of the conversation, Mohan barely spoke. He drank his tea, complimented Luna's and Euphemia's saree, spoke of James' Head Boy position with admiration and then... nothing. His silence seemed to comfort Peter Pettigrew, who was also feeling rather insecure in his own kurta given to him by James the year before, so when they started a conversation, none dared to interrupt.

When the rest of the guests started to arrive, Euphemia quickly walked away and left James to host the Guptas while the received the others.

Euphemia had yet to forgive her family completely for their lack of support when she ran away from home, but she wouldn't dare to cut their interactions with James, who deserved a present enough family and a connection with their culture even though they lived in England his whole life.

In their turn, the Guptas didn't seem to understand completely the new form of family that the Potters had formed. James, sure, was their son by blood and love, and Sirius was their adopted child, but they couldn't grasp the understanding of why they would take in Luna as a ward when she had a magical family (they could understand if she was a muggleborn, but a half-blood?) and why they hadn't taken Remus in as well, after all they were siblings.

So, they guessed the most acceptable scenario.

"So..." Hari said, looking between James and the others. "When are you getting married?" and he pointed between James and Luna.

Remus tensed up, turning to look at his friend as if he was expecting a serious answer. James stood there, frozen and confused before turning to his father, also expecting a serious answer. Peter snorted, putting his hand in front of his face to be discreet and failing in hiding his emotions. It was Sirius' loud bark of laughter that made Luna blush however.

"No, that's not..." James stuttered.

Fleatmont chuckled.

"Not the type of relationship that they have. We took Luna mostly because she wants to go into Alchemy and so she could court a young man from a different family," Fleatmont answered when his son failed to do so.

Hari made a little noise of understanding.

"You would make a good couple, though," Naresh insisted afterwards.

Remus frowned. "No, they wouldn't," he said.

Naresh turned to Remus, a patronising smile on his lips as he nodded in understanding. He leaned towards him.

"Overprotective brother?" he asked. "It didn't work very well in our case. Look at our little sister. Eloped! Eloped to marry an Englishman."

"I'm Indian, brother," Fleatmont said, closing his eyes in exhaustion.

It was clear that Fleatmont's living in England was a point of pressure in the family's relationship.

"He's not being overprotective, Luna would genuinely kill James if they got married," Sirius said, leaning back on the sofa and waving at someone that had just walked in with Euphemia into the sitting room. "The very first night together, as soon as he started snoring, she would put a pillow over his face. And James snores quite a bit."

James turned to look at Luna and raised his eyebrows at her, questioning her sanity in silence. She glared in exchange, not liking the insinuation that she was out of her mind to the point of murder, but her glare seemed to add to his fabrication.

Naresh laughed at them, Sirius laughing with him.

Luna crossed her arms, looking away and forcing herself not to roll her eyes. Gosh, she just wanted Regulus to get there as quickly as possible, because now she was uncomfortable.

"Luna? Dearest, your friends are here!" Euphemia called out.

Unsure of whom Euphemia was talking about, Luna excused herself and quickly made her way to the front, smiling when she saw Evan and Barty walking into the manor with Lady Rosier behind them and, surprisingly, Lord Rosier.

"Ah, Miss Lupin!" Raphael Rosier said.

"My Lord, hello," Luna answered.

Evan smiled.

"Don't you look..." he searched for a word.

"Careful with your words," Barty warned, looking at him through the corner of his eyes.

"I'm trying," Evan said.

Lady Rosier made a little noise. "Evan –" she started, ready to scold him for his reaction to a girl that was clearly in a relationship.

"Shining," he decided on the word. "The necklace I recognise as Regulus' apology jewellery, but the rest is new."

"It's Euphemia's," Luna explained, showing off the bangles.

"No earrings?" Lady Rosier asked.

Luna smiled just a bit. "I didn't pierce my ears yet," she explained, touching her ears, half-hidden by the only braid she had done. "I will, I suppose."

Evan dismissed the conversation, looking around.

"Reggie?" he asked, hoping the boy would listen to him calling him by the hateful nickname.

"Not here yet," Luna answered, turning to Evan and smiling widely again.

Evan reached forward, offering her his arm. Barty reached for her other, looping her arm around his forcefully to bring her close.

"Listen," Barty said as Evan also got closer to listen. Barty started leading her to the ballroom while Euphemia started herding her family into the ballroom as well. "Regulus will bring someone, but we don't want you to worry."

"Lydia Zabini, I'm aware," Luna said, nodding.

Barty raised his eyebrows, taken aback that she had that information already. He exchanged a look with Evan.

"Oh," Barty said.

Evan frowned.

"He told you?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't he?" Luna asked, raising her own eyebrows and looking between her friends. "What?"

"Nothing, we just... assumed that he would keep it to himself until the last moment and have to explain things to you in a rush," Evan admitted, looking away from Barty and towards her. "Regulus isn't one to share his plans often. We usually find out he had something planned at the moment we think we got into trouble."

"You mean when he gets you out of trouble," Barty corrected, glaring at Evan. "I'm the well-behaved one."

"Yes, you're such a good boy," cooed Evan, reaching over Luna's head to touch Barty's hair with his free hand.

Barty blushed, slapping his hand away from him and pulling Luna closer to him, away from Evan. He glanced around discreetly before turning his attention back to the conversation at hand, shoulders still tense.

"Well, we didn't want you to get jealous," Barty said.

"I'm not jealous," Luna said, rolling her eyes.

Evan narrowed his eyes at her, watching her carefully as if trying to read her mind. She deadpanned at him, mentally screaming how much of a lie that line had been. But Evan was never good in Mind Magic.

"I would be if I was you," Evan said with a shrug, finally looking away. "Zabini is fit!"

"Evan, I will slap you," Luna said, pulling her arm away from his.

"Oh, Luna, it was a joke!" he said, rolling his eyes at her reaction, but reaching for her arm again, which she pulled back once more.

And as more guests flooded the ballroom, many of them Pakistani, Indian and Bangladesh immigrants which Euphemia kept a contact (that was how Luna learned that she was quite the reference when someone moved into England, and helped many to find jobs in the Ministry and Gringotts; good, stable jobs), Luna kept herself close to Barty and away from Evan, who tried to make jokes and tease her to get a reaction out of her that wasn't a glare or plain disinterest.

Without Pandora there, Evan seemed eager to distract himself in any way possible, and that included tugging at Luna's braid like a child when she refused to dance with him the first dance.

"You're boring!" Evan accused.

"And you're annoying," Luna answered, trying not to laugh at Evan's upset face. He looked like a spoiled child. "Stop tugging at my hair."

"You usually wear it completely up," Evan mused.

Barty sipped his juice, smiling into the cup as he watched Evan act with Luna exactly as he acted with Pandora. It was fun to watch his friend becoming so comfortable with someone that he would stop glaring, frowning and staring.

"Auntie said that a single braid would be fine," she said.

Barty made a little noise, watching Euphemia smile at someone at the door. The new sibling duo turned to look at him, but Luna was the first to look at the door.

She smiled.

Regulus was so handsome in a white buttoned up shirt and tailored high-waisted trousers, especially because he had no tie and no waistcoat, just the strings of the tying of his shirt near his collar.

Her smile died.

His mother and father were with him, but so was Lydia Zabini – and her breasts were half hanging out of the red dress she had on; sure, it was long and clearly a common enough gown, but the lack of sleeves and the way her breasts were spilling over the dress' bodice made Luna feel slightly breathless, and she wasn't sure it was out of desire, most likely being sympathy for how tight it probably felt.

"Well, that's decolletage," Evan said.

"What?" Luna asked, turning to him, her back to Regulus, who had just noticed her and smiled. His own smile died when she turned away from him to look at Evan.

"Decolletage," Evan repeated.

Luna shook her head, lip curling in confusion.

"Cleavage," Barty said.

That made Luna sigh.

"Tell me about it," she mumbled.

And she pretended not to see the several guests starting to whisper.

Not only many people assumed that Cygnus' public affair with Lydia had been the start of the end of the marriage, but many people blamed her for ruining a perfectly good pureblood couple as a widow, which led to many of the higher ups in the Ministry and society not like her at all. Her presence was not only surprising, but somewhat shocking, for all knew how Euphemia controlled her guest list quite vigoursly.

Besides, the way her hand rested of Regulus' arm was quite telling on who had assured her an invitation.

Luna looked at the drink table, knowing there was no alcohol there, so she sipped her juice hoping that the bitterness on her tongue could be placated by the sugary drink. It wasn't enough.

Logically, she knew that Lydia was just the Black Family's new little matchmaking project, she herself had fallen victim of Walburga's plans and plots, but seeing such a beautifully distracting woman at Regulus' arm was quite disheartening, even if she was completely sure that their conversation had never been friendly and actually barely polite. Luna couldn't help herself from not feeling jealous, even if she wouldn't admit so out loud.

Still, her friends knew, especially with the way that Evan looked at her, holding back a smile in expectation, waiting for her to do something. Barty, however, was frowning in worry, also waiting for her to do something.

It was someone clearing their throat that made her look away from her friends, only to see Sirius standing there.

"Hey," he said, looking at Evan and Barty quite suspiciously.

She raised a single eyebrow.

"What?" she asked.

Taken aback by her impolite response, he cleared his throat again, glancing over his shoulder. He tensed up at something, but looked back at her and didn't wince when she stepped forward. He wasn't embarrassed of being seen with her, she realised with her eyes narrowing, he was scared.

"What?" she asked again.

He glanced at the boys again before looking back at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Evan snorted, turning around so not to see the glare that Sirius and Luna threw at him at the same time. Barty stepped closer to Luna, rolling his shoulders back and fixing his posture, easily towering over Sirius for intimidation.

"I'm fine," she said, curtly.

"It's just that –"

"If you fucking say that I'm jealous, I swear to Merlin that every ounce of anger I kept to myself for the last year will come ripping out," she said, cutting him off. Sirius froze, unsure if to continue or not. "And I have a lot of anger to deal with still. I am not having a good day, please."

He raised his hands in surrender.

"As you wish, Your Majesty," he mocked, stepping back. He started turning around, but turned to her again, remembering something at the last moment. "By the way, there'll be Lassi soon. Mum said you liked them, so she asked the Team to make it. I thought you should know, so you can save up space for it later tonight."

Luna softened.

Euphemia was so kind. Even if Luna didn't have the stomach to take the wonderful drink, she would be grateful that she had thought of her at all.

"Oh. Thanks," she said.

Sirius smiled at her that Sirius-smile, ever so charming and intimate, as if they shared a deep secret that nobody in the world knew. Luna had to look away and swallow the bitterness at his sweetness, forcing herself to give him a little smile back.

"Eat," he said, pointing a finger at him before turning away and walking back to Peter.

Luna crossed her arms holding onto the fabric of the pallu, making sure it was in place, covering her whole front.

"Sure," she mumbled, even though he wasn't listening to her anymore.

Barty watched Sirius walking away before turning to Luna.

"Yes, I get it," he mused.

She turned to him, raising her eyebrows. She looked at Sirius before turning to Barty, finally understanding what he meant. She blushed deeply, rolling her eyes and shifting her weight.

Evan made a disgusted noise, putting his tongue out in exaggeration. He felt like he was doing a good job in Regulus' place.