Cave Rave

[noonelaughed]

It seems like it's been forever since Chris has been to a real, proper blowout. There aren't exactly any clubs on the island for this sort of thing, and the last time Chris had any kind of party in his own hut, it'd taken him fuckin' ages to properly sort out the damage. As it was, he was still finding brownie crumbs and other people's coats when

Comments

[honestlyrubbish]

Kate had been one of the people Hermione was most intent on finding that evening. After all, the only reason why she was willing to indulge the boys in their desire to go to the party was because, indeed, that there stood a chance Harry would find something or someone there who would have him moving forward, away from the shadows of war. Knowing that he fancied Kate a great deal, she wondered if perhaps a frank talk between women would have been a positive thing, and from what she knew of Kate, she didn't think the other woman would mind a little unassuming curiosity.

But by the time Hermione had woven through enough of the partygoers and found Kate- inadvertently, at that, the two running into one another- her expression fell the tiniest bit.

"Oh... looks like I'm a little late," she said with a disappointed smile. Not that she had any room to judge anyone at the party, especially not when the hosts seemed to have tried to make it as easy as possible to get high. "Hello, Kate."

[everyone_takes]

"Late for what?" Kate asked, curious about what Hermione could possibly be late for at a party like this. The need to find Marshall disappeared, because she lived with him, so it wasn't like she was never going to see him again. He'd be at home later and she could tell him whatever important thing it was she had to tell him, although she'd already forgotten most of what had been on her mind.

"Hello," she added. "You're so beautiful. Your hair is... amazing." In the dim light of the cave with all the glowing items around her, Kate thought Hermione really did look extra beautiful. "We should totally dance."

[honestlyrubbish]

Even though she realized that her explanation wasn't likely to take root for Kate right then, Hermione had never been very good about leaving a question unanswered, not without purpose. And there really wasn't any reason for her to be anything other than frank with Kate right then. She smiled, trying to start, only finding herself laughing lightly, hardly more than an exhale. "Late in that I was hoping to talk to you a little about Harry, but I don't think you're really in the mood for that now, are you?"

Pausing, she listened to Kate's compliments, feeling a bit flattered in spite of herself. She knew that her hair wasn't really in any shape to be called amazing, though. Finding anything that passed for a decent conditioner was hard enough on the island; styling it was even more difficult.

"Because apparently you're more in the mood for dancing," she concluded. "Which is fine. I suppose I should dance at least once at the party."

[everyone_takes]

"We could dance and talk about Harry," Kate pointed out, taking Hermione's hand and whirling around, pulling her into the crowd of moving bodies. The music was loud, but she'd had plenty of shouted conversations over loud music before. She was definitely in the mood of dancing, but Kate found she could be in the mood for talking, too. It was easy to be in the mood for almost anything tonight.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked, finding a place where they could still dance, but where there seemed to be fewer people. It would be easier to talk, she thought, if they weren't being crushed together from all sides.

[honestlyrubbish]

Hermione didn't really have any amount of disdain for the activities that people got to on the island. She had no intention of stopping them, saw nothing wrong with wanting to kick back and relax, especially considering how much some of those people had seen in their lives. But she also knew herself fairly well, knew that she couldn't bear the thought of losing her inhibitions and doing something that she wouldn't have, in her right mind. To her credit, she tried to dance a bit and call back the way she'd managed with abandon at the Yule Ball.

That was years ago, though.

"Well, nothing too serious, really," Hermione replied, lightly dancing in time with the music. "I only wanted to ask where you think things are with him, whether you... fancy him. Whether or not he's spoken to you since the last party."

[everyone_takes]

"Oh, yeah," Kate answered, dancing to the music, her limbs feeling lighter than they'd felt since... well, since the last party she'd gone to with Effy. For a moment, she missed Effy fiercely and she almost stopped dancing entirely, then looked at Hermione again and smiled. "Yeah, he asked me on a date. So I think we're going on a date sometime. I like him. He's nice."

She knew that guys didn't especially liked being called nice when they'd rather be told they were hot or sex machines or whatever, but Harry was nice and that was why she liked him. "I hope the date isn't a total disaster. That would suck, because he's super great and I like him and you're so nice and if your best friend and I have a totally awkward date, he probably wouldn't want us to keep talking and that'd suck, too." She thought she'd already said that, but it was worth repeating.

[honestlyrubbish]

Hermione's brows rose in pleasant surprise, glad to hear that Harry must have gone about asking Kate on a date properly, for the other girl to properly remember it even when affected by whatever it was that the host had spiked the brownies and drinks with. With that knowledge, Hermione was better able to relax, moving along more easily with the music, although her attention was still, for the most part, on their conversation.

"Oh no," she said reassuringly. "You don't need to be worried about Harry doing anything like trying to cut off your friendship with me, at least. He's not like that. Yet another reason why I'm pretty sure that the date won't be awful, either. He can be awkward, but he's always a lovely person to get to know, and sweet to the girls he fancies."

[everyone_takes]

Kate grinned at that, glad to know that someone thought the date would go well. Marshall had been supportive enough, but he'd also been kind of jealous and Kate didn't even want to think on that too hard or for too long. It was just a little weird.

"Good," she said emphatically. "I don't normally do this. Date guys, I mean. Not that I'm a lesbian or anything like that, I just... dudes are usually pretty douchey, you know? They do all this stupid shit and then expect you to just be cool with it and it's like, I'm not cool with it anymore. So I pretty much don't date. But Harry's different."

[honestlyrubbish]

Hermione laughed, glad to hear what Kate had to say on the matter. Of course, the island itself was a bit safer for dating, given that the bulk of people didn't seem to know Harry as the Boy Who Lived, and weren't clamoring for him as a result of that alone. On the island, he didn't have magic, he just had the wonder of who he was, the personality that Hermione could not think more highly of, and that someone had noticed him for that meant the world to Hermione. She pulled her hair over a shoulder, finding it fantastic too that Kate was so easy to talk to, even at a party like the one being held in that cave.

"I have to admit, I haven't done much dating over the years, but even the best of boys can be... completely thick at times," Hermione smiled, tilting her head back and thinking of Ron. "But the- the douches, as you say, do it on purpose. And that, Harry would never do."

[everyone_takes]

When Hermione said the word 'douche', Kate laughed happily, unable to help herself. It sounded so strange and so perfect in her accent and she found herself immediately wishing she had some kind of accent, too. It would make her sound so much more put together than she really was, something she wouldn't have ever admitted out loud to actually wanting.

"The douches definitely do it on purpose," she agreed, nodding her head for a moment and then finding herself completely taken by the beat of the music. Her whole body started to follow the nod, shifting back and forth to the beat. "Even when they think they're not doing it on purpose and try to be all apologetic, it's just so obviously not a mistake."

[honestlyrubbish]

"I never know whether or not to credit the apologetic ones for at least pretending to be decent people," Hermione pondered aloud, brow knit as she ran through all of the less considerate people in her year. It was only when her mind ran back to Draco Malfoy, his simpering tone when he'd wanted to butter himself up to certain teachers who accepted such behavior wholeheartedly, that she shuddered, immediately coming to her conclusion. "Actually, never mind. The false apologies make it so much worse."

Realizing that her sudden change in temperament probably looked strange, at best, she shot Kate an apologetic look, though her eyes were still bright with amusement.

"Sorry, thinking of an old school bully."

[everyone_takes]

"We had some of those," Kate said, thinking of Ben. He hadn't really been a bully so much as he'd been a complete idiot that she'd let order her around for some stupid reason. Not to mention the fact that he'd worn his hair in totally ridiculous pigtails and got his ass kicked by a girl.

"I dated this guy once and he was a total loser. One day at school my mom caught him pushing me, like trying to get my attention, but in a totally not cool way, because you don't ever push your girlfriend, right? And later my mom and little brother kicked his ass. They would've kicked your bully's ass, too, probably."

[honestlyrubbish]

"He... did what to you?" Hermione blinked, wondering if there was more to read behind the words than there was in Kate's tone. The way she talked about it was so calm, nearly flippant, but 'pushing' and 'not cool way' only combined in Hermione's mind to set off alarms. Whether it was a lack of foresight in the boy, or instead an intimidating streak, Hermione wasn't sure, but she knew full well that if she had known that sort of boy for any extended period of time, it wasn't unlikely that she would have punched him in the face. "That's horrible. Serves him right, that your mother and brother stood up for you. Any person who's pushy in that way with their significant other, that's just a low class of people."

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Our bully wasn't precisely like that, I think. Never gave any indication that he was anything but loyal to those he loved."

[everyone_takes]

Under other circumstances, ones where she might have been a little less under the influence, Kate likely would have been embarrassed that she'd said anything at all. Talking about Ben didn't make her look good, it made her look like a stupid kid who had let someone physically push her around just because she wanted him to keep liking her. At the time, though, it had seemed so important to have something normal, like a boyfriend, even when the boyfriend turned out be a complete asshole.

But now, she was just on the right side of high to just shrug and smile. "He was the worst," she agreed. "Is your bully here? It seems like there's a lot of people Harry knew from back home on the island." She just had Marshall, but that was okay. That was a hell of a lot better than the possibility of Ben or Gene showing up.

[honestlyrubbish]

Reluctantly, Hermione nodded. She wasn't really in the habit of spreading negative rumors about other people around before they had a chance to prove themselves, not unless there was some strategic point to it (which, more often than not, only occurred in conversations with Harry and Ron). And especially on an island that had been collectively named Tabula Rasa, aimed at giving everyone that second chance, she didn't plan on ruining things for Draco right then.

(Even if chances were pretty high that either Harry or Ron would call Draco a git in front of Kate, that the former might even choose to warn her to avoid the young man.)

"He's here, but he's... well, suffice to say that he's learned a few lessons since the worst years, and he doesn't really have any weight to throw around at current," Hermione said with a slight shrug. "But there are a lot of people from our world, interestingly enough. I don't know whether or not there's a reason for it."