[THD, DDC] surrender to the touch • | s i m o n e

As had become quite usual in the past few weeks, Prosper was at a party. The music was pumping in synchronicity with his heartbeat and he was dancing in synchronicity with the music. Prosper had always been a lucky boy. He’d lived a fairly charmed life, with things sort of going his way ever since he was a little kid. He’d always sort of believed in luck too. People always said yes to him and he found that he could get away with a lot of things or mess everything up and still sort of come out on top somehow. Simone, for example, had said yes to coming to a random party with him when he’d turned up at her doorstep this afternoon, after his previous plans had fallen through. They’d been sort of on and off friends for a while now - the off parts mostly due to how easily distracted he was - but whenever they hung out they tended to have a lot of fun.

So here they were. “I’m getting another drink!” Prosper yelled over the music, tipping his plastic cup upside down and motioning tipping out the liquid to show her that his cup was empty. Prosper turned and strode with long, confident steps in the direction of the kitchen where he’d stashed their drinks. This was the house party of someone he sort of knew. It was more juvenile than most of the parties he’d been going to recently. This one was more plastic cups and sticky floors, rather than his usual digs of people painting each other and glitter. He supposed that was the difference between normal parties and parties where everyone you knew was a performance artist or a hipster.

Prosper came into the kitchen and walked in a bunch of young wizards messing with what looked like a few little vials of something sparkly. “What’re you boys cooking?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow. He was immediately curious. “Where’s mine?”. It looked fun, whatever it was, and it smelled kind of familiar. The younger men looked at each other (they were really familiar, probably recent Beauxtabons graduates, he thought) and sort of laughed and one of them offered him a vial. Prosper didn’t see them exchange looks. He just downed the thing and then proceeded to pour himself a vodka and apple juice mix. “Thanks boys,” he said, returning to the dance floor.

Prosper spotted her across the room, dancing without restraint to a popular pop song that reverberated through his body. He watched the edges of her mouth crinkle as she smiled, watched the way her body moved to the beat. “Wow,” he said breathlessly, out loud. Had he been blind before? Prosper’s drink dropped to the ground but he didn’t even notice. He found himself walking over to her in a haze, bumping into others as he did so without paying them any mind. There was only one thing he could see, and it was her. Her eyes met his and he felt his heart pounding in his chest. He couldn’t help himself, he moved in close and put his hands on her waist and kissed her right on the lips.

Of course Simone had agreed to come here with Prosper. It was rare for Simone to turn down an invitation to any party even if attending was against her best interest. That didn’t seem to be the case tonight however, she and Prosper had been on good terms for a while now and was more than happy to see his familiar face. It had only been a few days since Simone had returned from England and she was already looking for new excitement. Hopefully tonight would give her just that. Stuffing a bag she had yet to fully unpack, Simone shoved as many drinks as she could before leaving. While doing this, she noticed a small crystal vial that contained what a salesman told her was a love potion. Simone had bought it as more of a joke when she explored Diagon Alley during one of her many adventures in London, but had no real intentions of using it. She wasn’t even sure if it would really work and thought nothing of leaving it in her bag while leaving with Prosper as she was still too lazy to properly unpack.

Arriving at the party Simone spotted a few people she knew from Beauxbatons. As average as this party seemed to be so far, it was always fun to see old classmates. Simone had her first few drinks and mingled with Prosper and anyone who would listen to her. After finishing the last drink she was able to stuff in her bag, Simone saw no point in carrying it around anymore. She decided that a kitchen cupboard would be the safest place for it. Not that Simone was worried about anyone taking anything inside her bag. The witch always had her wand on her and had finished with everything she wanted to keep to herself. Losing the bag itself concerned Simone more than losing the stuff inside it. It was one of cuter bags. When she walked into the kitchen, Simone noticed a group of her fellow Beauxbatons classmates.

“If anyone touches my bag I’ll know,” Simone warned the group of boys as she was shoving her bag into one of the cupboards with the love potion in mind. She didn’t trust them completely, but she didn’t think a group of boys would be overly concerned with a bag containing no alcohol or valuables. If one of them was stupid enough to drink the love potion for themselves, the deserved its effects.

Feeling free now with a bag off her shoulders, Simone went to join her friend who had invited her in the first place. They joined a large group of people who had formed a dance floor in one of the rooms. Simone was having a blast. Nodding when Prosper announced he needed more to drink, Simone decided she would rather stay and dance more before getting another herself. While her friend was gone, a man Simone did not recognise started to dance with her. She smiled and continued dancing with the stranger until she noticed Prosper bee lining towards them through the crowd. Was he alright?

Suddenly, Simone felt her friends lips smack in to hers and was very confused. It wasn’t their first kiss but it had been awhile, years even. Any romantic interest Simone had in Prosper was long gone.

“What was that about?!” Simone shouted, not angry but not exactly thrilled either. 

Goddamn he loved kissing.

It really was something - the whole skin-on-skin, lip-to-lip thing. Prosper had thought that by nineteen he might have gotten over the whole super-hormone-rush thing, but apparently there was no getting over it. Right now, too, it felt a little… more intense. He could smell her and feel the feminine curves of her waist under his hands. It was intoxicating. Prosper laughed when she spoke. He could barely hear her over the music, but her voice was one he’d always be able to pick out. It all seemed so obvious now - she was literally perfect. Her face? Her hair? Perfect. Wow. He could really feel butterflies in his stomach just looking at her. They didn’t really stop dancing even after he’d kissed her. At least, he hadn’t it.

“I’m sorry,” he said with a smile. He wasn’t sorry. “You just looked so gorgeous dancing there, I just had to kiss you.” Prosper could feel himself about to do something extravagant. Start reciting Shakespeare to her? Turn off the music and make a speech? He didn’t know yet but it had to be something grand. She was so absolutely full of life that he couldn’t imagine just telling her how he felt. That wasn’t very Prosper Lachapelle and he seriously doubted that it was very Simone Sunthari. How the hell had he let her go all those years ago? Prosper vaguely remembered just sort of… losing interest. There were so many girls at school. So many distractions.

The teenager felt someone knock into them from one side. He didn’t see it because he was too busy staring into her gorgeous eyes, but he felt it and they both stumbled from the impact. Prosper was up on his feet in a fraction of a second; he moved with the lithe grace of a dancer. Suddenly his wand was in hand too. “What the hell was that?” He berated the guy who’d stumbled into them, who had just started apologising. The Frenchman glanced at Simone to make sure she was okay, then glared back at the other guy, pointing his wand at him dangerously. What the hell? What if he’d hurt her? The idea just filled him with such passion. Some of the people around them were staring now and Prosper was ready to fight. When he saw the other guy go for his wand, Prosper reacted by flinging a quick hex his way. The room was far too small for a duel, and some of the occupants moved aside to make space, afraid of being hit by a stray jinx. His opponent was fast enough to deflect the spell.

As Prosper’s behavior got more and more bizarre, Simone’s confusion turned into realization. How could she be so foolish? She saw him walk into the kitchen herself. Maybe he was looking around for something and found her bag. Simone couldn’t be mad about that, even though there were no drinks in it Prosper would be the one person at this party who could help himself to anything in her bag. Except the love potion of course which judging by Prosper’s sudden strange behavior is exactly what he got into.

“Did you go in my bag at all?” Simone asked now confident she knew what the kiss was all about. She was smiling now, trying as hard as she could not to burst into laughter, but Simone couldn’t help finding the situation hilarious. Before he had time to answer her however they were shoved hard by some careless stranger. Simone was annoyed she had almost been knocked over and Prosper was on the ground. The stranger however immediately began apologizing and Simone felt herself calm down. It was a crowded party after all, it happens. Prosper however seemed to have a different idea. Despite the strangers’ apologies, her friend took out his wand and thought this would be an appropriate time and place for a duel. It wasn’t. The love potion situation was not amusing Simone anymore.

“Prosper stop!” Simone yelled not confident her words would stop him. She still took out her wand, ready to defend her friend or stop him if necessary. Even someone as usually hot headed as Simone knew duelling a stranger was stupidly dangerous. The stranger could be a skilled and ruthless dueler after all.

“Maybe we should leave?” Simone tried to tell Prosper, but it was no use. Even though the two men had been throwing hexes, no one thought to turn the music down and Simone’s voice was drowned out once again. She went to take Prosper’s arm and drag her out herself until she noticed a bright light from the strangers wand headed towards them.

“Protego!” Simone yelled instinctively. She successfully blocked the strangers hex, but he didn’t look like he was ready to stop fighting. Simone kept her wand raised ready to try to fight this man if he tried anything else. She didn’t even want to fight, but now she found herself very pissed off.

It was too loud in here. Prosper couldn’t hear himself think. The only thing that seemed to permeate the wall of noise around him was the fact that his one true love - the love of his life, Simone Sunthari (no, not Zoé Deveaux) was in danger. And he had to look after her. Prosper was the hero in the melodramatic play that was his life. He was handsome, funny, morally fairly solid and knew how to play the hero role very well. And Simone, undoubtedly, was his princess straight outa Beauxbatons.

Lots of people around him were scattering, some were cheering, and others were freaking out. Simone was tugging on his arm. When the stranger tried to hex him, Simone blocked it but he didn’t have time to thank her before he was squaring off with his opponent again. “Get to safety,” he told her, his expression genuine as he moved away from her in an attempt to draw fire. "Think you're some kind of ace dueller, huh?" Prosper quickly blocked a hex cast his way, successfully dodged another, and then bounced up on his feet. Stupefy! He thought silently, jabbing his wand in the direction of his assailant.

Prosper wasn’t entirely sure what happened next. He couldn’t hear anything over the music and the chatter around him. He cast the spell and bodies moved around and suddenly, somehow, a flash of red hit him squarely in the chest. The boy was flung back into the crowd, arms and legs flailing. He hit the floor with a thud and fell swiftly into unconsciousness.

Stunning spells? Really? It had come to this. Usually Simone could handle herself in duel (her short temper had given her plenty of practice over the years), but she knew her and Prosper were outmatched. The eighteen year old was no longer at Beauxbatons and she wasn’t dueling with fellow classmates anymore. This stranger might be an auror, a professional dueler… Simone didn’t know. All she knew was that this was probably going to be a losing battle. Even though he was outnumbered, their opponent was doing well. Knowing this, the witch remained stubborn and knew running away wasn’t an option. She considered apparition, but Prosper didn’t seem to want to go anywhere and Simone was worried she would lose focus and splinch one or both of them. She would have to fight until at least one of the three duelers went down or gave up.

Frustrated, Simone wanted the fight to be over quickly. When Prosper told her to get to safety, she considered leaving and letting him fight for himself. He got them in this mess anyway. However, Simone wasn’t sure what kind of spells their opponent was willing to cast and her own hot headedness had gotten herself and others in trouble before. The girl refused to abandon her friend and thought their best chance was her staying and fighting. Simone got her wand ready to send a hex her opponent’s way. The witch would have to more than defend if they were going to get out of here anytime soon. The noise from the crowd was only encouraging Simone. She blocked another one of the stranger’s hexes successfully. The rebound almost hit her opponent and she was getting more confident now. Maybe the fastest way to end this was to send a perfectly timed stunning spell of her own at the stranger. Watching the man closely, Simone was trying to figure out whether he would to try to hex her or Prosper next.

It was Prosper however, who made the next move. He seemed to have a similar idea to Simone when she noticed a red beam of light come from his wand. She decided to seize this opportunity and send a stunning spell at the exact same time making it much harder for the man to dodge them. Right before Simone was about to cast her spell, she saw her opponent mouthing an incantation she couldn’t hear over the blaring music and screaming crowd.

“Stupefy!” Simone yelled attempting to be faster than her opponent. She didn’t see the point in silently casting spells with all the noise. Unfortunately, the witch was not fast enough. To Simone’s horror, her own spell was aiming straight for Prosper! Whatever spell had hit her was making it nearly impossible for Simone to aim. While trying to protect her friend, Simone let her guard down a moment too long and noticed the hex Prosper had originally sent towards the man, coming straight at her. Scrambling to cast a quick shield charm, Simone pointed her wand in the direction of the wizard hoping it wouldn’t backfire again, but was too late. The opponent was too fast for her and suddenly the room went black and silent before she could feel herself hit the ground.