Ever one to make the best of what appeared to be a disastrous situation, Esther had embraced Harry Potter Quiz Night with all the enthusiasm that she would have embraced Rock Night. In seconds, she’d been assimilated onto a team of misfits captained by Susan’s friend Grace and including a girl called Noor, whom Esther recognized as someone from her course from her pink headscarf and dimpled smile, and a mountain in a Hogwarts T-shirt who was introduced as American Chad.

They were terrible.

As Esther and Grace drained pitcher after pitcher of Harry Potter–themed cocktails, the others seemed to get equally drunk on hysteria as their team, the “Mugglebloods,” crashed into last place through every round with increasingly far-fetched and fanciful answers, referencing magical creatures from all the wrong mythologies, made-up spells, and ever so slightly rude variations on character names.

“Who knew A-level Latin would come in so useful?” Noor collapsed into Esther, giggling as they staggered their way out of the Union.

“That look on Dumbledore’s face when you yelled out ‘haemorrhoidus explodus’ as the spell Harry used on Draco Malfoy!” Esther couldn’t breathe, she was laughing so much.

“You guys are crazy!” American Chad leaned forward to put his arms over their shoulders and squeezed them so tightly, Esther felt as if her head would pop. “I’ve never had so much fun losing.”

“Let’s go dancing!” Grace swung around and pointed in the direction of town, swaying unsteadily so that Noor gently shrugged Chad off and hurried over to her.

Esther frowned, thinking back to how many pitchers they’d had, with Grace topping up Esther’s glass of “MargaRita Skeeter” faster than Esther was drinking it. She felt merry and fuzzy but in full control of her faculties, unlike Grace, who was having a heated and slightly hysterical argument with Noor.

“Is she OK?” Esther asked Chad.

Chad shrugged. “Who knows? She veers between nights of partying as hard as she works and days of sitting in her PJs eating nothing but cereal.”

For a moment, Esther wondered why he knew this, before remembering Grace had said he was one of her housemates. “The only decent one,” she’d said, although Esther hadn’t exactly known what that meant. Not for the first time, she felt grateful to have been housed on a corridor with Daisy and Susan.

She watched Grace lean forward to hug Noor, crying onto her shoulder.

“Is this about her boyfriend in Plymouth?” Esther asked. He’d come up a few times during the quiz.

“I guess. They talk a lot on the phone, but I think she’s finding it hard.”