Years ago, Gwen’s father told her that when leaders were scared, when they felt their power slipping, they went for a major distraction to draw the public’s eye away from what they were doing. This party felt like nothing if not that, and if he were here, her dad would have told Gwen not to go. Unfortunately, he wasn’t here. He was off in another dimension somewhere, and though Gwen was smart enough to recognize the distraction for what it was, she wasn’t smart enough to let it keep her from having a good time. She kind of needed a distraction.

The party was a really good distraction. The food they were serving was a lot better than what she usually ate at home, and the demons didn’t seem to be interested in messing with the crowd. For the first time in a while, Gwen found herself in decent spirits, and she grinned widely as she leaned against the snacks table. Seeing someone approach out of the corner of her eye, she turned towards them and felt her smile widen at the sight of Harry. “Pretty good party, huh? These sandwich things with the toothpicks are incredible. Here, try one!”