The noise preceded the people.
They were approaching from below, and when Ash finally caught sight of the stairs, there was movement everywhere.
The clink of glasses, voices overlapped with each other, laughter in multiple directions simultaneously. He slowed his steps without meaning to.
Ray kept walking.
Ash followed.
When he reached the top of the stairs and looked over, the whole room presented itself to his view. The hall was full of people, mostly nobles but definitely from different houses.
They were dressed in formal wear and stood in groups, chatting comfortably. The servants walked in among them, serving refreshments or topping up their drinks.
It was a buzz of conversation, an activity in every direction he looked.
Ash's chest tightened.
Crowds had never been his forte. He'd tried to avoid them his entire life, in his old world, and in the new one too.
Crowds made him uncomfortable.
He had always liked to be on the edges of rooms and the quiet corners where people were not watching, but he could watch back. He had spent a lifetime working on that.
Now it seemed to him that that wouldn't be enough.
He was five years old, it was his birthday and there were at least fifty guests at his party downstairs and most of them had come specifically for him.
There was no edge of the hall available to him today.
He had just enough time to take a last look before he spotted his father.
Draco was standing with the rest of the nobles on the far side of the hall. He towered over everyone around him.
It was hard to pinpoint the reason, but Ash always noticed the stillness that seemed to emanate from his father – and it made everyone else seem more animated.
He was talking or probably listening to something someone said.
And then Draco turned his head.
Their eyes met across the full length of the hall and the distance between them and the crowd of people filling it.
Ash went still for half a second.
Then Draco moved.
Not toward Ash. He turned slightly to face the room, and when he spoke his voice carried easily over every other sound in the hall.
"Excuse me for a moment. Can I have everyone's attention please?"
The conversations faded instantly, one by one and then altogether. Soon the hall was silent except for the breathing of dozens of people waiting. Every single face now faced Draco Vulkan.
"Pardon the interruption. But the special person for this ceremony is here," Draco announced. He lifted his arm and pointed in Ash's general direction. "Please welcome my youngest son, Ash Vulkan."
And everyone in the hall turned and looked at Ash.
Then the applause began.
The sound of it echoed in his ears and Ash stood on the staircase in the presence of fifty pairs of eyes staring at him. Blood rushed out of his face and made it pale.
"Ash?" Ray said quietly from beside him. "Are you alright?"
Ash looked at him.
"Yes," he said. "I just... I'm nervous."
Ray studied his face for a minute, then pressed his palm against the top of Ash's head.
"You don't need to be nervous. Just pretend that there is nothing happening. It's like there are only five of us here – me, father, mom, Flamir and yourself. Okay?"
Ash looked into the crowded hall below and then at Ray.
He took in a deep breath through his nose and blew it out the same way. Twice.
And then he started making his way down the stairs.
The sound of clapping grew louder as he descended and filled the whole room, with the same warmth, welcoming him and somehow increasing his discomfort.
He kept his gaze straight and his chin level and slowly moved down until the stair was behind him and he was standing on the floor of the hall.
Ray moved out of the way to the side.
But Draco approached.
He made his way across the hall quickly, then stopped in front of him. Draco looked down at his face, then smiled at him. Real smile, brief and genuine, and then gone.
Ash smiled back.
Draco put a hand on his shoulder, and turned them towards the crowd.
All of it.
Fifty faces and fifty pairs of eyes, all looking at them from a distance of merely several meters away.
No staircases anymore. Only Ash and his father, facing everyone who had come to celebrate a birthday ceremony that Ash had been trying to avoid.
He couldn't raise his head.
His gaze was downcast. The ground below his feet, the shine of his boots and his coat hem were all he saw.
He was aware of every person in the room looking at him and not knowing what to do with his face or his hands.
Nervousness had passed beyond nervousness.
His stomach twisted painfully, and his skin felt wrong, almost hot. Each second that passed while he stood in front of everyone and every eye in the room watched him seemed to make it worse. And there was no end to it in sight.
He'd faced plenty of uncomfortable situations in five years in this world.
None of them had been worse than this.
He stared ahead and wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole.
It didn't and the guests kept looking.