Andrea Dennington looked around at the motley crew of students that filled the room. Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Slytherins were all present, as well as her own housemates from Ravenclaw. They coexisted here on the basis of an honor-amongst-thieves type of arrangement, as they all knew that using the Room of Requirement to host drinking parties was worth more than a month of scrubbing floors with Filch. She observed Fred and George relentlessly egging on a third-year to chug an entire bottle of Firewhiskey in one go. The poor boy was about halfway through and he looked quite sick, so she sauntered over and snatched the bottle from his hand.
"What's the big idea?" Fred whined.
"Yeah, we were just trying to teach the ways of a grown man; what's the- Bloody hell, woman!" George watched in shock as she downed the second half of the bottle. "You do know that's a tad stronger than pumpkin juice, don't you?"
She slammed the bottle on the table pointedly and shrugged. "I like to drink." She chuckled inwardly at the several shocked faces that were now turned her way.
"A lady shouldn't be capable of drinking like that, let alone making a show of it…" Pansy Parkinson sniffed.
"That is no lady, Pansy. I heard she came from a different country where liquor comes out of the faucets. She's probably the latest in a long line of boozehounds, if I had to guess." Malfoy sneered, taking a sip from his own glass. Pansy attempted to take his hand, but he waved her away. "Not now! I can't think with you touching me!" Andrea laughed and shook her head. The boy had always been an ass, and adding alcohol to the situation definitely wasn't making things better.
Her friend Cho noticed her watching the pair bickering back and forth, and wrinkled up her nose. "Those two are awful. Someone needs to set them right one of these days." She sat down on a stool and twiddled her thumbs.
I don't even know why she comes to these things with me, Andy thought. She had literally never seen the girl drink, and Cho always seemed so awkward when she tagged along to parties like these. Just so I won't have to be the Lone Ranger, I guess. Nonetheless, she was thankful to have her only friend joining her. They had met on the train their first year, and since Cho came from an Asian family and Andy was American, they became an unlikely pair on the common ground that their cultures were a tad different than everyone else's. Aside from that, they really didn't have anything in common, but they complimented each other well as Cho's kindness always seemed to be able to clean up the many messes Andy made. She playfully socked her in the arm. "Lighten up. It's always fun to witness the shenanigans around here, even if you're not participating. In fact," she added mischieviously, "Why don't I go stir some up right now? Do you dare me to go talk to the ferret?"
Cho's dark eyes widened. She knew that look. "No… That's not necessary… Don't do that…" But it was too late. The girl had made up her mind and was already walking towards the den of vipers. "Please don't make a scene!" she called after her.
"Don't worry, I'll be nice," Andy said with a wink, barely pausing to turn her head as she continued on her mission. She stopped right in front of the table where the blonde and his skeletal girlfriend were sitting. "Hi," she said cordially.
"What are you doing here, Dennington? Looking to snatch my drink as well? You'd think you'd try to stay away from alcohol; don't need anything making your blood any dirtier than it already is." Malfoy smirked, his eyes suspicious. She was a notorious troublemaker, and she never talked to anyone other than the Chang girl without a reason. He deduced that it definitely wasn't a good sign that she was acting like it was perfectly normal for her to be strolling up to him and saying hello. What's more, she had no reaction to his insult. She just stood there, smiling away, encroaching on his breathing space with her Muggle germs. He began to get frustrated. "Didn't you hear me, bitch? You're a Mudblood!" Pansy gave a nod of agreement.
Yet again, she showed no sign of being offended by the remark. She even looked a bit amused, as if they were playing some sort of game. Her golden eyes flickered as she tilted her head to one side. "You know, Malfoy, a little bit of dirt never hurt anyone." She then levitated the glass of firewhiskey from the table and turned it upside down, spilling its contents all over him. As a final point, the glass also fell and bounced off his head with a loud thunk. "And I don't want your drink. You're not fit to drink after." With that, she casually walked away without giving him a chance to reply. Everyone in the room was laughing and a few were even brave enough to cheer.
"I'm not… I'm not fit to… Why, that filthy little…" Draco was furious at this point. He flew up from his chair and cast his best stinging hex at the back of her head.
Bad move; she had expected that. "Protego." The hex bounced off her shield, hitting him square in the face. This sent the laughter into an uproar as he shrieked and covered his face in his hands. As much as she wanted to catch a glimpse of the school bully tearing his eyes out, she resisted the urge to turn her head and look. Wouldn't have the same theatrical flair, she decided. Instead, she calmly collected Cho and proceeded to leave the Room of Requirement, receiving a round of raucous applause on her way out.