Harry Potter fanfiction - "We require the Room of Requirement"
"Gred and Forge have the best parties."
"Fred and George, darling. I think you had a bit too much Firewhiskey." Viviette grinned and made a quiet humming noise in the back of her throat. She nestled closer to Cassia and pushed her face into the other girl's shoulder.
"I like Firewhiskey." She stopped, halting their slow hobble down the corridor. They had their arms around each other for support as they tried to locate the Hufflepuff common room. "Do I know you?"
"No," answered Cassia. "You needed some help. I'm helping."
"Oh. Thanks." She hiccoughed and a strange look crossed her face, her features twisting into a grimace. She pulled her arm from around Cassia's waist and dropped down to her hands and knees. She retched, throwing a large amount of liquid up behind a coat of arms. Cassia put her hand on the girl's back comfortingly. She started to lean down to join Viviette, but pulled back when her head started spinning.
"Filch isn't gonna be happy about that." Viviette rolled over so she was seated on the other side of the knight. She wiped the back of her hand against her mouth and wiped a small amount of vomit off on her skirt. She had lost her robes sometime between her dormitory and the end of the party and was now wearing only her skirt, top and a single black shoe. Her tie and stockings had gone missing along with her robes and she had no idea how. She thought maybe Dean Thomas might have had a hand in helping her out with that, but her memory was a bit fuzzy on most of the night. She heard Cassia utter a quiet curse under her breath and she looked up to see Mrs. Norris watching them from the end of the hall. The cat blinked its lantern-like eyes once before running off, most definitely fetching Filch.
"What are we gonna do? Do you even know where your dorm is from here?" Cassia ran her hand through her hair.
"I'm not even sure where we are, actually." Viviette looked down the corridor, searching for some sort of clue as to their location. Cassia began pacing nervously.
"I can't get detention. My dad would kill me! And if I lose house points, the other Slytherins will triple kill me!" Viviette closed her eyes, trying to beat through the fuzziness in her brain to form a coherent thought. It didn't work. She opened her eyes slowly to notice a door behind Cassia.
"Why don't we hide in there?" Cassia spun and saw the door. Her eyes widened and a confused look crossed her face to be replaced by a grin. She grabbed Viviette by the hand and pulled her into the room. The door shut with a soft thud just as Filch bolted around the corner, panting. With a glare and a mutter, he turned and returned to his bedchambers. Cassia watched him go through the peephole in the wall. She sighed a sigh of relief and pressed her forehead against the cool wall. A slightly blurry, far away voice from somewhere in her head told her to turn and see what kind of broom cupboard she had gotten herself stuck in this time (and with a drunken Hufflepuff no less). She did so slowly and saw that the room was much more than a broom cupboard. It was a bedroom! It matched her dorm in a lot of ways. It was equipped with two magnificent four-poster beds, as opposed to the four in her dorm. The beds were outfitted in different colours, one green and silver, the second yellow and black. A window lay behind the beds. It was draped in black curtains, which hid the stars and the almost full moon from the girls. From behind a half open door at the back of the room Cassia could hear a loud retching. She really hoped it was the bathroom. Cassia approached the bed draped in her house colours (silver and green for Slytherin) and collapsed onto it facedown. She managed to manoeuvre the pillow so it was not suffocating her just as the world began spinning. She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of Viviette in the toilet. She was close to losing consciousness when an arm draped itself over her back and a warm body slid up next to hers. A blanket was pulled over her as well. Cassia turned to see Viviette lying next to her. The girl grinned and pushed lightly at Cassia.
"Move over. I'm falling," slurred Viviette. Cassia moaned.
"Go away. You stink." Viviette pouted and Cassia complied with a groan. She rolled over onto her back and Vivette awkwardly squirmed over towards Viviette, her chubby arms scrabbling for purchase on the blankets. Cassia balled up a bit of her shirt and pulled her closer. Viviette made a happy humming sound and grabbed Cassia, hugging her around the waist. Cassia rolled her eyes. She was drunk. And a Hufflepuff. Though she couldn't remember anyone saying things about them being particularly touchy-feely. She tried to squirm out of the kid's grasp, but her hands her locked together on Cassia's other side. She eventually gave in to fatigue and alcohol and let her eyes fall closed.
Viviette awoke first. There was a harsh pain behind her eyeballs and a huge weight rested on her arm. The pinpricks of pain she had expected to feel in her eyes weren't there as she opened them and saw she was in a two-bed dorm room. The other bed was empty. But hers wasn't. Viviette pulled her arm out from under the other girl. She didn't recognize her at all. Probably not in her year. Definitely not in Hufflepuff. The girl was pretty enough. She had curly, light brown hair and pale, slightly pockmarked skin. She was very skinny – almost unhealthily so – with a long nose and pink, full lips. Viviette was unable to remember who this girl was and why she was sleeping in a bed with her. The last thing she remembered was the party. Jess had been there, then she hadn't been. There had been alcohol. Or something. It burned going down and Viviette wasn't sure why she had drunk so much of it. Enough to make her forget, which was probably a fair amount. She sat up quickly, only to collapse back down on the bed when her head started spinning and her stomach threatened throwing up whatever contents it held. She glanced to the side of the bed and spotted a small table which held two glasses, a plate containing scrambled eggs and a bacon sandwich and a tall bottle of liquid. On closer inspection Viviette found it to be Ogden's Old Firewhiskey. She scowled and rolled the bottle under the bed, but grabbed the plate of food and one of the glasses. She sniffed it and discovered it was coconut water.
Cassia awoke as Viviette was finishing her food. She rolled over to face the younger girl.
"How's your head?" She grinned when Viviette winced at the sound of her voice.
"Sucky," she paused, her fork resting lightly on her plate. "Who are you?"
"Cassia," replied Cassia. "Seventh year. Slytherin. You were a little – err – incapacitated last night, so I helped you here."
"Where is here?"
"Umm, I'm not exactly sure. Someone on the fifth floor… Or the fourth. Maybe the seventh, but that seems unlikely."
"Oh. Maybe we should leave. Because, it's kind of someone's room, right? And I ate their food and everything." Cassia looked at the plate in Viviette's hand and snorted.
"Yeah, you're right. C'mon, Goldilocks. Let's skedaddle." Viviette lifted up a lock of her black hair and frowned.
"My hair isn't golden." Cassia sighed from her place near the door.
"Yeah, I can see that. I was – oh nevermind." The girl stuck her head out the door and looked down the hall both ways. "The coast is clear. Let's go." She grabbed Viviette's hand and pulled her down the hallway, the glass of coconut water still tightly locked in Vivette's grasp. After being put off track by a couple of moving staircases, running from Mrs. Norris twice, quite literally walking into Harry Potter (who Vivette had never met – she got quite excited and asked him to sign something for her mum), and receiving some unhelpful advice from Sir Cadogan (which Cassia ignored, having some common sense) they ended up at the Great Hall a little after lunch. Cassia was glad to be done with the girl, but Viviette was having none of it. She followed Cassia into and out of the Great Hall, then up to the library.
"Where was that?" Vivette asked, literally skipping along behind Cassia.
"I don't know."
"It was weird though, right? Because, the room was, like, perfect for us! Because there was a bed for you and for me. And that food really helped my head. Why else would it be there?"
"I don't know."
"How did you find it last night? And what floor were we on? Because you said the fifth, but-"
"Viviette," Cassia sighed, "don't you have friends to hang out with or something? I'm looking for mine. They're probably worried about you. You kid of disappeared on them last night, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess. I should probably go and find Jess or Hannah… But I really want to know about that room!"
Cassia sighed. Was she ever going to get rid of this girl? "How about you go now and we'll try and find it later." It was more of a statement than a question. Viviette hopped up and down in joy.
"Fantastic! Alright, I'll talk to you later!" Vivette raced off down the hall and Cassia rolled her eyes. She turned around to find herself face to face with Pansy Parkinson.
"Who was that?"
"Just some Hufflepuff. I helped her out last night and now she thinks we're best friends." Cassia was not a fan of Pansy. She tried to avoid Draco's group at any cost. They were too violent, too obsessed with pure bloods and Voldemort. Cassia did not understand the appeal of mass murder and therefore preferred to associate with the other Slytherins, the ones who agreed with Dumbledore and the good guys.
"And now you're looking for something with her?" Cassia had had no intention of doing that. Her plan had more followed the lines of avoiding the girl until she forgot.
"Well, I said I would. But that was more to get rid of her. I'm sure she'll forget soon enough."
"Oh I'm sure she will. Mudbloods are stupid like that. Not very intelligent. Bad blood makes for a weaker mental capacity, you know?" Cassia felt her smile turn bitter and rigid on her face. She nodded and managed to spit out some sort of affirmation. Pansy turned and walked away, joining Blaise and Crabbe who had been loitering across the corridor. Well, now that she knew Pansy hated her, she couldn't not help. Cassia cursed under her breath. She couldn't do this all by herself, with only a Hufflepuff. She needed help. Someone who knew the school well. Dumbledore was the first person to pop into her head, but he wouldn't have time to help her with something like this! Cassia turned and noticed the perfect person walking down the hall. A smile graced her face as she walked forward to meet him.