The sun shone threw the windows brightly, and I covered my eyes, groaning. I had no idea what time it was, but I didn't want to know.
"Keira? Keira, wake up! You're going to be late for breakfast," Hermione said, pushing me slightly.
I simply let out a muttered string of profanities and rolled over.
"Keira! Get up! And I heard that," she growled uncharacteristically. I turned again, glaring at her.
"Screw breakfast, I'll just starve myself. I'm tired! Besides, I was having the greatest dream ever," I shot at her, already preparing my mind to fall back into a peaceful slumber.
Hermione groaned in a very Hermione-ish way and walked off. I heard her rummage through her nightstand drawer and pull something out. I then carelessly disregarded this, not bothering enough to check what she was doing.
There was just one problem though. I had forgotten that she kept her wand in that drawer. Before I could process that wandering thought, I was lifted into the air rather gracefully.
"Hermione! Stop, please! I'll get up, I promise, just stop levitating me!" I protested. Most people would go for the free, careless, floating-on-nothing feeling, but I myself prefer solid ground, or even better, broomsticks.
I felt myself being slowly lowered back onto my comfy, warm bed—oh wait, this was no bed. This was the stone-hard feeling of the ground.
"Fine then. You'd better get ready now. If you're not in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, I'll come back here and remind you about the unruly habit of being late," Hermione said, sticking her wand into her bag pocket and walking out the dormitory.
I groaned yet again, remembering her "lectures". The last one had been about treating house-elves correctly and her whole S.P.E.W. madness. I had joined, of course, but only to calm her down rather than be thrown into the fire by an irate young witch.
I rather resentfully stumbled out of bed and dragged my feet toward the bathroom. It was only there that I could reflect over my life. That was the only place I could experience peace and quiet. Those few, brief moments were probably the only reason I held on to my sanity.
After removing my clothes, I stepped into the shower and turned it on to hot. I sighed, relaxed, as the blazing hot water poured down onto me and steam slowly started rising from the stall. Only one thought ran through my head.
Harry. Harry Potter. The love of my life. The person I was destined to kill. How had I gotten myself into this predicament? Just as I thought I had gotten over him, he came back, full of his sweetness and loving. It killed me to even think about such a thing. I would soon betray him yet I couldn't stop watching him, yearning for him.
The irony was just unbelievably cruel.
I felt a tear slipping down from my eye, slowly progressing along down my cheek. I sighed, upset. It was early in the morning, and I was already distraught. This would be a long day.
Stepping out of the shower, I reached for a fluffy, white towel and wrapped it around myself. The clock on the wall said it was ten minutes past the time Hermione left. I walked back into the dorm and pulled on my robes. Then, after five laborious minutes of applying mascara, eyeliner, eye shadow, foundation, and lip gloss, I grabbed my bags and wand, sprinting for the door.
Like always, I tripped over the ledge leading into the Great Hall, but managed to stay upright. I walked towards the Gryffindor table, fully intent on finding Harry and plunking myself next to him. But however, an obstacle by the name of Draco Malfoy blocked my way.
"Keira," he said, looking at me straight in the eyes. "I have a message for you."
His cold, gray eyes were staring holes into me, and his blond hair was slightly more unruly than it usually was.
"Draco, I told you not to talk to me in public! What in Merlin's name are you trying to do, you prat? Are you trying to get me caught or something?" I hissed, trying to make it look like I was ignoring him rather than scolding him.
"It's important, you have to hear it," he hissed back, fake-glaring at me. His eyes betrayed some sort of emotion, one I couldn't identify.
"Later," I muttered back, scanning the crowd for the pair of green eyes I knew would be watching. I found them, staring at me, trying to comprehend why I was talking to Draco Malfoy.
"Get away from me, Malfoy," I said, raising my voice. I knew Harry could hear me from where he sat.
"Tonight. Meet me in the Potions hallway," he muttered.
Then he sneered at me and said cruelly, "You're not worth my time." He walked out of the Great Hall, ignoring Crabbe and Goyle as they pathetically tried to follow him.
I rushed over to the Gryffindor table, taking my place across from Harry and next to Hermione.
"Hi," I managed to force out, trying to catch my breath. "I made it within twenty minutes, Hermy, aren't you proud of me?"
Hermione turned to me with an exasperated look.
"I've told you not to call me Hermy before, Keira," she said slowly, as if I were having issues this morning.
Granted, I was.
"What were you talking to Malfoy about?" Harry asked me, his voice laced with suspicion.
I gulped nervously.
"Nothing, I don't talk to people like Malfoy. He was just being Malfoy. You know, snooty and pratty." I ad-libbed quickly.
Harry looked at me skeptically, but chose to believe what I had said. I sighed, relieved. However, a nagging part of my mind hinted to me that he would be in a pissy mood again today. I sighed again, this time not-so-relieved. This really was going to be a long day.
I threw my bag down by my bed, letting out a satisfied sigh. The day was finally over, and I was looking forward to the weekend ahead. Sixth year was being a pain so far, and we were barely a week into school.
Attempting to drag myself off of my bed, I flailed around violently, kicking my feet up in the air. I was just about to push myself up with my arms when I heard a voice.
"Keira. What are you doing?" the surprised voice of Hermione came from the doorway.
"I can't get up! Help!" I cried, trying to hold back laughter.
Hermione walked towards me and helped me up off my bed.
"Honestly, you're sad," she said, shaking her head. She stopped at her bed, located next to mine, and set down her stuff, wand excluded.
I stood there, bewildered.
"Hey Mione, why aren't you keeping your stuff in the Common Room? Aren't you going to do homework?" I asked, extremely confused.
She rolled her eyes, shooting an exasperated look at me.
"I would, but today we're playing some weird game things after dinner. Ron told me to put my stuff up. He wasn't sure whether or not to do it, but after he got Harry convinced, we decided to go ahead."
"Oh," I said, trying to cover my emotions. I had hoped to spend some time with Harry today, but apparently he was going to be busy with Ron and Hermione. "Have fun."
"Jeez Kee, you know you're participating in this too, right?"
I perked up, surprised at this comment.
"Really, I AM?" I squealed, my happy mood instantly returning. I grinned, feeling my cheeks strain.
Hermione yet again rolled her eyes.
"Duh, Keira. You know Harry wouldn't join anything if you weren't in it. I mean, maybe you can reverse his bad mood. It was your fault in the first place, you know," she said with an amazing sense of tact.
"Gawsh, Hermy. Thanks a bunch," I muttered, recalling the events earlier in the day. "It's not my fault Draco Malfoy is a right prick. He just walked up to me! What was I supposed to do, hex him? He may be insufferable, but he hasn't done anything to me yet this year."
"I bet Harry would've appreciated it more if you had hexed him," Hermione inserted with a light shrug.
I, in turn, rolled my eyes at her and headed for the door.
"Come on, let's go to dinner. You can sit by Ron again," I said in a sing-song voice, emphasizing Ron. Hermione blushed and quickly walked past me, holding her nose up in the air and ignoring my comment.
I grinned, happy to have gotten to her. This was going to be a great night.
Dinner had been over for a couple of hours, and Harry, Hermione, Ron and I were sitting in the Common Room, not doing much but chattering softly. There were still a few people lounging around, procrastinating and talking both.
I yawned, stretching on the comfy couch I was lying on.
"It's Friday night, you guys. We should be partying, not being lazy. 'Mione said we would be playing a game!" I said, my boredom quickly progressing to crabbiness.
Ron turned to me from the love seat he shared with Hermione.
"We're going to play, we just have to wait until Seamus and Dean return with the necessary… materials," he said.
At that moment, the portrait creaked open, and Seamus, Dean, Parvati, Lavender, Neville, and Ginny trooped in, snorting over something that had happened. Seamus was carrying a large, paper bag. Its contents clanked around ominously.
I eyed the bag suspiciously.
"What's in that bag?" I asked, unable to keep the suspicion out of my voice.
Dean grinned and reached into the bag to pull out a small, clear glass.
"Shot glasses!" he crowed, sniggering.
I looked at the crowed, which had now burst out into laughter.
"We're DRINKING?" I asked, shocked. I had hung out with this crowd several times, but none of them seemed to be the type to consume alcohol for leisurely purposes.
Parvati and Lavender grinned at each other.
"Of course not, Keira!" they both said at the same time.
"We're playing Russian Roulette with firewhiskey," Ginny said, shooting a seductive look at Harry. He ignored her and continued to stare at the shot glass Dean was still holding up.
I turned to look at Ron. He was grinning like a maniac and had obviously planned this. Hermione, on the other hand, looked at Ron with disbelief written all over her face. She stood up, turning to leave.
"Ronald Weasley, you and I are prefects! How could you think I would be okay with this? And how did you get firewhiskey and shot glasses anyway?"
Ron turned to Hermione, the grin falling off his face.
"Please stay, 'Mione, please? It's not like we're drinking a lot. It's just one shot, nothing big," he pleaded with her.
She sighed and looked at him. His eyes were wide with innocence.
"Fine then. But if we get anywhere near emptying that bottle, I am NOT going to be happy."
"YES!" everyone cheered, and rushed to sit down by the fire. I sighed and turned to face the middle.
Harry turned to me and shot me a smile. He got up and proceeded to sit next to me. I smiled at him in return and scooted over to make room for him.
"Okay, you all know how to play, right?" Seamus asked.
"No," Neville muttered. We all turned to face him, and he blushed an interesting shade of red.
"That's okay, Neville. It's quite easy, really," Dean said. "We have ten glasses. All of them except one will be filled with water. The other one will be filled with firewhiskey. I'm going to do this magically, so no one knows. Then we all pick a glass and drink it. Whoever gets the firewhiskey, well, sucks for them!"
Neville nodded, and Dean picked up his wand. He tapped the bottle of firewhiskey once and the glasses instantly filled up.
"Okay, ready?" Ron asked, reaching out to grab a shot glass. "Everyone, grab one."
We all reached out to take a glass.
"Okay, on the count of three. One… Two… Three!"
We all gulped down the contents as fast as possible.
"Ahhh," Hermione groaned. "I got it!" She set down the cup in a hurry, and massaged her temple. "My head hurts," she groaned.
I snickered. Harry let out a quiet chuckle and said under his breath, "How ironic."
"Okay, glasses back in the middle," Seamus said. He tapped the bottle of firewhiskey again, and the glasses filled. I grabbed the farthest one.
"Ready… Drink!"
I swallowed the liquid in the glass and groaned.
"Great," I said, dropping the glass onto the couch. "Firewhiskey. I hate this stuff."
The rounds went on and on, and by the end, Harry, Neville, Ginny, and Dean had all gotten the alcohol, along with Hermione on seconds.
It was getting late, around 1 in the morning, when Harry suggested we call it quits for the night. We all concurred and slowly started trickling away.
In the end, Harry and I were the only ones left for the night.
He smiled at me before lightly kissing my cheek. I blushed candy-apple red and looked down, embarrassed.
"Good night," he said and walked away.
"'Night," I called after him. He went up the stairs and left my view. It was only then when I allowed myself to give an excited squeal and spin around in circles.
Maybe Harry felt the same way about me as I did about him. Well, I thought, only time can tell now.