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Back to Lily's POV.

I woke the next morning with my body lying across the bottom of Ethan's bed. As if I weren't sore enough from Quidditch, my back was now sore from my sleeping position. Still, I was grateful that thanks to Viv we had a bed, rather than sleeping on the floor like many other Gryffindors.

I nudged Emily awake.

"Come on," I urged. "Wake Viv up so we can get out of here and get some real sleep."

Emily leant up on her elbows and peered over at Viv. She would maybe be easy to wake up, but getting her out of the dorm would be a bit trickier given that Ethan's arms were wrapped around her. Emily sleepily poked at Viv's face.

"Viv!" I hissed, loud, but not so loud as to wake everyone else.

I shook her gently, but seeing as Viv's such a light sleeper, that only made Ethan blink his eyes open.

"Ethan, could you wake Viv? We need to get out of here," I whispered.

Ethan looked down at Viv and smiled softly.

"Let her sleep," he whispered. "She must be tired after last night."

"We can't leave her behind," I told him.

"You think I'll let anyone stuff around with her?" asked Ethan with raised eyebrows, before averting his gaze to Emily as she rubbed her forehead. "She'll be fine, I promise. Now go, because I think Em just got herself a killer headache."

"I need Wonderpills," muttered Emily. "You heard Ethan, let's go!"

Emily sat up and pulled me along with her.

"Tell Viv we've gone, then," I said, allowing Emily to drag me out of the dorm.

"You need to loosen up more, y'know?" said Emily as we proceeded down the stairwell, careful not to step on any food scraps or empty beer bottles. "We're teenagers, not mothers."

"I'm loose," I argued. "Okay that came out wrong."

"But you're too, like, responsible," said Emily as we reached the Slytherin common room. "You may not be a complete girl, but you sure like everything proper and in order."

"What's wrong with that?" I whined, and on spotting the couch I rushed over to check up on Al. He was still fast asleep, and something told me he would be for a while.

"See what I mean?" said Emily, catching up to me. "Lils, he's your older brother, he's seventeen, and he can take care of himself."

I couldn't help blushing. Surely I wasn't as bad as she was making me out to be?

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him."

The voice was plain and emotionless, and yet I immediately turned to face a shirtless Scorpius Malfoy. And yes, I did have a good look. His torso looked so…hard. But without looking at me, Corey bent down and picked Al off the couch and walked him upstairs, leaving me to stare after the back of his jeans…

We went back to the dorm and slept till twelve, Emily after taking some Wonderpills for her headache. By the time we woke up, Viv was sitting on her bed, staring across the room.

"Are you right?" I asked, waking up immediately after remembering I had Potions homework to complete. I shuffled through my bedside drawer in search of a quill.

"Yeah, fine," she murmured, glancing at me.

I started scribbling words on parchment, crossing them out straight after. This homework wasn't going to get done any time soon.

"Lils?"

The uncertainty in Viv's voice had me looking at her immediately.

"Yeah?"

"Mmm, nothing, don't worry."

"Kay," I said, not giving it too much thought as I focussed on the use of unicorn hair. "Argh, I can't do this."

I shoved my parchment and quill aside and lay stomach down on my bed.

"Want to hear some gossip?" said Viv eagerly.

"Oh?"

I turned my head to face her, my eyes glinting with desire. Surely there was a lot to know after such a big party.

"Well, last night Ethan and I wanted to-" (she blushed, but forced herself to say it) "well, "get a room" in the literal sense, so we headed up the boys' dormitory stairs and tried the spare school robes closet. Thing is, though, it was already being used."

I couldn't help but smile. Those closets were the origin of so much party gossip because two people could comfortably fit in amongst the spare male uniforms. It was exactly why boys preferred to make sure their uniforms were washed in time than borrow one from there. I'm rather grateful the girls' closet isn't accessible to drunken couples.

"Who was it?" I asked impatiently.

"Corey and Ruby," said Viv with a smirk.

A sickening feeling grew in my stomach. I wasn't too sure I wanted to hear any more, but of course I'd have to grit my teeth and bear it.

"I mean, okay, it was no surprise that they both would have got some during the night, but I wouldn't have thought with each other," Viv went on enthusiastically. "I have to say, they were stripping each other off rather fast, I can tell you that."

"I think yesterday's beers are getting back to me," I said hastily, rushing to the bathroom.

Yes, I hadn't had anything to drink the previous night, but I still hurled into the sink just the same. A feeling of complete and utter worthlessness overcame me. If I had drunk a dozen bottles of Firewhiskey and smashed all the bottles against my head after I was done with them, I would have felt better than I did then.

I couldn't help but notice that Louis was watching me carefully over the dinner table that night as I fiddled with my soup.

"You know, guys actually like girls with meat on their bones," he said after a moment, "so you might want to actually eat that."

I gave him a slight smile but ran a hand through my hair in frustration. Louis sighed and ducked under the table, only to emerge beside me and fill the rather small space between me and Rose.

"Louis!" she snapped, as he bumped her just as she was bringing a spoonful of soup to her mouth, causing it to spill down her front.

"Sorry, Rosie," said Louis insincerely, cleaning up the mess he'd made while barely looking at where he waved his wand.

He leaned in against my ear and whispered.

"It's Scorpius, isn't it?"

On hearing his name, my gaze automatically flickered to the Slytherin table. I would like to say I was just looking for Al to check up on him, but that would have been a lie. Of course I was looking for Corey. And of course, when I saw he was looking back at me I certainly felt a sense of elation. Not so much, however, when he flickered his gaze back down to his food."

"Twat," I muttered. "Louis, would you excuse me."

I got up and, through the crowd of students, made my way towards the Slytherin table. I was just going to go up to Corey, drag him outside and give him a piece of my mind, but Al spotted me and gave me a grin.

"Hey look, it's the girl who hooked up with some random last night," he greeted me. Thank Merlin it was only Corey who overheard. "Who was he then?"

It took me less than a second to figure out how I could use this unavoidable deviation to my advantage.

"Someone who wasn't as good a snog as I thought he'd be," I said offhandedly.

"Dude, I don't want to know what your boyfriend-"

"He's not my boyfriend," I said strongly. "No way. Actually, he's a bit of a jerk."

"Really?" said Al, becoming concerned. Then, an angry edge came into his voice. "Who was it?"

I glanced at Corey, who, for the second time this year, was pleading me with his eyes.

"Just… some guy," I shrugged it off.

Corey noticeably relaxes. He owes me big time.

"Anyway, here are those Wonderpills you wanted for your head," I said, handing them over.

"Bit late now," said Al ungratefully.

"Keep them for the next time then," I said harshly. "See ya."

And, shoving my hands into my hoodie, I walked out into the Entrance Hall. I only had to wait half a minute and Corey was out too. I didn't glance at him, choosing instead to head straight for an empty classroom. Wordlessly, he followed me in.

"Okay, what was that?" he snapped as soon as he had shut the door behind him.

"What was what?" I asked sweetly, glaring at him.

"That complete BS you just told Al-"

"Oh, believe me Corey," I said, my anger beginning to show in my voice, "give me Veritaserum and I would have said the same thing."

"What's your deal?"

"My deal?" I fumed. "Oh I dunno, just that you went and slept with Ruby last night. You probably have no idea how bad you make a girl feel, do you?"

Corey suddenly stood staring at me, his mouth slightly agape.

"Did she say I was bad?" he murmured quietly.

"What?" I completely lost it then. "No, Corey, let me be selfish and talk about me for a second. How do you think it makes me feel when we hook up and then you wake up the next morning next to someone else?"

"You have no right to feel anything," Corey spat at me. "Every girl I hook up with knows not to expect anything. They know what I'm like. What makes you think you're any different?"

"Oh I dunno," I said sarcastically. "Maybe the fact that you refuse to even look me in the eye. But you don't have a problem snogging me at a party."

"Hey, that's not fair, you came on to me!"

"If I remember correctly, you shoved me off, checked if the coast was clear, and pushed me against the wall. I'm pretty sure you could have stopped it if you wanted to."

"Why should I have?"

"Maybe because, clearly, you don't feel anything for me."

"Exactly my point - I don't really feel anything for anyone. Stop being such a princess."

My eyes narrowed. He'd crossed a line.

"What did you just say?"

"Well c'mon, you're Harry Potter's daughter, aren't you? Bet Daddy gets you everything you want and your brothers practically keep you in a playpen all day? Well guess what, princess" (there was that word again) "this is the real world, and, yes, people do get hurt."

I drew out my wand and pointed it straight at Corey. He raised his hands defensively.

"You're lucky I don't judge you based on your family," I muttered derisively.

A frown automatically formed on Corey's face. He absolutely hated what his parents were known for.

"At least I can be proud of my family," I seethed.

I lowered my wand, deciding my words were probably far worse than any Bat Bogey Hex I could do, and bolted from the room.