When I woke up the next morning, I was immediately blinded by the bright sunlight that was streaming in the window.

Something seemed off about this, but I couldn't figure out what. So I buried my head in my pillow and hoped that when I woke back up, the pounding in my head would be gone.

About a minute later, it hit me: I did not have a window in that particular location in my room.

Which could only mean one thing.

This was not my room.

Suddenly all the details I'd managed to miss before became extremely obvious.

The sheets I was wrapped in were not mine. Instead of the purple striped ones that were on my bed, they were plain white.

Even worse, underneath these plain white sheets, I was naked. Naked!

And perhaps worst of all, I was laying next to some guy. Some guy who was also naked. I nearly screamed when I rolled over and realized he was there. Who the hell was he? I couldn't even tell. He was facing away from me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain in my head that only seemed to be growing worse, and concentrated as hard as I could on what had happened last night.

Slowly the details started coming back.

It had been Vic's wedding.

I had been very drunk.

I had been talking to Robert, Teddy's groomsman.

Robert.

That's who was lying next to me.

I had sex with him.

I had sex with him in my grandparents' broom shed.

Then apparently I ended up here, in his flat, and had sex with him some more.

I slowly sat up, untangling myself from the sheets, and looked around. My clothes. I needed my clothes. The bed creaked. I winced, glancing over at Robert, praying that he hadn't woken up. I had no idea what I would say to him. Maybe I'd been comfortable enough with him last night when I'd been drunk off my ass, but now that I was sober (and extremely hungover) this comfort was gone. Now he was just a stranger.

Of course, as my luck would have it, he had woken up. His eyes were open and he staring straight at me.

I quickly pulled the covers up over my body. Which was probably ridiculous, considering he'd already seen everything the night before.

"Good morning, Robert," I mumbled. I could feel my face heating up. This was so embarrassing.

"Good morning…" He trailed off for a moment, his eyebrows knitting together in a look of extreme concentration. Then his face lit up. "Dom," he said, looking pleased with himself. "Good morning, Dom."

He'd been trying to remember my name.

I'd slept with a guy who couldn't even remember my name.

"I need to get out of here," I said, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "This was a mistake."

I kept the sheet tightly around my body as I looked around for my clothes. I spotted my bridesmaid's dress crumpled in the corner. Before I could take a step toward it, I felt a hand clamp around my wrist. I turned around, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

"What are you doing?" I snapped. "Let go!"

"Where are you going?" Robert asked.

"Home," I said, yanking my arm from his grip.

"Well, before you go, you should drink this." He grabbed a small bottle off the table beside his bed and handed it to me.

I looked at it uncertainly. It was filled with a blue potion that I didn't recognize. Was he trying to drug me or something?

"What is it?" I asked.

He laughed. "Aw, Dom, don't tell me that you've never had hangover potion before."

I pulled myself up to my full height and tried to look as dignified as I possibly could while wrapped in a sheet. "No, I haven't. Last night was the first time I've ever been drunk and I'm not ashamed to admit it."

He smirked at me. "Getting drunk wasn't the only thing that you did for the first time last night…"

This guy was a jackass. I couldn't believe that I slept with him. Of all the people I could have given my virginity to, I chose this idiot.

I felt sick to my stomach. Unscrewing the cap of the bottle, I took a small sip. Almost immediately the throbbing in my head began to disappear.

"Wow, this stuff actually works, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," said Robert, stretching his arms over his head. "It's almost like magic."

He pushed aside his blanket and stood up. I immediately looked away, blushing.

"Relax, Dom," he said, grabbing the potion from me and taking a large sip. "It's nothing you haven't seen before."

"I really should be going," I said, grabbing my dress and hurriedly slipping it on. Now I just needed to find my underwear and my shoes…

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked, slipping on his boxers.

"None of your business," I said, as I spotted them both on the other side of the room.

"Because I'm not busy," he continued, as if I hadn't spoken. "So we could have a repeat of last night if you want."

"No, thank you," I said, turning toward the door. "You're not really my type. This was all just a big mistake."

"Who is your type?" he asked. "Dylan?"

I whirled around to face him. He was leaning up against the wall, arms crossed, smirking at me.

"How do you know about Dylan?" I asked.

"You kept saying his name in your sleep last night," Robert replied. "So who is he?"

"He's nobody," I snapped. "He's just a guy I know. Just some idiot who has a girlfriend and who means absolutely nothing to me."

Why did he have to bring up Dylan? I hadn't thought about him since I'd woken up. But now, I couldn't stop thinking about him. His face. His laugh. The way his arms felt wrapped around my waist. The way his lips felt pressed against mine.

No, I thought, mentally slapping myself. Stop it! I had tostop thinking about him. It had been two months since I'd found about his girlfriend. Two months since I found out that he had chosen someone over me. Two months since I had found out that he didn't want me anymore. He didn't want me. He didn't want me. He didn't want me.

Robert was still staring at me. "I thought you were leaving?"

"I… I was," I said. I took a step toward the door and then stopped and turned around. "I'm not busy tonight," I told him.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Nope," I said. "So maybe I'll stop by."

"Cool," he said. "See ya, Dom."

I quickly Disapparated straight to my bedroom. I flopped down on my bed, not bothering to remove my dress. I prayed that my parents hadn't noticed that I hadn't come home the night before. Perhaps they'd tried to find me at the Burrow when they were ready to leave and when they couldn't, had just come home and fallen asleep.

I sighed heavily, my thoughts returning to Robert. Did I really want to meet up with him tonight? I barely knew him. And from the little I did know, I wasn't exactly impressed. He seemed to be a bit of a jerk. Why would I want to spend any more time with him?

And yet, maybe it would be for the best. I needed to get my mind off Dylan. Badly. I'd been thinking about him the entire summer, moping around my house, wishing he would show up at the door, begging me to take him back. I didn't want to do that anymore. He'd chosen someone else. He's moved on. Now it was my turn to move on. And while I didn't particularly like Robert all that much, he was pretty much my only option. I didn't exactly have guys lining up outside my door, begging me to date them.

Well, then it's settled, I thought. I'll meet up with Robert tonight.

Of course, I knew that 'meet up with Robert' actually just meant 'show up at his flat and have sex with him'. This scared me a bit. I knew that I already had, but I didn't remember much of it. It was all a giant blur.

Before I could start doubting my decision, there was a loud knock on my door. It swung open before I even had a chance to react. It was my mum, looking furious.

"Hey, Mum," I murmured, trying to rearrange my face to look as innocent as possible.

She didn't move from her place in the doorway. She just stood there glaring at me, her hands on her hips. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she was still in her nightgown. Yet she still managed to look threatening. Very threatening.

The minutes felt like hours as I waited for her to say something. Yelling would be better than this silence.

"Your bed was empty zis morning," she finally said. Her French accent was stronger than usual. That could only mean one thing: She was angry. With a capital A.

"Yeah," I muttered.

"I immediately Appararated to the Burrow to see if you'd spent the night zere, but you 'adn't," she continued. "Do you know 'ow worried I was? I 'ad no idea where you were!"

A laugh slipped out before I could stop it.

Mum froze, her eyes flashing. "You zink zis is funny?" Her voice was low, dangerous. I had crossed into dangerous territory. I knew the smart thing to do would be to back down, to apologize. But I hadn't been making smart decisions recently and this was no exception.

"I just think it's funny that you're choosing now to pretend you give a shit about me," I replied. "When have you ever bothered to be worried about me before? You're always too busy being worried about Victoire. She is your favorite after all."

"You really zink zat?" she said. Her expression seemed to have shifted from angry to sad in a matter of seconds. "You really zink zat Victoire is my favorite?"

"Isn't she?"

"Of course not," Mum snapped. "I don't 'ave a favorite."

"Well, you could have fooled me. And Louis, for that matter. It's always Vic this and Vic that."

Mum leaned against the doorframe, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry you feel zat way, darling," she murmured. "I never meant for zat to 'appen. If it did, it was only because Vic… well, she was always the one your father and I had problems with. She was ze one that needed to be worried about the most. Running around with Colin. Getting pregnant. Raising a child at such a young age. You were always so well-behaved. You seemed to do so well on your own. Vic is so dramatic, always vocalizing what's on 'er mind. You're not like zat. I just never zought zat you needed all the attention that Vic did. I'm sorry, though. Perhaps you did after all."

For some reason, everything she said just made me angrier. She hadn't thought I needed as much attention as Vic? She hadn't thought Louis needed as much attention? Was she kidding me? Just because Louis and I weren't vocal about our problems, she thought we didn't have them?

"Yeah," I said. "Maybe I did need that attention. Maybe if you'd been around after Dylan broke my heart, I wouldn't have felt the need to deal with it by getting as drunk as possible and fucking a 23-year-old."

Her mouth dropped open. "Is zat where you were?"

"Yup," I said. "I was with Teddy's friend, Robert. I'm actually going to meet again tonight."

"What makes you zink zat I'll allow zat?"

I laughed bitterly. "You're kidding, right? When Vic was my age, you let her live with Colin."

"They were raising a child together," said Mum, as if that settled the matter.

"Whatever," I said. "I'm an adult now, Mum. I can date whoever I want and you can't stop me."

"While you live under my roof, you will abide my rules, Dominique."

"So you're saying I'm not allowed to date until I move out?"

She sighed heavily. "You know what?" she said. "If you want to see zis boy, fine. But don't be surprised when 'e breaks your 'eart just like Dylan did."

That was the good thing about being with someone I didn't actually care that much about. It would be much harder to get my heart broken.

"I doubt that will happen," I said.

She looked at me sadly. "Well, I 'ope it doesn't, Dominique. I truly hope it doesn't."

She turned to leave, but at the least second, she stuck her head back in the room. "If you ever want to talk about… what 'appened last night, you can always come to me, darling. I know losing your virginity is a very big deal."

I gave her a stiff smile. "Yeah, okay." I doubted I'd ever take her up on her offer though.

That evening, I Apparated to Robert's flat. I stood outside his door, my hand hovering in the air, curled into a fist, trying to work up the courage to knock. This was so stupid. Why was I here? I knew nothing about this guy. I didn't even know his last name.

I quickly shoved all those thoughts out of mind. It was good that I didn't know him. It was good that I barely felt anything toward him. He wouldn't be able to hurt me like Dylan had. But he would be able to make me forget about Dylan. And that was important. I needed to forget.

So, with all that in mind, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few minutes later, it swung open and there he was. Robert.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he echoed.

"You gonna let me in?"

He stepped back from the doorway, opening the door a little wider. I took a deep breath and stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

A few weeks later, I woke up in his bed. By then, it was nothing new. I no longer freaked out, wondering where I was. I got dressed and headed into the kitchen. Robert was sitting at the kitchen table, cup of coffee in hand, reading the Daily Prophet.

"Good morning," I said, pouring myself a cup and sitting down across from him.

He grunted in reply, not looking up from the paper. We didn't talk much. Our relationship was purely physical. Nothing serious. Just a bit of fun to keep my mind off… a certain person.

I finished the coffee and stood up. I never stuck around for long in the morning. He didn't have any interest in talking to me and vice versa.

"Are you busy tonight?" I asked.

"Actually, yes," he replied, his eyes still glued to the paper.

"With a girl?" I asked.

He finally looked up. "So what if it is a girl? I told you before, this thing we have going on… it's nothing serious. I thought you knew that."

"I do know that," I snapped, annoyed that he was talking to me like I was a jealous girlfriend. I was not a jealous girlfriend. I couldn't care less what he did with his time and he couldn't care less what I did with mine. And that was why I liked 'this thing we had going on'. It was easy. It was, as he said, nothing serious. So why did knowing that he had plans with another girl upset me so much?

"What about tomorrow night?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Tomorrow night."

The next day, I was wandering around town, when I ran into Dylan's grandmother. We didn't have much of a conversation, just exchanged pleasantries, talked a little about the weather. But then, just as I was about to excuse myself and walk away, she mentioned him.

"Dylan's doing great Ohio State. Really settling in. He's a brilliant boy. And that girlfriend of his is really helping him too, I think. She's a very driven girl, that one. Dylan tells me that her goal is to become the first female President of the United States." She laughed. "And I wouldn't be surprised if she does."

My mouth felt dry. It was September, but it was warmer than it usually was, as if the weather hadn't gotten the memo that August was over and it was time to start cooling down. And suddenly, the temperature seemed to have spiked even more.

"I really need to be going," I told her. "I have somewhere to be." This wasn't actually true. It was only about three, much too early for me to go over to Robert's.

Whatever, I thought, as I ducked into and alley. Desperate situations call for desperate measures.

This was definitely a desperate situation. I had not needed to hear those things about Dylan. And I especially had not needed to hear those things about Amber. In my mind, she had been some dumb floozy. She was not supposed to be some intelligent, driven girl who wanted a career in politics. I needed to get my mind off all of this immediately.

I quickly Apparated to Robert's flat. I knocked on the door, but no one answered. I pulledout my wand. "Alohomora." The lock clicked and I pushed the door open, surprised that it had worked. Most wizards and witches made it so that such a simple spell wouldn't actually unlock their doors. But Robert had never struck me as the brightest, so I supposed the thought had never occurred to him.

I took a step inside and heard voices coming from his bedroom. I headed in that direction and peered inside. He was in there, perched on the edge of his bed, talking to a girl. I figured she had to be the girl he was talking about yesterday. I hadn't forgotten about her, but I had assumed that she would be gone by this late in the afternoon. I was always gone by noon. The girl stood up, grabbing her bag, kissed him and then Disapparated.

I stepped inside the room and cleared my throat.

He let out a small yelp. "Shit, Dom. You scared me. Ever heard of knocking?"

"I did knock. You didn't answer."

"I was busy."

"I noticed."

I wasn't sure why I was so annoyed. He had every right to have any girl in his bedroom he pleased. There was nothing exclusive about our relationship. He was certainly not my boyfriend. But there was something about the whole thing that made me feel slightly sick to my stomach. I thought this whole thing would be easy. That I wouldn't get hurt. But maybe I'd been wrong. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea after all. Why would I want to be reminded every day that I couldn't find a guy who actually wanted to be with me? Not Dylan. Not Robert. Not anybody.

"I need a drink," I murmured. Dylan's grandmother's words were echoing in my head and I wanted them gone.

A few firewhiskeys later, I was in bed with Robert. Apparently my earlier doubts about continuing to see him had been washed away by the alcohol. Who cares f he was with another girl? I thought, in my alcohol-induced hazed. He doesn't mean anything to me anyway. He's just a way to forget.

Forget.

Forget.

Forget.

Why couldn't I seem to forget?

I woke up in the middle of the night. Grabbing a half-empty bottle of firewhiskey from the nightstand beside his bed, I stumbled into the bathroom, wrapped only in a blanket. I took a big gulp, draining the last of it. I stood there for a moment, staring at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was bedraggled mess. There were dark circles under my bloodshot eyes. I hardly recognized myself.

Suddenly, a wave of nausea passed over me and I knelt down, emptying the contents of my stomach into the toilet. After I was finished, I curled up in a ball on the floor. I knew that I should go back to his room, but I didn't want to—couldn't—move. The room was spinning, like it used to when I was a little girl and would spin around in circles until I fell down. The bathroom tiles felt cool against my cheek, as I pulled the blanket tighter around me. Slowly everything faded to black around me.

When I woke up, there was sunlight streaming in from the window. I heard voices coming from outside the bathroom.

"… I come here to get the jacket I left a few days ago and I find this?" The voice was male and it sounded pissed.

"Come on, Teddy. It's not that big of a deal."

Teddy. The voice belonged to Teddy Lupin.

"Not that big of a deal? My sister-in-law is passed out on your bathroom floor in only a blanket. How is that not a big deal? How long as she been there anyway? All night?"

"I dunno. I found her this morning."

"I can't believe this," said Teddy. "I cannot fucking believe this." He sounded angrier than I'd ever heard him before.

"Teddy…"

"I mean, I was pissed when I heard about what happened at my wedding, don't get me wrong. But now I'm like beyond pissed. "

"How is this even my fault? What am I supposed to do? Monitor how much she drinks? She's not my problem, Teddy. She's just some girl."

Teddy didn't say anything. All I heard was Robert let out a howl of pain. "Shit, Lupin! I think you broke my nose."

"Get some clothes on her. I'm taking her home," said Teddy.

I heard footsteps, someone swearing under their breath. But I don't know what happened next because, once again, the world faded to black.

Poor Dom. She's a mess.

So how many of you are fans of A Very Potter Musical? I was just rewatching it and I thought I'd ask.