LORCAN

Quidditch parties were the best. There's usually an oddly euphoric feeling in the air that sort of permeates everything so even if the team you were on wasn't playing and didn't have much to gain by the victory of the team that won you ended up feeling very happy. This was an exception though. The night started off all right. With the exception of a miserable Scorpius who was getting completely hammered everyone was thrilled. Lily was determined to have a good time and got very drunk too. But since she was voted most valuable player I suppose she had a real reason to celebrate. I had Arya next to me and things had been going fairly well. We were drinking butterbeers and laughing and talking. It was good.

Then it basically all went to hell.

'You fucker!' I heard someone roar.

We immediately went to see what was going on. Roger McLaggen (who had let him in?) was getting the shit beaten out of him by Arnav Corner.

'Take that back you shithead!' he yelled.

'Why?' We all know what a whore she is. I even put the proof of it all over Hogwarts,' he said tauntingly.

'You fucking bastard!' Corner shouted and punched him straight on the nose.

I fought the irresistible urge to go and thump him too. Corner seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it though. Daemon pulled Corner off McLaggen before he could do too much damage though and practically dragged him out of the room. We have our parties in an abandoned classroom on the fifth floor. We put Silencing and Imperturbable Charms on the room so no one could hear what was going on outside. There were a bunch of other ones that prevented people from disturbing us but Daemon and Rose usually handle that sort of thing.

As Daemon was throwing McLaggen out, I saw him punch McLaggen and then shout some very insulting things at him. I turned around to look for Arya but she was gently dabbing the blood off Corner's lip. He stood up and Rose kissed him. I saw the utter heartbreak on Arya's face and knew in that second that she loved him far more than she could ever love me. Her eyes found mine and she looked so guilty I knew that I was right and it could never work with us. I stumbled back to the makeshift bar and she didn't come after me.

'Two Firewhiskeys,' I said to Boot who was acting as bartender for this party.

'Coming right up,' he said.

I drank half of one feeling distinctly sorry for myself. I finished about three and was beginning to feel a little better about my life.

'Can I have a Firewhiskey?' someone asked. Maya Taylor sat in the seat next to mine. She didn't look like she had been having a very good day either.

'Didn't know you came to these,' I said to her.

'I don't,' she said. 'I just needed to distract myself.'

We sat in silence as I finished another two Firewhiskeys. She made her way through two too.

'So why do you need to distract yourself?' I finally asked.

'Ever had a letter sent to you that's not really meant for you?' she asked.

'Is that why you're trying to get drunk?' I asked slurring a bit. 'Not a very good reason Taylor.'

'What if the letter was from someone you liked?' she asked. 'And what if it was a disgusting retelling of a sexual exploit the person you liked had with the intended recipient.'

'I only understood about quarter of that,' I said. 'You'll have to be less complicated.'

'Whatever, I want to get drunk. It's none of your business,' she said snappily. She downed about three fourths of another Firewhiskey and ordered a couple of vodka shots. I drank a couple with her and silently thanked whoever had managed to get their hands on muggle alcohol. It tasted like shit but it was definitely more potent than Firewhiskey. By this time we were both quite drunk.

'So I spent a whole year helping him with his homework and stuff,' she said. 'And he just goes and hooks up with random birds. Random ones. He's such a fucker.' She made a couple of hand gestures to emphasise her point.

'Yeah well the girl I'm in love with is actually in love with my best friends sex buddy,' I said. 'So I win the crappy life contest.'

'And what's worse,' she said fuming drunkenly. 'Is that he gets so weird when I so much as talk to another bloke. He gets all stupidly protective. He's such a hypocrite.'

'Two fucking years,' I said. 'I was in love with her for two years. More than that actually.'

'I hate everyone,' she said suddenly. 'Hate Weasley, hate the stupid blonde he's been screwing, just hate everyone.'

'Don't hate me do you?' I asked worriedly. For some reason I really didn't want her to hate me.

She threw back another shot and hiccupped. 'Of course not,' she said. 'You understand.'

'I do, don't I?' said proudly.

'Here's to being alone,' she said.

'I'll drink to that,' I said and we bumped our glasses together and drank whatever was inside them. At this point I actually had no idea what I was drinking.

'I'm leaving,' she said.

'I'm coming with you,' I said. 'After all what sort of person would I be if I let you walk back by yourself in this state?'

'Please you're way drunker than I am,' she scoffed and then hiccupped.

'We'll keep each other upright,' I said.

'Okay,' she agreed and hiccupped again.

We stumbled out, both extremely unsteady on our feet. I actually don't know how we made it to the common room and still can't fathom how we answered the doorknocker's question right. The common room was deserted and we sank into the sofa.

'You are so cool Taylor,' I said. 'Why have I never talked to you before?'

'Because I intimidate you with my intelligence,' she said seriously. But she burst into peals of laughter seconds later so I knew she wasn't serious at all.

'Maybe,' I said and then I kissed her.

She didn't kiss me back but she didn't move away either. Encouraged I pushed her down onto the sofa. She tangled her fingers in my hair and kissed me back in earnest.

I pulled her off the sofa and we made our way to my dormitory. I kissed her neck as I pulled her shirt off. She pulled my head up to hers and kissed me properly. She tasted predominantly like Firewhiskey. I would've found that slightly gross if I didn't taste like it too and if I wasn't so smashed. The minute part of my brain that was still sober told me that I was doing something stupid but I ignored it. In seconds my shirt was off too. We ended up on my bed in a tangle of limbs. I barely remember what happened next.

I woke up the next morning with a throbbing head and a sense of foreboding. My arms were around Taylor. We were both completely naked and I closed my eyes and groaned. This was not a good way to get over Arya.

She stirred. She slowly opened her eyes and then practically fell off the bed in surprise.

'Of fuck,' she swore. She didn't even ask if we had had sex. It was so painfully obvious. She got out of bed pulling the sheets with her.

'Oi,' I protested weakly.

'No one can know,' she said. 'No one. Especially not-'

'Relax,' I said bitterly. 'I'm not going to tell Al and even if he did I doubt he would tell Fred.'

'I'm sorry,' she said. 'I shouldn't have-'

'It's not like I wasn't a willing participant,' I said.

She nervously looked around the room. Only Gibbons had managed to get back to the dormitory and he didn't even make it to his bed, he was lying on the floor obviously dead to the world. Satisfied that no one had seen her in bed with me she quickly pulled on her clothes after ordering me to close my eyes. She practically ran out of the door. I retrieved my sheets and lay in bed thinking about the complete mess I had made of my life.

a/n: So I'm going to try and finish this story by tomorrow because I'm leaving and probably won't have access to a computer for the next month and a half. I'm apologize in advance if I can't finish it though. I promise I'll try. Anyway another thing I needed to ask was whether I should put the sequel up now or after I get back. Because I've already written like six chapters and I do want to do something with them before I leave. So yeah tell me what you want. Okay I'm done now. Please revieww :)