Thanks for reviewing: Doni, Joelle8, SeekDreamsAndFindHope, Marciabarcia, shine lots, Twisted Identity, Likewow5556, dawnghost and ModernDayRapunzel

Well, this chapter is also not technically sixth-year, but I'm counting it as a part of it. It developed from the fact that I haven't examined all of the friendships in the group of eight equally, so I thought I'd give time to the four I've neglected most: Rose/Lysander, Lia/Albus, Lorcan/Aisha and Alice/Scorpius (ever since their initial hatred on the boats, anyway)

Also, thanks to shine lots for pointing out that this story has just gone over the six-figure word count! I'm in actual shock that I've written that many words.


Chapter 43: Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night

Going Out In London - August 2023

In any group of eight people, some relationships will be less obvious or less close than others. All will be different, as well – like Albus and Scorpius, Lia and Aisha, Rose and Alice, they could be bonds of best friendship. Or like Rose and Albus or Lorcan and Lysander, they could be family ties. In the case of Albus and Aisha, they could be the links of a couple.

Sometimes they made closer friends from being in the same House, like Lysander and Aisha. Or being in the same lesson, like Lia and Alice in Divination. Or being the odd ones out, like Lia and Scorpius as the leftover best friends whilst Aisha and Albus held hands and chatted.

They were all friends though, and close friends at that. So when Scorpius discovered that he'd have the house in London to himself for the weekend of his seventeenth birthday whilst his parents went away on holiday, his first action was to invite all of his friends over.

Alice, Aisha and Rose arrived first and together. Aisha had been staying and working at the Leaky Cauldron for the last fortnight. Rose had met them there as she was the only one who felt confident enough to Side-Along Apparate with Alice, who hadn't yet passed her test.

Scorpius was stood on the pavement on a respectable looking London street. They greeted him, then glanced around. "So?" Aisha asked. "Which one is yours?"

"You can only get in with me," he explained, "so it's probably best to wait for the others."

Lorcan and Lysander were quite prompt, given that they had passed their Apparition tests early in the summer, and had a lot of practice since then with their parents. They appeared in a carpark only a few hundred yards away from where the others were gathering.

Albus and Lia both took the Tube. Neither could Apparate, so they'd Flooed to Seven Sisters, the Tube station from which they could catch various underground trains to reach the Malfoy house. Albus knew the way, unlike Lia, so they'd agreed to go together.

They walked the last bit, talking about their summers so far. "James has moved out," Albus was saying to her. "He's gone into the Ministry, but he's got a flat in Liverpool that he can Floo from. He says London is too expensive to get a house in just for the sake of it."

"I can't believe your parents let him move out," Lia said enviously.

"Let him? Ha, they were practically shoving him out of the door. They'd have charged him rent if he'd stayed any longer."

"Seriously? I don't think my parents will know what to do with themselves when I go completely. They hate it that I have to disappear off for most of the year. I suppose it's different when you have two more children."

"Well, they can't wait to get rid of us either. They're counting down the days until Lily has left Hogwarts, and then they can sell the house and move to a cosy little one that we won't fit into."

Lia laughed.

"I'm serious!" Albus protested, grinning at her.

"Hurry up!"

They heard the shout from quite some distance away, and looked up. The group of six teenagers stood on the pavement, Alice impatiently beckoning them. Most of the others didn't look too concerned – Lorcan had actually lain down on the concrete and was sunbathing, whilst Lysander and Aisha had decided on the intermediate version of perching on some steps with their legs stretched out. Alice, sun-phobic as ever, stood under a frilly umbrella that was acting as a parasol. Scorpius and Rose had barely noticed their approach, deep in an argument.

Finally, after six years of trying and failing, Scorpius had worked out the trick to beating Rose at chess - distract her with bickering. He'd won the chess match they'd played on the journey home this summer, but both teenagers found out something that they hadn't realised before - arguing with words, on topics as trivial as the new Hogwarts menu and as serious as the current reforms in the Ministry of Magic, was just as fun as battling on the Quidditch pitch. The group of eight had met up three times already this summer, visiting Alice and Aisha at the Leaky Cauldron, and each time nobody had been able to have any conversation with the pair, thrilled as they were at finding people with whom they could argue. Rose had wanted someone to debate with for years, ever since Alice had become too light-hearted for that sort of thing, and Scorpius had never realised how much fun it was to really forget about propriety and put all of the Slytherin wit that he had picked up on at home to a good use.

Lia and Albus reached the others.

"Sorry we're late," Lia said. She looked around. "Are we the last?"

Rose nodded, finally taking notice of them. "Did you have a good summer?" she asked.

Lia nodded. "Our last summer before leaving Hogwarts," she said nostalgically.

Scorpius glanced around, looking suddenly suspicious.

"We're wizards, not spies," Albus told him.

Scorpius rolled his eyes, but didn't make a retort. "27 High Dean Place," he told them in a whisper.

"Just concentrate on that," Rose told Lia, who nodded. Aisha, despite being Muggleborn, knew what a Fidelius Charm was. Slowly, before their very eyes, a tall house seemed to squeeze itself out of the wall between two other properties. As grand-looking as the others around it, it rose to three floors, not including the basement, the stairs into which Scorpius now took them down.

"We're not good enough for the main entrance?" Albus teased.

"Nope," Scorpius replied jokingly, then turned serious. "Actually, the front door doesn't open. It's just a front. Please remember that – if you try get through it, you won't like the consequences."

"What, it's booby-trapped?" Lysander joked.

"Yes."

They blinked in surprise. "You're the first non-Malfoys to know about this place," Scorpius explained. "We've used it as a hiding place for generations, ever since the days when wizards went into hiding. It's changed a bit on the outside to blend in, but it's the same place."

"And your parents let you bring us here?" Alice asked.

He shrugged. "I'm as surprised as you are. But I suppose they felt like they had to invite you all over, since I've been to your houses, and my Mum thought this might be a more sensible way to do it."

He hadn't actually been to all of their houses – Aisha never invited anyone to hers, since her younger brother, who was still in ignorance about Hogwarts, still lived at home and although Lysander and Lorcan did have a house that was technically available, it was visited only about once a year, and was filled to the rafters with various specimen boxes and broken equipment that their parents had sent home. Often, when the family returned to England for a brief time, they would camp in the garden rather than attempt to navigate their way to the bedrooms through the teetering mounds of boxes.

For all that it was a basement, the rooms that Scorpius led them through were bright and airy. There was no dust anywhere, strangely, considering that Scorpius had said that nobody had been there for a year. But Lia suspected that Astoria Malfoy had sent a House-Elf to clean before the guests arrived.

Acting the part of the perfect host, he showed them all to their various bedrooms. They would be staying the night – sort of. They were there, after all, to celebrate Scorpius having turned seventeen, the last of their group to do so, and being able to use his magic outside of school.

And to mark the occasion, they were going to go out as Muggles, to visit Muggle bars and clubs. It was a bit of a strange way to celebrate becoming fully wizard, to pretend to be Muggle, but it had one large upside – Muggle doormen would be tricked by Confundus or Aging Charms, whilst wizarding doormen would have protections against such things and thus wouldn't allow a group of seventeen year olds in – for all that they could use their magic, the drinking age in Wizarding Britain was the same as that for Muggle Britain – eighteen years old.

First, though, they were going to dine in a Muggle restaurant. A new experience for Scorpius, Alice and Albus, but one which they became very keen on.

It was four hours later before they actually left the house. Concealing a wand in robes was simple – concealing a wand in Muggle clothes was considerably more difficult. The girls all took the route of handbags which were charmed larger on the inside, and Lysander and Albus borrowed room in the girls' handbags. Scorpius preferred to keep his wand with him, not feeling particularly safe without it, so cast a Concealment Charm, stuck it in his pockets and hoped for the best. Lorcan simply stuck it in his back pocket. If anyone noticed it, then they would think he had a stick in his pocket. He'd had worse things thought about him.

Of course, it was the girls who took longest to dress. But it was the boys who took longest to leave the house – well, it was Scorpius, who obsessively checked that every ward and charm was back up, and Albus, who forgot his wallet with the Muggle money that Hermione had changed for him, and had to wait for the wards to be put back down again before leaving.

When they at last arrived at the restaurant, Rose was complaining loudly about her hunger, and Al's stomach was growling loud enough to nearly drown her out.

But as they were seated – Scorpius had chosen a buffet restaurant, since he had no idea what food his friends liked to eat. Aisha and Alice could both have told him, given that they paid more attention to the world around them in general, but he preferred not to ask.

"Nobody's watching us," Rose remarked to Albus.

"So we can steal the cutlery!" he exclaimed, before his grin faded into a laugh and he nodded in understanding. "I know. It's really weird."

"I've been to Muggle restaurants before," she admitted, "with my grandparents. But I've never been out to dinner with you and not had people stare."

"It's the only reason I like this house," Scorpius agreed. "I don't like London, as a place. I don't really like cities. But I love how Muggle it is. Nobody stares, nobody crosses the road to avoid you." He looked down at his lap. "It was so confusing the first time we came here. I hadn't realised that people were staring before then, and I couldn't work out what was so different."

"Is London the only Mugg-" Lysander cut off his words as the waiter approached, eight glasses on his tray.

Upon receiving the man's instruction to help themselves to the buffet, Albus, Lorcan, Scorpius and Rose leapt to their feet and rushed off, Albus nearly crashing into the salad bar along the way. The other four followed at a slightly more sedate pace, but not too slow. They were hungry too, and wanted to get some food before Albus ate it all.

There wasn't much talking then, as they returned to the table and set to work on plates towering with food. Alice and Lia's plate were the two exceptions, with only enough food to feed half an army rather than a whole one. Lorcan's plate was heaped with food – all of it from the dessert section. Nobody commented on this – Lorcan's sweet tooth was well known, and he often ate like this from the buffet table at Hogwarts.

The only conversation that passed consisted of:

"Mmm, this is good,"

"Yeah,"

"Have you tried that one yet?"

"Merlin, I wish I had the recipe,"

And surprisingly quickly – "Anyone going to get some more?"

Six of them were up for this, mainly to try out the desserts that they had seen on Lorcan's plate. Lorcan and Aisha remained in their seats. Lorcan had already eaten his fill of the desserts, and Aisha didn't really like sweet food that much. She knew that was strange, but it didn't appeal to her.

Watching Albus and Scorpius jostle past each other to reach the ice cream first, and seeing the look of exasperation and amusement that Lia and Rose gave each other made her smile. Aisha loved her friends so much. She loved her boyfriend. But that was one of the things that worried her. There had been nothing at all, not before he kissed her on the Quidditch pitch, that would have suggested that they would fit well in that way. She'd always looked on him as just one among her friends, and he'd never said if he had seen her the same way. If he did, maybe he'd only kissed her because of the adrenalin raging through him at that moment, and only asked her out because that was what was expected after you kissed someone in front of an audience of almost the entire school.

'Surprisingly tactful, for Albus, not telling me if that's true.' she thought fondly. 'Normally he's speaking before his brain engages." Her thoughts turned darker though, as one of the worries that was always there returned to plague her. 'Surely there's supposed to be something there first, before the relationship actually starts. Not quite love at first sight, but something. And if we're not meant to be together…what happens when we break up. Half the wizarding world are his family, and the other half are his friends! I don't think I could live without these friends, but I couldn't ask them to choose sides.'

"You're wrong about Albus. And we would still be friends, you know."

Aisha gave a jump of surprise and looked at Lorcan. "I know," she agreed. "But knowing something intellectually is one thing, and knowing it emotionally is another."

Lorcan looked mystified at this.

"Or maybe it isn't, not for you," she added, wondering if it was like that for all Gryffindors, if, like for Lorcan, heart and mind were so intertwined that it was impossible for them to disagree. That would be nice, she thought wistfully. Simple.

But it might lead to a lot more pain, in the end.

"You don't like it when I do that," Lorcan replied.

As always, she sorted through the previous conversation topics to decipher what he was referring to, and came to an answer. It was obvious, really. There was only one thing that Lorcan did that made her uncomfortable. When he made a comment on what she was feeling deep inside, her private worries that she didn't want people to know.

"I'm used to hiding my feelings. Adapting my personality to suit my company. It's part of who I am, and even it sounds horrible, I enjoy it. It's a challenge, and I like to be liked, and I like to fit everywhere. And I can, if I do that."

"You don't have to make everyone accept you and like you just so that you feel like you belong here."

"I don't expect everyone to like me! I just want to get a measure of them, and the easiest way to do that is act like them, sometimes." Aisha frowned and looked down at her hands. "But I don't want you to think that I don't like you, just because you say things that I thought I was hiding, things that are uncomfortable to hear. Even though you don't fit into any of my categories, any of the boxes that I fit people in, I do like you, as one of my closest friends. And I'm not just saying that so that you like me too."

"I know."

Aisha blinked, caught off guard by the placid response, and then let out a little huff of laughter as the others returned to their seats. Only Lorcan would reply to an outpouring of genuine emotion, more than she'd articulated in months, from a Slytherin no less, with two words and a complete lack of surprise.

"Something funny?" Rose asked.

"Nothing at all," she replied, still smiling gently. Across the table, Lorcan looked up and met her eye. He grinned back at her, and behind her chair, Aisha heard the waitress stumble.

"Wow, he's fit. Weird, but fit," the waitress muttered to herself before hurrying on.

Only Aisha had heard her, but she had to admit that the waitress was right. Lorcan was very handsome, with a dazzling smile. But only when he used that smile. Most of the time, with his gaze looking just past you, as though there was something on your shoulder, and his expression dazed and distracted, he just looked unnatural.

In her amusement, she forgot what the first thing Lorcan had said was. 'You're wrong about Albus.' That too, had been referring to her thoughts. And maybe, as Al's most insightful room-mate, he would know.

Wrwrww

The teenagers stepped inside the nightclub and their mouths dropped open. Thankfully, it was too dark for anyone to notice their odd reaction, although people did start to elbow past them as they all stopped walking, frozen to the spot.

"There are so many people," Albus muttered, bewildered. He'd barely ever been into Muggle Britain. The most people he'd ever seen packed together was Hogwarts, because even Diagon Alley wasn't that crowded. Wizarding Britain just wasn't that big.

"They're wearing so little," Rose stammered. Alice was the most daring, clothes-wise amongst their group by far, but even she was covering ten times more skin than half the girls in there. For witches and wizards, covered half the time in robes that were never shorter than mind-forearm nor had hemlines above the knee, it was a shock. And the clothes were so tight!

"It's so bright," Alice complained, squinting. For a girl raised with magical candles rather than any sort of electricity, the strobe lights were a shock beyond anything she'd seen before.

"It's so dark," Scorpius said simultaneously. Though he'd known real darkness, the darkness of a house in the middle of nowhere, far from streetlights and with only the stars to shine your way, he'd never known it to be this dark inside a building. Had it been this dark, so dark that the people beside you might be strangers when the flashing strobe wasn't on their face, then all the people he had ever known would have cast Lumos.

"It's so loud," Lia whispered, the volume of her speech falling in inverse proportion to the volume of the music. She had sharp ears, a possible by-product of always being the one to listen rather than speak. But this was a world away from the soft mutter of a conversation round the fire in the Hufflepuff Common Room.

Aisha, Lorcan and Lysander remained silent, although Lorcan privately wondered at the resemblance to a dance they'd once seen, far out in South America. The screaming of the clubbers became the chanting of a crowd and the pounding of the base of the music was the beating of the drum.

The others, of course, might as well have stayed silent for all that their friends could hear them. With hand gestures and forceful dragging, Aisha seized the initiative and pulled them all to a booth a little way away from the dancefloor, where they could just about hear each other if they screamed in their ears.

"Muffliato," Rose cast, and the music faded slightly.

"Well," Albus said, just to say something.

"Shall we get drinks?" Alice asked, and she was grinning now, the enthusiasm of the Muggles in the club clearly infectious.

Scorpius, Lysander and Albus nodded in agreement, and even Rose looked slightly interested.

"I'll go," Aisha said, knowing full well that the others had no idea what drinks Muggles ordered, and not wanting one of them to go up and try buy a shot of Firewhisky, or Butterbeers. Particularly if real beer was then substituted for the Butterbeer, because then they'd get an unpleasant shock.

Two drinks later, and they had relaxed a bit. At least, relaxed enough to separate slightly. Lysander and Alice had hit the dance floor immediately, Lorcan wandering along behind. Albus and Aisha had followed, dragging Scorpius and Lia with them. Lia wasn't too reluctant. Once a dancer, always a dancer and even if this was a world away from the jazz and ballet she used to do, the rhythm was still calling to her, telling her body to move.

Not wanting to be left alone, Rose followed Scorpius.


One Shot, Two Glasses of Something Gold and Three Trips to The Bar Later.

"Fancy seeing you here," Alice grinned, looking up at Scorpius as she leaned casually on the bar.

"Such a surprise," he agreed. He, too, was leaning on the bar, but whether it was an affectation or due to over-consumption of alcohol was hard to tell.

Albus and Aisha had gone to a dark corner somewhere, the small amount of alcohol both had drunk not being enough to let them pretend that they didn't recognise the songs being played and didn't like dancing.

Lia was dancing with Rose, both of them looking more than slightly awkward and fearful of the surrounding Muggles.

Lorcan was dancing alone, heedless of both the odd looks and the flirtatious looks being thrown his way. Lysander, on the other hand, had found a Muggle girl from somewhere and was both dancing and flirting at the same time. It didn't look much like she minded, either.

"Are you jealous?" Scorpius asked Alice, noticing where her gaze was.

"Of Lysander? You're not too drunk to realise that that's a girl he's dancing with, are you? And surely I've made my inclinations in that direction clear."

"Of the girl, silly," Scorpius sighed, and Alice narrowed her eyes at him. He sounded a little bit too drunk for her liking, but he was looking at her with honest curiosity, and she shrugged.

"Not really. Lysander and I are only friends."

"But you're always flirting."

"Obviously. That's what happens when you put the two biggest flirts in the school together. They flirt. And it gives the rumour mill something to grind. Although, honestly, it would be more suspicious if we didn't flirt. When you flirt with everything that breathes, it's the person you're not flirting with who is someone you care about."

Scorpius nodded sagely and their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a barman. "What can I get you?" he called at them.

Scorpius and Alice both glanced at each other. "You're the pub-owner's daughter," he told her.

"I've just been pointing at random bottles on the wall all night," she replied. "I haven't got a clue about Muggle drinks."

"Two glasses of Rum," Scorpius told the barman, and shrugged at Alice. "They must have some sort of rum," he reasoned. "Even if it's probably not Red Currant Rum."

She turned to him. "Such logic," she joked. "Almost a Ravenclaw."

"You know, the people who don't think you're secretly dating Lysander wonder if you're dating me."

"'the people?" she repeated archly. "You mean your ex-girlfriend."

Branwen Kendrick and Scorpius had broken up soon before term had ended. She'd sworn that he was unfaithful to her, though she'd been unable to decide who it was with, either Rose, Aisha, Lia or Alice. Common consensus had chosen Alice, although Scorpius spent the least time with her out of all four, given that Lia was too invisible in Hogwarts gossip to be recognised and Rose too much of a tomboy and a swot to be involved in scandal. And even those who might believe a Slytherin capable of cheating on her boyfriend wouldn't believe that Scorpius would steal his best friend's girlfriend like that.

Gossip was entirely wrong. Scorpius was too honourable to do that – unfortunately, people have an inability to believe that boys and girls can truly just be friends.

The bartender suddenly returned and Scorpius' reasoning must have been right, because two small shot glasses appeared in front of them. Once they had paid, they drank the shots down quickly before returning to the dance-floor.


One Hour, Two Blisters and Three Trips to the Bathroom Later

The music was playing loudly, as the clock moved past midnight and on into the early morning. Alice had lost sight of her friends a while ago, but wasn't worried. They could all look after themselves, and had agreed to meet at one o'clock anyway, at the table where they'd first sat.

Rose hurried back into the club, the music deafening her again after the comparative quiet of the night outside. After a few glances, she spotted Alice on the dance floor, gyrating with some Muggle boy who she could only have met in the last hour. Rolling her eyes with a complete lack of surprise, she hurried towards her, as Lorcan next to her headed towards Lysander, cosied up in a booth with the same Muggle girl he'd danced with earlier…and two of her friends.

"We're leaving, now!" she yelled at Alice over the music, once she reached her. Alice didn't even hesitate, but kissed the boy on the lips once, firmly. "Nice to meet you," she told him, and then headed away with Rose, leaving the boy staring at them in drunken confusion.

"Where's the fire?" Alice asked as they stepped into the outside world, where Lorcan and Lysander were already waiting, having presumably left the girls with equal ease.

Then they rounded the corner and the problem was plain to see. Albus and Aisha were supporting Scorpius as he vomited into the gutter. A car driving past gave the group a nasty look, but the teenagers ignored them.

"I'm shorry," Scorpius slurred, once he had chance to breathe. "Muggle alcohol is reeeeeeally alcohol-hic!" the last words were gasped out in a hiccup as he bent over the gutter once more.

"Homeward bound then," Alice trilled, not seeming at all fazed. "I hope someone else knows the way."

Lorcan and Rose both nodded, the former having an excellent sense of direction and the latter an excellent memory.

They led the way, Albus and Aisha supporting Scorpius along with surprising ease behind them and Alice, Lysander and Lia bringing up the rear.

Along the way, it was easy to tell that few of the others were nearly as drunk as Scorpius. Albus seemed a little worse for wear, and Aisha was giggling a bit much to be completely normal. Lia was quiet – but Lia was always quiet - and Rose was obviously entirely sober. Lorcan, like Lia, was difficult to decipher, given that he always acted unpredictably and Lysander and Alice were possibly their usual selves, flirting with outrageous innuendos that brought a flaming blush to Lia's cheeks even as she couldn't help but laugh.

Scorpius was thankfully still conscious enough to grasp his wand and mutter the words that unlocked the wards to his home once they reached it, but once in his bedroom, he collapsed into unconsciousness, muttering one last apology, as he'd done the whole journey back.

"A very polite drunk," Lysander commented wryly. "Now what?"

"I'm too awake to get to sleep," Rose sighed, and Albus nodded in agreement.

"Well, I have an alternative," Alice grinned, and delved into her bag, eventually – after some rummaging – producing a bottle that was far too large to have fit into the little clutch.

"Pure Gillywater?" Rose gasped. "Where did you get that?"

Alice laughed and tapped her nose. "I have my sources," she told her friend, grinning.

"Sounds good," Albus said eagerly. Following a general consensus, the group settled on the lushly carpeted floor, leaning against beds, walls and chairs.

"So, we need a reason to drink it," Lysander reasoned.

"We do?" Alice asked.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you supposed to play drinking games?" Lia asked hesitantly.

"Anyone know any?"

This was met with silence. At last, Aisha spoke. "I don't know any wizarding ones," she said. "But my friends play a Muggle one."

Nobody complained, so she continued. "It's called the I've Never game."

"How do you play?" Rose asked.

Aisha faltered. "I don't know," she admitted. "I've never played it."

"I'm sure we can make it up," Albus said, clearly liking the sound of this game. "So, someone says something they've never done-"

"And we have to say if we have or not?" Lysander agreed

"Do you drink if you have done the thing, or if you haven't?" Lia asked.

Alice smiled. "I think you should drink if you haven't," she said decisively, having already worked out that that would probably leave her more sober at the end of the game. "After all, then the person suggesting the thing has to take a drink, so we make sure that everyone has had at least one drink per round."

General consensus followed, and seven glasses were produced by Rose, her magic not at all affected by the small amount of alcohol she had consumed.

After a brief argument, it was decided that the oldest should speak first, so an uncertain Lia, whose birthday was on September 13th, held up her glass. "I've never played this game?" she said, with a questioning tone in her voice.

With solemn ceremony, all seven drained their glasses before refilling them from the large bottle.

It was a quick leap then to Rose, born late on the 31st December. "I've never failed an assignment," she admitted, drinking down her glass with a shudder.

With a slight smile, Lia, Alice and Aisha joined her, even as the others rolled their eyes.

With a birthday on March 18th, Albus was the third oldest. "I've never worn high-heels," he said jokingly, and drank the Gillywater. Lorcan and Rose followed suit, and after they all realised who hadn't drunk, heads craned to see Lysander, whose held his head high, despite flushed cheeks. "Don't ask," he said stiffly, while Lia stifled a giggle of bewilderment.

"I hope I remember to get the story behind that tomorrow," Albus muttered, and the others laughed.

"I've never been on an aeroplane," Aisha said wistfully, and with the exceptions of Rose and the twins, everyone drank.

"Lorcan, it's your turn," Lysander told his twin, older by only a few minutes but born the day before Lysander, on the 5th June. Lorcan quickly picked up his glass. "I've never visited the North Pole," he said wonderingly.

To nobody's surprise, they all drained their glasses at that.

"I've never had sex," Lysander said challengingly. The people who drank then would have answered several questions for people at Hogwarts – because only Alice abstained.

Born on June 31st, Alice was the seventh oldest, but she was still taken by surprise when it came to her turn. "Oh! Erm……I've never been part of a Quidditch team."

Scorpius, the youngest of them all, was long past the point of joining in, so Lia began again. "I've never kissed a boy," she announced, and this time Lorcan, Rose, Lysander and Albus all joined her in drinking.

The game continued, with some revelations for them all. It surprised nobody that Lia had never been slapped, but Alice had, and it was hardly a shock that Rose and Lia had never had a detention, but Albus, Alice, Lysander and Lorcan all had. Lia's 'I've never kissed a girl' statement was drunk to by the four girls and Lorcan, at which point Alice clumsily leaned over and proved the statement false by kissing Lorcan. Nobody would have minded, were it not for her slightly over-inebriated state making her clumsy enough to nearly knock over the bottle of Gillywater.

It startled more than one of them to know that only Lysander could drink to 'I've never cried myself to sleep,' and completely shocked them all to hear that Rose wouldn't drink to 'I've never insulted a Professor to their face,' although she did point out that the Professor in question had never realised or noticed the insult.

The bottle was running low, and it was Lia's turn again. She lifted her glass with a giggle. "I've…I've never been drunk," she whispered, but before she could drain the Gillywater, she had slumped unconscious to the floor, most of it spilling across the floor.

"Guess that one wasn't true," Albus quipped, even as he hurried over to see if she was okay. It was soon clear that she was fine, though the combination of a greater lack of experiences and a smaller frame had caused the alcohol to affect her more.

"I think that's our signal to stop," Rose said guiltily, as she Vanished the glasses, although a corner of one remained, a testament to how far past sober she had become. She picked it up and put it in the bin, and took the bottle containing what remained of the Gillywater to the kitchen, Lysander following.

Albus easily lifted Lia in his arms, and with Aisha and Alice following worriedly, he carried her to her room, carefully laying her out on the bed. Alice sat herself on the bed opposite Lia's, after gently positioning her with her head on one side and refused to leave, arguing that someone had to remain with her in case she began to be sick.

Albus was in no state to argue, the temporary sobriety caused by Lia's collapse quickly vanishing and Aisha guided her boyfriend back to the room with Scorpius, where Lorcan was already sleeping on the floor. Recognising the sensibleness of Alice's behaviour, she also lay out on a bed in the room, after ensuring that all three of the boys were still breathing and had their heads turned sideways. She began to drink from a glass of water that she had conjured, reflecting (only slightly smugly) that those already unconscious would be in no small amount of pain in the morning, although Rose had no doubt been organised enough to bring some Hangover-Relieving Potion.

Rose and Lysander, meanwhile, had come across the mess in the kitchen from where Lysander and Albus, too hungry to wait, had made a sandwich earlier.

Sighing in exasperation but incapable of leaving it until the next morning, or at least later in this morning, Rose began to dump things in the sink, turning the tap on with more force than necessary. Lysander began to return any leftovers to the cupboard, sealing them all for freshness with a tap of his wand.

"Not in that one," Rose criticised, just as he was about to put the ham away next to the bread.

Sighing, he did as she directed. It was quicker.

Sensing her watching him, he began to brush the crumbs off the table, and spoke to distract her. "I'm surprised you approved of tonight," he said.

"Because I'm a complete bore who is a stickler for the rules," Rose said irritably. "Honestly-"

"No," Lysander said patiently. "I don't think that. You're just quite responsible."

"Also known as 'a complete bore who is a stickler for the rules'," Rose muttered under her breath, but Lysander didn't hear. "Well, do you blame me? Breaking rules ends up like this…..feeling exhausted, probably feeling ill tomorrow and definitely feeling guilty over letting Lia get drunk enough to collapse. I don't feel guilt for Scorpius, but we should have noticed in Lia's case."

"We were hardly forcing it down her throat," Lysander argued. "And she wouldn't thank you for wanting to be overprotective. She's perfectly capable of looking after herself."

"I know that, but I also know how disappointed my Mum would be if she knew about tonight."

"We drank responsibly – we were safe in a house, at least."

Rose didn't reply.

"So, I was right. You don't approve." Lysander persisted.

"I feel guilty about doing it," Rose sighed at last. "But I'm so glad that I did," she admitted. "You won't understand, you're already unpredictable. But I'm dependable, predictable Rose. You could guess everything I'll be from one glance. Tomboy and genius. There's a shock. Sometimes…..sometimes I just get the urge to do something that people would never expect from me!"

Lysander rested a hand on her arm in support for a moment. "Trust me, I understand. Everyone expects things of me too – to be the complete opposite of my parents and brother, mainly. But sometimes I am like them, sometimes I think the same strange things that Lorcan says. I just don't have the courage to be different."

They finished the clear-up in silence, a comfortable silence that came from mutual understanding. They were the last to bed, and their eyes closed in the same moment that their heads hit the pillow.

They couldn't all say that it was a night that they'd remember forever……but it had certainly been an experience.


Gillywater, I have decided is similar to gin - McGonagall drinks it, and she seems the sort not to drink anything like a cocktail but a good, sensible, G & T.

My longest chapter so far, coming in at well over 6500 words.

And Alice, with the whole no longer being a virgin thing - I didn't write it, because I didn't feel it really fit with a T rating. And I don't think I'd be able to. I'll give the details here, which are that it was in the summer of her fifth year, and she's only done it with one boy (Samuel Smith, who I did mention briefly and will pop up again later).

And a chapter title from I've Got A Feeling, by the Black Eyed Peas. (or the Chickpeas, as my mother used to call them)

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