House: Hufflepuff

Category: Themed— Main character must be from YOUR house (Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw)

Prompt: "Bedtime routine [Action]"

Word count: 525

Title" Their Curse

Warning: Under-age drinking (of Butterbeer).

Note: Do you remember the fifth movie, with the slightly creepy kid who asked Harry during the meeting at the Hog's Head if he could tell them more about how Cedric died? (Look it up if you don't.) That was Zacharias Smith. I actually like him a lot as a character, so I decided to use him for this. Herbert somehow gets drunk from Butterbeer, tolerance of a house-elf I tell you.

~Blue Rose

"Oh, my god. Could you please be quiet?" Zacharias glared at his roommates. They were, as usual, causing loud noises and general ruckus like they did every night. It was just something that happened every night, much to Zach's irritation.

Zach was used to the other boys in the dorm being obnoxious and he could normally just sleep through the noise, but they were being especially loud, as Hufflepuff had just won a match against Gryffindor.

The boys in question were still hollering, one of them— Herbert, if Zach wasn't mistaken — was somehow intoxicated from Butterbeer, and the other three were laughing and throwing food at each other. Zach was in his pajamas, staring grumpily at the other boys in the dorm from his bed.

Anthony looked over to Zach after his burst-out, peering around a giggling Herbert to get a better look at the moody Hufflepuff.

"You alright there, Zach?" he asked, completely oblivious to the annoyance Zach was feeling with the other four.

"You are aware that it's nearly midnight, right?" Zach asked irritably. Herbert looked over his shoulder and squinted at him, swaying a little as he tried to turn his head in an awkward position.

Zach rolled his eyes. He knew that the next morning Herbert would be staggering over to his bed begging for a Hangover Cure.

"Wha's crawled up yer—" Herbert hiccupped. "ar—" Anthony hit him in the back of his head before he could finish his sentence. "Ow," Herbert muttered, rubbing his head.

"Some of us have to sleep, you know," Zach snapped. He had a very short temper, which only served to amuse Anthony, who was used to Zach's moods.

"Sorry, Zach. Alright, guys," Anthony said, and clapped loudly to get the attention of the others. "Curfew."

There was a collective groan—though the one that Herbert gave was probably from the spinning room.

"Fine." Tamsin, who had been busy throwing Peppermint Imps into Alec Summerby's mouth, sighed and plopped down on his bed. He drew the curtains shut and Zach knew he must've taken some sleeping potion, because Tamsin's snores filled the room in seconds.

The floor was littered with trash and muddy Quidditch gear that made Zach grimace in disgust. After three years of living with these people, he had already grown accustomed to their dirty habits, but it didn't mean he had to like them.

"Night," Anthony said, and shut Zach's curtains closed for him. Zach rolled over, blessed with the almost-silence of Anthony slipping into his pajamas and getting into bed. Zach was half-way into a peaceful sleep when loud retching could be heard from the bathroom.

"Herbert," they all groaned. They'd gone through this routine too many times for it to be normal. First year, Herbert used the bathroom practically every night at twelve, second year it was eating at ten, and this year it was a combination of them both.

It's like a night-time routine we have at this point, Zach thought as he and Anthony rushed to the bathroom to help Herbert. It was a curse, really.

But it was their curse, and he wouldn't trade it for anything else.