Lives and Loves of Ravenclaw Girls
Chapter 21 – Hangovers and Leather
By: Julie and Megan with help from Heidi
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The next morning everyone was in a state of turmoil, otherwise known as major hangovers.
"Oh, man. I feel like an elephant sat on my head," Megan said groggily from her sleep, "and then a whale sat on him."
"What time is it?" Sam asked pulling the covers from her face.
"1:30," Heidi said from the floor, where she was crawling towards her trunk, "I've got Quidditch practice in 15 minutes."
"Sucks to be you," Shannon said before rolling over and falling out of bed, "Ouch, ouch! I meant to do that."
"Oh, man!" Megan said sitting up way too fast, she quickly grabbed her head and mumbled about the room spinning before continuing, "Sam, was it my imagination last night, or were you making out with a snowman?"
"I did not make out with a snowman;" Sam said from her side of the room, "And I dibs first shower."
"Good luck battling the hot water with Heidi," Shannon crowed from her spot on the floor.
"Shut up, Shan. The whole tower could probably hear you," Megan grumbled before turning over and falling asleep.
"Well I didn't wake Julie." Shannon said crawling over to the girl's bed and pulling back the curtains only to reveal an empty bed. "Megz?"
"What?!"
"Where's Julie?"
"If she knows what's good for her she's not here," Megan said before throwing a shoe at Shannon and going back to sleep.
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"Ow, ow." Julie said turning over to have some part of her leather outfit poking her.
"Calm down, Julz," Julie heard before she opened her eyed to see Remus on the bed next to her with out a shirt on.
"AHHHH!" Julie screamed, falling out of the bed, "AHHHH! OW! Ow, ow. Headache, not good, not good at all."
"Not good at all, eh?" came Sirius' voice from under a mountain of blankets.
"Julie, shut up, will you?" James said pulling back the curtains around his bed and squinting around the room.
"What are you all doing in my room?" Julie questioned, "And what did you do with my friends? And what the hell am i wearing?" she finished looking down at her leather ensemble.
"My room, they're in your room, and leather." Remus said smiling, then grimacing because it hurt.
"Oh," Julie said getting it, "Oh," her eyes widened as she looked around, "We didn't ... you know?" she asked biting her bottom lip.
"Not that I can remember."
"Oh, ok, then i'm going to go back to my room and take a nice long shower."
"Ok, have fun," Sirius said from his lumpy bed.
"Shut up, Black."
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by the time Julie got back to her dorm room everyone was gone except Megan, who was currently buried under her pillows and blankets, her head at the foot of the bed.
"Hey, Megz," Julie said and got a mumbled reply back, "Do you know where i put that sober-up potion?"
Megan sat up, and again was regretful for it, "You still have sober-up potion left? The girls are going to kill you, Heidi is currently at a Quidditch practice all hung over, Sam is at a study thing all hung over, and Shannon is doing a detention all hung over, and you have sober-up potion left?"
Julie looked up bashfully, "Well that's their own fault they didn't go through my stuff to find it, isn't it?"
"Julie, you have hexes on everything you own."
"Right, here, I found it. Want some?"
"Do I want some? Are you insane? It feels like an elephant and then a whale sat on my head and you're asking me if i want some sober-up potion? I think you know the answer."
"Fine, I'll go find Shannon or someone who needs it."
"Julie!" and Megan tackled Julie and ripped the bottle out of her hand taking a healthy gulp of the stuff. Immediately the headache subsided and memories came flowing back. "Oh, that can't be a good thing," she said remembering them sledding down in the toboggan. She felt a healthy bruise on her cheek, "Yes, well, that's brilliant."
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Oh Merlin I feel like shit thought Sam bitterly. She sat in the library with all the members of her usual study group. She shook violently, but tried not to show it to the others. After all, they had broken who knows how many school rules by sneaking out last night.
Sam tapped her quill against the parchment, trying to think about anything but her throbbing headache. She winced slightly as her stomach lurched restlessly. Cold sweat formed on her forehead, before she finally gave in.
Dropping everything she had she ran to the closest loo. She wrenched open the stall door and threw herself at the toilet. She kneeled there and wretched out the contents of her hang-over.
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Don't pass out. Don't pass out. Don't pass out. Was all Heidi chanted as she did her Quidditch drills. She prayed the practice would end soon, even though she had only been there for a good twenty minutes.
"Alright, lets practice the weave pattern again," started the captain.
"Noooo," groaned Heidi. "Water break!"
"Singe! This is the third water break you've asked for!" said Brandon exasperated.
"Don't blame her," said AJ, flying past them.
"Why not?" asked Brandon, eyeing him suspiciously.
"My bets on Heidi having a hangover," he said, grinning.
"Is this true Singe?" asked Brandon, rounding on a gaping Heidi.
"How did you know?!" she asked AJ.
"You lot stumbled in drunk last night, I was there. It was pretty funny actually," he said, laughing.
"We ... I ... Not drunk!" sputtered Heidi.
"SINGE!" roared Brandon, already on the ground.
"You JERK! I'm going to get a lecture now!" said Heidi, smacking AJ as hard as she could in the shoulder.
"Remember, smile and nod. And be full of regret," encouraged AJ, before joining the others in drills.
Heidi landed on the grass and sat in front of Brandon, getting ready for her lecture.
"How could you be so STUPID?" yelled Brandon.
Heidi tried to look ashamed, but secretly she was plotting his untimely demise in her hung-over induced headached mind.
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Finish. Now. Just Finish. Soon. Bed. Urg. Disgusting! thought Shannon, incapable of forming a sentence. After classes on Thursday Shannon had decided to 'get smart' as he had put it, and talked back to the caretaker Mr. Welts.
So Shannon was spending her detention in the girls loo, cleaning up the toilets. She didn't even bother looking up, as she leaned against the wall, panting in pain, when the lavatory door slammed open.
A blur of black hair whiz passed her and flew into an empty stall.
Shannon bit back the bile building up in the back of her throat as she heard the blur of hair wretch into the toilets. She clapped a hand to her own mouth, trying to swallow, but failed miserably.
She ducked into the loo beside the girl and wretched along with her.
Never. Drink. Again.
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While their best friends were each thinking the deranged thoughts, Megan and Julie, having both taken the potion, bounded down to the kitchens happily.
Having missed breakfast, and lunch, and not wanting to wait for dinner, they entered the kitchens to lovingly stuff their faces.
"Do you remember?! I was right! Sam made out with a snowman!" laughed Megan.
"Yeah, but i told her too. She's going to KILL me when she remembers!"
"I'm surprised we're still alive! Honestly! Your drunken Tobogganing!" laughed Megan, punching Julie in the arm.
"OW! BRUISE!" yelled Julie, rubbing where Megan hit her. "But, it was still fun!"
"Do you think we should go and get these healed from the nurse?" asked Megan, wincing as she touched her cheek.
"And say what? We woke up like this? Haha, naw, we can tough it out!" laughed Julie.
"Train leaves Thursday," said Megan suddenly.
"Yup, Christmas is coming soon," said Julie cheerfully.
"Yeah," Megan replied slowly. She looked down at her drink, lost in thoughts.
"Megz, what's wrong?" asked Julie, noticing her change in behaviour.
"Just, the holidays. He was supposed to come with me, remember?" said Megan quietly.
Julie's heart instantly dropped. Of course Tag was supposed to go home with Megan. Julie remembered all to well when Megan was freaking out about it earlier that month. "Yeah, I remember."
"I wish he was here," she said sadly, trying not to cry again. Julie slid to her side of the table and hugged her.
"Thanks for talking about it Megan," she said to the sobbing girl. "We're always here to listen."
Julie and Megan sat on the bench for a little while, just talking about Tag and their memories of him.
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The week flew by quickly, as the teachers had obviously given up trying to cram a bit more knowledge into their holiday-filled heads.
Soon enough Thursday morning had come, pulling the 5 Ravenclaw girls out of bed and into their usual pre-leaving routines.
Megan was hastily shoving her things in her trunk, by means of packing. She kept cursing herself over and over for putting off her packing, and vowed never to do it again. No body would hold her to that though, as she said and did that every time packing was to be done.
Sam just got ready slowly, trying not to rush herself. She checked over her trunk, making sure everything was nice, and proper. She was supposed to go home with Severus, and wanted everything to be perfect.
Shannon was running around the room in shambles, trying to make sure she had remembered to get everything. Rick and her made promises to visit each other over the break, so she had nothing to worry about until she got home.
Heidi was searching the room for her Quidditch book and various other things to do. She also made plans with Will to spend a few days at his house around Christmas.
Julie just got up and got ready as she normally would. She was going to see everyone off, as she was staying behind with Remus.
When they were all finally ready to go the made their way down to the great hall. Julie said a quick goodbye to Chris and Mike, as they went by, before coming to a halt by the doors.
Julie gave each of them a hug goodbye. They each promised to write to her while they were gone. She refused to go out into the snow with them so they waved her goodbye as their carriages pulled her away. She walked back inside and closed the door behind her.
Remus came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Just you and me now," she reminded him.
"Mm-hmm, I don't know if i could stand being with you for an entire holiday," he laughed in to her ear.
She slapped him in the arm and pretended to walk away. "If that's how you feel ..."
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. They stood there kissing for a long while after.
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The pain was unimaginable. Tag had felt pain before; he'd broken his arm falling out of a tree when he was little. But that was nothing like this. This was a constant throbbing. His lungs burned every time he took a shaky breath, he was positive his leg was broken and at least one of his ribs was fractured or broken. He probably had a concussion, or at least it felt that way. He had a rather large and nasty cut on his head from one of the many beatings.
The door of his room opened. Tag closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and glared at the figure walking toward him gracefully. The red eyes glared back at him but Tag knew he couldn't – he wouldn't – say a word. If he started talking, Voldemort would think he was breaking. He wouldn't break. He wouldn't tell Voldemort anything about Dumbledore.
"Still pretending you're tough?"
Tag stared stonily ahead.
"That must hurt," Voldemort said, gazing at the bleeding wound on Tag's head. "I never feel pain. It's an upside that comes with immortality. You, little one, will die soon."
Tag knew this. How could he not die after being in Voldemort's lair for so long, how could he still live when there was no hope for escape? They'd kill him and he couldn't do anything about it. He'd never see Megan again. That thought, though he'd thought it before, weakened his resolve for a moment. Voldemort saw the change.
"No, you'll never see your brat of a girlfriend again." he said quietly. "Unless ..."
Here it was. Voldemort's reason for allowing him to live for so long. Once they had learned he would never give away anything about Dumbledore, they should have killed him. But they hadn't.
"Unless you decide to spare your life. You know, I expect, exactly what I mean?"
Tag stoically stared ahead, refusing to answer. He would never answer.
"You can join me or you can die. I don't care either way."
He had expected this. He wouldn't do it. There had to be some other way out. If he could only find the others taken captive, maybe they could plan something.
"You have a fortnight to decide."
Tag frowned slightly but quickly replaced it with the blank expression he was so used to wearing now. Voldemort glared at him for a moment, turned to leave the room and was nearly at the door when he said, "Crucio."
He'd learned to deal with the pain by now. It was never easy, but he was almost used to the constant feeling of fire-hot knives repeatedly slicing him open.
Smirking, Voldemort released Tag of the curse and left the room.
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This was going to be a very long trip. Megan was sharing a compartment with Heidi, Will, Shannon, and Rick. Sam was with Severus and his friends in another compartment. Shannon was asleep, her head in Rick's lap and he looked like he was attempting to get comfortable and hopefully fall asleep on the compartment's seats. Heidi was leaning against Will and they were talking softly while he played with her hair. Megan was left alone to stare out the window and wish London wasn't so far away.
"You okay, Megan?" Heidi asked, making her jump. She had been staring intently outside for several minutes now.
"Yeah, I'm fine." she said quietly.
"They'll find Tag," Heidi said reassuringly. "He'll be home before you know it."
Megan was silent for a moment. She wanted to scream at Heidi. Heidi didn't know what it was like to not know if her boyfriend was alive. But instead, she said. "Right. They'll find him."
Heidi seemed to notice Megan didn't feel that way at all but she didn't push her. If Megan wanted to talk, she would.
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The Hogwarts Express finally reached London. Megan gladly grabbed her trunk and rushed out of the compartment, saying a quick goodbye to Heidi and Shannon. She didn't want them annoyed at her, but she couldn't stand being in there any longer.
Shannon and Heidi exchanged worried glances but didn't bother following her. Megan wouldn't appreciate being tracked down by them right now. So they said their goodbyes and each headed out into the Muggle World, glad to be home.
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A week had passed. Christmas was in 3 days. Tag had a plan, but it wasn't fine-tuned and could easily go wrong. On Christmas night, the Ministry of Magic held an annual charity dinner. Most Death Eaters worked in the Ministry and were expected to attend. With most Death Eaters occupied, there would be very few people guarding the Hogwarts students. Tag needed to find another Hogwarts student. He was going to tell all of them eventually, but he couldn't afford telling them now. He'd wait until Christmas or Christmas Eve. The others might slip and his plans would be ruined. He'd have to wait. He knew who had been taken hostage. They shouldn't slip up. They were part of the Elite at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had set up the group of people, those he knew he could trust. There were only twelve people in the Elite, and eight, himself included, were now being held hostage by Voldemort. He had to find Kyle. Kyle had an excellent mind for strategies and he could help him sort out the plan. He had seen Kyle the day they had been brought in, but he didn't know where he'd been placed after that. The Death Eaters knew better than to put all of the hostages in one room. Maybe they were all on the same floor. Tag had spent many hours inspecting the room. During one lapse of the pain, he had found a hole in the western wall. It wasn't a big hole, but maybe he could peak through it. Maybe there was another member of the Elite in the room next to his. It seemed ridiculous, but he had to try.
--End Chapter 21
