A/n: So, so sorry about the incredibly long delay. I wish a could promise it will never happen again but I don't know if that is true, so instead I promise to try not to let it happen ever again. As a warning, this chapter did not go through editing as long as the rest so there might be some errors of course there are usually some errors but there might be a couple more than usual. Another warning: this is a very fluffy pointless chap. Thought you should know. So here it is consider it a Christmas present (or some other kind of present if you don't celebrate Christmas.) Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own, blah blah blah, you know the drill. Don't own the song either.
;l;l;l;l;l;l;;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;;l;l;l;l;l;l;
What's My Age Again?
Blink 182
Nobody likes you when you're 23
And are still more amused by prank phone calls
What the hell is call ID, my friends say I should act my age
What's my age again?
What's my age again?
And that's about the time she walked away from me
Nobody likes you when you're 23
And you still act like you're in freshman year
What the hell is wrong with me, my friends say I should act my age
What's my age again?
That's about the time that she broke up with me (what's my age again?)
No one should take themselves so seriously
With many years ahead to fall in line
Why would you wish that on me, I'll never wanna act my age
What's my age again?
;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;
Potions was, by general consensus, the worst class offered at Hogwarts. Divination had been in the running for awhile, but, in the end, Potions had won out. Professor Snape had taken his post as Potions Master a few years before Dora came to Hogwarts and had quickly made the Gryffindor's most hated list. This sentiment was fueled quite effectively by Dora's personal feelings of contempt towards the man. After all, a child doesn't spend eight years hearing how terrible a man is and come out of it all feeling totally unbiased toward him. Unfortunately for the professor it was as much in Dora's nature to sit and pretend that she liked someone she loathed as it was in her cousin's nature to even pretend to be polite to Snape; that is to say it wasn't in her nature at all. And so throughout their Hogwarts careers, she and her friends did everything in their power to make their time with the Potions Master as miserable for him as it was for them. In this process, their time together ceased to be unpleasant and they came to enjoy their biweekly opportunities to antagonize the man. So much so that even Rusty, who had yet to settle on a career but was quite sure that it would not involve Potions, had opted to take the N.E.W.T. class.
Because of this, Dora really didn't mind that, on the afternoon of her birthday, in May, she found herself sitting in the dungeons learning about the components of Sense Stealer potions. Or rather, pretending to learn about said potions. She was, in fact, having a not-quite-whispered conversation with her three best friends. The conversation was so not-whispered that not only was the entire class watching, Snape had also turned to glare at them. This, of course, was the point.
"Hey Millie," Rusty stage whispered, "heard you got lucky last—"
"Mr. Grant, please refrain from using such blatant sexual innuendo in this class," said Snape icily.
"What about non-blatant sexual innuendo, professor?" asked Dora, slouched in her chair next to Rusty chewing on her sugar quill, blonde and turquoise hair sticking out at strange angles from her messy bun.
"Yeah," said Charlie. "Hey Dora, when was the last time you fell down the stairs?" he asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"Uh…last night."
"And you Mills?" Charlie turned to Millie.
"Oh, you know, uh, recently. Not nearly as recently as our dear professor there."
"Uh Charlie," Dora asked as they left the dungeons, giggling and short 25 house points, "what's so dirty about falling down stairs?"
Charlie grinned, "Wouldn't you like to know."
After dinner they went out onto the grounds. They settled down on a shady patch of grass, lying down in a sort of circle.
"You know, now that Dora's had her birthday, we're all of age," said Rusty.
His friends nodded, staring into space and trying to fathom what this coming of age meant.
After awhile, Dora broke the silence; "I think I'm gonna move out."
"Out where?" asked Millie.
"Dunno, just out. If I ever make it work with my parents it's not going to be now. Now I need to figure my own life. And I'm seventeen now so I can legally get a place of my own. I think I'll find a job in downtown London for the summer, get an apartment."
Abruptly Rusty sat up. "Hey, my aunt and uncle have this little grocery store in Notting Hill. Uncle Tweeze and Aunt Tina used to live in the apartment above the place but then they had kids and moved to a bigger place. I bet they would give us all jobs and rent the apartment to us cheap. Between the four of us we could pay the bills, get food, and still have some cash to blow."
"Us? I wasn't asking you guys…I mean it would be awesome but…well your parents and—" Dora stammered. They were all sitting up now, considering this new possibility with enthusiasm.
"Are you kidding?" Charlie said. "It'd be great. We could pretend to be Muggles. You know go see moolies and stuff."
"Its movies Charlie," Rust corrected.
"Are you sure?" asked Dora. Her friends nodded eagerly. Dora grinned. "It's a plan."
They discussed the subject enthusiastically for an hour or so, until it grew dark.
"We should head in," Millie finally declared, yawning. "Curfew's coming up."
Dora tilted her head to the side, biting her lip and looking thoughtful.
"Uh-oh," said Charlie, they all knew that look. "What's up?" he asked Dora.
Dora's eyes came back into focus. "Why don't we sleep out here tonight?"
The others stared. "We'd be so busted," Millie said finally.
"No we wouldn't, c'mon it'll be fun, we can play pointless sleepover games, stare at the stars, etc. etc."
"Yeah and then we can get expelled," said Millie.
"We won't get expelled for sleeping outside, Mils," said Charlie calmly. "I'm in."
Dora grinned at him. "Rusty?"
Rusty shrugged then nodded.
"Oh all right," said Millie, "but don't say I didn't warn you."
Dora grinned. "I won't have to."
They woke a little after dawn in almost perfect unison. A cheesy, paperback novel sort of event but interesting never the less. Dora turned her head to the left to see Charlie's looking down at her and realized that her head was on his stomach. Looking down, she saw Rusty's head was in her lap and his eyes were open as well. A just-as-awake-as-the-rest Millie was rolling out from under Charlie's head. Apparently the sleeping arrangement had been comfortable the night before, but morning had had made it quite clear that it had not been their most brilliant idea. The basic idea of the settlement had been Dora's plan. She had suggest, when at about four in the morning they decided it was time to get some sleep, that, in order for everyone to have a 'pillow', they should sleep in a ring, Charlie's head on Millie's calves, Millie's head in Rusty's lap, Rusty's head in Dora's lap, and Dora's head on Charlie's stomach. This had worked quite well at the time, provided that no one fidgeted too much, but as the sun rose, Dora discovered that her neck ached and her knees were asleep.
"That was entertaining," said Charlie, sitting up.
"Charming," Rusty added, half sarcastic, half serious.
"Very," Millie agreed, almost completely sarcastic.
"Quite," said Dora. "Never again?"
They agreed.
"At least we didn't get caught," said Rusty, optimistically.
As they turned toward to castle they saw professors McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore, and Sprout striding toward them, looking none to pleased.
;l;l;l;ll;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l
A/n: Hope you liked it. Sorry it's so short. Thanks so much to my reviewers! I love you guys. Review and make my day. Happy holidays!
