Sorry I took a while to update. Here it is:
Chapter 17
Mina grabbed a cup and poured some firewhiskey into it. She stared at the dark liquid for a while, before shrugging and downing it. It tasted a little bitter, but it made her feel good. She poured another glass and sipped it, before sitting down again.
People began to gather in the common room, and soon enough, Mina heard a familiar voice, one that she'd already begun to grow accustomed to.
"Getting wasted, Hobbit?" said Sprint.
"No. And what, is that your new nickname for me?" Mina asked, putting her cup down and locking eyes with the dirty blond. Sprint thought for a moment.
"Yes, it is, Hobbit."
"I see. So what is your fascination with muggle books, then?" she asked.
"Haha! I don't have a fascination with them at all. Well, when I was little, my grandmother read The Hobbit to me. She's a muggle, you see. I thought it was a pretty good book, actually," he said.
"Ah! So you're not a pureblood?" Mina asked.
"I am, but my mother's not. She's actually a muggle-born. You have a muggleborn friend, don't you? That Gryffindor girl…"
"Yes, Lily," Mina said.
"And you're friends with a Ravenclaw girl too. How did that friendship start?"
"We met on the Hogwarts express before our first year, and we became instant friends. After we were sorted into three different houses, we promised each other to remain friends, and we have ever since," Mina explained.
"I wish my friends were as loyal," he smirked.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Jesse?" A dark-haired boy clapped Sprint on the back.
"Not you, Erik," Sprint said, "You're the only one who stayed true to me! I love you, man!"
"Aw, I love you too, mate!" The two friends hugged each other, the pulled apart, laughing.
"Okay, you two are starting to weird me out now," Mina said.
"Haha! Mina, this is my best mate, E-"
"Erik Zabini, yes. I know," Mina stated.
"Ah, so you've met?" Sprint asked.
"He was friends with my ex-boyfriend, Lucius Malfoy." Sprint scowled at this.
"You went out with Malfoy? Nobody told me that. I hate that rotten son of a bitch!" he said.
"You do?" Mina seemed almost amused by this.
"Yeah, his family and my family don't get along, but Malfoy and I became friends anyway since he was on the quidditch team. We ended up getting into a fight two years ago. He's an idiot," Sprint explained, "but I never would have guessed that he'd gone out with you."
"Yeah, well, I was 14 years old at the time. He was 17. I found out he was only dating me because he was interested in my cousin Narcissa. So I agree that he's an idiot." Mina said. Zabini smirked.
"So you dated him, but now you think he's an idiot? And wouldn't it be funny if you started going out with his rival here," he said. Mina looked at him, then at Sprint.
"Very funny indeed," she said, smirking, "but I don't think it'd work." Sprint frowned.
"Why not?"
"You're not my type," she said. Sprint's jaw dropped open for a few seconds, but he closed it.
"Well, you're not exactly my type either. I prefer not to date hobbits." Mina laughed at this.
"That's okay. You know what though? I think you and Erik would make a better couple!" she said, still laughing. Sprint glanced at Zabini, then back at her.
"You're mad," he said.
"No, that would be Lucius who's mad," she said.
"Ah, how right you are. Dumb bastard. You know, the reason we fought was because of the war. He's determined to join You-Know-Who because his family has," Sprint said. Mina said nothing about this. She couldn't tell them that Malfoy already was a death eater.
"Malfoy's a fool," Sprint went on.
"You're a fool." Mina jumped at the sound of Snape's voice behind her.
"Severus!" she exclaimed.
"Hello, love," he grinned at her. Sprint cleared his throat.
"And why am I the fool?" he asked in a low, steady voice.
"Lucius is wise to take a side. There is a war going on. We are living in the dark days, and he has done the one thing he could do. You, however, just stand around and act like nothing's happening," Snape said.
"I prefer it that way. I'd rather be neutral throughout this," he said.
"Me too!" Mina declared. "I want to be neutral… I won't join sides, not with Dumbledore, or anyone. And certainly not with Vol-"
"Hold your tongue!" Snape hissed.
"Oh, drop it already, Sev! I can do or say what I want," she said confidently.
"You see, this is what's going to get you killed. And Mina, you can't argue with me that you're the biggest fool of all," he said. Mina laughed.
"I guess not. Maybe I am a fool. But I don't want to be dragged into this war," she said.
"I know you don't. I'm trying to help you so with that, remember?"
"Um… Sorry to interrupt your little conversation here, but could you take it somewhere else? This is a party," Zabini said.
"Fuck off, Zabini," Snape said. Mina giggled softly, before picking up her drink and downing its contents.
"You know what?" she said, "this is a party. So let's have fun, Sevvy!"
"No, thank you," he said while glaring daggers at Zabini. Zabini laughed.
"Seriously, that's the whole point of a party," he said.
"Oh, I know! Severus just wants to wait on us. Severus, bring me another glass of firewhiskey," Mina said. Snape glared at Mina.
"You know what? I have a Potions assignment to work on. I'll be in my dorm," he said, before retreating to the boys' dormitories.
"Is he always like that?" Sprint asked.
"Yes! He's such a party pooper. But anyway… hey, this fiewhiskey is really great. Seriously, I'm hooked on this stuff," she said.
"Just don't drink too much while you're around us," Zabini joked.
"Ha! As if I'd let you two get me drunk! That's funny," Mina said.
"Isn't it?" Sprint said, grinning mischievously.
"Oh, let me fill that up for you," Zabini said, tapping Mina's cup with his wand. The dark liquid filled her cup and Mina stared at Zabini.
"You are trying to get me drunk, aren't you?" she said.
"Nah. We just want to see what'll happen after 6 of those," Sprint said.
"You don't think I can take it?" Mina asked, shocked.
"Nope," Sprint said, still grinning. With that, Mina downed the drink and filled it again. She continued this 3 more times before the room began to spin.
"I need to sit down," she said.
"You are sitting," Zabini pointed out.
"Oh. Well, I need to lay down." She laid herself down and felt her head land gently on a rather hard pillow. She looked up; her vision only a little blurry. Sprint was grinning down at her, and her head was in his lap.
"Oh, well this is just great!" she said.
"Indeed it is," Sprint said. "Don't move. Stay just like that, okay?" Mina nodded.
"What are you going to do with me, Sprister Mint?" she said, meaning to say Mister Sprint, but giggling to much to notice.
"This." He leaned down and kissed her, and she kissed him back eagerly.
"Are you going to let me have a go?" Zabini smirked from where he was sitting across from them. Sprint pulled away from Mina but did not look away from her.
"Get your own bird," he said, grinning at Mina and plunging his mouth down onto hers once again. He slid his hand up her shirt and began to feel her up…
"Hey, Jesse," Mina said in between kisses. Sprint groaned but stopped and looked at her.
"Yes, Hobbit?"
"Why are we doing this?" He sighed.
"Because you wanted to."
"I did?"
"Yes."
Mina sat up at that moment and began laughing so hard, she was crying at the same time.
"Um… Hobbit? Shit, she totally wasted!" Sprint said. Mina's laughs slowed down to a stop.
"No, I'm not… That's what's so funny about it. You thought I was! And then you tried to take advantage of me," she said.
"I did not!" Sprint defended himself. But he began to laugh, too. "Well, maybe I did. But I wasn't going to go all the way…"
"I know. You didn't want to give those 3rd years a heart attack," Mina said, pointing across the room to where the three girls from before were standing, looking shocked, but glaring angrily at Mina.
"Oh, them? Yeah, they're like, obsessed with me or something. It freaks me out," Sprint said.
"Really? Why don't you just tell them?" Mina asked.
"Because then I'd have no fans," he said, laughing. Mina laughed too.
"In that case, why don't you just get them drunk instead of me? I'm sure they're more…easy." she said, giggling.
"Because I'm 17. That makes me legal," he said.
"Oh, I see. It's good to know you abide by the law then. It's better to know you don't go around taking advantage of young girls," Mina said.
"This is true," he replied. "I have more morals than that, anyway."
"Hey. Where's Erik?" Mina looked around, and burst out laughing when she saw him making out with the leader of the three annoying girls.
"What?" Sprint said, not noticing right away.
"What were we just talking about?" Mina asked while pointing in Zabini's direction. Sprint noticed them and started cracking up as well. The two of them remained laughing like that for a while, then they slowed down, and Mina turned towards him.
"You know, Jesse? This is some hell of a party," she said.
"Isn't it? See, you just gotta know how to have a good time," he said. She nodded.
"Well, I do know how to have a good time, but I've just never had a good time with my fellow Slytherins before. And what can I say? We rule," She said. Sprint grinned.
"I'm glad you're seeing it my way."
-
The next day Mina got up late. She had stayed up last night, just talking to Sprint. They were the last two to leave the common room. Mina pondered over this for a while. She knew that their friendship was odd, but it was good to know it would never be anything more than just a friendship.
As she went down to breakfast, she noticed the room was filled. She was indeed late. She saw Sprint at the Slytherin table look up and wave to her, and she smiled back. She went towards the Gryffindor table again, to sit next to Lily. But the only available seat was next to Remus. Lily saw Mina's problem and stood up.
"Mina," she said, "sit next to him!"
"No," Mina said.
"Why not?"
"I don't think he wants me to be around him," Mina said.
"How do you know?" Lily asked.
"He said so." Lily just shook her head,
"There has to be a reason," she said.
"And when you find out, Lily Evans, kindly inform me," Mina replied smartly.
"Oh, fine, be that way. But where are you going to sit?"
"I'm not hungry."
"Of course you are! Why'd you come down here?" Lily said.
"Lily, just forget it. I'm going to go take a walk and think things over. Care to join me?" Lily looked back at the table, and then back at Mina. She nodded and the two walked out into the hallway.
"So… wasn't there a party last night?" Lily asked.
"Yup."
"How'd it go?"
"Pretty good. I tricked Jesse into thinking I was drunk. It was pretty funny," she explained.
"You and Jesse seem to be getting along really well," Lily said. Mina shrugged.
"We're just friends. We have a lot in common. Well, a lot more than I realized," she said.
"And what about Remus?" Lily asked.
"Remus? What about him? There's nothing that I have in common with Remus," she replied.
"That's not true. You haven't gotten the opportunity to get to know each other that well yet. You could have loads in common with him and not even know it," said Lily. Mina sighed.
"I suppose so."
"Hey! There's another Hogsmeade weekend coming up! And I don't think we have to worry about death eaters this time," Lily said, laughing nervously.
"Oh yeah. December 1st, I believe. We have to do our Christmas shopping!" Mina said, excitedly. Christmas at Hogwarts was something Mina always looked forward to. Her favorite season was winter, and with it came her favorite holiday.
"We'll have to drag Phoebe with us, of course," Lily said.
"If you can manage to pry her off of Sirius," Mina joked.
The two girls had a good laugh about that, and continued walking. It was Sunday morning, and it was quiet around the castle, as usual. Those who got up early enough for breakfast, got the 'Sunday morning special,' consisting of chocolate chip pancakes instead of regular pancakes. Sunday mornings were what Phoebe Chang lived for.
Phoebe had been real busy with Sirius lately, though. Which, of course, didn't make Mina very happy. She knew that any day he would dump Phoebe like a bag of venomous snakes. But she was at least happy that one of her friends had a love life, if it wasn't her.
Lily was too preoccupied with her studies for a love life, or at least that's what she'd been telling Mina and Phoebe. But they knew she had a huge crush on Frank Longbottom, and usually used that knowledge to their advantage when the subject of love was brought up with Lily. And it was being brought up now by Mina.
"Lily, I think you should stop worrying about my love life and start worrying about your own," Mina said. Lily muttered something about school and studying.
"Frank Longbottom!" Mina reminded her. Lily giggled.
"Okay, okay. But I went to the dance with him, remember? I thought that was good enough," she said, pouting.
"Nope. Not good enough," Mina smirked.
Lily frowned.
"Okay, I'm not asking you to ask him out, or anything. Not like he'd say no, but… You could go out with Potter!" she said. Lily burst out laughing.
"Don't make me gag," Lily said.
"Damn, that's what I was trying to do, too. But really, I don't know why I said it, but for some reason… Potter suits you. He's certainly not as much of an ass as Sirius is. And he obviously fancies you," Mina said.
"Are you kidding me? Have you seen him with other girls?" Lily asked.
"Well, I try to avoid paying attention to that, but I'm sure it can't be as bad as Sirius. He just uses girls and then loses girls," Mina replied.
"Okay, why are we talking about the Marauders, anyway? I'd sooner go out with Snape then I'd go out with James Potter!" Lily said.
"Are you sure about that?" Mina said, laughing.
"END OF CONVERSATION!" Lily shouted. Mina shut her mouth. She did not want to get Lily Evans mad, and had forgotten already what she'd done to make her yell at her.
Yes, it is short. How observant of you. Lol. But I had a bit of writer's block, and… ugh. You know how it is, don't you? Please review, and I promise to you that chapter 18 will be longer. It involves the Hogsmeade trip and such, and a long, important conversation between Remus and Mina. There! I just made a sacrifice by telling you what would happen! So review!