"Pour me another one please," giggled Ginny.
"Already," laughed Lavender. "Geeze Gin, your really inhaling the drinks tonight." Lavender added an extremely generous quantity of vodka to a cup of orange juice and handed to Ginny. The two girls leaned against the railing on top of the astronomy tour, sipping their drinks and admiring the view. When Ginny returned to school she decided she needed to keep herself busy and distracted from the fear and distress that plagued her. Distraction was found easily in the friendship of the seventh year Gryffindors and their newly found friend, alcohol. Lavender, Parvati, Seamus, and Dean, while not as close to the missing trio as Ginny, were close enough to understand and share some her pain. They dealt with this pain by attempting to make life into a joke, or at least a party.
Loud footsteps sounded from the tower's staircase followed by the appearance of Seamus."Ahhh, you buggers started without me!"
"Well you took too long," answered Lavender as she poured the sandy-haired boy a drink. "Are Parvati and Dean coming?"
"They should be here soon, they said they wanted to take a walk around the lake first. I don't know who they think they're kidding when they claim they're not together." Ginny and Lavender laughed knowingly.
"The only people they're kidding are themselves," replied Lavender. "They both want to think of themselves as free and single but they're both completely in love with each other."
"Well I guess we can all play along then," answered Seamus. "Speaking of romance, who exactly was that tall stranger you were coddling up to at the party last night, Ginny?"
Lavender and Seamus both looked inquiringly at Ginny, who had yet to speak since Seamus' arrival. This was typical of her, she spoke little these days but commanded a powerful presence when she did. Ginny had adopted a mysterious character that year. She acted convincingly like the stereotypical party girl, just out for a good time, but her bouts of apathy and silence suggested to her friends that she was hiding her true emotions.
"I really couldn't tell you, he was a decent kisser but a little to silly and talkative. I ditched him shortly after you saw us," retorted Ginny.
Seamus looked confused, "Too silly and talkative, what do you mean?"
Lavender smiled knowingly, "If you're totally smashed, hair going every witch-way, make-up smeared, etceteras, you know you are not 'beautiful' and 'sexy' and all that, but for some reason guys all seem to think that they have to tell you this in order to get you in bed. I hate that guys think they have to trick girls to hook up with them, its demeaning. I mean, yeah we usually wanna hook up but we're not that stupid."
Ginny locked eyes with Lavender and smiled, they really got each other. Seamus looked slightly worried and agitated. "Damn, I've been doing it wrong, maybe that's why I can't get a girl."
Lavender and Ginny laughed. "Well, in truth, some girls just are that stupid and will believe you." Added Ginny.
"Haha true," said Lavender, "Especially if they're from Hufflepuff."
"Lavender!" squealed Ginny, "That's horrible!"
"Its true and you know it, that's why your laughing so hard."
"Well I never go for Hufflepuff girls," said a still worried Seamus, "They're all ugly."
At this the two girls completely lost it and were rolling on the ground. Their laughing episode was interrupted by the arrival of Dean and Parvati, and the real drinking began. Like every Friday and Saturday night, the group drank until they could barley walk, laughing the whole time, then performed stability charms on themselves so they could make it down the stairs and find a party.
Ginny had been surprised to discover just how much was going on at Hogwarts on the weekends if you knew where to look. It was mostly seventh years, and some sixth years because at that point the students were advanced enough to perform the necessary spells on their dorms to hide their activities from the authority. Tonight the party was in the seventh year Ravenclaw boy's dorm.
By the time the Gryffindors arrived the party was in full swing. The Magic Pineapples, a wizard punk rock band was blasting. Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot were battling in a serious beer pong game surrounded by a crowd. Some people were dancing, or on the darker side of the room grinding or making out or who else knows what. Dean shoved his way through to the keg and got drinks for all his friends. Ginny sipped on hers slowly scanning the room with hazy eyes.
"We gotta show 'em our moves GinGin!" Demanded Lavender, "Come on, come on!"
"Where are our moves, I don't have moves," Ginny was thoroughly confused but started dancing happily when Lavender whisked her away to the 'dance floor' or area of the floor some clever student had magiced to flash colors whenever stepped on. Parvati and Dean joined them, while Seamus attempted to get in on the pong game.
Before long some boy Ginny didn't recognize sidled up to her and she agreeably excepted his presence. Twenty minutes later they were desperately making out in a dark corner. Ginny clung to this temporary offer of companionship, a brief relief from her intense loneliness. She put all her energy and passion into every kiss and every touch, needing to feel as much as she could and warm herself from the apathetic, shallow, and desolate life she led.
Ginny woke up when it was still dark outside. The music had stopped, the party must be over. She barley remembered what happened, but she could figure most of it out seeing how she was clothes-less in a bed she didn't recognize with blue curtains. The thin, ruffled girl creeped around gathering and putting on her clothes then ran away as quickly as he could.
Instead of heading back to her room she ran outdoors to the tree by the lake where she and Harry spent many an hour last year. Yet again, she felt dirty, cheap, and alone. She mustered all her strength and gave the tree a huge kick. As she was wearing sandals this hurt her a lot more than it hurt the tree and she let out a gasp of pain. This made her feel even more pathetic so she did the most logical thing to her still slightly-drunken mind and kicked the tree again and again.
With each kick she was punishing herself for being so completely useless and pathetic. She kicked the tree until every toe on her right foot was dripping blood. She stared and the mess she had made of her foot, and eventually walked with a newfound calm to the lake. She waded in to her knees and stood staring at the peaceful water while acknowledging all the danger that lied within it. A single tear slid down her face.