Disclaimer: I don't own anything HP! I am not making profit, yadda yadda! You know the drill.
What Happened Last Night?
Harry woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and a hazy memory of the night before. A loud groan from the other bed him wince. A moan from the body laying next to him jump. The voice that came from right next to him was definitely not Ginny's. He sat up blinking into the sunlight streaming in the windows of the hotel room.
He looked down to his left and saw the red hair and bare shoulders of his best friend. Ron was curled up hugging his pillow, snoring and drooling.
Harry jumped up with a yelp and scrambled away from the bed. He stumbled over to the other bed and saw Ginny clutching her head with her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
"Ginny? Ginny, wake up," he said in a loud whisper. She groaned again and squeezed her eyes shut tighter.
"Not so loud," she mumbled pitifully.
"Ginny, why was I in bed with your brother? Where's Hermione? How did we get back to the hotel last night? And why the bloody hell was I in bed with Ron?" he asked frantically. Ginny moaned and stuck her head under a pillow.
Harry sighed and stood up. Wasn't she worried about her boyfriend waking up next to another guy not knowing what had happened the night before? Especially her own brother! What about Hermione? Where was she? Harry clutched his head and grumbled.
"Looks like I'm just in time," said Hermione from behind him. He spun around and saw she was standing next to the door holding a bag in one hand and a room key in the other.
"Where were you? And why was I in bed with your boyfriend?" asked Harry.
"Shhh!" whispered Ginny from under the pillow. Hermione chuckled.
"Yep, just in time," she muttered. She walked over to the table and set the bag down as she dug around inside it for something. Harry moaned at the noise the plastic bag was making and slumped down onto the bed by Ginny's feet.
She stiffened for a moment and then sat bolt upright and scrambled for the covers to get off. Harry saw her face as she jumped up and ran for the bathroom and knew the tell-tale green tinge meant she was in for a rough morning.
As promised, Harry and Hermione winced when they heard Ginny throw up into the toilet.
"I think I'll let her have the first dose," said Hermione as she walked to the bathroom carrying a small bottle in her fist. Harry realized it was probably a hangover draught.
He lay back onto the bed and closed his eyes as he listened to Ron's snoring, Ginny throwing up, and Hermione trying to convince her that it would work instantly and he wondered, What happened last night?
--The night before --
"You'll come? Awesome!" said Jason loudly. Harry had just told him that the four of them would come for the bonfire. "You all going to ride the party bus?" asked the boy.
"Sure. I'm not sure how we'd get there otherwise," replied Harry. Jason went to tell the driver that there were four more people coming with, while Harry went to collect his friends.
As they rode along the highway, Harry and his friends were entertained by burping contests, a sing-a-long when the lead guitarist whipped our his guitar, and a contest to see how many people would wave back at them from other cars. At one point when the bus rode over a railroad track all the band members and Harley screamed at the top of their lungs for a moment before laughing hysterically at the look on the Londoner's stunned faces.
"It's like being with five sets of Fred and George!" Ginny said in awe. Harry and the others chuckled.
When they arrived at the house Harley pulled them aside.
"I know this is going to sound weird, but if our parents ask, you guys were another band that played tonight, okay?" she said.
"May I ask why?" said Hermione.
"Of course. My parents wouldn't be too happy to know that we kind of picked of some foreign strangers at the bar and brought them home with us. I get a good vibe from you four, so I'm pretty sure you're not going to kill us in our sleep, but my mom isn't as trusting. Okay?" she said quickly as she peeked over her shoulder.
"We've brought other bands home before, so they shouldn't be too surprised. Just say you do garage rock if they ask. We'll be outside mostly, so unless you're too squeamish to go pee outside in the bushes and want to, you can go inside for that. That would be the only time you'd see the real adults."
"Harley! Come here," shouted someone in the darkness behind the garage.
"Coming! Follow me, and watch your steps. We're heading out into the field," she said as she walked across the sand driveway. They followed her out into a large secluded field towards a glowing fire. Someone had skipped helping bring the equipment inside and instead ran out to start the fire.
Hermione nearly tripped over a mole hill in the path but otherwise the path was fairly even, though a bit winding and surrounded by very tall grass.
A black truck was parked about twelve feet from the fire, it had the windows down and rock music was playing softly.
"Did you have any more wood piled up, or are we going to have to raid Kyle's yard again? You know he was almost caught last time?" asked Jeremy.
"Um, I think Jessie said she and Karson brought some from his pile, and I thought Mason brought some too? Or wasn't there any in his truck?" she asked as she pointed at the black truck.
"Oh, just a sec," said Jeremy as he trotted over to the truck. "Yeah, there's a good sized pile here. I need some help getting it all out though. We don't want Mason to leave with it again like that one time," he said. Harry and Ron wandered over to help unload the truck with Jeremy while Harley, Hermione, and Ginny went to sit down.
"Don't sit on that couch, it's got a hornet nest in it," said Harley casually. Hermione and Ginny shared a glance and headed towards the couch Harley was sitting on. The girls sat and chatted for a little while with Harley about past bonfires and soon they were roaring with laughter.
"And then Nelson stands up and Monster's like, 'What'd you want Nelson?' and Nelson's like, 'I gotta pee,' and reaches for his zipper. Monster jumps up and starts to guide Nelson to the stairs, but he stops and…and…unzips and starts peeing all over the kitchen floor!" Harley was laughing so hard she couldn't finish the story. Jeremy walks over and continued the story.
"Yeah, Jessie had just gotten a puppy so when we were all laughing, loudly I might add, and their parents come upstairs and ask what's going on, Monster just goes, 'Bernie peed on the floor.' That just made everyone laugh harder because they believed it."
Harry and Ron were sitting on the arm rests of the other couch laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
"Is he coming tonight?" Harley asked after she had calmed down.
"Nope. Monster said he's not allowed to come here and drink anymore," Jeremy chuckled.
Soon the rest of the party goers were surrounding the fire, another couch surfaced and the old one was set aside. People were pouring drinks and handing out bottles to everyone. Harry took a beer from someone and Harley's sister Jessie handed Ginny and Hermione a shot called the Pineapple Upside Down Cake shot. They both really enjoyed it, but Hermione said no to a second one.
Ron was over by the truck with several guys and Harley, who had cut several lemons and had a bowl of sugar in her hand. Harry wandered over to see what was going on.
"Okay, first you need to have a lemon wedge, dip it in the sugar really well. Next, you pick up a shot glass, down the shot and stick the lemon wedge in your mouth as soon as you swallow and bite it. It tastes like a Lemon Drop candy!" said Harley as she handed out lemons. She held out the plate to Harry and Ron and they shrugged and took one each. They dipped them in sugar and grabbed a glass.
Harry sniffed it and wrinkled his nose. Ron did the same and frowned.
"At least it smells better than Firewhiskey. Kind of fruity," he mumbled. They clinked their shots together and downed the clear liquid. Ron swallowed and stuck the lemon in his mouth while Harry swallowed and started coughing.
"Oh, yum! Harry, stick it in your mouth, quick. You can't even taste the alcohol," said Ron around his lemon with a smile. Harry complied and his coughing fit ended.
"Harley, what kind of alcohol is this?" he asked with a puckered face. She laughed at his expression.
"Citrus Vodka. I love that face, I wish I had a camera on me," she laughed. Ron joined her and took another shot glass and lemon.
"I think I'll stick to the beer," muttered Harry as he walked away. He sat on the couch and watched everyone party for a little while.
Soon, Ginny joined him on the couch and they started talking.
"So Harry, are you having fun?" she asked him.
"Yes, though that last shot was a little off for me, Ron seemed to like it," he said and pointed to Ron who was on his fifth Lemon Drop shot. She giggled loudly. Harry turned and looked at her.
"Apparently you really liked those pineapple cake things, too," he said with a smile. She giggled loudly again and leaned over to kiss him. He had to hand it to her, her lips tasted very good. "Are you having a good time?" he asked her.
"Oh yeah, very good time," she said in her giggly voice. They sat and talked for a while before she jumped up and ran over to Hermione who was standing with Monster talking about his piercings. Harry got up and joined Ron again, who talked Harry into more shots.
"Only a few more Harry, if you do it right you can't taste the alcohol, really," said Ron really fast before he downed his seventh shot in three hours. When he had whipped his head back to take the shot, he lost his balance and nearly fell backward into Jason, who caught him and righted him.
"Wow, maybe take a break for a bit Ron," Jason laughed. "Has he drank much before?" he asked Harry.
"Well, the only time I know of was before his brothers funeral. We all got a little tipsy that night," replied Harry.
"Oh, was that recent?" asked Jason quietly, looking at Ron.
"Yeah, about two weeks ago," he said to Jason quietly. Jason nodded and made a sympathetic face before walking away. Harry was grateful that he didn't ask questions.
Another hour went by and Ginny and Ron were loudly exclaiming to each other that their shot was better, joined by Harley and Jessie. Harry was talking with Jessie's friend Mandy while Hermione, who was only a little bit tipsy, was talking with Kyle about music.
Suddenly, Mandy reached over and grabbed Kyle and shouted, "Kyle, I wanna hear that one song, please?" She pulled him over to the couch where his guitar was leaning and hung on him while he played a song for her.
Ginny stumbled over to Harry and kissed him. They were both drunk enough, that if Hermione hadn't wandered over and pulled them apart, they would have made a spectacle of themselves.
"Hermione, I have to go to the bathroom," Ginny whispered loudly to her. Harley overheard and chuckled.
"I can bring her inside if you want, show her where the bathroom is," she said to Hermione.
"Actually, do you mind if I use the bathroom also? Using a bush doesn't really sound appealing to me," replied Hermione. Harley nodded and helped Hermione guide Ginny down the hill through the winding path up to the house.
As they walked in the kitchen door, a young blonde teen was walking into the kitchen holding a cardboard pizza circle with several crusts on it.
"Hey, Harley, how was the show?" she asked as she opened the garbage.
"Good, they were awesome. Um, this is Hermione and Ginny. They were with one of the other bands. Guys this is our little sister, Barleigh," Harley said quietly.
Ginny started laughing loudly. "Your parents, erm, parents named you Harley and Barleigh? Why would they do that to you?" she exclaimed with a loud chuckle. The others began laughing a well.
"Well, if you knew our parents you'd know they have a weird sense of humor," replied Harley. Barleigh just chuckled and thought to herself, the redhead is definitely drunk.
Barleigh helped Harley get Ginny upstairs to the bathroom, while Hermione was pointed down the stairs to a second one.
Once Hermione was finished she wandered up two flights of stairs and found the sisters giggling hysterically. Through the bathroom door she could hear Ginny singing to herself, loudly.
"Has she been singing this whole time?" she asked them quietly. They nodded and giggled some more.
"Is she really that drunk, or is she the singer?" asked Barleigh through her giggles.
"Er, she's just that drunk, I think," replied Hermione. Just then Ginny opened the door.
"Hermione, I can't figure out this damn button…and where is my bra?" she asked. Harley and Barleigh burst out laughing. Hermione gave her friend a horrified look.
"What do you mean where is your bra? Aren't you wearing it?" she asked weakly. Ginny reached up and felt her chest. Barleigh was laughing so hard by now she nearly fell down the stairs so she sat and clutched her stomach.
"Oh, you found it! Thank you Hermione! But what about my button?" she said. Hermione, dumbfounded, helped Ginny figure out why her button wouldn't work, to Barleigh's great amusement. Once Ginny had turned her pants right side out, they went back outside to the fire.
"Oi! 'Mione, where've you been? You missed it, we all did flaming shots of…of…some kind of flaming liquor! It was great! And that guy over there has no more eyebrows now," Ron dissolved into a fit of laughter at Kyle's misfortune. Hermione shook her head and looked around in the dark to try and find Harry.
"Hey! I brought my piercing gun, who wants to get pierced?" called Mandy. Hermione ignored her and continued her search for Harry. It was about time they left.
Soon enough she located him sitting out in the field past the ring of firelight, sitting in a circle of people including, Monster, Harley, Jason, Jeremy, and Jason's girlfriend Moira. In the center of the circle was an ornate looking vase, with what looked like an upside down candle stick holder on top of it and two tubes coming off the sides. Monster was handing his tube to Jason and exhaling copious amounts of smoke, while Harley was teaching Harry how to inhale from the tube.
"Harry! What are you doing?" Hermione demanded as she stormed over. Harry, startled by the shout, started coughing out the smoke he'd inhaled. The others around the circle laughed.
"Oh, don't worry Hermione, I wouldn't let them do anything illegal here. This is just flavored tobacco, blueberry flavored I think. I like to have fun, but legal fun only," Harley said quickly before Hermione started freaking out. Just as Hermione started to say it was time to go, they heard a painful yell and cursing from Ron by the fire. She grabbed Harry and ran back to the fire dragging him with her.
"Oh, bloody hell! Ow, ow! Make it stop hurting!" Ron squealed. Hermione ran towards him and saw blood going down the side of his face and Mandy holding a white, gun shaped object by Ron's head.
"Hold still it's kind of stuck inside your ear," said Mandy through clenched teeth. She twisted the piercing gun and Ron screamed loudly.
"Shh, Rosie'll hear you! We can't let her call the cops on us!" Jessie squealed at him. Hermione ran over just as Mandy pulled the gun away from Ron's head. She could see a sparkling, pink stud sitting on Ron's earlobe. She pulled him away from Mandy, who had loaded the gun with another earring and pulled Kyle towards her, and sat him on the sofa next to Harry.
"Now, you two stay here while I find Ginny, then we're going back to the hotel," she said as she turned away. She had left Ginny next to Jessie and Karson who had been sitting on the other couch. Now they had disappeared, as had Ginny.
"Hey," she walked up to two girls she vaguely remembered being named Angel and Karly. "Have you seen Ginny?" They looked at her blankly. "Short girl, accent, red hair?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah, she wandered off over there about five minutes ago," replied one of the girls. Hermione thanked her and headed in that direction.
"It's okay, once you get it out, you'll feel better," said Harley. Hermione realized which direction she was headed just as she came upon the wayward circle again. Monster pointed over towards a short pine tree, as he walked back to the fire. She walked over and saw Ginny leaning forward, hands on her knees, and Harley rubbing the bent girls back.
Just as Hermione got close Ginny threw up spectacularly into the darkness of the tree.
"I think that's it," Ginny murmured as she wiped her mouth. Harley handed her a water bottle.
"Drink this, it'll help."
"What is that?" asked Hermione. The girls turned.
"Water, we were going to use it for the hookah but some idiot forgot to bring more coals, so it's an extra bottle," said Harley. The two fairly sober girls helped Ginny to the recently vacated couch.
"Now where the bloody hell have those two gone now?" moaned Hermione. She clutched her head with both hands and closed her eyes. Merlin, she thought, help me stay calm and not kill them.
"Hermione, did you just swear?" said Ginny, shocked. Harley chuckled.
"I'll watch her, if you want to go find your friends. We'll be right here," she said. Hermione smiled her gratitude and started another search. She heard voices coming from the far end of the field and beams of light scanning the bushes.
Her first thought was about Jessie's comment earlier about a Rosie calling the cops if they got to loud, but right after that thought occurred to her she heard laughing and talking around the lights. She wandered closer but as she neared a fairly large tree something flew out of it and hit her. She stumbled as she pulled the fabric off her head as she recognized Ron's shirt.
She gazed up into the tree and saw three faces: Ron's, Harry's, and Kyle's. Each of them was shirtless, and working on various other pieces of clothing, letting them fall to the ground. Hermione didn't know what to say or do.
"Ron! Harry!" she started. Kyle jumped and grabbed a branch before he fell.
"Shh! They can't know where we are!" they whispered loudly.
"What are you…why are you taking your clothes off?" she asked quieter. Ron dropped his jeans on the ground as Harry peeled off his socks.
"They wont be able to see us as good if we aren't wearing bright clothes," Kyle said as he too peeled off his socks and dropped them.
"Ronald Weasley, if you take off your underwear, I'm stealing your clothes and letting walk back to the hotel starkers! The same goes for you too, Harry Potter!" she yelped when she caught sight of a bare backside.
"What was that? Over there by the tree!" someone shouted.
"Oh, crap! Quick Harry, Ron. Run!" Kyle shouted as he jumped from the tree wearing nothing but his shoes. Hermione yelped and covered her eyes. She heard many running feet coming towards her and Kyle's feet running away.
Suddenly, she heard two more bodies land near her, she peeked her eyes open and saw Ron and Harry laying on the ground in nothing but their underwear and shoes. They had tried to jump but landed and fell down.
The running feet were getting nearer, flashes of light were bobbing through the grass. Monster, Mason, and Jeremy showed up each holding a flashlight.
"Hah! We found you!" bellowed Jeremy. "Holy crap!" he said as he shielded his eyes.
"Why the hell are they naked!" asked Monster with a laugh. Mason started searching the fields for Kyle.
"Monster, you bring these two to the check point. Jeremy and I'll keep looking for Kyle," he said.
"Hell no! I'm not touching their naked asses, uh-uh, no way," said Monster shaking his head.
"We're not completely naked!" said Harry from the ground.
"Would someone, please, tell me what's going on?" Hermione asked exasperated and looking at the sky.
"Naked flashlight tag!" Ron said happily. Harry giggled loudly.
"Um, no, we were just playing Flashlight tag, I don't know why these two are naked," Monster said.
"Uh, they aren't completely naked, but whoever belongs to these sure is," said Jeremy. He was holding a long stick and on the end of it were a pair of boxers with little red hearts on them.
"Oh man! Kyle you bastard!" Monster yelled into the night. They heard maniacal laughter coming from near the bonfire. Suddenly, feminine screams came from the bonfire also. Jeremy and Hermione each grabbed an arm of the partially naked boys, while Monster and Mason had a head start running towards the fire pit.
When they arrived they saw Ginny laughing so hard she was clutching her abdomen, Harley was attempting to herd Kyle towards the darkness while keeping her eyes off him. Jessie and Karson were laughing into each others shoulders, while everyone else was cheering the boy on.
Kyle was doing a weird victory dance around the fire pit, swinging his hips to the music coming from the truck. Hermione grabbed Ginny and dragged her towards the boys who were laughing and trying to join Kyle in his dance.
She dragged her three drunk friends to the tree where Harry's and Ron's clothes were.
"You two get dressed right now! And you better hope I don't tell all your brothers about this," she muttered. Ron and Harry got dressed, which was very difficult in the dark and while very drunk. Hermione spelled Ginny and the boys to each other to keep them in one place while she returned to the fire.
Five minutes later, she returned and picked up and stone from the ground.
"Portus," she tapped the stone and it turned blue. "Okay, you guys all have to touch it. Just a finger, Ron." She tapped the stone once more and they disappeared and reappeared in the hotel room.
After getting Harry and Ginny into bed she laid down next to Ron. Soon enough she realized her mistake and rearranged the sleeping arrangements so as to avoid embarrassing situations in the morning. She laid Ron next to Harry and Ginny next to herself.
"I am so blackmailing all of you with this someday," she muttered as she fell asleep.
--Back to the Present –
Once the hung over teens were dosed with potion, they set about showering and getting dressed. Hermione wandered across the street and bought a dozen éclairs for breakfast while the others got ready.
"Hermione," started Harry as he picked a large, chocolate Long John from the box. "Where did you get hangover potion from?" he finished.
"Well, when I woke up this morning I knew you all would need some. I considered letting it wear off the natural way, but then I realized it would affect my day if I did that. So I went to the Wizarding Wabasha Caves and went to the apothecary," she said as she watched Ron take a huge bite of éclair and squirt crème down his shirt. She shook her head and waved her wand at him and the stain disappeared.
"Fanks," he said through his food, spraying the carpet with crumbs.
"Anyways," she said shaking her head. "I figured at least one of us should know where we are going. I think we should visit the caves today, and maybe the Mall of America, too. It's supposed to be one of the Top ten largest malls in the world," she finished.
"You mean bigger than the one in Australia we went to?" asked Ron disbelievingly.
"Shopping sounds like fun," replied Ginny.
"Hold on, how did we get back to the hotel last night?" asked Ron. Harry nodded.
"I made a Portkey," replied Hermione as she took a bite of doughnut. The others stared at her.
"When did you have time to learn how to make a Portkey ever?" asked Ron accusingly.
"When we were searching the house for the Portrait I came across a book. I had decided to search the library to see if Bill had shrunk the portrait to book size and hidden it on a shelf. Obviously it wasn't there, but I found a few books that were intriguing, and one had a section on making Portkeys.
"It's a relatively complicated process to make one but once you know the theory and how and where its going, it's not that hard to make one," she finished.
"But isn't it illegal to make one unauthorized?" asked Harry. Ron began looking at Hermione in a new light. To break the rules was one thing, but to completely break the law was out of character for the brainiac.
"Don't give me that look Ronald. The book had a list of places it's illegal. Great Britain and almost all of Europe it's illegal, but the United States it's perfectly okay," she said. Their blank looks made her huff in exasperation.
"Europe has too many people for the Government to keep track of all their movements by Floo, Apparition, flying with brooms or other objects, and unauthorized Portkey. The United States doesn't have as many wizarding people per mile as Europe does, so they allow their citizens to Portkey as well as the other means of travel. They have a branch in their Ministry like the Floo Regulation, except for Portkey control."
The others sat and thought about this for several minutes while Hermione flipped through the channels of the Television and ate her éclair.
"So," began Harry. "How do the Muggles think we got back to our hotel?"
"I Confounded them. They all think that someone else brought us to town for a cab. That and most of them were so drunk they probably forgot we were even there. Except for Monster, I think you two scarred him for life during Naked Flashlight Tag." She smirked at their howls of horror and Ginny's howls of mirth.
"We did WHAT?" screamed Ron and Harry in unison.
She turned off the TV and turned to them. "Are we going out today or not?" she asked.
"You can't just say that and not tell us what we did! Were we really naked?" asked Harry weakly. Ron sat and stared at Harry horrified. Ginny was still laughing wildly.
"You really don't remember anything?" asked Hermione with a smirk. They shook their heads slowly. She smiled a wide smile.
"I think I'll let you suffer. I'll also let you know, that I have blackmail material on all three of you that could last me years," she said. Seeing Ginny's disbelieving face she said, "Did you ever find your bra, Ginny?" The younger girl's smile was wiped from her face instantly. Ron whooped, glad that he wasn't the only one who was getting blackmailed.
"What? Why was your bra off last night Ginny?" Harry asked a shocked and incredulous look on his face. Ginny looked to him and then to Hermione.
"Don't worry Harry, nothing happened that should cause a problem between you two. Ginny was just a little…forgetful. Now, lets get going," she said with a grin.
The others stood up and she grabbed the room key. She had Harry hold her arm while she apperated them to the Caves. Once he had a quick look around they returned to hotel to bring the others side-along.
A/N: X-Isle won Battle of the Bands last night at our local town carnival!
So, what did you think. Was it realistic? Was it funny? I know the people I fashioned my characters from, and I know that this is usually a big faux pas when writing a fan fiction (and while writing it I ended up having to go back and change all the names for my own sanity), you have to be able to separate the real people from the characters but seeing as how I brought the HP people to Minnesota, I was running out of ideas for things for them to do here. I always have a lot of fun at bonfires, they are a huge thing where I'm from and someone, usually a person who knows a person who knows us, has one every weekend during the summer (or we do), starting in about April to about December (Yes even with snow on the ground) we are having bonfires every weekend. So what kind of fun could Harry and the gang have? Bonfire! But who could they have it with? So things just kind have led up to this chapter. I hope you all liked it.
So I have made it to 20,000 hits to my story! So I want to thank a few people who have reviewed the last few chapters. Prongster, Bashalinge, Chelsea, sithlorde1988, and all of you who review! I cherish every review you guys send and reply to them all also. Even if you send a 'great chapter', or 'lol', I'll reply with a thanks. Some people even get hints at the next chapter!
My next chapter is not even started yet, I usually try to have two chapters written before I post a new chapter, so that I always have a back up of one written chapter at all times. But I have gotten so many reviews in the last week and a half that I think you faithful reviewers deserved this one. So it may take about 2 weeks before I get the next one up.
Sorry for the insanely long a/n.
Oh! I posted a new one shot I wrote a long time ago, called War POV's. Go check it out and leave a review!