The After Party

Rose's POV

I watched as Scorpius left with the rest of the team, looking a bit defeated, even though Scorpius kept being patted on the back for his obvious exceptional snitch catching. Al was probably taking the shit for that, but not too much, considering we won.

I was tempted to go to the after party, but I noticed Scorpius walking away from the rest of the team and toward the grounds. I followed him. He went and sat next to the lake, and I joined him.

"Hey you," he said, grinning. "Gryffindor won, fancy that!"

"You caught the snitch though," I said, putting my head on his shoulder. He rested his head on mine. He was sweaty, but he still smelled good. Which was weird. Don't judge me.

"That's because I'm awesome. Just… wrong time, damnit," he said, slamming a fist into the grassy ground.

"Want to come to the after party?"

"You're kidding right?" he asked.

"Not really, but I guess I see why you wouldn't want to."

"Damn straight," he said, chuckling. "Have the Potty boys throwing the loss in my face the whole time? And having to be around more Weasleys? In the Gryffindor common room? Sounds like hell."

"Oh shut it," I said.

"So are you going to rub it in my face?" Scorpius asked me. I shook my head.

"Never. Except you know, we did win."

"You just can't resist getting a dig in."

"Nope, I can't. I apologize!"

"I don't want your meaningless apologies, Weasel," Scorpius said, in a fake malicious tone.

"It was a good game you know," I said, trying to be nice.

"Our chasers are shit man."

"Nah, our keeper is just the best ever," I corrected.

"James Potter is an arse. And nothing but an arse," Scorpius said.

"Maybe, but he can sure play well."

"Damn straight," Scorpius said, sounding regretful, but grinning all the same.

"So can you, Malfoy," I said, smiling. He looked surprised at this and put an arm around me.

"Thanks Weasley."

Eve's POV

I came down from the dormitories after washing up and finishing a little bit of homework and found that the Gryffindor common room was packed. The smell of firewhiskey was traversing the air and it was not giving me fond memories. I saw James smack in the middle of everything, having a shot-downing competition with Fred. I spotted Al sitting in the corner alone, nursing a bottle of firewhiskey. This I found odd, but then realized that he hadn't caught the snitch.

I walked over to him and sat down. He turned and grinned at me, a little lopsidedly.

"What's up Al? Why the long face? We won!" I said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Scorpius Malfoy caught the goddamn snitch though," he growled. No really, he growled.

"That's okay. Nobody even cares! You almost caught it. And anyway, it only matters who won the game in the end."

"True," he said, his voice slurring. His face got serious and he placed a hand on mine. "Eve," he said solemnly.

"Al," I replied, trying not to grin.

"You have to forgive James, he's going mental without you." I looked toward the man of the hour and saw him rubbing his belly after his win. Al followed my gaze and then looked a bit worried. "No really, he might look like a complete minger, but he really likes you. Cares about you, you know?"

"No. If he cared, he wouldn't have done what he did," I said sadly.

"Have a drink, and think about it some more, and you'll realize that he did it because he cares. That's the thing about my brother—when he cares about people, he does things for them even if he knows he'll be hated for it. Because he does them because he thinks he'll help in the long run. The things he does aren't for himself. Unlike what most people do," Al said. I frowned and took a swig of the firewhiskey he handed me. It burned pretty badly as it slid down my throat. He stood, stretched, smiled at me and walked away, leaving me with what he just said.

Al was making this too difficult for my liking. And he was making much, much too much sense for my liking. Especially the more I drank.

James's POV

I couldn't help but watch Eve and Al, who was drunk off of his ass. But then again, so was I. She seemed to be worrying over something after he left, and she just kept drinking. She was on her like… third bottle. Or was it fourth? I had lost count after drinking my third shot. Al had gone off to talk to someone, but Eve was still sitting there. I knew she hated me, but what could I lose in that case?

"Dude have you seen Rose?" a very drunk Mark Walker asked, stumbling a bit. I shook my head. He looked a bit sad. I narrowed my eyes at this boy who was probably after my cousin. "You better not be trying to find her in such an inebriated state. Sober up Walker before you even step into the presence of my cousin or it's your ass on the line," I warned. He looked a bit frightened. Good.

I walked over to her and sat down. She turned and frowned even more at my presence. Great, I was off to an awesome start. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Fricken dandy," she replied.

"What's wrong?" I asked, prodding.

"Nothing. Al said some shit and now I'm actually sitting here and considering it. Must be because I'm drunk"

"Al's like that. He says smart shit. And he looks like Harry Potter so that has extra, extra effect on everything," I said, getting a bit of a laugh from her. It was beautiful, the way she threw her head back and her laugh seemed to come from her diaphragm. She licked her lips once and looked back toward me, before taking a nother swig.

"You've had a lot to drink, Eve," I said sternly, trying to take the drink from her hand. She pulled it away from me, giggling slightly.

"You're a jerk," she said. "Don't try and take my drink. Plus, you tried to make me meet my father. He's such a git. He makes me feel guilty for not giving him a chance. But the weird thing is, he was the dad who walked out on his own baby." She leaned in so close to me, I could smell the firewhiskey, and felt a little woozy myself. She gave a short bark of laughter and pulled away. "But now it's my decision to walk away or not. But for some reason, if I walk away like he did, it makes me an unforgiving, cold hearted bitch."

"I love you," I said. Wait. What did I say? I stared at her, my brain furiously trying to backpedal out of what I just said. Because there is no way I just told her that. She watched me, her mouth open slightly and her eyes wide.

"You're drunk," she accused, a bit slurred. Yes! She gave me the perfect opportunity to correct my mistake.

"True feelings come out when someone's drunk," I said. No, no, no that's not what I wanted to say! She watched me with narrowed, slightly suspicious eyes.

"You know that time you caught me crying? And I said I had dust in my eye?" she asked me, turning back to face forward. I remembered pretty well and I nodded. "My mom had written the word love and signed her name underneath."

I watched her. "It was the first time someone had ever said they loved me."

This might have been the saddest thing she had ever said. I reached out and put a hand on hers. She didn't pull away like I expected. Instead, she turned to watch me instead. "Maybe Al was right," she mused. I wondered dimly what Al had said. But I was definitely too preoccupied with the fact that her eyes were fixated on my lips.

And then the most unexpected thing happened. She leaned over and our lips met. It was like nothing I've ever known in the world. And I've had my share of kisses. But this, this was something else entirely. Her lips were soft and sweet, her hands were intertwining with mine, and I lifted her up, not quite steadily, and headed to my room.

A/N: Yes I know this is very, very short chapter. I was originally going to make it part of the last one, but I wanted to do it some justice. Plus, there's a lot more of this story to go. Hope you enjoyed!