Chapter 13: Hangover

February, Fifth Year

There was a weight on my upper back. I tried to roll away from it and it slipped further down, sliding against my bare skin. I moved my head and felt dizzy, and my stomach was cramping like crazy as my liver complained about what I had subjected it to last night. I wanted to bury my face into a pillow and hide in the bleakness of sleep, but the weight on my back was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Slowly I opened my eyes, squinting against even the dim light, only to find Puck's face right in front of me. I pulled away instantly, doing my best not to pull on the covers so I wouldn't disturb him, and his arm fell off my back onto the mattress.

Why had I fallen asleep here? Normally after fucking Puck I come up with any excuse to get away so I don't have to spend the night, because even if I haven't been drinking, I always feel like shit the following morning waking up next to him. I figure it's because of that lingering sweat smell on him that always seems to makes me nauseous and multiplies overnight. It's disgusting.

Thinking back, I recalled the unusual post-sex conversation when he had somehow persuaded me to stay and talk because I was his girlfriend and apparently we're supposed to talk sometimes. I wondered where he'd got these sudden ideas from - he'd always been happy with our arrangement before. But I'd obliged him for a short while, until I realised that the only way to get him to shut up was to pretend to fall asleep. But by the time he was snoring, he'd wrapped his arm firmly around me and there was no way of escaping without waking him again, which most likely would have prompted more heartfelt discussion considering his mood last night. Maybe I'd affected him more than I thought when I'd yelled at him about not touching Brittany because he was mine.

I reached a hand outside of his curtains to find my wand on his bedside table right where I normally left it for easy locating after sex. A summoning charm piled my clothes in front of me on the bed and I quickly dressed, being careful not to move about too much. As soon as I was presentable I slipped out from behind the green curtains, grateful that none of the other Slytherin boys were up as I hurried out of the door and down the stairs. My head was still pounding and I felt like I might be sick at any moment, and the only thing I wanted at that moment was to curl up next to Brittany and sleep off my hangover. Thank god Mike was too much of a goody two shoes to risk spending the night with Brittany because I could not deal with him right now. I wanted to find out from Britt what he'd meant last night, even though I wasn't sure I'd like the answer. But apart from that, I swear I always recover quicker from drinking when I'm sleeping next to her.

I stumbled down the last steps into the common room to view the chaotic remnants of last night. The bottles had been hidden at least, but food and quidditch paraphernalia were scattered everywhere and the portrait of Salazar Slytherin was looking a lot grimier than usual. He was scowling and attempting to organise some servants from next door into cleaning his picture from the inside, as he muttered to himself about how this kind of thing never would have happened when he was alive. A few people were sleeping on the sofas and floor, but none of them stirred as I moved through the room and outside. The corridor was dimly lit and there was no sign of any professors - it was probably too early even for them, I didn't think the sun had risen yet.

I walked the familiar path between the Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms and tapped the barrels in the rhythm that had been ingrained into my mind for years now. Compared to the room I had just left, the Hufflepuff common room was immaculate and there were already a few older students awake and studying. I could feel the judgement in their gaze when I appeared from the passageway, and I pictured myself from their eyes; exhausted, probably pale, my clothes mismatched and stinking of alcohol, and my hair not even tied up in my characteristic ponytail. I stuck my chin high in the air, sending a glare at the sixth year prefect who was rolling his eyes and marched past them all towards Britt's dorm. Who were they to judge me? I didn't care what a bunch of suck-up Hufflepuffs thought.

The moment I opened the dormitory door my eyes fell on Brittany's blonde hair poking out from beneath her patchwork quilt. I was slipping out of my shoes before I was even halfway across the room, my previously slow pace speeding up. I ignored the lurch of my stomach as I stumbled over to her bed and pulled the quilt aside to slide in, squeezing my eyes shut and snuggling up against her back with one arm wrapping securely around her waist. She shifted, turning in my hold to look at me as her eyes fluttered open.

"Morning," she whispered.

"Not yet. Sleep," I mumbled back, already slipping back into sweet oblivion with her next to me.

She nodded with a sleepy smile, raising her head for a few seconds to press a kiss to my cheek before settling down against me and closing her eyes. The pleasant warmth spread from my cheek and within a few minutes I had fallen back into darkness.

I'd been awake forever when Santana finally opened her eyes. Everyone else in my dorm was up and gone - most of them hadn't gone to the party last night anyway, but even Sugar, who'd tripped into her bed at 4am, woke up at least an hour before Santana. I hoped she hadn't drunk too much more last night after I'd gone off with Mike, because she does that sometimes when she gets upset. She thinks no one notices, but I do.

Mike. My stomach suddenly felt heavy, like I had a hangover even though I hadn't drunk much in the end. I pushed away the thoughts of him and concentrated on Santana instead as she slipped out of her dreams. The heaviness in my stomach faded and I smiled as she turned to bury her head into my pillow, groaning about it being early.

"It's half one in the afternoon, Santana. Charity's already been up long enough to catch two mice," I told her, eyeing the dead creatures at the foot of my bed. Hopefully Santana would bury them later, because it made me sad having to do that.

"I swear I'm going to jinx your goddamn cat's teeth away if she doesn't stop killing those mice," she mumbled, turning her head to look at me as she spoke.

"At least she's stopped with the fairies," I pointed out, knowing Santana would never really do anything bad to my cat. When the Great Hall had been decorated over Christmas, Charity had brought seven dead fairies to me in a week. I know she's trying to be nice, but she really needs to find some other kind of present to bring me. Sugar wouldn't stop screaming last week when she found the gnome under her bed.

Santana grunted, unimpressed.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. I sort of remembered her coming in very early in the morning and she'd looked terrible then.

"Better. My head's still pounding though. Looks like I will need a pepper-up potion after all," she added with a laugh. I thought back to the conversation we'd had in her dorm last night in front of Rachel and my insides jolted. She wanted to do this now? Even after what Mike had said last night? No, I didn't want to think about Mike again. I leaned in before he could distract me to kiss her softly. Her eyes were staring into the pillow until the last second when they flicked up to meet mine. She looked a bit panicked but I pressed in anyway, my hand moving up to the back of her neck to pull her closer to me. Kissing Santana is one of my favourite things to do. Her lips are way softer than any boy's and sometimes she makes noises into my mouth if I do something with my tongue that she really likes. I tried to do that then, flicking the tip of my tongue against hers when she opened her mouth enough, but she was suddenly pulling away.

She rolled and fell out of the bed with a thump, scrambling quickly to her feet and twisting her head to glance at the door before back at me. She had that look on her face she used to get sometimes if I touched her too much when we kissed, before we had our night in the Room of Requirement two days ago and I helped remind her that sex doesn't have to mean anything more than fun. I still didn't understand why she'd stopped it happening so many times before that. I'd never tell her so, but sometimes I secretly wondered if it was because she was scared it might feel like more than just sex if it was with me, because I was her best friend and knew her better than anyone. But that wasn't a problem anymore, she'd liked it just as much as I had and we both understood sex isn't dating. So why was she acting weird again now? She was still staring at me from where she'd ended up next to Becky's bed, her eyes wide.

"What's the matter, Santana?"

"Anyone could've come in and seen us!" she replied in a strangled voice.

That was strange. We'd broken the rules last night during spin the bottle, and it had been hot. I pointed that out.

"It's not the same, Brittany! Sure guys think that girls making out is hot, but it's different if it's just us on our own - people will get ideas, they don't understand how we work."

"You said you wanted a pepper-up potion. Like you wanted a pepper-up potion last night in your dorm," I replied defensively. Why did she always get so scared at the thought of anyone finding out? We've always said it doesn't mean there's any feelings involved. I know sometimes I felt bad inside when I saw Santana with Puck, but that's because of best friend feelings wanting to look after her, not anything else. If anyone did see us we'd just have to explain it to them.

"Fuck's sake Britt, I meant an actual pepper-up potion, not some codeword I made up 'cause I was horny last night and Berry wouldn't leave. You can't go around kissing me in your dorm like it's normal!"

She hissed the word 'kissing' like it was a bad word, except Santana had never had any trouble saying bad words before.

"Well I liked your codeword," I muttered, staring down at the quilt and fiddling with the edge of it. It was a great codeword. Like a secret language between us. She didn't say anything, and when I looked up I saw she was staring down as well, but at her feet not my bed. I sighed. Sometimes I understood Santana like she had writing on her forehead explaining why she said what she said, but times like this when she closed off it was really hard to work out what she was thinking. "Potion's where it normally is," I told her simply.

She moved closer, bending down at the bottom of my bed to pull out the box I kept there. It was a box for Santana, really. Pepper-up potions, a spare Slytherin tie, some photos of me and Santana and Tony from the summer before Hogwarts, and tucked right at the back was a small bottle of Dragon's Absinthe. It was what we took a sip of before a party whenever we wanted to get really drunk. She swallowed the pepper-up potion in one gulp, closing the lid of my box and pushing it back under the bed where no one else could see it. Then she stood, running her hand over the end of the bed with her eyes closed as she waited for the potion to take effect. Her hand paused over one section and she opened her eyes to peer at it, and I knew what she'd found.

I wanted to lift the mood, so I bounced down to the end of the bed and pulled off the part of the quilt that was covering it so she could see the notches properly. I'd been adding them since third year, eight in total, but my favourite was the most recent one I carved in yesterday. I put a spell on it so that it looked glittery and stood out best. I reached for her hand and pulled it along the wood until her fingers grazed against her notch.

"Do you like it?" I asked quietly, watching her face. She knew what this was, I didn't have to explain it. She almost smiled, but then her hand dropped again to the only other notch that stood out and it felt like someone had put one of those exercise weights Finn always used in my stomach. Mike's notch shone a florescent blue. I looked at her again, and she looked more like she was about to cry than about to smile.

"Why did you promise him that?"

Now I couldn't avoid thinking about Mike. I bit my lip, trying not to get upset.

"I… I didn't mean to make you sad, Santana. It's just he was complaining he never got me to himself and he said he should be able to spend time with me when he wanted, not just when you were busy, and I didn't want him thinking I didn't like him because I do, so I promised to be around him more so long as he wouldn't say anything to you because I didn't think you'd understand. And you know I can't break my promises, Santana. But then, last night…" I sniffed as I remembered the shouting. "He said some nasty things about you, Santana. And I told him he was wrong, you really are nice, you're just mean sometimes because people suck. But he said you were just a bitch all the time, so I told him he couldn't speak about you like that and left. Except you were with Puck so I couldn't explain why I made that promise, so I just came here."

She climbed up onto the bed with me, kneeling on the quilt and wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"Sorry I was with Puck. If I knew you were upset I would've come to find you," she told me quietly. I could feel her lips so close to my ear, and it made me get goosebumps.

"I wasn't really upset," I said, not wanting her to feel bad for spending the night with Puck. Even though really I'd have loved our original plan, with us in the Room of Requirement where Santana wouldn't freak out about being kissed. She'd have kissed me too, all over, and it could have been just like the night before last…

I realised she was waiting for me to carry on speaking and shook myself out of it. We couldn't do that now anyway apparently, not where people might see us even though it was fine last night. All the rules we had got so confusing sometimes. I wished I could write them all down, but that would probably break the 'leave no evidence' rule.

"I was just mad at him. Why can't he see how awesome you are? I really like him, but I don't like it when he says stuff like that."

"He's a quidditch-obsessed workaholic. He's just jealous that we spend so much time together and he doesn't get a look-in."

"…Should he? Should I be spending more time with him?" I asked uncertainly. Was I being a bad girlfriend?

"Not if you don't want to. You decide who you spend your time with, not him. If he can't deal with that then screw him."

"What? But I already did scr-"

"No! No, Britt, not that," she interrupted me quickly. "I meant he's not worth the effort."

"Oh, okay." I guessed I'd got a metaphor mixed up again, or whatever it was called when someone didn't mean something literally. "Well, good. Because I don't want to spend less time with you. You're my favourite person," I told her with a wide smile, nuzzling my nose against her neck then turning to rest my head on her shoulder. I loved cuddling up to her like this, and it gave me an awesome view down her top. I was glad I'd picked this one from her chest of drawers yesterday night, because the neckline was really low. It made all the boys stare at her, not that she'd noticed, but it was okay because right now I was the only one who got to stare.

"Perv," she whispered against my hair, combing it through with her fingers. I giggled, twisting to look up at her face. She looked like she wasn't sure whether to be smug or embarrassed that I'd been staring at her boobs.

"Well they're almost as awesome as you are," I said, grinning up at her. I waited for her eyes to widen in surprise before leaning that little bit closer to kiss her jaw, letting my tongue brush against her skin, then pulled away quickly before she could. I knew it was breaking the rules, but it was only for a second. "If we hurry we can still make it to lunch!" I told her, bouncing away to grab some clothes for both of us. I glanced back and saw she hadn't moved. It was so much fun teasing her like this. I knew exactly what to do to make her heart beat faster, but I knew how to hide that my heart was pounding too. But still, I really was hungry. My stomach had been rumbling for three whole hours while I had waited for Santana to wake up.

It was almost half two by the time we actually made it to the Great Hall; it had taken a while to get Santana looking like her normal hot self. The Slytherin table was almost half full though. I guessed lots of them had slept in as well; the Slytherin parties normally end pretty late. Puck waved to us but Santana pulled on my little finger so we moved to the Ravenclaw table instead where Quinn was sat.

"You weren't at the party last night Q, what's with the late lunch?" Santana asked as we dropped onto the bench opposite her at exactly the same time. She looked up from her salad, rolling her eyes at Santana at the same time as she smiled at me. It was funny how she could have two expressions on her face at once.

"Unlike some people who seem to think they can pass their OWLs on a whim, I was actually making good use of my time and studying for most of the night. June may seem far away now, but it'll be here before you know it."

"Ha, you're just pissed we beat you," Santana jibed.

"At least we don't cheat while playing," Quinn snapped back. Her smile was gone now and she was glaring at Santana. I frowned, looking between my two friends. I hadn't noticed anyone cheating during the game. I was about to ask, but then I saw Mike coming over with Puck right next to him. I nudged Santana with my elbow, and when she saw them she gripped my hand properly under the table, squeezing a little bit before letting go and raising an eyebrow at the approaching boys.

"Chang, you've been upsetting my girl Brittany," Santana accused the moment they got near enough. I fought with my face so that I wouldn't smile at her words. She always stood up for me. Mike took a deep breath, looking straight at Santana and suddenly I was worried he was going to start saying nasty things again.

"Santana, I'm sorry I said some stuff about you. You're not… always a bitch," he added with a grimace before turning to me. "Britt, you can spend time with whoever you want. I'm sorry."

I smiled widely, jumping up from the bench to hug him tightly. He understood! He was sorry was saying that stuff about Santana and I didn't have to choose! I knew I'd pick Santana if I did, but it was great that now I could have both of them!

"Thank you," I whispered, turning my face to plant a happy kiss on his cheek. Still clinging onto him, I turned to see what Puck was saying to Santana. I heard something about her leaving his bed this morning, but she was rolling her eyes. Puck was looking frustrated, but then Mike spoke up.

"Britt, Santana, would do you say to a double date next week? You girls can still spend time with each other but we get to join the fun too. Sound good?"

I nodded straight away. It sounded great! Santana and Mike. Oh, and Puck of course, but that was okay. Santana didn't look so sure though. I sent her my best pleading look, begging her to agree. It would be so much fun, she'd see.

"Fine. But you better find something good for us to do," she challenged, turning to face Quinn again and taking a firm bite from her toast.