I smirked once more at my cousin and his girlfriend before spinning around managing to whip Roxanne in the face with my hair. I heard her gasp in shock behind me but didn't look back and carried on strolling towards the great hall.
I reached the hall and threw the now closed double doors open grabbing everyone's attention. I smirked as I saw everyone's head's swivel in my direction. Even the professors looked up from their food. My family sat in a group close to me at the Gryffindor table didn't try very hard at all to hide their emotions. Most of them scowled, some of them looked annoyed, Lily and Lucy just looked downright scared.
I didn't stay looking at them long since I really didn't give a shit about what they thought. Instead I started walking over to my table. I passed all of my fellow Slytherins; they were all either smiling or smirking at me. It was only Janey and her cronies that didn't smile, they remained neutral.
"Rosie!" The sound of my best friend bought me back into reality and I looked up just in time to see Ivy hurtling towards me. I quickly braced myself and managed to stay upright as we hugged. We pulled apart and Ivy smiled at me.
"I've missed you so much! How are you?" She asked putting an arm around my shoulder and leading me further up the table.
"I'm good now, grateful to finally be out of the prison." I joked bumping her slightly with my hip. We stopped near the end of the table at a group that included Vinnie, Logan, Danny Warrington and a couple of other Slytherins from various years. Vinnie instantly stood up to hug me squeezing me hard and telling me how boring life had been without me. I then sat down between him and Ivy and greeted everyone. Danny nodded his greeting since he was still eating and Logan simply winked.
We sat and chatted for a while, me picking at my food and the others filling me in on everything that had happened in the past two weeks. It wasn't long before we were joined by Scorpius and to my dismay Roxanne too. I rolled my eyes and started to groan but a quick look from Scorpius stopped me. His grey eyes were pleading with me; I knew how much he wanted his friends to get on with Roxanne.
"So guys." I said throwing down a chicken bone and grabbing everyone's attention. "Since I'm finally back I think we should celebrate. I said to Scorpius earlier that we should wait until lights out and then visit the quidditch pitch for a little night time fun. You guys in?"
It only took a couple of seconds for the question to sink in and pretty much everyone listening was nodding and smirking.
"I will go if Roxy can come to." Scorpius caught my gaze and asked calmly. His arm was draped around her protectively. I rolled my eyes.
"Fine she can come." I muttered. "But if you tell anyone of your precious Gryffindors I will see to it that you won't be able to say anything for quite a while." I threatened turning my gaze towards Roxanne.
"Right it's sorted. Everyone meet in the common room at 11. You know what to bring." Logan announced to the table before getting up and stalking towards the door. Vinnie got up as well prompting Ivy and me to follow.
"See you at 11." I smirked at the table, sending Scorpius a quick wink before following Vinnie.
That night Ivy, Vinnie, Scorpius, Logan, Luke Montague, a couple of others and I lounged around in the common room instead of heading straight up to our dorms like we usually did. Finally close to 11 the last of the seventh years headed off to bed. We did the same, but not to sleep. It was October so to sneak out I was going to need a couple more layers on than the pair of pyjama shorts and vest I was already wearing. Ivy and I got ready in silence but you could feel the excitement buzzing. We hadn't snuck out yet this year due to my suspension so this was going to be sort of a late but official star to the year for us. Janey, Bella and Emily sat chatting quietly as we did this. I'd invited them along earlier when they overheard us discussing it in the common room.
I pulled on a black hoody over my long sleeved top and pulled the hood up. I looked over at the others who had done the same. Who needed invisibility cloaks when you had black hoodys and the cover of the night.
"Let's go." I told them smirking. We all filed out the doorway and crept easily along to the common room. There in the dim light of the green flames stood Vinnie, Scorpius, Luke, Logan, Danny and a handful of others from various years. Like us everyone was dressed in black. Logan was cradling a big black bag that clinked slightly as he shuffled from one foot to the other.
"Someone came prepared." I whispered as we walked together out into the dungeons. I couldn't see his face but knew he would be winking at me. As one big group we made our way stealthily up out of the dungeons. When we reached the top all of us except Scorpius who went to meet Roxanne took a left taking us away from the entrance, we couldn't risk going through the front entrance and carried on along the corridor until we reached a large painting of a fruit bowl. Vinnie who was ahead of everyone tapped his wand on it and murmured something and with that the painting swung away from the wall revealing one of Slytherin's best kept secrets. You could nearly hear us grinning in the silence; this was our very own secret passage out on to the grounds. I was sure that we were the only people that knew about it, I don't think even the Potters and their bloody map knew about this one.
One by one the people in front of me climbed up into the gaping hole and disappeared into the darkness. Once Ivy had done the same and it was only me left I hoisted myself up and crawled on my hands and knees straight into the darkness, relying only on my ears to guide me. The tunnel seemed to go on forever; there was no light at the end of this one. Anyone else would think it was a dead end but of course I knew better. I kept on crawling and suddenly I was out of the grass with everyone else. We had figured out the first time we used it that it was some kind of barrier that reflected the darkness giving the tunnel the illusion that it had no ending when in truth if you crawled far enough you would soon end up out in the grounds at the back of the castle.
"Come on Red, time to celebrate your home coming." Whispered Danny helping me up from the floor. I looked around at everyone; they were all wearing matching smirks. I copied them and nodded. We all took off in the general direction of the quidditch pitch. Some went off into little groups and I did the same grabbing Ivy by the arm and leading her away from the others so we could have a proper discussion about the two weeks I had missed. We hadn't had the privacy to chat since I had returned to the school.
"So tell me everything that has happened whilst I've been gone" I spoke as soon as we were out of earshot. We were walking close, shoulder to shoulder.
"I wish I had lots to tell you Ro but honestly not much had happened. Every single member of your family glared at me till the ink finally came out the blonde ones hair. Oh Logan 'accidently' knocked his cauldron over Albus in potions" Ivy spilled to me. I laughed at the thought of my cousin being covered in some vial concoction. Logan isn't exactly known for being the best in potions. We walked in silence for a bit before Ivy spoke again.
"Oh one funny thing happened," Ivy started, her breath making a cloud in the air. I didn't speak so she carried on. "I saw Vinnie speaking to one of the brats in the corridor a couple of days ago."
I glanced at her quickly confused. She looked back at me looking equally confused.
"Which one?" I wondered aloud. An image of my best friend's brother and my brother popped into my mind. It involved Hugo cowering in a corner whilst Vinnie stood over him laughing.
"Lily." Ivy said simply cutting my thought off. My forehead creased in confusion again.
"Did you ask him why he was talking to her?"
"Yeah, later that night in the common room I questioned him on it but he told me he was just warning her not to spread any shit about him anymore." Ivy explained. I shrugged and shook the idea from my head before grabbing my friends hand and running off towards the pitch that was getting closer and closer.
"Ahh you two have finally decided to join us! Now the fun can begin!" Vinnie's voiced boomed across to us as soon as we set foot on the finely cut grass. I guess they had already cast the silencing spells. We walked to the middle of the pitch where the others had already started a small fire and were all sat around chatting. Most were clutching a bottle of something and some were puffing away at cigarettes.
"Rose, Ivy! Catch!" Logan shouted to us before chucking two bottles of fire whiskey in our direction. We both caught them easily and touched them together quickly before ripping off the cap and taking a huge swig. The boys laughed as I cringed slightly at the burning sensation in my throat.
After a while of sitting around doing nothing Scorpius turned up with Roxanne. They sat down in the group huddled around the fire and each grabbed a bottle.
"Rose." Roxanne greeted me. I nodded in response before leaning across Ivy. I had literally felt her go tense beside me as Roxanne walked over.
"I'm bored, cold and my arse hurts!" Logan shouted from across the fire. By the sounds of it he had already had plenty drink.
"Time for a little game I think." Ivy spoke from beside me "Any one fancy never have I ever?" Everyone around us smirked and nodded. We all grabbed a drink and gathered in a circle. Vinnie was up first.
"Alright everybody, don't even think about lying!" He grinned and winked at Danny and Logan, who always lied during this game. "Never have I ever...had a wet dream about Dominique Weasley!" He jeered, sending a teasing wink at Roxanne who only rolled her eyes.
I, along with every other girl except her, burst out laughing when every guy took a drink from their bottle...including Scorpius.
She just looked at Scorpius like she wanted to kill him.
"Me next!" Logan grinned, holding his bottle up, I laughed as it shook slightly.
"Never have I ever...gone to the toilet during class to nosh one off!" He laughed and took a huge swig from his nearly empty bottle.
"Can we move on from you pervs wanking off please?" I sighed and rolled my eyes. "My go...Never have I ever...slept in somebody else's bed from a different house." I struggled to think of something, and that was the only thing I could think of.
As I expected, nobody drank so Ivy opened her mouth to say hers, when Roxanne shyly lifted her bottle and took a drink from it, not meeting anybody's eye.
"Scorpius Malfoy, you dirty dog!" One of the guys from seventh year cheered.
"Gross, you have sex while you're roommates are in the room?" Ivy scowled and looked at Roxanne who blushed and looked down at the floor.
"Never have I ever, um...never have I ever...I don't know..." Ivy sighed and shook her head.
"Never have I ever kissed another girls boyfriend or guys girlfriend." I called out. I took a drink from my bottle, as did everybody else in the clearing.
Pretty soon, we all ended up pretty smashed and had all branched off into different groups. Most of the guys all started comparing stories of dreams about Dominique - both Roxanne and myself threw them disgusted looks - a couple of the older girls were all sat by the fire, mainly crying and telling one another how much they loved each other, the fifth years and I just sat together.
Honestly, the older students annoyed me when they got drunk; they couldn't handle their alcohol at all.
"I'm bored." I complained as I drained the last of my fire whiskey.
"Me too." Ivy nodded, looking around at our group. Janey, Bella and Emily had joined us about a half hour ago and were sat with Scorpius, Roxanne, Logan, Luke and Danny. Logan was now completely drunk but nobody seemed to think it a good idea to stop him drinking.
"Well, it's your welcome home party, Red." Danny shrugged.
"What do you wanna do?" Luke asked me, sending me a teasing grin and a suggestive wink.
"Not that." I shot back, making the others laugh lightly as Luke simply hung his head.
I stood up and looked around, trying to find some inspiration. "Brooms." I grinned and nodded over to the goal posts. "Who practised last?" I asked, looking at Scorpius. He and I were the only fifth years on the team.
It was made up of me, Danny's older brother, Nicky Warrington and Leighton Edwards as chasers, Scorpius as the seeker, Simon Parker as the keeper and the cousins, Brady and Matthew Dixon as the beaters. Simon, Leighton and Brady were sixth years while Nicky and Matthew were seventh years.
Nicky, Leighton and Brady were exchanging drunken stories by the fire we'd conjured.
"Um...Hufflepuff I think." Scorpius laughed as he jogged over to them with me.
"No surprise, there was probably a light wind that wiped their thought process." I mocked when the two of us were near the brooms.
"Sweet! These are the Lightning Stars!" Scorpius grinned when he picked the three brooms up.
Only three people in school had the brand new Lightning Star models - the fifth year triplets, and the Hufflepuff chasers, Theresa, Thelma and Tia Dobbins.
"Stupid Puff's." Scorpius smirked as he tossed me one.
We both mounted the brooms and flew towards the fifth years, all of whom were laughing when they saw what we were holding. The Lightning Stars were the brand new released models, nobody knows how the Dobbins sisters managed to get them, and every single person in school knew who they belonged too.
"Wow, they are not getting those back!" Danny grinned when he caught the one Scorpius threw at him.
"He's right you know," I turned to Scorpius and grinned, "We keep these in your dorm and then at Christmas one of us takes them home."
"The cup will be in the bag!" Scorpius laughed.
"Stealing? You'll get expelled!" Roxanne blanched, staring right at Scorpius who rolled his eyes.
"I told you we shouldn't have invited a Gryffindor!" I spat, mounting my broom. "They're killjoys and snitches! She's going to go cry to Longbottom or McGonogall!"
"Babe," Scorpius held a hand up in my face, telling me to be quiet. "It isn't stealing! We'll plant them somewhere once they've played their final game! You know that without these, Hufflepuff haven't got a hope of even winning a game! You'll stomp all over them!" He grinned at Roxanne. I rolled my eyes this time when I remembered that her, Lily and James were the Gryffindor chasers.
"Come on, I'm bored." I scowled and flew away, flying right past Roxanne so I could snatch her still full bottle of fire whiskey out of her hand. She protested but by the time she finished her protest, I was zooming around the pitch.
"I am never drinking, again." I groaned when I dropped down onto the Slytherin table the next morning. I ignored the feeling that the room was spinning, the floor was sinking and that for some reason everybody had two heads.
"Give me some damn coffee." I muttered to whoever was sat opposite me. When I saw the tanned skin hand me a cup, I looked up sharply.
Nobody in my year group and house was mixed-race.
"Thanks." I scowled at Roxanne who didn't even look at me. She too looked a little rough, as did the other people I was sat with. Danny Warrington was sat with his head on the table, more than likely sleeping. Logan was loading his plate with bacon and sausages, Ivy was quietly sipping water, Vinnie was nowhere to be seen, Scorpius was looking at his oatmeal like he was going to throw up in it and Roxanne looked like her head was going to explode.
"Glad to see I'm not the only one who looks rough." I smirked, ignoring the throbbing in my head at the sound of my own voice. Scorpius and Ivy both glared at me, Logan gave me the finger as he shoved a piece of bacon into his mouth and Roxanne didn't look up from her plate.
"I don't even know why we're this bad," I sighed, slowly sipping my coffee. I was happy that I didn't throw it back up and past experience taught me that if you could keep caffeine down when you're hung-over, food is no problem. I grabbed the plate of bacon from in front of Logan and started piling my own plate up.
"I mean, we've drunk more than that before." I shrugged.
"It's magical alcohol, Weasley." Janey's voice, made everybody jump. Nobody even knew she had joined us. "It isn't made for muggles." She gave me a nasty smirk and bit into her toast, looking me right in the eye.
I saw everybody react to that; Ivy glared at Janey, her cronies looked at me with blank expressions, Scorpius and the guys looked from me to her, Roxanne had looked at me and Danny had even 'woke up' to get my reaction.
If I wasn't so hung-over, I'd have slapped her for that remark, just like I did in first year.
But every move made my head throb, so I looked her in the eye and gave her a short, sarcastic laugh before I returned to my breakfast.
"You know what's strange?" Ivy whispered to me as we sat at the back of Herbology three days after Janey's muggle comment.
I didn't lift my head from my arms but answered anyway, "Apart from the Weasley's and Potters?"
"Janey, Bella and Emily," Ivy hissed, nudging me with her elbow so I sat up. I looked at her and saw her frowning at a desk several feet away from us; as always the three of them were sat together, whispering.
Only now they were all smirking and laughing lightly, and throwing snide and sneaky looks in my direction.
When Emily saw me looking, she leant over to whisper something to the other two, making them both burst into annoying giggles.
"Sir?" Janey shot her hand in the air; stopping Longbottom in his explanation about Gillyweed and making the Gryffindors look over in our direction. Everybody knew that unless Longbottom asked us a question, the Slytherins never asked one, or even spoke to him. "What would happen, if a muggle had some Gillyweed?" She asked sweetly, glancing at me as she said 'muggle.'
"Well, I presume that the affect would be quite dangerous, after all the muggle wouldn't have any magic to cope with the changes -" Professor Longbottom frowned a little but answered anyway.
"How about a muggle-born, then?" Bella cut across him, looking directly at m as she asked the question.
"A muggle-born taking Gillyweed would have the same effect as a pure-blood or a half-blood taking it, Miss. Zabini." Longbottom answered her quickly and tensely.
"But would the affect be as imminent? Perhaps we should test it? A pure-blood, a half-blood and a muggle-born?" Emily piped up.
"I'd nominate myself as the pure-blood tester; Potter could be the half-blood tester and let's see..." Janey smirked and looked around the class, "Rosie could be the muggle-born tester."
The entire class froze, each student was looking at me, the Slytherin's looked apprehensive, the Gryffindor's looked confused, Longbottom looked furious and my family even looked slightly shocked.
"Zabini, Parkinson, Nott - Professor Urquharts office!" Longbottom yelled, an angry expression on his face. "Twenty points from Slytherin, go!"
"Why? We were just wondering, sir." Janey shrugged and raised a thin eye-brow at Longbottom.
"Simple question, simple experiment. Why are you angry?" Emily asked innocently.
"Oh, I see what happened girls," Bella nodded and looked at Janey and Emily patiently. "Did we offend Potter and Rosie?" She looked from Longbottom, briefly to Albus, before her gaze landed on me. I saw Janey grin wickedly as I looked at her.
With as much effort as possible, I smiled and shook my head. "No, I'm curious to see how my muggle-blood would handle the change of Gillyweed too." I shrugged and spoke loudly, staring right at Janey's dismayed face as I spoke.
Her smug grin fell from her face slowly.
So what did you think? Let us know. What should Rose do about Janey's comments?
Check out my co-author Misspotter49's stories if you haven't already and have a look at my new story I uploaded yesterday, it's called Devoted Lovers or is that liars!