The day after

(And a fair amount of hangover potions)

The day after was the worst.

How could so much fun end up in such pathetic misery?

Of course, Emilia's redhead best friend looked radiant as ever as she hovered over her, a worried look etched upon her features. "Is your skin normally this pale and… well, sick looking?"

Emilia groaned, rolling over so that her face was buried into her pillow. "I'm not in the mood Lily. Oh Merlin, I've been awful…"

"I told you not to drink so much."

"Thank you, mum," she snapped, lifting her head to glare at Lily. She hated when she did that, acting like she was always right (which she mostly was but she didn't have to rub it in other people's faces). "Will you just give me the potion already?"

She heard Lily sigh and walk over to their shared bathroom, "Maybe I should let you feel like death a little longer, and then you'll learn."

"Bloody hilarious, Evans," Emilia muttered. If only she knew just how much she had learned from her actions last night.

That was the other thing. She had made out with Sirius bloody Black. She had made out with her best mate whilst drunk. They had actually snogged. And not like one drunken peck on the lips, but a full out, quite steamy, all hands on deck, snogging session.

"Oh no," she heard Lily curse from the bathroom, and she covered her face with the covers to hide her blush. Only a few seconds later her friend walked out, "We're out of hangover potions."

Of course they were.

Emilia constantly wondered what she did to deserve such good friends, but right now, she could kill Lily Evans.

"Lily, please just go and ask James if he'll give me a sodding hangover potion!"

The redhead just rolled her eyes at her, as if she were crazy. "I can't," she said, bitting her lip slightly. "I'm mad at him."

Oh, for the love of Merlin. "I am begging you."

"No."

"Please?"

"No." Wow, great friend she had. "Why don't you go?"

"Because I can barely get up!" And of course she had snogged her best friend, but that's beside the point. "Or hey, ask Peter or Remus… or Sirius."

She would have been lying if she didn't slightly cringe at his name.

Lily sighed, rolling over on her own bed. It was almost two o'clock and Emilia still hadn't left her dormitory, only having eaten a scone Lily brought up from breakfast. "No, because then I'd probably see James and I really don't want to look at him."

Emilia groaned, massaging her temples. "What even happened between you two?"

Her question was met with a small huff and then silence, which meant Lily wasn't going to talk. At this rate, she was going to get her hangover potion when her hangover was already gone, and that was saying something.

"I hate you."

As far as luck went, Emilia would say she wasn't a particularly unlucky person.

Except for today.

Today everything that could possibly go wrong was going wrong.

Because apparently, a hangover wasn't punishment enough for getting it on with one's best friend.

As soon as Emilia walked out of her dorm down to the Gryffindor common room, she was met with the stare of two grey eyes. The same pair of grey eyes that had stared at her the night before. The pair of grey eyes that belonged to the one person she was hoping to avoid.

"Shit," Sirius whispered, stopping abruptly in his tracks. He had been walking over to the staircase, where he had almost collided with Emilia. He took in her appearance. "You look like hell."

"Thank you," she snapped, immediately hating herself for it. She couldn't even bring herself to be mature about this. Say, 'Sirius, I know we snogged, but we can put it behind us, right?' No. Of course she had to be snappy and weird. She tried to backtrack. "I mean I know, I don't have any hangover potion."

She watched as he seemed to consider his options, before he walked past her, motioning for her to follow. She did as she was told, because honestly, in what position was she to deny the much-needed potion?

They walked up the stairs to the boy's dormitory in silence. Emilia cringed at what was to come, and inevitable fight of some sort. Their friendship was surely ruined. Not only would she have to go into hiding with Lily, but she wouldn't even be able to talk to Peter or any of the other Marauders because they would no doubt take his side. Well maybe Peter would take her side… Merlin, it was going to be awful.

As soon as they were in the room, Sirius turned on her, shutting the door. She looked up at him, partly surprised at his sudden actions, partly already having expected them. He looked tired, as though he hadn't slept. His hangover was cured, but he didn't exactly look like himself. After a few seconds, he spoke softly, "What… So, last night, eh?"

Emilia's eyebrow rose in question. Was he really going to act like it was just some casual Saturday night occurrence? "Last night," she agreed, uncertain. It wasn't like she knew what to say in situations like these. She was always a bit awkward, but the situation just called for it this time.

"Fuck," he bit out under his breath, and she winced. Here came the fight. But instead, he turned quickly, walking to the bathroom. "Well, nothing to do about it now."

Emilia frowned, looking around. She tried to focus on anything (the scattered clothes, the unmade beds, anything) other than her rapid breathing because, in all honestly, she wasn't sure what to expect when it came to Sirius. There was no obvious lead up to this whatsoever.

She wasn't usually clueless about this type of thing. She knew what happened with meaningless snogs. She met someone, they introduced themselves, acted like they were interested in something other than swapping saliva for the night, and then, well, swapped said saliva. After that, they each went on their way, never speaking about it again.

But with Sirius… was it meaningless? She couldn't just act like she didn't know him because she did. Merlin, they had been friends since first year. She had seen him through his worst bout of dragon pox in second year. He had brought her hot chocolate and laid with her in bed when she had awful period cramps. They just knew each other.

"Here," Sirius said, interrupting her thoughts as he handed her a small vial of what she knew too well to be hangover potion. She eyed him warily before holding her breath and swallowing it back, ignoring the initial feel of nausea. After a few seconds, however, she smiled, feeling her headache go away and her grogginess disappear. She loved magic.

"Thank you," she said, throwing him a smile. For a second, she forgot the situation she was in and was about to grin, but reality came rushing back as she was met with a frown.

"Ems," Sirius said, and she cringed. She didn't want to do this. He was being way too serious –excuse the pun –about the whole ordeal. She wished he would just throw a joke about it. "We should—"

"Act like it never happened," she blurted. Damn, why did she have to be so impulsive all the time. How cliché could this situation get? She wished immediately she hadn't said anything, because she wanted to know what he had to say, but she didn't want talk about it really.

Sirius eyed her carefully, before he visibly relaxed. "If that's what you want," he said, a small grin playing on his lips.

"If that's what you want," Emilia countered.

"It is," he said firmly, before smiling. "Merlin, I thought we were going to make a big deal about this. It's not like it meant anything, right?"

Fuck. "Right."

"And this shouldn't ruin our friendship. I haven't told anyone…" he said carefully, running a hand through his hair nervously, a silent question on his lips.

"Me neither, Sirius," she muttered, a little annoyed. Was she not important enough to brag about like he did his other conquests? Then she mentally slapped herself, because it was stupid of her to think like that. She wasn't another one of his conquests, to begin with. And it was better this way. Easier. "So… friends?"

"Of course, love. It was just a kiss, anyway," he scoffed, grinning at her and rolling his eyes nonchalantly. He turned away, walking to the door and opening it. "Coming?"

Her heart skipped a beat and she was filled with a sudden and unexpected disappointment.

Just a kiss.

She forced a grin, swallowing the knot in her throat. "Don't want to smell dirty underwear longer than necessary."

He laughed loudly, throwing an arm around her shoulder as she walked past.

Just a kiss.

Fuck.

A/N: Another chapter of this mess. It's been a while, I know, but I'm in the middle of exams so I haven't really been able to write. I'm working on the next chapter now so hopefully it'll be up soon.

Also thank you for all the reviews! They keep me going. I'm glad you're liking it so far 3

Nicole xx