TW: alcohol consumption and way too many hormones! Also the tiniest mention of a minor CD.
A/N: Ooff! Idk why, but I really struggled with this one! There're just so many characters and so much happening at a really fast pace. I really hope it didn't feel too choppy/rushed. If it did...I'm really sorry! But yay for budding feelings, I guess? 😅
ooo
"Well, I'm going!" Theo said, stretching out on the posh Slytherin sofa like a lazy cat.
"Of course, you are." Pansy acknowledged in a bored, drawn-out voice. "Longbottom will be there and we all know you've got the hots for him. We're not stupid, you know?"
"Questionable." Theo deadpanned, a cheeky smirk on his face. "And so what if I fancy Longbottom?" he added, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that he'd been caught out. "It's not like you can talk."
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Pansy shot back.
"It means," Theo drawled, his smirk growing into a devilish grin. "that your crush on Potter is blatantly obvious to all of us."
"I do not have a crush on Potter!" Pansy protested, her cheeks growing pink.
"Yes, you do." Theo retorted. "You're all into Gryffindors these days, and I want in on it! …Draco's obsessed with Granger, you are making eyes at Potter, and Greg has the Weasley girl wrapped around his little finger… and probably his cock too. So it's about time I catch myself a tall and handsome lion too."
"Oi!" Gregory cut in. "Ginny and I are friends." He cast Theo a dark look. "And I don't appreciate you talking about her like that."
"Of course, you are, darling." Pansy said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You keep telling yourself that."
"But you're going, right?" Theo interrupted before Gregory could shoot a retort at her. He pushed himself up and sat right across from Greg, a pleading look in his eyes. "Come on, mate. It'll be fun. There'll be booze and music...and I bet Weasley will be there too."
Greg blew out a deep sigh. They'd been discussing the upcoming party all day, but he was still on the fence on whether he wanted to attend or not.
Being the ever-eager head girl she was, Hermione Granger had partnered up with Neville Longbottom and Padma Patil to arrange an early Eighth-Year Christmas party in the Room of Requirements. The idea was to promote inter-house unity and get everyone in the holiday spirit, although Greg had a suspicion that that was all just an excuse to have fun and get absolutely sloshed.
"I don't know, man." He said, casting Theo an uncertain look. "Maybe?"
He knew that, despite technically not being eighth-years, Ginny and her friend Luna Lovegood had been invited too, and Ginny had been trying to convince him to attend for days. But Greg had never been one for social gatherings. He'd never been good at small talk, and most people didn't want to talk to him anyway, so he really didn't think he should go.
"Well, I'm going." Theo said again, effectively putting them right back to the beginning of their conversation, and causing both Pansy and Greg to let out exasperated groans.
In the end, they all decided to go, if only to shut Theo up. So when 8pm came around, Greg found himself standing in the seventh-floor corridor, flanked by Draco, Pansy and Daphne, as they watched Theo walk up and down in front of the wall that hid the Room of Requirements, and desperately tried to ignore the growing feeling of anxiety in the pit of his stomach.
Last time he had been here, he had lost a friend. He knew that the room they were about to enter would be nothing like the room of hidden things, but he could still feel the hairs at the back of his neck raise as a large door appeared in the wall.
"It worked." Draco said, who looked as nauseous as Greg felt.
"Of course it did." Theo said. "I did exactly as the instructions said."
"Yeah. I just didn't think it would work after…" Draco swallowed thickly, the muscles in this jaw twitching, before he cleared his throat and shook his head. "Never mind. Let's go."
The room inside was set up like a cross between a traditional pub and a modern bar. There were tables and chairs, and cosy corners with sofas to sit and talk in on one side; and a large bar with a spacious dancefloor in front of it on the other.
Greg cast a nervous look around. Everything was decorated in greens, reds and white and there were glittering lights and whole garlands of mistletoes everywhere.
They all stood for a moment, unsure of what to do, until Theo put on a brave face and took a step further into the room. "Right," he said, feigning confidence. "I'm gonna go find Neville."
The rest of them nodded, before they went and found themselves a set of sofas in a quiet corner, half hidden away from everyone else.
"We are welcome here, aren't we?" Daphne asked nervously. Her eyes were wide and her posture stiff – like a deer caught in the headlights – and Greg knew exactly why she was so on edge. Slytherin house wasn't been very popular amongst the other School Houses, and even though things had slowly turned for the better over the past few months, it was still quite difficult to get used to the concept of inter-house unity.
"Of course, we are." Pansy clipped. "We were invited."
Daphne chewed on her lip as she cast another anxious look around, but then nodded. "You're right. I guess I'm just – "
"Wow!" Draco interrupted, and everyone paused to look up at him. His expression had gone all glazed and dreamy, jaw slack and pupils blown, as he stared at something on the other side of the room.
Confused, Greg followed Draco's line of vision and instantly found what had got the blonde so excited. Hermione Granger had just entered the room, accompanied by Potter and Weasley and… Ginny. Greg vaguely recognised that Hermione looked rather pretty in her elegant red dress and her wild curls tamed into tight, shiny ringlets, but found himself quickly distracted by the energetic redhead to her left.
His stomach flipped as his gaze settled on Ginny, his heart thudding erratically in his chest as he drank in her appearance with eager eyes. She was wearing a dark green dress, which complimented the fiery red of her hair beautifully, her lips had been painted a deep shade of red, and her pale skin shimmered as if she had bathed in fairy dust. She looked stunning, almost ethereal.
"I'll go and say hello." Draco said, an eager tone in his voice, as he jumped up and rushed off to the other side of the room.
Greg watched as his friend greeted the group of Gryffindors, before leaning in to whisper something into Granger's ear that made the witch's cheeks flush a deep shade of red. It wasn't until Draco offered her his arm and the couple had disappeared towards the bar, that Greg's attention snapped back to Ginny and his stomach lurched when her gaze drifted into his direction. Ginny's face lit up the instant her eyes settled on him, a big smile on her lips as she walked over to where he sat.
"You came!" she exclaimed, smiling happily at him and his friends.
Greg grinned back at her and gave a nonchalant shrug. "Well, we were invited, weren't we?"
"Looking good, Weasley." Pansy cut in as a way of greeting, her dark eyes scanning the redhead with mild intrigue. "You do clean up alright, don't you? …when you're not forced to wear your brother's hand-me-downs, I mean."
Ginny eyebrows raised, a mixture of confusion and incredulity on her face, as she cast a quick glance down at herself and shrugged. "I guess the same goes for you." She quipped, letting herself drop into the seat between Greg and Pansy. "You're much prettier when you don't wear that evil sneer of yours."
For a split second, Pansy's eyes widened in shock, before she caught herself and narrowed them into thin slits. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it." She grumbled, but couldn't quite stop her lips from tilting into an amused smirk.
Greg let out a soft chuckle. He knew that Pansy loved people who could give as good as they got, and it looked like she had finally found her equal in Ginny.
"Don't worry, Weasley." Daphne threw in. "She's not so bad after she's had a couple of drinks. I'll go get the first round." And with that she got up and disappeared towards the bar.
Once Daphne was back and everyone was settled with their drinks in hand they sat and talked for a while, a tentative, yet amicable atmosphere in the air as people began to mingle in an effort to get to know each other.
As the evening progressed things became much less rigid. Luna Lovegood was the first one to get onto the dancefloor, and (to everyone's surprise) was quickly joined by Ron Weasley. Seamus Finnigan and Hannah Abbot were lying drunkenly on the floor, giggling uncontrollably at each other's incoherent babbling. Daphne had somehow ended up in Dean Thomas' lap, who was gazing up at her as if she had hung the moon, and to no one's surprise at all, Theo and Neville had disappeared completely; probably to snog in a corner somewhere.
At some point the music had gotten louder, and more people had begun to dance, but it wasn't until a rocky number came on and a deep, husky voice began to sing that all the girls in the room began to squeal and stormed onto the dancefloor. It was Daphne who had jumped up first, grabbing Ginny's and Pansy's hands and dragging them into the middle of the room, where they all began to bounce excitedly to the rhythm of the music, while all the boys stayed back, mesmerised by the way they laughed and twirled and swayed their hips to the beat.
"Man, I love it when they dance like that." Dean sighed next to him, and Gregory couldn't help but agree, as he watched Ginny's athletic body twist and wind in unthinkable ways; her fiery hair billowing around her like a halo of flames.
"Yeah," he nodded, throat feeling unnaturally dry. "It's something else, alright."
Ginny, as Greg quickly found out, was an affectionate drunk; and as the night went on it got more and more difficult to avoid her casual touches and overly enthusiastic hugs. He didn't know exactly why; - Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was because he was in an unfamiliar setting and felt on edge; but something about it felt different. He knew it was all innocent, but every time the redhead's bare knee accidentally bumped against his, or her warm hand grazed his arm, his skin became alight with fire, and his heart began to race.
Then, at some point during the evening, Greg stopped drinking, because he had noticed that Ginny had gone past the state of being tipsy, and he could feel a protective rumble in his chest that told him that he needed to keep a clear head in case she got too drunk and he needed to make sure she would get back to her dorm safely.
It wasn't until much later; the girls had all gone back to dancing and had disappeared somewhere in the crowd, and Greg had fallen into an awkward conversation about a sport called Football with Dean, that he felt a warm hand on his arm and turned around.
"I'm not feeling so good."
Ginny's cheeks were flushed and her eyes clouded, as she sank onto the armrest next to him and dropped her head onto his shoulder.
Gregory instantly went into protective mode, grabbing an empty glass from the table in front of him and casting a quick Aguamenti to fill it with water. "I'm not surprised." He grumbled, a sense of worry mixing with annoyance in his chest. "You've been drinking and dancing without a break for hours." He pushed the glass of water into her hand. "Here, drink this."
He watched carefully as Ginny took a tentative sip and instantly screwed up her face. "I can't." she whined, shaking her head. "I think 'm goin to be sick."
"Alright." Greg huffed, taking the glass from her and placing it back onto the table. "How about we get you some fresh air then, hm? Come on." He got up and wrapped his arm around the witch's waist, supporting her with ease as they made their way to the exit.
It wasn't until they had reached the empty corridor outside and a cold breeze hit him right in the face, that Greg realised how stiflingly hot it had been in the Room of Requirements.
"What can I do to help? What do you need?" he asked, wiping a sweaty strand of hair out of Ginny's face. "Do you want me to take you to your dorm room?"
Ginny shook her head. "You won't get 'n." she slurred. "'S charmed to stop boys from sneakin' 'n."
"What?" Greg huffed. "That's stupid."
She shrugged, and he was almost relieved to see her lips tilt into a lopsided grin. "'s about honour 'nd stuff."
He clicked his tongue, annoyed. "You bloody Gryffindors and your stupid honour." He grumbled, trying to think of a different plan; but when he came up short, conceded "Fine. I'll just take you as far as I can get." before wrapping his arm tightly around her waist and leading her down the corridor.
It turned out that the furthest Greg did get was the Gryffindor common room, which, to his relief, was completely empty, with the only noise coming from the steadily crackling fire in the hearth.
Feeling a little lost he cast a quick look around, before deciding his next step and coaxing Ginny gently towards a comfy looking sofa near the fire. He let her down carefully, making sure she was comfortable and warm, before he straightened back up and cleared his throat.
"Uhm… Finty?" He said nervously into the empty room, unsure of whether the house elf would hear his request. It only took a second, however, for the little elf to appear with a loud pop, her eyes instantly growing wide with worry as she spotted Ginny on the sofa.
"Miss Ginny is ill!" The elf squeaked, looking rather distressed.
Gregory quickly shook his head and raised his hands in a soothing manner. "No, Finty. She'll be fine." He assured her "She just had a little too much to drink." He hesitated briefly, but then continued "Listen, I know I can't ask you to do anything you don't want, but you'd really help me out if you did me a favour?"
"Master Gregory is Finty's friend." The elf instantly piped up. "Finty will always help!"
"Err, thanks." Greg said, feeling a little embarrassed at the elf's eagerness. "I was wondering if you could go to the Slytherin dormitories for me. There should be a small bottle with Sober-up Potion in the top drawer of my bedside table. Can you get that for me?"
Finty nodded earnestly.
"Oh, and maybe grab a slice of the treacle tart you helped me bake last night?" He added as an afterthought. "I think it would be good for Ginny to get some food into her."
The elf gave him another quick nod and disappeared.
"'m okay." Ginny spoke up from the sofa, attempting to wave a dismissive hand. "Just tired."
"You're hammered." Greg retorted, sounding sterner than he had meant to. "But you'll be alright tomorrow. Hungover… but alright."
He let out a deep sigh as he sat down beside her and allowed himself a moment to take in his surroundings.
The Gryffindor common room looked ridiculously cosy. There were fluffy rugs and overstuffed armchairs and sofas everywhere; with far too many squishy pillows and knitted throws piled on top of them. He forced himself to take in a deep breath, as – not for the first time this evening – his stomach fluttered nervously. The rational part of his brain could appreciate that the room had a certain cosy charm to it, but it looked so different to everything he was used to, that he couldn't help but feel a little out of place.
He tried to ignore the nervous twinge in his stomach as he sat and waited for Finty to return, but once the little elf had gone Greg felt already more than eager to leave too. He made made sure that Ginny took the potion, watching her carefully as she swallowed the contents of the small vial in big gulp, before making sure that she had water and food at the ready, and finally stood up to leave.
"Don't go!" Ginny whined the instant she felt him get up, a small, almost desperate tone in her voice.
"Why?" Greg asked, a strange feeling in his chest. "Do…do you still feel sick?" he added tentatively.
"No." The witch shook her head. "I just… I don't want to be alone." She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Please stay?"
Greg's throat went dry as he looked down at her. He knew he should go. He had done the friendly thing, had helped her back, made sure she was safe and taken care of. Anything else would probably feel wrong; forbidden even. And yet…a part of him really wanted to stay; to hold her and stroke her, and run his fingers through her silky hair until she fell asleep.
"Fine." He sighed, an ominous feeling in his stomach as he sat back down beside her. "But only for a little while. Then I really have to go."