2.| ✮𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓑𝓲𝓵𝓵. ✮ {𝓑. 𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓵𝓮𝔂}

\𝓉𝓌ℯ𝓃𝓉𝓎\

"Detention, Marks. And for the Weasley's, since this is obviously their doing. And Jordan, just for good measure."

"What?" Lee said incredulously. "I didn't do anything!"

"That, I highly doubt."

"None of us did noth- anything, Professor. It was a mistake. Someone must've dropped the box or something." When she wasn't trying to walk, it was nearly impossible to tell she was drunk.

Snape didn't believe her for a second. "Get this mess cleaned up and get to bed. If I hear another sound from this tower, I'll be contacting the headmaster." He started towards the door.

"Professor Snape," Eleanora called after him. He turned back to face the students. "Come off it, Professor," she said in a cajoling tone. "We were only having some fun. We'll have it all cleaned up by the morning." She widened her eyes, giving him a convincing look.

He didn't fall for it. "I expect it to be clean by the morning, and I'll see you four in detention day after tomorrow. Goodnight." And with that, he swept out of the common room.

There was a moment of silence as everyone waited for Snape to get out of earshot, and then the entire common room erupted into applause for the firework show. Fred, still standing on the coffee table, took a sweeping bow and jumped down next to his friends.

"Worth a few detentions, I think." He took the nearly empty bottle of firewhiskey from Lee and finished it off. "Bummer you couldn't talk Snape out of it."

"Dunno why he's been in such a bad mood," Eleanora said. "I swear his mood shifts more than any teenager in the castle."

"You tried your greatest," George slurred, taking a step forwards. Eleanora instinctively took a step back, and then tried to play it off as picking up a firework wrapper from the ground. Something about George's voice had reminded her of Stephen. Fred was the only one who noticed her sudden discomfort. He caught George before he fell and wrapped an arm around his middle.

"Come on, Georgie." Then, the the common room as a whole, "And if any of you have trouble telling us apart, George is the lightweight." There were scattered chuckles and Eleanora pulled out her wand to start cleaning up the mess. Before she cast the first spell, her hand moved to her right shoulder. She wasn't sure if it was only her imagination, but sometimes she thought she could still feel the injury from the fire-poker. It left a burning sensation up and down her arm that she was afraid she'd never be able to shake.

~

Bill was usually good at bad dates. Once he got past the initial awkward phase, he had no problem making small talk for an hour or so. Most of the time, he would even offer to get dessert afterwards and walk around for a bit if his date seemed like they wanted to. This was no such time. After nearly an hour and a half of conversation, he realized that every topic would come back to Charlie eventually. The girl was obsessed. He tried again and again to change the subject, but it never worked. By the time the dessert menu came out, he was about ready to bail. He couldn't do it, though. Molly would be so disappointed.

"I don't really feel like desert," Addilyn said, and Bill's heart soared. "What if we went back to your house? I could meet... your family." His hopes plummeted.

"The house is actually a mess right now-"

"I don't mind."

"My mum doesn't really like visitors-"

"She's always been really nice to me."

Bill got up from his seat and Addilyn did the same. He tried to think of another excuse fast. "I have this dog, and she's really shy-"

"I love animals!" This was getting out of hand.

He held the door open for her and they stepped into the chilly winter air. "You know, I actually don't think anyone else is home right now. I completely forgot, they all went to the..." He couldn't think of where they could've gone.

"Oh, they must've gone to that meeting at the town hall-"

"Yes! That's exactly where they went."

There was a long pause while they walked down the street, towards the intersection where they would part ways. Or at least Bill hoped they would be parting ways.

"Well, if nobody's going to be home, perhaps we should wait until I can... meet everyone."

Bill had to repress a sigh of relief. "That's exactly what I was thinking." They'd reached the intersection. They both paused awkwardly. "Well then..." Bill said, not knowing exactly how to say goodbye.

"I s'pose I'll see you around, then," Addilyn said, taking a step back.

"Right, see you." Bill gave her a friendly wave before turning and practically bolting up the lane towards the Burrow.

When he got inside, Charlie and Mrs. Weasley were standing in the kitchen, discussing Charlie's job over steaming mugs of tea. They both looked up when Bill burst through the door.

"How was it?" said Charlie.

Bill paused in the doorway, pulling off his tie as he spoke. "That was... the worst... date... I've ever been on."

"Really?" Charlie's face had broken into a mischievous smile. He tried to force it down, staring into his mug as he stirred his tea. "Did she... mention me? At all?"

"You knew!" Bill roared.

"Knew what?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"She was insane!" Bill said, rounding on his brother. "Talked about you the whole time, and you knew!"

Charlie burst out laughing. "My friend at the animal shelter said she talks about me a lot, and since I'm not really interested, I thought maybe you..."

"You thought I'd be interested in a girl who's obsessed with my little brother?" He tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't do it with Charlie laughing so hard. "Mum, did you know?"

"I most certainly did not," Mrs. Weasley said indignantly. "If I'd known she was interested in Charlie-"

"Mum," Charlie laughed. "You can drop the act." He turned back to Bill with a sly smirk. "I put her up to it."

"I really was just trying to help." Mrs. Weasley seemed caught between laughing with Charlie and apologizing profusely to Bill.

Bill gave them a resigned smile. "I hate you both," he said, and then kissed his mother on the cheek and turned to go upstairs, unbuttoning his dress shirt as he went.