An Art of Balance

Chapter 24: A Question of Harmony

"Not good," she admitted, "but I've had worse hangovers."

Murphy raised one eyebrow. "I don't have the necessary data for a fool proof statistic, but on the top of my head, I'd say I've never seen you look worse before."

Lizzie rolled her eyes at him. "I have no idea how you've come to that conclusion, Prince Charming," she remarked sardonically.

Her annoyed tone was lost on McNully, however.

"Well, your voice is hoarse and a little bit deeper than usual," he started backing his observations, "and even though you tried to hide it with much more makeup than usual, the circles under your eyes are clearly visible; every time you look up you wince at the light coming from the ceiling and you've been here for more than ten minutes now and haven't even made an attempt to get something to eat, although I fear breakfast won't be here much longer. You didn't even bother sorting you hair out," he added dismissively, a blunder that would have never happened to Murphy himself; he was notorious for making sure his blond hair lay perfectly at all times. "To sum it up, you look like you drank a whole bottle of Firewhiskey by yourself."

"More like half of it," Lizzie shrugged.

Murphy laughed out loud. "That explains a lot."

The usually pleasant sound of his laugh was cutting through Lizzie's eardrums and made her wince. "Are you done now?" she asked wryly.

As a means of comeback, she added a smug "Nice love bites by the way." She was content to see a flush creep up Murphy's cheeks. He fell silent and nestled with the collar of his white shirt.

KC snickered as she leaned her arm on Murphy's shoulder. "He's not the only one though."

Lizzie was definitely not in the mood for any juicy stories right now; all she wanted was her cup of coffee and some peace and quiet.

"Please, spare me the details," she groaned in response but KC's chuckle only turned into full on laughter.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about myself, Liz."

Just like Murphy before, Lizzie felt the heat creep up her neck, spreading rapidly on her face. Before she could help it, her hand flew to her neckline, pulling the black fabric up over her collarbones. She had thought the neckline of her hoodie would cover the treacherous marks suitably, but apparently the loose cut had thwarted her efforts. Talking about scoring an own goal.

"There is a time suitable for teasing your friends and there is a time where be better keep our thoughts to ourselves, don't you think?" Orion jumped to her rescue; Lizzie could make out the hint of strain in his voice.

Luckily, KC immediately caught on. "You have a point there, I guess." She emptied her coffee and got up. "Come on Murphy, you wanted to tell me about that new Beater's move you so conveniently kept from me."

She watched Lizzie pouring herself another cup as she waited for McNully to get into his wheelchair. "If I see one more spoonful of sugar ruining my perfect roast, I'm going to scream anyway."

With a wink at her friend, she and Murphy left the table.

Lizzie sighed in relief as soon as they were out of earshot. "Thanks for that," she muttered, "another word and I might have died."

Orion inclined his head in response. "Sometimes McNully doesn't understand the beauty in the balance between talking and silence."

Lizzie hummed in response and both of them fell silent, neither really knowing how to begin their conversation.

Before the silence could stretch out too long, Professor McGonagall approaching them spared Lizzie further embarrassment.

"Congratulations on your spectacular win yesterday," the Transfiguration Professor greeted them with a subdued smile. It was no secret she held little love for the Slytherin team; no wonder she was content to see them so thoroughly crushed.