build me up buttercup [s.black]

[15] Firewhiskey

"Ah yes!" Sirius clapped his hands together. "Last one, can't wait."

"Yeah." She deadpanned, still not looking up from her book. "You'll finally be able to take a break from all the revision you've been doing. You've really been straining yourself."

"When you're a genius, as I am, you don't need to revise." Sirius replied sanctimoniously. "Just watch, I'll saunter into that exam and rock it. And I'll look fantastic doing it too."

"Sure." She said with a casual shrug. They sat in silence for another two minutes.

"I'm bored." He announced, standing up. "Going to get a shower, if you'd like to join me?"

"I'm good thanks." She said nonchalantly, as if Sirius had asked if she wanted to go to the library. "I think showering with someone else rather defeats the objective of getting clean, don't you?"

"Suit yourself." He wandered out of the common room towards the bathroom on the floor below.

***

That afternoon, the fifth years waited outside The Great Hall for their last ever O.W.L. exam. The heat was unbelievable, which only added to the students' eagerness to finish their practical exams and go and relax outside in the sunshine. Most fifth year Gryffindors, Aisling included, were also very excited to find out that the marauders would be hosting one of their legendary parties in the common room that evening, to celebrate the end of exams.

"McCawley, Aisling."

She heard her name and walked into the hall determinedly. Coming out of the other side however, she felt less than confident. A combination of the sweltering heat and skipping lunch had made her dizzy and distracted. And she wasn't sure how, but she had ended up transfiguring the glass - which she was supposed to be turning into a rat - into a doorknob. Instead of heading out to the lake with the rest of her classmates, she made a beeline for the library, where she knew absolutely no-one would be on the last day of exams. She settled herself in a reading nook right at the back and curled up in an armchair. She had realised too late that she hadn't even picked up anything to read on her way in. But she was exhausted, and didn't even have the energy to stand back up and pick one off the shelves. Eventually, the heat got the better of her and she dozed off into an uneasy sleep, her head lolling on the arm of the chair.

"Wake up!"

She was roused from her snooze by Madam Pince, who was standing over her, looking furious.

"The library is closing." The librarian said snippily. "And if you want to sleep, I suggest you do it in your dormitory."

Aisling wandered up to Gryffindor tower, dragging her feet along the floor. She was no longer excited at the prospect of a party. Right now, it seemed much more preferable to lay on her bed and stare at the ceiling; or possibly chuck herself out of a window. She meandered through the corridors aimlessly, occasionally coming out of her self-pity induced trance to dodge an ink pellet flung at her by Peeves, or a particularly large herd of first years, all hurrying back to their dormitories before curfew.

When she climbed through the portrait hole, red and gold banners had been strung up all around the room which were producing confetti and raining it down onto the floor. Tables had been pushed up around the sides of the room and were piled with sweets, sandwiches, bottles of Butterbeer and Firewhiskey and even one or two punchbowls. When she looked up she saw, to her amusement, that some of the blue bubbles which had not yet floated out of the castle grounds were gliding across the ceiling as decorations. Her bad mood was almost completely forgotten when she looked around the groups of people dancing and laughing in the centre of the circular room, and spotted a familiar pair of grey eyes twinkling at her. She made her way through the crowd of people, towards Sirius.