Chasing Time (Seamus Finnigan)

thirty-three

'Well, then yes,' I replied as I took the bottle from him and took a gulp. The drink seemed to burn my insides, but I didn't really care.

'What's your name?' the boy who had yelled at me asked.

'Dora Yaxley. And you?'

'Aiden. And this here's Ethan, and that's Noah,' he said as he pointed at his friends. 'Nice to meet you.'

Ethan had dark brown hair and blue eyes and Noah had bright blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. Aiden was the most handsome, though. He had purple hair, don't ask me how, and light green, hypnotic eyes.

He smirked. 'Nice to meet you too. You don't see this often. A fifth year Gryffindor out alone, and drinking after all,' Ethan said.

'And she's pretty too,' Noah added with a grin, nudging my arm. 'Want some more?' Aiden offered me the bottle again. I took it and took another gulp. 'I like it.' Aiden smirked. 'What's the reason anyway?' Aiden asked whilst he took the bottle from me and took a sip himself before returning it to me.

'My father's dead,' I said, waving my hand in the air. 'Your father is dead?' Noah repeated with disbelieve as he glared at Ethan. 'Yaxley, you said?' Aiden asked, clearly interested. 'We're sorry,' Noah said, shooting a frustrated look at Aiden, clearly telling him to shut up.

'Yep. Death Eater!' I yelled, ignoring Noah's comment, and took another gulp. Ethan and Aiden laughed. 'Hey, and guess what? I am one too!' I laughed and rolled up my sleeve, revealing the Dark Mark.

'Holy crap!' Noah's eyes widened as he saw the Mark. 'Damn, hide it away, you!' Ethan gasped, pulling my sleeve down. 'Yay. Now it's well hidden. Because that's the big deal, right? Why is it there's such a difference between good and bad? There isn't.' Aiden laughed. 'Wow. Sure you hadn't enough to drink already?'

I held the bottle high up in the air. 'Yes!'

'Why aren't you in Slytherin?' Aiden asked with a grin. 'No idea, honestly. I know, I belong there, don't I? The bad person I am lately, maybe I've always been one.'

'No. You truly don't,' Noah noted.

'Why not? Got a problem with me?' I laughed.

'You're dating that Finnigan, right?' he asked out of the blue.

'What has that to do with it, Noah?' Ethan asked with a frown. I sighed. 'I have no idea anymore. I mean, I think we're still good, but I was a little bit rude to him. But I said the truth, actually,' I admitted.

'What did you say?' Noah took a bottle that stood beside him on the ground. 'That he doesn't understand me,' I said matter-of-factly.

'Ouch, that must hurt,' Noah laughed.

'Hey guys, want to go out?' Ethan suggested at once. Aiden smirked. 'What are you up to, Moore?'

'Just a stroll towards the Lake. Just have some fun, come on!' Ethan said as he stood up. 'You heard him. Let's go then,' Noah added as he stood up with his bottle in his hand. 'We do this all the time,' he told me. Aiden stood up too. 'You're coming with us?' he asked me.

I doubted for a brief moment. 'I'm going to head back, I think,' I decided, getting up with a small smile. 'Okay, cool. See you around, Yaxley,' Aiden said with a smirk as he and Ethan set off right away.

'Hey, I want you to know we're truly sorry about your dad. No one deserves that.' Noah put a hand on my shoulder.

'I'm okay. But thanks.'

'Anytime. I'll see you soon?'

'Sure.' He smiled a last time and then caught up with is friends, whilst I turned around to head back inside.

'What were you doing with them?' Draco was coming my way, frowning at me. 'The question is, what are you doing here?'

Draco smirked as he stopped in front of me. 'Calli, I'm serious. You might have snapped at me before, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you; Aiden Reginalds? He's no good company.'

'And who are you to say that?' I snapped back at him, not even thinking about what I was saying, but that probably was the Firewhisky.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. 'See, his family... he and his brothers have all had drinking problems. Aiden's caught up in a drugs network,' he whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.

'Drugs?!'

'Sssh!' Draco hissed, putting a finger on my lips. 'Keep quiet. Both of us aren't supposed to be here. Go back to your common room, Calli.'

'What about you?'

'I have some unfinished business, but afterwards, I'll be back to the Slytherin common room at once.'

I skeptically raised an eyebrow at him, but walked past him anyway, heading off to Gryffindor Tower.

'You have my word,' Draco said still, but I didn't want to hear it; the thought of going back in there, brought up the article again. I could see it clearly in my mind. I didn't want to face this, but I had to.

I was an orphan now.

A/N

Hello! Well, I actually think that this chapter is quite bad. I also wanted to say that I wrote this whole book (and the chapters to come, which are quite a few) a while ago, and now I'm checking the grammar ad all that before I update them. I need to admit that I think the storytelling is pretty bad, whilst my English has improved so much over the past year, but I don't want to change anything about the story, so it'll go online as it is...

And, if you got this far, thank you so much for reading!

Loran