𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑 ❧ sirius black

VI - Ten Galleons to Snog

Whizzing through the stone wall gave Hermione a rush almost as great as platform nine and three-quarters. Her brown eyes were met with tables and couches and chairs, perfected equipped for a party that would even hold up to the standards of Fred and George Weasley. The room was almost as large as the common room itself.

"Amazing," Hermione whispered to herself.

"I know, right?" added back Sirius who clearly heard her delicate whisper.

Grabbing Hermione's attention as she appeared through the stone wall with ease, Marlene entered holding two bottles of Firewhiskey that were immediately snatched away by James and put onto one of the several tables. Sirius filled several small cups to the brim with the fiery beverage, while Alice and who Hermione assumed to be Frank Longbottom faded into the secret room.

Gathering up as many acceptable seventh years as she could find, Lily filtered in and out of the party every few minutes. Peter worked up the courage to spark a conversation with the beautiful Slytherin Quidditch captain Emma Vanity, while Bertram Aubrey and Dirk Cresswell, two nosey Ravenclaws, let loose for the first time in a long time.

Remus cast the Muffilatio charm before accidentally spilling his drink all over Dorcas Meadowes' new dress. She wasn't all that pleased, but the beginning-of-the-term party was the last time anyone could be careless until spring exams, especially now that they were seventh years.

Nervous, quiet, and unfamiliar to most in the room, Hermione felt out of place. Truth be told, she had never been to a real party before, let alone take a slip of anything stronger than butterbeer. But all around her were red cups knocked over onto the ground by Sirius and James; everyone was drinking. And, she had no reputation to live up to. She would only be Harper Slughorn for a small snippet of time, so would there really be any harm in taking a few sips?

Now two shots in, Hermione knew that something was off, that she wasn't herself. But, in her defense, she was Harper, not Hermione. She spotted Remus scrambling to clean up James and Sirius' mess. It was quite funny to Hermione, after all, he was much more drunk than she. It still baffled Hermione to see a man who used to be her teacher wobbling around the room, trying to clean up someone else's mess while heavily under the influence.

"...and they better not do that anymore," he mumbled to himself.

"Hey, Remus do you need any help?"

"Oh," Remus said to Hermione while pulling out his wand to clean up the mess, "I think I'm, I'm all good," he stuttered. "This cleaning spell should only take just a second," Remus said as he poorly waved his wand to dry the spilled alcohol on the ground. Afterward, Remus grabbed his own red cup and took a seat next to Hermione.

"Have you had any of this stuff yet? It's great!" he asked in a tipsy voice while he took a sip.

She raised her cup into Remus' view, saying "I've got it right here, and it is quite tasty, innit?" Hermione stuttered and she couldn't help but smile from ear to ear, even though there was nothing to laugh about. Firewhiskey really was good!

The first instance of the night in which someone stood on top of a table, Sirius climbed up on one and tried his best to keep his balance while getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"Hey," he drunkenly spoke, eyes closed. "Hey, hey, hey everyone? Yeah? So we've got a new student here today and her name is Harper, now everyone, be polite and say 'hello' to Harper," he said, mushing the words together faster than usual, and pointing directly to Hermione, causing her to blush.

A mix of druken responses to Sirius' not-so-subtle introduction instantly filled the room. Based on the slurred tone in everyone's voice, Hermione suspected that most of the people in the room would not remember who Harper was in the morning. But some time passed, and after meeting the gorgeous Dorcas Meadowes, the bold Arnold Dent, the kind Mary MacDonald, and the shy Sherman Shafiq.