A Dozen Fallen Roses // Cedric Diggory

chapter thirty-seven. the drinking game.

saturday, december 20.

"You all better behave," Mrs. Weasley scolds her children as she stands in the living room, suitcase in hand.

"They'll be fine, dear," her husband consoles her, taking her things and heading out the front door to the car. Mrs. Weasley sighs and hugs each of her kids individually, then crosses to Harry, Hermione, and I.

"I'm not worried about you three," she smiles, hugging each of us, then crosses back to her position in front of all of us, taking in a last look.

"It's only one night," Fred rolls his eyes as his mom grows teary-eyed.

"Oh, yes, you're right. Food's in the fridge! Everyone be good!" she lets out a few last thoughts as her husband nearly drags her out. The door shuts behind them and everyone lets out a simultaneous sigh. George pulls out a bottle of vodka, waving it in front of everyone.

"Oh come on George, already?" Hermione complains.

"It's nearly 7:00," Fred replies matter of factly as George screws open the lid. I hop over the back of the couch eagerly and reach towards the bottle, but George pulls it out of my reach.

"Why don't we make this a little more fun?" George suggests as everyone sits on the couch and chairs by the fire. "Ron will you grab some glasses?"

Ron rolls his eyes and walks back to the kitchen, fetching cups for everyone as George stands in front of the room.

"We're going to play 'Never Have I Ever' with a twist. If you've done it, you drink," he smiles enthusiastically. The majority of us groan at the stupidity of his idea, but I go along with it. I'd do anything right now to distract myself from Cedric. Ron returns from the kitchen, handing everyone a glass as George fills them.

"Harry's first," Fred decides and Harry's eyes widen, clearly uncomfortable with being put on the spot.

"Well, um, never have I ever..." he hesitates. "Failed a class?"

"Lame," George rolls his eyes as he, Fred, and I drink.

"Ava, what class did you fail?" Hermione asks, appalled.

"Divination," I laugh.

"Who cares!" Fred interrupts. "Hermione's next."

"Well, if you insist," she huffs. "Never have I ever snuck out after curfew."

"Oh my god, Hermione," Ron laughs as everybody takes a drink.

"Really?" she scolds and everyone nods at her.

"Booooring!" Fred interrupts again. "Your turn, Ava."

"Never have I ever had sex in a classroom," I say, glaring smugly at Fred who sheepishly raises his glass to his lips and takes a drink.

"That's what I'm talking about!" George laughs at his brother, patting him on the back. Ron and Ginny roll their eyes in disgust.

"Moving on, your turn Ron," Fred attempts to change the course of the conversation.

"Never have I ever cheated on anyone," Ron says, glancing over at me sheepishly.

"Hold on, I did not cheat!" I defend.

"Close enough," he mutters under his breath.

"Are you kidding me right now, Ron?" I'm surprised by his sudden take on my situation with Malfoy and Cedric. Not 24 hours ago we were sitting on the roof and he was consoling me about everything.

"Hold on, it was a joke!" he puts his hands up as if to surrender.

"What do you know? You've never even had someone to cheat on!" I feel my face getting hot as I raise my voice.

"Woah, woah, woah," Fred tries to mediate. "Not a big deal. So, nobody here has cheated, let's move on."

I slump back on the couch in a huff, already frustrated with the game and take a chug of my cup because I don't feel it kicking in yet.

We continue around the circle with never have I ever statements and everyone slowly gets drunker and drunker, except for Hermione of course who would never dream of doing half the things any of us have. Ginny notices Harry hasn't taken a drink in a while and decides to target him.

"Never have I ever competed in the Triwizard Tournament," she says melodramatically, getting a laugh from nearly everyone in the circle.

"Not fair," he complains, but takes a drink anyway.

"I've had enough of this, I'm going up to bed," Hermione announces, standing up confidently.

"Night, Hermione," is all I can manage to get out. She gives everyone a curt smile then heads up the stairs. I notice as Ron watches her on the entire way up.

"Alright, you're next Ava," Fred instructs, his words now significantly more slurred than at the start of the game.

"Never have I ever been in love with Hermione Granger and made an entire scene at the ball making myself and her look like absolute asses," I say, staring directly at Ron, but he doesn't take a sip. "Hm, interesting."

Harry finds this absolutely hilarious and breaks out into boisterous laughter, nearly falling out of his chair. Ron shoots him a glare, which would normally shut up his best friend, but the vodka has taken over at this point, so Ron stands up nervously and rushes up the stairs without a word.

"Ooo, I think you hit a nerve, Rootes," George laughs as soon as his brother is out of earshot.

"Oops," I grin, lifting my glass to my lips and throwing back whatever was left.

"I've got a good one," Fred stands up, nearly falling over from his lack of balance, and addresses the entire room. "Never have I ever had Draco Malfoy be in love with me."

"Fred, what the fuck?" I roll my eyes. "That's not fair."

"I'm just playing the game," he defends.

"Whatever, my glass is empty anyways, doesn't that mean I win?" I hold it up so the entire room can see.

"Hold on, he told you he's in love with you?" Ginny asks as I bring the glass back down and fill it up, hoping to not remember any of this tomorrow.

"His amortentia smelled like me," I sigh, throwing back another gulp.

"You're kidding," Harry mutters.

"Wish I was," I reply shortly.

"Man, you've got that boy wrapped around your finger," George laughs to himself.

"I absolutely do not. I haven't even spoken to him since the day after the ball," I laugh off his observation.

"Just because you two haven't spoken, doesn't mean he doesn't still want you. And I'm pretty sure whatever Malfoy wants, he gets. One way or another," Ginny looks at me, clearly concerned.

"I'm too drunk for this," I stand up, tired of the conclusions everyone's suddenly jumping to about a situation they know nothing of.

"Just think about it, yeah?" Ginny stops me.

"Sure," I lie, then head upstairs to the twins' room.

I push the door open with all the energy I have left and collapse onto Fred's bed. This room's always freezing, but I don't have the energy or mental clarity to try and find more blankets, and I doze off to sleep.