"Morning"
As Harry's heavy eyes peeled open the next morning, the first thing he saw was the grinning face of his best friend, laying eye level with him, her freckled nose a few inches apart from his own. From her appearance, it was evident the girl had woken far earlier than him, clear from her normal clothes and fresh face, and how she was laying on top of the duvet.
Clearly she had given up on waiting for the boy to wake up on his own accord and so had left her own mattress on the floor to relentlessly prod and poke him in the shoulder till he woke too.
With a groan he rolled himself onto his back, blinking drowsily as he stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, his blood almost audibly pumping through his swollen head. He could almost feel the relentless thumping of his headache behind his puffy eyes and hear the click of his blinks in his skull.
The next thing he noticed was the sickly churning of his painfully empty stomach scraping against itself, a side affect that had carried on from the night before. Then came the sudden waves of nausea, leaving the boy with no doubt that if there had been a single drop of anything left in his stomach, it wouldn't have been there much longer. After that, the scratchy dryness of his mouth extending all the way down into his dusty throat, his tongue feeling like sandpaper against his cheeks.
But the worst part of it all, of his actions from the previous night, was that he remembered every single painful minute of it. In particular the image of the girl in front of him with another boy on the back doorstep, inches apart.
"Sore head? Yeah I thought as much" she smirked, sitting up and reaching over to the bedside table nearest her as he continued to groan, dragging his hand down his face.
"Here" she said, handing him his glasses which he gratefully accepted and slid onto his nose.
With a grunt he sat himself up too so that he was leaning against the headboard as she sat crossed legged beside him, now handing him a tall glass of water.
"Drink" she nodded as he took the glass from her hands, "and eat" she added with another nod, handing him a small chunk of milk chocolate.
He let the cool liquid dribble down his throat, returning the so desperately missed moisture to his body before slipping the square of sweet silky chocolate into his mouth, letting it melt on his tongue.
"Thank you" he finally spoke after another gulp of water, his voice scratchy and groggy regardless of how much he swallowed.
He passed the now empty glass back to her, letting her put it back down onto the bedside table with a clink before turning back to him, patting her hands on her knees.
"Now, how much do you remember?" She asked and he let his head drop back against the headboard with another groan.
All of it.
"Not a lot, just a blur of firewhiskey and- oh god I threw up didn't I" he said, looking to her with a grimace.
"Yes you did" she confirmed with an exaggerated nod.
"Was it bad?" He winced at the very clear memory of the inside of the toilet bowl and his head deep inside.
"Well......." she trailed off, averting her gaze down to the mattress as he let out a sorrowful groan.
"I am so sorry-"
"Don't" she cut him off, "I mean what's my job if not to carry your drunken arse home?" She laughed, managed to earn a weak chuckle out of him before his small, troubled frown returned.
"Still, I shouldn't have gotten so out of control, I ruined your night" he said regretfully, pulling at a stray thread at the corner of his duvet before she quickly brushed off his concern.
"Nah, I was ready to go anyway" she shrugged, not particularly convincingly in the eyes of her best friend.
"I'm sorry" he mumbled again, apologising for some else entirely than she realised.
Apologising for his feelings, apologising for screwing things up again, apologising for the fact this probably wouldn't be the last time he would let his feelings get the best of him. His only shred of comfort being brought from the bathroom floor conversation he very clearly remembered having with his dad last night.
We're still young
She's worth waiting for
So I'll wait
"Stop apologising!" She laughed, only her slight raise in volume had him wincing at the sharp pain it brought to his sensitive head.
"Oops, sorry" she apologised, dropping her voice to a soft whisper as he rubbed his temples.
He raised his eyebrows and looked to her with an amused look at the way she was now apologising the way she had just scolded him for. She bowed her head in amusement before the two of them fell into a comfortable silence, Harry letting his head fall back again and eyes flutter closed momentarily.
"But.... did um, did something happen last night? You know, to start that?" She spoke quietly, his eyes fluttering open again and flickering over to her at his small voice.
"No." He answered far too quickly before realising the suspicious nature of his sudden reply.
"I mean, probably just built up stress, with the competition and school and all." he added, attempting to sound nonchalant
"Right, maybe just talk to me next time, or at least give me a heads up so we can get pissed drunk together" she suggested, shoving his shoulder and earning a pained groan from the boy and a snigger from herself.
"Deal"
"Harry!!" All of a sudden, the bedroom door flew open and someone was leaping up onto the bed, jumping between the pair of teenagers.
"Come play quidditch! Come on!" He said excitedly, attempting to grab his brother's hand who was groaning loudly, trying to cover his ears at the seven year old's volume as Nell found the entire situation highly amusing.
"Not now Lukes" he mumbled at his brother, who continued to try and drag him off the bed, clearly not noticing his discomfort and exhaustion.
"Yes now! Daddy and Uncle Moony and Pads are waiting!"
"Well I guess we better go, unless you want to tell them all your too hungover to play?" Nell smirked, letting Lucas pull her off the bed by her hand and drag her to the door.
"Let's go Lukey" Harry quickly jumped up, forgetting his previous reluctance and letting his brother lead the way.
A/N: I'm just realising that my first and third year were like only 13 chapters each and this year has already been around 25 chapters omg
Sorry for the shorter chapter, just wanted to get an update out for you guys and this is kind of just a filler chapter anyway