Before my eyes even open the pain pounding in my head is unbearable.
A hangover, great.
I groan in discomfort as I sit up and notice a glass of water, a vile and note on my bedside table.
"Water is for hydration, the vile will fix the hangover and if you tell anyone I did this for you, hangovers will seem like a dream... - Imelda" the note reads.
I chuckle at the threat before drinking both, already starting to feel a bit better but not fully. I get up and wash my face in the basin and as I look in the mirror I notice dark marks along my neck.
What the fuck... I lean forward and inspect them more. Love bites? My hand touches my neck and last night's events coming flooding back to me. Sebastian kissing the girl in Hufflepuff, Garreth and I slow dancing and.. oh god.
My cheeks fill with color as I remember last nights events with Garreth. What even came over us?.
And remembering Sebastian being sat up waiting for me to come back last night before basically telling me off and storming away, I have a bad feeling about today.
I wrap my house scarf around my neck in an attempt to hide the bruises along my neck and head out for the great hall, god I'm starving..
The common room looks as if nothing ever happened last night despite a few clearly hungover students, I feel your pain guys don't worry. I hurry up the stairs and leave my common room.
"Hey uh Y/N" Garreths voice appears next to me "I was hoping to catch you before you went for breakfast..can we talk?" He sounds shy, he has bags under his eyes. I imagine he's just has hungover as me.
"Oh uh of course.." I mumble, I can barely look at him without having flashbacks. Fuck sake.
"about last night...I-" he stops speaking and I can see his brain searching for the right words "look... I think you're stunning and I love hanging out with you but...I think the alcohol clouded my judgment and I don't want to ruin our friendship over this nor do I want you to think I'd take advantage of you with your emotions last night... what I'm trying to say is I don't regret it I just-" he's starting to ramble.
"Weasley... calm yourself. It happened, it was fun. Nothing more, consider our friendship intact" I give him a nudge and a reassuring smile.
He sighs with relief.
"Okay brilliant" he nods towards the way to the great hall for me to follow and I tell him about Sebastian waiting up for me and what he said.
Garreth starts laughing.
"Wait he seriously said 'the next time you're going to be out all night doing whatever or WHOEVER' I can't take that seriously" he's laughing so hard I can't help but laugh myself.
"Well he's definitely jealous and has a thing for you, which works out because I've come up with an evil plan" Garreth smirks.
Oh no, not again.
"I was thinking about it and now with what you've told me I'm convinced, he's going to be trying to wrap his head around it all. You said you fancied someone in the room and then you kiss me and then he saw us sneaking around the corridors plus gossip has already started to spread we're an item.." hes rambling again.
"Get to the point Garreth" I roll my eyes.
"Why don't we pretend to be dating? He's bound to snap eventually, confess his jealously or whatever" he raises an eyebrow at me.
"And what do you get from this exactly?" I look at him shaking my head.
"A reputation of a desirable man which I can use to my advantage later" he wiggle his eyebrows at me.
"Oh as if!" I shove him.
"You're the mysterious 5th year everyone talks about, if I'm seen wooing you, everyone will talk about me. Plus my aunt seems to like you so if she thinks we're dating she might keep less of an eye on my studies, you're a good influence obviously" he winks at me as we're approaching the great hall.
"No I'm not doing this, it's silly" I shake my head.
"Oh come on! It would be so much fun, we could have meetings about it .. we can call it.. code Honeydukes because well.. you know" he laughs
"Nope not happening" I poke his side.
Garreth shrugs and we walk through the open doors to the hall and sit down at the Slytherin table, Garreth joining me eagerly stuffing his face.
"Good morning" Ominis says softly sitting down, accompanied by a very hungover looking Poppy.
"Guys I'm so sorry if I was annoying last night" she looks at her food.
"Don't be silly, I hope you're feeling better" I smile at her.
"Ominis was such a help, Natty too" she starts to eat.
"Anything for our very own Hufflepuff Sweeting" Ominis smiles sipping his tea.
Natty joins us, we're deep in conversation about 30 minuets into breakfast when a loud giggle approaches our table.
Two people suddenly sit opposite me it's Sebastian and the Hufflepuff from last night. I feel my jaw tenses. Sebastian hasn't even looked at me.
"Guys this is Ella" he smiles and she blushes. I feel anger in my stomach.
"Hello Ella, Pleasure" Ominis says sweetly. I can feel Natty looking at me but I just look at Garreth who's still stuffing his face.
"Sorry we're late for breakfast we uh we're catching up from last night" Sebastian smirks, wrapping his arm around her as she giggles again.
I take a deep breath. I'm sure she's a lovely girl but if I hear that stupid giggle one more time I might lose it.
I can feel Sebastian looking at me for a reaction. I feel frozen.
"Do you still want to go to Honeydukes later babe?" I look at Garreth smiling sweetly.
"Huh?" Garreth looks up at me confused for a second.
I give him a light kick under the table and it seems to give him the hint.
"Oh of course...Honeydukes, sorry babe I'm still half asleep. You know what I'm like" he kisses my cheek before moving closer and wrapping his arm around my waist.
"I uh.. feel like I've missed something" Natty asks confused, I forgot she left before the chaos happened.
"You haven't heard? It's all the school is talking about this morning. Weasley and the mysterious fifth year caught kissing last night at the party" Ella smiles at us, she seems genuinely happy for me and Garreth.
"I leave you unattended for 5 minuets and you make out!" Natty scolds, actually believing the performance.
"What can I say, one slow dance and she was mine" Garreth winked at me and I blush, what have I started.
"When you said you fancied someone in the room, did you mean Garreth?!" Ominis asks shocked.
I look at Sebastian instinctively, he's already looking at me, barely an expression but I can see his jaw is tense.
"Yes. I meant Garreth" I reply looking straight at Sebastian then back down at my food.
.
Breakfast seemed to last a lot longer than normal. Probably because of all the weird tension at the table.
Garreth and I are heading to charms class discussing our new situation.
"Okay so boundaries.. what are they?" He asks.
We've both agreed to keep the events of Honeydukes to a one time thing.
"I mean I'm happy for the usual couple stuff, holding hands, kissing seeing as we already have a lot.. I don't know" I shrugged, looking at my books.
"Okay good to know, sit with me in charms then? It'll look more real and I can copy your work. See! The perks of a 'girlfriend' " he winks at me and I can't help but laugh.
.
I send an OWL to Natty and Poppy asking them to meet me in the out of order girls toilets.
They arrive within minuets of eachother both looking concerned.
"Is everything okay?" Poppy asks sitting on the floor with me.
"Does it have anything todo with Garreth?" Natty raises an eyebrow, damn she's good.
"You guys might want to brace yourself. Also you have to keep this all between us...promise me?" I look at them with pleading eyes.
They nod with nervous eyes.
I tell them everything, from slow dancing with Garreth, the kiss causing Sebastisn to leave, the fake dating plan and I even told them about Honeydukes.
Poppy's mouth is wide open in shock and Nattys eyes wide.
"Oh my god...I can't believe this. This is so insane" Poppy says still mouth wide open.
"Yeah it all happened so fast...I don't know what's gotten into me but that bloody Sallow is driving me mad" I sigh frustrated.
"I did think he might be up to something when he brought Ella to the table" Natty added.
"Right?! Ugh" I roll my eyes.
"So...was Weasley any good?" Natty mocks and we all erupt into laughter .
We all leave the bathroom and down the corridor bump into Professor Weasley.
"Miss.Y/N, I was looking for you" she smiles "I hear you've taken a liking to my nephew" she raises an eyebrow at me. Oh god no.
"We uh we'll catch you later Y/N" Natty says grabbing Poppy and scurrying away. Leaving me alone with Professor Weasley.
"Oh uh well yes.. I suppose I uh" I'm stumbling on my words.
She starts to smile more.
"Don't fret Y/N, you're both old enough to make your own choices. I actually needed to speak with you privately and couldn't resist a small jest to get the girls to leave" she chuckles slightly.
I see mischief runs deep in the Weasley genes.
"Oh.. Good? Well.. what can I help you with Professor?" I ask her still thrown from what she's just said.
"Remember I said I'd arrange something for you to catch up with your fellow students in time for your OWLs... Well it's ready, if you'd kindly follow me" she gestures for me to follow and we head towards the astronomy tower.