As the wintery weather was approaching and the months were changing, the mood of the castle became more and more cosy every day that passed.
Athena's head screamed with the surroundings voices of students in the Great Hall during breakfast one morning. She had her head collapsed sluggishly on the hard wood of the table, while a migraine pierced her cranium. Her mind swam with the remaining traces of firewhiskey which were ever so stubborn to leave, intoxicating her permanently.
The previous night, she had made the upmost mistake of consuming an abundance of alcohol, to have a presently good time, only to find she could barely keep her head up in the morning.
She had been with Cedric and the others again, for the fourth time in two weeks. Isaac had a stock of firewhiskey in his dormitory which he was willing to use up. Therefore everyone came to the Gryffindor common room for drinks. Even Harry, Ron, Hermione and a few others joined in on the fun.
The benefit of firewhiskey was that it seemed to make Athena forget all of her current worries and struggles. She liked the feeling it gave her; like she could conquer absolutely anything.
Two weeks had passed since her loathsome spat with Malfoy. She found herself to be hating him once again with as much ease as she always had. It was almost like the past month had never happened.
Occasionally when she'd catch his eye, she found it appropriate to be mature about matters and just ignore him. Although it would be expected to be done with great difficulty, due to her past affairs with the boy, he had set her mind straight that night.
It wasn't hard to detest someone like Draco Malfoy. He made one loathe him and he made it so easy.
From where she was sat she could see him. He seemed down and looked as if he hadn't been getting any sleep for months; his pale skin a few shades paler every time she saw him.
Yet, she felt nothing. No curiosity, no sympathy, nothing.
In other news, she was growing more and more attracted to Cedric as the days went by. A few days prior, she went to watch him at Hufflepuff's quidditch practice, though she was only allowed to be there if she swore not to say anything about their gameplay to her fellow Gryffindor's.
The Gryffindor's attempted to bribe her for information, but she kept her promise to the Hufflepuff's, which obviously made her friends displeased with her. But they got over it quickly, reminding themselves that Gryffindor could beat Hufflepuff in a heartbeat - even though they had lost to them a few times in the past.
Besides, she wasn't even focussing on their practice anyway. Her mind was fixated on Cedric and how he looked flying through the sky on his broom: his hair ruffling through the wind with every movement he made, his hands and arms flexing on the broom when he'd have to make any sudden movements and his wits to know exactly what it was he had to do.
They weren't exactly together yet, meaning there was no topic of conversation between them about a relationship. It was quite unclear what they were. But it would be safe to say they were definitely more than friends at this point in time.
A loud thud hit the table as someone planted down opposite Athena. She raised her head off of the hard wood with an immense amount of effort, peering up at the noisy culprit.
Ron sat down in the seat opposite Athena, eyeing her with caution. She attempted to straighten up in her seat, but began to feel rather nauseous when doing so.
"Where've you been?"Hermione asked, her voice oddly high.
"I- er just ended it with Lavender,"he replied awkwardly, his ears glowing red.
"Oh...ok,"she said, a meek shade of pink penetrating her cheeks.
Athena studied the food in front of her, feeling ever so vile. She looked up from it immediately, battling with the urge to vomit.
"'Thena, are you ok? You've gone pale,"Ron stared at her worriedly.
"Um- I feel a bit sick,"she groaned.
Nobody responded. They all stared at her with weariness displayed across there faces.
The nausea spread through her body until she knew she was about to throw up. She pushed herself away from the table, sprinting down the Great Hall, unbothered by the many eyes which were currently following her.
Hermione had followed her straight away, keeping a steady distance behind her. When Athena found the nearest bin, she threw herself over it and vomited.
Extremely aware of the many grimaces which were coming from close by students, she straightened up hesitantly as Hermione put a hand on her shoulder, massaging it to her aid.
"Do you want to go to Madam Pomfrey?"Hermione asked, as they were walking away from the vomit bin.
"What, and let her discover I'm extremely hungover? Great idea,"Athena replied sarcastically.
"Sorry I didn't think about that. Just take it easy today,"she said. It was a Sunday after all so there were no lessons to attend.
Instead of going back into the Great Hall and facing the many stares she was bound to receive, Athena headed for her dormitory and Hermione followed.
Just as they were about to go up the stairs, a voice called from behind while footsteps were hammering in their direction. She turned to see Cedric, worry spread across his face.
"'Thena! Are you okay?"he asked, approaching the two girls.
"Hungover,"she smirked, feeling oddly pathetic.
"Ah ok. Just let me know if you need anything,"he said sympathetically.
She nodded, grateful for his concern, and continued to her dormitory with Hermione. Once they arrived, she changed into more comfortable attire and got into her bed.
All she wanted to do was sleep for the rest of the day. She got under her covers, grabbed a novel from her bedside table and attempted to read a few chapters through her groggy state, before falling asleep.
***
The next morning at breakfast, things were much better for Athena. The hangover was gone, her head was clear and despite the weekend ending, her timetable was rather decent this Monday.
She, Hermione, Ron and Harry stationed themselves at the end of the long rectangular table for breakfast. The room was diffused with all kinds of ravishing smells.
In the centre of the tables were platters of varieties of foods such as toast, bacon, hash browns, a bowl of scrambled eggs, freshly cooked sausages, beans, fruits and more.
"Blimey, those elves are feeling generous today,"Ron gaped in awe at the abundance of food on the table, digging in immediately.
Athena loaded her plate with two slices of toast, a hash brown, three rashers of bacon, a scoop of scrambled eggs, two sausages and an apple to include a bit of health into her breakfast. Her appetite was truly immense this morning.
Each thing tasted heavenly, fulfilling her every need for the morning. Ron was already going in for seconds.
She picked up a rasher of bacon with her fork and stuck it into her mouth, prepared to enjoy the salivating, salty taste of it.
But as she chewed, something was off. It tasted less like succulent bacon and more like an old shoe.
"Oh god,"Athena grabbed a napkin, spitting the congealed bacon into it. "Something is wrong with that bacon."
"What do you mean? Tasted great to me,"Ron said, rather shocked.
"Ronald you would eat a mouldy bit of cheese and say it tasted amazing,"Hermione chuckled. "Let me try a bit."
Hermione grabbed a rasher of bacon from the platter and put it into her mouth and began chewing. Her expression alternated from concentrated to delighted as her eyebrows raised from their furrowed position.
"Oh no he's right. I think it tastes lovely,"she gushed, taking another piece from the platter.
"That's strange. Maybe I just got a bad piece,"Athena said. She stuck her fork into the second rasher of bacon on her plate and put it into her mouth. It was a smaller piece this time.
It tasted exactly the same, though she swallowed it this time with a grimace. As she did, a great glob of bacon fat wedged its way down her throat, causing her to gag.
She was going to be sick. Yet again.
Luckily she had enough time to run to the first floor bathrooms before she vomited into one of the toilets.
When she walked out of the stall, there were three 5th year girls present, who stared at her in disgust before leaving. She went to the sink and washed her mouth out with the water.
As she left the bathroom, Hermione was stood outside of the door looking tremendously concerned.
"What happened?"she asked.
"I swallowed a big string of bacon fat,"Athena replied, fighting the urge to gag again.
"Urgh that's horrible,"Hermione grimaced in disgust. "Are you feeling ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine. But that was disgusting,"she frowned.
For the remainder of the day, despite throwing up for the second time in two days, Athena continued gracefully. She only had two lessons to attend which meant she wasn't too tired out by the end of the day, which was a good thing considering the event which would take place in the evening.
It was Aurora's 18th birthday meaning there was some cause for celebration, in spite of it being a Monday night. Isaac and the others had planned a surprise for her, to be held in the Hufflepuff common room. It wasn't really going to be anything too special, it would be like most of their gatherings except Isaac was taking her out to dinner first in Hogsmeade. Isaac had also asked the house elves to bake a birthday cake which they happily obliged to do.
Athena knew it wasn't a smart idea to be going but she couldn't miss out on the celebration. If it wasn't Aurora's birthday she probably would've said no, but this was an occasion, she couldn't not go.
However she had told herself to have no more than one bottle of firewhiskey, remembering the horrors of her hangover on Sunday.
Athena entered the Hufflepuff common room, after Cedric let her in, once again enjoying the aesthetics of the room. By the left of the room, were Elias and Forester, both sprawled onto two sitting chairs. Isaac and Aurora were still out for dinner.
On the table by Elias' chair sat the birthday cake. It was an exquisite buttercream Victoria sponge cake with two layers, embellished with small icing details. The house elves had really outdone themselves on it.
Cedric planted down onto an empty couch and patted the space next to him for Athena to sit at. She did so with eagerness, while Cedric draped his arm over the back of the sofa where she was sat.
Forester offered her a bottle of firewhiskey which she declined deciding to save her one drink for when the guest of honour arrived.
Until Isaac and Aurora showed up, they made mindless conversation, speaking of all sorts.
Over the course time, Cedric's arm had now made its way from the back of the sofa to over her shoulders.
Elias let the couple in when they heard a knock on the entrance of the common room. As they walked through, Isaac had one hand over Aurora's eyes and his other arm around her waist to support her. He tore his hand away when they approached the group.
"Surprise!"Isaac beamed. "Look! We got a cake!"
"Oh wow! Thank you so much!"Aurora gushed, giving Isaac a hug.
Everyone said there happy birthdays to her and the night commenced with music, dancing, chatting and most importantly eating the cake, which tasted as good as it looked. Athena had already drunk her one firewhiskey for the night, which led to battling the desire for another.
Isaac was already wasted after three drinks, which meant Aurora, who was slightly tipsy herself, had to maintain him from getting too excited. At one point he started dancing on one of the tables, which everyone found hilarious.
The night came to an end when Isaac and Aurora wanted to head off.
"Right we're off for a birthday shag. See ya bunch of wankers!"Isaac yelled, exuberantly, which made a few second years look at him in shock. Aurora swatted him to shush while simultaneously blushing.
Elias went up to bed and Forester left the common room to go back to Ravenclaw shortly after he had finished his drink.
Cedric and Athena remained on the sofas, relaxing by the fire place.
-
thirteenth chapter complete :)
next one's for you Cedric stans...