[LOG] Flashback: Hogsmeade!

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Where: Hogsmeade
When: ~Oct 2019 (third year)

Quick link: Map of Hogsmeade

The weather was cold, but it felt incredibly good to be outside, Albus thought, as he was herded alongside Scorpius in a group of twittering third-year Slytherin students down the path and into the town of Hogsmeade for the very first time. Though the weather had been growing steadily worse, that only meant Alby felt increasingly more restless, pent up within the castle walls. Now Alby was looking forward to actually being able to burn off some of that excess energy outside today, and he was sure that Scorp would probably be thankful as well. Alby was never sure whether his overly bouncy nature really got on Scorp's nerves more than the other was willing to let on.

Casting that thought aside, Alby looked around excitedly as the first buildings came into view on the main street. There was so much he wanted to see and do in the small village - of course he'd never really explored it himself, other than the train station where the Hogwarts Express stopped every year, but his mother, father, and James had all told him countless stories about what there was to do in Hogsmeade, and Alby was more than eager to experience it for himself. The first building up on the right was the Three Broomsticks - a cheery little pub that served butterbeer at a good price. Alby was definitely planning on a stop there today. Further down the street, he knew, were shops that sold everything from joke merchandise (though he was kept relatively well-stocked by his cousin Fred and Uncle George) to every type of candy imaginable. There were also more cafes and pubs, including the famous Hog's Head pub Alby had heard numerous stories about. If he squinted, he could even see the Shrieking Shack up to their left, away from the main street as the huddle of boys finally stepped into the town proper and began arguing loudly about what to do first. Ahead of them, older students from various houses had already arrived and were laughing and talking as they made their way towards their favorite stop.

"I want to head over and get a couple butterbeers," Alex Moran was saying; Joe Wenlock rolled his eyes, but it was clear he'd follow his best friend to whichever pub he chose. Alby supposed butterbeer was okay - it was rather cold outside - but he didn't know if he was ready for one just yet. There were more important things to do!

"What about the Shrieking Shack?" he asked, pointing down the path and bouncing on his toes; Zach Sawbridge made a face and said, "You know it's not haunted, Alby - that myth's been out of date for decades." Alby just made a face - of course he knew! He knew exactly how the "haunted house" had got its name - as well as a number of other important things, only compounding the number of reasons he wanted to go. But then, he didn't exactly expect most of his yearmates to understand. He glanced at Scorp, frowning - he supposed he'd better hear what his own best friend wanted to do, before he started making plans.


[OOC: I think it wasn't exactly public knowledge about the Marauders using the Shrieking Shack for when Lupin changed? Or that Snape died there, etc. I'm thinking Alby would know because of Harry - if you think any of that should be different, though, let me know and I'll rewrite! They also don't have to head there first thing, if you'd rather they went somewhere else first. ^^]

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Alby had awoken later than usual - normally Scorpius woke him up early so they could be among the first students to get to the Great Hall for breakfast. But this morning he'd awoken to the sounds of their dorm mates getting up and dressed; he pulled the curtains on his bed aside and hopped out, wincing as his bare feet hit the cold floor and glancing around. He didn't see Scorpius - had the other left without him? Alby frowned. Why would he do that?

He'd already pulled out a pair of jeans and struggled into them, halfway through unbuttoning his pyjama shirt, when he heard a croak issue from the closed curtains of Scorpius's bed. Alby blinked, pausing in his rush to finish dressing, and glanced, open-mouthed, at Alex, who was on his way out the door, a step behind Joe.

Alex snickered, pointing to Scorp's bed. "Hangover," he mouthed, expression smug, and cast Alby a small salute before heading out the door.

... Oh. Well... Alby did recall Scorpius acting a bit strangely for a while yesterday afternoon; he'd gone to bed nearly the instant they'd gotten back, but Alby had been so intent on eating dinner that he hadn't thought much of it. But if he'd really been unable to handle that much butterbeer... He frowned a bit, thinking about James's stories of the unpleasant side effects of drinking more than one's limit. It sounded rather nasty, all things considered.

Alby stood there a moment before padding over to Scorp's bed, pulling the curtain aside just a bit, peering into the darkness, just barely able to make out the other's blonde hair among the blankets. "Scorp?" he asked quietly, mind racing, trying to think of all the ways he'd heard to get rid of a hangover, if that really was the case...

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Scorpius felt thirsty enough that he might just be able to drink the entire Hogwarts lake. He opened his eyes a bit when he heard his curtains part, and a small part of Alby's face appeared.

"I don't feel so good," Scorpius said, taking a breath before speaking. His tongue felt dry and parched, not very up to task of forming language, but he forced it nonetheless. "And I'm bloody thirsty," he said. Alby at least looked liked he was holding up well. Firing up his exhausted brain, Scorpius figured he'd probably caught a cold or some kind of sickness in Hogsmeade yesterday. Scorpius hadn't been sick in years, and worse, he hated being sick. "I hope I don't have to go to the hospital wing," he groaned, squeezing in his eyes shut and turning into his pillow. That would just make this already bad day worse.

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Scorpius definitely looked like he didn't feel so good, either, Alby thought, staring at his friend's face for a minute. Then the rest of what he'd said processed, and Alby blinked. He could do something about that, at least! He scrambled over to his dresser, pulling out the first jumper he found and pulling it on over his pyjama shirt so he at least looked presentable. Searching under his bed for his socks, he called, "Hang on, I'll get you something to drink!"

He pulled on socks and shoes and shot out the door, jogging for the Great Hall - why did it have to be so many levels away from the Slytherin Dungeons? When he made it, panting, to the Slytherin table and looked around for pitchers of water and then the pots of coffee, he heard Alex's laugh from a little ways away, and glanced over to see his friend watching him.

"Gonna play nurse?" he snickered, elbowing Joe in the side, who looked somewhat amused, but mostly still tired.

Alby made a face at Alex. "Like you've never been hung over." Joe thought this was significantly funnier and laughed, shoving Alex with one shoulder. Alex sputtered some protest or another, but Alby was too busy trying to balance a glass of water, a cup of piping-hot black coffee, and two biscuits to really pay attention. He took off for the dungeons at a fast walk, definitely not trusting himself at a run with two cups of liquid, especially with one that was likely to scald.

He re-entered the dorm room about ten minutes after he'd left, but it looked no different. The curtains on Scorpius's bed were still closed. "Scorp?" Alby called, setting the food and drink down on the floor first, then picking up the glass of water and approaching the bed. "I brought water."

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Before Scorp could say anything, the curtains shut again and he heard Alby scrambling about the room a bit before the sounds disappeared entirely and Scorpius figured Alby had probably gone. He closed his eyes and settled back into his pillows, deciding whether to even attempt to study for his Wednesday Herbology exam or just go back to sleep, where at least he would feel the pounding in his head.

Scorpius drifted off into a doze, and when he opened his eyes Alby was back at the side of his bed with a glass of water.

God, water had never looked that good to Scorpius before. Heaving himself off his bed, he sat up and reached forward for it, draining it quickly.

"Thanks Alby," Scorpius said, his voice a little less raspy after the drink. He smiled wanly, as much as he could manage with his head feeling like it had been used as a Quaffle. He scooted over, to make some room for Alby on the edge of his bed.

"Thanks," Scorpius said again, truly grateful. He touched the back of his hand to his forehead, and found he didn't have a fever. Strange. Furrowing his brow, Scorpius tried his other hand and found that he didn't have a fever. He was still a bit thirsty, his ears were still ringing a bit, but he was already starting to feel better. Then it occurred to him. He strung together the events of the previous day, from the snowball fight to the stop at The Three Broomsticks, and then the rather fuzzy trip through the rest of Hogsmeade during which he remembered being very, very tired.

Right. A hangover. Scorpius groaned. He wasn't even fourteen years old, he'd had two mugs of butterbeer, and it had given him a hangover. There wasn't enough alcohol in butterbeer to get someone drunk! That's why they served it to kids. "Oh Merlin," Scorpius moaned again, holding his head in his hands. If Moran knew, he'd never live it down.

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Alby was a bit alarmed by the rate at which the water in the glass disappeared, half-worried Scorp was going to drown in it. He didn't, thankfully, and Alby accepted the empy glass, setting it aside on the floor and picking up the cup of coffee carefully before sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed, where Scorp had scooted over enough for him to sit.

He smiled a bit wanly as the other groaned - so Scorpius had put it together, it seemed, as the other felt his forehead and came to the conclusion that he wasn't exactly sick. "It's not so bad," he offered, trying to be cheerful but also keep his voice down as much as he could, for Scorpius's benefit. "Happens to everyone - it's not like Alex is exactly one to talk." There had been a few mornings when they'd suspected Alex of the same, given his penchant for partying. He might laud it over Scorpius for a while, but it really wasn't a big deal. So he shouldn't drink a lot of butterbeer - he seemed to prefer tea anyway, Alby was pretty sure.

He offered over the cup of coffee carefully, not wanting the other to drop it. "This should help too, James always said it did..." The smell was enough to wake him up; it should help Scorp as well. "And I brought a bit of breakfast... you don't have to get up if you don't want to." It was Sunday, after all.

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Scorpius accepted the cup of coffee; it seemed great. He blew on it before sipping it carefully, both hands cupping it gingerly.

"If anyone else finds out I've got a hangover," Scorpius said with mock seriousness, "I am going to break Alex's skull." He smiled at Alby as his friend grinned too. The coffee was taking the edge of his headache, and he was starting to feel a little less thirsty and a lot more hungry.

"Breakfast sounds great," Scorpius said polishing off the rest of the coffee. "Thanks Alby, you're a real mate." He cocked his head in the direction of Joe and Alex's beds. "Not like those wankers there."

After a spot of breakfast which he shared with Alby, Scorpius brightened up considerably, his headache fading to just a dull, occasional throb. For the first time in a long time Scorpius reflected on how good of a friend Albus Potter really was to him, and felt like the luckiest kid in the world to have met him that first day on the Hogwarts Express.

[OOC: Did we want to finish it off here? :D Or does Alby want to add something? D: Oh man, they're sitting on Scorp's bed! D: Too bad Scorp's still a bit hungover and they're...you know...thirteen. XD]

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"No one'll believe Alex anyway," he said, laughing a bit - really, Scorpius Malfoy? With a hangover? It would just sound like Alex had made it up, if he tried to pass it on.

Alby just grinned, glad his friend was feeling better. Though there were only two biscuits, they seemed to be enough for now; he definitely wouldn't blame Scorpius for staying in bed most of the day if he wanted. Alby settled onto the bed a little more, thinking he'd at least keep his friend company for a while, because it was nice and quiet in here and being alone with Scorpius never seemed to happen enough, sometimes. He ducked his head at the compliment, just shrugging a bit.

"You'd do the same for me," he insisted, because he knew it was true. Things definitely wouldn't be the same around here without Scorpius, and he was glad, he thought, for the way they were.

[OOC: I think here is good~? It really is too bad there's a hangover and being thirteen involved. XD; Alas~ They'll just have to UST and not know it, is all. :D;]

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[OOC: Yes! Here is great! Awww, I love pre-UST UST! :D They're USTing and they don't even realize it yet! HOW CUTE. *squee*

Ooh, I had a good idea, did you want to put off the Ora and Alison aside until beginning of fifth year? That way we can segue it into Scorp and Alby meeting up at King's Cross and feeling a bit awkward. Thoughts? :D

Also, in fourth year, what's Scorp and Alby's excuse for wandering and randomly bumping into Gilbert and Serge?]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yesss~ Pre-UST UST. XD It's beautiful. ::pokes them!::

Ooh~ That could be fun. >D I kind of like that, because awkward boys are always fun. XD That totally works for me~ Maybe we were just too busy to go out afterwards the first year. :D;

Hm, weren't they actually going to go looking for the Chamber, maybe? Scorpius might've heard it from Ora and Alby might've heard it from Alison, I suppose, so I could see them actually looking for it. Otherwise maybe they're just looking for a good place to study? >> Or practice charms or something? :D;]

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[OOC: Yeah, poor busy-ness. D: It's okay, Ora and Alison can have a couple year's worth of catching up, no sweat. :D So it'll be...Ora and Scorpius having tea with Alison and Fred?

I like the idea that they both know about the Chamber, and found a random Saturday/Sunday afternoon to take a study break and see if they can find it! And of course, they do stumble upon it because Gilbert and Serge think they'd make a cute couple. XD EXCELLENT.

Did you want me to start the log? :D I can do it tomorrow after I come back from lab to check on my rats.]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yeah, that way it gives us more to talk about~ Sounds good, though I suppose we can always shoo our husbands off if we want to gossip. XD;

Yeah, it makes sense they both might've heard of it at some point and decide to go looking for it~ And YES. Gilbert and Serge have to keep talking about how cute they are. That would rock. XD

Sure, go ahead and start whenever you get the chance~ Tomorrow is fine, I really should get my ass to bed three hours ago :D;;. <3!]

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[OOC: Haha, I can totally see our husbands accompanying us off to tea, and we shoo them off so we can talk, and I can totally see George and Draco kind of trying to keep their distance from each other. XD Maybe we'll have Scorpius and Fred run off with Draco and George and do something in a little boys only group? >_> It's not like Scorp and Fred are really going to contribute much to an Ora-Alison conversation anyway. *laughs*

Gilbert and Serge have to totally talk about how cute they are as a couple and how much they remind them of their own schooldays or something like that. *squee*

Yeah, it's about bedtime for me too. Night!]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Ahahaha, that would be so cute. XD I think that's a brilliant idea~ We'll shoo all the boys away and they can go be awkward in their own way while we gossip. XD

Yes~ Totally. Aaaaaawkward~ <333

Indeedy~ Gnight! :D ::runsoff::]