TW: ALCOHOL WARNING! (It's just teenagers getting drunk, but if you are affected by the mention of alcohol and or getting drunk then you can skip this chapter :) )
Violet's PoV:
"No idea what you're talking about."
Never before had a sentence muttered by Crabbe kept me up at night staring at the ceiling. I seemed to be doing that a lot recently. Damn you, Draco Malfoy. Surely Crabbe just wasn't a part of the bet. He also thought Izzy and I were patrolling in his room so the bet probably slipped his dumb mind.
But still... some part of me ached for his words to be true. But why would Draco lie? He probably didn't want to admit that he actually wanted to kiss me. Loser. My reputation would be more damaged than his for Merlin's sake! He goes around kissing everything with a pulse. Of course, it didn't mean anything.
A pang of guilt ran through me whenever I remembered I would be seeing Draco with pink hair. I comforted myself by thinking he brought it upon himself. Even if this wasn't a stupid bet, he still told me it was. Serves him right.
I snapped back into reality and watched contentedly from the window seat as the moon shone light onto the Black Lake.
"Pink or red?" Molly stood in front of the floor-length mirror taking turns holding two different mini dresses up to her frame. She turned to me with a look that told me this was the most difficult decision of her life.
"Red." Izzy and I answered in sync. It was the obvious choice.
Molly rolled her eyes at our reflection in the mirror and smiled as she threw the pink dress to the floor. Great. Our floor already looked like the quidditch game today had taken place in our room.
Hufflepuff's quidditch team had beaten Gryffindor so I was being forced to go to the celebration party. I usually didn't mind parties but I knew that some Slytherins would be there tonight so they too could celebrate Gryffindor's loss. And that meant facing Draco.
"You don't have to talk to him," Izzy commented as if she was reading my mind as she slid rings onto her fingers. "I'll kick him in the balls if he even looks at you."
Oh, what I'd pay to see that.
"Wouldn't it be such a shame to end the Malfoy line?" I remarked with a snort. Imagining pink Draco with Izzy's high heel connecting with his balls made me realise life was worth living.
"I don't have anything to wear," I mumbled grudgingly as I searched through my side of the wardrobe for any sign of a dress.
With a sigh, I pinned to face the girls. Izzy had a bobby pin perched between her teeth and was unsuccessfully zipping up Sarah's dress.
"Breathe in." Izzy mumbled around the bobby pin to Sarah before plucking it from her mouth to say to me, "Wear my dark blue dress, you know, the one that I wore to the Gryffindor party last week."
"You don't want to wear green for Draco?" Molly chirped teasingly from her cross-legged position on her bed. In one hand was a compact mirror she was holding up to the light and in the other was a mascara wand.
"Very funny." I retorted as I began to dismantle the mountain in Izzy's side of the wardrobe to find her a creased midnight blue dress. Setting it down on my bed, I grasped my wand and muttered a spell so all the creases would iron out.
"Ironic coming from you, Molly," Sarah said through a tight breath as Izzy completed the task of sliding the zip on her dress all the way up. "Considering you're the one who wants to hookup with him."
Ugh, this again. The annoyance that fills my body whenever this subject gets brought up is another type of irritation entirely. How could she want to sleep with him?
Molly just sighed dreamily as she pulled the mascara wand through the lashes to paint them black.
"He's just so fit. You're all blind for not seeing it. I mean, he's just so tall. I normally don't go for blondes but he might as well have come from Aphrodite." Molly sounded infatuated with him.
"You're deranged." was all I could even think to reply to that. Aphrodite? Please. I mean, sure, he's gorgeous but not enough to make me stand him.
Molly snorted and watched me with a grin as I slipped into the dress. "You're just jealous Draco held the door open for me the other day."
Jealous? Of her and Draco? I gritted my teeth together as I worked the straps of Izzy's dress up my shoulders and turned to face the mirror. Catching sight of my highlighter on the floor, I leaned down to pick it up and used a fan brush to dust it lightly over my collarbone and high on my cheekbones.
Sarah let out a laugh and sat beside Molly on the bed. "Molls, he opened the door for himself... and you just managed to catch it before it closed."
I bit my lip to hold back my laughter and then glanced at Izzy to see her doing the same. My eyes caught the reflection of Molly's shoulders slumping in the mirror before laying back on the bed.
Trying to shake off the words the girls were saying, I admired the dress I was wearing. The blue fabric ceased at the middle of my thighs and decorated my upper chest with lace.
"You look fit," Molly announced when she sat up to observe my dress.
"I can't trust that considering you find Draco fit too." I rolled my eyes but smiled humorously as I fastened a silver necklace around my neck.
"She's not wrong," Izzy reassured me and dragged her eyes over the way my dress twirled.
"Dress looks better on you than me... damn, you're gonna get Draco acting up."
Even Izzy? What is everyone's obsession with Draco and I?
Molly practically threw me her shoes and yelled over the sound of the hairdryer she had just turned on, "Not if I get him acting up first."
My jaw clenched again. What was wrong with me? Why was I so bothered by her and Draco? Figuring out feelings is so overrated.
After another fifteen minutes, we went down to the common room to see the party was already in motion. Disco-looking lights transformed the room into red and then to blue every few seconds. All the seats were already occupied and moving bodies filled the room. Sweat already filled my nose. Ugh.
"Have something to drink, Violet," Molly said from beside me and shoved a red plastic cup containing orange liquid into my hand.
"What is it?" I questioned loudly over the music as I peered into the cup and swirled it around slightly.
"I don't know, but it's good!" she shrugged and then downed whatever was in her cup.
From patrolling with Draco to him punching McLaggen and then supposedly kissing me for a bet all the while throwing me mixed signals about literally everything, I deserve a drink.
Molly was right about the drink being good. I couldn't distinguish what alcohol was in it but I really didn't care. (A/N: Please do not drink something when you don't know what it is or what is in it. In this case, it was just alcohol but you can never be too careful! Violet is an idiot. Stay safe!)
"Damn, Violet... you shot that fast." Molly whistled sounding impressed. Izzy watched on warily.
I wasn't sure if it was the smartest decision but nonetheless, I held my hand out for Molly to pour me more of the drink. She took my cup and turned to the drinks table that had been set up next to us.
"Just don't drink too much." Izzy cautioned and gave me a look of genuine concern. "I don't want to be holding your hair up again." She added distastefully.
"Says the one who threw up on the roses Cedric got me in third year."
She grinned at that and then rolled her eyes. "He was a dick anyway. Those flowers lasted longer than that relationship."
She wasn't wrong there.
I turned back to Molly for her to place the cup back in my hand. She gave me a nod of encouragement. She probably wanted me to down it again.
So that's what I did. I downed that and the next cup that she refilled for me and then the next...
~~~~~~
Draco's POV:
Safe to say waking up looking like my little pony wasn't a great start to the morning. The second I looked at Crabbe's blue raspberry head and then in the mirror, I knew who had done this. I knew before Crabbe had recounted Violet and Izzy 'patrolling in our room'. Idiot. Why he didn't wake us was beyond me.
I wasn't too bothered about the pink hair as I knew it would wear off soon enough. I didn't want to risk trying to use my wand to remove the colour. I would probably end up bald.
"Why do you want to go? Hufflepuffs are boring. It will be a shit party." Crabbe whined from where he was lounging across his dorm bed throwing and catching a ping pong ball. I knew he just didn't want to be seen with his blue hair.
Blaise, who was feeling very smug that his hair was still brown simply said, "A party is a party." He threw a shirt over his head and went to look in the mirror at his perfect hair. Fuck him. So much for not caring about your hair, Draco.
"Yeah," I added sharply to Crabbe as I pulled a top over my head. "Don't you want to get those mudbloods back?"
Goyle had planned this prank with me. I was pretty sure he just felt sorry for me because of the whole amortentia thing. Violet had cursed it to make it smell like her. I was sure of it.
A litre bottle of water and a bag of flour rested against the door. I was going to enjoy watching flour stick to her hair and face.
The memory of her on the astronomy tower with her lips to mine and her hands at the nape of my neck resurfaced.
Of course, there hadn't been a bet. She just couldn't know the truth. She couldn't know that the Malfoy heir wanted to snog the face off a muggleborn Hufflepuff. If word got out to my father that I kissed her then I wouldn't be allowed home for Christmas. But considering the stupid expectations my father was holding me to, I would take Hogwarts over home any day.
Crabbe threw the ball to the floor and watched as it bounced until it hid under my bed. He let out an exhausted sigh and went to speak again but I cut him off.
"Get up. We're going."
---
"I knew the music would be shit..." Crabbe muttered under his breath to no one in particular as we walked into the Hufflepuff common room. He wasn't wrong.
Goyle set the bottled water and flour by the door when no one was watching and then covered them with a cloak for now. Timing is everything.
"Nice hair, Malfoy!" Harry scarhead called from beside that excuse of a ginger who burst out laughing when he saw me. Like I'd care what an orphan would say. Why were they even here? It was them who lost the quidditch match. Idiots.
"Jealous you can't pull it off?" I quipped but didn't spare them another glance so I could start scanning the room of mingled bodies for Violet. I was only looking for her so I could get her over towards the flour. Saves me lugging it over to her.
Goyle nudged me in my ribs and pointed towards a group of people who were standing by the fireplace. My eyes instantly fell on Violet. She was standing with a bunch of people with a red cup held loosely in her hand.
"Thanks," I muttered distractedly as my feet drew me towards that stupid girl who lives in the centre of my mind. Honestly, she needs to start paying rent for that.
I tried to give myself a pep talk but I gave up when I started feeling like Troy Bolton. (A/N: Was high school musical even made when this movie/ book was set? No, I don't care.)
A dark dress clung to Violet's figure. For fuck sake. I hate her. I hate how good she looks. She has no right to look that good.
Before I could even think to get my lips to work to form a coherent sentence, Violet turned around and paused when she saw me. Her eyes moved up to my hair without hesitation. As expected, she doubled over in laughter causing the group around her to look at me and then join in. Chortles were even heard from the people behind me. Whether they were laughing at me or Crabbe was difficult to tell.
I waited for Violet to stop laughing and act like a normal person but when it seemed like she regained control she took another look at me and cracked up again. This was almost a parallel to the night I had kissed Violet.
"Wonder what happened." Violet managed to get out after a few more moments. She bit her lip to stop laughing again. I hate when she does that.
Violet's eyes were glossed over and her movements were more delayed and unstable than usual. Great, like sober Violet wasn't annoying enough.
"I wonder."
Violet stood on her tiptoes to get a good look at Crabbe over my shoulder. "You and your boyfriend look like Skittles." Her giddy voice laughed at her own joke. Despite hating her, my chest softened at the sound. Even surrounded by the music her laughter held its own. There was no denying that.
In a second I wasn't prepared for, Violet's fingers raised to my head to pull pink strands through her fingers. I had to restrain myself from letting my eyes flutter shut. The somewhat innocent doe gleam in her eyes made me even more weak. I grabbed her wrist gently in my hand and lowered her hand. She rolled her eyes but grinned around her plastic cup when she brought it to her lips.
Those lips. Oh, those lips.
Violet was flailing her arms slightly in her drunkenness. Some of the liquid in her cup spilt onto the floor without her realising it.
"What's in it?" I asked sceptically.
"I don't know but it's great!" Violet yelled over the music. Yep. Definitely sounds floaty.
I wasn't sure if it was curiosity or my damn unexplainable overprotectiveness over her that caused me to take the drink from her hands and down most of it in one gulp. (A/N: Draco is also stupid and drank a drink without knowing what is in it. Life lesson, people: Do. Not. Drink. When. You. Don't. Know. What's. In. It.)
Definitely vodka. Is that rum as well? Tastes like a pirate threw up in it. My face screwed up in disgust.
"Hey!" Violet yelled in a delayed manner and poked my stomach with her finger aggressively. "You took it."
No shit, Sherlock.
"How much have you drunk?" I interrogated as I watched her sway slightly from side to side. Where was her friend who was basically attached to her by the hip?
Violet shrugged dramatically and then giggled when I raised an eyebrow, awaiting her answer.
"Not sure... can I have it back? Please?" Violet asked innocently and looked up at me sweetly with her head tilted to one side and her eyes big.
I almost gave in then. Almost.
"If you drink any more you'll throw up on my shoes. It would take you years to pay me back." I answered after a moment of thinking.
Before I could turn around, Violet's hand swiftly reached out and gripped my arm.
"No I won't!" she argued and tried to grab the red cup. I held it above my head out of her reach.
"Yes, you will."
"No, I won't, you dumb crab."
Crab? That's a new one.
"You're so drunk, Violet."
I didn't pick up on my slip-up until Violet's eyes widened and then dropped to the floor. Even in the reddish lights, I noticed her cheeks take on a pinker hue.
I had never called her by her name before. Not to her face anyway.
"Okay..." Violet complied quietly and then looked up at me from under her lashes. What did that mean?
My heartbeat raced once more. This girl is actually going to give me a heart attack one day.
"Hey, Violet!" One of Violet's friends appeared from the crowd on the dance floor and made her way towards us. Ugh. All of Violet's friends make Gryffindors seem bearable.
"Hey, Molly," Violet answered back drowsily. She smiled but it soon transitioned into a slight frown when this random girl's arm slid around my torso. Personal space much.
This Molly girl who I had never spoken one word to was cozying up to my side and looking up at me with a similar gleam in her eyes to Pansy's.
"How about you get off me and go tackle Scarface instead?"
The girl's smile dropped and her eyes widened in rejection. She looked at Violet who was watching with a twitch of a smile on her lips. When Violet didn't say anything she huffed and made her way back into the crowd of bodies.
I zoned my attention back in on the girl in front of me. Violet flicked her hair away from her face and let out a slow sigh as her eyes drooped closed for a moment.
"I'm tired." she blurted out and wore a sleepy smile as she looked back up at me.
"You weren't a minute ago."
Violet just nodded drowsily. "I am now."
"Go to bed then. What do you want me to do about it?" I snapped and placed Violet's cup down on a table beside us when she wasn't looking.
"Kay, will do hello kitty head." Violet nodded again and went to move towards the stairs before wobbling. From instinct, my hands without my permission steadied Violet. That familiar tingling sensation washed over me. Get a fucking grip, Draco. I managed to after a few seconds as I released my hold on her.
"Do you ever not fall over? You could get fucking paid for it."
"Woah..." she said airily while looking up at me and laughing again. "You're strong."
My eyes widened at hearing the words fall from her lips. She would regret that in the morning.
Violet giggled at my reaction and then raised her arms. "Can you carry me? Walking is hard, Draco."
I tried to ignore the way my name sounded like a caress on her lips. It was honey.
"I'm not carrying you." I declared stubbornly and crossed my arms over my chest. However, when I watched her huff and then fail miserably at trying to walk again I had to give in. Okay, I might hate her but I didn't want her to break her nose on the stone steps.
Before I could decide against it again, I let out a hefty sigh and slung her legs over my arm with ease before standing back up to my full height. Violet squealed in surprise. Her arms wrapped around my neck like she was hanging on for dear life.
"Maybe let me breathe," I suggested in a cold tone despite for some reason wanting her to hold onto me tighter. Violet couldn't care less that she was choking me because her grip never loosened. We hadn't been this closed since we kissed.
I wasn't worrying about people seeing me carry Violet. They were all so drunk they would likely forget they saw it in the morning. However, my name was called when I had only made it up the first step.
I turned around to see Goyle standing dumbstruck with the bag of flour in one hand and the bottle of water in the other. His hands looked like scales as he struggled with the weight of the items.
With one look at Violet's confused, sleepy, drunk face I made my decision. My eyes went back to Goyle as I shook my head. He looked severely pissed off but more confused. Someone that was more pissed off than confused was Crabbe whose blue head was striding its way towards us.
Crabbe didn't seem to notice my reluctance to not go through with the prank and probably thought me holding Violet was a part of it as he grabbed the water from Goyle's hand.
"Draco, what's-" Violet's voice sounded from my shoulder but before she could finish her sentence I quickly swivelled around to prevent the water from hitting her.
So there I stood in complete irritation as cold water drenched the back of my clothes and dripped onto the oak floor. Violet was none the wiser and just rested her head in the crook of my neck nonchalantly.
Irritably, I glanced over my shoulder at Crabbe who was staring at Goyle and then at me with an open mouth and wide eyes full of regret. He better put a reservation on a hospital bed tomorrow.
"Hurry up! I want my bed not you, you bet making Shrek!" Violet suddenly sounded much more awake. Her lips were right next to my ear and I winced slightly as I turned and ascended the steps.
"I'm taking you there and stop screaming in my ear!"
Violet huffed but must have decided she couldn't be bothered to argue back as she just slumped further into my arms. I guess I didn't hate the contact. In fact, I didn't mind the contact at all.
"What room are you?"
"Six."
When I came across a door with the number '6' painted elegantly on it, I made Violet fish out her key and open the door.
"That bed." Violet pointed at the four-poster bed closest to the window. The room was quite light for it being later than midnight.
I nodded and leaned over the bed to release Violet from my arms so she could lie down. She curled into the fetal position and pulled the covers over her.
"You're sleeping in your dress?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Violet opened her droopy eyes and grinned up at me.
"If you want me to undress in front of you just say so."
I once again decided to make the mature decision and bite back a snide comment. My eyes instead dropped from Violet's face and fell to a necklace that was sleeping on her neck.
I leaned down a bit and moved Violet's hair from around her shoulders so my fingers could slide behind her neck and easily unclasp the necklace.
"Get off me, you prick!" Violet's hand swatted at my arm but I had already put the necklace down.
"You're so dramatic."
Violet's nose scrunched up in irritation before she rubbed one of her eyes with the back of her hand. Black makeup smeared down her cheeks and Violet groaned when she saw the evidence of it painted across her knuckles. Without much thought on her part, she reached her hand over to me and wiped it clean on my leg.
"Do you know how much these trousers cost?"
"No, and I don't care."
How can one person be so infuriating?
Realising that she needed to take her makeup off, Violet reluctantly sat up in her bed and carelessly reached for what I assumed were makeup wipes on the desk beside her bed.
The packet rustled as she ripped one out and started wiping it forcefully across her face.
"You're gonna tear your skin off," I said disapprovingly and before I knew it I had the wipe clasped in my hand and was gently removing Violet's makeup. One of my hands held her chin in place as I removed her lipstick. It took everything I had not to stare at her lips again. I knew what they felt like.
"I smelled you." Violet suddenly whispered drowsily as her drunk eyes looked up into my sober ones.
"Hmm?" I hummed not understanding one part of that sentence at all.
Violet's eyes never left mine "In potions... amortentia." she said it so quietly I was surprised I heard it at all.
My hand froze over the makeup wipe on Violet's cheek. There was no sarcasm in her eyes, just sincerity and alcohol. It's just the alcohol, it's just...
Taking advantage of this rare moment of vulnerability between us, I moved my fingers from Violet's chin and let my thumb run across her bottom lip. Her breath hitched and her eyes closed, now asleep.
"I smelled you too, Violet."