it all ends with us: ruins

037

Chapter Thirty-Seven:

"I'll burn the whole world down if it means I get you back."

"Veritaserum?" Atlas asks incredulously.

It was a Friday afternoon and the group had gathered in Pansy's dorm. They were all staring at the little vial in Lorenzo's hand that he was holding up. Everyone stared at him in disbelief but Lorenzo looked quite proud of himself, for stealing off of Snape. He throws the vial into the air and it lands with a small thud near Draco's feet.

"We should add a little bit to everyone's drinks and play truth or dare." He explains.

"I think you should put it back before Snape realises you took it." Ren pipes up.

"Where's the fun in that?" Apollo snorts.

Atlas chucks a pillow at her brother for supporting Lorenzo's stupid decisions. She was currently squished in between Blaise and Theo who decided that her chair was the most comfortable and that that's where they wanted to sit. Pansy was sitting next to Apollo, Kiera and Eli while Ren and Draco were sitting on Pansy's bean bag chair. Lorenzo, obviously, was standing front and centre.

"I'm all for it." Theo shouts, which encourages Lorenzo not to return the vial.

Lorenzo reaches down and grabs the bottles of alcohol from underneath Pansy's bed and starts pouring them into individual cups. Eli helps hand them out and everyone grabs a cup cautiously. Atlas stares at the contents while Lorenzo walks around the room adding drops of the truth serum to each cup. He finally takes a seat and downs the contents of his cup and everyone watches in shock.

"Someone had to go first right?" Lorenzo laughs.

"Hell yeah." Theo approves, knocking back his glass.

Atlas gives him a weird look for being so enthusiastic about risking having his secrets revealed but follows in his footsteps anyway. Apollo finishes his cup next and in the next five minutes the whole group had finished their drinks and were now refilling without the truth serum. Blaise pushes back the bed and everyone helps moving the furniture. They get settled in the middle of the room in a circle.

"I'll spin first." Ren giggles already kind of tipsy.

She spins the empty bottle that laid in the centre of the circle and everyone looks at it encaptivated. As the bottle slowly came to a stop, the group looked in anticipation to see who had to go first.

"Apollo, truth or dare?" Ren squeals in excitement.

"Dare." Apollo decides comfortably.

"Hmm." Ren hums to herself. "I dare you to snort like a pig every time the bottle spins."

"How childish." Draco scoffs making Ren pout.

"I'll spin next." Apollo says. He spins the bottle and snorts which puts a smile on Ren's face.

The game goes on for a while and although the group were hesitant to start, they all warmed up to the idea. Atlas watched Lorenzo moo like a cow and Pansy had to down a whole bottle of a potion that was hidden in Eli's pocket. They answered truth questions about their biggest fears and most embarrassing moments and for once, their previous worries about their safety and school had completely vanished.

It was memories like this that Atlas wanted to cherish forever. The smiles on everyone's faces, including Draco's made her happy. Because if her friends were happy, she was also happy. The laughter bounced off the walls, and Ren's squeals and Pansy's unique laughter were some of the young Lennon's favourite sounds. Atlas charmed a camera to take pictures of the group and those pictures would never leave her side.