CLOUDED EUPHORIA || Draco Malfoy

VIII.

Sunday October 8th, 1995

Nia's head was pounding. Hitting your head against the wall was feeble compared to the hangover Nia (unfortunately) woke up with. She groaned out of bed, in the process of detangling from her bedsheets and stumbling to the bathroom. The shower the girl took after didn't help much, but at least the water left her looking not so dreadful. If it was up to her, Nia would've stayed in bed all day recovering from last night's events. But Hermione's words at the library yesterday led her to believe she was wanted at Hogsmeade for some unknown reason.

When Nia exited her dorm room and found the common room she was met with the aftermath of last night's party being cleaned up by lower year students who appeared to be irritated enough to clean up the mess. Wordlessly, Nia lifted her wand and guided the plastic cups scattered all over the floor into the air and in a trash bag a third year was holding in their hands before exiting the house of Slytherin.

"Nia!" Theo's voice rings in her ears. She feels his presence now beside her figure, walking in sync with her footsteps.

"G'morning," Nia tries to muster a smile but the hangover she's experiencing covers her sense of humility.

"You don't look too good," Theo's wary face scrunches up.

"Oh thanks," Nia rolls her eyes, "just what a girl likes to hear."

"Alright sorry," Theo's soft laughter rings in the air, "where are you headed off to? Breakfast?"

"Hogsmeade actually," Nia replies. The girl was going to leave it at that, but behind her lips a twitch crept up after a pause. "care to join?"

•

Half an hour later, Theo was thrilled to finally have Nia for the day. Or so it seemed.

He'd taken her to Honeydukes first, where she eyed the chocolate frogs and the fizzing whizzbies. "They don't have this in America," Nia excitedly gawked at the candy. Despite the hangover, candy would always wake up the girl. When she reached into the pocket of her jacket, she realized her luck stretched only to have enough for one chocolate frog.

When Theo noticed the limited coins in her possession, he improvised a way to excuse himself. "I'll be back, 'going to the loo."

He didn't wait for her response as his talk figure ducked below candy stands and displays around the store. Theo picked up two chocolate frogs and two packages of fizzing whizzbies along the way to the cash register. To speed the process up, the boy simply handed more than enough Sickles to the old woman behind the counter, whispering, "keep the change."

Dashing back to Nia, he found the girl in the same indecisive place. According to Ron, each chocolate frog had a different wizard's card, and Nia wanted her first chocolate frog (that wasn't infused with a love potion) to have a good card in it. Theo tapped on her shoulder, bringing her attention to him. "I brought you something."

"No you didn't," Nia stared down at the candy in his possession. Slowly, a smile crept up on Nia's face. "You idiot! What–why?"

"I saw you eyeing them," Theo responded. His heart pounded severely, unable to swallow down his heart.

Nia looped her arm through his and led them outside the store. Finally, she turned to face Theo. "You shouldn't have."

"Why not?" Theo countered, opening one of the chocolate frogs in order to tempt the girl with a smirk. "You know it's good luck when someone buys your first chocolate frog."

There was no such thing as that.

"You're lying," Nia quickly said, but her smile said otherwise. Nia took the frog before it jumped out of the box and bit into the decadent chocolate. A swirl of cocoa melted in her mouth, and the girl was convinced this chocolate was the best hangover remedy ever.