Crescent Moons ; J.S. Potter

31. eagles and lions.

Daisy had never felt a headache so intense as she did when she woke up on the morning after her seventeenth birthday party. It felt like a knife was sawing her head right down the middle. This also meant that for the first time, she hadn't woken up at six o'clock before a Quidditch match. Luckily, this match was at noon, meaning she had enough time.

She slowly got up, holding her head as she did so. Daisy slipped into her Quidditch uniform and put a red and gold scrunchie onto her wrist. Then, she went into the bathroom to splash her face with freezing cold water, which seemed to muffle the headache a little. Once she had returned to her bedroom, Gwen and Marlee were both awake.

"Does anybody else's head hurt?" asked Daisy. Marlee looked at her pitifully.

"Do you remember last night?" she asked. Daisy thought for a moment. She remembered chugging an entire bottle of Firewhiskey, singing a song on stage, and pulling James away from the crowd.

"Yeah, I somehow remember everything!" said Daisy happily. "After I dragged James away from the crowd, does anybody know where we went? That's the thing I can't seem to remember."

Gwen let out an awkward cough. Marlee pursed her lips. Neither seemed to be willing to tell her.

"Tell me!"

"OK, fine," sighed Marlee. "You dragged him to this really dark corridor near the Transfiguration classroom. I caught you two just before you guys were gonna—"

The memories suddenly rushed back, clearer than ever. She remembered dragging James away, calling him attractive a million times, asking him to be her boyfriend, kissing him all over his cheeks, and then trying to kiss him on his lips. She also remembered how James had refused her. She remembered it all. She wanted to jump out of the window.

"No!" she gasped. "Please, that can't be real! That was a dream! Please, tell me it was a dream!"

"It was real," said Marlee regretfully. "James and I had a little talk after I dragged you up to bed, which was really hard by the way. You were kicking me!"

"Oops, sorry!"

"And I had to do it all alone!" said Marlee angrily, looking over at Gwen. Gwen had a guilty look on her face. "'Cause this one was snogging that blonde boy!"

"Oh, you guys kissed?" gasped Daisy. "Congrats, Gwen!"

The two girls squealed, jumping up and down.

"HEY!" shouted Marlee, making the two girls stop. "I haven't told you two what James and I talked about."

"You have the floor," said Gwen. Marlee nodded.

"Right, so James told me," began Marlee, "that you kept hugging him and that you complimented his hair loads of times. He also said that you were trying to kiss him, which, damn, girl."

"That's it?" asked Daisy.

"Yeah, that's all he told me," said Marlee. "Why, is there more?"

"No," said Daisy at once. She didn't like hiding things from her best friend, but she didn't exactly feel comfortable telling her about how she had asked James out, called him attractive, kissed him on his cheeks a million times, and was just about to kiss him before she had interrupted them. She felt a wave of gratitude for James, whom she had just realized that she had to face.

"Oh my Merlin," said Daisy, horrified. "I have to face James after that? Who let me drink so much Firewhiskey? What the hell?"

"C'mon, Daisy, it was a fun party nonetheless!" said Gwen. "I bet James forgot about it by now. It's not like you asked him out or actually kissed him. Now that would be bad."