Lost Devotion // Sebastian Sallow

Hungover

As I slowly emerged from the depths of sleep, my senses were immediately assaulted by the relentless thumping in my head. Attempting to rise from my cozy bed, I was met with an unexpected force that seemed to weigh down every inch of my body. What on earth had happened last night?

Memories began to trickle back into my consciousness, like fragments of a hazy dream. Ah, yes....The Three Broomsticks with Garreth. The sheer number of butterbeers we indulged in was nothing short of remarkable, and now, on this dreary Sunday morning, I was paying the price for it.

But what else? I wracked my brain, desperately trying to summon any other memory. How did I get to the castle? And how did I even manage to find my way into this room, let alone my bed? The harder I strained to recollect the events, the more my head throbbed with a vengeance.

Summoning every ounce of willpower, I pushed myself to sit upright, cautiously dangling my legs over the edge of the bed. Suddenly, the room began to spin, adding an extra layer of disorientation to my already bewildering situation.

"Well, well, well, look who's finally decided to join the land of the living!" Imelda exclaimed, as she stood in front of her trunk, effortlessly slipping on a cozy jumper.

"How did I get here? In my bed I mean?" I rubbed my eyes to adjust to the brightly lit room.

"You stumbled in right through that door, I had to put you to bed and tuck you in," she let out a small laugh, "But that wasn't the end of it. You started rambling on and on about kissing Garreth. It was enough to make me feel a little queasy, to be honest."

"Kissing? What?" I exclaimed, my voice catching in my throat as I struggled to suppress a cough.

"Look you and I both know you two have already kissed before, last year? Although I'm the only one who knows since I unfortunately caught you two at that Gryffindor party but anyways, yea you two kissed," she sighed.

"And I liked it?" I was now curious, "Did I say anything else?"

She was standing at the end of my bed, looking down at me. She seemed to hesitate before opening her mouth, "Nope. Just said Garreth is so nice, cute and sweet. Didn't mention anything or anyone else."

Her words left me slightly perplexed, but I brushed it off, attributing it to the foggy state of my mind. However, a wave of nausea washed over me, signaling that I should probably drag myself out of bed and grab a bite to eat before breakfast ends.

"Have you eaten breakfast?" I asked her, noticing she was about to leave the room.

"Breakfast? Pfft, it's practically lunchtime already!" she chuckled, playfully rolling her eyes. "But hey, I'm about to head there now. Care to join me?"

With a quick nod, I scrambled to grab whatever I could from the top of my trunk to throw on and eagerly followed her out into the bustling common room. We made a beeline for the Great Hall, our hunger growing by the second.

"You know everyone is talking about you and Garreth right?" she bumped my shoulder slightly, almost knocking me off balance in my unstable state.

"Seriously? Already?" I groaned, fully aware that gossip had a way of spreading like wildfire within the castle walls. I knew it would make its way around the school but not so soon, we had literally just gone on the damn date.

"You can't snog Garreth Weasely in a pub and not expect people to see it, of course they would be talking about it."

"Fucking hell," I let out a loud exasperated groan as we walked through the large wooden doors into the dining hall and over to the table, "Does it count if I don't remember it?"