Before you (Fred Weasley)

CHAPTER 15

My head was pounding since the moment I opened my eyes. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for a really long time. I felt as if I had been placed under a sheet of bricks. I groaned as I turned over to see what time it was.

Fuck.

It was 10 AM, I had missed Arithmancy.

Who's idea was it to have a party on a Sunday evening anyway?

The memory of last night was hazy, I remembered downing two glasses of firewhiskey, I remembered watching Amelie dance and I remembered Fred laughing at something, but that was all.

"Alice?"

I noticed Padma walking into the room.

"Hey Padma" I croaked.

"Hey, wow you must have been hammered last night"

"Yea" I massaged my temples, not wanting to have a conversation in this state.

"Hermione's waiting for you downstairs, she told me to tell you to see her immediately"

What could Hermione possibly want from me? 

I slowly got up from bed, feeling a wave of nausea which disappeared as soon as it came. I slipped on a pair of shoes and walked down to the common room and out the door. Hermione stood there with her arms crossed.

"You look like a mess" she said.

"Please don't lecture me about last night"

"I'm not here to lecture you, I got out of Care of Magical Creatures for thirty minutes to help you recover, I don't want you to miss your classes" She sighed, helping me to walk to the bathroom.

I wanted to give Hermione a hug considering that she had gotten out of a class only to take care of me. That was very unlike her.

"That's really sweet of you Hermione"

"Maybe keep your mouth closed? Your breath isn't at it's..nicest right now" she said, trying to bite back a smile.

I nodded and stumbled in to the bathroom.

"Here, I've got your uniform and your toothbrush, hurry up and take a shower" Hermione said, sitting on a nearby stool and pulling out a book.

"You're going to read in the bathroom?"

"I don't want to be clueless when I get back to Hagrid's class, I'm going to catch up while you shower"

I looked at her in awe, she really cared for me more than I cared for myself.

I stepped in to the shower after removing last night's clothes, immediately feeling better under the cold water.

After dressing and brushing my teeth, I felt much more refreshed but my headache refused to go away.

"Now," Hermione said, getting up from her stool,

"We go to Madame Pomfrey's"

When we reached the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey sat me down and asked me what the matter was but Hermione replied for me instead.

"She's having a headache, she accidentally walked into a door which was cast with a temporary invisibility charm"

I could tell she had worked up the excuse beforehand.

Madame Pomfrey simply handed me a potion to drink. I drank it in one gulp, trying not to savour the terrible taste. My headache slowly started fading away before stopping completely.

"Thanks Hermione, you're a lifesaver" I said as we walked out of the wing.

"Don't worry about it, now if I run, I can still attend the last half an hour of Hagrid's class, I trust you can go to breakfast yourself?" She said.