- Chapter 23 -

March 6, 1996

"Lemon juice" I murmur. Immediately the big portrait of a fat woman springs open, her cries of "You can't be here" and "This isn't allowed" being muffled by the wall.

I quickly climb through the big hole in the wall. The warmth of the big fire roaring in the fireplace immediately spreading through my body. The common room is still brightly lit, chairs are standing all around the room, and cushions are lazily thrown everywhere giving it a very cozy feeling. I look around the room and immediately notice the two red-haired boys sitting in front of the fireplace. I push myself out of the hole and land with a loud thud on the ground. I curse myself softly for not paying attention to the noise I would make by doing that.

I see that the twins have noticed my arrival and are already starting to come my way.

"Thank god Eva, we were worried you weren't going to make it," Fred says in the most sincere way.

I roll my eyes at them. "I wasn't on the verge of death you idiots," I say while giving Fred a playful push.

"Well, now that Fred has so kindly made his worries known, we can go on and head upstairs. We don't want anyone waking up and finding you here," George now says. I quickly nod and Fred quickly follows my move. Together we start to make our way towards the boys' dormitories.

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"You remember that time when George blew up his potion while Snape was standing next to him completely covering the two of them in purple smoke," Fred snickers while trying to contain his laugh. "You should have seen Snape's face, completely covered in purple, I would kill to see Snape in purple again. I'm still wondering why he didn't kill you that instant. It certainly looked like he was going to," George gives his brother a hurt look before bursting out laughing.

"Hey, that was an accident okay," George answers while giving his brother a push, which makes Fred laugh even louder. I can't contain myself any longer and burst out laughing too and after a short while, I'm clutching my abdomen against the pain from laughing too much.

An empty bottle of Fire Whisky is laying next to Fred, and George is holding a half-empty one in his hand before taking a sip and passing it to me. I eagerly accept it and pour the liquid down my throat in one big gulp. The feeling of it warming my belly while I pass the bottle over to Fred, who is still laughing, god knows why.

Some left-over food is spread across the floor, however, nothing really remains except for some left-over pieces and crumbles. We are sitting in front of Fred's bed, in a small circle on the ground. I look at the two boys who are now slowly coming back to reality but soon George recalls a new memory and we are once again shrieking it out from laughter together.

"Hey, the food is gone, why is the food gone?" Fred asks while pouting his lips. I roll my eyes while laughing. George is lazily staring up at the ceiling, not in the slightest aware of what Fred just said.

"I'll go get some more, you big baby," I say, chuckling before getting up and making my way towards the kitchens.

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I slowly make my way downstairs, trying not to attract too much attention... although that is pretty hard when your feet do not want to cooperate which has led to me having fallen multiple times already. Over my own feet, I might add. I think I may have had a little too much of that fire whisky. And so I continue on my way downstairs, slowly stumbling through the corridors. I can hear Peeves rummaging in some faraway classroom, I quickly turn the other way. Not wanting to draw any attention, Peeves wouldn't hesitate in the slightest before snitching on me to Filch and that stupid cat of his. I really have to look out where I'm going now that I think of it, who knows where his stupid cat might be hiding.

I slowly descend the stairs that lead towards the entrance hall. I can already see the door which hides the staircase that will lead me to my destination. I softly curse Fred and George for having me do this, not looking forward to the way back in the slightest. 

"And where do you think you're going at this hour?" A dark familiar voice sounds from somewhere to my left. I almost walk straight into a suit of armor but manage to catch myself before I fall. While cursing myself and the suit of armor I turn around, searching for the body I now know must be near. Immediately after I turn around my eyes land on a dark shadow outlining the figure of a man standing in a corner. My eyes adjust quickly to the darkness and I find myself looking right at, the one and only, Severus Snape. Of course. 

I sigh. "Of course, there's no way I could've just been caught by stupid Filch. I'm starting to really dislike fate," I half mumble, half grumble to myself, thinking about my mission to avoid being alone with him. 

He raises his eyebrows at me while walking closer. His hands neatly tucked away behind his back, a strict look plain on his face.

"May I ask, again, what you are doing here at this hour?" He asks, his tone as cold as ever.

"I don't know, what could a girl be doing out of bed at this hour?" I ask while playing with my hair and giving him a seductive look. I might as well enjoy this now that the rest of the night has been ruined.

His strict look quickly turns into plain surprise but he manages to correct himself almost immediately. "You should go back to your dorm," He then says.

"Oh, but where's the fun in that?" I say while running my hand down his chest.

"What are you doing?" He says while catching my hand, stilling it but not moving it.

"Having a bit of fun, you should try it sometimes" I say nonchalantly.

He then raises his eyebrows at me, suspicion clear on his face. After a moment where neither of us says a word, realization hits him.

"You're drunk," He says while taking a step back and letting go of my hand.

"Nah, I'm just very happy," I say while chuckling. At that same time, I trip over my feet and stumble, immediately two firm hands grab me by my waist and keep me up.

"Oh you are very drunk," Severus mumbles, more to himself than to me before picking me up and making his way down towards the dungeons with me cradled up in his arms. 

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I love this chapter. Anyone noticed the little quote I put into this chapter from another movie??;)

Love, Irs