Clouded
Theo didn’t know it at the time, but he was right when he said they’d win against Hufflepuff. The match had gone by smoothly, both teams scoring and catching up with each other, until Slytherins star seeker finally caught the snitch, allowing them to win at once.
Draco Malfoy was carried out of the field by all of his teammates, cheering and screaming because of their victory. On the stands were all of the remaining students of Hogwarts. Some were sulking because of their loss, others cheering for their win. Somewhere in those stands stood Harry Potter, whining to his friends about his nemesis winning the first match of the year, but neither Hermione or Ron wanted to listen to him anymore, so they shut him down.
“Bloody hell Malfoy!” Theo cheers at his friend as he gets put down on the ground again once they’ve made it away from the spotlight. Draco laughs, his smile wide on his face.
“Told you we’d win eh?” Theo adds, smirking at his friend as he thinks back to all the complaining Draco did before the game.
“Shove off Theo,” Draco scoffs, beginning to get himself undressed so he can shower and get ready for the mandatory victory party they’re about to attend in their common room.
Mattheo, Lorenzo, Theo, Draco and Blaise all walk into the Slytherin common room together. The party has already started and music is blaring through the night. “How is no one finding out about this?” Mattheo asks, referring to the loud music. “It’s a wonder, really.” Blaise raises his shoulders in a shrug.
“Come on then, let’s get you all started shall we?” Pansy Parkinson approaches the five boys, leading them to a table in the back with all the liquor the students have managed to sneak in.
Enzo’s eyes widen at the sight. The table is filled with various bottles in different colors and sizes. “Do we even know what’s in there?” he points to the table, looking a bit confused as his eyes glide across the scene. “Does it matter?” Theo wraps an arm around Lorenzo’s shoulders. “It just needs to go down the hatch.” Theo smirks and pretends to down a bottle with a hand motion, making Enzo laugh. “You’re an alcoholic, Nott.”
Theo narrows his eyes at Enzo, then goes to fetch a bottle. He pops the cap off and heads straight back to him. “Down the hatch Berkshire!” Lorenzo looks utterly terrified but grabs the bottle and takes a few sips nonetheless. “I won’t stop till you’re all groggy,” Theo winks at his friend who has yet to recover from the horrible taste of the alcohol he just drank.
“I think the star seeker deserves to pick a bottle,” Pansy says, winking at Draco who takes a step forward and grabs something he finds interesting. “This shall be a very fun night.”
The group agrees in unison. “Alright Mattheo,” Blaise says, a smug smile on his face, “your turn.”
Mattheo sighs loudly and then steps towards the table. He reaches out to one and grabs it. “Good choice,” Blaise says, smirking at him.
After a while, the group settles down in a few of the couches in the corner of the room. Mattheo takes a few large sips from his bottle as he tries to listen to what Theo and Enzo are talking about. Lorenzo leans backwards as much as he can, laughing as he shakes his head in an attempt to get Theo off him. Theo, on the other hand, is almost hovering over him, trying to get him to drink from the liquor in his bottle. “I do not want that sickeling drink,” Enzo says in a long breath as he struggles to push Theo’s arm away.
Eventually Theo gives up, but he continues to bribe Lorenzo into drinking more and more at every chance he gets. Draco is off chatting to a group of girls in the opposite end of the room, and Blaise is talking to Pansy. Mattheo slowly begins to feel the effects of the alcohol as he sits there, drinking more and more. “Are you drunk yet?” Theo asks Lorenzo, and Mattheo’s head shoots up. He doesn’t want to miss this, especially not since Theo himself definitely is quite affected already.
“I am not,” Lorenzo tries, in the sternest voice he can muster, but fails miserably. His voice is slurry and his breathing short. Him and Theo both have a crimson red covering their cheeks. “Didn’t think you’d be such a lightweight, Berkshire.” Theo folds his arms and takes another swig of his bottle. Mattheo doesn’t even remember how many Theo has had, nor himself for that matter.
Lorenzo scoffs loudly. “Well we can’t all be alcoholics from the day we turned 12 now, can we?” Lorenzo folds his arms too, and Theo looks at him in utter shock. Mattheo’s eyes widen and he stares at Enzo who only now, moments later, realizes what he just said. “Oh- I-” he stammers, but he doesn’t get a chance to apologize before Blaise shows up with his arm around Draco’s shoulders. “Who’s ready to get this party started?”
Time passes, no one knows how long, but it was well spent nonetheless. Theo and Blaise spent a long time on the dance floor, yelling along to the songs and dancing with anyone who passes by them. Draco prefers talking to people, so he spent most of his time by the table with the drinks where everyone would eventually stop by so he could talk to them. Lorenzo and Mattheo spent most of their night in the couches, except for the 10 minutes Blaise and Theo persuaded them into dancing with them.
The air is filled with heavy breaths as the four boys crash into the soft couches after showing off their impeccable dance moves to the surrounding audience. Theo falls down flat on his back and Lorenzo has to push his legs down onto the ground so he can sit down in the other end. Blaise and Mattheo flop down next to each other on the opposite couch.
“Can I ask you something?” Theo says suddenly, sitting up abruptly. He stares directly at Mattheo who doesn’t realize that it’s him he’s speaking to. “Me?” he points to himself, looking at Theo who nods. “Yeah.”
Mattheo shrugs and takes a large swig of the new drink he just recently acquired. “i’ve been thinking, right? About that day when we got caught after the prank,” Theo starts, immediately grabbing everyone’s attention, “how come we didn’t get in trouble? What did you do?”
“And why did you do it?” Draco adds, flopping down on Mattheo’s opposite side. He’s clearly overheard Theo’s question.
Mattheo sighs. He needs to think carefully about what to say now. Although, thinking straight is quite hard when there are loads of alcohol in your blood, clouding your mind. “I did it for Enzo,” he blurts out, surprised by his own honesty. Lorenzo’s head snaps up and he stares at Mattheo with confusion written all over his face. “I saw that you were uncomfortable and I took the blame,” Mattheo closes his eyes as he speaks, trying to thread carefully without even knowing why. Whatever was happening to Enzo in that office, seemed personal and speaking up about it around all of his drunk friends, didn’t seem quite right.
“Oh,” Lorenzo says slowly.
“I assume you saw that my hands were-,” he paused, looking for the right word, “shaky?”
Mattheo nods, his eyes flashing to Enzo’s hands. “Yeah… It happens sometimes.” Lorenzo looks at his hands, flexing them slowly.
The other boys seem awfully quiet. “It is okay though,” Lorenzo adds and sighs, “it’s manageable."
“When did it begin?” Theo asks, his voice filled with worry.
Lorenzo shrugs, looking down at his hands. “Thank you for taking the blame though,” he looks up at Mattheo, desperately trying to change the subject. “I mean, it’s not like they were going to expel you in the first week of your attendance. Smart thinking.”
Mattheo nods, sinking a lump in his throat. He knows that Dumbledore wouldn’t hesitate to expel him, but of course his friends didn’t need to know that. “Let us call it a night, yeah?” Blaise says, standing up.
Theo agrees and stands up as well. “I'm good with that.”
Draco, Mattheo and Lorenzo get up as well. “Let us go then,” Draco says slowly, nodding towards the exit before walking away. His friends follow him out.