MISSED CALLS ➡︎ TEDDY LUPIN [2] ✓

lxxxviii. GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM

It had been Alaina's idea to throw not only a victory party for the entire Gryffindor quidditch team, but also a party celebrating Avalon being signed to the Holyhead Harpies. The blonde had wanted to throw them on separate days, to, in her words, 'extend the celebrations,' but one of the Gryffindor prefects had overheard their conversation and stopped it right in its tracks. Even one party is pushing it, he'd said.

"My goal for tonight," Alaina said pointedly as she and Avalon walked back up to their common room from dinner that evening, "Is for you to black out. It's not every day that you not only break your own record, but also win a quidditch game and get signed to the best quidditch team in Europe. So, since you're celebrating three things, you have to get three times as drunk as you usually do."

Avalon rolled her eyes, throwing her arm around her friend and teammate. "Lainey, I love you. And while your reasoning is solid, I can't get too drunk tonight. Don't want me texting Teddy, now do we?" She replied with raised eyebrows.

Alaina seemed put-off by Avalon's mention of her ex boyfriend. She had noticed, in the weeks since the breakup, that Avalon usually worded the things she said so carefully, so as to not have to say his name. She'd been walking on eggshells in order to not hurt herself all over again, throwing herself into her schoolwork and her duties as team captain.

So Avalon saying Teddy's name so casually was a bit strange, and in Alaina's opinion, the breakup was even more reason for Avalon to let loose tonight—let loose and let go.

Alaina and Josephine did most of the work to set up from the party, the former telling Avalon to relax, take a shower, and take a little bit of time to do some self-care. And with very little objection, she did as she was told.

Avalon took her sweet time in one of the showers in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory, washing her hair with her jasmine-scented shampoo and using the expensive conditioner her Aunt Narcissa got her every year for her birthday. You deserve this, she thought to herself.

She looked at the clothing stored in her wardrobe with a scrutinous eye, trying to figure out what outfit would scream to the world that she was alright and coping well with the high amount of stress and sadness in her life.

Eventually, she decided on a pair of denim overalls she'd inherited from her mother, along with a Bent-Winged Snitches t-shirt and a pair of dirty Converse sneakers.  As she perused through her jewelry box, looking for a specific pair of earrings, she saw a hint of yellow twine peeking out from under an old concert ticket.

It was the bracelet Teddy had given her before their first date, the one that had belonged to Nymphadora Tonks, his mother.

She froze, heartbeat thumping away in her chest, and slammed the jewelry box shut. She didn't have the heart to look at it, or decide what to do with it.

She knew that the right thing to do was give it back—after all, they'd broken up, and while, in her heart, she hoped and prayed that they would get back together someday, once they were both at the right place in their lives, it wasn't right to hold onto it.

She would deal with that tomorrow, though.

—

An hour later, Avalon was drunk, much to her own displeasure.

She hadn't meant to get drunk, honestly. But her teammates kept making her drinks, and she didn't want to say no to them. So she downed the drinks and the occasional shot, letting herself go for the evening.

And, stupidly enough, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she made the mistake of texting him.

watching the percy jackson movies is so mentally draining i need therapy after