Dark Blood // D.M.

FIREWHISKEY

Armena Riddle-Lestrange 

I stared at myself in the mirror, fiddling with my hair. Pansy had insisted that I couldn't lock myself up in the room with a book for the night. 

I'm pretty sure that she used the exact words: "that would be fucking lame." 

It had only been a few days, here at my new school, but I had a feeling it was better to be on Pansy's good side. Naomi had taken me under her small wing, which helped with my settlement into life at Hogwarts. The side eyes, the looks of utter disgust and the whispers still made my blood boil, but honestly, I was used to it. That should have bothered me. It did bother me, but I couldn't let them under my skin. 

"Knock, knock" a airy voice sounded from the other side of the door to Pansy and I's shared room.

Before either one of us could answer, Naomi strolled right in. Pansy was laying on her emerald canopied bed with her feet up in the air. She was absentmindedly flipping through the latest issue of "Teen Witch" with her manicured hands. 

"Pansy—" she noted, taking a seat on the trunk at the food of my bed. 

"Naomi," Pansy snickered, not even bothering to look up from her magazine.

I stared at both girls through the mirror trying to get a sense of their friendship. From what I could gather, Pansy and Naomi have been friends, or at least friendly, since their first year here at Hogwarts. Naomi was similar to Pansy, they both seemed to feed into the daily gossip that is the Hogwarts gossip mill. But unlike Pansy, her aura was much more inviting than the cold witch beside me.

"So what is the plan tonight?" Pansy asked, throwing down her magazine.

"You know the boys just want to stupid drinking play games" Naomi leaned back and smiled at Pansy.

"Oh! That reminds me" Pansy reached under her bed and whipped out a brown bottle full of amber liquid. "Firewhiskey!"

Both girls giggled, quickly downing the liquid as it floated in-between us. They both turned to face me, their eyebrows raised. It was a silent invitation for me to join in on the fun. 

"Come on Armena, don't be lame. You survived your first week at Hogwarts, it's time you should celebrate— come and join us" Pansy smirked.

I messed with my long dark hair, tying it back in a low bun.I walked over to my bed and grabbed the bottle out of Naomi's hands. I took a long swigged from the bottle and handed it back to Pansy. The dark brown liquor burned my throat as I swallowed it.

"Woah there Armena... slow down" Pansy said sarcastically. 

"I've had practice" I said through my teeth, "you get used to drinking alone when it's the only thing to pass the time"

They both stared at me wide eyed at me.

"Kidding" I rolled my eyes.

Except I wasn't kidding, I wish I was. When you are alone all of your life, it teaches you things. One— books will teach you all you know. Two— every house has hidden passages and rooms. Three—alcohol passes the time quicker. It wasn't that I was a hermit and chose to stay in my room back at Lestrange Manor, it was that I was forced to. I was a prisoner in my own childhood home.

And as much as I hated being here at Hogwarts, it was better than being back there.

"Wait until you meet the boys!" Pansy clapped her hands together loudly. "I already told her about everyone that she needs to know."

"Well she finally saw them in Charms, but I wasn't able to fully introduce..." Naomi sighed, leaning back against my bed.

"So" I took a sip of the liquor, "let me try to get this right... we have Blaise Habini—"