Sleepy Derry

Derry had been practicing Quidditch all evening, even though official practices hadn't started yet. He loved the sport so much, he stayed out there way longer than he should have, ignoring both exhaustion and hunger. His arms ached from the strain of constant bludging and his legs were sore from riding the broom - but it had been worth it.
Derry was heading back to his dormroom when his worn-out and old backpack broke, creating a clatter as his textbooks, quills, and ink fell to the ground in front of the Hufflepuff entrance. Censored swearing ensued! A mess of ink soaked the ground, staining his parchment and books.
Ignoring the mess, Derry uttered a password and charged into the Hufflepuff entrance, crashing loudly against the still closed passageway. This happened to Derry often: forgetting the newly changed password and getting locked out of his dormroom. Exhausted, he dumped the ink-stained clutter onto the ground and sunk down by the door, seemingly unconcerned by the puddle of ink underneath his arse. He closed his eyes instantly, falling asleep, snoring lightly by the Hufflepuff entrance.

It was one of those long study days for Alice. She was remarkably behind in every single one of her classes. With the homework piling on her desk, she decided she couldn't procrastinate anymore. Studying in the dorm room was an option. But then again it was, as always, filled with a very loud and distracting atmosphere. So her destination quickly became the library. She didn't leave her room however without making sure she brought her coffee mug with her. Long study hours required a lot of coffee.

Finishing most of her assignments, Alice was happy with the results and couldn't wait to co back to her room. She was beyond tired and at this time, a nap was in order. On her way to the common room, she found something she definitely wasn't expecting. It was Derry, who was not only sleeping in front of the Hufflepuff entrance but was also smudged by ink everywhere. There was a large pile of books and parchment around him which was organized in clusters across the floor. All in all, it looked like a petrol bomb fell onto this place. Her guess was that even that couldn't wake up Derry.

She approached him carefully, trying her best not to startle him. Touching his arm gently, she hoped to wake him as calmly as possible. "Umm....Hi. Derry?" she asked softly but he was still sleeping. She nudged him a bit stronger until he finally opened his eyes. "Are you ok?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

Derry woke up with a start, banging his head violently into Alice's. "Whaaa? Did we win?!" he yelled in confusion. "Oooooouch!! I'm sorry, you okay?" he said, rubbing her head with his hand, hoping to make it all better. Then, realizing who it was, a happy smile spread on his face. "Heeey! It's my friend, Alice!!" he exclaimed.

Derry suddenly frowned, his eyes widening in terror. "...Why am I soaked?" he asked Alice, wiggling around in panic, wondering if he had wet himself. He was dripping wet in all the body parts he couldn't name in front of a girl.

Derry noticed ink on his hands and trousers; he saw the mess of books and ink-soaked parchment littering the floor. Lost and terribly confused, he glanced up at Alice for answers. His face then relaxed seconds later as he remembered what happened. "Oh yeah, I forgot the password and my backpack broke," Derry explained, as much to himself as to Alice. A grin began on his lips, breaking into giggles as he found the whole thing rather comical.

Standing up, Derry rummaged in his back pocket, taking out his wand. "I'll get this all cleaned up in no time," he said, giving Alice a friendly - if not slightly violent - pat on the back. But instead of making the ink disappear like he intended, it seemed to spread over a wider distance. A gooey ooze of ink flooded over both Alice and Derry's shoes. "Oops" he said. "I got this," Derry added, winking at her. He then retried once, twice, and then three times: Each time, the ink continued flooding over a wider space. He smiled sheepishly at Alice. "Isn't magic great? Always full of surprises," he said, chuckling heartily. "I guess I need you to help me out again." Derry scratched his head as he asked Alice for her help yet again.. his red hair now stained with the black ink from his hands.

Just as she finally succeeded in waking him up, Derry shot up in the air and crashed into her head. She tried to back up and move away, but her reflexes were definitely not that fast. "Ouch....!" she said holding her hand to her head, trying not to swear out loud. Normally she would be very mad, even hysterical if it was anyone else. But it was Derry, and she simply couldn't get mad at him, for anything. "It's ok, I'm fine" she said flashing a smile to Derry, still rubbing her head a little.

Watching Derry was always very amusing. But this was unlike anything she had seen before in her life. However, he seemed to want to take the situation into his own hands so Alice allowed him that. She stepped back and hoped he knew a very good clean up spell. And as always, things didn't go exactly as they expected. Ink was now almost flooding the place, covering both Derry and her in large dark spots. His attempts have only made the whole thing even worse, if that was possible.

She giggled as she saw ink on Derry's hair. Even with dark spots all over his clothes and face, he still looked adorable. "Yeah...let me try something". With a few flick of her wand, the ink was slowly gone and was beginning to disappear from their clothes as well. "Much better" she said with a grin as all of the ink was now gone from the room and finally they were both clean. "And don't worry about it, I don't mind helping you out. It's quite fun actually" she said with a giggle.

"Oh the password yeah. It's salamander. You might want to write that down for future reference. Just in case" she said with a grin. Thankfully she was coming from the library so late or who knows how long he would have stayed there.

"You're brilliant, I knew you could help me out," Derry exclaimed happily, as Alice managed to clean up his mess in half the time it took for him to create it. "Salamander!" he yelled, slapping his forehead as he often did, chuckling at his own forgetfulness. As he said so, the entrance door opened. Derry then bent down to pick up all his stuff, shoving it back into his broken backpack.

"Let's get inside and warm up by the fire. Brrrr," he said, shivering from the cold. There seemed to be a draft in the hallways and the humidity of the basement seemed to have sifted through his skin. He walked in, grabbing Alice's hand to lead her inside.

"Anyway, what you doing out of bed so late?" Derry asked, wondering if Alice had also been about practicing Quidditch. "Are you looking forward to Quidditch practices too!?" he asked hopefully, always ready and eager to talk about his favorite sport. He crashed in the couch by the fire, gesturing for Alice to come sit with him. "How did we never become friends until recently? You're super nice," Derry said happily.

He didn't have many girl friends, Alice being one of the first in a while. The moment they had spoke in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Derry felt like they clicked right away. He really enjoyed her sweet, gentle personality and kind nature. Hoping to get to know her better, he reached into his side backpack pocket and offered her a bottled Butterbeer. "I bought this in Hogsmeade the other day. I got a job in the Three Broomsticks and they gave me a good deal," he said with a wink. "Drink up!"

Alice stepped inside the common room and she was rather surprised that Derry took her hand to lead her in. Her cheeks blushed a bit, unused to such things, and she smiled gratefully. "Thanks" said Alice. She found herself a nice, comfortable position on a sofa in the common room and waited for Derry to take a seat as well.

"Oh I was just studying in the library that's it. I'm just so behind on many of my classes and homework that I needed to spend a long time catching up. I think I'll need to do that tomorrow as well if I want to get things done on time" she said with a sigh. Sometimes she was just overwhelmed with the amount of work she had to do in her classes, a lot more than last year.

A large grin appeared on her face when he mentioned Quidditch, one of her favorite topics. "I am actually! You are in the team as well right? Yeah you told me you are a beater. I'm very excited, can't wait until we start practicing. But I'm kind of worried as well as I don't really have a great history of flying. That was a long time before of course, I guess I'm less clumsy now she said with a laugh. Hopefully we she won't hit something and embarrass herself completely in the first game. "How about we go practice together one time? Before the official practices start I mean, to get a head start" she suggested.

She smiled at Derry and took the Butterbeer in her hand. "Oh thanks Derry! That's so sweet. I really missed these" said Alice taking a large sip. The last time she went to Hogsmeade was when her dad visited her, and she didn't like to remember that day often. It was quite eventful and even upsetting for someone as sensitive as Alice. But she cleared her thoughts of that day and concentrated on the boy in front of her.

Homework! Studying! Those were two words Derry had completely forgotten about this last week. So much had been happening between meeting a vampire and obsessing over the start of Quidditch that he forgot about his studies. "Oh! Merlin's Beard! I forgot!! I must be ridiculously behind!" Derry shouted a little too loudly, a look of panic in his face. "Maybe I should go with you to the library tomorrow," he said, relaxing slightly at that idea. "Besides..we make a good team," Derry said, grinning at Alice. He still thought about how much fun they had in DADA with the dragons.

Any worry over school work vanished entirely at the mention of Quidditch though. "Oh, you'll be great, Alice!" he said, wriggling excitedly on the couch. "This is the first time I'll be a beater. It's gonna be awesome! And you'll be more than fine. Besides, I'll protect you out there," he said, hoping to brush away Alice's worries.

Derry then smiled happily at the idea of going out to practice together. "Yeah, we could definitely do that. We could even practice together sometime if we feel like. Since you seem as passionate about Quidditch as me! Maybe we'll even make Hufflepuff win this year," he said, smiling dreamily.

He stood up, stretching, and went to warm his hands by the fire. Derry was never one to sit still for an extended period of time.

Alice giggled at his comment that they make a good team. Honestly, she thought they did. They were both clumsy but somehow they clicked and worked very well together. "Sure, of course. That's a good idea. I still have a lot of homework left so I was going to the library anyways. I need to finish a Transfiguration essay and a few other things as well..." said Alice. She almost frowned at that idea, but the sooner she could do these things and get them over with the better. And besides, she had a feeling that studying with Derry would be a lot more entertaining than usual. Most things were with him.

"Thanks Derry, and I'm counting on that protection. The last thing I would want is to get hit in the head on my first game" she said with a laugh, although scarily enough she could see something like that happening. With her past experience with Quidditch being so unfortunate, she could only pray that she has outgrown that clumsy and very unlucky part of herself.

"I believe we have a really good team this year. And with enough practice, focus and team spirit, why wouldn't we get far this year? Even win! I think that kind of motivation will help us all stay on the right track. I doubt that the other houses have a much better team than ours. It's all about the hard work we put in from now on" she said enthusiastically. She truly did believe her team could win this year, but then again Alice had that hopeless optimism for anything, even when things were truly unrealistic. This time however she wasn't so far off with their chances. Anything can happen this year in the race for the Quidditch Cup after all.

Alice took another sip of her butterbeer and her attention turned to the windows. It was terribly cold, even colder than a few days ago, and she could see the cold win breaking against the bare branches of the trees. "I wish it would snow... I cannot wait for Christmas break." she said softly and with a smile on her face as she imagined another perfect Christmas with her family.

(sorry it took me so long to reply! I'll be replying to our exam soon! )

"You won't get hit, Alice. I promise," Derry said earnestly, walking over to Alice to place his hands on her shoulders. Only fate could tell if he would be able to keep his promise, but at that instant, Derry took upon himself the responsibility to keep Alice safe.

Derry was particularly happy by Alice's Quidditch enthusiasm. It was great meeting someone who loved the game as fervently as he did. Starting to fall asleep again, feeling his eyes close, he plopped back on the couch beside her, rubbing his eyes. "Oh, and we have our transfiguration exam soon. But I have this feeling we're going to ace it," he said, winking at her.

When she mentioned snow, Derry's face lit. "You like snow? I can't wait either!" he admitted. "We should hang out sometime over the holidays," he blurted suddenly. "What are your plans?" Derry was actually going to stay in Hogsmeade, at least for part of the holidays. A part of him hoped Alice would too, considering he didn't really have many friends with whom to spend the break.

Alice sighed when he mentioned the upcoming Transfiguration exam. She wasn't looking forward to it at all, although she did study a lot for it recently. With a few more days of studying, she should do just fine on it. "I hope you're right. And I don't think the things we have learned is that difficult anyways. So if you just practice and remember a few things from class you should be fine" said Alice.

She smiled as he mentioned the holidays. It was always her favorite season for one simple reason, she gets to go home, rest and spend time with her family. But she knew this Christmas break wasn't going to be so simple and relaxing. With her parents still angry at her, there is bound to be some awkwardness between them. And Frank is coming home as well for the holidays and she was sure he would play the older brother part and lecture her about getting into trouble. The more she thought about it, the more it sounded dreadful to her.

For this reason mainly and a few more, she decided that seeing Derry over the holidays could be a great idea. It would give her an excuse to leave the house for a while and to have fun with him. He was always greatly entertaining and she didn't doubt the two of them would have a lot of fun together. "Well I am going home mostly, to spend Christmas with my family as well. My brother is coming too so we'll all be there. But yeah, I think that would be a great idea! We should certainly do something during the break. You could come over to my house if you wish"

The minute she said that, she sorta regretted it. She wasn't sure how he would take that suggestion and what he would make of it. Alice only meant that he could come over for a few hours and they can hang out. Not like he should meet her parents and the whole nine yards. Some guys got freaked out by that idea easily, hopefully Derry wasn't one of them and he wouldn't misunderstand what she said. She was just trying to be nice after all. "What are your plans?" she asked curiously.