But WHY's the Rum Gone?

Light filtered in through the curtains. Eileen rolled over. She hadn't had nearly enough sleep. She wandered down the stairs, and into the main room, rubbing her eyes.

"Morning."

Claudia waved.

"Wotcher!"

Eileen held her head.

"It's too early for that."

Claudia nodded. Eileen wandered over towards the fireplace, and went to sit down, but then stood up and put a book on the table.

"Ow! How many times have I had to ask Gem to put those away?"

"Seventeen. I've been counting."

Eileen laughed. Claudia looked at Eileen. They started at each other, Eileen with a sleepily quizzical expression on her face.

"So, Eileen, where'd the rum go?"

Eileen looked around nervously.

"Rum? What rum? I haven't seen any rum..."

Claudia glared at Eileen.

"Well if it wasn't you, then I'll have to talk to Hermione. Or Harry. Or Padma. Or... you know, everyone. No need to list them all."

Eileen sulked.

"Alright, I HAVE seen the rum."

Claudia looked at Eileen suspiciously.

"And where was it?"

"Well, the bottle for the most part, but then... "

She looked really nervous. Claudia eyed her. Then Eileen sighed.

"I was with George, ok?"

There was an odd silence.

"Well, what about the rest of it?"

Eileen looked at her and raised one eyebrow.

"I was with George. What do YOU think happened to it?"

Claudia also raised an eyebrow.

"And do you know how much rum there was?"

Eileen thought.

"When I got there?"

She counted under her breath.

"About six or seven bottles?"

"Damn. Then I really will have to talk to everyone."

Claudia sighed. Eileen giggled.

"The twins are so cute when they're drunk."

She thought about it.

"And when they're not."

"I was about to say..."

Claudia looked around.

"Hey, where is everyone?"

Eileen shrugged, and then looked at her surroundings. The tapestries on the wall featured a raven, not the familiar lion of Gryffindor. All of the colors were blue and bronze, not her usual red and gold.

"I was going to ask you that. Oh, and how the hell did I end up in Ravenclaw?"

Claudia frowned. She hadn't even noticed that Eileen was in her dorm, instead of Gryffindor.

"Maybe it has something to do with why the rum is gone."

Eileen nodded.

"That's probably it."

She wandered over to the fire, still a little shaky. She picked up a handful of powder, and threw it into the fire.

"Gem? You around?"

Gem fell out of the fireplace.

"Ouch... What is it?"

"Where's the rum, why am I here, and where're Fred and George?"

Claudia looked at her.

"That's what I want to know. Well, the first one."

Gem looked around.

"Ok. Fred and George are in the Gryffindor common room. We drank the rum. That is, you, Seamus, Fred, George, and I drank the rum. I mean, everybody had a shot."

She looked at Claudia.

"Even you."

Claudia frowned.

"Now I think I'd remember that. I was... hmm... what was I doing?"

"Well, you were singing," she thought. "I was reading a book and drawing beards on all of the pictures, but that's because I'm used to drink.."

At this, the other two girls raised their eyebrows.

"We had a lot of time on our hands where I came from, all right?"

Eileen and Claudia looked at each other.

"Seamus was fighting with a rag rug, but that's because he downed a bottle in one go..An' Harry was chatting up a suit of armour."

She looked at Eileen.

"We won't get into what you were doing, love."

Eileen turned pink, but Claudia frowned.

"What was I singing? I think it's coming back..."

Gem nodded.

"We joined in on a hearty chorus of 'Wizard's Staff has a Knob on The End.'"

Claudia frowned.

"Did someone set something on fire?"

Gem nodded.

"Aye, that was a vase of flowers."

"And who started the fire?"

Gem concentrated.

"Can't remember. Might o' been Seamus... He probably thought it was a candle.."

Gem thought for a while, squinting in an attempt to recall the previous night.

"Might've been you."

Claudia groaned.

"Not again..."

Eileen sat up.

"Why did we have a chicken?"

Gem looked at her.

"Eh?"

"There was a chicken. Someone conjured it up for a laugh, I suppose. It was flying around the room, and there were feathers everywhere. I..."

She looked a bit shocked.

"I threw it out the window."

Gem laughed.

"I'm sure it was all right, lass."

Claudia buried her head in her hands.

"I knew I should've kept the rum better hidden..."

Eileen looked at Claudia.

"Claud, it was in a box beside the bookshelf. I think we would have found it."

Claudia looked up at Gem through her fingers.

"Right, right. Did Hermione or Ron show up?"

Gem shook her head.

"I don't think so."

Claudia thought for a moment.

"I do hope no-one set Crookshanks on fire."

Gem grinned at a memory.

"You were funny, lass."

Claudia glared.

"Great. What did I do now?"

"Nothing, except you went around, calling yourself Merlin the Happy Pig and wandered into the boys' dorm."

Eileen giggled.

"Wouldn't it have been funny if..."

Gem looked at her eyebrows raised.

"No! She didn't?"

Claudia turned red.

"If I did what?"

"Well, Fred was the most coherent, and I asked him if he'd seen Seamus, because he'd stolen my hat, and he said that he'd gone to bed."

Claudia's eyes lit up.

"Oh right! I remember now! "

Eileen leaned back.

"It is SO great not having anyone talk about me. Do go on, Gem."

Claudia thought back.

"But it's not like anything happened... we talked. And he held my hair back when I threw up. That was about it."

Gem looked at her suspiciously.

"You sure? Because I remember walking past and I'm damn sure I heard something. Didn't sound like someone getting sick to me, if you catch my drift." She sighed.

"Well, I'm sure we can just ask Professor Snape for some Veritaserum.."

Claudia rolled her eyes.

"Of course I'm sure not for lack of an effort on my part. But oh no, he's all nice and sweet and doesn't want to take advantage of my drunkenness and blah blah blah."

She turned to Eileen.

"What do you remember, anyway?"

Eileen shrugged.

"Not much... I remember the chicken, and the rum... I must have drank at least a bottle and a bit, and then... It's really blurry..."

Gem looked at her appraisingly.

"You can really hold your drink."

Eileen grinned.

"But if you're lying, I'm sure we can find out."

Claudia looked up.

"I'll be damned if I want to!"

Eileen looked at Claudia.

"What is that implying?"

Gem looked at her.

"That you're a right tart, especially when you're drunk!"

Eileen scowled.

"But I can't remember anything!"

Claudia looked back.

"Well neither could I, but you don't see me complaining!"

"I'm not bloody complaining! I'm resenting being called a tart, and what you said about not wanting to know!"

Claudia gave her what can only be described as "The Look."

"Look, when you're out with those two, you either get into a lot of trouble, or you are a lot of trouble."

Claudia shook her head.

"I don't want to know, believe me."

Eileen sighed and put her chin in her hands.

"I do wish I knew what happened, though."

Gem's eyebrows met as she considered something.

"Hang about, didn't Fred have something?"

Claudia looked at her.

"Like what?"

Gem frowned.

"Oooh, I dunno. I'm not too sure what it was. Kept pointing it at us, though..."

Claudia looked at Eileen. She could tell they were both having the same thought. A camera.

"Showed up all night, at least," and with this, Gem looked at Eileen. "Even after you left with his brother. Although he did go off to find you at least once..."

Eileen's blush deepened.

Fred and George came in.

"Hello, all!" said Fred.

George smiled at Eileen.

"Hullo, Leen."

She blushed. Gem and Claudia looked at her.

"Leen?" they both said at once.

"You do remember!" said Gem.

Eileen looked at the floor. Fred laughed.

"Now now, if you want to reminisce, why don't you check this out..."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that look an awful lot like a Muggle camcorder. Eileen's face fell. It was a Muggle camcorder. Gem had been right. This is what theyÕd been carrying around all night. Despite recognizing it as being from last night, Gem, having been brought up in an all-wizard household, still looked puzzled.

"What've you got there, Freddy?"

Fred looked a bit angered about Gem calling her "Freddy", but went on to explain.

"Well, as you may be aware, my dear ol' Dad tends to bring home a lot of Muggle stuff. Well, this is the best yet, it's a hand-held camera. Lets us record things, and then we can play them back and watch."

Claudia tried to look unworried.

"You could've done that with magic."

Fred shrugged.

"Nah, this is more fun."

Eileen looked at Claudia worriedly. Fred grinned and elbowed George.

"Recorded everything last night, didn't I, George?"

George looked a little worried.

"Yeah. 'S right."

He looked over at Eileen, their expressions identical.

"Well, who wants to see what happened last night?"

Suddenly, the camcorder burst into flames. Fred shouted, and dropped it. He shook his head.

"Can't figure out why that happened."

Eileen looked at him.

"False circuits, most likely. They tend to overheat a bit."

Fred frowned.

"Don't explode usually, do they? Well, back to the drawing board... Come on, George."

George looked at Eileen and they shared a hearty grin. She put her wand back into her robes, and so did he. Claudia gave them an appraising look, a mixture of disbelief and mischief. Gem merely shook her head an went off to get a book. George winked at Eileen, and waved goodbye to them all. Eileen smiled to herself, although she could feel a pink tinge remained on her cheeks.

They'd never know...