Hunting For The Sun

'Yeah,' I murmured. 'Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about the war.'

'The war?' he smiled slightly. 'Aren't you a little young to be talking about the war like that?'

I chuckled. 'No, I was little, but not that little.'

He nodded. 'I missed it. I was ... busy.'

I chose not to ask, not being all that interested. 'I was thinking, your name.'

'My name?'

'Yeah - Ori. You said you were from Israel, but you don't look or sound like you are, and also, Israel's only fifty or sixty years old. You're like, two hundred.'

'Thanks for the reminder,' he said drolly. 'Yeah. It was an evasion, I guess. I don't like to trust people at first. I came to Russia from Israel. Jenny's mother was an Israeli. She called me Ori and the name stuck.' He grimaced. 'I always hated my real name.'

He shoved at my legs, kneeling up and making to sit beside me. I shifted over, making room for him.

'So what is this real name?' I grinned. 'Come on, you know mine. I hate that.'

'Oh no you don't. No one gets the name,' he laughed, shaking his head.

'Oh fine. Don't trust me, then.' I sniffed and looked away. 'What country are you from, then?' I demanded, unable to sulk for long.

'Spain,' he said after a pause. 'My family was Catholic, but I never really leaned in a religious direction, unless I was seeking blasphemous phrases for the sake of it.'

'What's your real surname, then?'

'Silva,' he answered. 'I don't like it. I didn't use it, and spent a long time getting rid of my accent. I can speak loads of languages now, and all the accents. No one knows where I'm really from, except you and Persephone. That's part of the charm.'

'That's such a cool name!' I exclaimed, then I smiled, feeling the love I held for him washing over me. I snuggled into his chest, unable to help myself. He smiled and kissed my head, twisting his fingers in my hair and holding it to his lips, breathing deeply. He put his other arm around me, safe and strong.

'So what's this name that you won't tell anyone?' I smirked, tipping my head to look up at him. His green-brown-blue eyes narrowed as he smiled in return, jerking his head to shake his hair out of his eyes.

'I'm not saying.'

'You will.'

'Raphael.'

I burst out laughing, then clapped a hand over my mouth.

'Oh what's your bloody problem?' he snapped irritably, folding his arms and pouting.

'Raphael Silva?' I demanded, giggling.

'Shut up!' he growled, a little plaintively.

I kissed his cheek and he fended me off, trying not to grin.

'Well, it's about level with Meg Kelwaedd,' I reasoned. 'Or Seamus Finnigan, or Virginia Weasley, Draco Malfoy...'

'Do you know the others'?'

'No,' I replied, eager to hear them.

'Well, I know Skye's Skye something. It's definitely her real name, but her surname isn't Miel. She picked that since I knew her. It's 'honey' in French. Um...' He wracked his brains for her name. 'Gladstone. Skye Gladstone.'

I nodded, testing it out in my head. 'What about Raven?'

'Ooh, she mentioned it once,' he said. 'I think her real name's something odd. She's a lot older than she looks - charms and all. She's about ten years older than Draco is. Oh...'

I let him think, watching the rain pour down the glass. It was pitch black outside. There was nothing to be seen.

'She was born in Italy, or somewhere like it. Sicily, I think. Her name's Elena. I know that.' He leaned back, looping his arm over the back of the sofa. 'Oy, Raven.'

She glanced up at him.

'What's your real last name?' he asked. 'Elena...?'

'Agostino,' she replied, turning her head back to her work - at that moment, shouting at Draco.

'Agostino. Elena Agostino.'

'Neit?' I asked, thinking of Raven as Elena, and finding it fairly easy.

'Neit? Well, she's a bit of an enigma. I know she's from France in reality.'

'How do you know everyone?' I asked, frowning. 'I don't know any of them!'

'It's our job to know each other,' he answered evasively. Then continued, 'Lisette, then something with a D at the beginning. I'll think of it later.'

'D'Aurillac,' Neit added, smiling to Ori.

'Told you!' he exclaimed to me.

'Lisette D'Aurillac. Why don't you lot use your real names? They're much better than mine!'

'I do!' Draco protested, raising his hand.

'Me too,' Skye added.

'What about you, Adura?' I asked her.

'I'm just Stephanie,' she shrugged. 'Steph Philips.'

'I think your names are way better,' I said honestly. 'Not like mine - Megara.' I shuddered. 'Draco, Seamus, Elena, Skye, Virginia, Stephanie, Lisette, Raphael - they're nice names!'

Ori growled and flicked my cheek angrily.

'Oh leave off, Ori. We know your name,' Raven laughed. 'God knows, you're old enough to have a funny name!'

'I'm the oldest here, and I'd take you any day, my dear,' he grinned. 'Elena.'

'Well, I'm the youngest,' I said. 'And thus, I'm entitled to an early bed. I'm jacking in unless something fun happens.'

'I don't know where the alcohol is,' Cloud apologised, shrugging. 'I doubt they use the kitchens any more.'

'Oh bollocks to the kitchen,' Draco scoffed. 'Useless Gryffindork. I know where to find some. Anyone coming?'

I shrugged and stood up. Raven did too, and Adura.

'We'll be back in a jiffy,' Draco promised, pushing through the shattered canvas opening and leading us out into the hall. Adura, Raven and I trailed after him, moving deeper into the dark building. I wasn't tempted to stray and kept my hand on my gun at all times. The castle was eerie. Statues glared at us from the shadows at every bend and I could hear swooping and muttering voices, as though moving on an antique wind. Unconsciously, I huddled closer to Draco and the light spreading from a glowing ball suspended in the air before him. Raven even seemed a little unnerved. She was talking a lot, babbling a barrier against the silence, picking at her nails. It was not reassuring to see her scared at the time, although it was something of a reassuring notion that it was possible.

'Wait here,' Draco said after a while, reaching around a corner behind a pillar. He pressed something and a small lens appeared in the pillar. He lined his right eye up in front of it, pressing the button again. A green light flashed and there was a buzzing and clicking for a few seconds before a handle popped out of the wall. Draco pulled on it and a door appeared, letting us into a storeroom full of the scent of magic.

Raven sniffed the air. 'Preservative,' she said, raising her eyebrows.

'Alcohol,' Draco added, conveying worlds of meaning in his tone. He gestured to a long line of shelves, torches flaring into life. 'Choose your tipple,' he offered.

Suddenly, I didn't feel so much like a mission into the dark. I held out my arms to be piled high with bottles, and Draco cheerily obliged, reading the labels studiously by the light of the torch he held.

'That's shitty, that stuff,' he said disdainfully, dropping some back into a sawdust-filled crate.

I nodded vaguely, shifting my arms and hearing bottles clink together. I craned my neck to read some of the labels. 'Scruttock's Old Nasty', 'Pimms', 'Baileys', 'Famous Grouse', 'Ogden's Old Firewhisky', 'Goats do Roam'. The variety was huge.

'Most of this is Muggle stuff,' I said, tilting my head.

'Yeah,' Draco murmured. 'We had to do a fair bit of work to get it, I can tell you. Expensive tastes, though. Most of this, I got with some mates while I was here, all on dares to impress the girls.'

I laughed, thinking of Draco sneaking out of school at night in return for some kisses and a fumble in the dark. Somehow, it didn't seem too likely. Maybe I hadn't known him during the vulnerable stage.

'Don't you snigger at me,' he said, with an air of superiority. 'I'll get you so pissed that you won't remember how to snigger.'

I pulled the puppy dog eyes on him, giving him the imploring look.

'Doesn't work,' he shrugged, brushing my cheek with a finger. 'I like pissed girls. So pliable.'

He gave me a dirty, suggestive smirk, which made my intestines melt, as he brushed past me with his arms full of clinking bottles. I turned around with difficulty in that small space and followed him out. The walk back to the common room seemed a lot shorter, as the smell of corks and cobwebs filled my nostrils. Raven was jogging to catch up to us, having charmed all her bottles to stay together and be unbreakable.

I banged my elbow into the wall outside the common room, laughing at some banter long lost from my memory now. Cloud pushed it open, ushering us inside. I pushed Ori off a sofa with my foot and dumped my load onto it, wincing as the bottles clashed together. Ori grinned, looped an arm around my waist and pulled me close, kissing me hard and enthusiastically as he snatched a bottle of 'Scruttock's' and yanked the cork out with his teeth. Draco did the same, and for a moment I wasn't sure what was happening as they stood in front of each other.

Ori extended his bottle gingerly, and Draco clashed his against it. They grinned with obvious relief, smacking the bottom of the brown glass bottles together and downing the lot in one haul, their Adam's Apples bobbing almost in unison. Ori dropped his on the floor when he was done, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Draco did the same, and the shared a man-style, one-armed hug, grinning like lunatics.

And the gap was bridged, I thought to myself.

'We have just witnessed an historic event, I feel,' Neit said solemnly, bowing her head. 'The joining of the families Malfoy and Silva in an ancient drinking ritual, which is making me both incredibly horny and incredibly thirsty. Let's crack open some bottles and make a few margaritas.'

I would say that that was the point at which the evening became real fun. I worked my way through one of every drink until I settled on Pimms, which I liked very much, even with conjured cucumber. Soon after that, everyone was gathered around a large table, Perse having cheered up immensely under the 'influence'. Draco tapped a deck of cards on the desk.

'Now,' he said, looking round the table ominously. 'This is a game we call Rumble. You may not have heard of it, or may not play it our way. Basically, it's poker, on the risk of getting very, very pissed. When you lose, you drink one bottle, glass or pint of one of these,' he said, gesturing to the middle of the table, which was filled with drinks. 'Why Rumble, you ask? Because everyone else has the enjoyment of banging on the table while you drink. You have to be quick, as if you don't finish it in less than ten seconds, you have to have another. Everyone understand?'

I nodded, swallowing nervously. Everyone else did, too, and Draco began to deal out the cards, fixing all of the people in the now-silent room with dark stares. I could barely remember how to play poker, so it took me a while to gather a hand. Ori was whispering directions in my ear. We all stared around conspiratorially, my heart in my throat, as we laid down our hands, announcing them. I prayed to all the gods that I knew that mine was okay, seriously doubting my ability to down a pint in one.

Fortunately, leaving me with a pounding relief, Skye lost this one. She groaned, picking out a pint of beer. All the men gave her an appraising look and she just smiled at them.

'After three, you have ten seconds,' Draco said, holding his hands up. 'Three, two, one...'

We all began drumming madly on the table with our hands as she gulped and Draco's voice could be heard calling out the countdown. I was whooping and cheering as Skye swallowed hard, spilling beer down her chin. With four seconds to go, she slammed the glass down on the table, grinning.

'Very good,' Draco approved. Skye wiped her chin and grinned at him. He dealt again, and I flipped my cards to look at them. Oh god. A four, a three, an ace, a six and a king. NOTHING worth having. I moved the four and the three over, then the king. I discarded two, taking the two Draco handed me in return. A seven and another ace. Oh bollocks. Everyone began laying their hands down. I swallowed, feeling acid boil in my chest. When it came to me, I announced 'nothing!' as though I was proud of it. Actually, I was terrified. When we reached the end of the table, Draco grinned to me.

'And our own dear Rae loses this time with a grand total of... Nothing. Take your pick, love,' he smiled, making a sweeping gesture in the air over the drinks. I took a Pimms, deciding that, seeing as it was smaller, it would be easier to drink. 'And the fruit,' Draco, belatedly, told me.

I wiped my lips, holding it up to my face. The heady scent of the alcohol made my guts churn and I felt drowsy before even taking it.

'After three, two, one...'

That rumbling began and I tipped the glass up, taking huge gulps and letting it run down my throat like water from a dam. It seemed to take forever, but the roaring in my ears stopped me from hearing Draco's counting. I tipped the fruit into my mouth and swallowed without chewing. I slammed the glass on the table, hearing the clink of the ice against the condensation-dripping glass.

'Wow,' Neit grinned. Ori clapped me on the back and Skye whooped me.

'Three seconds!' Draco called out. Everyone cheered and banged the table again. I was dazed, panting slightly, but happy.

'That's amazing!' Ori grinned, kissing me. I swallowed, feeling the fruit as a lump in my throat somewhere.

'Thanks,' I slurred, beaming vaguely. My vision was blurring and I felt light-headed and woozy.

Draco dealt out another round, tapping the cards as everyone contemplated and stared at each other. This time, Ori and Raven got the same score.

'It's a head-to-head!' Draco announced cheerfully. 'Both choose the same drink.'

Raven picked a pint of beer, so Ori took the same. They both held the glasses against their bottom lips, fixing each other with death glares.

'Last to finish is out of the game and has to drink anything left over!' Draco called. 'After three, two, one...'

We drummed on the table with all our might, calling out encouragement. Skye was lying on the table with her head on one side, to see whose glass hit the wood first.

'Six, five, four...'

SLAMSLAM. We stopped 'rumbling' abruptly, waiting for Skye's judgement. Ori and Raven waited with bated breath, nibbling their lips.

'Raven wins!' she called. There was the start of a cheer, then she snapped, 'NO! Wait, no... I think it was Ori... No, maybe... No, it was Ori. No...'

'Oh bugger it,' Draco snapped. 'You're both out.'

Raven put her feet on the edge of the table and pushed her chair back, causing the drinks to wobble precariously.

I managed to stay in another few rounds, getting more and more pissed until I couldn't see my cards. I think it was Neit, Perse, Cloud and I still in it, with Draco dealing. I blinked, pulling my eyes wider to see the cards. Somehow they were swimming merrily. Adura, Ori, Skye and Raven stood around us, watching. I was about to lean back and ask for help to read them, but Draco had said no help. One was an ace... another might have been a five, or a six or a four. No, more like five, and it was red. Apart from that, who knows?

I asked for two more cards, getting rid of the ones that looked out of order with the rest, slotting the other two in as I swayed, perilously close to falling over.

'Show your cards,' Draco said darkly, sipping a Tia Maria.

I laid mine down.

'I don't know what score I have,' I slurred, smiling contentedly. 'How many drinks have I had?'

'You lost twelve rounds,' Draco told me, grinning.

'Twelve. So that's...'

'Twelve units of alcohol,' Adura said helpfully. I smiled gratefully to her. What a useful girl she was.

'You have four points there,' Ori told me. I smiled at him too. Everyone was so great.

'I love you all,' I announced. Everyone laughed, patting me on the head. I held my arms out expansively for a hug, lowering them when I didn't get one.

The other scores were something or other, can't really remember, but who could blame me? Some bits return with frightening clarity, some are lost in a sea of alcohol. All I registered was Draco's voice.

'Rae, get ready for your thirteenth.'

'Thirteenth what?' I asked innocently, unsure as to what he meant.

'Drink. You lost.'

'Oooh,' I chimed. 'I get it.'

I took a few empty glasses before Neit passed me a full one. The liquid swirled inside darkly, sloshing over the rim. I put it to my lip, waiting for Draco's count in and the inevitable rumbling noise, pounding away at the inside of my head like a hammer. I upended the glass, gulping it down as fast as I could. I was gulping air in what seemed like a short time even to me, so I dumped the glass on the table.

'Two seconds!' I heard Draco's announcement as though through water as I slumped sideways and slithered off my chair, flopping to the floor and blacking out.