don't stop me now [devyn]

[Louis Weasley]

Louis wasn't entirely sure what complicated thread of discussion had led to them deciding that the Hog's Head was the best place to be tonight, but that was where he and Devyn had ended up. He'd been in a few times, of course, but never with the purpose of getting drunk. Being able to drink in pubs and bars was still relatively new to him, since he had only turned seventeen in May. He had also passed his Apparition test in June and had been making the most of both whenever he could, but school didn't allow for many opportunities, since you couldn't Apparate in the Hogwarts grounds.

However, it was now the holidays, and Louis was fully prepared to make the most of being officially an adult wizard. And somehow, with Devyn, these things always turned into competitions. However, Louis was so relieved that things seemed entirely normal between the two of them again that he would probably have agreed to anything she suggested. The Hog's Head wasn't crowded, even though it was a Friday evening - Louis wasn't sure it ever really got crowded in here. There were a few slightly shady-looking groups in various corners, but their table was already by far the noisiest, even with only two of them.

He was several drinks in, and feeling slightly buzzed, though by no means drunk yet. He had just ordered another round, and turned to Devyn, looking critically at her and attempting to judge whether she was drunk yet or not.

"I'm totally winning," he announced at random.

[Devyn Oberlin]

Devyn sighed, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the next round of drinks that Louis had ordered to arrive. Their habit of engaging in drinking competitions was a lot more amusing to her now that they were both able to legally drink. Even though she'd turned seventeen one month before him, this was still one of her first times drinking at a pub, in particular The Hog's Head, which wouldn't have been her first choice, but they'd ended up there regardless.

She saw Louis glance at her, and she knew him too well to not know what that look meant - he was checking to see just how much the first couple of drinks had gotten to her ('not at all' would have been her answer if he directly asked), and she made a face at him, attempting to hold back a laugh at his random comment. "That's what losers say," she pointed out matter-of-factly, "And everyone knows you're a loser, so you're winning at that."

[Louis Weasley]

Louis leaned back and rested his arms behind his head as he waited for the drinks to arrive, and grinned as he saw Devyn meet his look. He didn't really care all that much about beating her, except that she'd never let him forget it. And he had enough stubbornness not to want to back down.

"That makes no sense," he told her. "If I'm winning at something then I can't be a loser, and if I'm not a loser, I can't be winning at being a loser. Pretty obvious why you're not a Ravenclaw - your logic's rubbish. Anyway, the only way to prove I'm not winning is by beating me."

Their drinks arrived at this appropriate point, and Louis picked up his and took a large mouthful, as if proving his point.

"Next round, we should do shots," he suggested, once he had swallowed. It was a slightly stupid suggestion, since his tolerance was fairly good, but he didn't usually do that well with shots. He'd had enough to make stupid ideas seem like fun ones though.

[Devyn Oberlin]

"Shut up, it makes perfect sense," she retorted, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes at him, "You're just dumb. How does it not make sense? You're a loser, and the only thing you can ever win at is being the biggest loser, because you always lose. It's that simple."

She purposely took a larger drink than he had when their next round arrived, staring pointedly at him and adding, "Oh, and I will beat you. It'll be easy. You're terrible competition after you've thrown back a couple of shots. It's a proven fact." She smirked at him as if she'd already won, setting her drink down momentarily. "So. Seventh year is coming up. What are the chances that someone loses their mind entirely and makes either you or Damien Head Boy? Because I'll one hundred percent drop out if that happens, I'm telling you right now."

[Louis Weasley]

"I just explained how it didn't make sense, were you even listening?" he demanded. "Anyway I do not always lose, I've beaten you in things before." He couldn't immediately think of a good example, so he hurried on. "And I beat Lily at Wizard Chess last week. So ha."

"We'll see," he informed her loftily, taking another drink. In truth, she might well be right, but it was too late now. He'd just have to hope for the best. He'd eaten a large sandwich and some cake he'd found in the kitchen before he left, which would help at least. He still had a mouthful of alcohol when she mentioned Seventh Year, and swallowed hastily, staring at her blankly.

"Head Boy? Seriously, nobody would think that was a good idea. I don't want to be Head Boy, who would want that? Although," he added, "I kind of hope they do now. Because then you'll either have to back down and take that back, or actually drop out and not get your NEWTs, and we all know that's not going to happen..."

[Devyn Oberlin]

"No, I find it difficult to listen to anything you say, because like I said, most of it is just dumb," she replied simply, and then raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh really? When was the last time you beat me at something? I don't care who you beat at Wizard Chess - it's irrelevant because everyone knows you could never beat me at anything. So there."

She took another sip of her drink, though she nearly spit it out when he got to the part about her not getting her NEWTs, which she considered majorly offensive. "Excuse me," she began after swallowing the alcohol and huffing dramatically, "That is not a possibility. I will get my NEWTs, because there's also the very large chance that neither you nor Damien will get Head Boy. Because you're both insane. Completely irresponsible and disorganized," she added, disregarding the counter-point that they had both been made prefects and thus it wasn't completely improbable that one of them could be appointed Head Boy.

[Louis Weasley]

"Well, you can't not listen to something and then claim I haven't explained," he retorted, although he couldn't help an unexpected twinge of something like irritation at her words. Of course, it was just Devyn, and that was the way they always interacted. But sometimes he missed... Well, he wouldn't want to go out with her again, that was all in the past and he was definitely happy with being friends, but just occasionally he missed the fact that when they'd been going out, they'd actually been nice to each other a lot of the time.

"I've beaten you at things," he went on, although he couldn't think of any examples. "Fine, next time we play chess, then, and we'll see what happens. Or Quidditch - let's have a Quidditch tournament..."

"Well, you're the one who said it," he pointed out calmly. "That you were going to drop out, I mean. I know there's a good chance neither of us'll get it. Though I suppose there's a small chance one of us will," he added. Until now, he hadn't thought about it. He couldn't imagine either Damien or himself getting Head Boy, but then he hadn't expected to get Prefect either. "I wonder who'll be Head Girl," he said thoughtfully, taking another swallow of his drink. "Maybe you. But maybe not, since y'know, the Head Girl probably ought to be understanding and approachable..."

[Devyn Oberlin]

"Whatever," she replied, waving him off and letting the argument go much more easily than she ever would have when completely sober, especially with him. She shook her head dramatically in disagreement at his suggestion, however, retorting, "Well, that would be unfair, because I've never played Quidditch, idiot. Chess I can and will beat you at, though."

She took another drink, leaving her cup a little more than half empty, and then leaned forward and shot him a serious look. "If it came down to it and it absolutely had to be one of you, I'd want it to be you," she told him, feeling buzzed enough to voice small truths that she otherwise wouldn't, "You're way less infuriating. And more mature and responsible. I say this all on a relative scale," she added quickly, "You're relatively the better choice if it was between you and Damien." Taking another drink until it was finished, she set her cup down triumphantly and rolled her eyes. "I'm very understanding and approachable actually, thank you very much. You're just biased and will obviously say the opposite."

[Louis Weasley]

Louis smirked, but decided to take the small victory rather than rub it in and end up losing it. "Hey, you said I couldn't win at anything!" he protested, however. "Obviously you're going to win if we limit it to things you're better at than me and don't count things I'm good at. Though you're not going to win this drinking contest," he added, in case this had sounded like he was conceding defeat already. "This, we are evenly matched at, and you're going down."

He drained his drink as she spoke, eyeing her with surprise over the top of his glass. He wouldn't have expected her to say that, whatever she might be thinking. But then, he rarely knew what she was thinking any more. However, his surprise turned into a confused squint as she went on, using words he didn't really associate with himself to describe him.

"Well, obviously I agree," he said, recovering from his surprise. "I'd be way better than Damien. And you're, y'know." He waved his arm vaguely and nearly knocked a tray of glasses out of the hands of a passing barman. "Sorry. But yeah, you're mature and responsible and stuff too I suppose. Sometimes," he added. "I don't think I want to be Head Boy though, that would be really weird. And I said you might get Head Girl, didn't I? Though tell me one time someone at Hogwarts has come to you for help since you've been a Prefect. And don't say Damien, he doesn't count."

[Devyn Oberlin]

“What are you good at, though?” Devyn retorted, almost thoughtfully, “Like, seriously, I can probably count the number of things you’re good at on one hand. Quidditch, maybe. You’re also decent with Muggle stuff, but you can’t really ever use that against me, because my dad’s a Muggle and I grew up with all that stuff… Oh, and you’re pretty good sex. I mean, for a first time and all,” she added quickly, not sure where that had come from or if there was any way she could pretend like it hadn’t. Shrugging and ignoring the fact that her cheeks were growing warm from slight embarrassment (she refused to be more than a little embarrassed - it had been two years ago, for Merlin’s sake), she went on, “That’s only three things. I can’t think of anything else.”

She rolled her eyes, though she was eyeing him with amusement. “We’re definitely not evenly matched, because I’m better at drinking than you are. I’m going to win,” she told him, simply affirming what she thought he ought to already know. She choked back a laugh as he almost knocked over glasses from a passing barman’s tray, finding it difficult to take him seriously following that. Not that she ever took him seriously, but she tried. Occasionally. “More like all the time,” she corrected, merely for the sake of jokingly disagreeing with him, since they both knew that this wasn’t true, “And why doesn’t Damien count? He’s basically the mental and mature equivalent of a second-year, so. Anyway, I don’t see it happening, which means you don’t have anything to worry about.”

(OOC - Wow I’m so sorry for everything I don’t even know anymore)

[Louis Weasley]

Louis opened his mouth to rebut indignantly her suggestion that he was good at nothing (he was sure he could think of at least two other things, and also that she might know about a lot of Muggle stuff, but not as much as him about taking it apart and putting it together again) when her next words stopped him in his tracks and he gaped idiotically at her, unable to think of anything to say. They got by generally by pretending that the summer at the end of Fourth Year had never happened and this sudden reference to it threw him completely. He didn't miss the fact that, for all her casual tone, she had gone very slightly red, although he couldn't say anything since his own cheeks had heated up too. Making a supreme effort, he followed her lead and assumed a light tone.

"Wow, well that was unexpected." He gave her a quick grin, although he didn't meet her eyes for long. "You were pretty good at that yourself though. For a first time and everything." He sort of wanted to ask her whether she'd done it again since that first time, but didn't quite dare because he wasn't sure he'd like the answer, whether she had or not. Plus, they should probably move this conversation on. "There is totally more than that though. I'm good at..." He thought hard for something. "Making sandwiches. Getting free food. Being hilarious. Those are all important things." Another thought struck him, and slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it. "Hey, are you saying I wasn't good at all the snogging we did? Because I'm going to have to object to that..." Shit, what was he saying? So much for moving the conversation on.

"You think that," Louis told her, with a smug confidence he did not feel at all. "And Damien is also a prefect, so it definitely doesn't count. I knew you couldn't think of any examples though." He looked thoughtful. "I wonder who will get it though. I can't think of anyone in our year who's really that sensible and responsible, can you?"

((OOC - You should be sorry, you should be questioning all your life choices))

[Devyn Oberlin]

Devyn met his eyes reluctantly, noting with satisfaction that his cheeks were also red, so at least they were on the same page there. “Yeah, I’d hope so,” she replied, glad that he quickly changed the subject, “Well, you’ve never made me a sandwich or gotten me free food… You make me laugh sometimes, though, I’ll give you that.” She opened her mouth to go on about how the level of his sense of humor was not as high as he thought it was, but stopped when she heard his next words, which were unexpected but nonetheless made her smirk slightly.

“I guess you were alright,” she lied calmly, shrugging again, “I mean, it was you. I knew you. I was comfortable with you. We worked.” She realized too late that she was on the verge of sounding nostalgic, and she cleared her throat, thinking that she really needed another drink. The truth of the matter was that she probably would snog him again just for fun, but that was, of course, if he was interested, and she was never entirely sure how to tell with him.

“I don’t know how Damien got Prefect, to be honest with you. Actually, I don’t know how any of us got Prefect… Was the Headmistress completely high the summer before our fifth year?” she added suspiciously, once again getting fed up with herself for returning the topic back to the summer before their fifth year, since that was something that they usually just tip-toed around, “Because I can’t think of any other explanation. And nah, I don’t know. Our whole year is just one big shit show.”

(OOC - Yeaaaah it turns out I was sorry for approximately three seconds last night and now I’m just sitting here laughing, oops.)

[Louis Weasley]

"Well fine, I'll make a sandwich next time we're together with access to a kitchen," Louis announced, cheerfully disregarding the fact that few people other than himself found his sandwiches edible. "And I get free food for people who ask nicely, obviously."

He sat up indignantly at her assessment of his kissing skills, totally forgetting both his embarrassment and the fact that he'd been intending to move the conversation to safer topics (like sandwiches). "Alright? I definitely kiss better than alright, okay!" Admittedly, it was two years ago that anything had happened between them, and he hadn't exactly been that experienced at snogging back then; he kind of hoped he could kiss better these days, actually. He paused, however, at her final words, taking a second to try and work out what exactly she meant by 'we worked' because clearly they had not worked in the slightest, resulting in explosive fall-outs, a distressing break up, and six months of barely talking to each other. It had taken Louis a long time to be okay with the fact that they had not worked, but he had now accepted it.

After the smallest pause while he wasn't quite sure how to answer, he decided to pretend he hadn't heard it, and move on. "Probably. I expect she's probably high most of the time to be honest. I'd want to be, if I did her job. And I can imagine her and Hewer, smoking it up in one of their offices, can't you?" he rattled on nonsensically, attempting to cover up anything he had said that he probably shouldn't. "Maybe they'll just get a list of our names and stab a quill in at random. In fact, that's probably how they picked prefects."

[Devyn Oberlin]

“You’d better,” Devyn replied, even though in a normal and sober setting she was ninety-nine percent not likely to eat anything that he’d prepared, and then, looking rather offended, added, “What is that supposed to mean? I did ask nicely…”

She bit her lip to hide a smile when he reacted to her comments about his kissing skills, expecting no less from him, and leaned back in her chair while looking thoughtful about the entire matter. “Okay, so maybe you were slightly better than just alright,” she admitted, “I’m sure you’re a lot better now, though. Well, it depends - how many people have you snogged since me? That might make a difference,” she tacked on as an after-thought, unable to stop herself from treading in potentially dangerous territory, because she wasn’t sure whether she’d actually like to know. It was hypocritical of her, she realized deep down, that she expected him not to care about who she had been snogging, but would probably care no matter what his response was.

Running a hand through her hair somewhat nervously, she stopped a barman who was passing by their table. She handed him her empty glass and asked for a refill of Firewhiskey, forgetting in the tension of the moment that she and Louis had decided to do shots for their next round. “I can totally see that,” she agreed, finally laughing at one of his jokes and taking a minute to compose herself, “How else could we have gotten Prefect? We’re certainly not Prefect material. Not at all. But hey,” she continued teasingly, “If that’s how it works, then there’s a chance that you and I will get Head Girl and Head Boy. And then we'd have to live together,” her words fell short abruptly at this, glad for the interruption of the barman arriving back with her drink, and she took a generous sip of it to distract herself from the fact that she seemed to be saying all the wrong things. She really needed to drink less. Or more. Perhaps drinking more was the solution.

[Louis Weasley]

"Okay, when did you ask nicely for free food?" Louis demanded. "You didn't ask for it at all. You just complained I never got you it. Now, Aidan at least grovels properly when he asks," he added smugly.

He scowled at her, fully aware that she was winding him up, but allowing himself to be wound anyway. "I was way better than alright!" he asserted, hoping that this was true. "Though I guess you were too, so." He shrugged at her question, trying to look like neither his own admission a few moments ago, nor the answer he now had to come up with, were embarrassing him in the slightest. They were friends again now; this did not have to be awkward. Right? "Um... I don't really know. A few?" he mumbled, feeling slightly stupid that he hadn't actually kept count. "Nobody's complained yet, anyway," he added. He wasn't going to ask her the same question, he definitely didn't want to know, definitely not... "How about you?"

Shit.

"Oi, what happened to shots?" Louis protested, as she ordered the wrong drink. He leaned back in his seat to catch the barman before he moved on, and ordered the same for himself, plus a round of shots. It wouldn't end well for him, but Louis's sense of self-preservation had never been the greatest. "If you and me get Head Boy and Girl..." He trailed off and shook his head. Actually, he was pretty sure he'd work with Devyn a lot better than most of the guys in their year, having been her friend since First Year. But still, the thought was just weird. "No way I'll get Head Boy," he pronounced, taking a drink of the firewhisky that had just arrived in front of him.

((OOC - This shit reply is the sum total of my rping achievements today, I'm so sorry))