Liam sat under his favorite tree on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, looking towards the sunset over the mountains. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his entire reason for coming out here alone: A bottle of McCallister Homebrew Firewhiskey. He popped the cork out of the bottle and took his first long swig. It burned a bit going down, but he barely noticed.

This was one quality about himself that Liam honestly could not stand. He was such a positive person all the time that when he did come down, he crashed awful hard, which led to these occasional benders that he had. It was an old pattern. He would fall into some sort of strange depression, get a bottle from Firewhiskey from home, usually from one of his cousins, and drink until he was three-sheets-to-the-wind. Then he would take the next two days off to recover from his hangover, and everything would be well again for some months. It was always a solo thing. He hated this tendency, but it seemed to be necessary. He took another long draw from the bottle. He looked in his bag, smiling a bit. His cousin Seamus had misunderstood his request and sent two bottles along. He knew better than to drink two bottles of the old homebrew, but he figured he'd keep it around anyways. Who knows when he might that one right? He felt the familiar warm feeling starting in the middle of his chest, and knew he would be tipsy fairly shortly. He began taking smaller sips. He figured the longer he nursed it the better he would feel. 'And hopefully the less severe the hangover would be,' he thought to himself. He began to sing a song that he had heard his father singing back in his childhood.

"What do you do with a drunken’ sailor?
Put him in the scuppers ‘till he gets sober,
What do you do with a drunken’ sailor?
Put him in the scuppers ‘till he gets sober,
What do you do with a drunken’ sailor?
Put him in the scuppers ‘till he gets sober,
Early in the morning..."

He sang softly to the sunset, with his bottle in hand. 'Wow, I am typically Irish aren't I?' he thought. 'Whatever...' and he continued singing.

Dream was on her way back from checking on a pair of new unicorn foals when she heard some slightly off-tune singing that had a charming appeal to it. Whoever was singing might not have the best tune, but they had a pleasant barritone that kept it from being annoying. Dream found herself unable to ignore her curiousity so she made her way towards the sound. She was pleasantly surprised to find Liam to be the source of the noise, and like the good lad he was, he was holding a bottle of what looked like her favorite drink. "Hiya!" she said cheerfully as she walked up to him.

Scarlett was coming in from harvesting herbs by the dark of moon when she heard singing. It sounded a bit slurred in a way that lured her in. Party time! she thought. She checked her hip flask. It was about half full. That should be enough of an offering to her host whomever he may be. She followed the sound of the sing until she reached a clearing. "Liam, Dream! I couldn't have asked for better company"

Liam looked up as he heard a voice calling out to him. Dream was coming up towards him. He figured if it had been anyone else he would have turned them away rather bluntly, but Dream was a different case. She was quite possibly one of his best friends at Hogwarts, along with Sil and some of the other Gryffindors, and he could tell her pretty much anything. He also knew that she had a certain fondness for firewhiskey.

"Evenin' captain, fine evening isn't it?" he said, motioning towards the multi-colored sunset flaring over the mountains. Right about then he heard another female voice calling to both him and Dream. Scarlett. She was another one that Liam felt he could trust. They had grown closer recently, and even though she was prone to taking the mickey out of him, he could not turn her away either. 'So much for a solo bender,' he thought to himself with a chuckle. He beckoned her over as well, motioning to the rest of the space under the tree, with it's many gnarled an mossy roots making decent sitting places. He had nestled himself between two that reminded him vaguely of his favorite armchair up in the common room. He pulled the other bottle of homebrew out of his backpack.

"Can I offer you ladies a bit of the nectar?" He chuckled again. Maybe, for once, his little drinking ritual would be a bit of fun.

Dream sat down on the side of her new roommate and leaned up against the tree. She had no sooner sat down when she heard another familiar voice. She looked up and grinned at Scarlett. "Hi! I don't think there's enough here for you, but you're welcome to watch." she said to her bestfriend teasingly. Then she grinned at Liam as he offered them some firewhiskey. She needed no further encouragement and happily took the bottle from him. She lifted the bottle to her lips and proceeded to chug down a few gulps, breathing through her nose in order to not feel the burn while chugging. When she lowered the bottle she passed it over to Scarlett and took a deep breath. She was ht with a huge rush of fire that raced through her veins and she closed her eyes to enjoy every second of the burn while it lasted.

Logan thought he heard a drinking tune coming from a distance. He could recognize the voice as Liam's. Curious, Logan followed the sound into the Forbidden Forest. The singing stopped after a while, but he soon heard two other voices. One was Scarlett's, and he began to think the other one was Dream. He looked around as he journeyed through the forest, and eventually looked over to the small group around the tree. Grinning he walked over. It seemed as though firewhiskey was involved.

" 'Ello, 'ello." He approached the tree, "Nice to see you Liam, Scar, Dream." Logan nodded to each of his friends. He lowered himself on the ground into a comfortable sitting position. "Got a firewhiskey circle, then eh?" He laughed. Ever since that one time, Logan had grown accustomed to sharing bottles of the stuff every so often. The slight, subtle burning sensation became an addiction of sorts.

Scarlett nodded to Liam and put her tongue out at Dream for the comment. She took the offered bottle from Dream and took a swig. “Don’t worry after I drink you two under that branch, I’ll still have a little of my own to swill,” she said pulling out her hip flask. The firewhiskey set the blood in Scarlett’s veins to thrumming. She saw they were being joined by another friend. “Hey Logan,” she called as he appeared. She offered him the bottle. “Drink and be welcome to our circle.”

“What’s the occasion Liam?” He seemed more solemn than usual and Scarlett adjusted her fair mood to his. It was his bottle after all so she would take her queues from him.

Melie was wandering around the grounds looking for Liam, she knew that he had been in a bit of a mood earlier and she just wanted to make sure all was ok with him. She had looked around the castle and couldnt find him in any of his usual spots so she headed out to the tree that he liked to sit at and think. As she got closer she could hear a group of people, Dream and Scar, and Liam and Logan. Melie slowed down slightly, not sure whether to join, no one had noticed her yet so she figured she could bolt. Liam obviously wasnt as bad off as he had made it seem earlier and had decided to have a party with their friends and not tell her. Just as Melie decided to go back to her dorm she tripped over her own feet and fell down. Well there's no way I can get away without being seen now Melie thought to herself and stood up and brushed herself off. She walked over to the group and plunked herself down on the ground next to Logan, legs crossed and her hands in her lap.
"Hi. What's going on here?" Melie asked no one in particular. She could see a bottle of firewhiskey being passed around and waited for it to reach herself, she wasnt about to grab it out of someone's hands.

"Thanks Scar." Logan happily accepted the bottle, taking a swig. It had been a while since he had good firewhiskey. He had already drank the bottle from the room of requirements that night. Once he felt the burning liquid flow down his throat, Logan took a quick sip, and handed the bottle over to Liam. "Something bothering you mate?" He asked. That was then he heard a thud from behind. He looked over his shoulder and saw Mel's little faceplant. He grinned, and turned back around.

" 'Ello, Mel. Have a nice trip, did you?" Logan teased the girl, but flashed her a grin so she'd know he was only playing around.

Scarlett who had not seen Melie’s faceplant frowned at Logan and put her arm around her friend. “Melie dear what’s got you so glum?” Though Scarlett had an idea of what it might be. She didn’t give Melie time to answer, but plucked the firewhiskey bottle from Liam hand and offered it to Melie. “Drink up, it cures what ails you.”

Liam was slightly shocked that so many people had turned up. He was not adverse to any of them being there, it just was not what he had expected. He did not see any reason to not let the other bottle pass between Dream, Scarlett and Logan. Friends in a pinch often have to share drinks, his uncle had once told him. He sat there taking small gulps from his bottle, enjoying the burn as it went down his throat, warming him. He heard Scarlett's question about the occasion and decided to tell the truth. No use hiding it anyways.

"No particular reason Scar, just having my semi-monthly bender/pick-me-up. Usually a solo event I admit, but I don't see any reason not to have friends around too. Intoxication loves company after all." It was then that he noticed his girlfriend coming from the opposite side of everyone else, and managing to fall down. He realized something guiltily at that moment. He had been a bit harsh with Mel earlier, and he realized then that he had not apologized to her. He watched her drop down next to Logan, opposite him, and he managed to stand up without wobbling.

"Hey Mel, can I talk to you for a minute?" He really did feel bad about his mood earlier in the day and really did want to apologize to her. Besides, she was the only one he wanted to split his bottle of Firewhiskey with this evening.

Melie blushed slightly at Logan's comment and stuck her tongue out out at him. She felt Scarlett put an arm around her and ask why she was down then passed a bottle of firewhiskey to her. Melie took a nice long sip of the fiery liquid and felt it slide smoothly down her throat, burning at first and then give her a warm feeling. Turning back to Scarlett Melie answered her question.
"Well." She started getting slightly annoyed. "I was minding my own business, hard thing for me to do as you all know, in the courtyard this morning when my sweet boyfriend turns up, all broody. So I tried to help in out of his funk, and I tried to make him laugh, and I tried to make him feel better, and what do I get? He gets all pissy with me, snaps at me and then leaves me there completely oblivious to what happened! I mean seriously! I was only trying to help!" Melie was getting emotional now, in truth she had been hurt with the way that Liam had spoken to her earlier that day, she didn't know what she had done and she didn't know why he had been so harsh with her, she had never seen him like that before.
Melie took another long drink of the firewhiskey, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to start flowing. She saw Liam stand up and Melie tried to ignore him but when he spoke directly at her Melie looked up at him.
"Alright," Melie said hopeing that she sounded annoyed. She stood up and walked away from the group and stopped about 10 yards away, her hands on her hips.

Liam knew he deserved the tirade that Melie had just gone off on to Scarlett. He had been a true git earlier, and now it was time to redeem himself. He found himself incredibly sober as he went over to talk to his girlfriend.

"Mel," he said, looking deeply apologetic and sincere to the best of his ability. "I really am sorry about what happened this morning. I don't really have an explanation for my mood. I just sort of... crashed I guess, and sadly, a date with a bottle of Firewhiskey is usually how I deal with that sort of thing if I decide not to rant at someone. My plan was quite honestly to get planet-smashed all by my lonesome and then be OK the day after tomorrow, but people have turned up quite quickly. I can't turn them away because they're my friends, and it's my fault that I didn't think to somehow get a hold of you to join us. I know I was a git to you earlier, and I want to ask your forgiveness. So," he dropped down to one knee and took one of her hands. "Can you forgive me for being a complete and utter prat earlier and come back and share a bottle of Firewhiskey with me so we can get drunk together and enjoy the evening? Besides, lovers spats don't really seem to suit us, do they?" He smiled at her as he stood up, hoping that she accepted his sincere apologies.

Melie watched as Liam apologized and wondered if she should forgive him, he really had been a git to her, he had even said so himself. Melie didn't like to be upset with Liam, sure she could be upset at Dream no problem (although that usually lasted a day before she needed her Dream fix), but being upset with Liam was hard, it made her all depressed and moody, and that wasn't Melie at all. But he had been a real jerk earlier and Melie wasn't quite sure she was ready to forgive quite so easily. But on the other hand he was offering her firewhiskey. Melie figured she was going to forgive him at some point during the night anyways so she may as well do it now and get it out of the way so that they could have fun.
"Alright, I guess I can," Melie said with a small smile.

Listening to Mel forgive him was probably the most pleasant sound he had heard all day. He stood up and kissed her deeply, before taking her hand and heading back towards the circle of their friends, who now had possession of both of his bottles of Firewhiskey. He sat back down in his make-shift root armchair, motioning for Mel to sit with him. Now that he had gotten the emotional issue out of the way, he wanted his booze back.

"Oi! I don't know which one of you has my bottle, but I'll have it back now! Besides, my fair lady here deserves the lion's share of the bottle for putting up with a berk like me." He chuckled and looked around, waiting for someone to return his Firewhiskey, whoever had it.

“Liam it’s right here where you left it, not much is gone, so if you two are done makin’ up come back to the circle and we will all drink to Melie’s ill luck in havin’ you as a boyfriend,” Scarlett’s tone was light and teasing. She was glad to see her friends all patched up.

Logan kept on a collected face, determined not to say anything further. He did feel a bit bad about the comment, but he really didn't know that Mel and Liam had fought earlier. When they got up, Logan looked over to Scarlett with an apologetic expression. He didn't say much more until the two of them came back. Glad to see that they had worked everything out, a small grin appeared. It got bigger to honor Scarlett's suggestion. "Sorry about that comment Mel." He whispered to her.

Melie sat down next to Liam and smiled at Logan when he apologized in a low voice. "It's ok Logan, its not your fault," Melie said to him. He really didn't need to apologize to her, she was the klutz who fell over her own feet. Melie took the bottle from Liam and took another big sip of it.
"So. Who has some good gossip to share?" Melie asked her friends, but looking directly at Scarlett, who Melie knew was a big gossiper and knew everything that was going on in the school and was sure to have something.

"Don't worry Scarlett," Liam said, picking up his bottle. "I don't know what she sees in me either, besides these devilishly good looks." He grinned and took a quick shot from the bottle, relishing in the taste and the burn. He put his arm around Mel when she sat down next to her and offered her the bottle. He heard her request for gossip, and gave her a mock frightened look.

"Me? Gossip? My dear lady, when do I ever stand still enough to gossip?"

When Melie asked about gossip it took Scarlett a while to chose the best story, but then she realized the Melie had missed all the action. “Oh Melie, you weren’t there the day that there was an attack on the Tower. Chase was gonna just let Cassie in and Dream expelled him from the Tower for not defending it! And I heard that Cassie got some kind of horrible detention.” Scarlett’s voice was rich with feeling as she relayed the scandal.

Melie stared at Scarlett wide eyed, bottle halfway to her mouth.
"He did what?!" Melie asked in shock. That was just something you didn't do, letting people from other houses into you house, not even family! She wasn't quite sure if it happened or Scarlett had just been imbibing just a little too much in the firewhiskey. "She didn't get in did she?" The thought of a snake in their common room let alone their dorms made Melie want to throttle Chase. "I hope Dream gave him a good detention for that one!" Melie said ruefully. Sometimes she liked Chase but when he did things like that, she really just wanted to kick the kid.

“No, no snakes got into the Tower.” Scarlett reported. She loved giving Melie scandalous news. The other girl’s reactions where a gossipmonger’s dream. “And he didn’t get detention. He got expelled from the Tower.” Here Scarlett lowered her voice because she didn’t want to upset Dream. “I think it was quite a fittin’ punishment. If you don’t defend the Tower then you don’t deserve to be there.”

Liam listened to Scarlett go on about the incident where Chase had attempted to let Cassie into Gryffindor Tower. He remembered the incident quite well, considering that he had been in the common room at the time, but it was still fun for him to reminisce about it while he drank. He decided that he could not resist putting in his two cents.

"Well, Dream can't be blamed for reacting like that now can ya cap?" His tone was light and slightly teasing as he addressed Dream. "No snakes in the tower, ever, right? And least of all do I want Slytherin's blasted Seeker in our tower." He had a certain mild distaste for the Slytherins. being a Gryffindor and all, but his distaste for the opposing Seeker was greater still.

"Pfft, if it were up to me, I wouldn't ever let him back into the Tower again!" Melie said, slightly disgusted. A true Gryffindor wouldn't let anyone in the Tower, least of all a Slytherin. "I never really trusted him you know, I always wondered if the sorting hat had a malfunction or something, when he was sorted into Gyrffindor," Melie said with a small giggle and took another long sip of firewhiskey. Turning back to her cousin, "is that all the gossip you got Scar? I think you're losing your touch," Melie said teasing her with a smile.

Liam chuckled listening to his girlfriend go on about Chase. "I agree with ya love, no questions asked. I've never known the hat to make a bad call before but this time... well, everyone makes mistakes right?" He gave a short, barklike laugh and eased the bottle of Firewhiskey from Mel, taking a long draw. He did love Firewhiskey, especially when he had been getting on a roll like this. "And I don't believe that Scarlett has lost her touch for gossip. That's like saying Merlin lost his touch for magic."

Dream contented herself with sipping on a bottle of firewhiskey that she'd found in her purse. She always had some on hand, so much so that even she got surprised occasionally at the places that she found a bottle of the stuff that she'd stashed. She listened to Scarlett as she shared the latest gossip in their house. She gave a faint smile as she heard Melie's reaction because it was on par with Dream's own feelings on the subject. Just hearing story again was enough to get her blood boiling. She nodded in agreement with Liam's comment and gulped down some more firewhiskey.

Liam looked at the look on Dream's face, seeing a bit of color come to her cheeks. It seemed to him that she was still a little hot about the whole situation, so he did his best to disarm her before she got going.

"Well played Dream," he said, tipping his hat towards her. "I wonder where he's sleeping," he thought out loud. "It would be easy to have some sort of 'accident' if he were holed up in the Potions dungeon but I doubt that Mark would let him anywhere near it. Ah well," he said, sipping his firewhiskey again. He was hoping to get Dream back to her old self, even if the only way to do it at the moment was to roundly abuse Chase. He did care about the prefect as though she were his sister, and it was just his way.

Scarlett could see Dream’s anger rising and decided to take up Melie’s challenge and turn the conversation at the same time. “Well I have noticed a rather unlikely couple spendin’ some time together though I can’t rightly say what may come of it. Maybe you know Mel. Have any of you noticed that Henry and Sabrina have been hangin’ out together?” Scarlett shuddered a bit as she took a sip of firewhiskey not sure if it was the alcohol or a reaction to the pair just mentioned.