Black gloves stretch across her fingers and hands as she stands cutting up tiny pieces of aconitum. Her hair lays in a thick, ponytail against her neck, while heat bubbles up from the cauldron beside her.

She's in the back room of Slughorn's tiny office, filled with his own potion supplies. The air smelled thick of pineapple and black licorice when she entered an hour ago, now it smelled of rich herbs pulled from gardens and the earth. She almost preferred this over the intoxicating juice of pineapple, it always made her have the sudden urge to sneeze.

Harry sits across from her, flipping through a comic book. While she had insisted on pulling him to Theo's party, it also meant pulling him to her brewing station. At first, Slughorn had been inside with them, buzzing like a tiny child as he watched her cut and stir, but mostly he just paid attention to Harry like a fruit fly.

When it became quite clear to him that nobody was quite interested in speaking, he excused himself with talks of making calls to another famous student he taught. Winnie was beginning to become tired of hearing it all, but she laughed when he laughed for the still purpose that he wasn't whispering words around the school of her infliction or treating her poorly for it.

She gathers up the tiny pieces, sticking them in the cauldron that is already bubbling with the rest of the ingredients. The liquid hisses as she pulls off her gloves, tossing them into the waste bin near the entrance.

"Are you supposed to just leave it here?" Harry questions, closing the comic book in his hands. She sees the title Spider-man on the front, making her slightly confused on how a spider could be a man. But she simply shakes it from her head as she sighs, nodding her head with a penned expression across her eyebrows.

"I suppose," she murmurs, though she doesn't feel quite comfortable with doing so. Originally, she had planned to stay the entire brewing time, looking over homework, write to Remus, ( he hasn't replied to one of hers letters yet, making her increasingly concerned. ) or just stare at the cauldron. But with Theo's party, she can't do either. "Dumbledore said Slughorn wouldn't touch it but," she pauses, frowning as she glances over at Harry who nods his head.

"I get it, it'll be fine though. What's the worst that could happen?" He means it in a joking way, of course, with the tilt of his shit eating grin and the shrug of his shoulders. But Winnie is stuck imagining the worst that could actually happen.

The Wolfsbane could be tampered with and she could go completely wolf on everyone and tear everyone to shreds!

She could lose herself completely the next full moon and not remember a single thing that happened that morning!

"Okay you have that 'oh fuck,' eyes going on right now, so clearly what I said made you worse," Harry frowns, snapping his fingers in her face as she comes back to reality. Finding him now standing next to her with his eyes staring down at her face.

"Well no shite!" She screeches, throwing her hands up in the air. "Potter, anytime someone says 'what's the worst that could happen?' the fucking worse thing in the whole world happens!"

"I think you're being a little overdramatic," Harry snorts, while she shoots a glare his way.

"Oh cause you're on to talk, 'Cordelia breathed in the same direction as Draco! They must be dating,'" she lowers her voice, trying to mimic his own voice while he simply stares at her with his lips pressed into a line.

"That wasn't funny," he mutters, causing her to snort as she reaches forward to shove slightly on his shoulder.

"I think it was hilarious actually," she grins, before looking back at the cauldron, smoke wavering its way in the air in tiny swirls as it shimmers. "Oh come on, I can't stare at this thing anymore, I'll drive myself mad."

"Oh, you weren't already?" Harry comments as they leave Slughorn's office, falling in step next to each other as they head towards the Slytherin Common Room. Winnie narrows her eyes over at him as he grins, nudging her with his arm.

"Oh honestly, shut it," she nudges him back, wrinkling her nose when he reaches up and ruffles her hair. "Harry!" She screeches again, reaching up and trying to flatten the top of head. She is already completely losing the party attire, considering she's wearing leggings with eggshell blue paint stains in spots, along with an oversized black and white plaid flannel. ( she definitely did not steal from Harry during the summer ) The only thing she had going for her was her hair, which was now ruined by Harry. She wrinkles her nose, pulling out her hair tie from her ponytail, trying to smooth out the tangled waves to make it somewhat appropriate. "I hope you run into Cordelia you twat," she sniffs, before uttering the password Cordelia gave her earlier and entering the common room, Harry shortly behind her.

Instantly she is hit with the rumbles of wizarding music, playing loudly around the room as if they magicked it to float around everywhere. The lights are dimmed and instead flashing green like something she saw out of a muggle movie in the summer. Both her and Harry come up short, their shoulders banging in each other as they stare marble eyed around the room. People are gathered in groups, dancing, talking, and holding tiny metal cups that Winnie had feeling definitely wasn't pumpkin juice.

And once, she may have smiled and instantly jumped into the party, now she just feels the start of a headache bang against her head already.

She turns to look up at Harry, only to find him staring off to the left of them. Eyebrows creasing, she looks to see what he is looking at, only to see Cordelia laughing while she stands next to Blaise Zabini. Winnie frowns, just as she turns to notice them standing beside each other. Cordelia waves then, tapping Blaise on the shoulder before making her eye towards them.

Either she's sloshed or she doesn't notice Harry standing there as well.

"I'm going over to see Dean and Seamus," Harry whispers, and she glances up at him, ready to tell him to stay with her and Cordelia when suddenly he's gone, submerged in the crowd.

"Hi!" Cordelia greets, smiling wide as she hugs her, kissing both of her cheeks in greeting while Winnie stands frozen. The smell of firewhiskey burns her nostrils as Winnie lets a smile float onto her face, taking Cordelia's cup just as some is about to tip out onto their shoes. "Was Harry here?" The false redhead questions, standing up higher and looking around for the boy.

"Oh, he was. He went to see Dean and Seamus I think," Winnie explains, watching closely as Cordelia stops looking, a quick frown laces her features. She reminds Winnie of a sad little puppy right now, her blue eyes so big and shiny with the effect of alcohol in her system. Lips jutted out more than they usually would, before she quickly sighs and just shrugs her shoulders.

"Well, are you going to drink? I saw Theo just over there, though he might be with Millicent now," Cordelia comments, turning back to look at Winnie with a crinkle of her nose. The blond's heart does a double take in her chest at the mention of Theo with Millie. "He should really be with you, you know? You make him happier, I think he's a little slow, but shush! Don't tell him I said that," she laughs, and Winnie finds herself snorting too, despite the fact she feels like her heart is shattering in her chest.

"How many have you had?" Winnie questions, raising an eyebrow when Cordelia twists her mouth up, as if she was thinking.

"Only two, don't be a mum," the false redhead rolls her eyes before grabbing her cup back from Winnie's hands. "Let's go get you something to drink, you have to be drunk too," Cordelia tugs on her hand, dragging her through the crowd while the blonde frowns.

"I can't drink, Lia," Winnie sighs as they come to stand next to a small table full of drinks and crisps.

"Well of course you can! I've seen you drunk before, silly," Cordelia gives her a delirious look, as she grabs a free cup from the table.

"No, you don't get it," Winnie groans, reaching forward to grasp Cordelia's wrist, making her cousin look at her now. "I really can't drink! It doesn't do anything for me, it'll be like drinking water." She should know this, she had tried to get drunk once after the werewolf bite. Remus had told her it didn't do anything, but she was so angry and in so much pain she just wanted something to numb it all. So she drank and drank until all she could do was sob because it wasn't working, the stupid infliction had taken away the ability to even let herself get lost in alcohol.

"Oh, Oh!" Cordelia frowns, as if it clicks in her head. A sudden wave of sadness washes over her eyes and it's all too much, Winnie isn't used to being able to read every emotion on her cousin's face. She was used to digging for it, she didn't realise how much she was depending on not knowing until now.

"Yeah, it's okay though. Doesn't bother me," expect it did bother her, she wanted to take that glass full of Firewhiskey and jug it back until her mind was hazy and her body felt like she was running through water. But she smiled instead, dropping Cordelia's hand and sighing as she looked around the party. Looking for a familiar head of chestnut hair, even if it meant finding her sister in the mix.

"Cordelia, can we— oh, Bulstrode," Draco Malfoy drawled, dressed in an all black suit that made him look every bit of the stuck up wanker he was. Winnie glared over at him, just as he scowled back at her, with Cordelia standing in the middle glancing at them both.

"Malfoy, still look like a bleach bottle I see," Winnie sighed, wrinkling her nose while the boy blinked.

"What the bloody hell is a bleach bottle?" He questioned, bewildered while Winnie laughed. Covering her lips with her hands, his grey eyes staring daggers into her skin.

"Uh ... right, what did you want?" Cordelia cut in, apparently sobering up enough to glare up at him with creased eyebrows. Draco glances down at her once, before looking back up at Winnie. She gets the hint that he wants her to leave, which only makes her stay even more. She swings her arm around Cordelia's shoulder, grinning up at him as he scowls again before looking at Cordelia.

"Do you mind if we talk? Alone," he speaks the last word towards her, causing her to scoff as she rolls her eyes. Though a tiny part of her is itching to know what's so important now, she blames that part on Harry. His whispers of Cordelia and Draco being up to something sticking in her brain. It's why when Cordelia agrees to go, Winnie only stands still for a minute, her eyes staring at the entrance to the boy's dormitory, the same place they disappeared to.

And then she's moving, climbing quietly up the staircase and towards the boys dormitory. Eyes looking at each plate until she finds the Sixth year one. For a minute she pauses, teeth biting her bottom lip before she finally presses her ear against the door, instantly the sounds of the voices waves through the door.

"Malfoy, just calm down! Now is not the time to be discussing this-"

"Now is the time! We can't keep pretending this isn't happening anymore, we have to take this seriously." Draco's voice cuts off Cordelia, harsh and stern as the words leave his mouth while Winnie presses her ear further against the door, fingertips pressing into the door.

"I am taking this seriously! How dare you assume I'm not taking this seriously, this isn't some game—" Cordelia is cut off once again, and Winnie can hear a frustrated huff come from the door, as if her cousin is seconds away from exploding.

"The Dark Lord wants answers, and he wants them sooner rather than later," Winnie can swear her breath stops completely when those words fall from Draco's lips and meets her ears. She feels her body stumble back, feels it slam against the wall and her head explode in pain.

The Dark Lord.

Voldermort.

If Voldermort wants answers from them that means ... No! It can't be true, Cordelia would never, she wouldn't, there must be something she misheard.

But she didn't, her hearing is perfect, more perfect than it should be. She could hear every breath; every tick of the heart, she would know if it was a lie, if it was a game. It's true, oh merlin, it's true. Harry was right, they're working for Voldermort.

Before she can even think of what to do, the door swings open and she's met with her cousin. Their eyes connect and in an instance they both know one thing; Winnie knows the truth. Winnie shakes her head, pressing her back against the wall as she stares at Cordelia, who stares back at her with wide blue eyes.

"Tell me it isn't true, tell me I'm going mad," Winnie pleads, her eyes staring hard at her cousin as Cordelia flinches, as if her words had pierced her right in the heart.

"Winnie, I—" She doesn't get the chance to reply, for Draco is behind her, and he moves faster than lightning. Reaching out and grasping her arm, pulling her roughly inside the room with his fingers pressing down hard on her skin. She's sure they'll leave bruises in the morning, but right now she's more concerned with the fact that she's in a room with two Death Eaters.

But there's only one that she is concerned about. She shoves Draco's hands off of her, stamping down on his foot causing him to hiss loudly while she turns her back to him. Staring now at Cordelia who is watching her with wide eyes, her lips opened as if she was trying to speak, but no words were falling out.

"Show me," Winnie speaks sternly as she glances down at Cordelia's forearm.

"Winnie, I can't do that. There's things you don't understand okay and I—"

"Then make me understand it!" Winnie interrupts, steeping closer as she reaches to take Cordelia's hand. Squeezing their fingers together, "whatever mess you got yourself into just tell me, I can help okay? I can get you out, make me understand it. Because I know there's no way you would join a psychopath on your own, so please just make me understand—"

"You have no idea what you're—"

"Shut the bloody hell up Malfoy or I swear to Merlin I'll make you shut up. The only reason I haven't run and told someone is because of her, you're safe because of her so don't," she snaps, looking behind her shoulder at the platinum blond who stands with his hands balled into fist by his sides.

When she's sure he won't speak again she turns back to her cousin, and she knows then that Cordelia is in deep. She sees it in the way her chin shakes with her lips, the way Cordelia squeezes Winnie's fingers so tightly that the tips of her fingers vibrate. Her blue eyes glance at something over Winnie's shoulder, and the blonde is positive that it's Draco.

"Winnie I—" She never gets to finish what she says though, because suddenly Draco is speaking.

"Obliviate," the word comes out loud and rushed, and for a moment all Winnie sees is Cordelia's eyes widened and her lips open to shout something. It never reaches Winnie's ears, however, because something shoots her in the back of her head and suddenly she feels nothing.

She's swirling through a void of darkness, falling down into a rabbit hole with her fingers scratching at nothing trying to pull herself up. She can hear the tiny whispers of her wolf in her head, it's yelling something that she can't understand. It's as if the voice is being blocked by something, only coming through to her in muffled whispers. She's grasping at them, trying to catch onto something she can hear, something that can stop the hazy cloud that has formed itself over her mind.

And then she awakes.

Winnie blinks, eyebrows creased against her forehead as her mind still shakes with a cloud. She looks around, finding herself sitting on a bed that she knows isn't hers, and she can't quite seem to remember how she got there. Confusion eats away at her body, and for the first time since she received the bite, she wishes for it to tell her what happened. But she's only met with muffled silence, a slight ringing in her left ear as if she's been hit roughly against her head.

"Winnie?" Her head snaps upwards, so quickly that there's a shark tug of her muscle in her neck. She winches, reaching up and applying pressure to it as shots of pain emit in pulsing waves. Cordelia kneels in front of her, looking wide eyed and a complete mess with her hair frizzy and sticking out as if she hadn't brushed it in days.

"Cordelia? W-What happened I," she frowns, trying to remember how she got up here, but nothing comes to her mind as her heart rate starts to pick up. She can't remember, she can't remember what happened. Did her wolf take over? She doesn't think that's possible without the full moon but it's the only solution she has to why there's a blank space in her mind. "Did something happen? Did I hurt you? I," she can feel the panic lodge it's way up her throat, it tightens and constricts her air way as she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Sucking in deep breaths as she tries to calm herself down.

"No, no, nothing happened you—"

"I did what? What happened? Why can't I remember anything?" She questions urgently, looking up at her cousin who reaches for Winnie's hands. Squeezing her hand tightly while the blonde watches with wide eyes, her chest shaking as the blood in her body pounds loudly in her ears.

"You said you had a headache, so we can come up here to get away from the noise. You ... uh, fainted as soon as we got here and hit your head on the bedpost," Cordelia explains calmly, her words failing out of her lips as Winnie frowns, glancing over at the wooden bedpost she was told she hit. She supposes that explains why the left side of her head feels like she had been stabbed through her skull, and perhaps why her memory is so hazy.

"So ... I didn't hurt you?" She questions quietly, she hates how much it comes out as heartbroken as it did. But the fear is still there, and she needs to know she didn't do anything to hurt her. Cordelia presses her lips into a line, glancing away for a minute as she swallows thickly.

"No, no you didn't do anything," she whispers, squeezing her hands again as Winnie lets out a breath of relief. Closing her eyes while her head hangs before she pushes herself up, she's suddenly feeling incredibly exhausted, and really just wants to go to bed. She hasn't seen Theo yet, and she knows he'll be hurt if she doesn't even say hello considering it is his birthday after all. "I'm sorry," Cordelia speaks suddenly, causing the blonde to freeze as she looks over at her, eyebrows dragged down on her forehead.

"For what? I'm the one who fell and hit her head, this isn't your fault," she snorts, reaching forward and lopping their arms together. Cordelia smiles, though it doesn't quite reach her eyes, a frown moves to lace through Winnie's lips as she looks over her cousin's face. "Is everything alright?" She asks quietly, as Cordelia shakes her head violently, even though it looks as if she might cry any minute. There's a nudge in her brain, as if she should know why her cousin looks so heartbroken, as if she knows exactly why but can't quite remember.

"I'm okay, just tired I think," Cordelia speaks after a minute as Winnie frowns, her eyes running over Cordelia's face before looking back at her eyes. It's a lie, well at least partially, Winnie knows it is. It's the same lie she has told about a hundred times before, but she can't question any further, for Cordelia is pulling them down towards the party. Music instantly bouncing around their ears again and killing any chance of a serious conversation. "I'm gonna get a drink, I'll be back." Her cousin disappears then, leaving Winnie watching her vanish through the crowd, feeling as if she had just been lied to straight to her face, and worse all, she's sure there's nothing she can do about it.

"Heathen! Thought I heard whispers of you being here," Theo enters her space in a matter of seconds, and she's greeted with the slight smell of Firewhiskey and cinnamon as he swings his arm around her shoulder. Once again, she's looking up at him with his green eyes flashing down towards her with a relaxed smile across his face.

"I see someone is enjoying his birthday," she smiles, as he snorts, his laugh radiating around them and suddenly Cordelia is the last thing in her mind. Because he's laughing in such a free way that is intoxicating, it sinks her in and traps her in his depths. "I got you a present," she remembers, stepping out from underneath his arm and reaching down in her bag. Feeling around blindly for the smooth wrapping of his tiny present, once she finds it, she grins and takes it out. Holding it towards him in the palms of her hands, she watches as he beams down at her. Before laying his metal cup down on a table and dragging her over towards a corner away from the bumping of the crowd.

Only then does he take it, her arms fall to cross against his chest. Feet bouncing on her heels as she waits nervously for him to open it. She always hated this part of giving gifts, waiting to see their reaction. Winnie always assumed they would hate it, she would envision them opening it and having to pretend to truly like it over and over again until she grew sick and just had presents delivered. She could've done that easily with him too, but a small part of her wanted to be there, to watch him, to see if he truly liked it.

"Are those frogs wearing hats?" Theo questions, raising an eyebrow at her as he points to the tiny frogs on the wrapping paper, she blushes, rolling her eyes.

"Just open it," and he does, but only after he winks at her for making her laugh. She glances away for a moment, out at the people floating in crowds and dancing to the music that plays above them. She spots Harry talking to Ginny Weasley and Dean Thomas in a corner, a metal cup in his hands. Smiling, she turns back to Theo to see that he got all of the wrapping off, leaving a tiny black box. Glancing up at her, she nods for him to continue before he finally opens the cover carefully.

She's watching his face rather than the object itself, watches as his eyebrows crease downwards first before his eyes glance up at her. Widening as his iris grows bigger, a small smile grows on his face as she grins. Winnie lifts up her left arm, shoving down the sleeve of her flannel and exposing a silver charm bracelet to match his. The charm of the star glistening in the lights as he looks at it, before looking at his own.

"We're matching," she grins, she had bought him a thicker silver bracelet. Engraved against the middle stood a half moon, to match the stars against her own wrist. The moons and the stars, she hadn't had the faintest idea on what to buy him for his birthday. She had spent nearly all day in Hogsmeade hopping from store to store until she found that in a tiny shop next to Honeydukes. At first she didn't buy it, the moon engraving throwing her off until she remembered the star bracelet she wore on her wrist all the time.

"Now we'll always have something connecting us," he speaks quietly, and the words cause her to inhale sharply. They stare up at each other for a moment, each other's eyes glowing wide and black like saucers. She opens her mouth to say something, something that could possibly ruin everything that they were trying to maintain when suddenly someone else comes into their bubble. Her head of snow white hair and cheeks blossoming like cherries, Winnie takes a step back, suddenly remembering her and what she meant to Theo.

Millie opens her mouth to speak to Theo, until she realises there's someone else standing there. The irish twins' eyes connect, one wide with blue and the other narrowed with embers. Her sister had been trying for ages to speak to her since school started, and Winnie will be damned if she lets her speak now in the middle of the party.

"I have to go, I didn't sleep well last night so I'm pretty tired," she speaks directly to Theo, pretending her sister doesn't exist even though she's standing close enough to touch. Theo looks over at her, his lips pulled into a frown as if losing her was the biggest problem he encountered. "I hope you have a good birthday," and she smiles again, before brushing past them both. Her shoulder checking into Millie's along the way, she doesn't even bother to stop and tell Harry she's leaving now, or to find Cordelia and hug her one last time.

She's already out the door before she can even breathe again, the air forcing its way back into her lungs as she stands still. Eyes squeezed shut and hands pressing against her chest. She had been about to tell Theo how she felt, she wasn't even sure how she felt exactly, but whatever it was, had been about to fly out of her mouth and towards him.

It would've been the biggest mistake of her life, she's sure of it. Because they are friends, and he will marry another person and she will be completely happy for him.

Only she won't, and everyone but her notices the truth.

༺♥༻

A few hours had passed since the party, and she hadn't returned to her common room yet. She had every intention of returning and putting the whole night behind her, yet her feet had carried her back where everything seemed to have started for her.

The kitchens.

It's where she sat now, eating a Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich with her eyes staring down at the silver bracelet resting against her wrist. It was only after she had given him his gift that she started to question why she even gifted him that. It certainly didn't feel like a friendship thing to have matching bracelets, or matching anything. She wouldn't get anything matching with Harry, it would feel weird and like overstepping a line they both knew they could never cross.

And yet she got it with Theo. She hadn't even thought twice of what that could mean, but now they have it. The stars and the moon. It's almost funny really, how she had spent the last few months hating the moon with everyone in her, only to go out and buy something with the moon engraved into it without a second thought.

"What have you done?" She groaned, hitting her head with her hand as she squeezed her eyes shut. The half eaten sandwich sitting beside her with her cup of still steaming hot chocolate. Nothing added up correctly in her brain, there was still a haziness and restraint against her brain, still a silence between her and her wolf.

It was almost so silent that she couldn't even hear her own thoughts anymore. It was almost as if everything in the world that could go wrong, had in fact happened.

She blamed it all on Harry Potter, of course. After all, he was the one who jinxed it earlier that evening with her Wolfsbane. She just thought it would be her brewing process that would go wrong, not her whole entire evening.

The door opens then, and she jumps so suddenly that her knee knocks into the wooden table. Cursing, she holds onto her aching knee as she watches Harry Potter stumble into the kitchen. His hair is a messy, tangled mess of ebony and his eyes wide and hazy.

Great, another drunk person. She was starting to feel more like the boring parent than the cool friend.

"Harry what are—"

"Cordelia kissed Blaise," Harry spits out, walking over and slumping next to her on the bench, sitting sideways so he's facing her as he slumps with his cheek resting against his arm. Winnie's mouth is left fallen open, staring down at him with shock radiating through her veins.

"I'm sorry, but did you just say Cordelia kissed Blaise? As in Blaise freaking Zabini?" She questions alarmed, watching as Harry glumly nods his head, before he hiccups. The action caused his body to jolt with his glasses tilted sideways against his face. The sight is so heartbreaking and sad that she is momentarily forced to put her surprise on hold. Sighing, she moves so she's straddling the bench, facing him now. Winnie reaches down, fixing his circle glasses to fit more comfortably against his face.

"What happened?" She questions quietly, resting her cheek against her hand as she leans down to look at him. He sighs, hiccups one more time before he sits up, placing his hands down on the wooden bench under them. She watches as he starts to scratch at a wood chip, making it bigger until he finally speaks.

"I was looking for you actually, and then she spotted me I guess," he pauses, shrugging his shoulders and she feels a part of her start to feel guilty. She should've told him that she was leaving, maybe if she hadn't been so selfish he wouldn't be looking like a kicked puppy dog. "She kept trying to talk to me and I ... I felt bad so I spoke to her and Merlin, I missed speaking to her. She's just so amazing, and really beautiful. I really like her hair too, of course, she looks pretty either way but this new hair kinda makes her look badass..." he pauses, frowning while her heart tears away on the inside. His green eyes are wide, full of a haze that she knows has to do with the amount of Firewhiskey he has drunk. "I think I said something, I don't know. But she grabbed Blaise and then kissed him right in front of me," his face wrinkles, nose scrunching up as he presses his lips into a thin line.

It's heartbreaking really, to see him here now on the edge of crumpling as he works through in his brain. She feels the need to go and find her cousin and throttle her senseless. But yet some part of her gets it, pride is what is what is. Cordelia's pride has been bruised and it needs to be repaired, Winnie just wishes Harry could be the one to heal it.

"I mean why would she do that? I thought... I thought," he pauses again, and Winnie realises that his lip is trembling. She has never seen Harry cry, not really, though she knows there's a thousand reasons in the world why he could. She admires him more than she lets on, because even as the world shakes him dry of everything, he pushes forward and tries to fight. It's why she doesn't say anything to tell him to get over it, his heart is broken and she understands that it takes time to heal. So she simply reaches forward and brushes the tears from his cheeks.

"I know it hurts, I know you may be mad at her now, and I love Cordelia. But she is hurting too, and I think," she pauses, twisting her lips up as she tries to think her words over carefully. His face is still written together in agony, but he's looking at her now at least. He's listening to her words carefully, she thinks he's trying to understand. "People hurt in different ways, and I know you're hurting too, and that's okay. You're allowed to hurt over this, you don't have to be so brave all the time Potter," she grins, hoping her words make him feel a little better. She sits, still facing him as he faces her, she glances back at her sandwich, and thinks maybe he needs something more than her right now. So she reaches forward to pass him the plate only to be blocked by his hands.

Harry's hands quickly cup her face, and then before she can even blink or question what he's doing, his lips are pressed against her own. Winnie's body freezes, her hands frozen in the air on either side of him as he kisses her lips. It's sloppy, and her mind is racing a mile a minute, as his teeth clank against her own. She can taste Firewhiskey, it melts into her lips and mouth while she comes to the sudden sharp realisation that Harry Potter is kissing her.

And just like that her body can move, she's placing her hands on his shoulder and pushing him away. Her eyes wide and body still stiff as his lips leave hers. The boy is blinking, stunned as she drops her hands from her shoulders and begins whipping at her mouth.

Cordelia is going to murder her. She couldn't have kissed Harry, not Harry, never Harry. But she did, he kissed her, if it happened and now they are both staring wide eyed at each other as if they just let a bomb explode the entire castle.

"I-I have to go," she spits out, quickly getting up from the bench. Hands sweeping to gather her belongings, pressing her bag and bracelet close to her chest as her mind continues to spin.

"Winnie I— I'm sorry I didn't mean—"

"No, shush. This never happened okay? We're fine, we're good," she smiles, cutting him off as he sits in his seat still. Watching her move towards the door in frantic movements, he doesn't say anything else, not that she gives him the chance to. For she's running out the door and into the hallways before she can even blink, her eyes wide and suddenly wishing she just went straight to bed after the party.

Yup. Harry Potter definitely jinxed this entire evening, and she has no idea how to tell Cordelia Flint what just happened. But she knows that she has to, because even though they may not be together, she knows how her cousin feels about Harry Potter.

She really wishes she just went to bed.