"I don't think so," I said, plucking a bottle of firewhiskey from the clutches of a first year. The first year looked up at me with a mix of anger and pleading in his muddy-brown eyes but I shook my head at him, "Run along, now. Don't let me catch you again." The small boy crossed his arms and walked away in huff towards the other few Slytherin first years who had gathered in a corner of the common room, wearing various expressions of annoyance and disappointment at their friend's failure to secure anything alcoholic.

"Are you playing mother again, Lou?" Daphne asked coming towards me with two tiny glasses of sparkling, gold liquid. She handed one to me and used her now free hand to fluff her already perfect blonde hair. "It's supposed to be a party, let someone else worry for once." Daphne concluded by knocking back her shot in one fluid motion. I loved parties, truly I did but I had seen Slytherin parties before and sometimes they could get quite out of hand.

The event of the Yule Ball had meant that a lot more students had stayed at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays, so naturally Slytherin house had to throw a New Year's Eve party. Supposedly it was a Slytherin only event but I had seen a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs milling about and no one had kicked up a fuss about it. I suspected had a Gryffindor decided to turn up, there would have been an outcry. I had invited Harry, of course and Hermione and Ron and the rest of the Weasleys but as I had thought, they had politely said they'd rather choke on a flesh-eating slug.

I sipped at the shot Daphne had handed me and from the corner of my eye I saw her roll her pretty, little, blue orbs at me. "Hey," I said and lifted the camera that hung on a leather strap around my neck, "Smile." I said but before she had time to flash her perfect, pearly whites at me I clicked the shutter and the camera flashed. A moment later and I had a lovely little Polaroid snapshot of Daphne Greengrass, her face changing from shock to annoyance and then laughing. A moment forever captured in a short time-loop, trapped inside the magical photograph. Daphne scowled at me as I showed her the photo, even her scowls were pretty as she snatched the photo from my hand and dropped it onto the floor. She wasn't mad, I could see the hint of a tiny smile, creeping onto the edge of her lips. She tugged affectionately at one of my stubby, black pigtail plaits and wandered off into the crowd of students, probably in search of her next drink.

The party went on, the music being turned up and the drinks flowing like a river from bottle to cup. I had a couple of drinks myself but mostly I took photos and kept a watchful eye on things, especially Daphne who seemed quite merry but from past experience I knew how quickly she could go downhill. Some students danced and others were laughing over a card game at the coffee table and everything was a bubble of fun and noise, until an almighty thud caused a sudden silence to wash over the crowd of people. The only noise left was the music and even that seemed to have fallen in volume. Squeezing threw the crowd of people that had gathered at one side of the common room, I found myself at Daphne's side and she was trying not to laugh. I could tell she was drunk and giddy and I swatted her hands away as she tried to take the camera from my neck to take a picture of the scene before us.

For a second, I wasn't sure what had happened then I realised that Draco Malfoy had fallen from his chair and was now laying, motionless on the hardwood floor. I sighed to myself as I took a step forward, leaving Daphne and the crowd behind as I made my way towards the boy.

"You alright, Malfoy?" I asked peering down at him, even I couldn't supress the smile on my lips and I commended everyone on their ability to hold in their laughter, other than the occasional snicker that escaped here and there. Malfoy was laughing softly to himself in that way that drunk people often do, like they've heard a joke and can't quite get over it. "C'mon, up you get." I said, offering the boy my hand, he took it and I hauled him to his feet. I hadn't thought Draco Malfoy would be the first to drink too much at this party – truthfully, I was expecting it to be Daphne or one of the younger kids who may manage to slip something alcoholic out from under my nose. I had thought Draco Malfoy to be smarter than that.

"Come sit back down and have another drink Drakey." A sickly-sweet voice perked up from the table Draco had been sat at, Pansy Parkinson was batting her eyelashes in a way that I supposed she thought was attractive but mostly made it look like she had something in her eye. I rolled my eyes at her; Draco Malfoy was at least another foot taller than myself but I had a feeling I was the only thing holding him up as he leant into me. I narrowed my eyes at the other girl, putting on my best 'don't try me' glare and replied, "I think it's time for Draco to go to bed." I could see the other girl's lips quiver with the hint of an argument but she seemed to think better of it and instead shrugged her shoulders and took another sip of her drink.

I half carried and half dragged Draco towards the boy's dorms. The enchantment that kept boys and girls out of each other's rooms never lasted long in Slytherin House, some horny seventh year always managed to disarm it somehow and I didn't think Professor Snape cared enough to keep recasting it so I had very little trouble getting Draco to his room.

The boy flopped down sideways onto his bed – at least I assumed it was his bed but I'd never actually had a reason to go into the boy's dorms before.

"Malfoy, are you going to be okay?" I asked as I pulled my wand from the inside pocket of my cardigan and used it to fill a glass from his nightstand with water. He didn't answer me and I wondered if he'd maybe fallen asleep, I should probably wake him if he had – sleeping like that could be unsafe if he were to throw up in his sleep. I looked down at him, glass of water in hand and his eyes flickered up for a second – a smile spread across his face.

"Oh, Lucy Potter," He said, "Even from this odd angle you look lovely." I laughed a little to myself and tugged at his arm, pulling him into an upright position.

"Sip this, slowly." I told him and pushed the glass into his hand. He did as he was told thankfully. Draco Malfoy and my brother, Harry had a simple to explain dynamic – neither one could stand the other. Draco and I on the other hand had a slightly more complicated relationship – explained simply; we weren't friends but neither were we enemies. I may not have agreed with everything Draco Malfoy stood for but I respected his intelligence – usually – and on occasion I did find him funny. We were civil with one another but on occasion Draco had managed to surprise me, the first being the way he always helped Crabbe and Goyle with their homework and the second, that one time he came to my defence when Pansy Parkinson had decided to hex me in the hallway on my way to charms class. He'd pushed me out of the way as a silver-blue light missed me by only inches, then he had rounded on Pansy and actually yelled at her – she'd seethed for days after.

To this day I still haven't a clue what spell she had tried to cast on me and neither of us had talked about the situation since.

"The room is spinning at a ridiculous speed." Draco said putting his palm to his forehead.

"Well maybe this'll teach you not to drink so much in the future." I replied, I didn't feel any sympathy for him – I wasn't against drinking but drinking till you couldn't even stand was stupid, especially when we were only fourteen and shouldn't be doing it at all in the first place.

Draco chuckled to himself, "I love the way you play mother." He told me, "I'm sure the first years are having a great time now that you're not there to stop them." I hoped he was wrong and they were all scared of me enough that even when I wasn't there they wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol.

"Yes, well." I replied "I suppose if you're okay here, I'll head back and make sure they're having a terrible time." I made as if to leave but Draco caught my wrist and I looked back at him over my shoulder.

"Sit with me a while?" He asked and I hesitated for only a moment before I complied and sunk down beside him on the bed. He continued to sip at his water. "This isn't making me feel much better." He told me and leaned across to put the glass down on his nightstand.

"It may not help with the current situation but it may help with the aftermath tomorrow morning." I told him and he grimaced at the thought of tomorrows headache. We sat in silence for a little while, then we talked for a little about nothing in particular, classes and the Triwizard tournament. I said something that made him laugh and I quickly took a snapshot of his laughing with my camera.

"You don't laugh very often, thought I'd save the moment as evidence that its possible." I told him and he rolled his eyes at me.

"Take a picture with me." He told me and I hesitated, I didn't like my picture being taken – I preferred to be behind the camera but one picture wouldn't hurt, would it? I pulled the strap off my neck and held the camera out. Draco put his arm round my shoulder and I stiffened – I wasn't afraid of Draco Malfoy, I could take him out without even picking up my wand, it was just the shock of such a gesture coming from him.

Down in the common room I could hear them begin to countdown – ten seconds to midnight. Draco looked at me and I turned my head to face him, only inches apart. Five seconds till midnight. "What?" I asked still holding the camera out ready to take our photo, four seconds to go.

"Nothing." He replied with a small smile, three seconds. I became suddenly aware of how close we were when I felt his breath, hot against my face and oddly sweet from the strange wizarding world alcohols. Two.

One.

I clicked the camera just as he leant forward and kissed me.

Two seconds into the new year and I was making out with Draco Malfoy. I'd dropped the camera onto the bed behind him and somehow my arms had wrapped round his neck. I knew this was wrong, he was drunk and it didn't mean anything but I was sober enough and I could feel sparks of lightening flashing at every point that touched him – but still, it was wrong, he was drunk and thirty-four seconds into the new year, I pushed Draco Malfoy away. I picked up my camera and pulled myself off his bed, shoving the picture I hadn't meant to take, deep into the pocket on my cardigan. I told him to get some rest and he watched me leave.

"You were up there for ages." Daphne complained when I found her in the crowd of people, she was drunk – not as drunk as Draco had been an hour ago but still drunk.

"I hadn't even noticed," I replied truthfully and Daphne shrugged.

"Well, happy new year, best friend!" She proclaimed and clinked her glass against the empty bottles I had started to collect up.

"Happy New year, Daphne." I replied and shooed some disgruntled first years off to bed. I took Daphne to bed not long after and settled into my own a few minutes later. I couldn't stop thinking about Draco Malfoy – somehow, I thought I may have just opened the lid on something I had long been trying to keep closed.