I was still a bit confused about my weird conversation with my prefect. And I didn't know why we'd had conversation in the first place. Even though he had seen us there, it wasn't like we would've revealed his secret, to be honest I'd kinda forgotten about the forest situation. Juan was watching me. "Juan, you're scaring me, please stop."

"Oh sorry, I just want to make sure you'd keep my secret." He stood up.

"Um... if you don't mind me asking.... but, why is it important to keep the dark liquid secret?" I expected him to glare at me, but he didn't. He took out the bottle. We were alone in the Slytherin dorm. He took a swig. I'd forgotten exactly why we were the only ones left in the dorm. Juan stared at the bottle and drunk another swig.

"Ah, that's the good stuff..." His eyes darkened. "Unlike my...." he whispered.

"Um... you didn't answer my question..." Juan looked at me, his eyes were dark.

"You want to know what this is? Fine, here's what it is." He forced a drop down my throat. I coughed and gagged, it tasted god-awful. He stared at me emotionlessly. I looked up at him, terrified.

"It's.... it's... muggle alcohol... oh my God..." I looked at him. "It's effing awful!" Juan stared at me, his brown gaze emotionless.

"No it's not.... it's wonderful..." he said creepily. I stared at him, very unnerved.

"You're.... you're... an... alcoholic..." I said, still gagging. At least I had something to tell Alder. Juan was still staring at me. I stumbled out of the common room. At least I knew what to keep secret now. But what had happened in Juan's life had turned him to alcohol? He was only sixteen! There was still a foul taste in my mouth. I stopped and stared at a wall. Alder walked over to me.

"Sully, are you okay?" I shook my head and told him to meet me in our hallway. Once there  I turned to him. "Sully, what's wrong?"

"Juan j-just forced a-alcohol down my throat! Of course I'm not okay! He's an alcoholic! He's an alcoholic!" Alder tried to calm me.

"Sully calm do-"

"HOW CAN I BE CALM?" I shouted. "MY PREFECT IS AN ALCOHOLIC AND I HAVE TO KEEP IT SECRET!"

"We have t-"

"ITS JUST LIKE WHEN MY PARENTS DIVORCED BECAUSE OF MY FATHER'S DRINKING PROBLEM!"

"Wait- What? Sully, is that true?" I didn't hear him, I was too panicked. I was pacing. "Sully, it'll be okay..." When I didn't respond, he patted me. "Sully, listen to me..." I didn't I was still panicking. He kissed me to try and calm me down. "Sully, it's okay..." I looked down at him.

"What's okay? The fact Juan forced alcohol down my throat?" Alder gave me a hard look.

"No! That's never okay! Juan's just a broken boy like us."

"Broken?"

"There must be a reason he turned to alcohol right? But let's not think about that now, we have Transfiguration." I followed him trying to clear my head. I pushed it to the back of my mind as I followed my boyfriend. In Transfiguration we sat at our desk and he used his non-writing hand to hold mine. I looked at him. "Sullivan, don't worry about it for now, focus on your school work." I turned my attention to the teacher, though there was always that thought in the back of my mind. Alder glanced at me before returning his gaze to the teacher. At the end of the lesson, he turned me. "Sully is it true what you said about your father?" I looked away. "Oh..." He hugged me. "Sullivan you shouldn't keep that in... I've told a teacher about my abusive father... there are people who can help you through that, like me." I looked back at him.

"I love you," I said, smiling slightly.

"I love you."