``t h a t girl {Tristan/open}

[girlingreen]

Cora giggled slightly as the bartender brought her another drink. She was terribly drunk and she knew it, yet Cora certainly did not want to travel back to the castle at the moment. No, Hogwarts was the last thing on her mind. She sipped the firewhiskey, grimacing as it burned its way down her throat.

That was when she saw her. In the corner of a mirror, Cora caught her reflection staring back at her. It was that girl again; the one Cora had fought for so long to rid herself of. The one who had kissed every boy in her year and never had a friend in the world. The friendless slut stared back at her with no mercy.

She dropped her glass back on the counter, too shocked by her own reflection to even think straight. Still staring at the mirror, she attempted to fix her hair and forced a smile onto her face. If anything, she looked worse. What would her mother think of her now?

A sudden panic gripped Cora. She had to get out of there. She had promised herself she was done destroying her life, but she had never been any good at keeping promises, especially those to herself. Cora pushed the glass of firewhiskey aside, threw a few sickles next to it and stood up from the barstool.

Almost immediately, a drunken man grabbed at her arm. "Hey there beautiful," he said, slurring his words badly. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" Cora pushed hard against him, but the room was spinning and she had little impact. "Let go!" she demanded, wriggling in his grasp, but to no avail. He was still there, smiling drunkenly. Then the door to the bar burst open. Cora turned her head wildly, wishing it was someone who would help her.

[untouchable]

Tristan burst into the pub. He'd seen Cora through the window, and then had seen that drunken bastard grab a hold of her. "Back off!" he hissed. The bartender had frozen, watching the commotion, wide-eyed. The drunk just smiled back and held Cora fast. Within the same instant, Tristan had strode up to him, and launched a punch to his jaw. The man staggered backward, then, cursing, attempted to stand. Tristan effortlessly retrieved his wand and practically yelled, "Stupefy!" The man fell over, and Tristan slipped a comforting arm around Cora's waist. "Let's go," he whispered.

[girlingreen]

It had all happened so fast that for a moment, Cora was stunned speechless. But when she felt Tristan's comforting arm around her waist, she leaned into him, allowing him to lead her outside the pub. She still felt dizzy, but the cooler night air was an improvement. "I'm sorry," Cora muttered sincerely to her boyfriend, feeling bad that he had to come to her rescue when she probably shouldn't have been in the pub in the first place.

[untouchable]

Tristan shook his head gently. Sure, he was furious at Cora, for doing this to herself. But now wasn't the time to scold her about it. He'd never seen Cora drunk before, nor did he ever want to have to see her drunk again. He had no idea what kind of drunk she was. And, until he found out, Tristan wasn't planning on doing something that might make her upset, or angry. "Come, on, let's get you some place safer," he said. Tristan walked around, settling on a secluded bench close by. It was late, so Hogsmeade was relatively empty. He sat down, pulling Cora down with him, and held her close.

[girlingreen]

Cora sat down with Tristan, comforted simply by his presence, though she was highly confused as to his actions at the moment. She half-wished Tristan would just be angry with her, yell or something of the sort, but instead she could almost feel his disappointment with her. It was somehow worse. Yet Cora couldn't just get up and leave. She had no way to go home, nor did she have any intention of doing so at the moment. "I'm a sober drunk," Cora said at last, no longer being able to bear the silence. She said the first words that she thought of, and almost immediately wished she hadn't spoken them aloud.

[untouchable]

Tristan looked down at Cora in surprise. A smile crept to his face, and he let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head lightly. "Well, in that case," he pulled her back so he could look her straight in the eye. "Don't you ever, ever, do that again. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't had seen you?" he scolded gently. He examined her for a moment, then leaned forward and lightly kissed her forehead. "I don't want you getting hurt, at all."

[girlingreen]

"That's a bit unrealistic," Cora said, her words coming out before she could stop them. Perhaps that was what was truly different about her when she was drunk: she was more of a loose cannon than usual. But Cora's words were not untrue. With the way she was living, the people she was running with, the games she was playing, nothing was safe. The odds of her getting hurt, or killed, were about as high as they could be unless Isabelle herself decided that Cora was a threat. Still, Cora hadn't meant to say it aloud, she didn't want to have that sort of discussion with Tristan.