You Can Get Your Sleep When You Are Dead

"Hear it on the radio, coming down to see your show..."

The music in the background was only the start of what was supposed to be turned into a party - as his stepmother kept calling it - for seven. Give or take a few.  It was probably going to be turned off soon though. Nathan Finch-Fletchley walked out of the house and headed down toward the lawn, making sure everything was ready in case they wanted to leave the house and do something else. There was really only one activity he was prepared for, that he knew would be a favorite of most of them.

The love for Quidditch was one of the things that most of them shared and he knew that there would probably be a request from one or more of them to play. This wasn't going to be a party, there was just a game today and he thought it would be a good idea to invite his friends over to watch it with him. It was better than sitting in his room watching it alone, or with his brother only. His father and Andrea were leaving the house and Nathan watched them leave from the back yard.

His father turned to look at him and Nathan turned away from both of them. Once he was sure they were gone, the Hufflepuff walked back into the house and walked into the kitchen where a small and grey-haired woman smiled at him. "The snacks should be ready soon Natie." she told him. "Okay, thanks Nana." he smiled at the woman and looked at what she was making. "Everything looks good." he complimented her.

Nathan walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. He went over to the speakers that were projecting the music and he clicked through the songs, trying to find one he liked while he waited for everyone else to show up.

He was alerted that the first of his friends had arrived by the bell ringing and he raced to the front door, sliding on the floor smoothly until he reached the door. He slipped up a little and was almost sent flying face-first into the door. Taking a step back, he took a moment to compose himself before opening the door to find that the first to arrive was Olivia Jones - aka - Ms. Antisocial. Nathan was quite proud of the nickname he'd given her, it suited her personality and he would continue calling her that until she said something to him.

Knowing she would be uncomfortable if he got closer to her, Nathan grinned and stretched his arms out before pulling Liv in for a hug. "Hi Liv!" he exclaimed, feeling the girl's body stiffen as she wriggled out of his grasp saying, "Let me go Nathan." Nathan pouted for a second before gesturing for her to enter the house. "Come on in Ms. Antisocial!" he said happily. Olivia walked in, glaring at him and he led her down to the room where they would be watching the game.

"Sit." he said, motioning to the couch. "Everyone else should be here soon!" he added happily, before going back to playing with the music as Liv glanced around the room, obviously feeling uncomfortable with being alone with him.

Admittedly, Trisha had been surprised to be invited to Nathan's house to watch the Quidditch Match. But she was in no position to give up time with people from school. She wasn't sure who all was going, but, as always, she made sure that her outfit was put together well. It was silly to worry about it, but she did.

Tris had never seen a professional Quidditch game - she had been reminded of this recently by Baldric, whom she had met right after one ended. It wasn't long until she was supposed to be going to a live game with him, and while she still couldn't figure why he had chosen her above his other friends, she was looking forward to it. She figured it would be something worth experiencing.

Tugging on her favorite red scarf as she walked up the drive to his house, she took in the yard and outside of the building. She had been unable to see most of her Hogwarts friends, and hoped some of them would be joining her in their trip to Nathan's.

Reaching the doorway, she stepped up to it, knocking a couple times - her parents had taught her that knocking too many times could make one seem impatient. While it seemed silly, it had stuck with her. So she did as she was taught, then waited for Nathan to greet her.

"Come on Missy, stop being such a grouch." Nathan sat opposite of Olivia on the floor. He stared at the girl who didn't seem please by being the only other person there. "Oh! I like that! You're name's Missy now!" he exclaimed with a nod, feeling proud of yet another nickname he gave Olivia.

Olivia, of course, was anything but pleased with the name. Nathan had moved away from her to mess with the music again and during the few seconds where there is no music while the songs are changing, she heard knocking on the door. She poked her head out from the room and noticed no one was going over there.

"Someone else is here." she said, looking at Nathan. The boy didn't hear her and Liv scoffed. "I'll get it." she sighed, rolling her eyes and went to the door to see who it was. Nathan noticed her leaving, and he followed behind her without making a sound.

Liv opened the door and smiled at who was there. "Hi Tris." she smiled, suddenly becoming more social with the girl. She jumped when Nathan suddenly spoke out from behind her. "Heeeeeey Tris~" Olivia moved back and pushed Nathan back too, giving Tris space to get into the place. "Come in!" Nathan said, almost falling over from Olivia's push.

He led them both back to the room he and Olivia had just been in and Olivia noticed that there was food on the table now. "Ooh, the food's ready!" Nathan said as he grabbed something off the plate. "Help yourselves." he told them.

The problem with Woods was that when they found out that you were there, decidedly alone, with no one to really divert their attention from you, they didn’t leave you alone and that was exactly what Gracelyn Llewellyn was experiencing as Baldric Wood playfully brushed the trimmed and coiffed twigs of his broom over Grace’s head, mussing the curls she’d painstakingly made that morning by candlelight in the mirror as the electricity in the pub had gone and there was no one around that really understood the silly Muggle way of producing light. Regardless of her best intentions, it all appeared to be for nought.

“Just because we’re out of Hogwarts, Baldric, doesn’t mean I won’t hex you,” Grace grumbled. Baldric chuckled, taking no heed of her warning, and reached out to pull her against him. Her scowl worsened on her face as he pressed a kiss to her hair and she shrugged him off with an elbow to his ribs which sent him scampering away, feigning a look of hurt that strangely satisfied her. He chuckled despite himself and returned to her side without another word as they drew up on the Finch-Fletchley household.

Grace glared at Baldric again and pushed open the gate. She strode up the garden gate with Baldric hot on her heels and the two came up behind Trisha just as the door opened.

“Nate!” Grace grinned broadly and threw herself forward, catching her arms around Nate’s neck. She bobbed away after a moment and followed him out into the garden as Baldric shut the door.

“Hey Trish,” He murmured with a small smile, feeling his lips pink a little before looking over at Olivia. “You alright, Liv? How’s your summer been?”

Tris had been tapping the heels of her feet together when the door opened. She was so distracted by Olivia being there and Nate calling out to her from behind Liv that she didn't even realize that Baldric and someone else had come up behind her. Tris opened her mouth to greet them when the girl behind her hurried over to Nate to hug him, taking her by surprise.

Glancing around, blinking a few times, Trisha saw Baldric standing a bit away from her. He offered her a greeting and a smile, and Tris was rather embarrassed to say that she could feel herself looking surprised. This, undoubtedly made her face red so as he turned to Olivia, she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

Instead, she made her way inside behind everyone, looking around the rooms they passed through. She tended to memorize places, and Nathan's house was lovely. Tris followed them into what appeared to be the main room, where Nathan pointed out the plates of food. Refusing to be the first to ever take food, or take the last of something, Tris waited for others to start before she reached down to pick something up.

"Gracie!" Nathan exclaimed just after Grace said his name, catching her in his arms as she threw herself forward toward him. He embraced her for a short moment before he glanced at Baldric and grinned, "Hey Bae." He said with a nod toward the boy who was already busy with the other two girls.

Olivia looked at Baldric as he spoke to her, though she seemed reluctant to answer him. She knew it was best to not have a problem with any of them, especially the boys. She already had enough with Nathan teasing her every five seconds when she seemed annoyed by him, so she shrugged and said, "It's been fine." In response to his question. Nathan, of course, couldn't resist saying something about her willingness to speak to a boy and he grinned.

"It speaks!" he threw his arms up and laughed shortly after his outburst. Liv didn't even bother to look at Nathan and he poured. "Boo, she's back to normal." He shrugged and turned his attention to Grace. "Charlie's coming, right?" He asked the girl, hoping her answer was yes.

"Eaaaat." Nate motioned to the food, glancing at everyone. "It's good, and it wasn't easy to make." He noted. He grabbed something off the tray and offered it to Liv, she eyes it suspiciously and shrugged. "Why not? If I die everyone will know who did it." she said softly, before placing the food in her mouth, looking at Nathan.

After being almost completely absent from the social world for the last month, Charlie had been pleasantly surprised to receive an owl from Nathan that invited her to a little get-together with some of their friends. The Hufflepuff had asked Jack for permission with some trepidation but met little resistance from her aunt. So with a spring in her step, Charlie got ready for her day out.

Last year at school Charlie had altered this dress magically - transforming it from something her grandmother would have worn into something much cuter. She felt a surge of pride of how it turned out as she looked herself up and down in the mirror. Charlie had never been a vain person but every once in awhile she caught herself staring at her own reflection. Her hazel eyes scanned her light skin, unconsciously searching for the deep scars that had served as a reminder of the attack before they were removed. Though she undoubtably looked better now, it was almost bittersweet to have them gone.

The house at Layabout Lane was bigger than Charlie had pictured in her head and she had been given her own space to stay in. There was another werewolf here named Toby but she hadn't talked with him too much. Charlie had heard whispers between Jack and Max that the young boy needed a new place to stay, simply because there was only so much space in the house. She felt slightly bad about this but not bad enough to overshadow the contentment that came with her new living arrangements. She had a cousin and a second cousin now - two more relatives.

When in was time to go Charlie stepped out into the front lawn and with a pop apperated on to Nathan's front step. Even though she wasn't too late, Charlie could already hear the sounds of music and conversation coming out from the house. She smiled at the familiar sound of her loud group of friends and knocked twice on the door. She was less excited about the match than just the prospect of seeing everyone but when you were close to people who were this obsessed you grew to love the game too.

Daemon had really been planning on doing very much over the summer - mind you, he had trouble sitting still or doing the same thing every day, so that got boring very quickly. When he heard that his classmate Nathan was having a bit of a party to watch a Quidditch match. This, of course, was something he had never done. If he wanted to see a match, his father would take him. Call it spoiled, but such was life.

Daemon really was trying to get away from his father's overbearing shadow, so going to the boy's home was a brilliant opportunity. Daemon had no idea who all would be there, but didn't quite care, either. He was outgoing enough that he could get on with people, he figured.

Walking up the drive to Nathan's house, he was close behind a girl he didn't know. He saw her knock as he came up to the door, waiting a few steps behind her. Nodding to her with a smile he joined her to wait for the door to be opened.

Inside, Trisha glanced up as Nathan addressed Baldric. Bae? So that's what his nickname would be. She nearly laughed, but instead just smiled to herself. She felt rather silly for wondering before. She was moving to sit down when she heard a knock at the door.

Tris made her way to the door, pulling it open. She didn't know the girl standing in front of her, but hoped Nathan or someone would be around to greet them and make it less awkward. Tris smiled anyway, not wanting to make a bad impression. The smile quickly fell from her face as she saw the other new arrival. Fantastic. As soon as the girl passed through the door, Tris intended to turn and leave Daemon standing there.

Brilliant. Daemon groaned mentally as he frowned at Trisha. Spirit Girl is here.

While Daemon wasn't always judgmental, there was something about the Ravenclaw that didn't sit right with him. Maybe it was that she was so quiet, along with her strange need to contact spirits. Their personalities just clashed. Today was going to be.. interesting.

Nathan had turned on the television in the room and while the teams were being announced, he tried to turn off the music. He glanced back as the music shut off and he noticed Tris leaving the room, heading for the door. Someone must have knocked and he hadn't heard anything.

Shrugging, Nate followed her and he blinked when he saw the two people there. He knew them both but he wasn't exactly close to the boy, in fact his name even escaped him, but he grinned widely when he saw Charlie there. "Charlie!" he exclaimed, throwing himself forward and wrapping her in a hug.

He pulled himself away from the girl and looked at Tris. "This is Charlie!" he told her, noticing that she didn't seem to recognize her. Nathan quickly turned his attention to the boy and smiled at him. "Hi!" he said happily before staring at him, his mind drawing a blank as to what his name was. "Er... your name's.. uh.. Daemon... Right?" he asked a bit awkwardly.

Daemon nearly took a step back as Nathan so enthusiastically greeted the girl who apparently was named Charlie. He watched Trisha give Charlie a quiet smile in greeting. Tris gave him a disdainful raised eyebrow before heading inside where Dex heard the television going to introduce the teams.

"Yeah," Daemon replied lightly as Nathan made sure he got Dex's name right. "Most people just call me Dex, though." It was odd, wasn't it, that Nathan had invited him and then forgotten his name? How many people were at the house right now? Perhaps he just had so many people that he'd gotten flustered. Usually, such things would bug Dex, but right then he was so curious who all had shown for the match that he just gave the other boy a half-smile before following them inside.

Looking around the room, Daemon wasn't sure if he knew anyone besides Nathan and Trisha, who had made her way over to someone Tris spoke to in an annoyed tone.

The moment Daemon walked in, Trisha made her way to stand near Liv and Baldric, muttering under her breath. "This guy is a right git." Though she didn't say it to anyone in particular, she rather hoped one of them would notice her annoyance. She didn't want to deal with this rotter who had spent much of his time making her feel like she was crazy for being interested in spirits. She reached out towards the plate of food to pick up a snack.

"Um,' Daemon attempted to introduce himself, "Name's Daemon Zograf. Most people just call me Dex, though." He could have mentioned that it was short for his middle name, but it just felt rather lengthy for an introduction.