Good Taste and Good Company

Padril tittered nervously as he put the final touches on the room. About a dozen chairs were  facing a large white cloth covering a wall, positioned so their shadows wouldn't cast on the wall when the projector seated behind them fired up. The cloth, which would function as the screen, had been surprisingly difficult to arrange. Padril had just assumed that getting the projector working- a years long task, even for someone like him- would be enough to ensure a good film, but the logistics had been a headache. Getting good quality old film reels was a nightmare; he'd spent a significant amount of money out of pocket to arrange for this one to be loaned to him, and had his parents travel quite a distance. A screen was an obvious difficulty that he had just not forseen; he'd had to magic a spell on a white sheet to make it work as well. He'd only put the finishing touches on it today.

Then there were the posters. Designing them was easy enough; big letters, a jumping Charlie Chaplain. He just didn't expect to replace so many graffitied copies and the stares in the hallway were so much icier and frequent than he'd anticipated. Finding an empty classroom in the Dungeons had been easy enough; the lack of light and wind really helped with the simplicity of setting everything up. Padril had done it; he'd really taken the steps into actually pursuing something he liked with other people. For better or worse. He just had to wait. He just adjusted his tie, fixed his buttoned shirt, and made sure his brown shoes and skinny chinos hadn't been dirtied during his cleaning of the projector. He tended to lose himself in that. The Hufflepuff glanced at his watch for the third time in the last minute. 7:23pm, and the posters said 7:30. People should have shown up by now, right? Anxiously, he sat on a chair, hoping he hadn't committed social suicide.

Trisha had homework due later in the week, but her day had been just too darn stressful for her to be able to focus on anything that wasn't due the next morning. That said, she had spent the afternoon shuffling around her room, trying not to think about her having agreed to meet Romeo on the Quidditch Pitch for practice before auditions. Instead, she ended up going down to dinner earlier than usual. That was when she saw the posters.

A film club? Tris hadn't been so happy in days. It would be like she was home - her siblings really did watch too much television - and she was immediately thrilled. When the time had come for the meeting to start - or thereabouts, Tris made her way down the staircases to the dungeons and looked for the correct location.

The place marked on the posters was before her shortly and she knocked lightly before opening the door and peeking in. She didn't know the boy in the room, but he looked fairly familiar. Maybe they had been in class together once or twice? She generally didn't pay attention to the people in her classes as much as she paid attention to the lesson or the work.

"Um, hi," She greeted lightly, "Film club, right? What are we watching?" The last question brought a light smile to her face as she observed the boy who must have been the initiator for the club.

A sudden influx of posters advertising a muggle film club had found themselves covering the corridor Walls. Between the gaps of portraits and on classroom doors the posters were there. Jackson had even come across a couple on the back of toilet doors, a rather clever idea seeing as anyone using the toilet would be objected to seeing it. Not that it was taken warmly. When Jackson had gone for a shower one evening he'd come across a graffitied poster scrunched up in the dustbin by the door. There was always going to be people who objected.

In spite of that Jackson had taken towards the idea. A Hufflepuff in the year above was apparently setting it up and living with his muggles cousins at home meant Jackson was already accustom to muggle moves. Of course all the ones he'd seen had been recent, modern ones about space ships and the occasional 'fantasy'. Little did the muggles known that their version of vampires weren't all that far from reality. 

At quarter past seven Jackson dotted his final 'i' and crossed his final 't' on his herbology essay on the properties of the snargaluff plant. The Hufflepuff loved herbology, along with potions. It was always wonderful to lean about the natural world - especially how all these wonderful plants could be used in potions that could save lives. Literally save lives. The past few weeks, what with studying healing charms, Jackson had fallen for the idea of being a potioneer at St Mungo's if the teaching career failed. 

Packing away his belongings he bid farewell to one of his friends and got up from the wooden table not too far from the fireplace - a small circular window high at the top of the wall. Jackson loved the common room. It was such a warm, homely place with the burnt bronze fireplace and the shelves that curled around the Walls where the most magical of plants rested in big orange plant pots.

After putting his homework on the bedside table in his dormitory he made his way across the common room, ducking under a sheet of ivy and out through the barrel door. Originally Jackson had planned to spend the evening curled up with Grace, Charlotte and Nathan on the sofa by the fireplace - their spot - but coming to the conclusion he could do that every other evening he'd decided to investigate the film club. See what it was all about.

Ten minutes later Jackson found the room. It was rather dull. Two people stood before him: Padril, who he had spoken to occasionally at the Hufflepuff table and in the common room and Trisha Bates. Tris' was part of the ever-growing group of friends, granted she was new to the group but just as welcome and just as wanted - even if she was left on the edge a little.

'Hello Tris, Padril.' Jackson greeted them as he walked to stand besides his Ravenclaw friend. 'So, what's the club all about?' He asked looking at the protector and then to the White sheet. Hopefully it would be fun, if not... Well he just wouldn't come again. 

(OOC: I just thought it would be easier if Jackson and Padril were like acquaintances considering their age and house. After all Hufflepuff house is like a family if you're not happy I shall edit )