[OPEN/GROUP] End of Year Party, Anyone?

Apollo had never been one to start the parties around Hogwarts, but dangit all, he was graduating. If there was any time to throw a party, this was it. The Zabini brothers were about to be released on the real world, and Merlin if he didn't feel a little bit bad for them. It wasn't as though they had not been involved in Diagon Alley and the sort with their ownership of Quality Quidditch Supplies or anything. But now they didn't have to attend school at Hogwarts for nine months out of the year. They would be free to do as they wished, when they wished, and with whomever they wanted.

So the elder of the twins led the way down the hall as the younger followed, not entirely sure if he should be there. Christian wasn't really the party type at all, Apollo knew, but it would have been more shocking, somehow, if the twins had not planned the potential fiasco of a party together. So they approached the Room of Requirement and passed in front of it, back and forth, until the door opened and presented them with the space for their get-together. It was easier than trying to hold the event in one of the common rooms, and the room immediately presented them with what they would have wanted and needed for a party that could possibly be made up of the entire school.

Christian made it known once more than he was not impressed with the fact that Apollo had said that anybody who wanted to could stop in. The younger students, he said, wouldn't necessarily feel safe drinking with the older students, and Christian himself wouldn't want to let them drink and hurt themselves. Nevermind if they got caught after the drinking. But it was too late for that, as Apollo reminded him. It was a students only party, and the time had come for it to begin.

Ducky loved the organisation of Hogwarts students when it came to deviance. They couldn't get their shit together when it came to getting into a crowded class, but when there was a party, they knew the drill. Students passed by the door in twos and threes, slipping inside only when it didn't seem suspicious any longer. There was always a first year or two who had been paid off to stand guard at the ends of the corridors, calling out when a prefect walked by... unless, of course, the prefect was going to the party too. It was a perfect, barely flawed strategy that kept everyone safe and happy.

And helped get the party started.

Ducky waited with Nora and Finn - Finn, of course, would probably duck out within minutes of the party starting, certain that no good could come of a party. But Ducky... he would get the party started.

They strolled by after a few minutes and entered in. Thus far, the party was fairly mild. Ducky sighed, slinging arms around his girls. He lolled his head over to Finn and shook it. "When will they learn?"

And from his waistband, baggies of spliff, Sugar, and Spice were pulled. He tossed each to a known deviant, with an accompanying smirk to let them know their job was to distribute fun throughout the party. He put it on himself to spike the punch.

Bottles of rum and vodka were evenly and generously poured into the punch, before Ducky handed off the vodka to another pal. The rum he kept for himself, carrying it high and proud as he flung an arm around Apollo Zabini. "Good man! Good man, indeed! You will receive generous compensation for your assistance in starting this party! To pay off this debt, I have a greed to secure you your maiden of choice!"

Ducky might have drank before he came.

He cast an arm around. "Take your pick. Nora is a great choice, though she's mad for me, so it may be a problem. Finn is wife material, seriously mate. Ooooh, a rogue Lily Potter appears."

It was true. Lily Potter showed up, tragic looking as usual, looking as though she had just walked in on her parents having sex or something, she was so confused. As she would be - for it, that'd be a strange, disturbing turn of events.

Christian seemed immediately pleased when his friends came through the door, moving to greet them warmly. Apollo, on the other hand, was not so sure about the Baker kid. It wasn't merely that he disliked Christian's friends - although that was true some days. No, he had the feeling that Ducky was up to things he shouldn't be, and Apollo was not going to be the one who told their mother that Christian had gotten into some sort of mess. Ducky would be forced into that himself if anything happened to the younger twin. If anything ever happened to Daphne's favorite, there would be all manner of hell to pay.

The ex-Keeper, however, was rather more aware than Apollo gave him credit for. Christian had to be, in order to keep up with his siblings - even if he only ever saw one of the two of them.

Still, Apollo did pause briefly before deciding that the drink he could handle, but the rest he wanted not part in. He wasn't uptight, thank you. He just thought it was stupid to turn over control of yourself to a drug, and wasn't about to be the one who got caught in a massive bucket of trouble if the party turned sour. He had far too much to worry about to consider recreational anything, nonetheless the stuff that Ducky had brought.

His eyebrows rose almost imperceptibly as Ducky made a comment that quite clearly suggested that Ducky wanted control and some sort of claim over the party. Honestly, the Slytherin couldn't be fussed enough to argue about it, so he just passed an unimpressed look in the Gryffindor's direction before turning to look at Lily when she walked in. If Apollo wasn't mistaken, Christian had brightened slightly upon seeing her. The elder brother bristled at the realization, not quite pleased with the fact that the current object of Christian's attention so often seemed to play along without meaning anything by it (mind, he would call it 'current,' because his brother rarely stuck with anyone long enough to accomplish much in the way of a relationship). Lily seemed to have no serious interest in the Hufflepuff, and Apollo wasn't sure if he was quite upset with that, or quite amused with the fact that Christian kept after it as though he didn't notice. And maybe the boy really didn't.

Still, Apollo escaped from beneath Ducky's arm after muttering a "we'll see if you can manage it," and approached Lily purposefully before Christian could do so himself. "Hello, princess. I didn't peg you for a party type," he mused aloud, leaning against the wall nearest to her and crossing his arms over his chest.

F*ck.

Lily had been headed out, ready to make her escape into the forest when the unthinkable happened. A root. A stupid, useless root had tripped her and the sickening crunch of her bottle of wolfsbane being crushed had cushioned her fall. It took her awhile to get up, so unprecedented this event was. She brewed her own wolfsbane so as to not raise any suspicion within the castle, and now it was gone. She was unprotected. The people inside were unprotected.

She had some time. Her skin was crawling and her bones were aching, but she had to get moving. She ran across the grounds and up into the castle, headed straight for the room of requirement. She moved at a brisk pace, but it was calm and measured. She breathed in slowly and carefully. She would have wolfsbane in the Room of Requirement. It was where she did her brewing, and she know she had not used a whole cauldron full... Well, she was pretty sure she had not used a whole cauldron full. And if she had, she could use the room. Phrased correctly, she could create a cell for herself that the wolf could not escape and human Lily would be able to deal with in the morning.

See. There was always a solution. There was always a solution. There was always a-

Problem.

People were lining up to get into the Room of Requirement. She froze in her tracks, once again at a loss as to what to do next. But urgency spurred her forward and she numbly walked through the door, into what looked like the rager of the year.

Bodies moving together, students flirting, baggies and bottles passing hands. First years were nervously plunging into the social fray, excited at the prospect of being seasoned second years in just a few months. Seventh years seemed to be cutting loose with more vigor than usual, sensing their last opportunities to really be young and irresponsible were on them. Ducky Baker was saying her name. And the sun was going down.

This wasn't good. It wasn't just her reputation at risk. She could seriously hurt someone. She could kill a classmate.

Apollo Zabini was at her side, and if there was ever a time for him to treat her with some respect and tact, it was now. But that wasn't the way the world worked, now was it.

She must have looked foolish. Or sick. She was paler than usual and a cold sweat was working its way over her body. Her wrist was flicking ever so slightly, as her joints ached to get the transformation over with. Her throat was dry, and it felt like every sense was heightened, making the world... prickly.

She turned to look at him, trying to be angry, trying to be irked. He obviously knew less about her than he hoped, seeing as her "party" habits had almost lost her an education, as well as her life. But she didn't have the energy to fight with him. Nor the time.

Her heart skipped two beats. Soon, she would be going into cardiac arrest while every organ shut down, broke into bits, and morphed into the innards of a beast.

No. She definitely didn't have the time.

"You need to stop the party," she said. "You need to clear out, okay?"

Something was wrong. Christian didn't understand what it was, but Lily wasn't acting like herself, even though Apollo was being as annoying as ever. It wasn't right, and he did not like it. She was supposed to be reactionary and, well, Gryffindor. She looked like she was about to fall over, instead.

"Apollo," he snapped, striding over to look more closely at Lily. "Shove off, mate," he demanded, stepping between her and Apollo. "Hey," he put in more quietly, denying Apollo a moment to put in that she had told him they should leave. "Are you feeling alright? I thought you'd just arrived; it isn't like any of Ducky's stuff could've done you in this quickly... Lily, why are you here if you're not well?"

Apollo gave a slight laugh, as though he couldn't believe his brother was taken in by an act, or something as silly Lily playing some sort of prank on them. Christian's glare over his shoulder made Apollo frown, though, and he kept his mouth shut. At the very least, he could have considered the fact that she genuinely was unwell.

"Ignore him," the younger brother put in, returning his attention to the brunette. "What do you need?"

Christian didn't care if a party was raging around them, or if Ducky would make fun of him for it later. He wasn't about to just leave her to it while the rest of the the people around them went on with what they were doing. It didn't matter that she was the person he was most curious about at the time. The innate need to take of those who could not had struck him, and he didn't want to risk anything with the younger students around, either. For what it was worth, he knew he was probably being over dramatic. But there was an odd flare of drama in him that came out when others were in danger.

Apollo's smirking face made it absolutely clear that he was not getting him, or anyone else, out of here easily. Of course not. If she had retained some sense of a good reputation, some dignity beyond the girl who dared to show her face after everything, an ounce of credibility, then maybe someone would have caught on that she was being serious. Her more spitfire side would have at least made it more likely for Apollo to realize she was capable of kicking his arse.

But she had screwed it all up last year, and the consequences were reaching her now. She managed a lethal glare at the Slytherin before the good twin appeared at her side.

She looked over at him, a bit surprised that he had, well, noticed. There was something different about Christian, for sure, something very different from his brother. He was much more... sunny. Whatever that meant.

"I'm not well," she said, trying to explain without explaining. Apollo still seemed doubtful that anything serious was up. "I... I... Ah!"

Her stomach had suddenly seized. She swayed and reached out, bracing herself against the wall. She stared downwards, taking deep breaths. She shook her head, trying to swallow, but her mouth was getting dry. Finally, she managed to say, "Get out. Get out. People are going to get hurt."

Jenna always got dressed up at these kind of parties. She prided herself on her ability to turn heads. She knew people thought she was serious, studious, so straight laced. So when a party like this happened, she deliberately chose suggestive clothes and revelled in the attention that brought her. Not that she'd ever in a million lifetimes admit to it.

So Lily Potter's big entrance understandably caught Jenna's attention. It was taking attention away from her. Jenna had already figured out something was up with the Potter girl. Much as Jenna liked to deride Lily's intelligence, she knew the older girl wasn't stupid. There was some other reason she'd been held back.

Jenna walked over to the group clustered around the Gryffindor, just as Lily doubled over in pain.

What you assume is pain, Michael's voice echoed in her head. Always get confirmation from the patient.

"Lily, are you hurt?" she asked bluntly.

Something was going on, something very strange. Which was not at all conducive to a party scene. Finn was looking terrified and she slowly moved towards Ducky, shivering a bit as though Ice Queen Potter had brought a chill with her. She tugged on his elbow and looked across the party at Lily, where the two Zabinis and the prefect had gathered. "Ducky..."

He saw the danger now, and nodded. He reached out, filling a little paper cup full of punch before crossing the dance floor. He smiled as he reached the group, focusing his attention on the Ravenclaw girl who could put an end to their fun.

"Christian, you've got this right? Lily probably doesn't-"

"Leave me alone," Lily growled, straightening up, bracing herself against a wall.

Ducky nodded. "That's... yep. Punch, Jenna?" He gave her a winning grin, hoping to tempt her and perhaps the Slytherin Zabini away.

"Cute, Ducky," Jenna said, before closing the gap between herself and Lily.

She placed a hand either side of the Gryffindor's face, forcing the girl to look into her eyes.

"I'm the daughter of a healer, Lily," she explained earnestly.  "I'm not trying to get you in trouble, just help."

She stepped back and pulled her wand from her shoe.  Thank Merlin for tall boots.  

"Lumos.  You gonna let me examine you or not?"





((that healer is the Michael in your app, btw))

(ooc: We should really go in order, because I was about to send my reply. In smaller groups like this it's easier to keep track)

Christian frowned at Lily, unable to understand why she would want them to leave her on her own when she was clearly not feeling right at all. He opened his mouth to deny her that wish, one of the prefects showed up at his shoulder. Somehow, Ducky thought he was to be trusted with the situation, when really he didn't know if he wanted that responsibility to be solely his. After all, Apollo was the one who wanted to go into medicine. Christian very rarely turned to his brother for help, but as he turned to look over his shoulder at Apollo, his gaze passed by Jenna and Ducky, confusion and anxiety written across his features.

So much for being able to help everyone.

Jenna stepped in and both of the twins stared at her, their eyebrows pulling together in a weird mirror of each others' features. This girl didn't even know their group, whether or not Lily was included in that. Regardless, the boys knew far better than to get that close to Lily Potter when she was upset. Christian traded a quick look with his twin before nodding. Apollo stepped around and curled his fingers around Lily's upper arms, gently leading her back a few steps.

"Bad idea, love," he pointed out, his tone a mix of warning an anxiousness. The last thing they needed was for Jenna to run off and get them in trouble. But, equally, they didn't need her pissing Lily off when she was so upset.

"Lil," Christian cut in, leaning around Jenna to try and provide a more calm reaction than the Ravenclaw had. "Jenna's trying to help. We all are. We aren't going to just leave you here when you're unwell."