Grown-Ups

The base rumbled through the house, lights pulsing to the beat in a manner that was likely to give a poor bloke a seizure. Nora was being led through the crowd of rowdy teenagers by the boney hand of Clementine Lovegood, friend extraordinaire. It was a rare occasion that their starry-eyed Ravenclaw companion knew more about a party scene than someone like Nora but today she was at an advantage. The party was hosted by some random out in a part of the countryside Nora never visited. Clementine lived somewhere reasonably close by and this was the second party of the summer that she had been invited to here. The invitation had been extended to all the cool kids at Hogwarts (aka Nora, Ducky, Molly, Margo, and a couple others) as an excuse to get together and be away from their parents during the summer months.

They headed through the vibrating house and to the backyard where Nora's eyes caught the familiar silhouette of Ducky Baker. The vague tingle of excitement in her stomach reminded Nora that she had some juicy gossip for her nearest and dearest of companions. The pair of girls walked arm and arm across the lawn to what had once been a makeshift bar, now a sloppy recycling bin piled with empty bottles. Watches aside, it was obvious that Nora was arriving slightly too late to the party. The crowd was still throughly involved with their dancing and alcohol but the first signs of a downswing were visible out here away from the main action. Someone was puking in a nearby bush, a couple boys were sleeping in lawn chairs, an angry girlfriend was shouting obscenities at her indifferent date.

Clementine managed to find a pair of untouched beers and without further delay the ladies headed to the makeshift gathering that their crew had made on the grass. Without hesitation, Nora drapes herself elegantly across Ducky where he sat, supporting her pose with an arm around his neck. "Hello, my love," she said in a falsely pompous tone. "You're looking quite dreadful this evening."

It had been less than a week since they had seen each other but Nora would be lying if she said she hadn't missed him. So much has happened in those few days that her need for a best friend could not be overstated at this moment. Nora slid from Duckys lap in a far less elegant manner than she had entered in, flopping to a cross-legged position on the slightly damp grass. A half-empty bottle of clear liquid was slipped into her hand by Clementine, who was nursing her personal flask that contained some unknown beverage that smelled strongly of coconut and emitted a concerning blue light.

"What have I missed?"

Ducky Baker was in a bad mood. The summer wasn’t easy, with his family asserting that they had been right all along and all of that jazz. Cain had dropped by, too, going on about their father needing money, which ended in a huge explosion between both halves of his family, his mother busy trying to kick him out while Luca, Henry, Liam and Ignatius circled Cain and talked crap, until finally Liam shoved Cain and an actual physical altercation broke out. It was Lydia who, at the age of fifteen, had enough sense to pull everyone apart and demand that Ducky apparate her and Cain out of there.

Cain was deposited back at his small apartment while Ducky and Lydia hid out in Diagon. Ducky had a black eye forming from when Henry had attempted to punch Cain and despite the balm Lydia managed to lift from Wheezes, they could not get the bruise off. Ducky got the pair of them ice cream and they limped down the lane with their tails between their legs, sitting on the slats of the fence that surrounded the Shrieking Shack.

“So now what do we do?” Lydia asked.

Ducky licked the last of the mint ice cream from his fingers. “I’ll drop you off and I have a party to go to-“

“A party?” Lydia asked darkly. “Yeah, that’ll make mum happy.”

Ducky sighed. “Whatever, Lyd, I don’t care anymore.”

“Yeah I noticed,” she muttered. Ducky shot her a look as she pushed herself off the fence. “I’ll get the Knight Bus. Don’t want to cut into your prep time.”

And all of those gloomy circumstances loomed over him at the party that night. Molly and Margo were nearby, and he and Margo were going shot for shot, drink for drink. With a pill from Molly, his heart and mind were racing but his body felt loose and stimulated. He was lounging in a plastic chair, a red cup hanging loosely from his hand, a cigarette dangling from his lips, sunglasses slipping off of his nose despite the fact that it was getting dark. Though he was certainly keeping up his typical persona, but there was certainly something ugly brewing in his ribcage.

“She’s here,” Molly murmured as she walked by, her hips shifting beneath her dress as she slipped passed.

Ducky glanced up in time to receive Nora Graham in his lap. He felt a warmth spread through the darkness within him immediately, and if it wasn’t so out of character for him, he might have pulled her into a big hug. Instead, he smirked at his friend and said, “Had a bad day – what’s your excuse?”

She practically rolled off of him and he laughed as she flopped onto the ground. Margo, who was pretty much gone at this point, stumbled into the grass next to Nora and with a series of grunts, dropped her head into Nora’s lap so she was gazing up at her friend. She reached up a hand and pet Nora’s cheek, before stroking her hair. “Nora’s so pretty, guys. Nora. Nora. You’re so pretty.”

Molly blew smoke into the air and rolled her eyes, leaning on the arm of the chair.

“Nothing – you got here in time to watch the party die out,” Ducky said.

Molly flicked her eyes skyward, flicking ash off of her cigarette. “We decide when this night dies, young Mallard.”

If Nora had been given the gift of being gay, she would have stolen up Margo years ago. The girl was a gift from angels above; blonde, big-boobed, and deliriously drunk, there was almost no one that Nora would have preferred to be in the company of at this breed of gathering.

"Don't make me blush," Nora replied with a laugh of someone who had never taken a comment about their appearance with any degree of seriousness before.

Her friend's uncensored (and verging on slurry) speech encouraged Nora to take a large swig out of the vodka bottle in her hand. Of course she had already taken a shot or two (or three) before departing.. but surrounded by this mess she felt horribly sober and quite determined to change that fact. A party like this would be no fun unless she was out of her mind. Another long drink and Nora passed the bottle back into the center for someone else's turn.

And there it was. Out of nowhere her three shots (or had it actually been four?) from home, so innocent on their own, collided with the new drink, propelling her rapidly in the right direction. The hand that had been reaching to play with Margo's was suddenly much less controllable and the party scene around her was taking on a noticeable fuzziness. The early stages of Nora's drunkenness always made her want to dance. It was only by virtue of the music playing inside being total shit that kept her on the ground, and even still her foot had begun to unconsciously tap.

Her friends were truly beautiful, Nora mused, looking around the makeshift circle they had created for themselves. How had they found so many lovely people? Of course that came down to Ducky. Their whole group really circled around him and his particularly lovely beautifulness. But there was an unusual quietness to their party this evening. Of course Molly was always delightfully sulky - that was part of her charm. And Clementine was normally too lost in her head to make much noise. But the others, the others, the others. Margo and Ducky appeared content but uncharacteristically tame at the moment.

And then it popped back into her head. She had news! Juicy news. It wasn't often that Nora was able to bring the group some sort of entertainment in the name of gossip. It was normally the others jobs to tell stories of awkward sexual encounters, party tricks gone awry, and dangerous situations. An unexpected excitement began to brew within Nora as she considered the possibility that she may now be joining those ranks. Moving up in her ranks of mischief and misdoing.

"I had that date with Will on Friday. It went.. well." was accompanied by a waggle of her eyebrows, making her meaning clear.

Ducky felt far away from everyone. He typically wasn't the type to get distant when he was inebriated. but perhaps this combination of drugs and alcohol was just different enough to invoke a different feeling.

Of course, it had more to do with how his night had started. Ducky had suffered bad nights and embarrassing situations before getting sloshed before, sure, but there was something about this one. About two sides of his family being pitted against each other, about his failures and budding criminal lifestyle, about even Lydia thinking he wasn't worth the trouble.

If any of his friends had suspected the brewing unhappiness and darkness, they must have decided they didn't owe it to him to ask.

He couldn't hold it against him. He had never been asked to be taken seriously before - why start now?

Margo was lavishing Nora with plays, as was her MO at this point of drunkenness. She had certainly already made out with a few people, as she really seemed to enjoy doing so no matter the circumstances, but she was a few drinks away from spilling her guts, so she was keeping just to verbal ravishing, while her best friend stared dreamily off into the distance.

Ducky was busy taking another heavy drink from whatever drink had ended up in his cup, when Nora began her anecdote. Margo was still stroking the brunette's hair, and Molly had dropped her gaze to the grass, her only indication that she was listening.

And then it came. Margo gasped and began to caress, Nora's face, hissing, "You sluuuuut," with a giggle. Molly grinned wryly, offering a croaky, "Alright then," looking about as pleased as Molly could.

But Ducky was just staring at Nora. "What?" he asked, his voice a bit gruff. "What does this-" he mimicked her eyebrow acrobatics, and not in a very flattering fashion either, "-that mean? Huh? I don't get it."