End of Summer Party

Brienne had invited Luna and Daniel to the party along with her, but neither showed. She smoothed her plain strapless black dress and got a Butterbeer. She looked lonely all by herself, but she didn't care enough about what she looked like.

She looked to the sky, it was beautiful and clear. She wasn't even sure if either of her closest pals were coming but she was sure whatever fun she had she wouldn't care. She guzzled the Butterbeer she had, it tasted sweet on her tongue.

She smiled as she eyed a large moth in the grass. She picked up a small bag and caught it. The winged insect seemed to struggle until Brienne let go of the bag after sealing it. Any moth she caught lived for a very long time in the bag, granted if it wasn't a Saturniid moth at the end of its week or so long lifespan. The moth in the bag fluttered weakly, then placed its wings into a resting position. She'd let the creature go after she gawked at it for a while.

As a whole, Keith disliked dances. They were stupid, pointless, and incredibly annoying; an excuse for girls to dress up in the stupidest and most ridiculous outfits they could find and the boys to gawk. They were not a constructive use of time.

Not only that, but they were filled with small talk. Keith hated small talk. If he wanted to say something, he'd say it, and he wasn't a fan of prattling on and on about the most trivial things, such as the weather, or what other people were wearing, or whatever people talked about.

And yet, other people loved dances. They adored them. They even looked forward to them, for whatever reason. Keith had spent the better part of 12 years trying to figure it out, but hadn't been able to manage something beyond: Most people are stupid, shallow, and really cannot think of more entertaining things to do.

In fact, that might explain Keith's attitude towards life in general. Perhaps Keith's disdain of other people was the reason he had such few friends, why he sought to make everyone else's life difficult through pranks and other things. People were stupid, and they didn't deserve happiness, so he was going to go out of his way to make sure they didn't get it.

But, despite his undying hatred for dances, keith managed to find himself in the middle of one.

Again.

I really need to get less social parents, Keith thought to himself as he hit the ground from the portkey. After a few minutes of spinning, he had righted himself and was standing by the refreshments table, looking for an opening.

There was a small silver flask in his back pocket, just itching to get dumped in the punch, and Keith wasn't going to deny it it's life dream. No, Keith would spike the punch because it was his civic duty, to make sure this dance didn't end up as boring and dull as the other ones he seemed to attend.

Of course, Keith had never been one for self reflection. So all he new was that dances - and by extension, the people that enjoyed them - were stupid.

James Wake was apparated by his uncle. It was a welcome thought, as it usually meant that his uncle would join him during the dance, and suffer just he usually did. But, as he should have expected, Alan just dropped him off. No "Hi's" nor "bye's" from the Head of Alchemy. Just a cold dispassionate kick to the grass, and sharp crack away. At times, James believed that Alan was more scared of dances than he was.

The boy looked sharp in his tuxedo. He had designed it that way. No bought clothes, no material of less than excellent quality. He knew the ins and outs of his own suit, and that suited him perfectly. After all, he had been forced to alchemize it himself. For that, he begrudged himself a drink. Sharp cracks echoed across the field, and, as James turned around to face the dancing crowd, he spotted a kid from school. Keith Nicholas.

"Well then, Keith Nicholas. Glad to see you've made it," he said to the boy. He had a feeling that Keith would not be happy to see him.

Rafael felt his cheeks warm slightly when Sophia threw her arms around him in a hug and he patted her back awkwardly. He exhaled a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding when she released him and smiled. “It was nothing.” He said bashfully, running a hand through his hair. “Just a bit of Transfiguration...” Rafael swallowed and played with the button on his blazer again. His eyes drifted to the lantern hanging over their heads and he smiled, watching the flame on the candle wick flutter in the light breeze. Rafael closed his eyes and inhaled the beautiful scent unique to the outdoors.

He looked at Sophia and shrugged his shoulders. “Same old, same old I guess.” He chuckled. “What about you?” His eyes drifted back up to the lantern and he watched the fireflies dance around it, obviously excited by the flame. “Yeah...” He murmured, glancing back at a Sophia. A grin spread across Rafael’s face and he bowed theatrically, holding out a hand to her as he did so. “Shall we M’lady?” He asked, cocking his head towards the dance floor.

Mariana just watched as the guests arrived not really paying too much attention anless someone would send a flying hello to her or something. Her eyes looked a bit surprised at the flying hello in front of them before she took her wand to chase it away. Drinks exploded behind her too. "Hello to yourself Jess!" she called out feeling rather light even after only one firewhiskey. "Reparo! You know if you want me to take it easy all you have to do is ask." she added pointing her wand at broken to broken glass.

"Oh hey Keegan, Sammy, Abbey, Mis you made it!You all look very hot tonight" she said loudly waving to everyone even if they were in front of her nose like Keegan and Samantha. Remy was there. Ofcourse she was. Mari turned into opposite direction trying to find someone familiar in the crowd.

Suddenly she stopped as she saw James and Keith. "Hey guys just what i needed. How are you doing?" she asked as she reached them through the dance floor that was getting rather full already.

Sammy smiled up at Keegan as he complimented her and then she giggled alittle at him offering her his jacket. She smiled happily and put the jacket on, smelling him all over it as she did. She was always in heaven everytime that she smelled him. She then looked over at Mari as a flying message flew by. Mari then blew some glasses of alcohol up behind her, then fixed them. Sammy could tell that this was only the begging of the night. Sammy smiled half heartedly at Mari, then turned to Keegan. "Keegan? Could you come with me please?" Sammy asked him, with a plan in mind.

She walked over to the trees so that they where out of earshot of everyone. She then put her back to the tree without leaning on it. "Keegan.... I know that we only just got back together and all that. But I was just thinking that maybe we could...." Sammy said turning now to face the tree. Sammy then put her hand in the purse that she had brought with her, then pressed the necklass that Sophia and her exchanged, hoping that she would turn and see this just in time, without coming over. Sammy then turned back around facing Keegan. She then kneeled down on one knee. "Keegan...." She said opening a box with a ring in it towards him. "Will you have the honor of marriing me?" She asked him feeling a tear drip down her cheek and fall off her chin.

"Hey everyone, look what I found!" Brienne decided to shout. She freed the moth from the bag, the wings of said moth were still intact. She put her hand around the creature to make it feel as if it couldn't escape so she'd buy enough time for people to look.

The moth was a huge one, a luna moth to be exact. It was a shame to think that such beautiful moths only lived for about a week before their lack of functional mouth parts did them in. The moth fluttered its wings a couple times before closing them for a rest. It seemed unconcerned that Brienne was handling it, which was odd. Was there something about her that kept it there for that long time? She didn't think so.

Daniel was the one making the moth lay still. He was hidden among the bushes near by; he really wasn't at the party, just outside it. He could talk to animals at long distances and reassure them. Even something as scatter brained as a moth didn't escape this ability. He was hoping that the moth wasn't at the end of its week-long life, otherwise a lot of people would think that Brienne had killed it. Luckily it was just a freshly emerged moth and wouldn't die for a few days. He smiled seeing the look on Brienne's face when the moth fluttered its wings a few times to circulate the hemolymph to stiffen them. It was a male moth by the look of its feathered antennae.

"Good afternoon Ms. Diggory. I trust your summer has been treating you well." To think, once he had harbored a deep-seated mistrust of the former leader of Potter's Army. He had never truly confirmed it, but he had been pretty sure that she had been the one charge. She was a natural leader, from what he had heard. They had certainly dueled once or twice, but that was not enough to make James resent her presence. She had graduated, and she was no longer his problem.

"Summer has been... educational," he responded, still keeping a wary eyes on Keith. The boy had that mischievious look in his eye, and, if James could help it, he was not about to get away with his pranks.

Keith amused himself by humming "Another Bites the Dust" as he waited for everyone in the room to simultaneously turn their heads away from him.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. James Wake, alchemy wiz and Hogwart's resident killjoy, was going to make sure of that.

Keith tried not to let his disappointment show on his face. James would never let him spike the punch - he was too uncool for that. So, he would have to dedicate the next few minutes to getting rid of him, which was a valuable waste of time.

"Hello Keith Nicholas. Glad to see you've made it."

"Meh," Keith said, shrugging.

"Hey guys just what i needed. How are you doing?"

"Good afternoon Ms. Diggory. I trust your summer has been treating you well," James said. "Summer has been... educational."

"Yeah, what he said," keith said. "Except without the educational part."