End of Summer Party

It was already dark when Amelia arrived at the summer party, though the weather was balmy enough that the lack of sunshine didn’t affect the temperature. The humidity was heavy, it still being August, but it was pleasant enough. The scene before her was of a lawn party, small round tables starting to accommodate the few guests who had arrived earlier, with a bar and spread of food set off to the side of a large dance floor.

Although she had passed her apparition test this past summer, Amelia had not been allowed to apparate to the party alone. Instead, she had arrived with her parents, who were now standing behind her, bickering about the same thing they had been bickering about for the past three days.

“It is unsuitable for her to accept an invitation to an event with consulting me,” Antoinette was whispering pointedly, though not looking at her husband for fear that the other guests might deduce that the two of them were covert-fighting.

“She’s of age, Toni,” came her father’s exasperated voice from above, being much taller than both of the women in his life. He had grown weary of this conversation yesterday, but had not yet been able to cease her mother’s tirade against Amelia’s “unsuitable” choice of guest. Her mother had not even bothered to ask who Amelia’s date was, but rather had immediately launched herself into this argument, for she had hoped Amelia would accompany the Italian ambassador’s son. Despite her many protestations, however, Frederic had been on her side, and that had made not caving into her mother’s pressure easier.

To be honest, Amelia was still not completely certain about her decision to accept Elijah’s invitation to the party, but saying so aloud would only have added fuel to her mother’s fire. As she stood now in front of her parents, her mind drifted away from the conversation whose variations she had already heard many times. She was thinking of Elijah now, though she hadn’t yet spotted him among the party-goers.

A more perplexing individual Amelia had never met, for Elijah seemed to defy all logic and also cause Amelia to defy her own reasoning. When Elijah had taken the seat across from her at the park, her immediate reaction had been to flee, but she had stayed for reasons she still could not fully identify. She was drawn to him, and although she tried to deny it, it was not the draw of curiosity or platonic interest. Amelia – logical, blunt, and rational Amelia – knew that Elijah’s power of persuasion was not unrelated to the butterflies in her stomach or the skipping of her heart whenever he was near, but admitting this to herself seemed traitorous to all the time she had spent trying to curb those feelings.

Taking a deep breath to try and steady herself, Amelia fidgeted with the hem of her dress, rolling the silk between her fingers. Her mother had chosen the dress, as she always did, and Amelia had put it on without argument. For once, Antoinette seemed to have picked something suitable to Amelia’s tastes, for the dress was not nearly as extravagant as her mother’s usual choices. It was well made, to be certain, but it wasn’t blatantly flashy. The short length showed off Amelia’s legs, but the neckline was modest, for which the Ravenclaw was thankful. She had left her hair down tonight, not bothering with styling considering the humidity, and had begrudgingly put on the heels her mother had provided for the occasion. Although Amelia had insisted that grass and heels did not mix well, her mother’s philosophy on footwear didn’t exactly include anything that didn’t give a height boost.

Coming back to the moment, Amelia discovered that her father seemed to have managed to get her mother to drop the subject of Amelia’s date, or perhaps it was the presence of society’s upper crust that had stopped the argument. Whichever the case, Amelia was thankful for it, and when her parents turned to greet one of her father’s research partners, Amelia took the opportunity to slip away from them. Moving to the opposite side of the dance floor, Amelia watched with passing interest as a few couples moved on the floor, though her thoughts were blatantly elsewhere, with a certain dark-haired Slytherin who had yet to arrive.

Spoiler:

Mariana refilled her glass again though she left it aside for now before she would get drunk before night fall. "Since when do you call me Ms. Diggory?" she asked watching both of them as they lost their common sense or something simmilar. "It's still Mari. And in all case i am still Miss Diggory, i am not married or anything. But do call me Mari." she said not really paying much attention to what she was saying.

"I am going to miss your pleasant comments at quiditch matches. My summer. Well it was fine i guess. I hope yours was too." she said feeling rather nostalgic about quiditch at this point. After all, quiditch was her favourite passtime. "So which one of you is avaivable for a dance?" she asked looking rather stubborn. Then again, she was always stubborn.

Rafael Armstrong wrote: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.

Sophia shook her head. "No Rafael, it wasn't just nothing it was sweet."said Sophia softly but honestly. As she seen her bracelet Samantha gave her gave and go warm around her wrist she opened it to see Samantha in front of Keegan on one Knee. Smiling as she watched the scence she closed as she seen and heard Keegan say yes and do te same to Samantha. As she turned to Rafael she would have blushed but she instead smiled. "Sorry about that, and yes we shall."said Sophia as she took his hand waiting for him to lead her towards the dance floor.

A warm smile tugged at the sides of Rafael’s lips and he rose up out of his theatrical bow. He gently clasped Sophia’s hand in his own. Her hand was tiny compared to his, almost breakable in his grasp so he didn’t tighten his grip too much. He took backwards steps, leading Sophia onto the dance floor; keeping his eyes on her all the while. The music playing was light, melodic and overall a beautiful sound; something worth dancing to. When the texture of the ground underfoot changed, Rafael knew he’d made it onto the dance floor without bumping into anyone. A content expression fell onto his face and he gently tugged Sophia close. Rafael wasn’t the best dancer in the world, he was no Johnny Castle and he was the first to admit that. But he could move to the sound of music. He slowly span Sophia under his arm before pulling her back to him and continuing to move slowly around the dance floor, mingling in with the other couples. “Did I already mention you look magnificent?” He asked quietly.

Suzannah really had no interest in attending the end of summer party, but she had nothing else to do. The air was thick and heavy, though the sun was already set for the most part. Suz didn't really know a lot of people from Hogwarts, but that was only because she never cared to talk to the students there. None of them liked her, which was no skin off her nose, but she liked to enjoy going to school functions with a bunch of people, rather than her select few. Maybe she could mingle amongst other people that she wouldn't normally speak to and make some new friends.

Suz continued to the decorated area which was lit partially by the sun and by the lanterns which where set up around the space. She noticed many people already talking to their friends, but one person seemed to stand out. She was wearing a purple dress with a cute belt, it was something that Suz could easily wear. She decided to talk to her, as she seemed lonesome, also she didn't know who she was, so hopefully she didn't already have a bad impression of Suz. "Hello there" She smiled as sweetly as she could, which truthfully wasn't very sweet. "I'm Suzannah, how are you? I love your dress" She complimented, hoping she would want to talk to her.

"So which one of you is avaivable for a dance?"

Keith immediately perked up, seeing a chance to get rid of his newly acquired watch dog.

"James!" Keith said, faking enthusiasm as best he knew how (which was pretty impressive) "No way dude!" He leaned in, whispering loud enough for Mariana to hear "Now's your chance. Good luck man." He then unceremoniously shoved James towards Mariana and went back to humming.

Ah, dances. They were the highpoints of the social year and for many people a good excuse for a good, hearty gossip. Elijah’s mother was one of these people but thankfully she and his father had another function to attend that evening, one that was far more important than a silly dance that sun worshipers attended to mourn the loss of the summer. Those were his mother’s words, not his. She loved the cold and the winter. Elijah often joked that it fit her chilly persona but when he saw how she was with Fauve he could hardly use those adjectives to describe his mother. He often wished that she was like that with him when he was his daughter’s age but if she hadn’t been then he probably wouldn’t have lived his life the way he had so far. Some aspects he definitely should have had a better grip on; Alice being one of them. But the thing was that destinies were set. Everything was out of control and life was constantly moving and growing. Elijah was just there for the ride.

Elijah felt completely traumatised. The long dark locks that had been irritating him since the end of term had nearly been sheared off by his mother. In her haste to rid her son of his ‘feminine appearance’ she’d taken a pair of large craft scissors to his hair and chopped a good inch or two off. It was at this point that Elijah had threatened to get hair extensions down to his waist before the start of the new term. This had horrified the woman to the point of her fainting and Elijah had taken that as his cue to leave. Thankfully she’d not taken off as much as she would have liked to his hair was still lengthy but not as long as it had once been much to his chagrin. He’d been annoyed with it but he loved his hair. That was one of the more undesirable traits Elijah had and he shared it with his mother. Viktor had learned not to touch the hair of his son or his wife a long time ago, the two flew completely off the handle but Elijah had more of a fear of it being cut where as his mother just didn’t like her hair being touched.

Thankfully, his father had offered to Apparate him to the part. Elijah was definitely looking forward to getting his Apparation licence in the year to come. He was sick of having to Floo all over the show and Apparation meant that he could see Fauve a lot more. That was definitely going to the high point of the whole experience. Fauve complained ever so much about being separated from him during the school year. Eli knew that she got as frustrated with his mother as he did if not more so because he wasn’t her dress up doll as often as Fauve was. He was definitely looking forward to some family weekends during the school year. There was only so much of Majere and Wilson that Elijah could take and with the Dents present in Hogwarts it meant that Jen would constantly be on his ass, keeping an eye on him as if it was a special favour to his mother. She just liked seeing him get himself into trouble. The only problem was that she was his Head of House this year. Rob was supposedly going to be unbiased.

With a loud pop, Elijah appeared beside Viktor and another pop sounded behind him, alerting him of his father’s exit. His wife was not to be kept waiting after all. Elijah rolled his eyes and pushed the sleeves of his blazer up. He ran a hand through his newly severed hair and wandered around the outdoor area in search of Amelia. He was incredibly relieved she’d accepted his offer. He probably would have gone to the dance just to harass Julia anyway but things were made much more fun with a date. Elijah spotted Amelia standing beside Suzannah Malfoy. Elijah didn’t know the Malfoy woman personally but he knew of her which was probably enough. He weaved himself through the mingling people, mumbling ‘Hello’ to a few people he recognised. When he reached the girls he was behind Amelia but Suzannah could clearly see him from where he was stood.

He came up and stood beside Amelia, a sly smile dancing across his lips. “Good Evening ladies,” He said warmly. “Miss Malfoy you look lovely.” He complimented, giving Suzannah a once over. He leaned closer to Amelia and murmured in her ear, “But you, Miss Lyons, look beautiful.”

Lucy played with the flounces of her pink summer dress and smirked at Molly. It was a sad fact that pink made her red headed sister look like a watermelon, but it made her look like a fragile little doll. Not that Lucy wanted to look like a doll, but she knew it made Pol annoyed when people talked about how cute she was.

This party was curiously family friendly for something held by the ministry, almost half of Hogwarts was there, and Lucy could tell they were all just dying for the hedonism to begin. That was why Molly was here. Well, not why she was here, at the party, but why she was here, digging her bony fingers into Lucy's shoulder.

Earlier in the day, daddy had found Lucy's half-finished cauldron of love potion (experiment number 9) and had come to the absurd conclusion that she was planning on ruining his very important party with it. Silly daddy! She'd been going to put it in the pumpkin juice at the sorting feast.

Unfortunately, as punishment, mummy and daddy had assigned Molly as her jailer and now Lucy was stuck with the Princess. She doubted Polly wanted to be stuck with her, though.

Rafael Armstrong wrote:A warm smile tugged at the sides of Rafael’s lips and he rose up out of his theatrical bow. He gently clasped Sophia’s hand in his own. Her hand was tiny compared to his, almost breakable in his grasp so he didn’t tighten his grip too much. He took backwards steps, leading Sophia onto the dance floor; keeping his eyes on her all the while. The music playing was light, melodic and overall a beautiful sound; something worth dancing to. When the texture of the ground underfoot changed, Rafael knew he’d made it onto the dance floor without bumping into anyone. A content expression fell onto his face and he gently tugged Sophia close. Rafael wasn’t the best dancer in the world, he was no Johnny Castle and he was the first to admit that. But he could move to the sound of music. He slowly span Sophia under his arm before pulling her back to him and continuing to move slowly around the dance floor, mingling in with the other couples. “Did I already mention you look magnificent?” He asked quietly.

Sophia smiled back at him as he lead her towards the dance floor where the music was palying softly but neverless it was beautiful. As he spun her around underhis arm before pulling her back again she smiled. "Well...well, aren't we just a good dancer aren't we Mr. Armstrong?"Sophia asked him softly. Sophia laughed her tinkling bell laugh when he ask if he already mentioned that she looked magnificent. " Magnificent no, but you did say I looked beautiful and thankyou Rafeael that's sweet of you to say that."said Sophia softly.

Chase stepped onto the plain with a winning smile on her face. She had decided to come separately from Andrew, so that he wouldn't see her right away in her new dress. She grinned around at people as they stared, and she flicked her red hair over her shoulder. The yellow dress was her constant reminder that she was a Hufflepuff, and proud of it. Black leggings helped to keep her feet from the unpleasantness of the grass, and her flats completed the outfit like none other.

She looked around eagerly though, seeing a few friends here and there. She waved at Sophia, and then turned her attention to the guys, all dressed sharply, all beautiful in their own way, but she was looking for Mister Perfect. Andrew Thompson, her date, boyfriend, and lover. She grinned happily at everyone as she passed, searching high and low for him, hoping he was near. She turned down a few dances, before finally seeing the back of someone who MIGHT be him. Rushing forward she grinned and touched his shoulder. Only to find that it wasn't him. "Sorry! I thought you were my date." She blushed and went to the food table, her mind on finding him, but she was so thirsty... she got a cup of punch, and quickly took a drink, hoping it would help her concentrate more on finding Andrew.