Femme Fatale

Tish pretty much did what she wanted. She had a portkey that she had easily obtained that took her to Diagon Alley whenever she wanted. And Murrays was her kind of place. She had been here before, and she was annoyed that this was a free weekend, so most students could go where they wanted--including Diagon Alley. That annoyed her. She had chosen a sleek little cocktail dress--one that was aluringly short, a pair of amazingly tall heels to give the illusion that her long shapely legs went on forever, taken her phoney ids and had gone to Murrays.

Yes, minors were allowed into Murrays, but they couldn't drink. The owner, Blaire, was rather a stick in the mud about that sort of thing. She had gone there, appropriately timed so that social life of the evening was just heating up. She wasn't looking to do anything but tease. She had purchased herself a martini with her fake id, along with a good old fashioned shrimp cocktail--something old school, and was taking her time to nibble at the shrimp, one shrimp at a time.

She noticed a young, dark haired grad who sat with her and soon took a liking to Tish's good looks. She noticed when his girl arrived and was highly jealous of the attentions that her boyfriend was throwing upon Tish. It amused Tish. She watched him get up from the bar, excuse himself apologetically from Tish and lead his girl out of the bar, clearly trying to reprimand her all the way out the door of the club.

Tish laughed slightly, and lit a cigarette, exhaling slowly.

Lana Di Angelo hated limits. She particularly hated being forced to stay in a place like Hogwarts on a beautiful weekend. Luckily, she had options. There was Hogsmeade, naturally. But after a while, Hogsmeade got BORING. Lana, luckily, had an assortment of options. Portkeys, to be exact. They were kept in her jewelry box, each dangling separately with a bit of masking tape indicating their targets. Today, Lana targeted the keychain with a cute looking owl attached to it. Adorable.
This one was for Diagon Alley. It was one of the many keychains that Lana didn't need markings for, as she clearly remembered what the owl was for. She dressed in a frilly white, button-downed shirt, with a knee long green skirt...and completed the outfit with a dark red vest. She looked herself over in the mirror for a moment, before deciding to do her hair for a bit. Once satisfied, Lana grabbed her keychain and felt the fish hooks claw at her, pulling her through some sub-space dimension, and depositing her in the Leaky Cauldron.

What fun!

Where to now?

After a moment's thought, Lana proceeded to the back of the store and tapped the bricks of the wall in several patterns as she tried to remember how to pass through. Luckily, a kind but gruff man showed her how to do it. After several bouts of "thank you"'s and "have a nice day"s, Lana was on her way again. In her quest for new places to go, Lana stumbled upon the establishment called "Murrays." It was new for Lana, so she took a moment to look herself over to appear presentable. If one was going to make an impression, then it might as well be a favorable one, no?

She entered the bar, and decided to try out a virgin margarita. She sat next to a young woman who looked like she was probably funded through a rather seedy occupation. Maybe this place would be entertaining after all. She turned to the girl she sat beside, and noticed that she was smoking. But was not about to deter the chatty Hogwarts student.
"Hi! I'm Lana! I'm from Hogwarts!"

Tish looked at the younger girl. This girl was not out hunting tonight. Not really. She might be looking for a dance or two, maybe someone to buy her a soda, but that was about all. Still, Tish did have it within her to be friendly. She was, after all, a Gryffindor. She did hae scruples and manners. She just considered herself stylish and loving a bit of fun.

"Hello," Tish said, "I'm Tish. So, I don't recall seeing you around. You're not a Gryffindor. I'm relatively new to Hogwarts. I haven't ventured that far out of my own house yet. So, have you ever been here to Murrays before? The food is great, and the entertainment can be even better."

She looked around the room and saw a handful of 7th year males. They appeared to be eyeing Tish and Lana just as Tish was eyeing them. "They could be fun. Maybe they'll buy us a drink. Maybe dinner. What do you think?"

"No way! You're a Gryffindor? Wow, so lucky... I'm in Hufflepuff. We don't really do that much as a house, so I guess we wouldn't have met much anyways..." Lana replied, surprised that the young woman was a Gryffindor. She looked like she was so... mature. Lana had trouble believing they were almost the same age. "Yeah, its my first time. Wait, why're you drinking a Martini? Isn't legal age, like, 21 or something?" she quickly whispered, marveling at the fact that the girl was willing to get drink at her age.

And then Tish suggested something outrageous. "Well, yeah, they look fun," Lana began, trying to wrap her mind around the rest of the suggestion, "But why would they buy us drink and food?"

"Of course its illegal," Tish said casually. "So? So long as I avoid Blaire, its all good. His staff are nincompoops. Blaire is an auror for the ministry. He's not as dumb as the rest of his lackeys. So long as I avoid him, I'm generally pretty good. He'd catch me in a heartbeat. And he's pretty much a teatotaller, so, no he wouldn't approve of the martini. Alright, little Huffy, watch and learn how its done."

She smiled at Lana and got up and went over to the boys and did some harmless flirting and was soon planted on the lap of the one who looked like the leader of the clan, laughing, and holding her martini glass, keeping an eye out for Blaire with a subtle glance every so often. She waved to Lana, waving her over. She was a bit concerned that Lana might not deal well with it if the hands of whoever she ended up with were as wandering as her own young athlete had, but it didn't bother Tish one bit. Its part of what she came for. She was hoping that she could reassure her through her loss of innocence, one babystep at a time. With a little luck, the Huffy would be a grownup by midnight. Maybe. She had good raw potential, if her fear didn't get in the way.

Lana watched aghast as the girl walked over to the boys... and started just chatting with them. In that dress? Lana couldn't pry her eyes away as her new friend seemed to be worming her way into their group... and ended sitting on one of the boy's laps. Lana had no idea what this ritual was for, but couldn't deny that it was fascinating to watch.
For a moment, Lana wondered if her mentor had forgotten about her. But, much to Lana's mixed emotions of fear and curiosity, Tish began to wave her over. Lana took a moment to collect her wits about her. This was all sorts of exciting, but this was frightening as well. She had no idea what to do or say. She had no idea as to whether or not Tish was drunk yet, or even if the boys were that nice. All she had was her faith that her friend wasn't throwing her into the fire quite yet.

She walked over, and said meekly, "Hey. I'm Lana."

Tish looked at the young but experienced quidditch player she'd already selected for Lana. He looked at Tish, smiled and took his cue. He had the good looks of a muggle movie star, and knew exactly how to pour on the charm and take his time. And Lana was not his first innocent. And would not be his last. He actually liked the challenge of it all. Tish's conquest would have been frightening for Lana had Tish matched them up wrong. He was experienced and rather blunt and business like. That was clearly what made him the leader of the band of young men. Tish understood that he already knew exactly what she wanted, and they both knew she would get it--eventually--when the timing was right.

"Lana," he smiled at her. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jeremy. Have a seat. I see you don't have a drink yet. Let me order you something. My treat. There's a seat here beside me if you like. Come sit. " He snapped his fingers and a server came over, doubting they were legal age, but not paying much attention. He ordered a drink for Lana, and he purposely selected one that was delightfully refreshing and fruity and wellmasked the taste of the firewhiskey content. It came in a moment, served in an elegant stemmed glass and was set before Lana. "There. That's better," he said. "A beautiful drink for a beautiful girl. So tell me. Why haven't I seen you here before? If you'd been here before, I definitely would have remembered it."

Had Lana been more daring and less fascinated in this little game, she probably would never have sat next to the young man who was gushing with praise and was over-bearingly kind. Lana probably should have known a thing or two about drinking, but she had lived such a sheltered life, even when she was on vacation. She found herself unable to fight against the boy's insistence that she have a drink in front of her, and eventually caved into the boy's kindness by taking a sip of the drink. It was surprisingly tangy and sent her throat alight in a dull, but burning sensation. It was an interesting drink that Lana continued to sip on sparingly throughout the rest of their conversation.
"Yeah... its kind of my first time," Lana replied as she heard him call her beautiful. Flattery, even when it was as overbearing and overdone as this, still caused the blood to rush to Lana's cheeks, coloring them a tinge of pink that only highlighted her innocent nature.

Tish's young man was moving right ahead with the business proposal between them and was talking about dinner plans, seasoned well with some kissing. FIrst things had to be settled first. It had had turned into a lot of double entendres about the love of a good steak and what a good night it was for it. After all, they were still in a dining room, weren't' they? There were a lot of things that could be accomplished sitting at a table that had a long white linen tablecloth, but not everything. And actual dinner was one of them that was certainly allowed and encouraged. Gymnastics? Not so much.

Jeremy appropriately introduced the other young men at the table--the other four who were clearly a bit disappointed and jealous that they hadn't found girls as quickly. They were gentlemen, though, or as close to it as they could get.

"So," Jeremy said to Lana. "Looks like your friend plans on joining us for dinner. Could I..um...talk you into being my dinner date for the evening? Its not nearly as fun eating with this lot?" He gestured to the four remaining at the table.

"Well," Lana began, though her eyes were still glued on the pair in front them. Why was she doing that? Was she aware that others were watching them? Shameless was the only word for it. Wait, was Tish using this method to suggest that she do the same? Wait, no, that couldn't be. She was only showing Lana how to get free food and drink... that was all. That was all. And here it was- Lana was drinking Alcohol, and was about to get free food. The ends justifty the means, right? Lana nervously placed her glass down, noting that was still half full. That sensation was getting a little bit addictive now...
"Well, I didn't have anything else planned for the evening," Lana replied, trying to make it seem like it wasn't her first real date.