Throwdown of the Century

Darcy was looking around, wondering if anyone was as confused as she was. It seemed she had missed out on quite a saga when she had been sailing about. "Are these guys serious?" she asked, speaking to no one in particular, but definitely not asking the question rhetorically. Her voice had the usual hint of amusement it always had, mingling oddly with her Scottish accent.

She didn't know what to make of the weird situation between the Ravenclaws, so she didn't try to. She made her way to the drink table and was attacked on her way there by two kids who looked so similar they had to be twin brother and sister.

"Did you hear about Erika?"

"Oh my gosh, poor Henri. Isn't it awful?"

"Isn't Erika the worst?"

Darcy put up her hands as well as an eyebrow in surrender. "Look, mates, I don't know anything about this. If they want to be crazy b!tches, let them be." She cursed casually, not intending any insult. It was the sailor in her. Women were b!tches and men were bastards, according to her vocabulary.

She looked about and saw that these little social attacks were happening everywhere. She saw a younger girl struggling to turn her attention from such interactions and get to her reading. Darcy snagged to cups of punch, not knowing that these were spiked with a mild amount of Sugar, and walked over to the girl.

"Leaver her alone, you vultures," Darcy said, still seeming amused. She extended her arm to give the girl a glass of punch. "You look about as out of place as I feel. I'm Darcy."

((looking at you Molly. XD ))

[[OOC: Molly's looking back at you! Thanks for the 'rescue' of sorts, Jackles xD.]]

Molly looked up as someone else made their way towards her. Please let it not be one of Henri's followers, please, she prayed inside her head, not wanting to deal with anymore drama. This was one of the reasons she wasn't the most social person in the world. Girls seemed so...well, b!tchy seemed the only word for it. Molly tended to get on better with guys because of it, they tended to see her as 'one of the guys', which was the main reason she never had had a boyfriend, or a kiss at that rate.

As soon as the girl spoke, Molly's fears flew out of the window. She seemed to dislike the girl, or the fighting, as much as she did. Suddenly Molly felt a bit less out of place, knowing she wasn't the only one who didn't feel that way. Especially once the girl said she felt out of place, introducing herself. Molly didn't recognize the girl, so assumed she was older than she was.

"Hey, thanks for that. I'm Molly." she said, as Henri's followers moved on, to annoy someone else, no doubt. Molly took the glass of punch and started to drink it, not realizing it was what Brian warned her against earlier.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Molly agreed, rolling her eyes. "The only reason I came here was because a guy lied to me about this, I didn't realize it would be one of those parties." she said, not sure whether she should say that she generally disliked most parties, since she often felt uncomfortable in large groups of people. She put the book down, a bookmark magically appearing, to continue to talk to Darcy.

"I don't get most girls, they just get in stupid fights over stupid things, wanting to be popular and everything." Molly added, talking a lot more than usual. "I seem to get on with guys better. When they're not swooning around other girls, that is."

Molly sat in the chair, completely unaware that sugar and spice were slowly sinking into her system. Her eyes were going a little bluer, though no other side effects had emerged...yet.

It was late when Padril made his way down the hallway, moving slowly from crevice to crevice. He was paranoid of being caught and losing points, throwing his House even further back in the race. They had avoided the ugliness of the social dramas so far, so they might actually stand a chance of coming third this year if they just kept their heads down and the Ravenclaws kept focusing on losing points for them. He had, for a similar reason, decided to come later to the party than most. A big block of students heading together would attract notice, but the solo, silent latecomers could slip in, avoiding Professors and awkward encounters with uninvited students. Strategically solid, he had determined.

The Hufflepuff was surprisingly not inexperienced when it came to parties. His family lived in Oxford, and his brother was an adventurous sort. He'd been at numerous events at the various colleges, drifting around heartbreakingly sober making sure Tim didn't do anything dumb/dumber. The poor kid had thought the college kids actually liked him, when they were just humouring the little hotshot, taking advantage of him for a laugh. Padril could never stop him though, even if he had tried- Tim had a series of mistakes he needed to make on his own. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have conceded that much to Tim in the first place. It might've saved them a lot of trouble now. His other experiences gave from Della and little get togethers, which entailed games of spin the bottle he felt woefully outnumbered in.

Nothing fun ever happened at those parties though.He was always taking care of someone. This time he was going to let loose and forgot about Oliver, Vivianna, and the drama that seemed to be engulfing the school revolving the unfortunate Potions incident. Well, the best time to avoid that would be at the secret school party where people would be drinking for the first ti- oh god. It was going to be a messy evening.

Padril shook his head, adjusting his outfit as he stood before the door he had been directed to. It wasn't his problem tonight. No sir, he was just going to have fun, drink a little, make some friends. He opened the door, stepping in and shutting it close behind him quickly. His eyes spotted the free booze and he moved with a singular purpose to the drinks table. Pouring himself a glass, the Hufflepuff looked around the room. There seemed to be...a dissonance in how people were holding themselves. Standing too close together, talking a little too softly. Some public fight had just happened then. And the night was so young! He took a sip of his glass and glanced around for anyone he knew.

A grimace crossed his features before he could smother it under impassivity when he spotted Vivianna. She was talking to Henri. That was concerning. If she was talking about his particular secret, their deal would be off faster than a Beauxbaton girl to third base. He kept his gaze moving, spotting Hallie talking to that troubled Ravenclaw. A part of him found Erika unsettling, but she had punched Henri in the nose, so she couldn't be all bad. Still, the rumours were hard to shake off and he didn't want to jump into the middle of an intimate conversation. He'd catch up with Hallie later, he was sure. That left one person.

"Captain!" Padril greeted Darcy as he stepped up next to her, a broad smile blossoming. "I see you've brought your usual. Fine stuff. Who's your friend? Hi, I'm Padril." He stopped himself, annoyed at how many words he had fired in such a short amount of time. Now the new girl would think he was weird. Fabulous, just fabulous.

Wait, fabulous? Oh god, the gay was spreading.

Outfit

The girl introduced herself and Darcy smiled, her eyes twinkling. She wasn't often around people she didn't know, so she had learned, long ago, to appreciate any new social situation. An outing was an absolute adventure. Darcy had spent her whole life with an unchanging crew of people that adding another name to her list of acquaintances was an unaccounted for blessing.

Darcy looked about, but couldn't find a chair. She decided to pop a squat right there and fell to the ground, crossing her legs criss-cross applesauce. She drank her own punch, noticing there was the slightest of kicks to it. Yum.

"I had no idea what to expect. A party's a party. Mind you, I don't mind a drink - but I brought my own. None of these fruity mixes these students like to concoct. I've been drinking from the bottle since I first got my sea legs." Nevertheless, she smiled good naturedly and sipped from her punch. "People should be able to do as they please at a party - drinking or not."

Darcy shrugged. "Girls are just like any other person, I think. I'm around a crew of men all year, with only two or three girls to break up the tension. You begin to appreciate the passion of women when you get used to the passion of men." She nodded sagely. "Besides, women are only crazy 'cause men made 'em that way." She laughed.

As she laughed, Padril approached, greeting them. "PADDY!" Darcy announced, throwing her arms out madly, punch sloshing over her hand. "This here is Molly - she was tricked into coming here because men are dogs." She smirked and turned, poking Molly's knee. "This is Padril - he's the smartest kid in this school and gets no respect, I tell you, no respect."

Padril grimaced at Darcy's horrendous nickname for him, but smiled at her enthusiasm. It was always a pleasure to have someone genuinely excited to see you. He gave Molly a sigh, rolling his eyes. "Urgh, men, I know" he complained sarcastically. "They're just the worst." He smiled at the girl immediately afterward to let her know it was a joke that wasn't made at her expense and took a sip of his drink, thoughtfully examining her. She was reading a book at a party, which pretty obviously pointed to her not wanting to be here- but she remained anyway. Occam's Razor made it clear that she liked the boy who had invited her, and only stuck around because she wanted him to notice her.

"Who invited you?" he asked. "And under what pretense? I bet you a galleon that between Darcy and me, we can salvage the evening!" He raised his glass, then took a larger swig of it. He hadn't even been here five minutes and he was spending his time taking care of someone instead of having fun. He prefered to view as an investment. He and Darcy could have a fantastic evening getting this girl- who didn't seem to party much- have a great night. As long as he didn't end up with a drunk girl crying on his shoulder, this could still end very well.

"I wouldn't say smartest," he informed Molly, giving Darcy a friendly tap of his foot. "I'm just fantastically good at cheating."

[[OOC: So did Darcy give Molly spiked or unspiked punch?]]

Molly smiled, drinking the punch that this Darcy girl gave her. She laughed at her comment, wondering what it would be like to be at sea half the time with a crew full of guys. Molly didn't think she would like being trapped with the same people for long periods of time, she liked having time to herself, away from the rest of the world.

"I guess men do make women crazy. Though whatever's going on between Henri and Erika doesn't look like it's guy-based, just them being B****." she responded, half in agreement with Darcy.

It was then another guy approached them, who appeared to know Darcy. He introduced himself as Padril, though Darcy referred to him as Paddy, Molly noticed. She was then introduced by Darcy, as someone there without her consent. Molly wasn't sure whether that looked bad or whatever, but just went with it.

"Er Brian invited me, d'you know him?" she asked, Brian did seem to know a lot of people in Hogwarts. "He told me it was a study thing. And now I can't get out because that Henri girl has blocked the exit." she said, slightly annoyed at the latter.

Molly wondered what they were planning to do to 'salvage the evening', but figured it couldn't be too bad...right? These guys seemed nice, she thought, and she'd rather hang out with them than the girls that were making a scene over whatever fight they were in at the time.

Molly raised an eyebrow at Padril's comment about cheating, but thought not to ask, as much as she would love to be able to get her grades up. She would just feel guilty if she cheated, plus if her parents, mainly her Dad, ever found out, she would be punished for the rest of her life.

The more Darcy got to know Padril, the more she wanted to stuff him in a trunk, lock it, and drag it aboard with her the next time she left port. And she meant that in a loving, affectionate way. It was actually a huge compliment. There weren't many people she liked enough to drag on board. Now, whether or not he would be able to survive life on the open sea was another thing. She was a fairly hardy girl and, she had noticed that Padril was a bit soft. More experiences reading about experiences she would hazard to guess.

Huh. Perhaps a summer at sea was what he needed.

She nodded sagely as he agreed with her on her statement about men, sure they were consoling the younger girl. The girl continued on and Darcy shrugged. "We'll leave them to figure out who and what they are. We are here, and we are young and damn it all if we don't have some fun!" She raised her punch, and then drained it.

Her eyes began to swirl with blue and she blinked a few times, suddenly feeling very free. Through a haze, she heard her companions continue the conversation as she crumpled the cup and dropped it to the ground. She worked the latches of her bag and pulled out her rum, uncertainly tapping the top of the bottle, opening it.

Darcy didn't know a Brian, so she let Padril handle that whole talk. She was trying to understand why she wad feeling drunk-ish if she had only had punch. She saw someone walk by, muttering something about a girl spiking the punch. Darcy grinned, to pleased with her high to be upset. "Cheeky bastard," she laughed to herself.

She was drawn back into the conversation by Padril saying he had cheated. She gasped and smacked his arm. "You sly dog! I didn't know you could do such a thing!"

"Brian?" Padril asked, tilting his head as he tried to recall the boy's face. Oh! The cute, short Gryffindor who always had the girls hanging off his arms. He seemed like a lot of fun, if vapid. "Only by reputation, I'm afraid. We've only but exchanged pleasantries, so I must confess I cannot claim to know him very well." He paused for a second, glanced down at his drink and felt his face flush. Whenever he was drunk, his speech became significantly more bourgeois. It was concerning it had hit him so hard so quickly. Nonetheless, when Darcy chanted her drinking war cry he drained his cup with her in solidarity.

"Of course, Ms Deas!" Padril responded in a conspiratorial tone, laughing as he rubbed over where the girl had hit him. It really hurt, actually. "How else would one soldier on through this ghastly academic nightmare? I have found that if one simply drinks enough, A's and P's begin to look like O's." He looked at his empty cup with an exaggerated sullen expression. "And I suppose I must fail my subject, if my cup remains empty."

His casual off-hand remark to humbly deflect Darcy's compliment had escalated into what he could only describe as his most long-winded joke ever.

Mavis had come across many flyers about a study group and was rather disheartened whenever someone would snatch it quickly out of their grasp - not that she'd be able to figure out that you tap your wand to see the real invitation. Although it hadn't taken her too long to work out that a huge social gathering would be taking place in the room of requirement on the same date as the study group session (Mavis still believes that they are both taking place). Not being the brightest spark in the school she decided to pass on the study group and attend the party, of which she wasn't actually invited.

It was a shame for Mavis, she never got invited to anything. Probably because of her appearance and to some extend her personality. Her robes were never the right size, either too small or too large - mostly too small. The reason for this is when she went to wash the food stains from them she'd forget which robes were hers when she later ventured into the laundry room to collect them and end up wearing someone else's robes.

Then there was her personality. Well, you couldn't say she wasn't friendly Mavis loved a good chit chat and playing games whether it be hide and seek, gobstones or wizard chess. However anything that involved squeezing through a hole was a big no go for her. The memory of getting trapped in a tunnel slide for three hours as a child still haunted her. But despite the odd sentences that came from her mouth, her clumsiness and nonexistent social manners, such as burping and trumping, she was an alright girl. Funny. Very funny in fact, it was a shame that most of the time people would be laughing at her not with her. Mavis, however, didn't notice this.

'Where on earth is this room of re- re- well whatever room it is called!' Mavis cried as she paced around the seventh floor corridor for the nineteenth time. She'd come across the room before, and she knew it's name but like her mother and father she wasn't smart and her memory was non being. Having caught sight of a sixth year Hufflepuff boy heading for the room she'd tried to follow him and almost succeeded until she tripped on her shoelace and rolled across the floor. Great, now she had dust all over her robes. Oh well,. it was only dust.

At last, after half an hour she had finally found the room. Mavis had stumbled across it when she had tripped over a broomstick lying idly in the corridor, After an ouch, chastising the broomstick her only thought was I need to find this party quickly, then within a second a door had appeared before her eyes: Alas the room of requirement!

Pushing the doors open Mavis emerged into, what she expected to be the best party of the year. Two beefy bouncers were guarding the door and everyone was whispering, murmuring about something that had just happened. 'Hey, what's going on?' She asked, walking up to one of Henri Finch's followers. The girl didn't answer. She took one look at Mavis' unfashionable hair, the spaghetti stain all down her white shirt and the splinters of wood piercing the bottom of her skirt where she'd broken the broomstick as her feet flung over it.

'Alright, I get it you're one of those people that haven't learnt to talk yet. Alright!' Mavis gasped to the back of the girl who was quickly hurrying away from her as though she had dragon pox.

'Hello! What's going on?!' Mavis yelled over the music, hoping someone would explain what had happened to cause everyone to huddle in isolated groups talking about the scene between Henri and Erika.


^ Outfit

While everything was going down, Brian chose to ignore it all, he was tired of Henri getting to have all the attention, everywhere she went she had to draw all the attention on herself, and of course she came in and started making a big deal about what happened in Potions class. Brian was too busy getting drunk to care about her stupid public apology. It was putting a damper on the party and he was going to have to do something about it.

As he got drinker, though, his attention span really took a hit. He found himself walking around and talking to everyone he saw instead of actively doing anything about it. He figured if he was having a good time then everyone else would follow suite. He spotted Molly's fire red hair and he stumbled in her direction. She was with two people he did not recognize, but that could have been the booze talking. The girl that was with the two of them was looking very good, that's all he knew.

"What's my reputation?" Brian exclaimed as he appeared in the middle of the group right as the boy mentioned that he knew of Brian. "I'm sure people wouldn't speak bad about me behind my back, right?" He chuckled and he gave Padril a slight pat on the back. He was overly friendly when he was drunk, luckily he was still able to walk upright and talk normally, came with experience.

"I know Molly, but I don't know you two, so we should change that. I'm especially interested in you." Brian winked and looked at Darcy, it seemed smooth in his head, but really it was just a drunken flirt. "So is anyone else sick of the melodramatic Henri Finch?"