(Untitled)

[averykellaway]

Week Name/Date/Time: Meetings of the Minds / Saturday, October 1st, 2005 / 10.30 am
Location: Hogsmeade, The Three Broomsticks
Open To: Gabe, Letty, Luciano, Jacqueline, Lauren, Zoe, Julian and anyone else who's close to Gabe or knows him fairly well.
Currently Involving: Avery Kellaway

Note: If you're close to Gabe, chances are you can jump in

Comments

[lackxluster]

Julian knew that what he had offered her wouldn't be quite enough, if everyone wanted a drink, but the only coin left in his pocket was needed for ingredients for a potion that Julian thought just might reach Jack and Avery. After all, if it was going to replace firewhiskey, one house would need to try it out. Who better than Gryffindor?

When Avery didn't accept his money, Julian sighed and tried one last time to hand it to her, to no avail. He stuffed the coin back in his pocket, thinking why they would not. Possibly because they had no idea what it contained. And he had no intention of telling them - it would be nearly curfew by the time he finished. "Well I just thought.." He wasn't sure what he thought and turned his attention elsewhere: Letty.

"Brilliant! I sadly only taste apple juice," he leaned closer as if this was some sort of secret and the rest of the store shouldn't hear, " I was hoping for some sort of strange mixture. It's really crisp, fresh apple juice, though." He smiled. It was good to see that they were at least a little enthusiastic. Julian nearly had to force Soren. "I'm interested to see what you will taste too," he said happily (he did have a rather springy emotions), patting Letty on the arm softly.

"Lauren..," he scratched his head, knowing he had heard that name somewhere. Oh, right, he had met her this week. "As in the blond?" If he couldn't remember names, he could usually describe the face and hope that someone would know that particular student.

"Eight, huh?" That was a fair crowd. All full of lovely people. He just hoped that Lauren girl wouldn't turn him into a babbling mess like last time. Oi, what would she do to Luci!?

[luciano_delarco]

((Lauren will give Luciano a HEART ATTACK))

Luciano shook his head emphatically. “Nonono, it’s my mistake. I’m sure it just slipped my mind. Don’t worry about it,” Luciano reassured her, patting her shoulder kindly. “I’ll just run off to Honeydukes-I brought some money with me.” He tore his eyes away from hers, picked up his still-damp cloak, and waved to the group. “Um…I’ll be back in a jiffy, don’t wait up for me.”

Looking forlornly at the warm fireplace, he pushed open the door and went out to brave the rain.

[lauren_taylor_d]

Lauren knew she was a little late to this party Avery was throwing for Gabe, but it wasn't entirely her fault she had sleep in late, and that her roommates hadn't even bothered to wake her! Ok, so they knew by now that it was not a smart thing to wake Lauren, because she treasured her sleep, but it would have been nice!

She rushed into the Three Broomsticks just as Luciano was heading outside, and nearly running over him entirely. "Oops! Sorry mate," She smiled at the bloke, not having met him before.

"Hey!" She walked up to the small crowd gathered, assuming that Julian, Letty, and the others were there for the party, "Hope you weren't having too much fun without me."

[gabe_lucas]

((score! I can finally come in. *dances*))

Gabe made his way to the three broomsticks, feeling thoroughly excited. He had no idea what to expect, really; he knew that Avery and Letty had planned something but he had no idea who was coming or what was going on. For all he knew, it would just be the three of them. No matter; it was bound to be great, no matter who was there.

Keeping this in mind, he quicked his pace. It was chilly out- as was to be expected from a late september morning- and he was quite thankful for the knit cap that Avery had sent him earlier. A moment later, he slipped through the door of the three broomsticks and located his friends quickly after entering.

He made his way over to the group, a broad grin spreading across his face. "Hey all," he greeted brightly, pausing next to Lauren.

[jackie_zhang]

"Happy Birthday, Gabe!" Jackie grinned excitedly. "Or.. Happy Belated Birthday, anyways."

"Avery's getting drinks, Julian made some Jumer, and Luc... will be back any minute. Did you want anything to drink?" She couldn't erase the grin on her face, although her cheeks were starting to sore.

[lackxluster]

Julian hardly had a chance to say goodbye to Luciano before he left, but he didn't dwell on that very long. Lauren had arrived. He flushed slightly at her just being there. "Can't imagine how we could," he said simply, smiling. Julian didn't fancy Lauren, but she was rather pretty and no girls ever even kind-of-flirted with him. He reminded himself of that fact, and watched the door.

The next entrant wasn't who he had expected. He was hoping Luciano would beat Gabe, but Julian didn't have that sort of luck. Not that having Gabe around was bad! "Gabe! Happy Birthday mate!" His smile turned into a grin, he looked at Lauren a moment, then back at Gabe. "You two going to have a seat?" Unfortunately, it wasn't until after the words left his lips that Julian realized there was only one chair left around their table. He hopped up and offered it to either of them; he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Jack had beat him to it: offering drinks. He sighed and scrunched his mouth up. "I know you guys probably don't know what Jumer is, but I'm certain you'll like it." Then again, why have Jumer when you can have a butterbeer?

[averykellaway]

Avery made it back from the counter with a large tray holding a goblet of pumpkin juice and a mug of hot cocoa, alongside a few - 9 for everyone she thought would be there - empty goblets for the Jumer.

"Gabe! There you are." She set the tray down and went over to him, giving him a hug. "Happy Belated Birthday," she said simply, and then released him. "Hey, Lauren. I'm so glad you could make it, too," she greeted the girl and gave her her most welcoming smile.

She started unloading the tray and passed the empty goblets around the table. "So, Jumer, anyone?" she asked, holding up her own empty goblet.

[jackie_zhang]

"Sure, I'll try it." Jackie volunteered. She held up her goblet like Avery. She looked at the large bottle on the ground. Any kind of juice should taste better than butterbeer, and heaven forbid she tell Charlie that she didn't enjoy fire whiskey to a great extent.

She smiled at the small crowd gathered around Gabe. Maybe if they kept him distracted, Luc would return with the cake before he realized there was none. Though the mountain of candy did a pretty good job of hiding the fact.

[lackxluster]

His cheeks ached from smiling, but he couldn't stop, nor did he want to. He picked up the bottle, uncapping it and giving both Jackie and Avery a healthy bit of the potion. Even though he knew it changed according to taste buds, he was still nervous to whether the girls would like it or not. Not to mention that the nearly opaque maroon coloring was a bit daunting. Looking at it, he thought he might add a bit of oh-he-couldn't-remember-the-name to make it more user friendly.

Julian figured that Gabe wouldn't notice they didn't have a cake, especially considering every party he had ever been to always had the cake hiding. Plus, those ice mice looked very tasty. He poured himself a bit of Jumer and grabbed a box of the mice. "What do you think?" He asked nervously, before they even had a chance to drink some.

[jackie_zhang]

Jackie peered at Julian over the rim of her goblet. She hadn't even took her first sip and he was asking her about it. Well... it certainly looked... thick... and were there chunks floating in it? Nah... it just looked goopy because it was dark and opaque. Well, she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, so she blindly took a gulp.

It actually tasted better than it looked, and it certainly wasn't chunky or goopy like syrup. It tasted like... Jackie had to think... passion orange guava mango? She hadn't had that kind of juice in a while. She wiped her lips and smiled at Julian. "It's great!"

[averykellaway]

Avery thanked him politely as he poured a rather large amount of the dark liquid into her goblet. Her eyes widened instinctively, her mind instantly reminding her of blood, but she pushed the thought away and tried to look as calm as possible. Wouldn't work to lose her cool now and offend Julian again, would it?

She watched as Jacqueline took a gulp, and looked around at the others, as if asking them to join in the testing.

"Right, here goes nothing," she muttered to herself finally and drank from her goblet.

As soon as the liquid hit her tongue, she got an odd feeling, but it was a very nice odd feeling. In fact, it tasted very good. Like strawberries, bananas.. and what's that? A hint of chocolate? she thought to herself, swallowing the juice and letting the smile return to her face. She had to agree with Jack. "Yes, it tastes terrific." She reached into her pocket for a napkin and wiped the corners of her mouth with it. "Just how did you make this? Or is this some kind of secret recipe that's passed down only within the family?" she teased.

[lackxluster]

Watching their faces, he officially decided the next batch would be a little more translucent. Even the first time he made it, he had just gulped it down. He might not have been very brave when it came to other things, but with potions, he was entirely fearless. Luckily, he had asked mostly Gryffindors to try his drink, very polite Gryffindors.

Their reactions to the taste were the best. If he could have, he would've grinned a bit wider. He did laugh lightly, however. "It's good then? Great." He exchanged smiles with both of the girls before replying to Avery. "Well, when I've got some family of my own, I suppose I could pass it down...," Julian had to stop himself from thinking about how his kids might not be good at potions, "I just made up the recipe this year!" He leaned close to the table, and lowered his voice jokingly, "But oh yes, it's super secret and heavily guarded." He nodded with a mock-stern face, eyes wide in exaggeration.

Laughing, he tossed out his act, and pulled up a chair. "It's not really secret, but if I went about telling everyone all willy-nilly, how would I sweep the competition?" He was becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of making drinks that changed according to taste buds. In fact, tomorrow he was planning to begin work on a fake beer that also changed tastes from person to person. That was one drink he would not be testing on himself first.

[letty_lycroft]

"Happy Birthday Gabe!" Letty called as Gabe appeared and joined the crowd.

Letty held her goblet up in Julian's direction and said, "go on then. My turn!" While she waited for Julian to pour she wondered if there woudl be any alcohol tonight. She hadn't been to many wizarding parties and so had only had firewhiskey once. However, back at home, she was always being dragged to parties by her brother that were different to any she'd ever expeienced at Hogwarts.

"So then," Letty announced as she shook her goblet at Julian, "what makes a wizarding 18th birthday party spectacular then? The only 18ths I've ever been to have been muggle ones and they tend to involve loud music, loud people, underage drinking, and other underage stuff..."

She began to think back to home and the partied her brother took her to when she was back there. Letty began to miss him and was trying desperately not to feel sad again.

[lackxluster]

Julian paused for a moment, looking at Letty. Jeeze, he had forgotten how wonderful she was when she was happy. He grinned excitedly at her enthusiasm. Filling Letty's goblet, he offered some to everyone else. "Tell me what you think, kay, Scarlett?" He honestly couldn't think of one other place he'd rather be, and he shook his head happily.

Julian was hoping that there would be no alcohol any time. He had never tried any - not even firewhiskey - and knew that his refusal of it might leave him out of the festivities. Then again, once people 'loosened up', he reckoned no one would care that he was entirely sober.

Shrugging his shoulders at Letty, he looked around the room to see if anyone else had any possible ideas. "Magic?" he offered casually, before shrugging once more. "I can't say I've ever been to any 18th birthday parties. Until now, I feared that my own would be the first one I attended."

Julian knew what memories could do to someone's mood, so he tried to distract Letty - rather unsuccessfully. "I don't think we could have too loud of music in here," he said laughing, "few of the older witches and wizards might hex us." While being hexed wasn't funny, Julian thought the idea of being attacked because of loud music was.

[lauren_taylor_d]

Lauren smiled brightly as Gabe stood at her side, "Oi! Happy birthday, mate! Lookin mighty fine for turning 18," She winked, ever the tease.

As Avery greeted her, she smiled back friendly, apologizing about never replying back to the invitation before taking the seat Julian had offered.

This was nice. She hadn't been to a party since school started, and although this one wasn't big, she found the atmosphere to be quite pleasant. Lauren sat back in her chair, simply observing the others and watching the girls' reaction's to the juice they were drinking.

"Jumer? Sounds interesting..." She finally spoke up, smiling at Julian as she spoke, "If you made it, well I'll just have to try it, yeah? I'm sure its bloody brill." He was a cute kid, she thought. Quiet, but cute. Seemed as if she were running into a lot of blokes that fit that description.

When Letty spoke up about the muggle birthday parties, Lauren had to nod her head in agreement. She, of all people, would know what a muggle party was like; she loved to party! But it was a good question to ask, since she hadn't exactly been invited to any magical 18th birthday parties.

"Ah, let 'em hex us then!" She drawled, a smirk appearing on her face, "A party isn't a party unless there's music, yeah?"

[letty_lycroft]

"Too right!" Letty agreed with Lauren as she swirled the liquid in her goblet and looked at it quizically. She sniffed it first, wondering if the smell would give away any clues as to what it may taste like. It didn't smell of anything in particular so she took a sip.

It tasted of pear and then grape and then watermelon, then a delightful mixture of the three. It was quite sweet and very refreshing. "Damn Jules, that's great!" Letty exclained, "Ive never tasted anything like that before!"

She took another small sip, wanting to make it last as long as possible, it was so delicious and she didn't know how much of it Julian had.

"Hey Avery," she continued, "what's this appointment you have to rush off to later then?" Letty asked curiously, she'd been very cagey in her owl about it.