The Dear Old House

[shh_slughorn]

Date: May 19th, 2005
Character(s): Horace Slughorn, all Slytherins, anyone who wants to gate-crash or eavesdrop
Location: Stoatshead Hill Town Hall
Status: Public
Summary: The first post-war meeting of the Old Slytherins Association
Completion: Complete

Comments

[shh_travers]

Willis didn't see much of a point in getting there early, but then, Willis didn't see much of a point in going, at all. He liked to know where others were, what he was dealing with, sure; didn't mean he wanted to sit around with any of that lot. Sure, there could be some interesting faces, but any real chance of entertainment? Not fucking likely

[shh_slughorn]

Horace noticed the arrivals and tried to remember who they were.... Perkins? Peters? No, Travers, that was it. He moved over to welcome them, saying "Mister Travers? And is it still Miss Travers? Thank you both so much for coming. Please help yourself to refreshments, I'm afraid it will probably be a while before there are enough people here to begin the meeting. How are you both? Well, I hope?"

[shh_travers]

Willis had grunted his assent in regards to their identity, accompanying this with a none-too-fond sort of stare. With that, he seemed to have decided that he'd done his active part; the rest being to stand and, no doubt, continue to look rather characteristically unfriendly. Entirely all right. Siri had intended since discovering the invitation to take care of any necessary speaking. She could be glad enough that Willis had come at all.

Not to say that this was certain to be a success. She found, however, that it was best to remain informed, and there could be certain advantages to recovering lost school mates.

"It might as well be." She smiled at Slughorn, lightly pushing back a few strands of her hair. "We are both quite well, Sir, and are pleased to be here. This is quite an impressive effort." A point of interest, in any case, and perhaps it would be well worth the attendance.

"And you, of course, must be faring admirably."

[shh_slughorn]

"Faring? Surviving, perhaps," said Horace. "If I had my way I'd be retired, but when Gringrotts failed..." He left her to draw her own conclusions. "Still, I mustn't complain. My potions work is going reasonably well, and if I can get someone a little younger to take over the Old Slytherins I'll be a little more reassured about the future of our community. Too many traditions fading away, I fear, and too few of us left to stem the tide."

[shh_adrian]

Adrian had spent Friday evening in his father's library, after his lunch with Ginny, sitting and thinking. He'd slept in the old estate and roused himself early with the light coming in as sun rose. He busied himself about the manor until it was time for Slughorn's meeting and, though he didn't have much of a heart for anything social right now, he disapparated back to Stoatshead Hill and headed to the town hall from his flat at Copper Towers, choosing to walk and get there just a bit early, hoping to speak with Slughorn about a decision he'd made.

He saw the sign that had been posted and followed it's directions, coming into the main meeting hall and spotted his old Professor, heading to the refreshment table to get himself a drink and steel his nerves.

[shh_slughorn]

"Mister Pucey," said Horace, spotting a familiar face with some relief. "How good of you to come. How are the potions experiments coming along?"

[shh_adrian]

Adrian nodded toward his old Professor, relieved he'd come to speak to him, "Professor, good to see you. The research has slowed a bit, to be honest, since I last saw you. Though I did want to speak to you about something in that vain, would you have a moment now or perhaps with the guests arriving you'd be better suited playing host?"

[shh_slughorn]

"Well, it'll be a while before we have a quorum at this rate," said Horace. "We might as well talk now, if we get interrupted we can continue afterwards."

[shh_marcus]

Marcus had received the second owl from Slughorn and decided the old bastard would continue to bother him until he showed up. He had no interest in Slytherins especially since most of them he'd met other than that frail little boy, Vaisey, had been a right son-of-a-bitch including his former friend Pucey who'd he should have thrown off the observatory deck when he had the chance. But he'd resisted and he hadn't let his fury control him.

After he was let in by a house elf and looked around, he saw an old man who made him immediately tense before seeing Pucey at the refreshment table. He curled his hands into fists, feeling his stubbed nails cut into his palm. But he exhaled, letting most of his anger go free. He shook his head and walked over to lean against a wall. He hoped there would be booze here but knew he shouldn't drink since that lowered all his inhibitions.

It was a hopeless situation and he looked down at the floor before he mumbled, "It's going to be a long fucking night."

[shh_slughorn]

Horace noticed Marcus leaning against the wall, and wondered why he seemed so tense. Post-war nerves? He'd seemed a little strained the last time they met, as he recalled. Best leave the chap and hope that he would calm down by himself. He smiled and nodded politely towards him, and carried on with his conversation.

[shh_vincent]

Vincent arrived a little past the posted time, but judging by the crowd, he hadn't missed much. He could see Pucey - whom he'd not talked to yet, but had only heard of through Marietta. Either way, he had little desire to approach the other man. Looking around, he realized that left Slughorn, or.....bloody fuck, that was Travers. He was tempted to turn around and leave right then, but sighed, deciding it was worth his while to see if this actually turned into anything more than a few men standing around and drinking - oh sweet Merlin, they were drinking punch

[shh_marcus]

Marcus was amused that people seemed to avoid him at functions like these. Of course, his posture and demeanor pretty much told people to fuck off. That was the entire purpose of the exercise anyway.

He decided that he wanted something to drink and walked over to the refreshment table, noticing Pucey kissing Slughorn's arse over something. A young woman and an older one had walked in, so he was sure they would be Pucey's next targets.

Standing next to the refreshment table, he noticed there wasn't a drop of alcohol present. Sighing again, he waited for the ladle while another man he recognized faintly used it. He watched the man finish scooping out his drink before he said, "Let me get that from you."

[shh_vincent]

"Are you sure you want to?" Vincent asked dryly, passed the ladle from the punch to the other man, without paying really close attention. "It's punch. I do believe Salazar Sytherin is turning in his grave at the moment."

When he finally looked up at the other man, he thought he recognized him in a vague sort of way. If he remembered correctly, he'd been captain of the Slytherin team before Vincent made it on, although with how much time had passed it was hard to be certain. Although his memory was hardly pathetic, he was only vaguely certain of the man's name. Flint - perhaps? Although the first name escaped him.

"Vincent Crabbe," he introduced himself, offering his free hand that wasn't holding the glass of the annoyingly red liquid, "I won't bother asking the obvious - I'm assuming you were a Slytherin. Had you even heard of this association before Slughorn started owling around?"

[shh_marcus]

"Punch? What the fuck is wrong with these people," Marcus growled and shook his head. "You know, we're adults here and a little bit of booze might take the edge off of being around these blithering idiots."

He was speaking to the man he was next to but really he was just letting out some steam. He hated these events and meeting people was not his strongpoint. Still, he looked at the man and thought he was one of Malfoy's cronies but at this point Marcus didn't care.

When the man introduced himself, Marcus took his hand. He nodded. "Marcus Flint." He released the man's hand and answered, "I don't have any clue what's going on here but judging from our fellow Slytherins." He gestured toward the room. "the House has fallen on very hard times."

[shh_daphne]

Daphne entered the room a bit uncertainly, feeling very much like she didn't belong there. Merlin, this was just like being back in school. After seven years of suspicions of missorting she should have known better than to come to this sort of thing, but her father would have appreciated her going and it had seemed like the polite thing to do. At any given time she was certain someone was going to call her a fraud and chuck her out.

She spotted a few familiar faces among the guests, but none that she could imagine would remember her, or care to talk to her if they did. She definitely wasn't about to impose her company on anybody, so she just headed to the table of refreshments, poured a cup of punch and found a place to sit near a corner torn between hoping someone friendly would join her and hoping nobody would notice she was there in the first place.

[shh_gilderoy]

"You look as if you're lost, dear," Gilderoy told her as he snuck up from behind. He had arranged to meet Julian here since he had work to do before the meeting, and it appeared as if the man had not yet arrived. But Miss Greengrass seemed a bit overwhelmed and perhaps just the tiniest bit confused.

"As far as I know, as long as we were sorted into the house of Green and Silver, we belong. So no matter who is here or what their motives, we can certainly make a place for ourselves." He took her hand and threaded it through the crook of his arm. "I'll likely have to leave you when my darling arrives, but until then we can stick together, yes?"

[shh_daphne]

Daphne jumped out of her seat in surprise when someone suddenly spoke behind her, but she was relieved to see Mr. Lockhart there. She hadn't even known he was a Slytherin too, although she had suspected as much on a number of occasions.

"You know, sometimes I can't help but wonder if you can read my mind, Mr. Lockhart," she said, smiling fondly at him.

She felt a bit safer now that she wasn't alone and a bit less out of place.

[shh_gilderoy]

"I can assure you, my dear, divination or mind reading things were not my specialities." Gilderoy shifted in his seat and crossed his legs. "No, I leave that to Julian's friends. He told me that there was a... drat. Can't remember what he's called. Anyway, someone who could look at my memories and see if they can help me out.

Gilderoy glanced around the room to see if there was anyone he knew around. And, of course there was Slughorn, himself over there. He raised his eyebrows and waved to the man then turned back to Daphne. "Do you know any of the young men who have shown up here? I'm rather surprised that some of your other friends from school aren't here yet."