RP: Ravenclaw party

[shh_marietta]

Date: 9 June 2005
Characters: Marietta Edgecombe, other Ravenclaws and their friends
Location: The back yard of Marietta's house, #4 Delta Circle
Status: Semi-private
Summary: Former members of Ravenclaw House gather at Marietta's to catch up and share some memories. Food and drink are involved, to varying degrees, with a possibility of drunken

Comments

[shh_irma]

Irma had made sure that she would be there on time. Certainly there was a saying about being fashionably late, but to Irma there was nothing worse than a hostess hosting a party sans guests. The weather was warm, and she was wearing a long dark-green skirt, as well as a light, linen white peasant-blouse with long sleves. It was a tad informal for her - but she had no desire to wear any of her usual warm clothes in this weather.

Arriving, she spotted Miss Edgecombe. "Hello," Irma smiled. "Am I the first?"

[shh_marietta]

Marietta was surprised to find that her first guest was none other than the former Hogwarts librarian, Madam Pince. "Yes, you are," she replied, smiling. "I don't know if you remember me, Madam Pince. I finished in 1997. Thank you for coming. Please follow me."

Not knowing whether the older woman would want to shake her hand, Marietta simply led Madam Pince up the driveway and into the back yard. She had rented tables and chairs from Socks as well, transfiguring them from the bulky wooden accommodations of the pub into lighter furniture more suitable for a garden party. "We have punch and butterbeer, and later on one of the guests will bring some Sangria. It's over on that long table," she said, nodding in the right direction, "along with the food. Please, help yourself."

[shh_su]

After spending a pleasant few hours at the Museum opening, Su made her way to Marietta's house for the Ravenclaw reunion. She had dressed for the occasion in a Ravenclaw blue frock, and tried not to be nervous as she approached the house. She and Marietta had an interesting history: there had always been a bit of tension with the older woman concerning Cho.

Su glanced down at her directions and nodded; this was it. She saw the hostess and approached with a smile. "Marietta, how are you? It's been ages." Certainly the gracious approach couldn't hurt. Right?

[shh_marietta]

After depositing Madam Pince in the back yard, Marietta went out front again and was pleased when she saw Su Li walking up the pavement toward the house.

"Su!" she called out. "Thank you so much for coming. Yes, it has been ages, hasn't it? I've got refreshments in the back yard." She led Su behind the house and showed her where to find the food and drinks. "Pardon me for leaving you but I want to greet people out front as they arrive."

[shh_su]

Su smiled, glad that the tension of their schooldays had been forgotten. "Thank you for hosting this. I was sorry to miss the last Ravenclaw reunion. I'm quite excited about seeing everyone."

After Marietta went out front, Su poured herself a glass of wine and wandered through the yard, looking for a familiar face. She hated not having someone to talk with in social situations.

[shh_mandy]

Mandy stood at the refreshment table, pouring a glass of the non-alcoholic fruit punch. Maybe better start out carefully if there was Sangria a la Terry to be had later.

She looked around but seemed to have lost Zach for a moment. There were several people she knew here already, but her gaze stopped on Su, whom she hadn't talked to in months, and she had a postcard to thank her for. Smiling happily, she walked over to her.

"Su! How great to see you! You look wonderful." She gave the other woman a careful hug, both balancing glasses. "I've been meaning to owl you after you came back but last week just seemed to go up in smoke," she said ruefully. "Thanks so much for the postcard! I laughed so at those monkey faces."

[shh_kingsley]

Kingsley hoped that Seti or someone moderately close to his age was at this reunion. He liked young people, but it would be nice to have a conversation with someone he'd actually been at school with even if it wasn't his own year. He recognized the name of the woman organizing the party, but hadn't been able to place it yet. He figured that when he saw...

Damn. Ah, yeah. He figured that when he saw her he'd place her. She was the student he'd oblivated in Dumbledore's office when Madam Umbridge had tried to get her to talk. Probably wouldn't do to chuckle at the memory of Minerva McGonagall explaining to Delores Umbridge that Miss Edgecomb's head shake meant 'no'.

It was too late to turn around now, though. She woman probably didn't remember him anyway. He hoped.

[shh_marietta]

After leaving Su and Madam Pince in the yard, Marietta returned to the driveway near the front of the house. She was surprised when a tall, very large, very dark man approached the house. He was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place him. He was, though, extremely attractive, she thought as the late afternoon sun glinted off his rather dazzling smile.

"Um...good evening," she said as he came closer. "I'm Marietta. I'm sorry, we've not met before. You must have been in Ravenclaw before I started school?"

[shh_kingsley]

"Kingsley Shacklebolt, Ravenclaw 73-80, at your service, Marietta." Thank god she didn't remember him.

"Thank you for hosting." He offered his hand. The young lady had grown curvy and had beautiful eyes. He looked at her with an appreciative eye.

[shh_marietta]

"Well, then, welcome, Kingsley Shacklebolt. I'm glad you could join us," she said, smiling as she shook his hand. He had a very firm grip as well as a brilliant smile. Yes, he had to be over 40, but really, she was an adult now and age didn't really matter so much when both parties were adults. He wasn't nearly as old as her father, so really, she could admire him as much as she wanted. "Marietta Edgecombe, Ravenclaw 90 to 97. Please follow me to the yard and I'll show you where the refreshments are."

Turning on her heel, she led Mr Shacklebolt to the yard, hips swaying ever so softly.

[shh_orla]

Orla decided it was worth the risk to her appearance and self to fly, if only to give way to a hasty exit if she needed. Not that she thought she would. She had plenty of good memories of the common room, it was just she never knew what to say to people beyond, "Hi, I'm Orla, the one who always sat in the corner reading. You might remember seeing me around, but we probably didn't converse." Real good way to renew ties, that.

She landed, somewhat smoothly, which was a minor miracle for her, and she smoothed her hair again, before marching into the backyard area with several people milling about, and some refreshments were set out. She was a bit determined to have fun, though it was sad that she had to tell herself to have fun.

[shh_marietta]

Marietta noticed a young woman with dark hair and eyeglasses marching into the back yard, apparently carrying a broom. Someone who doesn't know how to Apparate? she wondered, though it occurred to her that there probably were people who didn't finish Hogwarts due to the war and hadn't learned to Apparate. Though she was fond of Floo travel herself, she knew that most adult witches and wizards preferred to Apparate. Obviously her department at the Ministry would need to do what it could to make Apparition lessons available to those who wanted them.

"Hello, I'm Marietta," she said, approaching the young woman with a smile. "Thank you for coming. I was at Hogwarts from 1990 to 1997. I recognise your face but I unfortunately I can't recall your name."

[shh_orla]

Orla smiled, though she sighed inwardly. Sometimes she hated being right. "Orla Quirke. I was at Hogwarts from 1994 til they closed the school." She shook Marietta's hand, then stood, fiddling a bit with her broom. "Um, so how has everything been going?" Nice one. Why don't you just ask her about the weather?

[shh_marietta]

"Orla...oh yes, I remember you know," Marietta said now her memory had been jogged. "You were a little thing back then. You used to sit in the corner and read for hours." Orla seemed a bit uncomfortable, and Marietta patted her hand. "You know, I did the same thing my first year at school. I was lucky someone befriended me in second year. She was my best friend in the world until...well, she died in the war."

She suddenly found herself feeling very sad about Cho for the first time in months. "Pardon me," she said, clearing her throat and turning away for a moment as she wiped the corner of her eye with her fingertip. "Yes, well, otherwise things are lovely. Let's go into the back yard and I'll show you where the refreshments are. If you know anyone, please feel free to tell them hello."

[shh_wilhelmina]

Wilhelmina had set about her tasks the way Mandy had suggested, and the way a Ravenclaw should - with a lot of careful preparation. The girl had been right. There was interest in her ideas from other animal experts and enthusiasts in Britain, and several of them had read over her draft proposal, suggested changes and added their names in support

[shh_marietta]

After she had greeted Orla Quirke, Marietta milled about, chatting with the other guests, when she spotted an older witch who looked familiar. The close-cropped gray hair helped her remember that this was probably the witch who had taught Care of Magical Creatures for awhile when Rubeus Hagrid was unavailable. Approaching the older woman, she held out her hand.

"Hello, I'm Marietta," she said brightly. "Thank you for coming."

[shh_wilhelmina]

Wilhelmina shook Marietta's hand. "Thankyou for putting on the party. I'm Willa. No need for 'professors' anymore. Not that I really was one." She chuckled, tugged at the bottom of her top again.

"Merlin. Hopefully I'm not the only person over thirty here."

[shh_marietta]

"Thank you for coming, Willa," said Marietta, pleased that the woman wanted to dispense with formalities. "I'd heard I'd missed the first party, last winter, and so we were overdue to have another one. I'm happy to do it; I'd missed seeing my old housemates."

She'd not considered the age of the party-goers, but Willa had a point. "Oh, you're not." She nodded toward Madam Pince and then toward Shacklebolt. "Well, I need to mingle a bit. I'll see you later."