New Years Bash ((Open to 5th+))

[Dianna Jacobson S5]

“Happy New Year!” Dianna sang loudly as she raised her glass of champagne. She was dancing through the crowd of wizards and witches that had made it out to Magick Mirror, a wizarding world club in downtown London, on December 31st. It was finally the new year and she was excited to not have to deal with her family. She had decided not to return home for the winter holidays that year and it had turned out to be one of her best decisions. It meant she was free to do whatever her heart desired and sneaking out of her best friend’s house with her so they could be a part of the New Year festivities was the first fun thing she had done in years. Of course now she was more than a little drunk off firewhiskey and whatever else had filled her cup while she was dancing around. Her curly black hair bounced along her back as she raised her hands above her head and danced to the music that floated around her form. Lights hovered around the crowd, not bright enough to ruin the intimacy, but not dark enough to make you uncomfortable. After all the moon was shining bright enough to keep everyone from feeling like they were in the dark. It was Dianna’s perfect night with the moon bright in the sky, the music blaring through the club, and not a mudblood in sight (the one good thing about pureblood establishments). There weren’t many of them, but enough to keep the Ministry of Magic on their toes trying to shut them down.

“I need another drink!” Dianna murmured to her friend before disappearing through the crowd determined to find her way back to the bar. The world appeared two-dimensional to her at this point. She was dodging people as best as she could, but failing miserably. Her shoulders brushing others as she swayed through the crowd. Her tight black dress only came to her mid-thigh and it seemed her long legs were catching attention from several of the boys she brushed. Everything was brilliant and as she danced her way to the bar she felt a hand run along her back end. She stopped and turned. Even in her drunken state she was about to let someone touch her like that and get away with it. Turned she poked her finger hard into the culprits chest. “Touch me again and you’ll find I’ve reduced one of your more beloved body parts,” she said with an evil smirk before continuing on her way to the bar. She didn’t even wait to see what the retort from the culprit would be. She was more concerned with getting another drink than dealing with another jerk.

“Firewhiskey!” she called to the bartender, who seemed to be casting spell after spell from his wand. He was going to make a lot of tips that night. Dianna almost found it amusing. He probably needed the money, one of those poor lower closed half-bloods more than likely or purebloods. It was always disappointing to see a pureblood with no money; it was obvious they made bad choices in life. Her family had made good choices…on the wrong side of the war, but at least they still had their money. When the whiskey finally filled up her glass she threw down some coins and started back turned around her mouth hardly on the glass before it was knocked from her hands by a clumsy body. “Excuse me!” Her anger boiled up immediately and she was glaring at the back of some idiot. “What are you doing? Excuse me! Are you even listening to me?! You owe me a drink!” She was shouting to be heard over the music and the more they ignored her the more she wanted to wring their neck. “Drink! Now!” The bartender at least had the gall to listen and she grabbed the glass that floated before her. Five seconds later she was splashing the inconsiderate jerk right in the back of the head. Maybe that would get their attention.

[Carlin Lennox S7]

“I don’t see why I can’t go with you,” Cyn stated stubbornly. With her mouth pursed and narrowed brown eyes, the little girl really did look like a miniature copy of her older sister, Carlin was proud to note. She, however, had never tapped her toe like an impatient old woman. An impatient gesture from the older of the two Lennox sisters beckoned Damien forward, and he immediately sidled in between them to work his magic.

“Sweetheart, you wouldn’t enjoy yourself,” her cousin murmured coaxingly before launching into at least a million platitudes that Carlin simply didn’t have time for. “It’s just going to be loud music and a lot of silly people tripping over themselves to earn even a sideways glance from Queen Carlin, over there. Wouldn’t it be much more fun to stay in and have Sarah treat you like the princess you are? In fact, I do believe that she’s had the house-elves make chocolate and marshmallow ice-cream just for you.”

Turning her back on the two of them, Carlin disappeared into her bathroom to finish getting ready. She loved her little sister, she did…but sometimes she just didn’t have the patience to deal with Cynthia’s little tantrums. Carlin herself had never been so demanding as a child, she was sure. After all, Cyn had everything that she could veer want – and she didn’t even have to work for any of it. Carlin, on the other hand, had been dragged around her father’s offices by the time she was eight, learning everything that her brother had abandoned and left to her instead.

Still, it was worth it. Carlin smiled lazily, enjoying the perfect face that smirked back at her. She worked hard to be the person she was, and she never regretted a moment of it; not the broken hearts littered in her wake, the jealous girlfriends or the reputation attached to her. She had power, and that made all the struggles, all the hard work worth it.

“Finally ready to go?” Carlin asked mockingly, rolling her eyes as Damien finally made it down the stairs. He looked a bit ruffled, presumably from Cyn whining and clinging to him (poor Damien; he still wasn’t used to having a little girl cry at him despite practically living with them for years) but he was already starting to sort himself out. Carlin ignored the discreet grimace he sent her way when her eyes flicked over his vagabond facial hair disapprovingly.

“If you’ve got your mirror tucked away in that ridiculous little bag of yours, then yes,” Damien shot back absent-mindedly. Those two-way mirrors had really been an amazing find - and Carlin had laughed at him for venturing into such a badly-lit, dusty shop! The pair of mirrors had looked ordinary enough, with just a nicely ornate frame to embellish them but he had soon charmed the secrets out of the pretty red-headed shop assistant. Through the mirrors, people could converse despite having any amount of distance between them. He hadn’t stopped except to bargain the price down to something more reasonable, using more than just a few kisses as bribes. Needless to say, Carlin had appreciated her Christmas present…after he had explained that he wasn’t appealing to her sense of vanity.

After a small amount of bickering over apparation or floo powder, the two of them actually managed to arrive at Magick Mirror. Damien shrugged at Carlin dismissively, their argument already half-forgotten, and led her over to the bar. Almost uncannily in unison, two pairs of eyes swept the crowd, settling on the same man. Damien smiled wryly, already preparing to slide off his seat and unwind. “Let the game begin?”

Carlin flashed her teeth pleasantly. “Happy new year, cousin.”

[Damien Lennox S7]

He wasn’t having the greatest of luck tonight, Damien acknowledged ruefully as he called for another drink. First of all, the man that he and Carlin had silently agreed upon as their bet for the night was so painfully straight that Damien had gotten within ten paces of him and backed off gracefully. Then he had tried his luck with a few girls and gotten incredibly far with his efforts before the rest of the pack swooped in to save their friends from nefarious delights. Bloody women. How was he supposed to bed someone who was surrounded by fifteen other girls, all of them keeping sharp enough an eye on each other that privacy was just a fragile illusion?

“Not enjoying yourself?”

Damien turned his head slowly, a grin already forming on his lips at the unfamiliar female voice beside him. Better still, she was alone. No protective pack of clucking mother hens to ruin this conquest then? His luck had finally turned. Maybe this night wouldn’t be such a terrible disappointment after all. Part of him had almost begun to wonder if staying in with Cynthia would perhaps have been the better option. “Not really. Think you could entertain me for a while?” Damien cast a cautious eye over her, skimming the coins across the bar to pay for a refill on both their drinks when he was satisfied that the investment would bring about satisfactory results.

Less than half an hour later, Damien paused on his way to the exit. On one hand, he had a reasonably pretty albeit far too giggly seventeen year old girl twined around him. Nothing bad could come from that. On the other hand, he could see Carlin and someone he guessed was going to be her next conquest being barraged by a verbal attack from someone he vaguely recognised as a younger Slytherin. That situation was never going to end well. Still, he and Carlin always looked out for each other regardless of better offers for the night looming on the horizon so Damien slipped away wordlessly. His pretty giggling girl would eventually figure out that she had been ditched. He had bought her a drink; what more could she possibly want, except that which neither of them were apparently going to get?

“I think you’d better calm down a bit, sweetheart,” Damien advised coolly, approaching the girl from behind and bypassing her completely to stand next to Carlin. Her smirk wasn’t entirely appreciative but the promise of an altercation gathered a crowd no matter how drunk they were, and the last thing they needed was an audience. Carlin always got a little bit too showy when all eyes were turned to her direction. “So how about you tell me what the problem is, and I buy you a drink to replace the one you just wasted?”