Dressed to Impress

[Rystain Quandry]

Rystain nodded satisfied that Frank would do what he said. He was a good man and suited Alice. He didn't think on it again and turned back to the rest of the Slytherin crowd gathering. He half smirked at Rabastan as if to say "see I told you I would be here" and looked to see who else had been invited. He had his own goals and aspirations and he noted the influential families were all being invited.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra had received an invitation to join the "slug club", whatever that was. But it seemed a somewhat prestigious invite, since the other girls her dorm weren't talking about it openly, as they usually did when invited to parties. It was either for secretive, or very haughty. Perhaps both. But Lyra had resolved herself to going and as it was now the day of, she had to get ready. She wore her hair down in loose curls that framed her face, a small silver clip holding her bangs back on one side. She wore a simple red dress, low cut enough to fit her style but long enough to look casually elegant. Her legs were visible from the calf down. She wore black heels which made her about level with most of the other girls if they wore flats. Her wand was strapped to her thigh with a garter so that she need not carry a bag.

Slughorn's office was in the dungeons, which meant it was barely a stone's throw away from the Slytherin commons. Of course that gave Lyra false hope in thinking she had more time than she really did to get ready. When she looked at the clock she was already late and she dashed out of her dormitory while still strapping a silver bracelet around her wrist.

When she arrived Lyra noted that most of the guests were from Slytherin, though a few other houses were represented. She also noticed that most of the occupants of the room were rather high class students, aside from Severus who was a genius and made his own way here, she was sure. Her gaze did a once over of the crowd and then she strolled casually over to where Rabastan stood. "See anything you like?" she said, indicating his watchful eyes on the rest of the group.

[Rabastan Lestrange]

Rabastan's eyebrows raised, and he shifted his position subtly. "Besides currant company, no," he responded, and it was a well intended greeting. Rabastan was more watchful than he was given credit for, and he usually kept quiet unless it suited him to speak up. But no one knew him for that, did they?

He looked her over. "Well, aside from Slughorn trying to get in good with the rich kids, so to speak, what do you make of this?"

It was a bunch of bull in his opinion. But he had still come, and he'd scope out the territory before he settled on a judgement.

[Charlotte Monroe]

"The configuration of the future elite not exciting enough for you Rabastan?" Charlotte purred while joining their small group.

She took another glance around to make sure Sam wasn't there and her calm resolve blurred into giddy splendor, " Well well, no surprises here." she said nodding to each of them.

[Lyra Newbury]

"I only just got here. I haven't had time to come up with a theory on this little soiree. But I can tell that you don't approve. And I don't know if that makes me disapprove as well, or want to enjoy it just to spite you." She grinned at him before turning to Charlotte. "Slughorn has particular tastes," she commented.

[Rabastan Lestrange]

Rabastan smirked at Lyra. "Well, whatever you decide, I think I'll take it as a compliment."

His eyes gave Charlotte the inevitable once over, but he was quiet for a moment, and wondered if Lyra's comment to the girl was meant as a compliment or an insult. Sometimes, it was hard to tell with the girl.

"The most I can say for him so far is that at least the majority of his chosen ones are Slytherins."

[Charlotte Monroe]

"So the man's tastes lean towards the good." She commented in turn with a smile, of course the majority of students selected were in Slytherin they were the important ones after all.

Well except Samantha, she wasn't important, not as important as Charlotte was at least...in this one way...at least.

Maybe it was because she transfered and Slughorn didn't know her. Suddenly Charlotte frowned, everyone knew Sam..she was the Slytherin Champion...how could a house Champion not get chosen for this special club...that didn't make much sense.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha should have revealed herself by now, but the things she was learning all on her own were far more interesting, she enjoyed listening to people when she thought they couldn't see her, enjoyed it because she could in return study them without them being affected by her.

[Regina Curry]

Regina started her walk early to the dungeons. It was going to take her a little longer considering she was talking her time to make sure that she wouldn't trip over herself. She had her hair down and straight for once. Regina didn't wear her robes, but a nice set of muggle clothing. She was sort of iffy about wearing it, but if this was supposed to be important, then she was going to attempt to make herself look presentable.

Luck was not on her side because she tripped twice on her way to the dungeons, but regained herself as she reached the dungeon entrance. Regina walked in slowly and spotted Rori amongst the Slytherins that were there. She stopped beside Rori and gave her a friendly smile in greeting.

[Alice Prewett]

Alice didn't really hurry but she didn't want to be one of the last ones to show up either, though she thought about it for a while if she even wanted to go. But in the end she'd decided she was a champion and should at least try to be social considering she'd been generally hiding out for a few weeks, she'd gotten Frank's letter and last night had figured out who it had to be from. She wasn't really angry anymore... the letter had melted her heart but she still didn't know how to make things right again, and she felt miserable about her behavior the last few weeks, even though she still believed that Frank had deserved it anyways and she was right to have been upset. She just wasn't sure she was ready to chance seeing him again yet. She had no idea if he'd received a slug club invitation but had decided to go anyways in the end.

The Gryffindor commons was a long way from the dungeons and she took her time getting ready. She put on a black knee-length dress that wraped like a halter around her neck and some black heals. She knew it would be something fairly dressy and wanted to at least fit in and not look as if she'd been crying all week, which she had. But today she'd managed to not cry for once and luckily her eyes weren't red and puffy like they had been. She swept up her hair into an intricate knot and put a temporary holding charm on it so that it wouldn't fall down.

Then she headed town the many flights of stairs until she reached the dungeons. She didn't see Frank at first and felt relieved, she did spot Regina and Rori though and walked over to the young ravenclaws rather than standing next to the slytherins. And that was when she noticed Frank and Kingsley. Damn. Of course he'd be here.

[Regina Curry]

She wasn't sure who all was invited, but it seemed like mostly Slytherins to say the least. All of whom she didn't ever talk to. It wasn't that she avoided them, but it was just that she was usually tripping and they were the ones laughing at her.

Now, her focus had to be different. Regina couldn't make a fool of herself in front of her house, let alone the whole school. She couldn't let her house down and she was going to try to keep her head straight.

Regina turned her head as someone approached them. "Hello Alice," she said giving a smile.

[Alice Prewett]

"Hey Regina. Rori. I wonder if the other champions were invited, but I don't see Samantha or Maxi yet. Do you guys have any idea what the Slug Club is all about yet? Seems like lots of Slytherins though." She was speaking quietly so that only the two girls could hear her. She gave a sidelong glace at Frank though. He looked handsome she thought, but she still wasn't ready to go over and talk to him. It was too awkward and easier right now just to keep half avoiding him.

[Regina Curry]

Regina noticed that Alice took glances towards Frank, but she didn't bother to comment. From the looks of things, and from what she had heard, the two where apart. She hated to see people unhappy, which made her think of Hallie again. Maybe if Hallie was invited to the Slug Club thing, then she could talk to her.

"I haven't the slightest idea what the Slug Club is about, although I do have to say there is a good many Slytherins. I hope that there's more other people rather than more of them." Regina kept her voice quite as well.

[Alice Prewett]

"So have you been trying to prepare for the tournament yet? I wish someone would give us a clue or something so we had a better idea what to prepare for. I've just been trying to work on my defense and charms spells the most, oh and herbology and potions. You never know when they will come in handy."

[Regina Curry]

"Trying is the key term," said Regina. "I don't even know where to begin in getting ready for the tournament. I'm just nervous that I'm going to embarrass my house. I mean the knowledge of what I'm doing I think will be alright, it's just the physical part." She shook her head. That was the main thing that had her nervous.

"What about you?"

[Alice Prewett]

"I'm mostly worried I'll loose focus.. I've had a lot on my mind lately." Her eyes flicked to Frank again though at the thought of him before looking at Regina again. "From what I know it should be both physical and mental tests. I've always meant to ask you... is there ever a time you don't get tripped up? I mean.. maybe if you can figure out when you do it and when you don't... maybe you could find a way to get over it or at least not have more control over it." She was wondering if maybe when Regina thought about something else maybe she managed to trip less often. Maybe the girl just expected herself to trip and that was why she tripped.... maybe she just needed confidence.

[Regina Curry]

"I've started to walk slower and I don't really trip over myself. Although, whenever I start to attempt to speed up I end up tripping over my feet." Regina gave her head a shake. "I mean I can try and focus harder on what my feet are doing, but that might not mean I can focus on what is ahead of me. But I am going to try and do my best on whatever I'm doing. I just hope that I don't end up with any broken bones."

Regina had noticed that eariler Alice's eyes flickered over to Frank. "And don't worry about your focus, I'm sure that it will be better than you think."

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene arrived at the Slug Club party unusually late, for her. Being an orderly, practical person, she was usually early for most events. But she'd had an unfortunate run-in with Peeves the Poltergeist, who had poured something dark, sticky, and foul-smelling (she suspected it was stinksap) on her, ruining her hair and her dress. She'd had no choice but to go back to the dormitory to wash her hair and change her clothes.

So when she arrived, there was already a gathering of students waiting outside Professor Slughorn's office. She saw that Frank was with the Gryffindors and Alice was with the Ravenclaws, interestingly enough. She sighed to herself. So it was still going on. Which friend should she stand with?

[Sirius Black]

Sirius wasn't particularly excited by his invitation to the Slug Club. He was terrible in potions, so he could only assume that the reason he was being invited was simply because he was a Black. James, Peter, and Remus had not received invitations, so he was expecting a fairly dull evening.

As he approached Slughorn's office, he spotted Alice and immediately made his way over to her. At least he'd have someone to talk to. "Hey, Alice," he said.

[Leo Agathon]

Leo had been surprised to receive his invitation to the Slug Club from Professor Slughorn. It sounded very mysterious to him, and he couldn't figure out what it was about. Would they be working with slugs? He decided not to ask anyone about it, however, knowing he'd just end up sounding stupid. So he just got ready to go to the meeting, hoping he'd see Rori there.

As he got to the meeting, he saw that Rori was there, talking to Regina Curry and Alice Prewett. He smiled and approached her. "Hey, Rori. I see you got invited to this thing too."