From Quills to Cabbage (Openish)

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Kingsley did a head desk. It was the only way.

He had been in the library for an hour attempting to work on trasfiguration spells from his Advanced Trasnfiguration text. His chosen spell involved changing one of his oldest quills into a fresh head of cabbage. Though transfiguration usually came easily to Kingsley, he could not for the life of him make this stupid cabbage appear. So far he had successfully made the quill into a cake, a crab, and a crayon.

But no cabbage. Which is why Kingsley had resorted to the head desk.

Sitting up and rubbing his now slightly bruised forehead, Kingsley picked up his good quill and started absent mindedly doodling on the corner page of his text. He was quite content to have his thoughts wander, except that approaching footsteps foretold of an interruption.

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene, meanwhile, was having issues with a certain potions paper that she had uncharacteristically left until the last minute. Really, it wasn't fair that they should have regular classes when she was trying to study for the NEWTs. Marlene was positively terrified of the NEWTs... she'd heard horror stories of how difficult they were. After all, they didn't call them Nastily Exhausting for nothing.

But for now, it was time to start working on that stupid potions essay. The library was more crowded than usual, and Marlene had a hard time finding an empty table. She just kept wandering, and was almost ready to give up when she saw a familiar face. Kingsley.

A small smile crept up on her face, and she made her way over to his table, which, happily, was empty except for him and a few Hufflepuffs at the other end.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked, noticing that he didn't seem to be working all that hard at the moment.

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Kingsley couldn't help but smile when he saw Marlene. She was his friend, after all, and what good are friends if you can't use them as a procrastination tool? They could easily waste hours together doing nothing productive, but after struggling to make that bloody cabbage appear Kingsely was willing and ready to spend some quality goof-off time with Marlene.

Even though there were plenty of seats she could have chosen to sit in, Kingsley promptly kicked his schoolbag off the chair right next to him. He patted the chair seat, his half-cocked smile gleaming.

"Not any more. Have a seat. What brings you to the magnificent library today?"

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene broke into a wide smile, glad to see him. She'd been spending far too much time with her nose to the proverbial grindstone that she really hadn't had time to come up for air, much less spend time with her friends. Of course, she really couldn't afford to spend too much time procrastinating. That wretched potions essay was due in two days. Of course, essays were one of her strong points, and all she had to do was a little bit of research...

Setting down her books on the table, she slipped into the seat next to him. "Potions essay," she replied, rolling her eyes. "I've been so busy studying for the NEWTs that I kind of forgot about it. I swear, when these stupid NEWTs are over with, I think we should throw a big party."

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

"Don't even remind me about that blasted potions essay," Kingsley huffed, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair. "I haven't even started on it yet. I thought I should practise getting this Transfiguration bit down first, though I can't really see why I would need a cabbage. I mean... I'm going to be firghting dark wizards, not malnutrition."

He crumbled up a bit of parchment and flicked it at Marlene, his deep chuckle vibrating in his chest as it bounced off of her. "And I would love nothing more than to throw a huge party, with fountains of Butterbeer. Where would we throw this gathering? The Three Broomsticks, maybe?"

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene used her wand to swat the piece of parchment away, and fell onto the carpet without a sound. She'd have to remember to pick it up later, but right now, she didn't feel like being responsible, predictable, goody-goody Marlene. Kingsley brought out the recklessness in her, and maybe it was about time. She'd be graduating soon and joining the Ministry... Maybe now was really the time to have fun and be irresponsible.

"I think you're missing the point, Kings," she said thoughtfully, picking up the quill he was trying to transfigure and twirling it around in her fingers. "Almost anything can be used as a weapon, if you do it right. But a quill's pretty useless. So you turn it into a cabbage, and then you throw it at the dark wizards to distract them."

OK, so it was a stretch. But it was sort of a funny image, throwing a cabbage at a dark wizard, who would no doubt think them insane. "Anyway, yeah... The Three Broomsticks sounds perfect! Or we could just have it in the Room of Requirement... if we dare have a wild party on school grounds..."

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Kingsley quickly turned his deep booming laugh into a coughing fit, lest Madame Pince come by to shush him. The visual of himself and Marlene hurling heads of cabbage at dark wizards was far more entertaining than actually transfiguring said cabbage.

"Or we could just have it in the Room of Requirement... if we dare have a wild party on school grounds..."

Kingsley's right eyebrow rose impossibly high on his forehead. The idea of sweet, responsible, ever the wise one Marlene planning a party that would be against the rules was something Kingsley simply could not accept. He had been known to stray from the beaten path occassionally, but if Marlene were ever to act against authority it was Kingsley that typically planted the seeds of rebellion.

"I'm sorry, did my ears just hear correctly? Are you actually proposing that we break some rules and get a little crazy?" He leaned closer to Marlene, giving her a bright smile. "Cause I've got to say Marley, I'm liking it."

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene blushed lightly. Yes, Kingsley was right... even suggesting such a thing was unusual for her, to say the least. She was always the one who tried to keep him in check. Even Frank and Alice had their occasional moments of recklessness, but Marlene always pulled them back. They all would have gotten in a lot more trouble if it hadn't been for her.

"Well, you know, we're graduating soon, and we'll be joining the real world, so to speak. Maybe it's time I lived a little, right? Just relax and do something crazy. Maybe I'm just finally embracing my Gryffindorness." She laughed lightly, then put her hand over her mouth as she caught the librarian giving her a warning look.

"Or maybe all this studying has finally fried my brain," she added, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, the guy who invented the NEWTs should be hexed."

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

"I think he was actually. Twice."

Kingsley took a piece of parchment and folded it into a butterfly like his mum had taught him to when he was little. He poked it with his wand, muttering a small enchantment. Little golden flecks splashed onto the paper butterfly, and slowly it started to flap it's wings. Kingsley directed it into the air, making it do loops and circles around Marlene's head.

"I like procrastinating, so let's plan this party. Who's all got an invite? Us of course, since we're amazing, and Frank and Alice and Hestia. All the other seventh years as well? Ugh, even Slytherins?"

The thought of having to associate with Slytherins outside of the class environment made Kingsley a bit uncertain. Since the enchanted butterfly was directly linked to his thoughts, he lost control of it for a moment and it dive bombed into Marlene's head. "Sorry, sorry!"

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene watched the butterfly flapping around her head for a moment, a playful smile on her face. Kingsley was known for doing things like this; creating little distractions and amusements just because he could.

Finally she stopped watching it, and, displaying her strong ability to focus on the task at hand, took out a piece of parchment and a quill. "The five of us, certainly," she began, writing their names down as she spoke. "Jeremy and Nolan and Julia... Rose and Connor and Gwen..."

Before she could list another name, however, the butterfly crashed into her head, and she burst out laughing. Quickly she covered her mouth, trying to hide the bubble of laughter that had escaped her mouth. "It's OK," she said, whispering. "But let's try not to get thrown out of the library!"

She quickly went back to her writing, trying to make it look like she was hard at work, so the librarian wouldn't kick them out. "Basically, we should invite most of the seventh years. There are even a few Slytherins that aren't that bad, actually. Cameron Wilder's really pretty nice. But that girl he's dating... Brenda something... She is not invited. If they're even still dating."

She made a face at the mention of Brenda Blair. That girl had such a bad reputation that she would probably turn their party into something unmentionable.

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Kingsley tried to hide his laughter by putting his head down in his book. He thought it worked, because when he looked up the only people looking at them were the Hufflepuffs at the other end of the table. He gave a cheerful smile and wave. That earned a small chortle from the Hufflepuffs and they went back to their studies.

Kingsley looked down at this book and remembered the load of homework AND studying he had to do. Butterflies could only distract him so long. But Marlene had started talking about party invites now and this livened him up immediately. They were actually going to do it!

Kingsley picked up his own quill, mimicking Marlene's concentrated stare, appearing to be hard at work now. The librarian had nearly forgotten them now.

"Do we have to invite Slytherins?" Kingsley looked doubtful at the idea of there being any good ones, but he trusted Marlene. "I'll leave the invitation list to you. I'll plan what we need. Like, food and...drinks." He gave her a smirk at the mention of drinks. Kingsley was talking about Firewhiskey of course and Marlene would know it.

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene had to smile at Kingsley's mischievous smirk. Even careful, prudent Marlene had to admit that firewhiskey was a definite necessity at an event like this. And why not? The majority of those attending would be seventh years, meaning that most of them were of age. And after enduring the NEWTs, they all deserved to drink a little firewhiskey.

"Yes, you can handle food and drink," she said with a wink. "We should both deal with what we know best, right?"

She tapped her quill on the parchment for a moment, considering the Slytherins. There really were a few that weren't so bad. They were certainly rare, but Marlene didn't think it was completely fair to discriminate against them because they were Slytherins... it didn't seem all that different from what the Death Eaters were doing to muggleborns.

"Maybe just a couple of Slytherins. I don't know. We just don't want the party to get too crazy, right? And what if they find out and decide to crash?"

In moments like this, Marlene's practical nature could actually work against her. She could equally see both sides of it, and it was hard to decide which was the right way to go.