A/N: So, yeah, wow, only seventeen chapters to go, woo boy. Thanks to Ley, who pointed out the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw- Elanore thing in Chapter 16, who has already been repaid for her kindness with, instead of a fic, a latte from Starbucks. But that's only because I know her personally, soooo…
Um, to the kind reviewers who aren't DivingSiren, Thank you much. But, er, don't take Giddy Brew as though it's a professional work. This is merely a randomly fun thing, in which I can't guarantee a plot or even anything more than amusing dialogue. I don't edit, I don't have a beta, and honestly, this is not one of the works I've put a lot of work into. Time, yes, but honest hard work? No. If you want to critique me next to the professionals, go read something from fictionpress, my lj, or even a real Harry Potter ficlet, not this. This is just…what it is.
In other words, although I'm in no way offended, I feel bad you had to waste your time trying to critique something that I already know bites from a writing perspective. It's my baby, I know it's every flaw, trust me. If you want a plot and background and character development all in one, and not mainly the latter, go read Déjà vu in Technicolor or something.
- I hope that didn't sound harsh, because I honestly am grateful. And I LOVE everybody's pictures on Gaia Online…I just wish the people would read the story, so that the gorgeous pic of Sere and Prue featured them not as a beater and seeker respectively, but their actual positions, and so on.
Think we've been to enough parties this year?" Prue commented wryly, observing the massive amount of clothes that weren't hers piled atop her bed. Elanore and Serendipity were frantically sorting through a variety of dresses, skirts, glittering hot pants, sequined tops, and fluffy sweaters, and each discarded item was strewn unceremoniously across the floor. Both the redhead and the dark haired girl were in certain states of undress, Elanore in a pink camisole set and Serendipity in a pair of blue panties, a towel clutched to her chest.
On the bed across from hers, Antoinetta was deeply involved in a trashy romance novel, only occasionally flicking her eyes up towards the situation in front of her. She already had her hair arranged in perfect, glossy curls and wore a spectacular white dress with a feather pattern etched over satin and a diving neckline. Glancing at her, Prue only got the enigmatic response, "It's setting," and a brief gesture to Antoinetta's hair.
Disdainfully glaring at the other girl, Serendipity exclaimed, "Prue, help!"
Amused, Prue sat on the edge of Antoinetta's bed, kicking the brunette's legs out of the way and briefly wondering where Seprie was. She chose her words carefully, trying not to break them up with giggles, "I'm assuming you can't figure out what to wear?"
"Well, duh," Serendipity cried, almost dropping her towel as a crocheted halter caught itself on her bracelet, a silver affair from Polaris. The boy gave more gifts than Santa.
Decked out in a silver mini dress with a golden moon design and fur lined knee high boots, plus a sparkly headband that nicely held swept back her hair, Prue was essentially ready to go. Casey would be there in minutes, and the only thing troubling her, quite frankly, was that her dress was rather complimentary to Antoinetta's. Yet as funny as it might be, she couldn't leave her friends half naked in the dorm room, with only Miss Feehan as company. So, pushing back imaginary sleeves, Prue dove into the pile, coming back up with three different garments. Thoughtfully, she held them up in the air. Although she was rather adept at dressing herself, apparently she was going to be no help to the others, because the outfits she'd chosen were god awful.
"Please put those down," Elanore ordered, "Geez, we were better off on our own."
Obediently, Prue threw down the ruffled yellow taffeta mini and zebra striped set she'd picked up back on the bed. Still feeling guilty at her own complete outfit, Prue had a new idea. Stealthily, or not, she crept over to Antoinetta's bed and yanked the smaller girl up. Mustering up all her courage, she prepared to ask the devil, "Help?"
Eyes wide, Antoinetta demanded, "What?"
"I said help. I'm not the resident fashionista, you are. Anyways, you shouldn't waste your time reading that crap- she ends up with Henry," Prue winked.
Scandalized, Antoinetta threw down the paper back, "What? Henry? I was rooting for Torrence!"
"I know, so disappointing, isn't it."
Elanore and Serendipity glared at their friend while she went over the pros and cons of the book in question while they stood, totally in despair, waiting to be clothed. Usually, it wouldn't have been such a big problem finding garments for the ball. After all, they were 'hot young vixens' (Sylvester's term, not theirs), and everything they wore basically complimented their body. It was all a matter of color coordinating with their skin tones, right? But now they had Polaris and Joshua to show off for, the former of whom Serendipity definitely wanted to show off for, the latter of whom Elanore desperately wanted to impress.
Sighing, finally, Antoinetta plucked the two most scandalous outfits off the pile on the floor, and handed a red shirt dress with a high hem and a lower back and neckline, as well as some well placed black lace and secure leather ties to Elanore and ordered, "Put this on."
"But its so…skimpy," Elanore wrinkled her nose, snatching the dress from Antoinetta's fingers.
"There's matching strappy sandals over there," Antoinetta gestured near the corner, where the discarded discards had been tossed, "I know there's snow outside, but who wants to go anywhere but the bedroom this New Year's?"
Prue groaned, "With Casey? I'll take the snow."
"He's a little lacking in the pants department then?" Antoinetta inquired.
"Oh no, he's all gung-ho there," she frowned, finding the whole idea of sex rather distasteful. Of course this was the girl who had only recently received her first kiss. Also, she hadn't a clue as to why she was telling this to Antoinetta, demon incarnate.
"Can't be helped if you're not ready," the brunette chirped in reply, giving Serendipity her booty, a purple silk wrap top and extremely naughty dark gray lace mini skirt. Totally see through.
"Antoinetta, this is too-" Serendipity exclaimed, but was silenced when Antoinetta pulled up a pair of purpled and dark blue tights and stuffed them in her face.
Recoiling, the redhead pointed out, "This skirt is see through."
"New Year's is a time to be sexy," Antoinetta announced, "That is sexy."
"Ah, just behave and put the damned outfit on," Prue commanded, "The boys will be here in three minutes."
"Weird number," Elanore commented, "Three minutes. Why not just say 'a couple of minutes'?"
"Shut up and get dressed," Antoinetta snapped, "We'll discuss Gelliston's idiocy later."
"Hey!"
"Is for horses," she replied sweetly in return, ignoring Prue's indignant look.
"Yeah, now," Prue ordered, annoyed that she'd been shot down, again.
Antoinetta managed to find a pair of lace up black stiletto boots for Serendipity and some funky, chunky black-rainbow jewelry for Elanore within the next couple of minutes, "I'm so taleneted."
"At dressing like a whore," Elanore put in, shrugging the shirt dress down her hips, then realizing it wouldn't go much further, "Antoinetta!"
"Elanore," she replied snidely.
"Prue!" Elanore whined.
"What?" The blonde looked up, absorbed in Antoinetta's romance novel, "I wonder if she really does end up with Henry."
"Prue! I thought you read it!" Antoinetta screeched, swooping down on the short haired girl, who was rather comfortable on her bed, now that all the clothes had been shoved off.
Shrugging, Prue replied, "I read the summary."
Elanore decided to pull her hair back, while Serendipity opted to leave it down. Seconds later, there was a knock at the door, and Prue bounced over to open it.
"Stay here," Antoinetta told Serendipity and Elanore, and followed Prue to the door.
"Prue!" Casey's gleeful voice greeted in a tone the girls imagined a talking puppy might have, cheerfully obnoxious.
"Casey!" Prue squealed in reply, flying into his open arms.
"Prue!" the boy chirped back, smirking at Antoinetta. They were doing it just to annoy her. So what if she was going stag to the dance? Hmm?
"Gag me," she replied bitterly, and turned to the girls behind her, "Are they always like this?"
"We've created a monster," Serendipity apologized.
Elanore just nodded wearily.
A hesitant voice at the door made Serendipity's ears perk up, "Umm, Gelliston? Is Serendipity in there?"
"No," Prue stomped her foot impetuously and said in an innocent, childlike voice, "No seeing the bride before the wedding."
"I'll kill her," Serendipity growled, heading for the door, cheeks matching her hair.
"I suppose that means Kingston's not available either?" Joshua's voice inquired mildly.
"Yup," Prue giggled, "She's stark naked. Can't come in."
"Kill," Elanore agreed, following Sere.
"Stop with the kid voice," Casey groaned, "It makes me feel like a pedophile. And besides, it ruins the sight of you in that hot dress."
"Only the dress is hot?" Prue asked innocently, still using the squeaky voice.
"No, you in the dress- and-er."
"Thank you much and much," Prue cooed, "Prue thinks Casey looks too too hot too."
Casey obviously wasn't a very innovative thinker when it came to dressing, as he wore simple black slacks and a starched white shirt, long sleeved, untucked, and entirely too long for him, his red hair spike (the orange from the beginning of the year had almost completely faded), black eyeliner smudged beneath his lashes.
"Joshua thinks Hargrove looks like too too much of a giant fairy," Joshua put in, mimicking Prue's childish tone.
Rejoined Casey, "Casey thinks Kenth is a giant arse, and what's with that get up, anyway?" Joshua was decked out in a billowing black robe, beneath which nothing was revealed.
Cooly, he replied, "It's a New Year's secret."
"Prue wants to know!"
"Casey does too! Damn, this way of speaking is addictive."
"Polaris thinks this is too too disturbing," the taller boy interjected, shrugging the neck of his blue sweater back up his shoulder.
"Polaris is mean!" Prue declared.
"Yeah," Casey agreed, then stopped, "Wait. Didn't I tell you to stop with the little girl voice?"
"You probably would be a pedophile if Gelliston weren't around," Polaris observed coolly, "I mean, come on, she actually looks like a kid, don't you think?"
"She sure acts like it," Serendipity pushed her friend aside, falling into Polaris's arms as she tripped over Prue's heel. Elanore did the same for Joshua, only her mock-trip wasn't an accident, and she seemed much more comfortable in Joshua's strong arms than Serendipity did in Polaris's.
"I hate you all," Prue frowned, crossing her arms, then thoughtfully added, "Except Casey. As long as he stays away from kids. Forever."
"Well then," Serendipity raised an eyebrow and lead her boyfriend away from the group, "Time to get going." Obviously, that was another one of those lines of conversation she did not want to follow.
"Don't you want to wait for your friends?" Polaris inquired softly, eyes glittering.
It wasn't that Serendipity wanted to wait for Prue and Elanore and their berky boyfriends, but that she fell so deeply into the abyss of his eyes and was hypnotized, stock-still, until her rowdy friends caught up, and he shrugged, turning away, "That's a yes then. By the way, you look…great."
"Ugh," Serendipity shook herself, trying to figure out how any guy could have that much power over her. Even a cute, witty, charming guy like Polaris. But he thinks I look great, she sighed, watching him wander towards the corridor.
Giggling, Prue and Elanore took her arms, dragging her after the dark haired boy, Joshua and Casey at their heels, "Come on princess. Can't be late for the ball!"
Somehow, Joshua, Dirk, and Jacob had managed to maneuver their party into the dungeon directly below the Great Hall. It was huge, decorated in red, green, gold, and blue streamers (by no means sparsely) that occasionally wrapped people's neck in a choke hold, attempting to strangle them to death and affirm their magical manhood as it were (they were obviously created by Slytherins). Glitter fell from the ceiling, coating the dirt packed floor with silver, reflecting the snow outside, and strange plants dotted the walls, presumably stolen from Herbology, presumably without Professor Singer's permission as well, because they were sure some looked rather poisonous.
"We're not in Kansas anymore," Casey said wondrously, quoting the weird American muggle movie Bobby made him watch when they were ten.
"I'm surprised you could tell through all that eyeliner," Polaris remarked snidely.
Elanore breathed in sharply, asking Joshua, "You did all this?"
"Pansy. A decorating tarty pansy," Casey muttered, and Prue smacked him, "What was that for?"
Irately, she responded, "One of your good friends is questioning his sexuality at this very moment. Lay off with the gay jokes!"
"Who?" Casey asked meekly, only to be hit again.
Glowering, Prue replied, "Frank, you giant, moronic prat."
That was when Prue realized she might have announced her feelings on the subject a little too loudly, because a great surge of students rushed at them, eagerly questioning both on the topic of their conversation.
"Frank Wakefield likes boys? No way!"
"Who does he fancy, who does he fancy?"
"No way the Gryffindor Quidditch captain is a great cock-sucking-"
"Don't you dare finish that thought, Laytner. Damn Slytherins."
"Wait, wait, I thought Wakefield carried a torch for Wingate, right?"
"No, no, that's Dirk Drake, from Slytherin."
"Hate Slytherins. Damn Slytherins."
"Yes, yes, you've said that."
"You do know Slytherins are hosting this party."
"Thank you Mr. I'm-Headboy-and-I-know-everything. Why don't you go jump off the astronomy tower or something?"
"Gavin Laytner, what would your mother think if she heard you saying that? Leave Rama alone!"
"My mum's dead, JJ."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!"
"JJ Hyde, I'm surprised to see you out of your room. I'm not surprised to see your IQ hasn't risen any. And what are you doing with your arms around my boyfriend? Rama!"
"Uh oh, Rama, I think the gig's up. Well, see, Rama and I are thinking of eloping. He's been frequenting my dormitory in the midnight hours, and-"
"Way to go Marcus!"
"Shut up, Jacob, you're not helping matters."
"Hey, weren't we talking about Frank Wakefield?"
Prue and Casey just stared in shock at the large group of seventh years surrounding them. Jacob Dibson, of course, the Slytherin who had helped organize the party, and Gavin Laytner, one of his best friends. Then there was Rama Marcus, the head boy, and Bethany Ewing, his girl friend, both Gryffindors, and Josephine Juliana Hyde, or JJ, was actually a seventh year Ravenclaw, but one that Prue hardly ever saw around.
Casey wasn't as impressed by the situation as she was. Instead, he not so tactfully asked, "JJ, why do your boobs always look so saggy?"
Gasping with indignation, JJ stopped, "My boobs are not saggy. Want to feel?"
"Don't you dare," Prue nudged him with her elbow, glowering.
"I do," Gavin put in, reaching for one of her breasts, which, although not particularly saggy did seem be, well, rather deflated, compared to normal breasts. Not that Prue had much to compare to, but she had seen Serendipity's plenty of times. And it wasn't as though JJ was hiding it; her button down shirt was unbuttoned all the way, only a single lace strap holding the two pieces together, just above her naval.
"No way, Laytner. You're going to have to pay the fee, just like everyone else," JJ crossed her arms, "Hargrove, you're such jackass."
"What'd you do now, squirt?" entered a new voice, which belonged to Cerulean. He had Ghislaine on his arm, sitting quite pretty, as all decent eye candy should, in his opinion.
Prue was rather irritated that he'd gotten over her so quickly.
"Don't call me squirt, you fucker," Casey said casually.
"Casey, what is with your mouth tonight? It's so dirty. I love it," JJ smirked at Prue, who was positively seething, "Why don't you ditch the little girl and come join the big boys club?"
"If you're even suggesting that you're a man, Josephine, I'm out of here," Casey remarked, winking at Prue, "Anyway, I don't go for girl's with weird chests."
"What is Prue then?" Cerulean wondered aloud.
Glaring at him, Prue asked, "Oh yes, what is Prue then?"
Cerulean only managed to gulp, then duck away, pulling Ghislaine through the sea of people flooding into the dungeon.
"My chest isn't weird!" JJ squealed, "It's just, muggle stuff doesn't work around here, and-"
"Muggle stuff? What's that have to do with your chest?" Jacob asked, leering.
Bethany and Prue stiffened, both being muggle born themselves, and then exclaimed in unison, "Oh no, you didn't!" Except they both said the words so fast that it came out oh-noyou-didn't.
"Didn't what?" Casey demanded, but as usual, he was ignored. In a dramatic voice, he proclaimed, "I see how it is. I'm just like a pretty picture, trussed up in the window with no where to go, no one listening to my thoughts or ideas."
"What are you on about?" Jacob wondered loudly, "I thought bloody Ravenclaws were supposed to be bloody intelligent."
"Witty, not intelligent," JJ corrected sweetly.
"Wait, I still want to know what you did with your chest, Josephine," Rama smirked, purposefully brushing back his straight black hair, as though knowing it would make all the girls swoon.
"She has breast implants!" Bethany blurted out, then covered her mouth.
Gasping, JJ said, "I do not!"
"Do too," Prue accused, "Unless you have some kind of weird deflating breast disease!"
"What's a breast implant?" Casey asked, hopelessly lost, like the rest of the boys.
"I dunno, I just know this is the only time we're going to be allowed to focus on a girl's tits without getting hit or hexed," Gavin chuckled, "So I hope they go on like this for awhile."
At the other side of the room, Polaris and Serendipity had met up with Noah (who had a miserable Frank tied to his wrist via a rope and a pointy looking collar. No one wanted to know.) and Orpheus, who had brought Elizabeth Golden to the party, the Quidditch announcer.
"Watson!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "Just to let you know, I think Ravenclaw has a good chance of winning the cup this time around, especially with a great keeper like you on the team."
"Oh, um, thanks Elizabeth," Serendipity smiled weakly, "But I really doubt I make much of a difference. It's Whitney, and all her team work pep talks."
"Vedder? Nonsense, that girl couldn't lead a group of house elves through the Ministry of Magic," the other girl began, as if that made any sense. The Ministry of Magic was a damned confusing place to be. Serendipity had only been once, and she'd gotten so lost it had taken her parents two days to find her again.
"O-kay," Serendipity said slowly.
"Ashley's a whore!" someone called from the other side of the room, where the band was setting up. Tonight they had chosen to use a school formed group, which had nowhere near the popularity of The Black Orbit or Dark Symphony. In fact, most of the wizarding world never had and never would hear of them, but they were a sensation around school for the past couple of weeks, if only because they were the first all female group to play within the walls of the school. They were called Maniac Charm.
Still, the only reason Jacob Dibson, Dirk Drake, and Joshua Kenth hadn't approached Dark Symphony or The Black Orbit about playing was because they hated Hargroves and all Gryffindors, which were the better half of the two groups. Maniac Charm was composed of a Slytherin, a Gryffindor (that had a seventh year brother in Slytherin, which made her an exception), and two Hufflepuffs.
"Who's Ashley?" Noah asked, smiling from ear to ear. He obviously didn't care. Polaris shrugged, "Apparently she's a whore though."
"Right-o," Noah chirped, tugging on Frank's leash, "Come on, pet."
"What in the world was that all about?" Serendipity demanded as the two waltzed away, Frank seeming very reluctant.
"Just…don't bother," Orpheus sighed wearily, shoving his hands in his pockets, "That boy is totally out of control."
"I know, I thought he was in love with Dana," she shook her head, "Guess you can never tell."
"We were talking about Noah, Watson," Polaris said kindly.
"Er- I knew that."
"This girl lies through her teeth. I like that in a woman," Maniac Charm had set up, and the lead singer began a slow ballad as Orpheus continued, "Care to dance, Miss Serendipity?"
Blushing a deep red, Sere looked back and forth, between Orpheus and Polaris, as if in askance from her boyfriend to leave him for her crush. Well, that is what she was asking.
"Go ahead. I want to find Louis Carmichael and settle a financial matter," Polaris grinned dangerously, "But don't you dare feel up my girlfriend, Vaughn."
Returning the expression blandly, Orpheus said, "Wouldn't think of it, Sir Morgan."
The dark haired boy groaned and walked away as Orpheus put his arms around Serendipity's waist. The feel of his hands was different on her back, and she found herself wanting Polaris to return more quickly than she had thought she would. Somehow, she had always figured being ensconced in Orpheus Vaughn's warm embrace would be slightly less…real than this. All her dreams of him featured an unreal situation, like that night with Polaris.
"So, you and Morgan, hmm?" He smelled of sweat from dancing earlier, and she didn't like the glint in his eye.
"Well, yes," Serendipity tried to ignore his complacent smile, "Is there something wrong with that?"
"Oh no, I just never figured he'd go for the domineering type. Or, actually, any girl at all. I always figured Polaris liked boys, I mean, what with that marking he's got on his chest, and all."
"Marking?"
"You haven't seen it? Silly me, I figured he'd shagged you senseless already."
Affronted, Serendipity shoved his arms away, "What do you mean by that?"
"Hey, hey," Orpheus held up his hands, pleading innocence, "I just mean that he's never really gone for a girl before, so I figured he must be getting some advantages. Come on, an…endowed girl like you…"
The way his eyes traveled towards her chest made her heart stop. How could she have ever liked this kind of guy? He was an arse. No, he was bigger than an arse. He was the biggest fucking git she'd ever met. His hand was moving towards her, and it wasn't to touch her face.
"You are a pig!" Serendipity shrieked, wand jumping into her hand before she knew what she was doing. And he was. A tiny, black, white patched piglet, squealing at her feet.
"Hey, what's going on down there?" The music stopped, and the lead singer, Meg, was speaking through the sonorous charm directly at her. Meg's short, tousled hair was composed of amber brown curls held away from her face in miniature pigtails, and her dark blue eyes were hard and narrowed.
"Um, um, um," Serendipity stammered.
"Sere?" Polaris called from the other side of the room, "What happened?" He couldn't reach her through the waves of people who had been dancing around her and Orpheus, and Meg was still looking at her expectantly.
"Well?"
"Um, I sort of, kind of, accidentally um, turned Orpheus Vaughn into a piglet," she frowned, "Which, now that I'm thinking of it, is the kind of transfiguration spell I'm going to need for my NEWTs next year."
"Don't think of that at a time like this," Meg scowled, jumping from the stage, "It's time to celebrate! God, I wish my sister could see this."
Meg was short for Megaera Grant, and she was Tisiphone Grant's little sister. The latter of whom had yet to be released from the hospital wing.
Blankly, Serendipity asked, "What?"
"Ding dong, the bastard's a pig. And you made him a pig. Ha, divine justice," Meg smiled in a very not nice way. She obviously didn't like Orpheus very much, although Serendipity had no idea why.
"He is not a pig," one of the other group's members, Zoey Masters, protested, "He's a man-whore."
Something in the way she said whore, with a funny gleam in her eyes, made Serendipity think she was the one who had called out 'Ashley's a whore' earlier, and that she just liked saying the word 'whore', which the girl affirmed seconds later with a sing-song, "Whore, whore, whore."
These chicks were insane.
The last two members of the group, Laurel and Nancy, just stood silent on the stage, appraising the situation. Finally, Nancy, a soft-spoken girl with light brown hair that curled gently around her heart shaped face asked quietly, "Meg, I know you're all about the jubilation right now, but we have a set to finish. We're being paid good money here."
"I can afford to lose it," Meg replied dismissively, a manic expression on her face. She looked as though she wanted to eat up little piggy Orpheus for dinner.
"I can't," Zoey said thoughtfully, pulling a tiny star clip out of her hair. She had at least twenty adorning her recently dyed, shiny, straight blue tresses, and each of them was solid fairy gold, "These clips cost a fortune."
"I told you that you should have let me charm light in instead," Laurel said wearily, indicated her own waist length long honey colored braid, decked out in tiny glowing lights.
"But that's only going to last a day," Zoey argued.
Meanwhile, piggy Orpheus had squirmed away from Meg's anxious grasp and run through the crowd, jumping right into Polaris's arms. The dark eyed boy just looked from his animalized friend to his girlfriend expectantly, hoping someone would explain why exactly this had happened.
Elizabeth Golden and Noah were at his side, Frank there by default because he couldn't figure out how to get out of the leash. It was as though Noah had attached a permanent sticking charm to his neck or something, but at least it wasn't suffocating him, just embarrassing.
"Aw, doesn't Orphy make a cute piggy?" Noah exclaimed, embracing his two friends tightly. Polaris made an expression of extreme disgust while Orpheus piggy struggled to jump out of his arms.
"Sere looks pissed," Frank observed, trying to loosen the handle of the leash from Noah's hand, "Why don't you go talk to her?" he suggested meekly. Serendipity was already making her way over, having escaped from Meg Grant's grasp.
"Polaris," she cried, throwing herself into the tall boy's arms, causing him to drop piggy Orpheus right on his head, evoking an indignant squeal on the singer turned mammal's part.
"Hey, Watson, what the hell is going on?" He asked fondly, stroking her hair.
"Your friend," she glared murderously at the pig, "Is a jerk."
"Not really," Noah put in indifferently, "Orphy is fun! But I think Meggy wants to make Orphy into beef jerky. Or pork jerky, as it was. Yummy, did you know Tyler Korring let me have some of that muggle stuff and- mph!" Frank had wound a hand over his semi-boyfriend's mouth, whispering, "Shut it," in his ear.
"Kinky," Elizabeth commented, listening interestedly to the conversation. If nothing else useful came of it, she would at least have the details to deliver to Reese O'Malley and Tea-Aquila Zoquin first thing in the morning.
Loud, gossipy girls have to stick together.
"What did he do?" Polaris inquired icily, as though he'd expected as much.
"He told me you were only dating me because of the sex," she sniffed, "Even though we haven't, and you wouldn't, and he told me you liked guys anyway, and that's why he thought we were having sex, and he tried to touch me!"
Elizabeth wore a sardonic smirk, "Well then, glad to see we've progressed beyond second year."
Reese and Tea-Aquila would love it.
Demanded Polaris, "He…what?"
Noah seized the moment, "Polaris, baby, I knew you loved me!" The brown haired boy yanked at Polaris's off the shoulder sweater, ripping the seam and pulling it down past his naval. And there, right below his left pectoral muscle, for everyone to see, was the marking Orpheus had been talking about.
"Hey!" Frank scowled, "You said I was the only one."
"Oops!" Noah blushed, "I'd forgotten about that. Sorry, I lied."
The marking was actually a phrase, written in blue ink and dotted with a stenciled heart reading 'Property of Noah'.
"P-polaris?" Serendipity questioned, trying not to laugh. This hadn't been what she was expecting at all. She was thinking he had a weird, permanent hickey from his last boyfriend or something, something, anything but this.
Immediately, he crossed his arms, covering the offending tattoo, while Frank pulled at his collar to show Elizabeth Golden a very similar one right across his collar bone, this one accentuated with the hickey type mark Serendipity had been expecting, "Ooh, leopard spots!"
Frank reddened, and covered the spot, "Noah, I thought you said that would fade."
"I must have used too much tongue…or teeth…or suction," he pondered, "I'm better than I thought I was."
"Noah Weslen, you're shameless," Elizabeth squealed, enjoying herself way too much, and Serendipity had to agree, it was kind of funny. By now, Laurel and Nancy had managed to con Meg and Zoey back onto stage, where they were playing a song that had a lot of 'yeah yeah yeah's in it, but a small crowd had gathered around them anyway. Prue, Casey, Jacob Dibson, Elanore, Joshua, Gavin Laytner, JJ Hyde, Dana, Perseus Elroy, Dirk, Quant, and Fortune were only a few of the faces Sere saw in the crowd.
"Look, Watson, let me explain," Polaris stuttered, mistaking her amusement for anger, "We were so smashed."
"So drunk," Noah agreed.
Orpheus pig made an annoyed sound.
"Noah's a little open with his magic markers," Polaris continued fearfully.
"Magic marker, magic marker," Noah corrected fretfully, "I only have one. His name is Jean Pierre, and he is such a pretty blue, see Serendipity?" Noah pulled at Polaris's arms, trying to make him show off the colors, but he wouldn't budge. Finally, he pulled Frank over and stripped him of his shirt, baring his collar bone, "See, see?"
"Um, very pretty Noah."
"Flamer," Casey and Dirk called from the crowd.
"Orpheus has one on his thigh," Cerulean Hargrove said, appearing next to his brother, who turned to look at him very strangely.
"How do you know?" Prue asked incredulously.
"Polaris, I'm not mad at you. It's kind of funny," Serendipity laughed, "I just want to know why Orpheus was trying to piss me off."
"Yeah man, you did try to grab her tits," Cerulean told the little piggy, scooping him up from the ground and cradling him in his arms. Orpheus stopped squirming, "Way harsh."
"I suspect he's pissed off at me," Polaris paused, glancing at the stage, where Maniac Charm was playing for the few people still dancing and mingling as though it really were New Years. There were only a few minutes left till the clock struck twelve and all of Britain, muggle and wizards alike, began their celebration.
Disdainfully, Serendipity wondered, "Why would he be ticked off?"
Noah frowned, turning away and pulling the now half-naked Frank into the crowd with him, and piggy Orpheus made a tiny squeal of discontent in Cerulean's arms.
After a considerable silence, Polaris said heavily, "I'm quitting Dark Symphony."
R R please. Chibi-Casey would like to thank you and offer a lollipop to anyone who actually does.