#whoisleftslug

[ava-avery]

a saving grace I Sebastian & Ava

Ava had always prided herself on being good at keeping conversations, but some people were impossible to talk to. One guy, who she felt she should have been able to name, seemed to have latched onto her, talking eagerly about Quidditch. While Ava enjoyed the sport well enough, having been to watch a few professional games just because, her interest and knowledge only went that far and changing the conversation felt like throwing a paper plane into the wind; it kept coming back. The fact that her part of the conversation mostly stuck to ‘uhu’s and dry ‘really’s didn’t deter him, neither did the fact that she kept walking while looking around the room for anyone to either make a bee-line for or to introduce him to. 

She caught a glimpse of Sebastian and steered towards him. Like with many other of her sort-of neglected friendships, it had been too long since she last saw him- even despite living somewhat close. Upon arrival she feigned surprise at running into him, interrupting the clinger half a step behind her by calling out. “Sebastian, there you are- I’ve been looking for you all night,” she said with a smile telling him to play with. She turned to the Quidditch fanatic, quickly glancing through the room and pointing in a random direction. “I really have to talk to my friend here about something important, but if you go over there you should find one of the school team members- I know for a fact that they have a lot of opinions about the championship of ‘74.” She promptly turned towards Sebastian, waiting a few seconds before asking him in a whisper; “Did he leave?”

@sebastian-whoisleft

[wil-prongs-blog]

avoidance maneuvers || open

It wasn’t like him to purposefully ignore his friends. They’d offered to sneak him into the Slug Club meeting, to whip up Polyjuice Potion, or charm Slughorn, or something equally frowned upon, but James wasn’t in the mood for an event tonight. Even with the letter from his parents, he still felt uneasy about the whole thing. Even having told Sirius, and a few others, he felt this impossible weight on his shoulders. His father was improving, yes, but at a much slower rate than the medi-wizard liked, and his weekly letters from his mother, updating him on Fleamont’s condition, while still hopeful, contained an air of resignation in the pages. Short of traveling home himself, there was nothing he could do, and all it did was leave him feeling drained. 

Carrying this around made him want to hide away, avoid his friends and people he got on with, people who’d pick up on his mannerisms and foul mood, even if they didn’t know the source of it. So that left him strolling around the caste, dusk settling in, visible through the windows he walked past. He had the Map tucked securely in his robes if he found himself out past curfew, but with the Slug Club tonight, he doubted he’d run into much trouble. 

Upon turning a corner, however, he nearly did run into someone, quite literally, pulling up at the last second and shooting his hand out to steady both him and the stranger. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he murmured. “My fault on that one.” He tacked on, content to let them carry on with their day.

[remus-whoisleft]

first time slug | slug club | open

Remus was no stranger to feeling like a fish out of water.  He was taller than most of his peers, stick thin, had a few scars on his face - and, of course, there was the whole thing about keeping a life-threatening secret from most everyone around him that did the job of keeping him feeling out of place in crowds.  So when Lily Evans had invited him as her plus one to Slughorn’s little party club he knew what he was getting into, as he’d never been to one before (why would he, when he was a well-meaning nightmare at Potions and hadn’t had an impressive enough family member to catch Slughorn’s attention in literal generations?), but he was a good friend, damn it, and besides, Lily would probably keep him safe from the anxiety of the new crowd.

It wasn’t that bad, anyway, now that he was rather in the thick of it.  He had a (very watered down) drink in his hand, standing off to the side as he curiously watched the older party-goers flitter around, speaking to various students and Slughorn himself.  He was very much a Plus One, it practically radiated off him, so he was spared a good deal of interrogation or attention from the people who didn’t know him.  Still - he’d cleaned up a bit, in his suit that Emma Vanity had surprisingly gifted him over Christmas, and had brushed his hair properly and everything.  

“Oh, Merlin,” he murmured against his cup, catching an eyeful of Slughorn slowly turning away from his current crowd of people he was clinging to, suddenly worried the professor might finally catch proper sight of him and start harassing him, publicly, for all the cauldrons he’d melted to an unfix-able goop in his class.  Remus certainly hadn’t noticed anyone walking up next to him as he watched Slughorn, still muttering: “Just keep turning, Horace, pretend I’m not here.”

[sebastian-whoisleft]

slug club dinner party //

"Listen, here’s my issue––” Sebastian said, casually walking up to another Slug Club dinner party attendee and, unasked, handing them a glass of champagne that he’d taken (along with one for himself) from a passing house elf, holding a tray high above it’s head. “There are, like, ten different conversations going on here about politics and not one single conversation about how they’ve already run out of shrimp puffs even though it’s only been a half hour. That’s got to warrant some level of recognition.” 

As if he was just now properly seeing who he’d walked up to, Sebastian gave them a sunny little smile along with his once-over. “My, my, my. Doesn’t someone look sharp tonight? Aiming to make a good impression on Slughorn? I don’t take lessons from him anymore, but judging by how high-spirited everyone seems tonight, something tells me he has a planned exam coming up.”

[dorcas-whoisleft]

slug club dinner party •

"Have you seen this painting?” Dorcas asked, her eyes caught by the canvas again before she was able to turn away and wave an emphatic hand over her shoulder in its direction, feeling like she was the only one who had taken notice of the strange, somewhat alarming scene that had been hung up on the curtained wall, like some sort of temporary exhibition for the delight of the party. There was...very little to find delightful about it, though. 

“Has anybody? Did anyone look at it before they hung it up? Because nobody is talking about how weird this painting is and I think that’s making me more weirded out than the painting itself which is–– very weird, I mean. Look at it. That’s a weird painting. That someone painted. And then sold. For money. It’s got to be, like...satire, probably, right?”

[savingdavey]

slug club dinner ||

Davey knew he was here for Dorcas. He never would have been on the list for such an event if it wasn’t for her, even if it was hosted by a professor he hadn’t plagued for five years. He may not have actively avoided them like he was Slughorn, but that wasn’t without reason. He’d caused more explosions, done more damage, and been the source of more headaches in these dungeons than anywhere else in the castle. His relationship with the professor only improved with how little he saw of him. It was truly for the best that he kept away from him and in other conversations the entire night, manners aside. He would take this loss.

Having slipped into conversation with a notable Quidditch commentator, he lost track of Dorcas and set off to find her again when the topic switched to if he’d be seen out there. It was for the best to dodge something he didn’t have a full answer to and didn’t especially want to think about. Turning the corner, he walked into a statue with a quick apology before realize it was not a person but an inanimate object that he needed to catch before it shattered.

He managed to right it and looked around his surroundings sheepishly and rubbed at the back of his neck. “What are the odds you’re the only one that saw that?”

[bellatrix-whoisleft]

slug club dinner party ||

Bellatrix didn’t understand why Slughorn bothered with a number of these people. It was why she had spent so long avoiding his invitations, only accepting once her appearance served to benefit her. Half-bloods and mudbloods, alike in their apparent self-worth, walked through this elegant enough affair like they belonged among them. Her classmates and professionals that felt entitled to any such events. They were pawns of an unimportant, aging man whom she held in low esteem largely because of his lack of taste. Being here, however, saved her questions. If she was seen, it added regrettable validity to her future plans, false as they may be. It was an unfortunate enforcement of her image in the eyes of many.

She kept to the sides mostly. Those worth talking to knew who she was through the attendance at her family’s events. She approached the as she saw fit but mostly kept to her place and counted down the minutes until dinner. It was far easier to isolate herself among proper company once the meal began. This networking period undoubtedly marked the low point of the evening.

“I don’t know why he bothers,” Bellatrix commented as she reached for a glass off of one of the elves’ trays. “These people are all using him. He must see how little this is all worth to him in terms of genuine standing. No one is here for him, solely because of them, and if believes otherwise, he is a truly delusional old man. Anyone can stage a dinner party.”

[ava-avery]

Uninvited Guests (Slug Club Dinner) II

While Ava technically wasn’t on the guest list, that did not stop her from checking out the Slug Club party as she had heard that there would be a lot of important people there - surely some of them would be relevant as contacts later on. If anyone asked, she would just claim that Aiden had let her tag along in leu of a date, hoping that her brother had decided to be antisocial for the evening. 

Not that she was all too worried about Slughorn: out of all the teachers at Hogwarts, she felt that he was the one least likely to mind her bending the rules a little. Besides, there was the chance that she could become the Avery heir in the future, and Ava doubted that the old man would turn her away in case she ended up winning the title. Yes, if he spotted her she would likely get a good-humored slap on the wrist and be off on her merry way, all she needed was a bit of charisma. 

“Impressive how many actually showed up,” Ava said to the nearest person as a way of small talk. “Makes you wonder if this club actually has a worth.”