ink - sirius black

darker sides and crimson water

November 18, 1976
4:58 pm
Great Hall

The usual enormous tables that hosted the four houses during meals and meetings had been merged and transfigured into one enormous platform with a rich navy blue tablecloth on top stably pinned to the sides. Golden stages of the moon had been embroidered intricately on top of the fabric that glistened in the torchlight and added to the elegance of the setup.

Hordes of students ranging from second to seventh years were all standing on the ground next to the elevated platform with loud chatter that echoed through the high ceilings, waiting for Flitwick to come out and begin the club. Kegeckle had to leave for some unknown reason involving Dumbledore, so the Charms professor had taken over.

James, Sirius, Anneliese, and Marlene were the four people in their year who had joined the club, and they were standing together by the center of the long table conversing.

"I think this damn tablecloth is where the entire quidditch budget goes," James said as he eyed the fabric with hatred. "Hogwarts needs to sort out it's priorities."

"Hopefully it doesn't get destroyed," Marlene replied. "There's no way some of these first years know what the hell they're doing. It's going to get caught on fire."

"Even more the reason that they should just buy us a new quaffle or something," Anneliese agreed with James. "The one that we're using right now is going to crumble into dust at any second."

"I just feel bad for whoever I'm paired against," Sirius said with a smirk. "They're going to get destroyed."

"Flitwick hates me," Anneliese groaned, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. "So I don't know how well this is going to go."

The thing that she didn't share with all of them was what she had been working on for the past two weeks that had finally succeeded the past night.

Her discussion, or argument, depending on who you asked, with Flitwick three days ago had discouraged her slightly from finishing the spell that she had been developing.

In the end, though, Anneliese had decided that he was just being ridiculous and that no harm could really be done as long as the person casting it knew what they were doing and had enough control over the power they were harnessing.

"Nah, he doesn't hate you," Sirius said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "He just is a pretty conflict avoiding dude and I think it took him by surprise."

"No, he definitely hates you," Marlene corrected, and they all turned to her with a sigh. "What? I'm not just going to lie."

Sirius was opening his mouth to reply before Flitwick stepped onto the platform with a loud bang of his wand that gathered all of their attention and made the scattered students turn his way.

"Attention," he said with his wand amplifying his voice. "Thank you. Now, all of you that have joined this club have shown an interest in duelling. We are already lucky that Dumbledore has given us permission to start this club, seeing that it is rather risky. So, to keep it remaining as an extracurricular activity, we must keep it dignified and in control."

"This is starting to sound boring," Marlene grumbled. "What's the fun if we can't actually try?"

"I think it's more for the first years and them than us," James replied in a low tone. "And I saw some of the little idiots try to climb up the quidditch hoops the other day, so that just proves my point."

"Enough chitter chatter, Miss Callaway," Flitwick said, waving his hand in the Gryffindor's general direction. "As I was saying-"

"I wasn't even talking!" Anneliese exclaimed indignantly with her hands out. "Why me?"