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Chapter Twelve
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Slug Club
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Walking into breakfast that morning Ines spotted that Hagrid had already single-handedly delivered the usual twelve Christmas trees to the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armor and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. Large groups of boys tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Ines went past, which caused blockages in the corridors. People filtered in slowly, but Ines stayed with the girls. All of them would be leaving for the upcoming holiday break. They spoke of their plans for the holidays until they were interrupted by a Slytherin first year boy. "I'm supposed to deliver these to Ines Avery and Lily Evans," he faltered, as his eyes met Ines' and she turned scarlet. He was holding out two scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon.
Perplexed, Ines and Lily took the scroll addressed to each of them and the boy stumbled away from them. "What is it?" Marlene demanded as Ines unrolled hers. "An invitation," she said aloud. "Miss Avery, I would be delighted if you would join me for a celebration tonight before the holidays. Sincerely, Horace Slughorn." Lily smiled brightly, looking down on her invitation. "I've been waiting for this!". Slughorn called the get-togethers "parties" or "suppers," and indeed, but they were essentially social networking events. "But what does he want me for?" asked Ines jokingly, as though he was expecting detention. "Oh that's right," Ines said sarcastically "He loves my father". Lily, who had rolled up her invitation, playfully smacked her with it, "and you're right skilled at potions! He'd be an idiot not to invite you.". Emmeline was very excited for them, as she was any fancy event. "You've got dresses haven't you?" While Lily nodded, Ines shook her head, but before Emmeline could freak she held up her finger "I'll go up to the owlery now and get a letter to Pippy to send mine over."
She took one last bite of her breakfast before she stood and bid the girls goodbye. Walking through the cold weather wasn't something Ines preferred, and she practically ran all the way there. In doing so she wasn't exactly watching where she was going and ran right into someone. She began to profusely apologize until she saw the laughing face in front of her. Sirius' long hair was covering most of his face, but she could recognize his face from anywhere. "Running from a dementor?" he asked, standing up and holding out his hand to help her. She took it gladly, "No, just wanted to get out of the cold". He nodded, and they walked the rest of the way up the stairs. "Slughorn's invited me to his Christmas celebration, I've come to get Pippy to send me a dress.". He nodded, chuckling slightly, "this is another party just for Slughorn's favorites, is it? James got invited as well". They were now in the Owlery, and as Ines walked, searching for her light gray owl she spoke "Lily's not going to be thrilled, at least he won't be asking her to go with him.".
She quickly wrote to Pippy on a spare piece of parchment and sent her owl away. She paused, realizing something, and turned to Sirius who was already gazing at her. "How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?" The words were out her mouth before she could stop them; she heard herself say them as though it were a stranger speaking. He turned his protuberant eyes to her in surprise."Slughorn's party? With you?" "Yeah," said Ines, "We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like.. I mean..." She was keen to make his intentions perfectly clear. " I mean, just as friends, you know. But if you don't want to..." She was already half hoping that he didn't want to. "Oh no, I'd love to go with you," said Sirius, beaming as she had never seen him beam before. " I'll meet you in the common room at eight o'clock then". She walked down the stairs with him and parted in the common room, where they would be meeting hours from then.
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Lilac Sky; s.black (EDITING)
Fanfiction"Some days, I wonder if you miss me. Other days, I wonder why I'm still wondering. It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with such speed. With you, I was like a falling star who had finally...
