PG:R Trivia With A Twist

[ash]

(( It's a bird. It's blue. It's all I could find. Accept it! ))

The entrance to the Ravenclaw tower is located on the fifth floor, with a large spiral staircase leading the way up to the main common room. Although most of the Ravenclaw students would be in their dorms before the party starts, there will always be those who come from elsewhere in the castle, or who leave and return throughout the night –which is why there has even been some care into making the long staircase look quite amazing in its self.

All of the windows on the way up have been blocked out with black drapes, the candles dimmed significantly to just the faintest yellow glow. Instead, the whole passage up the centre of the spiral stairs has been enchanted. To anyone muggle born or reasonably well acquainted with the muggle world, the sight may look familiar. To those who have never seen a muggle lava lamp before, the sight of the bright, glowing, balls of… gloop that shifted shape would look enchantingly new and fascinating. Alike with a lava lamp, the glowing orbs move steadily up and down the narrow stairwell, morphing shape as the go, making the lighting up the stairs inconsistent, but also very alluring.

The higher up the staircase you go, the more you can pick up the faint sounds of music, and as you climb even higher still, the louder and clearer that music becomes, until you reach the top and step around the corner, then through the entrance way, they you’re really hit by the wall of sound.

The sight you are greeted with upon entering the common room is not entirely different to normal, except for the sheer masses of students mingling around, drinks in hand, though not all alcoholic just yet since it’s still early in the night. There are, however, more black and some dark blue drapes hanging from the walls, and from the banisters over the mezzanine. Candles hover around the domed ceiling casting a warm, flickering glow over the room.

There is no way to escape the feeling of knowledge that the tower is most known to possess, not even during a party. The dark woods, the large windows, the many overflowing bookcases… they all breathe knowledge and power into the room, while the students who are drifting in bring excitement, which in turn makes a heady mix.

This is one of the rare nights when the tables aren’t covered in books in the Ravenclaw tower, a instead there are snacks and drinks, thought being the smart bunch that they are, they’re more organized and calm than most of the other houses are sure to be – how could you expect to see a Ravenclaw getting completely wasted and dancing on a table top? You couldn’t. That’s something a… Hufflepuff might do.

Near the fireplace it looks like someone has set up a score board of some sort, so who knows what the night has in store the students in blue.

[ash]

Considering all the times that Ash had walked up and down the spiral staircase to get to his dorm room, this had to be the best walk yet. He didn't know what the blobs of colored stuff were meant to represent, but he did know that they looked pretty awesome.

For most of the climb he didn't even bother to pay attention to the stairs, too absorbed in what he was seeing. It seemed like he wasn't the only one because at least once he almost barreled into someone. It was that girl from the year below him... Tay, wasn't it? Then again, he always seemed to nearly crash into her on his way up or down the stairs... she seemed so...off in her own world... Damn it was cute - she was cute.

Shaking his head firmly to clear those thoughts he'd continued his way up, muttering an apology to her. What he really wanted was to just get up there and see what the rest of his house had done to the common room, and see if this party was going to be as good as some of the parties they'd had before. Well... it couldn't have been worse than the one two years ago... but that was another story entirely!

The wall out sound hit him as he stepped around the corner. He grinned. Loud music. That was always a good start. Now all it needed was - There! Alcohol. Wow it seemed that someone around here actually did know what made up a good party for once. There had been several occasion the previous year when the overly strict 7th year prefects had insisted on only providing pumpkin juice and confiscating all alcohol, keeping the music level low, and only permitting a certain amount of dancers. They were like... serious neo-nazi's or something.

Typical Ash, he headed straight for the drinks table, going for something that wasn't too strong, but would be enough to start him off. It was then that he noticed the score board and the book that rested on the seat next to it. Curiosity got the better of him and he wandered over to look at the cover. The Big Book of Useless Knowledge: Volume 5.

Ash took a long mouthful of his drink before placing it down on the table, sitting and picking up the book. Well... who ever's it was, they obviously had it here for a reason. And judging by the scoreboard that was set up someone wanted to play trivia games tonight.

Browsing quickly through the contents page he located the one he was looking for. Think it. Ask it. Know it. Where these books came up with their titles from he'd never know, but at least it was pretty obvious what was what...

Flipping to the chapter to read through a few, Ash could see that there was a mix of questions types - yes/no, true/false, multiple choice, and the good old 'if you don't know it you're screwed' type. He grinned and looked up to see who was around him. Hmm... well there were a few faces he could see that he was sure would be up for a game, though who it was who had actually been planning to start this whole thing he couldn't tell. But who cared?

His eyes were drawn to the table of drinks again and a slow, smug grin spread across his face, bordering on a smirk. Who said that this game had to be boring ol' trivia? How about... Trivia shots?

"Hey folks!" Ash grinned, waving the book in the air. "Who's up for a game of Trivia Shots? Rules are simple. Two teams. I ask the questions. Your team answers right? The other team take a shot each. Your team answers wrong? Your team all take two shots?"

He leaned over to look at what other drinks there were on the table, eyes settling on a tall red bottle of something. He couldn't read the label on it, but something stirred in his memory telling him that whatever it was, it was strong. "Someone pour that stuff into some shot glasses and let's get this game started. Who's in?"

[Abigail 'Tay' Frazier]

If it took a long time to get Tay up the staircase to her common room on a normal day, that was nothing compared to how long it took her tonight. This time, however, her attention wasn't lost to what was going on outside of the windows, and instead on what she could see up the center of the staircase.

She was completely mesmerized. Every few steps she would falter and grind to a halt, staring into the swirls and motions of the glowing colors before she'd finally snap out of it enough to make it up a few more steps. The whole thing was actually making her eyes go funny and her head feel quite light and fuzzy, but, she eventually made it up the staircase without any mishaps... well... perhaps except the time she'd collided with Ash, but that really hadn't been her fault... had it?

The noise hit her when she finally entered the common room and, for a few seconds, she did nothing but stand and stare, impressed with everything that was around her. She could see a lot of students leaning on the banisters of the mezzanine, glass in hand, look very... elegant and sophisticated, and it made her feel just a little out of place, but then, who on the ground actually looked 'proper' compared to those who were looking down on them?

Shaking her head, Tay headed in the direction of the sofas, not bothering with a drink. She doubted there'd be any soft drinks here and she wasn't overly big on alcohol most of the time. Maybe she would later...

She arrived just in time to hear Ash make an announcement of some game that he wanted to play and, even if the 'shots' part didn't sound too appealing to her, the trivia game part did. Now... where was Millie? They totally needed to play this together! ...And possibly end up getting awfully drunk together too since they were bound to lose against whoever they played against.

[quof1]

Kingsley was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, absent-mindedly tossing his fake bludger into the air. he'd been here for the past five minutes, trying to decide if he wanted to go to that party thing that was tonight or not. It started a little while ago, he could hear it, so he knew sleeping wasn't an option, but he'd managed to busy himself reading muggle astrology charts—he'd formed a recent obsession with them—for quite a while. You could only read so much about how everyone born under cancer would all end up being cheated on by their spouses—no matter how interesting the claim, and its evidence, was—before your head exploded. So now he was left with nothing to do except listen to blaring music and shouting that was going on downstairs.

"Oh what the hell." he muttered, sitting up and stretching, before cautiously making his way down. A few waved in welcome and directed him toward the drinks, but otherwise his arrival went unnoticed. He was okay with that though, parties really weren't his thing, so he figured he'd just hang in the shadows and observe.

He whipped around when someone talked, someone who he immediately recognized as Ashton. he listened to the explanation with raised eyebrows. It sounded, interesting. On the one hand, he wasn't much of a drinker, but he found the idea of testing his knowledge against others intriguing, plus since he didn't want to drink he would be extra motivated to get the questions right.

"I'll join," he said loudly over the music, coming over to where Ashton was. He gave Ashton a weird, almost bracing look. The weren't enemies, but they weren't really friends either, and especially after there little run-in in the common room the other day, he wasn't exactly sure how Ashton would react to him joining the game.

[ash]

As Ash made the announcement about the game his eye caught on the fourth year he'd bumped into on the stairs as she came into the room. He knew she'd heard the idea for the game too, and though it appeared she was looking around for someone, she'd shown some interest in what he'd said.

He waited till she looked back before waving her over. "Come on and join in!" He didn't really know her, but, he would admit to having just the tinsiest crush on her. Why would he pass up the chance to play a game with her? He spotted her usual friend standing not far away and he was sure that she was the one Tay had been looking for. It was that other drop-dead stunning fourth year who was far to pretty to be real. Millie? "Hey Millie! You're friend's looking for you. Come join in." He caught her attention over the loud noise of the party and signaled her over too before sending a grin to Tay.

A voice spoke up to his right and Ash looked over sharply. Well, well, well... If it wasn't Kingsley Shacklebolt. Ash was surprised the younger boy wanted anything more to do with him after all the pranks he'd played on him the other day. Well... it was clear he wasn't exactly being viewed in the most friendly way, but he tried not to think about it too much, and just nodded to him, pointing to the sofas and drinks in front of him. "Come join in then. Hope you're ready to down some shots."

Well... so far he had 4 fourth year players. Was it right to be encouraging fourth years to drink shots? Probably not. But it didn't seem like anyone else was particularly interested in playing right now... Perhaps it was just too early on in the evening for them. Their loss.

Ash sighted a familiar face and he grinned. "Oi bro! Get your fat arse over here!" Rhoan would play. No doubt about it.

[rho]

Rhoan loved to party as much as the next person. In fact no, more than them. He loved the change to let loose and just have some fun without having to think about stupid school work.

He'd been waiting for this house party all week. Each day that passed he counted down the days left till this night, anticipation growing. As the weekend hit it killed him knowing that the other houses had been partying while he'd been sitting around waiting for one more day... one more day...

Finally, Sunday night was upon them, and it was time to party. Rhoan had started drinking quite early on and he had no intentions of stopping any time soon. He wanted to get absolutely sh*t faced tonight and to not remember a thing. That was, to him, the sign of a great night.

He heard someone shout his name and turned to look only to see his brother waving him over to play some game that involved more alcohol. That was enough incentive for him to play!

Rhoan looked mock insulted at his younger brother's comment about having a fat arse and he looked down and slapped one hand to his own backside. "What fat arse are you speaking of, little brother? Mine is perfectly petite." He words were already starting to sound a little slurred with alcohol consumption, but he was still determined to play purely for the shots.

He was the Shacklebolt kid and flung an arm around his shoulder. "I'll be on your team, eh?"

With a grin, Rhoan flopped down on the closest seat and took another swig from the cup he already held in his hand before looking around at the players. What were they, fourth years? "You running a cresh now?" He asked Ash. Usually he wouldn't say things like that, but alcohol spoke for him tonight.

[Millie Croft]

Millie was finding herself to be slightly bored. Somewhere along the way tonight she'd lost track of Tay, which was stupid because the party wasn't even that crazy, but she stayed on the side lines hoping to spot her friend in the crowd, if not she'd likely retire back to her room, she enjoyed parties but for some reason just never found she enjoyed her own house parties.

Hearing the announcement of a game, a trivia one at that she found her interest captured and turned just in time to see a boy called Ash look at her, then he called that a friend was looking for her. With a smile, she looked around but still couldn't see Tay and decided she'd have better luck at finding her by joining in the game as she knew Tay wouldn't be able to resist.

As she neared the steadily growing group a smile broke out over her face and she reached out her hand. "Tay, there you are..." she said happily, linking her arm through her friends and shooting her a smile. "The game sounds...interesting right?"

[ash]

Ash saw the dark haired girl head toward the game and grinned. One more player for the mix. And he'd been right, it was Tay's friend. They'd obviously both been looking for one another from the way they reacted to seeing each other again. "There's my good deed for the evening out of the way." He laughed. "Now sit and play girlies! It's game time."

Ash shouted Rhoan over and snickered at his comment? "You call that thing petite? Mate I could see that thing sticking out of the crowd from all the way over here." His brother was a skinny runt but they always joked about stuff like that.

It was obvious that Rho had already been drinking, quite a lot it seemed. Ash had come to noticed the signs of a drunk brother a long time ago. But, while some of his comments were inappropriate when drunk, there was no doubt he made for one hell of a laugh. That inappropriate thing? No sooner had Ash thought it than Rhoan proved him right.

"Ha ha. Funny. Keep making stupid comments like that and we'll have no bloody players." His voice held a sarcastic edge to it, but he knew that Rhoan knew him well enough to listen and shut up anyway.

"So... Who's ready to play Trivial Shots?"

[quof1]

Kingsley tried to relax a little as he took his seat. This was fun, right? The chaos, the noise, the craziness, it was all part of the experience. Though he still did his best to block it all out before it drove him crazy.

He only stiffened a little bit when someone threw their arm over his shoulder. It was the other Leary brother, Rhoan, or something. He relaxed a second later and pressed his lips together in a sort of smile. "Course," He said. This would probably be a good thing as he was two years older, and a Leary, so he'd probably make a great team mate. Except he probably wanted to get drunk, which would pose some sort of conflict. But that was fine, it should all turn out good in the end he figured as he tried not to over think it.

He looked up as two of his fellow fourth years approached, Abigail and Millie, both of whom were rather pretty. He gave them a ghost of a smile before averting his gaze. Usually he got along okay with people of the female gender, but there was something about having the two older students there that made him feel self conscious.

He raised his eyebrows at Rhoan's comment, but made none of his own. It hadn't really bothered him, and he decided it would be best not to say anything that might alienate his future team mate, especially if he actually wanted to do well in this game.

"It's all good, Its all good," he said in response to Ashton said about Rhoan's comment. He certainly had allowed himself to relax, leaning back against the chair with his hands clasped behind his head as gazed nonchalantly at the other members in the group.

"yeah, hurry and get started already," He said to Ashton.[

[Abigail 'Tay' Frazier]

Tay happily headed for the game, though she did wonder who it was that Ash was shouting to. She didn't have to wonder long before Millie came into sight and a grin split across her face. Tay linked through Millie's arm and laughed. "And here I am." She tugged Millie towards the seats and sat down at the comment Ash made about having done his good deed. She looked back to Millie. "Sounds like I could end up drunk quite fast, which... I don't usually drink but... why not? It's only once, right?"

Kingsley, another 4th year, joined in the game too and Tay grinned. She knew that he was smarter than he looked so if they were playing against him? Yeah, she was going to end up really drunk by the end.

Not many people seemed to be interested in playing, so Tay wasn't completely surprised when Ash called his brother Rhoan over to play. Where there was one there was usually the other one too. Though... Rhoan seems a little intoxicated already.

Tay had once been pranked by the other of the two brothers and, due to her own clumsiness, it hadn't ended well. Two days in the hospital wing... Not so much fun.

Instead of listening to the comments that went back an forth between the three boys, Tay turned her attention back to Millie and grinned. "So what have I missed so far?" There was bound to have been something fun that had happened - something gossip worthy or scandalous. This was a party, there always was.

"So... Who's ready to play Trivial Shots?"

Tay looked back up and a nervous look briefly crossed her face. She'd never tried shots properly before, and in a game like this? Her and Millie against a 6th year and Kingsley? Oh dear...

"Ready as I'll ever be..."