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High Heels and Other Archaic Forms of Torture
Topic Started: Sep 25 2010, 04:31 PM (622 Views)
Roberta Halden
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As he handed her a frosty mug of butterbeer, Robbie took a moment to stare up at her date. She still had no idea why he wanted to bring her to this ball, but bloody hell, if she wasn’t thrilled that he did. He was incredibly handsome, unbelievably sweet and somehow, he seemed to be okay with her odd behaviour.

“Figured you wouldn’t want a Nancy drink like pumpkin juice,” He said with a smirk that sent a shiver through her.

“You figured right.” She said with a grin. In fact, it had nothing to do with it being a nancy drink. Robbie just couldn’t stand pumpkin juice. Never could. Although she’d never tried it with a splash of whatever type of alcohol Daegan was now lacing his with.

“I’m not much for that silly little girl stuff either,” he told Robbie as he recorked his flask and stuffed it back into his pocket. “And I’ve got to be mighty banjaxed to get out on the dance floor.”

Dance floor? Robbie’s eyes widened in panic. Dancing? He wanted to dance? Oh Merlin’s pants, this was going to be a disaster. Robbie had no idea how to dance. Slow, fast or any other way. She’d just never gone to these types of things - at least not voluntarily - before so there was no sense in learning.

Even as a youngster, when she had to attend the stupid pureblood society functions that her father had insisted upon. Sammy was the sibling who enjoyed to frivolity of the balls while Robbie had always managed to hide in various locations with several of her (mostly male) mates and they’d all avoid the idiocy of social protocols that were inevitably forced upon them. She spent many a ball hiding under the long tablecloths of the refreshment tables playing gobstones and jacks with a host of other kids trying to avoid their parents. And it had worked out well for her, until now.

Now she was going to have to dance. With Daegan. In public.

She was going to embarrass herself and him and likely all of Hogwarts all in one fell swoop.

Robbie reached for Daegan’s pumpkin juice and drained the strong drink in one gulp. She looked up at him apologetically. “I’m.... uh... not much of a dancer.” She admitted with her cheeks turned a deep cherry red.

“Oi, Halden!” A familiar voice tore her from her embarrassment. She turned to see Andrew Kerr coming towards her. He was a member of the Gryffindor quidditch team and a good friend of hers. Her face lit up in gratitude as she waved at him. His face was flushed and his hair was windblown and dishevelled but his eyes were alight with excitement.

“Kerr,” She nodded with a grin.

“Looking good, Halden. Who knew you could clean up so well?” He teased with a lighthearted grin. Robbie blushed again and contemplated kicking him in the shin. Instead she turned her attention back to Daegan with a warm grin and caught his hand in hers. Letting their fingers tangle together in a way that was beginning to feel a bit more comfortable, but still caused that fluttering sensation in her stomach.

“Andrew, this is my date, Daegan. Daegan, Andrew. Kerr, here, is a teammate of mine on the quidditch team.”

The boys nodded in greeting to each other and Robbie flashed another smile at her fellow Gryffindor. “So what mischief are you up to tonight?” She asked.

“The lads and I heard a tale about the Callicott Manor not too far from here. You’ve heard about it, yeah?” Andrew asked and looked genuinely surprised with Robbie shook her head. “It’s a bloody fantastic spooky tale. The Callicott family built the house at the turn of the century. They were unbelievably rich and old man Callicott was completely devoted to his wife and their young children, but he was a bit of a wingnut. Apparently he loved collecting muggle inventions and had quite the collection. Had a whole wing of the mansion devoted to them.”

Andrew paused for a moment to order a butterbeer from the bartender. Robbie took a sip of her own drink and waited for Andrew to continue. She’d always been a sucker for a good ghost story, especially at this time of year.

“Anyway, the old codger found some muggle device that he had to have. He outbid a few people for it and won it. It was an electric kettle.” Kerr shrugged as if this was an absurd item for anyone to have invented. “One of the blokes that he outbid for the item was pissed and placed a curse on it. When Callicott brought it home, the family began to experience tragedies. Mysterious deaths and illnesses plagued the Callicott home until, old man Callicott had lost everyone. He became a recluse and after the final death – that of his beloved wife, he never stepped foot outside of his manor again. They say he went mad with grief and anger.”

“The man committed suicide and no one knew about it for months. They say because his death was filled with so much hatred and anger that his spirit now haunts the manor. He became a particularly nasty poltergeist, who thrives on causing pain in those who disturb his manor.”

Robbie let out a breath that she hadn’t know she’d been holding.

“Did you go in?” She asked with a hint of awe in her tone.

“Nah, Peterson chickened out so we came back here.” Kerr said with a shrug as he reached for a butterbeer that the bartender set down for him.

Robbie turned to Daegan, her face was lit up in excitement. “We should check it out.” Her lips curling up in an eager grin. Adventure, danger and fun... plus she wouldn’t have to dance. This was clearly a win/win situation. “Unless you’d rather stay here.” She cast a dubious glance at her date. Not sure if this was something he’d be up for. Not everyone was keen on going to find a malevolent poltergeist on Halloween night.
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Daegan Maher
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Her apologetic stare and his scandalized, but amused, gaze met as she tossed back the contents of his spiked juice in one gulp. “I’m… uh…not much of a dancer.”

And the angels sung brilliant song on high. Daegan grinned. “That’s-“

“Oi, Halden!” Spinning around to find the source of the voice, a stocky bloke advanced on them and judging by the state of smile on his face, he was a friend of Robbie’s. Which was good, because the next person to call her a girl was just going to have to fend for themselves. He couldn’t contain her forever. Nor would he want to try with a promise of pure entertainment as she walloped whatever person decided to cross her.

“Kerr.”

And that’s when Daegan stopped listening. He turned back to the bar and signaled the wench for another pumpkin juice. He felt Robbie’s hand in his and gazed down at her happily, trying to disguise his boredom over their new chatty friend.

“Andrew, this is my date, Daegan. Daegan, Andrew. Kerr, here, is a teammate of mind on the Quidditch team.” She sounded so proud when she mentioned that she was a Quidditch player. She must have known how good she was.

Offering a curt nod at Kerr, Daegan soon twisted his body around to grab his drink and flick a few sickles on the bar. Time to uncork the rum again. As Kerr droned on about some silly murder story, Daegan perused the crowd with a careful eye. His brother had mentioned that he’d show up to the ball, and something about being forced to spend time with an annoying little trollop for some dance that Reynolds was planning… but he didn’t spot his prat of a sibling anywhere.

Moment passed and Daegan realized that he hadn’t really listened to a word that had been spoken by the Gryffindors. Hm. His attention had taken a mighty steep turn when that Penelope Myers strutted by in a very revealing little number. Breasts just plopped right to the top for anyone to see. And see, he did.

Thankfully, he’d pulled himself from the mesmerizing allure of the girl’s chest by the time Robbie had looked up to him. Pure elation radiated from the little strumpet and instantly made her the center of his world. So easily. It should have made him aware of the feelings that were growing for her… but he was too silly of a boy to grasp what those knotted feelings in his stomach were.

“We should check it out. Unless you’d rather stay here.” The way she was looking at him… he would have agreed to anything. ‘Course, he hoped he was agreeing to check out some raunchy nude club or something… but regardless, even if it meant he was going to go stare at a crumple-horned whatsit for three hours, he still nodded his head.

“Yeah, sounds brilliant.” Perhaps a bit too enthusiastic for his own good. The reward was her sparkling smile and excited brown eyes.

“Excellent,” Kerr said with a doofus-endearing smile on his face. Daegan’s lip was twitching for some strange, incomprehensible reason. “Old man Callicott’s Manor is about four blocks out of Hogsmeade. Big ole thing, ya can’t miss it.”

Raising an eyebrow, Daegan suddenly wished he’d paid a bit more attention to what they were going to do. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find,” he said, lacing his voice with just enough confidence.

“Get a picture with the man and I’ll give you my desserts for a month.” Kerr’s eyes were challenging, directed right at him. Daegan extended his hand without thinking. “Poltergeists have been known to try and torture humans though. ‘Specially wizards.”

For a split second, Daegan’s eyes unfocused and his throat felt thick. Poltergeist. He really should have been paying attention. It wasn’t that he was scared, it was more that… well… he wasn’t very much a fan of bricks being tossed at his head, or being chased with random, heavy objects in general.

“Deal.” Daegan stuck out his hand with strict resolve on his face. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a tiny little camera his mother had given him for the night. Because she wanted oodles of pictures. Silly cow.

He lifted it up straight to Robbie’s face and without waiting for her to simper for the camera – not that he expected it by any means – clicked the button. And then he turned the camera onto himself, grinned cheesily and clicked the button again.

“You know, just in case it tosses us down the grand staircase.”
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Roberta Halden
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Robbie eyed her date with curiosity. He was so different than she had expected. He took her muddied, bloodied appearance in stride on their first date, then had taken her paintlaunching. He was sweet and seemed completely nonplussed as she explained to him that she had no desire to be a girly girl. In fact, he’d kissed her shortly after that proclamation. And now, he was willing – no, eager – to go with her to explore a haunted house rather than hang out at this ridiculous ball. She beamed up at him in excitement.

“Excellent,” Kerr said with a doofus-endearing smile on his face. Daegan’s lip was twitching for some strange, incomprehensible reason. “Old man Callicott’s Manor is about four blocks out of Hogsmeade. Big ole thing, ya can’t miss it.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard to find,” he said confidently.

“Get a picture with the man and I’ll give you my desserts for a month.” Andrew challenged Daegan in a way that caused her to smirk. Didn’t Kerr realize that challenging her date for the evening was just like challenging her? Robbie had never backed down from a challenge, not once in her admittedly short life and she certainly wasn’t about to start now. “Poltergeists have been known to try and torture humans though. ‘Specially wizards.”

“Pfft.” Robbie scoffed with derision, “That’s only because they haven’t faced us.” She slid her and around Daegan’s arm again. She was absolutely certain that they could do this with no problem at all.

“Deal.” Daegan shook Andrew’s hand and turned to Robbie and she heard a click and a quick flash of light blinded her momentarily. As did the same to himself, she realized it was a camera.

“You know, just in case it tosses us down the grand staircase.” A teasing grin slid over his handsome features, a slightly wicked gleam lit his eyes as returned his grin whole heartedly.

Without another word, she slipped her hand into Daegan’s and they headed out the doors they had come in only a few minutes ago. The cool night air was welcoming and freeing as they stepped out of the ridiculously transfigured pub.

As they walked away from the pub, the rest of the town seemed quiet and deserted. It seemed as though the residents of the small town were all attending the social event of the season, leaving the rest of the village with an empty feeling.

“Like a ghost town,” Robbie muttered under her breath as they continued toward the Callicott Manor. The only sound in the air seemed to be the clicking of his dress shoes and the smack-smacking of her flipflops on the cobblestone.

As they turned the corner, the house loomed into view. It was an immense beast that seemed to dominate the end of the dead end road. The once neat shingled roof was now in serious disrepair, patches of missing shingles were easily spotted, and several others were flapping in the stiff autumn breeze. The shutters that may have once been painted white, were now dingy and chipped and several of them hung askew giving the red brick home an ominously deranged look to it.

Her excitement to explore the place was still there within her, yet now it was joined with a very strong sense of nervousness. This could be dangerous but pushing aside that type of thinking, Robbie released Daegan’s hand as she hurried up the front steps.

She placed her tiny hands on the heavy wooden door. Turning the doorknob, she pushed the door open easily enough. It swung wide open without a sound. No eerie squeaking, no inhuman screams of terror from within, not even the flutter of a bat’s wings filtered out to them.

It was a little disappointing, to be frank. Robbie had expected more.

She turned to face her date with a sheepish grin. “Well that was lame.” She chuckled.

The second the words left her mouth, the heavy door slammed close with a resounding boom that seemed to shake the entire front porch. The wood beneath her feet shuddered and groaned, as Robbie leapt into the air. Her hand flying up press against her chest. As though trying to stop her heart from thudding so hard against her chest, while she whipped around to stare at the door in fright.

Yet, despite the terror that had caused an abrupt surge of adrenaline to course through her veins, Robbie turned back to her date.

“Looks like we’ve arrived, love.” Her grin was filled with adventure and excitement.
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