“Hey! Have you seen my sister?” Julien asked, coming up behind the person and putting his hand on their shoulder to get their attention.
“Last I saw her she was down over there,” Merinda gestured further down the alley. “You could start by checking there?”
Lily wasn’t sure what to do. Her first instinct was to find her family, but then she was worrying about her friends and Diagon Alley was so dark. People were scrambling and she was knocked out of her panicked thoughts as someone bumped into her. “Are you alright?” She wondered, quickly turning to them.
“Lily!” she shouted the second she recognized who she had bumped into. “I’m so glad to see you. Oh Lily, Lily!” Merinda echoed, throwing her arms around her best friend and holding her tight, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Counting down the seconds from ten to one, James held his drink up in the air. At first he thought he’d knocked it over someone, because the alley went dark and he felt a sharp pain in his side. It wasn’t until he was falling that he realised he’d been struck with a Stupefy. Darkness fell across him even more so with a blow to the head. When he finally regained consciousness, Merinda was dragging him into alleyway close by, crimson dripping down his face. “What… what’s going on?”
@merindaskelly
As the alley went black, chaos ensued almost immediately. People began to scatter, some pushing past her violently as they tried to get as far from the alley as they could. Merinda began to scan the crowd for any of her friends or anybody that could be in need of help. She couldn’t believe what she suddenly caught sight of, but the second she did she rushed towards it.
“James! James?” Mer shouted, shaking his shoulder slightly trying to get a reaction from the young man. Realizing she couldn’t just leave him there on the cobblestones of the alley as he bled from a head injury that must’ve been caused by his collision with the ground. “I’m going to get you out of here,” she said softly to him as she tucked her hands under his arms, hoisting him with all her strength and trying her best to drag him along through the crowd. A familiar face, Leo, helped her. The job was much easier with two pairs of hands.
They had made it to a more secluded alleyway when James regained consciousness. “There was an attack, James. But you’re going to be okay. We’re getting you out of here. You need medical attention,” Merinda insisted in a gentle tone, obviously worried about him and what was going on. “Do you remember anything that happened?”
“Baby, with this face, I wouldn’t count on it.”
He handed her a drink and smirked, “I mean, since I get my way and all.”
“Alright, alright,” she replied finally taking the drink, “I’ll let you get away with it for now, but you can’t win every time.”
“Cant be a buzzkill if I’m buzzed, Mer. Id doesn’t work that way.”
“And yet somehow you’ve achieved the impossible,” she replied with a slight roll of her eyes.
“Yes,” he smirked. “I knew I’d get my way eventually.”
“You always get your way,” she argued with a roll of her eyes. “It’s got to stop.”
“Aw, thank you! You look amazing too, but you always look adorable.”
“I know,” Mer replied with a flip of her hair. “We are the cutest looking flapper girls at this entire party -- and that’s a fact.”
Dylan snorted and slid his arms around her. “Mer. I’m covered in glitter and I don’t even know how. Why do you act so surprised I’d suggest that?”
“Fine, fine,” she sighed, giving into his pleading, “We’ll do some drunk karaoke. I need another drink before we do that though.”
“Mm!” Roxanne nodded her head and quickly finished the rest her drink and got up to dance with the girl, “Yes! Let’s dance!”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Merinda grinned as Roxanne joined her. “We’ve got to ring in this new year right!”
“This party is incredible! Come dance with me!” she insisted, gesturing to the other to join her. “It’d be a crime to put these outfits to waste!”
“Well, yeah. But extra good. And you look stunning, as per usual.” He took her hand and tugged her towards him. “So, how many drinks to I need to get in you for you to agree to drunk karaoke with me.”
“Drunk karaoke? Merlin, Dyl, who are you?” Merinda replied with a shake of her head as Dylan pulled her towards him.
“I should have been born in the 1920′s. Well, no. Because I’d be dead right now, but damn, I would have looked good.”
“You always look good,” Mer replied with a playful roll of her eyes, “But you would definitely rock the 20′s.”
“Okay, but we should dress like this all the time. I’m. In. Heaven.”
“Right? Everything is amazing and you look incredible! This decade was made for you!”
“What’s it matter? The party isn’t happening.”
“I know and I’m pretty bummed about that.”
“What’s going on is there can’t be a party without everyone getting trashed. Just once, I’d like one of them to go perfectly.”
“Nothing’s perfect, Chrissie. And sure there are good and bad parties -- but a perfectly choreographed party would be sort of boring. It’s nice when unexpected things happen. I do agree some people go overboard with the alcohol though.”
Madi squealed and tried to duck before the snowball crashed against her head. “Hey! You little-” She laughed as she grabbed some snow and fashioned it into a ball and threw it back. “Snowball fights are supposed to be agreed upon Merinda!”
“Oh really?” Merinda challenged, preparing a new snowball as she spoke. “Who said? Sounds lame. The unexpected is the most fun!” she insisted, letting out a gasp as Madigan shot a snowball in her direction. It slammed her square in the shoulder. “Good one!” she giggled, dashing behind a tree and aiming her next shot.
