Dinner at the Claws (Lolie, Melly, Ari)

She had such exciting news to tell them all. Running down to the great Hall that evening in an excited flurry, Ari only stumbled twice before she reached the hall.

She ground to a halt, looking around for a friend, before she saw the blonde hair of Melanie McKinnon, and squealed.

"Melly! Melly!" she squealed, running towards her friend. "Melly, Lola! Melly, Lo-ooof!" Her air supply was cut off abruptly as she tripped and fell flat on her face beneath her friends. Looking up, she grinned. "Hi."

Melanie rested her arms on the table, leaning forwardl, busy explaining something to Lola about last Potions lesson, when she was interrupted by a voice she knew too well.
She stopped mid sentence and turned to look for her friend - who was calling out both her own name and Lola's, the always cheery Ariadne Ellingham.

Melanie had barely spotted the dark haired girl when she collided beneath them.
"Ari!" Mel said, matching the girls tone as she offered her a hand. "Hi! You fell!" She laughed. "What's with the excited name callings my dear!?" she asked when her laughter drowned out and smiled at her friend

Lola had stopped listening to Mel's too-hard-to-understand explanation about potions or something, Mel's explanation was getting so complicated that Lola had almost forgotten what they were talking about, and started to think about where Josh had disappeared to, he hadn't sent her letters during the summer and he hadn't shown up at school, it was like he had disappeared from the surface of the earth.

Maybe he had, maybe he had died during the summer and the reason she didn't know about it was because he had never told his parents that he had a girlfriend, or maybe he just had a new girlfriend at Beauxbatons or Durmstrang and had been transferred there.

Lola was ripped out of her thoughts when Ariadne came running down the stairs calling out for bot her, and Mel, and then she just fell flat on her face before them.

"What's the rush darling?" Lola asked and laughed at her friend.

Ari grinned up at her two friends before hugging them and setting herself at the table. "You know, it was so exciting, I've forgotten now," she said, tapping her chin in confusion. She grinned and put a chicken drumstick on her plate.

"I'm so hungry, girlies," she told them, cutting off a piece of chicken and waving it into the air. "I've been doing stuff all day. How are you two?" She stopped a second and frowned. "Oh, and have either of you noticed how strange James has been acting lately? He's been doing really odd things, I'm not even joking."

Melanie laughed, bringing her hand to her forehead. "You're one to forget! Silly gal," she laughed, shaking her head and stuffing a fork full of mashed potatoes into her mouth. "I don't even like potatoes," she sighed.

"I have noticed! And that reminds me, he, the strange dude, wants us to come and meet him during half term, is that cool with you guys?" Mel asked, smiling a bit at the thought of spending time with her boyfriend and their friends during the break.

"That sounds pretty fun!" Ari agreed, nodding enthusiastically as Mel explained James's proposal. "Oooh, a week away from the parents. That'll be good. A refreshing change." She snorted; despite the fact she spent all year with her best friends, she still would rather spend the holidays with them too, so long as there was time for a flying visit to her parents.

She grinned at Lola and nudged her. "Then we can marry them off, eh?" she whispered, giggling, before straightening up. "But seriously, he's been acting weird. Maybe we can dig it out of him for half term."

Lola had fallen back into thinking about her bayfriend, or.. well ex-boyfriend? she wasn't sure what they were. She was quickly pulled from her train of thoughts when Ari nudged her.

"Yeah, marry.. sure... what are we talking about again?" She asked, not sure if she even heard right when Ari said something about someone being married off.

"We were talking about James," Ari told Lola, "and how he's invited us to his for half term, where we will have a ball and marry off Melanie McKinnon unto him. Then we shall send them off in a horse and carriage into the sunset whilst we skip around throwing flowers and holding hands, or something to that affect." She beamed.

"What's up Lolie?" she asked, pouting slightly at her friend.

"Yeah, that would be fun" Lola said and giggled a little at Ari's explanation.

"It's just.. Josh... He didn't react to any of my owls this summer and it seems to me that he has gone missing from the surface of the earth." She answered, she had been very concerned all summer.

"But back to Mel's wedding, she should wear a big poofy dress, yes?" Lola asked and smiled.

Mel had ignored Ari and the wedding talk, the most she could, instead turning her attention towards her food and listening to the other two girls talk and tried not to hit them.

But when the talk turned from her wedding over to Josh, she felt the need to join the conversation. "I. Miss. Josh. Jace. And. Letti." She said, banging her head on the table.

her three best friends and family had left the school, with not really an explanation, Letti had mentioned something about trouble at home and had told Mel not to write her back for a while and she'd write back when she could. SO Mel had just had to sit and do nothing and wait.

She narrowed her eyes when the talk moved back to 'The wedding'. "I am not getting married you fools."

"I miss them all too," Ari said sadly, thinking of Letti and Josh and Jace. Jace and she had been dating briefly... she missed him already.

She looked up at Melanie and grinned. "We'll see about that," she said, smirking. She resumed attacking the chicken drumstick. "We need to do something my lovelies. Plan something. Do something tremendous!"