THE RAVENCLAW PRINCESS

chapter 22 - stained in red

"Okay, tell me how you did it," Charlotte prodded.

Lyra furrowed her brow and looked at George who simply shrugged his shoulders. Lyra offered Charlotte a cheese cube, "what are you talking about Char?"

Charlotte accepted and spoke while chewing, "your face an- and the rest of you. I mean, you look so fit!"

George smiled into his cup as he took another sip of the aged wine Mieko brought. Lyra grinned, she wasn't at the happy drunk state that Charlotte was in, but she was tipsy enough to respond cheekily. "Well thanks Char, you don't look too shabby yourself."

Charlotte had a special ability to look stunning without trying and her beautiful red dress accented with gold both complemented her tan skin and brought out the beauty in her eyes. Charlotte had worn a gorgeous red dress that cut off just above her knees paired with strappy, short gold heels with a pointed toe. Her hair was pulled back on one side with two barrettes and she had paired two dainty gold necklaces with small, thick gold hoops.

"Come on, let's find Mieko," George nodded and downed the drink following Lyra as she maneuvered Charlotte out of the kitchen and into the sitting room.

Lyra scanned the room, looking for her friend which proved to be rather difficult because the room was packed. It was possible Mieko had moved to another part of the house, Lyra mused, or even outside.

"Well if it isn't the beauty I was looking for all night. Finally back from that posh school, Tonks?"

Lyra screamed and pulled the boy next to her into a huge hug. He returned it with gusto, pulling her off the ground. He continued holding her arms as he lowered her, so as to make sure she wouldn't fall.

"When did you get here? How are you? I-"

"Woah, slow down, love. There'll be plenty of time for the boring stuff later. Why don't you introduce me to your friends?" He gestured at the two gawking behind Lyra. George eyed him and grimaced as he drank more of Mieko's wine.

"Yeah, Ly. Who's your friend?" Charlotte leaned into Lyra and whispered louder than she planned, "he's hot!"

Lyra looked incredulously at Charlotte. Sure, in his half buttoned white dress shirt, dark pants, and curly blonde locks that strangely looked as if he had just had sex or just woken up, Eric Nichols was definitely hot. But Eric Nichols was also an absolute prat and had an unnecessarily inflated ego so Lyra simply said, "honestly, I've seen better."

Eric pointedly ignored Lyra. He took Charlotte's hand and kissed her knuckles, "the name's Eric Nichols. And you are?"

Lyra rolled her eyes and officially introduced Eric to Charlotte and George. Charlotte grinned and George forced a smile back.

"So," Eric asked the trio, "what's the story behind the red?"

Lyra, George, and Charlotte grinned looking amongst themselves. The red dust battle had ended with everyone relatively clean however everyone, even Mieko, ended up with streaks of red in their hair that refused to get out and no one wanted to wash their hair so close to the party.

Lyra glared at George, "someone decided it would be a good idea to release a mini smoke bomb right as they walked in the door."

"Technically it was an accident," George said. "But more importantly, Fred did it, so get mad at him."

Eric looked questioningly at him and Lyra, "Fred?"

"Fred is George's twin brother, we should find him and Mieko. But, Eric, have you seen Illie? I lost her a while ago and it's about half till the hour."