Re: The Grand Staircase

[Arthur Weasley]

"That sounds like a fun department to work in," Arthur said. "Have any scouts come to see you yet? I hope you get recruited; it'd be nice to see someone from Hogwarts be successful in Quidditch. Maybe you'll be on the national team. I can tell my children someday how I went to school with you." Arthur laughed at the idea of him having children; it felt like such a foreign idea, though not an unpleasant one. If only he knew that he would end up with seven of them...

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna laughed, "No official scouts have come to see me. But, my dad works for Puddlemere United so I've gotten to go to a few practices over the summer and even train with them a little bit. It was the highlight of my life. So he knows people in the Quidditch world and can probably get some scouts to come and see me play. But, in Quidditch, it doesn't matter how well you fly, if they don't want you, you have no chance."

[Arthur Weasley]

"That's exciting. So your family must be obsessed with Quidditch. Do you get to go to all the Puddlemere matches?" Arthur asked curiously. "Personally, I'm an Arrows fan, but I rarely ever get to attend any of the matches. Usually we just listen to them over the wireless. It would be really cool if they record the matches and play them on a TV machine, like the Muggles do with footieball."

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna laughed, Arthur was an entertaining person to hang out with (in a good way). "I get to go to matches if I'm home and have done my homework, or if it's a big match. I like the Arrows too though, I wouldn't say no if they asked me to play. And it's just me and my dad who are obsessed, my mom likes it well enough, and my brother was a chaser while he was here, but my dad and I live and breathe Quidditch, no one else in my family does that. And football is a fun enough sport to play. My grandfather is a muggle."

[Arthur Weasley]

"Footieball is a lot of fun," Arthur said. "My friend Ted taught me how to play - you might know him, he's a Hufflepuff. I'm not particularly good; I lack foot-eye coordination." He laughed at the memory of his failures on the football field, especially his ones with Molly. "Does your dad play Quidditch professionally?"

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna smiled, "I'm not the best, my hand-eye coordination is much better than my foot-eye coordination." She thought about the amount of times she had tried to kick the ball, missed and fell flat on her behind, it was a lot. "My dad used to be keeper for Puddlemere, but he's too old to play as a pro now, so he coaches them now."

[Arthur Weasley]

"That's cool," Arthur said. He didn't remember any keepers for Puddlemere with the last name Wood, but he never really followed the team too closely. "But then again, I lack both hand-eye and hand-foot coordination at times. I love playing Quidditch for fun, but I'd be terrible on the Gryffindor team. I'll leave that to those more gifted than me."

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna grinned (she's smiling an awful lot right now, guess she's in a good mood). "I could help you with the Quidditch thing, at some point in time and space we could head down to the pitch and I could give you some pointers." Jenna always liked playing Quidditch with friends who weren't serious, she could goof off then, and do some of the trick work she'd been working so hard on all summer.

[Arthur Weasley]

"That's okay, my brother already tells me I'm a hopeless case. I only tend to play with my brothers at family events; we try to start a team to play against my cousins. We're not particularly good; Ron's decent, but Billy tends to get distracted easily by dirty Quidditch metaphors," Arthur said. He honestly had no idea how the three of them were related at times, but they were his best friends for all their peculiarities.

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna giggled a bit, she couldn't help it. "That's okay, my brother used to make those when I was too young to understand them. Now I understand why he would laugh so hard, while I just sat there, confused. I guess that's what happens when you have a brother that's nine years older than you."

[Arthur Weasley]

"Yeah, Billy loved to tell them in front of Ron and I before we were old enough to understand them," Arthur said, laughing. "Except now Billy always chooses the worst times to make them. For example, around our hundred year old aunt or my idiotic cousin who hates us all and always tells our parents. He's quite the hit at all the family parties." He decided not to mention the things Billy pulled from his nether regions after given a little alcohol.

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna laughed out loud. "You make me thankful that my brother isn't that embarrassing. I know how good I have it now, I never appreciated it before, but now I do. My brother owes your brother one." If her brother had done that, his wife would have been pretty pissed off at him

[Arthur Weasley]

Well, Billy wasn't married and would never have a wife, so the odds of finding someone to keep him in line were slim to none. Maybe Billy's next boyfriend wouldn't find his constant dirty jokes cute or amusing. "Well, it's not like we don't embarass Billy when we get the chance. For example, we tend to capture his more insane drunk escapades on camera for blackmail purposes."

[Jenna Wood]

"Oh dear, they must really be something. If you have to use them for blackmail, what does he do that needs blackmail from his brothers?" Jenna was becoming a bit worried about Arthur's brother, she was beginning to think that he may need some help. Because, this kind of thing was definitely not normal.

[Arthur Weasley]

Arthur laughed. "We honestly don't need to blackmail him, don't worry. Billy's just an idiot when he's drunk, and it's fun to make fun of him for it. Honestly, when you get the three of us together, trouble just seems to brew," Arthur said. "He rarely ever drinks, so when he does it's especially humorous." Billius Weasley was not a normal man, but he was a loving brother and good friend.

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna mimed wiping sweat off of her brow. "Phew! You had me a bit concerned for a minute there. I'm lucky in that my brother just gets super sappy when he's drunk, and it's really funny. He'll go up to an old Quaffle, and he'll spend ten minutes telling it how much it means to him."

[Arthur Weasley]

Arthur laughed. "That must be funny to watch. As long as the Quaffle doesn't talk back, you're safe," Arthur said. "Well, I'd better get going to the Great Hall, but see you soon and good luck with Quidditch!"

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna smiled, "All right! I'll see you around. And if you ever change your mind about Quidditch, just pop me an owl. Or just tell me, that works too."

[Arthur Weasley]

"I will," Arthur said, waving at Jenna before walking into the Great Hall. Maybe he would get to see Molly at breakfast.

[Narcissa Black]

Narcissa glided down the stairs in very nice, new heels. She liked them a lot and of course, one could never have too many shoes. She was wandering the castle, purely out of boredom, looking for something to entertain her. Nothing much was presenting itself. She sighed lightly, thinking about going shopping in Hogsmeade to kill time. -cue Arthur-

[Arthur Weasley]

Arthur was in a very happy mood. After months of work, he had finally managed to enchant the iPod Ted gave him for his birthday. Before, the little music player would go beserk anywhere near a magical field, but with a few spells of his own creation, Arthur had modified the iPod's power structure so that it would run off of magical, instead of electrical, currents. He was humming as he walked down the stair, so absorbed in his music that he forgot the trick step for the first time in years. Arthur fell down the stairs, crashing into another figure, and bringing himself and the other person all the way down the stairs.

[Narcissa Black]

Narcissa was in the middle of a step when all of a sudden she felt someone collide with her, and the next thing she knew she was tumbling down the stairs. After her head had a painful collision with the floor - and various steps she was sure - she landed in a tangle of limbs with the person who had barreled into her. Once her vision had come back into focus, she saw a mess of red hair. Her eyes narrowed in anger. "Weasley," she said in a chilly tone, somehow maintaining her temperament, "I should have known. Only a muggle-loving fool like yourself could forget about the trick step."
(Is that alright?)

[Arthur Weasley]

{That's perfect. And now Andromeda is yelling at Arthur.}

"I'm so sorry," Arthur said, squinting in the direction of what he thinks is the other person; he couldn't be sure, as his glasses had gone flying somewhere. He extended his hand toward the figure, his other hand searching frantically for his glasses. He heard the girl's cold response as he finally put his glasses, slightly bent now, on his face. The youngest Black sister, the one who always looked like there was garbage up her nose. "Black," he replied just as coldly. "I hope your precious little head wasn't hurt; I don't think your tiny brain could handle the damage." He took off his glasses, and with a tap of his wand, straightened them up.

[Narcissa Black]

Narcissa raised her eyebrows, leveling a venomous glare at him. "Your concern is unnecessary, and quite frankly, most unwanted. Clearly, I'm fine. I would mirror your concern, if I was not certain that your brain was already far too addled for a fall like that to cause any more harm." She gestured to whatever the contraption was that now lay on the floor at their feet, looking quite destroyed. "And only you would be tinkering with useless muggle trash like that."

[Arthur Weasley]

"At least my family doesn't think killing half the Wizarding population would make it grow," Arthur said with a smirk. "I wouldn't worry about my mental health though; yours might be damaged due to all the in-breeding in your family." Arthur looked at the iPod, which doesn't look much like an iPod anymore. With a flick of his wand, he simaltaneously Summoned the device to him and repaired it. It looked much better now, though some of his enchantments might need to be tinkered with. But Narcissa wouldn't know. "And look, good as new," he said with a smile.

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