lad's noyte (open to lads)

An untidy scrawl dictated the 'Laws of Lad's Night' as follows:

No girls.
No contacting your other half.
No setting light to your farts.
Strippers welcome.

Atticus looked at the sign and shook his head: clearly not his doing. This was his first week renting out the Hogsmeade flat before he and James found somewhere permanent together. Going between his Mother, James's parents' house and the Rowle Estate was becoming a bit tiresome, so he'd rented this space as his own, hoping his friends and loved ones would come to him instead of him living out of luggage between places. Now he had put together this 'lad's night', inviting his friends at a Hogsmeade weekend, so those still at Hogwarts could join in. The invitation had stated that they could invite who they liked (lads only, within reason, and not anyone who would be likely to cause unrest) and promised he'd see all the students back at school before curfew.

As he weaved about the living area, he was glad to see and hear the laughter and banter. He had on a pair of bright yellow oven mitts and a matching apron, placing down trays and platters of his homemade cooking.

As he placed them on the already completely covered table, he swooped down to give James a quick kiss. Louis was smiling brightly next to him, as always. When he heard the vague tinkle of a piano, he looked up to see Lien seated behind it. It was small - one of those portable ones - but Lien had shrunk it, travelled to the flat, and inflated it once more. Grinning and removing his oven mitts, he went over to him.

He was about half way when a thunder of raucous laughter sounded behind him.

"Oi, Attipuss!" roared Wade MacKenna, shoving and laughing with Tiernan McLaggen.

"Yes, Wadeykins?"

"Nah, nah - hear me out, hear me out. If ya weren't a bender, an' liked tits - who'd ya bone out've my chick's Mum or his chick's Mum?"

"Er... well," Should he expect less from MacKenna, really? "Seeing as I'm less likely to get killed by Kenzie's Dad, probably Marilyn's?"

McLaggen and MacKenna roared with laughter.

"He actually answered!"

"Mari's better lookin' than Kenzilla - HAH."

"Thought we were talking about their Mums?"

"Is ya Mum fit?!"

DUUUUUUUUN~

Looking away from them, over to the piano, Jerome had planted Lien's forehead down onto the keys while he was playing and they were both laughing. Meanwhile, Piran Vaulkley was neatly piling his abandoned cocktail sticks on top of Louis's head, who either didn't mind or was clueless to it.

It was exactly the sort of silliness he missed.

The sprog was with his grandparents, so it was ome of those rare moments where James didn't have to be constantly worried about his son's well-being; despite that, however, there was still the voice in the back of his mind spazzing over any potential freak accidents involving his son. It was fun being a dad!

He was chowing down a decent amount of the snacks his partner had been making throughout the night. It was like he was a ravenous puppy even though he ate before everyone got to the flat.

He turned to his cousin after Atticus went to observe the rest of the chaos. "Aye, Lou Lou," questioned James as he took a loud bite of one of the treats. "What's the, er, bloody deal with ya and Meredith Riddle. Ain't she too, er, intense for ya?"

@Louis Weasley

A lad's night sounded like the perfect way to spend his evening while he was at Hogsmeade. It had been a while since he had been able to just hang out with the guys, especially those of them who had already graduated. It was high time that they had changed that. He was looking around at all of the different trays of food that Atticus had sat out before grabbing a few snacks from different trays. He was starving! And you just couldn't go wrong when it came to anything that Atticus made. He definitely wasn't disappointed as he popped some little finger food in his mouth.

"Have you seen Kenzie's mom though? Might be worth it." He said with a chuckle, not really meaning it but bantering with the guys none the less. Neither of their moms were his type. He wasn't into older women.

@Atticus Nott @Wade MacKenna @Tiernan McLaggen

For the first time since graduation, Macmillan was on the mainland hanging with his bros and the other lads that had showed up to Atti's flat. It was great to be back here with his friends, it was almost like they were back in school just chilling and fucking around like usual.

It was a good way to forget that Lakelyn was the one that got away.

Macmillan walked over to Lien and Jerome and busted off, leaning onto the wall by the piano.

"Look who we got here: Bach and Mozart!"

@Lien Chang @Jerome Estrada

"I've seen her, man," he responded to Scamander, grinning a bit too widely. "She's er--" He released a slow puff of air from his cheeks, with a wide-eyed shake of his head. Then he mimed some kind of explosion happening from between his hands, spreading outwards. "Yeah, she's really nice." He laughed.

@Lysander Scamander

Lazar was, by far, the least out-there of all of the guys in the flat; he was just happy to be included somewhere that wasn't full of scary people like Burke, Lestrange, Avery, Selwyn, practically every Slytherin in existence. His ears were ringing from all of the noise being made, and it felt like his brain was being scratched, so Lazar had his pinky fingers sticking into his ears to try and drown out some of the noise from the bantering.

"She a cougar, yeah? Imagine that conversation: hi Kenz, I'm literally ya Daddy now."

He laughed, then looked at Scamander.

"So who ya scored with?"

@Lysander Scamander

Jerome grinned at Macmillan joining them.

"I really hope there was a composer who made music from just headbutting a piano," he said, laughing. Despite everything, he was actually enjoying himself. "I'm actually jealous that he can play an instrument, though. I think I might've hit a triangle once during a nativity play at primary school, that's about it."

@Hyacinth Macmillan

Recovering from his head being gently pushed into the keys, he looked up and smiled at his former dorm mate and friend. It had been a while.

"I can't play that well," he insisted, as always, before changing the subject: "What've you been up to, Macmillan? Other than spending most of your time in a sea. Of bikinis."

@Hyacinth Macmillan

"If there was a headbutting composer, Lien would know. Bro knows every-fucking-thing. I think his brain has one of those bottomless charms!"

Macmillan chuckled as he messed up Lien's hair, passing a quick wave to Atticus.

"The same old, but I also went on a blind date recently."

@Jerome Estrada @Lien Chang

Lien was slightly taken aback by that, but looked impressed nonetheless. "Really? Wow... how did it go?"

@Hyacinth Macmillan

"I couldn't do that," he admitted, cringing at the thought of a blind date. "So awkward..." Still, he was interested to hear how Macmillan got on with it.

@Hyacinth Macmillan

Maverick milled around, looking at the snacks on the tables and picking up a can of soda to drink as he overheard the group in one side of the room going on about Kenzie and Marilyn's moms. A chuckle left his lips and he approached just in time to hear Wade's question to Lysander. "I caught him sneaking around with your mom last week." He said with a smirk which earned him a shove from Lysander but it was all in good fun. He laughed.

@Wade MacKenna

"It went fine, I guess. Both of us were nervous. The chick was one of the Ministry workers Amy knows. Homeschooled, came here from France. She's not familiar with a lot of people here."

@Lien Chang @Jerome Estrada

It was odd, hanging out at some sort of party-esque event without his sister to look after. That tended to be how he spent most of his time at the get-togethers they went to. But now it was just the guys, he didn't have anyone to look after and it was a little freeing. He didn't approach either of the groups that had formed just yet, instead spotting Lazar and frowning a bit before approaching him. "Hey, you alright?" Why the other guy had his pinkies shoved in his ears, Thorin had no idea but he hated to see anyone standing alone.

@Lazar Tremlett

"Was she hot at least?" He found himself asking as he jumped right into the conversation between Macmillan and the others. Someone had to ask the important questions, right?

@Hyacinth Macmillan

Plopping himself near James and Louis, Cernunnos giggled as he glanced around the flat. There were a lot of cute guys here!

"OMG! Did I mention that Professor Selwyn took my phone and still hasn't given me it back?! I'm in my flop era!"

@Louis Weasley

"Whey!" he congratulated Mav, slapping him a high five. "Only thing with that is my Mum's fugly, overweight an' is a bitch. So if ya like it that way, go for it," he told Lysander, snorting. "Ya Mum right seems like a cougar and all, Mav. Kinda posh and that but wears latex in the bedroom."

@Maverick Cartwright

"You were right, Estrada. It does sound awkward."

He smiled innocently up at his friend, before looking at Finnigan.

"At least he's asking the most important questions," he observed. "Go on - what did she look like?"

@Hyacinth Macmillan @Faolan Finnigan

"Did she know your sister? That probably would've made it easier," he commented, ignoring what Faolan and Lien were saying about her looks. He realised that was an important factor - but if it was purely looks and no substance...

@Hyacinth Macmillan

"She's blonde, fit, attractive. I think she's athletic too, she showed interest in giving surfing a try."

Just like Lakelyn...

"Yeah, she did."

Macmillan grinned widely. "How's uni, bro?"

@Lien Chang @Faolan Finnigan @Jerome Estrada

Maverick returned the high five and laughed as Wade described his mom. Poor Lysander. Then the conversation turned to Mav's mom and he shook his head. "You think your mom's a bitch, you haven't seen anything." Yeah, it was no secret that Maverick didn't get on with his parents as they would like. "Let me guess, you'd know what she wears in the bedroom from experience?" He goaded.

@Wade MacKenna

Lysander shook his head but laughed anyway. "I definitely have not been sneaking around with MacKenna's mum." He assured them both. "Maverick here only says he saw that because he was sneaking around with your sister." He said with a smirk. Two could play at that game! "What about you McLaggen? How are things with Mackenzie? She keeping you busy?" He said as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

@Wade MacKenna @Tiernan McLaggen

A grin spread over his face when Lien agreed with him and then Macmillan described the girl. At least she sounded attractive enough! Then again... "Sounds a bit like another blonde we know?" Of course, Faolan didn't think that there was really any feelings between the two of them but friendship so he had no idea how his words might sting. He was just trying to have a little fun. "Maybe you need to introduce her to us. We can all show her around?" Surprisingly, he actually meant it to be friendly, not anything untoward. He did say the girl didn't know anyone really.

@Hyacinth Macmillan @Lien Chang

Wade struck Maverick around the back boisterously. "Hey - ya diggin' the holes for me, I'm only gonna swim through 'em," he told him, laughing, "But yeah, if ya gotta hear it. I saw ya Mum in her wet look catsuit."

He roared with laughter at Scamander's attempt.

"My sister's also a fuckin' bitch, and my other is only thirteen."

And that one was the one he actually liked - the only member of his family he could withstand.

@Maverick Cartwright @Faolan Finnigan