once upon a time (open/multi)

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It was shortly after Jerome's birthday, but he hadn't really celebrated it. It seemed a shame, as he had more friends this year, so perhaps they'd felt let down by him not organising anything. Everyone knew that he wasn't the type to throw a party, as those always seemed to get out of hand - no matter how hard you tried to keep everything low-key and alcohol-free...

He'd read in the Prophet that the cinema was doing a showing of some animated classics, so he'd sent a crystal message last Thursday about meeting up at the weekend and seeing them together. Some of the invitees he didn't know extremely well, but he'd invited them anyway knowing they'd probably enjoy the films. It was just nice to get out and get lost in another story for once.

Jerome was in the lobby of the cinema, having purchased his tickets and was now considering which popcorn to get.

"Maybe we should just get a large one of each?" he suggested to someone who'd turned up.

"Popcorn gets stuck in my throat," she said, sympathising with Lazar. "Do they have slushie here?!"

@Lazar Tremlett

Marilyn giggled at the banter, smiling widely as her cheek was kissed.

"Oh, Wadey! I can't wait to spend the next few hours sitting with you! What popcorn are we getting?"

Then she saw Emerald; she still wasn't the biggest fan of her, but it was Jerome's birthday.

"Hi, Emerald."

@Wade MacKenna @Emerald Cartwright

Lazar glanced around at the concessions and shrugged. "I-I-I duh-duh-don't knuh-know... It's muh-muh-my fuh-fuh-first tuh-tuh-time here..."

@Layla Cartwright

Rose really hoped that Tiernan was right! "I didn't think he would really be in the hospital wing with his arm hanging off." She said with a laugh. She had known he was just trying to think of something extreme. "I hope you're right though! Not that it won't be fun anyway." She didn't want Tiernan to think that she wasn't happy to hang out with everyone else too! She was very happy to have been invited. Then he handed her the tickets and she smiled brightly. "You didn't have to! But thanks." She said, resisting the urge to hug him before taking the tickets.

@Tiernan McLaggen

"I guess you're right." There was no sense in worrying about it now though since Jerome didn't seem to be worried about it either. She then followed Jerome over to where Layla and the others were. She smiled as Jerome explained what the little disks were. "They're cute!" She said as she also peeked into the bag. Then Emery came in and Sierra spoke. "Hi, Emery!" She was hoping that things would go well tonight and there wouldn't be any fights. She laughed at Jerome's statement. "If you get a little teary-eyed, we'll all act like we don't see it, Wade." she teased him.

@Wade MacKenna @Layla Cartwright @Jerome Estrada @Emerald Cartwright

Albus didn’t exactly want to go to this thing but after his behavior at the party. He knew this would good to go to come and fix his image for the party. He entered the place and spotted Tiernan and rolled his eyes. He promised he’d be good tonight and he had walked over to Jerome. “I came to support a fellow prefect. You’ve earned it and quite personally should be head boy but we know how this school works.” He said with a shrug.

@Jerome Estrada

Faolan wasn't going to go to the cinema to see whatever was playing, he had thought that maybe he could find something else to do to occupy his time. But then he had gotten the message from Emerald asking him to come and he couldn't think of anything he would rather do than spend the day with her. So, he decided he would be spending the day at the cinema after all.

He walked in and looked around for Emery, knowing it shouldn't be too hard to find her unless they had already gone into the show. He didn't think he was running that far behind though. He scanned the crowd and found her talking to Jerome and a bunch of others. He walked up to them. "Glad I didn't miss anything. I was worried you guys might already been in the show." He said nonchalantly as he stood by Emery.

@Jerome Estrada @Emerald Cartwright

"If I ever did, I'll give ya permission to punch me in the face," he assured Sierra, moving over to the popcorn that had been dished out and inspected the packets. "Toffee. That's the one. Ya like it, yeah?"

He grabbed a bag of toffee for he and Marilyn to share. He didn't think about the possibility of it getting stuck in his teeth, and then being inadvertently shared when they snogged. Because they probably would. That's all what cinemas were for, anyway. He just didn't tell Marilyn that...

@Marilyn Grayson @Sierra Longbottom

Emery was glad that Faolan showed up since she really did want to get back with him they had hooked up at the party so she couldn’t imagine doing this without anyone. “You didn’t miss anything! Maybe we could go see a movie together or something maybe get a spot away from everyone.” she said giving him a smile. She really liked Faolan, but wasn’t sure how to say she wanted to get back with him. She raked him over the coals and she still wanted him.

@Faolan Finnigan

"Well, if he doesn't, you can sit next to Kenz. She'll like that."

They were friends, weren't they? Or were they...? He couldn't imagine why anyone would dislike Rose, but he didn't understand the things between girls sometimes.

Turning back to the others after buying the tickets, Tiernan gave Albus the look over and his expression fell slightly. Good thing he didn't have to sit near him.

@Albus Potter @Rose Granger-Weasley

He smiled between all of them. Even if they weren't here to necessarily celebrate his birthday, he was just glad they could all have a day out. Those who were brought up in all-wizard families would see these fairytales brought to life on the screen, and they'd likely enjoy the experience. Who knows - perhaps this could become a regular outing.

When Albus turned up, Jerome noted that he seemed a little... sulky. A bit withdrawn, maybe. But when he said what he did, Jerome broke into a big smile. "Thanks, Albus. That means a lot." Perhaps he was itching to elaborate on just how unfair it was, but this wasn't really the time or the place for that.

"Hey Faolan," he greeted, nodding to him. Then he glanced between the group as a whole.

"Right - we've got some popcorn here, so feel free to grab a bag. I think we should head to the screen now, so if you haven't got tickets just buy them quickly and catch up with us. We're in screen number..." He consulted his ticket. "Five."

He made the first step to urge the group towards their screen, trying not to grin too much like an idiot. He felt pretty good right now.

@Albus Potter @Faolan Finnigan @Everyone

Albus spotted Tiernan and smiled. “Pleasure to see you. I hope you have fun. No hard feelings really:” He said as he walked over to one of the machines and got his ticket. “I’ll be sure to stay away from you don’t worry don’t want a fight after all and I’m not trying to make waves. I really hold no hard feelings. Kenzie is a great girl and I’m allowed to have my feeling of rather avoiding her he said. I’m not speaking ill either.” he said to Tiernan before going hoping he hold his anger. Gryffindors tended to suffer from major anger issues. Albus was glad he was a Slytherin.

@Tiernan McLaggen

Giggling excitedly, Marilyn sniffed the toffee popcorn. it smelled delicious! Such a romantic movie treat!

"Wadey, let's find our seats!" she squealed now that they had a bag of popcorn to share. "Do you know if Thalia's coming, Sierra?"

@Wade MacKenna @Sierra Longbottom

Grabbing a bag of popcorn and almost ripping through the bag, he was surprised to hear Albus talking to him.

Tiernan was reasonable enough. He hadn't wanted any trouble at the party anyway. Perhaps he and Albus would never be the best of friends, but that didn't bother him in the slightest. As long as he wasn't slagging off his girlfriend...

"It's all good, man."

He shoved a bag of popcorn into Albus's arms, and grinned.

"If it turns out too girly and us lads get bored, we can go over to the quidditch shop quickly for a breather. Right?"

He nudged him, perhaps a little too hard but intended it to be friendly, winked, and followed the rest of the crowd.

@Albus Potter

"We gotta grab the ones on the back row, and put our feet up on the ones in front so no one sits in front. That's the law."

According to rowdy, teenage muggle idiots who went to the cinema and disturbed everyone else.

@Marilyn Grayson

"I-I-I-I muh-muh-muh-mean," he started to say, blood pooling to his cheeks, "Thuh-thuh-that I-I-I've nuh-nuh-never buh-buh-been t-t-t-to this cin-cin-cin-ema..."

@Layla Cartwright

They had got to the screen quite early, so the advertisements were still popping up over the screen. There was one for the new halloween range at Honeydukes, another for Gladrags one-hundred percent kneazle fur (ethically sourced) scarves, and then...

Lien almost choked on his drink.

This must have been an older advertisement, because she looked slightly younger. It must have been her quidditch days. Ginny Potter: robed in her Professional Quidditch garb, sat backwards on a broomstick and giggling. Holyhead Harpies - Season Tickets Now Available! He'd almost forgot that it was an advert. He was focused on something else entirely.

"Glad James isn't here..." he muttered to Cherry, still looking at his Mum.

@Cherry Darling

"Whoa. Whadda baaaaabe!" he jeered loudly, heading up to the top row as he glanced at the screen.

"Where?" he demanded, instinctively.

Then he saw it, and grinned.

"That's..."

He whispered to Wade, and the two of them spun about to look at Albus - thumbs up.

@Albus Potter

When she grew up, her family hardly ever went to the movies except to see films that were considered biblically acceptable and family-friendly, so it was surreal going to the theaters with Lien to see some old Disney films. At least she wasn't getting the usual negative feelings she got from such an outing; this was entirely by her choice, and perhaps a part of her was nostalgic for simpler, pre-magic times when she was much younger.

"Yeah... Does his mum know that her image is still being used when she hasn't been on the team in years?" she wondered, somewhat focused on advertisement-Ginny's chest.

Cherry had grown a good handle on the Potter timeline from osmosis over the years.

She took a sip of the strawberry milkshake she had gotten from the concession stand.

@Lien Chang

"Oh, Wadey, these are the best seats!" she squealed enthusiastically as an older adult nearby shushed her.

@Wade MacKenna

He hadn't been thinking about that, oddly enough. Trust Cherry to pull him to his senses. He had been thinking about the time he was first introduced to James's Mum, and how nervous he'd been.

"I don't know," he whispered, then glanced at the stairwell. He definitely recognised some faces.

"Look," he said to her, nodding towards Jerome. They caught eyes and Lien waved, then Jerome waved back. He mouthed something that Lien couldn't quite make out. Lien thought nodding was the best response, so he went for that.

"I think he's saying we can join them?"

@Cherry Darling

Glancing back, Cherry was pleasantly surprised to see that a few of their friends happened to be there at the same time. So, she waved at them.

"Maybe so? I think we have enough time to change seats before the movie starts?"

@Lien Chang

Lien nodded.

"I think we do as well," he said, standing up and ensuring she was following, before going through the aisle and to the stairwell. Once there, he caught up with the others.

"Hello Jerome," he whispered, taking a sear nearer to them and waiting for Cherry to catch up. "I'm hoping they show Mulan - that's my favourite."

@Cherry Darling