The Sellaphix Family's Home
34 Upper Montagu St
Marylebone, London

5:45ish

The Sellaphix's home is a narrow rowhome on a mostly muggle street - they do have a few Wizarding neighbors living discreetly nearby.  The house is modest and seems to be very cluttered lately.  With only one parent living there some of the housework has gone neglected.  On the lower level are a kitchen, small dining room, more 'formal' living room, and a family room with cozy chairs and a Wizarding Wireless set up.  Upstairs is Figaro's bedroom he shares with his little brother Frank, his parents' room, and a small office or den.  They do have an attic and cellar but neither are very hospitable.

At about 6pm the match between the Chudley Cannons and the Falmouth Falcons (at Falmouth) was slated to begin.  And ho Merlin, was it going to be a blood-letting.  Figaro was wearing his green Wiedman jersy, and was just finishing arguing with his little brother.

"NO! Listen in your room, Frank.  I'm sick of you bothering."

"Give Figaro his space, Frank.  You and I can try out your new wand, alright?" Zelda Sellaphix diplomatically tried to console Figaro's 11-year-old brother who was none too ready to be included in his older brother's affairs.  Hogwarts was so close yet so far away...!  They'd been to Diagon for shopping just as soon as his school supplies came, but so far he'd not been allowed to play with the wand.  The Trace was more or less arbitrarily enforced in the Sellaphix home, more a tool of bribery than of the Statue of Secrecy...

Frank seemed barely placated but since he only scowled at his big brother instead of continuing to argue, he seemed to have been bought off by the chance to learn a spell before Hogwarts began.  From his reports all his friends had already learned scads and he would be behind.

With the little brother situation sorted, Figaro disappeared back down the hallway to the family room where he expected to entertain what his mother had allowed - 'a few friends to listen to the match'.  Figaro had invited almost everyone he knew, but who knows how many would show up.   He had an ample spread laid out, fizzy drinks, butter beer, and some hard cider for drinks, and then a pile of salty snacks.  Figaro's shopping was a bit schizophrenic so there were things like chocolate as well as a tub of cottage cheese.

He was just setting the dial to find the game when people started showing up.

The engagement ring remained snug against her finger, even as her goggles bounced against her neck and the uniform that shared her last name. That last name being her cousin, Rufus. She was strolling up to the Sellaphix abode - Fig was gonna have a crup pup seeing the rock on her hand, but that her were that would wait until AFTER the match.

Her hand formed a fist, knocking three times before standing there, a basket of pumpkin cranberry muffins in tow. "Remember your manners - be presentable and impressionable."

There was a knock at the door and Figaro looked up from where he was crouched by the wireless.  He cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled across the house as loud as he could.

"COME IN!!!"

"Get up and get the door, Figaro Flamel Sellaphix!" his mother yelled back at him, just as loud from upstairs.

Figaro, still looking for the right channel, jumped up and trotted through the house and threw open the door.  He looked Adelia, on of his newly grown-up ex-Hufflepuffs, and his eyes landed on the basket.

"Muffins? Oh my god, Addie, you're such an old lady," he teased.

Figaro had opened the door to Addie just as Sasha reached the foot of the walkway.  He hurried up the walk, trying to make his arrival obvious enough to spare Figaro another trip to the door without being too intrusive.  "Allo," he offered as he neared the door, nodding to both Adelia and Figaro as he approached. 

He glanced at the basket of baked goods in Addie's hand before glancing up at Fig.  "Was I - were we-" he started to ask.  He couldn't remember hearing anything about bringing something - and certainly not about baking.  Baking muffins was a bit beyond his personal culinary expertise and he doubted Wilhelm was any better off.  Take out had become the official culinary technique of choice since it was just the two of them.  "I could go get something - whatever."  This summer was Sasha's first real 'free' summer as a wizard - the first summer where he wasn't required to play the dutiful muggle son. There was still quite a bit he needed to learn about the wizarding social life.

"Look! There's already a kid on the porch. Fig just opened the door. You don't need to stand here and give me another lecture about parties!" Abby whispered, resisting the urge to make a shooing motion at her sister.

"Abby,"Aileen warned. They stood across the street, in a narrow garden path between houses where muggles were less likely to see.

"Just apparate already!"

Aileen drew herself up, eyes narrowed, and Abby quickly butt in before the steam started coming out of her ears. "Sorry, sorry. I will owl you once I'm ready to go home. I won't leave the house or go to other parties unless you say I can. I'm not going to drink any alcohol. Alright? Is everything lovely now? I'm going! Bye!" She waved, stepped out of the garden, and looked back as the POP! of apparation sounded. Somehow, that pop sounded peeved.

Abby had a slight tan from the month she'd spend in Egypt, and wore a tank top, skirt, and light denim jacket. Her purse was new, with a camel design stitched on the front. Walking quickly across the street, she made it to the porch just a moment or two after Sasha.

"Hey!" She greeted Sasha with a big smile, then turned the grin on Fig and the brunette. "Ooo! Muffins! I brought candy," she lifted a bag from Honeydukes.

"I'm Abby," she added, in case they couldn't tell!

In quick succession, Sasha and a girl he didn't recognize showed up. 

Fig was happy to Sasha looking fresh and behaving like his normal, overly formal, awkward self.  He rolled his eyes as he had a mild fit over if he had been expected to bring food.  "C'mon Sasha - it's me.  You think this this is a dinner party?  Addie's just clearly an old lady now and probably brings muffins to everything."  He said all of this with a grin.  He was delighted his friends were showing up.  The opportunity to goof off and have a laugh was something he'd been looking forward to all summer.

Then there was a lanky blonde girl trotting over and greeting everyone merrily.  Oh god - she looked like Professor Reid!  When she greeted Sasha like she knew him he was again surprised.  He smiled goofily when she revealed she'd also brought something.  Now Sasha would never get over not having brought something. 

"All right, Abby?" 

He stepped back over the threshold more, opening the door wider.  "Come in, then.  Match'll start soon and I need to hex my wireless into subjugation or something.  Can't find the station."

He led the way back in the house, winding his way through the house to a back room.  On the way they passed the stairs where 11-year-old Frank Sellaphix was perched on the top stair to watch the arrivals. 

The family room had a couple couches and an armchair.  It had a hearth, but this one wasn't connected to the Floo.  The food was piled unceremoniously onto a coffee table in the middle of the room.

Figaro himself didn't sit, but went straight for the wireless which was spitting out garbled word-salad.

Raine’s father had done a double take earlier in the day when she asked to tag along if he was driving into London for business. “You were just there for the weekend,” he had referred to her business in Diagon Alley: “Hasn’t it worn you out yet, dear?”

Which was beside the point, even if her family had been up and down, house-hunting in the city all holiday. The point was that Abby Reid had asked her along to the Sellaphix household when they were roommates in Egypt and without thinking, Raine had said that she would be there!

Not that there was anything wrong with Figaro, or with Quidditch (which she rather enjoyed), or even with the idea of spending an afternoon in an unfamiliar social setting. Actually, no. That last one certainly made her ill-at-ease.

Once the engagement was briefly explained to Papa, getting to London had been a simple affair. He hadn’t been planning on readying the Daimler but as with most men who enjoyed their cars, Raine’s father was constantly looking for an excuse to drive his favourite ones. They had taken the usual highway by going through the Oxford city center and then heading down to the city, the Gryffindor riding shotgun with a box of assorted goods that their house elf had prepared.

Biscuits, crackers, fizzy sweets from a local shop and a tiny selection of chocolates that were molded to look like Snitches; they even fluttered their wings. A bottle of whiskey had been suggested but they were all underage and it was nowhere near Christmas yet.

Papa had left her at Marylebone with a purse of muggle money for the bus back to Oxford and the assurance of being home at a reasonable hour. Even after her sister's death, nobody really worried about leaving Raine alone. She’d found the correct street after wandering about for a while, and the correct home after consulting the sheet with the address Abby had given her.

Looking skeptically at the number “34” on the door, the witch gave it two rapid knocks—followed by two solid ones. She stood patiently in her blouse and jeans, holding the box at an awkward angle as a pair of blue eyes surveyed the neighborhood curiously. Voices and footsteps could be heard on the other side.

Muggle public transportation was probably the worst way to travel, Kelvin decided after spending several hours on the buses and trains getting to London. First he had had to borrow muggle money from his dad, he had left some galleons in its place but he wasn't sure of the current exchange rate.  Then a note for both of his parents telling them he would be back later and he was at a friend's house.  He almost hoped his mom would get angry enough to stop ignoring him and yell at him.  Anything would be better than the way she had been looking through him all summer pretending he didn't even exist.

Looking at the street sign, he was finally at the right street after first starting out in the wrong direction from the station.  He saw a short young woman standing at the door that Kelvin was pretty sure was Fig's home.  As he  neared the door, he recognized Raine.  Walking toward her, and Fig's home, Kelvin called out cheerily "Hey Raine."

The sound of door-knocking made it's way through the chatter and Figaro again turned his head and shouted across the whole house.

"COME IN!"

"Figaro!"  Zelda's footsteps followed her rebuke and she trotted down the narrow staircase as she grumbled about the neighbors and how they already found their family peculiar.  She opened the door to another pair of teenagers - one blonde and quite put together, the other a younger lad.  "They'e back through there."  Zelda Sellaphix nodded them through.

By the time they arrived in the family room, Figaro had almost finished fussing with the wireless.  The clock on the wall was at five minutes to 6.

Raine had barely enough time to say hello to Watkins, a Ravenclaw junior she vaguely knew, when a woman let them into the house and showed the two students through to the living room. Figaro appeared to be busy with the wireless, so the Gryffindor set down the box she had brought and called out to his back: "Good evening," before turning to smile tactfully at the other guests.

"Hello Sasha," she nodded  at her classmate and with a slightly wider, more amused smile, waved at the utterly recognizable squib sat on one of the couches: "Abby."

Not sure what to do with herself at first, Raine stood at the snacks table awkwardly for a moment, and then moved over to the couches to plant herself next to Reid: "Are you looking forward to the game?" she asked to the group at large in what she hoped was a conversational tone, as Sellaphix was still fiddling with the wireless.

Well of course they were, or else they wouldn't be here, but it seemed like a good question at the time.

Kelvin walked into the room behind Raine, noticing that he was so far the youngest person in the room, the rest all being a couple years older.   "Hey everyone," he said to room, before grabbing himself a snack from the coffee table and moving over to the spot on one of the couches furthest from the wireless.  He enjoyed quidditch, but it wasn't the end-all, be-all of his life, he came more for the company than the game.

"Are you looking forward to the game?" he heard Raine ask the room.

"Whose playing again?  I don't really keep up beyond the house quidditch cup."  Kelvin said before munching on some crisps.

"If only these muffins weren't delicious, I'd flame one up an' make it chase you, Figgy," she threatened with a smile, only for everyone minus one (Abby, they called her - name sounded familiar?) from Hogwarts to show up. Addie just went with it all, dropping the muffins at the food table, eyebrow raised at the cottage cheese.

Clearly something the Sellaphix abode enjoyed munching on, right?

She followed Fig towards the radio, waving faintly at those her brain didn't seem to recognize but still gave them the dazzling smile that Adelia Delacroix knew who they were. Then, the first derp moment of the night arose - Addie looked at Kelvin as though the guy had lost it.

Two people were in Falcons garb....

"Cannons versus Falcons at Falmouth. Guess who gets slaughtered. Need help from an old lady, Figs? Try a bit more to the right - that is, if yeh didn't already know that."

Despite Fig's reassurance to the contrary, Sasha wasn't convinced he wasn't supposed to have brought something.  Especially when Abby produced candy and Raine arrived with a variety of snack foods.  "I could order pizza or something," Sasha offered as he followed Abby and Fig to the living room. 

"Ja - who's playing?  I've been too distracted by the Robson Trophy game."  And, even though he played, he just wasn't in the habit of following quidditch outside of school.  Especially since the games couldn't be followed on the big screen.  It was Addie that offered the answer, though.  Actually, despite playing in general, Sasha wasn't the rabid quidditch fan most might expect. 

Sasha settled himself on a couch, nodding to the young man that seemed to arrive with Raine.  He recognized the fellow as a Ravenclaw though he wasn't sure he knew his name.  He then posed the potentially volatile question.  "Are we supposed to be rooting for a specific team?  Who's going to get slaughtered?"

"The Falcons!" Figaro and another kid barked an answer at Sasha in unison. 

"Pre-season exhibition match," he added.  The real season didn't start 'til August. 

Figaro's attention though was mostly on getting the match coming through.  Luckily Addie had the ticket.  He elbowed her lightly to establish his dominance over the boxy wireless device when suddenly loud and clear an announcer's voice came through the scrabble.

"- over Holyhead last season.  And tonight some eyes will be on the Falcon's bench at their new Beater Callum Knight.  Both he and Chudley's new keeper George Carter may well get a chance in the air.  Both are fresh out of Hogwarts and are well, what Dom Wiedman likes to call fresh meat! Sure to be an exciting match.  We go now to our sponsor..."

"Yes!" Figaro got up and backed away from the wireless as it continued on about cauldrons.  With the pre-game commentary up and piped through he could get to the party. 

"They're going to die," he claimed with a grin, plopping down on the couch next to Abby.  On his way he grabbed the tub of cottage cheese and a spoon.  He went on as he popped off the lid and worked at peeling away the plastic freshness film.

"Carter at least.  Wiedman will kill him the second he gets up in the air," he said merrily.  He had nothing against George.  Figaro'd be the first to be jealous of the guy who actually did what everyone else wanted to do - become a Quidditch player.  But you didn't play against Wiedman and expect to survive.  Man was an animal.

Abby glanced around the place curiously as she took a seat on the couch, noticing that unlike the opulence she was used to at Aileen's, Sasha's house, and Neely's, Fig's home was much more modest. But it had a comfortable, homey feeling to it. If she spilled a drink on the cushions, no one would sentence her to Azkaban.

"Raine! Glad you made it" She grinned in surprise at the new arrival, just now remembering that she had invited her in Egypt and hadn't given the host a head's up about it. Abby glanced at Fig, but he seemed as friendly and focused on the game as ever.

Abby shook her head and laughed at the younger boy and Sasha's clueless questions about the teams. "Falcons!" She exclaimed, as if she knew, when she had admittedly asked Fig the very same questions in a letter a while ago.

"Wow! So you knew them?" She looked around at the students sitting around her. "What were they like at school? All focused on Quidditch or did they have hidden depths?" Abby finished with a dramatic flair.