That Is Mahogany! [August 1992]

[Jett Holloway]

[mature]Underage drinking ahead.[/mature]

Summers were meant to be a relaxing time, Jett Holloway thought. But, as it turned out, it was quite hard to relax in their home. Uncle Darius had a relapse earlier in the Summer, which resulted in Dad stressing out and taking care of him, Mum stressing out in general and taking it out on everyone, like she always did. It also meant that Jett's annoying cousin Viola was staying over at their place again, but she hung out with Thisbe mostly so it was alright. If they weren't busy being stressed, everyone was obsessing over Sophia who had performed magic for the first time a week ago, and now ran all over the house chanting 'I'm a Witch! I'm a Witch!', which really got on Jett's nerves. Having a seven-year-old around was definitely not fun.

Another thing they were raving about was that his brother, Raphael Holloway had made it as a fully fledged Healer. He had officially moved out and rented an apartment in London, ready to start his new job. How obsessed everyone was with him also got on Jett's nerves, to him it really was no big deal. He had graduated ages ago, it was about time he finally got a proper job. But Raphael's job had incidentally provided Jett with an excellent opportunity for fun. The entire family was staying over at the new apartment in London, apparently to celebrate or something utterly ridiculous like that. Jett had informed his family that he wanted to use an evening in peace to prepare for next school year, since he had his new schoolbooks already. After some convincing, they had finally agreed, and Jett now had the house to himself for the night. This was amazing, especially to fifteen-year-old Jett.

Of course, the first thing he did was send the family owl with little notes to his two best friends, Marina and Gigi. The note had said: 'Guys, I have the house to myself tonight. Come over ASAP. Bring booze, - J.' This was a rare occasion, that the entire Holloway family, except Jett, were gone. So he had decided, they simply had to make the most of this opportunity. The Holloways had a large home, and if there was alcohol involved they would find enough to do.

Jett Holloway was feeling extremely proud of himself, as he lounged around on the couch, waiting for his friends to arrive. This was going to be good.

[Marina Warren]

The message had been received with much vigor that day, starting off with the completely and utterly so bored out of her mind waitress Marina Vyttoria Warren. Like always, the start of the day concluded solely of the fish fryer as an alarm clock and trudging downstairs towards the linear tiled shop, sleepily grumbling behind the chipping cashier. Boring- an utterly and most inept boredom that clung to Marina constantly as she railed through her rare summer holidays. But she felt bad for her oblivious father who withered in his daughters absence and Marina as his only other family member, felt the need abide to working and being around her dad as much as possible before her departure again back to Hogwarts.

But it was boring. It was the only legitimate way to put things as. The place reeked- reeked of oil and grease and gritty bones and beer batter, and Marina just had to get out, escape. And so whenever Gladys or Jett invited her over to their significantly larger country houses, it was always a definite yes to the blonde Rapunzel-esque 15 year old. Plastic bags full of beer stolen from the storage cupboards that were initially used for the fish batter clanged by the willowy girls side as she unboarded the bus from town. It took a great while to get to Jett and Glady’s place, painfully and often she was resent with jealousy over the fact that her two best friends could see each other whenever they wanted whilst a good hour or so was needed in Marina’s situation.

But she was desperate- oh so desperate and as she briskly walked towards the front door of Rocket’s house, Rina couldn’t help but smile ecstatically over her renowned sensation of freedom. As if manners were abided in this situation, the girl blatantly barged through the door and into the Holloway’s threshold, dumping the contents of the plastic bag at her feet. “Rocket, you better have a spare toothbrush, I’m sleeping over.” Was the blonde haired dryad’s call , finally intent with the bliss of not having to work.

[Gladys Rumbleroar]

Summer. Long, languid summer of endless procrastination of holiday assignments, tinkering with her doll-sized Quidditch stadium, and playing Quidditch with Patrick, Peter, and more than often Jett. There was nothing in the world that appealed to Gladys Kyla Rumbleroar more than being able to procrastinate. She'd spent most of the afternoon napping, reading, listening to music and more napping. One would've expected her to be lounging about at her neighbours', but her living arrangements with her best friend became significantly less exciting when that had been how it was for all of her life. Or so she thought. When the familiar Holloway owl came swooping through the window of her bedroom and woke her up from her nap with a bird-human war over ownership of her blanket, Gigi almost considered sending lazy ol' Jett a Howler right back through that small peek hole which they had in the wall just right above the left post of her bed's headboard and the right of his.

Living next door to her best friend did have its perks. For the sake of the hangout later, however, Gladys merely snatched her blanket back from the Holloways' owl and sent it on its way to Marina's before yawning her way down into the kitchen to whip up a quick dessert. Whilst she wasn't always a whiz in the kitchen department, there were certain desserts that the young girl could master flawlessly. She pulled out a tall bottle of Cointreau from the cooking-alcohol cabinet and added a fair amount of the triple sec to the dessert, being particularly careful to look around her shoulder and to make sure that she left enough in the bottle to be conspicuous.

After that, the fifteen-year-old poised herself under the stairs and raised her voice to her parents, practically simply informing them of her absence of the night before then. It was after all nothing new for the trio of best friends to have sleepovers. Leon and Lia were more than accustomed to the ritual. Just like that, carrying nothing but a gigantic glass bowl of fatteningly sweet, alcoholic Eton mess, the brunette slipped out of her house through the back porch behind the kitchen, padded her bare feet across the backyard, up the wooden steps of the Holloways' back porch and through their kitchen door, closing it behind her and latching on the lock. She was just in time to hear Marina's voice ringing out from the living room.

"Yeah, you better. You're going to need a trip to the dentist otherwise with the amount of sugar you're going to be shovelling down your throat," she called out simply, not a trace of jest in her voice as she moved towards the Holloways' cutlery drawer and withdrew three spoons.

[Jett Holloway]

Jett was so used to his friends coming over randomly, and even sleeping over, that he now rarely even bothered to say hello. The three of them were so very used to each other's company, Gigi and Marina treated his house like it was their own, pretty much. He did the same to them, so it was alright.

He was about to tell Marina that all was cool, when suddenly Gladys' voice appeared, coming from the kitchen. She had come through the back door probably, like she always did.

"Okay, I think we have enough cans of beer to last us for weeks," Jett chuckled as he looked at the contents of Marina's plastic bags. He immediately reached down, grabbed a can of beer and opened it. "Don't worry about the toothbrush, Soph has about five that she doesn't use and probably won't miss." For a seven-year-old girl, she was surprisingly obsessed with keeping her teeth healthy.

[Marina Warren]

"They better not be princess-themed. Wanker." Marina said dismissively, taking one of the printed cans of liquid from the bag and cracking open the lid. Despite the current rebellious situation, she downed her drink with elegance, flourishing her head back and slowly drinking the sparkling contents. Class was something that she had always clung onto, despite anything.

[Gladys Rumbleroar]

"You like being a gutter rat then?" Gladys leaned against the archway, still cradling the gigantic bowl as she picked up one of the spoons and scooped a generous bite of the dessert, feeding it into her mouth with her almost intense gaze flitting between her best friends.

[Jett Holloway]

"Probably," Jett nodded, as if he knew exactly what Marina liked, and took a swig from his beer can. This definitely was cool, it wasn't often that his entire family were all out at the same time. That was one of the many disadvantages of having a large family, there was always someone around the house.

"But I wouldn't worry about princesses, the midget has been really into dinosaurs lately," Jett shrugged. Calling his sister a 'midget' had originally started out as a joke, but nowadays he rarely called her anything else.

[Marina Warren]

"Eugh even worse. I'm going to feel like I'm giving a scaly obese lizard head." Marina shuddered, taking another swig of her can. She was never remotely rebellious but when the time and opportunity called... why the hell not? "Gladys, be a dear and come join us on the couch so that we can all tuck into that lovely dessert of yours?" Her voice was sugar-spun with sweetness as she bat her elongated eyelashes at her brunette best friend, smirking.