Term 6 - Winter Ball - Great Hall - Everyone

"Of course we're shoving a pumpkin pasty in her hair!" Aoife beamed. It looked like there was plenty of food to spare, anyway. "Let's go and get some food now before there isn't any good stuff left. Those wafers look nice." There probably would be some sort of magical, continuous supply of the good stuff, but just in case. And she was hungry.

After getting over to the huge tables filled with food, she immediately sought out the chocolate wafers, which she'd noticed Evan with earlier. He'd probably been snaffling some for himself, greedy moron. They were amazing wafers. The house elves deserved some thanks for these amazing little pieces of heaven. "Try one of these, Hunter. They are beautiful. Almost as beautiful as your perfect hair." Really beautiful. She got herself some pumpkin juice too, taking a big sip. All that decorating had her exhausted.

Aoife was just finishing her wafer when she noticed a mysterious figure in the room. Not a student. Not a professor. PARTY POOPER. She stared at him, slightly confused. Then he came over to them. "I helped. Me and this moron called Evan over there. And the old one talking to that professor over there. Her name is Ella. She's very pretty and clever. Why do you want to know, anyway? Are you trying to CRASH our party?" she asked suspiciously, but indicated the other two anyway. BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T HAVE THAT, COULD SHE?

Aoife didn't seem to put off - actually, she didn't seem put off at all. And then she mentioned food. "Great idea!" Hunter said enthusiastically. He suddenly became very aware of the fact that he was starving. He followed Aoife to the large buffet tables. They were piled high with delicious looking food and sweets, and of course Aoife went straight for the chocolate. Hunter had his eye on the chicken, but joined her by a bowl of chocolate wafers anyway.

Apparently, the wafers were what Aoife had her eye on. She usually went for the Bertie Botts first, but Hunter could agree that the wafers did look like a delicacy. Aoife tried them and then urged him to do the same, claiming that they were almost as beautiful as his hair. Hunter raised an eyebrow in amusement but didn't comment. Maybe one day he'd cut his hair short, just to see Aoife's reaction. But anyway, she was right. "These are amazing!" he said the moment he'd eaten one. He officially loved chocolate wafers.

Hunter grabbed another handful of wafers to save for later, just in case they ran out. Some guy that Hunter didn't recognize came over and asked Aoife about the decorations. As she started to answer him, Hunter snuck away. He couldn't contribute to that conversation, and he wanted food. There was no guarantee Aoife would leave the sweets table for the rest of the night, so this could be his only chance! He quickly grabbed a plate and piled it full of chicken, potatoes and various vegetables.   He grabbed a goblet of pumpkin juice and started back toward Aoife.

Wait, I should probably get her juice, too. Being the gentleman that he was, Hunter doubled back and grabbed another goblet from the table. He had to juggle the plate and goblets a bit to be able to carry them all, but he'd manage. Okay, now he could rejoin Aoife. When he was only a few paces away from her, he called to her, "Aoife, I got you some - " Uh oh.

His sentence cut off as his foot caught the ground awkwardly. He stumbled forward, and to his horror one of the goblets slipped from his grasp and flew across the short space. No! Hunter urged the goblet to fall short, or to veer left or right with his mind - maybe wizards could do that, who knew. But even if wizards could use mind control, Hunter definitely couldn't. He winced as Aoife was doused in pumpkin juice, her white dress stained orange. "I got you some pumpkin juice..." he finished his previous sentence lamely, still in shock that it had happened to begin with. He didn't even remember to say sorry.

Logan heard the news that there would be a Christmas ball in the Great Hall. When he heard, his mind drifted to the times when he'd been a student. He grinned and found a tux in his closet and took it on, wondering what it would be like to attend this ball. It was hosted by the students, something that was new to him. He would never had had the time to arrange a ball during his years on Hogwarts.

So, when he reached the Great Hall, first walking by three students in the Entrance Hall, he was astounded. It looked very nice. He definitely hadn't been expecting that. Everything had been done to the last detail, and it was really a very beautiful sight. And then he found himself surrounded by students. He had no idea who half of them were, but he did see another professor standing with an older-looking student. He put on a smile and walked over.

"Hello there. I'm Logan Stark, the new healer," he said with a smile to both the teacher and the student. "Who did all this?" he then asked, looking around, "Because this is amazing." He did feel a bit uncomfortable; he wasn't good at getting to know new people, but he knew it most often paid off.

Lucia looked up when another person joined them. And her first thought was: Woah…! She then almost had to stop herself from laughing out loud. With a healer like that… Well, students might feel obligated to be a bit more reckless. She then decided it was time to give him a nice smile. She could sense that he wasn't feeling very comfortable.

"I'm Lucia Henley, professor of potions and Head of Gryffindor," she said kindly, reaching out a hand. She then smiled at Ella. "Well, this girl right here seems to have done quite a few things. And then there's Mr. Williams and Ms. O'Donnell," she said, pointing them out from where they stood. She looked back at Logan.

"Are you settling in nicely?" she asked curiously.

For some reason, Kynan didn't want to let go. If he could, he would've held Maya there in his arms because if he let go, he felt like Maya would disappear again for ages and never come back. But then there was a voice behind them so he quickly pulled away in embarrassment. It was Morgana. The two girls seemed pleased to see each other, and he didn't question it. He greeted Morgana with a nod and smiled as the Slytherin decided that she couldn't settle on the gift giving and receiving. Kynan then said, "Hey, but Aylee got you a present. You should go check it out." Then when Morgana asked them how they were, he grinned. "Oh, I'm great!" Well, he wasn't as great before he had seen Maya but he ignored that thought.

Then he looked at Maya. "Oh my god!" Kynan exclaimed, putting his hand up to his forehead. "Aylee and I sent a Christmas present to your home! We didn't know you'd be coming back!"

Aylee couldn't help but laugh as Aoife and Hunter wriggled out of her hug. "Sorry!" she grinned. "But I loved your presents so much, you guys totally deserve a hug for it!" She nodded when the two younger students decided to go open their own presents, and she watched them leave. They look so cute together, she thought to herself, grinning. Then she realized that she probably looked mad, grinning for no apparent reason. So she decided to go talk to Ella. As Aylee was walking towards the girl, she noticed a very familiar person walk inside the Great Hall and talk to Professor Henley. She frowned, and then speed-walked towards the person. "Ethan? What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, confused. But her older brother was a Muggle, how was he in Hogwarts?

Logan was relieved when the professor proved to be very friendly. Lucia. He'd have to remember that; he was awful with names. He took her hand and gave her a smile. "It's nice to meet you," he said, glad to have met a co-worker. He then looked at the Slytherin girl standing there. "Well, this is very well done, I have to say," he said and looked around the Great Hall again. He was about to give more praise when a girl walked over, seemingly very surprised to see him.

He gave her a friendly smile and titled his head a bit to the side. "I'm afraid you've mixed me up with someone else. I'm Logan Stark, healer of Hogwarts," he said, a tad confused, but unable to hide the joy it gave him to be able to tell people his position.

"Ah, no. Not here to crash anything. I just wanted to say this looks wonderful and I'm gonna go talk to Ella." His eyes followed the dark headed girl like a puppy following a human with food. Anyone with eyes could see the instant attraction to her he held. It was almost as if had been shot with cupid's arrow.

Walking stiffly over to her, he fixed his tie and cleared his throat. "Uhm Ella..." he blushed before continuing, "may I have this dance?" He held out his hand as the music changed to play a slow song.

The person didn't seem to recognize Aylee, and this got her panicking for a moment before the man introduced himself. "You're the new healer?" she frowned, still confused. Then she shook her head and exclaimed, "Sorry, but you look just like my older brother! He's a Muggle, so I just got surprised there... um, sorry." She gave the man a quick nod and walked away with embarrassment. Then she decided to start reading Lucy's book so she walked towards the tables and sat down on a chair with silver hearts.

Morgana was surprised when Kynan told her that Aylee had bought her a present. She really hadn't expected any presents from anyone, but she felt that small feeling in her gut she got when she was happy. It wasn't like others' happiness, who mostly felt giddy and ready to burst their joy, but it was something. She was also curious about what it was that Aylee could've gotten her.

"I'll check it out," she said, but she didn't feel like entering the Great Hall at all. She really didn't like balls. Why had she come again? She then looked at Maya and Kynan, wondering if maybe she should go inside. They seemed to have missed each other a great deal. Morgana decided that it was time to enter the Great Hall after all.

"I'll see you inside," she then said and turned to the huge oak doors and her face fell into that of her usual face. She walked inside, and thought the Great Hall was beautiful, she didn't show it on her face. She saw the huge tree standing a bit off. She wasn't sure whether or not to go over and check, as she saw Aylee sitting in a corner by herself with a book in her hand.

Morgana walked over, Aylee being the only person here that Morgana actually liked to talk to. She sat down next to Aylee. "Hey," she said calmly, but didn't say much more, and studied the ball, giving Aylee the option to keep reading, though just not by herself.

Aoife saw true love. Even though Ella may not love the party pooper back. The older girl probably would though. People her age loved boys like the party pooper. Stupid, really. Lovesick, stinky teenagers. "Thanks. I'd advise you to keep away from Evan, by the way. And good luck with getting Ella to fall in love with you!" she called after him. Life was fun. She'd be checking on the kids a little bit later. They didn't want things to get too graphic. Obviously.

Surprisingly, she was about to move on to something a little more healthy when Hunter came back with a drink for her. It was bright orange, so hopefully pumpkin juice. Pumpkin juice was just about her second favourite wizard drink. Butterbeer being first, from the Hogsmeade trip, of course. But she didn't get to taste it to find out, because it was now nothing but a huge stain on her dress. Obviously she didn't mind. But she needed another one now.

"I think that looks nicer," Aoife nodded. "It may need more colour. You know, a few more stains from other stuff. But you should definitely get me another drink." Even though the juice was only a couple of feet away from her. LazyAoife.

"I'm..alright, thanks."  Maya replied to Morgana, not having the time to return the question as so many new people were arriving and entering the hall.  Truthfully Maya had been better, but she knew now wasn't the time to elaborate on her lack of interactions with the other students.  

Maya turned back to Kynan, oh yeah the presents! "My parents got them and sent them to me." Before she could help it Maya was overcome with emotion and wrapped her arms around Kynan once more, she quickly ended the embrace as she realised how silly and emotional she was being. Maya mumbled an embarrassed thank you, hoping Kynan knew how grateful she was.  She was overcome when she saw his Christmas present, first off she couldn't believe that Kynan had still remembered her, never mind gotten her such a thoughtful present. The present was another reason she was here, to see her friend again.

Maya watched as Morgana stepped through the threshold into the Great Hall.  "Maybe we should go in too?" Maya asked Kynan her previous awkwardness forgotten as she skulked in after Morgana.

((( OOC: I have a permission from Nasim to godmod the chair )))


Evan watched as Jennifer walked away from him and came to his ex-friend. Not saying a word, she tore her present picture and poured the pieces over Aoife's head. Cool. So badass. Such a style. Now this little midget probably won't annoy Jen with stupid presents anymore! Evan would never do something like that himself though.

Then he noticed Aoife eating the poisoned chocolate wafers. And then she told Hunter to eat some too. Take that. No one can simply accuse me of cheating and break a friendship with me in such a rude manner. Deep inside Evan was really sorry about all this. Deep deep inside.

From time to time Evan glanced at his special chairs in case Darcy was about to sit on one of them. If he noticed that, he could try to prevent his trap from activating by distracting his Veela friend.

Aylee sat on one of Evan's chairs, not knowing about the dangerous trap that was awaiting her. But Evan was too busy observing Jen's cool and stylish insults to notice Aylee. He would definitely try to save her because of the present he got, but the right moment was missed. After a couple of seconds Aylee spent on the chair, its two legs disappeared, what was supposed to lead a sitting person to fall down in not so graceful way. This disappearance was delayed by several seconds to let the victim get something from the table. Having a drink in a hand could lead to the most humiliating results. The only thing that could save Aylee was good reaction (either hers or people's around).

No matter what he did, Hunter couldn't stop staring at the place where the pumpkin juice had collided with Aoife's dress. Miraculously, he'd managed to hang onto his plate and the second goblet, but that hardly mattered now. That didn't just happen. Aoife would hate him for sure. And he'd probably be doomed in future years, if there was ever another ball. Nobody would ever go with him, because he'd be forever remembered as the boy who spilled pumpkin juice on that girl's white dress. Not that he had gone to this ball with Aoife. But still.

But, Aoife never failed to surprise him. She just responded by saying that her dress looked nicer that way. NICER. She didn't even look shocked! And she didn't stop there, but continued on about how she may need to stain it with some other things to make it more colorful. Hunter was still staring at her, open-mouthed, but with an incredulous gaze this time instead of a horrified one. He didn't even laugh, which was unlike him. He always seemed to make the mistake of thinking that Aoife had to be, at some level, at least part girl. But he was wrong. A girl would have yelled or smacked him or poured juice on him back. Aoife thought he'd done her a favor.

Hunter didn't snap out of his shock until Aoife said something about getting her another drink. He still felt bad for what happened, so he didn't even think twice about setting his plate and goblet down on the buffet without a word and rushing off to grab her another pumpkin juice. He would not spill this one. He grabbed a pile of napkins as well on his way past them as well.

"Here," he said, the first word he'd managed to utter since the incident, as he pushed the full goblet of pumpkin juice into her hands. "And here," he said again, handing her the napkins. "If you're going to be more colorful, you at least shouldn't have to be dripping wet." He wanted to apologize, but that's what you would do to a normal person. So naturally, with Aoife, he should do the opposite. So he said, "At least you don't look plain anymore," instead. He even managed to crack a grin. That was a good thing, because once he started grinning, the whole thing seemed a lot funnier and he actually started laughing.

Hunter grabbed his plate from where he left it and took a bite of chicken, glancing around the room. It was beginning to fill up and become more lively. He happened to catch sight of Aylee sitting down in a chair, and his eyebrows raised in surprise as the back legs of the chair disappeared and the chair began to fall backward. "Aoife, look!" His first instinct was to try to catch her, but they were too far away. He wouldn't get there in time. So he called across the great hall instead. "Aylee, look out!" It probably wouldn't make a difference, though.

Why was his mouth open like that. "Close your mouth, Hunter," Aoife grinned. It was weird how he ran so fast towards the pumpkin juice to get her another drink. She'd been joking. Partly. But she didn't object and carefully took the drink. If she could find a drink in a different colour, she'd spill that on her dress as well, later. She had read about a colour-changing spell, though, earlier in the week. If there wasn't much, she could make green pumpkin juice!

Oh, that was nice. He'd picked up some napkins for her as well. She rubbed at the pumpkin juice stain on her dress, only smudging it and spreading it more but drying it, still. "I know, it's a good improvement, isn't it?" Hunter was a genius. He should get a career in wizard fashion. Whatever wizard fashion could be.

Aoife's head snapped up when Hunter told her to look at something. It was just Aylee on a chair. Oops, Aylee on a chair which had broken back legs. Oh, no! Hopefully she'd be alright. Her best friend had already warned her, but he may not have been quick enough. While it may be more kind to think about Aylee's safety, the Gryffindor's mind was already at work thinking about how it had happened. DetectiveAoife.

Three people had been there to set up. Nobody else had been in the hall, unless under a spell to make them invisible, or else she would have seen them. But who would have bothered? If she deducted that option, three people were left. It wasn't Aoife, definitely. That left Evan and Ella. As little as she knew the Slytherin girl, why would she try to sabotage the party she'd worked so hard on? Therefore, it was Evan. That didn't surprise her.

He was getting drilled on what he knew later on. But for now, she sent a glare his way.

As soon as she opened the book to the first page, Aylee heard a voice which got her to look up and smile. "Hi Morgan-aaaah!" her happy greeting turning into a loud yell as she felt herself falling backwards. In the distance, she heard someone telling her to look out but it was too late. Somehow, the chair which she had just sat on had its' back legs broken or was jinxed so the person sitting on it would fall down. Aylee dropped her book to the ground as she was being pulled backwards, managed to hit her head on the table and fall flat on her back. "Ow," she muttered loudly, not in pain but in frustration. She quickly sat up, rubbed her head and discretely pushed the book under the table. She could pick that up later.

It seemed like Aylee had attracted a few other students' attention, so she just let out a laugh to let everyone know that she was fine. Well, her head was hurting her now so she might have a bruise. Slowly, she picked herself up, using the tables for support and leaned against them. She wasn't going to be trusting chairs for a while now.

Ella smiled as she received compliments left and right for the decorations. As she listened to the professor talk, she looked around to see who all had shown up. She noticed a lot of younger students but not as many old. She was happy to be left alone once the professor left, as she wasn't one for interaction. However, a ministry worker, he looked too young, came and asked her to dance.

She thought about declining him, but upon looking at him closer, he was pretty cute. Smiling, she took his hand and nodded slightly.

"Thanks for your present, Evan," Jen beamed. "I needed a new Sneakoscope because my old one broke." Well, she had thrown it at a wall in a fit of anger but same thing, pretty much. It had still got broken. And the new one was very nice. It was good that he'd got her something useful. Nice as Wade's ring was, she probably wouldn't actually wear it that often.

It was hard not to turn back and shout at Aoife when she heard the younger girl call after her, but she inhaled quietly and carried on walking. Having fun with a box? Yeah right. She was still pleased with her presents to the two annoying first years. When she glanced back at them a little later, Jennifer giggled. Hunter had spilled pumpkin juice over his friend's dress. It wasn't quite as funny when Aoife seemed pleased with him. Her dress was pretty disgusting on her.

By the looks of things, a girl had found one of Evan's enchanted chairs. The girl Wade had called a mudblood and who she'd got into another snowball fight with. It was done very well. And it hadn't seriously hurt her, so even if someone found Evan out, he couldn't be badly told off because nothing really bad had happened. "Nicely done," she whispered. He was clever.

"You're welcome," Evan replied happily. "Your present is very nice too, even if it can't detect presence of evil." Sneakoscopes. That was exactly what Jen and Evan needed the most now, because no one knew what dirty tricks Aoife could perform to get her revenge. With her charming personality and a farmboy sidekick around, she was definitely able for some serious actions. "I'm sorry for your loss. I hope this one will serve you better," Evan said not so happily this time. Being too happy wasn't the best thing to do when this monster of a little girl was threatening their lives. Well, Aoife wasn't really a monster and their lives wasn't actually in danger, but team Evifer needed to be cautious. They couldn't afford any more Sneakoscope breakdowns.

"It looked impressive when you tore down that photo. So stylish," Evan smiled. Stylish. That was the word that suited Jen so well. Her sparkly dress and defiant actions, they definitely had style. So when Evan got a compliment from her about neatly enchanted chairs, he was very pleased. "Thanks," he whispered. "I'm glad you like it. These chairs make the party a little more.. dynamic." Dynamic. Evan hoped it sounded cool enough to match Jen's style.

Hunter spilled some juice on Aoife's white dress and she said that it looked better now. Silly girl. You dress was awful both before and after the spilling. Equally awful. The tiny Gryffindor had no idea what a helpful friend should look like, obviously. Hunter was way too clumsy to be a good sidekick. Evan, on the other hand, was assisted by beautiful and nice mastermind Jen. He smiled at his Evifer teammate and thought, How wonderful that I finally understand how to choose good friends!

Now that Hunter was over his shock and really took the time too look at it, her dress actually did look better with the extra splash of color on it. It looked a bit more like something Aoife would actually wear, though not much because it was still a dress after all. "A very good improvement," he agreed when she stressed the fact that she thought it looked nice. "Especially since you didn't hit me when it happened," he added with a grin.

Apparently his warning hadn't done any good, because Aylee didn't manage to catch herself. The chair crashed to the ground, and so did Aylee. Hunter grimaced as he watched her head smack off of the table. She managed to pull herself up, and seemed okay, but she was probably really embarrassed. Hunter wasn't sure whether or not they should go and see how she was, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to the girl. He turned to ask Aoife - "Should we go over there?" - and noticed that she was glaring in Evan's direction.

The fact that she was glaring at Evan wasn't much of a surprise, considering the snowball fight incident, but she seemed to be glaring at him because of the chair. Suddenly, Hunter realized that back legs didn't just disappear off of chairs. Someone had to have made the chair do that on purpose, and it made sense that it would be someone who set up the party. Of course it wasn't Aoife, so that only left two other people. "You think he did it?" he asked her, turning to look at Evan as well.

When Andre had heard that there was going to be a ball, he'd been ecstatic. Balls were wonderful! Food and music and intriguing decorations! And of course, lots of people to talk to. He made sure to dawn his best set of bright purple dress robes, and popped his good beret - which looked basically the same as his normal beret - onto his head before leaving his living quarters. I bet zey will even 'ave some french delicacies! After tucking his magnifying glass into his pocket - you never knew what you'd want to get a closer look at - he made his way down toward the great hall.

As he entered and looked around, Andre beamed. "Why, zese decorations are marvelous! Zey 'ave such detail and beauty!" he exclaimed as he looked around himself. Now, where should he go first? Ze food, certainly. Zere will be time for other zings later! However, he never made it to the buffet tables. Because as he was on his way there he caught sight of something interesting - a chair seemed to have deposited a girl on the floor. Why, zis girl is in my class! He must investigate!

Aylee had pulled herself back to a standing position by the time Andre had bustled over. "Mademoiselle!" he exclaimed. "'ave you been 'urt?" As he waited for the girl to answer, he kneeled down on the floor to inspect the chair, which was conspicuously missing its back legs. After a moment of staring at it, he looked up at the girl. "Zis is most unusual. It is obvious what 'as 'appened." And it was obvious. Very obvious. "You 'ave done somezing to offend zis chair, and so it 'as deposited you on your bottom." What other explanation could there be, after all?

Pulling himself to his feet, he realized that he had seen Aylee hit her head when she fell. "Per'aps you should take a seat, Mademoiselle. But in a different chair." Because this one was too inured to continue doing its job. "But per'aps you should be kinder to ze next one you sit in," he suggested. "Apparently, zese chairs are not to be underestimated!"

Especially since she didn't hit him. That was something to work on. Aoife slapped him gently on his arm. At least, she intended it to be gentle. While small, she was strong. It was probably quite hard then, actually. "Oops, sorry," she smiled sweetly. At least, she intended it to sound sweet. It probably didn't though.

"We could, but- PROFESSOR LEBLANC! HI PROFESSOR!" she beamed, turning towards Hunter. "That's my professor friend! He is French! I accidentally went into his class for third-years and up, but he was very nice!" Just so he understood the relationship between the two. French people were just so incredibly cool, especially Professor Leblanc.

HUNTER WHY WAS HE SO THICK? NOW SHE HAD TO EXPLAIN HER REASONING. "Of course he did it," Aoife sighed dramatically. "Who would bother to sneak in while we were setting up? It's just a stupid school party - I wanted it to be a cool sheep theme, but nobody agreed - and it wouldn't be worth it. That leaves us three. I didn't do it, I swear. Ella wouldn't sabotage the party she's worked so hard on and Evan? Just look at it." She'd had to skim through it because they needed to take action.

So..."We could go to Aylee, but I think my French friend has it. So we need to think about how we are going to go about facing Evan, that heartless, evil dinosaur who I USED TO LIKE."

Darcy gave a smile at how everyone seemed so happy. It made her feel happy. She separated a bit from the gang, going to check if her presents had been opened yet, and noticed that some of them were gone. She smiled, hoping they were all pleased. She then noticed a tag that said 'to Darcy'. She grinned and stooped down to get it, noticing one more, and another. She felt a lump in her throat: she honestly hadn't expected any presents. At all! And now she had three!

She grinned and picked up one. It was from Lucy! She opened the wrappings and blinked. That was the sweetest top she had ever seen! And the shorts! They were epic! She could totally wear it during summer events in London! She loved summer events! And Bertie Bott's! And the Chocolate Frog! Not to mention the beautiful ring! She immediately put it on her finger and looked at it. Lucy was great!

She picked up another present, this one from Aoife! She hadn't expected one from her, even though she had bought one for her. She opened it and grinned at the Bertie Bott's and Chocolate Frog. And the pendant was really sweet. She smiled happily and, after a few failed attempts, she managed to put it around her wrist. She looked around and saw Aoife standing with Hunter. She would definitely get a hug afterwards!

Darcy then found a present from Kynan and Aylee. She looked curiously at the wrapping and then opened it. She blinked, her eyes huge. A camera?! Were they crazy?! Or simply rich? Either way, Darcy wasn't complaining. She loved the bag as well, and the trinket box was exactly what she needed. She grinned happily and looked around again, trying to spot Aylee and Kynan.

She did spot Aylee, but not at a good time. The girl seemed to have sat on a bad chair and was currently falling down to the ground. Darcy was about to raise and walk over when one of the new professors walked over. Darcy fell back again, hoping Aylee was okay. She couldn't spot Kynan, though.

Darcy then found a present from Ryland. She couldn't guess what it was, as it was both soft and hard. She opened it and blinked. She then felt tears in the corner of her eyes. And, no, it wasn't because of the extremely beautiful dress (which she was beyond happy about) and not the Grinch either (even though it was her favorite childhood book, and she could've cried about that too), but because of the pendant. The fact that Ryland even knew she had a sister... Darcy beamed to herself, knowing her sister would be immensely happy about this pendant. Darcy sighed. Ryland was too considerate. She really did love him. He was amazing! WHY WASN'T HE THERE?! She took a deep breath and relaxed, getting a hold of herself.

Thinking she'd opened all her presents - and very happy about it - she packed them down to their boxes again and was about to rise again when she spotted a small gift by her side. She felt a small smile on her lips when she saw that it was from Evan. She opened it slowly, curious to what it could be. When it was completely open, she took the thing out and studied it. She then grinned. It was a sneakoscope! She gave a laugh and looked around to see if she could see Evan. She saw him standing by a Slytherin girl. She looked back down at the sneakoscope. How considerate of him! She had always wanted one of those things, but her parents had always said how unnecessary they were, and how much noise they made. Well, sucks for them right?

She jumped up, and hurried over to Evan, giving him a big hug. "Thanks so much, Evan! I really wanted a sneakoscope!" she said happily. She might've hugged him a bit longer than necessary, but who cared? She broke from the hug and gave a big smile.

"Hey!" Hunter exclaimed in mock offense as Aoife's hand came in contact with his arm. "That's hardly the way to treat someone who has just drastically improved your wardrobe." He could see that she was slowly developing the habit of hitting him whenever she saw fit. "So, should I pretend like that actually hurt to spare your feelings?" Hunter asked her casually. "Or would you prefer the truth instead?" He couldn't hold back his grin for very long.

Aoife started to answer his question about checking on Aylee, but cut herself off almost immediately. She was calling across the room to some Professor Leblanc person that Hunter had never heard of before. He turned to see an interesting looking wizard in purple robes. Luckily, he didn't have to ask because Aoife jumped right into the explanation. Apparently the man was Aoife's friend, even though he was a professor. And apparently he was french.

Hunter would have to ask Aoife more about the man later, because she also delved right into her explanation about the chair and Evan. Aoife swore that it wasn't her - Hunter had never really thought it was. "It must be him," Hunter agreed, sending his own glare in Evan's direction. If he was being honest, it was much easier to take Aoife's word for it just to have the excuse to glare at the Ravenclaw boy. Hunter was just a bit biased against him.

"What are we going to do about it?" Hunter questioned in an undertone when Aoife mentioned facing Evan. "We can hardly get him back right now, especially with Jen right there next to him. She'd jinx us in a second." Hunter thought for a minute, but nothing brilliant came to him. "And we hardly know any proper spells," he added. That was really an unfortunate part of being a first year. "Maybe we could get him to sit in one of his own chairs somehow?" Only that was a bad idea too - Evan wouldn't be dumb enough to sit in one of the chairs that he'd jinxed himself.

Leila wasn't really into parties, but after feeling bored she decided to come to the winter ball at school. Hm, hopefully i'll see Hunter, maybe then i won't feel so stupid in this dress. Walking towards the great hall made Leila nervous, she wasn't used to going to parties, as she walked in, Leila was in awe, the great hall was decorated so beautifully, there was even snow.

As she looked around, she couldn't help feel lonely, everybody was there, either with friends or on dates, and here she was alone, God,i hope i see someone i know here. As she was beginning to feel her feet getting tired, she heard the familiar voice of Hunter, she looked around and there he was, standing next to rather short girl in a white dress, Hm that must be Aoife.

She decided to walk to them, and say hi to Hunter, "Hey Hunter!!"

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Leila's dress:


Leila's shoes:


Leila's accessories: