Ella's Baby Shower

Ella's abdomen stuck out even farther as she toddled around setting up the remaining decorations for her baby shower. She was so excited to see what everyone would say once they found out she was having a little girl. Secretly, she wished it was a boy, but it's okay. Carefully, Rhys set her beautiful cake on the table in front of her so she didn't have to pick it up. After all, it was a pretty heavy cake. Next she set out green eggs and ham snacks, cotton candy and cute bar soaps. Finally, once she finished inside, she set up the outside with cute signs and blue and pink balloons. Double checking over everything, she and Rhys walked to the door and opened it as the first ring of the doorbell came.


((Sorry it's short, as people post, I'll probably post more descriptions.))

Aoife wasn’t entirely sure why she had been invited to a baby shower. It was Ella’s, the girl who she’d helped organise the Christmas party with a couple of years ago but since had not been in contact with at all. But it wasn’t like her to decline a party where there would probably be free food, so she decided to take up the offer and waste a day of her holiday at some party. Maybe she’d be bored out of her mind, but it would be worth it for food and maybe a free gift or something for turning up.

In the holidays, she had become much closer with her sister. On this occasion, Claire had helped her with “fashionable input”, which basically meant telling her when things weren’t perfectly colour-coordinated and bossing her around. Because she wanted to look nice, she put up with it for once, but she drew the line at being told to wear pink. Aoife didn’t care whether the baby was a boy or a girl, but she refused to wear anything that hideous colour, no matter the occasion. Blue was a nice colour. She could live with that. In the end, she thought she looked very nice, with her pretty outfit, but that didn’t mean much, what with her having absolutely no fashion sense.

When she arrived, she straight away noticed the pink and blue balloons decorating the exterior of the very nice house. She rang the doorbell eagerly, clutching the presents she had brought to her chest. For the baby, a little box held a folded up knitted blanket which she had made herself. It was dark blue with messy yellow stars so it didn’t really matter if it was a boy or a girl! She also had a pink pillow for Ella, because she hadn’t been sure what pregnant women were into. Pillows were nice.

Ella and the man who was probably her husband both answered the door and she beamed happily at them. “Hello Ella! Hello Ella’s man friend!” she said, holding out the two presents for the girl to take.

"Rhys. Rhys Riddle." Rhys had replied with a smile to the girl. As Ella handed him the presents from her, they stepped to the side to let her in. "Welcome to the Riddle home." Rhys beamed pretty proud of the way their house looked. She must be Aoife, he thought, the bubbly red-haired Gryffindor who'd helped with the Christmas party the year I'd met Ella. Rhys beamed at the thought of meeting his lady for the first as he walked over to set the presents on the present table. He was excited for Ella to see what he had gotten the baby, he was sure she'd love it.

He let Ella talk to the girl and occupy herself while her ran upstairs to the nursery closet to get the gift. Carefully, he hauled the huge wrapped box containing a beautiful pram that changes to a pushchair and includes a car seat and down the stairs and set it beside the table. He also set down a small box containing a diaper bag, clothes, a blanket and some bibs. After taking a quick breather, he reappeared beside them waiting for more guests to arrive. He really wanted to make this the best moment of Ella's life, besides her wedding and the birth of their child/children.

Her aunt lived in Bristol, so Jen stayed with the woman for a couple of days before Ella's baby shower. She wasn't sure about why she had been invited. She barely knew Ella and it had been a bit awkward when they met a while ago. Still, she was going because she was curious about how things would turn out. On the day, she made sure to beautify herself up to look presentable and perfect at the little baby shower. The invitation said to wear pink or blue but she didn't care about the baby's gender so she just wore a purple dress. That was sort of a mix of the two, wasn't it?

Pram in tow, she arrived at Ella's house hopefully on time. A small redhead was already there. Seriously? Why had Ella invited that uncivilised annoying monkey child to what should be a sophisticated social event? But being the mature adult she was, Jennifer shrugged it off and walked elegantly up towards the door, where she could see Ella and Rhys.

"Hello," she smiled politely. Then she offered her hand to Rhys to shake. She didn't believe she had talked to him before, just seen him around the ministry. "Pleasure to meet you." In the other hand she held a small gift bag, containing both a nice necklace for Ella and a little soft toy for her brat. She'd hand them over later.

That was such a funny name! Rhys, Rhys Riddle. "Nice to meet you, Mr Rhys Rhys Riddle!" Aoife beamed. "Remember to be good to my Ella. if you make her sad, I will personally kill you with a tickling charm." Just a polite warming. "By the way, my name is Aoife. Aoife O’Donnell!” She would hope that Ella had already told her man friend about the coolest kid she had ever known, but just in case she hadn’t, an introduction was a good idea. Then he was off into the house and she waved to him, even though his back was turned.

The next guest to arrive wasn’t a pleasant one. Only the other day she had met Jennifer Moss, and it seemed the woman hadn’t matured at all, even if she did have a child. It did make sense that she was invited, since she would have been Ella’s housemate/best friend, but it was annoying that she had decided to show up. Aoife just ignored her and took a step into the house, marvelling at how posh and nice it was. Ooh, this was the Riddle house.

As Ella let Aoife in, Jen came up with Grace. "Hello." she replied back calmly. "This is Rhys Riddle." she introduced Jen and Rhys as they shook hands. Ella let Jen in as well before taking a seat in one of the soft armchairs.

She was already exhausted. She allowed them to help themselves to whatever food they wanted, just not the cake yet. She wore black leggings and a white v neck shirt. She was barefoot as well because her feet began swelling while she wore shoes and it was rather annoying.

It was obvious that Aoife was in love with the house, just as long as she didn't break anything. Jen was a different person, very hard to read unlike the annoying Gryffindor. Aoife was okay at times, but then other times, she was rather annoying. "Anyone want a drink?"

Lucy had forgiven everyone. It had taken her a long time, of course, but she could handle being in a room with Ella. Given that she could now freely talk to her old friend again without feeling the need to rip her head off and yell at her for betraying everyone. It seemed, however, that she would actually cry and hug the girl instead of murder her. Being known for going over the top when it came to gift-giving, Lucy coordinated Luca to bring in a gift too. He'd refused to put his name on the card as he didn't know the couple very well, but so Lucy carried one gift bag as she walked towards their residence, Seaside Riddles.

"What's the girl's name, again?" she heard Luca ask as they were a couple feet from the door. Lucy held the gift bag tightly, "Ella's the mother, Rhys is the father." she said clearly as she reached out to knock on the door. Flashing Luca a smile, and seeing him smile back, she checked that he had the other gift bag. She had gotten three things for the little one, and a watch for Rhys along with a dress for Ella. However, her favorite gift was a painting she'd found at a small art store; it was of two girls, one with blonde hair, and one with dark hair. Lucy was sure that Ella would know who the painting was supposed to be about.

THE GIFTS:

According to Aylee's mother, it was a nice thing to do to show up to an old school friend's baby shower. If it was up to Aylee, the girl would rather have stayed at home, curled up in her bed or something. But she couldn't because her mother was forcing her to "not lose any friends". "It's not like as if I have any friends who make any effort to contact me at all," Aylee grumbled. It was honestly stupid, in her opinion, but then Kynan got to receive an invitation as well. So then, it was a sin to not go. None of them had made any effort to get a gift or anything, either. It was their mother who had dug out some of their old soft toys and gotten Aylee to write a little note for it. Kynan was probably as uninterested as Aylee about it all, because they had become loners over the past few years and the two of them knew that they had nothing to look forward to there.

On the evening of the party, Aylee and Kynan quickly got ready and, with Aylee's cool magic skills, apparated to Ella's and Rhys's home. They were about a mile off from the house, but none of them said anything or complained. The two walked towards the house without any thought. Although the invitation told them to wear the colour of the gender they wanted the baby to be, Aylee didn't wear any of them. She wasn't on any side. Kynan had worn a simple t-shirt and some blue pants which made him look silly, but he didn't care.

When they arrived in front of the house, Aylee handed the baby's present to Kynan, because she was tired of carrying it already. She was surprised to see Lucy and another guy that she didn't know about. Probably a boyfriend. Figuring that the two had already rang the doorbell, she just stood behind them and flashed Lucy a small smile. She didn't speak- she wasn't planning on socialising at all that night.

Hearing the doorbell once more, Ella slowly stood up and answered the door. Some familiar faces stood facing back at her. "Lucy, Lucy's friend, Aylee, Kynan!" Ella said excitingly, stepping to the side to let them in.

After introductions were made, she pointed to various places, "There's the present table, there's the food and there's some deserts over there." she smiled. "You're more than welcome to help yourself to whatever as well as have a seat and chat." She wondered where Rhys had went to, he was supposed to be helping her so she didn't get too exhausted.

Rhys appeared back in his female overrun house with a small pop, Tessa by his side. He knew Ella was probably irritated as he'd been gone awhile. Usually, she knew where he went when he was overwhelmed and stressed, but he should've at least told her. Guess he'll be in the dog house tonight.

He walked over to her quietly and sat down, thinking of the delicious cake. Queitly he asked if she was ready to cut the cake for the big reveal and open presents so he could bring them and set them up in the nursery, which had been redone twice before they decided it looked good.

Remembering Tessa, he introduced her to Ella, "This is Tessa, she's a co-worker, you may have seen her around the office." he smiled.

Tessa nervously entered the baby shower with Rhys at her side. She didnt really know anyone at the party except for him. When she was introduced to the famous Ella, Tessa smiled and held out her hand, "Pleasure to meet you, Ella. I've heard many great things about you."

She tried not to let her nervousness get the best of her. Maybe she could even enjoy herself and have a good time. She just had to relax.

Ella glared as Rhys came around the corner, she knew where he was but the fact that he left her when she needed him the most pissed her off. She extended her hand to Tessa, whom she'd seen around the office before slowly getting up and walking over to the cake.

Ella grabbed the knife as she motioned for Rhys to come over and stand behind her, cutting the cake with her, just like their wedding. Once they had everyone's attention, they dug the knife into the cake and served them first piece, being sure to show that the inside of the cake was in fact, pink.

With a flick of his wand, Rhys made a banner appear on the wall above them that read,

"It's a Girl!
Emma Maite Riddle!"

It'd be hung either outside or in the nursery after the shower, his bet was the nursery.

Grabbing a piece of the cake after everyone else, she went back to sit and carry out conversation. Soon, it'd be time to open presents.

Somehow Ryland had managed to get invited to Ella's baby shower. He didn't know exactly why but figured it was a good opportunity to see Lucy since she moved out. So he arrived at the girl's house, Seaside Riddles, carrying a small present for whatever it was she was having. It was just a blanket and a stuffed animal, a zebra to be exact. Ryland had no idea what he was supposed to get, and wasn't baby showers a girls-only thing? Either way, he figured Lucy's gay roommate would tag along, and he was quite entertaining sometimes.

He arrived at a good time, too, as Ella was just about opening the door. He quickly snuck in behind the people ahead of him, trying to not be noticed yet. He recognized Luca and Lucy, but the other people were more or less important to him. He placed the small bag on a table and went over to the good part, the cake. He just watched and tried to catch Lucy's eyes. Luca caught him first, though, and he was greeted with one of those sassy smiles. Sort of smiling back, Ryland moved closer to them, smiling at Ella and her husband as they revealed the pink inside of said cake.

Tessa smiled as the happy couple cut the cake. She clapped as the pink inside was revealed. After everything calmed down, she went over to Rhys and Ella, "Congratulations you two." She hugged them both having calmed down and relaxed a bit. Just then, a boy walked in. He didnt look much older than Hogwarts age. She smiled at the boy and waved shyly at him.

Ella smiled as the pink inside the cake was exposed. She liked the idea of a daughter. She'd be sure to teach her not to become a total bitch like she had often been.

She looked around at everyone there as conversation resumed and they all helped themselves to cake. "Ready for presents?" she asked to no one in particular. Just then, the baby kicked her hard as if returning some type of reply.

Apparently, Rhys listened to Ella and began moving all the gifts within arm reach of her. However, she was unsure of which to open first.