Halloween Party - Introductory Post

Halloween was one of Aislinn's favorite holidays, so a party was on her list if she wanted to be popular and get out of her uncomfortable shell. She'd met a girl, Agnes, in her Transfiguration class, and the girl was actually pretty nice. Aislinn specially liked to talk to her about clothes, because Agnes was French and she knew about fashion and could even suggest things to Aislinn. So, naturally, Aislinn had dressed up with Agnes. In an attempt to make everyone look at her in a different light than her usual preppy self, Aislinn had opted for a goth look. Goth was Halloweeney, and she was more excited to work with the make up than the decorations on the Great Hall.

Agnes had turned Aislinn's hair an almost-perfect shade of magenta and styled it in a messy updo, and Aislinn had chosen a tattered black dress with combat boots, because that's what she'd seen in magazines over the summer. Her lips matched her hair, and she wore earings in the shapes of birds because they were free and, well, it was kind of a personal symbol. She looked different, but she was glad to see the change. Strolling into the Great Hall, with Agnes by her side, Aislinn began to check that everything she had arranged for the House Elves to do had been done to perfection.

"Can you please check that the food is right? And that they included the cake!" Aislinn told her new friend with a smile. Aislinn had been specially excited to see how the House Elves brought her imagination to life, because she had designed a giant chocolate cake. Four levels full of chocolate goodness, with a massive staircase made of chocolate bars and tombstones made of graham crackers and marshmallows and on the top level a haunted house made also of chocolate. Surprising.

Leaving Agnes to check on the food, Aislinn went to make sure the decorations had been right. The four tables were taken out, she'd specifically asked for that, and was pleased to see that her orders were followed. To replace them, she had asked for smaller round tables, about six of them, plus a big rectangular one for food and drinks. There were three round tables on each side, leaving a pathway in the middle of the Hall. There were fake ghosts flying about the ceiling, and the usual charm that made the night sky visible during dinner had a spell over it so that it showed a gloomy full moon instead. As the little ghosts flew about, acting as if they had been there all along, Aislinn checked on the candles. She had ordered them to be of all sizes and colors, to be as used as they could possibly be, and to be set up in the center of the tables, in bundles of three or four.

The lighting was dark; dark enough to create the aura of mystery, to make people take second glances to make sure they were talking to a real person, but not dark enough for the students' wild size to come out. And to make up for the lack of light, Aislinn had ordered glowing food stands, so that people actually knew what they were eating or drinking. They glowed a soft blue, very similar to moonlight. She giggled excitedly when she looked at the bottles laying about, filled with gooey mixtures and guarding strange-looking insects and body parts. All fake, of course. There were balloons, too, clear balloons filled with spider webs and their respective spiders, that floated around the Hall, carrying pieces of parchment with sayings similar to muggle fortune cookies. If anyone wanted to, they could pick one and that would be their fortune for the night. Agnes had told Aislinn about an old friend who liked to put '...in bed.' right after the fortune, and Aislinn had laughed incredibly loud when she tried doing so.

Everything seemed to be in order, so Aislinn walked back to Agnes to hear her thoughts and comments on the decoration, waiting for someone - mostly Hunter - to show up soon. Gosh, she had to stop thinking about Hunter. There was just no way he would ever like her back! They weren't exactly friends, and now that he wasn't even talking to the people who were his best friends, Aislinn had zero chance with him. Still, she couldn't help the small spark of jealousy when Agnes had told her she talked to Hunter. The exchange student was already friends with her crush, and Aislinn couldn't even talk to him. Awesome.

This was bullcrap. Agnes didn't like Halloween! She liked dresses and make up, yes, but that's not what Halloween was for! She just couldn't find the words to let Aislinn down, because despite the fact that Aislinn was a bit...well, out of it, Agnes had grown fond of the Hufflepuff already. Wearing a pink dress and deciding to go barefoot, Agnes had chosen an angel as her costume. Her choice was based entirely on the fact that she had brought that dress because it was her favorite shade of pink, and she had asked Professor Le Blanc how to make angel wings, so that they weren't the cheap one she could buy at a muggle costume shop but so that they moved and looked as real as they could possibly be. She wore nothing else, no shoes, no jewelry, but she decided that curling her hair would be a good idea.

Nodding in reply to Aislinn's command, Agnes walked over to the food table. This, she was excited about. Food was always welcome. The damn cake Aislinn was crazy about better be there, because otherwise she'd have to see the Hufflepuff's face fall with disappointment. Heading towards the food table, Agnes noticed the cake was just exactly like Aislinn had drawn it out for the House Elves. Grinning, because she wouldn't have to tell any negative stuff to her new friend, Agnes inspected the rest of the snacks. Pumpkin juice was available, of course, because Agnes loved pumpkin juice now.

There were cupcakes with candy-corn colored frosting, and bottles of sodas and other muggle drinks cooling inside a real pumpkin filled with ice cubes. For the people who didn't like cold drinks during Halloween time, there was hot chocolate with marshmallows shaped like floating eyes, and Agnes giggled when one of the puffed sweets rolled over to hide the fake iris. Something Agnes had told Aislinn about, were the trees at each end of the table that held boxes of wizard candy, such as Bertie Bott's, chocolate frogs, licorice wands and such. The trees were dead, no more leaves or color in them, and they practically waited for students to grab the delicious treats. When Aislinn walked up to her, Agnes gave her a smile. "Everything is in order, boss."