Plotting (for Maya)

Jennifer muttered the password before making her way into the Slytherin Common Room. It was really busy, so it took her a minute to spot an empty armchair. It was positioned right beside the fire, a perfect location since the second-year was freezing cold, as usual. Oh, the dire consequences of being cold-blooded.

Sitting down quickly, she curled up into a ball, pulling out her notebook. Earlier she'd seen the notice on the notice board about a Slytherin Christmas party. Since she and a first-year called Maya were on decorations, Jennifer had started thinking ahead, even though Maya wasn't with her at the minute. She planned on tracking down the girl sometime soon, but she was too exhausted at the minute.

Banners were part of her job, so Jen decided to start designing some. Looking down, she absent-mindedly doodled a couple. Definitely not her best work, but they had no chance of making the final cut anyway. It was too aristic a task for her in her tired state of mind. Maybe she needed to find Maya...

....No, too much work.

Maya lay on her stomach on her bed flicking through a book she had borrowed from the library. She had thought it had looked interesting when she had first picked it up, but now realised that there wasn't enough pictures and too much writing. She tossed the book aside, disinterested in it's contents. Her eyes even hurt from the tiny writing she had tried to make out in the old book.

Sighing to herself, she rolled lazily off her bed. She decided that she couldn't put her homework off any longer. Grabbing her books and some parchment she made her way, grudgingly, into the common room.

She quickly scanned the room, looking for an empty spot, when her eyes rested on a girl she recognised from her CoMC class. She was pretty sure it was the girl she was paired with to organise decorations for the upcoming party. Glad of the excuse and deciding that decorations were more important than homework she approached the girl, sitting in the vacant seat beside her.

"Hey, are you Jennifer?" Maya asked, hoping she had the right girl and that she didn't think she was being too prompt.

Upon hearing her name, Jennifer looked up, pulling some hair from her eyes. "I am indeed," she grinned. It was true: she really had got a lot nicer recently. The Slytherin was incredibly happy when she saw that Maya girl in front of her. It saved her getting up and moving, which was great! "You must be Maya! We're working together for that Christmas party, aren't we?"

Jen was a little unsure of what to say next, whether to start talking about their jobs or show her the banner designs, or something completely different, so took a moment to hesitate. "It's decorations like banners and lights that we need to think about. I want to keep it Slytherin themed, but at the same time Christmassy. Have you got any specific ideas?" she asked.

Maya was glad that the Slytherin smiled at her when she looked up. Sometimes it was hard to know whether you were going to get your head bitten off by older students, especially in the Slytherin common room where egos were often running riot.

Maya's heart had dropped when she had heard that she was in charge of decorations. She liked to be involved and especially being a first year, was enthusiastic about most things, except art. She was woefully bad, embarrassingly awful at art. She didn't know whether she should just try and wing it or come out clean now. The girl did seem nice, but she didn't want to leave her with all the work. Sighing to herself, she put a smile on her face, being bad at art didn't mean she couldn't make suggestions she told herself. "Yes, well traditional Christmassy colours tend to be green and red, well they did in my household, so the green will definitely factor for the Slytherin aspect. Will be be decorating a Christmas tree? Because we could put bobbles of snakes and stuff on it." Maya looked tentatively back up at Jennifer, wondering if she was just rambling.