Halloween Night [All students invited!]

Darcy blinked. "What?" she asked incredulously, "By whom?" Who in their right minds would ever want to hurt someone like Ryland. The guy was so nice! She then sighed and frowned slightly. She didn't feel very welcome by the two other people standing there either. The girl obviously didn't want to talk to Darcy either.

And just then, the girl asked if Ryland wanted to dance. Darcy could easily see that he wasn't very tempted by the option. Maybe he didn't like to dance? And then a blonde girl walked over, talking in a hushed tone to Ryland first, and then turning to Darcy. Darcy had to smile at the girl's compliment, and felt her face heated a bit up. "I've heard about you too, Lucy, it's nice to finally meet you as well," she said softly. She then gave a kind nod. "I'll be waiting for it," she said softly and watched as the girl left the Great Hall.

"She seems really nice," Darcy commented at Ryland's comment, before the guy turned to the girl who had asked for a dance and said that he didn't really know how to dance. Darcy titled her head to the side. "I could teach you," she piped up, a big grin on her face, "I took a lot of dance lessons at home before I started Hogwarts. Sort of a family thing, learning how to dance. So, if there's anyone you'd like to impress..." She trailed off, though her eyes sneakily looked over at Aylee.

Darcy had a gift. Not like, being psychic or anything, but she had this crazy, overwhelming emotion that told her when someone was crushing on someone else. If that someone else wasn't herself, of course. She was as blind as a fool in those matters.

"Um." was all Ryland could say in front of Sydney and Felix. He turned back to sneak a glance at Wade, though to Darcy he was probably just another face in the crowd. "I'll tell you later." He murmured.

He enjoyed having Lucy be nice to his friends, so when she said she'd owl Darcy he felt much better. All she needed now was to like Sydney as well. The two girls had been in bad terms because of a boy and Ryland couldn't freely tell them that was the stupidest thing to fight over.

Everything was going great, he'd evaded Sydney's request to dance carefully, and he had managed to sneak a few glances at Aylee and her brother. "Um." Ryland figured out his favorite words was um. "I'd rather...just...I...maybe later? I'll dance with both of you later?" He entering an interlnal stage of panic again, especially now that Darcy seemed to know he liked Aylee.

Sparkle was pleased with Aylee's comment about her bow tie and hoped that Aylee would mention it to Evan one day. It was the point of all this.

As Aylee started dancing, Sparkle switched her attention to Darcy, another Evan's friend. She came to the girl and walked a couple of small circles around her legs, purring.

Sydney felt her ego deflate a little when Ryland said no to a dance. When he said he had already sent the flowers she scrunched her face in slight confusion, “Oh… I guess I didn’t see them. Well thanks anyway.” She nodded when he promised her a dance later and walked off towards Aylee and Kynan. “Hey Kynan. Nice costume. Aylee, come dance with me?” If she couldn’t dance with a cute boy she would love to dance with her best friend.

Though Ryland had never been a big fan of pop music, much of his taste coming from Wade's influence, he found that he was enjoying this new song. He knew it was a Muggle singer as he had heard the voice before, but he never cared for her or her music. He enjoyed the lyrics quite a lot, though. His green eyes glanced around as the music changed and some students walked off to the dance floor.

His eyes caught sight of Aylee and Kynan dancing, but mostly of Aylee. He figured she had simply turned down Sydney, though she really always seem to do what the other Ravenclaw wanted. It was true, so far he himself was the only person he knew that could easily turn Sydney down from time to time, tough it was mostly because he cared enough to not want to give her the wrong idea. He couldn't help but look at Aylee simply being happy and carefree.

"Excuse me for a second." Wade said to Shah as he headed back to where Ryland and some other girl were standing. Ignoring the girl completely, Wade chuckled. "Mudbloods, both of you." he muttered to his cousin. "Seems like a perfect pair to me." With that last one he gave a small, yet loud laugh. He knew Ryland fancied Aylee; he knew even before Ryland knew it himself. But he wasn't going to be easy on them, even if the Ravenclaw liked him back.

Wade had made a point to keep in touch with only pure-blood, and he was stretching it a bit by still being with Shah. He had wanted to break up with her but with the way she looked tonight it would have to wait. She had always been his weakness whether he wanted to accept it or not. Instead of taking his anger and desperation on himself like he used to, he took it out on Ryland. "Think about it, you have a chance to completely hide your purity, or lack of it, would you want to even mingle with people like that?"

Ryland was still looking at Aylee and Kynan when Wade's voice interrupted. His rudeness to Darcy didn't go unnoticed, but Ryland wasn't in the mood to argue with anyone. He was enjoying his moments with Darcy and his freedom to glance at however he wanted as not many people knew him well enough to tell him apart while masked. Wade was really crossing the line now, though.

"Did I ask for your approval?" Ryland replied rather coldly, much too cold compared to his usual tone of voice. He could trash his girlfriend all he wanted to, but he wasn't going to ruin anyone's life. At least not tonight. "You know, just because you're having a bad time doesn't give you the right to treat anyone as lesser beings. In fact, Aylee is much better a person than you are." he took a cup of whatever it was, he believed it was butterbeer, and took a sip. He didn't want to deal with Wade at the moment. Ryland risked a quick glance at Darcy, hoping she'd ignore Wade just as he had done with her.

"You certainly should." Wade scoffed. "You can't rationalize on your own." He could tell he was getting on Ryland's nerves; it was an easy thing to do. But did he really want to pick a fight now? Considering he'd pretty much gotten beat up by Ryland in the lavatories? Yes, he most likely would want revenge, or to at least even out the wins and loses.

"Is she, now?" Wade dared, "Why don't you tell me about all the things that make her better than me? Please don't say she's good-looking because one, she's not. And two, she-" he nodded at the younger girl, "Would you know how shallow you are."

Though he knew Wade was only starting, he took gave an apologetic look to Darcy and took his cousin by the arm. Wade was strong, but Ryland was stronger. Wade was good with magic, but Ryland was faster with force. Wade was just miserable, and Ryland was tired of it. Taking Wade away from Darcy, he whispered harshly.

"Wade! Will you please shut up?" He looked around, only now wondering if anyone would recognize them. "It's none of your business what I do, or who I like. Just go to bed if you're feeling bad." So much for standing up to him. Ryland was indeed tired of his actions, but he was family. Adoptive, sure, but family nonetheless. He loosened his grip on Wade, "Don't make me even out the color of your eyes."

Taken by surprise, Wade let himself be bossed around by Ryland for a few seconds. He let out a laugh and glanced back at the girl. "He's going to kick my ass now." He saw something in Ryland, something he knew very well by now. It was anger with a hint of his trademark humble personality. Oh, Ryland.


"Go ahead!" Wade said a bit too loud. From any Muggle perspective, he might look a bit drunk at the moment. But how could he be drunk at all?! This was Hogwarts! He let his thoughts wander off and then dared Ryland again. "Show Aylee the kind of person you are. Have you told her you beat me up?"

Ryland almost threw a childish fit just then. "Shut up! I'm not going to repeat the bathroom event because if I remember correctly you got your butt handed to you." he whispered harshly again. "And of course I haven't told her. I haven't told anyone! I'm sure Gray and Torres know anyway. It's not like you can hide that awful thing." he said about Wade's black eye. "Will you please just drop it?"

"I'm waiting." That was all Wade said next. He wanted to give someone a reason to hate Ryland. He wanted Aylee to dislike the Gryffindor and to never talk to him again. Really, he wanted to not be the one people disliked. He wanted to trade places with Ryland who had friends even if he was socially awkward. Wade only had himself now. He smirked at Ryland, "Are you going to do anything? Or is the lion really a cub?"

Feeling his anger boiling his blood, Ryland's fingers curled up into a fist. Wade was really pushing it. If there was one way to get on Ryland's bad side, was to speak to him the way his cousin was doing now. Ryland could take a few punches, but the moment his feelings or safety were threatened he shut down any sort of love, even family love, he might have for his aggressor. Without thinking, Ryland threw a punch at Wade's jaw, just like he had done in the bathroom.

"Is that really what it takes for you to shut your mouth!" He shouted, not being able to control himself. He took another blow at Wade, this time to his nose. "Is that really what it takes for you to leave everyone alone!" His breathing was hard, labored. Ryland hated this feeling, the feeling of hurting people he loved. But the fact was that Wade was no longer his friend. Wade was no longer anything to him. Suddenly becoming aware of where they were, Ryland walked out of the Great Hall without glancing back Darcy. He'd feel devastated if she had seen them.

Deirdre entered the Great Hall, where the party was held, brushing past a couple of students, who seemed in a hurry to get out. She was gripping her dress' skirt, careful not to step on the fabric while walking. Her costume, a yellow medieval dress, was supposed to represent Helga Hufflepuff. Deirdre thought she could honour the founder of her house and show people Hufflepuffs are still there, though maybe not as many as they've been before, and use the holiday for that purpose.

She found herself a spot near the food covered tables and poured some pumpkin juice in a cup. As she sipped from it, she quietly observed the party's progress. If she had to be honest, she didn't really like Halloween. She was just here because everyone was invited and she didn't want to be rude. She planned to leave soon enough, but she could just make the best of it while there.

Darcy had to smile at Ryland as the guy looked at Aylee dancing with Kynan. She then blinked as a masked guy walked up to them. He quite obviously ignored Darcy, and she frowned at that. She instantly disliked the guy. Then Ryland and the guy started talking a bit heatedly. She decided to not pay attention and ignored the guy just as he did to her. She couldn't stand obnoxious, annoying people, and simply looked to the table wondering what she wanted to eat. Of course, she would give the guy a new chance if he were to have a good excuse for ignoring her.

At least, that was until she caught words of him dissing Aylee. Darcy frowned and turned to look at them, even though they had stepped a bit off. What was all this about? She wanted to hex the stupid guy to oblivion for being such an ass, but she never could. Her consciousness would never allow it. She looked to Aylee, who seemed to be paying attention to what was going on herself. And then Darcy gasped silently as Ryland fisted his hands and threw a punch at the guy he was talking to. She blinked. And she blinked again as Ryland stormed off out of the Great Hall, not looking back.

She also noticed Aylee wandering off, but she didn't pay attention to it. She was too shocked. Too ... disappointed. She had finally believed to have found a guy who was kind through and through. Not even Ryland was perfect, it seemed. She felt like sitting down to have a cry, but she stood tall and mulled it all over. After a while, she decided to let it go. She was pretty sure he wouldn't hurt her, but still... He had looked so angry.

Suddenly, the party seemed futile and she looked around once, feeling completely empty, and left the Great Hall, wandering up into the Gryffindor common room, just sitting there quietly to herself.