Lyn and Lyra's End of Year Party!

Lyn and Lyra had laboured long and hard over this party. First had come the planning of this huge event. There was the location. They’d got permission to hold it in the Great Hall. Then the food. Lyn knew a house elf named Rosey who was eager to lead the elves in making a great selection of food. Most importantly, the theme. They’d wanted a theme to make things more exciting. Early on they had decided that it must be a costume party, because they were awesome like that. After plenty of suggestions and arguing, Once Upon a Time had been chosen. After that, it was invitations and setting up.

For a few hours after classes had finished for the day, the twins decorated the hall to make it look totally magical. Of course, it was magical already, since this was Hogwarts, but it would be even better now. In preparation for the party, Lyra had learned a lot of cool decorating spells to make things exactly as they wanted them to be. The enchanted evening sky stayed the same, but tables were moved to make space for a huge dance floor, there was glitter everywhere and fairy lights hung around the room, illuminating everything with a sparkly glow. The Gryffindor’s favourite part was the entrance, where pink curtains hung along a little passageway into the hall. It was beautiful and perfect and the best party ever.

When it was finally done, the two of them went off to get ready together in the girl's bathroom. The other thing that had taken a lot of planning was their costumes. They planned on looking pretty much identical, to confuse people and try out this switching thing.

Lyra looked in the mirror on the wall at herself. This was perfect. A long, white dress and white gloves stretching to her elbow. A pretty necklace. Red lipstick. Her hair turned black with the help of a colour-changing charm she’d perfected. She looked amazing and she knew it. After one last glance at her appearance, she turned to Lyn, who looked the same! This was brilliant! She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and elegantly made her way out to the hall again.

Smiling slightly, she stood next to Lyn. Now it was just waiting. But she was far too hungry to wait for guests to arrive. She went over to the long buffet table. It had everything, that amazing butterbeer cake from Hunter’s birthday party and a lot of other wizard and muggle sweets spread out all over it. She grabbed a cauldron cake and returned to her place next to her sister, the awesome party host she was.

On the invitation, they’d mentioned bringing a date, especially for Hunter. It was Lyn’s idea. Lyra wouldn’t think of it, since whatever happened, he wouldn’t bring Aoife. It had ended up in a written argument about who their brother should be with. Still, they would be encouraging romance because this was loosely themed on fairy tales and fairy tales always had romance and true love. She wasn’t quite sure about true love, but there were plenty of students here who liked each other and they’d certainly have some people coming in pairs.

Hopefully people would actually turn up now.


Once Upon a Time themed! All students and professors are welcome to join this for some drama and partying and food and fun

Lyn had no idea where the idea had come from, and she still wasn't sure how they had managed to do everything in such a short time. A party for the end of term sounded great, but she couldn't help but bring up the idea of making it fairytale themed. At first Lyra had disagreed, and then Lyn said Once Upon A Time themed instead. It seemed to make a difference. The two had watched a few episodes of that show, and they'd liked it.

So when the idea was settled, and the invitations were being done, the two got into a written argument about whether Hunter should bring Aoife or Seren to the party. They stopped writing on the invites because they had ran out of space and ended up arguing verbally. But then, Lyra had to use cool spells to copy the invites and then decorate the hall, so Lyn left to find the house elves. She got Rosey to help her with the foods for the party, and when she brought the house elves upstairs to place the snacks, she was amazed by what Lyra did to the hall.

She stared at the decorations, mostly at the fairy lights, until Lyra came to her and told her that it was time to get changed. After the two thanked the nice house elves they ran to the bathrooms to get changed together. It was Lyn's idea that they tried out looking identical, which was kind of to test out their brilliant plan for next term where they would switch places for a week.

From the Once Upon A Time TV series, the two of them had decided to dress up as Snow White, or Mary Margaret, whatever her name. Lyn liked the costumes, because they were long and white and they made her feel elegant and pretty. When Lyra did their hair black, they both looked into the mirror and it was hard to distinguish which one she was. They both looked great. Lyn put on her sister's red lipstick, which felt pretty uncomfortable. But, if she did something embarrassing, she now could pretend to be her twin sister, since they looked pretty identical.

The two of them then made their way down to the Great Hall and waited by the doors for the first guests to arrive. Naturally, Lyra couldn't keep off the food so she quickly went to get a piece of cauldron cake. Lyn grabbed a tiny bit and ate it, because she had never tasted one. It was delicious, but she quickly swallowed it and turned around as the guests started to arrive for their awesome end of term party!

Sometimes, Hunter really couldn't stand his sisters. This was one of those times. Throwing an end of term party was fine - Hunter might have even thrown one if he was in a better mood. But they didn't just throw an end of term party. They had made invitations which included the day, time, and an argument over who Hunter was supposed to take with him - and then sent them to the entire school. Because they couldn't just leave well enough alone. And then, to make matters worse, the twins had gone and made it a costume party. Hunter hated costume parties! After that, Hunter was slightly tempted to just avoid the party altogether.

But in the end, he decided that it could still be fun despite the girlish theme and ended up asking Seren if she wanted to go with him. Because after the argument on the invitation, he couldn't exactly turn up without a date. And he probably would have asked her anyway. He hadn't kissed her again since the first time, but they'd been spending a lot of their time together and had fallen into a kind of unique relationship - they were friends, but sometimes Hunter would grab her hand while they were walking or Seren would lean against him while they were sitting outside. And it all felt surprisingly natural.

As Hunter left through the portrait, he levitated a large crate of butterbeer behind him. His sisters had asked him to bring some since they couldn't get a hold of any. Hunter was supposed to meet her outside of her common room, and as usual he was late. And as usual, she wasn't. He grinned when he caught sight of her - Seren had insisted on them wearing costumes, and Hunter had begrudgingly agreed. He wasn't even sure what they were supposed to be, because he didn't watch princess things like his sisters, but Seren pulled it off well regardless of who she was supposed to be.

"You look great!" He told her, flashing her a smile. The words vaguely brought back the memory of when he'd told Aoife the very same thing in first year at the Defense party, and that git Evan had made him look like an idiot. He was confident that Seren would take the compliment a little better. "Come on," he said softly, slipping his fingers through hers and leading her down the corridor toward the staircase.

When they made it to the great hall, Hunter hardly recognized the place. "Could it be any more pink?" he said under his breath to Seren, not sure that he could take it if the rest of the hall was as pink as the entryway. Thankfully, it got a little better, and Hunter didn't feel as suffocated when he emerged into the larger part of the hall. He dropped the butterbeer in a corner near the buffet table and pulled Seren over to where his sisters were standing.

"So I have to say, I'm actually mildly impressed," he told them with a grin. "It looks great!" Hunter's eyes glanced over both of them for a moment, taking in their costumes. "There's no way anyone will be able to tell which of you is which," he told them. They actually looked so similar that Hunter could hardly tell them apart. "And thanks for publicly humiliating me on your invitation, by the way," he added.

Ariel was excited. So excited. She had gone and found Darcy and got her to help her with the dress. Because it was just a normal, white dress, but Ariel wanted to go as Odette from the Swan Lake. That had been one of her most favorite movies. And though Odette never wore a dress with feathers, Ariel would. So Darcy, skilled as she was in charms and transfiguration, changed her dress to one heck of a magical one.

Getting into it was a problem though. Darcy had to help her to get it on, and after a while of trying, Darcy just turned it back to normal, Ariel took it on, and Darcy charmed it again. Perfect. Except it was icky and tight and way too big. Ariel was definitely going to fall over again and again. But the dress was awesome still.

After a few minutes, Darcy left to go get ready herself, and Ariel left the Gryffindor tower. Walking down the steps was hard. Luckily, her ballerina shoes were easy to walk in, almost as if going barefooted, something Ariel had deliberated. But the shoes were comfy. That was the important thing! So she lifted up her dress and trotted down the stairs.

She passed a mirror in the steps (funny, she'd never seen that before) and saw that she hadn't done anything with her hair. She then grinned and her eyes turned to slits as she focused, and her hair grew much thicker and more yellowy blonde. It turned itself upwards and snaked its way around itself until it turned into a very fancy bun. She had practiced that over the summer. She grinned and continued to dash down the stairs.

And then she stopped as she saw the pink curtains forming a hallway in the entrance hall. Awesome! Ariel didn't really like pink, but this pink was awesome! She strolled along it, doing spins and looking around herself a hundred times over before the hall ended into the Great Hall where everything was so cute that Ariel couldn't stop her massive grin.

She saw Lyn, Lyra, Hunter and Seren standing by the buffet, and she was going to join them. She just needed to do one thing first. And that was to twirl around a couple of hundred times to get out the girly sensations she was feeling right now. Girls could be as tomboy as they liked, but there was always a side that just shouted PINK! And not the muggle artist that had been so big once. She then started walking towards the buffet and people, a bit unsteadily due to the twirling.

This was gonna be totally awesome!

After having helped Ariel get ready, Darcy trudged up the few steps to her own dormitory. Her empty dormitory. She was used to sleeping there alone, but it was really weird. She had a lot of space though! She wasn't gonna complain about that. She walked over to her closet and fished out a blue dress.

Ariel had suggested that Darcy be Elsa from Frozen, because she really could be her. Darcy had only seen that movie once, but the disney character was a rather memorable one. So she put the blue dress on and cast a few spells on it, until it was floor length. She looked into the mirror and added the sort of cloak like glittery thing that was long enough to trail down behind her. She then started doing her hair. She braided it and let it hang over her shoulder.

She figured she was ready then and walked down to the entrance hall. She wondered briefly if she had made the dress too long in the back, but figured it was only due to the steps. And then she reached the Entrance Hall. She raised an eyebrow, but thought it was well decorated. It certainly was an entrance, at least.

She continued into the Great Hall where everything was really well decorated. She smiled. The VanDerberg twins had done a good job. She then saw Ariel twirling on the middle of the floor and shook her head in the slightest. Her sister, so full of life. Darcy saw her walk over to the buffet and the other younger students there, but Darcy decided against walking over to them. She wondered where her classmates were. She hadn't talked to so many of them in forever. She really missed Maya and Kynan, but her thoughts lingered with Evan. She wondered why she hadn't seen him around much lately.

Darcy sighed and walked across the huge dancefloor and looked at a few of the twinkly fairy lights. They caught her dress and spread a blueish light along the rocks of the great hall floor. Darcy smiled and stood there, fascinated. She would have to talk to Lyn and Lyra about how amazing the decorations were, but all in good time!

Aoife didn’t know why she was showing up to this pathetic little party. Actually, she did. It was because Lyra was a scary kid. And she organised everything for the third-year She had never seen this Once Upon a Time TV show, but it wasn’t hard to dress up for it when a mermaid costume was literally thrown at her. She knew Ariel from original muggle interpretations anyway. At first she’d planned on not showing up, but then Lyra warned her she better and she decided she had nothing better to do. And there would be food.

A long, flowing, green skirt which went in at her knees and out at her ankles was her tail. It was surprisingly comfortable, probably because of some spell the kid had used. Although she reluctantly put this on, she would NOT wear the horrible heels also left next to her bed. Instead she swapped them for her trademark grey converse trainers. Much better. After applying red lipstick and a really really tiny bit of green eye shadow, she was ready to go. Aoife didn’t look in the mirror, though, because she would only decide she looked terrible and not go.

Since there were still a few minutes before it was meant to start, she sat on her bed and glanced at the invitation again, which she hadn’t seen properly. Oh great. She hated the twins SO much right now. An argument about who Hunter should take to the party, on the invitations. But she was telling herself she didn’t care, because Hunter basically had a girlfriend now, so Lyn and Lyra messing about was nothing. Because she was not his girlfriend, did not like him and did not care. To yet again take her mind off things, she stood up and left the room quickly.

It was her birthday tomorrow. It had been her birthday the day of the end of term party last year. That time it was sort of a party for her too. This was going to bring back so many memories, memories she didn’t want to think of. Maybe if she sat in the corner and ate food and thought about what presents she was going to get from her family, she could distract herself for the ten minutes she planned on staying there.

She wrinkled her nose at the sight which she met first, the hideous pink tunnel she had to walk through without being blinded by the bright colour. After that, the place looked nicer, with the pretty lights, other than the very glittery decorations. Oh, and the people. The twins, who she hated at the moment, and Hunter with Seren, a sight she’d rather not see. True, Ariel was there, but she’d probably stay with Hunter and his friends. And she didn’t know Darcy too well.

Everyone looked pretty, like real princesses. But Aoife wasn’t a princess. She was a mermaid. A muggle mermaid, not a horrible wizard one. Mermaids were brave, strong, beautiful creatures. Princesses were mindless idiots who waited their whole life to be rescued, instead of doing anything to help themselves. Therefore, she was the best. And she needed to have the pride, the mermaid traits, to not flee the hall immediately.

Aoife wasn’t going to stand there like a fool, so she headed towards the food table and got herself a drink of pumpkin juice. Then she stood next to the table, at the other side to Darcy, taking little sips.

When Aylee first got the invitation, she burst into a fit of giggles at the written argument made by the two girls who had organized the whole party. She had no idea who Lyn and Lyra were, but she knew about the whole thing with Hunter and Aoife and Seren now that she had recently caught up with school gossip. After she was done laughing, which had resulted in lots of weird stares from most of the Ravenclaw table, she went and talked to Kynan about it.

Of course, Kynan had refused at first. Honestly, if it wasn't for her, Kynan would never show up to any school parties. But this time, like always, Aylee had pretty good reasons why Kynan should go. The first one, which bought him over almost immediately, was that Maya might be there. The second one, and the best one, was that there would be food. The next matter was the costumes, since it would be a costume party.

At first, Aylee had suggested being Mulan and Kynan could be Captain Hook. Kynan liked the idea, but said that Aylee should dress as a pirate as well and then they could be pirates from Captain Hook's crew. Or from Pirates of the Carribbean. Or Edmund and Lucy from Narnia. Either way, they were going as pirates. They had the right clothes at home, anyway, so Aylee just owled their mother to send the costumes.

On the night of the party, Aylee had gotten dressed and put her hair in her signature side ponytail, with a few loose strands of hair. She didn't care about whether people would laugh, it would be her last party at Hogwarts anyway. If she embarrassed herself, she really didn't care. She faked a smile at the mirror, and then slowly walked out of her dormitory. As she walked down the stairs, she looked around at all the students around her who were going down to the party. They all looked so beautiful and handsome. They all had friends.

There was a time when she knew practically everyone at Hogwarts. Now she knew nobody. She didn't even know who these Lyn and Lyra girls were. Aylee jumped down the last few steps and looked around the Entrance Hall. She remembered her first party at Hogwarts. It had been down at the lake, she remembered as if it was yesterday. She closed her eyes for a moment, and tried to picture that one first party where she had actually felt welcome with people she knew.

Now this was it. Her last party at Hogwarts.

Aylee met up with Kynan in his pirate costume. He looked a bit handsome, and she actually hoped that he'd manage to find Maya and dance with her. Maybe, at least he would get his happy ever after. The two of them quietly walked through the pink  entrance, which Kynan scowled at. Aylee laughed at it and flicked his head, and then Kynan flicked hers in turn. So they kept flicking each other's heads till Kynan stopped and looked up. Aylee did so as well, and gasped.

It was beautiful, with fairy lights and sparkles and magical decorations and everything. It really looked like a fairytale. Aylee put a hand over her mouth, then took it off again. Then she looked at Kynan and said, "I'm gonna go..." but didn't finish her sentence because Kynan  was nodding and telling her to go. Aylee gave him a quick smile and ran over to Aoife, who was all alone with the pumpkin juice.

"Aoife, hi! Your costume looks amazing!" Aylee exclaimed, trying her best to look happy. She was kind of mad at how Aoife was alone and nobody bothered to say hi to her while Hunter was surrounded with friends.

Kynan, on the other hand, walked over to Darcy, who was the only person he knew from his year. The two of them were never really close, and maybe it was her Veela charm that was getting to him, but he just wanted to talk to someone that was his age. "Hi, Darcy," he said calmly. He wasn't showing off or anything, he was trying his best to be more mature and act like a friend.

Aylee's and Kynan's Costumes:

Ollie's Costume:

FIRST PARTY AT HOGWARTS! Well, if Oliver was counting Aoife's birthday party as...well, a party, then this one was a second. The birthday was more of a celebration than a party, though. Either way, Oliver was so ready for this one. He wasn't sure of what to dress up as, until it hit him. He was going to be a young Mordred. Yes. he was going to be a young traitor. That wasn't very creative, obviously, but it beat all of his other options. First, he had thought about dressing up as a tree, but that was too predictable. Not to mention Blake would have a good laugh at that if he came. Then, he had thought about being Jack Frost, because who doesn't like ice and snow and fun? But he didn't like the idea of asking someone to charm his hair to look white. So he opted for something simple, Young Mordred. He didn't require much of a costume, he threw in some old pajamas and a green cloak, put some purple make up under his eyes to give them a sunken look. Yes, Oliver had makeup, but it wasn't his. He simply borrowed it from some older girl in his house. She had left it sitting on one of the tables and Oliver figured he could use it as part of his costume and then put it back. As he headed out, he put the little make up box back where he found it the night before and headed out of the kitchens.

Obviously, it wasn't a far walk from his common room to the Great Hall. This gave him only a few seconds to think of all the wonderful possibilities that came with a party. When he arrived, the first thing he saw was the entrance. IT WAS SO PINK. Oliver didn't like it, but he wasn't going to SAY it. The tables had moved and cleared the space in the middle, and that could only mean one thing: Oliver would have a chance to show off his amazing dance moves. This was what he was most excited about, the dancing. He was a terrible dancer, everyone said so, but he had the nerve to go up and do something. He grinned before realizing he had to be an angsty boy. His blue eyes scanned the room for any familiar face, and he found many. Hunter was there, so was Lyn and Aoife, but he stopped when he spotted Ariel. Ariel was here, and that meant the night would be even more fantastic! He walked towards her and put on his most serious and angry face before saying, "ARIEL. DO NOT. TOUCH THAT FOOD. I HAVE POISONED IT WITH SALAMANDER BLOOD AND YOU MUST NOT DIE." He didn't even know if he was being scary, but he hoped he was. He was glaring at her with his big blue eyes and not blinking, so that should work.

He stayed that way for a few seconds, until his eyes began to burn and he had to blink, breaking the scary effect. Turning back to his usual self, he took a bite out of one of the snacks at the table. "I am only joking. You look pretty today, by the way." he said to his new friend. "I don't even know if salamander blood is poisonous."

Ohh!! A party! When Phineas had received the invites, he got really excited. And it was themed. Who didn't love a themed party!? Every single one of his birthday parties had been themed. His first one by the pictures, had been Winnie the pooh, and his tenth had been Peter pan. His favorite fairy tale about a little boy who never grew up and was in charge of little boys.

So that's who he wanted to go as! Peter Pan! And boy was he excited! The only thing he was concerned about was the fact that his costume contained tights... But other than that, he didn't care. He wondered if Aoife had gotten an invite? Of course she probably did. And his main goal was going to be to ask her to dance. He wanted to ask her to go as his date so she wouldn't have to go alone and face that evil Hunter git, but he didn't pick up the courage to do so.

He had just finished jelling up his hair, and instead of the tights, he managed to find a pair of brown trousers that would work, and grabbed his fake wooden knife. He hoped that would be ok to bring. After all, Peter Pan wasn't complete without it. He put the silly hat with the red feather on and grinned at his ridiculously looking self in the mirror. This was it. He was done.

He made his way to the great hall, without getting lost or bumping into Peeves, and walked in the room. And he noticed it was completely pink...This had totally been done by girls. He then looked over towards the snack table. Yummy. Food. And then noticed Aoife, talking to an older girl. He blushed a little bit, but tried to regain his composure, and casually walked over to her and said,  "Hey! "

Maya made her way up from the dungeons, glad that the party was only in the Great Hall. She wasn't in the mood and the only reason she was going as to get to see Kynan before the holidays. Maya sighed at the thought of the holidays. She knew school was hard with exams but she would rather stay and do exams all summer than return to her home house in the middle of nowhere with no one to talk to save her brothers. Her parents were getting indefinite silent treatment for the summer months. They could talk to her when they became more practical at decision making and better parents that weren't trying to be so controlling and keeping tabs on her the whole time.

Maya didn't like fancy dress, so had picked something that was easy to work into her wardrobe. The Evil Queen was perfect. All she had to do was put on a black dress, wear some dark make up and then act mean all night. Perfect.

Maya's eyes glanced over the crowd as soon as she entered the hall and noted that people had made a lot of effort with their costumes. At least she had dressed up. Maya spotted Kynan straight away as Aylee was in the process of leaving him. Maya's breath caught, not with the decorations, but at how manly Kynan looked dressed as a pirate. Maybe he should dress like that Maya thought to herself and laughed inwardly at the idea.

Maya spotted Darcy right next to him busy admiring the decorations. "Darcy!" Maya almost shouted, already more enthusiastic about the party and quickly making her way over to the pair. "Hi guys!" Maya smiled at the pair, glad to catch up with her 5th year buddies.

Maya's Costume:

Blake made his way into the Great Hall, looking cool, if he did say so himself. He decided to dress up as Captain Hook and obviously had the hook. He had also decked himself out in pirate attire along with the hate, eye patch and sword (just in case things got a little rough again).

Blake made his way straight over to Hunter, automatically wondering where Seren was. The pair had been inseparable lately. Maybe Hunter decided to respond to the card invitation and bring no date. That was hardly true though, Blake had caught them together and Hunter seemed like such a ladies man recently. He still hadn't given him any stick over it yet though. "Ahoy, me Hearties!" Blake said to Hunter who was busy talking to his twins. If he was to look the part he had to act it!

Blake had arrived just in time to hear Hunter telling the pair that no one would be able to tell them apart. That was true, they look quite identically beautiful in their Snow White attire. But Blake had spent enough time with Lyn over the summer to be able to tell who she was. "Hey Lyn and Lyra." Blake nodded to each one of them in turn. "Nice party you got, and a nice turnout." Blake said glancing around the room. "Although where is Seren, Hunter?" Blake asked his friend in an overly innocent tone.

Next thing Blake could hear someone shouting and he whipped around "Blimey! Blow me down!" Blake was back to his pirate self and now noticed that of course it was Ollie shouting across the room about Salamander's of some sort. What had the boy gotten into his head now, Blake grinned to himself as he watched him interacting with Ariel. He knew he was such a ladies man! Blake waved to them and smiled over at them. Ariel did look pretty tonight, Blake admitted silently to himself. He wasn't at Ollie's stage where he was busy complementing girls. Ollie seemed to have compliments in abundance as well, he did need to learn a thing or two off of the laddy.

Darcy smiled as Aoife made her way over, looking super sweet in her Ariel attire. It was fun, though! Darcy had tried to convince Ariel to go as Ariel, because pun! But she seemed to not be very interested in that. She had wanted to be Odette. And sure, Darcy figured, Ariel looked good in her feathery dress. "Hey Aoife," she managed to say before Aylee walked over to the redhead, and Kynan showed up in front of Darcy.

Darcy grinned at him. "Hey Kynan!" she said happily. She hadn't talked to him in a while. "How have you been? You look fancy in that attire, at least!" He did look good as a pirate. Then again, Kynan did generally look good. Her smile grew even bigger as another fifth year walked up to them. One thing was for certain, Maya was a villain. Which one? It could be Maleficent or the Evil Queen. Or maybe just imagination? Darcy decided to go for the evil queen. She was supposed to be the beautiful one of the two.

"Evil Queen?" Darcy asked, and looked her jokingly up and down. "You look good," she stated smilingly. Her attention went in the direction of the other group of people when a boy came screaming in, looking demanding and evil. Sort of like a kid from those muggle horror movies. And she grinned. A friend of Ariel. And he had a lot of compliments. Darcy laughed softly and turned back to her two classmates.

"So, I haven't seen you two in ages. Tell me, what have you guys been so busy with?" she asked, throwing Maya a secretive glance that normally passed by guys in general.

Aoife was very glad when Aylee and Kynan arrived. She felt awkward and stupid standing there alone in the corner, so someone to talk to was greatly appreciated. Of course, Kynan went off to see his cool old people friends. But Aylee was a loner too, so it made sense that she would come and talk to the redhead because she felt sorry for her and had nobody else. “Hello!” she smiled, trying to seem a lot more confident and happy than she really felt. “Thank you! Lyra did it, not me. You look great too!” She’d noticed Kynan was a pirate too. Matching costumes, that was cute. Her brothers and sisters would never agree to that if they came here.

“Happy leaving party!” she said a bit sadly, leaning forward to give one of her favourite old people a hug. It was so bad, because now there would be no awesome seventh-years like Aylee. Morgana wouldn’t be a good substitute. And she had no friends other than Phin and Vicky-Tori (possibly) now, which made her seem a little bit pathetic. “I’m going to miss you, y’know? But on the bright side, Ryland’s leaving too, so we can get rid of an evil worthless git. That doesn’t make up for you abandoning me, though.” Aoife was obviously joking, but in reality Aylee really was abandoning her, if she was being dramatic and putting it like that.

More people arrived and she stared at the floor. The little Hufflepuff boy, Oliver she seemed to remember, made a particularly dramatic entrance and she jumped at his sudden shout at poor Ariel. A grin spread across her face when she saw Phin come in and head in her direction. He was so funny and adorable, that kid. “Hey Phinny-Phin-Phin!” Then she remembered the conversation she’d just been having. “This is Aylee. She’s old so she’s leaving now,” she said with a little frown. “Aylee! Why don’t you come back to Hogwarts as a professor?! You’re clever! Why not!” Then she could still be friends with her! It was a brilliant idea!

Ah, guests guests and more guests! This really was going to be the best party ever! First was Hunter, who she was not at all pleased with at the moment. Lyra gave him an annoyed look. “Could you do something right to help us, just for once?” At least he had the butterbeer with him. Her look softened and she glanced at Seren, who looked very beautiful in her wonderful dress matching Hunter’s. She still didn’t support Senter, though.

“I think you should be more than mildly impressed,” she nodded. “Because it’s amazing. And we are amazing. Of course.” That was why they looked so alike! “Yes, we are the same person.” The same. If she convinced herself, her performances as Lyn would be even more realistic. She used to do drama club at home, and she was the best. “You’re welcome!” she grinned. “It was all because of Lyn! If she would just come around to the fact that Senter is stupid and Haoife rules, there would be no argument!” Smiling a little bit, she gave her sister the unimpressed look, and then Seren too. Why did that girl have to be prettier and cleverer than Aoife?

Lyra smiled at all the next people to come in, Ariel, the girl who she supposed was her veela sister and Aoife. Who also looked amazing, thanks to her awesome fashion sense and magic skills. “She looks pretty, right?” she whispered to Lyn. It wasn’t to point out things to Hunter, because she hoped he hadn't heard. She just liked being cool and proving it to her sister. She was an arrogant show-off, just like her brother, in that way. Another girl caught her attention. “Is that the one Jack’s in love with?” she asked, directing it sort of at Lyn and sort of at Hunter. One of them would know, creepy romantics. Then two Hufflepuffs and a Slytherin girl. Uninteresting.

And Blake. “Hi Blake!” she beamed. Maybe he’d even think she was Lyn if she was smiley and happy. But he could tell them apart! “He can tell us apart!” Why could he tell them apart? “Is it that obvious?” she asked, much less happy now. If Blake knew the difference, anyone would. He hardly knew either twin, as far as she knew, so there was no way of him being able to see what others couldn’t. There she’d been, thinking they looked identical.

Out of the corner of her eye, Aylee saw Kynan walk over to Darcy, but didn't say anything. Instead, she focused on her conversation with Aoife. The little redhead was saying something about the costumes, to which she smiled and said, "I think you make mermaids look cool, though." Which was true. She liked the muggle version of mermaids more than the wizard version, and she thought that there should be more redheaded mermaids in the world. Like Aoife. "Thanks," Aylee replied as she tucked her loose strands of hair behind her ear.

She turned round as a little boy came stomping in yelling something about poisoning the food with salamander blood. Aylee bit her lip to keep her from yelling out that salamander blood wasn't poisonous, and was really used to healing. But she didn't want to sound like a know-it-all. It was her last party, after all, she might as well make the most of it. Then she saw someone dressed in dark colours enter the ball and walk straight towards Darcy and Kynan. "Who's she...?" Aylee murmured, watching the girl until she realized that it was Maya. She didn't even bother looking at Kynan, because she knew that her brother wouldn't take his eyes off Maya for a minute now.

Suddenly Aoife was hugging her, and Aylee was hugging the little third year back. "Oh my god, I'm going to miss you so much!" she exclaimed, squeezing Aoife a bit and then let go. She really would miss Aoife, and her lovely sheep imaginations, and really cool advice, and now-big obsession on The Fault In Our Stars. Aoife told her that at least Ryland would be leaving too, and Aylee laughed. It had been ages since she'd talked to Ryland, and she wasn't sure if the two of them were even friends now. But, she didn't want to know, either. Maybe they could keep out of each other's lives and be over with it.

Their conversation was kind-of interrupted when a really young Hufflepuff walked up to them and greeted Aoife. It wasn't long before Aoife was introducing them, and Aylee smiled at the little youngster. "God, Aoife, I'm not that old," she joked. Then, looking at the Hufflepuff boy, she asked, "What's your name?" Before she could say anything else, Aoife was saying that she could come back to Hogwarts as a Professor and they could still be cool friends. "I'd love to, but I don't think I will," Aylee answered, shaking her head. "It would be cool, being Kynan's Professor, though."

Although being a Professor would be great, Aylee still didn't want to do that job. Mostly because she wasn't sure if Hogwarts accepted Hogwarts graduates. She had loads of other reasons, though, but she didn't feel like thinking of them. Without thinking, she grabbed a bit of Haribo from the snacks table and started munching on them. Then she laughed, because she remembered how much she used to love them. She remembered, one time, she had been lost in the darkened corridors with James and Morgana, and the only thing she could offer was a bag of Haribos. She looked around again, and then decided to ask Aoife the question that's been bothering her for a bit. "Hey, Aoife? Who are the Lyn and Lyra girls who organized this?" she asked. "I have no idea who they are." She was just curious.

Phin noticed Aoife's sadness, and immediately wanted to make her feel better. After all, she was his friend. He didn't even wait for permission, but went right in and hugged his little sheep loving friend and didn't even wait to receive one back before letting go.

He then noticed the other people around him and got a little nervous. He wasn't used to big crowds and didn't like them very much. But none the less, he was here right? He had even pondered not even coming.

He then asked, "So, what was up with you and Hunter the other day? You know...the dude I attacked?" He didn't mean to be so blunt about it, but he wanted to know. It was nagging him inside. He'd spent the entire night a couple nights ago pondering what could be going on between the two.
And who could blame him? After all, he was just a little first year Gryffinpuff.

Ariel reached out for a piece of the butterbeer flavoured cake she had eaten at that thing earlier on. Had it been Hunter's birthday? She couldn't remember. All she remembered was the food had been bloody good. She grinned happily to herself as she was about to take a huge bite when someone screamed her name.

Ariel spun around, shocked as she saw Oliver in a seriously freaky getup, looking at her with vicious and sunken eyes. Ariel stood completely still while he stared at her, and first, it was freaky, but then she could feel her face threatening to smile and she could tell her stomach was building up a big laugh. And then Oliver blinked. And Ariel laughed as he took a snack.

She smirked proudly at him, nodding her head up and down. "Brilliant entrance," she complimented, "And nice costume, you look evil!" Her smirk was only widening, but then it vanished as she took a bite of the awesomeness of the cake. "I have no idea, you could've fooled me," Ariel said lightly, bouncing a bit with her shoulders, "And thanks! I did it all myself!" Ariel winked and made a big gesture in the direction of Darcy, which should be enough for him to understand that Darcy had helped her. If he even knew they were sisters. Not everyone did. But they were somewhat similar, he'd figure it out.

When Seren received an invitation to an end of the year party, she was ecstatic. Seren loved parties and was obviously going to be the prettiest one there! Except for those Veela girls, but Seren couldn't help it that she didn't have Veela blood. And she was STILL almost as pretty as them without it. So really, Seren was far more talented than they were. Of course Hunter asked Seren to go with him. And of course Seren had said yes.

Hunter was less than enthusiastic about the idea of a costume party, but Seren LOVED costumes. Especially since the theme was PRINCESSES. Well, not really. The theme was Once Upon a Time, but Seren didn't now what that was. Being pureblood, Seren didn't even know how to work a television let alone keep up with television shows. Still, she'd had a muggle friend once when she was little and had seen all of the princess movies. Seren decided that she would dress up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast!

After dawning her ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS yellow dress, and charming her hair to be smooth and light brown, and her eyes to match Belle's, Seren made her way down to the corridor to wait for Hunter. He was late OF COURSE. But Seren wasn't going to complain today. She smiled at him, glad that he had actually worn the costume she'd given him. It was hardly a costume, really. Just a suit that matched the one the prince wore at the end of the movie. Seren figured Hunter would complain less that way.

Hunter told her she looked nice and took her hand, and Seren said thank you and followed him down to the great hall. They were the first to arrive, and Seren giggled when Hunter commented on the pink. "Yes it's a bit much, isn't it?" But Seren didn't mind it really. Pink was fine. Hunter instantly dragged her over to his sisters, and Seren smiled at both of them. But secretly, she was trying to figure out which one had wanted Hunter to ask Aoife to the party INSTEAD OF HER, according to the invitation. But it was useless, because even if Seren knew she wouldn't be able to tell them apart. "Hello," she said with a smile instead, because it didn't matter. She couldn't do anything to either of Hunter's sisters no matter what they thought. Unfortunately.

"I'll just be a minute," Seren said to him, excusing herself while Hunter conversed with his sisters. Then, Seren quickly slipped out of the room to check her makeup in the nearest bathroom. She wanted to be quite certain that she looked ABSOLUTELY PERFECT when others began arriving to the party. Of course she did. When she returned, a few people had shown up. Including Sheep Freak, who was talking to a first year AND a seventh year. They must all be rejects, then. But Aoife did look annoyingly nice in her costume. But of course she had turned up as Ariel. Because of her hair. HOW PREDICTABLE.

Oh, Blake had also turned up! And he was actually acting out his costume, unlike Hunter who was BORING AND DIDN'T LIKE COSTUMES. "Hello Blake!" Seren giggled, stepping back to Hunter's side and slipping her arm through his. Because THAT WAS WHAT PRINCESSES DID. They were escorted places by their prince, arm in arm! One of Hunter's sisters seemed upset about something as well. Oh, because Blake knew which of them was which? Seren didn't know how he could figure it out. "Well, I can hardly believe you're two separate people if it helps at all," Seren told them.

Seren's Costume:

Once they'd greeted the twins, Seren said she'd be right back and headed out of the room. Hadn't she just gotten ready? What could she possibly need to do that she hadn't already done? Girls were so weird. Oh, his sister was talking - what was she saying? Could he do something to help? "I brought you butterbeer," he told her with a shrug. "And maybe a little more than mildly impressed."

When Hunter mentioned their obnoxious argument on the invitations, Lyra just grinned. As if it was a good thing. And then she started talking about Senter and Haoife and shit again. "Okay, let's get something straight," he said slowly to both of them, only half-amused. "Those are not real words." Honestly, where had his sisters learned this stuff? The last thing Hunter felt like dealing with was Lyra going on about shipping and OTPs - which still confused Hunter - and how he'd ruined her life by ruining Haoife. Sometimes Hunter wished that Lyn and Lyra would actually switch places - Lyn definitely wouldn't snoop around his room while he wasn't there, at least.

Hunter couldn't help but be curious when Lyra stopped talking to him and started whispering to Lyn. So, naturally, he turned in the direction of his sister's stare - and the moment he did, he wished that he hadn't. Aoife had turned up - and she looked amazing. And lonely. And that was a dangerous combination where Hunter was concerned.

Hunter took in a deep breath to stop that annoying feeling that he still couldn't get rid of completely, but couldn't pull his eyes away right away. He'd been missing Aoife more than usual this week, because tomorrow was her birthday. Last year, Hunter had thrown her a party. This year, he'd be locking himself in his room for the day and doing everything he could to stay away. His birthday present to Aoife would be to leave her completely alone, and not bother her even with his presence. That was the best he could do this time.

His thoughts were broken by Lyra again. "What? Who's in love with - oh, you mean Aylee? Yeah, that's her." Everyone was turning up now. Hunter flashed Ariel a smile but let her do her thing, and grinned at Blake when he joined them. "Hey mate!" Hunter said, but then looked at his friend strangely as he started going on in pirate lingo. "Really?" Hunter said, raising an eyebrow. Hunter was actually surprised when Blake was able to tell the twins apart. "Pretty impressive," he said to his friend.

Blake was asking him where Seren was in a suggestive tone, and Hunter grinned. His sort-of-relationship with Seren wasn't exactly a secret, and he was probably lucky that Blake didn't get on him more often about it. "She's around here somewhere, she just went - oh, there." Hunter smiled at Seren when she rejoined them, and didn't mind when she took his arm. That kind of thing felt pretty normal now. Hunter looked around at all the people who had turned up and realized that he would probably have to start making rounds to talk to them at some point. But for now, he stayed put. "Really, mate, the voice is a little much don't you think?" Hunter said again jokingly to Blake, though in reality Hunter found his new accent pretty funny,

Oh great, Aylee was getting overemotional and the harsh reality that she was no longer a kid was hitting her straight in the face. “Just enjoy the party and have a good time!” Aoife chirped, trying to make light in this situation while holding back tears for Aylee. “On the bright side, you’re a grown up now! You can do what you want! And stay up all night! And you’ve almost escaped being a teenager!” The older girl was lucky. Aylee’s teenage years were ending while hers were just beginning. Bloody hell, she’d be fourteen tomorrow.

“Yes you are,” she murmured with a grin. Eighteen was way too old, even if she did get to be an adult now. “This is Phin! He’s my favourite first-year Hufflepuff boy!” Maybe the only one she knew, but he didn’t need to know that, did he? Then he was hugging her and she was patting his back gently. She didn’t understand why she was being hugged and why Phin thought she needed it, but she accepted the hug anyway.

Aoife nodded in agreement when the Ravenclaw talked about being a professor, although she didn’t really understand why Aylee wouldn’t come back to Hogwarts if she’d love to. “You could be really mean and give him detention when he doesn’t show up for class. And actually MAKE him do homework.” It would be a miracle if she could achieve that. “So what do you want to be instead?” she inquired, wondering if the potential job was as cool as founder of FAWPAS.

It was a bit surprising to discover Aylee didn’t know Lyn and Lyra, but it did make sense when she thought of it. Everyone knew of Hunter, what with him being the most well known evil git of the lower school, but not of the twins. Because they weren’t as famous and never the hot topic of conversation. “They’re... Hunter’s sisters.” She pointed towards the two of them with their brother and his friends by the entrance. “Over there. The twins. They’re nice. Sometimes.” Obviously she was thinking about their whole fiasco on the invitation when she said sometimes.

When Phin continued talking, Aoife turned her attention back to him. She tensed a little bit of the mention of him. “Yes, I know Hunter,” she said, unusually hostile. This was a sensitive subject. “Nothing is going on. Nothing.” Why should she talk to a tiny kid about how she felt about Hunter? Derek was the only small child who could help her here and she hadn’t seen him for a while.

"Thanks, Mademoiselle." Oliver beamed as he took a bite out of a small cake. "I have to admit, the look on your face was priceless." He swallowed and immediately tried to recreate Ariel's shocked face. "You looked like you were super close to dying of laughter, though!" he laughed and took another bite of the cake while he thought about how he could work as a scary man and scare the daylight out of children in their sleep. Or is that too macabre? I could sell magical oranges for a living, too. Maybe mangos. Mangos seem to be more exotic. I should most definitely not sell bananas. Maybe I could teach! TEACH FUN SPELLS! He could do pretty much anything, really, as long as he could handle it.

As he took another bite of the cake, he realized it was some sort of cake he hadn't tasted before, but he didn't like it. It tasted like potatoes. Pouring himself a cup of whatever it was there was to drink and putting the cake aside, Ollie saw Blake wave at him and Ariel, and he instantly waved back, forgetting that he was holding a cup almost half full of punch or something with one hand and a jar of said drink with the other. The hand with the cup failed him and the punch went all over the table. He wasn't pointing anywhere towards Ariel when it happened, so hopefully nothing got on her. "Awwwww." Ollie lamented as he put the drink down and took out his wand. "Tergeo" Ollie said and watched as the red-pink liquid made its way to the wand, leaving the table cloth almost spotless. "I'm not so good at cleaning spells, so it will leave a nasty stain." he said as he pointed to the bubblegum pink stain that the liquid had left behind.

He then turned to the girl Ariel had nodded at when she mentioned her costume. She looked beautiful! So beautiful! She was probably the most wonderful, the most gorgeous, the most perfect looking girl in the world! And Ollie didn't have eyes for girls. He had never once looked at a girl and thought of how beautiful they were. Except his mum and now Ariel. And maybe his cousins. Ollie would never go up to such a human and be the weird baby he was. If Blake was cool, this girl was cooler. This girl is winter's kiss compared to Blake's autumn wind. That's how cool she was. He turned back to Ariel, "Er- that's great. But, despite all of your beautifulness today, what are you supposed to be?" he asked with a nervous grin. He didn't want to be rude.