Come on Barbie, let's go party PV Ana B. Closed

Anastasia was actually excited about one of the boring Pureblood parties for once. Mainly because it was time that she wouldn't have to spend with her parents or her tutor, but also because Christmas parties had the absolute best deserts. She fidgeted with her dress, mildly irritated with the color. Her parents had said it was green because that was a Christmas color and it suited her best. In Ana's opinion, that was a load of crap. She looked best in pink or red, and red was a Christmas color too. She knew exactly why her hair ribbon and dress were green though. This was yet another one of her parents' long line of attempts not to acknowledge the fact that she was a Gryffindor, not Slytherin. Honestly, it had been over a year, Ana would have thought they would have moved on by now. Apparently not...

She fiddled with her ribbon, hoping it would loosen her too tight braid. It didn't and her mother swept in and instantly looked annoyed with her. She scolded the girl for messing with it, called over a maid to fix it, and told her daughter to wait patiently for her and her father to finish getting ready. 

Ana sighed and turned back to the book in her lap. She was about halfway through and was more invested by the page. If it wasn't for the promise of decadent desserts, Ana would have far preferred to stay home and finish the book. Still, food was a strong motivator. Anyway, she would try and smuggle the book with her. 

Finally, her parents came back in and shooed her to the door. Ana almost managed to find the book in the folds of her skirt, but her father caught it as they walked out and made her leave it. Pity...

After what seemed like forever, they were at the party. Ana thought it looked more like a museum or possibly a mausoleum than somewhere for a Christmas party. She kept that to herself though, knowing her parents certainly wouldn't appreciate that comment. They didn't seem to be overly fond of anything she said or did lately. The feeling was certainly mutual. 

With the way her parents were talking about her time at Hogwarts, one would have thought she was running around burning things down and dueling professors. No mention of the fact she had been a prefect in her very first year, or that she had managed to stay on track despite having fallen ill shortly before the end of last term, or that she had worked hard enough to be ahead of her classmates while they had traveled. Her parents mentioned most of that in passing but notably left out that she wasn't a Slytherin. Who bloody cared? Honestly... 

As soon as it was remotely plausible, Ana made a beeline for the desserts. She tugged at her ribbon again, sure that her hair was going to start falling out from how tight the stupid thing was. Utterly ignoring the "real" food, she began to pile her plate with sweets. Selecting a mug of hot chocolate with an absurd amount of whipped cream, she began to look for somewhere to sit, ideally with someone who was under the age of 30. 

Eyeing up the variety of food, Serena wondered what half of it even was. It always seemed like people came up with weird new appetizers just to be different, and to give it a fancy name. They often came in the tiniest portions though and you would need to eat like twenty of them to actually feel like you ate something.

Taking a plate, she helped herself to some that looked pretty good. It did not take too long to fill her plate with a selection. Her plan was to try nearly everything once and then go back for more when she figured out which ones she liked. The dish was soon filled with something with mushrooms, another thing with asparagus, some sweet looking dishes that were liking desserts.

She stepped away from the counter to find a seat. It appeared to be in limit with everyone standing around but she moved around nonetheless. Doing a double take, she looked back to see a mug of what looked like hot chocolate in someone's hands. The huge amount of whipped cream caught her attention. It looked delicious. Hot chocolate and whipped cream was a great idea. In fact, she had entirely forgotten to pick up a drink so perhaps that would be smart.

Her focus was entirely on the drink. It took her a few moments to actually look up and realise that the holder was, obviously, young. An annoying pureblood brat or potential company for this boring event? There was no real way of telling until she went in for the conversation. Though... the girl looked familiar. She could not quite place why or where she had seen her but she recognised the face. Perhaps they had met at another dinner or event.

"Hi, may I join you?" She asked politely but slightly less informally than usual as she approached the girl, deciding to forego the drink for now. She might need to use the opportunity to get a drink as an escape, if this girl turned out to be as irritating as her brother. "Your dress is beautiful," She complimented, "I love your hairstyle too." Her mother had definitely not been impressed by Serena's hairstyle but since they were already getting late, she went with it.

Anastasia was purely focused on her impending sugar high, so she was rather startled at realizing there was another girl speaking to her. Still, she managed not to show it and smiled invitingly at the girl. She looked vaguely familiar, but Anastasia couldn't think of where the two had met. Still, if she had met the girl and didn't have some negative memory of her, she couldn't be absolutely horrible company. If she was, Ana could just say she had a stomach from all her sugar and flee. "Of course," she said cheerfully. 

Glancing at the other girl's plate, Anastasia noted that she had a similar idea to her own, although it was slightly better thought out, seeing as there was some actual food to counterbalance the sugar. Anastasia didn't mind getting a stomach ache though. First of all, sugar was always, always worth it and her parents generally limited how much the girl had, and second, it could potentially be an excuse to leave early or go hide in the bathroom if the party was completely unbearable. For the moment though, that didn't seem necessary. 

She smiled at the compliment. "Oh, you're too kind," Anastasia said, cringing a little as she realized she sounded like her mother. "I simply adore your dress. Pink is my absolute favorite color." The girl's pink and gold color scheme looked very similar to how Anastasia had dressed at Hogwarts when she wasn't in her school robes. When her parents weren't trying to force her to be more Slyterhin or more mature with greens and blues and silvers, Anastasia always gravitated toward what she considered her signature color, pink, as well as her house colors. The girl rather reminded her of a muggle Barbie doll. In a good way, she thought. Far, far better than looking like a dainty little porcelain doll, which Ana was sure is exactly what she looked like with her intricate hairstyle and pale skin. 

She took a sip of her drink, feeling the whipped cream form a mustache above her top lip. She considered wiping it away with a napkin, like her mother constantly told her too, but decided upon licking the creamy goodness off first. Then, remembering where she was and that she was not alone, she did wipe her mouth, hoping the other girl wouldn't think she had been raised by wolves or anything. While she understood the necessity of being proper and all that, she also was never on to waste sweetness, which is what she would have been doing had she just wiped her mouth. Anyway, if this girl thought less of her because of something she did that literally took a second, Anastasia didn't think that the two would get along very well. 

Serena smiled and nodded gratefully as she sat down nearby. "Ah thank you," She replied to the comment. She was about to add that her mother picked it and it was not her choice of attire but decided to hold back. There was no point in dragging her mother up in the situation. If it got back to her mum, she would definitely not be impressed. Serena wanted to wear the yellow outfit she found but her mother insisted that that one needed a wash and this was much better for the occasion.

"The hot chocolate looks delicious," She added, secretly hoping it was actually hot chocolate under the whipped cream. What if the girl was weird and had added it onto a mug of tea? Perhaps she ought to have gone with something more generic but... it was too late. At least she had an escape ready if she needed one. It never hurt to be prepared. If nothing else, Hogwarts certainly taught her that. Preparation was the key to staying alive in the midst of chaos. Of course, it was not always easy to be prepared when the chaos that ensued usually was unexpected. But still, it was best to try where you could. Studying, she had learned, was a good way to actually prepare for the worst.

She tried the asparagus appetiser, which she found herself enjoying. It was pretty good. Braving herself up, Serena decided just to ask the question that was wondering around her brain for a while, "Forgive me for asking but you seem familiar," She started, trying to fight back her nerves from this awkward conversation, "Have we met before?" She continued to ask. Silently, the hufflepuff just prayed that the girl did not take offense to her words. This sort of thing was always really awkward but Serena just could not shake the feeling that the girl seemed familiar to her. It would be incredibly awkward if the other girl knew exactly who she was and she had no clue, and had just offended her.

Perhaps she ought to introduce herself just in case. But would that make the situation worse? Maybe it would make it better...? It was always good to introduce yourself first when asking for someone else's name, right? Serena was most certainly confused by the whole thing and unsure of what to actually do. Nonetheless, she braved herself to actually do it. It seemed like the right thing to do. Maybe. "Ah, where are my manners? I'm Serena Towers, daughter of Lazarus and Kamna Towers," She introduced herself, indicating which pureblood family she belonged to and whose child she was - on the off chance that the other girl knows her family instead of her. As she did so, she swapped her plate to her left hand, offering her clean right hand for a handshake as she carefully balanced the plate.

Ana grinned at the other girl's comment about her drink. Hot chocolate wouldn't have been Anastasia's choice if there had been coffee, but seeing as there wasn't, hot chocolate was her next favorite thing. She thought it was stupid that she couldn't drink coffee at a party, seeing as it was going to be forever until they left and the coffee wouldn't actually stop her from growing. Alright, maybe it would stunt her growth, but she honestly didn't care. Being smaller and lighter could be helpful for Quidditch. Anyways, she could just make tall friends and then she wouldn't have to worry about being short. Anyway, Ana was probably an inch or two taller than this girl, who looked a bit older, so it wasn't like she'd be the shortest person ever or anything. 

The hot chocolate was in fact delicious. There had been cinnamon, which was Ana's absolute favorite thing ever for hot chocolate. Sure, normal hot chocolate was nice, but with a dash or two of cinnamon, Ana thought it became 10 times better. Ana felt mildly immature as the other girl bit in a vegetable. Who purposefully chose to eat vegetables when there was all this sugar to be had? Then again, Ana generally ate more like that. She would look like a human pygmy puff if she had like she currently was every day. She would love to see her ballet teacher's reaction to that. 

The image of her ballet teacher as a pygmy puff was bouncing around Ana's brain when the other girl spoke again. Now that the girl mentioned it, she was sure she knew her from somewhere. She just couldn't think of where. The girl was here, so she probably didn't know her from her travels. "I'm sure we've run into each other at one of these events or another," Anastasia said, not intending to say anything thing else. She then changed her mind. This girl was certainly better company than Ana's parents, so she would at least try to speak with her. "I go to Hogwarts, so maybe we've run into each other there?"

She wondered if she still technically went to Hogwarts, seeing as she hadn't been there since March. She decided she did since she was supposed to go back in January. She could hardly wait. It had been far too long and she had only written a small handful of her friends that her parents had deemed appropriate. 

Setting down her chocolate, Anastasia shook the older girl's outstretched hand. She definitely recognized the name, although she still wasn't sure exactly where from. "I'm Anastasia Beckett, my parents are Oliver and Athena Beckett," she said. "I generally go by Ana though." The last sentence was a bit of a risk, since, in pureblood society, her parents insisted on her using her full name. They always said that if they had wanted to name her Ana, then that's what they would have named her. Still, all of Ana's friends called her Ana, and Anastasia sounded far too big a name for a 13-year-old girl.

Serena pondered as the other girl mentioned likely meeting at a former event. It was with great relief that she learned that the other girl was not instantly offended, nor did she recognise her. It must have been a former occasion but Serena could not place anything. At the very least, she had not had a negative interaction with the girl or she would likely remember that.

But the girl continued and mentioned Hogwarts. That had to be it, right?! "Ah, yeah, I go to Hogwarts too. Third year," She replied, a grin on her face as she was clearly rather excited. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should hide the fact that she was in Hufflepuff. Serena was honestly proud of that. Her house meant the world to her. They had been there for her when no one else had. Reid, Rosie, Quinn, Saskia, the whole Quidditch team, they were all there for each other. She had learned that in her very first year. Alone, she would die. But together, together they could beat the shadows and walk through fire.

Nonetheless, Serena's mother would write a letter every so often to her, asking if she had been moved to Slytherin yet. Despite her mother's attempts to move her, Hogwarts did not budge. It was simply not an option, as they told her often. "I'm in Hufflepuff, much to my family's dismay," Serena added, dropping her voice a little as she grumbled about it, more to herself than to the other girl. She admitted her house to the girl because she was honestly more proud of the fact that she was in Hufflepuff than scared her mother would scold her. Either way, her mother was bound to tell her off for something anyway, like for not spending enough time talking to adults, so it may as well be because of something she did than didn't do.

Serena could not really recall seeing the other girl around Hogwarts much, to be fair. Perhaps they were in different years or houses but even then, she just could not really remember the girl who introduced herself as Ana. "I don't really have a nickname, I'd like one but I guess Serena's a little short anyway..." The Hufflepuff added. Both her first name and her surname were rather short, it was hard to nickname them. Ser? Ren? Rena? To? Tow? It was likely just easier to say her full name than a nickname but she did like how people had a nickname. Of course, she also did not subscribe to the same pureblood mentality that many did.

Ana pressed her lips together a bit when the girl grinned at the mention of Hogwarts. Lovely, she was probably going to be spending the evening with a Slytherin who thought that they were so much better than others simply due to the fact that they had been sorted into Slytherin. Anastasia knew she was better than most people, but it was for reasons she could control, not something that some random, moth ridden hat decided on a whim if you cussed it out. Still, Anastasia had grown to love being a Gryffindor and she could hardly wait to get back to the red and gold house after Christmas. 

The girl was a third year, which explained why Ana recognized her but couldn't put a name to the face. Ana knew a majority of the people in her year at least by name, and a few older Gryffindors, but not many beyond that. She meant to remedy that when she got back to school. When the older girl mentioned her house, Ana thought her face was going to crack from the smile that broke forth. She was a Hufflepuff! That wasn't as bad in Ana's parents' eyes since it just meant that you were a pushover(so they thought), instead of a defiant little Gryffindor. "I'm a Gryffindor, second year," Ana said, managing to maintain some level of decorum. She never would have thought she would have been that excited to meet a member of the most flammable house, but here she was. "And you would think that I got sorted specifically to let down the family name, from the way my parents talk about it." 

Her parents had given up with their constant owls to the Headmaster asking for a resorting after the man had replied with a few choice words, but that didn't mean they weren't still continuously punishing Ana for it. She rather suspected her recent travels had been part of an effort to distance her from the "bad influences" of her house. If they knew a single thing about the way Ana behaved at Hogwarts, they would know without a doubt that Ana herself was an absolutely terrible influence. Obviously, Ana kept that to herself.

She smiled a little at the other girl saying she didn't have a nickname. Serena didn't strike her as a name that lent itself to nicknames very well, and it wasn't quite as suffocating as Anastasia. Anyway, Ana thought that Serena fit this girl quite well. If you knew Ana at Hogwarts, you wouldn't think of calling her anything other than Ana, and if you knew her in pureblood society, you wouldn't call her anything other than Anastasia. It was rather annoying since Ana felt that the two extra syllables of her full name were really a waste of her valuable time. Anyway, with five middle names, her name was more than long enough as it was.

Learning the girl was in a different house and a different year explained a lot. In all honesty, she had kind of stopped trying to know everyone after she gave up being head girl over a year ago. It was far too time consuming. And it was also one of the most stressful parts of her job. Serena felt the need to know as many people as she could whilst she was a prefect and it was just draining, honestly. The girl hated the feeling of constantly having to make small talk or be nervous around people. It was really hard for her to put herself out there daily - no, pretty much hourly - during that tenure. However, it did help her speak up. It made her braver than she realised it did. It made her a little less shy.

She chuckled softly as Ana continued. The Gryffindor's parents were mentioned and it was rather relatable. Her own family were very similar. Serena was pretty sure that every letter her mother had ever written her since she moved to Hogwarts contained at least one mention about changing houses. "I get that..." She replied with a sigh. In an effort to make some conversation, she continued, "I haven't really seen you around a lot, are you in any clubs or teams or something?" Serena asked, wondering if they had anything in common. She could not recognise her from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, at the very least.

She threw another appetiser into her mouth, instantly regretting it as the taste sunk in. Oh. That, she definitely did not enjoy. Which one was it? Eurgh. Her expression visibly wrinkled up a little as she continued to chew the food that she was not enjoying. This was why it was better to pick the junk, rather than opt for the things adults were eating. Serena wanted to spit it out but... that would not go well. So she tried to hide her disgust of it as best as she could from the adults around and just quickly swallow it.

"I- I think I need three cups of hot chocolate after that... That was... yeah..." She mumbled, looking down at her plate, just in case her mother looked over and saw her disgusted expression. Instead of grabbing hot chocolate, she went for the sweetest looking thing on her plate - mostly because she was too lazy to actually get up, nor did she want to be impolite by leaving Ana. "Ohh this one's better," She added after the sweetest helped kill some of the nasty aftertaste that the other had left.

OOC: I'm so sorry for the delay, I thought I posted this weeks ago!!

Ana wondered if she ought to feel bad about not knowing the girl. After all, she'd been a prefect for most of her first year. Then again, she'd been gone for months, and hadn't bothered to remember many people beyond Hugh and Ruby. That wasn't even counting all the first years that she wouldn't know when she got back. That would be weird. She'd managed to make quite a few enemies though, so it was just as well that she didn't remember half the people she'd met.

She chuckled a bit when the girl asked if she was on any teams or clubs. She'd been a member of a few clubs that had met once or twice and fizzled out. She desperately had wanted to be on the Quidditch team, but alas, that hadn't happened during her first year either. "I was in a few clubs, although I've been traveling quite a bit lately, so I don't imagine you would have seen me around. My parents seem to have decided that the ideal time to travel is during the school year, so I haven't actually been back since the end of last year," Ana said, laughing slightly. Traveling was lovely, and she did enjoy it, but quite frankly, she would have vastly preferred to be at school."What about you? Any teams or clubs?"

Ana let out a laugh that was a bit too loud for her mother to consider it ladylike at the Hufflepuff's disgusted expression. That was why Ana just went straight for sugar every single party. Sure, she would possibly go into a diabetic coma at age 20, but it would totally be worth it. Life was far too short to eat gross food.

"Oh, are you sure, that looked absolutely divine," Ana said dryly before popping some bite-sized chocolate looking thing into her mouth. It exploded into approximately a billon different flavors that somehow all melded together perfectly. Forget transfiguration or coffee or that one French boy, whatever on Earth she was eating was the love of her life. "What is it with these parties and their inability to make normal delicious food? Like I've had some amazing dishes in my travels and my parents aren't exactly the type to have anything less than the best, but the things they serve at these parties..."

It was rather odd to Ana. One would think that the richer one was, the better they would want to eat. Half the time though, they seemed more focused on showing how rich they were in every single dish. Like, just because you could put caviar on something really didn't mean you should.

OOC: You're seriously totally fine!

@Serena Towers