Sweets for Your Sweet Errand Open

• ᴇxᴘʀᴇꜱꜱɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴘʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴄᴀʟɪᴛʏ •
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The Great Hall - 13th February 2022

Sometimes Aurelius surprised even himself, to the lengths he would go to try and earn points for his House. The notice for a student event in the Great Hall had been passed around, informing any number of interested parties that some Valentine's Day preparation would be taking place, and it came as no surprise that many took part. The long tables were filled with students from all Houses, and the noise and chatter was jovial and cheery.

Aurelius walked into the space, his eyebrows furrowed, as he looked around. He saw the Slytherin table, saw some familiar faces, and decided to head toward it. There were small baking stations set up along the table length, cauldrons and trays and all sorts for the purpose. It also seemed the Professors in charge of the occasion had even gone to the effort of preparing celebratory-specific decorations.

The things I do for Slytherin...

The Irish youth mostly kept to himself, as he rounded the table and walked toward a free spot. He sat on a chair, looked around for the instruction sheet that others used, and soon had one in hand. Seemed making some kind of chocolate variant was the requirement, along with cards to spread love and joy. Aurelius suppressed the sigh, as he reached across the table as far as he could, and began to collect the items needed to begin making chocolate bark. It sounded questionable, at any rate, but points were points.

Carefully, Aurelius slid a cauldron over to place it before him. He selected some chocolate bars, white and butterscotch, then placed them into the heated bowl to begin melting. As that happened, he began to scan the rest of the instructions, familiarizing himself, and preparing such that Aurelius wouldn't need to pause to read the next steps. He elected to keep the flavors as they were, and bypassed the powders and other bits. Next was to prepare the baking trays, which he did by sliding one in front of himself and laying baking paper on the surface; then once the chocolate had become a near-liquid, the Slytherin carefully tipped the cauldron and poured the melt out onto the tray.

It was nothing fancy, just a bar shape.

Aurelius glanced to his seated neighbors, seeing their own progress. Some were really getting into it all, which he could accept as effort for a task, but it certainly wasn't his type of project. And as the bar began to cool, the Irish youth grabbed some simple chocolate candy and placed a small number over the top of his creation - nothing overwhelming, just simple and straightforward, to let the flavors do the work for themselves.

Careful, Aurelius thought to himself as he looked over at some of the decorated paper nearby. Put much more thought into this, and I might delude myself into enjoying it.

There was the question of whom to send the gift to. Aurelius thought, but no one really came to mind, so he elected to make it anonymous to whomever received it. He took up a quill, dipped the tip, then brought over some paper and began to scribe:

Valentine,

Hearts will never be practical, until they are made unbreakable.

- Anonymous

And with that somewhat practical quote done, Aurelius checked on the creation. It looked about ready. He folded the letter, then gathered wrapping plastic and a sealing ribbon. After another dozen minutes or so it was time, to which the Slytherin slid the chocolate into the bag and pulled it tight around with folds. He wrapped and tied off the ribbon, which kept it all in place, then attached the Valentine note.

"There. Chocolate bark." Aurelius muttered to himself, as he looked around for what to do next. He spied a small mound of similarly prepared gifts, and figured that was where they went when completed. "Wasn't so bad."

Aurelius stood, chocolate bar in hand, and walked over to place it with the others. He took a moment to glance over the other offerings, and noted some were quite fancy. Still, for something so extracurricular, there was a balance of time to reward ratio the Slytherin aimed for; besides, his chocolate bar was fundamentally sound, prepared well and the steps for making it performed precisely and very well.

There shouldn't have been any issue with the gift.

With a clear of his throat, Aurelius turned and began to leave the Great Hall. He didn't see the point in remaining to continue the project, as he had some study time set aside. It was far more efficient to complete the extra task as quickly as possible, then resume his normal schedule, to avoid a decrease in productivity for schooling. So, without another word, the Slytherin exited the chamber and started toward his dorm room...

Word Count: 800
Aurelius has exited the thread.

It was Sunday, February the 13th, and since I had nothing to do, I had decided to check out the Great Hall. I had heard from a few other Hufflepuff's in the common room earlier that day that you could make and decorate treats for the 'Sweethearts' Tea Party that would be taking place tomorrow and since I would be attending, I had decided to make a treat too. Not that I had a crush or anything which is why I had decided to make the treat for Simon Kincaid since he was by far my favorite person in the school. Mainly because him and I shared some of the same traits I did which in turn, made our first conversation with each other very pleasant. Plus, it was his birthday, so he'd get it the next day as a late birthday present, or so I thought until I found out later that day that his birthday was on the 14th, not the 13th like I thought. But that's besides the point, the point being that I was here to make an decorate some food for Simon, and possibly for myself, if I could get away with it.

Upon entering the hall, I noticed some house elves by the Gryffindor table, putting the treats other students made into boxes and I assumed that I was supposed to give it to them too and just hoped they didn't read the from and to as soon as you gave it to them. On the Hufflepuff table, there were a bunch of cupcakes, icing, toppings, and white bakery boxes which consisted of different sizes, inside of which I assumed I'd have to put the cupcakes once I was finished with them. The Slytherin table also had food on it, but instead of cupcakes there was a lot of chocolate bars, jars of fruits and nuts, and cauldrons used for who knows what. and the Ravenclaw table had lots of writing supplies, paper, and books, very likely for writing letters although I didn't understand why the books were there but I'd probably find out sooner or later. Once I had finished looking at the four tables, I came up to the Slytherin table to see what the chocolate was about and noticed a set of instructions by one of the cauldrons. I mean, there was a piece of paper with the instructions across the table at every set of items, and I wondered how I hadn't noticed it before. I read through the instructions on making the chocolate bark, now knowing what the cauldrons were used for, but it wasn't something I liked because if you mixed the flavors in the wrong way, for example adding too much dark chocolate, then you'd end up with chocolate bark that tastes like dog feces. I mean, it also depended on the taste of the person eating it but I personally hated dark chocolate.

I then decided to head over to the Hufflepuff table to look what I had to do there and picked up the instructions for it before reading them. The instructions seemed much more simpler then the ones for chocolate bark and since the cupcakes were already baked, you only had to choose one and decorate it before putting it into one of the white bakery boxes on the table. I set the instructions aside and instead of six, chose two cupcakes, one for myself, and one for Simon. They were both red velvet as that was my favorite type out of the available seven and I just hoped Simon liked these as well. I then put cream cheese into one of the pastry bags available and started doing my best decorate the cupcakes and the icing turned out pretty decent with how it could've been had my mom not let me help prepare the cupcakes on my tenth birthday. The third step was to select some toppings to go with the cupcake but since I didn't want any, I skipped that step and went straight to step four which was to put the cupcakes into the white bakery boxes. I put them into separate boxes and labeled one to Simon Kincaid, and the other one to David Howard. Not that I thought the house elves wouldn't notice, in fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't but it was still worth a shot, and it's not like anyone was going to gift me a cupcake tomorrow.

The fifth step was then to go over to the Ravenclaw table and write out a letter to accompany the cupcakes so I took my cupcakes and went to the Ravenclaw table to write a letter, to Simon, and to myself. I chose to use black ink since that's what I used for my usual owls, and whilst this wasn't an owl, I didn't find the need to use a different color ink for this and I also got two parchment colored stationaries and then started writing. For Simon I wrote:

Hey Simon,

We've only had one conversation previously and that was all it took for me to start liking you. As friends since I'm straight, and planning to be so for the rest of my life. When we first met, I liked how talkative you were, just as I was, and it was really nice how you let me finish reading the chapter in my book which was very interesting by the way, but I'm pretty sure you knew that without me having to tell you. And I should also mention that the song you were playing sounded great, and I hope to hear more soon if we meet again. And here's a cupcake I partially made for you since I don't have anyone else to make one for. And I'm saying partially because I wasn't the one who baked it, it was just one of the things to do in the great hall yesterday. And also, happy late birthday, I hope you noticed me yesterday at your birthday party, but I have no way of knowing since I'm writing this before the time the party takes place.

Have a good day,
-Dave

Well, there were a few things I got wrong in that letter, one being the late birthday when his birthday was supposed to be on the day he was supposed to receive the cupcake, but like I said before, I didn't know that. And the second thing I got wrong is that he wasn't playing a song, but a melody although I didn't know the difference back then. But I learned later on and had I known the difference, I would've put melody instead of song, but such is life, do something and you can't undo it. And as for the letter to myself, I wrote:

Hello Dave,

Remember me? I'm that one guy you talk to in the dormitory almost every day. Now first things first, stop talking so damn loud, we don't wanna wake anyone up. And second things second, I was just joking, you're actually pretty quiet, but not so quiet I can't hear you. Also, I'm pretty sure you mentioned in one of our conversations your favorite cupcake so I tried my best to make you one. And before I forget, Happy Valentine's Day!

-That one guy

Well, since you don't know, that one guy is just a guy from my imagination which means he's a purely fictional character, but he wasn't lying, I did talk to him in the dormitory almost every day, except on the days when I forgot to do so. I had originally started doing 'talking' to him before I had friends, and I did this so much, that it became a habit, one that followed me into my life, even after I got my good friends Liam and Robert. And just to avoid confusion, they're my muggle friends. And now that I had finished writing my letters, all I had to do was go to the Gryffindor table, give the cupcakes with their respective letters to the house elves, and walk away, hoping that the house elves wouldn't notice anything.

Closed to interactions
Making cupcakes for @Vivian Nightshade and @Marcus Iwasaki

If it hadn't been for the sweets Samantha had stayed in her dorm, far away from all the heart-shaped decorations. She did not understand Valentine’s day, even though a lot of people seemed to think it was great. Celebrating love and romance? No, thank you. She didn't understand love, she didn't care about love and liked to stay as far away from it as possible. Sure, she loved her family and friends, but not in THAT way.

When she spotted the cupcakes, the sprinkles, and the frosting bowls, she completely forgot about the stupid heart decorations. The brunette quickly made her way towards the Hufflepuff table and didn't have any interest in the other tables. She chose vanilla, red velvet, cheesecake, and lemon-flavored cupcakes. Time for icing! Making a little pro and con list in her head, the young girl picked chocolate, buttercream, and whipped cream. The chocolate was irresistible for Samantha since it was one of her favorite tastes.

She started with the cheesecake and red velvet cupcakes, which were for the amazing Vivian. Samantha knew that her best friend didn't like chocolate for some weird reason, so she wouldn't use the chocolate icing for these cupcakes. She started with the cheesecake cupcake and added a thick layer of buttercream to it. After adding some rainbow sprinkles the young girl was happy with the first cupcake. With a great idea in mind, she started on her second cupcake by adding whipped cream on top of the cupcake. She tried to make it look fancy but failed horribly. Maybe she could make it better with the toppings? Sam used different little candies to make an S and a V on the cupcake. She hoped her friend would be able to see which letter it was because the S looked more like a 5.

She would leave the cupcakes for her friend alone as she started on the cupcakes for professor Iwasaki. Samantha didn't know the head of house as well as she knew her best friend, but she thought it was nice to send him some cupcakes too. After all, a thank you for being the head of the best house in the entire universe was a nice thing to do. There were three cupcakes left, vanilla, chocolate, and lemon. Most people liked vanilla, so that was the young girl's first pick. It would be a waste not to use the chocolate icing, so she added a thick layer of icing on the cupcake. Chocolate icing on a vanilla cupcake was way too boring, she needed to add some other toppings. The first victim of Samantha's need for toppings was the chocolate chips, soon followed by a couple of freshly cut strawberries. Then she added some rainbow sprinkles, some chocolate sprinkles, and edible glitter dust. There wasn't much space left on the little cupcake but the brunette managed to add some shredded coconut.

As she looked at her first cupcake, she realized she might have overdone it a little, maybe she should make the next cupcake boring. After all, old people liked boring, or was it that they were boring? Boring or not, old people deserved her respect and a good cupcake. With pain in her heart, she would add fewer toppings to the lemon cupcake. Samantha added a thin layer of buttercream to the cupcake and topped it off with the most boring topping she could think of: almonds. She resisted the urge to add anything else to the boring cupcake and quickly placed them in a box.

After adding addressed to the lucky souls she had made cupcakes for, she moved to the Ravenclaw table. Samantha went with simple white stationery for the professor and picked a bright yellow one for her friend. She would use blue ink for both of the letters since blue was the Ravenclaw color and the favorite color of her best friend. She skipped adding glitter to any of the letters and started by writing the letter for her best friend.

Reducio

Hi,

So today I made these cupcakes as you can see. One of them is cheesecake and the other is red velvet. The one with rainbow sprinkles is the cheesecake and the other one with a V and an S (or at least that is what it is supposed to be) is red velvet. I made sure not to use any chocolate, because you don't like that for some weird reason, which I still don't understand.

But anyway, so I made them because I really like you as a friend and I wanted to let you know that. And maybe now we aren't really close, I hope we can become friends again and yeah. I hope you have a great day. And also I hope you like the cupcakes, I really had to resist eating them. They look really great!

Bye,
Samantha

After writing her letter to Vivian, she started to write the one for her head of house.

Reducio

Hello,

I made two cupcakes and I will explain what is on top of each one. Okay, so, first off we have the one with a lot of toppings. I think you know which one I am talking about, since it is not that hard to see which one has more toppings. The flavor of that cupcake is vanilla, because I thought that most people like that and I wasn't sure what kind of taste you liked so I went with that. I added chocolate icing, I hope you like that. I really love chocolate, but I have a couple of friends who don't like chocolate at all! I know they are really weird! One of them doesn't like sweets at all! Anyway so on top of that cupcake are chocolate chips and strawberries and rainbow sprinkles and chocolate sprinkles and glitter. I think the glitters are edible I mean otherwise the professors wouldn't have given it to us. So that's the first one, I think it is great, I hope you do too.

And then we have the second one. I was like, maybe you don't like chocolate, just like my weird friends. So I went with the lemon tasting cupcake because my friend who doesn't like candy does like lemon. And then after I did the buttercream I added some almonds. My mom likes almonds and you are also old an adult and you probably ate also boring a great mom strict also like almonds, yes.

Also on the first cupcake I added coconut at least I think that I did. It does look like that. Anyway so yeah that is about it what I wanted to say. I hope you like the cupcakes and if you don't you can give it to another adult or person who likes it and otherwise you can give the one with many topics to me. But I don't want the one with almonds since I don't like almonds.

I hope you are having a great day and the cupcakes made you happy!
Samantha Salwis

Samantha had never been great in writing letters, but she had tried and that's what counted. Happy with her hard work Samantha collected her stuff and placed the cupcakes and letters on the Gryffindor table. She wrote the names of Vivian and the professor on the box and left the great hall.

Word count: 1220/400
Samantha left the thread

mentioning: @Simon Kincaid | @Avery Chen | @Maggie Hawkins | @Liana Kerr | @Hui Ming

Valentine's Day events at school were always daunting. Who liked whom? Who would get the card they wanted? Who would get an unwanted card? Della found the whole affair a bit unnerving. She was the quiet type, and she often didn't attract too much attention, which made these kinds of events a bit anti-climatic. Though now she was at Hogwarts, and it was difficult to imagine a school event as "anti-climatic" here.

She was at the Gryffindor table packing up her cupcakes. She had made one for her mother, aunt, and cousin, all to be sent back home. She was looking over at the Slytherin table, wondering if she should in fact make some bark for a few fellow students. She had initially decided against it because she didn't want to be let down if the intended recipients didn't return the favor—well, there was really only one intended recipient that she was concerned about. The rest she didn't mind if they had spent their treats on other students. But seeing everyone else get in the spirit changed her resolve.

Della finished her box for home and went over to the Slytherin table. The first recipient would be easy, her study buddy, Simon Kincaid. He reminded her of her dark chocolate and strawberries, though she couldn't say why. She laid down the finished tray on the Gryffindor table with his name beside it. She wrote a quick note:

Della looked back at the Slytherin table, the rest on her mental list being a part of that house. Not knowing exactly what they liked, she made three butterscotch trays, one with M&Ms (for Maggie), one with walnuts (for Avery), and one with cinnamon (for Liana). She had played dueling games with all of them.

Della had thought of Avery and Liana because she felt very guilty about her feelings toward them at the end of the King of the Hill game. The game had made her feel sour, and she thought of Avery and Liana as her enemies in particular, which felt silly now. In fact, they might not have felt the same back; it was probably better if they hadn't thought too much of her at all. She wanted to send a peace offering, a notion of friendship, or pleasant surprise—whichever they decided to read it as.

Maggie, on the other hand, had worked with Della on a fairy house, and it was nice.

She wrote each of their names next to the trays with a simple "from Della."

The last one she spent a lot of time on. She swirled white and milk chocolate together, creating an elegant pattern. She then sprinkled on a bit of glitter, but not too much.

She sat at the Ravenclaw table, watching the bark cool. What should she write? What could she write? His letters were always so formal and respectful and thoughtful—peculiar for someone their age. Scenes of him laughing at her gift or finding it not up to par or even just him getting a better letter from someone else ran through her mind, anxiety churning in her throat. But they were friends, right?

She looked at the people next to her, writing letters to crushes or love poems to significant others. Sending a gift for this holiday could hold more weight than "friend."

In a moment of panic or bravery, both felt similar when it came to the Gryffindor girl, she wrote a brash anonymous letter.

She laid the letter next to the tray and addressed it to Hui Ming.

@Cecily Quinn | @Aly Salinger
Mentions | @Marcus Iwasaki

Grabbing some cream cheese frosting, Dee had proceeded to happily squirt it onto two of her red velvet cupcakes, her own and one other. And perhaps just... steal a spoonful to try now... Mmmmh.

She had the spoon in her mouth when suddenly addressed from the side and turned, almost sheepish, until she recognised the speaker and the expression faded in favour of a grin. "Cecily!" Her plans? She did, indeed, have some of those. "Huge plans," she confirmed. "Most importantly, this one," she pointed at one of the red velvet cream cheese cupcakes, the one with noticeably more frosting than the other, "I plan to eat myself. The others, less important ones, will be sent too..." Hmm, decisions had to be made. Who was deserving of her very limited number of cupcakes? "Peri," she decided, pointing at the lemon one. "Aaron." Did Cecily know Aaron? She wasn't sure. No matter. "Hanako." Although the little whiny Slytherin would likely just complain about the subpar quality of the cupcake. The next name came after a slight hesitation. "Jack."

And then, the last one, was declared with a wide grin on her face. "And one very special cupcake for..." She was about to launch into an explanation of the plan to get their Head of House bombarded with cupcakes - many more than he probably wanted - when they were approached by another friendly face. "Aly!" Dee's smile brightened, then turned mischievous at the mention of that same person.

"You heard!" she said cheerfully, rubbing her hands together like a cartoon villain. "It's spreading. Wonderful." She turned back to Cecily. "We're sending cupcakes to Professor Iwasaki." The name was uttered in a hushed voice. "As many of us as we can get to participate. To show our... uh... appreciation." She nodded decisively. Honestly, it was a prank just as much as a wish to make their ever stoic Head of House perhaps crack a smile. Either way, she expected it would be entertaining. "How about you?"

Reaching for more frosting, Dee prepared to decorate her other cupcakes, although all of them would end up messy and rather lopsided. Strawberry for the lemon one, buttercream for chocolate, lemon for the remaining red velvet cupcake. Toppings soon to come.

Word Count filled, just posting for the interactions.

interacting: @Dealla Prince & @Aly Salinger

Cecily began sorting out her cupcakes as Dee spoke, finally making the all-important choice of who would be the lucky recipients, and estimating just how many toppings she could pile on each one. She reached for the cream cheese frosting and started a swirl atop her red velvet cupcake-- the clear first move, given the two's ideal pairing. It seemed that Dee knew many more people than Cecily did-- which was not exactly a surprise-- as she rattled off a list of names Cecily mostly didn't recognize. Except for the last, whose voice came from right beside the two Ravenclaws.

"Oh, hey Aly!" Cecily greeted her teammate with a a smile as she finished off frosting the red velvet, a smile which only grew as Dealla explained the Very Secret Plan. "Well," she started, lowering her voice so as to not give away their scheme, "given how much he enjoyed his welcome party, I'm sure he'll appreciate a deluge of cupcakes even more." In honesty, she wasn't quite sure how the rather intimidating Head of House might react to attempts to show appreciation, but she sure was looking forward to finding out.

"Hmm. I think this one," she pointed towards the red velvet she had just finished off with chocolate sprinkles, "will be for Adam. He seems like a red velvet kind of guy." Dee had asked, and now Cecily really had to make some choices. She had a list in her head of a few recipients, but now she would have to assign them flavors on the spot. No big deal, a cupcake was a cupcake, no matter the flavor. She selected the chocolate icing and began piping it onto the marble cupcake, aiming for classy but landing on what she could only bring herself to describe as "messy" and "a good try." "I suppose this one will be for Professor Iwasaki," she continued as she unevenly piped the icing. "One for Sylvain, one for Lavinia, and one for myself, of course." She was going through all this trouble, treating herself to one was the least she could do as a reward for her effort. That left her with just one left over, and she was running out of people on her list. She finished off the cupcake with a heavy dusting of rainbow sprinkles-- bright and cheery, the only real option for their stoic Head of House-- as she thought for a moment. "Uh, can you send one to someone you don't like? A hate cupcake?" This opened up a whole new avenue of potential: how to make the worst cupcake possible.

She decided to save that one for last, instead reaching for the strawberry icing. This would go wonderfully on the cheesecake she was saving for herself, perhaps with some fresh fruit on top, and soon after she committed to piping it on one of the chocolates as well. Fruity flavors always went well with chocolate, there was no denying it. After a moment of consideration, she sprinkled both with coconut shavings, adding a generous helping of chocolate chips to her cheesecake and a few blueberries to the chocolate.

wc: 479 + 521 = 1000
decorations and letter writing to be continued.

13th February, one day before Valentine's Day, one day before Simon's birthday and the day Clair is having Simon's birthday party. Haley had promised to help with the preparations, which is why the young Gryffindor got up especially early today so that she could get everything done in time. Because today she would not only help with the preparations for Simon's party, but also do some small preparations for some small Valentine's gifts.

Haley found herself in the Great Hall, as it was still early, not too many of the other students were there yet and she was able to get a good overview quickly. Slytherin table - Chocolate Bark, Hufflepuff table - Cupcakes, Ravenclaw table - Letters and finally the Gryffindor table where the house elves were waiting to wrap everything.

Under the time pressure Haley only vaguely took in the surroundings. She saw heart-shaped ballons and the usual candles, but her gaze quickly wandered to the Hufflepuff table, which was her destination for today. On her list were Simon, Cosmo, Elena, and Charles, though she didn't know if she could ship it to Durmstrang. That would be 4 cupcakes, although Simon's birthday is tomorrow too, so he gets two at once. Luckily for her, there was lemon as a flavour and with any luck they wouldn't be too sweet for Simon. So Haley chose the flavors as follows: Lemon, Vanilla, buttercream, chocolate.

For Simon's cupcake she crushed up some lemon drops and sprinkled the broken sweets over his cupcakes. On the chocolate muffin she put shredded coconut and on the rest she spread almonds. Haley was surprised that it didn't take her too long to make the cupcakes and surveyed her results with satisfaction before carefully tagging them with the names.

Simon Kincaid - 2x Lemon Cupcake
Cosmo Keith - chocolate cupcake
Elena Jangleton - Vanilla Cupcake
Charles Alluring - Buttercream Cupcake

The cupcakes finished, Haley collected everything and moved one table over to the Ravenclaw table. Now it was time to write letters for her loved ones - nothing easier than that. Haley took care to write only small notes and chose the same paper for all of them. She didn't use bright or pink colours, that was too much for her, she just stuck to beige paper. Anyone who knew Haley knew that her favourite colour was green, so it was no surprise that the writing on all four letters was green. She skilfully ignored the glitter on the table, that would have been far too schmaltzy for her and so she began to write the first letter. This would go to none other than Simon Kincaid.

Reducio

My dear Valentines Crush,

I have many nicknames for you and today it is this one. With this little message I want to say thank you and how important you are to me. I know that sweet things are not always to everyone's taste and not necessarily yours, but I hope that maybe you will enjoy these cupcakes.

Always Love,
H. Rose

The next letter was to Cosmo, her best friend.

Reducio

My dearest best friend,

you are not only a part of my soul, but also of my heart. And even on this day made for lovebirds and lovers, I think of you. Enjoy my little gift, I send you a big hug and lots of kisses.

Love you,
H. Rose

Halfway through, the next letter was for Elena, who was not only a good friend, but also recently a team member

Reducio

Hey Team-Mate!

You can't imagine how happy I still am that you took my advice. House mates, friends and now team mates. What better way to celebrate than with a little love and a delicious cupcake? I hope the taste of vanilla makes you as happy as it does me.

See you in training and hopefully outside of training soon!

Thanks for being a great friend.

Love,
H. Rose

Haley had to grin at her own lines and would only be too happy to be there when Elena received her little message of love. She folded up this letter too, took one last piece of writing paper and now wrote the last letter to Charles. She was sure that he would want to throw up when he saw that he was receiving a Valentine's Day gift and for that very reason it made even more fun. At the same time, the thought occurred to her that she would also just be playing a little trick on Charles with it, she wouldn't reveal that the letter was from her, at least not at first, just leave a little hint.

Reducio

Mystery boy,

This may come as a surprise to you, I'm sure it does, but yes, you are indeed receiving a Valentine's Day gift. You may be wondering from whom, who is this secret admirer? Well, you'll have to find out for yourself.

Until you solve the mystery, enjoy the cupcake, maybe the sugar will stimulate your brain and you'll figure out faster who is sending you this letter written with love.

But it's Valentine's Day, who would I be if I didn't give you at least a few clues. 1. i'm incredibly good looking 2. we're more alike than some think 3. despite distance, we can be close.

And loverboy, can you figure it out?

Much love from the dark side.
H.R.

Giggling, Haley folded up the last letter, took the four letters, the cupcakes that went with them and went to the familiar Gryffindor table to have everything finally wrapped. A quick glance at her watch told her that she was just about on time. She dashed out of the Great Hall to quickly change and then help Clair with the preparations.

WC: 958/400

The only times he smiled during this errand was when the tantalizing idea of impersonating as a random student sending aggressively expressive love notes towards one of his most hated people invaded his brain.

And recently Hana had been very active in making his ideas come to life.

People who were making sweet treats for their beloved didn’t look like tricksters. They were too focused on pouring all their unrequited love and icky devotion. Fortunately, Hana’s face was physically incapable of making such a look, even if it was an impersonation. Therefore, his best bet to look as natural as possible was to not look like he had emotions. That was his logic, at least.

Sure, he was a changed man since his 1st year. But to give up an opportunity to make his enemies uncomfortable for even a millisecond, was something he would say he ‘lived’ for if he was more dramatic.

Usually, he’d be caught dead if he was seen participating in such an errand. Heart-shaped balloons and giggly lovesick fools around him. Ew. But again, putting in just a little bit of energy for a greater cause (the suffering of others), was worth it.

Speaking of low energy, his chocolate barks could be described as such.

Barely putting effort, Hanako merely made simple white chocolate bark, sprinkled with heart-shaped toppings and edible glitter where he may have overdone it by a tad bit. With an untrained eye, the glitter looked much more like an ingredient that's one with the chocolate, than a simple topping.

He never made chocolate bark before. But the instructions seemed much easier to do than cupcakes, therefore simple is better. With just a tad bit of pity and guilt the boy harbored towards those who will be receiving his gifts, he tried to make the chocolate bark at least edible. He wasn’t much of a baker, but if they turned out disgusting, it’s their tongues that’ll suffer, not Hana’s. He could only have so much mercy.

Now that it’s done, here comes the fun part. The letter. A part in that he guessed would be the most exciting and more energy draining.

In front of him lay 6 lucky papers. Pink. The shade of the true insanity. Truly a crazy induced color, just as he hoped.

To those who casted a curious gaze at his artwork, he gave them a bright smile and would say, ‘ I love love looveeeeee aallllll of my friends’. To which sounded so sickly sweet that it would be considered sarcastic, but being so close to finishing his task, he didn’t care if he looked a bit suspicious.

Readable version of letter content:

Reducio

Dear you,

(„• ᴥ •„) Oh my god oh my god oh my god. I can’t believe I found the courage to write this to you. You probably don’t know me. But I know you!

Oh, wait please. I don’t want to sound creepy to you. In fact, it’s the last thing I want! *+:(◍•ᴗ•◍):+* But I do admire you a lot lot lot! You’re so enchanting, so lovely, so tempting. You saying something as simple as good morning makes me want to run into your arms and make you say it over and over and over and over and over and…. Oh, I guess you get the idea already. ·⸜(-ᴗ•͈)⸝

You’re just such an amazing person, and I wish I was braver to tell you this to your face. I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself. In fact, even this letter can be considered pretty coward-like, don’t you think?

I ask myself everyday, why can’t I be more brave?(´。＿ 。｀) Why is it so hard to come up to you and tell you this myself? Instead of imagining our future together in silence? It pains me so much that I want to SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM!!!

But I’m not loud. But I am honest with my affections for you. I wish you be the one that pats your head when you’re sad. I wish to be the one who you say good morning to first everyday. I wish to be the one who works while you can live in comfort with our 3 kids, and Enchantia, our cat.

Look! I even picked out wonderful names for them. The first child will be Alex, the second will be Taylor, and the last will be……. Well, I decided after holding myself back, that I want you to name them. Because I love you.

GASP （ꏿ ᴥ ꏿ）

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.

I SAID THE L WORD! I SAID LOVE! (♥｡♥)

You see what you do to me? Even just by writing a letter, I feel more confident to express my true feelings towards you. Not enough to tell you my name, but please know I will continue to work on myself before approaching you.

(〃◕▽◕〃) While we wait, I hope this letter convinces you just how serious I am about this. You and me. And Taylor and Alex, and our youngest child, and Enchantia, our cat. I’ve thought about all the details of our future, so you don’t have to worry about anything!

All you need to do is be your charming self, until I’m ready to face you myself. (੭・ω・)੭ Don’t worry about me forgetting about you. After all, there isn’t a day that goes by where you are not in my sight.

With the true-est love,
Your admirer
(っ◔◡◔)っ ❤

Actual Content in Letter:

Reducio

Deaw uwu,

(„• ᴥ •„) oh my god oh my god oh my god. I can’t bewieve I found the couwage tuwu wwite thiws tuwu uwu. Uwu pwobabwy don’t know me. But i know uwu!

Oh, wait pwease. I don’t wawnt tuwu sound cweepy tuwu uwu. In fact, it’s the wast thing i wawnt! *+:(◍•ᴗ•◍):+* But i duwu admiwe uwu a wot wot wot! You’we so enchanting, so wovewy, so cwute! Uwu saying something as simpwe as “good mowning” makes me wawnt tuwu wun intwo youw awms awnd make uwu say iwt ovew awnd ovew awnd ovew awnd ovew awnd ovew and…. Oh, i guess uwu get the idwea awweady. ·⸜(-ᴗ•͈)⸝

You’we juwst such an amwazing pewson, awnd i wish i was bwavew tuwu teww uwu thiws tu youw face. I don’t have a wot of confwidence in mysewf. In fact, even thiws wettew cawn be considewed pwetty cowawd-wike, don’t uwu think?

i awsk mysewf evewyday, why can’t i be mowe bwave? (´。＿ 。｀) why iws iwt so hawd tuwu come up tuwu uwu awnd teww uwu thiws mysewf? instead of imagining ouw futuwe togethew in siwence? iwt pains me so much thawt i wawnt tuwu scweam scweam scweam!!!

but i’m nowt woud. But i am honest with my affections fow uwu. I wish uwu be the owne thawt pats youw head whewn you’we sad. I wish tuwu be the owne who uwu say good mowning tuwu fiwst evewyday. I wish tuwu be the owne who wowks whiwe uwu cawn wive in comfowt with ouw 3 kids, awnd Enchantia, ouw cat.

wook! i even picked out wondewfuw names fow thewm. The fiwst chiwd wiww be Alex, the second wiww be Taylor, awnd the wast wiww be……. Weww, i decided aftew howding mysewf bawck, thawt i wawnt uwu tuwu nawme thewm. Because i love you.

*gaspppp* （ꏿ ᴥ ꏿ）

oh my god oh my god oh my god.

I said the L wowd! i said love! (♥｡♥)

uwu see whawt uwu duwu tuwu me? Even juwst by wwiting a wettew, i feew mowe confident tuwu expwess my twue feewings towawds uwu. Nowt enough tuwu teww uwu my nawme, but pwease know i wiww continue tuwu wowk own mysewf befowe appwoaching uwu.

(〃◕▽◕〃) Whiwe we wait, I hope thiws wettew convinces uwu juwst how sewious i am abouwt thiws. Uwu awnd me. Awnd Taylor awnd Alex, awnd ouw youngest chiwd, awnd Enchantia, ouw cat. I’ve thought abouwt aww the detaiws of ouw futuwe, so uwu don’t have tuwu wowwy abouwt anything!

Aww uwu need tuwu duwu iws be youw chawming sewf, untiw i’m weady tuwu face uwu mysewf. (੭・ω・)੭ Don’t wowwy abouwt me fowgetting abouwt uwu. After all, there isn’t a day that goes by where you are not in my sight.

with the twue-est love,
youw admiwew
(っ◔◡◔)っ ❤

The urge to crackle was immense, so much that it was painful to hold it in. It was a bit too much, especially in the children part, but if not exaggerated, where is the fun in lies? He was doubtful that they will actually believe this, but with knowing that someone had taken the extra energy to write such a letter to them, he could only hope they were at least appalled. Or impressed. Hanako never thought he could write so many u’s and w’s in a letter before. A talent which sources he will not reveal.

Now, just 5 more to go.

After writing the same letter repeatedly, Hanako may have miscalculated the toll it will bring to his hand, who clearly didn’t have the habit of taking notes rigorously during class. After he was done with the last ‘with the twue-est love, youw admiwew ‘, he chucked a bunch of glitter on the paper that it looked like some weren't glued enough to be stuck on the paper properly. Chances they would decorate the recipient shoes in multi coloured glitter the second they opened the letter were high.

After much glitter, Hanako folded the papers (so that prying eyes may not see it’s contents too easily), tied it to the bag that contained the early chocolate, and placed them all on the Gryffindor table. Time to call it a day. With immense luck, perhaps he would be able to see the look on their faces once they received this wondrous gift of his.

With even more luck, perhaps they won’t decide to find the kid that dared to do this in the first palace.

Tons of energy today, well spent.

Recipients: @Flash Holmwood , @Cassandra Ironwoods, @Henry Knight, @Ileen Knight, @Selim Faust, @Avery Chen

Summary of gift:
Treat: Chocolate bark with heart toppings, and too much glitter. Bag will be named/tagged after each recipient. But no treat is prettier than the other. Equal hate.

Letter: folded nicely in an envelope, pink page, black ink, Hana's handwriting (he did not think this is much of an issue so if your character knows then- oh well). Glitter may fall out upon opening.

w/c: 724 (excluding 2 letters, and summary

|| Interacting with @Dealla Prince and @Cecily Quinn, open to further interactions ||

Aly threw herself into decorating as Dee and Cecily explained the lists of people who would be receiving cupcakes from them. There were plenty of names the curly-haired brunette did not recognise, or for which at least she could not immediately place a face- Hanako, Jack, and Adam, namely- but then there were some she knew immediately. Peri, of course. Sylvain. Lavinia. Aaron, with whom Aly herself had really only first interacted less than two weeks prior. And, of course, Professor Iwasaki.

Her two decorating companions were dropping their voices to humorously low whispers to craftily concoct this covert cupcake-creating mission, and giggling slightly, Aly did the same. "I've heard a fair amount of people talking about giving cupcakes to Professor Iwasaki in Ravenclaw Tower," she explained, finishing off a swirl of the whipped cream atop the lemon cupcake with a very unpracticed little twist of her spoon. To Dee, who had excitedly rubbed her hands together at the mention of this gifting extravaganza, Aly cocked a singular thin eyebrow. "I take it you were the one who came up with that idea?"

Realising that perhaps that could have come off a bit wrong almost the instant the sentence left her mouth, Aly's green eyes widened and she dropped the whipped cream-covered spoon onto the table, only splattering a little of it onto the Ravenclaw scarf she'd wrapped round her neck in preparation to brave the February cold that morning. "Not that it's not a good idea!" the third-year hurried to clarify. "In fact, I think it's a wonderful thing to do to appreciate the best Head of House we could possibly have-" She blinked, trying to come up with more to say to reassure Dee lest the other girl think Aly was insulting her idea, but also realising she was beginning on a tell-tale Aly ramble- "er, obviously, since I'm here- and doing this- and-"

Forcing herself to breathe, Aly grabbed a different spoon- no use using the other one anymore, now that it had fallen from her untrained grasp- and finished frosting the last cupcake with whipped cream to calm herself down. Well, the deep breath helped, too. (As did licking the spoon clean of whipped cream- after she'd finished with the final cupcake, of course.)

"Oh, Cecily, I'm also giving one to Syl," she continued on, as though she hadn't just been rambling a runaway train of twittering thoughts not thirty seconds before. "I was thinking chocolate, but if you're giving him one of those, do you think he'd like a red velvet? I was saving the lemon for Peri, I thought he might like a citrusy flavour, he seems like the type." And if she were to give the other red velvet to her Head of House, that would leave the three chocolate... one for Cecily, of course... giving one to her new, mischievous friend Aaron would perhaps also be a good idea, so Aly noted that down in her mind... and as for the final...

"I'm a bit stuck on who to give this sixth one to," she confided in Cecily and Dee, pointing to the final chocolate cupcake with its hefty smear of blindingly white cream atop its dark muffin-top surface. "I've got one for Syl, one for Peri, one for Aaron as well, one for- uh- me. Yeah, me." Aly was no good at lying, and she avoided making eye contact with Cecily for what seemed to be as long as humanly possible after the fib slipped gracelessly from her lips. "Plus the one for Professor Iwasaki, so that leaves a fifth."

Pondering for a moment, Aly reached for a bowl of multicoloured nonpareils nearby and spent what felt to be an eternity picking out all of the blue ones (she was an eagle at heart) and arranging them into different, haphazardly-formed shapes on each cupcake, a different decoration for each person: a broomstick for Cecily, a Muggle Band-Aid for Sylvain (she was never letting him live that one injury down), a flower for Peri, a window for Aaron, and a horrible approximation of the Ravenclaw crest for her Head of House.

As she carefully placed the last nonpareil onto the eagle's misshapen head with trembling fingers, Aly frowned, partially at that last cupcake and partially because a thought had just occurred to her. "You know, I almost feel bad for Professor Iwasaki," she remarked offhandedly, trying to use the handle of a nearby fork to push a stray nonpareil into place on Syl's cupcake without smudging the whipped cream. "It's lovely that he's going to get so many cupcakes from us all as a thank-you for everything he's done, but, I don't know... don't you think it may make him feel a little lonely to not have a Valentine instead?" She cocked her head to the side, wondering. "Er, he doesn't have a Valentine, right? Correct me if I'm wrong."

Word Count: 617 + 818 = 1,435 / 400
(Still not done, though- will finish decorating the last cupcake and doing all of the letter writing in a separate post later. Staying for interactions.)

Banner by Victoria Asminy Honest

Mention- @Youssuf Baid, @David Howard, @Victoria Asminy Honest

Stephen wanted to attend the event for Valentine's Day. But he wasn't going to send anyone anything in the sense of love. Friendly stuff.

Stephen walked over to the Slytherin desk. He found an empty chair and sat down. "Okay, let's start with that." Stephen muttered and got to work.

The chocolate barks looked quite delicious. He chose the caramel chocolate and began to melt it. Stephen hadn't met many people at Hogwarts, but he wanted to send gifts to people he wanted to be friends with. Once the chocolate had melted, she carefully poured it into a tray. He smoothed it out with a spatula. Stephen was already able to cook quite well, since his mother was a cook.

Stephen melted white chocolate as another chocolate. When it melted, he poured it into the tray in a zig-zag fashion. The Chocolate Bark looked quite delicious. Just before the chocolate hardened, Stephen added some edible glitter powder to the tray. Stephen took one of the bags and wrote down the name of the recipient. David Howard.
Stephen took the tray and placed it on the Gryffindor table. Stephen Ravenclaw went to his desk and started writing. Stephen chose black ink and a yellow envelope for David.

Dear David,
We are not very close yet, but I hope we will get along well. Hope you like the chocolate barks!
Friend, Stephen.

Yes, the first person was finished. Stephen Hufflepuff walked over to his desk and sat down in an empty seat. For six cakes, she chose all vanilla. He added chocolate flavoring on 3 of them and buttercream flavoring on 3 of them. Stephen put coconut on top of the chocolate muffins. He added small sugars to the cakes containing buttercream. The cakes were beautiful. Stephen smiled proudly. She packed the cupcakes in packages and wrote the recipient on the chocolate cupcakes; Victoria Asminy Honest. He wrote someone else's name on the other 3 cakes; Youssuf Baid. Stephen put them on the Gryffindor table and went to write letters.

Stephen chose a blue ink and a brown envelope for Victoria.

Dear Victoria;
Hope you like the cakes! I made it with chocolate, your favorite thing. Thank you again for helping me!
Friendly, Stephen

He placed the letter next to the chocolate cakes and chose a red ink and golden yellow envelope for Youssuf.

Dear Youssuf;
Hope you like cakes! We are not very close, but I think we will get along well. Enjoy your meal.
Friendly, Stephen.

Stephen put this on the Gryffindor table, too, and sighed with relief. The day was really enjoyable.

Word Count- 433/400