Errand May All Your Baubles Be Bright Finished

Dec 1, 2024

Mentions: @Maisie Gemmell, @Linda Ramirez

Reyna was ready to complete yet another errand, this time a Christmas themed one. The prefect of Hufflepuff, her house, Dorion, someone she knew well, had set up this errand. Dorion was on her racing team and she was amazing, she sincerely thought so.
Racing had been going well so far, which was great, in her opinion. Other people, and other houses, may not say so, but that was expected. Since she had a break, in between breakfast and lunch, she found herself participating in this errand, and hoping that Linda, her bestie, would be there.
Time had flown this year. She was already halfway through her third year, something she was very surprised of. She had learned a ton when it came to healing, and a ton in her classes. She was growing up fast, as her parents might say. She laughed at that thought.
This year, she had met many new friends, she attended the ball, learnt many new spells and things and obviously deepened some relationships. One thing she missed was spending time with Linda. She hadn't gotten to do much of that this year, which made her sad. She didn't want her friendship with her to deteriorate like some of her others had.
This was why she had come to this errand, and also to get some house points. She wanted to hopefully see Linda. As she entered the hall, her eyes shown with excitement. The room was decorated quite nicely. Three long tables, for crafting and another table piled with loads and loads of food and materials. It was quite busy already considering the fact that it was only the beginning. Or maybe it wasn't quite the beginning. It should have been the beginning if Reyna had left on time. Glancing at the time she realized, it was a bit late. And it surely was not the beginning of this errand. However, it wasn't quite the end because her stomach was still a bit full. The crafting would surely make it empty though.
As she soaked in the decorations and the much beloved holiday spirit in the air, she sighed. The holidays was one of her favorite times of the year. She loved the snow, the break from school, the clothing of course and her personal favorite: hot chocolate. She could smell the hot chocolate from where she was standing, which was not anywhere near close to where the food was located. She made a mental note to get hot chocolate after she finished decorating.
Scanning the room, she spotted Maisie, the brilliant Ravenclaw who had made her ball gown. But no Linda. She waved at Maisie, but went to focus on her own ornament work. She picked up some paint, some tinsel, some string and of course some baubles. She set off to work. She wanted to make something that would represent friendship. Specifically hers with Linda.
She picked some red. And she picked some yellow. And orange. And she painted. And glued. And stringed. And ornamented, if that was even a word. And she put together a simple ornament with hearts and snowflakes in red and yellow. She was proud of her finished product.
Spotting a wreath decorating area in another corner and some food, she decided that she would put the ornament up, and then stop for some food, then head over to the wreath area. Maybe then she would find Linda. She took one last look and saved it in her memories. Then she grabbed her wand and chanted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" She didn't want it to go that high, otherwise no one would be able to see her creation.
Rather she wanted it somewhere in the middle. Finding, the perfect spot, next to a few other ornaments, she grinned, satisfied with her work. And now it was time for the hot chocolate. If there was any left.
She made her way back to the materials and food table, this time grabbing a hot chocolate and a wreath to help decorate. She sipped her hot chocolate, thankful that she had been able to get one. There hadn't been many left. She scanned the room once again but didn't find Linda. She sighed, she would hopefully come here soon.
She busied herself by decorating her wreath in normal colors. Blues, and reds and lots of snowflakes. She put baubles on the wreath. Time flew by quite quickly and the only way she could tell was by the fact that her stomach started growling. She grabbed more food and ate, glad that food was being served. After all, she probably wouldn't have time to get food after this. She had things to do and places to be. She was a tad bit disappointed that Linda was not here yet.
That was until she saw a flash of red hair. Red hair was uncommon. Red hair meant one thing. Linda. She smiled, all thoughts of food and wreaths left behind. She had to go find Linda.

Word count: 831/800

Colin loved Dori! Not just for hosting another awesome errand in the hall --- this time making decorations for the huuuuuge Christmas tree --- but also for remembering to feature a proper cheese board on the snack table! As Colin dashed into the Great Hall, fashionably late, he loped straightaway towards the table laden with snacks and crafting supplies.

Actually, to say Colin was late was not at all accurate! After all, a wizard never arrives late. He arrives precisely when he means to!

Colin smirked. In his own case, he reckoned that he must have intended to arrive late!

But no matter: there was plenty of room for one more at the tables! He found a large platter and heaped that up with evergreen branches, ivy and various bits of decorative baubles from the table. Balanced on top of that was a plate where Colin had scooped some blocks of cheese. And precariously sitting on top of that stood a tall mug of hot choco! Colin slipped his wand, Naur an Edraith, from its cosy sheath strapped around his right arm. "Wingardium leviosa!" he cried with a swish and a flick.

"Whoa! Better balance, lad!" he said to himself as he nudged the delicately balanced tower of supplies and snacks towards his chosen work area. There were already a few Slytherin kids in one area, so Colin headed there. Matthew Campbell, daring and intrepid duellist, was there, as were Saunders Napier and a little way down, Oliver Armani. Colin hopped up onto the bench and strode along it a short way before letting his platter of decorating supplies and snacks crash to the table top.

"Sweet! Didn't even spill me choco! Ayo laddies! Olie! Matt! Napiers Bones!" he greeted them. He bowed to the other kids that were nearby before crouching down onto the bench. Setting everything around in some kind of order, Colin got to work on making his decorations. He'd decided to make one for the big tree in the Great Hall, one for the tree in Slytherin and one for a very special friend.

As the conversations around flowed over him, Colin set to work. First he divided up his supplies into roughly three equal piles, then set to work making his decorations. He'd decided that wreaths would be a grand idea! One could hardly go wrong with Christmas wreaths! After a few minutes of wrestling with the evergreen branches, Colin had managed to twist them into something approaching a round shape. Weaving in the long strands of ivy made for a nice contrasting colour scheme: ivy green on pine green! A couple of strategically located epoximise charms had the things holding their shapes pretty well. Next up: baubles!

WC: 453
Mentions: @Saunders Napier | @Matthew Campbell | @Oliver Armani
Open to interactions!

"Ha, ha." Oliver responded to the girls comment- not laughing at all simply mocking the sound -That just had to be sarcasm. There could be no other explanation, even Oliver knew he wasn't nice. He rolled his eyes and picked it back up again, getting back to work on it. With yet another huff. He vaguely was listening into the conversation around him. And could hear star girl Sarcasm McGee, ask Cirrus if he was in the same house. So he could roughly pace her in Hufflepuff to. Fitting. Were the people that didn't fit any other go, the leftovers house.

Cirrus, the least annoying one at the table if that was even possible, confirmed his theory. "Figures..." Oliver muttered to himself as he worked on finishing the curve. Taking a bit of cheese off of the plater he initially grabbed. He shoot a glare at Aodhan at his very clearly fake cough. "Something to add, hmm, Aodhan?" Oliver asked still glaring. Regrating it soon as he did, the boy had stayed quite for one second. Finally. And Oliver had tried to ruin it. "Actually forget I said anything." He quickly added. Praying to any, and perhaps any god, that he would.

Again he went back to ignoring everyone, only half listing, 'shocking' enough Cirrus didn't remember Aodhan. Well, maybe it was surprising. With how the boy acted, it was hard to forget him. And Oliver had tried in the short time of the interacting with him at his birthday. But the stars were not in his favor as it brought the Gryffindor back to him. 'Yippie' for him. He had just finished the wand candy cane, curve, stripes and all. When Aodhan yet again had to open his mouth.

Did he really just say God? Oliver gave him a side glare. And he just brushed past it like nothing. Did he always use stupid nicknames? Baby bread? Oliver swear he somewhat tired not to, but his eyes looked at him, giving him a side eye. Turned eye roll as he ignored him. He didn't want to talk to these people, they just flocked around him like chickens when the farmer came out with seed. Pan and Panny? Oliver would rather be a squib then be called that. Lies, a squib was worse then being muggle born.

Finally his candy cane was done. At least the sketch of it. It was perfect, of course it was. Oliver had been the one to do it after all. He felt as if he should get some extra props for doing it with a girl throwing stars at him, Cirrus had been fine- so far, who knew how long that would last. And Aodhan, right next to him. Oliver dipped his brush in the red paint first, figuring that it would be easiest to get the red down, to let that dry and then do the white. He wasn't exactly sure, it just felt right. Rather then- merlin forbid it - he messed up with the white base on the red, have to smear it and stain the dried white paint pink.

Of course not, he couldn't do that. Never. Even if he did mess up he wouldn't have to worry. As the white smeared wouldn't mess the red up nearly as much as the red would to the white. First stroke in, and he heard an upper classmen shout his name. Someone save him. It wasn't even his name, but that dreaded nickname, Ollie. Oliver shoot him a glare to. Colin McCoire. Oliver didn't know a whole lot about him, and wasn't interested in learning. He was to- out there, for Oliver's taste. He found it hard to understand how people couldn't just sit still and be on with it.

When he looked back at his masterpiece, he caught a glance at Cirrus and his 'art'. Could it be called that? The way Cirrus was sitting, the ginger bread man(?) he made, and well- the mess he'd cooked up. There was not a doubt in Oliver's mind that Cirrus was akin to that of a timid toddler. He raised his eyebrow and looked at it. "Having fun over there are you?" He looked at him, and his hands. Odd. Oliver doubted anyone really held there hands like that, did- no. Oliver covered his mouth and bit the inside of his cheek. No. No. Cirrus was a good kid, least annoying one there.

For sure a toddler though. It had been only further confirmed now. He cleared his throat and looked at him trying to keep his composure. "Need- help...?" He asked hardly holding it in, the mean laughter that was itching to come out. He wasn't one to offer help, but from what very little he knew about the people around him he wasn't sure if they would notice. "You look a little-" He paused, debating his wording. "Well, stuck." To the table.

Oliver heard Aodhan speak yet again. Talking to star girl. He looked at him, then Star girl. "I wouldn't, I don't think he cand be trusted with such knowledge." He sated plainly. With a shrug. It sounded like a far to bad of an idea to trust the eleven year old equivalent of a hyperactive squirrel.

OUTFIT & INVENTORY Reducio wand, school items in bag.

OOC NOTE & STATS/ABILITIES Reducio Fearless - Oliver does not scare easily, not effected by terrible presence or unsettling aura { Stamina: 7 }{ Evasion: 5 }{ Strength: 10 }{ Wisdom: 3 }{ Arcane Power: 2 }{ Accuracy: 8 }

Interacting : @Anella Vaughn, @Cirrus Nam, @Aodhan Shaw |||| @Colin McCoire : Mentioning

Colin had a brilliant idea. He'd been weaving the thin branches of pine together for the first decoration when it struck him. He had a knife and all, which was great at cutting the skinny wood, but why not use magic, right? He had a wand after all, and he knew how to use it! Colin stood up on the bench and slipped his wand out of its sheath. He caught sight of Oliver glaring at him.

"What?" he started. "We're learning all this magic right?"

With a swish and a flick, he cast wingardium leviosa on a bunch of the branches. With a slicing motion he case diffindo. "Oops!" he said as the magic sliced into the wood of the table. "Nothing a quick reparo can't fix I reckon!" It took a few tries to get the timing right. Colin realised the trick was making sure he had his wand lined up for the cuts whilst the branches were still suspended in the air. "Diffindo!" he cried.

Soon enough, sliced pine needles and bits of cut off pine branches and wood shavings were scattered about the table! Twelve equally lengthed pine branches lay side by side on the table. He laughed merrily. "Tarantallegra!" he cast on the branches. And up they sprung, dancing a merry jig! Ending that spell, Colin crouched back down onto the bench and began weaving. "Should have brought me enchanted knitting needles. I bet they could have done this up in no time!" Colin loved the smell of fresh pine as his fingers deftly braided the branches into another wreath.

Grabbing up his wand again, he pointed it at certain points around the wreath. "Epoximise!" he cast, sticking the bits together. Quite satisfied with all the hard work of making the wreaths, Colin thought that he should have some fun putting the wreaths in place. "Right! Let's get these up!" Standing up again on the wooden bench, Colin smirked. He knew just the spell for the occasion! "Alarte Ascendere!" It worked wonders on the race course, sending another flyer shooting up into the air, and indeed the wreath rocketed up from the table, scattering bits of pine cone and needles in every direction!

Colin watched as the wreath soared up into the air! But that wouldn't quite do, would it? It would just fall on someone's head! Maybe even Oliver's! Colin laughed at that thought. With another deft flick of his wand, he cast "Flipendo!" The magic struck the wreath and sent it careening over the heads of the other kids, busy at their own projects! "WOOOOOOOOO!" With a spectacular crash the wreath lodged itself in one of the huge Christmas trees!

"Sweet!" Colin said, quite happy with that result. "One more, then! Wingardium leviosa!" The second wreath floated up into the air, a little more gently than the first. With a quick curving motion of his wand, Colin cast "Depulso!" and the wreath shot through the air, landing in the middle of the other Christmas tree. "Right! Mischief managed!"

WC: 504
Mentions: @Oliver Armani

December 1st 2024
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics

The glitter took just as long as Emily expected and was certainly as messy as she could have predicted too, with much of it getting over her hands as it was actually sticking to her bauble. Eventually after some time, little glittery clouds were speckled around the bauble with some more to add to the snowfall she created for her landscape.

"Phew! That's that taken care of...!" She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand to rid herself of the few beads of sweat she accumulated while she was in deep concentration... Only to then remember that her paws were covered in glitter. Already she spotted little sparkles of glitter glistening in the loose strands of her hair as they hung in front of her eyes.

Ah well. That's what showers were for... Until they too would befall the plague of glitter!

She dabbed her fingers in a spare pot of water used for the paint before shaking them dry. With her bauble now glammed out in glittery snow, clouds and painted the way she envisioned, she carefully took it in her palms and sauntered over to the large tree. Reaching for her wand, she gave it a little swish and flick.

"Wingardium Leviosa...!"

The bauble teetered on her other hand before it rose gently out and into the air, bypassing the other baubles and wreaths that already adorned the tree in colourful décor. Her bauble took residence in a spare nook on the right, about three branches down from the top.

"And voila!"

With her work done she helped herself to one final cake slice from the refreshments table before leaving the Great Hall.

As soon as she bit into it, she could see glitter dusting the bottom of the slice.

The glitter plague strikes again!

_{Word Count: 326}

Emily leaves the thread

Stats: Stamina: 7|Evasion: 6|Strength: 6|Wisdom: 8|Arcane Power: 7|Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

X X X

X X X

1st December

Today, Sabrina had no real plan. It wasn't unusual for weekends. If she didn't have anything planned with a friend or a specific thing she wanted to do, she mainly stuck to a loosely constructed schedule of waking up relatively early, going down for breakfast, spending her free time until lunch either wandering through the castle or the grounds surrounding it and spending her afternoons either in the library or Common room... which in it's own weird reversed way catogarized as a plan - of sort- on it's own in her mind.

She was in the middle of the having lunch point, when she overheared a conversation two older students - she haven't yet had the chance to officially meet - were having about an errand taking place after the meal. From what she understood, it was to take place in the Great Hall and consisted of creating decoration for the large tree already standing at the head of the room. That definitely caught her attention, almost causing her to spill the soup in her spoon that was just making it's way to her mouth as she absentmindedly swiveled in between her fingers, thinking about the upcoming event. Snaping out of it, her spoon finally made it to it's destination, the soup delicious as always, although a bit cold from it's unnecessarily long journey, which was purely her fault.

As it turned out, the girls were right, because when Sabrina got back from her quick detour to the loo, the tables were all empty, as if there wasn't a festive feast taking up every inch of the wooden boards mere minutes ago, only one of the tables bearing many, many craft supplies. A wide smile spread over Sabrina's eyes, almost squealing from excitement, silently clapping to herself out of pure joy as she skipped over to the supplies bearing table. Tapping her index finger to her bottom lip, she slowely walked along the table, eyes flickering over the various stuff she could use for a decoration of her own. As her victim, she chose an opaque red bauble, that fit comfortably into her hand. Plopping down at what usually was the Ravenclaw table, a few more decorating supplies in hands, she swiveled the bauble in her fingers, head tilted to aside as she watched her own distorted reflection in it.

Drawing her legs up into a butterfly sit, she hunched over the bauble, brush in hand, dipping it into paint and making her first stroke over the rounded canvas. As she was working, the Great Hall filled up with students, some she did recognize from the corridors or common room, some she actually talked to before and few that she had no recolection of ever even glancinhg at. She remembered the first day of school, when she had first walked into the Great Hall, in total awe not only from it's magnificence and famous enchanted ceiling - that managed to take her breath away even now, after half the term behind her - but also from the mass of robe-clad students. Back then, she couldn't grasp the idea of one day recognizing even half of the new faces.

And of course, she still didn't, but it was at least a quarter now, mostly first years, anyway. Plus, now she could actually tell the diference between the older students and professors, which was nice. Anyhow, now there were students sitting all around the room, making their own decorations and whispering amongst themselves. Sabrina smiled and waved at a few, but mostly kept to herself, too observed in her work to socialize now. After a few more minutes, she proudly held her finished bauble up, seeing how it looked from a bit of distance. There was a simple scene painted on it, a winter scenary with a fox and mouse, making a snowman together, with glitter as snowflakes.

Ok, sure, it might've been a bit sloppy, the glitters often gathered in big chunks, glue and paint fingertips gracing the bare places - mutting down the otherwise shiny surface - the painting itself a bit smudgy with the fox coming out a bit more like a cat, but Sabrina still loved it. With a wide smile, she carefully placed it down on the table, stretching her arms above her head, a bit stiff from her hunched over posture. Slowly tilting her head to a side and squinting, she hummed. It was good, great actually, but it was still missing something, a final touch. Something that would make it truly magical.

At first, Sabrina thought about adjusting the shape of the bauble itself, shaping it with fire. But she had yet to brew the Dogbreath potion, and even tho they technically had learned the fire making spell in Herbology, Sabrina hasn't fully perfected it yet - aka seven out of ten times, it didn't work, and the ramainng three ended up with small explosions that made more smoke than damage. So fire was out of the question. Instead, Sabrina took a different approach, thinking of what she actually could do and how could she use that. She had no potions on her, and there were only two spells she was pretty confident in and since the bauble wasn't broken (yet) it left the dancing feet spell.

Standing up, she pulled out her wand, pointing it at her creation. The plan was to enchant the paint, so the animals and scenary would move. Simple enough. Taking a deep breath, she repeated the three key elements to sucessful casting in her mind. Consentration, enunciate and correct wand movement. Keeping that in mind, she swung her wand in the familiar motion, casting the spell. It worked.. sort of. It enchanted the whole bauble, causing it to bounce around, clinking against the table. By a pure miracle, Sabrina managed to capture the hopping bauble between her palms just as it was about to fall off the wooden surface. Her hands jerked from side to side as she kept a firm hold on the bauble, just now realising she did not know the counter spell. Eyes widening slightly from the mild panick that was building within her, Sabrina looked around a bit deserately before staring down at her - still moving -hands again.

In the end, she shoved the bauble deep inside her shoulder bag, scurrying out of the room while trying to look as unguilty as possible, hand securing her bag, feeling the baubles movement under the fabric against it. That night, Sabrina fell asleep to a sound of a muffled banging coming out of her trunk as the bauble continued to have it's dance party there.

SABRINA LEFT THE THREAD

WC: 1110

Speech | Thoughts | Emphasis

Date - 1.12.24.

Anella’s head shot up when the boy across from her made his request, surprised that anybody cared about what she was doing. She had only a few left to do… “Yeah, sure.” Anella shrugged, smiling. “They’re really easy to do, hold up.” She quickly finished off the one in her hand. She winks at Oliver, just to provoke him further after that previous comment. Who knows if he even noticed. She grabs her scissors and starts cutting long strips of paper, all about half an inch in width, before sliding one to the boy across from her. She holds one up, going slower with her folding so he could follow. “Okay, first you need papers like this, and then you make a knot like this-” she demonstrates, tying a knot near one end of the strip of paper and pressing it flat. “And then you start folding the long side over the knot, like so.” She purses her lips, not quite sure how to better explain herself. She tucks the shorter side of the paper behind the knot, holding it up for Aodhan to copy. It probably wasn’t the best idea to show him all the intricacies on black paper, as they are barely noticeable, but she still tries. “Okay, yeah like this. “ She says to no one in particular.


She folds, and folds, and folds the little paper, a pentagon shape becoming apparent quickly. She finally gets to the end of the paper, nothing left to fold of it, and turns her star-to-be to Aohdan so he can see it and follow. “And you just tuck it in here.” She lets her head absent-mindedly, tick the little paper into a pocket in between the folds. “And then, to get them to be three D, you have to press the sides with your nail.” She comments, and as she says that she puffs one of the sides up. She repeats it four times, puffing up all the sides, before throwing the star on the table, satisfied. Then she grabs her head with one hand, laughing while rubbing her hair. “I’m a rubbish teacher, I’m so sorry.” She purses her lips, but the apology is only half-sincere since this is a baubles workshop.

Reducio sorry for short reply, was braindead. Mentioning: @Cirrus Nam

Interacting with @Aodhan Shaw @Oliver Armani