Saccharine Sixteen PV invited people Closed

Steps echoed down the corridor, just fast enough to tell anyone listening that their owner was eager to get to their destination, a sort of excitement projected by the lack of care in their placement. Dee was, once again, fashionably late, but neither Aly nor Peri - the only two people she was rather certain would be at this party - would be surprised at that. As per usual, she had a good reason, too - as in, she'd left her presents for the birthday girl up in their dorm and had run up to get them. They were not wrapped. But while her entrance might be late, it was never quiet, and she entered the courtyard in a whirl of school robes and tousled hair, flushed and slightly out of breath but with a grin on her face.

Her eyes danced over the decorations, impressed - she could have helped if she had known but apparently Peri and Aly had it all handled. No, Dee wasn't salty about it. Not even a little. She planned awesome parties though, just to be clear.

Between balloons, streamers, and tables with snacks and cakes, Dee was suddenly glad she'd thrown her idea of trying to bake something for her best friend's birthday out the window. It would have been a terrible cake, although Aly would probably have been nice about it... who was she kidding, she would have teased Dee forever, but she'd still have appreciated it. Still. The change in plans had quite obviously been a wise one.

Her eyes finally fixing on the birthday girl, Dee's face brightened, and she hopped foward, weaving between the other guests, prepared to gently charm - or bully - her way through. Patience wasn't her strong suit, and she wasn't going to wait until Aly was free to greet her best mate, so she directed a sunny smile at Evelynn as she slipped by, delicately elbowed Peri out of the way with a cheeky wink, then wrapped an arm about Aly's waist for a tight hug. "Happy birthday again!" The words were filled with all her excitement and affection, and she was grinning when she let go. "I like what you've done with the place." Taking hold of Aly's wrist, she tugged at it. "Sorry, I'll need to borrow you for a second. Gonna return her in a moment, don't have too much fun without us." The latter was directed at Peri and anyone else standing close, complete with an innocent smile even as she dragged Aly away from her friends.

Only a few meters off, but enough to give them a bit of privacy, Dee stopped and turned. "I meant to do this this morning but then I, uh, overslept, so here we are. Really, your fault for not waking me earlier." She grinned brightly. "And then you were busy. And I am late. I don't think you'd believe me if I claimed to be sorry so I won't." Twisting, she started rummaging through her bag, her fingers finding the first present.

"But! I bring with me
boons, of which the number three.
Sorry, that was a terrible rhyme. Here." She held up her hand, fingers closed into a fist, content hidden inside. "I know you're not really flower girl anymore, but I'll always remember you as that, and I heard that every girl deserves jewelry for their sixteenth birthday. Plus, they match your necklace." Turning the fist, she held out her hand palm up and spread her fingers to reveal a pair of earrings: Clear resin containing a tiny rose petal each, they were smaller, more delicate versions of the pendant Dee had given Aly two years ago. They'd changed since then, both of them, in different ways and yet together. While other friendships had fallen apart over the years, Dee couldn't imagine not being best friends with Aly anymore. So this was a reminder of where they'd come from.

The next present was wrapped in a piece of otherwise unremarkable parchment, curious fingers would be able to guess the shape of a small bottle underneath. "Second! A reminder of one of my favourite nights this year, although you probably don't want to unwrap this here." She lowered her voice a bit. "What's a sixteenth birthday without a bit of illegal drinking, eh?" Inside was a small bottle of firewhiskey, barely bigger than the palm of her hand. Not an entirely pleasant liquid to drink, but certainly memorable. Growing up was odd.

"And last but not least, because you're star girl now, something of you, and something of me, and I think we're pretty awesome together." She held out a standard potion vial with non-standard content: Swirling and shimmering, it looked like the small bottle contained a galaxy of stars, lazily turning and trapped behind a crystal wall. She'd spent a late night brewing it, it had just seemed too perfect to pass up on.

Presents handed out, Dee paused for a moment, suddenly a little uncertain of how to go on. While she'd glossed over it, a lot of thought had gone into her presents, but they were still not enough to really express what she wanted to say, and she spent a moment searching for the right words. They were halting when they came. "I... don't think I say it often enough, but thank you for always being there for me." Her eyes searched Aly's, more serious than she'd been since she entered the courtyard. "Through the entire last year. Thank you for being my friend." It had been a rough year, some moments worse than others, and had certainly left scars, if less visible than Peri's. Wounds that she pushed to the back of her mind, held tightly shut, for fear she'd otherwise bleed out. Then the moment was gone and the grin was back, and she nudged Aly back into the direction of where she'd stolen her from. "You look stunning, by the way. Being sixteen suits you. Will I get a glow-up too when I age up?"

@Aly Salinger
Also mentioning @Pericles Dralt, @Evelynn Decipio
Sorry for the lack of interaction, but I know this is super late and the thread is supposed to be closed soon, so :') Just sneaking this in last second.

The first-year girl melted easily into Aly's arms after an initial surprised tensing-up, and Aly grinned down at herself in miniature, letting go as Bex said her greetings and handed Aly a small package. "Aw, you didn't have to get me anything," slipped from her lips even as tears pricked hot into her eyes; how thoughtful her friends were. Her protests fell on deaf ears, though, and nevertheless she tore excitedly into the item's paper covering, neither noticing nor caring about the contrast of its brown colouring versus the lavender surrounding them. An astounded gasp escaped her upon pulling the navy bracelet from within, and Aly held it upwards towards the soft cloudy light filtering in from above, expertly woven embroidery floss and constellations dangling from two of her fingertips. "Oh, Bex, this is gorgeous," she fawned, breaking from her admiring gaze just long enough to give the younger girl another one-armed side squeeze. "Thank you so much! Honestly, I'd whack myself upside the head with your Beater's bat if it gave me even just an ounce of your talent." She raised an eyebrow, suddenly remembering how often Beaters accidentally smacked themselves with their own tools. "Something which... I hope you don't do, of course," adding on to the end of that sentence.

Her partygoers noticed one of their fellows before Aly even could, both Peri and Bex pointing out a black-clad Gryffindor, though the former took quite a nasty-looking table corner to the leg as he did so; wincing at her friend's injury, Aly went to call out to Peri and find out if he was okay - he'd taken a lot of beatings lately - but the words fell uselessly back into her throat when she herself spotted a shock of vibrant scarlet curls in the shadows, very clearly about to exit from the party, a parchment-wrapped rectangle left hastily on a table in her wake. The fifth-year Ravenclaw whirled on her lion companion, slipping her new accessory onto her wrist in the same fluid movement as placing both hands on her hips and cocking her head to the side, half attitude, half confusion. "Now, Evelynn, I know you're not just about to dump-and-dash right out of my party," she called out after her; better still, it seemed to work, because the lioness begrudgingly turned and began to walk back towards them.

At the same time, a new face joined the occasion - perhaps new to some of the attendees, but not new to Aly, whose face broke out in a wide smile when she saw Lindsey approach with a blue box in hand. Squealing with excitement, Aly lunged at Lindsey, extending a hand to give her a thrilled squeeze on the arm rather than a full-on hug. You never could be too careful with hugging people nowadays, lest you get hexed. "Ahhh! You came! Oh, Merlin - thank you!" the birthday girl blurted out at the sight of the gift, perhaps more surprised at the Hufflepuff's presence than even the mystical approaching Gryffindor's. Aly and Lindsey weren't the best of friends, after all, only having interacted a handful of times over the years at Hogwarts - but there came a very special bond between girls when they'd been screwed over by the same guy, and it was enough to make Aly consider her badger friend an instant invite to any get-together. After all, Lindsey deserved to have fun, too. Giving the Hufflepuff her brightest smile, Aly took the box and tore into it with the same gusto as before, revealing a lovely black wooden board framed in Ravenclaw navy, with a four-leaf clover in a rainbow of greens strung across it. Not only were her friends thoughtful, but they were so creative, too! "This is so beautiful, Lindsey, I love it," she praised the artwork, lifting it fully from its box to again admire it in the light. "I'll have to put it on my desk in the Headliner office - I've been meaning to spruce up that dreary space, and this will be just perfect!" Sincerity pouring out through her tone and her smile, Aly couldn't help but notice a few nails askew in the art, but that only made her love it more. She couldn't even imagine the hours of work that must have gone into this, and knowing that Lindsey cared enough to pour her valuable time, effort, and materials into a present just for her... well, that in and of itself was a wonderful birthday gift. Plus, now she had beautiful new art!

She placed the frame back in its box for safekeeping, and for easy transport to the Headliner offices after this, and then turned to greet Evelynn with an equally megawatt smile. Admittedly, this relationship had also been built on... not the greatest of circumstances, with the two girls only meeting at last month's Blossom Ball and speaking very little other than in the Hospital Wing and the Headliner. Still, the redhead's actions in transporting Peri to the wing after his stabbing - saving perhaps not his eye but maybe his life - had written her as a permanent figure of respect in Aly's book. Again, she didn't go in for a hug, but offered a kind, if perhaps a bit too excitable, nodding of her head at the Gryffindor's approach - and so what if her face turned a bit red at the newcomer's flowery words? "I - er - well - thank you," she blathered, scarlet as the girl's hair from the embarrassment of being called enigmatic and royal. What was the proper response to being told that someone hoped she lived a long time? Me too? You too? Instead of either of those, Aly just gingerly took the package Evelynn extended. "Er, thank you for this, too. It's very sweet of you to think of me." Kicking herself for just thanking Evelynn multiple times instead of being a proper partner of conversation, Aly swept her arms out wide to everyone: "It's very sweet of you all, really - I swear that none of you had to bring anything but the privilege of your company!" Yes, that could not have come out any cheesier. Was dying from embarrassment at one's own sixteenth birthday party a good way to go?

Again, Aly's now-practiced fingers unwrapped the parchment surrounding the very rectangular and very heavy package; a gilded spine and beautiful silver lettering on an elegant dark cover confirmed her first suspicions, that Evelynn had gifted her a book. Sun shone from her face, breaking into a brilliant smile, as she lifted the book from its wrappings, eyes hungrily devouring the thin silver feather that dangled from it, trapped between two of its pages, the daintiest of bookmarks. "No worries, Evelynn - I'm nothing if not a stereotype," she joked, tracing with one finger the letters on the cover as she read them aloud: "The Fault in Our Stars. John Green. I can't say I've ever heard of him, but you do seem to know me quite well! I do love a good astronomy book." She flashed Evelynn her most charming smile, hoping that the girl would feel comfortable here. She certainly had a shell, but the Ravenclaw hoped that this was the first step to breaking through her new friend's tough exterior to what was certainly the sweet side underneath, if this gift had anything to say about it. And she'd get to discover a new author, too - someone likely from the high-brow pureblood circles, since it was Evelynn giving the present, after all. And here Aly had thought she'd already known all of the literary greats in the Wizarding World.

A soft voice wishing her happy birthday interrupted her, and Aly turned just in time to catch a Ravenclaw-clad boy placing a small box on one of the nearby tables and trying to slip surreptitiously away. Despite his cerulean uniform, different in colour from those which Aly had seen him wear before, the Ravenclaw recognised him right away as a non-Ravenclaw: Piérre, another dilemma of an invite. The dark-haired boy was an odd sort for sure, and his recent shouting at her and at Dee at the ball had not been the most endearing of actions when it came to the Ravenclaw thinking he was a good friend. Still, Aly liked him well enough to have shot off an invite to him anyway, hoping that perhaps his attendance would be an olive branch and that they would be able to move on from it all. She'd lost enough people for one lifetime. There was no need to lose any more - so why was he, too, trying to leave before even so much as getting a slice of cake? "Nuh-uh," she snapped, playfully reaching out and grabbing Piérre by the sleeve before he could fully vanish away out of the courtyard. "I don't think so, sir! Get back here! What is it with people trying to leave before the party's even begun?" Aly grinned at the boy, who had paled and turned around with a shocked expression on his face, as she eyed him up and down. "Ravenclaw blue today, eh? Well, someone's trying to stay on theme! Hi, Piérre - glad you could make it, thanks for coming. Stay, won't you? I promise we're fun to be around."

The birthday girl would have turned to open Piérre's gift then and there, noting a small letter attached to it, if out of the blue an arm hadn't wrapped around her waist and spun her around. Aly twirled in place to find none other than the grinning face of her best friend Dee, looking perhaps more excited to be at Aly's party than the newly sixteen-year-old herself. Aly's own smile brightened considerably at her best mate's presence - after five years of dorming together and three of being each other's ride or die, there was no one in the world she cared about more than Dee Prince anymore. "Deeeee," she sung out, drawing out the vowel in the nickname a few beats longer than normal as she leaned forward to kiss the new arrival's cheek in welcome. "Where have you been, mate? Thought you'd never show u- ahh!"

That last bit was brought on by quite a hefty tug on Dee's part, and suddenly Aly was being yanked away into a quieter corner of the courtyard, away from all her party guests. All five other people who had come to celebrate her. What a turnout! In total, the attendees numbered seven - something that was not lost on the Ravenclaw, who despite not taking Arithmancy knew that seven was a most auspicious and magical number indeed. She couldn't have felt more lucky to have had this many people all here just to wish her a magical birthday, and as she let herself be pulled into privacy, Aly waved over her shoulder at the five left behind: "Go! Eat, drink, dance," she called out, gesturing towards all the food and the gramophone still playing loudly in the background. "There's cake! Cut it without us, we'll just be a moment!"

When they had reached a spot at a far enough distance so as to not immediately be within earshot, Dee stopped pulling her, and Aly stumbled to a stop in her heels on the cobblestone ground, perhaps still not quite used to unstable shoes on unstable floors. She managed to catch her balance, though, as Dee began to speak, apologising for sleeping in ("You really ought to buy an alarm clock," the birthday girl objected) and handing her the first of what was apparently three separate gifts. Her face twisting into a protesting frown, Aly was about to complain about not needing one gift, much less a trio of them, but quieted instantly when she saw the earrings in Dee's hand, her mouth dropping open into a surprised O. "Hey, I actually put on the necklace today, too!" she exclaimed, reaching into the neckline of her sweater to pull out the resin-coated flower petal that dangled on twine around her throat. Winking at Dee, Aly couldn't resist throwing in an extra jibe: "You know, if you'd woken up on time this morning, you'd have seen me put it on." Aly pulled out her current earrings, small hoops with silver moons dangling from the bottoms, and immediately put in the new pair to match her other accessory. The second gift made its way secretly into her hand following that, a tiny bottle wrapped in parchment, and though Aly couldn't quite see what it was through the paper she could certainly hazard a guess as to its contents. Pulling a face, she rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help smiling a little, too, as she lowered her voice to whisper back. "Hopefully it goes down smoother than the first time around, eh?"

And the last gift, a very universe contained within a bottle, elicited a shocked, quick intake of breath from the Astronomy intern as she carefully stuck the firewhisky into her pocket and took the Starry Sky Solution from Dee. Swirling it around in front of her, watching the stars and galaxies inside catch the light as they whirled within the liquid inside, Aly babbled some nonsense words for a few moments before finally simply saying, "I - I don't know if I've ever been genuinely speechless before, Dee. These are amazing," and pulling her best friend into a long, tight hug. Already, dreams whirled in her mind like the stars in her new vial, dreaming up how she could possibly measure up for Dee's birthday next month. She mumbled thanks into the shoulder of Dee's robes: "I should be the one thanking you. You're the one who stuck with me through it all," and pulling away from her, adding with a silly wink: "You know, other than that one time you punched me." Grinning, she began to lead Dee back to the group, with one last tease thrown over her shoulder: "Like you're not already stunning! But, seriously, if you'd ever let me come near you with lipstick, I'm sure I could make a glow up happen."

Throwing the last two of Dee's presents carefully in with the string art from Lindsey, in that one large Ravenclaw-blue box, Aly cleared her throat before making her way back into the centre of her group of guests. "Ahem! Attention," she said loudly, feeling eyes on her before she could even finish the word. "We still have - er - probably about thirty minutes before lunch ends, and that's more than enough time to tackle the food after, so I don't know about you lot, but I'm going to go dance now!"

And so the saccharine sweetheart, newly sixteen and stunning as ever, led a motley assortment of whoever wanted to join her to the dance floor. Rockin', and reportedly Weird, music continued to fill every inch of the courtyard as they frolicked and ate and laughed the lunch hour away, seven strangers come together to celebrate one of their own having survived another trip around the sun. This would be a birthday that Aly would remember for ever and ever, a truly sweet sixteen.

(And upon returning to the Ravenclaw dormitories later that night, Aly did finally get a chance to truly examine and appreciate her gifts, each one finding a place very special to her. Bex's bracelet and Dee's earrings joined the rest of Aly's jewelry in a small box on her bedside table; Dee's firewhisky would be hidden deep in the darkest recesses of Aly's trunk, lest a prefect accidentally spot it on a walk through Booted; Eve's book would join the rest of Aly's books, also in her trunk, though not before enough of a close look for Aly to realise the author to be a Muggle instead of a wizard. How Evelynn had gotten her hands on a Muggle book, Aly had no idea, but she cherished it twice as much after that realisation. Peri's camera and Lindsey's art would find homes in Aly's desk at the Headliner, the art as decoration and the camera as a useful tool for gathering her own pictures for articles. And finally, the moth found a home in its box, tucked into Aly's schoolbag to keep near her at all times, a most thoughtful letter added to her collection of those written to her and only to her in one of the drawers of her bedside table. To say that Piérre had redeemed himself would be an understatement, and she couldn't wait to thank him next time she properly saw him. What a wonderful social circle she had acquired for herself this year, and the birthday girl drifted off to sleep with visions of purple balloons and uptight purebloods dancing in her head, the softest of smiles upon her pretty face. A memorable birthday it had been, indeed.)

✰✰✰
@Pericles Dralt, @Rebecca Lark, @Evelynn Decipio,
@Lindsey Springhall, @Piérre Marchonné, and @Dealla Prince
necessary perms for grabbing Pi, hugging Bex, etc. granted by their writers
Thanks for coming, everyone! I never meant for this to turn into a super long thread and yet this post alone is almost 3k words so I'm going to close it now and we can call it finished much love to you all!