Errand Silver and Gold PV Finished

~ * ~

Everything was set up and ready, with some help from Professor Jensen, who Ruby was extremely thankful. Not long after, some students began coming in, many joining the activity. Some may have heard about it by word of mouth, others may have seen the occasional notice posted around the school, and others still might have just happened to stumble across it. There was nothing much that she had to do yet, people seemed to be finding the supplies that they needed and were starting work on their ornaments, talking amongst themselves. That was what she had intended – for it to be a fairly low-key, merry thing where everyone could relax and do their own thing for a while. She would occasionally lend a hand here and there, and was present if she was needed, but it was all going pretty smoothly.

She heard the soft footsteps of another person approaching and looked up. “Hey, Andrew,” she said with a nod of acknowledgement and a smile, regarding him kindly. “Oh, we're making Christmas ornaments! Feel free to take a seat and join in, anyone's welcome to participate. You'll have an opportunity to hang them on trees here at a later date. If you want to do it, you should find everything you need here, and let me know if you need help or any other supplies.”

~ * ~

Emerly was unusually smiley today. It seemed like he was in such an incorrigibly good mood that his usual relatively monotone and reserved expressions were succinctly overpowered by giddy grins.
He had heard about some sort of Christmas event taking place in the Great Hall, ornament-making. He fancied himself a pretty creative person, and his last name was Pine, it was like he was born to love Christmas, so that was enough to draw Emerly out of the dorms with more enthusiasm than he normally would have when faced with having to go somewhere crowded with people. Even usually during meals he'd stick to the corners of the Great Hall, and dart away as soon as he was finished if he wasn't talking to one of his friends.

He wasn't quite sure about Hogwarts and dress code but he observed as of late a number of students occasionally wore their casual clothes, so he'd pulled on a grey t-shirt, and one of maternal grandmother's old knitted cardigans, a pine-color fittingly. She had made it herself long ago. It was quite a bit big on Emerly, and gave him sweater paws when he didn't pull the sleeves down his forearms.
He'd also taken two sections of his hair and braided them back, fastening them with a thin black ribbon his cousin had given him. It was a bit strange but he always liked braiding his hair, especially during holidays, it made him feel like a Gaelic warrior of old. His uncle Bogwild always kept his blonde hair long, he'd picked it up from him. For humor's sake, as he loved taking walks even in the snow out in the grounds everyday for fresh air he'd thought to snatch a sprig of evergreen every now and then around Christmas to keep it fastened in a ribbon as he did now, tucked behind an ear, or stuck in a pocket. Emerly Pine indeed.
After he wandered into the Great Hall after his morning walk, he sat down without paying much attention just as he overheard what appeared to be another Slytherin student explaining to someone else.
"Feel free to take a seat and join in, anyone's welcome to participate. You'll have an opportunity to hang them on trees here at a later date."
He gave a cordial smile to the Slytherin girl and took a glance at the person sitting beside him. He furrowed his brow. Eyes widening, he saw a pet rat on the other boy's shoulder wearing a sweater and immediately had to stifle a laugh into his arm.
Composing himself, he looked back around, a close-lipped smile wavering on and off his face, "Andrew. Hi! Me-" he laughed despite himself, "Merry Christmas month!" a grin remained on his face as he pulled his sleeves down, "Feliz navidad. I like the tacos. That's really cool."
word count- 476

Reducio

@Andrew Vance

It was Christmas time again at Hogwarts, and it showed. There was a festive time back in Dingle Ireland too, of course. Everyone had their lights out, most of the older men were getting hammered more often, and, Dan's favorite, the Aquarium had its Christmas deals going on, along with its own Christmas only attractions, and his parents had ALWAYS taken him. Whenever he went back home, they always did that first thing.

Dan yawned at the table. He hadn't slept well last night. Worry and anxiety over-
Dan refused to think about that issue this early.
He, as usual, was beside Andrew, his best friend in Hogwarts. He himself was dressed in a green, red, and white hoodie jacket, and kept his My Hero Academia pajama pants on. His feet, as usual, were bare. As he sipped at his own hot chocolate, his Egyptian Mau kitten, Loki, was on the table, curled up by Dan, and eyeing Penelope intently, ready to kitten pounce if she made any sudden moves. Loki had a cute little green kitten sweater on, to be festive, and to keep the baby warm.

Andy had talked his ear off in the boys dorm, going on and on and on about him wearing shoes. "Put on shoes, your feet will freeze!" "You can't go barefooted in the winter!"
Like Dan hadn't done this for years. He'd been barefooted for many a winter, including last year. And this year would be no different. He might even invite Andy to watch him walk through the snow, just to see his face. That promised to be fun.

Loki decided he didn't like the table anymore, and hopped into Dan's lap instead, and curled up there. He found this to be much warmer, and decided to stay there.

Dan admired all the decorations all over the Hall. Proper good thing magic existed, or they'd never have done that without serious hardware.
As he was looking, he noticed Andrew get up, and head over to where a small crowd was gathered. Dan decided to follow him, and did so by scooping up Loki in one hand, and depositing him on his shoulder. Loki liked perching there with little claws, something he likely had gotten from watching Penelope do it with Andy so often. Then he picked up his hot chocolate, and followed Andy, a bit behind.

"Right, so what's goin' on over here then?"
Whatever it was, Dan decided he wanted in on it. Anything to take his mind off of...
When Ruby responded to the question Andy apparently asked first, he was DEFINITELY in.
Though, he knew to be wary of trees and ornaments with Loki in tow. He would see it as a massive, shiny cat toy, for sure.

Word count: 460.

Andrew listened with intrigue at Ruby's briefing. He didn't have anything else urgent to do at the moment. Making crafts seemed like a fun thing to do to pass the time.

"Hey, I'm game," he said enthusiastically, turning to Dan. "You wanna join? I will if you will."

"Thanks, Ruby," Andrew said, letting the girl continue on her route.

It was then that Andrew heard someone call out his name, and he turned his head to see who it was, at the table beside him.

"Hi, Emerly!" He beamed a smile, chuckling at the boy's compliment about his sweater. "Thanks. Fun seeing you here. You joining in the craft, too? Dan and I are just thinking of getting started… You two met?" He turned his head between the two Slytherins, assuming they hadn't. "Dan, this is Emerly Pine. Emerly, Daniel Palmer - and this here's Loki-" He pointed to the spotted tabby kitten perched on Dan's shoulder, "-but call him Dan. We're bunkmates," he went on to Emerly, talking about Dan beside him. "Best mates. Met at the beginning of our first year. First night, same dorm. And that's how it all started. . . Emerly and I met during the first Quidditch game against the Badgers actually, thanks to Pin-pin here," he explained to Dan this time, tilting a cheeky side-glare at his pet rat.

"Mind if we all sit together?" He'd ask, glancing between the two boys to see if they had any reservations against that idea.

Emerly Pine. Dan Palmer. Heh, funny how the two were related to trees…

Andrew would set his hot chocolate mug on the table, beside Emerly, before walking over to the craft supply station to examine the goods. So many colors and options to choose from! His eyes came to rest on a tray of… what looked like sugar and gingerbread cookies. Some of them were creamy-white, others were brown. They even smelled like vanilla and cinnamon too. The cookies were cut into various shapes - Christmas trees, stockings, mittens, stars, snowflakes, candy canes, gingerbread men…. But when Andrew picked up one of them, he realized that they weren't cookies at all, rather they were as hard as tiles. Definitely inedible.

"Those are salt dough ornaments," Ruby explained as she came around to check on his selection. "You can paint them, glitter them, and string them together once you're finished." She illustrated with one of the ornaments and a piece of twine, looping it through the hole that had been pre-poked through each "cookie".

"Salt dough?" Andrew tapped his fingernails against the hard, plaster-like texture of the ornament. "They're really made out of dough?"

"Salt, flour and water," Ruby replied. "Then you bake them in the oven. The brown ones have gingerbread spice in them, and the white ones have vanilla."

Thanking Ruby again for the info, Andrew made his decision to go with the salt dough ornaments, picking out a white Christmas tree and candy cane, and a brown gingerbread man. Three seemed like a good number to start with. He then went on to select his paints, brushes and decorations. Tiny bottles of green, brown, red, white… Some glue and a few multicolor beads to stick onto his Christmas tree as mini ornaments, and a little bit of gold glitter to make the star on top of his Christmas tree pop out… A piece of red satin ribbon for the candy cane, brown jute twine for the gingerbread man, and metallic gold twine for the Christmas tree… A jar of water, and a rag to clean off his paintbrushes as he worked. Andrew didn't pick up all of these supplies in one go. In fact, he would make several trips back and forth as his creations developed…

Sitting next to Emerly, Andrew got to work, painting in the red and white of his candy cane - getting the simplest one over with first. He wondered if he'd be able to take one of his ornaments home with him. It'd be nice if he could show his family a little memorabilia from Hogwarts.

He licked up the rest of the marshmallow goop and drained the last of his hot chocolate from his mug, leaving brown stains poking out from the corners of his lips before Dan and/or Emerly pointed them out to him. No, Andrew realized he couldn't use the sleeves of his nice Christmas sweater for this one. Using a clean corner of his paintbrush rag, Andrew wiped the stains off his mouth before continuing his painting. How he always managed to get dabs of chocolate on his face whenever he ate the stuff was beyond him. . .

"You going home for Christmas, Emerly? He asked. Andrew already knew what Dan's plans were for the holidays, but Emerly didn't.

Word Count: 530 + 800 = 1330 I assume I don’t need to keep track of this anymore, since the WC has been met

Emerly cordially inclined his head at at Dan, shyly waving. "Nice to meet you Dan Palmer. A right pleasure to meet you." He smiled and turned back forward in his seat, peering at the two and then at the general area. There were a few others students laughing and holding up their glimmering, colorful ornaments. There was always something so warm about this time of year, despite it being actually so cold it could turn rain to ice. Maybe that's what it was, that despite how dark the world could be people could still find the time to celebrate and enjoy each other's company. That was the way it should always be, to Emerly. Though he didn't quite realize it at the moment, being eleven, he would later look back on this particular moment with great fondness. New friends, a cat, a mouse that was cuter than he would have thought, both wearing sweaters and getting along!
"Palmer..." he mentioned aloud to himself softly, and cast one look at the smaller, black-haired, green-eyed Slytherin, then at the crafting station.
"Do you mind if we sit together?"
"Oh, no! I don't mind at all. Hold on, let me go get some stuff-" Emerly hopped out of the table and after returning with two balls of yarn and some silver and gold ribbon. He hopped back with a cup of spiced tea and a sandwich. After taking a few bites, he crossed his ankle over his knee and pulled a crochet hook out of his cardigan pocket.
Finally finishing using a smaller needle to weave the silver ribbon through each of them for the letters, and then making a loop to hang them with the gold, he laid them out. They were small, and he kind of wondered if it would be silly, but...
"Look! I made each of us an ornament! This one has an silver E in it, for Emerly, that one is A, for Andrew, and D, for Dan! Is that..." he looked at the three crocheted ornaments, "Is that... quite alright? Seems a bit odd that I've done it, but who knows? Maybe they'll reuse them next year, and the one after that! Isn't that a thought..." he reached for a the spool of gold ribbon he'd brought, but simultaneously someone else did and it rolled quickly and nearly fell on the floor. Fortunately, he caught it, but not without the realization that...
Emerly straightened and furrowed his brows, looking dismayed. He opened and closed his mouth, and then leaned forward over the table so he could look past Andrew and address Dan.
"Excuse me..." he inquired, "Why... you haven't any shoes! Is that alright? I wonder why..."
He was diverted by noticing Andrew had a bit of a chocolate milk mustache and meekly motioned it, thankfully he'd realized it. Emerly smiled and laughed a little, returning to his concern, but his thoughts again were interrupted by Andrew asking what his plans for Christmas were.
"Oh! That's a story, see- just lately my family had something happen, so I think I'd better go back for Christmas... plus I'm still a bit intimidated by this place, though now, maybe not so much. It looks quite comfy and pleasant now! Maybe by next year I'll be able to stay, who knows?" Emerly then addressed Dan again, taking a sip of tea from a mug and leaning over his ornaments, "Do you mind me asking if you'll be staying as well?"
word count - 476+581= 1047!

Reducio

@Dan Palmer is next!

Wait. Whoa hold on. They got to PAINT?! Ruby said they got to PAINT. She also said that the ornaments were made out of some kind of dough that is wicked hard, and probably not a good idea to eat. She hadn't said that last part, but Dan just assumed, since when Andy picked at one with his nails, it made a similar sound to a rock. But they got to PAINT.
This was awesome! Dan always liked painting things, but only this kind of painting. Put Dan in front of a blank canvas, and he'd stare at it, completely frozen, unable to decide what to do with it. These had clear indication on what to do with them, and Dan could do that easily.

But, naturally, there was another problem. There were so many ornaments and decorations to choose from he had no idea which ones to pick. He kind of wanted to just do ALL of them to eliminate the choice, but that would take way too long, and the quality would decrease the more he did. But he couldn't decide. And while he was deliberating, the ones looking at him probably just saw him staring at the selection like a dumbass, like he was completely spacing out or something.

He ended up picking a house, a christmas tree, a kitty, a sleigh, and a snowflake. How they had managed to make a snowflake like this was beyond him; Dan knew nothing of baking. He knew what he was going to do with most of them, though the sleigh was one he picked last minute to make the number of ornaments he would paint to a rounded out 5. He made sure to get all the paints and a few other things he needed all in one go. He didn't want to be going back and forth getting things, that would be woefully inefficient.

The house, kitty, and snowflake were brown, so they had a bit of gingerbread spice in them, and the sleigh and christmas tree were white, so they had some vanilla. Dan had made certain to get the ones he had more complicated plans as the white ones, as they white was always easier to paint on than any other color. He sort of regretted not getting the white kitty, but his idea was a silver base, and silver on white was just... He didn't know exactly, but something just didn't sit right with him about it.
He sighed, got back up, and went and got a white kitty ornament as a backup in case things with the brown one went wrong. It occurred to him that he should probably get backups for ALL of them, but he decided only to do that as necessary.

He sat back down next to Andy, and started painting the kitty first. The idea was obvious; he was going to make a Loki ornament.
He selected a broad brush, and completely coated the ornament with silver, making sure ALL of it was covered. Afterward, he brought out a smaller one, and painted on a few little black spots for Loki's cute little coat. Finally, he got out a very fine thin brush, and painted on the details; his little eyes and nose, the lines for his legs, and his white whiskers.
He finished the Loki ornament quite quickly, and moved on to the house. A harder one, but he would alternate.

The first thing he did was coat the roof in white. Obviously. It was Christmas, the roofs are white. Then though, he heard Emerly explain his letter ornaments, then ask if it was alright. This... befuddled Dan, a bit. They were his ornaments. Whatever he wanted to make was fine. He simply nodded to him, and continued.
The chimney was red, and he used the ultra fine brush to make individual brick lines. After he did this, he realized that the top of the chimney was also supposed to be white with snow, so after it dried, he would fix that right up.
Next, he added a dusting of silver glitter to the roof, to make the snow sparkle and shine. After that, he began making small icicles to hang from the roof.

But, as he was doing that, Emerly spoke up again. This time, he was commenting on Dan's bare feet. As apparently, he hadn't noticed before when Dan walked up with Andy.

"Yes, it's fine, Emerly. I been barefooted plenty'a winters. I'm fine."
The, he smirked.
"Speakin' of. Andy, ya wanna see me walk through snow?"

WC: 760. Total: 1220.

"Oh, that's so neat." Andrew held up the "A" ornament, admiring the handiwork. "Thanks Emerly. You're really talented. And pretty useful too: Don't have to worry about them breaking, either. Huh, should probably replace all my ornaments at home with these kind of ones," he mused that last part aloud. It was tradition for his family's cats, Duchess and Princess, to break several ornaments over the Christmas season - even if they were placed a foot higher from the base of the Christmas tree - the cats would always manage to pounce and swipe them off, shattering glass baubles onto the floor. "Heh, I think Loki would love to play with this." He was tempted to dangle the yarn creation in front of the kitten, but he didn't want Loki's claws to ruin it. Emerly did make it for him after all. Then it dawned on him. "Aw man, now I need to give you something too," he said to Emerly with a frustrated pout and thinking face. Even though he knew presents weren't supposed to be an IOU thing, he still felt like he needed to give something back. Just seemed like a common courtesy thing to do for Christmas.

"I'm going home," Andrew replied. "Wish I could Apparate and be at both places at once. I'd love to see what Christmas Day is like at Hogwarts, but I'd miss my family too, if I did." If only he and his family could spend Christmas at Hogwarts, but he quickly shrugged that fantasy away. "Maybe one Christmas, I will, but oh well… Hey, maybe we can sit on the train together." He perked up at the thought.

Then Emerly pointed out about Dan's feet.

"Sure, we'll see how long it takes before your toes get frostbite," Andrew replied sarcastically. Honestly, did Dan's toes ever get frostbite?! Or was there something beyond magical about the Irish pure-blood that made his feet immune to cold?

Turning back to his painting, filling in the white icing details on his gingerbread man, he commented, "My sister Stacy loves baking. She makes iced sugar cookies every Christmas. I'm not much of a baker though, but I do love eating. Oh, and Dan likes to cook, fun fact," he nudged Emerly. "Cook, not bake," he clarified, hoping Dan wouldn't mind him sharing that bit of info. "He's really good at it too."

Noticing how much the gingerbread man resembled a cookie, it gave Andrew an idea. After finishing his first three ornaments, he went back to the supplies table; picked out a few teardrop, lamp, and sphere-shaped salt dough pieces that resembled ornaments, and a couple of snowflakes and star shapes, as well as several tubes of fabric paint; and then returned to his seat with his bundle of goods. Using the fabric paint, which had a thicker consistency and dried with a puffy, raised finish, he piped on the layers of "icing" to his ornaments. When he finally done, he was quite surprised. They could almost pass for real frosted sugar cookies! They looked good enough to eat. And smelled like it too. Andrew's mouth watered.

"Man, I'm getting hungry," Andrew said, gazing down with a drooled expression at his plate of creations. He picked up one of his dried white-and-blue snowflakes. "Think we could trick a half-giant with these?" Not that he was being serious, but he wondered how it would be possible if someone could be duped into taking a bite out of one.

[quote]Emerly inclined his head, mild but happy his presents seemed to be appreciated. He picked up some nearby supplies to work on other ornaments. To be honest he was thinking about contributing them to the trees here in Hogwarts, but when he first made them he wanted to give them to his two new friends, so they would have something cool to remember him by, even over the holidays. He was glad Andrew seemed to subconsciously pick up on it. He pulled up one foot on the bench and narrowed his eyes as he used a a small paintbrush to paint all three of their initials in the midst of the decorations on one of the ornaments instead. Amused, he put it in the pile of others he'd made, so they would still make their way on one of the trees at Hogwarts somehow. A trio of friends indeed!
"Oh, it's fine, you don't need to give me anything. Just be yourselves, both of you! That's a gift enough, good company and reliable friends. What more can a fellow ask for! Maybe we can head back on the train together. Us and anyone else you two'd happen to know." Emerly looked kindly dismayed at Dan, "I'd make you some socks or give you some shoes for Christmas, but I have a feeling you'd just might not wear them. I only hope we don't have to bring you the hospital wing one day!" he tsked good-naturedly, "Oh, your sister likes to bake? Dan, you cook? Wow! Our families should all meet one day, I'd be happy to help, it' be like a banquet. My mom likes art and flowers, she can make the decorations, and my dad and I can play the music!"
He listened to Andrew and took on a mildly disappointed expression, "Why would ya do somethin' like that, eh? I'm not so sure! You seem to be falling for it yourself, An!" he laughed, pushing over a plate of actual cookies, "I think you're getting hungry." he took one himself and gathered up his ornament pile, "Maybe we all are!'

Dan thought about it. He was quite sure he was going home for Christmas; he hadn't seen his parents since the school year started, and he was dying to see their Christmas tree. He also wanted to go to the aquarium.
I'm.... probably going home for Christmas. I love this place, but I also miss Dingle pretty bad."

Then he grinned. "Andy, ye know I don't get frostbite. I always make it a point to walk through snow for a few minutes when it falls."
And it was true. It was a party trick Dan often did to freak out his friends or win bets back in Dingle. God the things he got from bets with people who mistakenly thought he couldn't walk through snow barefooted. He'd accumulated quite a collection that way.

Then Andy spoke of half giants, and Dan's fingers and toes clenched. That had been one of his top 3 worst days of his life. Sure, he'd had his first kiss, but it was promptly ruined. In addition, he hadn't seen Ozzy since....

Dan violently shook his head. He wasn't going to focus on that. Instead, he smiled at Andy.
"Yeah, probably. They're not too smart. Least the two I'm familiar with. But why waste them?"

Dan noticed Andy drooling over his cookies. He noticed things like that about Andy all the time. Since he was Dan's first crush, and even though he knew Andy didn't swing that way, he still couldn't help but notice the smallest things about him. Like how they had the same shoe size, how he is easily made hungry, how he has a penchant for cute things, just like him, and how his smirks and grins drove him mental because they were so cute.

Dan blinked rapidly to expel the thoughts from his head. Andy wasn't like that, and he had a girlfriend, at least Dan was somewhat sure he did, so thoughts like that were pointless.

"I'd love ta. Maybe I could show you my skills sometime, Emerly?"

Dan finished up his ornaments, making the snowflake white with a blue background, making the sleigh nice, making a Loki ornament, and lastly, making the Christmas Tree detailed and beautiful.