Celebrating with the Dead PV

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interaction: @Avis Greymond @Pamela Graham@ Mikey Forville @Hana Suzuki @Gabriele Ricci-Armani @Olivia Williams @Livia Machavariani @Aleks Drašković @Damien Dragonclaw wc: 711 dialogue thoughts

Halloween wasn’t exactly Victoria’s favorite thing. In fact, she didn’t like it at all.

Her family had never celebrated it—thinking it was childish and opposing the idea of Victoria wasting her time on such “nonsense.” So when Victoria received an invitation to a Halloween-themed birthday party, her first instinct was to politely drop off the gift and leave. But she quickly realized that might come off as a bit rude. She knew the birthday boy—both from the Rules Breakers Club and, well, from a recent run-in involving a Muggle sport. But honestly, Victoria hadn’t expected to be invited. Still, she didn’t want to give anyone the wrong impression- like she hated the boy- by leaving the party, so if she didn’t know anyone there, she figured she’d probably just sit in some back corner and eat cake. Maybe there would be some music she liked, and she'd listen to it—she just hoped no one would try to scare her. Even if Victoria didn’t want to show it, she was genuinely afraid of the dark, and this party seemed like it had the potential to turn into a scare-fest in a dimly lit room.

From the moment she received the invitation, Victoria decided to find a gift Gabriele would actually like. Snacks were, of course, a given—she wasn’t entirely sure what the boy liked, but it was clear he loved snacks. This time, she did a bit of research into Muggle snacks and filled a big bag with chips and sweet treats.

To Victoria, a gift had to be thoughtful. She didn’t believe expensive gifts given just for the sake of giving had much meaning. So yes, it was true that she spent a few days quietly observing the kid to figure out what he liked—not in a creepy way, of course—she’d made sure not to be weird about it. He seemed to like football—she’d seen him a few times with a ball from that game Mikey once mentioned- Still, during their last encounter, the boy's ball had accidentally ended up being tossed into the pasture with the creatures—and Victoria couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty about it. He had seemed upset about losing it, even if he tried not to show it.

So she got him a new ball, along with some prank items (he definitely was like the troublemaking type), and wrapped everything carefully in a shiny yellow package. There was also a small handwritten note on top. A gift without a note? Victoria would never do that. Not even to her biggest enemy.

Reducio

Victoria wasn’t sure how she was supposed to dress—she wasn’t going to wear a costume. She didn’t have anything spooky anyway. But to match the theme, she decided not to wear anything too colorful. A black skirt and a white blouse would do. As usual, she tied a lock of her hair back with a white ribbon.

When Victoria walked toward the location with the gifts in her arms, she didn’t see Gabriele—but when she spotted someone she recognized—Damien—her blue eyes lit up. The place was beautifully decorated, and the dim lighting added a subtle sense of tension to the atmosphere. Still, Victoria was glad she hadn’t arrived late.

Victoria smiled softly, the dimple on her right cheek appearing slightly. “..Hi,” she said calmly, then sat down on a chair, placing her gifts on her lap and tilting her head slightly. “Do you know where others are?”

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Interacting with @Avis Greymond @Pamela Graham@ Mikey Forville @Victoria Blythe @Gabriele Ricci-Armani @Olivia Williams @Livia Machavariani @Aleks Drašković @Damien Dragonclaw

Dialogue
Thoughts

Halloween. It's one of Hana's favourite days of the whole entire year, though her favourite still belongs to either Christmas or her own birthday, where she can receive gifts from her family and friends. And Halloween, it's just spooky and creepy, and Hana loves those. But celebrating Halloween? Hana herself and her family never celebrates Halloween, her family doesn't even care about that day so much, they just see as a day where children dress crazily and asks for candies.

Hana looked at the invitation, recognising the name, it was the same person who sticked the poster in the Gryffindor common room about the rule-breaking club. Oh, it's his birthday on Halloween, then I must prepare a gift A gift, she never really gave anyone a gift since coming to Hogwarts so she doesn't know what gift is considered as appropriate or not. And giving a gift to someone who she's not that close with, it makes it way harder. Whatever, I'll just give him something that's a bit Halloweeny and mysteriousAfter a few hours of thinking, she figured out the 'perfect' gift for the boy.

***

Putting it gently onto the velvet cushion in the dark maroon box, she leaned back and admire the gift for the last time. It was a locket, an onyx locket, the onyx was irregular shaped adorned with silver intricate pattern on the edge. With a soft click of the lock, the onyx can be opened, revealing a tiny hollow space, painted with real silver. Hana knows it beautiful but she didn't understand the use of the tiny hollow space, since almost nothing can be fitted into it. The locket was not cheap and Hana hoped the boy will love it. Well, if he doesn't, he better give it back to Hana or else she's going to punch him on the face.

Anyways, Hana closed the lid of the box and put it in her pocket. Then, she head off to the Hogwarts Ground. At first she saw no one but as she walked closer, Hana saw two people, and she recognised one of them - Victoria, she's the one who Hana met in the rules-breaking club. "Hi Victoria. And the other person" Hana looked at the boy next to Victoria. "Where is the birthday boy or the others?"

Speech -- Thoughts

Being invited to a Halloween themed birthday party had not really been on Pam's binge list of the year.

She had been surprised by the invitation, if she was being totally honest, considering the fact that they had actually interacted with each other only once, and..... well, were they friends? Pam couldn't say for sure that they were.

Getting to know him a little better wouldn't hurt.

Then came the birthday party. Pam had a love-hate relationship with Halloween. She liked the concept, dressing up, the spooky decorations, trick-or-treat. What she did not however like, was the fact that most people took it upon themselves to jump-scare the others. Halloween kept Pam on such an edge because of that, that half of the times she ended up nearly smacking innocent civilians across the face.

The next problem had been the gift. Pam had, of course, thought of something pretty easily, the problems had been that she had no clue of what Gabriele liked and did not like. Did he like sweets? Did he like Halloween?

Baking was always easy for Pam, and well.... she had not actually met a single person who didn't like sweets. She had still decided to play it safe though— well as safe as you can play with dessert.

The Halloween themed cookies had actually proved to be very not-difficult, considering she had never actually done themed baking before. But she was pretty pleased with how they turned out, hopefully, Gabriele would like them too.

The next problem, which admittedly was solved pretty easily, was the clothing. Pam didn't own anything which would suit the Halloween vibe, but she did have a whole wardrobe of black clothing. She had temporarily considered pairing black with white before deciding all black looked better anyways and going with a black top and black pants.

She saw that a decent number of people had arrived before her, and luckily for her, because she was nothing if not lucky, none of the people were familiar. She smiled at Gabriele, handing him the present, "Hi! Happy birthday Gabriele!" before turning to the others, "Hello! I'm Pamela Graham.

When Avis had received her invitation, she'd strongly considered burning it or perhaps throwing it in a fire-breathing potion or even having her cat Quigley tear it to shreds. After picking it up off her worktable in Potions class where Gabriele had dropped it and scoffing at the name on the parchment, she'd been in the process of brainstorming even more options to destroy the thing when a thought occurred to her.

The party was on Halloween. And she had nothing to do on Halloween. Mylo was too much of a rule stickler to do anything fun and she hadn't talked to Maisie about other plans. Avis was used to having a Samhain the Irish origins of Halloween bonfire at home followed by some good old fashioned trick-or-treating and watching her older brother scare little kids, Muggle and wizard-alike. But she wasn't home. And she was bored.

And there was something about the aggravating Italian that intrigued her, whether she hated him or not. It was very annoying, especially since his only interest in her seemed to be finding the best way to blow her top off in rage.

Regardless, Avis found herself making her way to the grounds, a determined frown on her face paired with an ugly sweater lined with dancing ghosts. She refused to get the boy a gift, preferring to show that she was indeed his enemy and wanted to keep it that way. No way in seven hells was she going to show him any sort of weakness, although she would be partaking in any pumpkin pasties present. And the ghost trail.

She wrinkled her freckled nose in annoyance at the thought but the expression quickly changed to pleasant recognition when she noticed a few people she knew. She directed a friendly nod at Damien, a fellow Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. They hadn't talked much but she at least recognized him.

The other form of greeting was directed at Victoria Blythe, whom she'd met in Potions last semester and thoroughly enjoyed problem solving with. Although just an acquaintance, the girl was nice from what Avis could tell and the young Ravenclaw traipsed in her direction, where she seemed to be surrounded by a few others at the party.

"Hi," she said with a friendly wave, acknowledging the others as well. Avis turned to Victoria. "Glad to see you here. I was worried I wouldn't know anyone at all and it would be unbearably awkward. How've you been?"

To his knowledge, there were 376 days in a year, at least ten of which could be counted among the festive occasions. Halloween was one of them—his favorite time. Between the expectation-laden trees of Christmas and the overpriced sweets of an Easter his family never celebrated anyway, the days surrounding Halloween were the most welcoming of his kind. Normally, Aleks would spend them dressed up in Portsmouth, collecting free candy in Muggle neighborhoods, throwing on a mask, and walking the same route again in reverse. But like last year, the Slytherin was stuck at Hogwarts over the spookiest time a year. That meant there would be no rain of candy-bars and lollipops—none he could stuff himself with before sinking into bed, the glittering wrappers tumbling from the mattress like a conquest‘s spoils. But this time around, something entirely different was on the agenda—something far better than sulking through a sugarless marathon of longing. Gabriele Ricci-Armani had his birthday! And to Aleks’s surprise, not only was he invited, but he‘d also been given a particularly intriguing job. That included a task, one that turned out to be the perfect solution to two of his miseries: the gift couldn’t, for logistical reasons, be handed over with everyone else’s, and the dull routine of school could also be shaken off. It was almost too perfect, as if Gabriele’s birth had been timed to offer Aleks joy in more than one form. The young Ricci-Armani had apparently arrived in this world a small hero—whether he knew it or not. Smiling over it, Aleks was just on his way to his position. In his scattered thoughts, he was still toying with the plan he and Livia had come up with and discussed earlier, all the while moving as quietly as humanely possible. The layers of clothing pressed down on his shoulders. The sleeves of his torn white shirt pinched beneath the dark cloak he was wearing on top. The boy felt layered like an onion. The damp edges rubbed back and forth against his elbows, and Aleks almost regretted that the beginning of their creative plan depended on stealth. It still couldn't shake his excitement. Like a black rat, fresh and slimy from the sewers, he lowered himself into position. The bark of the tree scratched against his back, peeling the cold, wet feeling away from his spine. He almost wanted to thank it, but it was time to unpack the necessary tools! For now, Aleks didn’t pay close attention to what exactly slipped between his fingers. The boy pulled from the bag the mask and a few of the other items, arranging them in neat formation—like a waiting army of assassins, everything set in precise rows. In truth, he wasn’t even sure who all had been invited to the birthday party. He sincerely hoped everything would go according to plan—but quickly shoved the worry aside and back to where it belonged: among half-finished schemes, procrastinated homework, and the eternal question of what shampoo Gabriele and Aiden Sinclair used. Aleks tried—somewhat painstakingly—not to let himself get distracted, though the thought of those dark, curled strands made that effort far less successful than he’d hoped. With a small huff, blowing warmth into the cold air, he scolded himself nonverbally. Hair shouldn’t be distracting him! Especially not when he was perched at the edge of who-knows-what sort of crawling creatures and magical things. Aleks cast a curious glance deeper toward the place where more trees lived, and where, hopefully, Livia was either on her way or already in position. The small wisps of fog crawling over roots and bushes seemed almost imperious to the second-year student. Aleks wrinkled his nose. Without taking his eyes off one of the drifting tendrils, he reached for one of the items he brought along. The silicone Mask felt clammy beneath his fingers, as if it had absorbed the cold air like a second skin to it‘s disastrously gross appearance. There was no way around it. For the sake of his new job and Gabriele’s party, Aleks pulled it over his head, moving it left and right until the shapes settled into place over cheek, eye, nose and mouth. OOC: Same as for Livia, not interacting w. main group . + Discussed with Gab the layout of things.

Interaction: @Avis Greymond @Pamela Graham @Mikey Forville @Hana Suzuki @Victoria Blythe @Olivia Williams @Livia Machavariani @Gabriele Ricci-Armani @Damien Dragonclaw ──────────── Speech:#84319f 31/10/2025 Blablala-Whale-Song-Singing-Dominance-Asserting

Date. 31/10/2025 | Dialogue. #1E361C | Tag. @Avis Greymond @Pamela Graham @Mikey Forville @Hana Suzuki @Victoria Blythe@Olivia Williams@Livia Machavariani @Aleks Drašković@Damien Dragonclaw
────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────

When Gabi arrived at the location, most people he’d invited were already there. His stomach fluttered, secretly happy that people decided to show up and didn’t ghost his own birthday. It wouldn’t have been unlikely, not with his reputation, but it would’ve hurt more than he’d ever admit if he’d been the only one here.

Even more surprising: it looked like they had brought gifts. Well, except for Avis who stood by empty-handed (no surprise there). To be honest, what surprised him the most was that the girl had decided to show up at all with their less than friendly encounters. He couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing there, except for the fact that she’d been invited. She didn’t even look like she’d been dragged here at wandpoint. Dare he even say… she looked to be in a decent mood while conversing with Victoria. That would soon change now when he showed up.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Gabriele greeted as he approached the group, his eyes locking on Avis with a pointed smirk. Then he looked between the others — genuinely happy to see them, which was rare for him. “Thanks for showing up, everyone. Would’ve been kind of lame if you hadn’t.”

Gabi keenly eyed whatever they’d brought with them. Gifts weren’t expected, but he was like any other young boy his age that loved presents. The only thing he could really tell what it was, was Damien’s gift. Dude had brought a whole fucking cake. “Seriously, Damien?” He scoffed, lowkey impressed despite himself. “You can bake now? How did you have the time?” It looked pretty good too, damn it.

Gabriele himself was not known for coming prepared, but he had actually arranged for his pathetic subjects (Antonio and Stefano) to serve snacks at the end of the trail regardless. He wasn’t completely heartless.

Aleks and Livia were nowhere in sight — all according to plan. Gabriele knew the general gist of what was coming (he had orchestrated the whole thing with decorations and obstacles, after all), but he’d explicitly told them he wanted to be surprised. Hopefully, scared shitless. That was the goal. It would have to be something really fucking good to actually make him scream.

The only other Hufflepuff showed up a moment later, wished him a happy birthday and handed him his present. “Hey Pamela (not Anderson), thanks.” Gabriele held the gift and looked around at the empty patch of grass they were gathered on. Well, fuck. Since he hadn’t expected gifts, he hadn’t fixed a table or anything. Luckily, he immediately spotted Dumb and Dumber — aka Antonio and Stefano — strolling down the clearing toward them.

“Oi, Antonio! Conjure a fucking table, will you?” They would need it for the cake too. His own spell arsenal was seriously lacking. Sometimes, having an older brother wasn’t a waste of space. His brother gave him a glare and looked like he was biting his tongue to not swear in front of the kids. The two older boys muttered things to each other in Italian. Judging by the snippets he registered, they talked about what a fucking brat he was, and if they should shove his face into the cake later. Or more like, Antonio bitched about Gabi, meanwhile Stefano just snickered.

“Ti ho sentito!” He shouted, rolling his eyes and turned back to his guests. “So, this is how it will go down. I assume you all read the invite, but if you didn’t: it’s a ghost trail. No chickening out now.” His gaze swept between the participants, trying to suss out who was scared. It was simple, really. Gabi pointed towards the edge of the forest beside them where the trail began. A sign that said ‘BEWARE PUSSIES’ with a messily painted skull, hung tilted from a tree branch. “The trail starts over there. We’ll go in groups and then gather here with gli idioti-” he pointed back at his brother and cousin, “at the end of it all for cake and snacks.”

He fumbled in his jacket pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment. Squinting at the smudged ink, he read aloud, “Alright, the groups are… Victoria and Pamela…” Gabriele glanced up at the group one more time with a calculating expression. He’d paired up Olivia with Damien, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. If she simply had decided to not show up, Gabi made a last minute arrangement to the next group: “...Hana, Mikey, and Damien. And then—” he paused, lips curling into a smirk, “me and Avis.”

The challenging look he threw her after reading that last line said it all. It was deliberate. And he knew she’d absolutely hate it. That was half the fun.

“Any questions? If not, Vic and Pamela, you’re up first,” he concluded, shoving the piece of parchment down his pocket again.

“Gli Idioti” >> “The idiots”
“Ti ho sentito” >> “I heard you!”