Ornament Decorating Table Errand

Date: September 16th, 2026
Time: Morning
Location: Great Hall, Hogwarts

Xio was still feeling the creative itch a little after she finished her card designs, she wanted to do more! And lo' and behold, the clinking and tinking of plastic ornaments being handled and designed by staff and students immediately caught her attention.

She learned her lesson with the card decorating station and decided to pour all her creative energy into the one ornament. She took a look at the available shapes for the ornaments and found herself picking a hollowed out transparent star shape.

After picking out her shape, she gathered a few vials of glitter of various colors, a sheet of paper, and a little bit of water. Once seated, she meticulously sorted the glitter into various piles all in differentiating amounts, then suddenly scooped all of the piles onto the paper, mixing them, then using it to funnel the glitter into the ornament. A little under half of the ornament was filled with the sparkly concoction mess, then she poured just enough water so that the glitter would shimmer and swirl when shaken.

The concept seemed simple, borderline lazy, to Xio, but at the same time she also enjoyed how it made her felt. She gave it a few shakes and stared in amazement at each of the swirls and twists the glitter floated into. Once she was satisfied, she offers her ornament (although slightly damp) to @Skylar Blue with a triumph smile.

"Please place low on the tree so other students can shake it if they want to, thank you!"

mentions:@Skylar Blue	date: September 16th
outfit: •	languages: bold
wordcount: 649	ooc notes:

The Great Hall had been transformed overnight, instead of the normal candles dotting the roof, there was snow falling slowly to the ground but never seeming to reach it. Jay looked up at the roof as she walked in, fascinated by the illusion. When she eventually tore her eyes away she looked around. The Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables were active with people surrounding the tables doing separate things. The Ravenclaw table had the sharp scent of gingerbread floating from it and Jay assumed they were doing something to do with cooking or something of the sort while at the Hufflepuff table there was a few students making cards peacefully. Jay made a beeline for the Gryffindor table, she had recently found out her friend Skylar had become a prefect and she hadn't told her. Jay had been a bit hurt but decided to go to the Christmas activities to support her friend, Jay was obviously exited for her and wanted to support her in any way possible, after all, Jay was sure Skylar would do the same for her. She listened to Blueberry talk and Jay realized just how much her friend had grown over the holidays. "And that, folks, is how it is done! What are you waiting for? Go and make some ornaments. I want this tree full and dazzling by the end of the afternoon! Oh, and make sure to say hello to Santa Lear over here." Jay looked over to where she gestured to se a cardboard cutout of their headmaster and she stifled a giggle at the sight. I wonder if he agreed to this? She thought, heading towards a pile of supplies, reaching for the paints but only to have them snatched out from under her hand by another student. Annoyed, Jay headed for a pile of small bells and started waving twine through them to make a long string of bells that could hang off the tree. It was... boring. At least to an artist like Jay, she couldn't just have that tiny half-assed decoration. Noticing that the student who has stolen the paints had left them abandoned on the table, Jay snatched them up, grabbing the red and silver paints to use and leaving all of the other colors for now and she started to paint the little bells. She used the red paint as a coating and then waited for them to dry enough to apply more paint, blowing on the bells occasionally as she attached more small shapes to the string like mini stars and painting them in a shade of gold. With careful hands, Jay applied small dots on the bells with the silver paint so they formed the shape of stars and much to her delight, they didn't smudge. She continued to add more paint to the bells and eventually finished up after about half an hour of painting, Jay didn't have much more she could add to it. Maybe I could make another... As she was thinking, she noticed Skylar hanging up ornaments and looked up at the tree, it was quite bland so far apart from a few ribbons and string but it was starting to gather little hanging items around the branches, it was still early after all and maybe people would add more as the day went along. She finished her decoration and walked up to Skylar and tapped her friend on the shoulder, nervous for some reason "uh, hi blueberry..." she said, trailing off when she saw Skylar in the shiny prefect badge. I wonder if she'll still want to talk to me now she's a prefect and I'm more or less a troublemaker... Jay opened her mouth to congratulate her but the only thing she could say was "uh congrats" and then her jaw seemed to seal shut and stop working as she held onto her decoration and walked off.

metamorphmagus • martial artist sta: 6•eva: 9•str: 4•wis: 4•arc: 6•acc: 6 in the bag: wand, nacho the ferret, sketchbook, pencils, potions book, lavender flowers errand: 100 days before Christmas

Christmas ornaments Errand:

The 16th of September brought to her surprise, a crafting event. She loved crafting, and in her family it was a part of daily life. Her hippie mother despised bought or, as she called it, ‘mainstream’ decoration. Everything that decorated their small but cosy cottage was homemade or home-grown. Her father, the family's herbologist, also took his stand. Everyone participated and brought their own twist to the decoration. So he could hang some of his less dangerous plants. He had a whole spiel about every plant and its characteristics, but she would spare herself the details now. Nobody needed to know about the poison of mistletoe at this time of the school year, or the few friends she had tried to make would run and scream for the hills.

She had a couple of ideas for Christmas bulbs and hoped it would be okay to make multiple. She started with the one she deemed the most amusing. She planned to make a little nod to the Muggle world and its all-encompassing fairytales. Her favourite fairytale was that of a princess called snowwhite. She loved how the story could make you believe in ‘true love's kiss’ and how friendships could lead you through the darkest times of your life.

Her hand had grabbed decoration supplies in a hurry, so she probably needed to double back later.

Now her space was full of organised chaos. She started with lining the inside of her bauble with glue to adhere her glitter. Then she poured an even amount of the aforementioned red glitter and began to shake it fiercely. Almost elbowing her neighbour in enthusiasm. After a quick apology, she continued her crafting.

First, she drew her idea onto the white glitter paper. She had grabbed a thicker sort of paper from the supplies, and it would glimmer marvellously underneath the Great Hall lighting.

Her idea was to create the iconic ‘poison apple’ from her favourite childhood fairytale. The red apple part, she already had down, with the red glitter inside. Next, she carefully glued on the thick white paper, creating a nice flow into the design. It also gave it the appearance of the presumed poison dripping down.

The result was very striking. A red apple with white glazing, and a red ribbon to hang onto the Christmas tree.

Her other idea was a more family-oriented craft. She wanted to paint her family as snowmen. Each little snowmen would resemble her family. One with a thick moustache, a happy grin and a flannel shirt. For her mother, she would paint a snowman with lots of flowers in her hair and a blob of paint on her face. Then a smaller snowman resembling her. A thick hat on its head and multiple ribbons circulating its body.

Her tongue stuck out in concentration, she wanted it just right. She loved how it turned out. Every snowman embodied the person just right. She hoped that she could have the bauble back one day and show her family. In the muggle world. It was as simple as a single click. Smartphones were magical in their own way.

After clearing her desk and saying goodbye to her deskmates, she went to stand in line. She twisted the ribbons in her hand. Would everyone like it? She hoped so. It would be fun if it was in sight of her fellow students.

After the prefect cast the perfectly executed ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ spell, her ornaments hung beautifully on the tree. Amalia loved how they glittered in the light.

Amalia stood there in the Great Hall, only 16 days into her first year. Far away from her parents, but surrounded by friends and so much magic. She looked around at all the students already participating. This was how a community felt. Everyone working towards the same goal.

Making christmas perfect, together.

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WordCount: 640

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Poison apple ornament:

Reducio

Family ornament:

Reducio

(AI gen)

Dialogue, Thoughts
IC date: September 16th, 2026
Location: Hogwarts Great Hall
Time: Afternoon
Mentioning: @N/A

Ornaments.

The sweet scent of hot cocoa and gingerbread was sickening, though fainter at the “ornament decorating” table but its absence was still much preferred. Mrs. Woodrow adored sweets. "Adored" would be a sizeable exaggeration if it were anyone except Mrs. Woodrow. At heart, the greatest act of kindness in her capabilities was to tolerate something.

Back to the topic of ornaments. How come Atlas was staring at a blank ornament instead of decorating delicious cookies and snacking on hot cocoa? Why was here when he could be crafting a heartfelt message for his Ma in the form of a Christmas card? Wouldn't that just be the sweetest thing ever? What purpose did ornaments serve beyond aesthetics?

The first question was already answered; he despised sweet things. Candies, apple pie, gingerbread... not for him. For the second question, Atlas didn't have a "Ma". He had Mrs. Woodrow, and that was very far from a mom. He'd bestowed her the formal title of "mother" years ago, but she was always more deserving of "crazy-woman-who-thinks-I-am-a-disease". As for the third question, the answer was yes. It would, in fact, be the sweetest thing ever. It was stated once and it'll be stated again: Atlas despised sweet things.

Now the last question had no answer. The young boy didn't know, nor did he care to ponder about it long enough and come up with one. What was for sure was that the other tables had repulsed him, leaving only one acceptable option.

Atlas reached a hand into the row of boxes without looking. The entire hall was bedecked with Christmas cheer. Evergreen wreaths full of scarlet berries and gold ornaments hung on every door, while candles and candy canes decorated the tables, each of which were lined with thick red ribbons and empty stockings. The room echoed of laughter and cheer from children excitedly crafting their cookies, cards, and ornaments. Atlas felt out of place.

The ornament he had grabbed was round and fit neatly into the palm of his hand. For a moment, he relished the feel, fingers running down the smooth plastic. Mrs. Woodrow didn't like Christmas. Therefore, it was only typical of Mrs. Woodrow to not celebrate it. Hanging up ornaments on an early December morning was an experience Atlas never got, nor did he ever receive a present. By that he meant a meaningful present. The boy had kept a collection of cheap cards oh-so-kindly given to him by his mother on Christmases and birthdays until one unfortunate afternoon in mid-September, exactly a year ago from now. She had been of exceptional annoyance, absolutely furious over a scraped knee and an unfinished dinner. Atlas piled every one of his neglected cards into the trash. When he saw that Mrs. Woodrow was completely apathetic toward the situation; it couldn't help but sting a little. More than a little.

Before he knew it, a thick layer of Christmas green had been slathered all over his ornament. Atlas decided the color was too bright and merry for his taste, so a light coat of brown was added. The end result looked like vomit. A ball of vomit which Atlas would say resembled his mother's eyeball, but that would be offensive to vomit.

In hopes of making his ornament more presentable, he added a cluster of small white polkadots, which weren't really white because the layers of brown and green had not yet fully dried, giving each dot yellow-ish tints of varying degrees. It was only fair for him to deem the dots ivory colored after such an artistic failure. Other issues would be how they were quite unevenly spaced out and not really dots; deformed blobs would be a better classification. Perhaps he could turn them into roses...

That would be perfect.

Atlas wasn't great with a brush, but one could tell there were white (or ivory) flowers of some sort. He'd also successfully scouted the table for a deep green that complemented the backdrop perfectly and used it for the vase. As for the finishing touch, he tossed on some white glitter to really make his roses shine.

Though his ornament may not reflect the typical Christmas spirit, it definitely reflected his. Ten years of waking up every December morning to see nothing but his mother's vase of fake white roses on the coffee table, whereas other children were greeted with a huge, glowing Christmas tree; he was painting from his experiences after all.

Word Count: 742