Errand Glitter and be Gay Great Hall Location

- Closed to interactions -

Having grown up in Brighton, Lydia had always looked forward the Pride Parade that would come every year during the summer. Even though she was not part of the LGBT+ community - or at least that's what she thought so far, after all she was just a kid, and didn't understand exactly yet who she was attracted to- she had always supported the community and every year she would take part in the parade that would pass right under her house, along the seaside.

So of course this year, between the Covid19 pandemic and the fact that she would have been in London for the summer, Lydia felt quite sad that she wouldn't have been able to take part in the celebrations. When she heard of the Pride Errand, it was as if a spark had been lit up inside of her; all of a sudden, the joy she had always felt during this time of the year, almost as if it was a second Christmas, came back to her as she made her way into the Great Hall.

For this day, she had decided to wear a simple pair of jeans, her usually black slip-on Vans, and a white T-shirt with "HUMAN" written on it, each letter a different flag of the LGBT community. As she entered the Great Hall, Lydia's face lit up with a bright smile, the first, real one in a while; rainbows were everywhere, and the four House's tables had become all the same, with different materials on each of them. The red headed girl walked around for a little bit, thinking about what she could have done to spread the Pride spirit through the castle, and her eyes fell on the candle-making section: she could have done some rainbow coloured candles that she could have left for people to take and use, and she could have even asked a professor or someone if they could have used them together with the other enchanted candles.

Once she was at the candle section, Lydia started her little project; she took a couple of strings, and then proceeded to dip them into the coloured wax and then in the cold water, until she reached the desired result. She did that five times, before she ran out of the strings she had taken. The candles looked really cute and, after taking one for herself, she left the others on the third table: this way if other students wanted to take one or bring them in other parts of the castle, they would have been able to.

After that, Lydia decided to check out the part of the event that had been set up in the Library; but before leaving, she stopped by the fourth table to get a goblet of the lemonade and to admire the amazing rainbow cake that was placed in the middle of the table; she even contemplated getting a slice of it, but then decided against it.

Once she was done with her glass, Lydia walked out of the Great Hall and headed towards the library, the rainbow candle in the backpacker of her jeans.

Lydia left the thread and moved to the Library.

WC: 521/1000 words

Deadline's in two days! If you've already met the word count, remember to post here!

Will still interact if people talk to her

-

There was nothing in this world quite like pride month. As she tiptoed into the Great Hall warily, the vibrant splashes of color and brightness staining the walls seemed a bright contrast to the usual warm but blunt stone of the walls of the castle, and even more so against her memories of the Gray Manse, whose saturation... matched up to its namesake. But staring up at the colorful walls and platters of brilliant treats, vivid craft supplies and flamboyant decorations, she found herself with a peculiar urge to vomit rainbows and cover herself in low-quality paint.

Hands clasped behind her back as usual, the witch approached the first table. Her footsteps spelled timid, but the brightness in her eyes said excitement. A moment of consideration—what should she choose? Should she choose one at all? Hands hovering over the options, she settled on an interestingly shaped pin. Not that Svana had to know anything about it, but aromantic was... less likely to earn her a yelling fit from her stepmother than pansexual, if, somehow, she did manage to find out about it.

Now, what to do, what to do... other than hurry over to the snack table, of course. She eyed the materials on the middle two tables, the glitter and paint and flags, even as she darted around the refreshments, stacking cookies onto her plate like nobody's business and a slice - maybe two, she had no shame about this - of cake. No, she wasn't going to be able to finish it, but having food in your possession was something of a tool for mental stability.

She bit into a cookie and mmmed. Bliss. She could already feel the sugar clogging her veins, and she couldn't be more happy about it. When Cel opened her eyes again, she peered at the watercolors on the craft table, then the large brushes on the flag table, then at the ladders, and then at the ceiling. She grinned. Now she had work to do.

The first step was moving the ladders. She tried to stay out of everyone's way, picking through the various ladders to find the longest two that could possibly be in the pile. Unfortunately, longest also meant heaviest. She had to take two trips from the table to the opposite wall, struggling all the while - living in a tower did wonders for her quads, but carrying textbooks enough apparently hadn't been enough to improve her upper-body endurance, and she felt like dropping the ladders after about three seconds of carrying them.

Regardless, she got the second one there, and then leaned against the wall for a second of rest. Cel frowned up at the ladders. Ms. Cy had said that they were supposed to use these in twos, with someone holding the bottom, but did she really want to bother someone else with this? After all, she didn't know how long she'd have to stay up there. It could be over an hour.

Instead, a solution popped into her head, and she narrowed her eyes at the base of the two ladders, each placed side-by-side. Sliding out her wand from her sleeve, where she was surprised it hadn't fallen out of while she was carrying the ladders over, she muttered, "Epoximise."

Schnick.

Cel tugged on the ladder, first gently, then with more force—the top wobbled a bit, but the base stayed steady. Good, as long as it didn't skid. Repeating the enchantment on the other ladder, she ran back to the tables for more supplies, excitement already thumping in her chest. Giant brushes, tubes of paint, a bunch of water in a bowl that she was careful not to spill, a toothbrush, cloth—well, a lot of things, to put it shortly. She gathered these in a bucket, then balanced its handle in the fold of her elbow and rushed to the ladders again, beginning to climb the one on the left.

The handle chafed her arm and the height seemed a little dizzying, but the enthusiasm made her feel alive. This was a creative outlet, and she hadn't gotten the chance to have one for a very long time. As she reached the top of the ladder, where only a couple rungs above her served as a place to put her hands if she needed stability, she slipped the bucket off her arm, held it on top of the rung next to her with one arm, then slowly balanced herself so she could free her other arm from the rungs.

Okay, okay, no stabilizing arms now. Slowly, no rush, she slipped her wand out again, whispering epoximise to stick the bucket to the rung. She let go, and the bucket fell again, and she barely caught it before it tipped over completely. One brush fell out and hit the ground with a loud clatter that she winced at—it was okay, she had more of those. At least the water hadn't spilled. On her second try at the spell, she let go more slowly, but she had no need—it had worked.

Now she looked up at the stone in front of her. Cel stood right next to where the wall met the ceiling in the middle—a perfect canvas for her work. This wasn't like the designs she liked to paint in her watercolor pad. This was going to be big, because she'd never done big before, and it scared her a little to do it, and that was what she wanted to do. Leaning this way and that, she tilted her body back as far as it would go without falling off, then to the side, measuring her range of reach, then concluded that the top of the ladder should probably also be glued.

When that was all done with, she turned to step two: actually starting to paint. Her canvas was dark right now. Dark was hard to paint on, if it wasn't oil paint you were working with. That could be rectified with magic too, although... squinting at the area, leaning back a little, she frowned. What would happen if she tried it? Obviously she couldn't turn the entire room white, but how much would a charm like that affect, and what would the borders be like—fuzzy, or random, or geometric?

Dude, just do it, she could almost hear her brother's voice say to her, and she shook her head and pointed her wand at the spot where the wall folded. "Colovaria."

The first spot that her spell affected was very small. It was no more than a blotch of white that she had sent out when she cast. But before she could react, the blob began to spread out, inching outwards like the blankness was writhing, branching into the surrounding rock. Then, slowly, the hydra began to slow, edges fizzing out until they stopped spreading at all, edges uneven.

She frowned. The charm had been... mostly a success, as it had covered just the right amount of ceiling that she could reach. But... at the same time, those edges... weren't the orderly cut that she had anticipated. They were a gentle gradient, fading out like smoke, very much not neat and quite... wild, honestly. That wasn't good, maybe she'd have to try again.

But... was it?

She frowned even harder now. They looked... pretty, actually. It was a nice effect, even though it wasn't the usual clean cut that she was able to control. Well, she'd already started this... undertaking. It was all or nothing to her now, and she certainly wasn't about to choose nothing, so why not? Orderly was out of the game now.

Now came the fun part. Barely able to contain her grin, she dipped her massive brush into the first can of paint, and splashed it onto the primed wall.

Her back ached, her neck hurt, her arm was sore from holding it up for so long, and Cel felt great.

Only one final touch now. Dipping the toothbrush in plain white paint, she closed one eye and aimed at the wall, flicking her thumb over the bristles quickly. A shower of tiny white particles were launched onto the background, some bigger than others—she could go in with a small brush later to blend the bigger ones out for a softer, closer star.

Leaning back and correcting her posture for once to allow herself to admire her ceiling/wall mural, she stepped down a few rungs to increase the distance between her and the paint, taking in the blend of color that she'd managed to create, details of mixing hues and gradients. It was a galaxy in its own right, as if the stone had opened up to a gigantic portal to space—a rainbow space, clouds of colorful nebulas and stardust drifting through the air.

She glanced back down. If she wanted to get cleanup done before the day was over, she'd better get down there now—it was going to take a long, long time to get that paint off her arms.

WC 1509

-

Interacting With: @George Henry
Mentioning: @Cypresse Lian, @Jake Morris, & @Willow Anderson

When he stepped into the Transfiguration Classroom for the first time in June, Jack thought - not for the first time - that their Professor Lian intended to blind her students. One time it had been with Chinese New Years fireworks and firecrackers, but this time it was something far more dastardly and subtle. Fireworks eventually ran out of fuel. Light and all the reflective surfaces it bounced off, however, did not.

As if transfiguration wasn't difficult enough with the amount of concentration it took to perform it correctly, Professor Lian seemed to have felt the need to make the whole room as distracting as possible with a painful assault of bright colors, flags, glitter, and even shimmering, holographic curtains that appeared to change color depending on the angle of light they were viewed in.

It wasn't long before Jack soon discovered the reason behind all the rainbow and reflective decor. Supposedly, June was supposed to be 'pride month' and, according to errand and event announcements put up everywhere, Professor Lian highly encouraged Hogwarts students to make the entire Hogwarts castle as loud, flamboyant, and gaudy as her very own classroom.

Easy for her to say, he thought, though not without amusement, as he headed to the Great Hall on the scheduled day. She's not the one subjecting her eyes to bleed just by looking at all of this stuff.

What did glitter have to do with being gay? Jack had no clue. Nor did he much care, being twelve years old and uninterested in being attracted to other people romantically. Furthermore, if people were proud of being of a certain identity or sexual orientation, why did they only bother celebrating it or making it known one month of the year? Come to think of it, why make it known at all if it wasn't anyone else's business? However, an errand was an errand, and this one seemed like more fun than usual, so the Slytherin wasn't about to abstain.

As someone who enjoyed playing pranks, one thing Jack knew about glitter was that it seemed to annoy a whole lot of people due to how difficult it was to get out of hair, clothes, and everything else. Still, it was more festive, flashy, and fun to look at than something equally as annoying like, say, sand.

Jack had taken a liking to Professor Lian from the start. She seemed to enjoy a good prank as much as any student with a sense of humor, but while the blind woman might have been spared the sight of clashing colors or ridiculous reflecting glitter bits everywhere, it also meant she probably wouldn't have been able to know the full effect of the chaos she'd unleashed upon the school.

Part of Jack wondered if that was exactly the reason she had chosen a prank such as this in the first place...not to mention deviously drenched her own classroom in distractions galore. She probably meant to cause as much trouble as possible, which only motivated Jack to do his best to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity she had given her students to do the same.

With this in mind, he began to ponder as he entered the Great Hall. Where would have been the best place to spread this glittering, sparkling, rainbow, chaotic mess? Perhaps the library would have been a good place, given that most students went there to avoid distractions. Jack knew better than most how difficult it could be to focus on a book in front of you when there was movement or sounds drawing one's attention nearby. Yes, the library would be a fantastic starting place.

Once he had a location in mind, Jack began to browse the tables and what was available on them for decorating with. The first table had a huge, rainbow-colored 'WELCOME!' greeting painted across it along with various multi-colored pins displaying different symbolic flag colors. Though he looked them over briefly, the boy didn't touch them, curious as to what each set of colors might have meant and why. Perhaps there would be something of a guide to them if he continued to look, so he continued on to the next table.

The second one had many curious, light-weight ladders covering half of it. Jack was sorry he couldn't try to shrink and keep one since he was betting the professor and house elves knew exactly how many there were and meant to get them all back. Otherwise, the first year thought, they might have been nice to use not just for painting the large white flags that were hung from the ceiling, but for a myriad of future pranks as well.

As things were, Jack wasn't sure why the flags couldn't be painted while they were flat on the ground or something, especially because the paint was likely to drip down with gravity if painted while the flag was up on display, but perhaps that had been considered and there were some magical measures in place to prevent such things from happening. Not that Jack bothered to find out. He had other plans in mind.

While looking over the ladders, however, the Slytherin noticed a handbook depicting the many sets of colors he'd seen on the pins at the first table and picked it up, curious. After flipping through a few pages and reading a few descriptions, he quickly found himself disappointed with his interest waning.

The majority of the flags and their colors seemed to depict associated gender identities or sexual orientations; sometimes both. However, the first year couldn't understand why such things mattered enough to require labels, much less flags, to communicate them to people who likely had no business knowing.

If you were something, you were something and you knew it...or maybe you didn't. Why did it matter who else knew? Jack supposed more insecure people probably felt better to categorize themselves as either different from others or included in a group of sorts, but he saw no point in it. It just sounded like an excuse to make cliques or pick on people to him.

Setting aside the handbook with a sigh, the redhead chose to avoid attempting to fit himself into one or more of their various categories. He hoped he would never have to worry enough about such things as gender identity or sexual orientation to question his own. As things were, he didn't know and he didn't care. Hopefully it would remain that way, since he was fairly sure he had enough things in life to worry about as it was.

Moving on to the third table, he laid eyes upon the huge expanse of craft materials, tools, and supplies from which one could make almost any sort of decoration they desired. The colored yarn caused Jack to wince a little as he recalled a certain Hufflepuff girl's penchant for making friendship bracelets - or, as Jack liked to call them, 'death sentences'. Nevertheless, he saw a good deal of potential on that table, even for the brightly-colored yarn.

It was the colorful food and drink from the fourth table that drew Jack to start gathering things from there, first, however. Picking up a paper plate, he selected a fruit kabob and took a glass of rainbow lemonade, entranced by the colors of the liquid. While he prepared to sit somewhere to eat and ponder a plan before he got to work, a vaguely familiar face caught his eye.

Even before Jack had heard about George from Jake, the redhead recalled speaking to the brunet for the first time when he wanted to congratulate the Hufflepuff for his flying abilities in Flying Class. He had only really spoken to George face-to-face one other time after, and that had been at the ball under less-than-pleasant circumstances. Because of that, Jack didn't think he had a very good idea of what George was like despite Jake describing him.

Jake seemed to be the person George was closest to and vice-versa, but the Welsh boy knew that didn't necessarily mean they knew each other's truest selves. Thus, though he didn't think Jake would intentionally give a biased or untrue description of his housemate, Jack didn't want to take the other first year's idea of George for granted. Even so, there were some things he'd heard about the fantastic flyer that intrigued the Slytherin.

Despite Jack's general aversion to Hufflepuffs, he'd heard something about George being different from one's idea of a typical badger. The way he had tried to say that he and Jake had been sent by a higher authority to get the bludgers caused Jack to suspect George of being a liar, but he had yet to learn if this was true or not. If it was, why would he have lied? What had he wanted the bludgers for? Surely it couldn't have been for the same reason Jack had wanted them, could it have?

Regardless, the redhead had more than one reason to suspect that the badger boy was more sneaky and perhaps even more clever than his fellow first years. Even if he only stood out among his own housemates, that was enough to rouse Jack's curiosity. What was the kid's motivation? Did he have a sense of morals? What were they? How far was he willing to go to do things like go for bludgers? And why?

Deciding to test this, Jack approached the Hufflepuff with an amicable smile and a cheerful greeting.

"Hello, Henry," he said. "Care to join me for this errand?"

Pride month wasn't something Callie had put much thought into before. After all she was only twelve and in truth didn't fully understand everything just yet. Callie especially didn't understand people who were mean to others based on who they decided to smooch. Why was it any of their business? Why did they care about their kissing in particular? It didn't make sense. As for her own preference of smooching partner Callie decided to ignore that question for now. Feelings were complicated and Callie wasn't quite sure who she wanted to smooch just yet. The girl was still young and the idea of thinking about that sort of thing just yet was rather terrifying.

Regardless Callie wasn't about to let her own fears over figuring out her own smooching preference stop her from partaking in the chaos she'd heard whispers about over the past few days. Excitement had been building over Professor Lian's planned chaos in the name of pride and in spite of her own fears Callie was more than happy to participate. As she walked through the doors and into the Great Hall Callie was immediately taken aback by the spectacle before her. The usually rather drab and traditional looking room had been completely overtaken by rainbows. It was a glorious sight to behold and her excitement only grew upon noticing the snack table which was just within reach. The lure of sugar was a powerful one for the food motivated girl, especially when it concerned cookies and a cake which looked as good as the one Nora baked for her birthday.

Callie slipped further into the Great Hall and found herself stopped in her tracks upon seeing the table filled with various badges. Were there really this many different flags? Callie had no idea that who someone wanted to smooch was such a complicated affair or that a rainbow could mean so many different things. Clearly Callie had some reading to do on the subject, which she made a mental note to do before bed. Or at the very least ask a few of her friends a few questions regarding the subject, although that idea seemed a little intimidating. Callie wasn't quite ready to start asking herself the difficult question of her own preference - that was a bridge she was not yet ready to cross. Regardless Callie pinned a small silver badge with the words 'she/her' in the shape of a heart onto her robes. She regarded the small trinket with some degree of pride and in some ways a small step forward in her own personal journey. Callie eyed the badges marked lesbian curiously for a few moments before skittering off to another table - but not without slipping one of those badges into her pocket to consider later.

Callie completely bypassed the table containing the various banners and instead opted to head directly to the table which seemed to promise some crafting. Recently Callie had taken a liking to crafting various bits and bobs after partaking in a number of errands. She hadn't expected to enjoy crafts such as origami quite so much but for some reason it had stuck with her. Now Callie regularly created tiny paper animals to keep her hands busy whilst reading. However nothing she'd seen so far had offered quite the range of different crafts than the assortment which lay before her. To put it simply Callie was utterly spoilt for choice although she immediately gravitated towards the strings intended for friendship bracelets. Callie was no stranger to the art of friendship bracelet making and considered herself to be a master of the craft. The process of making such things was something the girl found relaxing, which was rather odd as it could be quite a fiddly affair and Callie often lacked the patience for such tasks. Regardless it wasn't long before Callie took up residence on a bench and happily sat stringing together friendship bracelets of different colours, shapes and sizes with surprising skill and speed. Shortly after Callie looked at her pile of bracelets with a small smile and carefully inspected one she'd created in the colours matching that of the badge she'd taken earlier. She stopped herself from staring at the trinket when the idea to give the bracelets to her friends she planned to share a tent with in London and swiftly scooped the small pile into her pocket.

Before Callie could fully get stuck into the snack table she took notice of the various candle making equipment laying just out of reach. She'd never made candles before and now seemed to finally be the time to learn. So Callie wriggled her way over and slowly carved at a block of wax. She had intended to create a small heart but the art of candle making wasn't something Callie was particularly well versed in. The end result was by no means perfect but it at least resembled a heart in some form which Callie was more than pleased about. What was most satisfying about the whole endeavour was the wax coating her fingers which Callie found incredibly fun to crush and pick off her hands. It wasn't the most ladylike thing to do but Callie was by no means a lady. Besides peeling wax from her hands was far to entertaining to ever consider manners.

Callie had originally intended to lose herself making a few more different things but the lure of the glitter had grown too tempting. Everyone else seemed to be raising chaos in the name of pride and Callie thought it was about time that she would do the same. The girl carefully stoop up from the bench and grabbed a few jars of glitter before scooping up a couple of cookies. One cookie very swiftly made it's way into her mouth whilst the others found themselves slipped into the endless abyss of her pocket. So having decided she was suitably armed with enough glitter Callie headed off to raise some chaos elsewhere, namely by throwing as much glitter in the face of one of her friends faces as possible.

June 2020
Great Hall, Hogwarts

Pride Month was something Cassius was admittedly not very familiar with. Partially due to the cloistered nature of his childhood as well as his limited knowledge of the world beyond old books, it was simply not something that he had been exposed to until coming to Hogwarts. In fact, it had taken a trip to the Great Hall to even figure out why such a myriad of colors had begun to pop up all over the school as he was too shy to ask his fellow classmates, many of whom seemed to know what was going on and were already actively participating in the festivities.

When he arrived at the Great Hall, the first year's jaw dropped at the bustling crowd within the room and the sheer amount of color that had replaced the colored banners of the four houses. For a good minute or so Cassius simply watched as people mingled, painted, crafted, and otherwise just seemed to enjoy each other's company while taking part in what seemed like such a happy festival.

Stepping forward, the boy quickly perused the WELCOME table and looked over the pins that were scattered upon its surface before stepping on towards the second table. There he could not help but smile at the magical ladders, still finding wonderment in the such subtle but helpful ways in which magic made things so much better. After listening to the precautionary suggestions from Professor Lian, Cassius grabbed hold of a ladder, eyes already looking upwards towards the blank flag canvasses that hung from the walls ready to be painted. With care he maneuvered it towards one of the far walls, taking special caution not to knock into any other students or other ladders already laid against the walls.

A blank flag was above him now as he set up his ladder, knocking it on the sides a few times to ensure it was stable. Content he would not meet an untimely demise should he ascend the ladder, he returned to the tables in search of some paint. With a finger on his chin, he silently contemplated which colors to choose. For most of his life thus far, Cassius’ wardrobe had consisted of fairly monotone fashions, mostly black, white, brown, and sometimes some dark shades of colors like burgundy and navy. In other words, very typical colors that purposefully did not make him stand out in a crowd of witches or wizards. Such was the more traditional nature of his family and what he was accustomed to.

But there was a time for tradition and a time for embracing change and now, he decided, he would embrace change. Vibrant colors of the rainbow were eventually chosen and gathered in small amounts, just enough to fill the blank flag with the pattern he had in mind. In addition to the other colors, however, he had taken some extra blue as any good Ravenclaw should do.

Again, with care, he returned to where he had laid the ladder against the wall. Looking up at it, he slowly ascended the ladder to its highest point and placed down the paints on the small platform at its top. It was only when he looked down that he noticed how high up he was and he could not help but feel somewhat exhilarated. Climbing had been one of his favorite things to do while he was adventuring the moor surrounding his family’s home and he had little fear of heights.

A wide grin spread across his face as he began to pain, starting with a bright shade of red that he began to use on the left side of the flag. Painting downwards with a small, flat brush, he began to paint diagonal stripes leaving a good amount of space between each one. Then, once finished with the red, a yellow paint was used to fill in half of the vacant spots between the diagonal stripes. Space for another color remained and that was then filled in with green which was carefully done as to avoid leaking into the other colors. With that done, and the flag completely colored in diagonal shades of red, yellow, and green, Cassius descended the ladder.

Knowing it would take a few minutes to dry, the first year stepped over to the snack table for some much needed nourishment. The sweets were skipped over in favor of the colorful fruit platter. An assortment of cantaloupe chunks and cherries were picked up and then nestled securely in the boy’s hand. Careful not to drop any of the small pieces, he quietly took a seat on the bench at one of the other tables and looked around to see what everybody else had been creating.

Even in the short time that he was there it was clear that the Great Hall had been transformed beyond what he had seen when he first entered. Cassius reckoned at least half an hour had passed since his arrival and he was amazed by the progress that had been made in that time. Truly there were some minds here as creative as they were bright.

Having finished his fruit and waited a good amount of time, Cassius returned to his ladder and climbed to the top to finish his flag. The red, yellow, and green had dried by this time and he was ready to put the finishing touches with the blue he had remaining. Ravenclaw blue, of course. And it was used in excessive fashion as he began to draw diagonal lines across and in the opposite direction of the other colors. The effect was an odd mesh-like design that likely would not win any awards but brought a smile and sense of pride to the young boy once completed.

Cassius lowered himself back down the ladder to get a better view of his piece amongst the other designs. It might not have been the most colorful of the paintings and drawing done; but, it did bring a degree of color to the monotone colors of the castle walls. With hands on hips, he let out a satisfied sigh and began to clean up the mess he had made and return the ladder to its rightful place.

WC: 1052/1000

───── ⋆★⋆ ─────

Ah, of course, the professor was snacking on a cookie. She always seemed to have something sweet to eat, more often than not sharing it with the rest of the Transfiguration class. They felt a little sorry as they looked behind them, an incoming onslaught of questions that they had headed. The witch would probably have to wait a while before that cookie could be properly consumed. Mars gave a friendly wave to the professor, saying goodbye, before correcting themselves, a slight blush rising to their cheeks.

"Thanks, Cy!" they amended, fixing the use of the professor title. They knew all too well what a pain titles could be, how they unintentionally forced people in boxes with a single word, a gathering of syllables. But there was no time to ponder that today. They had places to be, classrooms to decorate, and professors to annoy with copious amounts of glitter. It was going to be glorious.

Mars headed off in the direction the professor had pointed, catching the glint of silverware lying on one of the wooden benches. Ah, they'd just missed it. Hurrying over—stopping once to catch a slipping roll of parchment—they scanned the options. It'd have to be something quite big but ideally lightweight. They weren't entirely confident in their abilities and having to scrub cake off the floor was not something they wanted to spend their pride month doing. Although, by the end of this, that might just happen to be the result.

Finally, their eye caught on a silver platter. It was thin, made out of a solid metal, and polished till it shone, their eyes reflected back in the sheen of its surface. They touched at the small silver heart pinned to their lapel with a smile—it was funny that something so simple brought them such immense joy. Deciding it was the best option, Mars tugged it out from under the other plates, wincing as a few of them clattered to the ground. Luckily, nothing was broken, so they returned each to the bench and pivoted to face the food table.

Their face broke into a mischievous grin. Oh, this would be good. Striding over, Mars sent their things down underneath the wooden tabletop for safe-keeping. Then, their job began. They were careful to leave some for the rest of the incomers, but a fair amount of fruit, cookies, and fizzy soft drinks was transferred from the wood to the metal under their nimble fingers. The rainbow assortment of treats stared up at them, the sugary smell causing their mouth to water slightly. They paused for a moment. The sugary smell. Huh.

So many times before, that exact aroma had sent them in a spiral of headaches, pulsing lights and soft sounds that left them with burning holes in the back of their brain. But today, the smell remained a smell, transferring not into flashes of memories that were not their own but rather, promises of sweetness in the hours to come. Mars smiled. There was no viable explanation for that. Honestly, it was best written off as another problem with their screwy head, another label to be tucked up beside insomnia and perfectionism. But something within them told them that this was the magic of Pride. They laughed and shook their head, startling a few of their neighbors unbeknownst to them. How cheesy.

Mars turned back to the task at hand. A few more sweets were added to the platter before their eyes caught on the giant, grand cake. They let out a wry smile. That would be perfect. Cutting a huge chunk out of the rainbow perfection, they plopped it onto a plate and then onto their platter, tossing a few utensils up there as well. Okay, now their spread was complete.

Internally, Mars crossed their fingers. They pulled out their wand, pointing the tip of the cherry wood toward the silver dish. Drawing the swirly sideways 7 into the air, they muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa." The plate shook, the heaps of food on top threatening to tumble off, but Mars just stared at the tip of their wand, pouring more power into a concentrated beam. Finally, the dish rattled and touched off of the table.

They let out a noise in the back of their throat, pride and delight rolled into something that wiggled happily in the base of their gut. Keeping their wand pointed at the spread, they picked up the rest of the supplies. Then, they set off out of the Great Hall, the plate bobbing happily behind them. Now to meet the others at Charms.

The chance to make a mess without getting in trouble was something any first-year would relish. It seemed a bit cruel of the Hogwarts staff to put the blind professor in charge of a decorating event that involved so much glitter and colour, but their folly was his opportunity. He could make whatever he wanted with the supplies at hand without an ounce of judgement or repercussions from the adults. But his reign of terror could wait. There were rainbow drinks at the fourth table, and George immediately set off to grab one before he dug into decorating anything.

He picked up a goblet, noticing Jack B. nearby, but doing no more than glancing to him as he sampled the colourful drink. It had been a while since their awkward encounter at the ball, and although he held no hard feelings toward the Slytherin - they were, after all, both trying to get the bludgers - he didn't expect the other boy to approach him. It had been Jack's fault that Jake was taken hostage, or at least that is what he remembered. These days, the whole night was like a blur in his mind. The only thing he could know with certainty was that it was absolutely awful, and that he never even got to dance.

George turned to look at Jack when he spoke, his look of puzzlement quickly hidden behind a more usual friendly smile. "Hello, Jack," he said. It was an unexpected alliance. The Hufflepuff felt conflicted - from what he knew of Jack, he was a jerk, but he'd also been kind to him once. Jake thought of George as a kind jerk, too, so perhaps there was some kinship between them to be uncovered. Still, the incident of the bludgers left a sour taste in his mouth. "Okay, sure. What are you going to decorate?"

George looked over the supplies on the other tables, but his eyes settled on the second, taking in the vast array of colors available for the students to paint with. The third was tempting as well - piles of glitter, sparkling bright in every colour of the rainbow. Jack might not have understood, but George was fairly certain that the colours were what made the glitter gay, rather than any aspect of glitter on its own.

"This way," George said, leading his newfound partner to the second table. Idle curiosity drove him to pick up the little handbook of identities that was left amid the paints. He examined it thoroughly, inspecting each flag. He flipped it around and pointed to the familiar rainbow, evidently his favourite. "I reckon we paint a gay one."

"Actually - let's do something a bit more artsy. This way," and once again George was leading the way, stealing a few brushes and some paint for the journey toward the canvases around the third table, taking one with him and setting up with his supplies. "We'll make a painting with the gay colours, and it'll be like... a gay painting. Bit more exciting than a flag, I figure. You can keep it in the end if you want. Unless it turns out good. In that case, we can cut it in half and take a piece each."

@Jack Burnett - I'm too late for the errand, but still in time to have pride.