Closed Happy Birthday, Leonard Oaksworth PV Invited

Alec believed himself to be, how to put it lightly, terrible at gift giving. He could be summed of too that of an elder who took up knitting as a hobby and gives out itchy knitted sweaters all seasons of the year. Yeah, the sentiment was sweet, however not everybody wanted itchy sweaters, or scarves, or gloves, or- okay, he had enough he'd already made his point. To be fair, Alec did knit, but he only gave knitted things out to the people he knew would deal with his knitted shenanigans it was the same for Alec's art. Well he should have said person, there was one person who usually got them. That person was not Leo. He was pretty sure it would never be Leo. And so for once in Alec's life he had to go beyond his usual measures and pick out a gift. Thus a conundrum had presented itself, a terrible gift giver who had to get a gift. So, what were Alec's gift giving plans? Alec had thought about sweets, books, a fake gift before the real gift like getting the groundskeeper to pawn a flobberworm off on Alec for a bit(Leo reacting with relief in the fact that Alec didn't actually get a flobberworm to lay off gift-giving pressure), stuff for SOAP(why not make an attempt to relive the glory days?), or a wizard's chess set. He'd picked the latter.

As long as Alec had known Leo, he had known him as type to be anything but spontaneous. Oaksworth was meticulous, he was the type of guy who needed to have a plan, Alec appreciated him for it. Mostly because unlike Oaksworth, Alec had tendency to act carelessly, no doubt all of Alec's pranks would have ended up like the hallway soap incident if not having had assistance from Leo. Hence why Alec had banned himself from complicated solo pranks and one of the reasons why he appreciated the advice of a person who thinks things through. Logical people were kind of like seers, except you know, they could call on their power whenever and it relied on statistical probability or something. Alec associated his friend's qualities with the qualities needed to be a skilled player at wizard's chess. Alec saw no reason not to give Leonard a game practically made for him. It wasn't hard to get the chess set, and the second Alec had gotten it the gift would stay sitting in a gift bag waiting for the day to arrive.

Alec thought birthdays were a big deal, it was more him obsessing over the age of people and the fact the number they had been before went up by one. He was the type of person who had to take it all in, he was basically your proud parent, except smaller, and shorter, and not your parent. Yes, he would be excited for Leo, fourteen is a big deal, Alec would know, he'd just gained the special knowledge like he had for a whole bunch of stuff the day he turned fourteen. Gift bag in hand Alec would find himself arriving at Leonard's birthday party. There were quite a few people here and Alec had the feeling taking the scenic route over here may resulted in a few minutes of tardiness. He was going to blame him walking at a leisurely pace on the scenic route as an excuse to be fashionably late. Yes, totally intentional.

Surveying the party set up Alec's first priority was finding a place to set down Leo's present. His hands were full if he was going to hold onto his wand and the gift bag. Besides, he had seen some pretty terrible birthday parties in the past, he didn't know what was going to happen. He may as well keep the gift safe. Safe meant out of Alec's hands, Alec couldn't protect a gift for the life of him. In doing this if there was a gift pile Alec would set it there, if not he would set it to the side in a place where it wouldn't get stepped on.

As he placed the gift bag down he didn't spend any more time on the rest of the people there other than a brief glance, not caring to pick out any of the people there, all except the person who had finally caught up with Alec age-wise, Leonard Oaksworth. When Alec spotted his friend Alec grinned and waved. There was a group of people by Leo, walking closer Alec was able to catch bits and pieces from an ongoing conversation.

"-food here, right? Like, this isn't a foodless party. Because, no offense, that would be the lamest, most boring party that ever existed."

The third-year raised an eyebrow as he walked up to the group, coming up behind a brown-haired girl. Having caught some of the conversation, his best guess was that the words had come from her. He had two things on his mind, one, does this girl actually like food that much? Two, his internal critic was just tutting offer the words no offense, not her saying it, just a reminder of the words. No offense never worked out for the people saying something offensive. “There's cake, but arguably it's people that make a party interesting, not the food. Lucky for you, you're at Hogwarts, the students here know how to make anything interesting.” He spoke up suddenly, his voice held a joking tone though he held a certain amount of seriousness behind his words.

“Surely you saw what the blossom ball devolved into, now that was interesting, a mess and fairly violent, but interesting.” People who didn't attend had some clue of what had happened. Whispers about it had to have lasted far beyond when the event occurred. It wasn't only because of the food, actually wasn't most of it ruined...? Alec cringed thinking about it now. Doing his best to try and erase most of it from memory, the only good to come out of it had to have been dancing with Rose before all those fights broke out. He wasn't going to mention the fact that despite the fights, the fall ball had topped it destruction-wise.

Pulling away from his thoughts Alec remembered he had come over for the specific purpose of talking to Oaksworth. Suddenly he fell self-aware to his words. Sheepishly his eyes fell on Leonard, “oh- Not that it means your party is destined to end terribly. We are away from the masses.” Alec had a feeling he could only be digging himself a deeper hole with such a sentence. Perhaps he should have gone for what normal people do and start with a hello, not the suggestion Leo's party could come crashing down. “On that not so reassuring note, it's good to see you. Happy birthday Leo,” fourteen is a big number. It still felt strange to think they were going to be fourth years next school year. Alec had felt the school year was going rather slow, thinking about being fourth years next school year made it seem like it was all going by far too quick. “The party looks great.”

Alec's gaze drifted to the side, and eventually he noticed a certain someone, Ironwoods. Wait Ironwoods? What were they doing here? How did Leo know them? Was- Alec quickly looked away. He was going to pretend he never saw them. It was awkward, they were technically his ex, the last time the two had spoken was because Cash made the effort to track him down, and also threw snowballs and insulted him. It was bleak to say the least. Pretending he never saw Cash was exactly how wise and responsible future fourth year's handled their problems. Alec was sure of it.

Alec turned his attention back to the girl he'd spoken to earlier, she would be interesting enough to ignore whatever he just saw. Hopefully. Alec extended his left hand for a handshake, “I don't believe we've met before,” he started “My name is Alec, and yours is..?” He asked, prompting the other to introduce herself.

@Leonard Oaksworth | @Maggie Hawkins | @Cassandra Ironwoods(briefly mentioned)

Percival, who was far too focused on giving his gift to Leonard, did not detect the underclassmen as he maneuvered himself near him. See, Percival wanted to make a good impression on the boy to who he had not spoken to in about a year. Not that he really knew why a distance had been pushed between them. Maybe the other simply had less backbone than he previously thought. At that, a frown would twitch across his lips, but faded away into a more neutral look. Percival glanced to the side towards where Cade stood. The boy's sudden thrust into their conversation brought a feeling of irritation. Accompanying it a frown would cross his features as he debated on whether or not he should rip the boy to shreds physically or emotionally.

It was almost hilarious when the boy called him and Burnett 'upstanding gentlemen'. Maybe the boy would not be so quick to label him if he could hear what he was thinking. His own gaze made its way over towards Brunett as the other found the situation similarly amusing. Though, that seemed to be the case with a lot of underclassmen. So innocent and daft, hardly any reason to not show them the reality of things. "I would recommend not assuming. What was your name again?" he asked his brows pinched slightly as he studied the younger boy.

Percival felt his frown deepen slightly as the other asked about how he knew Leonard. There was no good way to describe his and Leonard's relationship. They knew each other in ways no one would ever be able to know. The moments of their closeness had opened up something deep inside him. A closeness as they engaged in something far too horrid to speak about amongst others. Something so strong that he wondered how much the other boy had felt. He had to have at least felt something? "I guess you could say we are friends." he said.

Interacting with: @Cade Darkbound, @Jack Burnett
Mentions: @Leonard Oaksworth

interacts @Marshal Mozor

It seemed alright so far, her mission of visiting an old friend completed successfully. It was when she started to hesitate if she should stay or leave - Lindsey really couldn’t think of what to say, except those courtesy words to celebrate the birthday boy’s big day. Yet on the other hand leaving was simply too rude, which shouldn’t be her act. How embarrassing. She thought bitterly, when some voice made her startled.

Lindsey really wasn’t paying attention to those people around, but when a boy’s voice appeared in the group she almost immediately turned to look. Blond hair fell into her eyes, the typical Marshal-ish expression did not escape as well. Oh…her fingers were carelessly playing with a piece of fabric on her shirt, and just a tiniest glance at the newcomer made her gasped -

He was there, himself.

Eyes widened in less than a second, and Lindsey wasn’t focusing on what her old friend was saying enthusiastically to Leonard anymore, instead only gazed at him. Marshal. Marshal A. Mozor, Gryffindor second year. Part of her did not want to see him in person again, hoping that he’d not discover her. Yet another part did not. She wanted to give him a snug, tell him that she missed him so much, and invite him somewhere for a deep talk - but she couldn’t. Nostalgia wasn’t a too good thing sometimes. She didn’t reach out during the last year, nor did he. They had already forgotten each other - at least this was Lindsey’s opinion - and they should keep this status live.

Still her eyes lingered on him. Did he change much? No, but yes. Marshal was already marked as “past” on her list of friends, a past that she’d remember with a fond yet bitter smile. Marshal had certainly looked forward already - he had his own life, during her missing out he would leave her as a past as well. They weren’t the same, they weren’t the immature duo when they first met in the London Quidditch Stadium. He wasn’t hers anymore. He was never hers.

Yet she was missing him. So much.

And finally the moment came. Marshal did notice her, yet only managed to pronounce her name out - with uncertainty and sort of confusion. Almost immediately when she heard her name pronounce her eyes raised to meet his, chocolate brown eyes gazed him with a mixture of different feelings - embarrassment, nostalgia, hyper, excitement - and what about him? Was he - happy about the reunion? Or not?

At that moment the surroundings seemed to fade, and all left in this world was them two. “Marshal…?” She replied in return, gazing him earnestly. It was altogether faint, uncertainty in her voice. This was an intriguing thing really, Lindsey had never expected to meet Marshal under such circumstances before she received Leonard’s invitation. Alright, she had thoroughly thought about their reunion during the past year and had considered hundreds of ways to reunite. But no. Everything was useless now.

“It’s…been a while.”

And before anyone had time to cut in a word, she stepped forward and extended her arms to give him a hug.

Reducio

Note: I’m terribly sorry for how long this took

Clearly the Ravenclaw's amicable intrusion was far from appreciated by the upperclassmen. But Cade wouldn't let their amused sneers bring down his spirits. Not that there was much gusto, to begin with. Cade Darkbound was still surprised at himself for even attending this delightful celebration. Still, he had arrived and he intended to make the most out of this. Firstly, he needed to meet these people that Oaksworth called friends. Considering Cade's invitation, not all had to be near and dear to their humble host's heart. So the young Ravenclaw was curious about the turnout. While @Jack Burnett seemed enthused enough to answer Cade with a fond memory --to which the young artist vividly imagined Oaksworth gardening in uniform and could barely stifle a smirk-- @Percival Rainwood supplied a curt answer. Something immediately rubbed him the wrong way about this specific Slytherin. And Cade would narrow his midnight eyes briefly before introducing himself.

"Sorry, I'm Cade." The boy would straighten his posture as he spoke feeling that the weight of Percival's glare was slowly sinking him into the ground. "And you are...?" Thankfully, Jack was still there to distract Cade from Percival's suffocating atmosphere. And gladly he tugged on the lifeline thrown to him. "I met Oaksworth here at school. He was in the library one afternoon and we got into a debate of sorts. I can't remember for the life of me what it was about... He was distracting. Didn't get my work done that day." Cade shifted his weight to one side flitting his gaze over the other new arrivals that came after him. Recognized a couple of familiar faces along the throng. Some of which he could only recall faces and not their names. Cade would throw a knowing smile towards @Alec Mason. Recalled fondly their brief time at summer camp. Endless days of jokes in a jar and sketching in the woods.

Shaking his head from his reverie, Cade swept his gaze back to the boys he fell in line with. "You said you're his dormmates? That must be fun." Cade spoke dryly, only entertaining the idea of conversation rather than actually holding an interest in it. The last thing Cade wanted to hear was what Oaksworth did in his dorm. Cade could imagine his rival curled up in his bedsheets talking in his sleep about Merlin knows what. It wasn't an image the Ravenclaw particularly wanted residing in his brain. He liked to think of Oaksworth struggling with his History of Magic essays or else requiring extra time during a potions study. Anything that would render Cade in superior lighting. Was that so wrong?

Jack seemed to be far more delighted to meet Cade than Percival, but Percival still acknowledged the underclassman and for that, Jack was proud of him. Still, he thought he could have eased up on the slightly younger boy at least a little, especially if they had never met before. The way he scrutinized and answered the Ravenclaw was like he had already decided he was an enemy of some sort.

"Good to meet you, Cade," Jack said brightly, "Though do you mind me asking your last name? I tend to prefer to call people by their surnames because calling them by their first names seems a little too intimate to me. Oh, I'm Jack Burnett, by the way." He extended a hand in case Cade wanted to shake.

Chuckling lightly when Cade explained how he had met Leonard, Jack wondered what their debate must have been about. Perhaps Leonard would remember. He would have to try to ask him later. When he saw Cade listlessly eyeing the new arrivals who came after them, he caught him smile at one other kid in particular and was interested to notice this kid was a fourth year like them. Well, but so was Leonard. No wonder Cade seemed to have grown used to talking to upperclassman. He seemed to know quite a few of them.

Jack thought Cade might have wanted to break off and go talk to someone else with the way Percival was staring him down, but to the Welsh boy's surprise, Cade seemed to decide to stay; at least long enough to comment on them being dormmates with each other and Leonard.

"Heheh...yeah, it's definitely not boring in our dorm," Jack acknowledged, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously. "I don't know about 'fun', though. Sometimes it just seems like a madhouse." From the way Cade commented on it, though, Jack had a feeling the other boy wasn't exactly interested in talking about that. So Jack decided to pose him a question of his own - one he'd had since he had been a first year.

"Say...what do you two think the differences between Ravenclaws and Slytherins are? For the most part, it seems like both of our houses have an aptitude for intelligence, but I have a little difficulty understanding what makes them different. The kind of intelligence, maybe?"

@Cade Darkbound & @Percival Rainwood