Happy Birthdays, Happy Holidays PV Closed

PV/Guest List: Mia Alexander, Scott Alexander, Lorelai Brunelle, Amadea Campbell, Aravis Escanora, Odette Haven, Gabriel Mattix, Ami Procoppio, Ava Silver, and Syrah Steele. Any and all godmodding featured is approved of by the character godmodded.

June 2, a beautiful Saturday afternoon, brought about what was officially the best and worst idea of Ami's life, but hey, what else could she do? The end of the school year, and Mia's birthday? It was basically screaming for her to throw a party- but there was a lot to do if one wanted to plan and actually throw a party. Invite list and invitations, the venue, the menu, the seating... Plus, if this was going to actually be fun, they needed to break some rules. But because Ami was strictly against alcohol (although just this once, she was willing to bend it a little and acquire butterbeer, if only for Mia's sake), they'd have to settle for breaking the most basic rule of all- staying out past curfew. Additionally, if Ami wanted to make this party actually successful, she was going to need some help- and lots of it. Thank god she had a plethora of people she could turn to.

One thing at a time, however. She'd figure out the invite list and a way to get invitations out later, and as for the venue, the only obvious option was the Small Hall. Far away from any dorms or professors' rooms, if she could find that one spell she knew existed (the one that made locations soundproof, or something), they'd be perfectly fine in the Small Hall. It was big enough to accommodate a significant amount of people, as well, which was a plus.

For the menu, Ami simply drafted up a list of things that seemed party-esque, and handed it off to the house-elves, who nodded with happy smiles as Ami asked them to keep the order a secret and to prepare it for June 18. Although Ami was vaguely aware of some of the foods Mia liked, such as comfort foods like butterbeer and mac n' cheese, everything else she had to guess on, if only so she herself could eat something as well. 

Guessing on food was fine and dandy, but a theme, themed parties were always the best, right? Maybe? But she didn't even know what Mia liked... she vaguely knew that the Slytherin had encountered a dragon when she was younger? Maybe? With a heavy sigh, Ami had realized she knew next to nothing about Mia, so she'd have to turn to the next best resource- Scott Alexander. She'd heard Mia name-drop him a couple of times, and from this Ami gathered that the two were relatively close. Fantastic. She'd have to pay him a visit, then. Totally not creepy at all.

The evening of June 3 found the two students holed up in the back of the library, away from prying eyes and thirsty ears. Scott, to Ami's pleasant surprise, knew lots more than she thought he would about his cousin, and they spent the better part of the lazy Sunday afternoon talking about Mia. In the end, however, Ami ended up with a quite substantial list and a new Sharpie tattoo of what she believed was supposed to be a dragon, but in all honesty, looked more like a puppy. Sorry, Scott.

June 4 found Ami and Aurelia Bezuidenhout holed up in the Owlery, the Huffle stressing about invites, and the Gryffin being the voice of reason and the ears of the school. It made sense, after all, that Aurelia knew all these people, considering she'd recruited Ami for the pickup Quidditch game. Finally, after compiling an appropriate guest list, the invitations were owled out, and Ami could only cross her fingers and pray that all went well.

June 5 through 16 was a hodge-podge of panic- RVSPs arriving, recruiting her helpers for setup, arranging pick-up points for the rest of the students, tweaking the food-requests (much to the chagrin of the house-elves), and planning everything else that had to be done. Decorations were made, banners painted, food list rearranged again, more decorations were made, a list of spells compiled, a photo-booth made, food list rearranged for the last time, and a huge to-do list written out. An agenda for the night itself was written out in great detail, spanning nearly fifteen pages, front and back, all crammed with Ami's minuscule handwriting.

Needless to say, June 17 was a day of absolute torture, trying to keep it together until that night. Ami was practically bouncing off the walls in class, sharing stifled giggles and hidden smiles with the invited. While she knew that it was rather unfair that not everyone in their year had been invited, there wasn't much she could do. She had tried to stick to Mia's friends and the bare minimum for helpers, and even then, it was a big risk to organize it all, trusting everyone not to spill the beans. However, no teachers had approached her with a warning to not carry out her party plans, and Mia hadn't confronted her about her surprise birthday party.

take a look at the clock
only so long to go
scrubbing smooth young skin
saying 'i don't know'
grab a bag, grab a bottle
but leave the what if;
you'll see it in the morning
after your kicks

Pulling her blanket over her head as someone called for lights-out, Ami curled herself into her usual ball as she waited for the sounds of sleeping girls to envelop her; finally, a use for that damned sleep insomnia. As she listened to her dorm mates doze off one by one, she kept glancing at the watch on her wrist for the time. She couldn't be late for meeting up with Lorelai, Syrah, and Gabriel, otherwise, there would be a high chance of the three getting caught wandering the corridors aimlessly, and she definitely didn't want that to happen to her friends.

Finally, Ami heard the absolute stillness in the air that resulted from everyone in the general vicinity being totally and utterly asleep. 9:48... if I hurry, I can make it, she thought to herself, throwing the covers off and leaping to her feet. Ami grabbed the rolling suitcase that held everything she needed for the party (or, almost everything) and pulled out her backpack from under her bed. Checking her reflection in the mirror, she was pleased to see that her bed-head looked spectacular, and her pajamas were appropriately rumpled. Her shirt, light grey, had the black words, Walk up to the club like what's up? I have social anxiety, I want to go home. Her grey drawstring sweatpants had some tears and rips in it, but that was okay. Perfect, so she was following the dress code she had set. Shoving her feet into grey slippers and shouldering her backpack, Ami dragged the suitcase with her down the hall as she headed to the first meeting point, where Lorelai had said she would be waiting for her. 



Upon turning the corner, Ami spotted her raven-haired, pajama-clad friend, and beamed, a smile growing across her face. "You ready? I love your pajamas, by the way," she smiled, coming to a stop. "Of course I'm ready- and thanks," Lorelai replied, donning an equally wide smile and the cutest black tank-top ever. Racerback tank-tops had to be the genius invention of the century. Plus, her red-and-black flannel pants were adorable, as well. Raising an eyebrow at the suitcase, the Gryffindor added, "Seriously? There's that much to do?"

"Yeah, sorry about that, I had a lot of ideas. No one saw you, right?" Ami asked worriedly, wringing her wrists. Getting caught now would be catastrophic. To her relief, Lorelai shook her head no. "We'll have to hurry- we have roughly... say,  70, 80 minutes, after we pick up Syrah and Gabriel," Ami said, checking her watch; it was 10:01, she was making good time. "Let's roll!" The two girls set off towards the Great Hall, where both Syrah and Gabriel had said they'd meet them for set-up crew duty.

"Perfect!" Ami crowed upon setting her sights on her other two helpers. There was Syrah, who was dressed clad in floral (green-blue roses) pajama pants, a white t-shirt, and the prettiest bed-head to ever exist. Standing next to her was Gabriel, the ever-put-together Ravenclaw, who simply wore a black t-shirt and sweats, and his hair was appropriately mussed. "Ready to kick some party-decorating butt?" Gabriel and Syrah both exchanged, Why did we sign up for this? glances, while Lorelai simply grinned. Despite any regrets, however, all of them followed the energetic Hufflepuff to the Small Hall.

Glancing at her watch, Ami nodded approvingly as she realized they were right on schedule- 10:10, on the dot. "Lorelai, you and I are on physical, touchable decoration duty. Streamers, tables, games, decorations, balloons, food... if you can touch it, we need to set it out," Ami announced, kicking open the doors to the Small Hall dramatically, rolling her suitcase inside. Opening it, a waterfall of decorations spilled out, and Lorelai could only sigh in exasperation at the work the two would have to do. "Syrah, Gabriel, y'all are gonna spiff up this room with magic." She'd chosen these two for the magical set-up simply because their... what did Professor Blackburn call it? Their magical potential was sky-high, through the roof. If any first-year could pull off the spells she needed, it would be these two. "Pull out all the stops- here's a list." Spinning around on the ball of her foot, Ami threw a paper airplane at Syrah, who neatly dodged it and bent down to pick it up. 

Gabriel and Syrah looked over the list together and stared at Ami as if she were a maniac. "Ami... I don't even recognize half of these," Gabriel remarked, and Syrah raised an eyebrow. "Well, you've got wand movements and pronunciations listed, along with instructions, you really did your homework... hey, zwevendous is on here!" Syrah smiled at Ami, and Ami smiled right back. "Exactly. You've got this, Syrah- Lorelai, let's roll. We've got a lot of work to do."



And so the four set to work on the Small Hall, on the mission to transform it into a party-worthy venue. Ami and Lorelai strung an assortment of balloons in an impressive spectrum of colors, banners bearing words such as Happy Birthday Mia! or Congrats Future Second Years!, and rearranged furniture so it was more party-friendly. Syrah paced around the room, Gabriel trailing after her and clamoring for the list. The Slytherin's brows were furrowed and her brain was reeling, and both of them were casting an impressive array of protective spells, all from the list Ami had given her. But besides the scraping of chairs or a muttered curse of frustration from Syrah, the four worked in complete and utter silence, dead-set on their task of finishing this in time.

Syrah began casting zwevendous left and right, her being more familiar with the spell than Gabriel, the floating lights (all white, as written in Ami's instructions) of all different sizes dotted the ceiling and walls until enough light was cast that they could extinguish all the torches and sconces around the room, although Ami decided to leave the fireplace burning for an amicable glow. Gabriel walked over to Ami, pointing out some of the spells that were simply too challenging for them to do

At 11:10, as Ami had instructed, a small army of house-elves arrived with platters of food- not too much, as it was midnight, but enough to feed students whose stomachs were grumbling. The cake Aravis had baked was set out as well, and the four couldn't help but gasp in wonder the grandeur of the cake. Really, Aravis had certainly outdone herself. The four students set out all of the food hurriedly, knowing they were running on a tight schedule, and they dusted their hands off at 11:20- just barely in time.

Bidding their farewells and wiping their sweat off their brows, the four students parted ways to their respective houses to retrieve the students that had said they would come to the party. Ami, being a proud Hufflepuff, had gone to retrieve Amadea Campbell; Lorelai, a Gryffindor, had fled to fetch Scott Alexander and Aurelia Bezuidenhout; Gabriel, the Ravenclaw, left to find Odette Haven; and Syrah had been equipped with the biggest responsibility of them all- fetching her fellow party-going Slytherins, as well as tricking Mia into going to the Small Hall. Ami had solved the problem by handing Syrah a note before she left, which simply said, Come to the Small Hall, now. I'll be there. -Scott. She'd gotten Scott to write the note when she'd met with him, just in case she needed it. Now, it came into use, and would hopefully get Mia down to the Small Hall.



Ami, Lorelai, and Gabriel returned to the Small Hall with their respective guests mere moments before Syrah ran into the Hall, whisper-shouting, "She's coming! Hide!" In a flurry of giggles and whispers, the students hid behind various pieces of furniture dotted around the room, anticipating the big moment.

The double doors creaked open as Mia Alexander, soon-to-be twelve-year-old, crept into the room. Sharing an excited glance with her fellow students, Ami counted down to zero on her fingers, and together, the students leaped out, screaming,
"Surprise! Happy birthday, Mia!"

Rules and Reminders:
Please respect the posting order. If you've forgotten, it goes as follows:
Mia Alexander
Scott Alexander
Aravis Escanora
Amadea Campbell
Syrah Steele
Odette Haven
Lorelai Brunelle
Gabriel Mattix
Ava Silver
Aurelia Bezuidenhout
Ami Procoppio

While your posts must be a minimum of 200 words, please restrain yourselves and keep them under 400, just for convenience's sake, with the exception of your first post (in which you describe your feelings and actions towards this party, starting from meeting up at the meeting point to screaming "Surprise!").

If it is your turn and you have not posted in three days, we will skip you, so we can keep this thread going.

There will be a series of games played throughout the party, so don't fret about making small talk the entire time.

Have fun! I made this thread purely for your enjoyment, have fun with it.