Chapter 3 – This is a birthday party we're planning...
The room was furnished quite sparsely with a few lumpy old sofas and battered coffee tables that looked like they had been removed from the house common rooms some time ago. Hermione watched as Hannah crinkled her nose and ran her hand along one table. The room was thick with dust and the air smelt musty, as though no-one had been in here for a while. She crossed over to the big windows on one side of the room and attempted to open one to let in some fresh air. "Let me do that," said Terry, noticing the difficulty she was having with the rusty latches. Hannah had taken out her wand and was muttering cleaning spells under her breath as she flicked it at the dusty tables and sofas.
They all sat down around one of the larger tables and Hermione drew her cardigan closer to her. With the windows open it was now decidedly chilly in the large room and she noticed some of her friends shivering slightly. She stood up and crossed over to the fire place intending to light a fire to dispel the cold when a drawling voice stopped her.
"Don't do that Granger." Sneered Malfoy "I know it's a bit on the brisk side but we really don't want to risk anyone overhearing our plans through the floo network now do we." She flushed slightly for not thinking and sat back down again between Ginny and Hannah.
"Well now we are all here and the spring cleaning is finished" Professor Snape sneered sarcastically "Can we get on with planning this happy occasion. I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible so I can do something productive with the rest of my day."
"Yes, right." Added Ernie quickly "I for one have lots of revision to do. The NEWTs are only 57 days away now and I only managed to get in 6 hours of revision yesterday. Saturdays are scheduled for a full 10 hours so I'd like to finish this meeting quickly."
The rest of the gathering sighed collectively and started to empty their bags out onto the coffee table. Hermione was a bit surprised that with all Ernie's revision he had managed to find time to think about the party, but he started off the meeting but holding up samples of the decorations he had managed to obtain. They were quite pretty she had to admit, as he cast a few charms and the decorations soared into place on the ceilings and walls. Red. green, blue and gold streamers were strung across the class room, but her eye was caught by a banner that had attached itself over the fire place at the end of the room. She gasped as she read it and noticed that Professor Snape had spotted the banner too.
"Good Luck in the Future you Sexy Stud" Snape sneered "I hardly think that is appropriate for this occasion."
Ernie flushed a deep, brick red. "Well I couldn't find one that read Happy 160th Birthday, and this was left over from my brother's bachelor party. I thought we could charm it to say what we wanted." There were a few sniggers from around the table as Ernie waved his wand at the banner, then everyone fell about laughing. The banner now read '160 Sexy Birthday Studs', and even Snape seemed to find it mildly amusing as his lips twitched, trying to suppress a smile.
"Next up- food." Terry interrupted the laughter by emptying his bag out into the middle of the table. Ginny stood up and added the contents of her bag to his. They had agreed to work together getting samples of the food that would be at the party, then Snape would give the House Elves the task of obtaining the food of their choice. Hermione looked at the mound of food, and even though she had finished her breakfast less than half an hour ago she heard her stomach grumbling. Goodness, she thought, she was getting as bad as Ron who was seriously grumpy if he went more than 2 hours without food.
They quickly decided on the food they wanted and Ginny wrote it all down on a piece of parchment that she handed to Professor Snape. She and Terry then collected up the scattered food and packed it neatly back into their bags.
"Mum said she'd make a birthday cake as well." Ginny added before they moved onto the next item. "And we can bewitch it so that it's big enough for the whole school." Everyone nodded at this generous offer from Mrs. Weasley.
"Well, who was doing the music?" Ernie said, looking at his watch a little impatiently. Hermione jumped up quickly and pulled the CD's back out of her school bag. She spread them out on the table and quickly explained her choices. Not only had she managed to borrow the CD's from her dad, but to her great delight had found some old gramophone records in her Grandma's attic that she had successfully managed to transfigure into CD's.
"And I thought that as Dumbledore likes muggle stuff, we might mix some of these in with more modern music like the Weird Sisters so that everyone can enjoy it." She concluded and sat back looking expectantly at the people gathered round the table. Some of her friends were nodding thoughtfully at her reasoning but a few others looked blankly at the piles of CD's on the table.
Professor Snape was the first to speak. "Just how, Miss Granger, do you propose that we play these things." He sneered, looking at her scornfully, "You seem to have conveniently forgotten that muggle electricity does not work here in Hogwarts."
"Oh that's not a problem." She said quickly, "Two years ago I managed to transfigure a Wizard Wireless to play CD's cos my mum kept sending me them for Christmas. Padma has it at the moment and has bought it with her today so that we can hear what the music sounds like." She turned to the Ravenclaw girl and looked at her expectantly.
Padma had gone very pale. "I forgot to bring it with me." She whispered looking at her feet. "But don't worry though, I'll go and get it while you go onto the next item." She jumped up quickly and made for the door.
"Well," growled Snape staring sternly at the departing girls back "I think we only have the games left to look at. Draco if you would show us what you have bought."
As Draco stood up to empty his bag they heard a gasp and thud from the doorway, then a small voice said timidly. "Professor Snape sir, I can't open the door." .
The room was furnished quite sparsely with a few lumpy old sofas and battered coffee tables that looked like they had been removed from the house common rooms some time ago. Hermione watched as Hannah crinkled her nose and ran her hand along one table. The room was thick with dust and the air smelt musty, as though no-one had been in here for a while. She crossed over to the big windows on one side of the room and attempted to open one to let in some fresh air. "Let me do that," said Terry, noticing the difficulty she was having with the rusty latches. Hannah had taken out her wand and was muttering cleaning spells under her breath as she flicked it at the dusty tables and sofas.
They all sat down around one of the larger tables and Hermione drew her cardigan closer to her. With the windows open it was now decidedly chilly in the large room and she noticed some of her friends shivering slightly. She stood up and crossed over to the fire place intending to light a fire to dispel the cold when a drawling voice stopped her.
"Don't do that Granger." Sneered Malfoy "I know it's a bit on the brisk side but we really don't want to risk anyone overhearing our plans through the floo network now do we." She flushed slightly for not thinking and sat back down again between Ginny and Hannah.
"Well now we are all here and the spring cleaning is finished" Professor Snape sneered sarcastically "Can we get on with planning this happy occasion. I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible so I can do something productive with the rest of my day."
"Yes, right." Added Ernie quickly "I for one have lots of revision to do. The NEWTs are only 57 days away now and I only managed to get in 6 hours of revision yesterday. Saturdays are scheduled for a full 10 hours so I'd like to finish this meeting quickly."
The rest of the gathering sighed collectively and started to empty their bags out onto the coffee table. Hermione was a bit surprised that with all Ernie's revision he had managed to find time to think about the party, but he started off the meeting but holding up samples of the decorations he had managed to obtain. They were quite pretty she had to admit, as he cast a few charms and the decorations soared into place on the ceilings and walls. Red. green, blue and gold streamers were strung across the class room, but her eye was caught by a banner that had attached itself over the fire place at the end of the room. She gasped as she read it and noticed that Professor Snape had spotted the banner too.
"Good Luck in the Future you Sexy Stud" Snape sneered "I hardly think that is appropriate for this occasion."
Ernie flushed a deep, brick red. "Well I couldn't find one that read Happy 160th Birthday, and this was left over from my brother's bachelor party. I thought we could charm it to say what we wanted." There were a few sniggers from around the table as Ernie waved his wand at the banner, then everyone fell about laughing. The banner now read '160 Sexy Birthday Studs', and even Snape seemed to find it mildly amusing as his lips twitched, trying to suppress a smile.
"Next up- food." Terry interrupted the laughter by emptying his bag out into the middle of the table. Ginny stood up and added the contents of her bag to his. They had agreed to work together getting samples of the food that would be at the party, then Snape would give the House Elves the task of obtaining the food of their choice. Hermione looked at the mound of food, and even though she had finished her breakfast less than half an hour ago she heard her stomach grumbling. Goodness, she thought, she was getting as bad as Ron who was seriously grumpy if he went more than 2 hours without food.
They quickly decided on the food they wanted and Ginny wrote it all down on a piece of parchment that she handed to Professor Snape. She and Terry then collected up the scattered food and packed it neatly back into their bags.
"Mum said she'd make a birthday cake as well." Ginny added before they moved onto the next item. "And we can bewitch it so that it's big enough for the whole school." Everyone nodded at this generous offer from Mrs. Weasley.
"Well, who was doing the music?" Ernie said, looking at his watch a little impatiently. Hermione jumped up quickly and pulled the CD's back out of her school bag. She spread them out on the table and quickly explained her choices. Not only had she managed to borrow the CD's from her dad, but to her great delight had found some old gramophone records in her Grandma's attic that she had successfully managed to transfigure into CD's.
"And I thought that as Dumbledore likes muggle stuff, we might mix some of these in with more modern music like the Weird Sisters so that everyone can enjoy it." She concluded and sat back looking expectantly at the people gathered round the table. Some of her friends were nodding thoughtfully at her reasoning but a few others looked blankly at the piles of CD's on the table.
Professor Snape was the first to speak. "Just how, Miss Granger, do you propose that we play these things." He sneered, looking at her scornfully, "You seem to have conveniently forgotten that muggle electricity does not work here in Hogwarts."
"Oh that's not a problem." She said quickly, "Two years ago I managed to transfigure a Wizard Wireless to play CD's cos my mum kept sending me them for Christmas. Padma has it at the moment and has bought it with her today so that we can hear what the music sounds like." She turned to the Ravenclaw girl and looked at her expectantly.
Padma had gone very pale. "I forgot to bring it with me." She whispered looking at her feet. "But don't worry though, I'll go and get it while you go onto the next item." She jumped up quickly and made for the door.
"Well," growled Snape staring sternly at the departing girls back "I think we only have the games left to look at. Draco if you would show us what you have bought."
As Draco stood up to empty his bag they heard a gasp and thud from the doorway, then a small voice said timidly. "Professor Snape sir, I can't open the door." .