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Author's note: Wow a long chapter, haven't been able to do that in ages! I'm sure everyone will stop hounding me for another chapter for at least awhile, lol!
Well anyway I'm going to go away, have a good holiday then be back just before school starts with fresh ideas. Keep the reviews coming in people because they keep me busy!
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For the next two days the Gryffindor common room was quiet.
Most of the students had taken refuge in their dormitories to work on their presents or costumes for the Christmas party.
Evie found herself in her dormitory on the morning of the big event patiently sewing her costume together. She'd saved time by spelling the needles to do the work for her while she finished filling out Christmas cards and now it was almost finished.
She was quite proud of her achievement, a long swishing Elvish dress made of a purple silk with several layers of a deep blue.
Nicola had helped her a lot with the initial design concept. Evie had been grateful for her friend's help; Nicola was definitely the best at sewing.
The door opened and a very excited Laura came in and sat down on the end of her bed.
"Oh Evie I just had to show you my costume!" Laura held it out.
Evie saw it and smiled. "Just like your cat at home".
"That was the idea!" Laura put on the matching ears. "Aren't these so cool?"
"Cute!" Evie loved them. "Now you definitely look like a cat".
"Can't be a cat without ears".
"Too true".
"Evie is that your costume?" Laura's eyes turned big. "Oh wow!"
"You like it?"
"Like it? I love it!" Laura started running her finger down the silky fabric.
"The nice witch at the fabric store gave me hints on how to make it".
"The sleeves are so long and I love how they come down at a certain point!"
"That was Nicola's help; I could not have done that without her".
"Have you seen her costume yet?" Laura put on one of her claw like gloves.
"Not yet, she's been sewing it in secret or something".
"I wonder who my Secret Santa is!"
Evie stopped herself from grinning. "You'll find out soon enough"
"Knock knock!" Char's voice came from the other side of the door.
"Come on in Char".
Char opened the door and came to stand in front of them. "What do you think?"
"Char is that you or Amy?"
Char laughed. "Bit of both I think although I'm not quite sure".
Char was dressed in a dark, lacy corset and a dark red skirt. The whole dress was amazing and looked just like something Amy Lee would wear.
"It's excellent!" Laura came over to have a closer look.
"I can't believe only a few more hours until the party! This is going to be so much fun!"
"I can't believe it either Evie but it's true". Char carefully took off her costume with magic and was standing in front of them in her normal clothes.
"Isn't Laura's cat costume cute?"
Char looked it over. "Awww so cute and yet so evil!"
Laura pretended to swipe with her claw like glove. "Who're you calling evil?"
"Point taken!" Char gave her a pat behind the ears. Laura pretended to purr.
"So what is everyone else going as?" Evie asked.
"Cathy's going as a hobbit, Lessa is also going as Amy, Alexis is going as one of her favourite characters, Donna mentioned something about a fairy, Nicola I haven't a clue, Tara, Ellen and Ben are probably going to come dressed in the Japanese Goth style, none of the guys have said anything but I think they may be planning to spike the punch and Kelsey only winked."
"Amanda is going as a puppy dog". Laura answered after pausing from pretending to be a cat stretching on the floor.
"Spike the punch?" Evie looked worriedly at Char. "How'd you find out?"
"Ah well I was sitting nearby in the common room when they were talking about the party and well they were only laughing about it, I don't know if they really will".
"Wouldn't put it past them". Evie leaned over to give Laura a pat. "Nice Cat".
"MIEOW!" Laura flopped onto the floor and laughed. "It's fun being a cat!"
"Certainly looks like you're enjoying yourself Laura".
"Why thank-you!" Laura smiled at Char. "It's nice to be complimented".
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Donna laid her costume neatly on the bed. It was great that her parents had sent her old fairy costume in the post so quickly. It had arrived yesterday morning and with a magical touchup here and there the costume had taken on a whole new looks.
Originally it had been a plain pink skirt made of some sort of netting, plain purple wings and a yellow middle section.
With some help from a book borrowed from a friend Donna had given the pink skirt some yellow and purple streaks, purple and pink streaks on the yellow and some pink and yellow ones on the wings. A little glitter here and there made the outfit very sparkly.
Evie had gotten some fake flowers for her from Hogsmeade and with that she made a wreath for her hair.
Donna wished she could have made the wings fly but she didn't think she had enough time to do that or the magic ability to perform it.
On second thoughts maybe she should just go and get more advice from Nicola, or Evie. Evie was pretty clever with magic but then Nicola was great with sewing.
Sighing she picked up her wings and left the room in search of either of the two.
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Char left after awhile to go and find Cathy and Lessa.
Evie put down her costume with a yawn. "Laura let's go double check the room before the party just to make sure it's all good".
"I'll come in a sec; can I leave my costume here on your bed?"
"Sure you can Laura". Evie got up and opened the door.
Laura scrambled out of her costume accessories before following her down the stairs and through the common-room towards the portrait hole.
Cathy, Lessa and Char were all sitting around in chairs near the fire sewing last minute adjustments to their costumes. They didn't turn around and see Evie and Laura making a hasty exit out of the Gryffindor Tower on their way to the Room of Requirement.
The room was exactly as it was when they had last seen it; Laura ran over to her favourite red balloon and started to bat it in the air.
Evie sat down on a cushy chair by the window and started wondering at what was going to happen when everyone saw the location for the party.
Laura stopped batting the balloon and went searching for her present in the piles under the Christmas trees. She pulled out a large purple and gold one and waved it at Evie. "Evie this one's yours!"
Evie got up and came over to join her. "It is?" She read the neat handwriting on the front. It was hers alright. She shook it but she didn't hear anything. "I wonder what it is!"
Laura was looking over all the other tags on the presents. "Hey Evie there's even one for Craven, and……" she picked up another green wrapped present. "Ben? Ben who?"
"Char probably invited him, he's a Ravenclaw. Char has friends in Ravenclaw".
"Oh ok!" Laura placed the present back. "I wonder how many presents everyone has in here?"
"Probably only one".
"How long til the party Evie?"
"Several hours".
"What am I going to do for that long?"
"Tell you what". Evie stood up. "Let's go get Amanda and some of the others and have a big snow fight after lunch. We can build a snow fort and make snow angels too if you want?"
"Excellent!" Laura jumped up excitedly. "Let's go find Amanda in the library!"
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It was 6pm before the big snow fight was finally called off.
Evie, Laura and Amanda had built a good ditch in which to hide behind from incoming snow balls. Amanda wasn't very happy at having to throw the snow but she turned out pretty good at making snow ammunition for Evie and Laura.
Donna, Alexis and Lessa were on the opposite team.
Evie accidentally pegged a snow ball right into Lessa's face. "Sorry Lessa!"
Lessa was angry. "You die now Evie!" She threw one back.
Donna managed to knock Laura's beanie off with one good throw.
Laura pulled it back on to her head before another snow ball could collide with her.
Evie checked her watch. "Hey people it's 6!"
"What?" Lessa ceased firing. "Are you sure?"
"Yes".
"Gotta go!" Lessa ran towards the school.
"Yeah we all have to". Donna started to follow her.
Laura, Alexis, Amanda and Evie all trudged back into school.
After a light dinner Evie headed off to her dormitory to get ready for the party.
She changed into her dress, slipped on her Elvish style shoes, put on her special jeweled necklace, brushed out her hair before spelling it in an Elvish style with a tiara, and lastly applied her makeup manually.
At around 7:45pm she was ready and after picking up the special present for Laura she exited Gryffindor Tower and started to make her way to the party.
"Evie wait up!" A black cat and a brown dog came racing up to her.
"Wow don't you guys look great!" Evie served them both with a smile.
"Thanks!" Amanda shook her head. "Look the ears waggle!"
Evie and Laura both laughed.
They chattered eagerly along the way. A few minutes later they came across a large group of people in costumes waiting in the corridor.
"Evie I think we forgot to tell people to imagine the door!"
"Laura if they imagined it then we'd be entering another room because they wouldn't have seen it before".
Several of the people turned and saw them coming. One of the Amy-Lee's came rushing up to them. "Evie, Laura where's the door you told us about?"
"It's ok Lessa, we're here now".
A hobbit nearby was talking to a fairy, a pretty girl and a guy. Evie recognized them as Cathy, Dana, Alexis and Joel. She didn't know off-hand who Alexis and Joel were dressed as but then she didn't have to focus on that for now.
Turning to Laura she gave a wink. "Ready on what we planned Laura?"
Laura nodded. "I remember!"
They both closed their eyes and focused on their need. A sudden pop announced the arrival of the door.
Evie opened her eyes and turned to face the people gathering. "Is everyone here yet?"
Char came over. "Yeah everyone we invited is here, except Craven but he said he might be late".
"Ok then!" Evie swung the door open and walked in.
Everyone else came in behind her and gasped at what they saw.
"Evie!" Char stood staring around her. "Evie this is fantastic!"
"We told you it would be!" Evie grinned at her. "Like the decorations?"
"Are you kidding?" She noticed the presents. "Are they for us?"
"Yeah there's one for everybody!"
"Excellent! Mind if I pick the music to play first?"
"Not at all".
Char pulled out her wand and after a short flick and the right words Evanescence music could be heard all over the room.
Lessa started screaming and dancing wildly about the place, while Cathy and Donna stood nearby laughing themselves silly.
"I think we should call everyone to exchange gifts at Midnight don't you think Char?"
"That was the plan, I'm going to dance!" Char ran off to join Lessa.
The black cat and the dog were playing with the balloons in one corner. Evie could hear their laughter from the other side of the room as Laura fell off one of them.
Evie went over to talk with those of her friends who weren't dancing over by the punchbowl. "This is some place for a party isn't it?"
Nicola, dressed as a witch handed her a drink.
"Thanks, hey your costume is great!"
"Thanks. This place looks better at night then when we first came in here! It looks so great!"
"Isn't it just". Evie took it and had a sip.
"Nicola's right!" Kelsey came up dressed as a famous Quidditch player. "This is a great room to hold a party! Lilly will be fuming over herself when I come back and tell her!"
"We're opening presents at midnight before we all go back to our rooms".
"Ok". Nicola glanced at the people who were dancing.
Evie saw a man peeping around the door out of the corner of her eye. "Craven!" She ran over to him. "Come on in!"
Craven entered the room. "Hey Evie! I hope you don't mind but I brought along a friend from the Black Lilly with me".
Arinna came up from behind the door and waved at Evie. "Char asked Craven to invite me but I didn't find out til yesterday so please excuse my lack of costume".
"Arinna that's more than ok and anyway you're dress is great! Did you make it yourself?"
Arinna grinned. "I wish I had, no actually a friend of mine makes them and I borrowed one from her for this evening".
"Oh well it still looks great!"
Char, Lessa and Cathy waved them over.
"We'd better go join them". Evie said to Arinna and Craven.
Craven nodded. "Yeah I guess we should".
Arinna looked at Evie. "Better take our own advice then".
Evie laughed. "Yeah we should".
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Alexis was standing around the food table with Joel. She always knew that he would ask her to accompany him to the party, although she wasn't sure why.
They'd arranged to come dressed as two of their favourite singers, although Alexis was only dressed up as the girl featured in a song and not the actual singer.
"Alex you want some punch?"
Alexis nodded before taking the offered drink. "Thanks Joel".
"A plate of strawberries over there!" Joel reached out for some. "Mmmm so fresh!"
Alexis laughed at him trying to grab more than he could hold onto.
Alexis saw Evie over at the other end where the potato chips and the butter beer were.
"Hiya Evie!" She went over to her.
"Hey Alexis!" Evie opened a bottle of butter beer. "I've been trying to work out who you were dressed up as and I think I know now".
"Who am I?"
"You're that pretty girl that works behind the counter of the shop aren't you?"
Alexis nodded. "How did you guess?"
"I heard you play his CD over and over the other week but I didn't work it out until I thought about it for ages".
"Well Shannon's music is good!"
"Yeah I think it's a great costume!"
"Thanks, have a guess at who Joel's dressed as?"
Evie looked up at Joel eating a plateful of strawberries. "I can't tell".
"He's Millsy!"
"Oh!" Recognition filled Evie's eyes. "Of course now I see!"
Joel finished his strawberries and waved Alexis to the dance floor.
"I'd go and dance with him if I were you". Evie gave her a smile in encouragement.
"Yeah I think I will". Alexis finished her drink and went over to dance with him.
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The hobbit sat on a chair quietly sipping at her punch. Looking over at the pile of strawberries on the table she shuddered, there was no way she was going to be able to eat them ever again.
She'd been surprised when she'd been given the name of her Secret Santa and even a little suspicious that maybe Char had slightly had a part to play in it.
She hadn't said anything to anyone about it; if she had she would never forget it.
A sudden tap on her shoulder made her jump and spill a little of her drink.
"Sorry did I startle you?"
"Oh um well yeah just a little". Cathy's cheeks felt hot.
"Frodo right?"
"Yep! Gotta love Frodo!"
Sam laughed. "Yeah!"
"Everyone's always accusing me of stealing his pants but I didn't"
"They do? Why?"
"Because there's this funny comedy thing we all read and they always accuse me of stealing his pants just because he's my favourite hobbit and that I'm always going on about him".
He laughed again. "Why are they always so mean to you?"
"They think it's funny the way I react to it".
"That's still pretty mean".
"Yeah well maybe it is"
"I probably wouldn't drink the punch too much"
"Why not?"
"Some of my dorm mates were planning to spike it"
"Char said it was probably only a rumour"
"How did Char find out?"
"I can't say"
"You can't say or you just don't want to?"
"Bit of both, she didn't tell me the full details".
"How odd, mistletoe". He reached up and pointed to an overhanging piece.
"And we're………" Cathy nearly choked.
He laughed. "It's lucky for you not everyone has to follow the old superstitions".
Cathy started to breathe properly again. "That is lucky"
"This is some great party! You're friends must be really clever people!"
"Well Char was the head of the idea but Laura was the one who found out about this place".
"Laura?"
"Laura's over there, she's the black cat". Cathy pointed.
"Oh yeah her, yeah she's that Aidan guy's sister right?"
"Yeah she is"
He smiled at her. "I feel like dancing and I don't know why!"
Cathy wanted the floor to swallow her up. "Really?"
"Yeah!" He stood up. "Want to come?"
Cathy didn't know what to say, part of her was screaming yes and yet her other part told her to run and hide.
"Just as friends of course"
"Well alright then, if it is only a friendly gesture".
He grinned. "Well come on then!"
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Char had been dancing with so many people that she'd lost track of everything. Suddenly one of the 3rd Year Gryffindor guys was motioning her to follow him and his friends.
She was only too happy to comply being curious as to what they were up to.
"Want to help us with an experiment Char?" The first one asked her.
Char couldn't remember his name. "What experiment are we talking about here?"
"We're going to pour a bit of this into the punch!" He held a bottle up for her to see.
Char looked at him for a moment. "Are you serious?"
His mates laughed. "Yeah we're serious"
Char looked to one of the guy's mates. "Andy are you sure this is such a smart idea? So close to Christmas and we're only 14! Some of us here aren't even 12!"
"Well we aren't going to put much in, only a few drops!"
Char was torn. She knew that if she went ahead with this someone could get hurt but on the other hand. "Count me in!"
The three guys gave her a high five. "Alright!"
"Right now Char we need you to pour some in while we distract everyone"
"Um ok!" Char took the bottle from them before they ran off.
She slipped quietly over to the table and waited till a firecracker went off.
Everyone turned to see what was going on and laughed when they saw three guys dancing and letting off fireworks at the same time.
Everyone in the room turned to watch and laugh.
Char saw her chance and quick as lightning she poured a few drops into the punch.
As soon as the lid was back on she ran off.
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Lessa felt thirsty all of a sudden so she decided to go and get some of the punch.
Just as she was nearly there some fireworks went off.
*BANG* then another one. *BANG*
Lessa spun around and watched several of the 3rd Year Gryffindor guys dancing stupidly and making up words to a song. She laughed.
They were starting to fall over onto each other in laughter before they took a bow and left off dancing to a wild outbreak of laughter and clapping.
Lessa laughed along with them before going over to the punch.
She saw Char holding something behind her back and looking guilty but thinking nothing of it she continued on her way.
Evie was already at the punch bowl with a filled cup. "Hey Lessa, having fun?"
"Sure am!" Lessa helped herself to a drink. "Mmmm punch!" She took a sip.
Something wasn't right; the drink had a strange after taste. "Evie what's with this punch? It tastes weird!"
Evie frowned and glanced at the drink. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm sure". Lessa took another sip just to make sure. "I can't work out what it is!"
Evie sniffed it. "Smells normal". She tasted it. "Erkk you're right!"
"What could it be?"
Evie shrugged. "Could be anything, someone could have spiked it for all we know".
"Alcohol?" Lessa took another sip. "Evie what is the one drink u can't stand?"
"Besides water down the coast? Anything with alcohol in it, why?"
"Because I think I know what this is"
"What? Oh!" Evie put the drink down. "I'm not drinking that!"
"Well it doesn't taste strong so it should be alright"
"I know but I can't stand the taste"
"Ok then" Lessa finished her drink and hurried onto the dance floor.
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Donna was sitting off to the side of the room with Nicola.
She was proud of the spell she had used on her wings to make them flutter slightly, they aided to the effect of making them seem more real.
She noted Nicola's great witch costume; the dark flowing robes and the pointy hat.
The party was pretty good and Donna was sad that she wasn't the only fairy. Several Ravenclaws and a few Hufflepuffs had just turned up uninvited but that was ok because no one seemed to mind.
Several of the Hufflepuff girls were dressed as fairies and pixies but none of their costumes were as great as Donna's was, probably because they hadn't had as much time to make them.
"I want to open my present so much!" She eyed off a bright red present that had her name on it. "I can't wait to see what it is!"
"It's probably something really good". Nicola could sense her excitement.
"I hope it's something Legolas related!" Donna held her knees up to her chin. "I love Legolas!"
"Don't worry we know!"
Donna looked down at her special fairy slippers. "Yeah I know". When she looked up she saw Cathy half dancing with Sam. "Oooh look at Cathy!"
Nicola looked up too. "Where?"
"Over there". She pointed. "That's funny!"
Nicola's mouth hung open. "But I thought-"
"-That she didn't have the courage to ask him?"
"Something like that"
"Well have you thought that maybe he liked her?"
Nicola's eyes widened. "You don't think?"
"It's possible!"
"Woah!" Nicola couldn't believe it. "That is some theory you got there".
"Thanks, just takes brain work not rocket science".
Nicola laughed. "Even so".
Donna couldn't stop staring at her present. "I'm going to ask Evie when I can open it!"
"She told me midnight, just before everyone goes home".
"There's always the off chance that she might say yes!"
"Yeah well good luck!"
"Thanks!" Donna walked off with her wings fluttering behind her.
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At around 10 O'clock people were starting to get a bit silly.
Several Christmas trees had been knocked over from strange dances (several of these were from Lessa's constant jumping around the room), someone mysteriously had set fire to Nicola's hair (Evie and Char had put it out with their wands), several people had starting slurring in their speech (fortunately this was part of a joke and not the fault of the punch) and some of the guys had gone a bit silly in the head from the constant partying.
Nicola had decided to stay and party on despite the fire and was seen dancing with a group of people on the dance floor.
She was having a good time, Evie could see that.
Some of the guys had asked Evie for a dance but she had graciously refused their offer.
Nicola couldn't believe it when she told her. "Go on Evie! Dance with them!"
"I….can't do that!"
"You can't? Lessa get over here! Char you too!"
Char and Lessa had been chatting to some people nearby but came over.
"What's up?" Char asked Nicola.
"Evie here got asked to dance and she refused".
"You fool!" Lessa rounded on Evie. "Why didn't you say yes?"
"Because….well because I didn't ok".
"Evie come on you have to dance!" Char joined the cause. "It'll be fun!"
Several of the Gryffindor guys were standing nearby. Lessa grabbed one of Evie's arms as Char and Nicola grabbed the other. Together they dragged a protesting Evie over.
"Who here asked Evie to dance?" Nicola inquired.
One of the guys nodded. "I did".
"Enjoy your dance!" Char pushed Evie over. "Seeyas!"
Lessa and Nicola grinned before racing away after Char.
Evie was left standing alone with the guy; his mates had all departed for the food table.
"Want to dance?" He asked.
Evie looked down at her shoes. "I…I guess we have to don't we?"
"Not really but it might be fun"
"Well, alright then but I'm warning you that I can't dance!"
"Anyone can dance!" He led her off.
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Author's Note: This party will be continued in the next chapter. I thought it was getting a bit too long so I split it in half.
-Alatariel Aldarian
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