Around noon, in a private room in the back of the pub.


With a pop, Abby and Aileen appeared in Hogsmeade just before noon on a Saturday. Abby let go of Aileen’s arm and they both smoothed out their dresses, the younger sister looking a little more party-ready than the older one. Aileen had told her that students generally dressed up for the weekend, so she should look nice.
 
The other young witches and wizards milling around them hadn’t gotten the owl, it seemed. There was the usual assortment of colorful robes and hats, students in their casual weekend garb, and several foreigners who didn’t seem to know what to make of this ‘Hogsmeade weekend’.
 
“Aileen?” Abby made a beeline for the pub. “Thanks. I can find my way from here. It's not Cairo,” she shot her a grin.
 
Giving her younger sister a slight smile, Aileen continued walking, her steps lighter than usual. “You're not the only one with plans,” she gestured at the Three Broomsticks as she followed Abby inside.
 
She wouldn’t stay long, but she wasn’t going to tell her that.
 
“Oh look, it’s full,” Aileen said dryly, glancing around as if she hadn’t been expecting this. “Head that way,” she pointed towards the back. “I hear they’ve opened up additional rooms for the extra students.”
 
Abby moved ahead, glancing back every once in a while at Aileen, and looking a bit like the cat did when the crup insisted on tailing her from room to room at home.
 
Hiding a smirk, Aileen opened the back door and shooed Abby in, ignoring the girl’s obvious confusion.
 
“What are you-"
 
“Surprise!” Balloons flew up into the rafters as several teenagers popped out from behind the bar. 
 
Abby stared. After a second, a slow grin spread across her face and she glanced back at Aileen.
 
“Somehow I didn’t think you’d mind if your birthday arrived early this year,” Aileen smiled, then moved aside to let the students tackle Abby with hugs (or more likely, the other way around).

Waiting with the other students who had arrived at the surprise party, Naomi was sitting behind the bar with the golden bow from her and Ronni's present dangling overhead and among a line of brightly colored gifts. Even Naomi's hair was wrapped up for the occasion, tamed into a long ponytail that was back with a loose french braid beginning from the top of her head, with only a few thick curls springing from the top of it. But with the way Maurice, Raine Almasy's cat was acting, she was wondering if it'd stay tame for long.

The cat kept climbing up onto the bar and scratching at the shimmering green wrapping paper encasing the fourth year Slytherin girl's  gift to Abby. Even though the gift only contained two (hidden) glasses and a colorful animate statue of a cobra, Maurice thought the gift urgently needed to be inspected. Perhaps it knew what happened when the the cobra's hood flared and it released its venom into something. Perhaps it just wanted to play with the case and find the hidden panels the wine glasses were hidden in. Perhaps it knew the "venom" was replaced by a concoction of alcoholic beverages. Perhaps it knew that Veronica and Naomi commissioned the help of Naomi's father to create the whole thing with a certain Egyptian flair so as to traumatize Aileen to the point she wouldn't touch it and inadvertently discover the whole gift was really just a clever way to hide sixty-four ounces of alcohol.

Either way the cat would not stop digging at the gift and so Naomi had to constantly reach up, bring the cat down off the counter, and give it to Raine, whose hold Maurice eventually escaped so that Naomi could reach for the cat again, until finally Abby walked in and everyone jumped up to greet her.

• "Suprise!"

After standing up, Naomi's green gaze quickly fell from Abby and back down to her hands, where Maurice hung between her hands and grumpily stared back at her. Naomi pursed her lips and quickly pawned the cat onto Raine before she ran her hands down the pleats of the skirt of her dress, flattening it against her thighs as she returned a sly smile towards Abby. Naomi kissed her tongue against her teeth with a click, before saying, "Pff, who needs a birthday t' have a party?"

It'd been some few days before the Hogsmeade weekend when Professor Reid had told several of Abby's Hogwarts acquaintances about the surprise birthday event she intended for her younger sister at The Three Broomsticks.

Preparations were tricky but not difficult; they were to ensure that most of them were in the back room of the pub before noon and decorations... well, nothing a few well-cast charms couldn't solve. Balloons and streamers and striped party hats and mountains of multi-coloured glitter. Raine had arrived with her other classmates to set up. Sasha and Neely, of course, and then a sprinkle of younger students amongst the other sixth years.

The Gryffindor was sat on the floor behind the bar, legs folded lithely, and surrounded on all sides by a crowd of glimmering balloons that were being tied down with a simple holding spell. They changed shades, lightly jostling each other while she tapped her wand idly against her knee and eyed Maurice's movements above. He was being especially curious today.

Naomi had just grabbed the cat off from the bar for the umpteenth time when they all heard a sound just outside the private room, a jostling of the door knob. Raine shifted some strings aside to exchange glances with everyone, sombre expression giving way to a faint, anticipatory smile. Her gaze met with Sasha's and then Figaro's before she quickly gave the signal, releasing all the balloons at once with a twist of her wand.

"Surprise!" the redhead announced with everyone else as they all jumped to their feet.

Professor Reid and Abby were at the doorway; one of the sisters obviously more startled than the other. It was good to see her friend again. Especially after all that talk about her being engaged to Tyr! Everyone quickly began to come out from behind the bar to swarm around the birthday girl.

Raine accepted her pet from Foley with a slight smirk and let him curl up in her arms, while she looked up first to nod politely at the professor, and then to grin at Abby. "Happy Birthday, explorer!" Maurice echoed this with a curt yowl. "I hope you're ready for a party. We've prepared everything and anything you could possibly need for one," she added.

Veronica was one of those awkward souls who felt terribly out of place at surprise parties. She was far more comfortable at events where she could simply work her angle in a shadowy, smoky corner of the room. Bursting out and hollering 'surprise' seemed fairly childish and silly to the girl. It was a nervous sort of tic that she shared with all her siblings save Frankie, who would burst out of broom closets at school and yell surprise at people just for the hell of it.

She gave a rather feigned and cloying smile when Abby and Aileen appeared in lieu of actually shouting 'surprise'. It wasn't that she didn't care- of course she did. But for whatever reason, all she could muster was a smile and a pair of hands clasped in excitement.

Naomi was trying her best to keep Raine's cat out of the liquor, and for good reason. The stuff was ass-kicking. There was a distinct possibility the cat would simply roll over and croak after coming into contact with the stuff.

Grinning, she planted an airy kiss on Abby's cheek and offered up "Happy birthday... -ish. Gorgeous."

Over the course of the last couple weeks, Sasha had discovered that, at least for him, planning surprise parties was actually easier than crouching behind some bar and trying to act like a complete fool when he leapt out to surprise the guest of honor.  The planning had actually fit in rather nicely with his particular set of skills: organizing, coordinating and determining what was of adequate quality and what wasn't. 

But now, Sasha crouched dutifully behind the bar, a hand on Baldur's collar to help steady him in his precarious perch.  The shepherd seemed much more enthused about the prospects of a group of people crouched down on his level and his eyes kept scanning the group of teenagers, his tail swiping over the ground whenever he managed to make eye contact with someone. 

Eventually, the time came.  Sasha stood up behind the bar (rather than spring up like his classmates) and gave an awkward double thumbs up in lieu of an animated "surprise."  Rather than flock the squib with the girls, he became momentarily distracted by smoothing the lapels of his coat and straightening his tie[1]. 

As the gaggle of teenaged girls began to thin out in the wake of the initial wave of happy birthdays, Sasha approached with Baldur at his heels.  "Herzlichen glückwunsch zum geburtstag," he offered with a slight grin.  "We're throwing a party." 

Captain Schlawkward's super power was, after all, stating the obvious.

1.

Outfit

Figaro had been skeptical when he heard that Professor Reid was planning a party.  The two words just didn't go together, but turns out, the whole thing was totally legit, and so Figaro hopped on board with vigor to help surprise Abbie Reid on her birthday.  He even wore a jacket.  That was dressing up, right?

He exploded from behind the bar with the rest of them, hands in the air with a giant grin.  Sasha was being a dork about it, but at least he was smiling.  Figaro came out from behind the bar with two open bottles, wet with condensation, in his fingers, already speaking loudly.

"Happy fu-"  he choked down a casual vulgarity with a cough, upon remember Professor Reid was present and then started again.  "Happy bloody birthday, Abbie.  You look old as shi-  you look old.  Everyone get a drink in your hand," he commanded, passing off the ones he had.

For all of her practice grinning, Abby’s cheeks were starting to hurt as she looked around the room. Friends came up to greet her – friends who looked happy to be there, who looked like they’d missed her as much as she had missed them this past month.

Naomi delivered her usual amusing smart-alec comments and looked more dressed up than Abby had seen her yet. Raine, wearing pink, called her an explorer as she cradled an adorable black cat, Veronica offered a slightly more subdued but playful greeting, Sasha grinned and stated the obvious, and Figaro already had drinks in hand.

“You guys!” Abby smiled. “You look so sharp! And you brought a menagerie with you! You know me so well.”

She began making her rounds of hugs, offering compliments on outfits along the way. Naomi first, then Veronica, then Raine.

“Of course you’re well prepared,” she teased the redheaded Gryffindor. "Is this Maurice?! Do I get to borrow him? Oh my gosh he's cute!" She picked him up gently and gave him a little hug as he meowed in her face. "Cute! Oh right. Party." Abby handed back the kitten to Raine.

Abby patted Baldur on the head, turned to Sasha, and gestured with her arms. “Hug?” She offered, only giving him a moment to respond before she hug-tackled him like everyone else. He had fair warning!

She craned her neck to look for her sister, hoping to embarrass her, but Aileen was chatting with Tapendra while quirking the occasional eyebrow at Figaro, and Abby was very happy to leave those two alone. That was just the icing on her birthday cake!

"Fig! Did you swallow a swearing frog? Here, let me take that off your hands for you," Abby took a bottle, and gave him a hug.

“Who planned this thing? Who did the decorating? This is brill!”

Abby couldn’t remember the last time she’d been given such a fun surprise party with people she actually liked, in a place that wasn’t her home, where she didn’t have to dress formally and suffer through her parents’ schmoozing. There were no homeschooled purebloods sulking in the corner, ready to shove stuffed animals and generic pink accessories at her. Instead of elegant displays and trays of hors d'oeuvres, they had balloons, and streamers, and glitter! Perfect.


(If any of the attendees who haven’t posted yet would like to greet her, feel free to do that and assume Abby gives hugs to everyone, haha. I am up for starting games and the like whenever!)

Abby, was bubbly as ever, and Naomi hugged the girl back despite how death-defying her grip might have been. The Slytherin witch was sure that if Abby wasn't handed a drink she might go around for a second round of hugs. Naomi, however was completely content on one round. Thank Helga for Narwhal Sellaphix[1] having the mind of a proper host.

Naomi then took a drink from the Hufflepuff and immediately put it down on the bar as she gave a shrug to Abby's question, "Dunno, but Almasy and Woofolk let me pick the music," the witch then reached over to a nearby pile of records acquired by none other than Neely Woofolk, and she pulled out the latest teaser EP[2] album from Wild Beings. Naomi's lips settled into a satisfied smile as she hopped up on the bar and held her drink again, and with a sly lilt added, "And Neely somehow pulled it all out of Salazaar's hat."

As the curly-haired witch popped open her drink and took a sip, she remembered also asking Raine and Neely about food and drinks, but sometimes they contradicted each other, specifically on the topic of drinks; Raine seemed to suggest the idea there might be some Ravenclaw or Elder Reid alcohol restrictions that the party should follow, while Miss Cornelia Woofolk highly enthusiastic about any and all food or drinks. Naomi didn't bother pitting the two against each other to see who was right, even if she could hazard a guess. But as the taste of sugar and hyperactive fizz ran down her throat, Naomi shot Neely a half-lidded stare glinting with green mischief--now Naomi knew for sure who was more correct, and who would feign innocence after Abby figured out how Naomi and Ronni's present worked.

1.	Wizarding Heritage Club
2.	Extended Play

Tapendra couldn't help his smile, which was going ear to ear. He hadn't hid behind the bar; aside from the fact he wouldn't have really fit, it was simply a lot easier to hide his tall frame around the corner, where he'd leaned on the wall with his ankles crossed. It was hard not to laugh at the combination of greetings the girl got, though Sasha's double thumbs up was the best. Well, not the best, but...certainly the most distinctive. In other words, it was classic Sasha. Which meant awkward.

He was vaguely aware he shouldn't find people being awkward amusing; that was terribly hypocritical of him. Oh well...it was still funny.

He found Aileen quickly, letting the kids to themselves. He was glad to see she was apparently in a genuinely good mood. His own gift to Abby sat on the main table, the large rectangular box wrapped in simple enough paper, with a card on the inside. The card wished her a happy birthday, but also cautioned her, in Tapendra's elegant loopy writing, not to start the thing til she got home. He'd probably cry if she turned it on here and it died; he'd already seen the bill when he'd bought the thing. At least he'd kept the receipt...he could return it and get his money back.

"Seems your plan was a success," he told Aileen with a smile, leaning on the wall nearby. He wore his thick white sweater, a pair of black slacks and, unsurprisingly, no shoes. His feet were quite clean, though; thank Merlin for cleaning spells!

Aileen probably wasn't going to be pleased to see the presents' contents. Oh well - too bad for her!

With the music now playing and initial greetings gradually coming to their end, the party was starting to fall back into the natural rhythm of most soirees. Drinks were poured, plates of food brought out from nowhere while the buzz of friendly chatter arose.

Raine had left Maurice on the counter again (he insisted on inspecting Naomi's gift, for reasons she was probably better off not knowing) and had knelt down to pull a stripped party hat onto Sasha's shepherd while the fourth year answered Abby's enquiries. Baldur looked far more festive with his new headgear and the Gryffindor smiled faintly at the dog's genial attitude as she stood up.

"Music aside, I suppose Captain Schlawkward is responsible for most of the planning," Raine explained, glancing from her squib friend to Sasha. "I've never seen someone organize a party so studiously," she smirked; it was all in good humour, after all.

The Gryffindor accepted a tall tankard of cold butterbeer from one of the students who was going around with several of them. "But let's not go into the boring details." She raised her eyebrows as she held the drink with both hands, looking around at whoever had gather around them. "Abby is our birthday girl. Isn't it customary that we toast to her? Or whatever she wants to do now," Raine looked at her friend. "It's your day, you know."

Even if, technically, it wasn't.

Every time a profanity threatened to sprout from Figaro's lips, Sasha cast the Hufflepuff a glance that hovered somewhere between warning and pleading.  But, the Hufflepuff seemed to remember himself on his own and Sasha turned back towards Abby just in time to find himself wrapped in a hug.  That seemed to be becoming a trend as of late. 

But, he hugged Abby back and pressed a brief kiss to her cheek before she moved on to greet the other guests. 

A hint of color rose in his cheeks when Abby asked who'd planned the event.  It, of course had been a joint effort between him, Neely and Raine with some scattered contributions from other places.  Awkwardness aside, they'd worked pretty well together and the results were ... well, obvious.  He did want Abby to know of his involvement in the whole endeavor but it seemed petty to correct Naomi when she provided a mostly correct answer to Abby's question. 

He was immensely grateful, then, when Raine spoke up (though it might have been a bit more effective if she'd refrained from calling him Captain Schlawkward - at least in front of the whole group.  Next, someone was going to be calling him that in class.)  "Ja.  But, they wouldn't, you know, let me pick the music."  Nor would they let him pick the games.  Shortly after his first two recommendations, he'd been gently but firmly pointed back in the direction of food planning. 

Though crowds weren't really his friend (not that this was really a crowd), a birthday toast, however, he could handle.  Unless, of course, he'd misinterpreted Raine and was managing to, yet again, over-formalize something that was meant to be a quick, boisterous 'Happy birthday' with drinks in the air.  If that was the case, he was about to completely embarrass himself. 

"Even though we're all deprived of the opportunity to see you everyday," Sasha glanced around at the gathered group of students.  "I know I don't just speak for myself when I say we all had no intentions of missing out on sharing in your seventeenth birthday.  You're friendly and special and one of the most generous people I've ever had the privilege to know.  You've been more than a great friend to me and I'm sure everyone here could say the same.  We all love you and wish you nothing but the happiest seventeenth birthday.  Happy Birthday, Abby." 

To say that Xavier was shocked when Professor Reid had given him the invitation was only a slight understatement. He had only met the young squib once at Figaro's Quidditch party over the summer but he had gotten along with her famously, despite the looks he had received from the rest of the crowd. Truth be told he was actually rather pleased to be counted as one of her friends. He needed to get out of the funk his self hatred had sent him into and what better way to do that than to go to a party.

He hadn't been part of any of the planning leaving those details to the better suited. While everyone had waited with baited breath for the birthday girl to arrive Xavier had an urgent need to relieve himself and had slinked out before the honoured guest had arrived. Unfortunately on his way back he had run into a gorgeous Beauxbatons girl that was impressed with his outfit, keeping him from arriving on time. Like any dark and brooding teenager who recently discovered they were the heir to a billion Galleon fortune Xavier had dressed well for the party, dark creased slacks over a pair of boots, shining silver dress shirt (the sleeves rolled up over his scarred biceps to hide the cigarette case) with a black fitted waistcoat overtop (hiding the silver flask tucked into the back of his slacks) and a matching black fedora over his messy hair.

By the time Xavier slipped back into the party room Abby had arrived and was surrounded by the room's occupants. Xavier came up behind her, slipping his arms around her lower waist for a tight backward hug as he moved past her hair to kiss the side of her cheek just below her ear, "Happy birthday luv." He quickly removed himself to spare Raine the effort of giving him a disapproving glare and sidled up to Figaro, "What'd I miss?"

Abby couldn’t help but let out a delighted giggle when she felt arms slip around her waist and Xavier’s voice in her ear. It distracted her for a moment from the sweetest speech she’d ever heard.

She did the only thing she could do and took a gulp of her drink, left with a giddy, lightheaded feeling. And she couldn’t even blame the butterbeer.  Two boys giving her kisses on the cheek did not help her almost-seventeen year old mind stay on track.

“Wow, Sasha,” she grinned. “Thank you!” Abby looked at him, then glanced at everyone else. “This is wonderful and lovely and all good things. I love the music! I should have known you’d find a way,” she threw a pointed, amused glance at Naomi.

“I love you all too! Or should I go around and hug everyone again to prove it?” She spread out her arms. “No? Okay, okay.”

Raine had given Sasha most of the credit, but it seemed almost everyone had contributed in some way, and just seeing them here and happy meant a lot.

“What do you guys want to do?” Abby laughed once she realized they were still looking at her. “We could do some kind of game first? A butterbeer drinking game!” She raised her bottle, only half-joking. “Presents and cake later?” She shrugged one shoulder.

As excited as she was about the big pile of goodies, Abby reasoned that watching her open them wouldn’t be as fun as spin the bottle. Just an example. Yes, her mind was still there.

Like Raine, Aileen was in no hurry to clue Abby in about her involvement in planning the party. If she did, she’d have to admit that Tapendra had nudged along the idea in the first place, and there was only so much mushiness she could handle. Abby being happy was good enough for her.

“It’s not over yet. But yes, it seems to be going well,” she smiled back at the astronomy professor.

Sasha’s speech surprised her perhaps more than it did Abby, and if she could have awarded Ravenclaw points without feeling ridiculous, she might have.

“What fantastic timing,” she muttered under her breath when Xavier swooped in with a hug. That earned a ‘don’t ruin your invite’ eyebrow raise from Aileen.

Abby would have to forgive her if she didn’t add to the toast with her own compliments. This party was for her sister and her friends, mainly - she had plenty of time to embarrass her at home.

“Must we stay for the drinking games?” Aileen asked Tapendra in a plaintive, joking tone. They could loom (well, he could loom even better than she could) and wag their fingers whenever Figaro swore, Naomi caused mischief, or Xavier got too flirtatious, she supposed – fun times for everyone! In all honesty, she trusted Raine and Sasha to keep the crazy at bay.

Oh Merlin... Figaro braced himself when Sasha was about to take over the birthday toast but he actually managed really well.  Sure, it came off close to a funeral speech but it was good.  Better than Fig would have done.  He said a loud 'Happy birthday!' with the rest and sealed the toast by taking a generous swig Iof the butter beer in his hand.

Oh the merriment of youth freshly at play!  Figaro was keeping an eye on the strange presence of the two professors still lurking, he felt like he was being supervised.. Total fun-killer.  Hoping to shake the chilling sensation of Ried and Trishna's gaze Figaro joined in amongst the chatter, and was happy to suggest a few of his favorite drinking games.

"Wands In? Or Vanishing Cup? You guys know that one, what's it called, with the like slapping each other in the face?". He couldn't remember the rules only that Xavier had been quite good at it when they were younger.