Elijah Grimlish took a quick twirl and smiled happily at his handiwork. The normally straight-laced and boring Ravenclaw 6th year boy’s dormitory had been successfully transformed from drab to fab! Streamers flowed freely from the posts of the teenage boys’ beds, balloons hung from every possible surface and scattered the floor, and with a swish of his wand, origami eagles fluttered silently around the ceiling. Comfy bean bag chairs plopped the floor wherever balloons didn’t have reserved, and Three Owl Standard was playing quietly in the background.

Along one wall, a long rectangular table sat, laden with all sorts of edible goodies: a fruit and vegetable tray, bags of crisps, bottles of butterbeer and pumpkin juice sitting chilled in an iced bucket. Then there were trays covered with large domed lids, effective at keeping prying eyes away until the surprises were ready to be revealed. Beds were piled high with extra pillows, courtesy of the Hogwarts House-elf staff.

On the foot of each bed sat a tastefully wrapped gift with each of Eli’s roommate’s names scrawled on the tag with Eli’s unkempt writing style. This had been the most difficult part of the planning process. Eli had been planning this party for weeks and weeks, and he knew right away that to be a great party, and as a thank-you for sticking with Eli for all these years, even when it hasn’t been easy, he wanted to give everyone a special gift. A special gift to Elijah meant something that you can’t just go out and buy in the store, so that made his project even more difficult. It was torture crafting the gifts without any of his overly keen roommates catching on, but he had managed.

For the occasion, Eli left his awkward robes folded neatly in his trunk and pulled out his favorite pair of pajama bottoms. They were frayed and baggy, and they had holes speckled throughout the fabric and they were a bright orange, but Eli loved them. He accompanied them with a cheesy t-shirt that said simply ‘I do it better’. Eli didn’t really catch the meaning of the graphic tee; he just thought it meant that since he was a Ravenclaw, he obviously did everything more efficiently than anyone else. He ran his hand through his messy hair and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Elijah was just starting to figure out that he was a rather attractive male specimen, not that he had any clue what that meant.

He had slipped everyone a note earlier that day, telling them to meet in the dorms at 9:30 sharp, and it was getting neigh on time for people to start showing up. He was just starting to think about what would happen if no one showed up when the door to the dormitory opened. Inhaling a great breath, Eli ran to the door and engulfed the intruder in a gihugic hug, yelling “SURPRISE!!!” at the top of his lungs as he went.

Mason was exhausted, he had been given a cough from Han, who was now healthier than a horse. He tromped up the stairs, ready to wrap himself up in his fuzzy blankets and go to sleep. He heard 3 owl standard coming from his dorm room, probably from whatever Eli was plotting, another study group for ancient runes or something of that nature.

He opened the door and was attacked by a pajama clad monkey. "AH!"

"SURPRISE!!!!"

Mason's ears rung. "Whatthe- whoa." Mason looked around the room, it had completely transformed from  dark and boring to bright and vibrant. He stared up at the ceiling and the floors, and the balloons, and table of food. "Eli, what is going on?"

The sable shepherd trotted just ahead of Sasha as he climbed the steps to the sixth year's dorm room, the note from Eli in his right hand.  His backpack was slung over his shoulder, laden with the myriad of books with which he'd spent the last near twenty-four hours with.  Midterm exams were exactly a month away and the first few days of winter break would see him sitting GCSE exams a week after.  The end of the term crunch had begun. 

It had been months since Sasha had last slept in the dormitories with any regularity.  He'd started avoiding sleeping in the dorm room back in January when a particularly volatile nightmare had dragged several of his roommates into it[1].  Then, after being sent home at the end of the previous year, sleep had become even more sporadic and Sasha had started avoiding sleep until exhaustion knocked him out wherever he happened to be - usually amongst textbooks on one of the couches in the common room or in the Astronomy tower.

He reached the top of the stairs a few moments behind Mason and blinked as he stared at the decorations and the very excited Eli.  "Whose birthday is it?" he asked, though remembering a moment later that he knew all his roommates' birthdays. 

Sasha crossed moved around the crescent circle of beds and plopped his heavy bag down on his perfectly made (if a little dusty) bed cover.  Baldur, the shepherd, trotted around the room, briefly greeting the roommates in turn with an enthusiastic tail wag. 

1.	Marooned In the Mind

Rohan thought that a note from Elijah instructing Rohan to be in the male dormitories at 9.30 seemed a bit forboding, but knowing Grimlish, he knew there wouldn't be an axe murderer waiting for him when he entered the dormitory.  He was having an odd night, and was advancing up to the sleeping quarters after chasing around Peregrine, trying to get the stupid bird to return to its proper place with the rest of the owls.  He plucked feathers from him shirt, and he knew he was a couple minutes late due to his bird wrangling.

He pondered what the meeting's purpose was.  He knew for a fact that other boys in his house had received notes, and he assumed that their destination was similar to his.  Elijah must've had something fun planned for him and his fellow Ravenclaws, and he hoped that it wasn't a prank.  Rohan would not stand for another prank.  Deep in curious thought, Rohan absentmindedly walked right into the door.

Regaining his scrambled balance, Han rose and twisted the doorknob to the dorms and gently pushed the rickety door open.  The first thing that caught his eye was the sheer amount of balloons.  He could only imagine how much air would have been needed to fill the countless numbers of them.  The whole room was decorated like a child's birthday party, only Rohan was 17 and his birthday was in september.  "The party has arrived!" Rohan shouted.

As Eli’s roommates started to pile into the room, he quickly let go of Mason and clapped him manly on the shoulder. “This, my friends, is dude night!” He exclaimed happily, his voice raising an octave in his excitement. He coughed to clear his throat, and hopefully to return his voice to its normal level of awkwardness. “I hope you guys didn’t have anything else planned, because you don’t get to leave this room until breakfast tomorrow. Not even to potty, so I hope you guys took care of business before you came up.” He laughed at his own little joke, but seriously, no one was leaving. Period.

He walked swiftly to the front of the room, trying to find a spot that was central to his friends. As he walked, he patted the doggie on the head. “I thought that last year was tough, what with OWLs and everything that happened and such, but this year seems to be even worse. Classes are harder, everyone’s busy with life, and we hardly get to see each other anymore, so I decided that we needed to have an awesome party, right here in our own little piece of heaven. I’ve planned loads of games, and we can just catch up, whaddya say?” He said. They better like his idea, or else Eli might just fall into a pit of despair that no amount of chocolate frogs could pull him out of.

Actually, Eli just really needed his friends around him. It had been a tough year for him, and so this party was as much a reminder to himself that there were still people who cared about him as anything else. Sure, he hoped that everyone had fun, but even if they just sat quietly all night and didn’t do any of the fun stuff he had planned, at least he’d be surrounded by good vibes. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like some of his other housemates might need some good vibrations as well.

That thought was comforting.  Being trapped in a room full of boys for 10 to 12 hours was going to be a bit different, to say the least.  He wasn't exactly eager to partake in any activities someone the likes of Elijah had made up or planned.  Lucky for Rohan, he had been well-rested, being sick for the past few days, so if it got late, he would have enough energy so he didn't fall asleep. 

 Ugh. He almost moaned out loud in disapointment.  Mason Hawkins was going to be in the same room as him throughout the course of the evening. Peachy.  Mason and him had been in a couple conflicts over the past week or two, being friends, then enemies, on and off like a lightbulb in a thunderstorm, flickering, threatening to turn off. 

Sasha Schlagenweit had also come for the occasion, which was a bit strange considering how long his absence from the dormitories had been, doing god knows what all on his own in the evening hours.  So that made four of them trapped in there, including Grimlish, who hypothetically locked himself in with them.  The room they were in might as well have been a one-way, dead end street with no u-turns allowed;  no going back from where you came from.  

"Well, warden, seeing as I have no choice, I'm in.  I say yes," he said hesitantly, hiding his slight anxiety.  No going back!

Mason jumped as Eli clapped him rather hard on his shoulder. Dude's Night? Mason had mixed feelings about the event. He was fine camping out with Eli and Sasha for the night, but Han and him would be at each others neck if they came within 3 feet of each other.

Mason wriggled himself out of Eli's reach and closed the curtains to his fourposter to get changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He then decided not to come back out at all. He grabbed his notebook from his nightstand, and a pen and started scribbling about the transition of autumn to winter, making no noise, except for the faint creak of his mattress.

He was going to sit here and go to sleep before things got too loud, he didn't want to bring up the whole kiss issue with Thea and didn't want a reason to. All Mase wanted as a cup of coffee and to go to sleep on top of a box to tissues. He broke into a coughing fit, hacking his lungs out.

So much for silent...

The first two months of Peyton's sixth year were overwhelmingly hectic. He was beyond happy to have received the title of Quidditch Captain but much like his position the previous year he had to make sure his grades were up to par to be able to stay on the team so most nights, when not working the snot out of his team he was in the library hounding through books to make sure all of his homework got done. Thankfully he was taking less classes than he was going into OWLs but there was still seven of them and that was amounting to a lot of homework even this early on.

Peyton walked into the 6th years dorm with dark circles under his eyes, a cloak over his Quidditch robes. He had done team practice (which hadn't taken long considering how good the team was getting) then spent the next hours in the Library. He had forgotten all about the note he had received from Elijah. He tossed his book bag at his trunk and plopped down face first into his bed. It was a full minute before he realized the state the dorm room was in.

He gingerly stood up and blinked his eyes rather dumbfounded at the decorations and mass invasion of balloons. He was brought out of his stupor only as Baldur bounded across the room to get attention from him. He scratched the dog around his ears and looked from Eli to Han to Sasha, "Okay, what did I miss?"

...dude night? 

Was he supposed to know what a dude night was?  Sasha blinked and glanced around at the other sixth years, trying to quickly calculate how prudent an escape attempt might be.  He vaguely remembered late night frivolities at the Chapter House[1] but they'd been eight and nine years old at the time.  Late night Dungeons and Dragons and Zelda had been the usual routine - and, they usually succumbed to sleep long before the agreed upon goal.  It was safe to say that wasn't going to be the case here. 

"Mid-year exams are in a month," Sasha pointed out when Eli asked about what alternate plans they might have had.

Sasha glanced over at Peyton and shrugged, doubting he wasn't the best one to answer his friend's question before sitting down on the edge of his carefully made (and rarely disturbed) bed.  "Isn't this kind of thing best save to the end of the term?"  Or, even, a week after the term was over?   Something like that? 

1.	Queen Ethelburga's Chapter House - the boarding school Sasha attended prior to Hogwarts

Eli looked out over his group of less than enthusiastic roommates and felt his face redden. A pout crossed his lips and quivered slightly before he replaced it with another smile, this one obviously less chipper than the last. “Oh come on guys! We spend all the time studying and being all studious and junk. I think it’s time for us to let go and have some fun.” He said, grinding his hips to show just how much fun he could be.

With a flourish of his wand, the music turned louder, just loud enough to be more comfortable while dancing. “You guys wanna dance? I mean, I’m not a girl or anything, but this IS dude night…” Elijah started gyrating and waving his arms wildly in the air, obviously dancing. “Come on guys! It’s fun!” He called over the music, not feeling the least bit ridiculous, even though he was the only one dancing. “Mason, I’ve got cough drops in my trunk if you wanna grab some…”

Dancing?  Rohan sure hoped Eli had better plans than breaking it down on the dance floor, or, more properly, the carpet.  He looked like he was about to cry for a moment, then quickly smiled and suggested that "Dude Night" became "Saturday Night Fever." He promptly flailed his arms like a fool and tried to convince his roommates to copy his actions.

 Rohan had to fight the urge to roll his eyes or put his head in his hands, tensing a bit to resist the temptation.  With luck, at least someone other than himself wouldn't be dancing.  He'd be practically forced to get funky if everyone joined Eli in the center of the room.  He thought out his words carefully, not wanting to offend or disapoint anyone, and lying was most definetly the best path.  He'd probably done it a thousand times, but he found it difficult to fib, face Elijah and make something up to compensate.

  He rubbed the back of his neck and in the most apologetic tone, said, "I sprained my ankle yesterday sprinting down the hall to catch class.  I turned a corner, and spun it the wrong way, and smashed into the ground."

A bad lie, truly; he hadn't limped in grimacing, stealing glances at his lower leg to make sure it was okay.  Eli would see through him like a new window on a bright, sunny day.  The past was the past and he couldn't do anything about it.

Mason wasn't going to get a decent sleep, he might as well join the other's who were still in the light. Mason coughed once more and threw a Halls in his mouth and jumped into action next to Eli, flailing his arms and kicking his legs up.


He had no clue what the song was, but dance as far off from the rhythm as you could get. He felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead. He hopped around the room, tusseling up Han and Sasha's hair. He pulled Peyton's socks off and threw them. "This is fun! Come o-on!" He hacked and wheezed. Now he was tired. "This was the change up then?" He said to Eli, putting his hands on his knees, panting. "Good idea." He was ready to puke, but this was a good way to erase the awkward from the past few days by replacing it with new him-dancing awkward.

He pet Baldur on the head, he wasn't a really a dog person, but he was doing different things this year. "Graham cracker! You did not hurt your ankle, get over here and dance!" He flopped around as he threw his hands over his head and jumped up and down like a small child on a sugar high. He had also forgotten that he was mad at Rohan. He grabbed a butterbeer and slurping it from the bottle loudly. He tossed one to Eli and the rest of his roommates.

"This is schweet!"

Dude night . . . well okay then.

Peyton wasn't really sure where he fit in, dancing and flailing around to music he didn't really recognize but he could definitely use the time to relax and enjoy himself. Besides Eli's pout was irresistible and he didn't really want to get on anyone's bad side. He wasn't so sure if he should be dancing with them, perhaps just around them. After all he reminded himself, he had known these guys for years and they were practically like brothers to him (or what he assumed he would be like with a normal brother, ignoring the intense animosity between him and his actual brother) They had all been rather supportive when he had come out the year before, if he could be himself with anyone it was these guys.

He chuckled as Mason pulled off his socks and caught the bottle of Butterbeer tossed to him. He cracked the lid, took a long swig then placed it on his bedside table. He pulled off his cloak and Quidditch robes, tossing them on top of his book bag and pulled on a much more comfortable pair of pajama pants and an undershirt. Peyton then launched himself onto the dance floor alongside Eli, glancing to the others. Mason looked like he was going to be sick and he couldn't really see Sasha dancing to this kind of music but hopefully they could at least get Rohan to join them.

Studying and being all studious and junk?  Sasha flinched, slightly, as Mason ruffled his hair and set to smoothing it back in place the moment he was free to do so. 

The sable shepherd finished his round of greetings and trotted back to his master's bed area and, after an approving nod from Sasha, hopped up on the bed.  Sasha grinned, uneasily, as Mason and Peyton joined Eli in dancing and shifted towards the end of his bed next to Baldur.  He was grateful no one seemed too overly angry about the sudden mass loss of points and time would only tell who would be stepping up to take over the prefect's badge. 

Dancing might have been a bit outside his comfort range (and the music and style of dance not what he was familiar with) but, he could at least (mostly) abandon the books and piles of notes for a few hours. 

"I'm not sure this is, you know, what 'dude's' do," Sasha commented, after a few moments.  Or, maybe, this was what they did in the wizarding world.  "Aren't sports usually involved?  Competitions?"