"Thank goodness, more!"

Anton stood back and gleefully ushered the most recent arrival inside while surreptitiously checking behind their shoulder.  Though he would have been very disappointed if no one had made good on the invitation, he wouldn't have been surprised.  Extending invitations to a targeted audience was a little complicated when said targets lacked social media, texting, evites or even the simple capabilities of picking up a phone. 

Thus, it had required a muggle and squib to utilize a variety of strategies to disseminate invitations to a surprise party all while avoiding information reaching the birthday boy, himself, that contradicted the plans for a casual Saturday get together. 

Given the varied, word-of-mouth based strategies, it was a little difficult to predict who ... or how many were actually going to show up.  But, a handful of folks had already arrived and, apparently, more on the way. 

"Feel free to ... I mean, whatever you want.  It's not my house so ..."  Anton waved a hand around the entrance hall which currently sported the appearance of a fancy, way-too-big-and-expensive-of-a-house-for-one-person manor that had hired a pair of 6-year-old, sparkles-crazy twin girls as its internal decorator.  Anton had had an irresponsible amount of fun skipping class to decorate while his mate was off being a respectable student-slash-government worker. 

"The chap's due home any minute, so be prepared to ... wait, no!  Who put the hat on the dog?"  Anton had gotten distracted by Baldur trotting up to greet the newest guest but was now sporting and pointed, paper birthday party hat.  He turned to try to figure out who to chastise.  "Rudi's dense, but he'll pick up on the dog wearing a hat!" 

A surprise party for a man who was constantly bewildered, that's a broom that would ride. It had taken a few tries for Anton's texts to make it to Figaro who did have a phone, thanks to Sasha, but Fig had never truly adopted it.[1] Since it was Anton throwing the party and not Sasha playing host, Figaro didn't feel the need to bring more than a few provisions in his backpack.

"Hey, hey, Anton!" Figaro greeted and tossed up a high five as he rolled past into the entry hall. It was atrocious! Figaro dipped into a crouch, turned on his heels and popped back up again.

"This is terrible!" he whispered with delight. Baldur, Sasha's enormous dog, was padding around the marble floors with a hat on. Figaro slipped it off and twirled it around on his finger.

He said again in a normal tone and an approving nod, "this is very and truly terrible."
 

1.	Fig's phone case

"Fauna! Fauna did it!" Abby said loudly, her voice echoing down the hall. Fauna, hat girl!

"What?" Fauna's voice could barely be heard from the depths of the house. Quite possibly, she was just a room away.

Abby grinned as she stepped into the entrance hall, overhearing Fig's compliments to the decor.

"Thank you. If it doesn't look like a unicorn threw up in here, we haven't done our job."

She gave Baldur a pat on the head and a scratch behind the ears. Though Abby did remember that Fig had been somewhat of an arse to Moira a few months ago, she decided to conveniently ignore it and act like everyone was friends, because Sasha needed friends to be friends, and Moira could sit next to Sasha or Abby or Anton or whoever else was at the table. It was fine! Anton had found Sasha's stash of DnD plans, and they were hoping to convince Sasha to host an impromptu game for his guests this evening. On his birthday. He was going to love it.

"Come on in. There's snacks in the kitchen, and we're going to pop out and surprise Sasha in the drawing room."

Or! They were going to surprise Sasha in the reception room. Or! The study. Or! Another room that Abby had forgotten about. There were so many possibilities.

Moira had a difficult time finding someone to switch hours with her at work so she could attend her friend's birthday party. She had only learned about it the day before after exchanging letters with Abby. The short notice was only part of the problem. The bigger issue had been her voice's lack of cooperation.

Two days before she had been cursed[1] and a good portion of the next day had been spent at St. Mungos. One of the medwitches discovered it had been caused by some kind of poison. A remedy had been created shortly after but Moira had been told the only way to completely be free of the curse was to practice talking. The more the better. Her favorite.

As a result, Duncan and her dad had tormented her during dinner. They asked her countless questions that she couldn't just shake her head in answer to. Moira knew they only wanted to help but talking in broken sounds was extremely frustrating. Naturally, the two older wizard wore patient, sympathetic expressions while she struggled with her answers. She hated that look.

Her efforts in switching hours that morning had finally been met with success, giving her enough time to shower and change clothes before apparating (thankfully that did not require words) to Sasha's home. Several people had already arrived she gathered from the sounds coming from the entry way. Any misgivings Moira had were shoved back and far away. To her knowledge this was Sasha's first proper birthday party and she was going to do her best to make sure it was fantastic.

Moira crossed inside the door, giving Anton a nod in greeting. She stopped when she saw the decorations. Once she had been able to process what she was seeing her lips twitched upwards in amusement. It was nice to see that so much effort had gone into the planning already.

Baldur, ever the gracious host, came to greet her. She gave him a good head scratch in response while her gaze settled on Abby and Figaro. "---lo," was her attempt at greeting them both.

1.

The Grave

He did not go into work today - Virgil had shoved today's shift to Sunday's Space Chamber affair[1], which freed him up to attend Schlawkward's surprise party. His muggle-savvy ways did not quite extend to the dizzying heights of social media or texting but their flat on Diagon did have a landline installed. It had been useful for when he was dating Anton.

Speaking of which.

Virgil arrived at the muggle estate with usual flourish, pink in the cheeks from the late winter cold. He was wearing his favourite new jacket over more relaxed attire - and was delighted to see Sasha's home bedecked in similarly flashy style when he entered, just on McBoid's heels.

The entrance hale was full of familiar faces... most of which gave rise to warm feelings in his chest. Everyone appeared healthy and hall. Before saying anything, he lifted his camera to take a candid photo of his peers greeting one another. The flash went off with a loud click!

"I like what you've done with the place!" Virgil exclaimed (vaguely in Abby's direction) while he strolled past Moira to clap Figaro on the back and give Anton a familiar hug. "What's the plan?" he asked, in his unusually chipper mood. "Hide behind some priceless antiques and jump out when the wizard of the hour shows up?"

Like most pureblood Sytherins, he was used to lavish estates and grand halls - even if this one had a distinctly muggle twist. That didn't mean he couldn't be droll about it all, of course.

1.	26th Feb - Considering the Incredible

This was a far bigger house than Tessa had been expecting when the German Muggle from Christmas Eve had sent her an  invitation to his apparent best friend's birthday party.  Even though she knew that there were plenty of wealthy families in the Muggle world too, she tended to associate the idea of enormous manors far more with fancy pureblood families than with little Sasha Schlagenweit, whom she barely remembered being a few years behind her in a different house at Hogwarts.

But in for a knut, in for a galleon.  At least if the house was this big, the planned refreshments would hopefully match.  Tessa exchanged a look with Gris as the two friends clomped up the steps to the lavish-looking entryway, behind a boy that she vaguely recognized as a Level Nine trainee and a mousy-looking girl who was probably in Ravenclaw. 

"That seems unimaginative," she put in, flashing the Level Nine trainee a bright smile.  "There should at least be some transfiguration involved, don't you think?"

She and Gris had split a wrapped gift between them, thinking it seemed the polite thing to do when they were sort-of-crashing the birthday boy's party, but seeing the interior of Sasha Schlagenweit's house made Tessa think that the entire gesture had been wasted. Still, she was hardly going to let that ruin the night.  They might as well enjoy their exquisite surroundings while they could.

"Hullo again, Anton," she greeted their faux host with a smile, determined to act as if the incident in December hadn't happened.  Behind him, though, she spotted a far more familiar face.

"Fig!" Tessa exclaimed, hurrying over to greet him.  She hadn't seen her housemate since he'd been released from St. Mungo's back in January.[1]  "How are you?"

1.	January 11, 2012 - I Woke Up Like This

Gris kept just a step behind Tessa, she didn't want to seem rude, but she was the friend tag along to someone who seemed courtesy invited by the host not the Birthday boy, of course she didn't want to raise it with Tess, but it seemed appropriate she kept a little bit of distance here, it hadn't taken much to get her to agree going with Tess or anything, all she heard was party and possibly alcohol, it was a heartbeat that she got herself some spare time along with the next day off so that she might recover, if there wasn't alcohol then she'd be disappointed but relieved to not have a hangover.

The bigger question in her mind was, was Tess bringing her for moral support or because Tess thought she needed friends.

She did her best to not overdress but not underdress, what did you even bring to a surprise party? She was relieved to some people in very casual clothes but then felt she was overdressed, what was the dressing code for something like this? Especially when they live in a palace, she would be surprised if they only had one pool, did Tess really bring her cause she thought this would end in Cluedo and wanted her to prove it was Malfoy in the Kitchen with the Bubblecharm?

Tessa was already off talking with people, she recognized Figaro! Was this really just a secret Hufflepuff reunion all along? It was genius if so, the best way to lure Hufflepuffs together is an offer of party and food. As Tess started talking to him she just awkwardly waved at him from behind her, eyes wandering and locking onto a dog, this meant trouble. Her body braced itself a little as she made a conscious note in her mind to keep track of the dog.

"Tessa there's a dog." She said quietly, dogs were never to be trusted, not once, not ever.

"It's wickedly terrible."  Anton grinned, returning Fig's high five with gusto and casting Moira a large, exaggerated wink before turning towards Abby with the giddiness of a young child on Christmas Morning.  "Of course Fauna did!  I suppose it's forgiven then."  After all, they were family ...

More importantly, Anton was reveling in the reactions to the decorations.  They were splendid, of course.  Though, unfortunately, they still paled to the last birthday Sasha and he had celebrated when they'd still been roommates back at Queen Ethelburga's.  Not due to any limitations from Anton and Abby's - they had gone all out, of course.  But, tie dying every ink-able surface in a small dorm room was infinitely easier than inundating this expansive space.   

Anton had asked what actual unicorn vomit looked like, during one of their planning sessions, but Abby had insisted that was a no go.  Such a shame given unicorn vomit was ACTUALLY AN OPTION. 

Except, horses couldn't vomit ... did that mean unicorns couldn't, either?

Sigh.

"Yes - drawing room!  Car's pulling up to the gate, so start ... Foxy!" he called out.  Blessed are the blue tooth security cameras.  Anton had started to nod with enthusiasm at Virgil's assessment of the plan when a familiar and very surprising voice flittered past him.  So, Tessa Fenneken had taken him up on the invitation.  Interesting.  He'd have to investigate further but, right now, time was running short.
 
"Find a spot and get ready - I want to see some serious abracadabra work."  Though the later was less for Anton's benefit and more for Micha's.  His younger brother was still being bashful somewhere on an the upper level.  His kid brother had overheard one of Anton and Abby's planning sessions and had asked Anton last night if he could tagalong.  Anton had hesitated, trying to predict how kid-friendly the party would be but had finally conceded.  Micha still hadn't properly interacted with a real witch or wizard - apart from Sasha, at least.  And, Micha was Anton's brother - he wasn't exactly a naive kid.

Now, Anton hoped the prospect of a magical display would overcome the enormity that was inherent in meeting the friends of one's big brother. 

Baldur, who had been making the rounds, turned his head towards the front door, obviously privy to the crunch of car tires on cobblestones that none of the mere humans could hear.  "He'll head to the study to check email first - so you can hide in the drawing room, dining room or behind the first floor balcony."  He projected the later, casting a quick grin up to his brother, who was peeking curiously over the stone railing. 

"Find your antique or -" his voice trailed off as excited canine toe tapping crescendoed in the entrance hall.  Quickly, he ducked behind the door to the staircase off of the entrance hall.

Moira. That whole thing was still unresolved[1] One option was certainly Fig getting blitzed and Fauna or whoever could break up a shouting match on the balcony. It all depended on whose party this actually was, Sasha's or Anton's. But better friends came along.

Virgil was there, on brand and in fashion. And Abby - wasn't she dating Sasha? 

"Fenny!" He gave Tessa a quick hug. He hadn't seen her for over a month,[2] and before that, not for at least a year. But Figaro was good at that, picking up where he left off. "I'm great. Bones heal fast, apparently."

Gris Hericho of all people was there having arrived with Tessa and Figaro returned her wave. It really was a Hufflepuff reunion, but that's what Hufflepuff did: they showed up. They didn't win things, but they did always turn out for a party.

But it was time! Anton announced the impending arrival and Figaro hurried across the foyer to tuck himself in behind the curve of the grand staircase.

1.	Moira and Figaro have been in a fight since December.
2.	10 Jan 12 - I Woke Up Like This

'A final vote is anticipated by financial leaders, but an approval of a multi-billion Euro bailout plan for Greece is expected by close-'

The car's radio fell silent as Sasha turned off the engine in the front drive and gathered his bag off the passenger seat.  As soon as he'd crossed in front of the bumper, the motion detector responded to the movement and the porch light flickered on.  It was so good to be home; commuting too and from Cambridge and the Ministry made for a busy day.  What he needed now was a good beer and maybe a long bath.  Or, maybe have some relaxing fun coding some custom content for Sims 3. 

Either way, neither work nor studies were going to future in the evening's activities. 

The faint rattling of dog toe nails could just be heard through the sturdy front door.  As soon as Sasha managed to tug the door open, Baldur wriggled his way through the open space and whined, excitedly, as Sasha bent over to pet him. 

"Who's a happy little man," Sasha cooed as he ruffled Baldur's ears and slipped past him into the entryway.  "How about we stroll down to the lower pasture before -"

Pop!  Something round and bulbous ruptured suddenly under Sasha's shoe and something soft and light fluttered against his face. 

"Shit!  Balloon - sorry!"  A very familiar voice called out from the darkness of entrance hall.  "Ack - poor planning.  Anyhoo!  Surprise!"

The hall light suddenly flickered on, illuminating a space that was filled with a noxious variety of party decorations and the remnants of a balloon-full of confetti settling on Sasha's face and shoulders. 

"Mein Gott, what is happening?" Sasha asked, entirely rhetorically as it became clear that Anton was not the only other body in the room. 

Of course, what was happening became rather apparent quite quickly.  What followed was the most mundanely classic version of an adult birthday party. 

People talked or avoided each other, depending on their respective social dynamics.  Both happened, simultaneously, as Anton tried repeatedly to engage a certain blonde adult in intellectual conversation.  Party goers partook of the celebratory foods and drinks.  A casual game of hide and seek might have been started - or some feuding friends of the party boy had taken social avoidance to a new level.  Which was the case, Anton wasn't entirely sure. 

All in all, it was turning out to be a successful, enjoyable, engaging soiree.  Of the type this house had stereo typically been built for.   Of the type the offspring of the society chums had grown up dreading, despite how utterly pleased it made their parents. 

Which meant, the party was turning out to be dull and needed a serious about turn before it Thelma and Louised it off the cliff of social propriety.   

Anton glanced around the room, trying to decide the best direction to steer the social Titanic.  Their usual party antics were an option but ... well ... Anton had promised to avoid those as one of the terms of bringing Micha to the party.  His little brother had only just quietly and casually inserted himself amidst the shuffle of people, so subtly that his addition hadn't quite been noticed.  Probably on purpose. 

"Alright, you lot," Anton projected his voice across the steady din of conversation as he scrambled onto the now mostly-clean appetizers table.  His gaze scanned the room and caught Abby's, hitching up a questioning eyebrow as he continued to lie to the room at large.  They hadn't exactly asked the birthday boy if he was okay with them introducing his game (it would have sort of given away the whole surprise) but he had been handing out those little figurines.  That was a sign he was ready, right?

"Time to get down to the carefully planned games and activities.  Who amongst you lot has every played - or even heard - of a role playing game.  Adventuring off into a land of mystery to fight goblins and orcs!"  Chances were, he'd be coming across as a nutter.  But, hopefully, his partner-in-crime and the game master would pick up on the not-so-subtle hint and join in the encouraging. 

Silence. A cough. Then, someone made a remark about how fighting goblins would end in death by vault, or death by cart, or death by secret dragon, and what was an orc, anyway? Not a whale. Sorry, Virgil.

Well this just wouldn't do.

"Me, me, me!" Abby giggled, linking arms with partner-in-crime, Anton.

"Like you get to be a unicorn, or a goat, and you can rescue princes and princesses, or steal stuff for fun, and you can cast fireballs. Not actual fireballs. Pretend ones. Or maybe tiny ones - can the figurines do that?" She turned to Sasha. "It's much better than I'm making it sound. It's a game!"

Another pause.

Fauna popped up from where she was hiding behind a spiky plant. Hufflpuffs made excellent finders and hiders.

"Are we talking about DnD?"

Fauna raised her eyebrows, pleased that she actually knew what this was, courtesy of her geeky step-brother.

"So it's like this - you pretend that you're adventurers in a dark cave. And then you attack the darkness,"[1] Fauna chuckled to herself, then cleared her throat. "Sorry."

1.	A very old joke.

Figaro, plate of snacks in hand, looked up with his mouth full.

"Why are we fighting goblins, then?" Seemed a bit problematic.

He had no idea what Anton was talking about, which wasn't entirely uncommon with either Anton or his bestie Sasha. It was likely a muggle thing considering Abby was so excited. Figaro's muggle literacy didn't extend much further than dealing with their money and now an eye-phone. But if Anton was keen and Abby was keen and Fauna seemed game, Figaro didn't doubt it would be fun. Unless it was nerdy. It was all arithmancy trying to predict the nature of the proposition at this point.

"I mean, I'll play if I get to be a goat. Mad for it."

To her, the party seemed the most boring, mundane, sickening muggle party she could imagine. It was the type she would of liked when she was five. And it was incredible. Okay maybe it was just the decorations, the company was not something she wanted at five, or the food, or drinks, infact its just the decorations mostly. But its what set the mood and luckily, was the main thing she had talked about with people.

Now she had some food, delicate to not take too much, she technically, wasn't invited, she was a plus one. So she had made sure to stick to Tessa to ensure that if anyone asked, she could just point at her and try to embarrass her, namely introducing herself as Tessa's girlfriend, she was a girl, and her friend. There was no lie to it, just maybe some deception.

Inevitably, she found herself somewhat down and tired, so as they all started to gather and talk about fighting Goblins, which, rude much. What did Goblins do to deserve that? Maybe they didn't let them access their vault due to the key being dented, she'd had that happen before. They were not happy with her and her dented key. She had decided it was time for a little nap and comfort, despite there being a dog around, which was a terrifying prospect. She gently transformed shifted into her Maine Coon Cat form and moved over to what she was Tessa's lap to rest on, although it could be anyone.[1]

1.	Open for anyone who wants comfort cat Gris!

Micha wasn't prone to shyness but the friends of one's older brother were always a bit intimidating.  Past encounters often reinforced one's role as kid brother; not the most rewarding role to play.  And, assuming Anton hadn't turned this into one big prank (which wasn't that hard to imagine), everyone else here was like him.  Magical. 

As such, Micha had been careful to not attract attention to himself.  He figured that the more casual his entrance was, the easier it would be to avoid the immediate branding as 'Anton's Kid Brother.' 

He'd managed to sidle into one of the peripheral seats about the time Anton had climbed up onto one of the food tables.  As he watched his brother's hands dance through gestures of what was bound to be an exciting explanation, something warm and fuzzy hopped up into his lap.  In surprise, he looked down at the cat in his lap before glancing around the room to see if anyone was ... well, looking for a cat. 

But, no one seemed bothered so Micha shrugged and grinned down at the cat before bopping it lightly on the nose.  Cat snoots were always so cute. 

"No - no goblins.  I left out creatures that might ... well ... be offended by the game," Print scrolled across Micha's phone as it transcribed the explanation into text as Sasha got up and joined the explanation.  "And, sure you can be a goat.  Or one of the traditional DnD roles-" Micha glanced up to catch Sasha nodding to someone in the group when there was a pause in text.

"You can also pick some more muggle-y roles, if you want to play as a Police officer or Cowboy or Traveling Salesman.  Here ... um ... one sec."  Micha glanced up to watch as Sasha slipped out of the room and returned a few moments later with a large plastic tub.  From the inside, he fished out a folder and the printed pages from inside. 

"Here's a list of what's currently available - feel free to pick something and we'll go from there."

---

The remnants of the food had been consolidated on a side table and the largest of the tables set up in the middle.  The game mat had been unfolded on the middle of the table and the sides had folded and morphed into the stone walls of an underground prison cell.  A miniature, gruff looking figurine was sitting just outside the bars, fondly wiping a wooden club with a dirty rag. 

Sasha leaned over and set his tiny Paladin in the cell before glancing around the table.  Despite (or perhaps because of) the quick introduction to the basic concept of tabletop role playing, this could go well or horribly.  Luckily, magic did help simplify some of the mechanics - they didn't have to worry about explaining how to add bonuses to rolls or how to determine concentration checks for magic users.  That was all worked out between the magic dice and the figurines. 

"Alright - once you'd written your stats on your piece's playing card, go ahead and set your piece somewhere in the cell.  You can make up your character's backstory as we go but the last thing you all remember is having a drink at your local tavern and falling unconscious.  You all awaken in the cell, feeling something akin to a weird hangover."

Sasha's Paladin began pacing the cell, his arms crossed over his chest.  Tiny shivers could barely be seen trembling across his shoulders.