Tuesday, September 16th at about 7:25pm
Outfit

Mysti had meant to let at least Fauna know her plan about what she was doing to Callum on Sunday after she’d thought it up.  Unfortunately, she got busy and wasn’t able to talk to her much. But now it was after dinner and Mysti was up in the Hufflepuff common room.  She was hoping some of the other girls would show up as well to help her.  If some of the guys happened in, they might be able to help in other ways.

She’d left a note in her dorm, as well as the 7th year girls dorm saying she had something interesting to share.  Mysti asked if they would be able to meet in the common room at around 7:30, after dinner so she could explain it.  She was five minutes early, and hoped to get a pretty good turn out.  Mysti decided she would need a lot of help with this.

The plan: To convince Callum Knight that not all Hufflepuffs were of bad breeding.  She would learn to be more “polite and refined” and dress in skirts or dresses.  It would take some time to convince him, too.  She’d started trying to dress well, but wasn’t able to quite yet.  She had only just gotten the very large package of gorgeous dresses from her mother today. 

Gerladine Ketteridge was very excited to send her daughter dresses, shoes, and other accessories.  Of course, Mysti hadn’t informed her the real reason why, but was actually a bit excited about what her mother would send.  She’d always loved her mothers fashion sense.  Geraldine probably could have been a fashion guru, but devoted her time to healing people at Mungos.

When people started arriving for her meeting, she wondered what they would say.  Mystique Ketteridge in a dress? She almost thought she looked like one of the Plastics.  But she sat there, legs crossed at the ankles like a proper lady should.  And there she sat, waiting for her friends, comrades and housemates to enter.

And of course, after, she’d have to have a talk with Fauna.  Mysti felt bad for not having told Fauna her other news yet.  And this had happened the day before the “proper lady plan”.  She’d been asked, and agreed to go to the Halloween ball with Trent Travis.  She hoped Fauna wouldn’t be too upset with her for not telling her yet.  But first, Mysti would have to get everyone involved and helping with the Callum plan.  And so Mysti waited for people to arrive.

*Note: Mysti sent the note to the girls, so it would be better if they posted first. But guys are welcome to join as well. They can be like "What's this?" And they'd most likely want to join in pranking a Slytherin. I hope to get a bunch of Puffys in on this to help Mysti successfully pull this off.

The nigh sky loomed over the school, cloudless, beautiful. If given the chance, Dajda could sit outside all night and never grow tired of the endless stars that streamed overhead, however, she couldn't be outdoors at this time and, unfortunately, had to return to her common room down near the dungeons. The fact that her common area was windowless was the only downside Dajda could ever count to being a Hufflepuff, but she couldn't really complain...The Slytherin's common area was even lower, deeper, into the school.

She was clutching to some Transifiguration books, a half written essay slapped in the middle of the largest text, when she finally stumbled into the Hufflepuff common room. She had been outside until the sun finally set completely, before she wandered back inside. It was a daily thing she did, and she stiffled a yawn as she glanced around the area.

Ahead of her, she saw Mistique Ketteridge looking rather pleased with herself. The sight brought a smile to Dajda's lips as she made her way opposite of the fifth year, and she placed her texts on the table that seperated them. Taking a seat on the couch, Dajda stiffled another yawn before she stretched her arms out in a child-like fashion. Her hair was down straight, as usual, falling on her shoulders over her robes, and she crossed her legs.

"Good evening," she said once the silence or the room got the better of her. "You seem rather chipper. Might I inquire as to why?"

Fauna sat on her bed in the seventh-year girl’s dorm, writing up notes on the SAWS meeting that had taken place yesterday. She knew she should be focusing on classes, but these days, it seemed like so many other important things were at stake. Of course, she’d be singing a different tune come NEWTs, but as for now she still had time to indulge in delusional thinking.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, she realized it was time! Fauna double-checked the short and sweet note Mysti had left for her, somewhat excited and anxious about the whole thing. She hoped Mysti had something good to tell them. They all needed cheering up, but if it was bad news (her stomach flip-flopped at the thought), well, she’d at least lend a shoulder to cry on.

Fauna looked around her, wondering if she should bring anything. She’d already changed into her pajamas after dinner, and was wearing bright red flannel pants with the same picture of a dog chasing bacon bits all over them. Ollie had always cracked jokes about them. Shaking her head at the bittersweet thought, Fauna grabbed a cardigan to wrap around her white cotton shirt, slipped on her Chester the Cat slippers, and was ready to go.

When she entered the common room, she looked around for Mysti. There was Dajda, her roommate, chatting with a girl- Fauna did a double take. Mysti?! It took her a moment to recover from the shock. Then she looked down at her ridiculous pajamas, crossed her arms self-consciously, and walked over towards the two girls.

“Um, hi!” She said in a bright voice, with a hint of falseness. “Mysti you look…” Fauna bit her lip. She looked different- amazing, but different. Fauna wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “Nice?” She finished lamely, glancing at Dajda to see if she knew something about her friend’s sudden change in appearance.

Perhaps Mysti had a date. She didn't seem upset, but rather pleased. Fauna looked at her warily, feeling a sudden surge of jealousy and confusion. It was hard for Fauna to understand why- all she could tell was that she felt nervous and unpleasantly surprised, even though she tried to smile at Mysti like nothing was wrong.

The note from Mysti about a meeting had intrigued Addie, even as she continued to glance over her homework and miss watching Fauna leave as that would serve as a reminder. Mere moments passed and then she happened to look at the clock. Her eyes widened: she was late!

A mumble about Hecate's hairy, you get the picture, erupted out of her mouth as she jumped off the bed and ran out of the dorm. Upon arrival, she found Dajda, Fauna and... Mysti? She paused a moment and then agreed it was Mysti. "Wow. Don't you look utterly stunning?" Addie complimented before holding back a giggle as she gazed upon Fauna. "Nice ensemble there, Faun. Is the dog going to get the cat and the bacon too?" she said, a rather goofy grin suddenly on her face. Whatever the meeting would bring, it was evident Mysti had brought her a-game, so to speak.

Oufit

"... Lotus roots are best used for..." Maddie muttered as she carefully scrawled in neat block letters across the already half filled parchment before pausing to glance at the open potions book sitting on her lap. She needed to get a good score on this essay to make up for being late to Potions class. After a few more moments of reading, Maddie began to be aware that the only sound in the room was her beathing, the scratching of her quill and the flutter of the paper. Her brows wrinkled for a moment as she tried to remember why she was the only one in the Dorm room that evening. Was there a party she didn't know about?

It was then she remembered that Mysti had asked all the girls to meet her in the Common room that night, presumably to discuss something of great importance. What that was she didn't know. Sighing, she glanced at her clock and realized that the meeting had started a few minutes ago and she was now late. Quickly she rolled up her parchment, closed her book and shoved her feet into her Panda slippers. It took her only a minute to jog down the stairs and leap the last steps to the common room, landing with a loud thud.

"Hey hey, how's it hanging gi-- Whoa! Mysti is that you?" Maddie's eyebrows nearly disappeared as she stared at Mystique. When had she begun to wear such fancy smanchy dresses? And more importantly, why? Comfort was always the biggest importance, far before beauty, in Maddie's wardrobe choices. "Do you have a date or something?"

Mysti was excited about the fact that there were a few of the seventh year girls there as well as Maddie and Fauna.  It was a bit weird for her to be dressed up, and the others noticed this as well.  They were also questioning her mood.  She was in quite a good mood.  Of course, when you were planning what could be the prank of the century, you might be put in a rather good mood.  And so Mysti thought she was right to feel happy about this situation.

“Ok, if you’d take a seat I’ll explain everything, and answer your questions. And no, no date.”  Mysti said with a bit of a laugh, and then watched the girls take a seat. She’d prepared what she was going to say in her head most of the day.  She’d been so excited about it for these past few days as well.  Mysti then stood up to talk to the girls.

“We all know a certain Slytherin by the name of Callum Knight. And how his views of women is that they should all dress proper in order to prove themselves of proper breeding.  I had a bit of an argument with him over this until I got a brilliant idea.  But in order for this idea to work, I’d need help from all of you.” Mysti paused for dramatic effect. At least she hoped it would work that way.

“My plan. Is to convince him that I’ve changed.  To behave and dress how he thinks women should.  I want to show him that Hufflepuffs aren’t of bad breeding.  And hopefully that clothes aren’t all that make someone ‘good’.  Then eventually we’ll have to think of a good way to humiliate him after I’ve sufficiently convinced him that I’ve changed.”

What else? Mysti thought to herself.  She felt like there was something she was forgetting.  So many ideas had popped into her head since the first idea came into play. 

“Oh! And I’d thought about perhaps once we’ve gotten him convinced a bit, we can stage a fight.  It would have to be somewhere public that he would be.  And perhaps a couple of you basically are mad at me for having turned into one of the Plastics.  If this works the way I’ve thought it over in my brain, I might be able to... ‘infiltrate the enemy base camp’ so to put it.  And perhaps we can see what they might be up to.  Well, no good, but it could be interesting if it worked.” Was that it? It seemed like it.  She looked around trying to gauge reactions.

“So, what do you think? And would you be able to help? It might take some time to convince him, and I would probably need you all to help to make it work. Keep me looking ‘proper’ and whatnot. And it would be a perfect prank to play on the Slytherins, don’t you think?” She smiled and sat back down. 

“Or does anyone else have any ideas to throw in?” Mysti hoped it sounded like a good plan.  She was still quite excited about it too.  This also might be something in order to lift the spirits of her housemates after losing two of their favorite girls.

Fauna very maturely stuck her tongue out at Adelia’s comment about her pants, knowing she was just being goofy, as usual. When the group of girls gathered around Mysti, Fauna perched on the arm of a chair and listened.

Yes, Callum Knight was… unique. He’d never really bothered her much, probably because she made an effort to avoid the Slytherins. However, he did tend to act like a bully towards the other fifth years (a well-spoken bully, but a bully nonetheless). His recent argument with Maddie by the lake had sounded rather hilarious the way she’d retold it, yet Fauna couldn’t imagine being his age and stuck in the same classes with him every day.

Her eyebrows shot up questioningly when Mysti said she would need their help. Oh Merlin, what were they going to do? Lay in wait for the guy and ambush him with paintballs? Somehow, as enticing as that idea was, she didn’t think it would change his mind.

Luckily, Mysti’s plan was more sophisticated. Fauna started to smile, understanding why Mysti had dressed so differently. She was going to trick Callum into thinking she was a proper lady, even pretending to be a Plastic! This was going to be good!

“I like it,” she said simply, grinning. “You know… I have to say I don’t care all that much about Callum, but if you could buddy up with the Slytherin girls in the process… and trick them, too- now that, I would love to see,” Fauna paused. “And yes, I’ll help!”

Fauna realized that it wasn’t very kind to trick someone like that, but at the moment she didn’t care. Many of the Slytherins, especially the girls, had done so many mean things to her that if the Hufflepuffs could get back at them somehow, she was all for it. Plus, from what she’d heard and seen, Callum wasn’t exactly innocent.

A worrying thought struck her. “As long as you don’t… well, go over to the dark side,” she joked, though she was actually quite serious. Mysti was outgoing, funny, warm, and a great friend. Fauna imagined that if Mysti started dressing and acting like a Plastic, they’d love to include her in their group, and then she might not want to leave. The problem with playing a role was that sometimes the role became real. Fauna shook her head, deciding she’d just have to trust Mysti and try to let go of some of her insecurities.

Dajda watched as Madeline and Fauna came in. She smiled and gave an acknowledging nod to both girls and waited for Mystique to continue. Oh, right.. she had asked the Hufflepuff gals to a meeting tongiht... She had been so drowned in the now late letter to home and the first assignments for school she had completely forgot. That was bad and she made a mental note to actually live a bit while she was still at Hogwarts, not drown in her own self worry...

She listened as Mystique began to lay out what this meeting was all about. Yes, the facts were being laid out there, and Dajda felt her heart jump a little right in the beginning.

"I had a bit of an argument with him over this until I got a brilliant idea.  But in order for this idea to work, I’d need help from all of you.”

Need...Help? What exactly was she planning to do? Well, judging by her attire she might... No, that would be silly. Besides, Dajda could never agree to such a thing. She was perfectly content with the Hufflepuff robes until she left school. No amount of trying to convince her otherwise would change her mind. Dajda found herself leaning in closer when Mystique paused, somewhat anxious to hear the rest of her plan.

Listening more, Mystique pretty much announced that it would be her that would be changing more to fit the needs of the Plastics and Cullem's expectations. It seemed fitting, too. Mystique was a very pretty girl, very cute and exceedingly charming. Even though it was her plan, she was deffinately the best contestant to play the part.

"It's brilliant!" Dajda beamed, announcing her approval of the plan just as Fauna did. Dajda blushed slightly and bit her tongue, allowing Fauna to continue with whatever it was she had to say.

“As long as you don’t… well, go over to the dark side,”  Fauna continued in what sounded like a joke.

Dajda watched her for a moment, her smile dropping slowly, trying to determin if it truely was a joke or not. There was a pause in her statement, after all. Still, after a moment she decided to take Fauna's words as a true joke, and her smile beaned through once again. "I don't mind being someone to argue with you," Dajda continued, deciding her best place would be the role at the end. "As long as you promise not to jinx me in the middle of it."

Maddie never did understand what girls saw in a creep like Callum. He was coarse, conceited and just an all around ass. He sat around pretending to be gods gift to women, while projecting his own insecurities on them like a five year old with mommy issues. Maddie couldn't stand guys like him and she couldn't stand the girls who flocked to them like empty headed pigeons to a newly washed car. If only they did what real pigeons did, it might make him look more attractive.

Too mean? Not in her opinion. If she had the opportunity, she would tell him exactly that. Hell, she would make the opportunity despite her distaste at being anywhere within 20 feet of him.

Listening to Mystique's plan did little to calm her. In fact, it only made her madder. Why the hell did a sweet and pretty girl like Mysti have to change herself to please Callum and his ass backwards views of how women should be? She got that it was a prank meant to teach him a lesson, but in her mind, Mysti's dignity was not worth falling to his level. Besides, knowing him, he wouldn't learn anything. She couldn't believe it when both Dadja and Fauna agreed to help her!

"Mysti... I can't. I can't support you bringing yourself down like that. Do you realize that you will not only have to dress like a snobbish prigg but also lose a few... no several... brain cells in the process? He likes them pretty, snobby and dumb... how else can he expect them to treat him like some kind of god? Ugh..." Crossing her arms, she continued angrily "... and besides, how do you think you are gonna convince him that you have changed so suddenly? I mean... the guy isn't what I call brilliant but he isn't stupid. He will realize you are up to something when you just suddenly reveal you are more of a lady now..."

She wanted to just wash her hands of it and walk away, but she couldn't stand knowing that Mysti was just setting herself up to get hurt. She cared about her dorm mate... she was one of the few she had left with Darcy and Ollie expelled. They had to stick together! It was with this is mind that she sighed and said in defeat "Look... I won't help you make yourself look like an insipid airhead, but I will be there to help you prank him... or to help if he hurts you... But that's all. Sorry."

Mysti found herself excited by the reactions from Fauna and Dadja. But she hadn’t expected Maddie’s reaction.  She’d thought that Maddie would understand pranking him, but there must have been something else. 

“I understand what you think.  Though in just a couple minutes of changing just my attitude, it seems as though he already thinks I can change. He even offered to help me by giving me some books or telling me who could help.  I think it’s quite possible to get him to think that I can change. And when he does believe that I have, I’ll tell him that just because someone can dress well and talk properly doesn’t make them “good” per-say.”

Once again, her brain had to pause to think of anything else to say.  She hoped that everything worked out the way it was set up in her head.  Mysti knew everything wouldn’t go exactly as planned, but she did hope it would work out close to it.

“My plan is to also get into the “enemy base” so to say.  And I would potentially be able to betray not only Callum’s trust, but the so called ‘plastics’ as well.” Mysti gave a small nod.

“And thanks Fauna and Dadja. And you too, Maddie. And don’t worry, Dadja. I don’t think I could every be friends with them. I’ll still be the same me, giving reports on my progress in here. And basically any time they’re not around.  And I wouldn’t jinx you.”

Mysti gave Fauna a hug. “I won’t go over to the dark side. Even if they do have cookies.” Giving a smile, she giggled.

“I just really want to be able to get in his head and throw him off, and the others as well. They’ve been trying to mess with all of us for too long and I think it’s time to do something about it.”

Fauna hugged Mysti back with a grin. The way her friend explained things made sense. They were going to do this. The thought was exciting and terrifying, but for once, Fauna didn’t care about the risks.

She glanced at Maddie. “It is a little risky,” Fauna murmured with a shrug. “He might not fall for it. But… I’m tired of them making fun of us all the time.”

She shifted uncomfortably when she realized she was mostly talking about herself. “I mean, we’ve tried ignoring them. And you guys have, uh, tried fighting back and arguing. But nothing seems to change. Why not play a prank on them, trick them a little?”

A nagging little voice told Fauna that she was making this too personal. She ignored it. Mysti’s plan wasn’t just a funny game to her, but a way to get revenge after years of insults from the Slytherin mean girls.

“What’s the first step?” She asked Mysti, as if they were discussing homework or art club decorations. “If there's anything I can do... well, I’m not the best actress, but I’ll try.”