Friday, just after 7 pm.


Eirene sat on the front steps of the stairs, watching the old grandfather clock and listening to the tick-tocking echo in the house. The streamers were up, the tea table was set, and the Abraxan-drawn carriage rides were ready. Now all she needed were her birthday guests!

She bent down to pet her tiny Siamese cat Xanthe, who had become less skittish around her over the school year but was still terrified of everyone else. It made Eirene feel special that she was the only one who could hold the kitten without it bolting, but sometimes she wished for a braver cat. A cat that would scratch at Mairead and Keegan and anyone else who dared to insult her.

But no one, no one would insult her tonight! It was her birthday party, and she'd never been so excited before. Turning twelve was a huge deal, after all. It was one year away from thirteen, the year she'd be a teenager! Then maybe when she was a teenager, she'd be allowed to wear makeup and more grown-up clothing like the other girls.

Because she would be 12, her mother had bought her a pretty blue dress with cap sleeves, and let her wear lip gloss, and gotten her a new pair of black shiny shoes with a bow on top.

Eirene had been sitting on the stairs since 6:30 that night, completely dressed and ready, with every single utensil and treat already laid out on the dining room table. She hopped up once in a while to check her hair and pester the house elf, Fanny, with questions, but she'd been sitting vigil for half an hour.

It was time!

She stared at the clock, eyes wide and knuckles white as she clutched the folds of her dress. Her lower lip quivered as the seconds ticked by, and the minute hand shifted to the right - one minute past 7:00. One minute late.

"Mother!" Eirene burst out, jumping to her feet and startling the cat, which ran into the other room.  She walked quickly upstairs.

"It's 7:01," she breathed as she entered her parent's bedroom, unable to say anything else past the lump in her throat.

Her mother gave her a small smile and calmly continued fastening her earrings on. "Your friends are only one minute late. I'm certain they will arrive shortly. They did RSVP, didn't they?"

Eirene nodded, swallowed. "And a few used the gift registries. I checked." 

"Well then," Eirene's mother smoothed out her daughter's hair and arranged it to fall over the girl's shoulders. "Nothing to worry about then."

And suddenly, the bell rang. Eirene squealed and raced down the stairs towards the door, only slowing when she realized that she didn't want to look too winded or desperate to her guests.

She opened the door with exaggerated slowness. "Hello and welcome to my birthday party," she greeted the first girl primly as a grin spread across her face. "Fanny the house-elf will take your coat," Eirene stepped back to let the guest in, and clasped her hands tightly in front of her, as if that gesture would conceal her excitement.


(OOC Note: For new arrivals, feel free to say that the house-elf lets them in the door and leads them to the dining room!)

Noriko's father had made her walk all the way to the front door by herself.  It was both exciting and terrifying at the same time.  The young Slytherin was thrilled to be going to a party - by herself, no less - and she had taken great joy in announcing to her parents that she had been invited over by one of her friends from school.  She had friends!  And that meant, no matter what the horrid Professor Storm might say or what awful grade she might get in Defense Against the Dark Arts, that she would never be without a partner again!

She couldn't help wishing, though, that she could have a friend without having to go through any of the effort of going somewhere new and scary all on her own.  Noriko froze halfway down the path and snuck a look at her father, trying to communicate through sheer force of willpower just how terrified she was to be going up to the door by herself. 

What if it was the wrong house?  What if she was too early?  She was going to look stupid, and then Eirene would never invite her anywhere ever again!

Her father, though, did not look at all sympathetic to her plight.  He simply waved her forward for the dozenth time, covering a yawn as he checked the time on his pocket watch.  Panicking, Noriko considered her options, trying to decide if it would be worth it to force herself to break into tears so that her father would walk her to the door.  Unfortunately, that meant she'd be crying all over her favorite green dress, not to mention the present that she'd spent nearly forty five minutes meticulously wrapping so that it would be perfect for Eirene.  For not the first time, the Slytherin found herself wishing that her mother had taken her instead.  At least she would have known it was too dangerous to let Noriko walk to a door all by herself!

Unfortunately, it was getting later and later.  If she didn't hurry up soon, it would be after seven o'clock!  Gulping, Noriko steeled herself and then raced forward, pressing the doorbell as hard as she could.

Why was it taking so long?  This had to be the wrong house!  Terrified, Noriko backed up away from the door, clutching her carefully wrapped present to her chest like it was a life preserver.  Just as she was turning to bolt back down the walkway, she heard the loud *crack* of apparition behind her.  Her father had left her!  Eyes wide, Noriko stared at the spot where he had been.  He'd abandoned her!  Now she was all alone at the wrong house!

Just as she'd been preparing to burst into tears, a voice cut in from behind her.

"Hello and welcome to my birthday party.  Fanny the house-elf will take your coat."

Noriko whirled on her heels, at once trying to look as though she hadn't been about to cry and that she'd had no doubt that she was at the right house all along.  "Th-thank you," she managed, giving Eirene a small smile.  Her friend looked so pretty!  And was she wearing lipstick?  Noriko was suddenly very worried that her dress wasn't fancy enough.

She hesitated for a moment, then thrust the wrapped box she'd been hugging forward at Eirene.  Unfortunately, it looked rather worse for wear from its stint as a security blanket - two of its corners had become slightly crumpled, and the splendid silver bow was a little smushed.  Noriko silently hoped that the Ravenclaw girl wouldn't notice. 

"Happy birthday," she said shyly, as she began to take off her coat and pass it to the house elf.  A house elf!  She hadn't known that the Antonopouloses were so rich!  "Thank you for inviting me.  Is anyone else here yet?" she asked, excitement beginning to take seed in her voice.

Crack!

The sound of side-along apparation was always unpleasant to Effie’s ears. She hated that queasy feeling it left behind, but travelling by floo was so uncivilized, after all it was dirty. She barely glanced up at her mother who apparated away with only a goodbye. How sensible not to say have fun, what were the chances of that? Euphemia smoothed out her jacket and the showing bit of her new party dress. She brushed the disgusting blonde hair from her face, she was getting used to the unsightly colour. Her mother was furious when she saw it, but the colour just didn’t seem to be going away. Effie was now the only blonde Grissom-Dolohov, but honestly Effie enjoyed how innocent it made her look.

Dull already, she mused to herself as she adjusted the grip on her overnight trunk. Luckily for her she had packed a few good books, as she expected nothing more than a yawn fest. One particular book would probably bring a chill to the party, but then Effie could do that on her own. She also had neatly tucked in that trunk of her the present for the birthday girl. Euphemia as usual didn’t care what Eirene might want, but went with what Effie thought she should have. Eirene was getting a lovely set of jewellery, pearl bracelet and necklace. Effie had something more expensive but of the similar vein, and Eirene deserved to have something similar. Effie was older and felt she knew what was best for her dearest and oldest friend.

Reaching the door alone, she knocked tapping her foot impatiently as she waited. Eirene did not great her at the door, but the unsightly house-elf did. She sneered in disgust, imagine the ways she could inflict pain upon the thing before the night was through. Effie’s mother had to place strict rules on the edict with house elves, as Effie had a tendency to harm them more than use them as help. “Here, take my things.” She said dropping the trunk down and slowly removing her coat so as not to ruin the fine material. “Wait!” She said sharply, realizing it was only proper to have a gift upon sight of the birthday girl. She opened the trunk pulled out the present and then waved her hand as if to signal it was okay to touch her things.

With present in hand she wandered to find Eirene. Her present wrapped in silver wrapping, not a wrinkle or crease to be found. The present was finished with a green bow, and a simple card filled out in Effie distinct handwriting. “Happy Birthday Eirene,” she said in that cool icy sharp voice. “Here is my gift, you will like it.” The way the words rolled off the tongue made it seem like that was a command. She barely glanced to the Asian girl also in Eirene’s home. She registered her as the awful Slytherin housemate she was forced to share a room with, Noriko. She nodded her head as a single of saying hello. She was not here for Noriko, she was withstanding this event for Eirene. Effie didn’t see the need for a show as big as this, her birthday had gone past without much fuss. She had of course received expensive present via owl, but she need not have this sort of event.

Ayla was almost annoyed with the fact that she had to do some side along apparition to get to Eirene's party. It wasn't that she had to do it with her Dad per se it was the fact that she had to do it at all. If her mom had taken them to the party she would have driven them there, a mode of transportation that didn't threaten Ayla to have to revisit her lunch. The last time she had done any sort of magical transportation had been taking a portkey to the amazon and she had thrown up directly afterwards. Thankfully her lunch decided to stay where it was and with the exception of a few fly away hairs she had come out of it completely unscathed.

"Your mother will be picking you up tomorrow. Be good girls and enjoy yourself." After hugging each of his daughters in turn Joseph apparated away and Ayla turned an unusually cold eye to her younger sister, "Look I'm going to this party because I'm actually friends with Eirene and I'll be nice to you because of her but don't think I've forgiven you."

Dahlia had given her a puppy dog look that she ignored and turned to the front door of Eirene's massive house. It made her miss their home back in Canada. It had been no where near this big but at least it was bigger than the studio loft the Collins were now living in. Ayla chanced a glanced back at her sister before ringing the doorbell. This was the longest the girls had gone on fighting but Ayla refused to give in. They hadn't told their parents about the fight, mostly because Ayla didn't want them to try and fix things and she also didn't want to tell them why Bella had been after her in the first place. She didn't think her parents would appreciate hearing that their fourteen year old daughter was already having boy problems.

With the doorbell rung the Collins' girls waiting for an answer. When their mother had heard that they were going to a tea party themed party she had leapt at the chance to design their outfits. Ayla had been impressed with how grown up the outfit made her look and while she was still extremely angry with Dahlia she couldn't ignore how cute her sister looked.

A small house elf answered the door and waved them in causing Ayla to jump slightly. Even though she was somewhat used to the house elves at Hogwarts she was still rather freaked out by them in general. They weren't indigenous to her home country and so it had only been within the last three years that she had seen one in person, "Thank you." She said as politely as she could as the elf took their overnight things and ushered the two girls into the Dining room.

"Eirene!" Ayla screamed wrapping the younger girl in a large hug, "You look fantastic. Happy birthday darling." She gave the girl a peck on the cheek before handing off her present and stepping back so other guests could approach her. Ayla suddenly came to realize that she was more than likely going to be the oldest person there and probably the only one in proper heels.

As usual, Noriko looked terrified, but Eirene was terrified too, so this did little to deter her from ushering the girl inside and happily plucking the gift out of her hands.

"You're the first one here," Eirene told her in an excited not-quite whisper, practically skipping to the dining room as she gave the gift a very light shake to try and figure out what was inside. "You're one minute late," she paused, looked over her shoulder and widened her eyes. "But that's alright! I wasn't waiting for hours or anything," she said as confidently as she could, letting out a giggle as she set Noriko's gift down.

Eirene stared at it a moment, resisting the urge to pick it up again and hold it close to her ear.

"I'm glad you could make it," she gushed, her voice a little too sweet to sound sincere, though she really did mean it. She liked Noriko. She didn't always like her in Defense, of course, but outside of class Noriko was nice and helpful and very rarely interrupted her.

The doorbell sounded again and she jolted, taking an eager step forward, and then freezing as she remembered that Fanny would greet the new arrivals and lead them to the dining room. The table was already set up for an elegant evening tea party.

"More guests!" She beamed at Noriko, fussing with her hair and moving a napkin on the table one millimeter to the left. Eirene felt secretly relieved that it wouldn't be just a two-person party. The more the bell rang (and it did! A second time!) the greedier Eirene got for her guests to arrive. See! She wasn't horribly unpopular after all!

"Hello Effie," Eirene breathed, nodding agreeably when Effie said she'd like her gift. Of course she would! Effie had great taste, even if her morbid reading material was sometimes questionable. Eirene suddenly hoped she hadn't brought any of those old, scary, musty tomes with her.

At Ayla's joyful outburst and sudden hug, Eirene ate up the attention, glancing around smugly before she realized that Mairead and Keegan weren't here to make feel inferior. She almost, almost missed them.

"Thank you," she greeted the two sisters, adding their gifts to the pile. "You look like a fifth-year!" She told Ayla, meaning it as a compliment.

"Well!" Eirene clapped her hands together, anxious but ecstatic. Four people had arrived so far! Four people, and her mother hadn't needed to owl their parents and coax them into attending! She didn't think...

Brushing that worrisome thought away, she gestured towards the seats at the table. "Shall we sit? It should be quite alright if we do, because Fanny can get the door for the other guests. They should be arriving shortly," Eirene nodded, suddenly wishing she hadn't sent the invitations at school, so that it wouldn't so obvious if they were the only guests there. After making a fluttering moment with her hands, Eirene sat, then hopped up again and scurried to the head of the table, because she felt it was the appropriate seat for the birthday girl.

"There are pastries and scones and cookies and other treats. And pumpkin juice and tea, of course!" She let out a nervous giggle. "So you can help yourselves, or ask Fanny to serve you. If you're hungry for... healthy food, like a meal, we have that too, so just ask. Oh! And cake. Cake will be served later!"

Eirene paused, nodded again. "So save room!"

Outfit and present

Hannah hadn't meant to be late, but such was the price of looking pretty - her mother had been helping her curl her hair until well into the time they should have already left. She hoped Eirene wouldn't be mad at her as she rang the doorbell, biting her lip and unsurprised when a house elf opened it to show her in. She turned briefly to wave at her mother - yes, I'm okay now, you can go. She'd been thrilled when Hannah was invited to the Antonopoulos household. "Very respectable people," she'd told Hannah archly, as if Hannah didn't know, as if Eirene didn't REEK of old money and home tutoring. Now Brianna Morgan-Harper Apparated away with a sharp crack, leaving Hannah to step inside the house with a little present cradled carefully in her hands.
 
Eirene had a nice house. Hannah tripped obediently along after the house elf, peering around her. She and Eirene weren't the best of friends - sometimes, in class, the girl annoyed her a little bit - but Hannah tried hard to see the best in everyone and tried even harder to make friends in all the Houses. After all, this wasn't class! it was a party, and even if Eirene was a little bossy, it was her birthday and she was allowed to be. Hannah hadn't been sure if she should come when she'd first gotten the invitation, but now she was pretty excited about the prospect of sitting around in pretty dresses and drinking tea with cake.
 
The elf led her to the dining room, and Hannah stepped inside, made a little shy by the intimidatingly extravagant decorations.

"Happy Birthday, Eirene," she said cheerfully, standing to the side and watching Eirene get hugged by an older student, one whose shoes made Hannah's kitten heels seem childish. She didn't know Eirene well enough for a hug, but she held forth the small, prettily wrapped present she had for Eirene with both hands, smiling.

-- Outfit. --

With much reluctance, Aglaia stepped up to the door to Eirene Antonopoulos's house. Aglaia hated going to other girls' birthday parties. Whenever she went to one she was expected to treat the birthday girl like she was better than Aglaia. Which she hated. Gosh darn it, she hated it. But Eirene was Aggie's friend. And she had already sent a letter saying she would go. In one arm was an expensive, black bag, held up on Aggie's inner-elbow, mocking the way her mother and other posh women held their purses. It made her feel classy, and Aglaia thrived for class. Inside the bag was her pajamas, a change of clothes, another pair of shoes, a few books she could read if she were bored, and a box of nail polish that was mainly just a bunch of dark, eerie colors that Aglaia liked. Though... Aggie hated painting her nails, since her natural nails were much too gorgeous, she was sure the girls would appreciate it. Having their nails painted by Aglaia Knight? They should be so happy their minds explode. In the other arm was an off-yellow gift box with a big bow. Aglaia hadn't wrapped it herself, she had it professionally done. But she could still take credit for it.

Picking out a gift for Eirene was a bit hard for Aglaia. She was so tempted to get her a corset or a diet magazine because she noticed Eirene was getting pudgier those days. Instead, she got her a, way less insulting, blue dress. Well, really Aggie had gotten it for herself. But then she realized how awful she looked in blue. Aglaia believed she looked like a poor person when she wore blue. Since Eirene was always wearing blue, Aglaia planned on giving the dress to her. She didn't doubt it would fit her. Aglaia had it let out a bit just in case, though. Aggie didn't think of herself as model-skinny, she just knew that, since Eirene was a bit fatter, it would be a smart move to change it accordingly. Luckily, they were about the same height. So Aglaia didn't exactly have to change anything else.

The girl knocked hard on the door. She was greeted by a house elf and her usually blank face turned suddenly sour. Aglaia flinched when the thing began to take her cloak and bag, but she ended up throwing her things on top of it, anyways. She didn't want it touching her, but she knew it was just doing its job. Aglaia felt a bit self-conscious without her cloak, though. It wasn't often she showed her arms, mainly due to the fact her strange mind believed it to be unladylike to do so. She didn't bare much skin, not often at least. Aglaia was old fashioned in that aspect, but she bucked up and continued towards the dinning room.

Most of the girls had dressed all prissy, as if they've never been to a tea party before. Aglaia, of course, always looked like a prude, but her outfit was seemingly more casual. She flicked a long strand of hair out of her face and stepped up to Eirene, ignoring the awful people around her (ie, Ayla Collins). "Happy Birthday, Eirene... I hope you like what I got you. I picked it out myself," for herself. But she wasn't about to say that. She thought she should have also gotten Eirene a nice blazer for her school uniform... But Eirene's uniform never bugged Aggie as much as the other girls'. Her dark eyes searched the room for someone that was even remotely as fabulous as Aglaia when she spotted Effie and decided to stand next to her, giving the girl a smirk. If anyone would be fun during the birthday event, it would be Euphemia. Aglaia didn't let her eyes linger on Effie's hair... Though she still wasn't completely used to the blonde. She had to pretend nothing was different, for Effie's sake. She did look more elegant... But Aglaia wasn't about to tell her anything that could potentially make herself feel bad. Which was rare... But Effie and Aglaia were close.

"I wish Eirene hadn't invited those Hufflepuffs... They make me want to gouge my eyes out," she whispered after a moment of studying the other guests. She was hoping that, at one point, the Collins would go away or get "accidentally" poisoned. Eirene told them all they could sit down and eat and drink tea and Aglaia pulled out the closest seat to her and slid into it. She hated sweets, and drank her tea plain. Aglaia never realized how she was hardly a child by the way she acted. Or, at least, was depriving herself from a childhood. But she wouldn't have cared, anyways. Her dark eyes continued to survey everyone around her. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more awful people showing up. If there was, Aglaia might have to take control of the party herself.

The entire thing was so adult that Noriko could feel herself getting excited again.  The table looked so elegant!  And she and Eirene both looked practically like grown-ups!  She was a little embarrassed when Eirene mentioned that she'd been an entire minute late, but Noriko hoped that the other girl wouldn't ask why.  It would be awful to have to explain that she'd been late because she'd been too afraid to knock on the door.  But how was she supposed to know that this was Eirene's house?  She'd never been here before!

The doorbell rang again, and this time, the house elf (she was soooo fancy!  Noriko wished her family had a house elf like Fanny) opened the door, admitting one of Noriko's housemates.  Even though Euphemia was the same year as her, she still sometimes scared Noriko.  Even Aglaia was nice - Effie acted like she never wanted to talk to her.  She gave the other Slytherin a nervous smile, deflating somewhat when she received only a nod in return.

Before she could say anything, the doorbell had rung again, this time admitting two Hufflepuffs.  Noriko couldn't help feel a twinge of jealousy as the older Hufflepuff - Dahlia's sister, she thought - flung herself at Eirene, completely monopolizing her friend's attention.  What was she doing?  This wasn't the Hufflepuff's party!

As more guests arrived, Eirene invited them all to sit and explained about the food.  Noriko lagged behind the group, trailing as she followed the others over to the table.  Where should she sit?  Dahlia was nice, but she was friends with Hannah, and  Hannah was a Gryffindor.  Noriko didn't want to get stuck by them in case any of the other Gryffindors showed up, she thought disapprovingly.  That left Aglaia and Euphemia.  She tiptoed around the table, nervously avoiding eye contact with either of her housemates as she slipped into the chair next to them.

Aglaia was already whispering into Effie's ear, probably something about how nice the table looked.  Anxiously, Noriko risked a tiny smile in their direction.  They might be Slytherins, but they still made her nervous.

"This is...nice, isn't it?" she asked haltingly, her anxiousness growing as she looked down at the intimidatingly elegant place setting in front of her.  It was so grown up!  What if she used the wrong fork, or held her tea cup wrong?  Quickly, she snuck a look at Aglaia for validation to see how the other girl used hers.  "It was nice of Eirene to invite us.  Isn't her house nice?" she ventured timidly.

A roll of her eyes left Effie desiring her books, unfortunately for her she had decided to be polite and leave them in her trunk. She had hoped that Eirene’s party wouldn’t have started out so drab. She didn’t expect to need the reading material so soon. Apparently she had given the party too high of expectations, which was rather unusual for Euphemia. Generally speaking she made a point of low expectations for events such as these so as not to be so disappointed. Pity really, Eirene really needed to work on this party thing and especially on the guest list. The Hufflepuffs were just a bit too much for Effie’s liking.

A wave of relief washed over her though as soon as she saw Aglaia, finally someone she could talk too. Eirene was of course on the talk to list, when not been given the silent treatment, but she could not monopolize the birthday girl’s time. Effie may have wanted to monopolize it just to keep the unruly and disgusting Hufflepuffs away from her friend, but her party was not the place for that discussion. Eirene needed to learn to spend time with a better class of people. Maybe she ought to spend more time with her? Elias and Aglaia had distracted her focus as of late. It was settled; she was going to make more time for Eirene come January.

Sitting down for tea was an easy choice, she found a corner placement so as only to deal with Aglaia to her side. Noriko would probably think it her right to sit next her because she was a Slytherin, or something as silly as that. That girl was much to quiet and unsure of herself, she needed more confidence to be anything but a tiny blip upon Effie’s radar. Of course she was a bigger blip on her annoyance radar, but generally that was not where you wanted to be a bigger blip.

“I know, they are right disgusting.” Effie spoke back to Aglaia with a smirk crossing her lips. “I didn’t know Eirene needed this much help in the friends department.” She chuckled a bit to herself. “Perhaps we can get her to see the light before the end of this train wreck of a party.” Course Effie wouldn’t mind just poisoning the bunch and leaving them ill to go home to her large bed. Really, Effie was quite keen on that idea but she knew it wasn’t ‘proper’.

“Her house is okay,” Effie would of course think her house much grander. “I think she invited many of these people out of generosity and misplaced kindness.” She sneered. She did not give names as to which she thought these people were, in hopes to make Noriko question herself. Cruel this might be, but fun from Effie’s standpoint.

Dahlia was never very good at pretending, especially when she was trying to pretend something in front of her parents. She had spent the train ride home with Erik and Venora and Serenity, ignoring her big sister all together but once they got off the scarlet steam engine she had to pretend to her parents that everything was fine. Ayla was a natural at it and Dahlia let her take the lead. However she was hoping that this little excursion would help soften the older girl's resolve but it seemed to do just the opposite. Perhaps being at another birthday party was reminding her of how horrible her own had went. Dahlia had still be feeling bad about what had happened at Ayla's party that she had even opted out of having a party of her own. The twins' birthday came and went without incident and now Dahlia was twelve years old and attending an extravagant party for another girl that was turning twelve.

She had given Ayla a puppy dog look when she mentioned that nothing had changed but it hadn't worked and so Dahlia resolved to just enjoy herself as much as she could. Which wasn't really going to be easy. Eirene was Ayla's friend not hers. Sure she liked the girl, she had her priorities straight but she was a Ravenclaw and Dahlia only spent time with her during class which she was normally spent being an insufferable know it all. Yes, Dahlia was a know it all herself but she wasn't a show off.

Dahlia stayed silently behind her big sister and while Ayla made a show of saying Happy Birthday to Eirene, Dahlia slipped into the farthest chair from the head of the table and snatched up a few biscuits and poured herself a cup of tea. She eyed the gathering of Slytherin girls at the head of the table. Dahlia never really cared about house separation but she couldn't help but wonder how Eirene, a rather mild mannered Ravenclaw ended up being friends with so many Slytherin.

Eirene was very happy to see her guests settling in at the table. Earlier, she'd greeted Hannah and Aglaia, accepted their gifts, and invited them to sit. Hannah was the only civilized Gryffindor she knew, which Eirene attributed to her pureblood family. Aglaia was a lot like Effie in some ways, in that Eirene both admired her and felt intimidated by her. The Slytherins all sat together, but that happened so often at school that Eirene hardly noticed, and luckily for her she couldn't hear what Effie and Aglaia were whispering. She naively thought they must be complimenting the house and the fancy place settings.

She sipped at her tea and smiled at Fanny, who stood by the archway of the dining room with a solemn, grim air, like a small general looking over her troops.

Because she loved to talk, and because she loved planning ahead and knowing what to expect, she thought she'd share the schedule for the evening. Surely her friends would appreciate knowing what was next, right? There was time allotted for each activity, and Eirene knew they could get everything done if they stayed on track. That was the whole point of a party! Her party, anyway.

"So," she chirped, extending her hand for the slip of parchment that she'd given to Fanny before the party. The house elf wordlessly gave her the parchment and then blended into the wall again.

"We have about an hour for tea and... chatting amongst ourselves," she giggled, not realizing that she was the one doing most of the talking. "At 8:00, we can go on the carriage rides that my father set up for us on the grounds," she widened her eyes, excited. "Don't fret about the cold, because there are warming charms inside the carriages, and we can even bring tea in little portable cups with us, and the view is so, so pretty that I'm sure you'll all enjoy it.

"Somewhere between 8:45 and 9:00," Eirene frowned. She hadn't been able to figure out an exact timetable, and hoped her guests wouldn't be too disappointed by this. "We'll head back inside, have cake and open presents!" That was the best part ever. "After that, oh around 10:30, we can change into our night clothes and tell each other stories and paint each other's nails, and then go to bed. My mother said we could stay up until midnight." This was so very nice of her mother, who normally asked that she be under the covers by ten at the latest.

Eirene glanced around the table and grinned. "What do you think? We can certainly do other things too, but make your suggestions now, so I can ink them in. Please," she added almost as an afterthought.