(Plot discussion is here. Everyone's welcome to join!)


On Saturday night, Fauna had been sulking in the library, secretly offended that no one had seemed to remember her birthday. Besides the beautiful pocket watch she'd received from Auror Raynor that morning, she hadn't heard any birthday wishes from her friends, or any acknowledgment that today was special. Not that she would remind them, oh no. Fauna hadn't made a peep about her birthday in the past week, and she'd half-convinced herself that all she wanted was to be left alone, with no party, no presents, not even a card.

Which was why Fauna had responded so moodily when Dax had told her he needed to talk to her in the common room. Didn't he see that she was studying? Or at least glaring at her books?

"If this is about the art club," she muttered, walking back with him through the corridors of the dungeon. "I told you, I'll do a meeting next week, but you don't want me to try to be social this weekend, 'cause I just..."

She paused in front of the Hufflepuff still-life painting, surprised that she heard no voices or laughter coming from inside the common room. On a Saturday night, the place was usually loud and crowded.

Fauna threw him a suspicious look as Dax swung open the portrait and held it for her, letting her go in first. The common room was empty. The lights were dimmed. She stood there for a moment, and then...

"Surprise!"

Friends popped out from behind couches, chairs, and the stairways. Despite her moodiness, Fauna couldn't help but grin.

As they stepped through the hole and everyone jumped out, Dax slapped Fauna on the back. "See? We didn't forget," he said, grinning broadly. "So stop sulking about it! We even got stuff we're not supposed to have," he added in a conspiratorial tone, winking. "Prefect-sanctioned alcohol-"

"I didn't sanction it-" Dion started from where he'd been behind a couch, but Dax ignored him.

"-which you've got first pick on and all that. So c'mon. Let's have some fun before someone busts our asses." With that he kissed the top of her head and headed over to his brother, punching him in the shoulder, and they discussed something in a quick whisper.

Chance had not been early to...well, near anything in quite some time.  The usually prompt Gryffindor prefect had been getting back into the swing of socializing again, but this party had him nervous.  Chance had little idea what to expect from this party and its guests, but he wanted to show his support and display his fondness for Fauna as best he could.  He smiled as the "doe eyed dear" appeared with the Fayettes.  The young Irishman had neglected his 18th birthday, not really having much reason to celebrate...but he couldn't help from thinking of how it would have felt for him to be the one escorting Fauna.  However...his brow puzzled somewhat as he saw no sign of Devlin Matthews.  Chance had never been one for gossip, but his disconnection from Hogwart's social life had been almost absolute the past few months.  The kiss on the head seemed innocent enough, but Chance doubted Devlin would have stood for it where he around.  This perplexed the rocker Gryff.

Nevertheless...Chance waited in the little crowd assembled in the Hufflepuff common room, awaiting the opportunity to speak with Fauna.  He held a black and yellow, paisley-styled box at his side.  http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=27274007 Chance almost seemed to be hiding the box, as if he were embarrassed at how much he cared for Fauna.  If he only knew that his feelings might be reciprocated...

If anything could have made her feel better, seeing her friends here definitely did the trick. Fauna grinned back at Dax and told him thank you, then laughed at Dion, who had felt the need to say that he hadn't sanctioned the alcohol. Fauna just hoped none of them got caught. Tonight should be fun and drama-free (thought the birthday girl who'd been sulking all day).

Since the twins were discussing something in whispers, she glanced around and headed over towards Chance, greeting a few others on the way. The yellow box at his side wasn't hard to miss, and she gave him a surprised look, feeling slightly guilty and yet glad that he'd thought of her.

"Hi," she smiled at him, nudging his arm.

Chance didn't want to just stand there staring at Fauna until he was acknowledged, which left him standing around surveying the room and its inhabitants themselves.  He scanned for the more familiar, friendly faces...but before he got to make any separate greetings...Fauna made her way to him with a nudge.  Physical contact with Fauna was always surprising to Chance...at least when she initiated it.  However...he couldn't ever seem to hold back a smile when such a thing happened.

"Hey there yerself, birthday beauty!  An' how's it treatin' ya s'far?"

He was glad to see her and that was clearly obvious as he grasped her hands in his own shortly after the nudge as he turned to face her.

Winifred Leigh Oliver was not particularly skilled at wrapping presents- she knew that. She had been surprised to find herself invited to Fauna's party, and was incredibly excited about hanging out with the upper years. Winnie didn't know very much about Fauna. She knew that the girl was a Hufflepuff, she was in SAWS, she liked hats, and she had a pet rat. That wasn't much to work from, but Winifred had worked really hard on her small gift for the older girl- and hoped that Fauna enjoyed it.

Shortly after dinner Winifred had taken her showed and donned her favorite pajamas for the evening. It was hot in the common room with the fires still going.

When everyone started to arrive- including Fauna- Winnie had been upstairs wrapping the lumpy present with some rather hideous multi-colored paper. She hovered on the stairs as she watched Fauna talking to a boy she didn't recognize. He couldn't have been in her house. Were she another sort of person, Winnie might be worried about the rule breaking- but as she was just Winifred, she didn't care at all.

"FAUNA AND THAT BOY SITTING IN A TREE!" she sang from her spot on the stair, giggling wildly before hopping/skipping over toward the older girl. "Happy Birthday Fauna!" Poor, socially clueless Freddie had no idea she had interrupted a moment- and even if she had realized, she wouldn't have cared very much. Winnie had a tendency to be a bit dramatic and rather enjoyed attention. "I GOT YOU A PRESENT!" she said very loudly, proudly displaying the lumpy package.

Winifred wasn't the only one excited to be hanging out with the older students; though in Pax's case, it was a much more nervous kind of excitement. He had dressed nicely for the occasion-- his outfit wasn't as fancy as what he'd worn for the Valentine's Ball, but his black trousers and waistcoat together with his yellow button-down shirt showed off his house pride in a rather smart manner. Pax was used to spending time with people older than him due to all his extracurricular activities-- in fact it was through SAWS and the Art Club that he even knew Fauna, otherwise he'd probably be up in the first-year boys' dorm at present-- but that was always structured activity, a meeting with a clear agenda. This was a social gathering. Pax was less confident about those.

So he looked rather shy as he edged his way towards the guest of honour, akwardly clutching the very small package he had wrapped in black crepe paper and tied with a yellow ribbon. It contained a handmade keychain; the ornament part was a small wolf carved (in a rather obviously home-made fashion) from wood and painted light grey. Had he been giving this particular gift to almost anyone else Pax would have fretted about the smallness and inexpert quality of the trinket, but he was fairly sure Fauna was the type to appreciate the thought, at least.

'H-happy birthday, Fauna,' he said with a small smile, holding out the little parcel. 'Hi Winifred,' he added to the third-year. 'Nice PJs.' He said it sincerely, and almost immediately started to feel like maybe he shouldn't have dressed up after all. 'Chance,' he acknowledged the Gryffindor as well. He knew Chance Ryker more through what he heard from some of the members of SAWS than anything else; not enough to know he was helping Winifred to interrupt a potential Moment between him and Fauna.

The second Chance complimented her, her face turned bright red, and she glanced down at their joined hands, trying to comprehend this new development. She had no excuse this time, like when she'd offered him a hand to help him up during Defense. This was just... holding hands. For no reason at all. Except...

"FAUNA AND THAT BOY SITTING IN A TREE!"

Fauna jolted away from Chance, putting a few feet between them as she glanced around the common room like she'd been caught acting out the rest of that nursery rhyme. She cleared her throat and blinked at Freddie when the third-year approached, showing her a gift that looked like she'd wrapped it herself. Awww. Though her embarrassment was far from fading, she took the present, smiled, and opened it to find... well, huh.

Fauna looked curiously at the tiny sweater before remembering her manners.

"It's... really pretty! And purple!" Fauna stammered, glancing at Chance for help in understanding what this thing was.

"And look! A hat!" She said it in a way that sounded like 'look! A distraction!' while plopping the badger hat on her head and grinning to hide her nerves.

"Hi Pax," she greeted him with a warm smile, amused by the difference between Freddie's PJ's and Pax's nicer clothing. She herself hadn't expected a party and hadn't dressed for it, wearing ratty old jeans and one of the extra SAWS shirts from the dance. Fauna set Pax's gift down on the table beside her, meaning to open it in a minute.

Mysti had kind of been MIA lately. She’d been involving herself mostly in Quidditch and her studies. But when she’d heard about the surprise party for Fauna, she decided she’d make an effort to make an appearance.  The 5th year was able to get a couple of cute Hufflepuff colored bracelets last Hogsmeade trip, and had wrapped them in some festive paper.  Being out of the way in one of the corner chairs, Mysti waited until Fauna arrived.

Of course, once Fauna got there, everyone swarmed over to her.  Mysti slowly got up and made her way to her friend.  She waited until the others had parted enough so she could get through.  With a semi-awkward smile, Mysti handed the gift to Fauna.

“Happy birthday. I hope you like them.” She said, before stepping aside and letting whomever else get to Fauna.

It wasn’t really like Mysti to feel awkward around friends.  But perhaps it had been her recent mood changes that made her feel that way. Either way, she was ready to let it all stop. It had gone on far too long, and she decided she was going to make an effort to get back to her old social self.   And today was her first step at that.

Chance felt the bizarre jarring shift from being in the shadows to the limelight...and then back into the shadows again.  Of course that was all highly dramatized, but it was strange nonetheless.  So was the way with teenage angst and...attention spans.

Even with the strange twist of events over the past several months...Chance still did not react quite in such an embarrassed manner as Fauna had.  His brow quirked peculiarly as he stared at the younger Hufflepuff...Winnie was her name...like the Pooh right?  Silly Muggles and their cartoon character names!  Nevertheless...he'd been sung at, interrupted, and cut off at the pass.  Chance was really beginning to dislike crowds all over again.
However, diversion came for him in the form of a 1st year.  Chance smiled somewhat down at Pax and gave him a nod in greeting.

" 'ow's it goin', boyo?"

But in retrospect...and as Chance looked back Fauna's way, he recalled how she'd turned beat red at the compliment...or was it when he held her hand?  Nevertheless...it was but a moment before she had bolted loose of him again.  Again.  That was the difficult part.  The perhaps lone Gryffindor in the primarily Hufflepuff party realized that Fauna was shy...but perhaps she simply didn't want those types of affections from him and he was overstepping the bounds of their friendship.  He pondered stepping back again...to let her make a move of some sort to reassure him.  Chance was off in his thoughts as Fauna tried to somehow involve him in her...gift analysis.  Chance was drawing a blank at the moment as he waited there on the sidelines. 

Another partygoer entered...Chance smiled to see Mystique back out and amongst others.  She had been retreating from society in a way not too dissimilar from his own as of late, and this was not natural for either of them.  Since Chance had been...well, moved away from physically as other guests moved to greet Fauna...he greeted the still sheepish Mysti with a welcoming embrace.

"S'good t'see y'out an' 'boot, Mysti."

He smiled, before waiting his turn to actually hand his present off to Fauna.  Chance knew that she had lots of people to entertain and he could wait.

Birthdays, birthdays, celebrating birthdays! Sophie was... well more chipper than usual. She had found one of the left over candies from the CoMC Valentine's day lesson and forgetting how bouncy they made her she ate all three in one chomp. Now she was dancing in line waiting to give Fauna her present! She had no idea where Ruby was; but then Ruby was more behind the scene kind of girl anyway. She was probably handling the cake! Oh maybe there would be little badger shaped cupcakes, oh that would be awesome! And also it would be so like her sister to be that meticulous.

Gordic's garters! It was taking forever - and then of course she heard Winnie's sing song voice and had to fight a scowl - and she had no idea why! Devlin was a horrible person. Chance was an excellent person. If Sophie were any kind of person at all she would be happy that Fauna and Chance might be doing things in trees that involved their lips. She certainly worked her own lips out often enough with that silly boyfriend of hers. Right! The other reason not to scowl. She had a boyfriend. Boy.Friend. Named Figaro Sellaphix, who was growing to be a much better kisser and didn't make as many painfully stupid jokes at her expense. She had no reason to scowl. No reason. No Scowling.

Finally she was standing in front of the Birthday Girl and gave her a bright smile - they were eye to eye for once thanks to Sophie wearing shoes that promoted her from the midget territory (actually they hurt her feet and made her awkwardly taller than Fig). Still her smile was bright as she threw her arms around Fauna, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOST FAVORITE HUFFLEPUFF".That was a very poorly worded statement given the fact that both her older sister and her boyfriend were Huffles. Still without pause she handed over a red gift baggie and waited to see Fauna's reaction.

And then she glanced at Chance and gleefully threw her arms around him; "I am almost as fall as you!" she giggled and squeezed him tightly. She was glad to see he was trying to be more social. She had been worried for a long time about the awkward turtle that was the space between she, Fauna, Devlin, and Chance. However Devlin was no longer in the picture so now they only had three awkward turtles. She gave him Sophie style kiss (not to be confused with the kind of kisses she gave Fig) and pinched his other cheek. "You look smashing Dahling, simply smashing".

It certainly was going to be an eventful day!  That's what Elizabeth loved about Hogwarts, almost as much as learning the magic.  Hogwarts was like a family, even between different houses.  I mean, there was an errant student here or there that you liked about as much as your mustached, weird Aunt Margo, but still.  It wasn't just going to classes day after day.  There were interactions between the people here that pulled her a little bit further from her Muggle community.

While waiting her turn to give the birthday-girl her present, Elizabeth began to watch everyone.  She saw the reactions of everyone in the room, especially Chance and Fauna.  She felt a little twinge of...what was that?  Regret?  Jealousy?  She had spent so much time taking care of her father and her brother when she wasn't away at school that she didn't realize until unwelcoming moments like these what it was she was really missing as a teenage girl.  He must really like her.  How awkward Chance must feel being surrounded by all these Hufflepuffs.

Elizabeth put all of these thoughts behind her almost as soon as she thought them, not wanting to ruin this happy day for anyone.  She shook her head and laughed at Winnie's antics.  She sat in a chair and clutched the Fauna's gift in her lap.  She had hand-knitted a scarf for her. 

She wasn't even sure if Fauna could tell the difference between a magically-knitted scarf and a muggle-knitted one.  She didn't care.  She didn't know Fauna well enough to get her a personal gift but she knew that everyone must need a scarf.  It was knitted from intermittent bright colors, of lime green and cherry red, bubble-gum pink and, best of all, Hufflepuff-yellow.  She knitted it loose so that the end result was a scarf that was wide and fluffy.

At first, Elizabeth thought it might be too eccentric and bright.  She took one last look at it before she packed it in a bright yellow box with white tissue paper and a black polka-dotted ribbon around it.  Then again, it was traditional in her family to give "out-there" gifts for one's birthday.  Birthdays were meant to be fun and memorable!  Gifts you could have gotten any day of the week just didn't cut it.

Seeing her chance, she stood and presented the gift to Fauna with a smile.  "Happy Birthday!"  She clasped her hands in front of her, a little nervous of what Fauna would think of the gift when she unwrapped it.

[Outfit & Gift]

Yeah. People watching. She'd seen the whole thing being set up and waited like the patient girl she was. Once or twice, she'd help out with the preparations, but that was only when asked. Otherwise, she was pretty lazy about the whole thing. Around the time the entire house (well, those involved, anyway) had agreed for the party to start, Roxanne had gone upstairs to change her uniform and came back down wearing muggle-like clothing and her radish earrings. Her hair was allowed to flow freely in its usual straight, filmy manner. The third year sat down and waited, yelling "Surprise!" like the rest of them, though hers wasn't very enthusiastic.

She knew Fauna only by watching her. Officially, they'd never been introduced and it wasn't like she watched the older student all the time. What would be the point of stalking a person? The girl was sometimes careless yet rather friendly, having a tendency to be shy. That was almost all she knew about her except that her luck seemed abnormally bad this year. Her boyfriend had been involved in some sort of prank on Halloween, she'd talked to Aurors, her boyfriend had been expelled, and she was inviting even more problems by being involved in the S.A.W.S. "organization" or student rallying or whatever they considered themselves.

People crowded around the older girl to give her presents and Roxanne made careful note of her reaction to each one. Some were confusing, some were taken with false gratitude, and others really excited her. The third year stared down at her own black box. A Remembrall, a package of Fizzing Whizbees, and a box of Sugared Butterfly Wings. It wasn't much, but Roxanne wasn't entirely good at the gift-giving thing. She preferred observation to interaction. When it was her turn, she also came forward with a bright smile on her face.

"Here's mine as well, Fauna," her voice was sincerely sunny. "Happy birthday!"

Everything went by so fast! The greetings, the people handing her presents, the hugs! Sophie in particular seemed extra exuberant, and though Fauna tried to adjust to seeing her at eye-level, that was something she'd probably never get used to.

Fauna began unwrapping the other presents, surprised and touched that so many people had thought of her, and unable to resist adorning herself like some kind of magpie. By the end of it, she wore Mysti's bracelets, Elizabeth's colorful and fuzzy scarf, and Sophie's heart sunglasses, certain she'd be piling on more gifts as the night went on. She thanked each person with blushing and more hugs, bending down slightly to hug Pax (and probably embarrassing the kid in the process), but the handmade keychain was just the coolest keychain ever. Even Roxanne, who didn't know her very well, had gotten her a gift and seemed to know her well enough to realize she could use a Remembrall! That and sugary candy.

"Thanks," she repeated to the friends around her. "This stuff is pretty awesome." Fauna grinned, then glanced over at Chance, not in a 'I want my present nao' kind of way, but more because she noticed he'd drifted away from her.

At least Chance had managed to be somewhat useful or at least pleasant in the background he'd blended into.  And now that Sophie was there, he smiled and felt a wave of comfort ease over him.  Chance rarely felt as self assured and comfortable as when Sophie Flickwick was there.  It was rather shocking to see her in such a...lofty manner.  She was significantly taller than he was accustomed to seeing her.  He chuckled at her joyful exuberance in greeting him though.  Could anyone really make...well anybody feel more wanted and appreciated than Sophie could?

Chance squeezed his arms around Sophie and waddled their awkward turtle selves about in the process.  He really was glad...relieved to see her.  Things were being restored back to normal...between he and Grace Eddy...he and Sophie...but...sadly that was about all the progress Chance had really made.  Would there always be an awkward...something between he and Fauna now? 

"S'good t'see ya, y'giant Amazon warrior woman you!"

Chance smiled and leaned back, holding Sophie's elbows at either side as he looked at her.

"Hmmm...skirt's a wee might short, lass...am I gonna haveta whap yer boyo?"

He smirked and nudged her in a protective fashion.  He cared about her, but she really was looking all grown up...and adorable at the same time?  Chance felt a strange vibe and seemed to allow his unnaturally green eyes to wander the room.  He offered a faint smile to the observant Elizabeth, though he really hadn't a clue what she was thinking or if she was actually studying him and his predicament.  Of course, he'd felt like a million eyes had been on him a moment ago after that little...song...screech...thing that Winnie did.  But finally...after another surveying of the room, Chance's eyes seemed to snag hold of Fauna's within a fraction of a second.

"Ah'd best run an' give Fauna 'er gift, lass."

And at that...Chance strode back toward the birthday girl...and finally was able to give her his own present.  Chance loved giving gifts normally...but he'd practically agonized himself by wishing he could communicate his feelings through his gifts somehow without appearing...blunt or odd. 

"Guess ah should letcha open this, since it is yer gift an' all..."