The Gryffindor Common Room was decked out.  Sure, there was the usual Gryffindor decor everywhere...but in addition there were Sophie Flickwick collages all over everywhere.  There were tiny little bundles of Sophie-tasticness everywhere!  Of course these photos were not of Muggle make...and so Sophie was moving around all over the place in her super energetic, typical fashion.  Chance was grinning, his arms folded across his chest...wearing his orange lion hoodie that Sophie had given him as a gift.  He grinned and nodded approval at the scene...as he observed the cake being wheeled in.  It was a massive replica of Hogwart's itself, with Sophie happily standing at the tip top of Gryffindor tower wearing a princess crown and a microphone.  Sophie deserved to be the center of attention.  She was usually the life of the party, but this was her special day...and Chance hoped that he could help to make it truly special.  He knew it would be no easy task...with the Matriarch of the Flickwick clan having recently departed.  But...with the right people involved, he hoped they could put up a valiant effort.

Chance got Mr.Flickwick's most recent recording playing in the Gryffindor common room, hoping to make the place as comfortable and Sophie-like atmosphere as he could.  The guests were beginning to stream in now...Of course, Chance was not without aid.  He'd certainly consulted Grace Eddy and Fauna Blake in planning this party.

"So whadda y'girls think uvvit s'far?"

The Irish prefect of Gryffindor House hoped things would go off without a hitch...The guest list was...mostly tame, but there was always the possibility of something going amiss. 

"I figured we'd start off 'ere...'ave th' cake an' some Soph meet an' greet time...then start up th' scavenger 'unt fer presents at each location, like ya'd said Fauna.  Then what wuzzit y'said earlier Grace?"

It was so unlike Chance to be organizing ANYTHING, but...the former King of Slackers was really putting in the time, thought, and effort for dear little Sophie-kins.  He hoped everything would make her happy.  She deserved at least that much!

Outfit + Gift

It had been quite a while since Mysti had been in such a large group outside of classes. She’d been talking to and hanging out with friends more often since her talk with Chance a few months ago. When she’d gotten the invite to Sophie’s birthday, she decided she’d go.  Finding out about the present scavenger hunt was quite fun. Mysti got together a present, and found somewhere to hide it, then tried to think of some place good to hide it. When she got the idea

For lunch, the Hufflepuff headed back to her common room, grabbed the gift and headed to the kitchens. After tickling the pear, she stepped in through the portrait and started talking to the elves.  The were always quite helpful, and she thought this would be a fun place to hide Sophie’s present.  Of course, the elves said they’d be delighted to assist with holding the present.  When Sophie came in and said a code word, she would be given the gift! After she’d organized that, the elves gave her a bunch of snacks, plus a couple sandwiches, and thanked her for her visit and said she would be welcome back any time.  As she was heading back out of the portrait hole, she thought she saw them setting a bunch of newly cooked pastires out by the gift, most likely for Sophie as well.

Armed with her note, hinting at where she’d find it, she said the Gryffindor password and entered it to see Sophie everywhere, a giant cake, and Chance plus some others.

“That cake looks amazing.” Mysti said, unintentionally cutting into the question Chance asked Grace. “Sorry to interrupt. But it had to be said.”

She gave a smile to her friends, and made her way over towards them.  She hadn’t seen Grace in a while, and Fauna she’d only talked to a few times. She’d seen Chance a bit more than the others, but was happy to see them all in one place.

Outfit + Present

Evie loved parties. There hadn’t been much occasion for much lately, but she was excited for this one especially. Sophie had always been quite nice to her, and she’d decided to make her something special.  Evie had worked on the dress for the week after receiving the invitation.  She had also asked Sophie what her favorite color was so she could coordinate it in. She dearly hoped her friend would love the dress, and had a feeling she would.

The Slytherin girl spent a lot of time in the library recently and had noticed a place behind a suit of armor near the entrance where she could hide the present. After that, she went and wrote her riddle note.  She rolled it up and wrapped it in a red ribbon, then headed up to the Gryffindor common room. Though Evie liked parties, she did hope it wouldn’t be too awkward. Though she was friends with Sophie, she hadn’t been very social with anyone else lately, besides Slytherins and Sophie.  Either way, she was hoping to get on better terms with people from other houses, and this would be a good opportunity.

Upon entering the room, she noticed the fun Sophie-esq decorations.  It was a very fun atmosphere, and she, like Mysti, was also in awe of the cake. It was quite enormous and incredibly well done. She smiled upon seeing the mini Sophie at the top and headed over to inspect it further. It was so detailed too!

“It is quite the work of art.” She said, turning towards Chance. She then occupied herself by walking about the room looking at all the pictures of Sophie.

Outfit | Sophie's Gift

Life had been so much easier since Quinn and Sophie had settled their differences; the Gryffindor party girl had her sister-from-another-mister back, and the youngest Flickwick had a shoulder to cry on and a pillar of support whenever she needed in her less than lovely year. Yes, Quinn had been the committed friend ever since, and she was all for making Sophie's birthday extra special. Finding an old photo had been the easiest part of Quinn's gift, and she'd decided on an image from last year, the two grinning from ear-to-ear before a summer outing. The more difficult task came in filling the trunk Quinn had bought with every sweet, treat and chocolate possible; chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts Beans of Every Flavour and Sugar Whizz Snapdragons were practically crammed into the chest, floating upon a sea of cupcakes, doughnuts, jelly babies, cola bottles, sherbet saucers and lemon fizzlers. It'd been somewhat of a strain on Quinn's mediocre allowance, but it was all worth it - Sophie would have enough treats to last her until her fortieth birthday by the looks of things.

Tugging the chest down the dormitory stairs, Quinn gave a grunt of exasperation, wishing another pair of hands could help lug the rather cumbersome birthday present. Ah well, it was nothing a young witch couldn't handle. She took position behind the chest and gave it a final kick, the sound of wood clanging against steel-capped boot rattling down the hallway. Sophie's present made a louder entrance into the common room than Quinn could ever mange, crashing ferociously on the stone floor but still managing to stay intact. The girl appeared after it, giving a grin to the early arrivals and placing a foot upon the large, wooden trunk.

Taking a look around the room, Quinn gave a few firm nods of approval, unable to wipe the grin from her face. It was perfect, and just what Soph needed. "Good job, Chance," Quinn replied, granting her Irish housemate a hearty thumbs up. "It's looking awesome, dude. She's gonna love it, I can tell already."

The present.


"Looks wonderful!" Fauna complimented Chance, surveying the decor, the Sophie collages, and the castle cake.

"I like that idea. Greeting her first, and then sending her off on her mission for a bit," Fauna chuckled. She'd folded up her note for Sophie and put it in her pocket, and was looking forward to giving her the clue. It referenced one crazy class they'd had together that had just so happened to involve billywigs and happy pills. And goofy dancing.

She hoped this party went well, for Sophie's sake. No drama or fighting, like there'd been at the New Year's party, and other get-togethers. When Mysti and Evie arrived, she smiled at them both, unsurprised that the cake was a big hit.

Quinn's loud entrance and the clanging of the trunk made her laugh. "Need help?" Fauna offered lightly, pretty sure the girl enjoyed kicking the trunk around instead of carrying it properly. Also not surprising!

Eveline was a little nervous as she walked into the room. It wasn't that she didn't like parties, it was that she seldom interacted with anyone outside Hufflepuff, except for relatives. However...after Sophie's loss Eveline wanted to express her support and solidarity, and besides...her own 18th  birthday was only five days away. So...she summoned up her nerve, climbed the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, and here she was.

Nevertheless she was relieved to see that Mysti and Fauna were already here, and Eveline always seemed to get on well with Chance. Eveline was a little less certain about Evie Pascal, however. Slytherins were often scornful of Hufflepuffs; and while Eveline came from a wealthy, Pureblood family, it seemed to her sometimes that Slytherins seemed to feel she did not belong. That she was, as the old taunt went, a 'blood traitor'  for making friends with people like Fauna, and getting involved with SAWS. Of course after the werewolf attack,  Eveline herself had mixed feelings about werewolves; but she supposed it was not their fault if somebody had botched their wolfsbane.

Eveline had mixed feelings about other things too. During winter break she had met a charming, handsome young man, at a return-to-school party at Spellpunk. After that they dated on the sly for a couple of months, with Eveline actually sneaking off campus to see him, twice. Lucky for her she had not been caught...because following her close call with the werewolf, when she had to go to lockup that full moon...she  Owled him to let him know she would be in London. Not only did he not respond, he had never contacted her since, nor had he replied to any of her attempts. It was too obvious that he had never really cared for her, that most likely he found her dull, and...she was heartbroken, though she tried to keep it a secret.

But there was good news too. Since Eveline did not know what she wanted to do with herself after graduation...except for knowing that she was not in the market for a husband...she had decided to  continue her education. And her parents had finally consented to her plan...pursuing a degree at a Muggle University. So...being as much French as English...she had taken the necessary exams and then applied to the Sorbonne. And just yesterday she had received her letter of acceptance! It had had been somewhat delayed because first it had to be sent to her family home in London, and from there her parents had Owled it to her. But it was a great relief to her that if as she feared she tanked on her NEWTS...she would still have something to do with her life.

"Wow!" she said, as she walked up to the cake. "That is beautiful!" She smiled brightly at her friends, a little uncertainly at Evie, and giggled at the trunk. Of course she was very curious about what might be in it, but she was sure she'd find out soon enough. As for Eveline...her gift was a casual, summery top from Twilfit and Tattings, suitable to wear with skirt, shorts or trousers, in Gryffindor colours. She had hidden it in the conservatory, but she had a piece of parchment crumpled in her hand, with a badly-drawn picture of flowers on it.

 No one had ever accused Eveline of being artistic...

If Quinn had waited five minutes (while Ruby hid Sophie's present under her sister's pillow in the dorm) she could have had that extra set of hands she needed. Of course Ruby had fussed over just how well the little package was hidden and the clue (was it really cute to hide a Book of Dreams under her pillow or a cop out). It was cheesy but as much of her former personality as the Hufflepuff was battling her former self little pieces shown through. She needed this to be perfect for Sophie, but also for herself. If they could survive this mile marker of firsts in the time after Ramona's death then they could survive the rest of them. She really believed that; she had to.

Coming down the stairs she took another deep breath and felt her lips twitch with a faint smile. She was so grateful for Chance - that he had been able to do what Ruby, herself, could not. The way he selflessly set aside his own pain at Ramona's passing to take care of Sophie and give her some sort of grounded sense of reality; there just weren't words to express how much Ruby appreciated him. She knew he hadn't done it for her, but in a  very dark time of her life he had taken the most worrisome thing off her plate. Ruby had to sort through her own grief and anger because she could help anyone else and Sophie really needed someone in the now.

Standing next to the small cluster of arrived party enthusiasts she linked her arm with Ryker's and gave it a small hug, "Everything is so amazing you guys, Soph is going to flip when she sees it. When I saw her headed to the Owlery I think she had actually resigned herself to the idea that  today was going to be like any other day of the week," there was almost a giddy sound to her voice as she hugged Chance's arm again, "You went above and beyond Chance," letting her voice drop a little so just the other seventh year could hear, giving him a sisterly sort of smile, "Really. I can't thank you enough for doing this. She needs it, even if she doesn't know it yet".

Grace Eddy was exhausted.

Between cramming for NEWTS, performing prefect duties, Quidditch practice, conspiring to arrange the 7th Year's skinny dipping venture and just generally trying to keep herself busy with anything and everything, she was starting to look and feel run down and stressed (even if she pretended otherwise). Even so, focusing on everyone and everything allowed her to stay busy and left her little time to think too much about what else was going on in her life.

Thus, when Chance and Fauna had mentioned that they were working on plans for Sophie's birthday party, Grace was happy to volunteer to help out.  Even if she wasn't as close to either Sophie or Ruby or Emily as she often wished she could be given their mutual connections, Grace felt a certain amount of kinship with them, even from afar, given what they were dealing with regarding the death or in Grace's case, impending death, of a mother.

Grace was hoping that Sophie's birthday party would offer all of the Flickwicks a reprieve from the feelings of grief she knew they were experiencing. Who best to know what they were going through than someone else who was trying so desperately to navigate the onslaught of emotions inherent in the death of a loved one?

As her gift to Sophie, Grace had spent some time in the Hogsmeade shops and had found an old, ornately designed Hour Glass, which she hoped would bring back memories of another shared expiernece the 5th year had had with Grace. The Gryffindor pow-wow about house points would not have been as poignant without Sophie's input and Grace wondered if the younger girl might follow in her sister's footsteps and become a prefect someday.

At any rate, Grace's scavenger clue would lead Sophie to the place where the official house points tally were kept. Her gift was disguised in a modest wrapping and hidden in corner where the traffic was low and it would likely go unnoticed.

Grace stood next to Fauna and Chance and remained quiet and out of the way as much as possible. This was their show and she was just there to support the running of it.

Today was a huge day for Sophie.  At least, Chance was hoping it would be huge...glorious...fun filled and worthy of the long standing friendship bonds that he'd had with the tiniest Flickwick.  While Chance was rather laid back, he always felt a little unsure of himself in expressing his feelings and emotions.  That had always been difficult for him...likely due to his strained and now severed relationship with his own mother.  Losing Ramona Flickwick-Sophie's mother, had been more difficult than being disowned by his own flesh and blood.  But this wasn't about loss, it was about the important things in life that were still worth fighting for and that love and friendship would always swarm Sophie as she so richly deserved.  Seeing the people swarm in made it difficult to hold back a smile.  This was happening.  He was actually gonna pull this thing off!  Dangling from one of the large pictures was a simple, handmade card.  A scarlet backing and golden letters showed Gryffindor pride was in this hint to Sophie's present from Chance.


Chance hoped that this note would lead Sophie back to the very spot where they'd performed their first duet at the winter festival which seemed far too long ago now.  Of course, this note was appropriately attached to one of the moving photos of Sophie smiling and singing and Chance playing his electric guitar at her side with a smile of his own.  Chance hoped this clue would be sufficient so that Sophie could find her gifts from him easily enough with a pleasant little memory attached.  He liked it, because it made him think of the photos that Sophie had brought him at a time he really needed a bright spot in his own life.

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=34848924

But it was time to focus on the guests and get the mood set for the party!  Chance had to begin to mingle and interact with everyone.  There seemed to be a slew of compliments heading his way, and Chance couldn't help but smile, lower his deep green eyes and rub at the back of his neck.  Mysti and Evie were quick to praise the cake.

"Thanks gurls.  Glad y'could both make it!  An' dun' worry...Ah promise ah didn't bake th' cake."

Quinn gave Chance props on the overall feel of the room and he grinned as his own eyes panned the scene around them.

"Thanks lass.  Ah 'ope so.  Mebbe she'll do 'er wee, lid'l Sophie squeal...y'think?"

Chance smiled back at Fauna, pleased that she liked how things were coming together.  The scavenger hunt was her idea after all...and he thought that would add a neat, unique aspect to the birthday party itself.

"So...are we all s'ppossed t'follow Sophers while she searches out each clue, so we can watch 'er reactions...or does she go off on 'er lonesome'r jes' with th' one who th' clue's from?"

As Eveline approached...Chance smiled at another cake compliment.  He was glad that it wasn't just a straight forward, plain cake.  It was fun and unique, like Sophie.  Although...he wondered if the cake weighed more than the girl it was intended for...

"Why thank y'kindly!  S'good t'see ya Eveline."

Ruby came up from Chance's side and embraced his arm, so with his own free arm he squeezed the slightly more sizable Flickwick girl and bowed his head to place a kiss at her forehead.  Ruby was like a sister to him too...and they both loved Sophie dearly, so her words meant an awful lot to him.  He wasn't good at dealing with things like this though...and so he just smiled and muttered softly down to Ruby.

"Thanks lass...Means a lot comin' from you."

Grace had been rather quiet...and Chance was concerned with where her head might have been at.  However, when Grace hadn't responded to his question from earlier...he knew something was bothering her..or at least preoccupying her mind.  He reached a hand back to find and squeeze his fellow Gryffindor prefect's hand encouragingly and gave a little smile her way as if to say that everything would be okay and that he'd be there at her side.  Chance then began to gaze about the room and hopped up nimbly one one of the infamous squashy armchairs, cupping his hands about his mouth as he called to the ever filling room.

" 'ey there lads an' lasses!  Th' birthday gurl outta be here any minute now...so think big, 'appy faces an' lotsa luv!  Thank all of ya s'much fer bein' 'ere...Really means a lot t'me an it'll be great fer Sophers.  Luv y'guys!  'ave a ruddy fantastic time!  'elp yerselves t'everything but th' cake an' th' clues...but save me a pumpkin juice!"

Chance smiled at the crowd of friends and realized that he was in a room that thus far was completely filled with females aside from himself.  It was hard not to "enjoy the scenery."  He was amused by this, but tried not to chuckle about it.  Things often tickled his funny bone simply by the way his mind worked things out...but there was no need to bring it up.  And somehow...Chance found himself searching out Fauna's eyes from his perch on high...and when he found them, he smiled softly for a delayed moment, before hopping back down to the floor.

-- Outfit & Gift. --

---

Murphy didn't normally do parties. They didn't work well with parties, as she was awkward and timid and didn't know anyone most of the time. Murphy went out of her way to avoid the shuffling about and the constant leaning against the refreshments table. A wallflower was what she was. But this party was in her very own common room and lots of her housemates had begged for her to go. Murphy almost felt like it would be rude of her to not show up. Sophie was a sweet girl, anyway. Sickeningly sweet, to the point where Murphy found herself bracing for the girl to switch into some secret, rude mode. She had yet to experience such a phenomenon, but she couldn't help it.

So Murphy grabbed one of her older paintings that she kept under bed out of lack of space, and wrapped it up for Sophie. It was rather large and obscure, but Murphy was poor and merely just a painter. She would have bought Sophie a nice gift, say a shirt or a necklace. She would if she could. But Murphy didn't have the budget. It was amazing she could even afford supplies for each school year.

She had also used a frame she had laying around for whatever reason.

But surely Sophie would like it, as the painting was colorful and happy. One of her nicer paintings, but she wasn't going to say that. She had her personally favorites hanging on the wall of her bedroom back at home. She kept the rest hidden in another spot under her bed. Most of them weren't as big in size, but they were nice enough to twist a heavenly knot into Murphy's stomach.

Goosestepping down to the party with the painting in her hands, she settled it down in the safest place she could find. Murphy leaned it against an unoccupied wall and hoped for the best that nobody destroyed it somehow (say dancing too crazily, being overall rowdy.) She had narrowly glanced at the people around her, recognizing some of them, mostly her actual housemates but not so much some of the older students.

People were throwing compliments about to the boy hosting the little party, Chance, and he looked rather happy with himself. This sparked a subtle frown to form on Murphy's face. Murphy forced herself forward, arm crossing over her chest and making her look a bit pissy. But she turned her frown into a toothless smile before parting her lips,

"Yes, Ryker. I like your Sophie shrines around the room... It's like I keep forgetting whose party it is, but then I turn around and wow. Oh, right. It's Sophie's," she stopped herself, realizing her sarcasm was probably coming off more insulting than anything,

"Mm... I'm sorry. I was joking. I didn't say anything," and she fell silent once more, shuffling her way back to her wrapped painting.

Vulpes  felt a little nervous about going to a party for a girl he had never spoken to before. But he was told by a few people that talked to him regularly that it would be okay if he came. Still, he felt like he was gate crashing. He didn't even have a present. So with a great deal of nerve, he managed to carefully step into the Gryffindor common room. To be polite, he turned off his headphones and hung them around his neck.

Once he did, he felt even more out of place. Unlike everyone else, he still had his school robes on. He glanced around quickly, seeing a few people he recognized. He saw Evie from his own house, which put him at a slightly better disposition. Another face he recognized was Murphy, a Gryffindor girl from his year. Secretly, he had harbored a soft spot for her since half-way through the fourth year, though he had never really spoken to her. She was sort of standing off on her own, next to a brightly colored painting.

Nervously, he inched his way around to another empty spot in the room, and simply stood there, hands together, tapping his fingers together lightly. From here he could hear people complimenting someone named Chance about the decorations. And Vulpes had to admit, that the common room did look very nice. Pictures of Sophie formed collages, and were placed in large numbers around the room.

Vulpes smiled slightly to himself, and shrunk further to hide himself. Quietly, he hummed Beethoven, and closed his eyes day dreaming.

George wasn’t the biggest fan of Tuesdays… it was so far from the weekend. Still, he had gotten out of Potions (what a pre-NEWT nightmare that class was) fairly unscathed, and planned on stuffing his mouth to sputtering speaking point at dinner. First, though, he had to discard all his supplies (which meant the quill behind his ear and the rolled parchment in his back pocket).

What was there about today that was special? Loosening up his tie and undoing the top couple buttons on the school shirt, George couldn’t seem to remember. Until he stepped into what used to be the Gryffindor common room.

He blinked, glanced around, noticed the cake, and finally looked at the people (or maybe he stole another glance at the giant cake). It looked big enough for dinner. Second most important thing, though, were the girls in the room. Which to bug first, though? Stepping up to Grace, George gave her a tight hug, sudden and accompanied with a loud “Hey!” Picking her up and spinning her in a quick circle for good measure, he finally set her down on her own two feet—a little dizzy himself. "There are too many Prefects in one room..." His misbehaving senses were tingling.

Winking at Ruby, George wasn’t too sure how well she’d handle him planting a kiss on her cheek, so he reframed. Plus she was nearly humping Ryker’s arm… “Who’s bringing the firewhiskey?” Sophie’s birthday… how could George have forgotten with all the hushed reminders floating around? Pushing his rolled up sleeves above his elbows, he ended his round next to Quinn, draping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in, giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek.

Glancing to Chance, he lifted his chin in a casual greeting. “Your doing, mate?” His free hand waved around the room. All they needed was Lou, now. And maybe the birthday girl… That was probably a good thing to wait for.

Gift // Outfit

Demitria was walking back from the Owlery humming a pretty Mozart piece when she stopped short. The Pygmy Owl on her finger hooted at her. Elf’fiskii ruffled out his feathers, upset at being very nearly dislodged by the quick motion.
Today was Sophie’s birthday. Chance had talked to her the other day about coming. She had thought she wouldn’t be invited, but she was pleased that she had been. It took quite a bit of thought to what she would get the other girl, having only been friends with her for awhile. And the fact that they still randomly argued like fish-wives… But it was all in good fun, although the two of them alternated between laughing and strangling each other. It was a beautiful friendship, Mimi smirked.

But she had totally forgotten with the events of the 2nd and her missed birthday. It hadn’t really bothered her at the time, but a small twinge of jealousy crept into her heart. She had had her sweet sixteen in a stone hallway with two beautiful instruments and Leon. It was enough. Still, the part of Demitria’s soul that was a social butterfly longed for a party full of people. She squashed the longing down. This was Sophie’s day. Her day had passed.

She quickly made her way down into the dungeons searching for the fabulous gift she had gotten Sophie. The Russian smiled when she saw them. Two pairs of sparkly TOMS, one blue and one gold. She knew that the style was ridiculously popular in the muggle world and as comfortable as they were glam. Of course, Mimi Strelnikov was a heels witch, but she knew that Sophie would love the stylish shoes. As an afterthought, she had also slipped a ring that she hadn’t worn in a few years into the box. Her mother had given her the ring when she had started her first year and had barely spoken any English. But with the events in March, Mimi knew that Sophie needed the words on the ring far more than she did.

She shrunk the box and tied a cord to it and put it around Elf’fiskii’s neck. The small bird chirped in protest, even the shrunken object being large for the tiny owl. “Don’t be temperamental, Darling,” Strellie crooned to the bird in Russian. The Owl flew to the Owlery where she was hiding it.

Soon, to soon, the Slytherin thought, she was entering the Gryffindor common room, feeling ridiculously out of place. She wasn’t really close to many of Sophie’s other friends. At first, she was going to go over to Evie, but decided to say hello to Chance first.

She walked over to the Seventh Year and smiled brightly. “Well hello, Chance. How have you been?” She kept one eye on the stairs where Sophie would come from. 

To say her sixteenth birthday had been surreal for Sophie seemed like a drastic understatement. It was both unlike any other day and exactly like every other day since Ramona's death. She knew in a distant distracted way that this would be a reoccurring theme over the next year; indeed for the rest of her life there would be the separation of before and after. The birthdays that had come before her mother's death would be stowed away; an experience never to be repeated.

 There was a numbness to the idea that would not leave her as she walked the halls of Hogwarts, drifting from class to class. It wasn't like the heavy sadness that had enveloped her in the days and weeks of March, but there was a certain level of pain associated with the day and the parts of it that were missing. She tried her best not to think too long or hard about it, it was just a fact of her life now. She was a girl without a mother and being okay with that was crucial to survival, to keep herself from turning into Johnny or her father.

There had been bright spots to the day, letters from Griffon were always little pick me ups and he had out done himself for her birthday. He seemed to understand better than most people what it was she missed so desperately about her mother and tried to fill in the spots as best he could. Then there was a lengthy letter from Nana Flickwick and she was sure Duncan would get around to owling eventually. She had lowered her expectations of her father considerably in the last few months and given up on her brother almost entirely.

She had come to accept that people did the best they could with what they had before them. It was a vastly different and far less idealistic world view than she had ever had in her life - but it was what kept her from being bitter when people couldn't be who she thought they were. With the school year so close to being over Sophie saw more and more how she had grown and changed (for better or worse) in the last nine months - and it wasn't all bad. She certainly had curbed her desire to constantly slap Figaro upside the head for opening his mouth.

The thought brought a twitch of a smile to her lips as she trudged up from the Dungeons and a quick hello to Professor Vaillancourt. She had been gathering more potion ingredients for the redhead and meditating over  Professor Ó Móráin's lecture from CoMC. She had a vague sense that Chance was planning something for tonight but she had no idea what was waiting on the other side of the common room door. It was an assault on her senses actually, as she stepped over the threshold and was inundated with the SOPH-SPLOSION that was now Gryffindor tower.

She blinked once, then twice as the door clamored closed behind her. It was a graceless entry, but then could one really enter a room bursting with pictures of one's self gracefully? Possibly, if you were a total narcissist or were expecting to be greeted by nearly every flat surface bearing your likeness. Since Sophie didn't particularly consider herself narsiststic and had been expecting maybe a cake, and a little trinket to go along with the bracelet he'd gotten her for Valentine's day. She was not quite prepared for what was actually waiting  for her.

"Holy shiiii," she had to momentarily cover her mouth to stifle both the swear and the giggle that came with it. "So, did I, um, acquire twelve new stalkers and no one wanted to fill me in - or am I crashing a secret meeting of a Sophie appreication fan club I had no idea existed?" she stood back almost consumed by awkward, with her hands shoved in the back pocket of her jeans. She felt vastly under-dressed given all the pretty dresses and generally sassy-ness being displayed by her darling friends.

Also there were boys - but her attention sort of zeroed in on Chance, a fluttering sort of forming in her stomach. He was basically the best boy in existence. She would keep him, she decided, as she shifted from one foot to the other. For someone that had formerly thrived on being the loudest center of attention in the room, she felt acutely bashful about the whole thing.

Several more people arrived, and Chance asked her how the scavenger hunt was supposed to work. Fauna glanced around at the crowd. Perhaps it would be too much to have the whole party follow Sophie around the castle, as much as the image amused her.

"Hmmm... we could make sure the clues go in a certain order? And then one or two of us could walk around with her, and send, you know, flying memos back to the common room when she's nearing her next clue. So the person who set it up can rush over and be there when she sees it. What do you think?"

Too complicated? Fauna hoped not.

Grace seemed quiet. She stood next to her, offering her a smile, and grinning at Chance when he made his announcement. A few moments later, Sophie arrived!

She looked as bashful as Fauna had probably acted when her friends had thrown her a party in February. Knowing how that felt, she moved forward and gave her a hug, wishing her a happy birthday, and then stepped back to let the others greet her.