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[Adelaine Beaumont]

Adele sat in the semi-crowded Great Hall awaiting her screech owl, Ilgre, to arrive with the post. It was a cold, cloudy, windy day, which clearly affected most of the students. Everyone seemed to be moping around, barely talking. Adelaine, however, was chattier today than most days.

"I'm not sure that's really legal," she informed a few fifth year boys she was sitting with.

What was the deal with the older boys in her house? They always seemed to be getting into trouble. She would've expected that from first years, maybe even second and third years. But after fourth year, you'd think they would know what's right and what's wrong.

Right on time, a hundred or so owls came screeching into the hall, landing rather hazardously on the four tables. Ilgre promptly plopped down on an empty plate before her, nearly spilling a student's pumpkin juice. She grabbed the letter he was carrying and ripped it open, recognizing her father's writing.

"Yes!!" she shouted excitedly.

Her yelp received a few odd looks from passing Slytherins, but the boys she sat with just glared at them in return. She read and reread the letter, in disbelief of what she saw. They wanted her home for Christmas. And it was her father who wrote the letter! Her father, who hadn't said more than five words to her since she got sorted into Ravenclaw. Dreary day or not, Adele couldn't be happier.

Edited by Adelaine Beaumont, 28 October 2011 - 10:30 AM.

[Zella la Barre]

Eating her breakfast and waiting on the post, Zella was antsy. She had written her parents with a question about the holidays. Once she got a response, she would have to go from there, but first she wanted to know if she had permission in the first place. No sense in getting hopes up for nothing.

Hearing the screeches of owls, she glanced up. Seeing her large, handsome bird, she stood and activated her raptor ring so that a dragon-hide glove would cover her arm for him to land. She made a mental note to thank her father AGAIN for the thoughtful and wonderful going-to-school gift.

Horus landed heavily, like always, on her arm, and lifted his foot so she could relieve him of her letter. She set him gently on the table so that he eat off of her plate while she read the letter. She slipped her finger under the seal, and unrolled the parchment. Reading quickly, she smiled, seeing the answer she was seeking. Now to just talk to her sister to get her opinion.

[Lisette Amber Heartstone]

Ugh. It was a terrible day. Lisette sighed as she swirled her spoon around her bowl. Even a nice bowl of steaming hot porridge couldn't cheer up her mood, which was as grey as the bit of sky she could see through a nearby window. She tipped her cup forward and drank some pumpkin juice, still in a rather bad mood. The only thing that could cheer her up would be if a train appeared right in the middle of the Great Hall and took her to the manor. But of course, that was impossible...

"YES!" She heard a cry coming from the Ravenclaw table. The girl scoffed. What on earth was there to be excited about? Wow, we have such terrible weather! I'm positively thrilled! Lisette was not normally this rude, even in her mind, but she had just gotten out of the wrong side of bed this morning and was feeling really, really snarky. It took her a while to realise it was Adele's voice, and this was what made her jump up and dash over.

"Adele, why are you so happy?" She would have tried to sneak a peek at the letter, but she was far too polite for that.

[Alexander Sowerby]

"Morning," Alexander said supressing a yawn behind his hand. Rubbing his eyes he placed an empty bowl in front of himself. He scooped out oatmeal from the bigger bowl and after suppressing another large yawn he poured a large amount of treacle into the bowl. At least he thought it was treacle.

"Eugh," he said pushing the bowl away from him. He had accidentally placed a liberal amount of malt vinegar on the oatmeal. Those that had been sitting around him roared with laughter at this and Alexander joined in as well.

Just as the rowdy group calmed down and returned to their breakfasts and conversations. Alexander placing safe scrambled eggs and sausage onto his plate. A flutter of wings had brought him to look back up, the eggs and sausage left forgotten as hundreds of Owls swooped down, some dropping their post as if it was about to explode, other owls including Alexander's flew down and sat down at the table.

"Pickle," Alexander greeted the Owl, "News from father and mother?", he slowly picked at the knot that had been tied to secure the envelope to the Owl. Alexander could tell it was his mother's writing. He undid the knot and after an affectionate hoot, the Owl swooped up and flew up to the ceiling where she'd undoubtedly fly through one of the open windows, designed for Owls to enter and leave through.

Wondering what was in the letter, Alexander grabbed a sharp knife and slit the letter open. The letters and ink was his mother's and he knew that this couldn't be any welcome news.

Alexander Andrew Sowerby,
We have arranged with your Head of House, Mr. Hart. For you to stay at the School for the last infernal week of December. Do not come home. You are not needed nor wanted. We are too busy. We have no time nor energy to have Doge and Bunce watch over both you, your sister and brother.

Signed
Mother

His eyes filled with tears as he felt someone sit right beside him. Blinking the tears away he folded the letter and put it lovingly in the pocket of his robes. He knew that his eyes would be extremely bright when someone would look at him, and perhaps the slight pink tinge in his cheeks would be a give-away, but he couldn't care right now. He could always say he was getting the flu. One way or another he absent mindedly faced the person who just sat down.

"Hello" he said.

Edited by Alexander Sowerby, 28 October 2011 - 10:24 PM.

[Elisabet la Barre]

Elisabet was enjoying her nice hot breakfast and talking about winter holidays with a fellow first year when she noticed Horus landing on her sister's arm.

Wonder if its just a visit between the two of them? or maybe a reply thanking Z for sending a returning letter with the answers she had asked the nurse

Her tablemate switched the conversation to talking about returning home for the holidays and asked her if she wanted to stay or go

I think I would like to stay here over holiday. I've never been anywhere but home and I am sure to come across more adventures here than there Elisabet answered.

Edited by Elisabet la Barre, 29 October 2011 - 02:20 PM.

[Zella la Barre]

Zella looked around the Great Hall and spotted her sister talking to a housemate. She hurriedly got up and leaned over her, catching the last bit of their conversation "I think I would like to stay here over holiday. I've never been anywhere but home and I am sure to come across more adventures here than there."

"Good news for you then, sister dear. I asked Mother if we could stay for Hols when I sent her the letter about how I was doing and Nurse Longbottom's reply. She, of course, scolded me for waiting so long to talk to the nurse, but gave her approval to either stay or leave. We just have to send her a letter with our reply."

Zella whistled for Horus, who was being quite the pain on the Gryffindor table, stealing as much sausage and bacon as he could. When he landed she looked at him and scolded, "Shame on you, Horus, you fat fowl! You scared half my House. And you don't need that much grease! Don't give me that look. Sit here with Betta, we need you to take a note to Mother." Sitting down beside her sister, she pulled out a bit of parchment and a quill from her bag. She wrote out the note to her mother saying she'd like to stay, and passed it to Betta.

"You know she's going to want to know from you if you want to stay or go. Me writing it will not be good enough."

[Adelaine Beaumont]

Adelaine beamed at Lisette and held her letter high in the air, as if Lisette would have any idea what it meant. She patted the empty spot next to her, motioning for the girl to have a seat. Swiftly, she yanked a sheet of parchment from her bag and grabbed a quill and ink bottle. She wrote rather hastily, as though her parents would be pacing back and forth awaiting her response.

I would be delighted to come home for the holidays.
I assume you'll be meeting me in Hogsmeade the day break starts?

Short though it was, it satisfied her. She scrawled her name and fastened the letter to Ilgre's leg. The bird grabbed a piece of bacon off of another student's plate and took off.

"I'll be going home for the holidays!" she announced joyfully, turning to Lisette. "Isn't that exciting? What will you be doing?"

Edited by Adelaine Beaumont, 29 October 2011 - 09:18 PM.

[Lisette Amber Heartstone]

Seeing that Adele had more or less given her permission, Lisette glanced at the sheet of paper. So the other girl was going home for Christmas. Secretly she thought it was nothing much - she went home practically every Christmas - but she remembered that there might be a side to Adele's home life that she didn't really understand. Something told her that maybe she should keep away.

Disconcerting thoughts aside, Lisette tried her best to share her friend's joy after Adele had written a reply and told her herself what was happening (as well as asking about her own plans for the upcoming holidays). "That's great! So am I!" She suddenly remembered something. Oh great. She'd never been one of those social birds, like the fancy Pureblood mothers who did nothing but plan parties all day long. From a young age she scowled at them with contempt, and vowed never to be one. And now....

Oh come on! It was just asking her to stay. It wasn't anything as silly and annoying as that. Lisette swallowed. "Would you like to come over to my house for a day or two? I haven't asked my par- grand-parents yet, but I'm sure they would agree." She smiled, but this turned into a look of horror as she realised her mistake. The best thing would be to pretend it didn't happen, she suddenly thought, and she did just that.

[Adelaine Beaumont]

[i'm so confused, pretend what didn't happen? D:]

A few of the Ravenclaw boys Adele had been talking to were now glaring a bit at Lisette; apparantly even Ravenclaws didn't believe in house unity? People wasted such time with stereotypes and old grudges.

"If you don't want to join the conversation, then look away," she said simply, as the boys turned foolishly back to their breakfasts.

She tuned back in to Lisette, who had just invited her to stay for a couple days over the holidays. Adelaine didn't quite know how to respond without giving way to her excitement and making a fool of herself; she had never been invited anywhere. At least, no where that she wanted to be.

"I'd love to come!" she exclaimed, forgetting to be calm and act cool. "Oh, it'll be grand! Hm..it's a shame I've already sent my letter off with Ilgre."

Edited by Adelaine Beaumont, 03 November 2011 - 10:25 AM.

[Meghan Morris]

As usual the Great Hall was bustling with students and Meghan had to dodge her way to get where she wanted to be. Seeing Adele and Lisette she rushed forward nearly tripping over someone's book bag. As predicted they and everyone else it seemed were talking about the holidays. This is was proving to be the worst Christmas ever. All of them were apparently going home to visit their loved ones.

"I wish you all the best. I shall be staying here, alone I fear." Maybe going home was better, it was probably too late to change it though Meghan thought to herself.

Edited by Meghan Morris, 08 November 2011 - 10:53 PM.

[Alexander Sowerby]

Alexander stood up after finishing his breakfast, taking his leave he walked toward the entrance. Gritting his teeth slightly at the sight of Adelaine. The girl had turned rather nasty after the whole Hogsmeade fiasco; he hadn't even spoken to her well not really, although he technically did at the snow ball fight but she seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder and was rather cruel when she had spoken to Meghan at the table a few days back. Adelaine didn't even seemingly want to talk this out, try to resolve whatever tension arose as a result of him overhearing the conversation. It was unfortunate, Alexander thought. What could he do though. He decided that perhaps he ought to be a bit bold and stand up for himself.

He walked over to the Ravenclaw table, waving and smiling as he said "Hey Betta, I'll talk to you in a moment" to Elisabet. Before he reached her though, he stopped right beside Adelaine, Meghan and Lisette.

His face bore an expression of calm reservation as he said. "Adelaine, I'd like to have a word."

[Lisette Amber Heartstone]

~OOC: The parent grand-parent thing...Lisette doesn't really like to talk about that.~

Relieved that Adelaine had apparently not noticed her blunder, Lisette talked with new-found confidence and grinned when the other girl shooed away some of her nosy housemates. "Oh dear, it's a shame. Well, there's still some time before the holidays. We can arrange everything later."


She was about to say something more (perhaps a comment about all the exciting things they would do together) but then Meghan arrived. Lisette was quite pleased but she almost frowned as she caught the sad tone in the normally-peppy Gryffindor's voice. Evidently she was rather upset that she wasn't going home, but just as Lisette was going to try and console the poor girl she'd already skipped off to talk to some first-year twins. Lisette laughed to herself before continuing her conversation with Adele.

"So, what do you think we should-" She was cut off by the arrival of Alexander. Courteous and polite as ever, he requested Adele for a little talk. Lisette gulped. She was sure there was trouble brewing.

[Adelaine Beaumont]

Adele smiled curtly at Meghan and took a sip of her pumpkin juice. She hadn't talked to the Gryffindor much since the rhyming fiasco, so she wasn't sure if she was still angry with her or not.

Before she had time to turn back to her conversation with Lisette, Alexander Sowerby turned up. He'd 'like to have a word'? She tried to hold back a bitter retort, but failed greatly.

"You mean you'd actually like to speak to me?" she responded sharply. "Are you certain you don't want to eavesdrop again? Or go across the room and read my lips?"

[Alexander Sowerby]

"You mean you'd actually like to speak to me?" Adelaine responded acidly at which Alexander furrowed his eyebrow. Before he could answer she snapped back "Are you certain you don't want to eavesdrop again? Or go across the room and read my lips?" .

He looked down at his shoes and than back at Adelaine who looked like she could breathe fire on him. "I see this isn't a good time." Alexander said politely. "I just wanted to wish you Happy Christmas and wanted to give you this." with a slide of hands he conjured a neatly wrapped package out of seemingly thin air placing it in front of Adelaine.

"Hope you have good holidays."

Alexander strolled away without a backward glance. The box had contained a number of sweets from the Hogsmeade sweet shop. It would be hard not to enjoy at least some of them, he thought and he was sure even if she didn't appreciate the effort she could at least share the sweets with her fellow Ravenclaws.

[Meghan Morris]

Meghan was about ready to scream. Adelaine and Alexander could not get past this ridiculous feud. Meghan still felt a little betrayed by Adelaine but had for the most part forgiven her. Meghan knew her aim wasn't to embarrass her, simply to call out Alexander on his lip reading. Even so, Meghan was friends with both of them and hated to see them quarrel. Hopefully the gift would sooth whatever pride Alexander had damaged upon Adelaine.

"Are you going to open it? It was nice of him to get you a gift, even if you don't like him. Why did you decide you disliked him though? Besides the lip reading incident..." Meghan rambled on and looked around the hall to see if there was anything of excitement occurring. With a sigh she turned back to the girls. "Were you ladies planning on meeting up over the holidays? I'll need to know where you girls are staying so I can owl your gifts."