Surprise Birthday Party

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As the Alayna was still out for the day, thanks to Carina and Astrid, Ptolemy was busy setting up the common room for her surprise party. He had asked the house elves to make all of her favourites, but ensured there was a good selection of canapés and petit fours that everyone with their distinguished tastes would enjoy. There was also a large, three tier cake he had ordered from a bakery in Horizont - chocolate and caramel - with a salmon pink frosting. Champagne flutes were placed to cover one of the side tables, although the Champagne itself was kept out of sight.

He and a few others had hung streamers and paper chains around the room, and there were several hundred balloons bobbing about the high ceiling. Everything was looking in good progress, and it wasn't long before Alayna would be there herself.

Most of Alayna's friends were in Slytherin house, but there were a few from other houses who he'd managed to sneak in. He was sure there'd be at least one person who had something to say about that, but he wouldn't let them ruin what was going to be, hopefully, a very memorable night for her.

"Burke - I'd asked you to put candles on that cake half an hour ago. Will you see to it already?" he snapped impatiently to Hector, getting cranky with some of his 'help'.

"It was quite amusing seeing him get upset multiple times during the lock-in..."

That was one redeeming factor of being forced to spend the night alongside the many imbeciles that attended Hogwarts. Why hasn't Professor Riddle organized a coup against Voclain yet?

His eyes moved towards the vampire as he stood somewhat defensively to defend Bellona if needed. He was quite chivalrous.

"He bloody freaks me out. One time during lunch, I swear he glanced at me as if I was an appetizing piece of meat."

How disgusting!

@Bellona Lestrange

Her stomach fluttered as he stood forward protectively. She never thought Burke as chivalrous like that, especially when he seemed so wary about certain things. It wasn't cowardice: he was just... troubled, sometimes.

"He probably does think of you like a piece of meat," Bellona remarked, finding her voice after the brief lapse of astonishment. "I heard that he drank from Carina, and her friend your brother is so obsessed with. Astrid. What a stupid name."

She snorted.

@Melanthius Burke

"I don't know why my brother is so obsessed with her. Is it because she's foreign? I didn't think she was exotic enough for him..."

If Astrid had a British accent, Thius doubted that she'd be considered an elusive catch. Blondes weren't exactly his favorite anyway...

Thius rolled his eyes just thinking about her. "Her brother's quite boring. I don't quite understand what Carina sees in him either. But with the state of our community, boring is better than being a blood traitor..."

Sometimes, losses had to be taken.

He spotted Discordia sitting alone and looked over at Bellona. "Who invited her? Shouldn't she be locked up in a cage somewhere?" It was quite often that he pitied the Lestranges for having to put up with such a disturbed girl.

@Bellona Lestrange

Narkissos was heading out to meet Faye at the prefect's bathroom when he walked into what appeared to be a party? Now why didn't he hear about this? It was probably for Alayna anyway... Ugh...

"I'm sure all the people studying for OWLS and NEWTS will be very delighted by this distraction..."

"He's handsome. That's all Carina's probably bothered about."

... And if Vidar was to give her a bit of attention, Bellona would probably respond in a similar way.

"Oh, I invited her. Why not? She can shake it up a bit," Bellona said, chuckling. "But back to your brother for a second: what do you mean by exotic? Is that why he's never been with any Hogwarts girls?" Ah-ha!

@Melanthius Burke

Ah, that was a good idea actually. Maybe Discordia could go after Ptolemy... And Alayna... All he'd need was an opera glass and popcorn.

"Hector has always liked his ladies to be different than what could be found at home. If Chang was a pureblooded woman, he'd go after him. In my case, it's all high standards..."

He had to prove that he was the better choice than his older, more attractive brother... This was a jungle, and he had to be the flashiest mate around.

@Bellona Lestrange

"Oh, I get it..."

Her eyes drifted to Hector, who was clipping Parzival's hand for trying to swipe a cupcake.

"So what do you like in a girl?" she asked twirling the braided section of her hair around her finger.

@Melanthius Burke

"I like my girls to have respect for herself and others, a higher degree of modesty than most here. I don't expect nor want the other extreme of Matilda Riddle, but she must know how to dress for the occasion. To put it short, I desire a woman who at least paid attention to the etiquette classes..."

For high standards, the bar was quite low. How many more qualifiers could he think of before getting extremely picky?

"A pureblooded woman, of course."

His cheeks were beginning to burn.

@Bellona Lestrange

Meredith watched the two interact before she was mentioned. She looked at Ptolemy and nodded, "Yeah sure. I mean it seems easy enough." She could handle a few options. No problem. She then smiled at dahlia, "Yeah you should definitely stay. Its a party. And you could use a bit of fun." She noticed discordia and looked at Ptolemy, "Did you invite lobotomy Lestrange to Alaynas party? Are you trying to get her skull carved into?"

@Ptolemy Rowle @Dahlia Travers

Siobhan was setting up some minor fireworks for a display to go off when Alayna arrived. She toned it down alot per Ptolemys request. She took a step back and looked over her work. She made it to where "Happy birthday, Alayna" would go off in purple and green sparklers, her favorite colors. Since she was satisfied with her contribution, she figured she could enjoy the party now.

As she listened, she found herself checking things off in her head. Of course she liked Thius, but he wasn't exactly what every girl went woozy for: at least not on the outside. She, like Carina, and the majority of girls her age, were giggling over handsomeness far too much to realise the virtues of other boys. The more she spent time with Thius, however, the more she felt compelled to gain his approval.

"I'll bear that in mind..." she said rather ominously, smiling at him.

Then she saw someone in the common room that made Discordia, the Riddle girls and Alayna look like Princesses: the Finnigan girl.

"What - in the name - of Merlin's outhouse... is that doing in our common room?!" she flared, making no attempt to keep her voice lowered this time.

@Siobhan Finnigan @Melanthius Burke

When directed towards Discordia Lestrange, Ptolemy narrowed his eyes.

"No I certainly did not invite her. Perhaps she wandered in here by accident. Burke," he called, as Hector seemed to have (at last) finished putting the candles onto the cake. Hector glanced over at him, not looking the least bit amused, but sauntered over all the same. "Get rid of her, would you?"

He nodded towards Discordia, turning his nose up.

@Meredith Riddle @Discordia Lestrange

He narrowed his eyes at Rowle, not enjoying the way he seemed to be ordering him around. However, it was probably in all their best interests that Discordia was absent from the proceedings, so he nodded curtly at Ptolemy and made his way over to her.

"Whoever let you in here, I can assure you that it was by mistake," he told her, "Would you kindly leave? I have had a rather tedious afternoon and I don't want my evening to be spoiled by having my frontal lobe extracted."

@Discordia Lestrange

He smiled back a rather awkward smile; it never came as naturally to him as it did virtually everyone else in his family. It was rather fortunate that looks didn't matter too much in the pureblood community outside of finding a spouse...

Hearing the fireworks, Thius let out a loud groan. Salazar Slytherin was right: Hogwarts shouldn't have admitted any barbarian that happened to be magical. Finnigan was one of those barbarians in question.

"I thought she sodded off to America with her brother..."

Crossing his arms, his attention was back onto Discordia as his brother asked her to leave. He looked over towards Bellona and raised his eyebrow before stating quite plainly, "So, your own sister, much more civilized than she, is being kicked out? Yet that lousy excuse for a lady is allowed to disturb everyone's time? How mad has this school gotten?"

@Bellona Lestrange

She merely held her hands up to show that she was restrained.

"Hello, dear Hector..."

Then Discordia moved her head up, a fair amount of her hair hanging in front of her face, and grinned at him menacingly.

@Hector Burke

But she was beautiful...

Even with her face twisted like that, he thought she was beautiful. Realising that his mouth was slightly agape, he pursed his lips and cleared his throat.

"Very well. But if you so much as approach anyone with malicious intent, I shall bind you to the North Tower and leave you to the mercy of the weather. Am I clear?"

@Discordia Lestrange

"You're right. I'm going over there."

She stepped towards Siobhan Finnigan and stood very close to her, trying to intimidate her with a sordid expression.

"What are you doing here, Finnigan? Did you pop off a firework in your face and lose your way to Gryffindor tower? You're not welcome here."

@Siobhan Finnigan

"You are... My sister invited me."

She had so many sisters, it could've been any of them.

Sweetly, Discordia smiled at him yet again.

When was Alayna going to show up? Maybe one day, she can fix her...

@Hector Burke

Siobhan looked bella up and down and smirked at her attempt at intimidation, "You can stop whatever that is. I'm not scared of you. But if you must know, Malfoy asked me to set up a firework display. As miniscule as it is... Let's put it this way, if you want gossip spread, you go to Nott and Rowle. In need of potions? You go to Travers. you go to the best. So if you want pyrotechnics? You come to me. Now get out of my face before I blind you with a firework. Then again, it might be considered an improvement."

@Bellona Lestrange

Bellona glowered at her.

"Well we've got the ruddy fireworks, so now you can leave. Your use has expired. Anyone can light a fuse and stand back, it's not that difficult."

She put her hands on her hips, and stood firmly on the ground, not moving an inch.

"As much as I'd be glad to see Alayna's hair go up in flames, I don't think it's very smart to be firing them off in an enclosed space anyway. You could hurt anyone, even one of my friends!"

@Siobhan Finnigan

Siobhan smirked, "Now now. Malfoy said I was welcome to enjoy when I was done. So if you've got a problem, take it up with her." She placed her cup on the table and stood up from the couch, standing to look her in the eye, "you must be stupid. They're sparklers. They fizzle and spark for like 30 seconds then go out."

@Bellona Lestrange

"I have a problem with you right now, not Malfoy."

She glared at her.

"Yes, I must be stupid if I can't manage that sort of precognition," she said sarcastically. "You know what beats flame, Finnigan? Ice."

She grabbed Siobhan's wrist, and as she did, a sharp frost unfurled from the tips of Bellona's fingers and over victim's skin, like prickly pins, spreading right up to her elbow, until she released her sharply.

"If you so much as singe an edge of a rug, I'll encase you into a frozen centrepiece. Got it?"

@Siobhan Finnigan

Siobhan felt the pricks going up her arm but she stillanaged a laugh, despite the pain, "Does it now?" She shook her arm out and smirked, "You know I learned some new tricks myself when I was gone." She twirled her hand as a flame appeared in her palm, "Wanna see who's party trick is more fun? Because fire melts ice, bitch."

@Bellona Lestrange

Watching them have a spat, Thius got nervous. What if that nasty Finnigan girl burned Bellona? He wouldn't stand for it! Finnigan could ruin Alayna's party all she wanted, she just couldn't bring Bellona into it!

He stepped forward crossing his arms, choosing to be protective in a more subtle manner.

"Ladies, ladies, do you want to spoil the party before the birthday girl arrives? If not, I suggest you leave this until afterwards."

@Bellona Lestrange @Siobhan Finnigan

"But- but how?" she asked, flabbergasted, "That must be some stupid gimmick. I was born with this power and--'

That was when Thius turned up. Folding her arms across her chest, she took one last, long look at Finnigan before turning her head.

"Just remember what I said."

She backed off from Siobhan, and turned elsewhere, She hoped some sort of explanation from This would follow.