Disastrous Decorating ((Plot Huffles!))

[Ivy Tunstall]

Garlands of tatty tinsel flopped over the side of the faded cardboard box, offering occasional flashes of red, gold, green, silver and blue as candlelight caught them. Ivy carried on oblivious to their battered effort at beauty, stumbling slightly under the dusty box's weight. She'd been rather disappointed when she saw the state of the decorations they (more specifically her and Charlie as fifth year Prefects, but their friends were getting involved too) were charged with adorning the Common Room with; she hadn't seen anything that looked quite so feebly festive. She was trying to get a positive slant on it in her mind though - after all, there was no way she was going to convince her friends it was all going to look absolutely wonderful without having first convinced herself that everything was okay. Charlie especially she surely couldn't have any chance of fooling.

Everything would end up looking wonderful, of course. They would have the enthusiasm of Ashley, Charlie's photographer vision, Sadie's creativity... and her own determination, she thought, for once acknowledging herself. And if Noko turned up, the giggles and fun that she brought with her when she wasn't stressing about Quidditch and, to a lesser extent, abysmal school work. They would restore the decorations (which apparently had been infested with some variety of tiny magical pixiemoth Ivy couldn't remember the name of, not being a magical housekeeper) to more than a shadow of their former glory. She continued to to try to persuade herself just how true all these feeble assertions were as she trudged on down the corridor. Her balancing act of staying upright and not falling forwards where the box's weight was pulling her was rendered just a little more difficult by the fact that a plate of fresh gingerbread men was perched on top of the untidily packed festoons inside. Ivy grimaced as she gave the box a supplementary heave and saw several gingerbread men slide dangerously close to the edge of the plate. They were the most presentable things on the plate: decorated with icing and brightly coloured Smarties for buttons, they were also giving off very pleasing wafts of foody scent.

Ivy didn't want the gingerbread men to fall off onto the floor - she and Ashley had devoted quite some time to baking them. Ashley had changed since Ryan had his accident. She wasn't exactly the same Ash that Ivy had known since third year, but she was still Ash and she was still fun to be with. Ivy had enjoyed the time they'd spent with each other today very much. Ash had left the kitchens a little earlier than Ivy because she realised that she'd left something in the Quidditch locker rooms, so Ivy had stayed behind until the gingerbread men finished baking. Then, armed with her plate of freshly made food, she'd gone to pick up these decorations and received a bottle of some murky and menacing liquid from Filch which had the purpose of exterminating the creatures which had inhabited Hufflepuff's stash of festive treasure. Now she was on her way back to the Common Room, eager to get there as soon as possible so that they could get started. Unfortunately the gingerbread men had different ideas. Ivy stopped momentarily in the middle of the corridor, gazing mournfully at the edible sculptures that had stopped their unwelcome antics when she stopped walking.

"Can I help you?" The disembodied voice startled Ivy and it took all of her balancing skills from playing Quidditch to avoid dropping the box on her feet or tipping the cookies over the edge as she jumped in surprise. She peered round the edge of the box and saw a rather small young girl right in front of her, who before had been completely obscured by her burden. "Um... yes please," Ivy said, her gratitude showing through in her voice even though her face still looked rather surprised. "Could you - oh..." - she bent down as she realised that someone of such midget proportions probably wouldn't be able to reach or even see what she was talking about - "...could you take the plate of gingerbread men and just carry those back to my Common Room with me? I hope you don't mind going the opposite way... it isn't too far I don't think, though I've lost track a bit by now."

She smiled as the girl took the plate to safety and raised her own box back up again. There had been a shy smile and nod from the other girl, but other than that she'd remained mute since her first request to help. Ivy was grateful for her assistance, though. It made her passage back to the Common Room much easier. All she could do as the girl carefully deposited the plate back to where it had previously been 'balanced' was to thank her in terms most unworthy of her valuable contribution and offer her one of the personified biscuits that she'd been carrying. The girl declined almost inaudibly and suddenly sped off along the corridor. Some first years were too shy for their own good - oddly so, in fact - but Ivy would still not forget the help she'd given, she thought as she entered the Hufflepuff Common Room. It didn't look much like Christmas here yet, but that was about to change, she thought happily as she put the large box that she'd been carrying down on the floor and looked about, hoping for at least one of her friends to be in the vicinity so that they could get started.

[Sadie Rivers H6]

Sadie had hardly been able to sleep the night before as she kept tossing and turning in her bed, probably keeping the other third year girls in her dorm awake. She was too excited about the day ahead of her. It was the first time in forever that she and her friends would actually be doing something together. She had planned with them to decorate the Common Room for the holidays. Sadie loved the holidays, more so when her friends were able to be around than when they weren't.

Sadie bounded out of her bed just as soon as the first bell of her alarm clock sounded. It was time to get dressed for the day, and Sadie was so ready for the day. Pulling her favorite black dress slacks out of her trunk and grey colored shirt which adoned a red and green christmas tree pattern on it, Sadie dressed quickly adding some very festive socks which looked like black gloves for the feet with spaces for each toe to be seperate and decorated with cute little white kittens each wearing christmas hats. She added to this a pair of black chunky heeled patten leather shoes that would allow her kittens to show when she sat. Boots would look better, but they would only cover my kittens. She thought as she slid on the patten leather shoes. Down the stairs from the dorm, Sadie bounded feeling light as a feather. She would float through breakfast with little trouble and come back to wait on Ivy with the decorations.

After a semi-uncomfortable breakfast, Sadie decided as she waited she would run back up to her dorm and change into her boots. Comfort meant more to her than if her kittens on her socks matched or not. Pulling the boots out from under her bed, Sadie checked the heels to make sure she hadn't torn them up a few days before when she had tripped over something and her boots had twisted off of her foot. Sadie had only been lucky enough that her ankle hadn't broken as her boot came off, for she had them tied fairly tight. Sliding on the boots, and zipping the sides of them instead of messing with the shoe strings, Sadie wandered if any of her friends had made it back to the Common Room yet. She bounded back down the stairs, still feeling like she was floating, only to find Ivy was already back with the decorations. "So where's everyone else at?" She asked hoping not to startle Ivy as she spoke.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy turned round to see Sadie bounding energetically down the stairs from the girls' dormitories, and she gave her friend a warm smile, looking round again to see whether anyone else was there and then giving Sadie her full attention when she spoke.
"Morning!" she said, transferring the plate of gingerbread men to a nearby tabletop and pulling out a few sorry pieces of tinsel from the box. They were already moulting shiny bits onto the floor. "I hardly know..." she replied. "I was hoping you'd all be here waiting. You're not exactly the earliest riser amongst us either... I mean me and Ash have been up for ages baking these." She indicated the gingerbread men. "They were supposed to be for elevenses, but I begin to doubt whether everyone will be here for eleven. What time'd you set your alarm clock? Ash went off to the Quidditch locker room; she left her gloves or bat there I think. Something like that, anyhow. Hopefully Charlie'll grace us with his presence soon... I'm not sure that Noko had the time free though." Ivy suspected that she was busy with remedial lessons, but wasn't about to say that to Sadie. She knew that her two friends were close, but wasn't sure whether or not Noko had confided in Sadie about that.

Ivy shook herself from her very short reverie and smiled again at Sadie.
"It's Christmas so I suppose I must be festively cheerful - it isn't possible to be festively disgruntled, is it?" she said, regarding Sadie's attire for a moment. "You look very much in the spirit of the occasion. I hope that's warm - I always have to wear jumpers at this time of year." She was doing exactly that: she had donned a cheerful, stripy red jumper in the bitter cold hours of the early morning she had arisen in, during which it was easier to shiver back under the bedcovers than seek any other means of warmth. The jumper had a polo neck (which was helpful because she found scarves a nuisance when she was busy), but she had rolled the sleeves up, finding the heat from the oven they’d used in the kitchen quite sufficient to keep her toasty. Bearing this in mind, she furthered her comment: “I don’t suppose it matters; we’ve got plenty of exertion ahead of us to keep us from getting cold.” Finding that she was talking herself to boredom, Ivy busied herself with the decorations box again. Out came the fat Santa Claus that was accustomed to adorning the top of their Christmas tree. Ivy was concerned to find one of his bushy grey eyebrows missing, holes in his jacket, one boot coming loose from its sole and much of his furry white trimmings missing or torn. To top it off, the decoration seemed much the worse for drink.

“Oh yes, Sadie… we have a little problem before we begin.” Ivy said to catch her friend’s attention, handing the Santa Claus to her so that she could inspect the damage. “We are the happy stewards of… pixiemoth infected decorations.” she proclaimed, pulling out some mauled ribbons that had once been a cheerful yellow colour. “Why on earth it had to be the Hufflepuff box, I do not know. The Ravenclaws would have the brains to fix them, the Slytherins wouldn’t care and the Gryffindors… they’d be brave enough to weather it. And we… we have the willpower to overcome this difficulty! We will stand united in the face of adversity and transform this sorry state of affairs into the most wonderful display Hufflepuff has seen in decades.” She tossed a library book Sadie’s way and opened one herself, her finger scanning an index of articles that she didn’t want to read in the hope of finding one that was relevant. “That is, we would do that if they would actually see fit to turn up.” she muttered, disappointment and annoyance creeping into her voice even though that wasn’t what she felt. She was merely momentarily frustrated. “We’ll need some sort of spell to restore these,” she said, gesturing absentmindedly at the box and Sadie’s book.

“Yes Charlie, I’ll stop being grumpy now,” she glowered, as though he were right behind her. She might appear to be stressed and exasperated, but really then this was the state in which she functioned best. She was perfectly happy, her mind supplied with achievable tasks and whirring away with plans – much as she’d decided she was grumpy. Ivy knew that, and it was something her close friends had grown used to and ceased to get worried about by now. Nothing would go wrong, because even a disaster like this, before they were out of the starting blocks, could be coped with.

[Ashley Hill]

Ashley hummed a Christmas carol happily under her breath as she began to get ready. Her curly blonde hair was wet, looking frizzier than bouncing curly. There were actually some days that Ashley’s hair actually worked with her. Most of time her hair was frizzy, or just out of control, which was part of the reason why she straightened it. Her mother had gorgeous locks of blonde hair, though she took the time out of her day to make it like that. Ashley on the other hand, would either care less, or just use any other lazy technique. Taking out a white fleece turtle neck from the closet, Ashley tugged it on over her head, also putting on a pair of jeans. Ivy had decided that decorating the common room in a Christmas theme would be a fun group kind of project. Ashley, of course, was up for the task. Christmas was her favorite holiday of the year. It involved food, family, and trees, everything that brought everyone together. Though, Ashley would now think of it as almost a year long anniversary of when Ryan got hurt. He had gotten into the accident on New Years, but that time they hung out every day over Christmas break. Shaking her head, Ashley bit the side of her mouth as she dug into her shoulder bag. Elina had sent over the recipe for gingerbread men. It was always made every year at the Hill’s house hold. Finding the small card, Ashley stuffed it into her pocket about to leave when she realized her hair was still wet. Grabbing her wand, Ashley flicked it, her blonde hair drying instantly, curling into luxurious curls.

It didn’t take long for the Gingerbread men to cook. With some help from Ivy, they made four patches, without even burning them. Normally when Ashley cooked, things turned out slightly brown, or caracole. Cooking was more her moms, and Elina’s expertise. Pulling on the white overstuffed oven mitt, Ashley took out the last batch of gingerbread men. Putting all the cookies onto one plate, she whipped the sweat from her forehead. It was getting quite hot in the kitchens, but it was always a little warm. “Hey, do you mind if I go to the locker room to get some Quidditch gear? I’ve been meaning to get it out of there after our last practice,” Ashley said smiling as her friend said it was alright. Pulling at the end of her turtleneck, Ashley headed out of the kitchens making her way toward the Quidditch locker rooms. Once she was in the room, Ashley took out a gym bag from inside, beginning to pile her things inside. Her bat, gloves, boots, and goggles, almost every Quidditch gear you needed to play. Zipping the zipper up, she pulled the strap onto her shoulder making another arraign to get her portable stereo. Her father had sent over some batteries in their letters, since Hogsmeade really didn’t sell muggle batteries.

She had made her way into the common room already finding that Sadie and Charlie were there as well. “Your not grumpy Ivy, you just take on more than you can handle,” she intruded, sticking her tongue at her friend she set her bag down on the ground. “Hey guys,” Ashley greeted Sadie and Charlie putting the small stereo on the table where there were boxes of decorations. “Ivy brought the decorations, but I brought the entertainment.” Taking out a good Christmas CD from her bag, she put it in, turning the on button. Turning the knob of the volume, it got ear splitting loud at first, before to normal tone. “Where should we start…” Ashley began noticing that the ribbons were awfully dull colors. Taking out the red she rolled it around her fingers glancing up at her friends. “It looks like they’ve seen better days. I think I know a charm to make them more vibrant.” Staring back down at the ribbons, Ashley racked her brain, trying to remember. “A ha! Now I remember.” Taking out her wand, she tapped the material, its former dull red color, turning more vivacious, and sparkling brightly. “Now that’s one less thing to worry about. What should go up first?”

[Charles Driscoll H7]

It was a curious holiday, Christmas. Charles had once read that it was the holiday that the most people were purportedly found to be depressed, lost somewhere amidst the happiness and the spirit of giving and joy the season seemed to enliven in other people but could not alleviate them from their own state of loneliness or whatever it was that had left them detached from the rest of the world. And it wasn't always the absence of family; he thought sadly, sometimes it was just that, too many relatives and yet no-one you could really connect with or who understood you, and you were left wondering if it was you or if everything was really as wrong as it seemed.

When he first arrived at the door of their common room he stood for a few moments in silence. He'd caught a heady whiff of the gingerbread – the molasses, the ginger, the cinnamon, what an aroma! A family had once invited him to a Christmas party, when he was twelve. He'd spent Christmas at home that year, or at least that was what he was supposed to be doing, but Charles had slipped out behind his parents leaving their own Christmas party that he'd found pretentious and the conversation so dull to the point of being stifling. They'd known he was a good photographer, and somewhere amongst the many photographs he'd taken of the real family life he'd craved so much he'd almost found himself at home. And for a few moments he'd had the privilege of being part of that, and having those photographs had been a blessing, a reminder of that, but in fact what had reminded of it right now was that there had been wonderful gingerbread men that day and now his olfactory sense was rarely as pleased as when it came into contact with that same smell.

He slipped into the room quietly and was surprised to hear his name. "I find the notion that I'm inside your head to be quite interesting," he said with a smug grin that was quite foreign to him. But he did in fact feel a certain thrill he couldn't quite explain at the thought. "Hello Sadie," he said, happy to see that Ivy had planned on getting through what promised to be quite a feat with just his help. He knew she'd asked other people to come but most people couldn’t be bothered with the decorating, they seemed to think that just because everything got done at Hogwarts by house-elves and all the halls and corridors at Hogwarts were intricately and fabulously decorated that the same thing happened in the common rooms. Charles happened to know for a fact that Dumbledore wanted the students to take care of their own common rooms, in the hope that they would take it as a chance to unleash their creativity and work in groups. Julius had told him so.

Charles smiled at Ashley as she arrived privately think that both she and Ivy had brought too much decorations and entertainment respectively. But it turned out her entertainment was just music, and not anything crazy as he'd suspected she might do. "I think we should experiment with trying to get rid of the pixiemoth or whatever on earth this infestation is. Do you think Snape ever mentioned a potion to get the job done? I think he might've. One of these days, I'll start listening to him," he said.

[Sadie Rivers H6]

Sadie flipped through the book that Ivy had thrown her, glancing up only to see Ashley and Charles enter the room. “At last we can all find the time as friends to do one thing together, even if we first have to find a way to repair the decorations.” Sadie said jokingly as Ashley charmed the red ribbon to make it a bit more vibrant. “And Ivy, you are never grumpy, sometimes a bit frustrated but never have I found you grumpy. That’s not the word I would use to describe it.” She said still laughing. Sadie continued to flip through the spell book tossed to her, but she was having very little luck. She had saw Meyghan one time use a spell to repair holes in one of her blouses, and had asked Meyghan to teach her the spell but at the moment it was slipping Sadie’s mind. “I have seen a spell done before that would repair the holes in the decorations, but for the life of me, I can’t remember it.” Sadie said a bit upset with herself for not writing it in her journal that same day. Sadie’s habit of writing spells in her journal was usually a good habit, but this time it had let her down as she had forgotten to do it.

Sadie looked over her book at the box. “This shall be overcome. This is not a task that we as four Hufflepuffs can’t get around. We’ll surely find something to fix this.” She said wondering if she was as sure of the words that were coming out of her mouth as she should have been.


((Sorry it's so short guys, between rl and lack of inspiration this was all I could get out))