Fancy seeing you here! ((Grace & Sydney))

[Sita Mehadi H7]

What to wear on Halloween? Normally it would be an easy choice - just dress up as something scary, or alternatively something brightly coloured (or even a combination of the two - a few years ago she'd been a poisonous spider) - but tonight was a bit different because she wasn't trick or treating, but rather she was going to a high class event. At least, it was supposed to be a high class event. Sita had never been before, and she would judge for herself when she got there. A murder mystery party... it sounded exciting enough, at least. And it was for charity so people could have fun and feel good about it at the same time.

In the end she'd just ended up wearing a shiny bright orange dress with a puffed out skirt, along with a necklace of large black beads and strings of black and orange beads twisted into her hair, which she'd left down. Her hair was wavy tonight; she hadn't had time to straighten it because she'd been at Quidditch practice. A pair of high black heels completed the outfit. It was a strange one, but she liked the fact that it was bright. What the costume actually was, she hadn't really decided. She could be a pumpkin or a carrot, or if you preferred something a bit more dignified, one of the witches from Macbeth breaking away from the family circle of mischief and going partying. Who cared? The outfit might be unconventional but she looked nice in it and she was going to have some fun! Goodness knows she needed some: it was unfair how hard NEWTs were. How were people like Sita supposed to cope?

Sita searched through the crowd for someone she knew. She wouldn't have minded talking to any random person, but most of the random people seemed to know each other and she knew better than to try to insert herself into an already-formed social circle. There were so many faces that she didn't recognise, all blurring into a confusing muddle; she virtually launched herself at the first person she recognised, relieved to have someone to talk to.
"Grace!" She greeted her fellow Hufflepuff sixth year enthusiastically, almost with a squeal although mostly because that was the pitch that her voice came out at when she was having to talk over the noise of a crowd. "Fancy seeing you here! I didn't realise that you were coming; we could have gone together. I had to share a carriage with Professor Sprout on the way here."

[Grace Hunter H5]

The prospect of Halloween was one that illuminated Grace. The atmosphere itself of Hogwarts left her wandering the halls, content with losing herself in the creative flair of the decorations. The smells and sounds of the castle in the build up to the celebrations made the castle give the illusion of glowing from within with happiness and suspense.

In her childhood she had been a pumpkin, a bumblebee, a ladybird and an attempt at a giraffe, amongst other similar ideas. She tended to follow the pattern of going as some cuddly looking animal or vegetable so she would get more hugs from family when they came to visit at Halloween. The trend had continued when she had arrived at Hogwarts, but this year Grace didn't discover the need to dress as some cuddly animal this year.

It was a few hours before she was ready. At first Pebbles, her adorably tiny barn owl, had wreaked havoc upon the girls dormitory when Grace's alarm had accidentally went off right next to his open cage. Grace naturally refused to ever submit her owl to the restrictions of a cage, and left his door open at all times, excluding night times, in which he would screech until the door was closed, perhaps thinking that it would let in a draft. So after Pebbles had circled the room a dozen times in a hyper blur before collapsing onto another girl's bed in an exhausted state and craving a rest, he had finally been retrieved, laid carefully down on a pillow by Grace's bedside. To add to the hold up, Grace then hit an abrupt creative flump. She didn't know what to where, was intent on finding something pretty, but couldn't seem to find anything. It was as she had reached the bottom of her school trunk that she decided.

Grace stood looking at her reflection, her dark brown eyes peering from behind her loup mask. Her blue layered dress reached neatly past her waist, her black loup mask covered half of her face, and the large blue clip in her hair finished it off. Silently happy with how she had achieved looking formal yet unique, she stepped towards the door of the dormitory, prepared for the harsh cold of outside as she traveled to Hogsmeade.

It was colder than she had expected, as the drive leading down to Hogsmeade was carriage-less, and Grace had to take the walk down. She gratefully arrived in the village twenty minutes later, happy to be around people again after the long, and bitter cold, walk. There was a few moments of further lowliness, not recognizing anyone in particular, before she recognized Sita and matched her enthusiastic greeting with a hug. 'Hello Sita!' and, releasing her hug upon her, 'I didn't expect to see you either, at least you got a carriage down though, i had to walk.' She smiled at her, they were both in the same year and shared a dormitory, yet they had never become close friends. She smiled at her again, rearranging her fringe as the clip became loose.

[Sydney Rawson H6]

Sydney had a full day of work. She had been tirelessly working on her NEWTS and ended up losing track of the time and date. Sitting in the student lounge with books, scrolls, and loose parchment thrown about she glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. Her eyes widened as her pupils tried to focus from the book in front of her to the face of the clock a few feet away. "Really?" she announced almost exasperated as she looked back down at her work. She was nearly done, after several hours of tedious work. What would be the worst that could happen if she stopped now and got back to her work later? She felt like she needed a break, and the Halloween Murder Mystery was about to begin. Syd was set on catching up with a few friends once she arrived in Hogsmeade.... if she ever made it on time. Gathering her books, scrolls, ink, and parchment she stuffed it neatly into her school bag and started on her way back to the Hufflepuff dorms.

Stepping into the common room, Syd was passed by several dressed up students. Looking pleasantly dressed in holiday attire. The thought began to float into her mind, She didn't have an outfit. She had a few other costumes and dresses from past years, but nothing planned as if yet for this year. Running up the stairs to the girl's dorm, she flew into her room. Throwing her books down on her bed, she went to her chest that was placed at the foot of her mattress and started to fumble her way through tool, silk, and cotton colored outfits. After about fifteen minutes of changing and re-changing, Sydney's part of the room resembled a disaster. But finally she looked at herself in the full length mirror on the wall and shrugged her shoulders. Dressed in a white dress that came to her knees, the bottom foot or so of the dress was covered in long silver feathers laid on top of one another. The dress had hints of grey throughout the body and at her shoulders it repeated the laying of feathers. She wore he hair down, naturally straight with a headband layered with pointed up feathers. She looked like a bird, a classy bird at that. But Sydney decided on calling herself a faux- hippogriff if anyone asked.

Running down the great hall stairs, Syd rushed to make the last carriage on it's way to Hogsmeade. Opening up the doors she scanned the darkness for a ride, but it looked like she missed the last one by a long shot. Letting out a sigh, she made her way down the cement stairs to the dirt and stone path and started toward Hogsmeade. A few other students missed the carriages aswell, which made Syd a bit happier. It wasn't like she was afraid of the dark, but knowing she wasn't walking down alone made her feel a bit safer.

By the time she reached the gate's Syd's feet were pretty upset. White heels wasn't the best choice in shoes to wear when you plan to walk a decent distance. Walking toward a nearby building she leaded on the brick and wiggled her toes in her shoes. Smiling at the brief moment of relief she looked up at the crowd before her. It looked like most people already grouped together and were waiting for the game to begin. She scanned the people to find someone she was familiar with, a friend at least. As a few people walked in front of her she noticed two of her roommates, one of them being her Quidditch captain talking a few feet away from her. Walking over to the two she smiled as she stepped into the small group. "Hey Sita, Grace." She greeted with a smile. "Happy Halloween!" She laughed as she went on. "Any idea when the game is going to begin? I'm excited. I love Halloween." She smiled as she clasped her hands in front of her.