Of course, he wouldn't miss the opportunity to be in Dublin! He especially 'floo' here to see Professor Myers and his band in support for his idea of recording a song for their Hufflepuff house. Honestly, he didn't think it was a bad idea at all. In fact, it was kind of cool of Professor Myers to be doing this for them. Henric believed he was one of his many admired professors in the school who would go to such great lengths for their students. And since it was going to be his last year in Hogwarts next term, he thought...y'know...why the heck not. Besides he took a two-days off from his part-time job at his family restaurant so he could be here. He be seeing llia after this recording trip was over.

"Professor Myers? I'm here!" The Hufflepuff prefect beamed and waved towards them.

Henry bounced down the street to the Leaky Cauldron. He was WAY TOO EXCITED to be here and doing a music thing with his Head of House and his fellow Hufflepuffs. He wasn't sure exactly what this music thing was because he wasn't into music as much as he was other things, but he was getting to do something that he was sure would be fun with a bunch of his friends and Professor Myers, who was the coolest Head of House ever, btw. And music was pretty cool too. At least he liked to listen to it and sometimes sing along.

The thirteen year old slowed down as he saw a few people congregated outside the Leaky Cauldron. "Hi Henric," he said cheerfully, giving the prefect a wave. "Hey, Professor Myers!" He grinned at the older guy, then glanced up at the man he did not know. "Hello," he said politely with a smile, figuring the man would introduce himself or someone else would. So, where was everyone else? Was he early?

Two students! Two whole students, he might add, in one piece and all! Lovely, lovely. He smiled and waved at them both. "Henric, m'boy! My prefect!" he actually hugged Henric and then winked at little Hen-RY. Henric and HenRY. Oh dear. Bandmates, please don't get anyone mixed up! Didn't young people get offended by that or something?

"It's so lovely to see you both! I assume more are coming. It's still quite early. This is Mark--Mark Sparks!" he chuckled when he said his silly friend's name. Mark bowed his head and smiled, doing his best to show off whatever shape he had shaved in his beard today (a star, duh). "He looks really scary, I know, but I swear, he's not." It was the tattoos or something. But really, if you stared into Mark's eyes for a long time--as Paul often did without knowing--he seemed like a kind man.

There was NO WAY that Esme was going to miss an opportunity like this if she could help it. Even though she didn't want to pursue a musical career like her mother had, she had inherited the gift of musicality from her. How many other chances would she get to do this? None. She was going to embrace this moment and get the most out of it and hopefully her Housemates would do the same thing.

Reaching the small group assembled outside of The Leaky Cauldron, Esme smiled and sent waves. "Hello, everyone." It was interesting to see Professor Myers' band mates. How awesome was it that he was in a BAND. Usually he made her think of things like plants and soil.

Dressed in her absolute bEST pink tutu, tiara AND bow, Saffron was sO ready to find something else she was ridiculously talented at. Plus, she had a whole backpack of glitter tubs to make it rain sparkles. She just wished she had brought Liv along with her for glitter time. Maybe even Sachiko. But instead, she was here and waving frantically over to her Head of House before running from her mother to the small group gathered there. "HI PROFESSOR MYERS. HI HI HI."

Could someone comment on how pink she looked today? Had anyone noticed the shimmer to her hair? Had anyone noticed the DETAIL she had gone to to fix both a cheer bow and a tiara onto her head?

Come on. Please.

"Can we go now? I know you were just waiting for me." Ehehehehehe. GLITTER.

Maximilian Lancaster wasn't a big fan of music. Sure he listened to it when he studied, and it was usually classical music to help him concentrate. So why was he here? It was an event from his Head of House, and Max had grown fairly fond of the goofy old man. Besides it was either this or go to a young future healers convention thing his parents were helping run and LOL no thanks.

The seventeen year old came to stand near a bunch of fellow Hufflepuffs, all awkward with his hands in his pockets. He knew who his housemates were but he didn't know them-know them. It was weird. He kept to books mostly and by the time he remembered humanity existed everyone was already in bed.

Welp.

He spotted his Head of House and brought a hand out of his pocket to salute the man, then returned it back to its place. "Good day, Sir." Don't be nervous, he berated himself. Easier said than done. This guy was a legendary poncho man and Maximilian was nowhere near that.

Remy ran through the streets, hoping with everything in him that he wasn’t late. His dad had been held up at work and as such he had been delayed. Urgh. Please be here. Please be here. He thought to himself as he ran and ran… suddenly very glad for the training that he and Henry had been doing this summer. As much as he liked jogging, he wouldn’t have been able to jog for such a distance when the term had ended. Apparently running daily did help… who knew his cousin was right. Darn.

….

Though he forgot that thought by the time he got to them as he was gasping for breath and had a stitch in his side. ”H-Hi.” - gasp - ”So-rry.” - gasp - ”Dad-held.” -gulpgulpgasp breeeaaaaath - ”up - work.”.

Moving over to stand next to Henry, he placed his hand on his side and tried to calm his over-reacting heart and cramping muscles. He was thirteen, he should so not be this out of shape. Man.

Benton wasn't sure if he was actually that good at singing, no he knew he wasn't good at singing or music at all, but he wanted to be here with his Puff family. Last term was so much fun and the now second year puff was ready to have an awesome time with their head of house.

As he walked into the building? He saw a few people and waved at them. "Hey everyone." HI DID THEY SEE HIM! HE WAS HERE* Speaking of seeing people he saw his best friend and headed over.

"Hey Henry! Having fun yet?" He hadn't been that was for sure. He was just too nervous about this singing thing. What if his voice was horrible and they couldn't use it at all. That would not be good and he would be told to go home because he couldn't sing.

ADI WAS HERE!

He may be a little late because he had been spending time with Benny but he had finally made it here! He Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron, super excited. He spotted Professor Myers immediately along with some else.

"Hi, Professor!'' Adi bounded over, signature grin in place. Ohh looky! FAMILIAR PEOPLE! "Henny! Henry! Remy! Hey, guys!'' And there were the unfamiliar ones whom he didn't know but grinned at. Since he was here, he wondered if Lux was coming. She hadn't told him anything and he had quite forgotten to ask her. Ooops. He was a bad best friend. Heh.

Beatrice York had been delighted for the chance to not only see Paul again, but to see some of the students that she had the pleasure of meeting.

She walked up the street, up to The Leaky Cauldron, and a smile spread across her face. There was Paul, right there. And she recognised some of the students there! She had her hands over her face, because she was thrilled, before she pulled them back. "Paul, how wonderful it is to see you again," she said in her soft Scottich accent.

More students began to trickle by. Esme! Sassy Saffy! Max(Paul wasn't even sure if the boy liked being called Max, but come on, Maximillian was SO LONG), Remy(who looked extremely out of shape, and Paul couldn't help but chuckle), Benton, ADI (oldie but goodie) and his old colleague Beatrice.

It was indeed a PARTAY and Paul was very excited.

"Well hello everyone! It is lovely to see you all today! As you can see, I asked Beatrice if she would like to come because I MISS her..." duh. "And Adi, of course." King of Hufflepuff, obvi. Paul wasn't even a TRUE Hufflepuff so he sort of felt like a sham a lot of the time, but he also felt like maybe over the years he had evolved INTO a Hufflepuff? Who knew. Maybe he'd have to give the hat another go.

"The portkey should be leaving any moment now--" and getting portkeys from that terrible lady in Transportation had been awfully scary. He made Milton ask and stuff. Ugh. The portkey was a horseshoe, old and rusty. It was like the woman had gone out of her way to give Paul the worst portkey ever (and let's be honest, Lynley probably had).

Ahem.

"So if everyone will put their hand on this--it'll pull us off in a moment. I am going to leave Mark behind with some floo powder to arrive in ten minutes...for any stragglers. Got it, Mark?" he asked with a smile in his friend's direction. Mark nodded, and Paul cleared his throat. "OKAY--" he glanced at his watch. "Now in three.......two....." And before Paul had gotten to one (he was a second off, oops?) the portkey jerked them all forward and a second later...

TWISTED PAPER MUSIC.

Paul let go of the used portkey, letting it fall to the ground, and was surprised to see the room filled with...

BALLOONS.

Pearl, the very old lady, looked shocked to see them so soon. She had been in the middle of blowing up a balloon and quickly let it deflate with a loud...fart noise. "PAUL I DON'T HAVE MY TEETH IN--" she cried, and for a very old woman, she scurried into the other room quickly.

Paul flushed and...turned to look at his badgers. You couldn't stop anywhere without touch a balloon...and knowing Pearl....."Er, Pearl? Did you put surprises in the balloons again?"

Pearl's cry sent a PANIC through Paul. "YES!"

Well. "Welcome to..Twisted Paper Music everyone...I'm sorry...Pearl--" he lowered his voice. "Is a little--" and he made the crazy sign beside his ear.



OOC: If you still want to post and have not yet, go right ahead! Meet up with us there with Mark xD *loves you all though*

Beatrice smiled warmly at Paul, who had done such a good job organising this. She almost bought her cello! But... it was rather large and she was certain it was not needed.

It was now Portkey time, and Beatrice watched around to make sure the other students had a finger on the portkey before she placed one on. She could easily apparate, the students were the important ones. And right before she went to take a deep breath in to prepare herself, SHE WAS TUGGED! She hadn't had time to take that breath, and she felt as if she were suffocating!

But it all ended, as she knew it would, and she arrived... IN A BALLOON ROOM!

She looked around with a delighted look on her face. "PAUL! This is just fantastic," she said, picking one up and tossing it into the air. But this delightful old dear seemed to be... well, not entirely sure where her teeth were. Or... did Paul have his suspicions? She didn't want to go and rattle the balloons. She tried not to find humour in the dear lady, so she bit her lip. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked Paul quietly.

Man, just look at all these faces!

It was good to be back among them. Sure, he did see some of them regularly but they were all Hufflepuffs here so yeah. Adi managed to get a finger hooked on the rusty horse shoe and he felt that familiar jerk around his navel which meant that they were off.

His feet touched down and the first thing Adi registered were the multi coloured balloons in the room. How pretty! But what was that someone was saying about teeth? Ah, it was an old lady. She obviously was referring to her dentures. Not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable with the attention, he turned to scan the place.

"It's awesome, Professor!'' Yeah, Myers was still 'Professor' to him. LOL.

Carl would not have missed the chance to get together with his fellow Hufflepuffs and record music together! However, it seemed that he had missed the Portkey to the studio. When he ran towards the Leaky Cauldron, he saw a group of familiar people gathered around a horseshoe - then, they were gone. He was left alone with a scary looking man he did not know.

"Hello ... I'm here for the recording event." The twelve-year-old smiled weakly.

It was awesome to see more people arriving, but it was Professor York and Adi who she was happy to see again. "Professor York! I didn't know that you would be here! Or you, Adi!" It was so nice to see one of her favourite teachers as well as her former Housemate, but before she could say much else to them it was time to go.

Portkeys weren't her favourite form of travel by any means... but BALLOONS.

Esme gasped as she looked around the room. HER HEAD OF HOUSE WAS THE BEST. Not only did they get to do a recording session, but there were BALLOONS everywhere. Wow. The Hufflepuff was way too happy and excited for her own good, practically bouncing on the spot. This was going to be amazing.

Maximilian had not registered the room once his feet touched the ground. His vision was a bit blurry and what did register was a loud...RUDE noise. That's when his vision cleared.

...Well, he wasn't going to judge the little old lady on her...gassy action. The elder tended to that, y'know. They couldn't hold it in due to...

He wasn't going to get into it right now. Or ever. Gross image there.

As she ran off after exclaiming something about teeth, Maximilian rubbed his eyes and stepped forward, POPPING a balloon between his shoe and the floor. He jumped ten million yards into the air, his face coloring a deep red.

"...Uh......" Right. No one noticed that, right?

Henry glanced up at the other guy now known as Mark Sparks and gave him a little grin. He really didn't look all that scary to him and he also thought he had pretty cool facial hair, which he might have stared at a little too long. But he soon turned his eyes away from the guy as a few more Hufflepuffs arrived. He gave them 'hellos' or acknowledging nods, but his eyes soon focused on the quickly approaching boy, soon recognizing the figure.

"Remy! You made it!" Henry grinned at him, glad one of his best friends was there. Sure, he probably could have had fun with the other Puffs present because his house was the greatest and he was friends with pretty much everyone, but it would be even better with Remy. "Couldn't wait to get here, huh?" he joked a little since he was racing to make it to the group. But his smile faded just a bit as the other boy tried to catch his breath. "You okay? Maybe a drink of water?" But he didn't see any refreshments around just then since they were outside the building.

And then at his other side, his other best friend appeared. "Hey, Benton," he grinned. "Sure! I'm pretty excited, aren't you?" Even if he wasn't sure what this music thing was exactly about, he was happy to be with his friends and they were going to Ireland! Oh, and was that Adi? Cool! Henry gave him a grin and wave.

It wasn't much longer till it was time to go and his eyes fell on the rusty horseshoe. Eh. He knew somewhere in the back of his head that they'd be taking a portkey, but they weren't his favorite. "You guys ready?" He looked to his friends on either side of him, hoping that Remy was feeling better now, and grabbed a hold of the horseshoe before getting pulled away.

He had used enough portkeys in his young life to land without stumbling, though he usually had some nausea. It was nice that he didn't have any today though, even if he did have to pause a moment to get his bearings. But he looked up quickly at the farting noise to see... so many balloons and a sort of crazy lady. Cool.. were they meant to do something with the balloons? Henry grabbed one closest to him and bopped it up into the air.

Well, of course, as SOON as they got there, some of the children began stepping on the balloons -_________- Paul winced. He didn't know what was coming--WHAT HAD PEARL PUT IN THE BALLOONS.

Well.

When Max stepped on a balloon, Paul had to cover his ears, because what sounded like a piano ORGAN in a very looooow Dooooh-note rang out but it was LOUD.

"GAH--Pearl!" he cried out, and the old woman quickly shuffled into the room. "Are there.........music notes in these?" he asked.

Pearl nodded. "Yes sir! Music notes in all of 'em! And as we pop 'em, the notes record on that paper---" she grinned toothily. "I thought it'd be how you could write the music with the kiddies!" she wore a jingly bracelet that, as she spoke, she shook around. She stepped on a balloon, producing a VERY high LAAA note. This time, it was done with what sounded like a banjo.

Paul sighed. "Well...I guess that is...fun..." he looked around at his students. "I guess we...can...pop all the balloons...? And the notes will record themselves........."

O_o

"If you all want to, that is..since Pearl was......nice enough to do this for us." HOW WEIRD WAS THIS? Paul stepped on another balloon...and another DOH note happened.

Well then. He glanced at Beatrice and just...shook his head. "Let's pop sone balloons!"



****


Mark was waiting for any stragglers when he spotted the small boy. He smiled warmly. "Hi there! Of course--I'll give you some floo powder and you can go right in!" he handed the boy some. "Just go right into the Leaky...and say, very clearly, "Twisted Paper Music!" and you should swoop right in!"

And he would wait some more.

Carl's smile brightened, glad to know that he was not going to miss out because he was late. The mention of floo powder made him a bit nervous though, as he had never traveled in that method before. "Thank you! Uh, see you later!" He said, mentally repeating the words 'Twisted Paper Music'.

The Hufflepuff went into the Leaky Cauldron where the floo network stations were. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into a fireplace and threw the powder inside. He said as clearly as he could without swallowing any ash, "Twisted Paper Music!" With a whoosh, he was being transported to ...

The recording studio! The room was filled with balloons, but the look of delight on the Carl's face was quickly replaced with shock as he realized that they popped with extremely loud - musical notes? He had covered his ears and he now returned his hands to his side. He grinned, this totally made sense. It definitely seemed like a fun way to write the music.

He headed over to Professor Myers, who was popping a balloon (was that doh?). "Hello, Professor! Sorry for the lateness." He said, stepping on a nearby balloon himself. A low and loud note rang out and he almost giggled. Hehe.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maximilian's long arms flailed out at the air around him as a sound blared and caught off guard...A-FREAKING-GAIN. He was able to hold in the shriek that was currently lodged in his throat.

.....He regretted this. Regretted it so bad. Why hadn't he just said he was coming to this thing and snuck somewhere else? With his girlfriend would've been nice. GUH. He missed her right about now. She'd hug him to her chest and make it all the better.

He was leaning on something. He didn't know what but if he didn't lean on something he was going to FALL because his legs were like JELLY because of that damn fright. WHO DOES THAT? Max's heart raced in his chest, threatening to burst out and probably smack the old lady in that wrinkly face of hers. He put his right hand over it as if that would stop the impossible action.

No. No. He needed to stop being--thinking--mean. It wasn't the lady's fault--although a warning would have been ever-so kind.

Heart settling to its normal beats, Max moved his gaze to his Head of House. Now more level-headed he actually wouldn't mind stepping on balloons. He just didn't understand how they made music. Was it a charm?

His hand shot up into the air as fast a lightning as a foot came down on another balloon. "Professorrrr!" He had a question! "Did miss (?) Pearl charm them or buy them already charmed?" This had given him an idea for the twins' birthday.

Adi hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Esme before their departure so he seized the opportunity. "Yep! Professor Myers owled me and I would definitely not turn this down.'' He grinned. "What's up with you, Esme? How are you?'' Then there was a POPPING sound and Adi saw that guy (Maximillian) jump from apparently stepping on a balloon. LOL.

Wait... What?

Did he just hear that balloon give of musical sounds?

HOW COOL!

And then there was Myers saying that they should pop the other balloons. "Just pop them at random?'' Adi didn't need telling twice and grabbed one. He squeezed it between his hands.

POP! it went followed by some musical notes.

Remy laughed breathily and shook his head at his best friend. ”’M fine. Mum dropped me off waaaaaay at the other side of the Alley as Dad got held up at work and he was meant to take me here… and I got stuck behind a tour group or something…” Lots and lots of people all huddled together across the Alley hadn’t made it easy to get past them at all! ”So when I did finally get past, I ran all the way here so that I would miss you all… I wasn’t sure if it was like the train and if you missed the time, you missed the ride?”

With a grin, the Welsh boy sent a wave around Henry towards Benton. This day was going to be awesome. As he looked up and around the ground, his eyes found Adi and he gave him a wave. Man, was Marsha going to be jealous that he had been able to spend the whole day with one of her favourite people EVER. Smirking a little before he sighed and shook his head, he continued looking around the group. Sending out a few waves here and there, especially to Professor Meyers and Professor York.

Laughing, Remy nodded at Henry. ”Yes! Let’s do this!” Looping his pinky finger around the horse-shoe, he waited on baited breath for the horrible sensation that he knew would come. Taking a deep breath he tried not to feel like he was suffocating as they got pulled from London to Ireland! How cool was that? Though… he could do without the dizziness on landing… that would have been good.

His eyes went wide as a loud, low note rung through the room as one of the older boys stood on a balloon. What. The. Heck. In. Merlin’s. Beard?!!?!?!?

Looking sharply around the room, the almost third year, looked for some form of explanation to the musical note only for their Head of House to pipe up that they… should burst the balloons to make music?

……………

Well… It was what they were here for… Right?

Picking up the closest purple balloon, Remy took his house keys from his pocket before stabbing a small hole in it which let out a long violin played high e/ high fi sound. He laughed, eyes lighting up happily, as he grinned at his fellow house mates. How awesome was this?

BALLOONS and MUSIC together?? Okay, this was officially the best field trip that Esme had ever been on and Professor Myers was the best Head of House in the entire History of Hogwarts. The others were awesome too of course, but they didn't take their students on a trip to a recording studio. Myers had them all beat. Best. Day. Of. Her. Life.

There was no way that she was going to let everyone else have all the fun. Nope, Esme was going to pop as many balloons as she could and have the time of her life while she did so.

POP! went the first one, causing her to grin. Awesome. She turned her attention to Adi who was making progress as well. "I'm glad that you could come! I've been good. Spending my summer seeing friends and volunteering. How about you?" Cornering another balloon that was nearby, Esme pounced and burst it. The POP! was incredibly satisfying but the musical note that emitted was even more so.

Look who it was! Little Carl! Paul smiled and waved, moving to give him a hug and stepping on about a DOZEN balloons as he did so, music BLARING in everyone's ears.

"Oh--so sorry everyone--continue!" he said as he patted the boy's head. "Nice to see you made it, m'boy! We're just popping balloons that release MUSIC notes when popped! My friend Pearl is recording the notes...and our song will sound like that...it'll be CRAZY!" a crazy song for some CRAZY BADGERS!

He turned to Max. "Pearl...I think did this herself, right Pearl?" The woman, hacking away in the corner, finished her coughing spell and cleared her throat. "Yes! I did myself.." she smiled and nodded and STEPPED on a balloon which gave a HUGE POP. Hehe.

"Yes, Adi, randomly! Any of them really!" he sidestepped a balloon in order to give the students a chance to really step on them, and went to check out what the heck their song looked like so far. And Merlin, it would sound weird. But he kind of liked it...he read the music quickly. "Any lyric writers in here?!" he asked with a chuckle.

It looked like Remy was enjoying himself, of course, and everyone in general! He was pleased this was a relaxing get together for his precious little puffers! "Good job, Remy and Esme! KEEP IT UP EVERYONE!" he bounced a little, wondering where his old friend Calamity was at?!