The Staff Table
 

The school staff is seated on a dias high overlooking the Great Hall. You may approach them for conversation, but they probably deserve a peaceful meal as much as anyone else.

"Oversized load coming through!" LouAnn yelled, walking through The Great Hall with a large tree dangling just in front of her. "The tree that is---not me!" Although no one was nearby to hear that last comment, she thought it necessary to say it just in case. When she reached the Staff Table, thinking maybe Professor Morgan would be there, she stopped and glanced around. Kind of hard to do with a large tree right in front of you, but umm...yeah. "Professor Morgan? Are you around?" she asked. "Mister Masterson said to bring this to you..."

From somewhere behind her, LouAnn could hear Copernicus' voice. The problem was, she couldn't see them. A branch---a single, thick branch---was right in the way of where he was probably standing. Besides that, LouAnn didn't want to chance turning around and accidentally causing the tree to crash to the ground.

"Oh...hey, Cope. I was hoping you two were right behind me.," LouAnn said, turning just about an inch just to show she was trying to acknowledge him despite the large object they were dangling. Plym was with him, right? Merlin, she hoped so! The more strong boys, the better! "Erm, good idea, but...do you know how to get it down?" she asked. "I sort of...erm, never really thought that far ahead." She blushed, even though no one could probably see her. Maybe she should have waited around in the forest for a little longer. "Sorry, guys," she mumbled.

LouAnn blinked at Cope's suggestion. It seemed so easy to just lower it, but it was a tree for Merlin's sake! She felt comfortable lowering a feather or a textbook---not the jolly green giant! "Umm...okay. I'll just...umm..." She breathed a sigh of relief when he said to let go and he'd just lower it instead. Good. Good, Cope. Be the gentleman and lower the tree for me.

"Good idea," she said, backing away a little and letting go slowly. "Alright, she's all your's." It wasn't going to crash, was it? On her foot...or her head? Or...anything for that matter?

Eyes wide with a mixture of fear and excitement, LouAnn stood still as a statue while Cope worked to lower the tree to the ground. She continued to stand this way until the bobbling pot came to a stop, then she let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in. "Y---you think so? You think I really could have?" she asked, sizing up the tree. She supposed he was right. Confidence was something she struggled with, as she was one that had to work hard to master each and every thing she was taught. "Thanks." She smiled warmly at him, happy to have heard such a compliment. "I guess you're right."

LouAnn hadn't realized the groundskeeper had arrived until she heard his cheery voice just behind her. With a smile on her face, she turned around and nodded. "Looks all good to me. It's potted and on the ground, at least. Cope did that," she replied, nodding to the Ravenclaw boy as she talked. She walked around and around the tree, giving a nice once over before nodding to Masterson once again. "Yup, all good. It has my seal of approval." She reached out and ran her fingers along parts of the tree, enjoying the feel of nature at her fingertips. "So what now? Are we going to get to decorate it?" she asked.

LouAnn simply stood around, watching and waiting, while Mister Masterson moved here and there. She leaned down and examined the soil he was patting. Merlin, she hoped the plant was potted correctly! It wouldn't do for her to have messed up something so important! She was relieved when he moved on to another topic---decorating the tree. She assumed she had, thank goodness, potted it the right way.

Her face fell a little and she shook her head no. "Actually, I haven't, so I was sort of hoping you'd say that we could," she reported. With all the moving around her family tended to do, things like decorating a Christmas tree were often overlooked. She perked up, though, and smiled at the groundskeeper. "Excellent! Any particular decorating styles?"

When LouAnn saw the groundskeeper frown, her perky attitude sort of dampened again, and she, too, frowned. "No, no, we have, but...that was before we starting moving. Since we moved, well...we just, sort of don't have time to do things like Christmas trees anymore." she admitted. "The last time we had a tree, I was too young to help decorate it. Then when I was old enough, we just...had to stop." She watched him a few more seconds, then her eyes flickered down to meet her feet.

Out of the corner of her eye, though, she saw objects upon objects appear around the tree. She slowly glanced over and noticed the ornaments he'd conjured. Goodbye frown...hello happiness! "Wow...just wow, sir. This is amazing, isn't it, Cope?" she remarked, diving into one box and pulling out a tiny ornament. She dangled it in front of Masterson's face. "Look!"

We have ARRIVED. >]
 

Kiri and Cela, it seemed, were so good at levitating things that Raiden had just walked with them up to the Great Hall, utterly useless. Better than to be utterly useless than to have them be rubbish at spells though? Yes.

Their way had been blissfully clear of students. Rai hadn't had to tell anyone to clear out of the way, which was always nice. He glanced at Kiri worriedly; she looked a bit uncomfortable. Falling into step beside her, he touched her elbow and gave a little smile.

"Don't hold your arm like that," he said, giving her arm a gentle nudge. "See how Cela's is? That's so it doesn't get all hurty to hold up like that."

Celandine tossed a little smile at Raiden as she started lowering the pot end of the tree to the ground, waiting while Kiri lifted her end.

She eyed the soil in the pot with an obvious pleased expression. She'd charmed the soil to be sure it wouldn't all get tipped out and that had worked out perfectly.

Of course right?

Getting the tree into the Great Hall had taken a few minutes. They'd walked slowly, of course, but a bunch of floating trees always attracts attention, so the entrance had been full of curious students who'd watched.

Raiden's advice had been good, too. Once her arm was closer to her body, the pressure on it had eased a bit, and now, it didn't feel as if a cart had run over the muscles. When they arrived at the staff table, a second tree, moved into the Hall by LouAnn an Copernicus under the watchful eyes of the groundskeeper, had already arrived.

As she gently lowered her wand, Kiri was struck by a sudden thought: Would the trees remain upright once the magic holding them was gone? The pots were big all right, but did they offer enough grip for the roots? Mr Masterson seemed unconcerned - and Celandine, too (even though she apparently went through life in a state of constant ease), so Kiri waited until the tree had stopped moving, and then, with an anxious look over at Celandine and Raiden, made her spell stop. She kept her wand pointed at the tree, however, just in case gravity decided to be nasty.

As they got the tree verticle once more Celandine kept her wand on the base of the tree, getting the pot flat on the ground was the first priority.

"How are we going to make sure it doesn't fall? Sticky charm the bottom? Suspend the top with magic?" Cela kept her wand on the tree, bracing it as she stepped back to peer up at the top of it.

Okay, breaking off the spell was a bad idea. The top of the tree started leaning forward dangerously. Kiri nearly dropped her wand in her hurry. "Mobiliarbus!" she said quickly. The tree stayed upright.

She considered Celandine's question. A sticky charm would have been her first idea as well. Would it work on the entire tree without damaging the roots? "Dunno." She shrugged and called out, "Er, Mr Masterson? What're we supposed to do with the tree now? I think ours will fall over if we stop the spells."

Carrying in her arms one very LARGE box, Professor Morgan made her way back into the Great Hall. "Here are the last of the decorations, Masterson," she called out. Instead of asking where to put them, she stopped at the first table she came to and set them down.

Hearing Kiri's question, she directed her attention there and said, "Trust the pot, Kiri. It should be big enough to keep the tree upright."

Everyone ^_^
 

Totally distracted by the gorgeous ornament she'd pulled out the first box, LouAnn just nodded in reply to Mr. Masterson's question. She wasn't much on saying too much about her family anyway, what with all the chaos that surrounded their history---or what was left of it, that is. She glanced over at him with a smile when he suggested she hang the ornament on the tree. "Oh, yeah, cool!" she replied. She then proceeded to circle the tree a few times, an act which took a while to do seeing as the tree was so large and she was moving so slowly. She was studying each and every branch looking for just the right one. When she found it, she retrieved her wand and cast a little spell to cause the ornament to float up to the branch she'd chosen. When it was secure, she turned back to the groundskeeper and said, "All done."

That was when she caught sight of the other group of students who'd also been helping out in the Forbidden Forest. They looked as if things were going along just fine, so at first LouAnn just smiled and waved. "Hey, Cela, Kiri, and Raiden!" she greeted. Then things started to get a little shaky, and LouAnn could see that they needed help. "Ohh, erm...Cope?" she asked, turning towards the Ravenclaw boy who'd just helped her with the first tree. Then Professor Morgan instructed them to trust the pot, and even though she could see why they were so worried it would fall over, it probably would be best to just trust the pot.

Abby walks into the Great Halls and sees Mr. Masterson has the Christmas trees set up. She watches LouAnn hanging some ornament on the tree. Abby takes out her camera and takes a picture. "Hello everyone. You need some help decorating, Professor Morgan?" Abby loves decorating for Christmas. It's one of the high points at the embassy helping decorate all the rooms. The Christmas parties are fun too.