Abby is digging through the box marked Hufflepuff when she hears a new voice. She looks up to see a fellow Hufflepuff. I can sure use some help. Professor Morgan wants us to decorate the Hufflepuff tree."

Iris skipped up to the staff table, and over to Mr Masterson. She stopped skipping as she reached him. Iris grinned at him, "Mr Maaasteeeerrsoooon? Please can I help decorate the Trees?" She asked, putting the puppy-dog eyes that she normally used around Aaron on, hoping they'd work for Mr Masterson too.

Cope shrugged. The professors were all acting strangely.

"You take the candle, put your wand to the wick," Copernicus demonstrated. He muttered the spell, and the wick blossomed with a tiny blue flame.

"And then we'll just float them up the tree. How about I light and float them, and you can use a sticking charm? A temporary one, I think. I'm not sure I'll be able to do both."

Chris smiled as Mastson said they should help decorate by the house tables, and then walked over to the Gyrffindor Table to help them decorate his own house's table.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

When it appeared that the groundskeeper was no longer going to give her strange looks, LouAnn proceeded to dig through a few more boxes in search for a really interesting ornament. This was a task that actually proved itself to be difficult, as all of the ornaments looked to be special in their very own way. A little shimmer caught LouAnn's eyes, and she reached for the object that'd caused it. After a little bit of moving around, she pulled out a pretty fairy, complete with shimmery wings and a little glittery wand.



She was about to start circling the tree once again, when some Hufflepuff girl approached and asked to take a picture. "Oh, hey there! Sure thing!" she said, answering for both herself and Mr. Masterson. She edged over next to the groundskeeper and put arm around his shoulders. She had to stand on her tiptoes a little, but she managed to make it work. She held up her fairy ornament, grinned widely, and waited for the picture to be taken.

Constantine looked up in surprise as LOUANN placed her arm around his shoulders and then was even further surprised that there was a camera pointed at him. Man, what was up with these people taking photos?!? He was starting to become blind.

Continuing to use Iliana's wand and completely oblivious to the fact that she was still nearby, Neo resumed putting ornaments up. "If you wish to help, please go to your respective table and help there," he added as well to those who had just arrived.

"Oh, okay, cool," LouAnn said, nodding and agreeing with what Cope had suggested. "Alright, you light and float, and I'll stick." She'd never conjured those cool looking flames, but she had casted a Sticking Charm. It was best to let the expert, Cope in this case, handle the flame. LouAnn plus flames plus a Christmas tree only added up to one thing---a fire...and not the kind Cope was intending on decorating the tree with either. "Alright, Kettleburn. Work your magic!"

As she waited on Cope to get started with the flames, a thought suddenly occurred to LouAnn. It'd be best to get Masterson's opinions on werewolves good and out in the open from the get-go, that way she wasn't left second-guessing him when it came time to rid the school of the final lone werewolf supporters. "So, Mr. Masterson...what's your opinion on...ice cream? Or...Astronomy?" she asked, trying to make it seem like she was casually asking random questions. "What about werewolves?"

Constantine paused to take a look at the tree, standing back and looking at it in admiration. It was really starting to look good! Especially with those candles, it was really pulling it together.

He stepped back in to continue putting up ornaments, but found himself laughing gently at the stream of questions that flowed right out of LOUANN's mouth. "Whoa...whoa, slow down," he smirked, "I'm only capable of answering one question at a time."

He picked out some ornaments that looked like icicles and started to hang them. "Well..I think ice cream is amazing, especially since I proposed to my wife in an ice cream parlour." He smiled as he remembered that day and then, with a sigh, he remembered her next question. "Astronomy...is alright, I guess? I never really payed attention in school," he chuckled, digging in the box for some more icicles.

"Werewolves? That was your other question...right? Hmmm...I like them," he nodded thoughtfully, "I mean...if I didn't like them...I wouldn't be working here right now, would I?" He smiled and shrugged, "If I didn't like them...I'd probably be working here...just, be doing a really bad job. No no, I like them." He sent a few more icicles to the top of the tree and smiled proudly, "the tree is really starting to look nice, hmm? Do you..want to put the star up," he offered, pulling it out of the box.

Copernicus lit several several several candles and levitated them one at a time up the tree, giving Louann time to stick them. Soooo... Masterson liked werewolves, but it sounded like he did to only to keep his job.

"That's terrible, sir. You should be permitted to feel what you feel without fear of persecution."

Abby rumpages through the box and finds several black and gold ornaments. She levitates them out of the box and over to the Hufflepuff tree. Abby smiles as she levitates them up the tree and placing them on there individual branches. She goes for some othe ornaments when she hears Copernicus speak. Abby can't believe what he's saying. "Where did that come from, Cope?"

LouAnn laughed at Mr. Masterson telling her to slow down with her questioning. As he talked, she swished and flicked her wand towards the candles Cope was lighting and floating. She smiled at the few she'd done so far. Cope was right---the flames really did bring out the tree! "Oh, Cope! This is gorgeous!" she exclaimed. "You're quite the decorator, you know!"

She made a slight face when Masterson expressed his views on werewolves. "Such a shame," she mumbled. ...and he looked like such a nice guy. She gave Cope an "are-you-freaking-serious" look when he told the groundskeeper he should feel free to feel what he feels without fear of persecution. "Not in my book..."

"Oh, and yes, I'd love to put the star on the tree, Mr. Masterson! Somebody give me a boost!" she said, changing her tune just slightly. Putting the star atop the tree did have its perks! She turned to Cope and nudged him in the side. "Friends close...enemies closer!"

Constantine's eyebrow furrowed as he looked towards Copernicus. "I never said my view was based on fear of persecution, Mr. Kettleburn." Maybe...it came out wrong? "Look...forget I said anything about my job having a part in it. Werewolves have never done anything wrong to me, therefore they're alright in my book."

His brow furrowed even more at LOUANN's response. "What do you mean? Such a shame? Isn't it what we want? Cooperation, regardless of type?" Something...wasn't right here. But then again, students were entitled to their own opinion.

Deciding to let the students help LOUANN, Constantine turned to continue rummage through the box. It didn't look like there was anything else important to put up. "You guys see anything in here you want to put on the tree," he asked, turning back to look.

Copernicus smiled sadly and raised an eyebrow at Louann before drawing a line across his throat. Masterson... was one of THEM. He had to go.

"We can finish this tree, Professor, if you need to help the others."

LouAnn looked confused for a moment then realization dawned on her. "Oh, such a shame...broken ornament, sir. No worries, though. I tossed it to the side," she said. Ouch. Why was it so easy to lie? ...and to Masterson at that? "We do need cooperation, however this particular ornament wouldn't cooperate with the others...so it had to unfortunately be removed." This was, of course, an analogy. Masterson being the uncooperative ornament that had to be removed.

LouAnn caught the movement from Cope. That line across the throat could only mean one thing---this one had to go, as well. She smirked at him then rolled her eyes at the very thought of supporting a dirty, nasty dog. LouAnn really didn't want to see the groundskeeper leave, though. There was just something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. If he had to, though. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Were we holding you up? I didn't realize you had somewhere to be."

Constantine watched both kids carefully. He couldn't place it, but the vibe from them had changed. It was...so strange, especially to see LOUANN roll her eyes. She had seemed like a sweet kid, with a differing opinion, apparently. The way she had talked about the ornament, it had been scary.

"I didn't say I had to go anywhere," he sighed, looking up at the tree. "I was asking if you thought the tree needed anything else. 'Cause, if you do...then I can go get it from one of the house tables...Do you still need help getting that star on top, LouAnn?"

Abby is getting used to Cope ignoring her. It seems she always says the wrong thing around the guy, but where is LouAnn coming from? Abby looks in the box and finds some crystal bells. She holds one up and listens to the music it plays. Abby walks over to Mr. Masterson. "These would look lovely in the tree sir."

LouAnn felt just a little guilty over her change in attitude. She'd felt such a connection to Mr. Masterson, like he strangely represented home away from home or something weird like that. For a minute, she just froze in place and really stopped to consider her stance on werewolves. The fact that she hated them was solid truth. Mr. Masterson, though... Like Cope said...or indicated...he had to go. It had to be done. She sighed and started moving about again.

She just needed for him to maybe step away for a while. Too many decisions were having to be made right now. "I...I...I think we need an ornament from another table," she finally answered. "Maybe some silver streamers or something?" Her voice cracked a little, so she turned from him and looked back up at the tree. "Yup, I still need help..."

Oh, Abby! Good! A distraction! She smiled at the girl and studied the ornament she was holding up. It was pretty and played a nice little tune, as well. LouAnn still, of course, had no idea she'd practically attacked the girl in class just a little earlier. "Hey, Abby! I think those would look just lovely, too. Good choice..."

"Yeah..go ahead and put them on the tree, Miss Wright," he nodded, his eyes focused on LouAnn. There was something about her that was still bugging him...and it wasn't the major attitude adjustment he'd recently witnessed.

Reaching for Iliana's wand on his belt...he came to find that it was gone. Greatttt. Woman is going to throw a fit... "Uhm...you'll have to get either Copernicus or Abby to help you there, Miss Purple. I'll...I'll go get the streamers."

With that, he turned on his heel and walked quickly OUT of the hall. He had no intention of stopping for streamers...nor listen to Morgan's disappointment about the wand. He had to satisfy his curiosity and that required looking through a photo album in his hut.

“Ok, just the gold and black decorations then?” She began to help the older girl decorate the Hufflepuff tree by placing the ornaments around the bottom of tree, leaving the other girl to do the levitating; she didn’t have much experience with levitating thing and didn’t want to break anything. “I’m Abigail by the way.”

As they decorated she listened to the older students and the groundskeeper -‘I really should find out there names’- talking around her. When the subject of werewolves came up she stiffened slightly before carrying on with the decoration hoping that no one got her involved. ‘I’m not going to say anything...I promised I wouldn’t get involved and I won’t! It’s got nothing to do with me. I’ll just carry on decorating and ignore it.’

Rafe saw two of his most favorite older Gryffies, Chris and LouAnn. He saw that they were decorating and that looked most fun. "Hey Chris! Hey Purple! Hey...everyone else! Do you guys need any help? I could contribute some Everlasting Colored-Flamer Orbs to decorate," Rafe said in reference to the similar items he juggled in the common room. "Not to worry, they're not flammable," he quickly added. Rafe would hate to be the one responsible for burning down Hogwarts, especially during the holiday season. It was weird that the holidays were coming up, he never really celebrated them much, he was lucky to even get a present on his birthday, but everyone seemed to be in the spirit of things and it was quite an adjustment.

CHris looked up as he heard the familiar voice of his fellow Gryffindor and fellow Quidditch player. "Hey Rafe, we could use your help over here at the Gryffindor table decorating our Christmas tree!" he said excitedly to his friend.

LouAnn glanced up for a split second, long enough to catch Mr. Masterson looking her way once again. What was up with this dude? Seriously. At least he looked down to retrieve his wand, which, surprisingly enough, wasn't there. Another one bites the dust. "Alright, sir. I'll enlist the help of Cope or Abby," she said, realizing that without a wand the man was practically useless. Well...as far as helping her reach the top of the tree, that is. A second later, he'd marched right on out of The Great Hall, leaving LouAnn to ask Abby or Cope to assist her with getting the star put up.

Abby, though, was busy conversing with the Hufflepuff girl who'd joined them several minutes ago. Seeing that, she turned to Cope with a questioning look. "Hey, Cope? Mr. Masterson asked me if I wanted to put the star on top of the tree, and I do, but...I can't reach it," she said. She could easily levitate it, but somehow that just seemed like it'd take all the fun out of it. While she waited for Cope to reply, she waved to Rafe and Chris. Chris was calling Rafe over to the Gryffindor table, though. "See you boys later!" she called out.

"Why don't I levitate you up to the top of the tree?" Cope wondered with a small grin. She could levitate the ornament herself, obviously, but something told him Louann had Muggle urges.

"And after that, I say this tree is done. Its very classic and simple, but you don't have to complicate everything, you know?" He cast a glance at Abby. "And maybe some crystal bells, because they won't add extra color. Go ahead, Abby."

This Cope was a smart little cookie, hmm? LouAnn beamed and nodded then approached the tree, ready to be levitated to its utmost branches. She turned back to Cope and gave him and "I'm ready" look. "Alright, up I go!" she playfully said. Being levitated, she imagined, would be sort of like flying without a broom. She wouldn't go all that high, but it'd still be an experience to cross off her bucket list nonetheless.

"You know, I think you're right. Over-decorating could become an issue," she said, sizing up the tree. They'd really packed the ornaments on there! "Oh, Abby! Your crystal bells would just be the icing on the cake!" She smiled at the Hufflepuff girl, still oblivious to how she'd treated her just the other day in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes class.

Copernicus braced himself as he carefully lifted Louann to the top of the tree. "You just be careful and tell if you think the spell won't hold you. Trust your instincts... I won't know its failing until it does." He made sure he lifted her slowly, so he knew he couldn't scare her.

He paused with her at the top of the tree. "Don't worry."

"Alright. I'm positive I can do this, though. I trust you," she said, shooting him a tiny smile just before rising into the air. She did truly trust Cope, too. When she first met him, he'd seemed like such a nice guy---oh, and he was a seventh year, too! Surely an eighteen-year-old knew what he was doing when casting a spell! The odd thing was, though, her trust in him had only deepened lately. It was almost like...whatever he said...she just automatically agreed to with no questions asked.

As she flew higher and higher, she stretched her arms out, closing the gap between the star and the branch it was to go on. A few seconds later, it was on! It was shiny, it was beautiful, and it was simply perfect! She stared at it in awe for a few seconds before turning back to Cope. "Alright, Cope. I'm all done," she said.