She was a bit wary about entering the common room and stuff after last time. She tugged on the sleeve of her cardigan, making it longer, as she left her shared dormitories and entered the common room. For a school that didn't have much money, they did clean up rather nicely for a party. Melanie looked around, smiling proudly when she saw the long banner that stretched across the room.

That definitely looked nice. Second place. That wasn't bad at all. It wasn't as good as first place but she didn't mind being second. She couldn't help but laugh quietly to herself while looking at it. It was just a nice feeling. Even if they won only one of the three games... they had done well enough to be second place. The silver confetti was a nice touch too. She liked that. It was like snow except less wet and not white.

Melanie didn't go straight towards the sweets and beverages though. Nope. She headed straight for a comfy chair and sat down.

Despite the cushioning charms and other spells on the broom to make it comfortable, it simply wasn't as nice as the chairs in the Gryffindor common room. She was also pretty sure it was easier to fall asleep on one of these chairs. Sleeping on a broom? Melanie Sung would pass on that.

Christmas entered the common room after a long and weary game of qudditch she couldnt quite believe that they had finished second but she waited till more of her fellow housemates arrived, she spotted Melanie and waved she was just glad to finish the season after playing so well

She'd wanted first place, but second place wasn't too shabby either, in Penelope's opinion, especially since she'd actually caught three snitches in two of her matches and two in the other one, and they'd only actually won one game. THAT was pretty incredible and awesome, she thought, and it showed just how hard all the Gryffindors had worked. So she was definitely happy. Boyfriend snogs certainly helped with that too.

"Hey, Melanie. Hey, Christmas." She gave her teammates a smile since they seemed to be the only two there right now and then headed right for the candy and beverage table. She needed some food and stuff after working so hard at the game, yep.

Christmas smiled and said "Hey Penelope" Christmas went back to thinking about different things

Alexa didn't feel much like celebrating but there was already a party set up by the Professor and it would have been incredibly rude of her to walk by it all--and walk by her teammates without so much as taking a look around first...maybe she'd stay. Might as well...there was free candy.

"Great game guys! Penelope, you and those snitches, you showed Aidan, even if we didn't win!" She looked to Melanie by the couches. "You too you excellent keeper you!!!" Because everyone was getting compliments, OKAY???

"I saw you out there too, Christmas! You were amazing!!"

That was all the compliments for not though. She'd wait for her other teammates to arrive before continuing. For now, she helped herself to some of the candy. This would make her happy again, right?

Melanie did not plan on moving from her seat for a while. It was way too comfortable. She knew it was supposed to be a party and all but she she wished she had brought a pillow down. It would be nice to hug. She let out a loud yawn and stretched before she saw others entering the common room.

Oh. It was Christmas! The person, not the holiday. The holiday was months away though Melanie was sure it'd be here in a blink of an eye. "Hey Christmas! You were amazing out there today," she said, giving her a warm smile before slouching in her seat. It was comfortable.

She heard her name. Melanie heard her name. Sitting up, she looked for the source of the voice before seeing the seeker. The amazing and wonderful seeker known as Penelope Greenwell. "Hey Penelope!" she greeted, beaming. "Great game today!" Because even if the team hadn't won, the seeker had gotten all three snitches. Which was more than Ravenclaw. Yup. The Gryffindor team was very lucky to have such a talented seeker and stuff.

Was she allowed to go back to slouching on the couch and not moving ever again? Yes? Apparently not because Lex was looking at her and saying some awfully nice things.

"You were a great beater, Lex," Melanie said, getting up from her seat and smoothing out her clothes. Because if people were going to keep entering then she might as well stand and grab a cookie. "So where is the captain?" Because Alice Fischer deserved hugs and praises for being possibly the world's best captain ever.

"The captain is heeeere."

Here to celebrate their first place loser aka second place winner position, see? Alice stepped inside the common room a little late, but feeling much better than before. Bruise healing paste and boyfriends definitely helped, even if they couldn't exactly heal cracked ribs. She'd be okay, though.

Being a food obsessed Gryffindor, her eyes fell on the refreshments table before anything, but it could wait. First teammates, then filling the bottomless pit that was her stomach. But since she could maybe save the mushy captain stuff for when the trophy got here, the fifth year just smoothed out her clothes and surveyed her players. "All wounds taken care of? Everyone good and uninjured?"

No one seemed to be broken or bleeding in any areas, so she'd take that as a yes.

Could she eat now? Alice could SENSE the jelly slugs from over here.

Christmas smiled at Alexa and said "Thanks it feels awesome to finish second" Christmas turned to Melanie and said "Thanks Melanie, you played awesome out there as well" Christmas turned to Alice her captain and said "Well i am uninjuried but you amazing captain skills helped us to finish second in the qudditch cup and you played awesome out there today"

James had lugged both the second place and the smaller fourth place trophy up to the Gryffindor common room and, upon entering, she awkwardly tucked the fourth place one under her arm and held the larger silver one out in front of her so the Gryffindors immediately KNEW that one was theirs. Obviously.

Thankfully, the Gryffindors didn't seem too dismayed over their second place standing, which was SO, SO, SO GOOD because James knew they deserved it. Going from fourth place last term to a spectacular second place finish was nothing to be sad about. They had come a long way. And, at least, it seemed that the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams liked each other pretty well. That probably made it easier to cope with, too. HAPPINESS ALL AROUND.

The still-falling confetti from the ceiling was an accident, but she was secretly amused at the ever-growing blanket of confetti on the floor. Alas, it was probably not so much fun to put a cupcake in one's mouth and pull a piece of confetti out after, so James put a steady stop to it. At least they could still kick it around and make fun crunching noises with it.

"Miss Fischer," Erin beamed happily and raised the trophy a bit to signal the girl's attention away from her teammates and the refreshments table, "I believe this one's for you." BIG AND SILVER AND SHINY. Much better than the tiny black one she was given last term. GRYFFINDOR PARTY TIME.

She was already helping herself to some of the candies and cupcakes while she watched the others. After biting another bit of her cupcake she could only give a closed mouth smile to Melanie though she really wanted to grin. "Fanks!" She managed to mutter enthusiastically.

Being out there as a beater was something new to her but it was bloody good fun at the same time!...Granted...she hadn't meant to hit Mo and she still needed to apologize for it but that didn't make it feel any less good. The bludger, the bats, the POWER. She wanted them again but alas, this was the last match of the term, she'd have to wait til next year and all that jazz.

She swallowed then looked to Christmas, giving her a strong nod. Second wasn't something she liked but at the same time...they were last just last term. This...this was IMPROVEMENT!!

"I'm good on the wounds Cap'n and I stayed unharmed!" BEAM. "That bat of yours is awesomesauce!" SUCH a NICE bat.

OoooooOoooOoooOOOoo!!! The troooophy!!!!

Prettiful. She liked it.

"HAI PROFESSOR!!!" You know, because she was here now.

These dementors were going to feast today!

What did they have at this party? Cauldron cakes? Butter beers? Side of YOUR SOUL SUCKED OUT OF YOU THROUGH A STRAW?!?

Yum...

Before Alice could even look at the jelly slugs, there was a BIG AND SILVER AND SHINY trophy. Was that for them? "Is.. is that ours?" So much bigger than that minuscule one from last term. She was beaming. "Thanks, professor. It's so.. shiny... I.. do I have to.. speech?"

Apparently so.

The fifth year tried to take the trophy from James, struggling a little under the heavy weight of it. A bit too much to carry for her puny arms, though she'd never admit it, but Alice managed. Carefully carrying it over to one of the study tables, she hopped up onto the thing and stood so everyone could see her. "Um.. hi." Hi players. They got waves.

"I just want you guys to know how immensely proud of you I am, and how wonderful of a player each and every one of you is. But that's not really what we're celebrating, it's what we accomplished together as a team that made us get this." She paused for a moment and attempted to hold up the fat trophy.. oomph, nope, not happening. "And I know we lost.. a lot, but you all are winners in my eyes." Alice didn't get teary over these things, but she was grinning an awful lot. "It's been an honor to captain such a brilliant lot like you, and I couldn't ask for a better Quidditch family. Fourth place last year. Second this year. First next, okay?"

She hopped down from the table, still clutching the trophy like her life depended on it, and gave HUGE smiles to her teammates, not even registering the chill that had swept over the common room. Her insides were too warm and gooey for things like dementors right now.

After taking a few sips of butterbeer and grabbing a sugar quill, Penelope grinned at Alexa when the little third year finally appeared. "You too! That was some awesome beating out there." And back to Melanie. "And you were incredible at Keeper as usual." And then Alice appeared, so she could address both her and Christmas. "And you two were awesome Chasers. Great job out there." It seemed only Ryan was missing from the team that had played today...and hopefully Sarah and Mack and others would show up...

Oh look, the trophy!! The fourth year beamed at it. It wasn't as impressive as a first place trophy, but it was still awesome. Way better than last place at least. They'd all worked SO hard...

Her butterbeer and sugar quill temporarily forgotten, she simply continued to grin as Alice stepped up and gave a nice little speech - not too long, thankfully, because those were boring, short ones were better and more awesome - and then...was it a little cold in here or...

Or...

...Merlin's beard.

Christmas smiled at Penelope and said "Thanks played the best i could" Christmas all of a sudden felt cold and wondered where all the happiness that was in the room had gone to

Lex was grinning even more. Penelope thought she did some good beating too! Eeep! She and that bat had a thing going for them. Of course she'd have to return it at some point and that would be...okay...she guessed. 'Least she would still have that bat Elise bought her back in her first year, it's just...it probably wouldn't be the same. Alice's bat was a whole different kind of vicious and she liked it.

What's this? Speech?

See, she would have groaned but this was Alice and NOT Truebridge. She had full confidence that the girl would keep it short and simple--which she diiiiiiiiid!!!

If no one else was clapping, she was. It didn't matter whether her noise was the only one in the room or not...at first but after a while she was beginning to question the silence and the sudden chill.

Bliiiiink. This all seemed so familiar.

Looking to the Portrait hole she saw them gliding in--did no one close that thing anymore??? Was the Fat Lady sleeping??? A bit of warning would be nice. Something like 'Oi! Gryffindors! Dementors coming your way, get ready to blast a hole through the nearest wall and make a run for it'. THAT she would have been prepared to do. As it were, this didn't seem to be happening.

Her eyes circled the room, looking for her kneazle. Now she was wishing she'd left him up in the dorm....

No, Alice, you didn't HAVE to give a speech... but James was sure glad the girl decided to! What a way with words! What a perfect demonstration of leadership! What selflessness! When Fischer was done, James CLAPPED like Alice had just won the the highest of awards and beamed around at the Gryffindors. They ought to be proud to have such a wonderful leader.

Even if she did bite people sometimes. But that could be overlooked for shining moments like these.

"Wonderful, wonderful! I also have some special students to recognize," James announced brightly, pulling three medals from deep in her robe pocket. She read the names to make sure she didn't pull out Ravenclaw's bundle, gave a smile and a nod of approval, then continued, "Penelope Greenwell, please step forward - Miss Greenwell, with her total of EIGHT snitch catches this term, landed herself the honor of second place Seeker for the term! For needing nine for a perfect score, eight is highly honorable! What a star!" James was honored to present the girl with a nice silver medal with a Snitch and a number two on the front, and Penelope's name engraved on the back.

"Our other honorable mention is Miss Melanie Sung - Miss Sung managed to snag both the third place Keeper with five blocks and the third place Beater spot with three hits! Miss Sung, please come accept your medals!" James held out the two bronze medals - one with Keeper gloves and a number three, the other with a Bludger and number three on the front, both with the girl's name on the back - for her to claim.

...Apparently there were too many good feelings happening, though, because the dark cloaked figures had made another appearance. Fabulous. James a bit rudely tossed Melanie her medals rather than putting them around her neck and dug her wand out of her pocket, immediately turning it on the dementors. Had the Fat Lady run screaming into the other portraits and left them protectionless? Maybe Annie needed to invest in a better security system... "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" In a flash, Erin's mama bear patronus took off after the dementors at full speed and lunged.

Why did bad things happen to good people?

...It seemed Ryan entered the party at the wrong time. As soon as he entered, he saw the table with the cakes and drinks, but then all he saw were big, cloaked DEMENTORS. What. The. Heck. He froze on the spot, the chill going right into his chest.


And then he remembered. They LOST THE MATCH.

A flash of light brought him back to his senses, though. It seemed that Professor James had cast her patronus at the right time, thank Merlin she was there. He supposed he ought to protect the girls but really, all he wanted to do was cower behind all of them.

Melanie would not lie.

She was excited about seeing the professor entering the common room with a shiny new silver trophy. Especially since they had all worked hard to get that trophy. So forgive her for doing so, but she was staring and absolutely mesmerized by the shininess that only a trophy could bring. Who cares if it wasn't first place? It was still pretty. If it weren't for the cookie in her mouth, she was pretty sure her jaw would've dropped at the sight of it. Which was good because Melanie was pretty sure chewed up cookie didn't look very attractive at all.

That was when she noticed a slight chill in the air. Melanie dismissed it quickly and watched as the Quidditch captain, Alice Fischer, climb on top of a table and make a speech. A short one.

Laughing, Melanie applauded the younger Gryffindor before pulling her cardigan a bit closer to herself. And then the professor was handing out the honorable mentions. Oh, the shiny medal that Penelope got looked just as shiny as the trophy. Applauding Penelope, Melanie grinned and swallowed her cookie. Upon hearing her name, she beamed. There was a warm feeling in her tummy despite the chilliness that had settled in the common room. Now that she thought about it... it was actually quite cold. And this cold was something she recognized. It wasn't the warm fuzzy feeling you got when you saw someone you hadn't seen for a long time. It was the 'omg. there's something in the shadows' sort of feeling you got after you saw a particularly scary horror movie and jumped at everything that moved but... cold.

Dementors.

There were dementors.

Again.

And they were in the common room. Paling considerably, Melanie nearly dropped the medals that had been tossed at her by Professor James and stood there stiffly, unable to move. All she could do was watch, frozen in her spot, as the professor cast a patronus charm.

Hai there dementors. Melanie was not happy to see you again.

After Alice spoke, it seemed Professor James still had some things to say...oh! Medals! And she was being called up first. Penelope beamed and went over to the professor to accept it. It was extremely exciting to her to actually have this. After her lackluster seeking last term, she'd half wondered at times if she ever was at all good playing Seeker and if that match they'd won against Slytherin in her second year had just been beginner's luck. But this term finally proved to her that she really COULD do this. She could. Didn't mean she always got her team a victory, but that she was still able to catch those snitches at all, and especially as much as she had this term, meant more than always winning. As long as she knew she was capable of doing it, she knew she could keep working hard until it all paid off.

And Melanie got TWO medals. Penelope clapped for her as the professor was announcing them. She was a really good Quidditch player, wasn't she? This fourth year was super proud to have her as a teammate.

But of course, those happy feelings just HAD to be ruined by more dementors...in their common room...Merlin, this room was becoming a sad place to be...

But was that...a Patronus...? Thank Merlin...or thank Professor James, actually...

Her team got dramatic bows- especially Lex and the Professor, those were for their applause, did they know?- and blown kisses after her speech, and then Alice was on the ground again and beaming at Penelope and Melanie. Look at them, getting those medals and all. And she liked to think she would have got one, too, if she'd played the same position all the way through the season, but it was okay. Maybe next year.

Except.. why exactly was Professor James throwing Melanie's medals at her? And why was her wand ou.. again? Really?

Alice shrunk back noticeably and thought about ice cream and syrup and things prior to celebration parties. James was getting rid of the dementors, right? Because she didn't know how to make one of those big shiny silver things yet, and couldn't when she tried. New goal for next year.

But the most important thing- another teammate. "Hi Ryan."

.. she didn't feel like celebrating anymore, really.

Oh... Yukky light thing... we don't liiiike...

So the dementors retreated back from where they came from.