Alex had gotten word from Tessa that Sander's birthday was approaching. Tessa had the wonderful idea of organizing a surprise party for him. There was no way Alex was going to miss this party.

She entered the Room of Requirement and looked in amazement at what it had become. Wow! Tessa had really outdone herself. Scanning the room, she saw Tessa and Lux and went over to speak to them.

Tessa looked up as she heard someone enter and smiled at Lux. "What do you think?" she asked, indicating all of the food available for throwing, as well as the food set aside for eating. There were other games off to the side too, but Tessa figured the food fight would be most appealing.

"Cu, wou look wonderful, but you're dressed awfully nice... this is going to get messy quick. Don't you want a change of clothes?" she asked, worries.

Another person had entered and Tessa saw that it was Alex. "Hey there!" she said, grinning at Sander's best friend. "Get ready to get messy- and pick your food of choice- I figure when he walks in will be the perfect time to fire our first shots," she said with a grin.

Bay walked into the room and looked around "wow" he said. He was happy that he got the heads up and wore something he didn't mind getting messy. Spotting Tessa he moved his way over to her. "Hey Tessa" he said while giving her a hug.

Still impressed by the food-a-pult, Lux beamed at Tessa and gave her a thumbs up. "I could not have done this better myself." This party was going to be so epic; that much was clear already. Noticing the look of worry on Tessa's face, Lux laughed. "That's why I wore this. I am hoping it gets ruined." She did not like this outfit, and her mom had packed it. If it got ruined, so much the better.

Seeing Alex enter the room, Lux gave the girl a friendly wave. "Hey there!" She did not know the girl well, but she seemed nice and it was always good making new friends. Ooh, and now Bay had arrived as well. Placing her hands on her hips, she watched as he greeted Tessa and not her. Pfft! "Don't forget me, Bay." Or he would be greatly sorry. Hehe.

Adi was super excited for this party. Tessa had told him about Sander's birthday and that she planned a party so here he was, at the Room. "Tessa!'' he called out as soon as he spotted her and he happily skipped over to join her; or he tried to skip as much as possible but he was still feeling sluggish. It was then he saw she saw she wasn't alone. "Oh, er hi, everyone!'' Of course there were going to be others! He just thought he was early and there would be no one there yet. Meh. Something must be wrong with his watch.

Alex walked over to where the other girl's were standing and greeted them. "Hi Tessa. You did a fabulous job getting this party together. It looks amazing in here. Sander is going to be so surprised."

Next Alex addressed Lux who always seemed like she was so much fun. Responding to her greeting, Alex said, "Hey there yourself. Are you ready to get the party started?" Alex glanced over to see the wide variety of food on display. This was definitely going to be a food fight to remember.

Bay laughed when he heard Cucumber. "I wouldn't forget you" he said while picking her up into a hug. "This is going to be so much fun right…" he couldn't wait to get this started.

Tessa looked around at everyone that had gathered for Sander's birthday. It was going to be perfect. The food was ready, as were all the preparations. She glanced over to a side room where she had had the foresight to add a small skating rink- for when everyone was done with the food fight and wanted to have some fun.

"Okay everyone- I'm going to get Sander!" she said with a grin. "Pick your ammo and get ready! The next time I come through, it will be time!" she said. And walked out...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here it is Sander! You can take your blindfold off!" she told him. She knew that when he opened his eyes, he would see his friends and tables laden with all sorts of food to be eaten- and thrown! There were the catapults, loaded and ready, and the rink glistened off to the side.

"SURPRISE!"

Let the games begin!

As a boy she did not know but had seen in class before came in, Lux waved. "Hey there! I'm Lux!" Giving him a smile, she turned her attention to Alex. "Oh yeah! I am so ready to have a food fight!" And she hoped that her and Alex could become friends, because she seemed to be a friend of Sander's too and it was nice to make friends. Bay suddenly hugging her, she laughed and hugged him back. "Good, because otherwise I would make you carry me around the whole castle on your back." She could really be very mean if she wanted to, but he knew that she loved him a lot. "So much fun, yes!" she agreed with him happily.

As soon as she heard Tessa make an announcement, she quickly grabbed a cream pie from the table and held it in a perfect throwing position. When Sander came into view, she threw it at him so he would get pied in the face. "Happy Birthday!"

Sander pullled off his blindfold and couldn't believe his eyes. He rubbed them just to make sure he wasn't imagining things but it was still there when he opened them again.

There was table loaded with food...and what was that thing that looked like a mini catapult?....He just couldn't believe it.

"SURPRISE!!" he called out to everyone before he realized that they were surprising him. HIM!! They were here to celebrate his birthday!!

.....and then SPLAT!! he got pied right in the face.

Wiping the pie from around his eyes, Sander turned around to see who the culprit was and saw that it was Lux. Sander grinned at her. "Why am I not surprised that it would be you, Cucumber. Come here, I want to thank you for coming to my birthday." Sander slowly approached her.

Reaching out he gave Lux a great big hug and in the tradition of his ancestors, he kissed her on both her cheeks and in the process he smeared her face with the remaining pie that was on his face.

"Doesn't it taste nice? I think it does," he winked at the younger girl before turning to all the other students in the room.

Sander looked at the faces of his friends. Being a new transfer he didn't have many, but what was more important to him, was that those who he did consider his good friends, were in this room with him, here to celebrate his birthday with him.

Taking a handkerchief he wiped his face and hands. "Thank you everyone for coming. Words can't describe how much this means to me having you all here." Sander thanked everyone. Than just to show his appreciation, he walked over to each and everyone of them.

"Alex thanks for coming. My birthday wouldn't be the same without my best friend here with me." Sander told Alex, leaning over to hug her and then in the old ways of his ancestors, he kissed her lightly on both her cheeks.

Then he walked over to Adi and stuck out his hand to shake Adi's,"Hey dude, thanks for coming. I'm really glad to see you here. Even though, I've only known you for a short time, you've become like a younger brother to me," Sander told the younger boy.

Then he stepped to someone he had seen handing out with Tessa and Lux but he never had the opportunity of meeting, "Hello I'm Sander, thanks for coming to celebrate my birthday with me," Sander told the younger boy, sticking his hand out to shake his.

Then he turned around to look at Tessa. "You did all this? How did you manage to do this so fast. You're amazing. Thank you so much!! You don't know much this means to me. I'm totally speechless," Sander told Tessa.

He couldn't contain his happiness any longer. Like he had done with the other girls, he stepped closer to her, wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. Then he leaned back and cupping her face with his hands, he proceeded to kiss her gently on both her cheeks. Only unlike Alex and Lux, his kiss lingered.

This was the closest he had ever been to Tessa. He coud feel her soft breath on his face. He could feel the softness of her cheeks against his lips. His fingers gently stroked the skin he touched. All he had to do was move a little to the right and their lips would touch.

But then he quickly came to his senses. His friends were all there watching them and they were here to have fun. Lux would totally be grossed out...that he knew for certain, so he quickly stepped away from Tessa and turned back to everyone.

"Okay enough of standing around, it's time to PARTY!! Let's get it on." Sander told everyone and ushered them to the table.

"Uh Tessa what is this thing?" Sander asked pointing to the mini catapult placed nearby. And as he got her attention, he picked up the nearest plate of jello and poured it over her head.

Sander entered the Room of Requirement and Alex yelled, "Surprise!!". Then he immediately got nailed in the face with a pie, courtesy of Lux. Sander seemed to take it all in stride. Alex laughed because he really looked ridiculous with a cream beard and mustache.

Alex was glad that Tessa had invited her to the party and that she was able to share in Sander's celebration. He came over and thanked her for coming with a hug and kisses on the cheek. "There's no way I would have missed my twin's birthday party. Happy Birthday Sander." As he went to greet other guests, Alex thought about how lucky she was to have Sander as her friend. Who would have thought that that crazy train ride to school would have given her her best friend. Alex thought about the special gift she had gotten for Sander. She really hoped he'd like it, but she would have to save that for later. Now, it was time to choose her weapon for the food fight.

Tessa laughed, not only at Sander's surprise, but also at the pie that was in his face two seconds later. She had only just gotten it under control when Sander went over to wipe off the mess on Lux. She succumbed to giggles, and had to lean against the wall in order to remain standing. Slowly, she had herself back under control and was taking deep steady breaths. She was keeping an eye on Sander who, like a good guest of honor, was thanking everyone before the true mess started.

Oh, he was coming over to her now. She pushed off the wall with a smile, nodding at his question. "You didn't give me much time to plan," she said, her voice holding a hint of a scold. "But, I figured this would do," she said, looking around with approval. She laughed as he hugged her, wrapping her arms around him also. "You're welcome," she told him warmly. "All of us misfits deserve to be happy- I'm just glad I could help with that," she told him as they separated slightly. She tried not to giggle more as he kissed her cheeks... until the last kiss lingered a little longer than the others had. She felt flustered suddenly, and was it hot in the room? Where had the oxygen gone...

Oh, right, the party. She took a moment to recover, then she was back to her normal self. "That, dear Sander," she said, walking toward it- only to have a head full of jello interrupt her explanation. "You know what? I changed how I was going to explain it," she told him with a grin. "This is revenge!" she came to the other side of the catapult, already laden with food, and launched it right at the birthday boy. "FOOD FIGHT!" she called. She had always wanted to say that.

"Come on everyone, join in!" Quickly, she raced over to another table to get more ammo.

Laughing, Lux tried to get away from Sander as he approached her, but still ended up with pie smeared on her cheeks as he kissed her. "EWWW!" hahaha As soon as he turned away from her, she went back to the table and picked up a small cake with frosting on it. Setting her sights on Tessa, she let it go flying as soon as the fight had started.

WHOOO!

Sander was trying to keep a straight face, as he watched the jello slowly drip down her head and down the front and back of her neck, but failed miserably. He began laughing uncontrollably but then start backing away from Tessa when she walked over to the other end of the contraption he was asking her about, released a catch which launched the device and all that it was holding, right at him.

Sander's eyes opened wide in surprise when he saw food flying towards him. All kinds of food. Wet, sloppy food. Food that would make an awful mess!! Sander laughed jubilantly. He spread his arms wide, leaned back his head, puffed out his chest, opened his mouth wide and took the hit without any reservations.

Food splattered all over his head, his face, and his body. He scraped some off his face and placed it in his mouth and ate it. "Mmmm...banana cream pie...and chocolate pudding. Nice combination." he laughed to himself.

Then he ran over to the nearest catapult, and loaded it with food he grabbed off off the table, positioned it to face where Alex was standing and launched the food laden catapult at her.

"Alex!! Smile for the food," he called out to her, before chasing after Tessa. He managed to creep up behind her without her noticing and he picked up a plate of chocolate pudding and a jar filled with ice. Then he stepped up behind her, pulled back the neckline of her top and poured the jar filled with ice right down her back. The chocolate pudding followed close behind.

Then he ran off before she could retaliate.

Alex was busy planning her attack and looking for food to load a catapult when........she got hit with a nasty combination of ice cream and applesauce. Yuck, it was icky AND cold. Oh no he didn't. She looked Sander and said, "Oh you are so going to get it." Alex grabbed the nearest items she could find and finished loading the catapult. "Hey Sander, Are you hungry? I've got a surprise for you." Springing the catapult, Alex sent him a special delivery of spaghetti and mashed potatoes. Alex grinned with satisfaction as her food neared it's target.

He got to pick the warm up?

Cool, he could do that. None of that silly girly acoustic crap that Vesper loved. Something loud, something poignant and with a ton of drum solos. Maybe some Vanessa Carlton. That got his blood pumping.

On second though, VC was a private thing. Very personal. So a no on that.

Acting a little more then indifferent, he shrugged, "How 'bout some Metallica? Nothing Else Matters." Pause. "Unless you wanna work on original stuff. Then m'cool with that."

Truly.

Sander punched the air with his fist when he saw the food he had launched from the catapult, hit its target. Then he began to laugh hysterically when he saw Alex's face. "Hey Alex, ice cream and applesauce really looks good on you. You should wear it more often." he called out to her as he began reloading the food catapult with more messy food.

He heard Alex call out to him, and he turned around just in time to see a combination of pasta and a clumpy substance come flying at him. "O_o looks like it's getting cloudy with a chance of meatballs in here," Sander laughed as he tried to duck the spaghetti and the strange clumps of substances flying at him. Only strangely enough, he moved too slow and the pasta hit his head and draped over his face. That was quickly followed by the clumpy substance which hit him face first.

Sticking out his tongue, Sander licked some of it and he realized that it was mashed potatoes. His favorite kind too. Garlic flavored. "Mmmm...you picked a good tasty combination, Alex," Sander taunted Alex as he stuck out his tongue again to lick up more of the mash potatoes.

Then he grabbed a plate of lemon meringue pie and launched it at her, before turning to fill a plate with cream and peanut butter and running up behind Tessa before face planting her with the plate. Then he ran away before she could turn around to retaliate.

Now he had something planned for Adi. But first he had to refill his food catapult.

"Of Course, after practice if you want". That was Nigel's plan anyway. He probably head everything already anyway. It seemed like everyone was here now and ready to start. Nigel took a deep breath and waited for Ascanius to pick the warm up song.

Metallica did sound good. From Nothing Else Matters all the way to Enter Sandman. They should probably save original stuff till after the warm up. "Metallica sounds awesome. Let's probably save the original stuff for after this warm up. Just an idea"

Final decision was West's of course.

Noise. Ascanius and his noise. Sigh.

Though, Vesper didn't mind Metallica as much as she would have other band choices. In general, as a band they had a little bit of everything in the makeup of their songs; melody and intensely deep lyrics. Nothing Else Matters was an excellent choice...especially for keys. In all honesty, Ves was shocked he'd suggested this particular song...What happened to him just wanting to go nuts on his stupid drums?

Sometimes...she dreamed about snatching his sticks away and snapping them in two. Mhm. Or setting them on fire...Or just tossing them from the Ravenclaw tower. Basically, she thought about destroying them. It really riled her that he couldn't respect her quiet style at times. She tolerated his noise, after all. Boys.

Instead of waiting for a final decision from West...because he'd already said it was Drummer Boy's pick, Vesper started playing; the first few notes of the intro flowing out easily beneath her fingertips. Anyone into music knew this particular beginning progression of notes. Soft, melodic, and haunting, it was one of those intensely deep!lyric songs. She glanced to Nigel, waiting for the bass to join her...

Calisto ran over to the fancy room as she called it. Callie made her way through the large doors. Calisto made herself 7 inches taller today with her high heels she was wearing. Callie had a big boxed present in her arms. Callie put a golden yellow bow on the bright yellow box. Calisto ran over to Sander. "Happy Birthday!" Callie cheered.

Still feeling gross and cold from her applesauce and ice cream bath, Alex laughed so hard when she saw Sander. With spaghetti and mashed potatoes all over his face, he looked hilarious. She was laughing to the point of tears until she saw the lemon meringue pie heading straight for her. She thought, "Oh what the heck", as the pie hit her right in the forehead. "Good shot Sander, but you know it's on now, don't you? When you least expect it, expect it."

Alex turned her attention to Tessa. She didn't want the hostess to feel left out. Alex loaded up the catapult once again saying, "Oh Tessa, special delivery." And off went more mashed potatoes headed straight for Tessa.

Then while Sander was focused on bombarding Tessa with food, Alex planned her sneak attack. She quietly approached him from behind with a bottle of syrup and "surprise birthday boy", poured it slowly over his head.

Tessa ducked and dodged, but food was flying everywhere. She rolled away from the catapult shots that were fired at her, laughing. This had been the best idea ever.

But now, it was her turn to take command of the battlefield. She ducked to one side and grabbed one of the brooms that she had set aside for moments just like this. Grabbing a large bowl of chocolate pudding, she hopped up onto her broom and shot above everyone's heads- and out of the range of the cat-a-pult.

"Aerial attack!" she yelled, throwing globs of pudding at everyone- Lux, Bay, Adi, Alex... but especially Sander. She circled him twice, laughing as she threw pudding on his head, at his back and even aiming for his shoes. No part of him would be neglect of food at the end of this.

Callie's appearance at his birthday party, was definitely a surprise for Sander. Dodging the flying food and trying to wipe off as much of it off himself, Sander ran up to Callie, grabbed her in a great big bear hug and twirled her around. "Callie. I'm so glad you're here. You didn't forget that it was my birthday. That's awesome. Hey how did you get so tall?" he grinned down at his childhood best friend. Looking down at her heels, he smiled shaking his head.

"I honestly don't know how you ladies balance yourselves on those heels. Hey is that for me?" Sander asked eyeing the yellow box she was carrying in her arms. "Come over here, I want you to meet my friends," Sander grabbed hold of Callie's hand and pulled her over.

"Oh by the way, I didn't know that this party was going to be a food fight party. I hope your beautiful dress won't be ruined," he told Callie even as he tried to dodge the food that was flying all over the place.



Sander was busy guiding Callie through the melee of flying food when he ambushed by Alex who had managed to creep up behind him and pour syrup over his head. He blinked as the syrup dripped down over his eyes. Taking a finger, he wiped the syrup from his eyes and then stuck it inside his mouth and tasted it. "Next time try chocolate, Alex. That's my favorite. And oh yeah, you can run and you can hide but I will find you when you least expect it," he called over to Alex, pointing his finger straight at here.



Even as he called out his warning to Alex, he missed seeing Tessa launching her attack on him. He was pummeled with pudding. Twice!!. Sander looked down at himself. He was totally covered with food and he loved it!!

He turned around apologetically to Callie before calling out to everyone.

"Tessa, Alex, Adi, Lux, Bay I want you to meet Calisto. She's my friend from Durmstrang. She transferred over here when I did. She can be a pain in the neck, but for some reason I can't seem to get rid of her," Sander grinned over at Calisto. She was his childhood best friend. She was already used to his constant teasing.

Well seemed like Vesper did not want to talk at all. Not that Nigel cared. She just started the song and expected everyone to just play along. Well okay then. No need to talk about it or anything. And why was she looking at him? In this song. It was just guitar for the basically the first minute then drums and bass.

Whatever, Nigel just started play the simple repeating notes. They were deep and awesome. Perfect for the song. Nothing Else Matters was great for drumming so of course Ascanius would pick it.

Besides that Metallica was awesome.

The party was wrapping up, with everyone covered in food and big smiles on their faces. The House Elves that had cooked had done a marvelous job with the cake- and there had been enough to eat and smash some into Sander's face... which had been her doing. A smile flickered on her lips as she thought about that.

She waved as a few of the other members of the group left, still smiling. It had been quite a fun event. Now, however, she wanted to clean up a little bit so that none of the House Elves, or the Room itself, was left with all the work. Silently, she cast Scourgify and went around the room, cleaning up the biggest piles of food.