Gaston had arrived early to make sure everything was ready for the party. He glanced around the Gryffindor common room, surveying the decorations with a critical eye.... the plants were blooming, the musical fountains humming a cheery tune, the smoothie shack fully stocked, the bubble machine in working order, and the seats scattered around the room. The common room looked just like a beach!

He couldn't help but smile a little. The prefects had really come through in putting this together! He'd be sure to thank them when they arrived... which should be any moment!One last look around the room made him realize something was still missing, but what was it? Then it dawned on him: party favors, of course! With a wave of his wand, a bunch of red and gold leis and water squirters shaped like sea creatures, enough for each student, appeared on a table near the door. There, now it was perfect!

Gaston sat on one of the tiki head-shaped stools near the smoothie shack, his bright blue eyes fixed on the portrait opening. Please let this be enough to win them over, he thought to himself as he awaited the students' arrival.

The CR party. Noelle was excited to have helped with setting it up.

Now, she was heading inside the common room with the new faces of the lion den, aka the firsties and new transfers. Heading through the portrait hole, she came out first and grinned at all the decoration changes. "Welcome to the Gryffindor Lion Den, our common room." She said as she turned to usher everyone in. She spotted Professor Marchand and gave him a wave.

"We usually have a party to welcome everyone. So feel free to mingle! Again, Im Noelle and this is Ace." She said pointing to Ace (who was hopefully coming through the portrait hole with). "We are your prefects if you need anything."

Noelle would let them venture in farther. She wasn't going to hover. Give them a chance to wiggle their manes so to speak. She headed over to where Professor Marchand was. "This place looks great!" She commented with a grin.

Having a party to celebrate their start of term was such a tradition for Gryffindor, except well... one time after the food fight that happened when she was second year, if's she's not mistaken. That's why Ava was not really surprised when she entered the common room and found that Professor Marchand had thrown a beach-themed welcome party for them. Well, good job professor! Where's that man, anyway? Ava hadn't congratulated him properly in person!And by congratulating him, she meant giving an electric-shock handshake.

Ava waved at Noelle and perhaps grabbed a drink for her too. But she's currrently on a mission here. Where's the professor... Oh, there he was. With the buzzer attached on her hand, the Gryffindor walked to the man. Hopefully the Charms professor didn't feel suspicious about this. "Hey, Professor!" She greeted. "By the way, congratulations for being the new head of house. I am sure that you're going to do great." Ava said and shook his hand.

Shay followed the crowd to the Common Room and stepped inside. She smiled as she took in the sight. The room was pretty awesome by itself, but the party set up was even better. She was not expecting a beach inside of the castle. Magic was a wonderful thing. How did people ever manage to live without it?

Shay walked over to her prefect and new roommate Noelle. "This is really cool. A beach party? I love it!" There was Ava too. Shay gave her a wave. "Hey Ava, do Gryffindors always party like this?" Then spotting her Head of House, Shay continued to gush. "Professor this is an amazing welcome party." Something else wonderful caught her eye. "Ooh a smoothie bar! Now we're talking." Oh there was much fun to be had in the Gryffindor Common Room.

Newbie orientation has been given, belongings have been squared away and now it was time for this Curly Top to PARTAY!

Tenacius quickly waves his wand over his robes to change into into his party outfit-- he has been waiting to do that since before the feast-- and with a brightest of smiles, he started handing off the leis to his housemates "Here you go guys... helps get us into the spirit of things!" he beamed.

He made his way towards where Noelle was, laying a smaller lei on her head, making for a good flower crown "Lookin' good Noelle" he grinned. "Professor Ga--Marchand! Here's one for you too Sir." the Curly Top offered the other smaller lei if the Charms Man wanted a flower crown too. As for him, theres a peach-kiwi smoothie with his name on it waiting for him at the smoothie shack awwyea!

With a pop, Argyle appeared near all the foods after double-checking the kitchens to make sure everything prepared for the professeer's request had been brought up to the common room. Perfect must be perfect. Wouldn't want anything missing...time wasted...not good. As students arrived, the house-elf hovered just in sight to be seen if needed but not too obtrusive.

"Studenteses..." Argyle murmured almost to herself as she watched curiously.

Tinka popped in, loudly, shortly after Argyle. To ensure her whisk would not go missing in the Lion's den, the purple eyed house elf tied it around her waist with a string. She twirled on the spot, looked from Argyle to the Gryffindor head of the house in excitement.

"Tinka here for duty, studentses and professor sir!" She looked at Argyle again. "And Argyle reports for duty, too!"

HA. That was IT.

Best time of the year second only to when the term was finished and it was time for summer holidays again. HOUSE PARTAY! YAS, man. Yas.

Matt was GLAD when he walked into their Common Room and saw that it had been transformed. The boy's expectations weren't very high since professor Newt was no longer their Head of House, but he was glad to be wrong. This was pretty AWESOME.

"WEL DONE, NEW BOSS!" The fifth year called out randomly accross the room,
not being able to see their new Head of House yet. He accepted a lei thingy from Chewie and sent a salute Noelle's way before heading to the smoothie bar.

He grinned at the elves. "Watchu got there?" Matt asked, trying to have a better look at his options. "Give me your best stuff!" He exclaimed. Truth was, it was too much effort to choose himself and he wasn't that much into fruits to know what combination would taste good.

He'd leave that up to the elves. He trusted them when it came to foods stuff.

Samantha had shuffled along with the rest of the older students as they made their way all the way up to Gryffindor Tower, but she hadn't joined in the conversations that were being had. She had a lot on her mind, and really she just wasn't in the mood. As she made her way into the common room, she paused momentarily. Well.... this didn't seem as cool as a paint fight, but it wasn't terrible. Maybe she'd spend some time down here with her housemates before slipping up to her bed. She was after all, still intent of avoiding certain conversations.

The first thing Char did (obviously!) was change into a bikini (red with gold polkadots!) the SECOND thing she did was JUMP in the POOL. Was there anything better than clinging on to summer as long as possible? Nope! She was going to milk it. A smoothie could come later because right now splashing about in the pool was on the agenda. And her hair was ready too, charmed to stay dry thank youuuu all v. much.

could they keep the pool ALL year around????

Studentsies and their parties. Algamus popped into the common room, his trusted broom at his side. Naaasty students, already making a mess. "Messy, splashy studentsies... He grumpily muttered as he tried to sweep away the water splashes from the pool.

Théo did not have the best memory but he did not remember a swimming pool in the common room or anything like this. It was AWESOME and now he ran to get changed into his boardshorts. Once he was back well now he had to thank Professor Marchand.

"Professor, can we keep the pool year around. This is awesome?"

This was like a vacation at school.

Weird and cool.

Gaston hadn't been waiting long when Miss Summers and Mr. Salander turned up with the new students. He smiled at the female prefect as she showed everyone around, but that smile grew even wider when she approached him. "Thank you, Miss Summers," he replied, blushing a little, "but I can't take all the credit. You and Mr. Salander did most of the work."

Speaking of whom, the other prefect was already handing out leis to the other students. How did he not think do do that himself?! He beamed as Mr. Salander gave Miss Summers a flower crown; the boy was right, it did look nice on her. "Good thinking, Mr. Salander," he said as the male prefect came his way. He wasn't deaf to the fact that he'd almost called him Professor Gaston, but he let it slide. After all, he'd stopped himself in time, and he'd pretty much given up telling students off for using his first name. He preferred to think of it as a term of endearment. "Thank you." He took the larger lei he was offered. "No crown for me, thanks. I think those would look better on the girls than on me."

Gaston's head whipped around as he heard someone call his name, spilling his dark hair into his eyes. "Hello, Miss Burton," he greeted the sixth year girl with a friendly smile. He was a little taken aback by the congratulations but was touched nonetheless. She really thought he'd do great? What a kind thing to say! Either that or she's lying to you, a nasty voice in the back of his mind said, but he tried to block it out. For now, he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Thank you! I'll certainly do my best," he said, returning the handshake... but he yelped in surprise as something shocked his hand. What the-? He glanced down; a hand buzzer, he might've guesses. Well, he supposed he walked right into that one! He laughed a little. "Good one, Miss Burton!" But his voice dropped as he added, "Though I'd appreciate it if you didn't use that on the new students just yet. Let them get to know you a bit first." He knew she was joking, but they might think she was being mean.

Then someone else was speaking to him, and he turned to face one of the new students (Shay)."Thank you, Miss Morrison. I'm glad you enjoy it," he replied. "Be sure to thank the prefects too; they did most of the work." His smile only grew at the girl's reaction to the smoothie bar. "A house elf should be along to help you any moment."

He'd only just spoken when Argyle and Tinka appeared, as if on cue. Gaston chuckled a little at their uncanny timing. "Tinka, Argyle, thank you for coming!" he said. "We have a little smoothie bar set up over there -" He jerked his head toward the cabana at one end of the room. "If you would, please make some smoothies for the students if they ask. Thank you."

Wait, what? Yelling... someone was yelling to him across the room. Or at least he assumed it was to him. Who else would they call 'New Boss'? Gaston's bright blue eyes scanned the room in search of the voice and eventually landed on Mr. Merriwether. "Thank you, Mr. Merriwether!"he replied, a bit louder than intended as he waved to the boy. He didn't want to yell, but the room was starting to get a bit noisy.

He spotted Miss Swynford and gave her a polite smile and nod. He'd hoped the start-of-term party would cheer her up a bit, but it didn't look like her mood had improved much from the feast. Maybe she'd join in the festivities soon. Before Gaston had much time to think about it, he had to take a step back to avoid getting splashed when Miss Kettleburn jumped into the pool. He laughed. Nice try, Miss Kettleburn, he thought. Then he heard muttering and looked around to find Algamus trying to sweep up the water. "Here, allow me," he said. With a quick wave of his wand, the water splashes vanished, and another wave made the are around the pool water resistant. "That should be less work for you now."

Another voice caught the professor's attention and he turned to Mr. Montmorency. "I'm glad you think so, Mr. Montmorency," he said with a slight chuckle. What was that? Keep the pool? He doubted Hawthorne would like that idea, but he didn't want to squash the boy's hopes. Besides, he didn't see anything wrong with it. "Maybe we can work something out. We'll put it to a vote at the end of the night and see what everyone else thinks, okay?"

Gaston looked around the room. It looked like most people were here by now, which meant it was the perfect time for the little speech he had planned. "Gryffindors, could I have you attention please?" he shouted over the noise. He waited a moment or two for quiet before going on, "I won't interrupt your fun for long. I just have a few quick things to say before things get underway. First, let's have a round of applause for our prefects for helping to plan and set up tonight's party. Thank you, Miss Summers and Mr. Salander!" He led the applause for the prefects. When the clapping stopped, eh continued, " I'd just like to say that I admire each and every one of you for the strength and courage you shown to get into this house. I look forward to being your head of house this term..."[/B] And hopefully many more, but he'd have to see how this term goes first. "My door is always open if you need anything. Also, I know I may not have made the best first impression on some of you. I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot, and I hope we can make a fresh start."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He really wasn't good at public speaking! "Now that we've got that out of the way, we can get started - but first I think some of us are in need of a costume change..." He waved his wand, and changes his outfit. "We have a smoothie bar at the back of the room -" he jerked his head in that direction. "-one of the house elves will serve you there - and plenty of water squirters for those who might want to start a water fight or just want a party favor." He inclined his head toward the table near the door. "Let the fun begin!"

And speaking of water fights, he pointed his wand and aimed a jet of water at Miss Burton. He laughed, looking back at her with a mischievous glint in his eye. Consider that payback for the hand buzzer!

Daniel had come along with the rest of the students from the great hall.

"I've done it!" Daniel beamed. "I've climbed MOUNT HOGWARTS!" He jumped up and down on the spot, as he thought about taking a picture on top of this huge place. "This is one small step for Man, One giant leap for Daniel."

He continued bouncing for a few minutes when suddenly he noticed something.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"

"If this is what it's like at the top of a mountain then sign me up to climb mount Everest." Yeah what was all the fuss about, if every tall place had one of these on top then he was going to be an explorer when he was older.

"Hey MR HEAD OF HOUSE MAN!" Yeah he saw him. "Where's Robin Hoods ghost, I am sure I saw him at our house table at the feast." Yeah could he come back please.

Was it possible to slink into a party? Aslan Evans certainly seemed to think so. It had nothing to do with the theme or general teen spirit invading the air of the common tonight, nor did it have anything to do with her mood for she was in a reasonably calm, almost pleasant atmosphere.

No, Aslan Evans was just tired. Tired and ready for a long sleep in her familiar four poster bed (or Minnie's).

She paused, however, to watch the festivities, her curiosity getting the better of her. Business as usual, the annual party had never been her thing. Too loud, too much going on, and too much need for concentrated focus.

But, it wasn't so bad if she closed her dark eyes and let her mind wander. She leaned back against the wall by the fireplace and just listened to the party.

Levi loved beaches. A recent discovery, to be sure; one that was less about the immensity of the ocean and all its possibilities and more about the company that could be kept in those. And the possibilities that came with said company, of course. And so that the annual party was beach, summer themed sort of warmed the boy in ways that had probably nothing to do with the fireplace.

These were problematic thoughts and realizations to be had. He knew this well enough just like he knew he'd have to drink what was left of his sleeping potion; the only thing that kept his mind from wandering and over-thinking and over-analyzing, late at night, and that could help him get a healthy dose of dreamless sleep.

He shook his head, propped his legs the armrest and took a sip off his drink. The boy had chosen to change after the party, switching to flip flops,
black board shorts and a salmon sleeveless shirt. He supposed he could easily go join Kettleburn and the rest at the pool, but--"Aslan," He said, spotting the girl near the fireplace, "Do you think Professor Marchand will follow your advice?"

Okay, people were changing and more people were arriving. Noelle grinned as Ace put a lei on her head. "Nice touch." She said giving him the best smile she could muster. She really needed to go back an emotion potion. She'd seen it last term and the thought suddenly struck her. This was a party, she should be enjoying it.

Shay looked like she was having fun though. That was good news. Noelle grinned. "Yes, I know we just ate but you can never go wrong with a smoothie." She was going to order one in a bit.

Noelle hugged Ava. "Im going to go get changed really quickly." She whispered. She wasnt like Ace. Cool and collected. Heading to her dorm, she waved at all the Lions that she passed.

It didnt take her long to change.

Coming back out, Noelle was in her red and gold one piece bathing suit. Lion pride and all. The lei Ace had given her was still on her head. She headed back down the party and accioed a towel. Slipping it around her, she felt a bit more comfortable as she grinned and peeked at Char in the pool. "Having fun?" She asked her friend as she headed back to the bar just as their new HoH made an announcement. Noelle blushed as attention was brought to her and Ace, but she quickly ordered a drink to hide behind it.

This party was a good idea, holding onto summer a little bit longer.

The one thing Stasya hadn’t expected after the feast was what she’d seen after following Noelle and Ace up from the Great Hall to the towers. Not that she’d known exactly what she ought to have expected, but crawling through the hole behind the portrait to find a beach was not it, and it had been met by a wide-eyed look from the petite blonde. Granted, she’d been able to sneak in a quick Derf-hug before they’d all been led out of the feast so she felt better about that, but now she had a whole other thing to worry about. She couldn’t remember if she’d packed a swimsuit, so she’d slipped away from the group to run up to the dorms to dig around in her trunk.

Luckily, she hadn’t had to worry, and she’d changed into her swimsuit before slipping her uniform skirt on again and running back downstairs in time to hear Professor Marchand’s speech. Also seeing that he’d just changed everyone’s clothes with a wave of his wand, which made her wide-eyed yet again. But she wouldn’t have minded one of those flower crowns. It reminded her of her costume for the tea in Diagon Alley, when Derf had given her a stuffed goat and she’d met Hazel. Just, with swimsuits instead of Russian goddess dresses.

Ooh, and there were house elves.

Aslan blinked slowly, dark eyes focusing on the figure of Levi Kenning. She couldn't tell you if it was expected or unexpected that someone had decided to speak to her as the thought of anyone coming over and interrupting her little meditation hadn't crossed her mind, therefore- to put it simply, there was no way to gauge whether she ought to feel surprised by the sixth year's approach.

Uncrossing her arms, Aslan allowed the fingers of her right hand to creep into her mess of brown hair. She twirled a lock only to release it. Twirl, release, repeat. Fidgety hands, she had. "Levi." like the muggle jean brand, she mused. light wash, but not as soft as they looked. The correlation would stick, she was sure. "If he's clever." Aslan paused, nibbling on the edge of her lip as she considered the Charms Professor and her observation of the man.

"I can't put my finger on him." the witch admitted, relinquishing, for good, her hair. Aslan turned her gaze more properly to her fellow Lion. "How do you think he stands up against the others?" She casually asked.

Elfsies are here, Lions are here, and new Lion Leader giving a speech. The Curly Top grinned as he raised his smoothie glass in acknowledgement. He wanted Lions to have a good time, to feel that Leonine Pride. Thats what its all about innit?

And Char has gotten into the pool. Thats the spirit! Thats also the cue to get people WET.

Shots fired from the Head Lion Man. Fire at will! Fire at will! Fire at will!

Tenacius whipped out that whale-shaped water squirter and aimed for Matt Solo. "Payback from the paint war Solo!" he hollered laughing.

He aimed next at Levi, but he moved-- where did that fireplace even come from?-- so the jet of water headed straight for cousin Sammy . Uh oh.

There was a late addition "Stasya!" he scurried over still trying to avoid any payback shots "A flower crown for you. And a water squirter." he said as he handed her the items "Yeah thats just how we roll here in Gryffindor-- Look good while you throw down and take names. Go!" he beamed.

The loud Lion cubbie was next on his sights. "Welcome to Gryffindor Daniel! " he laughed as a jet of water was sent his way.

Is their Head of House fair game? He should be right? He pumped the water squirter and aimed straight for the Charms man.

The littlest Swynford moved closer to their new head of house and she began his speech. As she stood there, she let her eyes roam around the room. Good, her little sullen nugget of a first year was here. So she hadn't been able to sneak off, but where was the other one, whose name reminded her of her sister's? Maybe she was somewhere behind her. Her thoughts were on the other girls, that when the others in the house started clapping, she went along with it, not quite sure why she was doing it. Tuning back into what the professor was saying she had to resist the urge to use his open door policy right now. Some how, she didn't think it'd be appreciated to ask the man where her beloved Professor Newton was. At least not right now anyways.

And then one of the worst things so far happened. Her clothes were magically turned into swimwear. There were so many things wrong with that. It was creepy and rude. While some teenage girls were keen to strut around in a bikini, Sam was the kinda girl who preferred shorts and a tee. And it didn't matter who she was with, family or friends, it was the same, especially around the more chesty people. Seriously, if anyone had taken the time to even notice her, they would not want to see that. She humphed, and attempted to change her swimwear into something more comfortable but instead ended up turning it into a mismatched outfit of Bermuda shorts and baggy tee. Well, that was better she guessed. As she was doing this, she didn't notice the water fight that had broken out in the room, and jumped in surprise when she was hit by the stream from Ace's squirter. "Seriously?" she shouted looking up to see who had gotten her, after she had just gotten comfortable. She wasn't going to bother with one of those toys, she had the perfect tool to send water at someone right here. Raising her wand, she aimed a jet of water at her cousin. "Take that" she muttered as she edged around the room. While the sudden soaking for the curly headed muppet ticked her off, it did do one thing. It drew her into the fray of battle, if not the party spirit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicole black

Aslan blinked slowly, dark eyes focusing on the figure of Levi Kenning. She couldn't tell you if it was expected or unexpected that someone had decided to speak to her as the thought of anyone coming over and interrupting her little meditation hadn't crossed her mind, therefore- to put it simply, there was no way to gauge whether she ought to feel surprised by the sixth year's approach.

Uncrossing her arms, Aslan allowed the fingers of her right hand to creep into her mess of brown hair. She twirled a lock only to release it. Twirl, release, repeat. Fidgety hands, she had. "Levi." like the muggle jean brand, she mused. light wash, but not as soft as they looked. The correlation would stick, she was sure. "If he's clever." Aslan paused, nibbling on the edge of her lip as she considered the Charms Professor and her observation of the man.

"I can't put my finger on him." the witch admitted, relinquishing, for good, her hair. Aslan turned her gaze more properly to her fellow Lion. "How do you think he stands up against the others?" She casually asked.

Tenacius was off spraying people with water and Levi was half tempted to join the fun. A poor attempt at grasping at the now long summer and what it'd entailed, to be sure; but the feeling was there, like a slight tug in the bottom of his stomach.

It didn't matter. The party and its theme were both good ideas but the summer was gone and though there were some things that had stuck around from it, well--trying to focus in more important things was possibly a better idea.

His gaze returned to Aslan and he watched her carefully for a moment. If anyone ever asked him to describe her, he'd probably used the word 'quiet' though that was probably not true at all. One of his flip flops fell off his feet, and Levi considered scrambling down to get. He took a sip off his drink instead. "He's good at Charms." Which was obvious if the man still had his job. "And seems to be handling the energy well right now." He grinned. "But let's wait and see once someone blows something up. Or things accidentally start catching fire." Dora did love her fires, after all. And she was not the only one.

The Gryffindor turned to Shay. Probably she would give the newest lioness here a tour about Gryffindor tower and everything around the castle. "Yup, we certainly do." She answered her question. "It's like how to have fun before being tortured of school work, assignment and exams." Ava slightly joked. "I will show you the girls' dorm later, hopefully you will be in the same room as Noelle and I." Ooohhh, that would be very exciting!

She returned Noelle's hug. "Yeah, you should go change." Ava would probably do that later. It didn't take the prefect a long time to change, as she watched Noelle was already in her bathing suit. "You look nice, very Gryffindor-y."

Hehehe...

Hand buzzer prank had never gone old. At least for her. "Yes, sir. I'll keep that in my mind." She commented as the Head of House suggested for not using them for new people. Ava Burton had been practicing the art of throwing pranks since... Forever. Although it's been a while since she used this buzzer. But Professor Marchand didn't know that this was just start.

Especially now he just shot a jet of water to her.

Perfect.

Just wait for her revenge, Gaston!

Tenacius' aim was less than true, and thankfully so. Aslan didn't mind getting wet, but a face full of water wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. She stepped a little to the side, away from the fireplace and closer to Levi to avoid the blue splashes of warmed pool water.

she briefly considered changing, but decided against it. She wouldn't be here much longer, and sleep was certainly still calling her. Without a word Aslan bent down, her curtain of dark hair hiding her face, and picked up Levi's flip-flop. she stood upright, and with a mostly impassive face she wiggled the shoe just a little. The accidentally didn't go unnoticed by the brunette, nor did Levi's fair minded manner. Both were decidedly interesting enough to keep her attention. "Yes, he is doing alright, isn't he..." Aslan mused, tucking back her wayward hair. her lips curved into a tiny smirk. "We won't be waiting long, it's already getting..... " Yellow, she wanted to say yellow and orange but doubted, very sincerely that Levi would understand what she meant by that. to be quite fair, she didn't know exactly ether.

The pause carried for a bit longer as Aslan considered her next words with care. Yellow, Orange- Loud, obnoxious, playful- No, more of the-

"Cautionary." she said, it wasn't all that the colors triggered in her mind, but it would suffice. "Are you going into the pool?" Aslan had completely forgotten she was holding the sixth-year's shoe.