Willy's eyes widened for just a second at mention of Nem's ears bleeding (literally, were they bleeding?! Should someone get Gabi?!), but then he got it. HAH. The singing. "Really makes you miss silencio, huh?" He smirked and spun the third-year around again, his hand still on their shoulder as he steered Nem back into the Great Hall.

"Anyway, I've got something you can help me with. And it doesn't involve decorations OR sing-songs." Yada yada yada, spreading Christmas cheer for all to hear. This season was the WORST, didn't the kids learn that yet? He'd been expecting less cheer and more THE HOLIDAYS SUCK campers here. He was the leader of that camp, honestly. Hand still on shoulder, WWW directed Nem toward the smaller side-tables that contained cookies, candy, and hot chocolate.

Then he paused to make sure no one was nearby to eavesdrop. "The thing is, Nem, you're a clever kid. A great problem solver. I've got a... a small furry problem," he tapped his jacket pocket gently, because heck to the no was WWW going to wear pajamas between the castle and his hut and a double heck-no if anyone thought he was going to sleep in here ON THE FLOOR when he had a perfectly sizeable bed outside. "My furry problem needs some food. I forgot it was in my pocket when I walked here." HONESTLY, he had been developing memory problems all school year. It was a TERRIBLE sign of aging or something else.

"So if you'll just take thisssssss," he cupped the sleeping baby knarl in his free hand, and held it out to deposit into Nem's instead, "I'll just get me some sncaks and be on my way and we'll call it a day." Jolly good, cheerio, pip pip, Happy Christmas, and all those other stupid expressions. Right-o, WWW smirked at Nem and let go of the Slytherin's shoulder, moving instead to start piling his pockets with candy and cookies.

For once, Aboli actually didn't overthink Kimmie's presence. She was actually glad the Hufflepuff had arrived; it was someone she knew she could talk to and MAYBE she would feel better about all of this. And Avalon was here, too. While she felt NAUSEOUS, she was a ot tiiiiiny bit cheered by their presence. "Not really," she said in response to Kimmie's question. "But I'll be all right. Hey, Avalon," she greeted the Ravenclaw. "I would normally be ALL over those cookies but my stomach just...isn't right. I think it's my stress. Anxiety. SADNESS." She sighed and glanced around, trying to see if Noah(s) had arrived or Valencia or any of her other friends!

It was nice of people to thank the professors for all this...but Aboli just didn't have it IN her to do that....ugh. They really did put an effort in... she thought to herself. But like...WHY did it have to mandatory? She wanted to be curled up in bed.... but it WAS nice....


The tree....okay... she turned back to Kimmie and Avalon. "Wanna work on the tree, then?" she asked gently. "We can at least put some decorations on it." It was better than standing around doing nothing and moping.

But then...

Aboli...

WINCED.

....JINGLE BELL ROCK? WHO HAD SUGGESTED IT. ABOLI WANTED THIS PERSON BANISHED. She haaaaaaated this song - IT DEFILED ALL CLASSIC CHRISTMAS SONGS.



Aboli spotted Alexandre nearby and gave him a wave. "Hey Alexandre." she triiiiied to smile but maybe it was a grimace because her stomach gave another chuuuuurn right at that moment. "Um...." Wait. HOLD THE MIRROR. "Your uncle is PROFESSOR ERIS?!"

Gabi had had MANY small breakdowns in her office over all of this. She just wanted to be HOME, with Armen and her children, celebrating the holidays as a family as they always did. Not only that, but she couldn't use many of her usual beauty spells and her normal beauty routine was failing miserably. She knew looks weren't the MOST important thing in the world, of course - but the extra few wrinkles on her face and the bags under her eyes were not helping matters! Thank Merlin she had just touched up her hair...hopefully before all the grays started to show, they'd be out of this mess...

A small smile crept upon her face as she walked into the hall and spotted Trent and Carwyn singing loudly to Jingle Bell Rock and making absolute fools of themselves. At least they were all doing what they could to keep the spirits up around here. She could hardly imagine being a teenager and being stuck at Hogwarts, unsure when you were going to see your parents or your family again. At least she knew her kids were safe with Armen - and she was a grown adult who could take care of herself. These were just KIDS. The stress must have been...unreal.

"When you're done breaking all the glasses in the Great Hall with your singing, I call leading the next song...I'm thinking Deck the Halls," she grinned at them, putting on her usual smile as she joined her fellow staff members. What was Williamson doing with Nem over there? Eh. Not important

Fiona gave a small nod towards Headmaster Trent. She didn't get on with Flora Thiese so the idea of working with her was torture. She decided to quickly make her way to where Missa and Cassidy were busy with the ribbons.

"Hello there, ladies. Ready to start decorating?"

Finneas had been planning to spend Christmas with Alina, of course. Aside from that, he was in GREAT spirits. No magic didn't affect him too much. In fact, no magic meant it was SCHMOE TIME. Finneas Schmoe was finally receiving the redemption arc he had always deserved. He was THRIVING. Finally some respect on his name, y'know????

AnYwAy. He was smiling wide as he carried a big ol' silver barrel full of hot chocolate into the Great Hall. It took a little longer to get it made than usual... Errr even the house elves were experiencing some difficulties. BUT where there is a Schmoe there is a way! JINGLE BELL ROOOOOOCK," he gave it his best go INCREDIBLY off key. And on top of the lousy singing, he was a slight hazard with the way his tail whipped around as he waddled his way over to one of the smaller tables on the side. As he bumbled around, he could hear the hot cocoa splish and splosh inside the large metal container. It would be really terrible if he spilled it. Ho, ho, ho.

"Mr. Wallace, your shirt is on backwards!" Did he know?

Cassie did have to take a minute when all this started happening. She was upset that she wasn't going to be home with Leo for Christmas. He would be all alone and that wasn't something the blonde wanted to think about. She was grateful to be there with her children and she hoped that maybe he would spend the day with Nessa. She as also grateful to be there for Hope so that Nessa wouldn't worry as much knowing she was watching over her.

This wasn't about her and her feelings though, no, she had a job to do and she had children to watch over. All the students were her kids now she always felt that way when she taught, so the five foot professor put on her red robes and a Santa hat and entered the Great Hall. "HELLLLLLLO, HELLOOOO." A big smile on her face as she heard the singing, "I love this song!"

"What a bright time its the right time to rock the night away. Jingle bell time is a swell time to go riding in a one-horse sleigh."

She began to dance around her smile just as big as it always was. Though she was beginning to notice that some of the students and professors didn't seem so happy, which she knew just the right thing for that. Hugs, hugs made things better. She started with William and moved to Aboli.

"Happy Christmas to all"

Beezley walked into the Great Hall out of breath and carrying a plate of cookies. Without magic the little elf was doing more walking than she had ever done. She had burnt her finger pulling the cookies from the oven, which she struggled to make without doing it their usual way. All the elves were wanting to please the misses and misters, but they were behind now that things had to be made slower.

"Beezley has more cookies, Beezley hopes you like them."

The Great Hall did amaze the little elf though, it was looking pretty . "Beezley could help decorate."

Heath didn’t know what to do with himself! He supposed it was nice of the headmaster to organize this for everyone, but large social gatherings terrified him, even when he wasn’t already battling a storm of emotions. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts, but that wasn’t happening anytime soon, not with this mandatory sleepover - he couldn’t even escape to the Room of Requirement anymore! Most of all, he just wanted to go home!

He was supposed to be onstage right now, playing Ebeneezer Scrooge in his hometown’s production of A Christmas Carol… okay, technically Young Scrooge, but it was still an important role and he wasn’t there for it! His family would know something was wrong, but what would the director, the other cast, the audience think of him? Everyone was going to think he backed out, and then no one would take a chance on giving him an important role ever again. His acting career would be over before it even started, but that wasn’t even the worst part! This Christmas would’ve been the first time he saw his dad since his parents separated.

Heath shook his head, trying to distract himself from thinking about all he was missing. He walked into the Great Hall, wearing black Star Wars pajama bottoms and matching Darth Vader slippers. For some reason, he couldn’t for the life of him find the top that went with these pajamas, so he had a plain black t-shirt that kind of matched and of course, his favorite jacket. He arrived in the middle of “Jingle Bell Rock”, so he greeted everyone with a shy wave and the slightest of smiles. He didn’t want to interrupt the song, and besides, a small smile was all he could manage right now.

Blake smiled, it was a good feeling, a hug from a friend ... who just happened to be a girl.... "Alive is a good thing." Blake wondered if there was ever a normal year at Hogwarts .. like did something happen every single year??? "This vanishing act business is getting out of hand. The weather is something." Blake was worried, maybe the wouldn't be allowed outside ever again. How on earth would they get home? Was this weather happening everywhere... And then Blake's thoughts were distracted by the headmaster and his song.

"Dear Merlin, Trent is signing." Blake added in response to Isla. "Did you want to sign?? Or just get another cookie?" He added as he took the last bite of the one he was currently munching on.

Octavia Stark had spent the majority of the holiday break in tears. This was NOT how her holidays were supposed to be. She was supposed to be back at home helping her mama cook Christmas dinner or singing carols with uncle West while they decorated the tree or waking her papa up early to open gifts. They might have even gone to Disneyland again, speaking lots of French and riding all the roller coasters. She'd play with Jules and tell auntie A about the fascinating stuff she's learned in astronomy. Her family was small but it was hers and she loved it more than her own life.

But this thing... it kept her here, and it was the separation and not knowing when (or if) she'd ever see her parents again that gave her the many breakdowns.

It helped having Flynn. It helped a little having all her friends she grew up with in the castle too, but it REALLY helped having her best friend right there to comfort her and make sure they didn't disappear too. Without him she probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed, showered, and put on clean clothes to come to this thing. This was mostly his doing (that she was tired of being sad).

She didn't have on her pajamas, but she did have on a ravenclaw sweatshirt and black leggings covered in stars. That would have to do. One hand in Flynn's and the other tinkering with a gold locket around her neck, Tavie walked into the great hall, taking it all in with one deep breath.

She could do this.

Maybe.

"What do you want to do first?" Tav looked up at him. She kind of wanted to do everything (Christmas was one of her favorites) but she kind of also just wanted to curl back into a ball and stay that way forever.

Cole had since the news that they weren't able to go home for christmas been in a down in the dumps mood. He didn't like to admit it but he had shed quite a few tears in his pillow over not going home to open presents with his father and step-mother and sister. Isobel was stuck at school too but they weren't in the same house so Cole barely saw her.

Decked out in navy blue long-sleeved pjs and with a brown teddybear sticking up out of one of the trouser pockets he entered the great hall. Cole wasn't feeling the christmas spirit, but he showed up even if he wished they weren't singing jingle bell rock quite so loudly. The sleepover was mandatory. So now what? Spotting the cookie tray Cole sauntered over. Maybe a cookie would lift his spirit?

Believe it or not, being stuck was not part of the plan. Coincidently, it was rather counterproductive for the plan because it meant he couldn't exactly pitch his story. But a good weatherman knew to look for the glimmer of light within the clouds! Being stuck here meant he didn't have to camp out in the barns anymore. It also meant he could join in on Christmas festivities.

Sunny made his way into the Great Hall with a jolly smile in place. Where was he heading? Straight to the cookie station, of course! Needed to fill his tum with a gingerbread man or two. Then he could start collecting some quotes. Never a day off, for this guy! Standing by the refreshment tables, Sunny stuffed a cookie in his mouth before taking out a notebook and jotting down a thing or two. Namely, the number of students present. He'd figure out strategy for how to go about collecting quotes in a minute. Mmm! Snickerdoodle!

Out of the corner of her eye, Isla caught sight of a little house elf scurrying around out of breath. Oh, that's right--they couldn't use their magic! Feeling sorry for the little creature, Isla hurried over to try and help carry some of the cookies. Beezley looked like she had it under control, though. Maybe. "Thank you so much for the cookies!" she said, wanting to make sure the little elf knew all her hard work wasn't for nothing. Then Isla felt bad about how sad and mopey she'd been. There were people working hard for them, despite how bad things were, and she could show a little more appreciation.

She laughed at Blake's first comment. "Yeah, being alive is a good thing, but are you sure we're alive?" she asked. "I'm kind of second-guessing that part of things." She just hoped her parents knew that she was okay. It almost made her cry to think about how worried they probably were. They probably weren't even celebrating Christmas. She followed his gaze back to Trent. "I don't...think I want to sing," she admitted. "I'm not that cheerful yet. Let's go eat cookies!"

Speaking of the table of cookies, Isla happened to look over and see Sunny Raine helping himself to a cookie. She couldn't decide if she owed him an apology for doubting him, or if she should maintain her sense of suspicion. Either way, he'd snuck into the school at least once or twice that she knew of, and that in itself earned him a suspicious glance or two. Regardless, she made her way over to cookie table with Blake and helped herself to one.

It wasn't long that they had been standing there until Avalon approached as well, and K smiled in welcoming at her. It had been a moment since she had seen her Ravenclaw friend. Snorting slightly at her comment, the sarcasm fully appreciated. "True, true. I do fully plan on demolishing a plate of those cookies over the course of the evening." Her love of food was not something she was ever shy of.

She eyed Aboli for a moment when she answered she wasn't feeling well physically, and she raised an eyebrow slightly. She could see Professor Recard had arrived, so at least if she started feeling any worse she could probably assist. For now she wouldn't push too much. "Let me know if you need anything." Like, water or something. Or maybe a ginger bread cookie? Ginger was calming for an upset stomach, right? She sighed in agreement about emotions, nodding her head slightly. It was definitely hard to not being feeling stressed and upset right now. K was just glad her siblings had transferred with her so she had them for Christmas at least. "How's your brother doing? Koko?" She imagined this was all probably even harder on the younger siblings.

And with that thought in mind, she also looked around the room. She'd have to keep an eye out for Lucas to check on him later.

Hearing Headmaster Trent say her name with a request for something to have her do, K glanced over at him. She tried to keep her face neutral, but she couldn't help but think Mistletoe was an interesting choice. Wasn't that the plant you had to kiss someone when you were underneath it? But also... she couldn't help but smile because that sounded like it could certainly be an awkward and fun source of entertainment for the evening. "Yes sir, we'll start on that." Where would be the most inconvenient places for it?

Hearing Aboli speak again regarding starting on the tree with her, she smiled slightly, "Headmaster just asked us to work on the thistle. Want to lend a hand on that first and then we can all jump to the tree?" More hands meant it was all up faster. She turned her attention to wave at Minjae who had also been included in the request from Trent. "Hi Minjae! I like your pajamas!" They looked super uncomfortable. And expensive. "I'm going to go see if I can snag a ladder since we can't just magic up the decorations..." And unfortunately none of them were giants to just reach. "Anyone up for helping me carry one back?"

Spotting a fresh plate of cookies, she did grab a cookie from Beezley and offered a smile. "Thank you for making these! They're delicious." She took a bite to emphasis her point before moving back to her task at hand. She also sent a wave at Heath as he entered, shooting him a thumbs up for his selection in pajamas.

Well this was just wrong. Naya was supposed to be on a beach right now, not wearing her Christmas jammies for a sleepover in the Great Hall. Under different circumstances, she might see the fun in this activity, Right now though, nope. Not feeling it. Naya wanted to be home, eating her mom’s awesome cooking and enjoying her family. Alas, it was not to be and for that reason, she was extremely bummed. The only positive note was that she got to spend time with Cole.

Cole. As Naya approached him, she saw the look on his face. She had never seen him look so sad. “Hey!”, she said, trying to sound upbeat. “I bet these cookies aren’t as good as yours” Naya managed a smile. Then she said seriously, “Are you ok?” He certainly didn’t seem to be. Naya tried to take Cole’s mind and her mind off of things. “Come on. Maybe we can find something to do. Do you want to decorate one of the trees?” Maybe if they kept busy, they wouldn’t have as much time to think about home.

Despite being a muggleborn , Minjae had become so used to using magic and he felt odd not being able to use it. It was like he was back at home for the summer because he couldn’t use magic outside of school yet. But instead at being at home right now for Christmas, he was stuck at Hogwarts with everyone else.

The Headmaster’s comment on the mistletoes did not go unnoticed to the fifteen year old and he grinned. ”Suuure thing professor” he said before turning his attention to Kimberly. The Hufflepuff’s grin changed in to a genuine smile as she commented on liking his pajama. ”Thanks, its really soft” and not at all uncomfortable.

As the Christmas music filled the Great Hall, Minjae looked around the room to see what they all had to set up...without magic... when he noticed Professor Schmoe’s pajama choice. He wasn’t even surprised to be honest. Actually, now that he was here, he wanted to ask if he could borrow one of his yo-yo’s. He had to do SOMETHING during the holidays and it WASN’T studying. But before he could walk up to him, he noticed someone (Sunny) he had never seen before at the food station. ”Kimmie, you know who that is?” he asked as he blatantly pointed at the man. He had gone to ...most...of his class this year. How come he didn’t recognize him?

There was a part of Ivy that wanted to lay in her bed and mope about how much she missed her family. She didn't realize how much she missed home until now when she didn't even have the option to go. And...if they didn't figure out how to get the outside world back or however all this worked...

But that she didn't want to think about. That was the one train of thought she refused to follow.

They would get back home somehow. She knew her parents would want her to believe that. And she did. She couldn't believe anything else.

So Ivy was putting on a brave face for this Christmas party. Nothing would be fixed by moping, and it WAS nice that the professors were trying to bring some Christmas cheer to the place. Ivy appreciated it and was determined to enjoy it. Even if she couldn't take pictures of it, which she longed to do.

Her pj's for the night consisted of a simple green sweatshirt and black pajama bottoms. Nothing too fancy, but she did also decide to wear her a pair of fuzzy red socks with Christmas trees on them that she'd gotten last year. That was pretty festive, yeah?

She heard the music long before she entered, and her face lit up once she was inside. Oh yes, it was much easier to find the joy in this once she was here.

Christmas was just such a magical time of year, y'know? Even when there was no actual magic.

She looked around to see where she might want to go first - and did a double-take because was that Professor Schmoe dressed like a purple dragon??? Huh. Interesting pajama choice! She liked that one.

But then she also spotted Heath standing not too far off from the entrance, all decked out in Star Wars stuff. Neat! "I like your jacket," Ivy said, smiling.

Grinning at Minjae as he also responded in the affirmative to Trent, she dropped her voice a little lower for a second, "What do you think, do we play attempt to play matchmaker with where we hang these or attempt to cause chaos?" Personally, she was 100% down with either. If they were stuck they might as well try to find something to do to make it fun. She raised her voice back to normal volume before gesturing over towards the ladders, "Can I also commandeer your help with one of those?" Since they couldn't just use magic to hang thistle this year.

Hearing him question if she knew who someone was, K glanced around again before settling on the stranger at the cookie table and shaking her head. "I don't. I think I saw him helping with the creatures though on the day of the storm. I'm not quite sure where he came from though. Or why he's here." In the castle, at the party, the whole shebang. How did they end up with a stranger?

Avalon laughed at Kimmie's comment about eating the cookies. She couldn't help but agree....those cookies looked amazing, and she would definitely be having some later. She almost had the urge to stare in disbelief at Professor Schmoe's pajamas, but she had gotten used to her Head of House's interesting clothing choices by now. At least he brought music! Avalon hummed along as she dug through a box, pulling out some thistle. She loved old-fashioned Christmas music. It reminded her of the holidays with her grandparents.

She was about to help her friend with the ladder when she heard Minjae ask about a stranger in the room. Following the point of his finger, she nearly gasped when she noticed none other than Sunny Raine, helping himself to a cookie. "What in Merlin is he doing in here?" she exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise. "That's the reporter we found hanging around near the Entrance Gates a few weeks ago! He kept talking about some weird storm and pressing us for information about it. Trent basically told him to get lost....." She trailed off in thought. "Does he even have permission to be back here?" Avalon glanced around the room, trying to find Isla or Jina - anyone who had been with her at the front gates a few weeks ago to see if they knew what was up. But there were too many students in the Great Hall, and she couldn't spot them easily.

She shrugged as she turned back to Kimmie and Minjae. "If he's in here, I'm sure Trent had to give him permission. It's still kind of strange, though." Avalon would definitely be keeping an eye on him. But in the mean time, they might as well enjoy the decorating and music. Decorating was one of Avalon's favorite part about Christmas, after all. "Let's grab a ladder, shall we? I don't know how else we'd be able to get up that high without magic!"

Really?! Did Professor Headmaster just say she can work with the Ravenclaw prefect? "Yes, please!" She said. The idea was certainly not unwelcome. In fact, it lifted a weee bit of Cassidy's mood. She liked hanging out with the big kids, especially the badgey people...like her mummy once was. Oh, and look! She got a wave from another older dude person (Ronan). Naturally, she waved back with matching wiggly fingers. She sort of felt more her now that she didn't result to locking herself up in her dorm.

And then there were many older students. How sort of exciting!

She then gave the headmaster two thumbs up before she went towards the box with the ribbons. Cassidy could get behind that, although tree decorations at home were still better.

The young lioness immediately dug through the box of ribbons, looking for something that was her style. The plain reds and greens were okay—no big deal, just the typical Christmas ones, but she was searching for.... "Aha!" Cassidy exclaimed as she pulled out a shimmery red-and-gold ribbon. That's more like it! The redhead twirled it around the air for a bit before her attention was caught by the Gryffindor prefect. "Hi!" she said like it were a passing thought. Another older student! "Flora! Come join!" And hi there, older Slytherin girl (Fiona)! Cassidy was an honourary Slytherin too, courtesy of her mummy and daddy who were BOTH Slytherins.

In another train of thought—Cassidy currently had, like, five going on—she decided that the reporter dude was kinda strange. She gave "Rainy Sun" a brief questioning look before she diverted her attention back to the ribbons as she circled one around a tree. And in ANOTHER train of thought, Professor Schmoe looked like an awkward Barney the dinorawr. Except the real Barney didn't have a tail.

Can't have everything in life, I guess!

The eleven year old hummed to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock to herself. She was only getting herself accustomed to the brighter atmosphere, but she might join in the actual singing later.

Sunny chomped on the snickerdoodle cookie, taking some mental (and physical) notes. He'd like to talk to an array of students, make sure he was getting full coverage. He took note of a couple of students that he had previously met during his first visit inside. They hadn't been very useful and he likely wouldn't try again either. Maybe that Kitt Lazarus though, he was a fine young man. As it was though, these thoughts were interrupted when he looked over to notice he was being pointed at by one of the students standing a little ways away [DuckyLinJi]. Sunny smiled brightly in return, taking one last bite of his cookie before waving back. The questioning stares of a younger student [Kimothy] did not escape his notice either. This one received a bright smile too, as well as a "merry Christmas!"

He did mean to get started on business, but maybe he could spare another moment for a second cookie... "It's you again!" He raised his cookie, wiggling it at [Anna Banana] who had just made her way over to the same table with a young man [love-for-HP]. "Happy Christmas you two! How are you coping with the magic storm?" And who said you couldn't mix business with pleasure?

There, they were set to work, the music was on, could he go sit in his office by his fireplace and mope now? No? Still had to be leading by example. Fine then. "Next song's all yours." He told Gabi, wondering if the volume was too high. She'd said something about breaking windows. Just in case, he did turn the dial to get the volume a bit more manageable. It was good she wanted the next round, he (as much as he enjoyed belting carols with his children) was not feeling quite so festive tonight. The forced smile for the students was enough.

"Hot chocolate?" He offered.

Was he what now? Trent looked down at James when she approached looking something like a kicked cruppy. Santa? Dark Wizard? "A few pounds too light and a head full of white hair too short for that role, no worries there... Um, dark wizard?" Had he missed something?

And then his eyes caught the Transfiguration Professor up too high for his personal comfort. "Do be careful, Eris. Gabi's here but injuries aren't particularly festive." And, y'know, would hurt.

And then he saw him. The man who had some nerve to still be in the castle and even more to show up to the little cheer up event for the students. With no way in or out, they had no choice but to keep Sunny and keep they had been. Malachi was keeping close watch of him, but didn't remember inviting him.

"Did you really need to be here?"

Look, Gus had been a little apprehensive about forcing the kids to spend the 24th with them as opposed to in their dorms where they could mope like the teenagers they were. But he'd come around to the idea. He didn't want to be around people, but he also didn't want to be on his own. This evening he was supposed to be tucking his kids into bed after a day of christmas movies and cookies and... he wasn't. He didn't know what his kids were doing, he hadn't been able to wish them a merry christmas or to tell them that he loved them so incredibly much. The only comfortab was that... he knew that they knew he loved them.

SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!

SO. He was absolutely ready to take his mind off that and take the students minds off of what they were missing at home. They needed him and he wasn't going to be able to help anyone by staying by himself and eating his weight in the peanut butter cookies he had been snacking on.

Always one for an entrance, (or so he was just overcompensating tbh) Gus burst through the doors with a trolley of large plants that he and other students had recovered from the greenhouses during the storm. "LET'S GET SOME DECORATIONS ON THESE UH.... TREES?" They weren't trees. But he was usually decorating his own tree or the one at Stemp House right now and he was DOING NEITHER so he was going to do it here and he was GOING TO FEEL GREAT ABOUT IT.

He was also dressed in candy cane pyjamas but you know... that wasn't the POINT. ALSO why was the radio on and why weren't they singing themselves? C'MON GUYS.

Cole was staring down at the cookie tray by the time that Naya joined him. Plastering on a weak smile for her he turned to look at her, resisting the urge to pull her in for a hug. "Hey!" he greeted quietly. "I’m okay. Just sad that we can’t go home for Christmas and to make things worse we can’t even send an owl home and say so. How are you?" He expected that his father was going to owl the board of governors if he didn’t hear from him and Isobel very soon.

Sighing he tried to cheer up. "Sure, we can decorate one of the trees together that Professor Rainwater just brought in. Can i hold your hand?" If he could then Cole would feel a little better and not so down in the dumps. It was christmas after all. Lifting up two gingerbread cookies from the tray he offered one to Naya before he took a bite of his own. "It’s a yummy cookie. You should try it." Who the elves had learned to bake from Cole didn’t have the faintest and honestly didn’t care.

.....okay okay, cool, Professor K, Aboli tried to hug back as quickly as possible so it wouldn't last that long, but she was very appreciative of her Divination professor's kindess. "Happy Christmas, Professor!" she smiled sheepishly at her before turning back to Kimmie and Avalon...and some boy [Minjae] whose name she had forgotten O_O



As much as Aboli didn't WANT to admit it, she kind of...was growing to.... like Kimmie, and while it was weird, she thought it was better than being enemies. Now Islay...that was someone she had mixed feelings about. Her curiosity was piqued since the seance Divi class, but she hadn't spoken much to the Gryffindor since then.

It was nice of Kimmie to offer help, though. "I'm good for now...starting to...feel better," she said as she sighed. "Koko is fine. He's probably trying to hide this out. I can't see him enjoying this sort of thing at ALL." And he'd probably lose them points if he was caught skipping. But whatever. Her brother could deal. She just nodded about helping with the thistle, following Kimmie's lead on this one. "You all go get the ladder - I'll start untangling the thistle, yeah?" she gestured to where one of the ladders was. Avalon, the bloke [Minjae], and Kimmie could handle one ladder themselves. She reached over and began to pull strands of the thistle apart, ready to hang them up. "Who wants to go on the ladder - you, Kimmie?" she then turned to the bloke and decided she might as well introduce herself. "I'm Aboli...don't think we've spoken before," she said with a shrug. "And that's Sunny Raine..." she let Avalone take the lead on explaining THAT guy.

She was busy giving the guy MAJOR STINK EYE. "Headmaster Trent - it's a SHAME toenail hexes won't work right now - " she gestured at Mr. Sunny Raine. AND THEN WENT BACK TO SQUINTING SUSPICIOUSLY AT HIM. All their trouble had only started once THIS DUDE had gotten here. So in here mind.........this was ENTIRELY his fault.



She gave him a wave. "Happy Christmas, Professor!" okay so....as much as she didn't want to admit it, her spirits had raised despite her terrible stomachache. UGH. And she had successfully gotten quite a few of the thistles ready to hang.

Was Jingle Bell Rock over yet?