Costume was OPTIONAL. Where was the fun in that? This was why Aria had decided to attend this event all decked out. What costume exactly? That scheming and shrewd Lady Vampire, a perfect blend of the Mundane and Magical worlds. In the ways of scheming and shrewd, the elegant female dark being reminded Aria of herself. She certainly was scheme-y when it came to keeping Violet away from Caes {a feat which was quite successful at the moment and she was rather pleased with herself}. With regard to her outfit, the Slytherin had made the entire thing on her own thanks to her creativity {thank you, papa James, for bringing out that side of her!}. Plus, being an aspiring clothing designer did have so many perks!

Arriving at the classroom, the sixth year peeked in and was immediately smitten by what she saw. “Positively wonderful, professor!’’ came an excited greeting as she stepped, high heels making clicky clacky sounds. “I particularly like that you’ve included Dolores Umbridge.” That was most interesting, actually.

Costumes were optional, and Cailyn honestly felt better about coming because of that. She could have worn her Halloween costume, but it seemed like a lot of work given her exhaustion over exam studying having taken more importance over most everything else lately. Even so, she hadn’t wanted to show up wearing normal clothes, or a half-baked costume. Not that she really had a lot of party attire either, but she’d dug around in her trunk and found a dress she might have nicked from her mum’s closet for who knew what reason. She was still sensitive over her feelings over being alone after all, but the long shift was comfortable. And it even looked a bit dark-magic-y in her opinion. At least like a dark angel or maybe even a bit of a delicate vampire. If you squinted a bit.

Granted, there wasn’t much she could do about the glow coming from her hands at this point. It was another things adding to her feelings of exhaustion, honestly. “Everything looks…lovely, Professor”, she greeted Professor Madigan, giving up on coming up with a decent reply. Maybe she should have worn a cloak too.

"Hi everyone." Ash didn't really feel like dressing up. She was simply wearing a pretty long-sleeved black dress and her usual expression, figuring that was dark enough. If anyone asked, she was a person who just met a dementor. It was kind of abstract.

Waving at the professor and the other students, giving them fleeting(but real) smiles, she grabbed food and went to go eat it in some out of the way spot. She wasn't very chatty today.

Luther walked through the door in a way that some would call arrogant but that was exactly what he aimed for. His costume was one he hoped that everyone would understand. With his pitch-black robes, white gloves, the top hat he took from Professor Carton's class and white-tipped oddly cylindrical wand, he wanted to be a magician. In the muggle way.

He stopped for a moment to appreciate the work Professor did. The decorations were perfect. The dimmed light caused him to cringe since his glowing hands were even more noticeable in the dimmed room, and the portraits of various creatures along with a woman who looked like a frog more than a human helped the atmosphere.

'We definitely should have more Halloween parties at home.' thought Luther before cheerfully greeting Professor Madigan, "Hello Professor. Great decorations. I love it."

While getting a glass of punch and a sandwich, he saw Aria who looked like the bad queen he read about in the muggle fairy tales. With the same arrogance he arrived at the party, he walked towards her and said bowing and tipping his top hat "Greetings, milady. How are you in this fine evening?" while trying to sound like a medieval knight and not to laugh at the same time.

Kins was only here because she wanted to stay on Professor M's good side (she needed to pass this class, ok?) and because she liked to dress up. No offense, but a supervised party didn't sound like any fun. She was just going to stay for a little bit, that's all. She had things to do and places to be, ok?

But it was so so so so important that Professor M knew she came. So. So she made sure to come find him as soooon as she entered the decorated space. "Super creative decor, sir." She mostly said that to be nice. It was just okay.

And with thaaaat out of the way, she went to find her friends. And when she couldn't find any of them, she went to stand by Cailyn instead. "Hi." Weird party, right?

Maybe he was reading too much into it or maybe he was just grumpy that a certain someone had yet again decided to 'borrow' one of his baseball caps, but Atlas was very certain that this was not just some dimly lit party with the option of dressing up and whatever. This was, after all Defense Against the DARK Arts and it was a DARK party and the décor had a certain DARK creature ambiance to it (Umbridge counted as a creature too, okay?). So, if anyone wanted to take a jab at him for once again arriving at some social function in a simple black t-shirt and jeans, a red and maroon flannel tied around his waist with the sleeves tucked into his front pockets just because, he would simple say that a Dark wizard or witch had no 'costume' and that they could be anyone among them. Therefore...he could argue that he was in costume.

Anyway.

Twirling his wand between his fingers, the sixth year did what he could to avoid the gaze of the portraits that honestly gave him the heebie jeebies. Almost worse than having a portrait of your dad in your common room, you know? Just...creepy. He greeted no one and instead went to stand by all the food and refreshments and glanced lazily at the spread and in doing so cause each of the methodically arranged sandwiches to begin to rise from their platter and into the air.

Madigan was quite pleased to see a number decide to dress up for the occasion. He knew the short notice for one to find a costume would be unfair to make it a requirement or some just weren't comfortable to go all out. One of the first students in particular, "Excellent attire, Miss McLeod," Smiling in appreciation at the compliment, "Thank you, it is fitting that she stays among those most welcoming to her," Particularly hoping one of the Dementors would give her portrait a friendly kiss as a greeting. Ahem.

"Thank you Miss Cooke, that is a splendid attire you're sporting," Almost like a dark witch herself. Perfect. "Hello there, Miss Fox," Her attire was similar to Miss Cooke but also different. Though she appeared famished, so he kept the greeting to a minimum to avoid disturbing her meal.

"Ah, Master Starriver, thank you, it's good to see you join in the festivities here in such a splendid attire," Almost like a magician, or perhaps the Mad Hatter? His images of muggle fairytale were blurred at the moment as he appeared to temporarily blend into the scene as if appearing absent. Oh dear, not again. Least it was temporarily enough for him to pop back into view as Miss James walked in. "Why thank you Miss James, almost as creative as your attire," The effort was appreciated as such. His eyes did notice Master Atlas Flamsteed appear to visit. His choice of attire was intriguing to say the least, not meaning the definition of fancy but yet intentional. The current track was ending which seemed a good time to address the crowd..

"Ahem, welcome everyone to the Party, feel free to enjoy the refreshments and edibles, as they haven't been tampered with." To ease any first concerns, "As it is a party you're free to mingle and dance among your peers.. But if you would like a little mental stimulation, have a gander at one of the portraits. See how they respond to your look... perhaps even use a friendly charm on one or more for their reaction." Perhaps one of them would receive more charms than the other, who knew. "They may not take kindly to it, but they won't pop out of the portraits to retaliate." He made sure of it.


OOC: Hello, sorry for delay since I wasn't feeling well enough to post earlier. Your character is free to enjoy the party with others, otherwise you can interact with the portraits using any 1st or 2nd-year level spell listed here and play out their reactions.

Aria gave a rather toothy beam at Madigan’s compliment. There was nothing more flattering and rewarding than being praised for something you worked hard on. “Thank you, professor! Much appreciated.” Then she was chuckling heartily. “I agree! Quite the horrible person that woman was.” It didn’t take long for others to start filing in. Was Aria disappointed that not everyone had taken the time to get into costume? Yes. But that didn’t mean she was judging them. Whatever made them comfortable, right? “Hi, Ashley.” Somehow the two girls had never clicked but they were still polite to each other.

Aria did get all excited upon seeing Luther though! Yes, she got his costume reference! Giggles erupted from her as he spoke all formal and gentlemanly to her. Playing along, Aria gave him a proper courtesy. “And to you, good Sir. I’m quite marvelous! Would you care to promenade with me this evening?” Okaaay, Aria was going to burst into another bout of giggles soon! Madigan provided the perfect scenario for the perfect mingling and Aria quickly turned her attention back to her Gryffindor friend. “We can grab more snacks then head off for a night of adventure with those portraits if you like!”

Things were very wrong at Hogwarts when Desiree Marchand didn’t want to dress up for a party! She didn’t see the point in trying anymore when Peeves’s curse made it unlikely that she’d stay beautiful, but she still made an effort. She arrived dressed in a Victorian-style black dress, black cape, black fedora, and white half mask. For once in her life, her outfit wasn’t inspired by a Disney character. Instead she’d gone with a character that reflected her inner ugliness.

“Hello, Professor Madigan,” she greeted the man with a tip of her hat. “Hi, everyone!” Everybody else got a friendly wave. Her bright blue eyes scanned the room, taking in the decor and portraits on the walls. Mummy, vampire, banshee, Dolores Umbridge… that last one got a giggle out of her. Then she saw it… the Inferi. Oh yes, she knew all about those disgusting things, the time they invaded Hogwarts seeking treasure, and the way they scarred her father both physically and emotionally to the point that he resembled the character that inspired her costume! If there was one thing she hated even more than Peeves, it was Inferi!

While she would’ve gladly set the blasted thing on fire, she would have to be content with following the professor’s directions to use friendly spells. The only “friendly” spell she knew that did anything remotely close to fire was the red sparks spell. Okay, she’d go with that. Willow wand clutched tightly in hand, she aimed at the Inferi portrait and cast, “Periculum!”

“That’s for my dad, you creepy corpses,” she muttered, watching with satisfaction as the Inferi in the portrait grumbled and scattered away from the sparks.

Ash and Kinsay had arrived after her, and Cailyn had returned the Ravenclaw’s fleeting smile even as she acknowledged the greeting from the Gryffindor. Even given their earlier discussion during a different party, it was the tiniest bit surprising that Kins had chosen to join her. Not that she was upset. Familiar faces were always welcome, especially when it was hard to know what to expect. “Hi”, she returned to the blonde. “It’s definitely different from most parties, anyhow”. Which was weird, in its own way. As was the floating sandwiches near where Atlas had positioned himself, but then she figured that was along the lines of her own particular problem of late.

She certainly hadn’t expected the compliment from the professor. “Thank you, professor”. And thank you for not commenting on the glow, which very much so was the flaw in her unintentional costume. Peeves could reverse that particular spell any day now, please.

And now to decide which avenue in which to enjoy the party. She hadn’t even thought the refreshments might have been tampered with, but even so she’d been hesitant to approach them. And there was the matter of deciding what portrait to approach. Some she vaguely remembered from the war, others just from the books she read. Either way, she wasn’t entire certain she wanted to deal with them. Aside from maybe asking Ms. Umbridge if she regretted any of the choices she’d made, although she suspected she knew that answer too.

"Thank you, sir." said Luther, pausing for a moment seeing Professor Madigan seem to kind of fade then he continued "Is your costume a lethifold? If so, it is brilliant, with the cloak and vanishing trick."

"Oh, it would be my utmost pleasure, milady." said Luther barely suppressing his laughter but he couldn't continue as he started to laugh. After calming down a bit, he said between laughter finishing eating his sandwich "A proper gentleman would never say no to more food and adventure."

If they were laughing this much so early on in the festivities, Aria could only imagine how much more laughter there would be if she and Luther hung out for the rest of the event. “I see you were raised in the right manner, young Sir.” Aria offered Luther another courtesy before collecting a napkin which she proceeded to fill with sandwiches, cheese puffs and cookies.

It was at that moment that she saw Desiree casting a spell at the portrait of the Inferi. The action intrigued Aria to the maximum. “Shall we see what Desiree’s up to, Luther? I think she has a vendetta for Inferi. We can interact with a portrait of your choosing afterwards, if you like.”

Saying that much, a gooey chocolate chip cookie was crammed into her mouth - which was very unlady-like, but who cared?

"It is an honor to be deemed worthy of the attention of such an elegant lady." said Luther smiling as he watched Aria cramming a cookie, which looked delicious, therefore an action Luther approved.

Then he took some pastries and delicious-looking cookies, cramming some into his mouth meanwhile. After ensuring he got enough, he said "Oh definitely, I wonder what caused her anger. I hope it is not something too bad." Then he said as an afterthought "Then maybe we could go and visit the frog, pardon me Umbridge." Luther really didn't like what the history books said about the woman. Also, it was a portrait after all and he added "Whom would you like to visit?"

Ash was glad that the professor had mentioned the food and drinks were safe... she hadn't even thought about that before eating, but she probably shouldn't have assumed. She wouldn't have been very happy if the food was a lesson in making sure things aren't cursed. Food finished, she made her way to the portraits to examine them. She stuck by the vampire portrait, finding it the least repulsive. "Anyone want to try things on this portrait over here to see what happens?" She was avoiding the inferi. Because inferi were horrifying, disgusting, and gross. And creepy.

SPOILER!!: Lutherrr! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freyr

"It is an honor to be deemed worthy of the attention of such an elegant lady." said Luther smiling as he watched Aria cramming a cookie, which looked delicious, therefore an action Luther approved.

Then he took some pastries and delicious-looking cookies, cramming some into his mouth meanwhile. After ensuring he got enough, he said "Oh definitely, I wonder what caused her anger. I hope it is not something too bad." Then he said as an afterthought "Then maybe we could go and visit the frog, pardon me Umbridge." Luther really didn't like what the history books said about the woman. Also, it was a portrait after all and he added "Whom would you like to visit?"

The thought that Luther was a perfect little gentleman smack Aria in the face again. By what she knew of him, there was doubt that the charm was simple because he was in character. He also had a healthy appetite which the girl approved of, since she had one herself. “Maybe it’s some bad memory or experience. Maybe a nightmare.” Aria didn’t think she wanted to prod into Desiree’s moment there now that she thought about it. It would be like invading the other girl’s private moments.

Frog?

Aria let out a chortle. Merling, Luther was HILARIOUS! “I think that’s the perfect place to start! I’d love to see how snobby or uptight she is.” She motioned to her friend to follow as she began moving in Umbridge’s portrait’s direction. “Anything in particular you want to ask her?”

A Lethifold, Madigan's grin slightly visible under the cloak, "You've been studying Master Starriver, thank you, that's very astute of you." And correct! "I'd have to, unfortunately, thank Peeves for my vanishing trick, he'll definitely get a returning gift as a result, " Sooner rather than later he'd prefer. "I find one of my favorite spells to be the tickling charm on one of them," Unable to resist chiming in on Miss McLeod's conversation with the younger lad.

More were enjoying the party to Madigan's delight, including Miss Marchand "Welcome Miss Marchand, now that is an excellent attire," Returning the greeting. "I hope you enjoy getting acquainted with the portraits here," As friendly as he could place students getting permission to give a nice dose of 'friendly' magic at them.

Luther watched the Hufflepuff girl intently for a while. He looked for a sign or semblance of a quest for vengeance against an immaterial foe in her movements. His insight into this particular feeling despite his young age came from his own experiences and heartfelt conversations with Leo after his outbursts. Yet, as he didn't know the girl, he could not reach a conclusion. Sighing he turned back to Aria with a slightly strained smile and said distractedly "Yes, maybe." then he motioned to Umbridge's portrait and said with a more genuine smile "Well I heard that she kissed all the frogs around the Black Lake to transform them into handsome princes. I wonder if that's true. However, ladies first, milady."



Luther smiled with pride upon hearing Professor Madigan's praise and said "Thank you, Professor." and then continued "Well, I was planning to thank Peeves too before my hands decided to glow brighter than before."

Desiree positively beamed at the compliment from Professor Madigan. Asdfjkl!!! Did he recognize the Phantom of the Opera inspiration behind her outfit?!?! She was lowkey dying to ask, but she thought it might be awkward. Instead, she settled for a tip of her hat and a polite, “Thank you, Professor.”

Her expression turned confused at the man’s next words. Wait, were they not allowed to cast spells on the portraits after all? Was the red sparks spell not considered a friendly charm? She thought it counted because it couldn’t do any real damage, otherwise she wouldn’t have used it. Maybe she was mistaken. Whatever, it didn’t matter. She made her point, so she was done with the Inferi anyway.

Having no interest in getting into trouble today, Desiree reholstered her wand. She was mildly curious to see how the other portraits might react to her spells, but it wasn’t worth the risk. She was vaguely aware of Aria and Luther talking about her, but she wasn’t mad. She’d probably be curious herself if the roles were reversed! She turned away from the Inferi portrait with a swish of her long black Phantom cape to face the pair. “When I was little, my dad got injured fighting off a group of these things,” she elaborated, jerking her head toward the portrait, “so I’ve always hated them.” See, her vendetta against the Inferi had a very simple explanation! She left out the part about her dad being a professor at Hogwarts when it happened, though. She didn’t want to scare Luther!

“Would anyone else like a turn meeting these guys?” she asked, standing aside to allow others to get close to the Inferi portrait.

One thing Ruby was confident in was her cosplay. So when she heard about costumes for the party, she quickly put one together.

She shuffled in wearing her version of herself as a muggle refrigerator. A Stainless Steel Satin Finish double door Her face was painted to match and her arms stuck out on the sides. Somehow, if you held a cup at the ice dispenser, it actually would dispense ice! This was great for those who wished to enjoy the punch ice cold.

She couldn't turn her head, but she tried to make conversation with people close by.

"Hello, I'm Ruby. Lovely party isn't it?"

Ash looked around for someone to help her take on the vampire portrait. The only person not near inferi was a girl she didn't know... dressed as a refrigerator? Ash tilted her head, confused. Was the refrigerator cursed? How did the girl get into the refrigerator. She made her was over to Ruby. "Ash. It is a nice party, actually. I'm glad I decided to show my face." She wasn't much of a social person at the moment. She'd come mostly for the food. "Would you like to help me with the vampire portrait?" She gestured at the ice machine attached to the girl. "May I? The ice isn't cursed somehow, is it?"

Ruby could barely hear what Ash said from inside the refrigerator costume. She could kind of read lips though. "Hi Ash. Go ahead, its the little balls of ice. The best ice!" She tried to understand the other question. "The Bamfire Bullpit? I can try to help with that..." She gave her best guess on what Ash was saying. She wanted to make friends after all.

The secret to Ruby's costume was one of the enchanted clothing buttons that her Aunt had gifted her. She had a big jar of them back in her trunk at the Slytherin dorms. This button was made of metal and was cold and black. It was enchanted to do freezing. It was handy for the ice machine. The only drawback was when someone did use the enchanted ice machine, it really tickled Ruby's stomach.

She faced Ash and asked, "Is there any prizes for costumes?"

The Tickling Charm?

Aria chortled. “Thanks for that idea, professor!’’ The old hag deserved that sort of Charm to be used on her, honestly. UGH! Just look at little Desiree being all elegant with her cape! Aria strongly approved of the way the Hufflepuff handled it. “Did your dad get injured by them?'’ she asked in concern. Even though the event had happened when Desiree was younger, Aria fully sided with her for hating Inferi. If any such things attacked her fathers, she would definitely hate them too.

As for Luther and his tale… Aria laugh-snorted in a very unlady-like manner. That was the funniest thing she had heard in a while even if she couldn’t decide if the young Gryffindor was pulling her leg or not. “Yes, let’s ask her about that. Afterwards, we can hit her with that Tickling Charm.” Aria curtsied once more. “Thank you, kind Sir.” The Slytherin ‘vampire’ led the way to Umbridge’s portrait. “Madam Umbridge, is it true that you kissed all the frogs from the Black Lake resulting them turning into some rather dashing princes?’’ She threw Luther a wink while they waited for their answer.

Ash added some ice to her drink from Ruby's refrigerator, raising an eyebrow at the girl's response to her question about the portraits and spells. It was obvious that the costume was impairing her hearing more than a little bit. "The Vam-pire por-trait," she said, enunciating as best she could and raising her voice slightly louder than its usual volume. "No, I don't think there are costume prizes. But you should ask the professor, I'm not the best person to ask." She paused. "I'm dressed as my interpretation of misery because it's a dark themed party and I didn't feel like working on a real costume." Her lips turned upwards in a smile. "I can tell you worked on your costume though. How'd you make it?"

Luther looked at the Hufflepuff. He understood what it felt like to hate something because it hurt one's parents. However, thanks to Leo, he also knew that vengeance did not help anyone. "I am sorry for what your father has gone through. Is he an Auror or something?" Then he added, "Also, on a brighter note, I absolutely love your costume. It's the Phantom, right?"



As Luther waited for the disturbingly realistic portrait of Umbridge to answer, he couldn't completely suppress his laughter. Then the toad spoke in her irritatingly high tone "I have neither seen nor heard such disrespectful and annoying creatures. I will also have you know that I was pursued by many handsome frogs in my youth... I mean men." With that Luther completely lost it and started to laugh uncontrollably.

After calming down a bit to chuckling occasionally from uncontrollable laughter, Luther said "That was brilliant, Aria. Would you like to go first? I wonder what she will say after you charm her."