One Each Year - First Time Here Finished

Ileen was proud of herself. It was the first time ever she had made birthday presents by herself. She knew her best friend Dealla had been looking forward to this day since spring and the young Slytherin girl was determined to give her a day that would be as beautiful as possible. She would have organized a surprise party, but first of all, Ileen hardly knew enough other people, and secondly, things hadn't gone so well the last time she had been involved in organizing a party.
When Dee had invited her to spend the afternoon together outside in the sun, Ileen had been more than pleased. A small part of her had feared that the Ravenclaw would retire to the common room with the others.

So after the last lesson she had only scurried to the dungeons to change her clothes and get the presents.
As usual, the change of clothes was more due to comfort than vanity.
So now she stood broadly grinning on the lawn, wearing her favourite jeans and an ivory-coloured shirt with funny fringes on her shoulders, waiting for her friend.
With both hands she clasped the presents wrapped in midnight blue paper. Hopefully Dee would like the gifts too. Ileen had once again overcome her comfort zone and even made two things herself by hand: In one of the presents there was a box with homemade cookies in eagle shape. Okay, some of them might have been a bit crooked and were not able to fly like this, but they would definitely taste good. Baking was the only craft in which the Slytherin felt reasonably safe. In the other package were bird-shaped tea bags, inspired by the recent errand.

As she spotted Dee stepping out of the Castle, packed with things and a nice cake, Ileen smiled. Her friend seemed to be in her best mood. The sun made her hair shine and the little crown she had put on shone, and only the smile of the young Ravenclaw was even brighter. While Dee was spreading the blanket she had brought, Ileen ran towards her and she nearly threw them both over with a tempestuous embrace. It was rare to see her so exhilarated. "Congratulations, you little princess!" She grinned. “I see, you also brought your crown!”

Interacting with: @Dealla Prince
OOC: Open to further interactions (if you have the patience xD)

Gerald had never been too much of an enthusiast for social interactions involving people he was merely acquainted with— especially so if it was on him to speak first. Most of his friendships were grounded in reluctant introductions and initial conversations plagued by hesitance. Then again, he possessed a good sense of what was and was not considered polite according to modern standards and walking past the Courtyard without acknowledging the Ravenclaw's birthday would certainly fall under the latter category.

Gerald shared Herbology class with Dealle Prince. Never had properly talked to her before; didn't recall so much as ever saying 'hello' to her. That he hadn't had the slightest idea about her birthday being today went without saying. Under different circumstances, he wouldn't have thought of congratulating a person he doubted even knew his name, but the Courtyard was a mandatory section of his path to the Library, and her crown and cake were simply too obviously there.

Slowing down his pace, he stopped and stood by both Dealle and the Slytherin girl who was currently constricting the Ravenclaw in her arms. A blanket had been laid on the patch of stone next to them and the strawberries on top of the cake sparkled with the sunlight, as if ticked by the rays. Napkins— which looked oddly familiar —graciously surrounded the plate. Gerald let his gaze linger over the surely delicious bake before turning to the birthday girl.

"Happy birthday, Dealle," he said, arms limp by his sides and eyes awkwardly flickering between the Ravenclaw and her Slytherin friend, whom he'd seen plenty of times before in the Common Room.

"Ileen," he acknowledged the other girl with a nod. "Looks like you two have a bit of a party going."

After pronouncing his very acute observation, Gerald stepped back slightly. He'd politely wait for a reply; a queue so that he could excuse himself and resume his walk to the Library. In the unlikely case of the girls inviting him for a piece of cake, he would decline. Despite how mouth-watering it looked, he was not staying. Priorities were set clear in his mind and the Potions essay due tomorrow was not going to write itself, however magical quills were in that school.

Interacting with: @Dealla Prince & @Ileen Knight

@Dealla Prince@Gerald Fawkes@Ileen Kinght

May was having a happily ever after day, when she entered the courtyard. Normally, she had deep white hair, but not today! Now, she was more brownish/ blond, and May was always so used to have changes of color in her appearance. When she was born, she had very dark brown hair and green eyes. But May wondered, why so much changes? Meh, today was not the day to think of that. It was June 10th, and it was such a pretty day. She had just finished Potions with high grades, and that was a good finish, right?

She entered the courtyard, bouncing around, when she saw a little group. Ravenclaw flags and a girl with a crown pinned to her hair? May had to go see. The little Hufflepuff went to the place where a girl with brown wavy hair was standing with a few other people. She looked at them with a smile on her face. With immense confidence, she said; <Hello! I see you're having a little party!>

She looked at the boy Slytherin and shaked his hand, happily. <I'm May, May Moonstar. I see that you are a Slytherin. You probably don't know me, for I'm not a popular one>

Then she looked at another girl, still Slytherin. She waved hello at her, and was sure that she had overheard her name, and went back to the girl with the crown. <Pretty good day, wasn't it? Finished Potions with top grades...>

Dee was just finishing straightening out the edges of her blanket when she was attacked from behind and almost tackled to the ground. In an attempt to keep from toppling over, she grabbed her attacker's arm, and then let out a bright peal of laughter when she recognized Ileen's voice.
"Thank you!" she replied with just as much spirit, and hugged her best friend tightly in return, before she stepped back and struck a dramatic pose, hands on her hips and chin raised. "I did! Suits me, doesn't it?" Dee dropped her hands and grinned. "My parents sent it to me along with the cake. I hope you like strawberries!"
Only then her gaze fell upon the boxes in Ileen's hands, and her eyes grew wide. "Ileen! Are those for me?" She hadn't really expected many presents this year - at her birthday parties at home, the presents had always been bought by her friends' parents, and well - there weren't many parents around here.

Dee looked up when they were approached by a boy she didn't really know beyond that he was a first year, and, her brain provided, a Slytherin. An automatic, welcoming smile formed on her face - and disappeared just as fast. She narrowed her eyes.
Birthday wishes - she'd take those. But not only was he using her full name, that would have been bad enough, he had actually gotten it wrong, which somehow made it even worse. Although - they had never spoken before, so Dee would have to credit him for even knowing something similar to her name. She certainly didn't have any clue about his name, which meant he paid significantly better attention than she did. Maybe it was an honest mistake, in which case he deserved a second chance. Only one, though.
"Oh, thank you!" she replied, friendly enough although her smile was just a spot more stiff than before. "It's Dealla, actually, and please just call me Dee. I'm sorry if we met before, but I don't remember your name...?"

Another new face wandered over to join them before Dealla could, with slight reluctance due to his name mishap, offer a piece of her cake, but it made it much easier to turn her smile more genuinely to include the new girl with the dark blonde hair.
"Oh, hi May! Nice to meet you, I'm Dee!" She gestured towards the cake on her blanket. "It's my birthday, actually, and we were just going to eat some cake. Do you want some - either of you? I have enough to share. You can sit down if you want to."

Before she could make good on her own suggestion, however, her little birthday gathering was expanded by yet another figure storming towards them, but this one Dealla knew, and would have been able to recognize even from immense distances. The girl was so bright she was basically glowing, reflecting all of the sun's light, and her floor length white cloak only strengthened the effect. Her straight, white hair swirled around her like a cloud when she came to a stop next to the group.
"Aida, you made it!" Dee greeted her friend, obviously pleased. If there was anyone she had met so far who could beat Dee in enthusiasm, energy, and curiosity all at once, it was Aida. She was different, but not in a bad way, and Dealla had learned to appreciate her unique thoughts very quickly.

Dealla's breath caught in her throat when Aida extended the cloth-wrapped present towards her, and she was caught by an unexpected wave of emotions as she looked from Aida to Ileen and back. She was really lucky, wasn't she? She'd made amazing friends here, in less than a year.
"Oh, thank you," she breathed, taking the present and looking down at it for a long moment, trying to make sense of why she suddenly felt like crying. She was happy, wasn't she?

Her smile was still a little shaky when she looked back up, but she laughed at Aida's remark. "It does seem like that, doesn't it? Here, let me introduce you! Aida, this is Ileen, I think I mentioned her to you before?" She also proceeded to introduce May and Gerard (if he told her his name before Aida arrived), and added, "But I don't think May is a Slytherin?" She gave the girl a questioning look.

Aida's antics, however, chased away any remaining urge to cry, and Dealla burst out laughing, clear and bright, before sinking into a more or less graceful, somewhat lopsided curtsy. "I'd love to have you as my knight, Aida," she replied, still giggling while she straightened up. "Now get up, my knight, before you get grass stains on your lovely cloak." She clapped her hands. "Anyway! We can all sit down, why are we standing here? That's what the blanket is for. Who wants cake? Oh - and I want to unwrap my presents!"

@Ileen Knight @Gerald Fawkes @May Moonstar @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

Despite the fact that the ‘a’ of her name made up an insignificant one sixth of it, Dealla seemed to be very attached to the particular letter. Or so Gerald gathered from the harshness in her eyes after being misaddressed. He would have apologised for his fault— not out of self-conviction but, again, for the sake of politeness —had the Ravenclaw not proven his earlier suspicion and confessed that she, in fact, did not know his name.

"I'm Gerald," he told Dee, "but I guess you've earned the license to call me Gerard or Gerold or Garrett; to be even, that is" he added, no humor in his voice.

Then, a Hufflepuff girl showed up— May, apparently —and started speaking cheerfully. She turned to Gerald and shook his hand quite vigorously, taking the boy aback. Hand limp trapped inside hers, the blonde kid restrained himself from raising a brow.

'I'm May, May Moonstar. I see that you are a Slytherin. You probably don't know me, for I'm not a popular one'

Well, she was not wrong about Gerald not knowing her; not from class, not from the halls, not from anywhere. As of popularity, truth is, those kind of issues were not something the boy had ever given much thought.

"I'm Gerald," he repeated for the second time in a span of two minutes.

At Dealla's invitation for a piece of cake, the Slytherin was quick to shake his head. Judging by the Ravenclaw kid's stiffness towards him after his mispronunciation, he'd made too big of an offense there already. The little stone square was beginning to get crowded, now, and Gerald felt his urge to leave increase with every new arrival. Besides, the Potions essay still awaited.

"I think I'll pass," he replied, eyeing the cake one last time. "Thank you, anyway."

Considering that to be a good enough farewell, he started to walk towards the opposite end of the Courtyard. 'Better leave the girls to it,' he thought, before entering the dark and narrow corridor that led to the Library.

Interacting with: @Dealla Prince & @May Moonstar

Leaving the thread

Reducio

The cloth-wrapped gift had a stiff form at its midsection, but Aida had called it delicate. The cloth itself was soft and clean, bearing repeating patterns of Ravenclaw house imagery. As a run-away, Aida didn't have much money, so in all likelihood she had borrowed this wrapping cloth from someone or somewhere in their dorm or common room. Aida did not have much cloth of her own after she had invested so much in that coat she had made for the Blossom Ball, which incidentally got charred and scratched up and bled on by the mosp she had extinguished and wrapped up using the coat... then dragged across the quidditch stands and who-knows-what-else. As a result, this borrowed wrapping cloth would in all likelihood need to be returned whence it came, but in the meantime it provided some air of mystery as to its contents as well as some amount of protection to its contents during transfer. The cloth was wrapped with a bronze tassled and braided rope that Dealla may have recognized from one of the pieces of common room furniture. However, as much as a poor-man's wrapping as it was, it was still lovely to look at and soft to the touch. Aida had always had a thing about tactile senses and so she was unlikely to overlook something like texture when thinking about a gift for Dealla.

On undoing the bow formed by the bronze cord, the gift could be fished out from under multiple folds of cloth. Some parts at the far end did feel a bit fragile, but the first part to show itself had an unmistakable shine of bluish glass.

Reducio

On revealing the entire gift, the form of red, red roses emerged. However, on closer inspection these were not simply roses. Indeed, when pressed to the nose, the blossoms would be stiff though flexible -- and yet still smelled of roses. What was this? Ah, they were roses made out of a very thin leather. They had a convincing enough shape and color, but the entire thing had been constructed from leather (though the stem had an interior bit of wire in order to maintain its supportive shape). The flower stems were tucked inside a long glass vase that was pleasing to the eye, if a bit unembellished. But how could these constructed roses actually smell of roses?

"I made these for you. They're leather roses. It's from the same pigskin I used to line my boots' joints, and the red is from carmine I got from Diagon Alley. One of the staff was kind enough to give me a vase when they saw what I was doing. That is, I was using my potion equipment as a still to pull a fragrance oil out of some roses growing over by the greenhouses... The fragrance may not last forever, but I wanted to give you some blossoms that would never die. Like our friendship!" Aida chuckled a bit guiltily and looked over her shoulder. She was blushing a little bit.

Mentions: @Dealla Prince
OOC Note for after unwrapping: Sorry for the low-res images. Those are camera phone pictures my mother sent after I gave her these actual leather roses I made. If I ever live in Europe I can make some for you, too!

Interacting with @Dealla Prince | Mention: @May Moonstar