Ned, having thought he had escaped the fearsome Vianna's wrath, was completely unprepared when the girl once again took up her tirade, her gorgeous blue eyes sparkling with malice as she claimed that he had broken an unspoken rule. But as fierce as Vianna was in that moment, Ned knew he was in the right, and that thought alone gave him the guts to counter her verbal attack. "Vianna Vincenzi, you know very well that when it comes to a dare all rules absolutely must be said aloud, there is no such thing as an unwritten rule in dares! Face it, you lost," Ned said, grinning charmingly at the youngest Vincenzi and bopping her on the nose at the end of his little monologue.

"Welcome mate, now you just keep drinking that water, it'll put you right, water you know... Cures almost anything," Ned nonchalantly called out to Robert, leaning against the bar with quite the smug grin on his face, because this was all just far too easy, winning the bet (and by extension his date with Vianna), messing with the naive Robert, it all just fell together like it was destiny, and Ned couldn't have been happier.

Airi, rather eager to get away from Fion (who seemed determined to have it out with the Ravenclaw), turned her attention from the Gryffindor girl to Victor.
She cringed at the older boys words, what he said was quite true, it was more Robert's fault than hers that the accident had happened, but saying it out loud seemed rather like she was throwing the boy under the bus. Maybe she could admit to it in a nice way... "It isn't that he's clumsy, we're just poorly matched is all... " Airi said, nervously fiddling with her dark hair as she spoke.

"Don't be silly Victor, Robert doesn't think we're on a date, he doesn't even fancy... " Airi began to say, chuckling lightly at such a ridiculous thing, before her mind began connecting the dots. She gasped softly as realization hit her like a mad bludger.
It all made sense, the flush of his cheeks, the dilated pupils, the way he'd been so excited and nervous when he had seen her. Robert did fancy her and Airi, oblivious to the boys feelings had acted in a manner that could definitely be seen as encouraging. "Sweet Hermione Granger," Airi said, clapping her hand to her forehead in shock.
"What, what do I do? Oh my goodness, he thinks we're on a date!" Airi incredulously said, panic welling within her at the mess she was in. "What do I do?" She asked, her eyes looking up pleadingly into Victor's. Merlin please let him help her out of this mess.

“Oh yeah?! And who made up that rule?!” complained Vianna as Ned pointed out the rule of all rules. She poked him in the ribs once more as he bopped her nose - this was no time to be treating her like his unofficial adoptive little sister! She was still determined not to lose. Not just yet. “This party’s going to flop anyway, and when it does, you still have to spend the rest of the night here. By yourself.”

Feeling rather smug and confident, Vianna didn’t wait for the boy to respond and continued, “I’ve brought just the necessary weapons to destroy your little party, Hall.” She waved an arm to gesture toward the armada of ghosts that had invaded the dance floor, turning from Ned and toward the ghosts with a bright smile…

… Only to find a good half of them circled around the dancing banana who had stolen the show - and their attention. A few of the ghosts even tried to copy its masterful moves before taking the giant fruit up in their hands to go crowd-surfing.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

Meanwhile, back at the bar, Victor was chuckling softly to himself. Not many things amused the boy, but Airi showing off her smarts was on his list of laugh-worthy things, especially when she was catching him off-guard. Like at that moment, when she kindly agreed to the boy’s accusation of Robert’s clumsiness, but in a way that the other Ravenclaw didn’t look all that bad. How typical-Airlia.

“Perhaps you need a new partner, then,” he suggested, dismissing the topic of the dumb nerd.

And then Airi was having a meltdown right before his cold blue eyes, as she finally came to the realization that MacGhilleseatheanaich DID have a crush on her. The look on her face was priceless, and Victor’s amusement transformed into a twisted sort of satisfaction as she turned to him for help. Oh, he loved when people asked him for help. Because it gave him the opportunity to deny it and watch them drown.

But.
Airi was a key element in his plan to destroy Robert MacGhilleseatheanaich the third.

“There is no way around it, Mondai. You’re going to have to crush the gi--MacGhilleseatheanaich's sweet little heart,” he said, taking a sip from his firewhiskey. And as he spoke, the pleased smile on his face completely contradicted the tone of concern he was trying to put on. Victor was usually good at hiding his true intentions, but faking kindness or concern for others had always been particularly challenging for him. He couldn’t begin to understand how some people were capable of expressing these emotions naturally.

Victor pretended to look thoughtful for a moment (he had already planned everything out the second Robert limped back to the group a few minutes ago) before speaking again, “I assume actually telling him your lack of interest would be… awkward,” he started, “So a better option might be to show him instead. Let him realize it on his own.”

"It's a standard rule, ask anyone Vianna, honestly, you should know better," Ned said, smirking playfully down at the young woman, so confident in his victory was Ned, that he was already beginning to plan their date. Muggle London, he'd take her to see the eye, then fish and chips...

His happy thought was rudely interrupted by Vianna's sudden boast. "Sure it is Vianna," Ned said in a patronizing tone, following her line of sight and laughing loudly at the sight of Vince laying comatose on the party floor with the banana guy and a lot of students Ned didn't recognize dancing expertly next to him. "If Vince sleeping is your big secret plan, I'm afraid you'll have to try a little harder, doll... " Ned said, still chuckling madly.

"So what day should we get together? How about this weekend?" Ned asked, his mouth curved into a smug smile.

"A different partner? Like anyone would want to dance with me after I practically maimed Robert," Airi said, ruefully shaking her head at the Slytherin's suggestion. She didn't mention the fact that she sincerely doubted any boy would want to dance with her period, the brunette knew she wash't a bad looking girl, but she also knew boys wouldn't be lining up to dance with *Airlia; resident Saint of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry* any time soon.

Having calmed down a little after her mini panic attack, Airi realized almost immediately how foolish she had been to ask Victor Vincenzi of all people for help, if anything, the boy would probably just laugh at her misery and send her own her way to a death of mortification. So, her surprise, and subsequent relief were rather great when Victor actually began giving her advice.

"I couldn't possibly, he's such an awfully nice boy and I don't want to hurt him, or humiliate him," Airi said, still twirling her hair around her finger, though in a much more subdued manner than before. The girl was so worried about her own problems that she hardly noticed the older boy's pleased countenance or amused tone of voice, something that usually would have alerted the intelligent girl to his hidden motives.

"Yes, horribly so," Airi agreed, listening carefully to the beautiful boy before her, she wished she still had a drink, as it was, she was a little too worried that she would end up having to speak to Robert if she went to fetch herself a new one. "But how would I do that? The only plausible way would be to show interest in someone else, but I don't want anyone else in on this... I'd rather keep it discreet, for his sake," Airi added, frowning as she mulled the idea over in her head. If she told someone else about this they'd definitely abuse the information, Robert wasn't very popular among the other students after all, no that wouldn't do, she'd have to enlist someone who already knew... Someone she could believably be seen with...

Things were just getting stranger as the night went on, and Fion was steadily just getting more and more amused. First by the fact her costume had apparently received approval from Vianna, who obviously hadn’t expected Ned to turn her little dare into a party. Sipping her firewhiskey, she’d nodded slightly in response to the comment, though. It wasn’t her business if the other girl hadn’t realized what was likely to have happened when the entire group was involved. “Thanks. Figured it was appropriate,” she replied with a wicked grin, even as the attention had gone back to the boys and the diminutive brunette was left to her own devices yet again. She had her drink, and the odd image of Vince’s dance partner suddenly going crowd surfing courtesy of people on the dance floor she hadn’t remembered seeing there before. That and the sound of the conversation about the MacGhilleseatheanaich twin and his injuries still going on, let alone the argument as to whether or not the terms of the dare had been broken. It hadn’t been a dare presented to herself, although she’d neatly inserted herself back in the library hours earlier.

That brought to mind the curiosity as to exactly how long ago that conversation had even happened. The night had to be half over by now, yet she really wasn’t caring. As far as she was concerned, she’d proven that there weren’t any thieves or murderers hiding out here, and she still was prepared had any shown up. Between her wand, her sword and her determination, they had no chance had they arrived. Her eyes had flickered over to the strange appearance of a figure decked out as a dementor momentarily, but turned back to the group as she heard Airi responding to her offhand comment from before. Hmm, she thought, completely unruffled by the defensive stance the Ravenclaw had. “Of course it doesn’t,” she said, even as Victor had stepped in to smooth the other girl’s feathers so to speak. She hadn’t exactly been too worried about anything happening anyhow. It wasn’t her fault her brand of humor didn’t always mesh with the other girl’s. Enough others that were there didn’t mind her around that she wasn’t about to change. Even the odd look from Victor hadn’t bothered her, yet Airi’s obvious ignorance of what the older boy’s point had been was definitely amusing, as she stifled a snicker by putting her glass to her lips again. It was a good thing that she was nowhere near having had too much to drink, as if she had been, her own heels might have proven to be an issue.

“Urrghh.” Vianna groaned in frustration as Ned poked fun at her epic failure of a plan. Where was Peter?! Surely he would know a way to fix this mess. The girl searched the crowds with large blue eyes, but soon found herself distracted as Ned began to talk about their upcoming date. Oh, that. Right. She’d completely forgotten. As he suggested they hang out that weekend, Vianna sighed softly and shrugged her shoulders. “The sooner the better,” she replied carelessly, just eager to get that part of the deal done and over with already. She just thanked Merlin that Ned had chosen an easy punishment for her; how bad could hanging out with the boy be? It’d be just like hanging out with her brothers.

Anyway, back to Peter.
“You wouldn’t happen to have seen a dementor-like figure, would you?” she asked Ned, though her eyes were on the hundreds of students that occupied the abandoned house.



Victor didn’t respond to Airi’s self-doubting comments and instead focused on the good stuff. Oh, it was all just too easy. The way the girl saw the logic in his suggestions, the way she pretty much - without realizing - determined him to be the third player in her awkward situation with the socially-handicapped twin. The Slytherin felt as if he’d left a trail of breadcrumbs on the ground and Airi, as a lost child in the Forbidden Forest, had followed them along straight to him. He hardly had to do anything. All the puzzle pieces fell into place on their own.

“I am pleased to announce that Merlin and Circe have united in your favour tonight, Mondai,” the boy suddenly announced rather dramatically. “As luck would have it, I’m here.” He paused for a moment to see if the girl saw what he was getting at, but impatient as he was, he simply moved on, “I’ll be your date for the night. It’s perfect - I already know the situation, so you’re spared the chore of having to explain it to someone new who might leak the information.”

Victor was almost giddy with how smoothly his plan was going, but he hid his excitement well, keeping his features expressionless and his tones casual as he spoke.

“What do you say, Mondai?”



Meanwhile, still sitting in the chair Airi had conjured up for him, Robert took the last sip of his firewhiskey before the glass accidentally slipped from his fingers. He felt like both his head and the room were spinning. What… what was going on?! There was an entire gang of ghosts chanting the word ‘banana’, a boy that seemed like the third Vincenzi sibling passed out on the dance floor, goblins and centaurs, and fairies, and all sorts of strange forest creatures (students dressed up) surrounded him, giggling or laughing in slow motion with eerie deep voices as they passed by the boy.

Suddenly, Robert wasn’t sure where he was anymore. He looked down at himself and wondered where the strange red-and-black outfit had come from. The motion of merely looking down made him even dizzier, though, and he ended up stumbling upon himself as he walked in circles, eventually bumping into a figure near the bar and collapsing to the floor.

“Wh—what’s going on…” he mumbled from his spot on the floor, looking up at the blur that was Fion. On top of being hopelessly dizzy, he was also half-blind for not wearing his glasses that night, so all Robert could see was a blurry silhouette the seemed to multiply itself every time he blinked. Oh, this was awful!! What was happening to him!!? Panicking, the nerd began to hyperventilate. “AM I DYING?!”

"Face it Vincenzi, you're finished," Ned said in a sing song voice, teasing Vianna over her great failure, because that was certainly the way to a woman's heart. Why did she keep looking through the crowds? Was she looking for someone? A boy maybe? Ned's blood boiled at the very thought. It was his night, his victory and no snot nosed, prince type was going to take that from him, for now, he'd act cool, figure out who this prat was and calmly formulate a plan to have him killed. Yeah, that was the way to go about it.

"Don't sound too eager Vianna," Ned grumbled, annoyed by the young girl's lack of enthusiasm (though it was really quite understandable given that she was being forced into a date she did not want to have).

Ned frowned at Vianna's question. Yes, he had seen someone dressed as a dementor, was he going to tell her that? No. No because that was probably the very boy who had so captured her attention and he was not in any rush to have them reunited."I can't say that I have... Sorry doll," Ned said, smiling nonchalantly at the young girl.


Airi's bright eyes widened in confusion, at Victor's little announcement, it wasn't that the girl was being uncharacteristically slow or anything, it was just that she was so unused to seeing Victor Vincenzi, of all people, being helpful. It struck the girl as very odd and had she been less nervous about her situation, she might have needled him as to why.

"Yes, you are," Airi said skeptically, as Victor proclaimed his presence, unsure where the boy was going wit this unless he meant.... Unless he was trying to imply... No, he couldn't be, that was just far too silly an idea, Victor would never pretend to be her date, after all it would ruin his chances with other girls, besides Victor didn't date, or even pretend date for that matter.

Of course, now that she had deemed the situation to be entirely improbable, Victor, the cunning snake that he was, immediately proved her wrong in the most casual and nonchalant of ways. The Git.
Airi swallowed audibly, the need for a drink increased tenfold within her and unthinking, she took Victor's glass of firewhiskey and took a long drink, before speechlessly passing it back to the Slytherin.
"That.. Could work," Airi finally said, forcing her brain back into action. it's a pretend date dummy, pretend, no need to be so nervous about something that isn't real. Airi thought, mentally reprimanding herself.

"Fine, how do we do this," Airi asked, miraculously managing to speak calmly, even though her insides were jumping about like beans.

Vianna rolled her eyes at Ned as the older boy continued teasing her, hardly catching the tone of annoyance that dripped from his following grumbled words. No, she was too busy scanning the crowds for any sight of her beloved green-eyed ghost. The girl had never been one to ask for help, but when it came to her favourite ghost, pride could easily be tossed out the window.

“Hmm. Well if you do, let me know, yeah?” she asked of her future date partner before wandering off into the crowds calling out, “Peter! Peter?” Where was he?



Victor seemed uncharacteristically surprised when Airi suddenly snatched his glass of firewhiskey and emptied it all in one greedy gulp. The boy could hardly believe his luck. Merlin must’ve loved him - his plan was going so smoothly that he didn’t even have to try to get Airi drunk. The girl was doing it all on her own.

“Well, this just won’t do,” he muttered as he eyed the empty glass she returned to him, before tossing it away. Somewhere in the background, Vince, who was slowly coming back to consciousness, collapsed back onto the floor as a glass hit him right on the head.

As Airi then proceeded to agree to the boy’s plan, Victor’s lips curved into the most devious of smiles. This was all just too painfully easy. “Oh, it’s simple,” he said as Airi asked how they were to go about acting out their plan. He wrapped a cold hand around the girl’s arm and led her back to the bar where he proceeded to order two firewhiskeys (perhaps the third time was a charm? So far he’d had no luck with finishing his drinks). “All you have to do…” As the bartender placed the filled glasses on the bar, Victor slid one of the glasses toward Airi. “… Is pretend you’re in love. That is all.” He gave the girl a smile, as if to emphasize just how plain and simple their job was, before taking a long sip from his drink.

Ned's jaw had fallen to the floor. THIS WAS NOT HOW THINGS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE! Vianna was supposed to have been so swept away by his cunning loophole that she would fall to his feet in a quivering mess of true love and devotion! Instead, the girl was off looking for a guy who was probably so hideous that he needed the dementor-getup. What the bloody hell?

As Vianna wandered away, completely unconscious to the pain and anger she was causing poor Ned, a crazy, half idea entered into the boy's brain and took firm root. He was going to follow her, figure who this boy was and strangle him to death with his bare hands.

Ghostly Peter was having the time of his.. Uh, well, of his death. his new best friend (Banana Brian, Peter called him because he didn't know the boy's real name) and Peter had been having a blast all night, crowd surfing, doing body shots, having a dance off. Peter had been having so much fun that he had completely forgot about his original agenda.


The touch of Victor's cool hand on her skin sent a pleasant jolt throughout Airi's body, The way she responded to something as simple as his touch was just not natural and Airi didn't know how much longer she could continue acting normal around the young man.

Victor's cool voice washed over Airi as he calmly explained the plan while smoothly leading her behind the bar, she accepted the drink wordlessly, taking a deep breath to steady herself, before choking as Victor told her to act as if she were in love with him. Someone up there ether hated her or really hated her. "I-in love? I don't, I'm not even sure that... " Airi stammered, her hand stroking her neck which felt like it was constricting with her nervousness. Oh, this was really not good.

Airi took another drink, she wasn't feeling drunk just yet, but she was feeling good, as her mother would say. "Okay, Yeah, I can probably do that, easy peasy," Airi nervously said, nodding her head and not looking Victor in the eye, because she couldn't handle it right then.

What the?!
It was Vianna’s jaw now that had fallen to the floor, as she stumbled upon the dementor-clad Peter dancing away with the giant banana. “Peter!” she called out to him, forehead slightly creased as a puzzled expression washed over her features. Oh Merlin, even her partner in crime had fallen victim to Ned’s stupid, clever party plan!

“What happened to crashing the party?!” the girl asked, gesturing toward the multitude of ghosts that, despite their frightening appearance, weren’t scaring a single student. All along, the girl was completely oblivious to #charmingsnake’s presence lingering somewhere behind her.



Victor kept his gaze fixed on Airlia as the girl began to stammer, beginning to express feelings of doubt. At this, he raised an eyebrow. “Not sure what?” he asked. “You can’t fake love for an old friend, Mondai?”

Fortunately, the girl’s doubts didn’t last very long, and just a second later she was agreeing to go along with the boy’s suggestion as if there hadn’t been the slightest doubt on her mind in the first place. “Perfect.” Victor, who had been leaning slightly with his elbow on the bar, stood straight and fixed the collar of his shirt. Taking his glass of firewhiskey in one hand, he allowed the other to snake its way around Airi’s tiny waist. “Smile, darling,” he instructed as he pulled her into his side and scanned the room for any sight of McGit.

Where WAS the stupid nerd? Gawsh. Victor Vincenzi had a plan to put into action here, but it would crumble to smithereens if the allergy-prone twin bailed the party before he could get a chance to stomp on his frail little heart first. Dammit.

Of course, Victor never thought to look down, or he would've immediately spotted the whimpering form of a drunken Robert that lay almost passed out by Fion’s feet.

Peter looked up sharply at the sound of his name. He grinned brightly as the lovely form of Vianna Vincenzi appeared out of the crowd, though his grin faltered as he took in her puzzled expression, the girl seemed very displeased, Peter couldn't for the life, ahem, death of him, see why. "Vianna, my lady," Peter gallantly greeted the girl, giving her a sweeping bow. He frowned at her next words. Crashing the party? OH MY GOD, THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE CRASHING THE PARTY!

I uh... I kind of, um... Forgot," Peter sheepishly said, rubbing embarrassedly at the back of his yea through his hood. "We can start now though!!!" Peter exclaimed, looking about him for his fellow ghosts who were nowhere to be seen. "Um... I think we lost some people,"

Ned watched the conversation between the two lovers from the darkened shadow of a very tall and bulky boy, he was seething, this guy was totally a tool, what could Vianna possibly see in him? Ned sure as hell didn't know.

"I'm not good at lying Victor," Airi said, narrowing her eyes at the boy's pushy words and attitude, honestly he was acting like this was all for his benefit. Airi couldn't help watching the Italian, his movements were so full of grace and effortless charm, did he even know? Was he even aware that he could make something as simple as fixing his collar seem so sensual? She supposed the answer was yes.

His arm was around her waist, his arm was around her waist, his arm was wrapped around her waist. Airi couldn't think of anything else. She had never been so close to him, and every breath she took brought another sniff of his cologne and the smell of his freshly laundered clothes and Airi didn't know what she was supposed to be doing, but she looked up at Victor and smiled breathlessly at him.

"This is, very odd," Airi said, shaking her head at the absurdity of the situation, because Merlin's beard, but it was strange. "Should we dance or something?" Airi asked.

Fion was getting bored. Ned was trying to charm Vianna, Victor Airi, and she was off by herself with her drink. Which was actually getting low, so she’d signaled for the bartender to get her a refill. If she was going to be bored, she may as well have a drink while she was suffering. Even the dementor was getting more action than she was, if the frustration she sensed from Ned told her anything. She’d been half tempted to offer up an answer to Vianna’s question, just for amusement purposes, yet before she could, the girl had wandered off into the crowd still on the dance floor, followed by the Slytherin, and she’d been left with the only slightly entertaining sight of Airi turning into a puddle under Victor’s skills. Honestly, it was possibly the first time she’d actually seen that in action, but that wasn’t enough to make her feel any less bored.

She’d forgotten about the twin that Victor had tricked into drinking a glass of firewhiskey, after the bloody toe had gotten fixed. There hadn’t been enough for her to bother to continue paying attention to him after all the dramatics had stopped. Although, as she’d taken another drink of her refilled glass, she’d felt someone stumble into her and reflexively lowered her hand to the sword scabbard at her hip even before she had lowered the glass. Someone was going to rethink that, although she’d rolled her eyes at the wail that had followed a faint mumble from near her booted feet. Okay, maybe she wouldn’t hex him, or see how good she actually was with the sword. “Depends on how optimistic you are,” she drawled, her dark eyes moving down to look at Robert hyperventilating on the floor. She’d stepped back slightly too, just so he didn’t get nerd tears on the shoes. “You’re drunk.” She might be stating the obvious, but there wasn’t much else to say. At least, not until she found an escape.

Sebastian "Bash" Finley hated to be late to things, but with the amount of things he needed to do in order to get his costume together, he now understood how difficult it could be to dress up nicely as a girl. He scowled as Ceria giggled at him attempting to put on lipstick and regretfully asked her to help him so he didn't come across looking like a two-cent street walker.

The cousins walked towards the Shrieking Shack, each trying to scare one another as they went along and ending up in a fit of giggles instead before stepping inside and seeing what had happened already. Bash's eyes grew wide as he looked about at the ghosts and the other students who already seemed enthralled in the party.

"Drinks first?" He asked, glancing over to Ceria and lead the way towards the punch bowl, pouring them each a cup and taking a sip.

Ceria Pratt's costume was easy to find, a Minnie Mouse costume that only warranted her finding fake ears, painting her nose black and finding clothes that matched the infamous girlfriend/wife of of Mickey Mouse. When she went to go bug her cousin, Sebastian, she couldn't help but burst outloud to see him attempting on putting on makeup and moved to help, making him at least look decent and not like a clown.

She was excited for the party, for although she was quiet, she did enjoy to have fun. As they walked into the Shrieking Shack, Ceria looked around wide eyed at what was going on before her. Biting her lip, she nodded to Bash's suggestion and walked with him towards the punch, avoiding the ghosts as best as she could for her fear of them.

Despite his dementor appearance, Vianna couldn’t help the dazed look that took over her lovestruck features as Peter spoke. He may not look like his beautiful green-eyed self anymore, but that voice! Oh, she could have just melted on the spot! And the way he became so sheepish… he was adorable! It was an endearing change in personality, as she was used to always seeing him look confident and smooth.

“O—oh, it—it’s okay, Peter. If… if the others are enjoying themselves, I wouldn’t want to disrupt that,” she said, all determination to crash Ned’s party completely gone in the blink of an eye. All she had a mind for was Peter and his beautiful green eyes and velvety voice and— UGH. He was just so dreamy! Vianna just stood there, gazing at him with large, sparkling eyes.

Until.
“NED, MY MAN!”
Vince had been brought back to life by the feel of a nearby student accidentally spilling their firewhiskey on his head during his time of unconsciousness, and as he brought himself back to his feet, the first thing he saw was Ned sneaking around behind a large lad that seemed to be the beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

At the sound of the enemy’s name, Vianna turned around sharply, only to find her loincloth-clad older brother draping an arm over Ned’s shoulders and giving him a little shake. “Don’t tell me you were trying to sneak a dance with MacDowell!” The quidditch player grunted at the sound of his name and walked away, fully revealing the other two boys behind him.

“What the—” Vianna frowned at the sight. “Were you following me, Hall?”



“You’re going to have to work on that,” said Victor as Airi announced she was lousy at lying. That much had become painfully obvious to the boy throughout the last few years. And it was a shame. Airi was a smart, beautiful girl; if she just got the whole lying thing down and perhaps grew an appreciation for all things devious and cunning, she would’ve been perfect.

He felt her frame suddenly grow tense under his touch but didn’t pay it much attention; Vic assumed she was just feeling nervous about ruining stupid McNerd’s night, being the over-considerate creature she was. When she commented that the whole thing was rather odd, he turned to her with a deviously pleased smile. “Fortunately for you, MacGhilleseatheanaich isn’t exactly one to question things.” Just one look at Victor and Airi merely existing near each other would be more than enough to send the stupid nerd to St. Mungo’s with a case of a broken heart.

Victor didn’t let his surprise show when Airi invited him - of all people! - to dance. A number of things were off about this picture: the girl was wearing a Wonder Woman costume, she was actually drinking, and now she was asking this boy, of all boys, to dance. Yeah, this night was definitely far from normal. But didn’t she know? Victor Vincenzi didn’t dance! Scoff. He had people dance for him. For his entertainment.

The boy was just about to suggest Airlia entertain him with her own dance moves instead, beginning to lead them toward the seating area between the bar and the dance floor, when his left foot hit something and just a few feet away, Fion seemed to be talking to his shoe. It was then that Victor looked down and noticed the curled-up figure of Robert MacGhilleseatheanaich III. The sight of the nerd reacting to severely to the firewhiskey brought a wicked smile upon the Italian’s face.

“Oww…” Robert winced as Victor’s foot accidentally hit the side of his head before finally making an effort to stand. “Oh!” His dazed eyes filled with hope at the sight of Airi and Victor. “You—you’ve got—you’ve got help—help me! I—I—I think I’m gonna throw up…” he gagged and used Victor’s leg for support to pull himself up. The older boy made an astronomical effort not to kick the stupid nerd across the room - who did he think he was, tainting the fine, luxurious fabric of his trousers with his grimy little hands?

“Fi—Fion says I—I must be drunk but—but I haven’t… I haven’t…” Robert was finally back on his feet, but he wobbled around for a moment, the dizziness making it difficult for him to even think properly. As his blurry gaze fell upon Airi, a stupid smile adorned his face. “Ai—Airi, do—do you want to da—dance again?” Of course, he was in no state to dance, but being drunk made Robert a little bolder and more willing to just spit out whatever was in his mind, and the idea of being near his beloved was something that hadn't left his mind for a second.

Victor turned to Airlia with slightly raised eyebrows then, as if saying - go on. You know what you need to say. Break the git’s heart, Mondai! C’mon!

"Are you sure lovely? I can try to gather them back together?" Peter asked, his voice taking on it's usually cheerful tone as Vianna's displeasure vanished and her gorgeous features were once again flush with happiness and life. It was times like this, times when he saw Vianna looking so beautiful and so lively, that his heart started to ache, just a bit. Truly, youth and life was wasted on the young. "Well... In that case we should go have fun ourselves!" Peter said, banishing his darker thoughts from his mind and waving his arms about him with enthusiasm.

Ned could have killed Vince and eaten his liver, he was so annoyed with the boy and his big mouth. Seriously, had Vianna and Victor taken All the brain cells? It seemed so. "Hahaha, good one Vince, really funny, you are!" Ned growled, giving the taller boy a very dirty look as he proclaimed Ned's presence to the party at large.

Ned jumped at the sound of Vianna's voice (he'd had his back turned to the girl), slowly, reluctantly, he turned to his accuser, an easy smile slipping across his face as he prepared himself to lie his butt off.
"Of course I wasn't, I was coming round to.. To uh.. Rouse Vincey here! Obviously," Ned said, smoothing back his hair and trying not to look as gauntly as he was. "Not everything is about you Vianna," Ned added, rolling his eyes at the young woman.

"Hey Hall, good party" Peter said, still in his demetor's guise, giving Ned a thumb's up, the whole plan once again slipping from his head.

"Oh uh... Thanks man," Ned said, uncertainly, eyeing the stranger wearily, before turning to Vince. "Who's that guy, and how does he know me?" Ned whispered to the Italian boy.


"Well, no time like the present to start practicing," Airi said. Oh look, she had almost sounded flirtatious when she'd said that, those few drinks had done her a bit of good, maybe she'd be bold enough by the end of the night to even, possibly, make a joke.

Sweet Hermione Granger, she loved it when the boy smiled like that, like he was up to no good (which he certainly was), it made her stomach do that uncomfortable twisty-turny thing, the good twisty-turny thing. "Gods i hope not, I couldn't keep a lie going for more than a few hours," Airi said, relief flooding through her at the boy's words. Though, she wouldn't have minded so much, pretending to be into Victor was a hell of a lot easier than pretending not to be...

Victor didn't answer her question about dancing, but as he began to lead her to the seating area, Airi found herself not minding at all. Of course, whatever he had had planned, Airi was never to know, for the reappearance of poor Robert, curled up miserably on the floor, swept away all other plans or ideas. "Oh my! Robert, why are you on the floor?" Airi had exclaimed, watching the boy with wide eyes as he climbed up Victor's leg to try and stand. What on earth had happened to him?

Airlia listened to the boy as he drunkenly slurred, his words barely made sense to the worried girl, though she definitely heard the word "drunk" and "Fion" Had she done this to him? If so, then Airi had a serious bone to pick with her! The Ravenclaw was mortified as Robert asked her to dance. She knew what she should say: Sorry, I can't I'm with Victor. Or some variant, but she couldn't get herself to do it, especially when the boy was so pitifully drunk.

"I think you should just sit down for now Robert, dancing will upset your stomach," Airi said in a motherly tone, gently touching his shoulder in a reassuring way, all the while, she never moved from Victor's side, hoping that by this fact alone, the boy would get the message.

Vianna giggled as Peter, back to his usual cheery self, suggested they have fun. All it took was his cheery voice to make the girl completely forget all about her plotting and scheming, even about the upcoming date she had already sentenced herself to with Ned. But none of that mattered; just to spend some time with her favourite ghost was worth the sacrifice of her pride and time.

As Ned announced he’d only been looking for Vince, Vianna narrowed her blue eyes suspiciously, then rolling them at his following comment. “Whatever you say, Ned.” There was no use worrying about what Ned might be scheming at this point. She had already accepted her defeat when she pulled off her black beanie, revealing a cascade of waist-length silky dark brown hair. It was time to DANCE!

Vince, totally oblivious to Ned’s irritation with him, grinned stupidly as he watched the exchange between the other three characters. “What do you mean ‘who’s that guy’?” Vince repeated as Ned questioned him about Peter. “That’s Peter the Precarious, mate, he’s a ghost,” the boy explained. Though it was understandable that Ned wasn’t too familiar with Peter, since Peter was a Gryffindor ghost and probably more familiar with the students from his own past House. “Vi’s had the stupidest crush on him since her first year here,” he added with a laugh. PSH. Was his sister blind? The guy was DEAD, for Merlin’s sake! Pfffttt. And then they liked to call him the dumb sibling.




Victor closed his eyes for a brief second and sighed with disappointment as Airlia went all caring and motherly on the McGit twin. For Circe’s sake woman, we had a plan! He supposed he had no one to blame but himself. Of COURSE Mondai would react this way; he should’ve probably gotten her a few more glasses of firewhiskey before searching for the twin.

Oh, what?! And now she was even touching the idiot’s shoulder?! Victor was in complete disbelief. Didn’t she see how the smallest gestures could be taken COMPLETELY wrong by the hopeless nerd?! Of course, when Victor looked back at MacGhilleseatheanaich, the git was staring down at his own shoulder in a dazed sort of way, probably thinking, OHMYGOSH SHE TOUCHED MY SHOULDER!!! She must LOVE me!! Look how concerned she is!

“Right. Well.” Using the arm around Airi’s waist, Victor pulled the girl a step back, out of MacGhilleseatheanaich’s reach. “Mond— Airlia’s right, Robert. You should sit.” Suddenly, Victor’s cold eyes lit up. “Actually, why don’t you sit with us?” He gestured toward the seating area, where Vince had passed out during the beginning of the party. “I’ll order us a large bottle of water.” And by water he meant enchanted firewhiskey, of course. There was no way Robert MacGhilleseatheanaich’s was leaving this party tonight without a guaranteed hangover that would take weeks to cure. And as an added bonus, the drink was guaranteed to trick the stupid twin into making an even bigger fool of himself in front of the love of his life.

Peter grinned, changing out of his hideous appearance and turning back into his handsome and dashing self. He couldn't take Vianna's hand, so he merely started dancing, gesturing for the young girl to do the same. Being a Ghost, Peter could do a lot of dance moves the living couldn't, like moonwalking on the ceiling, or phasing through the floor up to his head to do a proper version of the swim. "Where's that Banana?" Peter shouted, looking about for his newest friend, because that was the only thing missing.

"Oi! It's rude to brush people off like that, Vianna!" Ned said, though it was quite apparent that she was no longer interested in him. Glaring daggers at Peter, Ned turned back to Vince. "A ghost? I' haven't seen him much," Ned said, taking another long drink of his fire whiskey as Vince further explained. At Vince's next word's Ned was so shocked that his spit out his drink. SHE HAD A CRUSH ON A GHOST? A GHOST? A BLOODY GHOST? WHAT COULD SHE POSSIBLY SEE IN A GHOST?

"That's bloody nonsense that is! You're telling me, my competition is a dead man?" Ned said, his eyes wide with annoyance and shock.



Airi looked up questioningly to Victor as he subtly pulled her from Robert's immediate vicinity (which felt impossibly pleasant) what was he doing? Airi only wanted to comfort the boy, he was ill for goodness sake! However, as she thought this, she immediately began to see the logic behind his move: Airi had to treat Robert coldly, it was the only way the boy would drop the idea that she liked him. She never would say it aloud, but at this moment in time, she was impossibly glad of Victor's cold reasoning and subtle manipulation, without it, she would have been lost.

At the sound of her name, Airi vividly blushed, because Victor never called her by her first name, not even when they had been younger, he had always treated her with civil formality. Which was a shame because it sounded absolutely heavenly coming from his lips.

"Yes, come and join us, it'll do you a world of good," Airi said, beginning to smile at Robert before stopping herself, instead giving him a slightly disinterested look. She really would have to remember herself for this to work. Drinking was definitely out. "Come along," Airi said to Robert before smiling admirably up at Victor and gently leading her fake beau to the lounge area.
She could totally do this.

Vianna eagerly accepted Peter’s invitation to dance, falling into a fit of giggles as the ghost showed off all his epic and impossible moves. MERLIN. If only he was a living boy… siiigh. Whatever. She was too happy just to have a chance to hang out with him in a rule-free environment, and drunk on happiness, the girl let go of all plans and schemes and danced away, her hands up in the air and the brightest of smiles on her lightly tanned face. It wasn’t long until BananaMan came out of nowhere and joined in too.

“Did someone say… BANANA?!” [/Sports announcer voice]


Vince laughed for seven years as Ned came to the sad and pathetic realization that his little sister was more interested in a ghost, of all things, than him. Mannn. That must’ve stung. “I’m afraid so, mate,” the boy confirmed with a nod, patting his friend on the back sympathetically, though there was a large amused grin on his face. “But you’ve got an advantage over him… you’re alive, mate! Go dance with her!” With a light laugh, Vince pushed Ned forward, toward the silly little girl that jumped around while dancing only a few feet away.



“Oh—oh, okay. Th—thanks guys,” said Robert as Victor and Airi invited him to join them. He was a little disappointed not to be dancing with the girl again, but he knew the two teens were right, and he appreciated them having his best interests at heart. However, the dizziness from the drink had him too zoned out to notice the subtle little hints of Victor’s and Airi’s new fictional relationship. Had he been sober, he would’ve immediately noticed the lack of personal space between the other two as they stood side by side, the taller boy holding Airi beside him like a prized possession.

Victor seemed pleased as Airlia began to play along with their act, and he only grew more satisfied as McGit then proceeded to accept their invitation. Let. The. Torture. BEGIN.

And so, without another word, the Slytherin boy led his two guests toward the seating area, in the middle of which stood a low table with glasses, ice, a jug of water, juice for mixing with the drinks, and a few bottles of various types of alcohol. All the ingredients necessary to trick his two guests into taking on their alternate personalities while he slyly let his one drink last for the rest of the night. Victor Vincenzi didn't do 'wasted'.

Peter gave a loud whoop of excitement as the banana man joined in, he thought about changing his form to match his friends, but decided against it as he hadn't been himself in nearly hours. Peter floated quickly around Vianna, smiling and laughing the whole time, He hadn't enjoyed himself like this since his last Death Day Party!

"This, is a cruel joke on my life," Ned said, slumping over his drink with a depressed look on his handsome face. Everything had been going so well before! Why were bad things like this always happening to good people? Life was too cruel.
"Vianna will never dance with me... " Ned moodily said before Vince forcefully pushed the boy toward the object of Ned's desire. Ned swallowed deeply as he slipped right through Peter the Precarious, the eerie cold sensation sobering him up almost immediately.
Shivering slightly, Ned shook his head and his eyes watching Vianna's form as he tried to think of the best way t approach her.

He decided on very lightly, very playfully, tugging on the girl's beautiful hair.
"Can I cut in?" Ned asked, the charming smile back on his face as he easily twirled the girl about to face him.

Her little rude awakening to the twin seemed to be forgotten as suddenly a shoe had entered Fion’s field of vision and she realized that Victor andAiri hadn’t quite left yet. At least it meant she hadn’t been abandoned to the hyperventilating figure of Airi’s former dance partner, and she stepped even further away from the drunk boy on the floor as he’d announced the possibility of throwing up. There was no way she was getting vomit on her shoes, but then, once again she was semi-forgotten. All the attention was on the older Vincenzi and Airi, which hopefully meant she could go back to her own drink in peace. Even the banana would have been better than having Robert clinging to her like he had Victor. Although suddenly she had attention again as the boy had stammered out her name, and she immediately sensed that at least one of the people present would likely have assumed she was the culprit. For once, she actually had just been a witness, but she merely shrugged and took a drink from her own glass again. Until she was asked, she wasn’t volunteering anything anymore.

She’d rolled her eyes at Victor’s offer of keeping the twin company and providing water. She’d seen the earlier trick. If anything, it only meant there was more hilarity yet to come, but she was staying clear. She hadn’t been invited, and she wouldn’t have joined even if he had been. There were plenty of other people in the Shack that she didn’t need to tag along with the fictional couple and the lovesick twin. She’d just make sure she had enough to drink first, and then see who else she could locate. Ned and Vince were over with Vianna and a ghost on the dance floor, along with banana boy. The latter of which seemed to have abandoned Jungle Boy for the ghost, as it seemed everyone aside from the Slytherin had. Ghosts weren’t anywhere near terrifying when they were having just as much fun with the party as the living, although she hadn’t ever thought them terrifying anyway. They couldn’t hurt her, and they certainly weren’t thieves or murderers. Not now, anyway.

Vianna was all smiles as she danced away joyfully, her long brown hair waving about behind her. Though the girl often considered Ned’s and her brothers’ parties to be silly (since she understood the real motive behind them), she didn’t mind crashing a few every now and then. With OWLs coming up for the young fifth year, she had a lot on her mind. A lot of stress to release.

And then someone was tugging her hair playfully, and when she turned around - whaddayaknow. Harry Potter himself was asking for a dance. Vianna looked unfriendly at first - Ned was the enemy, after all - but then her expression broke into one of her bright, lively grins.

“I suppose you can have one dance,” she said, putting on a face of playful hesitation before laughing lightly and taking the boy’s hand. She pulled him in and began to dance again. But not in a flirty sort of way or anything (Ned was like another brother to her), Vianna wasn’t very good at flirting anyway, she was more like a giddy four-year-old who’d had too much sugar, and so she mostly hopped around with her hands in the air.

Vince watched the other two with amusement for a second before making his way through the crowds and back toward the bar. He’d missed out on quite a bit of the party when he passed out on the dance floor, so he was surprised to find that his brother, Airi, and Robert McGit had all gone missing. The only person left was Fion.

“What’s up with you?” he asked the girl as he joined her by the bar, ordering himself a glass of firewhiskey to better wake him up. “No dancing tonight?” Or perhaps Fion had already gone dancing while he was passed out. Who knew.

Ned felt his heart soar as Vianna twirled about to face him. She was so beautiful, even in this darkened lighting, with her bright eyes and natural beauty, she shined."Psh, I knew you'd say yes," Ned teasingly said as Vianna accepted his offer after a moment of playful hesitation. He grinned brightly as Voanna took him by the hand, and pulling him closer.

Unlike his partner, Ned was actually a surprisingly good dancer (his mother had practically begged him to take ballroom lessons), however the young man opted for following Vianna's simple, but fun style over actually using his smooth moves (he'd save those for later). Bouncing childishly to the music, Ned knew very well that he was losing cool points, but unlike Victor who was too cool for school (or any other silliness) Ned didn't mind looking dumb, especially if it meant having fun with Vianna.
"Watch this," Ned said, taking a small step back from Vianna to give himself more space, before doing a very mean version of the robot, complete with (not so good) robot noise.

Vianna rolled her eyes but allowed the amusement to reflect on her features as Ned teased her acceptance of a dance. Typical Ned, never missing an opportunity to tease the girl about one thing or another in the most self-centered of ways. But she was used to this behaviour and it mostly only amused her.

But.
Not as much as Ned Hall - THE Ned Hall - doing the robot. Yeah, that was one dance move she had NOT seen coming from the boy who always liked to look cool and suave. At his atrocious attempt at robot noises, the girl doubled over in laughter, her giggles echoing throughout despite the very loud music of the room.

“Hall, you are ridiculous!” she accused between giggles, wiping the tears from her blue eyes. Her amused expression turned a little surprised as a yellow figure came up behind the Slytherin boy. “Uh-oh. I think Banana Man is taking your dance as a challenge,” she announced with raised eyebrows, an amused smile still on her face as Banana Man himself began to do the robot as well. It wasn’t long until a good portion of the students on the dance floor began to copy the dance as well.

Encouraged by Vianna's laughter, Ned began to do more intricate moves, even adding in some poorly performed popping and locking. Basically the boy looked like a big, very pleased, goof. Maybe things were still in his favor. She had to have some affection for him, and even if it was a platonic affection, well, Ned could work with that. It might take a lot of time and effort on his part, but Vianna, in Ned's opinion, was worth it.

"Oh, no, I don't think I can handle all that," Ned said, laughing as the banana started doing Ned's moves but with far better skill. And then everyone was suddenly doing the Robot and Ned couldn't breath from laughing. This party was getting out of hand! Also, who was the guy dressed as the banana? Ned didn't think he knew, which was saying something, because Ned knew everyone.

"I started that! Do you see that? I started that!!" Ned exclaimed, laughing hysterically at the sight of over a hundred Druken Hogwarts students doing the robot in tandem. "Alright Vincenzi, Go on, let's see your robot," Ned said, grinning expectantly as he turned to the Italian.

Things had gone quiet around the bar, and that only made Fion uncomfortable. She was definitely not used to being ignored, and there wasn’t exactly a lot in the Shack for her to use to get into trouble. Instead, she’d just settled in with her drink, idly tracing the hilt of the sword at her hip as if she was contemplating a coup or whatever a pirate would be plotting to do. Mutiny, maybe, but she wasn’t sure who she’d be defying. Obviously it wouldn’t have been Ned, as the Slytherin had started acting like a total idiot for Vianna and the group of dancers out on the floor. She’d idly raised an eyebrow as Banana boy had taken things as a challenge and started a trend, though. Like things hadn’t been weird enough that there needed to be a flash mob of drunk students and ghosts doing the robot. She didn’t even have to try to make things crazy, and that was what bored her.

Then she heard a voice speaking near her, and she glanced over to see that Jungle boy had joined her again. “Oh, hadn’t you heard? Apparently I got nerd boy drunk without ever offering him a drink, and told him he was drunk, even,” she replied almost flippantly, saluting him with her glass before tipping it to finish off the liquid inside. At least, she was fairly sure that Saint Airi had thought that, when it was obvious it had been her new pretend boyfriend. She didn’t care though. That just furthered her reputation, and it was almost amusing to think she could do that without raising a finger. “Were you offering?,” she added, as he’d suddenly decided she needed to dance. That wasn’t her usual style, but then, after three glasses of firewhiskey, soon to be four as she’d signaled the bartender to get her a refill, she was loose enough to not care. “Looks like you lost your dance partner anyhow.” Seeing as the banana was still off in the midst of the robot group.

Vianna couldn’t stop laughing. The entire scene was absolutely ridiculous and absurd - a giant banana challenging Ned, an entire crowd of drunken students pulling the same moves together; it was all simply too much. There were tears making the girl’s crystal blue eyes sparkle, and she wiped them with a smile as Ned very excitedly pointed out the dance revolution he had started.

“Nat bad, Hall, not bad at all,” said a voice from within the banana costume. It sounded genuinely pleased. “For this, I award Slytherin twenty points!”

Vianna was too distracted to catch on with what the banana said; at any other time, she would’ve immediately made it her business to figure out who was under the vibrant yellow costume, but instead she was copying the moves of the students around her. When Ned asked the girl to show off her robot dance, Vianna grinned and proceeded to copy the boy’s earlier moves with surprising accuracy, moving confidently but playfully, a long string of giggles constantly leaving her rosy lips. And though she would never admit it to Ned Hall (because his ego didn’t need any feeding), she was actually having a pretty great time.



“You got McGit drunk?!” Vince exclaimed, wide-eyed as Fion explained her current situation. The girl’s sarcasm went right over his head; Vince had always been a painfully literal creature. “That’s amazing, how’d you even accomplish that?” Without giving the girl a chance to answer, Vince was already looking around the room. “Where is he? I need to see this!” The mere idea of Robert McDweeb drunkenly wobbling about made the boy’s eyes sparkle with amusement.

As Fion then went on to ask the boy if he was offering to dance with her, he shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, why not? But first I need to recharge.” He’d come to the bar for a reason, after all, and that reason snuggly lay in a liquid state inside the glass in his hand. He took greedy gulps from the firewhiskey, ignoring the burning sensation it left behind in his sore throat. Ahhh. Refreshing. This was exactly what he needed.