Ned stared blankly at the banana-clad person. That voice sounded weirdly familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it exactly, which frustrated the boy to no end, especially when they award him twenty points for his dancing, who was this guy? That weirdo Prefect Anton Perkins would be the likiest person, but Ned couldn't be sure.

"Who are you?" Ned asked, stopping his excellent dance moves to address the Banana. "No, seriously, who are you?" He added, unblinkingly.

Ned watched Vianna perform a masterful robot, he couldn't help laughing out loud at the girl's playful dance style. This was one of the things he loved about Vianna, her sense of humor and playful nature. She was genuine, she was funny, and Ned didn't think a better girl existed. Taking her by the hand, Ned twirled the young girl about, afterwards pulling her a little closer to him. "I'm glad you came here tonight Vi, I would have been miserable without you," Ned said, with a slight playfulness, though he meant it quite sincerely.

Fion rolled her eyes as Vince took her flippant comment completely seriously. She should have known better than to think he would have understood the actual meaning to her words, but then, there was at least one part of what he’d understood that had actually been true. There wasn’t any question that Airi’s admirer was drunk, and likely even more so now if she knew the elder Vincenzi at all. The poor nerd was probably ten seconds away from permanently passing out, or at least being out for several hours. She wasn’t going to be the one dragging him out of the Shack, either. She didn’t carry people, and that extended to any of the current partiers. “Well, he was on the floor at my feet wailing that he was dying. Could be drunk, or could just be normal,” she replied, shrugging slightly while still maintaining her grip on her glass. “Your brother took him over to sit with him and Airi. To sober him up, although I think we can both agree that isn’t likely.” As long as he wasn’t anywhere around to throw up on her shoes, she didn’t care if he fell down drunk again.

Seemed like Vince still wasn’t entirely all there anyhow, but then, that actually was normal. At least something was, and she’d taken another sip of her firewhiskey as he’d spoken of recharging. “Of course.” He could take his time. Nobody was going anywhere just yet, and she wasn’t finished with her drink either. She wasn’t stupid. That was going to be finished before she left the bar, just in case anyone got any ideas of trying to slip something in the glass. That was her job. She wasn’t the victim, and she wasn’t planning on being one any time soon. Besides, it appeared like something had happened over with Ned and that little group. There was one less robot, anyway, but then things got back to normal. She really needed to go do something before she exploded from boredom.

Vianna had the brightest of smiles as she twirled in place, her long brown hair floating around her before she suddenly found herself unusually close to Ned. She thought nothing of it, though, assuming the boy just wanted to make sure she could hear his following words.

Awww.
Of course, after such a sweet confession, Vianna’s first reaction was to playfully punch him on the arm. “Oh, I’m sure you are, Hall! A party’s not a party until Vianna Vincenzi crashes it!” she replied playfully, laughing at her own words because she was just oh-so-funny. That Vincenzi arrogance ran strong through all three siblings. But then she turned a little more honest and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m glad I came, too. I mean— doesn’t beat giving you a scare and winning the dare, but it’s definitely been fun.”

Meanwhile, just a couple feet away, the dancing banana continued doing a flawless version of the robot, completely ignoring Ned’s question. But as the boy repeated himself, the banana paid attention, stopping its dance abruptly. Oh no. He was onto him, wasn’t he? He could see it in the boy’s determined, unblinking eyes.

Panicked at getting caught, the banana pulled out its wand and pointed it at Ned— “Confundo!” Fortunately for the Slytherin boy, though, the oddly-shaped costume made it a little difficult for the man inside the suit to get a good, clear shot, and he missed Ned completely. Instead, the shot of green light went above the young man’s shoulder, through the crowd, toward the back, and hit an innocent student who happened to be by the bar instead…



Vince doubled over in laughter as Fion explained Robert’s dramatic overreaction to the alcohol. AW MAN. How’d he missed THAT?! “DYING!” the Italian repeated between loud, hearty chuckles. The stupid nerd seriously thought he was DYING from being drunk!! HAHAHAHA!! And as if things couldn’t get any funnier, now Fion was explaining how Victor and Airi had taken him away to ‘sober him up’. YEAH RIGHT. As long as his oldest brother was involved, Vince knew there would be nothing but hell coming for Robert McDweeb.

Still laughing, the boy raised his glass to take another sip of his firewhiskey. But the glass slipped from his fingers and hit the floor before he could get it anywhere near his lips, as a flash of green light hit him right in the head.

Vince fell to the floor unconscious.

"What is it about you Vincenzi's and punching?" Ned laughed, with an arch look. And here was a prime example of Vianna's supposed femininity, it wasn't really fair how easily she could brush aside his flirtatious words, with other girls he wouldn't have had to try even a quarter as hard as he did with the youngest Vincenzi. But then, that was why Vianna was worth chasing and the other girls, simply weren't. "Oh yes, life of the party you are darling," Ned sarcastically replied, lightly poking Vianna in the ribs.

"Giving me a scare?" Ned asked, with a snort of disbelief, had she really thought Ned would be so frightened of her in a black catsuit that he'd run for his life? She ether thought very little of him or wasn't as clever as Ned thought her to be, because that plan was just awful.

And then, the banana-person (Ned was sure by the voice that it was a man, but he couldn't exactly be sure) and was pointing it in his direction. With a strangled yelp of fear, Ned ducked as the spell fired, though he hadn't needed to, because it seemed the banana's aim was brutally awful.

"WHAT THE HELL MAN??" Ned yelled, glaring furiously at the banana-clad person. Ned pulled out his own and from his jacket pocket, ready to defend himself least the banana attack him again.

Vianna could only laugh at Ned’s teasing though, proud as she was, she couldn’t let the last one slide. Who was he to mock her ingenious plan?! “Yes, give you a scare!” she confirmed with a stubborn nod of her head, arms suddenly crossed. “Didn’t you notice the army of ghosts I brought with me?!” How dare he not give her her well-deserved credit!

No time to worry about that now, there was a giant banana attacking the boy all of a sudden. Vianna gasped as the spell passed right over Ned’s shoulder, before the boy pulled out his own wand. What in the world was going on?! Why was the banana attacking? Had Ned stolen one of his dance moves?

It seemed Banana Man was in no mood to duel though, and, paranoid at having his identity revealed, the fruit-clad man turned around and shoved his way past the students. In a flash, he was gone.

Vianna furrowed her brows as the last hint of yellow disappeared through the crowds before turning to Ned. “Hall! What did you do to him?!” Poor banana! He was just trying to make the party fun and teach everyone some moves!

Ned hardly noticed what Vianna had said to him, it was definitely something about ghosts, but Ned was far too involved with the murderous Banana to listen to the young girl. But the duel Ned had expected, never came, for the Banana was off in a flash, ducking through the crowd of students with surprising agility for someone wearing such a confining costumes.

"ME? I didn't do anything?!? He attacked me!" Ned exclaimed, his mouth wide open. What had he done to upset the Gods so? It could only be that he had offended them in some way. "I literally did nothing! Not a single thing!" Ned exclaimed, still in shock from the weirdest of the last ten minutes of his life. Seriously, what the hell was that all about?

“Well, you must’ve done something if the banana felt the need to attack you,” Vianna pointed out matter-of-factly. Basically, she had always been biased not to take the poor boy’s side. But that was only the result of witnessing his troublemaking ways for the past five years.

Anyway, the whole murderous banana situation had kind of killed the girl’s buzz. “I’m going to sit for a bit,” she announced nonchalantly, waving off the matter of Banana Man as unimportant.

Meanwhile, back in the lounge area…
Robert was destroyed.
He’d been mumbling incoherently for the past half hour, amused by the stupidest of things (like the yellow banana running out), and suddenly having random bursts of romanticism, where he would kneel by Airi’s side (much to Victor’s annoyance) and declare his undying love for her. After the last confession, Victor gave in to his urges and casually kicked the boy off his fake date. “I think that’s enough, MacGhilleseatheanaich.”

This was not going according to plan at all. He’d managed to get the dumb nerd drunk, but this actually worked against his plan of breaking his stupid little frail heart. For some reason, Robert didn’t seem discouraged by Victor’s and Airi’s fake and cold affection. It was like… he wasn’t even surprised? As if, in his eyes, Vairi had always been together.

Stupid nerd.
Well, this was definitely disappointing. Victor’s last hope for entertainment lay in inebriating the girl at his side, perhaps enough to get her to dance for him. Or step on Robert's toe again. Yeah, that'd be nice.

"But I didn't! Ugh!!" Ned said, pulling his hair in frustration as Vianna stubbornly believed him guilty. The one time the boy was completely innocent of any wrong doing and everything was blowing up in his face. They'd been laughing and dancing (much closer than *just friends* would have been), and now she seemed completely put off and Ned was going to find that Banana and completely destroy him.

"No, but we just stood up, come on Vi, just one more dance? Please?" Ned pleaded, taking the girl's wrist in hand in an attempt to keep her near him. Stupid, damned Banana.

After three glasses of water Airi was feeling even drunker than before, something the woozy girl was having a lot of trouble understanding. Water was supposed to dilute the alcohol in her system, not heighten it's effects. She was snuggled quite comfortably into the crook of Victor's arm, her head laying back against his chest and she was not in any rush to move from her cozy spot. "Victor, don't, don't kick him, he's already injured," Airi said, her sweet voice slurring ever so slightly as she spoke.

Their little plan didn't seem to be working, if anything Airi though it was egging Robert MacGhilleseatheanaich on, like he had something to prove. "Victor, why isn't he sobering up?" Airi asked, licking her numb lips to try to message feeling back into them. Maybe Victor could help me with that. Airi thought, before blushing, scandalized by her own thinking.

Vianna was beginning to make her way through the crowds when she felt someone grab her wrist. Ready to pull out her wand and hex the daring fellow, she turned around abruptly, only to find that it was Ned. And he was asking - no, pleading that she stay. Whoaa. The girl just stared at him with a wide-eyed, blank expression.

What gives? Since when was Ned Hall so determined to dance with her? Especially when there were at least a hundred other very good-looking girls dressed up as hot nurses. It was… strange. She didn’t know what to make of it (because despite the obvious hints, there was no way Ned Hall liked her in THAT way! They were like siblings!).

“Fine. One more dance,” said Vianna, pulling her wrist from the boy’s hand because it was beginning to make her a little uncomfortable. But, with a small smile, she returned to his side and began to move along to the beat of the music.



“Ye—yeah, Vic—Victor, don’t—don’t kick me,” whined Robert, too woozy and out of it to realize how defending himself would only dig him a deeper grave.

“Shut up, MacGhilleseatheanaich.” Victor wasn’t even trying to hide his dislike for the boy anymore. What did it matter, if no one here (except himself) would remember anything by the morning? He would’ve gladly moved his foot a little higher and kicked the stupid nerd right in the face, if it wasn’t for the sweet, drunken girl cuddled up beside him. His left arm was draped over her small shoulders while he used the other to hold his drink (which he’d been taking at a painfully slow pace. While Robert and Airi had close to five drinks, the boy was still on his first glass).

You’d think the beautiful girl in this scene was Robert MacGhilleseatheanaich the third, though, as Victor’s cold blue eyes remained glued on the boy. He simply couldn’t look away. It almost fascinated him what an easy target McDweeb was, and he couldn’t stop daydreaming about strangling that frail pencil neck.

Until Airi spoke, snapping him out of his murderous thoughts.
“The alcohol’s too deep in his system already,” he replied simply, watching as Robert crawled back to his chair and then proceeded to climb it, placing a wobbly foot on the seat before shouting out something about being king of the world. To resist the urge to throw an empty bottle at the nerd’s head, Victor finally looked away from him and at the girl beside him instead.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, watching with interest as she licked her full little lips. And then suddenly blushed. What the. Victor raised an eyebrow at this, wondering vaguely what she could possibly be thinking about with such passion. Probably how she aced that Potions exam last week.

Hope, fierce and bright rose within him as Vianna agreed to one more dance, it was strong enough even to erase the way Vianna' had looked him over, as if he were some strange thing that needed to be examined under a microscope.

The Slytherin smiled brightly, even as Vianna removed her wrist from his hand, Ned was about to follow Vianna's example and begin busting out his fresh moves when an idea occurred to him. "Hold on, stay right here, I'll be back," Ned said, his eyes glinting with promise as he rushed toward the DJ.

"Oi mate, play this one," Ned said, pointing to a record that lay apart from the rest. The DJ nodded, and smoothly replaced the record without missing a beat. Ned grinned as a slow song began to play. It was REO Sppedwagon's "Keep on loving you" one of Ned's guilty pleasures.

Running back as quickly as he could to where Vianna stood, Ned calmed his expression of delight into a more subdued, but still charming smile.
"Sorry, I had to have a talk with someone... Shall we?" Ned said, holding out his hand to Vianna.


"Robert, sit down," Airi said, not managing to sound half as cold or as bossy as she had been trying to. It was really hard trying to be mean, especially when she felt so giggly and loose and pleased, how did Victor do it? How did he act so.. Aloof and uncaring all the time? Airi would have to remember to ask him.

Poor Robert, Victor was being absolutely atrocious to the boy and he still hadn't given up on Airi. Maybe he was too drunk to be actually effected by their plan (she got such a little thrill every time she thought that, their plan).
"He must have an even lower tolerance than I do.. Which is realllllllllllyyyyy saying something," Airi said, with a small laugh that turned into a hiccup at the end. She covered her mouth demurely at the peculiar sound, usually she didn't get the hiccups unless she was quite drunk. It was probably just a symptom of her previous nerves or something.

Suddenly Victor's cool gaze was on her and Airi shivered. She hoped he hadn't seen the way she'd been licking her lips earlier, that would have been all kinds of embarrassing. What if he had seen it? What if he thought she was a trollop or something for licking her lips like that? She really hoped not.

"Me? Oh, I am feeling... Really good, actually," Airi said, giggling though she had no idea why. Turning her face away from Victor Airi tried to sit up straight, but just ended up falling back into the boys lap. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just so clumsssy," Airi said, laughing at her little fall, not bothering to even try, sitting up again.

She hadn’t really thought it was quite that hilarious, but at least Fion had gotten the feeling that Vince had understood her finally. Watching Robert get drunk had been amusing, of course, but then there had been that whole matter of him possibly vomiting all over her boots and otherwise being quite annoying. It almost made her wonder what was going on over at the seating area, since odds were he was even more drunk than before by now. It wasn’t her problem anymore, and it hadn’t been her problem from the beginning. It was odd, not being responsible for any of the incidents so far. She was getting an itch to just up and do something, but then, there had been a flash and she’d stepped back instinctively as she saw the glass falling. Firewhiskey on her shoes wasn’t any more wanted than vomit, nor was yet another body. Vince wasn’t whining, though, and she looked down at him suspiciously. Nobody was going to pin this on her either, but she poked a foot out to nudge him a little. He was definitely out cold.

Glancing toward the dance floor again, the only thing she noticed that was different was that the banana was conspicuously absent. She hadn’t thought the fruit was particularly violent before now, although the person inside the suit had been quite the dancer. Either way, there wasn’t any obvious clues toward who had cast any spells, and after another light nudge, she knelt down, making sure to stay clear of the spilled drink as she made sure Vince was still breathing. Fion Aubrey was definitely not standing by a dead body, and after a beat, she let her hand move to the sword scabbard at her waist and pulled her wand out. “Rennervate,” she cast, slipping her wand away again after she was done. There was no reason to keep it out in case he woke up and thought she’d knocked him out in the first place. She wasn’t stupid, but he wasn’t leaving him lying there unconscious either.

Vianna raised an eyebrow when Ned suddenly stopped dancing and excused himself. What the. Hadn’t he JUST been asking the girl to come back and dance? Now he was leaving? HMMM. Vi narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, already assuming he must’ve been cooking up a prank or something, but continued dancing on. Until the music suddenly changed.

Wait what?!
There was a collective groan of disappointment from the crowd, and Vianna was not at all surprised to see Ned wasn’t amongst the saddened students.

“Ned Hall!” She laughed with amusement as the boy just so very casually made up a lousy excuse and asked her to dance. Shaking her head with a smile, Vianna took his hand, placing her other hand over his shoulder as her feet began to move along to the rhythm of the slow song. “What are you scheming this time?” she asked, crystal blue eyes narrowed suspiciously up at him.

Because surely all of this had to lead to a prank, right? RIGHT?



Airi’s warning came too late as, just a second after she spoke, Robert stumbled and fell from the chair, landing ungracefully on the table with the drinks and then rolling onto the floor. Victor seemed pleased as the nerd whimpered; the sound of his pain was like music to his ears.

The Slytherin furrowed his eyebrows when Airlia tried to sit up. What was she doing? The girl was even more wasted than he had expected; but before he could do or say anything, she had fallen on his lap. Oh. Well. What a lovely gift. Should he unwrap it or toss it aside?

“That you are,” he agreed as Airlia commented on being clumsy. He waited for her to try to sit up again, but it seemed that wasn’t happening any time soon. Oooho, oh no, he was not going to end up with Wonder Woman vomit all over him. These were brand new trousers, thank you very much. The boy considered rolling her off his lap and calling it a night, but for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Drunken girls were usually loud and obnoxious and deserving of the dirty floor, but Mondai was… well, she was gentle and sweet, even giddy— wait what EW all the more reason to push her off!

Victor leaned back into the couch and merely stared at the woozy girl, his face expressionless as he debated on what he should do with her. Airlia was part of ‘the group’, so he couldn’t exactly be as careless as he wished.



Vince remained motionless on the floor as Fion poked him with her boot. The boy was out cold. But it was the Ravenclaw’s handy spell work that brought the teenager back to life, his blue eyes fluttering open, large and confused. What had just happened?!

In a flash, Vince sat up on the floor. He looked around himself at the party as if it was his first time arriving there, and a slight chill made him look down upon himself only find that he was only wearing his Tarzan Halloween costume. What in the— was he dreaming!? Where had all this come from?! Where even was he?! And— OHMYGOSH A PIRATE!

Vince stared at Fion wide-eyed. Why was he dressed like a jungle boy? In the company of a pirate? In a dark room playing a painfully dull, slow song?

“Where am I?! What year is it?!” he asked, beginning to panic as he scrambled up to his feet.

Ned didn't care about the obvious displeasure of his guests, at that moment in time, Ned only had eyes for one person, and it was the girl he was dancing with, besides, he kind of hated those wankers.

"What?" Ned said, smiling slyly at the young girl, placing his hand on her waist and pulling her just he tiniest bit closer. Sweet Merlin she was so gorgeous, she probably had no idea that she was perfect, not just in looks, but personality too.

What should he do? Play coy and hide behind a joke, or fess up and tell her he had no scheme, that he was actually being sincere in his actions? Of course, then she'd just probably laugh, thinking he was joking, or worst run off. "Why don't you try to guess?" Ned playfully asked, his eyes glinting. "Come on, I dare you,"

"How kind of you to notice," Airi teasingly said, laughing as he boy readily agreed with her about her gracelessness. Victor really had no filter, he was the most unabashedly honest person she knew (which was kind of ironic considering how often the boy manipulated the truth to suit his purposes). His curt honesty was one of Airi's favorite things about the boy, unlike so many of their peers who tended to flatter insincerely.

Airi was woozily wondering how someone with such a cold and hard personality, could be so warm and comfy when the sound of Robert's pain jolted her back to reality. The boy sounded like he was dying! Even though she was drunk, and it was detrimental to the plan, Airi was compelled to help the boy.

"This plan can't work with him this drunk, he's barely aware of what's going on and he's hurting himself every other second," Airi said, thinking clearly for the first time since she'd sat down with Victor (possibly the whole night, which seemed to have gone by ridiculously fast). "I'm going to put the boy out of his misery and sober him up," Airi said, raising up. It seemed her conviction to help others was stronger than the alcohols influence because she was now quite steady on her feet as she walked up to poor Robert.

"I did tell you to sit, didn't I?" Airi said in a slightly patronizing tone. As kind as Airi was, she couldn't help being a little annoyed with the Ravenclaw boy. She knew it wasn't his fault that he was acting this way, but ever since he had entered the party, Airi had been filled with stress, nervousness and guilt. She had come to the party to relax and have fun, not fret over Robert's well being.

In all honesty, Vianna had NO idea what Ned could possibly be scheming, so her brows furrowed thoughtfully when he asked her to guess. She thought for a long moment, her expression concentrated. “You… you’re sabotaging the party to…” she looked around, trying to find any clues that might lead her to the exposure of Ned’s evil plan. She took notice of the way most of the guys on the dance floor just stood still or began to walk away to the bar, while most of the girls seemed a little eager to share a romantic dance for a change.

“You’re sabotaging the party so that all the boys leave and then you are the only one left, with hundreds of girls without dates!” It all made sense! While most boys ran away from the slow music, Ned would be the odd one out that actually wanted to dance, and so therefore all the girls would want to dance with him. Sneaky snake!

“You are something else, Hall!” Vianna accused, already assuming her assumption to be completely correct.



Victor seemed to snap out of thoughts as a very determined Mondai suddenly announced she was going to sober up Nerd Boy. What?! Why was she thinking clearly?! That wasn’t supposed to happen! “Just let him be, Mondai,” said Victor with slight irritation, but Airi had already abandoned him to help the stupid nerd back to his senses.

Robert looked up at Airi like she was a holy apparition, his dark eyes widened with fascination as she scolded him. “My lady!” He scrambled up to his knees and hugged the girl’s legs. “IT—IT—IT’S A MI—MIRACLE! You—you have come t—to rescue me!”

What the bloody hell is this idiot going on about?
Victor had had it with MacGhilleseatheanaich’s stupidity. In one swift motion, the boy was on his feet. He walked over to Airlia and Robert and pulled the whiny nerd up to his feet by the arm. “UWAAA Y—YOU’RE H—HURTING M—ME!” It was true Victor’s grip on the boy’s toothpick arm was a little too tight to be friendly, but it was hardly as bad as Robert made it seem, ever the frail paper doll.

“She said sit down.” Effortlessly, Victor released the boy’s arm to shove him back into his chair instead, leaving a pale-faced mute Robert slumped in the chair he’d been standing on just a minute ago. Victor turned to Airi with a raised eyebrow, as if saying see? Everything’s easier if you just use force. “I think I’m done with this party,” said the boy as he returned his gaze to the hopeless dweeb that remained frozen in the chair. “Are you coming?” he asked, turning back again to Airi.

Ned smirked as he watched Vianna look around for some sort of hint or clue as to his plans. He couldn't help snickering to himself, silly Vianna! There were no hints or clues to be found for the very simple reason that he wasn't plotting or scheming anything this time. Well, unless plotting to win her over counted.

What he hadn't counted on was Vianna's incredibly persistent, bullheaded ability to see the worst in him. Ned wanted to smack himself in the face, and would have had his hands not been so delightedly busy with holding Vianna near. “Vi,” Ned said, sounding far more sincere than he ever had in his life (which felt a little painful for the usually flippant and careless boy). He had stopped dancing now, but he kept a firm, but gentle hold on Vianna's hand and waist least she run away from him again. "There is no scam, look at me, really look, I am not planning anything," Ned said, smiling almost sheepishly at the young girl.



Peter, at this time, was trying very hard to convince the Fat Friar to stop crying. Apparently, someone had actually called him Fat Friar to his face and he was rather distraught. "Now come on, I mean we've been calling you that for years! Why react like this now?" Peter asked the blubbering Friar. The green eyed ghost sighed, this was such a downer.

And after he'd had such a very fun night, it was hardly fair to end it on sic a somber note. Maybe he ought to find Vianna and scare up some last minute fun? As the ghost contemplated this, he floated towards the bar, looking about with his bright eye's for a sign of long, silky hair and a pair of blue eyes...



Airi squeaked with surprise as Robert attached himself firmly to her uncovered legs. This could not have made the girl more uncomfortable, especially as his chin was pressed snugly into her kneecap. "Robert, those are my legs, please let go," Airi said with a shaky laugh, feeling incredibly awkward as she tried to pry herself free from MacGhilleseathanaich's grip. She didn't have to struggle long though, as Victor suddenly and rather violently pulled the Ravenclaw boy (who shouted bloody murder) off of her, before unceremoniously dropping the now quiet boy into a chair.

Relief and guilt spread through her in almost equal measure (relief was winning out by just the tiniest bit). Robert was only acting this way because he liked her, and was trying to shower her with adoration. She should have just been honest from the beginning of the evening and told the boy she didn't like him, but something in Airi told her that Robert already knew.

"You needn't be so rough with him," Airi said to Victor before checking the seemingly comatose Robert's arm. It didn't look injured, maybe a little pinker than usual, but it certainly looked normal. "You seem fine... " She said, raising up from bended knee to turn to Victor.

Airlia arched an eyebrow as Victor irritatedly said he was done with the party, which Airi noticed, had taken on a quieter mood since the abrupt music change. It felt sort of, over now. Now that she thought about it, it must have been very late. What now? Victor was asking her to come along with him? Where was this coming from? Airi wondered, before remembering their plan. Oh right, they were supposed to be on a "date" how had she forgotten that? If they were on a "date", it would be only natural that she would accompany the boy out of the party, but then what about Robert. He was helplessly drunk and didn't have many friends in the Shack that would take care of him.

Still, staying with him would only re-enforce the boy's misconception, and Airi had to draw the line somewhere. "Yeah, let's go," Airi said, somewhat nervously, before boldly taking Victor's hand.

Fion hadn’t really expected her spell to have worked quite as quickly as it had, when Vince had suddenly sat up, almost to the point of knocking her off balance it had been so sudden. Of course, she hadn’t thought it wouldn’t have worked at all, considering the one thing she was good t was casting spells. Usually she was using the skill to cause trouble, but making sure that Vince hadn’t been dead was just as important. She’d sat back on her heels as he’d blinked at her, a bit dubious at how confused the boy had looked. He was usually a bit clueless, but this was a bit much. If she hadn’t been mistaken, it almost had seemed like he’d been Confunded, which she wasn’t completely unfamiliar with. She’d utilized that charm a few times in the past, when her other usual tactics hadn’t worked in her favor. Actually, this could be amusing if she played it right. There wasn’t much else by way of amusement at the moment, since the music in the background had gone almost painfully slow and romantic. She wouldn’t have blamed anyone for just leaving if that continued too much longer.

She’d gotten to her feet as he had scrambled up, anyway, keeping completely calm as the questions had spilled out. Definitely seemed like a Confundus charm, or Vince had been Obliviated. Either way, the petite Gryffindor pirate had control at the moment, and that made her feel powerful. It hadn’t even mattered where the flash had come from that had obviously been whatever spell that had put him this way. “You’re in the Shrieking Shack, at a Halloween party that you helped Ned organize. Your name is Vince Vincenzi and the year is 2018,” she stated, staying calm even as she wished for another firewhiskey in the back of her mind. She’d need it if she had to feed him all the basic information that he should have remembered on his own. Until then, she was just going to make sure he didn’t panic and go by way of nerd boy. She’d hex him herself if he did.

Vianna’s accusatory look transformed into one of confusion as Ned suddenly stopped dancing, yet continued to hold on to her. What was going on? She frowned slightly and was just about to question his unusual behaviour, when the boy suddenly spoke. His tone, determined and honest, made the frown deepen. Was Ned about to finally confess his grand plan?

Instead, he confessed that there was no plan at all.
“What?” Vianna stared at him as if he was ill. “But— if you’re not scheming anything, then why the change of music? Why… this?” It was just random, and very unexpected of a boy like him.

Vianna almost began to suspect Ned was trying to tell her something, when she caught sight of a pair of vibrant green eyes. Beaming, the girl lifted her hand from Ned’s shoulder to wave at the lonely ghost who floated by the bar. “Peter!” she called out to him.



Victor ignored Airlia’s comment about paper-doll-McGit, and instead glared at the nerd who had curled up in the fetal position in his chair, suddenly falling asleep just a moment later. What a loser.

Almost certain that Airlia would decide to stay behind and nurse MacGhilleseatheanaich back to health, Victor was halfway turned away from the scene when, suddenly, he felt the girl’s warm little hand take his own cold one. What the. Did Mondai think they were still doing the plan? Because Victor had kind of cancelled it the second he decided to leave the party. His invitation to Airlia had been as himself, not as her pretend-boyfriend.

But. Hmm. The girl was both drunk and willing… Perhaps this could come to his advantage. Holding her hand firmly, he began to lead the way through the crowds of students and toward the tunnel that led out of the Shrieking Shack.



Vince looked around him but listened attentively as Fion explained to him where he was and what year this was all taking place in. “I helped organize this?!” the boy asked incredulously, returning his blue eyes to the girl. Normally, Vince would’ve been quite proud to hear this news, but - this party sucked! “I think you’re confused, Pirate Lady,” he said with a laugh, amused by the girl’s naiveness. PSHHHTTT. How could she confuse THIS for a Vincenzi party? “I would never play music like this at a party,” he added with another laugh, all too amused by the idea of him co-hosting a party with music this lame. BAHAHA, please.

But.
What’s with the outfits?

“Why am I dressed like this - where are my clothes?” He looked around as if expecting to find his casual clothes lying around somewhere.

"It's, well... It's uh, well," Ned began, stumbling nervously around his words. He'd never been so inarticulate, so graceless of nervous in his life. He wet his lips, looked down at his shoes, and felt just as foolish as McGit, but he was going to get through this, this was it, this was the moment.

"Vianna, y-" Ned started to say, before the very object of his desire cut him off to say hello to a bloody ghost. Ned wanted to smack his head into the nearest pole. He watched with annoyance as Peter the Precarious floated over to them, a large goofy grin on his translucent face.

"Where have you been al night gorgeous?" Peter asked, phasing through Ned and Vianna to pop out behind the young girl. Ned recoiling at the cold feeling, which caused him to involuntarily let go of Vianna's tiny waist. His intimate moment with Vianna was definitely over.

"We were kind of talking here mate," Ned said, glaring at the ghost, who shrugged apologetically, though it didn't seem very sincere.

"I'm sorry, I could leave if you two like?" Peter asked, glancing back from the peeved looking Ned to Vianna.

"Yes, please," Ned curtly replied.



Anxiously taking one last look at the sad figure of curled up Robert, Airi wondered if she had made the right decision, however, it was already too late to changer her mind, especially considering that Victor was now leading her through the shack and the remains of the wild party.

It seemed her earlier clarity had been something of a fluke, because she was quite light headed now, maybe she ought to have had another glass of water before leaving with Victor. Sweet Hermione Granger, she was leaving the party with Victor Vincenzi and he was holding her hand (The girl oddly enough had forgotten that she had been the one to initiate the hand-holding).

As they walked in silence through the darkened tunnel to the castle, Airi tried to think of something to say to the boy, it wasn't that the silence was uncomfortable, but being drunk made Airi feel chatty. "Hey um... I just wanted to say, thank you," Airi said, her voice echoing slightly in the tunnel.

Vianna paid Ned’s stumbled words no mind as she watched Peter float toward them with a large grin on her face, giggling as the ghost floated through them. “Merlin, Pete, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” she said with a soft chuckle, shaking her head slightly as Peter came up behind her.

The girl listened to the exchange between the ghost and the real boy and, just as Ned said ‘yes, please’, her own lips were saying, “No, stay!” But as she heard Ned’s voice, her brows furrowed and she turned to look at him. Gawsh, did he always have to be so unfriendly with the boys? Maybe if he was a little nicer he could have other guy friends besides her brother. It was no surprise some people suspected the two boys were dating, and their apparent lady-killing ways were only a disguise.

“Ned, have you met Peter?” asked Vianna, trying to lighten the mood by properly introducing the boy to her ghostly crush. She was sure if Ned just gave him a chance he would actually quite like the boy; they both seemed to share a love for mischief. “He’s a Gryffindor ghost,” she added proudly, gesturing toward Peter as if he was a rare historical item on display.




Vairi’s little getaway didn’t go unnoticed, regardless how swiftly and quietly Victor led Airlia through the crowds. They were especially noticeable to the Slytherin girls that followed them - or Airlia, specifically - with their gaze, catty eyes narrowed and brows furrowed disapprovingly. Where had she come from? (Even if many of the girls had seen her around the school before, they failed to recognize her dressed up as Wonder Woman and sneaking off with one of the Slytherin Princes.)

Victor was debating whether or not to sneak Airlia into the Slytherin Common Room (which he and Ned had taken over with time), since it would probably be empty as the older students were at the party and the little ones were already sleeping, when suddenly the girl spoke. For the first time since he’d invited her to leave with him, Victor turned his head to look down at the short girl, his features expressionless as they often were.

Apparently she was grateful he was taking her away with evil intentions?
That couldn’t be it. “For what?”

"Well, that is the whole point," Peter said, chuckling at the young girl's words, it was too fun playing around with mortal people. They just reacted so much better to his little pranks and tricks, other ghosts were just kind of resigned about everything.

"Well, sorry sir, but I must do as my lady bids me," Peter said, bowing graciously to Ned, who grumbled, but said nothing to dissuade the ghost or young girl's decision. Peter (who was usually rather obvious) was starting to begin to think this particular Slytherin had a bone to pick with him, though he couldn't possibly begin to understand why.

"I can't say that I have," Ned said through gritted teeth, his mouth curved in an unpleasant smile quite similar in appearance to his best friend's. Fine, he'd make nice with the ghosty, for now, but as soon as he learned a spell that could hurt the blighter, he was dead. Again. "Nice to meet you," Ned added, nodded nonchalantly to the green eyed ghost, who smiled far too happily for Ned's liking.

"Nice to meet you to Neddy Ned, I was actually supposed to be here to scare you stiff," Peter said, as friendly as ever regardless of the other boy's bad attitude.

"Was that what you were planning? Vianna! You sneaky genius!" Ned said, turning from Peter to Vianna with a large and vibrant grin on his face, because Merlin, that was an incredibly clever plan!


Airi blinked at Victor, it wasn't like him to forget something like this, she kind of owed him now, and Victor usually made a point of keeping score of that kind of thing, unless he was occupied with something else. Though Airi couldn't guess what. "For helping me with Rob, of course," The Ravenclaw said, tilting her head to the side, surveying him with a look that clearly said What did you think I was talking about?

They were at the exit to the tunnel now, and Airi could clearly see the dim light creeping in from the corridor above, smiling at the sight and the thought of her warm comfy bed back at Ravenclaw tower (where she would surely fade into a coma), Airi quickly fumbled in her boot for her wand, but could not seem to find it. "Where's my... Where's my wand?" Airi worriedly said, completely unaware that it was tucked neatly behind her ear.

Oh she hoped she hadn't left it at the party, she would never find it if that were the case!

Vianna was entirely too giddy about Peter’s presence and the vibrancy of his emerald-green eyes to notice the clear displeasure in her dancing partner. Oh, if only Peter was a real life boy! She would have danced with him until the sun rose! :’)

“Oh, it’s true!” Vianna exclaimed with a bright smile as Peter announced the real purpose for his presence at the party. As Ned went on to compliment the girl on her evil plan, she giggled delightedly. Oh, how she LOVED to receive compliments for her schemes! It simply made her week! “Pretty clever, huh?” she said, not at all modestly as she flipped her long brown hair over one shoulder. She liked that. Sneaky genius. Yeah, that should be her new nickname.

“But…”
She had to admit ONE thing.
“Your plan was pretty sneaky and clever too,” she said, giving Ned a smile. “We weren’t expecting it at all,” she added, turning her smile in her accomplice’s direction.




Oh. Robert McGit the third. Of course. Victor had almost forgotten. Seeing as the plan had failed miserably, he was surprised Airlia still found it necessary to thank him. Well, he might as well go ahead and take the credit, why not? “Right. You’re welcome. I apologize things didn’t go according to plan…” Of course, Victor wasn’t genuinely sorry about anything, it was just in his nature to be formal and robotically polite. The sort of thing his father ingrained in him as a little boy.

The kids were just about to leave the dark, damp tunnel when Airlia suddenly began to fuss around with her boot. Victor came to a halt and raised an eyebrow at this, listening as she mumbled something about her wand. Which was right behind her ear.

It was a good thing the girl was too busy being worried and searching her boot, or else she would’ve caught the genuine smile that suddenly came upon Victor’s face. For the first time that night, he was amused. And he almost felt the slightest bit bad… he’d been scheming what to do with her for the rest of the night, but… now she was being all cluelessly cute and he kind of just wanted to solve her silly problems and tuck her away in her bed. WAIT WHAT. Disgusting, Vincenzi, what is wrong with you?! Where the bloody hell had THOSE nice thoughts come from!?

In one swift motion, Victor took the wand from behind the girl’s ear. “Looking for this?” he asked, his lips still crooked in the slightest hint of a smile.

"I definitely would have been running for my life, good thing I didn't end up alone tonight," Ned said, looking about at the remnants of the party with a fond and satisfied smile. It was just a few short more hours before dawn and then he'd have officially have won. He could hardly believe he'd accomplished it.

"Yeah, I was all set with my Dementor's garb and everything, I'm rather sad I didn't get to finally use it," Peter said, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning petulantly like an overgrown child.

Ned rolled his eyes at vianna's little vanity show, though he was obviously amused by the girl's antics. At her compliment, Ned practically glowed, she thought his plan was clever and sneaky too? That was all he'd really been hoping for (that and of course to get wasted and maybe snog a few honey's, but she didn't need to know thaaat). "Well, prepare yourself Vianna, because you'll be even more impressed on our date," Ned said, stepping a little closer to the girl and speaking softly so that Peter couldn't hear.




"it's alright, it wasn't your fault, and it was still, well it was nice of you to try to help me, I owe you," Airi sincerely said, though the sincerity was somewhat tempered by her light slurring. Was it just her, or had the boy been especially nice to her through the night? Helping her with Robert, escorting her out of the party (she had believed it to be part of the plan, but she didn't think so anymore). Maybe he really was going through a change of heart? Maybe he was becoming a kinder, softer Victor.
The thought alone made her heart flutter a bit.

While she was checking her other boot, she became of aware of a small shift of the light, and looking up found Victor looking down on her, a slight smile lighting up his usually cold features, and she felt herself melting at the sight, she didn't even think she could speak, he was just so beautiful, so beautiful that it took her a second to notice he held her wand aloft in his hands.

Her wand! Oh, thank Merlin! She would have been dead without it.
"Yeeeeeeees! Wheeeere did you find that?" Airi asked. She hadn't felt the boy take it from her ear and considered it a miracle from the Gods that it was in his possession. Without another thought, the girl casted the spell to open the passage.
"I'm so dead tireeed, I might just K'O half way to the tower," Airi said, slowly, cautiously ascending the stairs (which, between her high heels, her natural clumsiness and her inebriation, were proving very difficult).

Vianna nodded her head as Ned admitted he’d be running for his life had he spent the night alone. That’s right, Hall! The girl’s plan was flawless. Except for the part where he turned out to be a step ahead of her. Ahem.

The girl’s smile faded, though, as Ned quietly reminded her of their upcoming date. Oh, right. They still had that to deal with. “Right, just try to keep it free of surprise custom parties, will you?” She’d much rather he take her to a Quidditch game or at least shopping for a new broom. This whole partying thing wasn’t really her scene, though it did make her wonder vaguely… what was Ned Hall usually like on dates? Hmm. She supposed she’d just have to find out.

“Well…” Vianna sighed to herself, a smile still lighting up her lightly tanned face as it usually did. “I think I’m going to start heading out, guys. I’m exhausted.” As if on cue, she yawned softly, her crystal blue eyes growing sleepy.



“You most certainly do,” Victor confirmed without hesitation as Airlia decided she was now in debt with him. Oh yes, when she least expected it, the boy was going to come out of nowhere and demand payment. But first he had to find something that would be terribly unpleasant for her to give to him.

Victor hardly noticed Airlia’s brief distraction with his face, assuming it must’ve been the firewhiskey’s effect, and cringed slightly as she spoke. Oh, she was wasted beyond repair. For some reason, Victor found himself thinking about the fine Italian fabric of his trousers again. Hmm.

The boy released Airlia’s hand to wrap his arm around the girl’s waist instead in an attempt to keep her walk steady as they went up the stairs. WELL. Victor Vincenzi’s party night hadn’t turned out to be a HUGE flop at all. Actually, none of the siblings really had all that much luck. Vicky didn’t get to destroy MacGhilleseatheanaich’s heart, Vianna didn’t get to scare Ned’s pants off, and Vince… well, Vince had barely been conscious throughout the entire event. And now, on top of it all, Victor found himself responsible for making sure that Mondai made it to the Ravenclaw tower without vomiting all over herself (or his pants) and getting caught by a prefect. Not because he cared or anything, but because— well, because reasons. Victor doesn’t need to explain himself to the likes of you.

“You’re not going to… ‘K.O.’ anywhere, Mondai,” the boy told her a little sternly, the way a sports coach would speak to his students.

The kids had made it back out into the corridor, Airlia’s heels echoing loudly throughout and Victor struggling to keep the girl walking in a straight line. This simply won’t do. There was NO way they were going to get away with this when they were moving so loudly and painfully slow - also, Victor was a little paranoid of Airlia’s clumsy steps and ending up with a toe to match MacGhilleseatheanaich’s.

And so, Victor came to a sudden halt. “I’m sorry, Mondai, but I can’t walk you anymore.” He never released the girl’s tiny waist though, and instead used that arm to pull her slightly into him just before using the other to pull the girl up and accommodating her in his arms. He’d considered just giving her a piggyback ride instead, but then she would’ve probably barfed all over his flawless dark hair. And we can’t have that.

Victor looked down at the drunken girl in his arms and whispered warningly, “Shhh.” He’d solved the problem of her clicking heels for now, but her lips wouldn’t be as easy to keep quiet.

"No surprise parties, I promise," Ned said, crossing his heart as a child would, and with a silly love-struck grin on his face. She didn't sound as displeased as she had before, and Ned, made hopeful by the dance and her light praise, couldn't keep himself from thinking that maybe, just maybe this would work out well for him.

And now Ned was yawning too (damn things were contagious). He nodded, yeah he had figured she would split soon, of course, he had been thinking that it would be after professing her undying love for him and snogging his brains out, but he supposed he'd just have to wait for that. "I'd escort you, but I'm contractually obligated to remain here 'til morn," Ned said, with a small smirk.

"I can walk you darling," Peter said, slipping effortlessly back into the conversation and Ned just managed to suppress his growl of displeasure at the idea. "Come on love!" Peter added, already moving toward the exit.



Airi only nodded, too drunk and too tired to properly think about what being indebted to Victor Vincenzi might mean for her, and certainly too drunk to care. Besides, how bad could his request be.

As Victor helped her up the stairs Airi couldn't help giggling, really it was the most unlikely of scenarios; Her drunkenly making her way through the castle in a silly, revealing costume at an ungodly hour and Victor, the Slytherin Prince, sober and beautiful and helping her on her way. She sincerely wished she owned a camera to capture the moment.

She only giggled more as he sternly told her she wasn't going to K. O. "Yes sir, whatever you say sir," Airi said, lazily saluting him as she spoke through her laughter.

"I-its okay, I've got it from h-here," Airi said, a little crestfallen as the boy released her waist. She hadn't expected him to escort her all the way (their Common Rooms were very far away), but she'd been hoping to spend a little more time in his company. But then he did something that literally left the girl breathless.

He picked her up and began carrying her... bridal style. Wait, wait, wait, what was going on here? Airi was blushing so fiercely that she was sure it was coloring the roots of her dark hair. "No, wait, um.. Um... i-i-i-I can walk," Airi murmured, amazed beyond measure by this bizarre developement, at Victor's shushing, she couldn't help but begin laughing again, he was just so serious, it was really kind of hilarious, espiecially to Airi in her drunken state.

Merlin, Victor was actually carrying her to her Common Room, this was the strangest thing that had ever happened to the inebriated girl in her whole life time.

Fion couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the incredulity in Vince’s voice. One would have thought Vince Vincenzi would have lost a bit of the ego in being unceremoniously knocked out with what she was still assuming to be a Confundus curse, but apparently, that wasn’t the case. “Well, you were supposed to help with the guest list, anyway. I got a bit sidetracked so I couldn’t say how much you actually did,” she replied, her voice betraying a bit of the sarcasm she was feeling as a result of the comment. “You could hardly claim responsibility for the music when you’ve been unconscious.” It was stating the obvious, once again, but since it was either that or hitting him upside the head as he’d gone on to call HER confused. She was hardly the confused one. She wasn’t even drunk, after the three or four glasses of firewhiskey she’d drank over the course of the night.

She contemplated hitting him just because, as the situation got even more irritating. Either that or she’d leave him there to find out the answers to his questions on his own. Odds were he wouldn’t find anyone else who knew exactly what had been going on, unless Ned wandered back over. Apparently Vianna was leaving with the former dementor, and glancing over toward the seating area she noticed the absence of Victor and Airi. That meant it was either her or Ned who could deal with the insults. “I’d think they’re back at the castle, unless you have them hidden somewhere here in the shack,” she added. Of course, with the way the party had been going, his clothes probably had been stolen if they were here. It wasn’t her fault he’d chosen to be half dressed. “I have a name, by the way.” Not Pirate Lady, even if she was dressed as one currently. There was also that little detail of her being armed, so irritating her likely wasn’t the best idea.