Phoenix looked around the common room, it was amazing! There was food and people to talk to, Phoenix had made a vow to get to know more people this year as after everything that had happened over the last couple of years she was determined to have at least a couple of friends before Christmas.

Christmas... Phoenix's brow furrowed. It was only two months away and she had promised her mother she would go home, no doubt because her father was going to be there as it would be her little brother's first Christmas, that and her mother was still too afraid of what her father would do if he wasn't allowed access.

Stop with the negative thoughts Phoenix she berated herself as she poured herself a drink and grabbed a handful of sweets. She leaned against the wall and glanced around, seeing if there was anyone here she had talked to before.

...?!

Lewis blinked a couple of times in surprise and confusion until he realized where he was. In the Common Room. On the couch. And Minerva was talking. Loudly too. And it seemed that he had dozed off after all.

Hopefully nobody had noticed...

Blushing slightly he ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up in every direction as he glanced at what Minerva was pointing at. They really HAD come up with a lot of things for this event. Name tags, Twister, movies, food and drin-

"W-what?!" His head jerked around when he heard someone suddenly talking to him. A girl. A younger Hufflepuff he hadn't met. Or actually seen around. But that didn't really mean anything, he tended to be unobservant at times. "Hi. I'm Lewis." He said slowly, almost automatically in reply as he continued to stare at her, a little slow after his short nap.

Right, she had asked him something else though. Something about the party. Getting the party started. Huh. His mind immediately went to Louisa's birthday party but he doubted this party was going to be anything like this so he didn't really know what to do. "Sure..." It was probably expected of him to help out somehow. He even got up from his seat to stand next to Sutton. "...how do we do that?"

Alright, party!

He didn't know why and he didn't know who, but he was happy to see a chance to blow off some steam. "Food!" Pao made a beeline for the delicious-looking snacks.

Belle frowned and she wanted to be friendly and ask. "If you do not mind me asking, what is wrong?" She smiled and she wanted Damon to know he did not have to face his problems alone.



Belle was looking around the common room. It was so heart warming to see other puffs coming in and showing their house pride. When Belle was staring into the fire, she noticed ALEC! walking in.

Belle smiled and got up from her seat and said, "Hey Alec!" and plopped on top of him in the armchair. "Mind if i crash in?" she giggled. "Aren't you excited for this!?" she asked bouncing up and down.



Belle then noticed Sutton who she met in the girl's dormitory. She remembered she fixed up her picture and decided to go say hi. "Hey Sutton!" Belle said with a cheery smile. "How are things going? Last time i saw you was in the dormitory. How are your classes?"




Belle was getting busy knowing the other puffs, then she noticed the other puff prefect coming down the stairs. He looked like he just got up from a nap. She could see his eyes red and bloodshot but she wanted to be friendly and go say hello. She had only met him on the train and that seemed like a long time ago.

As Belle made her way over, she coughed to let her presence be known. "Hi Lewis is it? I am Belle Lecium and we met previously on the train in the prefect compartment but that seems such a long time ago." she chuckled. To start a little small talk, Belle asked, "How is your term going so far?"



When Minnie introduced herself, Belle smiled and said "HI MINNIE!" and then when Minnie mentioned the movies and all. Belle stood up and gave her speech. *cough* *cough*

"Hi Guys! I am Annabelle Lecium for those who do not know me. I am one of the Hufflepuff Prefects. I would like to get to know some of you through the year and maybe even today. But as Minnie said, i do have some movies to bring down. Before i get them, do any of you have a preference for which movie you would like to watch?"

Belle smiled and then waited for the votes to see if people wanted to watch movies.



Belle saw a girl that looked like she was trying to get into the party. Belle smiled and went over to her. "Hey i am Belle. Why don't you come over and make smore's or play charades." she held out her hand for a shake. "I see you have found the desert table already." she chuckled as she saw the sweets in her hand.

Phoenix looked up as a shadow fell across her to her right. 'Hi Belle, I'm Phoenix.' she replied with a smile accepting the hand the other girl held out to her. Pushing herself off the wall and following her to another table she laughed as Belle spotted the chocolate mice in her hand

'Yeah, I have a bit of a sweet tooth, would you like one?' Phoenix offered, holding them out 'Although I've never made a s'more before.' she said with an embarrased smile.

"Why hello there phoenix! It is nice to meet you!" she said very cheerfully. "Oh i have the same problem, i have a HUGE sweet tooth. My parents do not like me for it but you know what, it's the holidays we can indulge with whatever we like." she grinned at Phoenix. "What is your favorite candy?"

When Phoenix mentioned she never made a smore. Belle smiled and said, "Well there is always a first time. Here come to the fire with me and i will teach you how to make one. It is quite easy once you get the hand of it."

Nope, Oakey had no idea what any of this was. He emerged from the entrance into the common room to see it bustling with two, no three times the amount of badger housemates than usual. He was taking in the whole sight ,the snacks, the marshmallows, the seating areas, all of his friends were here.

Oakey moved his way in through the crowd accidentally bumped into someone.

He turned to say sorry but then noticed who it was. NO WAY WAS HE GONNA APOLOGIZE TO LAURA! Oakey turned and continued on away from his Ex.

Following Belle towards the fire Phoenix smiled happily, she hadn't had any opportunity to do anything like this for years and to celebrate she took a bite out of the remaining chocolate mouse she had.

'Probably cherry cola bottles, chocolate mice or mint chocolate, how about you?' Phoenix replied absently, she had been so lost in thoughts of the past she hadn't even realised Belle had asked her a question and was still talking to her. She blushed a little and mentally reminded herself to stop thinking about the past.

'I...I'm sure it is.' she stammered. Great now was she not only failing to pay attention, she was now stammering. Way to go Phoenix

Minerva giggled at his more then hateful look she got. She knew he was shy and hated to be in big groups, but this was good for him. He needed to branch away from just Taylor. He needed to see life could be fun at Hogwarts, without worrying about the other two people... She leaned in, "Show those cute green eyes, and that charming smile that I know you have or I will tell everyone you sing. Maybe you can be the entertainment." she gave a am I joking smile and looked around. "Plus, Belle is in the same year as you, it's good to meet someone new.. Look at all these cute girls here Damon.. Hmmm after tonight you might be saying Ariana, who? Taylor, who?" she giggled and hoped that would be the case.



Minerva smiled and bounced over to her "little brother" next. "Aleeeecccccc" she grinned and messed with his hair. "Were you just going to hang out in the same room without saying hi. She then smiled, "Thanks for coming, I liked the idea of putting the two sleepovers together. I'm glad you thought of it." She looked around, "I know the only thing missing for you is ice cream though, maybe you could see if there is any in the kitchen." Looking to make sure no one was in ear shot she leaned in, "Did you try that spell out? I did on a first years lion head costume, it works pretty well." she gave a smirk.



Minerva then moved on to another badger, her goal was to talk to everyone in attendance. She wanted to know everyone, that was the point of this thing, right. That and to have some fun.. Yes they deserved to have fun, they had worked pretty hard to catch up in points, they still had mounds to go, but they were doing a great job she thought. Then she saw one of her co-planners and smiled. Jumping up she began dancing around with Sutton. "Hey you, this is great!!" She always liked to dance, so having someone else wanting to dance was even better.



Minerva saw someone that didn't look to happy and looked as if they were crying. She went over, "Hey Carigan, you okay? I hope your ready to have some fun. There is food over there if you feel like eating, or you can come dance with Sutton and I." she smiled at the third year hoping nothing really bad was going on with her.



Minerva then saw a boy eating and walked over. She gave a big smile, "Hey Jory, you enjoying yourself so far?" She hoped everyone was. "I know I shouldn't be saying this, but your not eyeing that study table are you? Let's have a little fun first then we can do the studying. We have all night." she smiled at him jokingly. If he wanted to do studying that was fine, but she hoped everyone would relax a bit first.



Minerva then saw a girl that she wasn't sure she knew yet. Walking over to her she smiled, "Hello, I'm sorry this term has been a bit crazy, so please forgive me, but have we introduced ourselves yet?" she hoped not, because she hated forgetting names, even though she was really good at forgetting."



Minerva then saw a girl she recognized from Quidditch, had they actually spoken before. Minerva hated her bad memory she was having lately. Walking over to her she smiled, "Hey Bliss, how are you?" After announcing the first match Minerva knew all the players names whether she had spoke to them or not. "Great first match by the way, I haven't got to tell you that. You played fantastic. I hope you have fun at our little event." she beamed at the girl.



Minerva then saw Lewis coming down from the boys dorm. After she had made her little speech she walked over to him, "Hey Lewis, how are you doing? I haven't seen you much this term." she really hadn't, to much time with Kurumi maybe? "I hope it's going well for you? I'm sorry we didn't include you in the plans for this, but I never really saw you around." she didn't like not including both prefects, but she knew the seventh year was probably busy with classes and his girlfriend.



Minerva then saw Laura, she really hoped her friend wouldn't be to mad that they combined the two events like that. She walked over to her, "Hey Laura.. Where have you been? I have tried to find you to tell you about the little switch in plans, but never could find you." She smiled at her friend, "So do you like how it came together at least?"



Minerva was walking around checking things, hoping all was going well when she noticed two girls she had seen around, but never officially met. This was working out great for her, meeting all these new people. She beamed and skipped towards them. "Hello, are we having fun? I'm Minerva, but you can call me Minnie." she then sighed, of course they knew your name you just told the entire room.



Minerva then saw the first year keeper, she knew she had never met in officially yet, but she knew his name. Walking over to him by the food she picked up a few snacks for herself. "Hello Pao, I'm Minerva. Are you having fun?"



Minerva then smiled as Belle did her speech. She hoped she didn't step on any toes starting off with a speech, she really wasn't anyone, yes she was one of the ones that planned the event, but she still wasn't a prefect or a captain of anything. Ooops, she was starting to worry that she did, but then Belle smiling didn't seem that she was upset. Once she was finished Minerva couldn't help but clap for her friend and of course add in what she might like to watch, "What about Molan? Do you have that? Or maybe even Shrek?" she loved those movies.

Today had been tiring, so tiring that Nessie could barely walk at all as she made her way towards the common room. After tapping the barrels and entering inside, the red head stepped into what she expected to be the normal common room. It wasn't though, there were streamers and food and...wait..was it somebody's birthday? Could have been. or maybe... Oh yeah it was the meet up thing. Ness almost forgot about the whole entire thing.

Sitting down on a couch near by, the red head listened to what her fellow badger said and smiled tiredly as she did so. It was actually really a clever idea whoever came up with this, she liked it. It was a great way for the Hufflepuff house to be more united, which of course unity was a great things at times like these.

Why did she have to be tired now? She wanted to socialize at least a little.

Yawning Ness eyed all the others and watched them too tired to make an effort to speak to anypne.

Phoenix was happily munching on a s'more she had made, they were a lot easier to make than she thought, when she noticed a girl a little older than herself sat alone.
Repeating her mantra of Don't be shy, get to know as many people as you can, she snagged a bowl of sweets, finished her s'more and wandered over to sit beside her.
'Hey, I'm Phoenix, would you like a sweet?'

Ella BEAMED at Belle when she finally entered the common room, waving excitedly at her prefect. "Hi Belle! Doesn't everything look awesome?!" Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. It totally did! "I'm super excited for s'mores and music and...well everything, really. How are you?!" Probably just as excited, right?

Minnie was quite smart, but she knew this already right? Ella grinned at her, nodding in agreement. "Yeah! That's a great idea...though I think we'll have more than enough blankets for the fort! If I need to go on a super secret blanket mission later though, just let me know!" Cause Ella was practically a ninja so she was perfect for such a stealthy job.

The third year smiled when Minnie then introduced her to Damon. She smiled and waved at the boy, noting he didn't seem to really want to take part in the festivities. No matter, though. He'd have fun once everyone settled down and the activities started. She was sure of it.

Ella's green eyes grew a bit wide as she watched Alec skid into the common room. She smiled, thinking that had been quite the entrance. And those PJs? Those were quite the PJs too. Count on Alec to make a onesie look cool. "Hey Hair Whipper!" GRIN. "Cool pajamas, very...you." And she smiled, holding out her bag of gummy worms to him. "Want some?" Though she totally knew the answer to that already.

And there were SO many other people here now too! Like Nessie and Pao and Carigan and Sir Lewis! BEAM. Sir Lewissssss! Kurumi's Lewis! HEHEHEHE. And Violet! VIOLET! GRIN. And Bliss and even some badgers she didn't really know yet! How cool. Ella GRINNED at them all, deciding to greet the group as a whole. "HEY GUYS!" BEAM. "I brought lots of gummy worms down so help yourself, seriously!"

The third year then saw something happened which made her a bit nervous. Oakey had walked RIGHT into Laura. Or at least that's what it looked like. Though it was an accident, yeah? Regardless, it still made Ella nervous. There was gonna be no fighting tonight if she could help it. Jumping up, she headed right over to them and smiled innocently. "Laura, Oakey, HI!" Grin. "I need to borrow Oakey to help me..." Oh Merlin, she really didn't have a good excuse to get these two away from each other before they started yelling...Hmm...THINK ELLA, THINK. "I need him to help me pick some music!" Yeah...that sounded legit. "Come on, Oakey." Tug. Tug. Tug.

Harlan was too busy looking around the amazing room to worry about finding any of her friends.
'Should've gone to Hogwarts years ago..' She mumbled to herself as she walked around the common room in her pjs.
Seriously. She should've listened to her nan and granddad right from the start. This was some epic stuff.

Harlan's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar face. Blissy.
'Hiya Blissy!' Harlan grinned at the girl, her not so official sister. But she was super cool and nice, so that qualified.
'Is.. this normal for Hogwarts?' She eyed Bliss curiously, Bliss had gone here ever since her first year, right? She ought to know if weird stuff like this was normal at Hogwarts. 'Because it's brilliant!'

Harlan noticed another girl who seemed to know every single Hufflepuff approach her and smiled at her. Unless her memory was failing her, they had never ever met before.
Having fun? 'Yeees. This looks amazing.' Harlan nodded still grinning.
She took the bag of skittles out of her pocket and held it out to the girl. 'Want some skittles?' Because every proper introduction needed skittles. ..And a name and all that.

Right. Harlan stuck her hand out and smiled politely. 'I'm Harlan Isaacs by the way. Is this whole fancy thing something annual?' She really needed to know.

Damon sighed, "It just been a very unlucky year..." He truly didn't want to go into more detail then that. First he'd lost Taylor and when he'd finally moved on from her to Ari, Ariana dated him for a short while then said he was 'too perfect' What the crap was that supposed to mean? He shouldn't be a gentleman?



Damon looked up at her "First off, I'm not singing in front of all these people. Secondly, is that the only reason you wanted me to come to this thing? To try to meet a new girl?" He wasn't angry, it was sweet of her to care, but still, "I'm not the social one and I'm way over Taylor... Ari, not so much but I'm sure I'll get there sooner or later." Damon sighed and shook his head, but what was his main point here? Oh yeah, "But no, I'm not going to get in front of all these people and make a fool out of myself by singing and playing horribly and also songs that barely anyone knows because they're even before my parents generation."

Belle looked at Minnie and she did wonder what she did have in her luggage. "Hmm i will see what i have. Hold on." Belle held up her finger and ran up to her dormitory. She went into her trunk and shuffled through everything.

Then she found her MOVIES. BEAM! She had Mulan, Shrek and Aladdin. Belle brought them down for Minnie. "Here Minnie i have the movies you were looking for." she said with a wide smile. "I think i might go put in Shrek. What do you think?"



Belle smiled and said, "Well i think my favorite candy would have to be the cauldron cakes, the cherry cola bottles and the christmas cookies." Belle lips smacked at the thought of them all.

Belle was at the fire. Phoenix was stammering but Belle told her to not worry. It was fine. "Now all you have to do is put the marshmallow on the stick, heat it up till it's golden brown around the edges. Get your two graham crackers and put one on the bottom of the marshmallow and one on top. But the chocolate piece on the bottom, so it melts faster and then you are done!" Belle said as she assembled hers. She took a bit and YUMMMY. It tasted soo good!



Belle beamed when she saw Ella. "Hey Ella!" she said loudly and went over to give her a hug "Everything looks amazing, you and minnie did an amazing job setting this up!" She admired the common room, everything looked amazing. When Ella asked how she was, Belle smiled and giggled, "I am so excited for this and meeting all the new puffs, especially for a new prefect like me."



Belle did not know what to say. "Aw i bet something good will turn it around, i am sure of it." Belle said optimistically. "Just try to have some fun alright, that is all a prefect can ask for. If you need anything else you know who to call. You can come over and hang with Minnie and I if you want over by the fire."

Damon nodded, "You sound like Min now." He actually chuckled, his best friend always did seem to come up in weird ways in other people... or he'd notice some type of similarity, "She's actually the one who pretty much forced me to come to this thing." Damon sighed, "She means well, I know... but I'm not quite ready to move on like she wants me to."

Awarlesta wandered into the little badger party. She looked around the lovely decorated room. She's not much of a socialite, but she heard there was.... FOOD! She darted over to the table and munched hungrily.

She watched her fellow Hufflepuffs converse and continued to stuff her cheeks with food. One of the prefects talked about putting on a movie and Awarlesta's ears perked up when she heard someone suggest Shrek. One of her favorites! "I agree with Shrek!" She squeaked through her stuffed cheeks. Awar caught her reflection and saw that she straight up looked like a chipmunk.

Minerva walked over to Nessie, "Hey Ness.. How are you?" she thought the captain looked very tired. "Hey maybe the sugar could help, or I know there is only caffeine free soda here, but I have some diet coke in my trunk upstairs if you want some caffeine, you okay?"



Minerva smiled at Ella and laughed, "Yes, let's get this party started before we get into the blanket fort. .We want everyone all happy and having fun then they will be ready to make a fort, maybe it could be a fort competition." hmm that might not be a bad idea. "Can I have a gummy worm." she smiled at Ella, "Have you started some S'mores yet?" She knew Ella was excited about the S'mores.



Minerva smiled at the girl, "What year are you Harlan?" She didn't think she was a first year, but she couldn't remember seeing her around much. "Oh skittles, that would be great! Thanks" She smiled, "Do you like movies? I think we might be watching Shrek soon." she hoped the girl was having fun.



Minerva laughed, "Oh Damon.. I don't know what your talking about. I would never try to hook you up with anyone if you weren't ready." Cue evil grin. "I'm just trying to get you to lighten up and have some fun with your house. Plus I bet people would love to hear your voice, your a great singer. I loved when you use to sing to me." Cue pouting face, "Which you don't do anymore.. see where I rank." She stuck out her tongue and laughed.



Belle came back down with the movies and Minerva jumped a bit all excited, "Oh I think Shrek would be a great one to start with. That could get everyone laughing." Turning to other's "What do you think?" Seeing everyone having fun made Minerva smile, this was great.



Someone agreed with her.. Someone agreed with her on the movie.. Minerva looked around to see who else wanted Shrek.. She saw another new girl and smiled walking over to her, "Hey.. I love Shrek I think it's a great idea! I'm Minnie by the way." she wanted to make sure the girl got her name and wanted to know hers. "Are you having fun?"

Awar smiled as big as she could with stuffed cheeks and shook Minnie's hand. She nodded and swallowed her food, "I'm Awar. Shrek's one of my favorite movies!" She popped another marshmallow into her mouth, "I'm having loads of fun!" She said as she covered her mouth. Nobody wanted to see her chewed deliciousness!

Damon raised an eyebrow suspiciously, "You realize that no matter how many people you introduce me to it's not going to change me leaving at the end of the year right?" He figured that was the main reason she was all of a sudden so pushy. New girlfriend, no more worrying about seeing Ari, moving on, and having a reason to stay at Hogwarts for his last term. Sounded great right? Maybe to her, yes, but to Damon it was a no go... He was fine moping about losing Ari a little longer. He gave a slight frown and very stupidly fell for her second trap with her saying that him not playing for her showed where he stood as her friend, "I have no problem playing for you." He accioed his guitar, and started playing the moment he adjusted it over his shoulder.

Carigan smiled at Minnie and nodded that was okay. She wanted to go talk to the divination professor really badly now, though.

She walked over to the food and picked up something random and shoved it in her mouth.

Not long after Violet had had her sudden outburst, she did feel a little bit rude for basically bursting out like that. It was something that Violet was still working on to this day...something she hoped she would be able to tame...her excitement.

In the process of thinking about working on her loud outburst and eagerness, Violet had noticed an older and very tired looking boy sluggishly sitting on one of the couches. Not only that, she seemed to have stirred him from his silent state apparently, and she couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed. Not only that...but his reaction kind of almost reminded her of a certain guy who was working at the Bowling Alley in Diagon Alley..He too was seeming to be somewhat bothered and shocked by her...eagerness?

...But she wasn't going to get into that..

Violet was debating going to tell the tired boy, who from what she heard was one of her Prefects of her house, that she was very sorry for disturbing him. But just as was about to do so, someone had already gone up to him disturbing him ever more. She knew then that she would just have to search him out later and apologize when she got the chance..



As Violet was about to make her way towards the games, a younger girl had approached her and Violet smiled almost instantly when she began speaking to her. When she had finished speaking Violet shook her head saying,"Hello! No, I don't believe that we've ever introduced ourselves to one another, that is until now of course.."

Violet giggled and then said brightly,"My name's Violet!" She then added on,"I would just love to say, that this extravaganza looks just wonderful!"



Violet's eyes widened the moment she heard her! She immediately began darting around the room looking for her favorite younger Puff! Then-THERE SHE WAS! ELLY BEAN! She eagerly waved to the little blonde saying,"EEELLY BEEEAN!!!"

Before she could go and attack her with hugs and loves, she was seen tugging Oakey off to pick out some music. Just like the prefect boy, she would just have to search for Elly Bean later!

For now...what to do...what to do..

Someone was talking to her, and if it wasn't for that Nessie was sure she would have fallen asleep right there and then. The red head blinked a little and tried to focus her attention on the girl who was now beside her. She gave her a tired smile and then nodded a little at her question, before actually answering. "Yes, please. Just one, thanks." Sweets were sugar and sugar meant energy no?

Pheonix? That's what the girl had said right? Pretty name, in Nessie's opinion.

The red reached out for a sweet, and paused realizing she had almost completely forgotten her manners. "I'm Nessie." She extended her now free hand towards the girl for a shake. Now somebody else was talking to her. After a small yawn, the fifth year turned her attention to the next person that came beside her. She gave Minerva a small grin. "I'm perfectly fine, no need for any of that." What she just needed was some rest, which she was almost certain she would get sooner or later.

Minerva was not someone Nessie knew very well, and seeing as this was what the whole thing was meant for, maybe now was a good time to know her better. She looked at all the badgers around, pouted and then turned her attention back to Minerva as something she could say popped in her head. "This whole thing was a really good idea." It was and it was a success too.

Sutton gave the Prefect a mischievous smile and then grabbed his hands, pulling him to his feet where she promptly started dancing and, still holding his hands, forced him to sort of twist back and forth in a dance-like motion as well. "Dance, of course!" she said with a laugh. Okay, so maybe it was weird to dance with someone she had really just met, but Sutton looked pretty in her dress, especially since everyone else had decided to come in their pajamas, and so she wanted to dance... and neither Ed nor Logan were around. So, Prefect Mr. Lewis it was!



Then Minnie and Belle joined her and she smiled at them. "Hi there! I'm good! It looks great in here, doesn't it?" she said as she continued dancing, which was more fun now that there were more people with them.

Oh no. Minerva was coming his way. And there was nowhere to hide! Of course it wasn't like he didn't like the girl - he did - but he was just afraid that she was going to make him do something at this party and he wasn't sure he was in any condition to. Naturally he tried to hide that fact because he didn't exactly want to seem as if he wasn't enjoying himself - people tended to consider that rude. Especially not in front of one of the hostesses.

So instead of running away, Lewis even offered the younger girl a small smile when she was finally standing next to him. "I'm...good. Yes. How are you?" Returning the question was the polite thing to do after all. And since her second part was more something of a statement than a question, he just stood there and nodded. Yes, he hadn't seen her around either. He'd been busy. Who would have thought that his last year at school would be THAT time-consuming. With everything that was going on.

But then she went on and did ask another question. Sort of anyway. "That's alright." He replied quietly with a nod, allowing his eyes to lazily scan the room again before resting them on Minerva again. "It's...quite something by the way. Amazing what you did there." People liked compliments, right? So there he was, handing them out to people who deserved them. Plus, maybe then she wouldn't notice him heading back upstairs soon. Because she was so giddy that he had complimented her work.

Though that was very unlikely probably.

Maybe he should have just pretended he was sick or something. The prospect of being able to go back to bed soon seemed more and more unlikely by the second. Why did everyone want to talk to him? And why did he feel somewhat lonely all at the same time despite that? All his Hufflepuff friends had graduated already. He just usually wasn't all that aware of that fact since it was never just them. But right now it was. It was only Hufflepuffs here at this party.

None of which he knew well.

He was pulled out of his little almost nap reverie by somebody coughing next to him. It was his Co-Prefect. Another person who was likely to want to get him involved in this party. But then she didn't. At least not right away. "Yes. I remember." Lewis said in reply to her introduction, offering her a small smile. She seemed quite nice. Even though he had absolutely no idea why she was laughing right now. Was the train ride funny? Was he supposed to laugh too?

He settled with just staring at her, not really able to get his brain to tell him what to do in this situation. It was just way too tired and half-asleep still. "It's been fine. Really busy though." And not only with school-related stuff. "How..." He would probably seem like a really boring conversation partner - though maybe that wasn't even such a bad thing?! - if he just returned the question so in the end he went with, "...are you liking your badge?" In case it wasn't clear already he nodded towards her Prefect badge on the front of her robes.

Oh, and Ella was here too!

When he caught the younger girl grinning at him, Lewis gave her a genuine smile back and even glanced over to where he assumed the gummy worms were. "Hey Ella! Sure, thank you." He had started to grow quite fond of her even though she tended to make him blush, especially with her nicknames. For him and for Kurumi. Sometimes she just accidentally brought up topics which made him feel a little...awkward.

Just as his thoughts went back to considering whether or not to take one of the offered gummy worms, his green eyes fell on somebody he actually knew. Nessie. Who looked just as tired as he felt right now. Which oddly made him want to high-five her or something. If he were the high-fiving kind of guy. And if it wouldn't require him to actually move over to where she was standing and lift his hand.

Maybe they could just yawn at the same time. That would show some sort of feeling of solidarity right?

He did NOT like the smile on the girl's face.

NOT. AT. ALL.

Lewis was taken so much by surprise that Sutton actually succeeded in making him move slightly before he fully realized what was happening. "C-can't we just...put on party hats or something?" It was probably in vain but he had to try to get out of this thing and saying the first thing that came to mind sounded like a good idea.

Maybe he should have come up with something a bit more convincing than that though.

He still wasn't exactly moving of his own accord but rather only so far as Sutton was sort of making him move. How was he going to get his hands back? If he just pulled them out of her grip that would be rude right? But they were starting to tingle all uncomfortably. He just didn't like to be touched by somebody he didn't know. And especially not by somebody who was trying to make him dance!

Somebody help, please?!