#2 Dinner

Becca stilled at Lailee's touch, realizing the implications of her actions and words as her friend whispered to her. Deflating completely, she nodded and looked from the Gryffindor table to the head table, then back to their pink-glittery table with a sigh.

"Thanks." She muttered, knowing that if no one had intervened, she would have gotten herself into much more trouble than she could imagine. "I'm going to wash up. Meet you in the common room."

Without waiting for a response, she fled the Great Hall for fear she'd find herself riled up again if she didn't get out immediately.

Adeline carefully watched Seabrook move around the Great Hall, thinking she was acting quite suspicious. She didn’t make it a habit of paying close attention to the older students, as she knew very few of them, but everyone knew Amara Seabrook and knew she was one to watch out for. She had just finished eating when there was a burst of activity--and pink--from the Slytherin table and she bit her lip to keep from laughing when they lost their collective minds.

She couldn’t help think that the glitter was pretty, pink being a color she adored although it wasn’t quite the same shade as her pointe shoes, but she could imagine that those who typically wore green did not see it the same way. She glanced in Mathias’s direction to see if he had seen, and what he thought about it, but didn’t make eye contact as she had hoped to. Instead, she curiously watched the events unfold while she waited for dessert.

Addie thought that the girl who was very vocal in her displeasure over the situation was a mixture of brave, for having the nerve to do so, and stupid, for the same reason, but couldn’t take her eyes off of the situation. She noticed all of the Slytherin students so far had looked at a certain group of Gryffindors, and she could only assume that’s who they held accountable for the situation. She could imagine that the Gryffindors would be paying dearly for it, regardless, but found it hard to muster sympathy when both sides seemed to instigate and antagonize each other regularly.

She thought of the letter she was writing home, and how it would look better with glitter. She eyed the table carefully, wondering how difficult it would be to get some of that glitter. She wasn’t foolish enough to approach that chaos, but if the professors didn’t banish it before it was time to head back to the common room….

Amara finished her dinner, listening as Lailee mentioned Bernard. With that in mind, she fished out some parchment from her pocket and took notes with a satisfied smirk. She gave Lailee an exasperated look at the questions, though not in anger just tired. Reaching for pumpkin juice, Amara watched it swirl in the goblet while considering how to answer Lailee's questions. Or if it was too soon to discuss such important matters.

'It's a potion recipe,' Amara said. She briefly showed the folded parchment she'd blackmailed from the Ravenclaw prefect, though its secrets remained hers for now. They were in the Great Hall, after all. 'A work in progress,' she added. Amara stopped swirling the juice and put the goblet down with a sigh. She didn't elaborate on the Hufflepuff incident, merely glared. The girl was lucky that's all she got for being a blabbermouth.

Amara gave Beeca a glance, but before any further thought entered her head - there was a loud noise and an explosion of pink. Not knowing what it was and acting on pure instinct, Amara screamed and clumbsily jumped backwards off the seat. Her wand in hand and senses returning, the reality of what happened dawned on her.

It wasn't a curse, it was a bloody thing of ugly glitter. Furious, she gripped her wand tight and spun to give the laughing Gryffindors a death glare. Sparks shot from her wand, but she didn't care about losing control. Not when her wrath was so justified.

She then squeaked in alarm, looking down at her pink robes and feeling the glitter in her hair. I was hideous and everywhere, though her cheeks soon matched the prank's hue. Humiliated and unable to think straight, Amara did the most logical thing she could in that moment - she fled. Trying to shake glitter off herself, Amara bolted out the Great Hall. She headed to the dungeons in a state of panic and building rage, without a glance back.

There would be plenty of time later to get revenge on those responsible. For now, she had to save her dignity and clothes from the infestation of glitter.

Lailee watched Amara storm out, feeling particularly sorry for anyone who found themselves in her friend’s path. She thought with Amara gone, surely the worst of the potential storm had to have passed, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Avery began raging at the Gryffindors.

To be honest, Lailee was a bit impressed, she didn’t think that Avery had it in her to be so vocal, as she always seemed to be rather quiet. She brushed her surprise aside, though, as Avery lunged at Lockyer.

It was really unfair, knowing they’d get in trouble if they retaliated, but at the same time knowing it was unlikely that the Gryffindor trio would get blamed by anyone with authority and pay for their actions. She didn’t blame Avery in the least for her actions, but knew she had to try and stop them before the younger girl went too far.

In a split second, she had to make a decision. If she went to stop Avery physically, she was going to be directly in the line of fire of Avery’s outrage and could easily wind up being hurt in the process. At the same time, if Avery beat Lockyer to a pulp, she’d possibly be expelled. She was not in the practice of putting herself in a position to be harmed, she spent quite a bit of time avoiding such circumstances, but nevertheless she braced herself and grabbed for the enraged third year.

She was only able to grab one arm at first, and after a moment of resistance where Lailee seriously regretted her decision to interfere, she managed to grab the other, attempting to restrain her while standing closely behind the other girl and trying to calm her with words, though she wasn’t even sure Avery could hear them in her anger-fuelled state.

“They’ll get payback, I’ll make sure of it--we’ll make sure of it--but not here, not in front of everyone and not where we will get the blame. Think about what you’re doing and where you are. Some things are better with planing, attacking this git may help you with your anger now, but it won’t have any long-term consequences. With careful planning, we can get them back in a way that makes them think twice about messing with us again.”

She was careful not to tell Avery to calm down; anytime anyone had ever told her to calm down, it just upset her more. No one should be calming down, they had been made a laughingstock and it was not okay in the least, but it needed to be handled after proper care and consideration.

Avery didn't reach Thomas. She struggled and yelled as someone grabbed her, though it took her brain a moment to think clearly. She continued to struggle, not against the person holding her but in desperation to hit the Gryffindor.

She slackened a little as Lailee spoke, but what did Avery care about being rational? She tried to listen, tried to consider an alternative to her rage, yet all she could see was Thomas. The sparkles. Her ruined meal. Hitting the floor in fear.

No, he deserved this!

Then there were professors, and Avery cost Slytherin house points. That jolted her. Lailee's words came back then, making more sense than when Avery first heard them. She yanked her arms free, but didn't resume her attack on Thomas. Lailee made it sound so easy, to think more long-term than in that moment right then and there. But not once did she tell Avery to calm down - those words only fueled her rage as Avery didn't know how to calm down. That was her entire problem. 

They lost points because of her. Slytherin was the victim here and yet they were being punished, not the Gryffindors. She remained convinced they were behind it. Avery shot Lailee a look she hoped resembled something like gratitude, but avoided anyone else's eyes. She was still angry, but regaining her mind.

With a huff of disbelief and frustration, Avery turned to storm out of the Great Hall. A long walk to the Atronomy Tower and back should help clear her head, she hoped. 

A loud POP distracted her from all else. She looked around frantically, her eyes eventually locking on the glittered-up Slytherins. What…was that? She glanced sharply at Sophia, wondering if she had anything to do with it and why Callie hadn’t been invited to help.

Kier looked like he was choking. Callie abandoned her plate and hurried to him, torn on how to help. She eventually settled on reaching out to sort of pat his back and help him dislodge the juice, if he’d allow it. She didn’t know the Heimlich maneuver enough to be confident in using it – she could hurt him worse.

He seemed to be okay after a bit. She returned to her seat, shaking her head at his words. So that had been the work of a certain Gryffindor pair? Of course.

Most of the Slytherins were gone now. Snape looked furious. Callie did her best to look completely innocent – and, well, she was…this time. At least he wasn’t coming after them. No one seemed to even think she and Sophia had anything to do with it.

So…that had been an eventful dinner, and now dessert had been served. She wolfed down some pudding and wafers, took a few gulps of juice, and stood.

“I’ll see you guys in the common room,” she announced to Sophia, Kier, and anyone else that might care. “I just wanna drop my stuff off on my bed first.” She hurried off, before her luck could change.

((Exit.))

Gerald asked about her day, and she smiled at him. “It was…good, I think. I learned a lot already. Really busy, though. I have some plants in the greenhouse, and permissions to use the potions labs, and I’ve been gathering ingredients for that.” She doubted he wanted to hear every detail of her exploration of Hogwarts and collecting things that were varying levels of gross. Or, come to think of it, maybe he did, but she wasn’t sure she could do it all justice in the explaining, and she didn’t want to ruin his own explorations, in case he hadn’t gotten around much today. “Yours?”

A sudden POP made her yelp – a sound that might have been swallowed up by the ensuing chaos of fleeing and enraged Slytherins. Oh, this wasn’t good, was it? She cringed and watched, wondering if she should urge her friends to the common room or something. Slytherin had a reputation they may not be aware of yet. But the Slytherins were heading out the doors…it may be safest to just stay put.

Or not…Snape looked very angry…

The professors dealt with the situation, and dessert appeared on the table. Dani shoved some chocolate in her mouth and grabbed a slice of cake. Then, giving each of her friends a significant look, she hurried out of the Great Hall before anything else could happen, munching the cake as she went.

((Exit.))