Picnic/Swimming Party!

"Yeah right," Shelby elbowed Resa playfully. "I've never lost my house any points," she gloated. "I'm determined to make it through my years at Hogwarts without having to sit in the Corner of Shame and wearing the Stupid Hat. You've already gotten into trouble, little Miss I-think-I'll-just-hang-out-by-the-forest-and-get-caught-by-a-teacher. Enjoy singing the 'puff 'puff song," she teased.

"I am going to enjoy your expression when you get in trouble for the first time now that you said that" Theresa said. "There was no touble until Lauren showed up, she just atracks attention" she joked, even though it must have been true. "Although, it was by the forest, not in it, I still cant believe I got in trouble for that".

"I can't believe you guys got in trouble for that either," Shelby said. "Do you think that the Professors are just taking precautions against any first years who may potentially go into the forest?" she asked in an attempt to understand why her friends had lost points when they technically hadn't done anything wrong.

"Anyway, I'm not going to get into trouble. Or I just won't get caught," she grinned cheekily. "You seem to think that underneath my Ravenclaw exterior lives a sneaky Slytherin, so maybe I have enough cunning not to get caught."

The smell of burned paper filled the air around Indiana after he launched several rockets into the sky.

'Down to the last crate.' Indiana thought before setting all of them up for a chain reaction to end the rather long show. The fuses were primed as he ignited them. The cylindrical fireworks shot off a barrage of flaming bursts that filled the sky with a continuous showering display of sparkling patterns one after the other that lasted for a full minute before vanishing.

By then, Indiana began to gather all of the trash and the spent firework casings into a large trash bag before heading back up to the castle, making sure to hide behind the shrubs and trees to avoid being seen. The smoke clouds lingering at the ground level sure served well to conceal his location and movements.

"Maybe, we were only sitting outside the forest through and I was reading" Theresa said, she would never understand it. "I just think it is funny that it was the first time Lauren joined me and we got caught, coincedence?" she joked.
"I don't think you are a sneaky, cunning Slytherin underneath, I know you are, it is the only way you managed to trick the sorting hat into putting you in Ravenclaw instead" she said. She smiled as she watched the fireworks, they seemed to be going for a big finish.

Shelby rolled her eyes a little. "Yeah, just like I know that underneath your Hufflepuff-ness, there's a courageous yet stubborn Gryffindor who's just itching to get into trouble. I'll never understand how you ended up in Hufflepuff," she lay back on the blanket to watch what seemed to be the end of their fireworks display. "That was pretty cool."

"Yeah, it was" Theresa asgreed before she grinned. "I have you know, I was put in Hufflepuff because my happy-ness and kindness which apparently outways my need for trouble" she said proudly. "I have no idea how you became a Ravenclaw instead of a Slytherin" she said, sticking her tongue out at her friend.

"Because my intelligence and wit apparently outweigh my cunning and desire to slap you upside the head right now," Shelby teased, repeating Theresa's exact sentence structure but modifying it to fit her situation. She knew that wanting to slap people wasn't an inherent Slytherin trait, but it seemed to fit appropriately.

"I wish my birthday was earlier in the year. By the time December rolls around, it will be freezing out and there will be snow everywhere and we'll have to celebrate inside."

Theresa pretended to be hurt that Shelby wanted to hit her "that is so mean, I cant believe you would want to do such a thing" she said, raising a hand to her heart.
"Don't worry Shelby, we can have a lot of fun inside with that Room of Requirement, we can do anything with it and we can try those muggle things you were talking about" she said, trying to cheer her up. Only if she could remember what that muggle thing was.

"Do you mean we'll watch movies on a television using a DVD player," Shelby joked, emphasizing the muggle words that Theresa wasn't used to. "We can do that any old day. We need to do something extra special for my birthday. Or rather, you, Hilary, and Lauren need to think of something extra special for my birthday. I want whatever you plan to be a surprise," she said. Shelby had always wanted a surprise party but she never got one.

Theresa nodded "I could have remembered them on my own" she said."We will come up with this thay are for being inside" she said as lot ideas rush to her head."I still don't understand that thing, I am going to find out though" she said, determind.

Cass was so excited. Birthday parties were the best.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" she sung, as she joined the group. "Hope I haven't missed any of the present opening or anything."

She looked at everyone's birthday outfits, and sat, deflated. She'd forgotten to change out of her robes.
"You all look beautiful," she said quietly.
"But, Theresa, I'm sure there's Veela in you today- you look positively radiating," said Cass, mimicing a personal stylist. "Fabulous, Darlin', fabulous," and winked, smiling again.

Theresa laughed slightly at Cassi's comment as she looked up at her. She smiled at her friend, glad that she could see her today. "Part of a Veela in human form or a part of a Veela in their bird form?" she asked jokingly. She laughed more at her impersonation of a personal stylist.

Hilary couldn't help but laugh at Shelby's comment regarding her birthday. "It's not going to be much of a surprise if you're expecting us to do something awesome," she teased. "Maybe we won't do anything at all." She stuck her tongue out at Shelby.

Hilary turned and smiled at the girl who had just arrived.

"Happy Birthday Theresa!" Jenny bounced into the party. Everyone looked like they were having fun, but she could tell which one was the birthday Puff. She smiled brightly, knowing she had to leave soon, but wanted to chip in her amount of cheer. She wanted to wish Theresa a happy birthday, regardless of their lack of relationship. Honestly, Jenny wasn't sure she'd ever met the girl.

Harmony skipped out by the lake, smiling. She had heard about the party, but she was rather busy. She decided to just drop by and see the birthday girl.

"And a very happy birthday to you, Theresa! I hope it feels amazing being a year older!" Harmony exclaimed. "I can't stay long, unfortunately, but I hope you have a great day today!"

Shelby grinned at Cass, Jennifer, and Harmony as they made appearances at the party. "Thanks for stopping by to wish our cute Puff Puff a happy birthday," she said. "It's too bad that you missed the fireworks though. That was a pretty awesome surprise, right Resa?"

She turned to face Hilary and put on the saddest face she could muster. "You're not going to do anything for my birthday?" she gave an exaggerated pout to make sure that Hilary knew she was joking.

Theresa smiled at the girls "thanks" she said cheerfully. She looked at Shelby and stuck her tongue out "we should so promise that none of you mention anything about that whole 'cute little puff puff' thing" she joked. She grinned as she looked at Hilary, wondering what she was going to say.

Alexandra skipped down to the lake, whistling the birthday song. She had just gotten the owl about Theresa's birthday and wanted to come to the party. "Hey guys!" she called out, bounding over to them. "Happy birthday Theresa!" she said, giving the girl a hug.

Theresa smiled when she saw Alexandra skipping towards them, she seemed happy. "Thanks" she said as she was hugged. She didn't think her birthday was going to be this fun, she was planing on spending the day reading or something. This was a lot better though and she loved her friends for doing it. "How have you been?" she asked Alexandra.

"Pretty good. Except for classes and stuff..." she said with a small laugh. "So how's this party going? Having a good birthday?" she asked, looking around at the group assembled by the lake. "So you're a year older! Wow," she exclaimed.

Theresa nodded "yeah, some of the classes have been terible, I heard that there is a new Herbology Professor so hopefully, that lesson will be better, the last Herbology Professor was kind of a joke, he didn't really teach anything" she said. "Everything is great here, really fun, some one set off some fireworks before which looked briliant" she said. She groaned slightly at the mention of being older "that is the only thing I hate about birthdays, your older" she said, dhe didn't mind growing older, it was just that she was a year closer to being a grown up now.

Alexandra laughed at what Theresa had said about the Herbology teacher. "Yeah, I know what you mean about him," she said. "Wow, fireworks, that's so cool! Where did you manage to find them?" she asked. She noticed Theresa's groan about being older. "Hey, being older's not so bad. You've got plenty of time left to be a kid!" she said.

Theresa grinned "I hope so otherwise I might just be one of those adults who still act like children" she joked. "I actually don't know, someone set them off for us but we don't know who they were" she explained. She remembered looking around but she couldn't see who did it so just decided to enjoy the firework show. "I actually dropped Herbology because of that man, he was very spiteful, I hope the new one isnt".

"Hey, those adults who act like children are some of the best adult out there!" joked Alexandra. "That's cool, someone just set off fireworks for you? Wow, you have a good friend somewhere," said Alexandra. "So do you think you're going to come back to Herbology now that there's a new guy?" she asked.