[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]Harper Elliot slinked into the Great Hall and glanced around. Clutching her bag, she headed over to the far side of the Ravenclaw table and sank down into a bench. She filled her goblet with pumpkin juice and shoved a piece of toast in her mouth before reaching into her bag for her Charms textbook, some parchment, a quill, and some ink. She wrinkled her nose at the quill and thought, Why do they even still use these things?

Harper set the stationary aside and opened her text to the bookmarked page, but quickly began to get frustrated as she got crumbs on the pages. She wiped it off, shut the book, and shoved it aside. She focused on her toast instead.

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]After Peeves pelted Amanda and the others outside of the Great Hall, he zoomed inside the Great Hall. Harper turned her head as the cries of the students reached her, but it wasn't soon enough. Peeves lobbed a lime green water balloon at her head, dowsing her with water. Harper leapt to her feet and yelled, "Ruddy hell!"

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]Harper stared around, cheeks reddening from anger. She had heard about the poltergeist, but even the warning given to her by the prefects didn't help her situation. She looked down at her book and her stationary, glad they were still dry, then a thought popped in her head. I wonder if there's a spell for drying off my hair and clothes... She sat back down and immediately began rifling through the pages, looking for the spell.

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]Harper looked up as Francine () shouted in her direction, but it was too late. The water balloon hit her square in the face and exploded. Harper screamed and sat there frozen for a moment, mouth hanging open. She reached into her pocket for her wand and yelled "Aguamenti!" and pointed the jet of water at her.

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]One of the water balloons had tossed at the poltergeist went sailing a little too far and hit Harper square in the chest. "Eegh!"

She could hear Peeves cackling as he slipped in and out of visibility. He was getting entirely too much joy out of this. Deciding to take away a bit of his fun, Harper sat back down at her seat on the bench and pretended to ignore all that was going on around her.

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]Harper smiled and took the towel from , then took off her glasses and wiped off her face and tried to dry her hair a bit.

"Thank you," she said when she finished. She looked down at her book and wrinkled her nose. "I don't care about getting wet, but not the books! They're pricey enough as it is without having to buy two."

She looked up at Elune and frowned slightly.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Harper! Ravenclaw too?"

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]Harper quickly thanks for helping her dry off her books. She wasn't too concerned about her clothing, though that was certainly helpful.

She nods in acknowledgement to Poppy () and listens to the three of them () talk about dancing. Red starts to creep across her face.

"I'm not very good at dancing either, but I love getting dressed up! I can't wait to get my dress robes out. What color are you all going to wear?" She looks over at as she sits down and her cheeks flush even more. "No! No one's asked me. I'll... probably just go by myself. Safer that way."

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]"Ooh, purple is lovely! Wha--" Her next question was interrupted by taking hold of her and twirling her around the Great Hall. Harper tried to keep up, trying not to stare at her feet. Dancing wasn't all bad. When released, though, she sighed gratefully and sat back down on the bench, watching Gaia lead Tate around the room. She perked up when Gaia mentioned she had asked someone.

"Who are you going with?" she asked, intrigued.

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]Harper blinked, staring at momentarily.

"I think it's official when you actually ask him to go and he says yes or says that he will go with you," she said finally. She thought this was obvious, but she could see how it could be confusing.

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]"Well, at least that way you know you'll be at the ball with him, even if you don't go together! So maybe it doesn't matter so much," she suggested. Her eyes lit up at the mention of a charm to change hair color. "Oh, that charm sounds wonderful! Sometimes my hair just... makes getting to wear cute colors just so difficult."

She grumbled a bit and grabbed a piece of toast, nibbling on it.

"Sophisticated will definitely be a nice change. Not that our uniforms don't scream professionalism, but there's just something about getting to dress in long, elegant evening gowns! Especially if they are silk." She grinned.

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]"Oh, that would be wonderful!" She set down the piece of toast on her plate and pulled her feet onto the bench to face , hugging her knees. "What do you think we should do to it?"

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]"I hadn't really thought about it. Hmm..." Harper thought about it for a short moment. "Well, it would be nice to get out of the Ravenclaw blue for a change, even if it's just a lighter shade of blue... What about green or a light purple? Periwinkle is my favorite color, but I'm not sure if that's what I want to go with. I think I definitely want an updo, though!"

[IMG align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperblue.png[/IMG]Harper looked into her reflection and turned her head side to side.

"Oh!"

She took off her glasses and looked once more before turning to .

"What do you think? Too much? I'm not sure if I like it..."

[IMG align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperblonde.png[/IMG]Harper giggled, checking herself out in the reflective surface again. "Definitely more my style, that's for sure. I might even get away with wearing pink for once!"

She got up and spun around, modeling the hairstyle for .

Harper twirled around with the pink hair first, but wrinkled her nose at it. "No, definitely not."

She mimicked the spell had used to change her hair and changed it to the sandy blonde updo previous to the pink locks. Not bad... but let's try with some flowers, she thought. Using the orchideous spell, she conjured up some pink flowers to put in her hair. She twirled again to show Gaia, but then decided to try the other blonde hairstyle she liked previously. She nodded satisfactorily.

"What do you think? Wouldn't use the tights and these shoes, of course. I'd prefer a bit of a longer dress, but this is really cute!"

[IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperdressup3.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperdressup.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperdressup2.png[/IMG]

Harper gave an excited squeak at the dress and immediately tried it on, changing the colors to match the magazine, except for the red version. She also tried the green version of the dress with her regular hair to get a feel for her options.

"What a lovely find! They're gorgeous!"

[IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperdressup4.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperdressup5.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperdressup6.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/harperdressup7.png[/IMG]

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]Harper waved her wand and prayed that her appearance went back to normal. When it did, she let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you so much for your help, ! This was really fun," she said with a grin.

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/raven.png[/img]"I agree with you! ()" Harper said, clapping her hands together. " could definitely become a stylist! I bet other girls would love her help for the ball."

(OOC: since roleplaying with you today was such fun, I do plan on opening a Ball Prep RP thread next week. ;) Your services may be needed!!)