"If you're sure," Callista said to Blade. "If you're sure." Then she heard Zoe. Great. An excuse to slip away.

"Zoe, it's your birthday?" Callista smiled. "I'll have to get you a present, too. Plus, I need to check in with Madam P. You all go on to Honeydukes and I'll catch up with you. But, remember, if you're coming to the party there will be lots to eat, so don't eat all your Honeydukes haul at once!"

She collected her owl and her packages and departed the pet shop.

Once she was a good way away from any of the establishments which put out a lot of magical energy, she sat herself down and fired off a quick message to Klaus Albrecht. (It did not occur to her that Blade's grandfather might not be a wizard--not given the way he'd described his parents. It was odd enough that his grandfather had a Facebook page. Since she was messaging him through a Muggle medium, she was careful about her wording anyway.)

"Dear Mr Albrecht-- your grandson Blade Edwards would really like to hear from you at school, and asked me if I could help him to get in touch. We're friends, and he noticed that I had a mobile. I'm not sure why he can't send you a letter, but you could send him one? You know the post at school is a bit peculiar, but I'm sure you know how it works.

(If you get this today, you can message me back, but I'm sure you know I won't be able to get any messages until the next time I can get into town and away from school.)

Yours sincerely, Callista M. Zabini"

Then, true to her word, she stopped by Madam Puddifoot's to give her the amended guest list. It occurred to her that perhaps she should've got her owl and her packages after the party, but she took a moment to open them and discovered that she had two of the same accessory--one she had bought for herself and one which her sister had sent her. It was a clip with blue silk roses and white lace, and it could be clipped in your hair or at the neck of a blouse.

Well, that was serendipity.

She wrapped everything else back up and stuffed it all into her shopping bag, except for the owl and Sabrina, of course.

When she caught back up to everyone else, either at Honeydukes or outside of it, she'd clip the blue roses onto Zoe's blouse.

. ((Strictly speaking not sure I should post anything with Klaus so I'll need to double check with Bennet. he was confused since he doesnt know English but saw Blade's name. And I will check if he can give a reply or what.))

"A few days ago, on the twelfth," Zoe replied. "Uncle sent me money and mum and dad arranged the owl for me. Oh ye don't need too," she said blushing.

Callista found them at Honeydukes. She didn't want any candy right now because she was excited for petits fours and scones, but she knew she would want some in the next few weeks. "Happy birthday," she said to Zoe, and clipped the blue flowers to her blue blouse; the back had both a pin and a clip. "I ordered a bunch of little presenty things from IW as well as the things for myself, so no take-backsies, just enjoy."

She had ordered a few things for friends, so it wasn't entirely a lie, but it was just serendipity that she'd gotten two copies of the blue corsage.

She didn't say anything to Blade about messaging his grandfather, but she'd told him before that she was capable of doing so, and he looked like he needed to forget about whatever was on his mind.

[img align=left]https://s26.postimg.cc/ikwmnajw9/Fade8-21.png[/img]“What about this one?” A sheepish voice suggested from beside followed quickly by a ‘Mrrh.’ cat-like sound. Fade’s cheeks were a deeper red than usual as he held out the package of Phoenix Oolong tea complete with a majestic bird emblazoned on its label. He knew he was probably in trouble. By the time he realized how many days had passed since he had seen his girlfriend, the guilt made it even harder to face her. She really deserved better. Maybe a nice expensive tea would take some of the edge off.

From Fade’s shoulder, Chase made another half-meow and pawed toward the tea. Fade liked to think his cat was approving of his selection, but he probably just thought it was cat treats or something…

Sauvage let out a startled squeal before jumping from her seat and hugging the very one who had scared her. She had no idea Fade would be coming and any anger she was beginning to feel from his absence melted immediately upon his presence. "Oh, 'ow I 'ave missed you!" She kissed him on the cheek then grabbed for the tea tin. "Zis will do nicely. Alzhough, I sink you could 'ave pulled grass from outside and I would 'ave been just as content as I am now. What are you doing 'ere?" It was obvious by the sound of her voice that she was swimming in excitement. She could not possibly contain herself.

Chase leapt from Fades shoulder, but the boy hardly noticed. The tips of his hair tinted a pinkish-purple hue when Sauvage kissed him on the cheek. “Went to the Three Broomsticks and didn’t see anyone, so I just kinda wandered around till I spotted you through the window.” He was thankful to find her here alone, it was easier to be himself when there wasn’t a huge group of people around. Even if they were all friends. “Er. Sorry I haven’t been around much…” He pushed some hair out of his face and his eyes wandered to where Chase was washing his paws on the floor beside them.

Doing school work always sounded like such a lame excuse. Fade had never been good at time management, and the days sort of all blended together until before I knew it half a semester had flown by. Sure maybe his grades were good, but at the cost of his friendships. He was beginning to think it wasn’t really worth it. But he wasn’t going to let his parents down and make them regret allowing him to attend the magical academy. “I like your hair, by the way.” It didn't matter what color she changed it to, they all looked good on her in Fade’s opinion.

"Eet eez okay; I understand." She held his hand and gave a small squeeze for affirmation. She blushed and thanked him for the compliment on her hair. She could barely go a week anymore before coloring it again. "Would you like to stay 'were or go somewhere else? I feed already go to ze Three Broomsteecks, but I would 'appily go back. Oh, and I was going to go ze quill shop to get you some parchment. I sought you might need more." She looked away, feeling embarrassed.

Jona looked around, wondering if anyone was actually going to follow him to Honeydukes. He waited by the door.

“Hey, yeah.” It was cute how she was thinking of him. Fade could always use more parchment, and new quills were just as exciting as Christmas sometimes. “The quill shop sounds great. Were you finished here though?” He had already paid for the Oolong tea, but maybe she had picked some out herself. Chase yawned and stretched after cleaning his paws and was looking up at them expectantly. Maybe if they passed a street vendor Fade would buy a snack or something.

Zoe and Jona headed off, whilst Blade waited for Nimah to look around before they eventually made their way to Honeydukes as well. Soon they all went inside. ((this gives Nimah and Paddy time to look around the pet shop))

When the Slytherin appeared with a lovely broach, she was very surprised. “Oh thank ye!” Zoe said to Callista at the beautiful pin. “It’s gorgeous. Thank ye so much.”

Magnus was still looking for his friends but hadn’t found them so was looking around the bookshop. Blade looked around Honeydukes just looking. He didn’t plan on buying anything there. "Nice corsage," he said unsure if anyone heard him. It did make him wonder if Nimah liked that sort of thing to? Did all girls as a rule like flowers? Mildly he thought Sauvage was taking awhile at the tea shop.

((ooc: well clerks are okay and such but his granddad isn't on the roaster so it falls in a weird line. mostly the kids just talk about parents not interact. Unless it's a special event. It makes for an unusual situation. It's sorta rp, sorta not. So I thought I better double check just to be sure. It only occurred to me that it might be an issue right before I went to bed. For the end of term event I have a character coming so I can figure out what her personality is like and her house, but she's now on the roster so I can play her.))

Callista grinned. "I thought you'd love it. It'll go with that blue dress you got last weekend too. I was hoping you'd wear it today, but maybe next time."

She was concerned about Blade, but people don't like to have their weaknesses drawn to attention, especially boys, so she left it be.

She shook her head as she swiped her finger across the plate, gathering crumbs and frosting the she licked off her finger. "All done!" She went to grab Fade's hand, but suddenly stopped and said, "One moment."

Walking over to Madam Puddifoot, they spoke a bit before the older woman nodded. She went to the glass case in the front that displayed all the tasty treats and goodies the shop offered and pulled something small out. Sauvage thanked her in French, for Madam Puddifoot spoke it as well, and dropped a coin into her hand.

Returning to Fade she said, "Now we may go." As soon as they walked outside, she knelt to the ground and called over Chase. She held out a small biscuit, one that was guaranteed to be pet friendly. She looked up at Fade and smiled while she waited (hoped) for Chase to accept the treat.

"FINALLY!" Jona spun in a circle, almost knocking over a licorice wand center piece. "My favorite place in the world!"

"I was worried about mud," Zoe replied with a blush.

Zoe giggled at Jona as they entered the shop. She was curious why he was so excited since he had no money--something she still thought was extremely odd.

Nimah and Paddy explored Honeydukes as well. (( said to drag them around)) Blade was exceptionally quiet. He had no idea what to say to anyone as he touched boxes randomly.

"Ah, that's true, it's a longer dress than most of mine." Callista glanced down at her white and very baroque-looking teacup pumps. "Mud-repelling charms," she said, and smiled. "But they're easier to do on shoes than on fabric."

She actually had a list of things to purchase from Honeydukes, but first it was necessary to give her cat and her owl their fair share of treats. Once that was done (Sabrina was behaving very well today--she really had not liked being Arresto Momentumed, even though she wasn't sure how it had happened), she began to shop.

"Oh that's a good idea," Zoe said. "But yeah I can imagine fabric's harder." She looked at the pumps with a bit of awe. How Callista could wear those were beyond her. All the cobblestone walkways would be a nightmare. "I'd so fall on my face if I wore pumps." Of course she'd never really owned anything like pumps either.

Blade wondered if Toru was coming as he passed some exploding bonbons. "Anyone want me to hold a basket for them? I've got two arms and can be a personal shopper." Blade asked. Might as well.

"Thanks Blade but I got mine," Zoe said as she picked up a couple of small treats for herself and some for Jona.

"I could hold something, too. Since I went be buying anything." He looked longingly at the displays of colorful, sweet treats. "But I warn you they might not make it to the cash register." He laughed and rubbed his tummy with his hands knowing he would totally eat candy if it was handed to him.

Toru was running very late this morning. They had hardly slept a wink all night from excitement, which caused them to oversleep. They had put on the beautiful things Callie had let them borrow and applied some gentle makeup (they had been practicing the past few days for today actually). They probably looked a little silly like an anime character as they were still eating the piece of toast they had snagged from the Great Hall before bolting down the path to the village. They made it without getting very dirty and in good time. Just outside the town the peeked through the great archway that bore the town's name and took a few deep breaths. It's not like they had been intentionally ignoring everyone the past few days. Hopefully they weren't furious.

Toru gently lifted the parasol and walked into town as if they hadn't done the 300-meter dash. They gently looked around for familiar friends and spotted most of them in Honeydukes. They gently played with one of their curled ringlets before walking up to them. "D-Did I miss anything?" They asked softly when they were within earshot.

(Sorry for being late. Recovery is kicking me harder than anticipated. But I couldn't stay away any longer!)

Zoe giggled. "I'll let ye carry something that ye are nee going to eat... like ink."

Then Toru appeared. Zoe smiled. "Ooh ye look lovely," she said. "We are buying some sweets. Blade, Callie and I got owls. Sauvage is buying tea and to meet us here."

Blade looked up in surprise since he was thinking of his friend but the very girly person standing before him was not exactly what he expected. "Oh...hey Ru," he said with a tone of surprise and mix of something else. "You look...different." At least one thing was good, Toru knew nothing of the owl post or the attempt and flake out to talk to his granddad.

Yet. Yet, Blade. The two of them seemed to have a hard time at keeping secrets from each other. But the younger Hufflepuff blushed at the compliments. "I-It's much frillier than I normally wear, but Callista insisted I look the part f-for her t-tea party." They had always been so shy of wearing lolita or shota things. Mostly because everything was so expensive and they didn't want to ask for such frivolous things. "I'd love t-to take a l-look at the t-tea shop." Loose leaf teas were a passion of basically their whole family. Many of their relatives often blended their own leaves to suit their tastes.

"Don't be so sure!" Jona joked in response to Zoe. "Maybe eating ink will make me sound smarter?" Just then, someone in a lot of frills walked in. "Toru! Hey!!" Jona ran over to hug the other Hufflepuff.

Toru was suddenly attacked by a blur of color and loud sounds. "Oof! H-Hey Jona. A-Are you feeling better?" They had known he was sick for the past few days, mostly because they were in the same year and house. So word got around after all. They gave the boy a warm smile and gently patted his back. "What's this a-about eating ink?" They gently cocked their head slightly in confusion.

But then they remembered something. "OH! Zoe." They moved to rummage in their small clutch and pulled out a tiny bit of scrolled parchment, with a wave of their wand it expanded to about the size of an 11 x 17 print. "H-Happy birthday." They said shyly and handed it over. Inside was a beautiful painting of Zoe in a breezy blue dress that shimmered like a thousand diamonds. She had stunning pixie wings and looked like a fairy princess. "I-I hope you l-like it."

(Edit: Taking my pills and off to bed. ILU all. I will be back tomorrow!)