(let's go ahead and say this will close on Friday at 12.01am <3)

Zoe smiled. “I’m sure ye’ll be fantastic,” she said confidently to Liane.

“Toru’s art is lovely,” Zoe said. “Ye are very talented.” Zoe had no idea what to say for the other conversations and decided to keep drinking and nibbling.

(& everyone)

Liane was slightly confused. She hadn't meant to imply that Lucius Malfoy was a completely different person, because in private, her grandfather certainly had his unpleasant moments. He'd accepted that the world had changed. That didn't mean that he liked it. It meant he had managed to avoid ending up in Azkaban permanently, and intended to keep it that way.

Sometimes Liane wanted to ask him why, if their family was really so much better than other families, he had believed that it was necessary to be so cruel back then. But when she considered how that might turn out, and what he might say, she always decided she was better off not knowing. He did care for his son. And for her. And he hadn't been given much choice. She had wondered if knowing Voldemort was a bit like being a frog in a pot, not noticing how hot the water was until it was much too late and you found yourself boiling. Surely he must have been able to pretend to be rational, once, if people like her grandfather, and Severus Snape, had been able to believe in him.

But it was just as well if Elizabeth thought her grandfather fully redeemed. He wasn't going to be making any trouble at his age and in his state of health. And her father had changed a lot more than her grandfather had.

"Your drawings are certainly beautiful, Toru." Liane smiled. "We didn't mean to leave you out of the conversation--it'll be years before you have to think about getting married. And as pretty as you are, I'm sure that when the time comes, you'll have lots of suitors whether or not your parents help pick them out."

Callista winced, hoping Toru wouldn't be upset. She hadn't had a chance to write to Liane in depth about her new friends at school, and they'd been addressing Toru directly--so no pronouns had been used. Besides, she only knew Toru was 'they'. Even though she and Toru had played dress-up, she certainly hadn't seen Toru without bloomers on, and it would've been rude to ask overly personal questions. They'd been in the Slytherin dorms, because they'd been dressing up in Callista's things, and she had no idea which side of the Hufflepuff dorms Toru lived in.

"They really are," Callista agreed. "Toru is very creative, and I'm so glad I met them this year." She stressed the pronoun only slightly--enough to clue in Liane, but not enough to be embarrassing for Toru, she hoped.

Liane nodded and shrugged. Whatever Toru's gender was, there was no reason to think that they wouldn't want a committed relationship once they were old enough to be interested in such things...however old that was, which was different for everyone. After all, Callista hadn't started dating anyone seriously either!

"The Japanese pond really is lovely. Callie and I saw one like that in Kyoto last year. Is this from memory, or did you imagine it?"

Then she smiled at Elizabeth. "I've never liked that phrase, 'The Sacred Twenty-Eight'. I'm proud of who and what I am, but none of us are saints. Good on your father--he loves you."

Zoe felt rather at a loss for words the conversation was hard to keep up with and dealing with things she really wasn't sure how to reply to. Was it odd that Zoe could see Toru dating before she dated? "I've nee been on a date myself," she said casually. "I think Toru would do better on a date than I would." She gave them a reassuring smile. Truth be told, she expected herself to become a crazy cat lady with 50 cats who some how learned to speak to them and maybe even in old age she started to dress as a cat. Yeah that sounded Zoe-ish. She chewed her bottom lip as she saw the mental image of a grandmother-looking Zoe with cats following her around everywhere mewing in song as she lead them around with her flute. She snorted with the imagery. Cat-pied piper... Only then did she blush realising she'd zoned out and went on a side trip into Zoe land.

(& everyone)

Callista smiled. "I have a bit of a crush on Wayland," she said--she'd told Toru before-- "but I don't know if he likes me or not. I've actually never had a boyfriend. I'm so busy, though!" After a moment, she shrugged. "I don't know if I'll ever get married, but if I do, I can't see it happening much before I turn thirty. After I get out of school here, I'll go to design school, and I probably won't date anyone there. Most of the other students will be Muggles, so if I don't get together with Wayland or someone before I leave school...well, maybe your cousin would know someone I could go out to dinner with once in a while?" She glanced at Toru with an expression that was half-hopeful, half-joking.

"And then I'll be busy building my brand--in both worlds. I have a lot of work ahead of me. Besides, I don't know how other people do it. Liane's grandparents have been together forever and her father was widowed and hasn't remarried. Compared to the Malfoys, or the Covingtons and the Montgomerys...the only person in my family who's still with someone they met when they were our age is my oldest sister Camilla, and she met her girlfriend Zainab two Tri-Wizarding Tournaments ago at Alexandria. Half the people in my family who've been married have been married at least twice. Fiammetta's in San Francisco studying coding and working on a project for making computers and phones easier to use around magic. Once in a while she mentions she's gone out on a date with someone. But it never seems to go anywhere. She'd be living all by herself if she didn't have Tiana."

Liane smiled in confused amusement. "Callie. You're making Tiana sound like a roommate. Tiana's a fossa. You'll find someone when the time is right. Besides, I'm sure Blaise would be happy to introduce you to some people when you're done with school."

(and all)

Zoe was surprised a pretty girl like Callista hadn't dated before. It gave her hope though she couldn't really think of a boy she liked that way either. Maybe he wasn't there? "I'm sure a lovely girl like ye'll find someone when the timing is right. By then ye'll've conquered the world--through clothing." She giggled at the idea of a clothing army as that's what her statement sounded like. "I'll have become so eccentric that I'll be asked out only by cats. Only I will nee notice since I'll think they just want food. So they'll gain weight and be fat rolly-polly kitties. Then I'll develop a kitty treadmill to help them loose weight. Which they'll dislike can say I'm a drill sargent. They'll leave mice on the floor as a threat and I'll pat them on the head condescendingly because I'll think they just were trying to feed me since I'm a terrible huntress. Eventually the mess I've created for having so many cats will be my undoing and they'll have taken over the house and demand I worship them. After all they were Gods to the ancient Egyptians and they have nee forgotten. I'll have to learn to speak rat and help over throw our feline oppressors and take back the house. Once I re-domesticate my cats with the soothing sound of my flute I'll go about dressed up as a cat and playing my flute--expanding my horde exponentially as I wander the world as an old woman."

(& everyone)

At first, both Liane and Callie had to fight not to give into the instinct to tell Zoe that she was selling herself short, but as Zoe continued, neither one of them could help laughing. Callista made a note to tell Zoe later that it was wonderful when she shared what was going on in her imagination, but right now she was too busy cracking up.

"You're going to be the Pied Piper, only for cats and not rats!" Callista finally said. "Cats are so popular in Japan that there are cafes where you can go and play with them while you have tea or coffee and snacks if you don't have one of your own. I'll have to hire you for one of my shows. You can play the flute, and we can have cats come out with the models wearing coordinating accessories. The runway pictures will be in Spoon magazine and Fumiko Kawamura will be so sad that she didn't think of it first."

Madam Puddifoot had a special cake that she baked toward the end of the terms, when older students would come to the tea shop to propose, or when girls threw parties to congratulate each other on their engagements. Miss Zabini hadn't said that this was the purpose of the gathering--but she couldn't resist hurriedly adding the words "Congratulations Juliana" in dark pink icing to the top of a small strawberry-champagne flavoured heart-shaped cake with iced pale pink roses all over it for the Malfoy girl. The cake floated out to their table, surrounded by an entourage of cupcakes, and the desserts settled themselves in front of Juliana, Callista and all of Callista's guests.

It might have been a little eerie how everyone got their favourite flavour of cupcake--whatever that was--but while Madam Puddifoot had never been able to predict world crises, or even party crashers, she had a highly specialised divinatory talent when it came to that sort of thing.

(Sorry, I thought Elizabeth (my OC's name btw, but no worries! =D ) was looking at the instagram pictures on Juliana's phone! :'D )

Elizabeth laughed a bit at Juliana's comment about 'The Sacred Twenty-Eight'. "I don't know, I think it has a nice ring to it. The author was somewhat creative at least.", she replied in an amused tone, then nodded at the comment about her father. He was always trying to protect her from all possible harm and cared a lot about her. She sometimes wondered why he was like this - other fathers weren't that way with their children. She recalled a memory where she had asked her father why she got bethrothed, given that they were just the Covington family, reassuring him that she was not unhappy about it, but simply curious. Isaac Covington had paused for a moment, thinking, before explaining to her that he wanted the best for her so she could live a happy life. Then he chuckled and said she could have fit in Ravenclaw as well with her thirst for wisdom and her curiosity. Elizabeth had been twelve then and laughed as well, telling him that Slytherin was the only house she would have wanted to be in and a smile appeared on her father's lips. It had been a wry smile, but the girl had never noticed.

She was sunken in her memories, grinned slightly at Callista's mention of Wayland - she was obviously head over heels for him - and listened to Zoe's explanation of her own future. Of course the Ravenclaw was just joking - well, hopefully - but her imagination went wild. The picture of dressed-up cats, dancing to a flute was so refreshing and pushed her other thouhts away. The cake Madame Puddifoot had made was exceptionally beautiful, but as Julianas name was written on it, she deserved the right to slice the cake. So she reached for a cupcake instead.

(not doing to well today. Major migraine thanks to increased barometric pressure from Florence. Dizzy, nauseous.... so much fun))

"Aye, the cat-pied piper," Zoe said with a grin. "Think of the cat concerts I could preform." She giggled but loved the idea of models and their cats. "I've heard of the cat cafes, I would love to go to one some day. Some of the cats are even for sale. I think that show would be brilliant." She took a cupcake and was pleased it was her favourite--chocolate cake with Almond buttercream frosting and strawberry coolie inside.

(& everyone)

"Callie--how did you manage to slip away and order this?" Liane's eyes were wide.

"I didn't. " Callista smiled. "She must've heard us talking." She hugged Liane. "Congratulations. From all of us. I'm really happy for you. And just happy to have such good friends, everyone here included."

Liane hugged her back. "Me too."

It was a small cake, but after the hug, Liane cut it precisely and shared it. "I'm glad to have met you all," she said. "And I hope I will meet you all again. Thanks for letting me share your party. I do have friends at Durmstrang, but I miss Callie, and I'm glad she has good friends at Hogwarts."