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[Professor Emmaline Hopkins]

Emmaline had spent most of the previous night creating her Halloween costume. The young Gryffindor could not bare to ask her mother for money to actually buy a costume, so instead she tried to be resourceful. She needed a costume, it was not even a want. In the Muggle world, you were considered 'lame' if you did not dress up to the best of your ability; which was difficult with little to no budget. Yet this young girl had practice at creating something from nothing. She had the perfect idea for a costume too. A friend had mentioned it earlier that week, Alice from Alice in Wonderland. The costume, itself, was not too difficult to make. Emmaline had basic sowing supplies and a dark blue dress that would work nicely. She had spent the night sowing on lace sleeves, taking lace from another shirt she rarely ever wore. Emmaline then made sure to make a simple white apron, the costume would not be the same without it. Throwing a bow in her hair, the main part of her costume was done. The Stuffed Animal Rabbit Handbag was more of a challenge, but she did her best to complete the look.

Emmaline took once last look at her outfit, proud of herself, before she left her dormitory. She felt like she was walking faster to the Great Hall than normal, her excitement visible. Who did not love this holiday? Chocolate, costumes, and games. It certainly had it all! Emmaline's smile was apparent as she entered the Great Hall, shocked by the change of appearance. The House Colors were gone and replaced with the holiday colors of orange and black. Spiderwebs filled the hall giving it a spooky vibe. There even was a magical moon in place. They go all out! Emmaline thought happily, adjusting the bow in her hair as her blue eyes scanned the Great Hall. She noticed they even had games set up! The Professors had really thought of everything.

Tempted to play a game of bobbing for apples, Emmaline decided against it, knowing it would destroy her hair in the process. Instead the young Gryffindor made her way over to the snack tables. There was such a variety of sweets; some sweets that Emmaline had never seen in her life. She could not help that she had a massive sweet tooth, as Emmaline grabbed a plate and placed a cauldron cake, some self-wiggling worms, and a pumpkin pastry onto the small plate. The young girl walked around, holding her plate as she decided where to sit. Finding a seat close to the snack table, Emmaline took a seat and did not hesitant to enjoy one of her new favourite desserts, a cauldron cake. She could spend all night enjoying these sweets, but as she glanced around the Great Hall, she knew her night had much more in-store for this young Gryffindor than just a stomachache.

Spoiler: Emmaline's Costume

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy had been extremely excited to go to Hogwarts and make a bunch of friends as well as learn a lot of magic, but had quickly found out the magic learning was a lot easier than the friend making, at least so far. After a rough start with some of her roommates on the first night, she had compeltely focused on her lessons for the first few weeks. Ivy had been sure that if she could show in classes that she was very smart, her classmates would appreciate it and be drawn to her automatically. That... hadn't really been the case. She still spent most of her meals either eating by herself or sitting with Brooke or Delilah. But tonight's feast was a great reason to be a bit more social.

Ivy was dressed in a simple costume, though her mother had tried to talk her into something more flashy. But she figured she looked fine as she did now, and went to explore the great hall which had been transformed into something wonderfully spooky. Ivy was drawn to a snack table nearby as she was a bit hungry, and spotted a familiar face there. She grinned, approaching her fellow Gryffindor. "Hey, Emmaline right? Isn't this awesome?" She asked, gesturing to the decorations and everything happening around them in the great hall.

 

[Professor Emmaline Hopkins]

Emmaline took another way too big bite of the cauldron cake. She would never get used to just having non-essential snacks at her disposal. The young Gryffindor always had something to eat, she was never starving. but she rarely got to enjoy sweets or the vast amount of food selection that Hogwarts had for their students. It really was something amazing.

Emmaline was just about to take another bite when a young student from Gryffindor House approached her. She seemed to be dressed as an old fashion hippie from what felt like centuries a go. Wiping her mouth off with her napkin, Emmaline smiled at the young girl. She had seen her around the common room and in her classes, but the name was failing her at the moment. Emmaline was always so focused on the class material itself, that she had never really paid much attention to her peers. This was not working in Emmaline's favor in all aspects. She was getting the grades she needed, but had only really met one person. Who will get sick of me eventually She thought not sure why the negative thought entered her mind.

Emmaline pushed the thoughts away as she turned to the young girl, not quite sure how to go about asking for her name again without seemly brain-missing. "Yes. Hi!" Emmaline started, adjusting her hair out of habit, making sure the blue bow was in place. "I'm Emmaline or well Alice for the night I guess." She said with a small laugh indicating her costume. She had hoped she did an okay job with it, she was just learning to make her own clothing. "I'm sorry. I've seen you around, but I cannot remember your name." Emmaline admited smiling softly. She did feel bad she could not identify the girl other than a fellow housemate.

At the comment of how amazing all this was, Emmaline's face lit up. "It's breath taking" She said "I wish I would have known how to decorate like this for all my birthday parties." Emmaline said with a little laugh. Usually her parties were just her, her mother, and her younger sister with a store-bought birthday cake. But decorations like this would have made it, well more magical.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy smiled at the girl as she confirmed Ivy had remembered her name correctly. She also explained her costume, and Ivy vaguely remembered a muggle story she had read in a book once. She wasn't offended when the girl didn't remember her name, though she felt a bit proud she had managed to remember her name. Clearly, Ivy had the superior memory. "I'm Ivy, Ivy Ashworth." She said. "And it's okay, there's a ton of Gryffindor girls." She said with a small shrug. "You'll learn everyone's name soon enough." She added. Ivy grinned as the girl said she wished she could decorate like this. "Same! I had no idea it would look like this." She said, still enchanted by the beauty of it all. "Do you want to check out the tent?" She asked her, hoping the girl would want to spend some time with her.

 

[Professor Emmaline Hopkins]

Emmaline was relieved that young Gryffindor girl did not seem offended by Emmaline lapse in memory. She always wanted to make the perfect first impression, forgetting someone's name could certainly ruin that. Luckily the conversation moved on as Emmaline took another bit of the sweets in front of her, enjoying the worm gummies. She truly had never enjoyed something quite like that, kind of like the hoping chocolate frogs, but in a way more life like. Emmaline swallowed her candy before speaking. "It's nice to meet you Ivy." Emmaline said with a sweet smile. She always enjoyed meeting more people especially those in her house, made it easy to hang out with them when they shared the same common room.

Emmaline's blue eyes gazed around at the Great Hall still finding new things she had noticed. There were hammocks made out of spider webs, something Emmaline would surely use all year round if she had the option. Her eyes focused on the Fun House Tent when Ivy mentioned wanting to check it out. Emmaline had never been in a Fun House before, but she had seen the movies where things would pop out and mirrors would make you look taller than humanly possible. It seemed to fit her whole Wonderland theme as well, what could be more wonderland than a house where nothing is at it seems.

"I'd love to" Emmaline said, excitement showing in her tone. "I've actually never been in a Fun House" She admitted hoping this was a common thing to never experience before. "But I'm down to check it out. By the looks of these decorations" Emmaline said gesturing her hands around at the decorations around them. "I can assume they put a lot of thought into everything here" Emmaline said with a smile, liking that the Professors wanted them to have a good time as well as load them up with classwork.