Red Ribbon

[Ella Greene]

After spending a ridiculous amount of time sitting in the common room staring at the fireplace, Ella headed out with a large wheel of red ribbon in her pocket. Since it was rather late in the evening, she wasn't very worried about being caught lurking about with a spool of ribbon. It isn't like there is anything against carrying ribbon in the rules anyways... As she was trekking up the stairs to the owlery, Ella was suddenly ridden with anxiety, as this wasn't something she did on a daily basis. In fact, she really didn't want the Slytherin students angry with her. I must not get caught, I must not get caught.... Ella repeated over and over in her head until she finally made it to the owlery.

Once inside, she raised her eyebrows at all of the owls. How am I supposed to find out which owls belong to Slytherin students? Ella walked over to the window and took a peak out, attempting to make sure that nobody would catch her. When she saw a figure swoop by on a broom, Ella immediately regretted her actions, I don't even have an owl! Why am I here?

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary had realized at the Quidditch practice that so many of the younger students were amazing and felt that she'd have to do some more random practicing. After supper she had quickly changed and ran out to the pitch. After several hours of actual practice chasing her snitch around she decided to make it a little more difficult and went off the pitch. Letting it go she gave it a few seconds head start and then started to chase it around the grounds. It flew higher and higher and then suddenly closer towards the castle. Shoot, if I don't catch this someone will see and think I'm a horrible seeker she thought as she made the promise that she'd catch the snitch no matter what. As it flew nearer to the tower Hilary realized she wasn't sure which one it was. It hovered above an open window so Hilary took the quick chance of flying straight in really hoping it wasn't someones dorm. She grabbed the snitch and then fell off of her broom onto the filthy Owlery floor. Wow.... at least noone saw that she thought as she rolled over and saw Ella standing right there. She said the first thing that came into her head, "Got it!"

 

[Ella Greene]

Ella jumped a few feet backwards when she realized the person on the broom was heading straight towards her. Am I that obvious? She stared in disbelief as the person flew straight through the window and landed in a heap on the floor. Wait a minute, that's Hilary! Ella quickly pulled the ribbon out of her pocket and chucked it across the floor in the opposite direction. Nobody has to know what I'm doing up here.... After whistling a few times, Ella realized that Hilary had said 'got it'.

"So, uh, you came in here to catch a snitch?" Ella asked, seeming disinterested in order to hide the fact that she tossed a spool of ribbon across the owlery floor.

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary's face at that exact moment could have fit straight onto a cartoon character. It was the mixture between embarrassment of what she had just done, hilarity of the situation they found themselves in and utter bemusement of why Ella was whistling the Lion King theme song and throwing ribbon around in the owlery at this time of the evening.

Hilary jumped off the floor and began to rub something off her sleeve before she realized that she had her wand with her. Pulling that out she did a few scouring spells on the foreign stains she now found on her robes. Answering her house mates question quizzically she replied "Yeah, needed to practice" as if it was the totally normal thing for a person to be doing in the evening. Ella didn't seem to care that much about that anyways, so Hilary asked "What about you, were you practicing your braiding skills or something?" pointing at the ball of ribbon that was now rolling around the floor.

 

[Ella Greene]

Ella held in a giggle as she watched Hilary clean the stains off of her robe. She was surprised that Hilary could even properly see the stains because the lighting was so dim. "Well, I guess there is some light in here," Ella mumbled quietly, still quite shocked at the fact that her housemate nearly came crashing into her.

Ella raised an eyebrow, even more surprised that Hilary was practicing for quidditch in such a low level of light. Wow, Bruin must really work the team hard, good thing I didn't try out. However, as soon as Hilary mentioned the ribbon, Ella's expression went from confused and amused to embarrassed. In fact, the colour of her cheeks could be compared to that of a fire truck. When Hilary pointed across the room, Ella slowly turned her gaze to the ribbon she had thrown earlier and nodded. "That....that red ball does not belong to me. In fact, I thought it came through the window with you."

Hoping that Hilary would believe her story, Ella crossed her arms and continued to nod like a bobblehead.

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary tried to hold in a giggle as Ella nodded her head like a doggy on a dashboard. Hilary hadn't really noticed the lack of light cause she was so used to working on the yearbook into the middle of the night. When Ella mentioned that the red ball had probably come through the window with her Hilary walked over to it. "Well I'm not sure if this is mine" she said picking it up and wiping it off, "but that doesn't mean we can't have some fun with this." Hilary started to think about what type of innocent mischief two Gryffindors could get up to with a ball of red ribbon. "Any ideas Ella?" Hilary asked with mischief in her eyes.

 

[Ella Greene]

Ella slowly felt her face paling as she realized Hilary wasn't out to grill her on why she was lurking the owlery in the dark. Letting out a sigh of relief, Ella looked at the red ball of ribbon Hilary held. "Well, I mean, it may have came out of my pocket.." Ella said as she tried her best not to look like a goon by grinning widely. "Is there any chance you are familiar with which owl belongs to which student? Because I have no idea, and it could be interesting to, um, beautify some of the owls with red ribbon...I guess." Ella glanced at Hilary and waited for her reaction, knowing that the situation could very well become awkward fast.

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary smiled back at Ella slightly goofily. She gave a strange look to the third year as she tried to cover the fact that the red ball of ribbon was infact possibly out of her pocket. Hilary had been sitting in the great hall watching students get letters every morning for over five years. "Well I have a slight knowledge of whose owls might be whose, I have been watching them come in with notes from the outside for years. It could be very fun to decorate a few of them." Hilary giggled slightly about which ones they could decorate.

 

[Ella Greene]

Ella grinned and giggled, ecstatic that Hilary actually wanted to help her decorate some of the owls. "Hmmm, I didn't actually decide which owl deserved to wear the ribbon. Maybe a Slytherin's owl? That is, if you know of any Slytherin owls in this place. Or..." Ella paused and scratched her head, maybe Hilary would be able to come up with a better idea. "...Are there any owls that you think would be the least likely to be angered over a ball of ribbon? We don't really want to be bitten."

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary's smile widened thinking that she had found another Gryffindor that didn't just want to be oober heroic all the time. While she couldn't quite remember which of the owls may belong to a Slytherin she did see a familiar one sitting not too far away. She got that not too common look in her eyes that she got when she had a good prank idea and turned to her fellow Gryffindor. In a hushed tone she spoke not wanting to scare Legend away, "Hey... why don't we decorate Bruin's owl with some pretty bows?" gesturing over at the owl slightly but waiting for a response before she moved.

 

[Ella Greene]

"Bruin's owl?" Ella gasped as her eyes widened, "Are you sure about this?" Ella didn't mind the idea of pissing off a Slytherin student, but was decorating the Head Boy's owl going a wee bit too far? "If you don't think he'll get angry, then I'm all for it...... However, why don't you do the honours?" The ribbon belonged to Ella, and she definitely did not want to end up taking all of the blame if they were to get caught.

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary smiled mischievously when the younger student gasped. "Bruin's always been a good friend of mine, if we get caught we can just say it's for good luck in Quidditch or something." Covering up her tracks wasn't one of Hilary's strong points, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it. She took the ribbon from Ella when she suggested that she do the honors and then thought about how they should do this. "What do you think? A big bow around his neck?" Hilary asked Ella and then as a side thought continued "Oh, and do you have any scissors?"

 

[Ella Greene]

Ella gave Hilary a bewildered look when she mentioned scissors, the one item Ella had not thought to bring with her. Well, I guess that is why you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw, genius! In an attempt to cover up her silly mistake, Ella put on a mischevious grin and suggested that they would have to tie the whole roll of ribbon to the owl. "Well, I, uh, thought that we could use all the ribbon to tie a really big bow to the owl!"

Ella nodded, and hoped Hilary would buy her excuse for not having scissors and start decorating the owl.

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary gazed at the large ball of ribbon with large eyes. There was a reason why Hilary had been really excited about going to HNZ, no more art classes! Shrugging off this fact she whistled lightly the way she had learned back in her days at the Magical Menagerie. The beautiful owl came down to the perch by her and held out its leg the way they were trained. "No letter today Legend" Hilary cooed gently as she patted the owls head and fed him a treat she found on the platform. With this she started unrolling ribbon. "SO Ella, why don't you come over here and put your finger on the knot so I don't choke him making a bow" Hilary asked the younger student. It would be a weird enough situation to be caught in her quidditch gear, in the owlery, with a giant bow without be framed for coming up with the whole idea as well.

 

[Ella Greene]

Ella watched as Bruin's owl flew down to Hilary on command, she had to admit that it was pretty impressive. Legend, she called him? That's a pretty name. As Hilary unrolled the ribbon, Ella realized that they were going to be tying a very gigantic bow around a not so gigantic owl. Ella walked over to Hilary and the owl and put her finger on the knot as Hilary had instructed her too. The ribbon looked quite silly on the owl, and Ella wondered if Bruin was going to end up seeing his pet all decorated. "Do you think we should just leave him here with the bow when we are finished, or should we bring him over to the Gryffindor common room... Or, do you have a different idea?"

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary really hadn't thought of how their little prank would be discovered. "Well I'm not sure, what do you think?" She looped the ribbon around and pulled it snug over Ella's finger leaving the ends of the ribbon long and loose. The bow looked surprisingly amazing contrasted against the colour of the beautiful owl. The ends of the ribbon shimmered in the beam of light from the staircase as Legend ruffled his feathers.

 

[Ella Greene]

Ella couldn't help but laugh over the sight of Bruin's owl wearing the big red bow. She quickly removed her finger from where the knot was tied and took a step back, as if she were viewing a painting or other piece of art. Hmmm, should Bruin see his owl like this? I dunno.. "We need to make sure he doesn't figure out that this was our doing." Ella glanced around to make sure no other student snuck into the owlery unnoticed. "What if we write Bruin and letter and have the owl deliver it to him?"