Snacks, Friends, and Laughter

[Rose Holland]

The tour of the house was nearly finished, and Rose was excited to show her friends her room. They had all obediently followed her as she had showed them the house, and now she opened her bedroom door. "And this is the most important part, where all the fun is happening tonight...." She beamed and extended her arm. "My room!"

Rose's room was light with large windows, bright orange and red walls. A few posters of animals were on the wall. The entire floor was filled with mattresses, just enough to let four people sleep there comfortably. The few empty spaces of floor were filled with bowls of snacks and bottles of soda. She smiled. "Everyone pick a spot!" She said, clapping her hands. "We're going to have so much fun!"

Rose's two youngest sisters Diana and Alice had been following the tour the whole time, and now the oldest of the two Diana spoke up. Her voice petulant as she crossed her arms."You're not allowed to have sweets in your room Rose. I'm TELLING."

Rose laughed. "Mum said it was fine!" She told her sister, but unsurprisingly she still ran off to tattle. Her voice audible as she loudly complained to Rose's mother, only to be told the same thing Rose had said. Rose shook her head. "Sisters, right?" She said with a small smile, though she ruffled Alice's head to show she didn't mean her. The youngest girl giggled and gave Rose a hug before running off too.

There was one sister Rose was missing, though. Phoebe was the only one allowed to stay up a bit longer as well and have fun with them, though she would have to sleep in her own room. But she had stayed away so far. Rose bit her lip, wondering if her friend would show up at all. She sighed and let it go for now, hopping over to her bed and sitting down on it. "Are you guys excited?"

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory had been glad to find that she and Rose were back to normal by the time this sleepover had rolled around. Not that she had doubted they would be, it was hard to stay mad at her friend when she was always so funny and energetic. But it meant that tonight was going to be totally awesome, even with Hayley here. Well, Hayley wasn't so bad actually, she'd discovered after their excursion to the kitchens together - she was even pretty cool sometimes if you caught her at the right moment. But she hadn't realised the other girl and Rose knew each other well enough for her to be invited over. No matter, the more the merrier really. Rory had been pretty interested to follow Rose all around her house, and now she bounded eagerly after her friend to see her room.

"Wow, it's so cool!" she said, pushing through the door first. Sharing a dorm with the girl for a year and a half had shown Rory all sorts of things about how Rose liked to decorate, but it wasn't really the same as seeing an entire room that belonged to her. It looked just like she would expect it to - all bright and warm and cosy. Without wasting a moment, Rory threw herself down into a spot in the middle of the mattresses and plonked her bag in front of her. "Mine!" she called happily, crossing her legs. She wanted to go straight for the snacks, but held off just to make sure that Harley or Hayley wouldn't take her spot from her - not that she thought they would (well Harley wouldn't, but Hayley might, and ugh she still hated thinking about their names together in the same sentence), but it was best to be on the safe side. Grinning as she listened to one of Rose's younger sisters complain, Rory couldn't agree more with her friend's statement. Sophia was a bit the same, always wanting to play by the boring, boring rules. "So excited," she replied to Rose eagerly. "What are we going to do first?"

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley had been looking forward to this sleepover since Rose proposed the idea, getting to see all her closest friends and get away from home in the holidays her idea of heaven. Backpack and sleeping bag packed up ready, she had bounced impatiently the whole way in the car while Mum and Jason talked about something boring. (Mum was going to let Jason drive home to practice for his restricted, and Harley couldn't quite believe he was old enough to drive a whole car already...) Getting to Rose's house and seeing her friends again was like a breath of fresh air after days of suffocating at home with her parents. She followed along for the tour happily, surprised that Rose came from such a big family. Granted, she only had one more sibling than Harley did, but it really felt like a lot more, maybe because they were all younger. Harley didn't know how she would cope with more than one Zoe running around.

Harley felt at home the moment they got to Rose's room. It reminded her of Rose's area of their dorm at school, but on a much larger scale. "This is awesome!" The snacks and mattresses looked so inviting, and after Rory had claimed a spot, Harley wasted no time flopping down next to her. "Yeeeeeeah!" She yelled, kicking her legs happily. "This is gonna be the best night!"

 

[Hayley Elridge]

This was an odd experience for Hayley, and she had not yet overcome her awkwardness. While she was overjoyed to be invited to a holiday sleepover with her best friend and her . . . uh . . . favourite frustration, Hayley didn't know Rose, and staying at a stranger's house in another city was definitely weird. Harley had assured her that all would be fine and she would be welcome, and so far this had been true. Rose seemed friendly and enthusiastic, and Hayley could certainly do with another friend.

She had trailed behind the others around the house, fascinated by the bizarre things that seemed to be common in magical households (or, at least, the others hadn't commented on them). Rose had so many siblings! Hayley could hardly keep track of them. It must be exhausting to live with so many other people.

Rose's room looked cosy and inviting, its vibrant colours entirely consistent with Hayley's initial impressions of their host. Seeing the others get settled in, Hayley dumped her sleeping bag and backpack and bounced onto the mattress next to Harley. She crossed her legs and bounced up and down. Expressions of enthusiasm seemed to be the extent of the current conversation, so she chimed in with "yesssss! This is so cool." Hayley paused, rummaged in her bag and pulled out her sketchbook. "Actually, first of all, I've got something to show you guys. It's been a while in coming, I know, but . . . bam!" And with that she opened the book to a double page spread of Rory breathing fire. The drawing on the left was Hayley's preference, where she had tried to capture the expression of shock on Rory's face that night in the kitchens. The version on the left had been Rory's request, an interpretation where she was pretending to be a dragon. Hayley had coloured both in; she wasn't entirely happy with the lighting, but the matching red of the flames and Rory's hair worked wonderfully. She had used dull, bluish tones for the rest of the images to make those features stand out and convey the atmosphere of nighttime shenanigans.

 

[Rose Holland]

Seeing all these girls in her room made Rose very happy and excited. She grinned eagerly, mentally going over her plan for the night. The plan wasn't really a solid plan, Rose wasn't very good at making those. She sort of wanted to play some games, but she would have to see how the evening went and what the others wanted to do. She had the feeling some of them were a little overwhelmed with how busy her house was with all her siblings. It was normal for her, though, and she had honestly sort of missed it.

She smiled at Rory when she asked what they were going to do. "I suppose get into our pajamas!" She said with a smile. "I have one with squirrels on it." She nodded in agreement with Harley. "The BEST ever!" She said, jumping up before starting to change into her pajamas. It wasn't a sleepover without PJs and funny socks, in her opinion. She looked at Hayley, the girl she hadn't really known until today. She seemed very nice, and Rose wanted her to feel at home. The girl took out her sketchbook and showed them pictures of Rory breathing fire and Rory as a dragon. Rose's eyes widened, she felt both amazement and envy. She wanted to be drawn like this! Especially with the fire! "Wow Hayley, that's beautiful!" She said, a tinge of jealousy in her voice. "You're talented!"

 

[Aurora Night]

Satisfied that her spot was safe, Rory lunged over to open a bag of chips and immediately stuffed a handful in her mouth. Shoving the bag in Harley's direction, she also took the opportunity to push her overnight bag away to the end of her mattress in order to make more room for them to all sit together. Sleepovers weren't something she was overly familiar with, so she was keen to make the most of this one. She didn't know if changing into their pyjamas seemed very exciting to start off with, but Rory figured since the sleepover was Rose's idea, her friend would know better than she would about anything to do with them. "As long as we don't do any actual sleeping," she said, grinning at Rose's enthusiasm. "My pyjamas might actually be the same tonight too, Mum always matches them up in the drawer 'cause she's boring." Rory wouldn't know though, she'd sort of shovelled things into her bag with only the barest glance ten minutes before she'd left.

More immediately exciting was the fact that she was finally able to see Hayley's drawings from the night of the scavenger hunt. "Oh, cool, you did the dragon one!" she said, leaning across Harley to get a better look at it. She was pretty impressed actually, she didn't think Hayley had been too excited to draw that one - Rory bet the other girl had had more motivation for the picture that depicted what had actually happened. She thought she'd been drawn looking kind of wimpy and scared of the flames coming out of her mouth, but she begrudgingly decided that the picture was probably pretty accurate. She'd always known she couldn't handle anything spicy. Regardless, both pictures looked amazing, and caught up in the admiration of herself as the subject Rory thought nothing of telling Hayley so. "These are so awesome!" Grinning, she looked up from the sketchbook. "See Harley, proof of our bonding. Unless you want me to draw a picture of Hayley, too." The extent of Rory's artistic talent was stick figures, however, so she didn't really want to have her pathetic attempts anywhere near Hayley's drawings.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley settled in on her spot, legs folded, pleased to be surrounded by so many friends. This was her idea of heaven, she thought quietly, as she took the crisps Rory offered and grabbed a handful before passing them on to Rose. It was relaxing, to just spend time with her friends, no grownups or bullies to bother them and a whole night of laughter and fun ahead. "Jason just gave me a bunch of his hand-me-down pyjamas, they're awesome! Way way better than the pink ones mum keeps trying to make me wear." She said happily, pulling her bag close again and starting to rummage for the camo patterned PJs she was eager to try on.

Harley was excited to see Hayley's drawings, immediately abandoning her bag and scooting closer to look at all the details. "Woah!" She said excitedly. "Hayley, these are so awesome! They look great!" Being friends with another artist was so refreshing, and Harley always loved to see Hayley's latest works. Harley finally tore her eyes away when Rory commented, laughing. "I told you guys you were both awesome!" She said happily, relieved to see her best friends starting to get along. "I'll let you off the art hook, Rory. Thooough, if you wanted to try to draw, I'm sure I know some people who could teach you!" She grinned, settling back into her spot on the floor.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley grinned at the shower of compliments on her art. Rory even liked both of them! "Thanks, guys," she said awkwardly, conscious that praise should be acknowledged but unsure how to not make it weird. "'Proof of our bonding' indeed. More like proof that wizard hot sauce is freaking awesome." Hayley wasn't prepared to openly state that Harley's cunning plan to make them bond had actually worked. Speaking of which . . . Rose was enthusiastic about her art, but she didn't seem to recognise it. "Oh, Rose, we didn't tell you about the hot sauce incident, did we? Harley sent me and Rory on a double dare to the kitchens, where we encountered . . . what was it? Fitzwilliam Fimbleton the Fifth's Fabled Frankly F***ing Fantastic Five-hundred Fahrenheit Fairy Flame Feast!"

Hayley snatched a handful of chips from the packet as Harley passed it to Rose, and put her sketchbook down open to that page while she started munching. "Pink PJs? Eugh. What is wrong with your mum?" Hayley's mum was usually supportive of her fashion choices, within reason, and Hayley hated parents who pushed their own gender stereotypes onto their kids. "Wait til you see mine, though." Hayley was justifiably proud of skull and crossbones patterned pajamas, which she had picked out herself, and was sure that Harley would like them too. Finishing her chips, she pulled her bag closer to her and felt around for them.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe was annoyed. She wanted nothing more than to stay in her room all night and have fun by herself. She had loads of things to work on, so many experiments to think up before she went back to Hogwarts. But her mother had come to bug her about spending time with Rose and her friends. It will be nice. Right. Phoebe knew better. She hadn't seen much of Rose's friends, but she didn't like them. They were just replacements for her, and not even good replacements. Rose had barely paid any attention to her during the holidays, so busy planning this stupid sleepover. If Phoebe didn't know better, she would almost think Rose was getting back at her for mostly ignoring her at Hogwarts. But that didn't seem like Rose.

She approached her sister's room, shooing away Diana who was eavesdropping. She ignored her younger sister's glare, and then took her place to eavesdrop herself. The talk inside wasn't very interesting, which wasn't surprising. She almost laughed when she heard the discussion turn to pink pajamas. She couldn't help herself, she opened the door and cut in. "Rose, I can't find any decent pajamas. Can I borrow yours?" She paused. "The pink ones with the goofy faces on them?" The vindictive part of her felt pleased at making Rose look bad in front of her friends, maybe she would think twice before excluding Phoebe again.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was happy to see her friends were taking her advice and changing. It didn't feel like a sleepover in their regular clothes. She was also glad to see Rory shovel chips into her mouth, it seemed like things were going smoothly so far. She hadn't even realized she had been worried it wouldn't go well.

She was eager to hear the story behind the art, glad to be filled in. Rose didn't know Hayley very well yet and the shared history between the other girls was starting to make her feel a bit left out. As weird as it was to feel left out in your own room. The pajama talk was fun too, something they could all talk about. Harley not liking pink wasn't a big surprise. Rose herself wasn't the biggest fan of the color, but she also didn't really hate it. She even had a pair of pink PJs herself, or she'd once had one, she was pretty sure Diana had claimed it at some point.

As if Phoebe read her mind, she came in and added to the pajama conversation. What a coincidence! Rose smiled at her sister, glad she could join them. "Hi Pheebster! Have some chips!" She said with a grin. "I don't have those anymore, I think they're Diana's now." She doubted Diana would lend them to Phoebe though she didn't tell her so, the two were often at odds. "Are you staying for some sleepover games?"

Phoebe shrugged and muttered something about having important things to do. Rose laughed. "Your experiments can wait, come join us! Right guys?" She looked at her friends expectantly. She wanted everyone to get along, and willfully ignored the annoyed look on Phoebe's face. They hadn't been as close lately as before, but that didn't mean Phoebe could just bail on her sleepover.

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory watched the bag of chips out of the corner of her eye, tracking its progress as it made its way around the circle back to her again. The conversation soon distracted her though; she snorted at the idea of anyone trying to force Harley into pink pyjamas, even her friend's own mother. Didn't the woman realise that she had a particular style of dress by now? Sheesh. Rory also felt a bit bad as she suddenly remembered she hadn't even told Rose the details about the trip to the kitchens that had inspired Hayley's drawings, and hurried to correct the mistake. "That flaming sauce stuff hurts," Rory offered, hoping Rose wouldn't be upset that she hadn't mentioned anything related to the scavenger hunt sooner. "I'm pretty sure I couldn't feel my mouth for a week. Don't try it." It was probably the sagest piece of advice Rory had ever given in her life, so she felt quite proud of it. Particularly because she was slightly worried that trying the hottest of all hot sauces sounded like something Rose might do.

Although it was kind of nice to see Harley happy about the fact that she and Hayley didn't outright hate each other anymore, the part of Rory that still quite enjoyed annoying Hayley thought her friend was going just slightly too far in her enthusiasm. "Clearly I'm the most awesome, though," Rory said, sticking her tongue out at Hayley before returning her attention to Harley. "Nah, someone has to be the best at stick figures," Rory grinned. "I'd lose all my hard-won talent at it if I tried to be as good as you guys." Truthfully she just didn't really see the appeal of drawing the way Harley and Hayley did, like it was something they wanted to do so much that they almost needed to. Busy with trying to grab herself another handful of chips, she almost didn't take notice of the fact that someone else had entered the room until she heard Rose asking them to stay. Looking up, Rory saw that one of her friend's many sisters had appeared, although she wasn't entirely sure which one it was. "Hey, if you want some pink pyjamas, it sounds like Harley here can get you some - or my sister, if you're desperate. She loves all that princessy unicorn pink stuff too, you'd probably get along." This girl and Sophia definitely seemed to have the same opinion of fun anyway, judging by the way she seemed to be trying to melt back through the door at Rose's suggestion of staying.