Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 81 | Singin' In The Rain

For at least another hour, Charlus found himself stumbling about Hogwarts in confusion. Every door that he chose to open led him to another place in the castle, until Charlus was completely and utterly lost - despite him having attended the school for the past five years.

"What on earth is going on..." Charlus muttered underneath his breath as he sighed and grabbed another door handle, shoving through the doorway and falling out into the corridor to the tapestry room - he would've known that corridor anywhere, due to it being the frequent place for them to hang out in since first year.

''If this is another prank, I swear to Merlin that I will not hesitate to kill you all,'' Charlus called out in the darkness, groping his way towards where he knew the tapestry room entrance was.

''That's very mean, Fleamont! I take offence!'' Florean's voice called out but, no matter how hard he looked and how much he craned his neck, Charlus couldn't see where his friend was, thanks to the absence of light that his friends had ensured.

''Guys...'' Charlus started to say, feeling rather sick and tired of all these pranks now - he just wanted to relax and have fun instead of constantly glancing over his shoulder in a paranoid fashion, always waiting for a prank to happen. "Excuse me, some of us are not guys - that's sexist!" Pomona's voice came from the dark expanses of the tapestry room and, concealing a chuckle, Charlus moved forward and had to shield his eyes as soon as he entered.

What awaited him in the tapestry room did actually surprise him for the place had been heavily decorated and, unlike the mocking decorations that had been placed all over the Gryffindor common room that morning as a joke (with stupid pictures of Charlus plastered everywhere which were accompanied by sparkly pink banners), these decorations were actually more suited to him as a person and the room actually looked stunning.

The tapestry room had been completely transformed - the old, sagging but comfortable sofas had been draped with red silks to make it seem more eloquent; colourful banners that actually were in Charlus' favourite colours of maroon and gold were adorning the walls; balloons drifted in the corners, weighted down in baskets; a massive table had been conjured that was filled with a little banquet of all Charlus' favourite foods and The Stupefiers music was playing, which warranted a smile from Charlus as he loved that band.

Photos of him and his friends were propped up on every surface possible and Minerva beckoned him over to see a massive book that his friends (including everyone in the S.S.E.A.W. because they were all practically one big friendship group now) had all filled with photographs and messages from them, many including favourite memories and inside jokes that made Charlus laugh. "Everyone wanted to do something nice for you," Minnie told him and Charlus surprised her with a hug, causing her to squeak in alarm.

"I know we've been dreadful to you all day but we didn't want to make you suffer for all of your birthday," Lyall said with a grin, patting him on the back before Florean bounded over, excitement radiating off him, "Charlus! Charlus! Seeing as you're sixteen now and only two years off drinking legally, I decided to go out of my way to smuggle us some alcohol....only a bit though, we don't want you getting drunk on us!" he shoved a bottle of Firewhiskey into Charlus' hand, skipping back to David soon after.

The rest of the night was filled with laughter, jokes, reminiscing and a lot of eating and drinking - everyone confessed which pranks had come from each individual and Charlus did take slight offence to the fact that it had been Clover Paris and Daphne Meadowes of all people, easily the most 'innocent' ones out of the entire group, who had flipped his dormitory furniture upside down.

"It's always the people you least expect that surprise you," Pomona laughed, nudging Charlus slightly and he rolled his eyes affectionately, wrapping an arm tighter around Euphemia, who was seated beside him but had gone rather quiet for a bit. There was a moment of collective silence before Garm raised his hand, "Hey, is anyone up for a game of Truth or Dare?" he asked the group, which was a suggestion that was met with cheers and affirmative noises.