Where Did the Party Go?

Last year's dance was heading fast towards being a total bust until he saw Fiona and the two plotted one of the best pranks Fane had since the rumor he started about the dungeon trolls. Though this year he had people he wanted to dance with, he was still wasn't about to graduate without having one more good prank. He remembered during his first few years at the school he was pulling pranks nearly every week. Now he hardly ever concocted anything good and it was a pity. Though he was on the brink of being what was legally viewed as an 'adult' he wanted to get one last good one in before graduation.

Fane parted with his last dance partner, as the night had aged and the dance would be declared over within the hour. He had allowed both himself to enjoy the dance as well as Fiona and her boyfriend before putting all festivities to an end. He sought out Fiona within the crowd, spotting her and then casually making his way over. "May I have this dance?" He asked, and pulled her away from any potential eavesdropping people. "Ready to make this party a little more interesting?" He uttered in a hushed voice, grinning his crooked grin.

Her final year. Her final Valentine Dance. Her final everything. Fiona wasn't sure how she felt all about that. All but the final Quidditch match. Now that she knew exactly how she felt. Get beyond that and she'll never get on a broom again. It was just a pity she had to wait for so long before the torture was over. Trying out for the Quidditch team had to be the worst decision she'd ever made in a history of bad decisions.

Taking a break from dancing and her boyfriend she chattered away with some classmates but was soon interrupted by another one. Her partner in last year's prank. Now that had to be one of the better ideas of her school career. And the professors still didn't know how the punch ended with a bit more of a punch than intended. There had been a few hot mouths that night.

She grinned at Fane and nodded, letting him pull her away from friends. "Oh I certainly am," she added in an equally low voice. It certainly would not do to risk anyone else know they were plotting something. She'd only gotten lucky last year that Caleb didn't let it slip Fiona knew something about the punch. This year he wasn't here.

Fane was understanding enough that Fiona might want to enjoy part of this romantic event with her boyfriend and with friends, as did he, minus the boyfriend part, so he waited until a time he felt appropriate before moving in. Much to his pleasure, Fiona seemed about done with the sentiments of the dance and was ready to cause havoc.

At an earlier time, he and Fiona had obtained the nifflers, unbeknownst to Professor St. Pierre, and had them waiting in a broom closet by the Grand Hall. They only managed to get two, being that they were cumbersome to handle, but two would do enough damage. Fane had taken care to leave out all his piercings, a hallmark trait of his face that when was questioned on that evening, Fane replied that they didn't feel formal enough for the occasion.

He and Fiona had only been dancing for half of a song before he excused himself. "Don't you have something to ask Professor Cox?" Fane said, motioning towards the tall Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He figured his dress robes were more suited towards escorting the nifflers in, whereas Fiona would be best suited for distracting the chaperones once more. With that, he discreetly left the Grand Hall and made his way towards the broom stick closet.

Fiona looked over at Professor Cox and nodded. "Why yes. I do believe I do." She couldn't use the excuse of future career with him since she already knew she wasn't suited to the type of career he could give advice on. But she was in his class. There were plenty of questions she could ask and Fiona was sure it wouldn't be at all suspect that his very average student had a sudden interest in the wisdom he could pass onto her. There were, after all, the final exams coming.

She gave her dark lacy dress a smoothing down and a made certain to have a very serious seventh year look on her face. Something akin to what her dormmate's look when the room was messy. This really was going to be the prank of the century. With all that jewellery in the room the nifflers will have a real time of it. Right now Fiona needed to act like the responsible prefect who would never dream of doing something so irresponsible.

"Excuse me Professor Cox," she said as she drew up close to the DADA professor. "I know this is a night to have fun but one thing about our last class is making it awfully hard to focus on my dancing. Would you be able to clear some of my questions up regarding the unforgivable curses?" It really wasn't a complete lie either which would mean there was no way he would ever twig that this was only a distraction from the main event.

Fane slipped out the large doors that hide the Grand Hall and entered a quiet corridor. It didn't take long for him to find the broom cupboard where the nifflers had been hidden, and standing outside the closed door, he could hear them shuffling around nervously inside. He was sure locking nifflers in broom cupboards was very poor care for them and would earn him a failing grade in Care of Magical Creatures class, but it would make for a class A prank.

He carefully opened the door just enough to reach his arm in. He grabbed the niffler by the neck, another improper niffler care etiquette, and quickly placed it within the folds of his robes. He continued to do the same to the other niffler only to be bit in the armpit by the first. "Ouch!" He uttered, cringing at the sharp pain, but refusing to let go of either creature.

He wrapped his robes around him tightly, concealing the nifflers and tucking them in so they had little room to escape, before shuffling back into the Grand hall, walking with an odd stature he hoped no one picked up on.

Noticing that Fiona was holding her part in distracting the chaperones. Another nip from one of the nifflers sent a jolt through his spine and the boy decided to hurry up and free the nifflers before further damage could be done. They were getting uncomfortably close to his sensitive parts. However, he couldn't just drop them then, he had to find the perfect place where he wouldn't be obvious.

He moved into a crowd of people, where some were half dancing awkwardly and others were just talking to each other. Surrounded by a crowd, he loosened his robe a bit and allowed for one of the nifflers to slide out. The niffler did so, and relishing in it's newfound freedom, happily bounced away before detecting that there was jewelry around itself. Lots of jewelry. He moved out of the group quickly and dropped the second one by the refreshments table before shouting and pointing at the bouncing nifflers along with a number of other guests.

Fiona was actually quite riveted by the conversation she'd started. Professor Cox certainly knew a lot about the curses she'd questioned him on. Which shouldn't be all that surprising considering he'd once been an auror, not a career Fiona could ever aspire to. Not with her grades but it was interesting all the same. She'd soon enough forgot all abut Fane and the nifflers up until she heard the shouts. Soon the professor was wading into the crowd and probably looking for the Care of Magical Creatures as well. Fiona chose to back away from the crowd.

One of the nifflers turned its sights upon her. "Here. Take it," Fiona said as she threw one of her bracelets at the animal. It held no sentimental value and the only reason why she wore it was to keep risk of suspicion being upon herself away. She shook her head at the niffler as it turned and ran off after someone else who was wearing much more jewellery than Fiona.

"How long do you think it'll take for them to be rounded up?" she asked Fane on the quiet when she finally made to where he was standing. It was hard to resist laughing at the panicking students but she managed to control herself.