Tristan was kneeling in front of the fire pit arranging the wood, making sure it was in the optimal position for burning. Yes, they were going old school muggle style with the bonfire night. No fancy fire spells here. Just plain old firewood, matches, and a little accelerant.

Once he felt the wood was perfectly laid, he poured a little accelerant on the wood, grabbed a piece of newspaper and crumpling it up, placed it in under the middle of the fire. He grabbed a match, and it wasn't one of those dinky little candle matches; it was one of those really long fire matches, struck it against a rock on from the fire pit, watching as a flame flickered to life. He slowly stuck it in the middle of the pit against the newspaper, and as it caught fire, the wood slowly began to catch as well. Soon enough there was a beautiful roaring fire in front of him.

With a grin, he stood up and checked the table with all the toasting supplies. He couldn't wait for the students to get here.

Abra had been busy. Well, sort of busy. Listen, it was only the first week back, so nobody could expect much from him in the academic sense, but he HAD been busy in the sense that he'd been inviting people to this evening's bonfire. Also, you would think that, now that he was in the oldest year group in the school, approaching people and talking to them wouldn't be so daunting, but not in Abra's case. BIG YIKES, you know?

Still, he'd done it, spread the word as much as he could and all, and now he was arriving at the bonfire himself. Wrapped up warm, of course, because it was always a bit of shock to the system, coming back to Scotland at the start of term. Never had got used to that. Luckily they had the fire for extra warmth.

"Evening, Professor Wayland," Abra greeted his new head of house as he arrived at the fire, flashing a big grin as he did so. Good mood, he was in a good mood.

A bonfire with fellow house mates and friends?

Count her in! Plus there was marshmallows to make s'mores and her friends! What better way to start the new term that way? Professor Wayland was in his right mind that was for sure, she couldn't wait to have fun! After last term she almost forgotten what it was, pretty sure they all did. Last term was over and done, this term was going to be more fun and better!

Walking towards the bomb fire she seen Abra and Professor Wayland the lions new head of house and smiled. She was glad Professor Wayland was their new head of house, he was very nice. "Good evening Professor Wayland hope your well." Looking at Abra she waved at the prefect. "Hey Abra!"

There had definitely needed to be something to get rid of any remainders of last term. Stasya knew that as well as anyone else, except for likely the first years and the transfers who hadn’t had to survive Scrimgeour and his minions. When the idea for the bonfire had been first brought up, she’d been on board. If anything, it could metaphorically burn away the badness, and she hadn’t paused at all in her decision to let people know. Barring actually putting notices up all over the castle, she figured people knew what was going on. A night to just celebrate the start of a new term and the possibilities.

She’d come from the opposite direction as Abra and Stella, having taken advantage of the first weekend to visit the barns and assure all the creatures that she wasn’t going to let anyone hold them hostage and torture them again. It had been heartbreaking last term to know that Petrov had most definitely not had the creatures’ best interests at heart, so she’d wanted them to know she hadn’t abandoned them. Especially Cygnus and Claire, but all the creatures in general too.

Squirrel possibly snuggled in her coat pocket, she’d given the others a grin as she’d walked over from the nursery, Gryffindor scarf wrapped securely around her neck (and not clashing at all with her bright pink coat of course). “Good evening everyone.” And Professor Wayland, of course. Hopefully a lot more people were going to decide to come. She figured it was impossible not to notice the bonfire even if they hadn’t heard about it from her, Abra or Anna.

Ewan couldn’t help but smile as he entered the vicinity of the bonfire, memories of his child hood flashing before his eyes. Holding his hands out towards the flames, he stared into them for a moment before looking around properly for the first time. “Hey Professor Wayland, How are you?” Ewan called over as he walked towards the Professor and the rather large supply of sticks and marshmallows. Picking up a tick at random and a marshmallow, he pierced it and shoved it into the fire, eyes at the ready to remove it before it burned. Walking towards the fire now, he gave a tentative smile and wave at the two other students who were already, not really knowing them all that well.

First week: done! Had Anna done any work at all? Absolutely not! That wasn't the point of the first week back now, was it? Nnnoope! Catching up with friends was the sole point of the first week back to the Castle; classes were just something that ate up her time in between meeting with friends.

Homework? She didn't know her. Not yet, at least. Soon enough she was sure Ollie would start pestering her about it, as well as OWLs. HOWEVER, Anna was not there to think about ANY of these things that day. It was another MAJOR catching up session she was just about to have!

"HELLOOOOO!!!!" The girl exclaimed enthusiastically as she arrived, giving everyone a big wave. She wasn't surprised there weren't loads of people there yet, as the organisers were supposed to arrive first. Ish. "Niiice!!" Anna said, approaching the bonfire that was already lit and the kid who was already toasting a marshmallow. "Hi, I'm Anna!" She introduced herself to the younger boy she didn't know (Ewan). "Thanks for coming to our party!"

MARSHMALLOWS!

The look of determination in the fourth year's eyes were very strong as she made her way towards the area where her house would be hosting a bonfire as a welcome back for the new year. Hopefully there wouldn't be any type of tricks with this gathering like the first night back.

Hopefully no one will have tampered with the marshmallows, right? Right?

She could be seen running in full gallop as she came running towards the appropriate meeting place for the bonfire. A bright smile immediately plastered on her face as she saw some of her fellow lions already there and it appeared that she was one of the first to arrive.

This could only mean one thing......MORE MARSHMALLOWS!

"Hello! I hear there are marshmallows to be had if I'm not mistaken yes?" Taking a quick scan around at the faces already there, providing a friendly wave to each person, all the while taking a glance at where the marshmallows might possibly be....

Should she sniff them them out-NO, no that would be weird....Right?

Fire was cool, bonfires were cool, Józef was cool, so of course he was here. He grinned around at the rest of the students gathered already, and gave Professor Wayland a salute in greeting.

It seemed that, however cool he was, he hadn't quite grasped the concept of fashionably late. Not that he noticed, or cared - no, the second year was perfectly happy to have bounced his way down to the smell of firewood.

And marshmallows?! Marshmallows that they could toast?! It didn't matter how much he'd eaten at dinner (which happened to be a LOT - he was a growing boy, after all) Jó would always have room for toasted marshmallows. ALWAYS.

First weekend at Hogwarts!!! And while on one hand, Amelia might have liked to slip out to go home for the weekend to her husband, she decided to hang around for the first weekend. Not to mention with the bonfire that the Gryffindors, last thing she wanted was to get called back in case of an incidental. Always next weekend.

Standing around the back of the circles, she observed quietly for now, not really recognizing anyone (except her Gryffindor Captain, Anna). Why had Carsyn and Carys not come down for this? Or the Carden boy. She guessed the night was still young though and surely more would arrive. It wasn't as if this was a mandatory school function, but it would be nice to mingle and she couldn't help but think how she would have loved this as a student.

At first, Torii hadn't planned to attend the bonfire. She thought it was just for Gryffindors, but word had quickly gotten around that everybody was invited. A bonfire sounded fun, and since Torii still didn't know how she felt about this school and all its strangers, she thought she'd attend and see what it was all about.

Luckily, it was good weather this time of year. The fourth year headed out toward the barns but steered herself in the direction of the bonfire. She could see it from a good distance away, and it looked like a few people had already gathered around. She automatically felt a sense of awkwardness. Being the new girl at an event like this was terrifying in a way.

She approached the bonfire area and came to a stop, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Looking around, she noted a few adults and a few more students. Oh, look! There was the jogging boy she'd met in the courtyard. The one who'd collided with that bench.

The fifth year walked up with a bit of relief. This year wasn't starting off very well, her siblings seemed to be better off at getting friends... and had managed to leave their oldest sister alone again. She gave a quiet sigh and sat on one of the bales of hay glancing around at the other students.

Maybe she should try to interact with some of them... but most of them seemed caught up with their other friends and she didn't want to be a bother or disturb them. So maybe sitting in her lonesome was in the best... and enjoy her pity party of being the only Livingston apparently incapable of making friends.

Septimus had heard of a bonfire through the grapevines and lo and behold a bonfire there was when he went out to investigate. Certainly, a nice one he had to admit as he approached the point in the grounds surrounding the man-made flames. And the familiar form of the Care of Magical Creature’s professor within the small crowd already there was likely the creator. “Evening Professor,” he greeted Wayland, quickly amending it to “…Professors,” once he registered the new flying professor also there.

Whoops.

“Nice fire,” Septimus commented, the warmth thankfully not stifling in the still warm late summer night. And a nice way to cap the first week of the school term that they had all survived.

Of course he would be here. And it was nice to be at something like this as a participant rather than someone with expectations planted on him. So far....his first week in his new position hadn't been a complete disaster, but it also hadn't been ideal. The start-of-term feast had completely pulled the rug out from under him and sent him on an awful spiral, once he was no longer under the love potion's influence, that he did not want. At least there was one thing to be said about the whole thing: it confirmed just how much of an impact one Levi Kenning had had on the very impressible mind of one Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne.

Sporting his outback hat, the seventh year approached the fire with just a hint of trepidation in his stride. Though he still managed an easy smile on his face. "Evening," he greeted the group at large, though his eyes quickly found those of Abey and Stasya. "Thanks for inviting me." The both of them on different occasions. Anna as well in quite the boisterous manner. "Maybe I shoulda brought my guitar," he mused, a conversation more meant for Abey than anyone else. "You gonna grace everyone with your talents later?"

With more and more Gryffindors arriving, Derf figured he ought to leave them to their pride. Plus, well, he was keen to roast some marshmallows. Moving towards it, Derf past by two girls kinda lingering on the outskirts of everything. "You wanna join me for some roasting?" he offered, looking between Tori and Josephine.

A bonfire night sounded like a really good way to start the new term. Initially, Daisy thought that it was just for the Gryffindors so imagine her surprise and delight when she discovered that this wasn't the case. She waved at the attendees. "Hello, everyone!"

Was Archer pumped for this bonfire? Of course! Especially with the promise that literally anything could happen now that the Scrimgeour regime was over. The feast had proven that, what with Babou running around and the whole spiked pumpkin juice incident. Yes indeed, it was an exciting time. And it was in this spirit that she had chosen her outfit: a tastefully short cropped t-shirt bearing the name of some long dead band (The Police), tapered-leg jeans and a pair of ankle boots; the high pony and sparse jewelry (including a shining belly ring shaped like a tiny pair of handcuffs) tying the look together perfectly.

Oops, there were not one but two professors here. Something that she hadn't been counting on. Oh well, maybe they wouldn't notice? At least one of them was one of the cool ones. "Hey, everyone!" she greeted nonchalantly, plopping down on one of the hay bales, briefly scratching a spot on her leg.

Harri was here! Because bonfires were awesome and toasting marshmallows with friends in front of a bonfire was awesomer. Also because this little event was organized by her house (Gryffindor, her house was Gryffindor. No, she wasn't sorted into Hufflepuff, sadly, but Gryffindor was just a-okay!) leaders and she didn't want to spend the end of her very first week at Hogwarts with her nose in a book.

So pulling her hoodie snugly around her, the young lioness approached the still small group gathered, looking for some particular familiar faces, like her dorm mates Isla and Dia. But they didn't seem to be there yet so onto the next familiar faces! "Evening, Professor Wayland!" Harri beamed. The Prefects and the Quidditch Captain each got a smile for now since she had not any personal interaction with them yet. She was a bit shy, okay?!

But not to the boy she met on the train ride. The one who didn't help much with looking for her then missing toad. "Oi, sling boy!" Geddit??? He wasn't wearing that sling now (see? she swore it was ONLY for show) but she didn't know his name so he WAS sling boy. Aaaaaaand yet another familiar face was the older boy who DID find her toad. She remembered she still haven't thanked him for that because he, er, got busy. "Hi, mister snogger! Thanks again for finding Hohenheim." Harri declared, waving at him from the other side of the group.

Time to roast some marshmallows!

Charlie supposed that it wasn't so surprising that wizards and witches had bonfires, too; however, she did NOT expect for things to be done the muggle way. On her walk down to the event -- which she had heard about from a very kind, older Gryffindor, thank you very much -- from the Ravenclaw common room, she had built a picture of the fire in her mind: floating in midair, rainbow-colored, and maybe in cool shapes, too....

But it was just a boring fire.

With a slight frown, Charlie scanned her surroundings, calculating her next move. Of course, she didn't know a single soul here. She wasn't surprised, seeing as the event was put on by another house (and she didn't know many people anyhow), but she'd held on to a bit of hope anyhow.

In light of this, her next move would be towards the marshmallows and sticks. If nothing else, she could at least get a well-toasted mallow or two out of this. After selecting a stick and two plump marshmallows, Charlie took up residence at one of the empty hay bales, promptly sliding a mallow onto the stick and sticking it into the fire (at a safe distance, of course).

Maybe she could sneak off and visit the creatures after eating her mallows....

It had already been quite the eventful start of term so something as relaxed as a bonfire sounded nice and cozy and welcoming in a way that made it impossible to skip. Vita had bundled up for the occasion, her long brown hair tucked neatly behind her ears and secured in place by a knit hat with a particularly silly Pom Pom on top. What? It had been a gift! She'd also brought a thermos of hot tea, made with care and helping to keep her hands warm on the walk down to the group. She was ready to socialize.

Maybe.

...Was anyone here that she knew?

"Hello everyone," She offered quietly as she claimed one of the empty hay bales and made herself comfortable. "This was a really nice idea." The whole bonfire thing was. The Gryffindors had done well.

A bonfire sounded like just the kind of calm event even Maxie B. Anderson-Belfort couldn't talk himself out of. So, here he was. Dressed in a northface X supreme jacket, a crewneck t-shirt, a pair of blue camo pants and some nike sneakers (he didn't want his Jordans or Yeezy's getting dirty and the grounds were, well.. dirty). He realized his error as soon as he reached the fire. 1) no one at all was really dressed and 2) it was way too warm for this big dumb jacket. With a nervous look - or two - or three - Maxie pulled off his jacket and sat it down on his seat as if burying the evidence. He pulled at his crewneck collar, adjusting the neck so it sat perfectly flat as he looked over the faces alight around him.

Um.

Yeah, um.

Maybe this wasn't as chill as he'd hoped.

Um.

He nodded to the girl beside him (Vita), before turning his attention back to the bonfire.

What did one do at a bonfire?

A bonfire? At HOGWARTS?

Yes he was in!

Lucas had to stop himself from skipping down to the place where the bonfire was taking place. It wasn't going to be anything like the camping trips they had back at home but he was sure it was going to be great. Especially if there were marshmallows as well, which there had to be because it wasn't a bonfire without one.

What he didn't count on was how many people were already there. His smile slowly started to fade the closer and closer he reached the bonfire. There..... really was a lot of people here. More than he would've liked. He started fiddling with his hands, suddenly very aware of how loudly his heart was beating and how little air there was here.

In the air.

Outside.

Reaching the spot where most people were gathered, Lucas cleared his throat before saying, "Hey, everyone." Cue a small, nervous beam from the second year as he chose to take a seat, uh, somewhere. Anywhere.

And look! Marshmallows!

A bonfire

Igor had never even seen or been to one. Only one week at this school and it was already mad how many new things horrible and good that has happened. Was it always like this at school because that was crazy. He made his way down there not really sure if he should have went with his dormmates or by himself or you know. But he was here now looking around to see anyone familiar and all he was seeing is a lot of older kids

Also, did the older Gryffindor look remarkably like Max(ie) or was it just him. Maybe it was just him.

And....uh...what does one do at bonfires anyway besides sitting down and starting at the fire.

These marshmallows were, there was no other word for it, Lush! Although he did do a good job at toasting it so that it was golden brown. If only there was a cracker and some chocolate here. That would make it perfect. And as if out of nowhere, there was a girl next to him out of nowhere! (Anna) Or, he’d simply been too into his marshmallow to notice. The second one was more likely. “Uh hi, I’m Ewan” was what he wanted to say. What it sounded like was another thing. With a big gulp, he continued “This is your party? That’s nice of you”. He had to admit, it was a pretty cool idea. He’d have to throw one sometime. One thing was for certain, there wouldn’t be any pumpkin juice…

Looking around now, he couldn’t help but there were more piranhas here ready to eat his marshmallows. Okay, that was harsh. They were Gryffindor’s and this was their event after all. Laughing, he waved at each new person before going to grab another marshmallow and joined the fire again, quickly noticing that a certain bench sitting Slytherin from the other morning was also there now (Torii). Only this time she wasn’t sneaking up on unsuspecting runners. “hey, it’s nice of you not jumping out of nowhere on me this time” and playful smile on his face. “How’s your first week been?”


After a moment, he looked around at the surprisingly large crown that has amassed, giving a wave to his fellow Ravenclaw (Septimus) because the place was honestly full of Gryffindor’s. Surprise. Surprising, he noticed a lone Ravenclaw first year he hadn’t had a chance to meet yet. After a split second, he walked over and sat down next to her on a bale of hay. “Hi, you’re in Ravenclaw too right? First year? I’m Ewan”.

Anna looked at the younger boy (Ewan) as he introduced himself, and she nearly didn't catch what he said. "Sorry?" She chuckled, then her smile grew wider at his next words. "Yeah, us Gryffindors decided to throw a bonfire night as a start of term party. We do different things every year, and this time we decided to invite other houses as well!" She told him. What a cutie! "Aw, thanks! It's our pleasure! We're glad people wanted to come."

The Gryffindor Captain took a seat on one of the hay bales as Vivian asked about marshmallows. "Yep, just there!" She pointed with her wand towards the bag, making two float her way. "Want one?" The fifth year grinned at the younger girl, getting a stick to pierce one of the floating marshmallows. She'd happily give the other girl the other floating marshmallow if she wanted to take it, hence her not piercing that one just yet.

Noticing a few students from other houses standing around, some looking awkward and unsure, Anna waved at them and called out. "Hi there! Welcome to our bonfire night! Take a seat!" She told people like Torii. To those who had sat down and made themselves comfortable, such as Daisy, Sterling, Charlie, Vita and Maxie, she flashed a friendly smile and also waved enthusiastically. "Hey, thanks for coming!"

Her fellow housemates all got a beamy smile and a wave, too! Hi, ickle firsties! She didn't know all of your names yet, sorry! She also spotted Lucas, the funny young boy who looked awkward all the time. She chuckled when she saw he decided to take a random seat. Another cutie! "Hey, Lucas! Do you want a marshmallow?" She asked, sending a floating sweet his way without waiting for his reply.

She also saw some sitting on their own, but the Head Boy was already talking to some of those. Good! Anna was good at multitasking but she couldn't be in several places at once, unfortunately.

"Wasn't there going to be some music playing?" She asked in a louder voice, mainly at the other organisers, but in case anyone felt like playing something, she wouldn't complain. Unless they were terrible singers, but she'd give them the benefit of the doubt.

Oh? Huh?

Torii was sort of taken by surprise that somebody was talking to her. Why? She didn't know. She hadn't met that many people at Hogwarts, though, and it still sort of startled her to be meeting strangers at her school. She missed the way she knew almost everybody at Ilvermorny. She drew in a deep breath and it out slowly. She had to quit dwelling on her move. She had to, but she didn't know how.

Looking over, Torii noticed the Head Boy badge on the boy that had talked to her. So he was the Head Boy, hmm? Now she wasn't sure if he'd asked her to join him as a friendly gesture, or if he was just obligated to do so. Either way, roasting marshmallows did sound good. "Yeah, sure," she said. "I'm Torii, by the way."

The others were walking up and greeting the group as a whole, so Torii decided to move past her awkwardness and try to do the same. "Hey, everybody," she said, speaking to the group this time.



...and then there was another boy voice talking to her, but this time, it was somebody she actually already knew. Well, she knew of him. She didn't know if him tripping over the bench she was sitting on and insulting her knowledge of jogging qualified as them knowing each other. Either way, she knew he was Ewan, and she seemed to remember her, too. She laughed. "Oh, well, you know, I considered jumping out of nowhere just for you, but roasting marshmallows was just too good to pass up," she replied. How had her first week been? She wasn't sure he wanted the real answer to that question. She was sure she would disappoint a whole lot of people if they knew how bitter she was. So instead, she just shrugged. "It was alright."