Lyra saw the plate of sweets being pushed in her direction and instead of turning her nose up, she took it with pleasure. "Oh thank you very much," she flirted with Garrett and gasped with a shocking smile. "Oh! You...have a...nice...firm, arm." A pouty expression caused her lower lip to pucker out in a playful way. "Awww! I wish I could have seen you play." She reached with her fingers and took a small bite, one that a lady would take when eating around gentlemen.

"Oh! Puddlemore!" The great thing was, this Hufflepuff said the right thing to her. "I used to follow their every move. My uncle played for them when I was just a baby until I was about seven. They are one of my favorite teams." Truthfully, it was the only team she really knew as she didn't seem to follow Quidditch much, until after the HAWT Quidditch Pro Players came to the school.

And now it was time to turn on the charm. "So would that be...a game to watch...together?" She knew it wouldn't happen but, there was nothing like a good suggestion.

Garret stared and stared and his mouth did a stupid little fish open and close thing as he searched for an answer to Lyra's question. It was an easy question, but her eyes were so bewitching that he was dumbfounded and the only sound he could manage was a tinny, "Heeeeee-"

He caught himself mid squee and coughed into his hand, the skin under his freckles turning a bright, lobster red as he attempted to salvage this conversation, "Yes!"

Okay, chill, mate, take it easy.

"Yeah," he repeated, leaning slightly on a first year standing behind him, "Course you'd have to come wiv me to get in the family box," he stood up straight, emphasizing his five feet and seven inches as he reached up and ran a hand through his dark hair. Little did he know the action only served to have his hair stand on end instead of having it flop charmingly over his eyes, "But mebbe you'd like to spend a bit more time wiv me before that?"

His voice got a little hopeful at the end, rendering his attempt at being a seasoned charmer quite useless, "Mebbe to Hogsmeade?"

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!

Dominic was late in his arrival to the Quidditch celebrations, but he didn't really care. His team had won the Cup, which meant as Prefect and Keeper, then he needed to get cleaned up before showing up. Couldn't just show up in just anything!

But the moment he entered the Celebration Tent, the sixth year instantly regretted it. It wasn't over the fact that the Headmaster was there; he liked the Headmaster quite a bit on the few occasions they had contact. No . . . it was the sight of seeing a shirtless BLUE boy, Plymouth, intimately close to his Willow. No, they weren't an item, but she did agree to go out with him. So what right did she have to look at Plymouth like that!?! And didn't mister no-shirt know that the Captain was taken?

But that wasn't what struck Dom most by the people there. It was Willow's tone to that second year Slytherin boy, Cameron or something. ...I won't be snogging Denton right now. He was being talked about!? And Willow was mad at him! Which was clearly why she was such intimate connections with Plymouth right now. She was just angry over the quidditch loss, right? But why should she be; it wasn't like she hadn't beat his team in previous terms... so it was only fair his house got the chance for the spotlight too.

Now . . . how to separate Plymouth and Willow. Maybe he should just leave? Nah.

Approaching Willow cautiously from the side, the Hufflepuff mostly just wanted to hold her hand. "Hey Willow," he settled on, hoping to keep the mood light and friendly. "Um... " No. Don't bring up the game (or the fact that her chasers had managed to score on him several times in the second session -- clearly he was just distracted. "So how are you? It seems like it's been ages!"

....

Whoa.


Whoawhoawhoa.

.... Willow was snogging Denton??????

....?????????????????????????


Where was Evolette when you needed her?? She'd have surely saved Plymouth from parading a taken girl around and then, quite foolishly, asking her out? RIGHT? Merlin.

"Ummm.. Just kidding, Willy. I was kidding. Duh. I sit with.... Evolette... eh.. Daphne. You should ask her. Them. Err... hehe. "


OH and then Denton showed up. GREAT. Great. Ahem. Errrr."OH LOOKIT. CellBell!" Plymouth the Blue Boy pretty much just turned and skipped away quickly when he couldn't think of anything else to say.

Skipskipskiperoooo!

It... was probably not a good thing that Jake was beginning to get slightly irked. Really? They just won the freakin' cup, and the Ravenclaws were MAD because they didn't get it?

Dude.

And now Jake was getting bratty like he had last term. He loved attention... and when he saw Cameron acting like a total idiot (like the boy tended to do) and Dominic and Willow and Plymouth having their own little drama... his face fell. Trying not to pout, and actually failing miserably, Jake moved off to the side of the celebration tent and sat down on the floor, the Quidditch cup resting in his lap.

Sarah still couldn't believe that they had won the Quidditch cup and was there for late the the Quidditch celebrations she looked around for someone to talk to but saw that most people were already in a conversation so she decided not to interupt and just went over to a corner to sit down and relax.

As she twirled Jack around and around, Anna happened to glance over and catch Natasha waving at her. She would have waved back, but if she let go of Jack's arms now, he'd spin out of control---possibly into the cakes. So instead of a wave, Anna just smiled and called out a friendly hello.

"Yup, he sure did, Reese! Yay, Jake!" Anna called out. Eep! She was starting to get sort of dizzy now, though. She started slowing down a little, preparing poor Jack for a stopping point. Hopefully neither of them would hit the ground. She giggled, though, as she listened to Reese practically oohing and ahhing over the cake. Anna sort of wanted another piece of that lovely cake, but the first piece she'd had combined with the excitement of the game had her hyper enough. Merlin knew she didn't need anything else. She was brought out of that train of thought when she heard Jack mention two little words: throw and up.

...and on that note, Anna came to a screeching halt, stopping her last turn around the tent rather abruptly. She still held tight to Jack's hands, though, so the slightly younger boy wouldn't fall. He was a good deal bigger than her, though, so if he did fall, there probably wasn't much she could do about it. Not only that, he'd probably take her down with him. He'd mentioned throwing up, though, and that was all any girl needed to hear in order to want to get far, far, away. Eww. "There ya go, Capt'n Jack," she said, releasing his hands.

Selena had appeared now, too, so while Jack talked with Reese, Anna turned her attention to the younger Gryffindor girl. "Oh, hey, Selena! Don't worry about not being able to attend the game. We don't hold that against you at all," she assured. "It was a good game, though! Are you trying out next school year, too?" More and more people were filing into the tent now. Anna spotted Cela and Lyra, too, and gave them a smile and a wave. "Good game, Cela!"

Of course the headmaster had aced his NEWTs. He'd always seemed like an intelligent man. No doubt he'd probably received some of the highest marks possible, something she only hoped to do. "Stimulating power of sugar," she repeated. "I'll have to remember that, sir! I'll have my daily dose of chocolate frogs just before my next test."

This was bad. This was bad bad bad bad bad.

In a single instant, Issy had realized who the unknown Hufflepuff boy who got on Willow's nerves so badly was, and it didn't help that he seemed to know they were talking about him, because there he was, entering the tent, and Willow was proclaiming that she wouldn't be snogging Dom right now and he was sure to hear and what was going on anyway? Willow had never fully explained the situation to her, but Issy knew one thing was for certain.

She had to get him out of here.

Casting a dark glance Cam's way which clearly read "YOU AND I ARE HAVING A SERIOUS CHAT LATER" she turned to Willow and made a desperate grab for her hand.

"Willow, how about we... go take a walk, okay? I think you could use some fresh air away from this..." tainted environment, hazardous to your mental health locale, "Let's go take a walk, okay?"

But it was too late. TOO LATE TOO LATE!

Dominic was striding over here and Willow wasn't moving and Dominic, the fool, was here, and Willow hated Hufflepuffs, especially him, and he was asking how she was!!! That couldn't be good. What if Willow laid it in to him? Ag ag ag!

Panic panic panic.

Oh no! Plymouth was leaving! He was... oh... he probably felt foolish and weird and awkward and he was skipping away... "Plymouth!" Issy called out, feebly, feeling bad for him.

"DOMINIC!" Issy greeted brightly. "Have some cake?" A large slice of Ravenclaw cake was shoved at the older boy.

La la la la la. Everything would be okay. Right? Right right right?

Ema looked down at Jake who was sitting on the floor a bit away from her. She had rushed off so fast after the match that she hadn't even seen the cup. Her eyes widened and she had an immediate desire to take it and run, but decided against it...Jake was speedy and it would probably result in a few black eyes.

She stood up from her little seat and tapped on his shoulder. He appeared to be pouting for some reason. Ema had been ignoring the drama going on around her...she didn't want to get mixed up in anything and whatever it was was Denton's business anyways. Jeez, these older kids...

"Hey." Ema knelt halfway down...oooh, closer to the cup. What a coincidence! Once she had Jake's attention, she pointed to the Quidditch cup and said, quite plainly: "Cup."

After saying it she felt like a little kid, almost demanding something. She tried to cover up her act.

"That's the cup."

Ugh, well no that didn't help.

"You did great today." Jake was, after all, the seeker. It was because of him that he had the cup (*sound of angels singing*) in his arms.

Lyra tilted her head to the side as she began playing with a string of hair, twirling it around and around her finger. This was one of her favorite things to do while boys were around as she knew exactly what it meant and what it seemed to do around other boys. It was just her way of flirting...silently. And speaking of hair...

"I'd love to spend more time with you," she said as she began calming his hair down when she spoke. Yet another silent way of saying 'your hair is a mess, let me help'. "Oh I do love a butterbeer in the spring." Her eyes widened, her smile brightened. It'd been a long time since she'd had a butterbeer and just thinking about it, made her mouth water with excitement.

Cam glanced back at Issy who was giving him... some WEIRD WEIRD stare. Was she... trying to give him a message? Hmm? Oh he LOVED charades! But that face was gone in an instant, but he still wondered what it meant. Maybe she meant "Oh yes! They do make a good couple, don't they?" MAYBE--just maybe. He smiled back and nodded at the Ravenclaw, putting his attention back to Willow Kovac. Hm. She was acting REAL weird herself!

He stared at her, confuuuused. Why did girls have to look so weird at him? Hmm. Was he mentally attractive or something...? And then suddenly... she BROKE up with the poor fellow! To be dumped... he pitied that blue-painted Ravenclaw. AWWEEEEE.

Willow was talking to him again. "Youuu are toooooooo! 'till now, when you like, totally dumped the guy." Pity the guy. He deserved two galleons or something--no 5, because being rejected was just wrooooong. And why did he think she would snog Denton? Hmm. "Well you DID snog him, I stalked, and you'd obviously do it again because you're a hormonal 17 year old." He nodded, saying those in the calmest way he could. Poor Willow. Being affected by her... womanstuff. He shuuudddered at the thought. Ew.

AND THEN DOMINIC DENTON CAME. Cam stayed RIGHT where he was. They wouldn't be snogging again in his watch. They won't snog in front of a 12 year old would they? Hm? HMM?

Reese quickly stepped to the side when Jack announced that he was going to throw up. Ew. Her eyes widened in horror when he started stumbling in the direction of the CAKES! No. No. NOOO. Not the cakes! As she watched Jack stumble towards the cake, she accidentally loosened her grip on the fork she was using to eat her slice of cake and it dropped to the ground next to her foot. Her brown eyes stayed on Jack until he caught his step and, thank goodness, didn't crash into the giant snitch cake.

"Jack? Are you okay? Still a little dizzy?" She asked him. Since the cakes were okay, she needed to at least make sure Jack was okay. She placed her plate of cake on a nearby table and looked up at Jack when he talked to her. "Oh, yes, I did see the game. I was sitting a few seats down from you, actually. I saw you, but I was I talking to Torin and didn't want to be rude by walking off to sit with you," she told him. She took her attention off of Jack for a few seconds to see if Torin was anywhere to be seen. Nope. "Oh, and you were very stylish with you Hufflepuff scarf," she added as she looked back at Jack.

"Yes. Yay, Jake!" She repeated what Anna had said, then...

Eat cake? EAT CAKE?! That was the best idea Jack as ever came up with. "I already have my cake," she stated. She picked her plate back up and showed Jack, but she couldn't eat it until she got another fork.

She stepped out of the way when Jack walked a few steps over to Kaika- that was her name, right? She smiled when he handed the Captain a flower with a yellow ribbon on it. Awww. That was so sweet of him to do that. Seeing someone with pink hair sitting on the ground, she turned to face her brother. "Jakkkkkke," she called out, giving him a little wave. "I'm so proud of you for winning the game."

Garret felt like he was both seven feet tall and one inch tall at the same time. Caught between excitement at having her stroke his hair down and exasperation that she was doing exactly what his mum did whenever she saw him, Garret wouldn't have known how to react if she hadn't spoken and smiled at him in that manner.

He sighed involuntarily at the smile and the way her eyes lit up and just... her.

Whoops.

There was no WAY she could have possibly missed that heart-felt lovelorn sigh. But he could try to salvage this still. He could STILL make her think that he was a suave and debonair casanova!

"I like-" for some inexplicable reason, he had almost uttered the fact that he liked HER. HER!!! What on earth could have possibly possessed him to completely scatter his wits on the school grounds? "-butterbeer, too!" Whoooo, nice recovery, Crocker, "Willyougoonapicnicwithme?!" he shouted at her, completely ruining all his chances with the beauteous blonde in an instant.

Lyra caught the way that Garret acted when she tried to fix his hair. That was a motherly thing and something she did NOT want to be to anyone! Well, not yet! She was WAY TOO YOUNG for anything that involved her genetic makeup. She was about to apologize for her terrible motherly manners when not only did the Huffie have his final saying of how he liked butterbeer too but the way he simply formed one LONGGGGG sentence in such a way was far too entertaining to let go.

She knew what it was and now it was time to keep it going. Oh how she loved having slight affects on boys from time to time. "I'd love too," she spoke softly as she was just as much of a tease as the next girl but to her, it was a harmless little act of a friendly Hufflepuff act: two Huffies going on a picnic with butterbeer and...some type of food that one would bring...on a picnic.

"Let's...go as soon as possible," she spoke with excitement as she placed her hand on his arm. It was a touching way that a girl would do to a guy in order to say...I like you, or in Lyra's case, 'I am going to flirt with you because you like it and respond just the way I want you too'. "Oh I'm sure we will have lots to chat about!" You go, girl! Put the charms on the boy to the best of your ability. Was she ever glad that she still had it...that special charm.

Pu- Wh- Cuh- Du- Wow Wow WEE waaah!

Garret's thought processes had just about fizzled to nothing from the moment she said that she would go on a date with him in that wonderful manner of hers. And then she...

SHE'S TOUCHING ME!!!

Garret Crocker could have died right then and there on the floor of the Celebration Tent and would have been completely happy with the way his life had gone thus far.

He giggled. He actually giggled at Lyra for a good thirty seconds before he could form anything close to a coherent reply, "Y-you wanna go now~?"

Lyra grinned, flashing her vibrant white teeth. It was all about the charm and one has to pause for the dramatic effect, the one that keeps people hoping. "Now?" She couldn't help but question as she thought about it for a moment. One couldn't be too free. "Now would be perfect." She reached up and touched his cheek, then as if on cue, she turned, keeping her green eyes on Garret for a moment and winked.

One could never have too many friends, nor could they have too many boys.

"Oh," she paused in her walk as she turned her head just enough to look at Garret once again. "Do I need to change clothes or...is this outfit okay?" She posed in such a way that it was almost as if she were in front of a muggle camera. To her, there was nothing wrong with her outfit, she just wanted to get the opinion of a real Hufflepuff.

Perking up a little as Ema approached him, Jake hurriedly tried to cover the pout. "Yeah," he agreed, fighting the urge to laugh at the girl's... explanation? Description? Yes. That. "It's awesome," he murmured, grinning at the shininess once more.

"Thanks," he grinned, still furious with himself about letting the first snitch get away from him. "You guys were awesome too, ya know..." Jake added, determined not to take all the credit. Quidditch was a team sport, right? Yes! They ALL won! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"Why are the Ravenclaw's so angry at me?" Jake then asked Ema, his voice dropping to a whisper as he glanced round at the blue-clad supporters and players. "It's... kind of scary."

But then... happiness. Finally, someone was happy for him. Well, he didn't know that others were, but coming from his sister, that meant alot. "Thanks," he grinned. "But it wasn't just me that won it."

He also wanted to add that she shouldn't feel proud of something he could just... do... but something told him that was the WRONG thing to say. And... he liked the attention.

It was as if he had a giant On/Off switch somewhere on his body and Lyra had figured out where it was. Everytime she laid a finger on him or said something in a certain way... he felt as if every single nerve ending in his body was ALIVE at the same time he couldn't really do anything with those nerve endings cos all his responses came out too slow... or not at all.

Like right now.

The way she was posing...

He stared. And stared...

And stared some more.

He opened his mouth to assure her that she really did not need to change a single stitch of clothing, "A-hyuk."

DAMNATION! Where on earth had that laugh come from?!

"Uh... it's better than okay, it's like A-okay!"

"It is." Ema agreed, before breaking her gaze away from the beee-ooo-tee-fawl cup.

"Oh, thanks..." she shrugged, smiling. Ooh yes, quite a wonderful day. Nothing could quite ruin it. Though it seemed a lot was going on she was oblivious to, but she purposely paid no mind to it. Better to turn a blind eye to this stuff then to get mixed up with it.

Ema knelt down a little further to hear what Jake said next. It was barely audible with all the noise in the tent but she was able to hear enough.

"Cause you rock?" It wasn't meant to be a question, but maybe a reasonable explanation. "They're just sour. They had it last year, remember? They got us good. And now we're victorious, but we're still the same team a term later. They're probably just furious that they couldn't do it again." she shrugged for the second time, her voice now in a whisper as well. She hadn't received any hostile words or jests...but then again, she had kept to herself...and she hadn't caught all those snitches.

Awwwww! How sweet! And there was no BIG EGO to be worrying about.

Except, maybe, that her newly poured butterbeer was now splash all over the floor. Pffft. As if she'd cared about that. However, if Cy were to be the done causing that, then things would've turned out very, very differently.

"Yes, we won!" she repeated, nodding...and then frowned, because she wasn't sure what he was thanking her for...oh, that.

"Isn't that like...my job? I mean...you shouldn't thank me, really, that's what a Captain is supposed to do, no? Trust their team, and make sure everything is fine with the players...right?" well, yes, besides holding practices and all that stuff.

"But...you're welcome" she said, with a wide smile.

And, clearly, proceeded to pour another butterbeer...



Oh! There's Paris!

It's a shame they didn't get a chance to play against each other this term, it would've been a pretty awesome game for sure, because Kaika was certain that Paris was the Captain people should be scared of...

But she was a nice girl, when you were on her 'good people' list. "Aww, thank youuuu!" she said, returning the girl's 'hug'. Kaika was pretty certain that Paris was liking the fact that Hufflepuff had won.



And then...the Gryffie Captain.

So, the count simply goes as: all the Captains had congratulated the team except for one.

"Thank you" she said, with a smile on her face, and that smile was probably going to stay in the same place for a while. Plus, he gave her a flower. "Awww, that's so nice of you to do, thank you, really" and look at the Huffie ribbon!

Yes, 'tis was all nice and sweet, until he mentioned the last part. Now, that was fun. "Oh, yes! You're totally right...it was about time".

"I still wish we'd played our game, it's such a shame we didn't" yes, the Huffie/Gryffie game...what would've happened if they'd gotten the chance to play?

A chuckle.

Were they, really? Because they seemed to be enjoying themselves in here as well. Or that's what Kaika was thinking, anyway.

"Hopefully, yes. But I will sure not let my mom hear about the possibility of Quidditch player falling off their brooms or get hit by anything... She might freak out, Apparate here and drag me home by the ear. Knowing both my moms, it's quite a 99.9% possibility." Selena laughed a little. The girl took a bite of her Gryffie cake and boy, was it good. Seriously, she felt like she was tasting victory. Wheeeeeeee.

Anna laughed at Selena's explanation. Anna's mother seemed to be the exact opposite of Selena's. Bella Greingoth was a pureboold witch and was used to all the odd happenings that came along with being a magical student. For all Anna knew, Selena's mother could very well be pureblood, too, though. "I won't be here next school year, but I sure do hope you get to play!" she remarked. "I hate to leave good company, but I've got to get back to the castle to study for a few upcoming NEWTs. I'll see you around, though." She waved at Selena, as well as a few others, then headed out the tent.

This had definitely been a terrible idea, and Willow should have gone straight to her dormitory the moment Nurse Avalon had started to take care of Celandine Toussaint. She should have NOT come to this party, and she should have definitely NOT accepted Morgan's Piggy back ride.

Speaking Of Morgan, the boy was making the run for it.

And Dominic had arrived.

Dominic.

He had AMAZING timing, didn't he?

And Issy was here. And Cameron. And . . . No wonder why Pablo had made the run for it!

"No, actually, it's not been ages, I've seen you around. Common room, classes, halls, the, er, match," She had to stop babbling like NOW, "And just classes in general." She'd already said that. "Hmmhmm. You? Uh, have you met Issy? Isabella Cortella, I should say, she's one of my best friends." Willow was careful enough to avoid Issy's gaze, Dominic's distracting self, and focus instead, on Cameron Karsten.

Cameron Karste who was babbling about hormones. "I am certainly NOT hormonal!" How rude. "And I didn't dump Pat - Morgan either!"

A flirty smile appeared as she winked at Garret. "That's what I like to hear," she purred as she puckered her lips then waited for her new escort to take her for some butterbeer, the greatest drink EVER! "Now Mr. Crocker, I'm quite thirsty." She wore a pleading look, almost a pout as she loved the way he seemed to become tongue-twisted with his words. Just the way she liked them. Now it was time to reel him in as this one was just a real sweetie! "Please?"

The moment she said those words, Garret realised that his own mouth had gone quite dry. Setting his plate of cake down, he followed Lyra to the exit with a rather stupid look on his face, as if he'd been Confunded by a really strong magician. He stopped beside her and with more hope than actual belief that she would do it, he offered her his arm, "I'll do my best to quench your thirst, my lady."

The words came out overly cheesy and rather comical with his east London accent trying to pull off an upper crust quality. But he was beyond making a fool of himself in front of Lyra, and she still seemed to want to go out with him! Maybe he really DID have something about him after all.