Fletcher was certain there would be food in those picnic baskets, he was starting to imagine the smell of it. He was SO SO sure of this fact that he almost skipped down to the blankets and pillows behind the professor. He wasn't carrying any basket (duh, cuz men don't carry baskets, silly Salander) and paused at the edge of the picnic area.

Quick, find someone to sit with!

"Neptune! And er....... Trixie...?" Fletcher strolled over to the two girls and one picnic basket and invited himself to join them by flopping down onto their blanket and stretching out his long legs. "I pic-nic you two. We're buddies, right. Buddies share their picnic baskets with other buddies."

Please? Cuz he didn't have a basket and had totally been planning to blow off today's lesson until he had spotted the class wandering toward the lake... and had managed to slip in the ranks (hopefully) unnoticed.

Jacob walked down behind the professor, he didn't want to be sitting alone, especially if Jacob wanted to do something stupid. He needed someone to be his witness, that what ever he did was credited to Jacob! Yes it was. He might have to patent his ideas.

Jacob finally spotted a familiar face. Ellie would be a perfect witness, especially if a ravenclaw style food fight starts there would be someone else to do just as good of a job if Jacob falls in the battle.

"hey there. he said, sitting down on the blanket. Now if Patroclus was here and maybe some Quidditch-'Claws a real food fight could start.

Unless there's cake... Shiver

"I do hope it's food!" Patroclus answered Marie's question as he slid into the spot that was not to Evelyn.

"Hiya!" he smiled, "Professor," he added with a nod. Patroclus loved being out doors, and he looked History of magic, so it was surely going to be a good lesson. Turning to his She-Snake with the darkest hair, Patroclus whispered, "Is that a niffler in the clouds?"

Neptune was disappointed that Trixie wasn't looking into the basket. She'd had sooooooooo many opportunities on the walk down. Weren't the Slytherins supposed to be sneaky....? Sigh.

"Finny. It's a good name." Duhhh. "The other got eaten by Lucifurrrrrr. But he didn't mean to. He's a VERY good kitty." NOD.

Ohhhhh. GIGGLEGIGGLEGIGGLE! Neptune buried her face into Trixie's shoulder, like the arrival of The Champion was the funniest, swoony-worthiest event to EVER happen to her. Of course, she was peeking out at Duncan the WHOLE time though. "Of course, Duncan." Giggle. "We think there are kittens in our basket." That's what they thought right?

Kittens were definitely historically important to witches all over the world.

The temptation to look into the basket wasn't actually very strong. Trix was a patient person most of the time, well it depended on the circumstance really but she didn't want to look in the basket before she was told. Besides, wasn't there a charm on there to stop them anyway? So she physically couldn't. Pfft....

The Blonde however was distracted by the sound of her voice being called. Well it sounded more of a question actually. "Yes, Trixie" she told the Triwizard Champion with a smile. They'd met briefly in Muggle Studies right? "Err..Of course" she told him but there was no point anyway because he'd obviously made himself comfortable and Neptune wasn't going to deny him that fact. How come SHE had to do all the hard work here by carrying the basket down? Jeez where was Oliver when you needed him? The Slytherin snorted at his joke though. Well THAT was cheesy.

"Couldn't you think of a more.. You know, Cat like name for this imaginary kitten?" she asked. You know, like...fluffy. The almost seventeen year old looked slightly scared by what she said about this kitten. "It. Got. Eaten?" she asked. That was...disturbing. "The Poor THING" she replied scowling. How could anyone let a cat EAT another creature?

Right. Well anyway off of that subject. They both thought there were kittens in there? Well no SHE thought there was food in there like every one else. It was a picnic basket after all. "Well actually..." she stated to say but wasn't particularly in the mood for correcting. "...Nevermind." Yeah just keep believing there are kittens in there.

Was it her or had Neptune gone a little...overdramatic at the arrival of Fletcher?

Oh hiii Jacob.

"Hey." Ellie smiled back at him. And he...errr.. sat next to her. This can't be good. Fun, yes. Tons of fun, perhaps. And a whole class period of timeless entertainment. But...there was food involved. It was a bit scary that Jacob should choose to sit next to her.

But she'll roll with it. Good times trumps intimidation.

Oh gosh, Neptune was giggling and Duncan-ing, already. Well well well, what could he say. Fletcher was THE most handsome Champion of the world. Girls ought to have silly little reactions like that around him. He didn't even bother to correct the 'Claw on her misuse of his name. Fletcher just took it all in stride, like the awesomepuff he was.

"Kittens?" the boy repeated, flicking his hair back from his face as he scooted a little closer to the girls and their basket. He wanted to open it, like now. "Did you hear it... meow or something?" Mew? Mew mew? Fletcher didn't hear anything. And besides, he really wanted there to be FOOD in the basket!

He leaned down a little toward the basket, as if listening for kitty sounds. Fletcher looked up toward Neptune, raised a brow, and then turned to Trixie. Yeahhh she seemed to have the same idea he did: it would probably not be nice to burst Neptune's kitty bubble.

"Well," he shrugged, his fingers twitching toward the edge of the basket. One little flick and it would be open. "If there are kittens in there, I wanna name one Turtle."

Cass looked up and saw Freya "Of course not. We're supposed to sit with our friends love."

Glancing at all the students that were present and then at her basket before her. It looked like everyone that was going to show up was there now.

"Class, before you are picnic baskets. In each basket, you will find some treats. Some baskets have brownies, others have cookies, others have cupcakes. All of them have pumpkin juice though."

Flipping open her own basket, she pulled out a cupcake and a small cup.

"Do dig in and then we will start the lesson. You don't have to take notes yet, but do keep an ear open for important stuff."

Simon looked at the Professor, this was weird wasn't this suppost to be a class not a time for Picnic. "Professor why are we having a Picnic?" not that Simon was complaining or anything he just wanted to know.

…

Raising a brow, the Slytherin turned her head towards the person who sat down on her blanket. Oh, Destiny. Well, she of course was acceptable to be sitting next to her. Obviously. Otherwise something would be seriously wrong.

However, that wasn’t really the reason for the eyebrow raise. Nope. It was the fact that the person sitting next to her was moving waaaay too much. What was she doing?

Frowning, Evelyn scooted her basket closer to herself, staring at Destiny. What in the world was she doing? Pfft, she had her own basket! "Don’t even think about it…" Really. This was HER basket. She could go steal Cookie Girl’s basket or something. Sitting up, she placed the basket in her lap and leaned back on her hands, staring at her friend, just daring her to try. Hehe, it would be funny if she did actually.

Glancing over to Marie as her question reached the Slytherin's ears, Evelyn shrugged her shoulders, staring down at the basket. Hmm, what was in it? Picnic baskets would mean food right? Well it better be good food. Otherwise...just....

Fail.

Meh!?

It seemed she didn’t even need to answer Marie’s question. Patroclus was here to save the day and do so himself. Teehee. "Hey lemur boy." Smiling, her eyes flickered back down to the basket in her lap. If it had food in it, then it would either be the gross grilled cheese sandwich, or sweets. Neither of which she’d want to eat.

On the other hand, sitting on a blanket surrounded by friends near the beautiful lake with picnic baskets kept her mind open. Maybe she’d try something if it were any of those, but that didn't mean she had to like it!

…hahaha. Snickering quietly, automatically she turned her attention to the sky. Hmm, nope. No Niffler clouds. "You're so wrong. It’s a crup." Which cloud were they talking about anyways?

The Slytherin’s laughter quieted down some as the Professor finally gave their curiosity something to chew on. Treats? Yup, that could only mean sweets. And sweets she did not like. Unless it happened to be either strawberry flavored or…no, just that.

Sighing, she peaked open her basket…only to see brownies. Bleh.

Scooting it AWAY from Destiny, she left it open though for anyone else to take. Except her. No for the D-meister! Actually, it would be rather funny to see how the professor would handle a chocolate sugar high Destiny.

Apparently, cookie hater was also a brownie hater. That girl just hated anything sweet, didn't she? Returning her attention to her basket, Kurumi opened it and removed the pumpkin juice, setting it to the side. Then, he eyes almost bugged out of her head at the sight. That was a lot of cookies! Kurumi secretly wished that they had some milk instead of pumpkin juice. There were going to be a lot of sugar rushes this class...

Setting the lid to the basket down between her and Eino. She then reached into her bag and pulled out a medium sized white box with the cookies she had baked that morning and set those down on the lid. "Would you like some pumpkin juice?" she asked holding up the massive container.

Eino's mouth watered when Kurumi revealed the cookies and pumpkin juice. Instead of grabbing all of the cookies and shoving them in his mouth however, he took one and nodded when Kurumi offered the juice. Both the cookies from the basket and the ones in Kurumi's white box looked delicious and the pumpkin juice smelled so good! "Did you bake these, Professor? Or did were they baked by the House-Elves?" Eino asked raising his hand after swallowing his first bite. They were delicious! He wouldn't be surprised if these were baked by the House-Elves, they usually cooked some yummy food, but eating it outside by the lake made them even more delicious.

"Well, I thought it would be nice for us to get some fresh air. Besides, I wanted everyone to get a chance to meet Bartholomew."

Looking to the other faces in the class, she did notice some didn't looked too please with what was found in the baskets.

"You can share your basket with others, but if you want to, you can see if there is any thing in my basket that might be tasty."

Sharing was caring.

Simon openning his basket and liked what was in it. "But Professor isn't this suppost to be a lesson?" Simon liked a Picnic but he was sure that it was important to learn as well. "And who is Bartholomew?" Simon hadn't heard of that name before.

Aww, how nice of the Prof-- TO MEET A WHAT?! He knew it! She was using sweets to lure them and fatten them so she could feed them to a Bartholomew!!! Eino stopped eating his cookie and put it down on the blanket. It must be big and dangerous, he though, why else would we have to be outside to see it? Maybe it's not even legal in the school, and maybe they wouldn't want see it unless they had been treated with sweets and pumpkin juice beforehand. He was very suspicious and refused to take another bite until Bartholomew was identified. "What do you reckon it is?" He discreetly whispered to his friend Kurumi.

"Yes, it is a lesson. But I'm throwing cation tot he wind." It was a hands on lesson of sorts today.

"Bartholomew would be the lovely inhabitant of the lake. Did you think he was nameless?"
Glancing back at the water, she noticed movement. "Hogwarts isn't just where we learn, but it's home to many things. So, I thought we would talk about just what we are surrounded by."

Blinking a few times with one of her lemon cookies still halfway in her mouth, Kurumi tilted her head to the side. "Isn't Bartholomew a name?" she asked naively. Unless there was some cow like magical creature that she didn't know about, which was very much a possibility seeing as she only knew about the magical creatures they had studied this term. "Maybe it is the Professor's boyfriend...or brother?" Kurumi looked nervously between her new friend and the professor. This wasn't like some Hansel and Gretel thing was it?

Amy opened her basket and pulled out a cookie Yumm! she pulled out the pumpkin juice and poured a cup full. she raised her hand "professor is Bartholomew the giant squid?" she asked curiously, she hoped they'd get to see it she'd never seen it before.

Simon smiled at the Professor. "That is cool." Simon said as smiled at the Professor. "I just thought it was called well it was just nameless, well I'm not sure." Simon sighed. "What lives in the lake anyway?"

Could Bartholomew be the Giant Squid? That was the only possibility Eino could gather by the Professor's explanation and interest in the lake as the water moved. Although, he preferred as Kurumi had suggested, the Professor's boyfriend or brother. He shrugged nervously. Lovely? Eino would like to see just how "lovely" this would be. He was afraid, mostly, but partially excited. He wanted to see whatever it was the Professor had to show them, he just didn't want to get too close to it. He had heard rumors about the Giant Squid and how difficult it was to free oneself from its grip

Kurumi's eyes were popping out of her head when she heard another students suggestion regarding the Giant Squid and let out a rather loud squeak. The professor did say that they were going to learn about the creatures surrounding them...

Her eyes darted to the lake and she squeaked again scooting a little closer to Eino. She had had a slight scare with the Giant Squid when her and Adam had gone ice skating during the winter months. She wasn't too keen on meeting it again anytime soon. Bartholomew was a very long name...it kind of suited the Giant Squid based on size alone. "Maybe, Bartholomew is one of the merpeople?" she offered in a squeaky voice scooting even closer.

Salander leaned back as he waited for everybody to settle down, spotting Fletcher talking with a couple of blonds. The Slytherin lad had to smirk. Why wasnt he surprised to see that? But then again he did notice that they only had one basked to share amongst the three of them. Good luck trying to eat anything out of that ladies... he mused. They'd be lucky to get crumbs once Fletcher is done with the basket.

On the Professor's signal he grabbed his own basket and opened it. "Hmmm... more sweets" he mumbled to himself, slightly disappointed. But then again these could prove useful down the line, maybe something to sweeten some otherwise nasty potion? You never really could tell

But the Professor offered her basket. Future plans or not, the lad was hungry and leaped up at the opportunity to take a peek at her basket. Not to mention its a legit excuse to stand close to the Professor. When he glanced in he spotted what looked to be a ham sandwhich. He grabs it right away, before anybody else can claim it "Trade your ham sandwich for a few brownies Professor Welton?" Pleassseee?

He glanced back at the lake wondering "Bartholomew? lives in the lake? Uh, so does he give out swords and stuff Professor?" Because that would be awesome!

Jacob looked from the professor to the basket back to the professor. Please be Brownies, please be brownies, please be brownies! Jacob flipped open the lid. and picked up the goodie within

Cupcakes.

"EEEEEK!" Jacob screamed in a high pitch girly voice. He threw the cupcake in his hand as far away as possible... It's still a type of cake!

Jacob curled up into a feeble position and stared at the picnic basket in complete horror.

Wait... Jacob wasn't scared of cake! Jacob was just about to grab another when he realized, that he was definatly not man enough to face his fears, and went back into his feeble position.

Bartholomew?!?!?!

"I wanna play with Barty!"

Jumping out of his feeble position completely forget about the cupcakes, Jacob ran straight to the lake, before skidding to a stop right at the edge. Jacob looked down at his body...

"Clothes" he said simply, and walked back to the blanket

"Yes, he is. I've always liked to call him by his name personally."
"Well, there is Bartholomew and then the merpeople. Of course, the could be other things as well that might be in the water."
"Sure, I do enjoy a brownies." she smiled as she accepted the trade. She really wasn't a fan of the sandwich, but the house-elves still packed it for her.

Glacing at the lake and shaking her head, she let out a small laugh. "I don't believe so, but maybe we could ask him." In all her time as a student and her time as a professor, she hadn't remembered such a thing. "But I will say that if he did, it would be a sight." The thought of Bartholomew with swords and such did make for an interesting vision.