In Carter's mind there was only one thing that said pep rally properly. And that was being shirtless and covered in paint. Now, where were his girls? Ah yes. The loud ones. He should have guessed.

"You guys ready?" he asked before taking off his shirt.

Ah. Just like good ole muggle times.

Gideon wanted to hide. He wanted to run all the way back to the dorms and curl up on his bed and close the curtains. The fourth year didn't know how he had gotten convinced to allow the girls to dress him up the way he was, having had them drag him to the locker room before hand to get all ready. Well half dressed since he was barechested and yellow from the waist up with brown slacks and shoes. In that way he nearly matched the rest of the boys of the Gryffindor team.

But to top it all off, they had added lion ears to his curls and a tail to his trousers. He was to be the lion mascot of the team while the rest were simply to have letters painted on them to spell out 'Lion Boys'. Gideon got to be the fully embarished one and he took it as the fact that he was the youngest of the group. All the more incentive to grow up quick.

He swallowed and dragged himself to where he was to meet all the rest, already seeing them gathered. The fourth year was still trying to stay invisible but he knew it was only a matter of time. As such he simply approached without saying anything our even singing the school song to alert anyone to his prrsence. letting the others have their fun as they got painted.

Jai arrived in the stands that was buzzing with cheers and students. He went to join his fellow Gyrffindors. When he reached that section Carter, Kurumi and the others were already there. He had a small tub of paint.

"Hey everyone. Started the party without now did you." he said before jerking his shirt off over his head.
*Oh yeah, he kept all of that under wraps until the only occasion he'd show it off, a pep rally.

"I need a painter, for this canvas!"he said with a wide grin as he headed toward Kurumi and Selina.

Sky made her way into the stands wearing the American football jersey her father had made for her (reading Go Slytherin Go), a pair of black shorts and black flip-flops. She was carrying a huge bag of green and silver snake shaped confetti that was charmed to hiss. Her father had found it somewhere and sent her a bag, for which she was really grateful. She had enough to share with her housemates. She finally found the Slytherin section, picked a spot and sat down, putting the large bag of confetti beside her. She was pumped, but she didn't want to be the first to start cheering. She looked around and saw that that Hollingberry had made a large cake for Gryffindor. Oh why, oh why wasn't there someone in Slytherin who could bake?

Face painted in green and sliver, along with everything she was wearing Angelina was ready for pep rally! Smiling Angelina walked over to the place where the Slytherin's were going to be.

This was Angelina's first pep rally, and she was excited and ready. She wasn't sure she was going to come, but then she realized she might be missing a lot, also this may (with the Quidditch game, end-of-the-year fest, and sorting) may be one of the biggest events of the school year.

Once Angelina was in the Slytherin area she took out her conffity mixed with sprinkals of Slytherin colors she saved most for later and took a small amount and threw then in the area and screamed, "GOOO SLYTHERIN!!!"

Selina saw Carter walk up the steps to the stands toward herself and Kurumi. She waved at him and turned down the music a tad. When he asked if she was ready she turned around and picked up the paint that she had brought with her from the Common Room. Her own face had two lines of red and gold across it like an American football player.

She smirked at him and nodded, "Come on Captain. Let's bare some lion pride."

In the distance she could see more of the boys starting to show up. Some with shirts still on and others who had taken the incentive and came prepared. It was June after all.


Selina waved at Auggie and beckoned for him to join the Gryffindors over to where they were all huddled. Carter was going to get his body paint done first and Selina was going to work on him and all of the designs they had yet to do. But she did not think she would have time for Auggie... until he took his shirt off.

She shook her head of the thought and mentally slapped herself. In all honesty, she did not have time to do Auggie. She turned around to Kurumi and said, "Hey can you do Auggie, Rumi?" Selina grinned at Auggie, "Hey there, Auggie."

More boys. Oh Merlin. She did not notice how many guys they were going to have to paint. Ah well, there was no way that Vindictus could say they were not enthusiastic. They were the definition of house spirit.

She smiled at Jai and laughed at his retort, "Come here, I'll paint you up, Mr. Prefect." All of the boys were enjoying this whole thing every much. So much more than usual. It was like their egos were on hyper drive. Then again with bodies like their's could she blame them?

Have mercy. People did not lie when they said that Josh Carter had the body of an god. He was all of that and more. For a second she had to remind herself to not stare because, well, everyone at the stands knew why. She did not have to be bashful about why. It was like something out of a movie.

"Hey Josh," she cracked, "Um, Kurumi you wanna do Josh?" Only fair, seeing that Selina was doing Carter and Jai. Kurumi could do Auggie and Josh.

Out of all of the boys who walked up the stands thus far none of them were anything up against the actual lion approaching now. Dressed in lion ears and a tail that she herself had adorned on him, Gideon took the cake for the best looking lion, at least in her opinion. Then again she was a biased party. She could tell though that Gideon was slightly uncomfortable in his attire or lack thereof.

So she smiled and walked over to give him a kiss on the cheek, "Well hello there, sir." She muffled her giggle at the ears and said, "Can you hear me loud and clear through the ears?"

Kurumi spun around, her gold and red hair tangling up and making it appear as though her hair were on fire momentarily when she heard Selina make another Skylar entrance.

Nodding in approval of the music - there were a few parts that they were going to need to change since, well, Harry and Ginny were no longer students and the song was a bit outdated. Clapping in rhythm, Kurumi froze when Selina had left the chant open ended for someone else to fill.

*gulp*

Her?

Kurumi swallowed hard and nervously opened her mouth. "GRYFFINDOR!"

She was feeling a bit shy cheering so loudly in front of all these people. Looking the part was easy enough, just...delivering was an issue.
Kurumi spun around when she heard Carter's voice and was all smiles until...

o______________________________O

OH MY STARS! Why was he stripping in the middle of the stands?! Kurumi began flailing and looking for something to shield her eyes from all the seventh year that was appearing before her...
..when August showed up. Oh GOOD! Someone with a shirt on. Kurumi returned his wave, her cheeks flushing like ripe peaches and was about to greet him when...

o_____________________________________O

August took off his shirt too. Kurumi placed both hands on either side of her eyes in a feeble attempt to block out the two shirtless lions, her eyes focused solely on the pitch in front of her when she heard the voice of her co-prefect Jai.

"Jai Hell----OH!" Kurumi's face was now BRIGHT pink and her violet eyes were as big as they had ever been. Suddenly, a pair of cat ears popped out of her head and began twitching. Thankfully, they two were showing their house pride in being crimson and gold respectively and the best bit was that Kurumi didn't even notice that they were there.

Yet anyway.

Okay...she needed to look somewhere else because all this MAN was too much for the now fifteen year old. Although now she was a bit curious as to what Jonathan looked like without a shirt.

Kurumi turned around to put the three boys out of her line of vision when...

o_______________O

THERE WAS JOSH! Kurumi had seen this before, well, parts of this in the common room...but now there he was standing there in all his glory...without a shirt on. Kurumi suddenly felt claustrophobic and like she were going to collapse...so she instead began hyperventilating at all the MAN around her.

Until she looked at Gideon and then she suddenly felt better. She had already seen this and been the one to put the ears on. Some of the blush left her face and she felt her breathing even out a bit. "Hi Gideon," she squeaked in a tone that not even dogs could hear.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuh....." Kurumi mumbled. Do Auggie? The blush that HAD been lost with Gideon's arrival was back.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuh...."

Kurumi opened and closed her mouth, continuing with the fish imagery. She peeked out from under her hands and looked at Josh. Bad idea. Well, not BAD bad...Josh had a very nice...well THAT. But it was bad in that the simple looked caused the Gryffindor to sprout cat whiskers.

Great, now August was LOOKING at her. Okay...focus on the face and not...other places and everything would be just fine...

Her ears and whiskers twitched a bit as she timidly reached for some more paint and...*gulp* looked away as she began painting a gold N on August's chest. Hopefully it would come out alright...she wasn't really looking for fear that she would faint.

HE WAS PUMPED!

This was the first ever pep-rally he was going to without fearing getting kicked out. Kennedy has always been a quiet boy, but when it came up to pride it was like an entire person was born.

Like now.

With his face and hair painted in green and silver with a snake on his cheek, he climbed the steps and looked over where there was a group of girl snakes. Where were the guys?

"Hey!" he waved. "You guys excited?!" And yes, he couldn't wait until all the cheering began. He even came ready. Kennedy was holding a small pouch with held paints he used for his face. "Anyone want face paint?" he asked, a big smile plastered on his face. If anyone wanted some he could draw a really cool looking snake. Plus, the paints were sanitary, that he made sure of.

Let's get it on!

Angelina saw the boy come over to the group looking ready for the pep rally and excited.

"Hi!" Angelina said waving to him. "Yeah, I am really excited!" Angelina laughed and smiled at him. When he asked if anyone wanted their face painted she saw he was caring paint with him. Angelina really didn't have much on just some strips lines across the bottom of her eyes like the muggles do for games. This caused Angelina to feel a little plain. So she said to the boy, "Yeah I would like to have my face painted... more." After she let out a giggle.

She was so ready for this! Now someone with a big poster, or something that stands out...

Carter laughed. "Do your worst, Skylar." he said to the team ginger. And by that he of course meant best. He didn't want to walk around looking like a failed art project. He held his arms out and waited to be painted. So they may not be quidditch champions, but they were going to be pep champions!

He nodded a greeting at the rest of his quidditch boys. They really should have all just left the common room together, like he and Josh did. He then chuckled when he spotted Gideon. "The Mrs. dress you up?" he asked.

He then turned back to Kurumi. "You've got a little something on your head." he said with a laugh. Was she shielding her eyes? Had she done that all term? All of sudden he couldn't remember how the Prefect acted while they were in the locker room.

His eyes then widened at the sight of treats. "Do I get some?" he asked.

Ryan walked down to the Quidditch Pitch in Red Clothes with his Face Painted with Lions and Red Paint.He didn't see any One his Year From Gryffindor So he just sat down on the seats hoping others would come.

Bentley had caught wind of the Pep Rally that was taking place in the stands, and by golly did she love a little school spirit. Feeling excited, and curious, she deserted her office not for the first time since the weather was fine, and made the trek across the grounds to the Stands.

0________________0

Uhhh... did the Eagles and Badgers miss the memo? The stands were flooded with snakes and .... topless? lions.

Bentley eyed Carter. What was with that boy and not wearing a shirt??? honestly!

She was standing around rather awkwardly, though she was enjoying (for the most part) the lovely displays of House Pride. But with a lack of blue, she wasn't really sure where she fit in. Would someone adopt her?

But alas!!! were those cookies she spied at the Gryffindor end?

Kennedy flopped down next to the young snake. He waved back and then noticed she had black strips at the bottom of her eyes, like his... well, wasn't that cute. He beamed when she accepted his art skills. "Alrighty," he said, digging into the bag. He pulled out a pallet that contained several colors and a thin brush. "Here we go, what would you like?" he asked. An "S" on one cheek, or a snake on the other cheek, OR both? Or something completely different?

"I'm Kennedy by the way," he introduced himself. Yeah, he didn't want to be called "hey you" or the "guy with green and gray hair".

He looked around and slightly frowned. Where were ALL the snakes at?

Eh, maybe they wanted to make an entrance.

Alyssa stood on the stands and looked all around her. The Gryffindor and Slytherin House students were all pumped up and starting their cheers. She saw some fellow Hufflepuff students sitting in the stands and they were wearing their House colors and and had their faces painted in yellow and black, but they weren't cheering. Alyssa decided that she needed to do something. Their House team was playing in the finals against all odds and she wasn't going to let them think that their House students weren't supporting them.

She remembered a cheer that she learnt when she was in Salem. So she decided to use it here. First of all she had to remember how the chant went.

WIIIIlLLOW, WILLOW, WILLOW, WILLOW, WILLOW, WIIILOW
Everywhere We Go-o
People Want To Kn-ow
Who We Ar-re
Where We Come From
So We Tell Them
We Come From Hufflepuff
Mighty Hufflepuff
Mighty, Mighty, Hufflepuff
WIIIIlLLOW, WILLOW, WILLOW, WILLOW, WILLOW, WIIILOW

Okay now that she had the words, she needed to teach it to her housemates. So she ran up to them.

Even though she'd not been down to watch the games during the term, it might surprise people to know that Althea Schirmer was, in fact, a Quidditch fan. She even had a signed Beater's Bat that she'd got from Vindictus himself back in 2060. That was a little awkward and part of the reason she had mostly kept her distance from the Quidditch Official and Flying Professor. Back when she'd been in school, going to Diagon Alley and visiting Quality Quidditch Supplies was a priority. Not something she'd acknowledge out loud now. Nope.

And nobody needed to know that she used to have moving posters of him either. She was past that sort of silliness.

... but apparently the students weren't. She looked disapproving about the shirtless little boys and primly moved to sit in the Ravenclaw section of the stands, though she was rather close to the Slytherin area too. They weren't quite as naked over that way.

The professor was neutral in purple, but she DID have her wand and some face paint. Just in case the mood hit. and of course there were plenty of charms that one could use to show school spirit.

If one was so inclined.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

Out of all of the boys who walked up the stands thus far none of them were anything up against the actual lion approaching now. Dressed in lion ears and a tail that she herself had adorned on him, Gideon took the cake for the best looking lion, at least in her opinion. Then again she was a biased party. She could tell though that Gideon was slightly uncomfortable in his attire or lack thereof.

So she smiled and walked over to give him a kiss on the cheek, "Well hello there, sir." She muffled her giggle at the ears and said, "Can you hear me loud and clear through the ears?"

Gideon swallowed as he was spotted, watching as Selina approached him, somehow feeling her appraise him despite the fact she had seen him before as they set it all up. He could have acted the hurt lion seeing as she had kinda tricked him into giving in but he behaved especially as she kissed his cheek.

"What?" he half-teasingly said cupping his fake ear with his hand as he tilted his head to the side as if to hear her better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Until she looked at Gideon and then she suddenly felt better. She had already seen this and been the one to put the ears on. Some of the blush left her face and she felt her breathing even out a bit. "Hi Gideon," she squeaked in a tone that not even dogs could hear.



.

Gideon turned to his fellow fourth year as Kurumi caught sight of him after Selina had, both having already seen his attire. At least he didn't seem the most ackward around in this situation and watched as her own ears and whiskers showed up, the boy somewhat glad he already knew about her ability and wasn't so surprised this time around.

"Hi Kurumi," he greeted in return, offering her a soft smile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Carter laughed. "Do your worst, Skylar." he said to the team ginger. And by that he of course meant best. He didn't want to walk around looking like a failed art project. He held his arms out and waited to be painted. So they may not be quidditch champions, but they were going to be pep champions!

He nodded a greeting at the rest of his quidditch boys. They really should have all just left the common room together, like he and Josh did. He then chuckled when he spotted Gideon. "The Mrs. dress you up?" he asked.

He then turned back to Kurumi. "You've got a little something on your head." he said with a laugh. Was she shielding her eyes? Had she done that all term? All of sudden he couldn't remember how the Prefect acted while they were in the locker room.

His eyes then widened at the sight of treats. "Do I get some?" he asked.

So far so good. Gideon wasn't totally called out. That was until Carter caught sight of him and laid it into him causing the younger boy to inwardly groan. "Nae...it was two girls who shall remain nameless," he remarked with a twitch of his nose. No sense in acting like Selina controlled his every move. He did almost comment that at least he had a Mrs. but cut off before he could be mean. Maybe he could silently convince Selina to do something with her painti---

Nah too petty Slytherin for his tastes at the moment...so he simply turned away not wanting to wash his girlfriend paint the bare chest of his older...somewhat less gangly... team mate.

Quidditch had never really been Dash's thing. Never. Even in school he didn't care much for the sport. Sure the game seemed exciting and all that but he really couldn't get excited about something that revolved around flying. Ugh. Especially when he was probably the worst flyer probably in the the History of Hogwarts.

But he really couldn't deny the sense of pride he got when he heard well Slytherin was actually doing.

Which was why he had actually dragged himself out of his office to check everything out. Scabior wasn't dressed up though. He simply had on his old Slytherin tie which hung loosely around his neck. That was more than enough pride.


He rested a large contain filled with Slytherin cupcakes that he had asked the House Elves to bake (he was in a giving mood), down on the snakes side.

Dash gazed around a bit. A bunch of Slytherin's and Gryffindors...and half dressed Gryffindor boys...only Gryffindors. Spotting Althea and Seren he gave them both a wave.

Rose grinned to herself as she walked to the stands. This was gonna be AWESOME! Gryffindor totally had the most house pride, they'd totally get those points! Not that it mattered, it was fun to rally!
She entered and saw a bunch of boys with no tops on. Ok...? She knew why, it still freaked her out a bit, and you could see why... She looked to the ground and just tried not to take in any of the half-nakedness around her. Which was a bit difficult.
She actually had no clue what she was doing... Meh, it was a rally, she'd get the hang of it.

Althea sort of waved and looked both surprised and suspicious at the cupcakes. Did he make those? Were they poisoned?

Angelina watched as he sat down next to her and got out of his bag pallets of many colors and thin brushes. Angelina thought of what she would like when she finally decided, "I could like one side to have a silver "S" and the other side a green snake. She smiled up at him when she became silent.

When he introduced himself she said, "Its nice to meet you Kennedy, I'm Angelina." Lucky he said something, or she may forget to tell Kennedy her namee, and she probably wouldn't want to ask him later on if she wanted to say something to Kennedy and didn't know his name..

Angelina was happy (and hopeful) that everyone at the pep rally will talk to everyone even if they really didn't know them.

Seren beamed at her colleague... odd man he was, but nontheless, she gave him a small wave in return.

Uhh.... were those cupcakes he had? Bentley liked cupcakes, almost as much as she liked cookies. Standing there, looking rather silly, she shifted her gaze from the Gryffindor camp and their cookies to the Slytherin camp and Dash's cupcakes.

FOOD!

It was the way the Herbologists heart. Well, food and tea. Tea was always appreciated.

Wait...WHAT? SHE DID?!

Kurumi's hands flew to her head where she felt...something furry. Oh Merlin it had happened again. She frowned for a moment, but then realized that this wasn't the worst thing that could happen. After all, a lion was a really BIG cat, right? She should wear her ears and whiskers proudly...

or something...

"I do," she said with a false smile. She would come to accept the ears in a moment, hopefully.

Her eyes then drifted over towards her cookies and away from the bare chest of August. "Of course you do!" she laughed.

"There you go August," Kurumi squeaked as she finished one final brush stroke on his chest. Now that a golden N stood proudly on it, it wasn't AS awkward to look at.

Turning her gaze AWAY from Josh before she was going to have to focus on it entirely, Kurumi saw that one of her lions had made his way to the stands. "Ryan!" Kurumi waved. "Welcome to the Pride." Well, he had been a part of it for the entire term, but this was an entirely different pride right now.

Then Kurumi spotted a rather flustered looking Professor Bentley walking around. Perhaps she was overwhelmed by the crimson wave that had overtaken the stands? Poor Professor Bentley had had a rough term in more ways than one.

She could certainly use a cookie.

"Professor Bentley!" Kurumi called, waving in the woman's direction.

Kurumi smiled at Gideon, but then got a little confused. Nameless girls? Well, that was a lie. She looked from Gideon to Carter, cocking her head to the side like a baby owl. "But...they do have names," she said as she waved her index finger in the air. "Selina and I did it."

Just then, the music on Selina's boombox erupted into a loud chant easy enough for any Gryffindor join in.

Who are we fighting for? Gryffindor! Giving it all for the red and gold!

The volume and intensity of the beat even had timid Kurumi jumping and bobbing her head in place as she slooooooooooowly peeked over at Josh's chest. Time to get painting...

Hhhmm?

Seren's ears perked up at the sound of her name, pulling her from her conflicting thoughts of cookies vs. cupcakes. Indeed the voice was the answer to her internal dilemma.
"Ahhh Kurumi," she greeted with a smile, deciding to head over to the Gryffindor camp. "I must say... you're all very... uuhh dedicated."
She cast a breif glance over the topless boys again. It felt strange being in the company of topless teens. But it was for a good cause, right?

Quidditch!!!

Eddie was sitting in his study still trying to get the bent telescopes back to their former glory when he heard loud voices and commotion coming from the grounds. Giving the bent telescope a glare he strode over to the window to look down at the pitch. Seeing and hearing the enthusiased voices as the students geared up for the Championship Qudditch final game.

Not wanting to be cut out of the fun Eddie decked himself out in array of stuff in the four house colors which he had picked up during the course of the term. As he left his office some minutes later he looked like a better version of a peacock in its prime form.

Coming out onto the pitch Eddie waved to Dash and Seren as he took note of the topless boys and face paint all around. Why hadn't he thought of putting on some paint? Worrying about it he strolled over and sat down next to Althea with a wide grin on his face "Good day, Althea! Why aren't you covered in face paint?"

Kurumi bounced in beat with the music, not yet finding it within her to start chanting along with it, but that would come soon enough she was sure it would happen soon...especially with Selina being completely in her element like she was.

She smiled and blushed a bit more, her cat ears twitching just a bit, at Professor Bentley's compliment. "Well, we are a pride, professor." She bent down and picked up the plate of cookies and held them up towards her.