'There might be an interesting thing or two around here.'

SMIRK. She had to be talking about him, right? 'Course! What else was interesting around here? The food? The BUTTERFLIES? Psh.

"Must be very fun for you." Awesome points? For HIM? Ego boost, he thought so! His chest puffed out just a little in pride. "Can't say I'm not a gentleman," he said, winking at her, "Sooooo bringing you food helps me earn awesome points? Is there anything else that helps to earn those points?" It would be VERY useful to know. Just saying.

Of course, Grayson hadn't taken a bite of his good just yet. Not until Soph had tried the cake. "That good?" he asked, before taking up his sandwich and biting into it. Dessert could wait. As he munched on the sandwich, the fourth year's blue eyes flew over towards the Butterfly Hunting area again. "It does. It's probably be relaxing, too, if you manage not to get hit by something." Were there any slightly dangerous plants in there? HMMM? "Nah! It didn't interest me too much. I went straight to the Go-Karts first," he said, looking back at her, "You been in there?"

Sophie grinned. "I gave you jelly slugs on the day we first met. That has to count for something, right?" she joked. Of course, it wasn't hot chocolate and cake, but Grayson was right--HE was the gentlemen. From what Sophie knew about guys and girls, the guys were SUPPOSED to do stuff like that.

"Hmm," she said, and then she stopped to eat a second bite of the cake. What else could earn him awesome points? "Well, let's see. I'd say we're both old enough to go to Hogsmeade, and we should check it out soon..." Meaning check it out together "...but we're kind of snowed in." It was really too bad. Madam Puddifoot's was supposedly THE place to go.

Then she grinned. "Come to think of it, asking questions like that very one you just asked earns you awesome points, too." You know, the one where he asked what ELSE would earn him awesome points. It showed he was interested in making her smile, and although that sounded kind of mushy to her, Sophie was a girl, and that's just how girls thought. "I'm sure you'll come up with something." Then she winked.

Sophie raised her eyebrows and looked interested. "There's go-carts? No way! That's pretty cool," she said. "I do love a good challenge, and a good go-cart race sounds like a good way to liven up this place." Then she looked at Grayson and added, "Although, it did just liven up quite a bit just a few minutes ago." If he thought really hard, he'd figure out that one.

Zander was still moping about the lack of chocolate frogs or whatnot. Snacks should include chocolate, should they not? This was an outrage! This was ludicrous! This was... probably Culloden's fault or something. Was it possible that the man had a secret vendetta against chocolate candies? Or maybe it was Flailsteed? He could just imagine the Astronomy Professor now, 'no chocolate in the chillin' out area!' The guy always seemed to get on Zander for food. Always.

The Gryffindor clutched his water bottle, somewhat angrily, and scanned the room. Was Simon around anywhere? Or CB? Awh, it looked like the only people around were Group Leader Grayson and some third year he was chatting up. Typical. Maybe going back to paintball wouldn't be that bad? Then again.... his colorful robes said otherwise. Just as he was finishing his little scan around, he noticed a girl around his age, just standing there. "They got you too, then?" Of course, he was referring to the paint. Her robes looked almost worse than his did, and that was saying something.

SNORT. Would you look at that. The girl remembered what had happened on the day that they met. Did this mean that their meeting had left a lasting impression? He liked to think so! "I'd say that counts for a lot. Are you trying to rack up awesome points, Soph?" She was already beating him in the leaderboard, she couldn't possibly add this to her achievements, could she?

Was she asking him out? Grayson raised his eyebrows, his usual signature smirk almost threatening to spread itself across his face. "You're not afraid of going after what you want, are you?" Bold girls, man. "It's a shame that we're snowed in and can't go to Hogsmeade. I heard that that magical village is a great place to visit, especially with someone." Andddddd there was that smirk.

"Be careful, you're going to boost my ego with comments like that." NOT that he had any complaints. Keep 'em coming, Newell, along with those winks. "Mysterious, you are," he said, turning a little in his seat so that he could face her properly, "So give me a couple of hints. Likes? Dislikes?" She had his fullest attention too. Lucky girl.

"Yes!" Did she like go-karts too? "You should try it out, if you haven't already. Though, watch out for the water on the fifth floor; that thing is DEEP." But all in all, the race was fun and lively, as the girl had put it. And according to her, the place livened up just a few minutes ago. Yes, he knew EXACTLY what that meant. This girl. MAN. "I heard that the perfect company can have that effect. Keep the place looking........." He looked over at her and smirked. "lively."

Ws she trying to rack up awesome points? She hadn't thought of it that way, but now that she did, she guessed she was. She grinned playfully. "Maybe. How am I doing?" she asked. She wondered how many awesome points she held in the mind of Grayson Whitlock.

She caught sight of Grayson raising his eyebrows, and then she figured out why. It seemed like she was asking him out! Well, she guessed in a way, she did. She did suggest they go to Hogsmeade together, after all, so yeah. Maybe she had been asking him out. She widened her eyes when she realized this, and a slight flush came over her. Then he seemed to be impressed with that, which made her relax and then grin again. "Of course I go after the things I want. I'm a Slytherin, aren't I?"

She felt that same flush come up again, but this time, it was because Grayson mentioned Hogsmeade being a nice place to go with someone else. Oh my gosh! It was like they'd both just asked each other out! ... Stupid snow. Then he wanted to know more about her, soo...what could she say? Be cool, Sophie. Be cool. "Well, ...let's see. I love it when boys treat girls like princesses--like bringing then cups of hot chocolate and pieces of cake." Wink. "I love a good challenge, but not too much a challenge to where certain things are too hard to get." And dislikes? "I hate that I can't go on that summer field trip, because...I heard there's some pretty amazing people going."

So flirty, Sophie.

She nodded when he said she should try the go-carts. They sounded fun, but...only if there was room for two in each cart. Then she'd ask him to take her on a ride. "I'll have to keep that in mind then."

That grin on her face. His blue eyes lingered on that for a second longer than it ought to have before he smiled in return. "Let's seeeeee," he said in a mock-thinking voice, "You gave me Jelly Slugs, didn't mock me for the bucket incident and you managed to clean away swamp water. I'd say the Slytherin points board isn't the only points board you're currently one of the top earners for." Hint hint.

Grayson noticed that flush. He did. Was he going to mention it to her? Psh, no. He needed to know what she was like about things like that before casually drawing attention to it. But for now, he smirked a little before taking a bite out of his sandwich. Slytherin. Heh. "I like that. The determination. The boldness," he commented, after gulping down his bite, "Keep at it, Soph. You might get something out of it."

Anddddd the flush was back. MAN, he wanted to ask her about that. About why she flushed so much. Or if she flushed this much around other people. It was intriguing, in a way, but there was no way he could comment on that. Not when she had gone ahead and started talking about her likes and dislikes. "Score for me, then," he said, winking back at her, "'Course. You want to tackle the challenge but not come out looking like a failure." At least, he didn't. "It's a shame you can't come to the field trip. Those awesome people might have enjoyed your company a lot. Might have hung out with you a lot, too." Shame, indeed.

"Good. Let me know which sucker you end up beating." If she did.

After being splashed with various paints and covered in butterflies, Simon made his way towards the Chilling Out Area. He wiped his face with his sleeve once more, trying to get rid of the pink paint that Agatha had so lovingly splattered all over him. Phew. Dodging all of those made him really hungry and thirsty. So he went to scout some plain water. He walked past many coloured energy drinks and then he found the simple water bottles. Ah. Perfect. Picking up one of those he headed over to the food place.

Ooh. Plenty of options here too!

Now what did he want to eat?

Sophie caught how he looked at her for a split second longer than he likely meant to. She felt that all too familiar flush creep up over her, and she fought hard not to blush. She was sure she didn't. She had to play this cool. She laughed when he listed the ways she'd earned awesome points with him. "So I fed you and cleaned you," she said. Wow, Sophie. What a way to try and impress your crush. "Somebody hasn't looked at the points board lately, have they?" They were currently TIED--for top students in the whole SCHOOL. She'd let him figure that one out, though.

She raised her eyebrows. "Might get something out of it?" she asked. "Hmm. I'm no beggar, but I guess I might be able to step up my game for the right person." She frowned again when he mentioned the field trip. "Try not to have too much fun," she said with a grin. "Save that for next summer--when..." I get to join you, was what she was going to say. "...more awesome people get to come along." There. That was a nice save.

She just grinned when he told her to let him know what sucker she ended up beating. She had no plans of going to the go-carts right now. Slytherin Hottie was over here.

'Least he had managed to get her to laugh. Not that he had doubted this, but he wasn't going to deny the fact that it was nice. At Sophie's words, Grayson ended up laughing as well before saying sarcastically, "Sounds dead romantic, that does." It didn't. But then again, he knew nothing about the topic so. "Thanks for all that, by the way. It was really nice of you." And she got a genuine Whitty smile. Wait, what? Someone hadn't looked at the points board recently? "Well, no I haven't. Why? Did something change?" Because last he checked, she was the reigning champ.

Was she concentrating on the 'might' part? "Where's the fun in knowing what you'll get? A little mystery never hurt anyone," he remarked, throwing her a small wink for good measure. Oh HELLO. She had mentioned something about the right person. "Who would be the right person in your books, then?" Come on. Spill the beans. "Sounds like next summer's already going to be better than this one because of these more awesome people who get to come along." Smirk. "Think we'll go anywhere fun next year?" Another beach-y place did not sound like a bad idea. Just saying.

Sophie laughed, too. "Well, I did give you a Valentine card, so at least it's a step up from feeding you and cleaning you," she joked along. That card. It was the first time she'd really mentioned it to him since she'd handed it to him and headed off. She wondered what he thought about it but decided not to ask. She noticed his smile, which actually wasn't a smirk this time but a genuine smile, and smiled in return. "You're welcome."

She changed her smile to a grin when he brought up what she'd said about the points board. "I should really keep you wondering then," she answered, "but I guess I'll make your day and give you the news. We're TIED. Not only that, but we're tied for top students in the whole SCHOOL." There was another ego boost for him. Heh.

"No, a little mystery never hurt anybody, but playing hard to get does," she said. After all, a girl would only chase a boy for so long before growing tired of it and moving on to the next hottie. Then she shrugged. "I guess if it's the right boy, though, it wouldn't matter." She leaned in closer and with a smile said, "I like a total hottie--and one whose confident of himself and has goals and ambitions for himself." He's got to be worth something, after all.

She leaned back again when he mentioned the field trip. "We better go somewhere fun. I vote for Hawaii," she said. She'd heard amazing things about that place.

Marigold was having fun. This had effectively... Warmed her up, per say, and she had forgotten about being angry at the cold. She was a little warmer than she wanted to be, in fact, so she headed over to get water. She debated between getting an energy drink too... But naaaaaah.

Food? She walked closer to see the options, only to notice a younger boy doing the same thing. She nudged him gently with her shoulder. "What are you planning on eating?"

Simon felt someone nudge him. Huh? Was that Ethan or Zander? The boy blinked his two blue eyes and he turned around to see someone that he DIDN'T know. However, she did look familiar.

Oh hello stranger. He gave her smile. Food? Hmmm.. "Everything?" he said at first and then chuckled. "I'm kidding. I probably won't eat everything though I really want to." His tummy grumbled. Sometimes being a growing boy was tough because he always felt hungry. His appetite could never be properly sated for more than an hour or something. "I don't know. I was thinking of eating the meal backwards. Starting with the cakes and then eating the sandwiches for a change. What about you?" he asked turning a blue-eyed gaze towards the girl.

Before Agatha could leave the area, she heard someone speaking. 'They got you too, then?' The Slytherin stopped on her tracks and turned her head to see who the person was talking to and saw the boy looking at her. She would get angry and frown if he wasn't covered in paint too. At least she knew he wasn't making fun of her, then.

"Yes. And I didn't even want to be in the war." She said, rolling her eyes and frowning a bit. She couldn't actually feel the paint all over her, but she was aware her robes were very colourful. Her eyes settled on a nice-looking sandwich next to a colourful drink. It'd be easier to have a snack now then to go to the kitchens later on, and since this random boy decided to talk to her, she'd stay. Besides, his robes looked a lot worse than hers, so that was good. She wouldn't even mind standing next to him. Actually, that was even a good idea because he looked more messy than she did.

The third year took a sandwich with lots of salad and a yellow energy drink. Energy drinks were good and since she was planning on going back to practising her routine as soon as she went back to the Common Room, it'd help too. Agatha also took a good look at the boy. "You're Simon and Ethan's friend."

The third year was just itching to fix his hair up. He could literally just FEEL how messy it was. But, he refrained from doing so. Because he was now talking to someone and that'd be rude. But mostly because it was covered in black paint. Hmph. If only he had seen the RUDE person who had attacked his lovely hair. Hmph.

She didn't want to be in the war? At this, Zander raised an eyebrow. See, he actually did want to be in the war. Well... He didn't actually plan on coming out looking like, well, this. The plan was to team up with Kevin and come out spotless. But after having lost his teammate, things just went downhill. But he still had tons of fun! "Oh, how come you got pulled into it then?" Had she walked in on accident? The third year watched as the girl grabbed a sandwich, and though he wasn't planning on eating anything he decided to grab one too just 'cause. Food was always welcomed.

At her next statement, the Zander chuckled. "Yeah I am, are you friends with them too?" He didn't actually know the girl, but he had seen her in lessons. Hm. Who she was friends with though? He had no idea. Though she had been working with Simon for paintball? "I'm Zander by the way." Because they hadn't officially met or anything.

She DID give him a Valentine's Day card. One that was sitting in his dorm right this very minute. Hottie, she had called him. Somethig that still made him smirk everytime he thought about it. "I'd say that was a big step up." Wink. "Well done to you. And you knooooow," He cleared his throat. "It's a shame that you gave me a Valentine's Day card and I didn't get to give you anything in return." Juuuust saying.

SNORT. She should keep him wondering? "Like you can resist telling [I]me,[I]" Half-joking, he was. But he news about the points? Now THAT was a major ego boost right there. "You serious? Top of the SCHOOL?! Man alive!" Freaking YES! "THAT's more like it! Reigning top points earners. Both of us. Together." Uh huh. "Looks like we just have to keep that up for the rest of the year."

Soph had a point, she did. About playing hard to get. Grayson wanted to ask whether HE was playing hard to get buuuuuut, for whatever reason, he didn't. Nope. Instead, he said, "Do you get easily put off by the hard to get act?" But she mentioned something about the right boy. He wanted to ask about that too but before he could, there was leaning in.

Leaning. Inwards. Towards him.

And all Whitty could do was stare. Take in her profile. Her face. All of it.

He did glance down at her lips momentarily as she spoke. A total hottie who was confident and had ambitions and goals. SMIRK. Was that him? Of course it was. It sounded a lot like him. "You might be in luck. There could be a couple of those around." The smirk still stayed on his face, of course.

Hawaii! "Merlin, YES! Hawaii's perfect! Plenty of sun and beaches over there." Of course, that was important. "And it should be for a really cool topic, too. Nothing boring that requires worksheets."

Marigold grinned a bit awkwardly at the boy before he started talking, but her smile only grew wider. Hey, they were talking about food. Food was good. "I don't see what's wrong with eating everything! That's what I'm going to do!" She was only half-joking. "I'm Marigold. And I say we go start eating cakes together. Yeah?"

FOOD WAS GOOD. He beamed when he heard her reaction. Man, a girl after his own heart, hey? That made him smile even more. "Sounds like a good plan," he said with a grin; however, he wasn't going to eat everything. He'd eat almost everything. There was a big distinction between the two options. Heh. Marigold was her name? "It's nice to meet you, Marigold. I'm Simon," he said and held out his hand towards her for a handshake. When she said that they should go start eating cakes, Simon agreed. "I thought you'd never ask!" he added with a playful wink. Cake was wonderful and fluffy and light and MMmmmmmm... It was just amazing! "What's your favourite type of cake?"

Marigold beeeeamed at him. Food food foooooOOOOOooooOOOOOOooooooooood. "Nice to meet you, Simon." There. Someone who made handshakes not awkward. TALKING BOUT ZANDER, YO. "Hmmm… favorite cake? That's a hard one! I'm more a fan of pies… but… probably chocolate."

Because it couldn't go wrong.

Yes, non-awkward handshake! There wasn't the usual hesitation of whether the outstretched hand was supposed to be a fist pump or a high five. This girl just seemed to get the boy, you know? He liked Marigold. She seemed pretty awesome so far. And foooooooooood was the topic. "[A fan of pies, hey? Pies are good. I love a good apple pie with the apples having been stewed in brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg." Mmm... He could go for that right now. His tummy grumbled slightly. "Chocolate's good too. My sister would have to agree with you on that. She's a self-proclaimed chocoholic at the age of nine!" He chuckled. His sister was ridiculous.

Simon eyed the various desserts and picked up a chocolate cake and then a couple of cookies. "My favourite cake would have to be a sponge cake with passionfruit icing on the top and raspberry jam and cream in the middle. I used to make it back home all the time with my grandparents."

Grayson was basically apologizing for not giving her a Valentine's card, too, but she hadn't really expected him to give her one. At the time, they were still pretty much getting to know one another, and Sophie had just realized she had a crush on him. She'd just given him that card to boldly let him know how she felt about him. She shrugged. "It's alright. I'm sure you're capable of coming up with some kind of way to make up for it," she said.

She laughed at the whole 'man alive' comment.

"It's a good thing I like you, Grayson Whitlock. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so content to share that top spot with you," she said, referring to their tie for first place on the points board. Oh, she'd keep it up alright, and she wouldn't be too disappointed if she had to share that top spot with Mr. Slytherin Hottie. Smirk. As a matter of fact, she'd love the company.

Did she get too put off by someone playing hard to get? "It depends," she said, being somewhat secretive at first, "on how long that person decides to play hard to get." Because in the end, she was no beggar, and she wouldn't stay around so long it made her look desperate. Nope.

She winked when he said 'there might be a couple of those around'. "So I've seen," she said, looking at him. This was her point blank telling him she was looking at one of those type people right now. They might have continued on like this, but something caught Sophie's eye, and she looked around to see the event looked like it was wrapping up. "Thanks for the cake," she said, taking that last bite. She stood up and hesitated for a moment for adding, "Oh, and Grayson? I just might be interested in one of those hotties we were talking about, but...let's just hope he doesn't play too hard to get, though. He should really come around if he thinks he might want a chance."

"See ya around," she said, and then she picked up her plate and headed off.