Hadleigh was enjoying the fresh air and simply relaxing, her thoughts drifting about in her head like the evening breeze. She hadn't felt much like eating any marshmallows like some of her fellow mates having decided to wait fully on the main meal. The time slowly ticked by and almost nearly a fully fifty or so minutes had passed before she heard professor Stewarts voice announcing it was nearly time to eat the stew and damper they had prepared.

With a light small Hady rose to her feet and made her way to the area that the plates and other things were set out. Waiting her turn she quietly collected a plate and other utensils before returning to her work area. Carefully lifting off the lids from the pots she inhaled the scent of what smelled like a really nice meal. Hopefully she had prepared it properly and it tasted as good as it looked. Dishing up some of the meal onto her plate she carefully carried it over towards where the professors were sat on their logs. Sitting down she set the plate on her knee holding it with one hand allowing it to cool a few moments while she listened to the 'ghost stories' being told.

Picking up her fork she scooped some of the stew up and blew on it lightly before taking a taste. Mmm! It really wasn't all that bad!

Kay smiled to herself as she watched everyone enjoying themselves with either finishing up with their cooking or joining her on the log. She beamed when Azura approached her. "Of course, Ms Kennedy!'' She patted the free space beside her. "Make yourself comfortable. Shall we try our food together?''

Breaking a piece of the damper she scooped up some of the stew them munched on the combination. Yum! It was as though her taste buds were exposed to a whole new world. "This is positively delicious, Art!'' Would he mind teaching her some more recipes from his homeland?

She continued to munch, dividing her attention among Azura, Art and her food. Kay was making sure the little Ravenclaw didn't get too spooked from the story. You know that feeling you get when watching scary movies? The fright and the increased heart rate? Kay got that. Her eyes widened somewhat. "Who's hand could it have been?'' she asked. "It seems as if the boys' house was haunted.''

OOC: Feel free to have your charrie's react to Professor Newton's story! Catching up with the cooking is still okay to do. Class will close in about 10 hours.

"Scourgify!" Everything was now clean. Kitty decided that cooking was actually pretty fun. She was going to try it again sometime soon. But now they got to eat! It was delicious. Kitty didn't tell anyone that she put extra pepper and salt in her vegetables and meat, but she was certain that was part of why it tasted so good. It would have tasted good either way, but now even more so. Maybe Kitty could ask the house elves for extra salted food sometime.

Kitty actually did have a creepy story to tell: The story of the tapestry. But she was too shy to say it in front of everyone, so instead she just sat back and enjoed Professor Art's story. "That's an interesting story," she said after hearing the whole thing. "Were the boys Muggles? If they were wizards they could have called the Department For Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to try to see what was living inside their apartment. I assume it wasn't a ghost since the hand was solid, so that would leave a creature."

Her Ravenclaw mind was working hard at this one.

Now was the time to eat! Now this was something Echo could really get into. And after all she worked really hard on making her food, and everyones food seemed to be done around the same time, which was great. Getting a bowl she served up her dish out of her cauldron and then sat down on the nearest log and started to eat her food slowly. It was still pretty hot.

Putting her bowl down she started to listen to everyones stories while moving over to get her bread thing. Taking it up she placed it on a plate and went to go over by her bowl and continued to listen. Some people had some really good stories.

After cleaning off his knife and ensuring that his fire was continuing to go nicely, Rooney moved on to making his damper. Again, he was confused by each student making enough food to serve six people, but he daren’t question it. The Muggle Studies Professor seemed to be out in full force this afternoon, yikes. The Ravenclaw gave his flat board a wipe over and also a turn so that he wasn’t using the side that he had prepared his meat on earlier. He placed his mixing bowl atop the board and added the cup of self-raising flour. Next went a pinch of salt and a quarter cup of water. And…apparently, according to his recipe card…that was everything that they needed. What…?? That simple?? Coooooool.

He hummed a little something to himself whilst he mixed the stuff together, a variation of ‘whistle while you work’, until his concoction was something resembling a ‘round loaf’ as instructed on the recipe card. Rooney decided that he couldn’t do much more to it and moved on to putting two shovels of hot coals and ash into the hole that he had dug earlier before he started anything. When he was sure that that was in a good enough state, Roo placed his loaf into the pot and set the lid over it. That was…all he needed to do, right? Well, and put the pot into the hole. Which he did next and then sat back for a moment, giving his watch a check on time. Pretty good. His two things would be finished at around about the same time.

Perfect!

So Roo moved onto cleaning up after himself as the time ticked by.

Yaaay!

It was finally time for them to eat.

Esme didn't need to be told twice to get a plate from up front; the Hufflepuff's legs couldn't carry her fast enough. The sooner this stew and bread got in her stomach the better because she was still hungry after eating roasted marshmallows. Not exactly something to consist of a meal even though they tasted amazing. Heaps of whatever it was called and the Damper was all that she needed.

AND SPOOKY STORIES.

Settling in, she listened to what Grandpa Newton had to tell them as she dug in. This was the life.

Fiyero was glad Professor Stewart hadn't insisted he go to Healer Murdoch, especially since he was almost done with the prep work when she noticed him. He didn't think accidentally cutting himself qualified as "doing a great job", but he was grateful for the encouragement nonetheless. "Thank you, Professor," he said with a small smile before turning back to his work. Why did he have to be so clumsy all the time?! It seemed like every Potions lesson resulted in him destroying something or injuring himself...

He filled up on marshmallows as he kept a watchful eye on his cauldron, just in case there were any more mishaps. He was glad the teachers had thought to include these; he was starving! The smells wafting up from his cauldron weren't doing much to curb his appetite, either. That stew was really starting to smell good! Judging by the smell, it was probably going to be done soon. Professor Stewart's voice suddenly jerked him out of his thoughts a she said something about dinner being ready. At that exact moment, his timer went off. Talk about perfect timing! He assumed there were spoons up front with the plates, although Professor Stewart hadn't said, since expecting them to eat stew without spoons would be weird (and messy)! Sure enough, when he went to grab his plate, there were spoons laid out next to the dishes.

Fiyero ladled some stew into his plate and sliced off a chunk of the damper, taking extra care not to accidentally knife himself again, before taking a seat about halfway between Professors Newton and Stewart. The stew was pretty good, but he agreed with that other guy who was asking about spices earlier. It definitely needed seomthing else! He took a bite of the bread... it tasted funny. He knew he'd used too much salt...

He looked up from his plate as Professor Stewart said something about ghost stories. Cool! He loved ghost stories! He hoped he wouldn't have to go first, though; he couldn't think of any good ones to tell at the moment. Maybe somebody would come up with a really scary one... Bring it on, ghost story! He listened with rapt attention to Professor Newton's story about the boys playing hide-and-seek. Some of his classmates looked frightened when it got to the part about the hand grabbing one of the boys, but Fiyero was a little bit disappointed. Was that it?! That wasn't very scary! And besides, he didn't think ghosts were able to touch people like that...

After what seemed like an eternity, Janelle's timer went off, followed shortly by her watch beeping. Her food was done and it smelled amazing. Of course the fact that she was starving didn't hurt. Janelle's stomach growled and as if she'd heard it, Professor Stewart gave everyone the go ahead to eat.

Janelle took a towel, removed the lid from her cauldron and peeked inside. The smell was even better once the cover was removed and the fifth year couldn't wait to try out her creation. Replacing the lid, she went up and got a plate. Once she got back to her work area, she grabbed a big spoon and placed some of the stew on her plate. Then she went to get a big piece of Damper to complete her meal.

Time to eat, time to eat. Her stew was calling her and she could not wait any longer. She found a spot on a log next to Echo and sat down. "I think I'm going to like this meal. I can't wait to try it." And ooooh, they were going to have ghost stories too? Janelle sat back and took a bite of her stew. It was sooooo good. This was definitely a winner. Before continuing with the stew, she tasted her Damper and it was equally delicious. Going back to her stew, Janelle ate and ate. Then it was time for the ghost story. Professor Newton began to speak and Janelle listened as he got into his story. It wasn't horror movie scary, but it was just creepy enough to be disturbing. Janelle would be thinking about this one for a while. Maybe a little Damper would make her forget about.......the hand.

Listening Echo felt quite warm with all the little fires around them and she smiled when Janelle sat down beside her. "i know right, this is the first thing ive ever made with like my hands" she took her fork and took her first bite. "ohhh this is so good" now she was curious how the bread thing tasted. grabbing it with her hands she pulled it apart and ate a piece. "oh wow.. its warming me up for sure"

"we should try cooking more things on our own the muggle way in the kitchens some time" yeah that would be a good time to have fun with her friend.

Art grinned at Kay, who had complimented the meal. "One of our st-staple foods when I was growing up," he said. It was a very easy dish, and cheap, too. He saw that most of the students were enjoying the meal, which had made him happy. He was warm, comfortable, full, and enjoying the wonderful company. He looked at his watch and saw that it was now getting rather late. Bed-time late, in fact. Madame Curie had to be tucked inside her little cardboard bedroom, and Art had a few chapters he wanted to read before bed. He'd have to have some of his warm milk, too. He was already late for his bedtime routine, but he still didn't want to leave the lesson. Mixed feelings.

Miss Valentine had asked a question about his story. "Mmm I th-I think they would have been muggles. I read the story in... in a muggle children's book, but... but th-that's a very good point Miss Valentine," he said. He hadn't thought of that. Of course that would be the best way to handle it, had it been a young wizard. Art, himself... well he thought it was a ghost. Not a real person, not a burglar.

He cleared his throat, his plate now empty. "W-well everyone, it's g-it's getting rather late and I think we should have you all back to the castle now. Thank you everyone for your w-wonderful company tonight, and I ho-I hope you all enjoyed your meals!" He smiled at each of the students. "P-Professor Stewart and I will walk ev-everyone back to the c-castle, but younger students, pl-please follow your older housemates back to your dormitories, please. I d-don't want anyone getting lost!" Even though he'd HOPE everyone knew their way around. He didn't want to be frantic trying to find students. "Let's quickly pack up your things, dirty plates and utensils here, leftover stew in here, and damper here, and any leftover ingredients back in the esky," he said, pointing to the large containers for the stew, the hamper for the damper, and the large crate for the dirty things which he would clean after they were all back in their houses.