Zoryn was so intent on watching the happenings on screen that she momentarily forgot she was supposed to be keeping track of them out loud. OOPS. “Looks like the caged hostages are actually pretty useful, despite almost being complete popsicles. They’ve got some sort of hint!!!” What did the papers say? … Um. “It’s gotta be some sort combination to get them out of the boxes, hope the wet snow didn't smudge the message.” It was a very legitimate concern.

Most of the competitors were busy in thought at this point, trying to decide what the combination could possibly mean… And Zoryn was starting to zone out a little bit. Well, until people started DOING things again! “Thank MERLIN, Hogwarts is FINALLY back in the game,” she momentarily paused remembering that Dora very clearly told her not to call it a game… Oh well. It was JUST an expression anyhow.

“Brent Westwood and Dora Umbridge look like they’re on the same page, using the numbers to spell out their next moves. Still don't know who Brent is talking to... He does know his girlfriend is out cold, right?” Quite literally. “The others don’t look as confident though, Aurora Chae and Valerie Gray-- HA THAT RHYMES--are both taking to tracing their thoughts out in the snow… But they still look SUPER confused. Maybe they need to spend less time thinking and more time trying things out. Meanwhile, Kyler Baker and Jesus aren’t really doing much of anything. Uh, like, HELLOOOOOOOOOOO?? Your grandmas are about to freeze their butts off! Do SOMETHING???” Zoryn's two knuts on the situation. Mhm.

Man, she should've gotten popcorn for this or something.

Jer stayed quite still, letting Sam fix his hair. He only allowed her to touch his hair or his hand or whatever because he HATED when others made physical contact with him. Except his parents or other siblings. He grinned. "If you say it's not so bad then it's not.'' And he froze at the question. "Maybe.'' He wasn't quite ready to admit Aurora was on his mind a lot. "Don't worry. I'll sit with you.''

"ILVERMORNY!!!!!'' he shouted when Madelyn asked what the letters spelled when combined. SCHOOL SPIRIT! Not HOUSE spirit like that dramatic Gaston was obviously putting on display. Clearly he cared for the scarlet and gold house champions more than Hogwarts in general. Jer just gave him a smirk.

Sam was right. There was nothing he could do. Jer didn't shake his sister's hand off him, instead he followed her instruction and slowly sat back down. "She is smart. She's the smartest girl I know. Besides you, Sam.'' He focused on what Aurora was doing. It seemed like she had to decipher something. The boy nibbled at the hotdog, eyes never leaving her screen even though there were others greeting him. He simply nodded and said a quiet hello to Ronnie and Emma. Hi, guys.

Kyle waved to Emma. "Hi Emma! Exciting out there, isn't it?" He looked back to the screens as Brent seemed to have figured out the puzzle. "That's it, Brent! I think you've got it!" The fire signs. He probably would have just stared at the numbers blankly.

The third challenge!! It was down to a few number of challengers now. Brent, Dora, and Levi being the Hogwarts challengers. Noelle was very proud of the fact that both Gryffindors were still in this thing. That's right. GOGRYFFINDOR!!!. She even had her face painted in Gryffindor colors. #ProudGryffindor.

Heading into the stands a little late, she had to take care of some things before coming to the challenge. She wouldn't miss it though. Heading up to find a seat, she pulled out apple slices and looked around at the crowd. Oh hey, Zoryn was a commentator.

Now, where were they with the challenge?? Seemed they were pretty far along actually... Merlin. Where had Noelle been?? Watching, this challenge seemed to be more about wit. Each player had a person in front of. Noelle couldn't help but gasp when she saw Sky laying out there, looking frozen. Brent... save her! She scanned the crowds to see if that was a real Skylar or a fake one..... Please let it be fake.

........ she didn't see Sky......

Shaking her head from certain thoughts she decided to join in on the cheering. Encouragement and all. "LET'S GO DORA!! LETS GO LEVI! LETS GO BRENT!! YOU CAN DO IT!!. Noelle didn't have the cheering skills that that Ilvermorny girl had. But she would definitely root on her housemates.

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This was actually the first challenge that Sam was attending. The reason?? People. There were WAAAAAYYY too many people around for his liking. His liking was... pretty much enough people to count on one hand. Dana, Khalil, Isaiah, and Professor Myers his secret crush. But he needed to brave the crowd and at least attend ONE of the challenges, or coming here would have been a definite waste.

So here he was. Bundled up tight and looking like a shaking Chihuahua.

Sam sat awaaaaay from everyone else. He was too nervous to actually look into the crowd to see if Khalil or Dana were here. And Professor Myers... blush... he would have definitely sat by him if he knew he was here or not. In his hands, was a Mimbulus Mimbletonia. He had no idea why he brought it except maybe as a defense mechanism. These plants could give off a rather unfortunate smell. So best not to mess with Samuel Collado.

Dana was still trying to get used to being around a lot of people. Not that she minded that both students and staff members flocked the viewing area for the third challenge. It was all for school pride and support, which is why the sixth year was here today. Though both Pukwudgie representatives were eliminated in the second round, sadly, she was here for the other competitors for her school. Either way, it will still bring pride to Ilvermorny. Plus, Louise was still competing and Dana quite liked her.

What made Dana freeze for a moment was not knowing where to sit. There was Madelyn, who was cheerleading as usual, but the blonde didn't want to interrupt. But... wait... WHY was there a Mimbulus Mimbletonia in here? How bizarre. Dana could only think of one person who would bring such a plant to an event like this. One person, who would prefer plants over people in this situation.

She couldn't help but smile and shake her head. Samuel Collado, what in the name of Merlin are you doing?

The blonde made her way towards him. "Hi, Sam," she said, smiling but keeping some distance from the plant. She wasn't going to get too comfortable near that thing, sorry. "May I sit beside you? Preferably not on the side near the plant. I'd really like to avoid getting Stinksap on my hair." Or any part of her body, in general. If she did remember clearly from studying for JARVEYs, the Stinksap smelled like death.

Irene had been sitting at a distance from her schoolmates, observing the whole event. A freezing abyss tundra... That's where they had been placed for this challenge. Was this challenge solely based on surviving? Could they all survive? She bit her lip. Come on Aurora. COME ON LOUISE! Come on Brent!! And Kyle! And Dora and Levi! She then saw Valerie progressing through the challenge. Impressive. She'd even cheer on Valerie too. House spirit, right?

As she watched the competitors work their way through the challenge with numbers and more... Irene was very glad that she was sitting in the stands and not freezing her butt of. Instead she was VERY happy. Irene was all snuggly and warm in the stands instead of out there. Irene even had a butterbeer in her hands as her eyes flicked back and forth between the screens.

HER EYES WIDENED. WAS THAT THE GIRL SHE SAW!? YES. That was. OH... "Newt Scamander's...." she began, muttering several words under her breath in awe. SKYLAR? BRENT'S GIRLFRIEND WAS IN A CAGE TOO. Kyle's grandmother... And Jesus' grandmother too... Levi's mother? Her heart ached. She watched Levi in awe as he thought up a strategy. Now he WAS impressive. Despite him not being an Illvermornian, Irene couldn't help but find herself starting to silently cheer for him.

"CHAD?" she repeated when she saw AURORA's BROTHER. AND THEN Irene nearly dropped her butterbeer in anger. HOW?!? This was hopefully just another illusion and not actually real students stuck in cages and freezing. She gulped. Who would have been put there if she had been participating? One of her siblings..... Or Isaiah? NEWT's SUITCASE. She couldn't watch. Irene covered her eyes with her hands and then peeked through them.

But she HAD to keep watching. Merlin. This was like one of those awful but wonderful muggle reality TV shows. Was this how everyone felt over the past two tasks? Was she just a spectacle? Yes.... Irene saw Professor Williams in the Stands and made her way over to her Potions Professor. She needed to ask a question. She took a seat near him and then asked, "Professor....Are they actually in there? Those people in the cages... are they real or is it another illusion?" Did he even know? Perhaps... Or perhaps not...

Her gaze turned back to the screens to check on Valerie who didn't look like things were going so well. And then three words came out of her mouth that she never thought she would ever dare say out loud. "Come on Valerie..."

The level of trust Jer gave her with fixing his hair was special to her. She knew her brother never let anyone else mess with his hair like she did and honestly...she was secretly pleased. Sam laughed softly. "Would I ever let you down at a time like this?" Maybe if they were home she'd purposely mess up his hair but not when it mattered. What was this, though? Maybe? She raised an eyebrow at him humming a softly, "Mhmm," under her breath. Something was up with him and she would find out. For now though she was happy he was going to be sitting with her.

Anyone that was just arriving did get a small smile or wave from her, professors and students alike. Sorry she wasn't full on paying attention to them all but her main focus was calming down her brother so he didn't freak out over his favorite competitor being upset. Giving Jeremy's arm a light squeeze she smiled when he sat back down. "She'll make it through, don't worry." And if she didn't well...that was okay too.

Her attention might have been on many things but she did hear someone else join their small group. "Hey, just watching what's happening," Sam explained not fully taking her eyes off the screens after a glance at the girl (Emma) to see who it was.

It was getting more and more dire out there. Like people were literally turning blue, and some of those cages didn't seem remotely close to opening. Someone was watching the core temperatures of those zoo!animal people, right? Will tried not to chew off his own hand from nerves, since he knew KNEW that everything was closely monitored, but he'd apparently picked up the habit of chewing his nails in the last five minutes.

"It looks like a few of those cages are proving to be too tough for the competitors. Levi Kenning, Aurora Chae, and Kyle Baker are still working out how to beat that lock... better HURRY, guys! I don't think people are supposed to be that shade." At least they were making some progress... all of them were jabbing at their locks with their wands, which seemed to have been the key for the other competitors.

But the rest of them...!! The cages were open and blankets were being distributed. Or, well... some of them were stopping to conjure blankets. Some of them were just pushing right out into the wind again. "A hearty congratulations to Jesus Rodriguez, Louise Hamilton, Dora Umbridge, Brent Westwood, and Valerie Gray, who managed to get their cages open. Westwood stopped to do some fancy rune work, although I'm not sure what he accomplished. Fancy, though. Perhaps conjuring a blanket like Umbridge or Jesus wouldn't have taken as much effort, but either way, they're moving on, albeit cautiously. Not sure what else is out there, but they're at about the end of their strength out there."

Jer was tempted to give a sarcastic remark but he needed to be nice to Sam. He didn't need them to have any misunderstanding again. She was the person he was closest to and he hated when things went wrong between them. "Nah, you won't.'' He ignored the raised eyebrow. There was no way he was going to admit to what he was feeling.

He looked to Sam and knew she was right. Jer just hated seeing Aurora cry but she was working on that like like crazy. "Come on, Aurora,'' he muttered. "Lots of the others have already gotten their cages open,'' he observed to his sister.

Hearing the voice say Aurora's brother's name, he looked to see Irene. "Hey, Irene.'' He wouldn't blame her if she was relieved that she was out of the competition now.

Sam was going to let the twins odd behavior slid. For now. Sooner or later he would tell her what was going on, he always did. That was the way between them. Secrets were never kept for very long...unless it was between them. "You best remember that, little brother. No one has got your back like I do." No matter the situation or how she might feel about it, it was the truth.

Setting her drink down beside her on the chair, she was able to eat her burger and keep her free clean hand on her brothers shoulder. "She's got this, Jer..." she whispered squeezing his shoulder lightly. "That doesn't matter...she's going to get that door open." Samara wasn't sure how she knew but she had that feeling. Aurora had been picked for a just like the rest of the competitors.

Finishing her food, eyes glued to the screens, Sam grinned when the door to the cage opened for Aurora. "Jer...lookit! She did it!" She nudged the dark haired boy sat beside her giving him a smile.

Kyle heard the announcers say that the other Kyle hadn't figured out the lock yet and he was instantly hopeful. Maybe Brent would score highest on this one! He should move on to the next round then, right? And Brent was at a cave now and going in with Skylar. "Come on, Brent... You're so close!"

...and that's a wrap.

As Brent left the room and headed out the door, he suddenly found himself right back in the viewing area. He'd finished it...and it had drained him. He suddenly felt a wave of dizziness take over him, as every single emotion from this previous challenge came back to him. It had almost been too much. The first two challenges had been hard, but this one had been gut-wrenching, and the worst part of it was the fact he'd had to leave Skylar behind.

He collapsed into a seating position and put his face in his hands. Closing his eyes and resting his elbows on his legs, he tried to get a hold of himself. Seeing someone you care about minutes away from dying could take the hardest toll on a person. He just wanted to see her again. Where was she?

He didn't even know if she was okay.

This challenge had been intense, and Kalen felt for all the competitors that had to face seeing their loved ones freezing with cold. He wouldn't even know who would have been down there for him.

Leon possibly, maybe Azura? It would have scared him half to death seeing his niece and nephew like that.. and he only hoped everyone would be okay after their experience..

His eyes drifted to one screen a bit more often than others..

He was so proud.

And look at that! A Slytherin was the first one done! He wanted to go down and comfort the boy, but he barely knew him, so he stayed where he was and watched the proceedings..

Kyle wasn't sure on how to approach the fellow Slytherin, but he was worried about him. And Skylar. He didn't see the girl in the stands the entire time, so maybe it really was her in there. He'd kept hoping it was another charmed and enchanted dummy, but it didn't seem so. He made his way over to Brent, lacking his usual enthusiasm for the boy, instead only trying to soothingly speak to him: "I'm sure she's going to be okay."

She'd done it? She actually completed three of the four challenges and although there was still the feeling present at the start of the challenge that this was likely to be her final challenge, the thought that she at least made it this far was of some comfort to her.

Even if she felt completely useless with her wand through most of the challenge, except the warming and insulation charms and knowledge of the pythagorean number system and constellations. But there was this nagging feeling that she should have done more.

Finding herself in the viewing area once more, Louise did take notice that unlike last time when she'd been one of the last to finish, this time she finished second. At least there was comfort in that, maybe?

Or not, because any comfort she had was sent as mental air thoughts to her sister, being cared for by the mysterious Mungos Healer. Why couldn't she have waited until her sister was healed and they return to the stands together? The thoughts of not knowing how she was doing plagued the Thunderbird and she stared frantically at the screen for what had been her challenge, in hopes they would show the person she rescued.

Levi's movements were robotic as he walked into the stands and spared a glance to no one until he absolutely had to. Brent was there, looking significantly more shaken than he had in the first two challenge and Louise Hamilton looked... not particularly. If they'd faced with the same things he had, and a quick glance at the screens told him they most likely had, he couldn't say he blamed the older girl.

He sat down in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, back ram-rod straight and stared at nothing in particular.

Truth was, he was fuming.

A dementor was one thing.

Putting his mother at risk was another one entirely.

And they hadn't even allowed him to stay with her. Was she even okay? She'd been talking, somewhat, and her color had sort of returned but that meant not a great deal in the grand scheme of things. Would she have full bodily functions after this? Walk? Run? Keep all her fingers and toes? Dairine Harcourt-Kenning was physically active and always had been; if she was unable to do so because of a stupid competition he was never going to forgive himself for it.

Though he would be sure Hogwarts remembered and carried the guilt for it for as long as it could.

Because this. Made. No. Sense.

Shaking. Valerie Gray was shaking and it had little to do with the prolonged exposure to the cold she had just endured. Seeing and seething red, her eyes looked around frantically for the sole source of comfort she knew of here at Hogwarts.

Only he was not here. Not yet.

Her hand still gripped tightly around the cherry wood, the Wampus attempted to dig her fingernails into her palm as a way of relieving some of the tension taking over her body. Only the sweet relief of the subtle pain did not come. Because she was still wearing her damn leather gloves. Snarling and shoving the wand between her teeth, Valerie tore her gloves off and threw them as hard as she could into the stands with a roar through clenched teeth not caring one bit if they hit anyone.

Her grey eyes flew to the screens showcasing the competition and her stomach tied in knots. Nausea ate at her insides and she nearly threw up. All she wanted was Ryan back. Screw the scores of the competition (one she needed desperately to win for her future but this thought was far from her mind at present), she just wanted to know her eight year old cousin was safe and at least physically unscathed from this experience. The emotional and mental strain she was just trying not to focus on now.

Her eyes met with her fellow competitors who had made it to the stands and as her cold eyes locked with each of them share a rare tender moment with each as her expression soften just enough for each of them in shared sympathy.

After walking out of the room, Jesús made his way through the stands in a daze. He really gave Hawk-eyes and company too much credit on their morality. Clearly kidnapping a no-maj wasn't seen as unethical, to the point that they traveled all the way to New York to do it. Now his family would forever see magic as a terrible, tainted thing and Jesús wouldn't be able to change their minds about it. He really wished someone would wipe the memory clean from his mind.

This is not how he envisioned his stay at Hogwarts to be. Without realizing it, he'd been looking through the rows of seats for Valerie. He could only imagine how well she'd taken the curveball that the challenge threw. Not even bothering to look at the screens (because the idea of surveilling them made him incredibly sick,) the sixth year continued moving around until he found his friend. He looked around at the other competitors and was sympathetic towards their morose expressions. Levi looked particularly upset, and Jesús felt for him (even more than the others) for plenty of reasons.

Nothing made sense. Jesús found Valerie by way of the pair of gloves she'd thrown that had smacked him on the head. He stopped moving, feeling himself dazed again before looking to see where they came from. Jesús walked over to the girl with her gloves in his hand. "You dropped these," he said quietly, though he held onto them still. He didn't need to ask, he could see it all over her face. She was beyond furious, but the Thunderbird didn't know if he would prevent her from hexing anyone's face off if they crossed her. Instead, Jesús slipped his fingers into his pocket and placed a caramel candy into her free hand before unwrapping one for himself and eating it.

As skillful as Kyle's grandmother was at talking him down from the (very rare, for him) heights of emotion, she did not quite have the talent to continue to help him reign it in when she was no longer nearby. When Kyle stepped out to join the stands full of people, his anger resurged just as suddenly as it had appeared before.

Had they been cheering, these people? Hoping that the competitors they weren't rooting for would take longer in getting their loved ones free, leaving said loved ones trapped in their icy prisons for even longer? The reminder that the whole affair had been broadcast on screens for entertainment made the whole thing even worse, and all Kyle wanted was to... well... he didn't know what he wanted. Not far off, he spotted Valerie, and immediately headed for her, knowing that she, at least, would feel a similar kind of ire.

Except, once he reached her (and Jesús, who was, as ever, stood beside her), Kyle found he could say nothing. He only stood there, on the other side of Valerie, heaving breath after angry breath with such force that his whole body swayed lightly back and forth. His hands were shaking, and so he shoved them into his pockets, and forced himself to stare, unseeing, straight ahead. He was here for the scores - not that he much cared to know what they were - and then he was leaving to be with his grandmother, as she had suggested. After that? Maybe he would go looking for the person who had put her - his No-Maj grand-maman in that cage.

Aurora Chae knew she looked like a mess. The Ministry officials hadn't even bothered to offer her a hairbrush or anything after the ordeal she had just been through, and had promptly waved her towards the stands without even letting her hang around to see if her brother was ok.

Every time she blinked or tried to close her eyes and block out the memory of the whole ordeal, she kept picturing Chad in that cage. Frozen. Practically blue from the cold. He was her big brother - he was strong, and to see him reduced to that, with the possibility of him freezing to death very real - well, it was not settling with her well.

She also thought about the fact that probably EVERYONE had seen her completely melt down in that challenge. Aurora Chae did NOT lose her head like that. But she had. Multiple times. When she had lost her wand. When she first saw Chad. When she couldn't get the stupid Arithmancy puzzle. The whole thing had been a nightmare from start to finish. The other ones had been terrible in their own way, but she had pretty much kept her wits about her the whole time. It was embarrassing, and it was shameful to her that she even FELT embarrassed by it. She knew she shouldn't care, and her fellow competitors had probably all reacted the same way. But still...she was very concerned with her appearance to others. That was no secret. Yet here she was, a total mess, having embarrassed herself and it could all have been for nothing.

Quietly, she walked to the middle of the stands, finding a spot where no one was sitting and clasping her hands in her lap. She knew at some point she would want to be with Irene, and Jer - heck, she'd even try and track down Drew, her other brother who had been present the whole time, but had been an afterthought as always. Right now, however, she wanted to be alone for a few moments to collect her thoughts. She simply stared out in front of her, tears just falling down her cheeks.

She felt awful. She felt...broken. And she didn't even care. She was NUMB.

There he was. Part of her wanted to punch him in the face for being late but the more dominate part of her personality felt relief that he had made it out. It help a little that her gloves had hit him too. Although what little help the sight had been was gone with his cheeky statement as he returned her gloves to her. "I threw them away for a reason," she snapped warily as her wand hand twitched. Surely an indication to Jesus what her next move would be if he did not remove those from her sight immediately.

"Ryan. They used Ryan," she somehow gritted out through a rare display of vulnerability in her grey eyes. But the weakness was gone almost as quickly as she had revealed it, overshadowed by a fury that burned there. It was like some nightmarish dystopian situation. The lives of innocents put on display for the entertainment of others and at the expense of their own sanity. While the Ministry officials may Obliviate Ryan after this (something she loathed the thought of but the alternative of him remembering all this was even a worse bed to make) it did little to quell her anger.

Anger that she could now see so clearly reflected in the body language Kyle worse as he approached and somehow she just knew who they had used for his task (just as she was sure she knew who they had used for Jesus). She threw him a sympathetic look just as Jesus was taking her hand and placing another of his in its palm. A sweet gesture to be sure, but it was far from the sort of comfort she sought right now."What good is your candy in all of this? What the hell will it fix? Nothing." she sneered while throwing it to the ground, somehow hoping that her poor attitude would continue to take over her weakness and mask the tears so vividly forming in her eyes. Only they betrayed her and droplets of raw emotion tickled down her cheeks.

She did not spot Aurora (her attention elsewhere) but even this snow queen would have felt sympathy for her as well.

It was nice to hear that she hadn't been the only one to arrive to a challenge late. Of course Rosalyn did try her best to be on time for things, but sometimes it couldn't be avoided. She nodded at Camibefore turning her attention to Gaston as he sat on the other side of her. He got a smile before her attention shifted back to Cami. "The tournament was a great idea and it would be wonderful if we could do more of them, but it might get old. Even if we involve other schools..." And of course they didn't do the triwizard tournament anymore. "Not sure how I feel about this challenge though." Seeing the reactions from the competitors was making her sad. "I can't even imagine how it would feel to go through something like that..." Pretty darn awful.

As Samara filled her in on the details, Ronnie felt glad that she hadn't missed much yet. She turned her full attention on what was going on around her. "You know, I think I'm glad I wasn't old enough to compete." Never would she have imagined saying that, but being out in the cold and dealing with all THAT... Yeah, no thanks.

Shaking her head, she took a bite of her hot dog as she listened to the two siblings talked.

It seemed that Jeremy really had a thing for Aurora. They had gone to that party thing together and now he was clearly distressed by what she was going through with the challenge. Or not because she had just made her way over to the stands. "Now's the perfect time to cheer her up, Jer," she said as she pointed out to him where Aurora was now seated. Now he could make sure that she was okay. Honestly Ronnie felt pretty bad for her too.

One moment Skylar had been prepping to go cheer in the viewing area like she had done for the first two challenges and the next .... well, she honestly had no recollection of how she ended up in that frozen tundra. She wasn't a competitor, but merely a spectator, which meant she wasn't supposed to be ON SCREEN for everyone to watch and see her all vulnerable and frozen. Zoryn Spinnet was probably loving it though.

And while she was grateful when Brent had saved her and witnessed his runes use firsthand as opposed to from a distance and when he carried her, because she hadn't been able to move, somehow she also felt weak. Shaken. She didn't want to be the weak girlfriend who needed rescuing. She was Miss Sarcastic, Miss Independent, Miss I-Can-Make-My-Own-Way. But yet, she needed rescuing during the challenge and she hated it. She hated the stupid healer for taking their time looking at her, even though she had been out in the cold for Merlin knew how long. And she suddenly hated the fact that Brent was competing in the competition. Even though it had brought them together, it was the fact that she had been roped out into the competition that she'd been told she wasn't old enough to compete in that was the worst part. She wasn't old enough to compete, but she was old enough to play the part of victim?! How was that even fair?

Once she'd finally the strength to walk away from the healers, the fourth year did, following most of the other competitors through that door that led to the viewing area and she took a seat quietly next to Brent. Would it be wrong of her to hope he wasn't continuing on to the final round? After being apart of what he was enduring during these competitions, and while she would support him no matter what, she just feared for him too. These challenges, tested your physical endurance, but also one's mental and emotional abilities as well.... It was just ...

... Quietly, she reached for his hand to give it a squeeze. Just to let him know she was there, for whatever happened.

Dude.... there were a lot of people around. Sam practically hid behind his plant instead of talk to anyone. But yes, he was looking around... in spurts... to see if he knew anyone. Or... rather... knew of anyone he would actually talk to.

Hearing a voice, he jumped. His plant twitched, ready to defend, but then Sam knew that voice. He blushed and urged his plant to calm before waving at Dana shyly. "Hey there." He said putting the plant to the side and shifting just a tad towards her. "Y-yeah. That's fine with me." He said about her coming to sit by him.

Just then, a roar was heard from the crowd and Sam looked away from her to everyone around them. Dude... how did people function in crowds? Wait... the competition was ending??? The competitors were coming one by one out and in the crowd. And they did NOT look happy.

"Is it over?" He asked before looking back at Dana, a little confused. He must have taken too long to talk himself into actually going to the competition.

Dana was rather alarmed when the plant actually twitched at her direction, and she sort of stepped away to avoid any unwanted Stinksap flying towards her. She only relaxed a bit when Sam finally recognized her, and she smiled at him. What an interesting plant, though it was still funny to think that Sam actually brought one here, where there were loads of people watching an event like this. She hoped the Mimbulus Mimbletonia hadn't gone wild on anyone in here. Would have been... quite disastrous.

Looking at Sam, Dana immediately sat beside him once she was given permission to. Just where she wanted to be, beside him. Nothing she was going to admit, of course, but perhaps he knew that by now. "Thank you," she said, staying close to him. Aside from sitting with her friends, this would have been her next option. Besides, this was probably the first and only challenge he was going to watch. "How's the competition going?" Maybe he had seen stuff that she had missed while she wasn't around. Was Ilvermorny still on the lead?

... And then the competitors were beginning to appear at the viewing area. There was Louise, and Jesus, and Valerie, and everyone else. Whoa. That was fast. Did she really miss that much? "Apparently? Though I don't think all the competitors are here yet," Dana said, mentally counting the number of stand-off participants in attendance. Nope, definitely not all of them yet. "They don't look okay."

A tiny frown grew on her face. What HAPPENED down there?