That simple gesture of taking both of her hands into his own, made Skylar feel all warm and tingly. Her gaze shifted only momentarily as Levi arrived and collapsed into the chair near Brent's and Daisy was at his side to which she gave them both a nod of acknowledgement and nothing really more. Aw was he getting all sappy and sentimental on her? "Of course I'm still supporting you," Honestly. What kind of girlfriend would she be if she didn't support him? Especially since she hadn't even thought he would make it to the fourth challenge, but the fact that he did was just incredulous. And he did amazing, seriously.

And then Healer Reed was there, offering Brent an ice pack and while there were competitors health needs to attend to, Skylar wasn't sure if she should feel offended that he didn't even acknowledge her standing there before Brent. "I'll be right back," because, he had asked for water, and that was when she remembered the food tote, up by Professor Newton and Madelyn, only there were no beverages in there because she had completely forgotten about drinks.

As she released her hands from his to race to the concession stand, she heard the exclamation of Valerie behind her and turned to find the white-haired Ilvermorny champion had collapsed. Heat stroke? Plain exhaustion? Was she injured? Honestly, Skylar had no idea, but crowding was not going to help much, she decided and hurried faster to the concessions were she picked up THREE water bottles and a gillywater, figuring the latter might help in hydration more than plain water.

Hurrying back towards the competitors, she tossed a water bottle toward Healer Reed. "For her. It might help?" she suggested. And then handed another water bottle and the gillywater to the Slytherin.

Another clean face towel was conjured and that too was placed on Valerie's forehead, secured with a frozen ice-pack on top of it. The process of eliminating excessive heat from her system shouldn't take a while, but perhaps due to fatigue from previous challenges, her body has finally given out. River can't be sure, considering that he wasn't her school healer, or if she had been seeing their healer every after challenge. It was hard to tell, but he was hoping that her present condition won't lead to a more serious case.

River was back to dousing the first towel with cold water when a bottle of gillyweed was tossed towards him. With his hands full, he wasn't able to catch it in time...hitting him in the face.

Well done, Miss Diggory. You've made your presence known loud and clear this time.

He was done with these kids. He needed a break. And a LONG one too. "Thank you for the thought, Miss Diggory. That would've been 10 points for thinking about a fallen comrade...but I changed my mind. 5 points to Slytherin." River rubbed his forehead and went back to tending Valerie.

He got hurt and gave away points.

Yep. He can't wait for Term to be over.

Lachlan was already moving around to Valerie's feet, understanding the instructions clearly. Not moving her made sense, but at the same time being out here in the open allowed for unwelcomed attention. And unwanted help, as the Hogwartian Healer had just been attacked by one of his own students. The southerner stared up at girl clad in green, utterly surprised.

And she had been rewarded for it?

Rubbing at his face in confusion which knocked his glasses askew, the American boy felt beyond ready to make the journey home. Back to a place where things made a little more sense.

Turning his attention dutifully back to Valerie's feet, as his friend was more important than this absurd Healer, Lachlan carefully untied her shoes before slipping them both off. Following each with a bunched up, sweaty sock. Frankly, this was disgusting, but he wouldn't dare speak against it. Better he did it anyway, he'd convinced himself. "Lachlan Wheeler, sir." As he assumed the gentleman was requesting his name with the trailed off sentence from before. Southern mannerisms. It was something his grandmother did often when she was trying to be rude. However, he doubted this man had similar intentions. "Valerie is my housemate." And friend, and that was why he wasn't leaving her.

The challenge seemed challenging, which was saying a lot considering how they'd frozen the competitors just a month prior, but Jesús was certain that Kyle and Valerie would make it out alive. Well, 84.6% certain anyway. "They can both deal," he asserted, not wanting to budge from his stance. A party was a must; something to cleanse them of all the bad vibes that had accumulated over the term. Though, they would have to discuss the matter more in depth at a later time as the challenge was still in progress.

It was hard to watch both of his school mates - or, friends, rather - compete against a runespoor. Now that was incredibly ridiculous and he found himself zoning in and out unintentionally throughout the task. Blinking for a bit, the Thunderbird found himself focusing again on the screens only to find that the challenge was over. Where had the time gone? Was he really that far gone? Incredible. The sixth year was fully prepared to welcome Valerie (and Kyle) when she entered the stands, except that she was taking too long to get there. He frowned at that, and diverted his attention elsewhere.

It was because Lachlan had literally leapt out of his seat - a feat that Jesús would have to interrogate him more about later - and the New York native followed him (with his eyes, at least) and realized moments later that Valerie had fainted. How terribly cliché of her. Before he was able to get up and splash some water over her face (because he didn't think much of her fainting (she'd just faced a runespoor, after all,)) Hogwarts' school healer, plus a few other people had started crowding around her. Jesús, instead, opted to sit back and pop another caramel into his mouth as he waited for Princess Valerie to be tended to.

The Thunderbird's thoughts went to Kyle and he scanned the seats to look for him. He decided that it made more sense to head to Kyle (there was less people around him, too) than to go and add to the confusion that was Valerie's situation. Jesús walked carefully around the seats and found an empty one next to Kyle. "You should get that looked at," he remarked casually, "glad to see you made it out alive, though." Which was his way of saying: great job at handling that large beast. Jesús looked back down at the scene, eyes briefly landing on Madelyn - he sent her a smile and a wave - before returning back to watch the healer work on Valerie.

Althea rolled her eyes. "Please, I know you didn't really believe that he would make it out okay," she smiled, though, content that their positive vibes were actually of use. At least, that's what she thought. Her smile dropped again at his inquiry. "Oh, no one," she mumbled but then corrected herself. "His girlfriend, Daisy."

The fifth year looked over to all the commotion and noticed that one of the Ilvermorny champions fainted. "Poor girl," she commented, shaking her head. "Let's go then, no use trying to get to my brother now. There are too many people." Plus she just did not want to stay and deal with socializing with any more people.

It was nice. Peaceful even. But soon Valerie Gray was about to open her eyes and be absolutely mortified.

Limbs feeling heavy and her head pounding uncontrollably, the Wampus let out a low moan as her head slowly turned from side to side. Although perhaps dragged itself from left to right and then right to left was a more accurate description. The additions of cool cloths to her forehead and face were barely registered seeing as her body temperature had cooled down considerably in her unconscious state. As had her heart rate now that adrenaline had mostly left her system. Mostly.

Light filtered into her partly open slits sent a jolt of panic through her and she instinctively tried to reach for her wand holstered in one of her combat boots. Only her hand grabbed at empty air which only fueled to the temporary panic. But her movements were haphazard and sluggish (even sloppy but that was a term she would never use to describe herself). "Where is my wand," she somehow managed to croak out. Where was that damn impenetrable runespoor?

Groaning and holding her head as she continued to try and sit up, her eyes opened just a little more to be enough to see that a crowd had gathered around her. Unaware of what all had just occurred, she glared at them all. "What all are you gawking at?" she spat tiredly. She was of course grateful, or would be rather. Right now she was simply not keen on all these eyes looking at her like she was some fragile piece of glass.

"Thanks, I'm fine...I promise," Aurora told Irene with a smile. She didn't totally mean it, but for the moment - yes, she was fine. For the time being. She hadn't thrown anything at Jesus or Lachlan so that was good. She'd worry about her mental breakdown and all that later. Like when she got home to America. She could complain about the whole ordeal to her parents and get it out of her system, and maybe they'd sue the school. Not Ilvermorny, but Hogwarts, since they were the MOST guilty, hosting the event here and everything. Chad would back her up, obviously. Things would work out...

"I'm psyched I don't have to face a Runespoor actually. Or decipher runes. Two of my least favorite things," she said with a grin. Divination was her LEAST favorite thing, but thankfully she hadn't encountered any of that during the competition. Probably because the staff knew it was all nonsense. Of course, she was still totally oblivious to the fact that she HAD seen Divination and just...not gotten it.

She raised an eyebrow when she saw Lachlan give Irene a WINK. Um. HOW DARE HE?! After what he had done after the last challenge? She wasn't sure WHY he was suddenly BFF's with the Party Pooper Posse, but she considered it a betrayal of the deepest kind, and now he had the nerve to wink at her best friend? Right in FRONT of her no less? "He has got SOME NERVE. What have THEY ever done for him?" she snorted, rolling her eyes in annoyance. Stupid Southern boy and his stupid Southern charm. Good thing she had a new object of her affection to take her mind off of things.

Speaking of, she saw Jeremy come over, food in hand, and he was officially her FAVORITE person. Well, he was already SORT OF becoming her favorite person already. Even without the food. But it certainly helped. She smiled and then kissed his cheek. "Thanks! I'm starving!" she exclaimed as she promptly took a nacho and a BIG glob of cheese and gobbled it up. Had it been towards the beginning of the year, she probably would have NOT shoved the food in her face like this, but she was...a lot less uptight than she had been then. Or maybe she just didn't care about that anymore. Maybe it was the competition having taken her down a peg, or maybe she REALLY liked Jeremy so she just didn't care about being super perfect anymore...yeah, something like that. Again, that was a thought for a different day.

Her brown eyes kept darting to the screen, watching each competitor with interest. Kyle was climbing trees, Valerie was bound and determined to have the runes work for her...Ilvermorny seemed to be doing great. But Brent and Levi were also doing good, except for almost making themselves go crazy with that Fwooper song...funny how similar the two Hogwarts champions were.

In fact, it was the Slytherin who had peaked her interest, as Brent was the first to complete his challenge. Huh. She hadn't expected that. Perhaps she had underestimated the Wampus-turned-Slytherin big time. She still wanted a Horned Serpent to win, but Slytherin house DID have a snake as their sigil. And she was, truthfully, Team-Anyone-But-Valerie. Perhaps it wouldn't be too awful if he or that Levi boy won.

Everyone seemed...exhausted. That was all Aurora could think as she watched the screens in relative silent. She didn't blame them. She had gone through three of the challenges, and despite the fact that she hadn't won her scholarship, she was quite relived that she wasn't out there. Although she probably would have done great in this challenge - her hair didn't frizz in humidity. It was a blessing.

She turned to Kyle, who seemed to be more content fixing himself than letting the Healer do it, and gave him a curt nod. "Good job," she told him, showing him her poster with a small smile. She was sure he still hated her - and she didn't blame him, and wasn't about to try and mend all the bridges between them - but she hoped he at least appreciated her house loyalty.

And now...the scores. Hawthorne WOULD be revealing the scores, right? She wasn't going to make them wait or anything, right? Just as Aurora was wondering when the winner would be revealed so they could run off and she could steal Jeremy for some private time, she heard a commotion and realized that Valerie Gray - the girl who tried to constantly convey to the world that she was made of steel - had fainted. VALERIE. Valerie had FAINTED. She watched with wide eyes, hardly believing what she was seeing, as everyone ran around her in a panic. Hmpf. It had taken them MUCH longer to come to IRENE'S aid after she fainted in the second round.

She wondered if she should go try and help - it would be the nice thing to do - but she was spared having to make the decision as the Wampus seemed to regain consciousness a few moments later. "See? She's fine," she muttered to no one in particular, shrugging and then turning her attention to Hawthrone. Could they get on with this before Valerie tried to milk this little pass out for all it was worth?

Samara was trying to sip her smoothie when Jeremy attempted to alert her of her surrounding...or well two that had already finished the competition. "I see them...doesn't mean they'll win though," she replied with a small uncaring shrug. "Ilvermorny will win." She wasn't sure how she knew this but she did or perhaps it was wishful thinking. Either way she really didn't even care much.

As for the other girls her brother had sat by rather then searching HER out she gave them one more small glance. "Hello, Aurora, Irene," she greeted again since clearly they hadn't realized her original greeting a few moments ago had been directed at them as well and not just her twin brother. Aurora kissing her brothers cheek did not go unnoticed and she raised an eyebrow at Jeremy. She wouldn't ask, she didn't have to.

Blue eyes did take in Kyle's form as he made it onto the stands and sat down tending to his arm..she would congratulate him later on. Next was Valerie...who...had she just fainted? Samara blinked in surprise and despite the older girls attitude she was going to ask if she was alright only she was already being cared for by Hogwarts Healer or something. Without much though on anything she looked back at her brother vaguely wondering if she could steal him away afterwards since it had been awhile since they hung-out or if he wouldn't care and he'd leave with Aurora...again.

River would've explained things, obviously, considering that the young American was confused about his actions, however, the timing was a bit off for that. Valerie, which the young man claimed to be his housemate, was still unconscious. Breathing, but still, knocked out cold. In fact, she was taking her own sweet time. Not that he would blame the pale American. She'd been through a lot of challenges, and this was her body telling her to slow down from this point onward.

Thank Merlin the IMPS Challenges are finally over.

After wiping Valerie's face for the third time, River gave the boy a glance, a nod, and a grin his way before turning his attention back at the patient. "Pleased to meet you, Mr Wheeler. And thank you for helping." Hoping that the worst part was finally over, River took the time to breathe and be pleasant, like his usual. Lachlan did help him out, after all.

"This young man deserves points too, Headmistress Moxley," he called out, grinning to the woman who was right behind him. Not that he was telling her how to do her job...but they could all use a light moment right now.

Aaaand she's back. River quickly gave a quick sweep of his wand to vanish all of the used cloth, and helped the young lady to sit up from her spot. River wasn't sure where her wand went, thus he remained silent and gave Lachlan a quick glance. "Now Miss Gray, take it slow and easy..." he started giving her a gentle pull towards a sitting position and supported her back until she could sit on her own. "You collapsed because of the heat, but you should be okay now." Her challenge was over, did she know? River gave his answer in a low tone so as not to be heard by the others, and offered her a bottle of cool gillyweed water to help with the throbbing pain in her head. "Your headache is also caused by heat and dehydration. Drink up," The Healer gave her a nod and gave his dog Roscoe a good pat on its hind leg for him to get up and go back to his corner of the Viewing Stand.

"Whenever you're ready to stand up Miss Gray..." River continued giving Valerie her combat boots back, and a new pair of socks.

Lachlan could keep her soiled ones if he wants to.

As he looked back over at Valerie to see how that whole situation was doing, Kyle just managed to catch sight of the Hogwarts Healer getting nailed in the face with a bottle of water. Having just enough sense to at least try and refrain from open amusement - it was a funny image, so sue him - Kyle faked a small coughing fit to cover up his smile. He very quickly stopped, however, as the sudden movement jogged his arm and sent an unpleasant jolt of pain through it. Abandoning his bottle of water on the floor by his feet, Kyle carefully cradled his bad arm with his good one, trying to keep as still as he could.

A slight shift in the space next to him and the accompanying voice told Kyle that Jesús had joined him. He glanced at the older boy and then back down at his arm, shrugging, but only on the right side, just in case there were any more unpleasant jolts. "Nothing urgent," he replied, not really needing to mention Valerie's situation being more pressing than his own, and having no desire to go calling more attention to himself than necessary. Kyle wasn't certain of how obvious the injury had been at the time, or if the moment he'd jumped out of the tree had even made it onto the viewing screen, but he found himself hoping that it hadn't. It certainly hadn't been his most impressive moment.

The conjured splint had, at least, lessened the pain significantly. More unpleasant was the nausea that came with the injury; it was almost like his body could tell that something was wrong, and was reacting accordingly. If necessary, he'd seek out the Ilvermorny Healer back at the Beetle.

Anyway.

"Thanks, man. I'm glad to be out of there alive, to be totally honest. Hard to believe, but death by Runespoor has never been very high on my list of aspirations." The same could probably be said for everyone, but hey... there were always outliers.

That poster of Aurora's caught Kyle's eye again, and, by extension, so did Aurora herself. He returned the nod with an equal amount of curtness, and responded civilly enough. "Thanks. Nice poster." For just a moment, Kyle kept his eyes on the group gathered around Aurora, taking account of everyone there and observing them.

That, however, didn't last very long, as Valerie's dulcet tones (read: harsh rebuke) could soon be heard over the viewing area. Quickly as he dared (read: very, very carefully), Kyle turned back to see how she was doing; resuming consciousness was probably a good start, right? He had half a mind to call her, and Lachlan too, across to sit with him and Jesús while they waited for the scores, but reasoned that perhaps it was not quite so smart to contribute to an onslaught of information on someone only just rejoining the land of the living. Particularly when that someone was Valerie Gray.

Ever since the first task Kitty had had a feeling that Valerie would come out winning this entire thing. Her determination and strong spirit reminded Kitty of Haddie - though maybe not her personality. So even though she was also supporting Brent, near the end she found herself staring almost exclusively at Valerie. She watched with amazement as she (and the others) tried to solve the rune riddles on the door, and she gasped when the Runespoor's attacked. Kitty marveled again at the bravery of all involved. She would have run screaming the opposite direction!

And then it was over. She blinked several times when the Ministry employees revealed themselves. Of course that also happened in the other challenges, but it still slightly amazed her how cool and collected Ministry people could be with all this going on in front of them. Her mom worked at the Ministry and was also cool and collected, but she wasn't here. Maybe everyone at the Ministry was like that?

She clapped loudly as the four of them came back to the arena. But then she watched with slight alarm as Valerie fainted. Thankfully she recovered moments later.

It was over! Now they just had to wait to hear the final score tallied.

With the appearance of the fourth competitor at the stands, Regina took that as her cue to rise from her seat beside Hirsch and begin the decent down to were she and the other judges met. As she scooted her way past a few other adults and a heap of children, her charmed notepad dutifully followed after her. The quill was still ferociously writing away, putting the final touches on the thoughts that were running through her mind about the performance of each competitor. The challenge had been. The headmistress herself found herself impressed by each of the competitors to some degree. It wasn't every day one survived a runespoor attack and lived to tell the tale, granted the Ministry officials would have prevented that from happening.

When she made it to the bottom of the stands, the quill stopped writing and simply hovered beside the notepad. The woman continued moving forward, progressing to the location where the judges would be meeting for the final time. She was already assuming the words that would come out of their mouths, and she would bet her galleons that Mox --

There was a scream and murmuring that stopped her in her tracks. Her head whipped around, only to see that Valerie Gray had fainted and people were started to crowd around her. She instantly ran over to the group that was forming, pushing some of the students out of the way because the girl needed space. The quill jotted one last note down about a lack of proper hydration. Her wand was out, though River made quick work of attending to her. So she simply joined the Ilvermorny headmistress in doing crowd control.

And then the Wampus was back, wasting no time to act like her normal self. The moment the glare went her way was the moment Regina walked away toward her original destination. The girl was fine. River was taking care of her. She and Moxely had competitors to score now so a winner could be announced.

* * *The Hogwarts headmistress returned and headed her way toward the centre of the stands after a lengthy conversation about what had been observed in the final challenge. A long eighteen minutes had been spent going back and forth. The final results were, needless to say, close.

"Our final challenge turned up the heat for our competitors -- both figuratively and literally -- by placing them in an African setting and having them go face-to-face with a grown runespoor. This was no easy feat, so all of our competitors have shown great endurance today," she said, her wand pressed gently against her neck. "Thank you to our companions from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for being on standby throughout the challenge. And we owe a special thanks to Scamander Zoo for providing for us the four runespoor that were present in this challenge."

A pause then followed, her hand reaching inside for a piece of parchment that had the results of the challenge and the competition as a whole. Suspense filled the area as she silently unfolded the piece of paper and gazed up at the crowd. She purposefully hesitated and then suddenly spoke, "As with the previous challenges, the final four competitors had the potential of earning up to twenty-five points to add to their overall score. As today marks the final challenge in the International Magical Pupil Standoff, no one will be eliminated. Instead only won will be crowned the winner of the competition and will be the recipient of a full-ride scholarship to the university of their choice.

"In fourth place: Brent Westwood, 91 points." The woman paused for a moment to lead the crowd in an applause. Her eyes searched for him amongst the throng of students and then locked on him, giving him a smile. He had done so well.

"In third place: Valerie Gray, 92 points." Another applause was had. The woman's eyes moved from Brent to Valerie. A simple, though proud nonetheless, nod was given to the girl.

The two remaining were Levi Kenning and Kyle Baker. Regina found both of them, her eyes flicking between the two of them and the parchment in her hand. She knew the results, though was pausing for dramatic effect. "Our first and second place competitors over the course of the entire competition scored a 95 and 94 respectively. Please join me in applauding them for this great accomplishment." She led them in another applause, again purposefully dragging things on for the suspense factor.

And then there was total silence until, finally, the woman cleared her throat.

"Our winner of the of the IMPS competition, with a total of 95 points, is --" she said, flicking her wand at the screen behind her. For a moment, the screen went blank and then a name flashed and confetti appeared out of nowhere, falling on everyone in the stands. "Congratulations to Kyle Baker, winner of the International Magical Pupil Standoff!"

With that said, Regina removed her wand from her neck and made her way over to Kyle to shake his hand. "Well done, Kyle. Well done indeed."

And don't go too far, Mr. Kenning. The headmistress had yet to personally congratulate him.

Now, with IMPS being said an done, all that was left of the school year was final exams and the end-of-term feast. Then it would be time for the American school to fly over the Atlantic and the Hogwartians to hop on the train. What a relief. Surely everyone would be able to handle that after all of this excitement.

She was listening to the Hogwarts Healer but she would rather not. He was rambling off symptoms and descriptions to her about her condition as though hearing things she already knew was meant to make her feel any better. Shockingly enough, it did not. Because no matter how much water she seemed to drink or how well her Isa rune worked, it never seemed to do a damn thing for her. So yes, thank you Hogwarts Healer for reminding her of her inadequacy and extreme intolerance to the heat.

While she could assume it was standard practice (or rather a part of her assumed this) to inform your patient and have transparency, the sentiment was completely lost on the Wampus at present. She just wanted all these people to stop looking at her and leave her alone. The glance she sent Lanchlan (who she had finally registered was present) said as much.

Snatching her combat boots back with a bit of a sneer, the seventeen year old's eyes narrowed on the man and she was just about to spat some cruel retort his way when that stupid tug in her chest that kept distracting her brought her temper to a low simmer. A side effect, no doubt, from seeing Ryan in that cage and all he had said to her after. Including his disappointment for being a 'meanie' towards the Ministry officials. She still resolved they deserved to be held at wand point and more. "........thank you," came a curt tone of gratitude instead. Accepting the socks as well, Valerie slipped them on and followed up quickly with her combat boots.

She briefly considered seeking help to stand, but one look at Aurora made her change her mind. She could at least stand on her own now being embarrassed enough to have fainted. Keep some semblance of her pride in tact. Pretend that the Horned Serpent's words were correct.

Now on her feet (somehow) Valerie's eyes look to Lachlan and was about to give him the nod to go join Kyle and Jesus when the Hawthorne stood to make the final announcement. Valerie was already sure she did not wish to hear the results. She knew she had not won and now all there was left to hear was her ranking among the others. No scholarship. No means of attending university (she would have to seek out other means). She could only hope that Kyle had kept his consistent lead and come out victorious. He was one who she could stomach losing to and who she knew was in need of that prize money as much as she.

Jaw set, Valerie waited. Fourth place went to Brenton and her eyes offered him a fleeting look meant to convey a feeling of congratulations, but she was more relieved that she had not come in dead last in the top four. Although hearing her name in the third place position did very little to settle her stomach. Offering her name a sigh of contempt, she unfortunately met her former professor's gaze. Perhaps she could appreciate the feelings expressed in that nod at another time, but all Valerie felt right now was disappointment.

Disappointment that that she could tolerate a caramel candy.

It was now down to Kyle and Levi Kenning and the Wampus knew where her loyalties lay. Although her disappointment was fueled in calculating how much better overall Levi must have performed to her to make up so many points between the previous tasks and this one. But in the brief moment that she found his gaze she found herself accepting of the fact that he had bested her in the end. Falling to a worthy opponent was (in a word) humbling.

Still, she hoped Kyle had cleaned his clock. Even if a one point deficit was hardly cleaning a nickle.

And then she heard Kyle's name announced as the Champion and she smiled. Valerie Gray actually smiled and looked towards her friend. She needed to compose herself a moment before moving towards him, which meant that the Hawthorne had made her way over to him first and caused Valerie to somewhat change courses and come to a halt beside Jesus with her hand held palm up in front of him but her gaze turned elsewhere. This felt almost as unnerving as their confessions in the hot spring and equally as intimate for some insufferable reason. "....I will be having one of those caramels now," she began while pausing in attempt to swallow back the next word. But it seemed to have a will of its own and forced its way out of her pink lips. "...please."

Though he'd invested months into the competition, though he'd known and experienced firsthand the stakes, it wasn't until he sat in the crowd and really allowed to soak everything in that the magnitude of the whole thing hit him; for the first time since he'd been chosen. It was better this way, perhaps; but it didn't make it any less surreal.

He scarcely heard Daisy when she approached, and only turned to look at her when he saw the regular bottle containing milkshake. His smile was weak, a result still of of near dehydration and the general mental exhaustion. "I have been resting." Not necessarily a lie. He'd stopped stressing considerably after surviving a dementor. The stress relief hadn't been permanent, of course; there had been plenty of that for the third challenge. But after the first one, Levi had breathed easily. "But... yes. I know what you mean." He accepted the milkshake--pointedly ignoring that sugar was the last thing he needed at the moment--, his fingers consciously brushing hers and lingering there for a beat longer than was needed.

There were more words, possibly, that he wanted to say to her. Thanks for the support, for being by me every step of the way. But he was nearly dehydrated, and he was tired--and he was not very good at expressing himself in that particular regard. He was not... wordy, with his feelings--at the very least, he was not flowery about them, and this felt like the sort of moment that ought to have included--romance? Maybe, a little. And so there was relief when they were interrupted, however briefly. He felt--guilty, absolutely, especially given who had interrupted them, and the way his stomach relaxed the knot it'd begun to twist itself into, but. The voice of his mentor, Healer Reed, had him lifting his gaze from Daisy to look at the man, his cheeks coloring pink at the compliment. Not that it would have been too easy to notice; after an hour under the harsh African sun, his skin had grown noticeably browner, and his cheeks and nose were a gloosy red--the first hint that rather than tanning, he'd burnt. There were no words to offer the school healer, and he merely let go of the the bottle of water he held, lifting his hand to keep the ice pack pressed to the back of his neck.

After all, there were more important things happening.

Valerie collapsing wasn't necessarily a surprise. Neither was the crowd that gathered around her once, including Lachlan Wheeler and Brent Westwood. Levi was surprised to see that Jesus Rodriguez hadn't joined the group, but a quick survey of the area told him that he'd gone to Kyle, who--did he have his arms in a sling? But Healer Reed was quick to make it to Valerie, along with Moxley and Hawthorne. He huddled closer to Daisy, tempted to do the right thing but also too tired to get up and walk or muster any magic that could possibly help the Ilvermorny boy. So, he merely stayed where he was, doing a quick survey of his surroundings. He waved at Olivia Phillips, and thought he saw Dora Umbridge smile at him before making an exit. Althea and Nicholas seemed to be leaving, too, though no longer holding hands, and he found it strange his sister would leave before the poitns were announced, but whatever.

It wasn't like they'd be waiting much longer, it seemed.

Headmistress Hawthorne was very dramatic with how she went about announcing the results, and Levi couldn't help but the chuckle about it, on Daisy's shoulder. He was not sure why it was even funny; or if it was funny at all, if the amusement was just a result of nerves getting the best of him. But the chuckling stopped when Brent was announced in fourth place, both a relief and also a regret. He would have wanted his fellow Hogwarts competitor to place higher than the fourth one out of four, but--he was also indisputably pleased it wasn't him. And, anyway, it was four out of sixteen; Levi was unclear on how they were being scored, but the fifth year had done very well.

That Valerie came in third was a surprise and--the rest was a bit of a blur. Hawthorne was heading for him and Kyle, somehow finding a middle ground between the two. Levi found himself straightening and standing up, ice pack still pressed to the back of his neck. It was a strange feeling, to be named second best; his logical mind requested to see numbers and facts--explanations. He'd ended the best out of the Hogwarts competitors, yet it hadn't been enough to make him come out on top. But the truth remained that he had come out the best out of the chosen Hogwarts students and, that, well, he did not need a scholarship the way Kyle Baker maybe did. And his result in the competition would, regardless, make for an impressive point in his application for--whatever it was he chose to do after graduation.

It was all good.

With some effort, Levi placed the milkshake on Daisy's lap, shot her a small smile and mouthed an 'I'll be back' before heading off. On his way to Kyle Baker, Levi passed by Brent Westwood, and offered him a nod and smile. The Ilvermorny competitor--the Horned Serpent--was shaking hands with the headmistress and was accompanied by Jesus Rodriguez, when he arrived. Levi nodded a Hawthorne, smiled at the Thunderbird guy and extended his free hand to Kyle. "Congratulations." He shot a pointed look at the shoulder. "Healer Reed is available now, I think." Levi looked over his shoulder, unnecessarily; he knew Valerie was already. He'd caught her look after the results had been announced, and returned one of his own in kind. "Bet it hurts a lot now that this is over." Adrenaline gone and all that.

Speaking of which, there was a weird pain settling in his lower back, and he thought back to the challenge and--oh, yes. He had fallen on his backside, and quite ungracefully, too. Which was somehow worse than being caught crying on those two previous challenges, if his ego was to be believed.

Great.

In all honesty, River did not expect anything from the American competitor, but a scornful remark. The word of thanks caught him off guard inside, however, the Healer remained placid just the way he should be with patients he barely knew. "You're welcome, Miss Gray." And just like that, he was done with his part. Quietly, he stood up from his spot and shifted his attention back to Regina to hear out the results. As he did so, Roscoe and Bumi found their way to their master, and dutifully sat by his side, as if they too understood what was being said by the Headmistress.

The results were finally announced, and River breathed out the air he's been holding as slowly as possible. IMPS was finally over. He clapped along with everyone else, and gave Brent another good pat on the back for a job well done. His gaze found Levi joining Regina and Kyle, offering his hand for a handshake to the latter. Clasping his hands behind him, River could not help but be proud of what he just saw. The boy has a long path ahead of him still, but River knew that Levi was off to a good start. While the crowd started to head inside the castle, River remained in his spot and the Healer made eye contact with the Gryffindor Champion to give him his nod of approval. Again, he wasn't sure if the boy wanted him around. He somehow made it known to him that his presence wasn't exactly wanted at the moment.

Nothing urgent. Right. Jesús looked at the fifth year in disbelief, but if Kyle said he was alright, then he would leave it alone. Had Jesús been in Kyle's shoes, he probably would have done the same and kept his injury to himself. "It was wild to see," which was an understatement as watching the fourth challenge had been nerve wracking, and the sixth year had felt relieved once the entire thing was done. In fact, he was doubly relieved because the competition itself was over as well. He had high hopes that Valerie, Levi, or Kyle would win - he really didn't know or care for the other champion - though he secretly hoped one in particular would take first place.

Aurora's presence barely registered in Jesús' mind, though he did look at her briefly before turning away. The more attention you gave Aurora, the more annoying she got; and thinking back to their last encounter, Jesús preferred to not interact with her. At all. There was more commotion surrounding Princess Valerie, as she'd finally woken up and seemed to be making her way over. Soon enough, Hawthorne was talking - Jesús promptly tuned her out - and revealed the winner of the competition. The sixth year turned towards Kyle and grinned widely. "Congrats," he said, feeling instant relief that one of Ilvermorny's own had won the scholarship (even though he would've been perfectly happy with Levi winning,) "now we have to celebrate." He wouldn't take no for an answer.

That Hawthorne felt that bold and comfortable to head over in their direction to go and shake Kyle's hand was beyond Jesús. He bit his tongue - literally - to prevent himself from saying something ridiculous and rude, instead focusing on Levi who was also making his way towards Kyle. "Congrats to you too, Levi," he remarked, smiling at the other boy right after. Second place - and just off by a point, at that - was pretty good. The Thunderbird had almost forgotten that Valerie joined them, until she spoke. He blinked a few times, registering that she was talking to him and had even said please. Jesús looked at her palm, then moved his eyes towards her face. Placing the candy in her hand - he also had something to say to her, but figured that now wasn't exactly a good time to say them - Jesús contemplated whether or not it was time to leave the stands.

At Healer Reed's directions, Brent nodded and took a step back. Just as he did, Skylar was there with water, which he accepted and gulped down entirely before turning to address her. "Thanks," he said, giving her a one-arm hug. When the hug brought her a little closer to him, he kissed her on top her head before sparing a glance back at Valerie. She seemed to be coming to, and per her usual self, she'd spat a few words at the crowd around her. Yup, Valerie would be back to normal in no time. Because he wasn't quite as concerned as he was before, he happened to catch the little exchange between his girlfriend and the Healer. She'd hit him smack in the face! Five points instead of only ten, but he leaned it toward her and whispered, "That was awesome!"

The humor was totally worth the five points.

When the dust was settled, Brent turned to head back to his seat, but a movement from the headmistress stopped him. The results! Despite the fact he wasn't counting on winning and didn't really think he stood a chance, he felt his breath catch in the back of his throat as the results were announced. A scholarship was on the line, but truth be told, Brent wasn't even sure he was going to university. He'd just had his heart in this all alone for the challenge itself. But standing here in front of all of Hogwarts and Ilvermorny, he couldn't help but keep his attention glued to the headmistress as the final scores were read aloud.

Fourth place. Ahh, well.

He turned toward Skylar with a shrug. Surprisingly, fourth place didn't bother him. Did people know how many fifth, sixth, and seventh years at both schools didn't even get chosen for the sixteen that started out? Not to mention the fact that he'd survived to fourth out of those sixteen. He actually hadn't expected to even make it past the third round and onto the fourth. The challenge alone had been worth it all. He turned to Kyle with a grin. "Congratulations, man," he said. Admittedly, Brent had thought it'd be Kyle all along. After all, who can compete with a 25/25 almost every time? Then to Levi and Valerie--"Good work out there," he said.

He could live with fourth out of sixteen. Truth be told, he was kind of more excited about all this being over and him just getting to hang out with his girlfriend more.

Note to self: Warn people next time before you assume that they're paying attention. The moment the water bottle flew from her hand, while it was a nice throw, Skylar watched in horror as it came smack with the Healer's forehead. Oh, Pretty Healer's face, by the love of Merlin, Skylar just hoped it would survive. But, what came next, distracted the horrorstruck look on the fourth year's face as he proceeded to award her points. Wait, wait, she hit a professor - albeit on complete accident - and earned points? Unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome either. Even if she'd mostly obtained the extra bottle of water because she was getting one for Brent and figured she might as well.

"Thanks, and uh, sorry about your head." Hey, at least it didn't look like an injury that would land him St Mungos like with Noah. And Valerie was coming to, for which Skylar decided to not watch her conspicuously at least and instead took note of the fact that Brent pretty much downed the entire bottle of water in like one gulp. Just how dehydrated was he? Allowing herself to fall into his one-armed hug, she smiled and glanced up at him. "Anytime," and wait, was he amused by her hitting the healer? Or earning points for it? Or both? Her cheeks growing warm, as she pondered more about the incident, it wasn't until she noticed the Headmistress that she realized they had yet to announce the winner.

Deep down she of course wanted Brent to win, even if she knew that he was undecided yet about University, but there was also the logical part of her brain that was telling her that he hadn't performed as well as the other three. They were all brilliant though and regardless of who won, it couldn't be denied that they all showed incredible amounts of magic and skills, proving themselves worthy of even the opportunity to partake in the competition.

In fourth place, Brent Westwood ... and honestly, as soon as she heard that, the rest of the Headmistress' words trailed off and became a blur. While she was immensely proud of him for even making it to the top four of two prestigious Wizarding Schools, it didn't really matter to her who won. And it wasn't until the Headmistress started walking toward the competitors that she realized she missed the actual announcement of who the champion was. See, all that suspense and prolonging? For what?

Oh, when she felt Brent turn from her side, she glanced at who he congratulated. Kyle Baker, she should have known. The kid was pretty genius when it came to his wand and spell knowledge. At least Ilvermorny didn't come as the guess school in vain, but got to go home victorious? It actually, in some sense, made Skylar wonder about the quality of education over at Ilvermorny versus Hogwarts. Even in the third challenge, they were dominating Hogwarts and for one of their own to take the championship. Good for them.

"Congratulations," Skylar muttered to Kyle out of politeness, since she had been standing relatively close.

Okay, could they go now? While it was because of IMPS that gave her a boyfriend, she was actually grateful that it was over. And that soon the castle would be much less crowded, with it being just the Hogswartians again. "Ready?" she asked, reaching for the older snake's hand.

Madelyn caught the smile from Jesus and gave a small wave,
though she watched Valerie with concern. Soon though the Wamus was up and back to her normal witch self. So Madelyn did what any smart student would do, backed away a bit. She wasn't going to be the target of her wand.

Soon the headmistress was back and saying the standings. She waved her Pom Poms as each person got called and jumped up and down when one of her own got crowned the winner.


"GO KYLE!!! GOOOO ILVERMORNY!!!"


Everyone did so awesomely they deserved a cheer. Walking closer to Brent she gave him a huge smile. "You did it! Great job out there." See she could do this friend thing easy.

Wild. That seemed to be the most fitting way to describe the ordeal that had been the final challenge - the entire competition, really. There was nothing Kyle could really say in response to Jesús' comment, and though he nodded his agreement, he otherwise maintained his silence and watched the clips from the challenge as they were replayed on the screen.

It felt like a fair amount of time before Hawthorne returned, long enough that Kyle could mull over a dozen different things and stew in his thoughts. Now that the final challenge was over, all that was left was for the scores to be announced, along with the winner. He was aware, of course, of his consistent lead throughout the competition, but Kyle had tried to not let that lull him into complacency, a false sense of security. Nothing was certain, and he was ready for any result; it had, after all, taken him some time to subdue that Runespoor.

His mind was on the scholarship when Hawthorne made her reappearance, but then Kyle found himself sitting up slightly in his seat. As much as he wanted to tell himself he didn't mind about losing, that he didn't care about a scholarship, he couldn't help but wonder... and hope. That scholarship was more important to Kyle than he was willing to admit, even to himself.

He didn't know what to expect, not having seen any of the other competitors' experiences of the challenge in full, which only served to heighten the suspense. Kyle glanced automatically towards Brent when his name was called, and then at Valerie. At first, Kyle was more focused on feeling regret for the latter, for her missing out on the scholarship that he knew she also needed, and it was a moment before he realised that that meant it was only between himself and Levi Kenning. Ilvermorny and Hogwarts.

It felt like an age before the winner was finally announced, and when it came...

... Kyle only stared stupidly.

There it was. His name. Winner of the International Magical Pupil Standoff.
After everything that had happened this year, he'd actually gone and... won.

Hawthorne was suddenly right there in front of him, and Kyle snapped out of his daze for long enough to accept her hand and shake it, luckily only needing his good hand. "Thank you Pr-... Headmistress Hawthorne," he replied, not really knowing what else he could say, nor having much time to think of anything. Just past Hawthorne, he could see his name up on the screens, the confetti falling everywhere was impossible to miss, and he could hear that Wampus girl, Madelyn, cheering his name. It was... such a strange scene, especially with all the components thrown together, like something from a dream.

Then Levi Kenning was there, providing another hand to shake. Kyle obliged, breaking into a smile at last as he quickly processed all that was happening, squeezing Levi's hand and shaking it.

"Thanks," he said, his eyes flitting back towards the Hogwarts Healer and then back to Kenning. "And to you as well. Not much in it, after all." The fierceness of the competition had been clearly evidenced in how close the points were. As for his arm... "Definitely smarts a bit. I'll have to get it seen to." Seemed like he'd sort of missed his opportunity so far, at least in terms of the immediate future. There was... a lot going on, and it was an issue trying to get his head straight, to know who to talk to or what to do next.

Both Brent and his... friend? Girlfriend? Probably girlfriend, right? Well... when they both sent their congratulations his way, Kyle was gracious in return, giving each a nod of appreciation, because he was in danger of sounding like a broken record with all the 'thanks's and 'thank you's. "Good job out there, Brent." They'd both done well, being only fifth years and yet making it this far in the competition. It didn't exactly take a genius to see it.

Finally, Kyle turned his attention back to Jesús - who got a genuine grin of appreciation in return for his congratulations - and to Valerie who had, by now, joined them. Celebrations? "Sure. I'm in." Not usually his scene, but this... was a special occasion. Kyle moved his good arm to brace his left one again, and turned his attention back to Valerie. "You good?" It was a carefully weighted question, with more than one meaning. He wanted to talk to her properly, of course, and everything that had transpired - his win, what it meant - but perhaps later, in private.

For now, though, he broke into a smile - a genuine one, one that perhaps conveyed his relief to Valerie that this was all over, and that she, too, had made it out of the challenge in one piece.

Aurora's jaw dropped open in shock before she GRINNED widely at her housemate. "CONGRATS KYLE!" she exclaimed. If they had been friends, she would have tackled him with a hug - but they weren't friends. Still, she was excited for him, and excited for her HOUSE. If it couldn't be her who won the whole thing, at least it was the next best thing.

Truthfully, she hadn't expected him to take home the prize. She'd thought for sure that Valerie would have bested him in the end, because the universe was sick and twisted in that way. But it hadn't been her - and Aurora couldn't help but notice that little smile the Wampus shot at Kyle when he was announced as the winner. AWWW that was actually really sweet! She'd never breathe a WORD of that thought to anyone, of course, but she couldn't help but smile at the small, tender exchange between the two.

Alright, Aurora was bored now. She turned to Irene and Jeremy and shrugged. "Ready to go? Wanna grab a coffee or something?" she asked. She felt...light headed. The whole thing was OVER, and although it had OFFICIALLY ended for her earlier than others, it still felt...FINAL now. There was a sort of relief about it being over and done with. Hmm.

A kiss! Did anyone miss how it made Jer glow? "No problem, Aurora.'' The boy watched his girl eat while he dug into his own food. He did like her having such a healthy appetite. He caught the look from Sam too and wiggled his brows at her.

"I know,'' he muttered tersley to the twin. "Kyle and Valerie are better.'' And though he wasn't supporting Valerie because of reasons, he hoped that she'd win if Kyle couldn't. He wanted them to beat Hogwarts THAT much. He continued to watch, looking for the two Ilvermorny students. There they came!

....

Of course Valerie had to be dramatic. Was she anything but? Jer ignored her and the theatrics. Sh emight have even been faking it Yep. "AWESOME JOB, KYLE!'' And then the results came... after a tense moment, it was announced that Ilvermorny had won.

"GO, KYLE! GO, ILVERMORNY!'' He couldn't have been more pleased with these results.

"Yeah, let's go,'' the guy agreed with Aurora. "Sam, you can come with us.'' Lately, he'd come to realise that he'd been spending less time with her. "You guys ready?''

Her brother was such brat sometimes. Samara rolled her eyes at him. Boys were so strange sometimes. At least he was being smart and agreeing with her though about the matter at hand. "Exactly." Which was why when the winner was announced as one of their own it hadn't surprised her. There was a small smirk on her face that basically said she had known Ilvermorny was going to win.

Now that it was over and the winner was given they could leave. She could take Jeremy with her for a bit, he was her brother after all. Except....what?

No.

Aurora went and spoke first inviting her friend AND Jeremy for coffee. Samara blinked. First she had been ignored when she had said hello to both girls and now they were leaving...with her brother. To make it worse the twin agreed... sure he told her to come but what was the point? Sam shook her head. "Nah, it's okay.. I should really go owl Ryan and Emily..." Mhmm smooth Samara. Very good use of the younger siblings there.