Josie looked up hearing a somewhat familiar voice, "Oh, hey Derf." She gave a small smiled and nodded to his question, "Sounds like fun." Gah... Still so terrible at making conversation, but she was at least trying, right? It was better than hiding in her bunk with her pygmy puff at her feet just sitting alone, leaving the world be and pretending she was okay with being completely alone...

Maybe still wallowing a bit in her pity party.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

It had already been quite the eventful start of term so something as relaxed as a bonfire sounded nice and cozy and welcoming in a way that made it impossible to skip. Vita had bundled up for the occasion, her long brown hair tucked neatly behind her ears and secured in place by a knit hat with a particularly silly Pom Pom on top. What? It had been a gift! She'd also brought a thermos of hot tea, made with care and helping to keep her hands warm on the walk down to the group. She was ready to socialize.

Maybe.

...Was anyone here that she knew?

"Hello everyone," She offered quietly as she claimed one of the empty hay bales and made herself comfortable. "This was a really nice idea." The whole bonfire thing was. The Gryffindors had done well.

The idea of a house-wide bonfire was really cool and as nervous as Natalie got at social gatherings, she was quite excited to go. Being a Prefect made her feel like it was more acceptable for her to go to all the social things. And it kind of made her feel like she HAD to, so... here she was. And she was excited.

She looked around for a familiar face and saw one of her favorites right away. Hurrying down to Vita, Natalie squeed quietly and attacked her friend with a hug. "Vitaaaaa. I'm glad you're here." Then she gave her a little squish before releasing her from the hug. Then she grinned at her, got distracted by the pom pom on her hat, reached up to give it a little affectionate wiggle, and then looked back at her. "Have I missed anything?" They hadn't eaten all the s'mores stuff, had they?

Patrick had finally made it down to the bonfire after the first week of classes he was 100% ready for a night with his classmates so he could relax and have some fun. He was walking closer to the burning wood and saw so many of his classmates. This was going to be lots of fun.

He was just about to sit down on a hay bale when he heard the Gryffindor captain holler about music. She sounded a bit ready for some tunes. Too bad the only thing Patrick did was sing in the shower. He decided to answer her "I think i'll stick to singing in the shower." he chuckled scooting closer to Anna.

So this was bonfiring.

Huh.

Vita opened her thermos and sipped her tea, trying to relax and look approachable. Lucky for her, she wasn't the only one looking a little out of place. The hufflepuff who'd sat beside her looked awfully uncomfortable as he fussed with his shirt and she offered him a smile, hoping to be reassuring somehow. ???? "Nice trainers," She added after a moment, noticing his shoes. Compliments always helped.

annnnnnd she was being hugged.

She froze for all of two seconds before realizing it was Natalie with her arms wrapped around her and then it was all smiles and leaning into her friend's embrace. She'd never gotten hugs from people outside of her family before, not until her mom had passed and those hugs had been sympathy driven and too tight and more awkward than she'd been able to articulate. Friend hugs, though. Friend hugs were lovely.

"I think everything is just getting started, actually. You're right on time." Which was good because Vita hoped Nat could inspire her to come out of her shell a bit more, meet more people. "How do you feel about roasting marshmallows? I am a bit hungry."

Yep, this good mood wasn't going anywhere. Abra found himself a spot on one of the hay bales and held his hands up to the fire, to get them nice and toasty, and kept an eye out for all who approached. Everyone got at least a nod or an encouraging smile or a wave as they appeared and joined in with the proceedings, whether he knew them or not. Which, you know, was actually quite an achievement, given that the more people that arrived, the more anxious he started to feel about drawing any attention to himself. But he did it anyway.

"Hi Stella," Abra returned the now-second-year's greeting, happy to see her. After last term, he wouldn't have been surprised if most of the first years decided not to come back this year, but most - if not all - of them seemed to have returned.

Stasya and Anna both got nods of acknowledgement as they too arrived. Fellow Gryffindor leadership, you know? After that, Abra started eyeing up the marshmallows, eager as he was to get to toasting them. He'd deliberately tried to hold back a bit on dinner so he'd have loads of room for the sweet bonfire snacks. Hadn't really succeeded, but it was the thought that counted.

At the sound of a very familiar voice, Abra looked up to see Derf had joined them. He smiled back at him. "No problem." As for the mention of gracing everyone with his talents, Abra's smile turned into more of a shy one. Which was, quite frankly, ridiculous, given the career track he was hoping to go down. "I don't know... maybe. We'll see." Abra hadn't brought his own guitar, and now he couldn't remember if Professor Wayland had mentioned having one of his own.

Anna was mentioning music too. Loudly, actually, so it was probably time to start figuring all of that out. Abra turned to face Professor Wayland. "Did you have a guitar, Professor? I can run and get mine, if not..." Well, maybe not run, that was a fair distance and Abra had had enough of S.O.R.E. the year before to put him off of running until the end of time.

It was Saturday night and Jackson was all set for this bonfire!! He was secretly very happy when he found out that all houses were invited. He had headed out to the grounds a bit late it seemed because it looked as though EVERYONE was here. He greeted what looked like all the Prefects, some baby Claws like Evan and Septimus, and…

“Anna!” he called as he saw his inviter. He waved and started making his way towards her. "Is it time for s'mores yet?!"

Although Anna was toasting the single marshmallow on her stick, she was more concerned about talking to basically everybody around her. Even though she had eaten less for dinner for the sake of bonfire snacks, her focus was actually kind of far from the foods for once.

She laughed as Patrick spoke and scooted closer. "You can't be that bad!" The girl replied, giving him an amused look. She looked over at Abra when he asked professor Wayland about the guitar. "Yeah, get the guitar out!" She called, not exactly giving the boy an answer as she didn't know whether their Head of House had a guitar there or not. But a guitar was a must!!! It was a bonfire night after all! "I'll sing if you sing!" She told Patrick, laughing.

The Captain was looking around at all those gathered there, still sort of ignoring her toasting marshmallow, when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. It was like her entire face beamed as Anna waved enthusiastically at Jackson. "Hiii, come on over!!!" She invited her friend, scooting a bit closer to Patrick and patting the empty space on her other side for the Ravenclaw to sit. And was it time for s'mores yet? "Here, look!" She said, handing the older boy her stick with the single marshmallow pretty much burned by now. "Do you mind a burned marshmallow?" She laughed. "Have that." Waving her wand, she summoned two sticks and three more marshmallows. "I never asked if you wanted one, Patrick. Do you?" Anna chuckled, grabbing one of the sticks and marshmallows herself and making the other floating stick poke the Slytherin Captain's side while the extra marshmallow repeatedly hit the side of his head.

Heeheehee!

Jackson smiled at the sight of the marshmallows... er, Anna, and made his way to her. Mmmmm it smelled DELICIOUS! He took the seat he was offered and made a face at the marshmallow he was being handed... If you could call it that. He didn't mind it to be honest, but he wanted to give her a hard time just for the sake of it. He laughed but began looking around for the crackers and chocolate. "Sooooo... I figured out her name," he said, leaning in towards Anna.

More people had started arriving, from more than just Gryffindor, and Stasya took that to mean they’d done a good job of spreading the news that everyone was invited. It really was a situation where the more was merrier, especially since part of the whole point was just to have a fun night that would hopefully show that Hogwarts wasn’t broken after last term. If the incident at the feast hadn’t shown that already, although that hadn’t been planned. Not by her and her fellow Gryffindor leaders plus Professor Wayland, anyhow. Maybe the bonfire could even help people get past the awkwardness that had been remaining from said feast incident. She hadn’t been affected, not really, but she’d still felt it. She remembered the weird feeling too, but she’d pushed it to the back of her mind.

Now was definitely not the time to dwell on lingering weirdness. Instead, she was determined to have fun, and she’d given the others smiles as they arrived, letting Anna man the marshmallows. That and the entertainment, apparently.

“You’re welcome,” she’d replied to Derf softly, as she passed him on her way around the bonfire to drop into a seat near Lucas. Of course she wouldn’t have wanted the head boy to think he wasn’t invited. Odds were she would have invited him even if it had been a Gryffindor thing, along with Abra. Probably.

But for now, she gave the second year Gryffindor a grin as she snagged the marshmallow the captain had floated his way. “I think this was for you,” she said, holding it out for him to take. She planned on toasting a marshmallow or two tonight too, but she could wait. That and she wondered if there were the other ingredients for s’mores over there.

“I’m willing to sing if anyone wants to sing.” She wasn’t great at singing, but she’d been working on it since the Wizard of Oz several terms earlier.

Skyler headed on down to the fire, (seen the smoke from a distance.) When she got there, she realized it was clearly contained and a lot of students were there. She glanced over and saw professor Wayland as well. Wasn't hHE one of the professors that was spying on Scrim who ever and did NOTHING to stop his rein of terror? Skyler narrowed her eyes slightly at him not bothering to give him any type of greeting, her annoyance and anger taking over her fear.

Jheeze, what was it with these Gryffindor's? (Anna) Were they all this happy and excitable? Smiling back at her now, he continued to finish off his second marshmallow, watching her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed friendly enough as she talked to all of the other students so she couldn’t be too bad. "Soooo...No chocolate or crackers to go with these s'mores?" he asked, a small smile on his face? "Or did all you brave Gryffindor's conquer them before the rest of us got here?" a snort escaping his mouth as he said that last part.

Of course he wouldn’t forget the girl he’d almost run over (Torii). Literally. And somehow she hadn’t forgotten him either although if she did, there must be something seriously wrong with her. But she did remember so it was neither here nor there. Smirking slightly now “Hey, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit. After all, you did practically come out of nowhere last time” his smile getting even bigger now. Ewan couldn’t help but help but frown slightly at her next answer “Hmm… what’s up?" He wasn’t sure why but he just didn’t believe her. Maybe it was the slight change in her face. Maybe it was just male intuition? If there was such a thing. Maybe it was the fact that she’d been alone that day in the courtyard.

Of course the Lions were the ones to throw the bonfire. Not that Farah was complaining, because she was needing the distraction. She'd managed to convince Steph to go with her to the bonfire. They'd be able to hang outside of the common room plus enjoy the night time air and the stars. It sounded like a pretty great time.

Farah's eyes trailed the bonfire as she arrived in a plaid yellow and black jumper with a black short sleeved shirt on underneath. It was accompanied with yellow pearled jewlery and black boots that really spiced up the outfit. Her hair was in neat curls on her head and her eyeliner was cat like. She felt cute, if she did say so herself. She was also representing Hufflepuff in her usual fashion.

Her eyes laid on the hay bals around the fire.. Wayland was smart though and probably had those bales charmed so the dry hay wouldnt catch fire. Plus, getting to see Wayland was always a plus. She still had a small tiny crush on that professor. More like, he was great to look at and how he handled creatures was a sight to see.

Back to the bonfire though.
Farah smiled as she neared the bonfire and looked around. She was never one to be shy. She waved to anyone and everyone as she walked. She evenly said hellos to whoever she was passing.

Was Rylee running late?

Yes. Yes, she was. In her defense though she had been on a mirror call with her nephew and family came first. The moment she got off the call though she had grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder and headed out outside to attend the bonfire that was put together by her house leaders. There was noway she was going to miss a chance at a large bonfire with all her friends and have a good time.

As she drew closer to the bonfire, she pulled her bag around from her bag to her chest, keeping on arm gently around it almost hugging it to herself. The bag wasn't closed all the way and there may very well be a small nose and the top of a very fluffy white head peaking out trying to be nosy. After things that had happened last term she really wasn't taking her eyes off her cat if she didn't have to. Where she went Lamb went too... unless it was entirely to unsafe to do so.

"Hello, everyone!" Rylee sported her ever present bright smile as she greeted everyone. Finding herself a hay bale she sat down making herself comfortable.

By the time Tessa arrived at the bonfire - ahead of her best friend, Soraya, in order to save them seats by the fire - a reasonable amount of people had turned up.

Memories of last term, in all honestly, hadn't lingered in Tessa's mind. Whether that had been a conscious choice on her part, who knows, but it didn't really matter. This year was going to be better. It was the mantra she'd been repeating all summer. This year was going to be BIGGER and it was going to be BETTER and she was going to be positively #FIERCE. She only had two years left at Hogwarts before she entered......the real world. *shudder* And, so far, this term had featured love-potion shenanigans, which, other than brief worries that Alfie would be super mad at her, had been hilarious.

Overall, she had high hopes for this year.

Tessa meandered between people, smiling and waving at a few and stopping to talk to others. She noticed Professor Wayland nearby. "Having a good evening, Professor? Nice fire," she said with grin and watched the flames dance for a second. She assumed that her Head of House was the one to start the fire. "Oh, Stas, hey!" She caught her dormmate's arm as she walked by and greeted her with a hug. "This is all great!" She was especially looking forward to roasting some marshmallows. It was the little things in life, wasn't it? "Talk later?" She asked, knowing that, at events like this, Stas was in Prefect mode and had a lot of people to talk to. They could talk any day or night of the week in their dorm if they wanted.

The blonde needed someone else to talk to while she waited for Soraya to show up. She scanned the faces of nearby people, looking for someone she knew but instead landed on a frowning young girl. Why was she frowning? Ok, so she wasn't frowning anymore, but she was still all alone. If she had to guess, she would probably say that the girl was a first year, so maybe she hadn't met that many people yet. With that in mind, Tessa approached her (Charlie) and sat down on the hay bale next to her. Perfect, really, because Soraya was expecting her to save a seat by the fire. "Hey," she said, grinning at the younger girl, "I'm Tessa. Are you enjoying the bonfire?"

Steph joined Farah when asked if she wanted to go to the bonfire. It was better than being in the castle that was already feeling stuffy. Was that even possible so soon? They had literally just gotten back to school. Anyway. Steph wore her long hair up in its usual messy bun and had her slightly bigger than she was school sweater. Might as well show some pride. But not like Farah. She usually took it over the top and the redhead was content with a someone striped sweater with a little badger in its corner. Once she spotted the bonfire, Steph imagined those times she had camping with her dad when she was younger. She should probably convince him of going again this summer before she heads off to university.

She then turned to her friend and smiled. ”Should we roast marshmallows first? Or enjoy the fire and get warm?” Steph asked, already reaching for a marshmallow on a stick.

This Ewan kid seemed quite suspicious of her all of a sudden, what with this watching her out of the corner of his eye. Anna laughed, amused at his expression and comment about chocolate and crackers. "I don't know, actually. They're the ones in charge." She pointed at the other Gryffindor leaders. Technically, she SHOULD know, because she also also technically in charge, buuuut she didn't. "Dunno about being brave, but conquering details is not something I do often." The Gryffindor chuckled. Had they even been planning on bringing out more than just marshmallows? Now that she thought about it, it made sense, but she hadn't been paying that much attention to some of the details. Her bad! "How good are you at summoning house elves?" She asked the young Ravenclaw, biting her lip to stop her from chuckling. Amused, she was.

The truth? Anna didn't really see the face Jackson pulled because she was too busy piecing more marshmallows with the new stick she was holding. She knew it hadn't been THAT good a deal for him, hence her levitating a three marshmallows instead of just two. As one of the sweets was still busy hitting the site of Patrick's head and another one already on her new stick ready to be toasted, Anna took the last floating marshmallow and shoved it at the top of the stick Jackson was now holding. "Ow!!" She pulled her hand back, shaking it a little after accidentally touching the bit that was still hot. "I see. Trying to take me out already, are you? I shouldn't have told you to tryout for Quidditch, it's making you way too competitive already!" The Gryffindor Captain gave him a fake!stink eye before cracking up two seconds later.

Then the Ravenclaw said he had figured out the kitty's name!!! "Awesome! What is it??? WAIT, let me guess." She said excitedly, shifting on her seat as she pulled a thinking face. Hmmmm... nope. "I cant think of anything, what is it??"

At Stas' words on singing, Anna sat up straighter as she turned around to look at the girl, smiling. "Yees, let's do like a choir!" She laughed out loud. She was joking, of course. It'd be hilarious to actually try it, though. Anna knew some of her fellow students were part of the Frog Choir, but singing at a bonfire night was a bit different. She looked around a bit more. Where WAS the guitar then??

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

So this was bonfiring.

Huh.

Vita opened her thermos and sipped her tea, trying to relax and look approachable. Lucky for her, she wasn't the only one looking a little out of place. The hufflepuff who'd sat beside her looked awfully uncomfortable as he fussed with his shirt and she offered him a smile, hoping to be reassuring somehow. ???? "Nice trainers," She added after a moment, noticing his shoes. Compliments always helped.

annnnnnd she was being hugged.

She froze for all of two seconds before realizing it was Natalie with her arms wrapped around her and then it was all smiles and leaning into her friend's embrace. She'd never gotten hugs from people outside of her family before, not until her mom had passed and those hugs had been sympathy driven and too tight and more awkward than she'd been able to articulate. Friend hugs, though. Friend hugs were lovely.

"I think everything is just getting started, actually. You're right on time." Which was good because Vita hoped Nat could inspire her to come out of her shell a bit more, meet more people. "How do you feel about roasting marshmallows? I am a bit hungry."

Completely oblivious of the boy next to Vita, Natalie was in Vita-land, grinning ear to ear at her friend and the hug she received. Nat was a hugger. Obviously. And she was glad to see that she wasn't late after all. She may have accidentally fallen asleep. It happened.

"That sounds amazing. I'm starving." As always. "I want some s'mores." Looking around, Nat spotted the supplies and then hopped up to grab some for the both of them, only realizing that there was somebody beside Vita when she returned (Maxie). Oh, she had THOUGHT she heard Vita say something about trainers.

Nat paused and then offered her stick to the boy. "Wanna roast?" See? She was nice.

Jackson was fine with the burnt one, but he wasn’t going to say no to this fresh one! Had he burnt Anna?? He hadn’t meant to. “Whoop! Sorry!” but shook his head and laughed at her next thought. Before he started toasting his shiny new mallow, he was going to nom his way through this burnt one. Nom nom nom nom nom. He was licking some of the gooey goodness off of his finger while Anna guessed… She wasn’t very good at guessing apparently, which was Jackson’s cue to… pause for effect.

“Cat-Eye Moody. Moody for short. Moody the Maine Coon. ” He was seriously the best at naming. Go ahead. You can tell him.

Rylee easily caught some of the conversations coming from a few people around her. Talk of a cats name and something about singing around the campfire? Uhhh... maybe? She wasn't the best at singing but if everyone else joined in it could be fun. Was there music to sing along to? A guitar or perhaps violin? She should've brought hers with her... not that she was great at that either but oh well. Dancing was more her thing. Did anyone want to do that?

Fixing her bag on her lap she reached her hand inside to pet her cats head earning her a purr in response. It was actually rather nice just sitting here watching the flickering of the flames and listening to the crackling of the fire.

Steph looked cute. But then again, Steph always looked cute. The girl was beautiful yet had no idea. Farah admired it about her. She was her best friend after all. "Cute sweater." Farah said with a grin and hooked her arm with hers. "I say roast marshmallows by the fire while getting warm." It wasn't that cold out.. or at least, Farah had seen colder nights plenty of times. Nothing a good fire and a nice heating charm, like the one she had on her shirt, wouldnt help. Grabbing sticks and marshmallows, she handed one to Steph after unhooking their arms. She sat on one of the hay bales close to Rylee and gave her a little nudge and a hello.

Farah listened in to the conversation around her... which wasnt hard since Anna was yelling about a choir. What? She listened more and apparently Stas mentioned singing by the fire? And was there a mention about a guitar? Who had one? Farah could get so heart eyes at whoever started playing. She loved guitar players. Now.. Farah couldnt sing but she'd definitely belt out a tune if she was encouraged. "Singing?? What song? We could do the Hogwarts song!" You know. Hogwarts. Hoggywarts. Hoggy warty Hogwarts!

Patrick felt a marshmallow bounce off of his head. What was going on he had zoned out for a few seconds after imagining singing in front of his friends. "Eh, my singing isn't that bad but not worthy of singing along with." he laughed grabbing one of the marshmallows off of her stick and popping it in his mouth.

He grabbed another one and tossed it at Anna. He figured now was as good of time as any to relax with his friends, let his guard down. For anything but singing. He was enjoying laughing though.

So she wasn’t in charge? (Anna)Or she was? Okay this wasn’t cleared up but it didn’t matter. He was having a good time stuffing his face so it was all good. “Okay, suuuuure you’re not” was all he could say to that, a little sarcastically. As for her comment about not being brave? Well, that was a slight surprise. “Are you not supposed to be super brave and just go charging into every situation?" I mean, that’s what all the books say. Maybe he was being a bit naive but it’s not like he had a lot of family members to ask or something, he was the first wizard in his family. Hogwarts was strange. Just plain old strange. Chuckling now, h held his hands up in defeat “I’m not an expert at summoning house elves, I’ll be honest” and he really didn’t want to get told off for trying which he was sure he would judging from the way she was biting her lip. “Honestly, it’s fine! I’ve only ever had toasted marshmallows with chocolate and crackers”. Giving her a little prod in the arm with his stick, he grinned at her “Are you trying to get me in trouble or something?”.

"If we all sing together no one will stand out anyway." Anna grinned as she answered Patrick. "Oi!!!" She exclaimed when he stole her marshmallow, giving him an amused look. "Cheeky!" The girl laughed, catching the other sweet the Slytherin tossed at her before using her forearm to push him playfully. "You get your own marshmallows!" She added, still laughing.

This Ewan kid was funny! Look at him being scarcastic! Anna laughed at his suspicious comment about her not being in charge. "I mean, I'm not a prefect." She said, jokingly emphasising the last word because thooOOoose guys were the important ones, didn't he know? Lol. "I'm just the Captain, y'know. We're not important." She finished, giving him a cheeky look.

HAHA! See, this kid was going places. Super brave? "Are we??" She asked, amusement written all over her face. "I wasn't told that when I signed up." And 'charging into every situation'. Anna laaughed. "You're describing my brother, actually." Truth. Matt was the one to charge into every situation. Anna liked to think she was more sensible than him. Even if just a little bit. "And you're supposed to know all the books ever by heart, right?" She asked back, still very much amused by this young eagle.

Then he prodded her with the stick!! "Ow!!" Anna rubbed her arm jokingly - it hadn't hurt, but being dramatic was funny -, though instead of looking like she was in pain, she chuckled. "What's this, everyone's ganging up on me today, is it??"

Her finger being burned by the stick Jackson was now holding hadn't been anything, really. Anna had had her nose broken just a few weeks prior to the bonfire night by Zoryn anyone surprised? She wasn't either, so that level of pain was nothing. Genuinely. "I've experienced much worse pain than this in my life, you know." She chuckled, saying the pretty dramatic sentence almost as a joke. The only thing was that she wasn't exaggerating at all, lol.

She listened to Jackson's cat name explanation as she once again pierced a marshmallow with her stick. Maybe this time she would get to toast and eat it!!! Snort. Cat-Eye Moody? The Gryffindor gave him an amused, yet slightly puzzled look. See, she didn't know History of Magic that well. Not yet, at least. She had decided she'd change that this year, but the term had barely started so she hadn't had the chance to study anything yet. "Moody? What, she's already a temperamental cat, is she?" She chuckled. "It doesn't matter, as long as you keep your word you'll make her Gryffindor's mascot!" Hah!

A bonfire sounded like just what he needed after the first week of classes, and with him trying to get past certain recent things, and Gunnar headed outside following the light of the fire. He had heard that it had been organized by some Gryffindors, but that everyone was invited so he had no problem going there himself. He just hoped that some of his friends would be there. Or maybe he should have asked one of his friends to go with him.

He noticed quite a few people already there as he approached. Didn't appear to be too many Slytherins, but that was alright, as long as there was someone he knew here. And was that Vivian? Gunnar grabbed some marshmallows and a stick on which to toast them, and he took a seat on a hay bale near her, giving her a friendly nudge.

She and Ewan's conversation, like the other one they'd had, was pretty much lighthearted at first. Then he attempted to press further into her answer, causing her to gaze into the fire and not look up for a minute or two. At some point, she had to tell them. At some point, she should just tell them all why she was here. At some point, she just had to get it all off her chest.

So why not start here?

"Umm," she said. Well, that hadn't started out as strongly as she'd imagined it, but it was a start. She looked away from the fire and sighed. "I should tell you that I really don't want to be here. I want to go back home," she said. "To Ilvermorny." She wanted to, but she never, ever could. Home was here now, whether she liked it or not.

So that was how the conversation started. She didn't know if she'd say any more, but there was her start.