Cael yawned tiredly, feeling Jupiter snuggle tighter against his neck for warmth. It was late, but Marcus was still stuck in a debate at one of the apothecaries over the price of potions supplies. Caelius had really only wandered over to the carnival because of the lights, Diagon Alley was practically glowing from the lit-up rides and booths. It was hard not to be curious. Fending off another yawn half-heartedly, Cael made his way to the nearest refreshment booth. He really needed to wake up. "One thestral coffee, please," Cael sighed dropping the necessary coins onto the counter top. "Caffeinated, black."

Upon entering the carnival area, the first thing Vashti had noticed were the rides. The second - FOOD. And her stomach had given a little grumble of hunger so of course she had to head there first. Her eyes widened a little once she'd seen the menu. There were SO many things on there! How in Merlin's name was she supposed to choose? She certainly couldn't buy it all - she did not have that much money - and she didn't want to buy too much anyway since she still planned on riding all the rides. Soooo what should she get?

A Chocolate Frog? Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Cotton candy? Ice cream? Or perhaps she wasn't that hungry and she just needed something to drink. Butterbeer? Pumpkin juice? Exploding Lemonade? Merlin, she didn't kn-

Wait.

Exploding Lemonade?

...

AWESOME.

She took the spot in line behind a younger boy, already wondering how, when, and why the lemonade was going to explode. Would it blow up all over her (or perhaps over someone else)? 'Cause that'd probably be funny.

Will seriously didn't know why he was here. Why of all the things he could be doing this summer was he spending a day at this...carnival? That's what it was right? Gah. He didn't know. His brother's obnoxious had gotten to him and he needed to leave the house. Somehow he had stumbled upon this...carnival...in Diagon Alley. Fun. A person had to be crazy if they really wanted to pet an animal, jump in some inflatable thing, and get their face painted all in one day.

Seriously mental.

The food seemed like one of the only 'normal' parts to this place. He liked food. The young man got behind a brunette girl who didn't look too far off in age. Small world, eh? Right when he was about to take another step to continue moving up with the line, some younger twerp opened a drink that exploded EVERYWHERE. He quickly pulled the girl in front of him for fear of getting soaked in some sticky substance.

Better her then him.

"Bwrrrr....hmmm...cling-clang"

An odd assortment of sounds from the sound of a violin bow across strings to the resounding clang of a cow bell could be heard off to side. Whatever could it be you may wonder until Bert appears wearing the trappings of his talent. He walks with a tsk tsk of the cymbals that join together as he moves ready to perform beautiful music for all the passerbyes that he meets along the way.

Raven glanced at the menu... She and her parents had shopped all day in Diagon Alley, then had come to the carnival. They had just ridden the Enchanted Carousel. They were definately ready for some refreshments.
Raven looked up at the menu....
"I want fish and chips and Mandrake Root Tea! - I don't know what that drink is... but I love tea. Mom and Dad, what do you guys want?"
Michael Sloan ordered for himself and his wife Victoria and all three of them sat into a little table in front of the window.

They all appreciated the music from the One Man Band... They thought it was interesting and gave him 10 sickles for it sort of seemed like a private concert.

Raven commented, "I guess we won't be eating dinner at the leaky couldron!"
All 3 of them laughed.

Angelina looked at the menu, of food and drinks, and decided on someone a bit small for now. Once she was done deciding, she got in line and waited to order.

After wandering around aimlessly for so long, Ariadne started to feel desperately hungry. Spotting the refreshments area, she hurried over there. Noticing that everything on the menu was what her mother repeatedly called the unhealthiest food in the world, Ari hesitated. But hunger won, so she had to buy something. 'Can I have a hot dog, please?' she asked the vendor, rummaging her bag for some coins to pay for it. In her defense, there was no other source of food nearby and she WAS incredibly hungry. And anyway, her mum was hopefully probably still busy at the bank.

Jordan decided to go straight to the food to fill his appetite up before doing anything. So he grabbed a seat and grabbed a menu. He didn't know quite what he was going to order, he thought thoroughly, and knew what he wanted and waited there. He realized there were food stalls, so he hopped his butt off the seat and into a line of a few people to possess his food. He ordered two Hot Dogs, Bertie's Every Flavor beans, and a couple slices of Pepperoni Pizza for his food. He then ordered a Muggle Soda entitled, "Mountain Dew."

He took a sip of his Muggle Soda, and he LOVED it! "Wow, I'm definitely a fan of this Muggle, Mountain Dew beverage." Jordan said to himself. He started to munch down on his hot dog and pizza, as he saved the beans like a dessert. Delicious it was!

Bert continued to play his music, the mellow sounds of the strings messing with the bright sounds of the trumpet. All and all accented with the cymbols and the other instruments as he played for his crowd and for their pleasure.

" I thank you, kind folk," he said accepting the sickles from the family with a smile and a deep bow. Straightening and satisfied with his reception, Bert opted to move on, walking away and weaving amongst the other folk attending the carnival to let others enjoy his talented playing.

"Requests...any requests?" he called out as his instruments rested for a moment other then the cymbals that still sounded as he walked.

Though she was still very sure she wanted to try the Exploding Lemonade, Vashti began to wonder, while she was waiting, whether she ought to get something else. She hadn't had Butterbeer in awhile. Perhaps she should get that instead? Hmm. Decisions, deci-

MEEP!

Suddenly, a pair of hands pulled her out of line - and then she stopped abruptly in front of some kid with a cup of what looked like lemonade.

Next second, she could definitely comfirm that it WAS lemonade, because it had just exploded all over her. She'd managed to close her eyes in time, but her mouth had done the exact opposite, and she'd received a mouthful of lemonade. She spat it out on reflex. It didn't taste bad or anything, but the lemonade already covered half of the rest of her body and in that moment she didn't want it in her mouth too.

Bleh. Not quite as funny as she'd thought it'd be.

Wiping the liquid away from her eyes before she opened them, she looked over her shoulder to see who had put her in this spot and found a boy around her age whom she didn't recognize.

"Merlin, what was that for?" Putting her in-between him and the exploding lemonade. What, did he have a phobia of lemonade or something? Hmph.

Will hid behind her as the drink continued with it's explodingness. Thank god he didn't get that stuff, or even CONSIDERED getting it. Things with the word 'exploding' in front of it just couldn't be trusted. He hated lemonade anyway. It was too lemoney. Lemoney things gave him headaches. When he was positive the lemonade was finished exploding, he stood up, tall and proud like his stance had once been.

"Pshh...what do you think it was for?" he asked a bit too sneeringly. "There was no way I would be the one getting soaked in lemonade. It's disgusting," he spat. Taking out his new wand, he pointed it at where a little lemonade was left on his shoes. The substance disappeared. "You were the first option I thought of when I knew it was about to come. You should feel honored for protecting me." He was a king after all. There could have been any other kid to choose to protect him, but nooo, he picked her. What was wrong with people these days?

...Really? This guy actually was afraid of lemonade?

Wow.

How someone could act so arrogant after - sort of - admitting that he was afraid of a mere liquid was beyond her.

But she should feel "honored" that he'd forced her into protecting him from a bunch of lemonade? "Right, because it's always been my life's dream to 'protect' you from something so terrifying as lemonade," Vashti replied rather sarcastically as she tried to wipe more of the lemonade off her face. Saving him from lemony liquid was right up there with saving him from a man-eating dragon, she was sure. Where was her Order of Merlin? Surely she ought to get one for "protecting" him.

"The least you could do is say 'thanks,'" she added.

So the first thing Everett did when he got to the carnival was head for the food. He planned to munch on something yummy, and then head off on the rides. He knew it was a stupid order, and he'd probably feel sick afterwards, but Everett trusted his stomach not to actually be sick. He had a stomach of steel.

Heading towards the food, he eyed the menu. Decisions, decisions... He'd probably get some candy floss. He did have a soft spot for it.

This carnival thing meant one thing and one thing only for Bailey Pichler and that was food. Boy did Bailey Marc Pichler love his food. In one hand was the funnel cake and in the other was the cotton candy he had just gotten. Yeahhh, forget school shopping, he was defiantly going to spend all his money on the delicious treats he was sure he'd spend hours eating. It was amazing that the boy could even handle as much food as he did but he did handle it and he handled it well. He took a bite of his funnel cake nearly seconds after ordering it. His green eyes flickered to the boy next to him, a faint smile spreading out on his face.

Being friendly never hurt, did it?

"This food's delicious."He said while looking at the other boy, swallowing his newest bite of funnel cake. He smiled at the boy who seemed to be about his age, hoping he was as friendly as he was, if not then well...Bailey would look rather silly, wouldn't he? GULP.

DID SOMEONE SAY CARNIVAL?!

Lola was a self-proclaimed freak and a carnival JUST wouldn't be a carnival without this dashing, young girl, would it? No no no, she was born for these events--what kind of people would there be?! Men with two faces? Beautiful hags? Oh how exciting! It was a bit unfortunate that no one asked her to come with them for this event; that obviously meant she was desperately lonely. Maybe she would befriend a fellow freak her--leave the life as an actress--and travel abroad the circus.

People would stare and glance and she would bathe in their lovely attention.

That wasn't a horrible idea, actually.

Oh now now now, again, what would a carnival be without her? She had to wear something bright... something DASHING and eye-catching. There was nothing else than this little ensemble; matching pink top and bottom with rather animalistic stripes with a hint of feminine inside of it. She was practicing wearing high heels yet again (a true Queen should walk with perfect strides and bask in her own glory). The girl was a fan of decorating her hands and fingers which included many sorts of things that she found nitty gritty. A pink kitty necklace was rather big and hang out in front of her chest. AND THIS MARVELOUS ENSEMBLE WOULDN'T DO WITHOUT HER PINK COTTON CANDY HAIR. She petted her hair as if it were a fluffy poodle and she again, walked oh-so Queenlike... heading towards food and refreshments aisle.

"One cotton candy on a stick, please. Can it come in pink?" she said rather attentively towards the woman. Without making it obvious (even if it already was), she slowly leaned forward a bit... just so the woman and the people around could have a better look at her pink cotton candy hair.. Like that? It's beautiful isn't it? Isn't it, candy lady??? Yet she said NOTHING because the girl was so very humble on the outside.

She looked around for anyone familiar. "People of the carnival! It is I, Lola Jones," she said around with much ego. She had a goal to make friends with carnival people today--you know, her own people in which she rightfully belonged in.

After that rather long, and emotionally draining carpet ride (although Adam had to admit he had more fun than he thought he would given his fear of heights) Adam figured they could get something to eat. After all it was around lunch time, wasn't it? And who didn't love carnival food?

"Would you like to get something to eat?" Adam asked, pointing to an open table.

Isobel was thirsty, and a little hungry. She needed food, but nothing with sugar in it of course. She did not need that at the moment. Isobel skipped over to where they had food. She looked at everything, trying to decide what to have, when she noticed a girl standing near her.

...

O.o

That was quite an outfit. Isobel liked weird people though, so she walked a couple steps over to the girl. "Hi," she said cheerfully. "My name is Isobel VonHue." And apparently, that girl was Lola Jones. She wasn't sure what to think of her. WAIT! That girl. She was the Slytherin seeker. Isobel didn't know how she didn't notice that earlier. Well, it wasn't that important, it was just interesting information. Humph. She had beaten Treyen.

Oh look!

Lola stared deeply at this girl. Wasn't she the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain?! OH MY. This girl was FAMOUS. The girl regarded anyone with a title at Hogwarts to be celebrity-status, but she never would have suspected she would come face-to-face with this girl other than the Quidditch pitch. What should she do?! Talk about Quidditch? But that would be so judgemental... Lola was a kind angel, spreading friendship all over the world and yet, this meeting was a message from above...

They had to befriend each other. It was like a click in her brain and brought back many obsessions with friendship from last year. She was a tad bit overwhelmed from all of this, so she started petting her hair again. Nice little poodle. Stay there. Control yourself. This girl is a friend. The cotton candy wig was bewitched to make it appear like so--there was absolutely no time to concoct another wig!!! What if it somehow magically grew teeth and ate the girl's face?

Is-o-bel Von-Hue.

OH MERLIN HAVE MERCY THE GIRL SOUNDED SO EXOTIC.

And what was she?! Lo-la Jones. Something dull. Only three syllables. This girl had a total of FIVE. That meant she was better at her in everything, right? Lola was vigorously petting her hair again, but careful not to break the pouf. The pouf meant everything. Maybe the girl was only talking to her because of the pouf. What if the pouf broke and she would be the friendless, lonely girl that would casually walk around the carnival alone with her friend named Awkward. No no no was this even Lola Jones anymore? She felt so un-Lola-like. It had to be changed.

"OHHHHHHHHHH DAAAAAAHLING," she started petting the girl's forehead, "You have such a MARVELOUS name--your mother must be so proud you're wearing it so lavishly. I'm Lola Jones~!" Arm pose.

She then grabbed the girl's arm. "You know what? Let's be friends, my petty! So what brings you here to this carnival?"

Her face was flushed and she was still catching her breath from all the excitement as Adam pointed out food. Usually, she'd say no and that her stomach was not ready for digesting and all but not today. She was just... up for anything. For starters; she hadn't had this fun in summer since the sleepover at Kita's. Second: Dallin wasn't on her mind anymore (until now of course O__O), and last Adam seemed to have fun and mission accomplished!

"Sure! I haven't had a breakfast anyway. And the Leaky Cauldron's meals aren't so appealing anymore," She chuckled and walked to the table he indicated, "Do you think they have Hamburgers and Coke?" Totally Muggle but.. Adam seemed to be more comfortable with mugglish stuff since he was still new to all this Diagon Alley. She would drag him in gradually. Today, the Carpet Coaster was enough

"I didn't have much for breakfast myself," Adam said, leading them to the open table and taking a seat. Adam handed Louisa one of the paper menus that seemed to be around and began looking over one of his own. "It looks like they've got just about everything here," Adam said, thinking that a good old fashioned cheeseburger might be nice. He gave a little smirk as Louisa asked if they had them. "You and I are thinking along the same lines. Plus you can never go wrong with butter beer."

Adam had to say that some magical food was simply too much for him, and made him long for muggle food, but some of it was so delicious that he couldn't help himself but get it every time the option was made available to him. Butter Beer was one of those things. "Do you like butter beer?" Adam asked, never having met someone that didn't, but then again it did have a very distinct taste to it.

Adam could tell by looking at Louisa's face that she was having a good time, and he hoped that it was getting her mind off of that boy Dallin. "So, are you excited to be going back to Hogwarts?" For Adam this would be a new experience, but for Louisa, well, she had already been there for three years and knew the ropes.

Louisa looked down at the menu and almost jumped in her excitement to find that they served everything here, mugglish and magical! "That's just awesome. Why didn't this Carnival look as fun yesterday?" She chuckled shaking her head in disbelief. How moody was she this summer? Yeah, try saying A LOT. "Butterbear is fine too," Nodding she laid the menu down and looked around. "Do you think we'll have to go and get our own food or someone will show up?" Hmm? She was almost sure that this someone had a painted face and jumped up and down and flailed his limbs.. or whatever those circus people did. And it was really fun and refreshing in a weird way.

Oh. Hogwarts? Hmm. Her face lost a bit of its beaming energy, "Umm.. I do. I just.. I just need to fix some things before going there," She sighed and forced a smile, "I messed some friendships up last term. I acted like a child!" She furrowed her eyebrows thoughtfully.

Her name was marvelous? Isobel had never thought her name was marvelous. Maybe a little weird, but it was just her name. But hey, if Lola wanted to think her name was marvelous Isobel wasn't going to stop her.

Um...what was she doing? She was better her forehead. And then she was grabbing her arm. She was a Slytherin, so Isobel would definitely hug her when the time came for National Hug A Slytherin Day.

"Okay," Isobel said, then she smiled. She liked having friends, and despite her outfit and her weirdness, Lola was pretty awesome. Well, her weirdness was what made her awesome. "Well it's a carnival, and it's so exciting." Thinking about the carnival again made Isobel excited and hyper again. When she spoke her words came out in a long string with barely a breath in between. "I love everything here. I've already been to the petting zoo and guess what? I pet a Niffler. It was sooo cute! I love carnivals, don't you?" She must, since she was at a carnival. And Lola definitely seemed like a person who would love carnivals.

Shyness?

What shyness?

Lola was a new woman, with a new face and she was no longer afraid of this girl. Friends friends friends friends THIS GIRL WAS A NEW ADDITION!!!!! She looked at the girl like she would to a trophy--an inanimate object--and reached her other hand out to caress and play with her new friend's hair. Too soon? Nawwww. She was eager for this fresh meat but made sure not to let her prey run away. What if she didn't want to be Lola's friend. Might as well stick a tag on the girl that said 'forever alone' so she simply HAD to make friends with this girl.

Plus, it would benefit her too because when she got all famous--voila, easy autograph right there.

"Ohhhhhh FRIEND!" What GREAT new adventures come their way? Petting zoo? There was a petting zoo? ...Interesting. What a mighty topic to say in a time like THIS. Lola was petting her pouf--oh was the girl trying to...? It was only safe to assume. "Oh Isobel--you really want to pet my cotton pouf don't you?" I KNEW IT!!!! She only likes me for my hair! Well that's what friends are for... "You," sniff, "may pet it." She offered her hair, leaning forward.

Lola could be a niffler. If it meant having friends.

Adam looked around, half expecting to find a waitress or waiter carrying around a little notepad taking orders but then he remembered that he was at a carnival and that was just far too muggle of him. "I'm not sure," Adam said, biting his lower lip slightly. "I think we may just go up to that counter and get stuff, but I'm not entirely sure." However they were supposed to go about getting food, Adam hoped they figured out soon because his stomach was starting to protest from the lack of food.

Adam regretted the question as soon as it came out of his mouth. Louisa's face fell and he realized he had epically failed in keeping her mind off of things. "Well I'm sure that if they're your real friends, they'll be understanding," Adam said with a little smile. He wasn't sure that he was really the most qualified advice giver, but maybe some optimistic words would help the situation. Adam drummed his fingers silently on the table top, observing the people and things around him silently before looking back at Louisa. "Sorry if I.." Adam struggled to find the right word. "Upset you by bringing the subject up," Adam concluded lamely. There he went again stating things in a ridiculous fashion.

Adam's family was a brush it under the rug and forget it never happened bunch, so when it came to giving advice or asking someone if they wanted to talk about it Adam was completely rubbish. He stared at his hands for a couple of moments, trying to figure out whether he should extend his ear if she needed to vent. "I know we just met and all, but if it would help to talk about it..." Adam said, his voice getting quieter and quieter until the end was almost a whisper. "Well, I don't mind listening if you need to...I don't know...talk or anything." Adam kept his eyes towards the table, thinking maybe the situation would be less embarrassing if he didn't look her in the eyes...plus maybe she wouldn't feel like he was pressuring her to talk, because he wasn't.