Popcorn Party open Closed

It was a bright day today. Sunlight was streaming through the windows as Katrina walked down the stairs to the grounds. Perhaps she would go for a jog or find a tree to sit in and draw something. Katrina's homework had been simple today and she now had a few hours to burn.

Excited chattering and several boxes carried by excited Hufflepuffs distracted the second year from her earlier plans. Katrina trailed along behind them with an amused and curious expression on her face. Whatever the box was filled of smelled odd, there was a scent of butter and sweet caramel and tangy vinegar surrounding the mystery box.

She entered the bright courtyard and was pleasantly surprised. Another Hufflepuff was setting up a table of sorts. On it were many bowls that were labeled with signs. Cheesy, chocolate, rainbow? The signs made no since. Until someone began pouring a bowl full of-- popcorn? Yes, it was all popcorn. Boxes and boxes full to the brim with bags of flavored popcorn.

Of all of the odd things parents have sent to their kids, none was as peculiar as popcorn, especially in this quantity.

Katrina watched in mild curiosity as a swarm of excited students set up a table. It was almost like clockwork as the whole party (if one could call it that) came together. The boxes were emptied and papers where labeled. Buckets were filled and the table was set up. In the middle of it all was the same Hufflepuff, @Crystal Jagger the seeming coordinator of this sporadic event.

Katrina got in a line that had formed and, when it was her turn, grabbed a cup and dunked it in to fill it full of the delicious smelling salt and vinegar popcorn. Making her way to the side of the swarm of hungry students, Katrina popped the snack in her mouth. It tasted fantastic.

Katrina walked up to the Hufflepuff that had caught her eye before and smiled, "Popcorn? There a story behind it?" The amused and curious smile was still of the second-year's face. It had certainly become a Popcorn Party.

Well, apparently today had more in store for them than just Potions homework.

They weren't sure why they'd wandered out here. It was force of habit probably, coming out for a breath of fresh air before wandering back up to the Ravenclaw Common Room to work on their assignments. But the second they'd stepped out, they couldn't make themselves turn back into the castle.

Before them, a procession of witches in yellow robes was streaming out of the side doors, each one holding various sided boxes and—bowls? Napkins? What was happening here? Another witch scurried out, bringing up the rear, a bundle of fabric in her hands.

Mars watched with wide-eyes as the group of Hufflepuffs began flipping over the largest boxes and spread the fabric over the flat surface they made. A tablecloth. Mars took a step out from the shadows, heels resting on the dry grass. The sun was just overhead, fluffy clouds and blue sky smiling above them. Perfect picnic weather. Was that what this was?

Slowly the party came together. A set of cups and soda on the left. A range of bowls on the right. Mars' eyes lit up at the sight of the liter bottles. When was the last time they'd had actual muggle soda? The goblets in the mess hall were great, sure, but there was always something off about them. Wetting their lips, they neared closer.

Then, they came to a halt. A Hufflepuff girl had pulled a bag out of one of the boxes and cracked it open. The scent immediately filled the air, buttery and rich. Popcorn. Even just the scent sent them back into memories of movie theaters and late-night food fights, tossing kernels at their brothers as they shrieked and retaliated.

The bags didn't stop coming. God, how much popcorn did the Badgers order? Who had approved this? They didn't know the Head of Hufflepuff—@Caradoc Browne, was it?—but something told them it wasn't his idea. Then who?

They scanned the crowd, looking for probable options. They caught sight of ginger hair, pale skin, and a slight figure. They grinned. There was Crystal, in the heat of the fray, pouring popcorn into bowls and brushing hair out of her eyes. The sight of her took them back to the Hogwarts Express. Didn't she say her mother was a baker? A cook? She couldn't have been responsible for all this popcorn right?

Homework pushed to the depths of their mind, they waltzed over to the table, coming up behind the Hufflepuff. Tapping her on the shoulder, they ducked, laughing. Then they popped back up, smile on their face.

"Hey. Nice to see you survived." they said. It really was good to see her. Crystal had been the only one in that compartment that they'd actually felt chemistry with. And it was comforting knowing they had a magical friend who actually knew their way around the wizarding world. Looking over the wide expanse of popcorn, they swore under their breath. My god, it was a lot of popcorn. They looked back at Crystal, brushing a red strand out of their face.

"Are you responsible for all this?" they gestured to the makeshift table, "'Cause damn, what bank did you rob to buy this much?"

Mesmerized, they failed to notice the approach of a Gryffindor girl. It was only when she had come up to Crystal's side and asked, "Popcorn? There a story behind it?"

Mars glanced up from the table, taking in the newcomer. Oh. They'd seen her around before, a second-year witch. It was hard to forget that vibrant streak of green going through her hair anyway. She had a cup full of popcorn, intermittently popping it into her mouth and chewing. Mars' stomach growled.

Right, they probably ought to actually get some. However, when they looked to end with the cups, there was already quite a queue lined up, enticed by the promise of popcorn. The table was practically swarmed, cutting them out from the food. They sighed. Then, they looked back to the second-year. Well, nothing to lose, right?

"You wouldn't mind if I had one, would you?" they asked, pointing to her cup, "Just to try. I'd take from the table but," gesturing at the crowd, they winced, "can't really." It was a bit of an awkward ask, but there was no undoing what was done.

"I'm Mars, by the way. Don't think I know your name."

Katrina continued to pop the popcorn in her mouth. Embarrassed that she hadn’t noticed that the leader of the popcorn fest had already been in a conversation with someone else. The second year didn’t recognized them from any classes and was thankful when they decided to introduce themselves.

After being asked to try the popcorn Katrina happily smiled and tilted the cup towards them to offer the treat, “Be my guest. It’s the salt and vinegar flavored, so good,“ Normally Katrina wouldn’t be one to be so excited and upbeat, but the offer of free popcorn was too much to pass up and it was starting to wear off on her.

“I’m Walker, Katrina Walker,” Katrina knew there was a chance that they would already recognize Katrina. Her name had floated around the school for a few months about her parents who had died in a house fire. It had taken quite a long time to get used to people recognizing her immediately. The teal streak in her auburn hair only added to the recognition factor.

The lioness tucked the hair behind her ear and took another kernel of the popcorn. It was really good. Seeing the winding line of people waiting for popcorn was really intimidating. She was glad that she had grabbed more than she could possibly down in one sitting.

“So, who made the popcorn again?” Katrina addressed the Hufflepuff organizer

Adonis had managed to wrap his studies and complete his homework for the day. So, like always whenever he had free time, he decided to head down to the Great Lake and practice or work on attempting new spells. He carried his copy of Curses and Counter-Curses that he had checked out from the library a month prior, which had a funny yet embarrassing story that came with it. He hoped to be efficient this time in his studying of it unlike when he originally got it and almost burned down the library.

On his way over towards the Great Lake, Adonis had to walk through the grounds, noticing the sudden flurry of students that hurried down the steps in excitement as he walked down to it. His brows furrowed in question as to why they were running down so quickly towards the grounds. Was there an event or something? Adonis sure hoped so! A grin was already forming on his face at the thought of it and he too hurried down the steps towards the courtyard.

Adonis was amazed by the large amounts of popcorn and all the bows set alongside the makeshift table and beach towels. It was all a cute setup for not having the right furniture for everything for it and being able to make use of what they had. He liked it very much.

Upon getting in line with all of the other students and waiting patiently, it finally became his turn and got himself a cup of kettle corn. His favorite. Adonis loved sweets. Maybe a little too much in fact. After getting himself settled and tossing a piece of popcorn in his face, Adonis walked over to the girl who looked responsible for it all and already had two other people talking to her.

The Slytherin boy walked up to the group of three with his usual charming smile on his face, flashing them with his immaculate white teeth. The first one he recognized was Katrina with her single streak of teal in hair that stood out, of course. The other two he had seen plenty of times throughout the year during classes due to being the same year as them. Although, he never happened to talk to either of them. This was the perfect time to though.

"Oh! Hey, Katrina." Adonis greeted her with a wave and a smile before turning towards the others. "Hello, I'm Adonis! Adonis Thorn, pleasure to meet you both." He also did the same in greeting towards Crystal and Mars as well. "Are you the one that organized all of this? Cause if so... well done! Smart thinking to live up towards that hype of the end of the year and the excitement that comes with it. This popcorn is also really good." He commended Crystal, popping a few bits of popcorn into his mouth afterwards.

Interacting with @Crystal Jagger @Katrina Walker @Mars T'ien
Open to interactions!

Mentioning @Mars T'ien, @Alina Rosier, @Katrina Walker, and @Adonis Thorn
open to interactions.

Crystal was shocked at how quickly people flooded by. It seems that popcorn was popular even at Hogwarts. She had fun joking around with her housemates and the new people that were coming by, most of which were shocked about the sheer amount of popcorn she had. She took one of the sodas and poured herself a cup of it. She glanced at the label, Dr. pepper. That didn't really do her any good when it came to flavor.

She gave a shrug and took a sip of the dark liquid before being rather surprised by the taste. It wasn't that bad! In fact it tasted pretty good.But her enjoyment was quickly shut off by a tap on her shoulder. She shrieked, and whipped her head around to face the culprit. For a moment, nobody was in view. But then the familiar face of someone she met on her first day of Hogwarts came into view. It was Mars!

Crystal was torn between glaring, laughing, or hugging. She decided instead to give him a firm whack on his shoulder "Mars! You scared the absolute crap out of me!" but she couldn't help but grin. This was one of the first people she had talked to on the train to Hogwarts. "Hey. Nice to see you survived." they told her. She smiled "Nice to see you did as well." Mars seemed in shock at the amount of popcorn as they looked at the table, before they turned back to Crystal. "Are you responsible for all this?" they gestured to the makeshift table, "'Cause damn, what bank did you rob to buy this much?" She let out a small snort and set down her drink on the picnic blanket under her, "I guess you could say I'm partly responsible. But I would really be blaming my mother, she went on a popcorn craze and went into one of her baking sprees," she explained to her old friend.

Another person came up to the "table", this time a Gryffindor. "Popcorn? There a story behind it?" she asked Crystal, smiling at her. Crystal nodded "Like I just told Mars, family member went on a baking spree... This time for popcorn," she told the newcomer. Mars turned to the Griffindor and asked if they could try some of her popcorn, bringing attention to the line that had formed. Crystal stared at the line, she was definitely not expecting this many people. Word spread fast around Hogwarts it seemed.The Griffindor introduced themselves as Katrina Walker, a pretty name. Katrina turned to crystal after letting Mars try a bit of her popcorn, "So, who made the popcorn again?" she asked. Crystal let out a barely noticeable sigh, she was going to be explaining this for awhile wasn't she. "My mum, shes a baker," she told Katrina, picking up her drink and taking another sip of the soda.

Another person stepped up to the popcorn interested in talking. This time a Slytherin who introduced themselves as Adonis Thorn. Interesting last name, and first name for that matter. Very neat though, she had to admit. He also greeted Mars, and then herself. "Are you the one that organized all of this? Cause if so... well done! Smart thinking to live up towards that hype of the end of the year and the excitement that comes with it. This popcorn is also really good." he complimented. She was grateful for the compliments, but this was much more of a sudden spur of the moment thing. Not nearly as thought out as he thought it was. "You could say I organized it," she chuckled "Though I didn't really plan this, an unexpected package of bags upon bags of popcorn pushed me to do it."

As she was retelling the story for what felt like the millionth time of how she got the popcorn, a familiar voice called out to her from across the courtyard."Bren! Bren, Bren, Bren!" she heard Alina yell, continuing to call out her name as she came over to Crystal, who was almost jumping up in down in happiness at the sight of her friend. "I heard! I heard you've got popcorn..." Alina started to say before her voice trailed off, looking around the table before continuing, "Lots and lots of popcorn..."

Alina was reading through all of the labels as Crystal smiled at her "Hey Alina! And yeah, it is a lot of popcorn isn't it, honestly at first I didn't know what I was going to do with it," she laughed. "So, you really don't care if we have some? I want to try it all!" Alina asked crystal. Crystal shook her head "If I didn't want people to try it I wouldn't have set this up, I already have a few bags set up for myself," she mentioned. She then realized that the first person she talked to, and her best friend, were now in the same area. She quickly set down her drink and smiled at both Mars and Alina "Oh! Alina, this is Mars," she said pointing to Mars before continuing to talk, "I met him on the train here awhile ago, they're pretty chill!" she tried to give Alina a good impression of mars, she wanted them to get along well. She then turned to mars and pointed towards Alina "And Mars, this is Alina. She's my best friend, don't get confused if she calls me Bren. Its her nickname for me," she explained.

She then remember that there were also two other people standing there as well. "This is Adonis, and this is Katrina," She introduced Alina to the two. Crystal stared down at the line of people that was steadily growing. She sighed and finished up the rest of her drink, shaking her head in disbelief. "How fast does word spread in Hogwarts anyways? I was expecting maybe a couple, mostly huffles who saw the popcorn, but there are so many people here! At least this popcorn won't be going to waste," she said in shock. She heard from her mum that rumors spread like a wildfire, but she never really believed it until now. "Oh how did you guys hear about it? I know a few of my dorm-mates were talking about it to some of their friends," She asked the group, curious.

Interacting with @Crystal Jagger, @Katrina Walker, @Adonis Thorn, and @Alina Rosier
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Of course, Open to Interactions! I'll squeeze ya in somewhere.

"Mars! You scared the absolute crap out of me!"

Yup, that sounded like the right reaction. Seemed like Crystal hadn't changed much. They laughed. Crystal let out a small snort at their bank robber comment.

"I guess you could say I'm partly responsible. But I would really be blaming my mother, she went on a popcorn craze and went into one of her baking sprees," she explained. Ah, that made enough sense. Though it seemed kind of odd that one person would make this much. Then again, Mars didn't know Crystal's mom, so maybe this was just the kind of person she was.

"Well, if she sells the stuff, you should get her to set up shop over here," they said, glancing at the wixes swarming the table, "She could make some good money."

Their attention was pulled back by the Gryffindor girl.

“Be my guest. It’s the salt and vinegar flavored, so good," she said, offering the cup out to the Ravenclaw. Mars smiled at her gratefully, and pluck a piece of out her cup. As they chewed it thoughtfully, trying to figure out if they liked the flavor or not, the girl took the time to introduce herself.

“I’m Walker, Katrina Walker.”

Hmm. Mars swallowed, feeling the popcorn travel down their throat. Didn't ring a bell, no. They also found it kind of endearing that she had introduced herself last name first.

"Nice to meet you. Do I call you Walker or Katrina?" they asked, only half-joking. They could still taste the salt and vinegar the lioness has mentioned earlier. It wasn't bad, but they preferred the flavor on chips to be honest.

Their attention wandered as they heard Crystal giving the same explanation to Katrina about the mother-popcorn situation. They grinned. The poor girl would probably have to keep explaining it all day.

Mars watched as the students continued to flood into the Courtyard. Apparently, word about the popcorn party had spread quickly. They sighed. At this rate, they'd never get over to the table lest they pushed their way through and God knows they weren't comfortable enough with physical contact for that.

Staring at the table, they noticed a figure approaching, cup in hand. A boy in green robes, dark brown hair styled in a middle part. They followed his motions as he came up on their little group. He said hi to Katrina, evidently knowing who she was, but his face was foreign to Mars. Maybe a second-year? They couldn't be sure.

"Hello, I'm Adonis! Adonis Thorn, pleasure to meet you both," he waved at both Mars and Crystal, asking the former, "Are you the one that organized all of this? Cause if so... well done! Smart thinking to live up towards that hype of the end of the year and the excitement that comes with it. This popcorn is also really good." Crystal thanked him, giving him her shpeal about her mother and the popcorn craze. Mars waited til she was finished to introduce themselves.

"Hey, I'm Mars. I like your name, by the way. A Greek tragedy, as always, but a beautiful guy nonetheless," they grinned at him. Then, they remembered something rather important. Turning to both Adonis and Katrina, and probably to Crystal too, since they hadn't directly told her, they said, "Probably should have mentioned I use they/them. Try to remember or I'll have to jinx you."

They tipped their head to the side, looking at Adonis' cup. It was a different shade than Katrina's, probably a different flavor.

"Hey," they asked, "Mind if I steal a piece? I was going to try all the flavors but that mess," they pointed to the table, "is too much social interaction for me."

Suddenly, a hyper-active voice broke through the silence. A small Hufflepuff girl bounded up to Crystal, shouting excitedly about popcorn. Crystal laughed and then dragged her over to where Mars stood.

"Oh! Alina, this is Mars," she said to the apparent Alina, pointing to Mars before continuing to talk, "I met them on the train here awhile ago, they're pretty chill!"

Then, she turned back to the Ravenclaw, "And Mars, this is Alina. She's my best friend, don't get confused if she calls me Bren. It's her nickname for me," she explained.

Mars gave a little wave, grateful that Crystal had done the introduction for them. It was getting to the point where their name didn't sound like a real word now. Alina seemed like a nice person. She had to be half-decent if Crystal was calling her her best friend. Looking around at the little congregation, they noticed something,

"Hey, we've got all the houses here," they commented. A throw-away observation, but an observation no less.

"Oh, how did you guys hear about it? I know a few of my dorm-mates were talking about it to some of their friends," they guessed it was about time Crystal be the one to ask the questions. They smiled at their friend.

"Didn't hear about it, but certainly saw and smelt it. I just came out onto the Courtyard. A habit I guess. Can't speak for these guys though," they pointed a finger at the rest of the gathering, waiting for their answers.

Interacting with: @Crystal Jagger

Interacting with @Grace Mint
Mentioning @Mars T'ien, @Alina Rosier, @Adonis Thorn, @Katrina Walker
Open to interaction.

Crystal was listening to Mars explain how they found out about the popcorn, and it made sense. He was one of the first who came around here. She was about to ask the others a little more directly how they knew but a loud scream distracted her. “POPCORNNNNNNNN” someone yelled. She looked up and saw a ravenclaw running towards the table. The ravenclaw turned to Crystal and said "Okay, at first I thought this was some type of Satanic ritual."
Crystal snorted, that is the weirdest thing she had heard in a while. But sometimes weird was funny. She liked this person, they seemed funny. “I have two questions! 1. Where did you get this? 2. Can I have some?” They asked Crystal. She smiled and handed her one of the empty cups "My mother made it all, long story. And secondly, I couldn't keep all of this to myself even if I wanted to. So yes, you can have some. There is plenty to go around," Crystal smiled. "I'm Crystal, by the way. Crystal Jagger," she filled her own cup up with more popcorn, getting herself a mix of buttered and caramel popcorn. She was pretty glad she saved a few bags for herself back in her dorm room, at the rate that this was getting eaten up, by the end of the day there might not be any left. She would have to draw this later today, though it would be hard to draw Katrina and Adonis from memory, maybe she'll ask them if she could draw them.