Summer Camp Flood Welcoming Bonfire

If Hogwarts was magical during the school year, it was something extra special during the summer. The bonfire set up by Leonie was blazing gloriously despite the heat. Sebastián did not mind it though compared to being in Spain. He wore a black vest over a white short sleeved dress shirt. His pants were light material slacks. He was dressed fairly nice to be out at camp, but that was his style. Most importantly to Sebas, Leonie herself was still here leading the bonfire. A genuine, but goofy, smile was on his face as he walked up to the gathering. He ignored anyone else and went straight to the woman he adored.

"Good evening, Leonie." He said casually as he stepped up next to her. "Looking beautiful as ever. I like the bonfire you built."

Sebastián was ecstatic to see her again. Their time together had gone well recently and although it was hard to quantify what they were, he was happy. To the Spaniard, this woman was the most beautiful in the world. The fire cast shadows that only accented her beauty. He respected her space and decided not to push his limits beyond the greeting for now.

She had not liked the Blossomfest campfire, although Rhea had almost died due to overdose of marshmallows, a funny event to look back upon at night in the Gryffindor common room, giggling while attempting to do homework. Hopefully this one would be better, as it was the end of the school year, and Eris, along with everyone else, was now a year wiser in the ways of magic and in life. Eris had even brushed her hair in preparation for the night's events, and after dumping her trunk down in the grass (a safe distance away from the fire, as she was not ready to watch her trunk burn), the girl took a step closer to the dancing flames.

The beauty of the flames was enchanting, the way they danced and burns, sparks falling to the ground around them, but never hurting any of the students or sticking to their clothing. Eris took another step closer to the fire, avoiding the buzzing of the insects that lurked around, hoping to latch onto an unsuspecting child's clothing and suck their blood like a vampire.

Hearing a familiar voice, Eris's mouth curved up into a half smile, as she took another step closer to the fire, and the boy standing by it. "Talking to yourself, Max, or are you talking to the insects?" Eris called out into the roaring flames, a laugh tugging at the corners of her lips. The rest of their friends were going to show up soon, and the excitement of seeing all her friends as a second year made the girl's laugh turn into a smile of pure excitement, unable to believe just how long it had been.

Amanda stretched out her fingers, feeling the warmth of the fire against them. She gazed up at the sky. Out here in the wilderness, you could see lots and lots of stars. Astronomy was one of her favorite subjects so she really enjoyed looking at the night sky. The stars and planets had always fascinated her since she was a toddler. Amanda averted her eyes back down at the fire and looked around for some marshmallows or something to snack on, but none were to be found. The flames licked hungrily at the sky, ranging in color from blue to bright orange. Amanda smiled as she observed the fire. Fire just seemed to grab your attention and never let it go. Amanda tore her gaze away from the flames and looked around to see who was at the bonfire. She recognized the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Scheinberg, the History of Magic teacher, Professor Cazarez, and the head of her cabin, Professor Ayers. Amanda had never had Professor Ayers as a teacher, as she taught Ancient Runes and Amanda was only a second year. Amanda also recognized her housemate Hengist. She spotted a girl a little ways away from everyone else who looked friendly. What’s her name again? Amanda thought. Alaska? Amanda stood up and walked over to the girl. She then sat down beside her. “Hi. My name’s Amanda,” she said. “So, how are you liking camp so far?”

Anastasia was so excited when she found out there would be a campfire considering she had sadly missed the bloom-fest one. Staying at Hogwarts for the summer seemed better than she had expected becuase she didn't think that so many people would be there. There were already a few other people around the bonfire. She was so happy that she had decided to stay for the summer instead of going home because she desperately wanted to make some new friends from different houses.

She pulled the loose strands of hair behind her ear and approached the groups of people standing around the bonfire. She approached a second year Hufflepuff girl and a first year Ravenclaw girl she had never met before and smiling kindly, hoping that they wouldn't mind her doing so, she introduced herself, "Hi, my name is Anastasia Brown. It's Alaska right?" She said to one girl. "And Amanda?" She asked the other."Would you mind if I joined you because I haven't been able to spot any of my friends yet and being all alone isn't very fun?" She hoped that the girls wouldn't mind if she joined them because if they didn't want Anastasia's company, Anastasia would definitely begin to feel uncomfortable.

Anastasia nervously laughed as she usually did when she was nervous and waited her a reply from either of them.

Serena made her way to the Grounds, leaving the dorms with all of her stuff. She was lost in thought as she made her way to the Summer Camp, contemplating life. Her eyes suddenly caught the sight of flickering flames, quickly drawing her attention and causing her to panic for a moment. It took her a few seconds to calm down, realising that she had reached a rather large Bonfire. Serena could not help but question why Hogwarts seemed to be dead set keen on fire. After everything that had happened in the past year, she would have thought that fire was the last thing people wanted to see. However, it seemed like everyone was still a huge fan of the element. 

Sighing softly, she shook her head and dismissed the questions in her head. Instead, she braved herself and turned to continue walking towards the bonfire. There were not many people there. Serena recognised the defense against dark arts Professor by the Bonfire but most of the other people were unfamiliar. The Hufflepuff was dressed in a pair of shorts, a white top and an unbuttoned flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She carried her backpack with her, bringing a bunch of things for the camping trip with her. The bag was probably bigger than she was but she carried it nonetheless - well sort of dragged it.

Approaching the Bonfire, Serena looked around. She spotted a face that she knew but had not seen in a while. Walking up to the Gryffindor boy, "Hello stranger," She said with a smile on her face. It was weird to think how much more confident she was now. Serena still felt very shy and hesitant and scared of everything... But truth be told, she would not have walked up to someone that her family knew and been so casual to them at the start of the year. There was a huge difference between the Serena now and the Serena that Max would have met before Hogwarts started. "Hey there," Serena continued, greeting Eris who was with him, "How's it going you two?"

What was Cazarez doing? Why was he next to Leonie, so close to her? Ignoring the pesky children that crowded around the fire like moths to a, much smaller, flame, Sorrel walked straight towards the group of fellow professors. The red haired woman was not a familiar face, but even so, Sorrel managed a faint smile in the direction of the new face, unable to muster the courage to greet someone she didn't know. She did know Leonie though, and she knew Sebastian. That flirtatious, loud mouthed Spainard that was rumored to have a thing for Leonie. Someday Sorrel would need to ask Leonie about him specifically, but for now, she was more than content to just revel in the small details of their friendship, however mundane their small talk was at moments.

"Deus acima, o que ele está fazendo?" The woman muttered under her breath, the skirts of her dress hitched up to avoid becoming fire fuel, as she arrived at the position of the two professors. If she was a braver woman, Sorrel would of attempted a scowl at Sebastian, but instead, she blushed pink at the idea of being mean to a colleague, and coughed, an embarrassed sound coming from her lips, which were almost pursed.

"Leonie, Sebastian. I hope you are refraining from too much flirtation in front of the kids," Sorrel greeted, the last part of her speech directed to the man.

Unexpectedly, another professor had approached Leonie. She didn't think that her colleagues appreciated chatting with her much, although she had yet to formally speak with Professor Ayers. Giving her a once-over, the German woman settled on the decision that she probably wouldn't mind speaking to her too badly, and if she did she could always leave. 

"Thank you," She muttered in response to the other woman's praise. She wasn't a conversationalist, and she hoped that most people were aware of that. "Me too."


 Then, Cazarez decided to make an appearance. She turned to look to him, as while Adelaide was in one direction, he was in another. "Cazarez," she phrased, "Good to see you as well-" She was going to say more, when Ms. Wright cut in. Leonie rose an eyebrow at the Herbology professor, obviously taking the statement the wrong way.

 "I am not flirting." She harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked away to the bonfire, eyeing the smaller children around it in case one of them decided to be stupid, and burn themselves.

A light chuckled escaped from Sebastián when Sorrel decided to comment on his greeting to Leonie. She was a bit sour it seemed about him still since the last time he accidentally acted flirtatiously towards her. Leonie's reaction was adorable, in his eyes. It was about what he would have expected from her. Sebas was not belittled by the comment and knew they had something special that didn't need to be defended for their sake in front of others. He was content if it was just them that knew or cared.

"Nice to see you too, Professor Writ." He purposefully said her name slightly wrong, as a subtle defense of Leonie. "Anyone have fun cabin activities planned? I think I went all out."

In response to Amanda & Anastasia
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Alaska would have almost dozed off, laying quietly alone. Luckily, the embarrassment of being caught napping during an event was saved by a Ravenclaw girl.

Amanda: “Hi. My name’s Amanda, so, how are you liking camp so far?”

The sudden question caught Alaska by surprise. Her eyes popped open and saw a silhouette of a girl standing in front of her. The girl’s back was toward the campfire, thus, shadowing her face. Then the girl took a seat next to Alaska. Immediately out of respect, Alaska sat up as well. She had not expected anyone to actually come close to her, let alone talk. In a way, Alaska was glad. She started her reply stuttering a lot, but slowly became more confident.

“Umm, hi…I’m Alaska…from umm Hufflepuff. Camp is um more or less the way I imagined it to be. My mother wanted me to stay for the summer so that I could make more friends. I have to say for myself that I am very nervous around people. That’s why I haven’t made a lot of friends this year.”

 Finishing her reply, another interruption came from Alaska’s right side. She turned her head around to face a smiling girl wearing a lot of blue. Alaska was obviously overwhelmed by the attention she was getting. It was not necessarily a bad thing, after all, this was a chance for her to make friends. The girl said her name was Anastasia. 

Anastasia: "Would you mind if I joined you because I haven't been able to spot any of my friends yet and being all alone isn't very fun?"

Immediately, there seemed to be an aura of friendliness from the newcomer. Alaska managed to make a smile, for the first time in a while. Although she was definitely getting more comfortable being around people, she couldn’t vocalize her response. Instead, she nodded as a sign of welcoming. Alaska could unquestionably relate to what Anastasia said about how being alone isn’t very fun. As she waited for responses, she brought her knees up to her chest and her arms around her legs. The faint smile was still on her face. Perhaps camp isn’t so bad after all. 

Flora, fauna, cabins, bonfires, crazy professors, and being back at Hogwarts far sooner than she expected... what could go wrong? Well, the flora and fauna part was a welcome change from the everyday scenery. At Hogwarts, Ami had grown accustomed to seeing chalkboard after chalkboard in class after class, her eyes growing weary of the same view every day. The bonfire was new, too- she had missed the Blossomfest one, so she had yet to experience the giant flames that were presumably a product of magic.


A summer camp sounded like a new concept, as well. When Ami had informed Abella of it, she was greeted with confusion and surprise from the former Slytherin- clearly, this idea was fairly recent, if even her fairly young mother didn't recognize it. Her stuff was all crammed into a duffel bag and a backpack, her packing light and kept to the bare minimums. Her clothes were all the same variety- light and summery, but still nerdy or minimalist.


As she walked into the campground, she didn't see any familiar faces she felt comfortable striking up a conversation with, so she headed to a bench, dropping her stuff behind the seating and plopping down, staring into the heart of the flames. So, you're stuck being an antisocial turtle... again...