Summer Camp Flood Welcoming Bonfire

Lucia returned wearing the hood of her cloak again. She came over her book and hand holding it hidden within the cloak. She went and sat back next to Hengist. She opened her book and began to read it. The book was called Portrait Of Markov. She loved horror stories and this one was special because it was an exclusive copy that could only be found at a book store called Yuri's Books .


(Book character's reading)

She'd spend days in that book store where all of the author Yuri's were sold. It was the only store to have books by just that author. No other place was like it. She smiled when seeing the morbid pictures.

Her throat then began to feel dry. She pulled out a flask with a red liquid. It was the only thing she drank...Blood is what the liquid was. She had no clue why she needed it to survive but she did. She accepted this about when she was 5 years old. She then drank some and put it back in a pocket of her cloak. Sh then finished her book up.

She then stood up and began walking towards where Mia sat. She went slowly as she was still quite uncomfortable with being around many she didn't know. She then reached near Mia and sat on her left. Lucia didn't say a word as she stared at the ground.



(cloak...again)

Elora was excited for the Summer Camp. True, she did miss her parents and her brother, but her mother had written to her that it would be better for her to stay home. According to her letter, things in the house were tense. She hadn't explained everything, just that it would be better for Elora to stay at Hogwarts for the summer. Maybe the fact that they were from such different Houses was finally starting to affect them. 

But Elora put on a smile as she neared the campgrounds. There was a bonfire in the middle, sending sparks and ash into the air. A sizzling and crackling sound could be heard, and the smell of burnt wood was present as well. 

Her smile widened a tiny bit. Fire was always a thing of interest and delight to her.  But her smile diminished as she realized she barely recognized anyone. There were a few Gryffindor's, but she didn't know them. And there were plenty of people from other Houses, but despite her interest in the Houses she had yet to make friends with one. Perhaps this summer camp could be the perfect opportunity to make one. 

Elora decided to take a seat on a nearly empty bench. She had brought her sketchbook and cookbook with her in the hopes of finding inspiration to create or sketch something.  Being outdoors was always a good inspiration for her. 

"Hello! I'm Isabella, Isabella Hills. Are you alone too?"

Ami looked at the girl who had come over to sit by her. She was short, definitely (if Ami were to stand up, she'd tower over her by eight inches), but also stunningly gorgeous. Definitely, a Slytherin, that lot seemed to have won the gene pool lottery a hundred times over. Ami smiled thinly at the question, raising an eyebrow. "Well, clearly not anymore. I'm Ami, nice to meet you," she said simply. Her voice was quiet and heavily American, none of that 'shall we, darling?' bullcrap.

Not thirty seconds passed by when Mia Alexander came over as well. The Slytherin said her hellos to the two girls, apparently already knowing Isabella, and asked if she could sit next to Ami. "Yeah, of course. Hi, Mia, by the way... don't think I've quite said that yet. 'Scuse my lack of manners."

Another bonfire. Aurelia looked around to see if there were any familiar faces whom she could accompany. Her roommate winifrey, one of her best friends at Hogwarts had probably went home for the summer. She knew as few people who were taking party in the camp but it was only as small handful.

The girl pursed her lips together slightly. Ami, one of her better friends was with Mia. Mia, the Slytherin who acted like as cranky baby even when Aurelia carried her up to the hospital wing herself. Mia was so clumsy that she had set herself on fire. She didn't want to be anywhere near the girl, there was a huge campfire they were surrounded around and Aurelia didn't want any accidents.

She had made the mistake by not bringing her sweating along, she didn't expect summer to be so cold, at least it wasn't in her home town of Cheshire England. Aurelia moved closer towards the warm fire. She's just sat on a fallen tree trunk nearby. For once in the whole year, she was not socialising in a social event. It was a few hours more before they were allowed to settle into the bunks. Maybe a few of her other friends would appear soon or someone would magically appear and converse with her.

Skye stared at the flickering flames, mesmerized for a moment. Though it was daytime, the bonfire shone brighter than ever. Skye diverted her attention, and looked around her.

There were so many new faces here, and she barely knew any of them. She tucked a stray strand of her dark hair behind a ear, clutching her humble duffel bag close to her chest. Everyone seemed so comfortable, as though they had been doing this every year. 'They probably have been doing this every year,' she thought, biting her lower lip.

She zipped open her bag a tiny bit, and reached in to feel the soft pale pink Sherpa blanket she had received from her grandmother for her seventh birthday. It smelled like Pumpkin Pasties and Caramel Fudge - just like home.

Skye zipped up her bag, and looked around. She was in the Cabin of the Basilisk, and hoped she would make some new friends. She made her way to Aurelia, who she thought seemed nice enough to talk to.

"Errr.. umm.. hello," Skye started, then silently chided herself for appearing so nervous. Straightening her back, she tried again. "I'm Skye, and I signed up for the Cabin of the Basilisk. It's my first time here, what about you?"

Skye examined Aurelia's face, hoping her greeting had been good enough to get her a new friend.

The warmth from the fire was comforting. At least it was for her. It might be a much different senario from the eyes of a Hufflepuff. Most had been burned from the incident at the start of the year. Professor Lear, the Hufflepuff head of house had led them on an adventure and they returned to the Scottish castle with a bunch of burns, a few of them also faced newr-death experience Aurelia was glad that she wasn't sorted into hufflepuff.

Even though the school year had tons of ups and downs, Aurelia could never deny that it had been a great year. Aurelia took a bar of belgium chocolate from her bag. It was one shipped to her personally from muggle England. The only chocolate the wizarding word had were chocolate frogs. She need get liked them, it wasn't that they tasted bad but it was because they hoped all over and would leave brown webbed foot marks if they landed on your clothes. Chocolate stains were hard to wash off when there weren't any washing machines to help you with.

Errr.. umm.. hello,

The brunette turned around to see a dark haired girl standing nervously beside her. Aurelia was slightly disappointed that it wasn't someone that she was familiar with, but then again, they weren't here, or at least she couldn't see them. The girl was proabbly alone too and needed someone to talk to... Or had she just scurried over to get some of her choc

olate? Aurelia didn't mind sharing a bit of the sweet treat with the girl. She broke a peice from one of it's four corners and offered it to the girl.

"Chocolate?" she asked putting on a friendly smile.

"I'm Skye, from the Cabin of the Basilisk. It's my first time here, what about you?"

The girl introduced herself. Basilisks were snake like creatures that were huge and their eyes could kill with just one glance. There had been rumors about a basilisk corpse still laying on the ground if the chamber of secrets. She still didn't know if it was true or not. Aurelia had signed up for the bunk infurius. They were zombie like beings that served the dark lord Voldemort. The girl had picked that bunk because it's name would be useful for telling ghost stories.

"I had signed up for Inferius I'm not sure if I'd be put there. Mhm, It's my first time in the Hogwarts summer camp. First year. I can't wait to go to the second." Aurelia said. Instead of breaking a peice from the bar, she bit into it instead, leaving tooth marks at the side as a chunk came off. It was a way of telling others who were eyeing on it to back away and that it was hers. She didn't want a huge group coming at her just so they could get some of it. She folded the wrapper, and slipped it back into the bag.

Mentions Serena Towers, Mia Alexander, and Ami Procoppio 

Of course Amadea was late to the bonfire. She seemed to really not be on schedule for anything happening in the past few days. Given, school had just ended and everyone was transitioning into summer, so it was a bit difficult to keep track of the times. 

However, Amadea didn't want to miss the bonfire. The previous one she had attended had ended well (despite the open flame) and she didn't want to miss another one! Plus, she was a prefect and she was fairly certain she didn't have to uphold her duties during the summer, but was not going to risk anything nonetheless. She was going to make sure everything ran smoothly at the bonfire, if not for the sake of everyone else but for the sake of herself. 

Fire were still something Amadea feared with a flaming passion. After being on fire and witnessing someone being on fire and the terrible stories from the campout, Amadea was both physically and mentally scarred. She didn't want to even think about fire ever again, but that would be nearly impossible, so she just made the best of things by trying to stay as far away as possible from the fire. 

She scanned the surroundings, looking for a familiar face and was surprised to realize she knew the majority of the people who were standing around the bonfire. There was her fellow Hufflepuff prefect, Serena Towers, who had accompanied Amadea at the last bonfire they had attended for the BlossomFest. She also spotted her friend Mia Alexander talking to her other friend, Ami Procoppio. 

There were a lot of people Amadea didn't recognize, but instead of making her frightened, she wasn't. She felt calm in the fact that she did know a few people here and that if she walked up to them, they would greet her with a smile. It reassured her and made her proud that she had made good relationships with multiple people at Hogwarts, solidifying the fact in her mind that this was where she belonged. 

She decided to stand toward the edge of the crowd, a good place to survey everything that was happening. She would stand and make sure everything was going smoothly, and hopefully someone would come over and talk to her. Standing alone became quite dull after a long time. 

Interacts with Aurelia Bezuidenhout and Skye Blackwood. Mentions Alexx Helm.

Lilith walked out of the dark Cabin of the Basilisk and began her walk to the raging fire that she could see from where she was standing. A lot of students were already milling around, including the Helm girl from the library. At the thought of their little squirmish, she subconsciously rubbed her arm.

After the wow of the Basilisk Cabin, Lilith was beginning to have high hopes for the camp. Truly, anything was better than living on the dirty streets of London. She expected some high times and hopefully would see some of the people from her first year at Hogwarts that she didn't completely hate.

On the other side of the fire, she saw yet another person from her time against the Helm in the library. Lilith remembered her name to be Aurelia. Never got the last name. She was standing next to a black haired girl.

Lilith decided to walk over to her. Her bare feet comfortably walked on the soft ground as she neared the large log the girls were sitting at.

"Nice to see you again," Lilith greeted to Aurelia. "Thanks again for what you did at the library. It never hurt to have some extra muscle on my side."

Lilith glanced at the black haired girl and held out her hand. "Lilith Westlocke," she introduced herself before adding her usual line, "Pleasure."

Mary was extremely nervous for the summer. This camp wasn't something she was very keen on coming to in the first place but, seeing as her parents didn't want to see her come home as she was not slyhterin, she had no choice but to sign up and attend.

Mary was ,of course, late to the bonfire. She tried to withhold attending as long as she could but eventually had to make a start towards the bonfire.
Mary didn't quite know what to expect,seeing as she missed the blossomfest bonfire. Though upon arrival she was mesmerized by the stunning fire. Seeing the flames roar and hearing the cackling of wood made Mary feel at ease but, the feeling did not last long. Becoming more aware of her surroundings, Mary noticed the many students roaming the camp grounds and felt very out of her element. She slowly walked toward a bench with her head hung low, feeling self-conscious of every step she took. Mary had no friends at Hogwarts and expected not to make any, seeing as she's not very approachable. She sat on a bench and let the warmth of the fire swaddle her. She only hoped she wouldn't have such a horrible and lonesome time as she expected. (sorry my writing is so out of order today)

Mentions: Max Avery, Rosie Parker, Eris Fawley 'The redhead' and Serena Towers

Why-am-I-still-here? The question burned inside Dorothy's mind like the bonfire burned in front of her.  Inside her, a battle was waging.  A battle of the heart and head.  The head had been winning, but now... Dorothy was realizing what she was feeling.  The girl was lonely. Why shouldn't she be?  A whole year had passed without much social activity on her part.  Here she was, surrounded by people she knew of, but didn't know.  How does one go about making friends?  Should she just go up and introduce herself? 



Dorothy surveyed the campgrounds.  She couldn't make friends with just anyone.  Her stepmother was all over her social life, eager for names and bloodlines.  Plus, it was totally uncool to walk up and just introduce yourself at the beginning of second year.  Dorothy should have thought of this friendship crap earlier.  Now it almost seemed too late. 



A group of four people caught her eye.  Two of the children were from well-known bloodlines.  Dorothy instantly recognized each of them by their families.  There was an Avery (extremely beneficial as an ally) and.. Aah! The prefect of Hufflepuff herself, Serena Towers.  Dorothy knew that the Towers were a very influential group of people, so their daughter must be too.  That left the unknowns, Rosie, and redhead.  Dorothy had met Rosie briefly at the Blossom ball, but they hadn't talked after that.  Redhead was a nobody as far as Dorothy knew, but her features looked strangely familiar.  All four of these individuals were talking amongst themselves.  Of course, they would all be friends.  Pureblooded children felt a pull towards each other created by their families and similarities.  They were all probably close.  How could Dorothy just butt in on that?  It wouldn't be polite, and would certainly be frowned upon.  Her chest felt tight and jittery, filled with an eagerness she had never experienced before.  She wanted to run over to the children and introduce herself.  She wanted to tell them all the reasons they should be her friend.  Dorothy wanted to go swimming, to scream and holler, to act like others did.  More than anything though, she wanted those friends.  The kind that can talk and laugh together, tell secrets, and have adventures.



Dorothy took a few eager strides in the group's direction, before stopping a distance from them.  Her eyes were wide and anxious looking.  What was she doing? She couldn't... Could she? Perhaps she could.  Dorothy breathed deeply, taking a moment to appreciate the rusty, pungent smell of the fire.  She put on a polite, practiced smile and walked up to the group.  Her plan was to introduce herself and use her stepmothers' letter as the excuse. 



"Hello there.  I'm sorry to intrude on your conversation but my stepmother, Madam Shafiq, has instructed me to meet you all over the summer.  My name is Dorothy Proxima Centauri Dippet-Shafiq.  Erm, Dorothy."  Dorothy paused, trying to think of something friendly to say but failing.  She continued. "She sent me a list, actually.  Your names are on it, at least, I think they're your names. Avery and Towers?  I've no idea how she got them. There's also a girl named Eris, but I haven't found her yet. See? Here. "  As she spoke, Dorothy drew the letter out of her pocket and pointed at the neatly written list.  The letter had been her companion for the last few days, usually residing in her pocket as a reminder. 

The letter (also found in the owlery thread):   


Remembering the message prior to the list, Dorothy blushed, and placed it back into her pocket.  She nodded politely at Rosie and the redhead.  "Hello."  What was she doing?