The Summer BBQ Open Closed

Interactions: @Jay Azul & @Katrina Walker

Annie had puffed up her cheeks to stop herself from laughing at Jay's response. She started getting light headed before letting out a big breath. "Oh my heavens Jay your so confusing and hilarious. I guess you want to start yourschool tour early by visiting the infirmary aye?" She sent him a cheeky grin as the continued to bicker. Annie then turned her attention to the girl who introduced herself as Katrina. She also took note that they were in the same year but she was a Gryffindor.

Annie then blinked and brought herself back to reality before hearing a question addressed to herself. “I’m afraid I didn’t catch your house.” Oh uhm, I'm a Hufflepuff, same year as you." She flashed the girl a small smile, wondering how she was acting so shy if she was supposedly a Gryffindor. On the other hand she herself was a Hufflepuff and some Hufflepuff were known to be quieter or shy. "Well not me, if you thought do you thought wrong!"

Now that introductions were over, Annie was curious. "So how did you two briefly meet?" She glanced between the two of them, wondering if it was from childhood or maybe on a train ride or at the campgrounds. "Okay maybe I'm being a bit snoopy, it's not like I'm jealous just uh.. curious, yeah that.." "You don't have to answer I'm just intrigued since you know Jay hasn't even been here that long, much less is a student at Hogwarts yet." Annie shrugged, innocently contemplating if she should get more food or not

Interactions
@Annie Morgan & @Katrina Walker

"Oh my heavens Jay your so confusing and hilarious."

A pleased grin presented itself on Jay's face at this comment from Annie.
Like most people, he rather enjoyed his own sense of humor. After all, there really didn't seem to be any point to having one if you didn't enjoy it yourself. The only real question was if you could find others who also appreciated it, and Jay knew from awkward experience that many people did not find any particular amusement in his personal sense of humor. So to find individuals who couldn't help but crack a smile when he opened his mouth was a pleasant experience indeed.
"Hey, it's an adventure, right?" he said in reply to Annie's comment about him wanting to go to the infirmary.

“My name is Katrina Walker. Gryffindor. Second year," said the girl they had greeted.
Katrina, Jay repeated in his mind in an effort to commit the name to memory.
Katrina then smiled and proceeded to ask them each a question.
While Annie gave her answer, he pondered the question about what house he thought he might get sorted into. He really knew next to nothing about what attributes constituted a student being sorted into any of the houses, so he didn't figure he could honestly answer such a question. However, he certainly knew how to respond to Katrina's second inquiry.
"If I'm being honest," he began, "this place is absolutely spectacular. I can't say I really understand much in the way of magic, but the castle and the scenery around it seem magical enough to me." He gestured with a hand to the landscape around them as he spoke. "It fascinates me."
He couldn't help but think of a couple very interesting individuals that he had met. Wrapping his head around the realization that vampires even existed still seemed to elude him, let alone the fact that he had been in the presence of two half-vampires - also known as Dhampirs. But he decided against mentioning his bewilderment on the diverse population of the school, as well as the rather... questionable personality of one such individual. While the story of the time his life had quite likely come very close to suddenly ending was a decidedly fascinating topic, he didn't really feel like this was the time to get into that.

"As far as which house I might get sorted into, I really have absolutely no clue," he continued, shrugging and spreading his hands wide.
He was about to turn a sly smile on Annie and question her on her opinion, judging from what she knew of him, but never got the chance.
"So how did you two briefly meet?" She wondered. "You don't have to answer I'm just intrigued since you know Jay hasn't even been here that long, much less is a student at Hogwarts yet."

At the question on how he and Katrina had met, Jay scratched the back of his head sheepishly. The time they had met happened to be one of the many embarrassing scenes of his life. But then, Annie already knew him to be a disastrous mess anyway, so perhaps it wouldn't be so bad for her to hear it.
"Well," he said, chuckling slightly. "It was in the Great Hall, not long ago. It involved hot chocolate, I believe," he added cryptically, turning a knowing smile toward Katrina.

Interacting with: @Erin Ryan

Apparently, the young snake did not know how these so called ‘death witches’ looked like. Arc saw a short, old woman with dead-looking eyes back in the Keeper’s cabin. She -it- was terrifying. Was she a death witch? By the gods, there were more of them? So close to Hogwarts? And the sick boy in the bathroom that Erin mentioned…Kaegen? The dark-haired boy really did not want to talk to him. The older Ravenclaw was also scary, unsettling. But if he really held an important piece to this giant puzzle, he might have to talk to him directly. Urgh. He was already dreading that imaginary meeting. Arc could feel his stomach lurch just by thinking about it.

"I-- don't know," the girl admitted when he asked about what she was implying. "I am still trying to make sure that you are not a part of this," Erin added.

Ah. Well. That made sense. At least, she understood that cautiousness and prudence was the way to go. True to her house, she was not as reckless as his Gryffindor best friend. If she could not even trust the professors, then what made him any better or more trustworthy? In a way, she was already risking herself enough by saying all this. What should he say to that, though? That she could trust him? Right. That certainly did not sound very convincing. Heck, it might even scare her off.

Well, maybe being sincere would work. Now that would not be hard. Because he truly did care. He loved this school. He did not want anything bad to happen to Raine, who most likely would be involved knowing her fearless nature. And even when the boy only just knew the girl in front of her, he wanted her to be safe as well. Arc was not sure why. So, he did not need to fake anything. An advice not to be reckless would not hurt, though. Erin might be clever, but she also had this air of fearlessness that could be dangerous for her own good.

"What?" The Slytherin coughed as he warned her about the intruders. "They have drugs too?" Yeah. He would be shocked too if someone told him that there were some magic wielding, drug-having, powerful half-giants. "I--" she paused, "think Quinn Healy, the Hufflepuff Prefect is in with them."

“Wait, what?!” Now it was Arc’s turn to be surprised. “Th-that is…” He wanted to say impossible. But he stopped. It was not so, now, was it? Knowing how little their population was, they might have this weird camaraderie between them. O-or maybe, they might even have this secret society of part-giants or something. It was not uncommon in minority groups. In a way, he was in a secret society of his own, being in Hogwarts and all.

"And that other big boy, Hugh... Lowe, probably some others," she shook her head. "There is something wrong with that big ginger, I need to get one of them," she confided. "Any of them," she sighed. "They are just... strong," she looked around again. "I am going to start smaller, maybe."

“Erin…” He looked him right in the eyes. Man, those were pretty. Even with how serious this topic was, he could not help not to be distracted. “These were some serious accusations,” he gulped, “but if this was all true…then it is the more reason for us to be careful.” The young Prefect really did not want those pretty eyes to be hurt. “And as easy as it is to generalize; I don’t think that we should consider all half-giants as bad.” And then he recalled what happened in the Cabin. “They might be doing this against their will or they might be tricked. Um…" He closed his eyes to recollect himself before continuing. "Do you remember the last Blossom Ball? Well, that was when I met the part-giants. There are four of them." Which was quite a huge number of them if you considered their total population. Dang.

"My best friend and I followed a half-giant that drugged and seduced a girl to the Keeper’s Cabin near the Forbidden Forest. There I saw a short, old woman, with graying hair, sickly looking flesh, dead-looking eyes, and wearing ragged clothes with bones of vermin around her neck. She might be the death witch Kaegen was talking about… And I think she might be the mastermind." Arc could feel heart beating faster just by thinking about it. "You see, I don’t know why they tried to take Rosie there, but it seems her own kidnapper has a change of heart. There was a scuffle inside the cabin that led to the cabin setting on fire. And he was the one who actually let her out to escape while chaos ensued. Between the three of us, we manage to barely escape from their clutch as those part giants apparently are not very well-versed at using magic. I don’t know if it’s a shared trait or not, but it might be their weakness, by the way." He concluded his recollection with a sigh.

"Anyway, my take on this are two things. One, not all part-giants are bad and condemning them all might actually band them together even stronger under one banner, to retaliate against us. And two, we should plan carefully if we want to ambush them. They might be more organized than we think."

"I will be leaving Hogwarts on the next train." The girl then said. "Italy seems like a good place to spend the remainder of my summer. What do you know about the drugs the giants use?"

“Ah, well, for the drug they used. I’m pretty sure it was some form of Veritaserum." The pale boy was sure of it. He had felt its effect firsthand after all. "They might have other stuff, though. The ingredients for Veritaserum is not easily gathered. And accurately making one is even harder. So, we have to assume that they can make or procure other potions as well.”

Erin admitted her fears concerning Quinn, that he was one of them. A fearless girl with a fear, how ironic.  She also mentioned Hugh Lowe, she had similar fears regarding him. They were just so big and probably strong. Erin prided herself on her strength, but when she compared herself to those massive men, she felt inadequate. She was certain that she could overpower most of her peers, that she could stand toe to toe with people years older than her in fact. She was not sure with those two. In fact, she was certain that she would lose, her pride just did not want to admit that. She would have to start with someone smaller. By someone, she meant @Reid Kovacs, former Head boy, friend of Ben the masked boy, ally of the Professors. She had no idea that @Max Avery would soon return to the school, he was an acceptably weak target as well. she just did not feel that elaborating on such thoughts would be in her best interest.

She started to relax, he believed her!

“Erin…"

That tone. Her heart dropped. He was about to tell her she was crazy, that she was wrong.

“These were some serious accusations.” 

She let out a breath, she deflated.

“But if this was all true…then it is the more reason for us to be careful.” 

She took a shallow breath as he verbally worked through his thoughts. Was this just an easy way of letting her down, talking her out of this line of thinking. There was this defiant urge to insist her truth. He was a Prefect, she just remembered that. This might have been a mistake. This really was a mistake. She shifted uncomfortably in the place she sat. 

“And as easy as it is to generalize; I don’t think that we should consider all half-giants as bad.” 

He reasoned. Yeah, he was on their side. He was defending them but she caught one thing that he said --  not all of them are bad. That was an admission to her that some were bad. She swallowed hard, that was the closest thing to evidence that she had gotten since she started on the trail of these half-giants.

“They might be doing this against their will or they might be tricked. Um…" 

That is a very specific. Erin did not have the self awareness to conceal her thoughts in her expressions, she was suspicious. She backed away a bit. She was not intimidated by his aura, she was intimidated by the implications in her mind. She considered his height, he was not particularly tall. His features did not remind her of a giant, they have different facial features, a rougher appearance. "I--" her voice trailed off a bit. "Should not have said anything," there was a tone of regret and discomfort in her voice. She needed to end this exchange, get out of here. 

"Do you remember the last Blossom Ball? Well, that was when I met the part-giants. There are four of them." 

Was he just trying to get her to stay? Calm her down? See what she knows? A part of her screamed that she should leave, but another part of her wanted to know what he had to say. Would he share a bit of truth to see what she knew? "I... was there briefly," she muttered as she recollected the ball. She had found a boy there, took him to meet the old ladies. She was disappointed by him, his confidence was a ruse. 

She was trapped in her own thoughts when Arc went on to talk about his experience. "My best friend and I followed a half-giant that drugged and seduced a girl to the Keeper’s Cabin near the Forbidden Forest. There I saw a short, old woman, with graying hair, sickly looking flesh, dead-looking eyes, and wearing ragged clothes with bones of vermin around her neck. She might be the death witch Kaegen was talking about… And I think she might be the mastermind." 

Was he trying to trick her? He was describing the crone vaguely enough but he was not giving her the right location. She, well they, were not in the Cabin. They were in the dungeons. Her face said it all, that she was not trusting what Arc had to say. Her eyes widened a bit and she inched away again. Her mouth was cocked to the side. "I am not telling you where the old ladies" yes she said ladies not lady "are." She started to try to stand up and back away, get away from Arc. This would be a more familiar scene for Arc, the frightful expression and the pounding pulse as they tried to move away from the 'dangerous' youth.

He continued to try to explain. "You see, I don’t know why they tried to take Rosie there, but it seems her own kidnapper has a change of heart. There was a scuffle inside the cabin that led to the cabin setting on fire. And he was the one who actually let her out to escape while chaos ensued. Between the three of us, we manage to barely escape from their clutch as those part giants apparently are not very well-versed at using magic. I don’t know if it’s a shared trait or not, but it might be their weakness, by the way." 

Arc's account was textbook accurate, including his hypothesis' to an extent. She was not sure what to believe. He was a Prefect and he might be digging for information. He did not flee, he did not brush it off. Her eyes darted to either side, who was nearby. Nobody. Everyone kept a wide breadth from the boy, she did not understand why, that there was a terrible presence that seemed to roll off of him. Was he trying to calm her down by spilling out more facts? By using his superior bird intellect!

"Anyway, my take on this are two things. One, not all part-giants are bad and condemning them all might actually band them together even stronger under one banner, to retaliate against us. And two, we should plan carefully if we want to ambush them. They might be more organized than we think."

It was working on the skittish Slytherin. His words made sense, but she did not entirely trust him. She had not run off just yet but her heart was beating fast and she was looking a bit pale. 

She gave him a bit of information. The fact that she was planning on going to Italy. She immediately regretted it after she said it. She had said too much. She was planning on checking on DeWynter. he had recently returned but she did not believe the circumstances of his disappearance were as simple as he had claimed. Marcus was one of several students in her class that disappeared only to return several months later as if nothing had even happened. Howard was another example and when he came back he was changed. There were others too, gone and now returned. Dangerous. Different. Many of them former Prefects, people in roles of trust. Roles like Arc's. She thought back to something he said earlier about being tricked or forced against their will. Was he trying to tell her something? She tensed up as she considered that potential truth.

Arc was answering her question. “Ah, well, for the drug they used. I’m pretty sure it was some form of Veritaserum." 


She believed him, she had seen and felt the effects. She knew that much was the truth even if she doubted his earlier claim with the cabin. 

"They might have other stuff, though. The ingredients for Veritaserum is not easily gathered. And accurately making one is even harder. So, we have to assume that they can make or procure other potions as well.”

While the boy was foolish enough to not realize that his best friend Raine was totally in love with him, he probably did not overlook her fearful expression. Her tense stance. The fact that she was backing away. Her defiant claim that she would not tell where the crone really was. "Are... they forcing you..." her voice was slow and almost mechanical as she started to ask "to help them?"