Hogwarts Summer Camp Welcome BBQ

-

By SK

-

Interactions | @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood | @Ileen Knight
Mentions | @Sylvain Indarys

Dee took her place next to Aida for the group picture, throwing her arms around her pale friend and pressing her lips to the albino's cheek at the very last second. Should Ileen choose to snap a second picture right after, it would likely have Dee laughing in delight, her blue eyes as bright as her smile, extremely satisfied with herself and the surprise attack she had just performed.

After, she skipped over to where Ileen was standing, apparently looking for something, and plucked the camera out of the Slytherin's hands. "We need one, too!" she announced, turning the camera around to face the two of them and smooshed their faces together as well, grinning broadly. It was a little awkward, Dee's hands too small to properly hold the camera that wasn't meant to take selfies with in the first place, especially with just one hand, but she somehow managed to press the shutter once, and after adjusting the angle a bit, a second time.
"One of them hopefully has our faces on it," she declared as she handed the camera back to Ileen.

Sylvain and Aida had already wandered off in direction of the BBQ, and Dee's loudly growling stomach reminded her that she, too, was supposed to be heading into that direction.
While she followed her nose to where the scent of food promised relief from the constant protests of her stomach, Dee let her gaze wander. There were a lot of people around, some of which she knew, some she didn't. The general atmosphere spoke of laughter and excitement, both about the start of the summer break as well as the upcoming game, and Dee just closed her eyes for a second, breathing in the warm summer night air, the faint taste of smoke drifting over from the campfire, and could feel her spirits lift.

It had been a long year - a rough year, in some moments, an exciting one, for sure. There were moments she would remember forever, and some she wished she could forget, but probably wouldn't. She'd learned a lot, had met a lot of incredible people. And now her first year at Hogwarts was officially over, but she was looking forward to the fun the next weeks promised to be. It would surely be a worthy end to the school year, and after that, Ileen and her would be off to Whitehaven.

When Dee opened her eyes again, she'd lost sight of Sylvain and Aida, and there was only Ileen left next to her. The little Ravenclaw shrugged, hardly bothered. They'd have plenty of time to meet with their friends again during the camp, and there was always the trip to Aida's marvellous cave afterwards.

For now, food was their first priority - and then to enjoy the evening - and then the rest of the summer.

Dee and Ileen left the thread
after eating too much food and having a bit more fun~
Permission to godmod Ileen received

Interacting: @Dymphna Teague
Mentions: @Erin Ryan

"Duel...?" Oliver muttered to himself as he tried to think back if he heard anything about duels. Slowly raising a weenie to his mouth, he nibbled on it, deep in thought. He couldn't recall any duels, but he would sign up for it. And to his amazement, would coincidentally end up on Dymphna's team! Oliver glanced at Celestina. He wasn't a pet person at all and would flinch even in the presence of peoples pet toads. He never had a pet due to his home circumstances and when he did have one, it passed immediately after. He had come to terms with the fact that he just wasn't meant to be a pet guy.

"Yep, okay!" Oliver nodded as Dymphna agreed on the steps to sit on. From the corner of his eyes, he could see she had begun to blush somewhat. However, it was nothing compared to the bright red colour of Oliver's entire face right now. It would take a few seconds of walking for Oliver to ease up and relax again. Sitting down, Oliver kept over two feet in distance between them, very conscious of the fact that Dymphna probably never thought about Oliver and this was likely a very unbalanced connection.

"So, do you think Hufflepuff can beat Durmstrang?"

Oliver's eyes widened. He didn't have the slightest idea what she was talking about. Was this about the duel she mentioned earlier? Or some other activity? Is there some rivalry going on?" It took Oliver about ten seconds of rapid thinking and brain overload for him to realise that this was Quidditch. Of course she'd start with that, they were both on the team now.
"Uh... I'll be honest, I don't actually know much about Quidditch... I tried to pretend like I do with the other team mates but I feel like they knew instantly..." Oliver nervously chuckled as he thought back to the introductory conversations he had with them," yeah... they definitely knew." Oliver begun to break into a laugh, his brows raised at how silly he must seem being the teams keeper. "But! Wait, wait, I will be good, as soon as I fully learn the rules... I joined because Erin Ryan is on the Slytherin team and I wanted to have something to talk about with her..." Oliver then whispered," she's not very into magic you see." This wasn't all true though, Oliver definitely joined the team because he knew Dymphna liked Quidditch. Of course, he could never tell her that.

When Dymphna replies, if she does, Oliver would proceed to eat his stack of weenie sausages. He didn't appear to be chewing them though. Instead, he seemed to just toss them into his mouth and swallow them instantly.

Outfit (including hat)

≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪

@Ivy Bellamy | @Ariana Walker

Lizzie had reached the food table just in time to take a deep breath and to stop herself wobbling. The fear of being in a crowd was always going to be there. It would never leave her. It was very ironic because the girl loved performing in front of them but never being in one. The thought of getting lost again and taken away from the people she knew would not be a good memory to add to the ones she already had of that trauma.

Obviously, she would never admit it to anyone that she had this fear. She needed to look strong for her brothers, sisters and maybe even some of her friends. Who knew what kind of fears they had that were more life threatening than she had. It would be a humiliation to even let her best friend know about it.

She quickly turned to Ivy and let out another breath, "Uhhh.. Sure." Lizzie grabbed some more fruit and placed them into her bowl before running off towards the empty blankets. At least they could be alone here. Lots of people seemed deep in conversation with their peers and it looked like no one would be coming over to them any time soon.

The girl sat herself down on a blanket and placed her bowl in front of her. It was a lovely night to be having a BBQ but it was quite unfortunate that it had to end with Lizzie nearly running of towards the hills because of something that had happened in the past. Maybe it wouldn't all be that bad with the new friends she had made throughout the last year.

Lizzie sighed and shook her head forcing on a smile. She didn't want to ruin anyone's night. The fruit from her bowl slowly disappeared as it all went into her mouth. She admittedly was not hungry but had just kept stuffing her face for the fun of it. One day she was going to wake up and regret that when she has put on a little weight.

Outfit Reference

{ Interacting with: @Howard White }

"Yeah..." Regardless of if he noticed or not but her tone of voice was full of disbelief, agreeing for the sake of it in reality, as he claimed she would be fine. Staring into her plate, she really did not agree. Serena pretended to agree, claiming it would be fine but she was pretty much just trying to convince herself of that. Most of her peers were already taller than her, and half could probably snap her arm neatly in half in a simple arm wrestle.

She knew that she was not the strongest, that she could not tank multiple hits or survive if she was attacked constantly. She was not the fastest or the best at planning a strategy. Her skill was spotting a tiny little object. That was why she was a seeker. But her four foot ten noodle arm body could not handle getting bludgered left, right and centre. This was not her first game. She had experienced how it felt to be hit with a bludger, she knew how much it hurt. She had multiple people try and knock her off, including resorting to cheating. Hell, she had fallen off her broom too. Quidditch was dangerous and everyone always aimed for the seeker. It was perhaps the worst position to be in.

It was partially the reason she actually really missed being second string. It was so much nicer when she could back someone else up. A part of her wondered if she could go for chaser tryouts. She was probably not as capable at grabbing the quaffle but it would be a much more enjoyable - and far less pressuring - position to play. She did not believe Howard - or herself - when they said she would be fine. It was a hope.

But what caught her attention was the rest of this motivational speech. Well... words. Looking up at him, she could not help but grin a little. A small laugh escaping her as she imagined Quinn barreling towards the team. Serena was pretty sure he was like double her height and probably four times her size. He was literally a wall, "In fairness... Anyone would be terrified against him. I know I would be. Thank Merlin he's on our side," She replied, in a slightly more confident tone. She was not sure how long she could survive out there, how many bludgers she would have to take before she fell to her pretty much inevitable doom, "Hopefully they don't have a Quinn on their side... I would really rather not be on the receiving end of his bludgers..." She added, wondering how much that would hurt. Iron bludgers were not fun in general but it was clear from the sound and speed of Quinn's hits that those bludgers were ridiculously powerful - and most likely instant bone breaking.

Tilting her head, "You know... I can help you train, if you want? I'm not a chaser but I think I have a fairly decent aim. And I could do always use the extra practice at attempting to score..." She explained. They did not really have much time to train before the tryouts, which would likely take place in September but she did enjoy playing Quidditch - when it was not in an enormous pitch that was full of nothing but heaps of pressure - and she spent a lot of her free time trying to train. It would be kind of nice to help someone else out whilst she did it, "I mean, not that you need the help! I'm not saying I'm the best flyer or anything either and certainly not the best chaser but... you know, if you wanted someone to actually try and score against you... I could help out? I'm sure half the team would, to be fair! Actually, yeah, Jones would probably be better. But I don't mind..." Serena rambled out, trying not to offend him or make herself seem like she could train him up when she really could not. Aaron Jones was probably much better at that. Serena just... wanted to help. She tucked her hair behind her ear again, though it had not actually come loose, just to distract her hand from fidgeting.

Serena nodded as she took the mayo bottle, "Thanks," She replied, quickly finishing off her burger and stacking it up. She looked back at the group that she was pretty convinced did not like her. Well Ella seemed really sweet but the rest mostly just ignored her or were judging her, "Oh. Uhh... Up to you... We can go sit with them, sure," She gave a firm nod, though she was not really thrilled with the idea of making more awkward conversation with the Durmstrang students and get judged for it, when all she was trying to do was be nice. But she was also acting kind of weird. Maybe they just needed to see the real her. She could give that another go.

After a moment, she continued in a slow tone, "Or I guess... Maybe... We could sit near the fire? It's getting a bit cold," She added, in case he opted to sit elsewhere, pointing towards the campfire after she put the bottle down. It was partially the cold but it was mostly the dark. Serena would not admit it - mostly because it was almost ridiculous to do so and everyone would laugh at her - but a part of her was still scared of the dark. She had started to get better over the past few months, ever since she had survived the night where Hufflepuff fell into the dungeons, holding the lumos throughout. The night lamp their head of house had given her for her birthday less than a month ago helped too. But her fear of the dark started in first year - after it almost claimed her life. It would not be wiped away so easily. She was doing a lot better now, not freaking out or running right back to the tent but a part of her kind of really wanted to be just closer to the light.

If Howard wanted to go towards the Durmstrang table, she would light one of the magical candles she kept in her bag and take it with them just so she had light at hand. After seeing the shadow monsters that lurked within the school, she knew firsthand of the dangers of the darkness and was not about to take risks foolishly.

Interacting with @Marshal Mozor
Mentioning tentmates — Carina, Tallis, Lilith, Theseus* & @Lucia Fox
———
Open to interactions!
Permission to slightly godmod Marshal given
*not tagging because Carina and Tallis already left the site

She led Marshal to where the students and professors cheered and chilled. Were they late? She needed food…especially Hogwarts food. If someone asked what’s her favorite subject, she might first ask back, does lunch count? Though sometimes the girl still missed the great food cooked by her mother in Kensington, Hogwarts pies were always attractive.

The new boy was dragged by Lindsey. Thanks to Merlin, she was taller than him, and fairly could drag him all way long.

Crowds gathered at the place already. Maybe the BBQ had begun hours ago, when she walked out of her tent. By the way, where were her lovely tentmates? Already began their dinner? Or still sitting in the tent not knowing what to do? No, not likely, with the lavender haired girl’s Carina loudness, she would soon seek where all people went and led her tentmates to food. But who knows? The shy, weird new student Tallis might not even want to step out of tent… Though thinking about these two weird girls, her eyes still sought for Lilith and Theseus. After all, they were her old Hogwarts Express buddy, she liked them too.

“You would enjoy the food! I promise!” she said merrily to Marshal. Hogwarts food did not need bragging. She was speaking the truth.

Venturing further with Marshal, she caught some glimpses of other students there——
Her Hufflepuff friend Lucia was talking with a foreigner, probably a Durmstrang boy Salva. Some older Ravenclaws were talking over there, and people were simply everywhere.

She was observing Lucia, to determine whether she’d greet her or not. She seemed quite gay…and Marshal was here, who did not know her, so maybe not. Who knows? Lucia might discover her first.

“I think I’d have some juice first…but no, maybe not pumpkin juice. However Marsh you should give pumpkin juice a try. It’s famous in Hogwarts.” she muttered, though the voice was loud enough for Marshal to hear. She really wanted some butter beer, but Lindsey had no idea whether there were some cups around——but after all, she was afraid to be drunk.

“Lemonade? Ohhh I’d just have some.” she said to herself. With a full glass of nice lemonade, Lindsey turned to her companion. “Alright time for me to know you. Where are you from, Mr…and your last name please?”

While Serena was excited for the summer festivities to finally begin, she also couldn’t help but think about the last time that she had attended an event. Hopefully, there would be no fire or giant bugs at this event. And, she thought to herself, the professors were actually watching over this event, unlike last time. So, Serena walked out of her tent, ready to get some food and maybe meet some new people. Who knew, perhaps she’d run into some of the Ilvermorny or Durmstrang students?

The first thing Serena noticed was the smell of the grilled food wafting in the air. She had always loved that smell, especially since it meant that she would get to eat soon. Serena didn’t spend much time looking at the rest of her surroundings and headed straight for the food table. She reached for a plate but accidentally touched someone’s hand, who was also going for the same thing.

“Oh, sorry about that!” Serena quickly apologized. She wanted to say more, but then she looked up to see a girl around her age with long blonde hair and green eyes. “Pretty…” Serena found herself muttering.

Then realizing what she said, Serena blushed. “Uh… pretty…nice night for a barbeque! Don’t you think?” She quickly recovered. Hopefully, the other girl didn’t realize her almost slip-up.

Oh, she should probably introduce herself. Yes, that was what normal people did when meeting someone new. “I’m Serena Bowen by the way! What’s your name?”

Interacting With: @Asteria Knight

Reducio

I am so so sorry for taking so long to reply to this, Asteria! If you're still interested in RP-ing together, I promise that I'll be better at replying.

Outfit Ref (minus the tote bag):

{ Interacting with: @Howard White }

Ever since the sorting hat had declared her to be in the house of badgers, her mother had always complained. Serena ought to try and become a Slytherin, her mother would argue. But she knew, without any doubt, that the loyal house was the one for her. No one else stood by you like a badger did, at least from her experience. They were the type who worked together, and did absolutely everything to protect their friends.

She knew Howard was right. Because she knew that, no matter what happened on the pitch, her friends and teammates had her back. The beaters on the team happened to be among her closest friends - even perhaps before they started playing together. Saskia had put herself in front of countless blatches and bludgers for her. Quinn was a giant wall that she could hide behind that not only defended her but certainly sent a threatening message to the opponents. And if there was one person she trusted with her life, it was Reid. He had already saved her once, back at the campout. She would undoubtedly trust him on the pitch.

Durmstrang were said to be good. They were said to be incredible, actually. Famous for creating champion students that ended up on a national team before they had even graduated. But Hufflepuff had something special. They always did. They were the Hogwarts champions for a reason. They had unity, teamwork and an undying sense of loyalty that was not easy to break.

"I think we'd have to be more worried he might accidentally break someone's face out there," She responded, shuddering slightly at the thought of Quinn accidentally hitting someone straight in the face at a full pelt, "You're right though... It will probably be fine. I guess I'm just... I don't know... nervous at the thought of playing in that stadium and like... it's an international level now, you know? Not just in our school but... international. And I know, I know, it's not the same as like playing for England or something but it's still... probably the biggest game I'll ever play?" She rambled on a little, her lack of self-esteem starting to shine through. But it was true. Playing professional was a dream that some quidditch players - herself included - had but... it rarely happened. There were hundreds of players and only the best of the best could make it out there. And all it takes is one injury to end that career before it even started.

Hell... with Hogwarts the way it was, she was partially concerned that they would not even make it to graduation. "And I'm the frickin' Seeker... We both know they'll be coming for me..." She replied. It was always the tactic. Take out the seeker. It seemed to be the drive and motivation for every strategy. Over the year, she had taken a couple of bludgers or blatches and fallen off her broom. It was not fun, to say the least. She scratched the back of her head awkwardly, as she pushed the conversation aside, "Ahh it will be fine, I'm sure... I'm just worrying unnecessarily..."

With a firm nod and a grin on her face, she agreed to training with Howard. He seemed happy at the offer, which was always nice. Though, she was not entirely sure if she was more patient than Jones. Hell... she barely knew the boy but she took the compliment anyway, "Ha well... you may regret that but sure, we can train together. I pretty much try and go out there every free chance I get so, just let me know when you're free?" Serena admitted to being a Quidditch dork but it was one of the few things that made her happy. Well... it had all year around. Right now, it was more nervewrecking than happy but she blamed the unfamiliarity of this area and the strangers in the team opposite. It was no longer just a friendly game between her house and her friends in other houses, it was a tournament and that made it scary. They were representing Hogwarts. They were not playing for fun as much as they were playing for their school's reputation, and the rest of the houses.

After she managed to finish assembling her burger, she made her way over to the campfire alongside the taller badger. Though she did not admit it, she was secretly very grateful for the choice he made. It was not the warmth that she wanted but the light. Avoiding the darkness made her more comfortable, for sure. But the smile on her face as he spoke made it evident that she was glad, even though she said nothing.

Serena sat down on the log next to him, diving into her burger as she was certainly getting hungry. She pondered for a moment as he spoke. Covering her closed mouth - as though it would help speed up the process of chewing... which it did not - Serena quickly chewed the food down before she replied. Luckily it gave her a few moments to actually think about her answer rather than word vomiting out every train of thought. The truth was, she had no idea. She had not really considered what she would do after camp. Most likely have to go home and deal with her irritating as heck brother, probably go to some boring as hell gatherings in a fancy dress where all she did was politely nod and listen to old people chitchat about the ministry or some international affairs or something she did not care about.

"From here. Well, central London, more specifically - so not terribly far from King's Cross, which is very good because it means I can walk home if my mother forgets to pick me up again. But I don't really have any plans, to be honest. Just going to go home and... chill, I guess. Study a little. Nothing special." Serena had no intention of actually walking home. Hell, she had no idea how to get from King's Cross to Westminster but she was pretty sure it was a distance she could walk - though it might take a couple of hours. The prospect of walking alone and getting lost, however, was terrifying and not something she would actually consider. But, it was kind of nice to know that when she was older, she could probably do that journey herself instead of moping around at the station for hours, again. At least, the last time, her mother had turned up at least three hours late. Although she had known Howard for a while - for almost three years now - she realised that she did not actually know much about him. In fact, she knew very little about him, "What about you?"

Serena took another bite as she turned her attention to him, wondering where he was from and what sort of things he actually did in his spare time. She really did not know much about him. Hell, she had no idea he was even interested in Quidditch until five minutes ago. Her mind went back to the day when the heads of houses spoke about the dangers at Hogwarts. On that day, she recalled the boy in front of her and his reaction to the whole thing. Well, from a distance. From what she could see, he was not pleased but... then again, no one really was. The idea of hags on the school grounds was a scary though. At least, to people like her who had never heard about them until that moment. She had wanted to check on him but he pretty much departed before she had a chance to even get up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pay attention to the details of life - every sunrise, every sunset, and everything in between - or it will be gone before you even realize what you had

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interacting With: @Lindsey Springhall

~Open to Interaction~

Speech Color: #800000

Marshal had been following Lindsey and his nose towards the barbecue, but somewhere along the way, she had taken hold of his hand, perhaps deciding that he was moving too slowly and finding it necessary to drag him along. The physical contact sent an initial thrill through his chest, and he allowed himself to be pulled willingly, cherishing the sensation of her hand in his. This day kept getting better.
They soon reached the area where the barbecue was being held, where he saw that they were far from the first to arrive. The cheery sounds of conversation and laughter filled the early evening air; that, combined with the delicious aromas wafting from where food was being cooked, combined to create a downright pleasant atmosphere, though Marshal sadly wasn't able to appreciate it.

Marshal had never been legitimately frightened by anything in his life, aside from a very select few things, one of those being the fear of losing loved ones - which fear had obviously been strengthened immensely when his sister fell ill - and another being a fear of tight spaces or large crowds. In other words, he had a fairly severe case of claustrophobia.
Upon initial assessment, it might have seemed like a strange fear for the blond boy to have, considering that he loved being around people, and was about as outgoing as anyone you'll ever meet, but he had been that way for as long as he could remember. It was hard to explain, but he just felt stifled and trapped among overly large groups of people, almost as though his free spirit couldn't fly, having no room to spread its wings.
Due to his personality, a person could rarely ignore him if he really wanted their attention. He wasn't a narcissist who simply enjoyed hearing himself talk, nor did he feel the need to feed off of the opinions of his peers. But in reality, he was used to being heard. And in a tightly packed throng of people, he felt limited, like his voice was hopelessly drowned out by the sheer noise.
So much for the day getting better as it went on.

As Lindsey brought him to a table filled with food, he closed his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.
This isn't even that bad, he told himself firmly, teeth grinding.
The gathering was outside, which always helped, and the masses of students weren't packed too terribly close together, leaving some breathing room. Despite that, he had to fight the panic down. Focusing on Lindsey's soft grip helped a lot.
“You would enjoy the food! I promise!” Lindsey said to him.
Grateful for the added distraction, he responded, "Judging from the food I've had the first few days of camp, I believe you." He failed to notice her glancing around in search of familiar faces.

They finally reached the table, and Lindsey began fretting about what she wanted to drink, releasing his hand as she perused the various options. He balled the hand into a fist in an attempt to fill the empty space that the taller girl had left there.
Uncharacteristically, he merely listened as she spoke of pumpkin juice, his eyes flitting from face to face in the crowd, though he didn't truly see any of them for who they were. At the moment, they were just a part of the walls that he could feel slowly closing in on him. He wasn't panicking, but he was a bit on edge.
In the end, Lindsey opted for a glass of lemonade. Realizing that he should get some food, Marshal quickly grabbed two hot dogs, placed them each in a bun, then lathered them with ketchup and mayonnaise. Upon seeing the amount of people at the barbecue, he had sort of lost his appetite, but knew he would regret it later if he ate nothing now.

“Alright time for me to know you," Lindsey said. "Where are you from, Mr…and your last name please?”
Oh right. They hadn't even exchanged anything past their first names up to this point. And yet he already felt he knew the girl well.
"First name 'Marshal,' middle name 'The,' last name 'Wizard," he replied, the smile on his face still genuine, but slightly more strained as he tried to tear his thoughts away from irrational claustrophobia. Waiting for her reaction, he then continued, "Okay, I'm sorry. I was born and raised in London, England, and my full name is Marshal Aldous Mozor. Aldous is my dad's name, but I'm not sure where Mozor comes from. Some English guy, I guess." He shrugged."And what about you? I'm going to call you Lynn, by the way." He had noticed pleasantly when she used a nickname for him. It made it feel less like the two of them were strangers. A step in the right direction, to be sure.