Alice wasn't stupid.

Really, okay? She did loads of senseless stuff and said a bunch of dumb things that caused way too many issues, but her head wasn't completely screwed up, which is why she didn't actually venture INTO the Forbidden Forest, only hovered near the edge of it. She needed one last ingredient, just one, and there were more interesting things to gather than feathers, she assumed. But she wasn't going IN the forest. It was just a potions assignment, no need to like get eaten by an Acromantula or something in the process of completing it.

She warily eyed the first of the expanse of trees, staying a bit back from Mr. Firth's nearest 'Keep Out!' sign. The fifth year crouched down and examined the ground, eyeing a particular patch of a plant. She was sure this particular one had been in one of the books she'd flipped through in the library. What.. what was it.. Knotweed? Knotgrass. Alice leaned closer, examining it for a few seconds before wrapping her fingers around a bit of it and yanking the desired amount out of the ground.

.. was she hearing noises? Was that something in there? Time to leave. The Knotgrass was pocketed, and Alice was heading back into the castle with four minutes to spare.

La de dah de dah.

Lex was being extra sneaky tonight, like extra extra sneaky. Why? Because she wanted to see the forest, duh! All the fun stuff happened in the forest once it got to nightfall and with it being nearly midnight she figured ALL THE REALLY EPIC STUFF WOULD COME OUT!!!! Eeeeeep!!!

Normally she would have invited Lottie or even Aidan--She didn't think Cassia would appreciate the idea but it was late and she didn't want to wake them, especially not if they were going to make excuses. NOPE. After sneaking out of the castle she skipped her way to the forest, humming happily to herself, grinning occasionally too because she actually did it and now she could see Mr. Forest and his giant fridge of ice-cream that he kept in there. They could have ice-cream together then he'd be the happiest forest ever and he wouldn't be forbidden anymoooore and they could play together more often!

DOUBLE eeeep!!!

She paused at the edge of the trees trying to see inside but o'course she wouldn't see much by just standing there. Merlin knew nothing ever got accomplished that way! "Hello Mr. Forest! I brought my bowl so you could share your ice-cream with me!!" She remembered the cold chill during CoMC class, someone had left the door open. She knew how fridges worked, you know.

Lex headed in, leaves crunching beneath her feet and random sounds she ignored in the distance. Tonight she was here for the forest itself. They were gonna bond, you see and have a good night.

With a bag packed full of snacks, blankets, paper, pencils, water, pillows, maps, ropes, string, and a camera, Eliza tiptoed closer to the forest's edge and wondered about what was inside. Lucky for her, she'd gotten really good at the undetectable extension charm this year.

Normally she'd never do anything like this, no matter how curious she might be about it, but there was something about the air tonight that made her feel brave. Feel a longing for adventure. She knew Ethan and Min would probably not approve of her wanting to see what was out there, so she hadn't told them. She wasn't quite sure herself why she was out there on this night of all nights. There was no turning back now though. She was hoping to get out there and maybe run into the unicorn they'd seen during the Ancient Runes maze...or maybe even get a really nice photograph of the winter stars, since the sky was so clear and bright. Finding a pretty flower or leaf to bring back as Christmas presents wouldn't be a bad idea either, so she kept her eyes peeled.

She began stepping over fallen logs, roots, and branches and went deeper into the forest. She didn't light her way just yet, as she could still make some things out. She walked as quietly as she could, not wanting to give herself away. Maybe I can even find my way back using the North Star...or maybe not. But I'm sure I'll find my way back. No problem, now that I know how, sort of. And if not, she had packed a super-wrapped bucket of ice cream to eat as a snack if she got bored - or to use to befriend an animal that liked sweets. Either way.

She continued to walk, admiring the tall trees and the smell of the breeze that was ruffling her light auburn hair - when she heard a noise. A crunching noise. Something else was here. Or someone. She froze in place and listened to the sound. Footsteps? They seemed to be coming from up ahead of her, so she rushed forward a few yards and ducked behind a tree.

That's when she saw a familiar tussle of hair. She whispered and hissed to get her attention. "Psssst! Psssssssssst! Lex is that you?" But if it wasn't her....she'd just run. Run as fast as she could.

Just how far did one have to go to find a giant fridge anyway? With every tree that she passed she thought it'd be just behind the other but there seemed to be no such luck. For now she'd just skip along, taking in everything in the dim light. Lex wasn't going to use the illuminating charm because that might have woken up the other creatures then they'd probably want some of the ice-cream too.

How's about no?

Th forest she would share with, everything else...not so much, no. As she walked she continued humming. Perhaps she should have taken Felix will her? He was good at direction, better than her!--

Ooooo, lookit!

Lex spun around when she caught sight of something swinging from the corner of her eyes. If only she could see, but hello, no ice-cream sharing, go back to bed whatever you are. Then there was more footsteps. Those weren't hers, even SHE knew that. Next thing she knew there was hissing. She tilted her head and stared curiously into the darkness. "Eliza?" Slowly she moved forward, checking tree after tree until finally she found her. "OH HEY!!! You came to have ice-cream with the forest toooooo??? I don't mind sharing with you so it's fine." BEEEEAM.

Skip, skip, skip, skipitty-skip-skip.

Peyton made her way up and out to the grounds. It was midnight, yes, but she had this urge to come out here and do something cheer up the gloomy forest. You see, she's been on such a TERRIFIC mood and thought about spreading it about. And what better than to spread it at the most depressing part of Hogwarts' ground? The Forbidden Forest of course!

Before coming out here she sneaked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl with several scoops of her favorite ice cream; raspberry and vanilla. So, with her hair swinging from its ponytail and in her pajamas, Peyton entered the Forbidden Forest.

Why was it even forbidden? It made it seem all saaaaaaaaad. But that'd be fixed tonight. For Almighty Peyton was here!

GIGGLE.

^_____________________^

OH! LOOK!

"LEX! Hi!" she said waving. She wasn't alone, was she? Peyton spotted the other girl and beamed at her. SHE WAS IN A SUPER DUPER MOOD, OKAY. "Hi, girl I've never met." BEAM.

...

....

DOUBLE BEAM.

The Groundskeeper had been making it his duty to patrol every night around the edges of the Dark Forest for awhile now. Ever since the thestral had appeared in the corridor by the courtyard, Firth had been wondering what was spooking the forest's inhabitants. A unicorn had been spotted as well, which was even more worrisome to the Scot. Who or what was the cause of the disturbance?

Staying alert, Alistaire walked quietly. Every once in awhile he bent down to examine a twig or a mark on the ground, only to straighten once more, apparently dissatisfied. I don't even know what I'm looking for! he thought with exasperation. As was his custom, he stopped at a certain point and cleared his throat. Then he muttered the incantation, "Homenum revelio."

For the first time, the spell yielded a result. Gripping his wand firmly, he resolutely set off into the forest.

The person came closer and closer to her hiding spot behind the tree. She was almost about to run for it, when who she thought was Lex turned out to really thankfully be Lex and she called out her name. "Lex! Yeah, it's me!" She slowly climbed up from her burrowed out shadow behind the tree and brushed off some dirt.

"Yeah, I did actually! I thought maybe the unicorn would want some." Oh and she'd brought some too? "Cool! Thanks for sharing!" She was just about to show Lex what flavor she'd brought with her when she heard a noise.



Her eyes darted all around them and she held an arm out to protect Lex from whatever it was, and drew her wand. She would not give their position away by lighting it though, so she listened carefully and held very still.

Relief rushed over her when she heard a young female voice calling out to Lex. It seemed the Lion had a lot of friends in the forest tonight. She put down her arm and wand and waved to the girl. "Hi there! I'm Eliza. You?" She gestured for the girl to follow them into the forest deeper, where they could start to have some ice cream.



But then, another sound pricked at the furthest distance her ears could hear. "Did you hear that?" The wind rustling the leaves of the trees made it hard to make anything too far away hard to make out, and she knew the forest was full of animals. "Maybe it was the wind," she suggested to the two girls.

Or maybe.... "Maybe we should hide. Come on!" She reached for their hands and tried to get them to scurry deeper into the forest, looking for a place to hide.

???

Lex whipped around at the loud sound of her name, a wide grin firmly fixed in place. PEYTON WAS HERE TOOOOOO!!! "HAI!!!!!" BEEEEAM. "I didn't know you were coming out here too or I would have waited on you and we could have come together!!!" Alexa bounced a bit as she spoke, super excited to run into yet another person here in this sad forest.

Oh and she brought her own bowl of ice-cream!!!

Lex looked to Eliza who was now crawling out of hiding, she got a beam too! "What were you doing down there silly? The forest can't play with you if you're down there." Giggle. The girl righted this herself by shooting off the floor.

She looked to them both, her grin spreading even wider. "Well, we're all here, the night's not getting any younger, we should--"

Here excitement and well her whole sentence was cut short when she heard footsteps moving in the distance. Lex tilted her head curiously. "Did either of you invite someone else?" But before she could receive an answer she was being pulled further into the forest. "Heeeey! Stooooop! I can walk just fine, maybe the forest was sending friends for us to play with!" Hehehehe. She liked friends, friends of the forest too so Eliza needed to calm down. She yanked her hand out of the girls grip but kept skipping and hopping along.

Hop. Hop. Ho--

Oof!

"Hey, neat! When did that tree trunk get there???" Such a nice trunk toooooo.

He wasn't even scared. Nope. He had ice cream with him so why was there a need to be scared?

Exactly.

With a broad grin spread across his face, Alec walked down towards the edge of the Forest. Every step he took made him feel slightly giddy about what he was about to do. He had been thinking about his plan over and over again ever since he was sitting in his dorm and he knew he could accomplish this. Because he was Alec Blake Summers and he had just had some ice cream. YEAH!

Still clutching onto his bowl of ice cream, the sixteen year old came to a stop near the edge of the Forest. His grey-blue eyes scanned the nearby trees and the path in front of him before looking up at the sky. The stars were there and... hadn't Astro Man said something about locating the North Star to help you navigate out of the Forest? You know, just in case he got lost in here like... that memory...

And he had his wand with him so... he'd be okay.

Taking a deep breath, the Hufflepuff started to walk along the path and into the Forest. This. Was. AWESOME. He was in the Forest! Actually inside near the trees and he wasn't scared! On the contrary, he was actually SUPER excited about this. First time experiences and all that.

... Voices.

The boy stopped and looked around. They were... familiar voices. AWESOME was there an ice cream party going on in the Forest? He should follow the sound of the voices and meet up with whoever was throwing a party here. Because he wanted in on it too! Listening out for the voices, he edged along the path as quickly and quietly as possible. Because... you know... you had to be sneaky in here. And he had to make sure to step on land that was... hard. Not soft. Because of reasons.

... He continued walking until...

"Careful, Candy Girl, don't want to be spilling any ice cream in here!" GRIN. ... Oh! Ladies! "Hey you guys!" he whispered, grinning and giving each of them a very enthusiastic wave, "What brings you guys here?" And whereeeeee was this party? Was there more ice cream to be had too?

Awar had rolled out of bed and slipped into some comfy clothes. Today she had an urge to go give the Forbidden Forest a hug or something. The forest isn't that forbidden anyways, right?

"SQUAWK!"

There were noises in the forest that usually weren't there, the sounds of humans and the Hippogriffs had noticed. They had moved closer to the edge than they had in a long time but still there usually weren't those two-legged things in their home.

The small herd of about ten total had been grazing and looking for squirrels in between the trunks of the dark tress this evening and a few of them had been startled by the human shouts and the general noise as they crashed through the forest. But the Hippogriffs moved towards them.

One walked proudly through a small thicket and ended up right by an adult male who seemed to be in a hurry towards the other. "SQUAWK!" The female Hippogriff quickly stood up on her rear legs after being startled by him and his wand.

Another two walked much calmer towards two of the loud students (Alexa & Alec) who had something that smelled good. Their eyes were the first thing that was seen through the nearby branches and the crack of twigs as they slowly approached.

Careful or you will scare them off.

The girl she didn't know was greeting her back. Yay! "Eliza, what a pretty name." And another beam for you. "I'm Peyton Baltazar. You know, Slytherin. Beater. Ice cream extraordinaire." Just so she knew, hehe.

Peyton glanced around. Wind? Yeah, it's been...breezy lately, but that wouldn't stop her from her mission. Nope. She was here to cheer up the forest.

Woooot!

She looked back at Lex. "Oh darn it. Well, we're here now and..."

OH! LOOK!

Tag's friend Alec. "Hiiiiiii, Alec." You seeker, youuu! Then they were joined by another student. Peyton waved at her. Could this get any better? Everyone was here to cheer up the forest, right? Of course! Why else WOULD they be here for? Especially the ones with ice cream. RIGHT?

"You guys! I have an awesome idea. How about--" [i]we find every living creature in the forest and feed them ice cream, but she didn't get to finish her sentence when she heard something.

Peyton first saw eyes and then a shape. Her brain tingled. What was what her mother had told her before her very first train ride on the Hogwarts Express? Something about...

Don't go into the Forbiden Forest. If you must, take a Hufflepuff with you. Or something like that. That woman had too many rules. Even so, Peyton scooted a bit toward Alec, a grin plastered on her face.

She squinted her eyes, trying to get a better look, but it was dark. "I don't know what that is, but maybe it wants ice cream?" she said, extending her bowl of raspberry-vanilla ice cream toward it.

Intent as he was on finding whatever human presence was lurking about, he was quickly aware of the distinctly animal sounds off to his left. He paused and then sighed in relief as several hippogriffs emerged from the shadows. "Woah, easy girl!" he said, bowing low and hiding his wand. No need to further frighten the already scared creature.

Firth noticed another few heading in the direction he had been walking. Following their path with his gaze, he saw-- "Students?" Wait, had students been what was causing the forest animals to seem so skittish? No, he'd never detected anyone before. They couldn't be the cause.

Wary of the hippogriff near him, he slowly rose back to full height and patted the beast gently, careful not to pull on its feathers. He intercepted the other few hippogriffs before they got to the students. Bowing to them, he took out his customary dead mouse from the inside of his cloak and threw it away, hoping to lure them away from the children. No need for accidents. Then Alistaire made his way over to the large group assembled, several of whom, he noticed, had.. were those bowls of ice cream?

This caught him off guard so much that it was the first thing from his mouth as he approached the students. "Ice cream? Yeh know i's December ou' here, don't yeh?" he asked, his voice full of amused shock.

Wait, what on earth am I saying? "An' wha' are yeh all doin' in here?" he asked, the tone of his voice quickly turning more towards anger.

Awar made her way into the forest as she heard familiar voices coming from within. To her surprise, other students had also come to give the forest some lovin'. "Hello All!!" Oh, good! They had ice cream! She almost turned back to get some from the kitchen! She walked over to Alec and took some of his ice cream. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

She was startled when she heard a different deeper voice in the dark. Ooh, it was the groundskeeper! He must of wanted to join the fun! "We're just here enjoying some ice cream with the good ol' Forbidden Forest, sir! Join us!"

This was a really nice forest floor, even though she could only barely see it in the dim light she could say she thought it was absolutely lovely. At some point she would get up but the leaves made it so comfy...the snow though...that was becoming a problem.

Oh?

More voices? OH! OH! OH! "Hair Boy!!!!" BEAM. "Glad you could make it!!" Because this was beginning to seem planned. How had they all ended up out here. Not that she would complain; the more the merrier, and Hair Boy was good people so it was fine. To answer his question she beamed a bit more. "I don't know about them but I came to have ice-cream with the forest. I'm looking for the giant fridge it keeps it all in--you wanna help???" At the moment they all had ice-cream and she didn't...but once she found the giant fridge that would all chaaaaange.

Another set of steps caught her attention. She looked up from her spot on the ground and watch another girl join them. One she'd seen around a few times maybe. "HAI YOU!" GRIN.

Peyton had an idea! "What is it??" The girl never finished. More noise was coming from just a ways off. Her eyes widened in the dim light at what she thought she saw. HIPPOGRIFFS!!! "COOOOOOL!!!"

No sooner than she shouted did Not Shiny Ground's Keeper appear and use himself as a human shield. Such a good man he was, even if he wasn't shiny.

"Hello Sir!" Giggle. She took in his amused(?) expression and giggled even more at his question. "It's never too cold to have ice-cream. Ice-cream's the best thing in this entire school." As for what they were doing there. "Visiting the forest!" GRIIIIIN. Lex hopped to her feet. "I suspect it might have been lonely before we showed up. I came to share it's ice-cream--didn't you know about the giant fridge?? I'm trying to find it. They already have ice-cream but you know, more makes the forest happier!"

A happy forest was a not forbidden one. Seeeee?

Well, the hippogriffs didn't seem to be coming any closer at the moment, but he still didn't feel very safe turning his back on them. He stepped back and to the side so he could keep both parties in his field of vision. You never can be too careful when the Forest is concerned.

So apparently Alexa did not deem it too cold outside for ice cream. Somehow he wasn't surprised. Nor was he surprised that she was the one to answer first. He'd caught her in the Forbidden Forest once before and she'd seemed to be the ring leader on that occasion as well.

Then a young Hufflepuff spoke up. "Enjoyin' ice cream in the FORBIDDEN Forest, eh? Yeh don' think there's a better place fer that?" Like one that wasn't forbidden, perhaps? Join them? No, he was not going to join them. She sure did have an interesting response for someone who was in big trouble. Gotta give the Badger a bit of credit for that, at least.

But actually, Alexa was acting that way as well. She's grinning and hopping and giggling. Last time I caught her, she was just trying to sweet talk her way out of it. Plus the others all seemed unnaturally bouncy and happy, even the Hufflepuffs. Something more was definitely going on here.

And then the Lion started talking about a giant fridge. A small shadow of worry passed across the Scot's face. Sparing the hippogriffs a glance, he then turned his attention back to the others.

"An' the rest o' yeh, wha' are yeh doin' out here, eh?"

The female Hippogriff that had been startled by the Groundskeeper slowly began to call down and was back on all four legs when he bowed. She watched him nervously, clipped her beak once as he approached....and then decided he was okay. When he petted her neck she began to follow him sensing he was good.

The other Hippogriffs who were near the students began to get nervous with all the shouting and pointing and took a few steps back but then a mouse was thrown their way from the Groundskeeper and they came out into full view of the humans, snapping and fighting over the treat. After the one swallowed the rodent they turned back to the humans and their bowls.

"Squawk! Squawk!"

They slowly approached the ones holding them and after a few timid steps ignoring the adult, they began to eat the cool treat, their wings spreading slightly in their delight.

The look on the groundkeeper's face was ADORABLE. Peyton giggled under her breath. She batted her eyelashes before saying, "I'm here to cheer up the forest," she nodded all happy-like. "It's dark and very depressing looking. And you know what makes EVERYTHING better? Ice cream." She looked down at her bowl, then beamed back up at Firth. "See," she chirped, extending her bowl out for him to see.

OOOOH.

What Lex was saying had Peyton's attention. "You really think there's a giant fridge out here?" She hadn't thought of that, but now she wanted to go look for it. Especially if it had ice cream.

The redhead glanced back at Firth, smiling wide. "You look like you need ice cream. You want some ice cream?" Because it was loooooooovely.

Then something moved and there was a hippogriff eating her ice cream.

OH MERLIN! SHE MADE A NEW FRIEND. AND IT HAS WINGS.

She looked over at Firth and wiggled her eyebrows indicating how excited she was at the hippogriff eating ice cream from her bowl. GIGGLE.

Awar glanced over the girl who was sharing her ice cream with the really cool winged animal. "OOOH! LOOK THE HIPPOGRIFFS WANT TO JOIN OUR ICE CREAM PARTY!" She jumped up and down. "We should tell everybody in the Forest about this party!" Awar tugged at the sleeves of the nearest fellow students, "Come on! Let's go tell the other animals!"

A half-empty bowl of ice cream in his hand, Jake made his way down to the forest. He was cold, what with the December weather and the ice cream he'd already eaten... but he just tugged his cloak around him tighter and continued on his way, a great big grin on his face. He was being sneaky, though, and making sure no one was following him or watching him or something. Being followed was no fun. And creepy. All the things which ice cream wasn't.

As he neared the forest the sounds started reaching his ears. Was there... MERLIN'SUNDERPANTS. There was an ice cream party? And he was missing it?! Jake's pace picked up instantly and he ran to where the voice had come from. "PRESENT!" he exclaimed as he skid to a stop and raised his hand. No one was allowed to have a party without him. Who would even think to have one without the Gryffindor Prefect? That title just screamed party.

Plus... he brought his own ice cream.

He glanced around the group assembled there and BEAMED. He was here. Let the party begin.

Somewhere better than the Forbidden Forest?? Lex griiiiiiiiiined up at the poor, confused Ground's Keeper, her expression brightening by the second. "There's no where better! The giant fridge is around here somewhere and we all have ice-cream 'cept me, what better place???" BEEEEAAAAM.

So yes Peyton, she really did think there was a giant fridge and every moment they stood here was another moment they weren't finding iiiiiiiiiiittttttt.

Ooooooooooooooooo!! LOOKIT!! The Hippogriff wanted ice-cream tooooooo!!!! It had good taste--THEY had such good taste!! So many of them!!! Coming for ice-cream. "See Mr. Not Shiny Ground's Keeper, even the animals love this stuff. You should try some." Her eyes twinkled in delight as she spoke. Ice-cream was wonderful. It was the foundation upon which this entire forest was built.

It was only after someone began tugging at her sleeve that she looked away from her. OH! GIRL SHE DIDN'T KNOW!!! BEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM.

"Brilliant!!!" Lex latched on to the girl's hand and got set to pull her deeper into the forest, you know, where the animals and giant fridge were but then she heard running, running headed towards them!

HEY!!!

"JAKE!!! You made it!!!!" GRIN. She didn't think this was a party before but so many people had ice-cream and they were all already here so why not?!?!!??

"Look! He has ice-cream too! Once we find that fridge the whole forest can have some!!! It'll be epic and we'll take some back for the others!!!" The idea had her bouncing. "You can come too sir!! We'll need help taking the ice-cream back!" She turned to the others. "Come on then! We're wasting time!!"

Now even MORE of them were coming? And the hippogriffs were eating it?! This was getting serious. They had already lingered in the forest far too long. He raised his wand, summoned a happy memory, and said, "Expecto Patronum!" A silvery substance shot out of the end of the man's wand, resolving itself into a recognizable form several yards away before making its way up to the castle.

"Okay everyone," he began, his expression CLEARLY indicating that they should not interrupt what he was about to say. "As much as yeh'd all love ter have an ice cream par'y righ' now, I don' think tha's going ter work." Apparently none of them had any sense of danger at all, much less any sense of sense. "The, erm... Well th' ice cream... I's gone bad, yeh see. So if yeh eat any more, yeh'll get sick." In the head, clearly. "So stop feedin' the hippogriffs." Not that they needed extra food anyways.

"Plus yeh're not supposed ter be in here a' all. So I need everyone ter follow me back ter the castle an' get ter bed. An' no arguin'!" Leaving no room for discussion, he turned around and, ignoring the squawking hippogriffs, headed back down the path towards the castle.

But it turned out that they didn't need to run and Lex wasn't having it anyway. She let go of the girls' hands and shuffled her feet back towards the sound. "Er...sorry," she apologized to them. "Good thing it was just Alec!" And there was another girl she didn't know, but she gave her a happy wave anyway. It seemed like a lot of people had wanted in on this ice cream party and that was super fun as far as she was concerned.

"Did you guys bring ice cream too?" she asked and then saw the bowls in their hands. "Oh, good! The more the merrier! And the yummier!" She smiled and bounced onto her tiptoes and pulled her tub of ice cream out of her bag to share. "Mine's vanilla bean but I added cinnamon to make it extra delicious!!" She held it out for anyone who wanted to take a spoonful, because sharing was caring and all.



She waved at Peyton again and smiled. "Well gee, thanks Peyton! Your name is nice too!" Oh and she was Slytherin, but she was pretty sure she remembered that from how intent she'd been on keeping the emeralds. She was waiting for Peyton to tell them her great idea when suddenly she heard another noise. How many noises are in this forest anyway?

Hippogriffs!!! She immediately bowed low, hoping not to scare them or antagonize them unintentionally. Besides, she just wanted to be their friend and give them ice cream anyway, so they would probably figure that out eventually. She was sure of it. Carefully she stood back up and kept her eyes a little low, then scooped out a few plops of awesome ice cream onto the ground for them to eat.




She wasn't even phased when she saw the Groundskeeper coming closer to them. And when he questioned why they were there, she wasn't even bothered. She nodded in corroboration with Lex's explanation, and added a few words of her own when he turned his gaze to the rest of their little flock. "That's right Mr. Firth, it was just such a nice night and I thought - hey, why not go for a walk and maybe give some ice cream to the forest animals you know? I mean they seemed so sad and frightened the other day so I thought for sure some ice cream would help them feel better." She glanced down around their feet and the up and down the trunks of trees. "Plus I was hoping to find some cool leaves or flowers to bring back too for gifts or decorating or something." She extended her tub of ice cream towards him and offered him some. "Are you sure you don't want any ice cream? Cause I put a few scoops down for the nice Hippogriffs and they seem to be enjoying it. Mine's vanilla bean with added cinnamon! You don't know you don't like it unless you try it!" She smiled a big genuine, toothy grin at him, her hazel eyes sparkling with excitement under the moonlight.

And now there was another boy here too, but she wasn't super positive about his name. She gave him a nod and a welcome, welcome face as he entered their cluster.

She turned to Lex with a puzzled look on her face. "You keep mentioned a giant fridge, but I ...I don't think I've heard about it. Where did you hear about it?" Because maybe Lex knew something she didn't about where all of this tasty ice cream was coming from. The Forbidden Forest did seem like an awfully long walk from the kitchen though, so she wasn't convinced it was out here. There must be some sort of large capacity freezing going on around the castle though, and she wanted in on the details.




But....but... Eliza was trailing along with Lex to find this mystery fridge and polish off the rest of her ice cream with all of her new forest friends when the groundskeeper cast a patronus. And she knew that a patronus was usually never a good thing. Like it usually meant someone was in trouble or was sending an important message. But why doesn't he want to stay with us? She gave him a clueless look and said, "But, my ice cream tastes just fine, see?" And took a giant bite of it, maybe even had a small dribble down her chin. But that was okay because she'd just lick that up in a minute. Ice cream was ice cream, on the spoon or no. Kind of like corn on the cob. It was still yummy corn when it was in a bowl, right? But anyway. "Are you sure you want to go back? We have plenty to share! Promise!" She really didn't want to go back yet. They'd barely even begun to explore yet! She didn't get glum though, just kept on eating her ice cream with the frozen tub clutched to her chest. She hoped the other didn't want to leave either, so she was definitely dilly dallying about following Mr. Firth back to the castle.

She watched him take a few steps forward and willed him to turn around and come have ice cream with them anyway. Ice cream gobble. Watching. Ice cream lick. And watching.

At Lexa's enthusiastic greeting, Jake gave a wave. He liked that girl. She was a good kid. And much nicer than the groundskeeper guy. Why was he so grumpy, anyway?

"Hey, mate," Jake said, stepping toward Firth and offering his bowl. "If you want some, I can share, you know." Because that had to be the only explanation for him wanting them all to leave. Because really... ice cream that had gone bad? It was frozen. Frozen things didn't go bad, did they? And, also, why couldn't the hippogriffs - HAI, hippogriffs! - have any? They looked like they needed a bit of ice cream cheer.

Turning his attention back to the groundskeeper, Jake smiled easily. "There's more in the castle," ice cream, that is, "So I can get some more later, anyway. Here, have a go at it." He sort of thrust his bowl at the guy. He wasn't really arguing, either. Just merely suggesting. And being a nice guy. Sharing ice cream. Making friends. All that good stuff.