Thornton was.. not enthused. But he was under strict orders from home to socialize, and so being in the proximity of socialization was something he would do.

Hippogriffs held no interest for him, nor did the climbing or water sports, so he settled, by himself, on a blanket. Sighing, he tucked his knees to his chest. He'd gotten to know some people, but no one well, and he always felt like he was interrupting or bothering people when he tried to talk to them.

How long did he have to stay?

Lincoln had made sure that they made a stop to get food first before they took a seat and he set about tugging on Pietra's hair and her hand. Enough food for a good growing Darcy boy and his Moretti girl. He would have been holding her hand right then, but he was carrying their food. "Choose a blanket, Petal." And then they could sit down and he could eat. Until the food was gone or they got cold enough that they had to steal another blanket and he had to give her his jacket like a gentleman.

Or something like that.

His jacket was pretty much hers anyway. She had quite a few of them already.

Well this was fun! Pi and Linc had sort of just hung back and taken everything in, because she needed that, to be able to look around and be sure of what was happening. But now they were going to eat, because Linc needed that. He always needed food. They were pretty good at compromising! Pi was careful to not step on any of the other blankets as she chose one for them to sit on. "We can sit here." She decided, sitting and offering her hands so that Lincoln could give her some of the food and he could sit too.

She was wearing a sweater, one of Lincoln's hoodies and a coat over all of that, and there seemed to be some kind of heating charms going on around here, so for now, she was pretty well snug, and it felt like it was going to be a good night for sure.

Here? Lincoln grinned, nodded and handed her some of the food he'd collected for them him. He wiggled his eyebrows at her a little as he sat, and got his bottom pretty comfy on the blanket. "Did you want to go do any of the things?" He wasn't sure if he wanted to himself, because sitting here and eating food sounded like the best plan ever. Shamelessly, the boy stole some of the food in her hands back and got himself prepared to eat it.

"D'you reckon we'll get to keep these blankets? I bet Flynn would be so excited to have something from Hogwarts.." Had he mentioned that his nephew had already insisted on getting matching robes to Lincoln's school ones? Maybe Flynn had told her himself. He talked a lot when Pi was around.

Gabriel had done what Gabriels did best..........He'd brought a book to the social gathering and had claimed a blanket the furthest away from the crowd. See, Ruby couldn't say anything...but he was HERE...if not technically participating. Besides, his vantage point was much more desirable....considering he could see the whole area...and would see it right away I'd anything crazy started going down. You know, in case Gabe needed to flee the scene. Logical and smart.

.......AND he had the Twelve Caesars to keep him company; a Latin translation. It was safe to say he'd be entertained for the remainder of the day.

Cracking the book open, Gabe began reading...

Justine didn't have any plans to meet anyone as she walked through the sea of students and blankets toward a nice quiet spot nearby the kid with glasses (Gabe). She sat down, and began pulling out her things from her purse; a thermos of cocoa, a box of caramel eclairs, macaroons and assorted pastries, and her notebook, and pen. She'd been much too antisocial of late and had felt a need to be around people, even if she wasn't speaking to any of them.

She poured herself a cup of the delicious chocolately drink, the scent strong in the clean February air, and took a long drink. Perrrfecttt. Bless those House Elves. Justine had gotten so used to the purring, she wasn't even aware she was doing it.

Eden had juuuuust ridden a HIPPOGRIFF. IT WAS SO AWESOME. ADRENALINE WAS HAPPENING. Her cheeks were still FLUSHED from the excitement--and the wind, yeah, that too--and she BEAMED as she saw Justine and came ruuuuunning over before she PLOPPED down next to her fellow 'claw. "Hiiii, Justine!" she said cheerfully, tucking her hair behind her shoulders.

Ahhh.

She took in a deeeep breath and and then released, smiling in a relaxed way. "How are you?" she asked quickly. "Isn't this so NICE?" she said, and then she looked over at Justine. "You look nice--miss MODEL--" HEH. "Where's Ian?" she asked, of course TEASING as always--thank Merlin that little bugger wasn't here. He'd be...doing BAD things and annoying people, yes.

"Maybe." They could venture off to look more after he was done eating.

This sure was a nice blanket. Pi liked it very much, it was just the right amount of soft and fuzzy while still being sturdy enough to keep them quite warm. "I think if you can manage to get one back to the dorm without someone taking it off of you, then it should be yours." That seemed logical to her, anyway. "Be careful not to get any food on it, though." They probably should have sat over at the tables where the food was, but there were soooo many other people there and that just didn't make her feel comfortable at all. Over here was much better. "We should have a mirror to talk to him with. I miss that little booger." She definitely did, yep.

Gabe had just reached the section about Nero.......was literally reading the name NERO...when he heard it.

The most annoying sound on the planet....aside from Gage's ' I'm flirting, much wow' voice.

Girl squealing.

........The fact that it was Eden McGee...didn't help matters; a friend of Clara's....and a Sparkle Pants groupie. Much loathing and dislike. MUCH. To properly express his disdain, he scowled in her direction. The other girl, whomever she was, wasn't speaking....and appeared to have similar ideas about this social gathering....

At least SHE understood that some people were trying to read...

"I bet the rock climbing thing is AWESOME." He'd have to tell his brothers and cousins about it when he could. It actually reminded him of that boys weekend they'd gone on once with their uncles. Adventure weekend. Darcy style. Darcy boys did everything in style so it wasn't much of a surprise anyway. Lincoln began to tuck into food as Pi inspected the blanket after his question.

Food. The best thing since sliced bread. Actually... sliced bread WAS food.

So it was the best thing.

Wiping his mouth of any remnants of his mouthful, Linc nodded. "Reckon we could smuggle it in one of our jackets?" He had his wand. He knew that could be used to get the blanket out of this area and into his dorm without being caught. Risks, though. Darcy. "Why? I can wash it. Or Mum can." Wasn't that what a mother was properly for? The washing, the cooking and the loving? This required more thought. What else did they even do? Aside from ground you when you said a few things that most definitely weren't appropriate at the table with your grandparents. "I can ask Tristan in my next owl if he'll sort us some out? I miss him too. He sent me a picture earlier..."

Flynn, that was. Not Tristan. Tristan probably sent pictures to his giiiirlfriend.

Justine had just been about to take another drink of her hot chocolate when quite suddenly someone plopped unceremoniously beside her, startling the French Canadian and nearly making her spill her cocoa on her expensive, new sweater.

Do not be cross, you're trying to be a better person, remember? Don't be cross, don't be cross. "Eden," Justine managed, just managed to give the girl a very relaxed smile, though on the inside she was still internally cringing and griping. Merlin, was Eden hyper! Had someone given the girl an injection of sugar or something?

blink, blink.
How did anyone speak that quickly, Justine was torn between being impressed and being slightly irritated. Because while she had wanted some company, she hadn't been prepared for this much energy. "Fine. Yes it is, and thank you, I know," She calmly said, a small smirk curving her painted lip. As she began quietly cutting out the note that she had absent-mindly doodled Connor's name on and holding it casually in her hand. [i{snort.[/i] "Why you insist on throwing Hale on me, I'll never understand," Justine said, dryly amused despite herself.

Really, just because the boy was obsessed with her did not make Justine his keeper.

Turning slightly, Justine couldn't help but notice the obvious distaste of the bespectacled boy near him, clearly, Eden's excitable nature was not to his liking and in this instance she had to side with him. The Ravenclaw decided without a hint of irony that Bespectacled Boy was her spirit animal.

"This area look good?"

Prefect's events were the BEST. Really. Last year, he'd gotten the chance to race around on a go kart and now there was a fireworks festival. It was just freaking BRILLIANT. And he had his eyes on that rock climbing activity over there but he kinda needed the right person to go there with. Someone he wouldn't mind beating. Someone he wanted to see go DOWN.

Not that he didn't have company right now, because he did. And it was GOOD company, too, which was why there was a smile on the fifth year's face as he led Ruby Banner over towards the Blanket and Sitting Area. "It's probably not much buuuuut we can chill and chat for a while, I guess." Shrug. "Besides, there's no WAY I could take you down in rock climbing or one of the water sports."

Pause. These blankets? Lulz. Leaning sideways in Ruby's direction, Grayson said quietly, "What are the chances that they put the crest on the blankets so that no one would steal one?"

Ruby was excited for this. She'd never been to one of these event things at Hogwarts, obvy, but Grayson had been saying good stuff about them so she was all for it.

"Sounds perfect to me, and then later I can watch you kick someone's butt on the wall." She giggled a bit. "Rock climbing is way fun, and you're right, you couldn't beat me - even if you were better at it, you'd get too distracted once I got ahead of you." For reasons. Wink.

She pulled her leather jacket tighter around herself -it was a tiny bit chilly still- and then examined the blankets. "I think you're on to something, but maybe some nostalgic seventh year might be all for it."

Choosing a good spot, Ruby sat down and stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned back on her hands.

"Well?" She smiled up at him and purred in that suggestive way of hers. "Are you going to join me?"

She liked the area? Good! He liked that, he did. And what he liked even more was what she went on to say. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," Smirk. He WAS gonna beat someone at that wall but the question was: WHO? Again, not Ruby because......

LOL!

LOOOOOOL!

How long had they been talking and she'd already managed to turn things a little less childlike? MAN. A hearty laugh was had before Grayson said, "Dang, that's accurate. And yeah, you're right. You're too distracting. And if that's the case, I wouldn't mind losing." Especially if she managed to pull ahead at the right angle. Jeez, why were girls so distracting?

Nostalgic seventh year. Snort. "Hope we don't turn into nostalgic seventh years when we get there in the next two years. I'd rather enjoy my year than looking back at it all year long." He also kinda hoped he had something figured out by then but that wasn't something he was gonna tell Ruby. Not out in the public.

And.......... cue an eyebrow raise.

"You know, this reminds me of Greece, kinda," he said, once he had sat down next to her, "Minus the sunny weather of course." The fifth year leaned back onto his elbows and stretched out his legs as well. Ah, this was the life, wasn't it?

WHAT WAS THIS?! James wandered around looking at all the blankets each of course bearing the school crest. Of course. Finding an empty one he sat down and looked around. Someone mentioned fireworks and he couldn't help but come down from the tower to look. Exploding balls of fire at night. YES PLEASE! He let his hands run over the soft blanket and grinned. How much trouble would he get in if he stole one.... He looked around at the people there and sighed. He really needed to get out more. Where was his trouble making brother?! It's like he had fallen off the face of the earth these last few months.

Eden just GOT EXCITED from being outside. She just--UGH. As soon as she was settled, though, she grew more quiet as she looked around at everyone--people watching. It was quite interesting. There was...the 'Claw couple, Pietra and Lincoln...cuties. And then there was Ruby and Grayson--where they DATING? Eden would have to ask one of them later. Because she was epicly nosy, yes.

And then..her briiiight blue eyes landed on none other than Gabriel Banner. Ruby's brother. Clara's...friend thing.....WHY was he looking at her that way? With such...DISTASTE. Eden had never said anything mean to the kid! WHAT THE MERLIN. She raised an eyebrow back at him...and normally, Eden was nice--

BUT SHE WAS IN A BLOODY GOOD MOOD AND HE WAS RUINING IT. "What's your problem, EH, Banner?" she asked, well aware that Ruby was there--but she wasn't being MEAN. She hadn't said it in a MEAN way...more...a CURIOUS way, eh? Her eyes shot back at Justine--and then she shrugged. "He's staring at me all...accusin'ly even though I haven't done nothin'--" she was getting worked up. So her Irish was REALLY showing. it was rare that she let herself speak so...IRISH, ugh. Her father had always said to sound more proper than that at school, and Hogwarts was no different.

Hmm hmmm who was the lone wolf over there? Cute. So she'd come to this thing with Gray, no reason she couldn't notice people, right? Speaking of noticing people... she heaaard Eden and immediately looked over that way... but nothing seemed amiss.

But she'd be WATCHING the Ravenclaws. She would. Just in case.

... or well. Mostly watching them. Watching when she remembered. Watching when she wasn't distracted. Hiii Grayson. Mhmm she'd always be on hand for the confidence boost, it was kind of her thing in a way. She would always prefer to build people up than rip them down.

"Sure and if you lost.... you'd still be winning, just in a different way, right?" Ruby giggled a bit and smiled at Grayson. She always had a good time with him.

... and she was getting pretty good at reading him to be honest. Ruby tilted her head and smiled softly.

"You won't be looking back, by the time you're seventh year, you'll be looking forward, and excited about it. I promise." And he'd laugh about the stress it was giving him now. He'd be fine, she probably would flunk out or get expelled before then.

Greece?

Mmmmaybe.

"Well... we know each other a little better now, wouldn't you say?" And no need for sunscreen here. "And there's a lot more people around." She added. And as of yet... he'd not kissed her publicly. Which was fine and didn't matter at all. It wasn't as if they were together, and he probably didn't want Sophie to see. She understood, she just also liked kisses so really it was too bad.

There were so many peasants around. Was there a festival going on. She didn't approve of any fun. There was to be no fun until Snow White was found. Did they not know this. Storming towards the front of everyone she turned, "MY LOYAL SUBJECTS THIS IS YOUR QUEEN AND YOU WILL STOP THIS FESTIVAL RIGHT NOW. THERE WILL BE NO FESTIVALS UNTIL SNOW WHITE IS FOUND."

Were they listening to her, they better or they would all be in the dungeons until she took care of them. She'd have to get her heart cases before she could do anymore. They would listen she would make them. Glaring at them all as she waited very impatiently, "Also I need a Huntsmen" Who would be her Huntsmen, she had a very special job for them and they better do it or else.

David was totally minding his own business, just wandering around the festival to decide what he wanted to do next...

And then a lady was SHOUTING. Queen? Snow White? What?????

That was...the Divination professor, wasn't it? He didn't take that class, so maybe this was some divinationy thingy? OR she'd been hanging out with Hooksteed and it was the trendy thing to pretend to be Disney characters now.

Yeah, Hooksteed was probably a trendsetter.

And playing along with him had been fun, SOOO David could play along here too. Maybe they'd start another food fight. Or something even MORE epic.

"I hear you need a huntsman, prof- er, queen? Your majesty?" Totally smooth save.

The queen turned when she heard someone speak to her. A huntsman, him? She looked him over. He was just a child was he not? Though if there was one lost in the forest searching for Snow White was it really that big of a deal? No he would do just fine, she would find more just in case though.

"Yes I am looking for a Huntsman. Have you ever worked as one before? This is a very important task I need done." He would be in search and if he didn't not come back with what she wanted he would be done for.

Though your majesty did make her smirk, yes she was a Majesty, the Queen.

Man, this was great. First he got to pretend to be a pirate, now he could be a huntsman. Totally cool. The power of imagination and Disney character trends.

Though what WAS a huntsman exactly? Just someone that hunted things? It was in the name, obviously, but it seemed like there should be something else in the job description that was cooler. Like how being a pirate was cool.

But anyway.

"Yeah, totally, I just got done training to be one. I was top of my huntsmen class actually," he replied with a grin. "So I'm definitely the man for the task."

Gabriel just didn't understand. He'd even taken preventative measures......sitting as far away from the crowd as he possibly could.....but he was still being bothered....and no, he wasn't daft. Gabe knew there would be noise...Festivals usually meant all that excitement....good times.....stuff, but that didn't have to include high pitched screeching and carrying on, did it?

Man, he'd had quite enough of that sort of thing from the lessons, thank you very much...

"I'm trying to read." It was said with as much annoyance and frustration as could be mustered in one sentence. Translation: your girl voice is my problem.

After a pause and then, a last minute scowl....he promptly went back to his book.

........And the cosplaying professor just got a look. Gabe could appreciate how dedicated they got about their roles here; really giving the characters 100 percent...and performing the very realistic scenarios...but he wasn't really feeling it today. Nope, it was a Julius Caesar...Latin kind of day............Not a Brother's Grimm one.

Justine watched the exchange between the Bespectacled Boy and Eden with thinly veiled amusement. Damn, she thought she was the only person who could rile the Irishwoman up like that, apparently she'd been wrong. She took the golden opportunity of Eden's distraction to quietly slip the silly note into her pocket.
There. Safe.

She leaned forward conspiratorially, her green eyes flicking to the bespectacled boy again. "That rather sounded like he was annoyed with you," Justine whispered, nodding as she spoke. Yeah, okay, so much for trying to be a better person, but she couldn't help it! This was such a good opportunity for mischief! And besides it wasn't as if Eden would let the matter rest on her own, anyway.

You never would have guessed that from her features, though, because her lovely visage was as serene as ever. Yep, no evil here.

Except for the evil queen - A. K. A. Professor Way-too-hyper, A. K. A. Professor Elle Woods - Who was asking around for a Huntsman and taking about killing Snow White. Ugh, hadn't they fixed this issue yet? Honestly, it wasn't charming anymore, nor had it been, ever.

So he was a huntsman good, good. Though the class thing got her raising an eyebrow. "I don't remember Huntsman going to a class." She had many huntsmen that worked for her, but for some reason she couldn't find a single one at the moment.

This one would do though, yes he would do. If he came back with what she desired then he would be rewarded greatly, but if he did not, well he wouldn't want to find out what would happen. She had special containers that she kept things from people that failed her.

Looking around at the rest of them she glared, "This man has volunteered to be my huntsman, so you should be glad someone is going to go find Snow White, because if I do not find her soon you will all start paying." She wasn't going to stand for her subjects hiding Snow White. They were to be being loyal to her not that girl.

Turning her attention back to the Huntsman, "You will find my step daughter and take her deep into the woods. There you will end her and bring me back proof that you did. Do I make myself clear?" For his sake he better hope she was crystal clear.