Gaston smiled and gave Cynthia a polite nod in reply to her greeting. "Art supplies," he replied to her question about the boxes, "so the students can make their own ornaments." truth be told, Gaston wasn't exactly the artsy type, but he's owled a friend for ideas.

He blushed a little when Kay complimented his outfit! Personally it was a little loud for his taste; he only wore it because it looked festive. Still, it was awful kind of her to say so! "Thank you," he said, running a hand through his black hair and making it stick up. "You outfit is very nice too." He hoped that didn't come across the wrong way! As he and Kay unpacked the boxes of ornament making supplies, his eyes strayed to the doors. Where were the students? He though they would be arriving already! He hoped they hadn't missed the announcement about the holiday activities...

Only moment later, Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne came in. Gaston was pleased to see the boy and gave him a friendly wave. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne!" he said, but the boy's question caught him slightly off guard. He blinked; now were would he get an idea like that? "Certainly not!" he replied. "All our trees are perfectly safe." He probably should've let Justin or River answer that question, since they were the ones who brought the trees, but he didn't want the little Hufflepuff to be scared!

"Come along," he said, giving Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne an encouraging smile. "We have ornaments ready to go on the trees..." he gestured toward the box Justin had brought in. "... and there are supplies for you to make your own ornament too!" He reached into the big red sack that held enough chocolate frogs for everyone at Hogwarts and held one of them behind his back. "And look! I have a present for you." He handed the boy the candy behind his back. "You don't have to eat the frog if you don't want to," he said, thinking back to the cocoa incident in his class, "but I thought you might enjoy the card." He hoped the card would be the one the boy wanted!