It was a mere matter of lexicon that had Valerie dragging her feet down to this little social gathering. The absence of pep would have made her attendance more palatable as there was not much pep the Wampus felt when it came to the competition. There were still scars (visible only to herself) over what her pride and ambition had exposed Ryan to and she had spent the first week upon the completion of the third task questioning whether or not her continued efforts were worth it. Despite her brief discussion with Ryan in which he had validated her commitment to compete ("But it's for your future, Val Val!"), her heart no one believed she possessed felt heavy.

Heavy and more stressed. More on edge. More in desperate need for an outlet.

Somehow slipping on her combat boots, she had departed the Beetle and made her way over to the festivities. Thoughts weighing heavily upon on mind, it began hitting her that her time abroad was quickly coming to a close and did not know when another opportunity to travel overseas would arise again. Things certainly had not played out as she had hoped and she still had a bitter aftertaste in her mouth whenever she thought of their temporary residence on the Hogwarts grounds, isolated in an Ilvermorny bubble. Add preparing for each task to her already difficult persona and socializing was rather difficult. Saver for, perhaps, that one young Hogwartian wearing bunny slippers she had assisted outside the doors of the Hogwarts castle cafeteria. Or whatever its name was.

Perhaps things could have been different were she not right in the thick of competition.

Not being one particularly fond of sweets (with a few special exceptions) it was ironic that she found herself here. Then again, there were a fair few things in Valerie Gray's existence as of late that were so.

Electing to ignoring the Team Brent pin discussion as she surveyed the choice of sweets, Valerie attempted to figured out the British options seeing as time was running out to taste true authentic dishes. She really did not wish to think about people's faces on pins. While it of course came with being selected by the Book of Merlin, the Wampus was hardly about the glory or recognition. Furthermore she was still trying to stomach the thought of some small blonde Hogwartian boy running around with her face on a T-shirt.

Perhaps she would try this sponge looking sandwich cake with whipped cream and some sort of jam between layers? Did it have a name?