Hogsmeade Spring Festival Pt. i

He..as lame as it was the boy had been all over the place mentally lately. Not in a bad way, but just in a "I'm here physically but not mentally" type of way if that made sense. However all of that going on he had decided to go to this..thing..what the hell was this again? Spring Festival or as he was calling it "Crowd Gathering Again." None the less he made his way over to the kissing booth. Or started too then he noticed the crowd, so for now he hung back, just far enough where he could hear the conversations going on.

Honestly while he himself was and never would be much of a people person he found the way others interacted with others quite interesting. He also found it interesting how snide remarks were often used to hide true intentions but as long as no one was throwing around spells he figured everything was okay. Eyeing Pat and Noah, he sighed almost reluctantly. At least they had yet to notice him which was good.

fortunes always leave me breathless.



Oh Em Gee!

A festival!

Bright, pretty, colors.

Bright, sunny, weather!

Problem though. She wanted to do both things. Get her fortune read and get a kiss from the booth. She decided to wait her turn to get her fortune read first. She went and stood behind the guy who was currently being spoken too. She knew that a person had to wait their turn and that was okay with her.

Right now it gave her time to think anyway. She was accepting of everything that a fortune would lay upon her but deep in her heart she wanted it to be good. With that thought she closed her eyes. Internally she was screaming for it to be good, even if it wanted to, it could go beyond that. Slowly opening her eyes she stepped to the side for she did not want to do something so clumsy like as to fall into the young man in front of her.

As the warm spring air of April danced between her hair and ears, for a moment she felt almost as if she could open her arms, magically spread wings and fly away. Such was the girl whom was always bringing such a positive outlook on life. With a slight sigh, she finally turned to the young man and spoke.

She nodded her head, urging..Ren wasn't it? She did not know him but she had seen him around. She also was not trying to pry so she took exactly four steps back. Then she took four steps forward putting her back exactly where she was. Then she finally spoke.

"If you let me listen in, I will let you listen in on mine," she said politely. That way if hers did happen to come out dark, she would keep it together for sure because never would she let fear be shown to others. "If it's too invasive, I can just go see whose kissing who."

She looked over at the booth, while keeping her position. Cadence Strife, didn't she owe him a slap upon the head for old times sake?

The professor's specification did put a pause on Ren's consideration. Of course someone who taught Divination would be able to see more than the Slytherin was comfortable with, he just simply didn't really think about it. In fact, he didn't think at all when he stepped up to the booth. Like an adolescent haze, too strung up by something or another to really think things through. It was comparable to how he felt around his ex-girlfriend, but that was ridiculous. He just simply really admired Kei and his work. Even Ren could understand that.

But the drinking comment? An actual smirk formed then, sheepish and innocent, "I think I'll be fine." He was glad the professor wasn't scolding him over it, but the mere mention wasn't something he was expecting. Already, this was way out of Ren's comfort zone. He didn't like people acknowledging his flaws, especially not people he respected. Professor Kei didn't expand on that comment, letting it be a reminder that there were things Ren didn't like to talk about that he would definitely be touching.

His black eyes fell from the professor's, to his outstretched hands. Left first, Ren's dominant hand. Instinctively, he reached out to take them, when a voice broke in.

"If you let me listen in, I will let you listen in on mine,"

He hadn't even noticed the cheerful Gryffindor beside him, his haze finally broken by her voice. "Oh, uh," Ren glanced her over, letting her offer sink in. In truth, he wasn't sure if he wished to know intimate details about Carter, if that's the route Kei wished to take. Mostly out of courtesy. The two didn't know each other well, and he'd feel a bit guilty if he overheard something he shouldn't. But, her frivolity in the matter was inspiring.

"If you really want to. I have no secrets," He lied, but... insult or not, Carter served no threat to him. She seemed kind, or the type to keep her judgment to herself. "If the professor doesn't mind, of course," He swallowed the immediate regret, but gave Megalyn a smile. It was fine. It was fine, it was fine, it was fine. If anything, the only real thing he was bothered by was his privacy with the professor being broken. Or, no? That's not right... It was never private to begin with.

He placed his hands in the professor's then, his eyes watching calmly despite his reluctance. The softness of Kei's fingers made him a little less nervous. It was silly being nervous over a fortune, wasn't it? Though Carter seemed to be on the same page as him.

Ren licked his bottom lip and stayed quiet.

"I'm not."

Patricia liked to keep herself private. It was not that she cared if anyone knew her business but at the end of the day, her business was her business.

"Besides it's not like it's all that private anyway,"

she said motioning around to all the people.

"Even Cadence decided to pull his lazy arse out of bed for this, that means at the very least I need to make it good."

Noah Ravenmore

He smiled at Ren’s reply to his drinking comment, and was about to take his hand and start when a girl who’d been waiting behind Ren jumped forward. Apparently, she wanted to listen in, of course she wanted to listen in. Now, some people where okay with this, like the girl seemed to be, but most weren’t. It didn’t take a seer to see Ren didn’t want this girl hearing what Mirai would be telling him. As Ren pretended not to care, he let out a chuckle at the “no secrets comment”. Everyone had secrets, it was one of the few things that proved true for every person he met. And for good or bad, Mirai was privileged in knowing them.

He turned to the girl, Megalyn Carter, seeing that for the most part she was as vapid as she was acting. But one degree of personality tended to make people happier, if less interesting for him. But to be fair, he wasn’t really looking for her life story right now. For all he could tell the shallowness was simply a very well made front, possibly an unconscious one. Regardless, both Carter and Ren would be better off not learning each other dark secrets while Ren didn’t want her knowing. He smiled at her as gently as he could.

“I think the kissing booth will be open quite soon, Carter,” he told her, “why don’t you go buy a kiss for charity? We should be done by the time you get back. Anyway, I hear Urquhart’s donating the money to help animal shelters.”

He added the last part as he was almost sure it would get her to leave. The irony that he couldn’t remember what his money was going to, but he could remember that wasn't lost on him. Or was that irony? He could never remember.

“So,” he asked Ren once Carter seemed to be moving off, “ready to begin?”

[ outfit. ]

There was still work to be done, but... Even the most studious of students were out and about at the festival, Jasper being no exception. The school year was drawing to an end, and things were simmering down for the most part. The thing about Jasper was that he never stopped working because his curiosity was never quenched. As well as the fact that he felt it was necessary to try to match himself to Ren, except... Well, Ren would always have a few feet ahead of him. But even Jasper needed a break every once in a while, for the most part.

Taking a quick breakfast, he sat himself on an antsy bench that seemed to think it was cute and charmed to move around. He weighed it down without a second thought, and it fell in line as he willed it to. It could go about its dancing for other festival patrons. Chewing on his doughnut idly, he took to people watching in the meantime. In truth, he had no idea what he was doing today. Jasper sort of worked around the idea that he'd run into someone and it'd all work out, and that would be that. If not, he'd wander around on his own and that didn't sound so bad, either.

As he sipped his coffee, a fluffy head of hair stumbled about before him. Ever since Jasper figured, with absolute accuracy, that Llewellyn was no more than a dumb ass stoner, his feelings toward him were nothing short of apathetic. He had wondered for a bit if it were a ruse, that he had some sort of plot against Davina for whatever reason. But no. There was nothing there. Jasper rose from his seat, which skittered away from him immediately, and stepped forward to ask the Hufflepuff if he was alright-- But then a curious vision came to him. Llewellyn and Edmund leaving that one party together. Rumors circulated that they had been hanging around each other. Something like that. It was all so vague, none of it meant much, but... Envy was Jasper's best friend, thank you very much, and he turned his heel merrily away from the Hufflepuff.

Pettiness was Jasper's other best friend.

But as he tossed his napkin into a yapping rubbish bin, he found himself facing some sort of karmic consequence to his own willful uncivility.

"Free face painting!" An older witch offered to him, "Come, come! What'cha like, sweetheart?"

"No... I'd rather not. Thank you, though," Jasper raised a hand in defiance, but she merely grabbed it in an effort to drag him along. The last thing Jasper wanted was to fight some old hag in the middle of Hogsmeade. That'd be... very unfortunate. Allowing himself to be pulled into the booth, he sat with his joints stiff and eyes screaming for any sort of help from passerby. No one came to help.

Without saying a word, the woman snatched Jasper's glasses from his face and took her brush to his skin like he wasn't a human being, but an inanimate canvas. He accepted this defeat, albeit he sighed irritably every so often over this ridiculous ordeal. He could have sworn she mumbled something about him having nice skin, and that unsettling remark granted the rest of his cooperation for the rest of the painting.

Before he knew it, Jasper was standing in the middle of the walkway with his glasses in hand and his face painted quickly like a cat. He wondered, as she pushed him out of the seat, if this booth was actually supposed to be there. If this was some batty old woman getting her kicks. Putting his glasses on, he caught his reflection in one of the store windows, past the overgrown flowers. The heart nose was a good touch? But he was more so baffled that this even happened.

There was a moment where he attempted to smudge away the black paint from his upper lip, but it made no sign that it would be rubbing off any time soon. He could swear he heard the witch cackle behind him, but she was busy on another poor student's face. Fine. Whatever. Sipping his coffee once more, Jasper decided he would find his revenge in time. But for now, he would have to lie in this kitty faced bed, and so he continued walking the festival on his own.

There was a part of Ren that was a bit relieved to hear Kei lightly shoo the girl away. It was truly nothing against her, but there was something about Kei's warning that really put an edge to this whole fortune telling thing. There were things about Ren that not even he himself wanted to really know. They weren't particularly bad, at least he didn't think so. But one moment always stuck out in his mind. How could it not? His mother's laughter still echoed through his head, every time his fists clenched and his words turned sour. It took a lot to take the fight out of Ren, and facing the consequences of his mistakes was enough for him.

Megalyn didn't need to know that. Hell, Professor Kei didn't need to know that. Maybe he already knew that, though. His long fingers stretched out along the man's wrist and lingered momentarily, before he flipped his hand over, palm up. No, he didn't need to know, but Ren didn't want to leave. Fortune telling, even when it dug deep into his nuances, piqued Ren's curiosity much more than his nerves rattled his bones.

Of course, he enjoyed being alone with Kei, that part was definitely true. That was something he couldn't quite sweep under the rug. He didn't see the girl saunter off. Instead, he watched the professor as he spoke. A smirk crossed his expression, "Ah... Well. Thanks, Professor," he began quietly, "I'll have to take notes on your diplomacy. Merlin knows I could learn a thing or two from you." Which sounded a lot better than "I'm an asshole" and "you're super cute", because? He could? Never say that? To a Professor no less? He tucked his eyes back down to their hands. He almost wondered if Kei wanted the two of them to be alone, too. But that couldn't be the case, obviously. He was just being a proper divine. He was looking out for Ren's, er... feelings, as silly as that was to say. But the man was obviously kindhearted, respecting.

This line of thought was becoming ridiculous. Ren never thought of a professor like that before, let alone a man. He shoved it away-- For now, at least.

He couldn't believe he was getting so concerned over the word "cute".

“Ready to begin?”

Ren nodded and bit his lip, "Absolutely."

Lachlan blinked in surprise. Hostile? He was being nice. If only Liz knew how nice. But he supposed she was just as flustered by this whole engagement thing as Edmund must be. If there was one thing neither of them had ever expected, it was that their parents might try to marry them off. The notion made Lachlan's stomach flip, though he knew he gained a little more protection by virtue of his reputation.

Before he could say anything she was already insinuating herself into Beck and Dale's conversation, clearly not wanting to speak to him any longer than necessary. He couldn't blame her. It must be difficult to be civil to someone with the same face as your unwanted future husband. And it was probably for the best, anyway. Lachlan had taken care not to respond to the letter from their mother, but there would still be hell to pay if he let on that Edmund was anything less than a perfect prospect.

Now that the Kissing Booth was getting some more attention, Lachlan abandoned it. Beckett clearly wasn't giving out freebies and Lachlan wasn't desperate enough to pay for affection... yet.

Was that? Was that Jasper Kim? With a cat's face?

"Jasper!" Lachlan called.

Maybe this day would be more fun than he thought.

Since his return to school Judge had kept to himself, the occasional mischief with a girl or two, but all in all he'd put most of his play boy ways behind him. Since he was given a business to run after school and being half owner of the Holyhead Harpies Judge had found himself thinking about his future. His wealth. The Creed legacy would be his to bare soon, and something in the back of his mind told him that being a foolish dog would get him nowhere.

The Spring festival in Hogsmeade was relatively new for Wizards and Witches but the extreme dedication put into the event was beautiful, Judge knew beauty and could see it in everything. Which is probably why he spotted the kissing booth first as he stepped out the door of his shop and saw his chances of putting his lips to charitable use for once. He didn't know for sure but he felt like putting his riches to use for some snogging.

With a hand in his pocket and playing idly with vast amounts of coin in his pocket the tall lanky fresh hair cut and weirdly attractive Slytherin ventured to the booth.

Gryffindor's. As far as his little Irish eyes could see.

"I've had to kiss worse," he began slyly winking at the occupants, "I guess, however if you want real business yeh' could hook a mate up with a spot inside. Probably draw," he sarcastically looked around at the small ignorant crowd passing by, "More of ah crowd mates."

On second thought he might still be a horn dog, and the thought made him grin as he slapped a handful of coins on the table.

(outfit- i.imgur.com/e73fLMv.jpg)

Liz Reeves, Beckett Urquhart, Noah Ravenmore

She noticed the crowd gathering and she looked at Pat.

Noah
"We will have to continue this at a different time,"

she said as she noticed Judge make his presence. She sighed silently. There were a lot of things she could say and perhaps even more things that she could do but right now her only instict was to throw her eyes in the general direction of Liz. She then spoke.

Noah
"How about you give Judge here his money's worth."

Liz Reeves ; Judge

He received a few passing glances, but for the most part Jasper walked along fairly unscathed. In hindsight, it was pretty typical for people to get their faces painted at festivals, and wizarding kind was pretty open to peculiarity. Truthfully, he couldn't say he was too afraid of what possibilities could kindle from this moment. People could try to tease him over it, sure, but Jasper wasn't really the type to give two shits about teasing. He had always been relatively shorter than most boys his age, he had messy hair, he wore glasses, he was a bit of a holier than thou nerd ass. It was pretty typical for him to be picked at and prodded and that all sort of died down when he got older.

But still. It was a tad embarrassing. If his cheeks could burn red through that white paint, they probably would. Being Jasper, he kept his chin up and let his attention find its way to each booth he walked by.

Not too far from the busy kissing booth was some sort of ring toss, possibly rigged with enchantments, that boasted gifts of stuffed plush animals that caught Jasper's eye. In particular, there was a large, stuffed tarantula, mint green in color with tiny pink flowers decorating its abdomen. Jasper was rather fond of arthropods, being a particularly schoolboy fascination of his. Ren would catch spiders and the rare scorpion that wandered into the house and he'd leave them on Jasper's desk in little jars with tiny holes poked through the tops. Sometimes he even asked about them. It was something Jasper never really told anyone, but secretly, yet unabashedly, appreciated.

"Jasper!"

With paper cup to his lips, Jasper's attention tore from the stuffed spider and to the source of the voice calling to him. And... Now he was definitely embarrassed.

Lachlan had asked Jasper if he'd be attending the festival, but the Ravenclaw didn't think he'd actually run into the guy. Perhaps it was rude to assume, but Lachlan seemed all talk and no action. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it made Jasper feel a bit better around him. One of his deepest pet peeves was to be hit up while he was doing work, just for it to turn into a lazy screw that did nothing more than waste his time. It was something he became accustomed to ever since he opened up about his interests; while he was admittedly more promiscuous than one would assume, he still had his standards. He couldn't say he felt bad about snapping at Lachlan, but he did wish he gave the Slytherin a better impression of himself.

Oh, but who was he kidding? Jasper was who he was.

Pushing his hair to the side, he gave Lachlan a noticeably forced smile to hide his shame. This was possibly the least attractive way to present himself to the person he had been flirting with in between his ~oh so important~ studies for so long. "Ah, Strangways. What a pleasant surprise," He began, but his eyes were tucked back to the tarantula and he sipped his coffee busily, "How is the festival treating you?"

"I wish it would rain," Jasmine muttered to herself as she carefully picked her way through the crowded street. Seriously, it would have been so much more enjoyable if a downpour was going on during all of this. Not because it would ruin the festivities, but rather because rain was simply more enjoyable to be around. It's not like it would even deter anything because you could just put a magic bubble over the whole thing to keep from getting wet. But whatever, things could be boring too, she supposed.

Though not deeply interested in working at any of the booths herself, Jasmine did find herself brought along as a sort of manager for a few of them. Initially it was only supposed to be for the Kissing Booth, but one thing led to another and she had essentially latched herself onto a few others. Not that it really amounted to much. It was mostly cheap advertising. And cheap as in Jasmine was only sort of half-heartedly bothering to get people interested into the different booths. Mostly through fliers, but also through monotonously barking the venues at people as if she were the worlds worst carnival manager. Which she basically was, she supposed.

Still, a good twenty moments had been wasted with Jasmine silently attempting passerbys to take fliers from her, all the while she glowered at the cute girls having tea with really boring looking dudes. They could do so much better. But so many people had bad taste it seemed. It also scarcely mattered since Jasmine figured that many of them preferred their manly men who were just guys being dudes. Or whatever it was. But after realizing she was simply depressing herself with this viewing, Jasmine decided she may as well go back and check up on how thins were going at some of her venues.

The Kissing Booth was closest so that when Jasmine reached it, after forcing her way through a crowd of third years with a small 'sorry, move', her general poor mood was still somewhat present. But she really only needed to see how much coin they had acquired before she could set off again and maybe find herself a willing compatriot. Perhaps one with a lovely flowercrown and a white sundress, proper daydream material.

"I guess, however if you want real business yeh' could hook a mate up with a spot inside. Probably draw more of ah crowd mates."

Oh god no, please, why. Of course Judge had to be there when she stopped by. Because why wouldn't he be? Jasmine rolled her eyes at the concept that he could ever gather a crowd as she stepped around and to the side of the booth. "So," she began calmly, a bored expression on her face. "While that's quite the prospect, really, uhm. No." She gave a small sigh before continuing. "For one, you wouldn't fit, literally, in the booth." Which was true. It really was only designed for the three of them and the fact that they even fit as well as they did was amazing in of itself. "For two, uhm. See we're actually trying to diversify our target audience? And you're really more the type of department that we'd be interested in, uh, downsizing." Hopefully that was neutral enough. Not that Jasmine really cared if she somehow offended his man ego or something. "You can still get what you paid for, obviously."


Judge , Noah Ravenmore , Liz Reeves