Around 2:30 p.m.

Fauna frowned in concentation as she completed the finishing touches on the girl’s face in front of her. A little more pink here, a touch of gray there, and she was done!

“Okay! You’re all set,” Fauna announced, straightening. Lena grinned and wrinkled her pig’s snout in delight. Then, with a glint in her eye, she whirled around and oinked at her brother, whose face was covered in dragon scales. He blew a puff of smoke at her, turned tail and ran.

Another satisfied customer, Fauna thought, leaning back in her fold-out chair and wiping at her forehead. On the table beside her rested a set of colorful mini-wands, used like muggle paintbrushes, and special quills for the finer details. That way, she and Megan didn’t have to spend so much time crafting the painting charms from scratch. Since the booth’s opening at noon, kids had lined up to see their faces transformed by a combination of paint and minor transfiguration spells. The magic lasted for a few hours, allowing the kids to roam the festival, snorting, honking, and cawing at passerby. By the time the face paint wore off, the parents were at the end of their patience and the children were scratching at their whiskers or fur, ready to be regular witches and wizards again.

Fauna stretched and heard her spine pop. She glanced around the streets warily, not quite ready for another swarm of children. It felt like a long day of piano lessons, except this time, they were out in the heat and surrounded by all these wonderful distractions. The painting booth stood right next to Honeydukes and across from the Post Office, which were both decked out for the celebration. She could hear broom jousting in the distance, and the screams of people riding the dragon roller coaster.

Stifling a yawn, she turned to Megan, who was again, a lifesaver. She’d created the banner that hung over their heads when Fauna, stressed and busy, had forgotten to. Planning this booth had gone easier between the two of them, and Fauna was very glad that Megan had signed up for the art club this school year.

“Meg, if I run and get something cool to drink… do you want anything?” She asked, peeling herself out of the chair with reluctance. Fauna smiled at her and rattled the tip jar, which was full of knuts and a few sickles. She thought she glimpsed a button or two in there. Perhaps a gum wrapper. It was amusing to see what fell out of kid’s pockets when they dropped spare change into the jar! Fauna had decided not to charge for the face painting and she thought it was worth it. She might even be able to pay for a cold soda from the tips, after all.

As the minutes slowly passed on, Meg was finishing the whiskers on a boy's face. She had painted orange and black fur, and she was just finishing up the last few touches to the whiskers for the child. Upon finishing her work on the boy, he meowed at her, and scampered off into the crowd of people that were in Hogsmeade for the Woodcroft Festival.

Meg didn't mind helping Fauna out for the face painting. But, she had originally been apprehensive about the magical paint. For every painting that she previously done, she never used magic on any of it. It was like a foreign language to her, since it was her first time using it. Make that, it made her feel as if she was just entering the magical community, once again, which wasn't the best feeling for her. While there was that rush of exhilaration, there was that sense that she knew that she had to be careful not to screw up. She believed that if she screwed up, she would be banned from the art club by Fauna, or even rejected from her future plans of being the art club president when Fauna graduated from Hogwarts.

Yes, those were false, and baseless thoughts that had run through Meg's mind before the face painting actually began. She was glad that those very thoughts did not become reality. Of course, she shouldn't have been surprised about her completely haywire imagination, since her self-confidence was not exactly all there. After all, look at what she did at the student art booth only months before? She had been completely scared about negative feedback to her artwork that she failed to place her own name on her work. Furthermore, her introduction to her own artwork was void of any form of grace.

Glancing around her surroundings, Meg looked up at the banner that hung above their station. She had helped Fauna by making that sign herself, since Fauna was working hard on getting everything else ready. Of course, it was hard for her to hide her work at home, by she managed well without alerting her parents to what she was actually doing. But, thankfully everything fell into place after planning between the two girls. For once, she wasn't stuttering when in front of a crowd, which contrasted a lot from her previous reactions. Perhaps the art club was helping her get over her fear of negative feedback?

Looking over to Fauna, Meg smiled at Fauna's question. The two of them had been working for a while now in the afternoon. "Sure. Nothing extravagant, a simple pumpkin juice would suffice," she responded. She glanced down at the tip jar that they had set up. She wasn't one to accept money from other people, and she was glad that Fauna decided not to charge for the face painting. But, she would still have to be content with that tip jar.

"Why are these people dressed so scary?" Neely whispered loudly. It could really not be called a whisper by any means, save the sudden, slight raspiness that tickled her throat and otherwise high-pitched tone. She didn't know where to begin, the tie-dye or the booth of home-knitted cloaks or the traveling cart of multi-purpose faux dragonhide boots, and so she'd thought it best to stay discreet until she and her friends could zero in on their first target... of entertainment. What else was Woodcroft for? Definitely not entering frog-leg eating contests and having ugly pigs noses painted to her own cute one. (Those things were admittedly excellent to watch, though.)

Today was their day of freedom, the day before Neely sacrificed her lips for the good of wizardkind... and, well, because Finn Grosvenor would be kissing alongside of her, but that was completely beyond the point! She wanted to squeeze in as much fun as she could manage before she started turning down toads and silly boys alike. "I don't see any cocoa, so who wants a lemonade?" She asked, tilting her head sideways at Jordyn, who was to her immediate left, and then leaning back to look around the brunette at blue-eyed Evie, who was on the Dimbleby girl's other side. In true Neely fashion, she'd already begun to search her miniature chocolate suede backpack blindly and instinctively for cool, smooth silver.

Raising her sunglasses atop her satiny powder pink headband, Neely pointed to the manor looming in the distance. The Shrieking Shack was supposedly more frightening than usual, having been officially reimagined as a Haunted House. "Oooh, we should definitely go there tonight," she said with a hint of mischievousness. She was simultaneously thrilled and girlishly terrified to step foot on the lawn that sloped down the hill of the old property. "I heard a seventh year passed out last time, and she had to be emergency Floo'ed to St. Mungo's. There's some kind of underworld inside." As if looking at some of the commoners bumbling around them weren't unsettling enough.

outfit

“Because no one taught them how,” Jordyn answered simply, looking around at the throngs of people milling about.  There was something rustic about the festival, but on the whole, it was nothing that Jordyn would normally have gone too.  Indeed, she was used to the more upscale and beautiful places in the world – she had just spent the most glorious few weeks in the South of France, so this was definitely a bit of a shock.  It was almost droll and she thought so highly of her experience that she could have turned her nose up even higher at the place but didn’t so it would not ruin her balance. 

The new bag she bought was an absolute wonder, as it could hold anything and never feel like it weighed more than an empty bag.  It was especially good for her delicate shoulders, as her mother said.  She was a fair young woman; she did not need the extra weight of her necessary objects holding her back and making her walk with a hunch.  It was just so unbecoming.  In fact, seeing a rather hump-backed, older man walking toward them, Jordyn was quite glad her back was nice and straight.  He looked very strange, and not that comfortable.  Living in pain did not appeal to her finer sensibilities. 

With a little gasp, she was enamored with the idea of lemonade.  “A lemonade would be fabulous!” she exclaimed, slinging her bag around to pull out some of the money her parents had given her for the day.  They had trusted her with a good amount of silver and her friends to enjoy the festival without supervision. She felt even more like an adult than she usually did and walked quite confidently around the place.  Someone else might have said she was too big for her britches, but she liked to think her finely tailored pants were tight in all the right places. 

Glancing at the building Neely indicated, Jordyn felt a little seize of fright.  She was not usually one to be afraid of things, not like a silly haunted house, but she couldn’t help it.  The building was supposed to be terrifying, and then to purposely add to that?  Her expression might have betrayed her, had she not had on her sunglasses, and she cleared her throat, trying to add an extra boost of adult seriousness to her still rather high-pitched voice, “I really doubt anyone passed out in there, Neely.  I mean, it’s a child’s attraction.  If that seventh year did faint, it was probably just for attention.” 

She rolled her eyes, a faux display of maturity, and continued on, leading the three with ease.  It was her comfortable space, in the middle and slightly up to the front.  “If we do go, I’m sure it won’t scare us.”  She looked from one girl to the other, “No more than those hideous robes over there,” she said lowly, pointing discreetly at a rather odd looking woman with patchwork robes in burnt orange and pea green – not attractive.  “Can you believe it?”

“Pumpkin juice,” Fauna repeated, licking her lips. “Okay, one pumpkin juice, coming up!” She told Megan with a smile. Grabbing the tip jar, Fauna slipped through the crowd and headed to the Three Broomsticks, passing the tattoo booth on the way. Fauna rolled her eyes and tried to walk a little faster. Of course Malynda had to have a tattoo booth, and it had to be on the same day and around the same time as her face-painting booth. She didn’t know who had organized the schedule, but it was a bit annoying, especially since she’d heard that the tattoos were a big hit! Tattoos, even temporary ones, had an edge that paint and pig snouts just didn’t.

Feeling embarrassed now, she reached the Three Broomsticks, asked for two pumpkin juice drinks, and emptied the tip jar on the counter. Luckily, Madame Rosmerta seemed more amused than aggravated and soon gave Fauna what she’d ordered. Fauna put the buttons, gum wrappers, and the few remaining coins back into the jar before walking out.

It was much more difficult to maneuver through the crowd while holding drinks and a tip jar! By some miracle, Fauna made it back to the face-painting booth, but then stopped abruptly, surprised by what she saw*. Right at that moment someone jostled her from behind, causing her to spill one of the drinks all over herself.

“Son of a Bellatrix!” She cursed, standing there with her shirt dripping. Her hands were too full to grab her wand, so Scourgify would have to wait.


*OOC: The surprise is totally up to the next poster!

“Oh, I must agree with Jordyn.  But you would think that with such publications as Witch Weekly they would learn,” Evie said, equally disgusted as her companions.  She was also looking around at the horribly dressed witches and wizards walking around.  It is a much different view than she sees working at Aurelia Snark’s store.

Dressed in a new outfit, which she’d been able to purchase with an employee discount at Magique Couture. Evie had absolutely loved the dress when she’d seen it and was very excited when she’d bought it.  It was a nice light cream colored dress, and she thought it perfect for the Festival.  Matched with one of her favorite pair of shoes and also a nice purse and hat, and of course accessories, she felt quite fashionable.

But of course, being fashionable did not stop her from being thirsty.  “Oh, yes please! That sounds perfect,” Evie said at the mention of lemonade.  She just hoped that wherever they were selling lemonade here, they knew how to make it correctly.  Not too sugary, but not too sour.  Her mouth started salivating at the idea of a nice drink of lemonade.

As the other two girls did, Evelyn Pascal reached inside her purse to find some of her money.  She was quite pleased with the amount of money her mother had given her for the day.  And some of that money might be going to the Haunted House.  “Well, it could be quite exhilarating to go and see what type of enchantments they come up with,” Evie said, actually interested in going to the Shrieking Shack, even if a seventh year had passed out there.

Looking around, she saw the different booths set up.  Evie saw her cousin Sebastian working a broom jousting thread and thought to go say hello.  Aside from that, she saw her Quidditch Team Captain doing tattoos, some face painting by a Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and then Jasper Quinn doing a roller coaster.  Searching around a bit more, she saw the drink stand.

“There it is! Shall we, dears?” Evie said, pointing over towards the booth.  She then started walking over, with her friends going along with her.

Outfit

Neely laughed delightedly, but knowingly at their remarks. They were a clever pair of girls who could always make her grin. It was one of the many reasons she'd stuck to them like Spell-o-Tape since their first year together. That, and their general fabulousness.Neely didn't feel quite complete without Jordyn and Evie in her life. She continued to paw around in her purse, determined to pay for all three lemonades before either of the other girls had a chance. They could owe her. Chocolates, ice-cream, tours of the Shrieking Shack... Or there was always dinner, later, possibly in London after they'd had their fill of festival festivities. A summer night wasn't over without a stroll through Diagon Alley; they weren't allowed there during the school year because Hogwarts rules were dreadfully lame like that. Between Evie's latest threads from the upscale boutique, Jordyn's time spent with Devlin, and Neely's own recent adventures in Sashaland, there was way too much to be confined to an afternoon of face paint and sugary drinks.

"It probably was for attention," she agreed immediately, adopting Jordyn's sensible theory and adding onto it. Drama was only good, innocent fun! "I think it was that girl who dated the two beaters at once and made them nearly off each other during the last Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw game. What a harpy." Neely let out a breathy little scoff of a laugh, as if she'd never dream of being anything remotely harpy-esque. Her scream was much cuter. Her blue gaze moved back to Evie and she nodded. "But yeah-- we should totally go! It could still be fun. I also heard there's a river you have to swim through but we could find a way around it. Maybe we could borrow a horse..."

Following the Pascal girl's pointing finger, Neely's own hand finally emerged with enough silver to buy three drinks in pretty, transparent cups with overpriced swirly straws. Those were the only cups worth having. She turned to look at someone else Jordyn had pointed out, even as they headed for the stand. A few steps backward were enough: a moment later, after a brush of her elbow against someone else who was probably dressed as tragically as any of the other Woodcroft goers, Neely felt something distinctly cool hit her cheeks and neck... and saw the orange, liquid sugar blending into her pretty pastel pink ensemble. It was worse than any sort of fake blood the Shreiking Shack could hope to produce; Pumpkin Juice was the number one ruiner of cute tops.

"Ewww," she whined, wincing. She whirled on the spot.

Of course.

"You!" The girl with the eyes.

Hadn't Neely just seen Fauna painting insufferably ugly animal heads onto (let's be honest here) baby animals? How had she managed to be in two places at once? If Neely wasn't already convinced that the Hufflepuff was trying to ruin her life, Fauna Blake had just dotted the last couple of i's on the contract. Poor Neely! She looked quickly to Jordyn and Evie. Poor Neely's friends!

“A horse?  Where the devil would we get a horse from?” Jordyn blurted out as Neely offered that as a solution to their problem.  It seemed quite strange that she would come up with something like that.  Jordyn, for one, was not a fan of swimming, but she wasn’t sure how much of a fan she would be of sitting on the back of a large, smelly animal.  Granted, she had taken a few abraxon riding lessons while on vacation (her father insisted she do something other than just laze around at the beach), but she did not think that the loon at the petting zoo would let them take out the winged horse she had brought.

Jordyn was a little curious about that – actually.  She wanted to walk up and see if it was just as docile as the one she had come across in France.  Probably not, she thought, as the French were known for their world class winged horses and superb care.  It was no use for someone else to try to be just as good, and wasn’t the woman Spanish anyway?  Jordyn realized, in that brief span of fluid thought, she did not care and moved on toward the lemonade stand. 

Smiling, she added, “Good eye, Evie,” before following behind, unaccustomed to a spot as the follower in the group.  Of course, she wasn’t going to let her feathers get ruffled about leading to a lemonade stand, of all things, but if it progressed into different territory – well, the others had a prefect badge and her own sheer will to deal with.  If she were not so inclined to think she had the right to be in the forefront, she might have actually reconsidered.  Too late to stop Neely from purchasing her drink, Jordyn heaved a sigh as she took the cup.  “You’ll have to let me pay next,” Jordyn insisted, smiling before she took a long draw from the swirly straw.

It was not practical, nor was it efficient, but it was cute.  She supposed that was like a majority of the things they seemed to engage in.  It wasn’t a bad thing – just took a little time, miffing when one was thirsty, though.  She was about to speak again on the subject of the orange and green robes when something hit her back.  A moment of dread gripped her and the Slytherin turned on her heel only a moment after Neely did.

It was that girl! The one Devlin wanted something to do with (not that Jordyn could understand completely why – she was rather plain), but she had spilled all over them!  Jordyn could only imagine what the pumpkin juice was going to do to her shirt and she would have to walk around with it all day!  How mortifying!  Trying to avoid squeezing the cup in her hand, Jordyn’s cheeks puffed up considerably and a reddish tint overcame her usually pale features.

“Can’t you watch where you’re going?!  I’m going to be seeing Devlin later and you just ruined my shirt!” It was a teensy bit of a white lie – she had no idea if she was going to see Devlin later – but in a moment of anger and hurt over the ruin of a shirt, she wanted to be a bit cruel.  She figured that was the best way to start.

"Thanks," Meg called out to her Hufflepuff friend as the girl headed off to the Three Broomsticks. Leaning back against the chair that she was sitting in, she looked around at the crowds that were in Hogsmeade that day. She was glad that the line for the face painting had dispersed for the moment. After all, even a little rest could go a long way. Of course, even though the animal face paintings weren't exactly something that she was that skilled in, it at least gave her an excuse to learn the details more about the animals while painting. That, in itself, would be useful, if she ever did any animal paintings. Yes, it was less likely, but it could happen.

After waiting a bit, Meg stifled a yawn quickly as she noticed Fauna approaching the face painting booth. Noticing that Fauna was distracted, she wondered what could've made her to stop. Attempting to look over in the same direction that Fauna was looking, she didn't notice anything. Shrugging to herself, she looked back over at Fauna, just in time to watch Fauna get knocked into, spilling one of the drinks that she held.

But, it took Meg a few moments to realize who exactly bumped into Fauna, and where the remainder of the drink actually went to. Even though the girl uttered one word that she could actually hear, she immediately knew that one of the people was Neely. Consequentially, the others were probably the rest of the plastics. She swore under her breath as she noticed, and quickly jumped out of her chair. She was instantly remembered at what both Saffron and she did to Neely once, where Saffron managed to spill milk on Neely's shoes. Even though it was good entertainment, look at what had happened. She certainly didn't want anything to happen to Fauna, especially for clumsiness.

Reaching distinctively for her wand, Meg had to stop herself. With the ban on magic that the students can perform on in the summer, she didn't want to become expelled because of stupidity. Besides, she would probably make the situation worse with her own memory of what spells she learned. With a sigh, she quickly walked over to where the scene unfolded right in front of her. "Fauna, are you alright," she asked her as she approached.

“Oh! I think I remember her. Horrible. No doubt it was for attention.” Evie commented. “Though I most definitely won’t go if it requires getting wet. This outfit is too perfect to ruin.”

Evie then followed the other two girls over to the Lemonade stand.  She wasn’t one to worry about who led, she just enjoyed being with her friends.  Evie enjoyed surrounding herself with the best and most useful people.  And Neely and Jordyn were definitely wonderful and at the top of the list of people to be around.

When the girls got to the Lemonade stand, Evie had her money ready.  But Neely was there first and paid for all three lemonades.  She even got the best cups, those being the ones with the swirly straws.  And had Evie been able to read the Woolfolk girl’s mind, she would have agreed about those being the only cups to have.

“You are such a dear.” Evie said as she took her cup. “And then I’ll have to pay after Jordyn.”

Then the tragedy happened.  As the girls were turning away from the stand, it seemed someone bumped into Neely.  And that caused pumpkin juice to be spilt across all three of the girls.  Neely had it worse, and then some had hit Jordyn on the back of her shirt, and Evie had also gotten some on her back.  She turned around a moment after Jordyn and saw how this had happened. Fauna Blake.

“Not my dress! Do you know how much this costs?” Evie was furious.  She’d gotten the majority of her outfit just recently from Magique Couture. She’d been eyeing it all summer while she worked.

She then watched as the Ravenclaw came over and asked about Fauna.  Megan could possibly fit in with the fashionable three, but it seemed she preferred to be around those Hufflepuffs.  The thought was only in Evie’s head for a small while, before she went back to being angry.  And she could definitely tell that the other two were mad as well.

Before tragedy struck (or Fauna’s definition of it), she could hear the warning bells ringing in the background. It was the sound of inane chatter. She’d tried to ignore it, really she had, but she just couldn’t get past the crowd lining up for lemonade!

“You’ll have to let me pay next.”

“You are such a dear,” another familiar voice chimed in. “And then I’ll have to pay after Jordyn.”

The voices could only belong to three Slytherins! Just as Fauna was processing this, she felt a bump on her arm, causing her drink to fly up into the air with an acrobatic little flourish. She cursed, upset about her shirt, but not nearly as upset as the fashionistas around her!

Her face flushed a deep red and she clutched the second, still intact drink in her left hand while cradling the tip jar. The victims splattered with orange all whirled around at once, faces scrunched up like a mandrake’s.

"You!" Neely said accusingly.

“I…” Fauna replied, too flustered to apologize yet.

“Can’t you watch where you’re going?!  I’m going to be seeing Devlin later and you just ruined my shirt!”

She stared at Jordyn, something mean and green welling up inside. Evie spoke next, which did not surprise her.

“Not my dress! Do you know how much this costs?”

Fauna let out a frustrated breath, widening her eyes in relief when she saw Megan approach. “I… I’m fine,” she told her in a strained voice. “Just soggy. But here, there’s still some left in this one,” Fauna handed Meg the other cup and hugged the tip jar to her with one arm. It felt slightly comforting to have a free hand in case the girls resorted to their wands!

Fauna could have simply walked away, then. She normally did when she embarrassed herself and had to suffer the consequences. Maybe it was the heat, her ruined shirt, or the comment about Devlin, but she wasn’t ready to leave. Her mouth opened and closed for a second and she shuffled her feet, until finally she turned towards Neely, Jordyn, and Evie.

“You know…” she began, looking in their general direction but avoiding the glares. “Someone… bumped into me. It… it wasn’t just me.” Her voice sounded defensive and as soon as she’d said it, she wondered if she was wrong. Fauna knew she was clumsy, but logic told her it couldn’t always be her fault. Not completely!

Her cheeks now a shade to rival the stains on her shirt, she focused on Megan again, hoping they could make a fast escape.

Neely privately agreed that getting wet wouldn't be any fun-- and Evie's outfit was perfect. That was exactly why they needed a horse! (If the rumors were true... and where there was smoke there was always fire an illegal potion). Shrugging innocently, she flopped her arms animatedly to indicate nowhere and everywhere all at once. "I know some people who know some people." She explained casually, thinking of Sasha Schlagenweit and his horses. Unbeknown to Neely, the carriage rides the following day would involve the Ravenclaw and his horses-- it was a detail she had overlooked, despite having perused the itinerary for socially acceptable activities. She'd simply assumed the Hogsmeade version of carriage would involved thestrals and coaches, the same ones used to take students from the train station to the school.

Fauna had caused a chain reaction, like magical dominoes in the form of tarnished, über-stylish wizarding designer labels. Jordyn's blouse, Evie's dress, Neely's romper. "Um, Blake, don't you know that people like Aurelia Snark and Devlin Matthews don't need to see stains in their lives?" They were people, who, in Neely's opinion, had every right to view the world from behind a pair of rose-colored glasses. Then again, each of them was infinitely less naïve and more exposed to the world than Neely had ever been. Devlin in particular seemed unbothered by shady business. But pumpkin juice stains. The nerve! "And I," she began, but paused awkwardly, wondering what exactly she was going to say. She had no idea whether she'd bump into Sasha at the festival; she'd written him a few times, but he'd been visiting family, participating in athletic events, and chasing down invisible girlfriends in continental Europe. "Was going to wear this outfit again." A miracle. A vague one, too.

Finally noticing the jar in the hand which wasn't Satan's Orange Appendage of Wardrobe Death, Neely also saw that it was empty. Her brain raced to put the puzzle together and she squinted her eyes at the pink-cheeked Hufflepuff, unsure whether to smirk or frown. As if adding on to Evie's question, Neely asked one that was entirely unnecessary. "How are you going to pay for this?" The answer was obvious. She wasn't. "Is that Leprechaun gold?" She tilted her head at the glass. Everyone knew leprechaun money disappeared, but Neely didn't think Fauna had any of that, either. Actually, she didn't want Fauna Blake's charity. She simply wanted an apology: someone to kiss her bruises and make her feel better, like a nurse coddling a two-year-old. Her ailment being the wounded outfit.

And then Megan Ruiz strolled into the scene. Neely hadn't forgotten the unpleasant episode with the kitten and the cocoa. Or the look on her face the night of the paintball game. Even in the dark, she hadn't seemed very pleased to see Neely, and now Neely looked less-than-thrilled to see Meg. The Slytherin made a little smiley-grimace, moving her head as her face morphed. Her attention returned almost immediately to Fauna, however. "She's fine," she declared, in the same moment Fauna voiced the same confession. Neely's intonation suggested that Meg was blind, however. Hello, didn't she see last summer's shade of tangerine splashed on the fabulous trio?

"Ooooh!" Neely cooed, her mouth assuming a perfect, angelic, and somewhat humorous o-shape as the extended syllable left her mouth in a melodic gush. It was almost as if something new had dawned on her, like the answer to a Potions equation. "Oh my golly, someone bumped into her," she repeated, raising a hand to her cheek. And then her voice sobered. "Was her name Hannah?" She asked, clearly disbelieving. Neely folded her arms and stared blatantly into the pretty, button-shaped eyes. She looked to Jordyn, waiting for some cue. "I bet it was one of Devlin's fan club members," she giggled." They're running around here like mad tarts lately." Or maybe Fauna was simply lying. Yes, that seemed the better, easier, more (secretly, wonderfully) dramatic option.