Vincent rolled his eyes, let out a breathy, close-mouthed laugh, and smirked down at as pink-haired Ravenclaw. “It’s for charity,” he insisted, using her own selling point. “Don’t you want two galleons for charity, at least?” And don’t you want to kiss me?!

His confidence improved just a smidgen-- read: a lot-- when she became flustered, suggesting that they kissed more than the average bears. Around Hogwarts, at least. Vincent often wondered if he’d ever be kissed as often as William, and then usually came to the conclusion that he didn’t want to be kissed that often. Not only because the only girl he cared to kiss was standing right in front of him with her arms laced around him, but also because it had to become exhausting. Where did he get the stamina to swing his beater’s bat after all that snogging (not to mention... other things)?

Further relief washed over him as his brain processed her tally. A child and a scaredy cat. Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it? He grinned. He liked having a girlfriend who could intimidate. It was sexy. If he were lucky, he might see a little wandless throw-down action before they got through the rest of Fifth Year.

(But Bea didn’t need to know about this particular daydream.)

“Who was he? Did he have a name? I can go... make sure he stays away,” he suggested, innocently enough. His hand-- the one that wasn’t holding Bea snuggly to him-- caressed the outline of his wand, which was just inside his pocket. He could the wind picking up a little, and he wasn’t too terribly sure it was just nature. He was still a boy, still capable of losing control of his magical senses.

Erin Harper appeared, along with his younger sister, and the pair of them together seemed to throw a bit of sinisterly aristocratic blonde into the mix. But they were friendly-faced, the Harpers, at least to Vincent. It was their brother who was on the overtly creepy side, but Vincent didn’t mind him, either. The bibliophilic nerd slumbering in his soul thought that being librarian must be a pretty sweet gig. And then man favored Slytherins, didn’t he? Not such a bad deal for the Pennyapple boy...

“Are you alright?” He murmured, furrowing a brow and looking down at Beatrix, but only after smiling and nodding in Erin’s direction. He hadn’t known, quite the extent of what had gone on between Erin and Bea. “He seems to be pretty protective of her... I wouldn’t say he’s so--” Well, he was standing there snogging someone in front of her... but, er, wasn’t that the point? Mistletoe, cuddliness, and... charitable offerings? Right...

Vincent blinked and snapped out of it. He shrugged, tightened his grip on Bea, and gave her squeeze perhaps a little too far south. “Dunno. Whatever the snow lets me do before it freezes my bum off. Can’t have that, right?”

Bending down, he stole the kiss which he felt was rightfully his-- a good, long one in the name of fuzzy animals. Of course.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you...” He swallowed a bit harder than usual, but kept his cool for the most part. “When you’re done being a crusader.” He grinned and bent down for another kiss, cupping his hand under her jaw. Pulling back, he tapped her cute nose, and finally let go of her. “Er, I dunno if I should be here while you’re...” He waved a hand absentmindedly to the booth, cringing at the snogging sessions in his peripheral. “I might sort of... get us in trouble,” he explained apologetically. He placed a hand on the back of his neck, massaging it idly. What he meant was, he might sort of get a little too jealous.

To break the ice and sweep the trouble under the rug, a change of topic was in order: "Before I forget--" He looked suddenly struck with inspiration. He dropped his hands to his sides and shoved them into his pockets, relishing the lazy teenage boy posture. "Do you, uh, want to come to London with me and Jules later this week? For New Years? I bet my brother could get us into some parties..."

To say that the group assembled around and working the kissing booth was eclectic was a gross understatement.  Chance was finding that as the evening progressed that he fit in less and less.  Of course Chance had never been one to attempt to fit in with the status quo, but it was odd to be in the midst of all this angst and drama...and that Chance was not fond of one little bit.  The Irish Gryffindor felt Maddie's squeeze at his elbow which drew his attention and he nodded as she murmured her thanks.

"Not a problem, lass."

Dracon and Maddie began to talk amongst themselves at this point, but Chance's unnaturally green eyes had a fiery glow to them in the heat of the moment.  He began to calm, though his glare lingered on Razzy for a moment.  The boy had held his tongue, but defiance lingered under the surface.  Nonetheless, Razzy broke the stare and continued to his own personal soap opera which Chance was pleased to have no part in.  Chance began to notice the supreme and utter shortage of females around the booth and quirked a brow.  That's when his attention was brought back to his conversation with the tiny first year Gryffindor, Hannah.  He inhaled slowly as he forced a light smile.  At the moment, she was helping to keep him cool headed.  He was Irish after all.  So Hannah was interested in attending a SAWS meeting?  Well maybe the evening had been worth the frustration in the end!  Chance smiled and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"Yer a good gurl, Hannah.  Be sure y'keep true t'yer heart an' do what's right."

Chance smiled and shook his head at himself.

"Sorry fer soundin' like a greetin' card there, Hannah.  Just a wee stressful night, 'at's all."

At this point, Chance's green eyes seemed to be wandering the crowded lines near the kissing booth and the streets nearby with passers by that were enjoying the Winter Festival.  It seemed he was searching for someone.  But who?

“Of course Ah wud, any cause of Dexter Pratt’s daughter is a cause of mine."

"I'm going to hold you to that! I expect you to be at the next SAWS meeting, prepared to take notes!" She said with a chuckle, leaning on her hand and smiling up at him. She likes Dracon. He was one of the few Slytherins she DID like, if not the only. It was rare that a Slytherin student possessed the ambitious quality of the house without also possessing the manipulative or cruel quality. He was one of the few that managed it. It helped that he had as much respect for her father as she did. It raised him out of the muck she considered most Slytherins to be part of.

Grinning up at him for a moment, she let the silence hang in the air until she realized exactly what had happened. The coins were in the bucket. The bucket was in a kissing booth. She was in a kissing booth to give kisses. Suddenly, the horror dawned on her that she was now expected to kiss him. It wasn't that she didn't like the bloke, it was just that she was still shaken from her kiss with Erin and felt that it would be ten times worse if the one she was kissing was like a brother to her. Looking into the bucket, she was torn with what to do. If she didn't do it, then he would get his money back and SAWS would need that much more help. She couldn't fail them now, especially since she already locked lips with a guy like Harper.

Deciding that helping SAWS was the best choice in the end, Maddie took a deep breath and leaned up, her lips pressing against his in a quick, soft kiss. It wasn't nearly as powerful as the one she gave Erin, but she didn't want a repeat of THAT mess. Pulling back quickly, she gave him a weak smile. ".. I... I hope that was okay... This isn't normally my kind of thing."

Chance kissed her on the cheek, and Hannah did not blush or in any way look the slightest bit embarrassed. Of course she didn't - she was very careful not to. She was still young enough that the idea of having a boy kiss her was pretty mortifying, but not showing it on her face suddenly seemed the most important thing in the world. It was a matter of pride. She was concentrating so hard on not looking silly that she actually looked rather grim, blank-faced with the slightest pucker to her forehead, up until Chance leaned back and she gave him a small smile and a nod before stepping smartly back. His eyes had already wandered off to the crowd, and Hannah didn't want to be in the way.

She stepped back again, and again, until she was standing at Erin's side; he glanced down at her and absently tugged at a strand of her hair. "Ready?" he asked, and she nodded, winding an arm around one of his again. "You can buy me a candied apple," she said decisively, and whatever he'd been thinking about must've been preoccupying, because he didn't even bother to roll his eyes as they faded back into the crowd.

Dracon’s eyebrows shot up in surprise when her lips touched his.

Dracon hadn’t expected to receive anything in return. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead to be honest. He knew he had dropped in some coins and it was a kissing booth but the thought of her actually kissing him hadn’t even crossed his mind. When Madeline actually leaned forward and planted a soft, grazing kiss on the surface of his cold lips, he had been a little surprised. The first thought that popped into his head was how would Dexter Pratt feel about what just happened, and would he be fed to a dragon. Madeline was a nice girl, but on top of many other reasons why it shouldn’t be acceptable, was the fact that she was the daughter of his mentor. It just made things a little awkward for a second before Dracon quickly recovered. He didn’t want Madeline to feel foolish or that she had done something inappropriate. He was the one who was overreacting, for once in his life, and simply needed to collect himself.

The kiss was brief and was over before he could even process a sentence, and when Madeline pulled back and told him she hoped that was all right, he could only smile for a moment. Dracon gave a light laugh, and nodded, eyes still a little wide at what just happened. “Uh, yeah, yes,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah know, yee were the last person Ah would’ve expected to see here, actually,” he said.

What else was there to say? He could’ve slowly backed away and blended into the crowd but that was unlike him. Actually, the entire situation was unlike him. Dracon didn’t mind affection in public or was easily embarrassed when it came to matters such as this, but perhaps it had to do with a young Hufflepuff he had known for years kissing him in front of a bunch of Gryffindors and the like. It was just a strange situation he decided.

“It must be quite tuh cause,” he smirked.