Welcome Lunch (open to all campers)

[Toby Collins]

Toby was the first to arrive for lunch. Without even waiting to meet his "campers," he'd dumped his things in his cabin and headed straight for the dining hall. There, he hoped he'd get to see Leyla, Collin... and maybe Samantha. Her name kept lingering on the edges of his mind, like the scent of flowers hanging in the air. He hadn't seen her much since that day when they walked down to the lake, and he wondered if she was thinking about him... or if she'd forgotten all about him.

The dining hall, he noticed as he leaned against a wooden table, was furnished in early log cabin style, with 4 long tables that looked to have been carved out of whole trees, and benches to match. Toby found himself wondering if he was in danger of getting splinters just for sitting on the hard little bench.

Several minutes passed, and no one showed up. Bored, he put his head down against his folded arms and closed his eyes.

[Samantha Lippre]

Samantha was actually excited about camp. She'd been before and normally it was pretty boring. But this year she had reasons to want to go. And he was sitting alone at a lunch table when she walked into the room. She hadn't seen much of him after they talked by the lake and she wondered if he ever thought about it. Had he thought she was avoiding him? She hoped not. With the end of the school year everything got a little hectic and she didn't have time to stop and talk to him. She was happy to find him alone now, however.

"Don't tell me this place bored you to death already." She said cheerfully as she sat down next to him. He had his head down and his eyes closed as if he were sleeping. She hoped he wasn't because she didn't want to wake him.

[Toby Collins]

He didn't even have to look up or open his eyes to know it was her. He recognized her voice immediately, along with the smell of her perfume. His heart recognized her, too, because it started beating a little faster.

Collin would have a laughing fit if he knew. But thankfully, Collin wasn't here... just Samantha.

He sat up slowly, taking a minute to calm his breathing before he turned to look at her. She already had the hint of a tan, and her hair looked lighter and shinier than he'd remembered. He was almost tempted to run his fingers through it.

"Hey," he said simply.

[Samantha Lippre]

Samantha smiled widely at Toby. He looked just as he did before but his hair was a bit longer. She wondered if he'd thought about her since school let out for the holdiay. She had been thinking about him, more than she'd like to admitt.

"Hey." She responded and fidgeted with a loose splinter of wood on the table. "I was surprised to see your name on the list of counselors. This didn't seem like you're kind of thing."

[Toby Collins]

He found himself reaching up and attempting to flatten his hair down in the back a little. She made him feel self-conscious... or rather, she made him feel more aware of himself and how he might appear to her. He'd never really cared about appearances, but now he was actually wondering whether he'd brushed his hair well enough this morning and hoping that he didn't have a piece of spinach caught in his teeth.

But other than his half-hearted attempt to fix his hair, she wouldn't have known anything like this was going on in his head. He smiled very slightly and gave a casual sort of shrug. "Yeah, well, Leyla wanted to go, and I told her I'd go so I could keep an eye on her," he replied.

But there was more to it than that, and he knew it. But that didn't mean he was going to let her know that. Not yet.

[Samantha Lippre]

Sam watched as he tried to fix his hair and smiled as she saw it didn't quite help. She reached forward cautiously, raising an eyebrow slightly before brushing her fingers gently through his hair. It seemed like such a common thing to do but she felt almost embaressed. After fixing the stubborn hairs that stuck up even after he tried, she removed her hand, placing it in her lap again.

"I kind of figured. Can't let her out of your sight, can you?" She smirked at him. She was glad either way because it meant she had more time with him. "I wasn't sure I'd see you again after you graduated. I was glad to hear you decided to come to camp this year. I know it's not your thing but if you let yourself, you might actually have some fun."

[Toby Collins]

He stared at her, transfixed as she reached up and smoothed down his hair. Normally, he wouldn't allow anyone but Leyla to perform such a maneuver. In fact, no one but Leyla would have even dared to touch him. But he was quickly starting to understand that "normal" didn't really exist anymore. None of this was normal, and maybe he didn't want it to be.

He managed a disdainful sort of snort when she suggested that he might actually have fun. He wasn't even entirely sure what that word meant. But as he looked into her blue eyes, he found himself thinking that "fun" might be getting to know her better.

"I guess it's all right," he replied, shrugging. "Better than staying home all summer. Our mother... she kind of ignores us. And we're close to Hogsmeade here, so I can start looking into apartments whenever we get some time off."

[Samantha Lippre]

Samantha gave him a sympathetic smile as he talked about his mum. She knew she didn't have it as rough at home as he did but she understood the need to get away during the summer. She had hardly been home at all but her parents were already hounding her about her grades and what they expected of her. She was sick of it. She much prefered being at camp.

"I know what you mean. I couldn't stand being at home another minute longer than I had to. I might just spend the rest of my summer with a friend after camp is up." She said with a sigh. Then she perked up a bit. "You're getting an apartment in Hogsmeade?" That shouldn't make her as happy as it did. She was suddenly having thoughts of sneaking off to meet up with him and romantic dates in the small village. She was getting ahead of herself again....

[Toby Collins]

Something about the way she asked that question made him blush. It almost seemed like she was more excited about him getting an apartment in Hogsmeade than he was. He gave her a sideways look, trying to figure out what she was thinking, but he found this made him blush even more and he looked away.

"Yeah, I was thinking about it. I need to get a job first, though. Working for... you know who..." he paused, lowering his voice and looking around to make sure no one could hear them, "isn't exactly going to pay the rent, you know. I thought I'd start in one of the shops and maybe figure things out from there. And I'd be close to Leyla, if she needs me."

Strangely, though, the thought occurred to him that his sister wouldn't be the only one he'd be close to if he lived in Hogsmeade.

[Alyxandria Rye]

Alyx entered the large room, she was early, but then again she knew her way around better than most and had a routine down pat for unpacking and getting some food. She didn't know the two people in the room except for the fact that they were in Slytherin. Alyx knew there was some natural rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin but Alyx felt it was because underneath a lot of superficial qualities they were rather alike.

Taking an empty seat a bit removed from what looked to be a couple she pondered to herself what this summer would bring.

[Niela McMorna]

Niela had spotted Alyx headed into the dinning hall as soon as she had exited her cabin. Excited to have finally spotted another Gryffindor, she quickly ran after her, coming though the doors a couple seconds later. She spotted Alyx sitting down nearby and sat down across from her at the table.

"Hey Alyx! How have you been and what cabin are you in?"

Her irish accent was thick because of her excitement to finally find another house mate at camp. So far, she had been stuck with two Ravenclaws and a Slytherin for a councilor.

[Alyxandria Rye]

"Hey Niela." she softly smiled toward the girl. They were in a few of the same classes and she had always been friendly enough. Perhaps it was Alyx who was more closed off, then again she spent most of her time attached to Sin and getting him out of trouble...and into trouble to have much time for friends...but the Ball changed everything.

"I'm a dove." she replied , "So far so good, what about you?" she settled her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and swayed her foot from right to left.

[Sin Savira]

Sin didn't walk, he swaggered into the cafeteria. It was his last few months at school and he wanted to make the most of it. Admittedly the past year had held the most change and surprise for him and while not all of it had been plesant he had been happy.

His eyes scanned the room for a familiar face, sure he knew everyone there but some faces were more familiar than others, like Alyx's for example. Something had happened to her, something at the Yule Ball and he hadn't known what it was but she had changed. Somehow he had lost that closeness he used to share and he knew it was primarily his fault...he wished he could change that somehow.

Finally with determination he headed over toward her, "If it's not one of my favorite people in the whole world..."

[Niela McMorna]

"I ended up in Cardinals with a couple Ravenclaws and some crazy Slytherin as the-"

She was cut off by a guy walking up to the table to talk to Alyx. Niela recognized him as another Gryffindor, but had never really talked to him. Niela leaned her elbows onto the table and glanced around, feeling a bit third-wheelish at that moment.

"Um... should I leave you two alone?"

[Alyxandria Rye]

She smiled at Niela and sighed feeling the weight of camp settling on her shoulders.

She turned toward the familiar voice and raised a brow, "Oh really?" she shook her head and ignored him. "No Niela stay." she smiled toward the girl.

"Do you know Sin?"

[Samantha Lippre]

Samantha had to fight to keep the grin off her face at the idea that he would be so close. She managed to keep merely a pleasant smile on her face as she thought of the possibilites. Him living in Hogsmeade would with out a doubt give her more time. She was worried she was going to have to rush her advances on him while at camp but now she had the option to take her time like she needed to. He wasn't going to give in as easy as most guys would because he was so different from them.

"Yeah, that would be good for you. Both of you, I guess. I'm sure she wasn't looking forward to not having you around either." She said as she stared at the blush on his face. She wondered what had caused it and figured it was probably her fault. It'd been there since she'd gotten a little overly excited about him staying close by. She wondered if her sister was doing a better job at keeping herself in check around her conquest. Samantha certainly wasn't doing her best.

"Maybe you and I can get together for a butterbeer sometime too." She suggested, at least throwing the idea out there. It sounded innocent enough.

[Toby Collins]

Toby was now feeling extremely awkward. It had been one thing when it had been just the two of them, sitting there and talking. But now there were other people in the room, and even though he knew they had a perfect right to be there, he couldn't help but feel strange. Like everyone knew what was going on, or they were assuming that more was going on than actually was.

Of course, everyone else had other things on their minds and weren't paying the slightest bit of attention to Toby and Samantha, but that hardly seemed to matter in that moment. What if Leyla came in and saw them together? Would he have to introduce them? How would he go about doing that? What would he say?

He stared down at the table, running his finger over a long scratch in the polished wood. "Yeah... maybe we could do that sometime," he said simply.

(Want to bring Leyla in? It would be so cute, having Toby try to introduce them...)

[Leyla Collins]

Leyla was enjoying camp so far. She felt that it was a lot more fun then sitting at home reading the whole summer. Not that she would have really minded that either. She loved to read, something her older brother Toby usually picked on her for. But she didn't care what he thought about her muggle books. They were interesting no matter how many times she'd read the same stories. It was a shame that she couldn't use magic outside of school yet or she would have enlarged the inside of her suitcase to fit more of her books. But unfortunately she could only bring a choice few.

She practically skipped to the dining hall that day, so pleased with how things had been going. She liked her cabin mates well enough, even though their counselor wasn't much fun. The activities she'd already tried were fun too. She actually liked muggles and didn't mind learning about them or doing things their way.

As she walked into the dining hall, her eyes instantly sought out her older brother. She wasn't positive he'd be there but it was a habit she'd formed. It was always nice to know if he was around, especially if she had plans to talk to someone like Collin. But she found Toby with ease and nearly gasped when she saw he was talking to a girl. She was a blonde girl who was obviously older than Leyla and with the look in her eyes she was definitely interested in Toby. Could this be the infamous Samantha she'd heard about?

"Hi!" Leyla said excitedly as she plopped down across the table from the two Slytherins. She wondered if she'd interupted a private conversation but instantly pushed that thought away as she assessed the girl before her.

[Toby Collins]

Well, it was pretty much inevitable. The camp was not a big place and everyone ate in the same room at the same time... Of course Leyla was going to show up. And if Toby intended to spend any more time with Samantha (which he still hadn't actually decided), then Leyla would have to meet her. He just wished it wasn't here and now with other people around them.

But there was nothing for it. Both Samantha and Leyla were here, and he'd have to introduce them. He wished he had a glass of water, because his throat felt suddenly dry.

He swallowed and cleared his throat, but his voice still sounded funny when he spoke. "Hi, Ley," he greeted her. "Um, I want you to meet Samantha. Samantha, this is my sister Leyla."

It was lucky that he'd mentioned Samantha to Leyla. If he hadn't, she'd start asking who Samantha was to him.... but hopefully, she understood. He still had no idea what he and Samantha were to each other.

[Samantha Lippre]

Samantha looked at Leyla and for the love of merlin, she actually blushed. She wasn't sure if she should leave when his little sister sat down and honestly was a little annoyed to see the red head. She was having a nice conversation with Toby and didn't need her to ruin it. However, when Toby introduced her instead of looking at her as if she shouldn't be there, she smiled kindly.

"Hello Leyla. I've heard so much about you." She said, hoping Leyla wouldn't mention the fact that they'd spoken before. She didn't need her reminding Toby how she'd practically stalked him last term. Fortunately for her, Leyla didn't seem to remember.

Sam glanced at Toby, trying to tell if he wanted her there or not. She was also still reeling from his lack of rejection to her suggestion. Maybe there was hope for them after all. "How are you liking camp so far?" She asked the girl.