LGBTQ+ Pride 2048

Stella really wasn't sure about going to Pride. Last year it would have been ideal, to go hand in hand with her girlfriend. But she'd fought with Zoe, and they'd broken up, and now everything was broken and wrong. A stony silence reigned between them in the dorm, and all the hurtful things they'd said danced around her mind. She hadn't meant to, but she'd been cruel, and now it was too late. Stella had thrown herself into her studies to avoid thinking about it, with mixed effectiveness. She needed a break, and she wanted to go to Pride, but if Zoe was there (which seemed likely), she wasn't sure how she could cope.

Stella hesitated in the doorway to the Great Hall, anxieties chasing around in her head. She didn't have any pride clothes or items of her own, though Zoe had plenty. There were a lot of people here already, but Zoe didn't seem to be among them - at least, not yet. Stella looked around the various tables set out. She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to people, but she would like a flower crown, and perhaps a pansexual pride flag of her own. She approached the flower crown table first, awkwardly weaving between people to reach it.
 
Jacob stepped into the Great Hall and took a look around. There were a lot of people in here already, some he knew from his common room and some he knew from around the castle. Jacob grinned as he spotted a face painting table, knowing he would stop there at some point. But, he broke into a sprint when he spotted one of his favorite people in the world, weaving around some students with the speed of a bludger after a quidditch player. “Hi Mom” he greeted as he sped by her before he launched himself at another target, his arms wrapping around her middle. “LIZZIEEEEEE” Jacob yelled out, continuing to give her a hug before he let go and beamed up at her. He wasn’t particularly happy that she was going to be graduating in a couple of weeks, so he’d been acting overly rambunctious whenever he spotted her, his way to deal with her last days. Jacob knew that quidditch wouldn’t be the same without Lizzie as his captain, but more importantly, Gryffindor wouldn’t be the same without her. “I like your pins. Are you gonna get your face painted too?” he asked her, glancing back at that booth. He really wanted to get his face painted.
 
Lillian had hesitated over attending this event; she knew it was primarily intended for students, but surely there would be other professors there, at least to supervise. The more she thought about it, the more she considered the importance of having openly queer adults declare themselves, to show the students that there were people like them among the staff, people they could go to for support or advice if need be. Lillian wasn't entirely certain ho she would deal with it if someone did approach her in that way, but she knew she should be available, and she'd at least give it a try. This would essentially be her coming out at Hogwarts, and doing it this way appealed to her sense of the dramatic.

Lillian hovered at the entrance to the Great Hall for a moment before she spotted Kahurangi and Monty over at the face painting stall. She strolled over to join them, adjusting the bisexual pride ribbon pinned to her shirt as she did so. She hadn't known either of them were queer, and though she didn't know Monty well, she was curious about Kahurangi. Perhaps this would be an opportunity to learn something new about her friend. Also, although she'd only had a few passing greetings with Monty, he seemed like the sort of person she might like to get to know better. "Hello, you two," she greeted them amiably, noting the lesbian flag on Kahurangi's jacket and face. "This looks very well set out."
 
Ainsley didn't expect the next face she saw at her booth, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless. "Hi, Professor Kingsley!" She said cheerfully, glad to see the professor there. She had enjoyed Professor Kingsley's classes, and was happy to see the woman again. "I think we've got everything sorted, thank you!" She smiled. "I'll let you know if there's anything we need though." Ainsley was pleasantly surprised by the number of professors who had showed up, and though Professor Josephs had made her reason for coming clear, she wondered whether the others were simply here to show support, or whether they had other reasons to be here. Ainsley was distracted from her thoughts by Amber's arrival though, beaming and leaning down slightly for Amber to kiss her cheek. "Thank you!" She said happily.

Ainsley's top priority though was the booth she was manning, and when the boy who had approached earlier spoke she focused on him, smiling kindly. "It's alright not to be sure. These things can be difficult to figure out. Have a read and see if anything sounds right. And remember it's always okay to change your mind if you try something and it stops feeling right." She said gently, tone reassuring. When he asked for a picture she smiled brightly and nodded. "Of course!" She said happily, picking up a couple of flags. One was a rainbow, and the other one had the pansexual colours, and Ainsley waved them cheerfully for the picture.
 
Kahurangi was pleasantly surprised to see Monty here, giving her colleague a small wave in greeting. She chuckled at his anecdote, shaking her head slightly. "Well, I'm sure you looked fantastic, at least." She said with a smile. "I'm sure it'll be all the rage next year, we'll all be giving lectures with big rainbows on our cheeks." She nodded when the boy asked what flag she wanted, falling silent as he painted so as not to disturb his work. When he was done, she looked in the mirror, grinning brightly. "Ka pai!* That's perfect, thank you!" Kahurangi said happily, standing up straight again, happy with her look. Tristan had joined them, and she gave him a smile in greeting. "Hello, Tristan. Enjoying the celebration?" She asked, but it was clear that Tristan was more interested in talking to the boy with the pain. Glancing across the room, Kahurangi was surprised to spot Cyndi at the information table and had to force herself to look away without lingering, wondering why her colleague had come. It was a relief when Lillian distracted Kahurangi from getting too focused on thoughts about Cyndi, smiling at the History teacher in greeting. "It does!" She said happily. "They've done a great job setting this up."

*Ka pai - Well done
 
As much as she enjoyed the atmosphere, Acacia felt a little bit alone in this big room, full of people who all seemed to know each other. She was contemplating going to chat with some of the people by the art tables when to her delight, she heard her own name. "Maze!" Acacia said happily, looking over to see her friend. "I'm great!" She said happily, grinning ear to ear. "It's cool to see you here, how have you been?"
 
It didn't take Kauri long to locate the perfect flower crown, setting it atop his head happily. He nodded cheerfully in response to Norton's question. "Totally! It's so nice to take a break from revising." He said with a small sigh, wondering if Norton was feeling the same pressure to do well in the OWLs that he felt. He shook his head when Norton asked about Rose, blushing a bit. Kauri hadn't really thought about people gossiping about all the time they were spending together, and it made him a bit nervous to think about. "Nah, but I was hoping to see her. It's a Wild Patch thing, so she'll probably be here..." As if mentioning her had summoned her, Kauri was pleasantly surprised to see Rose joining them. "Hi!" He said, a little too enthusiastically, and his face flushed more.
 
Chante played around with the pansexual band on her wrist, thinking about the colors on it and what they represented. Was this Pride? They were colors, very light ones and pretty to Chante. Maybe it was Pride, but what about the other colors? What do they all mean? Chante took another band, stretching the material in her hand while girl stood by her picking a lesbian and rainbow flag pins. Chante tries to smile, running her hand through her hair. "Hi," Chante not realizing she was greeting the Gryffindor's quidditch captain. She really needed to pay close attention to these quidditch games. Then along came Jacob, a boy Chante was not very fond of being near. She had no problem with him until he decided to poke his nose where it didn't belong. She was fault for her own comment, and yet, it didn't stop him from showing his own bias over a certain someone.
 
pride. pride meant a lot of things to willow. it meant her family. she was proud of them for being strong and being who they were even when oftentimes the world was against them. pride also meant her family at Hogwarts. Gryffindors were lions and they lived in a pride. once thing that pride didn't mean for willow was lgbt+. whilst this year she had had her first kiss and had kissed girls it had been part of a game and whilst they weren't bad kisses there was certainly no emotion behind them. but today she dressed in the brightest top she could find and made her way down to the great hall. today wasnt about her it was about chante. after their talk in the kitchens willow know she needed to be there for her cousin and had a feeling that she would be here.
as the doors of the great hall opened she made her way inside and the amount of colours was almost jarring. she stepped inside and saw that it was already quite busy with a lot of people she knew and a lot she didn't. it didn't take her long to find chante standing by a row of flags. the advantages of being related to a part giant was that she was always easy to find in a crowd she walked over and smiled when seh saw who she was talking to. Lizzie and Jacob. both friends of hers and both on the quidditch team. "Hey Chante" she said smiling at her cousin. "hey Lizzie Hey jacob" she said before looking at what the others were looking at. "that is a lot of flags" she said. she suddenly felt small knowing that there was a lot going on here that she was not really a part of.
 
Cyndi didn't have time to respond to her son's greeting but she heard the explosion of sound that came from him when he spotted Lizzie Taylor. The woman smiled to herself, happy that Jacob had such a good influence in his life. Lizzie had seemed to take him under her wing, and though Jacob usually seemed disgruntled at anyone's attempts to do so, he'd let her in and let her continue to be in even while everything was going on at home. Today, he seemed more like his old self. Waving her hand in dismissal as another girl apologized for interrupting, Cyndi shook her head. "Not at all. Ok, I'll be wandering around for a bit. Let me know if you need anything" the woman stated before heading off to look at everything else around the space. The event had really grown into something lovely, and while she'd first started attending to get a better understanding of her brother and then later Jacob, she found herself pleasantly surprised to easily recognize many of the flags and symbols she saw as she looked at the information table.
 
Aonghas was vaguely drawing, he’d always been okay at art-y sorts of things. Room for a lot of improvement but still not the worst. He knew he needed to get better and was of course trying his best to do so. He was surprised when someone sat down next to him and began pulling art supplies towards him. Aonghas leaned back from his work and then showed it to her. It was a rather crude drawing of a rose. He had just been drawing lines mostly and zoned out of what was actually happening. He did think it was rather appropriate for the event and who was helping out at it. He gave a little shrug, ”No ma best work but it’ll dae,” the boy had a faint smile, ”Is yer name Phoebe then?” the boy motioned to what she had drawn or technically writing, ”Ah’m Aonghas by the way, no a rose,” the hufflepuff had a little faint smile as he made the little joke to her. It wasn’t particularly good but he didn’t particular know what else to do, he didn’t know this girl but was willing to try to talk to her.​
 
Vader shook his head at her, though he appreciated that she wasn’t annoyed by his reluctance. She didn’t seem frustrated by the fact that he was mostly questioning things, though it was all perhaps a little overwhelming. He was pleased when she agreed to a picture and he quickly raised his camera and took a picture of her. He thought it would probably come out really nice, if only because of how many bright colours were about the place. It would be nice. He nodded his thanks and then quickly snatched two leaflets from the table, one about being gay and the other about being bisexual. He gave a quick thanks and then glanced at the other two people who were there and then hurried away. He kept his camera up and continued to vaguely take pictures of the event. At the very least letting himself just take pictures of the event was calming, he could hide behind his camera and just deal with the event a little easier. He didn’t know how to talk to people particularly well, and he hadn’t spotted any of his few friends, The boy was trying to figure himself out finding it difficult when he had so much else on his plate. He certainly also didn’t want end up getting bullied for it. He could tell that this event was popular and people were quite open in school, but with his luck he’d be the one to be picked on. So, he just focused on taking the pictures of the event. ​
 
Shane gave a little smile at her compliment, ”Thank you!” the boy kept an easy friendly expression on his feature, careful to school it on to his face. He glanced away from the little gathering of professors, as a boy, a little older than him approached. He definitely wasn’t a fourth year, but he was fairly certain that he was a hufflepuff, but that was about all he knew about him. With the potions professor not saying much and a conversation being struck up between the professors with the history professor, Shane was happy to turn his attention to the boy. He was pretty handsome, and Shane made an effort to allow his smile that was more friendly and polite for the professor to turn into more of a flirty smirk, ”Take a seat and we can get started,” the boy replied keeping his gaze easily on the boy letting his gaze linger on his lips a little, although he wasn’t very subtle about it. Shane had found flirting easy and he’d be more than happy to flirt with this boy. ”What kind of flag are you looking for?” he was already pulling the paint closer to him, getting the colours that he might need in front of him. He wasn’t an expert at face paint by any means but he could certainly give it more of a try, and he’d be happy to paint this boys face with a little light flirting happening too.​
 
Norton smiled at his friend, ”Right!” the boy agreed, ”I swear I’m seeing my revision in my sleep,” Norton joked in response. He nodded at the other boy when he said he wasn’t there with her. Norton was fairly new to relationships he didn’t know if this was the sort of event that you brought a partner to. He hadn’t brought April, but he hadn’t been sure. The boy smiled a little as Rose actually appeared, ”Hey Rose” he greeted warmly, he didn’t know the girl particularly well, but he’d interacted with her a little. The boy smiled easily and knew that even if he didn’t know her particularly well that if she was friends and with Kauri then she had to be great because Kauri was of course great. ”If you want to!” the boy replied, ”Always happy for the help!” the boy wasn’t sure it needed two people to man the station, but he also didn’t mind having the company and having someone to talk to during it. He was already speaking with Kauri, but the more the merrier of course. ”Do you want a crown to get started?” he held one out to her, but knew she could also find a few for herself, but this one was as good. ​
 
Mazikeen smiled at the girl and couldn’t help but agree that it was good to see her. She liked Acacia a lot, the girl was nice and friendly. They didn’t hang out overly often but she always enjoyed it when they did. The girl nodded again, ”Good! Exams are going to kick my butt, but I think I’ll pass them,” Maze replied, ”Happy to take a break from it and spend some time here at this event, which seems like so much fun!” the girl smiled excitedly at her friend, ”How have you been?” the girl returned easily, she was obviously happy to see her friend and eager and keen to catch up with her during this event, ”What do you think of the celebrations?” Maze made sure to ask, she thought it was nice. She was a little unsure about how she really fit in and she was sure that over the break she’d need to talk to her parents about how she was feeling, so she was a little tentative about this place. ​
 
Monty laughed. He never quite knew how his colleagues would receive his silly comments, but Kahurangi always seemed to respond in good humour. He looked up as Tristan joined them at the stall, moving as not to block him. "Oh, no, of course," he said, gesturing for the Hufflepuff to go ahead. It was probably for the best. Monty had no idea what sort of flag to ask for. He stepped a little further aside, out of the way of other students who might want their face painted, and smiled as Lillian joined them. He was beginning to feel out of place without any kind of flag or pin attached to him. "Hello," he said, with a nod. "Yes - it's terrific isn't it?" Monty was always very impressed by the school pride events, and more so by the students' organisational skills. "Are you going to have your face painted, Professor Sword?" he asked, grinning.
 
Harley gave Ainsley a small wave in farewell, stepping away with Hayley. The rest of the celebration actually looked pretty exciting, and most tables seemed to be bustling with activity. Harley's stomach dropped slightly when she spotted Rose with that Kauri kid over by one of the tables - of course she was here with him. It was a relief when Hayley suggested the art tables, and Harley nodded quickly, glad to check out the most interesting part of the celebration. "Definitely." She said, going over to the tables with her girlfriend. It'd be nice to draw something fitting to the event, and she wished she had known about the art wall in advance, so she could have prepared something to bring, but as it was, Harley enjoyed looking over the supplies, picking up a couple of pencils. "Know what you're gonna draw?" She asked Hayley.
 
Lizzie had barely finished pinning the pins to her dress when she heard her own name, turning just in time to be struck around the middle, laughing happily as she realised quickly who had run into her. "JAAAAKE!" Lizzie said happily, hugging her co-beater back and lifting him up slightly off the ground for a moment. She set the boy back down quickly though, ruffling his hair lightly as she released him. "Thanks!" She said cheerfully, then tapped the rainbows on her cheeks. "Already did it myself." She grinned. "Want me to help with your face?" Lizzie smiled when Willow joined them, giving the girl a cheerful wave. "Hey, Willow!"
 
Chante stretched her long neck to see Willow had come to the Pride event. Chante would assume her cousin had no clue what Pride was or if she did, she certainly never told Chante about it. "Hey Wills, look, I got a bracelet, but I don't know what the colors mean. They must mean something, right?" Chante was glad to have her cousin here. Chante sort of pulled away from the others, mostly Jake, as she didn't want to make the discomfit for the boy right-out obvious. "I like the colors, I want to know what they mean, but they're a nice combination on a bracelet. I should get these pins too," Chante grabbed at pansexual pins, like Lizzie she wanted to have them, but maybe with hers she will put them on her school bag or something.
 
Tristan was glad when Professor Pendleton let him have a turn next, and hoped he wasn't imagining the spark of interest in the younger boy's eyes. He hoped the professors would leave them alone now, as he wanted to have a moment to get to know this stranger. He noticed the boy's gaze linger on his lips for a moment, and he couldn't help a slight smirk as he took a seat. "The same as yours." He told him with a slight tilt of his head. "Lucky me." He added softly. "I don't think I have seen you around much, what's your name?" He wanted to get to know this boy a little, and wanted to flirt with him a bit too. It would be harmless fun, and it was too long since Tristan had tried flirting with someone new.
 
After writing her name, Phoebe was already bored of the arts stuff. She glanced to the side as two girls approached, and rolled her eyes as she saw they were Rose's friends. She had never quite warmed to them, and they had never really tried to make an effort with her either. Phoebe pointedly ignored them, addressing the young boy instead. "It's not bad. And yes, my name is Phoebe. Brilliant deduction." She said, grinning a bit. "And I know you're not a rose, that's my sister." She pointed to Rose, who was at the booth with the flower crowns. "She's named Rose." She added, in case the boy didn't get her comment. Phoebe glanced around again for any sign of her girlfriend, a bit sad she didn't spot her.
 
Lizzie gave good hugs, almost as good as his mom though he'd never tell his mom that. She'd never let him live if he did, and he'd only just helped her mostly get over calling him 'Jakey' in public. With his feet touching the ground again, Jacob patted his hair back into place. "Hey Willow" Jacob gave his fellow year mate a small wave before taking a look at the rainbows on Lizzie's cheek and nodded enthusiastically when she asked if he wanted her to help. "Yes, please" he replied politely, his attention taken away slightly when he saw one of the school's part giants approach and pull Willow away a little bit. He wasn't bothered by it at all, more curious as to why what she was saying couldn't be said in front of anyone. It didn't matter too much to happen so he returned his attention back to Lizzie. "Right here, I think" he tapped his left cheek with his pointer finger. Jacob spotted Tristan then and gave the teenager a wave though he wasnt sure if Tristan was even looking in his direction. He seemed ready to paint his face too.
 
Shane smiled, ”Oh, so we’ll match then,” the boy was easily to put on the more flirty tone that he wanted, he let the smile linger a little, he bit his lip lightly, put he shifted in his seat lightly as he grabbed the right colours for this. He let the boy tilt his head. ”You are lucky,” The boy returned easily, keeping the light tone returning the fun that this boy was providing to him back. ”I’m Shane, I’m new,” he took the paint brush in hand and lightly reached out to the boy’s face, gripping softly with one hand and the other applying the paint with the other. ”What’s your name?” he asked with a curious expression, ”But don’t move that mouth too much, can’t have you ruining my amazing paint job,” Shane teased lightly, he was soft in his touch, and perhaps he was leaning in a little closer than he needed to. It was all harmless fun though, and Shane enjoyed having fun like this, and to him it didn’t matter who was around him while he was having some fun. Flirting was nice and it was easy. ​
 
Lars had been uncertain about coming here. He knew this event was for people... well, like him. Probably. But he also didn't know if anyone he didn't want to see would be there. He had been in some trouble with a few boys in his years, and already knew they would mock him for going to this event if they saw him. But in the end, he had been too curious not to. Lars had known for a little while he liked other boys, though he had never even thought about actually dating anyone. He'd had several crushes, most of them on unattainable older people. He didn't actually like anyone right now, but still wondered if he would run into any of his classmates here. It would be nice to feel less alone. Lars entered the great hall and looked around, his eyes widening at the sight of all the stalls, students, and even professors. He wandered past the information table and looked around for what he wanted to do here. He didn't recognize anyone from his year so far, which was both a relief and a bit sad. Lars' eyes widened again when he saw the art wall, and he headed over to admire the works of other students. Only after he headed there, did he notice there was a boy from his year there. He recognized him from Wild Patch too. "Oh, hi Aonghas." He said shyly, unsure if the other boy even knew who he was. He then noticed the boy was talking to an older girl, and was quickly distracted by the art supplies. Lars decided to sit at one of the tables and start drawing. That was something fun to do, for now. Maybe he would leave in a little while, but he found that he did like the atmosphere here. Lars drew a little rainbow on the paper, and smiled.
 
It felt immensely satisfying to Hayley to be in tune enough with her girlfriend to correctly guess where she would want to go - not that it was a difficult deduction in this case. It had been their shared love of art that first drew them together, and it was still a strong strand in the bond between them. There were a few other people already at the art table, and Hayley smiled awkwardly at Rose's sister, who pointedly ignored her. Did she know about the current feud? Hayley wasn't entirely sure how much Rose talked to Phoebe, but the younger girl had never really shown much interest in the gang anyway. Hayley sat down, pulled a piece of paper and a few pencils towards her . . . and stopped, staring blankly at the paper. Somewhat unusually for her, she had no ideas. What could she draw that was interesting and cool and Pride-themed? ". . . No," she admitted to Harley, "I don't. You got any ideas?"
 
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