That Pride 2043!

[Orwell Brocken]

Orwell could hardly believe that this would be his last Hogwarts Pride event as he put up the last of the old placards from the Pride marches, it was certainly the most fun he had with the entire wild patch, his garden was such perfection but this was the event he loved hosting, decking out the hall in the flags of the different sexualities, the banners, the colours, having the leaflets to help students questioning, to give information to students who weren't as ready to accept people as others, to let people know that it was okay to not follow the heterosexual norm. The king of flowers hoped that if he had managed anything in this school it was that this event would continue beyond him, because there would always be kids who were questioning things and honestly the professors though supportive weren't always the people kids wanted to turn to. Orwell felt proud that he had helped introduce this event to the school, and as was the norm for him at this event, he had his flag wrapped around his shoulders and his hair was multi-coloured, and the rainbow flag was painted on to his cheek. Orwell had set up the usual stalls, the flower crowns, the face painting stall where he had put Tholomyes, the left over roses were sat waiting for people to take them and give them to others, since Orwell had grown far more than he needed to and he stood proudly at his information stall, with cookies and cakes of various colours and flags around it.

The king of the flowers magicked the LGBTQIA banner above his head to switch between the different colours of the letters represented. He had expanded his collection of leaflets, just to be sure he had all bases covered, even included a few LGBT+ literature he had managed get. There was music playing but he had left an area for anyone who wanted to, to just get up and sing. Overall, it had that same party feel it always did, Orwell was proud of all that the wild patch had achieved, he was proud of the members who had made it what it was now. Orwell was proud of all they had managed, he was proud that he had been trusted with such a club despite he being such a new student. He was proud of his school despite how little he had thought he would be. Hogwarts had its problems and it was still just a part of the capitalist machine, the forest being forbidden still made no sense to him, but looking at the hall, the Pride event, he knew that he might not have managed to make the school the anrcho-communist commune he had set out to make it but this little improvement was certainly one he was proud to have achieved. It was something Orwell could take pride in.
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Out of Character:

This is the fourth Wild Patch Club Pride event, everyone is welcome to join the WPC. Wild patch members and non-members can help out in any of the sections described or just enjoy the celebrations.

 

[Archie Renner]

Out of every event in Hogwarts, the annual pride event was Archie's favourite for many reasons. One of these reasons being the expectation for him run around wearing a rainbow flag as a cape, with a flower crown on his head while taking photos of everyone. It was as exciting for him as the yule ball was. Both events had equal amounts of body glitter and happiness, but pride was different on so many levels. He could be himself, and help others be themselves and that was what made the event so worthwhile. It was easily the best idea Orwell had ever thought of and Archie was happy to help set up and take photos one last time, before he graduated.

Everything in the hall was as amazing as the previous year, the decorations were brightly coloured and the music playing was upbeat. The only thing that made that year's event different for Archie besides the fact he was graduating soon was having Lizzie tag along behind him. He was happy to be there for the younger Gryffindor, keeping her company and being a comforting presence so she didn't feel alone or too overwhelmed while attending her first pride event. It was the least he could do, really, and he was happy to do it. Everyone deserved to be themselves and Lizzie was no exception to that. Archie waved at Orwell from across the hall, then paused his steps to take a photo of one of the many rainbow flags hung around the room. He pulled the polaroid from the camera after it was printed, shook it so it could develop, and then handed it to Lizzie. "Is this better than the last one?" He asked, smiling, then continued on his mission.​

 

[Lizzie Parker-Taylor]

In the time since her talk with Archie, Lizzie was fairly sure that she had done more reading than ever before in her life. The combination of having talked to someone understanding about her feelings, and read all the related literature she could get her hands on, had helped Lizzie to crystallise how she felt about herself, and other people, and the more she thought about it, the more the word lesbian felt right, felt like home. But despite the new confidence budding within her, the act of actually going to a pride event felt like an enormous, terrifying new step, and if Archie hadn't promised she could stick with him, Lizzie didn't think she would have managed to attend at all.

But here she was, following Archie along nervously, not sure if she was afraid of any of her friends seeing her here or not. The bright decorations and cheerful music were welcoming, and helped to put her at ease somewhat, and being there before there was any kind of crowd (was there going to be a crowd?!) was even more of a relief. When Archie paused to take a picture Lizzie stopped too, taking a moment to look around the hall properly. She took the photo he handed her a little nervously, looking it over. "I think this one is better, the lighting is brighter...." She decided after a moment, a hint of nervous tension in her usually bubbly voice.

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Being part of the Wild Patch club, Clementine knew that the annual Pride event was one of the biggest events of the entire year. The king of flowers had began this tradition and she wondered if it would continue once he graduated this semester. Although the Hufflepuff didn't think she fell in any of the categories being celebrated today, she was still extremely excited to help out and be supportive as an ally. She had signed up to help the flower crown making booth and already had an elaborate one on her head. Flowers were weaved throughout her blonde hair as she helped set up the table, piling up several sets of flowers to begin. She had also dragged her older sister along to help in the face painting booth because she was rather good at painting. She hadn't arrived yet but Clementine knew she'd honor her promise so in the mean time the second year got busy with making a flower crown for the first person who stopped by, feeling cheerful from all the love and positivity this event was full of.
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[Ainsley Lynch]

Ainsley's inner conflict about the new kinds of relationships Wild Patch had made her aware of hadn't been helped any by her conversation with Amber, and she was still torn about whether or not to attend pride. She wondered why mum had only ever told her about boys and girls liking each other, Ainsley couldn't help but imagine it would be much easier to figure out if she liked girls or not if she had always known that was a possibility. Trying to figure out whether she liked anyone she knew had taken up an embarrassing amount of Ainsley's thoughts over the last few months, and she wasn't any closer to figuring out the answer yet.

But nervous or not, Ainsley was excited to be in the Wild Patch club, and a club event was a club event, so however unsure she felt about things, it seemed harmless to at least go along, and see if spending time with other people made things any clearer. Dressed in her usual flurry of skirts and layers and no shoes to speak of, Ainsley padded down the stairs and entered the Great Hall more timidly than she had since her sorting so long ago. The atmosphere seemed cheerful, but there didn't seem to be many people here yet and she scooted off to the side shyly, immediately too timid to try and make conversation.

 

[Darcy Pratt]

Darcy had somehow been roped into helping out the Wild Patch club even though she technically wasn't a part of it. Her younger sister had asked her to help with the face painting booth and Darcy had only agreed because a part of her was dying to check out the Pride event but she was too scared to do so as a spectator. This way she could check it out under the pretense of helping out. The Slytherin still hadn't figured out exactly what her sexuality was so she was hoping the pride event could clear things up for her. She saw all the different pamphlets and flags and was a little overwhelmed, but in the mean time she just sat at the face painting booth and prepped her paintbrushes and laid out all the colors. She hoped it got busy enough that she could just slip away to the other events at the pride event without being noticed too much.
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[Eleanor Hope]

Eleanor was more than ready for the next pride event. She had prepared her flower crowns in advance, making them all the colours of the rainbow to contribute to the cause. Ellie wasn't LGBT but she did like the idea of supporting everyone who was. There was no need for people to feel uncomfortable because of who they were and Eleanor was sure to make that loud and clear for anyone who needed it. The Hufflepuff sat in the Great Hall at her small stall with one of her flower crowns on her head, a bucket of colourful flower crowns next to her and dozens of already made flower crowns sitting on the table for anyone to take if they wanted to. Ellie watched as people began making their way inside the Great Hall. "Come and get some flower crowns!" she shouted, waving around some flowers in her hands. Her stall wasn't much compared to Tholomyes or Orwell's but it was something she hoped people would enjoy.

 

[Pia Morales]

Pia was sad that pride event would be her last, as it had helped her come out to her friends and the rest of the school. It held so much sentimental value for her and she didn't know if she would be as confident in herself if she hadn't had such an open showing of support in the school after her transfer. Letting it go and worrying that the event might not continue for others made Pia furthermore disenchanted to leave it all behind. Despite this, however, Pia was more than happy to participate in the event and be a role model to younger students while she still could. She was one of the few people situated in the face painting area of the hall, waiting patiently for a student to approach her after she had set up all of the different coloured paints and brushes. She was too nervous at that point to strike up a conversation with the other students at the stall, but knew she would be able to speak to them sooner or later.
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[Lydia Warrick]

Lydia always thoroughly enjoyed helping out at the Pride event, though she didn't fall into any of the letters being heterosexual, she enjoy promoting inclusiveness and enjoyed being an ally to those in the school who were coming to terms with their sexuality. She smiled to herself as she had adorned the most flowery dress she had that had a multitude of colours upon it, and the soft flower crown on her head with a mixture of pastel colours. She had always helped at the flower crown stall, but noting that there were two young hufflepuffs and active members of the wild patch already at it so she knew to not concern herself with it. They were fine and she didn't need to be there as just another pair of hands, so instead she decided to give out the remaining roses. Orwell had clearly grown too many and there were some left to be given out now. She wandered to the area and began adding the blank notes to the roses neatly tying them with quills and ink ready for people to just add what they wanted to say and give it to others. It was a wonderfully colourful place, with such a strong positive vibe.
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[Tholomyes Fontaine]

Tholomyes took part in this event because he knew it was important, but he didn't feel too happy this year. As usual he was sat at the face painting bit, with the paint brush in hand and ready to true to continue to be good at this. The boy hadn't liked anything he had made recently but he was sure this event would allow him to do more, to get back to being happy with what he'd made, he held no high hopes for such an outcome but the ravenclaw could hope. The teen had perfected painting on to his own face, neatly painting the outline of love heart, a look of concentration upon his face as he'd neatly done the curved lines. The boy grinned to himself as he finished with it, painting the interior of the heart with a similar concentration. he didn't want to mess it up. Theo had always enjoyed the pride event regardless of what he was. He had thought hard about what he was especially after Emma had left but the truth was that his feelings had not changed, he liked girls, and though they didn't really like him, but for now he focus on paintings people's face with whatever they asked for and whatever they could manage.
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[Ares Jeffreys]

Ares of course was happy to attend the event, he was nervous that much was true, nervous about who he was but he liked that this existed and he liked the small parcels of confidence that it gave him. The boy reached the great hall and glanced around before knowing exactly in what order he wanted to do things. He approached the face painting section first, and got the rainbow flag painted on to his cheek by one of the wild patch members. it took no time at all and Ares was happy with what the end result was, he was happy to walk the joyous room and spotted Ellie handing out the flower crowns with another hufflepuff whom he was sure he had met before. The boy walked joyously over, grinning as he did so, "Ellie! Hows it going?" he greeted with a small wave at her, "How are you enjoying crown duty?" he asked motioning to the crowns which surrounded her. He had a few of them, they were easy to come by and he thought they were quite fun. He wouldn't wear them too often but a little was just fine, and these crowns were even better than prior ones.
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[Jon Phillips]

Jon had always thought Orwell was an interesting kid. Sure, he broke the rules with some of his wild patch events, and had more often than not put Jon in hot water for it as the sponsor of the wild patch. But Jon still admired Orwell's spirit and was more than happy to attend and support the wild patch events that didn't break the rules. The annual pride event was one of those, and Jon had always loved the idea, thinking it was vital for students and professors on the LGBT spectrum to be supported. Jon was now, after heavy consideration, on that spectrum himself and was happy to be part of the event as a sponsor and ally. He arrived to the great hall, immediately spotting Orwell's rainbow hair. He approached the boy and said "You've once again done a great job with this. Would you like me to work with the leaders of the wild patch club next year to continue making this happen?" Jon was already determined in himself to continue pride events with the wild patch after Orwell graduated, but figured it could never hurt to ask. He smiled and looked around at the brightly decorated hall as he waited for an answer.
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