#2 Free Time is Free Chaos

Thomas tilted his head toward Eleanor and flashed her a wide, cheeky grin after she proclaimed that he was her idol. When Jacob grasped at his heart like he'd been mortally wounded by the statement, Thomas laughed aloud. However, his good mood quickly dissipated when he spotted not one, but two Slytherins enter the courtyard.

"Bollocks," he swore under his breath as he turned his back toward the two girls. Unfortunately, they went two different directions at first, so he had a hard time keeping his back to both of them. Once his classmate, Rebecca, joined her housemate, though, it was easier to keep the fireworks out of their sight. It might have been too late to do so by then, but Thomas was too preoccupied with trying to figure out to still set them off to consider that.

Thomas nodded at Eleanor's warning. "I hope so too. She always ruins all of our fun," he said as he shared a look with Jacob. They had had more than their fair share of run-ins with the Slytherin Queen. He'd successfully avoided her most of today, and hoped his luck stayed strong. However, he did wonder who she was tormenting, and fleeting felt sorry for whoever the bloke was. They probably didn't deserve it...

Whenever Mathias Sallow strode into the courtyard, Thomas swore again, "Bloody hell, I thought this was the private courtyard."

He liked Mathias well enough, but the Ravenclaw was one too many for Thomas's liking. He'd hoped to keep this little show private, or as private as a mass of fiery sparks could be. Now that the courtyard was filling up, though, he wasn't sure how he was going to stealthily pull it all off.

Thankfully, Rebecca didn't stay long. As soon as she disappeared from sight, Thomas whirled back to face the other Gryffindors.

"Let's do this before any more of them show up."

Thomas held the fireworks in front of him and stared. Jacob's question from earlier ran through his mind again and he realized, with more than a little embarrassment, that he actually didn't know how to handle one of these. At least, he couldn't start it with magic because he didn't know the Water-making Charm. And he knew for a fact that Jacob didn't either. He wasn't sure about Eleanor, and he was too embarrassed to ask her.

After a moment of silence, Thomas handed the fireworks back to Jacob. "Hold on," he said as he dashed over to the bush he'd thrown his Pumpkin Juice bottle into. Thankfully, a little bit of juice remained at the bottom. Just enough to do what he needed.

Thomas snatched up the bottle and dashed back over to Jacob. He took the fireworks back, and, after a quick glance over to at their remaining guests, dumped the remaining Pumpkin Juice on the wick. "Watch out," he declared as he stepped back a few steps.

As soon as he was sure that the fireworks were working, Thomas squatted down and quickly stuck its stick into the ground. Once he straightened up, he backpedaled a few more steps just to be sure and then waited for the fun to begin.