Belladonna Le Faye

Back in a Group

Blaise and Bella enjoy the morning going through the outdoor exhibits and finish it by going through the jungle area and meeting the rest of their group at the Jungle Cafe. Aaron and David are the only two there when they arrive and have moved several of the small tables together. 

They take a little while to look over the cafe's menu board and order before joining the two men at the table. "So how did you two enjoy the zoo?"

David asks.

"It was much better than the last trip I took to a zoo," Bella says, with a large smile on her face.

"I quite enjoyed my company. Draco has this tendency to complain if an animal is sleeping when we get to an exhibit," Blaise says.

"Well, I hope you two enjoy the rest of the zoo with our much larger group," Aaron says as a server brings his and Rossi's food. "Speaking of which, there's the rest of them now."

Bella glances over at the door to see the rest of them walk in. Derek is now pulling the wagon behind him and Penelope is talking to the two boys sitting in it. Each boy is now in possession of three new stuffed animals each and wearing a new T-shirt. JJ is shaking her head as she smiles at her son in the wagon.

Reid is talking to Morgan but stops when they get close enough to the counter to read the menu. Penelope orders first and then takes the wagon from Derek after paying. She drops the boys off at the table and then goes to get them a couple of booster seats.

Will and JJ are the next to join them at the table and JJ picks her son out of the wagon and sets him in the booster seat. She takes the seat to his left and Will takes the one to his right until he says he want Jack to sit next to him so Will moves to sit on the other side of his wife as Jack gets into the chair beside him. Penelope sits down next to Jack.

A server comes and hands Bella and Blaise their food as Derek and Spencer join the group. They take the last two available seats. "So, Jack, Henry, are you two having fun today?" Aaron asks.

"Yes, sir," Jack says. "Aunt Penelope keeps buying us something at each of the gift shops."

"Penelope," Aaron starts.

"What I just got them each a T- shirt from the main zoo gift shop and then a stuffed animal of their favorite animal from each of the areas we visited already."

"Is that why they both have a lion?"

"Oh, you should have seen their faces light up when we went to the lion habitat." Penelope says.

"So everyone at least enjoyed the morning part of this trip?" Rossi asks.

"Yes," Reid, Morgan, Jack, and Henry exclaim as everyone else nods in agreement.

"Hopefully the rest of the day will be just as enjoyable." Blaise says, as few servers come over with the rest of the food for the group. He finishes eating his and then gets up. He walks back over to the counter without saying a word and then rejoins them with a smile on his face.

Bella shakes her head and looks at him. "What did you do?"

"Whatever do you mean?" He says, still smiling. 

"The way your smiling tells me you did something that you think I'll like but aren't quite sure about." Bella says, now giving him a slight glare.

Just then a server walks over with a tray full of bowls of ice cream. Vanilla with chocolate syrup, green leaf shaped sprinkles and tiny gorillas. Bella looks at Blaise and smiles. "Now this is one of your better surprises." She says picking up a spoon. He smiles at her as he digs into his own bowl of ice cream.

"Thank you," he says.

After everyone finishes their ice cream, the children climb back into the cart and they leave the cafe. They go to the bird house first and everyone has a great time looking at all the different birds before passing through the penguin exhibit and into the Arctic area that houses polar bears, seals and gives a study of Orcas before they walk back out into the sunlight and over to the reptile house.

They see turtles and crocodiles, some alligators and some frogs before entering into a large room of snakes. Bella watches the others go over to one enclosure in particular and follows them. Inside tests an albino snake. The snakes pink eyes watch them through the glass and with a quick glance around she leans in. *Hello* she whispers.

Blaise glances around quickly as well. Rossi's, Reid's and Wil's eyes all go wide. They then drag her and Blaise around a corner and through a magical barrier that leads to an area full of small magical creatures.