Greer was a little surprised to find herself being one of the first to enter the amazing Hogwarts Great Hall that evening.

It was beautiful.
Her head was lifted as her gaze became fixed on the enchanted ceiling. "Fascinating." Somehow, her graceful little feet simply knew how to guide her through the tables and seats, so she seemed to float slightly above the floor.

Yes, Hogwarts had been a good choice. Being surrounded by this sort of beauty would be healthy for her mind. Relaxing.

With a smile on her face, the short-haired little blonde came to a halt somewhere in the middle of the Gryffindor table. She plopped down on an empty seat and allowed her brown eyes to wander back up to the enchanted ceiling.

Yes, Hogwarts was simply fascinating.

Anya smiled as they entered the Great Hall. Her eyes immediately went to the enchanted ceiling. She loved that ceiling. After staring up while walking, she swerved and headed toward the Gryffindor table. She looped an arm through her boyfriend's to make sure the Prefect didn't get lost. "Did you see the extra table?" she asked slipping into a seat. "I wonder what that's for..."

It was a good thing Anya had found him, or Jake would have ran right to the feast. Or, quite possibly, skipped the feast altogether and ran straight to the kitchen. He was just soooo hungry. But Anya had his arm, and he was watching her face, so that was an acceptable distraction.

Taking a seat on the bench next to her, Jake looked away distractedly. Extra table...? "Oh. Yeah, I did... I have no idea, though." What it was for. Should he have known? Probably not. He wasn't going to worry about it. He would just worry about the weird noises his stomach might start making if he didn't get food in a reasonable amount of time.

Some time between the train ride to the carriage ride, Melanie had changed into her Gryffindor robes. It was a weird feeling, coming in here without Landon. There was a slight frown on her face as she fiddled with the sleeve of her robes before shaking her head and thoughts of him out of it. This was the start of a new term. As much as she missed him, she wouldn't just mope around and wait for him to magically show up which he wouldn't do because he couldn't. Even if she wished he could. Melanie hadn't realized that she had started to sing quietly under her breath as she walked closer to the Gryffindor table.

"Just like a star across my sky... Just like an angel off the page..." she sung as she got closer and closer to the table. "You have appeared to my life... Feel like I'll never be the same..."

The Gryffindor girl finally arrived at the table and smiled those there. "Hello~" she greeted, stopping her singing and giving them a wave. "Congratulations on the badge," she added, looking at the Gryffindor prefect.

Miss Kurumi had a badge like that too. It was shiny. And pretty. Melanie took a seat and went back into her own little world, singing quietly, waiting for the food to show up.

"Just like a song in my heart..."

Maybe she missed Landon just a little too much.

Was she obligated to talk to people, now that she had a badge? Because that meant a lot more effort on her part. SIGH. But Alice Fischer didn't really like talking or work or effort. She preferred candy, quidditch, and FUN things. She wasn't chosen for her position because of school and perserverance like the others, right? She was picked because she could hit things well, and she planned to do her title justice by bringing her bat to the feast. Because she COULD. And if anyone touched him, they were going to get whacked or bitten.

That thought made her very happy, and with it in her mind, she skipped up to the Gryffindor table, her bat in hand and her badge pinned on her top.

"HI person I do not know. And Annie and Jake and MELANIE. Why are you singing?" And she beamed at all of them. Soon, Mama Selina and her other lion friends would be here and they could eat and be jolly and all. It sounded tiring, but interesting, and so she would stay. The girl swung her bat around by her side and stared and smiled at everyone. And listened to her Melon dear's pretty song voice. Surely, being social couldn't be TOO bad.

Of course there was no food on the tables.

After two full terms, Penelope was no longer surprised or hopeful that this feast would be any different. But maybe that was the lack of sleep talking. If she didn't desperately want sleep, she'd probably care more that she was also extremely hungry and wanted food that wouldn't appear for ages. But for the first time, she didn't really care. She just wanted to not be awake for a little while.

And, because there was no food and she was too tired to register who all was already at the table, she simply plopped herself down on a random empty seat, laid her folded arms on the table, pushed the plates and things out of the way with them, then laid her head down on her arms. Maybe she could get a quick little nap of sorts in before the speech?

Anya continued to stare at the random table until people began filing in around her. She smiled a little when Melanie congratulated Jake on the badge. In fact... she couldn't resist the temptation to adjust it a little. You know, because she could. Girlfriend rights and all.

She then left and arm looped through his and waved that hand at the new captain. "Hey Alipop." she greeted. "You look like a Captain..." She couldn't imagine anyone else bringing a bat to dinner. Weirdos.

She then tilted her head to the side a little spotting Penne slump into a random seat. Why was she sitting not with them?

"... you alright Penne?" she asked as the younger girl laid her head on the table.

Mackenzie hurried along the long table, passing all of the older students, intimidated by them she found a spot near the end and sat down quietly, hoping not to get in anyones way.

Resting an elbow on the table, Jake lay his head on his hand. Was it still considered bad manners to have your elbows on the table when there was no food on it? He was about to ask Anya if she knew, but a different face caught his attention and he straightened back up.

"Thanks, Melanie," he said with a grin. He glanced down, smiling a little when he noticed Anya straightening his badge, then looked back up at Melanie. "You alright?" She seemed... distracted.

...Speaking of distractions. "Ali!" He turned a little to grin at her, noticing her bat right off. "...You look like Selina." No, not just a captain, like Anya had said. Selina. It was... kinda uncanny, actually. All she needed was a few more inches and the red hair and it would be scary. Both girls had an almost worrying obsession with their bats. Jake would keep an eye on Alice, definitely.

And then there was Penelope. Jake stayed quiet for a second, watching Penelope as Anya spoke. Then he leaned toward her, his voice softer than before. "Still tired?" Maybe she was just hungry, like he was.

Ofim had just been sorted into Gryffindor. He didn't know anything about any of the houses but he liked lions! So, that was a good thing, right? The blonde had NO idea what was going on around him and there was way too much noise for him to pay half attention to things.

He knew that he didn't like these [strike]dresses[/strike] robes they had to wear, that was for sure. He really just wanted to eat and go to sleep. He was not into this being away from people he actually knew thing. He just wanted someone to talk to. Someone like him, a muggle born.

"Oooops, sorry" he said as he bumped into someone. Ofim finally found a seat near the middle of the ridiculously long table and sighed

The Gryffindor table.

Merlin, she had missed this school and all of the people who were sitting around this table. They were her ickles because now she was the oldest and had to uphold her Mama Lion duties. Except there was ONE slight problem- Selina was shaking, which was very un-Selina-like. Usually, the redhead was passing around red face paint at this point for battle and acting all nutters with her team. But this year was different. She was pale and shaking and all because of the bloody bat pinned to her chest.

Why did it scare her so much? She had always been a good person under pressure on the Pitch? All of the uncharted territory, she supposed, just terrified her. Merlin, it was like she was walking into something blind and Selina hated feeling that way. What if she failed? Ugh, she would never be able to look at Bentley again. All she wanted to do was make her house proud, so why did she feel like she was dancing on a dangerous line of failing?

Clutching Mortimer in her hand for support, the redhead took ONE deep breath and started to walk toward the table. A shaky smile was sent out to all of her ickles and all of the lions she did not know. Merlin, she needed some food.

OH FOOD! RIGHT SHE HAD A MISSION.

Pulling herself together somewhat, she yelled out across the Gryffindor table VERY OFFICIAL LIKE, "OI YOU LOT! PRESENT FROM KURUMI! COME AND GET 'EM!" And that was when she placed down the tin of cookies that her best friend had sent with her on the train.

So far she'd proven herself right. Entering the Great Hall and knowing that Vivi wouldn't be somewhere off at another table waiting to spoil her with chocolate frogs was hard. How would she last the entire term??? The train ride hadn't been so bad because she had Alice and Mo but the girl had disappeared sometime during the train ride and Lex couldn't tell where Mo had gotten off to. In times like these one simply had to head to their table and hope something fun happened. There would be time for house hopping later.

When she got to the table she realized that she knew most of the people there but even better were the new faces. Heh. She liked new things...er...people...yeah...

There was a blonde girl she'd never seen before. Lex flashed her a wide smile. "Hi there! Are you new? If ya are then welcome to Gryffindor, if not then I apologize but I'm oblivious..." You know....just incase the girl had been here the whole time but she just failed to see that. There were a lot of people Lex didn't notice but through no fault of her own.

Then her gaze landed on Jake and Anya. They seemed to be kinda busy with their own conversation but she'd say hi anyway. "JAKE!" Beam. "How's it goin'?" She shifted her gaze from him to the girl. "And hi Anya!" Even if they'd never had a decent conversation before it was still good to be friendly.

From just a ways off she heard what sounded like singing. When she looked around she spotted another familiar face. "Melanie! HAI!!" But just as she greeted her her eyes rested on ALICE. Lex pointed an accusing finger at her. "YOU!" Yes you. "You abandoned me even though we were going in the same direction." She could have waited. Yeah Lex was taking a bit too long back at the platform but that was no excuse! Leaning back a bit she felt herself bumped into someone. Oh! "Are you okay Penelope?"...she was just...sleeping?there....

Just then something flashed right by her. Lex turned on her heel and spotted her first army recruit sitting at the end of the table. "Mack! Over heeeeeere!!" She could sit with her because Army mates stuck by each other. Yup. But then...something BUMPED INTO HER. She turned again. Another firstie maybe...? Hello there..." Then she staaaared at the boy because she could and it was allowed.

Her stare was broken by that VERY intimidating voice. Wait. Present from Kurumi??? No need to tell her twice! Very cautiously she went over to her and helped herself to a cookie. "Thanks Scary-Bat Girl!"

It seemed like everyone knew everyone else here at this table. Where the heck were all of the other first years? There was no way he could be the only one, he thought.

"Hi" he said to the older girl he had bumped into. Why the heck was she staring at him? He didn't mean to bump into her.

OH BOY THIS WAS GOING TO BE A LONG TERM

Freed from the task of being sorted in front of all the rest of the students and the awkward attention that came with it, Ellura was glad to be finally able to settle down for the start-of-term feast and soak it all in. It was just like her grandfather and aunts had described it and even better, the enchanted ceiling catching her eye and attention for a few moments. She almost ran into someone though and after a quiet apology, the third year opted to find a seat before looking over her surroundings more.

Ellura took a seat in an open spot on the bench and looked up and down the table's length for familiar faces. Hadn't the one girl from the ice cream shoppe mention being in Gryffindor? But she didn't spot anyone until she noticed the prefect from the platform and carriages, and his girlfriend if she wasn't mistaken. She offered a polite smile before yelling caught her attention, the brunette turning to see an older red-headed girl talking about a present from someone.

Who was Kurumi?

"Thanks!" she said, taking a cookie to save for later. They certainly looked yummy. Oh there was Alexa...the other third year she had met over the summer taking a cookie as well.

Daphne Hughes walked towards the Gryffindor table, frowning at the placement of house she was in, and took a random seat at the huge table. She looked up as she heard singing and noticed it was Melanie. She was about to say something but noticed she was with all her friends and decided against it.

So far, Hogwarts wasn't the best place on Earth as she thought it would be.

--Though there was one plus so far; the hot guys.

Hehe.

Christmas had just got to the gryffindor table and felt out of place she didn't know anyone and there was Ellura that she had meet in Diagon Alley and the rest of the table she didn't know but she knew that she would get to know them eventually and she wondered what was going to happen next

After an interesting enough train ride, no one could be more pleased than Ira when finally they stepped in Hogwarts. She had really missed Hogwarts. And to be returning as a prefect nevertheless was awesome.

Following her house mates, she went ahead to the Gryffindor House, smiling wide. Seeing her former quidditch captain, now a head girl, distributing cookies, she skipped ahead, directly besides Selina. Kurumi's gift? Aw! Ira's heart clenched a bit. It was gonna be weird not seeing Kurumi around.

Smiling at all others around her, "Hey all of you!" she said cheerfully.

As soon as he entered the room he was in such a hurry to catch up with everybody he quickly ran to the empty seat where everyone he knew were sitting and slipped his leg under the table and sat breathing hard and smiling for no reason. He might have even pushed somebody while running or sitting at the table. He was just so happy to be back at Hogwarts.

He looked at the boy who wore the prefect's badge. He didn't know him thought but what the better time to meet everybody then the house table. "Hey" he called at the boy. "I'm Zack. Congrats on being the prefect." Hopefully he could be one too someday.

Looking around at some more peps he looked to the gryffindor captian. He was excited about quidditch as well. Quidditch! Only the word got him so excited. Who was it this term? Having no idea his eyes moving from every person to person until he spotted one with a bat? Was that a real bat? He looked at the girl having it. She's might be the captain since she was carring the bat. Yeah that made sense. "Hey there" he greeted. "I'm Zack. You must be the captain." he said smiling at her. "We will WIN this term" he said out of nowhere. How did that come in his mind. Anyways he said it like a statement.

He found Anya sitting with a boy. Yeah, he was the perfect he talked to "Hey Anya!" he said and then he saw a girl sitting with her head down. Who could that be? Yeah he knew it was Penne. She she still sleepy yet? Looking at her he felt like throwing a bucket of water on her. But that won't be good manner. "Hey Penne. Good night" he said and let her sleep.

When was the food coming? How many students are still felt ya! Boring waiting. Then there was someone calling for everybody. He looked at the girl yelling to take cookies. It was Selina, who else could yell like that? "Hey ya, Selina! How was your summers" he asked and dipped his hand for some cookies. He ate one and realize how hunger he really was or was it the cookies?

Eating the cookies he hear a familiar voice and turned it was Ira. "Hey there Ira." he said and took another bit of the cookie. "How were your summers" he asked looking at her and taking another bite of the cookie. Since Kurumi had graduated and left him like his sister had went she graduated he actually felt like he was gonna miss Kurumi more instead of his own sister. His sister was annoying anyway so it was better to miss Kurumi instead. He could always see his sister of the summer or whenever the ministry announced something for Hogwarts or anytime he wanted.

Oichi took a seat at the Gryffindor table with a bunch of people, she was not even sure who she knew and who she did not in the crowd. She heard one boy introduce himself as Zack and she decided to speak up. She turned to him and said, "Hey, I think I heard you say you're name was Zack? Well my names Oichi, nice to meet you.", Oichi said with a smile.

Oichi then noticed Christmas was sitting by her as well, "Hey Christmas, nice to catch up with you again. Now we never got to talk too much on the train, so, what's you're favorite thing about Hogwarts. I like the Gryffindor dormitories which has the windows over looking the entire Hogwarts Grounds.".
__________________

Melanie was still singing to herself, still a bit distracted but Queen Alice pulled her out of her thoughts. Ah. Queen Alice was here. She hadn't seen the girl since the train ride. Smiling, Melanie waved at the girl, eying the bat a little. "Hey Queen Alice," she replied. Had she been singing?

She had kinda forgotten about that. She put a smile on her face. "No reason, just a habit," the fifteen-year-old replied, with a smile. Her gaze traveled right back to the bat though. Really, that ought to be in the girl's trunk or she could hurt someone with it.

Knowing Queen Alice, that was probably her intentions though. That or to scare someone.



Ah. Was that a new person? Melanie turned to look at the girl and waved at her. "Welcome to Gryffindor," she told the girl. Because she looked like she might need it. THe girl didn't seem too talkative either. Was there something bothering her...? Or was she just nervous? Because Melanie understood that feeling. Kind of, she had been more excited than nervous.



Mister Prefect was speaking. "You're welcome~" Melanie said, giving him two thumbs up. Had she really been that out of it? "I'm perfectly fine, don't worry about it." She was absolutely fine. No need to worry about it right? Yeah. "How was your summer?" Because that seemed like a better topic to talk about than if everything was alright.



Melanie never got a chance to slip back into her little world because she heard a really loud yelling thing that reminded Melanie quite a bit of Quidditch practice. A smile quickly spread across her face when she head Miss Selina. And Miss Selina had a very nice new badge too. While Queen Alice had the Quidditch captain badge, Selina now owned the Head Girl badge and it was a very pretty badge too.

And she had a present. From Miss Kurumi too. And they were very pretty presents.

"COOKIES!" Melanie exclaimed, getting up to reach for a very delicious looking cookie.



Ah. Melanie heard her name being called and looked around for the source f it before finding the younger Gryffindor. Melanie gave the girl a smile and waved at her. "Hello Lex," she called out to her. Melanie liked the younger girl. Alexa reminded Melanie a bit of Queen Alice. "Did you have a nice summer?" she asked.

Considering how the girl didn't seem to pack till last minute, she assumed the girl had a wonderful and busy one.



Melanie looked over at the sorting hat, wondering how many more first years would be joining Gryffindor before she saw a head full of blonde hair walking over. Had she missed Duckie's sorting?!

Not that it mattered too much because Melanie had already known that the younger girl would get into Gryffindor. After all, Landon had been one so it only made sense that Duckie would be one too... Right? Melanie pushed thoughts about Landon away and waved at Daphne. "Welcome to Gryffindor, Duckie!" Melanie called out to the girl.

Penelope supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that people were still trying to talk to her when her head was down. It was the Great Hall, not her dorm, after all. And the voice sounded like Anya, especially with the use of "Penne", so she was probably just being a good friend and checking up on her. So Penelope would answer her...but she wasn't going to lift her head up. So the "I'm tired," probably came out really muffled.

However, Jake's voice was suddenly there and he basically interpreted Penelope's muffled reply perfectly. So she nodded and hoped he would relay that message to Anya and anyone else who asked if they hadn't understood her. Now time to really attempt that nap she wanted...

...except not really because SELINA WAS SHOUTING.

Dear sweet Merlin, someone needed to silence the older girl because that was not okay. People were trying to sleep here! Well, maybe "people" was really just Penelope, but still. She could not possibly sleep if Selina was shouting at people. Penelope didn't even register what she was shouting about. She just groaned loudly, hoping the older girl would hear and realize she needed to hush because this little lion was trying to sleep.

But the talking still continued around her, and suddenly someone was talking to her again. Sounded like...Alexa? Because yeah, Penelope still wasn't going to lift her head off her arms right. "'M tired," she replied, voice still probably muffled.

And then there was another voice speaking to her, this time male. The boy from the platform? Zack? That was who it sounded like. But at least he was saying good night, so it seemed he understood she was trying to sleep. She made a grateful little noise/groan/grunt, just so he knew she had heard him, but said no more.

Could she sleep now?

...Why was he staring at her now...?

She slowly put a hand to her face and began feeling around. "Do I...do I have something on my face? I mean I was devouring a chocolate frog earlier but I think I managed to get everything off..." Unless that wasn't why he was staring at her. "Or do you just like my face?" That was possible too. In all her guessing it never occurred to her that it was because she was staring first. Staring was like her job so that couldn't have been it.

"And you're a firstie, yes? Just got sorted and all that? Are you happy to be in Gryffindor?" Think carefully about that kid. There was only ONE right answer to that.



Someone else was reaching over for cookies. Curious to see who it was, Lex turned and started smiling immediately. It was that girl! The one from the ice-cream shop--AND SHE WAS A GRYFFINDOR!!!

"Ellura! HAI! Congrats on getting Gryffindor! Welcome to the pride!" BEAM.

This was perfect! Now she was had at least one new person that she KNEW actually in her house. "How did the rest of your summer go? Did you meet anyone else from Hogwarts?" Lex reached over for another cookie while she waited on her answer and began munching on it.



Another new person!....Unhappy new person?

It probably wasn't a good idea to go bothering people when they didn't look too happy but, well, this was the start of term feast! Even if everyone was dying for the speech to be done with they were happy...or just NOT frowning!

Lex reached over and gave the girl a light poke. "Hi! Welcome to Gryffindor!" Because she was SURE she'd never seen that girl around the Common Room before. "I'm Alexa and you are?" She even offered the girl a smile hoping it would be contagious.



The table was filling quickly with new Gryffindors. Lex spotted another one sitting by herself and couldn't help but scowl a bit. Why did these people like sitting alone? This was the GRYFFINDOR table for Merlin's sake! If they wanted to be all anti-social then they should've been sorted into Snakes!
Lex leaned onto the table so she could get a better look at the girl then put on another smile to replace the scowl. "HAAAAI! Welcome to Gryffindoooor!" This was the house of the friendly!...Or was that Hufflepuff...?



"Hey!" Lex made a response to the next voice before she even turned to see who it was. When she did see she felt she needed to greet her again. "Hiya!" Her name was...Ira...right...? They had a few classes together last term. So she would be Kurumi's replacement! Well she sure was happy like Kurumi! "How's it going?"



That kid! He got sorted just now didn't he?! And he was Gryffie, yet another proud Lion for the table.

Duuuuuude!" She called to him with an excited smile. "I saw you get sorted earlier! Welcome to Gryffindor!!!" BEAM. It was awesome having new Gryffindors because Lex liked meeting new people and even though you could meet new people in other houses at the end of the day when everyone had to return to their Common Rooms it was really your house mates that you got stuck with.

"I'm Alexa!" And he said he name was Zack...right...?



HEEEEEYY. There was that girl she'd met in Charms class. The girl wasn't exactly the smartest cookie Lex had ever met but she would say hi to her too because this WAS the start of term feast and everyone was being friendly.

"Hey Oichi!" Because she remembered her name. Heh. Some people were easier to forget than others. "How was you summer? Did you do anything epic?" Epic was good. It kept people from going brain dead while they waited for something to do.

For a moment her eyes drifted to the Staff Table. The Headmistress needed to start the speech soon because she was getting hungry and impatient.



Lex beamed at her. "I heard singing just now. Was that yooooou?" It sounded nice enough so it had to be Melanie because she thought the girl was good singer and if the whole education thing didn't work out well for her she had something promising to fall back on. It was true too. Learning wasn't for everyone.

"My summer was pretty mixed! I had fun at the start because of the sleepover at Cassia's but then I had to visit my grandparents and nearly DIED but then I guess I enjoyed the rest of it. Got to see Vivi and had ice-cream with a bunch of my friends--Oh and I never got to thank you properly for helping me pack!!" Best. Day. Ever. She never thought Amanda could scream that high before!

"And how was yours?"



If she was hearing correctly then Penelope was saying something about being...tired...?

"Didn't you get a good night's sleep last night?" If she didn't then she would really be tired especially after such a long train ride? "Daddy made me go to bed kinda early because he had a feeling I'd be tired otherwise. I think the speech will be pretty though so we can eat then you can go sleep!"

Well not really if they were still having that sleepover thing but she had a feeling that saying that wouldn't have made the girl feel any better so she left it out.

Mack stopped as she heard her name, she turned to see Lex, "Oh Hi Lex!" the young girl beamed she had found her after all. Mackenzie quickly walked over to where Lex was standing hoping she would be invited to sit with the second year.

Christmas smiled at Oichi and said "Well i am actually new to Hogwarts so i don't know my favourite place yet as i have yet to fully see the castle in daylight"