Abby made her way into the great hall after her carriage had arrived and she made her way over to her house table and half smiled she hated being the first here but maybe things would look up now that she was back at school she kept a half eye out for Tyler once he arrived she hadnt seen him since the train and she was missing him already

From the looks on the platform, to the very stressful ordeal she just experienced on the train with her cat Sebastian & that boy Noel, the fourteen year old was already stressing out, & the term hadn't even officially started yet! She was in desperate need of sitting & possibly having some water or something, she needed it.

Making her way into the familiar Great Hall, the brunette took a quick scan for any familiar faces she might recognize before she started making her way towards the Ravenclaw table. From the looks of it, it seemed like she was one of the earlier people to arrive. Hmm, well at least it would be easier for her to find a seat better, which took a couple of seconds. Once seated, she took a relaxing breath before she reached for the pitcher containing water & filled up the goblet in front of her.

Just then another fear struck her mind, what if people were staring at her again just like on the platform?! What if Sebastian escaped & hid from her again?!

'WHAT IF-

WHAT IF-

....Water....

Drink the water....'

Thornton hurried into the hall, scanning for faces he recognized. There were several people that he had hoped to see over the summer that he just hadn't managed to. And so his summer had been on the quieter side. Reading. Star-gazing. Practicing his cello.

Slipping onto the bench, Thornton watched the door as he drummed his fingers on the table. The sorting would be soon and then the speech and then dinner. And then a whole new school year.

Ophelia walked into the Great Hall, looking around excitedly like it was her first year all over again. Of course that wasn't true, because she wasn't sweating and nervously awaiting being sorted. Instead the twelve year old was seeing the Sorting Ceremony from a different angle this time, the angle that all of the older kids enjoyed. Which was amusing, considering the kid remembered all but destroying her thumbnail and looking out to all of the "big kids" for any kind of help. Except now Ophelia was one of the big kids. Well, metaphorically.

Next step. Find someone to sit next to. Her blue-grey eyes scanned around for any of her friends that might have slipped in before her. But to the curly haired girls disappointment, she was one of the first people here. Last year, the youngest sibling of the Clarke family would've just sat down and looked at the table or make awkward small talk. However, the kid realized that caring was overrated a while ago, and now she was just gonna do her. Which made no sense to anyone that wasn't her but shhhh.

Yes, over the summer, the preteen realized that she wasn't like her uber smart and put together brothers and sisters, so she decided to just be her and not try to be impressive or try to do anything more than she would normally do. It was a giant change taking place in an Ophelia sized girl. Strange. But it was extremely interesting.

Without looking, the small blonde sat down next to an older brunette who just seemed really nervous. Was she okay? The elder seemed invested in a goblet in front of her. Deciding the other student just needed someone to talk to, the blonde curled some of her medium length hair around her index finger and made an introduction.

"Are you okay? You seem stressed or something." Well that was smooth. Good try? Whatever, not caring. Releasing her hair and marveling at the fact that it didn't seem to get stuck like it did last year she took the pitcher and poured herself some water. See, not being a nervous wreck had its benefits. Drinking form her goblet, the kid kept glancing toward where she got sorted. Ophelia couldn't help but watch. New people would be joining Ravenclaw soon, which was the coolest thing! Now the preteen wouldn't be the youngest of something. There would be younger kids! Okay, this was big for someone who was the youngest of like five kids. It meant something.

Ravenclaw it was.

Evie somewhat nervously walked towards her new House table and took a seat near the end where there was room. The sorting hat was a curious object and she had kind of wanted to have a conversation with it, but it had directed her to Ravenclaw rather quickly, so on her way she went.

She looked at some students as she sat, but kept to herself. And... where was the food?

Toby hadn't been able to give Soph her traditional piggy-back ride into the Hall at the End of Term Feast a few months back, being that there was that whole THING with the potion and Airey and Cutty and all. But now he was back in his role of piggy-back-provider, and could presently be seen carting Sophie Brown directly to her house table by carrying her on his back.

As he went, the sixth year gave an instinctual glance up towards the staff table, followed immediately by a look towards his own house table. He nodded towards it.

"I'm gonna spend the start of the feast over there," Toby said, unable to recall if he'd already mentioned that during the train ride. Maybe? He couldn't remember. But he did now imply that he would likely head over here again for the start of dessert or something like that. Lots of Ravenclaw friends, after all. But... yeah. "Just lemme know where you want to sit, your royal nerdliness."

Looking over at the new arrival, Ophelia smiled and took a long sip of water. Apparently, she really needed that. Ahh refreshing. Anyway, new arrival. Since the Sorting Ceremony had started, the twelve year old hadn't tore her eyes off of the event, but the promise of conversation had her interested. So many people she hadn't talked to yet! And now that the blonde felt less awkward, she was going to talk to anyone she could. It was like a party over at the Ravenclaw table and everyone was invited. Nope. She didn't care about how lame that sounded.

"Hi! I'm Ophelia. How are you doing?" Another sip of water.

Abby was still looking over at the Hufflepuff table trying to see if Tyler was there and she sighed what was keeping him she was desperate to see him but she turned to pay attention to the sorting and try to keep her mind off of her hungry stomach

PIGGY BACK RIIIIIIIIIIIIDE. THE TRADITION CONTINUED.

Elated as could be, Sophie raised a triumphant fist when the doors to the Great Hall opened and she and Tobes entered together, with Soph perched comfortably on his back. "M'glad we get to do this again," she whispered in his ear as they went, and as soon as the words crossed her lips, she realized the next time they did this at a start-of-term feast, it would be the last time.

BIG OL' NOPE.

She swallowed the lump rising in her throat and gave Tobes a comforting squeeze, her attempt at hugging him and reassuring herself that it was okay and that horrible time was a WHOLE year away, and at his words, she smiled and scanned the table. Hmm... no Mo and Cat, of course, and no Jun... CB and Gabe hadn't come in yet, so she'd probaby want to save them a seat, and... AHA! Friendly face!

"Josie, right there," she pointed over Toby's shoulder to the fourth year Ravenclaw who wasn't too far from them. She did notice his implications, too, and simply smiled. "I'm gonna come and see you this time, actually. Unless... you... really want to come surround yourself with Ravenclaws?" She was totally game to come invade badger territory, too, though. Hehe.

Janelle had had a moment to comb her wet hair into a bun before the Sorting Ceremony. She was still drenched underneath, but fortunately her robe was fairly dry. After the day she'd had, she pretty much wanted to change her wet clothes and go to bed.

Hoping that she didn't look like a hot mess, Janelle headed over to the Ravenclaw table. Yeah Ravenclaw, that was what the Sorting Hat had chosen for her. Janelle hadn't exactly expected Ravenclaw because she saw herself as very different fom her sister. Maybe the hat saw something that she didn't.

Janelle reached the table and didn't see anyone she knew........well, none of the three people she knew so far. Finding the nearest empty seat, she eased into it. Then she took a moment to look around, crossing her fingers in hopes that Margo would be sorted into Ravenclaw too.

The girl Soph was pointing to was one of those people that Toby seemed to know only by sight, so he was glad to have a name to put to the face. He gave another nod and continued on down the Ravenclaw table, glancing up again at the staff table to try and work out what on earth was going on up there, mainly with Airey. And those new faces were intriguing him, of course.

"I always want to surround myself with Ravenclaws, hadn't you noticed?" the Hufflepuff replied, finally coming to a halt near the Josie girl and giving her a brief smile while he allowed Soph to drop down off his back. "I'll come back here later. Got a Kyroh to catch up with, and say hi to Maddie too, and I still need to see Gabe and CB and Eden and Clara and all that." Toby wanted to spend some of the feast with Forrest, if he could, and say hi to Paige if he saw here, and then there were a bunch of acquaintances at the Hufflepuff table, but most of his friends were concentrated over here and then spread over the rest of the tables. "Let's just see who visits who first," Toby finally added, and turned to give Soph a smile. "I'll see you later, yeah?" Yeah? Yeah.

Plopping down right at the Ravenclaw table, Kyroh had one thing on his mind: food. It hadn't occurred to him that he was this hungry until they had reached the castle and his stomach started grumbling so loudly he could swear that it was eating itself. Gazing to his left he didn't see Maddie or Dima ANYWHERE. BUT there was Toby! And Toby's Sophie! He'd say hi to them FIRST THING....maybe....he needed food first.

As he turned his head to his right his eyes widened.

Thornton!

Yup! There was the younger Ravenclaw, right there beside him! "HI THOR!"

Her gaze took place on a younger blonde just as she looked over. She seemed very cheerful. Very outgoing.

"I'm..." Evie paused to think about that. What was a word that could best describe everything she was feeling at the moment? "Good." Yeah, that was an okay word. "Excited. A little nervous. A bit overwhelmed. New." New to Hogwarts, that was. But she could probably tell.

"Good that you're doing good! I hope they bring the food soon, I think everyone's getting hungry!" She laughed and drank another sip of water. Talking was so much more EASY when you weren't nervous about saying the right thing or not! The twelve year old swallowed and smiled before continuing, the ceremony forgotten. Except for the new Ravenclaws that had just sat down. Ophelia was in the business of meeting new people today and she was on a roll.

New? But this girl was so... old! Not like that, but older than most of the first years. Maybe she was a transfer student? Oooh, right away this girl seemed so interesting. The blonde wanted to know more.

"This is your first year? Where were you before? A different wizarding school, or like homeschooled?" The kid meant this in the nicest way possible. But it was really interesting to meet people that might be like her. Homeschooling buddies! Possibly.

She took another sip of water before continuing, clearing her throat and taking a breath. Okay, that was needed. And it gave her a chance to see if Austin was here yet. Not that this conversation wasn't fun or that she wasn't enjoying this girl's company, but she wanted to say hi and stuff.

"It seems really scary at first. But then everything starts up and you're too busy to notice anything. You get very very acquainted quickly!" Another laugh. Tonight was a good night! She was excited about being back at Hogwarts and now she was talking to a lot of people! Yay for being a second year!

Thornton was alternatively searching the room for a familiar face and trying to keep an eye on the sorting. There would be new eagles, after all, and Thornton wanted to be able to greet them if they came by. So, he didn't notice, at first, who had sat down next to him.

Turning his head, just as Kyroh spoke, Thornton grinned, a little surprised. "Kyroh! Hi." Thornton shifted on the bench, so he could more easily talk to the older boy, without twisting himself in knots. "How was your summer?"

Prior to returning to Hogwarts, Clara had been optimistic about this term. She'd felt more positive as a whole and she looking forward to coming back and seeing faces that she hadn't seen all summer, but now ... after certain things had happened, she'd lost that positivity. Her current mood was all over the place; she was getting used to being in big crowds, though it still stressed her out to an extent, and she if she didn't think about things too much, she was alright ... but the problem was that she couldn't seem to get things off her mind. At least, not without a distraction.

Currently, no one was talking to her - Eden wasn't even here - so there wasn't anything to stop her thinking about it. 'It' being the fact that Gabriel and CB were the Prefects. Of course ... she'd known it was a possibility, they were both exceptional students, but the fact remained that Gabe hadn't told her, and ... whatever reason, that bothered her. It was possible that the fact it was them also had something to do with it, but Clara's brain wasn't thinking that ... didn't even realise that it was a possibility.

Now, to make it even worse, Eden wasn't here. Or rather, Clara couldn't see her.

The non-verbal communication was strong with this pair as Soph slid off Toby's back when they arrived at her destination and she gave his arm a soft squeeze upon realizing Josie wasn't someone Toby was actually friends with, judging by his simple smile at her. Which... was kind of strange, considering that Josie was the kind of sweet, shy person that Tobes liked to befriend and look after and try to include, and Soph made a mental note to invite Josie on one of their adventures sometime. She thought that would be LOADS of fun.

"That's cool. You need Forrest time, for sure. Spend as much time with him as you'd like - I've gotten to hog you all this time. S'his turn now. Maybe bring him when y'come back over? He can join all of us, if he wants." Unless he didn't like Ravenclaws for some reason. Smiling, she brushed her hand against Tobes' arm and added as a way of departing, "Love you."

...???

Turning away sharply and clearing her throat, Soph awkwardly adjusted the joke badge on her robes and left behind the departing words she just instinctively used, now finding herself concerned for Josie's well-being as she sat next to her. The girl looked... well... a bit off, didn't she? Was she okay? The girl - Ophelia - on the other side of the fourth year seemed to already be trying to console her, but Soph still offered up her own concern, "Y'all right, Josie?" Did she need chocolate or hugs or friendship?

...Soph couldn't help but notice that the Ophelia girl was talking to someone else at the same time, though, and Sophie noticed straight away that the girl 1) was a new face and 2) looked to be Sophie's age. Which... would... mean...

"What year are you?" Soph eagerly inquired with a smile, leaning forward on the table and looking right at Evie. HMM?

Eden had looked....like...everywhere for Clara on the train. She had seen Cutty...and...met a firstie named BRIAN who was really nice--She'd also gotten cookies from Puck, which was also SUPER nice, and she just--she needed Clara though. She was feeling down from some of the things Cutty had said--on top of some of the things she was already feeling from the journey back to school. But no matter. She was sure to see her best friend here.

She spotted Josie right off the bat--HI. Eden waved and smiled at the girl-so sweet, she was. Thornton did, too--cute little firstie second-y...all the younger ones were adorable. Eden couldn't get enough of them. "Hey Tobes, Sophie--" she saluted them both, winking at Toby because he was COOL like that. SHe'd be so heart broken if she had KNOWN he had broken Phillip--but she didn't know, and so she could live on in PEACEFUL bliss. "Kyroh--" she saluted him, too. Speaking of----she had a gift for him, but she'd probably give him the gift when they got back to the common room.

She spotted a new student[JANELLE], though, who had no one by her--hmm--she looked rather familiar--"hey--" she said, smiling as she took a seat near her--and look--Clara--Eden gestured her friend over. But she turned to the little one for a minute. "Hey there--how's it going?" she asked kindly. Trying to smile and be NICE. Because she remembered how scared she was her first feast......last YEAR. And she had been fifteen at the time, too!



Clara looked nervous. Eden beckoned her over and sighed. "Where've you been? I looked all over the train--" she had needed a really good cry and since she hadn't found Clara, she hadn't....gotten to cry, really. She didn't want to do it in front of someone random. "I'm starving. She better make the flipping speech quickly tonight."

Not likely. But a girl could hope.

Ophelia took a second to smile at the new arrival to the Ravenclaw table. She hand't met Sophie formally before, but the elder girl seemed to talk to everyone and be everywhere, so it was quite surprising that they've never met. Unless you consider that the small girl talked to about two people at last years feast and wasn't the most sociable Eagle in the nest. Then it made perfect sense. But Sophie. Everyone seemed to know Sophie, so now it was her turn to know Sophie.

And she did ask the important questions. Seriously, what year was Evie? Not to look like a detective interrogating a suspect, but these were the important facts. Because she had to be older than the blonde.

Looking away for a second, she smiled at someone else at the Ravenclaw table cough*Abby* cough, someone who didn't seem to be talking to anyone. Come join the conversation, she tried to communicate non-verbally. The more the merrier! Which was true, because there were so many older students that the second year never even heard of! Looking away for a few seconds, her blue-grey eyes landed on the sorting up front and then back on the conversation. Taking a sip of water, the twelve year old listened for any answer on the new girl. Because new people were exciting.

Also Josie. Was she okay? Did she need to go see someone about whatever was happening? Because Ophelia would gladly take her to skip the opening words of the Feast. No offense, it just wasn't her forte to listen to adults speak for that long. Unless it was about food. Or flying. Or things she liked. But yeah. The kid would gladly escort her where ever she needed to be. Because friendship always won and that's what the child wanted.

Tyler decided that it was time to see Abby for awhile, he made his way towards the Ravenclaw table but quietly and sneakily behind her so she wouldn't see him. " Boo!"said Tyler chuckling before he wrapped his arms around her from behind he smirked at. "I missed you Abbs!"said Tyler before he kissed her cheek.

Abby smiled at Tyler and said "Yeah i missed you too i am glad to be back at school, i wonder what fun things will happen this year" Abby saw Opheilia and smiled and waved at her but hardly knew the girl but she said "Hey Ophelia, how was your summer?"

"Sure thing," was all Toby said in reply to that, with another simple nod but also with a smile. "Love you too," he replied, without even thinking about it, and leaned across to give Soph a quick kiss on the cheek. And then realised that they were, in fact, in the middle of a busy Hall where that might not have been appreciated by some of the staff. Oops? Toby glanced back towards the table at the top of the room yet again to check for less-than-pleased faces, and then back at Soph once more. "Have fun." He'd just be off now, lalala.

And then, with after directing a smile towards Kyroh and a "Hey, E," and a wink right back at Eden, Toby went ahead and headed off to the Hufflepuff table, fully intending head back over here a little later to do all the proper 'hello's and catching up. Perhaps by that point he would have filled up a little on food all that, and might be a little more talkative. Toby sure hoped so; it seemed a shame to return to all his friends in this weird quiet and dulled mood of his, especially as there were so few people who ever really saw him as anything other than bouncy and hyper usually. No. He'd eat, scoff down some candy he'd brought in from the train, and be his usual self soon, he was sure.

Looking back over at the other girl that she hardly knew, Ophelia smiled again. So what if they didn't know each other? That meant there was more time to get to know people! And now that the blonde had hardly a care what anyone thought, she wanted to get to know everyone. From Sophie to this Eagle that she never heard of with a possible boyfriend. Everyone had possible boyfriends. It was kind of cute really. At least for the older students. Anyway, conversation.

"It was fun! How was your summer?" Yeah, the curly haired girl didn't know the others name. But still. That could happen later. Going to take a refreshing sip of water, the twelve year old noticed she was out and poured herself another cup full. Because hydration. And water was also great for shifting moods and such. Except for the fact that she as really going to have to go to the bathroom later. The twelve year old took a sip of water and then put the goblet on the table, twirling a thick strand of hair around her index finger.

Her mother always said that this was a way to curl her hair, and that she did it too often when she was child and now it was stuck like that. However, Ophelia's hair just seemed to keep curling. It was wavy not too long ago, and then out of nowhere it just curled up. Not crazy curls, thankfully, but it did make doing your hair harder.

Tyler looked at her and smiled. I'm glad that your happy to be back, how was your summer? Tyler asked her softly but curiously. I'm sure that this year is going to be better than last year, lets just say last year wasn't that great! said Tyler honestly before sighing. "One thing that was great about last year was meeting you, I wished I would've met you sooner, but I guess later is better than never! "said Tyler softly but honestly.