Lexi heard the huffing and sighing and such as did Rufus... both of them looked over to see... Evelyn. Well... she looked upset or something. "Are- are you okay, Evelyn?" she asked with genuine concern. Who knew she was capable of being compassionate to her... frenemy?

Rufus chattered a bit and propped his little head on his arms too. What was THIS one's story? Hmmmmm?

Good Merlin that thing was weird...

Having heard Lexi's question which she had been expecting, even if it was nicer than she had previously thought it'd be, Evelyn couldn't tear her gaze or attention away from the miniature creature that the blond Gryffindor held. Tiny thing.

After a few more seconds, she huffed again and turned her head in the opposite direction just as she shrugged her shoulders. Meh. "Life and people are horrible Lexi..."

Melina was one of the loudest students cheering for Ari when the Hat sorted her into Gryffindor. It had looked for a moment like she might have ended up in Ravenclaw, but in the end she became a lioness. As much as Melina would have LOVED to have her new best friend in her house, she knew how much Ari wanted to be a Gryffie. So she was thrilled for her!!

She danced through the long rows of chairs, weaving herself through the bubbling excitement of the students. She finally made it over to the Lion table- suddenly she was nervous. Was she allowed to come over to another house's table? Oh please, Merlin, let me not be committing a horrible faux-pas that will brand me an idiot from the very start!

The Gryffies seemed welcoming, though. Some eyed her curiously, and others gave her warm smiles. Melina breathed a sigh of relief and returned their smiles with exhuberance. She stopped about 4 chairs away from Ari- the girl hadn't seen her coming so far. She snatched a sauced-and-sprinkled empty ice cream cone and a large flat biscuit. With props in her hand and an impish grin on her face, she knelt down beside Ari's chair.

Ari was turned the other way, talking to another student. Melina slowly reached her hands up to the table, one hand holding the biscuit flat in her palm and the other holding the cone upside-down on the biscuit. In her best impression of the Sorting hat, she announced, "Hmmmm...right...I see bravery...smarts... and a healthy appetite for sweets!" Ari turned around to see a dessert shaped crudely like a hat talking to her like a puppet.

Melina grinned up at her friend and couldn't hold her laughter-or her excitement-back any longer. She popped up next to Ari and squealed. "ARI!!! You got into Gryffindor- I'm soooo happy for you! It's just what you hoped for!" She threw her arms around her best friend and bounced up and down.

"What do you think of all this? Can you believe it's real? Can you believe we're really here?!"

"Hahaha. I bet he is." Cove agreed. "Really? I would love to play a game with you! I love soccer. Do you play any instraments?" Cove asked. Just thinking about it made her fingers move like she was playing the piano, it was a a big habit.

Rufus stared back at the girl and smiled a little monkey smile. Finally sitting up he inched a liiiiittle closer to Evelyn and chattered some more before looking back at Lexi as if to say Is it OKAY if I go sit on her?

Huffing, shrugging, and sighing... that was Lexi's type of mood here lately. She understood the need to do such things. Hehe.

"Yeah. You are preaching to the choir on that one. I am not keen on life and people right now, either. Well... I mean to say my life sucks and people are mean. Yeah," she said pathetically. She would have patted Evelyn's arm or something, but she wasn't sure how the girl would react. SIGH.

"If you wanna talk about it... you can," she said genuinely. No time like the present to become... friendly. Right? Right.

Destiny was more than certain her ears were bleeding. If she didn't have the carrot in her hand and if she wasn't STILL poking Josh in the face with it, she would have stuck her fingers in her ears to see.

What? They were clean!

The face poking stopped though, once she heard another voice, thinking that it was someone who could get her into trouble. It was only a carrot and if wasn't like she was beating him with it. Hmm.. next time she would have to try and beat him with it. But, the voice was only Simon and although he was a Quidditch Captain, she didn't think he could get her into trouble. Unless he could!?

Eeep!

Grinning sheepishly at the older Gryffindor, Destiny turned her attention back to Josh, not paying much attention to their conversation of kicking birds. Really? They would claw their eyes out! She knew. She was part chicken after all.

"YOU'RE BEING LOUD AGAIN!" Perhaps he was the one with the dirty ears? Not that she was going to check.. that was gross. "I think your summer vacation muddled your brain, making you THINK you are shy." What did they say? Too much sun or something?

Anyways..

"Right, no more poking." Because it was obvious that he didn't like it and she had finally spotted the person she had came over to the Gryffindor table to see. Her Prefect Patroclus! "Hey, Josh! I'll be RIGHT back!" she said, and not realizing what she was doing, she shoved the carrot into his mouth. "Hold that for me."

With that, she skipped her way over..

..to Patroclus.

Who was looking awfully upset or sad at the moment. She was horrible at reading people's expression. WHAT WAS WRONG!? Perhaps his summer didn't go very well. Perhaps he couldn't find any treasure on his treasure hunt!

Her skipping coming to a halt, she squeezed herself in the seat next to him. "I was looking for you." He should be as loud as Josh then she would never miss him again! "Are the potatoes at this table really better than the ones at the Slytherin table?"

Well, that wasn't the reason she was looking for him..

Hmmm yes...

Staring at the great hall door, unblinking, she let out a soft and calm breath finally, shrugging her shoulders again. Talk about it? To Lexi? "No." she mumbled, turning her head back to facing the Gryffindor. Eyes immediately spotting the tiny creature thing, Evelyn sucked in as much air as her lungs could handle, ready to blurt everything out until...Ohhhh myyy....MERLIN!!

Sitting up straight, she stared at Lexi with wide eyes. Wait, NO! Don't stare! It was rude. No...

Stare.

NO! Look away!

Stare...

Making a slight strangled noise since she had to BREATHE again, Evelyn quickly looked down at her hands on the table, one finger tapping the other. Well, erm, that certainly was ...unexpected. "Cute monkey."

Lexi sighed slightly and said, "Don't you think this is getting old... We are almost adults now, Evelyn. Is it really adult of us to be holding silly grudges and such? We work together... it's just exhausting. I am sorry for everything. I really truly am, okay. I am just sick of the feud and all."

And then the face staring...

"I know it looks terrible. I got hit by... well I got hit by something. It's mending though that is why it looks so bad... if you know... you care or anything," she said quietly as she looked down at Rufus.

"He is a pygmy marmoset he was a birthday gift from Jimmy. His name is Rufus. I think he wants to come see you... do you mind? He will likely just climb on your shoulder or something," she said.

Nika waved excitedly at the firstie. "Hi!" The cheerful girl smiled warmly. "I'm Nika! I'm a second year. Congrats on getting Gryffindor!" She looked around quickly before adding, "It's the best house you know!" Ah, house pride. Can never get enough of that.
"Yeah that would be great!" Oh now she had more people to play football with her! Emily and then Isobel and now Cove! YAY! "Yeah, piano! I've only really just started... kind of. This year will be my third one. I'm not very good, but I'm hoping to get better." Nika sighed out of longing. "But I also wanna learn how to play guitar well! One of my friends taught me a bit. And my parents bought me a guitar for my birthday! I love singing and song writing so I'm hoping I will be able to play the guitar with it."

"Thanks! Yea, a lot of my family have been in Gryffindor. It's kinda weird, because my family has been in every house...so I had no clue which house I'd be sorted into." replied Elle. "So, do you have any advice for a newbie? I feel like I could use all the help I could get!" she said, sitting down beside Nika.

Grudges? Goodness, Evelyn never really let go of a grudge, and she figured it'd be something about her that wouldn't change, even if she were an adult. And...well actually...why didn't she like Lexi again?

Still staring at her hands, moving her attention to the different lines across them, she honestly didn't want to be rude right now and stare, but she wasn't speaking up either. For once, she just...didn't know what to say. However, with talk of the marmalade animal thing, Evelyn couldn't help but peak over at the creature, making sure to keep her gaze focused on the tiny thing. It was kinda creepy looking, yet still cute in a way.

Shrugging her shoulders again, though this time a bit more defeated, she shook her head after a second or so. No, she didn't mind. As long as it didn't do anything but just sit there.

Nika sighed wishing that she could have family that attended Hogwarts too. But she quickly shook the idea out of her head. "Yeah well there's plenty you ought to know!" She sat up straight and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "So first things first. The professors." She quickly turned to glance at the staff table then went back to the girl.

"Everyone says that the classes are really easy, but I think they are hard. But I think that's because I'm a muggleborn and I'm just clueless when it comes to magic. But really the key to doing well in classes is knowing your professors." She nodded her head towards a stern looking professor at the staff table. "That's Lafay. A.K.A. Dragon Lady. Don't call her that to her face though because she won't be happy. She is really strict and very mean." You forgot evil... "Be careful when you talk in her class because she isn't afraid to take points away and give out detentions. Take it from someone who was luckily given a warning."

"The other proffesors are pretty much alright. The ones I know at least. I haven't met a few of them before though because they are new." She gave a shocked look as her eyes met those of the new D.A.D.A. teacher. "I think he is from the ministry or something... I know some kids were talking about it earlier." Thank goodness the ministry guy from last term was gone. He was a BIG jerk.

Well it was nice to know that Evelyn was growing. Pfffft. Seriously. Lexi wanted all of the negativity to go away. No more animosity. Please.

Rufus waved his tiny hand at the girl when she peeked over at him and then looked back to Lexi and chattered at her while pointing at Evelyn. Giving him a nudge Lexi nodded her head. Yes, he could go see her.

Rufus bounced a few times and then hopped from Lexi's lap to Evelyn's and used her robes to kind of climb up her front so he could give the sadish girl a little marmoset huggle. Itty bitty arms clinging to her and then he scuttled up to her shoulder and perched himself there. Leaning down he kissed her cheek with a little monkey kiss and chattered and bounced on her shoulder. He like this one. She was pretty and smelled nice. Even if she was sad... maybe he could make her better?

" Thank you so much" William told Chris." No, most of my family has graduated and Victoria my cousin is graduating this term" William explained to Chris." I have felt alone here, but I meeting a lot of boys and girls now" William explained to Chris,

" I remember you Jordon" William told him. " You are very, very tall for yoru age" William said to Jorden. " Thanks for welcoming me to Gryffindor" William gave out a big grin." You are a really cool guy" William explaied to Jordon.

" You are the dancer my cousin Rex bragged about at family gathereings" William told her. " My name is William Mintcenaggio aka Starr" he introuduced himsrlf to the girl. " You are Elyon, right?" William asked her. " This is my first year" William smiled.

" Ok, good food into my mouth now" William laughed. He is eating pasta, french bread and a cannoli he had in his freezer bag. " I get to eat with a cute girl, very nice" William told Nika. " I am glad we are freinds" William said to Nika. " I see why Rex liked you" William smiled.

Evelyn watched the little thing jump onto her lap and...wait...what was it doing?

Eying it, the Slytherin girl raised a brow, not moving an inch. What was it doooing?! Hugging her? Or did it just naturally cling to people? Maybe not, considering it was now on her shoulder. There. Sit. Stay. Don't move- OMG!

"NO, no no. Get it off." She had GERMS on her cheek now! EEWWW! Get it off, or she'll FLICK it off! She won't stare at Lexi's face, she'll talk about EVERYTHING, she'd clean the girl's plate...just someone...get it off!

Lexi sighed as Evelyn began to fuh reak out about Rufus kisses. Seriously. Before she could even take Rufus he jumped off of Evelyn's shoulder and came to rest in Lexi's lap again, his head hidden in her robes, his little body shaking slightly. "He was just trying to cheer you up, Evelyn and you scared him half to death," she said softly as she pet her little monkey tenderly.

Ginger hopped from under the table.

Happy kitty.

Pet me she blinked at the Gryffindor next to her, rubbing onto people's legs. She was being gentle, calm, odd. She wanted attention - and fast.

Mew she cried. Blink. Blink. There was someone from the train near her - mew.

Selina took a sip from her goblet. The one thing she missed about Hogwarts almost as much as Quidditch was her freedom in the food department. At home this summer Selina could not have desert with every meal and butterbeer was a treat reserved for special occasions or outings with friends. Now that she was back at Hogwarts she could drink butterbeer until she threw up and that was just what the little second year planned on doing.

Just as she was about to take another gulp Selina gagged slightly. Something was rubbing up against her legs. She stiffened and slowly looked under the table as to who was even trying to play footsy with her. Selina did not want to be embarrassed, but anything romantic as of right now was uncomfortable territory. She was relieved to see a kitten.... A KITTEN?

She picked up the little adorable thing and said, "Who do you belong to cutie?" Selina began to look around and then heard a loud Ravenclaw calling for her cat, "Oi! Kyle! Found her!"

"Ok, just tell me when and where and I'll be there." Cove said. "I play piano too!" Cove said excitedly. "My adoptive father taught me how to play when I first stated to figure out what it was. He said I stared at it a long time and then he started paying for me, so I got up next to him and just followed what he was doing." Cove explained. "I bet you're good, I mean half the time I barely know what I'm playing and sounds like a train wreck." Cove said. "Really, now guitar's a really cool instrament! Except the electric guitar, two of my siblings play it. And you write songs plus you sing! You're multi-talented Nika!"

Cheer her UP? SHE scared HIM?

"He put monkey...slobber...on my cheek though!" she whined, picking up the nearest napkin and trying to wipe off the germs. GERMS! Ugh, they were everywhere now. On her face, on the napkin, probably on her hand now...she needed a shower.

Thankfully no one could really hear her thoughts though. There was no way she was going to clean Lexi's plate. Pffft.

"Well I am sorry. There is nothing I can do about it now," she said miserably. Gosh dang. She was TRYING to be nice... make the dramaz go away and THIS was what she got. What was the point in trying?

She should probably just leave and go live in the France house and be alone. She wouldn't bother people there... Sighing heavily and actually sniffling a little as tears sprung to her eyes she said, "Sorry."

Simon fought the urge to role his eyes at the old complaint; he did not act all prefecty...at least not all the time. "I still say in my defense, mistreating Ravenclaws is bad if I don't want to anger Vindictus and risk my captaincy," he mused with a shrug.

Catching Destiny's gaze at him, he sensed she was unsure around him which was understandable. The captain was friends with Evelyn through Josh...he hadn't quite gotten really connected to the other she-snake.Either that or she was somehow afraid of him reacting badly and getting her in trouble...as if he really had that power as a meer captain.Simon did look oddly at her as she pushed the carrot into Josh's mouth before moving away.

Simon shook his head getting Destiny's odd behavior out of his head when he felt something rub against his legs in passing. Figuring it to be just another student's cat running loose he almost brushed it off too until he noticed Selina pick up the feline he somehow remembered was Kyle's. The thought confirmed when the younger Gryffindor yelled for the Ravenclaw's attention and Simon couldn't help but look in the direction she was yelling.

Rubbing her cheek until it was red, Evelyn scowled and picked up another napkin and dipped into into the goblet that sat in front of her on the table. What was Poof going to say now once she smelled monkey slobber on her cheek now? NOTHING. That's what. 'Cause cats couldn't talk. GAH!

Huffing quietly, the Slytherin looked over to the Gryffindor...and had to take a double glance. Was she seeing this properly? Did she HEAR that properly? Wasn't SHE the one that came over here to whine and have Lexi ask her what was wrong?

Eh.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable now, which was a bit of a relief to tell the truth, Evelyn played with the wet napkin somewhat, not really...knowing what to do. Or say. She wasn't good with this stuff. "Are you...alright?" Hmmm? "I mean, I guess monkey slobber isn't...all that...bad..." Eh?

Lexi rubbed angrily at her eyes and looked down at Rufus who was peeking up at her from her robes. He was cute. Heh.

"No. Not really. But it doesn't matter I dun reckon. Thanks for asking though... I can tell you're uncomfortable with... this so don't feel obligated to like... care or anything. Feel free to talk about your problems if you want to, though. I am a good listener and I keep secrets..." she rambled and sniffled a bit. She didn't think Ev really wanted to hear her issues, so she would do the polite thing and offer to listen and try to help HER.

Ginger squirmed in Selina's hand, sniffing her slightly.

And slowly rubbing her wet nose on her hand to get a better scent.

Nice girl...friendly...she sneezed suddenly. A loud, loud sound from the itsy-bitzy thing.

Kyle looked up as she heard Selina call over to her - oh boy was she relieved.

Quickly she left her table running, tripping and skidding her knee ouch she thought wincing as she stood up and walked the rest of the way over.

"Thank you sooo much" She smiled to Selina Ginger looked happy where she was though, she realized. She quickly held out her arms in a dramatized fashion.

"Hug?" She asked - and before she could get an answer she had swooped in and hugged Selina tightly. Aw, she was sooo happy to have Ginger safe and not say, near someone who didn't like cats and could therefore hurt her.

She looked up after letting go, and blushed as she saw Simon looking over.

"Hey Simon" she smiled. "She's a sneaky one" she said pointing to Ginger.

Ginger wiggled some more, freeing herself from Selina's grasp.

With a soft plop she landed on her lap.

Mewing some more she jumped down the table some more.

Finally stopping on Simon's lap, where she proceeded to walk in a circle and curl up - yes, she liked Simon...he was friendly, he didn't kick her out of a compartment earlier, she remembered thinking of hissing at the one who had kicked her out earlier.

But too relaxed.

"Mew" she sounded one last time before she began to purr softly - yet still like a jackhammer.