Gryffindor House Table
 

Eat, drink, and be merry, O Lions. Classes begin again tomorrow.

The glittering night sky is clear and visible through the enchanted ceiling, and the floating candles bedeck the entire hall in a warm golden light. All seems well with the world, aside from the empty plates still waiting for food to appear.

And what's this? The silverware is tarnished and askew, almost as if thrust on the table willy-nilly. Take a seat and search for a clean spoon while the Sorting Hat ceremony commences. The House Elves have done their clean up work quickly and effectively, and the silverware and dishes are now set to right.

Welcome to Gryffindor!
 

Finally, the time had come.

After having sent her things up to the common room, and Walnut, Kurumi had stayed behind a bit to make sure first years knew where they were suppose to go before she took off towards the Great Hall.

Upon entering, Kurumi had felt her breath almost entirely leave her. For some reason, it seemed much bigger than she remembered it being. Still, it felt like being back home.

She hurried over to the Gryffindor table, taking time to direct a quick bow towards the staff table, and set a large tin on the front end of the table. Time to give her lions a proper greeting. She removed the lid and took her wand out. Her charm work hadn't been quite up to par last term, and some cookies had collided with one another as they pranced around the table, but she had tried to practice as much as she could during the year - which had caused for the girl's dormitory to be covered in cookie crumbs from time to time.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she said with a swish and flick of her wand. Half of the cookies from the box levitated up in the air. The other half was asking too much of her forth year abilities. "Locomotor Gryffindor cookies!"

Violet eyes unblinking, Kurumi waved her wand around until the cookies had found a rhythm and were doing cartwheels in the air all around the Gryffindor table. Maybe next year she could get all the cookies at once. For now, she would take things in shifts.



Still waving her wand around here and there, Kurumi waited for more lions to come to the table, new and old. She looked at the Sorting Hat, sitting proudly on its chair, and wondered if any of the first years she had spoken to on the train would be joining the pride.

William waits for more students to show up here. William decided to start eating.
" Hi Kurumi" William called out.

Adam approached the Gryffindor table having just been sorted with a bit of hesitancy. So here he was, sorted in the House of the noble and brave...who knew? Although he had thought maybe he would be sorted here, but he had to admit with Louisa's desire for him to be in Ravenclaw, he wondered why he hadn't been placed there. But Adam had to admit the feeling of belonging to a house was a new feeling for him, and he was enjoying it.

With a little smile Adam took his seat the table, and looked at his fellow Gryffindors.

Aaron sat down nervously he didn't expect to be sorted into Gryffindor. he took a seat looking around.
"I'm never gonna make friends here." he whispered to himself.

Taking her eyes off one of the cookies floating above her head for a moment, Kurumi spotted William approach the Gryffindor table. "Good evening, William," she smiled politely. "You ready to take on your second year?"

And then there was another Gryffindor at the table, one that she was sure she hadn't seen before. Hopefully, she wasn't making the same mistake she had twice already in assuming they were new and had actually been at Hogwarts all along. Wait, she WAS right this time since she had just seen the Sorting Hat on his head.

Smiling, Kurumi bowed to the boy as he took a seat.

"W-W-Welcome to Gryffindor," she smiled.


And another new lion, this one looked like a nervous first year, so Kurumi charmed one of the dancing cookies above the table to dance right in front of his face before going over to greet him herself. "Welcome to Gryffindor," she smiled with a bow. "My name is Kurumi, one of your prefects. If you have any questions at all please feel free to ask myself or Jai, the other Gryffindor prefect. I am sure he will be along soon."

Lily stood there and waited to be sorted, it wouldn't be long since her last name was beck, one of the first in the alphabet, oh great thought Lily I wont even have a first year to sit with if im sorted first. When she heard her name called she slowly approached the seat and shakingly sat down. The sorting hat was so big when it was placed on her head it slid down just barely above her eyes. The sorting hat had taken a moment then shouted "GRYFFINDOR!". With that said Lily marched down happily to the table reserved for Gryffindors.

Adam had been looking at the goblet and plate in front of him, uncertain what to do with himself when he heard someone speaking to him. Turning to look he spotted a girl that looked a little younger than him dressed in what Adam was sure was Head Girl/Boy attire. "Oh...um...thank you," Adam said, giving the girl a smile. "I'm Adam," he said, extending his hand. It seemed to polite to introduce himself, especially since she had just welcomed him to the House.

James takes an empty spot at the table. Oh so much food, what should he start with?

A little bit displeased because of the short argument with Evelyn on the train, Josh made his way into the Great Hall right after he got rid of the luggage, trunk and those owls, and left the kitten safely there as well. And suddenly the fact that it was his last term in this still occured to him. Wow! He was not sure how that felt. All the other students around were making him feel old, as he was eigthteen years old now, so it was like he could rule the school no matter what but on the other hand, and surprisingly, he was feeling slightly sad because...well...this was the beginning of his last term at school. Last term.

And who could know Josh Carter would be sad to leave a school with all its classes?

Anyway he was not leaving yet, apparently, for this was 'Start of the Term Feast' which meant he still had several months. Hah.

When he approached the lions' table of course he had to make the grand entrance ''HELLO!!! GRYFFINDORS!!!'' It was just that for now though since he was no more the person he used to be...well...during his previous terms. Yelling out too much was very unnecessary.

AV walked up to the table and took a seat, since he really didn't know any one he sat there in silence.

and away we go....
 

As more first years were sorted into Gryffindor, Kurumi tried her best to take the time to smile at each of them as they passed. Did it seem like there were A LOT more of them than usual? Kurumi was usually a smiling person, but her cheeks were going to hurt by the end of the evening.

"Welcome to each of you," she chirped, charming a cookie for each.
Yep. Poor first impression already. Hadn't even introduced herself. Kurumi took a few steps forward and bowed slightly before speaking. "Nice to meet you, Adam." She paused on his name for just an second. Now was NOT the time to think about all that though. "My name is Kurumi," she said, almost bowing again, but she took his hand instead.
Holy Hippogriff.

Kurumi had almost forgotten that her prefecting duties now included watching out for Josh. Maybe...she could just pass the task over to Jai. Kurumi knew she would be rubbish at keeping THAT lion in its cage.

"Josh!" Kurumi waved, taking a quick peek around to make sure Cookie Hater wasn't with him. She flicked her wand and charmed a cookie his direction. "P-P-P-Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease don't make this term hard for me..."

Another Gryffindor had joined the table, one that looked awfully quiet, but not in the manner that a nervous first year did - not that this boy even looked like a first year.

Nodding to several lions as she walked by, Kurumi approached them. "H-H-hello," she said timidly. Yep, not a first year. She was stuttering.

Charles had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Although the train ride had only been a few hours, he had been anxious to go to Hogwarts the entire summer. All the books he had read about the place had done nothing to prepare him for the majesty and glory of the castle. Going inside the castle had been nothing short of breathtaking. He was sure he forgot to breath for a couple of seconds. After sorting had come and gone, Charles had been placed in Gryffindor. As he went to take a seat at the table he looked around and saw tonnes of students sitting in their chairs. They all ranged from his age to almost 18 year olds. He kept silent just as he had on the train ride and settled into his chair. He would sit there and wait for the food, to nervous to speak to a soul.

oh, a girl is talking to me and a pretty one at that!. "why hello there" he said while smiling at her "The name is Ali, but most of the time people call me AV" and you are?" he asked.

Whoaoaoa! Gryffindor. Paulie had gotten into Gryffindor house.

Really, the fifth year wouldn't have minded any of the houses, but now that he belonged to Gryffindor, the house instantly became his favorite. Go figure. With a lightness to his step, he marched up to his table. And what was this..? Cart-wheeling cookies? Paulie snatched one from mid-air and chomped a bite off, then swiveled his head around to see who had charmed them.

Aaaand... it was that girl with the badge. "Ohh, are you the Gryffindor prefect? Thanks for the biscuit," he said to her, lifting his cookie in cheers. They were so well decorated that it was almost a pity to eat them. ALMOST.

When Paulie turned to take a seat among his fellow housemates, he saw none other than Adam - Adam from the petting zoo where he did not work. "Hey there, mate," he greeted, taking a seat by the other fifth year. "You got Gryffindor too, yeah?"

Selina walked into the Great Hall fidgeting with the cuff of her robe awkwardly. It had been a whole two months since she had put her robe on and the long sleeves of the robe always took some getting used to when Selina headed back to school; however, it was the kind of getting used to that Selina did not mind. She was thrilled to be back at school and back amongst the sea of red Gryffindors. How she had missed the Great Hall and all of its crazy, yet lovable inhabitants.

Her bottom had barely hit the wooden bench when the familiar yell of Term Cookies rung out in the hall. The barer of the cookies was not exactly someone who she was so keen on seeing at the present moment. Even though Kurumi was her best friend the young Gryffindor had done a remarkable job at avoiding her on the train. In fact Selina would not think of one time where the two had not rode together on the train. So that was a feat in itself, keeping the two sisterly lions apart. But how could she face her after Selina had told her something she swore she would never tell a soul. Kurumi would look at her like a monster now, blimey Selina looked at herself like a monster. What she did was, well, unforgivable.

She cast her blue eyes down and reached out for one of the famously delicious red cookies, she was hungry after all. No amount of depression could hold back the hunger ripping at the ginger's sides. After all, all she had eaten on the train were two packs of bertie botts, four cauldron cakes, a bottle of pumpkin juice, three cauldron cakes, a pumpkin pasties and two licorice wands. It was like she was starving herself.

Ronnie was SO EXCITED for the new year, that she literally skipped to the Gryffindor table! She actually skipped, she
looked like a fool. She found a seat near the end of the table, where it was quite empty and sat by herself. She had to keep some room for her younger sister, Plumeria, Rose, and Jordan. She looked around at all of her fellow Gryffindors and hoped to make some new friends hopefully this year. She wondered who the new DADA teacher was...hopefully the new teacher was cool! DADA was her favorite subject!

Adam gave Kurumi's hand a little shake, taken aback by the bow she had given him, but it was a nice gesture. "It's nice to meet you too. Congrats on being Prefect." Adam didn't know how the whole selection process worked, but he figured it was an honor to be chosen/elected/however you got the position.

Adam was about to reach out to take a sip of the water in his goblet when he felt someone slide onto the bench next to him. Turning to look he spotted Paulie from the petting zoo...Nice.

"Yeah, it looks like we're housemates," Adam said with a little chuckle. In all honesty he was glad that there was another person that he knew in Gryffindor. Of course Kurumi was really nice from his little introduction with her, and he was sure there would be other nice people, but still, it was nice to already be friends with someone. "So how was the rest of your summer? End up working with any animals?" Adam asked with a little grin. Oh, wouldn't it be ironic if they were partners or something in Care of Magical Creatures.

"Thank you for the cookie!" Valerie said with a grin to the girl in front of her. She was wearing a prefect badge and seemed very nice. Hopefully everyone else in Gryffindor would be that kind.

Kurumi smiled as another pair of first year was sorted into her house. She could feel her excitement growing and growing with each new lion - hopefully she wouldn't explode from it all.

"Welcome," she smiled, charming yet another cookie towards them.
Were his eyebrows wiggling? Perhaps Kurumi was making that up. She was more than a little frazzled at the moment after all. "Nice to meet you Ali," she said with a bow. No stutter this time. Good girl. "My name is Kurumi." She cocked her head to the side like a baby owl. "AV? As in...Audio Visual?"

She needed to turn her filtering system back on...clearly...
Cookie. Not biscuit. Cookie. Unless that was British for cookie. Kurumi still hadn't picked up on all the British words used at Hogwarts. For whatever reason, despite her father being British, she hadn't learned much of it and had instead been schooled in more American English. Go figure.

"Y-You're welcome," she chirped with a bow. She took a deep breath. "Y-Yes, one of them. My name is Kurumi."


Kurumi spotted just the lion she had been hoping to see. The manner in which Selina had run off after their conversation on the train and made Kurumi think that the third year wanted some time to herself. Kurumi HAD kind of forced the confession out of her and she felt terrible about it.

Kurumi hurried over to Selina and stood right next to her. "S-Selina.." she said softly. Wait, before she said anything else....

Kurumi plucked a cookie out of the air and handed it to her friend. Consider it a sort of safety blanket. Food always made Selina a little more agreeable.

"I'm not going anywhere. You are still my best friend no matter what happened. Nor does my opinion of you change."
"You are welcome," Kurumi replied. She liked the smile on this one and quickly noticed that she was eyeing the badge. Right, first years didn't entirely understand what that meant. At least, she hadn't. "My name is Kurumi, your female prefect. May I ask your name?"
"Um...thank you," she said shyly as her cheeks flushed just a bit. Still not one to take compliments without a slight moment of self doubt. Hopefully that would change this term. "If you ever have questions, please feel free to ask me."

Oh...well...yes. It was Prefect Kurumi, was not it? Merlin knew how much he liked this girls yet her being a prefect now, Josh felt like maybe there would be a little bit crack on that for he was always determined to do what he thought right for justice and he was never giving up to an agent of a corrupted authority. So, yes this was going to be a huge dilemma for the boy. Was he now supposed to see her as the cute lioness princess that he would die to protect or an annoying prefect who would try to enforce school rules on him?

That was confusing.

At least she was still his friend so he did gave her a huge smile ''Hello Kurumi and well...'' now at that part the smile turned into a a rather cunning looking smirk. Maybe something he had borrowed from his Slytherin lover. ''...ever heard me doing anything difficult for someone?''

COOKIE!!!!
Ronnie loved cookies! Or basically anything sweet. She gladly took the cookie and took a bite......into heaven! It was delicious! "Thanks!" she said grinning. "I'm so excited for my second year!" she said happily. She watched as all the first years got sorted. She couldn't wait to see her sister get sorted!

[QUOTE=sweetpinkpixie;10606895]Kurumi smiled as another pair of first year was sorted into her house. She could feel her excitement growing and growing with each new lion - hopefully she wouldn't explode from it all.

"Welcome," she smiled, charming yet another cookie towards them.

Charles had not taken a look around the table when he had sat. If he had, he would have noticed dozen's of cookies floating around waiting to be gobbled up. They had been charmed by a girl who was wearing clothes similar to his, but different. She must have been a prefect. He wished he could perform such magic one day. He took the second cookie that she had just sent for him and let the first one float off to be swallowed up by someone else. ""Thanks for the cookie, my name is Charles" he said while at the same time extending his hand forward. He knew that she must be awfully busy, but the thought of finally making friends with someone here was too much to let go.

"Well nice to meet you Kurumi, thats a very pretty name" he said while sneaking a wink in there some where. "Why does everyone ask me that question" he thought while laughing at the comment. "My name is Ali Vanderbelt, so thats why people call me AV, alot of people ask me that, but hey it sticked" he said while laughing. "So, errr Im a fifth year and I was home schooled before but the dishes were done..... is Hogwarts always like this. I feel I need to conjure some water to clean some cutlery." he said while looking at the table. "Not a bad idea" he thought while first cleaning out a bowl and filling it with some water, he took two sets of forks,butter knifes and spoons. After he finished cleaning them he handed the pretty girl a set. "I don't think you needed to do them."

Selina kept her eyes down at the table as she munched away on the cookie she had taken from the pile. If she was not so avid on keeping distance between herself and Kurumi she would so be digging into another cookie being that her current cookie was almost gone. From what her blue eyes could tell in her peripherals Selina could see a herd of firsties scattering around the Great Hall toward their newest houses. Even Gryffindor was seemingly gaining a few students here and there.

Then she took her final bite of her cookie and she rested her hands in her lap. She desperately wanted another one, but to look up to grab one would mean that she would have to find Kurumi. By doing that it would completely defeat the purpose of her avoiding Kurumi. Not that Selina would be able to avoid her for forever, but she could deal with doing it for now.

As soon as she had come to terms with this fate laughed in Kurumi's face. Another delicious and red cookie sat in front of her downcast face. Her greedy hands reached out to grab it and when she looked up to thank the gifter her blue eyes met Kurumi's purple. Merlin! She did not want to do this right now. So she took the cookie and just looked at her best friend in shock, but before she could utter anything else Kurumi spoke.

In three small sentences Kurumi made all of the difference in the world to Selina's current predicament. They had much to discuss and Selina's had a lot she had to tell her friend, but the fact that Kurumi was willing to still be her friend was amazing.

She stuttered, "You don't think I'm a monster?" She leaned forward out of her seat and hugged Kurumi, "Thank you. And we'll talk later. I have a lot I have to tell you and then we'll have no more secrets between us." Part of Selina was shocked how easily she accepted what Kurumi said, but it felt right to have her best friend by her side.

Paulie initially wondered why the girl bowed at him, but then he soon realized that that was probably her custom or something. So, he smiled and tried out bowing back at her in a similar fashion. "Well, that's real cool," he remarked with a nod. It was especially cool because he had heard that the prefects got to use some fancy bathroom, just for them. Kurumi. Now that was a name he didn't hear everyday. "Kurumi," he repeated, to make sure that he'd gotten it right. "Nice to meet you - I'm Paulie."

But yes, he and Adam had been lucky enough to score the same house! Same house, same year. Couldn't get much better than that. "Who woulda thought, eh?" He grinned, then rolled up this sleeves to his elbows. Pffft, working with animals for the rest of the summer? No sir-eeee. "Hah! My summer was good, though I didn't happen to work with any creatures, no." Especially at traveling carnivals. "I did happen to find a frog in the living room of our place, though. I honestly donno how it got there.." And it was still a mystery. His mum had been rather suspicious of him, but he eventually convinced her that it was not a joke. Or, at least not his joke. "How about yourself, anything eventful?.. Parents uprooting the family and moving to a new well-to-do neighborhood?"

Pardon her mood... anyone can grab the RP if you wanna.
 

Seventh Year. STUPID seventh year. Lexi was a very unhappy little bunny. HMPH.

Strolling over, avoiding eye contact with EVERYONE, she plopped herself into a seat and just GLARED at her plate. HMPH FOR LIFE. The last thing Lexi wanted to do at this point was sit through yet another feast.

Looking up long enough to glance over toward the Slytherin table she frowned moreso. STUPID FEAST. STUPID BADGES... STUPID EVERYTHING. Lexi Kennedy was sure this term was the term for her to rebel... buck the system... get into a fight. SOMETHING SCANDALOUS.

Megan/Christopher
 

Selina was already starting to warm up to this new term. She had patched things up with Kurumi, she had eaten two cookies and was working on her third and all of the new Gryffindors seemed to be a fine group of people. That would be important in the coming months and years in Selina's case. But the hat always chose wisely so Selina was not too worried about all of that.

As she took another bite of her large, Gryffindor cookie her eyes started to flit around the Great Hall. She was genuinely curious where her "brother" had scrambled off too. Back at the Platform she had seen him for a minute maybe, until he had been dragged off by his friends and his girlfriend. Not that she minded, she ended up having an... interesting experience on the Platform.

Ronnie looked around, and while she looked around she noticed an older Gryffindor who didn't look as happy as her! She wondered why. She didn't know about walking over to her, she looked like she could beat the small little Weasley up! But she took up the courage to walk over. She quietly sat down beside her. She cleared her throat. "Hi there, I'm Ronnie Weasley." she said in the best soothing tone she could. "I couldn't help but notice you seemed a bit down, is there something bothering you?" she asked.

Samuel walked to the table and sat down after being sorted. he looked up and down the table but recognized no one, because all his friends seem to have been sorted in ravenclaw so far.

Throat clearing. Really? Lexi looked up with a quirked brow and a frown etched in her face. "Pleasure." Of course THAT was yet to be seen. HMPH. "I am not 'down' thank you very much. I am just unhappy and unpleasant to boot. You may have a seat if you so wish to," Lexi said in a haughty tone.

Having a seat did NOT mean that Lexi would converse with her... Just saying.

Charner had often dreamt of the Great Hall. Great dreams of the Great Hall. But nothing she could even imagine compared to the greatness of great before her.

....Maybe the spoons. And the forks. And well the whole table layout. That, admittedly, was a little disappointing. She had imagined something a bit more polished and less, well, sad looking. There had to be a culprit. There had to be ----

B. I. N. G. O.

Walking purposefully over to the SULKY older girl, lion, person, sitting at the table and plopped down beside her, giving the other girl that had chosen to inquire about the situation a slight nod. "You know, huffing and puffing releases a lot of carbon dioxide into the air which makes it hard to think. Given there are no plants in this room and thus no fresh oxygen, I would think it wisest if we conserve our supply with as little brooding as possible." Her eyes flicked down the the utensils. They were magic right? "Plus, your making the table decorations look sad."

Ronnie looked away. She felt like a jerk....she sighed. "Right...I'll just go back to my seat. Hope you feel better..." she said walking back to her spot. She sat down, and waited for her mates. That was sort of stupid of her to go and make that person worse.

Reaaaaaaally? Lexi gave the other girl a faint scowl and chuckled a bit. "Well that's right rude of you, you know? That would be the same as me telling you the tone of your voice grates my nerves like the sound of Peeves blowing raspberries... but I would never do such a thing." Except she kind of just did. Heh. "You are making my brain unhappy little person." Yeah. So. Grrrr.

...

Lexi shrugged a bit... SHe had told the girl to have a seat hadn't she? Oh well. Some people didn't GET that she was being as nice as she could.

Adjusting his red and gold tie, Christopher scurried into the Great Hall with the happiest look on his face. He was glad to be home, back at school where he truly belonged. The lion was incredibly excited for his fourth year; for some reason it made him feel much older and much more mature- though he probably just thought that do to teenage hormones and what not. Scanning the Gryffindor table, it didn't take long for his eyes to fall upon the person he was looking for.

Sliding in next to a girl with bright red hair, Christopher grinned at his little sister. "Ah! Sel, I can't believe we're back! It's been so long- an eternity. Not to mention the fact that I thought last semester was my last...." he trailed off, trying not to think about that very dreadful point in time. "Anyway! Where were you on the platform? I talked to your parents and then found Violet and hung out with her for a while, but I didn't see you. And she ran off to find you on the train, and I ended up sitting with Elyon, Chunk, and Baltimore in a compartment of our own. We ended up just reading the whole time, though that darn cat snored so loud...."

Selina looked up from her cookie to see Christopher slid into the seat right next to herself. Before she could even say anything she was cut off by Christopher going into depth about his escapades on the train and Violet's search for Selina. That latter of the previous statement was odd; she did not see Violet for the entire train ride. Then again Selina was hiding from a certain Gryffindor prefect at the time so it did not surprise her that the small veela girl could not find her. She was, after all, hiding from one person, which in turn made her hide from everyone.

The moment Chris took a breath Selina snuck in a sentence, in fear that if she did not she would not get a word in, "I was around. I actually kind of sat by myself the entire train ride, you know? It was nice and comforting there and I got in a good nap. Didn't want to head into the Great Hall exhausted on the first day. That would just be horrid, honestly."

Then she pressed on and asked, "You ready for this term?"

Adam noticed that the girl's cheeks had flushed slightly with embarrassment...perhaps he was just as good at taking compliments as he was...which was not good at all. "Um...thanks, I appreciate that," Adam said with a little smile. So there was one more person he could go to if he got horribly lost.

Adam gave Paulie a little smile. "I wouldn't have...honestly I had no idea what house I was going to be in, so this came as somewhat of a surprise." But Adam could tell by the other people that had been sitting down at the table that they were definitely going to be his kind of crowd. Friendly, not too crazy...except for one girl who had a look to kill. Perhaps if Adam thought that it would help she would ask the girl if she was alright, but he decided that maybe she just wanted to be left alone.

"Aww...bummer," Adam said with another little laugh. He was taking a sip of water when Paulie mentioned finding a frog in his living room. Adam couldn't stop his eyebrows from going up surprise. "Well...isn't that an interesting thing to find in your living room." Adam supposed there were worse things one could stumble upon...but still...a toad was rather odd. "I actually bought a puppy," Adam said with a little smirk as he set his goblet down. "I'll introduce him to you once we get up to the common rooms...and don't worry, he doesn't smell." Adam made sure to give JB a bath right before they left for the train...after all no one would appreciate him having a pet if the pet smelled as awful as the pen at the wizarding carnival had.

Adam gave Paulie a little smirk at the comment about the neighborhood moving. "So far they're still at the same house, but we'll see when it's time to go home for a break." Of course, Adam's parents hadn't even been there to say goodbye, so he wasn't even sure if they knew when the next time he was returning was going to be.

Charner shrugged with little concern and pushed the utensils back into a bit of a proper order. Poor utensils. So unloved....

"Rude, but truthful. Just as your words are from your point of view." A slight grin made it's way onto her face as she tilted her head a little. "I make my brothers unhappy and they make me unhappy." In other words, deal.

"Nice to meet you Kurumi. My names Valerie."

Valerie bit into her cookie and her eyes widened considerably. She could have sworn she was melting into a puddle of happiness. Never had she eaten a cookie baked to such perfection as this one.

"This cookie...it's so good. Did you bake these?"

Lexi Kennedy wrinkled her nose up as the little person continued to speak in that DREADFUL tone. UGH. She had to give it to the kid, though. Lexi tended to intimidate small persons. Heh.

Smoothing her features out she finally gave the girl a proper look and smirked for a moment. "Rude, but truthful, eh? Sounds like something I would say." A SLIGHT praise, that was. Even if the kid didn't know it.

"I am not quite sure what your siblings have to do with the situation at hand..." Lexi trailed off and leaned in closer to see if the child had vacant eyes. THAT was the sign of a crazy person. She wanted to be sure... one can never be too safe at Hogwarts.

"Name's Lexi Kennedy. You are??"

Supressing a grin at Selina's look of worry that he would've give her a chance to talk, he nodded. "I know exactly what you mean. Solitude is so nice. It's the main reason why I don't mind not having many friends. How come you didn't sit with Violet and Elektra? It's unusual for the trio not to be together..." That was very curious. Normally the three of them were inseparable. Oh well, he couldn't blame the girl. Sometimes hanging out alone was just really nice.

"Oh yes. Fourth year is going to be incredible! I heard they really try to prepare you for O.W.L.S next year. All the information we'll be able to take in; it's all so exciting!" he chirped, sounding incredibly nerdy. But he was who he was, and nerd was a part of the main description. "And you? Are you ready for third year? Not going to lie, it's pretty awesome," he smirked. He felt it almost a joke- while third year was great for most, his previous year had been very stressful and well.... Yeah. But a majority of that was behind him and he was ready to start the term as an average (well, maybe a bit above average...) teenage nerd again.

"I am debating the wiseity of sitting next to you if you are going to stare at me like that. No wonder the spoons are all shriveled." She didn't care if it was something this Lexi would say or not, she did not like faces in faces. Except in paintings. If done well....

"I was checking to see if you had a vacant look to your eyes, kid. Are you crazy. Like in the clinical sense? There is only room for one crazy person in my life... and that's me." Just you know... FYI.

"You keep on about the utensils... you got a fork THING or something? That's right odd." FYI again. By this time Lexi had gone back into her own personal space. There, odd child, no more Lexi in your face.

"And I asked you your name, child. What is it?"

Selina looked aside from Christopher's eyes. She did not want to really talk about why she had not spoken to her friend's on the train. If she did it would bring up the question as to why she was avoiding Kurumi, which would spur on the question as to why Selina had run away from Kurumi on the Platform, which would give way to the question why Selina had killed her sister. It was all questions that she did not want to face right now, especially not with Christopher. Telling Kurumi, although she had fled right after divulging her past, had been truly very difficult. In fact, Selina had sworn to herself that she would never tell a living soul about Danny and yet she did. So telling Christopher about her sister was most likely a fate that would never happen if she could help it. Therefore, she did not want to talk about why she wanted solitude so she just gave Christopher a weak half-smile and listened to him talk about third year.

"I'm excited for the most part. Everything about it sounds great and all, I'm just curious as to how everything is going to fall out. Especially with Quidditch. Without Simon being here I'm very nervous about try outs. Kurumi and me both are."

Kurumi giggled and tried not to blush too much. Her only saving grace at the moment was that Cookie Hater wasn't around to scowl or glare at her. Hopefully, the now Head Girl had gotten that out of her system on the train. If not...well...then this was going to be a reeeeeeeeeeeally awkward term. Especially when one considered that it was obvious that Walnut was in kitty love with the girl.

"Well, you have been known to land yourself in detention," she teased, sticking her tongue out slightly. Not that Kurumi would really be able to do that to Josh. She was pretty sure she didn't have that in her. "Oh, I nearly forgot...father says thank you for the letter...but....why did you even write my father in the first place?"

Over the course of everything that had happened last term, Kurumi had forgotten that she had asked her father to send bath supplies. Then again, she had no idea just how MUCH the man had sent.

"Glad to hear that," Kurumi smiled. She saw that Ronnie was focused on the Sorting taking place, so she ought to not bother the girl for now. It was always something fun to watch. "Enjoy the feast."

Kurumi offered the girl one last smile before continuing her way down the table.

"Nice to meet you Charles," she replied with a bow of the head. "You're welcome. Baking has always been a hobby of mine, so it makes me happy to see others enjoying them." Her smile brightened just a bit more. "My name is Kurumi and I hope you enjoy the feast. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I am sure more first years will be joining us at the table. Many have already." She gestured down the table a bit.

Kurumi's smile faded. Yep, still the queen of terrible first impressions. His laughter went unnoticed by her as she looked down at her black school shoes. "S-S-S-Sorry," she stammered, flailing her arms around just a bit. When he had explained himself, Kurumi felt even worse. Of course that is what it had meant. Why would someone be given a nickname based on Audio and Visual? "Oh, um, right..."

Akward.

"Oh, well welcome to Hogwarts as well," she smiled, momentarily forgetting the awkward conversation from moments earlier. It was now that she noticed just how disgusting the dishes were. "You...don't suppose Scourgify would fix this, do you?" she asked picking up a dirty fork and turning it over in her hands.

"I would be a hypocrite if I did," she said, obviously relating to their abilities. Having been called one all her life, how could she possibly do the same to her best friend? That idea seemed utterly ridiculous. "And of course," she giggled, taking her wand out of her pocket. "And I'll make sure that no one else can hear." The spellwork was simple enough.
Kurumi nodded. Yep, he had it right and had even bowed back a little. Kurumi blushed just a bit and tried not to let her giggle become audible. "It's nice to meet you Paulie." For some reason, his name reminded her with that of a bird, but that would cause yet another silly first impression that she really didn't need nor want.

LEXI! Merlin had Kurumi missed her. She had enjoyed taking care of Rufus over the summer, and didn't really want to part with him, but, he was Lexi's monkey and not hers. She hadn't had time to give the now seventh year the gift she had bought in New York for her, but the look on her face right now signaled that the lioness might not be too excited about it anyway.

Still, Kurumi wasn't sure when she would get the next change to do so. No time like the present, right?

"Lexi!" she chirped as she walked up behind the blonde and tapped her shoulder. "I...I never got the chance to give this to you back when I gave Rufus back."

She handed Lexi a small parcel.


"Valerie," Kurumi repeated, taking extra time to make sure that she said the V properly. "Nice to meet you."

Kurumi blushed a bit as she watched the girl much on her cookie. Perhaps the most satisfying part of it all was having others enjoy. Eating cookies alone was always kind of sad.

"I did," she nodded. "Baking has always been a hobby of mine."

Elsie walked to the Gryffindor table. Gryffindor! She has been sorted into the house she wanted! She sat next to a very nervous looking boy.

"Hi I'm Elsie" she said holding out her hand. "Aren't we lucky to be in Gryffindor?"

Going to bed, but I've a 5 hr car ride right after school, so I may or may not be on!
 

Christopher cocked an eyebrow at Selina's response about the train. He may not have been a mind reader, but something was definitely up. She wouldn't meet his eyes, and the half-smile she'd attempted was the most pathetic he'd ever seen from Selina. She was looking rather distraught, and she was silent. Selina Skylar was not one to often stay silent. After his analysis and conclusion, he shifted in his seat to get a better angle toward her and asked gently, "You all right?" He wasn't going to force any issue upon her, but if she wanted to talk about it, or even just needed a little comforting, he'd be there for her in a second without hesitation. He hoped she knew that.

And if course. Quidditch. Leave to Selina to be most worried about Quidditch. With a joking eye roll, he said, "Selina, do you ever not think about Quidditch?" He hesitated, then added reassuringly, "But seriously, don't worry about it. You both are great. I know you'll make the team without a doubt."

I was given permission by Kat to have Kurumi touch Selina's shoulder
 

Selina smiled at Kurumi graciously when the girl further reassured her that she was not filled with hatred against Selina. Deep down Selina knew that Kurumi should be furious with Selina and disgusted at what Selina did, Merline knew Selina herself was, but she was glad that her best friend was deciding against harboring that emotion. It would have killed Selina to lose Kurumi even though she knew that she didn't deserve a friend like her after what she had done.

Kurumi further showed that she was okay with Selina by simply touching her left shoulder. In the small touch Selina knew that Kurumi was not afraid of her.

Suddenly her eyes shot open with fear. Kurumi had mistakenly touched her left shoulder where the tattoo she had received last year via a vision had been imprinted in her skin. The tattoo was simple. Since she had been stuck in a vision the tattoo gave her the ability to go in and out of visions at will. Although Selina was not exactly sure how it worked still she was starting to have an easier time with her visions. But now that Kurumi had touched it she could feel herself slipping under and into the future. Her head was pounding, her heart was racing and she could feel that this vision was going to change a lot of things in the upcoming year.

The dream like world started to form in front of Selina's eyes and everything she saw had a strange yellow-tinted hue to its coloration. As the shapes stared to form coherent objects the room began to make sense. The Great Hall of the present was washed away with the spitting image of the Great Hall of the future. In all honesty, the two pictures looked almost identical, even some of the students were sitting in the same place that they had been sitting in the present.

Suddenly a figure emerged at the front of the Great Hall. He was standing there watching the room with a general excitement that was reminicent of a child out front of a candy store. His eyes scanned the room for familiar faces until he found a pair of faces that he had been looking for. With a sense of excitement renewed in the figure he started to walk down the pathway in the Great Hall between the Gryffindor table and the Ravenclaw table toward the two other figures.

Then in a flash the face of the figure became completely clear. It was so shocking that Selina was thrown from her vision into the present.

Her worried eyes met Kurumi's and she could not even speak. Then her blue eyes flitted toward the entrance of the Great Hall where the doorway was empty. Maybe her vision was wrong, until suddenly the figure stood in the doorway and her vision started to come true.

"Oh no," was all she could utter.

Chirping grated Lexi's nerves, too. Meh...

Turning to see exactly who she thought was making that racket she smiled briefly and then her eyes fell on the badge on the girl's robes. Her nose immediately wrinkled in disdain. Greaaaaat she was going to have to watch her step with EVERYONE she was close to apparently. What a DISASTER this was. HMPHS FOR LIFE.

Lexi took the parcel and said, "Thanks, Kurumi. How was the rest of your holiday?" Lexi couldn't lie... she did not care much if she was honest with herself. She was being selfish and obnoxious and loving every moment of it.

Opening the package she... looked at the shirt for a moment before furrowing her brow and holding it up to inspect. "What's... a barbie?" What RUBBISH is this is what she THOUGHT. Yeah.

Instead of shaking his hand, the girl had given him a slight bow. He was taken aback at first, but when she was finished talking he was suddenly cheerful. Kurumi it turned out was a really nice and friendly girl. "I'll be sure to ask if I have any questions, and thanks again for the cookie, its delicious!" He had to struggle to finish what he said without blushing. Kurumi was one of the first girls he had actually talked to. If he had known they were all this nice he wouldn't have been shy all those years he went to muggle school.

"I'm fine," Selina feigned a laugh for Christopher's sake. The last thing she needed at present was a worried Christopher breathing down her back. She was fine not having anyone know about Danny and now that Kurumi knew it was not like she needed anyone else to think lesser of her. Selina tried desperately everyday to pretend that what happened that day did not actually transpire, but she knew better.

QUIDDITCH! When he said she would make the team for sure she smacked him hard in the shoulder, "Don't. Ever. Say. That. Now knock on wood. By saying that you could have just ruined my chances at making the team. You can't ever tempt fate!"

"Perfectly sane, thank you." With a tilt of her chin up, Charner picked up the spoon and nearby cloth napkin. "And its not odd to make an observation about cause, consequence and coincidence. It's called being observant. Which if you were, you wouldn't have to ask all these time consuming questions."

And then, she set to polishing that poor neglected spoon. No, she wasn't obsessive, just a perfectionist. "And maybe if you would stop calling me a child, I would respond less like one and actually give you an answer."


But there were more interesting things than her name. Like the girl with the badge and parcel. Sure, Charner didn't know Lexi, but that didn't mean personal space when it came to surprises was a big factor of consideration. An eye for an eye maybe?

Leaning over a little while retaining her furiosity in polishing the spoon, Charner peered at the parcel. She was about to ask what a Rufus was when Lexi beat her to a much better punch line. And then it was all very loud giggle-snorts. "It's very fitting to you."

He slowly made his way through the tables in the Great Hall.Everything was so different now that he had been gone for a year or so now.It felt weird but right being at the place were he belonged.

A sort of tug of war feeling.Mexico City had been great,the experience had changed him,but nothing about Hogwarts could change who he was.It was his home.Where everything happened.The place were people understood him,didn't understand him,got him annoyed,made him feel better all the same.It wasn't something his parents could give him.Not even in a completely forgien country.He wanted to be there,to stay working in the studio set with all his friends where he became a proficient spanglish speaker.

But his heart flew him towards Hogwarts.

After thinking all of this to himself he looked over the hundred of heads eating in the Great Hall.The beginning feast.The best moments of all their lives.

Finally,he saw them.A girl with bright fiery hair,an just a little way's off...
Her.

With a beating heart,move fear,excitment,anxiety,he stopped right behind them,then said very slowly, "Hey guys."

WHAT WAS THIS THING'S PROBLEM??

Lexi gave her a haughty nose turny uppy thingy and snorted derisively. Silly CHILD. "One could argue that sanity is in the eye of the beholder." Indeed. "You don't know a thing about me, person whose name I do not know. I am observant, but I choose to ask questions all the same." Thank you VERY much. "If I was not an adult and you an underage person I mightn't call you a child." Facts. There they were.

Lexi finally dropped her gaze to the table and BARELY held back the gasp. She was NORMALLY observant, but she had not been paying any mind to the UTENSILS on the table. What the... Lex once again wrinkled her nose and carefully nudged a fork AWAY.

... and now Lexi was even more confused.

Looking at the girl whose name she did not know she gave a questioning look. "I... seriously haven't a clue what a Barbie is... I was raised in the Wizarding World." Clearly.

Kurumi and anyone else ^_^
 

Jai joined the Gryffindor table. He was happy to be back at Hogwarts. He moved along the table to find a seat. It was nice to see the first years being sorted into their houses especially the new lions and lionesses.

He looked around for his friends, like Carter who was the new Quidditch captain and Josh. Jai glanced at the Hufflepuff table for Cassie, one of his best friends. Then without even thinking he looked over to the Slytherine table for Caroline. After his quick survey, he spotted Kurumi and went over to talk to her.

Approaching where she was, he said,"Hey Kurumi. What's up?"

Another giggle-snort left Charner. "Adult? Where?" Her head did an exaggerated bob about as she glanced around their table. "All I see are still students yet to be graduated. Aka. Children." Or so her parents said, and for once she was more inclined to believe her parents than this strange ... person.

And then she just blinked at the Lexi-child. Why was she looking so strangely at the spoons? Hadn't she just said she was observant? And Charner was being called strange? Huh.

"......It's a doll. Big head, long legs who if was real would snap her ankles in two because they are toothpick thin and couldn't support her weight at all." Alright, so admittedly that didn't really describe the girl in front of her. A quick glance down at her ankles attested to that. "...She smiles a lot." Yes, there. A quip to cover up a slip.

"Riiiight. Once one comes of age, which is 17, which I AM, one is considered an adult in the Wizarding World, little missy." THANK YOU VERY MUCH. She didn't know what the heck was WRONG with this little person, but she needed to mind her tongue unless she wanted Lexi to hex it right out of her mouth.

That was IT. Lexi narrowed her eyes at the small person in front of her and sneered slightly. "What IS your problem... person?" It was highly annoying to Lexi that she didn't know this person's name. HMPH.

"Did you just tell me I have a fat head and skinny ankles? Well... has anyone ever told you perhaps you should brush that disgusting mane of hair? Hmmmm? Or perhaps you should just give up altogether? You are CLEARLY a hopeless case." HOPELESS.

"My problem? You made the spoons sad. They are misaligned and unpolished and it's a right mess to present dinner like this to anyone." The words came out in a heavy huff.

"And as for your fat head, that is only metaphorically speaking and I'm sure with the weight you seem to be carrying on your shoulders you could also have metaphorically thin ankles that are liable to break if you keep carrying about that scowl so heavily." Charner gave the spoon an extra scrub. She didn't care about her hair. She wouldn't, or would make the extreme effort not to just to prove this girl, this self-proclaimed adult, wasn't getting on her nerves. "That is what I told you."

"Oh dear Merlin. I didn't make the spoons sad. I am sure the MINISTRY has something to do with it... or the house elves revolted and refuse to work. It has nothing to do with my less than stellar mood." HMPH. "And now you are huffing. Didn't you say something about Carbomb Monorixide or something? " Yeah. HA!

...


Well that was hardly called for. Lexi WAS carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders FYI. HMPH. Lexi was not going to DIGNIFY any of that with a response.

"Carb-ON. Mono-IXDE. You air-headed conspiratist." Really? She was going to blame the spoons on house elves and the Ministry?

....

"Hogwarts has house elves?"

"Well now you are just making words up I am sure. Or... are you talking Muggle?" Because as far as she was concerned it was a language in and of itself.

"And it's not necessarily a far cry if you had been here for any amount of time and seen the things I have in the past 6 years." THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Cue the LEXI NOSE TURN UP ONCE MORE.

"Really? You don't know about the elves? It's only how the entire school is maintained... Our food, our fires, our laundry." Didn't this kid know ANYTHING? Sheesh.

Kurumi hadn't realized that a simple touch would cause Selina to go into one of her states, but the prefect recognized it right off the bat. Before Selina had the chance to go limp, Kurumi positioned herself behind the girl so that she wouldn't fall off the bench she was sitting on.

It seemed to take hours for Selina to come to, but when she did, Kurumi didn't feel any better.

Oh no?

That did not sound like a good thing.

"Selina?" Kurumi asked, her violet eyes full of concern.

And then...the storm hit.

THAT voice. A voice she had spent all of last year trying to forget and had finally accomplished that in the months winding down to the end of the term. She didn't need to turn around. She knew exactly who it was standing right behind her. All those times crying alone in the broom cupboard, thinking that she wasn't even worth the trouble to write a letter to, trying to move one step forward but moving ten steps back. Did he have ANY idea what he had put her through? ANY?

And...all he had to say was, "Hey guys?"

Kurumi spun around and her eyes locked on his blue ones. For a moment, she felt like all she wanted to do was hug him. She had missed him more than she ever thought was possible.

But...her hair turning a deep crimson color on the spot signaled the emotion that was taking over.

She walked right up to him, eyes still locked on his. Smiled sweetly for a moment before...

*SMAAAAAAAAAAAAACK*

Her right hand promptly made contact with his cheek, hot tears streaming down her face.

"BAKA!"

*baka means idiot in Japanese


"Summer was...interesting..." she said slowly, remembering the events that had lead up to her return to Diagon Alley. "How is Rufus doing? My brothers miss him already." Kurumi hadn't been surprised that they had taken to the monkey. They were practically wild animals themselves.

And then came the question. "I...am not sure really," she giggled with a slight shoulder shrug. "It was the color that attracted me, and then the clerk said that she was a fashion icon, so I thought it was fitting." And hopefully the t-shirt fit.

Kurumi's eyes shifted to the younger girl who seemed to know who or what Barbie was. "Do you know who this is?"

"You're welcome," again. She had said you're welcome, right? Kurumi scanned the table, wrinkling her nose at the knives and forks. She had some gunk, not sure what it was really, stuck to her hand from the fork and spoon she had picked up earlier. "Well, enjoy the rest of the feast and I will see you in the common room."
Kurumi turned around when she heard a voice that she wasn't all too familiar with just yet say her name. "Jai, hello!" she chirped, bowing slightly to him. "Just greeting the new lions. There seem to be a lot more this term than others." She pointed up to the dancing cookies that were nearly smacking him in the forehead. Her being so sort certainly took everything else out of perspective. "You...might want to grab one of those before it hits you."

Jordan sat down at the end of the table, laughing at the dancing cookies being sent up and down the table. He noticed that the purple eyed girl whom he'd met on the train was the source of them, he sat down and looked around for some first years, wondering how his friends were getting on.

" Glad to see you again and congrats on being prefect" Willaim told Kurumi. " I am ready for my second term and I plan on being the top student this term, not only on Gryffindor, but the whole school" William said proudly to Kurumi.

" Welcome to Gryffindor" William smiled at the girl. "Are you excoted to be at HogWarts?' William asked her. " My name is William Starr, second year Gryffindor" he introduced himself to the girl.


" How is it going?" Willaim asked Ronnie." You need to sit up with yoru friends" Willaim said to Ronnie. " Unless I am not your freind" William teased Ronnie laughing hard.

Lol. Noob XD
 

"I am talking science." Whether that was muggle or not, she wasn't sure. It had factored a lot into her own work, so for her it was like magic, so the relation wasn't clear.

What was clear was that someone was very touchy.

"Well apparently they aren't about anymore. I don't know any house elf that would let this place look like...this. Maybe they got fired!" How was that for conspiracy?

Charner's attention was pulled away by the girl who had given the t-shirt. The one that had just screamed really, really loudly and nearly knocked her hearing level down a few octaves. "Fashion icon. You got that part right." One finger went in her ear and she squiggled it about. "Plastic and miniature too though. Also a good subject for testing experiments and pranks upon." She would have said a helpful tool, but that would have been a compliment to Miss Touchy.

Selina watched in horror as Adam Burn approached the two female Gryffindors. So much had changed in the previous year that even Selina's head started to hurt with all of the memories. He hadn't been there for everything that had transpired, for everything that had changed. He had simply gotten up and left even when Selina had offered her house to him, had called him her brother. The worst sting of all though was that everyone else had received letters from him via Ce-Ce and Selina had received much. What was he to her? Some stupid little girl who thought him a brother at eleven years old?

Well now she was a thirteen year old teenager who thought he was a jerk and only saw him in the light of someone who had revoked every promise he made to her. He promised to visit- he didn't. He promised to write her- he didn't. He promised that she would always be his sister- she wasn't anymore. In his absence another had taken his place, treated her like real family, did not fight with her to make her feel bad about herself.

A flame of anger was burning up inside the redhead as he finally reached them. When all he could muster was a two word retort Selina was ready to jump at his throat. Then Kurumi, bless her, beat Selina to it. For a moment she thought that the entire Great Hall had fallen silent at the sound of the slap, but this was not the case.

In all honesty Selina was afraid that Kurumi would kill him so she grabbed her taller friend from around the waist and pulled her away from him, "Kurumi! Calm down!" Then she set her down and marched back over to Adam whose face was likely red with the heat of Kurumi's slap.

Her blue eyes looked into his and her voice was coaxed with venom, "WHO do YOU think you are coming back here after all you put her through. I have half a mind to go and put my Beater Bat to good use. You have no idea what kind of wreckage you left behind Adam Burn!" Then for good measure she punched him square in the gut. That ought to bruise his stomach as well as his ego.

Jai laughed as he looked up at the flying cookies. Reaching up he snatched one the was coming fast at his left eye. He nodded in agreement with Kurumi,"Yeah, there are alot of young cubs this year." He took a bite and said,"These are pretty good." before he popped the second bite into his mouth finishing the treat.

This year would prove to be busy and full as it was his final and he had new responsibilities."You have got to tell me your secret to these cookies." Jai said. He was always thinking about food whether it was there or not , near or far.

... Lexi just looked on with little to no interest as Kurumi slapped some kid. Some kid that looked vaguely familiar. She was NOT getting involved in that mess. No way, no how. Nooooope. Little Cublet had a badge she could deal with it on her own now... or she would learn.

Interesting. Again, Lexi was being a selfish prat so she refrained from asking. "He's well. He has been having a blast lately." Yeeep. The monkey ALWAYS had a blast.

Okay... so Kurumi had bought her a shirt with a fashion icon on it... and had no idea who it was. "It's lovely. Thanks, Kurumi." She would wear it to sleep in most likely.

...science. "So you ARE talking Muggle at me. No speaky ze Muggle. Comprende?" Hehe. That made Lexi smirk a tad.

"Oh no, I doubt that. I dun think Tate would fire them... or if they can technically BE fired. Perhaps they rose up against the restraints of ELFISM and bolted out of the castle." It COULD happen. She was certain of it.

..."You rude little... thing! You called me plastic and MINIATURE? HOW RUDE!" RUUUUUUUUUDE SHE SAID!

After getting sorted into Gryffindor, Anne proudly walked over to the Gryffindor house table. As she sat down, she saw a prefect. "Hello, I'm Anne! I'm a first year!" said Anne excitedly. Anne saw a yummy looking cookie coming towards her. She took it and ate it. "Oh wow! This is delicious!" Anne said while her mouth is full of cookies.

Katherine,Taylor
 

Adam wasn't quite sure how he should've greeted them.It was awkward,he knew that.It was awkward to leave everything he loved,his sister,his first true love,his family an then come back.He wanted to believe that nothing had happened,that it would be all the same even if both of the worlds had been flipped upside down,but Adam knew that wasn't true.

So,he didn't want it to be more awkward than it really was,but somehow he had managed to make it even more awkward.

He had no clue what would become of him an Selina,Hugo,Fee..But lastly Kurumi.

They had left on a sad note,but the thing was,how would Kurumi react to...

But as he stood there,swaying in spot,she walked right up to him an slapped him.The force was so hard,with such rage an emotion that it turned red an his hand went instantly up to his cheek trying to rub it,an conceal the fact that the cookie girl had finally let some anger emotion out.

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then Selina turned around an looked at him,but told Kurumi to calm down,which he appreciated greatly,but Kurumi had still punched him.An then,with such an incredible force,Selina had punched him in the stomach.He rubbed it several times,looked shocked at Selina an Kurumi an then said in a rather rude,aggravated voice, "Who made you guys boxers!?I expect someone had to train you to hit that good..."

Then,he realized he had a hand on his stomach,another on his cheek.The two people that he loved had smacked him.

"I'd would've expected more from you two."

"They're brilliant! You'll have to teach me, I couldn't bake to save my life." Valerie blushed herself, where did that come from? Kurumi was obviously older than Valerie, she wouldn't want to spend time with a first year.

LEXIIIII *squee*
 

FLAIIIIIIIIIIIL!

Okay this feast was getting to be a HASSLE at this point. Lexi gave Orlando a half hearted huggle thingy back before he pulled back. "Hey Orlando... keep it down. I dun want to draw anymore attention to me than possible," she ALMOST scolded him.

...

Sighing slightly she brightened her face a bit for him and shrugged. "Someone has to be editor of the yearbook since Jim left us," she said with a chuckle of sorts.

... speaking of SORTS. She was OUT of sorts at the moment. She felt on the verge of a panic attack or something. She really was not keen on Hogwarts.

Lauren made her way over to the Gryffindor table after seeing Orchid join the Slytherin one. She felt awful, honestly, like her stomach had dropped out from under her. So far today she had said goodbye to her closest friend, her father, for three months and now she'd been sent in the opposite direction to Orchid, her newest friend.
This bites... she thought.
Frowning, Lauren looked down the table in front of her, wishing she could speak to her Dad right now. Maybe she would send him an owl later...

Willow skipped over to the long table with the biggest smile on her face! Her parents would be confused, and maybe a bit disappointed about the hat's choice but she didn't care, she was in GRYFFINDOR! It was a bit of a shame her and Cael weren't in the same house but at least their tables were next to each other! Finding a spare seat, she sat down next to a boy, looking a little lonely.

"Hi there! I'm Willow! You're Aaron right?" she said smiling.
"Man, I could have sworn I'd get placed in Slytherin but Gryffindor's even better don't you think!" Pushing her long, blonde hair out of the way, she reached for the awesome Gryffindor cookie that fell in front of her. Whoever made these just gained a new fan!

"I will, catch you later!" he said returning to his platter filled with food. As he proceed to start eating a question started to burn in his mind "Who cooks this stuff" He was going to make sure to answers some of the older students later. However he couldn't stop wondering it about it while he silently ate.

Kurumi spotted the boy who shared her eyes that she had met on the train earlier that day and smiled to him. He seemed a little more relaxed than he had been on the train, and that was probably due to the hard part of the evening being done.

She waved, and made a note to herself to be sure to talk to him later, unless he came over to her now, to which she wouldn't reject any conversation.

Kurumi tried not to roll her eyes, and accomplished so thankfully. It looked like her and William were right back where they had started and he was challenging her once again to...whatever sort of duel it was he thought they were in. Instead, she offered him a smile. "Thank you William," and she ignored the other comment. "Let's both work towards helping Gryffindor win the House Cup, shall we?" After all, winning as a group was more important than winning as an individual.


Kurumi's jaw just dropped when she saw her two housemates going at it. Lexi, the seventh year and...the girl who knew who Barbie was.

Maybe...Kurumi should just...duck out of this conversation. She had delivered the T-shirt like she had wanted to, and Lexi wouldn't try and doing anything too severe to the little one, right?

Slowly...Kurumi began to slink away to the side.



Kurumi flailed a bit when Selina drew her away from Adam, tears still streaming down her face. How DARE he just show up out of the blue and expect her to be the same as she had been the last time she had seen him. She was a forth year now, and the time he had been away had changed her completely.

He, however, based on his comment about them not being able to punch properly, hadn't changed a bit.

"You know what I would have expected," she said, trying not to allow her voice to break. "You to uphold at least one of your promises. You wrote me ONCE...and it was after it was too late. Not only that but you...you..." Her voice broke now. "I waited you know...like I promised..."

He knew what she was talking about. He couldn't try and hide it from her.

"And YOU weren't even the one to tell me. Do you know how much you hurt me?"

She took a step back and her prefect badge caught in the candlelight. Her hair color began to change back to black as she attempted to control her emotions more.

Now it was her turn to pull Selina away. "Selina, one more hit and...well...you know I have to do something about it." Best to just leave that vague. Kurumi wasn't sure WHAT she was going to do. "Save it for Quidditch tryouts, you know we need you."

"I can't reveal all my secrets you know," she winked. "They are part of my mother's cookie recipe. I had to beg her for a long time to finally teach me."

Kurumi glanced down at the table.

"Jai...we need to do something about these forks and everything," she picked up a spoon for emphasis. "Constant vigilance, right?"

Maybe, the two prefects could put their wand power together and clean the table before the Headmaster gave his speech?

"Welcome to Gryffindor, Anne," Kurumi smiled, waving as the young lion who had just finished her sorting and had joined them at the table.

"I go to the kitchens often enough," she laughed. "You are welcome to come with me sometime if you want. Just look for me in the common room."

Joch approached the table, smiling unto the people with the same heart like hers. She sat on an empty chair.

Yay! More first years! Anne wasn't alone! "Hello! I'm Anne!" said Anne politely as she held her hand out for a shake.

But of course. She was unhappy about it all. It was so obvious on her face. He felt a little selfish for being glad that she was here - after all she was all sad about it, wasn't she? And he was secretly rejoicing that one of his close friends were still here with him and was going to graduate with him.

Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.

Upon hearing about her being the new editor, Orlando's face brightened with a huge smile. "Really? Oh I am so proud of you, Lexi" he said and took a seat beside her. "I just know .. you will do great!"

Arianna made her way to the house table, she was very excited to start getting to know people. Taking her seat she said "Hey everyone, I'm Arianna!"

The train ride to Hogwarts had been incredibly quick. Although Ariadne hated trains with all her heart, this time she had the books from Jory to keep her occupied, along with the lovely album from Gwen. So many things had changed since she had started Hogwarts the year before, and probably the most important was that she had made great friends there.

Ari was a bit hungry, but tried to remain patient until the sorting ceremony was over. She welcomed every new Gryffindor with a smile, while also scanning the staff table, wishing to find out which of the Professors had changed since the previous year. Hopefully not her favourites.

The girl also noted that the Gryffindor prefects had changed (obviously, since the former ones both graduated last year). Kurumi fully deserved her new position, Ari thought. As for the male prefect, she had no idea who he was, given that she had never met him.

The beginning of a new school year made Ari very nervous, but also excited. The second year was curious to know what Hogwarts had in store for its students this time.

Samuel was spacing out when he noticed someone was next to him. "Oh, I am Samuel," He said shaking her hand, "but yeah, I suppose we are... Except all of my friends are Ravenclaws, so I don't know anyone in Gryffindor," Samuel said sadly with a small frown.

Valerie beamed. "Thanks Kurumi! Alright, I'm going to go sit down now."

Her stomach grumbled as she looked at the load of food in front of her. The sight of all the food combined with the cookie she had eaten earlier reminded Valerie of just how hungry she was. Hurriedly, she took a seat and began loading her plate with food.

"Umm.. Hello, I'm Joch Williams," Joch said with a smile, holding out her hand. She's making an attempt to make a friend, although she's quite shy ate first. Oh well. This is her first year. What can you expect from newbies? 'Well, Arianna seems to be cheery...', Joch thought.

"Oh, Hi there!" Arianna said beaming. "I'm Arianna Upward, oh darn already said that before. Oh, silly me." Arianna was really embarrassed at this point. "I'm just really excited and nervous. Its very overwhelming, don't you think?" Arianna scooped mashed potatoes (her favourite) onto her plate. "What Year are you in then?" Arianna Asked before scooping the potatoes into her mouth.

Jordan smiled and waved back before polishing off his plate and standing up to go talk to her. "Hi, I'm Jordan Macey," he said holding out his hand for her to shake, still not quite sure if she was a metamorph like him.

"I understand, I'm also excited and nervous. Although the nervousness is growing," Joch laughed. She didn't see the point on what she said. "It's alright. Well, anyway, I'm just starting out. I'm on the first year," She said smiling, as she scooped up food on her plate. "How about you?"

"Yeah, me too. Its my first year." Not being a big fan of the first person she met, Arianna started to stack her plate with more food, and began eating so that she had an excuse not to answer. She didn't want to appear rude but she wasn't too fond of Joch. Arianna ate and smiled at Joch.

Kurumi's head perked up when she saw another first year join the table, but before she could say anything, another first year had greeted her. A smile crept across the forth year's face. It was nice to see that the lions were already coming together. Maybe this prefecting thing wouldn't be so bad after all?
Now there was a face Kurumi hadn't seen for a long time. She reflected for a moment, remembering the times her and the now second year had spoken in the common room.

Her smile brightened a bit and she went over to one of her favorite younger lions. "Hello Ari, did you have a good summer?"
"Enjoy the feast," Kurumi nodded as she watched the first year frolic away. It was nice to see them so excited about the term. Kurumi herself was bubbling, well, almost.

HE had come back and now Kurumi had no idea what she was supposed to think or do...
Kurumi looked over her shoulder to see that the boy had decided to come over and say hello. She lowered her wand, which had been charming a few more cookies out of the tin and into the are, and returned it to her pocket for the time being.

"Nice to meet you properly," she giggled. "My name is Kurumi Hollingberry."


And there was one of the first years she had met on the train. Flicking her wand, Kurumi charmed another Gryffindor cookie to dance in front of the girl's face.

"Skye!" Kurumi waved from a little ways down the table. "Welcome to Gryffindor."

skye looked up wow the cookie was the crest of gryffindor. she looked and Kurumi "thankyou for the cookie i dont want to eat it tho it looks amazing, im really happy that were in a the same house as you were the first person ive properly spoken too" skye was grinning she was so happy but was getting full and tired and wondered when it was time to head up to bed.

Jordan laughed, "It's a bit more formal than literally running into you on the train! The cookies are delicious!" He smiled at the dancing cookies.

"Well it is our first day! Give yourself a bit of time! Besides you know me now!"

Elsie saw the two friends she made on the train get sorted into Slytherin and Ravenclaw. She hoped they would still be friends but had heard how heated the house rivalry gets with Ravenclaw.

Adam hoped she hadn't changed.But she had-and he wasn't basing that off of her anger of him tonight.She was after all 14,an she had after all,the things he had done to her an with Selina's help,gotten her voice,but this was astounding.

Kurumi was punching at his every cell,nerve.Biting with her remarks about him an everything he had done to her.She explained how she had waited,how she had expected him to keep at least one of his promises to her so that she would know he hadn't left or changed in any way.How it had broken her to pieces.

He knew this time,unlike the so many others,he couldn't just pretend to know what he did wrong just to be back on Kurumi's side.It was much more than that this time.

They lived as one.Turned themselves into one soul an when everything had been at it's peak their whole world together had shattered into a million pieces like shattered glass,broken hopes an dreams.He had left her.A part of herself died in him since she didn't see him since his departure.An now he half expected that randomly waltzing back in would be the answer to their problems.That things would be forgiven.

Her age an intelligence would not be easily fooled this time.There wasn't any way around it.No sorry would solve the problem,he could tell in her voice that sorry wouldn't cut it this time.

"She told you?" He said rather aghast an shocked that CeCe would tell her,an maybe even worse Selina.

Then when the shiny badge was reflected in the light he took a step back.If he got too close to Kurumi,he knew that she would make that a reason for him to be given detention.

People grow up an change.We find new friends..Grow up will you?I bet you in 10 years I happen to randomly be walking a street you would recognize me but I wouldn't with you..People forget the ones they cared for an loved..Find some new people to love..I find my new one.." He told her in a annoyed,suggestive tone,wobbling his head about an slamming his hand on his knee an smirking all the same.

"But yeah..Prefect thats ummm..good.". He was happy for her.She completely deserved the honor the title,but at the moment he couldn't suppress the right emotion for it.

Everything had popped.He had tricked himself,though.Into thinking that once he arrived her things would be like the old days.Him an Selina by the quidditch pitch or arguing in the common room.Him an Kurumi hanging near the lake enjoying the sunshine.

But Hogwarts had changed.Or at least his friends.

Lauren's face brightened immediately when she noticed Kurumi, the friend she had made in the Menagerie shop. She was surrounded by friends, of course, as Kurumi seemed like the welcoming type.
Grinning widely, Lauren leaned around to where she could be seen by the younger girl and cried "Kurumi, Hi!"

Sitting down on the table he saw a familiar face and it was Samuel . He said "Hey! Didn't I meet you on the train? You were playing chess with Jayden?"

Joaquin turned his head to see a girl his age , "Are you a first year?" he said. "My name is Joaquin , what's yours "

Finally...finally, Tiffany's dream had come true.She stepped into the great hall to meet the others.She was very excited about her journey in Hogwarts.As a first year student, sure that there would be more things that were waiting for her to explore.She smiled and headed to the table of Gryffindor.By now, the people that she met were all very friendly. It made her feel more relaxed and not too nervous. She greeted everyone cheerfully,"Hi everyone!I am Tiffany and you can call me Tiff if you like."She grinned when she saw the food on the table."It would be a wonderful feast!"she thought to herself.

Elsie up to see two students sitting across from her. They both introduced themselves.
"Hi Joaquin and Tiff! My name is Elsie. Yeah I am a first year! So excited! Are you both?" She said to both of them. Noticing Samuel hadn't noticed them yet she decided to introduce him.
"And it seems you already know Samual! He was just trying to convince me he didn't know anyone in Gryffindor!"