"The broom I want is the fastest one that underage students are allowed to buy. Which is a good thing since I'm going to try out for seeker next year. But I don't think I'll make it" she said. She really hoped she would make seeker though she was very good at it.

Elliot shifted in her seat. Sounded a lot like her..minus the siblings part.
"Same here! My father was in Slytherin, and so was the rest of his family..." she began. She then listened to the rest of her little rant.

"Well, Slytherin may have been better , but I'm in search st Ravenclaw ..and so are you, and many other people. Therefore, I would say Ravenclaw is the better house now...

She stared at the girl, taking in her looks. Elliot could be very judgmental...

'Oh, that must be nice, to have a brother who could help you out around here,' Gaby said, almost wistful. Although, given a choice, she would prefer a sister. And a younger one, too. But still, she could imagine that an older sibling would be helpful. 'Has he told you much about the castle, your brother?' she asked, curious. She hoped that Indy would share her knowledge - hidden steps and stuff. Her Aunt Lucy had said that there were a few, but she had refused to tell her where and then pottered off to her greenhouse, laughing. Stupid, fat old lady. 'Yeah, I know. A friend of one of my cousins said that it overlooked the Lake, so you get a view of the Giant Squid if it ever decides to surface,'

Gaby looked on, surprised, as a charming little House Elf came along, cleaning all the plates. Oh, brilliant! Now they could eat in a proper, hygienic manner. 'Much!' she said, returning the smile as she picked up the plate and ran her finger along it. Perfectly clean. She followed Indy's gaze, her eyes resting on a student who looked to be in their year, levitating a goblet. Show off. 'I can do a little magic, but not much. Nothing like that,' she said, shrugging. 'It doesn't matter if you don't know a lot, anyway. That's what classes are for,' she said kindly. She sort felt a little... inadequate, surrounded by all this magic, when she could perform only the smallest of spells. 'I felt the same!' she exclaimed in surprise.

Gaby giggled. 'It's supposed to. It's got disinfectant in it, for cleaning,' she said patiently. Obviously, it was an American thing. Well. Perhaps she could make herself a few sickles selling it... not that she really needed to, but still. She had at least fifty bottles in her trunk upstairs because she liked to be clean and hygienic all the time. She tucked the bottle that she was holding back into her brightly-coloured bag, to use later.

Gaby smiled and nodded towards the House Elf. 'Looks like we'll be eating, after all,' she said happily. Now that the plates were clean, she supposed they just had to wait for the food. 'By all accounts, the food here is excellent,' she told Elliot excitedly. She was so hungry!

'What would I have to do to get you to actually wear one?' Gaby asked, still giggling. The image of Caelius jumping around in a red-and-white dress, blonde hair in a short ponytail, was too much for her, and she fell about laughing - almost squashing Draco in the process. Whoopsies. 'Sorry... about... that...' she choked out between bursts of laughter. Eventually she managed to compose herself. 'I was just imagining you as an actual cheerleader, pom-poms, ponytail and all,'

The blonde smiled at Caelius's little gasp. He obviously liked animals - something that Gaby felt was a good trait to have, because animals were obviously awesome. Especially ones as cute as Draco. 'Isn't he just?' she said, stroking his ears and listening to him purr. So cute! 'My father bought him for me, as a sort of leaving present,' she told him, still smiling. Her smile then grew wider as he produced his own pet, an adorable little ferret. What a shame she couldn't pet him, though. 'Well, that seems like a wise decision,' she said, withdrawing the hand she'd been holding out. 'He's absolutely adorable, though,'

looking walking over to the table hoping to find more people to talk to

So Ellie and her brother went to the carnival...and he had fun? Only him? "Didn't you have fun too?" Vashti asked. Surely she'd gotten on the Bumper Brooms too, right? Those were fun. And the other rides were too, though Vashti hadn't had the chance to get on most of them. Ellie's summer sounded pretty similar to hers though - going to the carnival but mostly staying home. She'd even gotten to practice a little bit of Quidditch too, though she probably hadn't practiced nearly as much as Ellie. Which was okay really, since the place Vashti had practiced at and the person with whom she'd practiced were not her ideal choice.

Vashti's attention then turned to Eino as he described his summer - and then it was quite clear why his had been so enjoyable: fencing and traveling and seeing a Swedish Short-Snout. A dead one, but still, he'd seen a dragon. That was pretty cool either way. "That sounds really awesome!" she said with a grin. "I didn't know you could fence." She didn't know him very well though, so perhaps that was why.

And then, just as she was considering taking a chance with the spell, a house elf popped up and started cleaning all the tarnished silverware, apologizing the entire time. Ohh, poor thing. "It's okay..." she tried to tell him, but the elf might not have heard over his apologies, and he was heading down the table and then towards the professors before Vashti could say much more. She turned her attention back to Eino when he spoke. "Yeah, I did... Wonder why?" Maybe the hiccuping was why the dishes and things weren't cleaned before; maybe the elves were sick. But why would all of them be ill at the same time?

"Neat. How fast is it?" Temperance asks "You'll probably make it besides you don't know if will until you try." she says. Temperance sign's her name in the corner of her drawing of the train and then turns to a blank page to start drawing "Maybe I'll draw the great hall ceiling, I mean I would draw the Whomping Willow but I don't know if it looks like a regular willow tree or not. I'll still draw the Whomping Willow once I've seen it of course."

Daniel had kinda given up on searching for his wand. In wasn't in any of the dishes and he couldn't see it so he prayed that the girl would. But his hopes weren't looking very high. She'd just hit the table sending a vibration along it. Daniel made no eye contact with the faces that looked his way. She was embarrassing him!

But she'd found it! Daniel would've kissed her there and then. He was that happy. There was just the small problem of the table in the way. He looked to her trying to get out and said, "Thank you. I owe you one. You need something just ask" He was exaggerating. He didn't expect her to take him up on his offer. But if she did he'd be obliged to help her.

Daniel quickly took his wand from...the ravenclaw and slid it into his pocket in the back of his trousers. Nice and secure again. Now the girl wanted help getting out. Awkward... however she'd helped him so he grabbed her hand and started to yank it outwards. While trying to give her something to pull herself up with. He hoped he hadn't hurt her..

Jack sighed as he sat down. He was pretty breath taken by Hogwarts, but he hadn't interacted with anyone since he was in Diagon Alley.

The slashes and cuts on his face were gone, except the deep scar on his left cheek, that stretched from the corner of his mouth to his temple. He didn't try to hide it, there was no point.

He sat back, impressed by the food, anything would be delicious in comparison to the rock cakes they sold at his family café back in Galway, but that was removed from his memory.

He looked at the two people on either side of him, saying nothing as he picked at his garlic potato quietly.

So , as the Slytherin table was getting very angsty to sit at, Daichi decided to look at the other house tables to see if he spotted anyone that he knew. The second year didn't like all the shouting over at his table and he certainly did NOT like the fact that his house had lost 12 points. 12 POINTS! But then again, last year they also started out last place and at the end of the term they had won ..uhm..well.. EV-ER-Y-TH-ING. With this thought, Daichi made his way over to the Ravenclaw table.

Looking around, he saw Gaby sitting at the table , talking to not one not two but THREE people! Psh, must be popular already... He smirked as he tiptoed towards her from the back. He bit his lower lip as he sneaked up on her. When he was in reach he......covered the girl's eyes with his hands and shouted a cheerfully "Guess whooo~!" followed by a loud laugh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.. he could be grateful and all as soon as she was OUT FROM UNDER THE TABLE. Anything? Louisa's hands froze in the air and her eyes gave a little sparkles at this. She would so going to get to know the boy more, he looked her age which was a VERY advantage for someone about to be used. He could help with her plans to ruin the 'he & she' sappy romantic meetings- without telling him that, of course. He might be a bit righteous.

Anyways, he had the sense finally to grab her hand and...whaaaao! Louisa flew from under the table and would've fallen to the floor hadn't he been holding her hand and the other one helped her balance. She stumbled to her feet, started dusting and fixing her robe. "It's okay. We're even, I guess." No, they were not. She was still going to ask favors from him for this, she was just being polite saying that. "I'm Louisa, by the way." She said casually, she'd shake his hand if he wanted only it was still a bit unclean.. thanks to him. "Keep that wand safe." She glared at his hand putting it in his back pocket, "I'm not going down there again." In case he took it as an official Louisa job.

Hm. One minute, Gaby was enjoying her multiple conversations because she was apparently popular-ish, and the next she was submerged into darkness. She gave a little start, mainly out of surprise, and then realised what was going on. Obviously, someone was covering her eyes. She was trying to work out who it could be - probably not a Ravenclaw, since all the ones she knew were sitting around her - when she heard a cheerful 'Guess who' from behind her, and recognised the voice almost instantly. She had a good memory. 'Evening, Daichi,' she said, gently removing his hands from her eyes and twisting round to check that she was right. She was.

'So, given up on the snakes already, have you?' the blonde said, smirking as she scooted over a little so that he could sit. 'Guys, this is Daichi. He's a second year Slytherin. Daichi, this is Caelius, Elliot and Indy. We're all first years, and you can probably tell we're 'Claws,' she said, introducing him to her friends. She glanced over at the snakey table as she spoke and wondered why he had left - there was a food fight going on! There was no way she would have left, she would have stayed to join in, but each to their own. 'Anyway, how have you been?' she asked, turning back to the boy. 'Good train journey? Suffering from any Knockturn Alley themed nightmares?'

Daniel couldn't help but feel uneasy as the girl looked at him. It was a tad weird. But Daniel shrugged. He could live with weird. And he'd keep an eye on her anyway. You could never be too careful.

And she was up! A bit uneasy but standing. Which was the aim anyway. She looked a bit dirty though. "I'd clean up a little...before we eat" he suggested, trying not to be rude. We're even well that settled it then. No unwilling work for a girl he didn't know. Ahh no work for Louisa. "And I'm Daniel. I'm guessing your a ravenclaw too?" It was on her robes. Daniel chuckled at her final comment. "Wouldn't you?" he teased.

Jayden was absolutely mortified! "That was not supposed to come out at all!" Jayden managed to squeak out, making a face. "You're welcome, just don't let it go to your head too much though!" Jayden teased. "I'm not sure if I want to fix things with him just yet.." She replied sadly. Cael was starting to become one of her closest friends here, and she was glad to have him around.

"N'aaawww!" Daichi whined and pouted as Gaby had recognised his voice almost instantly. When she looked around he held his arms over each other and sighed deeply before exploding. "How did you know? No better yet! why does EVERYONE know it is me whenever i do that?!" Was his voice that recognisable? He guessed so.

He saw that Gaby scooted over to make room for him to sit down, he did still with the pout visible on his face. "I'm so not going to back to that table.. i don't want detention, Professor Lafay is going crazy!" he said and looked back at his own table before he sighed. "Twelve points behind...TWELVE POINTS! i mean come on!" It was then he realised that he was interrupting a converstation with Gaby and three other kids.

His cheeks firing up from blushing, Daichi mumbled an apology first when Gaby introduced him to them. "Nice to meet you all~" he waved his hand at them. He turned his attention back to Gaby when she spoke again. "Hmm, i guess the train ride had been good and bad?" he scratched the back of his head. "I got a headache the whole way, it was stupid..." he pointed to his forehead as if to say that he had pain there. "Oh!" he remembered something. "I met two professors on the train!" He now turned his gaze to the staff table. "That woman is the new Charm's professor , her name is..uhm.. Shrifle? Schimper? no that's not it either." He stared in front of him, trying to remember her name. "OHYEAH! Schoeffler! ...i think.." He shrugged his shoulders before pointing at the staff table again. "And he is the new astronomy teacher but...i can't remember his name ..." another big pout.

"Psh nightmares from knockturn alley!?" He laughed out loud, braver than he felt. "Like i get nightmares from that place! HAH...." Ok so he had been scared after going down there, especially when his father had asked what he had done in Diagon Alley O_o. "What about you, got any nightmares?" he grinned at Gaby. And then slammed his forehead and winched loudly. "OW! i can't believe i didn't congratulate you on getting sorted in Ravenclaw! congrats~!" He rubbed his forehead.

Still waiting for Amethyst to finish her conversation, Sarah noticed a boy sitting more or less by himself. And was that... a giant scar on his face?

Well.

Sarah glanced back at Amethyst, but decided that she could get back to Amethyst when she wasn't busy. Sarah turned and headed for the boy. She strode very purposefully and confidently towards him, fixing her trademark crooked grin on her face.

"Hey," she said, not bothering to sit down, but leaning her hands against the table in front of her, "I'm Sarah Oliver: Slytherin. Who are you?"

She had to admit; she was curious.

Louisa's eyes went wider. He'd clean up? Did he just imply that she was dirty? Because if he did, someone was going to be hexed in their first day at school. "I'm fine." She half snapped, looking at him sideways. "The headmaster doesn't look like he was going to say his speech yet." Her tone went lighter as she glanced up at the staff table. "I'm hungry." She whined a bit.

A Ravenclaw? She was sitting at their table wasn't she? Louisa looked around to make sure and spotted the 'he'!!! =O He was sitting faaaaaar away with the Prefect girl and the 'she'. Louisa's face fell and she averted her eyes quickly to Daniel. "My brother's name is Daniel." She said quickly distracting her head from coming up with ideas to attach the couple... triple, now. "And no, I wouldn't." Go down again that is, she gave him a stern look to prove her point.

And so they wouldn't start fight over it again she asked, "Why were you away last term?" Was he in another school or...homeschooled? And why did he come back, and what year was he in? So many questions the curious girl wanted to ask but she didn't want to scare him away. She needed a distraction from the You-Know-Who (!).

Gaby laughed as Daichi wondered how she knew it was him. 'I'm good at remembering stuff like that,' she said, grinning. 'Besides, you have a fairly recognisable voice,' she added, rather amused by his actions.

Oh. That would be why he had left, then. Gaby had never met Lafay personally, but by all accounts she was absolutely terrifying. Her cousin had said that she once set students on fire, but she wasn't sure she believed that - they were probably trying to scare her. 'Twelve points... looks like y'all will be starting with a disadvantage. Anyways, y'all better watch out that Slytherin table, because this is the year that Ravenclaw take the House Cup,' she teased. After all, they were supposed to be smart, and it was high time that they won.

'A headache? Oh, that sucks... hang on! I've got a thingy in my bag that's supposed to help headaches, if you want one?' she offered with a smile, hoisting her bag up onto her lap and beginning to rummage through. 'My Aunt Lucy gave it to me before I left for the train... I had a sip and thought that the rest might come in handy. It's a headache cure-y thing, from the Apothecary in Diagon Alley,' she explained as she came up with the small glass phial clutched triumphantly in one hand. She popped the cork out the top and handed it over. 'Oh, there are new teachers? What happened to the old ones?' she asked curiously. As she glanced up to the Staff Table, she frowned. 'Why do you think that there are empty seats?'

Hmm. Gaby was pretty sure he was lying - perhaps not about the nightmares, because she doubted it was that scary - but about being scared in general. She decided to play along, though, because he obviously didn't want others to know that he had been a lot a little freaked. 'Hah, no way! Me, nightmares? I don't get why people think it's so scary... aside from the people and the shops and the streets and the whole thing,' she said, her voice getting quieter and quieter towards the end of the sentence. 'Oh! Thank you!'

Nate had moved away and was sitting silently, alone, down by the end of the table. He didn't know where Pam, Jayden, or Beatrice were. He just really hoped on of them would turn up. He continued to eye his shoes.

After talking with Cael about the whole situation with the girls and Nate, Jayden decided to go over to Nate and try and patch things up with him. "Hey there..." Jayden gave a half-hearted wave to Nate... smiling weakly. "I sure hope things are fixable.." Jayden thought to herself.

"Well, I've thought that over, and was thinking maybe one parent was half with Wizarding blood and Muggle Blood. And maybe the other was half with Muggle Blood and Feline Blood." She nodded softly. But of course, the possibilities were endless.

She blushed deeply looking down. "We, I don't know for sure. I live in an orphanage. But, I was thinking that maybe one parent was half with Wizarding blood and Muggle Blood, and maybe the other was half with Muggle Blood and Feline Blood. But the possibilities were endless."

ooc (continuing from title): SO, we should change the subject, pretending we never said that. SO She'll just be half-blooded ^^

"Hi..." Nate mumbled, not even managing raise his eyes. He felt that he had dreamt everything that had happened before (most of it he probably had).

"Is everything okay.. are we okay??" Jayden asked, worried.

Nate could finally turn his head. His blue eyes were welling with tears, "I don't even know what just happened! I was probably daydreaming for a lot of it, I thought I could read minds and that Pam was a metamorphmagus! I need your help, I think I might be going mad!" Nate said to Jayden, not sure exactly what he was saying.

Willow looked up into Caels eyes and saw he was on the verge of tears. This broke her heart! Who would do this to Cael! Trying not to get too worked up, and without saying a word, she took his hand and lead him into a quiet part in the garden.
"I'm here." She whispered, with concern reading across her face. She took his hands in hers and sat, waiting until he was ready to talk.

Jez saw Scott looking disgusted, and from the turn of present conversation, worked out what it was about. She leant over. "Some wizards are so prejudiced," she whispered. "Muggles worry about racism and that; we worry about purity of blood! It's stupid!" Jez smiled sheepishly. "My parents are purebloods, and if they had their way, I would be so prejudiced against Muggle-borns, I'd be sitting here in a protective bubble! I think Muggles are interesting, though. And anyway, what's the point of fighting over it? We're all magical - all there is to it!"

OOC: Sorry, little rant there! But seriously, blood isn't everything (naming no names, pointing no fingers ...)