Yup, in demand indeed. And Zeke slowly realized that almost there were twice the number of students around than a while ago. Scratch that, there were THRICE the amount of students. Or more? Well, at least the life was creeping back around the lions' table.

Wait, what? Dances around? His left eyebrow was raised in confusion. "What do you mean dances around?" He blinked, not really sure if that literally meant the cookies were dancing. It was possible. Or the jar of cookies was passed around? Or just cookies flying around like a while ago?

"Hogwarts...it's alright. Actually I've been here last year for my third year," he smiled again. He's seen her around, though he was probably more successful in keeping a low profile last time than now. Cause now, Zeke was actually speaking to people. Making conversation. He isn't trying to shoo them off or get away from them anymore. "I'm good at going unnoticed," he winked and added, "But I guess that ability's slowly slipping away from me now." Zeke shrugged, there were much more people around that were approaching him and trying to be friendly. And now he was making the same effort to be nice too.

His head turned as someone just sat beside him. Ohh, a first year who just got sorted. And an unhappy one. That was odd. Zeke has known these little kiddos to be all jolly, merry, happy, and all those words that described over-enthusiasm. This one was different.

He decided to grab the chance to make conversation. He was trying to change after all. Maybe now was a good time. "Hey," he grinned.

"I'm Zeke," he introduced. Common courtesy right? Oh well. He stretched out his right hand a bit for a handshake. Welcome to Gryffindor," even though she doesn't seem too happy to be one. "Oh, and Hogwarts as well."

"Quidditch Captain? That's awesome. I guess she could be one, considering the voice she has on her-she'd be able to call out orders and formations pretty well." Because she had certainly caught his attention with the capacity of her voice."I love Quidditch-but I don't think I'll ever try out, I'm too small-besides I'm more of the fan type. I'm not the type to partake in the sport itself." If he did try out it'd be more to give his classmates entertainment and not see his luck if he could get onto the team.



Oh. Another new student. She too walked in the direction of the Lion table, and she had just been sorted there. And she was frowning? That did not suit well with Tag. Frowning was a big no no on his list.

"Hi. I'm Tag. How are you?" He introduced himself with his hand held out. His goal would be to have her smiling by the end of the night. No matter what.

So. Sixth year, huh?
Edric felt accomplished. He had survived a whole year at Hogwarts. Now... twomoretogo. Cringe.

Fortunately, the headmaster had finally finished speaking and the boy was free to swallow his sorrows in some pumpkin juice and pumpkin pie. Maybe a couple pumpkin cupcakes too. With pumpkin frosting.
He likes pumpkin a lot, okay? Don't judge.

His first day back at Hogwarts was going pretty well so far.
SO FAR.
Who knows what could happen next...

Grayson Bay walked, more like loped into the great hall. He had grown a bit taller, cuter and even cut his hair a bit shorter. He had a smirk on his face as he walked over to the Gryffie table and scanned the table for a few familiar faces. He saw alot of new ones and intended to get to know them but he wanted to see a few old ones from last term first.

Kurumi and Selina.

They were his two favourite Gryffindor girls. Something that didn't sit well with some of he other Gryffindor guys. Grayson didn't care.

Maxwell chuckled a little. Min knew him too well. "I'm angry, terrified, nervous, hungry." He said looking at his plate. "And ready for him to just tell her, as much as i trust her i'm not sure what she'll do..."

Maxwell nodded. "I'm excited for both" He said referring to bother Hogsmeade and electives. "Yeah hopefully we do better in the house cup than last year." He said happy he didn't lose any points his previous term.

"Same," Jezzabelle said beaming. It was nice to finally talk to someone her age. Most of her friends were older than her, but she loved them all the same.

Jezzabelle beamed, "I'm doing good. How are you Selina?" It was polite right, to continue a conversation once started. Plus, then she'd know the two prefects and the captain. The next person to meet was this Head Boy she had heard about...who was he? She mentally shrugged it off and just let herself be happy the Kurumi's best friend didn't mind the fact tht she was talking to her.

"Hey Ronnie," Jezzabelle said smiling. "How was the rest of your summer?"

Jezzabelle beamed. "You are very welcome." She thought about it for a moment and then said, "How is your sister?" It was his sister she met last year right? The girl who had called him Giddy? Goodness Merlin, what was her name? Why couldn't she remember.

"Well if it helps I don't think any of us know what's really going to happen and that includes Damon I think." she sighed and rubbed her temples she had such a headache. "This has been one long day, don't ya think?"

Maxwell nodded. "Too long. Thanks for making me talk about it, it helps." He said not realizing how much he's been holding in. "I'm not even going to pretend i'll be all right if she leaves..." He said knowing how devastated he'd be, that how he felt on the train would be nothing compared to it.

Minerva had her eyes closed still rubbing her temples and she opened them "It's ok, keep talking about it. I know how I feel and I haven't been with this as long as you, so I understand. Maxwell.." she looked at him very seriously putting her hand on his arm. "Please I know I will be upset myself, but please try not to do anything that could ruin your future, like get you expelled." or that could seriously hurt Damon she said in her head she didn't need to see him with a broken nose or anything if they got into a fight.

Maxwell nodded. "I don't mean to be so angry, it's something that reminds me of my mother." He said venom in his voice at her mention. "But i'm not gonna talk about her now...I promise i won't do anything that could get my expelled, but i won't just sit back like a fool either." He shrugged. "But if she's happier with him it's what i want, after we left my dad's car last night i went to go find Taylor. We went to her tree house and I told her I loved her...i needed to say it and i needed it to be before he did...I mean i'm not in love with her, that would be crazy, we both agree we're far too young for that but.." He trailed off thinking of the way she'd kissed him, the way no girl ever had before.

"Why would it be crazy, so what if were young? If you love her then you love her. Even young we can say we love people. Maybe it's just 13 year old love, but it's still love isn't it?" she remembered telling Harvey she loved him once and maybe even Justin. She did love them at the time, so just because it was over didn't mean it wasn't there at the time. "What did she say back?"

Jordan was so excited to be back at Hogwarts. He loved the endless ceiling, the headmaster, his house mates, and his time at Hogwarts. He was waiting for pretty much anyone to come, but mainly he was incredibly hungry, and ready to rest. So he began to sit down and chillax a little, while he dozed off a couple of times.

Maxwell smiled. "Well, it's not loving her that would be crazy but being in love with her, not that i don't think it's possible at this age it's just not likely." He said still unsure. "She was shocked at first and said nothing, then she asked me why and i told her all the reasons, after that she said she loved me too." He said with a big smile, then he sighed both happily and worried. "I just hope she meant it." He said more meaning he hoped she wouldn't be going anywhere.

Ronnie saw Jordan sit down at the table, and walked over. After giving him a big hug, she sat down next to him. "Hey, Jordan!" she said with a smile. "Boy am I hungry.." she said, looking up and down the table.

"Hi!" Ronnie replied with a smile. "It was...quite interesting." she said laughing. "Pretty crazy. What about you?" she asked.

Minerva smiled "I think you will be okay, well I guess I hope you will. Well I mean.. oh don't know what I mean anymore. I'm tired of talking in circles, one way with you, one way with him, and another way with her. It gets me confused .." she laughed a little. "I honestly don't know what or how this is going to go, but I just wish it would so we can all move on which ever way needed." she then looked at him.." Sorry I didn't mean to vent like that." then she looked at the table.."I honestly don't think he could ever like me like he likes her.."

Maxwell shook his head. "Don't be sorry, i had my turn and now it's yours." He didn't make a comment to her about speaking differently to all of them because he knew the feeling all too well. "It'll be over soon." He looked at her like she was crazy. "Min, he already likes you and he's known Taylor for over a year. He's only known you for a few months. Give him time." He said smiling. Hoping he was right, he and Damon weren't best friends but Damon was an opened book type of fool, he was easy to read.

Kurumi recognized this one from the train. Poor thing had had to witness the prefects at their worst - or had it been their best? Kurumi supposed it really depended on how you looked at things really. At least now she knew the girl's name since it had been called out for her Sorting.

Offering the girl a warm round of applause and charming another cookie to dance near her, Kurumi smiled at the young girl. "Congratulations and welcome to Gryffindor, Penelope," Kurumi chirped as she returned to clapping. "I'm Kurumi." The rest, well, Penelope probably already figured she was a prefect seeing as they had been in the compartment when her and West had shown up.


Kurumi's breathing became slightly uneven as it became more apparent that the two of them were in fact talking about two very different things. His small 'oh' only confirmed this fact and she bit down on her lip. What was he sounding sad about? Her teasing? She knew that she was horrible at it, something she should probably apologize for, and she didn't like that she had made his eyes frown just now. It was seriously one of the last things she wanted to do.

Lingering on his every word, Kurumi almost asked him what it was he had been thinking she had meant. What else could have happened on the train ride to Hogwarts that would have merited an apology from her? Cocking her head to the side in confusion for a moment, Kurumi decided just not to say anything regarding his unfinished sentence. Merlin did she wish that the two of them were able to finish sentences with each other all the time. It was probably one of the most frustrating things about their, er, relationship. "I'm...I'm sorry for confusing you," she whispered. Well, the confusion regarding this isolated situation about what happened on the ride here. The other confusion, the bits that she was sort of unaware of save her own, she was sorry about that too.

But things wouldn't be confusing for too much longer.

Kurumi's smile brightened again. "Lewis...there is a difference between have to and want to," she said softly, her cheeks aglow again as she ran her fingers through her ebony hair and twirled the ends around her fingers. "Luck or not, you still did a great service to me..." You kept my mother with me. Her brown eyes met his green ones again, smiling innocently at him as she ceased playing with her hair. She opened her mouth to suggest she bake him something, but that instantly brought up memories that caused her to blush even more furiously, her eyes to lower slightly, and for her to bite her lip.

Her hand tightened its grip on his robes, as if not wanting to let him go - which was selfishly true. Her eyes never left his and hardly even blinked while her heart raced at the realization of what the future was bringing her came crashing down around her. Tomorrow....tomorrow was when everything was going to change. Only everything had already changed. Hearing him whisper to her, her eyes refocused and she nodded her head. "...yes..." she said with a startling confidence, even to herself. Her eyes momentarily flicked towards the Slytherin table where they instantly fell on Jonathan. Her heart raced and her breath caught in her chest again while she brought her gaze back to meet Lewis'.

"Lewis..." she whispered again, her grip loosening around his robes and lowering slightly, her hand brushing against his for just a moment, sending a jolt of electricity through her body. "Meet me in the Owlerly day after tomorrow?" Her pinky finger found his for a brief moment, wrapping around it to make a pinky promise with him. "Please?"
Wait...was that? "Ronnie!" Kurumi called with a small wave. "Welcome back!" Just where HAD the lion vanished to last term?
Kurumi couldn't help but laugh. Such...confidence and spunk. So different from how she had been as a first year where she had all but curled up under the table during the opening feast because she didn't want to stand out. Kurumi just hoped that Tag's confidence didn't get him into trouble...

Blink blink. Huh? "But...I don't have a boat..." Kurumi replied, cocking her head to the side. If she didn't have a boat, how was she supposed to make it float? Besides, didn't boats only really float on water? Well, they could float on other surfaces, jello perhaps, but you had to take a boat out of its element as it were to accomplish this.

"T-Thank you," she blushed again. "My mother taught me how to bake..." She trailed off for a moment and her eyes widened. That had been the first time she had mentioned her mother so casually in passing, and it stung. It stung a lot actually. Her hand went to her badge, a reminder that right now was not the time for her to cry and look vulnerable, Kurumi returned her attention to tag. "It's a sort of hobby of mine, baking I mean. I spend a lot of my free time in the kitchens with the house elves."
Kurumi smiled at this one Gryffindor, the one playing make believe with serving herself food. Kurumi's own stomach grumbled a bit and her eyes went back to the staff table where she hoped she would see the Headmaster standing up...but no such luck, not yet at least. "Shouldn't be too much longer now," she said with a small wink.
Kurumi figured she ought to be standing for this, especially since Selina was RUNNING towards her now. Best to be ready for impact, yeah? But no tackle came, which was probably for the best. "You're the mascot now?" Kurumi replied trying to match her best friend's eyebrow wiggle. "Are we doing away with the lion then?" Changing the house name to Skylador?

Kurumi rather liked the lion as their house character and, as much as she liked Selina, she would rather keep it.

"Thanks," she chirped in reply. Rumi, right...Kurumi needed to give Selina heads up that she wasn't the only student at the school calling her that now. Damange control as it were.

"I think the word is servant, really," Kurumi sighed again. Staff just seemed to have such a nice undertone to it. Servant didn't. Ducks only reminded her of Daichi. Hehe. She needed to find that Slytherin boy later and ask him about knitting sweaters for the ducks. There was still a lot of time before winter, but the sooner they got started the better. She had to teach Daichi how to knit first. "Walnut shouldn't...or I hope he won't at least..." Again, she never knew what was going to happen with Walnut.

"Been keeping it ever since I was eight," she confirmed. And somehow it had managed to stay in almost perfect condition despite the years.
Kurumi's attention was caught by a young boy at the Gryffindor table and she leaned back a bit to get a better look at him. It wasn't, of course, the fact that he was a boy that had caused the eyebrow raise, but the fact that he wore robes trimmed in green that did. She only laughed softly, covering her mouth as she did, when he began to sing.

"What are you singing?" she asked innocently, her badge catching the light from the candles.
"You're welcome," the prefect replied, pushing her black bangs to the side for just a moment before she returned her wand to her pocket. That was enough charming cookies for now.

Her attention returned to the first year and Kurumi furrowed her brow for a moment as she tried to recall her name that had been called out just a few minutes earlier. Sarah, right? "You enjoying Hogwarts so far?"
And here was another student who had wandered away from their own table, not that Kurumi minded. She had wandered a lot before becoming a prefect as well. "Hello," Kurumi said, offering the young girl a small wave.

"You're welcome, Lilly," Kurumi smiled, blushing just a bit. Really, she was just glad to see the Gryffindor with a smile on her face. Kurumi had seen this particular one looking sad far too often.
Kurumi's chocolate gaze looked up when she heard two people ask her about her summer at practically the same time. While she had managed to compose herself earlier in her conversation with Tag, this was a little different. This was point blank asking her how it had been to watch her mother pass away right in front of her eyes. At least, that is how this sort of question always translated to the sixth year.

"I just glad to be back at Hogwarts," Kurumi replied in as neutral a tone as she could muster.

"You could try bowing to it," she suggested. Since, you know, she HAD just been thinking about that. "I did my first year and haven't had any problems with it." Avoiding it was also a good plan too.

CLASSES! Oh good, the sort of topic of conversation that always got Kurumi distracted from everything else. "To be honest...everything." Maybe even Potions, but she would never admit that. "Especially Care of Magical Creatures though. How about you? Do I get to see a mighty return of Maxwell in more lessons this term?" Because she sure hoped so. It was a shame when students missed out on some of the amazing things the professors had to offer.

"Hello Arabella," Kurumi said, offering the girl a small wave.
Oh, an eyebrow raise. Kurumi didn't like those. It meant that she had said something weird or done something foolish. Or both. Maybe it was both in this case.

"Oh, the cookies," she said, pointing skyward with her index finger. There were not too many left suspended in animation in the air, but still enough for any stragglers or those seeking seconds to have should they so desire.

"You were?!" Kurumi squeaked, her cheeks instantly flushing from embarrassment. "Y-You should have come and said hello then." Because Kurumi disliked not knowing members of her house and disliked even more that some of them may have gone by unnoticed by her. As a prefect, that was unacceptable. Almost as unacceptable as what Gideon was not trying to do to Selina. Honestly? Middle of the opening feast and he was trying to pull her onto his lap? Hand holding was one thing...but that was going too far in this Gryffindor's opinion. Kurumi eyed this scene for a moment, but chose to ignore it....for now.

"Well, I am glad that you are losing that ability," she winked. "And I am sorry that I never had a conversation with you until now." Failure prefect moment right there.
Did this boy always wear a smirk? It almost rivaled Jonathan's really, but only Jonathan's smirk had the ability to make her heart skip a beat and to blush. Well, maybe that wasn't true. Kurumi blushed a lot.

"Hello, Grayson," Kurumi chirped, waving to the younger boy as he made his way towards the table - smirk and all.

Arabella-Marie smiled back at Kurumi and gave her a small wave she could tell that her friend was busy with many other students at the moment

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

"Quidditch Captain? That's awesome. I guess she could be one, considering the voice she has on her-she'd be able to call out orders and formations pretty well." Because she had certainly caught his attention with the capacity of her voice."I love Quidditch-but I don't think I'll ever try out, I'm too small-besides I'm more of the fan type. I'm not the type to partake in the sport itself." If he did try out it'd be more to give his classmates entertainment and not see his luck if he could get onto the team.

Oh. Another new student. She too walked in the direction of the Lion table, and she had just been sorted there. And she was frowning? That did not suit well with Tag. Frowning was a big no no on his list.

"Hi. I'm Tag. How are you?" He introduced himself with his hand held out. His goal would be to have her smiling by the end of the night. No matter what.

Gideon nodded, knowing all too well how her loud voice could be used in her task as quidditch captain. He had, after all, been involved in most of the practices last term. Not to mention her defense of Anya at the last game of the season against Ravenclaw. "Well there's always six more terms to decide to give it a try if ye ever want to. Believe me, size isn't always a downfall in the game."

Quote:

Originally Posted by TSnitch

Grayson Bay walked, more like loped into the great hall. He had grown a bit taller, cuter and even cut his hair a bit shorter. He had a smirk on his face as he walked over to the Gryffie table and scanned the table for a few familiar faces. He saw alot of new ones and intended to get to know them but he wanted to see a few old ones from last term first.

Kurumi and Selina.

They were his two favourite Gryffindor girls. Something that didn't sit well with some of he other Gryffindor guys. Grayson didn't care.

Gideon reconized the new arrival. Of course he did.

Adam may not have returned but Grayson had and Gideon wasn't quite sure what to make of it. They had had their moments together and so had Grayson and Selina. Hopefully he learned over the summer not to push things. If he did, there was nothing to worry about. If not...well there wasn't much he could do since he would be doing his best to behave as prefect.

As long as there wasn't a reason for him to be brought in for causing trouble.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HJPotter

Maxwell nodded. "I'm excited for both" He said referring to bother Hogsmeade and electives. "Yeah hopefully we do better in the house cup than last year." He said happy he didn't lose any points his previous term.

"Aye...theres always ways of improving," Gideon commented. "Even if we all did our best last term," the prefect added as an almost afterthought. He didn't want to make it seem like last term was horrible because of their failure. The house of Gryffindor HAD pulled past Slytherin in the end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOPEendures

Jezzabelle beamed. "You are very welcome." She thought about it for a moment and then said, "How is your sister?" It was his sister she met last year right? The girl who had called him Giddy? Goodness Merlin, what was her name? Why couldn't she remember.

Gideon was about to let her be when Jezz went quiet but then she mentioned his sister. "Kacie's good," he answered, his green eyes bouncing over the gathering students as he spoke of her. "Somewhere around here, but certainly good." Hopefully she wasn't getting into too much trouble outside his gaze.

Nettie looked up at the older student, "Hello!" She exclaimed with a cheerful smile and friendly wave of her hand. She noticed the student was a Prefect...whatever that meant. Did that mean that she was in charge of all the greetings? Or the owls? Or the food? Nettie didn't know what the Prefect did, but she thought it sounded nice nonetheless.

"I'm Nettie!" She smiled. The tiny eleven year old was just a tad hyper, probably from the mix of sweets she had eaten earlier on the train and the adrenaline rush she was currently undergoing as she was finally realizing she was at Hogwarts. Everything was so new and fresh in her eyes, and that made everything so much more exciting than she had ever imagined.

Minerva looked at him. "I don't know Maxwell. I know he said it last night, but I just can't see him liking me.." then her thought went another way. She kept her head down a little embarrassed to ask, "Do you think I'm crazy just waiting like this even though I know I'm not his first choice, knowing he would rather have her?"

Ronnie smiled. "Hiya, Kurumi!" she said waving back. "Thank you! I'm glad to be back." she said.

Maxwell thought. "I'll have to try bowing." He said with a small laugh. "I'm looking forward to Transfiguration and D.A.D.A as always, but also Muggle studies a little. I'm going to try and get better grades this year, so yes...I'll be in more classes." Maxwell said embarrassed she'd noticed his absence last year.

"I agree, But we're all a year older and smarter than last year, hopefully if we all pull together we can improve." Maxwell said confident and hopeful.

Maxwell shook his head. "Not if you really like him. I know if Taylor doesn't choose me i'm not going to give up, I'm gonna do whatever i have to in order to win her back." He said knowing he truly would.

Minerva thought about this. "I do really like him..I..Well I..I." she couldn't find the right words and started fidgeting with her fingers. "I guess I just have a lot of fears, that's all. I have had boyfriends before." she shrugged "but Damon is different, I don't know why."

His eyes followed the direction she was pointing to. OHH. "Oh," he said in a soft voice, more to himself as sign of realization. Zeke wished he could facepalm himself, but he just did it in his mind. He should've looked up earlier to see for himself instead of just asking. Where'd your common sense go, Zeke? Well, now that he knew it, he reached up to grab one as it approached him. But this time, he ate it a bite at a time. He was about to make another comment that the cookies tasted really good, but Kurumi probably knew that already so he let it drop.

Nodding once, he took the last bite out of the Gryffindor cookie. Say hello? "Well, I would have but I wasn't that kind of person really. Last year, I mean." Always and always, whenever the opportunity came, he'd find the first way out of a conversation. Kurumi blushed a lot. This was the third time, maybe? Wow. Maybe the prefect was trying to match her cheeks with all the redness of the pride. Mehehe.

She seemed a bit disturbed for a moment there. He was about to ask on the matter but just thought that the prefect spotted a bunch of new first years that she hasn't greeted yet. Yup, being a prefect was surely a busy job. Calls for too much responsibility. It must be hard, trying to be nice to everyone and to get to all of their needs, keep up with all the conversations and remember almost all of them. "Erm, you seem pretty busy, it's okay if you leave me alone and go accommodate the rest." He could wait. After all, that's one person less to worry about for the ultra busy girl. She was jam-packed with stuff to think of and people to help.

Glad? He wasn't so sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. For him, it's more of both. Good cause, well, it was good to be nice and all. Bad because sometimes he missed the alone time. Though the company was making him feel a bit better than before. "It's okay, really. All good," he smiled at her reassuringly. Yup, she's a worrier.