Speaking of Selina. Jake's gaze went from Penelope to Alice to the Head Girl in about two seconds, and a grin instantly spread across his lips. Because she was shouting about Kurumi. And presents. And it was almost painfully obvious what the presents from Kurumi would be.

... YEP. Cookies.

"You," he said, standing up and stepping over to Selina, "are my favorite." He snatched up three cookies, nudged the red head with an elbow, and grinned at her before turning around and going back to his seat. He gave Anya a cookie and kept the other two or himself, biting a large portion off of one.

Now quite content that his stomach had something in it, Jake looked up when he heard his name being called. Very loudly. When he saw Alexa, he laughed and smiled. "Hey," he greeted with a wave and a mouthful of cookie. Realizing, he quickly chewed and swallowed before giving a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Um, hey. It's going good, how're you?" He looked down at the rest of the cookie in his hand before looking back up. "I got that French candy you asked for. It's in my trunk, though."



Stuffing the rest of that cookie in his mouth, Jake picked up the other one and looked around. There were suddenly a ton of people at the table. Well, at least he knew they'd all made it safely from the carriages. He saw the girl he'd gone with - they'd gone separate ways on the way in - and gave her a wave. "Congratulations on Gryffindor," he said with a grin.

Next, he saw his fellow Prefect. "Congratulations," he said again with another wave. He was excited to get to work with her, and get to know her better. All of the other prefects, really.

Actually. He was excited to get to know a lot of new people. He had a feeling the badge would help with that. It already was, sort of. Like this boy congratulating him on it. "Thanks," Jake said with a nod. "I'm Jake Keller. Nice to meet you."



Jake nodded to Penelope and didn't push it any further. He kind of felt bad. He'd been starving, but his cookies had settled that problem for the time being. But Penelope had been tired all day... he was almost tempted to suggest she skip the feast and go straight up to sleep. But.... that might not be a good thing for him to suggest.

Oh. Good. Melanie was okay, too. Jake smiled in reply. If she said not to worry about it, he wouldn't. Plus, she was talking about summer now. "It was great," he said, grinning. Disneyworld, France... definitely his best summer by far. "How about yours?"

Maxwell walked back into the Great Hall...Had it really only been a few months since he'd been there? He felt like so much had happened since then....and here it was 5th year..OWL year, the first year of learning to be an Animagus...this should be interesting.

He took a seat at his table, hoping to see some familiar faces and maybe meet some new ones...

McCall was beyond excited to be finally heading to the Gryffindor table. Her family would be proud of her - she would be the third of the Asha children to be sorted into Gryffindor. She excitedly made her way to the table and sat down in an empty spot. Everyone was buzzing with excitement, and she was eager to get to know some of her fellow housemates.

Just as McCall had found her seat, she noticed the second year girl that she had been talking to on the platform sitting near her at the table. "Hi Alexa!" Good to see you again!" she said with a smile and a wave. Merlin, she hoped that was what her name was. Or was is Lexi? Or Lex?

Did he like her face? He giggled at her. "You were staring at me, so I stared back." he said continuing to giggle. "Your face isn't bad look, by the way" he added. He didn't want her to feel bad.

"I am a first year, yes" he said said nodding his head. Was he happy about being in Gryffindor? What was so different about the houses, he wondered..

"I mean, I don't know about the different houses, so I don't really have feelings about it either way..."

Alice swung her bat by her legs as she turned to see Anya, arm in arm with Jake. "Hey, Anniepop," she said, beaming at her fellow lion. "Thanks. I feel like one. With the badge and all, you know." And WHY was she eyeing her bat? Was there a scratch on it?! OR DIRT? The lioness did a quick inspection before breathing a sigh of relief. No smudge. Good. It wasn't okay to scare her like that, you know. It would make her look squeamish. And she couldn't look squeamish.

For reasons.



And then Anya's arm candy Jake started talking, too. "Hey, Jakiepop. The badge looks good on you," she commented, leaning over to straighten the pin on his shirt. But HER badge was prettier. And shinier. Cough. "Why do you say I look like Selina like it's a BAD thing?" It wasn't. Selina was the BEST person ever, so there was absolutely no harm in taking after her, right?

Right. As always.



And speaking of the Head Girl.. "SELINA." Alice kept herself from throwing herself at the girl like she had on the train. 'Cause she had a reputation to maintain now, mhm. And she couldn't lunge for the cookies, either, sadly. "You brought COOKIES. I love you, you know," she said, beaming. The fourth year pulled a cookie off the tray, too, before the other ickle lion hands could get there and started to nibble on it.

MMMMM. Kurumi cookies were SO good. Sigh.



"LEX." There she was. Where had she— ABANDONED? Alice did not abandon, nope. "I didn't leave you, I LOST you. You and Mo. You both wandered away from me, so I went and found Melanie." But she was here now, right? And Mo was probably getting sorted. She didn't miss his sorting, did she? BECAUSE HE HAD TO BE A GRYFFINDOR. She wanted a Branxton on her Quidditch team. No one understood it, but it was necessary. Sigh. "Anyways. You okay?" She patted the girl's head, just to make sure.

'Cause patting her head meant that everything was okay. Always.



And her MELONHEAD. Alice slipped into the seat beside her, beaming at her lovely. "Why are you eyeing my precious?" she questioned defensively, wrapping her arms around her bat. YES. It was her precious. She loved it, y'know, and it was important. And the whole fate of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team depended on it. Melanie didn't expect her to leave her beloved without protection, did she? Because that was absolutely, ridiculously absurd.

Even more absurd than the lioness dragging around her Beater's bat everywhere.

"Where's Duckie?" She didn't see her here yet. And she wanted her Duckie. The three of them were going to eat oreos and noodles after dinner, right? 'Cause Alice could eat for ages without stopping, you know. The girl's stomach was a bottomless pit. It was rather surprising that she wasn't all rotund and plump. "I can't see her. Maybe she'll know how Landon is?" More importantly, WHERE?



And there was Penelope.. who seemed awfully sleepy. Merlin, WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER? "Nell. NELL. Are you okay? Are you ill?" Was she sick? Was she going to throw up? Could she vomit on Lafay?! "If you're going to nap, you should at least summon a pillow. Or I could summon one for you." 'Cause she could do that now, as they were in school. They were HOME. It still seemed to good to be true. "And, also, I'd tie my hair up, if I were you. It might end up in some custard or soup when the food appears." FOOD.

Why wasn't it here yet?



OH. And LOOKIT. Someone was interested in Quidditch. Finally, someone with some real SENSE. "Hullo, person. I'm Alice, I'm awesome, I've got a bat, and I AM the Captain." They were going to win? They were going to win. She liked this kid already, since he was confident. And she needed that. "Hopefully, yeah. Do you play?" she asked, beaming. The lioness hoped he did, since he would probably be great at it. Good build, especially good for Chasing or something along the lines of that.

Speaking of Quidditch. Where was everyone? She had recruiting to do.

She loved her? Oh Merlin, Selina adored her mini-Alice. They were as thick as thieves and Selina vowed right in that moment to teach her EVERYTHING she knew. Not just the basics like she had been. Ugh, why was Alice so adorable? Tackling her ickle in a hug, she grinned, "I adore you, Biter." She was the most affectionate Biter ever. At least to Selina.

Ah look. It was Cambridge. The younger lion literally held the record for giving the older lion the most headaches in the range of twenty minutes then anyone else. It was unbelievable. But slowly and surely the girl was starting to grow on Selina... A LITTLE. Let's not get hasty here. She was still a pain in her side over a lot of issues. At least she had fear on her side.

Awkwardly patting the girl's head, she smiled, "Welcome, Cambridge. Enjoy it."

A new face. A new POLITE face. Huh... was she sure she was a Gryffindor? This girl was being very nice. Most Gryffindors shoved the cookies down their gobs and spoke with their mouths full. Seemed like a nice kid. "You're welcome," she grinned and outstretched her hand, "I'm Selina by the way... and you are?" New.

"HEY IRA!" Selina yelled over the crowd of rowdy Gryffindors as the girl moved toward her. She had a nice shiny badge on, which made Selina smile. Her team from last term was basically the new student leader line up... not basically... TOTALLY. Ugh, cool. She felt really accomplished. And little Alice... meh... she adored her.

OH LOOK! More of her ickles. Huh. How many of those did she have? It seemed like they just popped out of no where ALL of the time. A ton of them... they were just endless. Ruffling his hair, Selina grinned, "Hey yourself... and good. How about yours?"

[spoiler= Melanie] It was her little SINGER CHILD! Ugh, she adored Melanie. This little ickle, who had been so lovely at the end of the term when she thought Selina was leaving, had a special place in Selina's heart. The awesome song, after all, had been a direct result of this girl's brain. By the way, she still had to learn that song fully.

Patting her on the head as she reached for a cookie, Selina chuckled, "Nice to see you too, Melanie." Cute kids.



Her little lion Penelope was NOT eating. Something was horribly wrong. Sliding into a seat next to her, she handed the girl a cookie and demanded, "Eat." There was no option. It was eat or eat. That was it. She could not have her ickles getting all weak on her. Even if Selina herself had not been sleeping. Details.



One final voice got her attention. She snapped her head to look at who was addressing her and was endlessly shocked to see it was Keller. What was THAT? She was his favorite? Why was he talking all grown up? He was an ickle and the rules were that ICKLES were not allowed to grow up. Had he NOT read the manual. Ugh, she would have to have a meeting or something about proper conduct of ickles.

"I am? Um.... thanks?" What an odd thing to say. She didn't like it. Just sounded wrong coming from him.

Lex beamed at the girl when she came over to her. She stood staring at her for a while, wondering if she wasn't going to sit but when the firstie didn't she figured she was waiting to be told. Weird..."Have a seat, they don't charge you until after the food arrives." It was just a JOKE, surely first years could appreciate jokes. She could when she was one! Lex gestured to the empty seat once more. "You'll love this house. We have all the cool people and now you're a part of the cool people." Like Legit, she was.



Lex giggled a bit when Jake did that whole swallowing then smiling thing. It reminded her of Jeremy. She wouldn't be seeing him for a while but this year she promised to owl her father letters to him and let her father give them to him; bloody idiot was afraid of owls and didn't know how to send messages with them. SIGH. "S'Okay! I'm good. Can't wait for the speech to start though 'cause I'm getting hungry. Do you think she'll give a long speech again like she did last term?"

She stopped talking immediately and grinned at him. "You did?????" The 12 year old squeezed in between him and Anya for a minute and pulled him into a hug. "ThankYou! ThankYou! ThankYou!"

He remembered!



Someone else got to the table, Lex saw them from the corner of her eye. "Max!" She gave the boy a wide smile and a wave.

He was a strange one but in a cool way. All Gryffindors were strange in a cool way, it was like something built in. "How's it goin' dude?" Because she was talking to him. Whatever he and Dylan had was between them. The last time she got involved she came out with a headache so she was just going to keep everything as black and white as possible. Yup.



What's that?

Huh?

Lex heard her name but it took a couple extra seconds for her to place a face to the voice. It was...that firstie from the station...turning with a smile she confirmed her suspicion. "You're a Gryffindor too!!!!" This was perfect! So far two of the firsties she'd met were in her house! "It's good to see you again too--and I'm loving the colours!" She grinned, looking at the girls lion colours.



Would'ya look at that. The kid was giggling. Deciding to join in she giggled too. Maybe he'd explain why he was giggling later. "Staring...at you...?" Is that what she had been doing?...Oh yeah! It was! She giggled a bit more. "I guess I was. I like looking at new things. You know, to give my eyes their fill and all that." Did that make sense? To her it did. "Nothing personal."

She stopped giggling and grinned at him. "I know that, that's why I asked silly." She was well aware that she had a nice face, thank you very much! Now the question was...did she return the compliment...? Probably not seeing as he didn't mention anything about his own face. She'd just drop it with a smile.

"You don't? Well here's the difference. We're awesome and they're not.' It was that simple.



Was that how it went? Lex gave her a puzzled look as she tried to remember. "But..we weren't lost..we told you we were gonna see what the top of the train looked like..." That should've given a hint as to where they were; there was only one place that let you see the top of the train. "And I think I lost Mo after the platform...he went to talk to the ground's keeper and the next thing I knew I was standing alone..."

But now they were moving on...moving on with a pat on her head. "Yeah I'm good! Just working on my army thing while I wait on the speech--I hope it won't be much longer, I'm hungry and even those these chocolate frogs taste good they aren't fixing that."

Sigh. There were just some things that chocolate frogs could never fix..."Are you okay?"



Lex stopped nomming on her cookie when she felt a hand patting her head. Something that, like having her hair ruffled, she'd gotten used to because the people hear seemed to like doing it a lot. But it wasn't just ANY head pat, Nope. It was an awkward one.

She beamed up at the girl. "You're doing that awkward head patting thing again!" She DID say she was awkward by nature. A nature that Dylan apparently learnt from her. Go figure.

"And have you spoken to Alice about that thing as yet?" Now moooore nomming while she waited on that answer.

As Daphne continued to mutter about having to be here, especially in the same house as Landon, she heard someone call out 'Welcome to Gryffindor, Duckie!' and she looked around, wondering who the crazy person was who-oh wait. "Melanieeeeee!" The blonde smiled and then stopped. "I mean MoMo!"

Oops.

She was building up a bit more confidence now that Melanie was around and maybe she could make some new friends. Maybe.



Before she knew it, someone poked her and Daphne gave a light but loud scream. She immediately covered her mouth with one of her hands and blushed. "Sorry, I'm ticklish." She said, afraid to look around at the others.

Heh.

"Thanks though! Hogwarts is pretty cool, I'm just not happy I got into this house...but I guess it's for a reason." She shrugged, looking up at the ceiling where the candles floated.

Oh no. Candles...floating? What if they fell and burned her hair off? Daphne was worried now, but she tried to shake off the thoughts as she talked to the girl. "I'm Daphne Hughes, nice to meet you!" She smiled back.



Daphne looked back over to where Melanie was and she noticed Alice was over there. She quickly stood up and politely asked the people to move who were sitting there in front of the two.

Pushing the two people aside just ever-so-lightly, she took a seat and waved at Melanie and Alice. "I'm right here you dorks." She giggled.

As she talked, she continued to glance up at the ceiling every so often, hoping that the candles floating wouldn't come falling and burn her hair down.

Maxwell looked up seeing his favorite of the younger lions, she reminded him very much of his own little sister....well one of his little sisters. The boy had too many siblings. He waved back at her, his uniform a bit sloppy.

"Hey, Lex...things are good...that train ride is always too long." He said shrugging. "How about you? Excited for this term? I still haven't heard back from Magnus about the whole 'Animagus' thing..so yeah."

Susan decided she would visit her friends she met on the train. She saw Mack had gotten sorted into Gryffindor so she made her way over towards the Gryffindor table and spotted Mack. "Hey Mack, congratulations on getting sorted into Gryffindor. How is everything going?" Susan smiled at Mack and then noticed she was have a conversation with one of her housemates. "Oh hi, I'm Susan." She then offered her hand to the girl. It was nice to see Mack again..too bad they weren't in the same house, but they would still see each other all the time during classes and when they wanted to study or just hang out.

"My face looked appealing to you, is that why you were staring?" he said as he raised his eyebrow. WHAT WAS HE DOING! He grinned at her again "I'm Ofim, by the way.". He was for sure not going to tell people here at Hogwarts that people called him Offie back home.

"So... um.. what makes "us" more awesome than the other houses?" he asked curiously

Dylan walked straight over to the gryffindor table and looked around seeing a few new faces, well he wasnt one of those anymore! He was now a second year.. older than the little guys that were coming in all scared and stuff! Maybe he could boss a few of them around and stuff, but not here with all the captains, prefects and professors watching them. But around school where no-one would be around, he saw a few that didnt belong there.. but he wasnt gonna say anything. Cause everyone went to every table to see their friends and stuff "Hey to all of you!" he greeted everyone before sitting down at the table, well here he was.. he was now in his second year and back at Hogwarts.. he was so glad to be back.. no parents telling him what to do and best of all was that he was gonna be trying out for the team, there was no way that he would be here and not try out for the team of course!

Lex jumped back with a little scream of her own when the girl suddenly decided to give her lungs some exercise. She was about to think that something cool was happening but then the girl explained that she was ticklish. Oh. Was that all. "That's fine, I screamed too but I don't have an excuse." If that made her feel any better...

Her eyes went wide and her mouth hung slightly open when the girl voiced her displeasure at being sorted as a Gryffindor. "Well why not? Give it some time, you'll love it! I wanted to be a Ravenclaw but then I was sorted here and it's been awesome! We get away with all the fun stuff 'cause it's expected!" GRIN. Everyone suspected the Gryffie. That was half the fun!

"Cool, I'm Alexa Cambridge." Because they were exchanging names and all that but she wasn't gonna return the social compliment. Not yet. She wait first. "Where did you go before Hogwarts?"



"It is!" She agreed. They needed to find some way to make that ride shorter because it wasn't doing very many wonders for her attention span. Her and Mo ended up on top of the train! That probably wouldn't have happened if they had gotten to Hogsmeade sooner. Fact.

"I'm good too. I guess I'm excited but...not for the classes because some of those gave me a headache last year and there's some that require you to do some READING." Everyone knew the kid hated reading. She tilted her head, a bit puzzled by his next statement. "No? Well when will you know? The term's starting now!" And she thought she did things at the last minute.



Oh?

Lex watched on curiously as a girl she didn't know approached them and quite suddenly pulled Mackenzie into a conversation with her. When the curiosity wore off which it did rather quickly she raised an eyebrow at the girl thinking she was rather ruuuuuude. She was about to say something about this but then the girl started addressing her too. Okay. She'd overlook it this time because the girl was a firstie and she needed those and everything was new and a bit overwhelming but in future butting in then ignoring someone was simply unacceptable. That being decided Lex gave the girl a wide smile. "Hi! I'm Alexa! Sorry you didn't get into Gryffindor." Then she gave the girl a wink to show that it was all just in good fun.



Lex raised an eyebrow at the boy. "No." She let that sink in for just a minute. Not to be rude but just because she liked doing that. "I already told you. I like looking at new things, remember? I'm sure you probably have a good face but like I told Sophie, all boys look alike so I wouldn't know." She beamed at him after that. It was true though. They all wore pants, got some form of a hair cut and liked boy things. Not much difference in her eyes.

"And I'm Alexa." Now they knew each other's name! Progress.

Was that a serious question. "Just about everything! I can't explain it, you'd have to experience it to know but when you do then you'll know for sure. We have the spirit of lions you know!"



There was now someone else yelling a greeting to everyone at the table. Looking over she spotted Dylan and grinned over at the boy. "I see you finally decided to show up." She teased. Not that he was very late. The speech hadn't started yet so he hadn't missed anything important. She hadn't seen him since they left school for the summer break. That was either because he'd fallen of the face of London or because she'd been off in Scotland visiting her grandparents. Maybe even both...

"How'd you summer go?"

She was? OH SHE WAS! Well, honestly, Selina had always sort of done that. Before she was OLD one of the older people in her house, she had awkwardly patted the head of pets. As she had grown that habit had transferred to younger students and then almost ALL of the ickles. It was just something she sort of did. The seventh year was a little confused as to why they had to draw attention to it; then again, everything Cambridge did sort of confused Selina.

Ignoring her comment, she raised her eyebrow at the Alice comment and wracked her brain as to what she was referring to. Ah yes, she remembered now. "I did... and the answer is no. Too dangerous... sorry, kiddo. But we can still have the sleepover and do not super girly things." Compromise.



Seeing one of her old teammates as well enter the Great Hall, Selina waved her hand and gestured for him to join her over by the Gryffindors swarmed in this area. Lifting up the box of goodies that Kurumi had given her to hand out, she said, "Hey kiddo... nice summer? Kurumi cookie?" She always had to lead with KURUMI cookie. Everyone knew Selina could not cook.

He started giggling again when the girl said that boys all looked alike. SUUURE, he thought. He was going to let that subject drop, though.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alexa" he said as he extended his hand.

"I guess I'll experience it now." he said in reference to how they were awesome. He could tell that this chick was serious. "So, do you have friends in other houses.. or?"

"OOMPH." And then she was tackle hugged.

Alice latched her arms, bat and all, around Selina's neck and hugged her Mama back. "I adore you, too, Mama Selina. Didn't I say that already?" Maybe she wanted to hear it more often? The lioness would tell the Head Girl she loved and adored her everyday if that was what she wanted. She liked her to be happy. And if Selina was happy when her Biter said nice things and tackle-hugged her and sat in her lap, then that's what she would do.

AND. And she totally heard that comment about the non-girly sleepover and went all BEAM mode on her Mama.



.. THE TOP OF THE TRAIN? "You WHAT?! You could have DIED!" Alice gaped at her. She was not allowed to those kind of things without consulting her ickle parent first, nope. "You never told me that," she claimed. And she didn't. "At least wait until tomorrow before building an army, yeah? Relax." She ruffled the little girl's hair and grinned at her. It was too hard to stay cross with Lex for long. "I'm fine. Why?"

And.. and then Mo was sorted. Into RAVENCLAW.

Ahfjkasfjklasjfkl. NOOOO. Her Quidditch dreams were CRUSHED.



"Hey? Who you calling a dork?" Alice grinned back at her Duckie, following her gaze to the ceiling. "Whatcha lookin' at, Daffy? The candles? Aren't they pretty?" The lioness shielded her eyes from the bright lights with her hand and looked off into the distance, all nostalgic and such. She remembered her first time looking at those. It was kind of creepy. "Oh," she said, turning back to Daphne after staring at the candles for a few more seconds. "I wanted to let you know that you ARE playing Quidditch this term." It was not a question. The decision had already been made.

Beam.



And there was Dylan! Another of her former teammates. "Hey, Dyl," Alcie said, beaming at the younger boy. "How was your summer? Practice any Quidditch?" She hoped so. She also hoped he was going to show up at tryouts again. He was cool. She admired his spirit, too, dressing up as that big lion and all. He probably had more Gryffindor in him than most of the house put together. "Are you trying out for the team again this term?"

SAY YES.

Anya continued to display her Prefect boyfriend watch people come in the Great Hall with her arm still looped with Jake's. This was nice.

... that was until...

She spotted her brother walk in as Selina announced she had cookies from Kurumi. She left the one Jake handed her completely untouched as she stared across the table at none other than her brother.

WHAT was he doing HERE?

Anya blinked at someone suddenly YELLED practically in her face. Oh. Right. It was the girl that broke Laura's wand. She had no idea the little girl was on... er... yelling terms with her boyfriend. She looked between the two before the girl addressed her.

"Oh. Hi." she said suddenly taken off guard. She didn't expect the girl to say hi to her. And... it was just then that she realized she didn't even know the girl's name.

... awkkkkkward.

Oooooooh! New girl. Fun. Anya smiled as she noticed a girl that was just sorted into Gryffindor take a look up at the ceiling. "My favorite part. There's been sleepovers in the Great Hall... I spent the entire time staring at the ceiling." she said with a smile.

"Welcome to Gryffindor."

Anya smiled as Zack approached. "Hey." she said with a wide smile. "You go through all your candy yet? I nearly ate my entire box of sugar quills the first night." True story. In fact... she ended up finishing the box at around two in the morning... which... was technically day two. So she didn't have to feel guilty.



Anya frowned. Why was she being all... quiet and muffly? Didn't she sleep on the train? She tilted her head and cast a sideways glance at Jake. Did he know what was going on?

And more importantly, as Penne's better other half, how come she didn't know if anything was wrong?



Anya laughed and nodded. She then glanced at the bat again. "... is there not some sort of rule against quidditch equipment at the table?" She felt like there should be if there wasn't. There was no way that she'd get the food that she wanted if Alipop had a bat to defend whatever plates she called dibs on.

... then again...

She'd probably hand things over to Jake, right? Or... Anya could make Jake fight for her food. She smiled happily to herself. Boyfriends were totally useful.

Andddd... she eyed homegirl for a second. That badge there on Jake's chest. Yeah. That was hers. No touchy girl-wit-da-bat.

When Susan introduced herself to the girls sitting next to Mack she noticed she didn't look happy about the fact that Susan interrupted her conversation. Not that Susan meant to, she was just so excited about everything and wasn't using her head. "Hi Alexa, it's nice to meet you." Susan laughed when she said about not getting into Gryffindor but then she remembered the hat wanting to put her there, but she thought Hufflepuff would be the better choice, Gryffindor material like her mom was and didn't think she would fit into Gryffindor well. "I don't think I would have fit in quite as well in Gryffindor." Susan gave Alex a smile "I'm not really the brave sort."

[/spoiler]

Susan noticed the boy she met on the platform, DJ, sitting at the Gryffindor table. Oh that's right he did say he was in Gryffindor. Susan decided she would chat with him for a few minutes before heading back to the Hufflepuff table. Then Susan thought she would have a little fun with DJ. She went real quietly behind him not that it was hard since so many people were talking at once and shouted "BOO!"

"Hi," Ellura said returning the greeting of hello, her smile brightening in response to mirror the other girl's enthusiasm. "Thanks." It certainly felt good to be welcomed when she had been nervous as to how her reception was. "It was pretty good," she added before nodding at the rest of the question. "I did...one boy named Jake...one of the prefects I think his badge said." He had been nice and if her memory was correct on the color scheme, he was in their house as well too.

"And an older student named Alex on the train. How about your summer?"



Yep...there was Jake sitting down on one of the other benches on the Gryffindor table a short distance away. Apparently a big fan of the cookies that had been displayed on the table by the older girl. They must be nice and maybe he knew who the baker or at least provider of the baked goods was. But probably not the time to ask."Thanks. It certainly feels like a good house to be in."


The girl who had offered the baked goods had certainly heard her words which was good given the level of noise in the Great Hall at the moment. A mix of a lot of people and a lot of energy]"Hi," she greeted in return as the older girl acknowledged her thanks for the cookie. At the revelation of her name it was certain that she wasn't the maker named Kurumi.

"Nice to meet you Selina, I'm Ellura."


Ellura turned her attention to another girl as she was spoken to, this one another stranger but she at least seemed closer to her and Alexa's age. "I think I would too. Its pretty and...yeah." She couldn't quite think of the right word as she glanced up at the ceiling once more.

"Thanks. I'm Ellura."

Mack smiled as she saw Susan, "Hi!!" Mackenzie quickly pulled the girl into a hug, "It's rather sad that we aren't going to be in the same house, but that doesn't mean we can't hang out still!!" she spoke optimistically hoping that her first friend at Hogwarts would stay that way. "This is Lex, I think I told you about her on the train...." Mackenzie trailed off as she tried to think back to the train ride conversation. "Where is Antoinette? Has she been sorted yet?" Mack looked around trying to find the girl.

Dylan looked at Lex and shook his head "How can I not show up! Its Hogwarts.. only the craziest people dont show up!" he chuckled "And Im not crazy! Besides you cant have fun without ME remember? we are partners in fun!" he added just for effect. There was no way he was not coming here.. this was the most coolest place on Earth! Here they could do spells AND fly on their brooms without having to worry about being underage or those muggles spotting them on their brooms. Here they could have ALL the fun they wanted! It would have been fun over the summer too if he had seen Lex.. but both had been busy.. well he had guessed she had been busy. He thought about her question for a moment "It was good.. spent time with mom.. and then with dad.. but was really itching to come back here.. and man am I glad to be back!" he chuckled looking around at the great hall.. this was the only place he wanted to be right now! "Cant wait to do all the spells and tryouts and matches that I can!" he said excitedly cause he was well and truly excited to be back!



Dylan saw his former captain wave him over and he went over to her, he nodded at her question and was about say more when he heard Kurumi cookie.. and his eyes went wide.. she did not just say Kurumi cookie.. that girl may not be here but her cookies were "Yup. I want one!" he said stretching out his hand for one. He hadnt had one in some time and he was so glad the girl had sent some over, that was how Kurumi had gotten him to warm upto her after the train climbing incident.. Selina would just have to count her lucky stars this term that he didnt start off the term with anything like that... or would he? .. he just hadnt decided on what to start the term off with. Something with a bang? or more of a fizz before the bang? decisions.. decisions.



He looked round as another of his fellow lions greeted him "Hey Alice" he grinned in response to her smile "It was good.. but not as good as being back here!" as for practice "I did a bit.. not as much as I would have liked.. dad was all scared I'd be spotted by some muggles and stuff" ugh.. parents! they were no fun!! Come on so he got spotted by a few muggles.. big deal.. not like people were gonna believe them anyways! Then came the question that made him smile "Well... let me put it this way.. Im not me without quidditch! So yeah.. I gotta try out.. I gotta be on the team!" Yup he was not missing out on the practices that he would be attending at least, even if he didnt get to play. Cause he just loved the practices! so much fun.. well they were last term.. with all the team drama that went on.. and his teammates knew what he was referring to. Poor Selina.. hopefully Alice wouldnt have to deal with that.. maybe there would be other types of drama for her to deal with, not that he was implying anything of course! hehe



Dylan was just sitting there glad to be back when he suddenly heard someone shout behind him, he jumped a little since he wasnt expecting it since he hadnt heard her walk towards him and turned around to see who it was and saw that girl.. Susan wasnt it? "Hey.. what in Merlin's Spooks do you think your doing?" he said looking over at the puff table where he could see Minnie, he then calmed down a little from the shock of being spooked "I would have nearly hexed you if I knew any.. Im lucky I dont" cause if he did and he did end up by pure accident of course hex Susan it wouldnt be just the professors that he would be seeing.. it would be her older cousin that wouldnt be too pleased with him.. not that he was scared of her people.. no.. Dylan wasnt scared of anything! He was.. just not trying to upset.. a cool girl.. like Minnie.. thats all. "H..how you doing?" he asked before he noticed her yellow robes "I see you made Hufflepuff just like your cousin.. thats cool. Happy about that?" not that he was implying that she shouldnt be.. it was just a simple question thats all.

Had Alexa heard her? Melanie had thought that she was quiet enough so that only she could hear. Maybe she shouldn't have done it. Habits were a bit hard to break sometimes though. "It was," Melanie said, nodding with a small smile on her face. She supposed that she could just take it as practice for when she got older and famous or something. Because then she'd have to perform in front of laods of people.

"Your summer sounds like it was loads of fun," Melanie said, smiling. Minus the whole nearly dying part. That didn't sound very fun at all. She wondered if she should ask the girl more about it but figured if she did, she'd only get confused. That seemed to happen a lot. "It's no problem, I'm glad I could help you and see you before we went back to school," Melanie said with a nod of her head. And it had been fun. And delicious. The pancakes had been very yummy despite not dousing it in chocolate or maple syrup like the younger Gryffindor had.

Oh. Back to Melanie? "It was loads of fun," Melanie said tersely. Because she didn't know exactly how she could talk about how much fun it had been. "It was nice seeing everyone again... and... just hanging out." Melanie did miss summer quite a bit now though.

Great summers were always nice. "You must've had a lot of fun," Melanie said, smiling. She had a lot of fun too. But summer was now over. And this year was going to busy. "I had a wonderful summer. Loads of fun, loads of people," she said, rambling a little. And she had gotten the chance to take a plane twice. So that was fun too. Melanie liked airplanes.

Melanie took her eyes off of the bat and looked at the younger Gryffindor. "I still think it should be in your trunk." Because she was still concerned for the wellbeing of the other students at the table. She really hoped that Queen Alice wouldn't whack anyone with it.

Duckie?

Oh right. Landon's little sister, Daphne, was here this term. She stood for a second to look around before tilting her head in the direction of the younger girl. "She's over there." Melanie smiled. Yup. There was Duckie - a Gryffindor, just like her brother. "She was sorted into Gryffindor." Ah... right. She supposed she could ask Duckie about how Landon was... but she doubted that Duckie had spoken to Landon the carriage ride here. Melanie hadn't at least. Maybe the girl had a phone with service in the wizarding world. You'd never know.

Ah. She felt her head being pet as she grabbed a cookie. She took a bite out of it before looking at the redhead head girl. "Please don't touch my hair," Melanie said, nibbling away at her cookie with a smile. The cookie was delicious. Which was expected since it was Miss Kurumi had made it. "It's very nice to see you, Miss Selina," Melanie beamed, shoving the rest of her cookie in her mouth and hugging the girl.

Then pulled away to grab another cookie. Hehe.

Did the younger girl not see Melanie? Should she wave both hands next time? Maybe that would help the girl next time. Melanie giggled when Duckie called her MoMo after calling her Melanie. "You don't have to call me MoMo, it's safe to call me Melanie," she pointed out. Because then next time, Duckie wouldn't have to correct herself when addressing her.

It seemed like she was left there waiting on an answer forever and in fact she'd finished the cookie and had to take another. As she took the first bite of it the girl began speaking again and she literally felt her heart fall to her feet. The answer was no?

The answer was ALWAYS no. How fair was that?

She tried to continue listening through a crushed spirit and a deflated expression as the girl talked about it being too dangerous...what? Was she saying no to the sleepover or just the wrestling because Lex felt more than a little lost now. She didn't stay lost for very long though and from what she was getting the sleepover was still on...they just couldn't wrestle...was that it?

She forced a smile so the girl wouldn't think she was ungrateful or something. "I guess that could work too....are we taking some food up with us?" Food was an important part of anything; sleepovers especially!



Why did people find that so funny? Boy did all look a like. That was like a fact or something.

She nodded when he said it was nice to meet her. Nothing else. Lex didn't tell people it was a pleasure meeting them until she got to know them enough. There was a chance the person might have been horrid then it certainly wouldn't have been a privilege and she didn't like the thought of wasting a compliment. "Oh yes, you'll have seven whole years to experience it! And O'course I do! It's easy enough to make friends you know. I'm sure you'll make tonnes in other houses too."



The way Alice was gaping told her she wasn't all that much impressed by the train climbing thing. What's worse she was saying she hadn't told her. Lex's brows crinkled as she tried remembering. OH RIGHT! Oops..."I think it's after we went to get some candy maybe...? I thought it would've been cool up there and Mo didn't mind..." She gave her a look. "Are you mad...?"

Wait 'til tomorrow...?

[i]"I suppose I could do that too but what if I don't run into half of them tomorrow? Everyone's here now..."[/b] And there was the hair ruffling. Lex beamed at her. "I was just asking!"

But then Alice looked like someone had eaten Frank. "Um...Alice...you okay.../" Because her back was turned to the sorting.



"How's it goin'?" She asked with a grin.

Until the Headmistress started her speech thingy the 12 year old had nothing better to do and even though she girl had kinda blindly supported Laura without knowing the full details she was still someone to talk to and Lex liked talking.

"Did you have a Kurumi cookie as yet?" Lex asked before biting into her own. "They're always good." Nod.



It was a good to see an older Gryffindor who actually liked being sorted into the house. She was going to start taking some serious offense to these people who came to the table sulking. Yeah so this table wasn't the Puffer table and no one was expected to be bubbly but a smile went along way around here! See? This girl had the right idea! She was smiling!

"You met Jake! That's awesome, he's really nice you know and he got me French candy." That, of course, made him extra nice. "I don't know anyone names Alex though...you mind cluing me in?"

She waved a dismissive hand when asked about her summer. "It was okay I guess. I think I had more fun at school though..." It was true! You didn't run into man eating plants and angry ghosts in Diagon Alley.



And now the two were talking about another prospective firstie. Interesting...what was even more interesting was that there might have been a conversation about her on the train. "You were talking about me? What'd you say?" There was hardly anything to say seeing as they didn't know each other that well but that didn't make her any less curious to know. "And who's Antoinette?"



Lex laughed a bit. What he said was both funny AND true. "You got that right! I can't think of anyone in their right mind who'd purposefully leave here before they graduated." Yes she knew a few people who decided to not return but who said they were in their right minds??? She laughed even harder at the next thing he said. "We are ad we'll have to go finding some fun this year, dude. The whole pelting people with fruits thing was pretty fun but we need something else. Can't just be going to classes and NOT unwinding afterwards you know." That was just crazy!pants talk and she wouldn't hear it!

"That sounds pretty interesting, at least you didn't nearly get yourself killed." Nearly because Bliss had been there to save her thankfully. "But anyway, we're back now and classes start tomorrow so the magic can begin and I can start failing at spells again."...She hadn't meant to say that last part but it was still true. Anyone that saw her in the classes last year would've noticed that he either got sold a cruddy wand or she was a cruddy witch.



She knew it! She did hear someone singing. It was a good thing Melanie confessed to being the one doing the singing because if she hadn't Lex wouldn't though she was finally going mad like everyone said she was. Not a bad thing when she thought about it..it's just...she figured she would've had more time before that happened. "Well it sounded good...nice...good...?" She trailed trying to think about the more grammatically correct word but decided to just forget about it all together. Melanie would get the idea either way.

Loads of fun? "I wouldn't say that..more like...there was never a dull moment..." Yeah...she'd go with that. When she wasn't running for her life, or rubbing Jeremy's face in the grass in her front yard she was annoying her step-mother or being annoyed. There was always something to do. "And I'm glad too! I don't think I would've gotten it all packed if you hadn't helped! Would you help me again if I needed it?" Because she more than likely would.

Lex nodded to show her understanding. "Friends make everything fun!" BEAM. "Are you excited about classes starting tomorrow?" She wasn't! It would probably start with something far up in the towers so she'd have to go down for breakfast only to go right back UP. She was alrady dreading it.

Feeling quite lost Antoinette looked over to the table that she figured was Gryffindors remembering just enough about them to realize that she was headed to the right place. Trying to hold herself together enough she plastered a large grin on her face as she quickly made her way to the table so she wouldn't be put anywhere in front of anyone else...

Noticing a few familiar faces Antoinette shrugged it off, just plopping herself down in a random spot for the time being, she'd seen Susan and Mack somewhere around here so she might be able to meet a few other people and maybe catch up with the two girls later!

Looking around at the excited chatter and all of her fellow Gryffindors, Ira smiled wide. But one thing.. she did feel somewhat awkward. What exactly was she supposed to do as a prefect? The others sure were doing a good enough job, so she just decided to do what she thought she should do. Chat up the new ones.
Ah! There was a young girl just in time. The fifth year had just seen her getting sorted to Gryffindor, so going ahead to where the girl sat, she went up to her, and lightly tapped on her shoulder. "Hey pretty Gryffindor!" she said, tilting her head a bit, "Welcome to the pride!" Wasn't this how she herself had been welcomed?