Nicole was glad the Grey lady had dropped the seriousness in her tone. "Thank you, I hope so too," she said, slightly anxious. What if she really did not feel comfortable in her new House? From what she had heard from her father, Ravenclaw was just for her, but the reality might be different.

"Yes, it was quite good. I made some new friends during the train ride too," she replied with a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. One of her new friends was a new Ravenclaw too! "How was your summer?" Nicole asked. She was curious to know what ghosts did when they were free.

Another Ravenclaw had joined the table. and it was one Adi knew, having met her over the summer. "Nicole!'' he called, wondering if the girl would remember him. "Congrats on being Sorted into Ravenclaw.'' So that's three firsties he knew that had gotten into Claw House. Cool!

But hey, Kate remembered him! "I can see that you are. I bet you'll love it here and you seem to be fitting in already.'' It was so nice that the Houses were always so welcoming to the new ones. "I sure did. Did your mom made you promise not to eat a lot of sweets while you're here?" He was curious as to that. Adi automatically glanced up at the enchanted ceiling which was mimicking the sky outside. "It's enchanted to look like the sky outside but I bet you already knew that.'' Kate's mom probably had told her.

Oh. His badge. Adi didn't usually tell anyone he was prefect. Boasting was not his thing. "Oh yeah, I am. Thank you. I've had it since last term." He loved being a prefect and all the responsibilities that came with it.

Adi shook his head. "She's super hyper, isn't she, Janelle?" And already Adi was fond of his new Badger. "I think she'll be very relieved to hear that. I had suggested she come see you before you guys leave for your dorm but maybe you can go see her.'' You know, to reassure Margo that Janelle still wanted to be friends. "Four friends on the first day, Janelle. Not bad. I bet by the end of the week you'll have loads more."

"I try to make sure my friends survive,'' he said with a wink. But he himself was getting hungry.

Adi saluted Eden back. "It's going great!" Weird train ride? He new all about those. He laughed a bit. "Keeps things from getting dull and makes you look forward to being back here, right?" Though he still resented Ian for spoiling his and the gang's ride last year.

And looky! It was the Grey Lady. "Good evening,'' Adi said politely to her.

Nicole turned around, hearing a familiar voice calling her name. "Hey, Adi," she greeted with a smile. It was the nice Hufflepuff boy she had met in the Apothecary over the summer. "You're not calling me Nicky anymore?" she said, grinning. She missed having someone call her by a nickname.

"Thank you. Though I would have loved being in Hufflepuff," she admitted. "How was the rest of your summer?" Nicole asked curiously. It was always interesting to hear what her friends did when they were not at school.

Somewhere beside her, Kate heard Corrigan start to talk, but it was within that exact second Kate happened to catch sight of another badge, this one on an older girl. "There's the other one!" she said to Corrigan, with the same amount of excitement she'd shown for the boy prefect.



Kate slowly turned her attention away from the second badge she'd seen and looked toward Corrigan. "Obviously," Kate repeated, as if they'd just agreed on something as solid as the date or the name of their new school. Making friends was turning out to be easier than she thought! Let's see, there was Corrigan, Nicole, Timmy...and those were just the ones about her age! There were a few older ones, too.

All thoughts of the elaborate decorations were lost at the mention of the prefects. Kate turned her attention back to them and thought about what Corrigan was saying. "I don't know," Kate said, wondering herself if they were meant to be bossy and the such. "Maybe it's just when we're doing something we're not supposed to be doing." Speaking of which, there was a major commotion over at the Slytherin table. Professors had come up and all. Even the house ghost looked to be a bit moodier than Kate had read he was. "What do you think's going on over there?" she asked, looking toward the Slytherin table.



Nicole had looked up from her book then, so Kate divided her attention between her new and whatever chaos was going on at the Slytherin table. Kate was suddenly glad she hadn't gotten sorted there. That one professor trying to get things back in order looked scary!

She smiled, though, when Nicole commented on their sorting. "Isn't it exciting?" she commented. "Oh, that's right! You didn't ride the boats. I keep forgetting we're not in the same year." Nicole had gotten to ride with the older kids, which was what Kate would get to do next year. "Two girls fell into the water. Well, one girl did, and then the other girl jumped in after her. Then the boy in my boat started rocking the boat, but we finally got him to stop." She told this stody very animated, with wide eyes just at the right moment. "It was a lot of fun, though! It was so magical seeing the castle for the very first time!"



Kate returned the smile. "It's nice to meet you, too," she said. Helena reminded Kate of her mom, since both always had a smile to share and words to say that would make you feel better no matter what. Kate could feel her first day nerves settling down as the feast went on. "No," she said, shaking her head. She hoped that didn't disappoint the ghost. "I was homeschooled, so I didn't have to learn the language for school. My family spoke English at home, and since we didn't plan to stay there forever, mom and dad didn't teach me the language." Kate perked up when Helena mentioned loving Ravenclaw as much as she did. "I already do!"



Kate was doing a lot of smiling lately, but she guessed that was what a person did when they were really happy and excited about something. She couldn't help smiling each time somebody mentioned her new house. She was so happy and relieved to finally be a Ravenclaw! "Everybody's so nice," she said, although she eyed the Slytherin table again. "Adi, what's going on over there?"

She left that question hanging and answered Adi's question about sweets. "No, she really doesn't have rules about sweets. She just didn't want me to eat too many on the day she wanted me to focus most on getting my school supplies," she answered. She patted her pocket where she'd stashed the chocolate frog from Adi. "I'm saving this one for later, when I get to the common room."

Kate nodded in reply to what he'd said about the enchanted ceiling. She'd read about it, too. "I bet you're a really good prefect. I heard prefects are bossy. Is that true?" she asked.

Corrigan thought about it, and then replied, "No ma'am. Or, well, I guess it might, but I don't know it."

And now she felt the need to find out. She beamed up at Helena and promised, "I will!"



Corrigan thought about this information, and concluded that the older students she'd heard talking on the train were simply troublemakers and complaining about having been caught making trouble. Quite often the simplest explanation was the correct one, and this seemed like a simple explanation indeed.

"That makes sense." And also gave her permission to go back to being excited and oggling the prefect badges without misgivings.

...at Kate's question, Corrigan turned on the bench and observed the happenings at the Slytherin table.

...


O___O

Points taken! Detention given! Banished from the feast! Another detention?! Corrigan subconsciously held Kate's arm and may have squeezed it a little as she watched. That professor was definitely not in a pleasant mood. And that ghost over there was yelling a lot, too.

She didn't know what had happened before the hammer came down, but it caused her to lean in close to Kate's ear and confide, "I like Ravenclaw much better."

Gregoire looked at the two love birds. (Ophie and Austin, #Auphie, I ship it)

Awwww! Look, they were both blushing! Yes!

Gregoire's job was a success, and it was like buy one get one free! Not only did he make Ophie blush, but he made her crush blush too! This was a wonderful thing. Also it was so obvious that those two were in love. Look at the facts.

They both started to blush when the word crush was mentioned. He couldn't speak to her without saying Ummm, and even still, that was the only word he said to Ophie so far. Talk about that being a major crush alert. Two Ophie was trying to deny this. Gregoire knew they were in love.

French people have this lovely little thing called a 'Romance-dar' Sort of like a radar but instead of only picking up motion by the use of radio waves, they could pick up budding romances. Walking between them he was getting some major Romance-dar pings between the two of them.

Looking at Ophie, Gregoire said "Awww, honey, that's so cute how you think I have a crush. Your forgetting, my girlfriend, Giovanni." That should put a stick in her problem.

"It's so obvious that this is a budding romance. Take it from an experimente French fourth year." Wait. "I meant to say in English, urm, what's the word..." Thinking. "Ah oui! Experienceed!" (Meant to be misspelled) "Anyways, anyone can tell, you two like each other."

Quickly snatching the seat next to the boy, he leaned in close to his ear and whispered "Just ask her out already. It's obvious you two like each other."

After saying that he got up again. Gregoire then made a heart with his hands, putting their two faces in it. "Auphie! I ship this."

Dear God it was somehow getting way worse. She was standing in the middle of the Great Hall talking to the MEANEST fourth year alive and everything was getting worse. And it wasn't like Austin was helping any. Thanks for that by the way. To be honest, he looked just as mollified as she did, which was hard to do considering the fact that she was being humiliated in the middle of a really great night and in the middle of the beginning of year feast. Maybe she was being over dramatic about this, but the twelve year old had told him about this little crush in confidence and now it was everywhere and she knew Austin didn't feel the same way. Were those tears behind her eyes? Merlin! She couldn't cry!

Ophelia wanted to say something, something about how there was no crush and it was all in his head and he was an idiot who needed to keep his mouth shut, preferably forever. However, that was probably not going to happen because her throat was completely dry. Seriously, the water? Could someone who wasn't completely and utterly dying right now get her some water? Or a blanket? Or out of here?

She stomped her right foot, frustrated. Okay so she HAD to say something. Her pride and the possible pride of Austin himself was on the line here. The second year cleared her dry throat and pretended like that did something. It really didn't, but this was her last shred of dignity before it all went to crap. The blonde pushed her hair behind her shoulder and sat down, making sure to sit up as tall as the kid could possibly go. There would be no slouching allowed when you were attempting to save face.

"Experienced? Really? You're only about two years older than me! You can't have THAT much experience." And if he did, she didn't want to know about it. "And I don't have a CRUSH on Austin. Why would I like him anyway? He's like my cool older brother! Nothing more, nothing less." All lies. Her pants should be on fire now. Please understand that this was all lies. Because if not, then things were going to turn really bad, really fast. Worse than they already were.

What was he saying to King-Blue Eyes? What was happening that she couldn't hear? Why was this happening to her?Why could there not be a second year friendly invisibility spell to save her from this situation? Or like a spell to make her liquidy so she could sink under the floorboards and pretend this never happened. Could she somehow turn into a House Elf? Because that would be better than this.

Noel was looking for Hayley. He hadn't seen her board the train, and he hadn't been able to find ON the train. Did she even come? Did she ditch him and the whole term? Lie to everyone in the family and go see the world? Wasn't that a shared dream of theirs? He felt betrayed.

Noticing Maddie's friend Kyroh sitting, Noel walked up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder: "dude, have you seen Hayley around here somewhere?" he asked.

He was honestly worried.

Austin's face grew redder as the argument continued. Merlin, they were making a scene. Why was this necessary?The Slytherin boy had his own table, with his own snakes to annoy. He didn't need to come here making false accusations about his friend. She obviously didn't like him so there was no point in lying further. There was no need to hurt the poor third year any more.

But the boy insisted on sitting next to him on the bench. Merlin's beard, he thought. Please don't stay long. And he didn't, which was a relief for Austin. But he didn't leave before saying a few words. Ask her out!? Don't you think in his lonely summer it crossed his mind? Yea, that happened a few times. But there wasn't a point. They were silly kids and even if she did like him, it probably wouldn't last. He was a no good, depressed, 13 year old. Nobody needed to spend their time with him. But Ophie insisted on it, so he didn't bother with shooing her away. Plus she looked too cute trying to make him smile. He was happy that somebody enjoyed his company, and he wasn't going to ruin it with a relationship.

Plus, she just admitted to him being like an older brother anyways. Which was fine, she was like a little sister... right? Is this how people were supposed to act around younger sisters? He was only now learning how to act like an older brother, so he wasn't sure. "Yea," He began. But his words were hoarse, so he cleared his throat, and started again. "Ophie is like the little sister I don't have yet." Each word stung his heart as he said them, but there wasn't a point in telling the truth. She obviously didn't like him. Even still, the Ravenclaw couldn't get himself to look at her. His face was too red, and his eyes were watery. He wasn't about to cry, not here. His whole summer was spent crying so there was no point in doing it now. Especially not with people around.

Austin stood up and looked at the boy. He may have been older, but he was acting like a first year. "Why don't you mind your own business, huh?" His blue eyes glared into the Slytherin, hoping he would take the hint and drop it. After a good few seconds glaring, he turned over to The Blonde Queen. She looked like she was about to cry. He turned towards the table, and picked up his glass of water, handing it to her. "You okay?" He was concerned. She looked like she was about to run away or cry or both. And none of the above were fun.

Auphie? What was this nonsense? What was an 'auphie'? Was this some sort of muggle term? Shipping? Was auphie a ship name? That's a terrible name for a ship. The muggle life was strange. He glanced over at the head ghost that was wondering around the table. She was watching them, and probably going to get them all in trouble. But did Austin care? No. This Slytherin was pestering them, and he was not going to let him get away with it. "Just go away." He said through gritted teeth.

JASMIIIIINE! THAT'S WHAT IT WAS! Eden snapped at her and nodded. "Yes! Jasmine was prefect!" she said excitedly, smiling over at JANELLE WHO WAS JASMINE'S SISTER OH MYYY! Eden thought they looked a LOT alike. "I knew your face---from somewhere--how IS Jasmine? what is she up to?" she asked curiously. She didn't know much about Jasmine's personal life, but she did know the girl had always been nice and on top of things. Something Eden needed to WORK on. The 'on top' of things part.

"Well I actually have cookies--" from Puck. Normally she wouldn't trust Puck's cookies but---you know--the girl had OFFERED them to her so Eden was going to just think they were all right unless proven otherwise. She had already eaten...like....four. And nothing. So. Yeah. Probably safe. She pulled out the tin, though, and smirked.

Oh, the girl didn't need to worry about that. Eden just waved her hand casually. "You'll meet lots of people here. Especially once we get back to the common room--it's great! You DO have to answer a riddle to get in, though...and that...was the toughest part for me. Took me MONTHS to get into the common room on my own." She was suuuuch a great Ravenclaw. Yep.



Eden glanced up at the ghost. Right. The Grey Lady knew her name. She was a bit shocked. But she supposed she shouldn't have been--Eden just stared up at her for a minute before nodding.

"Yes! Yes I'm fine-" she smiled and nodded more. "How are you tonight, my lady?" she asked, trying to sound and BE extra polite while she was around. Grey Lady was like......super poshy. And Eden didn't much offending ghosts.



Merlin. There was another Slytherin here--and this one she didn't KNOW. But he was being loud. She supposed she could be loud, too--*glare at Gabriel Banner* but she also was ONLY loud at her OWN house table. Regardless, Eden wasn't RUDE.

She just smiled at the kid and wondered...he was...he was kind of near her, too, and she suddenly felt SHY and wanted to just..yeah...well...loud Slytherin kid over here...Eden hoped he didn't notice her STARING at him like..five seconds ago. She didn't like being called out. Nopeeee.

So she just coughed and glanced around...to look for--ah. Sophie Brown. She squinted at the girl and tried to hear what she was saying and WHO she was saying it to. On orders, of course. Super top secret stuff right HERE. She should have brought a notebook to take notes. OH. Maybe she would--no. NO. She couldn't be that OBVIOUS. So she just smiled at the Slytherin kid, completely forgetting she wasn't trying to get his ATTENTION, and just...stared at Miss...Brown.



Eden nodded. "Indeed. It does. I AM glad to be back-you get lonely over the summer. Only my pets for company." She said with a shrug. Adi was a nice guy. And prefect. Another prefect friend? That made...Puck...Zander...Adi...hmm. She was working on becoming better friends with Beverly. So this was good. It was ALWAYS good to have....prefect friends. For reasons.

Completely good, innocent reasons, too. Yep.

"Do anything of interest over the summer?" she asked, and as he spoke to the grey Lady, she wanted to warn Adi be AS. POLITE. AS. POSSIBLE because if not she'd be...snooty. Yep. SNOOTY.

"It WAS!" Because DRAGONS. In REAL LIFE. REAL DRAGONS WITH WINGS AND EVERYTHING!!! "D'you like dragons??" It hadn't even occurred to him that Thornton might not.

"That's a good idea!" He hadn't even thought about that, asking his parents for pictures. His papa had a camera so they could send him pictures right? So that when Jade was Mairwen's age he wouldn't be all surprised and stuff.

Curly hair? Hufflepuff? "Nooooooooooope. I try not to make too many friends with Hufflepuffs 'cause rumours say they die." He was already pushing the limit with Toby AND Lotus last year.




SHE WAS COMING CLOSER TO HIM! THE GREY LADY! Was she about to yell??! Or WORSE talk, sternly?? His eyes widened as he shot a look at Thornton. S.O.S?

Whatever he expected didn't happen. Instead a pleasent tone left the ghost's mouth.

"Really good ma'am. I ate really good food and grew really big." That's what good food did after all.



One moment he was trying to decide if the Grey Lady was now his friend. And the next someone was touching him. Leaning back his head, the third year gazed up at the shoulder touching culprit.

Oh.

Speak of a Puff and they would come!

Upside down Noel.

He hadn't had that many conversations with him......okay maybe two. Two conversations.

But the older boy WAS snogging his best friend.

"No....? Maybe she got tired of waiting for food and her whole stomach just gobbled her up?" Seemed probable. He grinned at the boy.

Sigh.

They were still denying that they were madly in love, eh? It was so obvious that they liked each other. Even without a romance-dar someone could easily tell they had a crush on each other. Now he had two people at the brink of tears on his hands, and this was starting to attract a crowd. The slight prank may have went a bit overboard.

Oooooh, ouch. What they were saying to each other. This was just complete friend zoning. 'She's like a sister' and 'He's like a brother'. That just had to stab at each others heart. Both to hear and to say. Obviously something else was going on with one of them.

It wasn't Ophie, because Gregoire and Ophie were really close. They practically told each other everything. So that must meant it had to have been Austin. Sighing, Gregoire said to the both of them "My apologies if I offended either of you, but from the looks of it you TWO are in love."

Turning so that he was only facing Austin he put a hand on his shoulder and looked into the piercing blue eyes. With an apologetic and empathetic look on his face, Gregoire asked in a hushed tone. "Listen. Obviously something else is upsetting you. You can talk to me about whatever else is on your mind."

Quickly glancing over his should to look at Ophie, Gregoire turned his glance back to the distraught eagle. Once again in a whispered voice "Also, Ophie didn't really mean that you were here frere-" Mentally slapping himself. "-I mean, brother. She truly does like you. It would mean the world to her if you would ask her out."

Quote:

Originally Posted by feeheeheeny

Sophie scrutinized this new girl long and hard, her expression blank even though there was a great deal of calculating going on behind her eyes. Fifth. Fifth year. Her age. In her dorm. Invading Soph and CB's personal space. That meant... oh no. Oh NO. When they went to their dormitory, she and CB weren't going to be able to SET UP THEIR BLANKET FORT. THEY'D HAVE TO SHARE A ROOM WITH SOMEONE ELSE AND BE QUIET AND KEEP TO A BEDTIME AND RESPECT SOMEONE ELSE'S SPACE.

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

IT WASN'T THE SOPHIE AND CB SHOW ANYMORE.

THIS GIRL WAS BREAKING UP THE DUO.

..."Cool." Soph smiled. "You'll be with me and our house's female prefect, Coral-Bay, but we call her CB. M'Sophie Brown. Self-appointed Head Nerd number two," she pointed to the badge on her robes that said so, "and future wandmaker and potioneer. Welcome to Ravenclaw. D'you like blanket forts and fun?"

This wasn't necessarily a total and complete disaster, was it? Soph would give the girl a chance first. Maybe they could become a TRIO.

Coral-Bay? Evie thought that was an interesting name. And this friendly girl's name was Sophie. Head Nerd number two. Evie squinted at the badge. Well, that was clever. The girl's introduction was slightly overwhelming, but Evie was pretty sure she got it all. Blanket forts? "I do," she said, her smile finally catching up with her thoughts. "I haven't made a blanket fort in a long time." But she was sure they would be more fun with friends.

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpediem

Another homeschooled kid? It was like a dream! Okay, turning off the slight dramatics, Ophelia had never met another homeschooled kid at Hogwarts before! And now she had! That was kind of exciting. Okay VERY exciting. Now the blonde wanted to know everything about this person named Evie. Did she have brothers and sisters? Was she the youngest, oldest or middle child? She had soo many questions, but if she said them, the small girl would be practically spitting out words rapid-fire style at this poor new girl. She could already imagine herself practically foaming at the mouth trying to get out all of the information she wanted. Eww. Mouth foam was nasty.

To calm herself first, she quickly took a sip of water from her goblet,allowing herself some time to breathe and process her thoughts first. Evie was going to get the tenth degree. That was for sure. However, doing it like an interrogation would get old quick for the both of them. Too much excitement for one night. Clearing her throat and putting the goblet on the table, she began to speak again.

"No problem. The only problem is all of the walking you do to get around the castle and to classes, but that becomes second nature soon too. I actually missed it during the summer!" And she let out a lighthearted laugh, though she was only half joking. You DID get extremely used to the walking.

"I bet you get a lot of exercise," Evie commented to the girl. She was rather excitable, wasn't she? "What year are you in?" she inquired.

.

.

.

Who was that shouting?

Glancing up from his notebook, Gabriel leveled said person with an annoyed look. Yes, around the table, there was the usual amount of chatter...but this one seemed purposely disruptive....And, you know, Gabe really didn't like loud noises. They were overwhelming, at best....

Must've been a Gryffindor. Every single one of them were loud. Zahra Kettleburn, for example....

Of course, after that had gotten his attention, other things followed suit. As aforementioned, Gabe wasn't leadership material...but when conflict was obnoxiously right beside him, conversations were hard to ignore. Like this....he glanced up at the boy's robes (natethegreat)....Slytherin's nagging. "Keep it down."...which sounded more like...I'm going to SILENCIO you in 10 seconds if you don't go away. Gabe was already stressed out, okay? He would do it. And...really...he didn't like this type of bullying. It didn't seem like...the boy he'd initially sat beside was in on the joke.

He tried to go back to his notebook and writing...but people were starting to notice him (Anna Banana, Ashwinder). So, he awkwardly stared back for a moment, simply sitting there...but then glanced around, trying to distract himself from the drama brewing just beside himself...and then further down the table. Gabe seen Eden with two others he didn't recognize. It looked especially angst-ridden...So, he quickly averted his gaze. If he didn't see it, he wasn't expected to do anything....right?

.........and CB. He'd lost her in the crowd at some point...and figured she'd hung back to talk with friends. A girl like her had a lot of them...which Gabriel didn't mind because in his opinion, Coral Bay was brilliant and everyone should've wanted to speak to her. He did stand to join her, though...as she surveyed their house table.

She was going to be brilliant at this.

....and the Grey Lady was speaking to them. He flushed brightly at the praise, ducking his head for a moment. No, he didn't see how he was a good choice....but..."Thank you."

Tyler nodded in agreement. "Yeah you're right about that, some people are very nosy indeed."said Tyler softly but honestly before shaking his head. "Also to nosy in here, and I want to tell you somewhere quiet and private. " "At least I know where I'm going to tell her at, I'm not one of those idiots wondering where I'm going to tell the girl I love where I love her at!"Tyler thought to himself. He rolled his eyes at the the thought of guys being that stupid, really did you not know where you first met your girl at? Tyler did know how some guys could forget something as important as that, that was the whole important place and the date you met as well!

Abby smiled at said "Yeah i agree with you there Tyler it is far too noisy in here" Abby could see from where she sat that there was a lot of commotion at the slytherin table as a professor was there dealing with students who were not behaving

Now the difficult part came ... finding where to sit after the sorting. She only knew a handful of people so far. What if she found herself near people who smelled funky or picked their nose while they ate? Or what if someone was accident-prone and spilled pumpkin juice on her.

Smiling casually as she walked down the aisle in search of seat, Tia's chocolate eyes roamed for a familiar face.

And there was someone she knew. Or well not technically since she had no idea the girl's name, but she knew she was in fourth year and judging from her robes, she was apparently her housemate as well.

Tia plopped herself down across from her and clasped her hands together. "So, now that we're going to be sharing a dorm together, do I get to know your name at least?" Cause otherwise it was going to be a long three years if the girl talked as much as she did in Malkin's ... which was not much.

Janelle laughed at Adi's description of Margo. Hyper was a bit of an understatement. Not to mention the fear of water thing. "Why would Margo think I wouldn't want to be her friend? I'll try to get over to the Hufflepuff table before the feast is over. Then Janelle thought about it for a moment. "Are first years allowed to leave their house tables?" Wouldn't want to start the term on a bad note.

Janelle hoped that Adi was right. She wanted to make lots of friends at school. She probably should get started with the people right at this table. From now on, she was on a mission.



OK, so she did know Jasmine. That would explain the funny looks. "Yes, Jasmine is my sister. She's doing fine.......on her way to the university in a couple of days. I'll tell her I met you when I send her an owl."

Oh, she would have another chance to meet her housemates in the Common Room. Cool. "Jasmine mentioned the riddle thing to me. I am not looking forward to that." What if she wasn't able to solve the riddle and got stuck outside the Common Room? That would be bad. Well the Sorting Hat put her in Ravenclaw for a reason, even if Janelle wasn't sure why. Hopefully she could figure it out.

"What's the best part of being in Ravenclaw, to you that is?" Janelle supposed that the answer to that question was different for everybody. She would have to figure out her own answer.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He tried to brush everything off like it was nothing. Of course he wasn't in love with this adorable blonde girl. Only old people loved. Not 12 and 13 year olds, and definitely not Austin. Nope, no love. Nope... well... right? Maybe... he didn't know. And obviously Ophelia didn't want anything to do with him. So even if he did love her, there wasn't anything he could do.

He was about to turn away from the Snake when he decided they were going to have a little talk.

Um...What?

They had only just met. Austin didn't know this boy, hardly even knew his name. They were never properly introduced, and even in classes he hadn't seen this boy. They were in different houses, and Slytherins were known for causing trouble. He would know, his father was one. The more the boy talked, the more it boiled his blood. "What in Merlin's Beard are you talking about? There is nothing wrong with me. Everything is perfectly fine. I just met you a few minutes ago, if there was anything wrong with me, I wouldn't go to you." Yea, maybe that was harsh. But it was the truth.

He turned to look at Ophie, hoping he didn't scare the second year. He wanted nothing more than to run and hide at this moment, for this was not how he was hoping his first day was going to go. He was embarrassed and angry, mainly at this Snake. Why did he have to come in here and ruin everything? He was perfectly fine sitting here by himself. He was also fine sitting here with Ophie. But this, this was just annoying. "Dude," He said, talking to the boy. "Lay off. She obviously doesn't have a crush on me so drop it." Sure, he would have like to ask her out. But she would easily turn him down, she made that clear.

Mcclay was so ready for this year! The O.W.L.S were over, and he ha survived them, his only downfall being Muggle Studies, but that was okay, this year was a clean slate and he was going to try even harder. Seeing many new faces this year, his mouth formed a huge grin. People were his THING. Sure, he was a bit weird, but whatevsies. He could mingle with the best of them.

"Hey all! Welcome back!"

BEAM.

"And to the newbies... WELCOME!"

Text Cut: Soph! Grey Lady :/ Tia!

Quote:

Originally Posted by feeheeheeny

When she felt movement beside her, Soph's eyebrows instinctively raised and her gaze fell upon an unfamiliar face who, like the girl on the other side of Josie and Ophelia, looked to be around her age. Sigh. Another new dormmate for her and CB?

"Hi, M'Sophie Brown, fifth year. Welcome to Ravenclaw." She almost extended her hand to shake, but thought better of it. No, too formal. After a beat, Soph lowered her voice to a whisper and went on, "Y'look a little nervous, but don't worry, y'don't need to be - it's gonna be fun. You'll love it here. And you got put in the best house, too - everyone's really nice and friendly and s'like one big family. Any negative feelings you're feeling right now'll go away in no time. Promise. And if after a week y'don't agree with me, feel free to tell everyone I'm a liar." Hehe. THAT's how certain she was that the girl was going to like it just fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grey Lady

Helena had looked on with interest and pride as another student had been sorted into the home of her mother’s. As the young girl came over and took a seat at the table the grey lady waved at her with an elegantly nail polished hand."Welcome to the house of the eagles! I hope you'll come to like it here."

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Now the difficult part came ... finding where to sit after the sorting. She only knew a handful of people so far. What if she found herself near people who smelled funky or picked their nose while they ate? Or what if someone was accident-prone and spilled pumpkin juice on her.

Smiling casually as she walked down the aisle in search of seat, Tia's chocolate eyes roamed for a familiar face.



And there was someone she knew. Or well not technically since she had no idea the girl's name, but she knew she was in fourth year and judging from her robes, she was apparently her housemate as well.

Tia plopped herself down across from her and clasped her hands together. "So, now that we're going to be sharing a dorm together, do I get to know your name at least?" Cause otherwise it was going to be a long three years if the girl talked as much as she did in Malkin's ... which was not much.

..........Oh, for heaven's sake. The ghost...not only existed, but could SPEAK. Mum. Didn't. Cover. This. Ariel didn't know there were such things as ghosts. She'd thought they were made up for stories. Ghost stories. Stories. Now there was one talking to her and it was really more than the new student could handle. Ariel cupped her hands around her face to block out the ghost and narrow her surroundings.

Luckily, she seemed to sit next to a very talkative girl named Sophie Brown. Actually, she was quite overwhelming, too. Ariel could only muster up a painful looking smile to giver Sophie in appreciation to her 'welcome' and 'advice'. Everything she'd just said was very hard to believe right now. Especially about the negative feelings going away. She wanted to vomit and cry and go home.

To make matters....worse? that girl from the robe shop sat across from her and wanted to talk. It took Ariel a moment to answer, as she had to find her voice and swallow the sick feeling and decide to answer at all. "Ariel..." They were going to share a dorm? Was that how Hogwarts worked? They slept in dorms? She didn't even get her own room to hide away in at the end of the night?

Eyes trailed over to linger by Sir Nicholas for a moment before Helena turned to answer Nicole’s question. "My summer was quiet but lovely. The other ghosts of the castle kept me company. I like watching the stars and constellations on clear nights in the observatory." With Sir Nicholas but she kept that bit to herself.

Hearing about Nicole's train ride the Grey Lady said cheerfully. "That's just wonderful news Nicole! Are your new friends sorted into Ravenclaw too?"

Gaze shifting to the boy in black and yellow robes with a prefect badge pinned to his chest Helena politely acknowledged him. "Good evening Prefect Rehman, yes? The Friar has told me good things about you.! It was wonderful that student's of other houses came and visited the Ravenclaw table.

Gaze shifting to look over at Kate once more Helena took the news that the young girl hadn't been taught Norwegian with some indifference. It didn't matter even if she thought it was a pity. Putting a cheery tone to her voice she said "Hogwarts doesn’t teach languages but it offers lots of other exciting subjects. My favourite subject when I went here was Transfiguration."

"That's okay dear. If you ever want to know I'm sure Mr Kitridge can be of assistance if you seek him out in the library." Helena said with a gesture to the man sitting on the staff dais with dark mop hair and navy robes to the right. "Mr Kitridge is the school's librarian and Ravenclaw's Head of House." It was important that all new first years to know who was who.

Dude? Appalled Helena floated closer to eye the boy up and down with a disproving wrinkle to her nose and tone of voice. “Young man, I really hope you have better manners than that. At this table we address people by their first names, not by dude." If he insisted to call her dude too then she'd seek out the Friar and complain very strongly. She was a very elegant lady.

Poor Eden, it was clear that the young woman was lying to her face. Helena couldn’t understand why the senior girl felt the need to put on a facade. If the student’s milling around her were the problem then Helena could ask them to go back to their own tables or she’d get Gabriel or Coral-Bay to do it. They had prefect authority now that they should learn to use with care.

Smiling a little cheerily she said. "I'm feeling splendid dear. I always do at that start of a new year. Aren't you looking forward to starting classes tomorrow?"

Amused Helena asked Kyroh "Did the good food include vegetables like spinach?" Eyeing him up and down in his seat she said thoughtfully. "You might actually have grown a few inches over summer."

Spotting a new girl, she had never met before join the table after being sorted, Helena floated over to greet her. "Welcome to the house of the eagles, miss?" Knowing the girl's name would make future encounters easier.

Blinking at the loud mouthed boy who was beaming at everyone who looked in his direction Helena gave him an elegant wave with her hand. "Welcome back Mr?" He hadn’t been sorted by the hat but that didn’t mean anything. He was clearly an eagle from the colour of his robes and the house emblem on his chest.

Instead of answering her question the girl hid her face in her hands and didn't say anything at all. This was not okay. You answered your elders. It was common courtesy and something Helena expected of all eagles. They weren’t allowed to ignore her. She was a lady and their house ghost. Eyeing the girl, she folded her expertly manicured hands in front of her and waited to be acknowledged.

A-HA! This one! He was the only one to laid eyes on him! Aegis went down to his level squatting to be eye-to-eye with him. "You. you can help me. Only one of your Lot who noticed me yet." Aegis looked down at his Robe and noticed the Blue Badge on his Robe with the letter P on it. "Oh even better, you can be obligated to help me then, because I'm looking for one of yours yeah!?"

He leaned in closer til he could speak in a hushed whisper. "Kay so firstly, I'm Aegis. Today is my Birthday, but I gotta prove that to some Curly Haired-Freckled kid who's in your House." He peered upwards and around the Table once more to see if he could spot the Kid...Nope. "Yeah, so help me out."

So apparently Nicole really did miss being called by the nickname Adi had given her when he first met her at the Apothecary. "Of course! I can't forget the name I gave you... Nicky.'' Adi returned her grin. "You would have,'' he continued. "It's because I'm a Hufflepuff, isn't it?'' LOL. "It was great! I prefer being back here do. I know you haven't seen much of Hogwarts so far but how are you liking it so far? Did you enjoy the trip across the lake?"

Kate was all smiles. Adi did not miss that. But he also noticed her continuous glances in the direction of the Slytherin table. "There's a new student causing chaos apparently. She got into an argument with the Slytherin Ghost, the Bloody Baron.'' The same Ghost that had shooed Adi away from the Table but he had nothing against him. "Professor Belliare went over to sort things out.'' And knowing Bellaire, she would.

"Good. I was wondering if it was just that day so now I wouldn't feel guilty about giving you that one.'' Or anytime later since it was such a habit of his to share his Froggies. "Remember to tell me what's the first question you were asked before you could answer the common room. I've always been glad we've only got to give passwords before we could go into the Hufflepuff one. Imagine if you didn't know the answer... you'd be stuck outside until a House member came along." Heh.

"I've been told that I am.'' Adi tried to look modest. "Er... most of them are. But I don't think I'm one of those... unless I have to be." But Adi preferred to just let students see things by way of reasoning.

"True,'' Adi agreed with Eden. "Especially when you live around a whole lot of Muggles. Half and half,'' he added so that the Ravenclaw would understand why he lived mostly around Muggles. "Just hung out at the Music Festival for sometime before getting all the usual supplies for the new term. You wrote OWLs last term, didn't you?

"I think she figured that she's clumsy when she fell into the water and that you wouldn't want someone like her for a friend.'' Adi looked closely at Janelle. "Did you get wet too?" She seemed okay but you never knew. "Great! I won't tell her anything when I get back over there. You can give her a surprise.'' Another question! "Yes, I guess. No one will stop you from going to see a friend. Just get back to this one before the Feast is over since your prefects will show you to your common room and dorm.'' Adi paused. "Are you looking forward to seeing the common room? I'm sure Jasmine must have spoken a lot about it.''

"Hey, Tia!'' Adi said in the direction of the fourth year. "Not a Puffer, huh?" He was disappointed but pleased for her at the same time. "Ravenclaw's no Hufflepuff but you'll love it."

If Adi had the ability to go red like Benny or Zander, he was positive he would have at that moment. He had not been expecting that from the Grey Lady. He nodded as he smiled at her, liking her already. And she didn't seem to have a problem with him being there. "Do you House Ghosts like visiting other House tables?'' he wondered out aloud.

Every word that Austin said hurt. But then again, the twelve year old was the one who started this whole brother and sister lie, and she was going to have to live with the consequences. However annoying and sad they may be. Austin's voice also hurt her. It sounded like he might cry too. Tears budded and ebbed at the back of her blue-grey eyes, but the second year held them back. Ophelia didn't cry. Besides, there HAD to be truth there, even if it was mostly a lie. And there were soo many girls around. Ophelia wasn't even sure she was first on anyone's list, much less Austin's. Problem was, she didn't know really HOW to be sisterly with King-Blue-Eyes. All in good time.

And was she okay? Not at all. Still felt like she was gonna puke and the frustration was getting worse and now there was the nagging feeling of crying she was going to have to deal with. Could she fake it enough to make people think she was? Of course. So the blonde twirled a piece of curly hair around her index finger and smiled. Although there was no way that the smile reached her wide eyes. Taking the goblet from Austin and taking a quick sip, the kid found that the cool liquid helped a little.

WHY WAS HE TALKING TO AUSTIN ALONE? There was no way he was helping her case any and in fact was probably hurting it. Although that would be heard. Although, she did hear Austin say that she didn't like him, so he was probably attempting to help, although now was the exact WRONG time.

Ophelia wanted to walk away and join someone else's conversation, but the prospect of leaving Gregroire alone with Austin would just make everything waaay worse.

Also, offended? Way past offended buddy. Like a million miles past offended. Which, if she had the choice, that's how many miles Ophelia would run away right now. But feast and food and Hogwarts. So thanks, bro. Now if they could disband the conversation and let her curl up in a ball on her bed and sleep, that would be mighty fine. Because she had no idea how she was going to face either of them.

(Way before the fight)

Ophelia smiled up at the elder girl. Listening to the older ones talk was interesting, and the little squirt hoped they could be friends. Or at least people to talk to during the school year.

"I'm a second year. And yeah, I spend half of my time outside. How about you?'"