Thornton positioned himself right at the doorway to catch students as they came in. After the craziness of the opening feast, so many of the raffle tickets had gone undistributed, and so he was there to pass them out - after having carefully dried them all, as they'd been doused in the rain.

Tonight would be a better night, yes?

It had to be.


ooc: Feel free to say you just grabbed one if you want. I work and might not be around

Olivia for one was glad to have survived her first night in the castle. The common room had been as pretty and awesome if not more than she had expected and after the second, much better day, she was ready to get back to it after a decent dinner this time around. Answering the riddle, the first year stepped inside the room to see their head of house about the decorated room and Thorton the prefect she had met at the feast before it went crazy was standing by the door.

“Good evening,” she greeted with a smile. Oh, they were getting raffle tickets?

Cool! One raffle ticket for her then.

Huff huff huff...

Azura entered the common room and panted a bit as she put a hand on the wall. Merlin! That climb was a doozy! Though thankfully she had only tripped once! She has left dinner and Jasper Early in order to get a head start so she could go slowly up the stairs and not die!

Her purple eyes blinked as she looked around her common room!

What was going on?

She turned to see Prefect Thorton standing right next to the door and she smiled warmly at him. "What's going on?" She asked him curiously as she took a ticket and made her way inside to sit down.

The now officially 12 year old nearly collided with Thornton as she entered. It was her fault. Mostly. She had just spent her entire birthday, in school, learning, and was still having one of the best birthdays ever.

On the one hand, school now taught magic, but this was still throwing Haddie for a loop. Coupled with the fact she was missing her twin more than ever today ---It was the first birthday she'd ever spent apart from Natalie---, the birthday girl's vague lack of grace and where Thornton was standing, it was a near disaster that was just barely avoided.

"Sorry." It was sincere. "I just, um..." Haddie caught sight of the raffle tickets in Thornton's hand and perked up a little. "Oh, the raffle! Do I have time to run up to my room and get something?" In all the excitement of the yesterday and then all the trouble she got into, she'd forgotten about the present Mom had apparently slipped into her trunk, until tonight's dinner that is, and was eager to open it and find out what it was.

Tonight would be a better night, thanks so much for asking, Prefect Thornton's inner dialogue! It could hardly be worse, after having to spend the previous evening picking up soggy, ruined food by hand and putting it on plates because she didn't know any of the clean-up spells the other students were whisking about with. Tonight would, most definitely, be bett...

Omigoodness House Dad was wearing pajamas! Silky, dramatically flowing pajamas, which were so clearly the best kind of pajamas! Julia promptly resolved to go and change into hers, which admittedly weren't silky or dramatically flowing, but still comfortable. Solidarity! Ravenclaw bonding! Her new blouse was itchy!

But first, Prefect Thornton, he of the shielding big brotherliness, was handing out tickets. For something. Didn't matter what, really, and since tickets could be finite but her pajamas were hers alone, she decided she'd best grab a ticket first.

"Yes please!" She chirped up at him, holding out her hand. Maybe if she was extra chipper he'd give her two. For whatever they were for.

Lex couldn't help but gape at the starry ceiling, looking around the deep blue common room, undecided if it felt like the bottom of the sea or the edge of the cosmos. He nearly bumped into the prefect (Thompson? Thornton?) on his way to take a seat.
"Sorry," he muttered, taking a proffered raffle ticket and taking a seat in an armchair. He curled his legs up, the small boy fitting his whole body easily in its cushiony embrace. From his secure perch, he watched curiously as his fellows, soon to be classmates, filed in around him.

School was officially in session and Janelle was glad. Tired, but glad. Finally making it back to the Common Room, she discovered that it was time for fun.......and s'mores. OK, rest could wait for a while.

Janelle saw her new Prefect lurking near the entrance with raffle tickets. "Hi Thornton. Congratulations on becoming Prefect." Unfortunately she hadn't had a chance to say that yesterday because of all the goings on at the feast. "May I have a ticket?", Janelle asked before taking the lucky ticket that the prefect handed her. "Thanks. I know this is a winner."

"Hello Mr. Kitridge", Janelle said, before taking a seat in her favorite chair. It was the perfect spot to people watch. Observing her housemates was always interesting and informative.

Austin loved times like tonight. Every year there were activities that involved his fellow 'Claws. Last year they all made food together. This year, it looked like a s'mores cookout. There was no way he was missing this. Having just come from the Great Hall (which had thankfully been fully cleaned after last night's events) he was ready for some desert. But on his way in he was stopped by Thornton. They haven't spoken much, but they were in the same year, and, thankfully, he remembered his name. "Thornton, hey! Thanks." He happily grabbed a raffle ticket, although what it was used for, he didn't know. The boy placed his ticket in his potions notebook, so it wouldn't get lost, and put it in his messenger bag. Which he promptly placed in an empty chair.

The only people he recognized were Azura and Thornton, but there were new faces sitting around the fire. After roasting his own marshmallow to burnt perfection, he said a nice "Hey there," to Azura. "Mind if I sit here?" He nodded his head to the empty spot next to her.

Abby entered the common room after finishing cleaning the table and chairs after the feast and smiled at Thornton as she grabbed a raffle ticket and took a seat by the fire what a crazy way to open the term

Azura had grabbed a cup of pumpkin juice and had settled into a chair, with empty spots on either side of her.. She was saving one of the spots for Jasper.. but the other..

She turned her purple eyes up to Austin as he spoke to her and she smiled warmly up at him. "Hey Austin! Of Course, feel free to sit down." She said as she patted the chair next to her. She moved her bag over to the other chair, to make sure it would be saved for Jazz..

"How was your first day?" She asked him.

Jasper was almost convinced he was late, but walking into the common room he realised that he wasn't actually one of the last people to arrive.

Grabbing a ticket, the boy smiled and waved at all the other Ravenclaws that were already in the common room. He knew some of them. Thornton, Azura and Austin at least.

Noticing that the last two were sitting together, he immediately made his way to them. "Hey Azura, Austin," he greeted quietly though a grin crossed his face. He wondered what they were even going to do. For now though, he just settled himself sitting down on Azura's other side.

A well-worn copy of Robert Burns poetry clutched in one hand the little redhead slipped quietly into the common room, thanking Thornton politely as she took the raffle ticket she'd failed to take the previous night and almost running into Haddie who was still standing in front of the prefect.

"Happy birthday cousin," she said with a little smile and ventured a small hug for Haddie. "Here's to you keeping drier this year."

With another smile she left her cousin to whatever business had obviously been on Haddie's mind and wandered towards the fire where she took an empty mug, filled it with water, and left it to warm while she fished a sachet of tea out of the left pocket of her comfy pajama pants. The blue and green of the cozy garment's Clan Gordon tartan pattern was a comforting reminder of home as she curled up in the chair, warm mug of tea gripped with both hands and Robert Burns' timeless words sitting open in her lap.

Thus contented, she watched the room happily, quietly enjoying her housemates. She wasn't avoiding them, indeed her expression was quite friendly, she was simply herself - quietly happy to be amongst them and ready to cheerfully engage if anyone chose.

The riddle wasn't very difficult and in no time Rachel had access to her Common Room. "Hello, Prefect Thornton,'' she greeted when she stepped in. What was this? Tickets for the raffle? She graciously accepted one. "Thank you.'' She smiled at the boy before drawing her attention around the Room.

There were all the familiar faces but she sought out Haddie or Garreth or both. It was Haddie she located first and automatically drifted closer to her since she was so close to Thornton already. She linked an arm through one of her best friend's. "Not causing any trouble, are you?'' Rachel smiled as she cast her eyes around again. "Hello, Ailsa. Looking for Garreth too?'' There was also Azura, Janelle, Olivia and a few others. No Garreth, however.

No sooner had Hadley taken the raffle ticket from Thornton did she find herself in a tiny embrace from Ailsa. "Thanks, Cuz," she said, returning the hug and blinking, a bit confused by the second half. She shrugged it off. "I think this is first time either of us have celebrated the other's birthday." She'd only reconnected with her cousin the day before, but it was hard not to see all that they had missed by not being in each other's lives. Stupid Dad and his stupid fight with his stupid twin!

As Ailsa wandered off to prepare her silly tea, Rachel linked arms with Haddie, leading her away from the prefect ---which everyone would agree was probably for the best--- and deeper into the surreal common room. "Never!" Haddie scoffed, without being able to keep a straight face. She shrugged and looked around. Rachel knew everyone already, but Haddie was still getting to know people, so she just waved at the others for now. "It's my birthday," she reminded Rachel. "I can cause trouble if I want to. I need to run up to our room to get something. Coming with or saving me a seat?"

Ailsa gave a little wave to her fellow freckle face Rachel. And then nearly choked on her tea. "No! I mean, not that I don't want him here, I just wasn't looking for him. Honest." There was a moment's pause before the girl continued with a abrupt subject change. "Don't you just love this room? All the constellations on the ceiling - it's almost like camping."

Austin happily sat down next to Azura. The marshmallow on his stick had cooled down just enough to pull off and eat. Burnt on the outside and mushy on the inside; just how he liked it. He pulled out another one, and stuck it in the fire, glad to have his favorite treat on hand.

"Honestly, it was pretty good. I haven't met the divination's teacher yet, but I'm liking the potion's master more than I thought I would." The new man was nice, and was helpful when Austin messed up. It was going to take some getting used to, but he could tell it was going to be a great class.

"What about you? Do you have a favorite class yet?"

A smile grew on Austin's face. "Jasper, hey! We were just talking about classes. Do you have one that you enjoy so far?" No everyone 'found their calling', as Austin did with Potions. Sometimes it took a while before anything stuck. Hopefully they found some fun things to do. Many first years have enjoyed their new classes, glad to learn new things. Especially since most of the classes were about magic. The face 11-year-olds made when they entered a classroom on the first day of school was priceless.

When his next marshmallow was as burnt as the last, he pulled it out of the fire and popped it in his mouth. Yum!

Azura smiled and sipped her pumpkin juice as Austin spoke and she perked up a bit as he mentioned potions! "Oh really? You've met him? I still need too." She said with a nod as she looked up at the older boy, she wasn't eating marshmallows! She didn't like them!

She was very content to sip her pumpkin juice!

"Potions." Was her automatic response. She loved them! As did her mother and she was looking forward to those classes!

She heard a familiar voice and she turned to see Jasper coming towards them and he settled in the spot she has saved for him.

"Hey Jazzy, how's it going?" She asked as she waited for his response to Austin! She was curious about the answer too!

Just hand out the tickets, Thornton. It's not the big a deal. You can't really screw it up, ok? His inner monologue was churning away, though there was a smile on his face. "Keep it safe," he said, handing it over.

Having handed her the ticket, he continued to pass them out, while also answering her question.

"Bit of Ravenclaw fun," he said, maybe a little cryptically. "There's snacks and marshmellows for the fine, and whatnot. Make yourself comfy."

Oh! "And keep that ticket safe."

Ah. Haddie. "It's alright," he said, trying to seem friendly. No hard feeling - well, not many, anyway - after the night before. If he got past his upset at the food fight, he would have to admit that her 'loophole' was quite quick thinking. "We won't be starting for a bit, so if you need to, sure. Run up, then come back and get comfy."

Comfy. Hogwarts had made Thornton say words like comfy. Father would not be amused.

Between picking the peas off his shoulder the night before and her enthusiasm today, Julia was going to be a firstie that Thornton kept his eye on.... in a positive way.

He placed just one ticket in her hand, however. A single ticket for each student, that was the rule.

"No worries," Thornton managed as the boy brushed past. He did get his ticket, though!

"Janelle, hi, thank you." He smiled as he handed over the ticket. Yes, this was turning out to be a much better evening. Friendly students, no flying food. Ravenclaw goodies to be distributed shortly.

Exactly what he'd been hoping for.

"No problem." Austin was in his year, though they didn't know each other terribly well. Perhaps that needed to change...

Thornton was distracted, though, as he followed the progression of Austin's ticket. Into a book, into a bag, and onto a chair.

"Don't lose that!"

"Welcome, Abby," he said as she came by. "Make sure you grab some snacks..."

And a ticket for Jasper... This ticket distributing thing was excellent for remembering names. Thornton filed it away as he continued about his duties.

And a ticket here too... Thornton spied the book of poetry as she went by, recognizing it as one he'd read. "The library has quite a bit of poetry," he offered, hoping he was being helpful.

Maybe they could discuss that later.

"Just Thornton is fine," he said, handing over the ticket. No need for titles every time.

Thornton looked around the common room as it filled, mostly with the younger students first. He supposed that made sense... fifth, sixth and seventh years had been doing this opening night thing for many years and many of them would take their time getting upstairs.

He just hoped none of them would kick the younger students off the couches.

Garreth did so love riddles. The invigorating thrill he felt when finally solved a hard one was similar in intensity to the one he felt when he learned a new useless fact or understood a new mathematical concept. It all stemmed from his love of unveiling mysteries. Thoughts, words, concepts and actions, things previously hidden, now uncovered. Few things made him happy the way a good riddle did.

His affinity for them meant that it didn't take him long to figure out the one given to him by the famous knocker. The boy still had hard time believing he was finally there. The Ravenclaw tower, where he belonged. When the knocker was satisfied with his answer and the door swung open to reveal the common room, the bespectacled first year stepped inside.

The one and only Ravenclaw common room. It was still as magnificent as the first time he saw it, the night before.

Oh! And there was Prefect Thornton handing out raffle tickets. With all the commotion at the opening feast, Garreth had, like many of his housemates, been unable to get his hands on a ticket, and h half expected to not be eligible for a prize because of that. Thankfully though, Ravenclaw thinks of everything. "Thank you very much." he smiled politely as he received his ticket and stepped from the entryway into the common room proper.

Rachel, Haddie, and Ailsa were the first familiar faces he spotted, instinctively making his way toward them. Of course, he noticed Mr. Kitridge, but once again, found it difficult to introduce himself, though he wanted to. Garreth admired the man very much, and had a multitude of questions regarding the day to day operation of the world famous Hogwarts library. Not to mention the fact that he was also Head of House, practically the leader, of Ravenclaw house, the object of his biggest aspirations since learning to speak.

So how could he just waltz right up and say hello?

Instead, he approached the aforementioned familiar faces and gave a distracted wave, his mind completely in the clouds. "Hey, you guys." he muttered, straightening his Ravenclaw tie, which thankfully had been spared ruin at the hands of the previous night's food fight.

Oh great, David was early for another Hogwarts event. Although, as he stepped into the common room and took a raffle ticket from prefect Baines, maybe he wasn't that early? It seemed as though all the first years were still roving the school in a pack, and like sitting together and stuff. Cute. He didn't blame them though. Not everyonehad a highly tuned internal map of this place as he did. So with a slightly smirky smile on his face, David took a seat near the older students (Janelle and Thornton and Austin and such) and nodded toward his harried HoH. Even though the librarian looked busy, Davie was OBVIOUSLY going to try to talk to him.

"Hello Mr. Kitridge. How was your summer? Did you see Professor Morgan at all? Does she miss us yet?" Just wondering. He'd heard a rumor that Kitridge liked her kitty cats or something. They were probably BFFS like him an' Char. And plus, Prof. Morgan had been a great teacher. He hadn't even KNOWN how cool divination was till he'd taken it last year. This year, he was pretty unsure about it.

Katherine... was still traumatised by that feast.

It began right after the Headmistress' speech. The - oh Merlin, a food fight. She HATED any and all kinds of chaos and violence - yes, she did think a food fight was violent - and to see her DREAMS' school engaged in such a childish, gross, inconsiderate and stupid activity had left her profoundly disappointed. Maybe... she should have attended Salem. They had all read about the security worries - no, breaches in Hogwarts, after all. She had spent the whole feast under the table, sobbing, afraid, in disbelief and HUNGRY. She hadn't been able to eat before, and she felt nauseous after. Her first ever feast was ruined by some stupid monkeys who thought joking with food was funny and although Ravenclaw hadn't been involved (save for that Haddie girl and someone else she couldn't catch), she didn't even want to come to this meeting, but it also sounded like she had to. Besides, she still believed in Hogwarts - especially her house. She just... had to be EXTRA careful about who was her friend.

So she shuffled into the common room and just stood in the corner. Although she was curious about those tickets, Haddie was there and being a troublemaker was contagious, so she preferred to stay where she was and watch from slightly afar.

Scurrying back and forth fixing things Leo heard the sound of feat and chattering children behind him as he made the final preparations. Having been in the library all day had given him less time to get things ready. Lifting the chest up on a stool he turned to the eagles.

Broadly smiling he greeted the first student who had just claimed a chair. "Hi Janelle! It's good to see you again. How was your summer?" Leo had had no time for catching up with any of the students at the feast. He'd correct that today.



Smiling at one of the new first year boys Leo gestured to the ceiling. "Isn't it amazing? I always felt that when I looked up at the ceiling that I was a small part of cosmos. Does it feel like that for you too?"

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Mr Leobald Kitridge, Ravenclaw's Head of House and you are Alexander Montague, right?" He hoped he had remembered his name correctly from when the boy had been sorted the previous night at the feast.



Turning to beam at the ever inquisitive boy by the name of David Truebridge he responded. "Evening David, It's nice to see you again and congrats to entering your second year here. Professor Morgan misses all of you very much. She told me to tell you to keep happy snapping and to wear lots of pink accessories."

Moving to claim a pink comfy chair Leo continued. "My summer was great. Spent most of it with Professor Morgan. She is one could say my one true BFF. How was your summer David? Played any quidditch?" He doubted that it was wise to let it out that he was engaged to Professor Morgan. It'd spread like juice on the grapevine. Very Fast!



"Good evening Abby," Leo called over to the senior girl. "How did your OWL's go? Did you get the grades you hoped for?" He still remembered how nervous he had been when he had gotten the letter over the summer with his own OWL' grades. He had gotten his sister Rose to open it for him because he had been too scared to. Luckily it was all good news. He hoped it had been the same for Abby.



It was good to see that Thornton was passing out raffle tickets left and right. Shooting the prefect a thumbs up and a smile Leo turned to make sure that chest with the prizes was still locked. He'd get embarrassed if everything there had gotten feet but it had weighed a lot when he had lifted it earlier. No use worrying.



Spotting a blond hovering in a corner Leo beckoned her to come closer with a cheery smile. "Hi there, come closer. I promise none of us bites. We've got many tasty treats to roast over the fire in the fireplace. Do you perhaps like smorés?"

Looking around at the so far assembled student he beamed broadly as he cleared his throat to get a moments attention from them all. "We'll wait a few more minutes to let the stragglers still at dinner join us before I'll open the commune and tell you all about the first ever eagle raffle."

Ooc: As Leo just said. Wait's a bit longer to open the commune to allow for more student users to join us. I'll open it tomorrow morning sometime. Roast treats and chatter in the mean time.

Drat. Maybe she should have been a little more bouncy in her approach or something. Still, this just meant that her one ticket was going to be twice as special as all the other ones, right? Wrong. Right.

Enthused by this thought, Julia gave Thornton another smile, informed him "I'm going to put my jammies on", and hurried off.

A few minutes later, Julia reappeared in her not-silky-or-billowing-but-still-resplendent pink and purple Puffskein pajamas. That was the word on today's calendar, resplendent, and she'd already used it with frequency to describe the castle as she traveled through it, getting lost more than a few times and clinging to older students of any house to rescue and redirect her.

There was a big group of her year mates in one part of the room, including but not limited to the feast disruptors who'd somehow not been drafted into cleaning up the hall, but Julia remembered her earlier (internal) rallying cry of house solidarity and instead aimed for the one standing off by herself. In a corner.

"Are you in a time out?"

Did their House Dad give time outs? If he did, maybe she shouldn't be talking to this girl; after all, in Julia's house, if the time out got disrupted it had to start all over. Not fun.

A raffle? Ooh!

Julia held up the ticket in her hand with a new understanding of what it was for. Prizes! Goodies! Yay!

She waved her ticket in potentially-in-time-out girl's face, "You should get one of these from Prefect Thornton! Go go!"

After the first day of classes and the second night back at school Chloe's hair had gotten a little out-of-control. The braids she had gotten used to her sister doing all summer to keep hair out of her face were too hard for her to do on her own. So she had spent the whole day blowing hair out of her eyes and had now, understandably, given up. The blonde stray hairs would just go where they wanted. She would try again tomorrow.

But because of the hair all in her face she didn't quite notice all of the people gathered in the Common Room until she was in the middle of it.

The whole thing seemed like a welcome back party but people were holding tickets. And she wasn't sure why.

She shuffled over to the nearest prefect and asked, "What's going on?"