"He's told me how great you are, and I believe it." She smiled, for a second she thought she saw Kurumi's hair tips turn pink. She looked back at them, but they were black. Huh. Weird. It must've been her imagination, or Kurumi's bright pink cheeks. "Thanks! But I'm just from Cambridge. Nowhere special. I don't know how I got such a strange name..." Good question.... Her name was pretty unique. Her brother's name was normal. Her parent's, Tom and Hannah, had really normal names too. Weird. "What about you? Kurumi's pretty interesting too!"

"That's cool. My friend Violet is really into Care of Magical Creatures... actually any creature, she's a vegan. I have to give her credit, I couldn't do it. And Arthimancy... that's divination right? Well a type of divination." In all honesty she was quite fuzzy on that subject. Her mother had told her that it was the study of divination with numbers, but what that actually entailed she was not sure.

"Muggle Studies? That's cool. I'm actually fascinated in it myself. My grandfather on my Mum's side is a muggle. So whenever I go over to their house I'm always playing with all of their gadgets and listening to Grandad Connor's stories."

Simon changed the center of his attention, looking to his other side as his best guy friend took the seat right next to him. "No pressure..eh?" he commented back, Josh's words making it seem as if it all rested on his shoulders. That was one things he didn't want --- people thinking he could make up the difference between winning and losing. "I'm sure we'll do great though. Already seeing a lot of energy and possibilities for the team."

He returned the handshake no matter how odd it seemed having been friends so long with his companion. "Well seeing as the last I remembered they were all good contenders we'll have to wait and see."

Simon smiled at her wink and wondered why she blushed all of a sudden, the words that followed answering any further questions. " Nothing to ashamed of...especially seeing as your a second year and quidditch isn't always big outside of school and the tournament cancelled it last year." he reasoned, her confession not as much of a shock as the girl he had met on the train.

"You'll certainly have to this year though," he replied. "I assure you its almost just as exciting to watch as play." The boy wasn't expecting the next question though. Like quidditch---hmm. A question that could have many answers if he had the time to think it through for a bit.

"Its fun," Simon answered at first, trying to gather his thoughts. "And to be honest its one of the rare sports I'm good at showing I'm not just a bookworm."

Em nodded. "Same here. I don't know many Gryffindors, so I came over here to see if I could meet some. I was just getting ready to get up because it was getting kind of lonely over here." She looked up at the older girl "So, where are you from?" she asked.

"Your not far off," Kurumi smiled. "Arithmancy is a method of divination by numbers first used by the ancient Greeks. I find it rather fascinating. I tried teaching some to Adam last term, he never attended classes. I afraid that it not going to look good when he tries out for Quidditch this term." It was actually a thought that had been rather unsettling to Kurumi. What if Adam didn't make the team? He would be crushed and how was she going to make him feel better about it? "I grew up in a non-magical environment, so it is nice to get another perspective on the life I had." Not to mention is made her feel good at times about growing up that way since she wasn't too proud of the fact.


Kurumi giggled slightly. "I've never been to Cambridge. Is it nice there? I'm from Japan. My father is British and my mother is Japanese," she paused to stop herself from going down that road already. "My name, Kurumi, actually means chestnut in Japanese. My cat, who I will have to introduce you to later, is Walnut. My mother thought it would be nice to name him something connected to my name, but in English."


"I am very excited to watch," Kurumi nodded. "Maybe, if I can find time, I'll try out my third year or so." She was a little nervous about trying sports in the wizarding world, especially after that ancient Quidditch match last term. She was good at kendo, so she would make a fair Beater. Hitting things was always fun and flying was one of the best feelings in the world, once she caught her balance that is. "It's always nice to be able to prove to people that you are more than what they see on the surface."

She giggled and shrugged. "I guess it does." She never really thought about the rival part. It just didn't seem like it would make much sense, especially if you were already friends with your new 'supposed' rival. "Nathan's a Slytherin too in case you didn't already know that," she told him, looking over at the Slytherin table. Hm....she met Jacob who was a Ravenclaw, but now she needed to make a Hufflepuff friend.

"Thanks," Lucie said, picking up the goblet and taking a sip of it. Mmm....water was always refreshing. This feast seemed to go on forever! Now she was just worn out and wanted to sleep. "Ughh...I don't think I could eat another bite!" she exclaimed. Heh at least Toby hadn't lied to her about the food. "Other than that, it's been pretty good. I met this kid on the train who had some sort of freak spasm, so that was kind of scary...." considering they were now fellow peers. "...I just hope there aren't other kids like that." Or that would be even more terrifying.

"That's cool. I mean it sounds bloody hard, but cool. I'm not sure I'm going to be a favorite in that class, though. Numbers were never my thing in primary school. They were just too hard. So adding another layer... we'll see. Anyway I am really excited about all of my other classes though." Selina smiled.

"Hello." She replied with a tremulous smile. "Nice to meet you. I'm Leilah,but you can call me Lei."

"I think you will like Flying," Kurumi nodded and pointed to the Staff Table where, wait, why wasn't he in his usual seat? "Um...Professor Vindictus is the Flying professor. We did all sorts of interesting things last term like ancient Quidditch."


Then Kurumi heard a small voice talking to Adam. Wow, wasn't Adam being Mr. Social-Butterfly this year. Kurumi smiled gently at Adam before greeting the new first year herself. "Hello," she said waving to her. "I'm Kurumi, Kurumi Hollingberry. Welcome to Gryffindor."

"Ancient Quidditch? So you mean you guys worked with a Snidget? Or some of the older types of Quaffles and bats? God, I must have read Quidditch Through the Ages a million times. That is so cool. What did you guys do?" Selina asked. She could not contain her excitement. Everything about the sport just screamed to her deepest desires.

"This is quite random but do you guys have any dances? Violet asked me and I did not have a proper answer."

Lei looked at the person who introduced themselves. "It's an honor being a brave lion." She then stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you Kurumi. I'm Lei Sloan"

"Boulder and everything," Kurumi nodded trying to forget how afraid she had been during the match. "I was a Beater and just tried not to get smacked off my broom by the boulders." She shivered a bit. At least no birds were harmed in the process.

"I don't know about every term, but last year we had a costume ball," Kurumi explained. Also some bad memories there that included her eating spiked cakes that turned her into Kurumizilla.


"Lei," Kurumi repeated trying to place the name in her memory. Kurumi charmed one of her Gryffindor cookies from the parade down so that it now danced in front of the young girl's face.

"Wow, I'm so jealous. I've always wanted to play old fashioned style. You know when they used the iron balls and boulders. God you are so lucky!" Kurumi must have thought she was crazy. She was actually jealous of Kurumi almost getting knocked off her broom. Because that as half the fun of Quidditch, the danger.

"Oh that sounds like fun. Violet loves to dress up and the whole ball scene. She's half a veela so any excuse to dress up, you know?"

Kurumi's eyes grew just as big as Selina's seeking how exciting she was about just the thought of playing ancient Quidditch. Then again, she was the same when it came to kendo. Not many girls in her small town fancied playing it, but Kurumi adored it and once dreamed of taking over the family dojo - that was before she learned she was a witch. "I am sure there will be equally exciting lessons this term," hopefully without flying boulders.

"I bloody hope so!" Selina covered her mouth. She had just cursed and even though she had grow up around cussing men it was not very lady like. "Sorry, it just slipped out. I'm excited..." She apologized.

Lei giggled at the dancing cookies. I feel much better with being here "So how'd you learn you were a witch?" She asked Kurumi. "My mum is a witch, but my dad is a muggle. Mum said he was skeptical of her a first, but he eventually learned to accept the fact Mum was a witch."

"N-N-No need to apologize," Kurumi said shaking her head and hands in front of her face. "Bloody isn't a bad word where I come from."

Kurumi looked at the line of first years. It was definitely getting much shorter now and perhaps all sorting would be done soon. She glanced back at the staff table still wishing that her old Charms and Ancient Runes professors were present.


"About, two weeks before my first year started," Kurumi sighed. It was never really easy talking about her discovery of her magical abilities. "My father is a wizard, but my mother is a non-magical. They, well, they never told me or my brothers that father was a wizard until our letters from Hogwarts came. I didn't know my brothers were wizards until I got my letter. My mother, well, she is afraid of magic...even took my wand over the summer. She didn't want us to know what we were. She even makes me wear brown contacts when I am around her," Kurumi explained pointing to her violet eyes. She still wasn't sure why she had different colored eyes from everyone else in her family who all had the same chocolate brown ones. Except her father, his were green.

"I'm sorry for asking." She said feeling guilty for making her feel bad. "I'm sure your mother will learn to accept you and your abilities. A mother can't deny her children just because of who they are. I believe our magic is a blessing.

"Yes, I like it there. But it's nothing compared to Hogwarts. Really? Japan, that's cool! I've always wanted to visit there. I've always wanted to go traveling all around the world, but I've never been outside of Britain." She grinned at the thought of going to Japan, Mexico, and the States. "Chesnut? That's really neat too. I have cat as well, his name is Chunk. He's rather fat." She giggled thinking of Chunk's kitty chub. "We'll have to get them together and have a cat party!" She smiled thinking of a bunch of dancing cats. "I love animals. I'm looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures more than anyother class. Well, besides Transfiguration. That seems really interesting. Turning things into something else. It reminds me of the witches I heard of when I was younger, turning things into frogs." She didn't like the muggle interpretations of wizards and witches, but she missed when she was younger...... when her family wasn't torn apart.

Elyon frowned when Kurumi started talking about her mum. "Are you two, close?" All this mum talk was depressing her, though she tried her best not to show it.

"Oh wow...I only asked because my parents were doing all in their power to keep me away from Hogwarts last year. You see I'm muggleborn also. And my parents think being a wizard makes me a freak- they ignored me, and just plain dislike me now...Neither of them find it interesting, they find it rather dangerous knowing I could do whatever I wanted to do to them.They are afraid of progress and different people...I've never met any one else that has the same condition as me..well one person but she doesn't like to speak of her past much..."Adam explained, slightly looking at Kurumi.

Well welcome to the house of Lions Lei...How are you liking Hogwarts so far?"he asked, pouring her some water into her cup.

Elyon looked at him with big eyes. "Really?" She'd never met anyone else who had that problem. She didn't feel as bad about it anymore. Both of Adam's parents thought he was a freak. She felt extremely greatful for her dad right now. "I don't really like talking about it too much either, but it does feel good to tell someone. If my dad was like my mum, we'd probably be disowned." She dropped her voice to a whisper at the next thing she said. "My mum said she hated us. She wants nothing to do with us. She thinks we're freaks." She stopped talking and stared at her feet. She'd never told anyone that before.

"It's just as beautiful as my mum said it was." She replied. "Thanks for the water."

"I'm the first of my family to attend Hogwarts. There is still my younger brother and sister left to attend. How about you?" She asked taking a sip of water.

"I don't talk about it much. It's just you mentioned your parents and that interested me to see how they handled you being a muggleborn after all."He said to her, just to put her more at ease, he wasn't being nosey, he just wanted to know how other muggle parents took to the news."It's alright...You must've stood up to them- I mean you are at Hogwarts."He added brightly as Elyon stared at her shoes.

"Oh I see...Are they gonna be here when you are or after you graduate?
I am a only child- and my parents are both muggles- so they had no clue there was such a place like this."He told Lei.She seemed like a very interesting girl

"I guess I shouldn't be associating with you now," Elliott commented. "You know.. since we're enemies and all." His eyes scanned over the table. Aha! Breadstick. That was looking good right about now, and so he took one. He grinned and turned to Lucie again as she said Nathan was in Slytherin. "Is he? Well, I can't say that surprises me," he said, amused. He'd have to go make a visit to the Slytherin table at some point, then.

Yeah, he was pretty full as well, though not uncomfortably so. Just perfect. "It's hard to resist, this food," he smiled. Wait.. some kid on the train had a spasm? It's a wonder he hadn't heard about it. Wasn't that kinda stuff supposed to spread around school like wildfire? "Seriously? Like.. convulsing? Hmh. I think Hogwarts is gonna be an interesting school.."

From his time in Diagon Alley up til this point, Braeden had been able to meet and make acquaintances with students from all Houses except his own. Go figure. So he wasn't feeling necessarily thrilled about sitting with his fellow Gryffindors that night during the feast. This didn't decrease the amount of times that Braeden's goofy smile made an appearance on his face, though, every time someone was sorted into his House; and he seemed especially thrilled when the table filled with food.

Having no mind for anything else at the moment, he quickly began to fill up a plate with a bit of everything (and as always, he was thinking more with his stomach than his mind at that moment; chances were he wouldn't be able to finish half the mountain he'd serve himself) before digging in, oblivious to the buzzing of all the different conversations taking place throughout the Hall.