"Hi Taylor!" Violet jumped up and down with excitement. She knew she shouldn't have eaten so much of that chocolate pudding during supper, but she couldn't help herself and was now very wide awake. She kept jumping up and down as she continued. "Can't you wait until classes start? There's just so much I want to do! How was your day? Fun? Meet any new friends?" She smiled so big it hurt her face.

"Hi Morgan! How are you liking Hogwarts right now? Can't believe it's so big. I couldn't believe anything my parents said." She smiled at her too.

Taylor laughed at Violet's excitement and hyperness, "I can't wait either." She smiled, "It was good and you? Yeah i did meet some new friends, what about you?"

All Nate could do in response was shake his head. "No, none of that. Only a headache, blurred vision, loss of coordination. And I fainted once. I was also hungry for the feast, and exhausted from our past week of mischief at the Barstow's," he listed, hoping Jez had a better idea for why he felt better once he woke up.

It felt a little weird to Nate being back in the common room. Finally, after weeks of a blank white ceiling, he would be able go to sleep surrounded by golden stars in a majestic blue tapestry. And now Jez and Pam would only be a door away. Admittedly, Hogwarts was much more like home than his oversized house back in the States.

"Hah! I can imagine. They never think with their heads, those Gryffs, or they'd remember that any rats in the castle belong to someone. As if the house elves would let wild animals roam the school," he snorted shaking his head at the thought.

He became a bit distracted when his girlfriend dropped down beside him, seemingly out of nowhere. Or he was just that unobservant...

"Kendra, meet Jayden, my girlfriend. Jay, this is one of our new first years, Kendra," he smiled, motioning with his hands as he spoke.

"Yeah, kind of. Things definitely got off to a rocky start, but hopefully everything will be fixed soon," he smiled, his eyes flicking over to Elliot in thought, before returning to Jayden with a geniuine smile. Everything would be fine.

"Starting on school-work early I see," he chuckled, nodding toward the open book in her lap. "Can't we just pretend we don't have any for a little longer?" he pleaded with a groan, tossing a hand over his eyes wearily.

Let her simmer, or not to let her simmer? What a question... At first, Cael had smiled when Elliot whirled into the room all huffy, slamming her book down on one of the tables. And her hat... was she trying to make some sort of statement with it, or did she truly enjoy looking like grandmother? He snorted under his breath attempting to pay attention to both the first year and Jayden without appearing rude.

Fishing around in the pocket of his trousers he produced some change and a spare bit of parchment. Perfect. Letting his ebony wand snap into his fingers from the wand holster hidden in his sleeve, he gave it a good twirl to loosen it up before transfiguring one of the knuts into a quill. Looking at it quizzically when it emerged a bronze piece of quill-shaped metal, he shrugged his shoulders when he pressed it to the parchment and found it could still write.

Sending her a note should do the trick, that way she could either start to forgive him or ignore it entirely, but either way her pride wouldn't be damaged by overhearing house mates.

Scribbling frantically, he smiled before folding it up and sending the letter fluttering over to her in the shape of a little dragon. The rest was up to her.

"Caelius, second year," he smiled shaking the girl's hand, "but you can call me Cael. So how'd the sorting go for you? Were you nervous at all or did you know what to expect?" Cael was a bit distracted at the moment, but definitely not enough to ignore a potential new friend.

Elliot was trying to mind her own business when she felt something nudge her back. She turned around...it was a dragon. Or, at least, it looked like dragon. She shot Caelius a quick glare, but he seemed busy entertaining a bunch of girls(including jayden) so he didnt send it, did he? She turned back around and opened it up.

That handwriting was only one person. And if she had thought that it really was caelius, she would have thrown it in the fire before even opening it.

But it was too late, and she found herself reading the first line. It showed how ignorant he was! She didn't take off her hat, but produced from her bag a pair of lace gloves and put tjem on, too. Ha! She smirked, but it wasnt like he would see it.

She read the rest of the letter, and pursed her lips. She sat still for a good while, trying to decide what to do. Finally, she reached into her pocket and pulled a spare galleon. She took out her wand and gave it a small tap. It was still a coin, but it was in the shape of a dragon. She stood up, still not looking at caelius, and picked up all of her stuff.

She flung the coin behind her, hoping Caelius would catch it, and walked up into the girls dorm. She would be back down in a jiffy, and the coin was a sign that she wasn't completely still mad...at Caelius.

Jez smiled at Pam as she came in. "How'd you end up there?" she laughed, shaking her head. Her smile faded slightly as Pam mentioned dreams. "If you mean Legilimency, then yes, it can affect your dreams. But if you're referring to yours, I don't think Jared is controlling them." If that was the case, then Pam would be dreaming about Jez dead, not Nate as well. Or maybe her dreams had moved on from that? Jez shuddered.

Jez frowned. "Then I have no idea what that could have done to you, or if it's even finished." That was a scary thought - what if the poison wasn't done with Nate, and came back for another, maybe more harmful, dose? "Merlin's pants," muttered Jez, rubbing her eyes. It was way too much. "Have you check your dorm?" she asked Nate. "Is there a note yet? Was there an owl? Is it still there?" If it was, they could send it back to the sender, maybe was a way of tracking it. She could always ask the Room of Requirement for something like that. Jez was unconsciously growing to trust the creepy Room which had saved their lives last term.

Jayden looked up when she heard a loud 'bang!' at one of the nearby tables.

Oh Elliot.

She wasn't sure what to do, or say, so she decided to just relax beside Cael and entertain him and one of the new First years.

"Nice to meet you Kendra! Congratulations on being sorted into Ravenclaw!" She added, her blue eyes shining as she smiled warmly at the girl. And then Cael was off on teasing her for looking at Herbology books early.

"Merlin darling! This isn't homework! I'm reading it for leisure. I've gotten really into Herbology this past year." She responded with a chuckle, a light pink color flushing her cheeks as she tried to compose herself. Sure, she was a Ravenclaw, but she didn't want people to think she was too much of a nerd.

"And yes dear, everything will work out, at least I would hope so." She added nervously.

Kendra remembered the house elf from the feast, they seemed to care for Hogwarts a great deal, those elves. How they kept the whole castle looking clean was beyong Kendra's imagination. She knew it involved magic, but that was all she could gather.

A loud bang filled the room as something was placed down heavily on a table in the common room. Angry already? Kendra wasn't the best at reading emotions, so didn't know.
Cael spoke again as a girl sat down next to him. She noted the name down in her mind as with everyones. She didn't like forgetting people, especially if they remembered you. It made the whole situation a lot worse.

'Nice to meet you Jayden and thank you, it seems a good house to be sorted into.' She replied with a smile. She left them talking between themselves, the conversation obviously not for her ears.

She picked up her bag from beside her chair, she had had it all day with her, from kings cross to now. From it she picked out her copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and where to find them.' and began to read about the merfolk that live in the black lake with interest.

Laura smiled back.'Heya Lulu...I'm Laura...new here..,' she said



Laura noticed the sudden change of expression on his face when she called him 'Harvs'..'You..you don't mind 'Harvs', do you?,' she asked doubtfully



Laura smiled 'Nice to meet ya, Alex...Well I'm new here too..joined this year..was in Salem before..'

, she said

Nate was about to speak up again when he felt something drop heavily onto his legs. Looking lazily back over his shoulder, and hearing her talk, proved that it was only Pam, having lagged behind. "You look tired, too," he said as he looked between the two girls. They really did. Perhaps tonight wasn't the night to have a talk.

But, Jez had asked a crucial question that Nate could only fail to answer. "No,
I haven't been to the dorms yet. So all I know is that there may or may not be a letter. If there is, I'll tell you tomorrow. I don't want to get up right now." He lay his head down on the armrest of the couch and reached over to take Jez's hand. He wasn't asleep yet, but pretty darn close. Long day...

Jez squeezed Nate's hand gently, smiling. She hummed softly to herself, then whispered in the same tune, "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little Ravenclaw ..." Modified version of the song Keegan used to sing her when she wouldn't sleep during thunderstorms - the original, or what Jez classed as the original, featured a hippogriff instead of a Ravenclaw. She shifted slightly on her armchair to get comfortable, and put her head down on the arm. She had drifted off to sleep in seconds, still holding Nate's hand, a peaceful smile playing on her lips.

Erin was staring around the Ravenclaw's common room and there were truly a lot of new faces. She moved towards the girl who was reading a book and have a peek. "Ravenclaw huh?" This girl was a bookworm. Yay! "You can call me Erin."

Erin's attention was fully turned towards the voice of a Ravenclaw girl. Why would she shout that loud? Eagles don't shout like that just to introduce themselves but she should be giving the girl her deepest positive feeling in welcoming her. "Hello Violet. I am Erin and welcome aboard!"

"Tired?" Who wouldn't be tired on that grumpy train ride? Thanks to the house elves, they had an awesome dinner. "How are you?" Erin meant who are you girl. Wink. "You can call me Erin."



"It's...whatever!" Erin stuck out her tongue in a teasing way. Elise had been growing to be one of her friends now. "Wonkle?" That may be one to be considered by the house elves. "Wonkie?" Or "Tonkie? How about Tonks? Boots?!" Now, Erin was so enjoying the possible Baby Elf names.

When Elise shown Erin the sketch, "Try a different color for my hair. Blonde maybe? I wanna see." As much as Erin was truly impressed on Elise sketch of hers, she couldn't give in too easily to her friend. She might be too proud of herself and never move forward. It's actually a motivation. Erin nodded to herself.

Elise felt herself being hugged tightly all of a sudden and tried not to cry. Knowing that someone cared, even minutely was overwhelming. Shaking her head, she stared Presley dead in the eye. "I can't," she whispered. "He's my father. Hate him or not, he's family and I can't sell my family out."

-x-x-x-



"Just 'whatever'?" Elise asked, cocking her head to the left as she shaded in Erin's eyes with a brown color pencil. "Boots sounds cute," she agreed. "Tonkie's adorable. Maybe you should try submitting one of those," Elise beamed.

Blonde? On Erin? Sighing, she picked up her new eraser from Scribbulus and began erasing the brown-black lines she'd begun. Fantastic, the charmed erasers there. Perfect for sketching. Picking up a yellow color pencil, she grinned.

"Blonde like mine or a darker blonde?" she asked. Blonde like hers would be icy blonde, using light strokes of yellow and a little white. The fact that she'd never done a self portrait was strange to Elise, but she'd try later.

"Yup. Definitely met some new friends." She beamed up at her. "I think charms class is starting today. Are you going?" VIolet looked around nervously. "I hope the teacher doesn't give us too much homework for us, but I'd probably we able to do it.



Just then, another girl called out to her. Violet saw the look of disapproval on her face and she felt her cheeks warm. Violet knew she shouldn't have shouted so loud and blamed herself for eating so much of that pudding. She immediately stopped jumping up and down and smiled at the girl. "Hi Erin. It's nice to meet you. Is attending classes really hard to catch up because I'm very nervous about it." She gave a nervous laugh. "Ha, I shouldn't be so scared right? I'm in Ravenclaw."

“I think it’s that one,” Silvia pointed towards the staircase she saw a girl go up a few minutes ago.

Nate could tell after a few moments that Jez was asleep. Her breathing slowed down, which is usually a telltale sign of either sleeping or dying, and as far as Nate could assume nothing had killed her. It was extremely comforting to be able to feel Jez's pulse through the hand he was holding, and it wouldn't be long before he himself would be asleep right there in the common room.

But before he could drift off, Nate remembered something: Pam was still there. She had been silent for the last minute or so, and she had barely moved since she had originally plopped down on top of his legs. "Pam?" he called out quietly to the slowly breathing figure on his legs. He lifted a leg a little to get a glimpse of her face, and gently set her back down. She was definitely asleep. Good, that meant that they were both safe and sound, right by his side. This thought, the warmth of Jez's hand in his, and the reassuring pressure of Pam on his legs all gave Nate the comfort to get to sleep within moments. He had even forgotten that they were in the common room, and felt more like they were at Pam's house, when they had all fallen asleep watching a movie for the last week or so of the summer.

"Thats good." Taylor smiled, "Yeah it is." She laughed, "Yeah i so hope the professor won't and yeah we are RAvenclaws we can sooooooooo do it." TAylor chuckled a little and smiled, "We are suppose to be the intelligent ones so i hope we can do the homework. I hope it won't be too hard since it is the beginning of the year and doesn't classes start off on the easiest note?"

Presley was baffled. If Elise was being abused, it was wrong! That didn't mean she was supposed to protect the person hurting her! "Elise, do you have any siblings?" Presley asked critically. She almost hoped for either answer. Yes, because it would prove Presley's point, and No because she didn't want to think about her point.

"Thanks," Melanie answered, looking toward the staircase Silvia had pointed out. "I think I might go up and grab some of my books. I'd like to read more of 'Hogwarts:A History' before classes start. Maybe it will help me find my way around!"

She laughed a little bit, but she was genuinely concerned about navigating this absolutely massive castle. If she hadn't been able to follow other Ravenclaws up here, she never would have found the common room.

"I don't know how I'll figure out where all of my classes are. I'd use the paintings for landmarks, but they move, and it probably wouldn't help me anyway because the staircases are different all the time too!"

"hey Taylor, glad to see you made it up to the common room!" she said with a smile. she had liked the girl from the great hall, very nice. "been up to the dormitoy yet? it's quite nice, a little lacking in storage, but nice"

Morgan chuckled, then responded. "yes, it is rather big, but beautiful! i think we have an absoloutly beautiful common room, i know i'll enjoy it when it's time to study, with the warm fire and squishy chairs" she smiled and wiggled to get more confortable in her chair.

"Nice to meet you Cael." she said with a smile "sorting was alright, i was a bit nervous, but i knew i would end up in Ravenclaw, i love to read so much!" she said happily "how was it for you last term?" she added rather interested if it had been like this for everyone.

Taylor laughed, "Yeah i finally made it up here." She smiled, "No i haven't yet though i am a little tired so i might soon. Are you ready for classes tomorrow?"

"How do you like it so far?", Alex asked. "I think it's great, but it's a little overwhelming. So many things to learn, so many new people to meet!"

"Yea, i'm a bit tired myself. It sure has been a long way!" Morgan agreed with a yawn. "As ready as i'll ever be!" she said with a smile.

Taylor nodded, "Same." She took down her hair from her braid and shake her head apart. "That feels so much better." She giggled. Taylor slipped out of her shoes too and laid down her bag that held her drawing supplies.

Violet laughed. "Yeah. Of course and then the Ravvies can win the House cup at the end of the term." She pumped up her fist in excitement. Already she felt her sugar level wearing off and yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"Hehe. Squishy chairs." Violet yawned again. Maybe it was time for her to go to bed now. Violet went over to one of the chairs and started to doze of quietly.