First, Eino chuckled at Erin's joke, then he remembered he had a different name and got a little serious. He had known for a year and still felt terrible for hiding it. He really wanted to talk to someone about it, and he would have talked to Professor Bentley if he had not made her drink that Hate Potion. He sighed, then looked back at Erin and smiled, as Cornelius had instructed him to, with some teeth showing. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. "I suppose so. You do? Oh, that is fantastic, and what is it?"



Eino nodded as Cornelius elaborated on his education to indicate that the was listening attentively. With each nod, his bangs bounced off his forehead high in the air, then slowly fell back down. His eyes moved from Cornelius' eyes to his ear, to his mouth, to the person sitting behind him, to the candles illuminating the hall, to Sierra -- his eyes widened -- and quickly back to Cornelius. He relaxed his eyes and stiff shoulders, but didn't want to sigh in fear he would demonstrate boredom. He was quite interested in Cornelius background story, it was just that the she-Snake made him just a little nervous.

As Cornelius conclude a brief recount of his childhood, Eino noticed that Cornelius had mentioned his mum was a witch, but never mentioned his father. Eino opened his mouth to ask but quickly closed it. He had a "father" he wouldn't want to come up in a conversation, so maybe Cornelius did, too. Not that Eino was mindful of awkwardness and awkward moments, but Cornelius just seemed very happy, and it would be awful to say anything that would evoke any bad memories. "You will have not one problem fitting in. Most of the students are very nice, although some are not quite aware of the pogrebin threat we are facing, and others choose to ignore it." He glanced over his shoulder at the staff table then back at Cornelius. He wasn't going to turn this into a one-on-one orientation. He could let him know about the staff members later. With any luck, the two of them would be taking the same classes.

When Cornelius repeated what he had previously said, Eino hands flew from the bench and pressed themselves against the boy's mouth. Wide eyed, Eino looked at her but she seemed occupied talking to... a boy?! Who was that? Eino extended his neck and squinted his eyes in attempts to recognize the boy she was talking to, but he couldn't. He looked away, then looked back, then quickly looked back at Cornelius. He didn't know what to say. Awkward silence, and finally, with perfect timing, Headmaster Tate officially initiates the feast. Eino turned to the man without saying anything to Cornelius, hoping he would not have noticed anything. Of course, Cornelius would have to be blind to not have seen anything. A possibility Eino considered. So, Eino turned around and waved his hand right in front of his face, and by judging by his reaction, yes, he could see. Eino turned back to the headmaster and hoped for the best.