For those who belong in Slytherin House, on the right side of the Great Hall is where your table awaits. Green banners containing an embroidered silver snake float above the polished table in honour of the cunning Salazar Slytherin. Already placed on the tables are silver plates with accompanying cutlery and goblets. All that is missing right now are the mountains of food and pitchers containing your favourite beverages.

Though your stomach might be growling as you take a seat on one of the long benches next to the table, it is important to not get hangry -- gnawing your arm away or jabbing your fork repeatedly on the surface of the table will do no good whatsoever. Give everyone some time to get settled in and wait for Headmaster Winterbottom to deliver his speech. Keep yourself preoccupied by catching up with your fellow housemates or those who are visiting from the other tables until it is time to sink your teeth into the hearty and delicious meal prepared by the house-elves.

How was it that he was a second year already?

Time seemed to move by super fast when one was having fun. Because yes, Aryan rather had enjoyed himself during his first year; minus the part where some of the students and staff had suffered from an encounter with the Mirror. He now understood the tales he had heard from his fathers during the course of their time at Hogwarts and fully understood why they were constantly wishing for a quiet term. Ary mentally crossed his fingers for the same for his second year.

Having taken a spot at the Slytherin table, the boy scanned the Staff table. Good. It didn’t seem that anyone else had departed from the team; poor Ary was really broken-hearted about Professor Roulan. But did this mean that Professor Ean had taken over as Charms professor? It would make sense since he was sitting in that particular spot.

Maybe Charms would not be so bad as he had dreaded.

Her sorting had been an obvious DUH, but even still, Eliza was relieved as she made her way to the Slytherin house table. What a disappointment it'd have been to be a Hufflepuff or something. She'd hate to have to just go back home. Besides that, her family line that ran a pretty deep shade of green would have probably been really disappointed in her had she not been sorted into Slytherin.

Her eyes traveled upward to the green banners floating above her. Time to join greatness. Time to join a house full of winners. She couldn't wait to see what they'd achieve together! Turning her gaze back downward, she noticed the empty plates lining the table, and she realized how hungry she was after being on the train half a day. Honestly, in this day and time, was the train really still the best method in getting them all here?

Some boy (Aryan) was already seated near the first seat she eyed. Eliza gave him a small smirk but purposely passed him up. The whole 'Hi, my name is... Nice to meet you' conversation wasn't really her thing.

Drake couldn't really remember... was first year just as exhausting as he currently felt after the long journey to get back to school? Or had he been so hyped up on nervous energy and adrenaline that he hadn't had any time left for sleepiness? Adrenaline and then euphoria at his placement seemed like a logical answer, so the second year could only assume he had NOT actually been this sleepy and this was just a by product of being second year. Following along after his friends and sister into the Great Hall, among all of the other students, he picked his way around everyone so that he could slump into an open seat on one side of Aryan, immediately flopping himself over the table and stretching his arms out to rest his curly haired head on top of them.

"Finaaaally we're home!" He commented to the group - or really any of the other students in their vicinity - before he rolled his head to a side to look up at the staff table. Not much change up there, which was nice to see! He was fond of consistency, so familiar faces helped with that. "Is Professor Feirgrund in a different spot this year?" He asked, attention shifting back to Aryan who he then smiled at as well merely because his best friend was a comforting (and rejuvenating) presence and deserved as such.

Drake could see a new student too, one of the new placements, pass back behind Ary but she the vibe didn't seem like she was too particularly interested in conversation. So outside of a quick 'Congratulations!' he left her be.

Phoebe had never really considered herself as having a 'home', but Stemp House and England was pretty much as close as it got. Hogwarts was not her home, not at all, and she never felt truly comfortable there. But here she was again... and she might as well get used to it, because there were five more years after this. At least all her friends were here.

She slipped into a seat beside Ary and Drake, offering them a small smile. She didn't say much, but she was happy to see them. She was excited to tell them about learning maths and going to a wedding, and getting to go to a friend's house. "Hi guys."

Phoebe thought it was weird to not be the youngest at school anymore, but she was also very relieved.

The train ride had been uneventful but fun, nonetheless, spent with some of his classmates from other houses, of whom he had now split off with to attend his own house table. A lot of friends who he hadn’t seen yet were clouding Solomon’s mind, and he was anxious to locate them as soon as he entered the great hall. He hadn’t caught up with many of them over summer and he felt seriously bad about it.

Without even realising where he was headed anymore, Solomon suddenly found himself sitting down, thankfully at the correct table at least. But who had he obliviously sat beside?

OH, GREAT. A bunch of little kids.

The closest being a newly sorted student (Eliza) who he was directly next to. Solomon stared at her blankly for a few seconds, taking in her expression and quickly surveying the others around him as well. (Mandrake, Ayran and Phoebe)

Suppose he had better show his willingness to be nice to younglings since he was a FIFTH YEAR, but he still sighed before smiling.

“Uhhhhh… welcome to Slytherin. Don’t be scared, we don’t bite.” he said to Eliza, then looking to all of them to generalise his welcome, unaware who was a first or second year. A recycled greeting that Solly recalled someone saying to him on his first day at Hogwarts. Even now it sounded like a really dumb and unfunny thing to say. His eyes naturally fell upon the other tables, watching and waiting for something to happen, for someone to whisk him away.

Sighghghhhhhhnhhhhhhhh…

Eliza was settling into her seat and content to mind her own business, when some other boy congratulated her. Well, of course he did. After all, Slytherin was a lot to be proud of. Because of this, she smiled at him and gave a "Thank you" before turning away. He was getting involved in another conversation, and she was focused on when the food was going to arrive.

She had barely turned her head away, when someone plopped into the seat beside her. Why was he staring so blankly at her? Had he never seen a person before? Oh, wait. He...he thought she was going to be scared? "Scared? Of who?" she asked, a perplexed look on her face. Was there some untrained idiot waving a wand around or something? "It takes a lot to make me scared."

"So what does a person have to do to get food around here?" she asked. Did somebody need to cast some spell? Call out an incantation? Order the house elves around a bit? Whoever it was needed to get to it.

Ary withdrew his attention from the Staff Table and the Sorting after a bit. He found that he rather enjoyed watching the Ceremony just as much as he had when he was a part of the group of Sortees. This ‘some’ boy could argue that the newcomer {Eliza} had been drawn to his seated spot first because he was there. As it was, he was not the stuck up type to think himself superior to others. He simply watched her smirk with no interest at all. Later on, when she spoke to Solly {whom he greeted with his signature finger wiggle-wave}, Ary thought she gave off an unfriendly sort of vibe.

Anyway. The future Magizoologist had important people on either side of him in the form of the girl bestie {Bry} and the guy bestie {Drake}. “You okay?” he asked, reaching over to ruffle Drake’s curly hair. He then chuckled. “I would argue that this is not the Reserve. But I'm happy that you're happy.” At least Drake had finally gotten to experience Ary’s life on the Hippogriff and Dragon Reserve over the summer! He could not have been happier to have Drake visit. “Oh yeah. Didn’t know he had a background in Charms. Did you?” Ary had sent a quick look at the Staff table again then back at Drake, just in time to catch that smile. Naturally, he couldn’t help but smile back fondly {and he would argue that the other boy was the one with the perfectly comforting presence.

“Hi, Pheebs,’’ Ary greeted. Just as she was pleased to see him and Drake, he was pleased to see her. “You’re clearly happy to be back,” he added with a grin.

After wandering into the hall in her new Slytherin robes, the ones from last year far too short, she headed straight over to table on the right-hand side of the hall and found a quiet little spot to watch the sorting. The second year Slytherin had grown several inches over the summer, something that had made her slightly smug, and had also had her nose pierced. Where once, a small silver stud one sat on her left nostril, now hung a silver ring. Despite this, nothing else had really changed about the youngest Knott as she took her place amongst her peers, still as stoic as ever.

She did however manage to give a few small nods to those she didn’t find totally insufferable, but for the most part, she reserved her words for those input she valued. Those words weren’t spoken out loud however until after the sorting as she was keen to see who would be joining their table, even if she didn’t really plan on speaking to any of them if she could avoid it.

Sloane watched as Drake made a fool of himself, flopping his arms over the table like a fish out of water for a moment before moving her attention to Ary. He at least got a small nod and a “Good summer?” before her attention then switched again to one of the newer arrivals (Eliza) and the fifth year next to her (Solomon). “What Solomon was trying to say is that we, in Slytherin, are relatively friendly,” her tone implying that not all of them came under the same umbrella. “and the food usually arrives after the headmasters speech, although judging by the fact that Headmaster Winterbottom is currently busy talking with some of the other teachers, I wouldn’t hold you breath.” Usually, Sloane wasn’t this friendly but she this year, she was going to try and go the extra mile to really be friendly.

Trying to be friendly to Phoebe however required very little effort on her behalf although that was mostly due to the fact that Phoebe was one of the few people she actually liked. Moving from her quiet spot on the table, Sloane moved into the middle of the ever increasing crowd and slotted herself opposite Phoebe. “How was your summer Pheebs?” she asked as a way of greeting, getting straight to business. “My mom’s asked who I went to get my nose pierced with but I didn’t mention you. Just so you know,” she whispered over now, leaning forward so it was harder for those around her to hear. After their adventures in Diagon Alley during the summer, Sloane had spent a lot of the summer learning how to fly and very little with her friends so letting Phoebe know that she wasn’t a snitch was top of her priority list.

Eliza spared a second-long glance to the boy she'd previously smirked at (Ary). Although she couldn't be sure, she kind of got the vibe that he wasn't impressed by her at all. Not that she cared or wanted to impress anybody, but she did need to keep her fellow Slytherins on at least speaking terms. She had no clue what she'd done to ruffle this boy's feathers, but she'd put that on her to-do list for later.

Besides, some new girl (or new to her) had chimed in on her conversation with the boy who'd sat next to her. "Oh, well, that makes sense," she remarked, although, she kind of second guessed her words. She didn't even know what relatively friendly meant, but seeing as it was apparently a Slytherin thing, she'd have to figure it out. Trying her hand at being relatively friendly, she added, "I'm Eliza, by the way."

So the headmaster was the one they were waiting on? She glanced up to the staff table and singled out the man in the middle, who she was assuming was the headmaster. Sure enough, he was just chatting away like he had all the time in the world. Eliza sighed. She bet he hadn't just taken a half-day train ride.

Phoebe offered a brief smile to Solomon, but added nothing to his explanation of their house. She had been at Hogwarts long enough to believe that Slytherins DID bite a LOT. "I'm not happy to be back at all," she confessed to Ary. "I'm just happy to see my friends." She siiiighed. "My summer was really great and Hogwarts seems so depressing in comparison." Phoebe was mostly sad and bored and hungry and grumbly. However, she perked up when HER BEST FRIEND SLOANE sat down across from her. "I'm glad you didn't tell on me. Did you get in trouble?" She thought Sloane looked really good with her nose pierced. But the mention of mums... that gave Phoebe a little ache in her heart. "My summer was so so good. I went gardening every single day and I didn't have to go to school."

Phoebe turned to the first year (Eliza) speaking to Sloane. "I'm Phoebe. Phoebe Calypso." And NOT Phoebe Dupont, just so she knew. "Welcome."

Green and silver meant Slytherin… Her uncle Kennedy had pointed it out when they read the Hogwarts history book. He also mentioned how long ago the Escalante family had all been part of that same house, but after a war, that also happened long ago, they were cursed by their ancestors for standing on the wrong side of history, and thus lost their magic. A…what had he called it? A squid? The first squid squib had been born into the Escalante bloodline. That still didn’t make sense to her. As far as she knew, she and her relatives had two arms and no tentacles. Anyway, after that there were no magical people born to their name. Until her uncle Kennedy was born. Violeta said uncle Kennedy’s dad broke that curse. That made Yulietta wonder if her own dad broke the family curse too? For she had magical powers.

Eh. All that family drama was hard to unravel. There were so many names and events that happened, that she needed a whole notebook to keep notes in. That was something to worry about later.

What had her fidgeting with the ends of her hair was joining her new house. There were kids sitting there already and it made her stomach do nervous flips. When she reached the table, she replayed the words she wanted to say in her head. Her English was extremely limited, but she knew some words. Basic ones, and hopefully they’d get her through tonight without embarrassing herself.

She took a deep breath. “Hello,” she blew out. Honey brown eyes connected with as many eyes as it could and….

And that was it…..because her brain froze and refused to produce more words.

Face flushing brighter than a hot cheeto, the first year scurried to Feebee’s (Phoebe) side. A known person felt safe to Yulietta and maybe that’d help her nerves settle down.

Well.

This first year (Eliza) definitely had a bit of an attitude brewing. Either that or she didn’t understand simple jokes. “I was, uh… making a snake pun.” Solly replied, with an obligatory hissing sound following. Relaxing a little, the fifth year chuckled and rested his elbow lazily on the table. “Although the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor is positively terrifying.” He was kidding, obviously. Their professors were all pretty a-okay so far, but it was kinda fun to provoke fear into innocent first years.

Solly’s eyes lingered on the Hufflepuff table, almost longingly, but was soon distracted by Sloane trying to correct him by generalising Slytherins as relatively nice. He always hated that, but mostly because he, himself, was a kind person. “Some are always nice.” He added, unbothered about starting an argument with a child.

By the way - why was he still sitting with little kids????

Another sortee (Yulietta) joined the table and Solly offered her a simple two fingered wave alongside a halfhearted smile. He didn’t fancy repeating the whole Slytherins don’t bite nonsense, or saying anything else today, for that matter.

Bronwen wasn't too thrilled about leaving her younger sister behind and heading back to Hogwarts again. Her only sense of reprieve was that her other family would be joining her. That and she had managed to make a couple of friends last year! All in all, it wasn't the worst and she totally wouldn't be sulking about it even though the Great Hall was just about the last place she wanted to be.

It, um, helped that she had gotten lost on her way over. Only at the last second had she thought to follow the crowd of kids that seemed to know what they were doing. See? Total jeeeaaaaaanius.... Genius?

Spelling wasn't her strong suit.

Anyway!

Quietly, she made her way to the Slytherin table and slipped in next to a yearmate that she didn't particularly know very well (Solomon). "Hi!" she greeted almost breathlessly, looking around at the table that was starting to fill up with ... squint. First years? Maybe??? There were so many faces all the time, how was she supposed to remember any of them?

"Did I miss anything exciting?" This question was directed towards everybody. Especially those sat around. It'd be such a bummer if she had. Nothing fun ever happened when she was around. It was like she was cursed with boredom or something.

It wasn't long after he'd sat that Phoebe arrived too, which prompted the curly haired boy to perk up a bit in his seat and prop his head into his now open palm while he'd moved his elbow to rest on the table. She got a warm smile as well - he was always happy to see friends and he counted the other herbologist enthusiast as such. "Hi, Pheebs!" He chirped after Aryan. He would have asked her more questions about her summer too, but there was a lot of their year mates it seemed especially congregating, so he opted to save it for later.

The older years tended to make Drake a bit more on the nervous side, so as Solomon approached the boy kept his own mouth closed. Though the kindness and welcome greeting he'd offered the other student and the attempt at humor was noted. And clearly showed that maybe he wasn't one to be super frightened of, so he gave the older boy a shy smile before a nod of acknowledgement too at the (Eliza) first year who had responded to his earlier statement. She was engaged in conversation with other students closer to her though and seemed quite at home already, so he didn't bother to try to make any further attempts there.

Which worked just fine for him anyways, so he could continue his conversation with Aryan and Bryony on the other side of him as well. "I'm tiiiiired." He replied in response to his friend, a playful expression at the hair tousle before he reached up to smooth the errant curls back down. "I can't wait for food and then we can go back to our dorm!" There was a lot to be done before the night was up to make it as comfortable of a fort as they had the year previously, but at least they had experience under their belt this go around. "True, it isn't the reserve." He agreed, not bothering to voice any of his other thoughts about how this was equally home though. Both Drake's own household and Hogwarts meant a lot to him already, for different reasons. But he didn't want to come off as a clingy friend by further explaining those, so it was best to just... not. As for Professor Feirgrund? "I don't know a lot about a lot of them truthfully." He confessed, glancing up at the staff table as he did so. It was actually maybe a surprise he'd even noticed the shift - but the seating just looked different. Drake wondered briefly if they had ALL swapped if he would have noticed or the mass changes just would have made the whole thing still appear normal.

His year mate intimidated him a little, so Drake had been fine with primarily escaping Sloane's notice. Except, then she moved closer in proximity to Phoebe and therefore them as well and he slunk down in his seat a little. Just an attempt to draw less attention to himself, though the action might certainly have done the exact opposite of intended. More people began to fill in around them all, including another new (Yulietta) first year who instantly drifted to Phoebe as well. He offered her a small smile and a tiny wave of his hand at her hello, offering another in response. "Hi! Welcome to Slytherin." He said it softly, in case all of the... everything at the table spooked her as much as it had him the year prior. Another (Bronwen) older student then joined them as well, and she seemed friendly enough but... Drake was also still too nervous of the older years to offer much of a response even if the question sounded like a general one to the table. Instead he just smiled a bit.

And then shrunk further into his seat once more.

Mia was uncharacteristically nervous and unsocial. She'd had to separate from her little brother when they got off the train, and now as all the returning students waited for the sorting ceremony to begin, the fourth year was craning her neck to see when the doors would open and the new kids would file in. She wanted to make sure Alfie had made it okay; the boats were cool but admittedly a little intimidating and she wished she could've come along to experience it with him and tell him stories and keep his mind occupied. She wanted to be there for him. He was too soft for this world.

The good news was that 'Adair' was at the beginning of the alphabet, so Alfie wouldn't have to wait around very long to go find a seat and get settled, but there was more bad news than good news - not only was Alfie probably going to be anxious to (almost certainly) be the first one sorted, Mia didn't think he would end up in Slytherin with her. It would have been perfect if he was - she could help him feel at home, show him around, let him be her shadow, introduce him to all their housemates, and tell him who was good company among their peers. But she had come to terms with the fact that it was far more likely that her baby brother was going to any of the other three houses before Slytherin.

When the newcomers finally arrived, Mia sat up extra straight and waved high up in the air to catch Alfie's eye and let him know where she was sitting. Then she made a heart with her hands at him, smiling encouragingly before mouthing, You've got this. I'll come see you after! So even when if they were in separate houses, he could expect her to float over to him once the food was served. She wasn't too far. She was here for him.

Even though she hadn't expected to hear the sorting hat declare Slytherin, she was still a little disappointed when it sorted Alfie into Hufflepuff. Despite this, she was still the first to jump up and cheer and be an embarrassing big sister, making sure Alfie felt all the love and like someone was on his side. At least his common room was near the kitchens; they were both on the lowest levels of the school. That wasn't too inconvenient, yeah?

Once Alfie had found a seat, Mia visibly relaxed. Okay. Yes. Good. She could be present with her housemates now, at least for a little while. "That's my baby brother," she told everyone nearby, as if they hadn't known by the last name Adair and her heightened interest in his presence from the moment he'd entered the hall.

Bradshaw, Brooks wouldn't be too far behind Alfie now, and Mia crossed her fingers that Alfie's best friend would end up in Hufflepuff with him. Please oh please.

Taking her eyes away from Phoebe for a second, Sloane, who herself was trying to also be relatively friendly did her best to not sound condescending. “I’m Sloane.”. She didn’t bother to welcome Eliza again. What would be the point? Instead, she did her a favour and turned her attention back to Phoebe.

“Well, yeah. Faith doesn’t like snitches. Honestly, if I’d have told on you, I think I would have been in more trouble.” Her mother’s were so confusing sometimes. Completely different to her birth mother but she wouldn’t change them. “I didn’t really get into trouble. I think Faith was bummed I didn’t tell her. SHE THREATERNED TO GET HER NOSE PIERCED TOO!” How she thought that was a good idea was just beyond Sloane. Who wanted to twin with their parents? Beyond embarrassing. Noticing one of the newest arrivals (Yulietta), Sloane shot her a smile that only looked slightly scathing, unintentionally of course, before turning back to Phoebe again. “Pheebs, you need to get over this school thing. It’s really not that bad.” Let it be known that Sloane had the patience of…well, she didn’t have patience, which of course was the issue.

Luckily for Phoebe however, Solomon’s correction jarred her from her brief annoyance. The only reaction he got from her was a roll of the eyes though. Why he felt the need to correct her was beyond. It’s impossible for people to be nice all of the time.

As more and more kids arrived, Sloane found herself being pulled in several direction. She wanted to try and be nice, to all of them! But the more people that arrived, the louder and louder the table became. Taking a deep breath, she flashed another, not so intimidating smile at Drake, who for some reason seemed to be avoiding her gaze, before turning her attention to whichever Grimaldi (Bronwen) had joined them. “You haven’t missed much. We’re just starving, waiting for the headmaster to get his speech over with.” If she’d have know it was going to take this long, she’d have snuck some snacks into the hall.

Yulietta was simply observing from her seat. She didn’t feel like interacting with anyone at the moment, her nerves were far too elevated that she’s forgotten the small amount of English she’s learned. As subtle as she could, her gaze bounced from person to person. Along the way she met an older boy’s (Solomon) eyes. He did a special kind of wave, so not wanting to look lame, Yulietta glanced at her two fingers and returned the small salute, accompanied by a tiny shy smile. She wondered if that was a specific Slytherin greeting form. So, when her gaze landed on a girl (Bronwen), she sent her a two finger wave. Look at her being all Slytherin already (she really hoped it was a cool Slytherin thing to do or else she’d feel as slow as a sloth).

While the people closer to where she sat seemed to be deep in conversation, Yulietta fingered the silverware, watching light reflect off it. When she resumed observing, she met a different set of eyes. A boy (Drake), who by the looks of it seemed nice. She returned the smile and wave, then accidentally let slip out, “Gracias.” Thank you. Face instantly flushing, she turned her gaze down and shrunk into her seat. Ohhh, she messed up!

It didn’t help that the next time she dared look up, she was briefly met by Feebee’s friend’s (Sloan) smile. It wasn’t the typical nice-to-meet-you smile, so Yulietta didn’t know what to make of it. So she nodded in greeting, and at the back of her mind she couldn’t help wondering if she did something wrong.

She didn't have much time to wonder. The older gentleman at the dais called to attention and said a bunch of things she'd have to ask Violeta about later. As soon as he was done with his speech, all kinds of food appeared on the table. Not having expected that, her small frame gave a jolt as a loud gasp escaped her. This was...cool. And there was a lot of food she didn't recognize. This was definitely going to be an interesting year.

Solomon was very pleased to see someone gravitate towards him who wasn’t below the age of 12. Bronwen received the biggest smile that anyone this day had gotten from him, although he hadn’t really conversed with her before. So many people went under his radar on account of his ability to only see what was right in front of him. “Hey. No, you’ve missed literally nothing.” He chuckled, refraining from commenting on the dull sorting ceremony this year. “Sorry… remind me of your name.” He felt really bad for asking.

Since his eyes were dancing to and from his housemates and the Hufflepuff table, he immediately saw Anna’s arrival and was pleased that she waved at him soon after. He enthusiastically returned the wave, standing up a bit and lifting his butt off his seat to do so. He slowly sat back down when Reuben started talking to her, though. He was so desperate to know what they were talking about.

Solly really was a Hufflepuff at heart.

If he wasn’t so distracted and…honestly a little nauseous (probably hangry), Solomon would have been offended by yet another younglings (Sloane) attitude and AUDACITY to just ignore him.

However it went completely unnoticed, apart from hearing something about nose piercings. Solly wondered if Sloane was talking about Anna for a second.

Oh, good. Food.

Solly went straight for the chicken and gestured Bronwen towards it. “‘Mmm… s’really good.” It truly was.

Ary actually hadn’t spared Eliza a second look, not even when Drake had congratulated her. Her impression would be correct; he wasn’t impressed by her. He also wouldn’t be impressed by the fact that his dad Adi had once had a crush on her cousin, Sophie, when he eventually found out - whenever that was. The boy instead carried on his conversations, his gaze fixed scrutinizingly on Pheebs. “Is it the Mirror happenings from last term that’s making you not happy to be here?” Did Pheebs dread something bad happening this term or something? He was concerned, okay? She deserved to be happy at Hogwarts too.

Drake’s comment made Ary laugh. “I think we can blame the train ride. On the bright side, once we get to our dorm, you’ll have loads of hours to get your beauty sleep.” He watched his friend attempt to tame the curls thinking vaguely that it was an utter crime to do such a thing. Ary knew that Drake would sleep soundly once the two made sure the sleeping arrangements were the same as they had made them last year. As for the other boy being a clingy friend? Puh-leaseee. As if that would ever bother Ary. “Same,’’ he replied, bumping Drake’s shoulder with his. “Except Aunty Hady though.” As the minutes ticked on, Ary, who had grown protective of Drake recently given the fact that his friend was shy and often got nervous, watched him out of the corner of his eyes, when Drake shrank further into his seat, Ary reached out to pat him reassuringly on the hand to comfort him. He had your back, bestie.

The chatter continued to grow with the arrival of more students. One of those happened to be Sloane, whom Ary happened to like despite her tendency to get him into situations that could get them both into trouble. He smiled happily as he wiggled his fingers at her. “A great one. I like the ring.” It just suited her so much. It also seemed that he wasn’t the only one who grew; the Snakette clearly had as well. The person joining their Table next was another freshly Sorted Slytherin {Yulietta}. It was unsurprising that she seemed nervous. “Hi. Don’t worry, you’ll like it here.’’ The words were said in a friendly manner because… well, being nervous sucked. Bronwen received the finger wiggle-wave though Ary, who was already starting to grow tired of talking so much, opted to let someone else answer her question.

Eliza was still silently bent out of shape over the fact that the food hadn't arrived. She wasn't used to starving to death. Okay, so she was being a little dramatic, but the long train ride and the fact that she was getting hungry had her slowly getting into a bad mood. Someone named Phoebe introduced themselves. Last name and all. Eliza nodded in reply. Eliza was new here. She wouldn't have known the difference in last name either way.

She started to turn away, but another new first year, Yulietta, plopped down next to Phoebe. "Hello," she replied. "I'm Eliza." See. She could be relatively friendly, as Sloan had put it.

She blinked when Solomon addressed her again. Honestly, did anybody have a backbone around here anymore? He was even hissing at her, which earned him a certain look from the first year. Then the tone changed, and he seemed to relax, so Eliza did, too. "My grandmother used to be the Potions professor here," she said, eyeing the Defense professor Solomon was referring to. "...and the Slytherin Head-of-House." Too bad she was no longer at Hogwarts. Eliza could have used a family member here with her. Not that she was suddenly feeling alone or anything weird like that.

At that point, the old man Headmaster finally decided to start his speech. Eliza turned to listen to it, but only because it apparently meant they were about to be fed. She wasn't too worried about the change to the educational team he mentioned. Everybody was new to her. Anyway, with the clapping of his hands, the food was on the table, and Eliza wasted no time putting a few items on her plate.

It was a relief to hear from not one, but two people (Sloane and Solomon) that she hadn't missed much, though there was some part of her that was mildly disappointed. "So, the same old," she sighed as if she had experienced this for fifty-odd years. In reality, she had only experienced one other Hogwarts start-of-the-term-feast before this one. And she hadn't been entirely present that time. Thankfully, this feast wasn't as much of an out of body experience. Much more in-body. She appreciated that.

It was only then that she remembered the camera hanging around her neck, with its battle scars and all. "Smile!" she grinned as she snapped a photo of um, the one girl (Sloane) with her friend (Phoebe). It was through her camera that she caught sight of Ary's finger wiggle and Yulietta's two-finger wave. She returned both promptly before snapping another photo, this time of the nervous, smiling boy (Drake).

But, o

h, hm? Her name? Ronnie lowered her camera back down, a look of confusion gracing her features as she turned towards the boy (Solomon) again. Not because she had forgotten her name (though spelling it was always a toss up), but because usually everyone just knew who she was. Not because of anything she had done, but because Grimoire. And though she was a terrible judge of character, she did pause as if assessing whether he was making fun or if he was genuinely asking. When she decided it was likely the latter (no more than a few seconds), she swapped the confusion for a smile. "I'm Bronwen. My cousins and I transferred here last year," she offered helpfully. "... What's yours again?" His name, she meant. Ronnie didn't feel bad for asking though. She wasn't great with names, so it kind of came with the territory. She'd likely ask him three or four more times as the year went on, so hopefully he wasn't the easily offended sort - though she didn't have the foresight to warn him in advance.

Besides, there was so much going on at the moment that it was difficult to think too hard (not that she would have thought too hard under any other circumstance). So many distractions - like food!

"Oooh!" She plucked a piece of chicken and dropped it onto her plate. "It does look amazing," she agreed. Would it be weird to take a photo of it? Camera eats first, you know.

Maybe it was the pang of hunger that was slowly becoming the driving force of Sloane’s emotional wellbeing but Yulietta’s nod didn’t solicit a response from the second year. Not initially anyway. Sometimes, it was better to not to answer, or at least that was what Sloane was figuring out. It was far easier to speak to someone later when they didn’t think you hated them than to bite their head off because you’re hungry.

It wasn’t hard to ignore her hunger for the time being, what with Ary complimenting her nose piercing, which, of course he would. It looked so cool. “Thanks, I got it done this summer! I’ll tell you about it later when we get back in the common room,” she replied, not wanting to tell it while they could be overheard. She liked her fellow Slytherins for the most part but she trusted very few. Her siblings, Phoebe and possibly Ary, and now both of her mo- Faith and Zoryn but anyone else would was a push. In Ary’s case however, he’d actually somewhat earned a slither of her trust which gave him a pass.

Hearing the words ‘Smile!’ directed at her however, Sloane turned away from Ary when she noticed the camera of the fifth year Grimaldi (Bronwen) being pointed at her! One moment she was filling Bronwen in on what she’d missed and the next moment, there was a camera pointing at her and she was being asked to smile! Reflexively, she smiled and it may have actually looked like a smile, if the person in question was in mild discomfort. But she’d tried! AND she’d quashed the urge to throw some of the newly materialised food at the photographer too, which in itself was a victory. She must remember to ask to see the photo later however.

Proud of herself, Sloane eyed the food in front of her for a moment before rolling up her sleeves, an actual, genuine smile on her face now as she considered her options carefully. You just couldn’t rush these decisions! Needless to say, it wasn’t long before she had a plate full of roast potatoes and some of her favourite veggies and was tucking into her food much like the rest of the table.

The feast was the perfect distraction for Solly’s overstimulated mind, although it was making him sleepy and honestly he couldn’t wait to turn in to the dungeons for the night.

Oh, an old Potions Master and Head of House? Well, he guessed that explained why Eliza was acting like she owned the place already. Again, Solly was tired of the conversation by now. Any good intentions he had at the start of the feast to be super duper friendly were diminishing. “Whoop-de-dooOoOoo.” He replied with a mouthful of mashed potato.

Hearing that Bronwen only transferred last term made him feel better for not knowing her name. If she’d been here since their first year together then that would be a little embarrassing. “Well, nice to meet you. I’m Solomon.” He thought it was a bit sweet that she was snapping photos of everyone at the table, and he quickly swallowed the heap of food in his mouth just in case she wanted a truly beautiful photograph to remember the feast.

I.e… him.

“Ready for my close up.” He grinned, refraining from saying cheeeeeese.

Oh, look at that. Drake had gotten himself a snap from Bronwen. He wondered if Drake might want to ask about having one for himself. If not, Ary wouldn’t hesitate to be the one asking: he could never have too many photos that featured the two besties.

Sloane would be right: the nose piercing did look cool. He bobbed his head. “Can’t wait to hear all about it,’’ he remarked with genuine interest. The snakette might not trust him but that was fine with Ary. Since their initial meeting last term, he had liked her. For some reason, her presence felt like an old friend even if he couldn’t figure out why. Sloane was simply different from many that he had met; he meant this in the very best of ways.

With the Headmaster standing up to deliver the speech, the second year felt silent. So Professor Ean was indeed taking up the Charms positions. Aryan was relieved; at least he didn’t have to reacquaint himself with someone new for his second favourite subject. Since Aunty Hady and Professor DeVries remained, it also meant that this was applicable to CoMC and Herbology respectively.

Deciding that this year was going to be more comfortable for him than the last, the boy began putting little amounts of food on his plate. His appetite, after all, hadn't grown in conjunction with his height.