Excelsior walked through the door and saw Professor Erikson was there waiting. "Hello, professor, were you still wanting to meet with us today? If so, I'm here."

He nodded. "Yes, I'm still seeing you all today. Please, feel free to have a seat. We'll see who shows up."

Marco sauntered in, "Hello Professor Erikson, Sir."

Excelsior took a seat and waited. He hoped there would be a lot more people showing up, he hated having attention centered on him. Well, Marco was there now, at least! He smiled.

Cassandra walked it with parchment and pen. She blushed a little when she saw Erikson and sat between Excelsior and Marco...

Diabolica begrudgingly walked into the room and took a seat. Waiting for 'class'--or really, the meeting--to start, she took out her raven feather quill and a piece of parchment. Doodling on the edge of it, she sighed and waited.

He nodded to the group, looking them over. Marco, Cassandra, Excelsior, and Diabolica. Not a bad group. And they would probably do rather well. "Well, this is about the group size I expected... We'll see if anyone else shows up then we can start this little get-together."

Xana strolled into the room and glanced around, then took a seat at Diabolica's right side, smiling a little at her friend.

Diabolica smiled at nodded towards her friend before taking her quill and drawing in colour-changing ink once more.

"Alright," he started, looking them over. "I guess this is it. Let's get started. First, are there any questions here?"

Marco raised his hand, "What is this for Sir?"

Xana smiled warmly at the professor. "Hello, Professor Erikson. I don't think we've ever properly met... I'm Aryanna Venefica, sixth year transfer student... I was just wondering, sir, if you could summarize the intents of this study group and what you'd like us to focus on.... I merely saw the sign and wandered in." Her cheeks pinked up slightly at this confession.

"Yes, professor, I'm afraid I'm not quite clear on all this myself," Excelsior offered.

Armand smirked and shrugged. "Just a little Slytherin study group, dear children. It would seem, after all, that this little group of yours wanted some advice from me. And so, I am here to... advise." He cleared his throat a little and leaned against the edge of his desk. "And so, to start with, how about a small history lesson? I'll tell you about my Hogwarts days, and you can glean what you wish from it."

Cassandra was in heaven. His Hogwarts days? When he was her age? This would indeed be a treat. "Please Professor... tell us all about it." She said.

Diabolica sat, idly listening, but drawing well-shaded dragons and creatures. Before long, her page was half-covered in drawings.

Excelsior's mind began to wander to other things. He hoped there would be something here to capture his attention.

"Back in my days of being a student, actually, Slytherin house was rather interesting.There was a sort mentoring system in place. When I entered as a first year, I was assigned under a 4th year who would guide me through my first few years at Hogwarts. This fourth year student had quite a few under him, actually.

"Now, this fourth year was still under a mentor who was a 7th year by now, but didn't need much mentoring any longer. These mentors were chosen by the 7th years at the best in their groups, just in order to mentor first years. And of course, I was told that if I did well enough, I would also be mentoring first years when I was in my fourth year."

He looked among the group, seeking their reactions. "So, what do you think the benefit of this would be?"

Hmmm, that sounded like an interesting system. "You get to learn from someone who knows the ropes, who already knows what the accepted system is and how to behave in certain situations," Excelsior guessed.

"The younger ones would have the influence of the older ones, to help them find the correct path to be on," Marco said.

Xana was charmed at the prospect. "Well, speaking as someone who came in during intermission, so to speak, I think that it would be brilliant for *any* new student! It's excessively difficult... " she glanced at Cassandra fleetingly, then returned her eyes to the professor, "to find your way at this school if you're unfamiliar with the way things work here, and in our house at least I've personally found that there is a very strong clique system in place, making it... challenging... to acclimate at times. I think a mentoring system would have really helped to resolve those issues."

What is she looking at? Cassandra thought.

"The older students take a sense of pride in showing the Slytherin way to the younger students and they in tern, benefit from the wisdom and knowledge of the older Slytherins." Cassandra said to her favorite professor.

ooc: Sorry, kiddies. Real life interference.

Armand nodded. "That's a lot of what it is. Another part of it was that we formed a network early on. We had connections to older students, a mentor, and each of us in these early groups kept an eye on each other... for good or for ill. And of course, it was from the very moment we were a part of Hogwarts, so we didn't have a preconception of what to do. We could only follow our mentor's guidance, knowing he or she was more experienced."

He chuckled, remembering his times as mentor. And the most troublesome student he had. "Now, I was chosen as a mentor in my fourth year. At that point, my mentor was a 7th year, and actually guided me in mentoring the other students. It was more than just a network at that point, it was a legacy. I mean, think about this... What I learned from my mentor, he learned from his mentor, who learned it from his mentor, and so on. Since whoever was the first who started the program. And of course, following this long tradition, I handed it down to the brightest and best of the students I mentored. And to give you an idea of the strength of this program, not only have I become a professor here, but the one I mentored entered the Ministry straight out of Hogwarts."

He looked about at the students. "So, what do you all think of that?"

"My first reaction is to wonder what happened-- why was it discontinued?" Xana said.