Mariska tilted her head a bit and smirked just a bit. " Well, not Paris but Lille," She said. " I was actually born here, but um..." She paused. She didn't want to reveal too much too soon so she decided to keep her story vague. " I moved to France when I was about five, and I haven't really lived in England again until now. Did you go to Beauxbaton's as well?" She asked, wondering if she might serendipitously meet anyone else from her old alma mater. " Oh, I'm Mariska Morozova, by the way. If it's easier, you can call me Mari." She said with her usual smirk.

Patricia's smile widened, "I don't mind being called Patty at all, Mariel. I love your name, sounds almost french somehow." she said with a grin, shaking the girl's hand briefly but solidly. Patricia had noticed that Mariel's expression had changed a bit when she had offered her hand. Didn't anyone shake hands anymore? She felt suddenly a bit self-conscious about her friendly gesture. Oh snap! she thought nervously, hoping she hadn't done something wrong on her first day here.

Hoping to get over her possible faux-pas, she decided to move the conversation along. "Is this your first year here?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

Ryan had been keeping a bit of a low profile so far. He had had a long, tiring summer, and didn't really feel like interacting with anyone much. He had sped around Diagon Alley like he was being chased by a Horntail and had found an empty compartment on the train. There were really only a few people he really felt like talking to, and even then, he was still trying to keep a low profile.

He lumbered over to the house table as though he were carrying a large weight. He was tired. He couldn't tell why, but that train ride had really taken a lot out of him. He found a spot toward the end of the table at the back of the Great Hall. He was excited to see the Great Hall again, but at the same time, he didn't really appreciate it as much as he should have.

The Ravenclaw captain slowly piled the food onto his plate and began absent-mindedly noming it. A bite of chicken here, a fork-full of mashed 'taters there. Nothing too big.

Mariel sat back with a smug smile. Good. The girl looked like a Patty, so that's what she wanted to call her. It just made it easier that Patty agreed to it. And she even complemented her. "Thanks," Mariel said, now grinning wider.

"Yeah, I'm a first year too," she said as she glanced around their table at the mostly older students sitting there. "I'm really eager to start classes, but it's too bad we can't try out for Quidditch till next year..." she said slightly frowning as she looked back to Patty. Quidditch was a close second to learning for Mariel and she wasn't sure how she'd manage the whole year without it. Mariel sighed. She wasn't even allowed to bring her new broom.

"oh Lillie! That's a nice place. They have a really nice theater there. Or at least they did when i last visited there. That was awhile back though." she mental counted the years as she then continued." Six years ago." she listened to her story as it was short. She didn't really blame though. She wasn't one to go around sharing her history with random people. Elizabeth and herself had acutally discussed this already." I did. Until this year when we had to move due to my father's Job. What year were you in when you went to Beauxbatons?" it would be amusing if they had met someone, but didn't know it. Like one of those things you read in books. "Pleasure to meet you Mari." she didn't really have a shorter version of her name. How would you shorten Asteira without having it sound even more bizarre? "oh this is my cousin Elizabeth." she said as she pointed to the blonde girl of the same age sitting next to her.

Patricia nodded quietly as she took a bite of food, then chewed thoughtfully. She put back her fork upon the plate, looking around the other tables, seeing other young-ish students, about their age. There were quite a few too. "I'm eager to learn some spells and stuff too. I wonder how they divide all the new students for the classes. Are we all in the same classes at the same time?" she asked as she saw a nice looking boy at the Gryffindor table.

She finally caught on to what Mariel had said a moment ago, "Quidditch?" she asked with a frown, "we have to learn that too?" She had not ridden a broom in the last two years. This concerned her a little bit.

Mariska listened politely as the other girl spoke about herself, giving Mari the same information that she herself had given. " Yes, Lille is nice. I miss it actually, as well as Beauxbatons." She said with a little sigh. " I was a fourth year, so unless this place is vastly different, now I'm going into fifth. I hear they have tests this year, instead of the sixth like at home." She said with a little wrinkle of her nose, leaning on her elbow and resting her face on her hand as she spoke. " I wonder how it is we never met before!" She laughed.

Her green gaze flicked over to the other girl as Asteira mentioned her familial relation. " Hello, Elizabeth. I'm finding your school to be...different in so many ways from Beauxbatons." She said with a look around the hall. " It's nice to meet both of you though; Hardly anyone spoke to me when I first arrived at...Ah, Diagon Alley, is it called? I felt as though everyone knew someone but me." She said, remembering how she had been so determined not to like anything there that she had almost missed the quaint charms of the village and it's residents...and more than likely alienated herself.

Mariel absentmindedly drew designs in her mashed potatoes with her fork and shrugged before looking back up at Patty. "No idea. I guess we'll find out tomorrow," she said in regard to her question about classes.

Resting her elbow on the table and leaning her head into her hand, Mariel looked at Patty with a curious expression. "Well, no, Quidditch isn't a requirement...," she started slowly, noting Patty's frown, "but don't you want to play?" Mariel was a bit perplexed. Surely this girl loved Quidditch too? But from her expression and manner of speaking, Mariel got the idea that she wasn't into the sport at all. Mariel stared at her blankly for a moment before diving back into her meal.

Mari arched an eyebrow with interest as Asteira mentioned a monster of an old woman at the wand shop. She pulled her own wand and looked at it, thinking to herself that she would have been supremely angry at the crazy old bat if she had done the same to hers. " Why in the good name of Merlin would the woman do that? Did you say something to upset her?" She asked, looking over the other girls wand. " Did she even tell you why she did it?" She asked, now even more curious about this insane woman at Ollivanders.

Patricia replied quickly back, "Oh no! Don't get me wrong, I love Quidditch. Its just...that I, erm..." she hesitated a few moments, wondering if she could admit her lack of broom time lately. "Two years ago, I had a little mishap while riding a broom. Broke my leg and arm actually. My mum went frantic and vowed that I would never ride a broom again. So, brooms were put under lock and key, and probably a few enchantments, so I had no access to brooms since then." Her shoulders were hunched as she pitifully looked at her meal growing cold.

"If they put me on a broom, It'll be a pathetic sight. I feel so rusty." she eventually added with a slight hitch of her shoulder. What kind of Quidditch player could she be if she couldn't ride properly? She'd probably end up in the Gobstones club or some other boring student thing.

g2g - bedtime!
 

Mariel snapped her eyes up from her plate to Patty's face as she spoke almost urgently. She nodded as she listened to her explanation. Mariel knew a thing or two about overprotective parents. Certainly not about brooms as her whole family were Quidditch fanatics, but about other things... "You haven't been on a broom in two years?" Mariel asked incredulously. "That's just awful. Well, the injury sounds bad too...," Mariel added as an afterthought.

She waved a dismissive hand. "They have flying lessons here. I always kinda thought they were for Muggleborns that have never seen a racing broom before," Mariel said, leaning forward, "but if you think you need that class, you should take it." Mariel grinned deviously. "You could get back up on a broom and your mum would never have to know," she said as she speared a piece of chicken with her fork.

Patty's face went blank, but then a very illuminated smile crept upon her face. "Merlin, you're brilliant, Mariel! I could ride again, couldn't I?" Her spirits picked up nicely after that. "Wow! Riding a broom again! I'm just dying to do that..." she squealed with glee, "Yessssss!" she added with her fist raised in the air.

Coming to Hogwarts was truly the best idea her mum had ever had. Mind you, her dad had tried to talk her mum out of it, wanting Patty to go to some hideous looking muggle school near their home. But in the end, her mum had won that argument hands down. Though, come to think of it, she had taken her wand out during the heated exchange... now she wondered if her mum had hexed her father. But that couldn't be? She shook her head and looked back to Mariel, "this is going to be a grand year, I swear!" She picked up her fork again and picked up a warm piece of chicken and some string beans.

Robert walked into the Great Hall and headed toward the Ravenclaw table. He sat down and smiled politely at everyone around him as he searched the hall for Sabrina. Start of a new year...not to bad so far. He smiled as he thought of the new broom waiting for him that Sabrina had remembered to bring. He was lucky that his father hadn't asked for any money back, not that he would have anyway, he really didn't care too much what he did as long as it didn't reflect negatively on him.

Robert grinned as he saw Sabrina hurry over toward his table. It widened as she gave him a hug and he hugged her back. "Same to you." He shook his head and said a bit bitterly, "Of course not. I didn't cause any mischief or burn down anything so it was of no consequence to him. My mum did though, asked if I found everything I needed. I told her that you helped me...and of course that started a whole other series of questions..." he trailed off as he rolled his eyes. He looked at her and smiled, "I really do thank you for storing my broom for me. That saved me a heap of trouble. He still doesn't know about my owl but I showed her to my mum who loved her."

Edie quickly sat down at the table. She watched her fellow students interact with each other with a small smile on her face. She silently hoped she would see her old friends and meet some new ones.

Ebony stopped at the end of the Ravenclaw table, desperately searching for someone, anyone that she knew, but even she had to admit, after just a cursery glance, that there would be no one. She took an empty seat, slightly away from the groups of friends that had already assembled. Staring down at the table, she wondered how she would survive the year with everyone she knew, everyone she came back to Hogwarts for gone.

She fiddled absentmindedly with the rim of the now full goblet infront of her, resting her head on her hands, a deep frown set into her delicate features.

Elizabeth turned as she heard Asteira speak behind her. "Hey." She grinned at the statement. "I guess you could say that. Not sure I get where the grizzly bear comment comes from, but yeah, I spent a lot of the train ride chasing after Bella. She didn't want to be in her basket, so I let her walk around, which evidently was a mistake." Then it appeared her cousin was speaking to the girl next to her, who she thought had played Quidditch with Rhiannon last term. Politely listening, she poured herself some pumpkin juice, and served herself some chicken. Then she started idly tearing tiny pieces off a piece of bread and eating them.

A half smile appeared on her face as another girl, who was on her left spoke to her. "I would guess it is. To be honest, this is only my second term here, and if you've heard anything about what went on last term, you'd understand when I say this is completely different. I know my cousin Rhiannon, she graduated last term, said Hogwarts was really nice. Which I would assume included the food." She smiled , and picked up her bread again, only to be interrupted by another voice.

Turning again, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at how busy the feast was turning out to be. Smiling at the boy, she spoke brightly, placing her half-eaten bread back on her plate once more. "Hey Ludo. I looked for you on the train. Sort of." She laughed. "To be honest, I was bored, and started wondering why I hadn't seen anyone I knew. And then my cat ran off, so I had to chase her down. So it sounds like your ride was somewhat less exciting, or stressful, than mine. However you want to look at it."

While she was talking to Ludo, it appeared Asteira had gotten into another conversation, with the girl who had asked her about the food. So she idly half-listened, curious when she heard they were talking about France.

She looked at her cousin as she heard a question addressed to her. She shrugged. "I don't see why you can't. I think some people just don't see how the houses can get along so well." She broke into giggles as she remembered how Rhiannon had spent most of the end-of-term feast last term away from the Ravenclaw table. She was still entertained by her cousin, who had barely talked to anyone back in California,before having come here, being so attached to someone else. But she tried to get her attention back on everyone around her at the table.

She half-tuned out more France talk, seeing as she couldn't really say anything on that subject. But then she heard the other girl introduce herself, and Asteira introduced her. Smiling again, she said, "It's kind of a loose interpretation of cousin. Asteira's cousin married my brother." She felt she needed to explain, for some reason. But then she went back on topic.

"It's nice to meet you, Mari. So you're same year as us." she gestured to include Asteira and Ludo. She wasn't really sure what year Willow was in. "I had that problem in Diagon Alley too. Most of the time I went around with Asteira, and I'm the one who had been here for one term already." She grinned. And then remembered her manners. "Oh!," she turned to Ludo. "Ludo, this is Mari. Mari, Ludo. He's a Ravenclaw like us. We met in Diagon Alley this term. He ran into Asteira and me in Flourish and Blotts." Pretty much literally. But she figured at least now MAri could say she'd met someone else.

Hope you don't mind interacting with you
 

Edie saw a Sixth Year sit down a few seats away. She looked a bit upset or something. With a little bite of her lip, Edie went over to where the girl was sitting and sat down next to her.

"Hi there. Do you mind if I sit with you? I would really love to get to know more people. My name's Edie," she said with a slightly nervous tone in her voice.

Not at all ^_^
 

Ebony's head snapped up, she looked around her, before looking at the girl now sat next to her. "I, no, ehm, take a seat, please. My name's Ebony." She smiled at Edie "a pleasure to meet you."

Maybe this year wouldn't be so lonely, after all.

Edie smiled at Ebony.

"It is so nice to meet you Ebony," she said.

Ebony smiled again. "Are you a sixth year as well?" She asked, before taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

Celandine skated over to the Ravenclaw table and threw herself into a seat. It was so good to be at Hogwarts! She took a glass of pumpkin juice and promptly spilt it on herself. It didn't matter all that much though; the orangey-yellow of the pumpkin juice went pretty well with her Ravenclaw uniform. She could clean it later. Or maybe get really dirty and give Nicholai a big hug. She grinned to herself at the thought.

Cela couldn't wait to see what Hogwarts had to offer and to meet some awesome professors. She picked up a chicken leg and tucked into it; enjoying the sensation of the juices running down her chin and licking her fingers happily.