"Hey Tam," Natasha said running her hand through her hair.

Natasha grinned at Melanie. She then thought about a name for Melanie for a moment or two. "Hmm... What about, Mel?" She asked her slightly uncertainly. "Well, if you don't mind, of course." Natasha added.

She smiled as she watched Melanie glance at Tamzin. "So, isn't it just so good to be back in the castle?" Natasha asked her with an excited look. She remembered how eager Melanie had seemed on the train to be back at Hogwarts.

Katie scowled again at the nickname with the unknown meaning. Or rather, the boy who dared uttered it again. Crazy. Australian. Boy Check, check and check. What was he on about anyway? She shifted in her seat to get more comfortable, her arms being crossed on the edge of the table as she listened to the pair. She spoke up when the time called for it, replying "We met over summer, not this past summer but the summer before that. He came with Curt, both summer vacations that you missed." simply. Her dark orbs grew wide afterward, realizing he called her by her proper name for probably the very first time since they met. She gasped, looking to Cy. "You really just called me Katie, didn't you?"
Katie made a face, not enjoying his sarcasm one bit. Oh yes, she would find out what that ridiculous nickname meant, one way or another she would. As if it wasn't bad enough, he had to call her Kitty. AGAIN. Cyrus Andrus, her new fellow Hufflepuff who she would now have to put up with for the next seven years, was mocking her. Lovely. "Not funny, Cycy." She retorted, not bothering with the mock-innocent business.

Giving a slight nod, for she could care less about the juice, Katie rolled her eyes, sighing deeply. "Says a boy, I'm not surprised. Pumpkin juice is gross, anyway.." She trailed off, not feeling the need to explain herself further.
Kates? What was this, 'nickname Katie day'? Oh bother. "Jaaae, must you call me that?" The little Hufflepuff practically whined, her nose wrinkling out of disapproval. Was it so much to ask for everyone to call her Kaitlynnh or Katie only? "I'm not sure if I should take that as a good thing or a bad thing. But I'll take it as a good thing," Katie decided outloud, smiling slightly. Yes, she should be very pleased with being sorted into Hufflepuff. Savannah and Joseph had been badgers, before them their father's siblings had all been badgers. Part of her was still not sure, though..

As he tried making sense of what she said, Katie nodded ever so slightly, a nonverbal way of telling him he was on the right track so far. She remained still, hopeful Jae would figure it out. When he did, her smile brightened with relief. "Yes, later." She agreed softly.

Jae was her friend for a lot of reasons, but he was also family too. She knew she could rely on him when it was necessary. Like when she didn't have a girl to talk to, or to confide in about what Anna told her. Katie could trust Jae like she trusted Julian.
Well DUH Kaitlynnh thought, getting abit irritated with this girl already. She hadn't even showed up more than a minute ago, and so far the chances of this little 'meeting' looking up was slim to NONE. As was any possibility of her being a polite little girl - oh yeah, that was out the window before she could even think of exercising her manners. "I wasn't meaning me, for your information." HMMPH! Huffing while she waited for the girl that appeared to be around their age get on with whatever she had to say, Katie's eyes narrowed at the girl accusing HER cousin over something he would never dare do. "Sorry to burst your bubble, kid, but you've just thrown accusations at the wrong boy. He doesn't have a weasel. You've never met him before. Great first impression," She announced, icily.

"Alice?" George looked confused and worried "What did you do?" he asked, his eyes wide "Why are you upset?" his voice sounded panicked and he was speaking quietly. He put his hand on her arm lightly "Alice?"

He smiled back at her and nodded. "It does. It doesn't matter where you did it. I like it."

As he waited for the headmaster to begin, he listened. Looking back to her, he nodded in affirmation. "No need to be jealous. I'll teach you how to do it. I use a muggle device called an iPod to drown out the noise." As she spoke of the book he listened intently. "Maybe you could share them with me, and we'd have more to talk about."

As she sat at one side of the hufflepuff table, Vanessa Corbette observed her fellow hufflepuffs that were around her as she ate some of the food which are covering the table. It was the last time that she'd be at an start of term feast, mainly because it was her last term. She glanced down at the badge that was pinned to her uniform, checking that it was still there. Well really where else was it going to be. Sighing she drank some pumpkin juice, and glanced around the table.

Ema looked up from her plate and beamed, jumping up and hugging her friend tightly. "MelMelMELANIEEEE!" she clenched her fists, jumping up and down excitedly. FINALLY, someone she knew. And knew well. "I think I remember you, yeah," she joked, winking. "Isn't this exciting!! We're back!" she paused, looking around eagerly. "I can't wait for classes, to be honest."

"Yes thanks. You?" Lizzie said, yet again biting into another sausage. "I can't wait until the feast is over, I really need to sleep." Lizzie chuckled and made a sleeping gesture.
She stared around the room and noticed alot of people from previous years and hoped they would be in her classes.

"Good good.Yeah mine was great,thanks.Went to America with some friends,learnt Quidditch while I was there....all good." She nodded away as she spoke,then grinned at her fellow Huffie.

Hmmm the feast.Yes it did seem to be dragging on an awfully long time. "Same here,I wonder what's keeping the Headmaster..." Sarah glanced up to the Dais and sighed.If she could sleep sat up,with no-one noticing,she would have done.

"Soooo you looking forward to the new term?" Yep she had changed the subject back to work.It always seemed to happen at the start of term feast.

Sarah looked at Alice and laughed, she had a feeling she knew what she was doing but decided to pretent she didn't know. "Alice, I know we need to adjust to this place." She laughed as she thought about their last school. "For one thing this is a lot bigger." She giggled.

Sarah started to tidy her hair up a bit to make it look good. "I promise, I'll behave." she smiled then whispered to herself. "Unless I'm with Brant." She suddenly looked into Alice's Eyes and smiled. "So Alice do you want to meet Brant?"

Picking up the pace a tad, Jake look up at Professor Morgan. "But... what did I do wrooong?" he whined, trying to make sense of his Professor. "I was only saying... and my summer was boring," he added, waving his free hand in front of his face, as if he was casting that summer aside. The kid was all confused, and he didn't know that he was in the wrong. "I don't like it here," Jake mumbled, feeling Professor Morgan squeeze his hand.

Siiiiigh.

Iliana reached the Hufflepuff table and sat down, looking up at Jake. "Jake honey, I know you're confused... but you just cannot go around talking to professors the way you just did. Do you realize that any one of them could have slapped you with detention, right then and there and been completely in the right given your behavior." She could have gone on but decided against it. She was suddenly all too aware of the other students near by and would not be heard giving Jake a lecture in front of them. Instead, she patted the seat next to her and said, "Sit down, Jake."

She knew what he meant when he said that he didn't like it here. She had heard it before and it hurt her to hear it again. She wished that she could figure out a way to make it better for him. "I know honey." was all she could say.

"But... what behaviour?!" Jake asked, staring first at his feet and then up at Professor Morgan... and then back again. "I was only telling him... because it wasn't fair," he complained, still whining. As Professor Morgan patted the seat beside her, Jake took that as an invitation to sit, and was obviously proved right when she told him to sit. "I don't get it, you know?"

Bowing his head lower, Jake covered his face with his hands. "There's this quidditch thing, trains up young players until they turn fifteen... not the really good ones, but decent ones... I've been offered a place there, and they do tutoring. I doubt I'll take it, but... you know... it's tempting," Jake admitted. This had been a total secret between him and his dad, and it felt weird to reveal it. "Especially now... and they apparently deal with kids who get a bit... of a handful," Jake sneered, as though he resented this label.

Not really expecting much of a response, Jake turned back to the Professor.

Iliana sighed. She didn't know how to explain it to him any better without sounding angry. And he didn't need that right now, that much was obvious. She sat there quietly, listening to him with a mixture of disbelief and sadness. He was considering leaving Hogwarts? So soon? He couldn't.

"Well after what I've seen in the stands, I think you're certainly good enough. But... you have so much more to learn here Jake." And she would miss him desperately. The mere idea of it made her heart hurt.

"I don't think you're a handful you know." She said quietly. "Just misunderstood."

Giving a hollow laugh, Jake shrugged and smiled a bit. "Cheers, I suppose," he said, looking straight up at her, twisting his hands around. "And I know and stuff... but... I get scared here. I mean... oh, I dunno," Jake covered his face again. "I'll have an answer for them next summer. Even if I do go, I'll come back eventually... but, maybe I'll just be chasing an unrealistic dream thing," he added, biting his lip.

Misunderstood. Pah. "But you're just one person," Jake explained, looking around. "A whole bunch of people would disagree with you there," he mumbled, blinking fiercely to stop his eyes burning.

"Anyway, I don't want to talk about this," he suddenly stated, taking a deep breath and a stronger voice. "I want to know what I'm supposed to have done wrong," he stressed, nodding up at the staff table. "It's ridiculous!" Jake added, getting worked up again.

Alice didnt pay any attention to Sarah's talks. She was so busy to worry about the fateful five housepoints and the stupid boy who she had met in the DA. He caused all the choas. Still she couldn't believe that she had caused sorta bad thing to her house. Crap. Crap.
"OKay Sarah, please give me sometime to regain myself first," she said, rubbing her forehead.

Alice turned to George, as she felt his hand on her arm. "Look at the point glass, our house lost five points 'cuz of that stupid boy who provoked me," she was so upset.

Nia bit her lip as colour flushed to her cheeks. "True I guess, but still...it'd probably look better if I'd used a mirror." She ran a finger though the back of her hair that was still lose, and smiled. She hadn't had that sort of nervous feeling around Elan liked she'd had when they went shopping since he'd visited, but she still felt a little something there. Like some kind of force was trying to tell her something, but she couldn't put a finger on what because it was mysterious and unlogical. She didn't think much of it though - they'd had an awesome time flying, and hopefully they'd now have just an awesome time at Hogwarts - still trying to avoid brothers. Yep, that sounded a good plan for the term.

Ah, drowning out. That sounded like a plan for not having to listen to Theo's whining. "Cool, I've heard of them, but not got one. I just have my music player in my room at home." Nia was quite into her music at the moment, though she enjoyed a wide range of stuff. She'd found some really old CDs at her grandparent's house, and had got quite in to the music on them, as well as the up to date wizard rock and that. She nodded. Maybe they could share both books and music?

"Sure," she said with a grin. "They're by Garth Nix. I've got loads of his stuff with me. And it'd be good to have someone to talk about them with. Good if you want to be taken to a fantasy land now and then." He had to be one of her favourite authors right now. She'd picked up a copy of Mister Monday in a muggle charity shop, and since then was pretty much addicted to his work. Tales of unusual lands she could visit whilst sitting out in the garden on a sunny day with a glass of lemonade. Bliss. "Maybe we could share some music too?"

Hayden walked over to the hufflepuff table and looked around. She smiled as she saw her sister and walked up to her. "Hey Beck! How's your first day?" She sat down and laid her head on her older sisters shoulder. "Any new friends?"

Becky sneered at her little sister. "Does it look like I have any friends?" She rolled her eyes and shrugged her sisters head off her shoulder. "Don't you have people to socailize with?" She looked around and grabed something to nibble on.

Hayden sighed as Becky shrugged her head of her shoulder. "Why do you have to be so grouchy all the time? So what you don't have friends. Go out and make some. I already made one new one this year,"she said proudly. Hayden rolled her eyes."I am socializing aren't I? Some times you can be so slow."

Becky growled."Maybe because my little sister has more friends. Maybe because I'm just naturally angry all the time."Becky turned on her sister right then and there "MAKE FIRENDS! NAKE FRIENDS! Do I look like the person to go up to someone one randomly and say, 'Hi I'm Becky Wilkins. You wanna be my friend?'" Becky sighed."Are you going to be like this all year Hayden, because if so your going to get anoying real quick."

Hayden glared at her sister. "Fine be that way Becky. I don't care. Hope you have a good year." Hayden got up and walked away without a goodbye.

Melanie made her way back to the Hufflepuff table still not in the greatest mood and simply picked up the conversations she had left behind, attempting to block out all of her not-so-happy thoughts about what she'd just witnessed at the staff table.

"Mel's fine.....a lot of people call me that anyway." Melanie informed her giving her a small smile. "Course' I don't mind." she assured her. "Nat." Melanie added, testing the feel of the new nickname on her tongue.

"Fabulous..." Melanie agreed, still happy to be there, but definitely not so enthusiastic. Evil teachers...

Realizing how bitter she must sound, Melanie visibly perked up trying to make a point of being cheerful like she had been before on the train. For good measure she poured herself a goblet of orange juice from one of the glass pitchers sitting on the table. Orange juice, like chocolate never failed to cheer her up and make her too hyper for her own good just like chocolate.

"Yep, good to be back." she repeated, smiling.

Eep! So Ema was excited to see her as she was to see Ema. And to add to the excitement she hadn't forgotten her! Not that that was that ginormous of a surprise, but still...it was a perk. she returned the other girl's hug, positively beaming. Ema had effectively cheered her up in two seconds flat..her and the orange juice that was. "Good then, because if you didn't I may have to disown you." she teased, an amused look on her face.

"Yeah, exciting seems like the right word.." Melanie agreed, that was definitely something undeniable. It was exciting. She didn't know if she quite agreed with Ema about 'not being able to wait for classes', as soon as those words exited the girl's mouth Melanie couldn't help but let out a small giggle. It wasn't that big of a surprise coming from Ema's mouth though.... "I can wait...I'm just glad to see everyone again." she exclaimed happily. "I missed you." she informed her matter-o-factually. Melanie didn't have an owl so she'd found it rather difficult to keep in touch with everyone. She'd need to buy one next summer if she had enough money.

Dominic was busily looking around the Hall at the new and old faces - ones remembered and ones not. It was a weird relief - yet mixed sadness - with no curly haired Gryffindor prefect around. Speaking of prefects... the sixth year looked back over at the Hufflepuff Captain, noticing some residual pinkness on her cheeks as she spoke to that Australian firstie of how not to mess with the Prefects. He wondered slightly what sort of hidden meanings might be involved with that little statement, but decided not to pursue it. After all, Kaika Lockhart did not seem to be in the mood to converse, which was understandable. To some extent; he HAD decided to mingle his fate with the 'enemy' last term.


Dominic then looked back over to that girl Alice upon hearing her gasp. Blinking in confusion about her, he simply nodded in agreement when she said 'nice to meet you'. "Good. I'm watching you." He stated simply enough, with evidence of assertiveness in his tone.

He then noticed the younger boy who Alice had been talking to make a small noise towards his little message to Alice. Giving him a small nod of acknowledgement, the sixth year then turned back towards Ryder.

Chuckling lightly in Ryder's response to his summer, Dominic tilted his head slightly at the 'odd to be back here'. Truthfully, he did not know what the boy was talking about, but decided to just shrug it off. When Ryder wanted to speak of it - if ever - then he would.

"It was good," Dom said, noticing only then that the feast was ending and people were starting to leave. "Excuse me..."

The Hufflepuff sixth year then rose and whistled to grasp the attention of the younger badgers. "Alright... All you new Hufflepuffs follow me and Vanessa, your other Prefect, as we show you to the common room. Including of course, the new password..."

With that, Dom turned and led the masses of badgers with Vanessa out of the Great Hall and towards the Kitchens....