Alice scooted across the table to mina and lily? no wait it was lucy. She was kind of shy, so she decided to start small. "Hi"she said. hopefully they wouldn't mind the interruption to their small talk. they both looked like her year, maybe small second years. She hoped they would be her friend. She needed someone to walk around with in these great halls, otherwise she would look like an outcast.well, let's hope....

Mariel tentatively watched the tense exchange between Lasca and the small girl now known as Ali. The little girl looked as if she could cause some serious trouble, the fourth year thought, noticing an almost maniacal glint in her eye. But then thought that maybe she imagined that as she suddenly changed her expression. Not that this one was much better because little Ali got so upset over... well, Mariel wasn't exactly sure. It certainly wouldn't bother her to have an all-girls school, and she could even see the benefits of such. But she didn't see the point of getting so upset at the contrary. With raised brow, Mariel stared at Ali, somewhat dumbfounded, for a moment as she cried out her frustration, but before she could open her mouth to speak, the younger girl changed her mood yet again.

The nearly 15 year old nodded slowly as Ali explained her gear - sort of. The bow and arrows she could understand as being for archery - that seemed obvious. But that didn't really explain the staff, at least not to Mariel. Still, the girl didn't feel the need to question her any further and she gave her younger housemate a smile, happy to see her filled with so much pride at her accomplishments. "Well, that's cool then," Mariel told her, as her eyes scanned the equipment again, landing on the bottles hanging off the staff. What was that about? Shaking herself from her thoughts, she recomposed herself before adding, "I enjoy archery myself... though I haven't done it in a while. How long have you been practicing the sport?"

Mariel smiled sadly as Lasca recounted her family issues. "Really? Sorry..." she mumbled, feeling bad that things were not going well at home. Mariel had her own share of arguments with her father and step-mother this past summer and knew how she felt. Then she looked at her friend curiously as she let out a chuckle. She wasn't able to give that a second thought though as Lasca continued to speak.

"Oh, you're not bugging me... Believe me, I understand and I can definitely relate." She frowned at the memory of her humiliation, though it was only in her mind, of having to buy clothing for that animal of Lillian's. "Oh... things have been... alright," she answered, avoiding Lasca's gaze. Her summer hadn't been the greatest but was able to make the most of it with her friends. "Luckily I was able to visit Sarah a lot... It's just too bad you weren't allowed to come too."

Mariel had diverted her eyes and vaguely watched Jenn and Kel talk amongst themselves. She looked up as Jenn spoke to her and grinned widely at the girl's enthusiasm. "Um, no... no Quidditch." She lowered her voice. "Sarah's parents are Muggles... so we did Muggle-ish things." Trying to remember what the names of their activities were, she said, "We played this game called bowling. You roll this ball, well it's like a Quaffle but really heavy, down on the ground and try to knock over these sticks... I think they're called pins. Oh, and we did something called rollerblading. That's shoes with wheels." Somewhat sheepishly, she added, "I fell. A lot."

Mariel nodded solemnly in understanding as Jenn discussed her parents... and werewolves. "You too? My father didn't want me to come back either. I was all set to go to Durmstrang... and let's just say that I talked my way out of it." But Mariel was not about to go into details. Not here. "Wait, you ran away?" Smirking somewhat, Mariel tilted her head to assess Jenn's appearance, convinced she must be joking.

Mariel snapped her eyes away from Jenn as she was certain she heard Ali's voice grow increasingly distressed over what seemed to be about being sorted into Ravenclaw and her apparent dislike of it. Growing somewhat annoyed, she watched the exchange between the younger girl and Lasca again. Simple book intelligence?! The teenage girl opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again as Lasca defended their house with grace and intelligence. "Well said, Lasca," Mariel told her, flashing her a proud smile. Lasca just demontrated to the girl what a true Ravenclaw was all about.

"She's right," Mariel added to Ali. "Ravenclaw is a really amazing house. I'm sure you'll grow to love it." But at the very least, she would not let her make any more disparaging remarks about their house.

Then Lasca mentioned Quidditch. Mariel slowly tore her eyes away from Ali and tentatively looked at Lasca. "Oh... probably," she said with some hesitation, yet trying to sound casual. "We'll see how it goes," she added with a forced smile, hoping that she sounded completely normal afraid that one of her friends would think something wrong if she dismissed her favorite conversation topic so quickly.

But thankfully Lasca was now distracted as Ali burst into tears. About what, Mariel wasn't sure. Maybe it was the excitement of her very first day at Hogwarts coupled with the disappointment of not being sorted in the house that she wanted, but all Mariel was sure of was that the little girl was a complete basket case.

Still watching the crying firstie as Lasca tried comforting her, Mariel's head spun around at the sound of a loud, excited voice. Sarah. Mariel smiled at the sight of her two best friends greeting each other, reminded of her own reunion with Lasca moments ago. "Hey, Sarah," she said with a grin, a little more subdued as she had just seen her an hour ago on the train. Hmm? Mariel looked, slightly confused, in the direction that Sarah was gesturing. Oh, right! The box... she had left it sitting accross from her when she got up to see Lasca. Reaching over, she slid it towards her again. "It's from Nathaniel... Some extra school supplies he picked up when he was shopping. Thoughtful, huh?" She started to open the still unopened box when Sarah's exclamation startled her. Setting the box back down on the table, she turned to give her friend her full attention. Ryder? "Oh, your boyfriend?" she asked with a grin and playful nudge. Mariel narrowed her eyes and peered over to the Hufflepuff table where Sarah was pointing. Browny blond hair... There were a couple of those, but one was taller than the rest and she figured that was him, taller than the firsties. "He looks cute..." she said, though she could hardly tell at the distance but she was sure he was good looking. She gave him a cheerful wave then giggled at what he must think to have her and her friends all staring at him.

Still chuckling lightly, Mariel turned back around in her seat and leaned her chin on her hand as Nia spoke. "Mhmm," she nodded as her fellow fourth year asked about her hair. "Well, with the new potions lab that Professor Kazimeriz has set up, I plan on making a lot more of it during the term. You can come help if you want." Certainly Kazimeriz would be impressed with her dedication and ambition, and maybe give out some extra credit. Or maybe she could even sell the stuff and give Madame Primpernelle a run for her money. Her mind started to drift with delusions of grandeur when Nia's voice brought her back down to Earth. She tilted her head to assess the other girl's appearance. "Well..." she began slowly. "Short hair would be easier to take care of... but long hair is just so pretty, especially yours. I don't think I'd be brave enough to go for more than a trim." To be honest, Mariel was quite obsessed with her hair and couldn't imagine cutting it short. She hoped that Nia would come to her senses being blessed with such beatiful hair as well. "Of course, if you wanted to give the pixie look a try, there is hair regrowing potion... I think Madame Primpernelle's sells it. So if you decide you didn't like it after all, you could always take that, but I heard it tastes awful."

She nodded in understanding as Nia explained her lack of game attendance. "I guess that would be too hard to take him to games... Too bad you couldn't go on your own." That gave Mariel an idea. "Maybe next summer a bunch of us should get together and go to some games... We'll be nearly 16 then and that's almost of age. Surely our parents couldn't say no." She was certain that would be alright with her own father, surely her friends could go too. "Oh, I got the newest Silver Arrow. Marco says that's best for Seekers..." she trailed off, looking down slightly. "I bet they're good for Chasers too. They're really fast and light, he says."

Before she could say anything more on the subject, a few winged cookies flew down the table, one landing directly in front of her. Mariel looked around for the source of the flying cookies, eyes landing on a woman obviously competing with Professor Bunbury to see who could overdose on the most pink. Staring at her retreating figure for a moment, Mariel turned back around and mirrored Nia's movements, pushing the now-wingless cookie aside. After the poo incident at the table, her appetite had completely disappeared.

"hey Keeley," said Bella trying to make conversation. "What color are your quills?" she asked. She didn't know what else to talk about so she thought, why not ask?

"Um, I got a whole bunch of colors. I love colors!" she said, with some happy thoughts about her new schoolbooks, and the classes starting tomorrow.

"Really? Like what kind of colors?" Bella asked. She was so happy that Keeley loved colors, she loved them too. "I had to get plain white ones, but then I colored pink streeks into it," said Bella.

"Cool! I got a bunch like blue, green, pink, orange, purple, and those sorts." Keeley replied.

"Really? I didn't know they came like that!" said Bella so amused.

Lasca smiled and lighly hugged Mariel. She knew that few people would or could understand what she was going through with he Step Monster, and Mariel without a doubt would. Nodding her head she felt appreciation for her BF rise considerably. She glanced over at Ali for a moment to assess how the younger girl was doing. When she was sure she was alright she turned back around in time to catch Mariel's hesitation for the Quidditch conversation.

Narrowing her eyes, she took in her quick look and easy quick change of subject and her suspicions grew. Pointing a finger at her best friend she said, "There's something wrong your not telling. You will spill missy. Sooner or later." Lasca gave Mariel and wink and a smile. She loved her best friend and what ever was bothering her she didn't want to talk about it right now. This was just making sure Mariel knew that she was here if she needed someone to talk to. Merlin knew she had done enough of unloading on her best friends for three lifetimes.

Turning back to Sarah she hoped Ryder wasn't cowed by the close scruitny of three girls. She had to giggle at their present situation and for the umpteenth time was thanking whatever magic being was in charge upstairs that she was back at Hogwarts.

"They had to dye them at the store, so it cost a bit extra. Oh! And I also got enchanted ink to make animated drawings!" Keeley said, so excited to use some of it.

"Ooooooooooo thats so cool. I only know spells to make it move, but your idea/ink is so much better! How did you like Diagon alley?" asked Bella, still thinking of keeley's ink wile looking at the beautiful sealing.

"Coming throuuuuughhh," Came a gravely voice that was in the process of changing octives, but hadn't yet made the switch. Around the neck of the 5th year hung a round shriveled head with buck teeth. It was dangled by it's black knotted hair and it's eyes were stitched shut. In the back pocket of his pants a rubber chicken was visible as it hung half-way out of his pocket. His hair, hadn't fully grown back yet from the end of term debacle with his home-made anti-dandruff potion. In fact, it had grown back in patchy spots which he was trying to hid by keeping his hair short.

He slipped his way into a semi-empty spot between a couple of first years and got comfortable. "Ah, food...nothing like the start of term fest. Pass the beans would you?" he asked the girl to his left.

Livvy chuckled at Perni and grinned, shaking her head. Yes. Bunbunz most likely wouldn't care where the dung had originated, so long as she got it. Was Mooncalf dung valuable by any chance? Extra credit?! PWEASE?! She smiled as she watched the boy begin to talk to others around him and she turned back to Rachel. EEP.

Livvy couldn't help but smirk at Cam and Willie. Those two boys were nothing but trouble. Points had to be deducted most definitely. The dinner tables were ruined! Someone had to pay for it. And no way were those two getting away. Livvy was quite thankful that neither of the two were in Ravenclaw and that none of her housemates had decided to join in on all the chaos. Who knew that Cam would finally snap and go crazy? Who knew?

She didn't. Livvy had been quite sure that what she had been seeing for all those years, was the extent of it. Apparently it wasn't so. She'd rather not see that side, again. Ever.

Turning back to Rachel, Livvy smiled awkwardly, glancing around herself as she picked some spots to stare at. The floor? The bench? And... Professor Melita passing out cookies? When did SHE get here? Livvy had been sure that they left behind all those crazy teachers at Bella & Cooper's a long time ago. CUH-RAAAZZEH.

Then she heard her friend talk once more, which gave Livvy the courage to turn her glance back to her. It'd been a while since they actually... well... stood within two feet away from each other. Not that it hadn't been so back in Los Angeles, but it had seemed like fifty meters back then.

Livvy fiddled with her thumbs, twirling it around in circles nervously. Missed her? The person that she was before the summer? Her face couldn't help but fall at the memory. What had gone over her? Seriously? She hadn't been herself. She had been unhappy of Rachel's relationship with Reid... but why? Livvy still wasn't so sure. Why she had tried to tear them apart? She didn't know. But there was one thing that she did know.

She felt like a monster.

Someone that didn't deserve to be treated well. Someone that everyone should just ignore. She wasn't worth anyone's time. She was a traitor. She was nobody's best friend and as many friends as she may seem to have... none of them seemed to understand her as well as Rachel. Why couldn't things go back to the way they used to be?

Sighing, Livvy looked at Rachel in the eye. "Rachel..." she started, rather hesitantly. "I am really sorry for who I've been over the summer. I just... I don't know what happened. I don't know if it's jealousy or something. I just... I don't know. But I don't want you to forgive me because you miss me and you think you don't have any other choice but to ignore what I did. But I want you to forgive me because you actually want and because you actually can.

"I don't know if that's how you feel right now.... but... I want to continue this friendship. And the only way to do that is to start all over again," Livvy finished, her lips curved into a small frown and her eyes darting from left to right.

Lasca was busy talking to her friends when a voice sounding next to her drew her attention. Raising in eyebrow she took in his odd choice in necklaces, the rubber chicken sticking out of his pocket, and his lack of hair. She was drawn from his close scruitny when he spoke to her or maybe no one in particular.

"Uh...sure." She passed him the bowl of beans and then gave him a tentative smile. What was one to do in a social situation such as this?

"Thank you," he said taking the bowl from a girl who was brave nice enough to pass along the beans. "There wouldn't be any yams on your left are there? Better yet, some pickled pigs snouts?"

He started piling some beans on his plate then reached across and grabbed a pitcher of pumpkin juice. "Need a refill?" he asked her proffering up the pitcher.

Ellie sat down and immediately began to fill her plate with food. It felt like days since she last ate, her stomach yearning for food. She felt no guilt partaking in such gluttony, observing that the plates magically refilled with food.

She took a moment to reflect on where she was. Despite living in a magical home, no one in her family could conjure such spectacular surroundings with floating candles and an enchanted sky. Then she opened her mouth and stuffed a drumstick into her mouth. Her mother was a good cook, but nothing compared to this magical food.

"I ain't had food this good, ever!" she exclaimed aloud, mouth full of food. The rough farm girl wasn't much for proper manners. Her background was working with animals and farming, not going to proper schools and wearing robes and other formal attire. For her, the uniforms were so out of the ordinary, she couldn't imagine wearing them all the time.

Lasca smiled a lopsided grin and passed the boy both the yams and the pig snouts. She couldn't help but smile at his attitude and her curiosity was completely on overload. She so wanted to ask but the manners that her father had pounded into her since birth.

As he offered her some juice her smile grew. "Yes please. Thank you." Shaking herself out of the odd stupor her mind seemed to catch up with her. "I'm Lasca, Lasca Romanov. Tough day?"

Zara popped out of her daydreaming to realize nobody was around her anymore.
She thought maybe she should eat some more for tomorrow will be the first day of school.
She filled up a plate full of food and sat back down and pulled out some books to get some reading in

Now that was a real smile! She was about to actually hug Mariel, but thought against it. She didn't need Mariel questioning her sanity, which she knew the girl had done many times already. Wait....the didn't do Quidditch? But then her questioning was anwsered. Oh yeah. She had forgotten Sarah's parents were muggles. It always seemed to slip her mind. Sarah just acted so....normal! She listened intently as Mariel started explaining some of the things they did. Wow...some of the muggle things sounded like.....FUN! "So you did Bowling....and Rollerblading?"she asked, her voice full of excitement. "Oh it sounds so fun! I mean, going around with wheels on your shoes-"she giggled suddenly, trying to picture Mariel falling. "You fell a lot? Is it really hard? Do you think I could try it sometime? It sounds so fun! ....Besides the fact that you fall. I hate falling....but I'm willing to do it for fun!" Nod nod.

She almost went to Durmstrang? Gasp!! "You were about to go to...that school? Oh wow. Of coarse, I would have been sent either to there, or to the Frenchie school of DOOOOM!" Yeah it was doom to Jenn....for all her sister's went there, and well....look at them. To girlish for her. ....Why was she looking at her like that? Couldn't people just believe that she had, infact, ran away from home? It seemed like people could believe it as much as they believed Pygmy Puffs could fly. "Yes, I did infact, run away. I've been living with my brother Frin and his wife, and my cousin Dree. Sometimes Devon, my other brother, and I go to Diagon Alley and stay there though." That's right! She had ran away! And she was...um....semi-proud of it.


Blink, blink. Twitch, twitch. What?! Did they think she wasn't fat enough already? What was with the random flying cookie? She eyed her's, then picked it up, looking it over. "IT"S POISONED I TELL YOU!"she cried, throwing it down, looking very shocked. "And to think I thought teachers were NICE!"she eyed the tossed cookie, then glared at it, almost thinking that if she scared it enough it would hop away.

Tibi was eating his cookie when he looked up at the staff table and saw Willie and Cam being punished...

or humiliated. A really really old man was waving his wand around and turned their noses into pig snouts while someone else made them wear TuTus.

Willie had been really mean to Tibi, but Tibi knew how it felt to be embarrased in front of everyone and despite it all, felt really bad for them. Even if they had ruined his dinner, and even if Willie had ripped his shirt, Tibi just thought it was wrong.

Frowning, he wondered aloud, "do they punish students like that often?"

Ellie continued to rip the meat off the the drumstick. Then she put it back down and scooped up the mashed potatoes on her plate. She shoved the spoon into her mouth, the buttery whipped spuds seemed to just dissolve in her mouth. It was one of the most delicious experiences in her life.

She noticed others behaving similarly, perhaps the food made the students turn into animals due to some magical additive. She did notice another of the newly sorted students at the table controlling herself. Not only that, but she was reading books! She knew she was in Ravenclaw, but this was absurd! "You're reading? she asked incredulously. "But there's nothin' we gotta read yet, why would you do that?"

"Romanov?" He asked tossing some snouts onto his plate. He put the plate down and then refilled the girl's cup. "You're not related to the mysterious Anastasia are you?" He couldn't help but tease ask that question.

"And the day hasn't been to bad, just busy." He shifted in his seat and his rubber chicken squawked. "Mmm...forgot about Henry XIII." He set the rubber chicken down on the table next to him.

She had to laugh at the question because it wasn't the first time someone had asked her that nor would it be the last she was sure. "She's a distant cousin actually." She gave him a teasing wink and took a drink from her now full cup. Of course then she nearly choke when the chicken sqweeked.

"Henry XIII? How did he happen to come by that name?" She made a supreme effort not to laugh and managed to give him a wide grin. "And you still haven't given me your name."

Hmm. Things were somewhat normal again, if only with the surroundings. Samson didn't feel as though the world was against him anymore. Phew.

"Yeah, yeah, you hate meat. I get it." He'd get back at her on that later. Right now, he was too concentrated on the cookie. He grabbed said cookie from Sabrina's plate, and munched on it like his first cookie. Well, she'd already said she didn't want it. Heh.

Then he turned from Sabrina to Sylvia, and back again. "Well, get acquainted," he said with a shrug, and as they did so, he just continued eating. So, it was rather wrong that he ate dessert and his meal at the same time, but he didn't mind at the moment. It was as though the cookies would spoil any minute. He rather liked these cookies, even when he didn't normally eat them.

.... "Oy! I'm not an idiot," he mumbled between mouthfuls. Then he turned to Sylvia and cocked an eyebrow at her as he swallowed. "Really? Situation? How so? You know, in the first place, I never really got to know what your problem was."

Oh, so now he cared about these things? He was worse than a girl who liked gossip. He was a guy who liked gossip. EW.

"You didn't ask," he said with a smile. "I bet your cousin learned a bit form Rasputin then." He chuckled and took a sip out of his goblet before stabbing a forkful of beans and eating them.

"Mmm...my first chicken was Henry. This one," he squeaked it again. It was loud and pierced a silent moment that had depended upon the table. "Is my 8th chicken."

"Touche" She returned his smile with equal zealous and then considered his question. "Actually he didn't survive long after she disappeared. Thank Merlin." Taking a bit of a sweet cake she of course sought to correct her obvious mistake. "So, what IS your name?"

Listening to him explain about his rubber chicken made the smile on her face grow ten fold. "If you don't mind my asking...what happened to the other eight?" Okay so it wasn't the smile at the top of her mind but Lasca was sure it wasn't the right time.