"Hello dear. Welcome to Hogwarts," the Grey Lady greeted in return and she tilted her head to one side as Headmaster Tate spoke.

The silence that followed was broken by some loud applause coming from Professor Vindictus who was strangely seated to the Headmaster's left (usually he sat to the right).

"That was an uncharacteristically short speech, but it appears that the man he introduced as Mr. Ikenna Gevrik is about to speak."

"Thank you, I'm very glad to be here" Alice replied quietly then turned her attention to the Staff Table. As a first year all the members of staff were new to her but everyone around her seemed to be a little unsettled by this mysterious man, if he was going to make a speech she didn’t want to miss a word.

"Oh cool. Not that it would matter to me. I'm a regular wizard hippie, equality for all," Selina joked.

"And just for the record, I'm a Mixed Blood. My Mom is a half-blood and my Dad's parents were pureblood and Mixed Blood. So I'm not exactly half, but I'm not exactly Pure. I'm a mut."

Alice was a little shocked to hear someone describe themselves as a 'mut', she was beginning to feel lucky, not growing up around other wizards. All this blood stuff was starting to make her feel a little uncomfortable, why were the people of the magical world so bothered by their bloodlines? Alice honestly didn’t think it really matterd.It didn’t really mean anything anyway. Alice was glad to hear Selina announce she was all for equality though. "I completely agree with you there. Equality is important."

"So Alice... have you ever fallen into a rabbit hole? For some odd reason my father believes that Alice's are prone to falling into rabbit holes. Is your name jinxed?" Selina asked. She was quite curious how such an upright person such as Alice could be so clumsy. But from what her father had mentioned they were quite clumsy. Always falling down rabbit holes.

"Dear, me!" the Grey Lady finally exclaimed after Mr. Gevrik finished his speech. "It appears that the Ministry feels as if Hogwarts needs extra protection. What do our prefects and Head Boy think on the matter?"

Oh! Alice just couldn’t help but laugh, she often got people asking things like this about her name and making jokes about Mad Hatters and such. "No the name isn’t jinxed, I believe your father is referring to the book 'Alice in Wonderland' it's about a girl, called Alice, who follows a rabbit one day through the woods and falls down the rabbit hole. She falls into Wonderland, a mad mad place where eating and drinking certain things will make you grow taller or smaller and Hatters have tea parties with a March hare." She knew she was probably only confusing the girl more but it really was a hard book to explain. "It is a good read, you should see if they have a copy in the Library"

Having had enough of the action at the Slytherin table Marie decided to stretch her legs once the opening speech had been given.

Walking by the Ravenclaw table it didn't take her long to notice her favorite 'Claw sitting there. When did he get here and how had she missed him coming in? Looking back at her table she figured it had to be when she was busy teaching that little kid a lesson on manners.

Smile on her face she walked over to Jimmy. "Hey there, mind if I join you?"

Yeah, that was something she never thought she would be saying to anyone at this table. Heck she never thought she would actually want to sit at this table.

Eh, there's always a first time for everything.

"So you've never fallen into a rabbit hole? Strange. Ah well, and the book does sound interesting maybe I will read up on that." Selina replied. Boy did she feel foolish. She thought that Alice was clumsy when in reality the Alice her father was referring too was fictional. Not Selina's finest moment.

"So besides falling into rabbit holes," Selina joked, "What else do you do? What are your interests?"

"Well, I don't do much really. I live in a quiet town and just spend most of my time with my family and a few friends. I do like to read though, and write sometimes. I also have to look after our neighbour, he gets lonely quite often and you have to play the piano for him. Interests...well I like animals as you know, i think i must have read my copy of 'Fantastic beasts and where to find them' about a hundred times! And i also quite like quidditch. I don’t go to many games though, my mum did get me a second hand broom once, I had to take it out far into the countryside so no one would see me but me and my sisters used to practise flying and scoring goals and stuff. So what about you?"

....

Jimmy's expression grew troubled and he sulked in the direction of his pumpkin juice but otherwise didn't acknowledge the brief passing of a certain Bott.


James allowed himself to get distracted when that ghost who was hovering about said something interesting.

She was hot for a ghost, you know?

His response in general was a massive shrug. Who cared? The guy, the speech guy, not the headmaster, what he was saying sounded interesting enough.

Sounded like he had more to say though, things he wasn't saying yet. In spite of his angsty moment, Jim wanted to know more and his mind was distracted from thoughts of Neptune.

And then came an even better distraction. Jim grinned and turned around.

"Hey pretty girl. Come and sit." He shifted over but instead of patting the bench next to him, he patted his knee and gave Marie a devil-may-care grin.

Selina did not even have to think to sum up her interests because it all fit into one word, "Quidditch. I love it. My whole family plays. And my Dad and cousin are both professionals. So we play a lot of Quidditch and I think I'm pretty good. But only the try outs will be my true test.

"What else? Um, I play the flute and really am heavily involved in S.P.E.W. I'm a huge fan of chocolate. I love to sing, but I'm god awful at it. And that isn't false modesty, I am actually terrible. And I guess I also like to read. The classics though."

Pretty girl... that would never get old.

Seeing Jimmy pat his knee instead of the bench her smile grew even bigger. Wrapping her arms around his neck she sat on his lap. "I think I like this table already."

Oh yeah, this seat was definitely better than the one she had at her table.

"You have a thoughtful expression on your face," the Grey Lady observed and floated over towards James.

"Intellectual discussion prior to dining is always a pleasure."

"Just the table?" James abandoned his pumpkin juice, even though his stomach was growling and he REALLY wanted to eat something, in favour of dropping a kiss on Marie.

"Have you eaten yet?" We're hungry, take pity on us. He kissed her again, borderline snogging this time.




Hmm?

Jimmy looked up at the Grey Lady and smiled that crooked smile of his.

"So's snogging, ma'am." He paused. "And I don't do intellectual. I got mis-sorted, me. Shoulda been in Gryffindor for all accounts and purposes."

"Actually, snogging is overrated," she replied and glanced over at the Bloody Baron. "The Sorting Hat is rarely wrong, but perhaps it did make a mistake with you. With your eye color and complexion, you'd look rather dashing in Hufflepuff yellow."

Never, ever tell Helena that Godric's Hat made a mistake.

"Well, actually I kinda like the seat I have, not so much the table." She said grinning at him just before she kissed him back.

"Nope, I haven't eaten anything yet." She was feeling rather hungry now too. She would have to do something about that... right after she got done kissing him that is. And wow, what a kiss.

Pulling back when she heard a woman's voice she looked up and seen the Grey Lady there.

Oops.

She silently agreed with Jimmy about snogging before dinner being a pleasure. She herself was enjoying it immensely. However, she was feeling rather hungry and she was sure he was too. She was about to move off his lap so they could eat but decided she liked her seat just fine. Question was, would Jimmy want her to stay there while he was eating.

Hearing her stomach grumble she looked at the food then back at him. "I think it's time to eat." Before her stomach started making noises that were sure to embarrass her.

Just as she was about to grab a piece of fruit she turned back towards the Grey Lady. "Snogging... overrated. Never." Only a ghost who couldn't experience the pleasures of snogging would think such a thing. "For your information Miss Grey Lady, he happens to look good no matter what color he is wearing." Okay so she may be a little biased since he was her boyfriend but it was true... she thought he looked good all the time.

"I think it is too." Jimmy answered in relief, and reached around the Slytherin in his lap so he could grab a bread roll, which he began to eat with surprising manners considering how hungry he was.

"Depends on who you snog, ma'am." Jimmy answered respectfully, even though he still had that grin in place, which only widened at the next comment. "Why thank you, ma'am." He winked. "I do look pretty good in yellow."

Hehe. She was so his favourite ghost. Not that he'd say so.


He swallowed his mouthful of bread and put one hand on Marie's shoulder, grinning at her comment. Well yeah that was true but not all true things needed to be said, and he liked the ghost. He squeezed her shoulder gently.

"Like I said. Depends who you snog." He glanced up at the staff table where he'd last spotted the Bloody Baron and briefly Jimmy's expression grew troubled before he covered it by stuffing his face again.

Except, you know, politely stuffing his face.

Looking around the table he spotted a familiar face further down and grinned. PERFECT! He hadn't told him the news. He needed to tell him the news. It was FANTASTIC news. He found an empty seat across from James and grinned. "James!" Oh and thank god they could eat now.

He pulled a plate toward him and started piling it up with food. "Guess what James. I've got terrific news." Why was he acting like Miles? Freaking hyperactive little twerp. He was just excited and that's the reasoning he was sticking to.

" Hello Audrey Holiday from Dayton, Ohio" Rex said to her." Are you ready for HogWarts?" Rex asked Audrey. "Do you like it here so far?"Rex asked Audrey.

"Wejj, you are a site for sore eyes" Rex told Emily. " So I am "dear" now?" Rex asked Emily laughing. " I am graduating this term" Rex said to Emily.

Feeling Jimmy squeeze her shoulder she bit her bottom lip. Oops, maybe she shouldn't have said that. She wasn't trying to be rude, just stating how she felt. "Sorry." she whispered.

Grabbing some fruit she started to eat it. Maybe she better stick to eating right now before she said anything else that could get her in trouble. She didn't need to have any ghosts on her bad side that's for sure.

Jumping just a bit at the sound of someone shouting Jimmy's name Marie looked across the table to see some boy sit across from them. Some boy who appeared to be hungry and ready to jump out of his skin with excitement. She smiled at the boy watching as he piled his plate with food. She then looked at Jimmy and back to the other boy as she continued eating her fruit.

Well out with it boy. What's the terrific news? Not that it was any of her business... she just wanted to know since she was sitting there... on Jimmy's lap.

"I don't?" Giving the lapel of a robes a delicate sniff just to make sure, Ivory chuckled. She'd almost forgotten she'd asked a question. "Well that's a relief." At least he'd been gentlemanly and let her ramble on. It calmed her nerves it did to vent off energy in that way.



Scooting over to make more room for Trixie-she probably wanted to sit beside her partner in crime right?- Ivory found herself nodding along with Kellen's explanation. To a smaller extent that sounded almost like what she felt. To be completely honest she didn't even know what to do, much less what was expected. Floundering. That's what she was doing, she was floundering in the sea of confusion when it came to knowing what she was doing. Floundering.

Her attention was diverted however with the rise of the headmaster. Almost automatically her mouth snapped shut and her ears strained to listen. Although strained wasn't really that best word considering a hush fell over the Great Hall as he began to speak. Security??

Trying to keep the confusion off her face, she scrutinized the other man as he began to speak. Safe Choices and good rewards...be his ears???....If that didn't sound like a bribe, she didn't know what did.
Not your typical dose of Ministry intervention. Well he certainly wasn't typical that was for sure.

However there was one phrase that her mind stuck on. Almost as if his speech were an old record and the track was skipping. Repeating the same phrase again and again.


Underground dueling ring.. Her eyes blinked hard almost physically against the onslaught of different mental images, as she tried hard to not remember. It'd been years ago but still. One didn't forget easily having their free will taken from them, especially with an unforgivable curse.

Trying to put a lid on dark memories, Ivory almost missed the Grey Lady's arrival; But it was the sound of her voice that broke her out of her reverie. She almost didn't answer, forgetting for a second about the badge on her robes but she found she actually didn't mind voicing her opinions.

Shaking her head, she gave the ghost a soft smile in greeting as she shrugged her hair over her right shoulder so she could lean forward to cradle her chin in her hand. "Perhaps I'm obtuse but I just don't understand why after all these years, after so many things have happened and the school's proved itself more than capable of "securing" itself...why is the Ministry sending someone in now?"

She was all for the general safety of the other students, especially now that she was a prefect but it just seemed incredibly odd to her. Almost ominous.

"Ah... Well that's too bad, then." Brielle smiled. She had wanted to ask about his mother, but it seemed like such a sensitive question. "Yeah, I've never seen anything like it yet, it's really as if there is no ceiling." she said in wonder.

"Nice to meet you Winston." she added, looking at the boy again. "Have you met any other friends in the train yet?"

Alice sat for a while, sipping water and thinking about the mysterious man’s speech, well not that he was so mysterious anymore. He was 'Mr. Ikenna Gevrik, Special Security Liaison to the School.' She was a little shocked to hear about the school’s history though, 'a flooding school to an underground fight club' he had said, well to be honest she could think of worse things to happen in a school but they did sound rather dangerous. What she really wanted to know was what he meant by our 'good, safe choices this year’ will lead to rewards and the betterment of mankind? They were just students, how could their actions and choices help mankind? Well she didn’t entirely trust this man but Alice decided to go by that old muggle phrase and not judge this book by his cover, he might look a little...creepy but who knows it could be like so many mystery stories she had read were the bad guy we all suspected throughout the story actually turned out to be a good guy. Then a thought dawned on her, he hadn’t said anything about protecting the castle, he was here for security but who or what was he supposed to be protecting us from? All he had mentioned so far were the bad things that had happened inside Hogwarts, so what, was the Ministry trying to protect us from ourselves now or something? This whole situation was just very very odd.

Aidan sat quietly at the feast, drinking and eating and keeping to himself. He listened to the conversations around him and to the speech that Gevrik made about his appearance as the Security Liaison for the school. Now the Ministry is involved in Hogwarts, he thought. Late as always. He knew that even with the Ministry poking around there would still be fights and bloodshed and even with warnings there was nothing that was going to stop whatever it was from happening. All he could hope for was a piece of the action.