He cracked a grin. The girl had quite a handshake. But she wasnt sure if she was a transfer? "I just guessed you're a transfer--" he shrugged casually "... 'cuz I was too a couple years back. Its not like you sprung up from the ground and decided to just walk in here right?" like a little mushroom kid? he chuckled. "So you moved around quite a bit-- was that fun, all the traveling? I could imagine it being interesting with all the places you get to see."

As they made their way towards the Entrance Hall his eyes fell on the hourglasses. His brow goes up at the Gryffindor hourglass and glances briefly back at the Great Hall. Did something happen to get Gryffindor at the negatives when the school year has barely even started? "Hmm..." he mumbled as he focused his attention back to his fellow Slythie.

Merlin these kids asked a lot of questions! Maddox was going to have to write all the stuff down if she was going to be asked the same question over and over again. "Well of course I didn't spring up and just wandered out for a stroll into Hogwarts." she told him. That couldn't be further from the truth if she made it up. "So Salander my man where did you come from. Somewhere sunny?" she asked. Because his name was almost like salamander. Hehe, she gave a giggle at her inside joke. "Oh yeah traveling is fun. No parents nagging you and telling when to go to bed what to eat," she stopped talking whens he realized what she said. Ooopsy.

Her eyes got as big as saucers whens he saw all the jewels twinkling in the giant hourglasses, she ran over and pressed her face against the glass, "So pretty," she breathed. Her eyes danced with the sparkling rubies.

"Oh me? I'm from Anaheim... errr California, USA" just in case she doesnt know where California is. Hey he has met those kinds before ""Went to school there then transfered here in my 4th year " which is true. Never mind the fact that his last school wont accept him even if he wanted to stay heh.

He did a double take when he heard "--No parents?" he uttered surpirsed and looked at her curiously "-- what like cuz you were with other family or like you're on this path of self-discovery?"

He saw her press her face against the hourglass looking all starry eyed "Heh yeah... pretty impressive eh?--" he started then stopped short when he saw the emeralds retreat in the Slytherin hourglass. "What the--?" he stared, glanced around the hall quickly and turned back to the Slytherin gems. "Did we just lose points there?" he wondered aloud and gave the hourglass a couple of raps with his knuckles "Are these things working right? Keeps knocking off points when theres hardly anything happening in school yet."

Maddox nodded. She knew California well. "Oh great surfing there." she commented. Oh no, she had really stepped in it. "Well I don't have parents you know. Nasty little things if you ask me." she told him with a wag of her finger.

She could barely hear anything he was saying for staying at all the gems. She was mesmerized. "Impressive," she breathed. Her breath fogged up the glass and she drew a heart in the fog. She turned around to look at Salamander, her eyes glassy. "Why is this here?" she asked him.

TERRIBLE.

Ariadne was so disappointed when she passed by the hourglasses, only to notice her House had lost the most points already and was currently the last. The girl sighed heavily. For her, this was like a personal insult. Her boggart was failure. She couldn't accept defeat. Looking at the hourglass again, she swore to help her House earn points whenever possible. She wanted Gryffindor to win the House Cup.

Rosemary stood by her, "What in the name of Minerva?" She asked as she stared at her House Hourglass, "That can't be right! We haven't started class yet!"

Ariadne turned to see a familiar face. 'What in the name of Minerva?' she chuckled, forgetting her disappointment for a moment. 'Apparently we don't have to start classes to lose points.' she sighed.

'In fact, I think classes are for earning points. In between classes, students fight, are disrespectful, or whatever.' the girl explained. Although she hated the current state, Ari felt a weird impulse to do something crazy and see what losing points felt like. But it was the last thing Gryffindors needed. If only you could get points deducted for other Houses.. Hehe.

Rosemary shrugged, "What? It's what my family says.... very similar to how most Wizards say Merlin?!"

"And yeah.... Ohhh..." Rosemary grunted, "I'm so going to work hard to get those points back! And so help me! I'm going t teach the guys who made us lose points a lesson!"

"What was he thinking!" Mordred angrily said to himself as he made towards the Hourglasses. He did an inward groan as he saw the Slytherin lost 15 points. He looked back at the stairs to see if the boy he just rescued from the boggart followed. He just remembered that the boggart turned in to a werewolf when it saw him. "Well, technically it's not my fault if the boggart decided to eat him. That's what he'll get for being nosy." Mordred told himself.

Seriously, classes haven't started and yet things like these happen.

He doesn't know how he did it but Oakey had somehow managed to crawl, scooch, shimmey, and drag himself to the Hourglasses. He was terrified and his legs were still pretty weak. He decided to lay his back up against the wall and rest for a moment. He was still wondering who pulled out of the way of the Fake Harvey. He looked over at the large hour glasses and noticed that Hufflepuff lost points, not as much as Gryffindor though.

As he looked at the hourglass, Hufflepuff just lost 20 points. "What in Merlin's beard? I thought the gems should be going down, not up?" he thought as he looked around if someone could clear that one out for him.

Spotting the boy he just rescued, "You!" Mordred pointed at the boy. "What were you thinking back there?" Mordred said angrily. "We both could've lost points for our houses." he said as he looked at the boy's tie. "And whatever happened to you?" he asked as he looked at him drenched in sweat and dirt. "Did you just crawl your way down here?"

Oakey looked at the boy, he was about his age. The only difference were the veins that were popping out of his forehead. Heh-heh I guess I wasn't -heh- think anything, I was curious as to what was -heh- making the noise was all. He slowly got himself up still bending over with his hands on his knees still breathing heavily. Heh-How do you lose points for being attacked? Oakey asked him, that seemed harsh for point reduction. I guess I did, it was tough but a good work out for the arms if I make my Quidditch team as a beater. Oakey cracked a painful looking smile, he was joking with a boy who was furious with him at the moment.

Mordred crossed his arms and grinned at the boy. "Well at least someone else's having a bad day too." he thought. "Your house lost 20 points. According to what I've heard somebody from your house punched another student." he said.

"Who would've thought Huffies can be toughies?" he said again to himself. Mordred's grin got wider.

"Since your house seem to be made up of tough kids, maybe I should have just let you deal with the boggart all by yourself." he added as he looked at his messed up uniform.

"Mordred." he said as he held out a hand.

Oakey he stood up all the way and took Mordred's hand in his scarred one. glancing over at the hour glasses he looked back at Mordred, From what I heard, and this is coming from a fellow Hufflepuff, but the recipient deserved the right hook to the face. We should have gotten points for it. Oakey laughed a bit at Mordred comment on leaving him up there to deal with the werewolf. Boy am I glad you didn't, but whats a boggart? and why did it change into a werewolf?

"A shape-shifter. It transfigures into something you fear most." Mordred informed him. "And I suppose your boggart was your dad?" Mordred smirked. "We have a boggart at home, and my parents would use the Riddikulus charm to defeat it." he added.

Well Oakey began to correct him He's more of like my Foster Father, and he's not like that at all. Oakey looked back up the stairwell plotting something in his head, he the turned back to Mordred. I take it you have a fear of werewolves then, and it changed when you stepped in front of me. Thank you.

"My father and I encountered a werewolf when we went hiking two summers ago." he said. "I never got over it."

And how does the spell go again? the gears were turning in Oakey's head. He turned to look up the stairwell again that lead to the 2nd Floor, he was up to something. He wasn't ignoring Mordred' s story. He was actually intrigued by it, but at that moment Oakey's plan took action and he started to head back to the Suits of Armor. Follow me if you wanna see something cool. second floor corridor

"You're going to face that boggart, aren't you?" Mordred grinned. "Just run back down here if you fail to defeat it." he said. Mordred himself was tempted to go after Oakey, but as he looked at the hour glass -- he can't contribute to the negative points.

"Oh and be sure to think of something that will make the boggart look ridiculous. Come up with something that will make you laugh.."he called after Oakey who went up the stairs to the second floor.

Ariadne tried hard to stifle her giggles, and almost succeeded. But not really. 'I know, it just sounds so funny.' she managed to reply eventually.

'I like that attitude. I'm going to do my best to earn points as well. But the people who lost points are probably much older than ourselves, so we clearly won't be teaching them anything.' she explained. 'And anyway, maybe sometimes students are right too. We have the right to lose points if we want to.' Since when did Ari become so tolerant? Must be the new Hogwarts life...

Rosemary simply gave a soft glare, now it would become clear to Ariadne just how similar she actually was to Minerva McGonagall, unconsciously.

Tayla stared at the hourglasses, her mouth gaping. Except for Ravenclaw, the stones were lower than the mark for 0 - and Gryffindor's was at the lowest. "Oh no! Gryffindor's lost points already?" Tayla sighed. "Come on Gryffindors! What a way to start the year."

Tayla shrugged and forced herself to think positively. "We've got a number of months more to go. No need to worry too much." And with a determined feeling, she added to herself. "I'm going to earn as much points as I can for Gryffindor!"

Ariana walked up to the hourglasses and saw, thankfully, that Ravenclaw was first. But- she raised her eyebrows at this- they were first with a grand total of zero points. That was kind of sad. It was annoying that you couldn't stop some of your classmates from doing bad things- like take this Gryffie here, looking forlornly up at the -30 rubies in the Gryffindor hourglass! Ariana would bet a hundred galleons she hadn't lost a single point for her house, yet they were still last!

"Tough luck. You've still got the whole year to bring it up, though! The scores were in negatives at the beginning of last year, too."

"Yup, California dreamin means exactly that-- great surfing, great climate, great sights, great foo--" then he stopped himself short, and spun his head towards hers. Did she just say "What do you mean you've got no parents?" he blurted confused then realized that may have been a little too forward. Softening his town he uttered "I mean, you're orphaned?"

His eyes shifted to the side as he saw the yellow gemstones retreat in the Hufflepuff hourglass this time, his face a picture of astonished confusion. "Now the Puffs lost points this time what the heck?...." he muttered, rapping his knuckles against the Badgers' hourglass. So confounded was he that he nearly missed Maddox' question "Huh?... Oh, yeah these hourglasses, they're the school house points. You earn points for your house if you do well in class, submit homework, help around the school when needed, stuff like that. The house with the most points wins the House cup." he nodded "Slytherin won it a couple terms back when I transferred." he added proudly as he buried his hands in his pockets. A well earned self-pride given that he helped get them there. Truth.