"Mhm. A little hungry," Jezz said laughing. She was hungry too but she didn't stack her plate. Maybe later she would go down to the kitchens and binge eat. "Orange is a pretty awesome color. Is that also your favorite flavored Jelly Bean?"

"Im good yourself?" She said as she reached for the dish. "Oh and thanks." she added.

"Yes, a li-well okay fine maybe I'm very hungry." he said laughing. "Not my favorite, but its still a pretty good jelly bean. My favorite jelly bean is red." he said grinning.

Jezz laughed which turned into a yawn that she tried to hide from him. "Well I don't have a favorite jelly beam." She took another gulp of pumpkin juice but what she wouldn't give for a cup of coffee right then. "So, do you like to read?"

"Hogwarts" Prue said quietly as she thought. "Well... as stated on the train there's something for everyone. The classes can sometimes be hard but are always interesting. You've got friends around you all year long so it's great to see them all the time! There's gobstones which Minnie told me was quite hard but also fun, and Quidditch which you already know" she said grinning at Logan.

Feeling Seji hug her she smiled hugging back before he pulled away. She frowned as she realized he wasn't looking at her anymore, seeming nonchalant as he spoke about Abby. Rolling her eyes she went back to eating her food, nibbling the cookie she still had in her hand in between bites of food. Seji was strange, and rather impossible to understand!

Selina was starting to feel a little clostrophobic when Kacie smudged herself in between herself and Gideon. It was not that she did not mind the young girl being there, although she knew Gideon did; quite the contrary in fact, she liked Kacie a lot, but Selina needed to breath. So she tried to move over a little to only find that she was jamming into Kurumi which would simply not do. So she just bit her tongue and smiled at Kacie, "Yea, I did know that. Gideon told me that your Dad is a Slytherin and your Mum is a Gryffindor. Oddly enough I've seen enough of those relationships work at this school when you would think they don't."

Then she looked pointedly at Gideon and smirked, "Although your brother does sometimes get a little snake like. Don't ya, Gid?" It was true. It was almost as if they were two different people: the Gryffindor Gideon and the Slytherin Gideon, but underneath both of the characters was the same person who she knew very well even after only a year.

------

Selina could not believe that Elektra had just acted that way toward her. There were so many things she was left to puzzle, so many things she did not understand. When she finally settled down next to Gideon again she barely even noticed the Headmaster who was beginning to speak at the Staff table. Her blue eyes were off somewhere distant and riddled with hurt.



Selina finally found herself focusing in back on the conversation when the Headmasters speech was done. Something had erupted in the Great Hall. It was food and it was everywhere. She still could not work out in her head what had just occurred. It was all so odd and strange that Elektra acted that way.

Finally when she refocused back in on the room the food was all there and so were Kurumi's cookies. She shook her head of all thoughts concerning Elektra no matter how much they were bothering her and she proceeded to pile food on her plate. Then she looked at Kurumi and joked, "Oh NOW I can eat your cookies, huh?"

"I'm great!" he said. "Your welcome." he said smiling at her.

"Ah, okay." He said. "Read? Oh yeah I love reading!" he said. He was a real book-nerd....he just never really liked to admit it.

"Really cause I like to read too," Jezz admitted a little more silent than she meant to. Like was an understatement, she LOVED to read but she wasn't about to gush that out

"Really? Awesome!" he said smiling. "I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to reading..." he said laughing a little.

After Garrett learned she was to be in Gryffindor, she practically sprinted to the long table that held her housemates. She was so excited to begin her first year at Hogwarts.

Jezz blushed, "I'm more than just a nerd when it comes to reading." She had over two hundred books on anything and everything and the second she got her school text books she poured over them. "I should have been in Ravenclaw with all the book nerdiness I have in me but..."

Logan chuckled. "Oh, really?" he asked. "Same here.." he said grinning. He had always spent time in the giant library in his aunt's house. He really liked it, it was where he could be alone and at peace with his books.

"Hey!" Tayla jumped as she felt someone's wand against her side. She turned to face the girl who had just spoken. "What the..." she began to say, looking at the kid pointing her wand towards her.

"You better put that away little girl," she said with surprise. "You don't want to get into trouble or lose points for Gryffindor. And on your very first day at Hogwarts!" Tayla continued to eye the girl curiously. There was something about her - aside from the apparent rudeness. It was like she had met this girl before...


"Kurumi!" Tayla waved back, so happy to see one of her favourite Gryffindors. "My summer was great, thank you! My family and I visited Hawaii for a week. It was so beautiful! How was your summer?"


Tayla heard a familiar voice call her. "Ari!" she said with a smile. "Had lots of fun, thanks! We visited Hawaii for a week. How was your summer?"

"Oh, hello," Tayla replied kindly, taking the boy's hand. "I'm Tayla Barnhill. I'm afraid I spent most of my time at the library last year."

A bit obsessed with the secret of my grandmother's locket... she added to herself and instinctively touched the locket around her neck.

"I'm guessing you're a second year?"

"Hi there! Welcome to Hogwarts!" Tayla greeted the first year. "I'm Tayla. What's your name?"

Kurumi offered Jezz a small smile. She never realized that that is what her father was doing until after her Hogwarts letter, but she was glad that he had.

Kurumi tapped her bottom lip as she thought a bit. Jezz certainly had a lot of ideas, too bad that they could only offer up one. "They all sound good. The baby house elf was very mischievous and enjoyed collecting things, so finding a name that conveys those traits would be nice." Something for her to look up in the library to be sure. "Take you time and really think it over since we can only submit one name each."
Pink bubbles? Kurumi hadn't actually said anything about pink bubbles, so she wasn't sure why the girl was asking about it. No matter, the conversation had moved on and the feast was coming to a close.

"You learn to appreciate all the strange things I suppose."
Kurumi blinked in surprise a the boy's forwardness. Merlin, Lea hadn't heard this guy, had she? The first year already thought Kurumi was trying to make a move on her brother and this boy was..well...very confident. No wonder he was in Gryffindor.

"I...am," she said, but only to his comment about being a lioness in the pride but not so much the pretty part. Kurumi always considered herself very plain. "The cookies I baked, but everything else was made by the house elves."
"Yes, Selina, now you can eat them," Kurumi laughed.

The feast went on and soon Kurumi's stomach was full and she could no longer bring her goblet of pumpkin juice to her lips. It was about that time to put down the silverware and head up to the common room. Walnut would be expecting his fish cookies anyway and Merlin knew what he had already done to the common room. Hopefully nothing too terrible.

"If first years and new students could please follow me to the common room," Kurumi waved, her prefect badge catching the light.

Time to get the this term underway.

"I guess you do start to appreciate it... after all a lot of people would find half the things we're used to completely strange, especially those that come to hogwarts in their later years" she said trailing off, thinking about Seji and the Slytherin boy she noticed as she walked into the hall.

Tayla smiled. "Kurumi's Gryffindor prefect this year. Great!" she thought. This was going to be a very good year. She could feel it!

Tayla surprised herself when she stifled a yawn. "I'm tired already? Hmmm..." She decided to go to bed after a little chat with the Gryffindors and one more glass of pumpkin juice. "Yum!"

Leave it to Gwen to turn everything into a laughing matter. Ari chuckled heartily when Gwen admitted to having gotten bored of her own housemates after only a couple of hours.

'Okay, maybe I'm not that bad, I'm quite ok around people I already know. But you've got enough friends too. At least you're not afraid of approaching people.' Even if it involved mocking them in the process.

Ari eyed her friend with curiosity to find out her news. 'No way! You? Met a Hufflepuff?' she shook her head incredulously and then couldn't contain her laughter any longer. 'You'd think you'd have plenty of time to meet a Huffie in the castle during the long term months, but nooo, a half-a-day train ride is much better.' the Gryffie teased.

'Oooh, I want to be there when you try the spell.' Ariadne said excitedly. 'That's a good idea.', she added, referring to the healing thing. 'I talked to my Head of House last year about wanting to become a wandmaker.'

'My news...Hmm...Well you know I've spent the second part of my vacation in Muggle France with my mum and her boyfriend, and...he proposed! They're getting married next summer.' the girl announced. 'But I know these things make you puke, so, moving on, I managed to make tea the Muggle way!' Now that was big news!

Having forgotten that Kurumi spent her vacations without magic all the time, Ari reconsidered her comment and felt insensitive all of a sudden. She didn't want to experience another summer without magic anytime soon. 'At least now we're back to Hogwarts.' she added lamely.

'But OWLs aren't until your fifth y-oh wait. You are a fifth year.' Ari sometimes still felt like a firstie, so she found it unbelievable that Kurumi was a fifth year already. 'Well I'm sure you'll nail those exams.' the girl added with sincerity.

'I didn't see that coming either. I wonder why she left.' Ariadne replied, referring to Madam Donovan. 'I like Professor Bentley well enough, but Herbology on the other hand...' Ari thought gloomily, realizing she would make a fool of herself in front of her Head of House.

The girl couldn't believe her ears. 'Really? Me too, I've also been to Hawaii with a friend and his family. Small world, isn't it?' Ariadne felt older as she realized she had just used one of her grandmother's favourite expressions.
'I really enjoyed it too, I even went scuba-diving. Never done that before, I'd say it's not common at all in the wizarding world.' she chuckled. 'I've missed you.' the girl added as an afterthought.

Noticing that Ari chuckled for so long, Gwen raised her eyebrows. ‘What now?’, she asked, not actually willing to get an answer. Moving on… Afraid of people? You? Whaaaat? ‘Err…I don’t even know what to say’ Now that was true.

‘I knoooooow’, Gwen replied, as if Hufflepuffs were so rare to see. However, she soon realized how idiotically she had reacted. Nice going, the ravie ‘congratulated’ herself. ‘Haha… very funny… it is to laugh’, the third year said, trying to keep a straight face. Actually- it was kind of funny. Hmm.

Gwen remained a bit surprised. ‘You really want to be there? How nice of you!’ And I thought this would sound boring. ‘After almost a year, I finally found the spell’ Pam pa ram pam PAM PAM.

‘Oh yeah- I remember that!’, Gwendolyn announced. ‘And did she help you…or was the whole conversation pointless?’, she said, and, after a short pause she added: ‘I’m not quite sure who I am going to talk to. I mean- I don’t think my head of house would ACTUALLY care’. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

As she grabbed a cookie from the plate, Gwen heard Ari tell the story of her mom’s boyfriend. And of course, she chalked with the cookie.

*ehem-hem-hem*

‘EVERY TIME?!?’ Really? You just couldn’t wait ‘till I finish this!? Grrr. ‘Right right- moving on’, she mumbled and gestured with her hand. ‘You did? You have to show me sometime!’ This was great news- However, for the first time, Gwen felt bad that she was a total mess when it came to cooking.

'The great Gwendolyn-Weird Middle Name that I don't yet know-Greene is speechless, for once. Ha! My personal best.' Ari laughed. 'Seriously though, what is your middle name?' she insisted again.

'Aren't you going to tell me who that Hufflepuff was?' the Gryffie raised an eyebrow, deciding not to mention the fact that Gwen had acted like her mum, witholding the most important piece of information. 'Wait-did you even know any other Hufflepuff besides Jory? And now the train one?' Ari wondered out loud.

'Yes, of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. You always manage to do something funny.' Thankfully. 'Oh, yes, Madam Donovan had been really helpful, I'm so sorry she left.' the girl replied, sincerely. 'You should. As Heads of Houses they are paid to care.' she rolled her eyes in a very d'oh kind of way. Annoying too.

'What do you mean every time? She's only been proposed to once before, not every time.' Ari was trolling and Gwen probably caught on, but the Gryffie still kept a poker face. It was kinda funny to irritate the Ravenclaw with sentimental stuff.

'I'll invite you to tea sometime, but I can't guarantee there'll be anything else.' Ariadne smiled, already planning Gwen's next visit to her place.

Rolling her eyes, Thea sighed and looked down tathe boy who addressed her. Fabulous. A firstie. Not that she had anything against them.. after all she was only a third year!

'I'm Thea..' Thea said lazily, as she reached to to stroke Maleficent again. Scowling, she raised her eyebrows and looked at the boy. 'My dog hasn't died..' She replied stiffly. What sort of a thing was that to say to somebody?

Looking up from her meal, and the ignorant first year, Thea heard Kurumi bellowing about common rooms etc. Bundling the cat into her arms, she shot a smile at Micheal. 'Time for common rooms I see.' Without turning back, she walked off and called, 'See you later Micheal, don't get lost!' Thea smirked.

Maxwell smiled weakly. "Maybe, I just don't know if it's best to keep hoping or just to move on?" Maxwell said thinking of not wanting to move on. "It was strange but we wrote each other during the summer, so it was kind of nice." Maxwell reflected for a moment on meeting his father. "We'll have to see what see can get into this year." He said smiling

Maxwell smiled, Seeing another familiar face. "Nessie! we didn't get too much of a chance to talk before, How was summer?"

Maxwell smiled. "Yes i'm a second year. I guess that makes sense to why we didn't meet last year." Maxwell noticed Talya's locket when she touched it but said nothing noting that it was probably something personal. "Where are you from? most people from England don't shake hands when i offer mine." Maxwell said wondering if he'd met another American.

Garrett was a bit startled when the girl beside her spoke at first.
Hey Tayla! My name's Garrett. Are you excited to start classes?

Thinking that Ari finally stopped mocking her, the Ravenclaw started to be more patient. ‘WHAAT? I…I…I don’t have a middle name…errr’, she mumbled and couldn’t think of any excuse for that. ‘Merlin’s beard!’, she said coldly and looked back at the sorting ceremony, hoping that Ari wouldn’t notice she was turning red- AGAIN.

‘Of course I know Hufflepuffs- Jor… aaaa. Other than those two?’, she began saying, and, soon she added: ‘No’. Ughh now what was the name of that one on the train. ‘I think it started with a J too—‘ or A, B, C,D….’Janice?’, Gwen took a shot.

‘Look, I’m not going to screw this up, all right?’, the third year said curtly. Gulp- I’ll do my best… What if Jinx gets hurt? What if I do? What if Ari makes me laugh when I cast the spell and I do it wrong? All those (more or less) stupid questions were in Gwen’s mind at the moment.

Back to our discussion- ‘Yeah…’, Gwen said, trying to think why Madam Donovan left. ‘Ooow. Right’ Paid to care. Got it, Gwen thought but then looked back at Ari. Rising her eyebrow, she really hoped her friend would just stop rolling her eyes.

Oh goodie- muggle tea. Probably the only thing she liked about muggles. ‘That sounds great. Thanks’ *smirk*

As she glimpsed bak at the staff table, Gwen went on talking: ‘So what do you think about the whole Nimma story?’