"Just friends? Sounds to me you like hiiiim" Katie giggled giving her a friendly nudge, "You can trust me, dont worry" Katie winked, they had just met, but unlike a true slytherin she was trust worthy and wouldn't dare break a promise or tell a secret.

"Fine i won't go over whatever." nicki said looking away from taylor

TAylor blushed when Katie teased and nudged her, "Yeah we are just friends but you are right I do like him." She sighed, that was the first time she admitted it out loud and to herself even. Taylor swirled her braids which Logan said was cute. She was happy that she could trust Katie and was actually relieved to get her little crush off her chest,"He doesn't realize it.... to be honest i didnt realize it until now." She paused, "Sorry i must be boring you."

"What is your problem Nicki? I seriously don't know what you are talking about." She snapped and then sighed, "Sorry but i dont like getting snapped at or dismissed when i didn't do anything." She took a book out of her bag to read in case Nicki decides to stop talking to her.

First, Eino chuckled at Erin's joke, then he remembered he had a different name and got a little serious. He had known for a year and still felt terrible for hiding it. He really wanted to talk to someone about it, and he would have talked to Professor Bentley if he had not made her drink that Hate Potion. He sighed, then looked back at Erin and smiled, as Cornelius had instructed him to, with some teeth showing. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. "I suppose so. You do? Oh, that is fantastic, and what is it?"



Eino nodded as Cornelius elaborated on his education to indicate that the was listening attentively. With each nod, his bangs bounced off his forehead high in the air, then slowly fell back down. His eyes moved from Cornelius' eyes to his ear, to his mouth, to the person sitting behind him, to the candles illuminating the hall, to Sierra -- his eyes widened -- and quickly back to Cornelius. He relaxed his eyes and stiff shoulders, but didn't want to sigh in fear he would demonstrate boredom. He was quite interested in Cornelius background story, it was just that the she-Snake made him just a little nervous.

As Cornelius conclude a brief recount of his childhood, Eino noticed that Cornelius had mentioned his mum was a witch, but never mentioned his father. Eino opened his mouth to ask but quickly closed it. He had a "father" he wouldn't want to come up in a conversation, so maybe Cornelius did, too. Not that Eino was mindful of awkwardness and awkward moments, but Cornelius just seemed very happy, and it would be awful to say anything that would evoke any bad memories. "You will have not one problem fitting in. Most of the students are very nice, although some are not quite aware of the pogrebin threat we are facing, and others choose to ignore it." He glanced over his shoulder at the staff table then back at Cornelius. He wasn't going to turn this into a one-on-one orientation. He could let him know about the staff members later. With any luck, the two of them would be taking the same classes.

When Cornelius repeated what he had previously said, Eino hands flew from the bench and pressed themselves against the boy's mouth. Wide eyed, Eino looked at her but she seemed occupied talking to... a boy?! Who was that? Eino extended his neck and squinted his eyes in attempts to recognize the boy she was talking to, but he couldn't. He looked away, then looked back, then quickly looked back at Cornelius. He didn't know what to say. Awkward silence, and finally, with perfect timing, Headmaster Tate officially initiates the feast. Eino turned to the man without saying anything to Cornelius, hoping he would not have noticed anything. Of course, Cornelius would have to be blind to not have seen anything. A possibility Eino considered. So, Eino turned around and waved his hand right in front of his face, and by judging by his reaction, yes, he could see. Eino turned back to the headmaster and hoped for the best.

" you know what i am sorry to i sometimes can get a little nosey" Nicki said still anoyed but it wasn't that you can see it

It was obvious, he was just trying to be nice but Erin could let that pass. They were new acquaintances after all, "Cornelia," Erin whispered. It's not really safe in here to say it out loud or everyone would tease Erin by calling her a nickname like Corny. That would be the worst nickname ever. 'And you are not allowed to call me Corny," she chuckled. "How about you? Do you have a second name?" He must have none if the bulletin board says it right. The school once spelled her name, Eren.

"I'm well thank you and how about you?" Katie asked smiling.

Katie nodded, just as she thought! "I betcha he likes you back, but really deep in him he thinks that, one day he will be like 'Tay, will you go out with me?' and BAM!" Katie giggled. "Hey if you see him, point me out to him kay?" Katie smiled, she would like to meet the boy one day and see who she is actually talking about. "Nooo, Your not...." Katie stopped in the middle and pretended she was asleep because of boredom, "Just kidding! Nah, your not boring me" She laughed.

Still paying attention to the Sorting Ceremony, Gwen hoped some acceptable first years would join their house. Quickly scanning the place for no reason, someone soon caught her eye. From a considerable distance, Gwendolyn had spotted one of her best friends. ‘JOANNA!’, she waved to the other student while approaching her.

‘Mind if I join you?’, Gwen smirked and was ready to take a seat at the table, next to her friend. ‘Sooo… what are you up to?’

Still walking, Nessie noticed that Joanna, just like Alec was also looking at herself in the silverwear. Was it like a new thing people did? Maybe thats why there wasn't any food on the plate. Nessie couldn't help but giggle as she watched Joanna check herself out in the silverwear. Nessie had a mirror that she kept with her all the time, just incase she needed it to check if she looked okay. Either way, today she didn't care how bad she looked she was tired and hungry and until that got sorted out she wouldn't care about her appearance, not unless it was important.

Nessie giggled as Joanna shouted back to her. It really had been long since the last time they had seen eachother, and it was good to see Jo Jo again. Now that Ness thought of it, strangely so most of her good friends were all fourth years, which sort of made sense seeing as she was more or less the same age as them. In a few months time she'd be fourteen, which was pretty scary to Ness. As much as she loved her birthday and as much as she loved parties, she didn't like ageing very much. "I've missed you so much." she told Joanna whilst a smile started forming on her face.

The smile from earler immidiately turned into a straight face. Summer..was a pretty common topic today, and as much as Ness had been trying to avoid it all the time it just kept on coming back again and again. "I've erm..been..erm..away." It wasn't the best answer, but it was the only way Ness could hide where she really was without having to lie. "How about you?" she asked attempting to put the smile back on her face.

Louisa sat up erect once the headmaster made it to his feet at last. She shifted slightly in her place, her arm was still wrapped around Dal's, and faced the staff table where Tate stood to talk.

They'd already known this from the Daily Prophet and Louisa was extremely excited for this. Events at Hogwarts usually meant fun and education at the same time. Who wouldn't like that?

Louisa's eyes glanced at the new faces. Hmm. They looked quite... fine. Nobody was seeping out evilness, luckily. She wasn't going to knock on their offices to welcome them, though. She didn't believe it was her job to do that, she would attend their classes and they should teach her something, now THAT was her job.

...oh! And Nimma the house elf was going to talk to them? Hmm. It must be about the house elf baby, did they figure out how did that happen. And Why. And whether he was still in the castle or not.
The Ravenclaw started planning on securing her parchments and quills in a charmable box where only her can open it. She didn't want the ickle house elf smudging and playing with her homework! Nobody would want a homeworkless Louisa.

Kendra tentatively smiled back. She nodded. 'I'll remember.' She said sincerely, noting it down in her mind, relieved she had escaped getting in trouble. The girl asked of her rats name. 'Oh, he doesn't have one.' Kendra replied, wondering if this would somehow help them to retrieve her pet. 'I've not had him too long so I haven't had time yet.' She bit her lip, still trying to come up with something to help her think of something to name it.

Is he real? Was Mordred real? What is this? A question of honesty? And just why we're they talking about him? Why was he the star of the conversation all of a sudden? "He's real. At least I think he is." She allowed that to sink in for a while. Mordred was dead now, for her that is. He never came back and it high time that she put him behind the rocker. "Okay? Let's just not talk about him anymore." Beezus added. Talking about him would only make her remember the boy more.

"Oh?" So they were not talking about the same person, clearly. "I see. I did knew someone who's name is Alex and she used to be in Gryffindor. I don't see her around anymore though." Just why were the people slowly vanishing? Or they just don't like Hogwarts anymore?

"Well..Nice to meet you Gwen. I'm Beezus." She said, reaching out her hand, offering the girl a handshake. Introductions done. Now what? "Errr--what year are you in?" She decided to ask, trying to keep the conversation afloat. For sure, she wasn't a second year. Because if she was, Beezus must have know her and almost all the second years from last term knew each other, regardless of their houses. With that thought in mind, Beezus rested her head on her arm which was currently placed on the tabel.

Anyways, where was the food? Hmmm.. Headmaster. Oh! There's the Headmaster. Along with his new members of the school staff. This term should be a good one with all the wonderful new around.

Weird? It was that weird? Beezus couldn't help but think about her own soon to be last year at Hogwarts. It was true that she was just starting but endings always come. That was something no one could deny. "So surely, you'd be doing all you can to make this the greatest term for the eagles right?" Hehe. Still feeling journalistic this one is.

And her being journalistic towards Vashti had shifted targets. It was now Eino. "I know. Anyway.." She looked at his shiny new Prefect badge. "How does it feel to be a Prefect? Have you expected this to happen?" She asked. That was a new thing she discovered. Her second term around Hogwarts, she seems to be filled with so many questions.

Don’t be rude…don’t be rude, the girl kept repeating in her head as she was talking to the other student. ‘Nice to meet you too’, she announced and tried to smile, but only a grin came out. Close enough. ‘Third year’, Gwendolyn said. ‘Aaaand you?’ Probably second, the ravie told herself.

Feeling that the conversation wasn’t going so well, Gwen tried thinking of something that would make Beezus talk more, and she could only listen, not having to share a lot. ‘Got any plans for this year?’

As she heard the Headmaster starting his speech, Gwen turned her head towards the staff table. Yeah, pretty much the usual… wait –WHAT?

O__________o

Did he just say- - - ‘ Don’t die?’ Really?! ‘Psh’.

‘So the Gryffindor head of house changed, huh?’, Gwen said, more like to herself. Hmm… not bad.

"Same here." Though she was not that certain if she was saying the truth. Obviously, the two of them weren't comfortable with each other. Hopefully though, since they're in the same house, they could sort things out.

So she's a third year. Older than me, she thought. "Ermm--I'm in my second year." She answered. And an awkward silence. Thank goodness that she took the initiative to get the conversation going though. "Hmm.. plans.." Beezus mumbled as scratched her chin. She didn't have any infinite plans yet. "Well..I guess I'd try to make the Quidditch team again and excel in academics once more." Just like last term, she would do her best. "How about you? Are you somehow interested in Quidditch or plants?" Because if she did then there's a possibility they'd get along.

And unintentionally, she heard that whisper about the new Gryffindor Head of House. "Yeah, she's the new one." She commented, still uneasy a bit about it.

Louisa had a mouthful of mashed potatoes when the house-elf started talking. With a sideways glance at the little creature, the girl watched her trying to make her voice heard over the low chatter of hungry students. Looking back at her plate, Louisa went on with her food hearing the house elf's request.

To name their baby.

The Ravenclaw had difficulty swallowing the fairly large bite, her eyes bugging out just a bit, before she stared at the house elf across the hall. "He's still here." She was going to the library straight from here and looking for a charm to secure her trunk, and study tools. Hmph. As for naming the baby, Louisa was going to read about House Elves names before suggesting one. Maybe a mysterious and senseless one would resemble the little creature.

For now, she was too hungry to think about anything.

Jez discreetly slipped into the Great Hall and made her way to the Ravenclaw table. She sat down next to the rest of the second-years and helped herself to food. "Hi," she said to the table at large through a mouthful of chicken. "What did I miss?" She didn't paused to say anything more but kept on eating, feeling suddenly ravenous. Blame it on the train ride.

Pam smiled as Jez came back. "Jez! I was so worried!" she lowered her voice so only Jez could hear her. "Nate fainted. He says it's train sickness, but.." Her voice trailed off, not wanting to say what she was thinking. She hoped Jez could figure it out. She was a smart girl. After all, she is a Ravenclaw.

When Jez slipped into the seat between him and Pam, Nate had to face palm. Was this girl serious? She had almost died a few times, and now she was off wandering the castle on her own? Nate let out a sigh and nodded along with what Pam was saying. "Yup, I fainted. It couldn't have been train sickness, cause I'm fine now, but that's common room talk. So, Jez, where have you been?" he asked as he began filling his plate with the food that had appeared after Tate's very concise speech. Two words from that speech really stuck out to Nate: "Don't die". He didn't plan on it, but apparently Team Wolf did...

"Yeah, my brother is the only one and he's a baby. like less than a year old. He takes up all of my parents' time, so I guess it's good to have me out of the house for a while." yeah, cause when I get back he will be at least a year old. Lily said and thought.

"I kinda figured that they would have to describe the classes once we got here." Lily answered, looking around to see what the other first years were doing. "History of magic sounds kinda like muggle history that I've taken for years. But Charms sounds neat. What kind of stuff do you do in Charms? oh and what class do you think is the hardest?" Lily paused trying to guess which class Louisa thought was hardest.

Lily saw Louisa talking to the boy next to her after he had joined into the conversation. 'And that didn't affect you at all! You were a happy muggleborn student just like any pureblood or halfblood ones. Right Dallin?'
Lily smiled shyly when she said this because now the boy, who didn't look to happy, was looking at her and joining their conversation. This is kinda what I was afraid of, coming to someplace I didn't know. Everyone joins everyone else's conversations...I guess I have to get used to it. Lily thought to herself, her bottom lip trembling.

Aurora walked over to the Ravenclaw table, looking to that Beezus kid. She wondered if the girl had any idea what had happened to Mordred... Aurora hadn't even had an owl from him over the summer... and was more than a little bit annoyed with him. She spotted the girl, "Hey! Beezus! Come here a sec." she said, beckoning the girl over.

Beezus, come here? She was the only Beezus at Hogwarts right? So it must be referring to her. With an inquiring look, she turned around to see who was calling her. It was Aurora. What does she want with me? Beezus thought. She certainly hope they don't get into another trouble with each other again. "Rora! Good to see you." She said as she stood up and moved to where the Slytherin girl was. "Can I help you with anything?"

‘That’s interesting…’, Gwen said, but didn’t look so convinced. Quidditch wasn’t one of her favourite activities, but she promised her father she would go to the tryouts. ‘Umm- I actually promised I would try out for the team’, the ravie said and smirked. ‘I really think I should have practiced more, but I don’t believe I can be great in anything if I don’t like it’. Enough about me! I don’t like sharing so much stuff. ‘So you tried out last year too?’

Uuugh. Before answering a cold ‘NO’, Gwen paused. ‘I’m not really into any of those’, she said honestly. She was doing good in Herbology, but she didn’t quite like it. So it didn’t count. And flying… hated it for two years, but finally started liking it. Somehow. ‘I actually prefer things that have to do with potions and you know…subjects like DADA or transfiguration’

Looking at the girl as she said something about the new Gryffindor head of house, Gwendolyn seemed to be a bit puzzled. Why was Beezus so uncomfortable with it?, the third year thought, glimpsing back at the staff table. And what is happening with the house elf? ‘Do you know what’s going on with Nimma?’ There. Hopefully I’m not the only one unaware of what’s happening.

Good to see you..? Weird, it wasn't as if Aurora had ever really been nice to the girl... Anyway, "You haven't heard from Mordred have you? He's not at the Slytherin table and I haven't heard from him over the summer." Yes, Aurora would be annoyed with Mord if he'd written to Beezus and not her but at least then she'd know he was okay... he'd seemed really low last time she'd seen him.

"Oh. Then you should really try.." Yeah, things like that take a lot of tries for one to really appreciate it. That was her exact case with the subject Herbology last term too. "Uhm, yeah. But I was only a reserve." She answered when Gwen asked her if she made the Quidditch House Team last term. She could still remember the times where the whole practices amidst the changing weather. And the games that they had in which they always learned various lessons and morals.

Hmmm..Those kind of stuff. "Potions are good." When they were brewing good things and when Professor Lafay would be in a good mood. "Oh. And DADA..That subject's cool but I can't seem to enjoy it." She admitted.

"Nimma kinda adopted a baby house elf which was kinda set lose on the castle last term.." She was getting too familiar with the kinda word. Anyway, where was Gwen last term? Surely she must have heard about that baby house elf that Eino suspected to be pogrebin. "And by the way, Nimma's asking the students to think of a good name for the baby house elf."

Was this part of a reality? Or just a pigment of her imagination. Aurora was actually asking her about Mordred. "Uh.." Frowning starts. "Why would I..errr..hear from him?" Probably at their own house. "Has he not written to you?" Beezus asked. That would be weird. They were best friends right? And the only person Beezus knew that had a very strong connection with Mordred was only Aurora.

"I just... I don't know." Why would she have heard from him..? "No, he didn't. I was just... wondering." No, she was clutching at straws. She didn't know who else might have heard from him... she should send him another owl if he didn't turn up... just to check he was alright. "Look, it doesn't matter... thanks anyway." she said, frowning slightly. Where would he BE?! "Did you um.. have a good summer?" she asked.