Okay, NOW Kurumi could not NOT hug Alice and did so very carefully and slowly just to be sure that she didn't knock Alice off balance or anything. Gingerly resting her head on the smaller blonde's shoulder, Kurumi turned her head slightly to speak. "You were very brave. Very Gryffindor," she whispered. Really. She had been. Kurumi had been a nervous and panicking wreck on the inside and hadn't even really been injured. "I am sure you will master those crutches in no time. In the meantime, you let me know if I can help you with anything, okay? At least I can charm your bags to be lighter or something," Kurumi offered.

Kurumi took a moment to glance at Melanie, one of her new lions and couldn't help but laugh just a little. "Yep, that is what the hat meant. Your a Gryffindor now. That will come to mean something personal to you. Speak to you in its own way," she said with a Lockhartian wink. Which was just when a boy joined them as well (Landon). "Oh, and a welcome to Gryffindor to you as well!"

But now eyes were back on Alice.

Oh good, so Walnut was back in the common room. "Thanks. I hope he behaved himself while he stayed with you." Because Walnut could be moody, but he seemed to get what he was supposed to do this time around. "I think we all are going to collapse from exhaustion before the night is out."
"I don't think you need to worry about that," Kurumi laughed. Not that her body image was really the best. Kurumi still lacked a lot of self confidence and that mostly came with her and her complex revolving around her metamorphagus abilities. Not that she was going to bring that up right now. The conversation with Sarah was light and airy and Kurumi intended to keep it that way.

Ah, just a saying...maybe. Kurumi had seen some people actually crossing their fingers before, but what Sarah said made sense as well. "Interesting. European expressions still fascinate and sometimes confuse me," she smiled, practicing her finger crossing again for a moment. She had gotten much better at it, but still couldn't really do it properly on her left hand. "Is your brother still waiting in line?" Kurumi asked as she stood up to peer over the crowd of students surrounding the front. She was sure Sarah didn't want to miss her brother's Sorting after all while being distracted by their conversation.
Politely ignore the expression that was flickering on and off the girl's face, Kurumi sat back down in her seat and causally looked around for her best friend. Yep, THIS would be interesting...especially since Selina was probably still handing out posters.

"I did," Kurumi nodded with a slight blush to her cheeks. "But, if I may say so, I think you will end up liking Gryffindor for more reasons than just my cookies." And she ALMOST winked again. Thanks, Treyen Lockhart, for rubbing some of your charm off on this Gryffindor. Kurumi didn't pull it off nearly as well though.
Hmmm...this did not set well with the seventh year and she furrowed her brow slightly. Ronnie wasn't usually so....depressed like she was right now. Instead of pushing the issue, seeing as there were so many around at the moment, Kurumi instead stood up and patted the younger lioness on the shoulder. "We'll talk after the feast. Catch up and all that, yeah?" she said. Didn't have to if she didn't want to, but a sad housemate was always a concern for Kurumi.

Which was when Gideon made his appearance and Kurumi offered him a small wave before turning her attention to someone else who had just joined the table.

"THOMAS!" Kurumi chirped as she jumped properly to her feet and rushed to the much-older-and-taller-than-she-remembered Gryffindor, throwing her arms around him in a hug. "I've missed you! I'm so glad you are back!" And then she heard his stomach rumbling and she snatched one of her cookies out of the air and handed it to him. "Welcome back."
Okay, time to charm a cookie in Penelope's direction before she ate the table... "Penelope!" Kurumi called, pointing upwards to the dancing cookies over head. "In case you need one." Kurumi herself ended up grabbing one out of the air this time and began to nibble. It had been a long day and Kurumi was just now realizing how hungry she herself was.

And thirsty...where was her pumpkin juice again?

"You survive the trip alright?"

And AGAIN Kurumi's cheeks flushed. Enough about cookies and compliments, okay? She was going to start resembling a tomato at this rate.

"I wouldn't be too disappointed," she said with a small laugh. "Wait...you are part spider now?" What had happened to being part leprechaun!? Did he get to pick and choose his genes or something? But then Kurumi was back to being in professor mode and she ran her fingers through her long black hair for a moment before explaining. "Apparition is a magical method of transportation and is basically the magical action of travelling by having the user focus on a desired location in their mind, then disappear from their current location and instantly reappear at the desired location," she rattled off, having memorized the textbook. "I'm hoping to get my licence this term."

Kurumi nodded. "The house elves are very accommodating. I'm in there almost every day baking. Fresh cookies in the common room every Wednesday." Just as a heads up. "Sure! I was actually thinking about asking the house elves if it would be alright for me to have mini baking lessons in the kitchens every once in a while." She wasn't about to leave Hogwarts without any cookies! Time for her to begin to sculpt the next generation of young bakers, right?
And another new Gryffindor had come to the table! Clapping her hands together loudly, Kurumi smiled at the new boy. "Welcome! And thank you for all your help on the platform today."

Yep...here was another one of the first years from the platform...and now Kurumi knew his name too. "Welcome to Gryffindor, Dylan," she chirped, levitating a cookie in his direction.
Yes, we saw THAT interaction and squee and SMILE little Miss Anya. Kurumi's jaw couldn't help but drop. Oh Merlin...had she...had her...was he...so many unanswered questions and all Kurumi could do was sit and watch her little lioness and the new boy. Not that Kurumi would have been able to tell if there was anything there. She hadn't even known about Elijah and....Vickers liking her.

Speaking of which...she needed to speak to the Ravenclaw about that because, well, she was feeling terrible about how completely inconsiderate she had always been about his feelings.

"Hey Anya," Kurumi said, obviously distracted by thoughts.
"Algamus, please, just call me Kurumi if you don't mind," she said with a small laugh and shake of the head. "And, um, thank you. You are looking well. Is there something I can help you with?" Since he was here at the Gryffindor table instead of elsewhere and all.

Ah another friendly face in the form of Anya Phillips. Gideon had noticed she seemed to have caught sight of Penelope near him and the prefect offered her a small wave in return. There would be plenty of time for proper hellos and it wasn't as if most younger students paled around with the older ones when they had friends closer to their own age. And here he had gathered up Penelope when she surely had her own to be with. Another wave...this one directed at him from Kurumi, the boy returning it to his fellow prefect in kind.

Come on Selina where are ye?

And back to Penelope's question. "Aye it was...and I'm thankfully back in the wand-owning group." Cue relieved look. That was certainly one of the good things about his summer. It was just odd for a wizard to be without a proper wand.

Ariella scoffed, "Well of course a broken train coudn't stop us! We're invinsible!!" She striked a pose with her right fist in the air and the other on her hip... after holding it for a moment she dropped her arms back to her side and looked sheepishly back to Ari, "Well, not completely invinsible, sometimes portkeys get the better of us...."

Taking notice to Lex's arm she remembered that she had injured her wrist earlier that evening, "So Alexa, is your wrist doing alright? Hasn't gotten and worse has it?"

Tag was not at all pleased to hear that the sorting hat had, magically, decided, probably had made some secret plan with Jacob, to put him in Gryffindor. Its as if the gods were torturing him even more with how little Anya time he'd get now. Now that he was in Gryffindor she'd be extra distracted and busy with him and it would be rubbed right in his face. So when he answered Jacob with a "I'd rather sleep in the common room couch, than in the dorms with you." there was much dry hate in his voice.

Thank you sorting hat, Tag thought sarcastically.



Oddly enough, now with the pairing of Anya and Jacob Tag wasn't much in the mood to talk to Anya, especially right now. An considering how brilliant his summer was he didn't have much to say to her. "Hi." Tag said in return with a boring tone. To pass the time he began to play with his spoon again, feeling quite awkward with himself sitting next to her, and her near to him.



Tag simply stared at Kurumi as she began to go on about what apparition was. It sounded like she was the book herself. The definition seemed perfect, maybe even better than a book. She went on and on and he began to wonder if she slept with the book and fell asleep with it every night. "It sounds fun. A liscense? Like a driving licence?"

"Oh.. I'm an Irish Spiderman. Yeah, I go around doing a justice to Ireland, webslinging and all that good stuff." His mom needed to finish up on his costume.

Then an older student, Gideon, turned around to say hi to Tag and Penelope. So, Tag returned the hi with a simple hi too, and asked Gideon, "How was your summer? Any exciting adventures you went on?" Because all the older students had the most exciting vacations in the world.

Dylan looked up as someone said Hi to him, oh no! it was that girl that had decided that climbing the train was not a good idea and that he should be punished for it! He managed a smiled "Thank you." whatever your name was. He looked around to see if the other girl was around.. was she in this house too.. the one with the missing bat.

Just then he saw something coming at him and saw that it was a cookie.. who was levitating it towards him? he looked for the source and saw that it was that girl the one that had just welcomed him. Did she give cookies to all the first years? cause that was kinda cool! He clasped the cookie in his hand and smiled a genuine smile this time.. ok so maybe he could grow to like the girl as long as he got regular cookies "Thanks.. er.. sorry I don't know your name. Didn't get to ask with everything that happened at Kings Cross" he said as he took a bite of the cookie.. which he had to say was del-i-cious!

His mom didn't bake him cookies unless he went over to her house that she shared with her new muggle husband.. but he had to admit even those did not taste as good as this one did. Ok cookie lady.. you got Dylan's attention now.. just keep these cookies coming! These lovely cookies.

...Really. "My name's not Penny." They'd been over this about a thousand times already. Everyone else understood. Why didn't he? Was he REALLY that thick? REALLY?

Of course, she was aware he could be doing it on purpose, but she was nice enough, even now when she wasn't happy with him, to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he used it again, however - well, two could play at this game.

And then James appeared...with his arm in a sling? Sure, it seemed he was the only Slytherin in the group, but Penelope didn't answer the question because it wasn't as important. "The healer's right up there if you need to see her," she said, nodding her head up at the staff table where she was pretty sure she spotted the Healer, along with some other new faces. Those weren't ALL professors, were they?

Not like the food? "Oh no, I love the food!" she replied with a firm nod, though she cast a glance back at the table just to make sure it was still empty like she thought it was before turning back to the elf. "That's why I wish they'd hurry it up up there-" She nodded at the staff table. "-so the food would appear sooner." Because she wanted that food, like, now.

Oh look, food! Penelope snatched one of the dancing cookies and took a large bite out of it, so that there was only a sliver of cookie left in her hand. She chewed and swallowed the first bite after a few seconds, then stuffed the rest into her mouth. It helped at least a little with the hunger. "Thanks, Kurumi."

As for the trip? Penelope nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright." Her knee was bruised a bit, but nothing was broken, so she considered herself alright. "You?" Kurumi looked alright of course, but maybe she'd already been treated by the Healer or something.

Penelope was glad to hear that Gideon's summer had been good too. Everyone deserved to have a good summer in between their years at Hogwarts. "Did you and Selina hang out?" 'Cause he and Captain Selina were dating, right? And...back in the wand-owning group? "You didn't own a wand before?" she asked.

Selina had fallen behind in the train. After everything that sort of gone bonkers, because everyone decided that the train breaking down was far more important than finding her beater bat, the Quidditch Captain had a rather difficult time finding her bag with her uniform. The entire train had turned to chaos and with everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off, Selina misplaced her bag. By the time she had finally found it, half of the student body was gone by portkey and on their way up to the castle. In fact, Selina was so late that she had wandered in with some of the first years.

Straitening out her tie, she started to walk down the isle toward the Gryffindor table. As she walked she saw many new faces and old faces fill the table. And of course, as Kurumi had bloody joked, the train climbers had been sorted into Gryffindor. But she also saw some of her favorite little Gryffindors like Tag, Penelope and Anya. Which reminded the redhead, her and Anya needed to have a very long talk later. This whole boyfriend thing that she had heard of really concerned the older Gryffindor.

Then she saw some other Gryffindors who she had caught up with briefly on the train. Kurumi and Gideon, the two prefects of her house, were already making the rounds with the students of all ages. They were the epitome of prefectom. Honestly, they were always so nice and patient with the younger students. If Selina had to be nice to every crazed first year in this school she would probably explode. It was not that Selina wasn't nice, she had been told on many occasions that once people got past Selina's rough coating she had the softest of insides, but sometimes people SCALED THE TOP OF THE TRAIN! No one inparticular, of course.

Feeling particularly moved by the spirit of the opening feast, Selina was about to roar, when she remembered the sheet of paper in her hands. RIGHT MORTIMER! How could she have let her beautiful little man be forgotten? This was a feast of joy and reunion, but some things were more important than food...

O______________________________________________o

Did she just think that? No she couldn't of. And yet, there the thought was. Could it be that Mortimer had finally surpassed her love of food? What a frightening thought. With that in mind she lifted the flyers over her head and yelled out, "Oi! Gryffindor! Listen up! This is your Captain speaking! HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN HIM?" Please take a flyer.

Annie was trying to picture what a house elf would look like by now, unsure what to expect when she'd meet them but Kurumi seemed to love them so she figured they'd be kind, and she'd heard that they were also the ones that cooked the food for the feasts, something her brother had told her actually.

"They sound pretty cool... I've never seen a house elf before though actually" she said trailing off quietly before she smiled at the idea of learning to bake... after only making the ones out of the packet with the maid she hadn't exactly learnt much but she knew you had to be patient while baking them! "Thanks! And that's sooo cool, I'll definitely be coming to those lessons then!"

Grinning at the idea of it she smiled at Kurumi. "So how long have you been Prefect? In fact how long have you been here? What are the classes like? And the teachers? I mean I met the Groundskeeper because he let me hold Millie and he was really nice but are all the Professors like that? she started asking questions quickly, curious to learn everything she could about Hogwarts before the classes actually started and she figured everything out for herself.

Kurumi smiled and winked THANKS TREYEN! at Penelope, refraining from making a comment about hoping the cookie would prevent her from eating the actual table. Not that Penelope had actually tried that before....not yet at least.

"Glad to hear it," Kurumi chirped. "I don't want anymore of my favorite lions getting hurt." This time she refrained from winking, but just barely. "I'm alright, now at least. Just glad to be in the Great Hall."

"You're welcome," Kurumi replied with another small smile. She wasn't going to mention the platform, not after everything else that had happened today, but then he went and brought it up, causing a smaaaaaaall smirk to form on her lips before she was back to being calm and non-smirky. "I'm Kurumi Hollingberry, one of your Gryffindor prefects."

Just to let that thought sink in.
"Um....yes, I suppose you can think of it like that. Just like with any sort of transportation in the nonmagical world you need a liscense in the wizarding world as well." It was sort of nice to be able to relate to someone like this, someone who knew the world she grew up in. It was exhausting sometimes trying to explain things to Selina. Not that Kurumi minded really, it was just exhausting.

"What's.....webslinging?" Cue some confused rapid blinking.

Yep, see, there was Selina...still handing out flyers and still being all panicking mama over her bat. Kurumi knew she would be the same if her favorite cookie cutters went missing, so she had to be a little sympathetic towards her best friend.

Still...that didn't stop her from giggling juuuuuuuuuuuuuust a little.

"Oh they are fantastic!" Kurumi exclaimed, clapping her hands together once for added effect. "One was just here a moment ago...." Where had he gone off to? Kurumi took a quick peek under the table to see if he was there, but no such luck. Probably making some more rounds. The house elves were rather busy this time of the term. "I look forward to see you there, assuming I get permission. If you have any flavors you specifically want to see, just let me know."

And Kurumi was back to blushing again. Prefecting. It always made her blush a little...talking about it. Meh. "I've been a prefect since my fourth year," she nodded slowly, glancing down at the table and trying to find some way to occupy her hands before they started fidgeting too much. "I'm a seventh year and, well, the professor are all great. Our Head of House is Professor Bentley. She teaches Herbology. We have a lot of new faces this term...so you'll find out what they are like along with me." Kurumi ventured a glance at the staff table and noticed that one of the new professors, an elderly woman, was already in some sort of dispute with Professor Scabior and the Healer. Yep, she liked her already...whoever she was.

A part of Lex wanted to agree with the ravvie but then she remembered that the decision was final and she needed to show some house pride. Nod. She gave her a cheeky smile. "Nah, Gryffindor's the best so you can take that garbage somewhere else." Then she flashed her a wide smile just to make sure she knew that she meant no harm.


Lex couldn't shake the fact that Kurumi had a somewhat amused look on her face...just what was so funny? She nearly shook her head; this was why she thought older children were weird...they did things for no reason!!--Unless!...unless she was waiting for something...or someone...

She swallowed hard hoping it wasn't what she thought it was. One yeller was enough and she was quite happy that of the two yellers the less violent one was in her house. She was happy with this and didn't want it to change!

And she really made the cookies?! "Wow, then you're a really good baker, these taste amazing!!" She was tempted to ask her if she would make a batch for her one day but she figured she would hold off on such a question for now and instead commented on her next statement. "Oh, I know. I already love this house lots, even when you minus the cookies and I think it's just going to get better from here." That's right Lex...positive thoughts...stay positive.




She settled in more comfortably in her seat and took another one of Kurumi's yummy cookies. As she took the first bite she saw her. The girl wasted no time in walking over and what was worse...she was wearing the Gryffindor house colours.

O___________O

"Wait so Scary Bat-Girl's in this house too?!?!?!?!" She blurted before she had a chance to stop herself. With the last word uttered she clapped both hands over her mouth and sunk down into the seat hoping to go invisible before the girl could find out who had said that.

For a moment Lex forgot how to breath as she stared over at the girl who was looking at the people around the table. This couldn't be happening!!! It wasn't until she felt a burning in her throat that she realized she hadn't been breathing and when she tried sucking in a deep breath she started choking on the cookie. This was all her doing!!!

Her young career as a Gryffindor had only just begun--she wasn't ready to die yet!!!!

...And she was still handing out that flyer...? Though she would never ask her that.

----------This is for JESHIEH/Landon and Jenny!Luff/Melanie.

Alice giggled when Landon started to tease Melanie. Awwh. Her friends were awkward!cute. More awkward than cute. But whatever. "You don't remember a thing? .. Cut lip?" Oh, yeah. The cut lip was easy to heal, she had done that with a flick of her wand once they had taken a portkey to Hogsmeade. But the broken leg wasn't that easy to heal. Hence the splint. And crutches. She smiled, though, when Landon told her that he was proud of her for being brave. "It's still not a big deal.. but thanks. Though it really wasn't much to complain about. Kurumi and Melanie helped out alot."

SPEAKING OF MELANIE. She had been rather quiet ever since Landon had made her look like a fishy. "A sleepover everyday?" Alice had never been to a sleepover. They sounded too girly. But one with Melanie would be fun. "YEAH. We can have pillow fights.. and sneak down to the Kitchens at midnight to get noodles and curry! AND. We can chase Donnie around the Common Room!" And try to make him wear a bunny costume. That would be VERY fun. "What? No. I'm really not that tired."

Plus, if she sat down, she would take up to much room with her splint and crutches.

----------This is for Lexipoo/Tag!Lufflieh.

The lioness grinned when her co-parent gave her an awkward one armed hug. Of course, she awkwardly hugged him back. "Not here. I mean, where were you ON THE TRAIN? Annie and Nell.. I mean, Anya and Penelope.. they were looking for you. So was I! Tag the Second and I wanted to see you!" Tag the Second missed his daddy, yep yep. "Oh? You're eating a Kurumi-Cookie? Is it good?" She needed to snag another of those for herself before they ran out.

"OKAY. We can head to the Common Room after the feast is over and we can visit him." BEAM. "I'm pretty sure he's okay, but we should check for injuries. And I have these pretty yellow bandages that match his fur for little cuts and everything!" Though it would be better if he wasn't hurt. But whatever. "To me? Uhm.. oh, you mean my leg?" Nothing really happened. "I was sitting on Jake's lap in the train and I fell off and some trunks fell on me. And it kind of broke."

Which reminded her, she still had to visit the healer... but the feast was her number one priority.

----------This is for Baguette/Penelope, Nomsy/Jake, Lamey/Anya, Jacqui/James.. y'know.

And then she noticed Penelope sitting over in the corner by herself. "NELL!" she shouted, trying to wave her arms while still holding on to her crutches. After a while, she gave up and just hobbled over to the girl, being careful not to drag her splint. "Where did you go? I think I lost you after we took the Portkey." Pity. She really did like Penelope. She honestly like anyone who enjoyed food as much as she did. "Are you okay? Is your knee okay?"

And then her other big brother appeared as well.. telling her that he was a Gryffindor?! OHYAY. More people for her to bother in the Common Room. "That's amazing!" she exclaimed, wanting to give him a congratulatory hug, but restraining herself. She didn't really want to smack Jake in the head with a crutch. "We're going to be HOUSEMATES. You can give me a piggyback ride in the COMMON ROOM. Heck. You could give me a PONY RIDE in the Common Room."

She really did with that she hadn't broken her leg. She could have been getting a piggyback ride right now if she was lucky.

And then Anya appeared. She waved a crutch at her as well. She seemed pleased enough that Jake was in her house. Ignoring the awkwardness between her, Cobbie, and Penelope, Alice began to bombard the girl with questions. "Are you okay? You weren't hurt, were you? DId you see Alec? He scraped himself up pretty badly." Yes, because she was Alec's wing-woman. She thought Anya might like to know about her best friend's teensy injury, if she didn't already. AND. Here was James. Alice averted her eyes away. She was still upset at him for the THING. No, she was not going to talk to HIM. But, secretly, she was happy that he seemed to be in less pain and had a sling around his arm. So she tried not to look at him.. or scowl.. or stick her tongue out..

Thankfully, she succeeded. Kinda.

----------This is for Katie/Sir Broadmoooooooooor.

Alice sat down next to the boy with funky accent, restraining a giggle. She kind of liked it, he sounded very.. exotic. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little problem on the train, a bunch of luggage toppling on to me when it stopped. Did anything happen to you?" .. And this boy was asking her questions when he didn't even know her name? Well. At least he was talkative. "I'm Alice, by the way." Nice to meet you, too, person.

He hadn't been here for a year? Well, he sure did miss a lot, yeah? "Really? Where were you?" Pity. Last year was definitely a fun one.. come to think of it, all of them were. "Oh. I dunno how you could have slept through all that stuff." Maybe he hadn't even taken a portkey to the station? Maybe he had just been brought into Hogwarts with the luggage? Huh. Curious. "Tate WAS. I liked having a Headmaster who could be named after food." If this once couldn't be, maybe she would call her Buffalo Wing. Because buffalo wings had that funky red colour to them.. like the new Headmistress' hair.

"She was going through the compartments and yelling at the kids to get in a seat because of the train's problems. We had to take a portkey to Hogsmeade and take carriages to the castle, didn't you know?" This boy really had slept through a lot. Alice wished she could do that. "Tate?: Huh. Nothing. he just... retired." Yes, that was the word. But the lioness was distracted from her thoughts when the boy's stomach started rumbling loudly. "UHM. Are you hungry?" Silly question. But it was valid.

----------This is for Taylor/Selina.

Alice turned her head to see Selina, their Quidditch Captain, passing out flyer's.. about her missing bat?! WHAT?! Selina's bat was practically famous.. everyone in the House knew that if they crossed Selina or Kurumi or Gideon or anyone of her favourite lions, they had better watch out. This was not good news. It practically meant that their house could be AMBUSHED. Alice hobbled over to Selina on her crutches and peeked over her arms at the flyers she was passing out. "Your bat's gone missing? That's.. that'shorrid."

----------This is for Kath/Kurumi-Cookie.<33

Alice smiled when she got a Kurumi hug. She liked those. She let go of one of her crutches so that she could wrap an arm around the Prefect and hug her back. "Thanks, Kurumi. But you really did do a lot to help me out." She probably wouldn't have even been close to walking by now if it wasn't for her helpfulness. "I hope so. I'll be pleased when I can go to the healer and put all of these away. I don't like the attention." There was too many explanations that came along with it.

The pretty kitty cat? NOT behave himself? He seemed like a good cat to Alice. "Oh, yes. He was a very good kitty." She liked him very much. He was a good pet for Kurumi to have. "We are. There's.. there's so many PEOPLE. I can't seem to wrap my head around it. The first days are always the busiest."

But they were also the most fun.

SPOILER!!: Penelope

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

Penelope was glad to hear that Gideon's summer had been good too. Everyone deserved to have a good summer in between their years at Hogwarts. "Did you and Selina hang out?" 'Cause he and Captain Selina were dating, right? And...back in the wand-owning group? "You didn't own a wand before?" she asked.

"Aye we did...a few times." Thankfully none with his father but the incident with hers had certainly been a blast. Insert touch of sarcasm here. She seemed confused about his comment about his wand, obviously not aware of what had happened when he thought he had heard gossip around the tower about it. And here he had ruined her innocence of knowing about his failure.

"Nae...I did," Gideon remarked, trying to think of the best way to put it. "It just got...stolen...in the trouble in Hogsmeade at the end of term. Had to wait until we were back in London to replace it."

SPOILER!!: return of the missing girlfriend

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

Selina had fallen behind in the train. After everything that sort of gone bonkers, because everyone decided that the train breaking down was far more important than finding her beater bat, the Quidditch Captain had a rather difficult time finding her bag with her uniform. The entire train had turned to chaos and with everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off, Selina misplaced her bag. By the time she had finally found it, half of the student body was gone by portkey and on their way up to the castle. In fact, Selina was so late that she had wandered in with some of the first years.

Straitening out her tie, she started to walk down the isle toward the Gryffindor table. As she walked she saw many new faces and old faces fill the table. And of course, as Kurumi had bloody joked, the train climbers had been sorted into Gryffindor. But she also saw some of her favorite little Gryffindors like Tag, Penelope and Anya. Which reminded the redhead, her and Anya needed to have a very long talk later. This whole boyfriend thing that she had heard of really concerned the older Gryffindor.

Then she saw some other Gryffindors who she had caught up with briefly on the train. Kurumi and Gideon, the two prefects of her house, were already making the rounds with the students of all ages. They were the epitome of prefectom. Honestly, they were always so nice and patient with the younger students. If Selina had to be nice to every crazed first year in this school she would probably explode. It was not that Selina wasn't nice, she had been told on many occasions that once people got past Selina's rough coating she had the softest of insides, but sometimes people SCALED THE TOP OF THE TRAIN! No one inparticular, of course.

Feeling particularly moved by the spirit of the opening feast, Selina was about to roar, when she remembered the sheet of paper in her hands. RIGHT MORTIMER! How could she have let her beautiful little man be forgotten? This was a feast of joy and reunion, but some things were more important than food...

O______________________________________________o

Did she just think that? No she couldn't of. And yet, there the thought was. Could it be that Mortimer had finally surpassed her love of food? What a frightening thought. With that in mind she lifted the flyers over her head and yelled out, "Oi! Gryffindor! Listen up! This is your Captain speaking! HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN HIM?" Please take a flyer.

Speaking of a certain mentioned witch...

Hearing a familiar voice yelling for the table's attention, Gideon turned to spot the familiar redhead. He gave a sigh of relief and smiled to see her safe and in one piece. The seventh year moving to get up to move closer to Selina but stopping as she continued on about finding Mortimer, offering more fliers for assistance. Great...just great.

"Aye...please find him," he murmered quietly as he sat back down with a frown. Starring at the table for lack of anything else to do. He needed some even small bit of sanity returning to his life.

"Is your knee alright?" Anya asked calling down the table. After the portkey, everyone got a bit separated. She had spent the time with James, so she was really hoping that Penne was fine.

And Alice as well.

Anya grinned widely and turned her head in the direction of Laura's voice. She jumped out of her seat. "LAURA!" she exclaimed hugging her Hufflepuff friend.

She blushed and covered her friend's mouth. "It'sstillnotofficial." she said in a hushed voice. "He's supposed to ask today." Or hours ago. Heh.

"This, is Jake." she said introducing her friend to the almost boyfriend.

Anya grinned and nodded several times. It was... a lot of words that she'd get in trouble for saying... in combination with more words that she'd probably get stared at for saying... all in front of "pretty much the best thing ever."

So she'd just settle for saying the last bit.

"It's pretty much the best thing ever." GRINNN! He could tell she was excited, right?

Anya studied James's face for a second. "You alright?" she asked. Had... he not seen anyone about getting fixed up? Was he going to be okay? Did he need her to feed him?

Poor guy.

Where was the healer and why was she not making him all better?

"Yeah. The rest of us are Gryffindors." Minus Blakey, Ella, and Messer. They were Jigglypuffs. Or something. The yellow ones. What were they called again? She could never remember.

Anya smiled at the Prefect. "Hey Kurumi." she said happily. "You get here safely?" she asked. Hopefully the older lion hadn't gotten hurt on what was the most adventurous train ride she'd ever been on.

And by adventure... she meant one of those unplanned, unappreciated little down falls.

"How does it feel?" Being almost done.

"Hey Gideon." Anya said brightly greeting the other Gryffindor Prefect. "Where's Selina? Neither one of you got hurt, did you?" she asked.

And as if on cue, Selina appeared. "She still hasn't found that thing?" she asked Gideon.

Anya smiled in an attempt to get Tag to smile back. It didn't seem to be working though. "How was the trip? We didn't sit together..." Which... was unlike last term when they were practically inseparable. "You didn't get hurt at all, did you?"


Anya eyed Alice's crutch. At least... she was taken care of. Hopefully it wasn't anything bad, since broken legs didn't really take long to fix magic style.

"Yeah. I just saw him. That's why I was kind of late coming in. He's all better now." Minus the weird trouser incident. Heh. Maybe she's tell Alice about it later.

"And you? How are you feeling?"

Jake turned sharply when he heard loud clapping near him. Oh, and it was directed to him too! He beamed instantly at the girl, recognizing her from the platform. They had helped carry Ali.

"No problem," he said brightly. "Glad that's over, though. What a crazy way to... get... aquainted... withtheschool." *mellow* He'd stop talking now.



...WELL. Jake's grin was gone again, just like that.

A little rude, Tag, if he did say so himself.

"Suit yourself," Jake said with the best good-natured shrug he could muster. "It's your choice. But by the looks of it..." he glanced up and down the table, noting all the people with Gryffindor robes on, "You might have a hard time getting some peace and quiet in the common room. The dorm might be your best bet." At least in Jake's opinion, anyway.

"But don't worry. I won't charm your trousers invisible or draw on your face in the middle of the night. I'm not that bad."

And he knew from experience how annoying those things could be.



...Right. "Penelope." Sorry. Jake stared at the girl for a second before shrugging and looking away. Um. So. Um.

"How... was your carriage ride?" Was it too obvious that he was searching for any sort of small talk he could?



Thankfully, somebody else caught his attention, so Jake didn't need to continue staring blankly at Penelope.

The girl was searching for someone? Jake frowned. He could understand why. It would be easy to lose someone in the chaos of the train stopping and the portkeys and the horseless carriages...

But... that wasn't a someone. That was a bat.

"Excuse me," he said, standing up for a second to get the girl's attention. "That's a bat... ma'am." He didn't know where that came from. The girl just had a ma'am feeling about her. Like she needed respect.

And possibly a visit to the healer. Bats weren't hims.



Then... Ali! Yay! Somebody Jake could act normal around!

"I know!!" That was the kind of reaction he'd been looking for. Amazing. Amazing indeed. "We are! I can!" Yes, he still remembered the promise to give her a piggyback ride. All of her sixty-eight pounds that she was so awed that he could carry.

...Pony rides, though? "What's a pony ride?" He was pretty sure he knew what she was talking about... but he wanted to make sure he was sure before he went and promised her a pony ride and a piggyback ride.



Oh. Hai, Anya's friend. Jake smiled, looking over to the girl Anya introduced him to, and waved. "I'm Jake." Yep, Anya already said that.

And she was excited! Jake's grin was back. "It is, isn't it?" Heh. The best thing ever. It definitely made his day, that was for sure. He got to hang out with Anya all the time now!

"So now you can show me around Hogwarts and the common room." You know, as opposed to most of Hogwarts, but not the common room of a different house. You know.

Dylan smiled a little as she introduced herself.. and she managed to wipe that smile off his face as she revealed her position within the house of lions. She was one of the big ones!? those prefect people?! oh man! this was not going to be good! her eyes were going to be on him all the time now! He cleared his throat so that he could talk "Oh! well.. er.. nice to meet you" he said taking another bite out of the cookie.. ok.. ok calm down.. so he had behaved a little badly in front of his prefect.. how was he supposed to know that she was one of them?! Well now that he knew.. he would be sure to behave in front of her.

He looked at his cookie and then back at her "Thanks for this.. its.. um.. really yum." yeah might as well show her that he can be good too when he wants to, now for the question that he had thought of the moment that he had gotten the cookie "Do you give cookies to all first years?" yeah like bribe them the moment they are sorted? cause of course she would want them on her side straight away. Well he wasn't about to admit it but this prefect was managing to do it right.. she had won him over just a tiny bit.. I repeat just a tiny bit! It was these darn cookies! Thats it!! if he wanted more of these cookies then he had stay on her side.. her good side.. and he was sure that he would get more cookies that way.

He then heard someone yelling out to them and he looked round to see... the flyer girl?!?!?! wait she was their captain!? oh boy!! this was not good! He had just been sorted into the same house as the two girls that had watched him climb the train before deciding that a punishment was needed.. well he hoped that that whole train thing wouldn't hurt his chances of making the quidditch team cause he would be trying out for the team at some point in his Hogwarts career. He heard Lex yell out too about her being in their house, yup they had climbed the train in front of the very people that would keep an eye on them and control how much quidditch they played. This girl was still handing out flyers?!?! how many did she have?!?! Well he hadn't seen it he had told her that before.

He wondered what these two girls actually thought of them being sorted into Gryffindor, and now they knew his name since it had been called out for him to sit on the stool for the hat. He wondered if they would go tell their Head of House what he had been doing even before the train had left the station, if they did.. would.. the Head of House be taking points? though technically he hadn't been sorted at the time of the incident so that didn't count... right? he hoped not.. imagine the looks he would get for losing his house points even before he got sorted.. that would not be good!

Arabella-Marie looked at the tables and sighed she was hungry and said "I wonder what the new headmistress is going to be saying in her start of term speech"

Tag nodded as Kurumi explained that she wanted the licence and it was equavilent to a muggle driving one. " I hope you get it. I bet you will-you're really smart..and stuff. An nice-you can always pull on the nice charm inside you." He said with a little smile on his face.

He stopped when Kurumi was blinking a lot more than usual. Then he realized all this spiderman talk was probably getting to her. Usually it was the boys that loved supeheros and comic books. "Webslinging is when a spider shoots their spiderweb out of their hand. So..how spiderman does it is..he'd jump off a building and he touches the bottom of his wrist.." He showed her the little motion, "And spazzzz... the web comes out, you point it to the closet object-a building, light post, car, railing and you kind of fly in the air like a spider! It's brilliant." Now a big smile spread over his face over the thought.



Tag began to feel uncomfortable and squirm in his seat as Alice told him the others were looking for him. He had wanted to avoid them all for his reasons because it'd be too difficult being in that compartment. What he didn't know was that they'd miss him that much-considering all the stuff that had happened in there. "I was sitting in my own compartment. With some other students.. I didn't know who they were I just wanted to be away from all the chaos. Of course Kurumi's cookies are good. Nearly done with it."

Tag was smiling even more when he heard how much Alice was already taking care of Tag the Second-his little yellow furby he'd given her earlier."Yeah of course-we don't want him to be hurt." Now he had a mental image of him and Alice bent over the yellow furby in the common room, fake medical supplies beside them as they performed surgery on him if Tag the Second was injured."But.. you're gonna see the healer right? I don't want you to get more hurt."



He kind of made a face when Anya mentioned them not sitting together, but he quickly went back to a blank expression."The trip.. ehh, it was all right." Whatever all right was on a trip like this, he didn't know. "Noo. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'm not hurt. "



"Actually I wouldn't have a hard time sleeping. Considering I'd be asleep on the couch once everyone else went to sleep. You know..common sense. I'll take the couch-thanks. Ohhh, how considerate of you. I reallllyyy appreciate it." He told Jacob in his most ungrateful tone ever.

When Anya asked if he was all right, all James did was shake his head no. "Not exactly, but I'll manage just fine" he promised her.

He looked at Alice and grinned, but the grin slid off his face when he watched her look away. James looked down sadly and felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes and he sniffled a little. Call him too sensitive, but being so blatantly ignored by someone he considered a good friend hurt.

James shrugged on shoulder at what Penelope said, not rally caring anymore. "I honestly don't care what happens" he muttered bitterly, Alice's actions still stinging him emotionally.

"That's also really cool... I didn't know that people could be prefects in their fourth year!" Angel said, smiling she'd read a bit of Hogwarts a History, and other than that Andrew had spoken to her about how things sort of worked and what they might be able to... expect was one way to put it, once they got to Hogwarts. Although it gave an analytical point of view, so far she was way more impressed by this!

"A seventh year? But.... but that means that you aren't going to be here next year doesn't it? What's going to happen to the cookies?" she ended, the last sentence said overly childishly, pouting before she winked at Kurumi, she was more concerned that this lovely person was leaving... and she'd only just met her!

"Hmm... Herbology seems pretty cool from what I've read so far, I have my own garden at home... and a vegetable and herb plot so I'm really looking forward to it!"

Ariadne couldn't believe her eyes. She just noticed someone she hadn't seen in ages approaching the Gryffindor table. 'Fee!' she called. Was it really her? 'Come have a seat.' Slytherins and Gryffindors should stick together, haha. 'How have you been?' And most importantly, where? Not that Ari hadn't been away for a year herself, but she didn't get any updates from her older friend either.

Hug or no hug? She was supposed to be older, but this time she made an exception. Big bear hug it was! Just like the good ol' times...




Ari knew the feeling. It was wonderful to be back, especially considering that her absence had been longer than for most students. 'Not too bad myself, thank you. Though still a bit overwhelmed after today.' Who wouldn't be? 'Did you have a good summer?' Maybe it wasn't a good question to ask, since Kurumi spent her summers going Muggle, but Ari only remembered that AFTER asking the question.

The fifteen-year-old almost didn't catch the word when Kurumi repeated amazing. Why was she shy to take credit for something she'd worked for? 'Your cookies will always taste like home for me.' The only problem was, the Prefect was graduating this year. What then? No more cookies? NOOOOO.

The younger Gryffindor hadn't read much about the Hogwarts Express, so she listened to Kurumi, who, however, was as puzzled as herself.



The younger Lioness was taking this pretty well, but Ari was still worried for her. 'Are you sure you don't need to go to the Hospital Wing for some medical care?' You could never be too careful, but on the other hand, from what Ariadne had heard, the Healer wasn't very friendly.

The fifth year nodded. She was fine with Sarah using the shorter version of her name. 'Most people do call me that. Friends, especially.' she said with a small smile.

Wow! Sarah was definitely a creative Gryffindor. The whole Hogwarts Express story made Ari giggle, but what if it was true? Nah...a train couldn't rebel against its passengers, even in the wizarding world. 'It might have something to do with the Board of Governors, but I don't think the train itself is to blame.' And that came from a person who hated trains.



Another familiar face joined the Gryffindor table. Ari waved at the girl but she seemed a bit worse for wear. 'Are you ok?' she mouthed in Arabella's direction, who was sitting a little further away from her.



And here came the other Prefect. It dawned on Ariadne that although she had seen him around the castle many times, she still didn't know him personally. That should be remedied. She nodded when the boy greeted everyone at the table and waited for him to sit down before she could introduce herself.

'Sorry to barge in like this, I just realized it was weird that we haven't met before. I'm Ariadne Marchbanks, fifth year.' I know who YOU are.



Whilst chatting happily, Ariadne glimpsed a housemate who seemed more quiet than the others. Waving to the girl, she asked: 'How are you doing? Did you land in Hogsmeade unscathed?' It had been the first time for Ari to travel via Portkey, but she had arrived safe and sound on the platform in Hogsmeade.



Ha! She had known it all along. There was no other House besides Gryffindor where this boy truly belonged. Ariadne clapped loudly when Dylan joined the table. 'Congratulations and welcome to Gryffindor! How was the boat journey?' she asked.

Tiffany nodded as she released her grip, hopefully the seventh year wouldn't find it too tight or annoying because that's what she wanted to do all once she met her after a long time. To hug her as tight as she could. "I'm okay. Just a few bruises, no big deal,"she beamed. "Though the ride with those portkeys are never a pleasant one to me."She pouted a bit. It was her first time taking rides with portkeys but it really made her want to throw up all at once. Those rolling and turning really drove her crazy.

"I HATE it,"she rolled her eyes as the flashbacks came up once again in her mind. She would never travel by them anymore even though it was fast, if only she could choose. "And you? No injuries right?"She hoped that Kurumi didn't get injured because the fourth year didn't want to see people getting injured, it makes her sad. Especially her dear friends. Then she took one of cookies in the air as she was like starving after the ride. It took all of her energy. And most importantly, Kurumi's cookies are always the yummiest and the best. "I really need one of these." she exclaimed as she reached out for the nearest one.



Broke a leg?!!!!!!!!!

"That's not nothing! It's really serious if you broke a leg,"the lioness almost shouted in her loudest voice. Maybe it only be considered as serious in the muggle world as she was born in family where her father was a muggle. Maybe it was no big deal if you broke a leg in the magical world here. "Be careful next time. I'm fine, just a few bruises." She nodded, mocking a serious tone. When comparing to her situation, her own injuries are the minor-est. "Anyway I'm Tiffany,"she beamed. She just hoped that the girl would be alright after all.



As she was talking to all the people around, she heard someone calling out for her and as she turned around, she noticed that it was actually the lovely second year. "Hi Sarah,"she grinned. "Nice to see you again." And then the younger lion leaned forward and whispered a lot of things to her which might be considered as something confidential though.

"Well...I don't really know that they're on the train,"she laughed. That's true since she was in panic when the train suddenly stopped and she was so excited about the portkeys when the Department Head explained their uses to them. However it turned out to be an unpleasant ride. "But how come you know all of that?"



There were a lot of lions around the table right now and it suddenly became so crowded here. Tiffany tried to greet every single students who pass through as she spotted a really pretty and adorable girl standing next to her. And she greeted her first. "Oh Haiiiii,"she replied as she turned on her hyper-greeting-mode. "I'm Tiffany." She offered her hand for a decent handshake as she saw another lioness(Landon) following by the girl. "And hello to you too,"she beamed. Another new lioness she came across.

She took a seat next to the whole bunch of people as she moved her glance to the lovely house elf who was watching them...? "Haiiiii,"Another hyper-greeting. "What are you doing actually?"she asked.

Despite Tiffany saying that she was alright, Kurumi still took a small step back to give the lioness a quick glance over. You know, just to be entirely sure. Tiffany had always been one of her favorite little lions - although Kurumi really did have a lot and there were really none that she disliked. Nope, not even those first years that had caused all sorts of chaos on the platform. "Good, I'm glad." Cue a few light pats on her shoulder for good measure. "I dislike portkeys myself. Had to use one this summer to visit Lewis though." Which had been embarrassing since she had landed not-so-gracefully.

"I'm alright," Kurumi nodded reassuringly. Granted she had been more concerned about everyone else at the time and hadn't really noticed her own minor head injuries. The ringing had stopped, so that was good enough for her. "Glad they can help. The cookies I mean," Kurumi smiled, deciding to take a seat beside the girl now. "How have you been otherwise? I feel like it has been way too long since we last really got to speak."
Kurumi nodded and giggled softly. Yeah...overwhelmed was a pretty good word to use to describe today. Merlin. "My summer was fantastic, actually," she chirped, brushed her bangs to the side. "I spent the first part back home in Japan, which went better than I thought it would." Namely her mother's one year funeral rites and finding that her spirit truly was at peace. "Treyen visited for a bit, which was nice...and then I spent the rest of the summer in Nebraska with..." Cue intense blush on the seventh year's cheeks. "...with Lewis and his family." Which had been one incredible experience after another. "You?"

Kurumi blushed a bit more and fumbled with some of her hair when Ari spoke again. Tasted like home... "That...is probably the best compliment anyone could give me about my baking," she managed to squeak out. It was actually all Kurumi wanted to do with her baking, provide comfort to people. Warmth.

Ari's silence with their discussion of the train only caused Kurumi to furrow her brow a little more. She wished she had an answer for her, really, because Kurumi was very curious herself. "Maybe there will be something in the Daily Prophet?" Not that Kurumi really trusted the Daily Prophet all the time...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand more blushing. "I-I-It isn't very....common," she admitted, shifting her gaze towards the table and poking at a fork with her finger.

And then her heart sunk just a little. While the thought had always been in the back of Kurumi's mind, never leaving and always lingering, hearing others actually say the words out loud made it all seem real. That she couldn't go on pretending like it wasn't true. Denial. Yeah, she couldn't be in denial about the fact that she was a seventh year and this...this was it. "Yeah...." Was really all she could manage to say on the matter.

Chewing on her lip for a few moments, Kurumi brought herself back into their conversation...sort of. "Herbology is pretty interesting, creatures are more my field of interest though."

Kurumi was suddenly glad that Paulie wasn't around to poke her cheeks and bring to her attention that she was blushing ALL THE TIME. "T-T-Thanks, Tag." Maybe she could charm her face so she didn't blush so much?

"Oh...I'm not too familiar with foreign comic books. Someone had to explain Captain America to me last term," she said with a slow nod. "But...um...don't you find spiders sort of....terrifying?" Kurumi did. BIG time.

"Yes and no," Kurumi said in response to Dylan's cookie question. "I actually bake cookies every opening and closing feast. I've done so since I was a first year, for the staff as well," she explained as she patted a box on the bench beside her. "Once Headmistress Truebridge gives her speech I'm going to go up to the dias." Not before. Kurumi had learned that her first year, although it had been Headmaster Tate at the time. Who she was missing already. "Baking is something I just love to do. I know the kitchen as well as I do the common room."

Probably better, now that she got to thinking about things properly.

"That isn't normal, I promise," Kurumi said with a nervous laugh. At least she hoped it wouldn't be a common occurrence...new Headmistress and all...you just never knew. "I'm Kurumi, by the way." Seeing as in all the chaos they had never really introduced themselves on the platform.
Anya Phillips. Always the ray of sunshine that was needed to lighten a mood. Well, most of the time at least. Kurumi HAD seen the Gryffindor looking down before, but she always bounced back. Anya was like the human form of rubber.

"In one piece at least," she nodded before cocking her head to the side slightly. "How does....what feel?"

Kurumi and Alice could probably go back and forth for a while on who did more, but that wasn't really important. The important thing was that Alice was alright - minus the injury and all - and that she had made it to the feast. "I am sure you will be back to normal soon," she nodded. Kurumi certainly knew what it was like to not want added attention. Ironic considering she had been a prefect since her fourth year...but Kurumi disliked the limelight. "Try to think of all that attention as people showing you how concerned they are about you. Shows you have a lot of friends here."

Kurumi's smile widened a bit more when Alice said Walnut had been good. THANK MERLIN. Which meant he hadn't peed on anyone which meant she didn't have to go and apologize to anyone. "That they are....but I get the feeling this term will always be busy," she said, eyeing the staff table again.

More blushing. Always blushing. Blushes. Yeah, Kurumi really needed to look into charms for her face...the blushing was getting a bit extreme. What was she going to be like at the END of the term when congratulations on graduating were going to be all she heard?! "T-Thank you, Alexa. My mother taught me how to bake. Father says I have been baking ever since I could stand...maybe even before." Which wasn't logically possible, but she let her father think that that was true. There really was no reasoning with him when it came to such things anyway.

Kurumi could sense that this first year was holding something back. What that something was was a mystery to her, but Kurumi ventured a guess that it had something to do with the sorting itself. "When I was first sorted into Gryffindor, I was sure the hat had made a mistake," she said softly, eyeing the line of students still waiting to be sorted. "I was quiet, stuttered, afraid of opening up to people, kept to books mostly...I was sure I was going to be sorted into Ravenclaw, like one of my brothers had been." The one that she was told she was most a like actually. "The Sorting Hat surprised me though...but I am glad I did. It brought out the best in me and I have Gryffindor house to thank for that."

So, if Alexa was feeling a little uneasy, well, it was perfectly normal. Expected even.

Oh yeah, that slight Selina inspired smirk? It was back now.

Ah. Course. Chaos when the train stopped. Luckily (or unluckily, whichever way you look at it) for Tom he had slept through most of the drama. He wasn't usually such a deep sleeper. That was left to his older brother, Freddie, but it seemed when traveling the motion soothed him contently into the land of nod. He scratched his head and frowned thoughtfully. “I fink I must've slept froo that. I just got wind of it from the ovvah kids y'know. ..Is it broken?” He enquired of her leg.

Alice. Thomas managed a small smile. He thought Alice was a nice name. “I'm Tom.. buh me mates back 'ome call me Broadmoor.” As in that infamous prison hospital, yes. “Nice to meecha.” He added. He may sound common as muck and look a little coarse.. and swear like a trooper, but Tom's dear old ma had taught him manners. He eyed the girl curiously. She did look younger. “What year you in, Alice?”

Oh. *facepalm* Did he really have to go into that whole business of why he left? His army application rejected and all the other stuff he was ashamed of? “Er. I had ovvah plans.” He said cautiously. “Buh.. they never quite worked out how I planned.” There. Must he go into more detail than that?

He chuckled. Tatertot was an amusing nickname for the former head. But Tom thought Tate was a cool bloke, not just because he was named vaguely after food.

Traveling by portkey had been interesting, and a first for young Thomas. And it seemed that had been the thing to finally jolt the boy awake properly.

His stomach was being all gargly and may have sounded like an angry cave troll, but he thought no one would hear over the sound of the students. He was wrong. He grinned at the girl and nodded. “Famished.” He replied. He was ALWAYS 'famished'. Sixteen year old boy on a constant growth spurt? He was basically a bottomless pit.

Huh?

KRUMI!

Tom grinned at the older student as she rushed towards him. “'ello, Krumi.” He greeted her, still not able to pronouce her name quite right. He was about to ask her to sit when she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug. He chuckled nervously and felt colour rise to his cheeks. shesmelledsonice. *cough*

“It's good to be back.” He replied with a smile. Sort of.

And with perfect timing, the girl produced a cookie and handed it to him. See, there was a reason why he like Kurumi so much. “Fanks, Krumi.” He swiftly took a bite out of it. Merlin, her cookies were even better when you were starving. “You always did make the best cookies.” He complimented her. “Buh.. don't tell me ma I said tha'.”

"'ow are yer? 'ad a good summer?" He asked the pretty prefect conversationally.

Seeing the girl obviously distracted, she thought she'd definitely drop, if not completely stay away from mentioning that she was a seventh year, she couldn't imagine what it would be like knowing that it was your last year... she'd only just gotten here for the first time and loved it already and the fact that her reply was soooo quiet made it obvious that she was sad about the idea.

"Oooh yeah the Care of Magical Creatures class sounds pretty cool... then again the closest I've ever gotten to animals were my pet cats... and then now the owl that Andrew bought for us..." she mused smiling a bit. "I guess I don't know what to expect... I mean the thing that'll probably be what I know best will be muggle studies!"

That was a depressing thought! Then again, the young apparently half-blood had grown up in the muggle world so it kinda made sense...

His sister was already at Gryffindor table, then again she had been sorted before him so it made sense. With a grin he decided he'd annoy her now that the entire train incident was over, and she wasn't as... preoccupied he guessed was the proper word.

So he moved over to her, ruffling her hair as he sat down, knowing how it annoyed her. "Anything new?" he asked with a grin, knowing that not much could've happened - theoretically - in the time that they had been separated. "And yes, yes, I know I wanted Ravenclaw but I told it I'd live with Gryffindor because you couldn't be without me"