Laura couldn't believe it the start of her fifth year, at the end of the year she would be doing owls something she was half excited about and half nervous about, she had no idea what to expect but with Hogwarts she knew to expect the unexpected and that is what she was going to do and she was also going to try and go a term without detention.

Laura sat down at the table and looked around, she saw a lot of her friends were already at the table and they were busy talking to one an other so she decided that it would be wise just to sit down and think about what the term had in store for her and hopefully some of the first years she had made friends with in the train would join Hufflepuff, which reminded her she had to make sure that a couple of them were okay, she would keep an eye out for them.

OH LOOK! New person! Someone... who had just recently gotten Sorted, yeah?

Although, this guy seemed to be a lot older than most of the other people who seemed to be getting Sorted. Unless he just... had one of those faces. Yeah. Except... the chances of that happening were probably really really slim, right?

But... back to the guy. Alec grinned at him as he joined the Hufflepuff table and greeted... people in general. Bringing up some courage from somewhere, the boy gave the other boy a wave. "Hey there!" he said, "Erm... welcome to Hufflepuff!" Also, was this guy from somewhere else? Somewhere that wasn't England? Because his accent was AWESOME.

"I'm Alec, by the way. Alec Summers." GRIN.



LOOK LOOK LOOK!

Alec GRINNED WIDELY at the sight of one of his psuedo younger sisters. Although, thinking about it, it was sort of strange how he hadn't seen the girl around in quite a while. A while being... this time last year? Or at the end of term feast? Whenever, it had been a LONG time since he had seen this particular girl.

And she was a third year now, right? BLINK.

The soon-to-be sixteen year old shook those thoughts out of his mind before grinning some more at the girl who was tousling his hair. AND she was hugging him! See, this is why they got along really really awesomely. Alec wrapped his arms around the girl and gave her a BIG hug, older brother style.

"Awar-bear!" New nickname. Yep. "It's great to see you too! Erm... how've you been? And have you had a great summer?" And did she have a boyfriend that he needed to interrogate meet?



There were a lot of new Hufflepuffs this term, weren't there?

Alec looked from the enthusiastic younger dude to the cool older dude and then to the new girl who was just joining them. Okay, so maybe three wasn't a giant number when it came to new Hufflepuffs but... it meant three more people in the common room and three more people to talk to. That made a big difference. Nodnod.

The fifth year grinned at the younger girl and gave her a wave too! Although... it seemed as though she noticed the cups and plates as well? He kind of felt bad for someone who was coming in and probably expected fancy things and yet... everything's... not as great as they'd imagined it to be.

But there had to be an explanation. Nodnod.

"Erm... hey!" he said, leaving forwards and grinning some more at the girl, "Welcome to Hufflepuff! I'm Alec Summers!"



"Yeah..." he said, frowning down at the plastic cup in his hand. Hearing her sigh, Alec looked over at her and shrugged, sort of hoping that this meant that she wasn't alone in this? "I wonder why we have the sudden change..." Because one you have metal plates, you always have metal plates, right? Unless someone decided to... to set fire to them or do something else that was less extreme.

...

He had seriously HOPED that there hadn't been a fire down here. BLINK.

The boy shook his head before grinning back at the girl. "Erm... so how've you been? And how was your summer?" ... Those were two questions that he should have probably asked before talking to her about weird, plastic cutlery. Yep. He needed to sort out his priorities.



Look at how happy she was! ... Or... just smiley? Whatever it was, it was really really awesome! Nodnod.

And what was even more awesome was the way she was hugging him back and giving him that little squeeze that he liked so much. It was really, really nice actually. And it sort of made the boy want to hug her for a really long time but that was probably not something he should do at a feast. ... Better? "Yeah? Erm... so the nap helped?" he asked, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"Agreed!" Nodnod. "Although... I think Messy would be happy about that." Speaking of, where was that ballet dancing roommate of his? ... WAIT. HOLD THE SNITCH. "No trips to the kitchen if that happened? No... no ice cream whenever we want?" Did they need to go and hug house elves, just in case?



It was nice to see Candy Girl grinning and being her usual happy self. It meant that she had had a great summer, yeah? ... Hopefully. He didn't want anyone upsetting or hurting his Candy Gi-

BLINK.

WOAH. WOAH WOAH WOAH.

Alec's cheeks turned bright red at the sight of Lottie blowing a kiss at him and he sort of... gave her two thumbs up. A simple wave would have probably done the trick, Lottie. A wave and a grin, because he wanted to sort of make sure that the girl was okay. Yeah... and... didn't you give kisses to someone you-

O______O

She had kissed him on the cheek before and she was sending him air-kisses now so... GULP. Could it be? ... Nah. Or... he hoped not! Because he wasn't planning on breaking another girl's heart, that was just mean. And he also hoped that the girl wasn't planning on moving onto other types of kisses, like lips-kisses. His girlfriend would really not like that.

Speaking of girlfriend... Oops. Had she noticed or...? Alec gulped before reaching over and taking her hand in his, giving it a small squeeze. Cheer up girlfriend. Please?



So moving on from awkwardness and other things, Alec's eyes cast up just in time to see someone else join the Hufflepuff table. Someone new and someone who had just recently been sorted into Hufflepuff, yeah?

GRIN GRIN GRIN.

"Erm... hey Tucker!" he said, grinning and waving at the boy, "I'm Alec, Alec Summers. ... And welcome to Hufflepuff!" Was it just him or was he repeating himself? Probably. Just like he was repeating the question about people's well-being and their summers.

GRIN at unintentional uses of surnames.



...

BLINK.

Something Alec didn't really understand was why Laura had taken to sitting on her own for the past couple of feasts. It was weird because he remembered a time when the girl had been excitable and bubbly and she'd head on over to the Hufflepuff table and not be afraid of sitting next to anyone she didn't know.

Weird.

"Erm... hey, Laura!" he said, leaning forward slightly and waving at the girl, "You okay over there?" Because she looked lonely. Just a bit. And... being a friend -- they were friends, right? -- he didn't like seeing the girl, or any of his other friends, all alone.

Lex was still finding it funny, even if Lottie wasn't laughing. She looked around at the other tables for perhaps the first time and even the one she was sitting at. Might as well since she was here, yeah? WAAAAIT! GASP they didn't all have RED cups??? But..but...whhyyyyyy? More importantly, how had she not noticed this 'til now? Oh yeah, because she was Alexa Cambridge, moving on.

Ooooo and now Lottie was getting the right idea! "Mhm! Plus I handed out a few at the Gryffie table and they're all fine!! Oh but see, I still have most of my candy too in case you want some." Lottie was one of the few people she freely offered her candy to. Everyone else could go get their own.

"Isn't it? Try thinking of the Headmistress' reaction, that should make it a little funnier. But then..." She looked over the table once more. Lottie must have been cringing with all this yellow. "Maybe the colour makes it less funny? You can have my red one and I can go back with a yellow one." Because she had taken her cup with her. It was THAT funny. Hehehehehehehe.

With that settled she waited for Lottie to react the same way she did when she had first seen the thestrals earlier but...that didn't happen. Not only did it not happen but Lottie got all kinds of serious too.

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.

Lex didn't take things serious for a reason. The moment she did they got annoying. Just like now. She wasn't supposed to hex Garrick, she got it. Whatever. No need to waste magic anyway. Couldn't they just move ooooon. There was a scowl, yeah, one that hadn't been present since she left the train. She looked down at her cup and tried her hardest to remember what was so funny about it. This took several minutes so there were several minutes of Lex silently staring at her red cup. Just staring, eyebrows furrowed, nothing more.

Finally she looked over at her. "You know what? I bet he won't annoy me either. No need to go hexing anyone. It's such an evil practice really. Don't know why most people even consider it in the first place." Then she put on the most painful smile ever. Remember the cup Lex. Plastic and funny.

She was still trying to remember the cup and what made it so funny. It was a little harder now if she was being honest. Perhaps she'd think of the thestrals again--

Oh?

That sounded an awful lot like..."Tucker!" BEAM. She remembered him!! Look at him in his Puffer colours too! She giggled a bit at his question. "I actually came over here because of a cup, believe it or not." It wasn't the 'talk' she'd come for but rather to share her amusement about the setting with her best friend.

"Good to see you remember where to find your own table." NOW she was beginning to see most of the humour in the cup again. "Enjoyed your train ride?"

Finally Arlene was able to find a seat at the Hufflepuff table. Normally the large amount of people would make her nervous but she seemed to find some piece of confidence as she approached an older student and sat beside her. "I hope you don't mind if I join you." Arlene spoke, she tried to speak loud enough to be heard, but her soft voice was normally too quiet to hear. "I'm Arlene Murdock." She added on.

Don't make it awkward. She told herself. "First year." Although that part was evidently fairly clear with how she was acting.

Text Cut: *pets Alec*

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

It was nice to see Candy Girl grinning and being her usual happy self. It meant that she had had a great summer, yeah? ... Hopefully. He didn't want anyone upsetting or hurting his Candy Gi-

BLINK.

WOAH. WOAH WOAH WOAH.

Alec's cheeks turned bright red at the sight of Lottie blowing a kiss at him and he sort of... gave her two thumbs up. A simple wave would have probably done the trick, Lottie. A wave and a grin, because he wanted to sort of make sure that the girl was okay. Yeah... and... didn't you give kisses to someone you-

O______O

She had kissed him on the cheek before and she was sending him air-kisses now so... GULP. Could it be? ... Nah. Or... he hoped not! Because he wasn't planning on breaking another girl's heart, that was just mean. And he also hoped that the girl wasn't planning on moving onto other types of kisses, like lips-kisses. His girlfriend would really not like that.

Speaking of girlfriend... Oops. Had she noticed or...? Alec gulped before reaching over and taking her hand in his, giving it a small squeeze. Cheer up girlfriend. Please?

Relax, Seeker!boy.

Lottie was able to see Alec now because she'd been looking at Ella before, she was also able to notice his red cheeks. Oh? Was it the air-kiss thing? Well, it was merely intended as a form of greeting, nothing more. But he gave her two thumbs up and she smiled widely before turning back to her best friend.

Text Cut: So do I!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Lex was still finding it funny, even if Lottie wasn't laughing. She looked around at the other tables for perhaps the first time and even the one she was sitting at. Might as well since she was here, yeah? WAAAAIT! GASP they didn't all have RED cups??? But..but...whhyyyyyy? More importantly, how had she not noticed this 'til now? Oh yeah, because she was Alexa Cambridge, moving on.

Ooooo and now Lottie was getting the right idea! "Mhm! Plus I handed out a few at the Gryffie table and they're all fine!! Oh but see, I still have most of my candy too in case you want some." Lottie was one of the few people she freely offered her candy to. Everyone else could go get their own.

"Isn't it? Try thinking of the Headmistress' reaction, that should make it a little funnier. But then..." She looked over the table once more. Lottie must have been cringing with all this yellow. "Maybe the colour makes it less funny? You can have my red one and I can go back with a yellow one." Because she had taken her cup with her. It was THAT funny. Hehehehehehehe.

With that settled she waited for Lottie to react the same way she did when she had first seen the thestrals earlier but...that didn't happen. Not only did it not happen but Lottie got all kinds of serious too.

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.

Lex didn't take things serious for a reason. The moment she did they got annoying. Just like now. She wasn't supposed to hex Garrick, she got it. Whatever. No need to waste magic anyway. Couldn't they just move ooooon. There was a scowl, yeah, one that hadn't been present since she left the train. She looked down at her cup and tried her hardest to remember what was so funny about it. This took several minutes so there were several minutes of Lex silently staring at her red cup. Just staring, eyebrows furrowed, nothing more.

Finally she looked over at her. "You know what? I bet he won't annoy me either. No need to go hexing anyone. It's such an evil practice really. Don't know why most people even consider it in the first place." Then she put on the most painful smile ever. Remember the cup Lex. Plastic and funny.

Okay, see, now THAT made her laugh. She'd been going around giving people cupcakes and cookies, and the Great Hall seemed to be perfectly well. No need to be distrusting over unattended cupcakes. "I think I'll be okay, really," unless Alec forgot to restock over the summer, "Thanks, Lex." BEAM!

"Now that could be funny," indeed. This will be a very eventful feast. Cherry on top for this eventful day. No, Lex, wrong, Lottie was still cringing at all the yellow. She did wonder how the Headmistress fared with that during her time at Hogwarts, considering she was a Hufflepuff and a redhead. Not a great match. OH BUT LOOK AT THAT! THAT WAS THE BEST THING LEX COULD'VE EVER SAID TO HER! "Yes, that'd be brilliant!" Even if she was still wary of drinking anything in that cup unless cleaned properly.

And now Lottie was worried.

This was the first time Lex was taking forever to process something Lottie has said. And it was highly important she got it right, okay? Highly. So, she was going to wait as long as it took for Lex to gather her thoughts...or be bored enough to speak up.

Except...she was eyeing the cup.

Lottie's head tilted to one side when the girl started to speak. Completely relieved, by the way. Nod, nod. "Not necessarily, some people deserve it," she said, holding a tiny smirk in place. But not Garrick, yeah? At least Lex seemed to get that.

Also...she might have smiled sweetly at Lex. This was close enough to ask her to apologize, and that was incredibly bad, wasn't it? Yup. So, you know what she did? She went ahead and gave her friend a hug. She was some kind of awesome.

NOW.

Straightening up, she smiled more. "Baby thestral, eh? That must have been so cute."

And who was the Hufflepuff boy?

West Odessa literally never sat at other tables. Properly literally. Just didn't. He didn't mind people coming to him... but todayyyy... it was different. He had good reason to sit at a different table, namely the one that his girlfriend frequented. He was a little tiny bit delayed coming to the feast because he had to feed his pet. And had subsequently got all scratched up. He was fine, just scratched. No big deal.

He slipped in next to Bliss of course, one arm around her.

"Hey."

Sitting with you because we're on our best behaviour, k? K.

To that Lex simply shrugged. Lottie said she'd be fine with a cupcake and well, she must have know what would be enough for her. Alexa on the other hand, she would be stuffing her face...but maybe she shouldn't because then she might not have been able to eat all the yummy food at the feast. There would be tons of food later. She might follow Lottie's lead and not have too much before then.

And see the girl was coming around, finally seeing how the idea could be funny. GOOD. It was funny and she wanted to watch every minute in case she missed something. "It's all yours then! Er...you could scourgify it under the table when no one's looking I guess," lots of people were complaining about the...um..state of the cups, "...unless we're allowed magic right now." Because if they were then Lex had plans. Nothing Lottie needed to worry about exactly but plans. Only if they were allowed magic before the end of the feast though. Meh. She placed the red cup on the table and snatched up the yellow one. It still almost matched her uniform. GRIN.

Now that Lex had taken the yellow cup she was back to trying to find the humour. It kept her occupied and busy looking. It was kinda because she was hoping Lottie wouldn't detect the slight sarcasm in her statement.

There was no need to start some kind of scowling fest again. Not when they were getting over it. Besides, she meant it. She said she wouldn't hex Garrick and she would keep her word. It wouldn't have been hard because she didn't plan to run into him anyway. She'd gone the last two terms not running into him even once and it couldn't have been that hard to do that this term either.

Problem solved.

Now she would try forgetting all this again. Dangit, it was hard enough the first time. OOOHH but now she was getting a Lottie!HUG!!!!! Like legit!!! Lottie hugged her and she didn't pull her into it in the first place!!! BEAMMMMMMMMMM!! Not just anyone got one of these. This did wonders for helping her forget.

Baby thestrals too!!! "It was!!!!!! It even came close to the carriage so I got to pet it!! Very adorable, very very very adorable!!" She was still happy Lottie couldn't see thestrals but at the same time she wished she could have seen that.

And did Lottie know Tucker? It didn't look like it. She could fix that too. "Have you run into Tucker before?" She asked, pointing to the boy that had taken the seat next to her.

Ella looked up at Alec and nodded, her cheeks growing a bit warm when he tucked her hair behind her ear. She really liked it when he did that. She liked most things about the boy, actually. "Yeah. I'm still tired but it helped." And she gave him a small smile. "Thanks for sitting with me." Because she would have slept worse if he hadn't of been there. That's just the way things were lately.

Messy? The blonde glanced around the table at the mention of his name and frowned slightly. "Where is he, anyway?" He was doing that disappearing thing again. Ella didn't like that so much. She also didn't like the thought of no ice cream. "You don't think that'd happen, do you?" She was whispering now, her eyes wide with worry. No ice cream CLEARLY warranted a very worried expression. Besides, they had plans. Ice cream and blanket fort plans that the blonde was looking forward to.

...

Any look Lottie had almost given was missed by Ella as her focus was now on the paper cup in front of her. She wasn't exactly thirsty but faking interest in that was far better than watching air kisses. At least for right now.

And the blonde continued staring at said cup when she felt Alec grab her hand and give it a squeeze. She glanced up and saw that his cheeks were red, causing her to look at their hands instead. She even squeezed a little too.

She knew she was being completely silly about this. That was the worst part, too...The knowing she was being ridiculous. Knowing that and feeling bad were two different things, though. She couldn't help the feeling anymore than she could help the knowing.



Ella finally looked up after a few minutes to see Laura sitting alone. Huh? The blonde didn't really understand why her friend hadn't joined them and she frowned slightly. "Hey Laura!" She said, managing a cheerful tone. "You want to come and join us?" Because she could, obviously. Besides, she'd missed the girl. They had some catching up to do.

...

Ella offered smiles and waves as more and more people sat down to join them at the table. She even mustered a small one for West, who was now sitting down beside Bliss. So...things were okay, then? Ella figured that was good because she wanted her friend to be happy. She'd be watching, though. That's what friends did, after all.

Minerva looked down the table when she noticed a first year. Skipping down to the boy she smiled, “Hello, welcome to Hufflepuff!! Excited to be here?” Well she hoped at least. She sat down near the child and put out her hand.. “I’m Minerva, but call me Min or Minnie. What’s your name?” She was hoping to get to know all the first years.
Looking down the table she looked back at the boy, “I do hope you enjoy your time here, but if you ever need anything don’t be afraid to ask.” She couldn’t wait to get started with school and some of her plans. Looking towards the staff table she tried to find Hadley, not that she was going to speak to her tonight, but she was just making sure she was there. It always made Min feel better to know that her favorites were sitting at the table. That’s when she noticed one missing. Frown Well she would ask about that later.



Minerva was looking down the table when she spotted Alyssa, going over to her she smiled and gave the seventh year a hug. Double Frown She didn’t want to think of the seventh years.. nope they were all just housemates now until she was not allowed to be in denial any longer. Smiling back at her friend, Hey Alyssa, how was the rest of your summer?” It was so great that she got to see some of her friends over summer.
“So you ready for term to start? Excited for your final year?” Good one Min stop bringing it up, it’s not a topic to speak about…She glanced towards the claw table again. She knew she wanted over there, but she kept herself where she was. Her house needed her there to greet first years, plus she wanted to see her friends.



Alec was such an awesome friend, Minerva looked around the table, honestly most of them were awesome friends, but Alec was one of the tops. One of her little badgers as well as adoptive brother. So when he was happy that it helped she couldn’t help but give a smile, “It did, really.. I guess sitting alone in that compartment my mind was going in a few different directions. One of those direction was Ethan’s last term. So I really needed a friend and you just showed up.” She gave him another quick hug.
Looking at Alec she frowned a bit, she didn’t want him to think he made her sad. No he didn’t she made herself sad. “Alec you didn’t make me sad at all, I was already feeling it before we talked, but like I said you helped.” Giving him a smile, “But anyway this is a happy time, all the new firsties and classes starting. It’s just great to be back.”



Minerva was watching the sorting hat when she lifted her eyes at the next one, he wasn’t a firstie, nope way to tall. She listened while it decided and when Hufflepuff was called she stood up clapping and met him at the table. “Nashy is a puff!!!” She laughed a bit and gave him a hug, would he mind a quick hug? Well if he did then he had to get over it, she hugged everyone. All her friends got hugs..
Looking back at the table and then to him, “Welcome to Hufflepuff, I hope your happy with being here!” She knew some that were not in previous years. “We are a great house and you’re not going to find better friends. Even though it’s not hard to make friends in other houses.” No Min’s best friend was a snake and her boyfriend a claw so it was pretty easy to make friends in any house. “I’m not sure what’s going on with the dinnerware tonight, usually it’s a little more presentable. It’s kind of confusing to be honest, but none the less welcome.”



Minerva heard her name and looked up, oh and there was a hand for a to high five, well that was just awesome. As she high fived the younger puff she smiled, “Hey Awar, summer was fantastic. I was super busy, but it was great.” It was great and as much as she was excited to be back, she was going to miss summer as well. Way to much fun was had.. “How was yours? Did you do anything exciting?” She wanted to hear about everyone’s summer. She hoped everyone had great summers it was what she hoped for at least. “Ready to be back? It’s going to be a great year.” Well Min hoped anyway.


Minerva watched as another first year came to the table and she smiled, “Hello, welcome to Hufflepuff!” she was so excited to see all these new puffers coming over to join them. Smiling at the young girl Minerva decided to introduce herself, “Hello, I’m Minerva, but most call me Min or Minnie, what’s your name?” It was great to be part of the welcoming and this was one of the best parts of the feast.
The other part would be to eat, but looking at the staff table that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon and if the plates were any indication maybe that wouldn’t eat at all. What would happen if those elves went on strike or just decided not to do anything. “So are you excited to be starting school?”


Minerva’s smile grew bigger when Bliss said her summer was great. Of course she spent it with West, where was that little snake anyway, probably over at his table with is friends. She had to make sure to speak with him this term. She liked to get to know her little badgers boyfriends, it was easier to find them if they hurt her friends. “So West has been good to you then, that’s fantastic. I’m so glad you had a great summer. I worried about you.” After her dad, Min had thought of Bliss a few times over summer and hoped she was doing alright.
Looking around she had to chuckle, “I can’t believe I’m one of the older ones now, it doesn’t seem possible, but your pretty much one as well.” All these first years coming up it was just crazy to Min that she was in her sixth year. Seventeen in December how did that happen. “Anyway, you happy to be back? Going out for Quidditch again I hope?” Yes that had a fantastic team last term and she hoped they would again, she hoped she’d be on it this year, but if not she still wanted them to have a good one.



Min was caught off guard by Ella’s look, was she not believing in herself, or was she just nervous. Taking her aside she talked quieter, “Hey, you alright? You know you’re going to be brilliant. I know you will. Your brilliant in all you do.” She looked around and laughed a bit, “You know I think Nessie is going to be a great Head Girl, but I really thought we would come back here this term to you as Prefect. So you having a badge is no surprise at all.” She really hoped Ella knew how much Min backed her in all of this. She was a great player and was going to be a great captain.

Minerva then talked louder again, “Oh quidditch, yes I am planning on trying out again.” She tried to sound confident, but not making the team last term made her not the most confident. “I hope to do better in this tryout then last.” Okay enough of quidditch talk, for now at least. “So how was your summer? I hope it was good.” Of course she already knew she spent part of it with Alec, from the train ride.



Minerva looked up as another new student walked to the table. Smiling and giving a little wave, she waited for everyone else to greet him. “Hello Tucker, I’m Minerva, but call me Min or Minnie. Everyone else does at least.” She was so happy seeing all these newbies. It was so much fun to find, and it seemed as if they had been getting all great ones, not that the others weren’t great, but the Puff ones just seemed extra great.
“So Tucker, you excited about starting?” She hoped he was at least. “So tell me a bit about yourself, where are you from?” She really was hoping to get to know all the newbies tonight, even if she might not remember everything.


Minerva scooted down when she saw Laura, “It’s about time I found you. I knew you got on the train so I wasn’t too worried, but I’m so glad to see you here.” She knew she was being too motherly towards Laura, but after this summer she was going to keep an extra eye on her friend. “So what ever you been up to anything fun?” That typical question usually worried Min when it came to Laura, but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be the most excited new this time.
Looking at all the new students there was someone she hadn’t seen yet, “Hey Laura, have you seen Susan at all? She hadn’t seen her cousin yet, that was strange. Usually she would have seen her by now.


Min looked up just as another first year joined the table next to her and Laura. She smiled, ”Hello, congrats on becoming a puff. It’s an awesome house.” It really was the best house even if others didn’t think so.
“I’m Minerva, but call me Min or Minnie.” smiling at the girl, [/b] “Arlene it’s very nice to meet you, are you excited to be starting school?’ [/b] So many people that she had met already this was going to be exhausting, but fantastic night.

Laura suddenly heard her name. "Oh Hi Alec." Laura smiled. "I find just thinking about a few things." Laura had been having a busy summer and a few other things had happened during the summer, especially with her twin sister not even answering the letter she sent, there was all that plus the fact that she couldn't sit still and was dreading exams but no one needed to know that. "Did you have a good summer?" Laura smiled.

Laura smiled. "Of course not Arlene, can I say I hope you are happy in your new home, Hufflepuff is an awesome house, we are all friendly and welcoming and if you ever need anything just come and find me and I'll try and help you." Laura really was going to help her new friend. "I'm Laura Hope Hyde, but my friends call me Laura." Yeah she didn't think it was right everyone calling her Laura Hope Hyde it would take too long.

Laura was just about to continue with the firstie when Ella spoke up. "Why not." Laura smiled. "You coming?" Laura asked Arlene, she would introduce the firstie to some of her friends. "I didn't realize you were already here Ella or I would have sat near you earlier." Okay so Laura was lying she was scared Ella wouldn't want anything to do with her after this summer but well it seems that wasn't the case.

"How was your summer Ella, did you and Alec do anything fun like see a romantic movie or something like that?" Laura thought that would have been awesome if they had.

"I was looking for you on the train but I couldn't find you." Laura pouted, "It wasn't my fault you and Ethan hid from me." Laura smiled now that she was at Hogwarts things didn't seem as bad as she thought they would have been, the place was just the same as it was in her first year, okay so it was nearly the same.

"I ended up sitting with a bunch of first year and talking to them, I must admit some of them are actually cool and I hope they are sorted into Hufflepuff but we will see." Laura smiled. "I will see them all later and find out what happened." Laura couldn't wait.

"I was wondering the same thing." Laura sighed. "I haven't seen her lately and I wanted to ask her something important." Laura wasn't going to tell Minnie what it was since it was a surprise.

Alec's ginormous grin was always a mood lifter and always a joy to see. Yay! Big hugs! Big hugs are awesome! Reeeally awesome! "I've been well. GREAT, actually." Which was true. There were no more eh's or meh's or better's. It has been absolutely great. "I had an awesome summer! I spent it in Switzerland with my uncle and cousin. I loved it! However, my brother spent the summer alone and I felt quite bad about it...He almost squeezed me to death with his hugs when I got back home!" Oh, Manolo. You weirdo.



Yay! High fives were also awesome! "Well, that sounds cool! What did you do?" Awar was sort of looking forward to being older, so she could get a job and actually have something to do during the summers. "I spent the summer with my family in Switzerland! It was loads of fun! I also have a baby nephew now, who I've yet to meet!" Leo and Presley called over excitedly that one night, but we could rarely understand anything with their enthusiastic tone. "I am ready to be back! A great year, indeed. I can feel it, too!"

Haruka was fiddling with her fork, daydreaming about a cat army invading a yarn factory, when she heard someone approaching her. She turned and saw an older boy leaning over to her with a big smile on his face. He introduced himself as Alec.

Haruka smiled back and said, "Hi Alec, I'm Haruka. Nice to meet you!"


"Hi Minnie," Haruka replied, smiling, after the older girl introduced herself. "I'm Haruka!" When the older Puff asked if she was excited about school, Haruka nodded enthusiastically. "Very excited!" Her smile grew wider. "I can't wait for classes to start!"

Jory had taken extra long to get to the Feast. Well, because of Ronnie mostly. He noticed she had been emotional during the carriage ride and he had tried to make her feel better.

Anyway, he hurried towards the Puffer table and to no surprise, he found it was packed with students. Everyone had conversations going but he looked for his "twin sister". Finally, he spotted her and headed fro her direction. The badger managed to take a seat next to her and poked her in the arm. "Hi, again,'' he said with a grin.

He looked around. He was going to miss this. And everyone. "I won't think about it,'' he muttered, looking away from the enchanted ceiling. Nope, not now, anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

So moving on from awkwardness and other things, Alec's eyes cast up just in time to see someone else join the Hufflepuff table. Someone new and someone who had just recently been sorted into Hufflepuff, yeah?

GRIN GRIN GRIN.

"Erm... hey Tucker!" he said, grinning and waving at the boy, "I'm Alec, Alec Summers. ... And welcome to Hufflepuff!" Was it just him or was he repeating himself? Probably. Just like he was repeating the question about people's well-being and their summers.

GRIN at unintentional uses of surnames.

"Nice to meet you Alec!" Tucker said as he got comfortable in his seat. There was a LOT going on around him and he was trying to soak it all in...keeping track of who was who and what was going around him. Everyone seemed really cool so far!

Not counting those dudes on the train of course.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

She was still trying to remember the cup and what made it so funny. It was a little harder now if she was being honest. Perhaps she'd think of the thestrals again--

Oh?

That sounded an awful lot like..."Tucker!" BEAM. She remembered him!! Look at him in his Puffer colours too! She giggled a bit at his question. "I actually came over here because of a cup, believe it or not." It wasn't the 'talk' she'd come for but rather to share her amusement about the setting with her best friend.

"Good to see you remember where to find your own table." NOW she was beginning to see most of the humour in the cup again. "Enjoyed your train ride?"

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, not too hard to find the table with all the yellow and black," he chuckled. He was going to ask her more about the cup or whatever she said she had done to come over here since she clearly wasn't there for it anymore.

"My train ride was good...until I accidentally walked in on two Ravenclaws fist fighting," he said, wrinkling his eyebrows. "So do we get food here any time soon?" he asked, looking around.

He was a bit too distraught the last time, thanks to his sorting, to remember when they served the food.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

Minerva looked up as another new student walked to the table. Smiling and giving a little wave, she waited for everyone else to greet him. “Hello Tucker, I’m Minerva, but call me Min or Minnie. Everyone else does at least.” She was so happy seeing all these newbies. It was so much fun to find, and it seemed as if they had been getting all great ones, not that the others weren’t great, but the Puff ones just seemed extra great.
“So Tucker, you excited about starting?” She hoped he was at least. “So tell me a bit about yourself, where are you from?” She really was hoping to get to know all the newbies tonight, even if she might not remember everything.

Tucker grinned. He was super excited to get to talk about HIMSELF! Because he was a Schultz, and they loved to TALK about themselves. Hehe.

"Nice to meet you Minnie," he said with a smile. That was a cool nickname! He liked it. "I'm super excited to get started, especially after being homeschooled for the past two years," he explained. "I've lived in Surrey since I left a few weeks into my first year--hence why I already knew my house," he explained.

That was a good point right there. "The yellow cups really helped set it off this year too." She said, holding up the yellow cup she had traded her red one for. Anything to make Lottie happier around all this yellow.

....

Yeah, that got an eyebrow raise. "Really?...huh...such an odd thing to see on the train. I don't think it happens often." Her brows crinkled as she mused just a bit. Fighting 'Claws, and she missed it?? Pity. She could've placed a bet, had everything nicely set up and everything. Guess there was no use dwelling on that now and no use asking him who either was because he probably wouldn't have known...unless he was something like her and he asked. "You didn't happen to catch their names, did you?" She didn't know many Ravenclaw's who'd actually throw a punch.

As for the food. "Not exactly. We have to wait for the Headmistress to get appropriately comfy in her chair, talk to her mouth's content then give the longest speech of the century. Oh! But I snuck down to the kitchen before heading here, have a couple cupcakes and cookies if you want some?" Again, the food could be a while.

Eliza was pretty darn curious about this whole plastic and paper table setting thing, so she decided to scope out the other tables to see what was going on. If they did this just to the Ravenclaw table because of how we placed in the House Cup.... she muttered internally. Well that's...that would just be plain rude. And degrading. And not conducive to a healthy learning environment. At all. And in addition to her wanting to know more about the shabby looks of the place, she wanted to say hi to some not so shabby familiar faces.

And speaking of not so shabby faces, she nearly tripped over her own feet when she saw a particularly gorgeous older boy. Who. is. that. she wondered, mouth almost agape. (ImaBRE!) Wow. Forcing some pep back into her awestruck step, Eliza busied herself with making her way to her friends. "Hey Minerva! Nice to see ya again. How did the rest of your summer go since our practice?" She breathed a sigh of relief at being able to speak with Minerva right now. She was feeling odd. Nervous for a moment in the presence of a cute boy. Well that's, um, completely counterproductive. Why feel weird around them? Shouldn't nature have built in some way to feel even MORE confident? Like a bird showing off feathers, right? She sighed and shooed it from her mind. Minerva just had a way of making Eliza feel like she could speak her mind and feel comfortable - the same way Ethan did really. It was nice to say the least, and she hoped they could get to be better friends this year. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

And then further down the way was a very vibrant and Prefecty Ella Bishop. Another nice Hufflepuff that Eliza'd come to have a nice appreciation for. "Heya Ella!" So they'd already chatted on the carriage ride and not much had happened between now and then for an update, but that didn't mean she shouldn't say hello! She looked down the Hufflepuff table and noticed that they too had the throw away settings as well. What is going on here? she wondered. "Do you know what the deal is with the plates and stuff?" she asked the girl.

Oh, and Lex is here at this table too! she noticed when she heard the Lion's excitable voice from down the way. She looked like she was having a pretty hefty conversation with the girl next to her so she didn't jump over there, yet.

Her eyes drifted down the table again and saw the boy who'd been in the compartment with her on the train. (Lissy Longbottom) Never did learn his name... she thought as she watched him for a moment. He'd seemed sort of shyish on the train, but maybe that was just because of the weirdness. She waited to catch his eye and gave him a small smile when he noticed. Sort of another half meeting. Kind of.

Feeling satisfied that she made at least a teeny effort to meet some new people on the first day of her third year, she turned back to Ella and Minerva so she could chat with them some more.

Text Cut: Definitely!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

To that Lex simply shrugged. Lottie said she'd be fine with a cupcake and well, she must have know what would be enough for her. Alexa on the other hand, she would be stuffing her face...but maybe she shouldn't because then she might not have been able to eat all the yummy food at the feast. There would be tons of food later. She might follow Lottie's lead and not have too much before then.

And see the girl was coming around, finally seeing how the idea could be funny. GOOD. It was funny and she wanted to watch every minute in case she missed something. "It's all yours then! Er...you could scourgify it under the table when no one's looking I guess," lots of people were complaining about the...um..state of the cups, "...unless we're allowed magic right now." Because if they were then Lex had plans. Nothing Lottie needed to worry about exactly but plans. Only if they were allowed magic before the end of the feast though. Meh. She placed the red cup on the table and snatched up the yellow one. It still almost matched her uniform. GRIN.

Now that Lex had taken the yellow cup she was back to trying to find the humour. It kept her occupied and busy looking. It was kinda because she was hoping Lottie wouldn't detect the slight sarcasm in her statement.

There was no need to start some kind of scowling fest again. Not when they were getting over it. Besides, she meant it. She said she wouldn't hex Garrick and she would keep her word. It wouldn't have been hard because she didn't plan to run into him anyway. She'd gone the last two terms not running into him even once and it couldn't have been that hard to do that this term either.

Problem solved.

Now she would try forgetting all this again. Dangit, it was hard enough the first time. OOOHH but now she was getting a Lottie!HUG!!!!! Like legit!!! Lottie hugged her and she didn't pull her into it in the first place!!! BEAMMMMMMMMMM!! Not just anyone got one of these. This did wonders for helping her forget.

Baby thestrals too!!! "It was!!!!!! It even came close to the carriage so I got to pet it!! Very adorable, very very very adorable!!" She was still happy Lottie couldn't see thestrals but at the same time she wished she could have seen that.

And did Lottie know Tucker? It didn't look like it. She could fix that too. "Have you run into Tucker before?" She asked, pointing to the boy that had taken the seat next to her.

Actually, on second thought....Lottie went ahead and took another cupcake, "Just in case," she said, with a smile and a shrug. You never know what could happen at Hogwarts, and if she decided the food was no good, well, she had two cupcakes, that was more than enough.

HAHA! Whaaat? "We can do magic now, we're at Hogwarts," that's what she was told, anyway, as soon as you were in Hogwarts ground, then you were free to do magic. And she did that last year, never got a warning or anything, so...that's probably how it went. Either way, Lottie was definitely Scourgifying the cup.

Okay. Done. No one was mentioning Ravenclaws any time soon, yeah? And both their moods will be good ones. Except, well, Lex shouldn't make any plans involving her and Aidan, since they're no longer in speaking terms...but perhaps she wouldn't mention this to Lex right now. Some other day, when the situation demanded it.

They were all happy now, yes? YES. But Lottie felt the need to speak up, "Don't get used to this," the hugging, of course. It didn't feel awkward, though, like Oakey's has been. Then again, it was probably Oakey's fault, since he was awkward himself and all. But seriously, Lex, don't expects more hugs.

BEAM! Even if Lottie had been with her in the carriage, she wouldn't have been able to see them, remember? But she shared her friend's excitement nonetheless. This is how she imagines Tag reacts to unicorns. "Do you remember the name to the one the Groundskeeper brought along in the forest?" Was it Tenebrus? It had to have a 'U' somewhere in the name, but she couldn't recall it.

Say what? NO. "I don't run into people, Lex." People run into her, apparently. But Lottie still gave the boy a smile and a nod, before listening to whatever he was talking about...

Text Cut: Lex and Tucker!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, not too hard to find the table with all the yellow and black," he chuckled. He was going to ask her more about the cup or whatever she said she had done to come over here since she clearly wasn't there for it anymore.

"My train ride was good...until I accidentally walked in on two Ravenclaws fist fighting," he said, wrinkling his eyebrows. "So do we get food here any time soon?" he asked, looking around.

He was a bit too distraught the last time, thanks to his sorting, to remember when they served the food.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

That was a good point right there. "The yellow cups really helped set it off this year too." She said, holding up the yellow cup she had traded her red one for. Anything to make Lottie happier around all this yellow.

....

Yeah, that got an eyebrow raise. "Really?...huh...such an odd thing to see on the train. I don't think it happens often." Her brows crinkled as she mused just a bit. Fighting 'Claws, and she missed it?? Pity. She could've placed a bet, had everything nicely set up and everything. Guess there was no use dwelling on that now and no use asking him who either was because he probably wouldn't have known...unless he was something like her and he asked. "You didn't happen to catch their names, did you?" She didn't know many Ravenclaw's who'd actually throw a punch.

As for the food. "Not exactly. We have to wait for the Headmistress to get appropriately comfy in her chair, talk to her mouth's content then give the longest speech of the century. Oh! But I snuck down to the kitchen before heading here, have a couple cupcakes and cookies if you want some?" Again, the food could be a while.

Two Ravenclaws? Fighting? Well, that was...strange. Ravenclaws didn't go around fighting. At least not punching someone. They could argue a lot, though. And never get the point (some of them, most of them).

But she was interested, and she also noticed Lex's disappointment in having missed that. "Lotus Wisteria. Good to meet you, Tucker," it wasn't precisely great that she was meeting him through gossip, but she didn't mind the news.

Forrest was startled a tiiiiiiiny bit when she adressed him. He got that people here were pretty friendly--not anyone like in his previous schools--and he'd already liked it here, but older people still intimidated him like no one else. Because he wasn't used to this, see? He was used to older students' bullying and silly jokes and he couldn't help but search some sort of malice when they talked to him. Only, there hadn't been any so far, except for Daichi's joke.

Yeah. He'd adress that later.

"I'm Forrest," he said, taking the hand and smiling shyly in the process. He then struggled to form his trouble into words. Was it rude to ask how much money Hogwarts had? Would she know such details? Because to tell you the truth, these plastics were just... disrespectful to the students there. He had to ask, because it troubled him, see?

"Is it normally--plastics--the plates and cups, I mean?"



Can we stop shouting at each other?

Forrest was, naturally, STARTLED all over again and it took him some time to realise the boy meant HIM. (He meant HIM, right?!) He met his gaze too and it took all his will not to lower his head, because the boy looked so confident there that if all the Hufflepuffs were like him, Forrest would be honoured to call himself one too.

Yeah. Now find your voice to answer him, or he'll think you're deaf or something.

"I'm Forrest." As opposed to boy's growing confidence, Forrest's looked like it was diminishing with every second. "Thanks--I'm--I'm a muggle and I'm--" He blushed awfully and looked down at last, surprised to see he'd been nailing the plastic plate. You can't imagine how excited I am. You fill in the blanks in my sentence, yeah?

And let's ignore he called himself a muggle instead of 'muggleborn'.





Despite his first disappointment with Hufflepuff, Forrest'd started to regard this house higher than the others. People were nice here and they made him feel like he belonged to somewhere. He belonged to them, see? They were a big family and although he was still nervous, they made him feel relaxed.

So, he wasn't as startled as he'd been for the previous two times. He even offered her a smile too--a shaky smile that is--and shook her hand.

"I'm Forrest, thanks for the welcome." She looked close to his age, so she got a grin for that.





Forrest was getting used to 'kiddo's and 'hey's thrown towards his direction. He was also getting used to people greeting him warmly too, so he was better at recognising people when they adressed him.

And this was the case this time too. He was quick to acknowledge her, and he smiled at her.

"I'm Forrest," he said. He didn't need any assurances, he LOVED it here already.

"I guess Hufflepuff's the best house?" Yeah, forget all about Gryffindor. He felt home in here.





By then, Forrest's hand was kind of sore due to shaking many hands, but it was a happy soreness and he wasn't bored a bit. He'd started to trust older students more too, so he smiled at her more properly than he'd smiled at the others. Apparently, it was a custom here to greet new students, and he was grateful to them for making him forget about his mother for a while.

"Thanks, I am excited!" he replied, shaking the hand. "I'm Forrest." ... He had like five people to run to if he needed anything, and that was a new thing for him.

She wanted another one just in case?? Okay so was she not having much or going to have more. Lex needed to work this all out before she went back to the Gryffie table, like seriously. Lottie was the thinker and now Lottie was thinking...more. Good thing she had the whole bag.

Yes Lottie, we're at Hogwarts, that's not what she meant though. "I get that bit, how do you think I charmed my bag? I meant like while we're waiting on the speech and stuff. I don't know what's allowed anymore 'cause once this girl did this thing," she didn't actually see what the girl did but the point is she obviously did it because, "then the Healer came down from the staff table and took 10 points from Ravenclaw." Yup. True story. Left her terrified of the Healer for a while actually.

Of course she heard when Lottie said she shouldn't get used to it but Lex had always been one to hear what she wanted to believe what she wanted soooo...she was gonna pretend they weren't talking about hugging, that way she could lie to herself just a bit longer. Nodnodnod.

The name...? "No actually...I wasn't paying much attention to what he'd been saying. I was kinda preoccupied with the fact that Audrey ran even though we were meant to stick together." Unfortunately the kid never got eaten either. Ah well. Karma would happen eventually. Plus, the detention after was kinda fun.

And she didn't run into people...?

"Really? How come? It's super fun you know. I run into people all the time and only hurt myself about half the time. The people are usually fine though and you can have some of the funniest conversations right after running right into someone." She couldn't tell just how many people she'd run into!

Good tiiiiiimes.

Seeing the boy who'd shared a boat with her earlier Kahlan had managed to quickly migrate to Hufflepuff table, forgetting all about joining some of the other people she'd met that had been sorted into Gryffindor as she quickly sat herself next to him, hoping to somewhat blend in as she tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Hi again, I'm sorry that I didn't get your name back at the boats but I'm Kahlan, Kahlan Moriarty. What's your name?" she asked after finally introducing herself, happy that she'd finally done that because that definitely had been bugging her since they'd gotten here.

So, Forrest had missed some of his peer's sorting because of the 'welcome's he got, but he did watch the girl's with whom he shared a boat. And he was a little bit disappointed to see her sorted into Slytherin. She was the only first year he met and he could definitely do with a friend in Hufflepuff too (considering he wasn't very good at meeting people). A friend at HIS age, that is. He wondered whether it would be hard to maintain a friendship at different houses.

...

And then she found him.

He was pretty surprised to see her there, actually, but his happiness was greater and he smiled as far as his mouth would go. So, that meant she didn't find him too boring or inferior because he was in Hufflepuff.

"Hello," he greeted back as he glanced around. No one told her to go? So it was safe to visit other tables? COOL! He scooted over to make her some place to sit. She wanted to sit, right?

"I'm Forrest Charlton," he said--and that was pretty much it. He had always been horrible at continuing a conversation, and he was even more reluctant to open his mouth now because he was afraid of saying something stupid about magic.

The blonde noticed how upon the boy actually noticing her he seemed to smile even larger and that made her grin in return actually. Well that settled the fact that he also seemed to enjoy her company, despite how little they actually spoke or knew about one another. Still Kahlan was quite determined to get to know him so as he shuffled over she sat down. "Thanks" she said referring to the fact that he allowed her to sit.

"Nice to meet you Forrest" she said, unsure whether or not she should offer to shake his hand or not but for now she left it as she was. "Sooo are there any classes that you're looking forward to?" she asked, not entirely sure what to talk about but wanting to keep this conversation flowing.

Remind us why he was here again?

Theo was uber bored, and was honestly just wishing that the feast would hurry up and finish because he had things to do and people to see. Those people being his lovely Dora, AND Professor Bellaire, who had promised to give him something. The boy could hardly contain his excitement.

Alone time with the Charms Transfig prof. *MAJOR EYEBROWS*

He stilllllllll didn't know why he was here, though. Probably because he could see West, and Ella, and Ella's new badge which was sitting nicely on her chest that he totally was NOT looking at right now.

Nope, nothing to see here.

............

The boy lazily perched himself on a seat and fiddled with some more of the plastic cutlery. He just wanted to bend and break them all, so that is what he did.

BREAKING HUFFLEPUFF'S CUTLERY.

YES.

"Seriously?" West raised a curious eyebrow and looked across the table at his bestie. Whaaat was he doing? Really? Why? What if he lost points? Hmmm? HMMMM? Did he think of that?

It would be a good excuse to get his wand out for the first time in weeeeeeeeeeks and muck about with a reparo though, right? But effort though.

It was much more fun snuggling up to Bliss.

Just saying.

Sonea was still looking at the cheap dishes on her table and wanted to know if her house was the only one who had those strange, ugly dishes and left quick her seat and looked at the other house tables, she had nothing to do at the moment and she hated it to sit still, so why not look around? She stood up and just when she wanted to walk away she felt how her rat Little princess struggled in her pocket to free herself. “No, stay inside, you are still grounded!” Hissed Sonea to her rat and pushed her small pink rat back inside.

The second year walked over to a random house table and stopped. She saw that the other house table had also those cheap dishes! “Ugh, I see that my house is not the only one with the cheap and ugly dishes” said Sonea slowly to a boy she didn’t knew and frowned.