Christmas smiled at Ethan and said "Well spent time with my sister over the holidays and just spent plenty of time in diagon alley, what about yourself Ethan what did you get up to during the holidays"

Benjamin clutched Flipper tightly in his hands as he looked down the Ravenclaw table. The silly creature had managed to hop off just as the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, and by the time Benjy had found him, Garrick was nowhere to be seen.

Why did he have a toad for a familiar again? Gah.

Anyway, here he now was, and he soon slipped into the seat beside Garrick. "Sorry I missed your carriage," he said apologetically to his cousin, "But this fella had other ideas..." At that, Flipper was placed carefully on the table with a firm, "Stay". The toad had other ideas, however, and promptly jumped into a plastic cup.

Hang on, plastic cups?

Benjy frowned. "Elves gone off washing up or something?" he muttered, with a confused shake of the head. Hogwarts was weird. And he hadn't even noticed the state of the banner yet...

"So, did I miss much?" Other than the reason for all the disposable crockery and cutlery?

Niamh smiled at the boy who'd addressed her. He was building a pyramid out of those distasteful plastic cups. He was evidently a fidgeter, thought the girl fondly. "My sister would love that," She said, her voice dipping a bit as a mild homesickness swept over her. "Was it very hard? To switch from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts?" She asked, a worry of hers coming to the surface accidentally. "My sister would join you in flicking spoons at the teachers, I'm sure, but I have no aim. Do you play Quidditch?"

Turning to find another girl talking to her, Niamh smiled delightedly. Boys were all well and good, but she had been hoping to meet another female too. "I've no idea. I've only just started here, you see. My name's Niamh. What's yours?" Niamh picked up a plastic fork and twirled it around on the paper plate. "This isn't your usual, I'm guessing? People seem confused."

Another girl! Niamh felt warm inside. She had been worried that she wouldn't find a female friend or two here, and sure, the boys were lovely; friendly, talkative... She wouldn't have been stuck for company, that was for sure. But one needs their girly chats, Niamh thought to herself. Smiling at the girl, Niamh introduced herself. "Hi Aquila, I'm Niamh. I'm in Fourth Year, but it's my first year here. What year are you in?"

And suddenly, the boy Niamh had seen earlier with a Prefect's badge pinned to his robes, was speaking to her. "You went to Beauxbatons too? I never knew so many people transferred here." Niamh tugged a stray hair out of her face and continued. "I'm Niamh. I'm fourteen. Thanks for the welcome!"

Briefly, Niamh spotted a girl glancing at her, but as she was quite far down the table, Niamh didn't attempt to speak. Instead, she just smiled.

Zyanya was getting nervous once again when she heard a voice. She turned around to find a girl who was just few years older than her and the girl was smiling. She smiled shyly.

When the girl offered a seat, she heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks!" She said and took the seat next to her.

"Hello. I'm Zyanya Kaul." She said, extending her hand for a shake.

As soon as she got seated next to the girl, Zyanya saw another girl waving at her. She smiled and waved back.

"Thank you! I'm Zyanya."

She was starting to feel better.

Seventh year.

Bring it.

Although she had been worrying the entire day about the fact that this was her final year, Gwen was in a good mood now. Finally. She was happy to be back, and obviously eager to see what has changed around Hogwarts. That, and she decided she had to catch up with her friends. Mhm. But first- she had to stop by the Ravenclaw table.

With a huge GRIN on her face, the seventh year approached the Ravenclaw house table. ‘Hi everyone’, she said cheerfully before attempting to find a seat.


Not meaning to, the seventh year overheard a younger student. Erm. Gwen just stared at the girl in disbelief.

*raises eyebrow*

Really? Who wouldn’t like to be here?! This girl, apparently. Shocking. ‘Are you alright?’, Gwen asked, not being rude this time.


Hey! There was one Ravenclaw she could recognize.

Yes, they had definitely met before. Yes. Train ride. Previous term. Just… what was his name? Umm. Think, Gwen, she told herself. It was weird how she could remember lots of pieces of information for classes, but couldn’t keep in mind a few names. Ehhh. ‘Hi-‘ Pause. ‘Ethan’, she said, quite proud of herself for managing to remember his name.

Oh. And he was the new Ravenclaw Prefect! ‘Congratulations!’, she said with a small smirk.


Gwendolyn drew her attention to the part of the Great Hall where all the firsties were gathered and waiting to be sorted. Gah. If only her bestie would be here and they would play ‘Guess the house’ this term too. Sigh. The seventh year tried to distract herself from thinking that Ari wouldn’t be around this year, and eyed the firsties.

Look! A new Ravenclaw!

She watched as the new housemate approached the table. ‘Welcome to Ravenclaw’, Gwen said simply, offering a small smile.


Start of term feast!

Like it was typical for her, Gwendolyn arrived a bit late. Actually… she wasn’t that late, there were just many ‘Claws already sitting at the table. So… erm… she wasn’t late. Everyone else arrived simply too early. Heh.

While looking around for a place to sit, Gwen spotted a familiar figure. ‘Hi Beezus’, she greeted the Prefect. She was about to add something, but she got distracted as she spotted the plastic cups and dishes on the table. And the broken banner. Erm.

What was going on?


Although she had mixed feelings about this being her seventh and final year, Gwendolyn still had a smile on her face as she entered the Great Hall and made her way to her house table. One of the first people she spotted there was Mika.

GRIN.

She gave a small wave, trying to draw the girl’s attention. ‘Hi!’, Gwendolyn greeted the younger Ravenclaw. While waiting for a reply, Gwen glimpsed in the direction of the staff table. Hmm. New Professors.


So far, Gwen hadn’t met many first years. She was looking at the sorting ceremony, when she thought she spotted someone familiar. Hmm. Was that… Amara? No. Her sister. Zyanya. Hmm. The girl was one of the few firsties Gwen actually liked, and didn’t consider annoying. So hopefully she would be a Ravenclaw. Heh. As the sorting hat announced the house of the younger girl, a small smirk appeared on her face.

‘Welcome to Ravenclaw’, she told Zyanya, after the firstie had taken a seat at the table.

Ethan grinned at the boy's enthusiasm for the sticky trainers.. so he did get them.. Awesome! "Oh, you know it," he said still grinning. "I just had to.." Once he started thinking about some of the fun that could be had with them, he couldn't help himself. He was still trying to work out if he could somehow use them in conditioning for Quidditch, but hadn't quite figured that out. "Yeah, I know we could have a good time.. oh, who's your cousin? Is he a Ravenclaw too?" Or she, he supposed as Garrick didn't really specify.. but he wondered if this person was a housemate and how many other Claws might have a pair for walking on walls and his wheels began turning, thinking of what kind of fun a group of them could have.

And the next person to arrive was Eliza who earned herself a wide grin as Ethan noticed her presence nearby. "Hey Eliza.." he responded in kind. "I hope my aunt didn't change your mind about trying out," he chuckled. Ethan knew his aunt was so fanatical about the sport and she had worked them really hard over the summer. But that was just her way of whipping people into game-worthy shape. "She wants me to let her know how tryouts go and everything.."

Then he caught on to her next spoken-aloud thoughts, not that he was surprised or anything.. that was what was on everybody's mind. "Seems to be the million galleon question," he said with an amused smirk. But that smirk soon faded into a small frown at her next words. They had come in fourth place.. well at least in terms of House Cup and Gobstones, third for Quidditch which in his opinion really wasn't any better. Did they really need to be reminded of that fact with this second-rate table-ware. "You mean, like a punishment?" His mind hadn't really gone there before, but he supposed it wouldn't be too far-fetched to show them negative consequences for their performance as sort of a negative incentive to make them do better this term. Or would it..? Now he was second-guessing himself.

Shaking his head, he said, "No.. I don't think they would do that. I'm not really sure what it's about though." he shook his head again as he heard her question to Beezus. "How could they have budget cuts after all that money they raised during that fundraiser in the library?" Surely they had more than enough to at the very least keep maintenance on the castle. With as much money he heard was raised, they probably could afford gold-plated place settings. "Unless.." His mind trying to figure out the next thought that flashed through his mind, the boy furrowed his brow as he began examining the spork again, deep in thought.
Ethan turned his eyes again to the sorting hat when it appeared to have just chosen a new Ravenclaw. This girl seemed to be a first year, unlike the other two new Claws who were a bit older, transfer students. He watched her come to the table and, seeing that she seemed a bit nervous, gave her a friendly smile. "Hi there.." he said, trying to catch her attention. "Welcome to Ravenclaw.. I'm Ethan, one of the prefects. If you need anything or have any questions, feel free to ask me or our other prefect, Beezus." He gestured to the girl sitting next to him. That was part of the job, right? He glanced up to the sorting hat to see if any other new ones would be joining them.. so far, just three.

Ethan nodded at Beezus' response to the eating utensil. He did think the thing was strange yet rather inventive at the same time. Still something was so cheap about it. "I suppose the combination does make it rather useful," he said, glancing back down at it. "Though I might like it better if it were crafted from another kind of material, like.. I don't know, silver?" Or really any kind of metal.. he still wasn't sold on the spork, inventive or not, mostly because of the atmosphere it contributed to. He shook his head lightly as he continued to assess the disposable table settings. He didn't know what was going on either and it gave him a rather unsettling feeling. Apparently it did for Beezus too and he looked up as she voiced that thought. Unpleasant..? "I certainly hope not.." he began, his mind drifting back to his first year here and when they had to camp out in the Great Hall for months and didn't even have a t table to eat at. That was unpleasant. "I hope this is not a sign of things to come," he added, picking up the spork and looking at it a bit distractedly. Though that wouldn't be too surprising.. Something weird was definitely going on.
Ethan nodded a bit as Christmas gave him just a little more detail of her holiday. Maybe she didn't want to talk about it much or maybe she just didn't do a whole lot, though nothing wrong with a relaxing summer anyway. "Oh, I had quite a busy summer," he began, when she turned the question on him. "Did some traveling to the US before heading back home to Germany.. then I worked in an Alpine house and got in some Quidditch training." Busy.. but a really great summer..

Ethan eyes followed the next person to approach the table.. a familiar Claw, though he had just acquainted himself with the younger boy over summer. "Hi, Benjy.." the seventh year greeted him with a nod as he sat down next to Garrick. Then his eyes followed the toad as it leaped into one of the cups and he raised an eyebrow. The bloke wasn't gonna drink out of that now, was he? Shrugging it off, he looked back up at Benjamin as he expressed the same thoughts pretty much everyone else had.. though this one seemed to have yet another reasoning. "Well, there's a theory," he said as the boy mentioned elves. "Maybe they're on strike?" Though the boy wasn't sure why they would be.. they all seemed more than happy to do their job here.

Ethan nodded happily in response to the new Claw's question. He really loved his old school and missed it at times. "I did.. for four years. This is my third, and last, year here at Hogwarts." That part was sad in a way.. he was excited to be done, yet sad to be leaving. No thinking about that now though, he was intent on making his last year fun. "Nice to meet you, Niamh.. does that mean you're a fourth year then," he asked as she mentioned her age. Then he bowed his head slightly as she expressed her thanks. "No problem.. I'm one of the prefects here. If you ever need anything or just have any questions, feel free to let me know." That came with the badge, right?

Oh, there was the girl who had sheared a compartment with him and Min.. along with a few others.. on the train ride home last term. "Hello, Gwen," he said with a nod as she addressed him. "Good summer?" That was always the thing to say at the opening feast, right? As a way of catching up and all.. though this term also included the disposable place settings as well.. Congratulations..? He looked at her curiously for a moment before looking down at the badge on his robes as he saw her gaze drift there. Oh, right.. "Thanks," he said, gracing her with an appreciative grin.

As soon as he finally spotted her from across the Gryffindor table, the 7th year Gryffindor immediately stood up from his seat and walked towards where Gwen is, which is of course at her house table. He watched as she spoke with some other students then finally decided to go over and say hi.

Step#1 towards Gwen. Step#2 towards the Ice Princess. Step#3 towards the girl who makes him blush a lot. Step#4 towards the Ravenclaw whom he thinks he's in love with. Step#5 towards the one.

And, he's behind her now. "Hey Gwen," he greeted as he took the seat beside her. No weird greetings today. He was as normal as a Zeke could manage to be. Resting his elbow on the table, he leaned one side his head against his fist while his body twisted to face Gwen and his eyes focused on his Ice Princess. Wait, no. Was he allowed to use that nickname still?

Hmmm. Well, it's not like anyone's there to stop him from calling her that in his head.

SPOILER!!: Macabre

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"Nice to meet you, Raven," Mo gave the girl a grin before turning his attention to her launching a spoon toward the Head Table. Good form and distance... but he could beat her. "I'm a fourth year. I think you're going to really like being a Ravenclaw. We're amazing at manufacturing our own entertainment."

Like a catapult.



Mo grinned at Beezus when she made an appearance, although she earned herself a frown for 1) ruffling his well-coifed hair 2) calling him Marcus and 3) continuing on without stopping to chat when he was clearly her favorite person of all time. OF ALL TIME.

He carefully rearranged his hair back into its characteristic swoop. "Beatrice. Hey back." Scowl.



"Hey... Nigel," Mo nodded at his roommate and only just somehow managed not to flail around in his seat. WHY WAS HE BEING CALLED MARCUS?

Was this one of those grown up things he should have figured out on his own but had somehow missed in the last year? Maybe he was supposed to go by Marcus now? He'd ask Alice about it later, since she was older and completely trustworthy.



Mo appreciated the hero worship, and he gestured for Aquila to come and join him. "C'mere, Key. You'll like this. I made a pyramid of the Solo cups... if you collect some more, then we can probably make it about 6 feet tall. Plus, I made this silverware catapult for storming the Head Table. You want to try to shoot a fork? See if you can beat Raven... that spoon up there is hers."

He offered a fork to the younger girl. Oh, his middle name. Well then. Now they were discussing ALL HIS NAMES. "Orion is my middle name. Like the constellation. I have a fabulous belt."



"Creepy!" Mo put an arm around Mika and sort of snugged her against him in an awkward 'oh, this feels different than usual' hug. It lasted a moment before he let her go. Probably because he had grown so much over the summer, although Mika had apparently grown too?

"Plastic cups. I'm Pharaoh of the Great Hall, and this is my mighty pyramid." He gestured to the Great Solo Pyramid he'd begun building on the table. He needed a hat. All Pharaohs had hats. Big ones. "Also made a catapult. If you can hit one of the professors with a spoon, I'll... well. You'll win. You can pick your prize. Gold. Treasure. Adventure beyond compare."

Mika beamed over to Mo when he called out her nickname to her. And then suddenly, she was snuggled up against him. This was, well…she liked this. Hugs were nice. He was nice like always. She liked him.

“So…we neeed to talk later about that plan we had this summer?” she beamed, yep this wasn’t awkward at all. She was just talking about a summer hangout session with him and Lexa and awesome people. “And if you want to invite Cassia into the mix we can because she’s cool” yep. Cassia had her official stamp of approval.

When Mo released her from the hug she wasn’t aware that her face had possibly fallen he was a nice guy and huge from nice people were awesome. She wanted more hugs. Hugs were great. Though that lack of smile was immediately replaced by laughter when Mo stacked the plastic cups into a pyramid and then continued to tell them that he was their pharaoh. This just made her want to hang around him more. Anyone who had the guts to talk to inanimate objects was cool in her book. And then the catapault. She just beamed.

“Ooooh I’d do this but I think we’d lose points…and well, I’m not going to be the first to lose them. I might catapault some cupcakes at them later…y’know cupcake them.” She beamed yep it was such an easy delivery service right – put cupcake on spoon, slam hand on spoon and watch the cupcake soar through the air until it lands somewhere near the Professors. Knowing her luck they’d land in their hair or all on the Headmistress’s red hair.

SPOILER!!: Ethaaaan

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

No new Ravenclaws yet? Ethan tore his eyes away from the sorting ceremony and focused his attention at his table. It was starting to fill up now.. The first face he caught a glimpse of was a familiar one. "Hey, Garrick," he greeted the younger boy with a grin and lifted a few fingers in a casual sort of wave. His mind drifted back to their earlier meeting over the summer, wondering what all his fellow Claw had bought at the joke shop. "End up getting those trainers?" he asked, having lost track of him at the store when he had purchased his fireworks. "Or something else?" Just curious really.. The bloke seemed like he could be a bit of fun as long as he didn't get into too much trouble.

Ethan's eyes drifted to a girl sitting not far from Garrick. Hmm.. he didn't know her, did he? She didn't look familiar.. had he missed her being sorted? Surely, she wasn't a Ravenclaw he hadn't at least seen around. He caught part of her conversation with Mo, honing in on one of the words. "Hey, there.." he greeted the girl with a smile, once he caught her eye. "Welcome to Ravenclaw.. I'm Ethan. Did I hear you say you went to Beauxbatons? I transferred from there a couple years ago too.." Not that he would have recognized her, she was clearly quite a bit younger than him. And he remembered that Mo had transferred from there as well, vaguely wondering if he and the girl had known each other then since they seemed about the same age.

And speaking of Mo.. He gave the younger Ravenclaw a grin as he looked in his direction, "Hi Mo.." He watched a bit curiously as the boy was building a pyramid and some other sort of contraption out of the disposable tableware. Seemed like a legit way to occupy one's time while waiting for food to get here and his mind started wandering about his own place setting. Turning the blue plastic cup over, Ethan began tapping the side of it with his spoon, then the top, as a sort of percussion instrument. "So.. good summer?" he asked the other boy as he tapped out a little tune. "You'll be going out for the team again, yeah?" At least he hoped so.. little bloke was a fierce player.

Once his plastic percussive song was finished, Ethan glanced back up at the sorting hat as a new Ravenclaw was sorted. Aw, look how pleased she seemed.. Oh, wait, she looked familiar. The 17 year old searched his mind to make the connection, finally realizing he had bumped into this girl while shopping over the summer. Or rather she had bumped into him. Beaming back at her as she approached the table, he said, "Welcome to Ravenclaw.. I'm Ethan." He couldn't remember if he had introduced himself when he had met her earlier, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to do it again even if he had. The boy was sure she would be overwhelmed first coming here and might not remember anyway.

Starting to get a bit distracted, Ethan glanced up to the Hufflepuff table. He spotted the person he was looking for and he smiled a bit as he watched her surrounded by friends. Maybe he'd go see her in a little bit.. though he did really want to especially greet the new Ravenclaws. But surely he'd be able to slip away for a few minutes shortly.. Lost in his reverie, Ethan didn't notice the Gryffindor who had come to the table until she was next to him. "Oh.. hi Christmas," he greeted the girl with a smile as he finally caught notice of her. "So.. what did you get up to over the summer?" She had told him earlier that she had a good holiday, but hadn't been all that specific.

Having grown bored of tapping on the cup, Ethan interest now turned to the plastic spoon. Though it really wasn't a spoon, now was it? He examined it carefully.. It was shaped like a spoon, yet had a prong-ish end like a fork. Sort of like a spoon and fork combination. Ethan had never seen a spork before, his parents had never exposed him to disposable dinnerware. And, though he was far from impressed with the shoddy looking place settings, this piece of cutlery was remotely interesting.

"Hey, Beezus," he grinned at his co-prefect as she slipped into the seat next to him. "Look at this," he said, holding up the spork in front of her. "You can use it like a spoon or a fork.. weird, right?" He shook his head and shrugged a bit at her question before setting the utensil down. "Yeah.. I don't know what's going on here.. Have you seen the decor?" He gestured towards their frayed banner. "It gives the atmosphere an almost.. inferior sense." Shame really, because he didn't consider himself to be such a snob, but this just wasn't right. "You'd think with all the money they raised at that fundraiser last term, they could afford to keep the place up." Wasn't it something like in the millions of galleons?

Ethan glanced up as he heard his name. A Ravenclaw he didn't know well, but was familiar with all the same. "Oh.. hi there, Nigel," he gave the younger boy a smile, then shrugged a bit at the question. Certainly seemed to be the hot topic of the day.. "Yeah, we were just talking about that.." he glanced over at Beezus before turning to Nigel again. "I'm really not sure.. might it's like an icebreaker kind of thing.. you know, to get people talking?" Because it certainly seemed to be working, he thought with a chuckle. That was one thing that seemed to be on everyone's mind.

Feeling a pair of eyes on him, Ethan looked over to see a younger girl eyeing up his badge. Another familiar one whose name he was unsure of. "I am.." he grinned, glancing down at the badge. "I'm Ethan, one of Ravenclaw's prefects." Well, along with Beezus, of course, who had already held the title a little while. Chuckling a bit, he shook his head. "No.. not Spike.. Professor Cerulean, actually.." And quite the surprise for the seventh year. He looked at the girl for a moment, sure he had seen her around the common room last term. "I'm sorry.. I don't believe we've met.. what is your name?"

And here was yet another Eagle whose name escaped him, but he was for certain he'd seen her in class or something. Ethan watched her for a moment as she greeted a few other of the younger Claws, then offered a smile in her direction. "I don't think we've met before.. I'm Ethan," he introduced himself when she seemed to be looking his way. Because, yeah.. he was making a point to at least know who all his housemates were.

Mika glanced up to Ethan as he introduced himself to her. He looked nice – nice people rocked right? They were like amazing. She just beamed. “I don’t think we’ve met either…you’d probably remember me if we had” she just laughed. Since she was awesome right?

Beaming still she realized she hadn’t said her name yet. That was special, the whole point of introductions was introducing yourself. “I’m Amelia Johanson – you can call me Mika, Amelia…anything really…even come up with awesome nicknames I go for almost any nicknames.” She beamed again. “Its nice to meet you Ethan” she added again? She wasn’t sure. She was a bit flustered.

SPOILER!!: Garrick!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eriin

Could he attest to this? Was he SURE? Nope. Couldn't be.

Garrick pushed them even further away and said, "I don't use things like this on picnics... and how do we KNOW they're clean? I am not using this rubbish." And then his cheeks flared red once again. He was being a brat about this, he knew it... but come on... Didn't the students of Hogwarts DESERVE proper eating utensils?

Or had they used WAY too much money on all that Board of Governor's nonsense... HMMMMM. Not impressed.

His attention was drawn to the PAT ON HIS SHOULDER. Uh no. Garrick pulled a face and moved out of her reach swiftly. "Beezus."

What the one word greeting REALLY meant was do not pat me like a child. HMPH.

Uhhhh. This one was a bit odd, no? Garrick smiled at her brightly and gave a chuckle. "I wouldn't go sniffing everything that could be unsanitary..." You know. Just saying.

"Maybe... but the first years couldn't do it, so I think that's not the case." Logic. He had it.

Well Mika was alright. Garrick beamed at her and nodded in her direction. "Hullo, Mika. Good to see ya." It was. Good to see her, that is. She was a nice lass.

AND BAM There was Ethan. HEHE.

Nodding enthusiastically Garrick said, "I did! And I got my cousin some too. Did you get them? I think we could have a good time with them, mate!" Like... climbing walls in the common room could be SUPER AWESOME. Yep. They needed to make plans for things and stuff. HEH.

And then he abandoned conversation for a moment to scan the room... She was there with that dreadful Gryffindor. Well... he supposed he would keep his distance. Possibly for good. HMPH.

GARRICK! She beamed over to him, yup she was just that happy right now. She’d almost forgotten about Mr. Evil Ticket man. Well, not really, she was just putting on the show of extreme jubilance because that was so much better than being little miss sour face loser girl. “Good to see you too!” she beamed – he was cool. If she were a muggle primary school teacher he’d get a gold star by his name. Yep. A good star for awesome. Wait no, a gold star for clawsome. Because Clawsome was one step above awesome…because you had to be a claw to be clawsome. “How was your summer? And the train…did you meet that ticket man?” she asked that tell tale gleam of emotion filled her eyes, it was something between embarrassment and anger, and then it all faded back to her eyes normal happy go lucky sheen.

SPOILER!!: Beezus

Quote:

Originally Posted by xXxPandora

After shooting him a rather bemused look, Beezus eyed the Hufflepuff table where Garrick's gaze rested on just a minute ago. Hmm. Curiosity strikes. Why was he so intently staring at that table? Because of someone, perhaps?

"Oh, hey Nigel." A bit of head tilting and small smile here....plus a shrug. And it seemed like everyone was being observant about the wares on the table. She threw the other table's a quick glance and discovered that they too, had plastic utensils. What was really going on here?

"I don't." Really. She didn't. She was curious too, actually. "I mean, I know we're supposed to use it in place of the silverwares we usually have but I don't know why they're plastic."

Tradition? Hmm. Maybe the Headmistress was indeed trying to put up new traditions. That was worth a theory. "I'm not sure if this is a new trend but most certainly, it is the first time this happened for all the terms I've been here on Hogwarts." There. She was trying to be helpful but she didn't have much to say so she hoped Aquila won't ask further. She was commonly one of the most curious ones.

More banner eyeing.

Why did she fail to notice it much earlier? "I didn't.." Frooown. Once again, she demanded to know what was going on here. She was utterly clueless and it didn't feel good to not know a thing when you were supposedly a Prefect. She felt...useless.

Sigh.

Oh. Mika. Beezus idly wondered how the girl was coping up with how the impolite Ticket Collector had treated her back during the train ride.

"Hi! ...Summer? Um. It was good. " She offered him a small smile which was followed by a shrug of shoulders and she tagged on, "Many things happened. " Good and bad. She felt like that was all she had to say.

Beatrice? Merlin. First, Blue and now Mo was also calling her that? Then again it would make the mostest sense because she was calling him by his real first name too. Well, what could she say? She called people she liked by their full names as much as possible.

"Don't give me that face. I'll talk to you later, dude." Wink.

She looked at the thing he was showing her It was indeed what looked like a combination of a spoon and fork. Taking it and examining it on her hands, she replied, "Yeah, weird indeed. But at the same time it isn't." Because you know. It wasn't really unusual when things combine to create a better something.

And the banner. Yes...she was still frustrated about that one. Where was Professor Cerulean? Can they inquire about is? It felt like their table had just been ran over by a storm! "I really don't understand what's going on." Cue the confused Beezus look. "I feel like something unpleasant is about to take place." Well, they were at Hogwarts. Everything in this place, including the people and events were weird in their own way.

"Hi, Eliza!" Beam! And a tiny wave to her too. And yeah, she was still troubled about the plastic wares that had replaced their silver ones. TROUBLED, I tell you.

New face? Yep. Beezus saw her and what does a Beezus do to new Ravenclaws? "Hello there! I'm Beezus. Welcome to Ravenclaw!" Waaaave. This was actually a good time for the Headmistress to start her speech now. The Prefect's stomach was now grumbling.

Beezus afforded a nice smile. Yep, because everyone was getting smiles and Beezus was cool. Some things happened? That didn’t sound cryptic did it? “Oh things happened? I hope they were good things because good things are the only thing worth having happen.” Yep. Roundabout statements were so her thing. Roundabout was to Mika what Merlin was to his pants.

Then Mika noticed someone she hadn’t actually ever introduced herself to. Why did she always do this? Ignore people. She didn’t mean to books had become her besties last year and Ella...and Kaiden…and the Puffs in general it had seemed.

SPOILER!!: Benjy *petsyou*

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermygirl

Benjamin clutched Flipper tightly in his hands as he looked down the Ravenclaw table. The silly creature had managed to hop off just as the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, and by the time Benjy had found him, Garrick was nowhere to be seen.

Why did he have a toad for a familiar again? Gah.

Anyway, here he now was, and he soon slipped into the seat beside Garrick. "Sorry I missed your carriage," he said apologetically to his cousin, "But this fella had other ideas..." At that, Flipper was placed carefully on the table with a firm, "Stay". The toad had other ideas, however, and promptly jumped into a plastic cup.

Hang on, plastic cups?

Benjy frowned. "Elves gone off washing up or something?" he muttered, with a confused shake of the head. Hogwarts was weird. And he hadn't even noticed the state of the banner yet...

"So, did I miss much?" Other than the reason for all the disposable crockery and cutlery?

She waved at Benjy and smiled brightly. Sure she might have seen him on the train and around some times. “Hey!” She smiled over to him. “Oh guys” she directed the comment to everyone near her, “if you want cupcakes for launching purposes I’ve got some” she smiled…”or eating purposes” she still beamed.

So she placed the cupcakes and food she had bought earlier in the morning on the table in front of her. In fact there were loads more than cupcakes in that box. Anything you could dream of when it came to sweets.

SPOILER!!: GWEN<3!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quick Quotes Quill

Seventh year.

Bring it.

Although she had been worrying the entire day about the fact that this was her final year, Gwen was in a good mood now. Finally. She was happy to be back, and obviously eager to see what has changed around Hogwarts. That, and she decided she had to catch up with her friends. Mhm. But first- she had to stop by the Ravenclaw table.

With a huge GRIN on her face, the seventh year approached the Ravenclaw house table. ‘Hi everyone’, she said cheerfully before attempting to find a seat.

Not meaning to, the seventh year overheard a younger student. Erm. Gwen just stared at the girl in disbelief.

*raises eyebrow*

Really? Who wouldn’t like to be here?! This girl, apparently. Shocking. ‘Are you alright?’, Gwen asked, not being rude this time.

Hey! There was one Ravenclaw she could recognize.

Yes, they had definitely met before. Yes. Train ride. Previous term. Just… what was his name? Umm. Think, Gwen, she told herself. It was weird how she could remember lots of pieces of information for classes, but couldn’t keep in mind a few names. Ehhh. ‘Hi-‘ Pause. ‘Ethan’, she said, quite proud of herself for managing to remember his name.

Oh. And he was the new Ravenclaw Prefect! ‘Congratulations!’, she said with a small smirk.

Gwendolyn drew her attention to the part of the Great Hall where all the firsties were gathered and waiting to be sorted. Gah. If only her bestie would be here and they would play ‘Guess the house’ this term too. Sigh. The seventh year tried to distract herself from thinking that Ari wouldn’t be around this year, and eyed the firsties.

Look! A new Ravenclaw!

She watched as the new housemate approached the table. ‘Welcome to Ravenclaw’, Gwen said simply, offering a small smile.

Start of term feast!

Like it was typical for her, Gwendolyn arrived a bit late. Actually… she wasn’t that late, there were just many ‘Claws already sitting at the table. So… erm… she wasn’t late. Everyone else arrived simply too early. Heh.

While looking around for a place to sit, Gwen spotted a familiar figure. ‘Hi Beezus’, she greeted the Prefect. She was about to add something, but she got distracted as she spotted the plastic cups and dishes on the table. And the broken banner. Erm.

What was going on?

Although she had mixed feelings about this being her seventh and final year, Gwendolyn still had a smile on her face as she entered the Great Hall and made her way to her house table. One of the first people she spotted there was Mika.

GRIN.

She gave a small wave, trying to draw the girl’s attention. ‘Hi!’, Gwendolyn greeted the younger Ravenclaw. While waiting for a reply, Gwen glimpsed in the direction of the staff table. Hmm. New Professors.

So far, Gwen hadn’t met many first years. She was looking at the sorting ceremony, when she thought she spotted someone familiar. Hmm. Was that… Amara? No. Her sister. Zyanya. Hmm. The girl was one of the few firsties Gwen actually liked, and didn’t consider annoying. So hopefully she would be a Ravenclaw. Heh. As the sorting hat announced the house of the younger girl, a small smirk appeared on her face.

‘Welcome to Ravenclaw’, she told Zyanya, after the firstie had taken a seat at the table.

Mika glanced over to Gwen and smiled brightly. “Hey Gwen!” She smiled over to her she was so nice she liked Gwen. “How are things?” She asked brightly, “and how was summer?” She asked cheerily and happily.

THERE HE WAS!! Garrick relaxed a little bit when Benjy finally sat down with him. "That Prefect... Beezus patted me." How inappropriate, right? Yes. That was the first thing he said as he shot her a look. No patting. Ever. "No worries on the carriage anyway." And he may have blushed ever so slightly at the mention, but he busied himself with watching Flipper knock the plastic cup over. Heh.

"Disgusting isn't it?" The dinnerware, that is. Garrick still refused to touch it. "And nah not much yet." And he let his eyes sweep over the Hufflepuff table once more before he focused on Benjy and ignored the table all together.


And baaaack to Ethan. Garrick grinned crookedly and nodded. "Good on you, mate. We'll all have to test them out. And THIS is my cousin, actually," he said with a slight nudge to Benjy. Heh. Certainly the Prefect knew him, yes? So now there were three Claws that he knew of, including himself, that had Weasley Sticky Trainers. WIIIIIIIN!

And he FELT someone staring at him and turned to see that girl from the train looking at him. SEE Benjy and he were mates, there was no reason to rush into a compartment just because someone punched someone else.. Nope nope.

Christmas smiled at Ethan and said "Well that sounds good, i never got to fly much this summer so i can't wait to get back out on the practice pitch and blow the cobwebs away"

Niamh looked up. "Oh yes. Thank you. I just miss my old school. I didn't want to leave and come here." Niamh studied the girl's face for a while. "I'm sure your school is wonderful, but you see, it isn't my home. At least not yet."

Niamh smiled. Well he was certainly doing a good job of being a Prefect so far. "Yes, Fourth Year." She took a deep breath and fixeed a determined look on her face. "Thank you for your support. I'm sure I will like it here soon enough." But Niamh wasn't at all sure that she would, despite the expression on her face and the words that came from her lips. Her heart was singing a different song.

Isobel walked up to the table, still calming down from having internally freaked out before the Sorting. Of course, now she was faced with a different conundrum: where to sit? She had no idea where Tora had vanished to, so she was alone, a first year, and way too shy to start talking to anyone. She glanced nervously around the table, taking in the groups of people chattering happily to one another, the tattered banner, nice tablecloth, and... was that a plastic cup? Okay, paper plates, plastic silverware, odd, but maybe there was some kind of picnic theme to the start of term feast this year? Or maybe this was all normal, she really couldn't judge, having never been here before.

Isobel realised that she'd been standing for longer than was probably normal, and hastily took a seat a few chairs away from anyone else. She pretended to be very, very interested in the "Dixie" label on her cup.

Benjy EYED his toad. Were toads seriously all like this, or did he just manage to pick the most annoying one? On the plus side, now Flipper was in the cup, he seemed to be happy there.

Turning his attention back to the people around him, Benjy smiled. "Hi Ethan," he replied with a quick glance back to his cup to check Flipper wasn't sneaking off. "You survived the shopping then?" he added with a wink.

True. It was a theory. Though, it was a worrying one given that the elves made their food. "You think...we will still y'know, get fed?" He looked at the plate dubiously. "Cos if the Elves ARE on strike, who's cooking?"

He was a growing MAN. He needed nourishment!

"Hey!" Benjy replied, trying to place the girl's name. He frowned a bit, but honestly couldn't. Had she ever told him it?

Luckily, he was saved. There was food. "Given the plate situation...I might just save a couple for now, if you don't mind." If and when he saw food on that plate, he might be tempted to throw something.

Miiiiight.
"She didn't ruin your hair, did she?" Benjy replied teasingly. He might make light of it in public, but he knew Garrick and understood how his cousin was rather unimpressed by the action right now. Which was why it was soon followed with a frown in the female Prefect's direction, and a wrinkle of his nose. "Hope she doesn't think that's generally appropriate..."

Patting was for small kids.

"Hope you weren't stuck alone for too long waiting for me," Benjy said, giving his toad a small scowl. Not that the creature would have seen it, as he'd now managed to knock the cup over. "I have no idea how a thing of that size can move so quickly..."

Benjy looked at the paper plate doubtfully, before picking it up and turning it over. "It's like...foldable. How does this hold gravy, exactly?" He liked LASHINGS of gravy, and really didn't want his plate turning to mush and it all ending in his lap. "You reckon we can transfigure them?"

He mused over the plate a bit longer, stabbing it with the spoon-fork thing a few times to test out it's durability. And then Garrick's nudge alerted him to something more interesting.

"Test what out, exactly?" This sounded CURIOUS. And that could only mean one thing...FUN PLANS.

Nigel did not know what to think now about the cups and plates. He was beginning to wonder where the house elves fit into this. Since Nigel always thought they prepared the food and dinnerware. But who knows. " I dont' know. But it is weird that even the banner is tearing and looking old." Nigel said as he pointed towards the claw's banner.



Nigel waited just a moment to see Mo's reaction to calling him Marcus. It seemed at first he did not notice. Then Nigel had to give him credit for not falling out of his seat. Since it looked like he was going straight to the ground. "I'm just kidding Mo. But it does seem like the house elves are on strike or something."

Nigel just knew he did not like this new dinnerware.



Well, It seemed that Ethan was just as confused about the dinnerware as he was. Since a prefect did not know what was going on. Maybe the headmistress will tell them once she gives her speech. That was the only logical solution Nigel could think of. "hmm, maybe it is a icebreaker, who knows. Maybe the headmistess will tell us soon."





And then Nigel heard basically the same thing from Beezus. But then he remembered the banner being torn. "True, I don't mind the plastic as much as the banner being old and tearing." Nigel said as he pointed to the banner.
Nigel decided to ponder some more as he waited for the food. He was getting hungrier just think about all this plastic.

Great.

So she actually got the name right.

Otherwise it would have been really awkward. ‘Yes, I had a great summer’, she replied. ‘Been around Diagon Alley most of the time and I was in France for a couple of weeks’ Ugh. Enough details coming from a not-so-very-talkative person like Gwen. ‘How about you?’


Gwen was wondering if she should pay a visit to her friends from the other houses, or spend some time at the Ravenclaw table. Hmm. She glimpsed towards the place where the Gryffindors were sitting, but she couldn’t spot anyone from this distance. Umm.. better wait a few more minutes. As she drew her attention back to her fellow Ravenclaws, the seventh year heard someone talk to her.

. . .

Zeke.

Turning around, the seventh year offered a smile. ‘Hi!’, she greeted Zeke and hugged him. What? She was actually happy to see him. Heh. Was he looking for someone? Or was he here just to see her?

‘Any idea how much longer until the speech?’ Mehh. Random question.


SMIRK.

Hmm. How are things. ’Umm… good, I guess. I’m just trying to get used to the fact that I’m a seventh year now’, she said honestly. Ehh. But she didn’t want to think about that right now.

Summer holiday! ‘Great. I actually spent most of the time around Diagon Alley, but I had lots of fun’ Mhm. Especially at the Bowling Alley. Ehem. And, then of course there was her trip to France, about which Gwen wanted to say something, but she got distracted when she saw another firstie join the Ravenclaw table.

Erm. So. Back to Mika. ‘How about you?’ she asked. How was her summer? Gwen remembered having talked to the younger Ravenclaw at the end of term feast. And Mika seemed to have planned a great holiday. Something about going to the States.. and Melbourne? Hmm. Something like that.


Missed her school? ’Where did you study?’ Until now, that is. Hmm. Maybe Beauxbatons? Didn’t want to leave… yes. She could understand that. But she was sure the other student would soon learn to like Hogwarts.

Hmm. Not home yet? Better fix that. ‘I’m Gwen, by the way’, the seventh year said, figuring out that it was a good thing for the younger student to get to know some people around. ‘And umm… Welcome to Ravenclaw’


New Ravenclaw.

Gwen smiled at the girl who had just arrived at the table. ‘Hi there’, she greeted the new Eagle. ‘Welcome to Ravenclaw’ The best house. Ehem.

She walked sulked across the hall, towards the Claw table, towards her twin. She had spotted Zyanya a few minutes earlier, trying to blend into the small group. She'd decided to get away from the prideful lions and talk to her twin. Now happy twin.

She went near her twin and tapped her. "Hey" she said, with a dull tone. Was she allowed at the Claw table? She didn't bother about that. She looked as though she might eat anyone who questioned her as she scooted next to her twin.

And she spotted the senior prideful girl. Might as well be a good Lion, with all the pride. And smirk. "You" she acknowledged the girl who was speaking to Zyanya. Gave her a look and nodded.

Elise decided -after a long while of staring at the lake and wondering if throwing her badge into it would make any difference- that it was probably time that she headed to the Great Hall for the feast. Headmistress Truebridge was sure to make her speech soon and after patrolling with Kat on the train, she'd worked up a bit of an appetite.

Badge safely re-pinned to her robes and Oakey not staring at it, the blonde entered the Hall and went straight to the Ravenclaw House Table. Most people had arrived long before her and there were hardly any seats left for her. It didn't take her all that long to spot one for herself, though and as soon as she did, she slid into it and pretended that she hadn't been late.

"Hey, everyone," she smiled sheepishly. Nothing to look at here, nope. Look away. OOH! A Gryffindor! Far more interesting and reckless than she was!

SPOILER!!: Isobel <3 FIRSTIES yay

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaetha

Isobel walked up to the table, still calming down from having internally freaked out before the Sorting. Of course, now she was faced with a different conundrum: where to sit? She had no idea where Tora had vanished to, so she was alone, a first year, and way too shy to start talking to anyone. She glanced nervously around the table, taking in the groups of people chattering happily to one another, the tattered banner, nice tablecloth, and... was that a plastic cup? Okay, paper plates, plastic silverware, odd, but maybe there was some kind of picnic theme to the start of term feast this year? Or maybe this was all normal, she really couldn't judge, having never been here before.

Isobel realised that she'd been standing for longer than was probably normal, and hastily took a seat a few chairs away from anyone else. She pretended to be very, very interested in the "Dixie" label on her cup.

Oh look! A new Ravenclaw, Mika smiled at the little first year as she walked over. “Hey! Welcome to Ravenclaw” she called to the girl who was sitting a bit away from her. Yep, she might have been a little loud near Mo’s ear at that moment, but it wasn’t intentional or anything.

“I’m Amelia Johanson – but you can call me Mika almost everyone does” yep. Almost everyone. Forest might be the only one who wanted to call her Amelia. She still beamed at the little girl.

SPOILER!!: awesome person click and you'll find out who is awesome

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermygirl

Benjy EYED his toad. Were toads seriously all like this, or did he just manage to pick the most annoying one? On the plus side, now Flipper was in the cup, he seemed to be happy there.

Turning his attention back to the people around him, Benjy smiled. "Hi Ethan," he replied with a quick glance back to his cup to check Flipper wasn't sneaking off. "You survived the shopping then?" he added with a wink.

True. It was a theory. Though, it was a worrying one given that the elves made their food. "You think...we will still y'know, get fed?" He looked at the plate dubiously. "Cos if the Elves ARE on strike, who's cooking?"

He was a growing MAN. He needed nourishment!


"Hey!" Benjy replied, trying to place the girl's name. He frowned a bit, but honestly couldn't. Had she ever told him it?

Luckily, he was saved. There was food. "Given the plate situation...I might just save a couple for now, if you don't mind." If and when he saw food on that plate, he might be tempted to throw something.

Miiiiight.

"She didn't ruin your hair, did she?" Benjy replied teasingly. He might make light of it in public, but he knew Garrick and understood how his cousin was rather unimpressed by the action right now. Which was why it was soon followed with a frown in the female Prefect's direction, and a wrinkle of his nose. "Hope she doesn't think that's generally appropriate..."

Patting was for small kids.

"Hope you weren't stuck alone for too long waiting for me," Benjy said, giving his toad a small scowl. Not that the creature would have seen it, as he'd now managed to knock the cup over. "I have no idea how a thing of that size can move so quickly..."

Benjy looked at the paper plate doubtfully, before picking it up and turning it over. "It's like...foldable. How does this hold gravy, exactly?" He liked LASHINGS of gravy, and really didn't want his plate turning to mush and it all ending in his lap. "You reckon we can transfigure them?"

He mused over the plate a bit longer, stabbing it with the spoon-fork thing a few times to test out it's durability. And then Garrick's nudge alerted him to something more interesting.

"Test what out, exactly?" This sounded CURIOUS. And that could only mean one thing...FUN PLANS.

She smiled over to Benjy again when he said hey to her. Sure she might have not given her name before and thought back on that for a minute. “Yeah sure take as many as you like” she smiled over to him. “I’m Amelia by the way you can call me Mika” yeah she was being friendly.

Friendly was good. Friendly was the only way she ever was…except for how she was to the ticket man.

SPOILER!!: Gweeeneh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quick Quotes Quill

Great.

So she actually got the name right.

Otherwise it would have been really awkward. ‘Yes, I had a great summer’, she replied. ‘Been around Diagon Alley most of the time and I was in France for a couple of weeks’ Ugh. Enough details coming from a not-so-very-talkative person like Gwen. ‘How about you?’


Gwen was wondering if she should pay a visit to her friends from the other houses, or spend some time at the Ravenclaw table. Hmm. She glimpsed towards the place where the Gryffindors were sitting, but she couldn’t spot anyone from this distance. Umm.. better wait a few more minutes. As she drew her attention back to her fellow Ravenclaws, the seventh year heard someone talk to her.

. . .

Zeke.

Turning around, the seventh year offered a smile. ‘Hi!’, she greeted Zeke and hugged him. What? She was actually happy to see him. Heh. Was he looking for someone? Or was he here just to see her?

‘Any idea how much longer until the speech?’ Mehh. Random question.


SMIRK.

Hmm. How are things. ’Umm… good, I guess. I’m just trying to get used to the fact that I’m a seventh year now’, she said honestly. Ehh. But she didn’t want to think about that right now.

Summer holiday! ‘Great. I actually spent most of the time around Diagon Alley, but I had lots of fun’ Mhm. Especially at the Bowling Alley. Ehem. And, then of course there was her trip to France, about which Gwen wanted to say something, but she got distracted when she saw another firstie join the Ravenclaw table.

Erm. So. Back to Mika. ‘How about you?’ she asked. How was her summer? Gwen remembered having talked to the younger Ravenclaw at the end of term feast. And Mika seemed to have planned a great holiday. Something about going to the States.. and Melbourne? Hmm. Something like that.


Missed her school? ’Where did you study?’ Until now, that is. Hmm. Maybe Beauxbatons? Didn’t want to leave… yes. She could understand that. But she was sure the other student would soon learn to like Hogwarts.

Hmm. Not home yet? Better fix that. ‘I’m Gwen, by the way’, the seventh year said, figuring out that it was a good thing for the younger student to get to know some people around. ‘And umm… Welcome to Ravenclaw’


New Ravenclaw.

Gwen smiled at the girl who had just arrived at the table. ‘Hi there’, she greeted the new Eagle. ‘Welcome to Ravenclaw’ The best house. Ehem.

She tipped her head to the side as she spotted Gwen’s smirk. Smirking was cool. How long until the speech? “Too long” was all Mika said as she heard Gwen’s question. Since obviously any longer would be too long.

“So, well congratulations are in order then for being a seventh year and all” she just smiled brightly again. “Diagon Alley is so fun” she smiled over to her. “Oh, yeah I welt back to Melbourne for a bit and visited my cousins and well, we actually moved fully to London” she said with a smile. “So, I got to spend so much time in Diagon Alley” she beamed. She was just glad to be in Diagon Alley for more than two days this year.

“Also had some friends over for pizza and stuff” she smiled over to her.

SPOILER!!: Zyanya

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansgurl

She walked sulked across the hall, towards the Claw table, towards her twin. She had spotted Zyanya a few minutes earlier, trying to blend into the small group. She'd decided to get away from the prideful lions and talk to her twin. Now happy twin.

She went near her twin and tapped her. "Hey" she said, with a dull tone. Was she allowed at the Claw table? She didn't bother about that. She looked as though she might eat anyone who questioned her as she scooted next to her twin.

And she spotted the senior prideful girl. Might as well be a good Lion, with all the pride. And smirk. "You" she acknowledged the girl who was speaking to Zyanya. Gave her a look and nodded.

Then she noticed another girl walking up – a Gryffindor by the looks of her new found badge. “Hey” she smiled over to the Gryffindor girl. “I see that you are one of the pride?” She asked with a laughing little smile on her face. The cheery girl just beamed at her.

Still, she’d gotten herself a little distracted and spotted Nigel moments later. She hadn’t seen him all last term – well, because she’d been a little busy attaching herself to the Hufflepuff house like a barnacle. “NIGEL! Hey!” She beamed at the guy she had met during the issues of last term, “So how are things?” She asked him smiling brightly.

Mo flipped along spoon toward the Head Table before turning his attention back to Ethan with a grin. Now that Milton was gone, it was going to fall to poor Ethan to be Mo's role model, and that was a pretty hefty demand for anyone.

"No, not a good summer, actually, but I'm fine. Or I will be, so might as well start now." He put a knife on the catapult and sent it spinning toward the front of the Great Hall. "And yeah, I'm going out for the team again this year. Especially now that my fellow Beater has been made captain." He sort of felt like he owed it to Elise now.

"What about you... good summer? Going out for Quidditch?"

"Because the point is to throw them away. You don't reuse them. How can you tell anything is clean? These have never been in a mouth before, at least," Mo offered helpfully. Why be belligerent about something unimportant? There were plenty of things to be upset about, but silverware?

MIXED MESSAGES. She called him by his formal name and then winked at him like they were conspirators? What exactly was going on here? Mo winked back, albeit with great confusion, and nodded. "Dude. Okay."

"You have a sister? How old is she?" Mo flipped a cup upside down and filled it with some spare silverware, although he tried not to take any from someone who might NEEEEEED them. He did set another spoon beside Niamh, because she ought to at least TRY the catapult before deciding she couldn't do it.

"Switching was hard, yeah, and it still is hard. I'm behind in making friends, and they all have stories that I'm not part of, but it gets easier. It WILL get easier for you." He nudged at the spoon. "I do play, and maybe you do too. You can't tell until you give it a try."

"I haven't talked to Cassia yet." Mo considered his options and then squished Mika again. As friends do, obviously. Their plan, though... not here. This was the the wrong place for plotting. "How about we do a meet up later? Invite Lex, and I'll talk to Cassia. And... who else do you want to invite?"

He foisted the spoon on Mika insistently. Like, no, REALLY, she needed to try this catapult thing out. It was amazing. "We can do cupcakes, and when they reach the apex of their trajectory, we can apply an Impedimenta followed by a Levitation charm and float the cupcake down onto someone's plate. Easy as pie. Or easy as cupcakes, really.

"I thought I'd grown a beard and no one had told me," Mo stroked his chin. "Y'know? Like I'd suddenly turned 50 and had to be called by my proper name. Just Mo, please, Nigel. And yeah... seems like something might be up. But maybe it's just an adventure. Or the elves have the night off. What if they're celebrating a birthday or a wedding or something?"

"It's my very favoritest captain in the world," Mo turned his catapult and shot a plastic cup at her head. Y'know... if she was thirsty or whatever. "Congrats, Elise. You make the badge look better by wearing it." Oy, charm. This Branxton had it.

"You're a fourth year? Great, I'm a third year." She specified 'Well, of course this is my first year here, but I already was at the Romania school for two years. So far I like Hogwarts much better, though. This whole house competition thing sounds really great." Raven grinned when he said that they were good at making their own entertainment. True.


Hadn't she met this boy before? She couldn't pin point exactly where, but Raven was sure she had met this boy in Diagon Alley. He had a prefect badge, but she knew he wasn't the same prefect she had met in Knockturn Alley. Daichi, or something like that.

Then he greeted her and she remembered. "Thanks you Ethan. Nice meeting you again." Yeah, it was the guy from the store that told her about Quidditch quills. "It's cool we are in the same house."



"Thanks" Raven replied to the equally enthusiastic looking girl across the table. "I'm happy to be here." She was getting many more greetings that she thought she would, but that was a good thing. "Nice to meet you Eliza, you can call me Raven. I guess that's why the Hat put me in Ravenclaw."


Raven shrugged. "I guess the staff will fix them soon, though. Maybe the house elves just forget today or something." By now it wasn't too much of a deal to her, though she did notice them of course when she came. But it seemed to matter to the returning students. "Did you vote in the governor race?" This to switch the subject.

"Thank - thank you!" Raven answered the older girl who was now sitting down. She hoped the girl didn't think she was shy just because she stuttered. Ah well.

"Hi!" Isobel replied, glad to actually be acknowledged. "Thanks, I'm happy to be in it." Perhaps happy wasn't quite the right word... honestly, she was just relieved she'd been Sorted at all and hadn't passed out in front of the whole school or something. There wasn't anything wrong with Ravenclaw, that she could think of, there just wasn't anything particularly great about it either.

Isobel smiled back at the older girl; she was feeling more accepted with two people being all welcoming. "Thanks!" she said in response to said welcome. "I'm Isobel Laning, as you probably heard during the Sorting." That is, if Mika had paid any attention. "It's nice to meet you." She actually had no idea how interesting the Sorting was to the older students. Would they enjoy seeing who was in their house for the next year, or was it just an annoying ritual they had to wait through before they could eat? Speaking of eating, she was starved.

"Er... sorry if this is rude in any way, but is the table usually set like, well, this?" Isobel indicated the plastic cups and utensils. After all, the last time she'd eaten out of a paper plate was last year at her muggle neighbour's barbecue party, and she sincerely hoped that Hogwarts didn't serve barbecue.

Why, if it isn't Benjamin. The other half to the Garrick. She only shot the younger Ravenclaw a furtive glance. Beezus had this feeling that the boy didn't like her and even though she couldn't pinpoint out why, she didn't care so much. She was being herself and she was confident that she couldn't please everyone so why worry?

Moving on...

"Oh. I know you're new. Sorry about that." Her mouth seems to run whenever things she didn't expect to happen occur in succession. The whole introduction thingy was definitely a good breaker for the tension. "Niamh? That's a very interesting name." Smiiiile. "I'm Beatrice...albeit almost everyone calls me Beezus. Or Bee." But the latter was saved for those that were very close to her.

N'awww. Beezus loved seeing new faces. Hold on....this girl's face...there was a Gryffindor....Oh, right. She remembered now. The girl had a twin.

"Zyanya? I supposed your twin is with the Lions?" That must be cool. Having a twin and all. Now she just missed Bambi. Sigh. "Beatrice. But you can call me Beezus." And her sister made that nickname too.

"Gwen!" She smiled at the girl and then her eyes followed them to the banner. Yeaah. She was still troubled about that. Catching her friend's eye, she shrugged. Please don't ask me, I don't really know what happened either.

"It's plastic. I don't know if that's any significance or what. But I don't like that it's plastic." Because plastic was disposable and it can contribute a lot to the destruction of the world's atmosphere because of its harmful components and something of that sort. You know....

"Me too." Beezus heaved a sigh, "I just don't get why it's plastics when it's an absolute muggle invention." What are the circumstances playing at? Also, can the Headmistress give her speech now? More stomach grumbling going on here.

The smiling fading a bit, she shrugged. "Well...both good and bad actually. " But she wasn't going to elaborate on that. Nope. She was holding a dear secret that she couldn't risk telling anybody, at least now was not the right time. But yeah.

"How was YOUR summer?"

There he went again. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Beezus would never get the duo but they were throwing her those kind of gestures and although it was starting to get annoying, insulting even, she was going to sit there and enjoy the night.

People can think what they want to think of her. It was her life, she was going to live it like she wanted.

"I'm actually bothered by both." It was like whoever was doing this was trying to stray away from Hogwarts tradition and although it was true that change is the only constant thing in this world, Beezus could've hoped that they took it slow. Not like this. Like...Boom! You don't get to eat in silver anymore... O.o

"I miss our silvers." For over five years now. The silverwares had always been her confidante during meal time. This was making her sad. Meh.

Dude. Yeah, they were dudes now. And dudes needed to talk....but later....because food was more important.

The house elves forgot today? Bliiiiink. No. The house elves were more efficient than this. Beezus wasn't going to think that it was the house elves' fault this time. They've all been very good to her for the few years she'd treated Hogwarts as her second home. Especially Beezley, she liked Beezley.

"Oh, um, I don't know really." It was frustrating when you didn't know what was going on when you were supposed to be a student leader. But on the girl's next question though, at least she knew a thing or two. "Yes. Every student got the chance to vote but in the end, it's really the vote from most adults that counted. It was still worth a shot, though." She grinned. That was a good time. Campaign time. Free snacks and free goodies from the candidates. Hehe.

And dear Merlin, who was this girl again?! Oh, right. Her friend, the new Ravenclaw Captain, and the very late Elise Fairfield. The Headmistress got on the Staff dais even before the blonde came. Castell demanding face on. "Where were you?" Because Beezus got worried.

Oh so this is a new student. Aquila beamed at the girl, she knew how it felt like to be new too. “Its good to meet you Raven. What school were you from?” as for her name, she had mentioned it already hasn’t she? Yes she most certainly did.



“Hello Mika!” the young Claw waved back. Ah yes the trouble with her name with this one “Yes its Ah-kee-lah” she grinned. Should she say something about her last name? Maybe they could cover that for later “I have your cupcakes here.” she added, patting the small purse she had stuffed with sweets “I have more candies too—from the trolley.” half of which she doesn’t even know what its about. All she knows is that she shouldn’t starve while they waited for food. If they’re even going to be fed.



“So you are named after a constellation-- The Hunter!” she beamed. That made his cool factor go past the stratosphere in manner of speaking “I was named after a constellation too—well ok named after my sponsor—but she was named after the constellation.” And that’s pretty much the only thing they had in common. She met the old woman, and she found her to be even scarier than the High Mother if that was even possible.

Oh but Mo—rather Orion—has started building himself a pyramid out of those blue cups “Oh! A temple.” Yes that is what she calls it, she learned all about those from the Priestesses see. “More cups? Like how much more?” she asked, with her hands already collecting her own cup and Garricks—because it didn’t look like Garrick would want his anyway—and parked them near the blue structure. And then he goes saying something else “Uhm... whatsa cat-a-pull?” perplexed now, she was starting to wonder if she should’ve insisted on bringing the temple cat.




Prefect Ethan. Got it. “Ohhhh so Professor Cerulean gives that.” she had little understanding of Prefect concepts beyond the shiny badge, so go easy on her. But she does understand that Cerulean was her House Mother while she was at this school. So alls good. So far. “My name is Aquila Llywellyn.” she recited happily “I came here last term, Beezus and Spike welcomed me.”



“Whyyy?” she murmured to the new boy, completely naïve of the concept of malicious things that can be done with smelling.

She tilted her head to the side, she didn’t consider younger years that cant transfigure the plates “Oh...” well to be honest, her skill aint that much better either.



So this wasnt a usual thing with Hogwarts? Ok now she was totally confused. And as she gazed to the next table she realized that they too had similar dinnerware with slightly different cup colors. She was starting to give up on figuring the why, and more of—can these things actually be eated off of. And then suddenly “Where will we have the soup?” Like the awesome pumpkin soup. They aren’t actually going to have to drink it off the blue glasses are they?



She returned a smile on the new girl “I’m in my 3rd year....” she replied with a tilt of her head. Another transfer, maybe what she did last term wasn’t so odd after all after all “I transferred too, last term, I’m in my 3rd year now.”Nod nod “Which school did you come from?”



The banner? It was only then that the blonde Claw looked up and noticed the banners looking frayed. “Ohhh...” she breathed as she sat all wide eyed. Because she was still relatively new around here she didn’t even notice the banners upkeep looking any different until it was mentioned. But now she has noticed a few things and started to mumble “Does Hogwarts need fixing?” totally innocent question there.

Nigel was busy being hungry and wondering about his dinnerware that he had not even realized until he heard his name call and turned around to see that Mika was at the table. Nigel smiled, he had not talked to Mika since probably the beginning of last term. "Hey Mika. Things are alright." Nigel said as he picked up the empty paper plate in front of him. " No food yet and i barely ate anything on the train. But how are you".

Nigel did not really want to continue talking about the banner and the non silverware that was on the table[/B]



Nigel started to imagine Mo with a fully grown beard and thought it would be possible in the future. Who knows maybe even next year he would have one.

"Sure Mo". Nigel said nodding, still think about Mo's imaginary beard. "Just don't try and grown one or everyone will start calling you Marcus since you would look older."

Nigel was beginning to like Mo's ideas about the elves having a night off or its an adventure. Nigel did like a good adventure. "It would be awesome if it was adventure." Nigel said agreeing with him.



"I agree" Nigel told her. He had not really thought about the silverware before. He did not like eating with plastic silverware in a great hall. Maybe on a picnic, but not here. Now he was getting tried of this talk about the table, so he decided to change topics. "You going to try out for quidditch this term?" He start playing with the paper plates and plastic forks waiting for the food . He did not want to break anything and risk losing points.



Nigel was surprised that she not noticed the banner before. But whatever it was not important. At least they had a banner. Nigel start to think her question and agreed with her. But thought it was the groundskeeper who fixed stuff here at hogwarts.

"Maybe, but i always thought that it was the caretakers or groundskeepers job to do that." Nigel said shrugging. He had no idea really.

She nodded back at Beezus, glad to have had the chance to say hello to her. She was pretty busy going around and meeting all of the new Claws, so she wouldn't push for more of her time right now. She smiled at her again and let her do her Prefect duties. She plays Quidditch though right? Maybe I can talk to her about that sometime, later. Or well, if she doesn't, I'm sure I'll see her again. Yep.




Making note of the returned smile from this girl she hadn't met yet, Eliza did her best to remember her face so she could say hello later. She was really hoping her fellow Claws could pull together this year and score some house points. Maybe if she took the time to get to know more of her housemates, she could spread her ambition around a bit, and make some more friends at the same time.




Glad to have her invitation accepted, Eliza smiled again when the girl sat next to her. Good! People aren't averse to being near me. One point for Eliza, she joked internally. "Anytime!" she replied cheerily. She was happy to help, especially when it looked like someone really needed it.

And her name was Zyanya? That's kinda cool. I wonder where she's from, she wondered. "Hi Zyanya, it's nice to meet you. I'm Eliza Dawnsel." She grinned again and took the girl's hand and gave it a good shake. She was usually the one who offered a hand for the shaking, and sometimes people were surprised - so she was glad that Zyanya also did this. It just seemed like a natural polite thing to do, to Eliza anyway, but it seemed to be a dying gesture. "So how do you feel about your sorting? Are you glad to be in Ravenclaw?" she asked lightly. She knew some people took time to adjust to where the hat thought they should be. She, herself, had felt that it was a good match right away, but who knew how this girl might be feeling right now. And, because it was just too much in her nature to stifle, she asked another question. "And if you don't mind me saying, your name is really cool and unique. Where are you from?" Curiosity, all the time.




The little pseudo ginger beamed back at Ethan's wide smile. He was just her favorite person really, she'd come to realize. She was still so glad he'd taken the time to be her friend. She really appreciated the quidditch practice over the summer too, so any worries he might've had should just be vanished right here and now. "Scare me off? Oh, no! I thought she was great. I mean, really, er...into it," she said with a chuckle, "but really thorough. That's good."She nodded again. "I'm still so thankful that she shared her time with us. And thank you so much for inviting me! I'm definitely still going to try out. Even if I'm not that great...I guess I should still try, you know?" She didn't want to overdo the thank you's or anything, but she was tickled pink that he'd even asked her. Ethan's just so nice and thoughtful all the time, she mused. I wonder what his family must be like. I bet they're all really great people, she concluded.

She watched his face as he considered the setting situation. Brows rising and falling with what must be a few changing thoughts. Then, when he spoke, Eliza nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me yet. I mean...It wouldn't really be much of a self esteem boost to embarrass us with lesser utensils, so that's probably not it. And you're right That fundraiser should've been more than enough to cover dining expenses. Not to mention, they really shouldn't need money at all since they can just use the duplication charm on the best of the plates to keep up their supply."She paused to think. "You don't think something happened to the spells they've cast on the plates and kitchenware, do you? Maybe the magic wore off and for some reason they couldn't get it back?" That wasn't a pleasant thought. What would Hogwarts be without capable spells enchanting everything in and around the school? "Maybe that's not it either. Like you said, what if...what if they used the money on something else already? Something they shouldn't have? But again, you don't need money to say gemino you know? And if they ran out of money, how did they afford to pay a ticket collector guy - who by the way was really really strange, but that's a whole other story. I mean, do they think there are student stowaways or something?" This all was very perplexing to her. And as usual, her questions only gave her more questions instead of answers. She sighed and slumped in her seat a little. "Well, at any rate, I'm hungry."



Her eyes drifted back towards the boy from the train, and to her surprise, he was now sitting with the kid he'd been fighting with. Boys, she thought with an imaginary eye roll. One minute they're mad, the next they're buddies. Weird. She tried to watch them without letting them know she was. They probably already thought she was a top ten weirdo, so she didn't want to make it worse. Well, at least they seem like everything's fine. Not my business anyway I suppose, she thought and turned her eyes away from them.




Now there was another Ravenclaw girl that she was fairly certain she'd never spoken to before. She watched the dark haired girl take a seat and inspect her plastic cup. There's no use in wondering too hard darlin', cause no one seems to know what's going on with those things, she thought with a small smirk. She waved to her and smiled, trying to give her a little house welcome while they all waited for the feast to begin. Seriously, where is the fooood? She heard her stomach growl and rumble at the thought.




Ha! she exclaimed to herself. Raven the Ravenclaw. Now there's a match if I ever saw one. Well, if the shoe of characteristics fits that is. She smiled again and answered, "Hi Raven, nice to meet you too! And I guess that might be so!" she said with a small laugh, referring to the sorting hat. "Do you know anyone who goes to Hogwarts already?" she asked, friendly. I wonder why I haven't thought to ask anyone else that before. It might help to get to know everyone better, right? Because sometimes you could glean a little information about people by seeing who they hang around with. But then again, she knew that not all friends were birds of a feather or however that saying went. Actually, now that she thought of it, she really wasn't much like her friends, so there went that entire theory.