"Oh it is." Michael agreed with a nod of his head. "Wait until tomorrow and you get your first real look at the castle and the endless exploring possibilities." Now, that was exciting. "Do you come from a wizarding family?" Not that it mattered if he didn't, he was merealy curious.

"Oh." Michael's face fell a little. "One of those fancy restaurants." He had been to plenty of fancy restaurants. It's the only place his father liked to eat. Michael didn't mind that much because the food was really good at those places but he hated the fact that he had to dress up and be all formal like. "Were you working in the kitchen or out on the floor?"

His face brightened again though when she said that she liked McDonalds fries. "I like them too. And their cheesebrugers." Mmmm, he could go a cheeseburger right now.

What did they do? The question was, what didn't they do? "We had a camp out in the backyard. The younger kids love it when I light a fire the muggle way. We went swimming, wrestled garden gnomes and my best friend's brother took me for a ride on his motorcycle. I'm going to get a motorbike when I'm old enough." His face took on a dreamy look as he pictured himself cruising along the highway.

The tree could use protective gear? Were they talking about the same tree? Michael absently rubbed at his ribs the same ribs that had been broken last year by that tree, Alexa was claiming needed protective gear. But he trusted the older Gryffindor. "Oh most definitely." He agreed even though he couldn't really but he didn't want to appear stupid in front of her. Limitless possibilities of what? "It's going to be awesome."

That smirk, is what he wanted to say, but didn't. Lex was up to something but he wasn't going to question her anymore about it. Michael loved a challenge, he loved to do daring things and he was pretty sure that's what she had in mind so who was he to complain about that? "Just thought I'd ask. But I'm looking forward to it." More than anything. His two favourite things at Hogwarts, Alexa and the Whomping Willow.

Well she wouldn't exactly be depriving him of the chocolate frogs but since she didn't want them now, Michael figured he could hold onto them and perhaps later on he could use them to bribe her. "Well okay then. If you're sure. And you don't need to give me any quills if you've only got a few left. I can stock up again at Hogsmeade."

Michael would be lying to himself, if he didn't think it was totally awesome that one of the older guys was not only talking to him but actually seemed to like him. He had no idea where Zahra was, but when he caught up with her, he was so going to rub it in. "I think I've got a cauldron cake left, if you're hungry."

Well he didn't have a bad first year except for the whole having to pay for everything and do their own washing and stuff. And then there was the ice cream chaos and the dementors. Okay so maybe his first year was a little...hmm. "Let's hope so." Oh a fifth year. "Well I was close." He said with a laugh. He was only a year off.

What Blair said did make sense but he had never heard of Hogwarts ever having money issues before. "Or maybe it was a mismanagement of the money." Not to speak ill of the Headmistress or anything but the woman was always exceptionally dressed and always in designer labels.

"So you excited about being at Hogwarts? What are you looking forward to the most?"

The words and the wink caused Mikey to give a quick glance in Alexa's direction before focusing his attention back on the Captain."Just because of your bribing skills? I hope that's not the only reason." She could play too, right? Otherwise he was going to think twice about trying out.

Why would Alexa hit him with a bludger? "You're not filling me with much confidence there Captain."

First she bribes him to try out and now she's saying too bad if he gets injured. Nice! Real nice!

And apparently the Headmistress had made her speech because the food had appeared. He hoped that there had been no important notices in her speech because he had not heard one word of it.

"Bribery, and I can blow a mean whistle." Definitely an important Captain trait, that was.

Confidence? If this kid was crushing on Alexa Cambridge, he had to be gutsy enough for sports. "You'll be okay. She seems to like you, I don't think she injures favorites." As long as he stayed out of her way- he did know Lex and bats were a vicious combination, didn't he?

Bacon. She wanted bacon so badly. But none for her, she was eating.. tofu. Ew. Her poor stomach.

Oh awesome. A whistle happy Captain. Just what you want while you're out on the field trying to concentrate. Michael didn't say any of this of course, he didn't want the older girl turning on him. He had heard things. "Why do they call you biter?"

If there was anything that could make Michael truly happy, it was hearing that Alexa Cambridge liked him. He did his best not to BEAM when he heard those words but somehow he thought he might just have failed at that. "Don't worry, I don't plan on getting in the way of anyone's bat." He didn't fancy having his face smacked in.

Smiiiley.

People were so friendly already, nothing like the witches she'd read about in most of her fairytales. These were real friendly ones and Abbi was happy so far.Pride? Ohhh..right lions. It took a while for her to actually click about that."Thank you!" Beams for you older person. "I'm Abbi Campi." She took a quick peek to see if Donny had been sorted yet, but nope no sign of him yet. "Who are you?" She asked in return.The smile on Abbi's face just kept growing as she looked around at all her fellow house mates. They were much like she wanted them to be. Cool. Hip and AWESOME! Except there was one thing Abbi wasn't so fond of...

Their height. She felt like a midget between all of them. She'd never been that tall, but this really, really made her feel like she needed to grow. Where were her veggies then? Mommy always told her those helped. She scanned around the food table and began picking for some to put on her plate, when another person welcomed her as well as greeted her.

"Thank you!" She beaaamed brightly. "I'm Abbi! The Fairy witch lion!" See she could show them she was cool too.AHHHH! There was her Mr Prefect. She looked at him, trying to see if she remembered him from her little adventure to his set compartment. Hmm...no. Her attention must have been too focused on the witch that was going to eat her. *coooough* Alice *coooough* He looked much nicer though and Abbi had a good feeling he'd let her get away with certain things. Giiiigggle.

"Mr. Prefect?" She looked up at him feeling short AGAIN. Why? Why were they so much taller than her. "Are you going to be nice?" She asked him with a inspector-ish look and then nibbled on some veggies. GROWING WAS GOOD.

And that speech going on, yeah Abbi wasn't really paying attention.Would you look at that? Somebody she actually recognized...not that she needed someone she knew. Miss Abbi was VERY independent. Who needed to be with friends when you could always make new ones and end up having MORE friends hmm? Of course Donny would always be Donny, but friends were awesome. Speaking of Donny it was then Abbi noticed he was sitting at another table.

WIBBLE. He wasn't going to be with her. No sleepovers, no sugar rush nights no best friend.

Buuuut no time to think about that now. Familiar person was talking to her. "Thank you, Tag." Smile for him. OHH ALICE. Best advice ever. She nodded at him and scanned the table looking exactly for her. "You'll make sure she won't eat me right?" She asked. She didn't want to be witch stew you know?With her brown eyes Abbi looked up at yet another older Gryffindor. This one looked much older than the little eleven year old did. Therefore Abbi had to tilt her head quite high to actually see the girl's face. Quite pretty! Pretty enough to be a fairy even. Sweet enough too.

Abbi liked this witch. Mhhhm. Like she liked Elodie and Emilie and Blue.

With a miniature wave back, Abbi smiled at the fairy looking girl."Thank you, Miss Pretty." She showed her teeth smiling wider. All this girl needed was a pair of wings, unless was she wearing invisible ones?So many welcomes! See she didn't even need her bestie. Of course she still wished he could have been red like her too. But it all made sense Donny was way too kind. Apparently thats what the yellow house represented, It fitted very well and that hat was clever. Mhhm.

The little strawberry blonde haired girl turned her attention to another tallie person. "Thank you!" Did this girl have anything fairy-like to tell her? Or even better did she have SUGAR for her? The little cub looked up expectantly.WITCH EATER ALERT WITCH EATER---

She wasn't threatening her? Was this a trick or something? Abbi looked up at the Gryffindor captain with a confused look. She would be careful. Mhhhhmmm. She knew you had to be when it came to any monsters at all. And this eater! She would eat her if she wasn't. "I can fly!"*cough* Jump off a chair *cough*. Wait wings? REAL wings that could really, really flap. The cub's interest had grown from one all the way to one hundred. "You do? Real wings that flap and fly and be able to fly like real fairies?" Or was this a trick?

EYES ON YOU MISS EATER.

Sarah watched as her leaned closer, internilising how polite he was. Usually she would have raised her voice, yet for some odd reason she was feeling a bit shy. She hardly ever felt shy, unless she was with Mo. Mo she learnt to avoid though. Then he smiled, her stomach trilled. "Any reasons for it being your name?" Maybe she should explain, "my parents named me Sarah as after six sons I was the princess of the family, Also my mom has this thing in giving traditional names, the whole side of her family is like that. Also, I think there was an ansector named Sarah. Also, the main character of my mom's favourite book, which has beccome mine too, is Sarah, from the Little Princess. Sarah'h characteristics of thinking good of every situation, being positive and being ttrue to the princess within are things I try to emulate" As she talked she felt herself warming up, yet she still found her tone stilted. It was not her fault she was feeling shy "so.. were any reasons given for your name? Arithmancy must be boring with so little letters to calculate" two less then her own for the first name, but still.
Then the first year spoke and Sarah forgot her shyness and returned to welcoming phase

Sarah nodded, "when I was a first year, I was a bit nervous to be myself, but then I got more settled and comfortable and once I started to allow my uniquness through, I felt happier."
This girl reminded her of herself as a first year, "you aren't looking forward to the homework though?" she teased "the classes are so interesting and interactive, and quidditch is great - do you know how to fly?" Sarah would be glad to practice with the young one if neccessary. "Making new friends is the best, when I came here the only people I knew were my brothers. Now I have built up a network- a support system. FRIENDS!"

Captain speaking. Sarah looked at Alice's pearly whites in wonder. "What is your trick to keep them so white? For the sharpness - do you use a knife shapner? That enamal must be worth something" Sarah kidded. "I like that grin though... I love it when people smile and the lions are quite good at it" Sarah thought she ought to start a campaign or something. "I never knew I had anaemia until I got home and my mom promptly sent me for blood tests. I should have gone to the healer earlier, yet I thought my body could tough it up and get on with it. It did finally tough up after I had iron supplements"
Then smiley firstie spoke. This girl was a ray of sunshine... just watching her interact with others made Sarah smile

Yes, these lions are very good at smiling! Sarah had an urge to pinch this ones cheeks, yet did not want to scare the kid off. "Its a pleasure!!! You are another bright thread on the tapestry of Gryffindors" Sarah nearly added sweety, yet decided that the five year age gap did not warrant a 'sweetie'.
"My cousin's name is Abby. Short for Abigail- I presume?" Knowing that the girl, in her utter cuteness used her nickname to introduce herself (what is a nickname for Sarah- Sa?), then the surname was probably a shortened version too. "What is Campi short for?" Sarah asked curiously. She had once asked one of her cousin's friends for her surname, yet was told that the person in question was about to go on the run from her family and therefore did not give out her surname. Sarah wanted to hug that girl.
Then the speech started and Sarah turned her attention to the headmistress. Houseelves were back, new teachers and Hadley was not longer teaching Arithmancy, and instead was teaching muggle studies. Sarah would miss the previous professor. Then the food came and Sarah really eagerly piled her plate high. She was among friends after all. Being her housemates, they had to understand her love for food.
Turning to Abbie and the other newcomers Sarah said "You guys like food - right? It is a sort of prerequisite as a lion that you have to like it"

Melanie laughed at what the younger Gryffindor was saying and nodded her head. "As long as if you had fun, it doesn't matter what chores you have to do," she said, smiling. Melanie had chores too but they were just chores. It was something you had to do. OWLs. "I... can't answer that... but definitely study. If you study enough, the OWLs will be a breeze so it won't matter."

Positive that she was going to be sorted in Gryffindor? The rest of the firstie's family must've been Gryffindors or something... Melanie had heard the hat sometimes sorted people like that. Melanie smiled at the younger girl... who was on the floor. "Well, Gryffindor is a very lovely house. You'll love it," she said. As long as if there were no turnstiles out front that is.

Melanie watched the girl stand up and introduce herself. Oh. Full introduction. With a middle name. And then the girl was guessing Melanie's name. She couldn't help but giggle a little. "Actually... I'm Melanie Sung, no middle initial. And I'm in seventh year," she corrected Tessa.

This firstie was amusing. Melanie liked this firstie.

"I'm going to be busy, Tag!" Melanie said laughing and shaking her head. "In a year or two, I might be famous and I might have my own chauffeur to drive me around," she added. If she was famous... she didn't think she'd drive her own car. She would have people to do it for her. "Plus, in a year or two, you'd be old enough to get your own license." Then he could drive himself around.

Melanie ruffled the Hufflepuff's hair. Just because he was smiling a little unlike before. Melanie liked it when people smiled. Melanie didn't think that the Hufflepuff house was actually capable of really hating others. Or disliking really. They were all such great huggers and good huggers simply didn't hate each other. The lion did frown a little though. "You could be friends with everyone too," she said, giving him a small smile. "And if you really wanna make things better, you can just say sorry," she added. "I'll even go with you to talk to him and introduce you to some really nice people in Hufflepuff." It was all true. Melanie didn't want Dylan to be friendless. Or to have people disliking him or anything of that sort. It was too early in the term for this.

Alice had a good point. And Alice was staring.

So Melanie stared back.

She had done nothing wrong and she was pretty sure there was nothing on her face. So why was Alice STARING?!

She nodded her head in response. "It's more of a cafe really... it's nice there. The chef is really nice and makes really pretty cakes," she said. Fancy restaurants always had such pretty food. Sometimes it was a shame to eat it. "I worked on the floor. I was a waitress," she said, shrugging her shoulders. It paid less but there was tips and Melanie liked getting tips.

Cheeseburgers were yummy... unless they were McDonald's. "I like their wraps more." Their cheeseburgers were just a bit too flat for Melanie. They never looked the way they did in pictures.

"You have to be very careful with motorbikes though... they could fall on you," she said seriously. And they were heavy and could probably break bones. Plus, so many accidents happened with motorbikes and the whatnot. Lighting a fire was dangerous too. She hoped nothing burned down. Like a tree.

Melanie was a bit nervous about how the little girl was looking at her and fiddled with the sleeve of her robe a bit then brushed her hair out of her face. But then the girl was waving her hand and smiling. Oh. That made Melanie feel much better.

Wait. The little girl was calling her Miss Pretty. Melanie's face turned a little pink as she laughed awkwardly. "Uhm... that's not my name. It's Melanie, actually," she said with a smile. "What's your name?" Was it Miss Adorable? 'Cause this girl was plenty cute.

"Well even if I wasn't in Gryffindor, I'd still be pretty happy wherever I ended up. I mean, I'M AT HOGWARTS!" Tessa exclaimed clapping her hands together four times. A place like Hogwarts deserved to be applauded.

Sitting down beside the older girl, Tessa looked at her quizzically. "Are you sure you're a Melanie? I mean. You look like you're supposed to be a Stephanie." Tessa argued back. Leave it to Tessa to argue about something pointless.

"Okay." Tessa said with a sigh, accepting that Melanie was a Melanie and not a Stephanie though chances are she'd probably still call her Stephanie, Tessa wanted to know a few things. "If you're a seventh year, what's your favorite class?" Tessa asked. Hopefully it wasn't something boring.