Sander looked around and spotted a younger girl. Would she talk with him? She was sitting all the way down the table though.

So he got up and walked up to her. "Hi I'm new here and don't know anyone. Would it be okay if I sit with you? If yes, then at least I will then know someone." Sander asked the girl.

"Yes, best house ever!" Hazel said enthusiastically. She was happy that Leah joined her in Hufflepuff. Her stomach growled. "Yeh, I'm starving! All I had was like half a chocolate frog!" Ooh, the feast! That was something to be excited about! And boy was she excited.

From talking away to completely not. Hazel was usually good with talking to people, but apparently not now. She sat down at the part of the table with the girl she met on the train and some boy she didn't know. He looked much older than she was. Fifth year at least.

"Hi. I-I'm Hazel. Do you mind if I si-sit h-here?" she said. Usually she wasn't shy, and she didn't feel shy now, but that's how it sounded. It didn't sound like her. It sounded like she was shivering. "I-I'm a second year Hu-Hufflepuff."

Marigold was drinking some pumpkin juice when an older boy came and sat down next to her. She swallowed hard and started coughing. Her eyes watering, she listened to the boy. It was his first time here at Hogwarts? Marigold was curious.

"Of course you can sit here!" she said, finding her manners and making room for him on the bench. "I'm Marigold. I'm a third year. What school did you go to before?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

Sander looked up and grinned.

Yes...finally more friends. That's what he liked the most. Meeting more people.

"Of course you can....and thank you for joining me. I was afraid that I was going to have to eat all the food on this side of the table all on my own." he grinned back at her hoping to make her feel less nervous.

Yes she sounded nervous....but she didn't know that he was also nervous. If she were to look down at his feet, she would see them shaking nervously.

"Hello Hazel. My name is Aleksander but all my friends call me Sander. Nice to meet you. I'm a Seventhy Year but this is the first time, I'm attending one of these." he told the younger girl.

"So what happens during this feast? Do we get to sing songs and dance?" he asked.

Yes he didn't know about what happened at these things being a transfer and all.



Then good he had the other girl to talk with too.

"Thanks for letting me sit with you. I'm a Seventh year transfer from Durmstrang. All this is new to me." Sander looked around before looking back the younger girl.

....don't forget to introduce your friends, Sander.

"I don't know whether you've met but this here is Hazel." Sander politely introduced both girls to each other.



Oh wait...there's another boy at the middle of the table. Looks like the same age as him. Good. Hufflepuff doesn't only have girls in the house. Then he noticed the badge the boy was wearing. Oh another boy with a badge. Maybe he wouldn't mind if he said hello to him. Sander stood up, waved to him and called out.

"Hi I'm Sander. I'm a Seventh Year transfer from Durmstrang. It's good to see that I'm not the only guy in this house." he called out the boy with the badge.

....and then wait...an actual familiar face. It was the boy, Kace from the train.



Waving madly, Sander called out to the boy. "Hey Kace. I didn't know you were also in Hufflepuff. Boy am I glad to see you." Sander grinned at the younger boy.

....and there appeared....another boy. Younger....but Sander didn't care.



Good to see another boy here. I thought I was going to be the only boy in this house." he smiled gratefully just happy to see that there were indeed more males in this Hufflepuff house.

Cat propped her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand. She squinted at Elodie for a long moment before she spoke again, with a bright grin. "I think you'd look good at the Slytherin table with me." And the dorm. How cool would it be to be dorm mates with your best friend? Super cool!

"I lost all of my cookies." She added, mournfully batting her eyelashes at Elodie.

SPOILER!!: Bri

Quote:

Originally Posted by BriGranger1990

Bri laughed "That's good to know! I don't either.... I think." Bri smiled

She watched as Leah pet Kace's pet, named Dusty. She wasn't sure what it was, but it looked adorable and fluffy. " Umm , Excuse me, but what is that?" she asked softly.

Leah smiled. "Good, but it doesn't matter whether any of my dorm mates snore or not, I never wake up in the middle of the night or something." Well, at least she never did before, but that was when she did not have dorm mates.

"That's a Pygmy Puff. Cute and cuddly, huh?" Leah answered. "Did you go to the Adoption Fair during the summer? I got my kneazle there." It was good visiting the Adoption Fair, she got to know many people.

SPOILER!!: Hazel

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwlEcho63

"Yes, best house ever!" Hazel said enthusiastically. She was happy that Leah joined her in Hufflepuff. Her stomach growled. "Yeh, I'm starving! All I had was like half a chocolate frog!" Ooh, the feast! That was something to be excited about! And boy was she excited.

"Well, I had a full Cauldron Cake but still hungry! We need to wait for the Headmistress speech before the feast?" Leah said, still looking at the staff table. She could tell immediately who the Headmistress was, sitting in the middle. She started looking at all the teachers, she would be having their classes soon, and it wouldn't hurt to know them. "Hazel, could you tell me who those teachers are?" Leah asked.

Jordan reached the Hufflepuff table and... realized that he didn't know a single person there. That red-haired girl with the jellybeans wasn't at this table, and he'd never really got the names of his silent comrades from the train station. Probably because they'd been silent.

So, not wanting to barge into the conversations already happening, he slid onto the bench and fiddled with a spoon. Some part of him definitely knew that he should be introducing himself and making friends, but... spoon fiddling.

Ian followed the rest of the crowd into the great hall. He recalled how he felt the year prior. He was nervous and excited and scared all at the same time. He wasn't sure what to expect or which house he would be sorted into. He was so glad that he had been sorted into the Hufflepuff house. He knew that it wasn't considered brave like the Gryffies, or as clever as the Ravvies. He was grateful he hadn't been sent to the Slythie house. The idea of a serpent as a representative never suited him. Hufflepuff was perfect for him. He had often sat in the common room and spoken with the portrait of Cedric Diggory. He sought advice and had received great encouragement at those times.

He found the Huffie table and headed toward the part of the table he would find the most second years. He was quite excited to see what was in store.

Ian finds the a seat on the bench and as he sits down, surveys what is available. He opts for the pumpkin juice.

Adi was just thinking about Min and Wade and how much he missed them when he heard a loud voice calling his name. Hurriedly looking around, he caught sight of Leah running towards him. She was Sorted already? Quite honestly he wasn't paying much attention to the Sorting. And she was a Puffer? "Awesome, Leah! Welcome to the best House ever!'' Adi held up a hand for a high five. "You're gonna love it here!" He patted the place next to him. Have a seat!

Adi waved back at Els. "Keep close. I just might need saving this year too,'' he said with a wink. He was referring to what happened at the Duck Pond last year.

Adi was still basking in the excitement of being back when he heard heard the rather loud shout behind him. Ahh! Who was being that loud! And the next thing he knew was an arm around him. He squirmed around and came face to face with Kace. "Hiya, buddy! Excited about being back, huh?'' He returned the bro hug with his left arm and a grin.

Next, Adi's attention was attracted by Hazel. "Hey, Hazel! It sure is!'' He grinned at the fellow second year. "I bet you're looking forward to the classes, right?'' Just then his stomach rumbled a bit. Did his friend hear that? Embarrassing if she had. Food. He needed fooooood.

And look! Kace's crush had turned up. "Marigold!'' Adi called, pleased to see her. "How are you?'' He couldn't stop grinning now that he knew this little secret.

Adi looked across at the dude (Sander)addressing him. The tall, huge dude. At least he looked like that to tiny Adi who had only grown about an inch over the holidays. "Dude, you're huge!'' Oops. Did he actually say that aloud? Blurting stuff out was not good. Adi grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that. You're new here, right? Welcome to Hogwarts and to the best House!'' He didn't care whatothers thought, Hufflepuff was the best. "I'm Adi, second year. Well there are more girls but we've got a few dudes.'' As he was speaking, he extended his hand. Um. Was that a good idea? The big guy would probably squish it.

And there were other firsties too! How exciting! It seemed it was only yesterday he was sitting here for the first time after the Sorting. "Hello! Welcome to Hufflepuff!'' he told them (Bri, Jordan & Ian).

Okay... Anna walked over to her table with a nervous smile, sat down slowly and looked around. She twisted her necklace, something she always did when she was nervous. What if no one liked her? Just tossed her to the side, just like her parents did? She looked around again, and not seeing Mel was starting to dampen her mood, what was she supposed to do without her best friend with her? The only person who knew her here aside from the two boys she'd met.

Annaleecia sighed, starting to feel like it was a mistake to come to the school. She should've just stayed in Russia... She already didn't want to be there anymore. She was scared of this new place, sure it was great that there were others like herself but that didn't mean she'd make any new friends. Same as her days in the alley, whenever she went there she saw families walking around, or a group of friends... And then here she was, still the outcast with no Mom or Dad, and no friends to really see aside from Melek. It seemed the same in the muggle orphanage too... She was an outcast for her strange gift that got her locked away in her own room that she was only allowed to leave for meals.

She sighed and looked around a third time, I'll still just be a freak here too... This was a stupid idea. Her gaze went to the ground. The outcast... always the outcast. She sighed again, this really wasn't how she wanted to start the school year out, but her pessimistic ways were getting to her.

Ian noted another boy about his age addressing folks. He assumed he was one of those being addressed, but the boy had said welcome to Hufflepuff. Well, that sure made last year seem like a dream, didn't it. This boy hadn't even realized Ian had been at the school last year as well. It didn't really matter though. Ian had kept to himself and hadn't really made any connections with other students. He had just wanted to get home. Ian decided this year would be different. He was going to engage others and make a friend (or two).

Ian waved back. "Hello there. I'm Ian. This is actually my second year." He spoke the words so quietly, they were unintelligible as he cast his eyes down at the table.

*Having members of ones family on the Hogwarts staff made things much harder. Try as he might to avoid Cece's gaze he found it and was soon met with a frown and pointing. She wanted him to greet the new students with a warm welcome and smile. Kind of hard for a boy like Rom who would rather hide in his shell with a book. It looked like his cousin was pointing out a specific student. Looking over he saw the blond girl looking down. Why was Cece always pushing him to talk to girls?! Didn't she know that as a third year girls freaked boys out. Giving his cousin one little glare he spun around and moved to sitting across from the girl.*
"H-hello... Are you new to Hogwarts?"

She wasn't late.

Nope. The head girl had been hanging in the entrance for a little while, just watching people go in. Ella had also been trying to wrap her head around this whole last opening feast thing. She was going to have a lots of lasts this year, huh? It was going to take some getting used to.

Deciding she needed to participate, the soon-to-be eighteen year old headed for the Hufflepuff table, a small smile playing on her lips. There were already quite a few new faces there and that was kind of exciting, yeah? Plus that meant new people to recruit for Quidditch, not that this was necessarily her problem anymore. It didn't mean she couldn't help Kaiden encourage people to play, right? Right.

"Welcome to the family, you guys!" That was for the newbies, of course. They got smiles too. Big ones.

Then her eyes fell on the returning ones. Her people. Well, her eyes were on her person, actually. Alec was a popular guy, did he know? Somehow he always seemed to be surrounded by people when she arrived at the feast. She'd have to slip in earlier next...oh. Maybe for the closing feast. Yeah.

Head boy boyfriend got a kiss on the top of his head on her way by and a smile before she settled in next to Messer. Yeah, she'd spotted him. "You're rubbish at keeping promises, y'know." Ballerina boy got a nudge but a smile immediately followed. Messy wasn't the type you could be mad at for long. "I missed you." And then her attention was on other badger friends and on Mr. Leprechaun and she smiled at them all. "Hope everyone had a nice summer!" Really, she did.

Bri smiled. "Neither do I, unless my little brothers decided to wake up and then wake me up." Bri rolled her eyes at the that, but she had a fond smile, as she spoke about her brothers.

"Very cute!" Bri replied "No, I didn't get the chance. I wanted to, though... Umm What is a Kneazle?"

Bri waited to hear Hazel's reply, she too, what to know about her new teachers.

Anna looked up hearing someone. Kace? No... someone she didn't know... Was he talking to her? She'd feel really idiotic if he wasn't but he was looking at her right? Say something... She mentally scolded herself then nodded to his question, "Yeah... My first year here." She gave a small smile, "I'm Annaleecia, but please, just call me Annalee." Anna pushed her hair away from her face, "And you are?" She looked at the boy, nervousness probably showing as much as she tried to hide it.

Laura couldn't believe it this was her last start of term feast at the school. She also knew this was the first day without Minnie, who she was missing badly but she knew that her friend was busy and had left last term.

Laura looked around to see who she could see at the staff table and she smiled when she saw that the Librarian had come back that was good because she had missed him. He had done wonders for her and had helped her realise that being mischievous was just being silly, she so wondered where she would be if she hadn't won that day out with him a few years back at the auction.

Bri smiled at the boy who was talking to her, and the other first years. He looked to be slightly older than her. " Hello." she said happily. "Thank you! My name is Bri."

Kace chuckled. "It is okay i could tell you were startled by my good looks." he said jokingly trying to ease the moment of embarrassment. "What year are you in?" he asked curiously.



Kace chuckled when Dusty was cuddling next to his neck. "Oh i think he is doing just fine. Here you can say hi." he said placing his pygmy puff in his hand. He was smiling and bouncing around. He was quite cute. "Oh you left Filoemna in the luggage rack? I hope she is okay." he said sounding concerned for her pet. "Oh yeah your animals reach your dormitory no problem! Your luggage will be near your bed you go there after the feast." he assured Leah.



"Hey Bri! Nice to meet you!" Kace said with a warm smile. "Aww do not be worried you will have an amazing time here. I remember my first year. I made the quidditch team and met a lot of new people. It went by too fast for me." he told the little girl.

Then he heard her ask a question. "Oh this is a pygmy puff. His name is Dusty. You can say hello if you would like. He is quite friendly." he assured her.



Kace heard a familiar voice calling him over and waving at him. BEAM! It was Sander. He smiled and went over to him. He heard his statement and grinned. "Well i am surprised to see you in Hufflepuff! Welcome to the awesome house is what i like to call it." I mean this house was awesome wasn't it?



Kace smiled and said, "Yeah i am! I am so excited! Plus we are gonna have awesome adventures i can just feel it! I wonder when they are gonna serve the food..." he wondered out loud.



Kace saw the head girl patrolling the table. He smiled and wondered why not go say hello. It was weird she wasn't the quidditch captain this year but he would deal with it. Hopefully he will see Ella on the field. She was a great player.

"Hey Ella! long time no see! Did you have a good summer?" he asked his fellow teammate.



Kace saw a familiar face and knew he saw her during his Diagon Alley visit. He forgot she was coming to Hogwarts. Yet again they had a whole conversation. He smiled and went over to surprise her.

He tiptoed behind her and poked her back and waved at her. "Hey Anna...remember me?"



Then Kace saw a face he could remember only so well. His heart was beating fast every time he saw it. He wondered if he should go surprise her again. Yup he would. He tip toed behind her tapped her shoulder and then said, "Hey cutie..." with a wide grin.

Hufflepuff Table.

Yes, she was a Hufflepuff. Exciting, wasn't it? And, no. She wasn't late.

With a bright smile on her face, she walked over to her table and stopped. Where to sit? Hey, she could see a Cat! But, the Elodie girl was sitting next to her.. No. She was going to avoid that girl at ALL costs. Mhm. Her eyes slowly scanned the table until she spotted another familiar face. Alec.. Right. She was going to say hello to him first before trying to figure out where she was going to sit.

"Hey, Alec." The blonde greeted the older boy before turning to look at everyone else around him. "Hey, everyone. I'm Delilah."

Anna quickly turned, recognizing his voice, "Kace!" The thirteen year old stood up quickly and hugged him. Then realizing how odd it might seem she quickly pulled away, "Sorry..." She blushed, "It's just nice to see a familiar face... I can't find Mel anywhere and I just..." She shrugged slightly.

She sat down again slowly, obviously embarrassed, "But um... Yeah, of course I remember you. The pranking sweetheart who promised he'd show me around here if I'm right?" She smiled.

It looked like he wasn't alone for that much longer.

If the Great Hall had been busier, the boy might not have noticed the girl talking to him. His eyes had wandered up to the Staff Table, then the spot where the Sorting Ceremony was bound to take place and then over at the large, oak doors. But now? Now his eyes were fixated on the silverware in front of him.

But voice... person... "Adel! Hey!" GRIN. Did he mention how great it was to see her again? Probably. A bit more than necessary. "Welcome back, I guess. Erm... how do you feel being back in here?" Because she had said that she was excited about the idea of coming back.



Being greeted by hairs ruffles was great, really. It was different and, in all honesty, Alec didn't really expect to receive a lot of hair ruffles. This had a lot to do with the fact that his fellow hair ruffler wasn't here. ... But it was nice. The hair ruffles, not the lack of Curly Wade.

Shaking these thoughts out of his head, he smiled at the newcomer. "Hey Kace!" he called, reaching over and ruffling the boy's hair in return. It felt... different. Maybe. Had the boy changed his style? Not that this hair enthusiast had any complaints. "It's good to see you again, mate. Had a great summer?"

... WHOA. Hold the snitch! Did Kace just say... cutie?

Alec's eyebrows shot up as he looked past Kace and over towards the girl he was greeting. Curious Summers was curious. Was he going to barge into their conversation? No. It was only polite to give the lovebirds their privacy, yeah? He did smile over at the girl and gave her a wave, though.



... Erm...? Tag was sitting here and not at the Gryffindor table. Was hanging out with Alec making the blonde turn... into a Hufflepuff? Was he going to don some Hufflepuff robes?

Head Boy Hair Ruffler Alec Blake Summers was a bit of a mouthful but what an AWESOME nickname! And yes, Tag Fredrick Sweetcheeks Kildare, that was a great way to greet your best mate. Something else that was great was the fact that the blonde was playing with his hair. Was this going to be normal behaviour from now on? Because... this boy could get used to this treatment.

Sneaking suspicion? "Really? You... you knew I'd get it?" See? Best mate right here. And keeping it nice and shiny sounded easy enough, yeah. Of course he would do that; couldn't be seen with a dirty, scruffy looking badge, right? "You're not going to run off with it while I'm sleeping, right?" he joked, grinning a little at the boy.

"Thanks, mate. That, erm... that means a lot to me." Hugs, yeah? Whether the blonde liked it or not, he was getting hugs.



Someone... was very excited to be back.

The nervousness melted away and now, a look of amusement crossed Alec's face as he watched the young boy run to the Hufflepuff table. It reminded the boy of a time when he was younger and, even if he was still a bundle of nerves back then, the excitement was still there. Lots of it. More than any he had right now.

And he got the first greeting too! "Hey Adster!" he called, trying to match the boy's enthusiasm, "You okay? Had a good summer?" Summers was going to ask a lot of summer-based questions.

... He... wasn't funny.



Yes, Edvard Messer Jr, it has been a while.

"You know, disappearing to do your ballet duties doesn't really help with that, yeah?" Not that he was mad. Teasing had always been a part of the two's friendship. "Thanks, mate! And... welcome back! It's great to have you here again." Don't let it get to your head, Messy.

Where was Ells? Alec frowned a little and looked over towards the door of the Great Hall. Girlfriend was coming, right? "She was on the train..." he started, looking back at Messy, "Erm... she might have gotten on the carriages later but... yeah. She'll be here." Nodnod. Why was the boy asking? Was it really weird to see the two without each other?



The Sorting Ceremony was going on and was Alec paying attention? Not at all. That... wasn't a great way to start off the year.

His grey-blue eyes wandered up to the group of people getting sorted. Claps were given and cheers were added on to the new Hufflepuffs, some of whom knew people already! How...? Alec shook his head and looked towards a new arrival. Someone... who was heading over towards the table. New Hufflepuff? YEAH. How awesome was this?

And she was sitting alone. Erm... "Hey!" Alec called out to her, a grin spread across his face, "Erm... welcome to Hufflepuff. I'm Alec, by the way." Should he bombard the girl with questions? Of course not. It was probably scary to have an older student acknowledge your presence, let alone talk to you when you're coming to a new school for the first time.



Alec tilted his head at the next person who talked to him. Did... this boy realise that Alec knew who he was? It was the ice skating dude, right? And not someone else? "Hey! Erm... I'm Alec. We've... talked that one time before?" Unless the boy had forgotten. Was it really that easy to forget about him?

... Yeah... maybe it was a good idea not to open those can of worms.

"Congrats on getting into Hufflepuff, Sander," He got smiles, the boy did. And yeah, he wasn't the only boy in the house. Or the only seventh year Hufflepuff boy. Look at Messy! "There are a lot of guys in this house. Just... more girls." A lot more girls in Hogwarts in general. "But... I think you'll really like it here." Nodnod.



Alec was watching the Sorting Ceremony. Yeah. He was trying to concentrate wholeheartedly on it but his mind kept wandering back to the time when he was standing up there himself. Seven years it had been and yet he could remember it clearly. The nerves and the feeling that everyone was watching you wasn't... great. He even remembered being shy, just like this boy joining the table right now.

Alone. The boy was sitting on his own. That... wasn't right.

The seventh year shuffled closer towards the boy because... shuffling was a little less scary. Unless you're alone in the woods and you hear a shuffle. ... Moving on... "They're great for pretending you're a rock hero, those spoons. You can use them with the forks to play air drums," ... And... they were having a conversation about spoons. Wasn't he trying to be cool here? "Congratulations, by the way. Hufflepuff's a really awesome house."



GRIN. GIRLFRIEND.

... Because... who else would kiss him on the top of his head as a way of greeting and make it out alive? And he liked this greeting. Really. Keep it up, girlfriend.

Alec turned his head and looked over at the blonde, a grin spreading across his face. "Hey, Ells!" he called, waving at her, "Erm... you okay?" He hadn't really gotten the chance to ask on the train thanks to a number of reasons: billywig talk, lots of people in the prefect's compartment and the fact that patrols had to be done.

Also. She was really far away, did she know?



Looking over at the Sorting Ceremony and keeping an eye out for the new Hufflepuffs wasn't going well. The seventh year was far too busy just... talking to take much notice. Maybe he really was popular. ... Nah! But... it was a shame because if he had kept an eye out, he would have seen the new person before she greeted him.

No matter. Grins were given because... HEY! He knew this new student! Met her and talked about creepy fountains and animals, too. "Hey, you made it!" Could she tell he was excited about this? "Congratulations, Delilah! Looks like we're in the same house now." Head Boy Obvious right here.

In waving at Adi, and laughing at his comment about her saving his life, Elodie caught glimpse of NEW arrivals, and rolled her eyes. Great. At least the friend stealing human, with her best friends aunties name, wasn't going to be sharing a dorm with her. It just obviously made it easier to plot the downfall of Delilah Starr. No Charlie or Caterina for YOU, Delilah. NONE OF THAT. HERS. They were Elodie's. And respective males, should that conversation come up. BUT ELODIE'S BEST FRIENDS, DELILAH STARR. Back your butt away.

"Slytherin?" Elodie shrugged her shoulders, before looking back at the falling-Starr and considering her fate. "My mama was a Slytherin, you know?" She told Cat with a grin. "Braison and Candice, too." And her father: a Ravenclaw. "I'd like to dorm with you though. But I'd probably miss Olly. And there's more people with you." People she'd probably grow sick of very, very quickly.

"I have a lollipop." It wasn't a cookie. It also wasn't a Caterina cookie that had been offered to Elodie. Which was definitely not best friendial.

Bri smiled at Kace, he seemed real nice and friendly. His comments helped her nervousness a bit.

Bri reached out to gently pet the pygmy puff, Dusty. "He is so soft." Bri exclaimed. "Hello, Dusty." Bri addressed the pygmy puff. She always had a soft spot for animals.

Ian sat there and observed the interactions between his housemates. Not being very good at inserting himself into someone's life, he just sat there. It was a curse of being introverted. He wished he had brought a book or something. He wasn't sure what he'd do if someone addressed him directly. The thought made his head swim a little. Hopefully it would cause him to embarrass himself by saying the wrong thing or falling off the bench or something like that.

He looked back at the table for something to munch on while he watched the sorting some more. It was interesting to watch nervous looks change to relief, excitement or plain fright with the hat's grand announcements. He spied a biscuit that appeared to have some fruit in it and grabbed a couple.

Bri glanced over at an older boy, who looked to be around 17 years, who was speaking to her."Hi, Alec, it is nice to meet you. I am Bri." she replied. "Thank You." Bri grinned, her earlier nervousness and shyness nearly nonexistent as more and more people talk to her. It seems Hufflepuff is full of nice and friendly people.