"Tag!" Lana repeated. "You're it." ...heh. That was a joke. Get it? "I mean. It's nice to meet you. That's a cool name, I really like it. Is it short for anything? Because that'd be cool too, but I really like it just as Tag, you know?" She nodded at the part about him lounging around the common room. She was good at remembering faces that she'd seen before.

She smiled when he held out her cup to her and almost took it before remembering the overflowing plate in her hands. She looked around for options then decided to just put the plate on the table and take the cup. She sipped a bit so it wasn't quite as full before answering Tag's question. "Second year! I probably still look like a first year though, so it's okay. I'm only twelve. What year are you in? You look old." He did.

Oh, and look! Alexa. Lana remembered her too, and she saw the wave. The second year waved back with a smile.

She was officially a Gryffindor, and she had a full belly which meant that it was a pretty good day. AJ manged to not fall out of the boat, which was a bummer, but she was sure there was plenty of things to get into here at the castle. As soon she she walked in she noticed the two professors from the feast looking all cozy. "Will I still be able to ride a broom since the sport thing is canceled?" What was the name of it again? She remembered Arista explaining everything to her and it sounded awesome. "How will they know if we played anyways?" It could be their little secret. She turned her attention to the professor with the sticks. "I need a stick." AJ wanted to roast stuff and fill her belly with sweet goodness. "Oh, I'm Aubrey by the way, but I like to go by AJ." She really needed to work on the whole introduction thing.

She spotted Lex and her mind immediately went to the letter. "This doesn't look like what you were talking about." Either that or she really didn't know how to throw a party. Only time would tell. There weren't even that many people here yet. How did she manage to be one of the first ones? There was somebody who looked scared off to the side and she noticed that it was her sister that she shared a face with. "Angel!" she bellowed and motioned her sister over to her. They had loads to talk about no?

"Thank you, Professor," said Louis, giving a playful little bow before going on to take a few cauldron cakes. And then a few more. And then two more.

... Aaand, one more.
With arms cradling a baby made out of cauldron cakes, the boy walked over to the nearest couch.


With his mouth full of cauldron cake, Louis grinned as Bay walked into the room. "Mate! Where've you been?" Merlin, it felt like he hadn't seen him in years.

The weirdest part was that he wasn't wrestling him for the sugary snacks he was carrying. Was he okay? Had Bay's parents finally gotten the boy to lose appreciation for all things sweet and diabetes-inducing?



Louis raised an eyebrow at the spectacle.
He looked at the bag of candy Alexa and the first year were filling up, then at the tables in the middle of the room, then back at the girl.

Wait. "I thought you had something to do with this?" he said, gesturing toward the candy-topped tables. Wasn't this the party Alexa had invited everyone to? Had the professors really crashed her party before it even began?

That was...

... That was pretty hilarious, actually. And a little sad. But mostly hilarious.
Laughing, the boy took a bite from one of the cauldron cakes and plopped down on the nearest couch.

Oh!!!!!!!!!!

*blush*

Cutie was talking to her, she had been scared that he wouldn't want to know that they were back in school after all he was an older student and they normally didn't want to hang around with firstie like her, especially girls, normally the boys would be off and taking about sports and things like that.

"I'm f...ine." Angel lied, she was really missing home now, she could really use a cuddle of her mummy about now, this place was huge, she wondered if Cutie would mind her giving one, and without thinking she gave Benny a big hug.

Angel then heard her sister talking well bellowing her name. "I'm coming." Angel really didn't know what to do or say but she went up to her sister, because well they were sister after all and what's more they were identical, she wanted to know if Cutie could tell them apart. "What you doing?" Angel was really, really wanting her mummy and daddy now.

Bree entered the Gryffindor Common room and was taken aback at how breath taking the place looked and then she noticed there was a party too. Wow! She then noticed a girl that did not look like she was having much fun hugging her pillow for dear life. Awe. Bree approached her and said, "Hi, I'm Bree and I a new firstie too. We can take on this new adventure together if you like."

Bree then noticed a girl who was asking if the pillow did something to the poor scared girl and turned to her, "Uh, really? Why ask a question like that? She is nervous and quite frankly so am I as a new first year here".

Bree then noticed her prefect was being a bit naughty. "Hi Um Bree, watcha doing?

Bree then noticed another girl who looked nervous and approached her, "Hi I'm Bree, how are you?"

Emmylou was so amazed at the staircases when she was walking to the common room, they moved. What staircases moved like that? She had been on escalators before but those didn't move like these staircases did. This school was amazing and she was sure that she would get lost in it at some point this term. Emmylou made her way into the common room. Nervous. The short blonde looked around and stood on her tip toes every so often. Emmylou was so nervous, she didn't know what to say or what to do. She wanted to make friends and meet the professors and the head of house and everyone important but she just didn't know what to say to them. Emmylou didn't know she would be this nervous at Hogwarts, Beauxbatons was nice but not as beautiful and important as Hogwarts and their four houses. Her parents went here and so did her uncles and aunt. But she was the only the second person to be sorted into Gryffindor. Emmylou shrugged and smiled a bit, she looked at everyone. Her ocean blue eyes tried to look at five different places at once.

Hearing someone speaking to him he turned his head to see a little girl talking to him, D'AWWWWWW look how cute she was.. "Hi Lucy, I'm Bay.. nice to meet you as well" as he replied this cute little girl just kept on talking, sweet quidditch she could talk a lot.

"my first day back was great!, I'm so glad that your first day has been busy." he smiled up at her while he got off the couch, yeah it was about time he got off his butt and started to mingle, he had hoped to see Louis somewhere! anywhere! he just needed his best mate.

"welcome to Gryffindor though, we got loads of cool people in our house" more smiling when he heard his name being called……..



LOUIS!!!! O.M.G it was him in the flesh!!! running over to him he saw that Louis had sweets… but due to his issue with the canary creams he was going to stay away from those awesome snacks for as long as he could, top it would last a week. "LOU!!!!" he scooped him up in a hug as the cauldron cakes started to fall..

"I've missed you so much" he said, as he looked down at his chest…

"omg, no way!!! congrats mate!!! Prefect!!!" laughing because he knew that Louis liked a good prank like everyone else he couldn't see Louis handing him over to the Professors for his pranks.

"Did you get yourself a stick yet?" AJ pointed to the professor that was roasting stuff. "Our common room is pretty cool huh?" It was nice and roomy and AJ could get used to this. "When do you think our classes will start?" She was anxious to use her magic stick. "I wonder what class we will have first."

It was then that she noticed that something was wrong with her sister. "What's up Angel?" She may be able to hide the truth from others, but Aubrey knew when something was bothering her sister.

Okay so he wasn't expecting the blush as she turned towards him, it reminding him of what had went on down in the Great Hall. Adi mentioning a crush and teasing them, his own blush a not-so-distant memory. Benny tilted his head at her answer not sure if she was lying with her stutter or just had trouble getting it out. However before he could say or do anything else the older boy found himself embraced in a hug by the curl.

It was brief and before long Angel was rushing towards her sister who had yelled to get her attention. Yet to say Ben was shocked was an understatement and it took him a few moments to even be able to move from the form and position he had been when reacting to the hug in the first place.

"Hi Bree." Angel smiled at the other girl. "I'm Angel." Angel didn't really want to talk about what was wrong. "I'm fine." Angel lied. "How are you?" Angel decided that it was only polite to ask the other girl if she was alright.

Angel should have know her sister would know, why did they have to have this understanding between then. "I didn't, not yet." Angel wasn't sure if she wanted to do whatever the Professor was doing. "It is, I'm loving it so far." Angel really was even if it was a lot bigger than their house and twice as scary.

Angel just nodded and replied to a few of the questions. "I'm sure that it will be soon." Angel couldn't wait for the lessons to start, she then sighed as she looked at her sister and realised she have to tell her what was wrong. "I just miss home." Angel really did.

Angel saw that Benny was standing on his own now. "BENNY!" Angel yelled at her friend. "Come and say Hi to Aubrey." Angel looked at her sister and then back at Benny. "You really should meet her." Angel was hoping that Cutie would come and talk to them, she really wanted her cutie-pie near her, he made the whole place seem friendly.

Hmmmm?

Twisting ever so slightly, Lex glanced over her shoulder at the person that had spoken. Oh hey, she was the Firstie from the robe shop. She didn't remember seeing her at the table....but then she hadn't exactly been at the table most of the night so she supposed that could be the reason. It took another moment to remind herself this was all a big mixup that the kid wouldn't have known about, at which point she just kinda shrugged. "It's not what I was talking about. Apparently the Professors had something else in mind?"

Kinda disappointing when you considered all the last minute planning she'd done but, "A party's a party and we might still be able to pull off the sleepover." So not a completely lost cause, yeah.

"Oh. Welcome to Gryffindor. Looks like you had what it took afterall." Remembering that conversation they'd had that day.

They could have pulled off all that. Maybe not nearly as impressively but they had food and that would have been enough for everyone. The Professors were possibly showing off.

Lex stood blinking and watching Bolton have the laugh of his life. At least one of them found this funny but it probably didn't matter to him. For all she knew, he'd been at the table the whole night and had no obligation to make up for stuff. Ugh.

"Right, laugh it up." Might as well. It'd already happened and sulking was serious effort. "Did you know about this?"

There was another voice pulling on her attention. So many of them and again she was completely lost on the name. Good thing the girl got right to it when she started talking. Lex gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "Hey, I'm Alexa. You can just call me Lex, it's no problem." The Prefect could count on one hand the amount of people that bothered with her whole name. As for what she was doing...she gave a casual shrug and a glance around the room before her gaze settled on the Firstie again. "Trying to enjoy a party I didn't know about. Talk about a surprize, huh?" Quite the surprize actually. "Welcome to Gryffindor."

Let's all pretend that wasn't late. Ahem.

This one wasn't a Firstie, that much was clear. Must have been one of those transfers. Well she'd never get very far just standing there by herself. Lex waved her over with one of those smiles you're meant to have when you were being a welcoming authority figure. Who made those rules anyway? There were a couple that needed changing. "Welcome to the party--not my party but I guess it's just as good." There might have been some not so subtle looks given to the Professors but you know, those were fleeting because she was doing that welcoming thing she'd neglected to do earlier in the night.

"I'm Alexa, Prefect and all that fancy stuff and so's he." She said jabbing a thumb in Bolton's direction. He was kinda hard to miss with all the laughing he was doing at her expense, JUST SAYING. "And you are?"

He was brought out of his stupor by his own name being shouted, the third year shaking his head absently to try and clear his head and just focus on the present. Like the direction the elevated call had come from which turned out to be Angel...or Aubrey...or Angel. Both girls were standing there in matching uniforms next to each other. And since the feast they both knew him and his name.

Oh boy.

Wait...speaker was Angel since she mentioned meeting Aubrey. Benny couldn't help shake his head again to free the confusion as he walked over to the two sisters. "Technically we did meet."

Some girl was waving to her, Emmylou gave a shy wave back and walked over to the girl. She looked like she was nice but Emmy wasn't one to judge any bad that someone had done but she wasn't one to judge at all. Emmylou wanted to know if they always had parties like this to welcome the students. She also wondered if it was strange to see a transfer here too. Emmylou just had way to many questions but she didn't want to bother this girl with to many of them. "Thank you." her southern accent was soft, she still hadn't gotten her loudish voice due to her nerves and shyness. "What are your parties like? Do they have candy and sweets?" Emmy just wanted some candy or well anything with sugar, she just loved sugar. The newly sorted Gryffindor pretty much lived on sugar.

Alexa. Prefect and the boy was also a prefect. Emmylou gave a little nod and a shy wave to the boy Prefect. "I'm Emmylou. I transfered here from Beauxbatons." She was much happier here than being stuck at Beauxbatons.

Yeah, she was sure that the lessons would be starting pretty soon, and she actually wouldn't be that surprised if they had lessons in the morning. "I can't wait to use my magic stick." Hard work would be coming to her, but it would be totally worth it once she was actually able to do cool stuff.

Her sister was home sick and as much as Aubrey was not, she could understand where she was coming from. "It's okay Ang. I bet after the first night you will be as good as new." Plus, she was here with her so she wouldn't be truly alone. "No mum and dad here to watch over our every move." That was a plus right? It was for Aubrey anyways.

AJ looked in the direction of where Benjamin was. "We've already met silly." They met at the feast when Adi was teasing them. It was most likely best if she didn't bring that little fun fact up. "Hey Benjamin, come and grab a stick." She was bound and determined to roast something dangit.


"Oh, I see. At least there is food." And she couldn't really complain about that too much. "Cool. I'll be waiting." AJ was actually looking forward to the sleepover and hoped that they really would be able to set it up for another time. "Will you be roasting with us?" she asked indicating the sticks that the dude was holding.

Cue beaming. "Thanks. I guess the sorting hat takes into consideration what your face looks like because only one of my sisters is in this house." What other reason could the sorting hat possibly have in regards to them not all being lions?

Louis laughed when Bay crushed him into a hug. “Ey, c’mon, we’re not all Quidditch players here!” he said as he felt his ribcage beginning to crack. Merlin, did his friend get even stronger over the summer? Whatever he was doing was obviously working. Perhaps Lou should try it too.

“I’ve missed you too, man. It’s been forever.” He flashed his friend a silly lopsided grin, and tried not to mourn the cauldron cakes that had met the floor. With a wave of his wand, he sent them off to the nearest trash bin.

Following Bay’s line of sight, Louis looked down at the sparkling golden badge on his chest. Oh, right. He hadn’t told him yet. “Thanks, mate.” He smiled sheepishly and held out a cauldron cake for him. “Want one?”


Louis was still giggling stupidly to himself when Alexa responded. What? It was really funny. The poor girl had put so much effort into the party - well, she’d sent invites and snuck off to the kitchens with an accomplice, that was pretty hardworking of her. And it had all been for nothing. Just thinking about it threatened to send him on another fit of laughter, so the boy cleared his throat softly and looked away for a moment to regain his composure.

”Did you know about this?”
Louis looked back at Alexa and shook his head. “Not at all. I thought perhaps you’d asked the professors to help at the last minute.” Shrug. “At least it wasn’t all in vain.” He gestured with a little nod toward the big bag of candy the girl and the first year had decided to keep.

Zander nervously looked around the common room from his spot in the corner. Well someone had to occupy the corner right? Right. He couldn't just leave it all abandoned by itself. Oi! Corners need some lovin' tooo. They must have feelings. He was only being considerate. So by standing in the corner, Zander is only naturally doing the right thing, right? Yes. In fact he's being considerate of all the other Gryffindors too. They need some room and by standing in the corner everyone could have all the room they want. The corner won't be lonely. And Zander could have a nice little look out spot. There. Everyone is happy.

Wait. This is all wrong. Zander isn't happy. In fact Zander is actually kind of angry? Not angry with the other Gryffindors and not angry at the corner, actually a little angry at the corner because he stubbed his toes a few minutes ago but that is off topic, he's angry at himself. This summer he made a promise to his parents that he would finally make some friends. He was going to come out of his shy shell and tonight would be his night. Taking a few steps forward and forcing his best smile he looked for someone to talk to, but everyone looked occupied. Okay maybe tonight isn't his night. But hey there's always tomorrow!

So he took a giant step back into the corner. There. This is perfect. This corner is just so cozy and warm and loving and why would he need any friends if he just had this corner? Zander you're a Gryffindor for crying out loud! Be a lion and go talk to someone. Another three steps forward. After a few seconds away from his corner he felt yet another rush of nerves. Okay no maybe you can try being a lion tomorrow. The sorting hat probably pitied you because you didn't belong anywhere else. Besides, the corner was practically cooing his name. He couldn't just abandon it.

Corner: 3 Zander: 0

This little into-the-corner and back-out-of-the-corner process happened a few more times. Hopefully none of his other classmates, OR EVEN WORSE, the professors, noticed his little jig. With one last deep breath Zander stepped out of his corner for good and looked around in a state of panic. Without the corner he felt so exposed! It isn't too late to hop back onto the train is it?

Feeling a bit tired now. She would much rather find her dorm and get ready for bed. Classes were already starting tomorrow. The train ride had been super super loooong.

Butttttt they had food here. And she was hungryyyy.

She seen Louis heading over her way. She grinned as waved at the prefect. "Walrus!" And of course she had to give him a hug. She loved Walrus hugs they were the best. Likely because he was the best.


Cinnamon wasn't sure how the events of last term affected him. So it was highly likely that he didn't remember her. She nodded. "I wasn't sure if you did or not? Well anyway I'm Cinnamon Bayless. Third year. Formerly homeschooled."

"Yeah. It was last term." She frowned slightly. She didn't know she felt bad right now.

"Emmy!" She squealed when she caught sight of one of her besties. And not only a friend but a familiar face. It made her feel better seeing her. Now she knew that GDR was the only older new person in Gryffindor.

She hugged Em tight. She really didn't want to let her go. Clinging to her also made her feel better. "So what do you think about Gryffindor so far?"
___________________________________

After much (too much for her) mingling she finally had a chance to sneak away to get some snacks and stuff. She was still hungry even though the feast wasn't that long ago. She was ready to meet done new people. Having already know a few people in the house was a good thing.

But she hoped she'd meet some other people tonight. Because as of now she had only talked to the Gryffindors she knew already.

She scanned the food table eyeing everything on it. She grabbed a plate and stated filling it up.

Schmoes? .... Seren listened as Airey continued his explanation, though it wasn't helping her make sense of things, at all. As much as she was able to gather was it was a food treat, that was prepared in a fire. "I'll have to give it a go then," she decided.

And oooohh lookit that! She was right! The students were finally here.



Seeing that Miss Bayless and Airey seemed to have some sort of former relationship, she waited for their introductions to be over before then grinning at the girls greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Bayless, I'm Professor Bentley, and I will be your Head of House during your time here." And herbology professor, but that was fairly evident with the topiary and the amazing tea collection, no?

"Welcome to Gryffindor."



"Hello Louis, dear," Seren greeted her new prefect warmly. The students had arrived, most of them seemed accounted for, so this was a success. Of course he was welcome to as many as he liked... "but in the spirit of sharing, save some for the others too," she added onto Airey's response.



Airey answered Toussaint's question rather succinctly, but it seemed there were still some things the students didn't understand. Looking from one to the other, Seren shook her head, regrettably. "I'm afraid not... the risk is too great for us to take chances, there will be no quidditch and no flying, end of discussion."



And aawww, one of the promising first years was here, "Miss Lexington, welcome to Gryffindor, my name's Professor Bentley and I'll be your Head of House while you are here." She smiled fondly, gesturing to the snacks table, "please, help yourself... make yourself at home."



Offering the sixth year a bright smile and an enthusiastic nod, Seren returned the greeting, "Bay, it's so good to see you... enjoyed you summer?" she asked.



It never ceased to amaze her how simply charming and well mannered her Lions were, particularly the first years. The only exception to that rule might have been Kevin, but even his attitude could be overlooked... he had a lot of good in him.

"Miss Messer, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, welcome to Gryffindor." Of course, the name Messer was exceptionally familiar, and she wondered... wondered.. "Any relation to an Edvard Messer?" she asked, curious if the little Lioness was related to the graduate.



And it came as no surprise that some of the students were instantly drawn to the food. Sometimes she thought the Lions den ought to be by the kitchens instead of the Badgers. But then again, the Lions had a view of their stomping grounds - that was even better, no?



And there was the other Lion Valentine. Seren flashed the girl a smile and offered her a small wave. "Welcome to Gryffindor, dear." Or was this Aubrey? ... she couldn't recall, either way... she'd greeted them.



Again, such good manners from her Lions, both newly sorted and returning. It was DELIGHTFUL.

"Hello Ben, I trust you enjoyed the holidays?" she asked, returning the boys greeting.



AHA! And there was her other prefect!... had she been here all along? just lost in the crowd? Or perhaps she had to go and chase up the stragglers? Either way, it was good to see her here now. "I'm very well, thank you Lex," she started, grinning and nodding, a summer break did wonders especially where laying in the sun and photosynthesising was involved. "How was your break? Ready for the new term?"

Of course it didn't surprise her the girl was interested in the flesh eaters, and this warmed her heart. Such a likeness between them two. "They're thriving, I checked on them just this morning, and you should see them now, the rampant rockrose and dragon tree are looking lovely, so you should definitely come and check them out sometime. I'll check my schedule and we'll tee something up." It was as good as a promise as far as she was concerned, no reason not to. Lex was, after all, their herbology champion. Still



Another first year, and such a sweetheart too. "Hello Miss Petersfield, welcome to Gryffindor, please do make yourself at home."



And here was that transfer student, she seemed a little lost.... perhaps.

"Hello dear, welcome to Gryffindor," Seren greeted warmly. "I'm Professor Bentley, your Head of House ... please help yourself to food and drink, this is your home away from home now."

Did Airey plan on answering him? Or was he going to push marshmallows onto a stick all night? Michael didn't fail to notice the look he gave Bentley and when the man finally did answer, all he could manage for a second was a jaw dropping stare.

He quickly recovered himself and said the only thing that he could think of. "But...why?"


His attention was drawn to the Head of House when she spoke and Michael opened his mouth to once again ask why it had been cancelled when he realised he was not going to get a straight answer out of them.

What did she mean by the risk is too great?

Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to skip the feast after all.

He was just thinking about he could find out what was going on when he heard his name being called...


He turned his back on the Professor's and walked over to his second favourite girl at Hogwarts. "Yeah just heard it now." Michael trusted that Lex was not going to ask him where he was during the feast.

"Do we know why?" He asked as his gaze followed the blonde's and he raised his eyebrows at the girl with the pillow.

Never a dull moment was there?

Yeah... so hahahahaha..... Zahra had waited a whole minute (LONGEST MINUTE OF HER LIFE) before making her appearance after Mikey. That was enough time right? Good enough. IN SHE WENT. Zahra didn't go straight to him though. She was gonna go AROUND the room, probably go over and POP Lex in the head for being Lex, maybe grab a snack and give THE HOH a high five. ALL IN DUE TIME.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Zander nervously looked around the common room from his spot in the corner. Well someone had to occupy the corner right? Right. He couldn't just leave it all abandoned by itself. Oi! Corners need some lovin' tooo. They must have feelings. He was only being considerate. So by standing in the corner, Zander is only naturally doing the right thing, right? Yes. In fact he's being considerate of all the other Gryffindors too. They need some room and by standing in the corner everyone could have all the room they want. The corner won't be lonely. And Zander could have a nice little look out spot. There. Everyone is happy.

Wait. This is all wrong. Zander isn't happy. In fact Zander is actually kind of angry? Not angry with the other Gryffindors and not angry at the corner, actually a little angry at the corner because he stubbed his toes a few minutes ago but that is off topic, he's angry at himself. This summer he made a promise to his parents that he would finally make some friends. He was going to come out of his shy shell and tonight would be his night. Taking a few steps forward and forcing his best smile he looked for someone to talk to, but everyone looked occupied. Okay maybe tonight isn't his night. But hey there's always tomorrow!

So he took a giant step back into the corner. There. This is perfect. This corner is just so cozy and warm and loving and why would he need any friends if he just had this corner? Zander you're a Gryffindor for crying out loud! Be a lion and go talk to someone. Another three steps forward. After a few seconds away from his corner he felt yet another rush of nerves. Okay no maybe you can try being a lion tomorrow. The sorting hat probably pitied you because you didn't belong anywhere else. Besides, the corner was practically cooing his name. He couldn't just abandon it.

Corner: 3 Zander: 0

This little into-the-corner and back-out-of-the-corner process happened a few more times. Hopefully none of his other classmates, OR EVEN WORSE, the professors, noticed his little jig. With one last deep breath Zander stepped out of his corner for good and looked around in a state of panic. Without the corner he felt so exposed! It isn't too late to hop back onto the train is it?

So..... you know how it is. Doing a LAP around the room, not exactly watching where you're going.... Zahra TOTALLY WIPED OUT ZANDER when he stepped out of his beloved corner. BOOM. SMACK. SPLAT. COLLISION. CRASSSSSSHHHHHHH and burn.

HAHAHAHA

"SORRY." She kind of shouted at him. Clearly she wasn't all that sorry either. Who was this anyway? "YOU NEW?"

Ellinia looked at the professor. What was a schmo? Was that a thing? Was that a Hogwarts thing? Because she didn't remember it at home. Was it a magic thing?! Her grip on the pillow loosened slightly as she looked at the roasting sticks. "Are they magical?" she asked, eyes wide. Because if they were she wanted to see what magic they did. Like... maybe they exploded and made snow or something.

Ellinia was startled when a girl who looked maybe just as little as her spoke to her. What? She looked at the pillow then back at the girl and her face grew a little pink. "N-no. What pillow?" Ellinia asked, as she coughed and quickly placed the pillow down next to her. There was no pillow. She had not been squeezing the pillow to death. "I'm Ellinia," she added, wishing she could hug that pillow again.

Were people going to keep bringing up the pillow? It was a good thing- wait what? "You can animate the pillow?!" Ellinia asked, eyes getting ginormous. What would an animated pillow do? Ellinia wasn't sure. "Can it talk? Like a snowman?" Ellinia liked snowmen. They were pretty and made of snow. And she was pretty sure they talked to only those who believed and she believed so they'd talk to her.

The Head of House lady was nice. She looked nice and friendly. "Thank you Professor Bentley," Ellinia said quietly, glancing at the snacks table. Ellinia was still hungry after the feast. And there were snacks. And the professor said help herself... but that meant she'd have to get up from her seat and walk there and possibly trip on the way. She'd pass. "Why's everything red? Did you choose the color since you're the Head of House?" Ellinia asked.

Ezra stood up from the fallen cake and watched was Lex made it DISAPPEAR like with magic. That was pretty cool. Even though she was annoyed with the party already being here and like them not bringing the party with them, he still gave her a big grin. That was fun and all that. YEP!

Now though she said they should mingle. He followed her as she went to talk to the other Prefect boy and he stood behind her as they talked for a minute--he also reached over and grabbed a chocolate frog from the table.

Oh but nearby was their Head of House? She'd greeted Alexa sort of when they came in so the first year thought it was probably good to do so too. The Prefect had told her a little about the lady. "Hello Professor Bentley, I'm Ezra Earnest." He paused for a second and wiped his mouth of any chocolate he still had on there and tried to pull his bare feet under his robes as best as possible. "I'm really excited for Herbology lessons. My mum is a big gardener." SHE WAS, and would be excited to hear about what he was learning about at school.

He looked around the room at the girl shouting at the one kid after she fell (Zahra) a little girl crabbing a pillow on the coach, the blonde Professor also sitting on the couch (who was HE??), there were twins, and then a couple boys that looked older than him too. Ezra recognized some of them from the Feast but didn't know who to talk to.

She loved her Head of House already. "Thank you, Professor." At first she's a bit unhappy that old hat put her in Gryffindor but now being a red didn't seem so bad. Candice was a bit surprise when she heard her brother name being mentioned by Professor Bentley. "He's my brother." Didn't she see the resemblance? No?

"Excuse you. I'm asking her." Rude. This girl was rude. Answering a question that's not directed for her "Are you her spokesperson or something?" Huh? Were you? Huh? Huh?! "And I don't think you need to be nervous. They're not going to eat your or anything like that. They're your new family after all." You don't eat a family member, right? Although she kinda want to make this girl disappear.

Ohh. The pillow girl talked.

What pillow? Blink.....Blink....Blink...

"Umm..That one?" Never mind. "Hi! I'm Candice. First year. You're a first year too, right?" This girl seem normal enough. Not rude like the girl before.

Someone was talking to her. Ohhhhh. Badge person. "Hello, I'm Candice. First Year." But she probably already knew that because she's small and all. Lex? Did she say her name was Lex? She's the one who gave her note about the party in the common room then? Same Lex, right? "Nice to meet you Lex." Or should she called her Prefect Lex?

Candice saw Ezra was with the Prefect. How could the boy already knew a Prefect? "Hi, Ezra."

Then she heard Lex was talking to the cute male Prefect (Gryffindoll) about the Professors and the welcoming party. Wait so this was not the Alexa's Welcoming Party?Ohh. Well, nevertheless she wanted to meet the male Prefect. "Hi, I'm Candice. First year." She sounded like a broken record but who care. And cue hair twirling.

Hearing his comment Bay laughed it was so good to see him again, "I know man, but it was so awesome that you came and visited me over the summer, my mum and dad love ya!" should he say his exact words that his mum used, "cute as a little munchkin, i just want to squish his face" Bay laughed at his own comment, if Louis only knew that his mum watched to pinch and squish his face, he doubted that Lou would ever want to visit again.

"no problem!" he said as he shined the badge for him…. and thats when Bay started to slowly back up… hands up to separate them "whats in it?" he said with caution giving Lou a look… "its just… I just got.. over.. a bad canary cream….incident" was he coming off as scared, yup. he still had feathers during the whole feast and still "cawing" like a bird. shaking his head to stop thinking about it he still eyeballed the cake… hmmmmm...




Giving her a smile back "Thanks Professor, its really great to be back and I had the best summer my internship was amazing. Besides the craziness at the field trip" he laughed because it made him feel uncomfortable thinking about sliding in the mud and….. the thought of dying.. ughhhh.. keeping a smile on his face he asked her about her summer "how was your summer?" he always wondered what the staff did during the summer on their own time.

The shy wave was the first indication that the girl hadn't settled into her lion-ess yet. Eh, that'd take some time she supposed. Though Lex never understood shyness she knew it existed and liked to think she could be sensitive enough.

Her parties? "They're epic, of course they'll involve candy--sugar really. Nothing like a hyper fit to get you in a party mood. I find it helps to break the ice." There were other things that could just as easily break the ice but she wouldn't go there. Ahem. No. Professors were standing right there and she'd actually bothered to stick the badge on her robe by now. See the problem?

"Think I'll call you Em, you don't mind right?" Because it was already decided as much and her mind wouldn't be changing anytime soon. "That's interesting. You don't sound French...or English. You American?" Delilah was too but the girl had gained something like another accent by now so Lex could hardly compare them.



That was always the brightside wasn't it? When things went wrong people generally looked to food to make it better? That's what she would probably be doing really soon because again, she was still put off by the lack of notice. At the very least she could have rescheduled her little thing. "Just have to wait for the Professors to leave. They don't usually stay in the Common Room so we should be good on that." She didn't reckon they'd be staying long either. They'd wanna uphold even a little bit of the curfew for the busy day ahead or something like that. "Roasting?" It was then that she noticed the sticks. Oh! "Don't see why not." S'mores were always a yes.

Lex waved her off lightly at her assessment of the hat. "Nah, if you mean the sister that had her nose in a book during Diagon Alley I gotta say the hat saw more than her face. It takes more than a certain look to be a Gryffindor, it's impressive you've got it." Gryffindor was an impressive house in itself and she was now a part of the wider impressiveness.



Lex had tried, and had been trying and was still trying even after he went right on giggling but, see, the thing with Bolton...he didn't make things easy and wasn't good at reading moods. Lex stood staring, waiting for him to be done, but no he wasn't done until his attempt at answering her question. Thought she'd gotten help...not in vain....yeah she was listening and drawing her wand....and casting a silent Levicorpus. Whoops?

If anyone asked, it was initiation into Gryffindor Prefect-hood but really, she might have wanted a laugh too. Surely he could understand how much of a stressful night it'd been, walking down all those stairs and nearly getting caught twice.

Having already decided that she and Ezra would be splitting their winnings for themselves and no one else, Lex now had to eat as much as she could from what the Professors had brought. No touching their stash until later. If only the bloody table wasn't so far...okay, not that far but she was kinda busy teaching Bolton a lesson, see?

Her luck came through for her though, when she spotted a girl by the table. One she didn't know? That was a bonus right there.

"Hey you!" Only until the name was learned, we promised. "Can you grabbed me a chocolate cupcake and a couple marshmallows while you're over there?" But wait for it.....wait..."And could you kinda hop over here while you're at it? I dunno you and we can't have that."

Nope. Not at all.



She was well? GOOD. Well Professors were more likely to say yes to the things you asked for. Could she forgive her and Airey for having a party thus ruining the one she'd whipped up last minute? Of course. One had to forgive when they were asking favours. It was like a rule or something. Lex grinned widely. "I had a lovely break, lots of time with my friends and um distractions." Loads of distractions actually. Ahem. "I'm as ready as ever or I was til I heard no Quidditch, now I have to remind myself of why I got on the train until I've convinced myself enough that I want to be here." Kidding, she was kidding........for the most part. Sorta.......kinda......

Thriving was good too. Couldn't take her bestie to see half dead plants. That would be highly disappointing. It even sounded like the Professor was already inviting her to visit! Yup, making her job that much easier. "I'd love to see them...and I'm sure so would Lottie. I was thinking maybe, oh I dunno, the 1st of October?" Coincidentally the bestie's birthday. She'd have let Cassia come too but the girl had a phobia of anything green that sprung from the ground. Go figure.



Oh? He'd only just heard it? "You weren't at the feast either?" It explained why the table was so quiet when she finally did manage to make it into the feast, eyes for you Airey. The Professor needed to work on his timing. She'd have liked to stay out there a little longer without the Professor adding the awkward. "I got there after the speech, had to rely on some overly enthusiastic Firstie to crush my dreams." Though she supposed it might have been her fault for asking. Could have stayed ignorant...until someone offered her the information anyway. Like Ezra, he'd have mentioned it, in fact he'd offered all the details.

As for why, she shrugged, trying not to get as upset about it as she did back at the table. "They say some bloody idiot threatened the school and sports. I dunno what that has to do with us. We're in danger every year and it's never stopped quidditch before. They let us play through brittle bones but won't now because some invisible man sent a threat." The idea was rich.

"Reckon we'll just find something else to do."

Blink.

Lex saw the collision and the unrepentent Kettleburn and the obviously scared boy but that was about all she did. If you asked her it seemed a very legit Zahra type move and if the boy wasn't too scared of his shadow they could strike up a conversation and keep her over there. That'd be lovely. Last thing she needed was Zahra causing a scene--the girl was grand at that--because Mikey was over here talking to her.

Yeah, she remembered the threat of a pop to the face where Mikey was concerned and right now she was tired and getting a little hungry and quite put off by other events.

There we go! A positive response. "I can." Lex said with a grin. "The spell's easy enough." She'd used it once or twice but the last she'd seen it's use was Alice animating her equipment during that Astronomy homework that had. Sadly, none of those cases left the items talking...which the girl seemed to really want happening....and should she be concerned the girl thought snowmen could talk????

Eh...how about she just....not question it? Yeah, that sounded good.

"It won't talk, no, but it'll be all over the place, bouncing--dancing if you'd like it to. Maybe even like a puppy."




Yup and another name to commit to memory. Candice. Again she was reminded that she should have hauled her butt to the lion table. Surely she'd have known them all by now instead of having all these last minute intros right before everyone went to bed...sorta. She was still camping out down here with anyone willing and she and Ezra would enjoy everything they'd swiped from the kitchen.

"Never got to say this earlier," whoops? "but welcome to Gryffindor, greatest house in existence no matter what the Ravenclaws say." Because the claws were obviously recruiting and trying to offer half burnt cookies to the population. Clearly.

"I heard Sir Nicholas was at the table, how was that?" She liked hearing from Firstie perspectives on old castle things.