The school brought students on dangerous field trips to Peru? What kind of school would do that? What were they doing that involved mountain trolls and other strange things? A bunch of people needed to be saved from mountain trolls and other dangerous things? It seemed like everyone who went on the field trip was lucky to be alive. "The school lets people go on dangerous field trips to Peru?"

"Pygmy puffs are so cute. They're like little balls of fluff," Penelope said to Jasmine.

Penelope turned to Cris and asked, "What pets do you have?"

Amelia immediately chuckled when Kaiden pushed and sat next to her. Well between both Huxley and herself. “Hey” she grinned happily at her now prefect boyfriend.

Tipping her head and gently kissed him on the cheek, a whisper of a kiss that was stopped by a comment. “He’s dead” she whispered under her breath “so dead” she muttered so only Kaiden and Huxley could hear her.

Eyes flashing angrily she turned to the formerly badged one and glared. Hard.

If looks could set people on fire, well…someone would have to call the fire brigade.

She didn't care at all if she lost points right now. She just wanted her friend...well maybe former friend to know that he was dead, worse than dead. "Kaid, Huxley, if you two want to I don't know steal some rolls and go eat in the hallway I'm fine with that...I just if I stay here I'll kill him." She whispered.

Despite the whispered questions, she didn't want to wait...she wanted the soon to be former friend to know, to completely understand what was happening. Because if he thought he could say that to her boyfriend and not get a response he was dead wrong. Dead wrong. Or just plain dead.

“Branxton, remind me to kill you later will you?”

Well at least one person from the badged trio said hello. Thank you Nigel, she noted the care mmhm.

Well now Mika has at last relocated herself to her proper seat. The dark eyed brunette gave her buddy a nod as she continued to turn the dinnerware idly as they waited for the Headmistress to make her speech. Suddenly she felt someone press against her and she turned her head sharply, glaring at this hunk of head and robes. She was ready with her scathing remark but saw hairdresser boy smooching the girlfriend. “Oh its you...” she deadpanned as she adjusted her seat because her personal space is important hello.

But something shiny caught her eye. She seized Kaiden’s shoulder to keep him from moving, as she found him to be a fidgety fellow, and got a good look at the new badge “Welll, new bling have you? I take it its not from the undead city?” This is as close as anyone was gonna get to getting Huxley impressed, or complimenting for that matter, since she has quite a number of blings she picked up from the field trip herself.

Oh but then finally a word from the other badged guy sent in her general direction, even if its not to her. And oh myyy such words. Huxley’s brow arches at such an angle as she leveled her gaze at the Captain of the Claws “Well, that’s quite a vote of confidence for the new Hufflepuff Prefect, Marcus. Such fine form from a distinguished leader of the Eagles. Would you like to drink to that?” she smiled ever so sweetly as she raised her empty goblet. Put your money where your mouth is eh Branxton?

And now the Gingered One has called their attention to the dias. A slow blink at the news about Quidditch. Well well well... looks like all houses were one less official student leader, which now explains the grand cluster... of love she just witnessed. Food now fills their plates, and her goblet with her drink. She put that down without drinking and returned to flipping her dinnerware. For some reason she doesn’t feel like dinning at this table. She hasn’t even raised anything to her lips and already this place left a bad taste in her mouth.

But she is hungry. Maybe she should have dinner somewhere else...

After eating a few meatballs, spaghetti and salad quickly, Cosgrach got up from his seat and walked to the Ravenclaw table. He had seen Sophie's full-of-love waving at him, but he couldn't really acknowledge it then, so he was visiting her now, and he didn't care AT ALL that she was holding hands with Tobias.

"Hello, folks," he greeted them as he stood right between the lovers and put his elbows on their shoulders. He didn't give his full weight, but there was some pressure there.

"How you doin'?" Besides Quidditch stuff. Or including Quidditch stuff. Even he was moved and sad.

There was one question still on Caelen's mind, should she go over and see Spencer and eat with him and Paige, or just eat at the Ravenclaw table? The food WAS right here at this table and she didn't have to move to get it, which was a plus. Maybe she could get Spencer to move for them? Oooh, it could be a fun test to see how much he- NO. no, no no. The redhead picked up her fork and started eating like she had just made a great choice. Because she was not going to test if he liked her. That was awful. She didn't want to hurt him at all. Not even if she had no idea what she was feeling and it was frustrating and she kind of wanted to hit something, maybe him?

Eating her first meal since she boarded the train, the blue eyed girl couldn't help but eat lots and lots. Of course the small girl was going to need to pick half of it out of her braces, but whatever. Food now, gross details later. Because the twelve year old didn't realize how hungry she WAS until the food appeared. And now her stomach was like a swirling wonderland of food and almost satiated hunger. And running a hand through her shoulder length hair, the kid sighed and sat back for a minute to think.

No quidditch. It was sinking in her stomach like a rock. Or maybe the second year had eaten too fast. But it still sucked. This was going to be the year where she tried out and hopefully made the Ravenclaw team and did really well and maybe played against Spencer but they still remained friends. That's how the Ravenclaw planned the year. There went THAT portion of the plan. But the kid was flexible, so it wasn't too much trouble. At least for now. It gave her more time to work on her primary objective. School. And being an amazing student.

Trying to catch Spencer's eye, she looked at the Hufflepuff table, hoping that her little blond dork would see her and get the message. Her and Paige needed the third musketeer. You could only go so long without a third musketeer. The two musketeers was nice, but three was better. Three was more fun, and they always had a great time together. Trust her, she knew. Caelen spent a lot of time at Nate and Spencer' house over the summer and they all kind of had to know each other.

Heck, their house was a lot better than her house. Her house had an overbearing mom and a brother who wouldn't do anything if his life depended on it. Which meant that the freckled faced girl was stuck doing a lot of things. Because mom was always cleaning up after the nineteen year old. Which totally sucked. She never wanted to see another teapot again after cleaning several over the course of a full Saturday. TOTALLY SUCKY SATURDAY. And then she slept through Sunday and had to go to her Aunt's Monday for homeschooling. Which as another story, and another thing the kid was completely glad to get out of now that she was at Hogwarts. Somehow sititng upside down fro two hours while you studied was not the highlight of her life.

Nicholas wasn’t sure what startled him more; that someone he didn’t even know would snatch at his arm and yank it, or that she would proceed to scold him for something he wasn’t even going to do; had only wondered about for the briefest of moments. All in all he was quite unused to being accosted in such a manner, and wasn’t prepared to deal with it when any sort of benevolence.

“Leave off, you hypocrite. Grabbing at someone and shouting accusations in his face is hardly an example of polite behavior.” He pulled his sleeve free from her hands and tugged the creases out of it, “And for your information, I was doing nothing of the sort. The only person at this table putting their hands where they ought not to happens to be you.”

Nicholas turned back to the Grey Lady as she spoke, noting the slight echo to her voice with fascination, “I apologize. I’ve no defense except that I’ve never seen someone like you before.”

Sensing this wasn’t quite enough, he added, “I had no intention of violating your personal space. Truly.”

Abby smiled at Jun and said "Yeah i did go to a muggle school before i came here and well i suppose i shall find out for myself when i head up the common room"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Maddie. I'm Helena Ravenclaw, or the Grey Lady as most student’s of this school call me and Ravenclaw's house ghost." She introduced herself. "I hope you'll come to like being in Ravenclaw. It’s a great house.”

Letting out a giggle as Nigel revealed the answer to his riddle the Grey Lady said. "That was a good one. I envision that you’ll have no problem solving the bronze knockers riddles this year." And that was good since he in his prefect position probably would need to help the younger years out with solving many of them. QI did read quite a few books yes. You should check out the new books in the library some of them I can definitely recommend you to read."

Catching the young eaglet's fascination of her presence at the table the Grey Lady smiled warmly back at him. "It's nice to meet you too Kyroh. I'm Helena Ravenclaw, also known as the Grey Lady and Ravenclaw's house ghost. I hope you'll come to like being in my mother's house" She was glad he didn't want to shake her hand. She didn’t want to shower him in cold water.


Turning to Gwen she responded calmly. "My summer was quiet but good. I read a lot of books. Did you keep up with your reading?" The Grey Lady wondered quietly. She expected all her eaglets to keep studying even if they weren’t at Hogwarts.

Good. The boy had found himself an empty seat next to Nigel. Turning her stare into a beam the Grey Lady said. "Welcome to Ravenclaw House! I’m Helena Ravenclaw, also known as the Grey Lady and Ravenclaw’s house ghost. I hope you’ll come to enjoy your time here."

"Apology accepted, Mr?" The Grey Lady said with a small inclination of her head. If he had thrust her hand through her then he would have experienced most displeasure. "If you would like to know more about me or ghosts in general then just ask." She was there to provide knowledge to all her eaglets to the best of her abilities. If she by chance couldn’t answer then Helena would easily refer the student’s to talk to Mr Kitridge or the new History of Magic Professor.

“Grey. May I have your name?” The subconscious reaction to hold out a hand for a shake almost, almost kicked in, but given the circumstances he settled for dipping his head instead. He smiled at her offer, “Thank you. I’m fresh out of questions at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll think of a thousand of them later on.”

Toby was freaking out trying to make sense of what was going on today. He kept staring up at the staff table, only looking away when he was absolutely certain that Tyner was not there. And the only thing that assured him of THAT was the strange man who had taken her seat.

As Sophie voiced her thoughts at him, Toby found himself steadily feeling more and more not-happy as he realised that this was actually happening. No Quidditch for a whole year. And no Tyner too, apparently. No Quidditch. No Tyner. No Ella.

It seemed that not even his fear of others seeing him upset was enough to prompt Toby into concealing his emotions, and he looked up at Sophie with wide eyes, looking very much the wounded puppy. Not able to think of anything to say, he simply nodded and seemed to almost deflate. Still clutching Sophie's hand, wanting to be sure that, if anything, she would still be around.

And then Cat was there, and Toby remembered his manners in time to give her a nod in greeting. Luckily he didn't have to answer, because Soph had gone and accepted a cannoli (whatever that was) on his behalf. Sure. Whatever it was, yes. Okay.

It wasn't until Mo spoke that Toby actually gave a genuine, albeit small, smile. He found himself leaning closer as well without even intending too, and nodded.

"I'd like that," he said quietly, unsure of whether or not Mo had heard him but not about to try and repeat himself. That would be good, at least. He'd have some way to get rid of this energy. The outlet that Quidditch had previously been. The fact that this would help out all three of them made it all the better. Any way to help each other out was good in Toby's book. "Let's do that."

There was some........... weirdness going on then. Toby couldn't exactly work out what it was, all he knew was that Kaiden was over here now and Mo had congratulated him on his new badge(??? prefect, maybe???).......... and someone was mad. Tobias only stared, eyes wide, expression somewhere between alarmed and confused. He could vaguely hear the speech going on in the background, and listened for long enough to confirm that yes, Quidditch HAD been cancelled... but more or less just stared at whatever the heck was going on at this table.

Uhhh... Toby wasn't too sure he liked it over here. The Hufflepuff table was always very friendly and kind and mostly happy, and this was....... different. Tobias chewed anxiously on his lip, not entirely sure what he was sitting in the middle of right here, but was rescued from having to say or do anything when Culloden arrived.

The presence of a professor was enough to instantly assuage Toby's sudden anxieties, and he gave Culloden a small smile as a way of saying hello. But that question... how WAS he doing?

Toby was silent for a few moments more before finally speaking up again, just as quiet as before.

"M'okay." It wasn't really a lie... but then wasn't entirely truthful, either. "You?"

"Have at them!" With a grin, Cat tipped the package of cannoli in Nigel's direction and waited for him to take whatever he wanted before she brought it back again to offer to someone else. It seemed that she had spent too much time at her own table with Vivi and West since the speech had happened now and dinner was here. Oh well, cannoli was always good, always.

She raised both of her eyebrows at Nigel and then turned them to Mo. He was very right.

Oh! Soph next! "Sophie and Toby." Cat passed the cannoli down to Sophie and nodded when she decided to take one for Toby too. Good. She had more than enough and she certainly wasn't going to be finishing them off herself, either. Everyone else needed to be eating them. Yes. After they had theirs, Cat blew a kiss at Sophie and grinned. Cute little sister.

She had saved her biggest smile for Mo, of course, and Cat did certainly smile at him. She settled in, held the package of cannoli and blinked at him as he stuffed one into his mouth and tried to talk to her at the same time. Of course she'd gotten what he'd said, and she nodded. "I guess that's what had you so down on the train?" To be honest, Cat was more upset for Mo than she was for Quidditch in a whole. Quidditch was important to him, and as his girlfriend, she was allowed to be concerned with that. He was going to be just fine though, even without it. But that didn't take any of the sting out of it. "I think it's the dumbest thing. Like I told West. Who would bother threatening over Quidditch? Don't they have anything better to do? This might be one of those over-compensating things, you know?" Just might be.

Hmm. Anyway, Cat placed a kiss on Mo's cheek because Vivi wasn't over here and because she wanted to. She lowered her voice in an attempt to have a sort of private conversation, as good as it got at the moment, anyway. "It might not be so bad, really. I mean... she's... Vivi. If she's here for protecting us then... I feel safer already." With that, she broke a cannoli in half and offered him part of it.

There was someone, from the sound of it, a first year, crawling on the floor. Cat simply grinned and watched the wiggle worm. First years were pretty adorable. Just like Donny and Soph had been. "Yes, have a cannoli. They're chocolate." Because chocolate was the best, riiiight?

She was promptly distracted from the cannoli and smiling at first years and Cat raised an eyebrow, directing her confusion towards the boy who was sitting beside her and not the girl-who-wanted-to-be-hit down the table. "What's going on?" She asked Mo, curiously. It wasn't every day someone shouted about killing him.

Why did she even say that? To anyone? With Aurors around? Did she not realize that things were going down? Dumb. Rude and dumb and not quite like the other encounters she'd had with the girl. Which was what made this all the more confusing and concerning. What happened?

Oh! Cat got a smile from Dora. Well. That certainly made her feel good, though she was very careful not to let that show. She'd always wanted to be friendly with Dora, which wasn't always easy. But Cat didn't mind. "Hello." She returned the greeting and the smile and then leaned across Mo to offer the box of cannoli to the prefect on his other side. "Take as many as you like."

U-17? Sophie? Ha. Yeah right. Though she thought that particular idea was dumb, she didn't want to discourage their moods further, so she just played along. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Ravenclaw champions of everything. Yes. That was appropriate. She was smiling at his outburst, but didn't respond - she was too busy thinking about where they could find a random trophy to give to Mo as a makeshift cup for him. Maybe she could find one over the winter holidays and bring it back for an end-of-the-year party. Hmm...

Mo's next informative speech had Sophie giggling right off the bat. She was rolling her eyes a little, too, but she tried her best to humor Mo further and look attentive. "Uh huh." Pause. "You give Max a lot of credit." Sure, Soph knew how cool her cousin was, but... did other people really think so highly of him, too? That was weird. Now she was thinking of all the embarrassing family pictures she could pass along to the Branxtons - not in any sort of sabotage attempt, but just so they were sure they knew how totally nerdy he was despite his good looks, charming ways, and fame.

Wasn't it her duty as his pseudo little sister to embarrass him?

All things considered... "I think our siblings are both lucky to have found each other." Another pause, and then a mischievous sort of grinned creeped onto her face, "Y'know what'd be cool? If they got married. Then we'd be... we'd be like, brother and sister-in-law! And then..." she leaned in close and whispered, shooting a smirky sort of glance over at Cat, "then maybe some day I'd be sisters with Cat, too. I think this is the way it must be. Your future is planned. You're welcome." And she banged her fist twice on the tabletop as if it was a gavel. CASE CLOSED.

Text Cut: TGO

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarShine

After eating a few meatballs, spaghetti and salad quickly, Cosgrach got up from his seat and walked to the Ravenclaw table. He had seen Sophie's full-of-love waving at him, but he couldn't really acknowledge it then, so he was visiting her now, and he didn't care AT ALL that she was holding hands with Tobias.

"Hello, folks," he greeted them as he stood right between the lovers and put his elbows on their shoulders. He didn't give his full weight, but there was some pressure there.

"How you doin'?" Besides Quidditch stuff. Or including Quidditch stuff. Even he was moved and sad.

"Suuuuup, Oh Great One." The third year saluted a bit mockingly with the hand not clutching Toby's and grinned up at him a little, slumping slightly when he rested on their shoulders. What a big ol' turkey. "Not good." Toby could lie all he wanted, but Sophie knew better than to lie to Culloden about feelings by now. The man certainly knew the reasons behind the group not being good, so she didn't bother explaining. "What about you?"

Text Cut: Tobes

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Toby was freaking out trying to make sense of what was going on today. He kept staring up at the staff table, only looking away when he was absolutely certain that Tyner was not there. And the only thing that assured him of THAT was the strange man who had taken her seat.

As Sophie voiced her thoughts at him, Toby found himself steadily feeling more and more not-happy as he realised that this was actually happening. No Quidditch for a whole year. And no Tyner too, apparently. No Quidditch. No Tyner. No Ella.

It seemed that not even his fear of others seeing him upset was enough to prompt Toby into concealing his emotions, and he looked up at Sophie with wide eyes, looking very much the wounded puppy. Not able to think of anything to say, he simply nodded and seemed to almost deflate. Still clutching Sophie's hand, wanting to be sure that, if anything, she would still be around.

And then Cat was there, and Toby remembered his manners in time to give her a nod in greeting. Luckily he didn't have to answer, because Soph had gone and accepted a cannoli (whatever that was) on his behalf. Sure. Whatever it was, yes. Okay.

It wasn't until Mo spoke that Toby actually gave a genuine, albeit small, smile. He found himself leaning closer as well without even intending too, and nodded.

"I'd like that," he said quietly, unsure of whether or not Mo had heard him but not about to try and repeat himself. That would be good, at least. He'd have some way to get rid of this energy. The outlet that Quidditch had previously been. The fact that this would help out all three of them made it all the better. Any way to help each other out was good in Toby's book. "Let's do that."

There was some........... weirdness going on then. Toby couldn't exactly work out what it was, all he knew was that Kaiden was over here now and Mo had congratulated him on his new badge(??? prefect, maybe???).......... and someone was mad. Tobias only stared, eyes wide, expression somewhere between alarmed and confused. He could vaguely hear the speech going on in the background, and listened for long enough to confirm that yes, Quidditch HAD been cancelled... but more or less just stared at whatever the heck was going on at this table.

Uhhh... Toby wasn't too sure he liked it over here. The Hufflepuff table was always very friendly and kind and mostly happy, and this was....... different. Tobias chewed anxiously on his lip, not entirely sure what he was sitting in the middle of right here, but was rescued from having to say or do anything when Culloden arrived.

The presence of a professor was enough to instantly assuage Toby's sudden anxieties, and he gave Culloden a small smile as a way of saying hello. But that question... how WAS he doing?

Toby was silent for a few moments more before finally speaking up again, just as quiet as before.

"M'okay." It wasn't really a lie... but then wasn't entirely truthful, either. "You?"

Toby really wasn't okay, and the look he gave her broke her heart. She planted a quick kiss on his cheek, ignoring everyone else, and squeezed his whole arm. "It's gonna be okay, Tobes. We'll still fly and play and have a whole lot of fun this term, okay? Anytime y'want. Everything'll be fine. Just... no inter-house competition, yeah?" She offered a sad sort of smile that was intended to be encouraging, but she wasn't sure that she was helping at all.

Text Cut: Cat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colley

Oh! Soph next! "Sophie and Toby." Cat passed the cannoli down to Sophie and nodded when she decided to take one for Toby too. Good. She had more than enough and she certainly wasn't going to be finishing them off herself, either. Everyone else needed to be eating them. Yes. After they had theirs, Cat blew a kiss at Sophie and grinned. Cute little sister.

Passing Toby the first cannoli, Sophie took a bite of hers and popped her hand up to catch Cat's kiss. "'anks Cat," she grinned through her food. It was all fun and games until people were shooting murderous threats and glances at each other, though, and Sophie was just as confused as Toby. What had even happened? She didn't know, but she didn't like that anyone was threatening to kill Mo. Culloden was right there, though, and Toby needed her to stay by his side, so... Sophie, against her gut, stayed quiet and out of it instead of jumping on someone's throat. Just for now, and minded her own business, eating her cannoli and wiggling up close to Toby. She was definitely listening, though. If Mo and Cat needed back-up, she'd be there in a flash.

"Yoga Wednesdays. I'm game for that. Maybe we do yoga, then eat yogurt, then... hunt for yetis." And that tapped out Mo's entire collection of words that started with Y. Oh, except... "YAKS."

Whatever. "I dunno what we should do. Why don't you suggest something and we'll run with it?" Mo was good at taking an idea and running with it, so if Hope had an idea... they could run.

"No hints. That's cheating." Mo shook his head and waved off the suggestion. She could just wait and see like a good little Dora. The trick to dealing with Dora was knowing she never played fair. If Mo told her a hint, she wouldn't return the favor. There was nothing in him for it, and there was a lot of pleasure in making her wait. So.

He felt bad about her reaction to his mention of Alice, which was intended as commiseration and not to make her even more miserable. It was good that the little crawling firstie was there as a distraction, because Mo would probably stick his foot even further into his mouth if he wasn't careful. "Don't listen to her, bud... come sit in her lap."

"I won't remember, so you'll have to threaten me again later," Mo glanced up when Mika said his name, giving her a broad grin until it became obvious she wasn't happy with him. She glaring, in fact. Hardcore glaring.

Why? She'd just GOT there and couldn't honestly be mad at him already. Was it 'cause she heard about what happened on the train? "No harm done, Creepy. No one got in trouble."

And then Huxley pitched in... was the train stuff really making the rounds? And what was she on about his opinion of Kaiden being prefect? Mo didn't even have an opinion, aside from congratulating the guy... which he'd already done.

Funny the times this one chose to speak up, considering most of the time she didn't seem to want to have anything to do with most of them. Standoffish and rude, and that was from the boy who didn't want to think badly of anyone.

"Ravenclaws welcome all opinions, and you're absolutely entitled to state yours, but you might want to make it a bit more informed if you want anyone to listen," Mo finally offered after playing confused goldfish at her. He wasn't trying to be rude... she was speaking nonsense and had NO idea what Mo's thoughts were on Kaiden.

Oh, a professor. Mo cast another quick glance at Mika, wondering if the professor had heard her threatening him. Surely he'd know the girl was joking. Hopefully. This was the WORST time to be pretending to be a threat, considering there were Aurors wandering around trying to look menacing.

"Hello, sir. I hope we're going to get to try out some new and exciting potions this term. I really fancy turning into a bird at least once in my Hogwarts career."

"We'll make it happen," Mo responded confidently, although he wasn't sure what the rules would be. What if the pitch wasn't even open this term? What could they do LIKE flying? Or maybe they could use the Room of Requirement?

He really wanted to leave the table and run out to check on the pitch, but it was probably best to just be calm. For Toby and Sophie. And Hope and Josette. And Cat and Nigel and Dora. And himself.

"Yeah. I'll... I'll tell you more about it later," Mo gave Cat a squeeze and glanced briefly in the direction to the eager little ears sitting across from them. He could tell HER about how he'd lost it with the Headmistress, and about how he'd had to stand in the corridor after and force himself to be calm for fear of crying or punching someone. But he didn't want to tell the younger kids and have them lose all respect for him.

"We'll be okay. We're still a team, and I'm still their captain, even if I don't get to wear my badge." He'd been tempted to just wash his hands of all of this and act like the broken thing he felt like, but he wasn't broken. It was just one term, right? "It must be someone who doesn't want Ravenclaw to win, 'cause we were gonna be awesome this term. Who do we know that's afraid of Eagles?" Mo pretended to rub an invisible beard.

She got a cheek pat for the kiss. Sweetest girl in the world. Honestly, how did he deserve the eternally patient and kind Caterina Moretti? "Don't worry about Mika. She's just joking around. Was she mean to you? Vivi, I mean?"

"That's..." Mo shook his head. "Vivi isn't getting married anytime soon. You want one of my sisters as an in-law, you should look after Fee. She's more... pliable, I think." Although neither of them were particularly easy people to get along with. It was weird to even think about it, wasn't it? Like... Cat's brothers and cousins kept having babies. What would Mo do if his sisters all started having babies?

Nope. Not thinking about it. "It must not be very serious if she's here, right? I mean... won't they miss each other terribly?"

Once settled in his seat, Dima turned to Maddie and waaaved. Again.

Hi friend! Saw you!

The boyfriend was talking to him too? Dima blinked and then grinned. He seemed a lot less dangerous than Miss Dora, that was for sure. "There aren't any cannolis on that platter," he pointed out helpfully. That tray had chicken. Couldn't seventh years tell food differences by now?

Noting the best friend info silently, he piped up again at the guy's question. "I'm Dima. What are you called?"

Because 'Miss Dora's Boyfriend' was probably not an acceptable title.

Huh. Well. Miss Dora and him would be friends soon, he was POSITIVE, so he took note of that too.

At least he'd gotten a wink! That was progress.

"I've got a best friend who's not here either," Dima offered solemnly. See? Empathy and stuff. "But I bet even though she can't be here, your friend would still want you to make new friends. 'Cause I bet she cares about you lots and doesn't want you to be lonely."

So they needed to be friends NOW. Like now now. Okay go.

He wriggled a bit.

Gwen looked away shiftily as the Grey Lady asked her if she's kept up with her reading. Gwen hated reading. It was a difficult task to give to a twelve year old with dyslexia. "I listened to all of Les Miserables on audiobook," she sort of avoided the question. She had not even read the newspapers this summer. The most she had read was the cereal box.

She couldn't lie to a ghost. Couldn't they like, see your soul or something? After a year in the wizarding world, the little American was still unsure about a lot of things.

Grateful for the distraction from answering the reading question, Gwen waved back to Hope. She didn't seem to be looking anymore, talking to Mo. Catching a bit of their conversation, Gwen perked up. Were they planning a party? That was something the blonde girl could jump all over. Party planning was way fun. She would have to go chat with them as soon as The Grey Lady left. It would be rude of Gwen to leave the conversation first, wouldn't it?

As many as she wanted? Dora didn't eat that much anyway, and already wasn't terribly hungry, but she still took two. "Thanks." She examined the cannolis before taking a small bite. "Have a good summer?"

"Not cheating. Clue's aren't cheating." He never did budge on this, did he? She wanted to know what he had got her. At least they weren't waiting a week into the term, it was much better to get it earlier.

And she knew he hadn't be intentionally trying to make her more miserable by mentioning Alice, but it did. A part of her felt silly because of it. Hardly been apart from Alice for more than a hour, and already she was being sulky about it. The whole firstie thing wasn't help in her eyes, but she was sulking less and scowling more at least.

She was going to hex his hair off.

"Ignore, Marcus Orion. He's just upset that he's no longer allowed to occupy my lap."

Could this kid not?

She didn't want to talk about best friends at all, let alone with him. "I'll keep that in mind." She grumbled, eyes roaming the place before settling back on him. "So tell me, Dima, what would I get out of our unlikely friendship?" The prefect was just going to ignore the professors and ghosts and food (except for the cannoli), and focus on him and their slightly different topic.

Cat grinned in appreciation of Sophie and her proximity and her adorableness and her cute little attitude. She wanted to reach across and hug her tightly but that was just something she simply could not do at this moment, so she made silent promises of hugs for later. "You're welcome, beautiful." HEHE.


"Okay." Cat nodded. They did have things to talk about privately anyway, like this Quidditch thing and this 'your sister is living with us' thing. Or whatever it was. They did need to ponder just a few things and none of it was anyone else's business, so yes. Later. Instead of saying anything else on that topic, she just patted his arm and offered him a smile. He was still her favorite Quidditch Captain.

She put on a thoughtful face and propped her chin on his shoulder, pondering this herself, until she pulled away again and grinned. "I'd say it was the Hufflepuffs because they didn't want you Ravenclaws to take their cup." Clearly, they were the prime suspects in this little game here. Although of course they weren't REALLY to blame. Hufflepuffs liked to play Quidditch as much as any other house. Yep. There was lots of room for other suspects.

Cat lowered her voice slightly again and frowned a little this time, "Well, she shouldn't say things like that. Not only does it make me punchy, but the hall is covered with Aurors." Dumb, but whatever, she was going to be over it because she had way more important things to be talking about. "She was..." Cat grinned, "She was Vivi at first, you know? Said there's no safe place to be snogging you while she's around and made me squirm a little, but then she gave me a sincere warning to be careful which extended to you as well." Was she grinning a bit? She probably was, but it was nice that she felt like Vivi cared. She was fully aware she was being silly about it too, but it made her happy.

Oh. Dora was speaking AGAIN. Well this was cool. "My summer was good, yeah." Cat nodded. "I thought up a couple new recipes, I'll probably make a lot and have Mo take them up for you guys." Cat paused and thought about that, "You don't have any food allergies, do you?" Just checking. She didn't want to damage the Dora. Or anyone else.

ANYWAY. "How was your summer?"

"Whoops." Or not really, actually. Maddie clearly wasn't sorry she hadn't lead with that. She also didn't much care what he called her as long as it was one of the two names she'd offered up. Anything else would earn him a hex. Once she learned how to do them, of course.

Shrugging happened. He'd heard her the first time so no need confirming what he already knew. As for his assumption, she raised her eyebrows slightly. "Guess you'll have to wait and see."

"S'nice to meet you, Helena. Or Grey Lady. Whichever you like best is what I'll call you." Because Maddie knew what it was like to be called a name you weren't fond of and she wasn't about to do that to someone else. "Thanks. M'sure I will." There seemed to be interesting people in this house and as an interesting person, Maddison felt she was in exactly the right place. She was curious about those snakey people, though. Hm.

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

She'd been listening closely to the Headmistress because a) Maddie wanted to get a read on who she'd be dealing with and b) she knew that once the speech was over, she'd get some food. What she wasn't expecting was the news that was dropped on them.

No Quidditch.

The eleven year old's face fell and she looked around at the others, noting some didn't seem so shocked. Had she MISSED something? Was this OLD news? Because Maddison Cooper LOVED to fly and if these threatening people were going after athletes, did it mean she'd be banned from doing that too? Just...no. What in Merlin's beard?

The small brunette searched out the older people meant to be guarding them and her eyes landed on the one nearest to the Ravenclaw table. Yeah, that guy was getting LOOKS. She'd be seeking these people out and asking questions when she could. That was a given.


Dima.

Hi Dima.

Maddie waved back and then leaned forward a little, her expression dark. "Did you hear what she said? No Quidditch. And threats! All on our first night." Merlin's beard. And he brothers said Hogwarts was lame. PSH.

No longer waddling as much - the initial shock and, er, discomfort from his fall becoming much more subdued - Airey finally made his way to the Ravenclaw table and moved directly towards the little sunspot and just vaguely overhead the conversation going on between him and Mr. Tempus regarding quidditch. Smirk. The astronomer had a few plans up his sleeves for something that these eager flyers might enjoy during the term. Smiiiiiiiiirk.

"Excuse me as I entirely intrude on your conversation boys," Airey chuckled as he stood nearby. Well, their's and the other conversations going on in the general area. "I've been looking for you, Mr. Tempus." He paused and offered Mr. Branxton hid best look of condolence, but he also had a question for the young man as well. "Mr. Branxton, any chance of my getting copies of the photographs you took on the field trip?" And did he happen to get a picture of him with that observatory temple before the zombies had come and ruined it all?

Huxley had managed to be calm…why hadn’t Mika managed to stay calm? She had no idea. Glancing at the food that now appeared in front of her she just sighed. She was hungry, really hungry, but the sour taste of her foul mood was ruining things for her.

Half of her wanted to apologize about things – the rest of her wanted to throw a plate of chicken at some poor soul’s head. Maybe she’d have to settle to throw a cauldron cake to the slytherin table, for old times sake?

Stupid grins…why did people have to have stupid somewhat infectious grins? Infectious grins were the worst they were like colds you couldn’t take antibiotics for. Grins. The grinning idiot was making her grin. Grinning was not what she wanted to do. It was the last thing she wanted to do and yet she found it forming on her face…well in her eyes.

“Darn I was hoping you would help me out on this…” the smirk that was playing on her features grew a little bigger….sure she was still mad about things but not as much as she had been…and she was starting to think that she had misunderstood a compliment as being not a compliment…a slightly exasperated groan sound escaped her lips, “why am I in such a bad mood?” She muttered…”did someone give me an angering potion? That would really explain everything it would explain this whole entire day….” She muttered under her breath just loud enough for the people around her to hear.

She didn’t know what it was. Maybe the devil of a sister of hers had given her an angering potion? If there was such a thing – it was either that…or something she clearly wouldn’t cop to.

Toby wasn't really sure how to react to the quick peck on the cheek from Sophie, given that he'd devoted a lot of his brain energy at the moment to sulking about Quidditch. It took a moment or two for the kiss to register, and when it finally did the teenager's face steadily broke into a small but genuine smile, though he did his best to play it cool around everyone else. Yeah, like this happened all the time, 'cause they were besties and stuff, see?

"Okay," he finally said, giving a little nod. Boy, he hoped they would still be allowed to fly, but the threat sounded really serious. If they'd spared the expense for extra security, would they be about to let Hogwarts students go out flying, especially on an unmanned practice pitch?

Toby decided not to think about it.

"I guess I'll be going on a lot more morning runs this year," he added, trying not to seem like he was dwelling on this too much, because it had finally struck him that he was doing a BAD JOB of concealing his emotions in public. That simply wouldn't do.

Hmkay, so... there was cannoli. Toby tilted his head at it, looking intrigued and............... feeling hungry. Okay, so... this took a bit of the sting out of the evening. It looked TASTY, and Toby wasted no time in picking away at it, taking small experimental bites at first.

Verdict: GOOD.

A tiny grin was offered to Cat, and Toby felt his mood lift ever so slightly.

"Thanks Cat," he said to her. "It tastes amazing."

Tobias continued to nibble away at the cannoli, taking uncharacteristically small bites. Mo was assuring him of the whole flying thing, and Toby smiled once more and nodded. He had an odd amount of faith in Mo, especially given that he'd never really had a huge conversation with the older lad. Most likely it was Soph's absolute trust in Mo that made Toby trust him as well, which said a lot about their friendship. In any case, Toby definitely believed that Mo would, somehow, help make things better. He was a Ravenclaw after all, and would find a way.

It didn't take very long for Toby to finish off his cannoli, and he was soon mourning the loss of that, too, even though by the point the food of the Feast had now appeared on the tables. Toby eyed it all carefully, not sure if there was anything he really fancied. The house elves always did a great job of providing vegetarian options, but nothing looked appealing. This was perhaps as first for Tobias Nestor Tempus.

But pretty soon, a distraction arrived in the form of a certain Astronomer, and Toby was saved from having to make food decisions.

"Hi Professor Airey," the Hufflepuff greeted with a small smile, wondering what exactly it was that prompted the Starman to come looking for him. He looked between Mo and Airey for a moment as the topic of field trip photographs came up, but stayed silent as he didn't have a clue what that was about. So Toby just sat there, looking as non-plused and downright innocent as it was possible to be.

Had Professor Flamsteed re-discovered Pluto? That might explain this little visit.

Austin raised his eyebrows. "So I'll be seeing more of you?" He liked the sound of that. She was a great girl, from the few minutes they shared. "Well, I guess that would make sense since we're both in Ravenclaw, but even still, you seem alright Coop." So he would definitely make it a point to see her again. He let his mind wander for a moment to when his mom had talked about making friends. She had told him not to be rude, or play any tricks, and he'd have a friend in no time. But he was all about the tricks. He had read up on the owners of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and how they played tricks in school, and it led them to create the best joke shop in the world. He would definitely make a stop there next summer. Assuming he could get away from his mom long enough.

Looking around, he was starting to get antsy. The night was carrying on, and he was ready to get back to his owl and to his new warm bed. "Do you think we'll be heading back anytime soon?" He asked impatiently.

"Tiny," Cosgrach greeted his favourite student with a formal bow and pressed on her shoulder more than Toby's. Hehe - oh, right, they weren't good at all. His face fell as well, and he straightened up. Such times weren't good for jokes - poor kids probably thought their lives were over.

"I'm doin' okay," he said in reply to them and he was going to say something on Quidditch issue, but Sophie kissed Toby's cheek that instant. He kept silent and conveniently overlooked it. In fact... see, he wouldn't ever feel awkward around couples or anything, but he figured Sophie and Toby might, and he actually supported this relationship, so... better to be gone before he saw something a professor shouldn't see.

"I'll see you later, then," he said as he turned to, well, ex-Ravenclaw captain.



Was they boy trying to distract him? If he was, it worked; Cosgrach didn't hear any threatening.

"Hello, Marcus," he said and chuckled softly. "I don't know about turning into a bird, but I am excited for the classes." Hopefully, everyone would enjoy them.

"I should go eat more," he said to the elder boy, "Hope to see you at classes." With that, he smiled at them once again and turned to return to his seat.

“Why I am simply commenting on your exact words Marcus, having said to the current Hufflepuff Prefect that he was ‘dead lucky’ simply because there was a vacancy. Not quite something that bespeaks of the confidence in someone’s leadership skills, and having come from you as a leader of this House, that kinda holds some weight.” In case he wasn’t aware, although she doubted it, looking like he was smarting something painful personally.

And having now heard the Headmistress’ speech, Mo’s comment reveals more about him post-badge.“I care not for anyone Marcus, only you, and they that you have slighted, accidentally or otherwise.” Was he aware of that, or did he suffer from too many bludger hits to have his sensibilities so thickened? Well if the current conversation were anything to go by...



Of course people would downplay things and shift focus and distract, such were the tactics of the House of Slytherin Ravenclaw it seems. And she heard Mika’s grumbling “Well if your boyfriend was complimented the way he was in front of him and in front of you and you’d be all hunky dory about it I’d start wondering about the sincerity of your affection.” Because this brunette wasn’t even remotely fond of hairdresser boyfriend yet she had sensed the double-meaning thrown his way.

And yes Huxley was hungry. But given her sensibilities she would also prefer a change of scenery, and with better company. She faced Kaiden squarely and said “As Prefect of your House, it would be part of your task to do your rounds in and around your Common Room is it not? I’m sure Mika and I would highly appreciate the expertise of which to navigate the kitchens.” Meaning he has just be appointed as their chaperone. When he's done. like now

Josette listened as the feathered boy explained to her how this unfortunate accident had happened. She found it to be a bit, odd, for her at least only because she'd never experimented with such strange things. Especially if it was something Canary Creams, which the name alone sounded a bit strange to the twelve year old. He thought her name was pretty? That was a first. But, it didn't make Josette immediately feel the urge to run away from the older boy like her father would had advised her to. He didn't seem dangerous..at least not right away..

She tensed up when he'd suddenly asked her if he had been scaring her. Was it that obvious on her face? DRATS! She thought she was at least trying harder than that to prevent it from looking too obvious. Clearly it wasn't working. But she chose not to verbalize that embarrassment. She just slowly shook her head no in response to his latest question.

....

Did he just.....caww? Like a bird?

Josette just stared unsure of how to react to that. But it wasn't like she were judging him or anything. It's not like he'd just done that on purpose?

...Right?



She nodded her head as the nice Prefect of her house began to tell her about his summer. Josette's eyes lit up a little bit when she'd heard him mention the trip to Peru. She had heard about that & really would have liked to have gone, but sadly when you're Josette you can exactly go on such an awesome trip when you're only twelve years old. Besides, even if she was old enough, she doubted that her father would even let her go. Still, it's always nice to dream thought isn't it? Still curiosity was within her brain!

"..W-What was Peru like?"

She couldn't help but edge her head slightly closer very eager to hear about the trip. But quickly leaned away again realizing what she was doing was probably coming across as creepy. So to cover herself, she began to play with the ends of her hair a little bit.

..But really, what was Peru like?



Josette nearly fell out of her seat at the very mention of what Mo had just said to her & some of her teammates. Just as she was about to tell him how excited she was about trying out for Quidditch again this term, he'd caught them off guard with such a terrible shocker. No Quidditch? But she'd spent most of her summer reading through every book, piece of parchment, or any notation that might have had some informational purpose pertaining to Quidditch on it. She couldn't wait to try some of these new techniques on the pitch...Now she couldn't..It was actually really upsetting her..

But it was what she'd heard Sophie Brown say that Josette couldn't help but agree with her, that it's stupid & that Captain Mo will always be their captain because he definitely would be, in her eyes. As much as Josette wanted to sulk about this matter, she did see a bit of some exciting things to look forward to, like the fact that her former teammates were planning on spending time together & according to Captain Mo, planning on doing something in the Common Room tonight as well!

....

It was still sad though that she couldn't improve her Quidditch skills this term. Josette sighed a little bit as she reached for the big water jug to pour herself some water into her goblet. After filling it halfway, she'd brought the goblet up to her lips as she took a sip of the cooling refreshment.