It happened so suddenly.

How did she fail her test so quickly??!

His eye began to twitch about the lower lid.


Who did she think she was?! This wasn't a democracy! It was total and complete totalitarianism at it's finest most best kind! Calm down, Mordaunt. Calm. Your. Yes. Calm. "Of course Lex would never bite off the head of one of her own. Booht,..."

He took a quick drink from his water goblet and placed it down on the surface of the dining table with a slight splash. "I understand if you're not up for the task." His hand held out palm up and gave a squeezing motion. He wanted the pyramid box housing the chocolate sphinx back.

Angel looked at Cutty, he looked a bit angry for some reason and Angel wasn't sure why. "Aww come on Cutty, you totally look better when your not angry." Angel put on her best puppy dog eyes, seriously he should know she could do anything, she just wanted to know what was in it for her.

Angel looked around and smiled. "Of course I'm up to the task." Angel was angry now, how dare he think she wasn't up-to any of the task, her eyes were staring daggers at him right now, she might have thought he was cool but well he was starting to seem a bit strange. "I was just making sure, that this wasn't a prank, I've been warned people got youngster to do bad things and I don't want to get into trouble." Angel was going to try her hardest to fit in and to behave.

Eyes on the Gryffindor table and mind somewhere completely different, he heard a voice say his name. And with a name like Ascanius she could only be talking to him. He turned toward Cassia and gave her a wink, "Nice badge. And you look gorgeous, as per usual." First gorgeous of the term. Who was counting?

He saw Snaps, yeah? He had seen her when she had walked in, when she had sat down and when she started giving everyone in the hall squinty eyes. That hair gave her away. So if she was trying to blend in and stay under the radar it wasn't working. Not with him.

He lifted one hand lazily and waved her down. Yeah, Snaps. Over here. Come sit over here.

There was a really bright voice in his ear. Way too happy to be the voice of Theo who it sounded like. For real. Who was--

...it WAS Theo? Had someone given him some special pumpkin juice? Wasn't he just as bummed as everyone about Quidditch?

And then he spotted the shiny badge sitting proudly on his chest. Oh. Well. That explained the 'tude. Smirking he decided to mention it. A little inflating of his dormmate's ego wouldn't hurt anyone, "Nice badge. Looks good on you, man."

Marisol walked up to the Slytherin table and casually took a seat. Inside, however, the first year did not feel casual. More like she was on a crazy roller coaster ride. The start of her wizarding education! Eeeep!

Not that Mari liked school. Of course she hated it! But it was hard not to like an opportunity like Hogwarts. And the ghosts were pretty cool. When would she meet them? All these questions buzzed around inside Marisol's head. Would the food just come already?

So this was the Slytherin table, huh?

Grayson had finally made his way over towards the table, his eyes taking in everything from the green and silver banner to the place setting and, more importantly, the people that were sitting there. This was his first feast at a new school, meaning that he couldn't sit with any old layabout. Besides, these first meetings could be important and he didn't want to give off the wrong impression. Nor did he want to be annoyed.

Just saying, you know.

So, he walked. And watched. And carefully tried to avoid the eyes of one Theodore Kinsley in case the boy decided to mention their brief encounter at a jewellery stand in Diagon Alley. No one needed to know that he had imitated a lady, mkay? And in return, he was going to momentarily forget that the older boy had been buying something for a special lady friend. See? Grayson could make sacrifices.

Reaching a safe, empty spot opposite an unfamiliar Slytherin (Cutty) and a lady someone who was near him, Grayson sat down and eyed the two closely. This could be fun to watch. Pity they didn't have any food on these shiny plates, which was the next thing the fourteen year old went on to examine. And why exactly were these plates empty? HMMMMMM? Seriously, he was hungry. Where was the food?

Yeah, she saw him. No, she wasn't going over there. She was having a hard time with.. stuff, okay? It was all she could do to keep herself from standing up and leaving the hall, actually. She just shook her head at him the tiniest bit and looked down at the backs of her hands.

No... not a good idea right now, that's all. They could talk later maybe. Or maybe she'd just go and turn on the radio and hide in the dorm and hope none of the girls tried to ask her why she felt like melting into her bed and staying there until she could graduate.

Yeah, that was more likely.

Hope had been stuck at the Ravenclaw EVERYTHING last year, but she was going to take a step in a different direction and wander around for a bit, after all there were no rules that said she couldn't visit other tables. She didn't stray too far though, just one table over. She was fairly certain she would find someone she knew over here. Maybe even some knew people she could talk with.

Then she spotted a couple of familiar heads, one that seemed to invoke within her the urge to just lose her temper. Almost like her grand transformation had never happened. However, she placed a smile and walked up to the two boys and one girl. "Caleb." She beamed at him. Would he remember her? Meh. "Cutty." Her voice fell flat, almost toneless. She still wasn't to happy with the train ride poking she had received WITHOUT an apology for such inappropriate behavior.

Agatha was still trying her best to figure out what was going on, leaning towards all those people but they were not speaking!!! Or they were but completely unrelated things. Or maybe not and she was the one completely out of the loop? She was, probably. Darn it.

She head a voice saying something really close to her and whipped her head around just to see-- A BADGE. Head Girl. Oooohhh, taht girl was important, wasn't she?? And she was welcoming Agatha to Slytherin! "Hello, I'm Agatha Hapgood." The thirteen year old tried not to look too excited. "Thanks, I love being in Slytherin." She was polite, okay. ..........."What's going on?" Agatha NEEDED to KNOW!

And why were there people from different houses at their table? Wasn't this the Slytherin table? Was that allowed?

For a moment she watched the Sorting Ceremony and a kid (was that Ethan?????) being a complete weirdo with the Hat and being placed in Slytherin. To be fair, Agatha did wonder if the Hat had made its first mistake ever, because Ethan was definitely NOT a Slytherin. See? He even went to sit with the Hufflepuffs. What a weirdo.

More sad, depressed and even angry students came to their table. What was happening to make people so upse- Head Boy approaching. WOW. Slytherin house was the BOSS. Agatha liked it.

Another thing she noticed was that most of the people there were older students. Were they that important? Not that Agatha disliked being amongst older kids, because she was mature enough to have good conversations with them, but she was wondering if there were more kids around her age. Until she saw some. Oh, good. She didn't know them, but that would probably change soon, she guessed.

She watched as the two kids (Angel and Cutty) chatted. It didn't take long until she got to the conclusion the girl was almost as weird as Ethan. The boy looked like he knew what he was doing and Agatha approved of that, but he was still a boy anyway, and they take way longer to stop being immature. Maybe it wasn't a very good idea to make friends with the kids her age because they seemed to be a bit... off. Older kids would make better friends then, she decided.

Speaking of the older kids, one of them just sat next to her (Grayson) and was also watching the two kids chat. "Hello." She turned to him. That hadn't been a friendly hello, but more of a 'I acknowledge your presence' kind of hello. "I'm Agatha Hapgood and welcome to Slytherin." He had gotten there after her, which made her his veteran, right? Agatha glanced back at the two kids conversing and her face could let anyone know she thought the girl was an odd one.

West was not, apparently, interested in sisterly affection, and Genevieve generously dropped her grip on his head and allowed him to manhandle her sleeve. Fancy Auror robes, yeah? Respect the threads, littlebig man.

"Let's just say... you have professional body guards, so it must be serious. Some sort of threat. It made it into the Prophet, so see if you can get your hands on a copy." Or she'd find him one later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colley

Cat hadn't really had much of a chance to talk privately with Mo considering Sophie and Toby had taken over most of the attention while they were all sitting together. She tossed a look over at the Ravenclaw table to see if she could spot him and just to check that he wasn't laying on the ground all resolute like. But she didn't really see him over the heads of so many people. Maybe she'd go over later. She should probably also go to visit the Hufflepuff table and her prefecty bestie.

However, when she took a seat at her own table, she couldn't help but notice that Vivi was there. Didn't she know she'd graduated? Also, she wasn't a Slytherin. What exactly was going on here? Cat folded her hands together carefully, keeping all of her fingers tucked close together. No finger sandwiches for the female Branxton today.

Or ever. Nope.

We seeeeeeee you, Girlfriend. Genevieve saluted the Slytherin girl eyeing her down the table. Guess what was fun and exciting this term? "There's no safe place to snooooooog my brother, Moretti."

'Cause Genevieve Branxton was stationed at Hogwarts. And while mission number one was to keep the place safe, and mission number two was to continue to pass her up-skill lessons... mission three was to prevent little brother from enjoying his seventh year. As sisters do.

Her back tingled for an odd reason causing her to shudder. It wasn't nerves. Beverly was over feeling nervous at Hogwarts. She was still mostly put off for what had happened to her last term. Keeping a firm gaze at the Sorting Ceremony, the Slytherin didn't clap nor 'woot.' She wasn't in a bad mood or anything, just indifferent.

It was when the first sort-ee arrived at the table that she managed the tiniest of grins at the girl. Allies, she needed those. What better than to start with newbies.

"Welcome to Slytherin," she said curtly. See, she could do this...social stuff. Yeah. Piece of cauldron cake. "I'm Beverly Wayne, what's your name?" SEE. TOTES HAS THIS.



Look who it was, none other than I-broke-my-leg-but-my-toad-is-more-important guy. He still owed her for saving his life. Not really, but he didn't need to know that. He'd been passed out the entire time.

"How's the leg?" she asked in form of greeting, with a raise of an eyebrow, skipping the questions. For sure they were mostly directed at the hair guy, Caleb.



There was a snort nearby, followed by a laugh. Scowling a bit, more out of habit, Beverly turned to the source. What was so funny? She was curious.

"What's so amusing?" she asked, unable to just ignore it. Half the table was so glum a bit of amusement wouldn't be bad.



She would never admit it, EVER, but Beverly was glad to see Cutty Mordaunt. Last term she'd labeled him as her ally when he made that promise, which she STILL remembered and STILL hung over his head.

"Mordaunt," she said with a greeting nod and the slightest of smirks. She wasn't ancient anymore, thus the small boost of confidence, and it was Cutty. "You've got more of your supply?" All business-like she clasped her hands in front of her on the table, showing off she had yet another accessory. Along with the bracelet, she had a ring on her right ring finger, the black stone glinting in the light with a engraved W on it. He seemed so interested in her black pearled bracelet last term she wondered if he'd notice this new treasure; the family ring. Inner smirk--

Inner smirk FAIL.

Eyes growing wide, she spotted a tall young man across the Hall talking to a ghost. WHAT WAS HE DOING HERE? Forgetting all about her surroundings, Beverly turned away, attempting to hide...




Said shelter came in form of an absolute stranger. The only thing on her mind was to hide, and not thinking she tugged on someone's robe, using it as a mask. It didn't register in her mind that what she was doing was BEYOND ridiculous. That the person might mind. She didn't care.

She needed to hide before he saw her. OH MY MERLIN.

Uhhhhhhhhh.....

Cat was very successful at not squirming in her seat and not getting up and seeking solace at the Hufflepuff table with her equally-fierce-as-Vivi Branxton best friend. She was just fine right here where she belonged. (Although she was none too pleased with her luck at Vivi being at THIS table. Didn't she want to go see Mo? Yes? Cat wouldn't mind that at all!) Instead of these things, Caterina saluted back to the big sister and smiled, "This is a challenge I will gladly accept." Because... duh, she was SO not going to stop kissing her boyfriend just because his sister was here.

OH LOOK! CASSIA. Someone to pay attention to besides Vivi and her finger breaking threats. Nice. Hi roomie! Though Cat also had a genuine interest in talking to the girl, so she GRINNED at her. "Head Girl in the dorm now? Welp. Suppose I should be on my best behavior." Like that was going to happen. This seemed to be starting as quite the year for Caterina Moretti. "Congratulations, though. You're going to be awesome." Of course. Because she was Cassia and Cassia was already awesome.

Plus she was a Slytherin.

And who should join them now but Cutty. One of his favourite Slytherins. But Adi never told Cutty that. Nope. It just might swell the guy's head. Haha. "Hey, Cutty! What's up? Had a good summer? How's the sweet business going?'' Questions, questions.

Beverly she had just introduced herself as to a new Slytherin? Okay. "It's quite well, thankfully,'' Adi replied. "Haven't had any trouble with it. That Healer did a great job.'' But he didn't think she'd be interested in that. "Thanks again for your help, Beverly.'' He grinned and wondered if she ever smiled. She was always so serious.

Lots of older kids. In fact, Marisol didn't actually see anyone about her age. Except for this one girl who could be a first year (well, she was short, anyway), but wasn't a Slytherin. Okay, Mari was visibly failing to understand both these British peeps and what was going on. Same as always.

She'd still say hello. It was kind of routine.
"Hello!" Marisol greeted the girl excitedly with her thick Spanish accent. "I'm Marisol. And you?"

The young old man and his Bird. She'd learned his name so she might as well learn it but any thoughts of him immediately brought "the young old man" to mind so she didn't think she'd change that. If he preferred and because it was easier, she'd call him Cutty.

And what was his Birds name again? She couldn't remember but it was nice that she actually came to visit her boyfriend. She had seen that girl was sorted into Gryffindor. With a smile, she headed to her space -her hair had given up on behaving and was now slowly reforming loose curls- and settled at the end of her girl group.

Cutty saw the expression on the girl's face. Was she angry? Good. He could use that against her. Light all her fuses, start an explosion. He bet she had all the control of niffler in a vault.

What to do? Oh, there were only too many options. Tell an authority figure that this newbie Gryffindor came and stole the chocolate...no, better...tell Cambridge that the girl had stolen HER chocolate. Or he could even go another way and let everyone misinterpret the phrase, 'You were amazing on the train' and spread a harmful rumour at her expense. Try to make friends after THAT, girlie-pie!

His icy gaze peered at and through the girl as if she were as paper. Thin, dispensable, and worth only what he was willing to put upon it. She was worth more to him alive and well, however. And an impoverished mimicry of a human child though he was, Cutty showed restraint by calmly accio'ing the pyramid box back.

"Of course you are. Maybe some other time, Angel." Lucky, lucky Angel, to whom he might have sounded a bit offended at having been doubted and taken for the prankster type. Which he was, but only with the proper catalyst known as Benzi Rider.

His attention turned from her and he saw the two new faces, one of which, the boy (Grayson) seemed to be perhaps analytical, and the other, the girl (Agatha) seemed to be judging...but not him. The faintest smile came about Cutty Mordaunt's face as he neared the completion of his puppeteering act upon the wee lioness. "Welcome to Slytherin." Seemed appropriate, being as how they likely saw much of that transaction. "M'name's Mordaunt. Cutty Mordaunt."



Oh, Merlin. It was Hope Despair Evans. Actually, she wasn't that bad. The girl could talk quidditch, and he sort of liked the fact that she fancied head games. She was in good company. "Hope." He sighed as if it were not even worth his effort to say her name, much less acknowledge her.

Now, the other girl. She was at least in his house and belonged here, he thought. Not that he was the least bit territorial. He picked up on her distinct accent and cleared his throat. "Welcome to Slytherin house, Marisol, was it?" He said warmly before introducing himself. "Cutty Mordaunt. Third year." He said introducing himself to her.





The new accessories not lost on Cutty, he eyed them for one second and then for the remainder of the time tried to look as if their mere presence didn't do something to his blood. Funny how he didn't have to fake his own serenity as he spoke these words in response to Beverly. "You can rely on it. I've even added some imported things to the inventory." Sweets he'd picked up from Egypt and Canada. But then, Wayne's attention turned elsewhere. Cutty leaned over toward her and turned his head to see from her perspective just what she was looking at.

It took Cutty all of two seconds to realize that he quite liked that quality about Beverly Wayne. The one that enabled her to be strong one minute and vulnerable the next. It gave her a decidedly feminine edge over most other females at that school.







He didn't trust her.

And, she was apparently afraid of ghosts.


"I did. And it's going extremely well. I just started stocking some exotic imports. Meet me in the courtyard tomorrow and I'll let you get a sneak peek." And if Addi liked what he saw he'd probably tell the other Puffs. That's what Cutty was hoping anyway. Nothing like word of mouth advertising.

Angel looked at Cutty and sighed. "Cutty I can carry out a task you know." Angel pouted. "I ain't a baby." Angel just didn't want people thinking that they could take advantage of her because she was sweet and innocent. "I just don't want to get into trouble, I like being good." Angel really did like to make a good impression and this Cutty guy seemed to be one of those she would have to watch.

Angel put on her sweetest smile possible. "I'm sorry Cutty." Angel hoped her new friend would forgive her. "I just seriously don't want to do anything bad, I would hate to lose points on my first night here." Angel put on her cutest puppy dog eyes. "You'll forgive me right?"

The usuals were soon joining the gang of Slytherins, and Theo dished out a couple of smiles and nods, including Terry. Aaaaaaaaaand yes, he clearly was out of the loop. Theo glanced over at West, stayed silent for a second, and then opened his mouth.

"I'm sure you'll hear all about it, mate." He pointed to the front where the teachers were sitting.

'Cause yeah, he didn't want to say it himself.

Well, at least someone noticed.

Theo automatically puffed out his chest a little, and he looked down at his badge to give off the impression that he had forgotten it was there at all. He hadn't. "Oh... yeah. Thanks, mate." He was smiling, but only a little, 'cause he didn't want people to think he was happy at a time like this. "Good summer?" That was the generic back-to-school question, right?

Theo wasn't paying an awful lot of attention to the sorting ceremony, but managed to sneak a look up whenever someone was placed into Slytherin. Did it make him a good prefect to acknowledge the new kids? Eh, he still didn't care much. He did recognize a face joining their table, though. Merlin knew what his name was, but Theo could never forget such an annoying douchebag.

To be just as annoying back, Theo did a little girly wave in the air towards the younger boy.

Hehe.

Hi, new kid looking at him.

Theo winked at her.

For realz.

Despite the bad news and the obvious irritation regarding the cancellation, Ascanius never failed to keep his swagger and his style. "Thank you," She smiled and beamed because compliment did that to her. "You look good, too," All Slytherins did. Who dared question that. "How was your summer, fun I hope?" She guessed his would be one heck of a cool one. Probably included hanging out with the band and the such. Oh, and Theo joined them. Cassia beamed at the fellow prefect when he joined.

Roommate! A grin spread across the blond's face at the sight of her friend. "Nah, Miss Moreti can get away with anything," She winked at the fellow snakette and it made Cassia amused at the thought of people doing things behind her back. Did anyone really fear her or something? Of course she knew Cat was joking but it got Cassia thinking about the other and younger snakes. The thought was flattering anyway.

"Thanks, Cat, this means a lot to me," It really did, such words from friends were precious. "And how was your summer? I trust eventful as ever?" Because Cat's summer like Dora's mostly included traveling which was a huge.

The group of their year-mates was growing. Cassia smiled at Terry as he sat down next to her. She also saw Derry down the table but the red-headed looked like she needed sometimes alone and Cassia understood that and didn't want to pressure or push her dormmate. They'd talk when Derry was ready and in the mood to talk to others. Her attention was back on Terry who appeared to have noticed the expressions on the faces. "It's about Quidditch," She prompted glancing towards the teammates. Maybe they wanted to explain? Or she could, too, right?! Right. "It's cancelled," Yeaah, someone definitely should have taken care of the explanation.

That sounded like one promising snake and possible minion friend. Cassia flashed a smile when name was said. Kids with manners, those still existed after all. "Nice to meet you, Agatha. I', Cassia Somerlad." And with enormous effort she refrained from saying YOUR HEAd GIRL! That wasn't funny being said out loud neither in her head actually. "I'm sure you'll even come to love it more," she nodded knowingly at the younger girl.

A curious mind as well. Extra points for the gal. "Ah, there was bad news delivered on the train and affects the Quidditch team," She wondered if she could or should drop the bomb to the new comer right away. What if she was a die hard quidditch player who was going to be super sad about the cancellation of Quidditch and would end up crying. Of all the things, Cassia didn't want to start her year trying to calm down and wipe firstie's tears. Speaking of. "What year are you by the way?" She didn't really look like a firstie but who knew.

More new faces were appearing. Cassia hoped the silent boy was as promising as Agatha whom she just met. Her eyes followed the boy until he sat down and was now focused on the silverware. Good thing those were real and no more plastic ones were here. And she did notice the boy's eyes settle on someone in the table and a small spark of recognition there. Did he know someone who was in Slytherin already? If he did, he didn't show much signs. Seeing that Cutty had already welcomed him to Slytherin, and the third year received a wink and a wave, Cassia cleared her throat and chose something else to say to the silent new snake. "Hungry?" He looked like it. Unless his fondness of silverware was the reason of his staring.

And now that she asked that, it made her feel stupid. So what if he said yes, she wouldn't be able to do a thing except tell him to wait till the speech is done. Way to give false hope to people.

Theo looked pretty pleased with himself. That gracious smile didn't fool Ascanius, but he let him have it. After all, s'a nice badge. He'd earned a little bit of praise. Only a little. Ascanius pointing it out was the best he was gonna get from the seventh year, yeah? "No problem." Really.

Cooly, he went on, "S'pretty good." More then that. He didn't dare glance over at the Gryffindor table."And yours?"

Yeah, yeah. He saw that dazzling smile. Y'know, he had that affect on women, which wasn't exactly news. Or at least in his head he thought so.

He didn't dare address her own compliment. He shrugged his shoulders and smirked more at her as if to signal that he knew. It was a daily thing. The looking good part. Ahem. He was modest.

"Yeah. It was decent. And yours?" Did she go on that trip too? Everyone he talked to sounded like they had.

She was getting looks from him. Full on stares. But he didn't say anything else. Just gave her one more look and shook his head.

Be stubborn. Fine, Snaps. Whatever.

...

could she leave now? Derry pushed her hair up into a hair tie and tried to shrink into her seat. She just... yeah. No. She fished a bit of parchment out of her pocket and doodled a windmill and a tree with the words "later, important" in the corner. That'd make sense to Ascanius unless he was a total idiot... then she folded it and levitated it to land in front of him.

... right. Could the speech just happen now so she could leave? She wasn't hungry... She rested her forehead on her hands and waited.

As he kind of watched all the people around him talking and interacting with one another, Gareth started to feel that he was getting bored. Really bored. The former captain looking amusing didn't hold his attention for much time so he was back to eyeing people which quickly let to boredom. So much boredom that it made him stare down at his empty plate and let out a displeased sigh.

When was the Red Headmistress going to gave her speech? He wanted to have his supper and then leave this place as quickly as possible. People being all so social with each other annoyed him. Maybe because he felt left out but he was not going to admit or accept that. Eh...he couldn't expect more as most of them were already friends long before he joined in the house. Not that he was interested in being a part of a loud bunch anyway. Or so he told himself.

The boy was idly playing with his silverware as he heard a girl's voice throw a question somewhere near him. Great. Now they were going to start another conversation from one side of him to another and there was no way he could avoid being stuck in the middle of it, forced to listen, unless he changed his seat which was kind of impossible now for the table looked full.

He turned to see the owner of the voice, only to find the girl looking at him. What? "Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah I seen that... it doesn't tell us much though, does it?" West said still quietly. And then there were other things that were annoying like how this apparently warranted professional bodyguards as Vivi called it, whereas dementors hadn't. He sniffed slightly and pouted, definitely put out by the whole thing.

"I'd give you a hug but its probably not going to help your big tough auror act." He added and grinned at her, though it didn't touch his eyes. He was trying though, dammit.

Grayson had been paying too much attention towards the couple on the other side of the table, and then at the silverware, to actually notice who he had sat down next to. It wasn't until he heard a voice close to him that he stopped looking down at the table and over towards the, heh, girl. Did he know this one? No. Probably hadn't met her and even if he had, he wasn't able to place a name to a face.

Agatha Hapgood. Why did that name ring a bell? "Hellooooo. Thank you," he said, giving her a curt nod. He didn't know her, smiles weren't going to be given just yet. "The name's Grayson. Grayson Whitlock." You know, if they were going to be formal with the surnames and all. "Er, weren't you recently Sorted as well?" Agatha. Hapgood. The name definitely rung a bell.

When she glanced away, so did he. And towards the spot she was looking over at. "What do you think's going on?" Because he was nosy. And he was testing this one to see how good of a company she would make.

............................ WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN.

Grayson had been doing what Grayson Whitlock did best: spying and observing people. The last thing he had expected was this............ this GIRL to spring up out of nowhere and tug at his robes. His robes that had just changed to the Slytherin green and now had the Slytherin crest on it. It felt new, because of the change. And it was his, thank you very much. And she was TOUCHING it and TUGGING on it as if she wanted him to TAKE IT OFF.

............... WELL..................

Girl. Right. "Excuse you, I'm not your bodyguard." She wasn't even paying him. Freaking rude. "What are you doing, anyways?"

Anyways. Back to the couple. He wanted to SEE what was happening here.

And could he tell? Not entirely. To him, it seemed as though the girl was trying to cling onto this Slytherin boy here but he was having none of it. Heh. That's right. Keep cool, unknown Slytherin.

Speaking of unknown Slytherin, look who had turned to notice them. He didn't know why the other boy was smiling -- about to ask for a favour, perhaps? -- but he did understand the need to keep things casual. Grayson nodded in response before saying, "Thank you, Cutty. Seems like a great house from what I can tell." Politeness. "The name's Grayson Whitlock." Again. Surnames. ""

Still not mentioning Little Miss Lady Friend over there.

.................................... NO.

Grayson had thought that maybe the two could come to an unspoken understanding but nooooOOOOOooooo. This one had to be annoying. Jeez, was the girly wave necessary? And more importantly, what if someone saw?! He had only just arrived here, he didn't want to start things off with his ego being bruised yet again.

The fourteen year old raised his eyebrows at the boy and was about to mention something wheeeeen.......... OH HO HO. Something shiny was glinting off of the boy's chest. "What's that for?" he asked, nodding at the badge. This was a much better conversation topic, thank you.

And here was another badged person.

It was one of the first things that Grayson had noticed when he heard the clearing of the girl's throat and, in turn, ended up looking at the girl. What did those badges mean?! And why was it nearly impossible for him to read thanks to the candles? Whatever it meant, he hoped that this one was a nicer version of the Jewellery Boy over there.

Hungry? "Yeah!" he said, probably a little too enthusiastically but he didn't care, "I've only had a sub and some sweets on the train. When are we allowed to eat?" Would the girl be able to pull off some sort of magic trick? Or would she know the answer to his question? HMMMMM?

And, because he was curious and wanted to know, "What does that badge mean?" This was also a good way to see whether the Theodore boy would actually tell him the truth.

A girl with bright red hair dressed in Ravenclaw robes clearly went out of her way as she crossed the great hall. She had a shoulder bag thrown across her, which she reached into as she neared one particular Slytherin student. The girl wrestled with a smile, still trying to seem casual. As she passed him, she withdrew an unopened box of sugar quills and set them on the table next to him without pausing her step.

Kannalynne continued on to the Ravenclaw table without so much as a glance backwards.

Cutty watched as his bodyguard entered and took a seat near some girls, but he chose not to say anything to her just yet. She had a way of saying entirely too much for his taste. Best keep her quiet.

Her hair was threatening to do that boingy!boingy thing again. He was forming an odd fascination with it.

Her high little voice protesting her babyhood only made Cutty think that Angel was indeed very much a baby. But, he was okay with it if she were. She was only eleven afterall. And kids were so impressionable at that age, weren't they?

He turned from his table to face the little lioness again. "Alright, Angel, I'll tell you what. I shall forgive you." Gong! "On the condition that you deliver your prefect's candy safely, unopened and uneaten, licked or otherwise handled ...without further question." Clang. Cling-cling-TANG. Cling-cling-TANG.

"Honestly, it's like you don't trust me or something." Somewhere on the island of Java an intricate and complex orchestra was playing, but also there in Scotland at the Slytherin table.













Oh no he didn't!