Heh. He got a smile. That was good.. right? But his only words sort of worried him and without the full explanation, Terry was really starting to worry that something drastic had gone wrong.

'I'm sure you'll hear about it'. That sounded ominous. The seventh year looked suspicious but decided not to press it any further, if only to not upset the gloomy bunch of Slytherin's that were sat around him. "Well whatever it is it can't be that bad" he pondered, chewing the inside of his cheek a little as he spoke. Maybe it was?

"Anyway this is exciting, isn't it?" He nudged his friends arm with a grin, indicating towards the badge. This was cool, yeah? Well he thought so anyway.

And then along came Cassia with the fleeting looks and the much awaited expectation. Oh. That made sense. He frowned a little, pondering why but he was sure it would come up in the Headmistresses speech. "That's kind of rubbish, in their last year as well?" Wouldn't there be scouts about and stuff? Surely whatever the reason it was shouldn't have altered peoples chances of getting spotted. Not that Terry would ever play Quidditch, he didn't mind watching it but he would never get on a broomstick.

"On a much happier note, congratulations on Head Girl!" he grinned, unsure of whether he had already had a chance of saying it. She deserved it, as did Theo. They'd make a formidable leadership pair and them both being in Slytherin made it that little bit more awesome.

Headmistress Truebridge got their attention and the Slytherin looked up, excited for the prospect that speech meant food would be coming soon and his grumbling stomach would certainly be thankful for that. But of course she announced the cancellation of Quidditch and the threats which duly explained what the adults were doing around, members of the ministry. They didn't bother him, it wasn't like Terry was going to engage in the sport anyway. Soon the food appeared and the seventeen year old helped himself. Yes. He had missed this food.

Vinnie just took a sip of her pumpkin juice as she heard someone say her name. Wait....say her name? How? She didnt think she knew that voice. People knew her name? Now that was new.

The brunette turned to see the person properly and looked into the face of a friendly looking blonde. Slightly older maybe. "Hi, yeah i am Vinnie", she smiled", and you?" if they had met before, she'd be dead embarrassed and probably never eat in the great hall again. Somehow the face seemed familiar to her, but the girl to it?! She really had no clue. Why hadnt she made an effort earlier?! Please let this go right. Please.

The blonde had a really nice smile, Vinnie didnt want to mess this up. Afterall someone was talking to her, just like that.

Hope. That was an interesting name, while she was on that topic. Marisol was pretty sure she knew what it meant. Indeed, she had a friend whose name was the Spanish version, Esperanza. Pretty solid and uplifting meaning.
"Seville, Spain," Mari replied. This had been a big topic of conversation lately. At least her accent was interesting. She herself disagreed, but you never know.

Cutty seemed to like Marisol's name, which she found too girly. It didn't suit her, though she wished it did, for it really was beautiful. Mari was too awkward and tomboyish for Mary of the Sun. Her name would better suit her twenty year-old sister, Lucía, who was feminine and gorgeous. At least that was what Lucía's boyfriends thought. Mari wasn't a very good judge of looks of fashion, but she'd take their words.

Either way, Marisol wouldn't like to be called Mari all the time. Her family and best friends were the only ones. Boy, did she miss Spain and her friend Sara Dominguez. She wondered what Sara was doing right now at her Beauxbatons initiation. Marisol felt a little guilty about being so desperate for new friends.

"So," she said. "Who are the bad, horrible kids?"

Sitting at the wrong table wasn't exactly how he wanted to start his First Feast. He reckoned it was best that he got humiliated at the Badger’s table than in Slytherin, simply because his own house seem to be more unforgiving than the former. They had fun pointing it out to him, all right—but it seems that it wasn’t much of a biggie to them. So yes, it was all good.

After the Headmistress delivered her speech, Ethan excused himself from the yellow people and decided to join his own house for dinner. It was just, proper, yes? Besides, he needed to meet the people that will shape and mould him for the next four years of his stay.

“Ah…now this is more accurate.” Ethan thought as he approached the Slytherin table. Mordred was right. This was where the sober kids got housed. Should be a good thing for him, yeah? Ethan wore his signature, goofy grin and made his presence known. “Hello fellow Slytherins!” And thank you Ana for correcting him. If it wasn’t for her, he’d probably be calling them Smithereens, still. Ethan plopped down on an empty seat and gave those around him a wave and a nod. “Ethan’s the name.” After all the introductions he did earlier, he opted for a shorter version of his usual intro speech. Also, maybe their introductions can wait, because food suddenly appeared before him.

Food is dinner. Dinner is food. Ethan logic right there.

FOOD! Akdfjas;dlfj;dlskfjdfj.

Not that he was expecting the polar opposite to be true, it had somewhat caught Cutty off-guard to hear the little firstie already asking the important questions. She'd know how to navigate the meandering social rivers of Hogwarts just fine if she was already thinking about which crowd to avoid. Or maybe she didn't want to avoid them, but make them targets of some kind.

"Oh, well, you've already met Hope, so that's one." He shamelessly spoke unaffected, as if Hope weren't there. Then he continued, "But then there's also Fern Quimbley and Tora Gallaway. Fern once got me in trouble with the potions master at the school." As strange as that sounded, Cutty was actually telling the truth about that time Fern had basically dared herself to drink her own potion and had made herself sick in front of him, thus landing them both a punishment in which they were essentially placed into a magical equivalent of a get-a-long t-shirt. "You'll be wanting to scarper off in the other direction if you see her. I think if you stick with the Slytherins, though, you'll be in good company."


It wasn't obvious at all. But in the midst of his conversations with many, Cutty's line of sight was drawn this way and that and when it came time for his eyes to pass over the sight at which Derry had been sitting, he noticed a peculiar lack of her. She might have likewise been upset about the cancelling of quidditch as Cutty remembered her holding the title before Odessa came to be Captain.

As Derry left, though, a new face was joining their table. Two of 'em in fact. One belonging to an older female (Vinnie) and another belonging to a male. That other Mordaunt kid, whose name he'd heard being called out for the sorting earlier on and Cutty had mistaken for his own. Had thought some lie or another had reached

The girl immediately got a greeting from Headgirl Cassia, who Cutty gave a nod to, he had not said hello to her with all the bother from Angel and Hope. With any luck, though she'd see what he meant about girls who couldn't seem to leave him alone.

Judging by the way Hapgood framed her answer to his question gave every indication that she did not want to discuss the particular topic of her previous whereabouts before Hogwarts. Bad girl? Suspended? Expelled, perhaps? M'mm, bad witches. She was however pressing the issue of year, maybe in anxiousness to leave the afore considered topic alot. "Well, Agatha Hapgood, I am in my third year as well." Satisfying? "And at least you weren't homeschooled. Can we expect, then, that you'll be up to par with the rest of us in all of your subjects?"


"Welcome to Slytherin, Ethan." He said studying the lad. How he combed his hair, sat and the general tidiness of his robes. "I saw you get sorted. And, I would've welcomed you then, booht you'd gone off to another table." Said the other other Mordaunt with a wave of his hand as if to dismiss the mistake. If this kid was a Mordaunt as well, he wouldn't want people making assumptions of the wrong sort. Afterall, they might, somewhere down the line, actually be related. Only one way to find out. "Did I hear right?" He began with a scrunching of his nose and slightly squinting of the eyes as if deep consideration were taking place. "Your last name is Mordaunt too?" Cutty reached for an enormous pickle and bit off the end trying to get the most juice out of it like some kind of a pickle vampire.

Adi tried as conspicuously as possible scan the Great Hall for Sophie. He hadn't seen her over the summer at all and he couldn't wait to see her now. Only he didn't want Caleb to notice that. He still wasn't sure how the male Newell twin felt about him asking Sophie to that Valentine's Day thing last term. But surely he must have figure Adi was crushing big tome on his sister. "Yeah, I guess,'' he finally replied, having not spotted Sophie anywhere. "So, Caleb. What were you up to over the summer? Glad to be back?''

Excellent! No extra homework but Adi couldn't help bit wonder what he'd end up doing to return Beverly's favour. It had better not be anything embarrassing! Adi eyes the Slytherin girl suspiciously as he wondered if she already had anything on her mind. But he supposed he would find out later in the term. He decided to now change to subject. "Looking forward to the new term, Beverly?'' What year was she in, anyway?

Adi's curiosity was bubbling over, though. Would he be able to wait until tomorrow. "Can you give me any sneak peaks now, Cutty?'' Acquiring new and unusual sweets was serious business especially to someone who loved to eat them.

Something is seriously wrong with this table. Ah yes. This lot is too serious. The other tables were abuzz with greetings, gossips even…but this table. It’s…different. Even the feel was different. Ethan however waved the thought away mentally telling himself that he doesn’t have to interact with them if the lot was too boring for him.

And after his jolly, and lively greeting for everybody—he only got a response from one kid. One. Out of…50 or so Slytherins. Well, at least he didn’t look like the complete idiot. “Oh hey, no worries dude!” Ethan gave him a smile, a nod, and gently patted the other boy’s back. “Ah well. The house bit is confusing. Transfer student, see.” He added pointing to himself. “But it’s all good. Everyone’s been nice and all.” He said gesturing to the Hufflepuff table.

At this point, Ethan’s stomach started to grumble as he looked at the glorious food in front of him. Everything else went blurry for him; the sight of the juicy steak made him temporarily deaf from all the commotion that was happening around him.

Food. Steak. Merlin!

Ethan helped himself to a slab, and filled half of his plate with mashed potatoes. Angelic voices echoed inside his head as he poured glorious gravy over his food, then the sound of heavenly violin played next as he cut up his steak. Shortly after, he brought his fork to his mouth with the divine piece of steak; but then the music screeched to a painful halt when the other Slytherin boy asked him another question.

Ethan turned to him slowly with his fork a few inches away from his lips, and his mouth ajar ready to devour the yummy edible food called steak. Was he a Mordaunt? Well, if his daddy Mordaunt didn’t claim him, he wouldn’t be asked this question. And the steak would have been consumed by now. Ethan closed his mouth slowly and watched his fork longingly. “Yeah, I am.” Sadly. “Why’d you ask?” he said as he quickly placed the fork inside his mouth; just in case the other boy asks another bloody question, then sloooowly pulled it out savouring the exquisite meat inside his mouth.

ChewChewChew.

Sophie approached the Slytherin table with a smirk on her face. Just where had SHE been? She'd never tell, but she also knew her brother and her friends had likely never seen her on the Hogwart's Express. Heh. She'd just have to leave them wondering for quite some time. Maybe forever.

Smirk still in place, she plopped down at the table amongst Caleb and company and casually began scooping food onto her plate. Maybe she'd tell them she'd been at the Ravenclaw table all along. Or the Hufflepuff table even! Nah. They'd never believe that one. Either way, she mentioned nothing of her small absence and spooned a bit of food into her mouth. A moment later, she glanced up.

"Well, let third year begin then," she said. Short, simple, and to the point. What had been going on, though? She did wonder, just a little, what everybody had been up to while she'd been...well, out and about, so to speak.

Was this a kid that you'd take his word? Marisol eyed him thoroughly. She wasn't mean or anything, she just wanted to know who was. Mari was going to be a friendly Slytherin. She kind of knew that new kids (especially ones who didn't speak English very well) could get pushed around easily.

Okay, well maybe the first year was quick to judge. She had long since come to terms with that fact. So some girls named Fern and Tora. Marisol was a bit skeptical about the mention of Hope. The eleven year-old found her nice. Should Cutty even be saying this right in front of Hope's face? Mari'd figure the social thing out. She wasn't the most popular kid back in Seville, but she was sure she'd get the hang of things.

"Mmm-hmm," she nodded confidently, and put some food on her plate.

Good. It was time to eat. Cutty took the polite murmur of understanding and confident nod given by Marisol as a sign that she was ready to save the conversation for the common room and tuck into her meal. He was too. And with that he grabbed a warm bread roll, split it open with a cutting charm and began to load shredded beef from a pot roast nearby. Beef butty, yo.

Merlin. Hufflepuffs do NOT understand exclusivity, do they? "If I showed you here and now before Merlin and the Slytherin house table, it wouldn't be much of a sneak peek would it?" He said spooning humus onto a roll he'd loaded in the meanwhile with what appeared to be roast beef. "But you'll see it all soon enough, Rehman. Patience, my friend. Patience."

The other Mordaunt kid looked to be having a proper good time tucking into his meal. Cutty considered that he might have been disturbing the lad shortly before considering that he did not give damn about that. Not about the disturbance his questions would pose, but he did understand that people gave better answers on a full stomach. And so, although he had questions that one way or another he usually got answered, he was planning on going with the typical method now.

He took a drink from his pumpkin juice to consider that Ethan Mordaunt, as the boy was called, had mentioned about his previous schooling experiences. Like Hapgood, he wasn't homeschooled, but the school he had previously attended did not segregate it's students into houses and thus probably did not have them compete for a housecup or even housepoints. That was Cutty's drawn implication at least. Meaning that all of that would be new to Ethan Mordaunt.

Just how smart was Ethan Mordaunt? Would he catch on quickly? The men on his dad's side were extremely intelligent or so his father told him. It always surprised Cutty, as he believed the opposite was true of pureblood lines and so many of his dad's family members had had failed ventures which Cutty thought proved his idea.

He waited for Ethan to chew and swallow before pressing onward. "Because I am a Mordaunt too." As if it were something you were and not just a name. "Cutty A. A. Mordaunt, third year." He said introducing himself properly.



Hehehehe. Sophie Newell. Hehehehehe. Cutty pulled a mildly (for him) disgusted expression as the other half of the Newell brood showed up. This, of course, was entirely for show. He'd come to enjoy the Newell's for what they were to him and being as how he'd spent some part of the summer familiarizing himself with who's who in Potions realm, he was also looking to be a tad bit more friendly. But only just a tad. Anything more than that would cause suspicion.

"Ugh! Really? And here I thought I was actually going to make it through one feast without having to suppress my gag reflex." Maybe slightly less than a tad? "Finally gracing us with your presence, I see, Newell. Where were you?" He asked all controllingly like he was her dude or something. UGH!

Sophie somewhat noticed Cutty's change in expression as she accidentally took the seat next to him. "Beans get the best of you or something?" she asked, smirking now for an entirely different reason. Third year hadn't changed that banter she had with Cutty. Not yet, at least.

She knew Cutty was carrying on about her having graced them with her presence, but she carried on even still. "Gag reflex? Well, Merlin's beard, Cutty, lay off the beans," she said, still attributing everything to the beans even though she had no idea if they had even been served beans or not.

It was only when he asked where she was that she turned to face him. She even managed to keep her smirk on her face right up until she actually looked him in the eye. Then everything just fell apart. What had happened? It was all a mystery. One moment she was just carrying on as usual, and then the next moment, she was turning into a mess of nerves that wasn't sue what to do.

Or say.

"Errr..." Right. Like Cutty wouldn't notice that lag in the convo. "I've been up to things," she answered. Short and simple. Also a big lie, but Cutty didn't need to know that. Would that suffice for her brother, too? She eyed Caleb out the corner of her eye. "So, third year, hmm?" she said to Cutty, steering the conversation in another direction.

If it wasn’t for the glorious food, Ethan would have thrown his hands up in the air and question humanity as to why people have to waste time yapping amongst themselves than eat? The newly sorted Snake figured it will be best to stay polite and friendly. Besides, it was his first night—and he has no idea as to how these Slytherins go about their new recruits.

That’s right. Back in Durmstrang he wasn’t sorted into a house, although if he was he wouldn’t have felt it since competition was amongst individuals rather than houses. So yes, the concept of a house didn’t apply to his former school. It was great fun though, because he gets to snowboard all throughout the year. The perks of staying in a bloody cold, snow infested school.

Oh. So he’s a Mordaunt too?

Big deal.

Wait. WHAT?

“Whoooa. Are you my cousin too?” Ethan racked his brain as he tried to remember the family tree Mordred showed him. You see, he isn’t just a new student in Hogwarts, but technically a new Mordaunt too. He’s been one all along, but recently discovered this when his mother died. By the looks of it, Cutty looks like the typical Slytherin, and he does remind him of Mordred.

OHANDINTRODUCTIONS!

The boy drank from his goblet and discreetly rinsed his mouth, swallowed and offered his hand to Mr. Cutty A.A. Mordaunt, a.k.a plausible cousin/twin. “Ethan Tyler Mordaunt, son of Aldred Ames Mordaunt, Grandson of Alfonzo Alexander Mordaunt. Great Grandson of Alexander Mordaunt the VII. Cousins with Mordred Alexander Mordaunt; Former Slytherin.” Now that’s how you do a proper introduction. Surnames? Psh. That’s so 19th century. Today is all about lineage. Or maybe not. Heh.

“Please to meet you, Cutty.” Ethan beamed at the boy, thrilled to have met someone who’s sharing the same surname as him. “Cutty. That’s a pretty interesting name.” The boy nodded and got himself a bread roll. “You better start with your dinner, mate. It’s going to get cold and stuff.”