FIFTH YEAR, SNITCHES!

He didn't CARE about the idea of early mornings or homework or FREAKING OWLs. This was a HOGWARTS FEAST and he was going to revel in the fact that he was going to be turning SIXTEEN this year. He wasn't excited about much but he sure was excited about THAT. And he was excited to be back here again, even if it meant having to see people he'd rather avoid. If they could stay away, that would be a good idea. Didn't want his evening ruined, thank you very much.

So, with his hands tucked deep into his pockets and an actual smile adorning his lips, Grayson swaggered into the Great Hall and over towards the currently empty Slytherin table. People would come, he wasn't going to worry about looking like a loner under the green and silver banners. What he WAS going to worry about was whether the house was going to get any more whackos. Because something told him that two Agathas in one house was just asking for trouble. Nobody had the patience for that.

Yeah. Whatever. Thoughts weren't going to be ruined. He was just going to sit there and wait for the feast because, as always, he was hungry.

Merlin! Sophie felt like she'd JUST boarded that carriages with Cinna and Lux when suddenly she was at the feast. Or, she was walking IN to the feast, she should say. She was early, too. Must be because between the train and the carriages, she STILL hadn't managed to find any of her friends, her brother, or that certain hottie she'd hoped to see before anybody else.

Well, at least she KNEW he'd be at their house table.

She stepped further into the Great Hall, and...WELL. Why don't you just look at that? There he was--the only one at the table--like fate had just said, 'Here, Sophie. Here he is. Just for you.' Heh. She sat down next to him and gave him her best smile. "This seat taken?" she asked, as if there were hundreds others at the table, too. Then in the next breath, without missing a beat, she added, "Did I miss the memo? Did all of Slytherin house take a flying car to the school or something? Literally nobody was on the train or the carriages. Well, except a Gryffindor girl I managed to sit with."

But who cared about everybody else--Grayson was here now! "Well, welcome back." Then with a wink, she added, "I hear the fourth years are awesome this year."

Adi just had to stop by the Slytherin table, of course. Soooo many of his friends belonged to this House. He was especially on the look out for Cutty. This Hufflepuff needed candy! When he got there, he only spotted Grayson and Sophie thought. No worries. They were friends too.

"Guys! Hiii!'' As if he belonged there, Adi sat at the Table. "What's up? Awesome summer? Looking forward to the term? Did you know I missed you Snake people?'' So many questions! Hehe.

Marisol slid into her seat nonchalantly. She was the fourth one there, and the only second year. There were that Newell twin, Aditya (the Hufflepuff), and some other, older guy Mari didn't know. She figured she'd sit there and wait for her friends or whatever.

Inside, however, Mari was freaking out. She was a second year now, gosh dang it. She had better start acting like one. Marisol fit the job- average, height, average hair, awkward- but her English did not. It was sure better than last year, but if she wanted to be a prefect (which she didn't, but her parents wanted her to be) she had better "start participating." All of that spoken in fast-paced Spanish by Raquel and Jorge Cruz was pretty intimidating.

Mari sat up straight. It was totally okay. Plus, she didn't really care about school, anyway. Too bad for her parents expecting her to be just like their little Lucía, the adorable one with the amazing grades. This was Marisol Benícia Cruz we were talking about, and she was gonna do second year her way.

So here Dante was, slithering on over to the Slytherin Table. He will probably keep on using that pun this whole entire term or until he gets sick of it. But this table did not look that bad. It was good that he was not the only one over here that would be awkward in the extreme.

Interesting that you can just sit down at any table you want. Evidence by the Puff who walked on over to the table. That information was good to have. Dante walked over to the older kids there and gave them his best smile and a sup nod.

This smile could slay adults.

Now when was the food arriving. Only chocolate frogs was not enough to fill his stomach. He was a growing boy.

This was better than Christmas! Well, maybe not that better but it was close. He was in Hogwarts, okay? Though he would have preferred Drumstrang but he wasn't going to complain.

Hugo entered the Great Hall and looked up at the ceiling. He was in awe. The ceiling was so amazing, just like his sister had told him and the place was so big and...and...he ran out of words. But it was perfect. He couldn't be more excited and happy. Hugo noticed his house table, he was a snake now. Awesome, right? Green suits him. Any color did.

Some older students were there already. He smiled at them and sat down beside another boy. First year maybe? "That ceiling is so cool" said as he looked at it.

This was Dot's table. There wasn't a Dima here, although there was a Dark Dante. She sighed heavily, shuffling her way from the Sorting Hat over to the table where her new housemates were waiting for dinner to start. She didn't know any of them except Dante, and they all looked so old and not a little bit frightening.

What if one of them turned her into a goldfish? She hated that.

Without making a peep, Dot climbed over the bench and took a seat at the table, although her face made her misery pretty obvious. She was pale behind her freckles and her big blue eyes were a little wet and getting wetter. Not that she'd cry here in front of these strangers who might want to turn her into some sort of bowl-dwelling sea creature. Nope. She wasn't gonna cry. She was brave, like... like a...

Sob. Mortified, Dot pulled the neck of her sweater up over her face like a turtle, and she slipped off the bench to disappear beneath the table. NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

Agatha had a really hard time going from the train to the carriages, then from the carriages to the Castle, because she was limping big time. Her trying not to limp so much wasn't exactly working, but she was a pro at hiding the pain from her expression. No, Agatha Hapgood was not going to give some people reasons to make fun of her that evening - because she knew a couple of idiots who would have a lot of fun out of her misery. Hmph.

So making all the effort in the world not to limp too much as she made her way to the Slytherin table, the ballerina sort of but not quite gracefully sat down FAR AWAY from stupid Grayson and that Newell girl. She didn't even bother looking at either of them - fully, that was, she did side-eye them with a superior kind of look because ugh, they were just... tsk.

But onto more important matters. She had missed a few sorting already! Morgana, she needed to do something about that silly limping. Sigh. But hey! That ickle that had tackled Ethan on the train was there at their table!! With Slytherin robes! Now, this was cool. Agatha smiled and waved at him and also at the other little boy who sat next to him. Morgana, imagine if the two of them teamed up and attacked Ethan more often?? That would be perfect and Agatha wouldn't even have to be blamed.

Oh, and another one just joined them. Smiles and waves to all of you, ickles. "Welcome to Slytherin." She greeted them and... did the girl just start to cry?? And... went under the table. Nope, not a good idea, missy. But Agatha wasn't angry at her or anything, so she kept her feet to herself this time. She was even careful not to hit the girl at all and didn't move her feet. See, Agatha WAS nice. Hm.

He, of course, had been at his own house table with his friends, watching the ceremony... until he'd seen Dot get sorted, that was. And then Dima had almost immediately been up and running towards the table draped in green, tailing the red mane of hair that disappeared under the benches. Waiiit. Wait for him, ok?

As soon as he got under there, the twelve year old crawled over and wrapped his best friend in a hug.

No CRYING, please.

Ahhhhh! He finally arrived! So this was the famous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

Gregoire was so excited to be here! The French exchange student couldn't believe how big it was, especially the Great Hall. I mean, he was expecting something big, but not this big! Beauxbatons was a bit smaller than the Great Hall here at Hogwarts. Also the Sorting was a bit weird. He got into....Slytherin? From what he heard that didn't make any sense. Gregoire was not sneaky, sly, and manipulative whatsoever. Granted...his alter ego was though.

Gregoire was a nice kid. He was super smart, funny, and charming. Compared to his alter ego, which he named Gaston. Gaston was a cruel, very manipulative and sly person. It was sort of like Gollum and Sméagol. Sméagol was the light side, Gollum was the dark side. For him it was, Gregoire was good, and Gaston was bad. Though, only when you tried to trick Gregoire, Gaston would come out. Gaston could hardly be lied to. After all a liar knows a liar, and a conman knows a conman.

With everything in order, and with Gregoire being sorted, he went to his House Table. Hopefully this was going to be a nice year here.

Dante was still waiting for food and maybe something fun to do. Not sure what, but something. Maybe he will just watch everyone else get sorted. It was a plan. But was distracted from his thinking by conversation....directed to him. He did not know anyone here....and the ceiling?

Dante had not given it any thought. The sorting hat was all he was focused on. "It is pretty awesome. Name's Dante" Not sure why he was saying this. Maybe he was bored and hungry. Bad combination. Oh look one person he knew was sorted into Slytherin. Dot was a Slytherin. That was pretty awesome expect for the fact she look sad. Maybe she wanted another house. None of his business. "You okay?" Dante whispered to her. Not sure what else to say. Though the one dude he went once, Dima did. Full on hugged her. Pretty random and awesome in a way.

And did this older girl want something from him, like that older boy on the train. Though she was a girl. So it was alright. "Thanks" He was talking a lot more here than he never had at home. This will take getting use to.

"M'okay," Dot insisted, scrubbing her her blotchy face with the sleeves of her jumper and trying to ignore the fact that an older girl AND Dante had asked after her. She was hiding, okay? She was trying to get herself in order before she came back out and joined her... new... house.

Another gulp, another sniffle, and then, thank Merlin, Dima was there and hugging her. Maybe it didn't matter if she was in the wrong house, because she still had a Dima here at Hogwarts. "I'm 'sposed to be with you."

"You ARE with me," Dima insisted, helpfully assisting Dot with her face scrubbing. "We're at the same school, and you can come eat at my table whenever you want! Or I can eat here. And I can sneak you into my common room. And we'll have classes together. We'll still see each other all the time." They would, wouldn't they?

He rubbed her cheeks some more with his robe sleeve. "Being in different houses doesn't mean anything bad. Still best friends. Okay?"

"O-okay." Dot accepted the scrubbing from Dima, and she wiped her wet hands on someone's trouser leg. Dima wasn't fussed, and even if she'd have to go up to the common room with all these strangers... she'd see Dima tomorrow. And the next day. And every day.

"If they try to turn me into a goldfish, I'll... bite off their fingers with my little fish teeth," she petted Dima's cheek back to let him know she was better now. Dot wasn't going to be anyone's victim this term, and she'd have her Dima. "Best friends. Always."

Hugo stared at the ceiling a bit more. "Yeah..." he looked at the boy next to him "That's a cool name! Dante. My name is Hugo" first, he met a girl named Paloma and now a boy named Dante. People had these unique names that make him feel like his was very common. But who cares. "First year too?" asked the boy. Because if that was the case, then it was good 'cause he didn't knew anyone from his year. Except Gwen, but she was a girl.

All of the sudden a girl came to the table but she was not right. Hugo stared at her. She looked as she wanted to cry. Why are you going to cry if you are in Hogwarts? Unless she didn't knew anyone but so does he and he was okay. Girls...

Hugo looked up at the girl who was welcoming them. "Thanks" said with a little smile. See? Slytherins weren't so bad after all. Not like the rumours said. Then, another boy showed up at the table and he was hugging the crying girl. Hmm...alright. Cool. Was she okay now?

There was another boy who was sitting quietly and Hugo looked at him. "Hungry?" because he was.

Okay? Okay.

"Biting is gross, and they won't turn you into a goldfish. They'll love you. Do goldfish even have teeth? Dima frowned in consternation for a moment before refocusing on the matter at hand. "Always. Promise "

Now... "D'you want me to go back to my table, or do you want me to stay with you?" She could always come with him if she wanted, but it would be good if she got to meet her housemates. First night and all, right?

OH MY MERLIN THIS IS IT. THIS.IS.IT.

Technically, this is going to be his first night as a Prefect, but he’d like to think that official business will start tomorrow morning for him, so there’s no need to be scared and nervous. Besides, he should proud, confident, and be AWESOME. He can freaking do this. YES. Straightening his robe, and fixing the badge on his chest, Ethan strutted inside the Hall, opening his arms wide open and breathed in the air of the new term.

Ethan gave those who passed by a grin, and let his eyes linger on the Snakes’ Table. No trouble yet? Good. And was that Agatha? Not good. He still hates the nutso witch, but then decided to be CIVIL about it. He’s got a badge, and she DOESN’T. No need to rub it in her face, because HE will let HER get jealous of how awesome he is. Too bad they’re NOT friends.

Nooninooninoo.

Oh and look! New SNAKES! Oh yiiiiiiis! Ethan walked confidently towards his table, and gave all the new faces a gentle boop on their tiny heads, however, he gave the Transfer students who ended up in Slytherin shoulder pats. “Congratulations, new Snakes! Welcome to Slytherin!” Boop, boop, boop. Pat. Pat…Ooh, he was about to boop a new student’s head when she ducked under the table…followed by…Dima? Ethan eyed the boy, and ducked too to see what was going on under their table. The fourth year saw a girl, who was upset about something, and was being hugged by Dima. Hmm. Looks like she didn’t want to end up in Slytherin? Ooh. This is bad. Ethan would have to leave the job to Beverly, but since Dima was there comforting the new student, he decided to leave them alone.

All right. OH. LOOK. FRIENDS! HAAAAAI! Ethan moved closer to the front and joined Grayson, Sophie, and Adi hoping that he wasn’t disturbing them. “Hello, fellas. What’s up?” Ethan plopped down next to Sophie and gave his friends a two-finger salute. The fourth year then glanced down to his left to see…Dante. “I think it’s the perfect time to do a bro fistbump. Welcome to Slytherin, Don Dante!” Ethan gave the boy a cheery grin, and offered his fist to bump. Say hello to your HorsiePrefect.

…

While he waited for the epic fistbump to happen, THE SAME WHITE KITTEN he found in the luggage compartment jumped on his shoulder and settled on his head. AGAIN. “What…in the name of Merlin.” Seriously, WHO OWNS THIS FELINE??!

Sophia conjured a beautiful high back royal-esque chair which she placed at the head of the table, and sat there. yes she would be sitting with the snakes for the rest of the evening. Maybe they would be more normal thna her co-workers, and at least now she would be able to keep them from losing points before the term even officially began.

The snakes seated all got a nod. "Welcome back to the slytherin table and welcome to all the new comers."

Hugh leisurely, for Hugh, made his way to the table after tripping down the stairs after his sorting. What a fiasco. But it didn't seem like anyone here was paying attention to that so PHEW. He was in the clear.

Yooooo, this table was chill. Everyone seemed to be talking away with old friends and that suited Hughbert just fine. He would observe tonight. Because tripping didn't equate to cool. He needed to regroup how to be that tonight....later...in his dorm....maybe.

Anywho, Hugh bounced into his seat and opened his mouth to say hi.

Then closed it.

And tried again.

Nothing.

The castle was an actual castle.

Though she'd have thought it would be....whiter. Like in the fairytales. Instead it was quite old. But still, it was a castle. And this hall right here, this dining hall was pretty impressive too. Like, big time. And EVERYONE had been looking (staring) at her when she'd had that (rather gross and stinky) hat on her head. That had been nice too. Not the stinky hat part.

So now she'd been sorted into a house. And Dante was in the same one. Good.

Graaaaacefully making her way over to her new house table, Maggie looked around at who else was there. If there was anyone noteworthy. Someone she should introduce herself to maybe or-

"MOLLY!"

ZOMG HER KITTEN! She'd SO NOT forgotten about her, so not.

Maggie ran up to the boy who had SAVED her kitten from sure death and hugged him from behind. Tightly. "You found her. Thank you thank you thank you." There might have been TEARS IN HER EYES as well. Such gratitude. He was her hero yes. Gosh. Wow. Thank you.

....and yes, she HAD noticed his PREFECT badge.

.....Huh. As soon as the newly sorted girl ducked under the table, a little Ravenclaw boy rushed over and dove under THEIR table too. What was up with the other houses wanting to be here? This was SLYTHERIN table, did they now? Morgana...

But then again, Agatha sort of couldn't blame them for wanting to be at the most awesome table. But sheesh, she had to admit they were getting some pretty strange new people that term. She'd never say that out loud for now, but the fourth year gave some of them looks as they came to their table.

The firsties, though, seemed nice. Almost cute, even. Almost. Only that girl who was now crying - what, she was a firstie too, right? - because she didn't want to be a snake. Pfffft, so lame. Who didn't want to be Slytherin, really?

Agatha gave the firsties she had welcomed a 'you're welcome' nod after they thanked her. See, polite kids. They were good. Agatha approved of them. But then came ETHAN and was all irritating and welcoming every single person t-- WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE POWERFUL MORGANA WAS THAT ON HIS CHEST???

PREFECT?

WHAT?

NO.

Agatha froze on her seat for a second as the information sank in. How DARE anyone make Ethan a flipping prefect??? It was freaking ETHAN, for crying out loud!! Didn't they KNOW him? He was a whacko, weirdo and would ruin their house reputation. Oh, sweet Morgana, this was ridiculous. And Agatha would have to bow down to his leadership now?? PFFFFFFFTT, AS IF. No, thank you.

The ballerina shot him a VERY HARD stare as if telling him she would never follow his silly leadership because she considered him no leader. How dare they. This was probably Healer Tillstorm's idea, who loved silly Ethan like he was her son or something.

Urgh, disgusting.

Good thing she was FAR AWAY form all of them. And was that Adi? Oh, for Morgana's sake. This night couldn't get any wors--

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSPPPPP. Professor Bellaire just came to their table!! PROFESSOR BELLAIRE CAME TO SIT WITH THEM. She even had conjured up a beeeautiful chair and ohmyMorgana, Agatha had to sit next to her.

Getting up at once from her seat far from the front, Agatha ignored everybody else and gracefully limped her way there. Never mind those first years. Never mind she was now sitting a lot closer to the stupid kids. In fact, she might or might not have pushed Grayson to the side a little so she could sit right next to their professor. WOW, PROFESSOR BELLAIRE was here. Nothing else mattered. All them sparkly eyes at you, madam, because that professor was AWESOME. "Hi, professor Bellaire! Welcome to the Slytherin table! I'm so happy to have you here!!" sdjklfnsjknsdjk OGM - Oh Good Morgana -, professor Bellaire was here.

Agatha was all smiles and yes, she did flip her hair now that she was settled. No, she didn't acknowledge Newell, Grayson, Ethan or Adi, because pfft, yeah right.

Entering the great hall Gump let out a long heavy but relieved breath. He had made it. He never would have thought the place he had been so scared to go would now be a sort of safe haven for him. His brothers had been merciless once he had gotten home, they had tormented him by turning down the air conditioning until it was below freezing temperature because they wanted to 'toughen' him up just in case something like what happened last term happened again then they had stuffed ice down his shirt once he had gone to sleep.

That had been the start, he spent the entire summer hiding from them,trying to avoid going ''target' practice where he was always the target. Rolling his shoulder he gave his head a quick shake,all of that didn't matter now, he was finally out of harms way.

With a smile on his face he made his way over to his table, it really was strange how a year could really change things. He never imagined feeling like he really belonged somewhere like Hogwarts, but he had spent last year scouring the castle as much as he could, in fact he'd had so much fun that he had been behind on his homework and found himself staying up a couple nights to make the deadlines.

Finally arriving,he plopped his backpack down on a seat before addressing everyone at the table

"Hey guys, kinda good to be back huh?" he stopped, did a bit of double take. oh professor Bellaire was actually sitting at the head of the table. sending a polite smile her way.

"Good day professor"

"

There was a slight s,irk, something of a smile on Professor Bellaire's face as she sunk and settled into the comfy chair that she had produced. This was all so familiar to her. Sitting at the Slytherin table like this brought back so many memories to the ex-Slytherin. She looked down the line of the table, there were so many promising faces. Perhaps some of them would end up being Professors themselves. Hopefully the sane ones would. Hogwarts obviously had it's fair share of crazy professors.

She watched as Agatha, excitedly made her way closer to her end. "It's good to be here Agatha. "How is Orsino?"

Ah one of those students who you didn't know was there except for the very few and rare time they managed to open their mouths. Sophia nodded towards the boy, not sure she even remembered his name.

"Good evening to you."

Before he could swat away the kitten off of his head, Professor Bellaire decided to join them for the Start of Term Feast. Well, this was a first for the fourth year, because he doesn’t remember Healer Til—Murdoch joining them last term. It was a bit weird though, because the Headmistress haven’t delivered her speech for the night, and the Transfiguration professor decided to sit with them early on. It was a good thing though, because he was sure that NO ONE, not even nutso Agatha would be insane enough to start smashing metal plates against human heads in front of Bellaire. “Good evening, Professor. I trust you had a good summer?” Ethan grinned, COMPLETELY ignoring Hapgood, who by the way, he saw LIMPING. Interesting, and funny, but he was in no mood whatsoever to ask. He’d go make fun of her when the time is right. Muehehehe!

Okay. Last time he checked, he’s a BOY, and his name is ETHAN. Who the hell was MOL—

WHAT IS UP WITH FIRST YEARS AND ATTACKING HIM FROM THE BACK?! First was Dante, who decided for Ethan to give him a piggy back ride, then this little girl hugging him from behind. He doesn’t have a problem with hugs, in fact, he loves it. But Merlin, this tiny person got it all wrong. Ethan opened his mouth to explain that she got his gender mixed up and…oh. OOOH! The CAT. The cat’s name is Molly! Of course it was the cat.

Oh hallelujah! FINALLY. “There, there.” Ethan patted the girl’s arm, and turned around to face the girl. AND WHAT IS THAT??! ANOTHER GIRL CRYING??! NooooOOOOOOooooooOOO. “A-are you all right?! Why are you crying? Is she yours?” he said pointing at his head with the white kitty. Ethan didn’t even wait for her answer, because he simply wants that thing off of him. “Here, take her…and please don’t cry?” The fourth year reached out and gently placed the white feline on her arms, and gave the girl a gentle pat on the head. Ethan scooted and patted the space in between him and Dante. “I see. You’ve been sorted into the most amazing house! Welcome! Come on…sit down.” He said grinning at the little girl.

Another kid joined their table, and gave him a nod. “Yup. New term means new adventure.” Ethan had seen that kid around the Common Room, and wondered what he’s been up to. Mysterious kid is mysterious.

And speaking of mysterious…or maybe odd, Ethan caught sight of a new kid…a transfer perhaps, joining their table of awesomeness. The blond kid watched as he opened and closed his mouth, “Hey. Everything all right?” Being new was tough. Yup.