Alright. So maybe he couldn't put the box off much longer. All he wanted was to have a few delicious hot schmoes...er...smores. One day he would get the word right on the first try.

But today was not that day.

"No, no dragon egg either," he replied to Mr. Zeke. As stellar as some would think it would be to have a pet dragon in the Gryffindor Tower...Airey had already suffered the consequences of fiery drapes in the past and he would rather like to keep his job, thank you very much. "Help yourself to the marshmallows."

Right there in the little festive bowl. He would rather like to make one that he could actually enjoy now. No offense. Preferably one that was was not essentially a black smoldering lump.

"An excellent choice," he assured Mr. Atreyu just as Miss...that first year with the really long last name presented a VERY interesting little proposition for the room. While certainly not on the agenda he had in mind, there was nothing wrong with offering a little flexibility for such creative outlets. "ME!" he roared, thursting his hand in the air for emphasis. "But after a few announcements."

Which they should probably get to now.

Small waves were directed towards Miss Kennedy...Miss Umbridge...Miss Kennedy Umbridge - sweet solstice he should check the roster again for that one - before he nodded his head in response to Miss Valentine's question. "It was quite stellar." No trace of sarcasm here, honestly.

Some more small waves were given to Miss Xanthopoulos and Miss Summers before being utterly silenced by one simple word from Miss Lee's mouth. The hug had been bad enough, but it was THAT word that really got the man all clammed up and sweating like the common room had just turned into a sauna.

"Bi-bi-bi-bi-bi-bidi-bidi-bidi-bidi," he stammered while trying to dance and wiggle his way out of the first year's grip.

NOT. READY. TO. THINK. ABOUT. NO. RUN. AWAY. FROM. EMOTIONS. ABORT! ABORT!

Was she off his person yet?

......

OH LOOK! THE HEAD BOY! YES. DIVERGE ATTENTION THAT WAY!

Terrified to look down and see whether or not Miss Lee was still ... touching him... the Astronomy professor cleared his throat and tried to get through these next words without his voice cracking like some prepubescent boy.

"GOOD EVENING, GRYFFINDORS! WELCOME AND WELCOME BACK!" he announced, NOT doing so well at the not cracking. "I am Professor Flamsteed, but you may also call me Professor Airey if you prefer, and I have the honor of serving as your Head of House." Which were words directed mostly towards first years and those transferred students. "Before I dive into a few House announcements, a word from our Head Boy, Mr. Adair," he concluded with some clumsy applause.

Take it away, Mr. Adair.

Well, she finally made it into the common room and there's a party. She didn't know there was going to be a party. What was the party for? To meet everyone? Did new students matter at all? Maybe not. Just first years. Larissa didn't know if she wanted to stay around for the party or just go and check out the dormitory. She still had gotten the bad impression of this house from the feast. So not she wasn't all that impressed right now. She really didn't get what was so amazing about being separated into four houses. What the was point? She didn't feel like she was just a Gryffindor student. Rissa sighed softly and looked around at what was going on. Maybe staying around for the party wouldn't be so bad.

Larissa blinked. There was yelling. By who? The brunette looked around towards the voice and saw a man. So he was one of their professors. That was pretty cool. She wasn't used to professors. Larissa listened closely to what the man was saying and something about a Head Boy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Okay, something was definitely up with Benny. Zander couldn't quite place what it looked like, but there was most totally something wrong. Zander had only roomed with the guy for six years of his life. And though the Dragon-loving Gryffindor wasn't ever all that loud and excitable, his mannerisms were off. Almost looked like he was sulking or SOMETHING.

Wasn't it too early for angst? But still, Zander was concerned. "Everything alright, Benny?" he lightly bumped into his fellow Seventh year. Y'know, just checking and all. Because Zander definitely didn't see the boy at the feast either.

Benny turned his attention from Flamsteed when he realized his marshmellow was nearly burnt. Not that that wasn't how he liked it because it was, but because it was about time to make the actual smore. He pulled the roasting stick and marshmellow away from the flames and reached to retrieve the chocolate and grahams only to feel the ginger bumps from Zander as his fellow seventh year questioned him.

Ugg...he was being more transparent than he meant to be.

He turned to face his friend and caught sight of Angel in the process, the younger lion visible over Zander's shoulder. Visible and appearing far happier than when he had left her. Could it be she was acting like he was? Benny had to shake the staring off before he could answer how he was. "It's fine," he remarked, not wanting to bring anything up at the moment. If anything they could talk out of earshot later on.

Besides....it appeared Mr. Head Boy was needed for other matters.

Merlin. Someone owed him some sort of explanation. How come whenever the first years saw his badge they all thought he was some king of the world or something. But then most of the other kdis who already knew him either a) laughed in his face or b) probably laughed at his face after they said their congratulations. The world was confusing. And this little girl's smile looked like it could take up an entire galaxy on it's own. Slightly impressive. But mostly creepy. But somehow incredibly endearing???

"Oh for sure! Cozier too, definitely beats the dungeons that Slytherin has to live in." Just saying. But again, maybe he was biased. Just a little bit. He tried to emphasize the sentiment with head nodding and a goofy sort of smile, but then she went on to address him as "Mister Ruler Heady Boy, Sir" and he could feel the pink creeping up on his cheeks. He wasn't even going to try to correct her. And now she wanted to be friends? Oh. Well uh, that was nice actually. Amur would probably like to hear this too. "Oh uh, yeah, sure of course," he gave her a grin as he held out his hand. Y'know for like a hand shake or something? "Nice to meet ya Mari, and y'know, you can call me just Zander... Since we're friends now." Because although Mister Ruler Head Boy Sir had a nice and incredibly embarrassing ring to it, it seemed like quite a mouthful.


Okay yes something was definitely up. And of course Zander would notice. They had shared a dormitory for six entire years, it was kind of hard to ignore the fact that Benny was incredibly out of it. The boy had been keeping to himself for all however many minutes they've been in the common room for. It was really worrisome? Zander wasn't sure what all to do... Or if he could do anything...

But he respected his dormmate and gave him nothing more than a skeptical nod, "Uh, alright, well... Y'know if you ever wanna talk about it or anything... You know where to find me," meaning like the bed right over, but no need to go into specific details. Zander would've tried to say more, but he was being put on the spot.

.......



Wait, what?

HE WAS BEING PUT ON THE SPOT???

Already? Merlin. At least let the boy have some time to roast a marshmallow or something, Professor. Where was the justice? The courtesy? The COMFORT? Had the man no respect?

Ahem. The Gryffindor tried his very best to keep from going pink in the face because he had practiced this moment in the mirror. Countless times, actually. So when the Astronomy Professor turned the theoretical mic over to him, Zander just stood there and smiled all goofy for a few seconds. Wait. Oh. His turn. Right. Yeah. Hi Gryffindor. Hi. "Oh, that's me, isn't it?" SMOOTH, ADAIR.

"I mean, hi everyone. I don't know if I've gotten the chance to talk to all of you yet, but if you don't know me... I'm Zander Adair and this is my third year as a Prefect for Gryffindor and my first as Head Boy." Better... Just like in the mirror. "So uh, if you've got any questions, need someone to talk to... I'll be around, so just come find me, yeah?" Wait. He was supposed to say something about spirit right? Right. Riiiight. Just like he had practiced in the mirror. "Gryffindor has a really great reputation. We've been winning the house cup for a bit now and we've got to keep that alive. So let's all stick together and show Hogwarts what lions are made of!!"

Oh also one more thing. Sorry, Professor he was almost done. But he was also feeling loads better about this too, was it showing? "Keep an eye on the announcement board for some fun Gryffindor events coming soon," a la Puck and Zander. "And ROAR, ROAR GRYFFINDOR!!" Okay back to you, Sir.

Did he do okay? Were people convinced yet? Should he take his fist down from the air? Yeah. Maybe. Okay. Cool.

Defiled with Dark magic? She need to know how to do that. Like ASAP! Maybe she could asked the Charms Professor about it since she couldn't actually asked her Head of House because he seemed not very happy with that.

And Zeke got a 'Hello' nod from her. Because he seemed pretty busy with his marshmallow. She didn't understand why did people like to eat that stuffs anyway? Its spongy, weird and not to mention sweet.



Candice heard someone yelling about a dance off. Yeah. No thank you. She just wanted to sit and tried to relax after the very long train ride and long feast, a dance off was the last thing she needed. Then, she saw Angel coming through the portrait. "Angel!" Wave. Her friend seemed more relaxed?



The Fifth year spotted a new student entered the common room. Well, she just guess the girl was new since she seemed kinda confused? So she decided to be a friendly Candice for today. "Hi. Are you new?" The girl kinda looked familiar tho. Oh. Wait. Wasn't she the one who she accidentally bumped into in Diagon Alley?


And then she heard Airey doing some Welcoming speech. Huh? House announcement? Her attention quickly went to the Head Boy waiting for his announcement. Was it related to that box?

Apparently its just another Welcoming speech too from the Head Boy. Get on with what's in the box would you?

Oh look, Blaise was here! "Hey Blaise!" She greeted that boy. She wondered why on earth Blaise always brought that funny quill. "Yeah, I heard that from my sister too." Too bad that quidditch gone banned here, Ava was excited to be one of her house's qudditch player.

Then, there's an older girl who called herself as Cinnamon. Whut? "Like in Cinnamon roll? Is that your real name?" She curiously asked. It wasn't her first time hearing a strange name like that but... Cinnamon, seriously? "And thanks!" Well, the Cinnamon girl seemed nice though, hopefully...

This Professor Flamsteed, their Head of House and also the Astronomy Professor (if she's not mistaken) had a very.... glamour outfit. But he seemed nice... and funny. Her sister didn't tell her much about some Professors in here. "Thank you, sir!" The brunette grinned widely. And... MARSHMALLOW! Ava then grabbed some marshmallows, stuck them into a skewers and burned it. Yeah, she's gonna make some smore's. YUMMMM.....

While she was busy with her smores, someone called her name. "Hey! Noelle right?" Because this girl did introduce her at the feast AND just now. "You want some smores?" She offered to that blonde girl. "Yeah, I am soooooooooooo excited being a Gryffindor. The only Gryffindor in my family." Since her father and older siblings were Slytherin and her twin brother, Teddy was in Ravenclaw.

Well, now she missed Teddy.

As the Professor Flamsteed started speaking, Ava stayed silent and listened to that man. It seemed like this man would say some important things but.... He asked the Head boy to gave a speech first. WOOOOOT!!! She clapped enthusiastically once Zander spoke and finished his speech! "Yay, Zander!!" And now, what's next? She was still curious with the crimson box there.

Okaaaay so was she supposed to be paying attention? Because (spoiler alert) Char wasn't. She had been coerced into following the Gryffindors up here without much trouble, because she was going to be able to wear the head BADGE thing (a promise was a promise okay?), but the school song was too long and her attention had wandered pretty much as soon as the portrait had started singing it. Instead she'd gone to examine what appeared to be a trick step, judging by the way all the bigger kids had jumped over it. Interesting. She didn't have anything she could drop in it to see what happened, but she would probably do that soon.

Some airman was saying something but even though Charlotte had managed to get herself into the common room, mostly she was just LOOKING at everything, so she could tell Davie all about it. It wasn't much like how her parents had described the Ravenclaw tower. She liked it though (secretly), and prodded at a few cushions and hangings as she wandered around.

....... and there was a box.

A red box.

A closed red box.

Charlotte inched clooooser and closer to the box as the head boy spoke.

Clooooooser.

She reached out and touched the very edge of it with her little finger. Hmmmm.

Bentley wasn't here for the celebrations. He was here to take pictures, which he did all the way up and stumbled a few times. Apparently, looking where you're going from behind a camera lense wasn't the same as looking where you're going without it. Who would have thought?

For the most part he ignored the chatter and the noise going on and entertained himself with his camera. Apologies to the people who had camera flashes in their eyes. They wouldn't see stars long and he needed his shot.

Few shots of the snitches for good measure.....ah yes..and..a box...a locked...box. Bentley stop dropped and rolled like a secret agent would and scurried about everyone (not that he'd be out of sight for long with the box being in the middle).

Just taking some pictures......nothing to see here.......lalalalala......his fingers inched towards the opening...

Where was Blaise? He needed to record what exactly would happen when he flipped this lid!

There were actually a lot of first years this term. The most she'd seen for Gryffindor in a long time. She looked over at Marietta Was she trying to be funny? She raised her eyebrow. "That's not really your name is it?" She laughed, sometimes people like to make fun of her name but nutmeg? Yes that topped the cake there but if nutmeg was really her name Cinna wasn't going to let any one make fun if this little cute little first year's name. "Yes, that's my real name You can call me Cinna." She turned to another first year Ava

Another little first year had taken up with her too. Had Cinna just became the resident first years babysitter? She looked at Noelle the last time she had protected someone she ended up being kidnapped my the acromantulas and stuck in a giant web. She gave the young lion a small smile. "Yeah. I'll protect you, kid." She was really going to let her common sense guide her this term and not her emotion or Gryffindor sense of adventure get the best of her. She wanted to live to get out of this place. Thank you.

The curiosity of the mini quidditch pitch has gotten her interested as much as the other students. Even all of these firsties. She was about to find out about trying to get a game going of something. That would be super fun. But marshmallows also got her attention she walked over to where Zeke was. [b]"I'm great too. Seventh year finally. I couldn't be any better. Do anything fun this summer?" It would be better if certain people was still here but what was was. There wasn't anything she could do about it. She'd just have to deal with it.

There was that girl again Larissa. The seventh year was sure that the girl was following her around now. The carriage ride, she had even got into her house and to top it off she was a seventh year too. What the heck? "If your going to follow me around I may as well know what your name is. I'm Cinna." She gave the girl a very faint smile. Was Zander coming over to speak to her? It had been like forever since they had spoken. She had been over all of that for a while now. So yeah the should talk, it was their final year here. But someone girl Ellery had called for a dance off. Where did Kaycee get off too. Dance off was right up their alley. She'd had lost Z in that crowd of dancers. Maybe they'd catch up later.

It was a good thing that Cinna liked her marshmallows burnt because Professor Airey was trying out his fire jiggling skills or something. She grabbed the burnt, gooey marshmallow off of the stick before in slide off. She popped it in her mouth. YUMMMY

She listened to Professor Flamsteed and Zander's speeches or announcements whatever you want to call them. Wait what? Zander was head boy? Interesting. Anyway she always kept up with things on the post board. So she'd have to look out for this "fun" stuff. She still maybe not have been too convinced in the charges this term yet. She'd probably come around sooner or later.

Angel suddenly heard her name being shouted, she looked at Professor Flamsteed who seemed to be a very good dancer. Angel thought about taking out a quill and writing a 10 on it but she thought it probably wouldn't be a good idea with the professor seeming stressed about something, she totally wondered what it was.

Angel turned to Candice and smiled as she went over and sat down next to her friend. "Didn't you want to join in the dancing?" Angel giggled. "I could totally beat you in a dance off." Angel was trying to challenge her friend here. "What do you say Candice?"

Angel then turned around to see who else she could see, she listened to the Head Boy as he gave a great speech, once he had finished she gave him a small clap because that speech just was amazing. There was also a few other students that got waves and then she turned to see how may new first years there were, hopefully she could get to meet some of them later.

Izaac had been here all along but he was a little bit overwhelmed by a party of Gryffindors, mostly ones he didn't know. Where his friends at? Nope, so he was sat cross-legged on the floor with a soda to keep him awake. Course, he didn't NEED a soda to stay awake when their noisy Head of House was in the room. Zac jumped, spilling a tiny dribble onto his CLEAN-ON robes, as Professor Flamsteed welcomed them all back.

Anyway. Back to watching. There were a few first years that he smiled at. Bless. That was him back in the day! Last year. Oh, to be young again! Still young. Still 10-year-old looking.

SPOILER!!: Cinna

Quote:

Originally Posted by SarcasticStrawberry

She heard one of the firsties Noelle introduce herself. "Hey Noelle, I'm Cinnamon. I hope you enjoy Gryffindor." She gave her small smile then there was two more new lions Ava, Blaise and Marietta, "Hello welcome to Gryffindor. I'm Cinnamon. And yes you get to live her now." She laughed a bit at the girls question. This tea sure was making her peppy and social. It was a big mood change from the feast. And the younger kids seem to put her in a better mood too. It also made her miss her little brother and sister.

It wasn't his first welcome to Gryffindor since being sorted but the boy liked hearing it all the same. It was just the thrill of it. Every time someone else welcomed him he remembered all over again how he conquered the mighty hat that tried to force its skewed opinions on him--wait was that how his quill told it? He was gonna have to double check on that but for now the boy grinned widely at the older girl.

"Thanks! Been gearing up for it since I got my Hogwarts letter waaaaaay back." Blaise could still remember running around the house roaring and chasing his little sister because he was gonna be a BIG LION WITH CLAWS AND STUFF. His sister wasn't as amused and consequently neither was his mother. "Did you wanna get sorted here way back too?" His quill floated a little closer to her, ready to embellish away as it had a mind to do.

SPOILER!!: Airey

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Now, wasn't this an amusing bout of deja vu? All the inquiry over a box. He supposed, so as not to repeat the disappointment that had been the looks on everyone's faces during his final lesson of the term last year - although HE thought it was all rather uplifting! - he shook his head in reply to the first year's question. "No, no dragon, Mr. Bellaire," he chuckled. "Or rather, not yet."

One could never tell what the future would bring.

Meanwhile, in the fireplace, his marshmallow was ABLAZE and threatening to fall off his roasting stick. Things like this did tend to happen to those who were easily distracted.

A part of conducting good interviews was paying attention to the other person and making sure you didn't miss what they said. As it stood, he had his quick quotes quill for that and could easily split his attention back to the Professor who was using one of his favourite words in iffy situations; 'yet'. Endless possibilities that one and he hoped his quill had jotted that down.

"So then....we ARE getting a pet dragon? Grand Auntie Sophia said the Slytherins have a pet snake. I reckon we can't have a pet lion cause it'll grow too big," No comments on the fact the dragon would grow MUCHHHHH bigger, just let him have it, "so maybe just a baby dragon and we can make it red and I could write stories about it FOR you!" See the quill currently floating and scribbling away madly. No doubt it was making him out to be a selfless boy with his house's best interest at heart.

"What'd you say??" YES?

SPOILER!!: Zeeeke

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

And as quickly as he had swallowed his 'mallow, a voice was interrogating him... or something. Zeke turned his head slightly to see a younger boy. He'd SEEN him during the ceremony, sure, but hadn't been paying enough attention for details such as names. Awkward?

The question though, good one. - and one apparently worthy of note taking?

"Not usually... well, suits yes, the glam... not so much." Girly glam that is. But the red was fetching, and not uncommon.

His poor quill.

The problem with Blaise Bellaire was that he had issues focusing on any one thing for too long. Consequently, his quill was contantly trying to keep up and by now he was sure it was only taking half stories at time. Granted they would have been embellished anyway but Merlin now they wouldn't be complete--like now. It HAD been quoting Professor Airey until.....that guy (names he needed names) got back to him about a question he'd asked. Perhaps he should have asked permission to run upstairs for another notepad and quick quotes quill. The boy had never tried using more than one before but at a party like THIS one, he didn't know how else he would keep up.

"Do WE have to wear suits like that when we go to his class? What if I don't want mine as..........shiny." Yeah...that was a decent word his quill would no doubt distort anyway. "Mum made me pack a suit 'cause she says sometimes they have Balls or stuff but I'd still wear my comfy clothes--don't write that down." The last bit said to the quill that would no doubt have gotten him in deep trouble with his mother.

SPOILER!!: Ellery

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casey O

Okay, so Ellery had tried to go along with Olly and join the Slytherin house, but she had been caught and sent back to her REAL house. Which was apparently guarded by some portrait who liked to sing? Sounds about right.

But the inside of the common room was AWESOME. She almost turned to say something to one of her brothers, but then she realized…neither one was with her.

Oh no. She could feel her heartbeat speeding up. Distractions, distractions….she danced uncertainly on her feet.

"HI MY NAME IS ELLERY GWENOG BORZEKOWSKI-THOMAS AND I CHALLENGE SOMEONE TO A DANCE-OFF."

Dance-offs ALWAYS worked as distractions. Scientifically proven.

And there was that really loud girl again. The one that was louder than him and louder than Charlotte too as he'd decided. "Do you ever speak in lower volumes?" Serious question, serioues serious. He wasn't trying to be mean, the boy was genuinely curious and in fact his quill was poised and waiting for her answer. Blaise had heard Charlotte speak normal but never her. Maybe when she spoke normal she was so quiet that no one ever heard her? Was that possible? Could he ask that too? His mother had always warned him how impolite it was to ask too many questions...and how worse it was to take down answers without permission but his quill did what he it wanted.

SPOILER!!: Zander!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

SPOILER!!: Blaiiiiiise

]

... He was being addressed????

Well, the whole 'hey you' thing was kind of a relief. Because it meant this guy probably didn't know Zander's name yet which meant GREAT things because useless notes were useless and Zander had no idea who this kid was either. Awesome. Made things loads easier and there was less pressure. He liked that. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure the Fat Lady didn't even know the right lyrics." So basically you're in the clear, kiddo.

"But you've got seven years," his attention momentarily caught by the floating notepad. "Do you always carry that thing around?" Just wondering. Also why? And also, also could Zander get one of those for Potions? Taking notes by hand was the worst.

SEEEEEE????

Even though Blaise was 110% positive his quill wasn't getting the lyrics right he was also EVEN MORE SURE NOW THAT THE FANCY HEAD BOY SAID IT that the Fat Lady (no, really, WERE they allowed to call her that???) had gotten it wrong too. The mention of seven years threw him through a loop. "Whoa..so....no detention? No morning assembly with Professors watching to see who knows the words and who doesn't???" Answer carefully, the quill WAS jotting notes that, though embellished, could be used against him later.

Speaking of his quill, Blaise glanced over at it when questioned about its presence. "I do, unless Mum and Dad tell me not to. It's really handy cause I like asking questions and getting the scoop on stuff. Gonna be a kick butt Reporter one day." He had to start SOMEWHERE, right? "Do you like them too?" The quick quotes quills he meant.

SPOILER!!: Noelle

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChanceCoeur

What was he asking her? Oh! How to play that Quidditch looking game. That's what she had started off going to when her attention had moved around to everything that was happening around her. "I dont know but I am sure going to find out!" She exclaimed to Blaise. "Want to join me??" She asked and looked up at him. It wasn't a big look up, but she was used to being smaller than everyone. "Also, whats your name?" She asked and put a hand out for him to shake.

Noelle was waiting to know the name of this boy when a very familiar face grabbed her and held onto her. Noelle squealed at her. "DORA!" She exclaimed and clung back to her. " Have you seen all the amazing things! And the food! And whatever that is!" she said pointing to the Quidditch mini set. "This person and I were about to play. I think...." She looked at (Blaise) again.

Now.... all she had to do was figure out how to play.

What sort of question was that?? "Of course! Yeah!" DUH he wanted to play, it was the coolest thing in the room next to the big red box the Professor said a dragon was eventually going to come out of--according to what his quill had written down. Someone really should tell him to put it away, it was hardly doing a good job of getting anything accurate tonight. "Do you think we gotta ask how or d'you reckon we can figure it out?" Cause he didn't wanna be THAT kid that made a fool of himself and had all the older kids laughing.

"The name's Blaise by the way, Blaise Bellaire."

Oh and they were asking Dora to join them? COOL! "You should, you really should. Noelle and I were just trying to figure HOW we do it." Cause he totally knew her name. He was standing right there when she said it.

SPOILER!!: Ava

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandomRaven

Oh look, Blaise was here! "Hey Blaise!" She greeted that boy. She wondered why on earth Blaise always brought that funny quill. "Yeah, I heard that from my sister too." Too bad that quidditch gone banned here, Ava was excited to be one of her house's qudditch player.

So it wasn't just some silly Hogwash meant to scare him, it really was banned? "That sucks. Dad taught me how to fly a broom and let me fly on his with him too. I was SO ready--but they had rules about no First Years I think." Or was THAT Hogwash too? Blaise didn't know anymore. He'd heard lots about the castle before coming here and had actually taken them down with a proper quill to make sure they didn't get distorted. Sometimes you just couldn't trust a quick quotes one, no telling what would end up on the paper.

"Did you wanna play that mini quidditch game with us?" He asked, gesturing to himself, Noelle and Dora.

SPOILER!!: Bentley

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davvy_Wavvy

Few shots of the snitches for good measure.....ah yes..and..a box...a locked...box. Bentley stop dropped and rolled like a secret agent would and scurried about everyone (not that he'd be out of sight for long with the box being in the middle).

Just taking some pictures......nothing to see here.......lalalalala......his fingers inched towards the opening...

Where was Blaise? He needed to record what exactly would happen when he flipped this lid!

It was the sudden rolling motion that drew his attention and it took a second of blinking in the fire light to realize his COUSIN had just gone into super stealth mode on the way over to the box. This could have been the biggest scoop of the day depending on a few factors such as if he'd actually get to do it without getting caught and WHAT was inside so Blaise was sure to have his quill and notepad focused. It was ready for whatever happened, even if that whatever was Bentley spending the first night in detention. Sacrifices had to be made for a good story sometimes, you know?

For his part the boy was silent, trying not to draw too much attention to the boy but the quill was poised and ready.


......

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

Then that whole speech happened and Blaise was right there along for the chant at the end. "ROAR ROAR GRYFFINDOR!" But he did have a question, one he'd been itching to ask since the painful rendition of the school song.

"Are we really allowed to call her Fat Lady?" It'd been bothering him for a WHILE. It wasn't like she could leave her frame to smack him behind the ear but Merlin it still sounded risky. With lungs like hers he could spend an hour being chewed out for it and THAT wasn't how he planned to spend any day here.

While he was munching on his cauldron cake, he saw Ava enter the common room and exclaimed that it was ‘cool’. He could not help but grin as this had been his exact same reaction when he first entered the common room for the first time. Next up was another first year (Marietta) (when had zander come in with them?) and he nearly choked on the second cauldron cake he was eating because the girl’s reaction had been really funny, and cute.

Oh who was that? Miss “I got it” was here as well. Was it bad that he still held some kind of grudge towards her by the way Cinna acted in the forbidden forest towards him last year? He had SAVED her but only Adi had gotten a thanks, ungrateful… Yoongi shook his head. Whatever, she was fine and that was what counted right?

As he grabbed another piece of cake, the sixth year suddenly noticed that Professor Flamsteed was waving at him. He waved back with a smile and dropped the piece of cake by accident. His smile turned in to a frown and then he nearly cried. Not really but if he had been alone he would have…. He took out his wand and after mumbling “Evanesco” he vanished the poor fallen piece of cauldron.

Not feeling hungry anymore, Yoongi went to listen to Zander as he did his Head Boy speech. It was pretty obvious he had been practising it in front of the mirror but he did not laugh and merely listened. When he was done, the Gryffindor clapped his hands. Though this time it was with more enthusiasm than when he had clapped for the fat lady’s singing.

What to do now?

CINNA!SIS! Kaycee smiled. "Hey. I'm good." Pretty good. Mostly good. Alright, really. They could talk more about that later. It was their first night back and there was POPCORN.

"How are you? Everything good?" She knew that it was probably going to be a hard term for her faux big sis.

She nodded to the hoops. "What do you think that's about?"

The brunette was still looking around. she listened to who much have been the head of house and her professor for one of her classes and a boy, what was he? A Prefect or a Head Boy or was he both? He had to be both because there was no other boy her age that was wearing a special badge. She wasn't too happy with the Prefects in her house so far. Maybe it was just her getting miss information about what Prefects were and what they were supposed to do from her parents ad siblings. Larissa heard someone greeting her. Her brown eyes looked over towards the person, she smiled a little. "H-hi." Larissa nodded. "Y-yes." Was it that obvious that she was new? Well to some of the students it seemed.

REally? Not this girl again. She had to be seeing things or maybe the girl was being a stalker. It was sad enough that she was even in the same house as this rude girl. Now she was introducing herself. Why was she doing this? She didn't want to even be in the same house as her. "M-me following y-you?" Larissa shook her head. "N-no. Y-you're f-following me. Rissa." She didn't care what her name was she was going to call her rude girl from now on. It was true and the shoe fit so there.

The Fat Lady was awesome and amazing but tonight she was awful. It had taken them far too long to gain access to their home, and really all she wanted was to see what awesome party Professor Airey had planned for them, talk to Lance and Rusty and bug some of the older kids - especially Zander ‘cause he was Head Boy now and that seemed like something important. Oh, and hopefully there were Marshmallows like there had been last year and that day in CoMC last year before they had worked with the baby dragons.

Griffin. She was worried about CoMC this year.. how could they still not have a Professor lined up? Hmmmmm. It was soooo important. She wondered if Benny, Adi and Zander knew anything about it… Maybe she would ask them later….

”Why do you smell like onions and gravy?” She asked Lance, a worried look on her face as she checked to see if he had spilled it all over his jumper at dinner… but he hadn’t so she couldn’t pin point the smell…. bizarre.

Though, she got distracted by Professor Airey’s short introduction to which she clapped and whoooped at the end before she listened to Zander’s speech which ended with a loud ”RAWR, RAWR, GRYFFINDOR! RAWR RAWR GRYFFINDOR!!” Grinning wide the SECOND year looked at Professor Airey again. House announcements please! Yes. Tell me, tell us alllll.

Then marshmallows.

POP!

Toddles here's to fill up foods. Toddles heres to help studenties. Toddles brings drinks and snackies for studenties. Toddles not knows studenties but Toddles goes to foods and fills up bowls. Toddles is a good elfs. Toddles looks for Master Zander and sees him. Toddle beams and tugs masters robes.

Cinna was quiet amused by this young lion. She couldn't imagine being this age and being so excited about Hogwarts. Actually she remembered getting her letter she was excited, until her dad said that she was going to be homeschooled. Then begging her dad to go until he let her her third year. Then she was happy. "Yeah. I think everyone is like that when they get their letter. I'm Cinna." Giving the boy a smile.

Clearly the seventh year got along better with the younger kids for some reason. Well unless they where being weird or something."Well yes I did most of my..." She stopped dead in her answer. Eyeing something as it floated over to her. Hey, wait? What was that? "Mmm is that a quick quotes quill?" Continuing to eye the quill, she wasn't sure if she should be answering these questions. Was he working for a media outlet or something? Now eyeing the boy. "What is your affiliation?"
Hmmmmmm?



Cinna could not have been happier that she had Kaycee around especially this term. She smiled, knowing that the younger girl didn't have the best summer. She did try to make it better for her though. She was glad that this night was going good for her so far.

She didn't really know she had been in a terrible mood the whole feast. "I'm okay. I guess." She glanced around. It was so weird knowing that some of the people she was used to spending time with three wasn't here anymore. "It's weird, I keep looking for him here but then I remember." It was something she would have to get used to, she supposed. At least she had Kaycee still.

She glanced over to the mini quidditch pitch. Shrugging "I have no idea." She looked over at it again. Did this mean quidditch was coming back this term? That would be fun.

See this face, this was her I'm-really-trying-to-be-nice-and-not-rude-face. She was really trying to be nice but this girl was making it difficult to try. What was it about the girl she didn't like? Maybe it was the what she snapped back at her. First impressions meant a lot. And she just couldn't shake off.

She chuckled, "I'm pretty sure you are the one following me around." Cinna was here first. Oh Larissa was her name. Easy to remember. "You know we might have started off on the wrong foot?"

Kaycee looked around when she heard a pop. What was that? Oh. House elf. She waved. HAITHEREHOUSEELF. Hehehe. House elves. They had big eyes. Didn't that mean they could see well in the dark or something?

Kaycee nodded and held her arms out offering a hug. They'd talked about boy related things all summer and she was there for her big sister if needed. Kaycee knew she'd annoyed the older girl enough with her issues.

"That's okay. I keep trying not to look around." Just in case she did see someone.

She wondered how long it would take to get over that. Or even if it would ever happen.

She then glanced back at the hoop things. Why did those look so familiar? Was it a game that she should know?

She tipped her head in the Head Boy's direction. Erm. Nice speech...?

...... Detention for not knowing song lyrics? Zander chuckled at the thought. Merlin, this kid. What an imagination, right? Unless there was some new rule about having to know the lyrics. Because in that case, might as well sign Zander up for a permanent spot in the Hooligan Hole. But he was almost 500% sure that there weren't any new rules about the song. He'd have to check on that though, didn't need to land himself in dungeon five the first week back. Especially now that Flamsteed basically trusted him again. Well, hopefully trusted him again. "Errrr... Yeah no, you're gonna have to do a lot more than forget song lyrics to land yourself in a detention cell," yes he said cell. That place was a prison. He knew first hand. Unfortunately. Incase he was curious though, "But I wouldn't recommend it. Stir up some trouble, but just stay out of detention," that was his two cents, anyways. Also... Stir up some trouble... You didn't hear it from him. nope.

On second thought, maybe he shouldn't have said the last bit. 'Cause it looked like the quill thing was taking down every word. And this one might come back to bite him. Oops? As long as none of this note stuff went anywhere near the prophet or the aparecium, he'd be in the clear. Speaking of which, "Huh, well I reckon it's always good to start early," so an eleven year old who already new exactly what he was gonna do in the future and Zander was going to be a Hogwarts graduate soon and he didn't even know what he wanted to eat for breakfast. Talk about a trainwreck, amiright? This Quick Quotes guy was like five hundred steps ahead. Way to keep up, Z. Still, the boy raised an eyebrow at the quill. "I've never seen one before... Is it actually getting every word I say?... And are you actually gonna read them all through afterwards?" Because Zander had been looking at this thing all night and it never stop scribbling things down. Why would the firstie put himself through that kind of torture?


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

ANNNND.....

He could breathe again. That wasn't all that bad. All the mirror practice definitely helped, he was sure of it. Plus it was nice to get the positive responses from everyone afterwards. He was quite pleased when the likes of Ava, Yoongi, Angel, Marsha, and Blaise had joined in with their own cheering. It was comforting. He hadn't screwed up yet. Already a step up from Fifth Year. And sixth. And... Well his whole Hogwarts career essentially. Kind of suspicious y'know?

But now that his task was over, he was dying to hear about what the box held though he was really trying his best to look like he didn't care. So what if mystery boxes normally didn't ever contain anything as exciting as they looked? Zander NEEDED to know. Though, he decided not to go snooping around on his own as he noticed a few other first years were already taking care of that. Speaking of which, he still owed that Charlotte Kettleburn a try of his badge, yeah he kept promises. Something that was sure to bite him in the butt once Maggie decided on her one favor.

Hearing Blaise's desperate question though, the Gryffindor quickly turned to call out to him. "I've been calling her that my whole life," he offered. "But if you can figure out her name, then props to you."


But since Char was occupied with the box at the moment, Zander decided to finally finish his trip over to Cinnamon Bayless. Something he should've probably gone about doing ages ago. "Heeeeey, Cinna," he mussed his hair a little bit as he finally made it over to her. "It's been like, uh, forever." Or like a term or two, but hey! Who's counting? Not Zander that's who. Except, he knew. He just didn't really know how to approach her after things went down hill a year or two back. Especially whilst knowing she was still dating Bart who just so happened to be one of Zander's least favorite people.

But it was their last year. Their last year and Zander would feel absolutely horrible if he didn't at least try and set things straight. Plus, he sorta missed her. A lot. Especially now that Emmy was gone and Bianca and Chance and even ugh Aegis... The seventh year Gryffindors, it was like they were running out. Have to stick together now. 'Cause they were a team after all, Zander had said it himself in his little speech. So uh, what would she say? Friends, part two?

Y'know, for a guy who insisted on saving room to eat desserts in the Common Room, Zander hadn't even had a chance to snack on anything yet. It was the real tragedy of the year. And a lot of the things were already running out and there wasn't even anyone to fill them back-- Oh. Well, THAT was fast. It's like they just knew or something. The Gryffindor didn't even realize which elf had appeared before his robes were being tugged and "TODDLES!" Remember when he hated the little guy? Ah, good times.

Not anymore though. Frenemies for life, yo. Zander didn't want to admit it, but he missed the guy. A lot. So reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a chocolate frog to hold out to the House Elf. "How have you been, buddy?" He grinned. "Haven't been stealing anymore candy from kids yet, have you?" Because he actually liked this batch of new arrivals. Hehehe.

Keeping a careful eye on his second marshmallow so it would not go up in flames, Airey listened to the Head Boy's humble speech. After joining in with some of the roaring that went on after, the astronomer moved over towards the seventh year - still holding Pebbles in one hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Adair. Well said," he nodded with some awkward clapping. Hard to give a proper round of applause when you were holding a rock, after all. Giving a look about the common room for his other prefect, the Head of House's brow furrowed when he did not spot her. No matter, he would just put her on the spot when she arrived. For now, he would keep the metaphorical ball rolling. "I have high expectations of you all this term," he continued after the brief interlude the Head Boy had provided. "And I wish to instill a sense of pride for your Pride. Embrace what it means to be a lion of Gryfindor house. After all, the one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a person intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort. To roar like a lion out of pride in your own skin."

He paused here for a moment to let all that house pride OOZE about the room and sink in. Blue eyes flickering about, landing on each student individually regardless or not if they were paying attention, he spotted a certain first year providing him with the perfect transition into his next bit of information.

"One thing to help illustrate just how far you have each grown as individuals can be seen right over there," he said, gesturing towards the red box. "That Miss Kettleburn is so graciously modeling for us. A time capsule, for those who do not know, is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people. In this case, our future selves. The writing on the box reads 'I open at the close,' infamous words that you all should be familiar with in our wizarding history. If you are not, I suggest you pick up a book and read. Or ask Mr. Adair here for a bit of a history lesson." Because Airey KNEW that Mr. Adair was now well versed in Potter-era history for Neville Longbottom reasons. "It had been charmed to allow objects to be inserted into it, just need to give things a bit of a firm push, but will only 'open at the close'. Meaning, the box cannot be opened until the end of term. I will leave the box here in the common room throughout the month of September for you to write letters and whatnots to your future selves. The contents of these letters is entirely up to you. You may write down your hopes for what you will accomplish this term, your anxieties going into the term, your favorite ice cream flavor...whatever you wish. You may also include an item of significance or two. At the end of September I will take the box and keep it in my office and you will not see it again until the end of term feast. I PROMISE you that I will not cheat the magic and read what it is you have written or anything. This is about your personal journey."

And that was enough talking about that for now.

"NOW! Let us enjoy the rest of the evening! Quidditch inspired game over there, delicious hot schmoes over here," he said with gestures in every which direction. "Any----"

But he was cut off by the appearance of Toddles. Bringing...more food and drinks? Sweet solstice he had not told the house elves to do that this term. Leave it to Toddles to go a bit rogue, however.

"ANYWAY!" he said, somewhat quickly recovering. "LET'S MAKE THIS A TERM TO REMEMBER, GRYFFINDORS!"

Now back to his marshmallows.

OOC: I will make a separate time capsule thread soon with further instructions, so keep an eye out for that The rest of the common room threads will open in the next 24-36 hours, so enjoy your "first evening" back as much as you can in the meantime.

Charlotte hadn't actually noticed Bentley also edging closer and closer to the box (which was REALLY more of a treasure chest), so intent was she on her curiosity. But then she heard HER NAME so she turned slightly, expression a PICTURE of innocence, and then, after a moment of her mind catching up, she struck a pose, showing the box off with a flamboyant gesture. And sort of half-listened because OH THEY WERE FINDING OUT WHAT WAS IN IT? WHAT WAS IT? WHA--- whaaaat? a TIME capsule? Did that mean there was NOTHING in the box?

Charlotte grappled with this, trying to decide if she was DISAPPOINTED (Because nothing in the box) or EXCITED (because time capsule! THAT WAS EXCITING!!) She ignored the arrival of the house elf because she had Bambou at home so was used to them and all, and instead tilted her head, dropping her hand at her side and eyeing up the Air man.

"Are YOU going to put something in there TOO?" She wanted to know.

Bentley was hoping to beat Charlotte to the box which he almost did, so good were his ninja skills, when SHE got busted. Awwww poor Charlotte. He supposed her bright blonde hair made her more noticable. Such a shame, it would have been nice telling her he beat her to the chest.

Anyways, turned out their head of house wad half blind or probably just didn't see well. This could be used to his advantage. The first year crouched lower, for all the good that would do and continued to partially listen to the half blind head of house while tugging on the lid of the box. Really? It couldn't be open? Why make it big? Why make it red? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy put it in the middle of the room for others to think it's interesting?

He groaned and sat by Charlotte's foot. "What a dudd..what's so interesting about a stupid box?"

Said what? Her? Doing a dance off?

"Nope. No, thank you." Dancing was not her forte. She used to do Ballet with her brother but the instructor said that she had two left feet. So after that she never tried to dance anymore. Nope. Once was enough for her, thank you very much. "I'm sure you could." Oh she didn't doubt that. She hated losing to someone but she knew when to avoid a battle that she couldn't win. AT ALL.

"I'm perfectly fine sitting right here watching them dance." Nods.



Candice attention went towards the new girl. "Hi. I'm Candice." Introduction was important, yes? "Welcome to Gryffindor!" She gave the girl a small smile. "What year are you in?" Because she looked older than her. Maybe sixth or seventh?

Then the Fifth year saw a house elf brought some drinks and snacks for them . Looked at that cute little house elf! She was pretty sure that if her brother was here, he probably fainted as soon as the house elf appeared. She never understood why he dislike and fear them so much they looked harmless to her.

----

Candice turned her attention back to Airey after Zander finished his speech. Seriously was this speech necessary? Didn't they already have a long and boring speech from the Headmaster earlier? She didn't actually paying any attention to Airey' speech. But the the guy said something about Time Capsule. That's peak her interest. So they allowed to put anything inside that box? Now, what should she put? Hmm...

Larissa just shrugged. What was the point in even trying to be friends with this girl. She clearly can't be nice when meeting someone for the first time so honestly that wasn't the type of person that she wanted to be friends with. She shook her head. "N-no, I'm not." Larissa said crossing her arms. "I-I...following the P-prefects here to the stupid h-house I'm in." The brunette. "It's n-not like I'm welcome here a-anyway." She shrugged and looked around. There was no one welcoming her to the house anyway so what was the point. "N-no one would n-notice if I..I just l-leave." It was true. No one here knew her or really got to try to know her yet.

Rissa smiled. "I-I'm Rissa." Just keep it short and sweet. She wasn't too fond of being called Larissa but maybe it was just a phase that she was going through. She liked nicknames. "N-nice to m-meet y-you." Larissa blinked. Someone was welcoming her? Really? She had to be dreaming because no one had done that yet. "T-thank you. S-seventh y-year." First and last year at Hogwarts for her.