Janelle wasn't exactly sure how she had gotten separated from Kate and Cinna after leaving the train. Somehow she had lost them in the madness. How she had mangaged to be the first to arrive at the Ravenclaw table was even more puzzling. The good thing was, she had her choice of seats. Janelle chose a spot at the middle of the table, that way she could have a good view of everyone who came and went.

Once she sat down, Janelle took a look around at the Great Hall. It was relatively empty and certainly looked different than it had a few months ago. Thankfully there were no cobwebs or remnants of the spider invasion. No one needed to be reminded of that. Janelle sat back and hoped that her friends would arrive soon. Oh and there would be new firsties to greet. She could do that because she was a big time third year and third years knew things.

The Ravenclaw table was a must! (weren't all the tables? haha) Adi stopped by over here earlier than usual because he had spotted Janelle. Little Janelle who was now a THIRD year. Whut, whut? Had Jasmine really left three years ago? Where did the time go?!

"Janelleeee!'' The older boy flopped down beside her, enveloping her in a big hug. Hey, he didn't jointly win that title in the Yearbook for nothing. "How are you? Did you enjoy the summer? Ready fro third year? How is Jasmine?'' Hehehe. Adi might have eaten extra Froggies on the train, okay? He was HYPER!

Charlotte's voice arrived at table well before her body did.

"I'm a RAVENCLAW!" (she wasn't). "Look at me, A new first year RAVENCLAW!" Just like her mum and dad (except not really). Also just like her cousin Dmitriy.

Nothing to see here, just another brand new Ravenclaw. Yup. Ravenclaw.

SOOOO Ravenclaw.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Ravenclaw that she felt the need to make sure people got the point, by cawing a few times. Helpfully.

.... Ravenclaws did that, right? Cawed?

DIMA. WHERE WAS DIMA?

Char was going to sit with the big kids, to make it clear this was where she BELONGED.

Arriving at the castle couldn't come soon enough. Like pretty much the second the carriage stopped, Tia had bounded from the carriage and away from the Slytherin Prefect. Sure she might have instigated some, but she didn't want to think of it that way. She wasn't even hungry anymore despite the long train ride but she knew formalities dictated that she had to go to the Great Hall first. Not to mention she was slightly eager to see some of the new Ravenclaws.

Apparently sorting had already started though as the sixteen year old took her seat, as one young one took a seat and proclaimed loudly about being a newly sorted Ravenclaw. Cawing as best she could. Something seemed off here and Tia wasn't quite sure what, but having missed the hat proclaim her house, she just shrugged it off.

"Hi there, welcome. I'm Tia Mancini, a sixth year." And you are? Besides being a little eager eaglet (not really).

Janelle heard her name being called with enthusiasm. Turning around, she spotted her self designated big brother away from home. "Adiiiiiiiiiii!" Janelle returned his hug and began to answer his many questions." "I'm good. Glad to be back and I am so ready to be a third year." In Janelle's mind being a third year was monumental. You weren't a brand new firstie and you had moved beyond being a still kinda new second year. Third years were older, more experienced and definitely mature. Yep, she was ready for that.

"My summer was nice. I got to travel some and visist relatives. I went back to my home town, like I do every summer aaaaand I got to spend a lot of time with my family. Jasmine's doing great. She's half way though university and she loves it there. She said to tell you hi, by the way." Now enough about her. Janelle had some questions of her own. "So what did you do this summer'? She imagined it was something exciting, cause this was Adi. Then Janelle wanted to ask him something else, but she wasn't sure whether she should or not. Deciding to take the plunge, Janelle jumped in. "So Adi, what's it like being a seventh year?" Could be good and bad, but Janelle wanted his thoughts on the matter.



Before Adi arrived, Janelle had amused herself by watching the sorting ceremony. When a first year girl arrived at the table proclaiming her Ravenclaw glory, Janelle had stiffled a smile. She heard the sorting hat place her in Gryffindor, but she was not about to blow the girl's cover. Anyone that fond of Ravenclaw was certainly welcome at the table.

"Hi there", Janelle said to the girl. "I'm Janelle. Welcome to Hogwarts. How are you enjoying everything so far?" Hopefully she wasn't too disappointed.

"Oh I'm Char Kettleburn, I'm a FIRST year, my mum and dad were both Ravenclaws! And DMITRIY TOUSSAINT is my cousin!" SEE? SHE BELONGED HERE clearly. Didn't she LOOK like a perfect Ravenclaw? Smart and EVERYTHING?

The silly hat didn't know what it was talking about.

"Hi! I'm CHAR! OH its GREAT! I mean, THE HAT it put me in RAAVENCLAW so you know, OBVIOUSLY its great! But I know a LOT about Hogwarts already, My mum and dad went here, my mum was prefect for Ravenclaw AND head girl as well," Seeeee? SHE BELONGED WITH THE EAGLES. "And my BEST FRIEND in the world, his MUM used to be the HEADMISTRESS! So, we know pretty much everything already." And because she knew things, that was another reason for her to be a RAVENCLAW. THEY KNEW THINGS.

Project Eagle = flawless execution.

Adi laughed, keeping his arm around Janelle. She did seem very much ready for the new school year. "Make the most of it,'' he told her simply because someday he knew she would be wishing she could start all over again, like he was doing right now. Traveling? That was nice. "Where did you travel to? Did your family get you annoyed anytime?" Because family gatherings tended to be all dramatic sometimes and emotions can run high. "I'll be sure to owl her soon. I'm glad she's enjoying it and I bet she must be acing those classes.'' Jasmine was BRILLIANT. "Me? I just practiced my spell work. Especially my Patronus. I finally managed a corporeal one and it takes the shape of a coyote.'' Adi was excited about that still and couldn't wait to show Dakest. "I feel old and I feel as though it's all surreal. Like I had only started Hogwarts last year.'' Ahh, he was getting emotional!

Adi eyed Tia. Was she ignoring him because of what he and Caleb had joked about earlier on the carriage? They had just been kidding around but maybe his friend didn't see it that way. "Tiaaaa.'' Not mad at him, were you?

Oh, Merlin! There was a LOUD new eagle (Char)! But Adi LOVED her enthusiasm and bubbliness. "HI! Welcome to Ravenclaw! Er, I'm not a Claw but it doesn't matter that I'm welcoming you, right?" After all, he was all for House spirit. "I'm Adi, seventh year Hufflepuff prefect.'' Ahh, this girl had connections! He was impressed. Mom as prefect and she knew one of the Headmistresses? Cool!

Having been sorted Ruby slowly made her way over to the table decorated with the blues of her house. There was a smile on her face, one of both relief and excitement although it faded slightly when she spotted the Slytherin table. Her eyes scanned over the seats looking for her perfect blonde sister, disappointed when she couldn't see her hidden amongst the sea of green and the celebrations for the newly sorted first year. She bit her bottom lip between her teeth and made a mental note to try find her later. She wanted a hug, she wanted her to tell her that everything would be okay and she’d be happy in a house whose common room were as far away from one another as possible.

She slid into the nearest available seat on the table and watched the commotions at the table. There was another first year there (Charlotte), one who’d been sorted into Gryffindor but was adamant that she was a Claw. She was too nervous to say anything mostly through fear of the clearly louder and much more intimidating blonde shouting at her that she was wrong. What if you could change your house? What if the hats word wasn't final?

She tore her eyes away in case they saw her staring. She didn't want to come across as rude, certainly not on her first day at school. Instead she looked down at the table and waited for someone to talk to her.

Riley sidled over to the 'claw table both ashamed and not.

She wasn't 'late' or anything. She hadn't gone to the WRONG house table. And if she had then ... SO WHAT?

"HELLO FELLOW 'CLAWS," she greeted, taking a seat near (Ruby) and away from Charlotte.

Coming into the Great Hall, Helena floated directly over to the Ravenclaw table. She could hear Sir Nick's unmistakable voice from the lion table as she smoothed out her dress and dark shoulder length hair. Claiming her customary seat in the middle of the table Helena let her eyes wander over the eagles that had so far arrived at the table. It was nice to see that Tia - Marie and Janelle were back for another year and so was puff prefect Aditya. The spiders hadn't sent them packing. Sending both girl's hearty smiles and waves and a nod of the head to Adi, Helena focused on the loudest blond student (Charlotte) presently at the table.

In Helena's opinion it was those that proclaimed too loudly that they belonged to a certain house that most often turned out to belong somewhere else. She wasn't going to break the news to the youngster, she was pretty certain that the hat had already done that. Instead she said with a wink. "If you make your voice hoarser you'll caw better."

A little ways down a brunette (Ruby) about the same age as the blond slipped into a seat silently followed by another girl (Riley). Waving to the younglings Helena called out "Welcome to Ravenclaw, home of the high soaring eagles!"

The closer he got to what was apparently the Ravenclaw table, the more exhausted Daxton realised he was. What was worse was that it wasn't even over yet. The Sorting was the worst part, he decided, but he still needed to sit at a table full of people in the crowded Hall and probably eat with them and it would probably get loud.

Still with his hands clamped over his ears, Daxton approached and eyed the occupants of the table uncertainly, then sat down as far away from the general throng of people as he could possibly get. The only person he knew here so far was Char, and she was right in the middle of everyone, and also loud, and also he wanted to just take a moment to... well... he wasn't sure what. To gather himself. Calm his anxiety. Away from everyone else.

So he sent a scowl in their general direction to warn them all off, then focused his attention on the resplendent cutlery and crockery that adorned the table. Was this gold?

Would... would anyone notice if some of these goblets went... missing?

Stealing would require Daxton to remove his hands from his ears, though, and he didn't plan on doing that any time soon. So instead the newly sorted Ravenclaw eyed the goblet in front of him, staring at his warped but otherwise impassive reflection, trying to acclimatise to the strange way of life this school was already throwing at hi-

Daxton started. Part of the reflection in one of the goblets had him looking back up again. Staring. Was that a-...?

A ghost. That was a ghost. That was definitely a ghost.

Abby was glad to be back at school and she hoped that she would run into no more spiders during this term

What? Hoarser? But that would hurt. And Char was PRETTY sure her CAWS were CAWSOME. Bahahaha! She cracked herself up. Literally. She giggled. At her inner joke. Yes.

But BUT she was being talked to by a ghost but not just ANY GHOST!

"Oh! I know who you are! You're the Grey Lady! My mum told me about you!" Her mother had been quite friendly with her house ghost during her seven years at Hogwarts, judging by all the stories. "My mum is Celandine Kettleburn... I mean, she used to be Celandine Toussaint, she was head girl and RAVENCLAW prefect." Yeah! So that was why CHAR belonged here, right? And her dad Copernicus Kettleburn of COURSE. "Its marvellous to meet you!" It really was! Ghosts couldn't shake hands though, right?

She was SO focused on the ghost that she totally missed Prince Daxton's arrival. Which just goes to show he really needed her help, if she was his royal advisor person, she'd DEFINITELY hire some trumpet players and announce all future Daxton arrivals with a fanfare.

Having made his way over from the carriages with Evie after a frustratingly long train ride, Benzi had been thoroughly distracted as they all waited for the firsties to appear. He was rather invested in this year's sorting you see, because for some mind-boggling reason, Suri was now old enough to be a first year. Suri Rider was at Hogwarts. SURI. Tiny little brunette with big sad eyes and messy pigtails was now wearing a Hogwarts uniform and shuffling into the Great Hall.

Scary how time flies by.

He'd briefly been distracted from watching her squirm in the line - he'd make fun of her for that later - when hatstalls happened and people were sorted into Ravenclaw. The badge meant he had to clap when that happened. Also Charlotte Kattleburn happened but after laughing heartily, decided to deal with that whole situation later. Speaking of, what was with this sorting? They had a fake Ravenclaw, a 'claw who didn't know that they were the blue house and one who was apparently sensitive to noise and went to sit VERY far from them all. So far he counted one normal Ravenclaw.

Hmm. Perhaps he'd go chill with Mr. Sensitive in a bit.

FINALLY, a Serena Rider was called up and as predicted by both him and their mother she was an 'almost hatstall'. LONG MINUTES LATER - Merlin Suri, he was hungry, hurry it along - she was eventually placed in Slytherin. HA. He'd been RIGHT. Very pleased with himself, Benzi waited for the smile!smirk thing she did when she was satisfied but it didn't come.

Sobering up instantly, Benzi watched her making her way to his table and raised an eyebrow. This was... unexpected. But then not really? Ravenclaw was kind of the Rider home, the majority of them had been sorted into it, though apparently not with Jake's kids. With Suri in Slytherin, that's them having representation in every single house. Kind of neat actually. Come on kid, chin up, he thought, silently urging her on. He watched as she paused at the table, looked to him then took a deep breath and seemed to make up her mind about something. A second later all hesitation disappeared and she puffed out her chest, striding confidently to the Slytherin table with a slightly alarming but deeply satisfying smirk on her face. Atta-girl. He'll ask Cutty to keep an eye out for, and perhaps have a talk with Freckles and Newell when he saw them next.

RIGHT. Now that that wass over... Ravenclaws. His housemates. Yes. And Adi. Being prefect was all sorts of great and nice but it had kind of ruined his plans of setting the school on fire just before NEWTs, and it generally meant he had to be helpful and friendly. Or at least that's what mum had kept telling him since the second the badge came in the mail. All things considered, this was probably a good thing. He needed good recommendations from the staff in about ten months. This was why Benzi promptly decided to take a stroll down the table for a bit, say hi to firsties and be welcoming and whatnot.

.... 'And whatnot' was turning out to be harder than he thought because oh Merlin he was awful with names. ERM. "Hey guys! How's it going?" he decided on instead as he neared Adi's little group (Adi, Janelle, Tia). "Had a good summer?" There, nice save, he didn't need to mention them by name.

Grinning at them, Benzi was still in the process of deciding if the younger girl was called Joanne or Jackie when he heard a certain Kettleburn caw and couldn't resist. Thank Merlin she wasn't actually a Ravenclaw though, Benzi was very pleased someone else would be taking care of Charlotte from now on. And, you know, he didn't want to do it for free. Seemed like a step down. Ahem. "Oi, kid," his term of endearment for literally everyone under the age of fifteen, and what he'd been calling Char for years now, "you're forgetting another big Ravenclaw influence in your life." Aka him. Aka, he'll let Sophie Brown deliver the bad news because he didn't really want to do it. Cue WIDE grin and a raised hand for a high five.

Sitting relatively close to Char were two additional first years, and what he liked about them was that a) they were actual Ravenclaws, even if one had taken a detour before coming here, and b) they were MUCH quieter. Yes. Quiet firsties were a blessing. Shifting along so that he didn't have to yell - Charlotte, pay attention - Benzi grinned warmly. Little known fact about him? Surprisingly good with children. "Hey there you two (Ruby, Riley), welcome to Ravenclaw! I'm Benzi Rider, and that" he gestured over at the Grey Lady,"is our house ghost, the Grey Lady." HELPFUL AND SMILES YES HELLO. He also puffed out his chest a little bit so that his badge caught the candlelight. Subtle right?

Speaking of their house ghost, he turned to smile at the transparent woman as well. "Hello there Ma'am, how are you today?" how does one greet the Grey Lady again? She wasn't a Mrs, and Ms seemed a bit inappropriate since she was hundreds of years old. Ma'am would do. Hopefully.

"Hey Abby," HEY YO he remembered someone's name, GO HIM. "Good to see you back! How was your summer?" all the smiles for Abby, whom he'd met during last year's Ravenclaw paintball game which had been extraordinarily fun. Any chance of a repeat of that? Hmm. He'd need to talk to Sophie. And Kitridge. Perhaps they could make it an annual thing? Wouldn't make much of a difference for him, but it would be a nice legacy to leave behind.

Last but not least, the hatstall kid with the hands over his ears (Daxton). Perhaps this was the child Suri had not stopped talking about all summer. She did always seem to like the weird ones best. No, but that kid had no trouble hearing, it was the talking he couldn't do. "Hey kid," Benzi said, his voice raised ever so slightly because said kid had his hands over his ears. "You doin' alright?" and he gestured with his hands too just in case the kid was doing a particularly good job of keeping the noise out and literally couldn't hear anything he was saying. Perhaps he was actually scared of noises or something. Unfortunate, at Hogwarts. He'd advise him to not take Astronomy.

Abby smiled at Benzi and said "Yeah i was not sure if i was going to come back but i had to cause of my OWLs and my summer was pretty good thanks, how was your summer Benzi" Abby was glad that someone was talking to her

It was only his second year here but the sorting was his favourite thing about going to school here. He had spent his summer trying to find some sort of magic that would let him turn his own hat into some sort of sorting hat, or at least close to one. He didn't quite understand it enough to let the idea go and so he was planning to use the resources here at the castle to help him. Starting with his Professors, and then the library. His little hands clapped as hard as possible for those sorted into his house, and even for the girl on the train that had...gone to sit at the Gryffindor table.

He had wanted to chat to her more about the fact his cat had taken a liking to her. Another time, though.

Raising an eyebrow at the loud blonde that had just arrived at the table, Rooney bit the inside of his cheek and looked past her to the distant view of his sister. Calliope would like this first year. Loud. Very loud. Roo wasn't overly fond of the loud, but he didn't have an outright problem with it. He gave her a smile once he had adjusted himself to her volume and responded to her cawing with his own. His own seasoned cawing. One year of development, here.

Ravenclaw.

Caw. Caw.

Extending his hand, Rooney offered a sweet to another of the first year that had just joined the table and wasn't as loud as the other. "I promise they're good." And to prove it, he had another in his hand for himself. They could have them at the same time, and maybe it would stop her from looking like the world had almost ended. Almost, because she wasn't crying. Rooney knew of new students that had cried, and the talk of the town was that some even went to the bathroom on themselves.

A Hufflepuff had the year prior to Rooney starting here.

So he heard.

OH. HEY.

"Are you a Ravenclaw? Did they sort you wrong? I didn't see you have to go back..." But he was excited about her being at the table now. Reaching over the girl he already was near, he offered the train!girl a sweet also. "Food won't be here until everyone is sorted, and the speaking has happened." Best to always have some sort of sweet to hand to survive if you hadn't had a lunchbox of Mama's sandwiches. The kind of sloppy buttering and uneven slices of ham.

[u]Uneven.[/i]

His instinct was to offer the next voice he heard a sweet too, but upon lifting his head and looking, he found that it was no other than The Grey Lady. His favourite, but that wasn't something that he would share with the rest of the school. Rooney gave her a smile, a little wave and then unwrapped the sweet he had and popped it into his mouth.

... Was it possible to be in awe of a ghost? A crush, perhaps?

No, no. Definitely... of course not...

To take his mind off of the ghost at hand, Rooney turned his attention immediately to the next person joining the table. "SWEET???" Oh. Loud. Oops. He offered the sweet immediately, arm outstretched and a smile right there on his face. A bright smile. A sweet smile. Just a smile, offering a sweet.

No apologies for his volume though. He was sorry, but...well...not that sorry.

He'd been caught at a bad time.

"It's nice to meet you Char", Janelle said with a smile. "I'm glad things are going well for you so far." Wow, this kid had quite a pedigree. She certainly seemed to know way more than Janelle did when she first arrived at Hogwarts.

"My sister was a Ravenclaw prefect too so we kind of have something in common." Apparently Char was not going to need any help getting into the swing of things. She already had a head start. "I'm sure you'll fit right in and have a great first year here." Hopefully the year would be drama free so they all could have a great one.



Janelle was really glad to see her friend again. "Oh I will", Janelle replied. She meant to make every moment count this year. This was going to be a good school year, or else. "I went to California. That's where I was born and I still have friends and family there, so I like to visit." Janelle laughed when Adi asked about annoying family members. "No, everyone was cool. I'm always glad to be with my immediate family because it's very rare that we are all together at one time. When I got back home, everyone was there. It was great."

"You should owl Jasmine. I know she'd love to hear from you." Jasmine always asked for updates about her friends. It would be good for the two of them to catch up.

"A patronus? Really? Wow Adi, that's awesome!" Janelle had been practicing her patronus charm too, but hadn't been nearly as succeessful. Then when the conversation turned to being a seventh year, Janelle regretted having brought it up. When was she going to learn to stop asking that question? Of course seventh years were feeling conflicted. Happy and yet sad at the same time. She would definitely have to leave that one alone.




Janelle saw a new girl, probably a first year, looking very nervous. Getting up, she walked over to her. "Hi, I'm Janelle. Welcome to Ravenclaw." The girl seemed a little overwhelmed by all that was going on at the table. Janelle had gotten pretty used to the drama by now.

Janelle noticed her looking toward the Slytherin table. "Do you have a friend in Slytherin?" Hopefully she wasn't regretting being sorted into Ravenclaw. If she was, she'd soon learn to love her new house.



Before she knew it, there was another newbie sitting down at the table. Someone new to meet. Janelle was on a mission to meet as many new people as possible. Besides, she knew what it was like to be new and nervous.

"Hi there. I'm Janelle. Welcome to Ravenclaw. I know you'll like it."



The Grey Lady joined the students at the table and Janelle noticed her waving in greeting. She waved back and replied to the house ghost. "Hello Miss Ravenclaw. It's good to see you again."



Man, there were a lot of firsties this year. This time it was a new boy. A boy who didn't seem to want to be in the mix. He sat away from everyone else and wasn't looking particularly friendly. Being a Guidry, Janelle refused to accept the "I don't want to be bothered" cues. She went over to the boy with a smile.

"Hi I'm Janelle. Just wanted to say hi and welcome you to Ravenclaw. It's not always this crazy. Well, yes it is, but Ravenclaw is cool. We have a lot of fun. Anyway.....welcome." There, short and sweet. Janelle left it open so if he wanted to talk, they could......if not, well that was cool too.

Janelle saw one of the seventh years coming toward her Benzi.........and he was wearing a badge. Oh, this was the new prefect who would be partnering with Sophie Brown. As he greeted Janelle and her friends, Janelle smiled. "Hi, my summer was great. How was yours? Oh and congratulations on being prefect!" She would have to get to know the new Ravenclaw leader because........one needed to know the person in charge 'cause, well you just did.

Text Cut: Abby

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saz Hale

Abby smiled at Benzi and said "Yeah i was not sure if i was going to come back but i had to cause of my OWLs and my summer was pretty good thanks, how was your summer Benzi" Abby was glad that someone was talking to her

To be perfectly fair, worse things had happened had Hogwarts than the spiders. Just the stories his mother told him.. Basically, if the spiders were the last straw for some kids then perhaps they weren't cut out to be at Hogwarts in the first place. Just sayin'. "Yeah, I've got NEWTs this year, they're gonna suck," actually though. He was already dreading them and term hadn't even started.

"It was perfect, thanks. Had to make the most of it you know? Last one and all."

Text Cut: Janelle

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

Janelle saw one of the seventh years coming toward her Benzi.........and he was wearing a badge. Oh, this was the new prefect who would be partnering with Sophie Brown. As he greeted Janelle and her friends, Janelle smiled. "Hi, my summer was great. How was yours? Oh and congratulations on being prefect!" She would have to get to know the new Ravenclaw leader because........one needed to know the person in charge 'cause, well you just did.

"It was really good.. really good," and it really was, he wasn't exaggerating. He looked over to Evie with a grin and nodded. Yup. Good things had happened this summer. "Thanks! I'm nothing like Banner, by the way," he grinned, then hurriedly added that last bit as an afterthought. Merlin he would NOT want to be confused for Gabriel Banner. Polar opposites as far as he could tell.

Abby nodded and said "Yeah i know what you mean Benzi and i have my OWLs coming up at the end of the year and i am dreading them already, maybe we can worry together, and congratulations on being made prefect i am sure you will do a good job this year" Abby was sure Benzi was going to be a good prefect

There was no piggyback ride into the Great Hall for Sophie Brown for the first time since she was a first year.

Zander could have kept the tradition going, certainly, but he was plenty busy on his own stressing out over his Head Boy duties. She shared those same duties as Head Girl, sure, but unlike him, those duties didn't faze her one bit. She would do what needed to be done when the opportunities presented themselves - there was no reason to psych herself out about them ahead of time. So she'd helped usher students to the school, detached from Zander, and put on a happy face for the student body at large as everyone filtered into the Great Hall.

But no piggyback ride. No piggyback ride meant no Mo, no Jun, and no Tobes.

She felt alone.

She supposed that was the sacrifice that had to be made when one became Head Girl. There was less time for fun, less opportunity for making memories and enjoying oneself, more things that had to be sacrificed. The Grey Lady was already at her house table, and the ghost had always scowled in disapproval of her piggyback ride entrances in the past, so if nothing else... at least she wouldn't be having daggers glared at her this time around.

But before moving to take a seat at her table, Sophie stayed back by the doors, scanning the Great Hall with a sense of emptiness, a sense of longing for days past and missing the faces of those who had graduated before her. Tobes, Cat, Mo, Elodie, Jun, Aidan, Nigel, Eden, Marigold, Kace... she even missed Gabe. And when her gaze turned up to the staff table, she noted the missing faces there, too, faces of her favorite professors who had left. Fuller, Thompson, Elwood, Bentley, Hadley, even Truebridge, and Quig...

...ley...

...QUIGGLES WAS GONE???

Sophie Brown's mouth DROPPED when she realized that there was a WOMAN sitting in the Charms seat next to Dakest where Quiggles should've been, and in an instant, it was taking everything within the Head Girl not to cry. QUIGGLES LEFT. AND HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY GOODBYE TO HER.

WHAT KIND OF WORLD WAS THIS.

A terrible one, it seemed, a world where a professor didn't say goodbye to his favorite student and let her find out that he was GONE on the FIRST DAY BACK AT SCHOOL. The worst. But... it was reassuring to see that Dakest WAS there after the incident this summer, especially considering how he'd neglected to let her know just what had happened... but... not her business. He didn't owe her anything. He didn't have to tell her anything. Must not have been TOO bad if he was here, although... he was a fighter, no doubt, and not a quitter, so she had an inkling that the world could be going up in flames and he'd still be doing what he had to do even in the face of danger and evil. Brave man, he was. She respected him for it.

There was a strong part of her that wanted to approach the table. She wanted to go be with the familiar adult faces who made her feel comfortable - Dakest, Culloden, Flammy, Kitridge, Tanner, Botros, Moxley... but the vacancies of both Quiggles and Thompson not up there with them hurt. Sophie loved moving forward and getting the opportunity to show what she was made of in the face of change, to prove herself to everyone and let them know she was strong and brave and could handle anything... but deep down, this change hurt. No Tobes and no Javy and no--

No, Sophie Brown. Stop it. You have a job to do. Make them proud.

Swallowing the rising lump in her throat, Sophie put on a friendly smile as she subconsciously straightened her Head Girl badge, smoothed down her hair, and walked down the length of the Ravenclaw table, trying to figure out where... where should the Head Girl sit? It was easier when Tobes was with her because he would just drop her off near her friends and then they'd sit together and she didn't have to decide, but this was... tricky. She wanted the comfort of friends, but what about the new kids? They would need comfort, too, probably. Would the new kids flock to the girl with the Head Girl badge? They probably wouldn't even notice she was wearing it, so they would probably just sit wherever there was an empty seat.

So that meant she had to like... go visit them once they joined her. Make some rounds. Not too fun, but it made her choice of where to sit a lot easier - she ended up walking down the entire length of the table and sitting close to the staff table so she could have a good view as the sorting ceremony took place and she did take comfort in being near to all the professors. It empowered her. But there she was, front and center, and ignoring the lump that still threatened to rise every time she thought of the faces of Tobes, Cat, Mo, Piers, Javy...

When the ceremony began, their new sortees seemed like quite the characters - especially the one who was not sorted into Ravenclaw but made a big scene out of insisting that she was, then the poor girl even joined the house table like it was where she belonged. Admirable, really, but of all the other houses a kid could've gotten, wasn't Gryffindor just about the second best? Sophie threw a glance over to Zander at the Gryffindor table, a helpless look as if to say, This is your housemate, your problem, not mine. But... if she insisted upon staying, Soph supposed she would step in. Try to help. See if she could talk the girl into going to her REAL house table... but... if she was awfully nice to the girl, wouldn't she just want to stay a Ravenclaw? See, it was VITAL that Zander be nice to her and show her that Gryffindor was the place to BE. He had the charm, the looks, the personality to get the girl on the same page as him, so it was ALL YOU, ZANDER ADAIR.

Three new arrivals came shortly after - two girls, quite timid, but neither seemingly as appalled at being there than the boy with the dark hair who joined them, his hands over his ears like the noise of the Great Hall would burst his ear drums. There were already people flocking to him, their naturally curious Ravenclaw instincts kicking in and overriding their sense of logic that perhaps the boy needed time to be left alone... but instead of stepping in and talking to any of these people, Sophie Brown's gaze bypassed the sorting ceremony as it continued and lingered up at the staff table, clacking her teeth together lightly as she tried to catch the eye of either Dakest or Culloden to give them a little smile and wave.

It turned out that she wasn't so good at this whole... being the oldest thing. She'd always surrounded herself with older friends, older people, and now without that influence, she couldn't be a chameleon to the leadership qualities they possessed. Now, she had to harness them all on her own.

Terrifying.

Kate had such an AWESOME time on the train and riding the carriages. She'd found some of her old friends and met some new ones, too. She was already having so much more fun than she'd had the past two school years. She was probably one of the last ones to make it out of the entrance hall and into the Great Hall. Oh, well. She probably didn't miss too much, but there were a couple people she wanted sorting results for.

Reaching the Ravenclaw table, Kate peered down the table and tried to note who was there. No Colt. No Adelynn yet either. Hmm. No David. Had NONE of her new friends been sorted into Ravenclaw with her?! There were still a lot of people walking around the place, so Kate figured it was hard to work out who was where right now anyway. She took a seat at the table and looked around for somebody to talk to.

Okay, FRIENDS. Where are you?!

Riley's eyes were moving from thing to thing and to the next thing. There was just SO MUCH to see. For one there were FLOATING CANDLES. What sort of place had floating candles? Weren't they hazardous or something? Obviously they weren't because otherwise the school wouldn't have them but that still didn't tell her why they weren't dangerous. Didn't wax drip off them? Where did the wax go? It couldn't just disappear could it? Maybe it could. This was a MAGIC school after all.

Another thing that baffled her were CANDLES. Again. Why did they have candles and not electricity? It looked pretty darn cool that's for sure but it seemed inefficient. What if they ran out of candles? THEN WHAT, HOGWARTS? Would she have to go eat some carrots to get night vision??? Nope. Not a chance. She needed answers. She'd heard people talking about phones not working at Hogwarts and maybe that was tied into it someh--

At the sound of a voice, Riley lowered her gaze from the ceiling and her eyes landed on a lady. Sorta. They didn't quite land on her because a) she was TRANSLUCENT and b) she, like the candles, was FLOATING. Wat even.

Instead of replying with words, the first year just stared. Wide eyed. Like an owl.

Before she had the chance to ...... um, run, hide, ask QUESTIONS, she was met with another voice and a new face. This boy -- not translucent or floating -- introduced himself as Benzi Rider and he had a BADGE. Badges were important and that meant he was important by default. "Ghosts are real," was the first thing she said to him. Wow what a good first impression. "I mean, of course they're real, there's one right THERE," she continued, and waved energetically at the Grey Lady. She was going to say that she looked very good for a dead person but she wondered if that crossing some sort of line so she didn't. Turning back to Benzi, she put on her biggest smile. "Nice t'meet you, Benzi. How did y'get that badge? It looks very shiny." She wanted one.

But before she could inquire more into how to get a shiny, another person approached her. This time one she knew (and also not floating). Rooney. OH. He had seen her almost-embarrassing entrance then? "I AM a Ravenclaw," she confirmed, nodding maybe one too many times in an attempt to make her Ravenclaw-ness more certain. SDFGHHDFG SWEETIES. She completely skated over what else he was saying because sweets had entered the equation. "Don't mind if I dooo," she giggled, grabbing one and popping it in her mouth. Maybe she should see if she could get one for Noelle too because she'd been hungry when Riley had left the lions' table. But again before she could do that he was telling her that she had to WAIT. Food had to wait for ALL the new people to be sorted?

Riiiiiiiiiiidiculous.

To take her mind off food for a bit she people-watched. Most of them she didn't recognise and they seemed older than her but nice nonetheless. But there were one on two that she did know....ish. A few seats down was the silent moody boy (Daxton) and he seemed just as moody and silent as before. Ravenclaw, too. LIKE HER. Maybe she should say hello. Be friendly. Maybe all he needed was a friend. Unlikely, but you never know. After waiting to catch his eye, she gave a finger-wiggle wave and a smile and that was all. SMALL STEPS TOWARDS FRIENDSHIP. In her mind at least.

Just as she thought about maybe saying hello to silent-moody-boy ANOTHER person approached her. Jeez, she was popular today. Her mum would be so proud of her for making so many friends and acquaintances. "Thank you, Janelle," she said with a grin. "I hope so because Gryffindor seems really cool as well." At least the Noelle part of it did. Just so she knew that she had OPTIONS. Okay maybe she didn't technically but still. "I'm Riley, by the way and ---"

LIKE A HAWK. That's what Riley was.

She'd spotted, out of the corner of her eye, another shiny. NOT JUST ANY SHINY. This one -- squint -- said 'HEAD GIRL' on it. Sdfghjnfgrtjk. Riley was in the presence of the Head Girl (Sophie). And all she could do was stare. Stare longingly. In her mind she tried to work out how best to make a good impression but everything she thought of seemed inadequate. So she just continued staring, hoping that that in itself wouldn't make a BAD impression.

SPOILER!!: Kate!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Kate had such an AWESOME time on the train and riding the carriages. She'd found some of her old friends and met some new ones, too. She was already having so much more fun than she'd had the past two school years. She was probably one of the last ones to make it out of the entrance hall and into the Great Hall. Oh, well. She probably didn't miss too much, but there were a couple people she wanted sorting results for.

Reaching the Ravenclaw table, Kate peered down the table and tried to note who was there. No Colt. No Adelynn yet either. Hmm. No David. Had NONE of her new friends been sorted into Ravenclaw with her?! There were still a lot of people walking around the place, so Kate figured it was hard to work out who was where right now anyway. She took a seat at the table and looked around for somebody to talk to.

Okay, FRIENDS. Where are you?!

Colt was busy exploring all the tables when he reached the blue colored table. He looked up and saw the banner and saw it had a raven on it. Huh...this must be the ravenclaw table. They seemed to have a lot of people at this table too. In fact the houses seemed to be even enough with the students. He made his way and wondered where Kate was. That was the only one he remembered from the train that mentioned Ravenclaw. As he made his way down the table, he saw a blonde and he grinned when he found her.

He walked silently behind her and hoped to scare her. He tapped her shoulder and said with a small grin, "Thought I would find you here. Not really hard though since this where the nerds congregate." He had to add in a joke somewhere in there.

Kate was still lost in thought and looking down the table for the next person to strike up a conversation with. She had just spotted Janelle, and--was that a Head girl badge on Sophie?! Ravenclaw Head Girl, WOOT! These were the thoughts running through Kate's mind when she was suddenly tapped on the shoulder. Suddenly, the only thought in her mind was SPIDERS and how they'd come up on you suddenly last year. She jumped a little and spun around.

"Oh, hey!" she said, relaxing only a second later when she saw that it was Colt. "Are you a Ravenclaw?!" It was hard to tell, since the new sortees got their ties and scarves once they got to their dorms. Funny, she hadn't pinned him as a Ravenclaw, but this would work! "Nerds?" She frowned at him but ended up playfully jabbing him in the side the next second. "You watch what you say, young man. We Ravenclaws know how to outsmart you really quickly." Well, that wouldn't exactly work out for her if he was a Ravenclaw, too...