Colt saw the dude who was yelling greet a lot of people. He wondered who he was. He heard from others that his name was Ethan. Colt wondered if he should introduce himself. He decided he might as well. "Sup dude?" he greeted him with. He noticed one other dude (Calrissian) was not enjoying the loud noises. He could relate to the kid because he was the same way. He needed to adjust though whenever his family comes over because they are loud being italians and all. He smirked and asked the kid, "Hey kid you okay?" He just needed to watch out for his fellow snake is all.

He also saw Oliver from the train and he was three seats down. He punched him in the arm playfully and asked, "Hey you okay?" he seemed a little down.

Dot was getting to be quite practiced at entrances, although joining the table when it was already half full hadn't been the plan. Not exactly, at least. It was just that everything was so interesting and distracting and there were people to see and kneazles to pet and... and now she was here.

Very important prefect person in the house?

And a CALEB. FINALLY. Dot wanted to talk to that boy, but she'd wait politely until it was an appropriate time. Adi got a wave (why was he always at the Slytherin table? Didn't he have any Puffer friends?), and then Dot sank down to sit next to Hady.

"Good summer? Look how long your hair is! Let me braid it when we get to the common room. I learned this new fishtail thing."

Tom was feeling pretty nervous as he made his way to the Slytherin table. He'd been really quiet and kept to himself on the train, but now that he was Sorted he figured it was as good a time as any to start making new friends. Although the whole thing was more than a bit intimidating; his dad had never bothered to tell him about Hogwarts (or about much of anything else for that matter) and his older brother hadn't been allowed to attend, so he had no idea where anything was or what to expect.

Still, he seemed not to be as nervous as the kid who was sorted before him (Oliver), who was staring silently down at the ancient-looking wooden table. Tom sat down next to him, glanced nervously around at the older and much more intimidating-looking students, and then quietly said, "Hey, I'm Tom."

Cilla slowly sat down at the Slytherin table. She smiled at the new Snakes but it did take a lot of effort. Cilla definitely was not in the mood to be happy but she certainly was going to do her best in not alienating herself from people. With the loss of her father two weeks ago, the fifteen year old had changed in her personality. She now had a wall around her and she didn't have the once radiating smile on her face.

If anyone wanted to talk to her, she was fine with it but she was nervous about it.

Marisol forgot about manners and put her elbows on the table. That would've nearly killed her Abuelita Martínez, but luckily for her, the old hag was back in Seville. Wait. She didn't mean that! What was getting into her lately?

The brunette leaned across the table to speak to another fifth year. She'd never really talked to her before, but why not? Anything to get her mind off of food.

"Hi," she said to the redhead (CILLA) sitting near her. I'm Mari. Cilla, right?


While waiting for the girl to answer her, she spun her head around to another sad-looking kid (OLIVER). He was so tiny! What was with all the depressed Slytherins! Marisol was cheery and ready to go, go, go!

"What's up?" she asked the younger boy.

Olly felt someone sit down next to him. He figured it must have been the boy who had just been sorted into Slytherin. He heard the hat, but had missed the boy's name. Luckily he introduced himself. Tom. Olly looked up at the boy and blinked. He could handle this. He could handle talking to people and trying to make friends. He could. Olly managed a small smile for the boy.

"I'm Oliver. Welcome to Hogwarts."

And there was someone else speaking to him. It was Colt, and Olly was not all that surprised. He was not doing a very good job of hiding his emotions. He meant to nod at the older boy, an assurance that he was, in fact, okay, but he couldn't do it. As much as he tried, his head would not move up and down. Would not lie while he was actually very not okay. Very slowly, he shook his head back and forth. His lower lip wobbled, but he did not cry. Would not cry there. Olly took a moment before he spoke so he was sure his voice was steady.

"My sister." He couldn't make any more words come out of his mouth. Olly simply blinked away tears and turned his attention back to the table. He wanted to get out of there.

Cal turned to the new voice talking to him among all the excitable yelling. He squinted at the word kid. Calrissian Fox Desario was not a kid anymore. If anything, he was a very, VERY, big kid. Twelve, okay. Twelve. Crossing into teenager borders. Big deal. However, he softened his expression to reply politely, "Yes, I'm fine. Just lots of unnecessary yelling."

He followed his view to the new firstie a few seats down, watching the boy console the kid. Or...at least that's what it looked like. That arm punch looked like a friend thing.

Cilla looked up at her fellow fifth year. She had seen her around but never had the two spoke. "Hi Mari. Yes, Cilla is my name. How are you?"

Cilla always felt nervous talking to people but she was determined to make some new friends. Cilla noticed Mari's accent. It was exotic compared to Cilla's not so exotic British accent.

"I like your accent. Is that a Spanish accent I can detect? Sorry but I'm not very good at identifying accents." Cilla said as she fiddled with the tips of her long red hair.

Ellery had been rapid-fire shooting around ideas in her head on the way over to the Slytherin table. Some of them were improbably, like suing the Sorting Hat or suing the manufacturer of the hat - they were probably dead by this point - but some were more realistic, like modifying everyone's memory and forcing the hat to sort Olly into Gryffindor. Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy.

AHHH.

Ellery skidded into the table, immediately clasping Olly's head to her chest and hugging the daylights out of him.

"OkaysoIalreadyhaveaSEMI-FORMULATEDPLANthatinvolvesuscreatingaFIFTHHOUSEcal ledSquiddadorandthesquidcanbeourheadofhouseanditwi lljustbethetwoofus, okay?" THAT WORKED YES.

Oh look. Other people she knew. "Hi Dante! Hi, Josie's Ethan! You never told me who Josie was. Is she your giiiiiiirlfriend?" DEEP BREATH. "Hey, you two, you guys would help me and my brother here form a fifth house, right? You guys could be the prefects!!!"

EVERYTHING WAS FINE.

"Thanks!" Tom wanted to beam his gratitude at Oliver, but then his head was filled with the voice of his father telling him how unseemly such displays of emotions were. Besides, Oliver's attention was caught by an older boy a few seats down (Colt); they seemed to know each other, but Tom wasn't really sure what to think about the older boy since he'd never had any friends who hit him before.

Oliver looked even more distressed for a few moments before Tom heard him whisper something about his sister. It sounded like he really missed her. Tom could relate!

"I have a brother," he informed the other boy, failing to pick up on Oliver's body language that probably meant he wanted to be left alone. "I miss him a lot, too. He's not at Hogwarts, and we've never been separated for more than a few weeks at a time before."

Unfortunately, just at that moment a bouncy, super excited blonde girl (Ellery) bounded up to the Slytherin table and all-but yanked Oliver out of his seat and into a hug. She was chattering away about something to do with squids, so Tom wasn't at all sure that Oliver had heard what he'd said.

The incessant tapping that had been bothering him since he got to the Slytherin table finally became too much, and Tom scowled and turned in his seat to see that the culprits were two boys (Phillip, Lucas) who looked like they might be around his age. Their tapping wasn't even in any sort of rhythm!

"What are you doing?" he asked the two, trying to mimic the supercilious tone that his father often used to speak to him when he hadn't done something as well as his older brother.

Mari glanced back at the other girl. Goodness, she'd kill for hair like that. Hers was blunt and brown. "Yeah, it is, actually. I'm from the south of Spain." The brunette blushed, suddenly a bit self-conscious. Having been in Scotland for five years, Marisol was beginning to wonder if she'd ever lose her blatantly Andalusian accent. Even her father, who worked for the Daily Prophet, spoke better English. Well. Maybe that was why he worked for the Daily Prophet. Whatever.

Marisol forgot her awkwardness as she continued to speak."I'm fine, she said with a dismissive wave of the hand. They could talk about that another time. "You, on the other hand, don't look too great. No offence," she added.

"Spain? How cool. I live in London but I was born in Liverpool which is in Northern England. Living in London for so long has caused my accent to sound quite refined so people think I am a bit..erm..posh."

When Mari mentioned that Cilla wasn't looking good, the redhead looked down for a brief moment then looked back up at the brunette. "My father passed away a couple of weeks ago and it was a struggle for me to return. I think my father's death has caused a slight personality change in me but hopefully I can make new friends and maintain existing friendships."

"I live in Edinburgh now, so I think it's a bit ridiculous that I actually have to go to London to come back to Scotland for school, but I guess that's that. My family visits London a lot anyway, though, since that's where my dad's job is." Marisol laughed tiredly.

She inhaled sharply when the conversation took a turn for the worse. Mari never knew what to say in these situations, having never experienced real loss herself. Food suddenly stopped sounding as appetizing.

"Oh," Marisol decided to say, and immediately chided herself for such a stupid reaction. That was about the least sensitive, least helpful thing that she could have said. Yet, at the same time, how much could one fifteen-year-old acquaintance really help anything? "I'm sorry." Dumb again. She should just have stopped talking then, she'd thought. The brunette pursed her lips, hoping her fellow Slytherin didn't either A. yell at her, B. never speak to her again, or C. burst into tears. "I— I didn't know. Was it sudden?

Really, Mari thought, now you sound like you have some morbid curiosity about this girl's father's death. Shut up.

"How long have you lived in Edinburgh? What does your father do in terms of a job?" Cilla paused. She hoped Mari didn't mind her asking questions.

Cilla thanked Mari when she offered her condolences. "It was sudden. Dad worked as a baker and he and a work colleague were making some morning deliveries. Dad has just made a delivery when he had a heart attack. He was rushed to hospital but passed away in the ambulance. Mum and I couldn't say goodbye to him which devastated us both especially mum since they were together for about twenty years."

She wasn’t late. Brooklyn refused to be late, and besides, everyone wasn’t there yet. Granted, the redhead remembered that some people wouldn’t be back. Grayson and Ruby had graduated, and Professor Bellaire had just LEFT. Which she was still trying not to think about, meaning she’d barely glanced at the staff table as she’d walked over to her table and squeezed into a seat near Hady and Ethan. Pointedly ignoring at least one face who quite obviously did not belong there, in Hufflepuff robes. Anyone else from the other houses just got glances. At least one girl (Ellery) sort of looked like she had a reason for being there, if the way she was hugging a newly-sorted snake told her anything. Ew, hugs. As long as she didn’t get it in her mind to hug everyone there, though…

Ethan, Hady, Dot, Dante, Maggie and even Caleb got nods from her, though. Acknowledgment. And, apparently, Colt. It was interesting that he was there. That he’d been sorted into Slytherin. “Colt,” she said. She remembered, but then, she still couldn’t believe he’d actually been named after a baby horse. In any case, her attention quickly went back to Ethan and the others. Still semi-ignoring the goings-on at the staff table. At least Healer Murdoch was still there. There was still one person who made sense. She still didn’t care to find out who she was going to have to learn how they worked, anyway. That could happen later, once she absolutely didn’t have a chance to ignore it. Like, classes.

Abby spotted Hady giving her a tiny smile and a wave and went over to where she was sitting and said "Hey Hady have a good summer?"

Henric stood on his tiptoes as he tried to peer over the student's heads. Where could his bestfriend be? She should be seated at her house table by now, she couldn't have been avoiding him this whole time right? The nagging thought of llia not wanting to see him lingered at the back of his mind but Henric refused to believe it. A moment later, he caught sight of her when she waved at his direction. He couldn't help grinning broadly back, relieved that she was there the whole time probably just waiting on him or...not. But no matter,he tried his best not to appear too eager and went over to her gladly.He was genuinely happy to see her again since they last saw each other over the summer break at her uncle's place in Norway.

"Hey llia, been looking all over for you, missed you at the train and carriage ride to Hogwarts..where were you?"he asked, frowning playfully at her. Oh, and there was the boy he knew back in Diagon Alley too,he was seated right next to her. He saw him got sorted earlier, he was surprised he got sorted to this house!"Colt! Hey bud! Remember me? Congratulations for getting into Slytherin!" he patted the newly transferred third year on his back.

Dante was basically just watching out of the corner of his eye if anything hilarious was going to happen. While keeping up being social because it was exhausting. Then he heard a voice say his name. This voice had vaguely familiar. But Dante could not remember the name attached to it.

"Um..Hey...and what was your name again"



And there was another one saying Hey. Sigh. At least he was not Prefect having to be absolutely nice to them. That would get annoying real fast. But he looked like he just got sorted into Slytherin. So good for him.

"Hey and welcome to Slytherin."

Look at him greeting people into Slytherin. He would get food for this like right now.



Well seemed like she had perfected to Slytherin nod that just about everyone does. Dante grinned.

"How have you been Hady"



High Five received and it was an awesome one at that. You would not except anything less from the two of them. And yeah "Thanks and yeah just trying not to do anything majorly stupid and how is Ethan the now Seventh Year doing."

That was the goal last year and Dante thought he succeeded.




Why was she here. She was alright. But he did watch just to make sure he was eating tonight and saw she was sorted into Gryffindor. Did she already greet her table already. Merlin she was quick. "Hey" and there she goes talking again. Oh well no use going on about it. Not like he could make her stop without using magic. Well now it made sense why she was here. She had a brother. Well he felt sorry for him.

"What's this new house you going on about, Ellery?"

More like rambling.



And there was the other now fourth year. Who did, what Dante wanted to do and arrive here later than almost everyone else. Lucky, she was. Brooklyn got a nod back and a grinned.

"So, how have you been Brooklyn?"

Merlin he is talking to much. He should get some food like right now. Hurry up....Botros. Well maybe he knew already or did not know. But that man was awesome. So good for you Mr. B. and Dante looked around the staff table and saw the Professor Q was not there. Say What! He was even going to call him by his name this term. Now he will never know. Dante would miss him. It had been fun, Professor Q. And there were a couple other new ones. At least Culloden was still there. Dante wanted to talk to him before another potion blew up and this time he would probably get Detention.

Oliver perked up just a bit again when the boy next to him spoke. He was fine with talking, as long as it wasn't about why he was sad. Because that just made him more mad, see? So he decided that it would be nice to talk to Tom and smiled again at the boy.

"How old is your brother?" And why wasn't he at Hogwarts? But he didn't ask that yet, because if Tom's brother was younger then Olly would already have an answer. See, he was thinking.



AHH AN ATTACK! Somebody was tugging on Olly's head, trying to suffocate him or something. He immediately reached out, one arm to pry the arms away from his head and the other to push his attacker away. But he only had to wait a few seconds until his attacker started talking to know exactly who it was.

"Ellery!" He turned to give her a proper hug. A really tight snuggly kind. But he found that with her height, and the fact that he was sitting, made the hugging not ideal. His arms just went around her torso. So Olly pulled her down to sit by him, not caring that technically she should be with the Gryffindors. She was his sister.

Who was she talking to? He tried to follow her gaze toward some older Slytherins who she was already trying to rope into one of her plans. Creating a new house was fine with him, as long as they were in it together.

More newly sorted Slytherins came down their table, and Ethan couldn't help but beam at each and everyone of them. Whether or not they are good or bad apples, he was sure that they've got something up their sleeves that will make his house proud. Sure, a good chunk of seventh years will be leaving school next year--himself included, but he's not all that sad about it. Slytherin will be in good hands. Those little, tiny first years, and transfers bear great promise.



“You haven’t done any funny business during the trip here?” Ethan asked Dante. “You could have done something fun and stupid on the way here though.” Points won't be taken from him should he get caught. Whoa, wait. Did he just gave him that advice? Go him. “Just...don’t get caught if you decide to do something fun in the dorms tonight.” He was such a good seventh year, really. “Me? It’s great to have the trace officially off me. I’ve deen doing all kinds of spells during our summer break. Not looking forward to NEWTs this term though.” Urrrrr...



Ethan whipped his beautiful head toward the boy who called out his attention. Did he just call him dude? Sounds promising. Grayson would approve if he was still there sat beside him. "Hello there, brotha. Welcome to Slytherin." Ethan gave the boy a snappy salute. "I'm Ethan Mordaunt, Seventh year. What's your name?" Cool kid number 2 must have a name, yes?

The blond teen got his goblet again to drink, but watched the not so firstie fellow interact with two more newly sorted Slytherins. Would you look at that? They were all so random. Two were making lots of noise, one looked overwhelmed, and the one being comforted looked like the world has crashed on his shoulders.

...




Oh. OH. He must have been expecting to be sorted in another house, yes? Or...was it simply because he already misses home? First years are usually like that, yeah? After taking a small sip from his goblet, Ethan opened his mouth to try and comfort the boy, but some...FAMILIAR girl had beat him to it. And was she trying to KILL his NEW housemate with a death grip-slash-hug?

Ethan gaped at the girl and almost dropped his goblet on the floor. What? Girlfriend? Ethan’s mouth made movements, much like a fish gasping for air. The blond teen breathed in, and let out a looooong sigh. The silence was then followed by chuckles. TOO BAD, little girl over there didn’t end up in Slytherin. She could be the next Ethan Mordaunt for Slytherin once the seventh year exits Hogwarts. SUCH POTENTIAL, GOOD MERLIN. Placing his goblet next to his plate, Ethan turned to face the Gryffindor. “No she’s not...yet my girlfriend.” Well...who’d want him to be one’s boyfriend, yeah? He’s weird...and pretty much mediocre compared to...let’s say, Simon. Grayson, even.

And...what about this fifth house talk? “Eh?” Ethan asked as he tilted his head in query. Also, “I believe I didn’t get your name back in Diagon Alley...Miss Hugger.” Well, she did claim him like a rag doll back there, but to be honest, kid was being adorable. “And...you must be...related to Miss Hugger?” he continued as he directed his question to the (Oliver) mercilessly hugged boy.




More old students came to their table, and each of them got grins and nods from the seventh year. One of them was Brooklyn. “Not being grumpy tonight, I see. I like it.” Ethan gave the younger snake a tiny wave, fearing that said she-snake might actually be in a bad mood and decides to break all of his digits. Seriously, she could use a small smile, yeah? “How was your summer?” he said as he propped his elbow on the table, and placed his chin in his hand. He was all ears.

SPOILER!!: Colt

Then he heard another familiar voice talk to him and he turned around and it was Hady. He smiled at her warm welcome and nodded. "Yeah I think I am gonna like it here. So tell me about the common room. I heard from my cousin everyone has a common room. What does the Slytherin one look like." Now he curiousity was setting in.

When Colt started talking again Hady let her eyes slide in his direction so she could focus a bit better on what the boy was saying. She gave him a 'friendly' Hady-ish grin when he agreed that he thought he's like being a snake. Of course he would like it. Why wouldn't he? At his question though she laughed softly. "It's awesome. Mostly green and silver but it's comfortable. A little cold though if you're not used to it since we're below the lake. Sitting in the common room by the fire near the large windows and looking out into the lake is one of my favorite spots to be around here. Trust me you'll like it." Maybe even he'd see the merpeople or the giant squid if he was lucky.

SPOILER!!: Ethan

As he continued to drink from his goblet, he took notice of Hady. Yes, well, they haven't talked much, but a fellow Slytherin was a friend, so...Ethan smiled back at the younger Snake, and tilted his head when he saw her rub her face. "Is everthing alright?" Surely, she's just tired from the trip, yes?

Having never really spoken with Ethan all that much she had assumed after her nod of greeting to him that nothing more would come of it. So when the older boy asked her a question she looked up at him with a somewhat surprised look in her eyes at being spoken to by him. The look was gone as fast as it was there and she smiled softly at his concern? "Hm? Oh. Yeah, yeah I'm alright. Just a little tired I haven't been getting much sleep lately." No sense in lying or anything. It happened to everyone sometimes. Just not being able to sleep and all that.

SPOILER!!: Dot

Dot was getting to be quite practiced at entrances, although joining the table when it was already half full hadn't been the plan. Not exactly, at least. It was just that everything was so interesting and distracting and there were people to see and kneazles to pet and... and now she was here.

Very important prefect person in the house?

And a CALEB. FINALLY. Dot wanted to talk to that boy, but she'd wait politely until it was an appropriate time. Adi got a wave (why was he always at the Slytherin table? Didn't he have any Puffer friends?), and then Dot sank down to sit next to Hady.

"Good summer? Look how long your hair is! Let me braid it when we get to the common room. I learned this new fishtail thing."

Feeling someone else sit beside her (boy it was getting crowded where she was now) Hady turned her head to see who it was. Dot! It had been awhile since she saw or talked to her really. Oh and lookit that a Prefect now! There was no missing that badge on her robes and Hady grinned a little more. Before she could even get a 'hello' out Dot was asking about her summer and talking about her hair? The snakette opted not to answer the summer question and went straight into the other reply. "I know! I was kinda surprised it grew a lot this summer, probably helps that I've been leaving it down at lot more lately." Since Diagon Alley. Yeah. There was nothing coincidently about that. "Yeah, sure if you like I wouldn't mind that." Dot was trustful so she could do her hair if she wanted. Grin.

SPOILER!!: Brooklyn

Ethan, Hady, Dot, Dante, Maggie and even Caleb got nods from her, though. Acknowledgment. And, apparently, Colt. It was interesting that he was there. That he’d been sorted into Slytherin. “Colt,” she said. She remembered, but then, she still couldn’t believe he’d actually been named after a baby horse. In any case, her attention quickly went back to Ethan and the others. Still semi-ignoring the goings-on at the staff table. At least Healer Murdoch was still there. There was still one person who made sense. She still didn’t care to find out who she was going to have to learn how they worked, anyway. That could happen later, once she absolutely didn’t have a chance to ignore it. Like, classes.

When Brooklyn arrived and squeezed herself into a spot near them Hady sent a nod of her head towards her. Nothing more was needed since they understood one another and had a brief conversation on the train earlier.

SPOILER!!: Abby

Abby spotted Hady giving her a tiny smile and a wave and went over to where she was sitting and said "Hey Hady have a good summer?"

"Hello Abby, my summer was alright. How was yours?," she asked her older friend when she came over to join them.

SPOILER!!: Dante

Well seemed like she had perfected to Slytherin nod that just about everyone does. Dante grinned.

"How have you been Hady"

A grin. See Dante got it down. Hady let her hazel eyes fall on the boy once more for a few seconds when he asked her a question. "I've been alright, can't complain to much really. How about you?" Most of this was said with a slight shrug of her shoulders and her usual grin.

Abby smiled at Hady and said "My summer was not too bad thanks, not looking forward to this year though" Abby was already worrying a bit about her OWLs coming up at the end of the school year

Mari was actually relieved when Cilla asked her some questions. She had thought that the time for lighthearted chatter was over. She smiled. "Five years. My dad works for the Daily Prophet. He's a reporter." Never mind what her mum did, for once.

She wished her parents were bakers. Although with her sweet tooth, Mari would probably get very fat if she had such a supply of sugar. She refrained from saying that at least Cilla's father hadn't had dragon pox. That wouldn't be supportive at all. "Oh, my God. That's awful. Think, Marisol. Any other topic. "Do you have any siblings?" Mari couldn't help but reassure herself that if anything happened in her family, at least she'd have Lucía.

SPOILER!!: Abby

Abby smiled at Hady and said "My summer was not too bad thanks, not looking forward to this year though" Abby was already worrying a bit about her OWLs coming up at the end of the school year

Hady nodded her head a little bit when Abby said her summer hadn't been to bad. At least that was good. She didn't enjoy hearing when something wasn't good with one of her friends. As Abby went on to say she wasn't looking forward to this year she tilted her head a little bit curiously. How come? Had something happened to her as well that she wasn't happy now? Hady nearly had forgotten just then her friend was a year older then her and would be taking her OWLs this year. Maybe that was it. "Oh, nervous about the OWLs," she asked quietly. If that was it there wasn't nothing to worry about there was all year to study and she was sure Abby would do just fine.

Abby nodded and said "Yeah for once i am actually nervous about my OWLs i am really just worried that this year is going to be full of studying and pressure and loads of extra work" Abby wasn't sure how she would do on her OWLs