Abby smiled at Esme and said "Hey Esme nice to meet you, I am Abby" Abby was sure that she had seen Esme in classes before but this was this first time that she has spoken to her

"Thank you. You aren't new, are you?" Bradson asked. He wanted to make sure before he welcomed her to the house too. "This is a fun house right? I mean the only person in my family that's been in this house I can exactly ask." He was referring to his father that he really didn't like talking about that much. He loves his father and he always will but that's a very sore subject for him to be talking about, same with parents.

See! He didn't know his name either. He totally heard the pause! He heard it! "Mister? I'm too young to be a mister, mister Creepy Older Kid." Maybe he was trying to push this Prefects buttons but that was fun in being here, being alive and you can weed out the people that can handle people picking on them harmlessly, just like he was doing. Blah, blah, blah! Boring important information stuff that he didn't really care about right, call him back in about ten years for that. Bradson burst out laughing. "Oh? Is that true? You HAVE to welcome me to the Hufflepuff house? That's a load of dog poop!" Brady shook his head, he didn't want the food. Even though he was hunger he didn't like pumpkin anything.

Bradson smiled at Kaylee. The brunette listened to the girl closely. the boy beamed. "I am! I'm Scottish and from Scotland." She was correct. "I was wondering why you had a funky accent." He teased her a little. He had heard American accents before because his grandmother had brought him to America before for her job.

Bradson looked around some more as more students started filing towards the table. He didn't know if all of them were first years or transfers or even students that had always gone here for years and years. This first year was starting to get bored. Brady's stomach started to growl very loud. He needed food and he needed it now or else a Brady monster was about to wreck havoc on Hogwarts. The eleven year olds blue-green eyes scanned the table when his eyes stopped on bookshop girl. Why was she saying hello again? Wasn't he just talking to her? He was? "You're name isn't Juno! It's Esme...I mean book shop girl! I was just talking to you! How'd you move over here that fast? Do you have super speed?" The Scottish boy nodded as he said those words.

He turned to one of the older students, Noel, it was? The Friar smiled and chortled, humming some more of the tune for the boy. "Ah, this? It's a part of Partenope...by a composer named George Handel. You should look him up! He's quite fantastic...muggle composer, he is." He nodded and get humming, swaying a little.

It was just such a lovely night for a feast! The smiley faces had him feeling in quite the spirits.

He stopped humming and leaned over to listen to the prefect. "Oh, I know you won't! You're a clever boy, and good, and kind. Hard working. You'll certainly do us proud!" He smiled, and without thinking about it, floated through Henric to address the next student.

"Greetings...is it Esme? Please forgive me...for not knowing your name! I apologize!" He felt infinitely terrible about it, but he quickly smiled because she wished he was well. It was very sweet, and it set the ghost back on the cheerful path! "I am doing grand! I hope you are well, as well. Was the train ride good? I hope this term is as peaceful and calm as last term..." he glanced at the staff table and squinted. "My my...who is that?" he asked curiously about the hag.

Was she new? The Friar couldn't remember ever seeing her before? Hmm.


And ahh, there was the other prefect, looking not as cheerful and happy as he would hope! The Friar floated towards her, smiling. "Norah, how lovely it is to see you! Are you feeling well, though?" He followed her gaze to the Ravenclaw table. "I hope none of that train food made you ill!"

Esme nodded at Juno. Honestly she had figured that was what happened. It was so easy to get separated at this school. She had known she would be with her soon though, and had saved a spot for her. She giggled. "It's like looking at yourself in the mirror when we wear our school robes." Otherwise they were easy to tell apart - well, once people got to know them.

Hmmm. She wondered what she could do to help. Esme didn't usually have songs stuck in her head. "Maybe we can listen to other stuff and maybe that will get it out of there!" That wasn't a bad idea...was it?

Still thinking things over, she smiled as the Ravenclaw girl introduced herself as Abby. Riiight. all three sisters had names starting with the same letter, so it was hard to know. "Nice to meet you too, Abby. Did you have a nice summer?" It was a little hard to tell since she had seemed sad. "This is my twin sister Juno," she added.

Still smiling, she shook her head at Brady's question. "Nope, I've been here since First Year just like you. If you need help getting around, you can ask me." She would be glad to help. "It is a fun House, yes. Everyone is very friendly and it's easy to make friends in Hufflepuff." Esme was sure that he would enjoy it. She wondered who he was referring to, but had a feeling it was best not to ask. Some things were painful and she didn't want to pry. No matter, because he had already moved on from that discussion and was confused about Juno.

"This is my sister," she explained to him. He didn't seem to understand identical twins and that was understandable. "We are identical twins, so we look exactly alike." She could explain things further if he needed it.

The Fat Friar was too kind. "I am Esme, yes. And this is my sister, Juno." They looked identical, so she hoped that he would be able to keep track. "I am glad that you are well! I am too besides a bit of a problem on the train..." Did he know about the hag? Clearly not by the surprise on his face. She hadn't even noticed the old bat at the staff table. That was rather disconcerting. "Errr...Friar? Hags have never been Staffed, have they?" As a House Ghost, he would know. He had been around for the majority of the school's history!

A voice stood out from the chatter that filled the hall, and Norah turned away from the other tables to find Esme speaking to her. She smiled quickly at the younger girl, leaning closer so she could hear over the roar of the other students. "Oh, it was very nice. It's always good to be back, of course." Merlin. Didja hear that? She sounded like a GRANDMOTHER. When did that happen? "How was yours? Did you do anything exciting? Riveting? Fantastic?" There. Much better. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of ANOTHER Esme (Juno) arriving at the table, before the girl announced her name and the whole world made sense again. Twins. Right. She knew that. Was there something in the water tonight? She was feeling awfully strange. After giving her head a little shake, the sixth year leaned a little to her left to see if she could catch a glimpse of Yoongi--had to check if he was still alive and breathing, obviously--then turned back to the younger Puffs with a renewed smile. "Bet there's loads of fun to get into as twins." She and Henric would have to remember to keep an eye on them, just in case. They seemed sweet enough that it wouldn't be an issue, but Norah always thought that. Or usually, anyways.

The Friar received a beaming smile as well, of course, 'cause he was the very smiliest ghost in the history of the entire world, and therefore deserved it. "I'm grand, thank you sir." Was she supposed to call a ghost sir? How was she supposed to know? "Chocolate frogs are my very favorite train food, and those could never make me ill." According to SCIENCE. She loved them far, far too much for that. They had to be nice to her. It was a rule.

That niceness didn't seem to extend to one of the firsties (Brady) Henric was talking to, though. He was saying some very not-nice things that really had no place being said at all. Norah slid from her seat and went to stand beside Henric with yet another smile that was starting to become strained around the edges, both eyebrows raised at her puffer baby. They totally WERE her puffer babies. She'd decided. "Welcome to Hufflepuff!" That meant he was supposed to be nice, didn't he know? It was practically a rule TOO. "Henric's the least creepy ever. I promise. He doesn't HAVE to welcome you to Hufflepuff house, but he did anyways 'cause he's a good dude. Wasn't that nice?" She smiled again even though her face really didn't want to, then returned to her seat where she went back to staring absently at the staff table. Professor Myers and his banjo were GUARANTEED to make her feel better. That was a tried and true fact. So she looked at him, wondering in the back of her mind if glumness at the start of term feast made her a horrid prefect, but wondering even MORE if Professor Moxley was going to give her speech before they all turned a thousand. But MOSTLY she was wondering what would happen if she tried to balance a spoon on her nose and sing at the very same time. 'Cause that was important business.

Noel was rolling his eyes at him. Hah! Kind of expected his response, really. He needed to be a little more fun? Good merlin...the seventh-year sure didn't know him well enough to assume such a thing! Why...he was the epitome of fun! If any of his fellow schoolmates and professors knew what he did outside of school during the summer, he might have to kiss his prefect badge goodbye. Henric simply smiled back at Noel ,"I can be...if I want to." Henric pulled back his bag of sweets from Noel. All the more for him, then. Wait... his band, WizRiots, was on hiatus? Weren't they quite popular as a group? "Really? I was looking forward to watch you guys perform at a gig somewhere...possibly one of your warped tours in the future. Pity... sorry to hear that."

His co-prefect had finally arrived and giving him a thumbs-up! Henric couldn't help but chuckle. "Finally you're here! I need your help handing these sweets out to our new first-years, Norah,"he grinned.

Henric smiled and hand one lollipop to the seventh year slytherin girl "Happy to meet you, Grace, my name is Henric Nicolei. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, I hope your summer went well?"he asked her with a polite greeting.

He saw Abby who too had joined them, he waved, "Hey Abby, what brings you here to our table?"he asked, concern etched across his face. His same-year friend seemed to look rather down lately, would his pumpkin sweet treats help and cheer her up?

His cheeks reddened a little at Fat Friar's gracious words left for him. Henric was about to return back a compliment to his resident house ghost too but was suddenly hit with that odd tingling sensation passing through him. Urgh....not again! Brr...so cold!

"My summer? Umm...it was alright...I spend most of it doing part-time work. I wait on tables and help out at my parents restaurant back home during the summer," he told Esme truthfully, a sheepish grin played on his lips. Hmm? Henric turned his head towards the approaching singing voice. "Nice voice Juno! You should try out for singing competitions!" Henric teased. Brilliant...finally he got their names right! He was proud of himself that he could differentiate these two identical twin sisters for once. Wow...he should clap himself on the back!

----

Henric's joy was short-lived and that smile he wore for everyone at the table turned into a scowl in a matter of seconds. Brady was testing his patience and managed to struck a nerve in his chord. He truly did. "I'm sorry...what?" he cocked his head to the side, narrowing his eyes and dared him to speak. Thank goodness for Norah who has stepped in just in time to diffuse his raging time-bomb in his head. It took all of his self-perseverance not to reach for his wand and cast a jinx spell at Brady.

"Thank you Norah, I can handle it from here." His tone had turned curt and menacingly low. He straightened his back and stared down at the boy. "Do I have to remind you, that I can report you for any impudent behaviour to a professor? One more time I hear you calling your house prefect or anyone for that matter in a disrespectful manner, Brady...you'll be reported. Am I clear?" he spoke to the boy with an air of decorum. "Do not...I repeat...do not test me...young Brady." He warned under his breath. "Now,will we have a good feast or not?"he asked, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow at the boy.

---

Woah, what was that?! A loud scream echoed throughout the whole great hall. His head immediately turned towards the staff table just in time to see Flamsteed toppled backward onto the floor. "Bloody hell...what happened?!"Henric exclaimed in shock.

Abby smiled at Esme and said "I had a great summer thank you Esme, how was your summer?" Abby turned to Esme's sister Juno and said "Hello Juno nice to meet you, I am Abby" Abby smiled at Henric and said "Oh just was lonely at my table and well just wanted to chat to some of my friends here" Abby knew that Henric could tell that she was sad but she wasn't going to let it show

Noel rolled his eyes yet again. "Pssh, I do not!" He could tell, you know? Being in a band and all but he was kidding, he really was. And then he laughed, "So full of yourself, dear" This was nice; their usual banter. Speaking of the usual banter, Noel looked over his shoulder at the ravenclaw table. Where was Hayley? He had hoped she would make a little more effort with this starting-over-their-friendship thing but .. apparently not. He really needed to keep his expectations low. Turning back to Grace, he smiled: "You should come jam with us sometime, Grace" he offered, remembering how Benzi was now gone. And he had make-do without him. The band needed to go on.



Noel nodded with a smile. "Oh I will" He was ALWAYS interested in new music. "But I didn't know you were a fan of muggle music!" he commented, really surprised.



To be very honest, Noel was just always amused seeing Henric. He watched as he lectured the kid Brady and turned red when the Friar appreciated him. It was just really amusing somehow. Noel didn't understand why. It just was. When he was free of all the drama and babysitting around him, Noel cocked a brow at him. "So what do you consider fun?" Noel was curious. He needed to recruit people for what he had in mind and maybe Henric would do? That badge on his chest would certainly help.

Noel nodded solemnly. "Well, our drummer graduated last term so ... we are kind of stuck. But I'll still be playing. Not as WizRiots maybe, but you never know" Yes, you never know - so Noel was trying to NOT think about it. He did not want to start feeling crappy this early in the term. "So no. No pity for the WizRiots, Nicolei. The show must go on"

... And then Noel too heard the noise then and turned his head toward the staff table. What did you do now, Flamsteed?

"It's great to meet you" Grace beamed. He had good taste if he thought it was good to meet her. "It was pretty great" She murmured with a nod. "How was yours?"




"Your voice is much better than mine... I do have to agree" Gracie mused, shaking her head. That was why he was in a band and she was not. Although she was pretty enough to front a band. "As always. You wouldn't have me any other day...." She teased, nudging his hip. She followed his gaze, knowing exactly who he was looking for. "I haven't seen her either. So... don't worry." She mused, shrugging. Hayls was her bestie, so Noel didn't have anything to worry about. "Oh?" She mused, a big smile breaking onto her face. "That would be pretty cool.... would I have to do drums though? Cause... I don't know how successful that would be"

But her thoughts of that were drowned out by some loud voices. "Is that Professor Flamsteed?" The slytherin asked, glancing towards the staff table. "Can't he not be dramatic... I'm trying to talk here you know Sir"

Brady shook his head and laughed at Henric. This was what he was gong to be going with? Scolding and threatening him. That really doesn't seem very Hufflepuff like of the HUFFLEPUFF PREFECT! Bradson turned his head slightly to the side. "You aren't really the Hufflepuff prefect, yes? You threatening me like my gran is making me think you're actually a Slytherin like my gran." He didn't think it was possible for someone to even come close to acting like his gran. Brady shook his head.

Brady noticed an older girl butt into the conversation. She must be the girl prefect. She seemed nice...nice enough at the moment. "Thank you." Brady nodded. "Actually he said that he HAS to but really he doesn't? You people are confusing." Teenagers and adults were the most confusing people to ever exist. "Oh yeah it was so nice of him and it was also nice of his to threaten to tattle on me too. What a lovely prefect."

The eleven year old looked back at Prefect Henric. He rolled his blue-green eyes at the older boy. "I repeat don't test me." Brady mocked him. "As for you threatening to tattle on me, do it! I dare you because you clearly don't have a funny bone in your body where people can pick on you or push your buttons. They really did choose a hot tempered Prefect." Brady shook his head. "You stay away from me and everything will be rainbows and unicorns until you graduate." The Scottish boy got up from his seat and walked over to a different spot at the table.

"I guess that makes sense, since you know people." Brady shook his head. "Not everyone is friendly here so I wouldn't go that far." He wasn't exactly friendly with the Prefect boy. "Twins? What? How? Why?" Brady had a lot of questions. "Are you sure you weren't cloned in one of those freaky muggle science labs?" Would they even know what he was talking about? His grandmother made sure that he knew a bit about muggle stuff because she told him there was this class called muggle studies at Hogwarts and apparently it was important.


---------------

Brady looked over at the staff table as one of the professors fainted. This was who they were going to be trusted with? Brady looked around at the rest of the professor. He only saw a few that he would entrust with his life, which wasn't what he was expecting. Brady could tell from where he was sitting that they were acting like little kids, this eleven year old wasn't blind to that. All of them that were here attending Hogwarts were kids and apparently the professors were as well. Brady was not amused at all.

Speech time.

So it was time to listen to these famous speeches. So now he would learn what was so great about these things. His uncles and aunts and cousins would all say that these were amazing speeches but he wasn't one for listening to speeches. Bradson watched as everyone stood up and did what was ask, this eleven year old on the other hand wasn't going to do any such thing like that. Brady looked over at the new Professors that the headmistress was talking about and then his blue-green eyes made their way to the old lady he had met on the train...joy.

That's it? That was all?

That's what one of those important speeches were like? He was not impressed and he would have to write a letter to all of his family to make sure they know it wasn't as great as they said it would be.

"Esme...Juno...nice to meet you both." He nodded and smiled at them. "A problem? What sort of problem?" He looked very concerned! But as he followed her gaze to the staff table, he figured it out. The problem...was the hag.

Which yes, concerned him.

"No...I cannot say that has ever happened. It's quite odd." He wondered why Moxley would have hired such a woman! Was she a woman? The Friar wasn't even sure what hags were classified as. Moxley gave her speech, and the Friar listened quietly and patiently, and then turned back to Esme. "It seems she's the new Divination professor. Well...that will certainly not be a dull class!" he chuckled. There was a bright side to everything!

"Oh, how I miss chocolate! It was such a good invention. Possibly the best one." He sighed, smiling in nostalgia. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, Norah. I think this term is going to be brilliant! I have the best feeling about all of you!" He smiled and turned his attention the...altercation between Henric and a little first year.

He listened to Henric reprimand the boy sternly. Henric would be such a good prefect. The Friar, however, swooped next to Brady and waited to be noticed.



"I enjoy muggle composers...of the classical kinds. I was friar for a long time...I had to live amongst the muggles, you know." He nodded. It wasn't something he regretted. He had lived a good life, and now he was "living" a good afterlife. What more could he want?

Kat skipped off toward the Hufflepuff table. She was a tad bit sad that she didn't get into Slytherin like her mother and brother or Gryffindor like her father. But Hufflepuff like her aunt Adeline. She was proud to be in the house of her aunt. At least someone in her family had been there. And she wasn't in Ravenclaw she couldn't imagine the press she'd be under being in Ravenclaw.

Hufflepuff was her home!

Flopping at the table with the same grin on her face that she had all night "What's up, homie puffs?" She giggled. She liked this house already. BRADY was a hufflepuff too. THEY WERE IN THE SAME HOUSE. YESSSSSSSS!

Jumping up from her seat she didn't care that Brady was talking to other people. He was hers. "BRADSON!!!!! WE'RE IN THE SAME HOUSE." and of course there was a tackle involved it was a Katerina and Bradson thing. So people was going to have to get over it and get used to it.

SORRYNOTSORRY

That voice! It couldn't be! NO WAY! IT WAS KAT, IT WAS KAT!! Insert boy squeal here. Brady couldn't believe what was going on. Was this even real life? This couldn't be real life! It was her! It was really, really her! Brady has the biggest grin on his face right now.

"KAT MY KAT!! GUYS THIS IS MY KAT!" Yep! his best friend in the whole wide world and no one could ever, EVER change that. "Oooph!" Tackled! He wasn't surprised at all. Brady tackled her back and hugged her tight. "KAT WE'RE IN THE SAME HOUSE! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!!" Hufflepuff was going to be in trouble for the next very LONG seven years! Brady just kept hugging her. He hadn't seen her on the train so he missed his best friend so much! Bradson looked around the table and glared at every guy there! No guy is to have her! He was the only guy in her life, besides her their brother Phillip and her father.

It wasn't nearly as personal by the time he took aim at the Hufflepuff table. Neither Prefect had done a bad thing to him and he thought Norah was nice but a plan was a plan and his cousin said ALL Prefects so that was what Blaise was doing.

Food rained down on the table, aiming at Norah Kittredge and Henric Nicolei. Despite the intention however, Blaise's aim wasn't as straight as it could have been, leaving stray bits and chunks of food to fly towards others at the table.

By all indications, the Hufflepuff table was under attack.

Norah, who had been quite pleased with how Henric and Brady's interaction had worked out, smiled at Professor Moxley as she stood up, took her steps and things, and sat down again. That was a GOOD speech. And Professor Pretty Face of DADA had a name and everything. So that was exciting. What was less exciting was that a HAG was teaching divination, but once she'd reminded herself three times that maybe she was a nicer Hag Lady than she seemed to be, Norah managed to keep her smile on. The food also helped, of course.

Okay. Most food. Norah was halfway through a bite of mashed potatoes when SOMETHING. Hit her SMACK IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD. Well. WELL. Her hand instinctively flew up to meet bits of steak and kidney pie embedded in her curls and dripping down her neck. Heh. For one of the first times that evening, her face broke in to a genuine, beaming smile as she spun around in her seat to find ickle Blaise (who she called ickle, but was most certainly a much better writer than she could ever be) looking awfully guilty of food throwing. She grinned at him, making no move to get rid of any of the food she'd been hit with. Did he think she was a STRANGER to food fights? Or getting dirty? This kid would fit in nicely with her brothers, who were ANNIHILATED every year when they somehow broke into a mud fight. "You've got an awfully nice throw there, Blaise." Throwing food back was not allowed. Not. Allowed. She threw a look at the rest of the Hufflepuffs just so they'd be SURE to know it was NOT ALLOWED, before smiling at Blaise again and sticking her hand deep in her robes pocket to pull out a chocolate frog. "Y'can sit with us if you want. Food throwing won't be necessary." She placed the chocolate, which she'd been saving as a celebration of surviving but could be forfeited for good reason, at the seat next to her and gestured to it as a peace offering, completely convinced that if he could deny it then he was most definitely a robot, because chocolate frogs were the very best things. With one last smile, she turned to her food so he wouldn't see her giggling, and took another bite, hair still smothered with pie and who knows what. See that? That was...non-awful prefecting. A GOOD prefect would probably tell him off, but nobody ever said she was at that level yet. At least she hadn't THROWN anything, right? That'd been awfully tempting.

Olathe took a seat at the Hufflepuff table she had been looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts for well... most of the break. It had been a wonderful summer which was why she couldn't wait to get back and tell her brother badger all about it face to face. But here she wasn't scanning through the tables with out much luck before remembering he no longer went to Hogwarts, with a sigh Olathe reached into the pocket of her robe for the chocolate for she had saved from the train ride. Her fingers brushed against something cool and smooth; curiously she pulled it from her pocket. The beads were slightly bulky and colored several shades of pink with a small porcelain unicorn hanging from the middle. Her cousin had teased her over break that it looked childish and silly but it was Olathe's favorite accessory and she couldn't believe that she hadn't remembered it before now. She slipped the bracelet on to her wrist. Adi might have graduated but she still thought of him as her Big Brother Badger. But now with the new term starting it was as good a time as any for new friends.

....

It took a few moments, but soon the clear starry sky displayed clouded over with thick black clouds. Crashing together, tiny jolts of lightning shot from the ceiling (but coming NO WHERE near any students) and the rumble of enchanted thunder seeming caused the Great Hall to shake. And then...came the rain. The steady unpleasant fall of cold rain upon the entire Great Hall.

It was getting a little harder to know what was going on at the table because there were so many conversations going on around her, but Esme was trying her hardest to keep up with everything that was happening.

Looking around, she spotted a familiar girl having a conversation with a boy she had seen around in classes but hadn't properly talked to before. "Hey, Grace," she said waving. Hopefully she wasn't really interrupting anything.

It was nice to see that Norah had a good summer. "I did too! I can't say that I had any exciting adventures, but we DID go to the beach a lot." That was always exciting. "Did you have any adventures?" She had a feeling that it was mostly the Gryffindors who had THOSE. Oh well; they were more than welcome to have them! She preferred stuff like looking for wildflowers and tie-dying everything she could find. Too bad her mom had put a stop to it before it got too extreme.

Henric had worked part-time. That was pretty interesting. Esme had never held a job because she was young, but soon enough she would! She had no interest in the kind of thing her father did, so she would not be asking to help him catch Dark Wizards. She wouldn't have been allowed to even if she HAD. "Don't get that idea in Juno's head," she joked with a laugh. No, really she enjoyed hearing her sister sing. She could be the life of the party.

"I had a great summer, thanks." She smiled at Abby. She was glad to be back at school with her friends, but she did always loved being with her family during the summer. At least now she got a break from River. "Do you not know many people in your House?" she asked as she heard Abby mention that it had been lonely at her House table. Nothing wrong with wanting company from Hufflepuffs because they were so friendly.

Everyone loved Hufflepuff. Except for Brady? Maybe?

Esme could hear him and Henric. She felt that it might be a good idea to diffuse the situation, but a girl (Katerina) came by and it seemed to do the trick. "Hello, Kat. Welcome to Hufflepuff." Seemed that Brady was rather excited; they must be best friends. She turned her attention back to him and giggled.

"We are not clones, but we DO share the same DNA." It was different than how it was with twins like Teddy and Ava - obviously they didn't have the same DNA. She wasn't sure how much she wanted to talk genetics with him, because it was a very complicated and confusing subject and she barely knew anything about it. Science wasn't exactly her thing. "It might not seem that people are friendly at first, but I assure you that there are many nice people in all the Houses - even our own."

Just look at the Fat Friar! He was the friendliest ghost around!

She smiled as he was polite to her and Juno. "It's nice to meet you too, Sir." Was that too formal? Esme was about to answer his question when it seemed he had worked it out on his own. Shaking her head, she glanced over at the madness that was the Staff Table. Seemed that NO ONE wanted to have her around. Not even the Friar seemed pleased and that said something! But....Divination Professor?? Was her fear becoming a reality? "Can we call the Ministry and have her evicted?" she lamented to the ghost.

The Hag COULDN'T teach her favourite subject! She wanted Professor Cassie back more than ever.

Miserable, she tried - and failed - to listen as the Headmistress addressed the school. She stood up when asked to and did what was asked of her, but she was not in the mood. The old bat had ruined that for her.

Nothing could make things worse...except for cold rain.

Quickly she ducked under the table so that she could avoid becoming freezing and wet. She knew that Juno would join her.

Who brought umbrellas to dinner? Flamsteed was nuts.

Abby smiled at Esme and said "Well i know a few people who are in my house but not a lot of Ravenclaws" Abby thought there were just too many first years at her table

Trudging towards his puffers' table, Paul had to man up and look FINE. He was pleased none of his students had partaken in the food fight drama. It was all very nice. He nodded mildly at the Friar and looked down the table of his students.

"I...am very proud of you all for handling yourselves like civilized people...I thank you from the bottom of my heart for not disappointing me." He smiled softly at them. "Now...let's try to clean up some...we can use magic or good ole' fashion elbow grease..." he pulled his own wand out and...began to scourgify things.

"Also...I was going to treat you all to some of my...f-f-favorite banjo playing b-but--" he glanced sadly back at the staff table. "My b-b-b-b-banjo didn't make it."

Paul cleared his thread and blinked a couple of times. Right...back to making their area look clean. "Welcome to all you new first years...sorry about the chaos...I promise, the rest of term won't be as...eventful." One could surely hope.

The Friar was about to answer Esme when...a lion cub from across the hall splattered food all across Norah! And Henric! And other students! He gasped and whirled around to face his running figure.

"Oh my," He muttered as chaos ensued. Food was going everywhere! The Friar had half a mind to pretend to be a target, so the students who were going to get in trouble for this would at least have fun before that! Instead, he tried to make sure all of the Hufflepuff's were all right, especially the first years.

"Is everyone okay? What a waste of food!" he was quite worried this would hurt the house elves' feelings. He might have to float down there and have a little chat, make sure that if they did hear about this, they wouldn't be hurt.

Paul Myers, the new head of the badgers, approached them, and he was sorry to see the man looking so crestfallen. "Professor Myers, sir, your banjo is going to be all right." He tried to hug the man, but forgot he was a ghost, and floated right through him.

Holy. Guacamole. That escalated QUICKLY. Norah was still stuffing her mouth with all that the House Elves had to offer when MADNESS broke loose over at the Gryffindor table and somebody HURT HER ROONEY('s notebook?) and she needed to SAVE HIM and SAVE YOONGI before he got too upset, and SHIELD THE FIRSTIES and make sure Henric LIVED and that Professor Myers wouldn't EAT THEM ALL ALIVE and that Headmistress Moxley didn't feel too DREADFUL for all the madness happening at her very first feast in charge. At least it looked like Professor Flamsteed wasn't dead on the floor anymore. That was a bright side, yeah? The prefect sat and stared as the scene unfolded, coming to her senses for long enough to make sure all her baby puffs were behaving themselves (AW YES. GO THEM. SHE'D HAVE CHOCOLATE FOR THEM LATER, TOO) before going back to just...staring. What on Earth? What was going to happen to the Gryffindors? Yoongi had to be okay, right? He was just doing his job, RIGHT? He had to be okay. It all had to be okay. Not okay-ness was simply not allowed. If only Blaise had come back to sit with them like he'd said he would. He'd probably need some company, what with all the punishment he was probably going to get. Norah made a mental note to find a Gryffindor who could deliver a consolation of some sort to his dormitory before Flamsteed sent him to Jupiter or something equally horrendous. Not that Jupiter didn't seem like a super awesome place to be, but she wasn't sure how long an ickle Gryffindor would be capable of breathing all the way out there.

She was startled from her thoughts, not by Charlotte Kettleburn roaring, or even some firstie(Olivia)'s battle cry, but by a sharp crack of thunder and rain? RAIN? RAIN! She hadn't even know the Great Hall COULD rain. It was kind of lovely, if you thought about it. Not for the food, but at least for looking. That counted too. She was still watching the water fall from the clouded ceiling when Professor Myers showed up, looking awfully wibbly. Maybe adventurous feasts just weren't his thing. "Any time, Professor Myers. We'd never want to disappoint you." Norah leaned a little to the side to give the other Hufflepuffs a thumbs up, before focusing on him again with a grin. "I'm sure your banjo will be A-okay, sir. You can just fix it, right?" He was a PROFESSOR. He could do ANYTHING.

With that, she got up from the table and dug her wand out from her dripping wet robes. Alrighty. Cleaning time, yeah? This was the worst part. None of this would EVER have happened if Soph and Zander were still here....probably. "Scourgify!....Scourgify!" Professor Culloden'd be so proud of how good she was at that spell, now. "Scourgify!" Was there somebody over there to clean Rooney's notebook? "Scourgify!" At least the rain was helping with the cleaning bit. "Me 'n Henric can help if there's anything else that has to get done, Professor." Hopefully Henric would be on board, 'cause he was just volunteered. They were a TEAM, it was just how it went. "Scourgify!"

Henric thought for a moment before answering Noel,"I play online games a lot...hang out...play football or basketball...sometimes I bake for fun...motorcross....skateboarding....ehh...all those regular stuff,"he shrugged. What more did he want to know? There was no way Henric going to tell him more of his notorious things he did with his muggle pals back home. Nope. Not a chance. "You in need of a drummer,Noel?"Henric asked. He could play a little but he lacked practice and interest in it. "You guys are good, yeah...don't let it just rest there. Hey man..good for you, Wallace, you're going places."

Henric smiled back at Grace. "It's alright, summer heat was bearable atleast."

He chuckled at Esme's comment about her sister,"Why not? I think she could be great at it, don't forget us little people when you get famous, Juno!"he grinned.

"Oh, is that so Abby, that's great then! Want some lollies or pumpkin sweets?"he offered his packet of muggle sweets to her as well.There were more new first years to greet, Olathe and Katerina. He waved to them all and offered sweet for them too. "Welcome to Hufflepuff!"

------

Henric sucked in his breath and counted to ten. No point talking to Brady. NO POINT AT ALL. After a few bits of silence, the kid finally finished blabbering and left to sit elsewhere. He could then be able to breathe again. Merlin! He was this close...this CLOSE...to pull him by his collar and dragged him towards the staff table! He could do it, you know! He simply knocked him out with a stunning spell under the table non-verbally of course and he couldn't care less. Slytherin? Hot-tempered prefect!? Hah! He smirked ruefully at the boy. Brady hadn't seen nothing yet! Dealing with that bunnyears Gryffindor prefect, Candice, was one thing... but if he had to deal with another troublesome kid especially in his house?!...Heaven forbid, what would he do next! He humphed and sat back down on his seat. "I'm watching you, kid...definitely watching you..."

----

WHAT THE BLOODY HEC-?!! Henric was suddenly pelted with food from all directions. ARRGHH! HE GOT HIT! NOOO....NOT HIS HAIR! Henric immediately took cover under his table. His hair need SAVING first!

T______T

He peered over slightly to watch the great hall turned into chaos. This was madness...MADNESS! He saw a kid holding something familiar in his hand.



NOT THE PUMPKIN PIES!! HOW DARE YO- He crawled towards the boy but a chicken wing smacked right into his face. He was literally...fuming...FUMING at this point! "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE." He thought angrily. Henric pulled out his wand and cast a shield charm upon himself. He glared sternly to anyone at his house table who dared throw any precious food back at the other houses. It was unacceptable behaviour and he couldn't tolerate watching food wasted like this. UNACCEPTABLE!

Rain started to pour down, thankfully stopping all the food fights at once. Henric wiped his face with the back of his sleeves and approached his head of house Professor when he finally came. "We are fine...professor..."he mumbled back a response. His professor's banjo broke? What could be worst than that! "Sorry to hear about your banjo, sir..." Apparently, there was..."Wait....what?!" he cried with disbelieve in his head. They needed to clean up the mess?! But those little gryffindors younger years initiated the foodfight! He groaned. Ugrh...fineee. Please...refrained from talking to him while he cleaned. "SCOURGIFY! SCOURGIFY! SCOURGIFY!"

It was utter madness. Noel loved every bit of it. The Gryffindors went crazy, and Noel participated. Aiming a spoonful of mashed potatoes at Henric's head, and another at Grace's brother. It was brilliant.

And then RAIN started to happen? Obviously the staff wouldn't let it continue. Boo. Nonetheless, it was an epic start of the term.

Wait - was Kyroh shirtless? Someone realllly needed to start a petition against ravenclaws randomly getting shirtless. Running his hands through his wet hair, Noel turned to Grace and laughed. "What are you gonna do about your hair now?" It was amusing.

Hearing the Friar complain about the wasted food, Noel nodded. Shame for all the food getting wet indeed. Thankfully, the puffs sorta just owned the kitchen. When Professor Myers came, Noel turned his attention to him. Wait, was he aabout to cry??? And he had a banjoo???

...

"Are YOU okay, professor?" It seemed like he maybe needed tea or something to calm his nerves. Tsk. They were supposed to clean up now? Noel was going to be doing none of that, no. Instead he just got his wand and waved it around like he was doing something - but no, not really. Looking at Henric angry-scourgifying made him laugh yet again though. "Yo, Nicolei. Scourgify your ears, there is some mashed potatoes oozing out of there"

Myers smiled because his students were all so caring and nice. And sweet. He brandished his wand and began to help them clean their area of the Great Hall. The Friar had left him shivering, though, especially since he was soaked from Airey's rain.

"Ah--Mr. Friar--never try to hug me again--" he chuckled a little though, to show the ghost he was...in jest about it. But please, seriously, don't try to hug him again.

He nodded at Norah, Noel, and Henric. "Thank you for the kind words. I'll try to get my banjo up and ready for playing soon..." he sighed, waving his wand around Henric's head, cleaning up the food. "I'm fine. The term has started with...quite the bang," he actually chuckled and continued to clean.

"None of you...DID partake in the food fight...right?" he asked quickly, eyeing them all suspiciously. "Oh and Henric--I need to see you in my office...tomorrow at some point," he sounded stern, ish, but he smiled quite a bit. "Don't worry. You're not in trouble." Not exactly.