Hey look at them!!!

A real hug!!! Azura was practically beaming as were the Fwoopers in her mind as she hugged him back and heard him whisper in her ear. She nodded at his word and smiled.

"You were right!" she whispered back to him as they started to move back towards the table! She was smiling happily up at Jazz when he spoke and she did a double take..

Was that a whaaaaaa???

She looked up at the table and blinked

Whoa! She had been so intent on watching Jasper she hadn't even noticed!!

"That IS a ghost!" she whispered out as she looked up at Jasper as they settled into seats next to each other..

And hey! There were other people here too!

Whoops!

He had grown. The last time he had sat at this table, Rooney had been very much the same height as his mother, but NOW? Well, now he was thirteen and taller. He was standing a whole four inches taller than five feet now. THIRTEEN, though! He'd spent the week of his birthday with all of the very special women in his life. His drama teacher, his godmother, his mother, his sisters, Miss Sophie Brown, Miss Charlotte Hannah Kettleburn and..well, and Miss Charlotte's MAMA. He had had a winning birthday week, and a winning summer. And now he was sat at his house table, watching the sorting with his total attention.

Kind of.

He had snuck a few glances at people at his table, and the one of his prefects that had made an appearance... He still wasn't sure how he felt about them, but he definitely missed Miss Sophie Brown more than he missed his Mama. Roo was sure that he'd catch her later to mirror chat before he went to sleep and fill her in on everything. Everything like...the amount of new faces at the staff table.... Rooney's attention dissipated from the sorting and to all of those Professors that he didn't know and didn't have any notes on. Therefore, he moved closer to their end of the Great Hall and was watching their every movements.

And writing absolutely everything down.

Including fashion choices of Professors that he already knew and disliked.

The lady that was floating over their table evidently wasn't the only ghost. Looking around the hall, Jasper had actually managed to spot a number of different ghosts! It made him a bit unsure.

"There's a lot of them," Jasper commented in return as she confirmed he was right and it was in fact a ghost. "I wonder what they're all doing at Hogwarts..."

He wasn't certain that he'd ever find out why, but it was still a worthwhile question. One probably best saved for later. After he got to know a ghost.

Or maybe Azura would know. He kind of counted on that a little too much.

The other people at their table were also one of the next things he wanted to focus on, hoping to meet a lot of other people now that he was actually at Hogwarts!

Chloe was fairly disinterested in the sorting. Since really, really large crowds sometimes made her a little anxious she had resolved that one way or another she would figure out all of these transfers and first years houses as the term went by. She didn't need to watch the sorting. Instead she had her nose tucked into Dora's Wonderwoman comic. She'd read it on the train but now that she had some time to think about it she was going to go through again and circle everything that was not as cool as Catwoman in her comic in red ink. And then Dora could have it back.

Her crazy blonde hair was tied back in a series of knots so the usual curtain of blonde that kept her hidden away was gone. Leaving her open to kind of seeing what was happening around her in her periphery.

Garreth was emotional. He couldn't understand how everybody was keeping their cool. The sweet, little boy had tried so hard to get into Ravenclaw, worried about it for so long, taken every precaution, and even begged the sorting hat. And he had finally made it.

He had sprinted down from the stool to the Ravenclaw table, absolutely ecstatic. His excitement would soon be replaced with a quiet and sneaky, yet overwhelming sensation of gratitude. He sat, covering his face in his hands to hide the few stray tears that had begun to slide down his cheeks. Rachel had found a seat next to Haddie across from him, and Ailsa was with them too. Merlin, did they have to see him cry now?

Summoning all his strength, he stopped the waterworks and tried to wipe the tears off his cheeks nonchalantly. As good an actor as he was, there was no way for him to tell if it was obvious just how emotional he was, but at least he had done his best to not make it clear to the whole house that he was a wuss. He happened to make eye contact with Rachel, and his face immediately warped into an ecstatic grin, and a sharp chuckle escaped, and quickly cascaded into laughter.

The sharpness of the girl's comment caught Lilly off-guard. Feeling dejected and flustered, she responded.

"Wha-? Oh uh not really, makeup makes me think of my mother, and she was-"

Lilly was cut off by a girl wearing a badge prominently displaying the word "PREFECT."

More confusion. This "enchanted" place seemed to attack Lilly from all angles, when she least expected it to.

"Yeah, sorry I was just leaving."

Lilly whipped around to look at Kitty. Her hand extended into a wave goodbye, and the lost girl sped over to the entrance and ran out of the hall.

"Garreth?" Rachel leaned across the table. She hadn't missed the fact that her friend was crying. She smiled softly despite the fact. "Those are tears of happiness, I presume?'' Garreth had gotten his wish. He was a Ravenclaw. She had been right all along and his dictator of a father had been wrong. Rachel couldn't help but feel smug. She laughed when he did. It was easy to see he was very happy. "You can put that tie on now,'' she told him.

Did Haddie honestly expect Rachel to believe that nothing was wrong? Rachel could see right through it because she knew her very well so she simply sat there, fixing Haddie with a gaze until the truth came out. "Why?'' The girl was puzzled. "Is it because it put you in Ravenclaw? I was surprised too because I always thought of you as a Gryffindor or Slytherin but it obviously has seen every one of your traits. The Hat's never wrong.'' She then noticed the silver apparition floating close to their group and gave an excited little squeal. "Hello, Helena Ravenclaw! Yes, I was just telling Haddie practically the same thing.''

Rachel giggled at Ailsa. "You did not weird me out. I think you're just a darling and I'm sure Garreth wasn't weirded out either. I still can't get over the fact that you and Haddie are cousins.'' They were so different but then again, so were Rachel and Haddie but were still best friends.

There was an older girl speaking to them. She was a student leader? Excellent! Rachel waved shyly at her. "Hello, Penelope. I'm Rachel. Can you tell me a little more about this raffle?''

The brown eyed girl noticed Azura had been Sorted into Ravenclaw too but she was deep in conversation with another student (Jasper) so Rachel did not bother her. She did, however, smile shyly at two other students (Rooney and Chloe) before looking up at the staff table. She recognised Professor Myers instantly and of course, Mr Handsome or Professor Finch. Seeing Finch caused her thoughts to wander back to the porcelain doll they had found on the train. Rachel still had to beautiful object in her possession. She had carefully placed it in her trunk before disembarking.

Garreth ran his sleeve over his face, making sure he'd dried every tear. "You bet." he coughed up, sniffling a little. It was surreal, finally being a part of Ravenclaw. The Sorting hat is never wrong, and it had placed him in Ravenclaw, for all to see. The boy was overwhelmed with emotions like joy and relief, but perhaps the strongest emotion of all was the pure, unfiltered Ravenclaw pride.

And then Rachel mentioned the tie! Could this day get any better? He had completely forgotten he had brought it with him. Quickly reaching into the inner pocket of his robes, and finding the tie wrapped around his wand, he pulled it out and showed Rachel. "Moment of truth! Let's see how it looks." he giggled, slipping his robes off his shoulders and beginning the process of putting on the tie.

The freshly crowned Ravenclaw didn't know much about what was going on with Haddie, but it didn't seem all that happy. What could possibly be wrong? She got sorted into Ravenclaw after a- Oh, maybe that was the problem! Garreth sometimes forgot that Ravenclaw wasn't the ideal place for everyone, the way it was for him. "Everything alright, Haddie?" he asked, trying to get in on the conversation.

As much as he wanted to be there for his new friend, his attention was also on The Grey Lady herself, and to be perfectly honest, he was a little bit starstruck. He gave a hesitant wave and tried to speak, but instead of his usual voice, a barely audible squeak escaped. He cleared his throat and sat there, blushing in silence.

Azura looked around at all of the ghosts and shook her head, she wasn't fully sure why they were all here. "I think Hogwarts is one of the places they are allowed to be." She muttered to him as she looked around. She turned to look back at Jasper when she noticed something..

He was looking around at all the other people and it hit her..

It wasn't just the two of them on the train anymore.. It wasn't just the two of them on the platform! They were at Hogwarts now, with tons of other people and Jazzy looked anxious to meet them all!

Her purple eyes went wide at that thought and her brain started to go into overdrive! What if.. He found someone else he liked more than her? What if he didn't want to be friends anymore? What if she was going to lose her friend.. 7 hours after she met him!

Her thoughts spiraled downward until all she wanted to do was cry her purple eyes out!

And so in order not to do that she started to look around as well, she noticed another boy who was laughing, laughing? She bit her lip a little as she tried to focus on his happiness instead of her own whirling thoughts..

Before turning to see a girl she has met on the train.. Rachel? Waving at her. She waved back before turning back to Jasper..

"There sure is.. A lot of people here isn't there?" She commented as she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "You sure you still wanna be my friend?" she gave him a worried half smile as she swallowed back her panic again..

Ooh, it was the Grey Lady! Kitty remembered fondly how the Grey Lady had floated through her at the end of last term and compliment her gothic style. She didn't say anything because the Grey Lady was already talking to other students, but she did beam and wave at her.

Kitty couldn't stop herself from giggling when she heard one of the new Ravens make a joke about turning the Sorting Hat into a monkey's diaper. It was uncontrollable and came out very loud.

"Sorry, sorry" said Kitty in embarrassment, realizing that now that she laughed it would only be polite to introduce herself. "I'm Kitty Valentine, but you can call me Kitty Darkness" She extending her pale hand to Haddie.

Kitty felt a pang of guilt upon seeing the dejected look on Lilly's face and hearing her reply. She hadn't meant to make her feel bad by asking if she liked make up, but it seemed she had. Unfortunately she didn't have time to apologize, because just then they were interrupted by a prefect, who was now escorting Lilly away.

"Goodbye Lilly!" she called after her, guilt clear on her face. "Let's talk soon, okay?"

Thornton had finally arrived at the table, pockets full of raffle tickets, prefect badge firmly affixed to his chest. He would need to pass them out eventually, so that every Ravenclaw had one by the time they gathered in the common room after the feast. But there was the sorting going on and, well, after the train, he was less than eager to be proactive. So the tickets would wait. He spied Penelope a little down the table, dutifully writing down the new sortees. He would find her later and thank her. Best to... spread out along the length of the table instead.

He sat near a new student (Azura), about to offer a welcome when he heard her speak. "It is," he said by way of explanation, taking the seat beside her. "That's the Grey Lady. She's our House Ghost. I'm Thornton, by the way. Welcome to Ravenclaw"

He nodded in greeting as the Grey Lady moved along. "Good evening, Lady," he said with a smile. "How was your summer?"

Austin clapped and cheered with the rest of his house as the students joined their respective tables. He cheered the loudest for those joining his own, though. And even louder still when he found that his new friend from the train would be joining the 'Claws. Blue and silver were sure to be his colors. "HeyJasper," He called out when the first year sat near him. "Welcome to the best house around." He gave a small chuckle. Whether or not that was true, it was something Austin believed. This house has gotten him far in his life, and will sure to do the same for Jasper.

Once things had settled down, he watched as the ghosts flew in. One in particular joined their table. The Grey Lady. He smiled when she mentioned his name. "Thank you, ma'am. I'm looking forward to what this year will bring." He remembered how last term had a breakfast feast outside, with games throughout the year. He hoped this year would have just as much fun in store.

The teen was enjoying this year already. He was opening up, making friends, and even laughing with his house mates. Before the food was put on the table, he had made two new friends, and spoken to The Grey Lady. It was amazing to see how hard he was trying to be a more social person.

Overwhelmed. That was the most accurate description of Julia at that moment, as she teetered off the Sorting Stool and over to the Ravenclaw table; and even then, it was a miracle she reached the right table and sat down.

There were candles floating in the air. And the ceiling was the sky. There was so much to take in, so many "why"s that needed investigation, that she just sat there with her mouth open. Not even coming from a half-wizard family had prepared her for this, as her father and aunt mostly practiced potions and herbology. Her father liked to joke that he put his pants on one leg at a time, just like Muggles: here, she wouldn't be surprised if the teachers zapped their pants on every morning.

Tia was both exhilarated and nervous, which didn't end once she boarded the long train ride. Actually, if anything the train ride made her anxiousness worse. New professors. New students. And she was the HEAD of all these students. It was up to her to keep them safe. To make them feel welcome. What if she made a wrong step? All eyes were on her, it felt like, and it was exhausting but she had to keep up the front. And watch out for her peers and the younger ones, especially keeping an watchful eyes on that horrid older woman who was now at the staff table. WHO was she?! Was she new professor? She couldn't imagine Truebridge or Botros hiring a HAG to teach the young wizards and witches of modern society. Bribery, perhaps, in having a place to stay and warm food to eat.

Regardless, Tia would remain suspicious of her especially. Or maybe, just maybe, the woman was actually the good one in disguise as a deterrent from the real bad out there? But now which of the professors did she need to be weary of .....

No time for that though, because SORTING was happening AND lots of little ones were being sorted into RAVENCLAW! Grinning and clapping as they hopped off the stool, towards her house table, Tia felt herself swell with pride. Especially at one of the last sortings; Watson, Rachel. OH bless the young girl's soul, whom she met at King's Cross. "Rachel!!! Welcome!" She grinned at the first year. And then beamed at all the other first years whom she did not know, "Welcome, welcome, all of you!"

Haddie's head dropped a moment. So much for moving on. "No, not because of Ravenclaw. That's just confusing. It's because the Sorting Hat is a huge, obnoxious jerkface, that's why.

"Yep," she repeated for Gary. "Everything's fine. A bit of a shame Mason didn't get sorted here with us though."

Hadley smiled though. She hadn't expected to be fitting in with this table so well, but so far, so good. She had even made one of the girls (Kitty) laugh, a lot. And then the girl extended her hand and introduced herself. Haddie rolled her eyes and cast a brief accusatory look at Gary, as if to say this was his doing. What is wrong with the wizarding community?

Haddie repositioned Kitty's hand just like she did Garreth's on platform 9 3/4, and gave the girl a high five instead. She refused to shake the hand of anyone that wasn't old enough to be her parents. "Kitty Darkness?" She grinned. "Cool name."

She was about to ask Kitty something else when she noticed the shell-shocked girl (Julia) sitting near Kitty. "Is she okay?"

Still musing over the Sorting Hat's words, Lex made his way to an empty spot at the table. He was momentarily shocked out of his internal musings by the enthusiastic pats on the back from some nearby fellow Ravenclaws, but as the sorting continued, he found himself drifting back into his own mind, silently observing the events around him.
As the feast began, he filled his plate modestly, idly eating his start-of-term dinner while continuing to silently people watch, even as people at his own table conversed around him.

Kitty's eyes widened in slight surprise as her hand got high fived instead of shaken. Um okay, that was good too. "Thank you" replied Kitty as Haddie called her name cool. "I think it goes very nicely with my personality and style. Do you have a style?" She hoped she didn't sound rude in asking, she was just curious.

She turned to look at the girl Haddie was referring to, another new raven who was looking very amazed. "I don't know. Hang on, I'm going to say hi."

"Hello!" said Kitty to the first year. "My name is Kitty Darkness Valentine, but you can call me Kitty Darkness." She extended her pale hand to the new girl, not quite certain if she was going to shake it or high five it.

With her sorting complete, and her house a given, Olivia made her way down to the long table that belonged to Ravenclaw House. Its blue and silver decorations pronouncing it so even though the school uniforms of those returning students already seated there helped out fair enough. There were already plenty of said housemates already there, so the first year moved to find an empty seat along one of the benches, sitting down among those on either side.

"Hey," she greeted anyone who was around with a friendly smile. Might as well start getting to know some more housemates early. Some of the younger girls might even be dorm mates.

Julia looked at the hand for a few seconds, dragging her brain back from its near-catatonic state at all the things around her, but eventually she raised her own hand and gave the other one a shake.

Kitty Darkness. She blinked a few times and asked, “Is that short for anything?”

Then she realized she’d better give her own name, and added, “I’m Julia Reynolds.”

Fortunately, it looked as though other first years at the table were also taking some time to adjust. Those kids she understood; the ones who continued to bounce around and chatter to others without missing a beat confused her.

Well, that answered that. The girl, Julia was fine. Maybe a bit overwhelmed. "I'm Haddie." She gave the girl a wave. "That's Gary," she nodded to Garreth, sitting on the same side as Kitty and Julia. "And Rachel and Elsa," she gestured to the girls sitting on either side of her.

Then Haddie turned back to Kitty and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess, maybe, I do." She shrugged again. She probably did have a style that was her but what that style was she really didn't know.

Lex had been staring at the Slytherin table (well, more accurately, the window just behind the Slytherin table), taking a few seconds to realize someone had been looking at him.
"Sorry, hello," he said in a distracted, but friendly tone. He held out his hand in greeting. "I'm Lex. Lex Montague. Are you also a first-year?"

"You're welcome dear. Did you have a good summer Penelope?" Helena asked curiously as he let her eyes drift towards the sorting still taking place and clapping for every newly sorted Ravenclaw. Was it her or wasn't there an unusually big batch of first years getting sorted this year? She'd have to ask Sir Nicholas about that later.



"Good evening Rooney!" Helena greeted the one eagle she couldn't really figure out. He was always so into his own thoughts. "You look taller then when I saw you last. It suits you Rooney. Did you have a nice summer?" Would she get a nice response back? They hadn't exactly been on the best of terms last feast.



Overhearing two first years talking about her Helena smiled over at them interjecting to answer the boy's question. "Evening dears, I'm Helena Ravenclaw, house ghost of Ravenclaw and you two younglings are?" Names, were nice. "We ghosts live here at the castle and we help you students and also the staff. All of the four houses have their own house ghost. Bloody Baron for the snakes, Sir Nicholas for the lions and the Fat Friar for the badgers and you eagles have me." Hopefully that made sense if not Helena would ask Penelope to explain it better.



Spotting a blond girl arrive with an interesting choice of hair style Helena greeted with a smile "Welcome to Ravenclaw, Miss? Did you tie your hair into knots like that all by yourself?" If she had then it was something to admire. Helena couldn't see herself doing that.



"Hello Miss? You did? Have you heard about the sorting hat before coming here from your family?" Helena queried of the first year curiously. It was possible that her parents were Hogwarts alumnus who had given their daughter some knowledge beforehand.



Returning the boy's wave with an elegant one of her own Helena greeted over the table. "Welcome to Ravenclaw Mr? Are you excited about becoming an eagle?"



Kitty was still sporting her gothic clothing and make up style. They'd have time to talk later Helena reasoned as she returned the girl's wave with one of her own.



Finally there was Thornton the lady noted with satisfaction. Beaming at him across the table she said "Evening Thornton! Congrats on being made prefect. Mr Kitridge couldn't have chosen anyone better." The badge looked as lovely and right on him as it did on Penelope. "My summer was uneventful. Researched some transfiguration. But otherwise the school gets very lonely when all you students aren't here. How was your own summer?"



"You're welcome Austin." Helena responded as she turned to look over at Austin, one of the first fourth years to arrive at the table. "Did you enjoy your summer vacation?"



Spotting a newly sorted first year girl that sat with her mouth gaping open and sitting too still, Helena got worried. Floating away from her seat to the girl's side she asked concerned "Welcome to Ravenclaw, Are you all right dear? Can I help you with something?" If needed she'd call on one of the student leaders. Hopefully the girl was just awed and not sick.



Last new student leader to arrive at the table was TiaMarie. Head Girl. Helena was so proud of her. "Evening TiaMarie. Congrats to being appointed Head Girl by the Headmistress. I know you'll do great!" With those words she floated back to her seat.

Janelle was a little surprised by all of the new first years that had arrived at the table. The scary part was how few students looked like they could be fourth years like herself. She had looked for her roommate Kate and she was nowhere to be found. That was not good. What if she had decided not to come back to Hogwarts?

Since the table had filled up, Janelle thought it best to say her hellos. Spotting a group of firstie girls (Haddie, Rachel & Alissa) Janelle approachted them. They seemed like they were doing just fine by themselves, but a welcome was always nice. "Hello ladies. I'm Janelle. I just wanted to welcome you to Ravenclaw. How are you enjoying the feast so far?"

Just then, the Grey Lady passed by, welcoming Janelle and the others back to school. "Thank you Professor Ravenclaw. It's good to be back. I hope you had an enjoyable summer." Janelle knew that the house ghost was no longer her History of Magic professor, but she figured that the Grey Lady still deserved the title.

One of Janelle's questions was answered. Seeing a bright and shiny badge pinned to the robes of one Penelope Wright, she realized that she was the new female prefect. Janelle would have to relay this news to Jasmine because she knew that her sister had known and liked the new prefect. Walking over to the older girl, Janelle began to speak. "Congratulations on becoming Prefect. I had a feeling it would be you."

There were more friends and firsties to greet, so Janelle moved on. She knew just who she would approach next. There was one new girl who looked overwhelmed at best, terrified at worst. She walked up to the first year (Julia) with a smile, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. "Hi, I'm Janelle. Welcome to Ravenclaw. I'm sure you're going to love it here." She dicided to stop talking and give the girl a chance to speak. Maybe she had some questions she might want to ask. Who knew? At least she hoped that the girl would feel comfortable and not afraid.

 
Julia distributed waves around the table, generally losing her glazed expression as she focussed on the task of meeting everyone. She was not going to remember any of these names, she didn’t think, but she was prepared to make the effort anyway.

When another girl—Janelle—introduced herself, Julia’s voice was almost entirely non-distracted as she replied, “I’m Julia. Did… did it take you a long time to get used to all this?”

All this magic everywhere. She supposed some students must be used to it; those who were from fully magical families or whose parents had taken them to Diagon Alley to shop instead of ordering everything by post. But then, looking around, she could see that all of the older students seemed perfectly relaxed in their surroundings, and surely some of them were from half-and-half, even fully Muggle families.

Like this boy. He seemed fairly calm, if quiet, and Julia shook his hand too, "Nice to meet you, Lex. I'm Julia."

Hey look! Her manners had wandered back from the fog too! She nodded to him, "I just got here. This is all... it's all very different, don't you think?"

Right when she was feeling like adjustment to all this in-your-face magic was possible…

O____O

Ghost!

And right back to slack-jawed she went. Her father had been trying to get a ghost to come haunt their house for over a decade—having even made the suggestion once, under the influence of entirely too much butterbeer, that her aunt might be so kind as to perish in a devastating manner and oblige him—but so far nothing had come of it. Actually seeing one in the not-flesh was yet another reminder that Hogwarts was going to be nothing like what she’d encountered before.

“Hi.” It came out as an almost reverent whisper. Given her father’s descriptions of various scenarios that caused people to become ghosts, she hadn’t thought that a ghost would be so pretty.

"Huh..." was all he could manage to say in response to the mentions of the ghosts at Hogwarts. Somehow he'd never thought that ghosts might be restricted to certain places. It was a new, and rather unusual concept for him.

Jasper grinned as he looked around, nodding at what Azura what saying. There were so many people. Despite being pretty shy in most situations, he was certain that he would be able to make himself a couple of friends!

Her next comment once again caught him off guard. His eyes immediately shot to the girl that was sitting at his side looking at her in confusion. He wondered why she was so certain that he wouldn't want to be her friend. Vaguely, Jasper could remember roughly the same thing from conversations that they'd had at the station and and the train.

"Of course I want to be your friend," he repeated the sentiment, smiling at the purple eyed girl. He almost moved her hand to his back to try to give her some comfort, but he hesitated. After a few moments he did go through with the movement, trying to control the blush that he knew would come anyway.



It wasn't even the girl that he had noticed at first, but the comic book that she was holding in her hand. Wonderwoman. He himself hadn't actually read the Wonderwoman series, but he did enjoy comics of all kinds. So naturally he felt the need to say hello.

"Uh... hi," he said, the last part included grinning at her while he scratched the back of his neck. "I'm Jasper."

At that point he was a little stuck as to what to say to the other first year Ravenclaw. Next time he should probably think up a plan first.

Oh well.

He knew one thing that normally worked. "So do you like the DC comics?"

She was reading one so Jasper was pretty sure he knew the answer, but it was still a valid question.


His name was called. Again. Looking around he tried to figure out who here would even know his name! Jasper found the answer when he caught sight of Austin. A grin crossed his face at the welcome to Ravenclaw.

"Thanks Austin," he replied. The best house? That was always a good start to beginning at a school.

Jasper jumped slightly, not having realised that the ghost he had pointed out to Azura was now in front of them.

"Evening miss," the Australian boy answered, with a smile. Though now he was second guessing his use of the term 'miss'. Was he meant to call her something else? What was the British thing to do?

"I'm Jasper," he continued, before listening to the rest of her explanation, nodding as she spoke. "Ok..." That made sense didn't it. But now his thoughts went back to Helena Ravenclaw. "Are you related to Rowena Ravenclaw?" he probably should've read Hogwarts a history before bothering to show up.

Oh well.