"Oh. You must not have looked very well" Harriet pointed out with a little grin. She actually had spent the train ride on her own actually. Luca wasn't at Hogwarts yet, which made her sad. But she had hoped that one of her friends would come find her. When they hadn't came Hattie had just decided to draw instead. Drawing was her favorite thing in the world to do. She'd drawn the hogwarts express on it's way to Hogwarts. Or well an interpretation anyway, since she'd been on the train she couldn't actually draw what it had exactly looked like.

"Come sit down..." She murmured with a smile "We have the best food here"



Ooh. Someone else was talking to her! Hattie turned to the new voice and beamed. She loved having new friends. "Hi Isa" She third year beamed at her fellow Hufflepuff. "I'm really good" She'd had a great summer. It had been perfect, but she was happy to be back at school now. She loved being at Hogwarts. "How was your summer?"



"Of course I'm here. Where else do you think I'd be?" It wasn't like she would go to any other house. Hufflepuff was her home, and she didn't really care about going to any other house. And Luca was in her house too, so it really did not matter about her not going to another house. "I tried to find you on the train...but I couldn't. So I just drew instead" She murmured with a smile. She loved her drawing. It was something she always wanted to do.

"How was the rest of your summer?" They had the art camp, but she hadn't seen her since the, which had made her sad.



"Henry!" Harriet beamed as she looked at another of her friends. She was so excited! Henry was lovely, and pretty cute too. So she was excited to see him. "Summer was amazing..." Hattie murmured with a smile. There had been Summer camp, and then getting together with Luca, and then spending time with her big sister. It had been great. "How was yours?"

And now they could eat! "Yaaay food!" The third year beamed, before piling some mash onto her plate.

*POP*


Pips came into view at the Hufflepuff table and he was holding a plate. "Pips brought more potatoes. He has been working on them all day and just finished them."

AH, the speech was starting! Kane was DEFINITELY a fan of this whole feast thing. Didn't really have time for this sort of stuff at Ilvermorny - in true American fashion, they just arrived and jumped right into classes the next day, no fancy welcome or anything unless you were a first year. As the headmistress started to speak, he was lazily looking around at the other tables when he slowly realized...he KNEW that voice...

His head snapped to the Headmistress and saw...PROFESSOR HAWTHORNE? What was SHE doing here?? He blinked a few times, just to be sure he was seeing things right. Yup, that was her. She had the accent and everything. He figured she had moved here to be Headmistress, which she confirmed a few moments later in his speech - wow, what were the odds of THAT? An Ilvermorny professor transferring to Hogwarts the same year Kane and Brent transferred?

Too bad she wasn't ACTUALLY the DADA professor here, just Headmistress. He'd ace that class for sure! Wait - he had an IN with the Headmistress right off the bat! YES! SCOREEEEEEEEE!

As his thoughts about automatically getting all O's in his classes thanks to his schmoozing distracted him, he suddenly heard a cheer and realized it was the end of the speech already. And then, suddenly - FOOOOOOOOD! LOTS OF FOOD!

"Oh yeah, this will do NICELY," he chuckled to himself before grabbing a giant turkey leg from a nearby platter and chowing down. Manners be damned, yo!

SPOILER!!: Etta!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

All the people.

Etta sat at her house table, trying not to look too nervous. It was weird not knowing anyone... could she just randomly start a conversation with the girl sitting next to her? Or would she consider that rude? Would anyone want to talk to her?

.... The girl was kind of starting to panic a little. Being the new girl at school was just so difficult. So very difficult. Now, more than anything, she wished she could just go back home.

Oh look, another new arrival! Even though Kane knew there was no WAY he'd be best friends with ALL these people, he wanted to at least say HI and introduce himself to everyone. He smiled at the girl, who looked a little...nervous...and waved.

"Hi! I'm Kane - second year. You?" he asked her with a polite grin. Asking people's years was a great way to get the conversation flowing, he was slowly learning.

SPOILER!!: Simon and Levi

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ Moose

Okay Simon seemed like interacting was a thing that was gonna have to Happen now. Get that game face going. The Bespectacled young boy slapped on a smile and turned his attention to another boy who didn't seem much older than himself. He nodded quickly. "Simon, yeah I just got sorted." He replied.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuppySara

"Hi Kane!" Levi smiled at the slight the slightly older boy, "I'm Levi." The first year took his hand and happily shook it. He didn't know WHAT Landon meant when he said everyone was odd and unfriendly here. He seemed to be making friends very quickly. His brother was such a horrid liar...

Or... Maybe Landon was just weird... Yeah, that seemed more likely.

Levi and Simon...they seemed to be pretty close to him in age, so Kane would try hard to remember their names! They would likely be dorm mates, after all. "Hi Levi, hi Simon...nice to meet you," he told them with a smile.

SPOILER!!: Ambrose

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lost In Thought

Was going back to China a good thing? Ambrose tilted his head to the side in thought for a moment. "Well it wouldn't have been awful..." his sister might have actually killed him if he had gone back to China.

Also if Chinese wizarding school was anything like muggle school, then that wouldn't have been so cool either. Though with that amount of study he would've improved very quickly, he mused to himself.

Pukwudgie? Yeah there was no way Ambrose was going to remember that. "Wizards have a lot of weird names for things," he commented, smiling in amusement as he thought about the ones he'd known so far. Hogwarts. Ilvermony. Hufflepuff. Quidditch. Nifflers.

The list kind of just went on.

"It was kinda fun, but also kinda..." he froze for a moment, unsure of how to keep going. "Weird?" Yeah that last bit sounded like more of a question. "Like I didn't expect it to bring up my sister."

Sister? Huh. Kane wasn't sure why the hat would bring up this kid's sister either, since it didn't mention anything about Brent when he was up there. Ah well. "Does your sister go here too?" he asked as he took a huge helpful of mashed potatoes.

SO MUCH FOOOOOOOOOD. He was going to pass right out after this and it was going to be glorious.

SPOILER!!: Hazel!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmbiguouslyMe

Alrighty, then. Hazel hustled over to the Hufflepuff table following her sorting, wondering if Derf had made it back from.. wherever he disappeared after his. They were in the same house!!! Did he know? Last she'd seen him, he'd walked right off the stool and out the door. Scanning the length of the table was difficult and she didn't spot him or the plant-wielding girl from the train.

Oh well. Hazel settled down in the first open seat she found, smiles all around. There were so many people to meet. Oh! She'd have to write Emma to tell her mom that she was a Hufflepuff now too! The fleeting thought of Emma and Emma's mom led her, of course, to Emma's dad which brought her train of thought over to Gryffindor which had her spin around in her seat to look over at that table wondering how poor Abey Botros was doing after his sorting and resolving to check on him. But what she saw instead was a clump of Kettleburns. A klump? She knew that Charlotte and Callum were Gryffindors and because her last name was after their's, had seen Chloe get sorted into Ravenclaw. Someone else she'd have to check on.

Was she allowed to do that now? Where were those prefect people that her dad had talked about? Hazel turned back to her own table and sorta half stood to look down the length of it, trying to spot a badge. It was terribly bothersome being short.

"Um..." she said to no one in particular. "If I've got a question about what's allowed, who do I ask?"

But her question was soon no longer the most prominent thing in her mind, because the Fat Friar had flown overhead and he now had Hazel's full attention. "Well, what do you prefer?" Because even if she'd rather call him Albert, if he preferred Fat Friar, well, she'd go with that!

ANNND cue another young looking person who was probably one of Kane's classmates. He smiled and waved at the newcomer. "Hello! Welcome to Hufflepuff! I'm Kane," he said, introducing himself to the girl.

As for who to ask about questions...he just shrugged. Definitely NOT him, that was for sure.

SPOILER!!: Isa!

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

Cute new boy Kane was in the same year as her! ”Yeah, I’m a second year too.” Isa smiled at Kane. She was twirling her hair around her finger as she talked. ”Where in America are you from? My family used to live in California. I don’t remember much of it though because we moved here when I was 2, but we still go to visit my grandparents and cousins there in the summer sometimes.”

"Malibu. We never even left California, so this is like...a BIG change," Kane explained with a chuckle. Truth be told, it was the winter that was scariest to him...he didn't know what to expect, especially from SNOW. He was excited though! "I'm excited to experience a real winter! Although I doubt I'll feel that way when it actually GETS here..."

"Oh really! Great - we have to stick together then. Seems everyone else is a firstie," he grinned, gesturing to all the other newcomers. That was to be expected, of course. Most people generally were NOT sorted during their SECOND year like he was...

SPOILER!!: Henry

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Henry turned to the boys from Ilvermorny next. He'd have guessed they were American anyway considering their accent, now that he was talking to them. It didn't sound like Brent knew Zara, but it was cool. It was just a question, though it might have been cool for the other boy if one of his friends was already here. "Maybe I'll mention it to her and introduce you." It was just too bad she wasn't sitting right there. He glanced down the end of the table, noticing her head on the plate. Oh.. yeah, she was really tired. But he didn't think she was that tired. Anyway. "So, which part of the US are you from?" he asked Kane. "I've been there just once but I thought it was pretty cool." He liked to travel. "What do you guys think of the UK so far?" It must be tough to move to a different country and leave all your friends behind.

"California. Malibu, to be exact," Kane answered the older boy's question as he took a bread roll and ripped it open. "And it's pretty cool so far. We haven't been here long, we did all the sight seeing kind of stuff the first few weeks we were here - you know, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, all the muggle stuff," he explained with a shrug. It was fun and all but history could be so BORING. They hadn't gone to the Tower of London, which he was actually looking FORWARD to seeing because there were supposedly ghosts there.

"Where were you in the US?" he asked him. "We didn't get out of California like..ever," he chuckled.

SPOILER!!: Alfred!<3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Friar

Alfred waved back at the boy. "And what is your name, young sir?" he asked, because once again...a new face! So many of them soooooo many of them! He loved it!

Oh dear! It seemed like Peeves and Miffy were up to no good over at the Slytherin table. He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Merlin. Three poltergeists..." he muttered to himself. Things had seemed off ever since Storm arrived, too. He wondered if the other ghosts felt the discomfort that he did all summer.

"Kane, sir," he replied to the ghost with a grin. Despite being...well, dead...Kane felt that this man deserved to be addressed more properly, because he was an adult, regardless of his lack of...life.

Poltergeists? They had POLTERGEISTS? Kane didn't know a whole lot about these types of ghosts, other than the fact that they were not the BEST type of ghosts to have around. "THREE poltergeists?" he asked the ghost with wide eyes. "Aren't they...um...bad ghosts?" he asked, almost whispering the last part. He wasn't sure if what he was asking was offensive or not...somehow keeping his voice low made it better in his mind...

SPOILER!!: Brian!

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurange

You know, there was a saying. Speak of the devil and he shall arrive? Well, Brian Woods wasn't quite what one would call that, but he did have an uncanny ability to show up just as he was being spoken of. It almost compensated for his uncanny ability to be late for literally everything. Breakfast, lunch, classes, prefect meetings. You name it, he was probably walking in only as you questioned where he was.

"Somewhere would be right here. Had a good summer, Isa?" It was normally recommended that he ask these questions, right? He was quite certain. Taking a seat and watching what was left of the sorting, his eyes might have been a little glazed with Nostalgia. He still remembered the hat sitting there on his head, quite like a hat and not saying anything for a good while. And then telling him he'd make a good Ravenclaw.

Well, Ravenclaw wasn't where the cookies were, so here he was. Hufflepuff. And watching the last sorting he'd experience as a student. Ever. Of course he wasn't tearing up.



And turning to the girl whose question Isa had answered. "That would be me," he nodded, offering a hand. In case she'd missed the interaction. "Brian Woods, Hufflepuff prefect at your service." Although in his experience, this service had ended up being inclusive of yelling at rude house ghosts and losing a good few house points before the term had even begun. Yet another reason he wasn't fond of Peeves and Miffy. But today was a good day, nothing had gotten in the way of that yet (save for the prefect meeting, but even that was sorted out).

Now to address the rest of the table. "Reverend," he grinned up at the ghost. "Glad to see you again. Was the castle terribly lonely this summer?" Because, well. He imagined it was quite dull if you were hanging around the same people you had for the past five hundred years. "The rest of you too, had a good break, yeah?"

It was good to be back, really.

Kane's ears perked up when he heard the word PREFECT. He turned to the boy who introduced himself as such - huh, funny, he looked kind of like Brent - and smiled at him. He was no idiot and knew that getting in good with the prefects might be good for him in the long run.

"Hi Brian, nice to meet you! I'm Kane," he said, holding out his hand for a shake because MANNERS.

SPOILER!!: Juno!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suziella

Juno made her way towards the Puff table. She totally forgot that she had to use the restroom because prefecting was immensely busy, part way through the sorting she snuck out, and of course there was a long line. Why did girls always have to go in groups to the bathroom??? She should know that answer, but she really didn't. She liked to Piddle in Private.

Juno smiled and waved as she approached the table. There were a few minutes between sorting and the Headmaster/mistress so she was very lucky that the sorting had just ended. She waved at all her Puffs and gave them all a big smile. "Hi everyone," she called out. Then suddenly a woman was standing up at the Staff Dias, so Juno quickly plopped down next to Brian. Though she wasn't sure if that was a great idea. He didn't seem to like her very much, which really bothered her. She really wanted to be his friend. She would avoid obvious questions at all costs.

Juno listened, and quietly handed a little yellow box with a cupcake inside that had the Hufflepuff crest on it over to Brian. "I forgot to give it to you on the train. Made them myself." She gave him a small smile. she then turned her attention back to the announcements.

She applauded politely for the new Professors. She applauded loudly when it was announced that Paul was now Deputy Headmaster. "WOOHOO! Go Professor Myers!" She called out. He completely deserved it!! Then the woman at the Dias announced that she was the new Headmistress...which wasn't surprising seeing as she was the one making the announcements! She applauded politely for her as well.

FINALLLLLLYYY it was time for food!!!!!!!! Juno pilled up her plate. She was starving.

Ah, the other prefect! "Hi there! I'm Kane Westwood - second year transfer," he said with a smile, holding out a hand for a shake. There. He had officially introduced himself to BOTH prefects, aka the most important people in the house (after their Head of House, of course). Hopefully he'd never NEED to try and bribe them into not getting him in trouble or anything, but it was always good to have that option in the back pocket. Hehe.

A loud POP made Kane jump, and he looked over to see a house elf piling more potatoes onto the table. After the initial shock, he grinned at the elf. "Thank you - they're DELICIOUS, by the way," he added. Like, for real. He wasn't exaggerating. He was easily on his third helping...

It didn't matter how much anyone had told her, the fact that there were ghosts at Hogwarts was so weird and SO COOL. The redheaded firstie looked up at the translucent friar and smiled. "I'm Hazel. Hazel Martin-Pryce."



But it seemed like there was no shortage of people trying to answer her question. First it was the girl with the muffins and then some other person, but before she she could follow up with where she might find those people or what her question actually is, the boy prefect person introduced himself!

"Oh! Hi! Ok.." she started, wondering how to phrase this. She scrunched up her face as she peered back toward the other house tables. "I want to go check on some of my friends who ended up in other houses who I think might be upset." She looked back at the prefect with big, concerned doe eyes.

"Is it allowed if I want to go do that during the feast?"

Sky felt like an honorary Hufflepuff whenever she went over to see Hattie; it was like the one place that she could count on where house members seemed to know who she was. But then again, she was optimistic that Slytherin house members maybe felt the same about Hattie. "Hey Isa. Good to see you again," Sky returned the greeting to the younger girl. Always so cheerful she was, Sky was pretty sure she'd never seen Isa in a bad mood.... but she was still young, so who knew? "I'm doing alright."

"I see that. Ditto there." Sky grinned sheepishly at the older puff. "Good seeing you again, Kat."

And who was this? He looked familiar, and greeted her well enough.... Carl apparently. Badgers were so friendly, but she reckoned having a bestie in the house probably helped in that. "Don't worry, it's only temporary," Sky smiled slyly. "Nice to meet you, Carl. I'm Skylar, but you can call me Sky."

....

He waved at her. Yes she knew him. Well of him. Noah knew him better. And he totally just waved at her. And talked to her. And Skylar was at loss of words. Breathe, just breathe. Was he always that good looking or was the summer good to him?

Deep breath. Calm.

"Hi. It. It. was good. You?"

"Maybe not." Honestly she kind of had a bit on her mind. Like her brother not being on the train for reasons that were pretty much her fault. He'd be at Hogwarts soon though and she wanted to be the first to welcome him when he returned. She just would need to make sure she got his work for him, because it was his OWL year; though Noelle would probably help him but she was feeling all kinds of guilt. "Where were you on the train anyway? Who you with?"

"I should.... go back to my table. Opening feast and all. You know this." Sky bit her lower lip. "It's the same food at all the tables at feasts, silly."