The toast offered in return by Katherine was met an amused smile from Kyle, one which was hidden as he finally raised his goblet to his lips and sipped from it. He took the opportunity to glance around the hall at Hogwarts and Ilvermorny students alike, before carefully setting his goblet down and wiping the residual moisture from his lips with a sweep of his thumb.

The more Kyle heard about the Hogwarts ghosts, the more intrigued he was by them. "Fascinating." If it sounded like sarcasm this time, and the likelihood was that it did, then that was entirely misleading. "I'll have to made it a point to try and interview one. And, you know, aside from the whole 'being dead' thing, I sorta envy ghosts in a way." Here, Kyle finally started picking out food from the platters in the middle of the table, carefully choosing what looked and smelled the most palatable. "Imagine never being stuck in an undesirable conversation ever again. Just float through the floor and go on your way." Though, admittedly, that and the 'rich in history' thing sounded like the only real benefit.

Onto potions though, a subject that put a gleam in Kyle's eye. "Excellent. There's some Hogwarts culture I'd like to-"

But he broke off, because a hush had fallen over the Hall and all eyes were turning to the staff dias, where Prof--... Headmistress Hawthorne had risen to her feet. As it was clear she was about to divulge details on the very event that had brought them all here. Kyle stayed silent, watched, and listened.

-----

After his name appeared, Kyle made no discernible reaction, but continued to watch until all the names had been shown. It wasn't until Hawthorne had resumed her seat that Kyle finally glanced over at Jesús and Valerie, and then across the table at Aurora.

The Worthy. He wondered just how offended the others would be that their names had been listed along with the likes of his own, or Valerie's, or Jesús'. Kyle himself was not surprised; he had been expecting some of those names, and had of course hoped to be announced himself too, and so he was quite prepared. It was a nice surprise to know he had been considered one of The Worthy, and by the Book of Merlin, no less.

Kyle turned to Katherine once more. "The potions facilities. I'd like to try them out soon; one way to get immersed into the Hogwarts culture. I wonder how, or if, your methods differ to ours." There was a sort of casualness in the way that he continued the conversation that made it seem as though nothing had happened, except for the fact that a full smile had now graced his features. This was one way to make a name for himself, something Tristan would never have been able to claim.

Internally, he was still processing. Only once he had done that would he decide what to say to the other Ilvermorny competitors. Perhaps some speculating with Valerie and Jesús on what the first task might be, though without any clues to go by, it could well have been anything.

.............unacknowledged. Valerie did not yet know this girl's name [Awarlesta Black] but hers was now officially a face the Wampus would not forget.

Cute, Kyle. Borderline adorable really.

Electing not to dignify his response with one of her own, she simply averted her eyes elsewhere. Elsewhere, unfortunately, happened to be Jesus and his unwanted banter. "......only in your wildest dreams," she snorted yet unable to hide the subtle turn up of the corner of her lips. She poked at the cream puff looking mass on her plate with a bit of an upturned nose before stabbing it with her fork. "As long as it is palatable I suppose I cannot really complain."

Please be so. If for no other reason other than she would not have to suffer through cleaning her plate.

The appearance of James earned her former classmate a curt nod in acknowledgement but nothing more. She was currently preoccupied with trying to eat this savory cream puff impaled on her fork. Although she was far more interested in what Katherine had to say about the potions facilities than any other conversation going on at the table. Although she hardly found 'more than adequate' to be an encouraging description.

That one girl, the small one [sarahlooo] who was giving the older Westwood boy a hard time by pestering him with irrelevant questions...Valerie decided that she rather liked her. Which would perhaps come as a shock to Kyle and Jesus when they no doubt discussed things later that evening, but she felt no urge to defend her opinions. You either understood or or you did not.

When the Hogwarts Headmistress stood to speak, Valerie put down her half eaten savory cream puff (of which she had come to the conclusion are more than just palatable) and listened. Her eyes narrowed on the Book of Merlin as the woman spoke, daring it to pick anyone other than herself as the representative for her house.

As the book rose and began to release the names of its elected champions, her eyes scanned the hall to see who (if any) elicited any sort of immediate unease. Irene. Certainly not. Mason. He looked the sort that would struggle to charm himself out of a wet paper bag. Jesus. No comment. Dora. Potentially.

And there it was. Her name.

Running her tongue over her teeth once more, Valerie settled into her seat with a confident sideways grin. Perhaps she had not given Aurora enough credit with her premature assumptions? Returning to her cream puff and taking another bite, her eyes gleamed when she heard Kyle's name called. Pity she would have to put him in his place.

Tejashree Peale. So that was that one's name. Swallowing the remaining bit of food, Valerie's eyes locked on the girl and remained there for a time. She vaguely heard the rest of the names spoken aloud by the book (questioning somewhere in the back of her mind what, exactly, constituted as worthy) and felt her blood already beginning to boil eagerly.

Let the games begin, Hogwarts. Let the games begin.

With raised brows, Jesús regarded Katherine with mild amusement. She definitely would be a good ally to have here at Hogwarts. "Trust me, we intended to have you all hear everything." If they wanted to keep quiet they would have, but Jesús was of the firm believe that psyching out his enemy was the best course of action. Especially if they considered him to be wholly ignorant and oblivious of his actions. He smiled, though, and turned towards James, who thought that being openly friendly was appropriate (he immediately regretted his previous action of calling him over,) but Jesús refused to let his facade falter. And so he smiled a friendly I'm-so-so-stoked-to-be-here-how-have-you-been? smile. He even showed his teeth. "Don't give away my secret," he whispered, giving James a look. "He's good though, I left him behind," which he was a hard thing to do, "and everyone is, well...," he trailed off and made a grand motion towards the table with all the music and commotion.

Kyle was onto something, alright. A talk with the ghosts would prove be essential in his infiltration of the school. "I'd really, really like to hear their story, actually." He really did wonder if the ghosts were here against their will; why wouldn't they choose to move on? What sort of binding contract did the school have with them? His questions didn't stop, even as the ruckus from the red and gold table had escalated. Jesús laughed, tried a bit of the food in front of him, deeply regretted that decision, and chugged some pumpkin juice to get rid of the taste. Professor Williams (the authoritative, disciplinarian that had it out for yours truly, clearly) had gone and done exactly what she does best: ruin the mood. Jesús groaned, loudly, to show his displeasure. "That was dramatic," he remarked, and turned towards Valerie, ready to say something cheeky, when Hawk-eyes Hawthorne aka the Oppressor started her speech. Wonderful.

He listened carefully, sort of zoned out during all of the theatrics, and then blinked several times when he'd heard the names revealed. Immediately, his eyes scanned to the Ilvermorny students who had been chosen alongside him. He was terribly excited, though he kept it contained, and instead opted for smug and mischievous sort of look. He was plotting, alright. "What a very dramatic yet very interesting turn of events," he said to Valerie and Kyle, "and I'm not even going to contain my shock over Aurora being chosen." The girl clearly had much more to offer than she let on. Jesús was entirely certain that Hogwarts was in for a rude awakening if they thought that Ilvermorny wouldn't aggressively compete and stomp out the competition.

Aurora had to admit, it was quite hilarious watching Brent's eyes dart around at all of his admirers. Who could blame the girls here, really? He was a tall drink of water, that was for sure. Hmmm. Maybe this was a missed opportunity and this was the universe's way of giving her a second chance?

Nah. There were too many CUTE Hogwarts boys that she had to have fun with. Brent had had his chance, and if he had ever admired her, he had three whole years to make a move.

Ship. Sailed.

He was looking around for someone though....OOOOOH. That Madelyn girl! That had to be who he was looking for. She vaguely remembered they had been dating and had heard something about them breaking up...whatever. Boring. He could do so much better than that wet mop, didn't he know that?


"No sports? NOTHING?" Aurora asked Brent, raising an eyebrow. She could care less about sports, really, but that was odd that they didn't have anything. Not even Quidditch? Wasn't that like, a huge thing here? Chad would be soooo upset! She sighed again when he mentioned Valerie and nodded. "Yeah, hates people breathing. Sounds about right," she muttered.

She turned to the girl who had introduced herself as Katherine, face lighting up when she complimented her MAKEUP. It was a shame that more people didn't acknowledge the amount of WORK she put in to her appearance. "Why thank you! Your makeup is flawless too," she added. Genuine compliment alert. She raised an eyebrow. A makeup brand she'd never heard of? Must have been British or something. "No, I've never heard of it! I'd love to know more though," she added.

Makeup was not something you shared, unfortunately. Eye infections and acne for daysssss ewwwww.

Hawthrone looked like she was getting ready to say something, so Aurora sat up a bit straighter and pressed a finger to her lips, in case anyone hadn't noticed yet that it was time to BE QUIET. She'd come to this school, knowing some sort of competition was going to go down - and when she stated that the winner would get a FULL RIDE scholarship to the university of her choice, her jaw LITERALLY DROPPED.

Ok, this HAD to happen. Aurora Veronica Chae was going to WIN that scholarship and take down ANYONE who got in her way with her perfectly polished talons. In fact, she had assumed when she had first been invited that they were going to make her one of the competitors, but then when she had found out the whole school was coming, she had been less sure. Still, she was confident in her abilities to not only be named one of the lucky few who would be competing - but to actually WIN as well.

The Book of Merlin? Oh man. Things were getting SERIOUS. And she was going to do it RIGHT NOW?!

Aurora's full attention was now on the book, hardly breathing as it rattled off names...

THERE IT WAS. AURORA CHAE. SHE'D BEEN CHOSEN!

She waited until the book was done before pumping her fist in the air. "YES!" she exclaimed. She KNEW she was going to be picked! And now it was official - Aurora was a competitor. And when competition was involved, Aurora did NOT hold back.

WATCH OUT, EVERYONE.

After her short celebration, the other names that had been called started to really sink in...Brent had gotten picked for Hogwarts? That was an odd little loophole that he had managed to wiggle in to since he had TECHNICALLY started at Ilvermorny. Good for him, though. And Kyle had been picked, which was a bit of a surprise for the fellow Horned Serpent, and...OMG. Lachlan? The color drained for her face JUST a bit at the mention of him. She had pretty much forgotten about him this entire trip. She blinked a few times to clear her head and then moved on.

IRENE HAD GOTTEN PICKED TOO!? OMG! It was a shame that she was going to have completely destory her best friend, but it would still be fun! And she knew Irene wouldn't take it personally whatsoever. She HAD to run over and congratulate her friend when she was done with this.

And then...UGH. HER. Really? Was this some sort of sick joke from the universe? She often forgot that Valerie was actually like, a GOOD student, so it made sense that she would be picked. Still, gross. Although this was sort of a bright side...she could really show her what she was made of and take her OUT. That girl needed to watch her back...

Still, despite the fact that these people would be old news one the competition actually started, she sat up and smiled at all of them - Jesus, Kyle, Brent, and even...ugh...Valerie. "Congrats for being selected, everyone," she told them with a smile. Yes, even Valerie got a smile.

And now, time to go find Irene! She looked over at the Gryffindor table and hurried over with a grin.

Kyle listened to the names being announced. He recognized some of them from the people introducing themselves at the table. With a little bouncing, he smiled and looked at some of the people at his table. "Congratulations everyone! Good luck, and may the best school win!" Which would be Hogwarts, of course. But it was okay to wish the Ilvermorny students luck too, wasn't it?

Brent noticed that little flush that came across Skylar's face. There was no denying that. Heh. He really needed to get up and go sit by her, but he still didn't want to interrupt her conversations. She was having a lot of them, too, so he'd give it a few more minutes, and then he'd just go make himself a part of whatever she was talking about over there.



There was way too much going on at this table, and Brent actually felt bad for not completely following his conversation with Natalie. He turned toward her to make an actual polite effort to have a conversation with her. "I don't actually have a girlfriend at all, but there's someone special I'm kind of hanging with," he said. They'd just kissed once and held hands while walking around the grounds, but it wasn't anything official. He leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. "Between the two of us, I just spotted my old girlfriend from Ilvermorny," he said. He pointed toward Madelyn (Bazinga) at the Gryffindor table.



"Nothing. Not even a Gobstones team," he said, although he doubted he would have joined the Gobstones team anyway. There was just nothing about Gobstones that said 'Pick me! I'm as exciting as Quodpot and Quidditch!' Nope. Nothing.

He started to say something else, when...



Duuuuude. Something really cool was about to happen! Forget the girl---for now, at least. Brent's full attention was on this book and how it was floating around the Great Hall. He watched with fascination as it hovered over their heads like it was analyzing each and every person it spotted.

...and it was.

He was pretty sure he didn't even breath or blink as he watched the show. Students names from both schools were starting to be announced. The Book had chosen them. Brent's face went from wonder to disappointment as he realized he hadn't been chosen...again. He had hoped for prefect and wasn't chosen, and now this. He knew he wasn't any better or worse than the others, but it'd be cool to do something exciting like this every once in a while.

...and then---HE HEARD HIS NAME! Last, but there it was---HE HAD BEEN CHOSEN. In is excitement, he jumped up, wanting to share his excitement with one very special person. He headed down the table and sat by her. "Skylar," he said, grinning in excitement, "did you hear that? This is going to be awesome!"

Text Cut: Brent

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

There was way too much going on at this table, and Brent actually felt bad for not completely following his conversation with Natalie. He turned toward her to make an actual polite effort to have a conversation with her. "I don't actually have a girlfriend at all, but there's someone special I'm kind of hanging with," he said. They'd just kissed once and held hands while walking around the grounds, but it wasn't anything official. He leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. "Between the two of us, I just spotted my old girlfriend from Ilvermorny," he said. He pointed toward Madelyn (Bazinga) at the Gryffindor table.

Duuuuude. Something really cool was about to happen! Forget the girl---for now, at least. Brent's full attention was on this book and how it was floating around the Great Hall. He watched with fascination as it hovered over their heads like it was analyzing each and every person it spotted.

...and it was.

He was pretty sure he didn't even breath or blink as he watched the show. Students names from both schools were starting to be announced. The Book had chosen them. Brent's face went from wonder to disappointment as he realized he hadn't been chosen...again. He had hoped for prefect and wasn't chosen, and now this. He knew he wasn't any better or worse than the others, but it'd be cool to do something exciting like this every once in a while.

...and then---HE HEARD HIS NAME! Last, but there it was---HE HAD BEEN CHOSEN. In is excitement, he jumped up, wanting to share his excitement with one very special person. He headed down the table and sat by her. "Skylar," he said, grinning in excitement, "did you hear that? This is going to be awesome!"

Ooooh, he didn't have a girlfriend! Well, that was a shame. Natalie knew that TONS of girls should like him. He was cute and tall and he seemed to have nice hair, like his brother's. Though his hair didn't look like it had been dyed or highlighted, or whatever Kane said he did to his hair. And it was a different color. Anyway...

But he DID have an ex-girlfriend. Natalie followed his gaze and saw the girl he was pointing to at another table. An American girl. "Oh, that's... weird." Weird? Natalie didn't know anything boyfriends and girlfriends or dating, so she wasn't sure if it WAS weird. But maybe it was for him? Hmm.

The buzzing of the excitement continued around her, but Natalie sat up straighter when the names of the contestants were announced. Lots of names she recognized from her own school, yes. And lots of Americans... And... wait.

"Hey, that's YOU!" she exclaimed to Brent, though her small voice was getting drowned out in the cheering of the students in the room. BUT SHE KNEW ONE OF THE PEOPLE COMPETING! WHICH MEANT SHE WAS COOL. Right?

"What secret?"James looked back at Jesus, innocently. But seriously, he wondered if this guy was hiding something he should know about. You know when you spot someone lying through their /teeth/, Jesus was one of those people. James had to admit, he was good. But he decided to play along with his persona and passed his reply with nothing more but a friendly greeting. "I see, well...it's too bad he didn't come along with you. I missed that little munchkin."

James would love to stay and "socialize" with the bunch, he just didn't have the energy to continue talking. He was still hungry...damn his growing needs...his stomach was gurgling up a storm. He gave a small smile back at the girl who happened to acknowledge him too. She seemed vaguely familiar. Valerie Gray, was it? Ah, she remembered her! Did she change her hair color and put on more makeup? She had an interesting sense of look. Oddly, her appearance bare resemblance to someone he used to date before.

He smirked. "Well it's nice to see you all again, we should catch up sometime yeah?" Not that he would expect them to. He was preoccupied with his own thing to continue befriending each one of them. James rather spends his precious time making business proposals to potential buyers. Time is money and it waits for noone.

-----

James went back to his own seat and stayed silent for the rest of the ...*yawns*...speech. Oh merlin, it was really hard to stay awake just waiting for that book to call out their names either. He clapped along with the others to congratulate the chosen ones. James wondered what kind of challenges awaits them. Okay, enough pondering. Time to feast again.

While waiting for Felicity to educate her on some of the people she knew, all of a sudden there was a book floating above them. Yes, the Headmistress was speaking about the competition, but honestly, most of the words that she was muttering were exactly that .... words. It wasn't as if she could be mysteriously picked; she wasn't old enough. So whoever was picked, she really could care less. Though she might have been listening out for Noelle's name, but not really.

Names started being called out ... and then the last name, was one she glanced down the table for to see his expression. Only, he wasn't where he'd been sitting a moment ago (if she had been looking, she might have noticed him pointing at some girl at the lions table). Staring around bewildered, the fourth year blinked in surprise when she felt someone next to her and a familiar voice speak her name.

Grinning at the older male who wedged in her next to her, she couldn't help but fling her arms around him in a sort of seated-down-sideways hug. "I heard!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! I'm so excited for you!! I had no idea you were entering, but GAH!!" Okay. Enough flailing. Speak English now, Skylar.

Felicity covered her mouth to stifle her giggle as she followed Skylar's gaze. "That's... Valerie. I think that's her name." Of course, the description her dorm mate had given her was pretty accurate, so there was no question of who Skylar was asking about. Although, back at Ilvermorny, Felicity had avoided that girl like dragonpox, and she was probably going to do the same whilst she was here. She just seemed mean. She did notice her friend (they were friends, right? Because Flick definitely thought so, but she didn't wanna think it and then find out that Skylar was just humouring her, being nice because she was new) flush slightly when waving at Brent, but didn't mention anything. People didn't like drawing attention to the kind of thing, and besides, she could grill her on the details later.

Another reason for not questioning it now was that there was a book floating above their heads. The hush that had settled over the Hall sent a shiver down her spine, and made her severely glad that she wasn't able to enter and that everyone's attention wasn't going to be focused on her. She joined in the smattering of applause as the names went up, wondering if it would have been awful not to root for a particular school. She just had... ties, you know?

As the hum of noise in the hall increased again, Felicity took a drink from her Goblet to disguise her smile at the people opposite her. "Congratulations," she offered Brent, when Skylar had finished her own excited expression. Maybe she'd just root for him as an individual, because a) Ilvermorny transfer, even if she didn't actually know him, she knew his brother and that counted? and b) Slytherin. Those seemed like good enough reasons. That and he was clearly Skylars favourite.

Dude. He still couldn't believe this. He had been CHOSEN by the book! This was probably the coolest thing that had ever happened to him. Somewhere in the excitement of things, he managed to keep up with conversations, like the one he was having with Natalie for starters. "Weird? Oh, no, Natalie. There's nothing weird about having a girlfriend," he said. He just...didn't have one at the moment. "When you meet the one, you'll think it's the coolest thing in the world."

He grinned at her. "Yeah, that's me!" he exclaimed. "How I got chosen is beyond me, but I'm pretty excited about it." Then he was being hugged by Skylar, and sorry Natalie, but that kind of took all of his focus and attention. He returned her hug, all the while looking around the room to see if he could also meet Kane's gaze. There was just so many people he wanted to share this with! He grinned at Felicity when she congratulated him. "Thanks," he said, releasing Skylar from the hug and paying attention to the table as a whole. He was just way too excited to keep his attention in one place right now.

Valerie. Eying the girl curiously, Skylar had noticed her friend's expression and couldn't help but think that perhaps her judgments were correct? Especially because Felicity seemed to think that was her name, yet not entirely sure, that and well the girl seemed to not have anything else to say about her, which meant, nothing else to say.

Besides, there was cute champion beside her, hugging her back and what was that he had said to the younger girl, Natalie? Why was he talking to her about girlfriends? Raising a confused eyebrow, she figured she should probably ask Brent later. "You're excited? You should be! You'll be brilliant! And you have my full support..." Well, it wasn't exactly like she knew any of the Ilvermorny champions and for the Hogwarts champions, while she knew Levi and Mason and Etta, well, she knew Brent ... more. "Shall we go celebrate in the common room?" She asked, standing up and reaching for the older boy's hand to lead the way.

Dora had sent word through one person to send to another person to send to Katy to come meet her for lunch. Mainly because she didn't care much for the dungeons since Professor Newton had left. And well it was a long walk. Even from the ground floor considering she had come from the tower.

UGH.

But here she sat drumming her nails on the table as she waited to see how long it took the younger students to track down and deliver her message... and for Katy to be able to come meet her anyway. She had a few more free periods considering she had dropped some classes at NEWT level, but she didn't expect everyone to have the same free time as she.

But as she waited she let her mind wander free. Ignoring everyone around her, not worrying about a damn thing. A luxury she didn't afford herself often enough.

And it was glorious.

Katy didn't appreciate being summoned, but considering the source, she decided to take it only at face value. It didn't mean anything more than that Katy needed to teach Dora how to send magical memos. She paused in the Great Hall, looking for the older Gryffindor and was pleased to discover her at the Slytherin table.

Nice. That was her favorite table!

Katy bounced over to take a seat across from Miss Champion herself. "Hullo, Your Grace. How's fame treating you? You're holding up well. Need any help?"

Dora COULD HAVE sent a magical memo. One shaped like a little birdy. Or an owl itself, but seeing as she was killing time... the passing of messages through younger students amused her, really. Quite curious as to what the message had actually been by the time it made its way to the intended target. Hehehehe.

Being pulled from her thoughts she winced slightly once Katy began her string of comments. She couldn't exactly call them compliments, could she? Nah. Not considering how many people she had angered since she had become a champion. And the fact that most everyone underestimated her as well. Lulz.

"I wouldn't know a thing about fame or grace for that matter, " she said with a grin. And the other comment got a shrug. She didn't know that she was indeed holding up well. She felt more out of sorts than ever actually, but she didn't need to continue that line of thinking.

"As a matter of fact you could help me with something, " the Gryffindor said with a sideways grin, feeling more at ease than she had in a while... letting all of her doubts go in that particular moment. "You could help me find some mindless fun to be had around here. " Hadn't they slid down banister one year?! CLEARLY this girl was gonna help her loosen up.

Oh. She'd been summoned for fun-making? Katy found it hard to be too sour about that, since she didn't feel like she was often the person people sought out for silliness. She was super useful for getting things done, for helping with homework, for potions... but that was using her as a tool rather than as a friend.

This was different. She didn't mind at all.

"Mindless fun? Does that mean relaxation or trouble making? I have trouble guess what people find fun sometimes." Meaning... she didn't want to suggest trouble making and have Dora scoff at the suggestion. Relaxation sounded boring.

Dora was so tired of homework, potions, and doing THINGS. Her brain felt like mush lately due to overuse. It was time to shut that down and do something... mindless. And potentially dangerous?

"Trouble making, of course. I don't want relaxation... I don't know how to relax anymore." So that made it useless, right? RIGHT! "So I have one question, or two rather. Do you have an aversion to fire? Or detention?" she asked with a glimmer in her eye. It was time to quit being a boring old poo and get back to her roots. HEHE.

Kalen felt some nostalgia come over him as he slid onto the empty bench, he usually took his meals at odd times and in his office, but today he felt a little cooped up even in his beloved library.. so the green eyed man headed down to the great hall to find it relatively empty..

He checked the time and sighed, guess he still took his meals at odd times..

Ahh well.

Kalen put his plate full of roast and mashed potatoes and gravy along with some various vegetables down in front of him, as well as a few pieces of parchment and his quill..

He had half written letters to both Azura and Leon and he was intent on finishing them and his lunch..

He paused for a moment as he looked down the hall, he could remember his days sitting here as a student, making fun of Tris, hanging on Serena's every word, seeing what mischief he and his brothers could get up too..

Ahh those were the days.. Young and free and not a care in the world.. He shook his head at how sentimental he was being and started to eat.. Letting the good food distract him from his feelings.

GASP

ANOTHER OLD PERSON SITTING AT A PLACE THAT WASN'T THE STAFF DAIS?

Okay. This was the second one this week. Zoryn was like 500% sure that someone had slipped them all a memory loss potion or something. Why else would they be infiltrating student territory? It was the only thing that made sense.

"You're at the wrong table, y'know?" she offered her help to the man sitting at the Slytherin table. He was clearly WAY too old to be a Hogwarts student. Plus, Zoryn knew who their librarian was... Somehow.

She slid onto the bench so that she was sitting opposite of him. Of course Zoryn was also sitting at the wrong table now, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask a Professor hundreds of meaningless questions. It was her trademark. He was practically begging for a Zoryn A Spinnet interruption.

"And don't you have an office?" Or the ENTIRE library for that matter. "It's probably a bad idea to write notes while you're eating lunch, Sir." Was he aware? "You'll get food all over them AND people are gonna keep distracting you so that you'll never get them finished." She nodded. SO knowledgable, she was.

"I guess you know that already though, 'cause those notes are no where NEAR being done.
Are you procrastinating, sir?" She gave him a LOOK that said 'you're a professor you should not be procrastinating'. "Who's Azura? Is she your girlfriend?????"

HEHEHEHE.

Zoryn giggled.

It was weird to think that Professor's had girlfriends. AND LIVES outside of school. Dude. It was like imagining a hippogriff being a ballerina.

Trouble making! "Relaxing is easy enough, actually. I could help you with that, if you need help, but for now... trouble. Sure." Katy seated herself next to Dora, finally, and propped her chin on her hands.

"I like fire. I don't mind detention. I won't hurt a person physically and I would prefer not to mortify someone unless they deserve it. But... what did you have in mind?" Because Katy was easy to engage in troublesome ideas with just a little poking.

Kalen had just taken a big old bite of mashed potatoes when a student joined him? Apparently this wasn't enough of an odd hour for them all to be in class! Was his watch not working? Huh.. he glanced at the enchanted ceiling for a moment, but seeing as it was cloudy, the green eyed man couldn't tell the suns position..

Ahh well.

He swallowed his food and looked over at the girl for a moment..

"Looks like you are as well Miss Spinnet, but I won't tell if you won't. " Kalen responded with a small smile as he looked at her, curious as to what she was going to do..

Ahhh pepper him with questions! He cast a non verbal heating charm on his food and turned his full attention to the young Gryffindor. "I do have an office, but seeing as I usually eat there, I wanted a little change of scenery. " He said with a small smile as she spoke about taking notes and eating..

"Well a charm will help keep the food off of it, as for people distracting me, I'm fine with that. Maybe that's why I wanted to be down here, yeah?" He said with a soft smile as he glanced over at his letters for a moment..

"Am I? No, not fully of course, I was just hungry and wanting to be somewhere else, sometimes a change helps the mind work better. " He explained to her before letting out a soft chuckle at her her words. "Azura is my niece actually, she's a student here, a fifth year Ravenclaw, however she's been away for a bit so I'm writing to keep her apprised of things that are happening around the school. " He said with a nod..

No need to fully explain where she was or what had happened, though those questions might pop up soon enough..

"Fair point," she shrugged, deciding that although she wanted to argue... Technically he was right. It wasn't exactly her table either. Hm. "My lips are sealed!!" Which was only a saying because the day Zoryn stopped talking would be the day when Professor Meyers stopped wearing ponchos: aka never, eVER.

"How come you eat in your office?" That was super weird. "Don't Professor's get a table too?" 'Cause Zoryn was pretty sure that the old-person table wasn't just for feasts. O-M-G. Did the librarian hate all of the staff???? Or did he just hate people in general? That'd make sense since all his friends were probably books. Zoryn didn't voice these questions yet though. He already had enough to think about. She was taking it easy on him, see??

"OooOOOOH, I get it," she sent a HUGE, over dramatic WINK that basically required her whole entire body to move. "Then you're super lucky 'cause I'm really good at distracting, sir." It was her SPECIALTY. If there was a lesson on distracting, Zoryn would definitely get straight O's.

Oh. Zoryn tilted her head, listening as the Librarian sortof explained. Though his explanation wasn't actually helpful 'cause he didn't really say anything at all. "How come she left? Did she hate it here?" That was the only explanation the second year could come up with. Except HOW COULD ANYONE HATE IT HERE???? "That's SUPER weird, 'cause I think Hogwarts is AWESOME."

Kalen inclined his head as Zoryn spoke and he smiled at her.. "I'm glad our secret in in safe hands then." He said with a nod as he took a drink of his water and then turned his attention back to Miss. Spinnet, he knew she would probably have a ton more questions for him, and that was perfectly fine..

And there was the next one.. "Well, we do get a table of course, it's up there." he said as he gestured to the head table with a wave of his hand, as for why he ate in his office... well..

"I don't often like to leave the Library unintended, not to mention, it's a bit of a trek down here every single day. I find it much easier to have a house elf bring me some Lunch up in my office.." He explained with a shrug, not to mention there was the issue of noise and tons of people, two things which Kalen wasn't exactly a fan of.. Having to face that three times a day every day..

No.Thank.You. His office would do just fine.

A soft chuckle came from his lip as she spoke along with the overdramatic wink.. "It must be my lucky day then, yeah?" He said as he folded his hands and gave a soft laugh, which he tried to cover up by taking a sip of water..

Of course his vague description would not have satisfied the curious Gryffindor and Kalen shook his head as she spoke.. "No, of course she doesn't hate it here, I feel like that would be impossible." He said with a nod. "She thinks its awesome as well, she just needed some time away." In St.Mungos.. But again. not wanting to go into it..

Jonas walked into the great hall for lunch, not really thinking anyone would be tehrer. He half expected that one first now second year would be here. Ariana. A tint of pink could be seen on his face..

"GASP!" Why didn't she ever just gasp? The world would never know. OR WOULD IT???? Dun DUN DUUUUHHHN. Definitely because she was dramatic as anything tbh. "I've never been in charge of a secret before!!!" It was gonna be SO much fun to keep. Omg. What if she HAD to tell someone?????? This was way more responsibility than she was used to. OH THE PRESSURE WAS JUST TOO MUCH!!!! Man. She was thriving.

Zoryn's eyes followed his hand to the staff dais, where he wasn't actually sitting. "Then how come you chose this table instead?" her questions were all genuine ones by the way. Any shade or sass was totally unintentional, but very possible. Anyways, it just didn't make much sense. "How come we have assigned tables if anyone can just sit wherever the heck they want. Sounds real counterintuitive." She was gonna add this to the list of silly things that the Headmistress should fix. Plus it was super true. Even at the feasts everyone sat at different tables. Wouldn't it make WAY more sense to just call all the tables "Hogwarts Tables".

As for his explanation... He normally ate in the library all by himself??? THAT WAS SO SAD. "Sounds lonely," she nodded. Y'know what, maybe Zoryn could go eat lunch with him there EVERY DAY from NOW ON so that he'd never be lonely again!!!! Out of all the kindness and goodness of her heart. She'd do it. It was a wonder how she wasn't sorted Hufflepuff. Mhm.

"Oh," was all she had to say, her mouth circled up to form the most perfect little 'o'. "You should tell her to hurry back, she's missing SO MUCH!!!" With all the IMP stuff, anyway. Turning she noticed Jonas, the mean boy who had been SUPER rude to her last term. If he was gonna say another mean thing, Zoryn would have to bite into his shoulder AGAIN.... Even though the librarian was right here. She'd still do it!! Didn't stop her last time.