Just when Vivian thought it would be a peaceful night for their first day back at Hogwarts. Of course, thinking that the start-of-term feast would be uneventful was a jinx all on its own. The prefect made her way to the Hufflepuff table, greeting a few friends from other tables along the way, before reaching her destination. She... was not against snogging people. Anyone who knew Vivian Fairfield would certainly know that. She might even end up looking like a hypocrite just by being here, but her house cup was at stake with what her two blue eyes saw from tables away. This blond wasn't going to lose that cup, she wasn't.

But of course, she didn't forget to send waves and hellos to her Puff friends. There was Hattie and even the younger girl she met at Madam Malkin's in the summer. Diandra, wasn't it? Both ladies received smiles from the blond before she went over to Derf and Zita.

... Well, this was awkward.

"Hi, Derf," Vivian said, and didn't even wait for a reply from her co-prefect who was apparently a little busy, before she smiled at her baby snake. "Hi, Zita." Still awkward, but what was she to do? At least she'd have the situation under control before one of the staffers notice anything and dock points from Slytherin. Not exactly her kind of idea for a first day back to school.

Sighing a little and waiting for Zita to release poor Derf from embarrassment or what, Vivian bent a little to whisper something to the younger Slytherin's ear. "I know kissing is nice, but maybe not here? I can... show you other places in the castle where there aren't people watching next time." And definitely away from the prying eyes of adults and professor who were JUST OVER THERE.

With that said, she moved away and crossed her arms. "What do you say?" Zita would get to snog in private and Slytherin wouldn't lose points. Sounded like a win-win situation, didn't it? Not entirely sure if it made the situation better but yes, the offer was still there.

Derf caught Gendry's hesitant wave and offered a bit more of a smile back. Sorta..felt wrong to shout down the table to him given the younger boy looked anxious and that would just draw more attention to things. "Summer was good," he nodded in response to Kimi, not sure how much to really embellish on the subject really soooooo he would just leave it at that. Which was well enough since his attention was drawn back to the mystery Toussaint - who was no longer that much of a mystery. Thank Scamander his lisp and stutter was gone now. "Alessandro," he repeated, hoping to commit that name to memory as well. "I'm Derfael.....Ashburry-Hawthorne." Since it seemed full name introductions were in order. "Fourth year. Sim----Mord is my dormmmate." Just to give the younger student some strings to tie people together.

And somehow in the mix of things the fourth year had overlooked one of the first years. But rather than silently reprimand himself for it - although he did take a moment - he stood up a little to lean over the table to offer her a slightly belated greeting. "Emmalyn! Welcome to Hufflepuff!" he grinned. Yes, he DID remember her name thanks to the Sorting and his keen ears catching the Sorting Hat shouting HUFFLEPUFF and all that. "I'm ----"

And then Zita Valla was suddenly standing beside him. And he was staring at her lips because WOAH what was going on there? "Su----" But once again, before he could finish a thought or sentence (or ask about her lips)...she was moving on her own and, um, sitting right in front of him. On the table. And he had some thought about that. Particularly since she had positioned herself dangerously close to a goblet and could knock it over or something. Also...the looming over him was kinda intimidating and making his ears redden a little - not to mention drawing more attention to those lips that sorta DEMANDED attention. It was like she had planned that or something. "You don't have to thank me for all that," he replied somewhat sheepishly, running a hand through his hair and giving it a firm ruffle (and yes, still venturing long glances at her lips). "But...you should probably not sit on the table, you know? That's where foo---"

Apparently around Zita he was destined to never finish his sentences. At least not tonight.

But................

HOLY

FLAMING

SALAMANDERS

WHAT

WAS

GOING

ON

??

Derf didn't react. Not outside of his eyes widening and rivaling a mooncalf's when her lips were suddenly on his. At his house table. In the middle of the feast. In front of people. Everyone. And thankfully, at least for the time being, his mind had just shut off with confusion and shock that he wasn't thinking about all the eyes - and who they belonged to - on him. It wasn't until Hattie spoke, although her voice came as more of a distant echo from faaaaaaaaaaaar across the grounds rather than nearly right next to him initially, but her 'rude' came at him like Sonorus.

And then suddenly he pulled his head back...like...WAY back...basically giving himself whiplash and tumbling over backwards off the bench and to the floor where his head hit the ground with a dull THUD.

Ow. Ugh. Ow.

Taking a moment to simply look up at the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall, Derf tried to process what all had just happened - and no, he still had his socks on before anyone went thinking that the kiss knocked his socks off.

And then Vivian appeared at his house table as well, and his eyes refocused juuuuuuuust enough to see her leaning in to whisper something to Zita. Something that, thanks unfortunately to the unnatural quiet that had taken over the immediate area by all this, he heard. And then his cheeks were burning to the point it was a wonder ashwinders weren't being created. Or maybe it was his whole face. Derf really wasn't sure at the moment and, for one of few instances in his existence, he had absolutely no idea what to say. Vivian, his Marshmallow Maiden, was NOT helping. At all.

So he just gaped at the girls.

And then his eyes wandered a bit around the table. Simon, Diandra, Regina, Bel.......he felt knots forming in his stomach while it tried in vain to perform backflips with each face he glanced at.

And NOW he was starting to think about the other house tables.

No. He was not going to look. Surely...no one was really looking anyway, right?

Right.

Why wasn't he a demiguise again?

Perhaps the most awkward part about all this, though that title was a bit subjective, was that Zita's Slytherin themed lipstick had come off a little on his lips from the kiss and he was completely unaware.

Aaaaaaand, since Vivian was not HELPING AT ALL...he needed to somehow get his brain to stop acting as though he had drank an entire cauldron full of Confusing Concoction so he could DO something. Or say something. ANYTHING.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuh," he croaked, rubbing the back of his head and tearing his eyes from Vivian (no, he did not want to know about snogging locations, thanks. He had already stumbled upon one on the train ride here and that was more than enough trauma for one day) and to Zita. "Can we...talk later...about this?" he tried to say gently, keeping his eyes on her and doing his BEST not to THINK about all the other eyes around him as little beads of nervous perspiration began forming on his brow. "Just uh...you know...um...prefect duties right now...."

Demiguise. Oh how he wished he were a demiguise.

And someone please tell him that he was wearing Essence of Zita on his lips?

Suddenly there were people everywhere, it seemed. Honestly Bel just wanted to sit down and hopefully get fed and greet some new students (she would much rather be answering that one first year's questions about what classes were cool than staring at her friend wiped out after an apparent kiss of death.... just saying, maybe that stuff was poisonous? Contagious at least).

"Um.... D? You have.... scales on your lips." She pointed out.

Not the best look for sure. Bel would go sit... but... that lip girl was still on the table and everything, so instead she grabbed a napkin and offered it to her friend.

There was many things going on around her and honestly Zita didn't mind the eyes on her. She quite liked it that way, but she could feel that Derf wasn't kissing back and part of her was already getting annoyed, because thoughts of the pool party were trying to break through and how he spent more time with Abey than her. Maybe she should have kissed Abey and make sure Derf was watching, maybe if that stirred any issues in him she'd know if he was more into Abey than maybe her. She heard the hufflepuff say about rude, but she did excuse herself in and she did ask to speak to him, so their conversations were mute point to Zita. She really didn't care about what others felt was rude and not rude.


Ooooh and then there went a Derf...


She was glad her kiss had that effect on boys. She couldn't help but grin, but that grin soon went into an eye roll when her own prefect was at her side. Really she didn't need help from the older students she was doing very well on her on, thanks. Between the train and now this Zita was going to say this was a perfect day.

Pulling out her green glitter lipstick she reapplied it and smacked her lips with a grin, "Thanks but no thanks, I don't mind an audience and if they enjoyed watching two students kissing than they are welcome." They got to watch her show them that she liked Derf and the other not so important people needed to back off.

Slipping off the table she kept her smile as Derf said about talking about this later and that he had prefect duties, of course he did. "Sure, find me later." She glanced at the other person talking, "No, but that would be an awesome charm to put on lipstick." She would be asking Magnolia to try that one.

Giving one last blowing kiss towards Derf and a hand wiggle to everyone else she proudly headed back to her own table.

Miranda was glad to hear that just about everyone's holidays were fun and all that summer had to offer.. The truth was she had had the best time too.. Right after she ran away for all of 4 days before being found by her father and returned to her mother's house only to have a strict set of rules to be laid out to follow.. And she had followed them to the T.. Finding out she had more freedom if she just bowed down and did what she knew had been expected of her all along.. In truth she was far happier than she had ever been when railing against " The Establishment".


So, there she was back at school and talking with her fellow students and greeting the newcomers to their House. It seemed for Miranda that this year was gonna be the start of new beginnings for her. And she was for sure going to be taking full advantage of that of during her final terms here in the castle.

Randa rolled her eyes at Zita's antics.. Truth was that Miranda saw the girl as plastic... Fake.. And COMPLETELY unoriginal.... In other words.. Every year had this group and every group thought it was the first to ever exist..
Really these types of girls made Miranda laugh to herself.. She laughed because they were predictable..

Night realized that Derf (was that his name?) had spoken to her, but then some Slytherin girl had kissed him, and she just felt really weird butting in to something that already seemed awkward enough without her involvement. Oh well, if she didn't talk to anyone, she'd never make friends, so she thought she'd have to reply.

"Oh, hi. Um, yeah, I'm Amanda, but most people in Chicago call me Night. Um..." She was at a loss for what to say. Should she talk about how she could have gone to Ilvermorny, or her blood status....no, that would lead too close to Diane, and she wanted to avoid that subject right then. Everyone seemed to know each other, and even the new students seemed to already have friends.

She remembered something she'd read. "So, you're a prefect?" She thought she recalled that prefects were the ones to lead first years to their dormitories.

Holding her right hand out to Night she gave a bright smile and hoped the girl would shake her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Night. I hope it's okay to call you Night, I do hope we will be friends." Emmalyn felt a pang of homesickness when she caught sight of her silver bracelet on her right wrist. The lights of the Great Hall danced upon it as she held her hand out to Night. It was only hours ago that her mother had given her the gift and said her goodbyes.

"Thank you for the tips. I will try my best to make our house proud." Emmalyn flashed her bright smile at Daisy. She wanted to pepper her with more questions. She had so many she wanted to ask, but it was supposed to be a celebration and she didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with her new housemate.


Emmalyn looked up and down trying to see the students that were slowly filling the lengthy table. She noted that a few of the old students wore badges on their robes. From her seat, she couldn't see them well enough to decipher what they meant. "Does anyone know what those badges on their robes are for?" She simply asked aloud, hoping someone around her would be able to answer.

Night gladly accepted the friendly gesture. "You look sad. Are you okay? Homesick, maybe? Me too." Night didn't always realize it, but she talked really fast when she was nervous.

Honestly. This girl was not putting of a good impression of Slytherins, and Hattie knew they were pretty food, considering that most of her best friends were in that house. Harriet just rolled her eyes. Seriously? Did this girl want to get them all her trouble? She just hoped that they wouldn't lose points. After coming so close last term, she just really wanted to do well. Hopefully Derf would get some sense into this girl. He was a prefect so he really did need to behave more. Although it didn't look like he had much choice really. Then really, this girl didn't know much about consent. Not at all. Oh dear.

Oh. Viv was here now. "Viv. Control your girls will you?" The blonde teased with a little smirk. She was totally joking of course. It seemed like that girl could not be controlled, which was not a good quality at all. Also, she seemed to be walking around like she owned the school, which was a weird thing to do. Surely thinking she great was not the best way of getting people to like you. Or for boys wanting to kiss you.

Oh. and Derf was on the floor. "Derf.... is your head okay?" The sixth year asked, kind of concerned that he might have given himself a concussion or something. "Also.... that girl seems like trouble" And he seemed like a good guy, so she didn't want him getting himself in trouble.

And now, she was more concerned about getting food.

Emmalyn nodded and fiddled with her bracelet. "My mum gave me this as a way to remember her while I'm here." She shook her head to drive away the tears that wanted to spill from her chocolate-hued eyes. "Dad was completely against me coming to Hogwarts. He said it was nothing but a joke there was no such thing as witches and wizards." How could he not believe? How could he say such hurtful things.

She twisted her wrist back and forth to let the lights sparkle against the silver chain and little stones. That's when she noticed the colors. Canary yellow sapphires and black onyx stones. "That's an odd coincidence, my bracelet has the Hufflepuff house colors." How could she have known? They are both non-magical. Muggles.

Putting those thoughts to the back of her mind was the only thing she could do until later. She would look into it further later that night once she was in bed. "Is this your first time away from home? I've never even spent one night away before Hogwarts."

The note, still leaping and twirling in the shade of a ballerina, charmed to do so, made its way through the air effortlessly towards Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne. It landed gently in front of him on an empty plate and folded (much crinkly noises) into a perfect square with his name on top.

It read,

Quote:

Prefect Ashburry-Hawthorne,

Professor Myers speaking. Do you need an escape route? You can come see me if you like on the pretense of my giving you a talking to about that....un-recpricated kiss.

Best,
Professor Myers

The letter poofed in a cloud of yellow and black smoke.

Night understood Emmalyn's concern. "Well, I had a couple sleepovers before, but that was back in Chicago. I'm muggle-born too, actually. And I love your bracelet. It's perfect. Your mother must have really good intuition."

Daisy's eyes widened as she saw Derf hit the floor. "How is your head? Do you need some help?" she asked with a very worried look on her face.

"Do you mean the Prefect badges like the one he is wearing?" Daisy answered nodding towards Derf.

Hearing that Night was also a muggle born instantly made Emmalyn feel more at ease. One of her biggest fears was that no one would like her because she was muggle-born. "Wow, Chicago. That's a long way away. How did you end up at Hogwarts?" She was curious if there were any other schools for witches and wizards around the world. Maybe Hogwarts was the only one. No, that didn't seem right to her. There had to be more schools. Then she began to wonder why Night's parents would send her so far away. Maybe it wasn't safe where she was living.

Emmalyn glanced towards the boy Daisy was gesturing towards. "Yes, like that one. What's a Prefect? Is that like a hall monitor?" She let a small giggle slip out. The only hall monitors she knew were silly boys and girls that had so much trouble minding their own business that the school officials had to find something constructive for them to do. Glancing back at the boy, she noted that he did not look like a silly busy body. In fact, he looked quiet nice.

"Well, I was going to go to Ilvermorny, in Massachusetts, but then, well, my neighbor, who was a witch and recognized the signs in me long before anyone else, she and her family got arrested for something they didn't do. People found out about them, and her last words to be before ending up in jail were that it was no longer safe for me to stay in the area, and that America was getting more and more dangerous for witches and wizards." She paused, remembering everything Diane had said, and everything the older girl's family had been to her own. "I'd already gotten my Ilvermorny letter, so my parents knew everything. We explored options for other wizard schools, and my parents liked the idea of being here in London best, probably because none of us would have wanted to learn a new language. So, um, yeah. We moved here two weeks ago."

Had Night really just told all this to a complete stranger? Were others listening? Would Emmalyn judge her because of it? Oh well. Maybe it was better to get it off her chest.

"I suppose it is like a hall monitor. Hogwarts Prefects are responsible for maintaining discipline and order. For example, they check on the students on the Hogwarts Express to make sure they're not getting up to any mischief. One male student and one female student from each house are selected in their fifth year. I think they can continue being a Prefect until they finish school."

Daisy paused and thought of what her mother had said since she was a Prefect when she was at school.

"If I remember correctly, my mum said that Prefects can remove house points from their own house only. Prefects can also give detentions. Hope that helps."

Emmalyn sat, wide eyed, as Night told her story. She even let out a gasp when Night spoke of her neighbors being arrested. "Oh goodness. That would make me want to leave too." She thought about how scary that must have been and wondered if Night was worried she might have been arrested too.

"That's nice that your family was able to move to London. I bet you were hardly settled into your new home before it was time to come to school." She thought back to how long it took her to get settled into their new home when they moved from Seattle to their little hometown in Ireland just a few years ago. Although, it was probably easier for her since most of her grandparents and cousins already lived there.

"Well, then I better be on my best behavior. I wouldn't want to lose house points for Hufflepuff, or cause any trouble." She gave one solid nod of her head with a determined look on her face. Emmalyn had never in her life caused trouble, or even been in trouble, and she wasn't about to start at her new school. "Thank you for the information. It is very helpful."

"Hufflepuff nearly won the House Cup last year but Slytherin beat us by fifty points in the final few days. I really hope we can win the House Cup. Anyway, you're very welcome."

Vivian was going to double check on Derf after that fall. She was, definitely, and hoped he didn't fall too hard to receive anything serious. His marshmallow maiden was just really clueless and had she known, things would have turned out differently. But clearly, her baby she-snake had a lot of nerve to think that people enjoyed the view. Maybe some, yes, but the receiver of her action? Well, that was questionable. The prefect was taken aback and raised an eyebrow. "Not sure everyone did, but okay." Whatever. Putting down the offer wasn't the sixth year's loss, somehow. "Let's get back to our table, Zita." The speech was going to start real soon, yeah?

The blond watched the younger Slytherin on her way back to their house table just to make sure she didn't give away unsolicited snogs. Then, Vivian sighed and slowly shook her head as she looked over at Hattie. The comment definitely amused the prefect. "I don't think that one wants to be controlled." She laughed a little. "But I'll have to keep an eye on her." If Zita could snog a prefect in front of the entire school, only Merlin knew what else that girl was capable of. Vivian just... didn't wanna know what.

But, let's be honest. The real person who needed help would be her co-prefect. Vivian looked back at Derf. Was he okay? "That was a painful fall," she said, like that wasn't obvious. Maybe the fall wasn't even the big deal when he seriously just got snogged in front of the staff and his friends, strangers included too. "I'd go see Healer Re—," she paused, her eyes creeping back to check the staff table. Uh, right. He wasn't there anymore, and that probably meant a new healer? Shame, Vivian liked Healer Reed. "Uh, whoever the new Healer is." And she made a mental note to let Miss Etta know, for the simple fact that she was Head Girl.

Nevertheless, she needed to be back at her table. "Got to go," Vivian said, sending smiles towards Hattie and Diandra, and a soft pat on Derf's head... just in case. The Slytherin had ickles to watch over.

Approaching the Hufflepuff table after the sorting ceremony felt like a sudden lift off of June's shoulders. It wasn't all eyes on her, but as she approached the table she saw a Slytherin prefect leaving the table, and a few other Slytherins around the table. This... was the Hufflepuff table right? Were other houses allowed to mingle?

Junes anxious mind played on her for a bit before she shook her head and thought to herself, no no, of course, they can mingle. The houses aren't meant to divide us forever, only unite us with likeminded people.

The problem was, June hadn't heard a lot about Hufflepuff house. Her mother had been a Ravenclaw (who had been nearly sorted into Slytherin, as her mother liked to constantly remind her), and her father had been a Slytherin (Who would join in after her mother and remind her that he had ALMOST been put into Ravenclaw by the sorting hat). Her parents thought that was hilarious. June thought it was a bad joke.

She slid herself over a bench near enough to some other Hufflepuffs, too scared to make the first contact of conversation.

Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, Emmalyn noticed another young Hufflepuff at the table near her. The girl looked to be about her age and she looked a bit nervous or even scared. Hoping to break the ice and welcome the new girl into the conversation, Emmalyn slid over a bit closer and addressed her. "Hello, I'm Emmalyn. Are you a first year too?" She hoped the girl was since she figured it might be insulting to call an older student a first year. However, she was more interested in welcoming the girl than worrying about such things. Plus, with all the chaos going on at the table, she wasn't sure if the new girl even heard her.

June breathed a sigh of relief out of the corner of her mouth. Huzzah! Someone to talk to her first! She pushed her straight brown hair behind her ear and extended her hand to the girl.

"Hi, Emmalyn, I'm June." She said in a voice that, in this room, was quiet as a mouse. She sounded a lot louder in her head though. She gave a toothy smile, which crinkled her eyes, as she greeted the other young Hufflepuff.

"Yes, I'm a first year." She said, looking around the room. "I've... never seen this many people in one place before." she looked back at the other girl who, in contrast to herself, appeared to be a lot less anxious.

Night noticed Emmalyn talking to a newcomer. Now that a few people had talked to her, she was feeling a little bit braver, and the new girl looked like she needed friends just as much as Night did.

"Hi! Did I overhear you say you were a first year? Me too. I'm Night, by the way, Night Dixon." Curse that Chicago accent.

June's eyes widened when she saw another 'Puff coming towards her. Woah. Two people at once surrounded in a sea of students.

"H-hi." June said, extending her hand out to the girl who approached. "Night? That's an interesting name... are you American?" She asked, hearing the definitely-not-British accent on the girl.

"And yeah, I'm a firstie too." she added as a side comment.

Night smiled. She absolutely understood this girl's nerves, as she was feeling a lot of similar ones herself. "I am American, actually. From Chicago." This time, she remembered to pause and take a breath between each sentence. "Night's a nickname,
really. My real name's Amanda, but nobody calls me that, not usually. She was actually kind of surprised that this girl was the first to ask about her name, considering it wasn't exactly common.

"I don't know if I caught your name," Night said as an afterthought.