*POP*

Tinka entered the Gryffindor common room, by way of the girls dorm, after she finished delivering the trunks to their proper locations. She paused a moment to tie her whisk to her waist, using a small length of old shoe string. That way she was sure to know where is was at all times.

"Studentsies come soon from feast." She mumbled as she roamed the room, making sure all things were tidy and clean before they arrived.

He sort of felt bad about leaving his fellow student leaders to lead the first years up here, but, knowing tonight's theme, he had a special outfit planned. So, he had quickly finished his dinner and dashed off to put it on. By the time that he was done and made his way to the common room, Ronan figured that there would be plenty of people there. But the only other being in the room was a house-elf. Hmm. Was his watch broken? He took a quick look to check and nope. So then, where was everyone?

Deciding that it wouldn't be too much longer until his fellow Gryffindors started arriving, he fixed himself a cup of the Kryptonite punch, took a sip, and watched as his skin slowly started GLOWING green. Cool. Now, it was almost a party.

"Hello, Tinka!" he greeted the house-elf.

The feast had passed by in a haze of discomfort. Not just the feeling-out-of-place sort of discomfort either, but also doom-is-coming-everything-is-terrible-and-I-can't-breathe sort of discomfort as well. He'd had to escape to the Entrance Hall to finish up his panic attack in peace, but had then done the Gryffindor thing (he supposed) and returned to the table once he had started to recover. Now, though, he was completely exhausted, but determined to keep the whole entire thing to himself and focus on... whatever it was he was supposed to be focusing on. Being welcoming and facilitating and cool and calm and collected. Yes. That.

The trek up to the top of the castle did not exactly do Abra's exhaustion wonders though, so by the time he arrived at the common room - pale and disheveled, but at least no longer shaking and hyperventilating - he felt like he'd just run a marathon, and then some. What he wanted to do was to go upstairs and collapse onto his four-poster but, being that he was sort of expected to be here, he didn't, even though parties were just... so incredibly not his thing.

Once in the common room, Abra's attention was torn. He stood, looking longingly between the food (yes, they had just come from a feast, but he was a growing boy sort of) and the seating. The tremble in his knees made up his mind for him, and Abra went right over and flopped directly onto one of the sofas. Sweet relief.

After a moment or five, he pushed himself up into a sitting position and took a good look at the room, pulling off his school tie for real now and shrugging out of his robes, as neither had helped with his feeling of being all constricted. Naturally, the sight of Ronan was one that couldn't exactly go unnoticed. "That stuff doesn't mess around," Abra remarked, referring to the punch which had turned the older boy green.

Oh! And one of the house elves was here. Abra was pretty fond of them; they were always good company and great help. "Hey Tinka." He looked around to see if there were any others already here, or if the rest would be catering to the other common rooms tonight.

She glanced over as the boys entered the room, noting the feast must have ended and there would be ample work to be done in both the Great Hall and the kitchens. "Mister Ronan, Mister Abraham" she said with a slight bow. "Enjoy food at the feastest? Tinka bring up trunksies and tidy up common room."

Her eyes widened briefly as Mister Ronan turned green, wondering why the studentsies would want to turn green. Pink was a much better color. Before continuing, she glanced down to make sure her whisk was still securely tied to her waist. "Does Misters need anything Tinka help with?"

Nah.

That was Beau's initial reaction to this DULL theme that was going on. THIS WAS NOT A MUGGLE STUDIES LESSON, OMG. He just wanted to have EFF YOU ENN. (FUN) And this did not seem like it would take any sort of his interest.

SO INSTEAD..

The third year knee slid across the floor and straight into Tinka, who...well, he tried to lift up onto his shoulder and definitely failed. "Uh....."

Ah, there was someone now. "Nope. But then again, it wasn't supposed to," he replied to the captain. Parties didn't mess around when he had anything to do with them. Of course, that particular characteristic had to be tamed down when at school. He did still wish there was some music though, something for people to dance to.

"Oh it was great, as always!" Those elves sure knew how to cook. In fact, he had eaten so much that he didn't even feel like cookies now. Ooops? "I don't," he replied to Tinka's offer of help, not wanting to overstep and answer for someone else.

And then Beau happened. "Sorry, we're not elf bowling or throwing tonight, Beau. Here, try throwing this," Ronan grabbed one of the batarangs and held it out to the younger boy "at those targets over there." Jeez, you couldn't throw other beings around just because you bored. Someone had obviously neglected that lesson with him.

Though, that did kind of make it a party now...

There was SO MUCH to take in about this castle, the more she tries to sense outward, the more she discovers that theres MORE. And all the ACTIVE people here, it did give a bit of a sensory overload to Lillian, but it was like a sweet tooth being dumped in a pool of marshmallows-- she has never been happier or more curious.

She finally found herself in the Gryffindor Common Room and it felt like there was something special going on-- the level of magic that bathed every inch of this place washed over her. Her guide cockatoo perched on her shoulder squawked a bit as it tried to warn her about a balloon floating by "Oh! Whats this...." she murmured, grasping the balloon as she felt it in her hands. Wheee so squishy!And as it popped, she heard the Superman theme play out loud. HER FAVE! Lillian laughed, such a big smile on her face, and now she started to hop and weave around the place looking for balloons. She gonna POP them ALL!

With her attention still on Mister Ronan and Mister Abraham, Tinka didn't see Mister Beau sliding across the floor towards her little body. "Tinka fly!" She exclaimed as Mister Beau first lifted then dropped her clumsily onto the floor of the common room. "Tinka not like fly Mister Beau. Tinka stay on ground if it pleases Mister Beau." She got back to her feet and checked her whisk for damage.

Honestly Beau hadn't planned on taking Tinka with him, and he felt BAD about it for SURE. But..it had been kind of funny. So he was howling with laughter inside. INSIDE his whole body was shaking and laughing soooo loud. Because it had been funny. From his spot on the floor, he helped Tinka get back up and kinda gave the house elf a one armed cuddle. "Sorry Tinka, didn't mean to take you with me." Still laughing on the inside though. HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA HOW FU--

-- Maybe he should have skidding into the Head Boy instead. PARTAY POOOOPAH.

Beau's hands remained at his side and he didn't take what was being offered to him, instead getting up off the floor and turning his head slightly away. "I can get my ooooown now. I have a girlfriend. I am SELF SUFFFFFF-ISHHHH-ENT." Yeah, that was what he was. COME AT ME, BRAH.

Instead, he ran towards the FOOD instead and started sniffing at everything. Gotta get the BEST.

Were they allowed to go straight to their dorms from the feast? After having slipped away from their own table to comfort her brother at his table, Rylee was exhausted. Yet at the same time she was curious to see what their Head of House had in store for them this year as she made her way into their common room.

Huh?

This was most definitely NOT what she had expected. Superheros. Where there capes somewhere around here cause that would be pretty cool... could she shrink one down to fit Neptune her rat?! This was now her goal. Fine a really cute cape that she could shrink and put on her rat.

Oh, yeah. Hello, everyone! Rylee gave a small wave of her hand to everyone and a tiny hint of a small too. Please don't mind the fact that she may look like a slight mess from earlier when she had been trying NOT to cry.

Chase was excited for another year at Hogwarts. With an extra bounce in his step, he headed upstairs with the rest of his housemates to the Lion's Den to find... HOLY BATMAN! This was pretty cool. The boy's jaw dropped. He should have brought his superhero cape with him and donned it for such an event. Though then again, Chase had to be cool. So he just pressed his lips together into a small yet excited smile.

So the excited thirteen year old, bounded into the room, and then approached the Head Boy. "Nice outfit, Wayne," he said with a grin as he referenced one of the coolest vigilantes of all time. Then he spotted a younger girl (Lilian) having fun with the balloons. He watched as she popped one and it released the Superman theme song. What? He didn't know that they could do that. "Do you like superman?" he asked, directing the question towards the new girl before his eyes flickered over to glance at Rylee. He noticed that something was off but couldn't tell what so instead... he just gave her a smile.

And then he overheard that Beau, his dormmate, had a girlfriend. "A giiiiiirlfriend?" he said shouted. NO WAY. Who? He needed to know who. He scrambled after the roomie to find out the gossip.

This. Must. Be. The Coolest. Start of Term Party. EVER.

Whoever took the time and effort on the decorations, kudos to them, because they look AMAZING. Ari loves superheroes. She watched all the movies, read all the comic books (she even has some copies of her favorite comics in her backpack at this very moment), despite the fact that her snobby older sister always hisses behind Ari's back, complaining somehow that the images "aren't moving" and the drawings and "ugly."

Ari would always tell her sister to "grow up" and start appreciating the half Muggle culture from their father's side of the family, whether she likes it or not. Not everything needs to be a secret magical artifact from the 16th century lost palace of the French nobility.

Ari quickly approached the gadgets table and picked up Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, slightly disappointed by the fact that she could pick it up. The maker didn't even bother to add weight to the hammer to make it seem more realistic, at least. Oh, well. Ari quickly eyed the moving targets and heaved the hammer at one of them. Missed. OH WELL.

Tinka finished up her tasks and looked around at the studentsies having fun at their party. With a loud *POP* she was gone.

Gaston was running so late! He'd rushed home after the feast to put his daughter to bed, as he did every night, but what was supposed to be a quick visit tuned into nearly an hour of trying to get Desiree to settle down. He probably should've left sooner, but he didn't have the heart to leave her as upset as she was. Then when he finally got back, he had to make a quick side trip to his office to change into his costume.

He fastened his cape and pulled on his gloves as he appeared in the common room flushed and breathless, just in time to see Tinka disappear with a POP. Shame.. he wanted to thank her for all her hard work. Maybe he could find her in the kitchens later. His eyes scanned the room; it looked like the students were already enjoying themselves, good. He smiled when he saw Ronan's costume. Seeing he wasn't the only one dressed up made him feel slightly less ridiculous. Good thing he hadn't gone with his Batman costume idea! That would've been awkward... "Hello, Mr. Carter - or should I say Mr. Wayne," he greeted. "Nice costume! And congratulations on making Head Boy."

And there was the new quidditch captain! "Hello, Mr. Botros," he said, waving to him. "Congratulations to you as well!" Now where was the other Gryffindor leader? His eyes searched the room for Miss Dalgaard-Volkova.

Miss Prichard received a "Hello" from the professor. Was it just him or did she seem a bit... sad? He gave her a small, sympathetic smile; he would talk to her after he gave his annual welcome back speech. He laughed a little to himself as he watched one of the first years (Lily) burst a balloon. "So what do you think of those balloons?" he asked. Another first year (Ari) got an encouraging smile as she tried the target game. "Try again; you can do it!"

He made his way over to the food table, greeting the two third year boys as he went. "Hello, Mr. Splenley, Mr. Montague. Enjoying the food?" He was steering clear of that punch - he didn't want to turn green, thank you very much - and opted for some pumpkin juice instead. He couldn't say no to one of those cookies, though.

As soon as he took a nibble, he levitated a few feet in the air. Well, this effect certainly fit with his costume! Now seemed as good a time as any to address the students as a group. "Your attention for a moment, please," he said, waiting for all eyes to turn to him. "Welcome, Gryffindors old and new! For those of you who are new, I'm Professor Marchand, your head of house. Please don't hesitate to come to me whenever you need anything."

He paused for a moment before going on, "As you can see, we have food and a game going on. Everyone who hits at least five of the targets-"
An idea occurred to him, and with a look of concentration, he aimed a wandless spell at one of the targets, blasting it apart. As long as he was wearing this costume, he might as well act the part - and more importantly,
he thought the students would get a kick out of it. "-wins a bar of Honeydukes chocolate. Please use the gadget replicas instead of magic, though; that demonstration was just for dramatic effect." With a wave of his wand, he repaired the broken target, and another wave countered the levitation effects of the cookie. That was enough dramatics for now.

Sir Nicholas glided up through the floor into the Gryffindor common room. The ghost could only stare in confusion for a minute, the theme of the evening's festivities lost upon him. Undeterred, he gave a deep bow and said, "Good evening, Gryffindors!"

The Head of House's outfit earned a quizzical look. "Good evening, Professor Marchand. What interesting attire you have!"

Sir Nicholas spotted two of the new student leaders and floated toward them. "Gentlemen, I believe congratulations are in order! I trust you will serve our most noble house well." Dare he hope that this be the year they beat Slytherin?

The ghost then noticed two young girls (Lily & Ari) he'd not seen before and bowed to each of them in turn. "Hello, ladies. I don't believe we've met. My name is Sir Nicholas DeMimsy-Porpington."

Rylee was slowly making her way around the common room. Several things were happening at once here. Most of which were happening in her own little bubble right now... at least until she managed to find what it was she was looking for OR until she was told by someone that she wouldn't be finding such an item. In which case that would be a major let down. She did happen to catch that smile from Chase though as she passed by to which she raised her hand and wiggled her fingers at him in greeting. They could talk later, yes? Unless he wanted to walk and talk?

A slight little smile to a new firstie who's name she wasn't sure of (Arielle) cause she had been to focused on her brother being sorted into Hufflepuff. She weaved around Beau and Tinka before the little elfsie puffed herself away... were they just playing human bowling or something? Kinda sorta looked ... dare she think it... fun? The thought was quickly disrupted by yet another first year (Lillian). This one however had a cockatoo on her shoulder. It was this cockatoo that had caught Rylee's eye. Since one could they have birds of their own besides owls... and in the common room? Had she missed something?

Before she could speak to the girl with the bird Professor Marchard arrived... late might she add but he was here...and he was wearing a CAPE! Rylee hardly heard one word the man said besides when he greeted her with 'hello' to which she gave him a return smile. A small one but it was there. She was waiting for him to finish his speech and whatnot so she could ask what she wanted to know already. Her whole reason to remaining at this party thingy!

"Good evening, Professor," Rylee spoke quietly which wasn't entirely like herself but she was a bit tired. "Did you have a nice summer?"

Blue eyes shifted from her Head of House onto the house ghost and a tiny smile formed on her lips. "Hello, Sir Nicholas," she greeted quietly.

Beau was perusing his food choices when he noticed that his dorm mate Chase was beside him. "Tell you the details later. But her name is Jolie. Jolie Chosen." And Jolie Chosen had chosen Beau Montague. This Beau Montague, not that there was another one. Well, maybe.. somewhere up a million generations in his Dad's family. But THIS one was the best one. OBBBBBviously. "Oi, Chase?" He looked at the other boy and grinned. "What food you choosin'?" Because Beau wasn't going to get the same.

But he also wanted to try absolutely everything.

Yummmmmmmy.

He raised his hand in a wave to Rylee and watched her for a moment before looking back at the food available. He noticed that the younger girl looked a little out of sorts, but assumed it was part of the "boo back at school after summer" blues. He knew those well.

GOT THE BLUES BLAH BLAH GREEN APPLE PIE, BLAH BLAH GREEN APPLE PIE, BLAH BLAH GREEN APPLE PIE.

Now, Beau had been a little unconvinced by the theme going on at this here party, but that was until he saw his Head of House and BUST UP LAUGHING. Howling laughter on the outside, the inside and the every side. LAughter was literally poURing out of every hole in his body (except the ones concealed by clothing because ewwwwwww). HAHAHAHAHAHA. "PROFESSOR!!!!!" HAHAHASHHAHAHA. "Whatta y' weaRRRRing?!!!!????!!!???!!!?!?!?" Because it was INCREDIBLE. And Beau wanted one.

Please.

And.

Thank.

U.

"Nearly Headless Nick, have you SEEEEEN what Professor Marchand is wearing?!!??!!" HAHAHAH. Still laughing. Howling. Oh gosh belly hurting laughter.

The energy of his fellow students was infectious, and there was no way this eleven year old was tired. No way. And the view of the castle as they were shown to as the made their way to where their common room was located was fantastic. Seriously, there were moving staircases, and pictures that talk.

He bounded through the portrait hole with the rest of his housemates, and gaped at the setup. They were having a party after the big meal? This was going to be so fun. Would every day be like this here at Hogwarts? If so, we was going to blow up like a blueberry, and have to find someone to roll him around the hallways. He should get on that in the coming weeks, if it seemed likely. Laughing to himself at the idea, he gently batted one of the balloons away from himself, accidentally sending it towards the girl with the bird, who was popping them.

Well, okay then. Ronan placed the batarang back, not really interested in playing yet. Maybe later on. Also, how on Earth had the loudest person at Hogwarts gotten a special someone before him?! Not cool. Might as well slap a big ol' loser sign on his back right now.

Anyway, with that revelation, he had almost missed the next two people to come into the room, Chase and Professor Marchand. They both got a "Thank you." from the Head Boy. And a "I like your costume too, Professor!" Though, he wasn't as familiar with the character, being more versed in the DC comics as he was.

Also, eyeroll to Beau.

There had been a stop she’d needed to make after the feast, although Stasya had at least done her perfectly duty of showing the new students the way up to the common room as far as the DADA corridor. The boys had been there too, so she’d slipped away to speak with Professor Hirsch and therefore she’d arrived at the common room after everyone else. Although it did mean she’d been able to make sure there hadn’t been any stragglers so therefore she’d done her job. As far as she knew, all the Gryffindors had made it to the common room, and she’d entered with a grin on her face.

Okay, she didn’t have a costume, but neither did Abra. At least she’d helped with the cookies as much as she could given the short notice. She’d made sure the elves knew what to expect, at least, as much as she could since she wasn’t quite familiar with their agreed upon theme. Explaining why she’d chosen not to change out of her uniform. “Hi Professor Marchand, Sir Nicholas!,” she greeted the non-students at the party with a big grin as she began circling the room, smiling at the students she passed.

She was staying away from the green punch for now. Ronan had demonstrated the side effects of that quite well. But she snagged a cookie or two before coming up alongside Rylee. “Are you feeling any better?,” she asked the younger girl quietly. If anything, she could tell her plenty of stories about what she’d felt like first term when she hadn’t been sorted where she’d expected. Disappointment and her had a pretty solid relationship by now, but things always got better.

Daehyun knew it was coming. Last year's start of term party was too shocking to say the least that it became a memory he would not forget anytime soon. So, on purpose, he took his sweet time to finish his meal, and walked slooooowly all the way up to the Gryffindor tower. Maybe everyone would be too occupied with Merlin knew what they had prepared this year by the time he arrived more than fashionably late, and he could sneak into the dormitories unnoticed.

Sounded nice in theory.

Compared to last year's fortress, the common room looked normal. Strangely normal. Normally decorated for a party, which was fair enough. But then he noticed costumes. A glowing Head Boy. A levitating Head of House.

Silently slipping behind the portrait and into the common room, he was halfway to the stairs that led to the dormitories, when he spotted the refreshments. Shrugging to himself, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to sneak some treats before hiding in his dormitory, so he walked there, hopefully unnoticed, and stuffed his cheeks with two cauldron cakes simultaneously, followed by a pumpkin pasty. He wanted to drink something, too, but he was surely staying away from the green stuff. Instead he eyed the cookies decorated with peculiar designs, and picked one labelled with WHACK!

He was munching on it when he started feeling dizzy. Or faint. He wasn't sure. The only thing he knew what that he could no longer feel the floor below his feet, and-

HE WAS LEVITATING.

... way to go unnoticed.

Having finished his little welcome speech, Gaston moved aside and stood near one of the walls, far out of the line of fire of those trying to hit the targets. He smiled politely at Ronan as he complimented his costume. "Thank you, Mr. Carter," he replied. "So is Batman your favorite superhero?"

The professor's eyes darted around the room, eventually landing on a first year boy (Edmund). He had just enough time to wave "hello" to the kid before Stasya greeted him. "Hello, Miss Dalgaard-Volkova!" he replied, returning her smile. "Did you help make the cookies? They're delicious!"

Rylee also received a smile when she spoke, though Gaston couldn't help but notice how quiet she was. That wasn't like her! Now he was really concerned, but for now, he would keep things light. "My summer was wonderful, thank you for asking," he said. "It was nice to have time with my wife and daughter. How was yours?"

Gaston's dark head whipped around as he heard someone else call his name, and he found himself face to face with the house ghost. "Good evening, Sir Nicholas," he greeted. "It's nice to see you." Then the ghost mentioned his costume, and he blinked confusedly. Was that meant as a compliment or what? "Erm... thank you."

At least Sir Nicholas's reaction to the costume had been fairly tame, unlike the fits of laughter courtesy of Beau Montague. Gaston stared at the floor, his face blushing to the same shade of red as the decorations. See, this was why he hated wearing costumes! He already felt ridiculous enough, thank you very much. "I'm glad you're amused, Mr. Montague," he said, a bit more pointedly than intended. "It's a costume of a muggle comic book character named Doctor Strange."

Yeah, he was just going excuse himself while this kid got all the laughter (at his expense) out of his system. He slunk over to the refreshment table and picked up a mini pizza. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Daniel levitating... and the poor boy didn't appear to be enjoying it. "Oh, dear! Are you alright, Mr. Yoon?" he said. "I can counter the levitation effects if you want..." He was already drawing his wand, just in case.

... he shouldn't have eaten so much before floating in the air... why didn't he read the labels... surely there must have been labels...

But he was fine, just dazed.

... and of course he'd been noticed. Still floating awkwardly in the air, he smiled reassuringly at his Head of House. "Peachy," he replied meekly. At the professor's offer of countering the levitation effects, he shook his head. "It's alright, I just-I wasn't expecting this." It was actually quite thrilling. Even though he was afraid of heights, this wasn't as bad as being up on a broom. Besides, he was working on overcoming that fear.

"Awesome costume, by the way!" He, of course, had no idea what references were used in all the party decorations, but he supposed they were muggle references, as they all seemed to follow a certain theme. "How was your holiday, professor?"

He also wondered how long would the levitating effect hold.

Hmm. Out of the corner of her baby blues there was a flicker of movement. Someone was waving at her. Turning to see that it was Beau she lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers at him in return, she would talk to him in a little bit once she had talked with Professor Marchand.

As Stasya joined her, Rylee knew was what coming. The older girl had been super sweet to her during the feast earlier. Nibbling at her bottom lip she nodded slowly. "I think so... at least I'm sure I will be." The shock of Reese being sorted into a different house than her was starting to wear off but it was going to take time to get used to she was sure of that much.

Rylee's smile grew a little more as she listened to her professor talk about his summer. Her sadness slipping away bit by bit the more she was surrounded by her friends and housemates. "My summer was great! I spent it all with family, friends and pets!" That was the short version. If he wanted the long version of her summer they might be here all night long. As she talked her eyes kept drifting onto the mans bright red cape. "Professor? This is a really super party... but... if it's a super hero party how come we all don't get to have capes too?" That just wasn't any fair at all. HINT. HINT!