Lenora stood near the entrance to the great hall, wondering why she decided to come down so early. Maybe she could return a little later but to go ALL the way up to her common room.. hmm, yeah no. It didn’t seem like a good idea.

She grumpily made her way to her table and sat down, absently fidgeting with her curls. Also, she was already feeling very hungry, which only added to her annoyance. Ugh. She checked her pockets to see if there was any leftover candy from the train journey.. oh, hey. She had some fudge left! She popped some into her mouth, vaguely looking around to see if there were any familiar faces.

Her last opening feast. Today was full of some many bittersweet moments. First the last train journey to Hogwarts, and now her last open feast. Sad times. But she was excited to see where the year would take her. Liliane knew her NEWTs were going to be hard, but she was a hard worker and was determined to do her very best. Then there was quidditch. Now that she was too old for the Under seventeen team she could finally try out for the house team. And boy, was Lili ready to show that Anna that the Montagues weren't to be messed about. She was coming off a great Under seventeen season and was ready to be the best beater at Hogwarts. She had to show those scouts that she was the best.

but for now, she was going to enjoy the opening feast. The seventh year smiled to herself as she made her way to the Gryffindor table. Not many here yet, but that was okay. She waved an Lenora as she took a seat. "Hey! She greeted as she got comfortable. And now to wait.

Rylee entered the Great Hall with a bright smile on her face. Summer break had been nothing short of eventful and she had been pretty busy, much busy than she had actually intended to be but that was okay. It had been amazing and the excitement of everything that had happened was still on her mind as she made her way towards her house table.

"Hey! Did you both have a nice summer?" Rylee smiled warmly slipping into a seat near Lenora and Liliane. Blue-gray eyes quickly moved to the other tables where she spotted her cousin Isla and than her boyfriend Stefan as well as several of her friends, little waves being sent to each of them. The last place that got her attention since she knew it would remain there longest this term was the staff table. The sorting was going to have her full attention. Five people she knew were to be sorted shortly. One being Stefan's cousin and other four being her own cousins. This was so exciting!

Only... wait...

Once again new faces were among those seated at the staff table. A lot of new faces. Right away Rylee found herself searching for several professors. Stewart was there and she smiled nodding slowly to herself, Sutton, O' Hara and Noble were there as well and Headmaster Trent. Not to bad. Only that meant... everyone else was new. The lionesses heart sank and she blinked a few times but that didn't change who was not there. Taking in a deep breath she tried to push the sadness away until after the feast. For now she needed to pay attention to the sorting.

With a bag of cookies in her hands, Stella walked towards the lions table happily. Taking a bite of her cookie she had in her hand she looked around and looked over at the Claw table remembering what Oceanus told her, hopefully they were sitting to where they could see each other. She had a amazing and fantastic summer, it was the best she had in a long time. Alot had changed for Stella over the summer, she developed and matured and Oceanus was now her boyfriend and best friend.

Humming to herself, her sky blue eyes looked around the lions table for familiar faces, as she seen Rylee she skipped over towards her. "Hiya Rylee! Did you have a nice summer?" she asked sitting down beside her. Seeing Oceanus found her, she smiled and waved at him glad that they were able to see each other. Looking around at some more familiar faces she smiled and waved at them even waving at her brother Leo at the Puffs table.


Stella looked at the staff table and seen new Professors and frowned, once she has Professors that she really liked they leave, but she guess that was part of being a staff here she guess and they had lives too. Although she it didn't hide the fact that she was upset that some of her favorite Professors were no longer here, but that meant more room to meet great new people. As Professor Wishart told her last term, she could make a difference in the world around them and that's what she intended to do. She was going to enjoy this term just like any other, she was a third year now, no long a kid in the big castle of Hogwarts anymore. As for now, she was going to watch the sorting, wondering where the firstie would be sorted.

Sammy was feeling a bit overwhelmed (and hungry, but then, when wasn’t he hungry?) He approached the Gryffindor Table not really knowing where to sit, or what to do. Most people appeared to already be engaged in conversations with established mates. His traveling companion from the train was nowhere to be seen, and while it would have been nice to sit with someone he kinda knew, he didn’t really want to deal with her oddities at the moment.

So he approached and slipped into a spot at the table near some students that appeared to be his age. He hoped he had guessed right because he’d hate to be seated with the 6th years or something. He wasn’t the greatest judge of – well, anything. ”Hello,” he offered. His voice had a slight Russian accent, as if he knew the language but didn’t speak it often

Eleanor had made sure that Simon was comfy in his rat carrier before she had left him with her backpack and trunk. She had very reluctantly left him with her other belongings since she didn’t know if Hogwarts allowed pets in the great hall. He and Ollie were her only safety nets at school since she really didn’t know anyone in this new school if you didn’t count Samuil that she had met on the train.

With nervous steps and wearing her new Gryffindor coloured red and gold school robes after being sorted by the mouthy sorting hat to the cheers of lots of students Ellie had gone to the side to wait for her brother to be sorted after her. In a overwhelmed daze she watched as Ollie got sorted into Ravenclaw. They weren’t going to be in the same house. Not fair. Feeling her twin stick his hand in hers Ellie walked with him down towards the tables trying to not have a drama moment.

Stopping near the Gryffindor table she gave Ollie’s hand a comforting squeeze and whispered in his ear that they’d meet after breakfast tomorrow morning and catch up. Releasing her grip on her brother she turned to her new housemates and gulped down nervously. With a shaky breath she walked the few steps to the table and looked around at the girl’s and boy present plastering on a big smile glad to see at least two familiar faces in Samuil and Stella. “Hi everyone! I’m Eleanor, I’m a new transfer into third year. Can I sit anywhere or is there a seating arrangement? Is the sorting hat usually very vocal?”

Waving at all the familiar faces around the Puff, Claw and snake table her eyes turned back to a boy who appear to be her age and smiled. "Hello, are you new here? If so welcome to Hogwarts and Gryffindor!" she said happily. Honestly she loved being a lion it was the best, but all houses seem amazing. "Oh... so rude of me I'm Stella, I'm a third year and obviously a Gryffindor. " she said chuckling.

" If anyone is hungry I got some cookies and stuff in my bag." she offered. She wasn't going to go hungry like last time, good heavens she was so hungry after the feast last time she wasn't feeling good the next morning. Oh... that was probably because of the 'love' potion she was under. Shaking her head she laughed at the memory of it, ah... wonder what this start of term feast was going to bring.



Hearing Eleanor, her sky blue eyes looked at her and chuckled. "Hey Ellie, nah... you can sit anywhere you want to, as for the hat yeah he's a bit chatty wait until the speech comes..." she said rolling her eyes. That was the longest part she thought, the sorting was quick compared to the speech the Headmaster gave, and always took forever, she just wanted to talk to her friends and boyfriend and eat! "Did you have a good rest of the summer Ellie?" she adked her curiously. She was always curious about other's summers and how they went, hopefully they all went good and well for them.

It appeared that Eleanor was following him.
Or
Sammy just had odd luck. Because she not only got sorted into his house, but she always found a spot to sit near him. He watched her sit down and wondered how she could be so perky. He wondered if her bruises had been healed – maybe that had cheered her up.

”New?” he asked turning his attention to yet another very perky girl. ”Um…da,” he said, his accent emphasized by the Russian pronunciation of ‘yes.’ Maybe there was something in the water? Or juice or tea that was making the girls super perky. He picked up one of the empty golden goblets in front of him, and closing one eye, squinted into it. Nope – it was empty. It wasn’t the water.

His stomach growled at the sound of the word 'cookies'. ”Why would one need cookies? Isn’t there a feast?” he asked the girl when she drew a breath from talking to Eleanor.

Aurelia Maeve Walsh was in the building. She'd had a year off from some mischief due to these minor things called OWLs, but not to worry Hogwarts, because the blonde was here and it didn't matter at all that one of her best friends was now a prefect.

She was sweet and candid and mostly, just wanted to have a little fun after a year of stress and worry. Which is why, she had a small gift bag convenient with an undetectable expansion charm bearing gifts for new and returning Gryffindors. Or well, anyone who happened to be sitting at the Gryffindor Table, really, she wasn't about to deny them.

"Heeeeyyyy Gryffindors!!! Who's ready for an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G yearrr??? I got ya all something to hold you over until..." apparently brats wasn't an appropriate term to use. "Until we get to the new baby cubs sorted. Welcome, welcome!" Reaching into her bag, she passed everyone present a small little red box wrapped in a golden ribbon.

And for those not present yet, she placed boxes on each of the place settings. Cause boxes for everyone! Within the boxes, you ask? Just some sweets and treats ....

ooc: within each box is about three or four candies.... mixed with normal ones and normal-looking ones.... You're free to say which you got, but the normal-looking ones are assorted and laced with fainting fancies, nosebleed nougats, puking pastilles and fever fudge. Have fun ;D

There was a time when Lucas was VERY excited about coming to Hogwarts. He'd grown up on stories about the castle, and Emma told him all kinds of stories and he listened to her every word. But now? He was still happy. Look at the smile on his face! Happy. Happy happy happy. But the past two terms......

......... well. To put it simply, they could've been better.

Reaching the Great Hall, his feet instinctively made their way to the Gryffindor table - because why would he sit anywhere else? His green eyes first scanned the table for Emma, who was his go-to during situations like this. Feasts meant people and people meant that Lucas was a whole mix of emotions that he didn't like to be.

Not spotting her anywhere - was she still on the train? - he then looked for someone else he could sit next to but he didn't spot him either so..... yeah. Was he standing here for too long? He felt as though he was standing here for too long. Cheeks turning slightly pink, Lucas plopped himself down in the nearest empty seat, not really paying attention to where he was sitting or who he was sitting next to or or...

Taking a deep breath, his eyes glanced around again, this time taking in whoever was already sitting at the table. He gave a very, very sheepish smile to those he didn't really know - and maybe even a tiny squeak of a hello. Stella and Rylee both got a slightly bigger smile and maybe even a wave hello.

But he didn't really say very much until his eyes caught sight of some of the people who were newly sorted. Prefect Abra wasn't here anymore - sigh - but if he was here, he'd probably say hello and talk about the stars so..... Lucas was going to do the same. Clearing his throat slightly, he looked first towards a boy (Sammy) and said, "Hey! Welcome to Gryffindor. I'm Lucas."

And then his eyes found.........

....... oh. Oh.

Uh. Awkward? Yeah, he was.

"Uh, heeeeeeey," Was that too long? "Eleanor. How did you like your sweets?" Which, well, wasn't the best way to start this, uh, conversation but he still wanted to know.

And speaking of candy......

Lucas JUMPED. He found himself looking instantly over at the source of the new sound, which was a liiiiiiittle louder than he would've liked. Maybe that's why he sat there, frozen and only hearing the sound of his own heartbeat over everything else. Was he saying anything? No. He just STARED at the older girl and her bag of- .... did she say sweets??

........ uh.

Thomas was wondering what all this sorting was about, he was placed into a house called Gryffindor, he thought the hat had said, though hats normally didn't speak and now he wanted on. He went and sat down and in silent and he was very nervous, seriously this place was massive. He was now wondering how long would it take to build something like this.

He sat twiddling his fingers and nervously shuffling his feet, as he waited for someone to speak or tell him what was suppose to happen next.

Lenora watched as a few of her housemates sat down at the table soon enough, although she wasn’t really friends with any of them. Her gaze shifted towards the seventh year who greeted her, momentarily forgetting her bad mood.

“Hi Liliane.” She greeted the seventh year back with a small smile. “Hope you had a good summer.” Lenora added politely before turning her attention towards Rylee. She didn’t know her personally of course but the older girl was Drew’s friend so Lenora knew OF her. “Yes, I did, I had the best summer ever. How about you?”

... and there was someone yelling. Or talking WAY too loudly, which almost sounded like they were yelling. She eyed the extremely cheerful girl ( Meave ) giving everyone a gift?? Even people she didn’t know? What was this over friendliness? Lenora eyed the box in her hand before opening it, raising an eyebrow. Oh, sweets. Nice. “Thank you.” She called out to the girl. It was nice of her, at least.

She gave the extremely awkward and shy looking younger kid ( Lucas ) a friendly wave. “Hi there.”

Yet another perky girl. So many perky girls. Was this entire house made up of perky girls? He again picked up his goblet to look into it. Maybe there really was something in the water? He wasn’t sure if he was going to survive this school transfer if every girl around him was perky.

Then again, at least they weren’t crying…

A box of sweet appeared on the golden plate in front of him. He stomach growled a little. When was dinner? Where they still waiting on the moldy old hat to finish up? He reached for the box of sweets, opened it and popped one into his mouth.

”Umm…you squeaked,” Sammy said leaning in towards the boy who had just sat down next to him. At least he wasn’t perky. Good, the boys weren’t perky. That was a plus. ”Samuil,” he replied popping a second sweetie into his mouth.

As he chewed, he looked around the table. People were still joining. People were walking around the hall. The head table was filling up with adults Sammy assumed were teachers. One, with kinda pretty brown hair that fell very very fair down her waist. He watched her for a few minutes. Then his attention was brought back to the table. ”Hey,” he said nudging the squeaky guy ”Who is that?” he nodded towards the adult lady (Professor Stewart)at the table. His nose felt like it was running. He wiped at it with a sleeve.

Only Lucas was busy staring at someone else. ”Ah….Lucas?” he poked the guy and lowered his voice. ”Stop staring at Eleanor.” This kid was weird, maybe he should focus on someone else. Making friends was hard. He wiped at his nose again, this time with his fingers and when he pulled them away, he found blood smeared on them. Why was he bleeding? He never got nose bleeds. He sat there staring at his fingers.

Rylee's attention was very quickly pulled back onto her table and the voices around her as Stella sat herself down beside her. "Hello, Stella! It was absolutely amazing! How was yours?" She smiled warmly at her younger friend following the girls gaze as she also looked towards the other tables. "How are things with Oceanus?" Stella and Oceanus were the cutest pair of besties. Always together and having a great time. "Oh! Stella, lookit! I think your brother Leo and my cousin Collin are friends!" It looked that way anyhow by how they were sitting beside one another and chatting away.

Here came more lions. Samuil got a warm friendly smile from her as he joined their table. "Hello, Eleanor, welcome to Gryffindor." She smiled. Huh? Rylee blinked in surprise when a little box of candies was set in front of her, along with everyone else at their table. That was sooooo sweet! "Thanks, Maeve! How was your summer?" She wouldn't be eating the candies now but it was greatly appreciated.

Was it just her or did Lucas still seem shy even though she did see that smile he sent her way. Not wanting to shout across the table she waved at him giving him a smile as well. Another cubling was sorted into their house! Rylee smiled at Thomas. "Hello, welcome to Gryffindor!"

How it was that she didn't really know Lenora all that well when they were in the same house was beyond her buuuuut that only meant she should try to get to know her more. It was a Rylee thing. Getting to know everyone that she could. "That's great. Mine was amazing. I had so much fun." It had been an incredibly eventful summer but a wonderful one.

There was no stopping the fifth year from clapping when all her cousins were sorted. None of them were lions but that's okay, Stefan's cousin was. The only part of the speech that followed the sorting she actually heard was the welcoming of the new professor. All eight of them. SIGH. She was already going to have to check on a few things first thing in the morning. For now though it was time to eat. Finally.

At the sight of Stella the last of the post sorting shock went a away and Ellie beamed as she walked over to slip down onto the vacant near the other girl. "Having that ragged old hat on my head was a bit creepy Stella. It felt like he was mucking about inside my head and reading my inner most thoughts and wishes." Ellie had not enjoyed it very much at all. Luckily she would never have to redo it in her coming years at Hogwarts. You could only get sorted once.

Beaming she answered "Yes I had a good rest of the summer. My twin and I visited our grandparents in Sweden and they took us to a magical zoo. It was so cool to see a real unicorn." Especially since her wand had a unicorn hair core. "How was your end of summer Stella?"



Seriously? Why did Sammy have to get sorted into her house? Couldn't he have been a badger or a snake? It seemed it wasn't her lucky day. She was going to be stuck with him for the rest of her Hogwarts and Gryffindor years. He knew she had bruises, but what he didn't know was that they weren't healed yet. Ellie was not going to ask him for help even if he sat near her. Pretending to be perky she asked "Was the sorting hat very vocal with you too Sammy?" Yes she had given him a nickname. Hopefully he didn't mind too much.



First Ellie heard someone say baby cubs and then saw sweets boxes before her eyes fell on the blond senior girl. Maybe she could ask her to heal her bruises after the feast? Accepting a red box wrapped in golden ribbon she smiled widely up at the elder girl. "Thank you so much for for these, I'm starving." As if on cue her stomach made a loud growling sound that probably was heard by everyone near her. Blushing she mumbled. "I'm Eleanor. I'm new in third year from Beauxbatons. I just got sorted some minutes ago. You're a senior right?"



Ellie had just opened her box and was looking down at the treats and sweets when she heard a familiar voice. Taking up a pumpkin pasty that she plucked into her mouth she scanned around for Lucas. She smiled when her eyes met his as he sat on the other side of the table, across from her. "Hi Lucas!" Nodding she shared. "I loved the Sugarplums sweets so much that I ate them up all on the same day. Do you have any of your chocolate dragons left?" Ellie had learned her lesson though since her sugar rush had resulted in a giant stomach ache and some scolding from her dad.




Ellie was about to dig around in the box for another sweet as she was studying the professors seated at the high table when another senior girl welcomed her to Gryffindor with a friendly smile. Returning the smile with one of her own Ellie said "Thank you. It's good to be here." Gesturing up at the staff table she asked "Um is it custom for centaurs to teach here?" The elder girl would know right?
--------------
Before Ellie could ask anymore though the adult that she assumed was the headmaster rose from his seat to give his speech just like at the other school. She gave credit to Headmaster Trent that she had heard he was called out in the Entrance Hall. He wasn't overly wordy. Moments later a glorious feast of food appeared on the table in front of her eyes. Helping herself to roast beef and potatoes and some shepard's pie Ellie dug in. She ate and ate she didn't stop until she let out a very loud belch
"BURRRRRRRRRRP!" that was probably heard all the way up to the staff table. Hugely embarrassed Ellie felt her cheeks burn as she apologized "So sorry. I didn't mean to. I was just so hungry." Not knowing what to do with herself or where to look Ellie poured up pumpkin juice into her goblet. She drank several mouthful's of it wishing that she could disappear on the spot before she chose one of the yellow looking sweets.

Sammy was still looking at the blood on his fingers and trying to figure out where it came from. He completely missed the older girl’s hello wave. Had he seen it, he would have probably had another wave of panic at yet another perky girl being around. He sniffed, then coughed, tasting copper in his mouth feeling something trickle down this throat. A second later he felt something warm running down his chin. Yep, he was having a nosebleed, curtesy of (not that he new it) one of those lovely nosebleed nougat sweets that had appeared in front of him.

He couldn’t find a napkin or anything else to help with his nosebleed, and it sure felt like nobody else cared that he was bleeding. So, he balled up his sleeve and wadded it in front of his nose. Eleanor was talking to him again. But he didn’t really hear what she said except for his name (and no, he didn’t mind the nickname). ”Uhmmm – bmmm?” he asked muffled by the wade of robes under his nose.

A moment later the food appeared. His stomach flipped. He had been so hungry and now he wasn’t at all. Stupid nose bleed!

He was about to get up when Eleanor belched. He paused, turning to look at her, suddenly liking her a little bit more now. A girl who could belch like that couldn't be all that bad, even if she was super perky.

And then the nose bleed started soaking through his robes. Maybe it was best that he get up and leave. Could he find the hospital wing by himself he wondered as he spun around on the bench and prepared to get to his feet.

Rylee was already placing some food onto her plate when Eleanor spoke to her. A gentle smile tugged at her lips and she nodded. "You're welcome. Where is it you transferred from?" She asked curiously picking up her fork and taking a bite of the mashed potatoes and gravy she had put onto her plate. Hmm? Centaurs? It took a split second for the fifth year to realize that the younger girl was speaking of one of their new professors. Shifting her gaze towards the staff table and then back onto Ellie she shook her head. "Not that I know of. At least not since I've been here and not when my sister attended here either. It's definitely something new for us all this term." Honestly know that she gave it a moments thought, it was pretty wicked.

About halfway through her plate of food something caught her eye from not to far down the table. A boy (Samuil) she didn't know by name but remembered smiling at a few minutes earlier holding his sleeve to his face. Rylee looked at him for only a second longer before speaking up, "Hey, are you alright?"

"Mmnooo," came his muffled response as he shook his head 'no.' He got to his feet. Looked like he wasn't going to get to eat dinner tonight, because this nosebleed sure didn't feel like it was going to end anytime soon. He started back up the the table towards the Great Hall determined to find the Hospital Wing, even though he had no clue where anything in the school was.