Ilya finally put on his school robes just before they left the train. He had found his pink purse without it screeching, thank Odin. He didn't enjoy attention when he wasn't the one to invoke some sort of attention-worthy event. A screeching pink purse wasn't it.

The Great Hall has always been his favourite, especially after a long train ride. Also, the abundance of magic in this hall was also chilling (in a positive way). He appreciated that. He was grateful they made it to Hogwarts, too, after his first year he would never be sure again. Ilya took a seat in the middle of the table basically, hauling one leg after the other on the bench (did they get shorter??) and with a swift throw, he made sure he didn't wrinkly his robes under himself but rather have them hang behind him.

With all of the first years safely waiting outside the hall to be sorted, the tall Ravenclaw prefect could now focus on enjoying his last opening feast. Doing his best to not think about this rather sad fact, he took a seat towards the middle of the table and somewhat to his surprise, he wasn’t the first one there as he usually was. What was even more surprising was the fact that there was someone there who he didn’t know, or rather, had yet to meet. Last year, he’d really made it his mission to try and meet as many new people as he could, what with him being a prefect.

With this in mind, he flashed him a friendly smile and introduced himself ”Hey man, I’m Ewan, one of the Ravenclaw prefects”. He really hoped that he hadn’t met him before because this would have been so embarrassing!

Ilya knew the Prefect--well, he saw him on the train and then with the first-year ones guiding them to the boats. "Hey. It's Ilya." Did the prefect call him man??? That elicited a small smile from the usually dry, sarcastic, nonchalant thirteen-year-old. "I know you. You guys are hard to miss." He added casually, obviously not upset that the knowledge wasn't mutual. "Well, I don't actually know you in the sense the word usually indicates, but I know of your existence and I've been told to trust you all year long." Ilya elaborated.

He wasn't trying to sound intellectual or older to the seventeen-year-old, he genuinely thought this was a necessary elaboration. He didn't go on on his true thoughts about trusting a classmate and following their lead was a fair move, history proved multiple times those ones could have great implications on the school's safety and security if they turned out to be bad apples. He doubted the head of houses had a rigorous vetting process.

Did he sound bitter? He sounded bitter, but he genuinely was a jerk and followed a complicated philosophy that was all. Blame his grandmother!

He had to admit, he was a little relieved that his fellow Ravenclaw didn’t seem offended that he didn’t exactly know who he was because that was the last thing he needed. Last year had enough drama in it to last a lifetime. ”You can trust us. We’re here if you ever need help” although if he was being honest, no one had ever come to him in trouble. Being a prefect was honestly kind of boring most of the time.

Briefly, he cast a searching glance up towards the staff table, curious to see which teachers were there, his gaze met by several new acquisitions. Making a note to find out a little bit more about the new teachers, his attention turned back to the Ravenclaw opposite him. ”So, how was your summer anyway? Get some good rest in before another eventful year here?” the smile across his face not quite as wide as it usually was. He enjoyed a good adventure just as much as the next student but why did it always have to get stranger and stranger every year? Ever since his first year here, Hogwarts just upped the ante every year getting more dangerous with every orbit around the sun.

And yet, here he was again, back for his last year without fail for his final year!

Catherine enjoyed the carriage ride more than she thought she would, but that didn't mean she would stay back to be the curious one and see all of the first years arriving by boat. That was boring, so she had already made her way into the Great Hall by the time the younger ones were lining up outside.

She eyed the boys that were already sitting there and decided to sit not too close, but not too far either. She didn't want to be amongst the newbies who were likely either super excited to be there or super nervous, and she wasn't keen on having to deal with either spectrum of their emotions. Catherine also didn't want to talk to boys for now, she had had enough of them during her summer break. They still annoyed her, even the older ones (but especially the younger ones).

The second year could, however, hear what those two were talking about and she couldn't help but want to stare. She didn't, of course, because she had manners and self-control. What did catch her attention, however, was they way the younger looking Ravenclaw was talking to their awkward prefect as well as what he was saying. Interesting way of thinking, she thought, because she fully understood where he was coming from. In fact, that would've been something she would've thought herself. The only thing that would've been different was that it was very unlikely she would've verbalised it.

Taking a quick glance towards them, Catherine quickly turned away because she wasn't about to join in their conversation. She checked to see who was at the staff table and wasn't surprised to see new people there. Her parents always said they normally had changes in staff every year, so she was already expecting it.

Most of the professors she saw so far there were returning ones, so she was somewhat relieved about that. The least changes possible, the better. But... that was certainly a smiley teacher. Sweet Merlin, could she smile any more? That was very disturbing, and this was coming from a girl whose mother was constantly happy. Was the new professor... constantly snapping her fingers? Why? Catherine wondered if being weird was an important factor when one applied to be a lecturer at Hogwarts. Not that all her teachers were weird - professor Noble certainly wasn't - but many of them were and that was also disturbing. Hopefully the new ones wouldn't be as weird except this pink lady who was already proving to be part of the odd pack.

Merlin, what a year they were about to have.

Ilya nodded at the reassurance. "Okay." He wasn't going to trust them, but that was a debate for class. He grew up questioning the authorities and the ministry. So it wasn't personal.

Speaking of authority, Ilya followed suit and turned to sweep the staff table with his eyes. He was particularly looking for the transfiguration teacher, he would probably want to spend time with them this term. This whole uncontrolled urges that cause his hair to change was ridiculous by this age. "Hm? Oh, it was fun. We went to Spain." He provided with a small smile, too, "Yeah, I'm not sure we can rest enough for that." Hogwarts was crazy and dangerous, but Ilya (like everyone here today) loved it to bits anyway. His first year at Beauxbatons was not nearly half as enjoyable as last year so, Hogwarts was high up on his list.

"What about you? How was your summer?" What did older cool boys do during summer? What should he be looking forward to?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

She eyed the boys that were already sitting there and decided to sit not too close, but not too far either. She didn't want to be amongst the newbies who were likely either super excited to be there or super nervous, and she wasn't keen on having to deal with either spectrum of their emotions. Catherine also didn't want to talk to boys for now, she had had enough of them during her summer break. They still annoyed her, even the older ones (but especially the younger ones).

The second year could, however, hear what those two were talking about and she couldn't help but want to stare. She didn't, of course, because she had manners and self-control. What did catch her attention, however, was they way the younger looking Ravenclaw was talking to their awkward prefect as well as what he was saying. Interesting way of thinking, she thought, because she fully understood where he was coming from. In fact, that would've been something she would've thought herself. The only thing that would've been different was that it was very unlikely she would've verbalised it.

Ilya accidentally caught the girl's eyes when she glanced towards them. She wasn't close enough to talk to, but he saw her look. Was she a new one? She looked familiar... ah well, most girls looked the same at that age, let's be real.

Ewan couldn’t help but grin a little at the answer he gave, amused that he had some issue with him being a prefect or the whole authority thing in general, at least judging from his previous statement. Before last year, he wouldn’t have understood at all but after his run in with one of the former professors, he could see why someone might be a little less than trusting towards someone in an authoritative position. He wasn’t exactly the power hungry, corrupt type of guy though. He was just happy to help.

”Spain? That sounds pretty cool fun” He’d never been to Spain. It was on his list of places to go but maybe not right at the top exactly. ”If I was a betting man, and I’m not Ludo Bagman, but I’d say something was going to happen again this year, knowing this place” and going off his last 6 years here.

”My summer was pretty good. I spent some of it in Wales and Germany with friends and then headed back out to Canada to spend time with the family” which sounded quite strange since he was actually from Wales.

He did cast a small glance over at Catherine, the second-year girl, but just left her be, not really wanting to force his company on anyone even if they were casting glances over at him and ease dropping.

Avalon was absolutely starving by the time she entered the Great Hall. She was thoroughly regretting her choice of a measly granola bar (courtesy of her mother, who had been on a health food kick recently) for lunch. A cardboard-y mixture of oats, peanuts, and seeds could only last you so long! The fourth year Ravenclaw was looking forward to dinner. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before Headmaster Trent made his speech.

Finding a spot close to her fellow classmates, she gave Ewan, Ilya, and Catherine a friendly nod. The formers seemed to be having their own conversation, and she didn't want to butt in. And Catherine usually wasn't fond of chit chat, as Avalon recalled from last term. She figured her other housemates would arrive soon, so she settled on retying her shoelaces for now. Avalon considered pulling out a book to read, but she figured it might make her look standoffish. And she had made it a goal this year to at least try and make some new friends.

Ilya actually smiled widely at the Ludo Bagman joke, he almost chuckled even. He was so poised though it wasn't that easy. It did make him warm further to the Prefect, though, if anybody cared. "Yeah, same. What do you think it is this year?" He took a thoughtful look at the staff table, somehow insinuating it was their fault everything happened in school since the start of time until now. "I sense something with... the dead. A ghost takeover!" He let his imagination do the talking there. It was Ewan's turn to guess.

... he just listed three countries. Ilya's eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion. "Which one of those is home?" He didn't rely on the boy's accent to guess, accents were subjective. He couldn't have guessed anyway.

The girl from the train joined them. "Hiya, you made it!" He probably should start calling her Avalon, right? Right. Ilya offered her a small smile. Look at him being all social and friendly today, he was in a good mood. Maybe Phoebe's cat was actually magical? He petted a cat today, that was the only odd thing out today. "How's Hogwarts doing so far?" Compared to her old school? They probably should stop talking about how death-trap-y Hogwarts could get in front of the new students heh heh.

So this was her first last! Well the train was her first last, but this was the last welcome feast. This seventh year was in the best mood and she made her way to her table with all the biggest smile on her face. "Hey everyone! Hope your train ride was great."

Slipping in beside Ewan she looked around. "What I miss so far?" It wasn't that she was late, she had to stop at the loo and check her hair real quick before coming in and then she stopped to talk to a few friends at other tables, so now it was time to focus on the claws.

Speaking of claws where was Missa and Nettie?

Her mood had been spiralling down during the course of the day. She was initially excited to return to school and see her friends, but after a long train ride with heavy rain and not particularly cheerful emotions, Jina was exhausted. She missed the summer break already and regretted not having cherished it enough. Lessons were going to begin the next day and she was surprisingly not very looking forward to them. Was she already showing symptoms of senioritis? She had to pull herself together soon, or her grades would drop.

She was not very wet since she had used the impervius charm AND an umbrella while moving from the train to the carriage, then from the carriage to the school. But she still dried herself and her umbrella using her wand before entering the great hall. Thus, when she approached the Ravenclaw table many students were already seated. "Hey guys," she greeted everyone with a small smile before sitting next to Catherine. Not interested in initiating conversations at the moment (she did too much of that on the train), she rested her chin on her hand and let her eyes wander from her housemates to the staff table, then the sorting hat. Ah, there were a few familiar students putting on the hat, how nice!

Here. Missa was here. With wet clothes and WET shoes. She hated wet shoes. Thankful for magic, she dried herself off before making her way into the great hall. And as she walked in there, it finally hit her, THIS was her last year. Somehow the feeling hadn’t dawned on her the entire summer, but here it was now.

She stared up at the enchanted ceiling, and then at the long tables in front of her.

She was certainly not ready.

It was only when someone bumped into her did she forced herself to move.

Despite being a little shaken by the realisation, she passed a friendly smile here and there as she walked over to the ‘claw table, while her eyes lingered on the Slytherin table. Could she ask Eiji to use one of his coupons? She certainly needed it.

“Hey guys,” she greeted her housemates and took a seat next to Jina.

“there is going to be a ghost takeover?” she asked, joining Ewan and Ilya mid conversation.

Ewan just shrugged at this point because he really didn’t know. The boys (Ilya) suggestion wouldn’t have surprised him one bit but he wasn’t about to predict what was going to happen just in case he willed it into existence. ”I mean, it could be anything I guess”. A dead ghost though? Hadn’t that sort of been last year? Either way, he didn’t really want a repeat, not with some of his friends almost getting skewered by a sword.

The furrowed eyebrows he could understand though. Considering he didn’t travel that much before two years ago, he spent a lot of time doing it now ”Wales is where I was born and what I consider my home but I live in Canada” as for Germany, that was just the home of one of his best friends.

This was one of his favourite parts about the feast though. When everyone started trickling in and all of his friends started to join him one by one, Avalon being one of the first. Sure, he didn’t know her very well but well enough to flash her a smile and a friendly welcome. ”Hey Avalon”.



And then the Seventh year really did smile as his friend (Chloe) slipped in next to him. ”Oh, not much really. Nothing has started yet, has it?” he replied, giving her a small nudge as a welcome.

She was followed closely by two other seventh years (Jina and Missa). Giving them both a smile, he just shrugged ”I have no idea Missa although it wouldn’t surprise me”.

It could be anything, but they were supposed to play the guessing game. Unless Ewan was superstitious enough to not say them out loud which was okay. Ilya understood. "As long as nobody died." He added darkly but out of necessity. People have died in Hogwarts historically and not too far back, either, so it wasn't unheard of.

Even Missa heard them. Ilya took this as a chance to spice things up again, "Yeah, possibly with the help of fairies. I hear a lot were let loose in the castle over the summer," he lied with a small smile. Until food was here, he had nothing on his hands except having fun and spreading rumours, okay? Cece would judge him and tell him he was a butthole, but she was not here so... he was free to have fun, heh heh.

Oh, but he was doing it in front of the Prefect................ahem.

Ilya nodded to greet the others who were joining them. He recognized the older ones but the ones his age or around it have changed significantly over the summer, he wasn't sure he recognized them all!

She had done it. Against all the odds, Trinetta Gladin had somehow made it all the way to her seventh year without dying or accidentally drowning anyone and she couldn't be more excited. She was ready to get her last year underway and start thinking about the future. Gladins were PLANNERS (except for her brother Royland ahem) so naturally she had been planning out all her university paperwork over the summer. She wanted it over and done with so she could focus on NEWTs. She grinned at the rest of the table as she sat down, plopping herself down near Chloe, Missa and Ewan.

"Hey everyone!" she said with a small nod to all the students. She would have plenty of time to catch up with her fellow seventh years later - for now, she needed some FOOD because she was STARVING. She'd accidentally taken a nap on the train instead of going to get a snack on the trolley. Whoops.

She had come into the conversation without knowing exactly what they were talking about but couldn't help but smile more when her other seventh year friends started to come in. She hadn't seen either them on the train, but was happy to see them now. "Missa, Nettie, how was your summer?" She was interested to see what they did and how they were doing.

Hearing Missa's comment she just turned to her, "I hope they made sure the ghost and portraits where in order before we got here this term." She didn't want to see Gryffindor ever again. Though the the sword was interesting, she didn't trust the man.

"Fairies? What?" She looked at the younger student and then looked at Ewan, "You haven't heard anything about this have you?" She leaned closer to him and whispered that if there were fairies he was dealing with them for her and as she did she tickled his side a bit jokingly.

Turning her attention she smiled, 'Hey Jina, how was your summer?"

Ilya mustered all energy not to grin. Fairies would be hilarious, heh heh heh. Maybe he should change his ears into fairy ears and blend in once the imaginary takeover happens (the size thing would be too much a feat for a thirteen-year-old).

Speech. Great. Ilya was interested enough to listen, headmaster Malachi was a firm man who gained his respect. In fact, the headmaster probably took the place of an imaginary father that Ilya had created over those years. Stern and firm but also level headed and with LOTS of authority. He liked the man is what the RPer is trying to say.

Volunteering for detention chaperones? Who'd volunteer for that? Ilya furrowed his eyebrows.

Other than that, he was going to dig in! His hair turned bright blonde from dirty blonde, that was how hungry he was!

Two minutes in, and Missa was already zoning out of this conversation her housemates were having. She figured they were just assuming what would happen this year. Not really bothered by what Ilya was saying, she shrugged, “that doesn’t sound so bad - I mean, this castle has seen worse”. And she liked to think her seventh year wouldn’t be any different.

Speaking of seventh year, she smiled at Chloe and Nettie, “oh it was great. Soaked up a lot of sun and tried not to think about Newts” she added with a small chuckle. “How about you guys?” She asked, even though she had a little idea how Nettie’s went. Thank you, Alex.

Before she could inquire some more though, the headmaster started speaking - and her eyes shifted to the staff table. The term hadn’t even properly begun but it seemed like Headmaster Trent was already done with all of them. Not that anyone could blame him. Along with the castle, he had seen some stuff too. It was probably why the last bit of his speech already had her thinking of the possibilities she wanted to explore this term. Hopefully it wouldn’t require much overthinking though. Sighing to herself, she grabbed herself some pumpkin juice as the food appeared.

Ewan just gave a small nod to Ilya’s comment about people dying because he’d lost friends here and it wasn’t something he cared to think about on the first feast back. Fairies on the other hand? That was a little bit more light hearted. He would have said something if were it not for Chloe and her her seeming lack of self control. ”HeEEeY” his voice a little higher than usual as he jumped in his seat away from her hands. ”Do ya mind?” the grin on his face all but confirming he wasn’t’’t really annoyed.

Still laughing, he turned towards Nettie and flashed her the same grin ”Hey Nettie, how was your summer” has of his attention still on the tiny blonde that lurked next to him. ”Of course I haven’t heard anything Chlo. Ilya is just talking joking around” leaning in now, he whispered back in her ear ”and you can deal with those youself as the stunt you pulled with that portkey in the summer” leaning away now, he turned his head to face the headmaster, ready to listen to his speech.

Well, that was just as illuminating as ever he thought, his eyes turning now to the food in front of him now. It had been a long day for the tall Ravenclaw having on eaten a chocolate frog so he was going to enjoy this. Reaching for a goblet, he poured himself some water and began pulling various delights towards him.

She couldn't help the giggle that came out of her when Ewan jumped and she tuned her eyes on Llya to try and figure out if he was truly joking or not, "Nope, don't mind at all." She just reached for her water when he leaned in and said about the portkey thing. Since he hadn't brought it up on the train she thought maybe he had forgotten about it, but nope, there it was. She blushed and went to turn to say something to him again, but all she got out was "Spidey I.." and her goblet slipped out of her hand spilling water all over both of them.

"Oh no, sorry, sorry." She started to grab for her wand to clean them both up. Her face looked like a tomato she was so red. What was she thinking leaning in and tickling him, did she think she was going to just get away with that summer move she had made.

Calming down a bit she stayed quiet while other's talked and trying to focus on Missa she just gave a weak smile before glancing at Ewan, 'I well, I had a great summer. Quidditch was fun and I traveled to visit a friend and stuff." Trying not to be too awkward but not calling out that she had went to see Ewan in Canada in case he didn't want drilled by that either was hard.

When the speech came and the food, Chloe just started to eat so she wouldn't have to talk any longer.