Like each year as Minjae stepped through the doors of the Great Hall, he loosened up his tie and draped the tip over his shoulder. It had become kind of a tradition to him and so far he had never gotten in trouble for it. Or the professors had never noticed which could also be a possibility. Hands deep inside of his uniform pockets, the sixth year walked to the Hufflepuff table before taking a seat at the end of the bench.

Learning aside who even likes studying? pfft, Minjae was pleased to be back at school. At Hogwarts he could do things that he knew he could NEVER do back at home. Being raised in a rich family, he had an image to uphold. Talking, walking, sitting, eating, everything had to be done correctly and even only doing these things during the summers, it was exhausting. That was more Daniel's thing.

But now he had a whole year of freedom, to a certain point, and after receiving his OWL results during the summer, he decided that he was going to try a liiiittle bit better. He didn't have bad grades, only for Transfiguration and Herbology he had gotten a Poor. But his passing grades for the other subjects had been higher than he had expected. He certainly did not think he would get three Outstandings in his results. An O in Muggle Studies, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions.

The table was still awfully quiet though so the Hufflepuff looked around to see who else had decided to come back this year and face the dangers that inevitably were going to occur this year. Wasn't that exciting?! Now, when were the others coming cause he was getting bored.

NO, NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOO

Her mother was not going to embarrass her, but yet there she was coming into hall and snapping and gushing over her. Noooo she needed to go get Jackson and leave her be. SHE WANTED TO ACT COOL, OKAY! Plus she was a second year now, so she was grown, Merlin the woman should realize that.

With a quick though she took off with a run and went into a baseball slide straight under the table. What she wanted to be a small slide to get her just at the end of the table to hide ended up being too much power and the next thing Gemma knew she was clear in the middle of the table slamming into feet as she went.

Maybe she would just sit here the entire feast and act like it was completely normal.

Torin could practically smell the feast already and he was excited! It felt like ages since his last meal even though it had only been a few hours. Growing boys and all that.

"Minjae! Hey mate, how are you? What'd you get up to this summer?" He asked as he sat unceremoniously on the bench across from his friend.

Torin had been anxious to get back to Hogwarts and catch up with his friends and housemates. It'd been a busy summer working on the farm and helping his family, but he was happy to be back - even if he did miss them already.

Looking around it seemed that some people were still making their way into the hall, it wasn't too loud or crowded yet, but that was sure to change as everyone piled in.

Of course it was a Gryffindor who started the first rule breaking of the year and judging by the Headmaster's shout he was definitely not pleased. Minjae looked over at said table and wondered who Charlotte Rivers was. For a brief moment, the Hufflepuff thought about joining the Gryffindor table because obviously that was where the fun was right now but his thoughts were interrupted by a hit against his foot.

It didn't hurt but he did let out a small surprised sound and as he bend down to look at the source that had hit him, he thought it would have been a cat but he was surprised to see one of the younger student (Gemma) He was very curious to know what she was doing under there "You okay under there?" he called from the end of the table. He couldn't sit in this position much longer as he started to become dizzy so he sat back up and came face to face with Torin on the opposite side of the table. "Hey Torin" he greeted back before shrugging his shoulders. No one wanted to hear about the formal corporate parties he had to attend , shaking hands with important business lot, it was all very boring. He was also sure that he wouldn't care about him refusing to take over family company and the trouble he had caused because of that. Something he still thought that his father was exaggerating about. His younger brother WANTED to take over the company so why not give it to him? All this ' first born' tradition was stupid anyway.

He let out a long and heavy sigh before realizing that he had not answered Torin's question yet. "Well, i went to play laser tag with Noah over the summer. That was fun" he said. "What about you?"

Torin shook his head at the Gryffindors, always gotta have all the attention. He rolled his eyes, but was brought back to the Hufflepuff table when he heard Minjae sigh.

"Yeah, that sounds cool!" He smiled. "I just helped my parents out with the farm as usual, nothing really exciting. Although Pa is thinking of bringing some Thestrals to the farm this year. Help raise up a herd."

"Hey, are you sure you're okay mate? You seem down." Torin tried to raise his spirits with a smile and a joke, "You're not bored already are ya?" And laughed.

He really was worried for his friend, some days it seemed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Maybe Torin should bring him down to the greenhouse with him one day. That always brightened his own mood.

She knew she had hit a few feet along the way, but having older students looking under the table at her was not what she meant to do either. She had one of two options, come up and pretend she had been looking for something and deal with her mother ooooor just stay down there and say it was the newest trend, eating on the floor.

Yeah, yeah that seemed to be best.

"Of course I'm alright. Didn't read in teen witch weekly, this is the new it thing. She slide quickly under the table and wait for the food. Then you use the chair as your table and be all zen and stuff." Her mother was the wackadoodle divination professor so why wouldn't they just believe it was something her daughter would know. Of course Gemma knew zen, okay, maybe she didn't, but she would fake it.

'So you see, maybe you should all just come down here and join me.
Though no, because that would bring attention to her as well.

......The newest trend listed in the Teen Witch Weekly? That was a magazine right? He wasn't familiar with Teen magazines in the Wizarding AND muggle world so for all he knew she could be right about this. "Sounds like a trend to me" he laughed. "Just don't hurt your head" He secretly wanted to join but despite not being very tall he was certain that he could not fit under the table and be at ease and instead of the 'zen' she was talking about he would be very uncomfortable. Not to mention that he wouldn't be able to grab new food and...was she SURE this was zen?

"Maybe some other time, although you have to teach me how to slide under there one day" he was dead serious.

Working at a farm sounded way more interesting to him than having people work for you. Although he was satisfied with the staff back at home, he sometimes felt like he wasn't able to do things on his own. Which made Hogwarts so great for him because here he could be independent and he actually got scolded when doing something wrong. Thestrals though, he wasn't sure about them. Weren't they the creatures people could only see when they've seen death? "Can you , you know, see them?" he asked as cautiously yet kind of intrigued. He personally could not see them and he planned to keep it that way for a long time.

He appreciated that Torin was concerned about him but he was in no mood to talk about his feelings right now. "Nah, just a bit tired from the train ride i guess. I think i scared a first year by accident" he hadn't even gotten taller over the summer so that couldn't have been it? In truth, he hadn't grown much ever since his fourth year. It was like he stopped growing and it sucked. He just wanted to be tall T_T "I wished the Headmaster would hurry up though. I never understood why we have to listen to a speech before the food?"

Mamie plopped herself in an empty seat toward the front of the Hufflepuff table after being sorted. She looked around, trying to identify other first years. She had not truly been paying attention to any of the students sorted before her... Mamie looked back toward the front as her stomach grumbled. Luckily Turov was near the end of the alphabet so hopefully they would get their supper soon.

Torin hadn't even noticed the younger girl hiding under the table until she started speaking again, she must've gone under before he arrived. Strange, though she looked familiar. He tried not to laugh with Minjae at the girls expense, but it was hard not to at such a ridiculous thing. What does Teen Witch Weekly put into these girls heads? He'll have to make sure his little sister stays far away from that.

"If you want zen you should try yoga or meditation. There's usually a few people that enjoy it around the castle, I'm sure you could find someone to join you." He offered up instead.

Torin understood his hesitation with the Thestrals, he wasn't too sure about it when his mum first brought it up either.

"No, but my mum can. She was with my Nan in her last days. She says they're very peaceful creatures and need to be protected. They're misunderstood or something. She said I should ask Professor Williamson to introduce me to the Hogwarts herd that pulls the carriages and try to get more comfortable with them. You're welcome to join me." He replied.

Torin's eyes almost bugged out of his head with relief and surprise. "I'm glad I'm not the only one!" Well, maybe he shouldn't say glad. It's not good to scare the young ones. "I yelled at one trying to touch my kneazle, Kalista. She normally doesn't like strangers and mum and pa barely let me bring her with me this year. I was worried she would get scratched, but strangely Kalista actually liked her. What happened with your firstie?" He asked.

Ugh. The waiting for the feast was the worst part.

"I know. I really hope he'd hurry up. It always takes so long."

Just then a firstie had made it's way over to the table. "Hey! Welcome to Hufflepuff! You're gonna love it here. What's your name?" Always good to make them feel welcome.

Mamie perked up when one of the other Hufflepuff students greeted her. She turned and saw it was one of the older boys, near her brother's age. "He-hello!" she said, relieved that at least one person in her new house was friendly. "I'm Mamie! Wha-what's your name?"