Although Irithel Rutherford had been determined to withdraw from Hogwarts at the end of the previous term, she was ... back! The second year was standing by the front end of the long Ravenclaw table, with a pompous smile and a new pair of glasses that she acquired over the summer. She was planning to be the FIRST to welcome all new students joining the awesome blue and bronze house. First impressions were everything, and she wanted to be known as the cool and kind kid this term. No possession, weird shouting or forest burning would be happening, nope.

She was also on the lookout for returning students, especially her friends. The main reason she decided to return was because she missed the friends she made at school. She glanced around the hall every now and then, and also looked up at the staff table. It seemed like there were some new professors, and the headmaster's seat was empty. Oh! Maybe he left, or got fired for being such a bad human being! She wondered who their new head-person would be.

The lyrics of the moment, the words of the song running like water through Ashley's mind briefly were:

But I know some day I'll make it out of here
Even if it takes all night or a hundred years

Apparently. Another year at Hogwarts. More time with the stupid headmaster and more time away from her friends. She nodded at Irithel. The girl was still here, despite what she had said on the train. Too bad for her. She let her eyes drift around, taking in all the new students. Then she looked down at the table. Maybe one of the new firsties wanted to speak to her. Their loss, probably. She wondered if she could get through a conversation with them without seeming crazy. Probably not. It was a pity. Ashley was actually really nice and fun to be around, if people would just look past the fact that she had set a forest on fire.

Quinn hurried from the front to the table. He went as far down to the end as he could, wanting to have the least amount of people able see him as was humanly possible. He sat down, taking momentary solace in the fact that he was now one with the crowd and not being watched by it. He kept his head down, not wanting to look up in case everyone was still looking at him (though, in the back of his mind, he knew they had all moved on to the next student to be Sorted). Quinn saved a seat next to him—he had seen Atlas and Aries be Sorted, so he knew they wouldn't be sitting with him, but Eden was after him. In the off chance she was a Ravenclaw, Quinn wanted her next to him.

She was finally back. She had made it to her second home. Somewhere she felt accepted and comfortable. Somewhere she could really be herself. Walking into the Great Hall, her eyes instantly went straight up to the ceiling in search of the starry night sky for a moment before eventually making their way to her table. The Ravenclaw table. The same table many of her siblings should actually be at but somehow, where nowhere to be seen. Again. Rolling her eyes, the second year reached up and pulled the tight elastic band that was holding her hair up in a rigid ponytail down and out, giving her hair a shake before sliding it onto her wrist in hope that that would alleviate the headache that had been steadily growing throughout the day.


With her siblings not there yet, her eyes didn’t quite take in the faces around her until she was sitting in front of a silver plate, her eyes briefly moving over the faces. “Hey Irithel, Ashley. Did you both have good summers?”, her long, black her fanned out around her, somewhat curly from being restrained all day. She would have welcomed the first new Ravenclaw but he didn’t seem to want to talk to anyone, what with his eyes on the floor and him sitting far away. She wasn’t about to let that go though. Not even with the sorting now going on. “Hello? Quinn?”, a polite smile on her face as she peered over to the first year with what she hoped was a friendly smile. “Welcome to Ravenclaw. I’m Ingrid”.

Ashley was 50% sure that someone was talking to her. Oh, it was Ingrid. "Sup Ingrid? My summer was good. I went surfing. Got injured," as indicated by the bandage on her arm, "but not possessed or set on fire." That was really all you could hope for anyway. "Hello Quinn. I'm Ashley. Welcome to Ravenclaw. It is a house. Your house doesn't actually matter, but it is a house and we're all supposed to be smart or something." Was she in a grumpy mood? Yes. Was she trying to be welcoming? Mostly. She scratched the table with her fingernail. This school was awful, and every second she was here made her mood worse.

Quinn perked up at the greetings, looking around. People didn't seem to be looking at him anymore. At least, not as many—just these girls, in fact. He tried to push the Sorting Hat's words out of his mind for the time being and act semi-normal. He forced a smile for the second years. "Oh. Um, hi. Yes, I'm Quinn. Kingsley. It's, er, very nice to meet you both." He directed this more towards Ingrid than Ashley—the latter intimidated him, with her grumpy demeanor and talk of not-so-pleasant subjects that she brought up for reasons unknown to him. "Um... thanks for the... info..?" Quinn didn't feel like Ashley had a very optimistic outlook, to say the least. He tapped his fingers on the bench next to him nervously. He made sure to keep his hand there so nobody would take the spot in case Eden was sorted into Ravenclaw as well.

Keep your head up, thought Eden as she hopped off the stool and made her way to the Ravenclaw table. She'd watched Quinn hurry and hide and wanted to make doubly sure she projected confidence. One of them needed to. The first year kept a straight face as she sat down in the spot Quinn had thoughtfully reserved for her. She didn't want to be too smiley right of the bat and come across as an idiot - nope, she'd feel out the territory first. Eden wanted to make a good first impression. She noticed her friend had already caught the attention of a few other students, and she nodded at the two girls. "Hi, Quinn. Hi, new housemates. I'm Eden. Nice to meet you."

Quinn breathed a sigh of relief as Eden was sorted into Ravenclaw and subsequently sat down next to him. He had someone he knew (albeit only for a couple hours) and could relate to by his side for the whole seven years, which was extremely comforting. He tried to act more casual about it than he actually felt; he didn't want to come off too clingy. "Hey Eden! Congrats on Ravenclaw, I was hoping we'd be together." He gave a smile, this one less forced than the last due to genuine happiness.

Ashley grimaced. She was failing at this whole social thing. It was embarrassing. She used to be great at this. And now she just was awful at it. Well, fake it til you make it, right? She took a deep breath and smiled as genuinely as she could. It was a decent effort. "I hope you had a good summer." There. Now she was a likeable person. She looked over as another girl joined the table next to Quinn. "Hey Eden. How was your summer?" And she smiled again. It was a little easier. See? She was crushing this. If only she could look welcoming and not annoyed for the whole feast. It was possible, but it would be exhausting. She was trying though. Be like Ashley from last year who wasn't afraid of Hogwarts. Don't scare first years. There's no point. They'll probably be fine, so you don't need to tell them about how you almost died like 50 times last year. "It's nice to meet all of you."

Part of Eden wanted to acknowledge that it was indeed quite nice that her and Quinn were in the same house, and that it made her relax a bit to have an at least somewhat familiar face. However, a much larger part of herself rejected the idea on the grounds that it would make her appear vulnerable in front of her new peers. So instead she gave him a smile, a friendly little elbow nudge, and replied "Long time no see, ey?"

The first year turned her attention to the slightly-older-looking girl whose smile looked vaguely...uncomfortable? Forced? Maybe Eden was reading too much into the situation. "My summer was pretty uneventful, except for the whole finding out I was magical bit, ha. Nice to meet you, too - what's your name?"

Quinn and Eden must be friends then. Also, Quinn seemed to be afraid of her. Notes for the future. Ashley laughed at the joke. "Mine was uneventful too." She rubbed her bandaged right arm. It didn't hurt too much anymore. She had only gotten injured once that summer. Might have been a record. "I'm Ashley. Fox. You can call me Ash if you want though. People like to call me that sometimes for some reason." Maybe because she was always on fire. Maybe because it sounded cool. Maybe it was just shorter. Who knew. Maybe having a nickname made her more approachable. Or less approachable. Ashley wasn't quite sure. After all, she had never had a nickname before. "I like to do sports and arts and stuff." She relaxed a little. When people know stuff about you, that means that there is a 90% chance that you will be friends, right?

Oh look, her roommates were here! Irithel had never been so happy to see the two girls. They would have disappeared from her life forever if she had dropped out of school for real. The thought made her appreciate them more, so she smiled and made her way over to them. "Hi, Ingrid. Yeah, I had a good summer and I got new glasses, see?" she pointed at her face excitedly before addressing Ashley, "And I came back, Ash! Changed my mind at the last minute. Sorry to hear about your injury."

But WAIT they had new people!!!

Rushing to the faaaaar end of the table where the two first years sat, she pulled out a handful of confetti from her robes pocket and threw it all over them. "Welcome to Ravenclaw, Quinn and Eden! House of the wise and witty! House of the clever and cool! I'm Irithel, this is Ashley, that's Ingrid over there. WOOOOO have fun in the best house ever!!!" She threw some more confetti over their heads, scattering it on their plates and goblets.

Quinn gave a small chuckle at Eden's response, but in his head he wasn't completely sure what it meant. She still seemed happy, which was good, but maybe he was being a little too clingy already? I mean, it made sense they had only met on the train, and Eden probably didn't want him following her around like a lost puppy, so he would just... dial it back? To seem like he wasn't clinging to her. Yes, that should be okay, right?

He wasn't sure how to do that at this point in time. He decided to just keep the conversation moving.

"Ah, my summer wasn't bad. I wouldn't say standard because every summer before this has been standard and this one had magic, so... I guess this summer was the new normal? The start of it, at least. First trips to Diagon Alley, got my wand, all that stuff. But, uh, good." Quinn decided to leave out the parts about him being nervous about pretty much every shop and item he found in Diagon Alley, as that would be probably very embarrassing.

Quinn looked at Irithel in surprise as he and Eden were covered in confetti. And then their goblets and plates. She seemed very... preppy. Quinn was already nervous about being at a table with brand new people, and Irithel's cheering and confetti-throwing weren't helping much with that. "Er, thanks." Quinn said, sweeping confetti off his plate. "Nice to meet you, Irithel. Very happy to be here..." he chuckled awkwardly. He looked into his goblet, then dumped out the confetti from inside.

"Probably because your name is Ashley," Eden replied. She didn't (yet?) know about the girl's flammable reputation. Eden had never really had a nickname. Always just plain old Eden. "What sports do you play?" Herself, she was partial to football and swimming. Taekwondo had been fun back when she'd been able to do it, but there wasn't as much money nowadays and she'd kind of grown out of the classes anyway. Or at least that's what she told herself. "I'm beyond ready to start flying lessons...and try Quidd-"

Eden found herself interrupted by the (indisputably) most cheerful person she had encountered on her magical journey thus far. This girl must have eaten the magical equivalent of Cheerios for breakfast, emphasis on the CHEER. And was that - yep, it sure was confetti. Cool. Luckily there wasn't anything consumable on the tableware yet, so Eden just gently shook the confetti off her plate and goblet. She couldn't stop herself from giving a little side eye to Quinn while she did so - who was this girl? At least she was adding a little spice to the feast, though. "Hi Irithel. I'm Eden. Thanks for the colorful welcome..." Eden smiled up at the girl, who seemed to know Ashley already. Made sense.

"Oooooo, nice glasses Irithel. Very fitting and cool." She smiled. Irithel, always the optimist, was greatly improving her mood right now. "Cool that you're back. Hogwarts isn't always too bad. My arm is fine-ish, by the way. If I can use it, that means it works, I think." Not really. But Ashley went through life taking what she could get. If both of her arms worked reasonably well at the same time, that was a pleasant surprise. She ducked as Irithel threw confetti EVERYWHERE. She laughed, for real and not uncomfortably. This was fun. "Yep, that's Irithel. Guess what Irithel!!! The headmaster isn't here. So he can't yell at us for this." She scooped some confetti off of her plate and dropped it on Irithel, watching as it floated down. She ruffled/totally cooly messed up her own hair, getting confetti out of it, and also looking totally cool and deserving of the nickname Ash which made her sound cool because she was totally cool and not at all a killjoy. "Maybe he got fired. I'm not getting my hopes up. But I bet this year will be super great."

She turned to Eden. "Yeah, that might be it. Or it could be a fire thing, or it could just sound cool. Your idea sounds about right though. I like surfing and dancing and american football and soccer and basketball and martial arts and running and swimming. And some other stuff. Mostly all muggle sports though. I like flying, but I'm not all too comfortable with the idea of having a magical bowling ball trying to fly around and kill me." Noooo thanks. She thought that quidditch was more dangerous than any of the sports she played, and a little further from her comfort zone. "I'm sure a lot of people find it exhilarating tho."

Quinn caught Eden's eye as she looked, and he gave a small frown and a slight shrug. This was just Irithel's form of a welcome, and Quinn didn't want to hold that against her.

Ash seemed to have a penchant for bringing up fire. Quinn wasn't exactly sure what that was all about, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to ask why. Prying wasn't his thing, really, especially when it was with people he didn't know. It mostly just confused him, anyway. He cocked an eyebrow at Ashley's talk of the headmaster. He didn't really have a way to contribute to the sports conversation (they had never really been his thing), so he decided to pursue a different line of conversation. "Uh, why? What's wrong with the headmaster?"

Eden laughed at Ashley's response to her question. She would have to catch up with her sometime for a football/soccer match, or a nice long run to channel her rage into. Annnd honestly? The bowling ball bit? That sounded like the MOST fun to Eden. What were those players called - batters? Beaters? That sounded like the position for her. "I played a lot of football - or soccer, sure - back home with my friends. We should play sometime! And swimming. And a little taekwondo. And the flying bowling ball bit sounds like it adds some spice...y'know?" Eden had always wanted to play a contact sport. She'd been kicked off her primary school's soccer team for a season a few years ago for kicking a goalkeeper in the face. It had been an accident, but the school had not really cared about that.


Eden shrugged back at Quinn. Agree to disagree. Anyway, the confetti was a little fun. She nodded when he asked the question about the headmaster. Good old Ravenclaw curiosity (maybe she was getting a little too into this house/team thing?). "Yeah, what's his deal?"

Ash smiled at Eden. "I like contact sports too. They make me feel so alive." Quidditch just made her feel uncomfortably alive by reminding her of mortality. She retreated a little at the next question. She had said too much, hadn't she? This was going uncomfortably close to her losing her friendliness and just being an annoyingly sad killjoy. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... There's nothing wrong with him, I just don't like him or trust him." It was an obvious lie though, one of the few times that she couldn't lie convincingly. Why? Because she felt guilty about this one. Shouldn't the new kids know about the acromantulas, and that detention where they had to fistfight each other while standing in sewage, or how he belittled everyone for his own mistakes, or the fire and possession thing? She squirmed. "I'm sure everything will be fine this year." SUBJECT CHANGE PLEASE AHHHH.

With a small smile on her lips, Ingrid just listened for a moment as another new Ravenclaw came to join them at the table. Eden, was it? “It’s nice to meet you both”, her reply to both Eden and Quinn first before then turning slightly towards Ashley and rolling her eyes jokingly. “Smart can mean a lot of things. Don’t worry. You’ll both be fine here.” Some people were just so dramatic at Hogwarts, her sister for one, and sure, things did happen here but that was just Hogwarts. Who was she to scare the first years? “I don’t really play much sports. I can fly on a broom okay I guess but I think I prefer to keep my feet on the ground”. Truth be told, she felt much more confident with a sketch pad in front of her or a book.

Keeping one eye on the first years, Ingrid turned towards Irithel and smiled, grinning at the sight of her new glasses. “Oooo, I love them! I’ve actually always wanted glasses but it turns out my eye sight has always been pretty perfect”, she laughed. “They suit you though”, her eyes now moving back towards the firsties briefly before up towards the staff table, a little confused because there seemed to be a lack of a certain headmaster. “Uhhh…yeah. We’re definitely the best house”, her voice trailing off. It was only then she realised that everyone was actually talking about the headmaster. “I mean, he’s still the headmaster so you know, he does deserve some respect”. If she was being honest, she hadn’t actually spoken to him before but he was like, you know, kind of important at the school and they didn’t just make anyone the head of Hogwarts.

Quinn perked up at Ingrid's words. "Y-yeah, I agree. I'm not super excited about flying lessons, and I think it would just be worse having an angry ball trying to knock you off of your broom." Quinn shuddered at the thought of falling through open air.

Quinn nodded slowly in response to Ash. "...Right." From Quinn's knowledge, not liking or trusting someone usually came about from them doing something wrong. But, again, he didn't feel comfortable pushing the subject. Especially after seeing how uncomfortable it made Ash—it seemed she wasn't immune to being caught off guard, either. Maybe not as intimidating as Quinn once thought. He looked up towards the empty chair in the middle of the staff table. "I do wonder what's keeping him, though. Is he usually late to things like this?"

For the record, Irithel was not exceptionally cheerful or friendly. She just LOVED being the center of attention. If she made a few new kids feel happy about joining Ravenclaw while enjoying everyone's attention, then great! She did not notice Quinn's nervous chuckle or Eden's side eye, so everything was going well from her perspective. "You're welcome, you're welcome. Nice to meet you too!" she beamed.

Oh, now she had confetti on HER and she wasn't even new. She kinda liked this, as well as what Ashley said next about the headmaster. "I know right? Or maybe he got strangled by a devil's snare or got bitten by a giant snake or got dragon pox and is at St. Mungo's Hospital. But I'm not getting my hopes up either," she added to her conjecture. They were all things she saw and heard during the summer when she frequented the hospital, so they were all possible. No matter the reason, she would be delighted if they got a new, decent headteacher this term.

Unlike Ashley, Irithel did not try to get the confetti out of her hair (#fashion), but pushed her glasses up her nose and sat down beside Ingrid because WHAT did she just say? "RESPECT?? He doesn't deserve ANY respect," she then turned to the other second year incredulously. She was totally lying and it was totally obvious. Perhaps she did not want to scare the first year students, but Irithel wasn't sure whether it would work. They would find out for themselves the next morning when they have class with the meanest teacher alive. She decided to play along for the time being. "Okay sure, he's fine sometimes. But I don't like him either. He's usually not late, and I hope he arrives soon because I'm huuungryyy."

Curious, indeed.

Ash rolled her eyes back at Ingrid. "Of course they don't make just anybody headmaster. Only corrupt people who hate kids. People who betray me will never deserve my respect." She was going to say more, but then Irithel said the creepiest thing EVER. "Macabre. Or maybe he just... y'know got fired." On the other hand, Ashley wasn't planning on losing sleep over whatever happened. He DID try to feed them to acromantulas. Ashley laughed at Irithel pretending to play along. "He's fine never. Not even on the first day of school. I have never seen him be kind to anyone. He gave me detention and took five points on my first day. And then I got set on fire. And that was kinda how most of my year went." That was enough to say, wasn't it? They didn't have to talk about the ghost or the fires. She shook her head at Quinn. "He's probably off somewhere doing something creepy and evil that will put us all in danger." It was a fair guess.

Because now the headmaster was here, AND HIS SKIN WAS MELTING. "What did he DO?" AND WHO WAS THAT?She was absolutely shocked that that could happen. She pulled her wand out of her robes, just in case he tried to kill all of them. And she kept her face calm, because showing fear was a liability in situations like this.

Quinn tried to absorb the information he was gleaning from this conversation, but it felt like some details were being left out. Quinn knew that he would definitely keep an eye on the Headmaster, at least, but he didn't want to make snap judgements based on other people's experiences.

And then the Headmaster threw open the doors to the dining hall. Quinn was now indubitably scared of this man. The way he presented himself was intimidating and not at all friendly.

And then he sat down. And his face started to bubble and melt. And Quinn trembled in his seat. He wondered if this was a normal occurrence, but judging by the faces of much of the students and staff, it was something to be worried about—and Quinn worried himself white, the color draining from his face in an instant. "W-w-what's happening..?"