Aurora was once again the most eager student to the Ravenclaw table. Having endured weeks of her mums healthy food, the twelve year old was more than excited to indulge in the delightful offerings served up by the House Elves. She had missed apple pies and Yorkshire puddings and all the trimmings that came with a Hogwarts feast. Arriving early didn’t ensure that the food would appear sooner but it did mean that she could reserve her favourite spot on the long table.

Right in the centre.

Blonde hair in their usual Dutch braids she had hastily done on the train and probably not looking as neat as usual, she looked out for anyone she might know arriving. The train journey had been somewhat eventful with a compartment full of excitable young girls and a poor quiet first year who was most likely overwhelmed by the noise and the giggles and the 50 miles an hour that they all spoke making it hard to keep up. Aurora couldn’t help that the trials and tribulations of teenage years hadn’t quite put a damper on her general mood yet and therefore the Blonde’s pep for life was ever present.

She waited not so patiently for others to show up so she could at least have someone to talk to whilst they waited for the Sorting Ceremony to be over.

With Jonah having been the next to take a spot at the table, Aurora could keep her title as the most eager student at the Ravenclaw table for a while longer. Though, then again, anyone would look eager next to Moody J, who did not care to show any ounce of enthusiasm for most anything. Yet, despite his refusal to ever admit such a thing, he was glad to be back for another year.

What he was not looking forward to, however, was having three of his siblings join him here this year.

And yet.

He still found himself a seat in the middle of the table, where he could get a decent enough view of the sorting. And though he sat just across the way from a small blonde (Aurora), he made no move to greet her aside from a vacant stare her way. This would all be over soon. Hopefully. He was itching to sneak away to the music room at the first opportunity. Perhaps he could walk off sometime during the feast once it busied.

Yoji, feeling a bit lightheaded from everything that's happened so far, almost face-planted on the Ravenclaw table, quickly snagging a seat right up front where the other first-year Ravenclaws were. They all congratulated him, gave him pats on the back, and just a flurry of introductions and more English words that he could barely keep up at this point. He'd gone quiet, reaching for his wand arm where his wand was securely attached in its holster, and drew his attention to it to ground himself. He thought that the Sorting Hat didn't say much, but at the same time, he knew it to be loaded. There was a lot to unpack there.

He was fairly certain his dad was mentioned-- he'd heard that idiom many times from his grandfather, and then there was the dragon reference... and again, the talk about his potential. Zeke-san from Ollivander's did explain to him why his Acacia wand chose him, despite its temperament. On top of that, the core of the Phoenix feather accentuated its complexity and stubbornness when it came to choosing a wizard or witch. Somehow his wand and his sorting were connected. And maybe, his house too will come in to play very soon.

Ravenclaw. Yoji sighed a relief, despite the overstimulation he was having at the moment. His dad and grandpa will be so proud!

Even though she was feeling a bit more confident at school in her second year, Hope was still glad she wasn't the first to arrive at the Ravenclaw table. She nodded and gave a shy "Hello" to the two older students she found there (Yoji and Jonah), but sat near Aurora, who was in her same year.

"Hi, Aurora," she said. "How was your summer?" (because asking about people's summers seemed to be the standard conversational opener at the Opening Feast)

And so it was that another year at Hogwarts had officially begun. She supposed it had as soon as she had changed into her Ravenclaw robes for the brief remainder of the Hogwarts Express journey and subsequent carriage ride to the castle, but it was stepping into the castle and entering the Great Hall that served as the hallmark to the ritual. Everything else was a dreamy limbo and not simply because some of this term's train ride had been spent observing Yumeki as he dozed. By now, seated on the bench at the Ravenclaw table as the Sorting went on in the background, Mitsuki had nearly forgotten all the fine details of the image she had intended to paint once she had her watercolors in hand. Instead her hand, index finger to be specific, was occupying itself with tracing the same series of figurative brush strokes over the wooden surface of the table. With between 15 and 20 strokes of which to make her selection, Mitsuki had narrowed down her choice for next summer's tournament already. She would be requiring most of the term to practice and prepare, which was most unfortunate considering she ought to be more considerate of her OWL examinations. Normally she would be tracing the character in the palm of her other hand, but that was currently occupied by Mercer's and proposed boy friend duties. She did not particularly mind this though and the top of the Ravenclaw table was a perfectly suitable surface to practice writing her 20 stroke character.

Mitsuki only glanced towards the front of the Great Hall every so often, namely whenever the Sorting Hat declared someone a Ravenclaw, so she noticed a handful of the new first years who sat down. There was never really a prominent smile on her features, though she inclined her head for a polite and silent greeting.

For most younger students a vacant stare would’ve been enough to intimidate them into not talking. Sadly for the older boy (Jonah) Aurora was not like most younger students and even looking in her general direction meant that clearly they wanted to engage in conversation. It was a bad decision on their part really as Rora could absolutely talk for Wizard kind. For hours and hours about absolute nonsense. It was for this reason that the blonde grinned back. “Hi!” came the response. “Are you excited about being at school? You don’t look very excited but you’re here early like me which means you must be at least a little bit excited. Unless it’s just for the food..” Hogwarts feasts were definitely worth the eagerness.

The older Ravenclaw was treated to a welcome reprieve when Rora was joined by her friend and dorm mate Hope. The twelve year old drew her attention away from Mr Grumpy Drawers. “It was super fun! I went to Greece on holiday with my family and I turned twelve too and then one day Evy took me out on her ponies and we had a picnic.” Did Hope want a full rundown of everything Aurora did over the summer? Probably not. Was she going to hear all about it anyway? Yep. “Did you have a nice summer?” she asked back. It was the polite thing to do.

Another student (Mitsuki) joined who didn’t exactly look like she was in the mood to socialise either but she got a big grin and a wave. It didn’t matter whether others didn’t want to acknowledge her, nothing was going to put a damper on her mood and she would greet them all whether they were old or new.

Speaking of new students..

The grin on the second years face grew even wider as Yoji Bear’s name was called out and the Sorting Hat declared him to be a Ravenclaw. She cheered and waited for him to join the table with the other new students. She waved down the table so excited to see him in blue like she was. “Haaaaaaii” she beamed. “You’re a CLAW! I said it was the best house didn’t I?”Poor little Yoji was going to have to put up with Rora for even longer now.

She’d have to speak to Anna straight after the feast about creating that scavenger hunt so that Yoji and the other newbies could acclimatise themselves to the school. She looked over at the other tables to see where her friends were. If she had known that Anna was offering rainbow gift bags to her fellow Hufflepuffs she would’ve been straight over there like a flash.

…… Oh great.

He had chosen the worst place to sit at, apparently.

Suddenly bombarded by the nonsense Aurora threw at him, Jonah looked taken aback as he slowly answered, his voice flat. ”Hi.” And also bye.

As for being excited? The Upstead twin simply shrugged. ”I guess,” he answered finally, not specifying which thing he was responding to. ”It’s whatever.” Being back, the feast, etcetera etcetera etcetera. "You seem excited."

Was it too late to move?

Jonah did notice the arrival of a handful of younger students, none of which he greeted. Though he did acknowledge the one who said hello with a curt nod. And though he wouldn’t admit it (x2), he was relieved to see her pull Aurora into a conversation. That meant Jonah could finally have a reprieve.

Finally able to calm his nerves, Yoji sat straighter as more first years like himself got sorted and would politely clap with the rest of the Ravenclaws when their house claimed a new student. Turning away from the sorting up front to focus his attention elsewhere, he caught the shy greeting of a student (Hope). "Oh hello," he honestly thought he would be ignored tonight considering how small and inconspicuous he was being.

It was until a very familiar person waved at him from the middle section of the house table, literally shouting her sentiments at him. He wasn't one to shout back, so Yoji excused himself from the other freshly sorted Claws and claimed a seat next to Aurora. "Hai!" he responded, his eyes literally sparkling, his cheeks flushed from all the excitement. "What's going to happen next, Rora-senpai?" he asked, looking around him for anything that was noteworthy of his attention.

As he did so, he'd taken notice of a much older student who seemed to be exhausted and done for the day already (Jonah), and another one nearby who was sitting quietly with a boy, looking like she could read into his very soul (Mitsuki). Yoji returned the quiet greeting with one of his own, also noting the thing her index finger was doing against the surface of the table. From where he was sat, he couldn't read what she was writing, but guessing from the brush stroke-like movement, it wasn't English. Possibly it was a good luck inscription for the term ahead... or a curse. Who knows.

It didn’t matter how much Mr Grump (Jonah) tried to avoid conversation with the twelve year old, Aurora was going to continuously talk to him until she could find something better to do. Unfortunately for the older Ravenclaw, she didn’t often run out of things to say and the conversation, even if one sided, could go on..

And on.. and on..

Her nose wrinkled at the ‘whatever’ in confusion as to how a magical school with all its beasties and spells and whatnot could ever be described as whatever. “Oh I’m really excited. I’ve missed my friends and the food. I can’t wait for the food to arrive. I’ve eaten way too much salad over the summer! I just really want a roast dinner with ALL the trimmings.” And dessert of course.

Saved by the arrival of one tiny Yoji, Aurora’s attention was now fully on the newly sorted first year. She absolutely would’ve given him a huge hug but her Ma had engaged her in a long conversation over the summer about how some people didn’t like having an overzealous blonde squeezing them in a bear hug no matter how much Rora liked giving them out. A grin would have to suffice even if Yoji was cute enough to squish. “Well we have to wait for the Headmasters speech and then when he finishes which might take a while because old people like to talk a lot..” Pot called the kettle black. “..then we get to have a big feast and stuff our faces until it’s time to go back to the Common Room.” Of which Rora would obviously give Yoji Bear a tour of.

The room fell silent as the Headmaster stood up and the second year just about shut up for long enough to listen. He was talking about an employment fair of some kind which Aurora was clearly not particularly interested in. She had yet to even reach teenagehood, she hadn’t even begun to think about what she wanted to do in the future. The end of the speech came which meant only one thing..

Food!!

Yoji covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he tried to suppress a giggle, glancing briefly towards where their professors were sitting. Truth be told, he could attest to the fact that old people liked to talk and drag on a conversation. He'd witnessed it with his own grandfather, granted that he was a diplomatic ambassador. Yoji had spotted the Headmaster alright, quite obvious as he was sat in the middle, and he did look ancient. Yoji hoped his welcome speech wouldn't last all night, because yes... he could already feel the rumbling in his tiny stomach after a full day of anxiety and excitement.

And as if on cue, the Headmaster rose from his throne-like chair, and began to address everyone. The words were simple enough to understand, however, Yoji wasn't quite sure if he was interested in this employment gala thing or not. Though he was only eleven years old and definitely not looking for work soon, he thought it would be exciting to see what he might discover in the event. It was never too early to learn, yes??? But wait, hold on... "Rora-senpai, what is a 'cornucopia'?" Big word!

But what's even MORE interesting? The sudden appearance of food! As the Headmaster finished his speech, heaps and heaps of food-- maybe some were even taller than him, appeared on the table, blowing away the boy's mind. "Eeehhh???" Yoji was amazed and confused at the same time, instincitvely taking a peek below the table wondering how that kind of magic happened. Catching himself being rude in front of food, Yoji righted himself up, putting his hands together in front of him and bowed to show his gratitude to whoever prepared the feast. "Itadakimasu!"