The Wizarding World

Arcruss dragged his suitcase behind him. when he saw Hagrid, he remebered his parents telling him that the Ground keeper was a half-giant which made his surprise slightly surprising. He kept walking toward boats and taking a seat in one of the boats. "wow..." Acruss muttered when he saw the castle.

Jennifer had quite calmed down over the course of the train ride. She had found some second years that had been willing to let her sit with them, though as soon as the train stopped it was clear they were trying to ditch her. She wasn't too bothered by that, though, since they hadn't seemed impressed with her claims that she'd be in Gryffindor. 

Now that she was off the train, she took notice of the very large Hagrid and was mildly shocked. So big, he was! And yet, he couldn't be a giant, she'd been told they were much larger than this. In any case she followed him along to the boats, and she ended up in a boat with people she hadn't met yet.

Jennifer took notice, though, of the group that she had originally sat with. She gave them an unintended dirty look before facing away. She wanted nothing to do with them. It was clear that they all belonged in houses that weren't Gryffindor anyway, so she'd never see them except in classes or something right?

Coming out of her own little world though she took notice of the large castle-like structure up ahead, and let out a small sigh of admiration. It was ... so much grander than she ever imagined, "I'm going to be living here for almost a year..."

Laura stared in awe at the gigantic castle before her. It seemed that her childhood dream of living in a large, enchanted castle was going to come true; albeit, not in the way she expected it to.  The only thing missing was an enchanted forest and a unicorn. Or perhaps an enchanted forest filled with unicorns...

She was distracted from her musings by a loud voice.

"Firs' years! Over here!"

She turned to see a large, bearded man standing before him. She briefly considered asking him if he was some kind of magical creature; but decided against it. She couldn't think of a way to word it that didn't sound incredibly rude.

Instead, she stepped onto a boat with the people she'd say on the train with. They seemed nice enough; though she hoped the awkward silence from the train would be broken soon.

At Will's statement, she simply replied...

"Yep. That is definitely a gigantic, enchanted castle..."


--

Gabriel had to admit, even he found the castle to be impressive. It made his father's mansion look tiny by comparison. He couldn't comprehend how long it must have taken to build this castle; nor the resources it must have taken to conceal it from muggles. He briefly wondered how much it would take for him to build his own magical castle; but quickly pushed aside such childish thoughts.

He had other things to worry about; namely making sure he got on the right boat. Ideally, he wanted to sit with other kids who happened to have wealthy parents. He didn't want to waste any more time with a bunch of commoners than he already had.

Hagrid bellowed something that sounded like an instruction, but Will was only half aware of his surrounding. "Huh, what was-" Will began, turning around to ask Hagrid before being cut off by ivy wrapped around his neck. "Ack!" he choked, frantically tearing it off of his neck. "Oww... don't even laugh guys..." he grumbled, muttering something along the lines of "who even put that there?" under his breath.

They passed through a dark tunnel to a harbour where everyone got out of their boats. They were then lead up a flight of stone stairs to a large oak door which Hagrid knocked upon thrice.

The door instantly opened, revealing a tiny man clad in wizard robes. He might have been the smallest man Will had ever seen. He wondered if this was a dwarf. "What, seriously?" He blurted before he could stop himself, earning a strange look from the man.

"The firs' years, Professor Flitwick," Hagrid said somewhat needlessly.

"Thank you, Professor Hagrid," Flitwick replied before opening the doors wider. He then lead them through the gigantic Entrance Hall and to a empty chamber off the main hall where Will could hear the din of what he assumed was other students talking.

"Welcome!" Flitwick addressed the group who were standing rather close to each other. Will of course had to demonstrate his confidence and stood at the front, apparently unperturbed. He didn't see anything to worry about yet. "The traditional start-of-term banquet will begin soon but first you will be sorted into one of the four noble houses of Hogwarts: Slytherin, the ambitious; Gryffindor, the brave; Hufflepuff, the diligent; and my own Ravenclaw, the intelligent. These houses are rather like family and I don't doubt you'll become extremely proud of your house no matter which you go into. You will have classes together, sleep in the same dormitory and spend free time in your respective common room. At the end of the year the house with the most points will get the House Cup. These points are won and lost by good and bad behaviour respectively, and it tends to get rather competitive so misbehaviour might land you in hot water with your housemates too!"

Spying the mostly nervous crowd, Flitwick added in a kind tone, "don't fret too much! Everyone in the hall has gone through the same thing! I'll return when we're ready for you." And he left. Will bounced on the balls of his feet and turned to face the crowd with a grin. 

"So guys, are you psyched?" He asked, specifically addressing his group.

Maxine nodded vigorously at Will's question. Of course she was psyched, who wouldn't be? It came to her attention that maybe her brother wouldn't be as he had a look of apprehension. Knitting her brows together, the girl tapped her brother on the shoulder to get his attention, "What's wrong?"

"I didn't think there would be separate houses involved..." Maxine tilted her head not quite sure where her brother was getting at, "What if we end up in different houses?"

Oh. Oh, yeah. That was kinda unsettling. She did not like the idea of being separated from her brother, "W-well, I'm sure we'll end up in the same house! We're twins after all!" While uncertain, she decided to remain optimistic.

Arcruss over hearing Maxines worrying. Mostly children from one family would all be in same house, but being sorted in separate house was not uncommon either. He only was worried if he would be sorted to slythering, he didn't want into any other house. Both his father and mother were slytherings and so were their parents.

He felt ready but nervous to face the sorting.

Coming into the castle, Jennifer listened intently to Flitwick's explanation. This part had already been explained to her actually. She was ecstatic at this point, forgetting all about any bad things that have happened already, and instead turning her head this way and that, trying to tell where the Gryffindors would be sitting, and which teachers were which. She was nervous, though, because she didn't feel 100% confident that she'd make it to Gryffindor. It felt like a test, a privilege to be earned.

Gah, she was sweating at this point. She overheard the others she had met originally talking, and frowned. All she cared about was that they didn't end up in Gryffindor with her, otherwise they can just... go be slytherins for all she cares.

"Yes!" said Laura, in answer to Will's question.

She was more excited at this point than she'd ever been. Of course, she was also extremely nervous. She had no idea what the houses were; or how exactly they'd be sorted. She realized that she might be better prepared for this if she'd cracked open "Hogwarts: A History"; but it was a bit late for that now.

She couldn't help but wonder who here new housemates would be. She hoped that they would be more welcoming of muggle-borns than the girl on the train had. However, she doubted that would be a problem. It seemed unlikely that she'd be sorted into a house full of people that hated her guts.

--

Gabriel, meanwhile, was beginning to get impatient. It seemed to him that they ought to have begun sorting them into houses by now. It was bad enough that he had to sit in a crowded boat on the way over; but now they were having him wait outside the hall?

If he didn't know any better; he'd think his presence meant nothing more to them than the rest of the students.

"Form a line and follow me please," squeaked the diminutive professor, returning. "The Sorting Ceremony is going to begin soon." Will positioned himself at the front of the line and followed Flitwick.

He lead them into what Will could only describe as the most amazing room he'd ever been in. Seemingly infinitely vast with four long tables parallel to each other and topped with golden eating utensils and plates. A fifth table was at the end of the hall where the teachers sat, similarly equipped with plates and the like. Flitwick lead them up to this table and the first years all faced the other students. Will looked around at the staring faces and then watched as Flitwick placed a frayed hat upon a four legged stool in front of the line.

Then, the brim opened and the hat began to sing a song that I can't be arsed to write. It finished with a bow to all the four houses in response to their rapturous applause. "We have to try on a hat? I'm kinda disappointed," Will commented. Flitwick stepped in front of them.

"When I read out your name, please sit on the stool and place the hat on your head. Okay then..." Will tuned out until he heard Flitwick squeak "Carter, Will!"

Will strode out, the picture of confidence. He whipped the hat onto his head and it barely touched his head before the call of "GRYFFINDOR!" came from the hat. Will grinned and strolled off to the far left table which cheered and applauded its first new member. He eagerly waited for his new friends to be sorted and hoped that they would end up in the same house as he.

The twins watched and waited as their peers were called up to the hat. They were anxious and a little excited, Maxine more visibly so than her brother. One of the first names called was some Barnes girl, though neither hadn't been paying much attention to see what house she got sorted into. Then Will was called up and they listened quite closely to see where he had ended up. Maxine couldn't help herself as she clapped and cheered for Will as well. Though, she stopped when given a look from one of the teachers. After that, more names were called, people getting sorted into different house, each table cheering for it's new member.

"Hambledon, Maxine!" At first, she didn't notice her name being called, but a push from her brother and she stumbled forward onto the end of the great hall. Her brow furrowed ever so slightly as she made her way to the hat. When she reached the stool, she placed the hat on her head and waited to be sorted. The hat was sure of where she belonged the moment it was placed on her head and a resounding "GRYFFINDOR!" echoed through the halls followed by the cheers of her new house mates. The girl grinned broadly, making her way to the Gryffindor table and taking a seat next to Will. She then turned to watch as her brother got sorted.

"Hambledon, Maxwell!" As Maxwell made his way to the chair, he heard Flitwick say something along the lines of 'oh, twins!', but he wasn't really paying attention. Like his sister, he placed the hat upon his head and waited to be sorted. Unlike his sister, the hat didn't make a decision right away. There was much chatter between the boy and the hat as he wanted to be in the same house but the hat thought he was more suited for another. Eventually the boy conceded to the hat's choice of house and a yell of "HUFFLEPUFF!" was heard by all.

The siblings shared a glance with eachother before Maxwell made his way to the cheering Hufflepuff table. He found a seat next to a fellow first year girl, one he hadn't gotten to know very well yet.

"Well this sucks," Maxine sighed, turning back to the table.

Samantha hadn't been thrilled about going first out of everyone, especially since she hadn't really gotten to know any other first years yet so she wasn't too confident being in front of everyone else, but since it had gone so easily (The hat immediately called out "Oh I know where you should go, HUFFLEPUFF,") and so many people had given her such applause, she'd simply blushed and smiled as she made her way to the Hufflepuff table. When Maxwell sat next to her, she immediately greeted him with a soft but audible, "Hi! I'm Samantha," he seemed nice, so she wanted to try and be friends with him quickly enough that she wouldn't have to worry about being alone, plus he seemed worried about something and she wanted him to not worry either.

Jennifer was starting to get really nervous. It wasn't right that she was being made to wait until last. It wasn't comfortable ending up being the one who finally stood there, waiting for her name to be called when she knew she was last, "Winston, Jennifer," Her name was finally called and she made her way up to the seat. The hat was placed upon her head, and it sat there for a second, asking if she would truly feel at home in Gryffindor. She insisted it of course, and the hat had no problems whatsoever as it finally called out, "Gryffindor!" She smiled as she made her way over to the Gryffindor table.

"Slytherin!" declared the Sorting hat, shortly after Gabriel put it on his head.

He smirked as he removed the hat, and walked towards the Slytherin table. He knew he'd end up in Slytherin. He sat with the rest of the first years; though he made sure to sit as close to the older kids as possible. They were the ones he really wanted to impress.

He didn't really expect to make any friends; as that would require him to find someone else he actually trusted. However, he might be able to find someone he could respect. At the very least, the kids around him had the ambition and/or cleverness required to get into Slytherin House. That had to count for something, didn't it?

--

As her name was called, Laura nervously walked towards the Sorting Hat. Though it wasn't really all that far; she felt as if the walk was thousands of miles long.

She hoped to get sorted with one of the people she'd met on the train. Though she hadn't really gotten to know any of them; they'd seemed nice enough. Well, most of them anyway. At the very least, she hoped she wasn't put into a house where she was the only Muggle-born.

As the hat was placed upon her head, it told her that Slytherin was most definitely the best place for her. However, it also noted that she had a bit of Gryffindor-like courage in her; and that if she preferred to be sorted with one of her acquaintances from the train, she could simply be put there.

She gave it some serious thought; but came to her decision rather quickly. It occurred to her that even if she wasn't in the same house as the people she'd ridden with; she was still likely to see them in classes. She also couldn't help but be curious about the house that the Sorting Hat wanted to put her in. She decided that if the hat had a good reason to put her in that house; who was she to argue with magical headgear?

"SLYTHERIN!" bellowed the hat.

She got up, and headed towards the Slytherin table. As she did so, she noticed the boy who'd refused to let her sit with him giving her a weird look. As she sat down; she noticed a few of the older students giving her rather dirty looks. She heard someone a few seats down mumble something that sounded like "mud-blood".

It was then that she started to wonder if she'd made the right choice.

"Acruss Seckendorff!" Acruss made his way to sorting hat when his name was called sitting down. He felt bit uneasy when the sorting hat was placed on his head, it only took a short moment before hat shouted the house. " SLYTHERIN!!" The uneasy feeling dropped off from his throath when he heard the house his parents were in and heading toward the house table which cheered for another new member. 

He Saw the boy who was acting high and arrogant in the compartment sitting near seniors. "Heh.. already trying to make impressions are we..." He muttered to himself under his breath before taking a seat in the table bit further away from him sitting next to girl who was also just sorted into same house who seemed a bit uneasy.

Will cheered loudly when Maxine was sorted into Gryffindor, but was far more subdued as Maxwell joined Hufflepuff. It wasn't really fair, Maxwell was a cool guy, very chilled out in contrast to his sister and even Will himself. Will couldn't quite understand what it was like to be separated from a sibling or even a close friend, although his dad left often. This would probably be even worse due to the fact that they were twins. 

"Why are you here? What's brave about being a racist?" Will scowled at Jennifer. A severe looking teacher arose from her position in the largest chair in the middle of the staff table. The headmistress, Minervra McGonagall, Will realised.

"Welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts. Before the feast, I'd like to inform and remind you all of a few points. Firstly, the Forbidden Forest remains forbidden to everyone. Gryffindors, putting each other in mortal danger is not an initiation rite, it's foolish and you will be punished accordingly." Will wondered whether he'd ever hear someone sound more disapproving and scornful.

"Madam Pince has requested I remind all students that library books cannot be taken from the castle, although she appreciates the enthusiasm."

"Second years and above, Quidditch trials are scheduled for the second full week of term, the exact day of the week will be posted in your dormitory."

"This year we will be playing host to a few guest speakers. Your professors may give you more information closer to the time."

"Finally, enjoy the feast." And with that, Professor McGonagall sat and the food materialised on the serving platters on the tables.

"Woah," Will grinned in awe. "What a spread!" He piled meat onto his plate - beef, chicken, pork, lamb. A jug in front of him was filled with an orange liquid which he poured into his goblet. He took a sip - not orange juice, but not unpleasant either. "What's this?" 

"Pumpkin juice," an older student diagonally across from him with a shiny badge affixed to her robes answered promptly. "It's really quite nice, isn't it?"

"Yeah it's not bad. A bit weird though. Hey, Maxine, try this stuff," Will addressed the girl next to him, raising his goblet to her. "Cheers!" he grinned cheesily.

Maxine glared in open contempt at Jennifer. How could she get sorted into Gryffindor and not her brother? She nodded quite vigorously in agreement to Will's comment, but said nothing further to the girl herself. She really wasn't in the mood to get into a fight with the miniature bigot.

When the headmistress rose to speak, Maxine only half listened. Though, the mention of the forbidden forest did catch her attention. She doubted the punishment would be worth the sating of curiosity. The girl was about to go back to only barely paying attention when something else caught her interest.

"Quidditch?" She asked aloud, but no one supplied an answer. Probably because they didn't want to get in trouble with the imposing teacher. 

When McGonagall sat, Maxine felt her eyes widen in awe. Her mouth was practically salivating at all the rich, delicious smells from the magically appearing food. She wanted to say it looked better than the food at home, but she took a bit too much pride in her mother and brother's cooking to admit that. Even so, she began piling food onto her plate a little too happily.

"Huh, wha?" Maxine blinked in confusion, only just now registering Will's question. She glanced at the raised goblet and put two and two together as she poured the juice into her own goblet. She stared at it oddly for a second before she raised it, "Right, cheers!"

---

Maxwell smiled pleasantly at the girl who had just greeted him, "Nice to meet you, Samantha. I'm Maxwell." 

Before either could talk more, the Headmistress rose and began addressing the students.

He had been paying far more attention than his absent minded sister. He was a bit confused by some of the things the headmistress said, but he was sure he'd eventually learn what all those things meant from his upperclassmen. 

When the food materialized, he had mirrored Maxine in wide eyed awe, but in the back of his mind he hoped the food hadn't been made with magic. The idea of food not being cooked was unsettling to the boy. 

He sighed, unintentionally saying aloud, "I don't think I'll ever get used to this."

"Muggle-born, right?" One of the older students asked him, to which Maxwell nodded, "Don't worry about it, even those of us from magic families had a bit of a time adjusting to Hogwarts. You'll do fine."

The boy smiled, feeling a little more reassured about spending his time in this fantastical school.

Jennifer scoffed at Will, "I'll have you know I'm plenty brave..." but she trailed off as the head teacher stood up and everyone's attention was on her. She listened but most of it meant nothing to her. She really wanted to join in on quidditch but unfortunately she wouldn't be allowed to do that this year. But next year, she'll become the star player... yeah!

As the food appeared her eyes lit up a bit, before she started making her plate. She doesn't eat a lot but this food looked so good she might have to try a bit of everything.

-

Samantha was happy that Maxwell returned her greeting, deciding that this guy would be her friend. As she listened to the teacher, she sort of started to sort of daydream instead of listen, wondering what the Forbidden Forest might be like.

When the food appeared, Samantha's mouth began watering at what was the biggest feast she'd ever laid eyes on. She immediately began piling up her plate, with one chicken leg sitting in her mouth. She overheard Maxwell say he was a muggle born, and quickly swallowed what was in her mouth, "Oh! My mum's a muggle-born, you know! We have a little in common already," she put one hand on his shoulder as a sign that they were clearly much closer now because of this... but then she went right back to the food.

Acruss listened carefully McGonagall's speech, taking in every word. When the food appeared infront of him giving a wonderful scent he couldn't help when his mouth started to water up. He felt like he was starving when he started piling food on his plate, snatching every kind to taste. 

The taste reminded him of his mothers and house elf's cooking. "This tastes heavenly~" He said pitcher of pumpkin juice in other hand and scewered meat in other.

Laura stared in awe at the feast that had appeared before her. For a moment, she forgot her unease; and began to eat. The food was delicious; certainly the best she'd had in a while. She briefly wondered if the food was being prepared by someone; or was simply being conjured out of thin air.

She considered asking someone; but realized that the people around her weren't likely to know either. from the train was still giving her weird looks. It was as if her mere presence was offensive to him.


"Excuse me..." she said, addressing the boy. "But is there a reason you're staring at me like that? I should hope I don't have something stuck in my teeth,"


--


Gabriel, meanwhile, was quite surprised when the girl actually spoke to him. He had expected her to be intimidated by him as she had on the train. He still had no idea how someone like her had gotten into Slytherin; as the girl had been too meek to even demand a seat before.


"What's someone like you doing in Slytherin?" said the boy, bluntly.


"The hat seemed to think it was a good idea," she said. "No sense arguing with a hat,"


"Did you beg the sorting hat to let you in?" said Gabriel. "Did you cry and tell it that the only hope someone like you could have of changing your pitiful standing was to be accepted into such a prestigious house..."


"Are you done?" said the girl. "Cause I must tell you, I'm done listening,"


Gabriel glared at the girl, and subconsciously reached for his wand. He wasn't going to take this disrespect from a commoner. Noone talked to him like that!


"If you don't think I'll make good on what I said on the train..." he started to say.


Laura, however, ignored the boy. She seriously doubted he was going to carry out those threats of his; not at the risk of being suspended. She wasn't going to waste her time arguing with him. Instead, she decided, she would talk to the person sitting next to her.

"Hello," she said. "My name is Laura..."

At that point, what looked like a transparent man emerged from the table. "Woah, a ghost!" Will exclaimed in surprise. He looked over to the other house tables where other ghosts had also emerged. 

The Gryffindor ghost was a man in a ruff and tights. "Welcome to the brave and noble house of Gryffindor, first years! I hope you will do us proud. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Sir Ni-"

"Hey, it's Nearly Headless Nick!" One of the older students said.

"My name is Sir Ni-" Began the ghost, stiffly and visibly irritated, but Will interrupted him.

"Hey, Nearly Headless Nick!" He grinned at the ghost, receiving a withering glare. He turned to Maxine, and exclaimed "ghosts!" just in case she hadn't noticed the one right in front of her.

Maxine nearly choked on her drink when the ghosts had appeared. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, No, yeah, Will was definitely acknowledging them so they had to be there. "No, duh," she had said in reply to Will's exclamation. Her eyes were still wide and her expression blank, still trying to comprehend that ghosts were indeed a thing.

Realizing that her slack jawed stare was probable rude, she quickly shook her head and gave her own grin to the ghost, "Nice to meet you, Nearly Headless Nick."

---

Maxwell blinked at Samantha's over enthusiasm but still gave the semblance of politeness by giving her a friendly smile. He quickly noticed how he girl seemed to be enjoying her food, "You like food a lot, don't you? I guess that's another thing we have in common."

"Or actually, I like to make food," Maxwell corrected himself. He was waiting for her response when the ghosts came in. He almost fell out of his seat in fright. But it seemed they were friendly, mostly. Still, the boy's eyes darted around and he definitely appeared more nervous than before.

Jennifer was as surprised as anyone else at the appearance of the ghost, but quickly tried to hide it as if she knew it would happen, "Oh, hello Nearly Headless Nick," despite her acting, she was suddenly curious why he was called "Nearly" headless. He clearly had a head on right there right?

Her false confidence quickly gave way to actual confidence, since her curiosity was now stronger than any fear she might have had, "Uhm, incidentally, why are you called 'Nearly' Headless?" she asked, wondering what kind of response he could possibly give.

------

Samantha quickly turned towards Maxwell, and gave a light gasp, "Ohhhh, we're going to be great friends then! Food is love~" she then unabashedly gave him a hug as if they'd been friends forever, "Then it's decided! We will be friends," her grin was huge, though just as she did before she went back to eating for now. It was as if she hadn't eaten in over a week, with the way she kept prioritizing it in between conversation.

"Acruss, pleasant to meet you." He responded to Laura lifting is pitcher of pumpkin juice and giving a smile. He had noticed how few fellow slytherins gave her disgusting look. Deep in mind already guessed why.
 
Acruss nearly drank pumpkin juice into wrong throat when  Ghost covered in silver colored liquid which was most likely blood appeared by flaoting up through the table staring at few new slytherings before floating away. "Don't mind him, that was Slytherings own house ghost. "Bloody Baron" one of the senior slytherings said before returning eating.

"Nice to meet you Arcruss," said Laura, relieved to find someone at the Slytherin table that would talk to her.

Before she could say anything else; a ghost floated up through the table. It was, in fact, a quite menacing ghost; with blank eyes, and blood covered robes.

For a moment, the ghost looked directly at Laura; causing a shiver to run down her spine. However, the ghost apparently didn't find the first years all that interesting; and left to go do whatever it was that ghosts did in their spare time.

She overheard one of the older kids mention that the house ghost of Slytherin.

She really hoped that didn't mean she would be seeing it again.

Nick harrumphed. "Like this," he muttered, somewhat displeased, and displayed the movement of his only partially attached head to Jennifer - Nick's head was attached to his neck by a small piece of skin - and with one final glare at the two new Gryffindors that had the audacity to treat him in such a manner and drifted down the table.

Will shrugged and called "bye Nick!" after the ghost and waving, completely oblivious to the ghost's displeasure, before grabbing a large bit of meat on bone and tearing a strip off it.

Eventually the plates disappeared and McGonagall directed the school to sing the school song, which Will found odd as it was in various tunes from different people. No knowing the song, Will elected to not join in and instead observed McGonagall who did not seem to massively care for... well, fun really.

After everyone finished singing - at different times - McGonagall declared that it was bedtime. "Good night, prefects will lead first years to the dormitories."

Will observed the people around him and saw signs of fatigue from both the long day and the heavy food, yet Will was wide awake with the new environment to explore. He pushed to the front of the group where there was a tall, well built male prefect and a short and pretty female prefect who were playfully bickering with each other up until they reached a portrait of a large woman in a pink dress.  "Password?" She asked.

"Did you ever notice how the pictures talk?" Will asked Maxine somewhat rhetorically. "Pretty cool eh? I wonder if they have sort of like picture films."

"Nincompoop," the female prefect said. Will frowned and turned to look at her.

"Wha-" The portrait opened, revealing a large hole through which was a cozy room with various armchairs and sofas as well as a log fire. Will hopped through and looked around. "Pretty cool I guess. Could do with a TV."

"Electronics don't work in Hogwarts," the male prefect informed him, adding with a small grin "nincompoop." Will frowned and pouted as the female prefect laughed.

After dinner was over, Maxine wasn't feeling as energetic as Will. A full belly had made her rather sluggish. Even so, she tried her best to keep pace with him and walked with him at the front of the group. The girl nearly jumped when she heard the portrait ask for a password.

"Yeah, cool," She replied, trying to blink out of her surprised stupor. Maybe there was something to that magic camera her father had given the siblings. 

She walked in after Will and looked around the common room. It was pretty nice and seemed to be cozy enough. Though, the lack of electronics was disappointing. She already knew not to expect that, however. "On the bright aside, we'll be learning cool magic, so who even needs a TV?"

---

Maxwell sputtered when he was suddenly hugged by the energetic girl. He flushed slightly from the contact, not quite comfortable getting hugged by strangers. "Sure, friends then," he mumbled, but the smile that appeared on his face didn't go away, even as he went back to his food. He had made a friend and didn't even need to have his sister with him to hold his hand.

Maybe this whole separate houses thing wouldn't be such a bad idea.

After the plates disappeared and they had sung the school song, the hufflepuff new years were led away by the prefects. They were led to a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor. There, a stack of barrels stood, making Maxwell wonder where exactly the entrance was. 

It was then that the male prefect stepped forward and tapped the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row in a particular rhythm. It was then that the lid swung open and revealed a passage way. It was relatively small and looked as if one must crawl through it rather than just step inside.

"Alright, go in one at a time," The female prefect instructed, "No pushing or trying to squeeze in with someone else."

---

A little later that night, Maxine walked into the room she was assigned in. She wanted nothing more than to just pass out on her bed. She didn't get to have that luxury. As the gods would deem it, she would find herself face to face with the one girl she wanted least to see. Great, she was rooming with the one person in her house that discriminated against her. 

The blonde's lips pursed and she had to bite back a snide comment. Instead, she just pushed past the girl and nearly groaned aloud when she realized her bed was closest to Jennifer's. She shot a silent glare at her, almost daring her to say something before flopping onto her bed and making a point of sleeping with her back toward her unwelcome roommate.

Acruss felt extremely sleepy after the meal, feeling glad that the meal ended . Following obediently the Prefect that lead all the Slytherins first year students to dormitory.  Prefect lead all down the stairs until they all arrived infront a portrait. Portrait suddenly started moving and looked at prefect with snobbish manner. "Password." It said before Prefect spoke.

"Parcels tongue." Prefect said clearly. Portrait nodded and swun open revealing a door into common rooms. "Alright, one at the time No pushing!"He instructed.

When Acruss got his turn to step inside he was struct awe by Common room's design. dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs. Giving the light in the room a green tinge. Lots of low backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas; skulls; and dark wood cupboards. It had quite a grand atmosphere, but also quite a cold one. Acruss was quite sure he saw something go past the window, he then just realized that the common room extended under the lake.

"Boy dorms are at left and girls at right!" Prefect announced before returning to his duties.

Jennifer gave a sound of indignation at how gross Nick's nearly headless-ness was, when he showed why he had that nickname. Then just sat there for most of the rest of the meal.

When it was time for the school song, she didn't know the lyrics for the song so she just sort of hummed along with the rest of the students best she could. As the song ended, she got up and followed the rest of her house, a bit of pride in her expression at being with all her fellow Gryffindors (Even the ones she didn't currently like). As they came up to the portrait of the lady, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at the password and then again at the prefect's little joke. She then followed the rest of her classmates into the common room.

For just a few moments, she thought how great this year probably was going to be.

-----

But then she made it to her room, and that mudblood girl from the train was there. She gave a sound of indignation and made a face back at the girl, challenging her glare. She wouldn't just back down from this. That girl was eventually going to learn to respect her, she would be sure of it.

In any case, she made her way to her own bed, sighed slightly as she pulled the curtains on the side of her bed for privacy and laid down. She had intended on sitting there brewing over how annoying this girl was, but the tiredness from the day and from the meal finally caught up to her and she passed out remarkably quickly.

-----

Samantha was just as talkative and energetic on the way to the Hufflepuff Dormitories as she was at dinner, making comments about the various moving images everywhere, even actually greeting several of the paintings. When they walked into the kitchen to make it to the common room, she was extremely distracted by the fact that they were near food, forgetting to keep talking though noticing that they came to a dead end with barrels. When the path to the common room was shown, she had to smile at how great that was.

Bidding Maxwell goodnight, she made her way up into her own room. Once she found her stuff she immediately released Salty, her brightly blonde cat, from his cage, "There ya go buddy," and then she started rummaging through her stuff. She found what she was looking for, a small bag full of "Every flavored beans". She set it beside her bed where she could quickly and easily reach it if she decided she wanted to snack on something in the middle of the night. Then, she laid to bed for the night, with all the excitement of being at a wizarding school coming back to her and keeping her up for a while before she finally managed to sleep. (Also the beans probably helped keep her up since she would munch on them now and then)

"Don't you wonder how they got our shit upstairs?" Will asked, piling sausages onto his plate with a yawn. He had a late night, getting to know the guys in his dorm. He had obviously established himself as the big personality, although there were some strong figures in there and others that made Will wonder just why they were in the house of the brave. Despite getting on with his dorm mates, he had immediately gravitated towards Maxine.

Today his classes started. He had Defence Against the Dark Arts first, which was ran by a Japanese lady professor with some weird name that Will struggled to memorise. Later was broom practice, which Will looked forward to as a sports fan who had been drilled on Quidditch in the night. Will was a fierce Chelsea Football Club supporter which had caused him to have a banterous argument with a muggle-born in his dorm who was an Arsenal fan.

"Do we have the same timetable?" Will asked, sliding his parchment with his lesson schedule over. He found the parchment and quill thing kind of odd. Quills would take some getting used to.

Laura stared in awe at the interior of the castle as the prefect lead them towards their dorms. The portraits moved around on their own; and the stairs changed positions at random. She had never seen a school as amazing as this one!


Soon they'd entered the dorms; and she'd headed to the girls dorms. She was pleased to find the other first year girls became a bit more sociable once they were alone in the room together. At the very least, no one seemed to be glaring at her; or insulting her to her face.


As she began to unpack her things; she wondered if Slytherin house might not be so bad after all.


--

The next morning, Laura woke up, got dressed; and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. She picked a seat next to the boy she'd talked to yesterday (Arcruss, she believed his name was). Had she been paying attention to the person sitting on the other side of that particular seat; she would likely have found another seat; as far away from this one as she could find.

However, she'd been preoccupied with wondering what kind of classes she was going to be taking in magic school. Thus, she didn't really notice that she'd just sat next to the boy who'd been rude to her the day before.

"You must have a lot of nerve to think that common trash like yourself deserves a seat next to me..." said Gabriel.

The next morning Maxine had made sure to wake up before her unwanted roommate. It was a good thing her family lived on some farmland and she was a relatively early riser. She didn't want to be anywhere near the unpleasant girl, at least more than she'd have to.

When she got to the Great Hall, she quickly spotted her brother already sitting down and eating with another first year girl. She walked up to him and grabbed the bread he was about to put in his mouth out of his hand.

"Thanks, brother~" She said in a sing songy voice as she ruffled his hair. She only laughed at the glare and raspberry he blew her, turning and heading to the Gryffindor tables to sit with Will.

"Magic, I guess," Maxine answered his question with a shrug. The girl might have questioned 'how's' more thoroughly if they weren't attending a school for witchcraft and wizardry. "Maybe we'll learn the spell they used for it, eventually."

When Will pushed over his timetable, she looked over it, pulling out her own to compare, "Oh, yeah, looks like we share a schedule."