General The Slytherin Table 2018-2019

Bridget sat down at the Slytherin table, listening to the people around her. She was so excited to be at Hogwarts which was a dream compared to Muggle school.

After the Headmaster had given his welcoming speech, food appeared on her plate. And not just any food--this was an arrangement of roasted chicken, boiled potatoes, steaming bowls of soup, and an assortment of treats (including her personal favourite, pumpkin pie), along with a wide variety of other delectable foods.

She sat in silence, savoring the meal, while she listened to some of the people around her. A few feet down, a girl, who introduced herself as Brynlee, was talking rather fast to a friendly-looking girl named Camille. She listened intently to their conversation but didn't join in. She had never been great with the whole 'small talk' thing. Besides, she usually only talked to the people close to her.

She had been staring down the orange drink in front of her, trying to figure out what it was. When Camille called it pumpkin juice, a wave of disgust washed over her. Pumpkin Juice? Thoughts of drinking slimy pumpkin guts rushed through her head. She had figured the wizarding world would be different, but seriously. Who would want to drink pumpkin juice?

But Camille and Brynlee seemed to think it was delicious, guzzling it down with contented expressions. Apprehensively, Bridget reached for the goblet. She took a tiny sip, preparing to be absolutely disgusted.

But it was delicious. This was arguably the most wonderful tasting drink she had had in her life. She eagerly gulped down more, savoring the sweetness.

And then she spilled it all over herself.

“Ohh, that makes sense.” Brynlee nodded, then giggled as well. “Yeah, that’d be weird. Imagine being friends with your old professor.” She shook her head and sighed. "That'd be really weird..." 
Then Camille paused to eat, and so did Brynlee. When the food reached her mouth, she sighed and closed her eyes. “Gosh, this food is so good, don’t you think?” Brynlee chuckled as she opened her eyes.

“I am most certain that my favourite class is going to be Defence Against the Dark Arts. But Potions and Charms sound really fun too.” Brynlee took a sip of pumpkin juice. “Oh! I totally forgot about Transfiguration! That sounds so interesting, and I want to become an animagus, so of course I’m looking forward to Transfiguration!” Brynlee laughed again just as another girl sat down next to them.

The new girl seemed hesitant to take a drink from her goblet, but when she did, Brynlee smiled and scooted closer to her. “I know!  Isn’t it amazing!?” Just then, the girl spilt the drink all over herself, a little splash landing on Brynlee’s robes. She gasped and immediately grabbed napkins, dabbing the liquid off of her robe, then moving on to the other girls lap. “Oh, I am so so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you!”

Camille listened with a smile to everything Brylee was saying. The girl was certainly chatty, Camille would give her that. Well, that's a good thing, I guess, because of how quiet I am. She was just about to agree with what Brynlee said about animaguses and Transfiguration when the girl on Brynlee's other side suddenly spilled her pumpkin juice all over her lap and some on Brynlee's too. Brynlee was already apologizing profusely and wiping it off of the girl with napkins. Camille glanced quickly at the High Table to make sure no one was watching. Alright, good. She discreetly slipped her wand out from beneath her robes and pointed it at the mess. A few well-chosen words, and the orange splotches were gone from the robes of Brynlee and the other girl. The sopped up napkins in Brynlee's hands vanished as well. "That should do it," she murmured, hiding her wand under the black fabrics again. Another spare glance at the High Table lead to a sigh of relief: none of the professors seemed to noticed the little accident. Having been assured of that, Camille turned and leaned forward to see the girl around Brynlee. "Are you okay?" she asked kindly.

Bridget felt her face turn bright red. If she wanted to make any friends here, soaking her robes with pumpkin juice wasn't a good first impression. She desperately wished that she could disappear for a very, very long time until everyone forgot about this. Looking up, she was relieved to see that Camille and Brynlee were the only ones that had noticed. Still though, she had begun to think they might be people she would want to be friends with.

Brynlee had seized both of their ornately sewn cloth napkins and started mopping up the mess. Meanwhile, Camille suspiciously glanced over at the High Table. After a moment she slipped a hand into her robes and muttered something under her breath. Then the dripping mess, which Brynlee had only managed to smear about (instead drenching the napkins), disappeared.

Even through her embarrassment, Bridget recognized that she had just seen someone do magic. She wondered what the spell was and where Camille had learned it.

Both Camille and Brynlee were looking at her with concern and asking if she was okay. Urging herself to not be awkward, she responded with the slightest shake in her voice.

"I-I'm fine. Thank you. Oh, and it's fine, you weren't trying to startle me, you were just trying to be friendly. I'm Bridget Collins by the way," she finished lamely. She really hoped Brynlee had something to say to fix her blundering social skills.

Interacting with @Blaire Newton

Finding somewhat of a thing in common with Blaire’s Muggle heritage, Andrew replied, “So, you’re a half-witch? I mean—” He corrected himself quickly “—A half-blood?” His mind and tongue still tripped over the list of wizarding terms that ought to be common knowledge to most wizards his age, but Andrew had accepted the fact that he was going to be making a whole lot of those basic little mistakes. His confidence wasn’t shaken in that respect.

“How's it like? …Being a half-blood, I mean.” Andrew stumbled to explain, curiosity gnawing at him, not knowing how to properly word his question. That was when nervousness wavered in his voice and composure. “Well, growing up and all… wizard life and Muggle life… How's it like being half-and-half? Is one half more dominant than the other, or… How's it like for you?” All Andrew had known about was the Muggle life. Wizard life seemed like a whole different world entirely. But for a half-blood, he wondered what the differences were in having a foot in both worlds. Was it challenging? How did they come to learn about magic? He supposed the answers would vary, depending upon the person and their upbringing, whether or not they were shut out from one world or allowed to mingle in both worlds. Andrew was interested.

Right away, it seemed like he had delved into a more personal subject to interview Blaire about. Andrew hoped he wasn’t pushing any of his conversation on the girl, if she wanted to be left alone, or if she didn’t want to discuss it.

When Brynlee noticed that Camille used a spell to clean up the mess, she smiled and set the now soaked napkins on the table. “Nice!” She smiled in approval of the spell, even though she wasn’t he happiest that Camille used magic without permission, but it’s only the first day, so she shrugged it off.

“What was the spell? Scourgify? Where’d you learn how to do it?!” Brynlee looked between Camille and the girl, who just introduced herself as Bridget. “Hiya, Bridget! This is Camille Whatever-her-last-name-is, future mediwizard at St. Mungos, and Head Nurse of Hogwarts, and I’m Brynlee Avalon Sage, Future Best Auror the Ministry has ever seen!”

Brynlee had a huge smile on her face as she looked to Bridget. “What about you? You kind of look like… A professor of something. Ooh! Maybe a Professor of Herbology!” She turned to Camille. “Doesn’t she look like a Professor of Herbology? Like, I can just see her in green robes, with, like, a flower crown!” She turned back to Bridget. “You’d look really pretty with a flower crown. Not that you’re not pretty without one! I’m just saying…” She looked down at her plate and took a bite, wanting someone else to fill the silence.

'At least I'm dry now,' Bridget thought. That made this whole thing a little less awkward. Unfortunately, she had the feeling that, at least for a long while, all Camille and Brynlee would remember about her was her spilling her pumpkin juice on herself.

As she had hoped, Brynlee had fixed the conversation. Bridget had, of course, already known their names from listening to their conversation, but she didn't want to seem like a stalker.

Apparently, Brynlee wanted to be an Orer (or something...) and Camille was going to be a mediwizard at St. Mungos (whatever that was) and Head Nurse of Hogwarts. She grinned to herself. It was obvious they had ambitions--no wonder they were Slytherins.

Me, a Professor of Herbology? From what she knew about Herbology, there was no way she would be interested enough to teach a class on it. But Brynlee had been pretty close to what she thought she wanted to do. Having wanted to be a chemist, Bridget thought she might pursue a career in Potions, maybe as a Hogwarts professor. This would be an awesome place to teach. But, she wasn't quite sure yet and figured she would need to learn more about the wizarding world before choosing a profession.

"Not a Herbology teacher. I mean, I'm new to the wizarding world, but I think I want to do something with Potions. Maybe Potions Master here?" She took a spoonful of mashed potatoes, swallowing it before continuing. "By the way, what's an Orer? And what's St. Mungo's?"

Even though she wasn't comfortable with social situations, she realized she wasn't the only awkward one. Brynlee was the exact opposite--she talked a lot when she met new people. Maybe, just maybe, they might make good friends.

Every time that Sage sat down at the Slytherin table, she felt wrong, like she wasn't supposed to be here. The hat had put her here, but Sage couldn't help but think the hat had been wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. What could she do though, except try to fit in? So she did not shy away from sitting at the Slytherin table for meals (although she did shy away from the Common Room until curfew hit and she had nowhere else she could be); she had to eat, and she would not let her unease stop her from that, at least. Even if she was in the wrong house, it did not mean that she couldn't make the best of the situation. It would just... take her time to get used to it, was all.

She began to pile various food items onto her plate, not really paying attention to what she was picking up. Sage simply wanted to eat as fast as she could, and then get back to the library, where she was excited to start going through all the books that would teach her more about the magical world; after all, as a Muggle-born, she still had a lot to learn.

[quote]Raising her eyebrows slightly at the term half-blood, she turned and faced him directly. Blaire could feel the heat rise to her cheeks. She was raised that that term wasn’t something to be proud of. Her mother had come from a very old, very prominent pure-blood family. When her mother went against her grandparent’s wishes and started dating her father, they were angered and humiliated. But they couldn’t disown their only living heir. Still, the Turner family turned up their noses at the mention of Blaire’s father’s muggle upbringing.

” Well, I suppose you could call me that. Though I don’t think it’s proper etiquette to judge someone based solely off what blood type they are.” Blaire could hear the snootiness rise in her voice uncontrollably. She didn’t mean to sound so harsh. It was just how her mother raised her. Anytime her father mentioned his parents she removed herself from the conversation. Personally, Blaire could care less about the whole thing. She enjoyed her muggle grandparents, though she didn’t see them that much. They were always friendly enough and sent pretty good presents at Christmas time.

Blaire shouldn’t judge. The boy seemed just honestly curious. It didn’t appear that he was trying to poke fun at her. ”I don’t get to spend much time with my father’s family, they are all muggles. We mainly see my mother’s family, which has a long history of pure bloods. I don’t care either way, really, I like both sides just the same. I didn’t grow up in the muggle world though. My mother would have never aloud it. Even our servants for the most part are all magical. Except our driver, his mother was a witch, but his father is a muggle. He didn’t gain her abilities. Nice guy though.”

Turning back in her seat to face the table, she let her eyes glance around. She didn’t want everyone to overhear their conversation, and someone make the wrong assumption about her. The whole blood type debate could sometimes be upsetting so some people. It didn’t determine Blaire’s opinion about a person though. She could find plenty of other things to judge a person on.

[quote]

Interacting with @Blaire Newton

He could sense the unease in Blaire’s tone and posture, but waited and listened until she finished speaking. “Oh,” was all he could think of to comment, drawing a blank for words. It was fascinating to learn about Blaire’s life in the magical world, but Andrew was a little ashamed that had nothing to contribute on about it. All he knew was the Muggle world, and his life seemed pretty boring in comparison with Blaire’s. But at least she was neutral about it. It wasn’t like she had any control over the world she was born and grew up in. Same as him. Although, Andrew did feel as lowly as a pauper when Blaire started talking about servants and a driver. From what Andrew had gleaned so far, the word “pure blood” might as well equal “rich”. Well, most of them were, those that he had encountered, anyways. Pure bloods were like the nobles and royals of the wizarding world, based on his first impression. Not that it shook his confidence or made him feel any bias, but he was gradually becoming more aware of the social statuses that blood types were typically associated with.

“I always wanted to know what it’s like, growing up in the magical world,” he mused aloud with awe. “The way you describe your life, it seems like royalty. Ahem, excuse me,” he said to Blaire, figuring it would be best to warn her first, before turning his attention to the important task of licking up the remnants of chocolate frosting from his plate that couldn’t otherwise be scraped clean with a fork. Though he was sure licking his plate qualified as “bad manners”, Andrew did so anyways, as inconspicuously as he could to hide his face with the plate while swiping his tongue all over it. He knew Blaire and everyone else within several seats’ radius were probably giving him weird looks, but Andrew didn’t care. Why let good cake go to waste if it could be helped?

Setting the washed plate down, Andrew wiped his face thoroughly with a napkin, before resuming the conversation. “Well, anyways, I’m from London. I have a mum, a dad, my big sister Stacy, and my little brother Kyle. We have two cats and three fish. I got my letter this April, and, well, that was the first time I heard about magic and all that.” He flicked his gaze over the countless sea of heads. “I hear a lot of kids have a ‘first sign’ of magic when they’re younger, but I never had any. Least until I went to the wand shop,” he partially mumbled. He wasn’t entirely uncomfortable about revealing that sort of information, but the truth of the matter was still puzzling to him. He hadn’t experienced any sort of odd or unusual sign that would’ve hinted he could be capable of doing magic. “What about you? Did you have any sort of ‘first sign’?”