General The Hufflepuff Table 2019-2020

Settling down into at the Hufflepuff table, she took a moment to let herself calm down before casting glances at those around her. While most seemed to be watching the rest of the sorting, others weren't in order to keep whispered conversations with the people seated by them. The older students intimidated her just a little, though she knew it was really just her nerves-she'd get over them soon enough, right? As the minutes went by, however, she grew just slightly bored...and more than just slightly hungry.

Oh, I hope my stomach doesn't growl too loudly. When does the food come? Better yet, WHERE does the food come from?

It took her until that moment to notice that there was nothing other than goblets and pitchers of drinks- water, tea, and what seemed to be some sort of sweet, orange looking juice.

I wonder what that is..

But whatever may come, she decided to make as much of it as possible..and leave no stone unexamined while she explored.

Wouldn't hurt to have someone with me while I did so. Never know what will happen in an old, magical school.

While she thought to herself, she did not realize that she was staring at someone nearly opposite of her. Hopefully they would not take too much offense to that..or think her weird..

Ross had just recently been sorted into Hufflepuff. It was only a bit after Elowen when he had took a seat. He took deep breaths. While his father was a wizard, he was not quite certain of which house was. Thanks to the Sorting Hat's song and a slight bit of his Hufflepuff father's advice, he luckily knew a small bit of what each house was about. To him, all that mattered was that he was alright.

He still was not sure what to except from this school. After all, everything was simply so enchanting. The flying candles astonished Ross, and to him he already felt like he had entered a completely new dimension. Of course, as a mystery novel fanatic he was somewhat skeptical. Was all of this just a dream? That was always such a stereotypical plot to use, so he sincerely hoped otherwise. The intensity of everything made his head buzz. He had not felt a feeling this breathtaking in ages.

He was about to listen in to some conversations to comprehend what he was getting into, but he noticed someone staring just across the table. He was somewhat concerned at first, had he done something wrong by accident? He looked back and fourth for a moment to see if she was staring at anyone else, but nope. It seemed she was staring at him. He pointed at himself and mouthed "me?"

When she did not respond, he suddenly realized she was probably deep in thought. Normally he respected other's personal space and would leave the situation alone, but the intensity of the Great Hall had caught up to him. Besides, it was rather now than never to meet someone. He snapped his fingers in hopes she would snap out of it.

"Pardon?" is all he decided to say.

It was better to keep it short anyways. The room was rather deafening anyways, so chances were they would not hear much of what he would say if he were to say something long.

Jane smiled at all the Hufflepuffs that had previously been sorted and the ones in higher years as she sat down at the table. She was so happy to be there and just couldn't wait for this year to start. She started thinking about what classes she may be taking and how exciting learning at this school was going to be. As she was lost in her thoughts about this new school and the year ahead, Jane looked at the people who she was sitting closest. She had sat down next to a boy who was wearing glasses and noticed that the girl across from him was probably lost in her thoughts as well because she was staring blankly ahead. She smiled at them both as she said, "Hello! My name's Jane, what yours?" As she looked down at the table and saw her empty goblet, Jane grabbed a pitcher and poured herself some tea. She took a sip and sighed while thinking, Tea always hits the spot.

She looked around at the rest of the table where there were empty plates and hoped that they would have her favorite dish, shepherd's pie, somewhere. Pointing at a table in the middle of the room, she said to the others, "Oh, there's the food! I'll be right back." The girl was starving after her nervousness and excitement of being sorted. She walked over with her empty plate and grabbed a little bit of everything she saw. There was some shepherd's pie, a cornish pastie, yorkshire pudding and some slices of roast beef with mash on the side. With a small smile on her face, Jane walked back to the table and took her seat. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and sent out a silent prayer thanking the house elves for the food before she started eating. Her eyes opened and she looked at the two she had introduced herself to previously and stated, "I'm starved. They even had shepherd's pie over there! My favorite." The girl then started to dig into the food on her plate while stopping to take sips of the tea in her goblet. The food was delicious and she already felt that she was going to go back for seconds.

Ross had hardly noticed @Jane Owens sitting next to him, so he felt somewhat startled when he heard the enthusiastic greeting. He glanced back at @Elowen Manglewood ,who seemed still lost in the space of her mind. and decided it was best to leave her to it until she realized that they were attempting to contact her.

"The name is Ross!" he yelled over the loud voices of the surrounding students.

Ross was normally quiet at his school, but he supposed since this would be somewhat of a good time to make some friends and maybe even have a new start. Everything just seemed so different here. The entire place felt like an entirely new world. How could someone get lost in their thoughts when everything here was just as magical? He could never have dreamed of something as ravishing as the school he had only heard of months ago. It was amazing, how could nobody that did not contain magic see it? Half of him wished he had asked his father more questions, and the other half was grateful he got to experience everything for himself.

He was snapped out of his admiring thoughts when he heard the word 'food.' Food. That was right.

"Food?" he inquired.

Once he saw her get up, he quickly noticed the empty plates. He followed her, and was a little shocked by how much variety they had. This was much better than cafeteria food! For a place hidden from society, this seemed to come from everywhere. He was somewhat overwhelmed and had no clue what to choose, so he went with the only food he knew could not go wrong: Roast Beef with some bread on the side. He wasn't certain why he didn't go with the normal food choice that went with Roast Beef, but he was somewhat hurrying. On the bright side, he was fairly certain that anything that looked like bread couldn't taste crummy.

Ross made sure to keep up the pace with Jane. He hardly knew his way around the place, and he was fairly anxious he would even manage to get lost in a clear room with hardly anything in it. Once she started heading back, he made sure to keep her in his sight so he would be able to remember where his seat was. He hurried after her, and managed to hear the end of her joy over Shepard's pie!

"How do they manage to get so much variety?" he asked while fumbling with the piece of bread in his hands.

He suddenly was beginning to feel somewhat less hungry, but he knew that was just him getting distracted. He took a small bite out of the bread. It proceeded to exceed his low expectations for everything in a moment. It seemed just like at his mother's bakery, but maybe better? Either way, he decided to dig into the rest of his food.

Quinn sat crossed legged at the end of the table, her robe hood pulled up over her eyes, hiding the lack of sleep she had received the night before. She pushed around her food with her fork, sneering at the choices that were laid around her. With her other hand, she began to tap a rhythm of her own making. Eventually she began to hum, then mumble words, making them up as she went.

Quinn sang about the table, the food, the people, the castle and anything her mind thought of. However, following her own attitude, most of the verses were complaints, from the bad food to the too large castle. Quinn was rarely positive when alone and now wasn’t an exception.

After becoming bored of her music, Quinn stood and paced around the oak table, listening in on conversations between peers, picking up on the latest gossip. She laughed at the boys who talked about their attraction to certain girls. She pitied the girls that were focused on getting the attention of certain boys. Foolish, she thought to herself. There are much better things to talk about than each other. Quinn rolled her eyes, bored, and sat at the other end of the table, going back to her sulking.

Ross was already somewhat overwhelmed. He was fairly nervous this entire conversation would end up failing miserably, and he would end up alone for the rest of the school year. Speaking of which, how many years did this school have? He still was not sure of anything, and he had never exactly bothered to ask. After he gulped down his food, he realized two things. The first thing was that he was much hungrier than he had originally thought. The second was that he had ate expeditiously, and probably looked like an absolute slob. Of course, that would not be too far off. He never was good with table manners in the first place. He hoped Jane and Elowen were too distracted to notice.

He straightened himself up, brushed off the crumbs of bread on him, and fixed his glasses. They looked around, hoping to find someone who actually wasn't dozing off at this table. All he wanted was to figure out what was going on, and what would be happening next. He glanced over the area. The majority of the people were indulged in loud, excited conversation. He would listen in, but it was so loud that one conversation would blend in with the next. As he glanced, he noticed a girl who looked so annoyed and so bored that he knew that she was likely the only one available to ask. Besides, who could be bored in a place like this? She had to know more about this school than he did.

He picked up his plate and pretended to go get in food. He grabbed a piece of bread as an alibi, also because he loved bread, then looped back to where @Quinn Brooks was. While Ross thought he was smart, he realized it likely would have been a better idea to just walk up to her. It was not as if she was that far away, and it did not seem anyone was really enforcing any rules. Now that he thought of it, was this even a school? It all seemed too surreal to him. He tapped her on the shoulder as lightly as he could in hopes to not come off as abrupt or rude.

"Pardon, What are we doing after this? he inquired, plate with a loaf of bread still in hand.

He really did not wish to come off as a buffoon on the first day, and truly hoped someone like her could help him out.

Quinn looked up slowly and yawned, keeping her eyes still under the shadow of her hood. She brushed off her robe where he touched her, keeping all her movements slow and calm, as if she was trying to stay silent. She turned from the table, resting an elbow on the edge, looking up at the boy who spoke. Pulling off her hood she revealed matching deep blue hair and eyes, both of which showed she had just woken up from a heavy sleep before coming to eat. She yawned once more, covering her mouth completely, then she spoke, softly as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear. “I’m not too sure. Here lately I’ve just been wandering the castle. With it being summer camp and all, there’s not much to do outside of the activities they plan.”

Shrugging, she turned back to her food and began to push it around once more. Hesitant, she turned back to the boy who hadn’t left her like she had hoped, and looked up at him. She smirked as she studied his posture, features and the bread in his hand. “I’ll be willing to answer any other questions though. I read quite a lot,” she added, breaking the silence that she had created.

Which is why I’m surprised to be in Hufflepuff of all houses, she thought to herself, shaking her head while glancing around the table seated by blue robes. Quinn longed to be with them, as her only memory of her mother was that she was wise and witty, a characteristic of Ravenclaw, even when she was a Muggle.

"How do they manage to get so much variety?" Ross had asked. Jane covered her mouth after she shoved a piece of roast into her mouth. She chewed, swallowed and took a sip of her tea before answering @Ross Stephens question. But before she could finish he had gotten up and went to get more food. She had wanted to explain about the house elves making their food and working in the kitchens but didn't seem to have time to before he was gone. The girl shrugged and went to take a sip from her goblet until she realized it was empty. Instead of tea this time she picked up the pitcher that had pumpkin juice in it to change up her taste buds. Jane took a sip of the juice, "Mmmm," she hummed quietly. "Pumpkin juice is one of my favorites and this one is the best I've had." She smiled and look around hoping that she would be able to talk with someone about Hogwarts.

She got up to get some more food on her plate before looking for somewhere else to sit and maybe get to talk. Her new plate consisted of a cornish pastie and bread this go around. The girl grabbed her goblet and walked over to where she had seen Ross move to at the end of the table. She saw he had ask the girl that was sitting there a question. Jane didn't want to butt in to their conversation so just sat down and waited a second before speaking. Since her parents had told her about their time in Hogwarts, she said quietly, "I think after everyone is done here the prefects show us to our common rooms." She wasn't even sure if they had heard her because of how loud everything was. After looking at them both she looked back at her food and started eating small bites of bread. Jane swallowed the bread and took a sip of her drink before speaking again. "My name's Jane. What's yours? She asked, introducing herself to the girl with blue hair. She had hoped she wasn't being weird or anything as she only wanted to make friends.

OOC: Just wanted to say I'm not super replying in here so that others can post as well

He felt uncomfortable. Perhaps getting up to ask a question was a mistake after all. He was well aware she meant well, but something just felt odd about the conversation. He began listening for anything else to talk of that he could bounce off of from any other conversation in the background. Maybe a simple remark before the thanks just to save the chat. He became somewhat lost in his head while trying to figure out what to do. So much in fact, he did not notice @Jane Owens sit near them. He would have jumped of surprise if she had been any louder.

"I think after everyone is done here the prefects show us to our common rooms." she had said, in which he became eternally grateful. He was glad to have at least some clue of the labyrinth he considered himself trapped in. He turned around and grinned to her, finally taking a proper seat.

"The common rooms? Where in the world could those be located?" He asked, taking a bite of the bread in hand.

He seemed genuinely curious. He made a mental note that assumed this girl must have at least some sort of experience with this place, or at least have been told some bits beforehand. As he waited for a response, he took a quick glance around. There sure were an abundant amount of kids here. How would there even be enough places to sleep for this many? This place was becoming more and more of an enigma by the second. He took a look at this girl. She seemed somewhat trustworthy and open just by her demeanor. The Stephens were not one to just throw their trust away, but in a place as tall and as complicated as this place had already had come off as he had decided he needed to put his trust somewhere. Maybe they could become friends? He was unsure, but it was worth a shot.

"Do you know much of this school?" he inquired.

He had no idea how to ask if she could show him where everything was, or maybe just help him get to the common room sometime. His most surprising concern at the moment was the fear of getting lost within the halls of such an entangling place. He had seen glances just while coming in, and he was well aware the building was humongous. It looked like a place a crime scene would take place after a wealthy dinner, and this both excited and terrified him.