General The Hufflepuff Table 2019-2020

Somewhere at the Hufflepuff Table...

Teiki had just been sorted. She was still a little giddy from all the excitement as she down at the Hufflepuff Table, holding onto the table a little to steady herself. She giggled and let go. Before her was an enormous array of food. She was surprised at how much of the food she hadn't realized actually excited. The entire table was covered with food and decorations and smiling Hufflepuffs of any year. It was a marvelous site. She looked around before simply grabbing food and putting it on to her plate. It all looked so good. She had already made one friend, whom she hoped to stay in touch with. In this excitement and confusion, though, she couldn't find her. Teiki shrugged. She could always owl her, but Teiki was pretty sure she had heard her friends name being called with the house of Hufflepuff. Now could be considered a time of celebration. Teiki pondered that as she ate, making sure she didn't eat just sweets, but also had fruits and vegetables. At least, they looked like fruits and vegetables. They seemed far tastier than what she normally ate for fruits and vegetables. She smiled and continued to eat, looking around for anyone she could talk to.

(Open to interactions)

The Hufflepuff Table was heaped with food enough to feed an army troop. Ginny could not help but notice that there were different kinds of bread loaves, butter, jams of all flavours, sandwiches, all sorts of pastries, meats of beef and chicken and fish, and also fruits. The pitchers too, held several options of beverage.

It was a noisy place. Some students were putting food on their plates, some were chatting, and some even tried to get the ghosts' attention. It was all so unfamiliar for Ginny, who got used to stillness, that she was a bit nervous and unsure what to do.

First, she took two slices of wheat bread and made herself a sandwich of smoked salmon, and then she served herself a quiche. However, it was quite awkward to eat in silence when almost everyone around her was talking to each other.

Ginny, an introvert, was not sure how to grab a stranger's attention and started a conversation. This made her down a little, but just then, the girl sitting beside her looked around the table. The two's eyes met. The black-haired girl, @Teiki Laurent, smiled. Ginny hurriedly smiled back and spoke with her friendly voice, "Hi, my name's Ginevra. Or simply call me Ginny. What's yours?"

@Ginevra Tsuchiya

Teiki smiled. Someone to talk to! Everyone else was already talking to people, and it sounded like a confusing mess. The other girl appeared to be a First Year as well. The girl had blonde hair and what Teiki thought to be a timid smile. The girl quickly told her that her name was Ginevra.
"Hello, Ginevra! My name's Teiki. I like your hair." Teiki smiled, before looking around the table. She mainly noticed all the sweets shimmering in their foil wraps. Then, she looked at the other students have conversations with each other. Everyone else seemed to be perfectly fine, but Teiki was so used to talking to her family. She was slightly upset at the skills. Quickly, she looked back at Ginevra and blushed.
"Are you a First Year, too? What classes do you really want to take?" Teiki asked. She paused, letting Ginevra speak. Then, Teiki couldn't contain her excitement and curiosity.
"Isn't this so exciting? I wonder what we'll learn." Teiki smiled and blushed. She took another bite of the food before her and looked back at the fellow Hufflepuff.
"Do you like the House you're in?"
Teiki realized how many questions she had asked in so little time, and apologized quickly.

@Teiki Laurent

Ginevra laughed a bit shyly - not at her new classmate, but out of gladness that someone seemed to be interested in chatting with her.

"Nice to meet you, Teiki," she said. "Oh, and thank you for your kind words. You look lovely as well!"

After pausing to take a breath, Ginevra continued. "Yes," she smiled, "I'm also a first-year. New here. And I can't wait to enroll in Care of Magical Creatures, although unfortunately I heard that we needed to wait until our third year in order to enroll in that class as an elective. I just love animals!"

Ginevra stopped for a while as her new classmate asked another question, this time about whether she was pleased being sorted into Hufflepuff. She answered honestly, "Yes, I'm glad that I'm a Hufflepuff. And proud as well!"

And she proceeded to tell her reasons. "I admire Magizoology pioneer Newt Scamander. He was sorted to Hufflepuff like us, wasn't he? Have you heard about how he fought for fair treatment for the animals? What a man! I guess, uh, that's why I'm so proud to be a Hufflepuff." Ginevra felt her face heated and was positive that she flushed at how much she had talked about a figure her new classmate might not even admire.

"Um, anyway... Which class can't you wait to enroll, Teiki? Would you mind if I ask why?"

Lucas sighed softly, sitting down at the Hufflepuff table with a bit of a nervous expression on his face. He was still super nervous about being in this school...he just didn't feel like he belonged. To take his mind off the nerves, he polished his wand. He was quite proud of it. About 14 inches, walnut wood and a dragon heartstring. He wasn't really sure how to use it, however. But that was fine with him.

He glanced around the Great Hall again...it was different from last night, he couldn't place how. Maybe it was because the shock of the whole Sorting Hat ordeal had finally set in, he already felt at home. There was just something about Hogwarts, he couldn't explain it, but it just had that atmosphere that said everything was going to be ok.

Lucas sighed softly, after he was content with the way his wand looked, and began to pile food onto his plate. His eyes darted from person to person...they all looked friendly enough, but Lucas couldn't really work up the courage to talk to any of them. They all seemed to know what they were doing, but he didn't. So he just sat in quiet, eating.

@Lucas Strait

Hester walked swiftly over to the Hufflepuff table, carrying a bulging purple satchel. In her hand she held a pitch black notebook with the letters H.B. on it. She wore her Hufflepuff robes and her long blond hair was pulled into two high ponytails. She was really small but her high energy made her seem so much bigger and brighter.

Sitting done promptly next to a student, she rested her book in her lap and began piling up food on her plate. She grabbed bagels, apple slices, sausages, boiled eggs, pre-made sandwiches, and anything else appetizing.

Hester spread some sour cream around her bagel and glanced to the side. The boy next to her looked interesting enough to talk to, and he didn't seem like her was in the middle of a conversation or anything.

She turned slightly towards him and blasted him with a big, toothy smile. "Hi, I'm Hester! Are you an older student...?"

Maybe she shouldn't have asked that, he was on the small side like her, but something about him made him seem more mature. He had pale skin and brown hair and eyes, while she had fair skin, blond hair, and blue eyes. All that mattered to Hester though was that he was a nice guy and she wanted to be his friend.

"So, where did you come from?" She bit into her bagel. "I'm from England and my parents are, too, but we go a lot of places." She said it not in a boasting manner but like she was just informing him.

@Hester Barfield

Lucas was busy pouring syrup onto a stack of three pancakes when he heard someone talking. He somewhat assumed that they were just talking to someone else, but out of curiosity, he looked at the girl and saw that she was facing him. A little unsure of what to do, he put the bottle of syrup down and turned to face her. He paused for a second, and couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"N-No, not at all...gosh...I, uh...I'm Lucas..." He definitely didn't seem too talkative.

Lucas took a bite of his pancakes, letting the details of the girl soak in. He preferred knowing as much as he could about someone before he let himself make assumptions. She seemed nice enough. Perhaps maybe it was because he was pretty shy himself, but he never really understood how some people can just give off those vibes that makes you trust them so much.

"I'm, uh...I'm from England too. I don't really go many places...I...I think I went to America once, but that was to visit family..." He paused for a second...there was a question he wanted to get off his chest. "Is it...is it normal for a family to have a magic kid, even if they're not...magic? My parents are...what's the word...Muggles?"

@Lucas Strait

She paused mid-bite, watching the boy fumble over his words, but she continued almost unnoticeably. He was eating pancakes, something she suddenly had and urge for.

She grabbed the bottle of syrup he'd out down and pour no more than a few drops on her own pancakes, then tasted them. Nodding at him, she exclaimed, "These are delicious." How she said it was humorous but that's just how she spoke.

He said that his name was Lucas. She knew many people by that name but never had met someone like him. Hester felt like there was something different about him, which made her want to be friends with him more.

He said that he'd been to America, which made her raise her eyebrows, but before she could ask about which part Lucas suddenly asked,

"Is it...is it normal for a family to have a magic kid, even if they're not...magic? My parents are...what's the word...Muggles?"

Her eyebrows shot up even more but then went down to their normal position. She smiled at him and shrugged, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think it matters, really. As long as you do good things and you're happy, then it doesn't matter who you're family is." She popped a piece of fruit into her mouth and swallowed before continuing. "Sometimes people say mean things just because someone has a non-magic family but..."

Hester thought for a moment then looked into his eye. "Did you know that if wizards didn't have babies with muggles, then wizard would have died out? I read that in one of our textbooks. So now it's normal." She grinned then asked her own question.

"So what part of American did you go to? I've been to some of the states!"

@Hester Barfield

Lucas nodded, smiling softly. "They're really good...I haven't had this good in forever..." He smiled softly, continuing to eat. He kind of liked the company of her...maybe he just liked having someone to talk to.

When Hester replied, he looked a lot happier, though he did freeze a little when she touched his shoulder. He could now tell that she was born from other magic folk, so it made him feel a lot better about himself. So he wasn't the only person that was born from a Muggle family...he had been feeling a little self-conscious about himself.

"That's...thanks. I've been thinking about it since I got here..." He rubbed his arm, continuing to eat. "...I wonder if I'm gonna fall behind...people like you've probably got a lot more practice with this stuff than I do..."

"Wait...really? That's...interesting. But I guess it makes sense..." he went quiet, thinking about it. Yeah, the Wizards would eventually get to the point where they would have to marry Muggles, otherwise they wouldn't really be able to do anything about their race dying out...well...they probably could, but he liked it better this way. Yikes.

"Oh, well...I went to Texas. Family was nice, but I mostly stayed inside...it's super humid there, and I just...ugh. It was awful. But I'm guessing that other states aren't as bad."

@Lucas Strait

"I don't think you'll fall behind. Some people here only have basic information about magic, and we learn everything else when we get here. But there's some people like me—" She reached into her satchel and pulled out a pale yellow notebook, titled Transfiguration'. "When I find something really interesting I always write about it. Then the knowledge is stuck up here," she said, tapping her noggin.

Hester realized that she hadn't answered his question correctly. She had made it seem like he had at least one magic parent when he actually had none. But glancing at him she noticed that he was contented with her answer so she decided not say anything else on the subject, at least for now.

She went back to what they were talking about. "You can borrow my notes sometime, if you want." She flipped through the pages, showing him her detailed and colorful notes. They were neatly written and informative, easy enough for any first-year to answer.

She went back to eating, already on her third helping of pancakes. Hester nodded along with what he said about America. "Yeah, I like England better but I like Malibu and New York. And Washing D.C. is cool! My parents do international work with the wizard governments, so we can go with them sometimes and have fun." She didn't mention that she had no family in the States.

"What subjects do you like so far?"