The Ravenclaw Table 2025-2026

Raven Claw Table, Great Hall, Hogwarts, Scotland Monday 1st September 2025, evening

Twilight above, nightfall chill ‎With [Ravenclaw students]

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ As the Sorting continued, Perrin paid more attention to the table at which he was now seated. The wood beneath his fingertips felt older than it looked at first glance: its surface polished by centuries of use, and marked in places by faint knife-scratches, softened dents, and spots where the varnish had worn slightly thin under generations of resting elbows. He thought about how his mother or grandfather had probably sat at this exact spot during one of their seven years spent here, their presence worn invisibly, or almost, into the wood.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Perrin had ended up being one of the first new students sorted to reach his area of the table – not out of eagerness to do so, but simply because the initial handful of first-years had naturally gathered nearest to the teachers’ side, where they had just been sorted, and had left no clearly visible space for Perrin. And so, without much hesitation, or any eagerness to desperately find a place among the first small cluster, Perrin had stepped a little further along, to where the line of students thinned out again, and taken a seat where the bench was still mostly empty: one space to his right, and another directly across the table, with a few others scattered further down.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ The young wizard tried to correct his posture: kept his back straight, hands folded lightly in his lap; although his jaw remained slightly clenched – something he didn’t even realise – and his gaze moved, attentive to the space around him. He glanced once more at the ceiling above, now showing the deeper colours of early nightfall; the reflections of the floating candlelight shimmered off the nearby robes trimmed in blue and bronze.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ To his left, older students were exchanging a low conversation, but their voices were too quiet for Perrin to fully follow. They were waiting, like everyone else, for the last names to be called and the meal to begin properly. Perrin listened, but only passively, alternating between the sound and the slow rhythm of watching the other first-years take their place beneath the Sorting Hat. He let his gaze drift back to the end of the table, where the group of the first new Ravenclaws were still talking in low voices. Some had already found someone to speak to; others remained silent, their expressions composed, unsure, and even for some overwhelmed.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ And so, Perrin didn’t shift, gazing at the nearby students in blue, also occasionally glancing at the other tables and the unsorted first years. Sometimes, if he caught another fellow Ravenclaw's eye, Perrin would return the look with a faint, polite smile. He stayed calmly settled as the Hat kept sorting, but open, without urgency, to the idea that another member of Rowena’s house might choose to begin a conversation.

Great Hall, Hogwarts, Scotland | Monday 1st September 2025, evening

word count : 466

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Sorting post linked here

After the sorting hat called out her house, Ravenclaw, Anemoi was quickly ushered down from the front and directed to sit at the house table. It was a relief to escape the spotlight of the sorting as she sat down among the other students. She could fit in here… probably.

Ravenclaw seemed like the intellectual house of Hogwarts, and Anemoi had considered herself to be a nerd back in Muggle London. She had also considered herself a loner though and yet she had not been alone on the trip to the school. She could see her new friends still in line to be sorted to their houses. She hoped at least one of them would join her under the blue raven crest.

For now, Anemoi studied her surroundings, trying to blend in long enough to determine what her housemates were like. A lot of the other children seemed equally shy and quiet to herself, but a few were louder, asking questions and throwing debates across the table. The older Ravenclaws wore house colors, blue ties, and matching uniform trimmings. She liked that, blue and bronze were ideal colors for a Hogwarts house in Anemoi’s opinion. However, the upperclassmen were less likely to be helpful or new friends, so she turned her attention to the other first-year students.

She could tell who they were because they all still wore plain black robes like her own. Anemoi glanced at an interesting looking girl sitting nearby to her and was debating whether she should speak first or wait in hopes the other first years would notice her when the other girl turned towards her seat.

Ravenclaw Table, Great Hall, Hogwarts, Scotland

Monday 1st September 2025, evening

Kiki walked over to the Ravenclaw table. She found an empty seat and sat down, full of excitement. She couldn't believe it. She had just been sorted into Ravenclaw, the house she felt she belonged to most. Her parents had told her a lot about the Hogwarts houses, and even though they were a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, they would have been proud of her right now. Kiki promised herself that she would write them a letter later.

The girl looked at the long line of kids still waiting to be sorted. The expressions on their faces were different: some were excited, some were anxious, some were terrified.

Kiki looked around the Ravenclaw table. A group of seventh years, who were supposed to be prefects, were having a heated discussion. Further away, some older boys were talking about the school quidditch team, wondering if they might be able to get in this year. A girl was showing some new students how to do the Levitation Charm. High up, near the enchanted ceiling where the first stars were appearing, some transparent ghosts were hovering.


Interacting with @ Aislin Darragh

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September 1st, Evening

The excitement of the Sorting Ceremony faded for Aislin pretty much as soon as she sat down, done with her own as a new Ravenclaw. She propped her head up on her arm so she could watch the stool at the front of the hall and shake herself out of whatever line of thought she'd been entertaining herself with when someone she'd met at camp or on the train came up. It would be good to know where those people ended up. Mostly, though, it was painfully long.

For a while, she swung her boots back and forth under the bench and thought about her father and what the Sorting Hat had said about him. He was like her, apparently, or she was like him without ever meeting. Sometimes she tried to imagine what he was like, shifting the one photograph of him she'd seen to be a decade older, and this made the picture a little more complete. Only a little. She'd never really gotten into astronomy, his subject, but could name more stars than facts about him.

Her thoughts moved on as soon as the food came, though, like any kid who had only snacked on the train ride and had just sat through such a drawn-out, one-at-a-time process. Some of it looked like food from home and she reached for that first. She'd never eaten with so many people like this. Family dinners with her grandparents and cousins could get crowded, especially if some of the farm hands were invited to stay and eat something, but this? Rows of long tables with barely any room to not be pressed shoulder to shoulder? Summer camp was the closest thing, but that had still not been this. The food she piled onto her plate didn't taste quite like her mam's cooking. Aislin didn't know why she thought it would.

After that, she picked a bit at some of the unfamiliar dishes, trying to guess how they were made, and finally made eye contact with one of her cousins across an aisle. Orin gave her a waggly-fingered wave, and Aislin remembered what he'd told her a few days ago. The first few days are all about making friends. Apparently he'd met his group on the very first night. Straightening up from the bad posture she'd inadvertently curled into, she tried to look friendly. Approachable? She really didn't know how to do this, actually, but this had to be kind of right. Under the table, she tugged her bracelet far enough into her palm that she could spin the beads around.

The first thing to do, as soon as she arrived, was to make friends. Preferably a first-year, so they could take classes together. Maybe even a girl, so they could share a room and... stop. Before she starts making her usual mental movies, it was necessary to do something concrete. Go up to someone at the table and start a conversation.

No problem, thought Kiki. The girl had always been good at making friends. The problem was who, among the more than 100 people crowding the Ravenclaw table.

Kiki scanned the table, searching for a possible candidate. The kids learning the Levitation Charm? No, they were too focused to speak. The boy to her right? No, he was eating. Those boys in the back talking about Quidditch? Absolutlely no, they were too old, and when one of them noticed Kiki watching them, he winked and blew her a kiss. Eww. Disgusting. She'd been here less than an hour and some idiot was already hitting on her. Maybe someone sitting next to her...?

A girl sitting next to Kiki caught her eye. She also looked like a first-year. She had long brown hair, and she was nervously twisting her beaded bracelet in her hand. Kiki turned to her, smiled, and introduced herself: "Hi! I'm Kiki, Kiki Lopez."


Interacting with @Aislin Darragh

@Kiki Lopez

The thing was, Aislin had the thought that she should try to make friends, and then she proceeded to barely even look around. Was making friends really a thing you did so quickly around a dinner table like this? Surely friendship was more the stuff of following each other through trees and over streams, digging in the dirt and playing games and telling stories. That was how it went with her cousins. The cool feeling of beads under her fingers, turning easily in their places and gradually warming under her fingers, was plenty interesting. The food on her plate was enough adventure for one day, and that was after the adventure of the train ride, into the realm of cooking that didn't taste or feel like Darragh recipes.

But some people were more skilled in the art of starting conversations with strangers at a brand new dinner table, and she blinked at the girl introducing herself, then shifted in her seat so they could talk more easily while sitting next to each other. "I'm Aislin Darragh." She extended her hand, as narrow as the space between them was, to Kiki Lopez. Kiki was blonde and pretty, and had to be around Aislin's age. Maybe she was a first year, too? It was hard to keep track of everyone who had gone through the Sorting Ceremony, especially if they'd come after her.

What was the next thing she wanted to know after Kiki's name? The obvious answer would be something like are you a first year, voicing what she had just been wondering, but Aislin's mind had jumped instead to, "If you had to pick, what would you say is your favorite animal?" This said a lot about a person, she thought. Different animals had very different energies, which was why their house had an eagle for a mascot, not a lion. A lion just wouldn't make sense, and right now she wanted to make sense of Kiki.

@Aislin Darragh

Kiki blinked, intrigued by the strange question. It was the first time anyone had asked her what her favorite animal was, right after introducing themselves. Maybe she grew up in a place where animals are important, thought Kiki. It probably was, but in any case Aislin had asked her a smart question.

The problem now was another: what was she supposed to answer? She chewed her lower lip as she thought. At home, her family had an eagle owl, Nyx, but it wasn't actually hers, even though she liked owls. They were intelligent animals, who preferred night to day, a bit like Kiki. The girl, in fact, couldn't wait to study astronomy. She had always liked constellations, galaxies and..... she was rambling. Kiki came back to reality. So, one option was owls. Were there others?

The answer came to Kiki immediately, thinking of the silver-furred cat she had at home, Diana. She loved cats, even though she'd had to fight with her parents to get one. It had been their first-year school present, even though she hadn't been able to bring it to school.

Now Kiki knew what to say.«Hmm... I'd say I really like owls, but at home I have a cat, Diana. I got her recently, before starting school. What's your favorite animal, instead?»

@Kiki Lopez

Aislin had not grown up somewhere where animals were important, exactly. Or they weren't central, anyway, not to her grandparents' wand wood farm or her mam's potion-making, but of course animals of all shapes and sizes contributed to tree growth and potion ingredients and plenty of things in between. But ultimately her interest had been sparked by being a kid who spent a lot of time outdoors, running after her cousins or playing in her backyard's creek, and who consumed books at rapid-fire speed when something caught her interest. She'd had her interests tangled up in bugs and amphibians and all sorts of other animals enough times that, when put on the spot in a new place with a new person, it was the first thing she could think to want to know about.

The girl considered for a minute, so Aislin took a sip of her pumpkin juice to give her the space. Her answer came split between owls and cats, and Aislin nodded thoughtfully like that said something clearly about her. They weren't uncommon choices, both pets you could bring to Hogwarts, and of course owls were really important to magical communication. Owls were associated with wisdom, which fit with the blue banner flying over both of their heads, and cats with... independence, maybe? Luck, landing on your feet. She was definitely reading too much into this.

"We have cats at home. They're kind of old." It was too soon to miss them, but she wondered if it would be weird to read books without the common intrusions by one of them climbing into her lap and flicking their tail in her line of sight, asking for attention. The two cats were too bonded at this point to even consider splitting them to bring one with her to Hogwarts, and they'd resent her for putting so much distance between them and their favorite perches in patches of sunlight.

As for her, being asked the question back was exactly what she had hoped. "I really like dragonflies," she said, no extra thinking time required. The specifier of favorite was important, because she could go on and on about animals she liked, and if you asked her in a few months the answer might be different. Aislin liked watching dragonflies flit over the water, quick and delicate-looking, liked their bright colors and big eyes, and so right now they were her favorite. "I found a dead one once so I got to look at it up close. Their wings are really impressive, you know? They can move them all individually."

@Aislin Darragh

Kiki listened to what Aislin had told her. Dragonflies... They were beautiful animals, with swift wings and various shades of blue, green, and red. She had seen them once when she was near a small lake, when she was seven years old. She remembered how much fun she had had chasing them, and she had caught one in her hand... But then her mother had dragged her away, saying they were stupid games and not suitable for a smart girl like her. Kiki remembered that she had cried, and she would have loved to stay there and play with the other children.

Dragonflies were an unusual choice for a favorite animal, which indicated a unique person. Kiki smiled. Unique people were her favorites. But that didn't necessarily mean Aislin found Kiki interesting. Most people thought Kiki was superficial, but Kiki was much more than that. She just couldn't find the words to express who she truly was. What if Kiki were left alone at Hogwarts, without a single friend? Fear gripped her.

Trying to push those thoughts away, Kiki focused on what Aislin was telling her, about dragonflies that could flap their wings separately. Most people would find this information strange, but Kiki found it interesting, perhaps because she was a little strange herself. "Wow. I've never seen an insect up close, even though I'd love to... I once heard that dragonflies can fly backwards... Is that true?"