The Slytherin Table 2025-2026

Predated, evening of September 1st, 2025
Mentioning:@Colin McCoire & @Aiden Sinclair Open to others to interact with!

The ruddy-haired boy slung his leg over the bench, sitting down in between some older years, both of which briefly acknowledged him before turning their attention back to their conversations or their plates. The closing notes were made from the Headmaster's lips and the room began to get noisier again, much to the boy's distaste. He was glad the ceremony was over but wanted to head to the dorm and curl up in a ball. Too much information that he would just as easily forget was shoved into his brain and his feet hurt from walking, yet he knew there was more to be done. So many questions and so little time.

Speaking of, when were they going to get--

His question couldn't even formulate before food dropped from the sky almost, although not literally and appeared on the plates in front of them. The chatter and laughter grew exceptionally louder as Blaize just stared straight ahead at the food, taking in the surroundings for a moment. It was... a lot to say the least. In both directions, food spanned from large entree like dishes to main courses from all different cuisines, to appease the range of students attending most likely. Even desserts were intermingled, which was interesting to say the least. How were students managing their own health when everything was at their disposal? His mother would throw a fit if he knew he could refuse some foods and go overboard on others. Why was he thinking about what his mother would think? She wasn't here.

Blaize shook his head as he began to serve himself, still consciously trying to make good choices. Once his plate was full he'd begin to enjoy the carefully selected arrangement of food on his plate. His thoughts silently fanned out in his head, not quite formulating full coherent thoughts or questions as he munched, mainly due to the overstimulating noise that he had mostly managed to block out. Blaize found himself glancing around the Slytherin table. No really familiar faces, which was normal since the train ride wasn't his most social hour, nor the boat ride which he had met some people on but most of them didn't get sorted into the same house as him. Either that or those he did remember the face and name of were sat a bit farther from him. He shrugged his shoulders, eyebrows furrowing as he went in for another bite. He'd have plenty of time to socialize in classes. Right?

"OWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Two boys burst into the Great Hall, clearly having the time of their lives, trying to knock each other into the ancient wooden door posts! For anyone who's not yet heard the name McCoire, you will soon learn the rumours, hear the stories and, just perhaps, find out some truth! They are twins, the Ravenclaw is Liam, the Slytherin is Colin. And once they've gotten into the hall, one of them calls out: "SERPENTARD!!!" That would be Liam, to which Colin shouts back "RAVENCLOWN!!!" They jostled each other towards their respective tables and some semblance of order returns to the start of term festivities.

Some might say the twins were late, but Colin and Liam both would strongly disagree. For a wizard is neither early nor late --- he arrives precisely when he means to! Mind you, technically speaking, the boys were rather late as the sorting ceremony had begun and was winding down by the time the pair had loped into the entrance hall.

Colin ran along the stone wall touselling friends' hair and greeting fellow housemates. A black cat ran along beside him. At last he came to the section he was looking for. There was an empty stretch of wooden bench, and he gracefully hopped up onto it. He skipped along the top of it, perfectly balanced and confident. Greebo hopped up onto the table itself and ran along next to his boy. A first year student was sitting on the bench as Colin approached, but he never let first years get in his way! He just stepped over the little kid and called over to the Hufflepuff table: "EMMIIIIII!!!" Making sure that he was directly across from the most beautiful girl in the entire school, Colin crouched down onto the bench like a half wild creature might.

He found himself in a region of the Slytherin table where several first years had managed to congregate, along with some other kids he recognised. Colin leaned a bit to the left so he could get a better view of Emily. Catching her eye, he gave her his best four-fanged grin! He'd had a grand time over the summer, and he even got to see Emily once or twice! He saw AngelFyre too. No doubt she'd be too busy smooching Simon to pay much attention to anything! Colin rolled his eyes.

He looked to one side as the food appeared on the great serving platters in the middle of the table. The red haired boy seemed a bit overwhelmed. Colin unfolded his tall and skinny frame into something approaching a normal sitting posture. For some reason, crouching was just more comfortable.

He leaned over slightly, his voice much softer than the boisterous jostling of moments before. "Bit overwhelming, innit? I remember me first day here." He nodded over towards the Ravenclaw table. "First time I was separated from me brother in forever." He looked over the other nearby first years. "What's yer names anyway? I'm Colin!" The black cat sniffed at one of the new kids, clearly checking out who was the Most Likely To Have Treats. "And this is Greebo!"

@Blaize Valerian | @Aiden Sinclair | @Silas Norwood | @Livia Machavariani || @Emily Shephard | @AngelFyre McCubbin | @Scout Fu-Hai

Future-dated, evening of September 1st, 2025
Interacting:@Colin McCoire & @Silas Norwood Open to other interactions!

Barely a few bites into his table, when he assumed the commotion would die down, tragically the opposite happened. With his shoulders still pinched together, rising upwards to his ears as he exuded a "don't talk to me" aura, it seemingly backfired. Well, not exactly. No one talked to him, but a shadow overtook him, a leg sliding over his head, one than another. Hunching his back like that of a wild critter, he'd shoot an absolutely hate-filled look to a late arrival who was wearing the same emerald-lined robes he now was going to. It seemed he wasn't alone in the animal antics as the boy who had essentially stepped over him crouched down on the bench, barking up a storm with whomever was in his vicinity.

"Abosultely feral behavior." The boy scoffed under his breath, peeling his gaze away from the boy as he busied himself back on his plate. Of which there was now a paw print. A paw print? Straight in his mashed potatoes. Blaize's face crinkled up in that of utter disgust, swiveling his gaze to find the culprit. His radar went off, where trouble comes lurking, there is always a sidekick. Locking in on a black cat that pranced around the tables, it reminded him of Pip, but fortunately she was a lot well mannered. Where had the little devil's owner gone? He slowly set down his fork, turning to glance at the previous spot where the boy had been hunched over in a goblin-esque stature and had since moved.

A terrified scream nearly escaped his mouth as the beastly boy had now chosen to grace Blaize with his presence, surprising him by sitting in a calm manner on the previously empty side of him. More so disgrace as his content silence and meal was now interrupted in a matter of minutes. How did he attract the weirdos on his first day? Catching only the latter half of the boy's sentence being that he had a brother, he blinked. Oh great heavens there were two of them? He quickly scanned the table up and down for any resemblance to this... creature not spotting anyone in particular. Blaize grunted at the asking for their names, realizing another first year had sat relatively close to him and had also received the special cat treatment.

An amused snort escaped his nose at the vocal detest from the other boy a few seats from them, quickly assessing the unnamed first year he'd likely hold classes with. Returning his attention to his food he scraped the impure potatoes onto a smaller dish and slid it over to "Garbage Disposal" or whatever the feline's name was. Blaize bit the inside of his cheek, at least the boy, Colin, was acting normal now, emphasis on acting, as he certainly was not fully normal. Placing his utensils down for the time being he'd extend his cold hand, going in for a shake.

"Blaize Valerian. Didn't know they let you come in late to the ceremony else I would've skipped the whole thing too."

Greebo hissed as one of the new first years plonked down on the bench opposite. The red haired boy introduced himself as Blaize Valerian. Good name, that. He stuck his hand out towards Colin as he introduced himself. Colin stared at it. Right! It was that Muggle thing where they waggle their hands about in greeting! Colin smiled. "Ye know the Muggle hand shaking thing!" Colin took the boy's hand and shook it about with a laugh! "That was very weird to me at first! Are ye a Muggleborn? I like learning about Muggle stuff, but it's awful confusing!"

Colin glanced up from his plate of sausages and blocks of cheese. He munched happily on the sausage link. "Mind you," he began, about to regale Blaize with tales of poisoned drink and potion spiked food. His keen ears picked up the faint undertones of a stuck up cat hater across the table. Sitting across there was a constipated looking first year. He was twiddling his fork about.

His hair was as dark and messy as Colin's was white and messy. His dark eyes glared at Colin. Greebo sounded a low growl before settling next to the platter of roast beef. Right in the center of the table between Colin and the other boy. Colin smirked as he munched on the sausage and regarded the new boy. "He's got more chains round his neck than a dog, Blaize!" he commented to the red haired boy.

Right at that moment another kid spawned at the Slytherin table. Colin turned. This one smelled familiar --- sort of? Another red haired boy. He began piling food onto his plate like he'd never seen dinner in his entire life! Colin watched in wonder. Somehow the kid managed to shovel down an entire plate of chicken and fish in the time it took Colin to go through two sausage links and three small blocks of cheese. And then he went back for more! Colin wondered. The boy actually seemed to be savouring the experience! It wasn't until he'd tucking into his second plate that he seemed to notice there were even other kids around!

He looked up at Colin. Then he checked under the table. Colin smirked. "Ye never know when some dark creature will come up out of the stones, lad, and jump up on the table!"

The mystery of why the kid seemed so familiar, yet was also a complete stranger, resolved itself. "Oi, you!" the kid said excitedly. "Yer Colin McCoire, aren't ye?"

Colin was surprised. Then he reckoned this might be a friend's little brother or something. After all, his own sister, little Aoife, should have been here today! She got shipped off to America, though, and was staying with Cursa's family. Colin had been irked by that news, as that meant she'd also be with those gits Angus and Alex. "Aye! I'm Colin! Who are you then?" He had an idea who the kid was, but waited for confirmation.

"Me older cousin Dan told me 'bout ye. He said to say hi for him! He also said to tell ye 'Good Luck.' I dunno why though," the boy replied.

"Pfft! Dan Palmer, eh?" Colin laughed. "I never could beat him at wrestling. Anyway, ye'd better not end up a Fake Slytherin like him, laddie!" Colin's attention was drawn away by the disgruntled figure across the table.

The dark haired boy said: "That thing better stay away from me or I’m throwing it off."

Colin's eyes narrowed and he straightened up a bit. Any smile that had been on his face disappeared. In its place remained only his scar-induced smirk, a permanent feature of his face since he'd gotten into a row with his cousin Hamish a few years back. He casually leaned his left arm on the table as he stared at the dark haired boy.

"Looks like someone needs to learn respect," he muttered. With a well practiced movement, his left hand slipped into his right sleeve, drawing Naur-an-Edraith from its sheath strapped to his arm. Keeping his eyes on the black haired boy, just in case he decided to do anything to disturb Greebo, he discretely pointed his wand at the cat. "Steelclaw!" he muttered. Twas a really good cast! His practice had improved a lot over the summer. Well, Aoife had gotten him to work on his casting a lot!

Greebo was used to this by now. His already large claws were transformed into even bigger talons of steel! Greebo looked down at his paws and purred. He kneaded the table, his massive claws digging into the wood, leaving behind deep marks. Colin continued staring into the eyes of the kid across the table. His smirk widened slightly. "Just try to remove him, then, mate," he said in a low, menacing voice. The marks Greebo left in the wood foreshadowed any gashes he could leave in some troublesome kid's face!

@Blaize Valerian | @Aiden Sinclair | @Silas Norwood | @Livia Machavariani @Brutus Palmer || @Emily Shephard | @AngelFyre McCubbin | @Scout Fu-Hai

Rolls for Steelclaw spell: WIS = 16 + 20 = 36

Future-dated, evening of September 1st, 2025
Interacting:@Colin McCoire,@Silas Norwood & @Brutus Palmer

Blaize's attention got snapped elsewhere as Colin, the older boy commented on a handshake before his own attention was claimed once more. Was he daft? As far as the red head was aware, handshakes weren't limited to Muggles. If anything, he was trying to be proper and show good manners. Except he made a mental note that Colin was not of the proper crowd in the slightest. A hooligan like himself was one he could not see himself living with or being around for a longer period of time.

Zoning back in partly into a new conversation, with a new face was hard to track. Especially with a boy whose cheeks were stuffed half full of food and a thick accent on top. Unable to control the disgusted wrinkle in his nose that appeared on his face, he let out a hum through pursed lips.

"I got a relative myself, my sister actually, joining me next year. You reckon it'll be better or worse to have her in the same house as me?" He directed the question to Colin and the other boy, of which's name hadn't been spoken yet. Not that he could hear through the boisterous noise and munching around him anyways. Yet the atmosphere flipped rather quickly as the king himself got dethroned when an insult was thrown his pet's way. Blaize had tried to do the sensible thing and offer the cat some food to encourage it to not ransack every other students' plate, but it seemed to still get under the skin of the boy a few seats down from him. But oh no, Colin didn't let that snide remark pass. In the blink of an eye his wand was withdrawn and his cat's claws doubled in size, length and sharpness. It definitely made the red head squirm uncomfortably, glad to not be under the attacker's gaze for his own barely audible comment earlier.

Of course, this was teetering on breaking another rule. Technically it wasn't a spell cast at another student nor was it fighting but it was a blatant threat as far as Blaize could make out. His pursed lips got drawn into his mouth, wetting them before his attempt to speak died down in his throat as the other boy countered with some surprising confidence. He did speak some truth, taking his cat off the table was an easy way to diffuse the situation, which of course, Blaize had no doubt based on what he already seen would not be happening.

It sparked an interesting debate in his mind. So many young students had pets, let alone young pets that needed to be trained and have lots of attention paid to them out and about whenever they pleased. Granted owls were less destructive and toads just hid, that was a lot of unforeseen responsibility on the student's part. Heck some students could even be allergic. What the hell was this school doing? He frowned, starting to doubt his own abilities and whatever the school had going on behind the scenes in terms of administration. Now was not the time for this oversight.

"Colin I'm sure you can just pack up some food for ah Greebo later-- ehm.. he isn't wrong though you should call him off the table, I'd rather not have cat hair in my food. No need to stick it on him." He pointed at Greebo's claws and then to the student who was still in his seat. Although his composure was a hell of a lot braver than Blaize's would've been in that situation, the flare in his words and the challenge that Colin would likely fall hook, line, and sinker for were quite the opposite of composed. It's like he wanted a fight. And on the first night? Give it a break!

“Tha’s yer fuckin’ response? Can’t ya jus’ take the damn thing off the fuckin’ table and keep it under control? Or d’ya ‘ave such li’l control yerself? Nah, ‘old on, I’ve go’ it — you’re tryin’ to make up fer summat with yer creature’s big, bad claws,” the dark haired boy, Silas, quipped. Colin glared at him. He wasn't sure what the kid was on about. He vaguely recalled that making up for summat was some kind of muggle joke. Colin's expression slipped into muggle confusion mode.

"Wait. Making up --- why would we want to measure the length of our rulers, mate? I mean ---" Colin was interrupted by the sound of a plate being shoved across the wooden table.

Greebo sniffed at the plate Blaize pushed towards him. Colin's smirk faded somewhat. Uh oh! he thought; stupid first years will figure out Greebo's secret before their first day is over! The black cat's nose approached the plate of potatoes. He sniffed here and there --- and then he found it! Leaning over the plate, Greebo sniffed delicately at the pool of yummy molten butter in the middle! He began lapping it up like it was the best thing he'd ever tasted!

Colin sighed somewhat dejectedly.

He had to admit that Hogwarts really did serve first rate, top pocket, and all around scrumptious butter! He watched as Greebo carefully avoided the potato itself, only going for the butter. "Greebo!" Colin whispered hoarsely; "that's not ---! How are you going to tell people you're a tough magical cat if ---" Greebo began purring, turned towards Colin and licked his lips. He snuggled down onto the table, facing Blaize. He purred loudly, giving Blaize a couple long slow blinks.

"Bloody hell, Greebo, that's not the first impression you want to make!" Colin said, somewhat embarrassed. He shrugged at Silas. "Welp. There's nothing for it now." He patted Greebo's head. "He's really a sweetheart. Once you give him a treat, you've got a friend for life!" Greebo luxuriated in the attention.

Thankfully Blaize changed the subject. "I got a relative myself, my sister actually, joining me next year. You reckon it'll be better or worse to have her in the same house as me?" Colin thought for a moment. His green eyes focused on Blaize's, staring directly into them. He remembered back to when he was in Blaize's position. Sitting at this table for the first time. How he and Liam had just been split apart for the very first time in their entire lives. Colin had felt like his entire being had been broken in half. His gaze softened. He also remembered how he'd spent second year convinced that Liam was dead and buried somewhere, forever taken from him. He remembered too that his little brother and sister were both in Slytherin, and now one of them was dead and the other still in and out of St. Mungos.

His brows knit. There was no right or wrong answer. He sighed. "I --- I dunno Blaize." He rubbed his eyes. He glanced over towards the Ravenclaw table where he knew Liam was no doubt arguing the finer points of the Curta Type IV calculator. "It kind of sucks either way, really."

Colin lost interest in his food. Not that he'd gotten much anyway. His eyes defocussed. Sounds around him fuzzed and blurred. Silas faded from view and the voices changed. Different kids. Different times. Different conversations, yet somehow all one. Leonard. Seven. Marisa. Alora. Dr. Loops. Colin smiled. Not at Silas, but slightly off to his side. He heard the roar of the sea and could smell the fresh clean air blowing in on the gale.

The roiling waves broke upon the rocks far below a more distant and more ancient castle. Gone were the banners and gone were the floating candles. Gone were the students talking of this & that and gone were the magical platters bearing cheeses and roast meats, sweets and treats.

He heard himself call out to Lady Jannette: "Alright Applebottom! We know! Here, try some of this cheese plate!"

Dr. Loops looked around at the rest of the table. "Really... grate. Mozzar-hella good. If looks curd kill. Cheddar than ever."

"Thank you, but please. Call me Gwyn," the girl said with an excited smile, happy to be hitting it off with her fellow housemates so easily.

He gave an immensely self-satisfied grin. "Are you getting... feta up yet?"

"Apologies. I've never been attacked via cheese before," she apologized between giggles.

Lady Irina smirked as she surveyed the scene, and Colin focussed again on Gwyn.

His head turned slightly, and his eyes stared through Silas's. She was a tallish girl, for a first year. Dirty blonde to brown hair, super smooth and brushed. Dark eyes. Colin tried to remember, but it was hard. There was something about her. Not the cheese sauce that probably Jannette had dumped all over her. She just didn't seem to care --- there was a glint of trouble in her eyes.

And then . . .

Colin turned to the side where Becc was talking to him. "S---Sure lad, go on ahead. Just ask one of the Prefects to take ye down there, since ye don't know the way yet." He looked around, though, first towards Rebecca Loops, then towards the empty space where --- Gwyn? Colin was certain there was a girl sitting there. He'd --- he'd greeted her and bowed to her and everything. Sure, he'd just had a funny dream or vision --- those were nothing new. He gave Rebecca a pleading look that said: did you just see what I saw? Or was I hallucinating?


Wait. Did I just say that aloud? Colin wondered. The voices changed again. The smells changed. The faces changed. Colin blinked. He discovered he was still staring at Silas. Poor kid! Just got here and some --- whoa. I'm a fifth year!? Colin thought, suddenly aware of the reality around him. He lowered his eyes, mumbling an apology. He heard Blaize say something about packing up some food for Greebo. Colin nodded. "It's odd how memory works," he whispered. "She was there, right where Silas is sitting."

Colin sighed. "So many gone. So many dead. So many disappeared." Colin hadn't had such a strong vision or hallucination or whatever these were in a while. He scooped Greebo up into his arms and held him tight. He'd often tried looking for them. For Irina. For Bea and Ying. Jannette. Loops. Sometimes he heard voices in the thick stone walls of the dungeons. Colin had long thought that kids ended up trapped within the stones, unable to get back into the real world. His eyes glanced over towards the other tables. AngelFyre was still there. Emily was still there. Even Kim Aoki was still there. "So few among the many..."

"And she just --- disappeared."

@Blaize Valerian | @Aiden Sinclair | @Silas Norwood | @Livia Machavariani @Brutus Palmer || @Emily Shephard | @AngelFyre McCubbin | @Scout Fu-Hai