The Hufflepuff Table 2022-2023

Interacting with @Aurora Griffith, open to more people

Dora had been doing an okay job at avoiding any social interaction up until this point, staying hyper-focused on the roast duck on her plate. It wasn't too hard, as everyone seemed to chat around her and pay her no mind, and the duck was delicious. But when the girl on her right spoke directly to her, she figured it would be rude to just ignore her. The freckle-faced girl has a broad smile stretching across her face, making Dora feel even more out of place. With no way to match her exuberance, Dora simply kept a neutral expression and offered a polite response.

"My name is Isadora Everridge."

With luck, this girl, Ro, will take this response and move on, making conversation with someone else. After all, why would she want to talk to Dora? Dora isn't fun or interesting, she's painfully awkward and disappointing. The friend she'd made on the train was a fluke, and it's better to lie low anyways. As she picks at her food, another troubling thought enters her mind. This girl seems exactly like the kind of person to be a Hufflepuff. It's all the more evidence that Dora doesn't belong here.

So, she begins to turn her attention back towards the feast, expecting Ro to sense the same thing and find someone more like her to talk to.

"Hello, Isadora!" Learning to make the most of stuff is what I do. And right now, that was exactly what I needed. I was going to a new school, and it was the same everywhere, even going to a muggle school. You do well in your classes, make friends, etc. So...why not do the same here? I was pretty ecstatic about practicing magic, but I also didn't want to feel alone. As Isadora started turning her attention away from me(I had the smallest sense that she wasn't very interested, but was I giving up? NO), I asked, "Which class are you most looking forward to? I'm excited about Care of Magical Creatures, but unfortunately, I'll have to wait 2 more years for that class..." Yes, I was definitely excited for Care of Magical Creatures. I had heard some students talking about it on the train, and I was excited...until I learned that students couldn't take that class until 3rd year. Very unfortunate! But I was still pretty enthusiastic about my other classes. I dunno about potions, though...
Really hoping to keep the conversation going, I added, "Do you know a lot about the wizarding world? I don't know a lot, I only found out a month's worth of information, so I might need a little help."

Interacting with @Aurora Griffith, open to more people

Dora blinks. It seems as though this person is intent to keep talking to her for some reason. Dora turns back to Ro as she continues to babble excitedly. As she expresses her anticipation of magical classes, Dora can't help but be conflicted. She almost resents Ro for her excitement, for her belonging. On the other hand, it makes her very endearing.

Ro mentions Care of Magical Creatures, and Dora sits up a little straighter. Funny, that's also a class Dora is looking forward to. When Ro says they won't be able to take it until third year, it surprises her. She'd assumed that since they were instructed to purchase Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the magical creatures curriculum started Year 1. Now she'd a mix of disappointment and embarrassment. What else is she unprepared for?

Then Ro mentions that she's new to the Wizarding World, piquing Dora's interest. That means she must be muggle-born, or perhaps half-blooded. It takes some effort to raise her quiet voice over the loud chatter of celebration in the hall, and she leans in so Ro can better hear her. "I'm not exactly an expert on the whole wizarding world, but I do live here. I suppose if you have questions, I wouldn't mind answering them."

Joining @Isadora Everridge and @Aurora Griffith as the newest hufflepuffs to sit down. As this is a rude way for my character to join a conversation, you can in character reject her or send me an owl if you want to exclude her and its no issue at all!

Tesla rushed from the sorting hat seat over to the table with the cheering Hufflepuffs. She felt so exhilarated that she'd been right! A Hufflepuff! She knew it! However as she made her way closer across the seemingly endless stretch of the great hall, she came to notice just how cramped the table was. Balking a bit, and double checking the chicken feather she'd pulled out of her hair on the train hadn't somehow made its way back there, she quickly dove in between two students that she'd seen get sorted before her, and weren't wearing the yellow robes of many of the other students.

"Mind if I sit here?" she asked with a moderately stressed voice crack, already wedging herself onto the bench between them. "Uh, I'm Tesla, nice to meet you both!" She crossed both arms over her chest to offer her right hand to the girl on her left and her left to the girl on the right with a beaming smile that made her round, freckled cheeks scrunch her eyes almost entirely closed.

Immediately after her rushed introduction, realizing she'd absolutely interrupted a conversation, she frantically searched through her mind to see if she'd heard anything before sitting down. When she came up blank, she just grinned again to drown out her shyness and began shoveling food into her mouth.

"Sooooo... you two been in the wizarding world long?" she'd venture to ask after a few bites of some of the best food she'd ever had the pleasure of eating shoved in her face.

Interacting with @Tesla Stone and @Aurora Griffith, open to others at the table near us!

Dora practically jumps when the small girl dives in between her and Ro, inserting herself into the conversation shamelessly. This is bizarre. When in Dora's life have this many people approached her to talk? Hogwarts sure isn't like any of the social gatherings her family's brought her to. Tesla introduces herself and Dora looks over her appearance, surprised at how messy she looks. Her hair is sticking up in all directions and her robes are wrinkled and dusted with dirt.

'Grandmother would never let me out of the house like that..' And her manners! She seems to have no problem with chewing and talking at the same time. Dora needs to pull her attention to the actual question being asked.

"Yes." She replies politely, her eyes flicking away awkwardly. "I've lived my whole life in the wizarding world."

One person she can maybe handle, but two? She's not good with people, she's never been. Picking up her fork, she angles herself away slightly. Perhaps these two will strike up a conversation and become friends. Perhaps they'll forget about her altogether. It's better that way anyways. Dora's bound to be a disappointment. Taking a bite of the scrumptious dinner, she tries to turn her mind to other things.

I'm also joining in, but I'll try to wait until everyone who's already in the conversation has posted before I post again. : ) If I can contain myself, that is. @Aurora Griffith @Isadora Everridge @Tesla Stone

Illusia sat down as soon as she came to a section of the long seat that wasn't occupied. The Hufflepuffs would have to squeeze up a little bit to accommodate all the new students that were yet to sit at the table, she thought. The attention turned away from her quickly as a new student stepped up to be sorted. Her hesitation to approach the sorting hat seemed a bit ridiculous now. She hoped she wasn't the only student who made a little bit of a fool of themselves this evening.

Illusia flicked her hair behind her back and decided to set the thoughts aside. There was a feast laid out in front of her, and she was ravenous. She'd follow the sorting ceremony as well as she could, but to be fair, eating took first priority when the students between her and the raised platform were a head taller than her. More Hufflepuffs were announced, but she could hardly see. She supposed she could see them soon enough.

In a moment she had piled quite a bit of food on her plate. She didn't dare ask for the servings that were a bit too far away for her to reach, but the options available to her would've been more than enough. Maybe she'd need to start restricting a bit if the food was this plenty, she could gain quite a lot of weight if she ate everything she wanted. She placed a piece of some type of a pie in her mouth. Heaven!

She'd noticed there was a new student sitting not quite opposite, but adjacent to that. Another arrived pretty quickly. They were both girls, judging by their long hair and overall demeanor. They started talking about how long they'd been a part of the magical world. The darker haired one said she 'lives here'. Oh, Illusia had so much catching up to do. How do you cram a whole life's worth of experiences as a bit of extra reading? Was there a spell for that?

Yet another First Year arrived, quite suddenly at that. The red and dark haired girls all of a sudden had in between them a student that kind of resembled a baby chicken. At least Illusia had never seen that type of hair on a human before. "Tesla" the girl introduced herself, and now Illusia was pretty sure they were indeed a girl. Tesla gave the others a funny handshake and began eating. Illusia remembered to continue eating her own food. It didn't take them long to begin chatting again. The one she thought had called herself "Isadora" stated for the second time that they lived in the wizarding world, basically that they had family that were wizards, If Illusia remembered her History of Magic correctly. Now she couldn't keep her mouth shut anymore.

"Hi, excuse me, sorry but I just wanted to ask, have you magic folk had any education before Hogwarts? Like, what do you do before you go to a magic school?" The books had left that part pretty unclear for her, maybe because there was no system in place. She brought her hand up on her chest.
"I'm Illusia, by the way. Nice to be in Hufflepuff, right?" She hoped it'd be nice. Making friends would certainly help.

Tesla was so busy stuffing her face with all the food within reach that she almost forgot to respond to the gloomy dark haired girl to her side. "That's so neat! Both my mums are witches, so I grew up around magic, but we lived outside of a muggle town so I can't really say I grew up in the wizarding world. Maybe I shouldn't ask, but are you from one of those old pureblood type families? You seem the type, you're all," Tesla mimed sitting up straight and proper and gloomily eating food one bite at a time with an expressionless face, "so you must know a lot about things about what we're going to be learning right? I can't say I've read a single word out of any of the books we're supposed to, I think it's neat to have a family that cares about that stuff! What's your name by the way?"

Tesla had noticed the way the girl had seemed kind of detached and a bit uncomfortable, and during her chatter she'd made a conscious effort to keep her voice from getting too loud and talking with her mouth full to try to keep from overwhelming her. Too much, that is. She couldn't stop herself from finishing a full plate of dinner foods and stuffing a piece of pumpkin pie in her mouth between questions.She startled a bit when another student across the table, whom she thought had been sitting there the whole time, interrupted quietly.

"I think it's different for different families what you do before school? I know some people go to public muggle schools and others are just taught at home. Since we didn't get into town all that often I went to muggle school; had to take the school bus and everything," Tesla shuddered at the memory of the early morning bus ride bouncing down country roads to pick up all the other kids of all ages going to the single rural school, "I think it was good for me though! Get to talk to people outside of my own family and all that. I don't really know all that much about the history or logical side of magic since my family only ever used it casually. We can learn everything together if you want!" Tesla waved happily in response to the introduction, "I'm Tesla! You can just call me Tes though. I'm so happy I'm in Hufflepuff! I was hoping I'd get into the friendliest house!"

So sorry about not responding before, I was absent!

I was just about to give my thanks to Isadora when another Hufflepuff girl hurried over and asked, “Mind if I sit with you?” She squeezed herself in between me and Isadora and said, “Uh, I’m Tesla, nice to meet you both!” Crossing her arms, she held out her hands to the two of us, and I beamed, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you Tesla, I’m Aurora, but please, call me Ro.“ I couldn’t believe I was already making new friends! I fought hard not to squeal with excitement. Upon Tesla asking if I had been in the Wizarding World long, I shook my head and said, ”Oh no, I’m quite new, you see. Even though I’m a half-blood, I didn’t know anything about the Wizarding World until a while before my 11th birthday. What about you?” That’s when another another girl jumped into the conversation. She asked about our education before Hogwarts. Before anyone else could answer, I said, ”Before I came to Hogwarts, I didn’t know anything about magic or whatnot, so I just went to a muggle school. I just learned Math, Science, English, and Social Studies.” Realizing that I hadn’t introduced myself, I said, “I’m Aurora, by the way. Everyone calls me Ro, though. How much do you know about the Wizarding World?” I was so excited for new friends! Would this be the beginning of some Hufflepuff quartet? Maybe this was going to be a great year after all! Things are really looking up!

Dora's eyes dart around at the three girls as she tries to keep up with the conversation. One witch, then two, now three??? Dora had just planned to finish her meal and go to sleep without incident, and now she's being interviewed by three separate people!

Tesla, still chewing very loudly, asked her if she was a pureblood and did a rather tactless impression of Dora. Was she making fun of her? Dora couldn't tell.

Then the new girl across the table, Illusia joined in and started asking about Dora's magical education.

Dora bristles. What can she say? That she wasn't sure she was a witch until she was eight years old? Is that why they're asking, because they think she's magically incompetent?

Ro joins in then and begins talking about her prior education in Muggle schools. Tesla apparently also went, and Dora takes a moment to calm down.

'No, they're just asking because they're curious about the Wizarding World.' She reminds herself, 'Of pureblood families... like mine.'

As the other three look at her expectantly, she tries to answer all their queries succinctly. "I never went to a magic school before Hogwarts because children aren't allowed to practice magic until they're 11. My family are purebloods, so my grandmother never saw any need to send me to a Muggle school." As she says the next part, she finds herself a bit sad. "Actually, I know as much about the Wizarding World as some of you may know about the Muggle World." Not that she hadn't been curious, but it wasn't the kind of subject to ask about in her household.

"My name is Isadora Everridge." She re-introduces herself.

Isadora has left the thread

_{Interacting with @Aurora Griffith, @Tesla Stone, & @Illusia Bobich}

Mentioning : Her brother, first years at the table Interacting with : Open Word Count : 216

September 1st, 2022 : Date Night : Time Plain black work robes : Outfit