Aoife had to suppress a squeal as the fluffy grey cat hopped up onto her leg and settled down. Diverting her attention from her game for the moment she slowly rubbed the base of the cat's ears. As far she knew dogs loved scratches behind the ears so maybe that logic applied for cats as well? At Sapph's assessment of the game she smiled giving the older girl a nod "The story is great too! An' since it changes so drastically considerin' which house ye decide to join makes it pretty interestin' as well!" She said with a grin. "Personally I liked tha' Black Eagles route! They seem like the kind o'lot that gets thins' done." She said as she glanced back at her game for a moment before looking back up at Sapph.

As Sapph gave her opinion on the book she listened and from what she gathered from what was said it seemed she'd be bothering her sister about borrowing her copies. She only hoped that she'd brought them with her when they had left home. Otherwise she'd never hear the end of it from her mother when she owled home to see if they could be sent in the morning post. Her mother just loved to be the person who got to tell people "I told you so." something that gave the entire family no end of grief a great deal of the time. "Well tha's two recommendations now. I'm guessin' I'll 'ave plenty o'time tae read it this year." She said with a nod.

"Though tha' migh' have tae wait until I finish this!" She said as she leaned over to drag her bag over to her side fishing through it's contents until she fetched a book and held it up for Sapph to see. The original book cover had been removed and only the words "The Forest of Hands and Teeth." could be seen upon the cover with the name of the author printed beneath it. She placed the book back in her lap "Its an interestin' take on a post-apocalyptic type settin'." She said with a nod

As Violet spoke up asking what year they were all in she grinned glad to know that she wasn't the only who was completely new to this. "Same 'ere! Seems like you an' I are in the same boat bein' all new tae the whole Hogwarts thin'."

AOIFE'S BOOK HAD A CERTAIN INTRIGUE TO SAPPHIRE AS WELL. She'd read something similar, she remembered vaguely, but she didn't know what it was. It had drifted into the void of childhood amnesia. She hummed in thought, deciding that she would try and achieve a copy of it when she next went into the muggle world.

Violet's question and the fact that both of the girls were first years fazed her slightly. "Erm, I'm going into third year," she said. Her voice was quiet, a habit she had around new people. Unless she was discussing a topic she was particularly interested in, her voice would be varying degrees of quiet tones around people she'd only recently met.

"First year isn't that bad... I think. It depends on which category, because I have no idea if it's social. My experience was a bit chaotic, but I doubt someone's going to go around doing that again..." She smiled sheepishly, deciding not to reveal the thing that had occurred in the abandoned toilets during her first year at the school. It wasn't a very pleasant thing, what with the kid that went around causing bombs to go off and stabbing people.

Gods, I hope they don't have to go through something like that, but... you never know what'll happen at Hogwarts... she thought, a sombre look over-coming her features - which she quickly attempted to erase.

Aoife stowed her book away as the subject changed from literature onto a new topic. As Sapph spoke about moving on into her third year it wasn't too much of a surprise. When the girl had entered Aoife could somewhat tell that she was older than Violet and herself. What somewhat puzzled Aoife was the somewhat hesitant way she mentioned it. Wasn't moving on into your next year supposed to be a good thing? She didn't feel it right to question her upperclassmen on it further however and smiled. "Well tha' must be excitin'!" She said nodding.

As Sapph went on to elaborate further explaining that her own first year was a bit chaotic. Part of her was curious as to what the girl had meant she remembered faintly hearing something from her sister Moira about something that had happened at school a few years ago. Something that definitely seemed to concern her parents quite a bit considering the howler that they'd both sent to the headmaster that year after Moira had come home for the holidays and told them about it. She didn't question the girl further though considering how Sapph appeared to be veiling her own hesitation behind a smile.

There were perks to having a Slytherin for a sister and one of them was being able to pick out subtle tells in the way people spoke or behaved. Her sister could lie or play off something like a seasoned actress and perhaps that was the reason she was sorted into her house to begin with. But after having watched her sister talk her way out of so many punishments around their parents she was able to pick out small details in the way a person behaved that gave away certain things. Her thoughts seemed to be confirmed as she took note of the somber expression that bled onto the face of the girl seated across from her.

A brief silence fell over the compartment as no one seemed to want to carry the conversation any further. No one wanted to make eachother uncomfortable but the resulting silence that followed the end in conversation seemed to accomplish the very thing that had originally be sought to be prevented. Luckily Violet picked up the conversation upon noticing the silence bringing up the house that their new friend was in. Aoife chimed in as well "Yeah! If ye don' mind us askin' wha' house are you in?" She asked looking between the two girls her hands gently petting the grey cat in her lap game sitting on the floor beside her forgotten for the time being.

"I'm sort o' hopin' I get intae Gryffindor or Slytherin, Lik' mah brother 'n' sister! But ah suppose we'll jus' 'ave tae wait an' see where I end up fittin' in won't we?"

Reducio

So sorry for not responding.

"OH, I'M IN SLYTHERIN," she said with a slight smile. "It's not a bad house from what I can tell, even though I basically only know 1 person." Her expression turned a bit sheepish at admitting that she barely knew anyone in her own house. It was more Ravenclaws that she tended to encounter.

The pale-haired girl played with the page of the book with one hand while her mind trailed to the... mental trauma... a lot of the students she'd met had gone through. She almost laughed at the thought, though it certainly wouldn't have been a happy laugh.

"None of the houses seem to bad, from what I've seen. I tend to meet the most Ravenclaws, I've noticed, so I can tell you that they're not bad either. I only know one Hufflepuff, whom I haven't gotten in contact with since first year, but I don't think that's a bad house either. And Gryffindor... should be fine. I think." She contemplated whether or not to mention the excessive mental issues of the students, but decided against it. They'd probably find out eventually anyways, if they weren't aware of it already.

She ran her tongue over her teeth. "I felt a little unprepared in my first year, since I'd lived with muggles for a majority of my life. I'd forgotten most of those three years I lived with magic and, while I was smart in the muggle areas, I didn't know shit about magic when I first got my letter. I'm sure there were other people that felt like that, but it always seems like you're the only one..."

"Oh! A slytherin! Me sis' is a slytherin!" Aoife said excitedly with a smile. Though as Sapph made it clear that she only knew one other person in her own house she nodded. "Ah well I s'pose ye probably wouldn' 'ave met her then." She said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. She watched as Sapph seemed to take a moment to think on something. This time around she couldn't really hone in on what was on the pale haired girl's mind. And before she could give it anymore thought the girl seemed more than willing to move on to the next topic.

She listened as Sapph spoke about the different houses and how none of them appeared to be inherently bad. She'd heard of the stigma that surrounded some of the houses of Hogwarts such as how Slytherin was often associated with characters of less honorable intent. And Gryffindor was the the house of the brave and the bold. Luckily those stigmas had been broken for Aoife considering she had a sibling in each of the two houses to dispell any of those old beliefs.

As Sapph went on to describe her own challenges in her first year it gave Aoife a small measure of comfort to know that what she felt that sense of confusion wasn't exclusive to herself. "Good tae know I'm not the only one that felt overwhelmed by all o'this." She said. "I lived with a magic family all o'me life an' I still don't feel the least bit prepared for this." She said.