General The Gryffindor Table 2019-2020

@Piérre Marchonné & @Grayson Ackley

Maggie remembered her first year, specifically, as she watched all the new students being sorted, her sorting.

She’d been estatic with her results, even if she didn’t actually know what they meant. She’d been a muggleborn in this brand-spanking-new world of magic and floating candles, and she would’ve been happy if she’d been appointed as the caretaker’s assistant.

She remebered sitting down at the Gryffindor table, which wasn’t really the best introduction. She’d met two girls, Lucian Grey and Mira Hunter, who were, upon later reflection, absolute bitches. Like, you-can’t-sit-with-us Regina George bitches. She’d met Galton, though, and he was cool. But still, it wasn’t the best introduction to her house.

Therefore, she was determined to give the new students an actual welcome, and a relatively kind one. She, unfortunately, was sitting away from her two best friends, Tatiana and Carson, who sat at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff table, but she could take on a few first years.

She noticed Grayson Ackley, a kid in her year, talking to an exciteable first-year who seemed to be bouncing off the walls. Maggie smiled fondly, he reminded her of herself when she’d just been sorted.

Deciding now was as good of a time as any, she slid down the bench a little, hearing only the part of their conversation where the first year said Italiano in an accent.

“Hey,” she greeted, before she was able to think of how this might be a slightly awkward situation, “you’re a first year, right?” Maggie asked, looking towards the brown-haired boy.

“Hey, you’re a first year, right?”

Piérre turned from Grayson to a new girl with long dark hair and light eyes. She, like Grayson, looked older than he was, but seemed nice enough, for she didn’t immediately frown when he began to speak. She, like Grayson, looked like she could be English, perhaps even a little American.

”Hi!” He pipped gaily, extending his hand to her instead. ”Yeah, I’m a first year! I’m Piérre! Piérre Luigi Marchonné, But I prefer Piérre... I’m from Italy!”

Piérre cleared his throat before talking again to prove his heritage. ”Ciao! Mi chiamo Piérre Marchonné. Vengo dall'Italia, ma sono stato cresciuto nel ‘Ministry’ per la maggior parte. Sono cosi ' emozionata di essere qui e non vedo l'ora di farmi nuovi amici! I’m excited to be here and I can’t wait to make new friends!” He paused before looking down at his feet sheepishly. He spoke softly, halfway embarrassed to continue. ”I’ve never been around so many kids my age before...”

The Sorting Ceremony continued in the background, the shouts of the houses constantly echoing in the high ceiling. Piérre imagined them as the chatters of starlings and other Mediterranean birds, like the doves and wrens which would wake him in the early hours of the morning with their high pitched calls.

”So, um...” Piérre stuttered, surprising himself more than he was the people around him. Piérre was almost never at a loss for words, but now seemed to be an exception. Here he was, in a grand school of magic that he could perform. Yes, he had been told and taught about it for nearly four years, but being here now just seemed so surreal. It almost seemed impossible. ”So,” Piérre started again, a smile reforming as his sheepishness flitted away, ”You’re both second years, right? Where are you two from? Do you like going to Hogwarts?”

Interacting with @Grayson Ackley & @Maggie Parker

@Piérre Marchonné

“I’m from Brixton.” Maggie answered, leaning her arm onto the table and propping her head on her hand lazily. She’d never really liked Brixton— who would? It was notorious for being the place you wouldn’t want to live in, with all of the crowded streets and sketchy alleyways.

“I love your middle name by the way— it’s sick, like Luigi from Mario.” she joked, her voice welcoming as she tried to befriend the new kid. She’d lived for Mario Kart growing up, and her family tended to get a bit competitive about it, especially Jason.

“Oh yeah— I forgot to ask you guys if you wanted to come to my party on the eighth. It’s like a movie-thing, it’s super chill too.” she looked to the pair hopefully, “It’ll be a great way for you to meet some new friends, Luigi.” she added, nudging the boy’s shoulder and raising her eyebrows. Since she’d heard his name, she’d decided that she’d be using Luigi as his nickname, after one of her childhood memories.

“And to answer the second part of your question, yeah, it’s sick. The homework can be a bitch, though, and some of the Prefects are so annoying.” she joked, only half-serious about the Prefect comment and being completely honest about the homework. She’d never been a fan, but at least it was more interesting here than it’d been in the Muggle world.

“I’m from Brixton. I love your middle name by the way— it’s sick, like Luigi from Mario.”

The way she said it, it was evident to Piérre that she was joking, but despite himself, he let his eyes widen in excitement. She knew the games too! This was already better than Piérre could fathom. A person who liked video games too! ”You play them as well?!” He exclaimed excitedly, gasping as he clapped his hands together. ”I love Nintendo! I named myself after him! Did you know his name in Italian actually means ‘famous fighter’? Since I was adopted, I gave myself a middle name instead of my Muggle parents!”

He laughed brightly, a sound which filled the air with the aria of carefreeness.

Smiling, the girl continued:

“Oh yeah— I forgot to ask you guys if you wanted to come to my party on the eighth. It’s like a movie-thing, it’s super chill too. It’ll be a great way for you to meet some new friends, Luigi.”

The girl gently nudged Piérre shoulder in a friendly way, raising her perfect brows. Piérre grinned wider, causing his ears to unintentionally pique as his eyes twinkled an ‘innocent’ green. Evidently it was his middle name that was going to stick. He was alright with that, now that he knew someone in the wizard world which understood the meaning of the name. A party? Movie night? Sounded like something crazy waiting to happen, and knowing Piérre, he was going to be the one instigating it.

”Are you kidding? I’m in! Sounds like a blast!” He crowed, pumping his fist in the air. ”There’s gonna be popcorn, right?” He raised an eyebrow. ”If not, don’t worry, I stole some Bernie Botts and Fairy Floss. I can even bring some beverages...” Piérre trailed off, already envisioning the common room by the time he would be through with it. He would need some streamers, maybe some party poppers, definitely some firecrackers to set off outside the window, not to mention some other wheezes... Oh! What if he got some of those animal sound crackers? Those had been interesting on the Hogwarts Express...

Piérre could feel his brow furrowing and the corners of his lips raising in an impish smile as he thought up idea after idea.

“And to answer the second part of your question, yeah, it’s sick. The homework can be a bitch, though, and some of the Prefects are so annoying.”

The girl snorted, waving a hand. Piérre found himself nodding along quietly, never letting his smile fade. Her language, while Piérre wasn’t fond of hearing such loose language, didn’t bother him in the slightest. Mathilda had cussed quite often her first few months with the twins, and Piérre had accustomed to lewd words and phrases pretty quickly. He even knew quite a few words and phrases which would cause a hardened sailor’s jaw to drop.

Despite himself, Piérre couldn’t help wondering what the Wizard homework was going to be like. Homework in the Muggle world had been a little difficult, but with Romeo’s help, he found himself with easily passing grades in the public schools he had attended in Italy. Granted, that was when he was at school. When he wasn’t playing hooky, Piérre was at home or in the nurse’s office more often than not due to injuries from being beaten up. This had resulted in Romeo having to serve as a semi-bodyguard until Piérre was old enough to either stand on his own or to run away as quickly as he feet could carry him, which was quite fast.

A thought struck Piérre.

”So... You’re being pretty nice to me. What’s your name?” Piérre tipped his head, much in the way an inquisitive dog would beg for a tablescrap. ”After all, its a party. I need an ID to present to the security guard to prove that I’m not just some random Italian riffraff.” He teased lightly, indicating to his crazy hair and off-colored green outfit.

@Piérre Marchonné and @Grayson Ackley

“Maggie. Maggie Parker.” she answered, laughing a little at the boy’s response. She liked him— he reminded her of her little brothers, Aiden and Andrew. They were twins, and Maggie had the strong sense that they’d get along well with Luigi, but she hesitated at the thought of letting her newfound impish friend meet her mischievous brothers.

“Do you have any siblings?” she asked, the question open to both Piérre and Grayson, who hadn’t said a word since Maggie had sat with the pair.

The question had been spurred by the uncanny similarities between Piérre and her brothers, but, now that she thought about it, she thought she’d heard another Machonné get called up, but she wasn’t really the best person to ask, seeing as she’d been spacing out the whole ceremony.

The topic caused an onslaught of memories of her family to wash over her, a bittersweet wave of nostalgia causing her smile to dampen slightly. Her hair turned a blue-ish grey at the ends, the color slowly inching towards her roots as she thought.

She quickly realized she was spacing out, and she shook her head, the blue color fading away as she did so. She hadn’t been homesick for awhile now— she’d been able to last out until, well, now. In her first year, she’d been homesick, constantly homesick, and she’d eventually come to realize that she was one of the only ones who did— so she shut up about t and made friends instead. She supposed that if she had a sibling here, she wouldn’t be, so she hoped Piérre would say yes, I do have a sibling, because she’d grown to like the boy and homesickness was not something she wished upon him.

ability used: metamorphagus

“Maggie. Maggie Parker.”

Maggie laughed, a gentle lilt. Piérre smiled. So his laugh wasn’t all that peculiar after all. He had heard many different kinds of laughs before, husky ones form the male workers in the Ministry, high cackles from the elderly women, and guffaws from all ages young and old, but Maggie’s gentle snicker was almost like his own childish strains, and Piérre liked that.

“Do you have any siblings?”

Maggie inquired, the question seemingly open to both Piérre and Grayson, who had been silent throughout whole interaction. Piérre figured that the other second year was probably distracted by the amazing food, which had now appeared before them since the Sorting was finished.

”Yeah!” Piérre answered excitedly. ”Romeo! He’s my twin. Mio gemello.” Piérre glanced around him and the Gryffindor table. Romeo was nowhere in sight. He must have snuck off without Piérre noticing. Likely trying to join the Ravenclaws at their table to indulge in some riddles and more important matters pertaining to schoolwork and the sort.

”He’s... probably with the Ravenclaws.” Piérre said, shrugging before smiling at Maggie again. ”He likes riddles and legends. I’m surprised he didn’t end up with_”

Piérre paused as he noticed Maggie’s appearance again. The girl’s hair was a light brown, just a tad lighter than his own, but now it’s tips were slate blue. The color slowly crept up the stands of her hair before stopping. It was as if her hair had rapidly dyed itself all on its own. Piérre noticed the tiny, creeping frown that was carefully making its way onto Maggie’s features, as if a dampening blanket of melancholy had formed around her. It was like her hair color was linked to her emotions.

”Them...” Piérre said in awe. ”Whoah, that’s a really cool trick with your hair....” Piérre’s eyes widened as he put two and two together. “You’re a metamorphagus! That’s so cool! Maddie told me about metamorphagus Aurors which were really awesome spies for the the Ministry, but I’ve never seen one using their ability!”

Maggie shook her head, causing her hair to whip about her quickly and disperse the lovely slate coloration. Piérre smiled again, noting that Maggie’s frown had still not faded. He wanted to badly to make her laugh or smile again. He hated it when other people were upset, and had made it his purpose to make others laugh, no matter the cost. “Can you do any other colors? Have you figured figured out how to do other people yet?”

Ah, there it was, the endless questions. Another trait of Piérre’s that had exasperated Mathilda greatly when she had first met him. The quote ‘Curiosity killed the cat’ had not resonated with Piérre yet, and he often found himself in trouble or in St. Mungos for many intrepid explorations or curious inquiries that often distracted the answered from their job handing anything, whether cursed item or dangerous mythical being. Piérre just couldn’t help it though, especially when everything was so brand new and wonderful to explore, instigate, and discover.

Interacting with @Maggie Parker

Interacting with @Lilith Wyverstone