"Don't you dare say it, Ajax. No. Stupid question. Stupid." The New Zealander tried incredibly hard not to shout out 'Is abracadabra a spell?' just for the giggles. He drummed on his table as he listened to the drawl of the teacher in front of him. Despite being the master of the wandering mind, he absorbed the information like sponge does water. Or milk. Or any kind of liquid really. The information about the curses fascinated him. Was it possible to curse gas? Probably not, but it was definitely an interesting prospect. If one could have a spell so accurate that it could hit individual atoms was amazing. But, he was a muggleborn so he was silent throughout the lesson

Ajax palmed his face at homework. Of course there was homework. It was a school, a magic school but still a school. But class ended early. But the dungeons.... That was a bitch to navigate. Only through following the crowd did Ajax even get to the class early. He sighed, packing all his things. He contemplated not having internet for a year. No reddit, fanfiction, 4Chan, Roleplayerguild, facebook.....

The New Zealander smacked his face with a tired groan. "This is going to be a long seven fucking years." He muttered under his breath. He turned his attention to the front, where a group of girls talked to the teacher. He didn't pay them any mind but stopped at that (Layla) girl. He blushed and turned. He carried all of his books and walked out of the doorway.

Ajax stopped himself. "What the fuck am I doing?" He questioned himself. "Confidence. Confidence is key. Also be smooth. As smooth as you can." Giving yourself life tips on how to talk to a girl is a definite sign of craziness but it gave him a little confidence. He waited out side the doorway and waited for..... He didn't even know his name!

Sadria Quinn nodded as the students began to disperse, speaking to one another rather than to her. "Thank you for your attention today in class." She bowed her head politely. "I shall see you all again soon." Then she began to wander off down the hallway... Certainly not in the direction the students would go to get out of the dungeons.

The notes Nolan took were rather extensive. They were, in fact, probably more notes than anyone needed to take on their first day at Hogwarts. He didn't want to miss any important detail. Of course once he started doing relevant readings before class, he could pay better attention. His head was spinning already from the number of spells on that list that could be considered as "dark." He was pleased to see their lesson was over. It had been a long morning and he was looking forward to some food. It hadn't even been a full day and he was already starting to love Hogwarts food.

While some students went up and talked to Professor Quinn, Nolan turned to Caelum who complimented him on his approach to the class. "Really they were just questions you have when you grow up with a bunch of brothers already at Hogwarts." He laughed. He was sure this morning had already used up everything he'd picked up in the last few years. "I don't know about cursing the teaching post though, but she wouldn't give us something impossible right? I mean, we're all first years. Even the ones who aren't Muggle-born have never used magic before."

Caelum's various sketches did not escape his notice. They were... very good. He tensed for just an instant, but then smiled and pointed at them. "Those are pretty good. You can almost feel the spooky nothing behind the bars in the dark hallways." He laughed, glancing off to the side at the actual doorway. "Yeah, it's lunch. We should probably follow the crowd, cause I'll probably still get us lost."

He gestured to the group of students headed out the door, as well as Professor Quinn, whose departure told him it was best to get moving. It seemed getting back to the Great Hall was much easier than finding their classroom had been. While the four tables remained, it seemed the houses tended to mix more at lunch than at breakfast and dinner. He probably should make more friends in his own house. He sniffed the air, enjoying the smell. "What do you think of the food here?" he asked turning to Caelum. "It's much better than the food at any other school I've been to."

Charlotte wrote down the list of spell types from the board, but didn't quite get how she was supposed to come up with something like how to invent a curse. She didn't know any magic yet, so making up her own didn't seem likely.

She took her notes with a pencil in a spiral notebook, and she shoved the pencil back into the metal spiral as she closed it and got up to leave with the rest of the class. It seemed like she had only just sat down, but she had been late.

She caught up to Layla on her way out as well, and waited and listened as she talked to the teacher about "unforgivable curses." She didn't know anything about that, but it was starting to seem like spell classifications were completely arbitrary.

When the teacher and student went their separate ways, Charlotte caught up to Layla and walked beside her.

"So what else do you know about spells?"

Happy that Dani had agreed to join her, Roze's hair had taken a slightly brighter tinge, making a honey brown as they sat down at the tables of the Great Hall. The food was already laid out, platters upon platters of delicious food. Firstly grabbing a bread roll Roze smiled at Dani as she began buttering it. Roze found herself prone to nattering quite a lot when it came to meeting new people, but she would have to roll it back a lot in order for Dani to be able to answer with her whiteboard. She knew a small bit of sign language, due to one of her many cousins on her father's side being deaf; but it wasn't enough to be able to hold a conversation up. Making a mental note to send a letter to her father was some books to read up on the language, she speared some bacon from a nearby platter, putting it between the bread.
"That was a pretty good first lesson, don't you think? Professor Quinn looks like a great teacher - a bit daunting though. I wouldn't really want her as our Head of House." She said, then paused with a frown. "Although, I suppose it's better than a senile ghost." They hadn't even met Professor Binns as of yet - being a ghost, he had had no reason to appear at the first feast. From what they'd heard from other students, he was useless, and probably the most boring teacher in the school. Fair to say, she wasn't exactly looking forward to their first History of Magic lesson. She'd probably do better teaching herself the subject, if all Binns was doing was reading from dusty old books for hours on end.

Dani was rather glad that the benches that served as seating at the table in the Dining Hall were as tall as they were, despite the fact that her feet dangled a good distance off the ground, as that meant that she would be able to eat without sitting on her knees or a book or something. While Roze talked about her thoughts about how the class went and what she thought of Professor Quinn, Dani gathered some food onto her plate, avoiding some of the stranger-looking food items and focusing more on the things she recognized.

Once she felt that she had gotten enough food to fill her up, which just happened to be far less than most of the others seemed to be eating due to her small size, Dani took the time to grab a marker from her bag and respond via her whiteboard, turning it so that Roze could read it without Dani having to hold it up. ”I agree. She’s good at teaching, but she’s not the friendliest person around.”

After she had taken a few bites of her meal, namely some chicken and mashed potatoes, allowing Roze plenty of time to read her response, Dani took the whiteboard back and erased it before writing again. ”Professor Quinn seemed to think of our House Head as rather air-headed too. It seems he had forgotten to meet with me about my condition. She wasn’t pleased when she found out.”

Dani repeated the process of taking a few bites while allowing Roze to read the whiteboard again, taking it back after a few moments to clear it and write something else down. ”What do you think of the assignment that Professor Quinn gave us? It seems like it would be pretty simple, but I’m clueless when it comes to magic, so I don’t know.”

@MiddleEarthRoze

As Layla was walking away from Professor Quinn, red-headed Charlotte came up to her.

"So what else do you know about spells?"

Layla blushed as Charlotte asked about her knowledge and replied, "Well, I'd say I know quite a lot, but there is such a variety of spells out there. What do you think about this, say, 'assignment'?"

As they talked, they walked towards the door. She looked around and she saw him (Ajax). Her mind kept flashing back to earlier that day, and her face flushed as she looked at him. Layla turned back to Charlotte with haste.

It was Charlotte's turn to flush, her face nearly matching her hair. "I don't know how to do this assignment!" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "I mean, we have all year but... all she did was talk about what curses were, we have no idea how to even do them! How am I supposed to invent a new thing when I don't know any of the old ones?"

She saw Layla's little double take to some guy that was also leaving the class. She didn't know what to make of it, but noted the boy's face and kept quiet.

Ajax saw as the girl he saw yesterday walked past him talking to another girl. His face turned red before looking down on the ground. 'Come on Ajax, deep breaths. You've done it many times before, why are you freaking out now.' In truth, the New Zealander didn't known what made him feel that way. From a distance, this girl (Layla) seemed normal, just an ordinary girl in a magic school.

His jaw dropped. "I have the hots for a witch. Holy crap." A magic witch! Like abracadabra witch! Like shazam witch! Like "I am a fucking real witch" witch! He could imagine his friends in New Zealand giving the thumbs up and a "go ahead" smile.

Ajax caught up to the girl, confidence in his eyes. "Hello there." He said politely in his thick New Zealand accent, now next to the girl he saw from yesterday. "I was wondering if any of you girls are from Gryffindor? If so, can I sit next to you guys, I'm a muggleborn so I don't really know anyone." He scratched his head, in his mind hoping for an answer. A positive one.

"How many brothers do you have?" Caelum walked beside Nolan, following the crowd. "I'm an only child... I always wondered what it would be like." The small talk and friendly company made the gloomy dungeon and strange sights seem a little brighter. The girl was unaccustomed to dungeons and mildew. "I'm... I didn't know magic existed before my letter... Everything she said was absolute Latin to me!" Caelum dud not understand the irony of this statement, as she didn't know Latin either.

When Nolan complimented her artwork she blushed ever so slightly. "Thank you... I was just doodling..."

They reached the main dining hall in now time. She would attend any table Nolan sat at, she did not quite understand the importance of house divisions... Not yet anyway. "The food is... Very Good... filling." Both her parents were very health and image conscious. "Neither of my parents like to cook. Me and Mom always eat salads. With Dad we go to restaurants or pick up." Her fathers favorite restaurants were the ones that had earned several stars. Big plates, small portions, many courses, fancy sauces in intricate patterns.

"I'll get used to it." She smiled. "There is... A lot to get used to here." She added quietly.

~~~~

Dani might hear a chuckle from the corner of her ears every so often. If she ever sought to turn and find the source of the laughter she would see nothing.

The next time she glanced at her chalkboard to write... It would already have words written upon it!

'I smell of codfish and I love it!' Is what her chalkboard would say.

Roze chewed on her bacon sandwich as she patiently read each of Dani's messages, chuckling at the inadvertent 'air-head' pun of their deceased Head of House. In regards to Dani's last question, Roze tilted her head upwards thoughtfully, looking at the enchanted ceiling of the hall. It was a crisp, clear blue - just like the weather outside. The warmth of summer still remained in air, but the cold autumn winds were slowly making themselves known in the mornings and evenings, chasing away the remainders of the summer sun.
"I see what you mean; to someone who's new to this world, it would be quite hard. But I'm just glad we weren't assigned some massive essay - the horror stories that my brother's given me have made me have second thoughts about even coming." She said with another chuckle, looking back at Dani. "We can do it together, if you'd like. My Uncle's an Auror - I'm sure he can give us some pretty badass spells to write down."
Finishing there, she continued eating while she allowed Dani to reply. However, as she glanced at her whiteboard, she dropped her sandwich in surprise at the writing that had appeared on it in an unfamiliar scrawl.
"What the heck?" Roze looked at Dani in confusion.

@TaliPaendrag

The boy seemed to gather his courage and come over to Layla and Charlotte. He was a Gryffindor, and a muggleborn, and Charlotte was quite excited to hear that.

"Oh!" she was jumping a little in her excitement, "I'm a Gryffindor, a muggle born too! You can sit with us... if it's alright with Layla. I'm Charlotte." She held a hand for him to shake.

"I mean, we have all year but... all she did was talk about what curses were, we have no idea how to even do them! How am I supposed to invent a new thing when I don't know any of the old ones?"
"Well, I know some... Besides, it's not like inventing a new curse, just a way of cursing the position with curses already invented. Right...?"

Then a boy walked over and stood next to her. "I was wondering if any of you girls are from Gryffindor? If so, can I sit next to you guys, I'm a muggleborn so I don't really know anyone." He said in a thick New Zealand accent. She liked his accent.

Charlotte was the first to reply, "I'm a Gryffindor, a muggleborn too! You can sit with us... if it's alright with Layla. I'm Charlotte."
"It's fine! Totally fine. I'm a Gryffindor too, although I believe I'm a half-blood?" Layla began muttering to herself, her thoughts trailing to the question at hand.

"Ahh, thank you. A half-blood, I am afraid I am not familiar with the term. I am Ajax by the way, nice to meet you girls." Ajax smiled, pleasantly surprised that they said yes. He shook the now named Charlotte's hand. As they walked through the dungeons, he made a lot of small talk with the pair, talking about life here versus life in the muggle world. After two minutes of walking with the crowd, he saw a glimpse of light in the corner of his eye. He paused and looked down a dark corridor next to him. A ghost, a headless one at that, flew across the corridor.

Ajax shrugged and took a couple of steps.,Until his brain started working. "That was a ghost." He said matter of factly. "A ghost. Huh. Wow. Never seen one of those." He turned towards the pair. "Do any of you know where the way out of the dungeons are? I have no idea." It seemed that the crowd was gone. Leaving the three of them alone. How a crowd of around thirty people disappear and go fast enough to leave the three of them alone in a dark dungeon was something that none of them were thinking of.

They were alone. In a dungeon. In a school for magic. Corniest. Shit. Ever

"No kidding," Nolan mumbled in response. There really was so much to get used to here. He couldn't even imagine what it must be like for the Muggle-borns. He automatically walked to the Slytherin table as he really didn't know where else to go. Halfway through his first day and he'd only made two friends, none in his house. And where was Chandler anyway?

He sat down and began scooping food onto his plate. He hadn't realized until just now how hungry he was, though he supposed it had been a long morning. "You were asking about my brothers earlier, well I have five. Two of 'em here at Hogwarts with us." He gestured as discreetly as he could at the Ravenclaw table where Roy was staring at the ceiling. Judoc meanwhile was nowhere to be found.

"So what was your favorite class so far?" he asked, trying to bring the attention back form his brothers. He didn't notice the familiar face and green scarf settle into the seat just a few seats down. "Or I guess you can't really tell yet, huh? A bunch of first day stuff, they all ran together." He stuffed a few spoonfuls of mashed potatoes in his mouth.

Dani was grateful that Rose was willing to work with her on the homework and help her if she had any questions, though a willingness to teach others seemed to be a common trait amongst Ravenclaw. It certainly made it easier for her to adjust to everything. She would have to do something to thank Rose later.

Having been taking a bite to eat and being distracted by a strange chuckle from behind her every so often, while Rose responded, Dani didn’t get a chance to take her whiteboard back and reply right away. Hence her confusion when Rose adopted a surprised and puzzled expression while she looked from the whiteboard to Dani. The second Dani looked at her board, she realized that someone had changed the writing.

She tried to communicate to Rose that she hadn’t written that down, but she wasn’t sure if her new friend would get the meaning behind her gesticulations. It seemed that someone was messing with her via magical means. Despite figuring that it probably wouldn’t work, Dani wrote a message on her whiteboard and passed it over to Rose. ”I don’t know what’s going on or who’s changing what I write." She held onto the green marker that she had used to write the message with as proof that it was hers. If the color of the message changed again, she would be able to show that she hadn’t actually written down whatever nonsense might appear.

@MiddleEarthRoze

Peering at the board in curiosity, Roze racked her brains to try and think of what could be doing it. Now, she herself was noticing the strange giggles surrounding them. Thinking back to what her brother had told her about Hogwarts, she looked up instead of around.
"Hmm.... I think it may be a ghost. Or Poltergeist. Apparently there's a rather energetic one in the castle called Peeves." Roze said out loud, still looking around them with suspicious eyes to see if anything would surface and prove her right or wrong.

@TaliPaendrag

Late. Again. "It was a curse" his father told him, "Even even when we rushed, all the Arrowminers were late to their first day of school" He now walked to lunch. After meeting in the Headmistress' office, and getting sorted into his house, he walked to the Great Hall.

It was quite overwhelming, all the people, in one place. He found the Ravenclaw table, and managed to squeeze into an open space next to a blond girl, Andy another with a whiteboard. He grabbed two sandwiches, and put them onto his plate. He smiled at the two girls sheepishly, trying to say something.

"Um, uh, hi, I'm er, um Daniel." He messed up, knowing he got tongue tied, and put his palms to his face, disappointed in himself. Mabye, they won't notice. Right?

@MiddleEarthRoze @TaliPaendrag

Downstairs still….? (Layla, Chrolette, Ajax)

As they left the dungeon they would be watched. Holt, the ghost, would not be seen by the trio. Holt would follow them until they began to ascend. Then, once the students were out of sight, the ghost would turn about and travel back into the dungeons.

Table Ravenclaw...? (Dani, Roze, Daniel)

Peeves, now named, burst into laughter and projected him up through a neat stack of sandwiches, sending cold cuts, lettuce, mayo, and loves flying in all directions. “I neglected to properly introduce myself at the great feast yesterday!” He was doing cartwheels through the air. He was a funny-looking ghost with a crooked grin, a squat body and spindly arms. He would occasionally stop to tip over a glass, especially if that glass was placed precariously close to homework. “No need for applause!”

"I'm not the only one who is late!" He sang then pointed a thin finger at Daniel, his nail was long and sharp. "Arrowminers! Fashionably late as always! When they heard you were coming this year they didn't bother to put the hat away after the ceremony!" He tittered. "Arrow-whiiiineers!"

Table Slytherin (Nolan, Caelum)

“Yes.” Caelum crossed her hands together under the table. She put a few things on her plate, but found she had little appetite. “It is too early to tell.” She tilted her head. “I don’t even know what to do with magic. I suppose… I’ve seen the moving pictures. I hope we can learn how to do that.” She glanced at the various portraits on the wall. The wizards and witches depicted moved quietly within their frames. “I think… I think I have seen them moving in and out of their frames!” She leaned forward and whisper, as if she had discovered some great secret. “I think they can visit each other. I wonder how that works.”

She looked down at her plate, spearing a tomato with her fork. “Are your brothers nice to you? I always wondered what it would be like to have brothers.”

The pair were receiving glares from the older students, particularly from a certain quidditch team. They seemed to start bickering with one another, gesturing toward Caelum and Nolan from time to time. For now, their conversation was contained to their group. The girl with the green scarf did not seem to care about her team mates conversation. Instead she watched Nolan with unblinking green eyes.

It was Charlotte who led them out of the dungeons this time. She had her bearings properly, and seemed to have a good sense of direction, even in the maze-like dungeon.

The three got up to the Great Hall about half way through lunch, though, and they were hard pressed finding a spot with three free seats at Gryffindor's table. She immediately piled some mashed potatoes on a plate and smothered them with gravy.

"Okay, so me and Ajax have both muggle parents, but only one of yours is, right, Lay? Which one?"