HoH Speech on Crotalus Commons

Professor Skies

October 11, 2013 4:33 PM

HoH Speech by Professor Skies

Selina had probably been in and out of the Crotalus Common Room more times today than she had been in all of her time at Sonora. In fact, she was fairly sure she had set foot in the Crotalus Commons precisely once before today, and that had been when she was new to the school and being shown around. She had spent the morning in what she was struggling to stop mentally referring to as Amelia's office, although it had been stripped of all signs of the previous occupant. She was sad to see her colleague go, having a great admiration for those of the Pierces that weren't insane blood obsessives. The ones who fell into that category tended not just to be indifferent to it but to actively speak out against it, or at least against some of the family's other more conservative and ludicrous views, which took some nerve. She had taught both of Amelia's adopted outcast children and remembered both fondly. It was nice to be able to hear how they were. She still could, of course, if she wrote to the family. It was not like they were dead, in spite of what their relatives might say. She would make every effort to but it wasn't quite the same as having someone else there every day.

Once her personal possession's had been installed in ~~Amelia's~~ her room, and the office fitted out with all the necessary materials such as parchment, quills and the books she most commonly referred to (along with the one personal gesture of a framed photograph showing her with her husband and their two daughters), it had been more or less time for the feast, and her first real new duty, other than occupying a new office. She had managed the sorting without dropping Potion down the front of any first years, enjoyed a pleasant feast and was now ready to head back to her office. It took her only the slightest of moments to recall that this had moved, and that she was in charge of shepherding several other people that way too.

“Crotali – Crotali to me, please,” she called, counting the still slightly red faces to be sure she had the right number. “Please follow me, and I will take you to your new house,” she explained, leading the group out of the hall. She pointed out the salient landmarks as best she could. Although she knew her way around the building, this wasn't a route she had taken often, so she had been extra attentive to such details on her way down to the feast. It wasn't that she thought she would get lost without them – she knew the sections of the school building well enough to put together a route between anywhere and anywhere else – but the fact that this was a novel walk, which had sharpened her senses, making her notice how exactly it joined up the bits of abstract mental map that she already knew. Finally, they reached a rather hideous portrait but one that it was safe to say would always remain at the school.

“This is Gunther, an inferus,” she explained of the picture. To those of a Muggleborn background, he might look more like their image of a zombie. It was the same thing, after all. “Though he is much more astute than most of his kind. He is charged with the job of guarding our common room, and will only open for the correct password. I expect you to be courteous when speaking to him and, if he refuses to admit you, to remember that you are, most likely, in the wrong, not him. For the first week, the password will be Shrinking solution,” the portrait swung neatly forward, revealing a hole for the Crotali to clamber through. Once they were assembled in the common room, she continued her address.

“Now we're in, let me introduce myself properly and welcome you to your house. As you know, I am Professor Skies. Or Deputy Headmistress Skies but I feel that's a bit of a mouthful, and think that 'Professor' suffices perfectly well,” she smiled. “Crotalus is the house which, by reputation, is sensible, down to earth and rule driven. I hope that is a quality you will all exemplify. I expect you to be good ambassadors for this house, both in this room and in the wider school.

“The password changes weekly, and will be displayed on the notice board, along with useful notices about classes and clubs. Your prefects are Paul Bennett, Alexandra Deveraux and Heaven Baird – please raise your hands. The Quidditch Captain is Linus Macaulay and his deputy is Cepheus Princeton. They should post a notice regarding try outs in the next day or so, so look for this if you are interested in joining the house team. I hope your time at Sonora will be pleasant but, if anything is troubling you, please come to see me in my office, or speak to one of your prefects.

“If anyone has questions, they may ask them now. Otherwise, you are free to settle into your new home.”

OOC: You are now allowed to post anywhere on the site, though obviously, your character doesn't have access to the other common rooms. Please keep to the standard posting rules and minimum posting length (two paragraphs, each paragraph averaging around five sentences, minimum 200 words). Have fun and welcome to Sonora!

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