Acting Headmaster Bulla

January 20, 2006 1:08 AM
It was almost a relief to see nothing beyond the ordinary. Manfred, having spent most of his summer at the school rather than pursuing his usual Summer recreation and catching up with his family, was glad of this, but that didn't mean that he felt entirely comfortable taking the spot of the Head of Sonora at the Staff table. It still felt like Lucinda Marnett's chair. It was still Lucinda's chair... after all, she hadn't resigned. She just left to recuperate, and hadn't yet returned.

During the break, Manfred had occasionally had time to wonder if she ever would.

But not today. The wagons, bringing the year's intake of students had been returning to the school all day, and now everyone was seated at their tables. The first years had only just been administered with their potions; the traditional form of sorting at Sonora. Each student was presented with a chalice holding a clear, bubbling liquid. Upon drinking the potion, they temporarily turned the primary colour of their house - Aladren students turned blue, Crotali were red, Pecari brown and Teppenpaw Yellow. It generally didn't last too long but it generally caused some consternation and amusement amongst the students.

Manfred sat a moment longer, and then, knowing it couldn't be put off a moment longer, stood and called for attention.

"Welcome," he said, glad he'd taken the time to think about what he was going to say and even rehearse a little the night before. "To all our new students, I am Acting Headmaster Bulla, and on behalf of the staff and other students I would like to welcome you to Sonora Academy. This school will be your home away from home for the next seven years, and I hope that you all work hard, and enjoy your time here. To our returning students, welcome back. You've had your holidays, and now it's time to return to learning mode. Do your houses proud. Also, the House Quidditch Tournament - which I'm sure you all recall being cancelled last year - will be reinstated this year." He paused, expecting and getting a reaction from that announcement. "But all that can wait. I assume you're all hungry after your trip to school?"

He didn't need to say anything more. Rather, if he had, he might have had some trouble, considering the difference between the length of his speach and those that the Headmistress had been in habit of giving at the start of the year feast. He waved his hand at the room, and the feast magically appeared on the tables.\n\n
Subthreads:
39 Acting Headmaster Bulla Let the New Term Commence! 2 Acting Headmaster Bulla 1 5


Devian Dupree

January 20, 2006 10:02 AM
He wasn't like most first years. Most were unsure of themselves, not him. He belonged here. Afterall, he was a Pureblood. The only ones, in his family's opinion that should know magic. He also belonged here, because this is where his cousins were - Chris and Nicoletta. Devian knew he was going to be in the same house as Nicoletta. It was the best house. It was Crotalus. There was no better house and nothing else would do. Confident, he drank the potion to turn his hands one of the four colors.

He stared in horror at his hands. They didn't turn red, they turned blue! No this was all wrong! They should be red!

He tried to keep calm. A Dupree should never show stress, but he couldn't help darting his eyes quickly over the other students. Who else had blue colored hands?

He quickly spotted someone with blue hands. He walked up to them. Hopefully, they were worth associating with.

"Hello. I am Devian Dupree. Obviously, we're in the house," he said, his nose slightly in the air. "And you are?"\n\n
0 Devian Dupree So very wrong! 70 Devian Dupree 0 5


Geoffrey Layne

January 20, 2006 9:54 PM
Geoffrey had received some details of the school in Anne's letters, but he couldn't keep from looking around the dining hall the first years were lead into with a fair amount of interest. Anne had never mentioned that the windows were covered with water, for example, and he had been fully under the impression that the leader of the school was a woman named Marnett, not a man. She had also failed to mention being given a potion at the start of the feast. Geoffrey looked at the chalice a little dubiously, then looked around for Wright. She had a godawful sense of humor, sometimes, but she wouldn't stand by and let him, the only friend she had ever managed to make and keep in her messed-up life, drink something poisonous.

He didn't see her. Typical. He supposed that it hadn't been very likely - Anne was now a second year, Anne probably had at least a few tenuous allies here to reunite with, and the fact that he hadn't seen Anne in person for well over a year left a lot of room for her appearance to have altered - but it would have made him a lot less uneasy about drinking an unknown substance to have it given her seal of approval. Still, what couldn't be mended oughtn't be wept over. With that, Geoffrey shrugged, lifted the chalice to his mouth, and drank what was inside it.

It took him a moment to notice the potion's affect on his appearance. His hands were blue. His arms were blue. The blurry image of his face he could make out in the side of the chalice looked blue. Anne had mentioned that blue was the primary color of Aladren. I'm an Aladren, he thought slowly, eyes still on his hands. A second realization hit him. I'm in Anne's House. Merlin help me. The thought brought something that might have been the cousin of a rueful smile. He liked her as well as he liked anyone and better than most, but there was no denying that Anne had a nasty temper and some...peculiar...ways around those she considered non-hostile.

The man at the top table's speech provided the reasoning behind why Anne hadn't told him the headmistress had been replaced by a headmaster. 'Acting Headmaster' sounded like a temporary position, at least to him. He heard a familiar-sounding whoop from down the table when it was announced that Quidditch was back on, and looked around for the voice's owner without success. It was entirely possible that he had been mistaken anyway, between his own desire to hear that particular voice, the amount of time that had passed since he had heard it, and the other cheering from the crowd.

He had just taken his seat and begun considering food choices when another blue boy walked up to him. He couldn't stop the fractional rise of his eyebrows at the other's manner. Dupree. He'd heard the name before. According to Anne, it was the surname of both Aladren's Keeper she had yet to see play and the name of some girl who had made trouble for Anne's favorite cousin - not that that was saying much. When it came to Anne, 'favorite cousin' was more like 'only cousin I believe worth of permission to breathe air'. She didn't like her family, Anne didn't, but he couldn't really blame her. The St.Martins were famous in Wizarding Charleston for their odd ways, and John had proved himself a real class act when he ditched her after Miz Mary died.

"Pleasure," he said shortly, extending a hand to the other boy. "Geoffrey Layne." The odds were against the other recognizing his surname, given the lack of size and importance the Laynes could lay claim to, but he reckoned that his blood was as pure as the next fellow's and that, therefore, he didn't have to defer to other purebloods. If the aforementioned other purebloods were of a differing opinion, they could go chat with someone else. \n\n
16 Geoffrey Layne I may be worse off than you, pal. 72 Geoffrey Layne 0 5


Devian

January 21, 2006 11:07 AM
Layne. Layne. Pureblood. Not a well known name, but Pureblood none the less. Yes, he would do for now. Perhaps, for longer.

"Was Aladren the house you were hoping to be in? I was rather hoping for Crotalus, but Aladren is good too. I have a cousin in each," he stated to the other boy. "I haven't seen either yet, but I'm sure they will show up at some point to congratulate me. Though, Nicoletta may be disappointed that I'm not in her house. Do you have any family already here?"

Who his family was and where he wanted to be placed would tell Devian more about the boy. It would tell him if Geoffrey was someone to continue associating with.\n\n
0 Devian Time will tell 0 Devian 0 5


Geoffrey L.

January 21, 2006 2:10 PM
The million-galleon question, Geoffrey thought dryly. Who're my kin and what's my disposition. Aunt Melissa was right about how these things work, then. Exactly how his Uncle Harmon's wife had such an extensive knowledge of the upper-class pureblood world remained a mystery to Geoff, but the evidence had shown her accounts to be true many a time before this. Maybe it had something to do with being an Auror. It couldn't be from experience, because she never failed to make a point of just how minor her family, the Carters, had been before they all died out. She was the last of the line, unless one counted her daughter.

"Crotalus was my father's old House," he said lightly. "I know he would have been pleased if I'd been Sorted into it, but Aladren is perfectly respectable. I knew a St.Martin at home who came out of Aladren." St.Martin was a much better known name than Layne or Wright, though the St.Martin he had known had been disowned and the Wrights, according to the reasearch he'd done in his year of boredom, had their fair share of controversy through the ages. "I'm not aware of any relatives here at the moment, though you never know." He shrugged philisophically. "There's no telling who you'll turn out to be related to if you do a little digging." He set about the task of selecting something on the table that looked edible.

OOC: Out of curiosity, would your name be pronounced Dev-ee-an or Dee-vee-an? \n\n
16 Geoffrey L. Time unveils truth, as a rule. 72 Geoffrey L. 0 5


Devian

January 21, 2006 5:55 PM
Devian nodded with understanding. His parents would be pleased with his choice of initial acquaintances. This boy's family had attended Sonora. Some members had even been in Crotalus and Aladren. Yes, very pleased.

"Well, I will hope that if I ever choose to dig that there are no unpleasant suprises," he said. His mouth turned into a slight sneer at the word 'unpleasant.'

He took an empty seat next to Geoffrey. The meal appeared to be rather inviting. He took some of the pasta that was being offered and a slice of garlic bread. Luckily, he had mints with him. His parents instilled in him that bad breath can ruin the best of situations. No, he could not have bad breath when he planned on being on the top.

"Do you know of anything of the professors?" he asked casually, though he really wanted to know.\n\n
0 Devian There are always exceptions to every rule 0 Devian 0 5


Geoff Layne

January 21, 2006 8:12 PM
Geoff had always liked to think himself observant. Even Anne would concede that he didn't miss much, and compliments from her were a little more rare than blue moons. His expression didn't alter when he noted the faint sneer his new companion gave at the end of his sentance. Every family has a few skeletons in the closet, I suppose, he thought."As do we all, pal," he said easily, finally spotting something that fell into the category of definitely ingesitble: flounder. Though the wizarding coastdwellers did eat other things, fish and other seafoods were a staple of his family's diet, and he had never liked eating things he wasn't familiar with.

He paused for a moment on the question about the professors. Revealing what he knew about them would entail revealing his source - Anne, well-known to be the black sheep of the St.Martin family. Lying was definitely a usable option, but a desire to appear well-informed on any topic he ran across made him answer. "A little. I have a friend here in second year who sometimes included bits about the classes in her letters last year. Our Head of House is the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, a woman named Kijewski who tells people they can call her by her first name. Connell - that's the Potions professor - is Head of Pecari. The Astronomy teacher, Dione, is Head of Crotalus and the Acting Headmaster's a Charms master and Head of Teppenpaw. My friend likes those last two the best." Geoffrey allowed himself a short laugh. "No idea why, you never know with her. She's a bit unpredictable."

He paused to shake some salt over his flounder. "Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts both have new teachers this year. The old ones quit when the weather went south last year." \n\n
16 Geoff Layne Which leaves us to wonder if there are any rules. 72 Geoff Layne 0 5