Opening and feasting on Cascade Hall

Headmistress Powell

August 13, 2010 3:30 AM

Opening Feast by Headmistress Powell

Another year had come round, and a lot was the same: the Board of Governors was still questioning certain aspects concerning the running of the school, new first year students would still be arriving that morning, some more nervous than others, and once again Sonora was in need of a new Transfiguration Professor. Yes, these three aspects were predictable constants of a new term. Yet there was one aspect that Sadi had been unable to predict. During the family holiday to Romania this year (equal parts to visit the Valson side of the family and to appease Jera’s wishes by taking her dragon-spotting) she had contracted a virus – Neplac’s disease, a degenerative and aggressive illness for which there were assorted treatments, but as of yet there was no cure. As a generally optimistic and calm individual, Sadi was not experiencing great concern, as she had access to both Druids and Healers, but nevertheless she did have days when the virus was getting the better of her. Today happened to be one of those days.

It was customary for the Headmistress to Apparate to school on the first day of term, but she hadn’t the strength, and so had travelled from Colorado on a flying wagon with her daughter and other students, sleeping most of the way. She did not wish to worry her students, so on arrival to the school Sadi took a brief moment to scrutinize her reflection. Her skin was waxy and paler than usual, and dark rings around her eyes were visible but not too prevalent. Her once chestnut hair had grayed considerably over the past couple of weeks, but was tied, as ever, back into a neat knot at the nape of her neck. The Headmistress was wearing robes of a customary warm shade of brown, and wasted little time in returning to the Hall to begin the year.

“Welcome,” she addressed the school once they had settled, her voice shaky even with the assistance of the sonorus charm , “and welcome back to Sonora Academy. First years, your Deputy Head, Professor Dakin, is now handing you a goblet. Please drink its contents and you will be sorted accordingly.” What Sadi neglected to mention was that the potion in the goblets would change the color of the drinkers skin, and by doing so indicate their House: deep red for Crotalus, bright blue for Aladren, sunshine yellow for Teppenpaw, and muddy brown for Pecari. Usually the Headmistress enjoyed watching the sorting, but today she found herself too tired to summon the usual excitement, and when the first years had found seats with their new Housemates, Sadi found it tiring to stand again and continue her address.

“Now for our start of term announcements. I’d like again to congratulate our Head Boy, Thomas Fitzgerald, and our Head Girl, Jera Valson, both of Aladren, and ask them to collect their badges. I would also like to congratulate our new prefects: Alison Sinclair of Pecari, Pippa Brockert of Teppenpaw, Charlotte Abbott for Crotalus, and for Aladren, James Anthony.” Sadi handed out large, shiny metallic badges to each student as they came to the front of the Hall, and offered repeated congratulations. “Finally, we are again in need of a new transfiguration professor. I hope one will have arrived within the next few weeks; until then you may use your class time for independent study.”

With the announcements now complete, Sadi was greatly looking forward to retiring to her quarters. “Let the Opening Feast commence!” she declared, and instantly the tables were full of every conceivable delicious concoction, and the Hall filled with talk and laughter.

Subthreads:

Opening and feasting by Sara Raines with Sophia Jamison, Sara

Dropping in for the party by Thomas Fitzgerald with Jera Valson, Thomas

So long, farewell by Amelia Smythe with Alexis Ashwood, Amelia

Making efforts. by Kate Bauer with Jessica Zeworth

Playing Aladren again (Veronica) by Rachel Bauer with Veronica

New and Blue by James Owen with Brad Hayman , James

Ladies? by Cecily Smythe with Holly Greer, Chelsea Brockert, Cecily

Turning Red by Ryan O'Malley with Miya Saren, Jordan Adair

Back and happy to be! by Sophia Randolph with Kirstenna Melcher, Sophia

A Bit Freaked Out by Alex Guerrero with Valentina Bentancourt, Alex

C'est amusant. by Bryanna Greene with Pippa Brockert

Nose in a book by Nova Wynn (Aladren)

I'm what? by Alison Sinclair with Daniel Nash II

All grown up? [Tag Adelita] by Charlotte Abbott with Adelita Garcia

Two can play at this game (or five actually) (Starbuck) by Nina Brockert with Starbuck Gregory

Another year older, but not any wiser. by Juri Dahlgren with Elliot Valentine, Juri

Feasting by Nicodemus Sawyer with Renée Errant

No no no no NO! by Tawny Brockert

Back, brainwashed, and hyper as ever! by Demelza Eagle

Growing up by Alessa Hinckley with Edmond Carey

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Sara Raines

August 13, 2010 8:36 AM

Opening and feasting by Sara Raines

Though she was one of the smallest people in the group, and by no means forceful, Sara had somehow found herself at the front of the line of first years making its way into the Cascade Hall. Since she wasn’t feeling nearly as nervous as she had expected to – or, at least, she was doing a better job of controlling her anxiety than she had expected to – she didn’t find that to be the worst thing that could have happened. It gave her a chance to look around.

The other students were interesting, but the bulk of her attention stayed on the staff table as she allowed her body to do the work of walking for her. These people were something infinitely more important than interesting. These people were the ones with the power. It was like having many mothers and uncles, all with equal authority, and a single father – the Headmistress – who, she expected, would be even more remote than her own father but therefore even more powerful if Sara chose to behave poorly and draw Headmistress Powell’s attention to her. Could good behavior, therefore, draw even more generous rewards than Father gave her? She doubted it, but it was worth thinking about.

She realized, just in the nick of time, that she had gone as far as she needed to and re-attached her mind to what her feet were doing to stop and turn toward the professor holding out a tray to her before she walked into the power table. Praying that her eyes didn’t give her away, she smiled politely and took one of the little clear cups, waiting until she was sure she was supposed to do so to drink from it.

The sensation, more than the taste, bothered her, but she refused to flinch as she finished it off and lowered her cup, holding it in front of her with both hands. Looking around to see if anything was happening to the other students, she gasped aloud when she noticed her nearest neighbor, one hand coming up to cover her mouth in embarrassment at her faux pas. The flash of her arm drew her attention away from her suddenly-blue neighbor and to her own suddenly-brown skin.

Potion. Of course. The potion had turned them these colors. She had known there were four Houses, inclusion in which was based on personality, and that a ceremony involving magic would presumably be needed to admit a student to one of them. This was the ceremony. The colors indicated their new Houses. Thinking back through the books she had read about the school since receiving her letter, she remembered that blue was a primary color of Aladren, and that brown and gold – which was too easy to mix up with the yellow of Teppenpaw for it to be used here, just as maroon was easy to confuse with Crotalus red – were the colors of Pecari.

She was a Pecari, then. She wasn’t quite sure what to think of that. Father was a Crotalus, as was Catherine and Uncle Charles and Aunt Ellie – actually her third and second cousins; Catherine was close enough to her own age to just be ‘Catherine,’ but Charles and Ellie and their sister Margaret and their spouses, as her father’s first cousins, were all called ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt’ both as marks of respect and because they were richer than Father and he wanted them to be fond of Sara and her brother Alan – but she wasn’t sure about Aunt Margaret, who was easily her favorite of them all. Mother had been an Aladren, but that was irrelevant to her at the moment.

There was nothing to be done for it, though, so she would have to make it work somehow. Sara wasn’t too worried about it. She was good at making things work out the way she wanted them to, because people were easy to work with, if you didn’t mind giving up something now for a bigger something later. She went quietly to sit with the other Pecaris, smoothing down her dark green dress and robes and tucking her long, dark hair behind her ears to make sure it didn’t fall in the food that would apparently be served shortly. One of the nicest things about getting older would be the permission to put it all the way up, alleviating the risk of such things. She had no more than a moment to look around the table before the Headmistress stood to address them, causing her to immediately focus her brown eyes on the front of the room.

The Head Boy and Girl, she decided, were like aunts: they had some authority, so she needed to please them if they encountered each other, but they were not as important as the mothers and uncles of the professors. That made the prefects cousins of about Catherine’s level: old enough and important enough to be respected, but not really people to worry too much about. Of course, it was very likely that they were all smarter than Catherine, so she would need to be more careful, but the principle was the same.

When the food appeared, she was presented with an immediate etiquette dilemma: to serve or to speak? Mother believed she was still too young to attend many parties, so she wasn’t sure if the rule was to get her food and then strike up conversation, to strike up conversation and then serve herself, or even wait until someone spoke to her before serving herself. Praying that she wasn’t condemning herself to social isolation forever, she sat up straighter and looked around at the thankfully young students nearest her, trying to make eye contact with each one and maintain a confident – but not improperly so; ladies were to be demure – smile.

“Good evening,” she said. “I’m Sara Raines, of the Illinois Raines’ – and now of Pecari. It’s a great pleasure to meet you all, and to be in your House.”

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Thomas Fitzgerald

August 13, 2010 9:06 AM

Dropping in for the party by Thomas Fitzgerald

He had spent hours trying to talk himself out of it, persuading himself that it was best to be casual, but in the end, Thomas hadn’t been able to help dressing more nicely than usual, and thought he was doing well to have refrained from adding a tie. This was the day he officially became Head Boy, and if he never did so again, he wanted, this one day, to look the part.

Admittedly, every other moment of the evening would be spent looking like a bit of an idiot, but that was presumably why the first night was short. Many people’s parents forced them to dress nicely for that first night. If worst came to worst, he’d blame his mother.

She had remembered enough about school to be thrilled to hear about the election results, and his father had known enough to put it together that it meant he was something like the student body president now. Unfortunately, Peter also thought this meant Jera was his girlfriend, which was a reason he was happy not to have family here. Not only would they have been able to keep up the joke, but they would have been able to report back that this wasn’t true, which would open up the floor for his parents to bug him about why he wasn’t seeing anyone.

Logically, there was no reason not to; while dating at Sonora was often a prelude to marriage, it wasn’t an automatic thing the way it had been in generations past, and even when it was there could be a considerable time delay even with an established relationship and there was nothing wrong with getting married. A symmetrical family unit was practically a requirement to get by in some fields; according to his reading, many people subconsciously believed there was something wrong with single people, because if there wasn’t, then they’d be happily married with a symmetrical family unit. For the moment, thought, Thomas was concentrating on his work and his goals. RATS and managing the prefects were only the first hurdles between him and getting what he wanted.

There was the usual Sorting ceremony, and then came the announcements. He just focused on not smiling too broadly as he got his official badge, and reminded himself to congratulate the new prefects before heading back to his seat. All in all, an excellent start to the year, even if the Headmistress did look a lot older and a little less into all this than usual.

As the feast began, he accidentally caught the eye of the person across from him and smiled a little more normally. “Hey, how are you this evening?” he asked, figuring it was in his duties to be proactive.

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Jera Valson

August 13, 2010 10:12 AM

Party? Where? by Jera Valson

Jera thought she might have frowned so much in the past couple of weeks that she was getting permanent creases in her forehead. That wasn't a good look for a seventeen-year-old, especially one who'd had such a marvellous summer. Her parents had taken her on their two-yearly trip to Romania so Jera could be proded and judged by the Valsons, most of whom thought her father should have stayed with his first wife and not married That Yankee Powell Rabble. This time was better, though, because Jera had invited her friend Jessie along with her. Jessie didn't care a huge amount for pureblood social politics, being halfblood and illegitimate, and she'd kept Jera entertained with her opinions on the topic. Plus Jera's parents had taken both girls on several outings to dragon reserves, seeing so many of the amazing creatures it made them giddy.

It was only when they were leaving Romania and her Ma passed out on the floor that Jera stopped enjoying her summer. The rest of it had been spent with Healers and Druids and her aunts and cousins visiting to make sure her Ma was doing okay. Mostly she seemed okay, but nobody seemed to think Jera needed to know what was going on. She was practically an adult now, not a child who couldn't be told things. She had a right to know. It was infuriating.

At least she got to ride with her Ma to school, even if she was sleeping most of the time. It was Jera's last year and she appreciated the company. Her last year at Sonora, and her first as Head Girl. She always looked neat, but had made that extra effort and added some sleeking serum to her hair for the start of term feast; she didn't want to look scruffy as she collected her badge. Though when she was back at her seat again, Jera couldn't care less; she wanted to go tell her Ma to go to bed, that the school could manage without her. That woman could be so stubborn.

As the food arrived, Jera began serving some onto her plate, content to sit and eat alone. Then she looked up for the juice jug and accidentally caught Thomas' eye. She hadn't noticed they'd returned to seats so close. He smiled and started talking, so Jera supposed she didn't mind engaging in some light conversation afterall.

"Um... mixed," Jera replied honestly, with a smile. "Surreal is a good word, I think." With it being her last year, and being Head Girl, and her Ma being sick. "How about you?"

0 Jera Valson Party? Where? 112 Jera Valson 0 5

Amelia Smythe

August 13, 2010 10:51 AM

So long, farewell by Amelia Smythe

Amelia was in an insufferably superior mood. One of the many advantages of this was that Cecily was so disgusted with her the two sisters hadn't spoken a word the entire journey. She didn't have any reason to feel like she was so much better than everyone else (well, no more reason than usual), but she was feeling decidedly good about her final year at school. She was fairly tall, she loved her curvy figure (Cecil called it fat but Amelia ignored her), her hair was beautifully charmed to be as blonde as it had naturally been when she was ten years old, and she was the daughter of Algernon Smythe II. Life couldn't get a whole lot better than this.

In her custom-made robes that fit so much better than the standard uniform, Amelia took a place among other Crotalus students and sat looking superior while meaningless events occurred around her. She even applauded for the Head Girl; she was an Aladren, so Amelia bore Jera no ill will for beating her on the ballot. It was much better than if Holly had gotten the title; that would have been unbearable. Besides, Amelia was much prettier than Jera, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to be Head Girl, anyway. Things like that just didn't matter in the right kind of society.

Eventually, food was served and Amelia wasted no time in indulging in scrumptious delights she was denied at home. She started with battered chicken, and roast potato, and an array of cheese. She was going to wash it down with glug of juice, then some seriously chocolatey gateau. She only paused in her consumption when she thought someone was watching her. She hated to be judged as she ate. "Can I help you?" she asked, perfectly politely.

0 Amelia Smythe So long, farewell 121 Amelia Smythe 0 5

Thomas

August 13, 2010 11:40 AM

...Everywhere! by Thomas

Surreal. Not a bad word for it. Considering that she'd been a year below the rest of them until last year and he'd been too afraid of social error to do a social anything for most of his time at Sonora, Thomas supposed he and Jera were not the likeliest pair ever to assume the Headship.

"Well enough," he replied. "Spent most of my summer making plans for this year." There wasn't much else to do in his corner of Missouri except plan on how to get the hell out of it, and everything there was, he'd done already. His solid plan was to try his luck in Chicago, since it was a bit more opportunistic than the Northeast and he did have family there to fall back on if things went completely sideways, but he had a feeling it would take very little inducement to get him to fly the Midwestern coop entirely if a reasonably stable opportunity cropped up.

But that was the future. Now was what he had to focus on if he even wanted to get past that first step where he left Missouri. "I expect Gray will, er, monopolize the Aladren Concert stuff - " though Thomas thought he might reserve the right to veto Aladren's resident artistic type's work if it involved burning things, like the current Head Boy in effigy because the resident artistic type was less content with how things had worked out than he had previously let on - "if it's the same as last time, so RATS are my main concern, but I'm trying to factor in time for working on that, too."

It would, he reflected, be awful to be Jera. Thomas doubted very much that he was the only Sonoran ever to half-try to use her for information without even consciously thinking about it as he said it, or that everyone who had done so had even tried to be subtle about it. Maybe that was why she was alone so often, even by Aladren standards despite seeming to be one of the saner House members. He decided to give her an out. "Makes me wish I was taking fewer classes," he added. "How many are you in, again?"

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Jera

August 13, 2010 1:52 PM

Not very many guests yet by Jera

The reply that Thomas gave simply underlined exactly why and how he'd accomplished the Head Boy title: he'd spent his holiday planning for the new term. Jera was mildly impressed; she'd done incredibly little thinking about school. It was only in the last couple of days she'd even picked up her books, which was quite unlike her. She'd given a brief minute's thought to the concert, and come to the conclusion that unless she was forced into it by responsibility of her role, she would play exactly the same role as she had in the last event: spectator. As far as she knew the concert would have a slightly different format this year, but as usual her Ma wasn't giving much away out of fairness to the other students.

Moving away from the concert, Thomas asked how many classes Jera was taking. "Four, with astronomy," she reminded him. The elective added to the subjects she was already studying: charms, potions and transfiguration. "And I've been doing independent studied in herbology. I thought I might as well take an Ancient Runes exam, too." She was fairly sure she could pass that one standing on her head, literally as well as figuratively. "With Quidditch as well -" she hoped the team wouldn't suffer thanks to their captains' promotions, "I don't think I'll have enough time to do the concert any justice." Plus she wasn't the performing type, and didn't really want to take the glory of those who were more artistically inclined, like Gray.

Although Thomas hadn't actually asked about her summer, specifically, Jera wanted to tell him about it. Or, more specifically, she just wanted to tell someone, and Thomas was currently the person most likely to listen. "My summer was mostly enjoyable," she returned to their earlier topic of conversation. "We visited family in Romania, and I took my friend Jessie so we could go dragon-watching." Truly it had been amazing. "It was so much fun - I wish I was taking care of Magical creatures so I could go to the dragon ranch this year." Even as she said it, Jera wondered whether she'd be able to get some strings pulled to get her on that trip. She really ought not to abuse her new powers as Head Girl merely to suit her own whims... it would be different, though, if other students wanted to go who weren't taking the subject. Maybe that's something she could look into.

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Kate Bauer

August 13, 2010 3:29 PM

Making efforts. by Kate Bauer

Rachel’s blue eyes were distracted and, for some reason, almost sad as she stepped off the wagon and hesitated for a moment, as though she’d meant to touch Kate’s arm and had then decided against it. “Just remember to introduce yourself properly,” she said uneasily, “and the thing if you’re a Pecari.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “I know, Rach,” she said, feigning more irritation than she really felt for her older sister to cover for how nervous she was. Rachel wasn’t afraid of anything – except, of course, someone finding out she was a half-blood. Sorting, though, was probably nothing in Wonder Girl’s book, and Kate wanted her sister to think she was just as unaffected by it.

Rachel, impervious to Kate’s annoyance as she was to everything else Kate did that didn’t directly threaten her reputation, nodded once, her blonde ponytail shaking authoritatively as she did. “Good,” she said briskly. “I’m going to go ahead, then. You should be with the other first years. It’s not cool to always hang around your relatives here.” And then Rachel was gone, presumably to find all the other third years, before she could ask if that was code for it just not being cool to hang around Kate.

It wasn’t impossible, upon meeting them, to believe that they were sisters – they were both tall for their age, light-skinned for girls who lived between California and Arizona, and had vaguely similar faces, though only enough to notice when they were standing side by side and preferably had their mother along for reference – but unless they made a point of telling people, Kate didn’t think they would be linked together much. She was even taller for eleven than Rachel was for thirteen, enough so that she thought she’d overtop her sister in a year or two, and her frizzy light brown hair and wrinkled clothes, worn with the awkwardness of one used to jeans, were in sharp contrast to Rachel’s blonde-haired, pressed, and shiny-shoed perfection. The defining point, though, was always make-up. Kate seriously doubted anyone would ever believe that the same gene set capable of producing Rachel Emily Bauer, who wore enough foundation and powder most days to smooth away any trace of their mother’s angular features in addition to making her look as though she were made of porcelain instead of skin and who would sooner die than go without lip gloss, could also produce a girl who felt uncomfortable wearing Chap Stick.

Several minutes later, after a great deal of confusion in a vast anteroom that she thought might have been magnificent if the entire student body hadn’t been crammed into it and trying to figure out which way they were supposed to go, Kate found herself following an unfamiliar back into the Cascade Hall.

For a second, she was overwhelmed, but she had gotten used enough to grandeur since her mother’s second marriage to stop gawping at the waterfalls before too many people noticed that she was doing it. Looking pureblood might not have mattered much to her personally, but she didn’t want to look stupid. Besides, it was kind of hard to get caught up in the splendor of the moment when one had her cousin Sam in the background, waving enthusiastically and miming something that seemed to come to the effect of him wanting to start a food fight. Kate put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Little cups of potion were passed out to them – a clear, bubbly potion that Kate didn’t recognize. She had never been much of one for potions, having never been sick very often and usually preferring to clean her cuts up and let them heal on their own instead of dealing with the lecture that would come with letting her mother heal them the fast way. A few light scars were nothing she couldn’t handle, but when Momma started lecturing her, they almost always ended up having a fight, which made Alicia cry and Rachel call her an idiot afterward for not just keeping her mouth shut and then everyone was in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Since she expected the taste to be unpleasant – potions usually were not designed to please in that way – she drank hers in two quick swallows, nearly choking on it at one point as the taste of the first swallow caught up with her brain and made her grimace while swallowing at that speed. Once it was down, she half-expected to turn into an orangutan or something – but instead, just turned bright yellow.

Teppenpaw.

Feeling elated at being in Dad’s old House, and ignoring any pointed looks Rachel might be sending her from, oddly enough, what the color of the students moving toward it suggested was the Aladren table, Kate moved with the other temporarily-yellow students to one of the tables. She was smiling before she even sat down, feeling – completely irrationally, but hey, her family wasn’t big on Aladrens – like she was already at home.

There were some opening remarks by the Headmistress, including the announcement of the new student authority figures, and then the food appeared. Strangely, for once, Kate didn’t have to try to hide an appetite to appear ladylike, instead genuinely not having one. Something about the appearance of the food made it hit her that she wasn’t at home anymore, and that there was therefore no chance that tonight would include one of those rare little moments where her mother actually expressed honest, recognizable affection for her, or where she and her sisters just sort of hung out for a little while as Rachel forgot to be cool and Leesh to be such a princess. Alicia was in California, probably crying because she was the only one still at home, and Rachel was a few dozen feet and a million miles away between her Crotalus Sorting and apparent Aladren attachments. Even Sam was a senior student and in another House. She was, for the first time since birth, alone.

But that was stupid thinking. There were people all around her, people she was supposed to have lots of things in common with. She loved her family, but she couldn’t really say that she had that much in common with Rachel or Alicia or her mom. Friends couldn’t replace family, but they could be a good supplement when the family just didn’t get it. So, with practiced half-attention to appearances, she took some food for her plate, screwed up her courage, and spoke to the person next to her, figuring that, at worst, they’d think she was weird for just talking out of nowhere. Who knew, maybe they were shy and wanted to just talk out of nowhere but didn’t have the nerve. “Cool feast, huh?” she said. “I’ve never seen one this big. My name’s Kate.”

Too late, she remembered what Rachel had said about introducing herself properly. Oh, well.

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Rachel Bauer

August 13, 2010 3:39 PM

Playing Aladren again (Veronica) by Rachel Bauer

As she settled into her accustomed place at the Aladren table, glaring at any interlopers who might think they had the right to take it because the badge on her robes was actually mostly red and had a snake on it, Rachel took several deep, calming breaths, as though she were about to participate in a gymnastics exhibition and needed to soothe her nerves. The feeling was much the same: like she was teetering on the edge of total failure and destruction, clinging to all that mattered by her toenails and as if the wind was already rushing past her arms as she fell. Like the world would end if one little thing went even slightly wrong.

It was stupid. Smart Rachel, Logical Rachel, knew that. She had fallen off the balance beam, or messed up a complicated flip, before, and nothing worse than a bruise had happened; her coach had been a little disappointed in her, but not enough for her to lose the coach’s respect. Similarly, she had met a real Arizona pureblood and been called on her lies and had lied her way out of it, without loss of family or smaller-scale social standing. But it still felt this way every time something threatened her hard-won self-image. She had never been moderate in her feelings.

Tall as she was, Kate looked pathetically small as she lined up with the rest of the other first years to drink her potion. Rachel wanted badly to rush over and knock the teacher scaring her little sister away from her, to tell Kate everything was all right and that she could go home now. She wanted to do that even more than she wanted to put Kate under the Imperius Curse from now until June to make sure she behaved herself. Nothing was allowed to hurt her sisters, least of all the one who’d once been her best friend, and this place was going to be nothing but a great big string of getting hurt for Kate. There was no way she could do what Rachel did every day. Kate wasn’t like that.

Instead of going to Kate’s defense, though, Rachel just sat there, watching the Sorting with a frozen, false, expression of slight boredom. There was no way anyone she knew had enough of an attention span to realize that Kate was unladylike any more than they realized Sam was related to her unless she drew attention to them regularly, especially since they were both still beginners while Rachel and everyone she knew had, presumably, moved on to the intermediate level. No matter how much it hurt, she had to be cool about this. Momma thought taking care of Kate and Alicia was too boyish of her, so she couldn’t be obvious about doing it unless one of them was really in trouble, and she could objectively see that Kate was miles calmer about all this than she was. She didn’t think her sister was enough of an actress to fake it, like she would have.

When Kate finished the potion, Rachel briefly stopped breathing. Yellow. Teppenpaw.

She inhaled. At least it wasn’t Pecari. There wasn’t enough spinning, butt-kissing, or flat-out buying off Rachel could do to keep things under wraps if Kate met Dani, and this meant that wasn’t likely to happen. Teppenpaw wasn’t great, but since she had known that Crotalus was impossible and Aladren really no more than a dream, it was something she could accept. The Teppenpaws rarely had members who would quiz Kate over her extended family tree, and those would be the people Kate dealt with most often. Yes, it really was a best-case scenario.

Rachel listened to the opening speech, clapping automatically for Thomas and Jera and the new prefects without even noting the names of the latter, and then served herself without hesitation. Several nerve-wracking minutes, the nature of which seemed stupid now that she was winding down from the peak of anxiety, was enough to give her an appetite and make her tired enough to not care if pureblood boys, or even other girls, saw her eat in public. The way the grilled trout – with, by the looks of it, just about the right amount of pepper and lemon juice on – were laid out on a platter instead of served individually made her wrinkle her nose, since it just didn’t seem like something that came from a collective plate could actually be good, but her sudden craving for that exact item when she saw it overrode her distaste.

She recognized her mistake in serving herself before speaking to her best friend before she made things worse by starting to eat, though, and put her fork and knife down with an effort. How, exactly, did lemon juice contrive to smell so good at the moment? “Well, that was epically boring,” she said, tilting her head to indicate the opening ceremonies. “Sorry I was so out of it; my sister’s a first year, and I was hoping she’d get into a decent House. So, how’s it going?” She made sure to make the last bit just between casual and sympathetic, so Veronica would feel neither forced nor forbidden to rant about her family issues. Letters had to be more careful than conversations, since there was no telling which annoying relatives would see the former, while here, it was too loud for anyone to easily eavesdrop. Not as good as an unused classroom, just as that wasn't as good as a shared dorm would have been, but better than nothing.

16 Rachel Bauer Playing Aladren again (Veronica) 154 Rachel Bauer 0 5

James Owen

August 13, 2010 6:04 PM

New and Blue by James Owen

James had heard of Sonora Academy before; of course he had. his family had been going there for generations. not that anyone would have heard of them - they weren't the sort of family that had good connections or memorable accomplishments. They were the sort of family that had twelve of thirteen generations of pureblood, but who didn't care at all about it. James knew about the other sort of family, and he knew what they thought of him. It didn't bother him at all. His robes weren't new, they were second-hand from a shop his mom had used to buy all his books and his cauldron, too. But they were neat, and that's what mattered to James. He didn't need new things, as long as they were functional and neat, and for the time being, at least, they were his.

For his first day at Sonora, James was a little nervous, but was happy to be starting school. he was eleven now - it was time he stopped spending all his time at home playing with his sisters, and did some real learning in a proper school. He was quietly proud but not at all surprised to be sorted into Aladren, but was somewhat disgruntled that his skin turned blue. This was his skin - it was irreplacable. It had better stop being blue soon or this was going to ruin his whole day.

Dutifully taking a seat with his new Aladren housemates, James began helping himself to food, making sure he kept his elbows tucked in and not talking to anyone. He wasn't very good at making friends, anyway. It was only when he couldn't reach the dish of meatballs he really wanted that he opened his mouth to speak. "Excuse me," he said to the person next to him, "could you please pass me that dish of meatballs?"

0 James Owen New and Blue 168 James Owen 0 5

Cecily Smythe

August 13, 2010 6:55 PM

Ladies? by Cecily Smythe

One more year. one last, wonderful, dreadful year. One more year of classes, assignments, exams, and putting up with Alexis Ashwood. One last year of spending every waking moment with her friends, and not having to wrroy about anything besides looking pretty and getting her homework in on time. Cecily wasn't sure whether she was looking forward to finishing school or not; the conundrum was far too confusing for the Crotalus. Instead she made sure she looked beautiful (which wasn't hard - she was petite and pretty, and everyone thought so) and waltzed in to her last ever Opening Feast. She wasted no time at all in finding her friends and catching up on the gossip since she'd last seen them over the holiday.

"A swear about half these new first years are wearing hand-me-down robes," she said, shuddering. "Just as well we're leaving at the end of the year." Then she continued to comment on everything as it happened: "I can't believe you didn't get Head Girl, Holly.... Pippa Brockert couldn't tell a crup what to do... what? That cheap slut Abbott girl? What is this place coming to?" So on and so forth. Her heart wasn't really in it; Cecily was bored. So very bored, but she was pleased to see her friends again.

"I wish there was something to entertain us this year," she griped as she took a small spoonful of salad from a large dish a gracefully deposited it onto her plate. "It's going to be such a dull year otherwise."

0 Cecily Smythe Ladies? 122 Cecily Smythe 0 5

Ryan O'Malley

August 13, 2010 7:29 PM

Turning Red by Ryan O'Malley

Ryan felt just a little bit nervous about going to Sonora first time, but also kind of relieved. If he was at Sonora, Ryan wouldn't have to worry about going back home when his father wasn't on a business trip. When his dad was away, the new first year usually went to stay with his grandparents as his mother couldn't stand seem to stand the sight of him. Being around her caused Ryan great anxiety and he always felt guilty if his parents fought about his mother's treatment of him.

The thing that worried him, however, was that he wouldn't be good enough at school. Ryan's mother always insisted that he was stupid and had a below average IQ and that he was practically a Squib. He was pretty sure the latter wasn't true, Ryan had demonstrated enough accidental magic over the years but he really was worried that he wasn't bright, even though Aunt Jana had told him that his mother was full of it. Ryan wasn't even sure what "it" was.

He stood with the other firsties, whom he had noticed were mostly girls. Ryan wasn't sure this was a good thing. As a child, his mother had insisted that boys were filthy and gross and too rough and should be kept away from playing with girls. Ryan had never been allowed to play with his younger sister when he was a kid. Granted, now he wanted to stay as far away from the seven year old as humanly possible. Carrie was almost as cruel to him as his mother was.

Of course, the two cousins closest to Ryan in age, Arabella and Amity were both girls and Arabella was like his best friend even though she was a girl and three years younger. Uncle Tim and Aunt Lisa didn't think Ryan was icky and didn't mind him playing with Arabella one bit.

The first year took a bottle of the potion and drank it like his classmates did. Ryan turned a deep red, looking like he was badly sunburnt. Not that he'd ever actually been sunburnt, as he spent most of his time indoors both because he had allergies and, when at home and not at his grandparents, if Ryan got dirty and brought it into the house, his mother would go completely ballistic.

He wasn't exactly sure how he felt about his sorting. Ryan had sort of wanted to be in Teppenpaw, the house his father and grandmother had been in. Besides, it was the one house Carrie would never be sorted into. Ryan supposed Crotalus wasn't that bad, at least it wasn't his mother's house.

Ryan followed the others in his house to what appeared to be the Crotalus table. He listened to what the Headmistress had to say and who the prefects were. Naturally he didn't recognize any of the names aside from Pippa Brockert. His mother had been a Brockert and Ryan thought Pippa's dad was his mom's cousin or something. Still, the new Crotalus didn't really know Pippa, though Ryan remembered her sister Tawny from the run-in they'd had a family wedding a few years ago. The thought made him shudder. He was probably going to do his best to avoid a repeat of that.

He turned to the person next to him. All Ryan wanted to do was make friends at Sonora, he desperately wanted people to like him. "Hi, I'm Ryan." The first year introduced himself. He reached for a plate of meatloaf, hoping it would be half as good as his grandmother's.

11 Ryan O'Malley Turning Red 176 Ryan O'Malley 0 5

Sophia Jamison

August 13, 2010 7:59 PM

Sorting and sitting by Sophia Jamison

Though Sophie had been away from her home for practically no time at all, she already missed her family. What was her father going to do without her? After all, Sophie reasoned, the only way he kept himself --and the mulitple kiddos at their house-- alive was her telling him when meals were and sometimes even fixing them. Still, the blonde couldn't blame him; when her mother died, he pushed himself not only through his two jobs but also took over his dead wife's. Now Mr. Jamison was a wizard, actively involved in the wizarding world, a muggle lawyer, and he ran the orphanedge. It was easy to see that Jacob Jamison was a busy man. Even slightly more than her father, Sophie missed her god-fathers. Lucky her, she had two. Sophie felt like all of these adult men in her life wouldn't be able to function without her. It actually took pursuading to get her to come to Sonora.

But now, here she was at Sonora, the tiny girl standing in a crowd of first years. Sophie wasn't really nervous, just.. anxious in an unsettling way. She didn't get nervous particularly for anything, just "anxious." It didn't matter to her what house she was in as long as she had someone to talk to; there was no way she could keep quiet for the year.

You're a liar, you know Sophia thought. You're so nervous, you could faint, couldn't you? Another part of her replied. You better not! Excitable Sophie, all four foot, two inches of her, trekked into the Cascade Hall with the other first years, her belly doing backflips.

The next thing Sophie knew, there was a goblet in her hand, and she was being told to drink. What's this going to do to me? she wondered. Maybe this is some sort of cult! Maybe it isn't magical school at all! What if they're poisoning us to "make the journey to the other world?!" However unusually ~~paranoid~~ cautious as she was being, she decided to sip it, and what follows shocked her.

She was brown! Her skin had changed color! Not that she had never encountered magic before --on the contrary, she was pureblooded. This was just... weird. She hadn't expected anything like this to happen. Then again, what did she expect? A sign to appear above her head that said her house? So, being brown meant... Pecari!

Shuffling along in a sea of brown first years, Sophie found her table and took a seat next to her fellow Pecari. It wasn't long before her neighbor spoke to her. "Good evening. “I’m Sara Raines, of the Illinois Raines’ – and now of Pecari. It’s a great pleasure to meet you all, and to be in your House.” That posture, speaking manner, and seemingly harmless smile were all things Sophie knew well; this girl was a pureblood, no doubt about it.

"Sophia Jamison, of the German Jamisons," she returned civially, her British half which she got from her mother completely clear as she spoke. Sophie had spent much time with people like this. Nearly all of her mother's side of the family were this way. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I suppose we'll likely be roommates."

0 Sophia Jamison Sorting and sitting 0 Sophia Jamison 0 5

Sophia Randolph

August 13, 2010 8:11 PM

Back and happy to be! by Sophia Randolph

Another year! It was that time of year to return to school and Sophia was quite excited by it. She was no longer a first year, she was now a proud second year. The girl had a lot of plans this year; for starters she would be a little more open and make more friends. It was weird for the green-eyed girl to be shy around strangers, she loved to make friends and just plain enjoy life. The customers at her family’s Apothecary loved her to pieces. She was very extroverted and fun to hang with but somehow, last term, her natural friendliness had been diminished by an uncommon fear of flunking her classes. She had done great and her parents had been very proud with her achievements so far at school. In fact, they had bought her an owl just for her! It was amazing because money at her house was usually pretty tight, the main reason she cherished her present more. The brown owl had been named Helios, because she liked the sun god and thought it was fitting since Helios soared the sky just like Helios did to bring the sun up. He was a very good pet and companion and Sophia already loved him to pieces. He was also a spoiled bird.

After the same covered-wagon travel to the school, she entered the Cascade Hall and made her way to her house table, Pecari. Sophia noted that the Headmistress seemed ill. She felt immediately preoccupied by that, she hated to see people suffer. That was why she wanted to be a Healer someday or a potion mistress. It was the best form to help people, of that she was certain. Still a little bit preoccupied she listened to the announcements and clapped politely when the new students were sorted into their respective houses. She cheered when new Pecaris made their way to the table. Having new house-mates was pretty exciting. There was nothing better than school spirit! Pecari was the best house ever! And the little 12 year old would be happy to participate in the house’s greatness! This would most certainly be an awesome year for her. She just knew it. Though, not having a Transfiguration Professor was certainly awful, she loved that class along with Charms and potions.

Her stomach started to grumble. Sophia hadn’t notice how hungry she was until now. Thankfully Headmistress Powell finished her speech and food appeared. She served herself some chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes (some of her favorites) and began to eat contentedly. She swallowed and looked at the person next to her. She smiled brightly and extended her free hand, “Hi! Are you excited about this new term?”

0 Sophia Randolph Back and happy to be! 167 Sophia Randolph 0 5

Miya Saren

August 13, 2010 9:57 PM

Cool! I'm changing colors! by Miya Saren

Miya was super excited about starting school. Sure, she'd been to tutoring, and other Pureblood lady classes, but this? This was awesome! Being away from home and being trained magically? That was something else.

She strode off the covered wagon, following the other first years with a stride of confidence and excitement. She hadn't been allowed to stay overnight anywhere from home, her Mother was very protective of her. Being the only child and a daughter, she had to maintain a perfect lady image in order to find suitors for marriage.

Walking into the hall, she tried not to bounce. She was short, and couldn't really see what was going on with all the tall people in front of her. As the line moved, not fast enough for Miya's tastes, but, she saw that the Headmistress had been giving the first years odd potions.

Potions? She thought, as she stepped up to grab hers. What in the name of Merlin could they be for? Her hands shook a bit, not used to being fed potions. What it hurts me? Miya couldn't help but worry, but she doubted that her Headmistress would really hurt her.

After giving the potion a small sniff, she braced herself and tipped the glass back, waiting for the worst. She counted to four in her head, then opened her eyes. She didn't feel any different, that was for sure. But when she looked down at her arms, she saw that they were changing colors; tan to white- white to pink; and finally pink to a deep red.

The sight made Miya giggle, she looked like a Muggle animal she had seen once, a Lobster! The deepened red color of her skin only meant one thing; she was housed as a Crotalus.

She didn't suppose being a Crotalus would be too bad, considering that her housemates didn't seem too frightening when she looked over to the red table. She bounced over there, her Pureblood lady status completely forgotten.

--

As the speech went on, she half listened and half looked around the room. She didn't know any names, so she just nodded slightly and turned back to the table and began to space out. Her right could not stop bouncing whenever she daydreamed, it was a horrible habit of hers.

"Hi, I'm Ryan." A voice next to her said, startling Miya out of her distraction. There was now food on the table, and everyone was alive with chatter.

"Hey, Ryan. I'm Miya, Miya Saren." Miya began, her gray eyes alight with happiness. "Are you excited about school, too?" She hoped she wasn't being too open, she often had that problem; Miya was just naturally friendly.

0 Miya Saren Cool! I'm changing colors! 0 Miya Saren 0 5

Alex Guerrero

August 13, 2010 10:20 PM

A Bit Freaked Out by Alex Guerrero

When she first got her letter, her mother was proud. She would now have another witch in the family. She said she was happy about it but Alex felt that her mother was a bit upset. Magic was the one thing her brother had but she took that away.

She tried to ignore sad thoughts and tried to appear happy to the other students. Alex had been following the other first years from the carriages towards the hall where the headmisstriss welcomed them with a shaky voice. Someone was handing them a goblet and telling them to drink it.

Alex looked around and noticed that her fellow classmates were drinking it. Since she didn't want to stand out she took a sip from the goblet. She thought it tasted a bit plain. It wasn't until she looked down at her arms that she noticed that they turned yellow. From what she heard around her, this meant that she was to be in Teppenpaw. So Alex headed in the direction of the Teppenpaw table.

She nodded to others around, trying to stay awake. She really was tired and wanted to go and sleep. Hopefully before she yelled at someone.

0 Alex Guerrero A Bit Freaked Out 0 Alex Guerrero 0 5

Brad Hayman

August 13, 2010 10:59 PM

Older but blue, all the same by Brad Hayman

Brad had spent every waking moment of the first month of summer looking forward to the most exciting experience of his life: Camp Adventure! It was a sleep-away camp in Utah that specialized in adrenaline-pumping outdoor adventures including a one hundred foot-high zipline ride through the trees, an extreme paintball tourney in which the campers had to jump from one raised platform to another with the risk of accidentally bungee jumping if they lost their footing, and an epic white water river rapid voyage through Cataract Canyon! He’d returned from the thrilling expedition in late July, but to this day, he continued to feel on top of the world because of the very strong impact it had on him and his outlook on life. His dedication to his superhero-dom had never been more significant.

He was stronger than ever before in mind, body, and even spirit; though he’d spent much of his time at CA engaging in breathtaking action, there were times when he and his fellow campers had stopped to smell the roses. A Native American named Antinanco, or Eagle of the Sun, had come to the camp as a guest speaker to deliver a message about the importance of nature and how he and his ancestors had an inseparable connection to the trees, plants, and animal life that surrounded them. Antinanco had said the sun was the most important element of nature to him because, though Eagle was part of his name, he viewed the eagle as having gained its sustenance from the sun, which was much bigger than any bird that roamed the earth. Brad had been truly inspired by the man—Eagle of the Sun really deserved to have a comic book named after him, for sure!

Though spending time with his family wasn’t nearly as exciting as CA had been, the redhead was glad to have the opportunity to do so. His older brother Lenny, who was now going into his senior year at Sabetha High School, had started dating Heather Goodrich back in May, and she’d come over to see Lenny a whole lot. She was really nice to Brad and all his siblings, even though Bobby was rude to her—he was like that to everyone outside the family, for some reason. Heather helped Ma with the cooking and she even liked comics too! Brad hoped Lenny would marry her someday since she would be such a great part of their family!

The second-year had a lot of people to say goodbye to. He was the youngest of his seven siblings and the only one lucky enough to get superhero abilities. It made him feel special, but at the same time, he wished he could go on his magical adventures with at least one of his brothers. He sure missed them sometimes…

“I’ll see you later!” he said with a tinge of sadness in his voice as he waved one last goodbye to the line of Haymans before him. With that, he climbed aboard the covered wagon and started his journey back to Sonora.

The ride reminded him of the Wronski Feint and Nina. She was really cool, probably the coolest of the Sonorans he'd met so far. He hoped they’d get to hang out again, maybe even find a way to conjure up a ride of some sort that they could go on. If wizards could fly, why couldn’t they create a Tilt-O-Whirl, too, with the flick of a wand? Brad was sure it was possible!

He took a seat and looked around happily at his peers, a grin on his face. He was glad to be back. When the Headmistress addressed the Hall, Brad noticed she looked a little under the weather. He viewed sickness as a villain that invaded your body and left you debilitated, unable to perform at your best. He also viewed medicine as the hero that combated the villain and forced it to surrender, eventually allowing the victim to go back to normal. Brad could compare anything to the Good vs. Evil plot of his beloved comic books.

He found the transformation of the new kids’ skin to be rather amusing. There was a glint in his green eyes as he beamed and clapped for the older Aladrens who’d earned the titles of Head Boy and Head Girl. He’d become rather proud of his House and its members, so he viewed this as a group accomplishment for them. It would be awesome if he could be the Head Boy one day because it would be a step closer to superhero; he would have to make sure everyone was following the rules and that nobody picked on anyone else, just like Superman! It was a golden opportunity that he wasn’t going to pass up! Now that he thought about it, he should probably start working harder in his classes. The awards definitely didn’t go to the slackers of the school, and Brad’s grades last year hadn’t been stellar. But if he improved this year, would that be viewed as success in the staff’s eyes? He sure hoped so!

Brad was surprised there was no Transfiguration professor, but his favorite professor was Miss Dakin, so he didn’t care so much about that. He smiled delightedly when the table exploded with a wide variety of treats. He grabbed a gigantic slice of pizza from the nearest dish and then dumped half a jar of parmesan on it, creating a faint yellow mountain. He licked his lips, opened his mouth wide, and prepared to bite into it when somebody said something. He blinked for a moment and then turned to the guy who’d spoken, still open-mouthed. Brad noticed the boy was bright blue, so he had to either be a newbie or an alien; as cool as the second option was, Brad decided he was just a first-year.

“Sure thing!” he replied in a happy-go-lucky fashion, picking up the dish next to him and passing it to the younger boy. Brad quickly returned his attention to his pizza, biting into it and savoring the taste; it was amazing!

“So, so good!” he exclaimed, his eyes flicking over to his neighbor again. “Want to try it?” asked Brad enthusiastically, holding the slice out to him.

0 Brad Hayman Older but blue, all the same 0 Brad Hayman 0 5

Valentina Bentancourt

August 14, 2010 1:49 AM

Why? This is an exciting new adventure! by Valentina Bentancourt

Excitement was all that Valentina Bentancourt could feel when she woke up that morning. She was finally old enough to go to a magical boarding school! After years and years of private tutoring, she was now able to interact with people her own age. Besides, Alex was hardly good company, for one, he was older and secondly, he was a boy. Yuck. Also, her excitement came from the fact that she was now living in a new house! They had moved about three weeks ago and the native-Spanish liked Boston very much. It was a really cool city to live in.

Valentina changed into a pair of well pressed jeans and a cute pink t-shirt that had a kitten in the front. She tied her hair up in a neat ponytail with a pink ribbon and she was set to go down and eat breakfast with her family. She was really excited about this new adventure she was about to start. The only thing that could dampen her mood (but really wasn’t) was the fact that her brother would be going to another school far, far away from hers. She didn’t understand why her father had sent them to different places of learning but she was in no place to argue. Even when she thought that Alex was annoying and obnoxious she would certainly miss him, they had always been together. When they lived in Spain, he had attended a school that didn’t require his over-night stay, so, she got to see him every day. At the table she smiled at her mother and brother and ate quickly because she wanted to make sure everything she needed was indeed packed. After she made sure everything was inside her brand new trunk she made her way downstairs to leave with her mother to the destined point where she would be picked in an awesome covered-wagon.

She was bouncing while she waited with her mother to be picked up. This was a seriously neat adventure she was about to begin. Emiliana Bentancourt smiled at her youngest child and patted her head to calm her down. Valentina smiled up at her mother and squealed in delight when the covered-wagon arrived. She kissed her goodbye and hopped into her ride to Sonora.

The blue-eyed little girl was awestruck once she entered Cascade Hall, it was absolutely stunning. She grinned from ear to ear. She was eager to start this but she needed to wait with the rest of the first years. She patiently – not so much since she was fidgeting - waited for the Deputy Head to hand her the potion that would sort her. She drank it and to her surprise she was yellow! Like seriously yellow! Her skin had changed color, it was really amazing. According to her new skin color she was now part of the Teppenpaw house. Awesome. She didn’t know what that really meant but she liked the color.

She sat with the rest of her house and listened to the Headmistress finish her speech. It was done and now food appeared out of nowhere, thankfully because she was really hungry. The Spaniard grabbed some empanadas and green salad and began to eat hungrily. After a few seconds she realized that the manners that had been instilled in her by her mother had been forgotten. She swallowed and began eating more slowly. Just like a lady.

Valentina took a sip of her pumpkin juice and decided it was the best of times to introduce herself to the person next to her which happened to be girl. She was a firstie just like herself. She grinned and extended her hand, “Hi, I am Valentina Bentancourt,” the eleven-year old introduced herself in her accented English, “It looks like we will be roommates!” She wasn’t used to speak in English; she always spoke Spanish with her mother and sibling.

0 Valentina Bentancourt Why? This is an exciting new adventure! 171 Valentina Bentancourt 0 5

Alex Guerrero

August 14, 2010 1:47 PM

It Could Be Dangeous. by Alex Guerrero

Alex had noticed that they were actually severing Spanish food. She would have to make a note to remind her mother that school wouldn't make her forget her Mexican heritage.

Although seeing as how she was more tired than hungry, she entertained herself by studying her new housemates. Some of them seemed friendly, which was great for Alex. She turned to her left and saw that a first year was sitting next to her. Unlike Alex, she was stuffing herself with food.

It seemed that she had remembered her manners though and slowed down. And before Alex could turn around and introudce herself to someone less busy, she had her hand extended towards her.

“Hi, I am Valentina Bentancourt. It looks like we will be roommates!” It sounded like she had a bit of an accent.

To Alex it sounded a bit like her mother's English. Smiling she held out her hand, "Hola. I'm Alexandra Guerrero but most people call me Alex," She gave another smile, "I don't mean to be mean but are you from here?"

0 Alex Guerrero It Could Be Dangeous. 0 Alex Guerrero 0 5

Bryanna Greene

August 14, 2010 2:30 PM

C'est amusant. by Bryanna Greene

“Does anyone happen to have a camera?”

The question came from the small blonde girl who had, after coming into this new, big hall, found herself drinking a potion that turned her skin a bright yellow. She was smiling, but just a bit, as she turned her arm over a few times, waiting for the moment that pink would peek in from the yellow and her skin would be back to normal.

She was amused, more than anything, not frightened of the magic that had dyed her skin. She was, after all, used to magic the world provided, and with a healthy knowledge of such, still found herself somewhat impressed by what could happen.

Not that she wasn’t also frightened, if things went wrong but, it was just yellow skin.

(Not that she would have wanted to have it dyed forever, but either way.)

“My mother would love to see this. Yellow’s her favorite color.” She laughed, shifting in her seat at the Teppenpaw table. Breaking the ice at the table that held her new home and family.

She was amused by it all.

0 Bryanna Greene C'est amusant. 0 Bryanna Greene 0 5

Kirstenna Melcher

August 14, 2010 4:21 PM

Same here! by Kirstenna Melcher

After spending her summer at the greatest show on earth, Kirstenna was back at Sonora. She didn't mind too much even though she missed the excitement of her circus home, not to mention her true family. (Of her biological family, she only considered her parents and Quentin and maybe her great-grandparents and Pippa to be real family.) The second year was just glad she went to a magical school, a muggle one would have bored her to tears.

She looked around the hall, spotting both her cousin, and the first years. Kirstenna waved at Quentin and then smiled encouragingly at the younger students. Just a year ago she'd been in their place and felt nothing but excitement. Still, Kirstenna knew that some of them were probably nervous.

The Teppenpaw was about to approach her house table when she noticed her friend Sophia sitting with the Pecaris. Kirstenna quickly changed her mind and joined the other girl. She could catch up with Brian and Dmitri later in the common room.

Before she could really say a word to Sophia though, Headmistress Powell began her speech. The headmistress looked just awful! The poor woman. Kirstenna grinned and cheered at the announcement of the prefects. "Yay Pippa!" She called out. The Teppenpaw was a bit disappointed that Quentin hadn't gotten it, Kirstenna thought her cousin would have made a great prefect but at least Pippa had.

Her eyes grew round at the fact that there was no Transfiguration professor. Had the impostor been arrested? Maybe she had been dueling with Headmistress Powell and had now escaped and was on the loose, after making Headmistress Powell sick. What a monster! Stealing weird items was one thing, hexing or poisoning the Headmistress was another.

Of course, at least Headmistress Powell wasn't stashed under floorboards somewhere, like the real Jannette Wolfe.

Kirstenna was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by her friend's greeting. "Of course!" She exclaimed. The Teppenpaw loved how upbeat and enthusiastic her friend was. Not that she hated people who weren't or anything. Kirstenna usually felt a duty to cheer those people up. "How was your summer? Mine was great! My favorite elephant finally gave birth and I got to name the new elephant. I named it Peanut."

11 Kirstenna Melcher Same here! 161 Kirstenna Melcher 0 5

Nova Wynn (Aladren)

August 14, 2010 4:27 PM

Nose in a book by Nova Wynn (Aladren)

Nova always considered herself the best. She was, after all, from a noble Pureblood/Native American family. The highest place to be in society, as far as she was concerned. Even if Nova wasn't Pure, she was still the most intelligent person she knew. Also, she never stopped reading. Ever. Even while in the covered wagon on her way to Sonora, she never once removed her nose from where it was firmly glued to her book. Her current book was an old hardbound copy of A Tale of Two Cities. Since she was only eleven, Nova's parents had thought it would be too hard for her. But the little girl had just pushed her glasses up her nose, grabbed the book off its shelf and stormed off to her favorite chair in the library.

Now standing in a huddle with her fellow first years, Nova was still reading that brick of a book. She hardly payed attention as the Headmistress spoke. Nova tried her best to ignore the ignorance of the students around her. She eventually got sick of it and poked the student hard on the shoulder. "Do you mind?" she asked accusingly. "I'm trying to read a book here! Something you should try sometime. Besides, shouldn't you be paying attention to the Headmistress?" Not that she cared, as long as the offending student shut their trap.

After finally getting the noise to quiet down atleast a little bit, Nova was once again interrupted by a goblet being stuffed in her face. "What's the big id- ooh crap." She looked up right into the face of Professor Dakin. Curtsying slightly, she took the goblet with her free, non-book holding hand, and took a sip of whatever was inside. She was surprised to watch her skin turn bright blue. Nova almost dropped her book with astonishment. "Wow. My parents never told me about this..." She muttered. Shuffling over to her house table, Nova plopped down, opened her book, and ignored the world for the rest of the evening.

0 Nova Wynn (Aladren) Nose in a book 0 Nova Wynn (Aladren) 0 5

Alison Sinclair

August 14, 2010 5:15 PM

I'm what? by Alison Sinclair

There was just something about dramatic entrances, in the real world, that made it inevitable that they would go wrong. Alison had no idea what it was, but it was seriously getting on her nerves. She had been doing a great straightforward-stare walk when that first year, or second year, or whatever year the Small Kid had been in, had walked straight into her and made her ruin it by grabbing onto the end of the Aladren table to keep from falling over in her high-heeled boots.

She walked the rest of the way to the Pecari table the normal way, if something she’d only done a few times before as a result of not being around for many feasts could be called a normal type thing, dodging here and slightly extending an elbow there until she found an empty seat and, in typical style since everyone except her roommates was still largely a stranger and thus it didn’t really matter, swooped down on it without even examining its surroundings first. Conversation was good at dinner, but end-of-holiday pleasantries were always kind of dull, and the real point was to hear the awards, see the first years, and eat, with an emphasis on that last one. As long as she wasn’t sitting next to or across from someone planning to call her out or dump food on her, she wasn’t too worried about her company.

She realized her hand was near her neck, flipping the engraved clay disc on its leather necklace the way she did when she was anxious, possibly fearing rejection, and made herself stop. She was cool. School was nothing new now. All cool.

The summer had given her a slight tan, since there hadn’t been much to do at home but try to beat Anthony’s e-reader at chess and lie out on the deck attached to their above-ground swimming pool with a book, but otherwise, Alison still looked much the same as she had when she’d turned up for her first day of real school since she was six the year before. Her long, dark brown hair hung, artificially straight due to a straightener instead of a spell for the first day, down below her shoulders, framing her ovular face with the same wide dark eyes, straight nose, and mouth she found annoyingly wide no matter how many times various female relatives and friends told her there was nothing wrong with it. She had, in honor of the occasion, donned a pair of big silver hoop earrings and a wide beaded bracelet, but the rest of her jewelry was comprised of her usual necklace. Her green robes were carelessly open over a white button-down and dark jeans – last year, she thought she’d worn dress pants, but if no one had called attention to her when she was a new transfer, there was no way they were going to now, and it was too much bother to keep those things pressed. She had a few dresses with her, if there were any special occasions, but she expected them to hang in the closet from now until May at least.

June. The school year here ended in June. She really had been spending too much time around Michael and Anthony if she was thinking that school years ended in May.

Her brothers actually hadn’t been too bad over the summer. Anthony had even gone so far, on one occasion, as to call her ‘Sis,’ something he hadn’t done in years. It seemed that having her around for two months, when she’d already been home for a week at Easter and two weeks for midterm before that, had firmly established in their brains that, however much time she might spend away because of what her mother liked to call ‘additional educational needs,’ she was indeed part of the family. If they weren’t careful, they might actually grow up familiar enough with each other to someday send each other’s families Christmas cards. Or worse, since she doubted she’d ever really do the whole family thing and she thought he might actually be that sentimental: Anthony inviting her to Thanksgiving dinner.

Her parents…eh. They’d make sure to let her know she could come if she wanted, but they wouldn’t really be sad if she didn’t, and everyone would be kind of uncomfortable if she did once she was an adult. There was affection left there, sure, but that bridge felt like it had already definitely been crossed.

Her eyes widened in surprise at the announcement of the new Pecari prefect – she had honestly thought it would be Mike or Dana, what with them having actually been at the school more than a year and Dana, unlike the rest of them, appearing to be a reasonably stable human being most of the time – but her feet were more in tune with reality than her head was and pushed her to her feet without her having to think much about it. The badge wasn’t really making a fashion statement, but she pinned it to her robes anyway, now cursing herself for not at least considering this and dressing better. Then, sparing time only to smile her congratulations to Pippa and nod to Charlotte and James, she went back to her seat as quickly as possible without actually seeming to hurry, and tried to look neither really taken with herself nor like she was attempting to vanish into the woodwork.

Once the food appeared, Alison switched her concentration to it without a second thought. Food, when lunch was a distant memory, was always more interesting than the school leadership. Always. Even when the school leadership happened to be her. With her plate nearly full, she looked around for the apples but found them too far toward the other side of the table to reach without standing up and leaning over the table, which was not a gesture she expected would endear her to anyone. There were Pecaris who might not care too much about table manners, but most people objected to people leaning over them while they were eating, and the ones who’d enjoy an opportunity to try to look down her shirt were ones she didn’t want to offer that kind of opportunity to anyway.

“Hey,” she said with a half-smile, catching a nearby eye. “Can you pass me an apple, please? I don’t think I can reach it from over here without falling into your plate.”

16 Alison Sinclair I'm what? 140 Alison Sinclair 0 5

Thomas

August 14, 2010 5:55 PM

Looks like it's picking up steam, though. by Thomas

Thomas winced at the reminder that they still had Quidditch. He’d given some consideration to that, making adjustments based on how they’d performed and how and what the other teams had done last year, but it hadn’t factored majorly into his year plan. If it had been anything else he hadn’t given adequate attention to, he would have filed it under “make Gray do it,” but he sometimes thought his roommate was so bad on a broom that part of it had to be deliberate. Thomas couldn’t blame him for that, not when it firmly established that he should be thought of as a very separate entity from his cousin, but it did detract from his usefulness to the House ambition.

“Quidditch indeed,” he said. “I foresee a coffee addiction in my future. Unless we put some of it off on Daniel. He’s bound to be captain next year.” The only other option was probably Edmond, and it was customary for seniority to reign supreme in these things. “Actually, I see a coffee addiction no matter what. I’m doing some independent studies myself.” Political science and history and sociology, though the last especially was less an independent study than a private class with Fawcett. “I’d go for the Runes anyway, though, if I were you. The more the merrier on résumés, right?”

Jera began to talk about her summer, and Thomas listened politely. It would have been politer to have asked before this point, but so things went. “Can’t say I’d go that far,” he said when she expressed a desire to have another class, “but that sounds like it was fun.” He could see how a Seeker might be naturally drawn to other dangerous activities, and he’d always wanted to see more of the world. Any family he technically had in whatever country his families originally came from was too distant to matter, so that had never been an excuse, and his parents had never seemed much interested in what went on outside the one they were in now. “Are you wanting to work in that field after school?”

0 Thomas Looks like it's picking up steam, though. 0 Thomas 0 5

Sara

August 14, 2010 6:00 PM

Chatting and analyzing by Sara

German Jamisons. Sara’s eyes flickered slightly, but she otherwise didn’t betray her confusion because that was impolite. Besides, there was always a way to reason things out and make them make sense. Almost always, anyway, and other children usually weren’t complex enough to ruin the system. Only very old adults could normally do that.

‘Jamison’ sounded English to her, as did the girl’s accent, so it stood to reason that she was referring to very ancient history. A little pompous, in Sara’s opinion, but to each her own so long as Sophia Jamison didn’t demand that Sara go around explaining that her surname was a modern variant of the one used by her Anglo-French ancestors from Brittany. Sara had no objection to the French or the English or being descended from them, and planned to visit both countries before she left Sonora, but the people she was associated with, with the exception of Aunt Margaret and the maternal relations she saw less of, were from Illinois. Being associated with those people guaranteed, until she married, her place in the world. Her family went back a very long way, much further than their money, but that was only relevant when she was in Europe. This was America, land of fortunes two hundred years old or less.

“We will,” Sara said, deciding to take pity on the other girl’s ignorance. She knew what it was like to be confused by the customs of the other countries she had visited, despite the amount of study she had done before she left home each time, and liked it when people helped her out. “It’s the custom here for all the girls in the same House and the same year to share one dorm room. The boys do so as well, but they have a different room. Unless they’ve changed things significantly since last year, anyway. Most of my family has attended Sonora.”

Well, sort of. Grandpapa, like Great-Aunt Virginia and Great-Uncle Miles the fortune-maker, had attended Salem, but Uncle Miles had decided it was a good idea for all their children and grandchildren to attend Sonora, to differentiate them from the poor family they had been before Uncle Miles made all his money and Aunt Ginny’s husband’s broom company took off and Grandpapa became a successful Healer. So far, no great-grandchildren had been Sonorans, since Aunt Margaret’s grandchildren mostly spoke Spanish as their first language, but Catherine’s children would fix that soon enough.

Her third cousin Raines Bradley was here now, but Sara decided not to mention him. He could be…difficult, and she’d prefer for people to think his unfortunate name was a coincidence, not a direct reference to her family. She didn’t want to be judged based on him, not when she might still have Catherine’s legacy to contend with. Her other cousin was sweet, in an automatically rather than truly ideologically snobby way, and a loving mother and adequate hostess and good family member and friend, but she wasn’t very smart; when Sara had been younger, there had been rumors that her father, Uncle Charles, had been forced to pay people off to ensure that she passed enough of her classes to continue to each new year while she was at Sonora.

“I’m sure we’ll be very good friends before long,” she added warmly, with another smile. “Are you looking forward to beginning our classes?”

0 Sara Chatting and analyzing 0 Sara 0 5

Valentina

August 14, 2010 6:20 PM

But fun! Lets keep it positive! by Valentina

Valentina smiled sheepishly at Alex, it would be really weird to call her like that because her older brother was called that way. How odd. Though, she liked that she seemed to have a similar heritage to Valentina. It was very uncommon to find them, especially someone that talked Spanish, she wondered if Alex spoke her native language. The first-year was certain her mom would be ecstatic to know that she would not forget her Spanish while she was at Sonora. This was looking up to be a great start of term for the Spaniard

“Nice to meet you Alex! Do you mind if I call you Alexa? Because my older brother is called Alejandro and he is known as Alex and if I call you Alex I might get confused,” the blue-eyed girl couldn’t stop smiling. She was too happy to be here it was becoming a very hard job to stay still in her place. She also didn’t want to scare Alex. They had just met! And they would be room-mates. It was definitely not a good idea to have a scared roommate. Though, she seemed like a nice girl, perfect friend material. Yet, Valentina still had to be certain about that because they would be living together for the next seven years and it wouldn’t be nice to have your roommate as an enemy. Not that Valentina had enemies before; she had always been a very friendly girl.

Trying to calm herself from the over-excitement she took a sip of pumpkin juice and addressed Alex again. She chuckled at her last question because, well, it was quite obvious that she wasn’t from the USA. Valentina thought her Madrid accent combined with her accented English made her quite an interesting girl, “No, I was born and raised in Madrid, Spain until the last couple of weeks when my family moved to Boston,” she took a breath before continuing, “You? Your name is most certainly not from the USA,” she smiled hoping she wasn’t prying into the other girl’s life. It was rude and her mother had always told her to never be rude.

0 Valentina But fun! Lets keep it positive! 0 Valentina 0 5

Sophia

August 14, 2010 6:41 PM

Making and breaking by Sophia

By this time, Sophie had become supremely homesick, more than she already had been. She missed her father and their three homes, one of which --the California one-- featured the orphanedge. The other two were in Germany and England. Sophia especially loved the England home. Her godfathers lived in England, along with three of her cousins, the other three living in America. All-in-all, Sophie wanted to go home.

Sophie made sure to pay attention as Sara explained the rooming situation at Sonora, nodding to be sure Sara knew she was listening. "Oh, I think I understand," she said when Sara finished. "So you're a legecy student then?" She added in response to Sara stating that most of her family at gone to Sonora. "Most of my family attended Hogwarts, and I wasn't sure if this was different. Dad didn't feel Hogwarts was a good fit for me, and that's why I'm here."

Great, she was talking about her dad and her family. Now she was homesick again. I miss them so much! she thought, groaning internally. A random family thought reminded her that she hadn't seen Grandma Jamison in a while, and maybe she should write her a letter sometime soon. The poor old lady was probably lonely. After all, all three of her children were grown now with children of her own, and Grandpa had been dead for... a really long time. Dad, Aunt Anna, and Aunt Suzanne didn't visit much, considering they were all raising children.

But back to the present. Right now, the eleven year old was sitting with Sara Raines of the Illinois Raines, obviously a pureblood socialite in training. When Sara mentioned them being friends soon, Sophie couldn't help but think, Doubt it. Instead of saying so, she put on a fake, pureblood smile and said invitingly, "The best of friends, I have no doubt."

When Sara asked if Sophie was looking forward to their classes, she felt herself exhale, but she hid the reliefed out-breath with a cough. "I might be catching something," she said briefly before answering the question. "I am definitely looking forward to classes, especially Potions," she confessed. "One of my godfathers is an expert, and he's told and shown me amazing things." Sophia might have shared that she herself aspired to be a potioneer, but pureblood women weren't supposed to have careers; they were housewives, trinkets.

"What about you, Miss Raines?" Sophie asked calmly, openly. "Are you looking forward to classes?"

0 Sophia Making and breaking 0 Sophia 0 5

Alex Guerrero

August 14, 2010 7:02 PM

It's hard to be posivtive when you're tired. by Alex Guerrero

“Nice to meet you Alex! Do you mind if I call you Alexa? Because my older brother is called Alejandro and he is known as Alex and if I call you Alex I might get confused," Valentina said to her, smiling even more.

Alex loved it when people smiled. People can feal better with just a smile. However she was really sure about the new nickname. She really didn't like the name Alexa but since she hated being the cause of confusion, she came up with an idea.

"You can call me Alexa if there aren't many people around. I don't want it as my offical name."

Valentina continued to smile and told her that she was actually from Spain and moved to Boston a few weeks ago.

“You? Your name is most certainly not from the USA.”

"Well I was born in Nevada but my parents are from Mexico. I can only speak enough Spanish in order for me to understand my relatives. Although my mother wishes I would learn more."

0 Alex Guerrero It's hard to be posivtive when you're tired. 0 Alex Guerrero 0 5

Charlotte Abbott

August 15, 2010 6:10 AM

All grown up? [Tag Adelita] by Charlotte Abbott

After what had probably been the best summer of her life to date, Charlotte strode into the Cascade Hall, returning for another Opening Feast, with what she hoped was an air of confidence and sophistication. She was in fifth year now; that made her practically an adult (especially as there wasn't even a sixth year to contemplate, and the seventh years would be gone soon, anyway). Charlie'd had her hair cut into a new style, too - mostly it was still dark and glossy down past her shoulders, but the front was shorter, framing her face in what Charlie liked to think of as adorable layers. She'd clipped the rest of it back out the way to emphasize the shorter parts. She'd also got her ears pierced again at the mall - or just one ear again, to be accurate. She was wearing three pink studs: one in her left lobe and two in her right. As for the rest of her outfit, Charlie was wearing her uniform robes, naturally, but underneath was a cute chiffron blue and white polka-fot top, and a pencil skirt in the same shade of blue. The only part of her seriously cute outfit that was on show were the blue satin heels that weren't quite in keeping with the school's guidelines, but she hoped no professors were stuffy enough to care on the first day back.

As she made her way to where other Crotalus students were already seated, Charlie was looking for one face in particular, and grinned upon spotting Adelita. "Hi!" she said in a high, excited voice as she hugged her best friend from behind before sitting down next to her. "Or Strasvitye," Charlie made a very poor attempt at mimicking the Russain she'd heard.

"Ohmygosh, I've missed you," Charlie said, beaming. "I want to hear about your summer, and tell you about mine, and I hope you're in better shape than me because we have to dance together at the concert this year and I barely fit in three classes over the summer and I swear I've put so much weight on I'm not going to eat anything for weeks." She paused for breath, then said, "It was so weird coming here on the wagon without Oliver, you know. I'm actually Quidditch Captain now. How weird is that?"

Then the Headmistress stood up to speak, and Charlie dutifully stopped talking to pay attention. She had the rest of the year to catch up with Lita, after all.

0 Charlotte Abbott All grown up? [Tag Adelita] 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Sara

August 15, 2010 4:02 PM

What are we making, and why are we breaking it? by Sara

Sara tilted her head slightly, confused, at the mention of Sophia’s father sending her to one school because he felt the other wasn’t “a good fit.” What did that even mean? Schools were not suits of clothes, and besides, Sonora and Hogwarts were, from all she’d read, very similar because of the founders of Sonora being Hogwarts graduates. Of course, there were stories that some of Hogwarts’ heads had been downright irresponsible in their conduct over the years, so perhaps that was it. Perhaps that was her father trying to be nice about the fact that their family school was a good place to get killed.

“Yes, I am,” she said, wondering why the need to reiterate what she had already made clear and wondering if she had just misunderstood a term. Legacy students, as she understood them, were students who had family who had attended the school before them. She had just said that. “I don’t expect favoritism because of who my relatives are, though.” Not that she’d get it if she did, probably, though it did help that only one of Catherine’s old professors was still here. “I plan to succeed on my own merits.”

She wanted to lean away when Sophia mentioned that she might be getting sick, but was too polite to actually do it, and nodded along with her enthusiasm about Potions. “I’m also looking forward to Potions,” she said when it was her turn. “My grandpapa and my uncle are Healers – Grandpapa runs a hospital at home, it’s one of the best in the country – so I’ve been hearing about research in the field all my life, except when I travel.” Her eyes lit up at the mention of her travels, but that wasn’t the subject, so she refused to get off on a tangent.

“Truly, I’m looking forward to all of our lessons. Mother’s hardly been able to keep me from stealing wands to practice with for the past year.” She noticed that her tone had become noticeably more formal. She needed to get this friendly, now. “And please, Miss Jamison – call me Sara. We’re going to be spending so much time together, and it’s so much shorter.”

0 Sara What are we making, and why are we breaking it? 0 Sara 0 5

Nina Brockert

August 15, 2010 6:22 PM

Two can play at this game (or five actually) (Starbuck) by Nina Brockert

Last year, Nina had ended up alone at the opening feast. Mel only wanted to sit with Jude and Delilah, Starbuck had ended up sitting with some first year and of course, Autumn had to sit with the other Crotali once she'd been sorted. Nina had ended up by herself and she'd hated that. The third year Pecari, like most Pecaris, was a very social person and it bothered her to no end that she didn't have a lot of close friends.

This was a fact made far far worse by the fact that Chelsea had a group of friends. Nina may have found them laughable, but the fact remained that the seventh year was popular and loved to rub Nina's left-outness in her face at every opportunity. Even though the "Ladies" didn't seem all that well-regarded by the rest of the school.

Their brother Adam had sympathized with the third year, saying that when Chelsea had been a firstie, he'd taken special care to sit with people at the feast, just so she wouldn't torment him. Chelsea may have hated Nina more than Adam, but the Pecari was still pretty sure it had been tougher on her older brother than her, given how shy Adam had been back then and how shy he still was.

This year, Nina was determined not to be alone, and as Mel probably was still going to monopolize Jude and Delilah (which was a shame, as Jude had taken her to the ball and Delilah was pretty cool) and leave her and Starbuck out (as usual), the obvious thing to do was continue hanging out with the girl who was probably her best friend at Sonora.

Actually, it wasn't even as if Nina really hated Mel either but she knew Starbuck did, and the blonde was personally annoyed that Mel would leave them out. Especially as Nina had sat with them at the opening feast as firsties too.

Nina spotted Starbuck and sat across from the redhead, grinning. "Hey, how was your summer?" She asked. "I just did the usual stuff, hanging out with my family and visiting my grandparents' ranch and stuff."

11 Nina Brockert Two can play at this game (or five actually) (Starbuck) 156 Nina Brockert 0 5

Sophia

August 15, 2010 7:00 PM

We can be happy together! by Sophia

Sophia looked sheepishly at Kirstenna, she hadn’t recognized her friend! That was just awful from her part, what kind of friend was she? An awful one! She had been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she had not paid attention to her surroundings which was also a very bad thing to do. You needed to know what was happening around you so you could react to everything accordingly. Her mom always scolded her for being so easily persuaded into daydreaming. Her mother had told her in numerous occasions that if her head wasn’t attached to her neck she would probably lose it along the way.

“Sorry Kirstenna, didn’t recognize you!” Sophia laughed a little bit and smiled brightly at her. The now second-year took a bite from a chicken nugget and munched on it happily. Sophia was really hungry once she swallowed her nugget she squealed because the information provided by her friend was simply brilliant! An elephant was a pretty great animal and Sophia was naturally curious to know everything about it

“A baby elephant!? That sounds pretty awesome! And Peanut is an adorable name, what’s he like? Tell me everything” Sophia had never been to the circus and the fact that Kirstenna worked and lived in one was very interesting, “I want to meet Peanut! Do you think I can meet him in the near future?” she hoped one day to be invited to see her act and finally be able to see what made a circus so great! Plus, she would be able to hang out with Kirstenna outside of school; the only problem would be her parents. They were very overprotective of their only child.

“I got a new owl! His name is Helios and he is great, my parents gave him to me because I was a good girl last term. You need to meet him, you will love him” she nodded very seriously and then went to drastically change the topic, “The Headmistress looks very sick and it’s horrible we don’t have a Transfiguration Professor! I liked the class. What do you think?” her green eyes were filled with curiosity she wanted to discuss this further; Kirstenna could have some insightful opinion on the subject matter. For some reason, Sophia was really worried about the Headmistress and the fact that the Professor had been only for one term. It was weird.

0 Sophia We can be happy together! 0 Sophia 0 5

Veronica

August 16, 2010 7:44 PM

Too bad we can't change your badge. by Veronica

“Oh, it’s all right,” Veronica said dismissing Rachel’s apology with a wave of her hand. “What house did your sister end up in?” To be honest, she hadn’t been paying that much attention to the sorting of the first years. She didn’t know anyone in that year and doubted they would be of much use to her unless they had an older brother or cousin that didn’t go to Sonora. Even so, they would be hard pressed to compete with her top choices. Some of them went to this school while others had been met through the social functions she had attended with her grandmother over the summer.

“Very well, actually,” she answered with a bright smile. “I know that I didn’t get to tell you too much in my letters, but I didn’t want to really discuss my family drama.” There was quite a bit of it too. It had gotten to the point where she had finally been unladylike and yelled that she was going to runaway. Yes, it was incredibly immature, but she just couldn’t take it anymore. Once everyone had calmed down, a family meeting had been called to discuss what to do. She had then asked if she could live with her grandmother and while her father wasn’t happy about it, he had agreed.

“Marla had the baby. I have a little brother now. They named him Maxwell. He’s adorable. He really is even if he’s a halfblood,” Veronica confessed. She still didn’t approve of the marriage or anything like that, but Max was her baby brother. Of course, she had used him a bit in getting to live with her grandmother by claiming there wasn’t enough room in the house with the new baby in addition to the fact that she and Juri seemed to be at each other’s throats most of the time. She just didn’t get along with him and it really bothered her that Delilah did. It was stupid to be jealous. It was. Delilah was her twin. So maybe some distance would help.

“Anyhow, as you know from my return address, I moved in with my grandmother. It’s been an absolutely wonderful summer!” And it showed from the sparkle of her eyes to the glow that seemed to radiate from her. “We went to all these social events and I met a ton of people, especially some cute guys. Though,” she leaned in, her chin resting in her hands, “Raines is still at the top of my list.” She had never admitted that to anyone before, but she trusted her best friend so she wasn’t too worried about her being catty and trying to steal him away as some others would do.

0 Veronica Too bad we can't change your badge. 0 Veronica 0 5

Starbuck Gregory

August 16, 2010 10:36 PM

That could be said again. by Starbuck Gregory

Starbuck bound off the wagons and smiled at the other students around her. She couldn’t believe that she was already a third year. It felt like only yesterday she had been sitting in her living room finding out she was a witch. Now she was a third year, she had an awesome girl in her life, and a whole new outlook on life. She straighten her robes out and made her way into Cascade hall. Ah how she had missed this place. Her home life wasn’t the greatest; mom and dad were always in their room while they allowed their second born son (now the eldest) to raise the younger ones. Ishmael and Elijah did the best they could have for Ahab and Starbuck but it wasn’t the same as actually having caring parents.

She sighed as she sat down at the Pecari table and ran her hand through her now very short red hair. She had always worn her hair long before but now she had cut it into a pixie style. It way easier to take care of and when Quidditch started she wouldn’t have to charm it into place! She saw Nina sit across from her and smiled. "Hey, how was your summer? I just did the usual stuff, hanging out with my family and visiting my grandparents' ranch and stuff."

Starbuck smiled at the girl she considered her best friend here at Sonora. Of course she hadn’t told her about Farrah but she was worried about how people would react to her being with another girl. She smiled. “Hey Nina! My summer was awesome. My brothers and I spent all our job skateboarding and swimming in the pool.”

0 Starbuck Gregory That could be said again. 0 Starbuck Gregory 0 5

Sophia

August 17, 2010 8:52 AM

My expectations, and I'm not sure why. I'm rather clumsy. by Sophia

Sophia couldn’t resist cracking a smile when Sara said that she planned on succeeded on her own. A lot of purebloods would expect special treatment because of who their families were, whether that be for pureblood reasons or family history at the school. But Sara wasn’t expecting special treatment because of who her relatives are, and Sophie interpreted that to disqualify both possibilities. This proved that, unlike some purebloods, Sara wasn’t just plain out prejudice, Sophie thought, just raised to the pureblood ways. Such an actress was Sophie to not exclaim happily that there was hope for this one. It did her heart good. Perhaps, somewhere along the line, she could subconsciously bring Sara to the other side, show her not all things muggle were bad, including muggleborns.

Feeling that just maybe she should be involved in their conversation, Sophie said calmly, “Ah, I see. Well, that’s a good thing, then. I’d personally hate if the professors tried to treat me differently. It could draw the wrong sort of attention.” Okay, Sophie had no idea what she was doing now. Seriously, what are you thinking?! she demanded of herself silently. You’re going to lose it! Oh, she wished her brain would hush up and let her converse without its approval. Sometimes Sophie just thought too much. Brain, I hate you.

This girl’s uncle and grandfather were Healers? Her grandfather’s hospital was one of the best? Okay, that was pretty cool, Sophia had to admit. That must be where their money comes from, Sophie thought. After all, those high-end purebloods such as her mother’s relatives and this girl here were typically wealthy, weren’t they? “That sounds amazing,” she managed. Then Sara mentioned something about travels. “Oh, do you travel a lot?” the blonde asked. “My father and I travel a bit, but really, it’s usually just between our three homes in three separate countries,” she added, showing off a bit. Sure, they also traveled to visit Sophie’s three wonderful American cousins, as annoying as they were sometimes, but why bother add that? It was less interesting. “Where do you travel?”

Sophie let a lighthearted chuckle of agreement pass when Sara said she was looking forward to all of the classes, and the laugh especially went for her saying that she’d been hardly kept from stealing wands to practice with. Sophie remembered when she took one of her godfather’s wand and accidentally shot fire through his home. If she had been any older at the time, she probably would’ve been in trouble, but she had only been about six, so they let it pass. Her father had just told his old friend that it was what he gets for leaving his wand sitting out with a child running around.

The good memory faded, and Sophie cringed internally when Sara asked her to call her so, but she kept her external composure. It wasn’t a name she wanted to deal with openly, having been her deceased mother’s name. True, Sara or Sarah was a relatively common name, and Sophie had sort of known there was no way to avoid it, but she had done well to since her mother’s death. She had been hoping that would continue. Oh well. Now she had to deal with it, so it was time to cope. “Of course, Sara,” she said with a convincing false smile. She knew how to smile, how to look happy on the outside when her insides could be falling apart. It was a skill she acquired due to who her maternal family was. It was simple to say that she’d had practice. “I don’t know what I was thinking.” It was a completely true statement, just not in the way it was supposed to seem.

0 Sophia My expectations, and I'm not sure why. I'm rather clumsy. 0 Sophia 0 5

Alexis Ashwood

August 17, 2010 9:54 AM

It's not time to leave yet. by Alexis Ashwood

Turning seventeen, for most girls, usually meant things like parties, social events, celebrations. They were things that girls wanted. It would include time with friends that one could finally do (legally) because they were now of age in the wizarding world. Alexis had waited for that time for years and years. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any friends, so that part wasn’t going to work out. And her parents had other plans for her.

A few weeks after turning seventeen, she was married to her betrothed, Justin.

It wasn’t a horrendous ceremony. In fact, Alexis almost found herself enjoying her wedding. Justin wasn’t terrible; he was a very nice man. Most of the guests had been invited because they were purebloods. No one there really liked Alexis. A few people from school had been invited to come, which included the Ladies. Alexis had tried to invite Holly, but she never got the chance to see if her only friend had come, or if the invitation had even gotten to her.

She decided to keep her last name until she graduated from Sonora. Her parents decided this would work; the pureblood community knew she was married now, anyway. Alexis had actually made the decision that she didn’t want kids until she graduated, too. Thankfully, Justin had decided to go along with that. They were still young and, even though they were purebloods and could have house elves taking care of everything, they both figured that a kid should wait until Justin finished college and had a job. Alexis didn’t know what she would do after Sonora, anyway. She wasn’t good at much of anything and had no talents she really could fall back on. College seemed to be a waste of time.

Her arrival at Sonora was uneventful. Justin was kind enough to wish her the best of luck, a kiss on the cheek, and a single rose that she would probably keep in her dorm. At least she was lucky enough to not be married to a jerk. Though how she had managed that was anybody’s guess.

Holly hadn’t gotten Head Girl, which was a little disappointing. Alexis did suspect that Holly would be relieved by the news. She would go sit with the girl, but Holly was probably surrounded by the Ladies, and she just wasn’t in the mood to deal with them.

"Can I help you?"

Alexis’ attention was brought back to the girl she was sitting next to. She hadn’t really spoken much to Amelia, or anyone for that matter. She apparently had been staring at the girl. Whoops. Twisting her wedding ring around her finger, a new nervous habit she had developed, Alexis cleared her throat.

“I was admiring your hair. The color is great on you.” It wasn’t a lie, either. Alexis took a sip from her pumpkin juice. She wasn’t very hungry, and she wasn’t much of a talker anymore. Plus, she had never figured out if Amelia hated her as much as Cecily did. It was about time to find out.

0 Alexis Ashwood It's not time to leave yet. 117 Alexis Ashwood 0 5

Daniel Nash II

August 17, 2010 2:44 PM

I'm not what? by Daniel Nash II

Daniel's summer had gone about how he expected it to. There was Street Beat, of course, dominating pretty much every waking (and many sleeping) minutes of the day. Nate was doing well there and the writers were making him more central to the plot in the episodes where he was there, instead of just cute and/or angsty family side-plots.

The studio had also stopped thinking of him as a kid and his dialogue showed it; he got to curse now. Not often, mind, because his step-father (or whatever you wanted to call Barry) was in charge of writing his scenes most episodes, but he got a good range of four letter words when appropriate and often enough that he didn't feel like he was being censored any more than anybody else on the cast. And now Dad wasn't the only guy in the house who'd been on prime time television wearing little more than a pair of boxers.

He was actually a little nervous about coming back to Sonora after that. Not a lot of the other kids watched the show, or even had the option to, but some did and, he wasn't going to name any names but he was mildly concerned someone (Charlie) might wolf whistle at him when she saw him again.

Hopefully, though, Talsky was distracting her and all he had to worry about was the looks of every other muggleborn or half-blood in the school who may have flipped through his cable network at just the wrong time, or decided to check out the show where one of the actors was a guy they went to school with. It wasn't exactly a secret that Daniel was an actor, after all. All it took was an internet connection and anyone could look him up on IMDB to television-stalk him.

So he looked around semi-suspiciously as he entered the Cascade Hall and avoided meeting the eyes of anyone he thought might have possibly seen that episode, and decided Aladren wasn't safe. Taylor lived in Aladren and he knew for a fact that she was probably following the show. Crotalus was even more treacherous, what with Charlie there and all. That left Teppenpaw and Pecari, so he decided to suck it up and sit with his own House. He was anticipating being named Prefect this year anyway.

Except, he wasn't. Headmistress Powell named James the Aladren prefect. "No!" he said, not loudly, but aloud, and frowned as his rival got up and claimed the prize that should have by all rights been his. He'd worked for it. He'd volunteered for everything the school sponsored. He'd shown leadership and drive and he might have dropped the ball a little in the soccer game, but generally, he was very reliable. Holly had been named prefect of her House two years ago. He was a much better candidate than she was. It should have been him. The badge was supposed to be his.

He got up and walked out.

He paced the hall outside and waited for the clapping inside to fade out and the sounds of the Headmistress's (oddly strained) voice to resume her speech. By then he had himself well in hand and he felt confident in his ability to return to the Hall without hexing James in a jealous snit.

Still, he felt it safest to sit as far away from his roommate as physically possible. So, it looked like he was going to be sitting with the Pecaris today after all.

He slouched down into a seat that nobody else had yet claimed, and did his best not to sulk. He was a highly paid actor. He could pretend that this disappointing setback was not crushing. He could pretend that he was a good little Aladren would could roll with a punch and just be happy that school was back in session. He could pretend that the day wasn't a total loss for his family with him failing to make Prefect and Holly failing to make Head Girl. He could pretend that he was looking forward to a year of intense CATS studies and the exam at the end of the year was the focus of his every thought.

By the time Alison Sinclair asked him to pass her an apple, it was even true. So he smiled back at her and the worry lurking behind his eyes was for the test every fifth year dreaded and not because he'd just lost the prefect appointment or because he'd been on national television in his skivvies.

"Sure," he said and passed her the requested fruit. "Congratulations by the way," he added, his eye falling on the coveted badge that he did not have. He did not begrudge her the honor. She was a Pecari. It was James and James alone that Daniel resented. Besides, Holly was the school's only other Pecari Prefect. He felt nothing but sympathetic pity for Alison.

On the other hand, it was probably best not to leave the prefecture as the open topic of conversation, so he was quick to add, in true Aladren fashion, "So how about those CATS coming up? Worried yet, or are you procrastinating the panic?"

1 Daniel Nash II I'm not what? 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Holly Greer

August 17, 2010 7:24 PM

Present by Holly Greer

The summer had been very eventful for Holly. There had been Cecily's big party, which had been fabulous (even if some of the adults there either didn't recognize the Hollywood Thistle family or recognized it altogether too well, but Holly wasn't going to let the polite snubbing bother her) and she had a wonderful time even if Raoul hadn't been able to come. She had enjoyed the chance to dress up and see her friends and comment on what everybody else was wearing and encourage her friends to go dance with the boys. She'd even taken a few spins around the floor herself, though none of the young men she'd seen were as perfect as her own Raoul.

She hadn't seen him yet this year, but she usually spent the Feast with the Ladies, and this year was no exception. She stuck around the Pecari table long enough to take note of the new kids, nod in greeting to Alison Sinclair who was her new co-Prefect, and politely applaud Jera's appointment to Head Girl. Holly was disappointed that the other girl won the vote, but not devastated. Not like Daniel clearly was when James Anthony was named prefect instead of him. Holly watched her brother walk out of the room in a fit of temper and wondered worriedly if she should go after him until he came back and sat at her table instead of his. Holly took that as a sign that it was time for her to leave.

She relocated to the Crotalus table in time to hear Cecily wish for something entertaining. "For a minute, I thought Danny was going to attack James Anthony," she commented idly as she sat down in the seat the other Ladies had saved for her, "but that's probably not what you meant."

1 Holly Greer Present 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Jordan Adair

August 17, 2010 7:55 PM

Joining in the fun. by Jordan Adair

Having an older sister was definitely an advantage when knowing what to expect from a new school. One would never think it, but her self-esteem was incredibly low. Fortunately, she was a fairly good actress and most would think that she had the uttermost confidence in herself. Just like now when she walked in with the other first years. Some might have been obvious in their nervousness, but not her. She flounced in like she had always belonged there, making sure to give her prettiest smile to anyone that she happened to look at.

When the potion came, she drank it readily; wanting to know what house she would belong to. The brunette already knew she had no hope of getting into Aladren. It wasn’t that she wasn’t smart. She just didn’t like to learn all of that academic stuff that Alice seemed to love. As for Pecari, well, Dani was there. Oh, it wasn’t that she didn’t love her sister, because she did. She just didn’t want to be in the same house as Dani, because she felt like the older girl would spoil all her fun just like she tried to do at home. She really didn’t see the harm in flirting with a few of the older boys in town. Personally, she thought Dani was just jealous.

Ooooh, her fair skin had turned red! That meant she was in Crotalus. Not too quickly so as not to seem too eager, but not too slowly either as she might seem overly nervous, she made her way to the table where other red-skinned first years were sitting. She thought that she might have had to make her way over to where the yellow-skinned first years were sitting, but she wasn’t really the helpful sort. To be quite honest, the person she liked to help most was herself like how she was currently wearing Dani’s red barrettes in her short hair regardless of the fact her sister was going to be angry when she found out if she didn’t already.

Jordan didn’t worry too much about it though as she scooped some of the herb roasted potatoes on to her plate. Hearing a couple of people nearby making introductions, she welcomed herself into the conversation. “It sure beats being tutored at home.” She couldn’t say that she was excited about the classes, but she was looking forward to all the social aspects. “I’m Jordan Adair by the way. So, I guess we’ll be roomies, Miya Saren! It’s going to be tons of fun. I promise.”

She might not make actual friends with every girl in the class, but she figured it was for the best if she got on her roommate’s good side early. Otherwise, it would probably be a miserable seven years. For her roommate. But there were more advantages than disadvantages on her end like being able to talk about the boys at Sonora late into the night. Maybe even talk about Ryan tonight, but this was assuming that Miya was anything like Jordan and not boring like Dani. She never wanted to talk about that stuff.

As for Ryan, she turned her baby blues on him. “And I’m guessing we’ll be seeing you around a lot.” She winked at him before continuing on, “I bet you have a girlfriend back home. Right, Miya?” She nudged the other girl slightly with her elbow. “He’s too cute not to.” She was teasing him. She knew she was, but it was all in good fun. Confident on the outside, so not on the inside. Her heart was pounding. She had no idea how these people were going to react. They could hate her immediately and oh, she so wanted them to like her. It was okay if they didn’t though. She just had to keep telling herself that and maybe one day she would believe it.

0 Jordan Adair Joining in the fun. 173 Jordan Adair 0 5

Adelita Garcia

August 17, 2010 8:05 PM

I sure hope so! by Adelita Garcia

Adelita said farewell to her sister as they headed to their respected tables. Lita was feeling rather bitter sweet about the end of her summer vacation. Bitter because it meant she had to do school work again and because she wouldn’t be able to dance every day with her classmates. Sweet because Carlos was officially out of her life forever and she never ever had to see him again. After the recital, Carlos had announced to everyone that he would be going off to a performing arts school and would be withdrawing from enrollment at their dance school.

That night, Lita had celebrated Carlos’s departure by having a dance marathon. Her, her mother, brother, and father danced around the living room while Dulce played the piano. She had never told her family what had happened between her and Carlos for fear that they wouldn’t allow her to go back to the dance school, but they had known how much she hated him. They had asked how Jared had come into the picture and she had simply said some boys were bullying her and he had helped her and offered to walk her home after dance classes. They had only agreed because he was a Poral Officer and they found that respectable.

It was a sweet moment because she would get to see all her friends again. She missed them. Maybe next summer she could invite them out for a party. Their house was big enough to accommodate everyone. But, it would be hard to get everyone to come out, especially since their schedules were all so very different. But, it couldn’t hurt to at least try. And, if they all couldn’t come at once, maybe she could invite them one at a time.

She was thinking too far ahead though. School was only just beginning and who knew where the next ten months would take them.

Sitting down at the table, Lita looked around the hall to see the faces of her friends. She couldn’t really see any of them, but hoped that over the course of the feast they would come visit her. She knew this year would be vastly different than the last. She had changed, for one. She was now allowed to wear makeup and her mother had taken the time to teach how and what to wear. So now, she wore a bit of eye liner, mascara, and a small bit of lip gloss. It was enough to show a difference in her features but not too much to overshadow her. She was wearing a flowy cream colored skirt with a polka dotted short-sleeved top where the dots matched the color of the skirt and the background color was a navy blue. She felt grown up and she only hoped she looked it.

Distracted by the faces in the crowds, Lita jumped when she was embraced, but laughed at herself when she realized that it was Charlie. For some reason, Lita wasn’t expecting to see her roommate and best friend until they were back in the dorm. She figured that Charlie would sit off somewhere with Dmitry and Juri would wander on over to sit with her. He had done it last year and unless Juri suddenly befriended James, Lita figured she was betting safely with him to hang out with her this year.

Charlie was the same as she had always been. Talking a mile a minute. Not that Lita should judge, she was just as bad when she was excited about something. But before she could get any word in edgewise, the Headmistress was beginning her speech. It didn’t take long before the Prefects were announced. Lita’s eyebrows shot up and she looked over at her best friend. “Congrats!” She exclaimed, happy for Charlie.

Well, happy for her as much as she could be. She wasn’t going to lie and say she wasn’t a little bit disappointed that she hadn’t gotten the position and possibly even a little big jealous at Charlie because everything always seemed to go in her direction and Lita was once again invisible to the world.

Shaking herself out of that thought frame, Lita clapped along with everyone else. Truth be told, she hadn’t wanted it in the first place. There was too much responsibility and Lita was already dedicated to the one thing that never bored her and that was dance.

When the feast was finally in front of her, Lita selected the chicken alfredo and piled a decent portion onto her plate. “The concert is this year?” Lita asked, looking at Charlie as she took a bite of her pasta. “You don’t think it’ll be like the last one?” Lita had been young at the last one but it had been fun. She would like something that was more for the individual though. That way, there was room for everyone no matter what. “It would be so cool to dance on stage for our friends to see. I’ve always wanted you guys to see my recitals. This would be the next best thing.”

6 Adelita Garcia I sure hope so! 136 Adelita Garcia 0 5

Sara

August 17, 2010 9:01 PM

I know a dancing tutor... by Sara

For some reason, Sophia's comments about special treatment made Sara think of conversations she'd overheard when Aunt Lila was present at social events. No one could quite come out and say what they really thought of her because of how powerful Uncle Charles was, but they could use lots of vague, ominous statements. Then, of course, Aunt Lila's only option was to reply in kind, unless they were clearly low-ranking enough to be made to look foolish.

Sara didn't know what Sophia's rank was, but she did know she had to live with her for the next seven years, so she couldn't make her look foolish. So, instead, she said, "I think everything has a downside."

She couldn't help a pleased smile when the hospital was complimented. There was no chance that her father would allow her to become a Healer even if she had the proper qualities for the job, and Sara didn't feel she had the right temperament anyway, but she was very proud of her family and what they had accomplished. She liked all of Father's cousins, but took after Father in feeling just slightly superior to them because her line had acquired their money completely legally after Uncle Miles' early contributions to get the project off the ground. As for those, well...They just didn't talk about those. It was pointless, and besides, most families got their fortune started in much more sinister ways than accepting money slightly tainted by association from their brothers. The smile deepened further when she was actually asked about her travels.

"As often as I can," she said, and kept her face smooth at the likely not remotely casual reference to having three homes in as many countries. "My cousin Margaret is married to the Head of International Magical Cooperation in Spain, and she's allowed me to spend time with her there and in England. My parents have taken me to Paris and Quebec, too." Those trips with her parents had been more about making her immerse herself in French, to prove how much she'd learned and how well she'd learned it, than about seeing the sights, but she felt no need to tell Sophia this. Besides, she had passed their little test with flying colors.

Being smart was the one thing her little brother, Alan, had yet to manage to take away from her. Everyone said that Uncle Charles' little girl, Isabel, was very bright, but no one ever really said that of Alan. He was overshadowed in it by Sara, who was his sister, and Isabel, who was only a few months younger than him and so his future yearmate. Since having certain anatomical differences from them apparently made him their superior in every other way in the opinion of everyone except perhaps Aunt Margaret and Aunt Lila, Sara didn't think it was too much to ask for him to let her and Isabel have that.

Father, of course, disagreed. He would not say it, since she was the Princess and he was bright enough to know she would be offended, but Alan's ability to be out-performed by girls - especially Isabel, who was rumored to really be Aunt Lila's love-child and not really a pureblood at all - was clearly a source of irritation to him.

Sara nodded graciously to the comment about not thinking to call her by her given name. "It's perfectly understandable," she said. "Just not necessary, since we get along and will be living together. May I call you Sophia?"

0 Sara I know a dancing tutor... 0 Sara 0 5

Juri Dahlgren

August 17, 2010 10:51 PM

Another year older, but not any wiser. by Juri Dahlgren

Ever since his mother had remarried and his life had gotten turned upside down, Juri had never again thought he would be sad to see a summer end, but there it was. Things had been rocky at the start. He tried. He did. He tried so hard to be nice to his stepsister, Veronica, but it was like no matter how hard he tried, it ended in failure. It was like everything that irked him was rolled up into one person. Thankfully, dynamics had changed when Veronica moved out. He still got into tiffs with Cassie, but those were nothing like the warzone it had been. Finally, he felt like he belonged there.

He had even begun branching out and meeting some of the other kids in the neighborhood. Well, more specifically the girls in the neighborhood. There was the lovely Lauren and the oh so sweet Sierra to divide his time between. He had been fair in telling each girl that he didn’t want to become serious, but he wasn’t exactly playing nice since he didn’t tell them about the other. Of course, part of that might have been due to the fact that they hated each other, which obviously helped him since they wouldn’t be comparing notes any time soon. Either way, they didn’t compare to the Athena-like Adelita.

Juri glanced over to the Crotalus table to see if she was there, but it was only when Charlotte was with her did he find her. Charlotte was okay, he supposed. She was pretty good-looking and if she wasn’t friends with Lita, then maybe he would have looked at her a bit more. She still didn’t compare to her friend in his mind, however, especially now. She seemed older, but he guessed that was from the makeup she was wearing (he was an artist’s son and had three sisters now) or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, he had a hard time pulling his gaze away.

But he managed to do so when he heard someone near him say something that by his confused expression he had missed. “Sorry, what did you say?” He ran his hand through his blonde hair. Lita wasn’t the only one who had changed her appearance. Juri’s hair was longer in the front than it had been before and now when he brushed it out of his eyes, it stayed, but thankfully, it wasn’t long enough to seem too feminine. He didn’t want Lita to start looking at him like he was some sort of girlfriend to chat about boys with. He was also taller and stronger. His muscles were becoming more defined, which keeping up with an actual workout had helped a lot.

The other big change was his tattoo, the one his mom had said he could get. It had hurt, really hurt, but it had been so worth it. On his calf was a blue (for Aladren) dragon surrounded by a music bar and notes. That part was for his love of music. That was the other thing he had done over the summer. His guitar skills were better than ever and he had even finished a few of the songs he had been working on. He just didn’t know if he would have the courage to actually sing them to anyone for fear of his secret becoming obvious.

0 Juri Dahlgren Another year older, but not any wiser. 127 Juri Dahlgren 0 5

Nicodemus Sawyer

August 18, 2010 12:16 PM

Feasting by Nicodemus Sawyer

Nic's summer vacation had been nice, but nothing too exciting. His parents were as embarrassing as ever, but it was good to be free of homework for a few months. He'd enjoyed the privacy of his locked bedroom to build up some awesome and intricate Lego creations (Legos were a dork's toy so he was afraid to bring them out for more than a few minutes at a time here at Sonora where his roommate might see them). He'd also spent some time sketching, which he could do at Sonora, but usually didn't for various reasons. (Most of them were related to his concern that Sam Bauer would catch him staring at Rachel and Nic did not need that kind of awkwardness with his roommate.)

It had also been good to get out of the house and skateboard and walk the beach (occasionally he even went swimming) and spook off ex-classmates with time tested territorial rituals before they got close enough to his house that they could see the beads in the windows or read the sign out front that proclaimed 'Psychic Readings - Drop-Ins Welcome or Call for an Appointment! Magical Potions Available on Request!'

Even knowing magic was real, divination was possible, and that his dad actually could brew a bona-fide potion (assuming he could stay focused long enough to not blow the cellar up), even Nic thought 'Frauds!' every time he saw the sign. He was just as glad to get back to Sonora where he didn't have to look over his shoulder to make sure there wasn't anybody lurking nearby who was willing and able to jeer at a guy saddled with the name 'Nicodemus' by a couple of crazy fortune-tellers.

Miami middle-schoolers cared about that kind of thing. Sonora had folks named 'Starbuck' in it. Nic felt a lot safer here. Magical creatures and potentially explosive potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts notwithstanding.

Plus, he'd grown some more, so he was a rather impressive 5'8" already and he was only twelve. His doctor said at his last check-up he'd easily best six feet before he was done growing. Of course, he wasn't quite used to the extra inches yet and he had the bruises and scrapes to prove it. He'd been glad his looming height and practiced frown had scared the neighbor kids away short of actual physical confrontation for the most part because if he couldn't even walk through a doorway without banging himself up, he wasn't sure how he'd be able find his fist well enough to slug anyone.

It also meant he was beanpole thin and starving all the time. Despite a large lunch before catching the school wagon in Florida, and two bags (whole bags, not those dinky little snack bags) of chips along the way, Nic was famished by the time he reached Sonora's Cascade Hall.

He waited impatiently for the Headmistress to get through her announcements and pounced on the food the second it appeared on the tables. He ate most of a potato in about four bites, and the majority of a chicken wing in three, and then looked at one of his neighbors who seemed to be paying him undue attention, chewed thoroughly, swallowed, and promised, "I swear, despite appearances and all their other faults, my parents don't actually starve me. It's just been," he checked his watch, "five hours and thirty-eight minutes since I had lunch. I'm hungry again."

1 Nicodemus Sawyer Feasting 165 Nicodemus Sawyer 0 5

Sophia

August 18, 2010 12:17 PM

Would that help? by Sophia

By this time, all Sophie wanted was for this conversation --this feast-- to be over. She knew that probably even after this feast, though, the conversation would never end. Sara was a pureblood, and as was Sophie. As yearmates, housemates, and roommates, Sophie would see a lot of Sara over the years, have many conversations. She hated putting on this false smile, arrogant attitude, pureblooded falsehood. Sure, she was a pureblood, but she despised being so. Some of her best friends were Muggles growing up; there was nothing wrong with them. Some of them, she had learned, turned out to be magic, just like her. They were equals. It puzzled her sometimes why purebloods thought so highly of themselves. They probably married their own cousins way back when there was only one thread of the lot. That thought embarrassed her. She was probably the result of a bazillion generations of in-breeding! Gross!

This time, Sophie felt no reason to disagree with Sara. She sort of was right. Everything did have a downside. For instance, Sophie’s dad worked many jobs and made more than enough money, which was amazing, but he wasn’t home that often. It was like her mother’s family, too. Sure, they were decently close and stuff, and she had a cousin her same age, which was great, but they were almost all, in Sophie’s honest opinion, bloody bigheads. Smiling with some sincerity, Sophie replied, “I definitely agree on that one.” Simple, sweet; an easy statement.

Sara’s traveling experience definitely peaked Sophie’s interest, but, as a “pureblood lady,” she kept herself calm and her face stone straight. The facial numbness had been the most difficult to learn, and still, Sophie could never manage to control the way the excitement flickered through those blue eyes of hers. “England’s so nice, isn’t it?” Sophie said, trying to control the joy in her voice. “My favorite of our homes is there. I’m hoping my father will take me to Paris in the summer, is it nice? And I don’t think I’ve seen Quebec. I expect it’s lovely?”

I want to go home… Sophie thought sadly. Mentioning her father again made it worse. Her homesickness was partially an unconscious cover for her nervousness of attending Sonora in the first place, which was weird; Sophie didn’t usually get nervous. This was a girl that could probably bungee-jump off of Mount Rushmore without a single nervous thought or bead of sweat. It’d be fun, she’d tell her father, who’d panic and probably coat the entire ground below in mattresses or pillows or something. Such a worrier. Ileum Spurn, godfather number one, would likely be stopping her or at least attempting. Godfather number two, Serapes Nevus, would probably be “strongly urging” her against “such reckless, meaningless self-endangerment.” And she’d laugh at them and then just jump, probably laughing as she plummeted., carefree and weightless, just like flying but without her broomstick. Hopefully for them, Sophie would never realize the joy of such action or proceed to take it.

Ah, the discussion of their formal name-calling. Of course, Sara couldn’t have known about Sophie’s mother, and it wasn’t her fault that she had the same name. Hosting that false smile, those attempted flat eyes that Sophie couldn’t stand giving or receiving, came her response. “Right. Of course, Sara.” Voicing her supposed friendship, Sophie added, “And of course you may! I’d be honored if you would.” Well, she didn’t know just how influential the Raines family was, so why not throw it all out there, suck up just a little bit? It couldn’t do any harm, but it could possible bring out a world of help. "I'd love if you'd just call me Sophie. Sophia itself just sounds so drearily formal."

0 Sophia Would that help? 0 Sophia 0 5

Renée Errant

August 18, 2010 3:07 PM

Amused by Renée Errant

Renée positively fumed when her skin turned red, making her look like a rather adorable little bull whose head caught on fire.

'Why would they put me in Crotalus?' She had found out as much as she could about Sonora from her uncle who had gone. From what he had told her about the school she felt sure Pecari was for her. She had so looked forward to it and had expected things to go her way, as they usually did. Pouting, but seeing no way out at the moment, she made her way to the Crotalus table.

"What the - " Her mouth fell open at the sight of a boy shoveling food in his mouth like he was a starving man. She giggled a bit when she thought she saw some fall out of his constantly chewing mouth. She practically bounced towards him, her long dark braids flopping over her shoulders before she placed them back in front. She squeazed in beside him and looked up at him unabashedly. She decided he looked rather young, at least his face was, but he was sooo very tall. And skinny. She smiled when he looked at her, her row of white teeth brighter against the stark contrast of her newly red skin.

"I swear, despite appearances and all their other faults, my parents don't actually starve me. It's just been five hours and thirty-eight minutes since I had lunch. I'm hungry again."

Renée laughed delightedly. "Are you always so hungry?" She giggled. She usually liked talking to older kids, this one seemed at least sixteen, maybe. She liked getting attention.

0 Renée Errant Amused 0 Renée Errant 0 5

Ryan

August 18, 2010 3:23 PM

Welcome! by Ryan

"Sure." Ryan responded to Miya's question. He didn't seem as excited as she was though. The other Crotalus firstie seemed more upbeat than Ryan was, more like Arabella. He was usually pretty subdued, if he got bouncy, he might get in trouble. It was usually best for him not to do anything that would get him noticed and in trouble.

Still,Miya seemed really friendly and Ryan didn't want to do anything to make her dislike him. He really needed friends here at Sonora and wanted so badly to be liked and he didn't want to tell her that he was a little anxious. Miya seemed pretty confident and he didn't think she would understand him being nervous.

Besides, Ryan couldn't show weakness. His mom always yelled at him for being wimpy and not acting more tough like she said boys were supposed to. Of course, then if acted more like a typical boy who played in the mud and got into things, she'd yell at him for being disgusting. Ryan just couldn't win with her.

He was about to continue the conversation when another girl joined them and introduced herself as Jordan Adair. "Nice to meet you." Ryan told her. "You too, Miya." He added, as he'd forgotten to say so to her and he didn't want Miya to think it was nice for Ryan to meet Jordan and not her.

"Yeah, I'd much rather be tutored here than at home." Ryan replied, feeling it was best to leave it at that. His pre-Sonora tutoring was erratic as he only got it at his grandparents. His grandpa Otis was a legendarily cheap but his father had paid for a tutor to come in and Aunt Jana had helped out a lot. In fact, she had been the one to teach Ryan how to read.

When Jordan turned her attention to Ryan, he turned Crotalus red all over again. "No, no girlfriend." He squeaked out. The only girls he knew were his cousins and sister. His grandmother only had older woman like herself over to play cards and when his sister had birthday parties, Ryan was supposed to stay in his room, remaining completely quiet and pretending he wasn't there. The latter didn't cause him many issues, because Ryan would have rather been somewhere else to start with.

Besides, he was only eleven for Merlin's sake!

11 Ryan Welcome! 176 Ryan 0 5

Valentina

August 18, 2010 5:31 PM

Probably, but you should try. by Valentina

Valentina tilted her head to one side in utter confusion because the plan Alex had proposed was just as confusing as her calling her Alex and more importantly it would be more confusing to go from name to name. “It’s alright, I’ll call you Alex. Sorry I asked to give you another nickname” she nodded seriously. It would take time for her to get used to call her like she called her older brother. Speaking of which, a letter for him was in order. She was already missing him! It really sucked to be in a different school than he was but on a brighter note, she would be able to be independent for once and make a name for herself. Okay, she was eleven-years old but she wanted to have her own fun adventures without him lingering on her soon-to-be-built Sonora reputation. Yes, Valentina was very excited to be here and start her education.

She couldn’t hide the look of disappointment that grazed her features when Alex told her that she didn’t speak that much Spanish. Valentina had been looking forward to have someone who would speak her native language with her. “My father thinks English should’ve been my first language but I lived in Spain and well, it wasn’t a very good idea. Plus, my mom is a native Spaniard,” she smiled sheepishly.

Valentina loved her father but he was kind of strict and sometimes that was annoying. “If you want we can practice our Spanish together!” She had to admit it was a struck of genius. Her idea would help them both and in the process they would form a bond. Yes, it was a very good idea. There was only one question that remained, whether she was a Pureblood or not. The Teppenpaw didn’t really care but her father was very adamant on her making acceptable friendships.

0 Valentina Probably, but you should try. 0 Valentina 0 5

Sara

August 18, 2010 7:32 PM

With the clumsiness, I think. by Sara

Sara nodded her agreement on England, not missing the spark of excitement in Sophia's eyes. It was in odd contrast to her face, which was as immobile as any Sara had ever seen. So her new roommate didn't trust her yet. "I enjoyed my time there," she said graciously, "though we didn't get to stay very long. My cousin Juan was getting married, and I don't think his fiancée's family was very fond of us for taking her away. And they didn't know what to do with an American in a Spanish family."

A curious quirk of the pureblood world, one which a more than casual examination of history indicated that Muggles had even managed to avoid, was the tendency of the higher classes to intermarry among families from their own country instead of branching out. The English, perhaps because they had so very few true families remaining, were especially bad about it, though they had the least reason to be. Aunt Margaret, at least, would have none of it, but Sara had heard discussions about how it might be seen as improper for any family to build an international power base based on direct familial ties instead of the more general bond of magical blood. She supposed it might be at least a little the nature of power in play. Muggle families sometimes represented their governments, but no magical one, unless one counted the occasional vampire who insisted on remaining or becoming a count or countess and managed to commit a few atrocities before a team of appropriately-trained wizards could deal with them, had done so since before the introduction of the Statute of Secrecy.

"Paris is never quite as nice as it's portrayed, though. I think I liked Quebec better. The area we were in was very lovely." And Mother and Father had gotten to attend several parties, though Sara had been left with the elf. She wasn't permitted to attend most adult parties yet, as she'd only be in the way.

Sara had never understood nicknames, but she nodded anyway. What business of it was hers, anyway, if her roommate felt the need to be called by a French form of the name instead of the Greek? "Of course," she said, and smiled at a thought. "Sara means 'princess,'" she said, "and Sophia and Sophie mean 'wisdom.' Yours is a better omen. I wonder if we'll live up to them?"

0 Sara With the clumsiness, I think. 0 Sara 0 5

Miya

August 18, 2010 7:39 PM

Heyaaa! by Miya

Miya grinned at Ryan when he'd replied to her question. He didn't seem very excited, not that she blamed him. Life could become interesting when suddenly adjusted.

He seemed nice enough, and hadn't just ignored her as she rambled. Her grey eyes studied him for a few moments as she thought of how she could make him less nervous.

"We--" She started to suggest something when she was cut off by a girl who introduced herself as Jordan Adair. She'd started talking and had promised to be a fun roommate.

"I'm sure it will be fun. If you don't mind me trying to convince you to sneak out with me and go explore!" Her voice took on a more excited tone, as it always did when the topic of adventures and exploring came up.

And even if Jordan wouldn't go along with her, she was sure it would still be fun; Miya didn't see the point in having a roommate you hated. She really wanted to be her friend, so she smiled again.

And was soon nudged in the ribs. Jordan was flirting with Ryan, and the sight nearly made her laugh, especially when his face turned bright red.

"W-well, he is kind of cute." She cooed, and tried to keep the blush off of her face as well. Not that she was embarrassed, she just wasn't used to addressing males in that fashion. Oh, her Mother would kill her if she knew.

But what her Mother didn't find out about wouldn't hurt her, would it?

0 Miya Heyaaa! 0 Miya 0 5

Nic

August 19, 2010 9:20 AM

I'm really not trying to be funny by Nic

"Yes," Nic confirmed the younger girl's question emphatically. (It was not difficult to assume she was younger given that her skin was still red from the Sorting. She could conceivably be a transfer, he supposed, but the odds were much more likely that she was eleven and a first year.)

"Or, at least," he added after a moment, since he wasn't intentionally trying to lie and sounding like a pig wasn't really in his reputation's best interest, "I have been since I went up three clothing sizes since June and it's all been vertical. I think my body's still trying to flesh it out. So," he took a hearty gulp of his pumpkin juice, "I get hungry."

He put down the glass and held out a hand. "I'm Nic, by the way. Second year." Given that he was seated at the Crotalus table and was wearing his House badge on his school robes (which already had the hem let out and the sleeves where shorter than they technically should be for the length of his arms; if he grew any more this year, he really hoped that would be a good enough excuse to stop wearing them all together), he didn't think it was necessary to name his House.

1 Nic I'm really not trying to be funny 165 Nic 0 5

Renée Errant

August 19, 2010 12:06 PM

Giant? by Renée Errant

Renée grasped hold of his hand firmly, trying to show her maturity as her dad always told her that a firm handshake indicated your importance, or something like that.

"Renée." She was used to giving her last name but left it out because Nic did. "I'm really excited to be here."

She looked around the hall, getting over her disappointment by looking at her surroundings. The waterfalls were really amazing, they reminded her of her trip to Belize. She felt like Sonora would be a great place for her. Like an adventure was around every corner. She suddenly noticed she still had grasp of Nic's hand and let it go, thanking her luck that her red skin hid the blush that inflamed her cheeks.

"Um, so you're only a second year?" She inquired. She began to pile food on her own plate and took a goblet of pumpkin juice. "Are you a, you know," she leaned in conspiratorially, "a giant?"

It did not occur to her that he may be offended by the question but she certainly meant no offense. In her mind she was already playing the many adventures she felt sure to have; her and her giant friend. She took a swig of pumpkin juice, awaiting his answer eagerly.

0 Renée Errant Giant? 0 Renée Errant 0 5

Alex

August 19, 2010 1:19 PM

Trying is half the fun. by Alex

Alex was a bit happy when Valentina agreed to call her Alex. She told Alex that her father wanted English to be her first language but since she lived in Spain, it was difficult.

Alex nodded in understanding. Her mom wanted Alex to know Spanish first, that way she wouldn't forget her heritage. She was able to learn but not to become so fluent. Plus, every summer she would be with her father in New York who wanted her to learn more English than Spanish.

“If you want we can practice our Spanish together!” Valentina suggessted.

"I would like that. My mami would be so happy if I learned more Spanish." Alex wondered if she was a Pureblood or not. Before her brother died, he used to tell her how some purebloods couldn't stand muggleborns like them. She didn't want to loose a chance to have a friend because of a simple idea.

0 Alex Trying is half the fun. 0 Alex 0 5

Tawny Brockert

August 19, 2010 2:57 PM

No no no no NO! by Tawny Brockert

As usual, Tawny was in a foul mood. Oh, she was sort of glad to be back at Sonora. She hated being at home and that was why she was so grouchy. It had been a summer of the usual crap. In fact, it had been worse, what with people fussing more over Pippa than usual with her blasted betrothal . It made Tawny want to vomit.

She should have been getting betrothed soon too. It was what she was supposed to do and supposed to want. The thing was, Tawny wasn't sure she did. Oh, she wanted someone of her own, that was for sure. But she wanted someone she picked, who wanted her , who was completely enamored with her , who would do whatever she wanted and like her, not Pippa, best. Not someone who had to marry her because it was some sort of arrangement between their two families.

Of course, Grandmother Royce said they would never find anyone truly proper who would accept Tawny as a wife. Eventually, the Pecari had gotten so sick of criticism from the old woman that she'd snapped back that if her great-grandparents could find someone to marry Grandmother off to, then Tawny's parents could certainly find her someone.

This had, naturally, not sat well with anyone, except Melora, who had been home and laughed. That made Tawny feel kinda good, as she thought Melora didn' like her either usually. But Melora hated Grandmother Royce, the older girl's step-grandmother, more and the enemy of the enemy was one's friend.

Speaking of enemies, Tawny suddenly wondered if the Twerp Brigade had any other than her. The now second years had to be as annoyed by Singing Twerp's noise as she was, given they had the room on the other side.

Come to think of it, she wondered if Red-haired Twerp was ever going to stick Singing Twerp's lips shut. Tawny was getting impatient for that.

For now though, Tawny watched the firsties being sorted. There was one face she recognized, a distant cousin whose name she had forgotten, but she remembered him bumping into her at some family wedding a few years ago. Tawny hoped he was still appropriately terrified of her. She gave him one of those oh-so-sweet looks that wasn't really sweet and contained just a hint of malice. Not that she really felt it but she wanted him to think she did.

He squirmed. Good.

Tawny had little time to focus on psychologically torturing the child who had been newly sorted into Crotalus and had joined his housemates, because the prefects were being announced.

Suddenly, the blood rushed to Tawny's face and she felt furious. No, this could not be happening! Pippa was the new Teppenpaw prefect. Why did Little Miss Perfect get everything? Tawny should have known Nathaniel Leon was too stupid to get it.

This year she was going to make Pippa pay. She had just the means to do it...

And Tawny was going to get prefect next year if it was the last thing she ever did. No matter what it took or who she had to step on to get it.

11 Tawny Brockert No no no no NO! 148 Tawny Brockert 0 5

Nic

August 19, 2010 4:06 PM

Not that I know of by Nic

Nic blinked as Renée leaned in and discretely asked if he was a giant. Sure, he was tall. Painfully tall, in all honesty (thank you, Dad, for those magic potions that eased the growing pains), but . . . just tall. "You mean like the medical condition or real giants?" he asked, because giants in muggle terms were very different from giants in wizarding terms.

He didn't really wait for an answer though, given the answer was the same either way. "Doctor cleared me of giantism. My pituitary works fine and my growth hormone levels are within normal range, given that my parents are both tall. Giant blood in my ancestry . . ." he wobbled his hand and bobbed his head in the universal gesture of maybe, kinda, sorta, not really, "Not to my knowledge, but Dad doesn't talk about his family much. For all I know Great-Great-Grandma Sawyer was a giant and nobody thought to tell me. Mom's a muggle, so there's definitely no giants on her side. Pretty sure Sawyers just breed tall, though. Dad's 6'3" and skinny as a rail."

He grimaced down at his own too-thin wrists and lower arms that were poking out of his sleeves. "Here's hoping I can get a little buffer than that again." Though always slender, Nic was going to hold onto the belief that last year he hadn't look nearly so wimpy. He reached for another chicken wing.

"So, Renée," he added, hoping to take the focus off himself some. He didn't like talking about his parents and would prefer that Sonora believed he was hatched out of an egg and raised by wolves. Divinators - especially muggle divinators - weren't viewed in the best light even among magical society. The less said about his home life the better. It added to his mystery. "Where do you come from? Ever done magic before?"

1 Nic Not that I know of 165 Nic 0 5

Chelsea Brockert

August 19, 2010 4:59 PM

One last time by Chelsea Brockert

Seventh year was not a big deal to Chelsea. Normally she would have considered it the year when she and the other Ladies would rule the school, but they already did so it didn't really matter that they were the oldest students in school. The Ladies really ran things, even if none of them were Head Girl.

She was still in the process of petitioning the family patriarch to cut his donations to Sonora if none of the Brockerts got on the ballot for Head Boy or Girl or got prefect in the future. None of them had gotten squat since Kaylie had been prefect.

Even worse was the fact that Chelsea was still not engaged. She'd had danced with many boys at Cecily's fabulous party and had heard from quite a few but nothing serious yet. Besides, none of them were as amazing as Fallon's fiance, Julian. Julian had to be the hottest guy ever. He and Chelsea would have made way better looking children then the ones he'd end up having with her porcine looking cousin.

Plus, her father wanted her to go to college ! That was no place for a proper young lady like Chelsea. She knew her father was just liked the idea of all his kids going. It wasn't fair. Oddly enough, Adam was on her side for this one.

Chelsea didn't even bother sitting with the Aladrens and went straight to sit with Cecily. She didn't applaud for the prefects, as she wasn't entirely sure who James Anthony or Alison Sinclair was and Charlie Abbott was, as Cecily said, a cheap slut. Chelsea had to admit, even though Cecily was right and Pippa seemed like a real pushover, the Aladren was glad her distant cousin made prefect. "Maybe Great-grandpa beat me to the punch on Pippa. She's not his great-grandchild, but I've been writing to him and requesting he not donate as much to Sonora if people in our family didn't start getting more positions of power at this school."

She sipped her water,as Holly came over and joined them. Chelsea had no idea why she'd want to spend even an extra second with the Pecaris. Eating with them had to be like eating with a pack of wild animals. "I agree. It is awfully boring here. I am quite ready to be done with this whole place. Especially after that Head Girl debacle."

11 Chelsea Brockert One last time 108 Chelsea Brockert 0 5

Demelza Eagle

August 19, 2010 8:31 PM

Back, brainwashed, and hyper as ever! by Demelza Eagle

Demelza Eagle, or so that was what a kind, slightly crazy, lady told her name was, was more than ready to go back to learning magic. Apparently, this place was called Sonora Academy, although Demelza didn’t remember ever going there before. The tall lady with soft brown hair, whose name was Mom, told her about it. And then a man, with darker brown hair like Demelza’s and whose name was Dad, told her that she was going to stay there for several months. Demelza smiled, and believed him. He was very nice too.

Demelza had a very strange summer. She thought it was full of a lot of fun, but Mom and Dad kept asking her strange questions and telling her strange things. They told her that she fell off her brother’s old broom in Africa. Africa! And then they asked if she remembered it, and she said no. Mom and Dad taught her many things: who the people in her house were, where she was going to school, ext. Demelza taught them a lot too: Dad handed her left handed guitar to her, and asked her to play. Demelza showed them how to play a few songs, and they cheered for her! She also taught them and a funny boy, her brother Jamie, how to fly and hit a bludger at the same time. For some reason, they were always more pleased when Demelza taught them something then when they taught her something.

When she met a few people like her cousin Paul and little sister Kat, she felt like she already knew their faces. It was names. Apparently, she was related to a lot of people. Whenever her family asked her if she remembered other people from Sonora Academy, she always said no. She wasn’t even sure why people kept asking her if she “remembered” other things or people. So far, she knew that Mom, Dad, Glenn, Kat, Will, Mickey, Luna, Beth, Jamie, Joe, Timmy, Joel, Paul, Uncle Ethan, Aunt Nancy, Blake, and Uncle Andrew were part of her family. Demelza could remember most of their faces, just not their personalities and names. Everything was so confusing to her, and sometimes she would get very frustrated trying to remember someone. She was in tears when she was trying to have a conversation with Paul, the whole time trying to remember a Christmas song she wrote for him last winter. It was as if there was another life she lived besides the one she thought she was living.

Dad carefully explained Sonora Academy to her: she was going to be a third year there, and she was a friend with a boy named Jude and girl named Delilah. She laughed at Dad, and told him that she didn’t know who those kids were! Dad shook his head, as if he was disappointed in Demelza. She only wanted to please him, though! She liked when he cheered for her while riding her broom or playing her guitar.

When it was time for Demelza to go to Sonora Academy, she was very excited. Maybe, when she went to the school, she would remember it, like how she remembered some people! She boarded a big wagon, where other kids were. No, she didn’t remember this. But, as she looked around, she swore that she had seen a few of those kids before. She tried to think of when or where, but the memory wouldn’t come, and she just got frustrated again. She frowned, and then took out her recorder. It only costed a sickle, but her parents wanted her to continue music, because it made one more intelligent, and the more intelligent Demelza was, the better her memory. Well, that was what some healers told Mom and Dad anyway. Demelza pressed her fingers over a few holes to play a G chord, but she resisted the temptation to blow into it and play. The wagon was crammed with people who might not have appreciated her recorder’s noise ricocheting off the walls, like her little sister Kat. So, she just placed her fingers over the whole, imagining what the chords sounded like in her head.

Finally, the wagon stopped at the school. Demelza’s eyes widened as she looked up at it; for one moment, she let the beauty of it sink in. The next moment, she followed a few older students into a BIG hall, with a waterfall! She grinned, and flipped back her long, chocolate brown hair, her eyes focusing mainly on the waterfall. Fellow students, however, were taking seats at tables. Blake told Demelza that she was Pecari, and therefore had to sit at the Pecari table. But how did she know which table belonged to the Pecaris? She decided that she would wait at a wall until someone directed her. When no one did so and the Headmistress started speaking, Demelza just smiled: she tried not to show how lost she was. She was supposed to know the school like the back of her hand! How was she supposed to explain to people that she apparently knew once that she no longer remembered them, for a reason she couldn’t remember? Jeez, the crazy Pecari’s life was getting way too complicated.

Then, a small hint appeared when the younger students were sorted. Brown=Pecari. She grinned; she remembered that! She skipped over to the Pecari table with the first years, too pleased with herself to care about people looking at her. She took a seat next to someone she didn’t recognize, and smiled at the headmistress. What was her name again? Then, food appeared, and Demelza dug in. Oh yeah, she was hungry! She stuffed a chicken leg in her mouth, and then turned to the person next to her. “Hey. I’m Demelza! Do you know me?” She asked, not talking anywhere near as much as usual, because the question she asked probably sounded really stupid, especially if she asked someone who did know her. Oh well! She grinned at them, so happy that she was going to learn and play Quidditch, and make new friends! She was the Pecari Assistant Captain for their Quidditch team, or so her whole family told her. Demelza thought that she remembered being told so by a darker boy. It must have been a big and proud moment for her. Taking another bite out of her chicken leg, she continued to smile was if nothing was wrong.

0 Demelza Eagle Back, brainwashed, and hyper as ever! 157 Demelza Eagle 0 5

Rachel

August 19, 2010 9:46 PM

Too bad indeed, but we manage well enough. by Rachel

“Teppenpaw,” Rachel replied to the query about Kate. “Same as Dad. I’m already replacing Momma in Crotalus, so I don’t know what we’re going to do with Alicia.” She supposed her sister would make an adequate Aladren, though it was very weird to think of her having that much in common with Uncle Geoffrey. Especially since Helena, who had seemed to like Alicia marginally more than she did the rest of the family, had flat-out called Rachel “Geoff in a dress” on one occasion, and in a tone that did not suggest this was a compliment to either one of them. Or, for that matter, dresses.

For the hundredth time, Rachel swore that she was never going to let her situation devolve as badly as her parents and grandparents had. Even if it meant coming out to her husband, if she had one, as a half-blood and thus risking everything, she was not going to allow any kids she had to deal with the surprise relatives from the woodwork phenomenon. It was just too much trouble.

And, on the topic of half-bloods, Veronica now had a brother. “Nice name,” she commented, taking a drink just to make sure she didn’t grit her teeth. “And yeah, I noticed the address. Congrats on getting away from it all. Five kids is way too many for one house. I’d totally bail on Momma and Jeremy sometimes if Granddad wasn’t even more drama-prone than they are.” Of course, in reality Granddad went about seventeen years between drama spells, but it was better than saying that she stayed with the Douglas side of things because all her other relatives were too poor to stay with.

Except, of course, when the custody arrangements said she had to, which was why she now knew that, while her dad might still wish the whole divorce thing had never happened, he was not some ever-constant hero from a story. He was, however, still kind of pathetic; his new girlfriend was someone that he and Momma had gone to school with, and she even kind of looked like a daintier version of Emily. He hadn’t actually come out and told anyone about her yet, no doubt remembering some of the rubbish from the family counselor all those years ago about this sort of thing, but Alicia had caught on somehow and they had managed to get visual confirmation the next week.

She nearly choked on her drink when she got aural confirmation that her dad wasn’t the only one with a newly-declared love interest. Raines? Okay, so he was pretty, but the guy maybe came up to Rachel’s ears or something! And he could be polite enough while playing the pureblood game, but outside of that context, he was a sulky little twit. She had to monitor her classmates more closely than most people, and she had observed enough to draw that conclusion with, she thought, some degree of confidence.

And, less emotionally, he was smart and had powerful relatives. A pureblood in that position, even if his own name wasn't that well-placed, was someone who was a direct threat to her, especially since the person he was most civil to in the school seemed to be her best friend. That, combined with their being in the same House and year, meant he could conceivably become interested in Rachel.

She had read enough of her dad's child-raising books - and she still did not know what to think of him actually reading books about how to handle Your Teenager; he could be embarrassingly modern and open-minded at times, but that just took at least part of the cake - though, to deduce that telling Veronica she disapproved would make Veronica elope with him to Sicily or something, so she decided not to even touch the topi...il she'd had more time to think about it. “Really?" she asked. "When did this happen? And tell more about these parties. Momma's still being stupid and not letting me attend any real ones, and I have no idea what I'm going to do when she finally gets over it."

16 Rachel Too bad indeed, but we manage well enough. 154 Rachel 0 5

Alison

August 19, 2010 9:55 PM

We're all reversed and confused. by Alison

“Thanks muchly for both,” Alison said, accepting the requested appetizer and the congratulations, though her thanks was mostly for the former. She still didn’t really know what to make of the badge.

That was kind of how she felt about the sudden feeling she had, upon looking at him again, that she had seen Daniel Nash – she was pretty sure that was his name, and that he was in Aladren, which raised the additional question of what he was doing at the Pecari table – somewhere without his shirt on.

She blinked, slightly taken aback, and dismissed the thought. It wasn’t the worst mental image she’d ever had by any means, but considering how proper she had always observed Daniel to be, it seemed vaguely indecent. Besides, she didn’t even really know the guy. It was behavior dangerous close to the beginning stages of being one of those weirdos who let their lives revolve around some actor who’d run screaming at the sight of them, and she didn’t even watch that many movies.

Luckily, he then brought up a topic that even Aladrens – probably – did not associate with a dearth of clothing before she could think about that too much. “My goal for the year is to just not panic,” she said. “Which means I’ll wig out a week before the exams and assault the librarian or something, but…” she shrugged. “Until then. You?” She had gotten the impression that Aladrens, as a group where other Houses had individual members, took schoolwork and exams very seriously. It was lucky for the rest of the school that they were the smallest House, because if they hadn’t been, she was pretty sure they would have been Those Kids and completely dominated the House points competitions. Scholasticism lent itself to the Crotalus-like behavior of following rules even better than being a Crotalus seemed to in some cases.

16 Alison We're all reversed and confused. 140 Alison 0 5

Renée Errant

August 20, 2010 9:18 AM

A Bit about Me by Renée Errant

Renée frowned disappointedly when it turned out Nic wasn't a giant. She could practically hear the thought bubble she had created go 'poof' as it disintegrated, like those silly muggle cartoons. Still, Nic seemed nice, if a little less interesting in her eyes. She supposed she couldn't fault him for not being a giant. He was still tall, which she thought was cool. At 4'5 she wasn't short for her age, but she longed to be taller as tall equaled more attention in her eyes.

Renée tuned in to hear Nic talk about his family. 'So, he's a half blood.' She thought. 'Just like me, well, sort of.' She turned slightly to her plate and grabbed some drumsticks, chicken wings, and anything else that looked like it could be chicken and began to pile it on. She took a gulp of pumpkin juice while Nic asked her about herself.

"New York City." She replied proudly. She really loved her home. "In Brooklyn." She specified. "I really love it, but I wanted to come here because there's more animals and stuff. You know," she looked around the hall eagerly, as if expecting one of those animals would pop up then and there. "More magical plants and animals." She took a bite of a drumstick, began to answer the second part of his question, coughed and covered her mouth, then swallowed thickly before wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Um, I've never done any real magic before though." She wracked her brain, trying to think of some impressive feat to share with him. "When I was about six or so, I think I shaved off my older brother's eyebrows. You know, without ever touching them. I didn't like them for some reason and they just fell off." She thought of Gabriel and laughed. He had yet to reply to the letter she'd sent him. She wondered how he was doing at Sapienti.

"Have you done a lot of magic here, Nic?" She asked, her brown eyes wide. "Can you do curses and hexes and things like that?"

0 Renée Errant A Bit about Me 0 Renée Errant 0 5

Jessica Zeworth

August 20, 2010 11:23 AM

Making conversation! by Jessica Zeworth

Jessica hadn’t ready done much over the summer that would be considered abnormal to her. She volunteered around the hospitals, taught cancer patients about wigs. Styling wigs, wearing wigs, all that kind of stuff. But this wasn’t something new for Jessica. She did it all the time, actually.

Being bald all her life made her pretty good with wigs, even if she didn’t like them.

Her mother had insisted on a wig today. Instead of arguing, the second year put on a little brown haired wig, the hair in small curls that framed her face. Her father smiled; her mother started crying. Jessica wasn’t sure if the crying was because she was leaving for another year at Sonora, or because her mother had failed, once again, to cure her daughter’s Alopecia through a bunch of “miracle” treatments. Which never worked and always made her sick.

It was when the Pecari got on the wagon that was taking her to school that she quickly took off her wig. She didn’t mind if people stared; they did it all the time. She didn’t really notice it anymore. And, if they were returning students like her, maybe they would be used to it by now. She wore an aquamarine scarf instead, hiding the wig in her suitcase or whatever she had with her. That was much better! And less itchy.

She sat down at a table (Jessica was never one for house boundaries; it was possible she was at the Teppenpaw table) and listened to the opening speech or whatever with interest. She applauded all the new student leaders. Maybe she could be a prefect someday! Or Head Girl! Jessica wasn’t too sure what she had to do to make that happen, but she was pretty sure she had what it took. Just…she didn’t know what that was.

“Cool feast, huh? I’ve never seen one this big. My name’s Kate.”

The girl next to her spoke, and Jessica smiled. “Yeah, I love the feasts here. They’re amazing!” She grabbed some rolls for herself, happily spreading them with butter. “I’m Jessica. It’s really good to meet you. So, I take it you’re a first year?”

0 Jessica Zeworth Making conversation! 0 Jessica Zeworth 0 5

Daniel Nash II

August 20, 2010 11:30 AM

I'd go with upset more than confused, but that's me by Daniel Nash II

After handing Alison the apple, Daniel decided he'd like one for himself and collected a second one to put next to his plate. It would be his dessert. First, though, he filled his plate with salad greens and grilled chicken strips, and ignored the salad dressing. He took water instead of juice for his cup, and didn't butter the roll he collected from the bread basket.

He'd always chosen to eat healthy and if the network was going to put him on television half naked, he was going to make dang sure that he kept fit and looked good doing it. Quidditch and soccer had helped with that, too, which was another good reason to continue with the Aladren team this year.

He looked up sharply (he allowed the genuine alarm he felt to stay on his face) from his dinner as Alison divined how her CATS prep would work out. "Please don't," he requested with a heartfelt sincerity that was rare for him. "As the library monitor, I'll either get caught in the cross fire or have to take over while she recovers." It occurred to him that this was perhaps not the foremost reason why he should be discouraging that course of action. "Plus, it's a bad example for a Prefect to set."

He wouldn't mind if James did it though. He didn't want Ms. Simms to get hurt, though, so it would be better if James wigged out and got Daniel instead. That would be like handing the Head Boyship to him, gift wrapped on a silver platter. For that, Daniel could take getting assaulted. If magic couldn't erase all the scars, he was sure Mom or Dad could recommend a team of plastic surgeons who could make anything disappear.

Then Daniel dismissed the thought as (a) unlikely because James was an Aladren and wouldn't wait for the last week before the exam to start studying, (b) entirely too Machiavellian for his peace of mind and self-image, and (c) unrelated to his current conversation.

"Actually," he answered Alison's question, "I started panicking about three minutes ago. I theorize it'll be less traumatic to spread it out over the whole year."

1 Daniel Nash II I'd go with upset more than confused, but that's me 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Nic

August 20, 2010 12:17 PM

A bit more about me then, too by Nic

Renée seemed disappointed that Nic wasn't a giant, but Nic was just as glad not to be one, so he largely ignored her frown and was thankful he wasn't genetically predisposed to a unibrow and less than average intelligence. She cheered up as she talked about her home, so he figured she'd get over it.

He smirked a little as she described her early brushes with accidental magic, though it didn't really answer the question he'd been trying to ask subtly: was her family was magical? Maybe it was a false impression, but she did seem reasonably comfortable with the whole idea of magic (she hadn't yet uttered the disbelieving phrase 'magic is real!' at any rate), so he was going to go ahead and assume this wasn't all brand new to her. Crotalus tended to get more than its fair share of purebloods, and she had the good manners to cover her mouth and use a napkin when she coughed, so the odds were good that he was right.

She hadn't seemed distressed by the knowledge that his mother was a muggle, though, so she probably wasn't the snobby kind. That was good.

And she asked about curses and hexes, and Nic wasn't entirely sure how he should take that. He tried to remember which families his dad had warned him about. Carey, he was pretty sure was on the list and there were a few of those at the school. He wondered if Renée was one of them?

"Um, yeah. We cover those in Defense Against the Dark Arts. That's my best class," he added. DADA was a class tough guys could do well in without losing face, so he did. He had the brains and skill to do well in the rest of his classes, too, but tough guys were not nerds, so he carefully attempted to keep his grades at a perfectly average 80% everywhere else.

1 Nic A bit more about me then, too 165 Nic 0 5

Renée Errant

August 20, 2010 2:13 PM

Eager for Adventure by Renée Errant

Renée smiled and tucked that bit of information in the back of her mind. It would suit her adventure needs to have a friend who was good at those kinds of spells. And she planned on having tons of adventures. "So Defense is your best class? That's one of the hardest, isn't it? I think my best best class is going to be Magical Creatures..." she sighed wistfully, already imagining the excitement of being with all those cool amazing animals. The animal kingdom, magical and otherwise, held more fascination for her than humans. Except, perhaps, her brother whom she loved dearly. "I hope they let first years take the class?" She looked at Nic questioningly.

She continued to eat, casting her eyes around the hall; prepared for any sign when the first years had to get up and leave. But then she began to just continue looking around the hall. She felt like she was really going to like it there, as evident from the beaming expression on her face. Her mind was whirling a mile a minute; thinking about exploring the Labyrinth Gardens she'd heard so much about, about the spells she was eager to master, new friends to make (and with a slight pang she thought of the friends she'd left behind), and in general all the things she was about to learn. She wanted to ask Nic and all the other older kids about the adventures they'd had. And surely, at a place so wondrous, where even the Mess Hall was amazing, there would be an abundant of adventures to be had.

Renée glanced at her hand and as it reached for her goblet and raised a brow (an inherent skill she was rather proud of) at Nic. "Um," she giggled lightly. "When does my skin turn back?"

0 Renée Errant Eager for Adventure 0 Renée Errant 0 5

Kirstenna

August 20, 2010 7:37 PM

And use lots of exclamation points! by Kirstenna

"It's all right" Kirstenna assured her friend. She knew Sophia wasn't like her grandparents who would deliberately ignore her. Fortunately, the Teppenpaw hadn't seen them in over a year and thus it wasn't really an issue. Kirstenna didn't like to think of her father's immediate family much. It brought the usually happy girl down and she didn't want to be.

"Oh he's so adorable!" Kirstenna exclaimed. She nodded "Maybe you can come visit me sometime in the future. midterm, or next summer." It would be totally awesome to share her favorite place on Earth with her best friend. "That would be amazing. Do you think your parents would let you come?" Maybe not over midterm, people seemed to want to spend that with their families but maybe next summer.

"Wow, that's awesome!" Kirstenna couldn't have an owl of her own because the circus was full of muggles. Even her mom was a muggle. "I'd love to meet him." She was slightly surprised though. "I thought you didn't like animals. You don't seem to like COMC much." The Teppenpaw, however, loved that particular class.

Kirstenna frowned as Sophia brought up the Headmistress and the former Transfiguration professor. "I know." She dropped her voice low in case any first years were listening, as she didn't want to scare them. "Do you think the old Transfiguration professor had something to do with Headmistress Powell's illness? I always thought there was something suspicious about her."

11 Kirstenna And use lots of exclamation points! 161 Kirstenna 0 5

Alessa Hinckley

August 20, 2010 10:01 PM

Growing up by Alessa Hinckley

Over the summer, there had been some changes in Alessa's life. The main one was that she was now being thought of as a young woman rather than a little girl. For starters, there were parties that Alessa was now allowed to attend. She wasn't crazy about them with all the people noise that went on. It wasn't that Alessa didn't like the people, she just couldn't take all the conversations going on at once and she wasn't a good dancer.

She'd probably be betrothed before she knew it too. Alessa had even began to notice boys and only hoped to be married off to someone she liked that wasn't too disgustingly old. A few years older would have been great, as Alessa seemed to get on better with people who were a few years older or younger than herself than those her own age but to marry a man her father's age would be nauseating.

There was also the fact that her mother was insisting she wear make-up though Alessa would only agree to wear a little bit of concealer and foundation, she wasn't crazy about the stuff. Her mother said that practically all young women wore a little and it would help her attract a husband.

Then there were the new undergarments. Merlin, did Alessa ever hate those! They were so dreadfully uncomfortable, and when Alessa was uncomfortable, she got cranky.

Furthermore, there were certain times when she was super emotional. Not to mention ravenously hungry and her mother insisted that she limit how much she ate so she didn't gain weight. Alessa understood, she really didn't want to gain weight but she hated being so hungry too.

Unfortunately, this was one of those times. That meant Alessa had to go to the feast so she could get something to eat. And that meant dealing with people noise. Alessa sighed to herself and sat down at the nearest table, not caring if it was her own but glad it wasn't Pecari's. She didn't think she could deal with them.

She waited impatiently for the feast to begin, for the firsties to finish being sorted and prefects to be announced. Alessa clapped politely for Pippa and James. (She didn't know Alison and Charlie had a Reputation but Pippa was her cousin and James had been one of the first two people Alessa had met at Sonora)

The speech done, the third year took a pastrami sandwich. Last term, Alessa had developed a real liking for Sonora's pastrami sandwiches. "Could you pass me the milk please?" She asked the person sitting next to her who was closer to it than she was.

11 Alessa Hinckley Growing up 150 Alessa Hinckley 0 5

Sophia

August 21, 2010 5:55 AM

Oh yes please!!!!!!!!!!! by Sophia

Sophia responded with a smile to Kirstenna. She really felt awful about not recognizing her friend. She would have to work hard to make it up to her because she didn’t want to lose her friend over something dumb like this. She would do it! Even when Kirstenna had said that it didn’t matter, it mattered to her. Because she was a good friend! And good friends didn’t do what she just did.

Taking another bite of her food Sophia listened to the other girl talk about the baby elephant. Peanut sounded adorable and she could not stop her squeal of delight when her friend asked to visit her over midterm or the summer holidays, “Oh yes!! Yes, yes! It would be totally awesome if I could visit! I’ll just have to ask my parents for permission,” she frowned for a bit while she made plans to convince them. It would not be easy but she would try. She really wanted to visit the circus, “I don’t know what they will say but I am sure I can convince them,” the green-eyed girl smiled again. Her eyes opened wider when she got an amazing idea, “Maybe you can visit too! We can have sleep-overs and everything! I bet my parents would be more lenient if they knew you first!” she nodded quite seriously. It was a brilliant plan in her opinion.

The second-year Pecari blushed at the mention of her CoMC incident. She had been embarrassed to be the only one reacting to the billiwig. “I do like animals, just not weird animals. The normal ones are fine. Like cats, dogs and the like,” she responded to her query, “Helios is awesome and super fast for delivering things,” she said proudly of her new pet. He would certainly come in handy while she was at school.

After Sophia mentioned how sick Headmistress Powell seemed Kirstenna frowned. Well it certainly wasn’t a very good reaction. She listened attentively to her friend’s thoughts. The girl gasped when the other girl asked about her thoughts on the matter. For some reason she didn’t think the Transfiguration Professor had something to do with it but it was a very interesting approach, “I don’t know,” she commented unsurely, “Why do you think that?” her curiosity was now roused.

0 Sophia Oh yes please!!!!!!!!!!! 0 Sophia 0 5

Alison

August 21, 2010 5:39 PM

I'm sticking with confused for now. by Alison

Daniel, after outlining why she shouldn't assault the poor librarian because of her own lackluster study skills, gave his own theory of how best to avoid having the CATS become a damaging experience. Alison nodded. "Legitimate point," she said. "But don't worry too much about the librarian. I use a lot of hyperbole." And she had an entire group of people who'd be happy to take her head if she ever did anything as tasteless as have a breakdown and start hitting the librarian, but she didn't talk much about her family or similar construct at Sonora. "Except when I'm using understatement."

That was what she would use if she were to assess how this whole prefect thing was going to go. She was still trying to get a grip on how her own House worked, never mind working out the other three, and she just didn't have the right kind of mind for strict rule-enforcement. Alison didn't often break rules without a good reason, but nor did she get all that worked up about them. Rules were like furniture: they were just there, some were more necessary than others, most (but not all) could be walked around in the Big Room of Life if one was careful, and others could occasionally get in the way at the wrong time and cause a stubbed toe. The key difference was that whether or not one stubbed a toe tripping over a table wasn't always dependent on who was around to see it.

"So, assuming you pass everything - " not, from what she'd gathered, a bad assumption - "how many subjects are you planning to take next year?" This question was delivered with a level of interest. Much of Greta's work with her, she'd worked out to her mild amusement, had been focused on making her automatically channel her competitive side into academic fields instead of dangerous ones. Too bad for Greta that she'd been the kind of kid to try to find ways to make academia dangerous, though, in fairness, her teacher had never officially known about all that.

16 Alison I'm sticking with confused for now. 140 Alison 0 5

Kate

August 21, 2010 6:03 PM

Excellent! by Kate

Kate smiled wryly at the assessment of her year. "What gave it away?" she asked, looking at her hands. The color was already starting to fade, but she still looked more yellow than she reasonably should while her liver was still working properly. Since her memory of Rachel's first letters home included a lot more being angry about being in a House with Aunt Helena than shrieking about being deformed, she thought it was fair to say that the effect would be completely over by morning, if not the end of the evening. "It's really good to meet you, too. Have you been at Sonora very long?"

Looking at the girl, once she got past the surprise of the head scarf, Kate was pretty sure the answer was going to be 'no.' Jessica didn't look much older than Kate, and maybe not as old as Rachel, though it was hard to say when Rach deliberately went out of her way to look older than she really was. The exact polar opposite of what she'd be doing in maybe as little as ten years, when it would be all about trying to keep looking seventeen and fit into the dress robes she'd worn at that age even though they'd be out of style.

Kate had never understood it. She had always felt perfectly happy being exactly the age she was, and she didn't really see that changing as she got older. Certainly she couldn't see herself going on crazy diets and accepting all kinds of painful treatments in an attempt to look twenty when she was really forty-five. What was so bad about being whatever one really was, anyway? She had asked her mother once, but it hadn't gone well. Maybe because she'd been talking then more about being a half-blood than being eleven or forty or whatever.

16 Kate Excellent! 170 Kate 0 5

Edmond Carey

August 21, 2010 11:32 PM

I'd rather not by Edmond Carey

The bustle of the Cascade Hall was still a shock after spending so much of the summer quietly at home and the rest still in places that weren’t very loud, but Edmond was pleased to note, in a moment of nostalgia, that it no longer overwhelmed him the way it had the night he was Sorted. Hard to imagine that it had been four years, now, since he had come to Sonora. So much had changed since then – most of it, he thought with amusement at his own pretentions to being old, in the past half-year. And yet, at the same time, it was like nothing had changed at all.

He was, to his mild irritation, apparently even taller than he had been in June, but he otherwise had changed very little over the summer. His hair still refused to do anything it was commanded to do, providing a strange, curly red counterpoint to his otherwise extremely neat appearance, and his expression was affable as he found an empty seat at the Aladren table and politely asked the people nearest to it if they minded him taking it. By the time he spotted Jane, just to be sure she had gotten in all right and hadn’t been stepped on in the chaos, the first years were in line for their Sorting.

Edmond stayed quiet during the ceremony, enjoying first the moment of suspense as everyone wondered which new students would be added to their Houses and who would, therefore, have an advantage in the points competition and then the expressions of shock or pleasure or what-have-you on the faces of those students as they got the answers. Possibly some had worried about poison; most of those would be purebloods, accustomed to paranoia from an early age. Edmond counted himself lucky that he had been raised by good people with no interest in the Game; if things had not worked out that way, he supposed he’d be incapable of trusting anyone.

After that came a part that was a bit more interesting to him this year than it normally was. The current prefects were of little interest, in and of themselves, to him, since he never did things that would draw a prefect’s negative attention, but putting together his year with their status made him realize that, next year, it would be either him or Cassie who was called up there for Aladren. That was an odd thought, and not one he necessarily liked as he added his share to the obligatory applause of Aladrens for an Aladren Head Boy.

It would be good for him to do it, and an honor for a family not exactly draped in them at present for him to be so recognized, but Edmond couldn’t honestly say he wanted it to be him. For one thing, he disliked having authority over himself, and having authority over others was even worse. The responsibility was huge even if he didn’t feel the temptations he had read about to abuse power – temptations most people in his family, sooner or late, seemed to fall prey to again and again. And for another thing, well – Cassie might be offended that he had been picked over her, and that would be unpleasant for them both.

Since the staff was not known for taking student preference into account, though, he had to look at the likelihoods, not at how he or Cassie might feel about things or how it might affect their relationship. Statistically, Aladren was one of the more male-dominated Houses in terms of power roles, and while Morgaine had baldly told him that there was no more money and that she was having to stretch gold extremely thin to support the illusion that there was still some left while frantically working to get more, their name still carried some weight and influence in some circles. Since he was already technically head of the family and so, odd as it still sounded to him, important in the outside world, that might tip the balance in his favor a little. He considered Cassie his equal in all of the important ways, but in all the unimportant ones except physical appearance, he thought it was possible he had an advantage, distasteful though he found it.

But who knew. The Carey name, it seemed, could be anything except a neutral factor, and in this case, whether it was a blessing or a curse was purely a matter of perspective. For now, he was more interested in his dinner.

"Could you pass the milk please?"

Edmond looked toward the source of the voice, which seemed to be talking to him, and discovered it to be Alessa Hinckley. He thought he would, despite not having the best of memories for names and faces, have recognized her even if they hadn't shared two years at Sonora, because she was on the list of pureblood girls Julia kept trying to get him to be interested in. His foster-mother, in an unusual case of irrationality, seemed to think that drawing his attention to how much money and how many connections each young lady in the years surrounding his had enough times would inspire him to go propose to one of them. "Of course, Miss Hinckley," he said with a faint smile, then suited action to words and passed the milk. "How are you this evening?"

0 Edmond Carey I'd rather not 143 Edmond Carey 0 5

Valentina

August 22, 2010 5:44 AM

You are so right! by Valentina

“Awesome!” the native Spaniard exclaimed when Alex agreed to practice her Spanish with her. It made her happy because doing it would remind her of home, of her mother. It was the first time she was away from her and the USA was a foreign land to for the little girl. Not that she didn’t like it, it was just that she missed her home in Madrid. She grinned happily. Though, she could see a problem to her little plan, the slang used by the Mexicans and Spaniards was different and maybe that would cause some problems but she was certain they could get over that and just have fun. Fun was great! Valentina was glad she had made a friend.

Finishing with her dinner she realized that the Head of House (she supposed she was) was calling the new students. She smiled excitedly, her fun school adventures were about to begin! She drank a last sip of her drink and left the cup on top of the table before nudging Alex, “Look, it seems we need to go with the teacher that is calling us! I bet they are going to take us to the common room!” delicately wiping her mouth with her napkin she got up from her seat.

Looking to where the new Teppenpaws were gathering around their Head of House. Her blue eyes shone with excitement, “Come on Alex! We are going to miss the tour,” her tone was kind of impatient. This was something she didn’t want to miss. Besides, if they didn’t hurry up they wouldn’t be able to go to their commons and eventually get lost in the new school. And that was not the start of school adventure the eleven-year old wanted. It would be embarrassing to ask someone for directions just because they had been slow to catch up.

0 Valentina You are so right! 0 Valentina 0 5

Alex

August 22, 2010 5:45 PM

Thank You? by Alex

Valentina seemed a bit too happy for Alex and it kinda scared her a bit.

Maybe it's just because you haven't had a reason to be happy? Alex thought. And it was true. Ever since her brothers death, happiness didn't seem possible anymore. But her mother told her to act like a normal 11 year old and she was going to. She just didn't know they were so happy.

Their Head of House was calling them so both girls finished eating and got up. However Valentina seemed impatient and rushed ahead of her.

“Come on Alex! We are going to miss the tour.”

Alex ran up beside her. "Don't worry, I'm not the type to fall behind. I'm actually a fast walker so make sure you can keep up."

Alex hoped she hadn't sounded mean but it was true. She was a fast walker.

0 Alex Thank You? 0 Alex 0 5

Jordan

August 22, 2010 8:09 PM

Getting the party started! by Jordan

Jordan’s eyes lit up at the suggestion of sneaking out and exploring. “Oh, you’re perfect!” She squealed with excitement and side hugged her roommate. “We’ll find all the best spots. Plus, we can look for the hidden spots. You know, so we don’t get caught on our adventures.” She didn’t mention the other benefits of knowing secret areas like being able to hide away from the world. At home, there was a nook behind a wall in their attic that she had found ages ago. Whenever she needed a place to hideaway that was where she went, especially when her mother was going on about pureblood standards like she cared.

She hated all the propriety that came along with such matters. She wanted to be able to wear short skirts and high heels. She wanted to flirt with boys of her choosing rather than the ones that were considered proper. Besides, those boys always seemed so stuffy, very boring. They were all about by the book rather than having an ounce of passion whereas she had it by the bucketful. She thought it was important for dance and gymnastics. If she didn’t, then she would probably be a robot when performing and then she would certainly not be getting any applause.

And oh, how she loved the applause, but then Jordan loved attention. If she didn’t, her hobbies would probably be more like quiet Alice’s whose main interest was photography. She didn’t really understand why her little sister insisted on being behind the camera instead of in front of it, but whatever. Alice didn’t know what she was missing and besides, as a result of her sister’s hobby, Jordan’s walls were brimming with photos of herself in a variety of outfits and poses, depending on if she were competing, performing, or just having fun.

Maybe her room here would be full of pictures of her, Miya, and maybe even Ryan. The brunette giggled at the boy’s reaction to her and Miya’s teasing. “Awww, how adorable. He’s blushing. Don’t worry, Ryan, we won’t go too hard on you.” It really was cute that he was embarrassed. Though, maybe he was embarrassed, because she was making a fool out of herself? She didn’t really get to flirt very much since they didn’t go into town all that often and her practices were solely one gender. It was probably for the best though, because they would probably never get any work done otherwise.

Continuing the conversation, so as not to put Ryan in the spotlight too much since she wasn’t that serious, she asked, “Are you going to come with us? We should probably dress in black. To blend with the night and all that. I think I brought my pair of black leggings, but I’m not sure I brought any of my black tops.” Her tongue was sticking out a little on the side while she pondered if she had or not. “Well, if I didn’t, I can always borrow something from Dani. She owns a ton of dark clothing. If you need anything, Miya, I’m sure we can find something for you. Oh, and you know what else we should do? Paint our faces!” Jordan was so excited that she was practically bouncing in her seat. She couldn’t wait to go on their first adventure!

0 Jordan Getting the party started! 0 Jordan 0 5

Veronica

August 23, 2010 12:09 AM

We could always try charming it. by Veronica

When Rachel said Teppenpaw, Veronica raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything about it. She supposed the House was all right, but it didn’t really seem a good place for a proper pureblood, but maybe she was wrong. They were supposed to be diplomats, which could be good or bad, depending on the outcome. It would definitely be useful if she used it to a pureblood advantage, which judging by Rachel, she should. Otherwise, she might use it to benefit muggleborns and halfbloods more in their world. Wasn’t it bad enough that they had invaded the wizarding world? They already had their own. They were just so greedy!

They were just like Juri and the way he had to take over her entire home. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have had to go live with her grandmother. Not that she minded living with her elder. She was learning quite a bit that she probably wouldn’t have learned otherwise. But it was like…well, she didn’t know what it was like except something really awful times a hundred. “Absolutely! Juri would leave whatever room he was in a disaster when he was through. And ugh, how much he ate? It makes me sick just thinking about it.”

Admittedly, he wasn’t dirty. He didn’t leave disgusting plates lying around. Juri was just messy. Supposedly, this was a teenage boy thing, but she doubted the ones she associated with were anything like that. “Yes. My list contains some very valuable points necessary in securing an appropriate match. First, he should be a pureblood so that automatically discounts anyone that isn’t. Second, he should come from a family of importance. Third, he should come from a family of means, though, not coming from one may not discount him if the second carries enough weight.”

Digging around in her bag while she talked, she finally managed to pull out the pink parchment that contained all of her notes. Smoothing it out on the table in a non food area, the blonde continued on, “Oh, yes, so fourth is more personal. It gets into his behavior. Even if all of the above traits are true, if he associates with the wrong type, it could lead to problems later on. Now, none of these involve my personal tastes such as what he looks like or how we get along. From this point, I comprised another list detailing suitable matches and ranked them based on the previous items.”

Veronica was absolutely thrilled to be sharing this with Rachel. She had worried before that Rachel would steal the information for herself, but now she wanted her friend, her best friend, to have access to it. She wanted Rachel to be able to find someone just as suitable. “Okay, so then the third list is my personal tastes. I ranked the same suitors according to how attractive they were. This one wasn’t just physical, but included all traits I like. Then, there was one on how well I got along with each one. Those two lists I averaged out to make another one that ranked on both attractiveness and compatibility.”

She shuffled through the papers to get the next few. The Aladren pointed to the one, “This one is where I averaged out the original data then combined it with this average and then averaged it once more.” Taking out the final list, she showed it to Rachel. “So, this is the result of that and Raines is at the top. He’s pureblood, from a good family, and has money. Then, he is fairly attractive with a high compatibility rate.” Veronica smiled at Rachel as though it were the most obvious conclusion to why she liked Raines. Though, she did have to add one more thing, “Oh, and he got bonus points for being named Raines Bradley. It’s rather unique while being distinguished, don’t you think?”

She offered her best friend a wane smile. “Hopefully, she’ll get over it soon. You really have to come to one with me. They’re absolutely wonderful! It’s like being a real princess. The clothing is so much better than anything they would ever allow us to wear here and the food is divine. Not that I ate much of it, of course.” She had learned about the dangers of weight gain early on and the importance of maintaining appearances to attract the best choices. “No, I was too busy dancing. Oh, Rachel,” she gasped excitedly, “it was so much fun. One minute I was with Alexander and the next it was Lucas. You would love it.”

0 Veronica We could always try charming it. 0 Veronica 0 5

Amelia

August 23, 2010 2:23 PM

You should have left already by Amelia

"I was admiring your hair. The color is great on you," Alexis said. At least she wasn't commenting on Amelia's eating habits, but they were hardly the best of friends, so Amelia figured she had cause to be less polite than she could. Plus she was feeling SO superior.

"I know," Amelia replied haughtily, but not unpleasantly. True, Alexis kind of had nice hair too; it was a pretty auburn color and, as far as Amelia could tell, hers was completely natural. Still, the blonde preferred being just that.

The point, in Amelia's mind, anyway, had nothing to do with hair color. Nor her eating habits, for that matter. She wondered vaguely why Alexis was there, when Amelia had definitely attended her wedding over the summer. She remember it particularly because Cecily had thrown a huge fuss about not going and in fact didn't go in the end, but Amelia couldn't resist the sheer number of influential people in one room. She'd had a blast. But she'd figured that would be the last time she ever saw Alexis, and it didn't really affect her either way - she didn't hate her like Cecily did, but she wasn't keen on the way she'd treated her sister and she could be quite annoying. Plus she'd played Quidditch, which Amelia just couldn't understand.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Alexis, again, not rudely, but with no real politeness. "If I were married, I think I'd stay at home," she said, taking a gulp of juice. "So what, your education that important to you?" she asked, a hint of a smile teasing Alexis. "Or are you just a glutton for punishment?" Maybe she just couldn't stand to be around her husband, but even Amelia wasn't brash enough to suggest that.

0 Amelia You should have left already 0 Amelia 0 5

James

August 23, 2010 2:56 PM

So we have one commonality by James

The older boy did pass the meatballs as James had requested, but he alwso shoved a piece of pizza in his face. James wrinkled his nose. "No thank you," he replied curtly, trying to ignore the pizza being waved about. It wasn't that he disliked pizza - quite the opposite; it was one of his favorite foods. He just didn't want a piece that had already been mauled by a stranger. Hadn't this boy heard of germs? James had. He took a lot of care to make sure his hands were always clean, and he washed his brown hair every day. He wasn't going to risk catching an incurable illness by sharing pizza with someone he'd just met.

Trying his best to ignore his yearmate, James began to eat his meatballs. They tasted good. His mom's cooking was usually good, his dad's cooking was better but he didn't usually have time for that because of work, and james himself just about knew how to make a sandwich. Living at Sonora was looking good on the food front.

On the company front? Not so much hope, there. James glanced at his neighbor again. he supposed it couldn't hurt to try a little conversation. "I'm sure the pizza's good." he said. "I just ate pizza last night." he wasn't sure how that went as a conversation starter - being social wasn't one of his strong points. Still, he'd made an effort.

0 James So we have one commonality 0 James 0 5

Cecily

August 23, 2010 3:15 PM

Let's make the most of it by Cecily

"Maybe Great-grandpa beat me to the punch on Pippa. She's not his great-grandchild, but I've been writing to him and requesting he not donate as much to Sonora if people in our family didn't start getting more positions of power at this school," Chelsea said.

cecily didn't think Chelsea would have been offended by her comment, but just in case seh elaborated. "Oh, I'm pleased that Pippa got it," she said, "it just sucks that out of your family it wasn't you. I mean, hello, obvious choice." Pippa was perfectly pleasant, Cecily thought, but she doubted she'd make a good prefect, unlike Chelsea, who certainly would have, if the position hadn't gone to a certain weirdo in her friend's House, instead. Nevermind, what was fone had been done and once again the Ladies had to make the best of the mess that others had created.

"For a minute, I thought Danny was going to attack James Anthony," Holly said, keeping them on the topics of prefects a little longer.

"That would have been amusing," Cecily conceded, "but only for an hour or two. It wouldn't last the whole year. Then Chelsea mentioned the Head Girl debacle, and Cecily cast a glance over at the Aladrens, where the two Heads were talking. Probably plotting something useless and academic. "A real tragedy," she acknoledged.

As she turned back to her friends, Cecily accidentally saw Amelia talking to Alexis. More fool Amelia for putting up with her. However, Alexis was - obviously - the bigger issue here. Not only was she married (Cecily had been invited to the wedding but had declined the invitation with delight) but she was also still at school. Cecily wasn't sure which depressed her more: being single while someone as foul as Alexis could get a husband, or having to spend another year with Alexis. It was a tough choice.

"I can't believe Alexis is here," she whispered audibly, leaning in as this was a disgusting secret that shouldn't be overheard. Her husband must be fed up of her already," she smirked. Making fun of Alexis was nothing new, and it would get boring soon, so Cecily was desperate for some stimulating conversation. She was just too bored to think of any.

0 Cecily Let's make the most of it 0 Cecily 0 5

Rachel

August 23, 2010 4:54 PM

charms badge Now I just have to avoid the teachers... by Rachel

Somehow, just barely, Rachel kept herself from gaping as Veronica began to detail exactly how, of all the handful of guys in their relative age group and social class, she had decided Raines was the best one to lay claim to. It never did pay to forget that, no matter how pretty and proper she might be, Veronica was in Aladren for a reason. Her mother had detailed to Rachel and her sisters the types of people they should and shouldn't associate with before allowing them out in public, but even she had never broken it down to an actual science.

Scientific or not, though, they were going to have to agree to disagree about Raines' name. Sam, for reasons Rachel was sure she didn't actually want to know, called him 'Weather Boy,' but she had always thought it sounded like his father had gotten completely wasted while his mother was having him and had, as a result, written should-have-been-Baby Bradley's name down backwards on the birth certificate. Or like he'd been named for or like a soap opera character.

Of course, some of those soap opera patriarchal types were pretty distinguished, and it wasn't like the dramas they went through were that far from reality sometimes. Maybe Veronica was onto something with that.

"It certainly stands out from a crowd," she said.

She listened to the descriptions of the parties with a smile, though she did wince a little in envy at the mention of getting to wear nice clothes. "I'm sure I would," she agreed; since she had to keep her gymnastics to private practice, now, she had come to quite like dancing. "And I'd kill to get to wear things that don't have to go with green," she said, plucking at the shoulder of her well-made robe. "I am so sick of green. I swear, when we graduate, or over a summer or something, if you ever see me wear green again, smack me, okay?"

Which, of course, supposed that she and Veronica would still be friends after graduation. Which supposed that she would be able to keep her, er, biological disadvantage a secret while also concealing why she probably wasn't going to be jumping on the marriage bandwagon. She decided just not to think about it.

"But yeah, I'll bug Momma about it again this summer. She's been saying fifteen since - forever, but if I tell her that all the other cool girls - that being you - are already going, she might break down." Her mother hated it when other people tried to manipulate her, and seemed to feel contempt for ploys as obvious as 'all the other kids do it,' but her fear of social opinion topped all. Even Kate could extract some demands from her that way. "Do you have any pictures?" She could just imagine Veronica all dressed up like a princess. She had the dainty sort of looks for it.

16 Rachel *charms badge* Now I just have to avoid the teachers... 154 Rachel 0 5

Jessica

August 24, 2010 4:49 PM

I try! by Jessica

Jessica grinned at Kate, her green eyes sparkling in pure excitement. The second year couldn’t even express how happy she was to be back at her super fantastic, wonderful, beautiful, amazing, and totally awesome school. Jessica couldn’t wait to get into classes. Sure, magic wasn’t exactly her strong point. If she got super excited, whatever spell she was trying to do usually went horribly wrong. But that was okay!

She looked around the Cascade Hall quickly. She didn’t see Cooper, but the Pecari was short, and she was sitting down. So it was pretty likely that she couldn’t see Cooper among all the other people around.

“Have you been at Sonora very long?"

Jessica shook her head. “Nuh uh. I’m only a second year. I’m actually in Pecari; I just couldn’t find a place to sit!” Or she wasn’t paying attention. Any possibility would probably be true. “But that means I’ve been here for a year.” She chewed thoughtfully on a roll. “Sonora is really awesome. For one example, the food here is awesome!”

0 Jessica I try! 0 Jessica 0 5

Kate

August 24, 2010 5:37 PM

So do I! by Kate

At the assertion about the food, Kate addressed her attention to it, though she still didn't really feel hungry. Taking a few bites was polite and relatively painless, and it did smell good. Taking the first bite also proved that it did, in fact, taste good.

"You're right," she said. "I'm just not very hungry tonight." She was not going to publicly admit to homesickness. No way. That would be, as Rachel would put it, not cool. "It is always this good, or is it a special occasion thing?"

She decided not to probe when it came to why a Pecari was sitting at the Teppenpaw table. It was really none of her business, and besides, it might just be something that the other girl wanted to talk about. Maybe the other Pecaris treated her badly because of her...medical condition, or whatever it was. Kate didn't have any medical conditions, but she did know that it was miserable to have to put up with snotty girls. Her sisters got on great with all the Young Ladies of Character and Means their mother made them interact with, but Kate had never felt like she fit in with them.

They had always been great about letting her know that they agreed with that assessment of her status. That had hurt at first, but now, she couldn't really say she cared all that much, except as it applied to keeping the peace with her family. If they gave her the okay, so that she could do so while still seeing her mother and sisters sometimes and hopefully more often than she got to see her father now, she'd go to live with Dad in a split second. She didn't remember too much about life before the divorce, but she thought it had been better.

16 Kate So do I! 170 Kate 0 5

Nina

August 25, 2010 1:52 PM

It could, but I don't feel like typing it over. by Nina

Nina grinned. She was glad that she could consider someone a friend at this school that she wasn't related to. (Not that she considered any of her cousins her friends, other than Autumn. She didn't know Alessa or Kirstenna very well and she didn't trust Tawny.)

It did, however, make her feel slightly guilty that she was friends with Starbuck, in part, because of Starbuck's fight with Mel. Otherwise it would have been the three of them as best buds with Nina left out like she'd been as a first year. But it was Mel's fault that she and Starbuck didn't get on, not Nina's.

"Sounds great." Nina replied. Her own summer had been fun but ordinary. Her parents had gone to Alexis Ashwood's wedding, as had Adam, who had been pressured into it and Chelsea had gone to Cecily Smythe's party, but Nina had skipped the wedding, as fancy parties weren't her thing, and of course, she hadn't been invited to the party.

Sometimes, Nina just wished for something different and she wondered if her best friend felt the same way. "Starbuck, do you ever just want something unusual to happen? Something interesting? Like a change during the summer? Do something different?"

Personally, Nina felt the need for some excitement, she was feeling kind of restless and bored.

11 Nina It could, but I don't feel like typing it over. 156 Nina 0 5

Kirstenna

August 25, 2010 3:16 PM

!!!!!!!! by Kirstenna

If Kirstenna wasn't already smiling, as usual, her face would have lit up at Sophia's suggestion. "That would be soo much fun! I'd love to visit you." Granted, it would mean not being at the circus after being at school all year but that would be okay because she'd be hanging around with Sophia.

"I've never had a sleepover before." Kirstenna admitted. She had always lived at the circus and everyone had their own trailers. The Teppenpaw had assumed boarding school would be like a sleepover every night but she wasn't close to her roommates at all. Which was a shame, Kirstenna would have really liked that but at least they didn't all fight with each other, and at least she had Sophia, not to mention Brian and even Dmitri

"If you don't mind sleeping in a tiny circus trailer when you come visit me, that is." Kirstenna added. She wasn't ashamed of it at all but it was awfully tight. Plus, Kirstenna could not imagine some of the people at Sonora being okay with it, though she didn't think Sophia was one of them, at least she hoped not. The Pecari was her best friend and really the only one that Kirstenna had that she could have sleep over. It would be really tight quarters with either boy.

"Oh, good." Kirstenna felt slightly bad for bringing up the incident. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mention something that was embarassing for you. But I'm glad you don't dislike normal animals because the circus is full of them. I mean, if you consider elephants and tigers and lions normal." They were to Kirstenna but most people weren't used to having them around.

Kirstenna shrugged. Her theories about the last Transfiguration professor were kind of out there but to her they made perfect sense. "It's just, well, I think the last professor was a thief. You know, because of the weird items we had to transfigure. Maybe she was trying to steal something valuable here, and Headmistress Powell tried to stop her and Professor Wolfe hexed her and escaped. Or Professor Wolfe was an imposter and Headmistress Powell found out and Professor Wolfe poisoned her, hoping to kill her and escaped but the Medic saved her and now she's just sick. Or it's a slow acting poison."

11 Kirstenna !!!!!!!! 161 Kirstenna 0 5

Pippa Brockert

August 25, 2010 10:50 PM

Me? by Pippa Brockert

It had been a more eventful than usual summer. The big thing was that had Pippa was now betrothed, to Justin Kendrick of the Ohio Kendricks. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about the whole thing as Pippa barely knew him. From what she knew though, he seemed nice enough and he wasn't that much terribly older than her which was a good thing.

Besides, it was what Pippa's family wanted for her and she wanted to please them. Aside from Tawny, whom Pippa was probably never going to please no matter what she did. Which of course, made the fifth year sad. She knew she should probably just let the whole thing go but she just couldn't.

It didn't help that Pippa often found her stuff broken whenever she was at home. Or that her sister always seemed to lash out. Of course, though she felt guilty and disrespectful for thinking it, maybe if people, by which she specifically meant her grandmother, wouldn't be so tough on Tawny, the younger girl wouldn't be so moody and mad at Pippa. For some reason, Grandmother never criticized the older girl as much as she did the younger one. Of course, Grandmother was worst of all to Melora who wasn't her granddaughter. She barely criticized Pippa at all.

The fifth year took the usual seat at the Teppenpaw table. She didn't see Nathaniel but that was okay. Pippa could see him later. Juri was probably with the other Aladrens, and that was okay too. She wasn't sure how to act around him now that she was betrothed to Justin. Juri was the boy who had given Pippa her first kiss and she was worried Juri liked her and would be hurt that she had to be with someone else. It wasn't that Pippa thought so highly of herself that she would think a boy liked her, but why would someone kiss someone they didn't like, unless they were betrothed and had to, which wasn't the case.

Pippa sat politely, listening to the Headmistress's speech. She was quite shocked to see Headmistress Powell looking so sickly. It made the Teppenpaw feel sorry for her, Pippa hated seeing anyone suffer. It didn't matter if it was the Headmistress, a friend, or even Tawny who seemed to love seeing her suffer.

As the prefects were announced, Pippa's jaw dropped open, even though she knew it wasn't ladylike. She had gotten it! That was kind of a surprise to her, she would have thought Nathaniel would have been a shoe-in. Her friend was so friendly and outgoing and upbeat. He would have made a great prefect.

Slowly, Pippa got up and went to the stage. She accepted her badge, mouthed congratulations to Alison, who had mouthed it to her and moved back to her seat as if it was all a dream.

That's when she heard one of the new first years speak and it brought her out of her trance. Pippa smiled, there was no time like the present to start getting to know the younger students and help them out in any way she could. "Welcome to Sonora. I'm sorry I don't have a camera. I'm Pippa. Is there anything else I can help you with though?" She really did feel bad that she could get the first year the camera that the younger girl wanted. Pippa just wanted to make the first years happy and comfortable here at Sonora.

11 Pippa Brockert Me? 132 Pippa Brockert 0 5

Ryan

August 26, 2010 2:56 PM

I'll bring snacks by Ryan

Ryan's blush only deepened as Miya agreed with Jordan that he was kind of cute. He had never thought of himself that way, but then Ryan's self-esteem was kind of low in general. His mother had him convinced that he was pretty much the very bottom of the barrel and so far, nothing his dad or grandparents or aunts and uncles or cousins had said had convinced him otherwise.

After all, what kind of person wasn't loved by their own mother? Ryan had to be defective in some way right?

Aunt Jana said this ridiculous and his mother was just a sadistic nutcase and that she should know, she was his mom's sister after all. Ryan so wanted to believe his aunt who had always treated him well, and had even taught him how to read when he was younger.

The topic then turned to adventures and sneaking out. Ryan wasn't so sure about that. He didn't want to get in trouble here at school too, especially when he got in so much at home for doing nothing at all. At home, Ryan got in trouble for doing things that the house-elves did, things his sister did, things that his sister made up that he did, things that he really shouldn't be in trouble for at all and things his mother imagined he did. Ryan really couldn't win there at all.

"Well, maybe." Ryan replied to Jordan's query as to whether or not he would come with them. On the one hand, he really, really, really hated getting in trouble and would feel obligated out of some sense of chivalry to take the fall for the girls if they all got caught. (Not to mention, Ryan had a tendency to blame himself for everything anyway.)

On the other, he wanted them to like him and if Ryan said no, he wouldn't go, they might think badly of him, that he was a wimp and a coward and that was something his mother scolded him for too.

11 Ryan I'll bring snacks 176 Ryan 0 5

Brad

August 26, 2010 8:26 PM

You're very formal by Brad

“Aw!” Brad replied in disappointment when the boy rejected his pizza. “I’m sure the pizza’s good. I just ate pizza last night.” “But pizza never gets old!” he asserted, still holding the pizza out to him. After a moment, he realized he was being a little pushy. It was rude to shove things in people’s faces like that!

So he went back to chomping on the delicious treat, savoring the cheesy goodness. He finished it up in just a few huge bites and patted his stomach contentedly. “That’s some good eatin’!” He grinned at the boy. “What’s your name? I’m Brad Hayman, superhero-in-training.” He extended a hand to his new companion.

Brad remembered when he’d first come to Sonora. He'd had a blast making new friends because it was a lot of fun, but some people were different. Whenever Bobby had to talk to new people, he freaked out and didn’t know what to say. Sometimes he just didn’t talk to them at all because he was so scared and angry; if Brad was there with Bobby at the time, he’d have to cover for him by being extra-social. The second-year was quite good at that, but he wished his brother wasn’t so…unpleasant. Bobby had some qualities of your typical supervillain, but Brad couldn’t let himself think of him that way. He was family!

“Do you wanna be a superhero someday too?” he asked hopefully, raising his eyebrows. He had yet to meet someone who shared this goal of his. It was strange—wouldn’t everyone dream to be a superhero now that they had magic?

0 Brad You're very formal 0 Brad 0 5

Alessa

August 27, 2010 2:56 PM

Me neither by Alessa

"Thank you, Mr. Carey." Alessa replied, taking the milk and pouring. She didn't mind speaking with Edmond at all. He was just the kind of person her parents wanted her to be friends with, meaning pureblood and important. Furthermore, he was intelligent and Alessa really did have a lot of respect for him. Oh, and he was relatively quiet, which was a definite plus, Alessa just couldn't deal with craziness and loudness that was some people around here.

"Fine, Mr. Carey, and yourself?" She inquired. Small talk had never been Alessa's forte and it generally bored her to tears. She would prefer to get into a discussion about a topic that she was interested in with someone who shared that interest. Unfortunately, Alessa didn't know Edmond that well and rarely was anyone interested in history and genealogy like she was. At least not people her own age. Most were all about the latest teen heartthrobs and Quidditch, neither of which interested Alessa in the slightest. (Granted, she was pretty sure Edmond wouldn’t want to talk about male singers or actors, that was more of a girl thing.)

And the people that usually were interested in the same thing Alessa was, were usually the purebloods that were kind of stuck-up. She personally had nothing to worry about, however, as her own lineage and status were impeccable but she did have half blood cousins and some poor relations, one of which had an illegitimate daughter. Though, the reason the Hinckley family could get away with such things was because of their high status, especially in New Jersey and surrounding states. As with any family, the status wasn’t quite as important the further away from a home state someone got, but as Alessa’s mother had been a Brockert that added even more status to her. Alessa wasn’t particularly snobby about this, as it was just how things were, though she could get proud when she got defensive.

However, it wasn’t being snobby that drew Alessa to the topic of pureblood genealogy. She just liked to see how all the families were connected and who was related to who and how. Of course, it usually meant she knew who was a pureblood and who wasn’t. Even though Alessa didn’t really hold much prejudice personally towards Muggleborns and half-bloods. This just showed her who she had to be proper with and who she could be more lax with. Of course, her parents wanted her to be proper to all, so she wouldn’t get out of practice and mess up. She thought this was ridiculous, as Alessa knew the names of the pureblood families better than they did.

And Edmond Carey was definitely someone she had to be polite to. He wasn’t just the heir to the Savannah Careys (which admittedly, did not have the best reputation), he was the patriarch . Alessa would have to be pleasant to him but she didn’t think that would be too difficult. She had no issues with Edmond and most of the people who did get on her nerves weren’t even purebloods anyway.

11 Alessa Me neither 150 Alessa 0 5

Elliot Valentine

August 30, 2010 8:21 PM

Wisdom is overrated. by Elliot Valentine

A new year, a new start. Well, kind of. Elliot felt like a new person and that's all that mattered. HE had grown a full inch, and now that Ethan was being all moody, they looked completely different. Elliot had cut his hair so that it could barely lay flat and had started buying his own clothes, rather than wearing hand-me-downs. And he had finally started developing his writing skills. Apparently his cousin, Carly, worked as a newspaper columnist for the San Fransisco Spiral and she had gotten Elliot a job as a copy editor at a small wizarding journal called The Seattle Scuttlebutt and was pretty much a gossip magazine for the Seattle area. and wasn't very well regarded. Elliot had loved it.

When not at the Scuttlebutt, Elliot was at his aunt's house exploring a wizard's house or hanging out with his cousin Chloe's friends who were always around and only a year younger than he and Ethan. Ethan had taken to trying to hit on every girl that walked in the door, while Elliot had become the favorite for reasons beyond his comprehension. He had a brief crush on one girl: Simone Cho, but since he didn't like her kind of music, she quickly lost interest. Elliot wrote a short story about it.

All that brought Elliot to his first day of fifth year, sitting across the table from Ethan, with his ugly long hair and dark clothes, stabbing moodily at a potato and taking quick, jittery glances around at the other people in the hall. Elliot didn't really talk to his twin anymore. Ethan was depressing. Instead he turned to the person next to him.

"Hey Juri. How was your summer?" He asked as he piled his plate full of spaghetti.

0 Elliot Valentine Wisdom is overrated. 134 Elliot Valentine 0 5

Juri

August 30, 2010 11:36 PM

Perhaps. by Juri

When Juri noticed who it was, he raised an eyebrow. He obviously had been paying quite a bit less attention than just not hearing the person. What were the twins doing sitting at the Aladren table? It seemed a bit odd, but he guessed that they were friends with someone at the table. It wasn’t all that unusual. Veronica’s little friend had been sitting at the table since the two met. He just wished it had been the other way around and Veronica had sat at the girl’s table. Though, he wouldn’t have as much of an excuse to visit Lita at her table if Veronica were sitting over there. Of course, at the moment, he wasn’t about to head over anyhow.

Giving Elliot his attention, because that was the one that had spoken to him and because the other seemed rather…off, he answered, “My summer was pretty awesome. My stepsister moved out so that made things a whole lot easier. She went to live with her grandmother. She’s a wicked old woman, but I guess they get along or else she wouldn’t have wanted to go.” Come to think of it, Veronica was a lot like that old biddy. No wonder they got along so well and no wonder he was so glad to be rid of them both.

When Juri had met her grandmother, she had completely insulted him, but had done it in such a way to seem like a compliment. Of course, it was no wonder that she hadn’t approved of him or of his mother since they weren’t purebloods and had made them quite aware of it. His mother tolerated it better than he did and had asked him not to make any scenes. She had said that there was no point in listening to small-minded people, because then it became easy to despise them when they deserved pity. But when one came to despise them, sometimes it led to one being just as small-minded.

“Aside from all that drama, life is good,” he said. He wasn’t really going to mention anything about the girls or his tattoo. He didn’t know Elliot (or Ethan) well enough for that. “So, what’s been going on with you?”

0 Juri Perhaps. 0 Juri 0 5

Headmistress Powell

Opening Feast by Headmistress Powell

Sara Raines

Opening and feasting by Sara Raines

Thomas Fitzgerald

Dropping in for the party by Thomas Fitzgerald

Jera Valson

Party? Where? by Jera Valson

Amelia Smythe

So long, farewell by Amelia Smythe

Thomas

...Everywhere! by Thomas

Jera

Not very many guests yet by Jera

Kate Bauer

Making efforts. by Kate Bauer

Rachel Bauer

Playing Aladren again (Veronica) by Rachel Bauer

James Owen

New and Blue by James Owen

Cecily Smythe

Ladies? by Cecily Smythe

Ryan O'Malley

Turning Red by Ryan O'Malley

Sophia Jamison

Sorting and sitting by Sophia Jamison

Sophia Randolph

Back and happy to be! by Sophia Randolph

Miya Saren

Cool! I'm changing colors! by Miya Saren

Alex Guerrero

A Bit Freaked Out by Alex Guerrero

Brad Hayman

Older but blue, all the same by Brad Hayman

Valentina Bentancourt

Why? This is an exciting new adventure! by Valentina Bentancourt

Alex Guerrero

It Could Be Dangeous. by Alex Guerrero

Bryanna Greene

C'est amusant. by Bryanna Greene

Kirstenna Melcher

Same here! by Kirstenna Melcher

Nova Wynn (Aladren)

Nose in a book by Nova Wynn (Aladren)

Alison Sinclair

I'm <i>what</i>? by Alison Sinclair

Thomas

Looks like it's picking up steam, though. by Thomas

Sara

Chatting and analyzing by Sara

Valentina

But fun! Lets keep it positive! by Valentina

Sophia

Making and breaking by Sophia

Alex Guerrero

It's hard to be posivtive when you're tired. by Alex Guerrero

Charlotte Abbott

All grown up? [Tag Adelita] by Charlotte Abbott

Sara

What are we making, and why are we breaking it? by Sara

Nina Brockert

Two can play at this game (or five actually) (Starbuck) by Nina Brockert

Sophia

We can be happy together! by Sophia

Veronica

Too bad we can't change your badge. by Veronica

Starbuck Gregory

That could be said again. by Starbuck Gregory

Sophia

My expectations, and I'm not sure why. I'm rather clumsy. by Sophia

Alexis Ashwood

It's not time to leave yet. by Alexis Ashwood

Daniel Nash II

I'm <i>not</i> what? by Daniel Nash II

Holly Greer

Present by Holly Greer

Jordan Adair

Joining in the fun. by Jordan Adair

Adelita Garcia

I sure hope so! by Adelita Garcia