Selina Skies
December 13, 2019 7:49 PM
Head of House Speech by Selina Skies
This year promised to be… interesting. They had two kids who had lacked proper homes - one who’d been in The System, and one who appeared to have fallen out of it, and had already had a set of parents coming to explain that their child literally could not touch certain textures, which she had now witnessed firsthand. And those were only the issues that they already knew about. She was sure there would be further surprises. Happily, that last one seemed to mainly affect Mary, who seemed entirely able to cope with it.None of those students was in Crotalus but as Deputy Head, that didn’t stop any of those things from being her responsibility. She liked to think that Sonora had a good track record on supporting such students, and that this would make a happy home for the ones who might have lacked it, and be an inclusive environment for the ones who needed it. Her own message in the bonfire smoke last year had been this ’There are very real consequences to me not doing well enough.
At the end of the feast, she made her way over to Crotalus table.
“First years, over here please,” she called, gathering them together, “My name is Professor Skies, and I am your Head of House. We are now going to make our way up to Crotalus. As we go, I will point out some useful landmarks so that you can find your way down to breakfast in the morning. These are your prefects, and the head boy is also in Crotalus,” she added, pointing them out, as she deployed them evenly through the group to round up any stragglers or pass on the password to anyone who hadn’t found her earlier in the day - she had been somewhat more tied up than usual, after all. She gave a ‘well done’ to Connor as she did so. “They can help you if you need it.”
At least, she hoped that was true. Crotalus attracted both those who were too timid to put a toe out of line and those who felt that the world had a distinct pecking order and that they were at the top of it. She had had reservations about the fifth year prefect, because both options seemed to fit that latter mould. She had never seen either girl make any effort to speak to anyone who wasn’t of her social class. Still, Caitlin had responsibilities as prefect, and if she did not uphold them, that would actually be a reason for Selina to talk to her sterny about her attitude.
She led the first years out of the hall, pointing out useful landmarks as they made their way to Crotalus.
“Around the next corner is a portrait named Gunther. He is a re-animated corpse, which some people find rather disturbing,” she stated, as matter of factly as if she was discussing the weather. “He is the guardian to the Crotalus Common Room, so I would ask that you speak politely in front of him.” She was never sure how much Gunther understood beyond the passwords, but she felt it prudent not to annoy the inferus portrait that determined whether they were able to get inside or not. Besides which, instilling common courtesy was never a bad plan. “As you may have noticed, portraits here move, and they can wander between each other’s frames. However, they cannot come out of their frames into our world or hurt you in any way,” she added. This had now become a standard part of her speech, having been reminded by Jessica’s parents that this was not entirely normal for everyone and thus those from non-magical families might get strange ideas of what the paintings were capable of.
“Here we are,” she added, as they reached the portrait, “The password for this month will be Cauldron Cleaner,” she informed them. She had tried to choose something that would be familiar and memorable enough even if there were Muggleborns, but without being a word that was likely to be being uttered casually in the corridors. At these words, the portrait swung open, revealing a much more friendly looking room, covered in deep reds, and where velvet was a dominant fabric choice.
“Welcome to Crotalus,” she smiled, once they were all inside, “Some practicalities - passwords change monthly and are displayed on the notice board, alongside information about clubs. Quidditch is currently played as a whole school team, and notices about that are most likely to appear in Cascade Hall. Curfew is at ten and you are required to be back in the common room by then, and keep the noise down after that time. Girls dormitories are on the right and boys are on the left. If you get it wrong, the corridor will throw you back into the common room, not particularly gently.
“Houses represent your family here at school. This is the place you come back to for peace and quiet, to rest, and where you get to make yourself feel at home. Like any family, not everyone is going to get on perfectly with everyone else. However, every member of this house has as much right to enjoy the space quietly and peacefully as every other. You should all try to get along. When you find someone you cannot get along with, you still need to respect them.
“If you have any questions, you may come to me or any of the prefects I pointed out to you earlier. Their names are Cleo James, Peyton O’Malley and Caitlin Pierce, and the head boy is Connor Priory. Does anyone have any questions now?” she asked.
OOC - welcome to Crotalus. You are now free to post on any board except other houses and the staff/prefect lounge. You may continue your threads at the feast as well as posting here. This does not mean your character is in two places at once, as we operate under fuzzy time, whereby the time passing in the real world is not the same as Sonora - so long as threads are set at different times and do not have an effect on each other, you can be in multiple threads at once. You are not obliged to reply to this post but may do so if your character had questions to ask. Enjoy!
Subthreads:
13
Selina Skies
Head of House Speech
26
1
5