Date and Time: Wednesday 2nd September: 8:oo am.
Year: First Years.

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Sebastian glanced around the room one last time, making sure that everything was ready. The professor had arrived at the classroom bright and early, keen to make sure that his supplies were prepared for the four classes he had in that morning. For this particular class, Sebastian had a small chest tucked away behind his desk containing a large number of white feathers. These were to be handed out once the first years arrived, and used for them to practice their first spell - Wingardium Leviosa, the levitation charm.

Of course, Sebastian had taunt new students before, and knew that this class might not be as straightforward as the spell he was teaching made it seem. Sebastian had been sure to tighten the fastenings holding the Hungarian Horntail skeleton to the ceiling, and to move anything that might be sent sailing across the room with a misjudged wand flick. Fortunately, the classroom had no individual desks, and instead the Charms classroom sported wooden pews flanking the centre of the room. The only easily movable object within range was the chalkboard, which Sebastian had ready to wheel into a position in front of his desk once the class began.

The professor sat behind the desk, fingers folded in front of him as he watched the open classroom door with a welcoming smile. He wondered who would be the first to arrive: the problem with having a first year class as the 8am lecture on a Monday morning was that the majority of the students didn’t know where the classroom was, and so Sebastian had decided he would delay the class beginning for 5 minutes, giving any stragglers a chance to find their was to the third floor. Glancing down at the register laid out on the desk before him, Sebastian wondered which of the students on the list would be first to arrive.

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First years, feel free to enter and settle down. If I’ve missed your name off the register, feel free to PM me or just go ahead and post - I'll update the register accordingly.

Alix thought it was a pain that there was not even one single day off before she had to start with classes…She did not even have enough time to unpack all her stuff, (well, actually all she unpacked was her instruments to make sure she would find the best spot in the dorm for them before it got occupied by crap from her dorm mates) let alone explore her common room or even thinking about exploring anything else around the castle after the welcoming feast was over. Of course there was curfew. Of course it didn't seem a good idea to break it on her first night. But even if she would have like to give some corridors of the castle a closer look, she was afraid that she might not find her common room again - these moving stairs were a little weird, but interesting though.
So she had decided to be a good girl (oh mother would have liked that!) and stayed put. She wasn't used to sharing her room with others either and apparently some of her dorm mates were early sleepers…what a bummer! While most of them started unpacking their things, Alix was watching her new cat Dostojewski while she was calipering on her dark brown acoustic guitar until someone gave her an annoyed look….she only got up to take the electric one instead to make a statement, only to find out that for some reason it did not work. Well, the amp didn't  for some reason.

With an annoyed look she drew her four poster curtains shut and stared at the bed's ceiling…Dostojewski annoyingly staring at her as if the cat would assume something would or should happen…
It must have taken hours until she finally fell asleep (the snoring of some girl din't help much either) and when she woke up again, she noticed, that she had overslept. Not an unusual thing for her, but again…it was the first day…the big "good first impression day" as mother had been telling her constantly over the last few MONTHS and with a sigh, she got herself out of the bed only to notice that she was alone. Not even the cat was there anymore.

Fortunately Alix did not need to get dressed. She did not even undress last night, so that saved some time here. And they needed to wear school robes anyway- so she could not do anything wrong. Her light brown hair was messed up though and she quickly pulled it back into a tight bun, washed her face and headed for breakfast anyway. Maybe there was still something left to eat. Having class that without a single bite at the second day of an unfamiliar castle did not seem a good way to start "Good First Impression Day".

However, Alix had to realize that being late seems to bear much more consequences here than at home. No food left. 'Oh come on', she thought to herself, partly wondering if she should have a look where the kitchen was, when she decided that maybe she just had to endure it for now and head to stupid charms class…CHARMS. Why did it have to be CHARMS on the first day - the first lesson of the first day…geez!

But a faint smile lingered around her face…after all she did not bring her wand. She had no intentions to charm anyone with a wooden stick today. Her plan was all thought through. She had decided to tell her teachers, that she had forgotten her wand. That would take at least 1 day until she could (pretend to) send an owl to mother and at least 1 more day until the wand was actually there then. Which meant: She had 2 more days to refine her plan. Maybe she should just pretend she was a muggle and had no clue why she had come her. But then…why would she even have a wand in the first place? Okay…she needed something else. Maybe she would pretend to be a squib. No, muggle was good. Better than the wand-option.

With a nice smile, she entered the classroom, doing a formal curtsy (mother had told her she should do that, but mother had also told her she should go up front and do it, but Alix thought the door would do it, too) in the direction of the Professor and pretending not to even notice that she was late and most of the students were already there before she headed to a desk - wait.  No desks? Oh well. She headed to sit on one of the benches and pushed herself between two other first years (not caring if they had intended to sit next to each other) right in the middle where she could see best and waited for class to begin.

((OOC: Anyone feel free to be one of the two first years Alix sits next to))

After smoothing out the flyaways in her hair and making sure her robes were in order, Lexi opened the doors to the Charms classroom. Walking in, she saw the pew-like desks all nice and neat, ready for the first lesson. She walked a little slowly, her tiredness showing in the purple shades that lined the bottom of her eyes. Only a few days before the full moon, and those few days had already proven that Lexi was going to be one sluggish child on her first day of classes.

After sitting down by herself in one of the benches, she got out her wand and placed it in front of her. She folded her hands in front of her and looked around the room, observing the classroom and its contents. There was a dragon skeleton on the ceiling, what kind of dragon was not obvious to Lexi, but a dragon nonetheless. The professor was at his desk, smiling and looking very friendly. Lexi decided that this was a good thing, a happy teacher makes for a happy class. Right?

This whole thing was a disaster.

Not only did Marlon have to share his room with other boys, at least two of them also snored. He had barely closed an eye last night, homesickness eating him from the inside and the disharmonic noises coming from his dorm mates attacking his nerves like a rusty saw. He wondered what his parents were doing, back in Huntingdon; he was certain they weren´t sleeping either. Apart from nights spent in the hospital, with medical staff always alert to his needs, he had never been separated from his parents overnight. Were they already regretting their decision to allow him to attend this magical school? In the dark dead of night, Marlon certainly regretted it. He missed his own bed, he missed the familiar shadows the curtains cast on the floorboards on moonlit nights, he missed his mom waking him up in the morning with a kiss and the scent of coffee wafting in from downstairs. He even missed his little brother, always disgustingly cheerful in the mornings when Marlon was still hazy from sleep and tight-lipped.

By morning, the overwhelming homesickness had lessened a bit, softened by the commotion around him and the surprisingly good and ample breakfast. He was a bit worried about the moving staircases he´d heard about, so he chose a ginger-haired girl (Alexandra McGee) who had also been sorted into Gryffindor last night, figuring she would also attend first year Charms class, and followed her. He had a bit of trouble keeping the right distance – close enough behind her so he could follow her onto the staircases before they started moving, but not so close that she would think he was tailing her – and he managed quite well, except for one time where the staircase swung to the side before he could get to it; but then he´d already seen her enter a door on the upper level, which he suspected must be the classroom, and he simply waited for the staircase to come his way again, much like he would wait for the next bus after missing one.

He was rather proud of himself as he entered the classroom, even managed to give the professor a shy nod and a muttered “Good day, professor” before seating himself on a bench next to, but not too close to another student. For a few minutes, not much happened; then the girl from the Feast came in, the tall one who had bumped into him several times. She must be at least half a head taller than him, and radiated confidence like the sun radiates heat. Marlon still wasn´t sure he liked her - over-confident people made him feel small and insignificant, and he tended to dislike people who made him feel that way – but she was a somewhat familiar face, at least, and so he shot her a quick grin by way of recognition.

She came straight over to him and plopped herself on the bench right next to him, so that he had to slide hastily to the side so as to avoid her sitting on his robes. His grin slipped and was replaced by a scowl. Why did some people insist on taking up so much space?

The scene unfolding in front of Alexandra was actually quite amusing, a fellow Gryffindor had come into class and made it seem as if his goal was to avoid any and all contact with anyone else. She stifled a giggle as the boy (Marlon Kaminski) walked over to the bench next to her and sat down next to someone else. After that, another girl had entered. Alix, she remembered. The girl in her room that had the guitars and other multitudes of instruments.

She had felt a little bad when another girl had given Alix a mean glance as she was playing her guitar. Honestly, Lexi had been enjoying the music. It reminded her of home, where her father played the acoustic guitar really well. Aparently, he had been teaching the boys how to play too, so on the day she had left for Hogwarts, they attempted to perform for her. It was terribly adorable, almost burst her eardrums the way they played, but at least someone tried to make her smile before she left.

Shaking her head to clear the memory, she watched as Alix plopped herself on down next to the shy boy. He had been forced to scoot over in the direction of Lexi. Poor kid, must be homesick or something. Lexi thought. She leaned over and tapped him on the shoulder. "I'm Lexi, what's your name?"

Nette straightened out her yellow and black tie. Hufflepuff Nette strode confidently into Charms class. She had been up all night studying the map of the school, making sure she wasn't late. Annette was never late. She walked through the door and automatically looked up. A dragon skeleton looked down at her. The crown-like horns on it's head gave it away. Hungarian Horntail. Annette looked around and spotted Lexi sitting next to another Gryffindor boy. "Marlon" Nette thought to herself. But now she didn't know where to sit. With Lexi, a Gryffindor, or wait for Alice and sit with a fellow Hufflepuff? "Hmmm?" She thought. She instead strode right into the middle of the lecture-hall shaped room and slowly spun in a circle looking for the right seat.

Nette turned her attention to a middle seat to the left of the board and sat down. She said sweetly, "Good morning Professor Cadmon"

Sadie's hair matched her tie. Slytherin fit her nicely. 8:00 was a perfect time for class. The sun had already risen and an early autumn mist covered the grounds in dew. She walked into Charms class following that tall girl from Hufflepuff into the Charms class room. She immediately sat down alone and placed her wand on her desk. She sat at the top. Waiting for another Slytherin to show up.

Mercedes observed the room Gryffindors & Hufflepuffs  "Great," Mercedes mumbled to herself. Annette Lotusorder sat above her. Sucking up to the Professor "Good Morning Professor Cadmon " Ick

A gentle tapping on the shoulder made him pry his eyes from the tall girl Alix and turn to his other side; the gingerhead was looking at him expectantly.

“Oh, erm – Marlon. Kaminski. Nice to meet you, Lexi.”

Sometimes manners came in handy. He wouldn´t have thought it possible, but maybe his mom was right on this point. He might not have known what to say had his good upbringing not put the words in his mouth without him having to do any thinking at all.

Well done. But what next?

I followed you – not very likely to endear him to her. Actually, it sounded quite creepy if you thought about it.

Are you a Gryffindor too? – Well, duh. He knew that, no?

How do you like it here? – She hadn´t been here longer than him, and Marlon wasn´t sure yet what he thought of the place. You need some time to get used to a place before being able to say how you like it, after all.

But he had to say something, and better something nice – no use bringing people up against him on the very first day - so he blurted out “I like your hair. It´s, erm – pretty.”

He had meant to say orange, which would have been enough to make him want to die on the spot; whereas now he just wanted to fall into a coma and not wake up before next year.

Her cheeks flushed a bright red, Lexi wasn't sure how to respond to a compliment like that. Should she be surprised? Should she act like its nothing? She'd love to give the boy a hug, obviously because he wasn't paying much attention to her somewhat... insomnia affected state.

"Thank you," She said smiling brightly at Marlon. He seemed terribly embarresed so Lexi tried to comfort him, or not. It depends on what you consider... comforting. "But next time, when you try to use a pick up line, say it with more confidence. Although, the way you said it was very sweet."

All Lexi could think was wait till Alice hears about this.

While she was still reevaluating her plan about pretending to be a muggle, Alix attention suddenly shifted to her seat neighbor and her red-headed dorm mate - a tiny smirk on her face and an eyebrow lifted. She noticed the color rising in Lexi's cheeks which matched her hair pretty well. And Marlon! Hmm…she had first thought the boy looked more like the quiet sort of person, but either he was just pretending that or he just tried to say something nice and be polite. Either way, now that they seemed to all have class together for a longer period of time, introducing herself seemed like a plan.

"Oh, if you both would like to sit next to each other, I don't mind to skew. Could make flirting a little easier.", she added with a wink of her eye and a smile.
She knew she was stretching it a little, but hey - what did they expect? That she would pretend to be deaf and not comment? She just had to.

"But you do have very pretty hair", she stated while closely observing Lexi.
Then she turned to Marlon and added "She is a good catch - she didn't snore, you know which actually seems to be rare."

Alix held out her hand to both of them and said "I am Alix by the way."

Blossom entered quietly, relieved to see that he wasn't late.  There was still space at the front of the class, even if there wasn't any left in the middle.    There was already one Slytherin present, she of the ever changing hair colour.  He hadn't caught her name but he figured he'd learn it soon enough.


He carefully set the wooden box that contained his mother's wand on his lap.   Surely they'd be using the wands right away.  It was a charms class, after all.  He ran his fingers over the delicate carving.   He'd known the box and it's contents had been his mother's and would one day be his for as long as he could remember.  He'd seen the wand but he'd never been able to handle it before.  His father had made certain of that, until the day before he was to make the trip to Hogwart's.

I'll make you proud, mother. 

Rico walked into Charms class and spotted Mercedes instantly, she sported green hair today, showing Slytherin pride. Rico   brandished his family crest proudly on his chest. Posada Family

Rico took a few steps toward the Slytherins, Mercedes sat in the middle of the seats. The Rose boy sat below her, looking down at something with a sad look on his face. Poor chap Rico gestured to Sadie he would be there in a minute. He walked up a few steps and turned to the right. Blossom (Rico was good with names) was looking down at a beautiful wooden box with roses burned into the lid.

"What a pretty box! Is your wand in there?" Rico asked as he plopped down next to the boy on the left, his family crest showing. "Roses, Blossom Rose... Family heirloom?"

Alice walked into the classroom quietly, and sat down next to Annette. She didn't know what the seating chart was going to be like, but figured, she may as well sit next to her fellow Hufflepuff.

Alice was excited for this class. She was very attached to her studies, and saw them as quite important. She was nervous at the same time, however. She knew how one little mess up can cause bones to break and hospital visits. Or maybe they don't do that here. She didn't know.

Alice couldn't wait for the weekend. She was going to spend Saturday studying, then Sunday, outside. Possibly under a big tree, admiring the lake.

Lucy strolled into the classroom and opened up her satchel. She sat down near the other Gryffindors. She still hadn't fully met any of them, and so, she felt uncomfortable to just sit down and start yapping their ears off.  Lucy liked to tell herself she was a bit too good for them when she actually was worried about acting stupid in front of them.

She kept facing forward, hoping to be talked to by someone of her house. Someone she could actually meet and possibly befriend.

OOC: Any Gryffindor who is in the mood to make a fiery friend is more than welcome to jump in! But Lexi, not you. I have something planned for later.

Dessa slowed to a walk just before approaching the door to the charms classroom, trying her best to look "cool and collected", which worked find until she noticed that her tie was flung over her shoulder, and one of her shoes seemed to have become untied. She nearly bent in the doorway to correct the problem before realizing that she could be blocking the way of others, and surveying the classroom for a seat instead.
It seemed to be mostly divided by house, which excluded the idea of sitting with Annette and Alice. Her eyes wandered over to Lexi, and she was dumbstruck to find her friend already surrounded by people, and engaged in conversation. Hoping she wasn't too late to join the group, Dessa skipped--as best she could, amongst the chairs--over to the gaggle of fellow Gryffindors. She spotted several of her dormmates, and gave an appreciative nod to one girl, whose guitar playing Dessa had really been enjoying before it was cut short by another girl's rude look. Since the seats on either side of Lexi were taken, Dessa slipped into a seat two down from her, beside a girl who she vaguely recognized from breakfast.
"Hiya!" she said automatically to the girl. Only after the greeting was out did it occur to her that some people weren't too big on overly friendly greetings, and she tried to tamp down her embarrassment. If the girl wanted to be unfriendly, let her. That didn't mean Dessa had to be any less enthusiastic than was her norm.