OOC: Don't worry about it. I think it's perfectly fine! :)

THUNK.

Rylee cracked her eyes open as a series of quieter thunks followed. Her thoughts strayed to London and her little brother Wesley, but then she remembered she was hundreds of miles away in her dorm at Hogwarts.

Then what...?

Rylee rolled over just in time to see Rose chasing after stray schoolbooks. A sleepy grin tugged at her lips. It was bound to happen - in all the stories she had read about boarding schools, someone always disturbed the morning quiet in some way or another. It was just part of the magic of a boarding school. From the way pale dawn light was streaming through the windows, it seemed like it was almost time to get up anyway.

"Hey. Morning," Rylee murmured sleepily as she moved a protesting Loki aside - he had started the flailing the moment she grabbed him to move him off her bed - and sat up. "It's almost time to get our schedules, isn't it?" Now that the subject of schedules had come to mind, she felt a thousand times more awake.

Cardamom was woken, not the by the sun from the tiny window that just peeked above the grass grounds of the castle, but by a very insistent bunny that was eager to fed. Groaning at her misfortune to not get to sleep in on her first day back, she dragged herself out of the bed and shuffled about as quietly as possible to give her pet her greens. None of the other curtains of the four-poster beds around her were pulled back yet. The early morning sun played gently against the mustard velvet fabric that draped the sixth year dorm.

Rather than wake up any of her year mates, Cardamom dressed herself in her Hogwarts robes, conjuring her skirt into a pair of pants (small acts of rebellion quelled future mischievousness on her part) and stuffed the rabbit-turned-wizarding-cap onto her head before climbing up the stairs to the common room.

It was still here at well, the fire from the night before mere glowing coals in the grate. The older girl gnawed at her lower lip, not eager to be the first Hufflepuff into the Great Hall for breakfast. Maybe she should just linger here awhile. There were bound to be some first-years who could use some directions around the Castle on their first day, and then Cardamom would not be forced to eat alone.

|| OOC :: I made a separate ping just for us Hufflepuffs ~ Join

THUNK

Emma sat straight up in bed with a gasp, thinking a jaguar had landed on the roof.

Thunk thunk thunk!

She leapt out of her covers and onto the floor, where she crouched and rolled under the bed so it would be hard for the great feline to reach her. She waited with baited breath, listening. But instead of hearing any attempts to break into the house, or the patter of large paws as the jaguar moved off, she heard voices. It was only then that she remembered that she was not in her parent’s house in India. She was at Hogwarts, in her dormitory with the other Hufflepuff girls.

Emma groaned, and rested her forehead on the ground, wanting to go back to sleep. She felt heartily embarrassed and distinctly unrested. Stupid jet-lag, she thought as she began to wiggle her way out from under her four-poster bed.

“Morning,” she mumbled to Rose and another of their dormitory mates who was wide awake and chatting.

(( )) (( : YAY! HUFFLEPUFF HOUSE!!! ))

Picking up her schoolbooks as quickly as possible, Rose realized she had indeed woken a couple other girls with her clumsiness. She felt a warm blush creep onto her cheeks.

Turning to face Rylee, she returned the greeting. "Morning. Sorry to have woken you like that. It seems that I always end up making noise when I'm trying my hardest to be quiet!" She smiled apologetically. Feeling a shiver of excitement at the prospect of seeing her class schedule, Rose answered, "I believe so! I seem to remember Professor Makshi mentioning something about it last night." As an afterthought, she added, "I'm not sure if we've met yet. My name is Rose."

"Oh, good morning, Emma," Rose responded, noticing Emma crawling out from under her bed. "Er, what are you doing down there? If you don't mind my asking."

(( ))

Emma could feel the heat rushing to her face as she pushed herself onto her hands and knees. After successfully extricating herself from the space under her bed, she mumbled, “Thought there was a jaguar on the roof.”

Emma turned to her trunk , working the padlock free and throwing open the lid. She dug out a skirt, a shirt, a sweater, stockings, and the brand new shoes her mother had insisted on buying for her. She began to change, making sure that everything was meticulously pressed and in it’s proper place; her shirt tucked in, all the buttons matched with their corresponding hole, and not a speck of dust on the set of black robes.

Dressed, she turned to the other girls, working to tie her hair back with a ribbon.

“Just out of curiosity, do either of you remember how to get back to the Great Hall?” she asked, looking back and forth between Rose and their fellow first-year.

(( ))

Rylee felt around the top of her trunk for her glasses (Loki helpfully got in the way and tried to drag them under her bed) and then stretched, cat-like. "It's no problem. We have to be up soon anyway, don't we?"

"I don't believe we've met either. I'm Rylee." She turned to the girl Rose referred to as Emma. "And you're Emma, right?"

"I'm not sure if I remember how to get back to the Great Hall. I was so tired last night after the feast."

Did she just say jaguar?... Rose wondered to herself. I must have misheard. Instead she turned back to Rylee. "Nice to meet you, Rylee," she said with a smile.

She finished packing her bag, this time managing to to drop anything, and clipped her hair back so it would stay out of her face. "Err, I'm not really sure, either," she replied to the other girls worriedly. "Perheps we'll find a prefect or a professor about who could help us?" She slung her bag over her shoulder. "Maybe if we head down to the common room, we can find someone who knows where we need to go."

(( ))

Emma nodded sleepily to Rylee's inquiry to her name and responded with a "Pleased to meet you." It was then that Rose suggested that they head down to the common room to ask someone how to get to the Great Hall. Emma hastily shoved a few books into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She pushed on the lid of her trunk and it swung easily shut.

"What do you think we'll have today?" Emma asked Rose, trying to stifle a yawn as they waited for Rylee to get dressed.

(( ))

Rylee finished dressing quickly and nodded to the others to show she was ready. "Probably anyone second year or above could show us the way," she said thoughtfully. "Or maybe there's a map somewhere in the common room?"

Stifling another yawn, the first year hoisted her bag over her shoulder - her new textbooks were a lot heavier than she remembered them being in Diagon Alley - and silently prayed they would have History of Magic as their first class. She couldn't wait to learn more about the wizarding world.

(( ))

Once Rylee was ready to go, Emma lead the way to the door that would take them to the common room. Will anyone else even be awake this early? she thought as she walked with the other girls towards the disguised exit.

To her surprise, someone else was up this early. She looked like she could be a third- or fourth-year student, and was already dressed in her Hogwarts robes and hat. She sat in one of the arm chairs next to the glowing embers left in the grate from last-night's fire. In some ways it seemed she had been waiting for them. Emma paused, wanting to be brave and ask her if she could show them the way, but was afraid the girl might take offense at being addressed by younger students...

|| , ,

Cardamom was almost nodding off in her wingback chair as she waited for some other housemates to make their way into the common area. She would have completely missed the trio of younger girls had her hat not given her a sharp nip on the scalp.

"HEY." she shouted angrily at her hat/bunny, sitting upright and looking for all world as though she was staring at the ceiling as though it had done her some terrible wrong. "Oh." Three first-years had just sort of materialized at the top of the stairs to the dorm rooms, and they were absolutely adorable in their new Hogwarts robes. Add in their expectant, nervous expressions that always accompanied that first day of the semester and Cardamom knew she had found some folks to finally have breakfast with.

"Good morning, lovelies." The purple-haired sixth year grinned from ear to ear as she got to her feet and stretched a little. Her hat gave a nervous squeak. "Didja sleep well in your new room?"

Rose pet her cat thoughtfully. "Hmmm... I'm really not sure what to expect as far as classes," Rose replied to Emma. She wondered if it would be like her old school where the first day was just the teacher handing out class syllabi. Hopefully it would be a bit more interesting than that.

Rose grabbed her bag and followed Rylee and Emma as they entered the common room. After a brief moment, she noticed a girl sitting in one of the arm chairs by the fireplace. Rose was about to go up and ask for some directions, when she realized the girl looked to be asleep. She hesitated, not sure what to do. It might be rude to wake her, but we really do need instructions, and she looks like she might know where we're trying to go..."

Just as Rose had made up her mind to wait for someone else to come along, their purple-haired classmate sat straight upright and shouted into the room. Rose nearly jumped right out of her robes. Is she shouting at us? Or maybe there is a ghost in here or something?" She began looking up at the ceiling, trying to find the source of the girl's frustration. Her attention snapped back to the older witch as she began talking to them.

Rose took a few steps toward the girl. "G'd morning," she replied. She paused a moment, as she heard a peculiar squeaking noise coming from the girl's hat. "I slept alright, although I was pretty excited to get an early start this morning. My name's Rose, by the way." She smiled, then timidly asked, "Er, d'you mind if I ask what you were shouting at just now?"

(( ))

A medium sized spotted rat sat on her lap as she fiddled with her wand behind her ear. The rat nibbled on a handful of nuts that the eleven year old offered one at a time.

Rylee shuffled down the stairs among her fellow first years. A rather tall purple-haired girl - she must be at least fifth year or above, Rylee thought to herself - was already awake. Her dark eyes tracked the girl as she got to her feet and greeted them. The girl's hat gave a nervous squeak as she moved.

"G-good morning," Rylee stammered out, suddenly feeling shy. "I slept okay I guess. The feast last night was rather exciting." Taking Rose's lead, she added, "I'm Rylee."

As Rylee looked around, she thought the common room did not seem much different from last night, save for the fact that it was quiet and empty now that most of the older years were asleep. The room would probably look more 'lived in' as the year went on, she thought. The first year suddenly noticed a girl with green hair on one of the couches. "Hey," she called out, beckoning the girl over to the tight little group of first years. "I remember seeing you last night at the feast but I don't think we've met yet. What's your name?"

|| , , ,

Ah, yes, first years were the shining grace that was the beginning of the semester. She smiled down at the girls, happy to see that they were not so shy as to run away from her despite the many... oddities that surrounded her - the squeaking hat for one. Just as well. New students would be use to the many uncanny and weird experiences Hogwarts presented.

"Oh, my hat?" she asked, grinning even more widely. Gently, she poked and then stroked the wizarding cap in one particular corner. The fabric gave an indignant grunt and seemed to fluff larger, but quickly settled back down. "This is actually... well, you'll probably see over breakfast soon enough. Just ignore her for now. Nothing to be worried about."

She shifted from foot to foot, looking the girls over and admiring how well they had already put on their uniforms so eagerly. One of them piped about up about the feast, to which Cardamom replied, "Yes, you'll love Halloween then. Just two more months! Breakfast itself is not a huge affair, but the house elves are always sure to put out a lovely spread. They really push the pumpkin juice, though." It was not her favorite.

Rylee, was it? Rylee talked around the older girl and Cardamom whipped around to see she had missed another first year. Geez, were all the little ones half sneakthief? Or was she just getting unobservant with age? Hmm. Might be best to swig a Brightening Brew before she shuffled off to Charms later. She waved in invitation.

||

Emma watched the older Hufflepuff girl with her purple hair and strange hat. What would we see at breakfast? she wondered, noting the away in which the hat inflated, seemingly irately. And was everyone in the wizarding world this chippery cheery? It wasn't that Emma minded the friendliness, in fact it made her feel more relaxed then she had ever felt with her family. Years of practice keeping a lid on her short temper had infringed her ability to express feelings well. But Emma's curiosity had been aroused, and she couldn't help investigating.

She edged closer to the older Hufflepuff, looking around when Rylee addressed another girl whom Emma had seen at the feast the night before, another first year with bright green dread locks and a rat. As the older girl with purple hair was distracted in greeting their year-mate, Emma reached out a hand and stroked the corner of the hat as she had seen the girl do.

Looking up from Nugget, Pemberley raised a hand in a wave. This was way more kids her age than she was used to. She managed a polite smile, and spoke in a clear, but not very loud voice, "Pemberley Penderghast, first year." All of the girls seemed to be all doing a meet and greet. She stroked Nugget's head in between his ears, handing him another cashew.

[ ]

Milla had gotten so lost in the familiar homey feeling of being back in the common room, and so caught up in rummaging through her back, that she didn't even notice the other girls until she gave up finding what she was looking for with a sigh. "Oh! Hello." Milla exclaimed, "Nice to see so many new faces! I'm Milla." She gave a short wave.

Rose gave a little start as Cardamom's hat fluffed up. Must be some magical hat-thing that I'm not familiar with yet... Wonder why she referred to it as 'her', though," she thought.

At the mention of Halloween, Rose's attention snapped back to the conversation at hand. Only a couple months away! Her favorite holiday had always been Halloween, and she was quite excited to see how it would be celebrated her at Hogwarts. Hopefully there wouldn't be too many tricks though!

Turning to see who Rylee was talking to, Rose realized that there were more people in the common room than she had noticed at first. She gave a smile and a small wave in the direction of the two girls she had not yet met. "Good morning, Pemberly and Milla! My name is Rose. Are you two going to be joining us for breakfast this morning?" she asked shyly. "I think we're going to head over there pretty soon!"

(( ))

|| , , ,

With her back to the first year in question, Cardamom did not have a lot of time to warn the young girl about the persnickety-ness of her pet. Pinot gave the little fingers a not-so-nice nip in warning, the point of the hand now standing on end. Feeling the shift in her cap, the sixth year girl turned and exclaimed, "PINOT! Oh dear, so sorry sweetling. She's rather temperamental in the morn- well, always, to be honest."

Her hat gave a grunt, two grey rabbit ears poking out of the brim, shortly followed by a materializing the rest of the bunny who rolled into her owners arms dramatically, burying her face into Cardamom's chest. "Don't bite people, meanie." the older girl said fondly, adjusting her pet to sit better.

She smiled at the other person who had their pet in the common room, the pretty thing with green hair. "Hello Pemberly! I hope you are finding it alright so far here. I know moving in here is always an adjustment, but feel free to ask any of us older students. Like me, and um, MILLA!" She waved happily at the fifth year, "Welcome back! I didn't get to see you at the feast last night! We'll have to chat over breakfast, like Rose said, I think we were just about to head down?"