Paddy vaguely noticed Magnus enter the hall & sit down, but hadn't really paid attention to anyone. She jumped as Toru spoke, not realising they were even sitting there. "Sorry, I must have been miles away," she said, trying to look better than she felt. She looked at the miso soup for a moment. "I've never tried this before, what's in it?"

Magnus gave a weak smile at Millie. He took a long sip out of the cup. “Thanks Millie,” he said softly. “Thanks, Toru,” he said. Both had given him food and he didn’t have to fix it so he was thankful. “Yeah, just takes a lot of energy and all,” he said.

“What’s wrong with them?” Blade asked. He was new to the school and had no idea. “If they are sick they should be in the hospital wing.”

Paddy took a sip of the soup and found it surprisingly tasty, just as Blade's voice caught her attention. She looked in Blade's direction and recognised him as the 'new boy' that Niamh seemed quite taken with. She wasn't too sure if Magnus wanted him to know, and wasn't able to catch his eye to check first. "It's nothing contagious," she replied, carefully choosing her words, "I'm just always like this after a full moon. Everything'll be back to normal in a couple of days or so."

Toru opened their mouth to answer what was in the soup after Paddy took a sip and seemed to enjoy it. Sometimes Japanese food was super weird and foreigners sometimes referred to try things if they knew the list of ingredients. "T-The broth is c-chicken stock with m-miso paste mixed in. T-The things floating inside a-are bits of seaweed, tofu and scallions." They gave Paddy and Magnus a small sincere smile. "I-Its very good, light, a-and full of protien." It was also vegan but was sure they didn't care about that part.

Toru began eating their own meal, which also had the same soup and some kind of tiny box filled with all sorts of tiny, mismatched foods. They heard Blade say something about them being in the hospital wing, and frowned softly. Paddy did phrase it nicely though.

(and everyone else)

Paddy thought for a moment, taking another sip of the soup, "that sounds like a strange combination of things, but it's really tasty," she looked at what Toru was eating, "ok, curiosity has got the better of me, what's in the box you've got there?"

Niamh had been playing her fiddle most of the morning, making the most of her fellow students not wanting to be in the dorms. Lick and Rish had been meowing along and she'd lost track of time. Hearing her stomach rumble, she realised she was going to be late for lunch if she didn't hurry, and left her fiddle and bow on her bed to come back to later. Rushing towards the Great Hall, she skidded to a halt just before the door, and gave herself a moment to catch her breath before walking in. She hated entering the room after everyone else, as she never knew where to sit. Looking round, she spotted a seat near some students she recognised, and went over to join them, hoping that Blade might be in the group.

Millie held onto Magnus () for a few more moments before she let go of his shoulders. She gave him and Paddy () a supportive smile. "Sorry, I don't know what to say. I wish I knew of a way to make it easier for you two." she said while picking at her fries.

She had heard her new housemate, Blade, ask what was wrong with them. She thought of telling him but shook her head. It wasn't her business to tell.

Millie looked up as Niamh sat down at the table. "Hi Niamh. How are you today?"

"I'm good," Niamh replied, unaware that her hair was still in a mess where she'd accidentally caught it in the violin strings while tackling a particularly tricky piece, "I thought I'd take advantage of everyone being out of the dorms, and play some music for a while. My cats like to join in, so I know it's better to not play when I have an audience." She paused as she tried to decide what to have for lunch, "what have you been up to this morning?"

Paddy was too buy eating to notice Millie's smile, but she felt comfortable in the knowledge that so far at least, all her class mates had been surprisingly accepting of her condition.

“The full moon? Are…are you werewolves?!” Blade asked with surprise. His normally stoic features looked very agitated.

“Yeah, we are,” Magnus replied. “Thanks Toru, we need protein.”

Blade looked exceptionally freaked out. He didn’t notice Nimah’s arrival yet.

“We do take wolfsbane,” Magnus said sensing the tension. “It’s okay Millie ain’t much anyone can do.”

Blade didn’t look reassured in the slightest.

Blade's tone made Paddy look up from her bowl of soup. "That's the reaction I thought everyone here would have," she said quietly, "but really, there's no danger from us when there's not a full moon. And as Magnus says, we have to take Wolfsbane and be in the secure section of the Hospital Wing during the full moon, so there's no risk to anyone else then either."

Niamh noticed how unnerved Blade appeared, and wondered if there was anything that could reassure him. "I felt much the same the first time I met a part-Vampire at my old school," she said, "it took me ages to feel comfortable in his company, but these guys are much less scary than he was."

(and everyone)

"Well, she's in the ospital wing, I'm in one of the dungeons with me dad or our auror friend," Magnus said, "be we are safe. Ogwarts is strict on safety and for a good reason."

Blade had unconsciously moved towards the end of the bench. He looked very nervous. When Nimah arrived he nodded to her words but he had yet to take his eyes off the werewolves.

Toru shot Blade a small glare at how he reacted to hearing their friends were werewolves. He was acting very rude again. Though Toru had nearly limitlessness patience, they would not tolerate when someone was being rude to their friends. Instead they scooted closer to Paddy to silently insist that it was safe and slid the little box over for her to see. "I-It's a bento box... S-Sort of a Japanese lunch box..." They began pointing to each of the contents and offered to share if Paddy, Magnus, or Millie wanted any. Toru could always get another bento if they shared everything.

They pointed to little triangle mounds of rice. "T-These are Onigiri... Rice balls. T-They usually have a s-surprise filling like fish or red bean paste." Toru pointed to a little yellow roll. "This i-is Tamagoyaki. I-It's like a little fluffy omelette." They then gestured to what looked like little red-colored octopus. "These are sausages cut and fried t-to look like an octopus. A-Aren't they cute?" They gave Paddy a small smile. The last thing were small fried balls with a black and pink drizzle on the top. "These are Takoyaki. T-They are little snacks that are soft with a bit of octopus in the middle." There were also little sandwiches cute into cute shapes, but those were easy to identify so Toru didn't mention them.

"I've been trying to work on my crochet, but I can't get the single crochet. It keeps falling off the hook, then Cleo, my cat, decided she wanted to play with the yarn. It's frustrating me." she told Niamh ()

She gave Blade () a dirty glare. She thought of saying something but bit her tongue and rolled her eyes instead. It was then she heard the little bell and meow. "There you are, Cleo. I was wondering where you were. Come here. Magnus needs some love." She picked up her calico cat and placed her on the bench between her and Magnus. "Magnus, Cleo is an magical cat. Not like us magical but when I was sick with dragon pox last year, she would snuggle with me and I'd feel so much better, you know, despite having green skin." At that, Cleo started purring and gently headbutted Magnus's arm for a pet.

She noticed Toro's () lunch and looked curiously. "I've heard of those boxes but have never seen them in person. It's super cute. May I?" she asked pointing to the Takoyaki

Toru beamed happily at Millie's curiosity. and offered her the box to her to try the little round ball. "O-Of course." However, the minute they saw Cleo the smaller Hufflepuff grew stiff and looked a little pale. After a small strangled noise in the back of their throat, they moved off the bench faster than an apparition and hid behind Paddy. Peeking nervously over her shoulder at the large ball of fluff.

Before she could reach for the Takoyaki, she saw Toru's face go pale and she jumped up and hid behind Paddy (. "What's happening?" she asked, very confused. She looked down and realized Toru was scared of Cleo. "Oh. There's no need to be scared of her. She's harmless. Unless you're allergic. Or made of treats." Cleo was still trying to get Magnus () to pet her. She wasn't sure what to do. She could tell Toru was scared but Cleo was trying to help Magnus feel better.

Blade didn't appreciate the nasty glares. It seemed perfectly reasonable to be rather reluctant to be around anyone who was a known werewolf during the fullmoon cycle if nothing else. Sure they might look harmless but you can never be too careful, right? He didn't appreciate the snub by either one of them. He was new, he was a bit freaked. As he continued to be ignored and felt the judgments of his peers Blade felt angry.

"'Eh Cleo. I've met er before," Magnus said. "Me Kippers likes to give me attention when I ain't feeling good. But I'm fine, really. I'm just drained is all." The cat nudged him and then Toru freaked out. He gave the cat a pet so she didn't feel rejected. "Maybe I outta go? Or something?"

Blade knew Toru was afraid of cats since his had come out in the dorms and caused a little bit of tension. But why should Blade help anyone out? They were snubbing him, so he didn't feel inclined to help out.

Paddy nodded as Toru explained all the different items, "it's all so intricately made and laid out," she said, "it looks like a lot more care has gone into that, than the sandwiches my uncle made over the summer!" As she spoke, she noticed Mouse her Barn Owl swoop low over the students heads carrying a package. As Mouse landed, Paddy handed over a treat from her pocket and untied the package. She knew it'd be from her Uncle, as he always sent something after the full moons. "Looks like Uncle's been quite generous this time," she laughed, "anyone fancy some chocolate?" She realised Blade had had shuffled to the edge of the bench, and took over a slab of Honeyduke's chocolate. Handing it to him, she whispered, "I don't bite," before heading back to her seat.

"Any crochet sounds hard", Niamh replied to Millie, just as Toru dashed away from the table. "You ok?" she asked, wondering if Toru was scared of cats.

Now a problem had occurred, Toru did love chocolate. Honeydukes chocolate was among their favorite. However there was the cat nearby, and they didn't want their absolute terror to cause discomfort with anyone else. The cat was seeming to make Magnus feel better. Magnus feeling better was more important than their own comfort so they scooted closer to Blake.

They slid their eyes over to the redhead who seemed angry, and had every right to be. "I apologize f-for glaring earlier... B-But you were being v-very rude." They mumbled softly and fidgeted with the hem of their skirt.

Cleo seemed content with the head rub provided by Magnus () and jumped off the bench and laid down under it.

Then a huge parliament of owls flew into the Great Hall, dropping off packages and letters. Her new snowy owl was dropping off a letter. "Hello Ibid" she greeted him. She dug into her skirt pocket and pulled out a few owl treats. "Here you are, my friend. I'll see you in the owlery later, okay?" and with that, the owl flew off.

She was finished her lunch and she could feel the anger coming off a Blade, which was making her angry. She looked at Niamh (), and said, "Crochet is more challenging than hard. But it's also kind of stress relieving too. Once you get the hang on it, it's easy to get lost in it."

She looked at the letter from Emmett and she really wanted to rip it open but wanted to do so away from her friends. She glanced back at Blade and could still feel him being disgruntled. She took a deep breath and said, "if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to read and write to Emmett. Come on Cleo, let's go down to the common room". She stood up and Cleo ran out towards the common room. "She wants her pillow under the window. I'll see you all later." She looked at Paddy and Magnus. "If you guys need anything... I'm not sure what.. Just let me know." She smiled at the two and picked up her letter and left the Great Hall towards the stairs to the Hufflepuff common room.

Paddy noticed Toru getting even further away from the cat, "you can take some chocolate back to the dorms with you if you want," she said, "I always do."

Niamh smiled, "that sounds much like playing the fiddle," she replied, "I can lose track of time when I'm playing."

Blade was very surprised when Paddy gave him a slab of Honeyduke’s chocolate. He blinked as he was holding it and blinked again. “Er, thank you,” he said. Why would she give him the chocolate?

“I think saying very rude is an overstatement, Toru,” Blade said frankly, “I am allowed to be a little freaked out you know. Or should I point out how you are reacting to a cat? Perhaps I could say you were rude to Wisp and Cleo? Or perhaps we should just say a reaction is a reaction.” He said it with calm. “We all have our issues.” He had no intention of apologising for his reaction. But he planned on watching both Paddy and Magnus and making his own impressions. So far though, Paddy had been kind and that perplexed him. He was just starting to calm down significantly and relaxing a bit as he watched his fellow students interact. Then Millie left. Blade had no idea he was one of the reasons Millie was retreated.

“See yeah in a bit?” Magnus asked. “Thanks for…everything.”