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[Saffron Ironsong]

Saffron was, for once, unsure of herself. With flying lessons staring her in the face she was faced with something that was not used to. Learning something that couldn't be gotten out of a book. With the rule that first years where not allowed their own Saffron had no way of practicing before getting to class. She had of course taken rides on her brother's brooms when they wheren't looking and had even hidden away in a cloud when her triplet brothers where trying to get her play "Capture the Dark Witch" which usually ended in her with a new bruise. She wondered for a moment what her brothers where doing now that Ravenwood was closed. She reassured herself that they where having great challenges in their own schools like this one was proving to be fore her. Not the classes, the introductions had been relatively easy and had already gotten several of her school books memorized. Saffron was even starting to poke around the library on her own looking for supplemental information. Anything to keep her wondering mind busy and herself away from the public eye. That was proving to be the biggest challenge for her. Getting a moment alone. It had been easier in Ravenwood with everyone having their own dorm room but here she had to share with four other girls.

With a sigh Saffron pulled her knees up to her chest and made herself comfortable on one of the student lounge couches with a book on Quidditch she had taken out of the library that afternoon. She had never been a big fan of the sport but it was rudimentary and she was trying to see if there where any tips that she could pick up that would her not learn how to fly but outshine everyone else in their flying class. Saffron was bored of the book though again the sport never holding much interest for her. She memorized where she had left off and started to look around at the others in the room. She wasn't alone here but everyone was mercifully leaving her lone. That and it was quite in here for once she had passed the lounge before and found that there was often a commotion in her. Allowing herself a small grin Saffron ducked her head back into her book trying in vain to extract some information from the text in front of her.

 

[Manami Sona]

Standing up with a yawn, Manami cast her dark brown eyes over her surroundings, trying to remember exactly where she was. The tall stacks of books gave her a clue as did the muted conversations. Looking down at the table next to the chair that she had been napping in, Nami saw a picture book of magical creatures sitting next to her open sketch book, a picture of a half finished hippogriff on the page. Now she remembered, she had gotten stuck trying to draw the wings and came here to look at actual, moving photographs of them to get a better idea. She was up late last night stargazing and the cozy chair sitting in warm sunlight was just too much to resist. Gathering up her sketch book and the picture book, Nami ducked out of the library to find someplace a little more lively. Maybe if she went to the lounge the constant chatter would keep her awake.

On her way to the lounge she passed a couple of sixth years who took one look at her and immediately decided to block her path. "Well, what do we have here? It's too short to be a first year, but too tall to be a goblin!" Trying to weave through them she found herself knee to face with a half-giant student with long, greasy blond hair. "Where are you going little mouse? Why don't you stay with us, huh? We'll take good care of you." As he spoke he patted her condescendingly on the head as if she were some kind of pet dog.

"No thank you, I'm fine." Her voice was hardly above a whisper, but her eyes were stern. When she tried to get past again and the sixth year tried to block her, Nami pulled out her wand and whispered a trip jinx. While it wasn't super effective (she was only a first year after all) it did cause him to move out of the way and she hurried past him and into the lounge, closing the door behind her. Hurrying to a seat, Nami sat down right next to a girl with green hair, hoping that if the brute tried to follow he would be deterred by the tough looking Slytherin.

 

[Rhys Graves]

Rhys had been down by the lake for most of the day by himself. He had still only made one friend at Hogwarts, and he hadnt been able to find her on this particular day, so he had acquainted himself with simply sitting by himself by the lake reading a book about the quidditch teams of the world. It had been a slight dreary day, with clouds hanging around overhead, thought there hadn't been any rain to which Rhys was thankful. However, it was still a fairly cold day. As he made his way through the castle, he decided he would head for the student lounge and continue reading his book. He hadnt wanted to risk it raining on him this late in the afternoon so he figured a nice, warm armchair would suffice just as good. Turning the corner to approach the door to the lounge, he frowned to himself as he watched two students confront each other quietly. One student was alot smaller than the usual lot, and the other a tad bigger. Rhys thought that this was a bit of a strange occurrence. He also found the tripping jinx that the smaller student used on the bigger to be even more strange. Making his way to the door, he opened it just moments after the smaller girl had closed it, stepping over the fallen student.

Entering the lounge, he felt the instant warmth that the snug room offered. Scanning the room, he spotted the girl sitting next to a slytherin that Rhys recognised from his classes and decided to go and take a seat in an armchair opposite both girls. "That was impressive." he complimented the smaller girl across from him.

 

[Saffron Ironsong]

There was noise outside and now noise inside. She couldn't keep focus now so she snapped the book closed, her strange yellow eyes flashing in irritation. She knew that the other two that had interrupted her where going to start talking but she looked at the door to see big feet coming in. With a sigh she got out a slingshot that she had to shoot down birds to study in the forbidden forest when she got the chance. That and being the only girl in a house full of boys, especially with three of them seemingly determined to end her, made her think more about self preservation. She took out what looked like a small marble with black smoke in it. She aimed carefully and made the ball crash on the opening door. The smoke released and seemed to stick to the elder boy's eyes. She watched with a tilted head as the boy and his comrade backed back out of the door. She slid the defensive weapon back into her bag and looked at the girl that had sat next to her. "You seemed to have attracted some trouble along your way here." She said by way of a greeting. The irritation in her eyes was gone. She had gotten revenge on who had obviously had interrupted her reading so she was fine. Her eyes slid to the boy and her head tilted. "What my I ask was impressive?" She asked though she was studying him.

He didn't seem like the type to get involved in a damsel in distress situation then again the girl next to her seemed perfectly capable of thinking of ways to take care of herself even if was a temporary. She leaned back in her chair but didn't pick up her book again. She was done with it. Saffron could only take so much bordum in one sitting and knew that she was going to forget it all as soon as she walked out of the doors. She wished that the subject of flying where more interesting like Astronomy or Defense Against the Dark Arts. She looked from one to the other waiting for some kind of story behind what had caused her latest interruption.

 

[Manami Sona]

Happy to have gotten away from the sixth year, Nami breathed a sigh of relief and was about to start sketching when another boy plopped himself down across from her and spoke. "That was impressive." When she realized he was talking to her she blushed, realizing that he must have seen her outside the lounge with the bully. "Thanks, but it really isn't that impressive." Her voice was soft and demure, her brown eyes downcast. Raising her head to get a better look at the boy she realized that she had seen him in class before which meant he must be a first year.

She smiled and was about to introduce herself when the lounge doors burst opened with a bang. Seeing the tall half-giant student, Nami quickly curled up in the chair, hoping that he wouldn't see her, however the girl with the green hair didn't seem to care about lying low. She whipped out a slingshot, loaded it and fired. When she sat back down the sixth years had gone and Manami relaxed. "You seemed to have attracted some trouble along your way here." Nodding with a rueful smile she spoke, "They thought that it was alright to pick on me cause I'm small and apparently don't want to let it go."

Tucking her hair behind her ears, she blushed again when the other girl asked the boy what was so impressive. Hoping to distract them, Manami spoke up. "Thank you for chasing those boys away, you have a good aim. My name's Manami, I'm a Ravenclaw first year." Looking expectantly at the girl and then the boy, she waited for them to introduce themselves.

 

[Rhys Graves]

Rhys smiled at the Slytherin girl as she asked him what he thought was impressive. "The thug outside tried to bully her. She stood up for herself when he was almost twice her height. Its impressive to see someone not take crap from someone just because of their size, and its especially impressive to see someone stick up for themselves all together when faced with a more intimidating foe." he explained to the Slytherin girl. Rhys was quite impressed with the Ravenclaw girl, and he thought she deserved to know it. He would have stuck up for her anyway, as he had been heading in the direction of the disagreement, but she had done so all by herself and that had impressed him. Just as he went to speak again, there was a loud bang at the door of the student lounge, and in walked the half giant student who had picked on the girl outside. "Hullo, he's back." Rhys stated obviously, reaching for his wand. But there had been no need. The Slytherin girl across from him handled the bigger boy with a smoke ball of some kind, and the situation was over before Rhys had even managed to get a hand on his want. He mentally reminded himself to be wary around this one.

Rhys raised an eyebrow at the Slytherin, and after a moments thought, shrugged the incident off. It didnt surprise him in the slightest that the girl had handled it. She looked like the capable kind. 'Manami,' he thought to himself at the Ravenclaw introduced herself. That wasnt a name Rhys was all familiar but it made her a bit more intriguing and unique he supposed. "Im Rhys." he said to the Ravenclaw girl, "Rhys Graves." His eyes then moved to the Slytherin girl. "And who might you be?" he asked curiously. He was interested by the girl.

 

[Saffron Ironsong]

Saffron shrugged when Minami said she had good aim. "Comes from being the youngest of seven." She said then noted that she was the only one left that hadn't introduced herself. "Saffron Ironsong." She said simply. She had listened to what Rays had said about Minami sticking up for herself outside. She was impressed herself though she didn't show it. The girl was small and mousy looking, her voice was soft in such a way that it inspired fragility. Saffron knew that her own bored drawl wasn't going to win her any points with anyone but quite frankly she didn't want any. "You where both in Astronomy right?" She asked trying to place where she had seen their faces. The fact that she remembered seeing them at all meant that they where first years. It seemed like she was meeting everyone in her year at one point at another which was not a bad thing. She got to know how she was going to avoid at one point or another.

She noticed that Rays was observing her while she answered. "The smoke bombs are a bit of a specialty of mine. Again six siblings, quick escapes are kind of mandated." She explained to put him more at ease around her. Nervousness meant questions and there where a few questions that she couldn't well answer without breaking the code of silence that she and her family had been put under. She could say that she had brothers she just couldn't say their names, that went for the names of her aunts and uncles. She could talk about her cousins but that was only because they where going to come to Hogwarts too when they where of age.

 

[Manami Sona]

Slightly uncomfortable being the object of admiration, Nami was relieved when the boy introduced himself and she nodded a hello. Rhys Graves, she didn't think she had met anyone with that name before, she wondered where he came from... When the other girl said she was the youngest of six, Manami's eyes widened. Being an only child she couldn't imagine what it was like having siblings although the way the other girl described it it seemed to Nami that it might not be so great.

When she introduced herself as Saffron Ironsong, Nami smiled and started to hope. She hadn't met any new friends yet, but maybe Rhys or Saffron would be willing to share their years at Hogwarts with her. Realizing that Saffron was talking, she focused her attention in the green haired girl. "You where both in Astronomy right?" Thinking about the class that she went to earlier this week, Manami remembered how Saffron had answered a few of the professors questions. "Right! I remember you answering the questions that Professor Raven asked." Turning to Rhys, the Ravenclaw furrowed her brow, trying to remember him. "And I think I sat by you...?" Biting her lip, she racked her brain, but came up blank.

Pulling up her legs all the way into the chair, she crossed them one over the other and spoke again. "Anyway, the teacher seems really nice although I'm not sure what star constellations have to do with magic. I mean, other than werewolves changing on full moons." Falling quiet, Manami clutched her books to her chest and rested her chin on them, not quite sure what to do next. She wasn't entirely used to talking to people and preferred to quietly listen to conversations than leading them.

 

[Rhys Graves]

Seven. Rhys found it hard to believe that someone could have six brothers and sisters. What a chaotic bunch that must have been. He only had the one brother, who was just over ten years older then Rhys was, and he hardly saw him nowadays, and had barely seen him much when Rhys had been growing up. But six siblings, all in the one house at the one time? That seemed just too much for Rhys to comprehend. 'Saffron,' he thought to himself as he studied the girl. It seemed like a slightly abnormal name, but then, who was he to judge? His last name was Graves for heaven sake. "Nice to meet you." he said to the girl with a smile. He was glad to have met some new people. Especially one in his year, house and class. He had been trying ever so hard to make new friends since he had arrived at Hogwarts, and it finally looked like he was doing just that. "Yeah, i was at Astronomy." he said, remembering that she had been the girl to answer Professor Raven's questions. She seemed like a nice enough person, and definitely seemed like the type of person that he could get along with. "The bombs are a nifty idea." he complimented, noting how well that had worked in handling their situation only moments before. He noted the book that Saffron held in her hand. "What's the book about?" he asked curiously.

His attention was drawn to Manami when she addressed him. He tried to remember who had sat around him in the class. In all honesty, he hadnt been paying all that much attention in Astronomy. He found the class boring, and wasnt entirely sure what the moon and stars had to do with magic. "Yeah, i think you did." he said, still not entirely sure as he hadnt really paid much attention to his surroundings that day. When Manami made her comment about werewolves, Rhys's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, werewolves? Like actual werewolves? Are they real!?" he exclaimed. He, being muggleborn after all, had no idea that such things existed. Though, he had to admit to himself, he hadnt really had much contact with the wizarding world except for his brother, and he hadnt really had much contact with his brother. So it was all still new to him.

 

[Saffron Ironsong]

Saffron had never known any life other than the busy house though with all of her brothers going to Ravenwood there where times when the house was silent and it just her and her parents but even that had it's downfall. She wondered for a moment what her parents where doing now that all of their children where away. "I got ten points from those questions so why not." She said offhandedly when Miniami made a comment about her answering questions in class. She had missed one to Esme but no matter she was still a Slytherin. She remember too that Rhys was a Slytherin too. She had noticed him in the Common Room when Repzion was being an energetic kitten. "That's nothing. There are white ones that I can get my hands on that can blanket a whole area." She said a small grin appearing on her face. As much as she liked to stay to the rules she did have a mischievous side but that only came out when people annoyed her. Vengeance was her game and she played it very well she liked to think.

She frowned then. "There are more benefits to knowing the movements of the planets than just the cycles of the werewolves. There are plants for potions ingredients that need to be picked at spacfic time of the moon cycle, curses that need to cast under a certain constellation or they wont work. There is a large chunk of magic that depends on the movements of the planets." She said a small note of shock that they didn't know this. She looked from one to the other then folded her hands. It was clear that not everyone outside her homeland was educated the way she was even before school. Rhys seemed to not even know that there where werewolves about. She hoped she had just confirmed that they where in deed real.

 

[Manami Sona]

Keeping quiet, Manami watched the other two first years with dark brown eyes, simply listening. She was used to being silent as she used to go to the art museum where her father worked all the time and the hush of the halls was quieter even than a library. That was were she developed a love of drawing and painting, first copying paintings with crayola crayons and construction paper and presenting them proudly to her parents, but that evolved into her own creations that she keeps hidden from the eyes of most. Now that she was learning more about magic she was excited to incorporate it into her art and maybe even paint moving portraits. Sensing that her mind was wandering, Nami pulled herself back and caught Rhys in mid-sentence, "...actual werewolves? Are they real!?"

Shocked that Rhys didn't know about one of the most dangerous races in their world, Nami leaned forward earnestly. "Of course they are! I'm pretty sure there are a few students that are werewolves here in Hogwarts." Furrowing her brow, the Ravenclaw tucked her hair behind her ear and looked quizzically at Rhys. Everyone in the wizarding world knew about werewolves, they had only recently started to have the same rights as a normal witch after centuries of discrimination. The only people who didn't know about the reality of werewolves were muggles and... Ah... Manami sat back in her chair, the puzzle solved. Rhys must be muggle born, known by more prejudiced wizards as mudbloods.

Shrugging it off, the girl turned her attention to Saffron as she explained why Astronomy was so important. "There are more benefits to knowing the movements of the planets than just the cycles of the werewolves. There are plants for potions ingredients that need to be picked at spacfic time of the moon cycle, curses that need to cast under a certain constellation or they wont work. There is a large chunk of magic that depends on the movements of the planets." Eyes bright with realization, Nami leaned forward again and spoke, "Oh! That makes sense! My mom and I used to pick all sorts of magical plants on the full and new moon for her potions! I can't believe I never thought of that!" Happy now that she understood her mother's odd behavior during eclipses and other phenomena, Nami smiled brightly at first Saffron and then Rhys.

Out of Character:

Hey! Sorry for the delay, I can only really get on during weekends.

 

[Rhys Graves]

Rhys sat in utter shock when Saffron and Manami answered his question. Werewolves. Actual werewolves. He was stunned. He was still getting used to the whole idea of being magical, and now he had to deal with the fact that werewolves existed. His brother had never told him that. Probably to protect him, but now he was faced with the fact that he might very well be at a school with werewolves in it. He glanced around for a second, eyeing everyone in the student lounge. He then looked back to Manami and Saffron. "What else is real? Vampires? Dragons?" he asked curiously. He was extremely intrigued to see what myths and stories he had learnt at his muggle school were actually real. The thought was still one that shocked him, but now he knew they were indeed real, he wanted to know more. He figured that they were to be taught on the subject in Defence Against The Dark Arts class, but he was way to impatient to wait for that. His eyes flicked to Saffron. She seemed to know just about everything that they studied in class. He hoped that at least one of them would elaborate on the subject further.

Out of Character:

Sorry its short, im in a major rush but wanted to get a post in.

 

[Saffron Ironsong]

Saffron gave Minami a nod. She knew someone had to understand what she talked about at times. She looked at Rhys when he asked about vampires and dragon. At that moment she could almost smell the muggle on him. Magic fresh from the train and he hadn't bothered to do any back up research. Saffron didn't care really about blood status because some of the most powerful in Ravenwood too had been ones that had been picked up by the school in the first place without any connections. Not that this often happened, there where purebloods that had never heard of the school Saffron used to go to. Still it was something to see yet another muggle born in the house that was meant to be prejudges against them. "Before you get any glorious undead fantasies Vampires are vicious blood sucking creatures who's lust for hemoglobin have driven them into a near animistic state." She said the last part sounding as if she swallowed a textbook. Saffron had been placed in the Death specialty at Ravenwood so it was something that she had to know. This was another reason why she wanted to badly to take Defense Against the Dark Arts and made sure that she did her best in everything that was taught. DADA was not only a class to her it was a passion.

"Dragons also are very real but you won't find any around here. Most residential areas have been purged of the dragons. If want to find them you will have to search mountains or certain hidden habitats scattered about the world." Saffron continued. She didn't know much more than that. She was sure that her cousin Erica, who was dragon obsessed, would know more about it than her. Thinking of the young overly energetic girl made her roll her eyes. "Your mother has a potions garden then?" She asked turning back to Minami.

 

[Manami Sona]

About to respond to Rhys' qeuestion, Nami was beaten by Saffron and could only nod in ascent. She hated vampires and even just talking about them sent a shiver down her spine. In her opinion they were worse then werewolves, at least there were ways to control them, but vampires were absolutely ruthless and their code of conduct was loose at best. Dragons, however, were very cool and Nami would love to see one up close just once.

When Saffron finished talking, Nami stepped in, revealing some of the more unknown creatures that Rhys probably would have never heard of, "Besides vampires and dragons there are also giants, mermaids, grindylows, and bowtruckles." Pausing briefly to let him think about that and build the suspense, Nami started to page through her sketchbook while she spoke, "Giants are pretty much what most people think, really tall and uncivilized beings that are impervious to most spells, and mermaids don't look anything like what muggles think. They're actually pretty ugly and can't sing above the water."

Finding the page she was looking for, Nami showed him a pencil drawing that she made of a grindylow that was opposite to a drawing of a bowtruckle. Pointing at each one respectively she gave a brief overview of what each on was. "Grindylows live in the water and pull unwary swimmers to their death. They're only found in tall seaweed, so they generally aren't a problem. Bowtruckles are the little creatures that guard the trees that wands are made of and can be particularly vicious when defending their tree."

Realizing that she hadn't even really told him about the nice creatures in the magical world, she quickly flipped to her drawing of a unicorn and her foal and showed it to Rhys. "They aren't all terrible though, I mean, we have unicorns and they are the most beautiful things in the world. So far I've only seen them once, but I was only able to get a quick sketch in." She looked ruefully at the gray lines, not entirely satisfied with it, though to anyone else it would have looked fine.

Hearing Saffron ask her a question the Ravenclaw turned her brown eyes towards her and nodded. "My mom is a potions master and has two acres just for growing her ingredients though she keeps a lot of the more rare ones in green houses near to our home so that she can be sure that nothing happens to them." Realizing that Rhys probably wouldn't know what a potions master she turned to him and quickly explained, "Potions masters are the best in their field and their sole job is to come up with new potions to help people. Like the Wolfsbane potion helps werewolves, my mom comes up with stuff like that."

Closing up her sketchbook, Nami looked at them and then spoke again, "What do your parents do?" Manami had been raised in a caring household by her adoptive parents and as young as she was she didn't realize that she may have stepped on a potentially touchy subject.

Out of Character:

Whoo! I did not expect this post to be so long! Got a bit carried away!