[HC.Room] Our New Home

[Marcus Conway]

The feast had given Marcus such a choice of food that he had eaten far too much. As the two prefects, Oliver and Charlie, showed them to their Common Room, Marcus could feel the content of his stomach jumping around a second after he was. Smiling at the other Hufflepuff first years around him, Marcus listened to the two prefects with half an ear but really concentrated on the castle around him. His sister had told him about the school but she didn't do it any justice.

They were shown into their common room and Marcus was in awe. Yellow hangings decorated the ceiling and walls where paintings weren't, lots of comfortable armchairs littered the room and the rounded tunnels to their dorms were pointed out to them. Marcus was amazed and when he had been to his dorm and was bored (which didn't take long) he went back to the Common Room with his toad, Sherlock.

The yellow in the room brightened up the burrow. 'Our new home. This was what it must be like to be a badger,' Marcus muttered to himself. Marcus held Sherlock so that he could also see the room, he circled on the spot a bit to see the whole room. After a long time of moving around and around in circles made him dizzy. He stumbled backwards and grabbed onto the armchair behind him. 'Whoow,' he stammered, 'not a good idea, was that Sherlock?'

[alessatassarosso]

Alessa heard the door open as the two Hufflepuff prefects waltzed into the room and quickly turned around at the foot of the stairs that lead to the dorm rooms. She noticed the new first years gawking and whispering between themselfs and she smiled at a few at the front who looked over at her reading by the fire. After the commotion had finished and the first years had either gone to their dorms or back out the portrait. A couple of boys settled down to play wizards chess, one looked awfully confused, she guessed he was a muggle.
She was sat in the corner of the room curled up in the luxurious dark yellow and black armchair reading about Magical creatures. She heard footsteps coming from the stairs and had a quick glance over her book to see a small ginger boy walking into the common room. She watched him twist around and he looked breathtaken, she giggled her herself, remeniscing on how she reacted when she first came to Hogwarts six years ago.
She returned to her book to moments later be confronted with a bang and a loud croak. She whizzed her head round to see the boy on the floor. She raised her eyebrows and closed the book and rushed over to him.
"Are you alright?" she said, bending over him and offering him a helping hand. Her hair came down into the boys face almost, and she pulled him up.
"Your not hurt are you?" she asked him, worried they may have to take a trip to the hospital wing.[/font][/color]

[Marcus Conway]

Upon landing on the floor, Marcus' glasses sat askew low on his nose and Sherlock was simply sitting on the floor next to him. Marcus frowned intensely at the toad and wondered how Sherlock had managed to stay with him now but at the train he had hopped so far that Marcus lost sight of him many times. With a little groan, Marcus looked down at his hand and saw the imprint of the floor on it. He hadn't even noticed landing on it.

Suddenly a much older girl came over to him. Marcus blinked up at her and pushed his glasses up his nose, straightening them. Everything Amara, his sister, had told him about how first years were treated cam rushing back to him but the girl's questions didn't fit with him about to be jinxed. "I-I-I'm just fine," he stammered, "thank you." He wasn't entirely sure what else to do but accept the hand that was offered and let her help him up.

Bending down, Marcus picked Sherlock up and looked up at the girl in front of him. She seemed to be worried and he wondered why. "I ... erm, I don't think so," Marcus said, looking down at himself. He was still in one piece and nothing seemed to be aching any more then it should be after falling onto your buttocks. He was sure he would bruise because he bruised so easily but he wasn't about to share that. With a worried smile, Marcus sniffed and couldn't think of anything else to say.

[alessatassarosso]

Alessa looked at him, She then looked at his toad.
"He's cute" she said, stroking his back, he croaked in delight.
"He's very loyal to you, I can see that" she smiled at Marcus.
"So newbie huh? Well, Hogwarts is amazing isn't it? I still see knew things every day, and I've been here for years!" she giggled.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to be cruel to you. If anyone picks on you, you just let me know okay?" she playfully elbowed him.
"So what are you up too?" she asked, sitting on the back of the sofa. She thought the kid was cute, and she remember how it was for her when she was a first year, it wasn't pleasant.

[Alice Simmons]

Everything has been such a blur for Alice that day, it seemed only hours ago that she was saying goodbye to her parents on platform 9¾ and then arriving, being sorted into Hufflepuff (which she could not have been happier about) and meeting all of the other Hufflepuff’s and then the food. Alice was not the biggest lover of food but with such good food she could soon get used to un burnt toast and frozen processed food.

She did not know how the Prefects expected them to take in anything they were saying about ‘rules’, Alice was to busy trying to remember the way and talking to the other first year girls who she will end up sharing a dormitory with for the next seven years. When they entered the Common room her mouth dropt open, Dax had talked about the common room a bit but he made it sound really dull and boring, like it was nothing special, but then older people had that habit of being dull.

After racing up into the dormitories trying to get first on beds the other girls were amazed by their stuff already being up there and Alice took the opportunity to tell them everything she knew about the house elves and the other systems in the school, mentioning that her step brother was the keeper of keys quite a few times.
Running up the tunnel from the dormitories to the main common room Alice noticed that the older students were slowly joining them and she suddenly became shy when she realised how tall they all were compared to her. After a few minutes talking to her brothers close friend Girty Alice saw Marcus talking to an older student and she could not let him have the fun.

“Marcus, have you seen the dorms? Ain’t they fantastic bet the other common rooms are nothin on this.”

Alice was still grinning madly with excitement when she turned to look at the older Hufflepuff and although she had overheard her tell Marcus not to worry as she would not be cruel Alice could not help but feel intimated by her, the magic she knew would be so advanced and Alice did not even know the basics of magic to even think about defending herself. After being so confident and talkative with people her own age Alice suddenly lost the ability to use her tongue and ended up just looking at the older Hufflepuff.

[alessatassarosso]

Alessa looked at the new hufflepuff who had just joined the conversation and stood next to Marcus. She smiled as she saw the girl suddenly go quiet.
"Hey, I'm Alessa, what's your name?" she asked.
"Are you glad your a fellow huffie?" she grinned friendly.
Alessa could see the girl was very nervous around her, she was probably the same when she was new, but she couldn't remember.
"Like I was saying to Marcus, if you have any problems, just come to me and i'll be glad to help you okay?" she said to her, reassuring her she was not about to curse her.
Alessa offered them both a bertie botts every flavour from a crumpled box that lay in her pocket.

[Alice Simmons]

Alice managed a small smile when the girl introduced herself, she was clearly not evil or going to curse them (she was a Hufflepuff after all) so slowly Alice managed to move her arm that had been welded onto her side and give a small wave at Alessa in greeting.

“Alice Simmons, me half brother Dax came before me and he was a Hufflepuff and both me parents were as well so it was sort of expected that I would follow in their footsteps.”

Slowly Alice felt more comfortable around the older Hufflepuff. She seemed nice enough and was actually pay attention to them, most of the older students (the males particularly) seemed to be ignoring the new arrivals. Alessa was even offering to protect them or help them if they got into trouble, that was an offer Alice would never turn down and she muttered a quite thank you at this offer, then to confirm how nice she really was she offered them some Bertie Botts Beans.
With her small hands Alice reached deep into the creased packet and carefully pulled out a pink bean with red spots on it. She started at it for a while a small laugh escaping her lisp as she wondered what flavour it was and as she popped it into her mouth she braced herself for the worst only to be pleasantly surprised.

“Candyfloss!” She exclaimed after she swallowed the sweet. “Thank you very much Alessa, remind me next time I have some beans to let you have some in thanks.”

[alessatassarosso]

Alessa smiled as Alice popped the bean into her mouth.
"Lucky, I usually get bogey flavoured ones, I've even had a Hippogriff dung flavoured one a few times!" she smiled raising an eyebrow.
Alessa had this box of Bertie Botts Beans in her pocket for a long time, simply because she always seemed to pick horrid flavours.
"Here, take them. I always get gross one's anyway" she said, giving the box to Alice.
"Share them with Marcus. I prefer chocolate frogs anyway" she grinned, thinking about chocolate frogs.
"So, are you looking forward to classes tommorow? What have you got first?" She asked.

[Marcus Conway]

Marcus looked down to Sherlock when the older Hufflepuff stroked him. Marcus held it a little tighter. "His ... his name is Sherlock," Marcus informed her. "He, erm, he doesn't seem to to me, he got away from me the first chance he got once we got off the train ..." Marcus pushed his glasses up his nose again and added, "but I did fall out I guess." Marcus looked down at the toad in his hand and he added, again, "But I have only had him since before we got on the train."

Just then, Alice said his name and Marcus turned around to look at her. "Hello Alice," Marcus said with a shy smile. He pushed his glasses up his nose and watched as the two girls spoke. When some sweets were offered Marcus took one. It was white and when he ate it it tasted like milk. "Hmm," he said. "What's up with the beans?" He asked but thought no one heard him since he always spoke so softly.

Marcus heard mention of chocolate frogs and dug in his pocket with his free hand. He pulled out a box that said Chocolate Frog on it. "Here," he said and held it out for Alessa to take. "The lady on the train said I would like it but I didn't get a chance to eat it."

Classes? Marcus had heard from his sister that classes began straight away. "We haven't gotten out timetables yet," Marcus said, and pushed up his nose. "But I heard we should get them after breakfast tomorrow." He wasn't entirely sure why he was being as blabbery as he was but the words seemed to tumble out his mouth.

[alessatassarosso]

Alessa smiled at Marcus' sweet gesture of the chocolate frog.
"You keep it, I have a box full upstaires!" She giggled.
Alessa began to tell the story about the beans.
"There was this man called Bertie Botts years and years ago who decided to make beans that tasted like different things, nice things and gross things, and over the years they've brought out lots more flavours. They are sort of joke sweets I suppose" she shrugged.
"Trust me, you'll like 'em and the chocolate frogs, and Sherlock will be very loyal to you. I can tell" she smiled at Marcus, then Sherlock.
She bent down a little so she was eye level with Sherlock. She stared at him and nodded, then he croaked.
"He said he's nervous because of coming on the train. He didn't like the movement" she said standing back up straight, and stroking Sherlock once more.
Alessa was amazing with Animals, that's why she so badly wanted to be a Care of Magical Creatures teacher. She had a natural bond with them, and with studying them too for six years at Hogwarts, she was unstoppable.

[Marcus Conway]

Marcus nodded his head and smiled weakly. He put the box back into his pocket and as he did Alessa began to explain the story about the beans. He took a bean when it was offered and studied it closely. It was a sort of pink colour and Marcus never trusted anything in pink, as a rule. Frowning a little, the small boy put the bean in his mouth and began to chew. His frown went away and was replaced with a look that could only have been described as immense surprise and joy.

"It's a raspberry sundae," he said, smiling at Alice. Marcus had never had anything quite so delicious in his life, except that one really good raspberry sundae for his birthday and so didn't count. "I've never had anything like it." When he realised he was talking allowed, Marcus cast his eyes down, trying to hid his hot cheeks.

The older girl's attention moved to the toad lazing in Marcus' hand. The red-head watched her with great curiosity (any who knew both Conway children would have seen the resemblance in that look) and then at the toad as he croaked. Marcus' pale blue eyes shot up to the sixth year's face when she said what Sherlock had said. Staring down to his toad and back again, Marcus stammered, "how-how-how did you do that?"