[HC.Room] A New Beginning

[Prof. Jonathan Starsmore]

Jonathan tutted loudly as he stood in the center of the Hufflepuff common room, turning slowly on the spot with his arms folded across his chest, examining the various features of the room. In his school days he had been a Gryffindor who had spent much of his free time at Hogwarts trying to figure out ways to get into the other house common rooms, his techniques ranging from tunneling to disguises, false magical fire alarms right down to minor explosions.

Now that he was finally in one of them he was rather disappointed, his nose wrinkled in a grimace as he realised all his hard work and detentions from numerous failed attempts had been for nothing. The room was empty and dull, a considerable size smaller than the Gryffindor common room and much less cosy.

Jonathan supposed this had much to do with the amount of black draped everywhere.

Whipping out his wand, he waved it elaborately, smiling in triumph as the black throws, banners and cushions all did impressive little somersaults in the air, turning gold and canary yellow with a pleasing pop before landing back in their original positions, small clouds of dust puffing into the air.

[Prof Grace Marks]

Grace had been sitting in her favourite arm chair near the fire place, reading, when a professor walking in. She glanced up and saw it was the same professor from supper a few nights ago. He took out his wand and Grace, nearly panicking, reached for her wand to when suddenly Grace noticed he was smiling. She relaxed and looked up curiously. The black throws, banners and cushions that were scattered around the common room flew up into the air and did little somersaults. Grace snorted, rather flashy, she thought. Then gold and canary yellow appeared everywhere with a slight popping noises, and everything was set back in place. "Was that fun, professor?" she asked, slowly closing her book, but keeping a finger in her place.

[Prof. Jonathan Starsmore]

Jonathan looked toward Grace in surprise, then grinned broadly. 'Oh it was! But when isn't magic fun?' he placed his wand back in his robes and walked over to join Grace, settling in the armchair next to her. He made a note that that it was far more chushier than any in the Gryffindor common room. Seeing that the fire was dwindling a little and snapped his fingers sharply. The embers bust into tall flames and began to roar pleasantly.

'So what are you doing in here, Grace? It's spring outside - you should be tearing up wild flowers or whatver you young people do these days,' he said in mock criticism.

[Prof Grace Marks]

Grace squeaked and jumped in surprise as the fire roared loudly. It had been rather shocking. She looked back to the professor and listened intently. For a moment she was going to retort sarcastically but then looked at a window. "Well," she began, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "I had been thinking about going for a quick ride on my broom but then I got very involved in this book." She flashed the cover at the professor.

[Prof. Jonathan Starsmore]

'Famous Witch Hunters of the British Isles,' he read out as she showed him the cover. The brown leather was worn and blistered in places, the aging process no doubt having been helped along by students picking at it out of bordom.

'Interesting but disturbing I have to admit...' he gave a lopsided smile, nodding slowly. 'How far are you into it? The fourteen century is definitely my favourite chapter. I don't want to give anything away but I expect you'll be reckon impressed with Elspeth Woodmer of Glasgow. A real heroine I think you'll agree!' He paused for a moment, regarding the book fondly before looking at Grace. 'Do you read a lot?'

[Dax Simmons]

Dax charged into the common room. He jumped through the portrait and closed it as fast as he could. Taking a few deep breaths he spun around only to see the common room was nearly empty al bar Grace and an older looking man.

Taking in a huge deep breath he made himself as tall as he could before moving over towards the stranger. Tapping them lightly on the shoulder he raised his voice making it sound a lot deeper then normal.
“Excuse me this room is for Hufflepuff’s only. I advice you to get…”

As Dax saw the face of the man he let out a rather girlish scream and moved away stuttering. He noticed this man was likely to be a professor guessing by his age…and a new one at that.

[Prof Grace Marks]

Grace smiled broadly and shifted in her chair to face the professor better. "Reading about Woodmer was truly inspiring, especially for a young with like myself." Grace looked lovingly at the book and stroked the cover. She showed the pages of the books still holding her place to show the professor that she had less then fifty pages left. "I love reading!" she smiled, looking at the professor with a twinkle in her eyes.

Then Dax burst into the room. "Hi Dax!" she said, pleasantly getting his attention off the professor. "This is Prof Starsmore, he's our new head of house! Dummy!" She giggled slightly and smiled from the one to the other.

[Prof. Jonathan Starsmore]

Jonathan had been just about to reply to the boy who appeared to be called Dax (a rather odd name in Jonathan's opinion) when Grace cut him off and introduced him. 'Yes, what she said...' He laughed, standing up and shaking the lad's hand firmly. From the strength of his grip Jonathan suspected he may be another addition to the Quidditch team. 'I'll also be teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts.'

Dax continued to look mortified at his mistake, and with a chuckle Jonathan moved out of the way so that he could sit down and recover.

[Dax Simmons]

Gladly Dax stumbled over towards the closed chair and flopped onto it. He took a deep breath and looked up at the Professor.
“I’m…sorry I did not…well know.”
A frown appeared on his face and he bit his lower lip. I could tell that the Professor was taking it with a light heart but he still felt like a complete idiot.

[Ariane Winchester]

Ariane heard a scream and raced out of the dorm rooms and nearly broke her neck as she tumbled down the stairs, she climbed to her feet dizzily and leaned on the banister for help, her long wavy black hair was tied back into a ponytail, making the scar that went down the left side of her face even more noticable.