The Start of A New Year

[sophie]

Sophie helped herself to some of the porridge and started eating as the Head Mistress made her announcement. She checked out the new HOH and decided he looked OK. But she would know hat he would be like until she took charms, she guessed. Other than that, she would not have much to do with him.

She turned back to the table but the boys seemed intent on talking to a Hufflepuff girl who was sitting at the next table, with Eddie going as far as to invite her to join them. "Please do the more the merrier " she commented thinking the girl looked rather young. A first year no doubt, and seeing as she was here alone, had probably not made any friends yet.

""As Eddie said, me and Tallia are Ravenclaws, and it is nice to meet you Phoebe. That's a pretty name by the way she said as she started eating the porridge. It was still hot, something Sophie had yet to understand, no matter how long the food sat on the table, if it meant to be hot, then it would stay hot. Magic was wonderful at times.

"You boys will have to let us know what he is like" she said to them as she shrugged toward the new HOH. Who better to get the info than a couple of Gryffindor boys.

The Owls came and Phoebe jumped saying she had been attacked by a hawk when she was younger. Eddie seemed the only one to get one and he exclaimed it was from his mum and he was getting to stay at the school for Christmas after all. Which meant out this little group she was the only one not staying. Not that she really minded, Uncle Ranz's Christmas's and New Years party were the best and she always enjoyed going to Blackstone.

"Well I hope you all have fun" she said with a genuine smile looking over at the Gryffindor table where she noticed a boy staring at her. One of the fifth years, that much she knew but who she had no idea, but he bore a striking resemblance to Eddie.

"Hey Eddie . . is that your brother staring at me, what's his name? " she asked thinking she might like to meet him and if Eddie was staying for Christmas then he might be too and he might be a nice reason to want to stay.

[Deleted]

Mitch had been sitting at the Gryffindor table with his mates Harry and James when he noticed his brother Eddie wander in with a couple of girls. He had never seen them before, but then he did not know all the students in the school. Eddie sat down at the Ravenclaw table so he guessed the girls were Ravenclaw. He gave Eddie a funny look but turned to listen as the Head Mistress told them that Gryffindor had a new HOH.

"Bout time" he said to his mates and he turned back to his breakfast. He was hoping to get some practice in today. He had tried to talk Jack into getting the whole team down , but no go. Jack was a 7th year and captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. James was also on the team as one of the Beaters.

He forked some scrambled eggs into his mouth and looked back at the girls his brother was with. One was rather cute he noticed. She looked older than Eddie, a third or fourth year perhaps. He hoped so, he would hate the fact she was a second year. He looked at her for a moment longer than realising she had noticed, smiled at her.

"Scuse me boys" he said to his friends and got up to wander over to the Ravenclaw table. "Hey Eddie, whose your friend. Mitch is the name and this goon is my brother. Whats you name " he asked looking straight into Sophie's eyes. Gosh, she was really was quite pretty. How he had never come across her in the castle before was beyond his reasoning.

"Mind if I join you? " he asked but without waiting for an answer, he sat down next to Sophie. From where he sat he could see James and Harry laughing their heads off and if he not been in such pretty company, he would have given them the finger.

[Phoebe Underwood]

It was all a bit of shock to her. One minute she was sitting at her Hufflepuff table jumping at owls and contemplating her Head of House and her thought that she had a sister. The next she was being invited to sit at the Ravenclaw table buy a Gryffindor boys and Ravenclaw girls.

“Umm,” she said a little nervous and then blinked. It wasn’t as if she was having breakfast with her roommates or anyone in particular and she it was nice of the Gryffindor boy and then the girl to sit with them. “Thank you I would like that very much.”

She turned around fully just as they were approached by another boy who had come from the Gryffindor table. He was older and said that he was Eddie brother Mitch. She looked at him curiously and saw that he seemed to be particularly interested in the girl Sophie. Getting up properly she took a seat next to Liam.

She saw that they also had pancaked on their table and reached across for one. They also had strawberries and Phoebe almost squeed in delight but thinking that she already made a fool of herself when she jumped at the owls held back on it. Thinking that she should at least say something she thought for a moment and then looked at Sophie, Tallai and the older boy Mitch.

“Do any of you take Divination,” she asked a little shyly. “It is just that Professor Morgenstern is my Head of House and we came down together and she said something about me having a sister but I don’t. Well I don’t think that I do. I don’t know who my dad is you see and as far as I know he might just have another kid out there. Also I dream about this girl who looks exactly like me and is about my age. I know that it isn’t me though.”

[Deleted]

Eddie turned around when Sophie asked who the boy was looking at her. He rolled his eyes as he turned back "Yeah, that's my brother, he's in his 5th year" Eddie said as he tucked into his breakfast. He dipped his toast in the runny egg and looked up at the Professors table once again. Only their new HOH was still there, where had the others gone he wondered but the thought was gone as suddenly Mitch was there asking about Sophie. He plonked himself down next to the Ravenclaw girl and Eddie felt a little sorry for her .

"Hey Mitch, this is Sophie and her friend there is Tallia, and this is Phoebe" he smiled as the young Hufflepuff girl sat down beside Liam.

"I take Divination. It's required now, I once heard only 3rd years and up took it but with recent events anyone can though Professor Morgenstern is rather scary sometimes" he admitted. The woman really had an uncanny sixth sense.

Phoebe went on to talk about something the HOH had said to her. ""Well if you don't know who your father is, then is there not a good chance you might have a sister. What about your mum, have you ever asked her ? he asked genuinely interested. "You say you have dreamed of her, if anyone can tap into that , then I would say Professor Morgenstern would be your best bet. " he said to her.

He suddenly looked up to his new HOH. "I really hope he's taking transfiguration or Charms. " he said as he finished off his breakfast.

You know Liam, Imight go ask him Eddie decided as he got up and made his way up to the Professors Table.

"Hello Sir and welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Eddie Carmichael, 2nd year Gryffindor. I got 3 other brothers , all in Gryffindor. " he started out , as if this information was important.

"Sir, I was wondering what class you will be taking." he blurted out.

[Peri Quinn]

Peri made her way down from the tower where she had been held up talking with a student who was organizing a tutoring team. There were several students from Ravenclaw who unofficially helped out the younger students but lately they had been talking about doing something more structured. Peri was very keen on the idea, she always felt peer tutoring was helpful if you had the right kids running it. Student’s often felt better meeting one on one with a student then a teacher who could be intimidating especially to the first years.

She was hoping she had not missed breakfast completely, she really wanted something before she got the rest of her day started. Crossing the entrance hall she was glad to see a number of students still seated and eating. Many seemed to be seated at other houses tables with the typical exception of Slytherin who still seemed to keep to themselves.

Quickly she walked toward the staff table it seemed only Professor Crittenden was still there. As she reached the table a young man, one of the Carmichaels she thought, came up to the seated professor asking about what class he would be teaching. Peri took a seat next to Professor Crittenden and said “good morning.” To them both.

[Will Crittendon]

Will was undecided as to whether he should leave or stay. He had been there with another faculty and Headmistress, but they were both gone. now. He was alone, as far as staff goes. If he was just an ordinary professor he would probably just have got up and left. However, now that he was an HOH he felt a bit more of a responsibility. It even had a feeling that students that had not paid too much attention to him in the past were watching him more carefully now. In fact, just ahead of him seemed to be a group of young students, a mixture from different houses and age groups, he thought, from looking at them.

Almost out of the blue one of the younger boys turned and walked over to him and blurted out some things. After the initial surprise, Will smiled and responded. "Its a pleasure to meet you .... Eddie. I was a Gryffindor when I was at Hogwarts as well .... was a Seeker as well. Charms is what I teach, although I have taught Arithmancy before, as well as been an Auror and a Hit Wizard on the other side of the pond in the States"

Suddenly he saw another professor had come up beside him and addressed him .... and he happily responded in kind ....."and the best of mornings to you as well," he said with a smile.

[Tallai Cooper-Street]

The girl introduced herself as Phoebe and explained why she jumped when
the owls appeared. Tallai smiled. It was understandable why the girl
because if she had been attacked by birds when she little she probably
would be skittish around the creatures especially if she was not used to
owl post.

After being invited to sit at their table by Eddie with backup from
Sophie she asked about Divination and in particular the Professor that
took the class who happened to also be the Hufflepuff Head of House. It
seemed the eerily spooky and accurate Professor had stated that she had
a sister and that Phoebe herself had dreamed of a girl was that looked
remarkably like her. Because the could be taken by anyone and being the
Ravenclaw that she was Tallai took the class though and she quite
enjoyed it. She had to admit that the Professor Morgenstern was
exceptional when it came to her predictions.

Before she put her two knuts in an older boy from the Gryffindor table
came over and introduced himself as Mitch and that he was Eddie's older
brother. She could see the resemblance between the two boys and wondered
if he was musically gifted like his brother. She smiled at him and he
took a seat next to Sophie whom he seemed to take an interest in

"Eddie is right," she said picking up her spoon and
once again digging into her porridge. "You should see
Professor Morgenstern and see if she could find any information. I was
wondering though are you muggle born? I know that you are afraid of
birds and all that but wouldn't you be at least used to owls delivering
post and all that at home if you were pureblood or even half? Just about
all pure or half blood families have at least one owl after
all."

The moment that it came out of her mouth Tallai knew that it was the
wrong thing to say. It really didn't matter to her what she was but she
knew that some people were sensitive about their status or grew up being
sensitive about it depending on their family's involvement second
wizarding war. She also may come from a poor family and couldn't afford
an owl.

'Oh," she said looking down into her porridge.
"I hope I didn't offend you or anything."

[Deleted]

It was late as Lucy made her way down to the great hall. She had slept in once again, a bad habit but then she rarely got to bed before 1am. She just could not get to sleep that early and if was not for Penny, most mornings she would be late for class.

She had come down to see if she could find her second year friends, but upon entering only saw Liam sitting about way down the Ravenclaw table for some reason. Mitch Carmichael was there as well but she did not know any of the girls. So if Mitch and Liam was there, where was Eddie she wondered.

But she did not have to look far, for as she made her way toward the group she noticed him up at the Professors table with Professor Quin and a man she did not know. She plonked herself next to Liam where Eddie had just left and accidentally kicked over Eddies Guitar which had been leaning against the table.

She looked up startled, she knew how much Eddie loved that guitar and bent down to pick it up to lean back against the table. She had only heard him play it once. It had been a Sunday night and as usual she had been tucked away in the corner of the common room doing her homework. HE obviously had not been able to sleep either and come down to play in what he had thought was an empty common room. She had never told him about that night.

"Hey Liam, Mitch. who is that Eddie is talking too" she asked the boys. Then realising she might been a bit rude "Oh sorry, Lucy Powell, Gryffindor, same year as Ed and Liam here." she added quickly. She had no idea which house the others were in but they were not her year nor Gryffindor.

[Phoebe Underwood]

Munching on her pancakes Phoebe considered what was said about Professor Morgenstern. It seemed that they were a little wary of the Professor but apart from what she said about her having a sister she couldn’t understand why they would think that. She was perfectly lovely to her but they she was her Head of House and maybe she acted differently in class than she did out of it. I guess someone that teaches Divination has to prove their credentials to some extent.

Eddie asked about her mother and wether or not she had asked her about her father and despite the strawberries and her pancakes Phoebe lost her appetite a bit. She really didn’t like talking about her mother all that much because Phoebe tended to think that she was a little paranoid and since she spent all her life in the muggle world she knew how judgemental people can be with people that where a little ‘different’.

“I have asked but my mother refuses to talk about my father,” she said softly looking down at her hands once more. “I have never mentioned the dreams though because she would probably just say that they are just dreams and that is all. It is just that I have at least one a week with her in it and since I found out that I was a witch and came to Hogwarts she is appearing more often almost nightly.”

The girl Tallai spoke then and agreed with Eddie that she should go and see the Professor and see if she could get more information. She then asked if she was muggle born because of her fear of the owls. She then apologised thinking that she might have been offended by what she had said.

“Oh I am not offended at all,” she said biting her bottom lip and she thought about how she was going to respond. “I grew up thinking I was what you would call a muggle. It wasn’t until I got my letter that I found out that I was a witch. My mother didn’t want me to attend Hogwarts because she didn’t want to go away to school; she wanted me with her always. I was homeschooled you see and it would have been impossible to attend a normal school when we moved around so much. When I put on the hat on it referred to my families and specifically my grandfathers who where apparently brave.”

She had just finished speaking when another girl joined them and took the seat that Eddie had been sitting in knocking over the boy guitar in the process. She introduced herself as Lucy Powell and was in the same year and house of the boys at the table. Phoebe blinked at the girl before smiling shyly.

“Phoebe Underwood, first year Hufflepuff,” she said thinking that would probably be the right way to introduce herself.

[sophie]

Eddie told her that yes it was his brother but did not mention his name, but it mattered not as the boy got up to join them, telling her that his name was Mitch before sitting down beside her. She felt herself going a little pink as Eddie introduced them and she looked sideways at him.

"Nice to meet you Mitch" she said in a soft voice and gave him a smile. He was really quite cute ans she could see given a couple years, Eddie would be just as cute. But he still had a few years to get to that.

"Eddie tells me you are staying at Hogwarts this Christmas. " she said trying to start some sort of conversation. She could hear Phoebe talking, but did not take a lot in as she kept looking at Mitch. She heard Divination and Professor Morgenstern and something about a sister. She never noticed Eddie leaving nor Tallia's reply,, that's how taken she was this boy.

It was only when Lucy arrived did she finally turn and take notice of what was going on. She looked up to see Eddie at the Professors table and wondered when did he get up.

"That's the new Gryffindor HOH. Pleased to meet you Lucy, I'm Sophie, Ravenclaw and this is my friend Tallia" she told the girl indicating Tallia who sat on the other side of her.

Phoebe was talking about her mother and the fact when asked she would give no information about her father. It brought back memories for her, for until she was 9, she had thought her father dead.

"Parents are funny. We don't get to choose them , which sucks I think" she stated rather blandly. She did not want to bring up the fact she had no idea where her father was now, or the fact her mother was sitting in Azkaban. Not that she cared . . She had a good life now . . a happy life. .

"And I agree, Professor Morgenstern is the best person to ask, and she is not scary. . she just freaks some of them out with her accuracy. I like her " Sophie told the younger girl before turning her attention back to Mitch.

"I have go to the Owlery and send an Owl, do you wanna come with me" she asked Mitch, for if he was staying at Hogwarts at Christmas then she was going to ask the Blyths if she could too.

[Deleted]

Eddie had hardly asked his question when Professor Quinn wandered in. She had only been at the school herself since the start of term and as of yet he had not taken her class, but he knew after Christmas that would change. Professor Crittendon told he was here to teach charms as well as some other info and then he turned his attention to professor Quinn Eddie took this as his being dismissed so turned and made his way back to the others.

A huge smile came to hi sface when he saw Lucy sitting in his old chair. "Hey Lucy" he said taking a seat on the other side of her. He noticed his guitar had been moved and wondered if Lucy had knocked it over, it was a known fact she was little accident prone. . Didn't stop him from liking her though.

"He's teaching charms" he told everyone noticing the way Sophie was looking at his brother. He rolled his eyes but said nothing. "Dunno why though he felt he had to tell me he used to take Arithmancy and was an Auror and other stuff. " he added thinking maybe the Professor had just been showing off. But it was soon forgotten with such a pretty girl sitting beside him.

"Have you met Sophie and Tallia, we met them out in the courtyard this morning, Tallia has the most wonderful voice and we are heading out again after breakfast to try a duo. Do you wanna come ?" he asked her as he heard Sophie invite Mitch to go to the Owlery to post a letter. The way he was looking at her, he guessed the answer was going to be yes.

"Oh and this is Phoebe." he said mentally slapping his head for not including her. "You can come too Phoebe. " he told her. Lucy might be more inclined to want to come if he invited everyone.

"So is everyone finished. Shall we get going" he said as he pushed his chair back, picked up his guitar to sling it across his back and stood waiting to see who else was gonna move.

[Deleted]

Mitch could not believe this gorgeous girl was actually talking to him. Eddie had said her name was Sophie and she said it was nice to meet him. "Nice to meet you too Sophie, that is a pretty name " he told her as Eddie got up to make his way to the Professors table. Had he missed something he wondered, the girls seemed to be talking among themselves so he turned his attention back to Sophie.

"Yeah I just got an owl from mum, they are heading to Romania to see my eldest brother Charlie so we get to stay, are you staying too" he asked, but she was answering the young girl Phoebe. She sounded a bit sour when talking about her parents and he wondered what that was about. Hopefully he would get a chance to ask her.

"Don't take Divination" he muttered putting his two cents worth in. Not the kind of thing he was into, all mumbo jumbo in his books.

She told him she needed to send an owl and would he walk her to the Owlery. Not his favourite place, that was for sure, a bit on the nose. But she had asked. Sure, but only if you come down to the Quidditch pitch later and watch me practice he said with a smile.

At least James and Harry had stopped laughing, though James was now shaking his head at Mitch. Mitch smiled back, it was not enough to put him off.

Eddie was back and telling them the new professor was not only their HOH , but would be taking them for charms. He nodded, charms was something he had always liked, he just hoped this new professor was good at what he did.

"Do you want to get going then" he asked as he stood up to pull Sophie's chair out for her, which only served to send James and Harry off in another fit of laughter.

[Liam Grace]

Liam picked at the steak and eggs on his plate as he listened to Phoebe as she talked about her Professor Morgenstern and the sister that she had and the dreams of the girl that looked like her. It was all very interesting and fascinating and when Tallai asked wether or not she was muggle born Liam shot her a sharp look as he thought that is was quite rude of her. The Ravenclaw seemed to realise her mistake and apologised straight away.

Phoebe didn’t seem offended and went on with her story. It was all very interesting and a little strange. Why wouldn’t her mother talk about her father, the fact that the dreams were more apparent since she found out she was a witch, the fact that her mother hadn’t wanted her to come to Hogwarts, that she was homeschooled because that moved a lot. He wondered if her mother was a muggle and her father and wizard but her mother hadn’t known it. But that didn’t make sense as both her grandfathers were wizards by the sounds of it.

“I wonder if your mother is a squib,’ he said and then thinking that she probably wouldn’t know the term. “A squib is kind of the opposite too a muggle-born, a child born into a magical family but has no magic at all.”

Lucy then joined them Liam nodded at her still annoyed that she had turned her beetle into a button before he had. She introduced herself to the Ravenclaw girls and Phoebe. Phoebe introduced herself by her full name and Liam dropped his fork with a clatter before he could say anything Eddie returned and his face seemed to light up when he saw Lucy. Liam rolled his eyes. He knew his friend had a crush on the girl but he honestly didn’t see what was so special. In colouring she wasn’t so different from Tallai but Tallai was prettier in Liam’s opinion and.

Eddie invited was extolling the voice of Tallai and invited Lucy and Phoebe to join them. He looked at Phoebe hoping that she would join cause he had a few questions that he wanted to ask.

“Please join us Phoebe,” he said sincerely standing up. “Eddie puts on a good show and Tallai really does have a good voice.”

[Peri Quinn]

As she scanned the table a plate appeared before her and Peri began to fill it. Perfectly scrambled eggs, lightly browned toast and slightly crisp bacon were a wonderful start. She arranged it all on her plate as the other professor spoke to, Eddie, he said his name was. He was mentioning a bit of his history, she had heard a bit of his history around the castle and knew had had taught Arithmancy but not much else.

The student left, going back to join a large group of students who looked to be finishing their meals. She had just taken a big bite of egg when Professor Crittendon turned his attention to her. “Goog,” she mumbled somewhat around her eggs. Swallowing she laughed, nearly choking. “Sorry.” She said more clearly then took a gulp of orange juice. “Thanks, how are you doing today?” Peri asked then took another bite of bacon.

[Tallai Cooper-Street]

Tallai finished off her porridge and listened and watched all her friends, new and old at the table. Eddie had returned to announce that the new Gryffindor Head of House would be teaching Charms. He also seemed to brighten at the site of new Gryffindor girl who had joined their little group. It seemed also that Sophie was quite taken with Eddie’s broth Mitch which kind of surprised Tallai because she had never shown any interest in boys before. Since they had met she had focused all her energy on study and trying to make her Uncle and Aunt proud. Tallai knew that Sophie wanted to become a Prefect in her fifth year and eventually Head Girl.

Tallai listened as Liam explained what a squib was to the first year and she had to agree that it was definitely a possibility as it would definitely explain why both her grandfathers had been considered brave by the sorting hat. She had also noticed Liam’s reaction to Phoebe using her full name when she introduced herself to Lucy and she knew perfectly well why it would. She looked closely at the girl and though she couldn’t really see it in the hair colouring she couldn’t definitely see it in the eyes.

“I wonder if you are related to the Underwood’s then,” she said. “You definitely have TJ’s eye colour and shape.”

She scrunched up her nose trying to recall what TJ had said about his family. She knew that his father had been a well-known Quidditch player and TJ himself was a pretty good flyer. He hadn’t said much other than he had twin sisters. They mostly talked about horses as TJ loved them just as much as she did and he owned an Abraxan named Fintan.

Everyone was getting up to go and Tallai stood up and smiled. She pulled Phoebe up with her and hooked her arm through the younger one she also grabbed Liam and hooked her other arm through him. “Let’s get out of here and on the way we can talk about Phoebe and her family.”