Hufflepuff Table

Another year, another sorting… Feliks yawned rather blatantly and rested his head on his hand, looking lazily across the room at the scared little first years. In his previous years at Hogwarts, he had liked to guess which of them would end up where. Feliks had been pretty good at that. He had a knack for making calls based on how a person presented themselves, so it wasn’t that hard to pick the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs and so on out of the bunch, though he had been surprised a few times. He remembered one instance in particular some years back. He was sure that interesting and cocky little thing was Slytherin material, but he’d been made a Gryffindor instead. To this day, Feliks still questioned about that one, though he did appreciate the outcome. He wouldn’t have gotten near as much entertainment out of a Slytherin. That bunch was no fun at all.

But this year, Feliks wasn’t in the mood for guessing games. He was bored and hungry and ready for the feast to start. He had been among the last to get off of the train and thus had had almost no time for socializing before the sorting began and that fact had taken some of the fun out of his evening.

There was nothing new to Dumbledore’s speech or the sorting hat’s song. Much of the same old affair and not all that different from his own sorting six years earlier when he had been made a Hufflepuff. He did wonder how many new housemates he’d be getting this year. They would be a good place to fish for new clientele, particularly if they were girls. Feliks’ specialty was charms and potions used for vanity purposes, and he had more than enough charisma to sell his services as well. That was how he made his gold, and since this was his last year at school, he needed to make a name for himself and perfect his skills if he was going to keep his business going when he graduated.

He sighed and eyed the first years again as they started going up the sorting hat one by one.

He had very likely dozed off for a minute. He had a tendency to do that when he was bored. He had not even heard Clara sit down next to him, having probably been way off in lala land at that point. Lili’s arrival had also escaped his notice. It wasn’t until his head had started to slide from his hand that he snapped out of it with a start, blinking and looking dazedly around for a second before remembering where he was with a thought of ‘oh yeah, the sorting feast.’

It seemed the Hufflepuffs were making a habit of being late. Feliks had thought himself to have been fashionably unpunctual, but the two fifth year girls had come in after him. He was sure Professor Sprout would lay into them later about making the house look bad by arriving so late, but as far as he was concerned, the sorting had not even properly started so there was no harm done. So the hat had sung its song, big deal. It was nothing they hadn’t heard before. As long as the first years weren’t being called up yet, they were still good as far as he could tell.

He yawned unabashedly again and stretched, trying to stir up the blood and wake himself up. He settled his eyes on the two girls as Lili whispered something into Clara’s ear. He assumed it was something to do with their business. As a fellow entrepreneur, Feliks supported their endeavors (particularly as they were of no competition to him.)

“You two, like, really should have poked me awake or something,” he said quietly, stifling another yawn. “It’s not nice to let your upperclassman sleep through the feast, yeah?” He quirked an eyebrow at the pair, noticing Lili’s nervousness and Clara’s somewhat harassed appearance. “You two kinda look like you’re already off to a rough start of things.”

Of all the things that would really send Vash' temper rising sky high is being late. It's just the first day of school and he's late for the Sorting Feast! This is truly unacceptable! How could he not be late when he spent his whole time looking for his sister after they had gone off the train. At first he was just getting their luggages and the next thing he knew, she was already gone! Who knows where she could've gone too. What if she got lost in the woods? What if some guy was checking out on her? It has to be a guy he just knows it. With that, he carried all of their bags, rushed to the dormitory and unpacked it neatly but in the quickest time possible in order to search for his sister. Strangely enough, it wasn't his first choice to look inside the Hall. Instead, he scoured the outside of Hogwarts, but in disappointment, he only saw other students going inside and no Lilli at all. He was getting worried that he was starting to panic. He was already late and his sister is missing. After a tiresome search of every possible destination she could've gone too, he finally rushed inside the Great Hall hoping to find her. He was so paranoid that in his mind, he wouldn't know what to do if ever Lilli wasn't inside the Hall still. But fortunately enough, she found her sitting happily with her friend. No guys at all. At least that's a turn for the better.

"Schwester besorgt sie mich!" he said in quite a strong voice that it would've surely attracted some people to turn their heads. "Please do not do that ever again. I've been looking for you all over and I was late. But it's all right. At least you're okay. And thank you for reserving me a seat." After a conforming smile, he sat down and looked to those who were already seating at the table. Most of the faces he kind of recognized but can't seem to remember, except those who had caused him trouble once or twice before. He eyed the first years that were getting sorted. He eyed the guys who are susceptible foes; being a bastard that might find interest in his little sister. They better not come close to them else they want to have an event they will never forget. With that, he scanned over the other tables and saw that Gilbert was making a big fuss over on their table.

"Gilbert, was Sie getan haben, jetzt?" he said in a very frustrated voice and slapped his forehead in disappointment.

Feliks nodded to Clara. He knew well of her business and had even bought from her in the past when he needed certain things that weren’t readily available within the school. But smuggling had certain drawbacks, so he could already guess that her harassed state likely had something to do with that. Perhaps a load of dungbombs had gone off in her compartment on the train or something. He nodded, agreeing to wait until they made it back to the common room, and ignored etiquette which said he should wait until the sorting was over to eat, filling his plate anyway.

He nodded at Vash’s arrival, too preoccupied with his roasted potatoes to say anything. He knew the perpetually aggressive blond from the commonroom and shared meals, but he didn’t talk with him much. Mostly because he was the angry type and Feliks preferred to avoid interacting too much with such people. They could really ruin a good mood. He had thought on several occasions though that Vash would be fun to add to his portfolio. However Feliks rather liked not being hexed, so he had yet to try such things. Maybe one day though.

His attention, like that of most people in the room, was drawn by the food fight at the Gryffindor table. Unsurprisingly so, Gilbert was in the middle of it. Probably started it, too. The Pole certainly wouldn’t be surprised at that. He laughed particularly hard when the rival quidditch players started getting hit by the flying food. He’d been hit with enough bludgers not to feel especially sorry when their beater got hit with a face full of Spinach.

He nodded at his own captain’s words, leaning closer to her as he spoke. “No, I am totally awake now,” he grinned. “This is, like, an entertaining show to start the year, yeah? Bet they lose at least fifty house points over this.” He ducked back suddenly as some flung jello went wild, frowning. “But if, like, one fleck of food lands on me, I will totally jinx the bunch of them, not lying.” He brushed a hand over his hair as if nervously checking it for signs of any such thing.

The show only got better as McGonagall came and flipped her wig at the Gryffindor table for interrupting the feast and then a Slytherin boy entered the room sounding like he’d been on the wrong end of a regression hex. All in all, it was a good ceremony. Feliks would have rated it a seven out of ten, only because he still hadn’t gotten a chance to talk with Toris or annoy Gilbert. And he likely wouldn’t get to do to later, as the German fifth year was sent back to his common room. Oh well… Feliks would get another chance at him soon enough.

All this and the sorting wasn’t even close to being over. Feliks had to wonder if it would be all downhill from here as far as entertainment went. He hoped not as he turned to Mary with a grin. “Well that was fun.”

Vash undoubtedly knew that his cousin would get in trouble sooner or later. Although the Sorting Feast had it's dull times every once and a while, it was a foolish excuse to make such a ruckus just to be able to escape the boredom. It was completely unacceptable. Nevertheless, distracted and annoyed as he might be, he just focused on getting some food on his plate and his sister's as well.

"Schwester, lass mich einige für Sie." He grabbed a healthy serving of food on Lilli's plate."You should always prefer eating healthy food so you can grow strong like your bruder. It will also help your immune system. We don't want you being sick and be able to attend your classes now, do we?" Even though Vash was well aware that some of the students from the Hufflepuff table and the neighboring tables were looking at him due to his "lectures on nutrition" for his sister, they would know better than to question him. Besides, Vash just wanted what is best for his dear sister.

And whilst he was in the middle of eating a slice of Swiss cheese, he noticed that the loud fuss over the Gryffindor table that has been being the source of his irritation had come to a sudden halt, and his attention was quickly shifted towards the enraged Professor McGonagall as she called upon the students who attempted to start a food fiasco that utterly resulted in failure and dire consequences. Of course, one of them was his vetter, Gilbert. As the professor called the students out of the hall after bestowing some crucial penalties, Vash couldn't do anything for Gilbert but to just give out a deep sigh and resumed in eating the slice of cheese. Well, at least it was much more peaceful than before, disregarding that fact that it was still rather noisy. And every now and then, he would glance over at the Ravenclaw table in search for Roderich. They haven't quite caught up with each other even when they were in the locomotive. During the summer break, since their homes were so far apart now, and regarding the fact that both of them do not know where each other's house is currently located, the opportunity to keep in touch with each other even sending letters with each other via their owls proved to be useless. Vash wonders what Roderich is up to now and what he is currently doing these days. He plans to talk to him soon, perhaps after the Sorting Feast.

She was a bit nervous when she made her way over to the Hufflepuff Table. They seemed nice enough, so she steeled herself, and took a seat at the end of the table. It seemed that just as she sat down one of the older students was suddenly there too. Talking and pulling all of Angelique's attention. She could barely keep up, but she nodded, and smiled in what she hoped were the appropriate places.

She ducked her head a bit, and smiled shyly as Miss Clara started introducing everyone. She wasn't sure she'd be able to remember all there names, but she was sure she could at least remember their faces. Suddenly, Miss Clara's hands were on her, and she was talking about things that Angelique was pretty certain were not allowed in Hogwarts, in fact she was pretty sure some of them were not legal at all. At least, they didn't sound legal.

And then Miss Clara was back to being sweet, and was making up a plate. Angelique had yet to say a single word, and she didn't know if she was supposed too. So she just sat there quietly, and blinked at the food on her plate. She didn't recognize any of it, and wasn't sure what it was. She was about to pick up her fork and at least poke at something on the plate, when she heard Raivis' name called.

She pushed herself up a bit, to peer over the crowd, and spotted the head of blond hair. After a second, he looked at her, and she motioned as subtly as she could for him to get going. When he finally did, she smiled, and waited, hoping badly that he would get placed in the same house as her.

When the hat finally called out Hufflepuff, she nearly squealed with delight. As soon as he sat down next to her, she reached out and took his hand, twining her fingers with his under the table.

Miss Clara went off again, shorting Raivis' name like she'd done to Angelique's, and then, suddenly, Angelique was on the spot. Expected to remember the names of the people she'd just been introduced too. Oh, this was hard. Her eyes darted over them, and she resisted the urge to sink into herself a bit. “U-Um.. C'est Lili,” She started, motioning nervously to Lili, not even noticing that she'd switched from English into French. “Et... um... Vash, son frère..?”

She paused and chewed on her lip for a second before the Polish Hufflepuff's name popped back into her mind, though she wasn't sure she had it just right, and fumbled over it, “Et F-Feliks, et... Mary?”

She hoped so badly that she'd gotten the correctly.

(Translations;
"This is Lili, and... um... Vash, her brother...? And F-Feliks, and... Mary?")

Feliks ignored Vash’s lecturing of his little sister. That guy was way too uptight and high strung in Felik’s mind and while he was an ok guy, the Pole didn’t want his good mood ruined by Vash’s overbearingness. How quickly some people forgot that this was supposed to be a fun night, as boring as the speeches might be.

At least the new blood was interesting enough. A cute little pigtailed girl and a rather nervous looking little blond boy had joined them. He nodded as he was introduced, appreciating the way Clara introduced him. It was always good that the incoming crowd knew what services he provided, especially the girls. He would probably give this new one - Angelique was it?- a freebie magical makeover to welcome her to Hufflepuff (and walk around as free advertisement among the first year class). He was already imagining the things he could do with her hair. He loved working with long hair and Gilbert’s was so terribly short (unless Feliks altered it, as he had been known to do). Feliks didn’t normally fawn over the new students, but he had to admit that it was kind of cute how nervous and shaky these two where. Especially the way the boy, Raivis, kept pressing closer.

He gave a wide, toothy grin and waved casually at the pair of them, content to let Clara handle all of the introductions and words of advice to the newcomers as Feliks himself filled his plate with baked chicken, fruit and veggies. Anyone who didn’t know better would think he was purposefully choosing healthy food, but really he was just eating light to start because what he was really waiting for was the dessert. Feliks had quite the sweet tooth and knew enough not quite approved magical means of keeping a trim waistline to eat all he wanted.

He did take note of the fact that the boy Raivis seemed to be eyeballing him. Feliks was quite used to this, and didn’t mind attention, so he grinned back at the boy and laughed lightly. Maybe he was going to have to give this kid the works, too. He looked interested enough.

The meal kept Feliks pretty well occupied. When the desserts appeared, he helped himself to a bit of just about everything, living it up and damning the calorie count. British food may not be the best, but their desserts were something to be enjoyed, and Feliks did so at every opportunity. He didn’t take note of the new girl’s distress until Clara was already at work comforting her. He felt a little bad about this fact. Feliks was known for being a little clueless to his surroundings, and this was just one more instance of that. He resolved himself to offer her that magical makeover when he got back the common room as a means of making up for tuning out her distress.

He also overcompensated by turning his attention to the boy left behind when Angelique was lead away by Clara, who seemed to be jockeying for Mary’s position as house mother. He tried not to give Raivis the chance to stress and be concerned, reaching across the table to clap him on the shoulder, grin back in place.

“Like, don’t sweat it. She’s in good hands, yeah? Clara’s good with you young ones. Poor girl must be feeling homesick or something. Clara’s real good to have around for that sort of thing, don’t you worry. Here, try some of this. It’s like, so good it will blow your mind!” He shoved a plate of cherry cobbler heavily ladled with whipped cream in the young boy’s direction. “But seriously, like, don’t stress out. Everyone is nervous when they first get here. Man, you should have seen me as a first year. I, like, don’t think I said more than ten words in my whole first month!” Feliks laughed again, making it exceptionally obvious that this was no longer the case, even though that was probably obvious even before that.

While he was pretty much preoccupied in eating his meal, he saw two young 1st years making their way over their side of the table - a young girl with olive skin, dark hair tied in pigtails with red ribbons, and a somewhat petite guy with blonde hair. In his mind, they seemed decent enough, and not those kind of people that would trigger unnecessary rumpus.

Although it would be proper to tend to the first years, teaching them the basics around here, or maybe telling what Hufflepuffs do, though he quite lacks knowledge of and thinks it is not important at all; just a matter of conversation substance, he did not do so. One of the reasons was that it is not in his nature to be very open and approachable to new faces, and another one would be that Clara was already doing that job in a very satisfactory way, though it seemed that what she said was quite a mouthful and he got lost somewhere within the middle part of her talking due to the fast pacing of the words. However, he would like to get to know them in a much more personal aspect.

During their introductions and what nots, he was surprised to hear that Angelique spoke French. Having lived in Switzerland which is located East of France, he knew how to speak French quite a bit, though not that fluent, since he mumbles German and French together at times. He wanted to ask Angelique where in France she had lived, perhaps near the Swiss-French border. He was trying to confabulate in his mind his question in French when he noticed that the French girl was having some sort of discomfort. Fortunately, she was quickly attended to by Clara. Perhaps he would ask her some other time.

With that, he shifted his attention to the blonde boy - Raivis was it? He seemed rather anxious about something. It's like his expression is waiting to explode by the slightest gesture of surprise. Vash thought that he should teach a thing or two about having a firm grip of things to Raivis. It would be very helpful in his latter years, and that he can assure. But now is not the time. However, it will be part of his plans to know the two better.

The feast is nearing it's end and still, Roderich hasn't noticed him from the time-to-time glance he does over the Ravenclaw table. But Vash should not get too anxious. Why should he be? The idea that he gives too much thought about it somehow ticked off Vash and he gave himself a some sort of "disturbed" face.

Raivis absorbed himself in devouring his food. It was easier to forget being timid when there were flavors dancing around on his tongue. Even if it wasn’t the best food, his hunger still made it taste better. Eventually, though, he noticed Angelique wasn’t eating and turned his head to look at her curiously. The girl was staring down at her lap and looking rather depressed. Raivis immediately swallowed the food in his mouth and spoke to her worriedly.

“Angelique? Are you okay?”

His voice was quiet, though, and before he knew it, Clara was already on her feet, ushering his friend away. Raivis panicked. They were leaving?! He almost got up to follow them before Clara turned to excuse herself, which in turn, forced him to stay down. He watched them go pathetically, feeling like an abandoned child, and suddenly, he was aware that he was surrounded by strangers once again. He whimpered and turned his attention back to his food. Maybe if he ate fast enough, he could excuse himself too and join them quickly. The boy started to dig into his plate at a rapid pace, but soon slowed down. He was only giving himself a stomach ache, and now it felt as if everyone was staring at him. The half-blood picked at his remaining food miserably. Why did he have to get left behind?

And then a hand was on his shoulder, making him gasp and jump in surprise. It was that guy (Phoenix?) trying to comfort him. Raivis’ face turned bright red and he gave a nod in response to all the words that spilled out of the older blonde’s mouth. He sunk down into his seat embarrassedly, feeling like a fool for feeling anything close to separation anxiety for someone he had only met that same day. The boy really was just scared of being on his own with people so much older and more intelligent than him, people who knew how to use magic and actually weren’t afraid of it…

“T-thanks,” he murmured as the plate of dessert was shoved towards him. He liked sweet things, but he wasn’t really sure if he was in the mood anymore. After all, more food meant more time spent at this table and more time away from Angelique. Calm down…You should try to make friends here while you can, he coached himself. He couldn’t help but feel the others at the table around him were rather intimidating though. He was trying so hard to keep himself from getting weepy in front of him, the way his father had always criticized him for.

Raivis listened quietly to the older blonde’s talking, but he wasn’t sure if he believed everything he said.. It seemed like there was no way such a talkative guy could have been anything like him. Raivis sure didn’t see himself becoming more outgoing in a few years, though he would really have liked to get over his fear and start feeling more comfortable around here as soon as possible.

“I-I’m sorry,” he stammered embarrassedly, “but I forgot your name already.”

He hung his head bashfully and took a small bite of his cherry cobbler. At once, his eyes lit up and he took another bite, spilling some off of the fork this time as he savored the taste. This was good! Raivis managed a small smile and tried his best to calm his nerves, choosing instead to enjoy his dessert and try to make friends with his housemates. His stomach still hurt, but he tried to ignore it as well as the nagging voice in the back of his mind that urged him to retreat to the common room as soon as possible.

His wide grin faltered for a moment when Raivis said that he had forgotten Feliks’ name. The Pole was rather used to being well known (perhaps infamous was a more appropriate word choice) throughout the school. He blamed himself for the fact that his name had not stuck. Obviously he had not given the first year enough attention when he had joined the table and thus did not make a strong enough impression. Something that would be quickly amended.

At least the boy seemed to be enjoying the dessert openly, something Feliks took to be a step in the right direction. His grin returned to full force and he waved dismissively with one hand. “Like, don’t sweat it bro. It takes a while to get used to who’s who. I’m Feliks, your resident expert in all manner of appearance altering charms and potions. I bring a bit of beauty and class to this place at reasonable cost.” He smiled and tousled his hair for added effect. “Of course, first years and housemates get great discounts for my services, just in case you would be interested.” He still didn’t really think that the boy would go for such things, but it was a good idea to put the offer on the table. You just never knew.

The Pole had even more spells and potions that he had developed over the summer holiday. Little experimentations that he had pieced together back at home. At least as much as he could while still abiding by the underage restriction of wizardry. Being expelled would reflect horribly upon his business. So unfortunately, his work had been mostly research and theory. He could have asked his father to attempt the spells to see if they worked, but his father had no skill for that sort of magic. If only his mother was a witch he would have made so much more progress.

Oh well, he would know soon enough how well they worked once he got a chance to test them out for himself. And then on Gilbert. A tan would certainly give the German an exotic flare.

He grinned at the thought and helped himself to his own piece of cherry cobbler, which would be his second of the night. “Good to see you relaxing,” he commented through a bite of the dessert. “Like, once you’re done I’ll take you over to the common room and you can meet your friend there. Maybe you can even take some dessert to her. She could probably, like, use some comfort food. Clara will have her calmed down by then.”

He took another large bite and glanced around the table. People were starting to file out. He saw his captain was still lingering. He was actually a bit surprised she hadn’t hit him up about Quidditch tryouts (which would certainly be taking place within the week) with the usual threats about how if he didn’t step up his game, she would replace his ass with the first warm body that could manage to block a goal. It wasn’t that Feliks didn’t enjoy the game. He certainly appreciated the boost it gave his reputation and it gave him some added clout around the school. Not to mention flying was enjoyable in and of itself. He just had a difficult time keeping his head in the game sometimes.

Anyway he wasn’t going to bring the subject of tryouts or practice up to Mary. He was going to put that one off for as long as he could get away with.