The Sorting continued with a few interesting hiccups. Nathaniel watched the angry boy with the changing hair and eyes with interest. Out of all the first-years so far, he was the only one who looked more miserable after being sorted. As his eyes stopped looking quite so demonic and his hair returned to a shade found in nature, Nathaniel made a mental note to ask him about it later, because a trick like that would be cool to learn.
Magical hair coloring couldn't hold his attention when Lina's name was called. His gaze snapped up to watch her approaching the stool. He crossed his fingers under the table. Gryffindor, he willed at the hat. She belongs in--
"RAVENCLAW!"
For a moment, Nathaniel was sure he'd looked quite as miserable as the boy with the technicolor hair. Lina looked quite happy as she hopped off her stool and headed to the applauding table, though, and when she glanced over towards the Gryffindors, he managed a small smile.
A few more first-years, and of course, loud Lachlan was joining the Gryffindor table. Joy oh joy.
Nathaniel looked around at his fellow Gryffindors. The other first-years were nearest, among them Lachlan, a grey-haired boy who seemed to share a similar brand of Lach's confident energy, and a long-haired brunet with a sort of wary air -- Nat already had lost track of their names. He caught sight of an older dark-haired girl further down the table who looked familiar, as well, though he wasn't quite sure why.
The headmistress, a stern-looking witch with horn-rimmed glasses, finished her speech and sat down, saying it was time to eat. Nathaniel half expected a line of dancing dishes to float in through the doors. What did happen was both less showy and more spectacular, as the food simply appeared out of thin air to fill the dishes before them. As the scents of a dozen different dishes reached Nathaniel's nose, his stomach gave a loud growl, and he realized just how hungry he was. He wasn't the only one, either, as other students not so shocked by magically-appearing food were already passing dishes around and digging in. Nathaniel quickly filled his dishes with a little of everything that passed him.
After a good ten minutes of wordless noshing, he felt a little awkward about the chatter being flung around them. Everyone who wasn't a first-year seemed so comfortable. Nathaniel swallowed a bite of roast beef, glanced at Lachlan across from him, then at the other two first-year boys.
"So, uh... Gryffindor, huh?" he said, regretting it the moment he heard himself say it.
Meanwhile, across the room at the Slytherin table, David stifled his own disappointment. He'd made the mistake of sitting so his back would be to the rest of the hall, so after a final glance Tyler's way, he turned away to face his table.
Two other first-years and a rather striking red-headed girl (second or third year, maybe, she didn't look much older) were within his immediate vicinity. He was fairly sure he'd never seen anyone as beautiful as the older girl before, and really it was rather difficult to focus on anything other than her, but he found his tongue inexplicably tied when it came to actual conversation. That wouldn't do, so he forced himself to notice his fellow first-years, the nervous fluffy blond boy and the hook-nosed girl sitting next to him. She was already looking his way.
"That metamorphmagus was your friend, right?" she asked as she passed him a dish. She only had a slight accent, not exactly Russian, despite her name.
David grinned. "Yeah, my cousin. It's cool, isn't it? I've always been jealous. Yuri, right?" He didn't really need the confirmation, names came easily to him (although they didn't always connect so easily to faces), but that was how he usually heard people say it and it sounded polite.
She nodded. "And you're David."
"Right, and he's Wicca -- hi there, fellow snakeling -- but I'm afraid we're at a loss with anybody else. What's your name?" He'd taken the opportunity to focus on the beautiful red-haired girl again. She reminded him of something, although he couldn't quite recall what, except that it was somehow related to his moms.
