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[Professor Llwellyn]

It was the first morning of the new school year, sunlight streamed through the windows of the great hall and danced on the house tables. Along each table lay a series of notices requiring the new first year students to remain behind after finishing their breakfasts. As the meal came to an end, the headmaster of Hogwarts conjured several rows of wooden benches in front of the staff table. "First years over here then please" he called out.

The first years had come to Hogwarts to learn, and their first lesson would be in what the school expected of them. Rules, Rules, Rules thought the headmaster, not without a trace of amusement for he had never taken much interest in them when he had been a student.

[Mary Lynn Wilkins]

Mary cleared the plate which had contained the fried egg on toast she had chosen for her breakfast, and downed the last of her drink. She had seen the notices that advised first year students to stay behind after their meal, and curious as to why that might be, she waited patiently whilst the older students filed out on the way to their lessons.

One thing she wasn't used to doing was leavign her dishes behind, she had been used to taking them into the kitchen back on the farm and perhaps even electing to was them herself. Here it seemed the house elves did all that work, but she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them. The empty cups and plates disappeared is if by magic but they had to resurface somewhere and surely there would be a great deal of work clearing up after a crowd of this size.

Still, she dutifully stepped over towards the front of the room when she was summoned, and took a seat at one of the benches, roughly in the middle of the second row. "Professor" she acknowldeged, inclining her head out of respect and wondering why the new students had been summoned for this little get-together.

[Avalon Landran]

Avalon gulped down the rest of her pumpkin juice, looking with curiosity at the notice on the table before her. She wondered vaguely why the first years had to stay behind. She watched as the plates and cups disappeared and the older students filed out. Ava thought about the next seven years - one day, she would be an "older student", and the first years would be looking at her, wondering how much she knew about Hogwarts.

As the headmaster called them over, she rose to her feet quickly and scurried towards the front of the room, not wanting to fall behind or not be able to hear what was being said. She took a seat and waited nervously for the Headmaster to begin speaking.

[Amelia Hexheart]

Amelia had chosen against breakfast this morning, she had had a glass of pumpkin juice, but regretted that now as she really needed a wee. She was too excited to eat really, it was her first real day of school, ever. She wasn't nervous, she rarely got nervous, but she had DADA today so she was extremely excited to see what it was all about. She was glad she had come down to breakfast as there was a notice telling the first years to stay behind after breakfast. If she had had her way, she would have just stayed in her common room this morning before going to class. She assumed they were going to be debriefed by the headmaster, told what you should do, what you shouldn't etc etc. Amelia couldn't say she cared for rules really, but she tried to make herself look interested and innocent as she set her glass down and made her way towards the headmaster. She pushed her way through the crowd. "Honestly, some people, can't follow a simple instruction, you've only been asked to walk over here, really!" Amelia muttered angrily to herself barging past the students who she had never seen without a look of utter confusion on their faces. She sat, with no-one in particular, and looked up at their headmaster, waiting for him to begin, what she hoped wouldn't be a long speech.

Edited by Amelia Hexheart, 01 August 2011 - 06:32 AM.

[Catnteris Scott]

Cat had been scarfing down the remainder of his breakfast, when the Headmaster called for all the first years to join him at the front of the hall. Catnteris watched as he conjured several rows of wooden benches in front of the staff table.

Cat stood, took a final swig of pumpkin juice, (Whoever thought the words pumpkin and juice should go together needed to be dubbed a genius.) and walked up toward the benches. He took a seat in the middle of the first year chaos, and stared up at the Headmaster, wondering why in the world they were all sitting here. But coinsidering this was the Headmaster, it had to be something important.

[Mortimer Ogren]

Looking his usually sour self, Mortimer had taken the very last chair at the staff table that morning. A seat half hidden in the shadows, furthest away from anyone important.
The occasions where he'd have breakfast in the Great Hall could be counted on one hand during the entire year, but today was one of those days he wouldn't want to miss.

Time crept by slowly as he sipped from a cup of tea and his mean old eyes observed the house tables and registered which students were loudest so he would be able to recognize them later on when needed.

He was still quietly in his seat when the Headmaster instructed the first years to come forward. A nasty smirk took over the spotlight position from his overly large nose as he watched them move up.

[Meghan Morris]

Meghan quickly ate her remaining food and hurried off in the direction of the Headmaster's voice. She had observed the notice earlier during the beginning of breakfast. Meghan was not sure what was going on but she was practically certain she would not enjoy it.

Watching the Headmaster conjure up the wooden benches, Meghan looked at the other students faces for surprise or awe. Sadly she was not aware of any, but she was not the sure. Meghan wasn't quite in awe about such a simple thing but it still brought a smile to her face. Gathering her thoughts Meghan turned her attention to the Headmaster.

[Emily Jones]

Emily Came down to breakfast the first morning. It had been a strange night sleeping in a new bed and Emily hadn't got that much sleep. She felt a bit groggy as she eat her breakfast. She finally saw the notice that first years had to stay behind then she heard the professor voice. She quickly hurried over to the front tripping slightly in on the way but staying upright. She sat down quickly glowing scarlet.

Edited by Emily Jones, 02 August 2011 - 10:45 AM.

[Anna Morgan]

Anna found herself eating light that morning at breakfast. Her eggs and toast, something her mother never really let her eat much of at home for fear that her beloved show-daughter might gain unwanted weight, lay mostly untouched on her plate. She was starving, but nerves had finally gotten the better of her. Anna wanted to prove her father right, and her mother wrong. She was smart, and she could succeed, become the best at all of her school subjects. ...she just had to not screw it all up.

The notice instructing her to remain behind after breakfast had her full attention the moment that she laid eyes on it, and Anna found herself tensing in preparation for whatever might be coming. So when the Headmaster called the first years to him, Anna was up and moving, trying to make herself one of the first students present. She might not always like those in authority, but while their eyes were on her Anna was the best student they could ever observe. She waited, as patiently as any eleven year old girl could, for her next set of instructions.

[Professor Llwellyn]

((Any other first years are very welcome to join the thread, just pretend you were here before Rhodri started talking))

After the last student had sat down (and he was pleased to see them mixed up rather than arranged by house) Rhodri cleared his throat and began to speak in his normal friendly but very firm voice. "Welcome to Hogwarts everybody. I've asked you to assemble this morning so I can go over the school rules and let you know what Hogwarts expects of you. You might think that this is a superflous waste of time but I think it necessary. You come from widely varying background and this school is all you have in common; therefore the rules the school sets, and the behaviour we expect, is the foundation of your friendships with each other".

He paused for a moment and then started to speak again, in a softer tone this time. "At the Ministry of Magic in London, there is a book that records the birth of every magical child in Britain. And on their eleventh birthday, every child whose name is in the book recieves an invitation to this school. Every child. It doesn't matter how rich you are, what your parents do, how many generations of magical blood you have - all of you are equally worthy to come to this school and study magic"

He paused to let this pronouncement sink in, hoping it would. God help the Hogwarts student Rhodri heard using the word mudblood.

[Luka Chancery]

Luka chewed slowly, as though he were served a feast like this every morning. Last night had been a shock; more food than he had ever seen in his life. But Luka would rather have died than let that show.
As breakfast ended, the left-over food vanished as though it had never been. Luka shivered. It would take some time to get used to all this magic... and it was worrying not to know just what the magic could do. Was anything possible, with the right spell? Could people read thoughts, see through pockets...? That last question was important because Luka's pale, slender hands had stolen toast and sweet muffins from the table. He meant to wrap them and send them by owl to the others back in London. He hated the idea that here was he with mountains of food while Hero might be going hungry.

His dreamy eyes sharpened as several benches appered at the front of the hall. Where had they come from? Had the been moved from another part of the castle or created out of thin air? Had it been difficult? The head Professor showed no sign of strain...
Luka was one of the last to find a seat and hear the rules. His eyes clouded over as the Professor began to speak. Anyone watching his ivory face would have thought him a million miles away. But Luka was listening, storing everything deep in his memory, musing over every statement. It was interesting to know that the Ministry of Magic (whoever they were) had known he was a wizard as soon as he'd been born. What name did they have him under? He had been named 'Luka Chancery' when he was three... maybe they'd just written 'boy'. And did the Professor really think they were all equal? He must be high-born, then. Only the rich said things like that. Luka could not believe that just because they were all magical, everyone thought themselves equal.

[Catnteris Scott]

As soon as the word rules was uttered by the Headmaster, Cat immeadiatly lost interest. It wasn't that he didn't respect rules, or found them unhelpful. It was the fact that with rules came rebellion. And sadly, Cat always got stuck in that category.

He didn't mean to break the rules. It just sort of...happened. When the rules were set down, boom. He had to go tear them apart. He was supposed to be home at nine, he got home at nine thirty. He was supposed to give Bronson half of what he found, and he only gave him a quarter. Simple things like that.

Rules were made to be broken. Maybe all the adults in the world had forgotten that, but Catnteris Scott would never forget.

However, Cat perked up as the Professor began speaking about a book in the Ministry of Magic and how it recorded every magical birth. Every child in the book got an invitation to the school, no matter where they came from, or who were their parents.

So...these people had known Catnteris Scott would be a wizard? That was brilliant magic right there! To see the future had to be amazing. Even though Cat lived with his Aunt Louisa, and had never even heard of magic, they knew he would be coming to Hogwarts.

Now that was something.

[Katrina Badica]

Katrina nibbled on a muffin slowly. The flavor exploded in her mouth and she hoped she would never get over how amazing the food was here. Still, too soon, it was time to gather near the headmaster for he had put out a notice for the first years. Katrina sat down and looked up patiently. If she and Amelia were to ever do buisness, they needed to know how the school worked and functioned. So here they came, the rules.

The headmaster started out saying that everyone was welcome at Hogwarts and for that Katrina was secretly thankful. Her own mother was a muggle. She knew how embarrassing it was to come from that- she couldn't even begin to imagine how muggle borns feel- and that would have only been worse if she had been denied from Hogwarts. People from all backgrounds were welcome. She hoped the same would still be true when Evelin came to school in a few years.

Katrina was a bit eager for this to wrap up however, because she had DADA class today. Least to say she was excited.

[Edwin Cooper]

It was difficult, almost against his nature, for Edwin to leave his plate with food still on it. Where he came from he ate every last bite and he was unaccustomed to leaving anything behind. Watching the food disappear, it made him wonder where it went and what was done with the leftovers. On that note, it also made him wonder where the food came from. It just appeared and then disappeared each day. Was it made with magic? Could he learn to do that too? Were there hungry people when food could be summoned with a flick of the wand? His thoughts were interrupted by the professor, however.

When he said that every magical student's name was recorded in a book, Edwin had to wonder whether or not his brother's name was already written there. Professor Penvellyn had said that sometimes muggle families produced only one wizard. So Jonathon could be either a muggle or a wizard and Edwin had no idea how to tell. He supposed that maybe they would have to wait until his eleventh birthday to know for sure. Edwin didn't know what he wanted though. Perhaps deep down he wanted Hogwarts to be just for himself. He cared deeply for Jonathon, of course, but Edwin was the one who had to work while Jonathon stayed home all day. Edwin knew that it wasn't his brother's fault, but it was difficult to not feel resentful of his younger brother.

Looking down at his worn, second hand robes and his ill-fitting and practically deteriorating shoes, it was difficult for Edwin to except that they were all equal. Most of the students who sat around him were the kind of people who got there shoes shined by the likes of Edwin. They were the kind of people who got their servants to push him out of the way were they to come across him in the street. No, Edwin certainly didn't feel equal to these people and, no matter what the headmaster said, he doubted that the others believed it either.

[Professor Llwellyn]

Once this important pronouncement had sunk in, at least as far as it was going to, the Headmaster cleared his throat and waved his wand. An enormous blackboard appeared at the front of the room. Rhodri tapped it once with his wand and a full list of the school rules appeared.

Students are to wash daily and bath at least once a week.
They are to use wizarding soap to ensure that they smell reasonable.
They are not to wear dirty clothes if this can be avoided.
They will blow their noses and spit only into handkerchiefs.
They will change their underwear, shirts and socks at least every two days; and their robes and trousers/skirts at least weekly.
They will wear school robes and shoes to breakfast and lunch on school days, to all lessons, and to feasts unless instructed otherwise.

Students may not employ house elves, muggles or adult wizards.
They must speak respectfully to all staff and prefects, on no account are they to attack staff or prefects.
During lessons students will remain silent unless instructed otherwise.
Students will attend all required lessons and will arrive on time.
They may not steal or deliberately damage school property.

Students should treat each other with respect, they may not curse, hex or otherwise attack each other.
They may not take each other's property without permission, nor deliberately damage it.
Bullying is forbidden.

Students may not enter the forbidden forest, nor the dormitories of other houses,nor the dormitories of the opposite sex, nor any area from which they are banned.
They may not leave their house areas between 11pm and 6am except to attend astronomy lessons, in an emergency, or on the orders of a staff member.
They are not to cause disruption or inconvenience, this includes the use of magic in corridors or against fellow students.
Boys and girls shall not be within 8 inches of each other.
Students suffering any kind of injury are required to present themselves at the hospital wing.

Students must use cutlery to eat, and must not eat with their mouths open or talk whilst eating.
The table cloth is to cover the table, students may not blow their noses on it, clean their cutlery on it, or otherwise use it as personal linen.
Students are not allowed to lick their plates.
School linen is not to be appropriated by students.
.

Stiffling a smirk he turned to the students. "Now I don't know what rules you lived by previously, but at this school you will live by our rules. Firstly- personal hygeine. As I hope you discovered yesterday there are plenty of bathrooms, we expect you to use them. Your clothes will be washed for you, take advantage of this. There are many circumstances in which people cannot be clean and pleasently fragranced, those circumstances are not to be found at Hogwarts.

Your behave should live up to your surroundings. This is a school not a pigsty - you will use cutlery and demonstrate good table manners. This year you will take lessons in wizarding etiquette.

At the same time, we expect you to look after your property and other people's. The fact that things can be fixed with magic, or replaced, is no reason to neglect or destroy them. "

[Luka Chancery]

The glazed look in Luka's eyes had not changed. He gazed at the blackboard as though he saw right through it, though really he was storing each and every rule in his mind. Not that he meant to always keep them... he would break them without a moments thought, if he needed too.
In fact, it seemed that he had broken three already.

They will blow their noses and spit only into handkerchiefs - that morning he had spat at the feet of a boy who called him a guttersnipe.
They may not leave their house areas between 11pm and 6am except to attend astronomy lessons, in an emergency, or on the orders of a staff member - last night he had left house, just to see if there would be some kind of magical alarm, found that there wasn't and gone back to bed.
They may not steal or deliberately damage school property - the stolen muffins were still warm in his pockets...

Oh well. Luka gave the softest of sighs. He may as well start as he meant to go on.

[Mortimer Ogren]

'Yes, little twerps,' Mortimer thought as the words of the Headmaster sounded through the Great Hall. 'And I'll be watching that you stick to those rules,' he grinned, an unpleasant grin, that would have been an audible chuckle if he had dared to annoy the Headmaster while talking.

Of course, the first chance he got, he would loftily repeat back the rules to any student who thought they were above such mundane discipline and stick them in detention to boot. The school might not be a pigsty, he certainly HAD a pigsty. One he hated to clean himself. His eyes peered at the first years for likely victims. Who was that boy with the vacant gaze in his eyes? Was anyone swallowing nervous already? Mortimer squinted and kept peering at the first years, memorizing their faces like only he could.

[Mary Lynn Wilkins]

Mary listened attentively to the instructions that the headmaster was giving, for the most part they appeared to be common courtesy and cleanliness. Neither of which were any problem for her as she had been brought up to be well mannered, and as for cleanliness; suffice to say if you lived in a farm and didn't wash at least once a day it was more than noticeable. All-over bathing may only happen once or twice a week but she was required to keep herself clean and wash her hands regularly, especially before meals.

She sat quietly as the professor wrote the notes on the blackboard and neatly committed them to parchment with her own quill and ink. There were a couple of points she wanted to raise though, so once she had finished writing she decided to write them with the professor. "Sir" she asked in a gentle voice, raising her hand as she did so "if you don't mind me asking.. that rule about boys and gels keeping their distance, does it also apply to siblings?" She could understand that the rule might be there to prevent inappropriate kissing and other such acts but what about the casual affection and support that was shared between brothers and sisters? Was she not even able to hug Joe if he was upset or needed comfort?

There was something else she didn't quite understand either, if the names of magical students were recorded on their 11th bithday, why then was she included. Her own talents, as far as she knew did not show up until sometime during the summer when her birthday had already passed. Had something already happened that the quill had overlooked somehow or was there some kind of contingency list? "Oh, and you say sir that names are recorded on a child's eleventh birthday" she continued "but as far as I am aware I didn't do anything out of the ordinary until Joe was back from school during the summer, and I was 11 years old at the time." She hoped that the professor wouldn't mind her asking questions, but she had done so politely and shouldn't education be like a two-way street?

[Professor Llwellyn]

He smiled as a girl in Hufflepuff robes raised her hand to ask a question, at least one of them was awake and paying attention. "It is a rule designed to prevent inappropriate contact between male and female students. Contact between siblings, or even friends, is not necessarily inappropriate; in the right places and for the right reasons it is quite the reverse."

Her second question was more torubling, he was surprised she had asked it, made such an open statement of her own lack of magical potentcy. He could imagine himself as an eleven year old, sneering at a girl who had only recently shown any form of magical ability. "Magic, and this is something you should all remember, does not always make itself obvious. Not everyone shows their abilities in the same way. There are many quirks of timing and variations in ability, but rest assured all of you are here because you have the necessary ability."

He cleared his throat "now then our other rules are to do with safety and respect for other people. There will be no toleration of bullying and those of you who have met Mr Ogren will have an idea of how mischief makers are dealt with. Self discipline is an essential characteristic of wizards, not just in how you use magic but also in how you treat your surroundings and other people".

Lecture over he smiled at them "now unless anyone has any further questions you may all leave. Your have nearly half an hour to find your way to your frrst lessons and once there to talk quietly until your teacher arrives"

[Professor Llwellyn]

Thread closed and points awarded.