The Hufflepuff Table

[Professor Albus Dumbledore]

For conversations on the Hufflepuff table that happen after The Sorting.

[bella]

[[Re-posted from "The Start of the Year Feast"]]


Bella, out of pure boredum, now began to braid a bit of her hair, sighing has she watched the hairs intertwine. Where was everyone? She’d been about to give up hope and take a nap as it seemed to be taking so long (maybe it was just her hunger getting to her) when she heard a bench next to her being pulling out and the distinct sound of another sitting down.

Bella looked up and saw that at long last another Hufflepuff girl had sat down. Gratefully, she immediately went into a talking frenzy:

“Hey, I’m Isabella Swan. But call me Bella, if you call me Isabella I’ll hurt you. Although normally I’m not a very violent person, don’t worry.” She laughed to herself. “So, finally back at Hogwarts? I’m so happy. I hate summer, I prefer the school term much better. How about you? What do you like better?”

Bella finally closed her mouth after her nearly breathless speech and felt her cheeks blush slightly. She had that tendency to babble a lot, but she was just so happy to have someone to talk to. Since the train ride, she’d been solo.

But of course, the moment she had someone to talk to, the Headmaster stood as the Great Hall filled and began to speak. Her stomach grumbled as she waited for him to finish, though absorbing every word. And then, dig in! She gladly did so.

[Anette Baker]

Taken aback at the sudden greeting, Anette hesitated for a second but seemed to recover quickly. Her previous deer-in-the-headlights look was replaced with a warm smile and a slight blush.

"I hear you, I promise I'll call you Bella." Her smile turned into an all-out grin, "One of my best friends is named Adeline, but she would go nuts if anyone called her that." Anette paused before continuing, "My name's Anette. You can call me that or Anne or just something sounding like my name. It really doesn't matter that much to me. It's my- well, my first and last year here at Hogwarts... I'm not really sure what to expect, you know? It's a totally new place for me, and nothing at all like my old school. I already miss my friends..."

As Anette got to the end of her short monologue, her voice began to give out, getting softer as she went along as her grin faded. She hardly even noticed until she had finished speaking. Her face didn't seem to change, but in her mind she was rolling her eyes.

Great Anette, this is just what you need. Let's get everyone to pity the new girl, right? Get it together...

Returning the grin to her face, she gave Bella an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for just spouting off my own little sob story. I'm not usually this emotional, it's just been a hard time for me lately... A lot of changes all at once, you know?" Anette paused for a second. "What was your other question? Oh- school term or summer! I've gotta say, I like the school term better. During the summer I just run out of things to do, and it gets boring doing nothing for a while. During the school term at least you're busy." She laughed, a throaty chuckle, "Though, I'm sure I'll be thinking otherwise halfway into the first week of term."

Anette shifted in her seat and gave Bella a mischievous grin. "So, what are the guys like here?"

[bella]

Bella grinned back: “Well, I’m glad we got that covered,” she managed to reply before Annette began telling her of how sad she was to move, how she missed her friends, that it was here first and last year of Hogwarts – Bella couldn’t image such; she loved Hogwarts so much. As far as she was concerned, Hogwarts was her home. A pain of sadness gripped her when she realized she only had two more left.

“I'm sorry for just spouting off my own little sob story. I’m not usually this emotional, it’s just been a hard time for me lately... A lot of changes all at once, you know?” Maybe it was embedded into ever girl, but Bella believed she’d found someone who could accidentally ramble more so then herself. She smiled, shaking her head. “It’s alright.”

However, at the question of boys not only did her mind begin working instantly on just “how are the boys here?” her mouth did too: “Honestly, girl to girl? The selection isn’t wide. You’ve got the Gryffindor’s over there,” she said, pointing vaguely, “and most of them are arrogant around over boys but they seem to get girls aren’t into that.

“Then there’s Ravenclaw boys, and they’re good. I’ve dated one once, but that’s besides the point. I only dumped him because he seemed to not understand that just because you’re put in Ravenclaw does not mean you’re automatically the smartest person in school.

“Hufflepuff’s alright too, but I personally don’t like a man that won’t take charge. They’re all softies, which sometimes is cute but other times annoying. I say give it a few years and they’ll grow out of it.

“Alright, and then there’s Slytherins…” A bit of annoyance etched into her tone. “They’re arrogant and don’t worry about if it offends girls or not. I know not all of them can be that bad, but the one’s I’ve met have been.” She cast an angry glace towards the Slytherin’s table.

[Anette Baker]

Anette gave Bella a wide, toothy smile, her eyes sparkling mischievously. Boys were by far her favorite subject... It didn't matter if she was complaining about them or raving about their good qualities, Anette just liked to talk about them. But really, what girl didn't? She couldn't a remember a time when she was hanging out with her best friends when they didn't talk about boys at least half the night...

"That doesn't sound so bad," Anette shrugged, grinning at Bella's comment on Hufflepuff boys, "though I feel the same way about guys who won't take charge. I'd much rather have a guy who's arrogant than timid. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I want a guy to act like a guy, you know?"

Annette began to trace the grooves in the wooden table once more, glancing at the Slytherin table out of the corner of her eye. She wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but she suffered from the common female ailment of going weak at the knees for "bad boys". Plus, they were just so much more fun to flirt with, since there was that "forbidden" thing going on too.

She shook her head slightly and forced herself to look back at the Gryffindor table. It looked as if it was more crowded than the other tables, but perhaps that was just her imagination. There were certainly some attractive boys at that table, but whether they were taken or not was certainly a question to be asked. Just, not now. She'd figure it out soon enough...

Stop drooling, She told herself firmly, they probably already have ladies, and even if they didn't, they won't just come running for the new girl. Especially when she's an emotional wreck... But how on earth am I going to meet any guys?

"Bella," Anette asked, more timidly than usual, "do you have any idea what we're doing after the feast?"

[bella]

Bella watched Anna’s reaction to her long-winded speech about the boys at Hogwarts, following her gaze as it drifted throughout the Hall. She found it, well, not “funny” per say, but for lack of a better word: she found it “funny” that Anne had similar taste in boys. It was as if due to their one ounce of similarity that they were forever bonded, as cheesy at it sounded.

At the comment of what they’d be doing concluding the feast, she was sad to see the topic of boys fade (but honestly, what else could one comment about the boys here at Hogwarts?). She racked her brain quickly and set it back on track, answering:

“Well, once the feast is up we get to divvy up to our Common Rooms.” It occurred to Bella Anne may not know exactly what “Common Rooms” were, and added quickly “Like, that’s where we live for the year. It’s basically just our dorm, living quarters, whatever,” she finished lamely with a sigh. “We’re gunna have to find a Prefect, I wonder who ours are this year…we need the password to get into the Common Room,” Bella added as an afterthought.


N.E.W. OCC: Should we call this thread "done"? Then Annette can be free as well (I hate having my characters in more then one place), since this one is in the Archives anyways?