First years (continued) on Pecari Commons

Professor Connell

September 11, 2007 5:05 PM

First years (continued) by Professor Connell

Once outside, it didn’t take Marian very long to reach the suit of armor that guarded the common room. The entrance being near the beginning of the labyrinth probably was no coincidence. It was rather silly to have a commons that took too much effort to get into; although Teppenpaw’s rather comical method of entering belied that logic.

She turned to face the assembled first years, doing a quick head check to make sure that she still had all the ones she’d started off with (she did), then began the first part of the traditional spiel. “My name is Professor Connell, and I am the Pecari head of house, as well as the potions teacher. This suit of armor is the primary entrance to the Pecari common room. To get in, give the armor the current password, which will change periodically, but should always be posted on the bulletin board inside. The first password of the term is non-explodable luminous balloon.”

At her last words, the armor moved aside just far enough to let them in, closing once all had entered. She gestured the first years towards the unoccupied seats, then continued. “Under no circumstance will you tell the password to a member of another house, or explain to them how to get into the common room. Likewise, none of you are to ask any of your friends in Aladren, Teppenpaw, or Crotalus that. It is knowledge meant for those who are in the house, and only them.

“If you couldn’t guess already, this is the Pecari common room. You may be in here any time when you do not have a class to relax, talk, work on homework, or anything of that ilk. You must be in the common room or in your dorm by 10 o’clock every night, no exceptions. In addition to being a hang-out, the common room also is the place where important messages and announcements are put out.

“On that subject, as while I know those of you with siblings in older years would be expecting to try out for the Pecari quidditch team, regulations have been changed so that first years are not allowed onto the team. Not a decision of mine,” she held up her hands helplessly, “So, though I know that some of you will be disappointed, there’s no use complaining about it to me, as there’s nothing I can do. I also wouldn’t suggest you bother Coach Fox, as she’s…less than likely to receive it well.” While Marian didn’t wish to speak ill of a fellow faculty member, she also wouldn’t consider it fair to the first years to not warn them. Fox was rather infamous for her temper, after all. “However, just for future reference, the Pecari co-captains are Sorrel and Ash Craven, both sixth years.

She turned towards the back of the congregation area. “You go up the stairway back there to get to a hallway that leads to the dormitories, boys’ on the left, girls’ on the right. Generally, you will not be allowed down the wrong hallway, although there are occasionally a few that slip by the system. I wouldn’t suggest trying it, though.”

Almost all of her speech done with, she turned back to face the new students one last time. “Now, my office is through that door that,” she gestured appropriately, “and, if you have any concerns, please feel free to knock at any time. If I don’t have a class, generally I will be in there. If I am not, you can slide a note under the door. Other people to see if you have questions would be Mia Kerova or Connor Pierce, the Pecari prefects. Now, with rules and such out of the way, are there any questions?”

0 Professor Connell First years (continued) 0 Professor Connell 1 5

Holly Greer

September 12, 2007 1:58 PM

A Query by Holly Greer

Holly had left her new friends when the Heads of Houses began to separate the new students by House. Pecari had been the house Chelsea had named for the brown-skinned kids, so it was toward the woman calling that name that Holly now followed. She saw another group heading deeper into the school, but the lady who was in charge of their group led them outside, which was fine in Southern California, but would the weather in Arizona be as consistently pleasant as it was back home? Holly rather doubted it.

Though, come to think of it, the Gardens were greener than most of Southern California, so she could be wrong.

The stopped in front of a suit of armor - which, Holly had to admit, was pretty sweet. Castles had suits of armor. And the Hedge Maze was pretty much right out of the Red Queen's courtyard in Alice in Wonderland, so Holly couldn't fault that either.

The password, however, needed work. What was a non-explodable luminous balloon, anyway? It sounded ridiculous and was made worse by the need to say it aloud to the inanimate suit of armor. Well, inanimate except for when it stepped aside. Holly barely managed to keep from shrieking again.

Carefully edging through the revealed entrance and keeping as far from the half-alive suit of armor as possible, Holly dashed for one of the couches on the far side of the room as soon as she was past the threshold.

While the woman now introduced as Professor Connell continued speaking, Holly trembled in her chair, stealing looks back toward the entrance, but it was closed now and the suit of armor could no longer be seen. Holly knew it was still there, though. Waiting.

Holly glanced toward the girls corridor when it was mentioned as well as the teacher's office door, but she found a fair portion of the speech did not apply to her. Or, at least, she had no idea what the woman was on about with 'Quidditch' and 'flying'. Also, the last time she'd been up past 9:00 had been last New Years and she'd only made it until 10:30. A ten o'clock curfew was not going to be a problem.

When the teacher asked for questions, Holly's hand rose into the air because there was one subject dear to her heart and she just had to know, "Are there any horses available for riding here?"

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Professor Connell

September 15, 2007 5:50 PM

A reply by Professor Connell

Marian Connell had heard some rather interesting questions in her six years of being the Pecari head of house, but somehow the students, particularly the first years, kept coming up with new ones. However, this animal-related question at least wasn’t bad as the time a first year had asked about dinosaurs. No sense, sometimes.

She glanced at the girl, who had looked rather unsettled the entire time, poor thing. Muggleborn, she suspected. While most of them seemed to settle in alright, there were always some that didn’t take having no idea what was going on well. So as not to upset the first year any more than necessary, despite the negative answer to her question, she smiled gently at the girl. “No, I’m sorry, Miss…” she let the question dangle. “Unfortunately, horses are not one of the things one would find around Sonora.”

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Ronen Cooper

September 16, 2007 3:07 AM

Another question by Ronen Cooper

This. Was. So. Cool.

Ronen had been waiting for this day ever since he knew what Sonora was. Ever since he knew what a wizard was. Before he could walk, even. He was in Sonora, and even better, he was in Pecari – the Cooper family house. Everyone would be so proud of him, and he would finally get to see the scene of so many family stories he’d been told. Ronen did feel bad that his cousin Zane wasn’t in the same house as him, they could have been roomies. But where could he have gone? Certainly not Aladren or Teppenpaw. A Cooper in Crotalus? Ridiculous, unheard of! Ronen laughed at the thought, certainly his cousin couldn’t be in that house.

Ronen only half paid attention to Professor Connell’s talk, he was too busy being in awe of the common room. Sure, it was no palace, but this was like a fairytale place. Some kids heard about made up places, but the stories he had been told had to do with Sonora and Pecari. And he had only tripped three times on the way here!

And then he caught the word Quidditch. Inborn Cooper instincts caused him to pay the utmost attention immediately. The professor went on to say that first years were not allowed to play.

Yes!

It may seem strange that someone who enjoyed Quidditch as much as Ronen did would be glad to be banned from playing Quidditch. The truth of the matter was that for Ronen, enjoying Quidditch and enjoying playing Quidditch were two different matters entirely. He was much too clumsy to actually play Quidditch; at least, he thought so. If he tried, he’d only end up making a total fool of himself. People would make fun of him, and it wouldn’t be fun.

Of course, his cousins didn’t get that. Ronen knew Law meant well when his older cousin said that it wasn’t about being the best, as long as you had fun. And Zane couldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to play Quidditch, practice Quidditch for hours, and basically live and breathe Quidditch for all their lives. Ronen didn’t want to have to explain to them why he wouldn’t be signing up for the Quidditch team. And now he had a year to think of an answer.

But the olive-skinned boy knew he couldn’t put off an explanation forever. He had to think of an excuse, an excellent excuse that kept him from playing Quidditch, and that nobody would question.

But what would keep him busy during every Quidditch game, without keeping him from missing every Quidditch game? How could he observe without being forced to join in, too?

Brown eyes lit up – eureka!

He raised his hand eagerly, putting it down when he was called upon, “Hey, I’m Ronen, Ronen Cooper. I was just wondering, do you guys have any doing the commentating at Quidditch games? You know, play-by-play, announcing the players, stuff like that. Could I do that?”

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