DH Skies
July 06, 2019 12:22 AM
Head of House Speech by DH Skies
Decades flew by fast at Selina’s age. It was interesting watching the new arrivals and knowing that, in just eleven years, her own grand-daughter would be here. It seemed impossible now, looking at Araminta, but then she looked back on photos of her as a newborn and already she had changed so much. That was what babies did, of course, but Selina was confident that every other year between now and her joining Sonora was going to slip by just as fast.As the feast ended, the professor made her way over to Crotalus table, wondering what her students saw. She was not the prototypical grandmother with little grey curls - Selina took pride in her appearance, and still sported glowing blonde hair which fell to her shoulders. There was no doubt, both by her figure and the lines of her face though, that she was middle-aged. She was capable of looking soft and friendly, a mode which she deployed now for the benefit of their new arrivals, although should any of them cross her, they would find she could switch to firm very quickly, and most of them wouldn’t try it a second time.
“First years, over here please,” she called, gathering them together, “My name is Professor Skies, and I am your Head of House. We are now going to make our way up to Crotalus. As we go, I will point out some useful landmarks so that you can find your way down to breakfast in the morning, though of course you can ask your housemates for help if you are unsure,” at least, she hoped that was true. Crotalus attracted both those who were too timid to put a toe out of line and those who felt that the world had a distinct pecking order and that they were at the top of it. Some of the students might not have been the most helpful therefore, especially if the new students weren’t from families ‘worth helping.’ Still, she hoped that allowing a first year to follow them to the hall wasn’t beyond even the worst cases. “Your house prefects are Peyton O’Malley, Cleo James and Victor Callahan,” she pointed each of them out. As the older students had arrived earlier in the day, they no longer had to trail her and the first years to get the password, and so perhaps might go ahead of their meandering pace and not be identifiable in the Common Room when they got there. She led the first years, along with anyone who hadn’t bothered to come to her for the password earlier in the day, out of the hall, pointing out useful landmarks as they made their way to Crotalus.
“Around the next corner is a portrait named Gunther. He is a re-animated corpse, which some people find rather disturbing,” she stated, as matter of factly as if she was discussing the weather. “He is the guardian to the Crotalus Common Room, so I would ask that you speak politely in front of him.” She was never sure how much Gunther understood beyond the passwords, but she felt it prudent not to annoy the inferus portrait that determined whether they were able to get inside or not. Besides which, instilling common courtesy was never a bad plan. “As you may have noticed, portraits here move, and they can wander between each other’s frames. However, they cannot come out of their frames into our world or hurt you in any way,” she added, having been reminded by Jessica’s parents last year that this was not entirely normal for everyone. That was a part she had known in theory, but the implications of that, and the misinformed conclusions they might draw were something she hadn’t always considered.
“Here we are,” she added, as they reached the portrait, “The password for this month will be Phoenix Feather,” she informed them. She had tried to choose something that would be familiar and memorable enough even if there were Muggleborns, but without being a word that was likely to be being uttered casually in the corridors. At these words, the portrait swung open, revealing a much more friendly looking room, covered in deep reds, and where velvet was a dominant fabric choice.
“Welcome to Crotalus,” she smiled, once they were all inside, “Some practicalities - passwords change monthly and are displayed on the notice board, alongside information about clubs. Quidditch is currently played as a whole school team, and notices about that are most likely to appear in Cascade Hall. Curfew is at ten and you are required to be back in the common room by then, and keep the noise down after that time. Girls dormitories are on the right and boys are on the left. If you get it wrong, the corridor will throw you back into the common room, not particularly gently.
“Houses represent your family here at school. This is the place you come back to for peace and quiet, to rest, and where you get to make yourself feel at home. Like any family, not everyone is going to get on perfectly with everyone else. However, every member of this house has as much right to enjoy the space quietly and peacefully as every other. You should all try to get along. When you find someone you cannot get along with, you still need to respect them.
“If you have any questions, you may come to me or any of the prefects I pointed out to you earlier. Does anyone have any questions now?” she asked.
OOC - welcome to Crotalus. You are now free to post on any board except other houses and the staff/prefect lounge. You may continue your threads at the feast as well as posting here. This does not mean your character is in two places at once, as we operate under fuzzy time, whereby the time passing in the real world is not the same as Sonora - so long as threads are set at different times and do not have an effect on each other, you can be in multiple threads at once. You are not obliged to reply to this post but may do so if your character had questions to ask. Enjoy!
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