Snippet #1980418

Braelyn listened respectfully while Headmaster Rockwell gave his welcome speech, although her mind was elsewhere. It was always the same, short, to-the point "behave yourselves and listen to the teachers" speech anyway. She was much more interested in catching up with the people she had been away from all summer. She had only what seemed like a very short ship ride to the island to see Bliss so far, and that wasn't nearly enough time to catch up on what all they missed in each others' lived during the summer. Braelyn sighed. This was one of those times she really wished she and her best friend were in the same house, so that they could be at the same table now to talk.

When the Headmaster was done speaking, she looked around at those in her house, and it suddenly struck her: This was the last beginning of the year feast she would be attending at Magus Grex, and the last year she would be spending with a majority of the people here. As she looked around at them, she noticed Finn smile at her from a few seats down. Her heart picked up a beat as she smiled back and gave a little wave, then looked quickly away as her cheeks grew a little warm.

Luckily, Georgie was sitting just across from her and she could talk to her for a moment and play it off as if she was excited to be talking to a friend she hadn't seen in a while. "So, how was your summer?" she asked her almost a little too cheerfully. "Did you do anything fun?"

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Micah barely listened to the speech at all, his attention momentarily fixed on a very attractive young woman who apparently was a new professor at Magus Grex. He wondered what she would be teaching and scanned the row of faculty, looking for what previous teacher was missing, coming to the conclusion that she must me the new History of Magic Professor. Hmm. Not one of Micah's best subjects, but he had a feeling that he would be able to pay a little more attention in class this year.

His attention was drawn away from the new professor when the speech ended and chatter rose up around him as people were greeting each other and talking about the summers and plans for this year. He began discussing Quodpot with some of his teammates, but his ever-shortening attention span didn't stay there for too long.

He had become aware that Rose, sitting just next to him, was staring at Emerson, again. He wondered if she even realized she did that so often. Why was that? Was she one of those people that gets weirded out by homosexuality? No, it wasn't exactly that kind of wary, uncomfortable glance. It seemed more like she was admiring him. Now, that thought made Micah uncomfortable. Surely she was aware of Emerson's orientation; it's not exactly like he's kept it a secret or anything.

He decided to draw her focus away from his friend, whatever the reason for it. "So, Rose," he said, giving her a warm smile. "It's good to see you. I hope you had a good summer. Read any good books lately? I brought a few back from my parents' shop back home, if you're interested in some extra reading material. You seem to go through it pretty quickly."