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It seemed like the moment that Rory had made up his mind to leave the room, he was bombarded by the sudden arrival of others, inexorably pushing him further into the room and leaving him momentarily stunned. His feeling of being completely and utterly out of place was only getting worse as names of Professors and magical subjects and textbooks were tossed around him casually, as if the existence of magic wasn't an incredible, unreal, and constantly confusing thing. He, Rory, who had been perfectly comfortable in his reputation as the likable boy who always had something fun and exciting to say, was left drawing a complete blank as to what could possibly impress or interest the incredibly fascinating people now swirling around him. He did know one thing, though, and that was that he desperately wanted to make a good impression in front of these people. Right now, that meant holding off and being patient. His father had always said that you couldn't take back first impressions, and Rory was pretty sure he'd already partly bunged his up; might as well cut his losses and look for a chance to make amends later. First, he'd stick his nose in a book and read up on what he needed to know in order to follow the conversations going on around him.

Rory was saved from his brief stint in the spotlight by the arrival of a boy who spoke less-comprehensibly than some of his father's friends, and made to slip out as a result. However, as he turned toward the door he came face to face with a fellow Slytherin, ruining his short-lived and uncharacteristic bid for anonymity. She glanced him up and down, and Rory suddenly felt a little bit sick. He totally hadn't planned for any of this! But, then again, she didn't look hostile, so Rory managed to find the small optimistic part of his mind that wasn't freaking out and took control of his limbs so he could get out of her way.

[color=#fe354a]"You are zat ozzer one... [i]Rory.[/i]"[/color] Rory found himself nodding, his eyes fixedly on a point behind the girl's head as he tried to think of something clever to say. Something about her accent, maybe? But no, couldn't she take that the wrong way? And then, the brief moment was over and she moved on with a quiet greeting and Rory was left feeling decidedly out of place once more. He had no trouble talking to girls, or anyone else, back in Glasgow! He needed to say something... anything, to this... girl? Oh. Right. Her name. It must have been said at the sorting ceremony, but Rory could barely remember anything from that night. Everything had been so wild and unexpected. He took a step forward, his mouth opening as he rallied his courage to speak to his unknown house-mate.

[color=#fe354a]"Why are you leaving? Is zis somezing private?"[/color] ... Rory was absolutely one-step behind this conversation, he decided, coming up blank once more as he at least managed to move out of the doorway and into the room, moving over to stand near his house-mate while shaking his head. Finally, he managed to get an answer out of his sticky and dry mouth.

[color=lightslategray]“I was... I didn't know if anyone I knew was here. From Slytherin, I mean. I don't really know what's going on, yeh. I was just going for a walk and ended up here.”[/color] Rory tried to smile, hoping that he could reasonably conceal his slowly decreasing discomfort. This seemed to satisfy the girl, as she nodded and turned to face the rest of the group, her following question echoing Rory'sown.

[color=#fe354a]"May I ask what it is everyone is even doing gazzered 'ere?"[/color] Rory glanced around the room, taking in the various students gathered here. Nothing obvious seemed to tie the students here together except for the large amounts of textbooks scattered around the room. That would seem to imply studying or academics back home, but this being magic Rory wasn't sure if he'd accidentally stumbled into the first meeting of the Dragon Appreciation Society instead.

… and he still didn't know the name of the only person he recognized in the room! This was not an auspicious start to the semester.