[center][color=#addfad][h2]Piper Ward[/h2][/color]

Interactions: [@josephb] Elliot (sort of), [@Royaletutor59] Lara[hr][/center]

Piper chatted most of the beginning of the train ride, but her enthusiasm wore off slowly as her poor previous night's sleep begun catching up on her. There wasn't anything all that eventful that happened during the ride; Elliot the Gryffindor was a man of his word and gave Piper his chocolate frog card. Piper bought a bit of sweets herself, too, since she knew it would be a while before she'd have the chance of buying more from Hogsmeade. They wouldn't have any time stopping by at Honeyduke's when they reached the station. None of the cards Piper got were new, they were all duplicates. Elliot's card had yet to show up at all, so Piper wasn't sure of it yet. She was grateful either way, remembering to thank the boy and giving him a flashy [i]"if this turns out to be the one to complete my collection, I owe you one."[/i]
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The rest of the way went by Piper like an old film; she already knew the drill, and really, the train ride got quickly boring after the excitement of catching up with friends wore off. So, it really was a relief when the train finally stopped and all the students all but rushed out of the train, eager to get out of the moving vehicle and into the next one. Piper herself occupied that odd space between wanting to be the first person out and finding the people who were too impatient to wait for their own turn extremely bothersome and annoying. She stayed to make sure Halle, Jax and the other people of her compartment got out without getting pushed into the mass of people who tried to rush outside as soon as possible. The narrow aisles weren't made for this magnitude of people, Piper thought with a sigh.
Only a sleeping Damian was left behind in the cart, something which Piper thought was kind of funny. No one had seemed to bother to wake him up in the hurry, but Piper felt like it wasn't really her job either, since there were better friends of Damien's in the compartment than her.

The usual groggy rush of students awaited Piper on the platform. From somewhere further off, she could hear Hagrid's familiar voice roaring above everyone else, instructing first years to follow him. The others, of course, would be transported by the invisible carriers, as usual. Piper had managed to lost sight of some of the people in her comparment. With a curse under her breath, she tried to look for her friends, but only found the Gryffindor that had generously given her his chocolate frog cards. Piper gave a quick smile before trying to find Halle with her gaze. Or even Jaxon, for crying out loud. But there were too many people on the platform, all scrambling to get to the carriages first. Piper sighed, making a mental note to find her two closest friends as soon as the feast was over.
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As Piper approached the carriages, she walked further ahead to find more of the empty carriages. Most of the people had picked the very first carriages to sit on, naturally, not wanting to walk further. Down the road were the first carriages of the line. She could only see one girl next to a carriage, petting thin air. Piper frowned, quite puzzled by the Ravenclaw's actions. Why wasn't she on the carriage, and why was she patting the air and speaking fondly to it? Was there something Piper was missing?
Piper glanced at Elliot briefly with a questioning look before approaching the carriage.
[color=#addfad]"Whatcha doing?"[/color] Piper asked curiously as she reached the carriage, mounting it. The Ravenclaw looked vaguely familiar; she was on her year, for sure. But Piper couldn't put a name to the face. She was really pretty, but not someone to really stand out of a crowd. Despite what one might think, Piper's words held no snark, only slight amused curiosity. I guess she was thinking the girl just had a rather wild imagination or something. That, or she had a few bolts loose in there.
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Hogwarts looked as glorious as ever. Glorious, and old. Piper chuckled at her own thought as she climbed the stairs of the main hallway in time with other students, marvelling at the fact of how good it was to be back. Sort of bittersweet, really. On one hand Piper had had the most boring summer, but on the other hand being at Hogwarts meant another year of merciless studying to appease all the expectations placed on her. This year was the year for OWLs, too. Piper shivered at the thought.

The Great Hall looked as great as ever. The tables were filled with beautiful tableware and the candlelit sky had the familiar illusion of a glorious nightsky. The tables were swarming with people, the flock of nervous first years yet to arrive. The ceremony would begin soon.
Piper gave a wistful glance at the Hufflepuff table. She used to look at the Hufflepuff table and wish with all her heart she wore those robes with yellow etchings instead of green. Those had been sad times for her, feeling like her whole self was being torn apart. Who she thought she was.
Now she looked at the table for an entirely different reason, however. She was looking for a sight of Halle, with no luck, unfortunately. Nowadays she was proud of being Slytherin, more at peace with who she was. It had taken her a long time and she still wasn't quite there yet, but at least now she could accept that the Sorting Hat had made its choice and it must've known what was the right call.
Sitting down in the Slytherin table, Piper settled on waiting for the ceremony to begin. Not with a sense of joy, but with a sense of slight unnerve and dread. It never failed to ruin her mood to see all the first years, many of which were already whispering so loudly about their absolute fears of ending up in the house Piper herself was in. At the same time it reminded her of her younger self, and the fact that the prejudices for house Slytherin were strong as ever.
Piper rest her cheek on her hand, looking at the illusion of the nightsky above them.
Okay, maybe she wasn't all okay with the house she was in, even after all these years. Sure, her years spent in the house of snakes had shaped who Piper was now, but looking at many of her fellow housemates... Piper couldn't help but feel ashamed and disappoined. Many in her house had a very strict pureblood mindset. Others were infamous for being the worst bullies of the school. Some, like Piper, were simply ambitious and determined beyond their peers. It was still that you only needed a few rotten apples to ruin the whole batch. Maybe Piper hadn't glanced at the Hufflepuff table just because she was on the look for her friend - she had also looked for what she didn't get.