Start of a new year at OHA! [Role Call until 3rd October 2010. All staff and students]

[Danielle Hale]

The year had flown past so quickly, a new round of first years entering Oasis Hill Academy for the first time and everyone else adjusts to being a year above the previous. It was far busier than Danielle could recall from the previous year, and her first return to Oasis Hill since having Matthew, he was such a little angel. Everyone was talking and laughing, she was surrounded by excited students of all ages. This was also the first year she would be without her Aunt Brooke and Professor Baker had resigned from his position as deputy headmaster. Dani had received a letter from them, saying they were just travelling around Amorcya Island. After Brooke's mother tried to interfere with Legs, arguing that she needed something better. Brooke took off with Professor Baker - it was still weird to call him 'Will', and had told Dani that she was pregnant. Matty would have an uncle or aunty younger than him - now that's complicated! Legs fortunately was with them, and Dani was happy for them. They were a cute little family.

Dani looked down at her stomach, it felt so empty. She had slowly regained her former body but it wasn't quite the same. Dani's head slid from left to right looking for her best friends in the whole world, Gabrielle Amorcya. They had somehow managed to get through the drama of the whole year and had probably grown up a little more too. She was her sons godmother, and without Alec at Oasis Hill, without Gabrielle and Michelle around this year would have been super weird. Danielle tried to ignore the looks from her year and the year below. Whether it was because she was still with Alec or if they actually knew she had a son, Dani didn’t care. Everyone was catching up with gossip and what had happened in the holidays but Dani couldn’t stop thinking about who was waiting for her at home.

A flash of blonde in the distance caught her eye, was that Gab—no that was just some fourth year. Danielle sighed and looked down at the plate in front of her. Silence fell over the students, causing Dani to find Headmaster Chapman standing to make his usual speech for the beginning of the year. “Welcome everyone! Staff and students alike, to a new year at Oasis Hill Academy. To the new students that have just arrived, I would like to say thank you for choosing how incredible institution. I hope you all look forward to an exciting new year at Oasis Hill, just like me. So, to a better new year than the last! Dig in!” Everyone clapped as the Headmaster sat down.

Danielle missed Alec already, who’d have thought after just a couple of hours, she was thinking of how long she had until she was home again. She began piling on some chicken and potatoes until she spotted a pair of twins at the Othello table. “Gabrielle! Michelle!!” She began to smile as she waved over in their direction. “Danielle?”

Dani frowned and looked around trying to find the source of the voice, a hand shot out. “Do I know you?” A small fifth year with bright red hair shook her head, “I just wanted to know if it was true?” Dani was even more confused.
“Know what? What’s your name anyway?” She folded her arms and peered at the girl suspiciously. Fifth years were always nosy and annoying. The girl shrugged, “Is it true that Alec Edwards is off the market now he has a kid?” She asked bluntly. Dani glared at her, “Considering we’ve been together two and a half years before my son was born, I would think he would have been ‘off the market’ long before ‘the kid’. Keep you’re nose out of other people’s business!” Danielle shook her head, fuming inside. How can someone come out and say something like that?!

Although, Dani had to admit, she wondered when something like this would happen. It’s just she wasn’t expecting it to be so…. soon. She could only wonder what more was to happen this year at Oasis Hill Academy.

[Michelle Amorcya]

Finally, the new school was starting. It had been one of the longest summer’s Michelle Amorcya had to go through. It was the longest, but one of the best. She wasn’t sure how to describe it. Her and her twin sister Gabrielle Amorcya made the decision early on to not leave the island this summer, so they could be there when their best friend Danielle Hale had her beautiful baby boy. She didn’t regret that. She loved being there for Dani, and she regretted the fact that she hadn’t been there right after the birth, but she had seen them the next day. Either way, not doing much this past summer made it really long and tiring. She was ready to get back to school. She was ready to graduate and get on with her life.

She had lost her sister in the chaos of everyone running around at first, but she quickly found her at the dinner table. She took her place Gabrielle and waited for Headmaster Chapman to start and finish his speech. It was always the same, welcome back, thank you to the new students, and dig in, yadda yadda. Once he finally finished she picked up her fork to start eating till she heard a familiar voice from across the room. ”Gabrielle! Michelle!” She looked up and waved back. She wanted to head over there now, but she knew that she couldn’t until after dinner had ended. She turned to her sister and nudged her. ”What do you think that fifth year is saying to Dani to make her so upset?” She frowned wanting to support her friend, but she knew it would have to wait right now. She stuffed her fork into her chicken and ate a big bite. ”At least the food hasn’t changed” There was enough change going on for the whole year, what with Jared and everyone else graduated. But Michelle knew better than to not expect more change. It was just beginning for her last year at Oasis Hill Academy.

[Gabrielle Amorcya]

Gabrielle did not regret not going on holidays. At least, that was what she was telling herself. The almost-seventeen year old had worked hard to make herself believe that staying on the island this summer had been the best thing. A part of her, of course, was disappointed. It was her last summer as a student of Oasis Hill Academy, and she hadn’t done anything to celebrate it. Gabrielle supposed the birth of her godson was celebration enough, and she’d spent almost every day with the baby, starting with the day he was born. In the few short weeks that he’d been in the world, Matty had grown so much, and Gabrielle just couldn’t believe it. Much to Alec and Dani’s protests, Gabrielle had taken a photo of Matty every day to document his growth. She’d decided to do it for the first year of his life, and she had plans to put all the photos into an album, and give it to Dani and Alec. Mostly because they wouldn’t do it themselves, no matter how often Gabrielle had pitched the idea to them.

Gabrielle had brought her stuff to the school the day before, and returned home to await the next day. Something about beginning the last year of their schooling had made Gabrielle less excited about the return. Gabrielle was sitting in her room in front of her mirror, dressed in her robes, which she had altered and decorated – something she did every year. She frowned lightly at herself as she ran a brush through her hair, running her fingers through the hair as she brushed it. She wasn’t sure how the school would react to her new image. The only people she’d seen over the summer were Michelle, Danielle, Alec and Kyle. Jared had caught glimpses of her, of course. Kyle had said he’d liked Gabrielle’s new hair and different makeup. Michelle hadn’t known how to respond to Gabrielle’s change. Alec hadn’t really commented, though Gabrielle supposed that had something to do with the fact that he had just had a child. Danielle had said she’d also liked Gabrielle’s change. Her parents had barely noticed. Her mother had made a comment about Gabrielle’s darker makeup, but Gabrielle had barely paid attention to it. And now she had to go and face the rest of the students at the school – all of whom were the judgemental type. Yay.

----

It hadn’t taken Gabrielle and Michelle long to get separated once they arrived at Oasis Hill. The students who had gotten there by boat were all scurrying around, trying to find their friends before they had to take their seats for dinner. Gabrielle had made her way straight to the Othello table. She wasn’t sure where Michelle had gone, but a few minutes after Gabrielle, Michelle had arrived at the table, sitting next to her sister. Gabrielle looked less excited than usual when Headmaster Chapman began his usual beginning of the year speech. She clapped along with the other students when he was done, and piled some food onto her plate. She had barely gotten a forkful of food into her mouth before she heard a familiar voice calling out to her and Michelle. “Gabrielle! Michelle!” Gabrielle looked in the direction of the voice, and waved at her best friend. Thankfully Alec had graduated, so now Gabrielle didn’t have to share her best friend with the unusually good looking boyfriend. He would get enough of her at home. Before Gabrielle looked away from Dani, she saw a fifth year approach her best friend. “What do you think that fifth year is saying to Dani to make her so upset?” Gabrielle frowned as she looked at her sister. “There’s only one thing people can say to make Dani get that look on her face”, Gabrielle said, looking over towards her best friend again. “I’m going to say it’s something to do with Alec.”

Gabrielle mixed her mashed potato around her plate, before putting some onto her fork and stuffing it into her mouth. “At least the food hasn’t changed.” Gabrielle nodded slowly, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. “Thank goodness for that”, she said. “Too much has changed already...”

[Guest]

Cory relished in the feeling of starting his final school year at his beloved alma mater, Oasis Hill. It wasn't that he wouldn't miss the place once he'd graduated. It wasn't that he was in any rush to leave such a bastion of scholarship. It certainly wasn't that he wanted to be done with the people who had made the last seven years of his life the best he'd had so far. While it may have had something to do with his eagerness to blow his N.E.W.T.s out of the water, his elation was mostly to do with his new position as Head Boy coupled with the fact that once he graduated, he could really start showing the world (read: his ex) exactly how normal he could be, even if he was a 'hairball'. His ex had even started hinting as of late that she might take him back if he would give up his 'silly ideas' of being a wizarding rock star. The idea of doing so made him feel uneasy, but he'd meant it when he'd told her he would do anything to get her to take him back.

Thankfully, this summer had been chock-full of excitement enough that he hadn't had much difficulty with being distracted from his musical aspirations. There were a fair few people who had been skeptical, critical, or even worse regarding Dani Hale's pregnancy. Cory was damn proud to not be one of those people; Alec was his closest friend at Oasis, easily. He was one of the few people in the world who could completely understand the trials that came with being a 'hairball', after all. Dani was a very close friend, as well, as close as they came. The pregnancy had taken up most of Cory's time and attention over the summer, and had actually brought him completely out of his lingering misery over his ancient break-up. The little tyke was too damn adorable for words, and Cory had been a regular at the Edwards-Hale household over the last couple of weeks.

Now that school had started, there was yet another thing to keep his mind preoccupied and away from thoughts of his guitar. Thinking of his beautiful acoustic gathering dust in storage made his heart hurt almost as much as it did when he thought about his ex.

Cory slapped his own cheek lightly, shocking the forlorn expression from his face and replacing it with an amused grin. This was not the time to mope about anything. This was the time to go and inflict his company upon unsuspecting others! He rose from his seat of honor and power (woohoo!) at the Malvolio table and headed for the Amorcya twins, seeing that Dani already seemed to be headed in that direction. He stopped beside Gabrielle and raised a bemused eyebrow. "Excuse me miss, but have we met?" he asked cheekily, "You remind me of somebody I knew, but..." He grinned at Gabrielle. "You look stunning, love. May I inquire as to what prompted such a drastic change?"

[Guest]

Columbine sat straight in her chair, beaming from ear to ear. It was such an honor to be allowed to stay at Oasis Hill past her graduation, and as the Care of Magical Creatures professor, no less! Most people would assume that Columbine's dreams consisted of no more than drive every boy crazy and make every girl an enemy and throw the most elite and wonderful parties the school had ever seen. Few knew about her love of animals and of teaching. Even fewer knew that just being offered the position of a 'lowly' teacher was enough to make Columbine forget men for weeks while she prepared the best curriculum plan she could think of. One of Columbine's greatest goals had already been accomplished, and she was only eighteen!

She had been as surprised as anybody to be given the news that she was being considered for the position of CoMC professor after the last one had mysteriously disappeared (Columbine had actually been asked, several times, if she'd had anything to do with it, but she honestly had no clue what had happened to the old professor). She'd been told many times since she'd accepted the position that she was far too young and that she should leave the position and let a more experienced witch or wizard to the job. That was simply not going to happen.

At least a few people had found it within their hearts to congratulate her; her mother and her cher ami Stephen had been among those to do so with actual truth to their words.

So here she was, sitting at the staff table in the Dining Hall, watching many friends and enemies wander around the student area. Oh what fun it would be having these people be her students. She sincerely hoped those Amorcya bints would take CoMC this year.

What fun.

[Gabrielle Amorcya]

For the most part, Gabrielle had eaten her dinner in silence. She’d offered a few words of conversation to Michelle every now and then, but Michelle mostly did the talking. Which left Gabrielle to her own thoughts. And that usually wasn’t a good thing. When Gabrielle thought, she thought a lot. And it never ended well. She’d started off thinking about Kyle. That had made her smile, until she’d started thinking about the current status of their relationship. Why was Kyle sticking around? How long would Kyle stick around? Was he eventually going to get sick of Gabrielle’s ‘no sex’ policy? Would he meet someone better, older and more mature than Gabrielle? Would she be prettier than Gabrielle? Once she’d thought and worried about that for a while, Gabrielle’s thoughts had wandered over to her sister. Why didn’t Michelle seem to approve of Gabrielle’s ‘new look’? Why did Michelle seem to be hesitant about continuing her relationship with Jared? Why hadn’t Jared been around very much? Were Jared and Michelle fighting? Were they going to break up? As much as Gabrielle liked that thought, she liked the fact that her sister had once been happy with Jared even more.

And then of course came Alec and Dani. How were they coping with Matty? What were they going to do for money? Should Gabrielle convince her parents to give Alec and Dani an ‘anonymous’ donation? Would Alec get a job? No, of course he wouldn’t. He’d flat out told Gabrielle over dinner one night that he didn’t want to get a job. That would mean having to find a sitter for Matty. And that would mean missing out on all the important things that Matty would do. Gabrielle had – for the most part – agreed with Alec, but they couldn’t live off the money they’d gotten from their parents forever. Gabrielle had even offered to let Alec use one of her maids as a babysitter – free of charge – but Alec had (as politely as he could) declined the offer. Gabrielle had taken her offer, and shoved it back in her pocket, ready to bring it up again when Dani and Alec had settled into a routine. There was no harm in offering to send the maid over to clean their house once in a while, was there? Gabrielle mentally scolded herself. She was such a rich kid sometimes. Gabrielle pushed her food around her plate a bit more, before the entire dinner course disappeared, and was replaced with dessert.

She’d started to put some dessert onto her plate when she heard a cheeky voice from behind her. “Excuse me miss, but have we met?” Gabrielle turned around, ready to tell whoever was about to use a cheesy pick up line on her where to go, but as she turned, her eyes caught sight of Cory Gaunt. Alec’s bum buddy. “You remind me of somebody I knew, but...” Gabrielle could only smile. “You look stunning, love. May I inquire as to what prompted such a drastic change?” Gabrielle shrugged lightly, and moved over, patting the spot between her and Michelle to offer Cory a seat. “I got drunk one night, thought longer and blonder hair would be a good idea. I also liked the sound of looking like a panda”, she said, gesturing to the dark makeup around her eyes. “But really? I was bored with the way I looked, mostly. I wanted to do something different.” Gabrielle had spent more time with Cory over the past few weeks than she had since knowing him at school. Being Alec’s bum buddy, Cory had been a regular at the Edwards-Hale residence since Matty had been born.

From what she could tell, Cory loved the little man as much as Gabrielle did. A big plus in Gabrielle’s eyes. Any many who loved a baby was a good man, indeed. “How’ve you been, Cory? Even though I saw you like two days ago at Dani’s place”, Gabrielle said.

[Guest]

Cory returned Gabrielle's smile and slipped easily into the seat she'd offered between herself and her sister, his pressed slacks whispering softly against the bench. His smile brightened at Gabrielle's justification for her change of style; that was just the sort of answer he loved and expected from her. "Well, you make quite a stunning panda, if I may be allowed to say so." He looked her over once more, hoping she didn't mind too much being scanned by him, then nodded approvingly. "Well, different looks good. Not that you didn't before." He chuckled softly. He really wasn't trying to sound like an arse. "I suspect you'd look good in any style, Gabi." He shook his head at his own ineptitude.

He considered her question and shrugged it off. The full answer would be boring and sordid and mopey of him, and he didn't want to force a single one of those things on Gabrielle Amoryca. "I've been well. Well enough, anyhow. It's always a bit of a rush at the beginning of the school year, isn't it?" By the way I've given up guitar and also the hope of ever being able to make decisions for myself on account of my conniving, heartless ex-girlfriend who, I don't know if you've heard, I still somehow happen to be in love with. Cory's smile faltered, but he recovered in a moment. "How bout you? Any big changes in your life? Besides your decision to become a panda, of course. How are the pooches?" He supposed it was a bit of a stereotype, but Cory was rather fond of his canine brothers.

[Gabrielle Amorcya]

Gabrielle sat easily beside Cory. It was pretty natural nowadays, being beside the werewolf. They’d spent a lot of time together at Alec and Dani’s place, both cooing over Matty and helping Alec and Dani out in any way they could. And when they hadn’t been at Alec and Dani’s place, Gabrielle had invited Cory over to her place a few times. They were becoming closer and closer. Gabrielle enjoyed Cory’s company. It was easy to talk to him, and he seemed to like her dogs. Another plus, Gabrielle thought. “Well, you make quite a stunning panda, if I may be allowed to say so.” Gabrielle laughed. “You may say so as much as you’d like, Cory. Flattery will get you everywhere”, she said. She didn’t even shift as Cory looked her over, before nodding approvingly. “Well, different looks good. Not that you didn’t before. I suspect you’d look good in any style, Gabi.” Gabrielle smiled again. At Cory’s compliment, and at his nickname for her. He was the only person who could call her that without getting an annoyed look in return. Dani often favoured calling her ‘Gabs’, and to everyone else she was just Gabrielle. It had taken a while, but slowly Cory had gotten Gabrielle used to being called ‘Gabi’ without responding in an annoyed look.

“I’ve been well. Well enough, anyhow. It’s always a bit of a rush at the beginning of the school year, isn’t it?” Gabrielle considered this. Her first through sixth years, definitely. She’d loved coming back to school; because it meant seeing her best friends and being away from home for an entire year. But this year was her last year. And after that, she would either have to find her own place, or stay at the oversized mansion her parents owned. Even though they were never there, Gabrielle didn’t like the idea of staying under her parents roof. She also didn’t like the idea of venturing out on her own. It would mean having to find a place large enough for herself, her two dogs, her cat, her Macaw and her horse. Amorcya Island was a big place. But a lot of the houses that had been built had been built for families, not for girls on their own with large amounts of animals. There was always the option that she could leave her horse and Macaw at the mansion and just find a place for herself, her dogs and her cat. But that was a big no-no as well. Because that would mean having to return to the mansion to see her horse and Macaw. No, things would be better if she could just get a place for her and her animals, even if it meant having to leave the island in favour of the large rural areas in Australia.

As she watched her friend, Gabrielle noticed Cory’s smile falter. A light frown crossed her face, but if something was wrong with the werewolf, he wasn’t about to tell her. “How bout you? Any big changes in your life? Besides your decision to become a panda, of course. How are the pooches?” Gabrielle smiled as Cory asked about her dogs. The few times he’d been at her house, he had been taken with her dogs. And they had seemed to be taken with him, as well. “The dogs are fine, probably missing you, though. I’ve never seen them so attentive to one person before!” Gabrielle said. “Other than my decision to become a panda, nothing much has changed. I’m pretty much the same boring girl now as I was last year.”

[Guest]

Cypress Gregory walked into the hall at a speedy place. She had been up late last night with her pre-school study sessions, and had overslept this morning. Not known to her, the late night study session had made itself known in the form of a long quill mark spanning her right cheek. Scouting the room for a place to sit, she saw the Amorcya girls chatting with some of her friends. Cypress mentally shrugged to herself...she might as well find a seat...and took a place a few seats down from where they were. She restrained herself from eavesdropping, as tempting as it was. It wouldn't do to make a bad impression on these people. Instead, Cypress sat composed in her seat for the moment, until the magnitude of this occasion sunk in.

Resting her head in her hands, Cypress adjusted her glasses and sighed. Another year was about to begin. It was her last one, and this time she vowed that her work would not rule her life. Cypress would meet people. Really. This year would be different. Never mind that she had made the same promise to herself before. Cypress sat up straight with renewed resolve. Squaring her shoulders, she looked out on the rest of the student body with confidence. Maybe she wouldn't become a local celebrity, but she would at least respond to people when they spoke to her. Yes. That was an admirable goal. Cypress ignored that niggling little voice in the back of head that told her that this year would not be any different.

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