"DID YOU SEE that new professor? Professor Shane, or whatever his name was? He didn't look to be much older than us!" Neal Miller ran his hand through his deep brown curls, a bitter look to his face.

"Will you stop that? You'll give yourself an afro!" Annabelle North snapped, swatting his arm away. "Besides, that guy was definitely older than us. Didn't you see the stubble on his chin? And his toned body... Oh my, I swear, I won't be able to focus on anything but his flexing muscles during his lectures... I mean, it's pretty cruel of them, if you think about it, hiring a sexy professor during our final year just to throw us off our game."

Poppy repressed her laughter. "I doubt they hired him to 'throw us off our game' Anna," she commented, as they followed the rest of their housemates down the wooden stairs to the circular hall. The first years had just been sorted and lead into the next room to get their wands, which meant that it was now time for them to go and retrieve theirs since they didn't get to bring them with them outside of school.

"Whatever. The point is, that guy is hotter than an Ashwinder," Annabelle continued as they got in line. Neal stared at her in disbelief as they moved forward. "What the hell is an Ashwinder?"

"Seriously? Were you even present at all last year?"

"Hey, look! It's our turn!" Poppy exclaimed, trying to stop them from bickering. It seemed they hadn't done anything but, since they had arrived by Portkey an hour ago.

"Welcome back, miss Hayes," a voice suddenly said.

Poppy turned around to find the Head of Horned Serpent, professor Norcross, looking at her with a smile that didn't seem to reach her eyes. Poppy had always felt intimidated by her. There was just something about the way she would look at her that had always bothered her, as if she could see all her innermost secrets... Poppy averted her gaze, discretely wiping her hands on her robe. "Thank you, professor Norcross."

"Your wand..." The middle-aged woman said as she held it up between her fingertips. "Thirteen inches, made of yew with a core of rougarou hair, isn't that right?" Her grey eyes bore into Poppy's. Poppy nodded her head and reached out with her hand, her fingers enclosing around it's wooden surface. "Yes, thank you."

The professor held her gaze for a few moments longer and then turned away her head, gesturing towards the wooden barrel next to her. "All electrical devices in the barrel, please. You will get it back when you leave for christmas break in December."

Poppy dropped her phone into it, knowing there was no use in arguing. Not that she would be texting anyone, seeing how her only friends were in school with her, but it would have been nice to have it in case someone in her family decided to call. Not that they had before, but she didn't want to miss it if they did.

The no-electronics rule had been instituted last year when a student had accidentally posted a video taken during a Quidditch match on social media, which had resulted in MACUSA having to track down every single No-Maj that had been exposed to it and erase their memory. After that, all electronic devices had been deemed "a risk to the Wizarding community" and therefore been banned from all wizarding schools.

"Again? Seriously? We learned our lesson last year, you can't keep punishing us for what some stupid kid did..." Annabelle complained, before dropping two phones and a tablet into the barrel. Poppy looked at her incredulously and Neal raised his eyebrows.

The blonde shrugged her shoulders in response, rolling her eyes. "What can I say? My parents are workaholics who try to buy my love..." She then grinned and hooked arms with Poppy and Neal. "Come on, I'm starving. Let's go stuff our faces with delicious food."

The dining hall was double the size of the entrance hall; an elongated room with three domes in the ceiling. Four rows of round wooden tables were lined up throughout it, every table with its houses emblem on it, carved into the surface with delicate lines. The tables were, for the time being, filled to the brim with food, sweets and drinks and around most of them sat students in blue and cranberry robes, talking merrily amongst each other.

On Poppy's right side as they entered, sat Headmistress Lovegrove and the rest of the professors, looking out over the students. As Poppy's eyes swept over them, she accidentally locked eyes with the new, young, male professor. Her heart involuntarily quickened as his intense gaze held hers with a peculiar look she couldn't quite place. For a moment, time stood still as she found herself unable to look away. Then professor Shane's facial expression went back to normal and, as if nothing had happened, he leaned back into his chair, averting his gaze, thus breaking their connection.

Poppy gasped, feeling as though she'd just resurfaced from being under water. What had just happened? She mindlessly followed Neal and Annabelle over to one of the empty tables with the Horned Serpent carved into it. "I'm starving," Neal muttered as he sat down at the table, starting to pile food onto his plate.

"Me too," Poppy said absentmindedly as she stood with her hand on the back of the chair, about to sit down. She had a weird feeling in her stomach and she couldn't explain why, but she really wanted to turn around to see if the professor was looking at her.

"Hayes! I missed you at the sorting ceremony!" a voice shouted, snapping her back to reality. Poppy barely recognized it at first, seeing as it had darkened considerably over the summer, but then she saw his face a few tables down.

Felix Graves was walking towards her, grinning from ear to ear. As he came closer she could see the badge gleaming on his chest and she smiled. "House Captain, huh?" she said, not in the least surprised by the fact, seeing as how Felix was at the top of all his classes.

"Yup!" he said proudly, giving the piece of metal a little pat with his hand. "Better be sure not to break any rules this year though, Hayes, or I will have to give you detention."

Poppy laughed a little awkwardly, her hands starting to sweat. "Then I guess I will have to be on my best behavior," she said jokingly, but as soon as the words had left her mouth she regretted them. They sounded foreign in her mouth. Be on her best behavior? Who did she think she was? She had never broken a rule in her life.

Felix nodded his head, clearing his throat. "So..." he said, looking anywhere but directly at her. Poppy could feel the nervous tension grow between them and she wished she could just apparate out of there.

"Hey, Graves! Get over here and stop talking to that weirdo! Simons is just about to make the turkey explode!" called a guy.

Felix rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Ignore him, he's just being an idiot as always..." he said apologetically. Poppy smiled, pretending to be cool with it. "No worries," she said, but truth was that it always stung a little when they called her names. It really never got any easier, being an outcast.

Laughter rose from the table and Felix craned his neck to see what they were doing. "I should probably, um... you know," he said, pointing with his thumb towards his table.

Poppy nodded her head. "Of course. I'll see you in class."

Felix nodded his head and turned to leave, but before walking off he looked back at her and smiled. "It was good seeing you, Poppy." She smiled back, forcing herself not to look away and blush. "Good to see you too, Felix," she said and with that, he hurried back to his friends and was immediately swept up in what they were doing.

"Are you going to sit down or what? You look like an idiot," Annabelle commented a second later, painfully honest as always.

Poppy sank onto her chair, blushing. "Oh my god, what is wrong with me?" she muttered, burying her face in her hands. "Why does my brain always shut off when he's around?"

Neal took a break from devouring his food and looked up at her, eyebrows raised. "Well, obviously you have a huge crush on the dude."