"Welcome to Slytherin, Miss Wellington."
Realizing that this was the group's general acceptance of her persona into the central clique of Slytherin, Charna nodded formally, just as Lucius retracted his hand. 'Zabini, Anatole,' was sorted into Slytherin, and the Sorting was complete. Across from Avery, Rudolphus Lestrange rolled his eyes, just as Albus Dumbledore stood to address the body of anxious, rather hungry students. Avery's stomach rumbled loudly again, just as Lucius kicked him from underneath the table. Grumbling defensively, Avery broke off as Dumbledore began his beginning of term speech.
"I know you all have had a long journey - doubtless you are all rather hungry. However, I have to bore you all with a few announcements, before you focus on filling those empty stomachs," he began, his blue eyes twinkling beneath his half-moon spectacles. For a moment, his eyes lingered on Alexander Avery. He thought it rather odd, that his fellow Slytherins accepted the boy, who had a metabolism to rival anything that he had seen. From what his colleagues had informed him, Avery was a rather obnoxious boy. "As you all know, the Forbidden Forest has its name for a reason - it is forbidden." Here, his eyes lingered on a black-haired boy at the Gryffindor table, surrounded by his usual friends - James Potter, with his fellow marauders (Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.) "So stay clear of the premises … that having said - Mr. Ogg would like me to remind you all that setting off Dungbombs in the hallways is illegal. That having said, tuck in."
Magically, platters of choice meat, mashed potatoes, tureens of gravy, buttered peas, rolls dripping with honey butter, as well as pitchers of pumpkin juice, appeared on the each long House table, and the staff table as well. No longer lectured by his housemates (as they were rather pleased to have him stuff his mouth with something, to silence him), Avery dug into the food, eating almost ravenously. His fellows, though it went unnoticed to Avery, who was focused on stuffing himself with as much food as was in an arm length's radius of him, turned their noses at him. They began to pick apart the food with an almost delicate manner. From the staff table, Dumbledore surveyed this aristocratic ritual. "I do wonder, Minerva, which the Slytherin circle will accept this year. There are twelve new ones - six boys, six girls. It certainly seems that the Wellington girl has already put herself at ease. Let us hope that she was as brilliant as her father and siblings were," he commented to Professor McGonagall, who dined beside him.
"This year - there are twelve," Lucius commented to his fellows, casually sipping pumpkin juice from his golden goblet. "For males - Anatole Zabini, Cole Richardson, Samuel Pritchard, Romulus Stevens, Claude La Montagne - French tart if there ever was one, and Claudius Lafayette. The newest females are Andromeda Forthwright, Elizabeth James, Courtney Parkinson, Annette Deimos, Melanie Mallette, and of course you- Charna Wellington," Lucius rattled off. "So, which ones do we take, and which ones do we make an example of?" he questioned of his peers, glancing up and down a few lengths to catch their attention.
"If I may," Charna began, surveying the group of first years, who all seemed to be staring at her, for having made older 'friends' so early in the year. She turned back to the rest of the group. "I would say for the males - keep Zabini, Stevens, and Lafayette. Lafayette is the most persuasive of the group - I had the pleasure of meeting him on the train, so if you want my advice, use Lafayette to get to the others. La Montagne is too far down the social ladder to bother associating yourselves with, so offer him protection in return for servitude. Make an example of Pritchard and Richardson. For the females … aside from myself of course, who will do the persuasion bit of the following - I think that Parkinson, as well as Deimos, might be more suited to this … situation. Mallette, James, and Forthwright I do not care for - they are a bit simple minded, but would nonetheless make excellent pawns," Charna commented, as if this were a simple matter of deciding what color socks to wear. Needless to say that Malfoy and his companions were rather impressed with their new strategist's depth of intelligence.
From then on, the strategist, Charna, gained a good deal of respect. Out of the corner of his eye, Severus watched her as she excused herself from their midst, with the excuse that she 'saw an opportunity,' as several of her fellow female first year Slytherins made their way out of the Great Hall.