It's A Brand New Year (OPEN TO EVERYONE)

Leia Diamanti strolled into the Great Hall, both looking forward to this new year and dreading it at the same time. Sure, she'd made some friends last year, but would she have the temperament to actually keep them, or would she let her emotions take over during one of her temper tantrums if something didn't go her way? It was sad..she wasn't three years old any more, and she still flew into rages whenever something went wrong or changed or anything else. It was probably why she still didn't have a boyfriend. Well, this year everything was going to change. She was going to be a brand new Leia Elise Diamanti.

She took a seat near the middle of the Gryffindor table, hearing her stomach rumble just then. Looking up at the staff table, she perused each one of the adults' faces, wondering just who was going to give out torturous amounts of homework this year. Potions was an automatic shoo-in for a lot of homework. Charms was a little more relaxed, but not a whole lot more. Divination...well, that was going to be interesting. She'd taken the class last year and could have sworn she'd almost Seen. That could have been just her imagination, though. What hadn't been her imagination were the nearly-perfect grades she'd made in Defense Against the Dark Arts. This had surprised both her and her parents, her father particularly. Being an Auror, he was quite pleased with her.

Leia heard someone call her name and turned around to see who it was. It was a third-year Hufflepuff girl, someone she'd met near the end of last year and with whom she'd been pen pals with during the summer. She waved vigorously, then walked over to the Hufflepuff table to talk to her a bit before the feast started.

"Sorry, mille what?", asked Victoria as she was filling her plate with large pieces of chicken. She was beyond starving at this point, and pretending to be anything different would just be silly. And a waste of time. "I doubt it. But maybe", she answered shrugging her shoulders, not really knowing to what dish was the Gryffindor referring to. However she did realize it sounded awfully French, a language she was terrible at. Despite attempting to learn it from a young age. But Hogwarts food was mainly English - as in chips and fish english. There wasn't a lot of room for international cuisine.

"But you know, if you are craving some food from back home you can always ask the kitchen elves to make some for you. They are really sweet and if you are nice to them I am sure they will make you whatever you wish". Sometimes she would sneak into the kitchen and beg the elves to make her refogado - which was her country's version of beans and rice. And on days she was feeling homesick, this was the perfect thing to make her feel better. That and a large cup of Brazilian coffee. 

"Oh a transfer! That's awesome!", Victoria exclaimed, perhaps a little too over excited. Finally, someone just like her! Well, besides the fact that this girl was older and a Gryffindor. But that wasn't the point. "Are you French then?", she asked curiously as she shoved pieces of chicken into her mouth. "I transferred from Brazil three years ago. I had this horrid accent - which everyone found funny of course. I think you can't hear it as much now. But anyway, you get used to Hogwarts pretty quickly", she assured her. "And I don't mind being a Ravenclaw", she added, although secretly she wanted to be in Slytherin. They were just more badass.