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"So the rumours you have killed Quirell and Devkins one after the other are just fantasy?"
Alexandra widened her eyes. That she had not heard before leaving Hogwarts in June. And judging by the relative silence of about one quarter of the Ravenclaw table at this moment, Morag wasn't the only one interested in the answer.
"For the record, I didn't kill Quirell." Alexandra answered in a low tone. She didn't answer the rest of the question. Openly saying you had killed one of your teachers in public, even if most of the faculty professors had likely known of the incident by the end of the night, was neither prudent nor an intelligent thing to do.
Imperceptibly, the attention of her House went elsewhere, as the Ravens realised she would not be inclined to gossip with them.
"What's with the questions anyway, Morag?" Alexandra asked, drinking a sip of apple juice. "You never tried to speak with me outside class before."
The second-year girl blushed a deep red nicely complimenting the colour of her hair, grumbling something which suspiciously sounded like "I was just curious". It was a poor lie, but Alexandra didn't insist.
Thinking rapidly, Alexandra tried to remember what she had learnt about House MacDougal. She knew Morag and her family were pure-bloods, had a siege at the Wizengamot as a Most Noble and Ancient House and were usually considered to be among the Neutrals or Non-Aligned, a faction which rarely voted in support of laws proposed by the Light and the Dark factions. House MacDougal had not acted in any military way in the last British Civil War, choosing to retreat to their ancestral lands and possessions in Ireland and let the storm pass. A strategy which didn't look so idiotic when you counted the number of other pure-blood families which had become extinct or were very near this particular threshold. This last category included one with the name Potter.
Still, all the information at her disposition gave no clue why Morag or Morag family were interested in her. One more thing, Alexandra thought, she was unlikely to have the answer any time soon, as Morag was now busy fixing her plate and eating without looking her in the eyes. As a result, Alexandra passed the end of her dinner in a relative and safe silence, a pleasant change compared to her first Sorting Feast. Maybe, this evening was going not to end badly in definitive.
After everyone had completely ate more than one what could be considered reasonable, the plates and the rest of the elements present on the tables magically disappeared one by one.
"So!" Said Headmaster Dumbledore, who had come back while the Potter heiress wasn't looking, and was now smiling naturally around at all the assistance.
"Now that we are all fed and watered I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Explosive Gums, Slime Bombs and Laxative Catnip. The full list comprises some four hundred and one items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it."
The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched, clearly he found humorous that the Gryffindors found new and inventive ways to break the rules of Hogwarts.
The Headmaster continued, "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to all students and some amongst us-" he directed his attention in the direction of the Weasley Twins, "-should always remember it. The village of Hogsmeade is forbidden to all students below third year, and for those beyond third year only during some week-ends and not at their convenience. Now I believe everything of importance has been said. Time to go to bed! Chop! Chop!"
Alexandra stood up and joined the rest of the school marching towards the marble stairs. Despite the crowd, she rapidly found again her marks and found away to Ravenclaw tower where the knocker in the form of an eagle was waiting.
Two or three third-year students were already waiting before the entrance, and by their face they had failed to find the answer to the riddle. As she came in front of the riddle, the musical voice asked:
"There is a house. A person enters this house blind but exits it seeing. What is it?"
Alexandra smiled. This one was very famous no matter the world, it seems. First day of the year, the eagle went for the classics.
"A school."
"Correct."
And the door opened, letting her and the other Ravenclaws enter their common room. Seeing the atmosphere was less stormy than last year, Alexandra sat in a comfortable armchair and waited for the first-years to arrive.
A minute had not lasted that a large boy, most likely a five year or a sixth year judging by his corpulence, ran into the room announcing: "Did you hear? Longbottom, Black and Weasley flew the Flying Car from London to Hogwarts, Snape caught them after they crashed in the Whomping Willow!"
The reaction of the Ravenclaw present did not wait to erupt in a large cacophony where everyone tried to babble his point of view, most of the words being quite unflattering to Longbottom and his accomplices.
"You're not serious!"
"Who would be stupid enough to build a Flying Car?"
"I hope they get expelled!"
"I knew he was an attention-seeker brat!"
BOOM!
A small explosion had just come out the wand from Professor Flitwick, who no one in the terrible racket had heard coming.
"Enough." Said their tiny Head of House, looking a bit miffed at the awful din reigning in the Common Room a few seconds ago. "I know the spectacular entrance of Misters Longbottom, Black and Weasley has made the turn of the school already, but it is not a reason not to greet your new Housemates."