Ethan supposed it was not that unusual for people to be curious about him. But this girl, she did not spare a lick of attention toward his friends, or even Miyuki. That was odd. Miyuki, as a Kitsune, a creature of myth even for wizards, rarely failed to get people's attention.
He did not even know he had such big fans.
Smiling slightly at the girl, Ethan rewind the ceremony in his head, and found her name.
"Eva Tracers, right? And sure, you can sit here if you want."
Eva's smile blossomed, no doubt because Ethan had managed to remember her name. She settled comfortably, ignoring the fourth year boy whom she had pushed away to get the seat.
The teen, Cassius Warrington, looked at the girl and at Ethan, before shaking his head and sighing. He kept it there though, and simply turned his attention to the rest of the Sorting.
Once the last student was sorted into Ravenclaw, Dumbledore rose from his seat, and addressed the whole student body.
"I know you all must be hungry, but before that, if you would allow an old man a few words."
The room turned completely silent, allowing Dumbledore to make his speech.
"A warning to the first years, the forest is forbidden to all pupils. Also, no magic may be used in the corridors between classes. Also, I have been told by the head of houses that the Quidditch trials would be taking place on the second week of the term. For anyone interested, you should go through Madam Hooch."
Hooch, the flying instructor for the first years, raised a hand and waved at the students as her name was brought up. Ethan saw a few interested students in Slytherin at the announcement, as it was well known that the Seeker of the team had graduated the year before.
Seeing Malfoy's smug look from a distance, Ethan was pretty sure things would go according to their original course in this aspect, and that he would buy his place in the team. Ethan's interests collided somewhat with this however, because while he could not care less about Quidditch itself, as he considered it a messy sport that suffered from its loose rules, he did care about the results, as they would count for quite a lot of points for the House Cup.
And since Ethan did want to win it again, having a lacklustre Seeker would be detrimental. With how important the position was, not even giving the newest and best brooms in the market to the whole team would make up for a shit Seeker.
Especially when there was a much better option, which brought Ethan's second point of interest in the matter: Daphne.
She said nothing, but he could see it clearly across the table. Her eyes were fixated on Hooch, with a profound eagerness hidden within.
Now was not the time to speak about this however, so Ethan silently waited for Dumbledore to continue.
"And one last thing before leaving you all to your dinner; we are welcoming two new faculty members this year, and so it comes to us to properly welcome them. After last year's-"
Lockhart apparently had enough waiting as he suddenly rose from his seat, interrupting Dumbledore who looked back with a surprised face. Lockhart ignored the old man and gave his signature smile to the crowd, waving at them.
He did not stop there either, and instead walked up next to Dumbledore, quite nearly shoving him aside to address the crowd of students, "Indeed, it is I! Order of Merlin, Third Class: Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award winner for five times now."
Ethan did not particularly love Dumbledore, but he did respect the old man for being the wizard he was, and the contribution he had brought to magic. So seeing this impostor so blatantly disrespect the old man annoyed him, to say the least.
The worst thing was, Ethan actually heard some cheers from the crowd, mainly from female students. Narrowing his eyes at Lockhart, Ethan made a decision right then and there: he abhorred the man known as Gilderoy Lockhart.
Coincidentally, the blond man's sight was set on him as well. He was looking at him smugly, and Ethan was sure it was directed at him. He could feel it. It was as if he had just proved something to Ethan…
Considering this was Lockhart he was dealing with, it could only be in the one thing he excelled at, and that was reputation.
Did Lockhart just feel pride from competing against a 12 years old boy?
Their new Professor in Defence Against the Dark Arts continued praising himself and telling the school how much of an honour it was to have him, that he considered this giving back whatever the school had given him, although he did not forget to mention that most of the things he learned were done through self-study.
He ended up speaking for an entire five minutes, by the end of which most teachers were looking at him coldly. As for Ethan, his attention had long shifted to the other addition at the table, who was the only one who completely ignored Lockhart.
Throughout the whole thing, Dumbledore remained behind politely, and even as he finished, he showed him to his seat politely. Ethan could not help but wonder why exactly Dumbledore would ever hire someone like Lockhart.
Since they had to change DADA Professors every year, and the position was known to be cursed and thus dangerous, it certainly had to be hard to find a new one every year, especially one that was qualified, but Lockhart was a new low. Ethan was sure there were many applicants who were much more qualified.
So Dumbledore had to have a goal in hiring Lockhart out of all people. What that goal may be, however, Ethan had no idea.
As Lockhart returned to his seat, Dumbledore showed the same grandfatherly smile as always, "I believe there is nothing more to be said about our new Professor."
It was subtle, too subtle for Lockhart to catch as he grinned as if he had been complimented, but that was a rebuke from Dumbledore. The only one Ethan ever remembered the old man making about someone. He always tried to teach people, instead of simply telling them they had done wrong.
Maybe Lockhart had gotten more under Dumbledore's skin than Ethan had originally believed.
"Hogwarts also has the honour of welcoming a new Groundskeeper and Keeper of Keys, a friend coming over from the Americas, Steve Banner!"
Every head turned in the direction of the man who got up, all curious. Despite being part of a magical world, most children never travelled to other countries, making any foreigners an interesting topic.
However, in this particular instance, it was the man himself who drew attention, more than his origin.
As his name was called, Steve quietly got up and bowed in Dumbledore's direction. He was tall, not quite Hagrid tall of course, but he was around 186 centimetres, which made him taller than all the other teachers.
Unlike the rest of the teachers, who dressed in robes, he wore a black coat with a dark blue vest with silvery buttons under, a black tie and dark brown trousers. These clothes failed to hide the strong musculature underneath, which was unusual for a wizard.
He had messy dark hair, not messy in the sense he did not take care of them, but more so in a controlled chaos kind of way. Matched with his sharp jawline, high nose and spirited grey eyes, it gave him a sort of heroic air.
The applause came naturally to the students, and it was quite strong as well. Ethan noticed that Lockhart was looking at Banner hostilely.