Gaston's arrival at the staff table made Celestia wince; his limp was obvious. She had a bit of one too, but thanks to the Healers at St Mungo's, hers wasn't as pronounced. Poor man -- she found out after the attack that he'd been struggling against another horde of Inferi in the entrance hall. At least he had successfully defended that group of students from the Dark creatures. The Transfiguration professor envied him that for a few seconds before silently admonishing herself. Nothing about that night should inspire jealousy. Another rather shameful thought that flitted across her mind was that at least someone else besides Roderik and herself seemed to be still upset by the incident. She simply didn't understand how everyone else could be so cheerful. Then again, perhaps the rest of the staff were simply better actors than she was...

As she had walked past Laurel, the woman forced another smile to stretch her face. "Of course," Celestia lied smoothly. "I trust you're feeling better as well?" The Divination professor had been in a tough situation, too, Celestia recalled. Well...they all had been in tough situations, but Laurel had been the only professor with a group of students in the greenhouses. Celestia wondered if the other witch's Sight had been helpful at all that night, or if it was helping her to recover so well now. Could she see a brighter future for Hogwarts next year?

"Thank you, Roderik. It's nice to be back," Celestia said simply. She was getting better and better at telling these lies naturally. The truth was that, for the first time in her life, she couldn't wait to get away from Hogwarts. "I'm fine. How are you?", she asked politely. She doubted the Defense professor would give her a more truthful answer than she'd given him, but she did appreciate his concern. Celestia knew that Roderik genuinely cared about their students -- and he was Head of Ravenclaw House -- so the last few weeks in the castle must have been torturous for him. Those kids were going through so much...

Celestia had begun the term thinking badly of Kaysha because of the events that transpired on the Muggle Studies field trip. The Transfiguration professor despised hypocrisy, however, and she too had now failed to protect students in her charge. How could she hold anything against Kaysha now? With that in mind, she had been making an effort to be warmer and kinder towards Kaysha since her return from St Mungo's. Her hospital stay had given her something of a new perspective on many aspects of her life.
"I can't blame you for that," Celestia replied to Kaysha's comment about looking forward to this summer more than any other. She felt the same, after all. "It certainly has been a...difficult few weeks. I hope the summer provides some measure of healing for the students." As horrible as she felt, she knew that the students must be feeling even worse. The professor imagined that peaceful sleep would prove elusive for the residents of Hogwarts Castle without the aid of potions for quite some time.

Celestia applauded dutifully whenever Regina began clapping during her speech. If she was being perfectly honest, the professor would admit that she had taken in very little of the speech itself. She was proud of the Hufflepuffs and the seventh years and the Inferi fighters, of course -- but she couldn't help the empty feeling in her chest that tugged at her throughout something as perfectly normal as a speech. She simply didn't have the energy to listen. It seemed as though the Inferi had the power to reach through time and taint even the feast with some measure of fear and sadness. Celestia tried to push the feelings down as she pushed food around her plate for a few minutes after the speech, but she had little success.

She was immensely relieved when Gaston left the dais to go visit the student tables. Perfect! It wouldn't be rude now for her to do the same. The Transfiguration professor had to make a real effort to slide out of her seat and proceed at a normal pace to the House tables without another word.