Ofim had dreaded returning to Hogwarts. He'd enjoyed his summer way too much with his friends.

He spotted Lex near him. That'd hung out like once last year.. did that count as friends? He hoped so because if not, then he had zero friends at this "school" he was being forced to attend. Ofim rummaged around in the bag near his feet for something.

"Hey LEX!" he shouted as he finally found what he was looking for in his bag. With the bundle of candy in his hand he flung it to her "Catch!" he said loudly so she'd hear him. "Thought'd you'd enjoy some muggle candy" he said with a smile. He'd put skittles, sugar daddies, warheads, and a twix bar in the bundle of candy.

Almost immediately after the Headmistress finishes her speech, the tables in the Great Hall are suddenly filled with food. But the first thing you will notice is that the food doesn’t seem to have its usual deliciously glowing aura about it. The food seems rather mediocre at best. In fact, the chicken is dry and flavorless, the mashed potatoes are a sloppy, boring mess, the broccoli hardly seems cooked at all - and there’s not even cheese on it! And on top of that, the butterless bread looks more like bricks of charcoal. Not only does the food look and taste somewhat unappetizing, there’s hardly any variety.

On the bright side, there’s loads of ice cream! Bowls and bowls and bowls of ice cream have appeared along the center of the table amongst the lousy dinner dishes. Good thing your mother isn’t here to make sure you eat your undercooked broccoli before dessert!

Natasha followed where Amara was pointing and she saw Zyanya sitting at the Ravenclaw table. She was really sad that they were in different houses. "I am going to really miss her...." Natasha said sadly.

Through all the excitement and nervousness, Natasha did not really have an appetite, so she only just noticed the plates set out for them. "The castle really gives the wrong impression...." She said. "I don't really care what I eat off of, but I think I just expected something different."

Christmas had just listened to the speech and was like all confused if the house elves had resigned who was going to cook the food and they had to wash there own dishes this term was not going to be good

She was listening to the Headmistress give her speech because that was the reasonable thing to do when one had plastic cutlery. So far she wasn't liking what she heard.

She stopped for a bit though when she heard someone else calling to her. Someone she knewHAI!!"[/b] BEAM. She was about to wave when he threw something at her. CANDY!!! Eeeeeep!!!! She grinned over at him. "Wow, thanks! You remembered!" Because he had promised to get her muggle candy. Strange enough...she had actually forgotten.

Lex NEVER forgot about candy!

"Can you believe what you're hearing?" referring to the speech of course. Speaking of, she should be listening. This was all...

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT????

NO NO NO NO NO!!

Absolutely not! Merlin's beard! Just NO!

They were keeping the same plate for the year?? She couldn't!! Did NO ONE see her kill her star?? She was incapable of keeping anything for too long! Circe knew how she had Felix so long and now cutlery??--- STOP, cutlery she had to wash on her own???

WHAT WAS THIS???

How did they expect her to function? It wasn't her fault they went broke. No one told them not to have money so why did this have to affect her. She was telling her Daddy. Yup. Telling. He would know what to do, maybe get them to make an exception for her. She was always the exception. DUH!

With a scowl firmly stationed on her face she finally looked to the ...er...food...?

She poked around at it, tasted some too and guess what? She preferred ice-cream anyway. Good thing she had those cupcakes and cookies earlier. This wasn't fair, waiting so long, having plastic stuff and then the food was no good. Who's dumb idea was this anyway? She reached across and grabbed a bowl then helped herself to a few spoons. This wouldn't be so bad. She'd have her ice-cream, fall asleep and when she woke up, all this would have been a bad dream. Nothing more. She continued stuffing herself with the ice-cream while making a face at the food. She was not amused.

Oh... the girl had heard that already.

Well... Melanie didn't know what else she could say about that. She brushed her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. It seemed like the first year would accept everything and that was good. "You can make friends anywhere, just because you're in Gryffindor doesn't mean you can't make friends from other houses," Melanie pointed out. "And I can be your friend too," she added. Melanie liked younger students. They were all so cute and precious and Melanie wanted to snuggle them like she did with her stuffed animals. Plus, they made her feel a bit taller.

"The feast starts after the headmistress gives her speech," she said giving her head a nod and bending her spork. Oh. Amara had noticed the plates. "Usually there are pretty plates and goblets but... I guess something happened," Melanie said, a slight pout before shaking her head, "we can make the best of it though. I mean, plastic sporks are nice." And she was sure the headmistress had a very good reason for making them use these. The headmistress was supposed to be a smart lady, after all.

"You could always go out every once in a while and hang out," Melanie pointed out. Melanie hadn't really done much of that but she had her cousin as company to go out at night. Plus, helping her mother with the dance studio was fun too. She didn't mind that. "Or you could try something new! It's fun exploring," she added. Exploring new places, finding new things to do; it'd be an adventure.

She nodded her head, grinning when Ronnie brought up work. "It was amazing. I was uh... doing waitressing."

Which contrary to beliefs was very fun.

It was nice seeing the way people's faces lit up at the mention of family. It was like Christmas morning. "Oh, those all sound so interesting," Melanie said, her mouth slightly open in awe. She hadn't done much reading at all and yet the younger lion had done so much. And Sarah seemed to have read educational stuff. Melanie didn't like to read that type of stuff outside of school. "I think that... you'll get there some day. I mean, practice makes perfect."

"Waitress. I was a waitress," Melanie answered, grinning. And she had loved every second of it.

Melanie just continued to nibble on her cookie. Eating the cookie should've made her feel guilty because the cookie was probably made for someone else but her tummy was definitely pleased with the food that was falling into it. But Alexa didn't seem to feel bad about it at all, which meant Melanie would have to do it for her. Because that made things balance out; it made things equal. So she'd simply nibble away on her cookie and feel guilty until she finished. Then she'd just feel hungry again.

"You'll just need patience," Melanie said, patting the girl's head lightly. She didn't want to hurt any brain cells or anything. Nope, the younger lion was growing up and needed all that brain energy to start studying in a year or so for OWLs. "Besides, they'll feed us eventually." And she was definitely looking forward to that meal.

When the cookie vanished, Alexa was still talking. And Melanie was listening even if her tummy was begging for Melanie's attention. "You could've visited me if you wanted, I mean... I wasn't around home much but I'm sure you could've sat at work and ate there." Because Melanie's boss was nice and made delicious food. She was sure that if she brought a friend, her boss wouldn't have minded too much either. "I'm glad the train ride was better though," she said smiling. Minus the whole "idiot" part. Melanie wasn't in much of a mood to tell Alexa that calling people idiots wasn't very nice. "My summer was wonderful. I worked almost everyday but it was lovely. And then there were open mic nights and cafes and it was just overall perfect," Melanie said, grinning. "And I uhm... just took a few pictures on the train then fell asleep and took a really nice nap."

She liked that nap.

She heard the headmistress starting to give her speech and stared blankly at her. There was just one thought running through her mind. It was only one word as well. What. As she stared at the professor, her mouth slightly parted, she didn't know what to think or what to say. Her tummy did though. Her tummy just grumbled and Melanie placed her spork next to her plate. She wanted food though. The sixth year slumped a little in her seat at the thought of there not being house elves around. She liked those elves... the elves ran the kitchens and Melanie was very fond of the kitchens. The elves also helped with everything else.

Wait. Then what would happen with laundry? Would they have to do it themselves? Not that Melanie minded or anything, she didn't. But... what about the elves? Then the food appeared almost immediately after the headmistress finished her speech. The food though wasn't as appealing. It didn't have the same warm smells and the happy glow that Melanie associated with prancing, adorable teddy bears in her dreams. Yes, teddy bears pranced in her dreams and they were lovely. But looking at the food, the lion wasn't particularly hungry. If anything, she lost her appetite until she saw the ice cream.

Except... that wasn't proper food. Her tummy grumbled as Melanie sat there and stared at the food. She couldn't eat that. She would have to wait until after. She had remembered to bring packaged ramen... so afterwards... she could get that from her trunk... boil it in water and eat that. Then ask her cousin to send more because Melanie had a feeling she would be depending on that for a while.

Perhaps she'd also ask Elaine to send a pack of plastic spoons and forks too... just in case something happened to her spork. But for now... she'd just sit there and stare.

She watched as the girls eyes showed her excitement before the rest of her body. Mack was relieved that she wasn't the only one this excited. "Of course! That sounds wonderful!!" she grinned already having a study buddy! She really was looking forward to classes, learning new material and of course quidditch try-outs. She hoped that she could improve upon her flying before then, she didn't get to have nearly as much practice as she wanted over the summer but she knew that she was a fair flier. She wondered if Sonea was going to try-out for Slytherin's quidditch team.. but she decided not to say anything, she didn't want the rivalry to come between their friendship.

Mack looked around seeing Lex, she hadn't seen her since the end of last term. She walked over to the third year quickly. "Lex!! Hi!! " she couldn't contain her excitement as she greeted her first friend from Hogwarts. She hoped their friendship could grow more this year, when the term ended last year they were looking for the giant squid in the black lake. That reminded her, she hadn't seen her parents over summer so she didn't have the opportunity to talk to her dad about the best way to find it. Oh well she could do some research in the library and see what some of the books said to do.

"It's not really a game you win. It's more like... something to pass the time." Anya said with a nod. There really wasn't a point to it. It was like... the dinnerware equivalent of braiding circles.

Except nobody got cool hair from this.

"Here. Watch." Anya said before starting over. She clapped twice. Then tapped the top of her cup three times.


... then was completely distracted by the speech.

Anya stared. Her hands frozen in a position where she was right about to clap in her cup game.

Anyone that had been there when she froze in her second year, might have been concerned with her state of inanimateness.

But... after a few seconds, her eyes widened. Headmistress say WHAT? Stared at her plastic utensils and paper plate. How was she supposed to wash a paper plate anyway?

Then she had a slew of questions cross her brain at nearly the same instant. Did Carter know about this? What were the chances the school had a pottery wheel? She was not eating off this the entire year! She was allowed to order nice things for herself, right? Nice engraved things that she wouldn't mind washing. How did house elves resign anyway? She was under the impression they were for life. Where did the good food go? Was she allowed to cook for herself too? Because... that would be the better option. Did she have to do her own laundry? She could. But she knew for a fact Jake didn't know how to.

Speaking of Jake, how did he feel about this?

And was that ice cream? Ignoring the rest of the atrocious food on the table, she slid the closest entire bowl in her direction. And then she licked it. Pfft. She was sooo not wasting a use of her spoon on ice cream. This was something that could be eaten fine just like this.

Well, everything was officially terrible.

The broccoli was barely eadible, the bread looked like it could help him knock someone unconscious if he were so inclined, and there was ice cream. A lot of it. Seemingly endless amounts of ice cream all over the table.

It was probably every twelve year old kid's dream, but Ezra found it to be quite disheartening. He did not like ice cream - he could not eat ice cream. It was not his fault that whatever deities that existed had failed to provide him with a proper sort of stomach by cursing him with lactose intolerance.

Ezra jammed his fork to what was supposed to be bread and thought he saw a small fissure appear on its surface, which he counted as a small victory that made him feel like grinning, so he did. Progress! He also wondered when exactly Hogwarts had gone to dogs, or rather tried not think about when it'd happened. It was not a happy thought.

He thought about it anyway and stabbed the bread, again. Had there been some kind of explanation during the speech?

"Wait, what did Trubridge say?"

He'd tried the 'chicken' and 'sides' at his table. They were gross. He wouldn't touch them. But the ice cream was something he could live with. And, unfortunately, seemed like something he was going to have to live ON. And what's the deal with them having to re-use disposable things, eh?

Oh well. He could do it. They had magic to clean and fix them anyway.

Anyway, Aidan got bored enough at his table with the rubbish food so he grabbed a spare blue plastic cup, his ice cream and went over to the Gryffindor table to find Lex.

Ronnie lightly drummed her fingers on the table as the speech went on. Come on, come on hurry up! Ronnie was starving! She had barley any breakfast and a light lunch. She could eat anything right now.

She played with the spork in her hand as the headmistress spoke, listening intently. She raised an eyebrow and her eyes widened more and more at all the news. Assigned dinnerware...? All the fine china sold? A deputy headmistress? Hogwarts governors?

....THE HOUSE ELVES HAVE RESIGNED?!!!?!?!?!?!

Bloody hell! What in Merlin's pants was going on here? How could the elves just...resign? They were adorable. Sweet. Helpful. And made the most amazing food imaginable. She was so shocked at all this news. So she'd have to be washing her own dishes for the year? She glumly looked down in her lap. This was so...stupid. What a dumb start of term feast this was turning out to me. But there was still the delicious food...right?

She smiled as the headmistress finished. FINALLY. Then the food appeared on the table. She licked her lips, rubbing her hands together as she looked at all the food.

Wait..

What.

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THIS FOOD?! It looked...odd. Different. She picked up a piece of chicken and hesitated before taking a bite into it. She immidiately made a face at the flavorless taste and dropped it onto her plate. Yuck! Okay, she wasn't hungry enough to eat that rubbish. What else was there? Oh! Mashed potatoes. . . she scooped it onto her plate and ate some and made another face. Grossss. What in the world? THIS was how Ronnie's last start of term feast was gonna be? She glared at the disgusting food on her plate when something caught her eye on the table.

Was that...ice cream?! She gasped and grabbed a bowl and beamed at it. This better be good or she'd be really mad! She dug her spoon into the ice cream and stuck it in her mouth and smiled at the delicious taste. Okay, this was a pretty awesome feast.

Alexa was considering everything Melanie said. Patience and the fact that they would feed them soon. Well, she was right about that. There was the speech and believe me she was listening reaaaaally good, that's how she heard all the bad stuff. She kept quiet because Melanie was listening too and she didn't want to make her miss out on anything really. No one should have missed this. This. This was depressing.

Finally, after several sporkfuls of ice-cream, she found her voice again. "I could have? Neat! Does that offer still stand for next summer??" She didn't know what would happen once school gave break for the summer again but she wanted to be prepared. Last summer wouldn't happen again. Not if she had anything to do with it!! "Did they have candy at your work?" That was an important question. To her anyway.

Oh! Oh! Oh! "They had open mic too??? Did you participate?? You know you can sing really well!" She's heard the girl sing and even heard her humming too. It sounded legit. "Did everyone at your job join? Like even the boss too??" She imagined that would have actually been hilarious. Also. "Um...aren't you going to eat anything? The food might not be good but the ice-cream's delicious!" And to prove it she eat another sporkful.

She was consoling herself with ice-cream when someone popped up infront of her. OHAI! "Hey Mack!" She beamed over at the now Second Year. It seemed kinda odd to her. Just last year she was a Second Year and the girl was a Firstie but now she was rocking the Third Year tag, yo! It would still take some getting use to.

"I got the candy you sent me over the summer, I don't think I got to tell you thanks properly. My step-mum was being impossible. Felt she could tell me what to do while Daddy was away. Anyway, I really like them, thank you!" BEAM. It was candy, so naturally she'd like them.

"Can you believe all this?" This speech, the plates, the food???

OOOoohhhhhh...

That didn't seem so bad either. She supposed if there was no chance of winning then there was no chance of losing either. She could live with that. Lex paid very close attention to Anya and the tapping. Even though she wouldn't win she'd still need to know how to play.

She kept watching but after a while Anya wasn't doing anything anymore. She gave her a curious look before realizing why.

Oh, that.

It was enough to have her make a face. "Do they actually expect us to eat this stuff?" She asked, clapping then tapping like she'd seen.

Was it just her or was he...er...attacking his bread? Lex looked on curiously at the boy, not sure what to really make of it until finally she thought it was curious enough for her to want an answer.

She was about to ask but then he asked a question first. "She basically said we're in for a rough year." It was almost enough to make her wibble. Her eyes fell to the food for a second before turning on him again. "We don't have anymore house elves except one, we have to keep these all year and keep them clean ourselves," She flicked at her plate that was so much more disappointing now, "and we've become a charity case too because we're broke."

Okay so maybe that wasn't how the woman phrased it, but close enough!! "I'm Alexa, by the way, and you are?"

She was still staring disdainfully at the food, while helping herself to some ice-cream when she saw Aidan make his way over! "There you are!" She said with a grin, acknowledging that she had seen him. She scooted over and patted the spot next to her. He could sit there, yeah?

HEEEY, he remembered the blue cup too!!!!!! This got her grinning even wider. "I was wondering what was taking you so long, have you tried any of this stuff yet?" She asked, gesturing with her fork to the food on the table. Or, whatever it was. It certainly couldn't have been classified as edible. Pffft, not even. Amanda could do a better job than this.

This explained why she was stuffing herself with ice-cream. YUP.

"The best," Jake replied with a grin of his own when the boy said Gryffindor sounded cool. He might have been a little biased, but that wasn't his fault. Plus, he felt like he knew the gist of the other houses pretty well. And every single one was better than Ravenclaw. Yep.

The boy was introducing himself now, though, so Jake tuned back in in time to catch his name. "Pleasure, Michael. I'm Jake Keller."



And then the red head at the staff table started talking.

Jake stared up at her, leaning over the table to get a better look. As Truebridge continued with her speech, the Prefect's eyes got bigger and bigger. His hand that rested on Anya's leg got a bit of a tighter grip momentarily, also. They were eating with plastic things all term. The house elves had gone AWOL ("resigned," could house elves even do that?), and... food.

Food was good.

Jake immediately started filling his paper plate, but stopped much sooner than he normally would. Because... there wasn't much food. He stared at the lack of options for a second before tentatively taking a bite of chicken. And... nope. This was not usual Hogwarts food.

Thank Merlin for ice cream, right?

Pushing his plate away, he pulled a bowl of ice cream closer instead. Finally, he looked over at Anya. Who was... licking... her... ice cream.

After blinking in confusion a few times, Jake shrugged to himself and started licking his ice cream just as his girlfriend was. Who needed sporks anyway? This worked just fine.

Good Lord! She just kept on...talking. Amara blinked a few times. If one lion was pester-talking, another was history-talking. What was she to do with that piece of information? She just nodded at the right places and said nothing as the girl went on about choices, her decision making traits and how she felt bravery encompasses all. SIGH. She hadn't bargained for this. Loose wit as they get older? Go, stand near the basilisk and we'll see how the bravery vanishes. ZAP! Nevertheless. "Ah yes...very interesting theory" How enlightening.

And the girl moved on from the history. Lessons. Now this was a far more engaging topic. "Eh, Potions" she said, without hesitation. She would want to know more about it. Dad wasn't exactly helping. He wanted her to know things herself. So she would. "And...maybe DADA" she added.

"Yes, I understand" Red and gold all over. "That would be tragedy" she said, coolly. She did find the colours revolting sometimes. "It's not like I hate them, I don't particularly like them" she said, picking up a spoon. "Curious, doesn't it clash with the surroundings? Too bright" Tut-tut.

Yeah, like I meant that literally. She was getting even more irritated with the unintelligent talk. And pride. "I can take care of that" she said, now twisting the spoon in her hands. She was generally the one making targets. Never the receiver. We can see that. "Very effectively"

And she turned to the staff table, looking at the woman Lex was pointing. The woman looked fairly nice and kind. Maybe too emotional? That would be awful. She wasn't going to complain, no she wasn't. She could talk to the woman about the house. Could she change it? NO? YES? We'll see. She had a feeling that they'll soon meet..let it just be something fine. "Okay" she said, nodding.

Now the girl was testing her. What was she? Senior examiner? "Yes, I know" she said, unenthusiastically. And I'm not very fond of it. "I come from a wizarding family" she said, "If that's what your primary question is" Yes, people did like to know about others.

Genuine. That's why she liked the girl. "Yes...I think she'll miss you too" She could speak for her twin. Yes, she could. "Maybe we'll have double classes with them" Hopefully.

She followed Natasha's look. The plates. "Yeah...something's not right" she said. She'd had the feeling right from the beginning. The sorting hat, it was supposed to consider students. And it didn't. And now these things. "I just hope they are joking" And they better be.

"I have friends from other house..." she said, "..and schools.." Yes, her cousin and friends were in different wizard schools. It was always good to have contacts. She considered the girl's statement. "Okay" she mumbled. "Ehm, you can be my friend" And she passed a cup-cake lying on the table to the older girl. That's set then now. Can we move away from Gryffindor talk? The older girl looked too gentle and Amara was afraid she would break at her touch.

She nodded. Yes. "Something did happen" she commented. And it was always making the best out of things with the lions, wasn't it? Seconds later, the food appeared. Amara's eyes widened. "What kind of joke is this?" she asked the older girl. Hogwarts food was supposed to be very good. That's what dad told her.

She never really cared for what she ate. But right now, the food disgusted her. After all the grumbling and lecturing, she had looked forward to eating something. And now the food looked like something from the garbage. Undercooked, dry, sloppy, hard...what was happening to Hogwarts? First the mad hat, now this.

"What happened to the house-elfs?" she asked aloud. Some oldie must know about it. "Is it like this every time?" I hope it's not.

There were loads of ice-creams. But she was in no mood for them. Looking at the dishes, she thought she might puke. She might as well not eat anything today. TADA! Bad hat, ridiculous vessels, pestering students and grumpy food. What a wonderful start. Merlin's beard!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

She was still staring disdainfully at the food, while helping herself to some ice-cream when she saw Aidan make his way over! "There you are!" She said with a grin, acknowledging that she had seen him. She scooted over and patted the spot next to her. He could sit there, yeah?

HEEEY, he remembered the blue cup too!!!!!! This got her grinning even wider. "I was wondering what was taking you so long, have you tried any of this stuff yet?" She asked, gesturing with her fork to the food on the table. Or, whatever it was. It certainly couldn't have been classified as edible. Pffft, not even. Amanda could do a better job than this.

This explained why she was stuffing herself with ice-cream. YUP.

Of course, she wasn't hard to spot among the other Gryffindors. Especially with her shout. Aidan made his way over to her and sat in the designated spot. "Here," he said, setting the extra cup in front of her. If she didn't need it, he'll just nest his inside it for now.

"I have," he nodded at the food. "Hope you haven't. It's rubbish. Save your tastebuds." It might ruin them! And then her precious candy would never taste right! How horrible! "The ice cream's pretty good, though."

Anya glared at the cup she'd been tapping on. "... Ihavenoidea." Gah. That is so gross. It would be fine if it was... nice stuff. But... washing paper plates...? And plastic silverware...? No way. Eww.

She then went back to playing the cup game giving it a full run through as she thought about how she was so not using this cup for the entire term.

Anya was so out of it she hadn't even noticed Jake's hand. Or that he was thinking about eating. And it was good too. She'd probably freak out on him. That food looked... meh. And that was... putting it nicely.

When she did notice her boyfriend again, she saw that he was licked straight from a bowl of ice cream. Weird.

... oh wait. That's what she was doing too. Okay. Feel free to continue Jake.

And with that thought she continued happily licking her ice cream.

Jory was about to respond to Ronnie, when the Headmistress began to speak. As the speech continued, he was sure his face was now plastered with a mighty puzzled and confused look. He looked over at Ronnie and saw she had an almost identical look.

All the elves resigned?? And the cuts were causing them to use these... dishes?? "Congrats to the Deputy,'' he thought automatically. Things were so bad that they had volunteers to teach? The Puffer shook his head. But there was more. They were not to throw away the utensils?! And they had to wash them their selves? Jory stared at the Headmistress. Things were definitely bad. As he looked over at the Hufflepuff table he couldn't help feeling for the new students. Puffs and the others. It was their first time here and they had to face all...this. Hopefully it would work out soon.

Oh! But here was the food! "I'm starved,'' the boy said to Ronnie. As she reached for the chicken, he piled some mashed potatoes onto his Dixie plate. He spooned some into his mouth. "This is gross!'' he said in disgust, spitting it out. Judging by the reaction from Ronnie, the chicken must have been the same.

Jory eyed Ronnie. "I suppose we'll be better off eating ice cream?'' He was definitely not going to eat that bland food. He grabbed one of the bowls and carefully spooned some into his mouth. "At least this tastes pretty good,'' he told Ronnie, in relief. "I guess we're gonna be stuck with this,'' he nodded towards the disgusting things on the table that was supposed to be food, "for the rest of the term.''

Lex gave the girl a curious look. "I don't see how it would. The room's locked off and all the colours match each other in there. The fireplace really helps to bring it off when I think about it." So it was perfectly fine, kinda had a warming effect to it as well. All in all she couldn't think of anywhere she'd rather collapse. Other places were good too but then curfew would happen and she'd have to climb the stairs anyway.

"Can you? That's good for you then." Very good. Sitting targets were no fun. Heh.

Lex raised an eyebrow at her statement. "It wasn't actually. My primary question was whether or not you'd heard of the subject and you answered." How did one get magical families from one's familiarity with a subject taught in school? "If I wanted to know I would have simply asked you but as it is, that piece of information never struck me as important or need to know so I chose to ignore it."

"Why would you think that's what I was asking anyway?"

She took the cup and put it next to her plate. Seeing the blue cup there kinda made knowing that they'd have to be taking care of them for the whole term a little more bearable. Oh, correction, Aidan would be taking care of them. She would probably supervise or something else that she couldn't mess up. "I think it's a bit too late for that warning." She made a face at the food.

"I don't even know what to call this." She said, jabbing her fork into the mashed potatoes. "How will we survive if all our meals turn out like this? Candy can only keep me full for so long." Then she was forced to admit that it wasn't actually food and could do little for her. UGH.

She peered over at his ice-cream then eyed the ones at her table. "I think you guys got a different flavour. What is that one?" She should have asked him to grab her a bowl of ice-cream from the 'Claw table but it was too late for that now.

"Maybe not. That would explain why the ice-cream's here too." She thought that over and it probably made a lot of sense. "Kinda like an apology in advance because they knew what the food would be like?" If that was the case the apology was most certainly not accepted but she would enjoy the ice-cream and so she had some more.

Watching the girl, she noted that both she and Jake were licking at their ice-cream. "Are you saving your spork so you won't have to get it messy and have to clean it up after?" You know, one less thing to worry about?

Oh and back to the game!! Lex tapped and tried clapping in sync with Anya...but she was kinda failing...miserably...

Ezra nodded along, possessing a good grasp on economizing and spreading resources thin in order to survive. His parents' life insurances and selling their old house and other goods had left him and his siblings a decent amount of gold; but grandma was strict and she would only allow them to use it for very special occasions. So, they got by with his grandparents' retirement check, grandad's piano lessons and grandma's tiny baking business. It wasn't a lot and he had to share his relatively small room with Elliot but it was good enough.

"I didn't even know we had house elves." He didn't sound very surprised at the revelation, though, because in retrospective, it made sense. Ezra wondered how he hadn't thought of it before and realized that he'd never had been given a reason to even think about who - or what - was in charge of polishing his shoes and making his bed. "You ever seen one, then?" A small grin was given. "Here in school, I mean." He jammed his fork into his bread, again, though it was lazily done and without the force he'd used before. "Oh! Yeah, manners and all." He frowned, pretended to consider whether he wanted Alexa to know his name or not, until he noticed she looked a little - okay, maybe a little bit more than a little - upset. He grinned, sort of apologetically, showing his dimples. "I'm Ezra. Nice to meet ya."

Bliiiiiink.

How did he not know something like that? Strange. "Do you go down to the kitchen often?" That would be the best question to start with. The little guys were always all over the kitchen and they could be seen toddling around ever now and then but to answer his question, "I've seen them tonnes of times! They're super friendly, used to tackle them in my first year...but then...I uh...tackled one and he cried and I never did that again." Ahem. Not something she admitted often. "I think that actually happened at the suits of armor." If she remembered correctly.

Oooo and Ezra. "Cool name." She said with a nod, thoughtfully, taking in his frown. Frowning? They had gone from grins to frowns. She was willing to blame the food, even if it had nothing to do with it. Which it probably didn't because he was grinning again and jbkfgeukg dimples!!! So CUTE!

"The food's no good but aren't you going to try any of the ice-cream? It's good enough to make up for it." Because she'd noticed that he didn't even make a move toward any of the bowls. They would melt soon, wouldn't they?

While listening to Sarah's story, Aphrodite remembered of her own brothers. It is true, they are too overprotective sometimes. But they do it all because they love Aphrodite. "Could you please tell me about your siblings?" she asked cheerfully to her and in a flash foods appears in front of them.

Okay.. Something wasn't right.. what did the Headmistress said? Woah.. Still in a state of shock, Aphrodite glanced at Ronnie is as surprised. "Looks like it was something to do with the House Elf, Ronnie," she said to the girl who immediately grabbed the ice cream in front of her.

In her heart, Aphrodite felt grateful that Mother had told her to eat more earlier and equip Aphrodite with food to eat on the train. Seeing that there is any kind of food in front of her, Aphrodite still trying to eat it though .. aroma is not as good as he had imagined, and still underdone broccoli. Mother and Father always taught him to be grateful with what she got , including this one. Okay, now for the first bite...

A boy from Ravenclaw table approached one senior Gryffindor, Aphrodite ventured to greet them, "Hello, my name is Aphrodite Dragongrass," she said, holding out her hand toward them.

While looking in the direction of Amara who had just returned from the Ravenclaw table, Aphrodite asked, "How is Zyanya, Amara? You definitely look better," she said again, glancing at the food she took.

This will be a long evening.

His frown was genuine this time because, apparently, the presence of house elves at Hogwarts were not a secret. "No..." Tentative answer. Pink lightly colored his sun-kissed cheeks. "I don't even know where the kitchens are." Were they even supposed to know were they were? Ezra was actually pretty sure they weren't supposed to visit the kitchens.

Or maybe they were. He'd never actually read the school rules but November must have mentioned something like that, at least once, because where else would he'd have learned about school rules? "I've never seen one, myself." He tapped the fork against the wooden table, then wagged it at her, testily. "Probably best not to do it again, then, eh?" Alexa had probably hurt him. Her? It? Ezra beamed, again, to show her that he wasn't really disapproving. He'd learned that with girls you had to be very clear even if they weren't always very clear, themselves. "How d'ya get them to stop crying? I didn't know they could cry."

"It's a family name." Not really but he'd heard people say that, before, and always had wanted to say it, too. Warily, he looked at the ice cream, then feigned nonchalance. His cheeks still heat up a little bit, though. "I don't really like ice cream which is good, I s'ppose, because I can't eat ice cream."

Her scowling and general disapproving of the food was cut short when someone walked over to her and Aidan. This one was another Firstie, wasn't she? Lex beamed at her, taking her hand and giving it a firm shake. "Alexa Cambridge." She glanced over at Aidan and thought to nudge him to shake as well but she figured he'd get to that. "Enjoying the...uh...feast so far?" Feast. Pffffffft.

Her eyes widened a bit at his confession. How did he not know where the kitchen was...? There were so many people always talking about it and well, she could have sworn that at least half of Gryffindor and taken it as their designated hanging out spot (Lion's ate a lot, herself included). She couldn't count how many times the others had run down to the kitchens for a late night snack or something. He was a Gryffindor, the trend would not miss him. Not if she could help it. "I could take you there sometime...it's kinda hard to spot unless you know what you're looking for." She use to wonder but being the curious person she was, she used to listen in on what people were saying. Paid off in the long run!

"I don't plan to tackle another any time soon." She said, producing a beam of her own. He was another happy one. She liked that. If she had to deal with just one more sulking kid who hated being in Gryffindor she didn't know what she'd do. Though she supposed that if he ever did he would have gotten over it by now. He wasn't a First Year, she remembered him from a few classes. "And he just kinda moved from crying to hitting himself on his own...I had to pull him away from the suits of armor." He was denting them and hurting himself, the first was pretty much whatever but the latter was NOT okay!

Look at that, a family name. Neat. Not many people have said that to her--GASP!! "You can't?? How come?? You're not...like...allergic are you??" She hated food allergies. They got in the way of some of the best foods. Like with her, she wasn't meant to have strawberries, they could land her in the hospital but they tasted so good.

Well, THAT explained it. Huh. Although it DID make him wonder how Alexa had found the kitchens if they weren't easy to find. "THAT... would be cool." He eyed her, speculatively, and considered introducing her to Edita and November. Clearly she would make a good ally - friend. Same difference. "But you said there were no elves left, though, so it'll probably be a sight for sore eyes." Very sad, indeed. And an unnecessary trip, too, but Ezra didn't want to be rude. "Should we bring something for the old one that stayed, though?" It seemed only fair if they were going to invade the elf's space.

Ezra was not unfamiliar with house elves and their peculiar behavior even if he'd never seen one for himself. But that didn't make Alexa's comment any better. "Horrifying." And he shuddered, but more because he wasn't build to stand theatrics in any shape or form than because he felt bad for the elf. It was part of their nature, after all, however terrible said nature was. If anyone was to be blamed, anyway, was obviously Truebridge for not giving them explicit orders to not hurt themselves.

He rubbed one of his palms against his tanned cheek, but didn't meet Alexa's eyes anymore. He just stared at the ice cream, looking mournful and accussing. "You can say that." He lowered his hand, and the other dropped the forked. Ezra tried to take a bite but stopped halfway, placing the burnt bread back in his plastic plate. "But healers call it lactose intolerance."

"OKAY! Enough with the pride talk" she muttered. "I'm tired...of it" Yes, she was. And a tired and angry Amara was the last thing one would want to see. You don't need to give me guilt-trips. "I'll put up with it, I'm very good at that" Thank you. "And if I have a problem... I'll call you" To lecture. Heh.

She noticed the raised eyebrows. "I've had many people ask me that, straight, indirect, whatever" she said, looking dismissively at the hard rock bread. "Peruvians.. they were the most pestering" she recalled. During many of their visits/stay at foreign lands, it was a problem. I saw you're twin playing with muggle stuff? Does the dish work by itself? Are you purebloods? Is there dirt on my nose? Pathetic people. Sure her family had a lot of Slytherins, family honour, etc etc. But her father had made it clear. No prejudice. And no magic while staying at muggle colonies.

"My father is a potionist..with occasional business deals to do" she said, "We travel a LOT. And we've come across many..ugh.. "funny" characters" Not that I think you are one. On second thoughts, maybe. "My twin got the most of it, I guess" With her muggle ways. The girl still had raised eye-brows. "It isn't important to me either" She looked at the revolting food. "Uhm..though that is important" she said, pointing at the food and grinned.

"Very.. delightful" she added, eying the broccoli.

"Yep, she's all good" she said, now back to Fro. "Making new friends" Which was good, because she didn't know how much time they could get together later.

Better? "Oh, thanks.." she added. Yeah, she did feel fine. Better than before. Even if she did not, she wasn't going to show it out. Not anywhere near pride-infested lions. No harm.