Gryffindor House Table
 

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The Lions sit under a beautiful scarlet and gold banner representing their house. Their solid, shiny wooden table is nicely polished with all the place settings perfectly set. The food will arrive after the Headmistress' traditional end-of-term speech. To all Gryffindors, both new and old, really, REALLY old: enjoy the feast! You've earned it.

Abbi was STARVING MARVING. So starving in fact that she left her unpacked things in her dorm and got ready for the end of term feast as fast as she could. She knew there'd still be a speech and plenty of waiting but at least she'd be a step closer to filling that empty belly of hers.

All dressed in her uniform, the soon to be third year headed down all seven flights of stairs as fast as she could and then slowed to a walk when she reached the ground floor. Yet it still took her a fast few minutes to make it inside the hall and seated under her house banner.

ROAR. They had done well this term, hadn't they? Eh Like she knew, she wasn't much of the homework and classwork fan, but thankfully others were cause winning was still fun anyways, well that was if they were to win? All she knew was that the quidditch cup belonged to them puffs, Donny's house. Heh. Best friend that DIDN'T CARE. That's what he was.

Anyways, where was everyone? Like she wanted to eat soon, could they hurry?

Beaming, Lux made her way into the Great Hall. Not only was this the Closing Feast, but it was also her birthday!! She was now officially thirteen and a teenager.

She had planned to head over to her table for a bit first before joining the Gryffindors, then she spotted Abbi and decoded to go over to her. "Hey, Abbi!" she said happily as she reached her friend.

Christmas couldn't believe that this was it her last ever feast at Hogwarts but she had qudditch to rely on in the future

POke me if you claim him, or you can leave him, he doesn't like strangers
 

You know one thing he didnt like was how hot this robe made things. he was in it for not only fifteen minutes and he was already trying not to sweat. Picking his robe up from falling off his shoulder he walked into the great hall for the last time that year and honestly, he could wait till summer, couldn't WAIT! summer, beach, heat, waves, it was going to be great. Plus he'd be able to see Mike again! Running his hand through his hair he found a seat on the opposite end of where people were gathered at the table and sat down, would it be odd to take a book out right now? Yes, No?

TESSA!

Beaming, Lux turned to her friend and waved. Even though she saw Tessa recently, it felt like ages since they had last spoken. But what was this about her being at the wrong table? Laughing at the joke, she rolled her eyes. Pfft, wrong table indeed! "You know I am an honourary Gryffindor as well as a Gryffinpuff." So she belonged at this table as well. If anyone had a problem with it, too bad because facts were facts.

Happily, she did a badger RWAR.

"I don't think you missed anything." Honestly things were just getting started now.

Tessa's heart warmed at the sight of her friend waving. It was something she would miss over summer- but she was just as sure that this wouldn't be the last time they would see one another in the months they had off between now and next term.

"So very true," she replied, giggling as well. "You are an honorary Gryffindor, I believe I passed that title on to you myself," she said with a laugh. "As I'm sure many others did too," she added, looking around for their other friends.

"That's good," she said, relaxing. "Who knows how this feast works- I gave up long ago on trying to predict how Hogwarts does things," she said with a laugh. "It's so different from any other school I've been." And yet, this was the one where she had felt most at home. Most settled. It was truly the first time she had felt that way in a long, long time.

No. No sad thoughts today.

"So, anyway, who have we seen so far? Or, are we the first ones here?" she asked, grinning at the younger girl.

Feel Free to Claim
 

It was nice to see Tessa laugh, because so many people were looking sad and Lux thought that no one should be sad on her birthday. It was sad to see people sad. "I think you did pass it on to me, Tessa." And it had stuck to her, and she had become a Gryffinpuff as well with a crazy badger roar.

"This whole school thing is still a little strange to me," Lux confessed as she looked around the room at all the other tables, her focus finally ending up at the staff table. Hopefully the feast would start soon so she could eat. "Not too many people are here. I wonder where Bay is. Usually it's impossible to keep him away from food." She laughed because it was true that he loved food like she did.

"So how does it feel knowing that I am a teenager now and not a little girl?" She had a feeling that it would be hard for some of her friends to accept that she was growing up more and more.

Tessa grinned and nodded. "And if I did, I wouldn't take it back for anything. There's no one more deserving to be an honorary Gryffindor," she said with a firm nod. And that was a fact.

"Staying at one school is strange to me," Tessa agreed with a laugh. "IT was nice not to switch mid year. It was nice to finally settle in for awhile," she said with a contented sigh. Sure, she had spent full chool years at other places, but this had felt different. She had made closer friendships and... well, she couldn't take Sander out of the equation.

"Yeah, where is Bay?" she agreed, looking around for the younger lion. "Perhaps he snuck down the kitchens for a pre-feast snack?" she suggested with a soft laugh. "That's Mr. Marshmellow for you," she replied, shaking her head, grinning. "Sander's probably making his way over..." she said, peering around. She expected that he would appear soon.

"Oh! That's right!" Tessa reached forward and smother Lux with a big hug. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" she exclaimed, causing a few heads to turn. "I can't believe it, but at the same time, it suits you well. You've grown a lot this year," she said with a warm smile. "In your flying too," she added with a wink.

Awwww.

Lux felt herself blushing a little at Tessa's comment. That was such a sweet thing to say, and she was happy that her Lion friends had accepted her as one of their own. That didn't mean she had no love for her fellow Badgers however! On the contrary, she was full of pride for both Houses. "That makes me happy."

As she listened to Tessa speak about how strange it was for her too, Lux thought more about how even students who had gone through the whole schooling process before could still be thrown off by Hogwarts life. Sander for instance had come from Durmstrang, where things were probably very different. To go from there must have been strange for him, and then on top of that to be leaving Hogwarts after a year of attending? That had to be doubly strange... "I am glad you stayed, Tessa. I would be sad if you left. And if you never came here you wouldn't have met any of us. You wouldn't be with Sander..." She could tell that they were in love by the way that they looked at each other, and she was really happy for them.

"I'm not sure where Bay is. Either he's doing that, or he is taking a nap?" Bay sure got tired a lot because of the weird ageing thing. Hopefully if he was sleeping, he would not miss the feast. She wanted to talk to him, and she knew that he wouldn't like missing all this yummy food. "Yes, Sander is bound to come over here to see you." There was no way he would not come over to see Tessa.

OOOH, BIRTHDAY HUG.

Beaming, she returned it. "Thanks, Tessa. It really is strange to think that I am one of you teenagers now." It made her laugh, especially when she thought about how much she had changed since the start of the term. Now she had kissed four boys, and she wore dresses and some make-up. The high heel thing was something she still needed to work on; maybe Willa would be able to help her with that over the summer. And the flying... Lux was not sure about that. "I dunno, Tessa. I'm still so scared of heights and we haven't trained in a while so I feel like I back-peddled with it. Bay said he would try to help me..." Hopefully it would work, but the thought of flying just scared her so much.

hiiiii
 

There were so many reasons that led Lex to believe this feast would be a horrid one. The manin one was obvious, the night before her birthday, a whole term later and she was still old. The Healers from St. Mungo's had come and filled her with the false hope that this predicament wouldn't last any longer but then they left and the term was now ended...and every joint in her body still hurt--maybe even worse now actually. The Gryffindor had used up the last of her wrinkle cream before heading down here. It was good they'd be leaving in the morning but she hadn't hoped to spend her birthday aged or in a hospital. Thanks Hogwarts. Thanks a lot.

Her main concern for the even was a certain graduating Captain but a quick glance around the table told her she wouldn't be finding her yet. Forever late. Figures.

"Hey Abbi." Lex muttered while trying her hardest not to break her back as she lowered herself into a seat near the Second Year. When would she be able to sit without this hurt happening? At first she tried being a trooper, telling herself the school always got their act together by the end of term but this was evidently not the case this year and the smiles were getting harder to force.

"Are you as ready to be rid of this place as I am?" You never aged this much at home, and besides, she had PLANS, ones you couldn't very well get done while being stuck here in the castle. The Gryffindor was SO ready for summer.

Not the graduating 7th year she was looking for but a graduate nonetheless. Lex waved to Christmas from across the table, offering the obviously in tact girl a small smile. The lucky people would be going home disease free. "Excited for the big world after you've left here?" Most were. It was like starting a new adventure.

Her eyesight was becoming a major THING by now, a serious hindrance she thought would have been cleared away but much like the aging itself, it was still bothering her. So much so actually that she had to do a bit of squinting in order to recognize Jeremiah who was sat all the way down there. Rather curious but then the boy was a curious thing by nature. "Jeremiah? Whatchu doing all the way down there? There's plenty of space up here and we don't bite...much." Alice wasn't here, he was perfectly safe and even if she was this aging thing had reduced her biting so there was nothing to worry about. "Come on." Lex waved him over, patting the spot next to her and it'd be awful rude of him to decline, just saying.


Another little lion, this wone looking worse for wear. Seeing another aged kid at the table was only depleting the little reserve of hope she'd brought down to the feast with her. This had to be the worst end of term feast so far on the merit it was the only one they hadn't come up with a solution by. Tomorrow she would be 16 but Merlin knew she could probably pull off 80.

"Hey." There was a quick glance up at the staff table to make sure she wasn't missing anything before her focus shifted again. "Have you heard anything new about the Healers?" Had to ask, he'd been up in the Hospital Wing too and if there was anything he knew that she didn't, Lex would love to hear.

The American, Mitchell was it? Lex couldn't remember, there were a lot of things she really couldn't remember but she was fairly positive it was him so he got a wave from where she sat at the table. "Lookitchu surviving the term without a scratch." She commented lightly. She wouldn't even question how he'd managed to stay young all term. Lots of people managed to pull that off. She wished she was one of them.

"What'd you think of the place?" End of year assessment?

Oh hey, there was someone else she hadn't really run into during the term...outside of Quidditch practices but then Lex was usually more focused on beating then keeping to really exchange words and right after it was usually trips to the Healer. That was NOT how Quidditch was meant to be. As blind as Lex was, she could see the girl in a conversation and common courtesy dictated it'd be rude to interrupt so she gave the girl a smile and a wave.

The four musketeers are back again.
 

Sander slid in next to Tessa and gave his girlfriend a quick kiss on the cheek before grinning over at Lux.

"Did I just hear my name being mentioned? Well I'm heeerreee," Sander wiggled his fingers before placing an arm around Tessa's shoulders. "Did you miss me?," he grinned down at her.

Yes it had only been less than an hour since they last saw each other at the tree house, but it felt longer than that. He glanced down at Tessa's hand to see whether she was wearing the ring, and smiled to see that she had. He moved his hand to cover hers and let his fingers brush against his promise ring.

He looked around for the fourth member of their team and when he didn't see him anywhere, Sander turned to look quizzingly at both ladies.

"Where is Bay? Don't tell me he fell asleep again," Sander asked as he chuckled at the thought that his young friend would most probably sleep right through their last feast together.

.....their last feast together. Just that thought alone made Sander feel sad all over again.

Tessa pretended not to see Lux's blush. After all, some people didn't like others to know that they were embarrassed. However, Tessa wouldn't take any of it back. Lux was one of the family, which meant a Gryffindor as far as she was concerned. She had shown a lot of bravery this past year.

"I agree," Tessa said with a soft laugh. "Thankfully, that wasn't an issue this time around!" Now, as for what would happen this summer... she wouldn't mention anything now though. Who knew how Quidditch try-outs would go. Why cause heart-ache when there wasn't a need to? And it didn't matter where her father's work took him, she would remain. He could owl her if he needed assistance. "I don't want to think about that," she said with a small shudder. So many 'what ifs'... "I like where we are now, and that's all that matters!" she said, leaning over to give Lux a gentle hug.

"That sounds like Bay!" she said with a laugh. "And you," she said with a laugh. "I just saw him an hour ago, and I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of the summer together when we both aren't training," she pointed out. As long as this curse was lifted, that is.

"That is a strange and scary thought!" she agreed, laughing. "Just don't grow up too fast, alright?" she suggested. "Being young, without needing to think about the future, is a wonderful thing!" The conversation turned to Lux's flying and she nodded in encouragement. "Don't worry Lux, you've made great progress! I know you'll continue to work hard this summer- maybe next year we'll play against one another!"

Tessa caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Lex waving. She offered a smile of her own and retuned the wave. The girl was welcome to join them, if she wished. However, she also knew that Lex was probably busy checking in with everyone else too. It would be fun to go over their last Quidditch game together- but when they had a chance.



SANDER!

It had only been an hour, but Tessa had already been feeling the lack of Sander in her life. She smiled as he kissed her cheek and leaned into him as he sat beside her. "You did," she laughed, settling against him. "I just used 'accio', and here you are!" she joked. "Do you even have to ask?" she whispered, shooting Sander a grin. Suddenly, his hand covered her's- the one with the promise ring on it. She was still walking on air because of it.

"We were just wondering the same thing," she said, peering around the Great Hall again, in hopes of seeing the other member of their group. However, there was no sign of the younger lion. He would appear soon enough, she was sure. As she returned her gaze to her friends, Tessa frowned slightly when she saw Sander's face.

"Whatever you're thinking, you need to stop," she told him, tapping his nose gently with her index finger. "This is a celebration. Remembering the good times from the year and looking forward to richer futures together!" she said. "Not to mention, many more mentions of you being Peter Pan," she teased, knowing that would bring a smile back onto his face.

HE was perfectly content sitting down here by himself. The table would fill up eventually and he wouldn't be alone for much longer but for right now he was ok. Pulling at a stay thread from the edge of his robs he kept to himself just thinking about how there would soon be all these old people around and here he was looking so young and awesome. Perks of social anxiety. yes. At least he was totally cool until he heard someone said his name. Looking up and down the table like a dear in headlights he felt his heart stop and almost jump out of his throat. Who said that? What he do and why were they so concerned!?

O________________O

Was that Lex!?

H hadnt seen her for most the term minus for quidditch he was barely a part of .... "oh." he said quietly to himself as he registered the old lady as her. Alexa was Old and Jeremiah was amused more than he should be. She was also one of his first friends from here and he knew how she got when he didnt listen to her. So he scooted, yes scooted down to her since there as no one in between them. "Hi, Lexa." was she hard of hearing now a days too? should he talk louder and into her ear or would that be ok?

Whoa. Speak of the devil.

Lux smiled as Sander joined them, sitting beside Tessa. Deciding to ignore the affection he was showing his girlfriend, she focused on his question about where Bay was. "I honestly don't know where he is, though I was wondering the same thing... Hopefully he won't miss this." It would be terrible if he missed the last dinner at Hogwarts until next September.

Smiling, Lux agreed with Tessa about it not really being an issue this time. It was a good thing too, and made her happy. Seeing that Tessa did not seem to want to talk about the what ifs, Lux tactfully decided to drop that part of the conversation. Sander was here now anyway, which made it even more necessary in her mind. They only needed Bay, and The Four Musketeers would be together again. Smiling, she hugged Tessa back.

"It sounds like him and me?" Did Tessa mean the eating? Or the napping? Because she could sure agree to the former, but Bay could nap circles around her. She could still remember him falling asleep with his head in her lap. "Yes, I am sure we will all spend loads of time together this summer." Hopefully. Or she would be sad.

Laughing, Lux thought about how it would scare even herself if she grew up way too fast. "I will try my best not to." Surely Tessa would know what she was talking about, since she was a few years older; and the fact that she looked like an old woman made her seem even wiser. "I'm glad that you guys are confident in me at least. I hope you are right... but I think that if I can't do Quidditch, I will get into potion making." She loved Potions, and was rather good at it.

Please please please let me get over my fear of heights.

Lex could remember all the way back at the start of the term when everyone had wide, if not apprehensive, smiles. Something she hadn't seen in ages and it was even worse tonight when the realization hit that they were leaving in the morning and weren't any better off than they were this whole year, in fact, they were worse. He hadn't heard anything either. Lex sighed, resigning herself to the fact she'd have to spend her birthday at St. Mungo's afterall. "Pity." It really was. The Gryffindor had had other plans.

"Yeah...they got everyone nice and hopeful then just vanished. Should have known better. To think I led one of them up all those flights of stairs." It was officially a wasted effort on her part because there was no long term benefit. Merlin help that lady and her assistant if Lex ran into them while she was there. "Our lovely Headmistress will be getting a lot of publicity if we board the train like this." Imagine the stares they would get once they got off the train too! Walking back through King's Cross. This wasn't happening.



From this distance she couldn't quite make out the expression on Jeremiah's face but she knew he was taking his own sweet time in getting over to her. Was he coming or would she need to levitate him over, tell the Professor's she forgot it wasn't allowed. How would they know she's lying? Her memory hadn't been the best of late and the aged among them would be able to understand. The way she saw it, he had 5 seconds before she levicorpus-ed his butt into the spot next to her.

Lucky for him he'd already started scooting because she'd hit four and her fingers were curling around her wand. "Hey. I see you've already developed the art of avoiding the crazy at Hogwarts." She pointed out, noting his youth. It wasn't FAIR but she'd been saying that all term and it was getting out. Nothing was fair and she would have to live with it.

"Worst night before my birthday I've ever had, but on a lighter note, this is where I congratulate you for not dying!"

anyone and everyone!!!
 

Bay finally arrived to the feast.. he over slept.. like he always did.. making his way to the Gryffindor table he sat down and laid his head down… ughhhh… he was so tired… he wondered if he could just nap for the whole thing.

Oooh, there was Bay.

Looked like Lux was right in thinking that he had been napping, because he looked like a zombie when he joined them sitting at the table. And down he went for another nap.

Giggling, she reached out and tickled him a little. He needed to be awake so that he could talk to them and eat the food that was going to be served soon. Or at least she hoped soon, because she was getting hungry.

Sander smiled lovingly at Tessa when she broke him out of his reverie. They were so in tune to each other, that somehow each knew what the other was feeling. Just like now. He caught her finger with his and kissed it before entangling her fingers with his, holding holding her hand close.

As he looked deeply into her eyes, he could see the love she felt for him intermingled with concern. Sander knew that the concern was over him, and realized that it was unfair to make her worry about him. So he pushed his sad thoughts away and decided to just enjoy the time they had now.

He laughed out loud when Tessa mentioned Peter Pan. It brought back happy memories of the first time both Tessa and he met each other at the Tower Patch. They had taken turns levitating each other before Tessa transformed the color of his clothing into green. Hence, the Peter Pan joke.

"Well Peter Pan does need his Tinker Bell, so maybe sometime during the summer you'll let me transform your clothing to be all sparkly with Pixie Dust," he winked back at her.


Then he turned to Lux and listened attentively to what she had to say.



At the mention of summer, Sander realized that he hadn't officially invited his friends over to spend part of their summer with him. "I don't know what all of you will be doing over the summer but I was wondering whether you'd like to spend some of it with me and my family. I was hoping to take all of you sightseeing around Norway. All of you are invited of course and I'm going to invite Alex, Lucas and Louis too," Sander revealed his plans to everyone.

He hoped they would all say they would come. It would be nice to have the gang all together again.

....and speaking of Bay, Sander grinned when he caught sight of his best friend. The poor lad looked like he had just woken up from a nap.



Hey bro, did you get enough sleep? I was worried you'd miss out last feast at Hogwarts together. Here grab a seat before you fall asleep on your feet," Sander slid closer to Tessa to make room for his young friend.

almost fully asleep Bay started to laugh out loud.. because he was being tickled… wha……. cracking his eyes open he spotted it was Lux.. "I knew it must have been you" he grinned as he lifted his head and reached his arms over to Lux's head and messed up her hair.. he laughed while he did it because it was pay back for waking him up.. he tended to mess up her hair a lot.. but he also did that to Tessa to.. "when are we getting food.. ughh… when it comes can you just like throw it in my mouth?" he didn't want to move any more then he had too.. and he was being totally serious.



laughing as Sander always knew when he was tired or sleepy.. or even just sleeping he have his friend a big smile… "no. not enough at all… even though I'm always sleeping… but i wouldn't miss more opportunities to stuff my face with great food before i have to go home to the healthily stuff.. EWWWWWWW" everyone knew his stance on "good for you food" and he still hated it.