This was RIDICULOUS. She had taken her SWEET TIME to get down to the Great Hall and somehow she still managed to be THE FIRST ONE HERE??????????

Zoryn had half a mind to go back out of the hall and wait a good twenty minutes before coming to sit down at the table so that she could actually be fashionably late (as always).
However, the grumble of her stomach stopped her from leaving because the possibility of being served food while she was away was far too great a risk to take.

Darn.

Guess she was stuck here.

Being in the prefect's compartment had been.....surreal. There was no other word for it. Who would've thought that his first major disagreement of the term (his last) would've happened right there.

Anyway, here he was, walking into his final opening feast. Ever. Like after this term, his time at Hogwarts would over, done, finito. And he had a badge, to boot. But, he wasn't going to focus on all of that right now. Nope, now was for the wait for food and enjoying the food once it came. Not thinking about plans for the future, universities, NEWTS or anything like that.

As he approached the Gryffindor table, Ronan saw that he was only the second person there. Checking his watch, he sat in a spot towards the middle of the table, where he would be able to keep a better eye on the whole table. "Hey, Zoryn! We missed you in the prefect's compartment," he said to only other person currently at the table.

Chase was back for another year. He was very grateful to be off of that train. This had been a very interesting train ride. Sure, he had spent times with his friends and all and saw Gumball Girl (Beth) but... he had had a rather intriguing run in with Scary Kowlaski. Fortunately Lucas had found him and had come to the rescue. Praise Lucas for being such a good mate in coming to help him.

He spotted Zoryn and Ronan at the table already. "Sup guys!" he said as he casually took a seat, happy to be back for another year. "Did you have a good summer?" Then his eyebrows raised when he saw Ronan was wearing Tenacius' badge. Woah. Niice. He gave a quick thumb's up to him. "Nice badge. Suits you, Carter," he nodded.

It had dawned on Abra during the summer that, for this feast and perhaps all the others after it (presuming he held onto his new student leader role), he would be expected to sit at his own house table. He didn't think it was a rule or anything, not technically, but he was fairly sure that it was some sort of unspoken expectation. But... how many times had he sat with Junia for these things? And now... well... now he was here. Gryffindor table. Feasting here for literally the first time actually.

As he entered the hall with a wave of students, Abra looked around the room and immediately paled upon seeing exactly who was at the table. He'd never written Zoryn back after asking her about the Quidditch Captain badge, and had sort of overlooked the fact that he would, actually, have to face her (and whatever she'd end up thinking about him and his betrayal) eventually.

Perhaps he could still prolong it though, just a little bit longer? Yes. Avoidance. It was really the best way to deal with problems. Abra quickly averted his eyes from Zoryn and fixed them on a space at the table towards the other end of the room. He took up the seat, trying to sort of angle his body away from her so the glint of the badge might be concealed, and made an attempt at settling in for the evening.

It felt weird. Weird and wrong. He should have been over at the Slytherin table, and if not there, then with the Hufflepuffs. Abra cast a longing look over at Junia's table for a few moments, then glanced off in another direction, instinctively checking on Aaron and Alanna while seeking out Derf. No good, he couldn't really pinpoint anyone through the crowds of people just yet.

In a way, his discomfort and feeling out of place at his own house table was a good thing, as it sort of distracted him from the anxiety he felt about the new red and gold badge he now wore on his robes, and the responsibility and expectations that came with it, and his worries that he would ultimately be a disappointment, and his general 'back to school to be terrible at every class ever' mindset. Yes, it was a good break, having something else to worry about for a bit, even if that something else was also not exactly pleasant.

Not that he let that show for very long. Abra was sure to put his acting skills to use while he sat at the Gryffindor table, and despite feeling a weird sort of homesickness for a place and a person that were literally only across the hall, he hitched a smile and an easy expression onto his face. If he could just be a little more like West for the evening - and maybe the entire term - he'd coast this entire thing. He could radiate confidence and enthusiasm and coolness and all he needed to do was a little bit of acting.

With the train ride over and done with, Rylee made her way to her house table with a more happier spring in her step. Every second that passed brought the time closer and closer to when the first years were going to get sorted! That meant her brother! There was no doubt in her mind that Reese would be a Gryffindor like her.

"Hi!" she chirped happily smiling brightly at everyone at the table sliding down onto an empty spot on the bench somewhere near the end so she could easily see the students as they were all sorted. There was no way she would be missing that. "How was everyone's summer?" Hopefully good, yes? Rylee practically beamed spotting Zoryn opening her mouth to tell the older girl how hard she had been practicing all summer long for Quidditch only for a look of confusion to fill her eyes when she didn't spot the bright shiny badge on the girls robes. Slowly she shut her mouth and tilted her head a little. Blink. Blink. Should she ask? Had she forgot her badge?

Blue eyes moved up and down the length of the long table catching sight of the glint of a badge. It wasn't Quidditch though. No. It was the Head Boy. There was a new Head Boy taking over their pride. It would take some getting used to. "Congratulations on becoming, Head Boy," Rylee smiled at Ronan.

Rylee sifted her weight sideways, tucking her leg up underneath herself on the bench so she could watch the sorting. One by one names she knew were called and she smiled waving at each of her friends giving them a thumbs up and clapping for them all as they moved to their new house tables. It was taking forever for her brothers name to be called. By the time Reese's name was said, Rylee was practically wiggling in excitement for him and she didn't care who might have been looking at her. That was her little brother!

Hufflepuff

Huh?

What?

Blink. Blink.

Rylee caught the look in Reese's eyes as he walked towards the table that was not hers. This- no. What exactly had just happened? They were supposed to be in the same house. That had been the plan. How was he a Hufflepuff but she wasn't?

All cheerfulness and excitement was gone only to be replaced by a completely crestfallen child. No doubt she would be slipping away from her table the very first chance she got to check on her brother.

The train ride had been…interesting. Stasya had gotten onto the train expecting things, but the drama between the new Head Boy and Flynn wasn’t exactly one of them. In fact, after personally making sure Dobby and Albus were safely at home in the barns, the first place the tall blonde fourth year had looked was toward the Slytherin table to see if the male prefect was there. Hopefully not glaring at their table or anything. She knew she hadn’t done anything wrong, and she definitely wasn’t planning to…At which point she remembered one person who she didn’t think knew about her badge and her grey-green eyes had gone up to the staff table only to see that the DADA professor wasn’t there yet. Oh well. Maybe she could tell Professor Hirsch later, or maybe he knew. She didn’t know if all the professors were told who the prefects were before term, but she figured the headmistress knew. And obviously Professor Marchand knew, since he’d written the letter that had come with her badge.

The shiny badge that was pinned to her school robes, of course, and out of force of habit, her gaze had gone to the Puff table once before she’d arrived at the Lion table. The Lion table that was missing Liv and Vi and Ace and all the people who had graduated last term.

“Hi everyone!,” she said, sliding into a seat near Rylee as she noted that all the Lion badged people were there already. And Zoryn, who she figured was why Abra seemed so awkward, or at least more awkward than normal. She wondered what had happened that made Zoryn give up her badge, really, but she knew better than to ask. Maybe it was something the older girl didn’t want to talk about. She knew there were plenty of things she preferred not talking about after all.

But then she noticed the expression on Rylee’s face, and she leaned over to give her a sideways hug. “What’s wrong, Rylee?,” she whispered. In case the little ginger didn’t want everyone to notice. It reminded herself of half the previous start-of-term feasts and how she’d felt. How Liv had tried to make her feel better during loads of them.

Man she was already regretting the decision to stick around.The more she sat here, the harder it was getting to keep up this whole charade. Should’ve just left and come back when there was food out. Like no offense or anything, but she did not want to talk to people she was hardly friends with without even having pumpkin juice to help it go down, y’know?

Speaking of which, someone was talking to her. “Hi,” it took Zoryn all of five seconds to notice the gleaming badge on Ronan's robes, which he clearly wasn’t trying to hide. Of course she was surprised to see him with it too! This kid must’ve lost just about the same amount of points as she had this past term and they made HIM Head Boy? Like uh, what were they thinking? This guy was a rogue bludger. Zoryn knew them when she saw ‘em too ‘cause she was a beater and the Quidditch Cap— Oh wait. “It’s always a little stuffy in there,” was all she had to say in reply because she missed it too. “Congrats on the badge, that’s a whooooooole lotta responsibility, you know?” Just in case he didn’t. Good thing he had her to tell him. “Are you nervous? I’d be sweatin’ up a storm.”

Her attention soon shifted, however, to the next arrival at the table, a younger boy (Chase) who she only somewhat recognized (because she didn’t pay attention to side characters) (aka anyone aside from herself and her select favorites). “Yup! Totally,” in reality her summer was very NOT good. But she couldn’t let people know. Anyway this was one of those things she was good at, evading the truth.

“ABRA!” she waved, calling out to her friend, who was headed all the way towards the OTHER side of the table. There were two things that struck odd with the way he hurriedly made his way down the table. 1) She hadn’t ever seen him sit here for a feast before. 2) How come he didn’t sit closer? Actually with that in mind, why weren’t any of her friends around?

Mostly she needed Faith. For once, Zor wasn’t looking forward to being back at school. If only the Chosen’s could keep her at their place FOREVER. Then she’d never have to face this kind of humiliation. It felt like everyone was staring at her (read: Rylee and Stasya).

All at once the smile threatened to drop right off Abra's face. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Zoryn, not at all. Actually, he really wanted to catch up with her - much like he wanted to catch up with all of his friends after a long summer away from them - and make sure she was sort of actually properly okay, given what he knew about why she'd relinquished her role as captain. It was more that he didn't want her to see him, really, though rationally he knew that it would be sort of difficult to have one without the other.

Actually, no, it wasn't even about her seeing him, but about not wanting her to see her... his... the badge on his robes. Would Zoryn hate him, for taking the position she loved and probably belonged to much more than he did (he had not forgotten that she had been the original choice)? Would she get upset, seeing what she'd had to give up right there in front of her? Would she perhaps be embarrassed? Angry? Exasperated? Disbelieving? Or would she be totally understanding and chill and mega happy for him? It wasn't impossible, he supposed, but Abra wasn't exactly getting his hopes up.

Well, he wasn't about to totally ignore one of his friends, now was he? Not today, at least. Abra looked up the table in Zoryn's direction, flashed his smile - now a little uneasy - her way... and started sliding his way up the Gryffindor table to where she and the general throng had started to gather. He supposed there was no avoiding this situation forever.

"Hey Zoryn," he said when he was finally a more conversation-friendly distance from his fellow fifth year, trying to seem casual or nonchalant or basically any kind of way that didn't call attention to the badge. "It's good to see you. Feels like it's been forever." It really did, but also, the summer holidays hadn't felt half as long as they should have done.

As for everyone else, Abra sent them all well-rehearsed smiles and shaky-handed waves, doing his best to be welcoming and not anxious, and absolutely failing where that last part was concerned. Because now, on top of all the badge stuff, he was starting to focus on all the things that he'd managed to avoid thinking about all day. Being back at school just seemed to have that effect on him.

"Is it hot in here?" he mumbled, tugging at his collar and tie. It actually didn't feel hot to him - he wasn't flushed, and was perhaps even a little pale - but it definitely felt like something was trying to strangle him. First he thought his uniform was constricting him, but then he realised it was more like something had its claws in him from the inside out. He pulled his shirt collar and Gryffindor tie as loose as he could around his neck and tried to be just a face in the crowd. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Pretty soon, the rest of the Gryffindors started trickling in. "Thanks, Chase!" he replied to the younger boy. Who was followed by Abraham, who looked awkward for a second. Though, when Ronan followed his gaze, it was easy to see why. Couldn't be easy coming face to face with the person who you were replacing like that. Especially when they were as passionate about Quidditch as Zoryn.

"Thanks, Rylee," was his response to the next person to join the table, followed by a quick nod of acknowledgment to his fellow prefect. And then the shocked face from the aforementioned former Quidditch captain. Which, he actually was shocked to have received it himself, though he was trying to not let anyone know. "I didn't find it that stuffy." Tension filled, thanks to a certain Slytherin, but otherwise pleasant. "Nervous, me? Pfff." Naw, he'd leave that for the new Quidditch captain. Whom was starting to look a little bit by the nerve bug. "Not really." Or, not at all.

He was now wishing they could eat BEFORE the Headmistress' speech, since he hadn't felt like snacks after the incident with Flynn.

Oh, wait. He'd stuffed some in his pocket before leaving his carry-on with his trunk. He pulled out a package of Red Vines, opened the package, stuck one in his mouth and started slowly chewing on it. Mmmm, much better.

Rylee smiled softly. If the professors and Headmistress entrusted Ronan with the Head Boy badge than she was sure he would handle the job with great respect. It was an important role to take on for sure.

Oops. She hadn't meant to stare! Especially not at Zoryn! The little ginger lioness had been caught completely off guard by the lack of the older girls badge. Everything was just going so fast and all the changes were taking her by surprise. Rylee did want to talk to her though, perhaps there would be a moment or two after the feast sometime?

It was completely out of the norm for her not to realize who was sitting beside her or even that she was being hugged until she heard a soft voice spoken asking if she was okay. Rylee returned the hug as best she could without looking away from the Hufflepuff table which was now getting harder and harder to see from where she was. "The sorting hat put him in Hufflepuff..." she mumbled quietly the words sounding wrong as she spoke them out loud. Slowly her blue moved to look at Stasya taking notice of her Prefect badge. "You're a prefect now? Congratulations." She deserved it. Mhmm. But... Reese. Rylee wanted to be over there where he was. She looked back towards the other table but everyone was so tall and she could hardly see him. "Can I go sit with him?..." Did it matter if she went now or after the speech?

Gryffindor. This has got to be the right table yeah? Well this was where the cheers came from when she was sorted, and she was rarely wrong about geolocation.

Lillian tapped her foot for a moment, getting her bearings-- because new place is big and full and LIVELY and theres so much to process omg-- then casually made her way down the seats, trying to find a vacant-- oh theres one.

She smoothly took a seat seat and folded her hands on the table, looking totally engaged with her new Housemates and their conversations... not realizing of course that she interrupted one as she sat between Zoryn and Chase, right smack in the middle of their conversation. "Hi!" she greeted cheerfully to everyone (or maybe no one), completely oblivious to what she just did.

"Nice badge, Stasya," he said as he admired not only her badge but also her... Wow. Summer had treated her very nicely. Of course, she had always been pretty but she was even more pretty currently...? Was that even a thing that could happen?

Heh.

Right. Zoryn. That's who he was talking too before he got distracted.

So good summer, Zoryn? Somehow Chase didn't feel entirely convinced of that fact but he wasn't close to the girl so he just nodded. Okay. That's okay. He just nodded and gave her a smile, choosing to ignore the urge to ask the girl more questions. It'd probably be rude to ask her all of those. "Riiiight," he said with a small nod. Instead he curiously watched the interaction between the Gryffindor Ex-Cap, the new Cap, and the Head Boy. Hot in here? "I think its rather delightful. Perhaps on the warm side," he offered with a wave of his hand before glancing over to the Slytherin table to see how Lucas was faring with the scary Snake Prefect.

His eyebrows raised when he saw Gumball Girl was a Slytherin. OH. Ohhhhh... Intriguing. Something he had not quite expected. He had thought she'd be a good Hufflepuff and all... But Slytherin... He would have to ask her about that.

*PLOP*

Someone had chosen to sit in between him and the Ex-Cap. Oh. He blinked. It was a new person. A younger year (Lily). He offered her a kind smile and a salute. "Sup!" he said, scooting a little bit away to give the girl more room cause she had entered his personal space bubble. But then again, she was young and obviously didn't know who he was.