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*Zoe* · 08-06-2016, 01:34 AM

For those who belong in Gryffindor House, on the left side of the Great Hall is where your table awaits. Red banners containing an embroidered golden lion float above the polished table in honour of the brave Godric Gryffindor. Already placed on the tables are silver plates with accompanying cutlery and goblets. All that is missing right now are the mountains of food and pitchers containing your favourite beverages.

Though your stomach might be growing as you take a seat on one of the long benches next to the table, it is important to not get hangry -- gnawing your arm away or jabbing your fork repeatedly on the surface of the table will do no good whatsoever. Give everyone some time to get settled in and wait for Headmistress Hawthorne to deliver her speech. Keep yourself preoccupied by catching up with your fellow housemates or those who are visiting from the other tables until it is time to sink your teeth into the hearty and delicious meal prepared by the house-elves.

SilverTiger · 09-03-2018, 06:53 AM

Well, it certainly seemed like her intent on trying to not act like the absence of certain professors was bothering her wasn’t being shared by the others at the table. Granted, there was every chance that the others’ reasons for looking down were different than how she’d usually be when she was feeling as much inner turmoil as she still was, even having been prepared for things. For the most part, though, Stasya was curious about why things were so much quieter than normal for a start-of-term feast. It almost made her wonder if the way her fellow Gryffindors had acted back when she’d been a disappointed newly-Sorted Lion was unusual, but she’d still given Abra a grin at the awkward greeting since it really hadn’t been that long since they’d seen each other last.

Aside from Anna, apparently, as she’d given the new Captain and her older brother both smiles before she’d gone back to perusing the newcomers at the staff table. Like the one who had apparently brought Professor Stewart a geranium or something, which made her think maybe he was Professor Myers’ replacement. And she’d continued trying to determine the others’ positions until she’d heard the younger girl’s exclamation. Which she’d nearly responded to had she not been distracted by the arrival of Tessa. “Hi dormie! My summer was amazing,” she replied, choosing at that moment to hold back on the full explanation until later. The mood at the table didn’t exactly seem like it was right for mentioning everything.

Oh, and there was Rylee, who got another smile. “Hi Rylee! At least it’s warm and dry in here, right?” Her hair was nearly dry, finally, not that she regretted her decision to check on the creatures before coming to the feast. She hadn’t missed the Sorting, after all. Or, some quiet plotting that she heard happening nearby, for which she’d glanced over at Dezi quizzically. The food would come soon enough, as long as they didn’t have to wait forever for the speech.

The new firsties (Lucas, Stella, and unfortunately the boy from the train of which she now knew his name wasn’t John Doe. Courtesy of the Sorting) who had joined them after they’d been Sorted got big grins from her too, although Józef got a bit of a surreptitious look too. Trying to trick them wasn’t exactly the best start, but then it also was very Gryffindor. Or Ravenclaw. It would’ve helped if she knew Claws other than Jessa and the departed Erik. “Congratulations to all of you and welcome to Gryffindor!” She was always looking for new people to mentor like Liv had for her.

Back to the staff table discussion, aka Marchand discussion though, as she’d been about to add to the observations of her fellow leaders and Chase moments before something else entirely happened up there. Obviously noticed by Beth as well. “Who are they? Did he give something to the headmistress?,” she asked aloud. That definitely looked suspicious.

Watson · 09-03-2018, 03:06 PM

"Wow..." he blurted out. Chase Spenley was shocked by Beth's confession. She actually ENJOYED spending time with HIM? Chase was rather touched. He dropped the whole teasing act for a moment and then paused. Something felt very weird. He felt very weird. This was all very weird. If he had let his heart make the decision he would have smiled faintly and perhaps maybe have even admitted that the two of them were friends. However, a very quiet voice in his heard advised him to always be skeptical especially since GG had a secret plan. She was, after all, Kowalski's protogé-- which the very thought sent shivers running down his spine. He shivered. Er... Now how to respond to her comment about being just as dramatic as her. "I'm not dramatic," he chuckled, shaking his head,and eying the empty plate before him. Yep, the hunger was beginning to set in.

He remained quiet, listening to Beth's facial expression change once more because of his awesome offer to provide ~~awesometastical~~ somewhat beneficial advice to the young She-Snake. But the whole notion of considering the ideas with all of its rainbows and unicorns faded away when Beth mentioned that he would be replacing Kowlaski. Ermm... The boy that Chase had met at a cafe? The one who was trying to get a free meal through the waitstaff. As if he'd even be associated with him.... especially after he threatened him on the train last term and then LUCAS had to intervene. Yeah.. nope... "Oh GG... Don't get too sentimental with me..." he smiled, drawing out the last sentence, as he got distracted by two unfamiliar adults walk past their table. Errmm... New Professors that were late? Probably from Beauxbatons.... he supposed and then turned his attention towards Stella.

Her Dad was a Gryffindor? That was pretty neat. So she was, in sorts, a Gryffindor legacy. Cool! He frowned a little when she said that she had a lot to live up to. "Big shoes to fill, huh?" he repeated. He couldn't imagine what that would have been like. Thank Merlin for either set of his parents not attending Hogwarts. His adopted parents couldn't because they were muggles... but his real birth parents... ? He had no clue. He noted the girl's frown and tried to reassure her. He offered her a smile and paired it with a quiet, "Well I'm sure you'll make your Dad proud whatever you do." Even if she hadn't ended up in Gryffindor, he hoped that her father at least would have been proud of her... But then again, he didn't even know what her parents were like. Maybe being in the same house as your parents WAS a REALLY big DEAL.

SPENLEY LOOK

Beth's voice reminded him of their previous conversation as well as the proposition that she had offered. "About that proposal, Greyvson, can we table that for later..." he began to ask before pressing his lips together as he found the two strangers at the Staff Table. He tried squinting his eyes to see what they were passing to each other... At Stas' question, Chase nodded. "It looks like Mr. Cold Stoney Face is handing something... a piece of parchment... Some note perhaps?" No, not a note- that'd be too awkward. A letter? ... "Perhaps its some sort of letter?" He squinted his eyes. Merlin... He really should have followed his mother's advice and gone to see the eye doctor to re-evaluate his contact lenses prescription. Meanwhile he turned his gaze to the man that assumed a seat in the empty place of the Divination Professor. "So if he's the Divination Professor....... Any bets on who's Mr. Cold Stoney Face? ......Some ministry official? An actor?" Chase was now just throwing out possible suggestions as he brainstormed away.

Felixir · 09-03-2018, 03:26 PM

Abra was a little concerned about Marchand, even though generally it was the Head of House that tended to worry about the students rather than the other way around. He bit at the inside of his lip and glanced once more at the staff table, and then back to Anna again. "Yeah..." Ill. Or something. "I hope he's okay." At Chase's comment, that perhaps Marchand would come down to the table later, Abra nodded, though he figured it was more likely they'd all see the professor for their traditional start-of-term celebration. Hopefully.

All at once, Abra started to feel a little guilty over how much attention he was paying to his Head of House's appearance, mostly because of how much he himself sometimes hated it when people noticed that he wasn't doing well. Sure, Abra liked to over-dramatically despair at the most minor inconvenience, but the more serious it got, the less he liked his discomfort to be noticed. What if Marchand saw them all staring, and got all self-conscious and uncomfortable, or even upset with them? Abra quickly averted his eyes as this thought occurred to him, but he didn't stop wondering.

The newest addition to their table was a familiar face, wearing familiar sunglasses: the kid from the prefects' compartment (as focused as Abra had been on the staff table, he had missed his name during the whole Sorting process). Abra supposed, given the fact that the boy had just been sorted, that his initial suspicion had been correct: he was either a first year or a young transfer. One thing was certain, he clearly wasn't very happy to be there; perhaps, judging by the fact he'd been wearing a Slytherin badge earlier, he had hoped to be a member of that very house?

After that entire ~situation~ on the train, a part of Abra wondered if he ought to be a little apprehensive, knowing that the kid, with all his attitude, had been sorted into his house. Mostly, though, Abra only saw a boy who seemed pretty disappointed by his sorting, and was instantly brought back to the time he himself had worn the Sorting Hat, willing himself to be put into Hufflepuff, only to have his hopes completely dashed. Deciding to put the train incident firmly in the past, Abra leaned forwards again, all the better to see the boy, and called down to him. "Welcome to Gryffindor..." He wanted to add 'I know how you feel' or 'It's not all bad' or 'You'll get used to it', but refrained, just in case his initial instinct about why the boy was sulking turned out to be incorrect. "I'm Abra Botros." Whether the kid wanted to acknowledge him at all was entirely up to him.

Turning to one of the other first years, Stella, Abra offered her another smile. "Nice to meet you too. Yeah, I guess I am," he added, though he knew full well that he was a prefect. It was still a bit of a shock, to be entirely honest, to have been given the badge, but he was willing to try and live up to it, even if at times - like when he thought about his grades, for example - he didn't fully feel he deserved it. "Yeah? That's a great goal. Good luck!" Was that the correct thing to say in this situation? Abra didn't know, but the words were already out, so.......

Then Stasya's comment made Abra look around again, and once again he looked up towards the staff table, where there were two new men present. "I... don't know..." was his response. He definitely didn't know who the men were, and hadn't turned to look in time to see anything be handed over, and he didn't have even the remotest guess as to what was happening. Furrowing his brow, Abra sat up as straight as he could and tried to peer over the heads of the other students so that he could maybe figure out what was going on. That one guy was taking a seat at the table, so... "New professor?" Well, duh. But what about the other guy?

Argyle · 09-03-2018, 06:07 PM

Argyle continued shuffling past the doors and into the cavernous hall. The loud sounds of the gathered studentes assaulted her ears but the house elf pushed past to slip towards the table belonging to those dressed all in red and under it. Just a few moments to see...then back to work. Argyle be fine and not in trouble.

Argyle popped her head out from a point further up the table to get a better look. Ooooo they were talking with Headmistress...but...headmistress was leaving. Argyle not have good feeling.

natekka · 09-03-2018, 06:08 PM

Tessa grinned at Abra and nodded. "Oh, I'm definitely going to!! I'm going to need all the fun I can get this year. Y'know, with OWLs and everything." They were going to wipe her out, she just knew it. She was NOT prepared. Ha ha ha. It was a good thing she didn't care enough to worry. She turned her attention briefly to Rylee who had just asked how everyone's summers were. She grinned at the younger girl. "Mine was pretty good, thank you!! It was good to get away from school for a while." Well, not school exactly - yeah, shocking. It was more like getting away from Hogwarts had been good. It was constant drama here. Some kinds of #drama were okay in Tessa's opinion but Hogwarts' brand of drama was not. "Did you have a good summer??" She was sure that most people would have been relieved to get away from Hogwarts for the summer, too.

It was still nice coming back, though.

Some new Gryffindors (incl. Lucas and Stella) were joining the table now and Tessa offered little waves to each of them as they sat down. "Welcome to Gryffindor!!!" She said enthusiastically with a huge grin. They looked so cute and TINY. She couldn't believe that she had once been that small, too. She turned her head to yawn - she didn't want them thinking she thought they were boring or anything - and her attention was captured by Anna who was loudly proclaiming that 'EVERYONE SHOULD TRY OUT'. This seemed to be directed at everyone. Tessa's suspicions were confirmed when she glanced down and saw that Anna was wearing the Captain's badge. That cleared up her earlier question of who the Quidditch Cap was now.

Another firstie (Józef) joined the table and he seemed less than happy to be there. At least it appeared that way from his lack of a smile. He was wearing sunglasses so couldn't really be sure. "Hey! Welcome to Gryffindor!!" She exclaimed as he took a seat nearby, then added, "nice shades." They were. She didn't know how appropriate they were for inside the Great Hall on a rainy day, though, but she also didn't know his reasons for wearing them so she wasn't going to say anything.

Tessa stole another moment to speak to Stas. "You'll have to tell me all about it later!!" She wanted to know ALL the details. Then, looking up when Stas mentioned it, she noticed two men at the staff table. One of them had made himself comfy in the seat next to the Headmistresses and the other was handing something to her, which she began reading. "Maybe," she agreed when Abra suggested that there could be a new Professor, but then the Headmistress stood up.......and left.......

What was going on?

"Where is she going?" She asked to nobody in particular.

siriusblackliveson · 09-03-2018, 07:58 PM

Patrick watched the others at the table he didn’t belong to, he was wondering how his table was so tame this term and the Gryffindor one was sooo rambunctious. He credited that to the dynamic of most of the kids in that house.

He was fairly certain that Anna wouldn’t notice him until She draped her arm right around him. “Eh, my table was pretty empty so thought I’d join this little party over here.” He was pretty certain that the tables would begin to fill in and he would need to go ahead and head back to his seat when he noticed the letter hand off, “that didn’t look good.”

hermionesclone · 09-04-2018, 01:07 AM

....... Uh.

The sudden talking near him distracted him from his thoughts of food - mmm, fooooood - and he turned to look at.... someone he'd never seen before. Never even recognised. He hadn't even sat down for long and someone was already talking to him. Was this how things were over here? Was everyone this friendly??

Chase. Chase was his name, and he earned himself a shy smile from the first year. "Thanks, Chase! My name is Lucas but, er, yeah, that's what everyone calls me." Awkward. "I'm very very," He could go on but there was probably no point. "very excited to be here. Is it normally like this here?" Even though he hadn't explained, he somehow hoped that the boy just..... knew.

....... Gasp!

Was that.... was that the Prefect? Talking to him?!

Lucas was starting to find it difficult to breathe properly, not because this was another person he didn't..... really know, but this was a Prefect and the ridiculous part of him was starting to wonder if he was already in trouble. Everyone here was wearing red ties and robes that Emma had, meaning he wasn't at the wrong table and he didn't, uh, steal the hat or anything.

Abra Botros? "Thanks, Abra." Could he call him Abra? He wanted to call him Abra. "I'm Lucas..... Dakest. I, uh, I got soaked but it wasn't-"

GASP!

The ceiling! The ceiling! Eyes wide, he scanned as much of the 'ceiling' as he could, as if that would help to take it all in. "It looks BEAUTIFUL! ..... I mean, minus the rain I guess, but if it was clear, I bet you can even see some stars!"

The other Prefect wasn't too far behind in the greeting, which only caused Lucas to smile shyly again. Maybe this is something he was going to have to get used to. Maybe. It was just.... it was nice, but also made him feel a little uncomfortable for reasons that were his own.

Anyways. Lady Prefect. "Thanks, uh....." Had she said a name? He didn't catch anything so his voice just trailed off..... until he cleared his throat again. "I'm Lucas. I'm really excited to be here." Nod.

Someone else's name he didn't really catch was the next girl (Tessa) who was talking to him. Them. Him and Stella. Everyone really was loud and full of energy on this table, weren't they? Was this.... saying something? Because he wasn't loud and he only had a lot of energy when he had a lot of sweets in one go. "Thanks very much," he said, keeping that small smile on his face. "I'm, uh, I'm Lucas, by the way." Did he have to mention that he was excited to be here?

.......

...........

Uh. This girl, this Captain girl, earned herself a slightly taken aback look. She was loud, wasn't she? Like, proper loud. Very loud. Almost too loud. Was she always like this? Could he stay away from her? Especially since, well, he had no intentions of trying out for Quidditch at all. At least, not until Emma had taught him stuff. But he much preferred cheering from the sides than flying around on sticks and almost getting killed. No thank you.

..... "What, uh, what happens if you don't try out?" he blurted out in her direction, "Or don't know how to play?" Or don't want to play.

More and more people were joining their table from the Sorting which, really, made Lucas happy. Someone he recognised because they had ice cream together that one time, and someone he didn't recognise at all - mostly because he was wearing sunglasses. Indoors. When there was no sun.

It was easier to greet Stella first so he did. "Hey, Stella," he said, giving her a wide smile and even a small wave, "Look, we're in the same house! How cool is that?" .... Something she might've noticed already because of where they were sitting but it felt cool to point it out as well.

As for the other boy (Józef), he.... didn't know what to say. He looked like he didn't want to talk to anyone and Lucas didn't want to be one to disturb his, uh, whatever it was he was doing. Was he sad? Did he know that he was at Hogwarts where he could do cool magic and stuff? And FLY?! And and and..... the list went on but it was all very cool.

Lucas paused before sliding down the bench and towards the boy. If they were going to be in the same house and year, they might as well get to know each other, yeah? And he looked like he could do with some company. The only problem was, he didn't know what to say. Ask him why he's upset? No. Talk about Hogwarts? .... Maybe not. He scanned around the table and then the Hall, as if a topic as magically going to pop out of nowhere, when..... it did. Lucas nudged the boy slightly and said, "Hey, look what's happening up there. I think she's leaving." Distractions. Distractions always worked!

...... And she really was leaving!

His green eyes were wider than galleons as he watched the lady person leave the Hall, leaving some old man and the rest of the professors. Was this normal? He didn't understand what was going on. He half-expected the lady person to come back through the hall but then, the old man near the podium was talking to them and asking them to stand.

Uh. Okay.

Lucas looked around awkwardly before getting to his feet. He didn’t know why but something about the man didn’t sit well with him. He just..... looked like someone you don’t mess with. Someone who would shout at you in a second and Lucas didn’t like that. And he used to be an Auror? ...... Yeah. No. No no no.

The eleven year old shuffled uncomfortably as the speech continued. The incident from last term was the reason Emma had come back early. Not that he had any complaints but it was just..... fact. And all of this sounded very adult-like, full of big, fancy words that didn’t mean a lot to him. It just made him a lot more confused than he already was and he looked around the table to see if anyone else was looking just as confused as he-

Oh hey, there was food!

The smile was instantaneous as he sat down in his seat. Dig in? Don’t mind if I do!

Felixir · 09-04-2018, 10:04 AM

"Oh." Abra nodded at Tessa as she mentioned OWLs. Yikes. Talk about bad memories. "Right, yeah. Well, I agree, fun is important, and it'll be good to see you at tryouts. As long as you don't ignore the OWLs all year, like I did." And he really had, too. In that regard, the Inferi attack had almost been a blessing in disguise; if it hadn't had happened, then he wouldn't have had a solid excuse for failing literally everything, and his Healer probably wouldn't have written her supporting evidence that had ultimately let him retake (after a lot of late studying). Abra wasn't deluded enough to think that he'd have performed well in his exams had the end of last term not been so utterly chaotic, and it all would have been his own fault. "Good luck with your OWL year, by the way. It's pretty intense." And that was just the homework.

Abra smiled across at the first year, Lucas, when it suddenly occurred to him that he knew that last name. Before he could comment on it, however, Lucas had noticed the ceiling for himself, and his reaction brought a genuine smile - the first of the night - to Abra's face. He looked up again too, grinning a little. "Yeah, you can see loads on clear nights. It shows some really nice sunsets sometimes, too, and when it snows it looks amazing." Just, you know, by the way. "Also... are you Emma's brother?"

As everything happened around him, Abra felt a sudden movement from underneath the table. He gave an almighty jump - a start of fear - and all but threw himself back away from the bench and table thinking wildly of monsters and Inferi. Just about keeping his seat, he leaned back to peer under the table and thought he just about caught sight of a house elf hurrying past, though it was impossible to tell exactly which one. He blinked, confused. House elves didn't usually show up at the feasts, did they? Did this have something to do with... whatever was going on up at the staff dais?

Speaking of which... events were quickly unfolding over there. Abra watched as Headmistress Hawthorne got to her feet and left the hall without a word to either of the men who had entered, nor to any of the staff or students. His eyes tracked her progress through the hall, then moved back to the grizzled looking man who was still standing... and taking to the podium, and... oh boy.

Stand? Sign of respect? Abra didn't need telling twice; he had been brought up to respect the adults around him and that was exactly what he always did, though he noted that there was no kindness in the man's tone when he ordered them to do so, and it had clearly had been an order, not a request. He glanced around at the students nearby, keeping an eye out and getting ready to try and cajole anyone into a standing position who didn't seem willing to comply; it wouldn't do to let anyone get into trouble on their first night back.

.......... Oh. Oh. Double yikes. So Hawthorne was gone now? Abra automatically looked back to the doors that he had just seen the headmistress... or perhaps that was now ex-Headmistress... exit through, and he wondered... if she was okay. That was a pretty brutal way to be dismissed, right here in front of everyone. In fact, any respect he might have felt for this Scrimgeour guy, apparently the new headmaster, definitely lessened slightly. Or, you know, significantly. But he stayed on his feet, all the same.

As for the rest of that speech, Abra's frown deepened with the more that he heard. New school initiative? Change on the way? No need to question anything? That last part in particular set alarm bells ringing for Abra, but he didn't know what to do about it. What would happen if they did question things? Could they not even question the fact that they couldn't question anything? What if they had a good reason for doing so? Were they just supposed to blindly trust in this stranger and his new initiative? See, he had a lot of questions.

Abra hadn't been prepared to have so much to think about on the very first night back at Hogwarts, and his head was starting to hurt. He had a not-so-good feeling about this whole situation and - as the man clicked his metal fingers, and the food appeared - Abra took his seat wondering exactly what this year would have in store for them. The anxiety was, predicably enough, starting to set in. He glanced towards the Hufflepuff table, wondering if he could catch Derf's eye and exchange some kind of meaningful look.

Granger Danger · 09-04-2018, 02:09 PM

Stella looked as she seen the Headmistress pass by their table, she looked a bit upset but also hiding it very well. Stella bit her lip looking at the others. " That wasn't normal was it?" she asked them. Oh...no a new scary looking headmaster, hopefully this year will still be ok and good despite the scary looking headmaster. She didn't know the Headmistress that was here before but she looked nicer then this guy did, there was a certain coldness in his eyes that made her shiver and the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Stella looked at Lucas and smiled. "Yeah we are, how awesome is that?" she asked him. Looking at Abra she and them she bit her lip. " Abra what's going on why is all the professors leaving what happened?" she heard the speech but she didn't understand it. After all she was just a first year so she didn't have a clue what was going on. Hopefully no one else was leaving, she didn't want all mean teachers here that wouldn't be fun.

siriusblackliveson · 09-04-2018, 11:25 PM

Patrick heard the speech from the head master and took that as his cue to leave the table quickly. “It’s been real anna but I better get to gettin before he comes down and takes my badge.” with a quick jump while everyone was standing he scrambled off to the Slytherin table in hopes of not losing his captaincy because he was chatting with friends.

itsjustjesse · 09-05-2018, 01:49 AM

Beth’s eyes watched diligently as Headmistress Hawthorne left. Of course, of course she stood and even [size=1]SALUTED[/i] her but with an air of defiance. She wasn’t doing this because Sir Stone-face had commanded it – she had done it out of respect. ”that is not normal, or nice…Spenley…let’s table this – I need to stand up for justie.”

Or maybe she was being a distraction – ”I don’t want to comply…” she muttered with a groan and simply grabbed a roll off of the table before heading toward the Entrance hall. No way was she going to just sit there listening to the former Auror talk about how Hogwarts needed to change.

Sure everything needed to change – but how was any human (other than Professor Vance) better than a Centaur as a divinations Professor? ”if anyone else wants to walk out I’m heading to help the house elves with their tasks…who knows how they’ll be treated now that Mr. Stoneface is here” she shrugged and was already nearly toward the door.

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