Kalen arrived at the feast with not one, but two cups in hand, and he quickly made his way down the long empty hall and settled into his seat, the two tea cups he set on the table as he sighed and looked around.

He had so many interesting memories of this school, happy ones mixed with terrifying ones, and of course several of the best moments of his life had taken place right after the worst ones had.

He gently touched the metal resting on his left hand, twisting the ring with a smile as he sat back and looked up at the ceiling, his eyes gazing at the sky through the magically enchanted ceiling.

It would be the last time he did so, and Kalen was going to soak up every moment of this feast. He wasn’t one to draw attention to himself and he certainly wouldn’t be telling people goodbye. The kids were used to Professors leaving all the time.

Perhaps, he thought with a slightly bitter smirk, this school would be glad to see the back of him.

He sighed again, and sat forward, using his wand to pour water into the tea cups, and he took out two tea bags, one earl grey, one chai and dropped them into the separate cups as he started to heat up the water.

Merlin's beard it was finally the end of the term. The school year had drawn to its close and the castle was still standing. Everyone was still ali--.......the castle was still standing, the students were all still alive and now back to normal. It could have gone worse. As the Headmaster took
his seat up on the dais and offered a greeting nod to Kennedy, he kept repeating the mantra to himself. All things considered, this really wasn't a bad way to end the term. The castle had been put back in order and the infestation was behind them.

Malachi looked toward the rest of the Great Hall, expecting the students and the rest of his staff to begin pouring in at varying intervals. The term had worn on him and he was tired. All he wanted was a warm dinner, some sleep then the morning so he could properly see his family.

Beach vacation, here he came.

Just had to make it through tonight first and pray nothing else came up. How difficult could that be?

"Good evening,'' Kay said brightly to the two already seated at the Dais. Despite the horrors that had occurred during the term, she was doing her best to keep the spirits up of those around her. Although... she was unsure of how many more tragedies or craziness she could handle. Muggle secondary schools were never this... stressful, for a lack of a better word to describe Hogwarts during periods of time. By no means were the students to be blamed for this, just the circumstances. Kay was getting older, she was almost forty now. Perhaps it was time to start thinking about submitting her resignation.

That was a thought for another time because as she settled into her assigned seat, Kay could not help but look at the blue and bronze decorations with pride. Her Eagles had worked tirelessly once again and she was proud of them as always.

It was the end of the term and Kassie was excited to be attending the feast. The little pink mutants were gone and the students were all back to normal, as far as she knew. With a bright smile, she entered the Great Hall wearing her deep plum robes. Her favorite robes that were covered in little sparkling stars.

Kaysha was just in front of her while Kalen and the Headmaster were already seated at the table. "Hello, all. Such a lovely evening. Oh, and congratulations to you, Kay, on the Ravenclaw win. Top notch work this year."

She continued around to her spot and gently pulled the chair out before taking a seat. The Great Hall was far too quiet without the students and she was eager for the rest to arrive.

Tristan made his way slowly through the great hall. Tonight would be bittersweet to say the least, but it was time. He loved this job with all his heart, but he also wanted to work with creatures more than he was currently. So, though he was sure this wouldn't be the last time he would see these halls, he slowly made his way taking a good look at everything. He would miss his students beyond anything, but he knew it was time to move on.

As he stepped onto the dais where the staff table sat, he gave a wave to his colleagues, "Evening everyone. Headmaster." He gave the man a nod. "Kay congratulations. Those Ravenclaws of yours were fantastic this year." He gave her a wink and a smile. "Kassie, I hope you are well." He said with a smile that he hoped conveyed how grateful he was for all she had done this term.

He made his way over to his seat, pulled of his leather jacket and rested it on the back of his chair, before patting Kalen on the shoulder. He fixed his vest before sitting down, and there happened to be a ring on his left hand that hadn't been there a couple days ago. Noting there were actually two tea cups sitting on the table instead of one, a huge smirk played across his lips. "Finally got the hint did we?" He said to his best friend.

Term was finally drawing to a close and Joshua was glad that the feast was here. The pink furballs creatures known as mutants we’re finally all gone and the students who had been sick had been cured. Everything was back to normal as far as he knew since his robes and missing pliers had suddenly turned up in greenhouse five. With a smile pursing his lips and wearing dark navy blue robes for the evening Joshua slowly entered the Great Hal and peered up at the ceiling for a moment before looking forward at the high table.

Joshua noted silently that Kassie and Kaysha was just a few feet ahead of him and that Headmaster Malachi along with Kalen and Tristan we’re already seated up on the dais. As he stepped up to join them he flashed cherry smiles all around at his colleagues. "Good evening everyone! Is it just me or is the ceiling extra magical tonight?" Turning his gaze to Kaysha he said "Congratulations Kay on the house cup win! Your eagles all did exceptional work this year." With that Joshua proceeded over to take a seat down in his seat.

It felt surreal, if Amelia was being honest with herself. Her seven six years as a Hogwarts student were some of the most memorable of her life. She knew her children enjoyed it as well. She knew her grandson would too. But would she want to repeat that life? Never in a million years.

Making her way slowly toward the dais, she glanced around at the faces of the students that she'd grown to adore. Students she knew would ... be okay. Students she would likely see again, as early as the Quidditch World Cup.

Slipping into her seat next to the headmaster and Herbology Professor, she nodded quietly at the two of them. Excuse her for not being her usual talkative self. She just felt ... the need to reflect quietly on the past ten months. On her upcoming milestone birthday - the big 5-0 - something she didn't care to think too much on, thank you very much.

Grotesquely Dreadful. That phrase was on her mind as she made her way to the dais in a typical black robe set (typical for her, that is), head held high and back straight as ever. A professor had died. She, Alice, had embarrassed herself in front of everyone and had been reprimanded by the headmaster and her colleagues. On top of it all, she had discovered that most of her colleagues seemed to value the life of disgusting monsters as much as they valued the lives of the students! Dreadful. Dreadful. Dreadful!

On the bright side, she HAD gotten to be kind a bit more with her students than she had been when Julian was headmaster. Another non-dreadful happening was the fact that all the creatures were rounded up and everything was back in order.

"Good evening, Kaysha dear," she said to the professor she liked more than any of the others. How convenient that they sat next to each other. Still, that was not to say that she always got along with her. They had fought over the creatures - something which still annoyed Alice to this day. She still liked her, though, and that was unlikely to stop just because of one foot. "It will be good to get away for a vacation, no?"

A greeting also went out to her other close (literally, not metaphorically) colleague. "Good evening, Joshua."

Kalen nodded to all the arriving Professor and the Headmaster. He didn’t really feel like saying much to them, though he would probably want to say goodbye to Kassie later. He owed her a whole lot for helping him that term.

He did agree with Joshua that the ceiling was extra magical that evening. Though perhaps it was the nostalgia tinting his vision. Whatever it was his green eyes strayed upwards more often than they usually did.

A slight smile came to his lips as he saw a familiar leather jacketed figure approach the table and he turned to look at Tristan as he settled down next to him.

The smile turned into a bit of a smirk as his best friend spoke and he shrugged nonchalantly. “Only took me a few years.” He said with a grin as he pushed the cup of chai tea towards the other man.

“And it’s Chai, so you don’t have to ruin your pallete with my Earl Grey.” Another smile was sent Tristan’s way.

Toddles was here just as Toddles had promised Mister Master Headmaster he would be! After not reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally being allowed to help with the search for his Fluffsies and breaking his favorite spatula in half on accident, Toddles had sworn to himself to be the best little elfsies he could be and THAT included not making another mistake with Mister Master Headmaster. At least as far as the rest of this term was concerned.

So it was with a loud POP that Toddles appeared ON the table with his bare elfsie feet right smack in the middle of Mister Master Headmaster's plate. "Toddles here as requested, sir!" the elf chirped with a gleeful wiggle of his toes.

Toddles did not know how to tell the time yet. All the sticks of varying lengths in bronze and wood and whatever else wizardingkind saw fit to make these trinkets from confused him greatly. No one had ever made a proper attempt at teaching Toddles to tell the time either, so no one could reaaaaaaaaaaaaally fault the elf for arriving at the Great Hall early. Could they?

"What is it that Mister Master Headmaster wishes to tell Toddles? Is Toddles getting a new spatula? Was Cheeksies found?!"

His ham-u-star was still missing even with his Fluffsies found and now out of the castle. Toddles had cried a fair bit over missing his cute fluffy pink BEST friend.

It was the end of the term, and Joseph was doing just fine. That thought honestly was something that surprised him, taking the occurrences that had taken place at the school in the past into account. But there he was, entering the Great Hall and making his way up to the staff table with thoughts of summer on his mind. After all those lessons and markings, he was ready to return to Egypt and go on a dig for old time's sake.

But first he had a feast to get through.

As he stepped onto the dais, Flamel gave Trent a polite nod of his head and then gave everyone else who wasn't caught up in conversation a courteous wave. No words were said as he knew pleasantries could be exchanged after the speech and when there was food on the table. His presence made, the man simply took his post at the end of the table and looked out at the students in front of him.

Kay had only just taken her sear graciously at the Dias when Kassandra and Tristan and Joshua joined the little gathering. “Good evening, Kassandra, Tristan, Joshua! Thank you very much. The Ravenclaws have indeed outdone themselves yet again.” Colour her proud of them. The drastic change in Joshua’s behaviour caused her some concern. She was used to him being a nuisance to her but tonight, that was not the case. “Is everything alright?” she asked him.

Then, Alice was sitting in the spot between her and the Herbology professor. “Good evening, Alice,’’ Kay said warily and politely. She was still in shock at Alice’s behaviour towards the creatures and had not carried out proper conversations with the woman at the times subsequent to the Courtyard incident. Still, Kaysha did not have it in her heart to hold grudges for a long period of time. “Very good,’’ was her agreement. She couldn’t wait to spend time with Emmalyn... and Foster. “Are you heading anywhere in particular for vacation?”

That rather loud pop startled Kay and she leaned forward to take a look in the general direction of the noise. What she saw was an elf sitting on Trent’s plate. What even?

Malachi nodded to each new member of staff to arrive at the table. Vaguely, he was aware of the conversations taking place around him and the mild chatter of the students down at the table but the man was deeply preoccupied with his plans of summer and the family he missed.

It was as strange as he thought it'd be, spending most of the year away from them when he was used to it being only a few hours per day. An adjustment for sure and while he did adjust, the man was solidly ready to be home for the summer with his favourite people in the entire world.

Glancing at his watch, the man stood to give his speech. At the same time, the most troublesome elf he'd ever met showed up. Here? Now? Really Toddles? With only the faintest hint of a distracted scowl, Trent looked to the elf. "Gimme a minute." He had intended for the elf to show up AFTER the feast but supposed this was as good a time as any. First, he needed to address the students.

"Attention everyone." Malachi clapped his hands, a sound he'd amplified to be sure to catch everyone's attention. "We've made it to the end of another term here at Hogwarts. For some, this is it, the end of the line. Come September, some of us will not be returning. It'll be off to bigger and brighter futures that I hope this school has at least in some ways prepared you for. Good luck out there. Work hard." That was the intention, afterall. "For others, it'll just be a nice little break to catch up with family and cool off from the academics. Enjoy it. Get it all out of your systems. Use the break wisely." That didn't mean reading a ton of their textbooks early necessarily--although some of them COULD benefit from that--but rather that some summer plans were ultimately and undeniably better than others.

"I'd like to congratulate Ravenclaw on winning the House Cup." Here he paused for applause, offering up his own as well. "And Hufflepuff for winning the Quidditch Cup." Again he paused for applause. The kiddos worked hard this year, even with their little...problem....

"As we head off for the summer, I wanted to let you all know that I've enjoyed working with you and my members of staff. We had some patchy moments but, I guess to copy our Head Boy here, it could've been worse. Let's eat!"

Once he sat, the tables began filling up with food. Now the feast could begin!

As for Toddles...

He turned to the elf again. "Not gonna lie, Toddles, you cost me a ton of trouble this term. A lot more than an elf should if they wanna be useful. Cheeksies is likely sharing the fate of several other things in the castle that came in contact with Fluffsies." He could interpret that as he wanted to. "But it's behind us now, as I'd like the trouble you fall into to be. Next term, I wanna see improvement. I don't want to have to keep monitoring you just for you to get your work done. I don't want the next castle disaster to be on your shoulders. I want you to follow instructions and be able to monitor yourself. Am I clear?"

A few minutes after he had taken a seat on the dais Alice made her presence known to him as she sat down in the chair next to him, like she did every day. Joshua turned his gaze to the dark haired woman and smiled "Good evening Alice, are you looking forward to summer too?" He didn’t mention that he had like usual held as silent breath as Alice had spoken to Kay. There was still something stewing there but he wasn’t going to wake the sleeping dragon so to speak.

Leaning forward slightly to look past Alice to meet Kay’s concerned tone Joshua shrugged as he answered back quietly. "I’m fine Kay. I’m just happy that tomorrow we’re going home, it’s been a long year. I’m looking forward to travelling to my buddy who is studying some rare flowers in Australia." He knew she’d pick up on the change in his attitude towards her, but he meant nothing by it. Maybe he had just matured finally and understood that childish pranks weren’t worth it anymore?

Amelia silent arrival almost went unnoticed until she sat down next to Joshua and a waft of her feminine perfume reached his nose. Turning to her he greeted softly. "Good evening Amelia, are you pensive tonight?" The last feast of the year was good for reflection he had learned. It wasn’t until Malachi stood to give his speech to the students that Joshua saw that Toodles the house elf was sitting on Trent’s dinner plate, oddly enough. Weird was a thought that travelled through his mind until his focus was on the speech and he clapped hard for both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs for winning the cups.

Moment’s later the food appeared in front of him and Joshua started to help himself to a bit of everything the buffet had to offer as his stomach growled hungirly.