As excited as Bernie was for the feast, she was also a little bit sad. There were some seventh years graduating this term whom she'd actually like... met, and liked. And besides them, she hadn't been SAD to be stuck at Hogwarts all year; she was sad now to be leaving for the summer! As it had turned out, her family hadn't sent her a single letter in all her time away this year. Not even one. So she wasn't exactly wanting to go home, to a boring little flat with a half-working TV, no magic, and an annoying sister who had probably taken over Bernie's half of their room and turned it purple.

The soon-to-be-fourth year rested her chin on her hand and looked longingly down at her plate. She was hungry, but also, could they hold off on the food? She wanted to savor every minute she had left here before the summer scaries set in.

To say that Naya was happy was an understatement. She was so glad to be going home for the summer and in one solid piece. The possibility of that happening had been questionable for a while, but it was all good now. Thank Merlin.

As she entered the Great Hall, Naya went straight for the Gryffindor table. It seemed she was a bit early for the festivities, but that was fine with her. Spotting her even earlier arriving housemate, Naya said, “Hey Bernie”. She was about to ask if she was ready for summer, but changed her mind when she saw Bernie’s posture. Clearly she wasn’t as excited as Naya was. Finding a seat in the middle of the table, the soon to be seventh year sat down and got comfortable. She had a good view of the table and the room in general from that spot. It was a good place to keep an eye out for Cole. Hopefully everyone would arrive soon and they could get the show on the road.

Carsyn wasn't sure how she felt about the end of the term just yet. Honestly, on some level it felt as though they should all have to repeat this last year because she wasn't sure how much she learned and retained. Most of the year just seemed to be a blur and all Carsyn could think of was what a waste. She wasn't even sure what was happening with the Under 17 team as she'd hadn't been able to get in contact during tryouts, but as soon as she was able, she owled the coach, but she hadn't heard back yet. A glance toward the Hufflepuff table, she wondered idly if her sister had heard anything.

Another glance around, she smiled at Naya and Bernie.

"What a year, huh?" Was literally all she could say. But hey, at least Bernie didn't expelled, so that was good news, right?? Guess she had this prefect thing under control even with the technicalities of being in two timelines.

After this weird year Cole was happy to say the least to be going home for the summer. How much he had learned or forgotten this year was hard to know, but everyone was in the same boat so maybe it'd work out next year? It wasn't his problem it was the professors. Cole sauntered slowly into the Great Hall stopping to savour the look of a 'normal' looking enchanted ceiling for a minute or two. It was nice to see that it didn't look stormy or blood red as it had mostly every other day this term. Going over to the Gryffindor table he smiled wide brightly over at Bernie and Carsyn first "Hi Bernie! Hi Carsyn! Are you ready to go home?" He was totally oblivious to Bernie's posture as he walked over to plopp down in one of the empty seats next to Naya. Giving her hand a squeeze Cole smiled warmly at his girlfriend. "Hi Naya! Are you glad we're going home tomorrow?"

Juliette was finally going home and she could not wait. This term had been Crazy. Capital C. And she missed her mum back home. Honestly, being stuck at Hogwarts without any vacations or breaks was terrible. There was a big grin on her face as she entered the great hall and skipped towards the Gryffindor table.

"Lions," she greeted as she passed each of them before settling into a seat. "WE'RE FINALLY GOING HOME!!!!!"

Y'know... in case they all forgot. Honestly, they should be throwing confetti in the air or something.

Islay was humming to herself as she made her way to the great-hall for this final feast of the year. “leaving on a...train” muttered in a sing-songy way “don’t know if I’ll be back again” yes she knew she was messing up the song but hey, she was happy. Truly, she was beyond happy to be leaving the school this year – sure, she’d miss her friends but she’d see them again.

“Hey Carsyn,” she smiled over to the Prefect before waving to Cole and Naya in turn. Bernie got a BIG happy grin as well – she was a spitfire that one. “Hey Juliette, you seem beyond ready to head home” she smiled softly, “I brought cookies if you guys are impossibly hungry and in need of sustenance” she smiled as she put the tin on the table.

With the end of the year finally here, it was safe to say that Lucas was happy to be going home. He didn't know who had said that sixth year was easier or where he had gotten this idea from, in the first place. All he knew was that this year felt like a bigger rollercoaster than most. A rollercoaster that caused him to panic and scream and wonder when he was getting off.

But this was a new feeling. That feeling of having a weight lift from your shoulders. The feeling of stress melting away even if, in the back of his mind, he knew that the next time he was going to be here, he was going to be a seventh year oh no oh no.

A feeling that he wasn't alone in, uh, feeling??

Approaching the Gryffindor table, it was unsurprising to find that there was a student (Juliette) who was shouting out her joy. Something about finally going home. As much as he didn't appreciate the loudness, he did understand why and it was because of this, that he chose not to say anything. Nope. Ignore. The best solution, right?

What was surprising, was seeing a usually loud Gryffindor moping around, instead. Huh. Had that happened before? He didn't know. Something he did know was that he wasn't going to leave her on her own. He, uh, wasn't the best choice but he could try, right?

On his way, he walked past a bunch of fellow sixth years (Naya, Carsyn, Cole, and Islay). Did he know what to say? Not really, besides a small 'hey' and a smile in greeting. Not to mention that Cole seemed particularly, uh, comfortable? Yeah.

Lucas finally settled himself down on an empty spot opposite Bernie. Was this a weird choice for him? Yes. But he had a duty, didn't he? "SoooOOooo........" He cleared his throat. "What's up, Bernie? You look a little less, uh, energetic today."

And no, he wasn't going to start patting her head to make her feel better.

Naya didn’t have to wait long before the Gryffindors starting rolling in. First up was her Prefect. “Hey Carsyn”, she said to her dormie. “You said it.” It had been quite a year, in more ways than one. ‘Ready to go home?” Naya had the feeling that she knew the answer to that question.

Her smile returned when she spotted Cole approaching the table. Returning his hand squeeze, she said, “Hey there”. It was all good now that he was there. “I am so glad to be going home tomorrow. For a while, I thought we’d be stuck here all summer.” Fortunately, that was not the case. The downside of going home was that she was not going to see her boyfriend for a while. “The only bad part is that I’m going to miss you......a lot”

More housemates arrived and Naya had to laugh when Juliette expressed her feelings very loudly. She was only saying what pretty much all of them were thinking. That statement got a smile and a nod from Naya.

When her other dormmate (Islay) appeared, Naya returned her wave. She was about to ask if her fellow sixth year was excited about going home when........cookies. ”Islay, I could hug you. You brought food! May I? Naya knew better than to come to the feast starving and yet, somehow she pretty much was.

Then Prefect number two was there doing his leader duty with the sad Bernie. “Hey Lucas”, she said, as he passed by. The table was starting to fill up. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to wait too long for the Headmaster to make his speech.

Cole was attention was distracted from his girlfriend by the loud mouthed arrival of Juliette that practically voiced what was probably on everyone’s minds. Shooting her a grin across the table Cole called over "Hi Juliette! I’m totally ready to go home and have some summer vacation too. What is the first you’re going to do when we get to Kings cross tomorrow?" It was a valid question considering that nobody had been in contact with their families for a big part of the school year. Islay followed shortly after bringing along a tin of delicious looking cookies. Snatching a cookie without thinking Cole waved over at Islay to catch her attention. "Thanks Islay! You’re a lifesaver. My stomach is grumbling loudly from hunger. Are you excited about going home tomorrow?" It’d be odd if she wasn’t considering that they had been cut off from regular contact with their families.

Cole waved to Lucas and called over a "Hey!" to his yearmate and prefect before he watched him head over to check up on Bernie. If Lucas hadn’t then Cole had felt obligated to do it because he didn’t like that she looked sad. Bernie usually wasn't sad. It was off. Turning his eyes to Naya again he nodded in unison with her words. "Me too. It was tough to not have any way to talk to your family about things and i was afraid we’d get stuck here too but luckily it was fixed." Giving her hand another hand squeeze since kissing her in front of everyone didn’t feel right he said trying to perk up. "I know. I'll miss you lot's too. We can owl and meet in diagon alley though and maybe we can even ask if you could stay over at my house for a few days?"

Bernie mumbled her hey hi hellos to her friends (Naya, Cole, Islay, and Carsyn) that came in and sat down, perking up a little when Juliette in particular popped up. Would her house-elf loving housemate recall that they'd talked about hanging out this summer and redecorating her mum's place? WOULD SHE?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

Lucas finally settled himself down on an empty spot opposite Bernie. Was this a weird choice for him? Yes. But he had a duty, didn't he? "SoooOOooo........" He cleared his throat. "What's up, Bernie? You look a little less, uh, energetic today."

And no, he wasn't going to start patting her head to make her feel better.

But then Bernie was distracted by Lucas, one of her absolute favorite prefects. Not that he had much competition, but still.

"Hiiiiiii," she replied with a long, drawn-out sigh. "I just don't wanna go home is all." Home SUCKED. It SUCKED BUNCHES. She opened her mouth to elaborate more, but then the Headmaster was talking, and Bernie was doing her best to pay attention to him and nod along at the best bits. COMMON SENSE! THINK BEFORE YOU ACT! Yes yes, the usual. She'd done BETTER this year with the thinking BEFORE acting thing, right? Hadn't she? Had anyone noticed that? Was she off her last chance yet? She had, after all, ONLY lost TEN House Points this year AND had earned LOADS more, probably even almost as many as Naya over there.

Anyway. The food was here. "It's fine," Bernie turned back to Lucas, picking up a roasted chicken drumstick. "D'ya have any exciting summer plans?" Probably did, didn't he? Bernie wondered what it would be like to have wizard parents for a change. They probably did LOADS of spells over the summer, didn't they? Maybe they even had house elves at home, to do the cooking and washing-up for them... she tucked into her food with a sigh that perhaps this was what she'd miss most of all this summer: the delicious family dinners with her friends.

Juliette was delighted to hear the humming sounds that were coming from Islay. See, obviously everyone was super excited to be going home. Hopefully the school decided to stay around long enough for them to get on the train. She gave Islay a big toothy grin and nodded. "Aren't you? We've been stuck here for ages. It's a miracle we even made it back." Cause everyone probably had their doubts. Juliette knew she did. And Islay was absolutely the best. Juliette didn't hesitate before grabbing a cookie and shoving it in her mouth. "Islay, will you send me cookies over the summer? These are-" COUGH, COUGH, CHOKE, COUGH "delicious. It went down the wrong pipe," Juliette said with a sheepish grin.

She was a loud one. And probably gained a couple of odd stares from her first loud remark till now but couldn't be bothered. Hadn't they all heard? They were going home. If they had an issue... well... Juliette didn't have an issue with taking all the cookies and hiding them... in her belly.

Juliette was in the midst of eating her third second cookie and looked up at Cole & Naya. "Go home and plant a wiggentree," she replied to Cole. She had already owled her mum about it and was going to do it regardless of what anyone said. "What are you guys going to do?" she asked, nibbling on her cookie. "Are you guys gonna do a baking class?" And if so were they going to bring back sweets for the new year? Juliette would be ready to erm... taste test. Which reminded her!!

She shoved the rest of her cookie in her mouth and fumbled around her pockets quickly for a piece of parchment where she had scrawled an address and muggle telephone number on. "BERNIE!" Juliette yelled towards the girl, completely ignoring who she was with. "YOU BETTER COME VISIT. Mum said you could!!!" Well technically, Juliette still hadn't asked. But why would her mum even say no to visitors? That would be absurd. Her mother couldn't hog up all of Juliette's time. She had a very active, thriving social life. She folded the parchment into a paper plane and threw it gently towards her friend.

Okay. Could they get on the trains yet?

She was quite over this term... but not the cookies. She reached for another one of the delicious cookies Islay had made. Nothing was going to make her stop smiling.

Having finished their respective entries, Eiji and surprised Nina with the whispered intent to make a stop by the Gryffindor house table before they returned to their own table. An intent that he knew Nina would likely jump on the bandwagon of and not simply because she enjoyed his company. Though what he, the of-age Slytherin, needed to accomplish required a bit of isolation and quiet. Two things he knew near impossible when it came to Gryffindors, but he was going to make an attempt. An attempt by sitting aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way at the very front of the table closest to the staff dais. He knew Nina would understand though...and hopefully not try to impose friendship while he acted on this impulse.

All during his time at Hogwarts, he had avoided this table. He had avoided the Hufflepuff one as well and only sat there at times because of this little sister. Content with this rejection until tonight, Eiji knew he would feel something close to regret if her did not sit here at least once.

He made no eye contact as he did, though he was sure someone was going to ask him what he was doing and why he was here - likely with displeased glances as well seeing as he was not particularly fondly thought of - and it might give them an answer.

Might.

He held his breath as he slipped on to the bench, his posture so straight it was as though his spine had been transfigured into the handle of a broom, and ran his coarse palms over the table's surface. His mum had sat here...at some point in time...and now he had too. Had just taken seven terms, an inferi invasion, a toxic academic regime, an infestation of pink furries, a boggart infestation, term aboard in France and being put on trial during said time for false accusations, near decapitation by Godric Gryffindor, and translucent time travel to get here.

And in that moment...James Eiji Rasting was actually smiling.