His sixth end of term Feast at Hogwarts!

Which meant that Jude's sixth year was almost to the end. Obviously.

After stopping for a bit at the Ravenclaw Table, the boy made his way to his own House Table. Finding a spot somewhere in the middle of one of the long benches, he flopped down. What a year it had been, Jude couldn't help but reminisce. It was now time for him to fully look into the summer vacation. His mother had let him know that his old Muggle dance school had asked him to coach a few classes on a few dances he excelled in namely the Paso Doble and the Argentine Tango. The boy had only happily agreed. Aside from that, he was looking forward to having all the time with Davet. Oh, and Evan's short visit before the bestie departed for his own vacay.

There were interesting days ahead and Jude was in anticipation of it all!

The end of term feast was here and Maria was super glad for it. Her dad wasn't mernapped anymore, and her strange power to make herself invisible was hopefully gone forever right? The second year badgerette with her big bushy dark hair and equally dark eyes headed into the great hall, and made her way quickly over to the puff table.

Spotting Jude she couldn't help, but smile at the older boy as she plopped herself down on a vacant seat opposite the sixth year boy. "Hey Jude, are you ready for summer vacation?" Maria was so ready to have lots of daddytime, and to talk about all those difficult feelings and things that she had felt during his time in Atlantis. "Jude, do you think our so called powers really are gone now, and won't ever come back?" Maria asked worriedly.

Keighley was very much looking forward to summer break and yet, the usual bright cheery smile that adorned her face wasn't as big as normal. As she made her way towards the table Hufflepuff table, her blue eyes scanned every other table in search of her siblings, cousins and girlfriend as always. But that spring in step that typically was there, that too wasn't as radiant as one might think it would be for the end of term feast.

This blonde might be one of the very few that had been 'gifted' a 'power' and was now kinda missing it. She had grown so used to her 'flower power' over the last several months that now that it was gone.. it felt strange to her. She longed to see the beautiful variety of flowers that sprung up in her footfalls or when she occasionally touched things. Just as she had adjusted to having the 'power', now she would have to get used to NOT having it.

Spotting Jude and Maria pretty much instantly, it was always easy for her to spot her brother, Keigh headed directly towards him like she always did. "Heyyyy Juuuude," she sang softly in greeting, sliding onto the bench at his side and bumping shoulders with him lightly. "Hello, Maria."

Tearing his eyes away from the Dais {it was still weird to him to see Kazmi and there be no jingling and assorted fanfare about} as Maria sat opposite to him. He suspected she was eager to get home to her fathers given the events that happened months ago to one of them. “Hi, Maria! You can bet your last Galleon I am!” There wasn’t much planned but he didn’t mind a quiet vacation this year. “How about you? Traveling to anywhere in particular or anything?” Oh, a concern about the powers they’d all had. “They’re all gone,’’ the older Hufflepuff replied firmly. “The professors are certain about it so don’t worry about it.” He offered Maria a reassuring smile, seeing how she would still be worried. Peeves had given them instructions for that Potion which they took and one shouldn’t trust that Poltergeist. But the staff and students had no choice but to do exactly that in this situation.

Hearing the sing-song version of his name, his face lit up at the sight of Keighley finally arriving. “Heeeey, Keigh!” Jude bumped her shoulder back. “I haven’t seen Rea yet. I think she might be saying goodbye to every inch of the Castle.” It was a joke but maybe their sister was going through a funky mood now that she was graduating. After all, she never was late to the Feasts. The boy wasn’t worried yet, however. “Hungry already?”

Desiree was in a strangely pensive mood as she entered the Great Hall. She was happy for the summer break, which meant shopping in Diagon Alley, the annual Marchand family trip to France, and dance camp. She was even happier that she wasn’t a teddy rat anymore! But she wasn’t as excited about her summer plans as she thought she’d be. All her life, she thought she was going to be a ballerina when she grew up, but now she wasn’t sure that was what she wanted anymore.

She would always love ballet, but that profession, along with many in the arts, placed too much importance on outward appearances… and Peeves’s antics this term had shown her just how fleeting beauty was. She wanted a career that wouldn’t be taken from her if she lost her looks (again). More importantly, she wanted to make sure nobody else ever had to feel as ugly as she did in her beast form!

But she’d have plenty of time to think about that. For now, she took a seat at the Hufflepuff table near Maria, greeting her housemates with a smile and a cheery wave. “Hi, everybody! Who’s excited for summer?”

So.

Soooooooo...

There went all of her previous sadness. How could she be anything but happy when she got greeted like that? She couldn't. Leaning her shoulder against her brothers, Keigh now smiled brightly at him. "Honestly, I don't blame her if that's what she's doing. She did spend seven years of her life here and that's a long time." Next year would be Jude's turn to say bye to this place and in three more years it would be her own turn. Time really did keep moving quickly along. "A little." This meant that she was going to eat fairly well like she always did.

A warm smile and a little wave was given to Desiree when she joined them. "I know that I am. Do you have any fun plans for the summer?"

Maria stared up at the staff table willing Headmaster Kazmi to appear and make his speech. She just wanted the feast the feast to be over. Was it okay to think that? Well she thought so. She wanted it to be tomorrow already so that she could take the train home and meet her dad and Jerald at Kings Cross and give them both a huge hug. Maria had missed them to over the moon. Seeing how Keighley slid onto the bench next to Jude she quickly plastered on a bright smile on her face. "Hey Keighley, are you excited for summer?"

Turning her attention to Jude after another long look at the staff dais Maria shook her head as she said slowly and thoughtfully to him. "We are going to stay in London and just be together I think. My daddy has finally come home from Atlantis. I just awant to be near him..." she trailed off. Talking about it made her teary-eyed and she didn't want to cry at the feast with all the eyes from other students. Letting out a breath she smiled weakley "Thanks for reassuring me Jude. It was really frightening to turn invinsible, and not be able to control it." It had been scary and with dad at Atlantis she was glad that she could owl with Jerald at least, and he had helped her with things.

Maria was in a thoughtfull mood so when Desiree came and sat down near her it was a very welcome distraction and she tried to perk up and held up her hand. "Hi Desiree! I'm excited for summer because I'll get to see my daddy again. I wish we could speed up the time so it was already tomorrow, and we were boarding the train home and, could buy pumpkin pasties from the trolley lady." Yes thinking about some candy always brightened her mood at least a little. "How about you Desiree? Doing anything special this summmer?" Maria wondered. It was then that Professor Kazmi appeared to give his speech and in just a few minutes, the feast appeared, and she dug into the nearest dish of shepards pie.

Yes, please!

Jude didn’t want his sister being sad. He hated seeing her that way. Keigh was meant for purely happy things! He bobbed his head in agreement to her comments about Rea. “It’s going to be weird for her to be away from here after so long. On the bright side, she’s got Ko and his band to keep her distracted for the next year!’’ Then Rea and Jude would be off to WADA after he graduated from Hogwarts. “Same.’’ He patted his stomach. “Hopefully we don’t have to wait too long.”

Poor Maria.

She had been through so much during this school year. “That sounds like it’ll be a wonderful summer! You daddy will be more than happy to have all those moments with you, I’m one hundred percent sure.” Jude would know; family time was important to the Anders’ family. “No problem. You’ll be okay. I think you should just focus on catching up with your dad this summer.” The boy could see how emotional Maria was becoming and his heart went out to her. Not being able to reach her since she was opposite to him, he simply offered her a smile.

Perhaps the persons most happy about the banishment of those powers were banished were those who kept spontaneously combusting into animals. Jude was glad about it too because it meant he didn’t have to worry about Evan eating stuff that wasn’t good for the stomach and that no one would squash Desiree. “Hi!” he greeted the third year Hufflepuff. “I am!” Jude grinned. “Off to France this year again?” Uh huh. He remembered Desiree talking about family trips from before.

Lucky for Jude, it wasn't very often that his little sister was sad. It wasn't an emotion that looked good on her anyways. Happiness was her thing. Bright sunshiny smiles. "I know. It's us two now." Well from the Anders tribe that is. They still had their cousins here. Next year was when it was going to really hit her hard. Elias, Dahlia AND Jude would all be graduating. Lily too but she was still studying in a different school now. "Okay, now.. that's where she's really lucky. She's going to get to see sooooo much and meet so many different people." Keigh was seriously happy that Rea was getting to go travel around with Koen and his band. A soft smile tugged at her lips which was followed by a gentle laugh. "I think we're all waiting to be able to eat."

Seeing that bright smile on Maria's face made her smile even more. "I sure am! Summer is one of my favorite times of the year because I get to be around my entire family." Family meant everything to her. This summer was also really special to her since Charlie and his mum were moving to London from Sweden and he would attending Hogwarts next term too. So to say that she was in a little bit of a rush to get home would be an understatement.

Hearing Headmaster Kazmi start to talk, the blonde turned her attention onto the dais for several minutes. What was this? He wasn't going to be returning as Headmaster next year? Well... that was sad news. This wasn't uncommon though, professors and Headmasters came and went rather often around here. When the speech ended, she quietly piled some food onto her plate.

Yes, indeed!

But even if it were the case where Keigh got sad a lot, Jude would be there to help her out, much like she had helped him through that particular rough patch. “Plenty of family next year. Plus Olivia AND Charlie.’’ He nudged his sister knowingly but he really didn’t envy her position, having to split her time with them so that the other didn’t feel left out. Then again, he was sort of stuck in the same position with Davet and a certain Eagle, since the Eagle was going to be spending some extra time at the Anders’ place this summer.

“I know. I’m excited for her! Ko was a real sport in offering that opportunity to her.” Jude nudged his sister again. “You’ll get the chance when I’m touring for my concerts.” The boy offered a warm smile at his younger sister, intent on keeping this promise to her. Keighley deserved to see the world too!

Oh, right! They all were! Jude laughed softly. “Any second now, Kazmi is going to get started.” And when the Headmaster did, the older Hufflepuff’s expression turned to sadness. He didn’t want Kazmi to step down!