Of course Aurora was overly eager to get to the end-of-term feast, so eager in fact that despite her short little legs having to take three steps in the space of one for another student she was able to get to the Great Hall as one of the first. Blonde hair braided into pigtails which bounced off of her back as she practically skipped her way through the aisles and plonked herself right in the middle of the Ravenclaw table. If she was honest the majority of her friends belonged in other houses which really was quite unfortunate (or fortunate in the case of their housemates for not having to put up with such a loud bundle of energy). Sitting at a table well away from the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins who would put up with her constant rambling was really quite lonely.

It wasn’t her fault that she was so extroverted that thought of being alone was genuinely terrifying. It was ironic too considering her Ma might as well live in a cave to avoid any social interaction she didn’t have to be part of, Aurora clearly had enough sociability for the both of them. Speaking of being social, the lack of friends or anyone really to annoy with her upbeat attitude was a little sad. The second year had SO MANY QUESTIONS to ask others of their summer plans that were just bursting to come out. Where was everyone going on holiday? (Could she come?)

If anyone was to look closely enough there might have been a tiny pout on the Ravenclaws face as she swung her legs alternately under the table back and forth counting the knots in the wood on the table in front of her to pass the time.

Hope arrived at the Great Hall looking more or less respectable, if a little out of fashion. That wasn't her fault, it was hard to look like the other children when your mother made most of your clothes, and made them from very oudated patterns. She sighed to herself at the sight of her classmate, Aurora, who was always rather put together, Hope thought. But she did like Aurora, and it wasn't her fault that Hope felt rather scruffy next to her. So Hope seated herself next to the other second year and greeted her with a shy, "Hi, Aurora. Do you have any big plans for the summer?"

Minerva Durand headed into the Great Hall for what she was quite certain was going to be for the last time with a smile on her face. Hogwarts had only been her home for two terms, but she had truly enjoyed her time here and appreciated the friends she'd made and the memories with them. Majority were leaving Hogwarts with her, or had done the year so previously, so there was not much melancholy feelings to be had. She would miss seeing Keighley and Desiree, but she had a feeling she and Keigh would see each other often and she would make a point to make sure the same was for Desiree.

Besides, maybe she'd come back to visit Rosie during the Hogsmeade visits and she could see the badgers at those times as well.

Making her way towards the Ravenclaw table, she glanced briefly at the Hogwarts tradition of memory book. She was curious to see who would go up and what words they would leave - but she had already determined none of her own would be added. She'd had an easy time here and no words of import to leave behind. It was better to leave those pages for those who truly attached to Hogwarts and had lived a fuller life in it's halls.

Reaching the long blue table, she slid into a spot on the bench spotting young Aurora and Hope and just giving a small smile their direction, choosing to not interrupt as it seemed Hope was already asking questions of her dorm mate.

Another end of term, another feast. Everything quite the same while also remarkably different. The most tangible change being vacancy within M³. Mitsuki had felt the draft of absence long before it actually occurred and was still not sure what to make of it all but perhaps the scorching breeze of a late British summer would provide more clarity.

There was yet another absence to be had, this one on the horizon, in the form of Yumeki-sempai graduating and she had prepared accordingly in one final humble watercoloring offering to present him with. This was why, as she situated herself at the Ravenclaw table beside Mercer (as always), continued to offer the Gryffindor table fleeting glances to see if she could spot the tall dark haired soon-to-be graduate.

"I hope there is pudding," she shared with Mercer as she turned her attention back on him and the Ravenclaw table at large. There always was at feasts, but was that because the elves always prepared it or because her yearning manifested it? Her eyes shifted to looking past Mercer, just over his ear technically speaking, at the rest of the Ravenclaw table and found it rather remarkable that the one little blonde was so...quiet. She would continue to observe the little second year and should she faint then the fifth year knew just the acupuncture routine necessary to revive her. Gyūkan were tricky little things. She could offer congratulations to the seventh year who had arrived, but she too seemed content with her silence so why interrupt it?

Her hand slipped back into Mercer's beneath the table when she was briefly reminded of her decorative OWL theoretical and how she had forgotten to repaint the goat sallow shoots with spectres for catkins in her sketchbook. Perhaps Mercer did have a point about distractions.

Fear not fellow Claws, the minute she was joined by company that little pout dissipated into a trademark beam which practically consumed half of the second years face. To some the view of a happy Aurora might have been a welcome sight but to others the thought of having to put up with a boisterous twelve (very almost thirteen) year old was probably enough to put a grimace on their faces especially considering how quiet her compatriots were being. The swinging of her legs continued under the table which occasionally bumped into the bench she was seated on making her briefly leave her seat whilst she did so.

The first to join her was her fellow dormmate Hope whose presence was treated by an over-enthusiastic wave from the petite blonde. If Rora knew that Hope had any qualms over sitting next to Aurora merely because she thought she was scruffy in comparison, she would’ve told her to stop being so silly and wrapped her little arms around her in a squishy hug. Aurora usually only looked well put-together because her sister aided her in perfectly braiding her hair although she was getting pretty good at it herself now. Perhaps she’d ask if she could practice on Hope in September. “We’re going SKIING!” she beamed excitedly. By ‘we’ she of course meant her two mums and her sister. “I can’t remember where though.. But we usually go to the beach and Mom decided this year to do something different. I didn’t even know there were places to ski in August. I’ve got a bright pink ski coat!” Too much information perhaps but it was important to her anyway. “What about you?” What fun was to be had in Hope Land?

The arrival of Mouse, who was living up to her name judging by the lack of conversation she was making, was met also with a wiggly finger wave from Aurora. She had known her from before her Hogwarts days as she had been her sisters friend at Beauxbatons and despite that they didn’t actively ‘hang out’ as friends, the Ravenclaw was still going to miss seeing her around. It was a strange comfort for when Ariadne was AWOL somewhere that Minerva was there as a sort of older sister figure. “Don’t be sad!” she exclaimed even though Mouse had a smile on her face and therefore was likely to NOT be as melancholy as Aurora was projecting on her. She temporarily bounced out of her seat to go wrap her arms around from behind the seventh year in a big bear hug before settling back in her usual space ready for for the feast to begin.

Mmmm… Pudding.

The mention of dessert by the Swan Princess as she was now going to be designated received an alarmingly loud grumble from Aurora’s stomach. They could completely skip the savoury and go straight to the sweet and she would be perfectly content. “HI FRIENDS!” she grinned at both Mitsuki and Mercer (the Fairy Catcher, clearly Anna’s nickname giving abilities were rubbing off on the second year). The poor older students had dared to acknowledge Aurora at the party and therefore she was to become attached like a limpet to them whether they liked it or not. Thus was the way this child’s brain worked.

Speaking of Anna..

It hadn’t gone unnoticed that there was a rather conspicuous balloon floating above their heads and travelling dangerously close to the candles. For a second she was distracted by the pretty rainbow colours until her eyes traversed down the long string and to the figure at the end of it. OH! Well that made perfect sense. Had Anna been looking in her direction she would’ve given her best friend an enthusiastic wave and an inquiry whether SHE (despite being nowhere near graduation) was privy to one of those goodie bags. There would also have to be some correspondence of handing over their co-parenting responsibilities of Merryweather the Pygmy Puff at some point.

Tommy wasn't usually one for feasts. He wasn't usually one for group meal times at all, really, but given it was his last ever night in the Castle he felt somehow drawn to the Great Hall. He was loath to try and figure out why, and so he decided to ignore any feelings he was having and just... sit.

He chose the first seat he reached, right at the end of the table, closest to the doors for ease of leaving if he wanted to. When he wanted to. It had become his default seat over the years, no matter how busy the Hall was when he sat here. A quick glance around the room evoked no feelings of wanting to remain like he assumed many other graduates would have. There was the standard dread of what to do next, but that was something he'd become accustomed to over the last few months, and at least he had somewhere to go when it was time to leave Stemp House behind, too.

The end of many things. Maybe being here was a terrible idea - but if so, it was just another terrible idea on top of the millions that summarised his life.

Skiing? Hope was confused--did you have to go away to ski? She supposed you did in summer, though why you would do so was a little mystifying. "Where do you go to ski? In the middle of summer?! Is there such a place? I've only done it in winter, to get around better in the snow, you know." Hope only knew about cross-country skiing. "Me? Oh, I'm going home for the summer. Back to America, you know--I haven't seen my family for a while now." Hope was looking forward to seeing her family and siblings again, but she was also strangely a little apprehensive. Home was beginning to seem a little dull now compared with Hogwarts or London.

Aurora’s geographical abilities weren’t exactly brilliant, in fact it would probably take her a while to locate where she lived on a map so knowing the logistics of how they were skiing in the middle of summer was beyond her. Her little shoulders shrugged in response to Hope. “I think it’s somewhere in South America. Apparently it’s WINTER there.” Which meant there was snow and ski resorts and all the hot chocolates she could possibly drink. “I think it’ll be FUN to play in the snow when it’s supposed to be hot and sunny.” It was only for a short while anyway, a couple of weeks to spend together as a close family before school and work commitments got in the way again. Aurora herself was technically a quarter American although the family didn’t often spend time over there. London was their permanent home, other than the regular trips to Greece where her Mom studied. “I hope you get all the cuddles from your family.” Those were the most important.

Aurora’s conversation was subtly interrupted by the arrival of Tommy to the Ravenclaw table. Despite his standoffish aura and that he had literally sat as far away from the rest of the students as possible, the second year excused herself for a second and skipped her way down to the seventh year to wrap her arms around him. “CONGRATULATIONS Tommy, I’m going to miss yoooooou” she practically sang. Not that they EVER spent time together and when they did it was just Aurora unintentionally annoying him with her presence and want to get to know her sisters boyfriend (?) better. After all SHE was clearly the most important person in Ariadne’s life and therefore he HAD to like her.

Tommy was impatient as he waited for the food to arrive, kicking himself for not just skipping his last feast. He hoped to catch sight of a certain blonde, but he knew that she'd be spending a lot of time with her other friends this evening. After all, they had most of the summer to look forward to.

A blonde he was not looking for was coming towards him, and as though the skipping wasn't enough, she hugged him. Tommy immediately stiffened in is seat, shoulders tense, eyes narrowed. He hated hugs for the most part, and the one person whom he quite enjoyed them from was NOT this child. The elder Ackerly, on the other hand, was welcome to surprise hug him whenever she wanted.

Except... probably best she didn't. He still didn't deal well with surprises.

"Let. Go. Of. Me." Was all he managed, willing himself not to break the girls grip. Hurting his girlfriend's (!!!!!) sister wasn't exactly the best way to start a relationship, after all.

Had Aurora any concept of personal space boundaries then she might’ve actually thought about not bulldozing others into cuddles. The big problem was that because she liked them so much she just assumed that everyone else did too which was obviously a mistake on her behalf. She did listen to him though but not before giving him a big final squish and then plopping herself down on the empty seat opposite him. He might’ve been denying that he had any sort of emotional connection with the younger Ackerly but she would inflict herself on him anyway.

Little sisters were the most important people in big sisters lives after all.

“Are you sad? Are you going to miss it here?” she asked the elder Ravenclaw resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her palms. “You should come sit up the top with everyone else so you can properly say goodbye.” Where all the action was. Where she was.

As for knowing where Ariadne was the petite blonde had no idea. Saturn had suggested putting a tracker on her and Aurora was starting to think it was a wonderful idea. Ari had a habit of disappearing into the crowd sometimes and being a whole four foot six it was often difficult to see over the sea of students blocking her way.