Now what type of friend would Vera have been if she didn't join Maria in the endeavor for the start of term feast? They were seventh years now. Top of the food chain! The examples of their respective houses! And any good Gryffindor would know they needed to show an example of how to have fun, right? She'd had Atlas' lead when she was a new student. It was high time she rise to the example and set one for the new lions of the year too before it was too late.

Which is why her head was held far prouder than it should have been, given her appearance, as she strode into the Great Hall. She'd gone for house pride in her colors - her hair magically transformed for the night to the brightest shade of red she could muster. And while she knew her spellwork wasn't nearly as good as Maria's, she'd opted to go for a more Muggle approach for her skin - having doused herself with a golden glitter that made her shimmer under the lights. (And unfortunately, left a trail of shimmers behind her as well - oops).

Finding herself a seat, she looked over at the Hufflepuff table and waved at her friend, before smiling brightly at all of her gathered house mates.

While oh so conveniently avoiding any eye contact with anyone at the staff table.

The fact that he was now a seventh year still hadn't quite sunk in. Logan was willingly living in denial about this for a variety of reasons. One of them was that he wanted to avoid thinking about the endless hours of NEWT study sessions that were to come, and another had something to do with him not being sure he was ready to leave school (such words he would never utter aloud!) and be thrust into the world of adulthood.

Despite this being his last Start-of-Term Feast, the blond walked into the Great Hall with the mentality that it was anything but his last. Such a thing was easy to do when he couldn't think about anything besides how hungry he was and how he wanted to sneak off with Vera before heading to the common room later.

Speaking of Vera, that red hair and gold glitter made her stick out like a sore thumb. "This is quite a look," he commented, looking her up and down properly before plopping beside her, certainly not worried about any glitter that would inevitably get on him.

Still a bit in her own head regarding things from last term, namely her realization at the last end of term feast, Sable Ileana had made less of an entrance to the feast than her bestie had. Not that she was afraid of the glitter and such, but her aesthetic was rather more subtle. But still fanciful in its own way, as she’d forgone her school robe for the black ringmaster’s jacket of yore. Which fit her a bit better than it had years earlier, and she might’ve charmed the trim to flicker between crimson and gold in the years since she’d first acquired it. In ways, she’d gone back to her pirate captain aesthetic, but her changed ideas as to what she might look into after graduation had altered it in subtle ways.

Plus, the continued missing of the brunette Slytherin who had graduated last summer.

If it had occurred to her that Logan was avoiding the thoughts of the upcoming NEWT prep as much as she was, she’d’ve been surprised as well. Only a bit. There was a reason he was in her circle, her crew, after all, and it wasn’t just because of Vera.

“It’d only be more apt if there was more of a lion aesthetic to it”, she tacked onto the blonde male of the crew’s statement as she dropped onto the seat opposite him. And dropping her own blonde head onto Vera’s shoulder, unafraid of if any glitter transferred over.

Everything was fine. Freddy wasn't missing his best friend or anything. Sure, his final year would be without the only person he had made a friend out of. Sure, the year meant being one step closer to real life and Hogwarts not being his sanctuary anymore --- but everything was fine.

Fredrick was fine.

Tight lipped, and harbouring immense anxiety within his chest, the seventeen year old made his way to the gryffindor table, giving a nod here and there - especially to his fellow seventh years. He could get through this, the night and the year ahead.

It was fine.

..... or it was -- until he glanced at the Slytherin table and felt his stomach drop - realising Fynley wasn't sitting there at his.

Great. Just great.

Rose Woods was having a perfectly lovely day. It was the start of the new term, which meant spending time with her best friends on a daily basis again, and new magical things to learn. Sure, she missed her mother all the time, but it was okay, because her sister was right there whenever she needed her! And so was her cat, Rex, who was really getting bigger than any of them could have expected a cat to get.

Almost like having a mini tiger in the Gryffindor common room!

But you know what there weren't a lot of, for the Gryffindor common room? First years. Rose was pretty sad about that, too, as she sat watching the new sort-ees. Maybe it wouldn't be quite so sad if the Headmaster would finally make his spee-- FINALLY.

Right. Food. Now. Rose was absolutely famished.

It didn't take long for other Gryffindors to arrive, the first two most notably and luckily for her, two of her favorite people in the whole universe. Grinning as her attention first turned to Logan, she gave a flip of the hair at the comment, before leaning over to kiss his cheek when he settled next to her. It was as much endearment as the opportunity to likewise get some of the offending craft-ware all over him as well. Whats her was his and blah blah, so obviously the house spirit should likewise be present on both, right? "Maria's idea. She's brilliant, if you didn't already know. Although I'm thinking maybe I should keep the red for a bit. What do you think?"

It was good that Sia was not afraid of the glitter, because the minute her head hit Ve's shoulder she could see it already transferring to the blond from that location. Though of course if she wasn't fussed, then obviously the temporary red head wasn't either. "You make a good point. Think it's too late to tease my hair to look more like a mane and then re-enter?" Her tone was teasing, because the obvious answer was yes plus she wasn't THAT committed.

Freddy and his arrival got a returned head nod and a smile his way, and so did the younger student who joined them, but they were saved from any efforts of conversation by Headmaster Winterbottom standing and beginning the speech. Wait... what was that about Hogsmeade? The minute Winterbottom was done, her attention turned to the others at the table with an excited glint. "You think Hogsmeade will host some type of fair or something we'll be able to attend for it's anniversary? Back when my Papa was the shopkeep for Sugarplums, there was a whole hubbub in Diagon Alley for a similar occasion." And it had been one incredibly fun event too, though as she'd only been... what... nine? Ten? at the time, it hadn't been difficult to please her.

... Although, actually, not much had changed in that regard. Something new was enough to get her excited.