Start of Term Feast

Alex had heard that Rhys was grabbed by the squid, "That is awesome!" Alex cheered on, he had a little crush on Rhys, that was true, but he hadn't had said that to be a banwagon, that actuallly sounded fun. "I didn't use magic, I used Karate." Alex said pointing at the Slytherins coming in with burises, and broken arms and noses, and casts, "I did that, I gotta say, It felt pretty damn good." Alex said smiling at his friend Sam.

Alex dried the rest of himself off using the spell Sam had used, Alex took his wand and waved it over a cup, handing it to Rhys and sitting back to his table, the cup had hod cocoa, with honey which helped great with a cold, "Drink it, it'll make you feel better."

Sam grinned and reached over to Alex before he left the table, stretching his arms out and bumping the other boy's fist after he'd gestured to the Slytherins. "Whoa man, good job," he said, a small voice shouting in the back of his head that Alex had been a little too violent.

"But wont you get in trouble?" He asked, raising himself a little and looking around. "I mean, wont the guards try and... y'know, beat you up?" He asked, drawing his wand for a little emphasis.

"I'm sure they're all ex-slytherins, you know," he said quietly, gazing up at the head table at the new Slytherin HoH... Sam could've sworn the man looked a little crazy, and a little evil...

Alex looked at Sam, and Alex shrugged, "Whoa man, good job," Sam had said, Alex shrugged and said, "It's what I do. Eso me encata, pegar a los puto slytherins." Alex said, finishing in spanish, meaning it was fun hitting F*** slytherins. Alex said, loving ever moment he had hit a slytherin, the first time when he was getting sorted, "Remember four years ago, during the sorting ceremony, where after a kid got Slytherin, and spit on the kid standing behind him, and that kid unleashed fury and gave that kid a bloody nose and a black eye, well that kid was me, I unleashed fury on that lil B****.." Alex said smiling, and proud of what was happened, after that he was sorted to Hufflepuff, and was sent to his seat, to eat, because apparently one of the staff like his spunk.

Alex listened to Sam sitting backwards in his seat to face Sam, Alex wiping some feather off his robe, and then felt hot wax drop on his hand, "Da F*** ni**a, and Sam do you see this shit, the flying candle dripped wax on me." Alex said finding it weird because that had never happened before, he was wondering what the hell was going on. But snapped back to his friend, "But wont you get in trouble?" Sam had said to Alex, "I thought the same thing, but the guards laughed, and let me go, I think they might've liked the fact that those Slytherins picked on my and then tried to fight back as a pussy attempt. And I beat the shit out of them." Alex said. wondering if that had been the point.

Alex moved as another drop of wax dropped. "And besides, it'll be a cold day in hell before I let them beat my gorgeous face up." Alex said, smiling, "Besides, I can do parkour/FreeRunning, I can go away like a ninja without anybody noticing me." Alex said. "I'm sure they're all ex-slytherins, you know," Sam had said, Alex didn't care, "Then maybe they don't wanna end up like the slytherins now. Alex joked and laughed.

Sammy had done this so many times now that she could do it in her sleep. Sammy walked to the Hufflepuff table then sat down and waited for her class mates to arrive next to her. She couldn't wait to see Faylen. The summer with him was wonderful and she couldn't wait to see what the last year at Hogwarts had in store for her. With the darkness outside and the candle light inside her pale skin looked even more pale. As Sammy sat there waiting for the food and her friends she couldn't help but think about the first time that she ever sat at this table. She had meet a lot of the friends that she has now because of it. She never would have thought, all those years ago, that she would be sitting here now as a vampire, 7th year, mother, and divorced young woman. She was 17 and had 3 kids and never thought that she would have lived through it all without her friends. But the one question that she hadn't answered by now that everyone else around all ready knew was, once school was over for her, what was she going to do with her life? She knew that she had to do something. She had 3 kids to support. Sammy sighed then supported her head with her two hands and put her elbows on the table.

Mia had been looking forward to the next year at hogwarts since the last year of hogwarts ended. She read almost all of the new potions books before school had started and she couldn't wait to learn more about potions. Mia walked into the Great Hall and smiled up at the wonderful ceiling like she did every year. Just as she found her way to the Gryfindor table she sat down next to her twin brother. He was talking with some of his friends about quiddich and Mia didn't really like to interupt him while he was talking about quidditch with his friends. So she pulled out a Potions book out of her bag and started reading it. In no time it would be time to go to bed. This year Mia hoped to make more friends and pass all her potions tests.

Amelia was not prepared for this. Not in the least. One would think that an entire summer of mental preparation, having overcome the hurdle of telling her parents about it, and the train ride here would have made Amelia more confident about what she would now have to do. But as unlikely as it seemed, the new professor was nearly shaking with worry as she walked into the Great Hall.

Subconsciously, she was drawn toward the Ravenclaw table, wanting to take back the place she had always had in near the end of the table where no one would bother her. But now, she was no longer a student of that house. In fact, she was now the head of it, and the Potions Mistress, having taken over from her former headmaster. If that series of thoughts wasn’t enough to make her head spin, Amelia didn’t know what would be.

Amelia liked consistency, so the series of changes she had undergone in the last four months were really getting to her. She skirted to the side of the hall to avoid as many familiar faces as she could, keeping her head down and feeling her dark blue robes sweeping around her ankles as she approached the staff table. She paused briefly at the base of the stairs that would lead to the slightly raised platform reserved specifically for Hogwarts staff, but did not allow herself to linger long.

You’re being foolish, Amelia reprimanded herself, trying to squish all her nervous energy into a small ball she could store somewhere else so it wouldn’t bother her, They’re going to find out sooner or later, and some of them have probably already deduced it, so you should just get yourself up there. If you don’t act like you belong, they’ll never believe you do, and then they’ll eat you alive.

Oh, how reassuring, Amelia responded sarcastically to her subconscious, but that little internal pep talk did convince her to ascend those last few steps and take the seat that had been assigned to her, thankfully far away from the other staff that had arrived before her. The small placard in front of her plate said “Professor Lyons”, but Amelia didn’t allow her eyes to linger on it for long. It was too transparent a reminder of what she was in for, and it brought up too many questions of whether or not she was really ready for it.

"RAVENCLAW! RAVENCLAW! RA-VEN-CLAAAAAAAAAW!"

That was not the sound of your typical Hogwarts student - no, that was the sound of Keith Nicholas. Thirteen years old, two time winner of the unofficial "detention cup" (where he was the only contestant) and as of last year, accomplished drug baron. In his opinion, life was good, or at least as good as it was going to get given the circumstances.

Keith dashed into the main hall, still chanting, making a beeline for the Ravenclaw table. Unfortunately it seemed rather empty - completely empty, in fact. Keith Nicholas was the only one sitting at the Ravenclaw table.

Alright. No biggie. He'd just have to be awesome enough for an entire house. (done) Keith took his seat and immediately picked up his silverware, banging on the table in a rhythmic fashion. "Pork chops!" He shouted. "I demand pork chops!"

No pork chops appeared. Curses. Either the house elves were being lazy or the feast hadn't officially started yet. Keith was willing to bet on the former. Lazy house elves. What did they have to do other than make him pork chops?

And waffles. Couldn't forget waffles.

Suddenly bored by the severe lack of people joining him at the Ravenclaw table, Keith felt his eyes began to roam. The Gryffindors were being lively, complaining about how one of their members had been thrown into the lake by a Slytherin (heh, throwing people into the lake. Classic) and the Hufflepuffs were...being Hufflepuffs, which really meant they were sitting around being lame and not important and stuff.

Finally, his eyes found the staff table. A quick sweep confirmed Damon's absence, and Keith frowned. He had genuinely liked the charms professor, as weird as he could sometimes be. His favorite class wouldn't be the same without Damon at the head.

However, upon further inspection, Keith realized that one of the teachers seated at the front of the table, towards the end, away from the other teachers, was none other than...Amelia Lyons.

Keith did a double take and rubbed his eyes. But she was still there - and in fact, Keith could see her place marker, labeled Professor Lyons. Huh. Keith had never pegged Amelia for the teaching type. She was far to antisocial, not to mention talented, to be doing something like teaching. Keith shrugged. Life decisions and all that jazz. Don't judge people less fortunate than yourself.

"Hey! Amelia!" Keith shouted, waving his arms in an attempt to get her attention. "What's up! It's me, Keith!"

Amelia had never been able to curb her curiosity when it came to people-watching, and being up on the raised platform for staff gave her an incredible vantage point from which to observe the mass of students she had been a part of only a few months ago. She had never seen the Great Hall from this angle before, and it was quite a sight to see all the students milling about, slowly making their way in from the carriages outside and taking their places at the tables.

The new professor was watching a group of young Hufflepuff girls hugging one another fiercely as they were reunited after summer’s break, and a small, somewhat sad smile was blooming on her lips. Although she didn’t outright regret any of her choices at Hogwarts, she did recognize that her decision of self-imposed solitude came with its repercussions. One of those was that she had never really experienced the excitement of seeing friends after a long time spent in separate countries. In fact, the only person she might have been even remotely excited to see tonight had graduated with her, and judging from the letter he had sent her a few weeks ago, Amelia wouldn’t be seeing Peter very much at all anymore.

Peter Bellard had been a representative of Beauxbatons in the Triwizard Tournament in Amelia’s sixth year, and then had opted to stay as a student of Hogwarts for his last year of school. They had met under unusual circumstances, and despite Amelia’s protests, Peter had inched his way closer and closer to her. He had been, in Amelia’s opinion, unintentionally sneaky about it, drawing her in with his eccentricities and peaking her curiosity about his family. But before Amelia had been able to figure out exactly where Peter fit into her life, the pair of them had graduated. And although Peter had had high hopes of moving to England with his family, his last letter had brought different news; Peter would be staying in France with his family to help take care of his sister, and it would be unlikely that he would return to Hogwarts or the surrounding area any time soon.

Amelia was still trying to be nonchalant about his sudden change of heart, and was currently succeeding in deluding herself into believing that it didn’t matter, that they hadn’t been that close anyway. But, as these things usually do, most of Amelia’s self-deceptions fell away eventually, and it was only a matter of time before she would have to face the fact that she had been, once again, deserted by someone she had allowed to get even marginally close to her.

The red-haired professor was lost in thought watching the students, but not so much so that she lost her hearing abilities, and anyone that did not hear Keith Nicholas entering the Great Hall was certainly deaf or very close to it. Amelia heard the shouting of her former house name the minute they began, and it only took her a moment to identify the young blond boy from which they were resounding. Keith Nicholas was bounding into the room, and upon sitting down at the Ravenclaw table, was proceeding to make enough noise to make up for all of his housemates’ absences.

In spite of her new position, Amelia found herself smirking at the situation. Keith had always been a troublemaker, and although he was too noisy for her usual taste, Amelia had discovered early on that Keith had a sharp wit and an agile mind, and he wasn’t afraid to be direct. These were all traits Amelia admired in people; true, it was unfortunate that they happened to be bundled to a whirling ball of energy and potential disaster, but still, Amelia had developed a certain fondness for her younger housemate.

It seemed this fondness was, at least in part, reciprocated, because as Amelia commenced watching Keith banging on the table and demanding food, the blond boy looked up to the staff table, and after a double take, started shouting and waving in her direction. At this point, Amelia really wished he would be more discreet, because up until this point, no one had been looking at her up at the staff table, but heads were beginning to turn in her direction as Keith’s yelling continued.

“Yes, I see you there, Keith,” Amelia said, just loud enough to be heard, trying to play down the situation before they drew the eyes of the entire student population of the room, “It’s good to see you too! I am always pleased to find you in one piece at the end of another summer of adventures,” Amelia said, not mockingly, but more like an older sister might tease a younger brother known for making trouble.

Now please sit down and shut up, Amelia’s more logical side wanted to add, but Amelia pressed her lips together in a firm smile to keep herself from saying what was on her mind. Keith was one of the only students who actually seemed to like her in spite of her less-than-glowing personality, and the impression she would create by chastising a student so openly at the Start of Term Feast would likely put a target on her back for the rest of the year.

Yes, forced smiling was a much better option.

Hannah entered the Great Hall, and sat with the rest of the Hufflepuffs.
She was starving. She was busy with her studies and she was unable to eat anything. Her mouth watered with hunger, as she felt her stomach rumble at the sight of this delicious food.