It was an unusual site to see Alice up and about so early in the morning. But since she didn't have lunch or most of dinner the day before, her stomach simply didn't allow her to miss breakfast as well. She quickly got dressed and headed down to the great hall. It was, as expected, half empty and most of the students were still soundly sleeping in her beds. She liked eating during the weekends as it was much less formal. Students were scattered around the tables, loudly discussing recent Hogwarts gossip. It was one of the few days were boundaries between the houses seem to disappear, even if it was just for a little while. That brought a whole new refreshed atmosphere in the hall. This was one of the reasons she enjoyed weekends, and the no classes thing only added cherries to the top.
Alice grabbed a Daily Prophet as she buttered her toast. With all the course work she had to do during the week, she barely had any time left to herself. That meant she was much behind in reading Susan's columns. Having already decided to take it easy today, she relaxed in her chair and took a sip of her juice. Her friend joined her for breakfast and soon another Hufflepuff came as well. These three girls chattered about the usual news that flooded the halls through whispers and gossip. Alice was again quite behind so they had a lot to talk about. She patiently listened to her friends enthusiastically talk about random subjects out loud.