Is The Food Safe?
Author: Pyrrhus
Date: 07-08-09 17:44
Mason must have sat for at least two minutes, maybe three, staring at the food that appeared from nowhere into the table. He cuts his eyes left then right, watching as others helped themselves without hesitation. When Dad and Pyrrhus told him about Hogwarts, neither one had mentioned that food just shows up in front of you. He supposes it's okay to eat if everyone else is digging in. Still, best to err on the side of caution as Mum always says.
For another couple of minutes, Mason sits looking up and down the Slytherin table, with occassional glances at the other house tables, keep watching, making sure no one suddenly keels over from the food that magically appears from nowhere.
Only when he's reasonably certain the food is all right to eat does Mason reach for one of the heaping platters, this particular one piled with what looks to him as mutton chops. Green peas that are the perfect mushy consistency, mashed potatoes, turnips, and a crispy chicken leg follow. When someone passes carrots his way, Mason takes some of those too. Looking to see what else there is, his eyes light up.
Toad in the hole. Must have some of that. Where's the gravy for it? There! Mason reaches eagerly for the rich looking gravy, pouring a liberal helping on the toad in the hole serving he'd given himself
Floddies! Mason reaches for the bacon and potato dish, a favorite of his thanks to an aunt by marriage.
Mouth stuffed, Mason still takes a liberal helping of yummy looking cabbage pie when it comes his way. He also takes a large spoonful of something that he's not sure what it is but it looks like something he had on holiday once. Cheesy onions baked with some other things. Goose, Mason thinks what he had on holiday was called though why it's called that when there's no goose or other meat in it, he's not sure.
With the delectable assortment of food and a stomach that was on the verge of rumbling to be filled, Mason soon forgets that he was the least bit hesitant about taking even a single bite. Now he wonders what the sweets will be like and thinks about how excited Py's going to be upon learning Mason was put into Slytherin.
Dad had said all the Hogwarts houses are good and that they are more for giving students a sense of belonging and family when so far away from home for weeks at a time. Py, on the other hand, had talked up Slytherin a great deal. When Mason met Py's girl Isolde, she too talked about what a great house Slytherin is. When Mason had gotten off the stool after being sorted, he'd glanced over at Isolde's cousin, whom he'd met once, and she had smiled at him, looking pleased with the pronouncement.
Like most of the students in the Great Hall, Mason had ridden the Hogwarts Express today. He'd not really wanted to but Dad and Py said it was a great experience and a perfect time to meet some of the other first years. They'd been right on that score. Mason had shared a compartment three other boys, all first years. One of them, Arthur Fu, was sorted into Slytherin too. Mason is glad of that because if the dorm situation is as was described to him, it means he'll be roommates with at least one person he already knows. The other two boys he'd gotten to know on the train are Rusty and Orville. Rusty was put into Ravenclaw and Orville into Gryffindor. Mason supposes he'll get to know other first years, including ones in Hufflepuff, soon enough.
He'll also find out soon enough what it's like to have Py's sister as one of his teachers. He's still not exactly sure of how to explain her if ever asked. She's his half-brother's sister but they aren't biologically related because Py was adopted. Something else to think about later.
For now, Mason's thinking mainly about eating as much as he possibly can and listening to those around him talk about Quidditch. Thanks to Py, Mason understands what the conversation is about.
(Kate) Out of Place
Author: Bronwyn Dewhurst
Date: 07-08-09 18:54
Although happy to be back at Hogwarts, Kate couldn't help but feel like she didn't quite belong. She felt much older than thirteen, and even though she knew she needed to repeat her second year since the courses she took at Happy Haven didn't exactly further her educational career, she felt well beyond the twelve year olds with whom she'd attend classes and share a dormitory roomnot necessarily in magical skill, but in life experiences. Kate took comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone. Countless others were in the same boat.
She would never forget the past two years, especially her time at the community for nons. Her experiences there had changed her life forever, but Kate could say what Adella Darling could not. She had survived, and she would live out her future to the fullest.
"I honestly never thought I'd come back," Wilhelmina, seated next to Kate, murmured between bites of food. "I swear, I've never eaten anything this good in all my life."
Kate smiled. She'd heard about Hogwarts feasts from her family members as being the best meals around, but she had never experienced what they'd spoken of herself. The only year she'd been at Hogwarts had been when Professor Snider came on board. The former Hogwarts Headmistress had segregated Hogwarts, awarding the purebloods with the best of everything and making life less than pleasurable for everybody else.
Kate turned her head towards the staff table and saw a few familiar faces, but mostly new ones. Professor Dumbledore, who'd given a speech earlier, sat in the very center. Up until this evening, Kate had never seen him in person. He looked very friendly, unlike Professor Snider had. Kate had a feeling she would come to like Professor Dumbledore quite a bit.
She shifted her gaze to the student tables next. When they fell on the Slytherin table, she found herself meeting eyes with Gus. He sat with Johanna and shot Kate a grin. She grinned back and allowed her eyes to wander further. They fell on Mark, who was deeply engrossed in conversation with his neighbor.
Kate felt herself get annoyed, remembering their confrontation on the train.
"So... what was it like, at Happy Haven?"
Kate momentarily debated continuing to glower at Mark or to answer Anita's question. At twelve, Anita was a pureblood student and Kate's newest roommate at Hogwarts.
Kate tore her gaze away from Mark and looked at the red-haired girl seated next to her. "Well, it wasn't fun," she replied, with a shrug of her shoulders. "I know you're curious because you weren't there, but trust me, you really don't want to know everything. You probably can't even imagine it. Anyway, it's in the past and I'd much rather talk about the future. Are you going for Quidditch this year?"
Anita looked a little disappointed to have her question passed over so quickly, but she ran with Kate's new question. "Oh, I've given it some thought, but I'm not sure I'm all that good at flying. I mean, flying, yes, but flying and catching a ball? I'm not so sure. I suppose I'll give it some more thought, but at this point I just haven't decided. I have some time until the trials, though not much I grant you..."
For a moment, Kate thought Anita would ask about Happy Haven again but instead she asked whether Kate would try out for the house team too.
Kate honestly hadn't thought about it, but perhaps she would try out. She wanted to do new, exhilarating things and not miss out on anything that came her way. Playing Quidditch with a team would definitely be new and probably very exciting.
"Couldn't hurt to try out," she finally replied.
To Wilhelmina she asked, "Could you pass the turkey legs?"
Lost in Thought
Author: Ella
Date: 07-09-09 17:21
Ella sat at the Gryffindor table and tucked into many of the delectable dishes that had magically appeared after Dumbledore's speech. She didn't talk much, and instead listened to the various conversations going on around her. Some of the other students were talking about Quidditch, a few about classes, and fewer still about tests like the OWLs and NEWTs at the end of the school year. The younger students, especially the first years, mainly talked about the food and the wonders of the castle.
Ella was glad to be back at Hogwarts, because it meant she wasn't splitting her time between her divorced parents. She still hadn't warmed up to the idea of them separating and honestly didn't think she ever would. Ella would be sixty years old and still protesting their divorce!
Being at Hogwarts also meant that she could see Zane with some regularity, even if the gate between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade separated them. At least she could talk to him, which was certainly better than only corresponding by letters.
She'd promised her parents that she would write them both tonight, and she planned on writing to Zane too, just to let him know that she'd arrived safely. He'd questioned why she might even bother with the Hogwarts Express when she could just go to Hogsmeade and up to Hogwarts from there, but she had come up with the excuse that as a prefect, she needed to be on the train for a meeting and then to patrol the corridor.
Ella still couldn't believe that she'd been selected as the fifth year Gryffindor prefect opposite Henry Appleton, a boy a year older from having been at Happy Haven last year. If only her teachers knew that she was carrying on a relationship with an older man, to whom she was also lying about her age. If only they knew that she snuck cigarettes onto campus and even smoked them on the grounds. Ella wondered how she would feel to lose her prefect badge in favor of somebody better behaved, but she hadn't had it long enough to form any sort of attachment yet and didn't know what to think.
"Could you pass the peas and carrots?"
It took Ella a moment to realize that someone had spoken to her, and that she'd long tuned out to the conversations around her in favor of her own thoughts. She snapped back to the present and turned to the boy seated next to her.
"Peas and carrots?"
"Yes, could you pass the bowl to me?" Francis Yao asked again.
Ella nodded and reached for the bowl. She handed it to Francis, whom she noticed for the first time seemed just as withdrawn as she. She tried to remember a time when she ever really spoke to him outside of classwork and couldn't recall a single incident. Ella wracked her brain for a conversation starter that didn't have anything to do with Quidditch, classes or the OWL exams they'd be taking at the end of the school year.
"Did you have a good summer?" she finally asked.
Francis looked a bit surprised to be addressed by Ella, but he quickly fell into conversation with her. She found it easy to respond to his comments and his own questions. It dawned on her that for as long as she'd gone to school with him, Ella didn't know anything about Francis. She'd never opened up about herself to much of anyone outside of Zane either, so it was a refreshing change to talk lightheartedly about various things with someone whom she might eventually consider a friend.
Off To Dinner
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 07-09-09 17:39
The ballroom dancing lesson Hermione sprung on him wasn't as bad as Harry had anticipated. Perhaps the fact that the lesson was not accompanied by Minerva McGonagall's stern countenance nor a ball in which he was to be spotlighted for a dance looming over him made the lesson fun and enjoyable. The utter look of dread on Ron's face helped though Harry has to admit that once Ron loosened up and started having fun, he did rather well.
Harry also found having Ginny as his partner was quite nice. Ginny's presence certainly lessened the string of Janine once again not being available to do something as a couple. Harry's seen so little of Janine these last weeks that if not for the fact that Rocko being at the house is very hard to miss and that Janine's belongings are there, it would be easy to think that it was once again just Harry and Pinky.
After the dance lesson ended, the four went to Ron's and Ginny's flat there in Diagon Alley, though Ron won't be living there much longer. With lots of joking and laughing they'd made snacks and spent time talking and playing a card game then Hermione and Ron left to babysit Mira and James Black for Sirius and Dru so that they could attend the Hogwarts Start of Term Feast.
Left with the prospect of going home to an empty house, Pinky having gone with Rocko and Janine to the Fox's, Harry found himself asking, "Want to go to dinner, Ginny? My treat?"
"Sure, just let me change. Grab something out of Ron's room if you want to as well."
Though Ron's taller and lankier than Harry, he found something that would suit and after taking a few minutes in the bath to freshen up, Harry waited in the living room for Ginny, Ron's cat Hero insisting on being given attention.
A short time later Harry's holding the door open to Bombay Palace, an Indian restaurant that's long been a favorite of Harry's. After ordering, Ginny and Harry get to talking about Ron having volunteered to babysit Sirius's twins.
"It's probably good he's got Hermione with him," Harry grins.
"Very true. Ron has had practice with our nieces and nephews but I don't think he ever had any of them for an entire evening by himself," Ginny notes. "The time he does spend with them and now with babysitting James and Mira is good practice for him."
"Practice?" Harry asks, realizing the moment the question is out of his mouth what Ginny means. "For when Hermione and he have their own."
"Yes, exactly. Unless he blunders again and drives Hermione away for good, they're certain to get married and have lots of red headed, frizzy haired babies."
"What about you, Ginny? Do you want children?"
"Oh yes, very much! What about you?"
"I've never given it much thought before but yes, I suppose I do."
"And Janine?"
"I have no idea really. It's not a subject we've discussed. To be honest, with how little we see each other now, I'm can't be certain if it's a topic we'll ever get around to discussing."
"So you... uh... think you two will split?"
"I don't know anymore. I'm not angry with her or anything like that for wanting to spend time with her parents after being separated and not knowing if they'd ever see each other again. It's that after all this time the Foxes still shut me out and before all this, Janine stood up to them about it. Now... well, to me it seems as though now she's going along with it. More than anything I do understand the need and the desire to be with family but I had thought she considered me to be part of her family."
"No matter what happens on that front, you know you do have family, Harry."
"Yeah, I know. I don't think I could ever put into words how grateful I am to your family for treating me like family. Having the Weasleys there for me has meant a great deal over the years. I don't think I could ask for a better brother than Ron."
Ginny laughs, "Yes, though George and Fred are sometimes a little iffy and Percy is... well, Percy."
With the mention of Percy's name and today being the Start of Term Feast at Hogwarts, Ginny and Harry are soon laughing over the time Fred and George changed Percy's Head Boy badge to read Big Head Boy.
A Feast to Remember
Author: Charisma Stone
Date: 07-10-09 05:20
Isma, Blake, and Eric sat at the Gryffindor table and chatted with a few others around them. All three had done what the fourth member of their little group had done, all three had done what every other student at Happy Haven had done, aside from one, Adella Darling. They had all survived, she had given up, and in truth neither of the three faulted her for it, neither of the three blamed her for wanting the escape, for wanting to give up, for thinking that it would never come to an end - they hated loosing a friend more than anything.
Isma shifted, she'd be in the year for Hogsmeade trips if Happy Haven, Harriet Snider, and Minister Smythe-Jones had not happened. She'd be able to go to the village this year, and she was old enough for the trips, however, she was still a second year because well, her second year was less than adequate in the timeline of her educational career aside from getting her to grow up a bit more and learn just what levels of brutality some people are willing to sink to for their cause.
"Oi! Charisma! Give me the bloody gravy boat!" Eric's voice cut through the thoughts that were keeping her distracted.
"Oh! Sorry Eric." A sheepish grin at him before she carefully handed over the gravy boat that was sitting in front of her.
"Took ya five minutes to come back down to earth, you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah, sorry, just thinking about 'Della is all. I miss her, and wish she was here to see all this fantastic food!" Isma said with a light smile.
"I know what you mean." Blake said, and lifted his glass of pumpkin juice. "To 'Della." Isma and Blake lifted their glasses and mimiced the toast.
They each felt older than their thirteen years of age, more experienced than the other twelve year olds that filled out the ranks of the second years in all houses. Yet, she knew she wasn't the only one who felt that way, there were countless others among the various houses that had suffered at the cruelties delivered at the hands of the goons who followed the former Minister's beliefs that pure was better than anything else.
Things were slowly sinking back into the normalcy that was before the ground literally opened up and all hell broke loose within the Wizarding World. Isma had to write her parents tonight after she got settled, send the owl before her first class tomorrow because she was not going to be climbing to the owlry tonight...it simply was not going to happen.