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Concerns
Author: Finley
Date: 10-11-15 18:58
Finley sat next to Phoebus at the Gryffindor table and sighed. She was glad to be back at Hogwarts, though it always hurt to leave Leroy behind at the orphanage. This time he'd hardly said two words to her when she left. He was still sore from when she implied that he was someone she could never like more than a friend.
She didn't think that Leroy actually had any feelings for her beyond friendship, but she supposed it hurt to have his best friend admit that he wasn't dateable because of how he looked. Finley hadn't meant to hurt his feelings and blamed Charla for ruining their friendship.
"I don't want to have to use a school broom," Finley lamented, not for the first time.
"They are newer brooms," Phoebus pointed out, "so it's not like you'd have to use one that someone used fifty years ago. Besides, maybe your anonymous donor will send you a new one."
"It's not that the brooms are old or not old," Finley replied, reaching for a tureen to pour some gravy into the well she made in her mashed potatoes. "It's that none of them are mine. I loved my broom. I knew every inch of my broom. Having one's own broomstick and knowing its every quirk helps you fly better."
Phoebus nodded. He knew there was more to it than just that. Finley had so few possessions she could call her own, and the broomstick was one of her favorite ones. Now it was in pieces in the little tin of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. His mother may have been able to mend Finley's torn cloak, but even she wasn't skilled enough to put a broomstick back together again.
"Will you still try out for Quidditch?" Phoebus asked.
"Of course!"
"I think I might too, but we'll see. It depends on what the competition looks like." He glanced down the table at the first year Gryffindor students. "Think any of them will try out, and do you think they'll measure up? There's always that one first year who flies better than everybody else."
"Maybe," Finley shrugged. "I guess we won't know for a couple of weeks, will we?" She sighed again and thought about the broken broomstick shrunken down in her trunk.
"Say, who will sign your permission slip to go to Hogsmeade?" Phoebus asked, when the thought occurred to him.
"I guess the only person who can is Mrs. Gill, unless Professor McGonagall would let somebody like your mother sign for me." Finley felt a flutter of panic in her stomach. "What if I can't go at all?"
"Just tell Mrs. Gill that the village trips are part of your curriculum, and she'll have no choice but to sign the permission slip."
Finley wondered if that would work. "I think I will talk to Professor Black or Professor Weatherby first to see what my options are. Surely I'm not the first orphan to be in this situation."
Phoebus nodded. "It'd be a shame if I had to go to Hogsmeade alone."
Finley nodded too. She didn't have any money to buy things in Hogsmeade, but she had never been in the village before outside of the train station. It would be nice to walk around and enjoy herself outside the boundaries of the school grounds.
"I bet there will be loads of security," Phoebus went on, as he swiped a dinner roll from a passing tray.
"I bet so, too."
Finley had little connection to anything that had taken place yesterday, being an orphan and a Muggle-born at that. Disasters and attacks in the Muggle world were not unheard of, though, so it was easy for her to imagine bad people doing bad things where the wizarding government conducted its business. She hoped that kind of trouble would never happen at Hogwarts, or in Hogsmeade, especially if she happened to be there.
She sighed again, which Phoebus mistook for continued woes about her broken broomstick and the possibility that she might not get her permission slip signed.
"Cheer up, Finley!" he exclaimed, handing her a bowl of fruit salad. "Everything's going to sort itself out now that we're back at Hogwarts. You'll see."
Finley had her doubts, but she put a small smile on her face and started shoveling fruit onto her plate. "You're right. There's no sense in worrying about it tonight."
"That's the spirit!"
Finley's grin got a little bigger. It was good to be back at Hogwarts.
At the Feast
Author: Sophie McCourt
Date: 10-12-15 13:54
Sophie took another look at the Slytherin table.
"Will you stop that? Your sister is fine," Estine assured her.
Sophie nodded, and continued eating her dinner. Last year ,when Patricia had been sorted into the Ravenclaw house, Sophie had not felt the same concern for her as she was feeling now for Belinda. Patricia wanted to be a Ravenclaw, while as far as Sophie knew, Belinda did not had a strong preference for any of the Hogwarts houses. She had hoped her sister would end up either at Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, so she or Patricia could keep an eye on her. Being a Slytherin complicated things a little bit, and Sophie had to admit it had been a shock to see Belinda becoming one of them.
Patricia was shocked as well, but not for the same reasons as Sophie. While Susan and Ingrid were telling each other what they have done during the summer, she had looked to the place Caleb was seated. To her surprise he was looking to a blonde first year, his eyes showing interest and curiosity. Could he be possibly find any interest in a first year? Now that Patricia wasn't a first year anymore she felt far more grown up than before, and she looked at the first years with haughtiness. She imagined Caleb would stop seeing her as one of the younger ones, and that maybe tonight they would sit together and talk. But Caleb had just waved at her and he spent the rest of the meal talking to his friend Ector.
Meanwhile at the Slytherin table, Belinda was trying to fit in. She had heard her sisters talking about the school feasts, but one thing was hearing about it, another completely different was to live it. But what impressed her the most had not been the food, but the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall. From time to time she would look up, checking if it was still there, as if it could vanish at any moment.
However, she was a bit sad because she and Hercules did not end up in the same house. She was already seated at the Slytherin table when his name was called and she had crossed her fingers under the table, hoping the hat would shout her house's name. Their eyes met when he went to seat by the Gryffindor table and he shrugged his shoulders, as if saying Oh well…There's nothing we can do about it. Hercule's brother, Achilles, had patted his brother's back when he seated, with pride.
Belinda risked another glance towards the Gyrffindor table, but she couldn't spot Hercules among the crowd, now that all the places had been occupied.
"I wouldn't feel bad, if I was you," one of the other first years said. "You're in the best house," he assured her.
"I don't feel bad," Belinda replied. "I was just looking for my friend. He's been sorted into Gryffindor, " she explained.
"Then he is not your friend. He cannot be, if he's in that house. But can be your friends," he declared and he presented himself and some other Slytherins to Belinda. "I am Reginal and these are Walter and Julia."
"Hello," she greeted them. "I'm Belinda McCourt."
Start of Term
Author: Lawrence Masterson
Date: 10-12-15 17:38
The chaos at the Ministry had everyone on edge, and Lawrence knew that Ariella was worried about Alanna who had been at work when the attack had begun. Among all the other issues going on with the Beck family in the past year - this was simply a drop in the bucket of one nightmare after another.
However, tonight was a night for celebration - a night to welcome in another school year, and Lawrence was going to attempt to enjoy it, with his wife at his side. The only thing that would have made tonight better is if his daughter was here with them.
He pushed the thoughts of his daughter's fate out of his mind, refusing to let that pain taint the night that was supposed to be magical for the first years and transfers that had come to Hogwarts and were learning just what their new journey would hold.
He watched as the first years had been sorted, remembering his own days as a transfer - coming in during his fifth year and falling in love with the grandeur of the castle that would become his home during the school year. Since those first days, his heart had known he belonged here and it was only fitting that he would return to teach in the one place he loved more than anything.
He reached a hand over and lightly closed it over one of Ariella's squeezing lightly. They'd both eaten their fill of the amazing amount of food that had filled the tables and were currently waiting to see just what sugary sweet confections the house elves had come up with for this year's feast.
He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it - he was thinking to the future, a future that hopefully involved his daughter. He wondered, for the hundredth time, what house Karina would be sorted into - and the crushing reality of the fact that his daughter might never sit for her first Start of Term feast made his breath catch, and his hand squeeze a bit more on Ariella's. A sip of his pumpkin juice and he attempted to calm himself just as the desserts began appearing upon the table.
Relieved [Slyvestor & Edwina]
Author: Georgia Copperpot
Date: 10-12-15 17:44
Sylvestor had nearly fallen off his seat upon the Sorting Hat's pronouncement placing Edwina in Hufflepuff House. Fitzwilliam had shot him a puzzled look. "Been sneaking nips on the train?"
"Nips?"
"Drinkie poos." Fitz leaned in closer and took an audible sniff. "Don't smell anything. Vodka?"
"How would you know if vodka has a smell or not?" Sylvestor was starting to envision his friend already being an alcoholic and secret drinker at age twelve.
"Great aunt. Bernadine. You met her. Short. Got that funny hump thing on her back that makes her look like she's always hunched over. Downyjerz hunk or something it's called."
"I remember. She drinks?"
"I heard Dad describe it as being like a fish. I don't know what that means since fish don't drink, do they?"
Sylvestor shrugged. "Dunno. Never thought about it."
Fitz mirrored the shrug. "Anyway, she's always got what looks like water but I hear Mum and Dad and other of the adults every now and again saying it's vodka. Harder to tell because it's clear like water, doesn't smell strong like a whiskey or different beers, and can't as easily smell it on someone's breath."
"Have you tried it?"
Fitz, ever the one to try something once if he thinks he can get away with it such as when he had the two of them sneaking through a secret tunnel in an attempt to get into the village on a Hogsmeade weekend, gave a sly grin. "Maybe."
"Which means you didn't."
"Okay, so no, but only because I've not found a chance. I just want to know what it tastes like."
"If after the Christmas hols you start staggering around and slurring words, I'll know you've given it more than a single taste."
Fitzwilliam nearly snorted pumpkin juice from his nose at that one. After wiping his mouth he asked, "So what had you almost on the floor?"
"Happiness that Edwina is not a Slytherin."
Fitz looked over to the Hufflepuff table where Edwina looked to be deep in conversation with Albert Nutcombe. "She's not that bad, you know."
"You wouldn't say that if she was your sister," Sylvestor had dryly replied. "How're the bangers and mash?"
"Great."
"Then pass me the platter." Sylvestor adds a please as an afterthought.
Over at the Hufflepuff table Edwina was asking Bertie, "Are you sad that Libby's in a different house?"
"Nah. I like Libby, I mean she's one of my best friends now, but it's good to not have to be around her aaaallll the time."
Edwina smiled at that. "Libby's my friend too so I know what you mean." For her part, Edwina was a teensy disappointed not to get Slytherin only because it means not being able to annoy Sylvestor as much. Edwina isn't generally mean spirited or spiteful but deliberately annoying her brother is grand entertainment at times because of how Sylvestor reacts.
A thought comes to her that she's not asked Bertie before now. "Say, are you taking that Fitness & Athletics class?"
"Not this time. Mum said it's best to stick to the regular classes for now. That's her way of saying she doesn't know enough about it to say yes. I should have asked Dad."
"Sylvestor takes it and likes it. I wasn't sure it was for me so I said not this time. Maybe I'll watch it a few times and see for myself. Sign up for it next year."
"Yeah, good idea. Ooooh, is that toad in the hole?"
"Think so. Want me to pass it over?"
"Yes, thanks. You think the pudding course will have as much?"
"Sylvestor and my cousin Georgia both say there are more cakes, pies, tarts, and other puds than we'll be able to try in one sitting."
"Then as my father says I'd better pace myself."
Edwina smiles and nods in agreement even while reaching for seconds of a rather lovely steak and kidney pie.
Weird
Author: Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen
Date: 10-12-15 18:27
"This is weird."
Coco turns to look at Fritz and grins knowingly. "Is it weirder that we are sitting at the High Table or that you are an actual professor at Hogwarts now?"
Fritz smiles. "I don't know. I never thought I would be back here other than for events open to the public, like the Quidditch matches. Teaching was never something I thought I would do, especially not here at Hogwarts."
His taking on the position of Alchemy professor happened purely by chance. One day, while exiting J. Pippin's Potions, he bumped into Professor McGonagall. They got to talking about his studies at St. Emrys, which in turn had her offering him the position recently vacated by Professor Fanshawe. Fritz accepted the job with the understanding that it could be a temporary assignment.
He likes that it's a part-time gig and that it isn't likely to interfere with his studies at St. Emrys. In fact, he hasn't even signed up for courses for Michaelmas Term yet but when he does, he can choose the ones that will fit his work schedule best. For now, he's still working shifts at the potion shop in the village, but that may change with time.
"It's weird, right?"
Coco laughs. "How's this for weird? Unless they transferred in in the last few years, the students in your Alchemy classes were here when we were still enrolled in Hogwarts."
Now Fritz laughs. "Okay, that is weird. I wonder if I'll remember any of them. Will they remember me?"
"You were a prefect, so the Ravenclaws might."
Fritz shakes his head wistfully and repeats, "This is weird."
(Bowen) Shook-Up
Author: Nathaniel Ross
Date: 10-13-15 15:10
The familiar environment of the Great Hall, the cheerful conversations and the delicious food were helping Bowen to distract himself. During the train ride he kept thinking about yesterday's events because Alice had brought up the subject about the attack to the Ministry of Magic. She seemed a little bit obsessed with it, trying to gather all the information she could about what exactly happened. Bowen knew her intentions were good: Alice was just as concerned as most of them, afraid that if there was another attack it would hurt the people she loved.
Bowen remembered how he had been invited for dinner the night before, to celebrate Nate's promotion. He loved to hang out at the Rosses home, and as a Muggleborn, watching the domestic life of witches and wizards was a lot of fun. He noticed something was off when he crossed the street and saw there was barely any light inside the house. Nevertheless he had knocked the door, and a witch he did know opened it. She seemed confused to see Bowen and he had noticed she was holding her wand, even if they were at a Muggle street. Timothy Gabble, Nathaniel's best friend, which Bowen already knew from another occasion at the Rosses' home, came to the door as well, and he said to the woman:
"It's all right, mom. He's Rosie's godson. Come on in, Bowen."
He entered the house and they moved into the living room. Someone was speaking on the radio and Bowen caught the words Ministry of Magic and Death Eaters coming from it. Mrs. Gabble put the volume down and she told Bowen to sit. There was no one else in the living room, but Bowen noticed the ashes near the fireplace and some footprints at the carpet.
"Where's everyone?" he asked, seating on the armchair that belonged to Mr. Ross. "Has the dinner been cancelled?"
"Yes," Mrs. Gabble said. "This morning there has been an attack at the Ministry of Magic. An unknown number of Death Eaters invaded the place and started killing and destroying everything they could."
Bowen was a bit confused:
"The Death Eaters? You mean that dangerous gang?" Pelinore had once told him about them, but Bowen remembered that at the time he had not given the topic much importance. As a Muggleborn he was not very into the matters of the wizarding world.
Tim nodded and then Mrs. Gabble explained that Nate had been able to escape but not his father. Archibald had been killed by one of the Death Eaters. She told Bowen that Rosie was upstairs sleeping, after Mrs. Gabble had given her a sleeping potion. She had a nervous breakdown when her son had appeared in the fireplace covered with ashes in the middle of the morning, after seeing his father dying. Nathaniel had been taken to St. Mungo's, because he was showing some trouble breathing due to the amount of ashes he had inhaled. Jenny went with him. Bowen concluded the footprints on the carpet belonged to Nathaniel as he looked down and tried to assimilate all the information Mrs. Gabble had given him.
Bo didn't really know what to say and the first words that came out of his mouth was how he was going to King's Cross tomorrow. Mrs. Ross would always take him there and he couldn't ask his parents to take him. They had work tomorrow and there would be no way they would drive all the way from Yorkshire to London. Bowen could go by train on his own to London, but he doubted he would arrive in time to catch the Hogwarts Express. He felt stupid for saying those things, but Mrs. Gabble and Tim didn't seem to mind at all his reaction.
Tim offered to take Bowen to the Platform 9 and ¾ the next day, right before going to work. Mrs. Gabble also offered to cook him a meal but Bowen refused, not wanting to give the witch such trouble. He went back home, pretty shook up with what happened that morning, while he had been outside riding his bicycle with Daisy, without a care in the world.
Now at the Great Hall he wondered when he would have news of his godmother and Nate, and how he would not be able to attend Archibald's funeral because he would be at Hogwarts.
"I can't believe you have picked Arithmancy & Divination," Pelinore said next to Bowen, calling him back to reality. "That's such a girly class."
"Hey!" Alice protested. She had chosen Arithmancy & Divination as her elective as well. "Take that back."
"Sorry," Pelinore said. "Anyway you're going to help me with Muggle Studies aren't you, Bo?"
"He promised he would help me first," Alice said, sticking her tongue to Pelinore.
The two of them got engaged in a friendly fight, and while they were at it Bowen turned himself to Mulberry Jones and asked her which electives she picked.
Well-Behaved Daughters
Author: Karma Davyd
Date: 10-13-15 19:53
I'd promised the girls that they could attend the Start of Term feast, so long as they were on their best behavior - and they were shining examples of well behaved children.
Each girl had picked an outfit to wear - Jui going with her most recent sari sent to her from my mother in Mumbai. KJ, had gone with a skirt and a t-shirt bearing the Gryffindor colors as the house colors were her current favorite two (though her favorite color(s) changed almost on a daily basis). Two-year old Nuri, was dressed in her current favorite ruffled dress that boasted the colors of the rainbow and had a white fluffy cloud on the front.
I was dressed in my robes, but beneath I'd chosen a simple pair of boot-cut jeans and a cashmere sweater and my favorite pair of boots.
Each girl had been allowed to pick and choose what they'd wished from the offerings, delighted to find many items that were suitable to our particular dietary restrictions. The trio was anxiously awaiting the pudding course, eager to no doubt see if they could gain permission to overdose on sweets.
"Mummy, can we try one of everything? Please?" KJ asked, attempting to look as cute as possible in hopes that I would relent my one dessert limit for each of them.
With a chuckle I shook my head, "Absolutely not. You will have one dessert, and no more. I do not need the three of you hyped on sugar when you've got to get ready for bed when we get home. You and Jui have school in the morning, and I've got my first classes of the term."
A very Dexter-like pout crossed the features of my middle daughter when she realized that she wasn't going to get her way and had thought better of misbehaving.
"Okay fine."
I'd not yet spoken to the girls about what had happened yesterday at the Ministry - beyond the fact that something bad had happened at the Ministry of Magic, and no one that was hurt was anyone we knew. How do you explain to an eight and six year old what Death Eaters are and they have no issue with hurting people to get what they want?
Nuri, did not make it to the pudding course, before she was curled in my lap, head on my chest sound asleep. I smoothed a hand over her head, her skin darker thanks to her Indian heritage, but her hair color was lighter as a homage to Dexter's heritage.
After Jui and KJ had their dessert, and a house elf was nice enough to send me home with a small fairy cake for Nuri I opted to bid my colleagues a good night and gathered my daughters to head home.
I hoped it would be easy to get the eldest two into bed, which would allow me to perhaps listen to the WWN for a little bit with a glass of wine before ultimately calling it a night myself.
(Blair) Proud Gryffindor
Author: Susan Fricks
Date: 10-14-15 14:27
Blair couldn't control her excitement and like almost all the first years she still conserved the same energy she did in the morning, when she boarded the Hogwarts Express. When the Sorting Hat had placed her in Gryffindor, there was a small moment of disappointment because she realized she wouldn't be seated next to her cousins, Susan and Andrina. But those feelings vanished just as they appeared, and she happily marched to the Gryffindor table and joined a girl named Georgiana Elliot. More first years had occupied the table (but not Maud, who had been sorted into Ravenclaw) and after the speech made by Headmistress McGonagall, who someone whispered was a Gryffindor herself, food appeared out of nowhere.
Blair already knew the name of some of her new housemates by the time the main courses had been replaced for dozens of different desserts. She had bounded right away with Georgiana who was the complete opposite of her with her golden curls, while Blair had straight brown hair. They had studied all the teachers at the High Table and tried to guess who taught what, and commented on the way they looked. A first year named Hercules Sims had joined the game, and for their dismay he gave them all the answers, because his older brother, who was a prefect, had already informed him on the matter. Blair had heard about some of the teachers from Susan but her knowledge wasn't enough to beat Hercules.
She noticed that what was on the plate of one of the other boys, Oliver Towneley, looked delicious and she decided to try out whatever he was eating.
"Where will we sleep?" Georgiana asked. "Do you think we have to share a room with people from the other houses?"
"I don't think so. My cousin Susan mentioned something about dormitories for each house."
"This will be first time I'll have to share a bedroom with someone," Georgiana confessed.
"Me too," Blair said. "I have a room of my own back home. I think it will be fun…Unless you or the other girls snore."
"I don't snore!" Georgiana assured Blair.
They finished their meal, still wondering where they were going to sleep. Someone suggested there would be bunker beds, while another mentioned that girls and boys would share a dormitory. Once again, Hercules provided them with the needed information saying boys and girls had different sleeping allocations. This time Blair was happy he had intervened: the idea of sharing a bedroom with boys was not to her liking, and she was already getting a bit paranoid wondering how she would get some privacy.
As she put her fork down, she took a look to the Ravenclaw table. Both Maud and Susan were looking at her and seemed concerned because she had been separated from them. But Blair waved at them with a wide smile. So far she was enjoying the Gryffindor experience and she was actually proud to be part of such house. She couldn't wait until she was able to write home and tell her parents, her grandparents and brother all about it.
(Titus) A Quiet Meal
Author: Tiberius Nott
Date: 10-14-15 15:23
Titus hadn't said a word so far. Some might think he had been affected by what happened yesterday at the Ministry of Magic, and maybe had lost someone he cared about, and so he was too sad or disturbed to speak. But truth to be told, Titus didn't care about what happened at the Ministry of Magic, and he wasn't concerned at all that the Death Eaters were out there, planning only Merlin knew what. In fact, he was a bit disappointed that Judith Foxcastle had not been at the Ministry yesterday. She should have been there and with luck she would be dead by now.
He took another bite of his apple pie, thinking about how that awful witch had ruined his summer. Titus had been able to deal with the institution she had sent him, the discipline and mandatory chores he had to do, as well as the lack of freedom. But he did not like her visits once a week, and how she would sit with him by the refectory and have a private talk with Titus, that she liked to call a 'therapy session'. Judith wanted to know all about about him, especially his feelings towards everything. At first he had fallen in the mistake of answering to her questions. Did he have friends at school? What did he do in his free time? What was the reason for his reluctance towards school work?
Titus had told her he did not have close friends. He opened up and confessed he was jealous of the type of friendship some of his housemates had. Like Malden and Asher, almost inseparable, or Lilith and her big group of friends from different houses, that were like a family, always supporting each other. Judith then wanted to analyze why he did not have close friends and she had reached to the conclusion that Titus should try be more humble and friendly around other people.
Everything he told Judith she would always find a way for him to become the source of the problem. It was all about his wrong behavior, and she wanted him to change that, she wanted to turn him into someone else. Titus had the feeling she was trying to mold him, turn him into those well behaved children who did not question anything or anyone. Once he realized this he stopped answering Judith's questions and remained in silence while she talked, with his arms crossed. He would cross the days on the calendar he had by his bedside table, counting the days until he would go back Hogwarts. However his enthusiasm ended when he learned he would still see Judith often: she had received permission from the school to visit Titus twice a month, during weekends to continue their little sessions.
The only good thing about his summer had been the letters from Tiberius and a postcard from Susan Fricks. He knew his brother's letters were vague because they were probably read by Judith, but it was still good to hear from Tiberius and know he had not forgotten him. Susan had sent him a postcard with a seaside landscape that Titus put on the wall over his bed and he would look at it once in a while. He took ii with him to Hogwarts. Unlike Tiberius, the Hobdays had permission to visit him once, and although Titus still had some hard feelings towards the way they tried to educate him while he was under their guard, it had been good to see their familiar faces.
He finished his pie and was contemplating the possibility of eating something else, when for the first time during the entire meal someone draw their attention to his person. It was Bruno Tate, who asked him if he was considering to try out for the Slytherin Quidditch team, this year.
"I don't think so," Titus revealed. The fact that Judith suggested he should try out for the team, that if he made it, then it would be a great thing for Titus, because he would bound with other people and make new friends made him drop the idea right away.
The answer pleased Bruno: he was thinking about trying out himself, and without Titus in the picture he would have more chances to get a position. Once he got the answer he wanted, Bruno turned away, and asked the same question to Mary MacKenny.
Titus was once again on his own. He opted to serve himself with another piece of pie, but this time a blackberry one, and he entertained himself imagining Bruno falling from his broom during the Quidditch trials and making a fool of himself.
Numb
Author: Marzipan
Date: 10-14-15 18:28
Marzi sat at the High Table and picked at her slice of crumb cake. Attending the Start of Term Feast had been a last minute decision and one she had regretted off and on throughout the evening. She thought it might serve as a distraction, and while it did at times, it wasn't enough. Thoughts of Weston were always there and threatened to bring tears to her eyes.
She shouldn't have come tonight, and many of her coworkers questioned why she had. Professor McGonagall had even offered to get Professor Grubbly-Plank to cover as many classes as she needed, but Marzi wrongly believed she could get through the week. If she stayed at home or with her various family members, she would only feel even more depressed than if she threw herself into her work as if nothing were wrong. She also didn't want the first years to start off the school year with a substitute teacher.
Doing something normal was what prompted her to attend the Start of Term Feast instead of wallow in her grief. The boys, who did not yet know that their father was never coming home, were with Georgia in South Kensington. Marzi had no idea how to tell them that Weston was dead. She didn't think they would fully understand, but she knew that they would notice his absence the longer it stretched. They were young and resilient, but she didn't feel like any of those things. How could she go on without him?
She barely managed to make the funeral arrangements for him. It had been his own grieving mother who'd made all the final decisions, settling on this Saturday for the day of the service and burial. Weston had been everything to Kitty, and now he was gone, and yet she seemed more capable of functioning decisively than the wife he'd only had for six years.
Marzi felt a hand fall gently onto her own and looked next to her at Illyria. She used her free hand to backhand a tear sliding down her cheek and murmured, "I think I should go."
Illyria nodded. "Go. Get some rest."
Marzi managed a ragged, "Good night," and excused herself from some of her other colleagues, including Minerva. Before departing the Great Hall fully, she glanced over at Illyria and Nathan. She was happy they had finally worked things out, but she would never, ever forget how on the same day one marriage began, another unexpectedly ended.