An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Christmas Day had a quietness to it, as breakfast began earlier than usual in anticipation of many early-rising children excited about the festivities. The Great Hall was occupied by staff, though barely any students yet as everyone were either still sleeping or were bundled warmly in the common room to open gifts found under the tree (delivered in the night by owls or house elves) and socialise. Slytherin's house table was sparse as ever, especially in comparison to the other tables.
School uniforms were allowed for those who preferred it, but many chose to go with the holiday freedom of uniforms being optional. There were festive sweaters and hats as well, though not everyone celebrated Christmas or were in the mood to partake.
There were various decorations throughout the main areas of the castle, including the seven huge Christmas trees decorated by Professor River -- three on either side of the hall, then a gigantic one behind the staff table.
This year continued its addition of bowls containing star-shaped pasties. Each had one of five random fillings: butterscotch, pumpkin, chocolate brownie, peppermint, or custard. Anyone with family who worked at the Ministry may recognise or have heard of them.
It was a relaxing morning, despite the cold, as everyone could enjoy their breakfast without worry or rush, looked forward to a free day ahead of them. Most were content to open gifts then hurry to breakfast, while others planned snowball fights on the grounds later.
If your character's home for the holidays, they must be listed as such in the Bulletin Board -- having an active RP buddy to interact with during the holidays is mandatory as you cannot return to school until the train does.
Otherwise, this entire RPG day is free time -- have fun! If doing quests, these holidays at Hogwarts are the perfect opportunity to make a lot of progress. We strongly encourage everyone to make the most of the free time. Classes resume on #16.
Post by Lucas Mardling on Mar 3, 2022 23:29:22 GMT 10
Lucas arrived at the Great Hall, wrapped warmly as possible while sluggishly making his way to breakfast. Slytherin table was spookily empty, but it gave him free choice of seat -- in which he picked somewhere around the middle without much care.
He yawned widely as he sat down, having woken ridiculously early out of habit more than anything. At what age does one grow out of waking this early for Christmas? At least there was food to pass the time. Lucas didn't bother glancing around for familiar faces, knowing most were likely holed up in their common room still. He didn't bother doing the same, in no mood to sit around watching people unwrap presents all while knowing none would be for him.
Christmas was a pensive time of year for him, though he'd gotten better at accepting it was mostly meaningless. He never went home, not that he was welcome anyway, and no one got him presents or invited him to share in their festivity plans beyond needing something from him. Lucas got a present for Amara, of course, since that was what was expected of him, as her boyfriend, even if it was still so new.
Sighing, he ate star-shaped pastries. Pumpkin was good, but so were the custard ones -- if only he could tell them all apart. Lucas leaned his cheek on his palm, after adjusting his layered scarf, and wondered how he was going to spend the day. Hogsmeade wasn't an option. His deals were out too, since everyone was typically too busy with enjoying Christmas. He wasn't about to trek outside in the bloody freezing snow either...
Last Edit: Mar 4, 2022 17:14:51 GMT 10 by Lucas Mardling
With some mini hops, Alice entered the sparse great hall. Usually, the great hall remains filled with laughter and hooting but not today. Today, there were very few students concentrated on their plates. On her way here also, she didn't find much students probability everybody is considering today as the sleeping day.
When she got up today in the morning, almost everyone around her was asleep, and the awake ones were too lazy to get out of the warm bed. The only thing which could motivate people to get up were gifts. She had received a big box of her favorite sweets as a gift and an apology letter from her father for not taking her home for Christmas because he was out of the city for work.
She went towards Gryffindor's table, looking around for some familiar faces but didn't find any, neither on her table nor on other houses' side. She took a comfortable seat, picked a star-shaped pasty for the table, and put it in her mouth, wondering when other students would join her. Pumpkin - That's not the flavor that she wanted to have, but It gave her a great excuse to pick up another pasty.
Last Edit: Mar 4, 2022 1:00:45 GMT 10 by Alice Jane
Post by Lindsey Bryce on Mar 4, 2022 9:58:22 GMT 10
Lindsey had pulled herself from bed in a flurry of blankets and was excited to get down to the Great Hall. Others from the other houses had agreed to sit together at some point today and that was something that made her very happy. She got tired of always sitting in the same place with the same people, it was nice to be able to be with others. She had been excited to see two gifts for her when she woke, one being from her mother and the other from her father.
Her mother had sent her a beautiful necklace with a silver quill charm. Her father had sent her something a little more muggle, which was a good one the local Scottish Culture of North America and how it had shaped it into the country it was today. That caught her attention for a few moment before her stomach growled in protest of being denied food. After leaving a few treats for Mungo on her bedside table, she threw on some clothes and headed down.
She had picked a basic pair of jeans and long sleeve shirt to spend her day in today. She wore a thick jacket to prevent her from getting too cold if she went outside and had her hair running wild today. She had chosen not to braid it today and it was frizzy. Once she had come into the great hall, she smiled at the beautiful room before she looked around. She didn't see many people yet, but she chose to sit at the end of the Slytherin Table, so she could wave down any friends. Maybe Rylan?
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Mar 4, 2022 22:34:01 GMT 10
After he opened his presents Oscar had been very tempted to simply pull a jumper over his pyjamas and head to breakfast in his slippers. That was how Christmas mornings worked at home after all, but the thought of the cold castle had made him pause. He'd reluctantly got dressed in jeans and last years (slightly better fit) jumper before he made his way to the hall.
It meant that at least he could start his day straight away after breakfast without having to head back to the common room and the temptation of climbing back into bed until dinner.
Oscar may have started the holidays with a sadness about not getting to spend it with his family, but after making plans the day before he found himself quite excited for dinner that night. He just had to make it through the day until then, and preferably not by sleeping from boredom. He could almost hear his mother's voice going on about making the most of his time.
He stretched a hand up to hide a yawn as he entered the hall before his attention zeroed in on the pasties. He plonked himself down at his usual table on auto pilot, already reaching for one of the little treats.
Rylan couldn't help but feel a little sad as he made his way to the Great Hall, seeing as this would be his first Christmas without his parents.That didn't mean e wasn't excited about what the day could bring here at Hogwarts though, and he admitted that he had been curious about the castle's version of the holidays!
Choosing to forgo uniform, he nevertheless stopped himself from making his way down in his pajamas. Mayeb it was a little cold for that, so instead he pulled on some jeans and a christmas jumper (red, of course) depicting a rather jolly looking snowman! Yes, he was going to make the most of today, a day that had already gotten off to a pretty good start with presents from home.
He still could hardly believe that he had been gifted his very own broom! He would need to practise before trying out for the team (tryouts which could be a long way off yet), but just as importantly, Bella had been sent some nice treats too.
Waving to a few people he recognised (including Lindsey), he then sat himself down at the Gryffindor table and grinned broadly at a nearby first year (Alice, wasn't it?)
"Merry Christmas", he cheerfully wished her as he too grabbed one of the star shaped treats. He gagged a little as he realised he had taken a huge bite of peppermint flavour, not because he disliked it, but because it was called peppermint for a reason.
Owls flew into the Great Hall, their numbers small as most deliveries were made to the common room Christmas trees hours earlier. And with only a few students present per house table, the deliveries were primarily focused on subscriptions to the Daily Prophet.
Barely any staff remained in the Great Hall, though those that did were laughing about something Professor Fairburn animatedly told them. Various older students finally milled into the hall, looking tired but in good spirits. Chatter spread fast, particularly among those with Muggle relatives, as they saw this morning's Daily Prophet. Some hurried from the hall to write home.
No additional letters were delivered, as none were sent that required answering.
Christmas Day
As today is Christmas, below are a list of gifts found under the tree in your house common room (if a unity sleepover occurred, it'd be found under the tree of whichever house they woke up in. These are not their only gifts, as you're welcome to mention etc more, just ones that are specified. You can mention having already opened them in your house common room, or you can have them bring it to breakfast and open here. Totally up to you.
Elizabeth Doren -- as the only Bloodlines actively present at Hogwarts during Christmas, please note that while most years the Doren kids may get something small from home staff or handmade cards from each other, this year there is nothing at all from home. Not from their parents nor estate staff.
Post by Lindsey Bryce on Mar 20, 2022 21:26:21 GMT 10
Lindsey ate quietly and then smiled as the owls came with the Daily Prophet. As she unrolled, her eyes grew wide at the information. Her parents were in America for the holidays, but she still had her muggle grandparents on her father side and much of his family was muggle. She swallowed and searched for any mention of Highfield, but it was coming up empty. She finished off her food, stood up and grabbed her things, not even grabbing something extra for herself to munch on and hurried out the great hall.
Post by Alice Jane on Mar 20, 2022 22:35:43 GMT 10
In her first attempt, she didn't get the perfect pastry flavor. So, she had the perfect excuse to pick up another one. Even the second time, luck was not with her. She got custard. Her father had always forced her to eat more dairy products, but now at least in school, she will not eat this.
"Merry Christmas", She heard a cheerful voice from sideward. She turned her face around to find an older Gryffindor, Rylan.
"Merry Christmas", she replied with a smile, picking up another pastry. The third time's the charm. She finally got what she wanted; Chocolate. She gazed towards Rylan, whose expressions stated he didn't get a good flavor. "What did you get?", She asked in a teasing voice.
Soon, Owls filled the ceiling(or sky). Letters and Daily prophet fall on every corner of the hall. When one of them fell near her, she picked it up to open the front page. She was shocked to see about dangerous Christmas gifts. She started to carefully scan about the areas, any specific names, or anything of the sort.
Post by Arthur Hocking on Mar 20, 2022 23:47:12 GMT 10
Arthur had enjoyed sleeping in, but breakfast wasn't something he typically wanted to miss, especially not on Christmas. He plopped himself down next to Oscar, smiling sleepily. "Check out what my uncles got me!"
He showed off an old fashioned watch, which thankfully worked even at Hogwarts. Arthur's digital one had decided that the magic around the school was something it didn't want to have to deal with. He was quite pleased with it, because even though his uncles weren't with him, he still had this to show how much they cared about him.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Mar 20, 2022 23:56:17 GMT 10
Elizabeth proceeded about her Christmas day as though it was any other day when she had no classes scheduled. Though she had been expecting some type of gift to be under the tree, even if it were the smallest thing like it had been in the past, there was nothing. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Had her parents forgotten, since they were on vacation? Or had the staff been too lazy or busy to send the gifts?
Regardless, on ordinary days when she didn't receive gifts, she didn't fuss. So she didn't fuss today, either, just sat down to eat a well-balanced breakfast while she thought about why her parents or the estate staff hadn't sent anything. Perhaps the staff were with Elizabeth's parents on vacation. That might make sense.
She didn't look at anyone else at the Slytherin table, but she did look at the staff table and wonder if she had time to deal with Peeves today.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Mar 21, 2022 1:01:19 GMT 10
Oscar had been distracted from his breakfast pasty by the owl post, and so it was his staring at the front page with furrowed brows that was disturbed by Arthur.
His first feeling after reading the front page had been relief - his non-magic grandparents were out of the country thanks to his parents, so they had to be okay! Quickly following his thanks for that holiday, there was the guilt. His grandparents may be alright, but that meant that someone elsewhere wasn't.
The paper had reported deaths. That was bad. Very, very bad. ...Did it make him a bad person that he hoped that no one that he knew was involved?
What about his cousins on the Tinkle-side? Or old Pat, Gramps' oldest friend who may as well be family too? Or even the postie that had delivered the muggle post back home with a smile for as long as Oscar could remember. None of them knew about magic! It could be any of them or the many others who lived throughout the country without knowledge of the world hidden alongside theirs.
How cruel was it to take what was supposed to be a happy time of year, a celebration, and make it attack them when they did not even know that was possible?
Oscar was jolted from his spiralling thoughts by Arthur and it took him a moment to drag his thoughts back enough to realise what he had said.
Right. Christmas.
There was nothing that he could do at the moment for the victims of the attack - he would write a letter when his family was due back from their holiday to ask if things were okay in the village. But other than that it was okay to focus on things in the castle, right?
He dragged a smile up from somewhere as he looked at the others present.
"That's cool!" he nodded, glad that someone had not had their Christmas cheer ruined yet. "Happy Christmas, Arthur."
"Peppermint", he answered the first year girl, taking a gulp of water right after answering her. "I actually don't mind it, but not a huge mouthful like that. That'll teach me!", he added with a grin. Actually, he wasn't the fastest at learning these kinds of lessons, but it at least seemed as though Alice had found what she was looking for.
It was then that the Daily Prophet was delivered, and he grabbed another pasty as he skimmed the days headlines. He frowned deeply as he took it in, realising that his family could be in danger (or might have already been). Should he write home? His parents weren't actually at home, in fact they were staying with muggle relatives. Should he risk writing anyway? He couldn't help but be concerned for their welfare, but maybe sending an owl to a muggle address would cause a scene. The whole reason he was staying here this time was so that he didn't
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Mar 24, 2022 0:21:08 GMT 10
Oscar looked around the hall as breakfast seemed to reach its end, trying to decide if he wanted to get up and face going outside yet. Sure, he had things that he wanted to do.. but the cold!
Eventually he managed to tell himself that the cold would probably be worth it and to just get a move on before the day passed him by.
"See you later," he said as he stood from the Hufflepuff table, pulling his gloves from his back pocket as he did. He had a man to go see about a dog.
[Exit]
Last Edit: Mar 24, 2022 0:22:23 GMT 10 by Oscar Tinkle
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