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.
Post by Reena Ashworth on May 25, 2022 0:22:54 GMT 10
For once in what seemed like forever Reena had actually had a good night’s sleep. Being sore from dueling and catching up with her roommates had actually taken her mind off of things for once.
Despite still being sore, especially in her shoulder, she felt well rested and was eager to stat the day, glad to be back at school.
When she entered the Great Hall however a pair of younger Hufflepuffs tripped before her feet and they scrambled off quickly, muttering between them how she was going to curse them.
Reena’s shoulders sagged slightly and the spring that she had had in her step, expecting a good day, disappeared. It had felt right to use curses in the moment and she was certain she would do it again but she hadn’t quite expected to induce fear in spectators that would transmit into life outside of duels.
She briefly considered sitting with Lindsey but the way the two Hufflepuffs still stared at her from where they had hidden within sixth years made her walk past her friend.
No need to get her associated. Besides, Amara had invited her to sit with them this morning, likely for this very reason, and Reena really wanted to take her up on that.
Trying to ignore the puffs, Reena approached Amara and after giving a e quizzical look, asking for confirmation that the invite still stood, sat down opposite her. She put her bag underneath her seat and poured herself some peppermint tea, as if it was the most mundane thing in the world to eat with Amara Seabrook of all people.
“Good morning,“ she said, unsure what to actually talk about or whether Amara was one for chit-chat.
“With all these people stopping by to congratulate Langford his ego will be visible from mars,“ she stated dryly before reaching for some toast and butter.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on May 25, 2022 0:35:32 GMT 10
A ferret!? MJ looked at her friend, worried, "Did the ferret look like Woozle? I hope he wasn't up to anything he shouldn't." If so, she'd need to check on her pet and make sure he was behaving himself.
"Hopefully learning a new spell." MJ said to Ezra, giving him a friendly smile. It was good to see him again.
"Did you watch any of the duels?" Shw asked the boys, "I overheard a Gryffindor saying somwthing about a Ravenclaw in the final and Hufflepuff are pretty rowdy this morning..." She observed, looking over her shoulder at the badgers. MJ was pleased for the boy everyone was patting, cheering or generally high-fiving.
As one of the Ravenclaw boys mentioned flying, MJ perked up, "Excited for our upcoming match?" This was mostly directed at Joe, since they were on the team together.
William was glad that the classes are going to be resumed soon, but he didn't have any morning lectures. It was a disappointment, but maybe he could continue his assignment from Professor Snape. He was also planning a trip to the greenhouse also. So, he was sure, he would be able to keep himself busy for those few hours.
William arrived at the great hall at the exact time as he does every day. After all, having a perfect schedule is the most important thing. He didn't care who else is sitting at the Slytherin table, he just took a comfortable seat, served himself, and start eating.
He could listen to people chatting around the great hall, even some near to him, but he didn't even try to notice who that was. He already had plans for today to concentrate on.
Alice got up late as she was doing during the holidays. But the holidays were over. So, she got ready very fast and ran to the great hall. At least she was able to spare enough time for breakfast.
The great hall was filled with chatter, contrasting as it used to be a few days before. She waved once towards her friends MJ, Misuk, and Ezra before going to her table and getting a seat. She wasn't sure if they had seen it or not, besides they were going to meet in the class soon.
Alice served on her plate, looking around. She couldn't find any of her Gryffindor classmates, but there were some faces familiar faces. Near the head of the table was sitting Anjay Xcalyn. The second familiar face was Amelia Twiggs. She remembered both of them from the tournament, but probably they hadn't noticed her.
She didn't have any conversations with them in the past, so she just silently kept eating her food.
"Nope," Misuk quickly soothed MJ's worries. "I do think Byeol and Woozle are more the ... ... laid back type. It was a change of pace to see her so worried," they added with a crooked grin - of course, the experience hadn't been pleasant, but they did manage to see that there were some things Byeol was willing to go beyond, and that was nice to know.
Misuk blinked a bit uncertainly at the mention of Toby - not exactly sure who this was, but probably the Gryffindor that they had seen around the two Ravenclaws ... probably? "Sounds pretty good!" they replied, then took another bite of their slice of bread while the conversation was going on.
They looked with a bit of horrified fascination as Jo..e? just ... ... they really weren't sure if scrambled eggs with jam was a cultural thing they missed out on, but ... well, they weren't one to judge. There was enough weird stuff in every cuisine. ... but also what the heck.
(They also filed away that the quiet one was Ryan.)
"A new spell would be nice," Misuk agreed with MJ, smiling at how excited Ezra was and definitely feeling it, too. "And Professor Rivera is very nice and smart, I think impressing her would be pretty cool," they replied to Jo...e. (It seemed like MJ knew him by name, so they had to confirm later.)
"That one's sure to be tough," Misuk commented regarding the match Ravenclaw versus Slytherin - they also thought about joining the Quidditch team, but their parents actually didn't want to buy a broom for them just yet. "Try to focus more on a few things," their parents wrote them, something they eventually accepted. And, puppy eyes via letters weren't effective, they had to realise as harsh reality.
They caught Alice waving at them from the distance, and waved back at them.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on May 25, 2022 1:37:28 GMT 10
Oscar entered the great hall with a yawn, scrubbing a hand over his face in an attempt to wake up more as he walked on automatic to the familiar Hufflepuff table. He was tired but he hoped that a nice breakfast would help him to wake up in time for class. He had a hard enough time in half his classes as it was, he didn't fancy his chances at paying attention when he was half asleep too.
He was not surprised that the Hufflepuff table was so noisy that morning, though he mainly ignored it as he claimed a seat, it just reminded him of the energy in the common room the night before. He may have missed the end of the duelling tournament but he had soon found out who had won when he returned to the common room and found the excited atmosphere of the basement.
Their house often seemed like an unfortunate afterthought so it was no surprise that people had been happy for a Hufflepuff to win something as big as the tournament. It was a new day though, so Oscar hoped that the excitement would die down soon. Good for Luckett and everything but it got a bit much after a while.
He scanned his class schedule as he put his breakfast together - toast, yogurt and various fruit, since his Mamma had brainwashed him young to eat healthy before a day full of learning. He may have enjoyed scrambled eggs, pastries, and the like over the holiday but it was back to school and that meant he was back to the automatic grabbing of fruit.
When he saw that he had no class that morning, he briefly regretted not staying in bed for longer since he had not had the best nights sleep. Oh well, it was too late for that since he was already eating his breakfast. He would just have to make the most of the morning to make it worth being up.
At least he had a class that he very much enjoyed in the afternoon, so however he spent the morning he would have something to look forward to.
Post by Victoria Vargas on May 25, 2022 3:03:36 GMT 10
With a huff, Victoria walked into the hall and toward her usual seat, turning to glare at the annoyingly loud Hufflepuff table, then searching for and finding Amara who was already seated. But she wasn't eating breakfast alone. She was with Reena Ashworth, the younger sibling of one of the tournament finalists and a fourth year. Ugh. Victoria had conveniently forgotten about the invite Amara extended, and now she was going to have to try and play nice with the girl.
Victoria had never been shy about voicing just how much she disliked fourth years. In fact, she was convinced they knew she would rather get slowly killed by a horde of Dementors than have to spend more than thirty minutes with them — not that she would ever do so intentionally. This time, however, she had to admit she respected the discipline Reena showed in her duels, seeing how she defeated the Xclayn heir apparent and held her own against the tournament's winner.
'If I have to listen to them screech and squeal over Langford's win all morning, I'm going to lose my appetite.' Vicky casually slid into a seat close to Amara, then reached for a goblet of juice. 'Whatever though. I guess they better celebrate all they can, because when Quidditch resumes they won't be doing much of that, will they?' She smirked.
She took a sip of her drink, then buttered a piece of toast and smeared some strawberry jam on it. After swallowing a bite, she glanced up at Reena as if pretending to finally notice her.
'Reena, right?' After taking a deep breath, she tried her best to smile. 'Brilliant performance in the tournament. You did a real incredible job holding your own against Xcalyn. I haven't seen a fourth year with that much dueling talent since, well, Amara last year.' She forced a small laugh and politely covered her mouth, exchanging a glance with Amara.
Post by Ezra Ashworth on May 25, 2022 3:06:44 GMT 10
Ezra looked up at the staff table as Misuk mentioned Professor Rivera not being there. He looked from one side of the table to the other just to be sure. There was Hagrid and McGonagall.. Oh and there was Snape! But no Rivera.
Huh, they were right! He wondered where she was. Maybe she was setting up a fun game to help them learn a new spell? That would be such a cool lesson and such an exciting way to learn!
He was distracted from his thoughts about what the professor might have planned by Joe's confusing question. What did he mean, why wouldn't they want to impress the professor? Did.. did Joe not realise how cool a professor they had as their head of house? How? What had he been doing all year if not getting starry eyed about how awesome and knowledgeable their professors were?
Okay, he agreed that flying was pretty cool, it was like climbing but without.. well, the climbing. So maybe he could be slightly excused for having other interests but still... Who wouldn't want to make their professors proud?
"Because she's awesome?" he answered, his head tilted in question on how that was not enough. He looked between the other three first years, they all recognised Rivera as the superior being she was right? At least Misuk seemed to.
Seeing Joe with his eggs reminded Ezra that he should probably fill his own rumbling stomach, so he went about doing that. He filled a bowl with cereal and milk, and, since there was no one to tell him not to, once again completely covered it in sugar.
"Mmm, hope so!" Ezra agreed with MJ. He was always eager to learn a new spell. Maybe one day he could learn enough to be as impressive as his siblings. Sure, some parts of the duelling tournament yesterday had scared him slightly and he had been a ball of worry about his oldest siblings getting hurt in front of him, but there was no denying how well they had done. He had the best siblings ever.
Oh! Speaking of the tournament...
"Uh huh!" he nodded excitedly to MJ's question, swallowing a mouthful of cereal as fast as he could to reply, eager to tell his friends about just how amazing his siblings were. Sure, they had not won but that didn't change Ezra's opinion about them. "That was Jax! He did so good! He came second!"
"There were a lot of exciting spells used, you should have seen it!" He was not going to tell his friends that some of those spells had scared him. If it had been anyone other than Reena who had thrown them around he would have been a lot more scared, but it hadn't and he knew that he was safe with her.
Post by Luckett Langford on May 25, 2022 4:49:31 GMT 10
People were not usually this happy to see him, not to this level of adoration. He felt like a celebrity amidst his peers this morning. Yes, yes, it was exactly the attention he'd been dying for, but that didn't make getting it any less strange. He was used to the high-fives and fist bumps from some of his better friends, but the finger guns and celebratory cheers this morning from strangers were especially new when he strolled into the dining hall for his breakfast.
Not everyone looked as happy as others though. Everyone at the Slytherin table looked like someone poisoned their oats, and he caught a few Ravenclaw students turning up their nose in his direction. But he didn't care about any of the haters. Sore losers. Lucky felt like a million galleons, and he kept that energy as he sat down at the Hufflepuff table. He was vibrating excitement. He had his table by the tail and a smile for anybody that paid him attention.
The only thing that would've made it better was if Amelia had been there to savor the warmth of his celebration, but she wasn't. And even if she was, what would that involve? It's not like they could be together in the way he wanted them to be. Even then, he tried to discreetly look for her when he entered the hall, yet couldn't locate her. Granted, he was bombarded with praise and that made his quick search almost impossible. Maybe he'd catch her later?
He'd be busy until then anyway. He had compliments to enjoy. Hell, if Lucky had been a golden retriever, his tail would have wagged itself off from all the loud praise he got from his house. He beamed at everyone that offered their congratulations, thanking them between bites of buttered biscuits and sausage. His cheeks were rosy red, like poppies, and strongly colored from all the love. But someone's love was glaringly missing. Where was his bestest gal pal, Sophia?
Post by Grace Babineaux on May 25, 2022 6:34:12 GMT 10
Grace skipped downstairs. While she'd ended up losing during the dueling tournament and she was still a little sad about that, it cheered her up to know that she wasn't the only one. And besides, Lucky had beaten her at dueling a while ago, and he'd gone on to win! Grace had thought that was pretty cool.
She was extra excited for the flying class for today. She wanted to be the best Chaser she could, and having the basics down was probably helpful if she wanted to do that. Maybe she wouldn't go into it professionally--she did still have ideas about being the Minister of Magic--but she liked playing the game at school.
"Hi, Alice!" she greeted her fellow Gryffindor first year when she noticed Alice sitting by herself. "Are you excited for Charms class?" As Grace asked the question, she was filling her plate with toast and apple slices, a perfectly delicious breakfast in Grace's opinion.
Post by Arthur Hocking on May 25, 2022 6:45:39 GMT 10
Arthur had been thrilled to hear that Lucky had won, since he'd represented Hufflepuff. At the same time, Arthur also had little doubt that if he were in the same situation, he wouldn't have done nearly as well, so he could hardly claim it as a victory except to nod his head and act proud whenever someone brought it up.
He scanned the Great Hall for Oscar, and when he spotted him, he was happy to plop himself down. "Hey, Oscar." Arthur prepared himself some fruit salad, navigating to give himself a little bit more banana than perhaps was intended by the makers of the salad. Arthur didn't care, maybe someone else preferred eating just the strawberries and hated bananas.
"It's nice to have the morning off." Arthur said. He couldn't imagine having a Defense Against the Dark Arts class this early in the morning the day that the holiday was over. Care of Magical Creatures sounded more fun, though, and he was more than happy that they'd have a Herbology class today.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on May 25, 2022 6:59:45 GMT 10
Elizabeth would usually be happy to be back to classes. Unfortunately, Care of Magical Creatures had never been her favorite class, and she was picturing Professor Fairburn torturing them by making them pick up the excrement of some beast that only appeared during the winter. She wished that she'd never signed up for it, the one class that she could usually find no redeeming qualities in.
While ordinarily she might choose to sit somewhere near her fellow Slytherin fifth years, if only to ignore the younger years jabbering on about something that was completely dull, she saw that they were talking with someone else. Elizabeth felt no jealousy. She wasn't all that close with the other girls, after all. Still, she refrained from sitting with them. The feeling of interrupting, one that was nothing new to Elizabeth, would've been too strong.
She also saw that her brother was there, but was uncertain if it was acceptable to sit with him, too. Wasn't it childish to rely on family for these sorts of things? Elizabeth thought herself very grown up, and as such, was perfectly capable of eating on her own, something she did. Her plate resembled what it did at home, as she was still a bit nervous of trying something new.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on May 25, 2022 7:58:42 GMT 10
Oscar looked up from his bowl when someone sat down next time him, only relaxing when he saw that it was someone he knew. He had briefly been worried about being expected to figure out how to talk to someone that he barely knew when he was not yet fully awake. That would suck. Luckily it was Arthur and after four years of sharing a dorm, you would hope that he knew how to interact with him.
"Morning," he greeted with a small smile before going back to his breakfast. He glanced over at the other boy as he picked his own breakfast, shaking his head with a silent laugh when he noticed Arthur hogging the banana slices.
Oscar reached over to the platter to stab a slice of strawberry for himself. He was more than willing to eat the poor abandoned slices if Arthur was going to leave them behind.
"Right?" he said in agreement once he had finished his strawberry. "Wish I'd slept in longer though," he admitted. Slept in longer and not had to panic over where his school jumper was, that would have been nice. Oh to dream.. Oh well, he would just have to learn to plan better one day. "You looking forward to class later?"
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on May 25, 2022 9:14:07 GMT 10
MJ spotted Alice coming into the Great Hall and waved excitedly, eating her toast. She wanted to talk to her friend after breakfast and hoped she would be able to catch her before class.
Her attention went back to the Ravenclaws sat around their area of the table. MJ laughed at Misuk's words and nodded, "They really are. They're chill which is very nice and makes them a bit easier to care for, I suppose. Did Byeol get to keep her favourite little sock then?"
It would be a shame for the gimus to lose it after all.
"Jax?" MJ tried to spot the Ravenclaw down the table but realised she had no idea who to look for. She looked at Ezra instead, "Do you know him then?"
She was curious to know more.
"Yeah, it's going to be my first game as chaser for our team. i'm nervous but I'm confident with Jonathan's help, we'll do really well together." MJ gave Joe a smile, nodding to her teammate. Now, she felt the pressure to do well at flying class, to hopefully impress the other Ravenclaw.
And it would be nice to impress their captain and head of house too!
Amelia looked up at just the right time and saw the back of his head as he sat down at the table. She smiled and finished up her meal before she grabbed her things and headed over to sit at the Hufflepuff table. It was morning, she didn't mind socializing at the wrong table. People would live if she wanted to sit with the Hufflepuffs, right? She smiled at some of the younger students and found her way to sitting next to Luckett.
"Hi," she said with a smile as she grabbed an orange and began to pill it. "So, how does it feel to be the hero of Hufflepuff after winning that tournament?" She asked as she tossed a slice of orange in her mouth.
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February
