Hogwarts Start Of Term Feast - 2027

The start of term hadn't exactly gone to plan. The viaduct have been destroyed causing the Hogwarts Express to plummet into the dark depths of the Black Lake and James Blood's werewolf pack had, once again, invaded the grounds - on a full moon too. Many students had been injured, some had died from the crash and some had drowned in an attempt to reach the lake's surface for air. Witches and wizards from all over had come to the aid of Hogwarts during this catastrophe, their work was appreciated but everyone in the Great Hall held scars. Physical reminders and mental reminders. The start of Hogwarts, year 2027, would never be forgotten. Ever.

Some parents had arrived at the scene and taken their children home, disgusted at how the rouge band of werewolves had infiltrated the grounds. Others had remained and were sitting among the students for the duration of the feast - Professor Cooper could hardly deny them food and warmth after their remarkable efforts. House Elves, whom had been wandering around the Great Hall helping the heals heal minor injuries and carrying refreshments, had returned to the kitchens to continue the finishing touches of the feast. Somewhere in the distance the clock tower sounded, on the hour, for the second time that evening. The feast should have started two hours ago.

To the students it was clear who hadn't survived the ambush. Their friends, who'd been wrapped in black sheets, had been moved inside the castle and into a chamber off the entrance Hall for ministry officials to identify (thankfully as any members of staff would most likely find it too difficult). One thing that wasn't obvious was that some first years hadn't made it safely to the castle. They were yet to make friends, yet to find home at Hogwarts and the sorting ceremony was yet to start.

First years were lining along the teachers table, all facing a wooden stool where a battered old hat sat. As usual the rim of the hat opened, revealing a mouth, and after a minute of singing about the different houses the hat went on to inform the school of the dangers of the Blood Pack, the dangers of unrest brewing in the country and that the only way to get through would be to stand alongside each other, to forget the houses and maintain friendships with people from other common rooms. It didn't give a message often but there were times in history where the sorting hat felt it's duty for the safety of the school. Tonight was one of those nights.

The sound of the applause wasn't enthusiastic, in fact it was perhaps the quietest clapping Amelia Cooper had heard in her life. This was understandable owing to the events of the evening. People were grieving, injured, in shock, worried, scared, confused, hungry? Maybe not all were hungry, being attacked by werewolves and thrown into an icy lake sort of ruins your appetite.

Collecting the scroll of the names of the first years Amelia approached the sorting hat, lifting it from the school and called out the first name: 'Bartimus Arrowbeam.' Ten seconds passed and no Bartimus walked forward, the other first years looked between each other, a few shifting on the spot.

'Bartimus Arrowbeam?' Amelia called again, smiling hopefully to the faces of the first years - most of which looked away when they saw her face, some weren't even staring or paying any attention to her but looking down. It then became apparent to Amelia that Bartimus Arrowbeam wasn't going to be sorted into a house tonight, he perhaps hadn't even made it to the castle...

The Hall was silent. There was a slight draft that could be felt through the open doors of The Great Hall. The overhead candles were flickering down upon the gloomy faces of students. They too understood what the absence of Bartimus Arrowbeam mean't.

Giving a minutes thought Amelia felt her heart breaking further. She should have worked harder, she should have, have... she shouldn't have done anymore than what she did. The loss of the students couldn't have been helped. Every single staff member at Hogwarts, every student, every ministry official, every single person who'd arrived to help had done everything in their power to prevent the lives of students being taken. It just hadn't been enough. Amelia made a mental note to mention that in the speech after the sorting ceremony but another thought had crossed her mind: How many more first years would have their name read out and not be sorted into a house?

Abandoning the scroll Amelia moved to the edge of the line to a small girl, perhaps the smallest first year that there was and looked down, lowering her body slightly.

'What's your name dear?' Amelia asked Poppy Levski. The Professor wouldn't use the list instead she'd work her way along the line, asking students their name then having them walk to the stool and sitting beneath the sorting hat.

(OOC: Hey Khaat, feel free to GM Amelia placing the hat on Poppy's head etc. Also if any first years do want to be sorted send me a PM so I know to include you!)

Poppy was still scared. She didn't want to be here. The other students seemed to tower over her. She was covered in bruises and scratches, but she had come out light--out of the train accident, anyway.

But when she had seen James Blood there, it had made her blood run cold. Her parents--her mother and her father (her real father had come. Her stepfather couldn't apparently be bothered to un-marinate himself to muster up the manhood to join in. But her parents--her real parents--they had gotten her out of the hell that Blood had intended for her.  And, almost literally, just in time to catch the train.  She still had bruises and a head injury from the days she was in the werewolf's hands.

When Poppy had seen him on school grounds, she was sure she didn't want to be here. She was sure she wasn't safe.  And then, her eyes caught sight of her father and then her mother. They had been amongst the civilians who had come to fight. And when it was over, they'd had to leave--and leave her here.  

Few knew that her stepfather had pushed for her to come here.  He sold a lie to her mother that Poppy was "bad. A bad seed." Needed to be corrected, taught a lesson. Needed to be out of the house, was incorrigible. Her mother had bought it and had gotten a waiver, special permissions for her to enter school early.  Her birthday came in just two days. She would be eleven two days from now.

As it was, she was still ten. She looked nine, and she knew it.  She didn't look anywhere near eleven. She wasn't bad. She wasn't incorrigible.  Her mother had assured her that she was getting her stepfather out of their lives once and for all. Poppy wasn't going to believe he was gone until it happened.  And she desperately wanted to know that man who was her real father--the man who seemed to come and fight for her with a fury that Poppy had never seen.  

She had wanted them to stay. She had wanted them to see which house she'd gotten sorted into. Her mother had come from Durmstrang. Her real father had been a proud Ravenclaw. Her stepfather, she believed, had only gotten through Durmstrang on athletics alone. Would she be a Ravenclaw like her father? Would she have any of him inside of her?

The deputy headmaster had risen and had come towards the students. Afraid, Poppy had looked at the floor.  To her credit, the professor had seen that she was afraid, had lowered herself to her level.  

"What's your name, Dear?"  Good question. It took her a moment to respond.

"Poppy," she said softly, looking up.  "Poppy Levski."

"Go on up and try on the hat, Poppy," the professor said. Poppy nervously got up and went up to the wooden stool and picked up the old hat. She looked back at the professor who motioned for her to sit on the stool and put on the hat.

She sat up on the stool, put the hat on her head and found it to be much too large. The hat spoke, and she jumped, unprepared for a talking hat.

"Aren't you a little bundle of contradictions?" it seemed to laugh.  "Well, that's your age, isn't it? You'll sort yourself out...Don't like magic? Well, sorry, but that's your lot. Loyal, artistic, not interested in fame or glory, intelligent though....Ravenclaw? That's what you want? No, no, no.  You're your own person. That's not the house for you. You'll be much happier in...Hufflepuff!"

There was some applause from the Hufflepuff house. Poppy climbed down off the stool and put the hat back on the stool. Hufflepuff? What the heck was a Hufflepuff? Poppy didn't have a clue.  The Hufflepuffs motioned for her to come and join them. She walked over to them and sat down at their table

For Clara it was last year in Hogwarts. It will be most memorial year for sure. She have never started her shcool year with such events. She had fallen into the water but she managed to survive it. She had few scratchses here and there but it was all ehat she had.

She knew why feast was delayed two hours. She walked into the great hall when it started finally. She lookes around and saw here sisters too. She was glad that they were alive.

She looked at headmistress when she heard her speaking now. This year yeah was memoriable year for sure. She looked around when one first year was called out and she wasn't here at all. That was sad.

Soon she looked that first years began to sort by that line how they were there. It would be yeah better idea today. She looked there and waited it to be over. She didn't want eat or anything today much at all. Just that she could go back to her dorm room and sleep. So was bit tired already.

Keiran sat at the large table at the end of the Great Hall, settled next to Adrienne and Melissa. Although he was still having some trouble getting settled with everything, considering that - according to the two women sitting on either side of him - he had lost about a year of his memories. Blinking, he looked out at the students, trying to determine what exactly was going on. The students he expected to be seventh years - Adrienne included - were not there, which led him to believe all the more than the girls had been honest with him.

Still, he was thoroughly confused, and was glad that Amelia was still around to keep him sorted and make sure that he didn't do anything ridiculous. Here he was with this woman he was supposed to be married to, and one of his ex-students called him her... mentor. He needed to have a long talk with Melissa and figure out what all he had missed. Something had happened to his leg, though that apparently had not come along with the train accident.

He was pulled from his thoughts, though, when he was asked to take over for the sorting ceremony. Surprised, he nodded and took up his cane, pushing himself to standing. He rested a hand on Melissa's shoulder gently, attempting to put forth a silent promise of making things work when they found time to discuss things.

After moving around the table at the best pace he could manage with his leg, Keiran looked to the line of first years, and offered a smile. He probably came off as a harsh, reserved man to those who didn't know him - especially now - so it would be up to him to convince them that everything was alright. Keiran gestured to the next student in line with his free hand, then picked up the sorting hat carefully.

Where had Amelia gone off to? he wondered, glancing back to her empty chair at the table. Something wasn't right.

(OOC: I don't mind finishing this thread with Amelia? And having her disappearance the next day if that makes more sense?)

Cynthia was the next to be sorted. The sorting didn't really mean much to her at all, whatever house she was in the first year knew that she'd excel. It was wired into her brain to become successful, to outshine the rest and become a beacon of her own. She was her own person already: determined, ambitious, intelligent, resourceful. Being sorted into a house wouldn't change her, it wouldn't impact her whatsoever apart from where Cynthia slept at night - at least in Cynthia's eyes anyway.

Sidling up to the stool after Poppy Levski she sat down, placing the sorting hat upon her head. The hat was much too big for her, falling down below her eyes.

Had she been nervous perhaps this would have helped. It blocked her vision from the many staring faces whose faces were flickering rather spookily beneath the levitating candles. Cynthia was sure that she had even seen a ghost or two in the crowd, which weren't exactly the kindest looking things to an eleven year old.

'Ah!' Cynthia flinched upon hearing a whisper in her ear. The sorting hat was talking directly to her. Could other people hear what it/he was saying? Or was he talking inside Cynthia's head? Reading her thoughts? Searching through her memories and previous actions? The eleven year old wasn't too sure she liked this method of sorting. It was rather intrusive.

Well, well. You are a clever little girl aren't you. Already you've been studying hard, perhaps it is for your own knowledge but there is more to your academic thirst. You don't want to be intelligent for intelligent's sake. No. You see knowledge as a tool, a power to get you far in life. You're ambitious, driven by praise and success. Not to mention that little vindictively cunning side will treat you well in...

'SLYTHERIN!'

Cynthia lifted the hat from her head, her eyes now being able to take in the scene before her: three tables were lightly clapping, however one at the fat end were cheering wilder than the others - one student had even stood up on his feet and whistled in celebration. A sly smile spread across Cynthia's face as she handed the hat to another first year and walked, with meaning, to the Slytherin table where she received a rather enthusiastic pat on the back. Perhaps this whole house thing wasn't so bad after all? Already they seemed to like her and Cynthia hadn't even shown them her capabilities. Oh this house would treat her well, the sorting hat was right.

The last several hours had been something of a nightmare, if Katherine was being honest. After the fiasco with the train, she had done all she could to ensure that the students in her immediate vicinity made it into the castle. Strange, she supposed, for someone so typically introverted to take on the role of leader as she had done. Then again, the distant Kit was a new person to most people. After having been gone for an entire term last year, she was back as a Fifth Year, and was likely the oldest of the bunch now.

By the time the feast rolled around, she was desperate for news about her classmates and professors. Katherine walked into the Great Hall, glancing around and trying to add up all the faces she wasn't sure about. Her first instinct, like every year, was to look to the long table at the end of the hall, where she found each of the professors she had been concerned about. The new professors looked decently comfortable, but considering what had happened earlier that day, Katherine wasn't sure she believed it. Both of the Hayes looked thoroughly stressed, only made more evident when Amelia left and Mr. Hayes was put in charge of the sorting. His countenance was one of simple uncertainty, and it made her all the more concerned.

The professors were worried, clearly, and it make the students sitting around Katherine fidgety and anxious. A new Hufflepuff and a new Slytherin were sorted during the time Kit was paying attention, so she kept an ear open for a new Ravenclaw. Shifting around in her spot on the long bench, Kit looked around for the other Ravenclaws she had been with on the train. Bertie and Jessica were around, somewhere, but she had been too distracted to actually find them as she walked in.

The Zabini brothers had long since been sorted into their respective houses, and had long since stopped paying attention to the sorting ceremony. That said, Christian was keeping an eye on his friends around the room rather than watching the little first years worry over whether or not they would be put in the house they thought was best. For a Hufflepuff, he could sometimes be incredibly impatient.

He put part of the blame on Apollo, of course, for what he had done over the summer. But still, he wasn't unfriendly when it came to Apollo's friend Hitame, and he was concerned enough to look out for her when he could. It wasn't like he expected anything to happen mid-feast, but so far things were already really wrong today.

As his eyes jumped around the hall, though, they settled on a blonde who had gone missing part way through their last year. Lifting an eyebrow in question and surprise, he looked away quickly as she met his gaze. Across the room, Apollo gave him a chastising look when he caught on. Katherine Avery was none of their business, no matter how much Christian wanted to help.

Deciding to pay more attention to his table, Christian turned to look at the new Hufflepuff who had sat down. A Levski, apparently. What sort of aggression would that little girl receive? Christian was certainly uninterested in finding out. He offered her a gentle smile by way of greeting, hoping that a friendly face might ease her transition in.

At his own table, Apollo cast a gaze over at Cynthia, the newest addition to Slytherin. Leaning to the side so he was closer to her ear, Apollo offered a greeting. "Welcome to Slytherin. Needless to say, we're the best house. History of Slytherin relatives?"

Barbara couldn't say she wasn't excited. This whole thing was new to her. She has never seen magic before, actually she never thought magic exist before. And now she was here, in Hogwarts. British school for witchcraft and wizardry. Although she was geographically closer to Durmstrang, during her short visit to Diagon Alley she bought few books about wizarding schools in Europe, she got her Hogwarts letter because her father was educated there.

Father. She still couldn't get used to that word, saying it aloud terrified her. She has a living father, no, she couldn't use to that. Barbara always thought her father died in raid at nightclub when she was two years old, he was a cop and someone in the club had a gun.... Her mom told her that story. They even visited his grave twice a year. Now she wondered whose tomb it was, having in her mind his father is alive. Although she didn't want to admit it she felt betrayed, her mom betrayed her, lied to her. Why? Questions only accumulating along with each day that passed, questions she will never get an answer to, since her mother passed.

She held her breath trying to stop thinking, if she start thinking about her mother she'll became sad and now it isn't time nor place for sadness. She will bring her back, anyway, they will be together again in the future. The near future, she hoped.

Barbara watched other first years changing on a chair and putting a hat, calmly waiting for her turn. After they put a hat on their heads the whole hall would waited in silence until the hat wouldn't uttered a house of a kid who wears it at the moment it would be followed by an applause and then the new kid would place a hat on her or his head. And so on.

"O'Sullivan Zrinski, Barbara." Someone called her name, she couldn't discern who, she only knew it's her time. She's the next. Her legs slowly started moving to a chair, she sat and mechanically put the hat.

Hm, smart little girl, didn't you? I see a lot of intelligence, you would be quite good Ravenclaw, like almost all of your family. But there's also a lot of determination and courage. Don't you think you you're being hasty? To succeed in something like that with so little knowledge? No, you're not for Ravenclaw, actually. More like....

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Along with applause she took the hat off and joined the group at the table who cheered the loudest, they must be other Gryffindors. She hoped they were.

That was some train ride. Chris couldn't help but to be frightened. First, the train plummeted into the black lake on the ride to the castle. Then, just as the survivors tried to make it to Hogwarts, a werewolf pack attacked the castle. Needless to say, he had suffered a few minor injuries, scrapes, and his body felt fatigued. It would certainly be a memorable event. Even some first years had died once the train hit the lake. That was definitely not a good start to the term. Yet, this was what was dealt to them.

Chris's parents stayed at home because of his twin sisters. But, he was sure that they would be worried about him. So, he made a mental note to send them a letter via his owl once he was able to do so. He wouldn't be able to today, since he was awfully tired. To be honest, he wanted to run off to bed already. But, he still had to be sorted into his house. After all, despite what happened, he still had to be sorted. As it was, the sorting ceremony had already been delayed for two hours, because of the terrible tragedies.

He remembered that his parents told him that Hogwarts sorted the first years alphabetically by their last name. But, the first name that they tried to call up seemed to have died from the train ride. So, now, they seemed eager to ditch that method of sorting right now. Instead, they were going to go down the line and have each one go up that way. It worked, for the most part.

After Barbara was sorted into Gryffindor, a man gestured for him to approach the stool. After sitting down, the hat was placed on his head. It completely covered the looks of anticipation from the students sitting at the houses's tables. He couldn't help but to flinch when he heard a whisper in his ear. The hat could talk! That was certainly a surprise. An especially eerie surprise, after the horrible ride to the castle.

I see intelligence and wisdom. You might be a good fit for Ravenclaw, but wait …. I see loyalty and helpfulness in you. Ah yes and a hard worker. You should be able to fit right in. Better be …

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

As the hat was lifted off of his head, Chris saw the Hufflepuff house table erupt into cheers for the second time that night. Hoping off the stool, he went to take a seat at the Hufflepuff table.

Ciara was surprised what had happened in train when it went down from tge road. She knew how to swim so she could survive when she did fell into the. She was even understood why the feast was delayed today.

When sorting finally began it didn't start the best way today. There was said out name of perdon who died. Ciara was glad that she was alive and also her siblings were. She looked how few other people did get sorted there now. She wondered in what house she will be.

After one boy who was sorted to Hufflepuff it was her turn finally. Men gestured her to come forward. She sat down to the chair and  soon was hat placed on her head.

When bat began to whisper into her ears she was surprised actually even. "You seem intelligent girl maybe A Ravenclaw would be your house. No wait I see yoy being loyal also too also your more likely helpful girl so yeah... you're house will be...,"

"HUFFLEPUFF,"

She knew now her bouse too. Hat was taken away from her head now and she walked to her house table now. She sat down there to first not taken seat. She smiled at her fellow housemates.