WELCOME FEAST 2029-2030 [OPEN to Students and Staff]

[ooc: Make sure you've read THIS and replied to THIS before posting in this thread.]


"Do you think you'll have fewer students this year?"

Keiran turned to look at Hermione, still startled by her presence despite knowing full well that she had been there all day. He had asked for a representative to go back and hold a meeting, expressing the fact that the kids were safe in their place at Hogwarts after arrival. He hadn't expected the head of the department. Then again, he really should have. Something somehow even more startling was the fact that she had recognized him, because he was the man that her position had been formed for in the first place. How strange.

"I don't doubt it," he conceded, looking out over the Great Hall. Students were filing in. Some had come from the Ministry thanks to Robert Lupin and his secretary, and some from Hogsmeade by the carriages after their parents had dropped them off. Others had taken portkeys with professors, as the Zabini boys had done with him. The Weasleys and Potters, he guessed, had come with Teddy. But he hadn't asked.

The train, of course, had not been an option. Even if it was something they could have handled better this time, no one was naive enough to think someone would let their kid board that thing again. Keiran himself wouldn't have let his children on there even if he'd been there with them. Not that they were old enough yet, by far. But that was beside the point.

Standing as he was in front of the teachers' long table, he was prepared for the new Deputy Headmaster, @Selwyn Thorfinn, to bring in the first years now that the others had settled in. A part of him was unsure they would ever get along particularly well, but without the group he usually clung to because of Melissa, perhaps that was due to change.

Lifting his wand, Keiran sent a fluttering barn owl through the closed doors to land beside Selwyn, leaving a trail behind it. They were ready, its appearance told him. Hermione game him a nod before stepping to the side to take a seat they had designated for her, waiting for the sorting to begin.

Selwyn was currently watching the first years look around the Entrance Hall in awe, while a portrait chastised him about what a terrible job he'd make of his new role. When he was in school, enchanted portraits (and tapestries, and suits of armour) had been fun and even useful at times. Now, he found he vastly preferred the ones at his parents' house, which weren't enchanted and even if they had been, were unlikely to reprimand their future owner.

Keiran's messenger landed at his foot and Selwyn sighed, though hopefully not loudly enough for any of the kids to hear. They were all so wrapped up in the excitement of the moment, they probably wouldn't notice, anyway. He wanted to like Keiran. He felt like if this were another life, they could probably even be friends. For now, he would be polite and do his job and keep as far from the other man as he could lest he learn Keiran had some redeeming quality that Selwyn would prefer not to know about.

He pushed off the wall and walked to the doors of the Great Hall, clapping his hands for the kids' attention, although the kids were unlikely not to notice the only adult in the room.

"Okay everyone," he said. "It's the moment you've all been waiting for. In a moment, I'm going to open these doors and lead you all inside for the Sorting Ceremony. For those of you who don't know, that's when you get sorted into your houses, and when I was your age I was told your house will be like a family to you while you're at Hogwarts."

"Exactly like a family," he added under his breath. "Lots of squabbling."

Selwyn then turned and pushed the Great Hall doors apart. They swung open of their own volition. Magic was a good way to make a grand entrance.

Andrew had reluctantly returned to Hogwarts but not without a fight. He and his guardian had gone around bitterly about Andrew's full intention of dropping out. His guardian had refused to hear it and had wanted Andrew to return to attend his senior year.

Andrew had been so angry that he'd made his way from his guardian's home to Michael's where he'd remained until the school opened again. Michael had gotten Andrew to drop some of his rage and had gotten him to reframe it a bit.

What Andrew was going to dig in his heels now about was that he had no intention on ever taking that effing train again anywhere. He had gotten his guardian to say he would send a letter to the headmaster, giving permission for Andrew to not go back to Kings Cross, if the train ever actually ran again anyway, but rather, to simply to go Hogsmeade to Michael's. Michael would be responsible for getting Andrew home to his family. That had provided Andrew some peace and had eased some of the nightmares he had had about being stuck in that hellhole in which he'd spent far more of his summer than he'd wanted.

So here he was again, appearing appropriately at the Fall Feast, at least outwardly. He'd taking his seat towards the back of the room with the Gryffindors. He wasn't good now at not being comfortably seated near an exit door. Frog was in his pocket, for Andrew's own comfort, and upstairs, his trunk remained packed, mainly because Andrew hadn't opened his mind yet to the idea he was here again for the entire academic year. In a lot of ways, his mind was as closed as his trunk.

He had learned a couple of things, though, in the process. He had learned that he was perhaps more Gryffindor than he'd thought. He was learning that he had enough bravery within himself that he would indeed fight for what he believed was right. He believed he didn't necessarily owe it to anyone to get their opinion before he acted to carry out what he thought was right. Michael warned him that his new tendencies to act first and damn the consequences was liable to not be met with a lot of warm fuzzies by the professors. Andrew didn't care.

He was here because he was required to be. Besides that, the food was generally pretty good. Third, he wanted to see how the faculty roster had changed this year because that might provide him with either warnings or opportunities. What he was going to promise himself was that this year would not be boring. He was, as Michael might have termed it, "casing" the place to see what adventures might lay ahead for him--whether those adventures belonged to the school or if they were adventures he might orchestrate himself.

Poppy came in, no longer necessarily the tiniest Hufflepuff. She had indeed grown a bit from her first year, not just in height, but also in character.

She had become a friend of Andrew Diamond's, moreso over the summer because of being together off and on during the summer at Ilvermorney. They'd also been together for a couple of days when Andrew's guardian and Poppy's father had come to get them and had taken them to Khaat's because it was such a secure location.

She had had a couple of days with Andrew, and they'd had time to share their anger and their frustration about the summer. Andrew, she knew, had a great deal of bitterness that seemed to promise he was going to be struggling against any sort of authority figure. She was concerned for him.

For herself, she had found that she had grown a backbone that was perhaps a bit overdue. She found herself wanting to be loyal to her friends now and willing to fight with them and for them.

She went into the Great Hall, found Andrew easily at the back of the room, and they gave each other a hug, a bit of reassurance of solidarity. She was looking and feeling more refreshed and ready to face the new challenges ahead than Andrew looked like he felt.

She took her place in the middle of the Hufflepuffs and found her friends there to be welcoming and warm. They had survived together, and they were glad to be back together. The school itself was as predictable, generally, as the summer had not been. Routine was again welcome for her.

The feast felt like a celebration that the ugliness was perhaps over and she could get back to her life. She had a drive that she hadn't felt last year to apply herself to anything she could see a potential use for in her future. Anything that seemed pointless, she decided, she was going to blow off to some extent. If her professors could pose a good case about why something they were teaching was going to be useful for her as an adult, then she was going to focus first on survival skills.

Perhaps, with her nose not stuck quite so deeply in her books, she might have more time for sketching and for some things in her life that had some light and life to it. If she had learned anything, she had learned that there was more to life than just fighting for the right to breathe another day. She wanted it, and she intended to fight for it.

That had been one hell of a summer. There was no other way to describe it, other than by comparing it to hell itself. She still wasn't sure how they'd all managed to survive the summer at Ilvermorny but one thing was for sure.

She would never be going back to that hellhole of a school again, even when its conditions get better.

To say she was traumatized by the entire ordeal was an understatement and she was sure the others who were there felt the same way as she did. She was still shaken up by the whole thing and sometimes still felt like she was going to end up back at that place. Fright was a feeling Anabelle Mulciber had not felt in a while, but it had finally found its place inside her once again and threatened to rule over her more than ever now.

The issue at Ilvermorny wasn't the only thing that had her frightened and confused though. Oh no, there was something else that seemed minimal to everyone else but had the Gryffindor internally freaking out ever since she'd found out about it. Leave it to teenage hormones to make small things seem so much bigger than they actually were.

She'd spent most of the summer with Evander and Cronis and by default Luxanna and Kit Avery. She'd felt awkward in a way being around them because she knew that Evander had feelings for Kit, though she wasn't sure what feelings she had for Evan. And Cronis.. well, she thought he'd had a crush on Luxanna, seeing how he treated her differently than he did everyone else and knowing Cronis the way she did, she knew what that meant. But as it turned out, the one he had feelings for wasn't Luxanna, no it just so happened to be -.

The girl looked over, her thoughts being pushed to the back of her mind as she saw the twins entering the Great Hall shortly after she had. She'd arrived alone, her sister no where to be found, and her brothers having gone ahead of her to meet up with their Slytherin friends. After exchanging greetings with both boys, and receiving a shy smile from Cronis that made her blush, they all parted ways. Hit's eyes followed Cronis toward the group of Slytherins where he placed himself next to Walter and Josiah and she sighed, knowing that he would most likely ask something regarding her that would put her brothers on edge and ruin his own mood.

It looked like she was already going to have a rocky start to the year..

Apollo and Christian filed into the Great Hall after arriving with Keiran and spending a bit of time that afternoon organizing their things in their respective house dormitories. It had felt like forever but now that they were sitting at their different tables, it wasn't actually that strange. They hadn't lived in the same place for the majority of the summer, and now that only Christian and Ace knew what was going on with him and Lily, Apollo knew that they were going to be careful as she had suggested they should. There was no reason for anyone else to figure it out, particularly because neither of them cared to make a show about it.

He was even able to keep from looking over at her while the first years traipsed in to be sorted. He'd really been quite good about the whole thing, he thought, considering how strange it felt to be involved with someone who became his professor. It was honestly a miracle that she was teaching Potions, because it was one of his best subjects, and there would be no worry about bias on her part.

Apollo truly disliked the fact that Ace knew, though. Christian he trusted to keep quiet despite his distaste for it, but now his brother had Charlotte to worry about, and the PA. Ace had the PA to worry about, too, but she was far more vocal and capable of ruining things.

He looked over at Cronis, wondering if it was worth making casual conversation or not. Apollo hadn't gone to Ilvermorny, hadn't helped. But he hadn't believed that he really could make a difference, and that belief hadn't really changed in time for the school year. Instead of saying anything, he turned his attention back on the first years, figuring he could join in if conversation started, but not wanting to initiate it himself.

Only then did he glance up towards the professors, swallowing as he found her there.

And Christian? He had found Ace, of course, to sit next to. And he couldn't see Apollo from where he was sitting, but he leaned towards her, asking if she saw anyone that might want to join them. He spoke under his breath, though, because Nicole was sitting across from them, pretending like she wasn't trying to listen.

Clair had his gaze locked on the wood of the table in front of him. He just wanted to get through this as quickly as possible. Hogwarts might have been marginally better than his real home, but he still hated the feeling of always being watched that he got from constantly being surrounded by so many people.

The doors to the Great Hall swung open, and Clair looked up. Finally. This really was what he'd been waiting for. Not because he particularly cared who was sorted into Ravenclaw (or any other house for that matter) this year, but because the sooner the Sorting Ceremony was done with, the sooner the feast would get started.

Clair had the same healthy appetite of any other growing boy, and the food was really the only part of this evening he expected to enjoy.

It was so tempting to drag his feet, stay near the end of the line and try to look like he wasn't related to anyone in this room.  But that would never work.  In just a few minutes time, his name was going to be called out, probably with a bit less pomp and circumstance than the other students' and everyone would know who he was.

Christian spared a thought for Selwyn; it must be just as weird for him, having to do the whole Sorting Ceremony thing with his own brother among the new entrants.

When they were out in the Entrance Hall, he'd sought his brother's gaze a few times, and each time Selwyn had been steadfastly looking in a different direction.  Christian was quietly grateful for that.

Now, they were walking down the aisle in the centre of the room, with everyone looking and talking, though from a few overheard words, Christian didn't think they were talking about the new first years. Some of the others were gawping like they'd never seen the inside of a castle or a church or any large room before.

Clytemnestra had most emphatically not enjoyed the summer. Oh, most people hadn't, what with the stupid train and whatnot, but she hadn't enjoyed it for entirely different reasons.

People were acting funny. Andrew, who was supposed to be her boyfriend, was acting really funny. She'd hardly glimpsed him before the feast started, and that was entirely the problem. The boy wasn't stupid (that was why they were "dating") so how had he missed that you didn't get social status points if you forgot you had a girlfriend?

Clytemnestra rolled her eyes and just put it down to his gender. Perhaps she would organise an embarrassing break up and start dating girls instead. She'd heard girls were better at this sort of thing, anyway.

The last time Lily had been in this room, she had been so prepared to never come back. This was the room where all of her peers stared her down as the girl who went haywire, as the girl who was so dangerous she had actually attacked another student. Casey had spilled blood in this room to defend her, and Lily had been certain that her exit was as final as one could get. She could think of no reason to ever subject herself to the place again.

And then a reason had found her.

She sat at the staff table, feeling completely out of place. Certainly, it looked it. She knew that the staff was getting younger and younger each year, but her dubious reputation only seemed to go against her. But in her black robes and her face practicing its mask-work, perhaps she was doing a better job at projecting an air of competence than she thought.

Her eyes scanned the crowd. Her cousin, the Richards girl, and Clem were all seated together, unsurprisingly, and were talking as casually as could be. There was Ace, furiously whispering to Christian, because her job was certainly never done. And Casey, alone, looking far off as she sat at the Gryffindor table, deaf to the excitement around her. And then there was Apollo-

Her eyes slid over him, trying to get into the safe practice of avoiding him as much as possible. They had agreed on which measures needed to be taken, and on the reassurance of why they were being taken. If Lily wanted to be of any help, it had to be this way.

She felt a gaze on her and she turned, catching the gaze of Teddy Lupin, who had sat himself next to McKillon, unsurprisingly. Lily blinked, allowing for the smallest shift in her expression to express some amount of pleasure at seeing him. It seemed to be enough.

The doors were thrown open, and she felt Hogwarts as one focus on the first years.

Goose Dyllan had been relatively quiet. He had found himself the companion to Charlie Jericho, which was more than alright to him as he liked the other kid, but he had not found a need to keep up any sort of commentary, even though Charlie was not the sort to offer up any of his own. The silence was comfortable, on their part, but there was this anxiety and discomfort at the very prospect of what they were doing. They had made it to Hogwarts. Goose had been certain it couldn't happen. First it had been his own failings, and then it had been the fact that there wasn't enough students to legitimize a school. Now, though, all the excuses were gone. They were here.

And they were going to be sorted any minute.