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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Mar 28, 2010 15:36:53 GMT -5
So, another new year, eh?...
Green eyes glanced around the vicinity of the hall he was seated in. Dozens upon dozens of candles floated mid-air above the four tables representing the four different houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.
Not all the houses were seated specific to their tables, though. It had been promoted a few years back that as a tradition of the Opening feast, students should intermix with other houses to get to know one another and help unify the school as a whole. While it was good to have friendly competition among the houses, past events had led some houses to be admired on more than others.
The candles themselves pointed upwards to the ceiling - an amazing feat of old magic and charms. The sky outside at the moment was a dusty, velvet purple, many of the stars washing themselves amongst each other. A few of the students, mainly the younger ones, were looking up in utter awe. Most were muttering among each other, sharing their own holiday experiences or trying to get to know one another. Those green eyes studied an array of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin students all bunched together on one of the table before him, glancing at each other awkwardly.
Arthur sighed, glanced briefly to the staff sitting on the same table before him, before he raised a spoon.
The tink of it echoed out across the hall, leaving the students to fall into silence. Robes were straightened as the Headmaster stood up, and all eyes fell on him.
He allowed himself to take a breath in those few moments.
"... So. Welcome to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I hope you had a good summer, yes?"
While his expression had formerly been unreadable, he allowed his lips to lapse into a soft smile, before he shook his head and continued, frowning slightly.
"However, I must re-inform you of a few notices which are familiar to the returning students, but must be said for the newcomers. The Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to all students. May I also remind you that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out bounds to all students who do not wish to die a most painful death. But, onto more positive announcements."
His arms folded, and Arthur glanced around the room. It was something he did every year. In the same hall, with the same carvings on the wall. The same windows looked out onto the lake below them, and did Arthur love it? Of course he did, as much as he'd never say it.
His expression settled again, and he allowed himself a proper smile.
"I say it's time to eat."
A flourish of a hand, and the food materialized on the platters on the tables, leaving many of the students to gasp in either astonishment or gratitude.
Straightening out his Robes, Arthur settled down and began to pick up his own food.
Another year, another, event, of occasion...
And chaos. Oh, he bet.
((and gogogogo~))
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Raivis Galante
Hufflepuff Student[/color]
Latvijas Republika
Posts: 189
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Post by Raivis Galante on Mar 28, 2010 15:48:06 GMT -5
Raivis had kept himself to himself at the end of the table that opening feast, seemingly not wanting to mingle with anyone. The train journey from London had made him rather sick, to be honest, the kind of sick where even a sedentary activity such as reading made one's stomach lurch.
He listened intently to the headmaster's speech, making sure to commit everything to memory. It wasn't that he didn't, after all - he'd never really been in trouble at school, except for scuffles with with a few Slytherins.
Adjusting his robes so he could sit more comfortably, he looked at the food which had appeared on his plate, not so much enjoying the vast portions he'd been given.
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Post by Matthew Williams on Mar 28, 2010 15:59:02 GMT -5
Matthew sighed and tried to focus on staying Visible. He looked down and found that once again someone had insisted the House goblins make him Poutine. He smiled lightly. Over the last few days the new Charms professor had been finding little presents brought into his room that he supposed were meant to make him feel at home. A hockey stick, some maple syrup, (the real kind, not the fake kind that some people could magic up) and now various types of Poutine. He wished the person telling them would just order him pizza. Yeah he was Canadian but it wasn't like he could only eat gravy covered fries.
He sighed and sniffed his drink. Well at least they got the beer right.
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Ari Hauksson
Ravenclaw Student[/color]
?sland %7C Ravenclaw Prefect
Posts: 27
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Post by Ari Hauksson on Mar 28, 2010 16:00:54 GMT -5
Sat with his chin fitted securely on the palm of his left hand, his legs crossed beneath the table and both elbows resting on top, Ari looked to be the very epitome of boredom as a magnitude of chatter and whispers echoed around the Great Hall, bouncing off the walls and recoiling straight back across the room, becoming increasingly more indistinguishable with each new voice that added to the babble.
Every other person situated in the room seemed to be either excited and ready to start bouncing off all four walls (mainly the first years), wishing they were somewhere else completely, or falling asleep already, and where the hell was the food damnit?
Ari happened to belong to the group that seemed to wish that the giant deformed figure of a mutant spider would come crashing through the windows at any minute, or a fire would start, or something. Just anything that would get this damn ceremony over and done with already. For the majority of the students in the hall, they had been through this multiple times and quite honestly - to Ari it was just getting old. Wasn’t the food here yet?
His attention was successfully caught, however, when the noise in the hall was hushed to almost complete silence, which meant that the Headmaster was about to run through his speech. Again. It wasn’t anything new to the Icelandic boy, so he didn’t pay much attention. Besides, he was really tired, and hadn’t been able to get to sleep at all last night, and that table was starting to look pretty comfy right now… wait, what? He couldn’t fall asleep at a time like this. No matter how appealing it sounded.
Stifling a yawn, he leaned back slightly only to find that the food - finally - had started to materialise before him. He allowed himself to smile, and immediately began to nibble at some kind of chicken leg. Well, it was food, wasn’t it?
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Mar 28, 2010 16:26:42 GMT -5
Al grinned and leaned back, preparing his own annual tradition. "NICE SPEECH, KIRKLAND. STIFF AS EVER, I SEE, OLD MAN," he bellowed. About half the hall would here him over the din of chattering voices, and the students who had been there the last three years would recognize the shout. Alfred couldn't help but tease the old Ravenclaw prefect, just for old times sake.
He then sat up properly and dug into his food, glancing at Mattie's plate. "Do they every serve you anything else?" He swallowed and continued, "Want the salad they force on me?" He continued to nibble his burger, munching happily until a blob of mustard and ketchup dripped onto his shirt. "Ah, come on, not this shirt!" He scowled comically at the spot on his white "I <3 NY" T-shirt the glob of condiments had landed.
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Raivis Galante
Hufflepuff Student[/color]
Latvijas Republika
Posts: 189
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Post by Raivis Galante on Mar 28, 2010 16:32:34 GMT -5
Latvia looked up at Alfred's shout. He remembered him as the flying teacher, and that he was very persistent. Even the students who were petrified of getting on a broomstick were, by the end of the lesson, on the brooms whether they liked it or not. Latvia had been one of them, and he'd been violently sick at the end of his lessons last year.
He looked back to his plate, merely picking at the food.
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Post by Matthew Williams on Mar 28, 2010 16:34:01 GMT -5
Matt smiled "Thanks Al, I think someone is having fun making it though. They made Greek poutine today. " he begins to eat slowly. "I will just talk to the nice house elf that wears the tea cozy. He seems to be in charge."
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Post by Tino Väinämöinen on Mar 28, 2010 16:37:23 GMT -5
Tino sat staring at the ceiling; he'd been among the last people to filter into the Great Hall, so he was left at a table with people he didn't really know. That was alright though. Tino's eyes remained fixed at the sky; he was a sixth year, new friends weren't really his concern anymore. He watched the sky shifting and glittering with a look of peace, not awe, he watched this every day for years. Tino loved magic, everything about it.
The sound of the headmaster's voice drifted through his head, leaving no permanent impression in his mind. The Finn didn't tend to get into trouble, so the usual warnings never received his attention. He was still stargazing as the food appeared and didn't even notice until someone tapped his shoulder and asked for the pepper on Tino's other side. After handing it over, he surveyed the contents of his own plate, potatoes and what was probably beef swimming in gravy. Tino grinned and reached over to grab himself a hot roll, unintentionally dragging the sleeve of his robe through the thick gravy.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Mar 28, 2010 16:41:56 GMT -5
Arthur had paused in his food by that time, closing his eyes.
A few giggles tittered out amongst the hall, but they silenced themselves relatively quickly. If the headmaster was displeased, was he ever.
He murmered to himself under his breath, as though counting or such, before his head turned towards him. He murmered something under his breath again, but this time his wand had subtley been brought out and flicked.
A moment later, and he'd returned to his food.
"... Learn to show the students a proper example, Jones." He remarked, loud enough for most of the students to hear.
Not that Mr Jones could reply. He'd just been put under a silencing charm.
It'd teach the bugger a thing or two.
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Ymant Stalte
Prefect[/color]
Līv?mō
the seventh year mudblood. ;D
Posts: 97
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Post by Ymant Stalte on Mar 28, 2010 16:48:42 GMT -5
Ymant was situated firmly in his seat, back straight, posture nearly perfect. The Slytherin student kept his gaze focused over at the teacher's table, trying to ignore the surroundings best he could. Not only were most students being noisy and rude, but with the seating arrangement of everyone sitting together, there was much more of a chance to end up sitting next to non-Slytherins. And that meant people with less than pure blood, something he looked down upon.
At least the headmaster was the same as every year, someone he actually held a bit of respect for. When he finished his speech, Ymant turned back to the table infront of him. When the loud-mouthed flying teacher bellowed, he grimaced, wondering how someone could be so blatantly rude.
Glancing over the table, he noticed the blonde Hufflepuff boy--what was his name again?--dragging his sleeve through food. Chuckling, he grabbed his fork, looking down at his own potatoes. Grabbing a knife he began to cut them, eyes turning over to Raivis.
"Hey, kid, you're looking kind of green, you know." He teasingly remarked, a small grin on his face.
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Raivis Galante
Hufflepuff Student[/color]
Latvijas Republika
Posts: 189
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Post by Raivis Galante on Mar 28, 2010 16:49:40 GMT -5
Latvia sat still, a slight shiver passing through his spine at the insult, which he chose to ignore. He stifled a meek laugh as the headmaster put the flying teacher in his place.
Although it wasn't proper etiquette, Latvia was sitting almost by himself. He poked Zhurkas (his pocket-dwelling, almost-always sleepy rat) to get him to climb into his hand, and discreetly began to feed him chunks of pumpkin, cheese, anything. He stroked gently along the rodent's fur as he fed him. Sometimes, Zhurkas was the only thing that made sense in this world. He'd been through everything with Latvia, and had suffered a few spells to transmogrify or change his colour when Latvia was a first-year.
Zhurkas had different ideas tonight, however - he jumped onto the table, and plodded quickly down to the other students, who shrieked slightly.
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Post by Matthew Williams on Mar 28, 2010 17:04:08 GMT -5
Matt sighed and continued eating. Leave it to Alfred to get silenced on the first day. He smiles over at Al. "Trying to set your new record of getting points off?" he muttered. "What was the last count again?"
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Mar 28, 2010 17:08:31 GMT -5
Al stared at the stain and tried to speak, "Mattie, how do you get these out," problem being, only his friend's name was said. He frowned and pointed to the stain sadly.
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Post by Matthew Williams on Mar 28, 2010 17:19:04 GMT -5
Matthew sighs and with a quick muttered charm and a flick of his wand the stains were gone. He looked over the man next to him. "Weren't we supposed to wear robes? "
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Mar 28, 2010 17:31:25 GMT -5
Al gave a guilty look, then slipped his arms back into the robe hanging off his chair. He held up a finger, then fished out parchments and a quill, scribbling, "And that's the best part of mischief on the first day, there no points to take off, and there's no such thing as negative points."
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Post by Matthew Williams on Mar 28, 2010 17:35:00 GMT -5
Matt rolled his eyes and looked out over the tables as he heard shrieking. He stood to get a better view.
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Raivis Galante
Hufflepuff Student[/color]
Latvijas Republika
Posts: 189
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Post by Raivis Galante on Mar 28, 2010 17:38:30 GMT -5
Zhurkas was rapidly making his way down the table, with Latvia rushing along one side to try and grab him. The usually-docile rat proved a little too fast though, and Latvia fell backwards on his bottom in despair, now in tears.
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Vash Zwingli
Hufflepuff Student[/color]
Swiss Confederation
Posts: 19
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Post by Vash Zwingli on Mar 28, 2010 17:50:13 GMT -5
Though Vash Zwingli could honestly say he loved Hogwarts, if there was one thing he didn't like so much, it was the students. Instead of the nice feast he was planning to have with the people he knew. Unfortunately, this nice plan was ruined by the pushing and shoving of various students which forced him to sit right smack dab in the middle of a table surrounded by people he couldn't honestly say he had never talked to before. He wondered briefly if his sister was alright before his thoughts were interrupted by the headmaster's voice. Vash listened with half an ear as the headmaster went through his usual beginning of the year speech and he rolled his eyes as Professor Jones did his usual obnoxious thing. As food magically appeared on the table and student chatter escalated, he gave a small smile. He hadn't eaten in several hours and if there was one thing to like about Hogwarts, it was the food.
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Mar 28, 2010 17:54:32 GMT -5
Alfred spotted the rat and the crying boy. He winced when he saw it was Raivis. He liked the student, and had wished the boy had told him he was afraid of heights before he had gotten him on the broom. He swallowed, then grabbed his broom. Maybe if he returned the rat he could make up for that? He didn't let his uncertainty show as he shot up and quickly scooped up the boys pet and flew it back to Raivis.
"Here you go!" he mouthed and gently set the small creature near the boy.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Mar 28, 2010 17:58:37 GMT -5
IF a certain flying teacher hadn't decided to have made a spectacle of himself, Arthur -- or anyone, pretty much, could have dealt with the problem in a matter of seconds.
As soon as Alfred would have stood up he'd feel a hand grab him on the back of his robes, suddenly thrusting him forward up towards the teacher's table again.
".. There's a rule against flying in the Great Hall, you blithering idiot. Maybe you need reminding of the rules, nevermind the students."
The tone and expression Arthur was wearing for the duration of this was monotonous. Jones did this every. year.
Arthur still wondered why he hadn't gotten completely sick of it, yet.
Such a bad example to the students!
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