September First - Arriving at Hogwarts - Start of Term
Cloudy (overcast) - Medium temperature - Rain in the evening - Gusty
There had been no problems with the train, nor any with the carriages, and under the lake the squid slowly stirred, rising a single eye to look up at the dark wool clouds and decide that it was best to stay underwater. Somewhere a thestral screeched and a hippogriff near Hagrid's old shack returned the call.
As the first carriage reached the castle and the students began to pile out, a beam of lightning arced across the sky, crackling in a semicircle across the far southern horizon. The headmaster turned from his window as an owl crossed it, and returned to his preparations for the feast.
By the time the sorting began everything was normal; the feeling had died down in Lee Jordan's gut, and he was able to sit comfortably before his students, slowly filing in and sitting at their house's table. He smiled. He'd convinced himself; this would simply be another year. Perhaps even the kind of year Hogwarts used to see; brave and exciting and full.
ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER
Great Hall - ~200 words - Open/Not interacting
Albus never had an easy time with the beginning of term feast, or with any of them,
really. He didn't like the crowds, nor the noise, and they were usually so much more
intense than dinner or the classes taught in the Great Hall. It didn't help that the room
itself echoed so ominously or that the new first years always clamored and chattered
away until their nerves died down. It wasn't necessarily that he hadn't done the same,
and Albus didn't blame them for it, but entering the great hall still hit him with a sense
of fear and anxiety that he couldn't quite explain and that he didn't want any part in.
It was all he could do not to turn tail and run right that second, back to the Slytherin
dorm so he could find his things and disappear into his bed and maybe find Scorpius.
Scorpius! Right, that might make things better, having a friend around. He gave the
tables a cursory glance, quick and uncertain, before skittering to the very corner at the
very end of the Slytherin table and then taking the seat one to the center of the table
from it. The snake in his breast pocket stirred quietly before poking her nose out and
letting her tongue flap and rattle through the air. Albus gently pressed her nose back
down into his pocket and looked around nervously, trying to spot someone he knew.
LOUIS WILLIAM WEASLEY
Great Hall - ~200 words - Open/Not interacting
Louis was being stubborn. Slightly more stubborn than usual, but this book he'd picked
up for the train was incredibly good and he just couldn't exactly bring himself to drag
his attention away from it for long enough not to trip and fall on his face (and the book
he'd been holding in front of it from the moment he sat down on the train right through
until he'd attempted to get off the carriage). Standing up and grumbling curses to himself,
Louis retrieved his book from the mud and glared up at the sky as it started to drizzle.
He flicked some mud from the dustjacket of his book and started the short trek into the
Great Hall. He didn't appreciate the naming nor the huge array and amount of people in
the room, but Louis also elected not to care at the moment. He found a seat near the
center of the Gryffindor table and set himself down with a grunt before opening the book
again over his plate and cursing when he realized he'd gotten mud on his plate. Frustrated,
he closed the book and glared around the room, shooting the first years a cocked eyebrow
and a look of slight distrust. One of them shuddered and Louis couldn't help but laugh a little
to himself before looking around at the rest of the Gryffindors and saying a few quiet hellos.