End of Year Feast!

[Ava King]

Ava sat at the Head table quietly chatting away to the staff around her, waiting for all the students to arrive. She was sure that they were just as excited about the food as she was, so it wasn't long before the Hall filled out. The Professor was happy about the red decorations that were hanging around the Hall again, the winner of the House Cup quite obvious. Ava rose and the chatter in the Hall quietened out as she cleared her throat to speak. "Welcome everyone the final feast of this year. Before we tuck in, I just have a few words to say. A very big congratulations to the winner of our House Cup this year - as you can all see, the winner is, yet again, Gryffindor!" She exclaimed, clapping along with the cheers from the winning house. "I know that Professor Kingsley is very proud of you all, and very happy to have the Cup in her office for another year!" She laughed. Moving on to the top House Point Earners, Ava saw that they hadn't earned a lot of House Points; not as many as the previous years. Quite surprisingly, the Top Point Earner wasn't from Gryffindor. All of the top earners were new to the list, and Ravenclaw was in the top two!
"Also a very big congratulations to our Top House Point Earners this year - For Ravenclaw and the Top Point Earner, Orwell Brocken earned 679 points for his House! For Gryffindor, congratulations to Victoire Fontaine who earned 476 for her House! For Hufflepuuf, congratulations to Graeme Fergusson for earning 420 for his House! And congratulations to Avie Mitchell for earning 360 points for Slytherin! Well done everyone!" Ava happily said, clapping along with the rest of the Hall.
"Congratulations to everyone for this year, you have made us all very proud. Have a fantastic holiday everyone! Be safe and empty out your brains in preparation to learn next year! And now we eat!" Ava smiled as the food appeared on the tables before sitting down, and helping herself to a large portion of food.

 

[Orwell Brocken]

Orwell couldn't quite believe that his first year of school was over, he was fidgeting with the tie around his neck, he was feeling pretty good about things, feel pretty happy about the way things had worked out for him. He couldn't believe he'd spent the year at Hogwarts. He couldn't believe that he was sitting around in the Great Hall waiting for the end of year feast. He had never seen so many different things until now, he'd never seen so much strange food on the table. He'd never gotten into so many arguments with people, or ever been faced with adults who didn't treat him like an adult, this place was so different from the place he was used to, it contrasted so much the teen had thought half way through the first term that he wouldn't ever really fit it with the normal Hogwarts crowd. His hair was a pale shade of lilac, he had changed it recently, looking forward to going on and the colour of his hair reflecting his mood towards it. The teen was sat in amongst his fellow ravenclaw students, trying to spot Archie on the Gryffindor table. Waiting for a moment to go sit with him, since Orwell like being a Ravenclaw, but he didn't see the need to separate during the lunch and dinner hours.

The teen glanced up at the professor, the headmistress at the front of the room, he cheered loudly for gryffindor when they were announced to be the winners. He was happy for Archie, he was happy when others appeared happy. He didn't altogether understand or think the points system was good but he was going along with it for the sake of Hogwarts and because that's what the people did. He looked to the professor who continued speaking, the top point earner for this year, a ravenclaw, and Orwell could barely believe his ears when his name was the one to be read out. He was a little thankful that his full name wasn't read out, as much as he was proud of it, he didn't want to have to deal with that, the fall out of that. Orwell couldn't believe it. He tried to spot Archie, not paying attention to what the professor was saying else, and as soon as the food appeared, Orwell just got to his feet, leaving behind the food and his ravenclaw friends who had been offering his congratulations and walked to the Gryffindor table. Spotting Archie and then sliding in the seat beside him which he was sure Archie had saved for him, "Congratulations on the Gryffindor win, but you know the points system is just a way of the professors pitting students against one another when we should be working together, working with one another to make society a better place," he mumbled to his friend with a small smile.
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[Avie Mitchell]

Avie Mitchell had not had a great semester, that much was certain, he begun it laying on his bed not wanting to move, but with the final dinner of the term, things had changed. He had his pet rock on his shoulder, animated and sitting comfortable, where Avie could feel the weight of it. He hadn't had any more episodes since the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and he was thankful of that, considering just how badly it had scared him. In fact, Avie barely any of it much thought, his mind busied itself with other things. He found himself really wanting to be able to learn the basics in reading, he wanted to try and achieve something before his time was done. Avie didn't know how to do this, he didn't know who he could turn to, there weren't many understanding people in his life who would be willing to give up that much time to spend with him. The boy was sitting at the table, he looked lighter than the beginning of the year. He looked rested, Avie was in all appearances back to normal, and while he was getting their, he still found the loss of his mother insane difficult to grabble with. He didn't like the fact he was going home and she wasn't going to be there. He didn't like that he was going home and his mother wasn't going to be at the door to greet him, that she wouldn't take him on any adventures, that she wouldn't sit with him to watch his favourite cartoons, or read anything to him.

Avie even thought he'd miss her getting annoyed at him for chewing too loud at the table, or when his leg fidgeted or when he asked too many questions. All he was to face was his aunt and uncle and his cousins, who were all older than him, and whom didn't really care for Avie. They loved him plenty, they wanted him to succeed but they did it at arms length and his aunt had always lead the tirade against Avie's lack of brains. Outwardly things seemed fine, Avie got confused by the same things, he didn't understand much, but he was enjoying rock collecting, he was enjoying swimming again, he was back to throwing rocks at people and not at the lake while holding back tears. At night was a different story, when he just wanted a hug or for some to hold his hand for a little bit he just got more and more sad, until tears sprung to his eyes. But, with each day he cried for a short amount of time, he slept longer, slept better, occasionally he would have nightmares which usually centered around the green light of that spell, but they were fading too. Avie didn't understand most of it, and he opted to not, trying hurt his head and it always made him feel worse. The headmistress started speaking, and Avie took the opportunity to place the rock on his empty plate, playing with it using his fork.

Slytherin hadn't done terribly in this house cup from what he could gather from what the other students were saying. He didn't bother clapping for Gryffindor's victory, just because he felt he was busier dealing with the little rock in front of him. Then after this were the top points earners, which Avie was sure wouldn't include him, if his D in potions had been anything to go by, and losing those points in Defence Against the Dark Arts when he had demanded Styx. A part of his young brain was sure that man was gone for good too, and he didn't want that to happen either. He just wanted things to be normal, he wanted professor Styx to be the one not letting him hug him, he didn't want the scary professor even if the scary professor had been nicer to him than any of the others. He was half paying attention, and was utterly floored, when his name was read out. He looked up suddenly, looking straight at the headmistress as if it was some kind of a joke, "That's me?" he looked to Lucien in confusion speaking far louder than necessary in this quiet room, "I've never won anything before," the joy in his voice was the easiest to spot as he lowered his tone, it didn't matter to him that he technically hadn't won to big prize but he had won something. He pointed to himself, "I actually won," he whispered excitedly to Lucien and anyone sitting near him at the Slytherin table, "I can't wait to tell my..," he spluttered to a stop before he could finish the sentence, he couldn't tell her. This was the first time he'd won anything and he couldn't even tell the one person he'd really want to, but he had to move past it, but his smile fell and though he was still very excited Avie sighed slightly, "Lucien I won, I won, me," he told his friend poking his side slightly, just getting his mind off her mother. he would be heading home, there would be plenty time to think then.
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