Ravenclaw Table

Ravenclaw Table

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The Ravenclaw table is situated between Hufflepuff on the right and Slytherin on the left, though there is a wide space between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff due to the aisle to the Staff Table.

Taking the carriages to the castle was honestly far superior. Especially with the weather kicking up outside. The ceiling showed the state of the weather. Clouds dark, rain coming down, wind whipping the flames of the hovering candles this way and that. Even the occasional lightning flash would light up the hall. Being on the boats would have been ROUGH.

Looking around the Great Hall, there were very few people Everleigh actually liked. Over at the Hufflepuff table Alice was smiling and talking with her friends. The Gryffindor table was always a tad louder than the rest. The Slytherin table was light on students, probably because the old Head Master was insane and wanted muggles to rule the school. Couldn’t blame the parents for being wary.

Finding a seat, Ever looked around for Patricia, her only true friend, but couldn’t see her anywhere. On the train, it was easy to say she missed her in a compartment, but now, with everyone taking their seats, she was nowhere to be found.

Just great. Looks like she was alone.

Sitting quietly, back straight, uniform pressed and perfectly in place, hair in a bun at the back of her head and resting bitch face on without her knowledge, Everleigh waited for the hat’s song, the sort and thank god, some good food.

Did she want to be at the castle? Sure, she loved school, but she would much rather do away with the tight, multilayered uniform, toss on some trousers and relax with a good book. Whoever invented skirts could rot in hell. As someone sat down across from her, she gave a slight smile, just a subtle tip to her lips and a nod. There, she had socialized, could she go to bed now?

Cassian McCormick had had a great train ride. That was it. All he had to declare. While many of his schoolmates held sour expressions at having to return to the castle, loathing the end of their summer break, nothing could've been further from the truth for the Sixth Year. His summer had been long. Just over two months unable to see his girlfriend, grounded so hard he was sure his father must've broken some law somewhere and no play.

The glitz and glamour of the stage had been taken from the boy who'd decided to make a daring trek across the country to fix a disagreement with his girl and that had effectively sucked the soul out of his summer and any enjoyment he may have otherwise been able to derive from it.

It was a heavy hammer that his father had thrown down and he was happy to be up from under it.

Did it matter that classes would be starting and that he'd have homework as well as responsibilities to contend with again?

Not in the slightest. Nothing could dampen the boy's mood after reuniting with Rosie on the train and getting to share how much he'd missed her. Long as the train ride was, even it wasn't enough for all the catching up they still needed to do.

Until then, he would settle at his house's table and wait for the feast to be over. While not as exciting as his earliest years at the castle, Cass loved the sorting and the chance to welcome the new Ravenclaws the moment they were sorted. In his experience, there were often some who felt crushed when their robes turned blue and he liked to encourage them with the fact the house wasn't all about reading books and studying.

Then there were those who were an absolute delight, bounding down to the table already full of questions and the sort of curiosity that supported breakthroughs in the world.

You never knew what you'd get until it was all said and done.

Sitting, Cass nearly missed the faint smile his neighbour threw his way. "Oh, hey, Everleigh," he said, swinging his feet over the bench to have a proper sit. "What're the odds the others are catching the late train to Hogwarts?" His comment was light, not meant to be taken seriously, but there was an unspoken concern laced in. Many of the students had returned after the debacle that was Halloway, but there were also many empty seats.

"More food for us...?"

Elias walked over to the Ravenclaw table, still grinning and looking down at his robes. Blue and bronze. The hat had put him in Ravenclaw. It had been so certain, so quick about it.

He spotted Everleigh sitting with an older boy and felt a rush of relief. Someone he knew! Well, sort of knew. She'd sat with him and Lindsay on the train. Still, familiar was better than completely strange.

As he slid onto the bench, the table stretched out with empty seats everywhere. The golden plates sat empty in front of him, waiting. He'd spent most of the train journey eating sweets instead of proper food. What he really wanted now was something hot and hearty. Maybe shepherd's pie with thick gravy, or some roast lamb. And maybe apple crumble with custard. He could almost taste hot food already.

"Everleigh!" he said, then realized he was probably being too loud. He lowered his voice. "I'm in Ravenclaw."

A glance at the older boy made him suddenly feel tongue-tied. "Wasn't expecting that."
A yawn caught him by surprise - all the excitement and nerves were catching up with him now. Around the Great Hall, other first years were still finding their places. Was that one of the boys from the boat getting sorted? Hard to tell from here.

Elias shifted restlessly on the bench, trying to find a comfortable spot. He caught himself bouncing his knee and forced himself to stop. At the Gryffindor table, Eamon was waving at him like an idiot. Elias gave a small wave back, then watched as his brother turned back to his friends. It was weird not sitting with Eamon.

Where would he even sleep tonight? His trunk was probably already in some dormitory he'd never seen.

There were still more first years to be sorted, and then the Headmistress had to give her speech before they could eat. His eyes felt heavy and he blinked hard, forcing himself to stay awake.

"Is it always this..." he gestured vaguely at all the empty space, "quiet?"

This was the first time he ever went to the train by himself. Usually his mother took him as she always enjoyed exchanging pleasantries with former classmates she had who had kids at Hogwarts. Something he always found odd as his mother didn’t talk to most of those people more than when she was taking him to or picking him up from the Hogwarts Express.

This time he’d taken himself and his trunk from his grandparents shop on Knockturn Alley where he ended up after camp. Simply his mother didn’t think it was safe for him in Belfast with everything going on. Which meant he didn’t get to go home, and his mother stayed there due to her job as a trainee healer at a small wizarding hospital there. All he thought on that was they must be getting desperate if welcome witches were getting that kind of field promotion, but his grandparents told him his mother had good marks in Hogwarts. Apparently, his mother just got married and had him before applying herself.

He didn’t dwell on it as he watched the countryside pass by, or as he debated how the carriages got them to the castle. There were more interesting distractions.

The latest distraction was walking into the Great Hall wondering how many people would return.

At least there were first years. He figured they’d be the most likely to go missing after everything as it would be easier to pull a kid out of a place they never went. He certainly would have begged to go back to Hogwarts more now than he’d of before he started at Hogwarts.

As he took a seat he overheard Cassian and said “ Since we had to sit on the train forever if they come by floo are we gonna call them Sooty Feet? “ Or so he assumed Cassian and the others had been on the train, he admittedly didn’t look for people once he found a compartment to read a book in.

Then he looked over towards Elias and said “ This is the first year I had to turn off the clocks in my trunk it was so quiet. “ Then he pulled out five pocket watches and started winding the first one so it would make the pleasant tick tock sound it normally would. He wasn't too concerned with having the correct time.

“Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 1920 school year at Hogwarts. I’m sure you notice all of the new faces up here,” Ruby said, motioning at the staff table. “I am your new Headmistress, Ruby Haswell. Gideon Blackwood is the new Deputy Head Master. He is also the new Head of Hufflepuff. For the other houses, we have Charms Professor Roufas Bourne who is also the Head of Gryffindor. Potions Professor Emil Roan is also the new Slytherin Head of House. And your Transfiguration Professor and Ravenclaw Head of House is Etain Battersea. Dark Arts is now being taught by Librarian Julia Laurence. And the Care of Magical Creatures Professor and the Groundskeeper is Maddox Barlowe.”

She motioned towards each person when she mentioned them, encouraging them to wave at the students. Turning back to the students, Ruby cleared her throat. “Due to the events of last term, I am sad to inform you all that Quidditch and Duelling have been cancelled this year.” Groans of disappointment erupted from the tables before her and Ruby nodded in agreement. “Yes, I know, it is quite disappointing indeed. However, I have been told that we are introducing a Spellcaster’s Society, led by Professor Barlowe, and The Wandering Wands – a survival club – led by Professor Bourne. There is also an opportunity to help in the library as Library Assistants, led by Professor Laurence. Please see them for more information. Also, do not be discouraged by the smaller number of house mates… I am sure as the term goes on, more and more will return to us.”

Ruby grinned, almost completely done with the announcements. However, there was just one more thing she needed to say: “Before we can fill our tummies with delicious food, I do have a word of caution. We have noticed that some things around Hogwarts are not quite… as they should be. Some of the things we have seen include the Grand Staircase – we have seen them stuck in the same position for days on end, and one day they were gone altogether. For a couple of days, some of the doors in the castle transported those who went through them to random rooms. There was also some time when the Gryffindor Common Room was unlocked. But all of these things have – we believe – been fixed. So my caution is to please be aware of where you are and what you are doing, be careful, and always have your wand ready. And please report any strangeness to an adult as soon as possible. Oh, and… the Forbidden Forest has that name for a reason. It is forbidden, and you will receive detention if you are caught wandering around there.”

The Headmistress cleared her throat. “And now, for your Prefects and Head Boy and Head Girl! For Gryffindor, we have Matilda Nordstrom and Rosalie Laurence. Hufflepuff is Benji Laurence and Alice Ravenstone. Ravenclaw is Cassian McCormick and Kaitlyn Dwyer. And Slytherin is Ruth Elliot and Ren Al-Sayeed. Our Head Boy and Head Girl this year is Dylan McMurtry and Angela Howard! Congratulations, everyone.”

The last thing Ruby had to do was introduce the food. Her stomach growled. She was quite famished herself. “And now, let us dine on some amazing food!” she said and lifted her hands out to her sides, her palms up, as if welcoming the food into the room.

But nothing happened.

Ruby glanced over at Gideon, and then jumped when a house elf appeared at her side. She bent down to allow Fluppy, the Head Elf from the kitchen, whisper in her ear. “Oh dear…” she commented after a moment, as she stood up and looked out at the students before her. They were all excited for an amazing meal, and yet – they (as well as the adults) were to be sorely disappointed.

“Unfortunately, I have just received word that there is an issue with the kitchens. Because of that, we will be dining on sandwiches and fruit for dinner. I promise that once the issue is resolved, we will ensure everyone gets the meal they were hoping for.”

At that moment, the doors to the Great Hall opened and in came an unnumbered quantity of platters and bowls, charmed to float, along with the rest of the house elves from all over the castle who immediately began depositing the platters on the tables. Pitchers of various types of juice, an assortment of sandwiches, bowls of apples and bananas took place on each table. A moment later, in came another round of platters, these with heaping mounds of cauldron cakes among other sweets.

“Since we had to sit on the train forever if they come by floo are we gonna call them Sooty Feet?“

"There's a thought," Cass replied, nodding in greeting to his fellow Ravenclaw when Bear joined the table. His eyes travelled the length of the Great Hall. Usually, it was packed. Students sat shoulder to shoulder, some having to sqeeze into a place if they decided they really wanted to sit with their friends. This year...this year it looked like the news from the Daily Prophet and whatever the students had brought home had been enough to discourage many parents from allowing their children to return.

He wasn't yet sure what he thought about it but... "Maybe they'll come back after Christmas?" This many kids, they couldn't all suddenly be homeschooled, yeah?

The hands on his shoulders had him looking up at once, his gaze running into those hypnotic blue eyes he'd spent a large portion of the train ride looking into. He held onto her hand a brief moment, his cheek growing warm from her kiss, before he let her go. "I'll catch you later," he promised.

Cass watched one of the newly sorted Ravenclaws bounded over to the table with the sort of excitement he liked to see. He let him ramble on to Everleigh about his sorting, remembering his own and how excited he'd been despite not having been put in a house with either of his siblings. At a natural break--when the boy finally came up for air--Cassian offered a good natured, "Welcome to Ravenclaw!"

"Is it always this... quiet?"

“ This is the first year I had to turn off the clocks in my trunk it was so quiet. “

He wasn't the only one feeling the absences. "It'll...probably pick up. Eventually--we've probably got our pick of the beds tonight! I'm gonna snag myself one by the window. Lock in a good view for the year." Less students meant a lot more things were now more readily available for those who were here and the boy planned to capitalise on that.

Cassian settled down as the speech began, noting the new and returning faces that sat on the staff dais. By the time it was done, and several of his peers had stopped grumbling, one thing was clear.

"This will be...interesting."

No duelling or quidditch, a bunch of broken charms and the staircases still weren't fixed. He may have lamented as much but he was suddenly taken aback by the ...er...lack of food? Cass looked to his housemates as if they might have an answer before the headmistress went on with talk of sandwiches and fruit. "Anyone interested in bets on who'll revolt first?" He had a mind it would be the Gryffindors but the way Ruth looked to be withering at the Slytherin table told him it might be close.

Cassian spared a glance over at the Gryffindor table, silently congratulating Rosie on prefect when their eyes met before returning to the lacklustre dinner that had just swooped in. The boy plucked a cauldron cake from his plate.

"Well, not many ways this good get worse, I reckon."

"Oh, hey, Everleigh, What're the odds the others are catching the late train to Hogwarts?"

Cassian, a 6th year. Nice enough. At least one housemate back that she didn’t hate on site. “Doubtful. I foresee a lot of open spaces in the Common Room to study.”

"More food for us...?" Indeed, not that there was ever a shortage.

When the hat read of the next name she smiled, a small upturn to her lips, just barely obscuring her typically neutral scowl. "Everleigh! I'm in Ravenclaw."

The smile grew. On the off chance that anyone ever saw a full on grin, they would be rewarded with a stunning smile and even a secret little dimple, something more hidden than the professor's hidden stash of spirits. "Wasn't expecting that."[/k]

“I was, you’ll fit in great here Elias. I’m glad we’re housemates.” She said with a definitive nod. Bear joined them as well, it was nice to see him back. At least the people who had taken seats at the table she liked. There was a distinct lack of estrogen, though. She noticed Clover, another 2nd year down the table a ways, and Kaitlyn who she really didn't like, thankfully she was a 4th year. There were a few more scattered about, but the low numbers were astonishing.
[i]
"It'll...probably pick up. Eventually--we've probably got our pick of the beds tonight! I'm gonna snag myself one by the window. Lock in a good view for the year." Ever’s eyebrows went up into her hairline, Now that was a BRILLIANT idea. “Cassian, thanks for that idea! I’ll be doing the same. Not that there is much competition.”

And then… Sandwiches… Bloody hell.

Grabbing a PB & J sandwich and a glass of cold milk, Everleigh sighed. This was not what she had signed up for. “Of all the things for the magic to tamper with, it had to be the bloody food?! This is worse then… Well, almost anything.”

"Anyone interested in bets on who'll revolt first?"

Everleigh looked around the Greathall, there were some very angry faces, but she honed in on one. “Benji from Hufflepuff might actually cry. My money is on him.”

Elias blinked at the older boy talking about beds by windows. His hand found his wand in his pocket, still damp, and he pulled it out to wipe it on a napkin.

"Thanks," he said. "That sounds really good, actually."

He would love to have a bed by the window - then he could watch things outside. Maybe have a friend.
He smoothed down his hair and tugged his robes straight.

When he turned to Everleigh, she was looking up the table toward where some of the older girls sat. She kept looking over there. Was he boring? Did she want to sit with them instead?

"Me too. Glad we're housemates," he shifted on the hard bench, uncomfortable. "That song the Hat sang was so strange though—all that about broken magic and the old headmaster."

The boy with reddish hair was pulling out pocket watches - one, two, three, four, five - and started winding one of them. The soft ticking filled the space around them.

Elias leaned forward, his hand starting to reach toward the gleaming brass before he caught himself. "Can I touch one?" he asked, then added, "You brought five of them? And you turned off your other clocks because it was too quiet?"

That made no sense at all. Quiet was the strange thing, not ticking. Home was full of ticking noises.

The soft ticking was interrupted as the Headmistress stood. He tried to focus on her words—cancelled Quidditch, new clubs, broken staircases. His eyelids felt heavy. He wanted a shower, wanted to get out of these damp robes. His shoes felt awful, soggy and cold. He found his chin starting to drop before catching himself and straightening up again.

Apparently Quidditch was cancelled, not that it mattered. First years couldn't play anyway. Around him came groans and complaints, but he found himself breathing easier. Spellcaster's Society, Wandering Wands—those sounded safer than racing around on broomsticks.

But then came warnings about doors leading to wrong places, students getting lost. A candle flickered overhead and lightning flashed across the enchanted ceiling.

The Forbidden Forest was forbidden, she said. Well, obviously - it was in the name. But why have a dangerous forest at a school in the first place? Why not just fix whatever made it dangerous?
Adults were weird sometimes.

When the platters appeared, floating through the air, he sat up straighter. Finally—

Plain sandwiches. Bowls of ordinary fruit.

Elias stared at the thin ham between plain bread. He'd imagined thick stew, roast potatoes, apple crumble steaming in bowls.

His arms folded on the table and his forehead dropped down to rest against them, cheek pressed to his sleeve. Through heavy eyelids, he blinked at the sad sandwich, fighting back the frustrated tears that threatened to spill over.

"Maybe they'll come back after Christmas?"

He said " They'll probably be bored by Halloween. " That was his prediction anyways as unless he was let to stay home and work in his grandparents shop he'd probably not last that long home bored reading books alone.

He nodded in agreement when the others were discussing getting picks of the beds.

When Elias asked to touch one of his pocket watches he looked over the ones he fixed picking the best one that was working and said " Sure. Pure mechanical " offering it up to Elias to look at. Then he continued " Usually it's so loud as we are getting on the train my clock collection goes unnoticed. This year they made me turn them off "

It certainly wasn't his choice to turn off all of his clock collection for a train that had wheels that when moving made more noise.

He listened as activities he had zero interest in before got canceled. Though he did feel bad for his more active classmates who lost what got them out of the common room so he could focus on things in peace. What happened to the old headmaster was crazy but there were worse problems at home in Northern Ireland for him think about than what happened at Hogwarts.

He was still here and it seemed the staff turned over.

Then he heard the truly interesting thing of things weren't working like they normally would. The enchantments at Hogwarts that made things like the staircases go had to be decades old, probably even centuries. That type of magic was more than interesting to him and peaked his curiosity.

Then he grabbed his sandwich and took a bite of it. It was plain and boring, though at least it was edible. With a shrug he said " It's not that bad. Though they owe us a feast when they sort this all out. "

Though him saying it wasnt' that bad wasn't saying much as he'd eat almost anything.