Her very last Start of Term feast. Truthfully, Claudine was quite indifferent to this fact. Sure, there had been great times here at Hogwarts, and some great people but there had also been some extremely bad times. Not surprising, the bad times still stood out brightly. All Claudine wanted was to have a peaceful seventh year, graduate and move on with the next aspect of her life.

Her attention happened to be mainly on the Staff dais where there new faces. Here was a chance to get to familiarise herself with these adults. Oh joy.

Not.

Anyway. Where were her Snake friends? Surely they'd be here soon?

Violet had actually gotten herself together and up to the Slytherin Table of the Great Hall in plenty of time, for a change. She was trying to concentrate very hard on everything she was doing, so as not to have any more mistakes or forgetfulness. When she arrived, she saw Claudine already there and sat across from her. Violet had always meant to try to get to know her better, but it seemed something was always interfering--vengeful ghosts, the Neo-Alliance, so-called-"Healer" Poppy. And now it was Claudine's last year here.

"Hi, Claudine," Violet began, determined to socialize more this year no matter what weirdness happened. "Are you ready for your last year?"

Darius was happy to be back at Hogwarts. No more O.W.Ls to fret over, which meant he could relax this year.. supposedly. The thought left him as soon as he had thunk it, realising that relaxing wasn't much of a common occurrence at Hogwarts after the stuff that happened in recent years.

Anyways, he sat down at the table immediately noticing Violet and Claudine. "Hey.. alright summers?" They both, either, or neither were free to respond. It was going to be weird not seeing Claudine after this year. He checked the table, luckily didn't notice that fake Healer in sight.

Maya begrudgingly found herself shuffling over to the Slytherin table. The start of term feast was not one of her favorites and often left her feeling out of place and possibly jealous every time she heard the sorting hat shout out Ravenclaw. And she didn't think it would be wise of her to sneak off to the Ravenclaw table to join her siblings just yet when the sorting hadn't even been completed.

So the young Snake looked around the table, giving the elder students a slight nod of her head in greeting and a small smile, before locating a seat where she could see both Evan and Maya.

That way she knew where to run once the food appeared.

Blake was slightly sad looking up at the staff table. There were barely any Professors left that he knew and some only for a short time. In the 7 years he's attended Hogwarts it seemed like only Headmaster Trent remained the whole time. Maybe Hogwarts was a little to harsh on it's professors. Blake made a mental note to cross professor off of his list of potential future careers.

Looking around the Slytherin table, he saw Claudine ... and ... did he recognize anyone else?

Bella was for once not wishing that she sat with the lions. She wanted to avoid Apollo until she couldn't not avoid him anymore because of reasons. A quick glance up at the staff table showed her many new faces. Sigh. Could they have a year when all professor's remained? Slipping into the vacant seat next to Darius she plastered on a bright smile as her eyes scanned around the table to land briefly on all her snake peers in turn. "Good evening Claudine, Violet, Darius, Maya, and Blake! Did anyone go to the Diagon Alley 600 years festival? The bumper cars and fireworks making was so fun."

One said friend already there happened to be Violet. Claudine immediately broke into a smile upon seeing the girl. “Hi, Violet.’’ She paused, considering the question, one which she had never yet had to answer out aloud. “I really am. I’m quite excited about what awaits beyond Hogwarts. But you… fifth year already! That means OWLs. Nervous?”

The seventh year eyed Darius. “Oh, it was fine. Yours? And those OWL results?” No, she wasn’t being nosy, just hopeful that Darius had gotten at least a majority of pass grades. Catching Maya’s nod, Claudine waved. See, she liked that third year mainly because Maya was so quiet and didn’t go around making unnecessary noise. But from her observation, the third year seemed to be uncomfortable? being a Slytherin.

Claudine arched an eyebrow at Blake. Was he doing alright? Not confused or anything, right? “Hi, Blake. Look at you, all grown up.” She threw him a smirk, finding the need to give him a difficult time as she always did. “Oh hi, Bella. I did. I tried my hand at the Coin Designing. Lots of fun there too.”

How much longer until the speech? This Snakette was hungry.

Blake smiled at Claudine - it's true their 'friendship' for lack of a better term started off rocky and it still wasn't what Blake considered a deep friendship, but it had changed over time. Clearly growing up meant they both had changed over time. He he did now consider her a friend ... if that's what you call someone who annoyed the beejeezus out of you all the regular.

"Hey Claudine ... good summer?" He added, not rising to her bait as he usually did. It was true he had grown another at least inch over the summer. And then he saw the jam sitting next to him ... and he had an idea ..... "Claudine ... need any jam?" He adding pulling it closer to him.

WOOOOOOHOOOOO

Watch out fifth year, here came none other than Kayne Mordrake himself. The boy was thrilled to be finally coming back to Hogwarts after what felt like an excruciating summer. Not that anything bad had occurred while during the break, it just felt like it took forever. However, the one bad thing that did come out of it, was now he was single. Previously, he had been dating someone from home, but the distance was becoming too complicated for the two. But that was life. Kayne was just ready to move past it all.

Making his way over to the Slytherin tables, his eyes quickly scanned those already there, seeing that none of his friends had arrived. Yet, at least. So Kayne just took a seat, wondering what this new term will bring.

Enter, Nemesis.

They allowed the forced relocation to happen, without protest. Without surprise or alarm, either, as though it were the most normal thing in the world to be hoisted up by their robes by an unseen force, removed from the one table, and deposited unceremoniously at another.

But once they were released, they stood again, shrugging off their de-Slytherined outer robes, leaving them in a heap on the bench. Mumbling something indiscernible and likely incomprehensible, they departed again, as the abandoned robes slid from the bench and onto the stone floor.

Violet paused a minute at Claudine's question. Was she nervous about the O.W.L.S.? Before she got on the train, she would have said 'of course not!' but since then, with those episodes of forgetfulness and confusion--now she wasn't sure. She hoped it was just the after-effects of her 'Poppy allergy,' as she'd come to call it, but what if it were something else, something serious? Maybe she'd better go see the healer (a real one this time) before the term got too far underway.

But Claudine (and the growing crowd at the Slytherin table) didn't need to hear all that, so she just said, "Um, well, yes, I guess I am a little nervous." Noticing Darius there, she said, "Hi, Darius--I guess the O.W.L.S. are all over for you," looking at him a bit enviously.

Noticing Blake there, she greeted him, smiling inwardly at his attempts to get Claudine's attention. Jam? really? Was that a thing now? Then she abruptly stopped smiling, because she realized she wished someone was out there somewhere who would want to offer jam to her.

"Hi Kayne, Maya, Bella," Violet went on, trying to include everyone. Though she didn't know Maya very well--it seemed like she was always running off to another table, and in fact, even now, was eyeing the Ravenclaws. "I went to the Diagon Alley Celebration, at least for a little while," she continued to Bella, who was the only one she could think of anything to say to. "I was with my uncle, so we mostly stayed in the Food Court, though we did go to the Memorial Garden--it was very nice, I thought."

And suddenly, there was Nemesis Upstead, who apparently couldn't just make an ordinary entrance like anyone else. She opened her mouth to greet him, too, just to be civil, but before she could get a word out, he'd slid out of his robes and gone off elsewhere. Whatever.

Fiona was feeling a plethora of emotions at the fact that she was now beginning her final year at Hogwarts. She had spent a very busy Summer moving into her cousin Lucille's apartment. She sat down and waved at her fellow Slytherins. Well, except for Upstead whom she gave a slightly confused look as they took off their Slytherin outer robes and departing.

It came as no surprise that Violet would be nervous about OWLs. It reminded Claudine that NEWTs were in the near future for herself. Her own nerves hadn’t taken over. Yet. “I’m here if you need help with studies or practice,” the seventh year offered. Helping Violet would be like refreshing her mind in preparation for NEWTs. At the arrival of her dormmate, she smiled. Claudine had missed Fiona and now wondered if life had improved for the other girl.

True. Even Claudine considered Blake her friend. It was his timid, scaredy cat personality which had annoyed her. Then later, his closeness with Bernadette had annoyed her even further. But she’d had a change of heart for the better over the recent years and she’d seen Blake Ryan in a different light. “Yes. Not a bad one.” Suddenly the girl was smirking. “I think not. You’d do best not to get on my nerves, Blake. Detention on the very first evening back wouldn’t even phase me to empty every bit of jam that I can find on your head.”

There were still students arriving, even as to Claudine, the Slytherin table looked crowded. She nodded to Kayne, the sneaky fourth year. She hadn’t forgotten the shrewdness he had displayed during lessons last term, especially during some activity time. Next, the seventh year found herself staring as Nemesis made a sudden appearance at the Table. Not that they didn’t belong there but it was the manner of their arrival. Claudine, of course, had nothing to say to them and would go on ignoring their existence. And what was it with their robes? Everyone knew they were Slytherin. Gosh. Claudine rolled her eyes as Nem left. She didn’t even bother with the robes on the ground. “Talk about being irresponsible,’’ she muttered.

Ollie sat patiently at the Slytherin table. After a pretty uneventful summer on lockdown with her father, she decided she was going to do everything in her power to become her own person this year. Since she was so hung up on him last year, she let her friendships fall behind. She really missed Remy and Evan and Lisa, Ash and V, all of her friends from last year over the summer. But she was ready to live for herself this year. So she sat patiently, watching all the first years get sorted, waiting to see all of her friends again.

Bella's eyes darted involuntarily over to the Gryffindor table in search of Apollo's familiar head but he was hidden amongst all the other lions. The dark haired 13 year old turned her attention the sorting for a moment watching a girl get sorted into Hufflepuff. Bella turned back to the snake table just in time to see Claudine looking over at her. Furrowing her brows in thought she responded back to Claudine. "I must have missed the coin design booth. Did you get to take the coins you designed home with you? Can you buy things with them or are they just for decoration?"



Bella's stomach growled hungirly just as Kayne came in and sat down a few seats away from her. "Hi Kayne," she greeted hoping to disguise her stomach sounds. "Are you excited for OWL's?" At that moment Nemesis was uncermoniously dumped in the seat in front of her by some invinsible magic force. Before Bella had a chance to even say hi or ask what was going on to him Nemesis left the table leaving a heap of robes abandoned on the floor. Didn't he like the colour of his school robes?



Bella was still looking after Nemesis, wondering what they should do with his robes if he didn't return. Should they leave them for the house elves to bring up? Glad for the distraction Bella switched her gaze over Violet with a smile. "Hi Violet, I went to the food court and Memorial Garden too. My parents knew some of the people that had died in the war so we went there to leave flowers." Going to cemetaries or the like always made her sad. Trying to perk up she asked. "Did you visit the creature adoption booth too?"



Could they finish the sorting already? Bella was so hungry and waiting for Headmaster Trent to deliver his speech seemed to take forever. She looked on as a boy with big glasses and hair all ruffled like he had seen a ghost got up to the hat and got sorted into Gryffindor. Turning back once more to her snake buddies since willing the sorting to go faster wasn't helping. Some new faces had arrived. "Hi Blake, Hi Fiona, Hi Ollie! Did you guys have good summers?"

Fiona smiled and nodded at Bella. "Yeah, I did. I have moved in with my cousin Lucille and we are getting on really well. How was yours?"

She glanced towards the Staff Table hoping that Headmaster Trent would be speaking soon. Fiona needed to remember the names of the new faculty members and she had to admit that she was rather famished.

Maya smiled when she saw Claudine give her a little wave. She would have to admit, she was a fan of the elder student, mostly because Claudine had always been nice to her and left her alone to do her thing. Which she greatly appreciated. Her head turned when she heard her name.

Was she... being roped into... having a conversation... that involved more than one person? Merlin, she felt uncomfortable. Just as she was about to respond, the now seventh year, Maya recognized as Nemesis Upstead arrived. Then vanished just as quickly as he had come in.

Were they able to run off to different tables now? Because she had been waiting till after the speech to do that. She shook her head slightly and instead gave a smile to her fellow third year, Bella. "Hi Bella, nice to see you again. The festival was a lot of fun... my siblings and I had a great time. What about yourself?" There. She had been nice and pleasant and didn't stumble through that sentence. She was doing great. Her eyes were ready to wander back to the Ravenclaw table when another upperclassman,Violet, greeted her.

"Hi Violet, I hope you had a nice summer," she said politely and a bit distractedly. She had noticed her sister, Lisa, alllllll the way at the Ravenclaw table and gave her the biggest smile she could.

Max had heard a lot about the great hall and Hogwarts in general. He walked through the great hall with the rest of his class mates. As he did, he looked around. There was sooooo much to see! Floatung candles illuminated the entire hall and the cieling looked like the night sky. When the sorting hat had put him in Slytherin (no surprise, his whole family was in Slytherin), he headed over to the slytherin table to have a seat.

Violet noticed Bella's look at Nem's cast-off robes. "Just leave them there--after all, they did. Either they'll retrieve the robes themselves or the House Elves will, but I wouldn't worry about it." Focusing her attention on the girl's response to her small talk about the Celebration, she caught the mention about the creature booth and felt a pang of envy. "No, I didn't get to go there, we thought it might be too much excitement for Uncle Horatio. I'd really have like to have seen it, though--I hear there were a lot of really great demonstrations."



Violet's attention turned to a first year Snake newly arrived at their table, and she turned to welcome him. Because that's what upperclassmen did, and, astronishingly to her, she found herself now an upperclassman. "Hi, there--welcome to Slytherin, and congratulations on being sorted as a Snake!" She would have said more, but she heard the Headmaster start his speech and abruptly shut her mouth and turned to listen to Trent.

Oh no, did he just glance over at their table? He'd better keep an eye on the Gryffindors, they seemed to be up to most of the trouble so far this year. Listening to the new staff announcements sobered Violet somewhat. Both of the teachers she'd managed to create a bond of trust with were gone, and replaced by a couple of unknowns--Professors Applewood and Hernandez. She hoped she could get along with the latter, Potions being one of her favored, and strongest, subjects. Otherwise this was going to be a very long year. On the other hand, she was pleased to see that Jordan Strum was back teaching Ancient Runes, another favorite subject, and one she felt she'd neglected last year.

As Violet heard this last, she snorted softly under her breath. As far as she was concerned, the less they saw of the Board, the better. By now she'd found out just whose idea it was to have that incompetent so-called Healer Poppy forced on the school--the same one who had made her sick and fog-brained for a good deal of the year. She was still feeling the after-affects of her allergy, even though she'd been away from the calming potion, or whatever it had been, and she was worried it would hamper her preparations for the O.W.L.S. at the end of the year. Whatever new thing the Board was working on, Violet was automatically against it.

But then, interrupting this gloomy train of thought, there was food, and Violet put all other considerations, both trying to be social and brooding over past injuries, aside as she tucked in. Food had only recently started tasting good to her again, and she couldn't wait to enjoy the start of the year feast.

"That’s great to hear Fiona," Bella mumbled kindly in response, holding one hand over her loud sounding stomach. It was weird that nobody had noticed it’s hungry sounds yet. Slytherins usually kept things to themselves so this one time Bella was thankful. Looking across the table at Fiona she replied quietly. "I had a good summer. I went to a quidditch camp and got to visit my grandparents." She also had spent a lot more time than usual with her mother, which was nice.



Food please? Staring down at her empty plate, did seem to help the food appear. Bella was very tempted to use her wand to give her at least a handful of chips to chew on. Was it just her or did it take unusually long before Headmaster Trent gave his speech? Turning to Maya she smiled "It’s nice to see you again too Maya." Manners. "I thought the festival was a lot of fun too, especially the bumper cars." She did not mention the horrible mirror maze.



Bella had given Nem’s deserted robes another look when she heard Violet’s comment. Looking over at her peer she nodded "Sure, I’ll leave Nem’s robes to their own fate." It seemed easiest after all. Bella didn’t want to get in the middle of something that wasn’t her business. She was glad for Violet’s change of topic and said happily. "Yes, they showed lots of cool creatures like jarvey’s, kneazles and crup’s. I wish I could have adopted one but my mum didn’t let me."



A newly sorted snake made his way over to take a seat. Bella noticed his big eyes, trying to take everything in at once. Had she been like that in her first year too? Probably. "Welcome to Slytherin! I’m Bella, third year." she greeted with a small smile pursing her lips. Before she could say anything else Headmaster Trent finally stood up to give his speech and she listened in silence.



Bella didn’t know what to think. The brief glance over at her table when Headmaster Trent reminded them about the school’s rules was not comforting. Feeling unease creep up her spine, she reminded herself that she was a good snake that kept in line and followed the rules. Bella didn’t need to be reminded to seek out a professor when the trouble was too great for them to handle on their own, she was seeking out Professor Euka first chance tomorrow. That the Board of Governors would be more visible this term was a little alarming considering Healer Poppy. Bella was super relieved when the food appeared and attacked the food with energy.