Finally food! Tora was soooo hungry after missing the last couple meals. She was about to pull out her lovely plasticware when she noticed just how dirty the table really was. Vacuum time!
"Vacavus!"she shouted dramatically.

vvvVvVVRRRROoOOOMMMMM!

SHLUP. SHLUP. SHLUP.

WHOOOOMMMM. SHOOOOOMMMM. VRRRRRROOOOOMMMMM.

WHRRRRRRRRR DERRRRRRRRR DI ERRRRRRRRRR.

There! All clean! Tora retrieved her plasticware from her bag and set them on the (now very clean) table to eat.

Isobel walked down to the Great Hall, humming cheerfully. Not even the sight of the turnstiles had brought her mood down, and she willingly gave up ten knuts. She was running low, though, and it was still the beginning of the year. She approached the table, and stopped short when she saw Tora. She was holding a vacuum and... making sound effects?

Yeah, there was no way a magically enhanced vacuum would go 'whirr derr di err'. "Uh, Tora?" Isobel said, approaching cautiously. "What -exactly- are you doing?

Tora looked up shocked. She didn't realize that she was being quite that loud with the sound effects... actually she didn't realize that she had been making them at all! Egads. They were fun and certainly brought life to the activity.
She blushed from the roots of her hair down to the tips of her toes. "Ahem. Uh I am ahhh doing my Astronomy homework! And the table was really dirty. And I want to eat. So yes." She said gesturing to the blue vacuum in her hand. She really hoped Isobel wouldn't ask about the sound effects. Personally, Tora thought they added character to the otherwise run down Great Hall, but she realized (belatedly) that loudly going WHOOOOOM SHOOOOOM VROOOOM might paint her as a tad strange. But we're all wizards here, who isn't strange!
"I did most of it already... but if you want to have a go be my guest" She offered. Maybe if they both were making sound effects it would become a norm so the next time Tora subconsciously went VROOOOOMMM it wouldn't be quite so embarrassing.

"Yyyeah... um, okay." Isobel quirked an eyebrow at her friend. She was used to odd behaviours, but this was a new level of weird. Still, she supposed, to each her own, even if her own is extremely bizarre. "No thanks, I'm good," she said, still giving Tora a Look. She then sat down and switched her gaze to the food at hand.

With a slight sigh, Isobel looked out at her bleak prospects. The food had been fine the first couple of days, but the apparently never-ending supply of porridge was beginning to get on her nerves. Seriously, couldn't the house-elf be a little more creative? Of course, she immediately felt bad after thinking that, because the poor creature was probably extremely overworked and had no time for creativity. Still... porridge...

Okaaaaayyy now was the time to quickly put away the vacuum and sit down. Act normal. You're not crazy. Tora was blushed even more when Isobel gave her a very strange Look. ugh. There Tora went and completely ruined their friendship just by using a couple of sound effects! She sat down and scowled at her porridge, the fact that she couldn't pack it up for later meals just making her angrier.

Tora thought it was best if she just gulped it all down at once to minimize the awfulness of eating. Before Hogwarts, she didn't necessarily dislike porridge, but it was never a favorite. Now, however, it was repulsive. She counted to three and wolfed it down followed closely by a large glass of water. meh. She scrounged the table for a couple of pieces of bread and grabbed some peanut butter. She shlopped it all together and put it in some plastic bags that, luckily, Gram had made her pack just in case. She sighed. Those peanut butter sandwiches would be her breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next couple days. She had made four of them just in case, and put them in her handy- dandy messenger bag holding the rest of her school things. She grabbed a slightly withered apple to eat at the table after the porridge and poured herself another glass. After this last bit of food she was going to hit the road as she figured Isobel had had enough weird Tora for the moment.

Isobel watched Tora disinterestedly while she wolfed down her food. She was more inclined to do something else at the same time so she could pretend she wasn't eating gross food than trying to eat everything at once. Her eyes grew unfocused as she thought, her mind drifting off to some different ideas.

"Hey, Tora," she said as Tora started to get up, and tugged on her wrist slightly to keep her from doing so. "We seriously need to find somewhere with better and less expensive food." Ten knuts every time you come in here? Isobel didn't think so. "Can you cook? I think there's a secret entrance to the kitchens somewhere in the castle." Then they could make some suggestions to whatever poor house-elf was left making food for everyone, or just make themselves something, if they were allowed.

Aphrodite find Isobel was chatting with one of the Ravenclaw student, and she decided to greet her, "Hi, Isobel!" she said cheerfully, "You mind if I sit here?" she added, smiling at the two girls in front of her.

Tora looked up from scarfing down food to see another student had joined them. "Hello!" She said after she had swallowed her current mouthful. "I'm Tora, first year." She regarded the other girl curiously.

"Aphrodite, hi!" Isobel exclaimed, not expecting to see the Gryffindor over at the Gryffindor table. "No, not at all, go right ahead." Yes, she knew that was somewhat redundant, but really she was just muttering words of affirmation while she poked at her mashed potatoes with her plastic spork. The only up side, as far as she could see, was that spork was a really cool work. Spoon-fork, spork, it was one of the awesomer words out there. Apart from that, though, the whole low-budget thing really sucked.

"Hello there, my name is Aphrodite Dragongrass and I was also the first year students, pleased to meet you, Tora," she said, holding out her hand to shake with the girl in front of her, "You can call me, Fro," she said, smiling at her.

"Hello Isobel!"

Aphrodite greeted the girl in front of her,

"How's your breakfast?"

she said again as she occupies an empty seat in front of them both. Aphrodite soon took her own cutlery from the satchel she was carrying and took a spoonful of porridge, something that she thought was meat and do not forget a little mash potato, she must still fill her stomach because today was a long day.

Oooh a handshake! She hadn't had one of those in a while! She grinned and firmly shook Aphrodi- er no. Fro's hand. "Likewise!" she said then turned to Isobel. "Well, I can cook a little, not much other than grilled cheese and stuff though. I'm sure we can find a cookbook at the library and I heard the Hufflepuffs know a secret way into the kitchens. Do you know any Hufflepuffs well enough to ask?" Note to self: get a Hufflepuff friend!

She bit into her apple and thought for a while about the kitchens. [b]"One more issue... why would the food in the kitchens be any better than it is here? Other than that we might cook it better?" ...although it would be free... Which was definitely a plus! All these issues about tolls and getting around them made Tora think of the common room and that broomstick idea again, but she thought it best not to bring that up.

The fourth year ravenclaw girl was disgusted. She pressed her hand against the table top and moved it away and it had left a definite hand print. Oh goodness, she was not going to eat off of that.

Not now, not ever, not until she vacuumed it. Other people had had the same idea but she, no, she was going to go a step further and vacuum the entire great all. Get the cobwebs away from every crevase but that was for later. Now, all she did was swipe her arm along the table and dust it.

aaAAACHOOOO! Her sneeze, that had started out small had ended rather loudly and forefully causing dust to flutter away from where she was standing.

"That is nasty" she grimaced and took a step back from the table. Maybe the staff table was cleaner or another house table? She wondered as she looked about the hall.

Mack heard the sneeze and saw the cloud of dust that followed, she walked over to where the girls was standing. "It's awful isn't it." she looked around, the entire great hall was covered in dust. "You could always use scourgify, that's what we did in the Gryffindor common room.." the small blonde offered. "Wanna clean it all up?" She covered her nose as a sneeze threatened to come. She really couldn't continue living like this, she would spend all her free time cleaning if she had to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danielle_Daughn

Mack heard the sneeze and saw the cloud of dust that followed, she walked over to where the girls was standing. "It's awful isn't it." she looked around, the entire great hall was covered in dust. "You could always use scourgify, that's what we did in the Gryffindor common room.." the small blonde offered. "Wanna clean it all up?" She covered her nose as a sneeze threatened to come. She really couldn't continue living like this, she would spend all her free time cleaning if she had to.

Mika turned when she heard the girls voice and just smiled. "Yeah it is awful really," her smile turned into a look of shock when she heard about the dirty common room. Why hadn't Ravenclaw been as dirty? She wondered in confusion sure the furniture might have had a bit more ware and tear than normal but the entire common room being covered in a layer of dust. Now that was disgusting. "Really? You had to clean the common room?" She asked in disbelief.

"Ravenclaw was clean compared to the rest of the school - I don't know...maybe they just thought clean the dorm the logical people live in so we don't form a group to discover why things are so gross." She was bewildered. "Hey we could use our trusty vacuums from Astronomy class in here and really make it spotless" she offered with a beam.

Yeah since she really needed to vacuum some more and well, the school was disgusting. "Then eat whatever we want" she shrugged and smiled over to her.

"Yeah!!" sounded like a great idea to her, since she didn't have her vacuum any longer she could just use scourgify. "While you vacuum I can scourgify places you can't reach" The gryffindor smiled at the older student "I'm Mack by the way" oops she had forgotten to introduce herself

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danielle_Daughn

"Yeah!!" sounded like a great idea to her, since she didn't have her vacuum any longer she could just use scourgify. "While you vacuum I can scourgify places you can't reach" The gryffindor smiled at the older student "I'm Mack by the way" oops she had forgotten to introduce herself

“Well, yeah you can scourgify the place and make it all spotless and I’ll get the tricky stuff” she offered with a friendly smile. She took the vacuum she had been carrying around with her since the lake side adventure with Mo and aimed the nozzle at the table top. Taking her wand she tapped the vacuum and “vacavus” she spoke and the nozzle came to life.

The suctioning voooooooom sound of the air and particles of dust and things were being sucked into the black hole machine. “Your Mackenzie right?” she asked unsure if she had gotten her name right she was sure, very sure that she had heard the girls name in a class before. “I’m Mika – well, Amelia but you can call me anything” she called to the girl over the loud machine.

She quickly aimed the nozzle of the machine to the table and began to suck up the dirt and dust from the Ravenclaw table. She still had a bit to go – the seats, the floors, and heck if she could reach it the ceiling as well.

Mack nodded when the other girl asked her name, she really was getting used to being called by her full name. Only her grandparents ever called her Mackenzie, her parents had nicknamed her Mack as a child and it stuck. It wasn't that she minded being call Mackenzie, but it reminded her of the summers staying with her grandparents and them introducing her as such at all of their events.. seriously weddings, garden parties, afternoon tea, brunches, dinner parties, and everything else you could turn into an event and there was Mack wearing horrid dresses and having to curtsey all evening, even the thought made her shiver. Hearing the vacuum quickly brought her back into the present. "But everyone just calls me Mack" she told the girl over the sound of the machine. Mika now that was a cool nickname. She offered the girl a smile and pointed up into the corners of the great hall cleaning the cobwebs from them. "Scourgify" and they were gone.. Maybe by Christmas the entire school would be back to normal

Mika smiled over to Mack when she said everyone called her Mack. “Oh good, I was dreading calling you Mackenzie” she said with a laugh, “kind of lazy on the whole name front…rather than telling everyone ‘hey I’m Amelia’ I mixed two letters of my first and middle name together and became Mika” she just giggled at the thought.

She didn’t mean to giggle really. It was more the vacuuming reminded her of the muddy lake incident that made her remember the ticklish feeling it gives when you vacuum someone’s neck. “Once I’m done with this table we can go move onto another and you can take a whack at the black-hole machine” she smiled brightly at the girl.

Yeah black-holing things was fun.

Tapping her wand to the end of the vacuum’s nose “vacavus” she cast the spell and let the noise of the dirt being cleared away comfort her into eating in the great hall once more. She pressed the vacuum nose against one of the seats and moved it around making sure to suck up as much grime as possible. She was starting to think like Airey – this was strange. Because, well, she didn’t want to think that way…cleanliness meant being proactive and being proactive meant not being lazy. But, clean eating areas was a must.

A smile spread across Mack's face, so that's where Mika came from, she had thought that it had been a family nickname. Giggling as Mika called the Vacuum a black-hole machine "Ok, sounds good. I would have thought that the staff would at least have cleaned in here as well, since they eat here too." She frowned looking up at the staff table, it was clean, so maybe they only focused on their area.. Mack walked over to a suit of armor standing near the table "Scourgify" she spoke as she pointed her wand at suit. There she smiled inwardly as she stepped back and saw all cobwebs were gone, and it was shinning again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danielle_Daughn

A smile spread across Mack's face, so that's where Mika came from, she had thought that it had been a family nickname. Giggling as Mika called the Vacuum a black-hole machine "Ok, sounds good. I would have thought that the staff would at least have cleaned in here as well, since they eat here too." She frowned looking up at the staff table, it was clean, so maybe they only focused on their area.. Mack walked over to a suit of armor standing near the table "Scourgify" she spoke as she pointed her wand at suit. There she smiled inwardly as she stepped back and saw all cobwebs were gone, and it was shinning again.

Mika nodded when Mack had said that she had thought the staff would have cleaned the school a bit. Yeah, that was her general consensus as well. She was still a little shocked that the plans she had made with one of the little house elves for weakly don't kill your friends with your bad cooking classes had been thwarted by those elves just disappearing. It was obvious they were gone right? Because none of places they used to clean were clean any more - and the food wasn't any good anymore.

"I get what you mean, I just...the staff you'd think would clean but I'd venture to say maybe Professor Fancyfeast...I mean, Flamsteed had cleaned the staff table? He did give us an assignment to clean the school using modified muggle contraptions" she chuckled. She liked the modified vacuums. "If you want a go at it you can - I think I might summon a bucket, conjure water and well...maybe some soap?" she offered with a shrug. Yep some of the spots on the table needed a little TLC and elbow juice to get clean and sparkly.

Still yawning, Beezus bounded over to their table and slumped down on a seat. There was barely anyone in the Great Hall. People were probably still asleep or something. Others may not just want to eat there because they had to pay in order to enter. She knew some of her Ravenclaws would just ask their friends to bring them food in the Common Room most of the time. She'd done so herself.

But today she wanted to go down here not only to have breakfast but because she wanted to do some tea leaf reading. And with the silence this place provided right now, well, it was perfect.

Beezus carefully took out a turquoise colored thermos, a tea cup with saucer, and a box of chamomile tea - all were owled to her by her mother per her request - from her bag and set it on the table. Yep. There was no way she was going to use that plastic cup they've used on class even if her boyfriend had decorated it for her. Nope.

She uncovered the thermos and poured water into the cup about three-fourths. Now, add the good stuff, right? She grabbed a plastic teaspoon from somewhere and used it to scoop tea leaves from the box and sprinkled it into the hot water.

She would have to wait and let it sit for at least two minutes. Meditate in the process. Okay...she could do that.

Eyes closed. Beezus tried to clear her mind off things. It was rather easy at 7 in the morning, you know. Especially because she was still half asleep. Her mind didn't wander off like last time...not really. Well, actually it did wander back to her bed and how comfy it would be to be back up on the dorms snuggling her pillow, listening to those singing books her mother also sent her. Yes, that was wonderful indeed....and very com - Oomhf! Her forehead hit the table.

She'd dozed off, hasn't she? Geez.

Patting her cheeks to wake herself up, Beezus eyed the teacup. Thankfully it didn't spill. It looked cold enough to be consumed now though. So after shaking herself up, she lifted it up with her left hand and drank the contents.

Mhmm. Mhmm. MHHHHMMMMMMMMM. That was good. Amazing, really. Chamomile tea was the best. Aromatic and soothing to the tongue.

A satisfied breath was released afterwards. Of course she'd left a small amount on the bottom of her cup for the reading then she set it back on the table. Okay....relaaaaaaaaax. Was there a something popping up in her mind? ...Was there? Nada. She was still too sleepy to get her thoughts together. So....let's just pretend there was something and proceed to the reading.

Swirl. Swirl. Swirl.

And, turn over on the saucer. One breath, two breath, three breath and turn it back over.

Then....SQUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINT.

Rim, middle, base, yea? Okay. She got that and on the rim, she was seeing......a circle of some sort? More squinting. Merlin, this was hard work. Was it a ball? Pfft. Whatever. She was going to take that as a ball. Now, a ball according to their text meant...."A ball predicts that your luck will be much like a bouncing ball going from good to bad, but you will be able to bounce back." Ooooh. Was it now?

Hmm. Okay then...middle was next. She could make out a....what in Merlin's beard was that thing? She wasn't sure, it looked like squares...a lot of them and they were connected to one another. Or were those rectangles? "A....ladder?" Was there a ladder on the text? If so, then that was it. She flipped through the pages and, "Aha! It suggests an increase in income and status. It can also represent the relationship between the physical and spiritual worlds." Weird reading was weird. Or perhaps it just wasn't making sense because she was still sleepy.

And at last, the base... "A bird?" Beezus tilted her head and narrowed her eyes a bit more. It did look like a bird but with bulky, long tail. Could it be a peacock? Yeaaaaaaah...maybe. So what does that mean? A beautiful peacock can foretell a happy marriage to an attractive partner. Ahem. Ahem. Marriage? She was too young to get married! Besides.....there were circumstances. Circumstances that would probably hinder her from marrying so nah.

But she was blushing now from thoughts of it.

Nope. Nuh uh. Too eaaaaarly for that kind of reading. And maybe it was too early to be holding this reading in general.

Shaking her head to keep those thoughts away although it kept coming back, damnit, the Ravenclaw focused on her journal entry. She recorded down what she symbols she saw on the teacup.



Geez. Was she still blushing?

SIGH.

Perhaps she REALLY should try again. Yeah. That'll be cool. After she munch some real food and get enough sleep. That probably also affected how she saw those weird symbols.

Eliza had slept well the night before. She’d been so tired from all of her classes that she had fallen fast asleep, cuddled up in her blankets. So this morning, she rose wide eyed and bushy tailed and trotted down to the Great Hall to do a little tasseomancy.

She sat her cup and saucer from home on the table and aimed her wand at the saucer. “Aguamenti,” she cast and filled her saucer. “Finite.” Next she tried the charm Ethan had reminded her about to heat the water. She circled the cup with her wand and said the incantation, “Chaudensis!” Slowly but surely, the cup warmed and began to steam.

She sprinkled in some of the special tea her mom had sent her and waited for it to steep. She did her best to clear her mind and think about a special topic. Right now, the thing that came to mind was whether or not she should get a kneazle next year. It was a simple thought for an easy going gal. She began to drink the tea through her teeth, keeping her question in mind, and swirled the cup when there was only a little tea left inside.

She flipped the cup onto the saucer, let the excess drain, and then flipped it back over. Looking clockwise from twelve o’clock, she began jotting down what she saw. On the rim she saw a pair of scissors, which was unusual to her. Usually she saw other shapes like animals. Then in the middle, she saw a…a star-ish type shape. And lastly, on the base, she saw something that looked like a tree. Interesting, she thought, and began looking up their meanings and wrote in her journal what she thought about them.

SPOILER!!: Notes

Eliza Dawnsel
Ravenclaw Third Year
Divination - Homework One

Morning Reading:
Rim: Scissors - If you want something new you have to get rid of something old. - Present Reading
Middle: Star - Health, love, happiness and success. You can‘t control fate. - Near Future Reading
Base: Tree - A goal or ambition will come true, be finished. - Future Reading

The scissors actually make a lot of sense, although I wish they didn’t, because if I got a kneazle I would be afraid about it fighting with my owl, Luna. But I really would never get rid of Luna, so maybe there’s a way that I could train the kneazle to leave her alone. So that makes sense for the present, because I have Luna now. The star, meaning good health would be great because maybe that would mean that if I do get a kneazle, my owl will still be in good health. But then it says you can’t control fate, so that makes me feel like me trying to train my kneazle not to hunt my owl would be hopeless. And then the tree for the future reading, a goal will finally happen or I’ll accomplish something I’ve been wanting to…so that would mean that I’d get a kneazle, right? Because I’ve been wanting one. I’m not sure, I feel like I’m getting mixed signals on this one.

James walked into the Hall and sat down at the end of the Ravenclaw table away from the few people that were there. He looked at the food that was on the table and made a face. Okay...maybe he wasn't so hungry anymore he really needed to send that owl to his parents asking for something else to eat.

Was it too much to ask for to get a real meal here anymore? Breaking into the kitchens every once in awhile to make a sandwich was what she tended to do when she got too disgusted by the food. Walking through the great hall, Zoe saw someone she recognized and headed his way. "Hey...James right?" she asked as she dropped into a seat across from him. Setting her disgusting looking plate, solo cup and spork on the table. Pulling a face she looked down at her stuff that had been washed a couple hundred times already "Disgusting..." she muttered.

Maybe she should just have gone to the kitchens again...