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Rain or shine, the Great Hall continues to be the hub of the school. Four long tables, one for each House as defined by the banners floating above them, are stationed in the enormous room facing the raised table reserved for the school staff. Already placed on the tables are silver plates with accompanying cutlery and goblets. Mountains of food and pitchers containing your favourite beverages are at your fingertips.
Whether you arrived for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on time or late, feel free to dig in as the headmistress has no speech to give. Keep yourself preoccupied by catching up with your fellow housemates or those who are visiting from the other tables while sink your teeth into the hearty and delicious meal prepared by the house-elves. Just remember to display proper eating etiquette and don't get any funny ideas. Food is to be eaten, not thrown across the dining room. Wasting food will come at a price that you will not like to pay.
Right then, this clearly wasn't going well. If only the house elves would lighten up, just for a few hours, but it seemed no matter how much she asked them to join in on the fun and celebrating, they were going to budge. And they seemed intent on keeping poor Toddles in line with them.
Quinn let out a long sigh, and gave Toddles a small sympathetic smile. There didn't seem to be anything she could do to help him out of this. She'd tried to tell the others it was fine and even welcome, and get them to join, but that wasn't working. And Quinn wasn't going to order the elves into something, even if she remotely thought it would even work, which she didn't. Sorry, Toddles.
She turned to Beth, scooped up a handful of confetti and dumped it on her best friend's head. "Let's take this somewhere else, shall we? And let them sort it all out?" It was getting a bit awkward being a spectator to this family squabble. Even if they weren't related, they clearly were a family by some definition of the word. That much was clear. And sitting here, just watching this seemed rudely voyeuristic.
Beth had stopped talking, for the most part she had stopped breathing. This brought a whole new meaning to the word e x t r a. Oh, merlin. Toddles, her little heart jumped as she watched the house elf scamper across the table only to watch as toddles asked…welp.
This was intense.
”Here, cookies, have. the cookies” Beth’s voice was almost a whisper as she sat there, bewildered. Oh thank merlin Tinka was there. She’d just yeah, leave cookies for them to eat.
Quinn’s question couldn’t come at a better time ”yep…I, well, I think that’s a good idea…wanna make potions maybe – or something that doesn’t involve glitter?” she asked her heart still racing.
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IT'S NOT AN ACT OF LOVE __________________________________________________ ___________ ____________
IF YOU MAKE HER ____________
"NO!" Toddles yelled suddenly. "Miss Quinn! Miss Beth! Not go! Stay, party for fun!" He begged, internally huffing at the way the other elves ALWAYS seemed to show up when he was on a break from his chores (which was almost all the time but that didn't matter).
"Not messes, it's parties!" Toddles countered Tinka and Argyle, throwing more confetti into the air even as Argyle began to clean.
"No clean! The party just start! Lots of time for party before cleaning!!" He protested, trying to shoo them away from the confetti.
"I'm sorry, Toddles." And she really was. Quinn would have loved it if Toddles had thrown her a party, and if she had convinced the other elves to join in.
But it didn't seem to be working out that way. Everytime she seemed to try to help the poor teen elf out and try to convince the others to take a break and join in, more seemed to pop in to chide the poor guy. It didn't seem fair. Toddles had asked if they wanted a party. Quinn had say yes. But none of that seemed to matter, and there didn't seem to be much she could do.
Watching the wierd elf family squabble was also awkward. Frightfully awkward, honestly. "Perhaps next time we'll get to have the party."
She stood up, collected her things, gave Toddles a sympathetic smile while she waited for Beth, and then made her way out of the Great Hall.
Reese was starving as he made his way to the Great hall for breakfast.. He was already looking for Quinnie when he walked into the hall. All the while his stomach growling.. He didn't much like sitting with his fellow Puffs.. He really struggled coming to terms with his unfortunate placement during the Sorting ceremony.. Or as he fondly called it.. The Hour of Shame.
Slowly, slowly he schlepped as his blue eyes scanned the room.. Hmm?.. Didn't look like she'd gotten there yet... No worries.. Can do this. Can go and sit at his own house table until she arrives. Then at least, he could nibble on some bacon while he waited..
She entered, half expecting to need to look for Reese, as he wasn't always at the Hufflepuff table. Sometimes he'd wait for her around the Ravenclaw table, or visit Beth at the Slytherin table, or Rylee at Gryffindor. Sometimes, finding him was like finding a bowtruckle in a pile of sticks.
But today Reese was easily spotted. He stood in the entrance way, almost as if plucking up the courage to sit with his faux-house. She slipped in and stood at his side, opposite of the direction he was currently looking in. "If you don't mind, I don't feel much like being hugged by Octavia or having her fawn over how cute we are this morning. Ravenclaw table?"
He was always in one place or another, but Schmebby knew he'd turn up soon enough.. But today?.. No search party needed.. His copper mop was like a beacon that would lead her or anyone else that happened to try and search him out, straight to him..
He looked up with a grin on his bacon greased lips.." Yeah.. Sounds good to me..", Reese replied as he got up to his feet and slung his bag over his shoulder. " How are ya feelin' this mornin'?.. "
The truth was, Reese worried about her. With the things she'd told him and her self-perceived uncertainty about her future with the Moons, he knew he was a huge source of quiet comfort for her. And being the Little Badger that he was he felt it was his job, as her boyfriend, to look out for her and reassure her as needed.
Quinn smiled softly at Reese and looked down at her feet. "Better," she said and looked back up. "Thanks for letting me get all that off my chest yesterday. It helped."
Since he was already seated, Quinn made to sit down next to him, but stopped when he stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. She arched an eyebrow at him wearing an amused smirk. It wasn't all that surprising he opted to leave this table for a different one. "Ravenclaw? Or we could visit Rylee at Gryffindor if you'd like?"
Yes, Reese. You heard right. Quinn and Rylee had started to work things out and where on their way, at least, to possibly being friends.
Reese wrapped his arm around her and gave her a quick, but sweet side hug when he fully standing, along with a little peck on her cheek. " Good... That's what I'm here for.. ", he smiled as he took her hand into his and threaded their fingers..
He blinked for a moment when he realized, after a brief moment of disbelief.. Surely, he'd heard her wrong, right? " Ya really wouldn't mind if we went over to Ry's table?!", he asked with possibly the biggest brightest smile he'd worn since stepping foot into the castle a few months prior. He didn't even give her a second to reply.. Nope!.. He simply led the way over to his sister's table and scanned the long plank table for her matching copper colored hair.
Otter This World ♡ Catpurrccino ♡ Slotherin ♡ Pandamonium
Rylee was tired. It had been a long long night and she hadn't gotten much sleep at all. The holiday's were coming up fast and with each day that passed she was working harder and harder at putting together a list of names of people she needed to get something for. This year... the list seemed fairly longer. There was also a special gift or two or maybe three that she was working on and well... she might have been failing at them all... badly. Hence the no sleep.
This left her sitting somewhere near the end of her house table, eating her waffles. Her blue eyes trained on the pages of a book she had set beside her plate, fork clattering down upon her plate as she dropped it to pick her wand. Muttering a quiet spell that would highlight a few lines of text for her in the book. Returning her wand the holster on her arm she picked up her fork once more and continued eating as if nothing had happened.
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Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Bread!
She smiled at the hug and the kiss, cheeks flushing pink, and smiled even wider when his hand took hers. "No, I wouldn't miii-----"
Before she could finish assuring him she didn't mind at all, she was being dragged by her very excited boyfriend toward the Gryffindor table. Behind him, a small, amused smirk had replaced her smile. His excitement was cute.
"There!" Quinn gestured to where Rylee was sitting with her free hand, and began to lead Reese, at a much calmer pace, over to his sister. She let him sit down next to Rylee first and than sat down next to him. "Morning, Rylee."
She was already grabbing a plate and starting to fill it with food.
Of course he was excited!.. This was the first time she'd suggested they go and sit with his older sister!. It was no secret that the two had been a little at odds since the trio met on the train on the way to school at the start of term. Not that either had any reason for the friction.. Just that they were two completely opposite people that's all.
" Oh!.. I see 'er!..", Reese exclaimed as he spotted his pointed out sister. And he allowed her to slow him as they both made their way over to the Lion's table.
" Hiya, Rylee!.. ", he said as he had a seat beside Rylee. " What's that yur readin'?. ", he asked as he glanced over at the open book beside her. Then he turned his attention to selecting his breakfast and filling his plate and belly.
Otter This World ♡ Catpurrccino ♡ Slotherin ♡ Pandamonium
Coming across one specific paragraph in her book, Rylee pushed her plate back a little bit. This might be something useful. Reaching down under the table at her feet she rummaged through her bag from some parchment and her quill. Quickly placing the parchment beside her book she jotted down a couple of notes in her own little made up language specifically used for her flower research.
The ginger haired lioness heard them before she saw either of them, her quill still quickly moving across the parchment. "Morning!," she greeted them both with a smile that she only just managed before turning her head to yawn onto her arm. "Herbology stuff." She folded the sheet of parchment tucking it into the book and closed the book sliding it beneath the table into her bag. "I can read it later though now that you both are sitting with me." It wouldn't be polite to keep reading her book and well she didn't want anyone knowing what she was planning for the holiday's anyhow.
"What what are you two up to today?" Another bite of her waffle made it into her mouth now that she wasn't focused on reading anymore.
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Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Bread!
The second Rylee said it was a herbology book, Quinn lost interest. Oh, she recognized it was an important subject, important to know both for your own safety and for potions. And she paid attention and worked hard in class. And had no problem consulting a herbology book if she needed to, but it wasn't the most interesting subject, was it?
Now transfiguration, that was a different story. She was great at transfiguration, and it was endlessly fascinating what you could do with that focus of magic.
Quinn ate silently for a bit before answering Rylee with a shrug. "Classes of course. Maybe practice some charms later. I'm trying to get my wand to be less picky about which charms it likes and doesn't like." Which is a struggle sometimes, given her wand is cored with not one, but two known to be extremely temperamental cores. It made charms challenging, but she didn't mind a challenge.
And in the end, her rising to the challenge of it was bound to build an very strong bond to with her wand.
Otter This World ♡ Catpurrccino ♡ Slotherin ♡ Pandamonium
The fact that Quinn didn't say a word about her reading material wasn't unusual. Not everyone was into Herbology. Truth be told there was many times she had said she was reading about Herbology when she wasn't simply because she didn't want to be bothered with questions. Nine out of ten times it worked, depending on the person asking anyhow. Like now.
Rylee enjoyed a wide variety of books. As long as it held information that would be useful to something she was interested in. At least in the case of books that weren't fictional. She knew what she needed to accomplish and she knew that time was moving quickly, each day bringing the holidays closer. More reading and more experimenting had to happen.
Taking a sip of her juice to wash down her breakfast she glanced towards Quinn. "Oh? Is there a specific charm you're working on?" She might be able to offer some pointers in she was interested. Not everyone wanted the help, some preferred to do things on their own and that was all fine and good. It didn't hurt to ask though.
Rylee smiled at Reese glad that him and Quinn had come over and sat with her.
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Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Bread!
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! The Daily Prophet is fresh off the presses!
An owl loudly hoots amidst the breakfast chitter chatter, leading several other owls into the Great Hall. Just like every morning, they were here to deliver the wizarding paper.
PLOP!
PLOP!
PLOP!
PLOP!
Within a matter of seconds, stacks of papers tied with twine are scattered about the tables. The headline, visible underneath the twine, reads "Hoard Found in Hogwarts' Lake."
Better set your pumpkin juice aside, untie the twine, and grab your own copy.
Quinn jumped as the newspapers landed on the table next to them. Daily Prophet. She wasn't the most avid reader of the newspaper, but still leaned forward to see if anything interesting graced the front page as she responded to Rylee.
"At the moment, reparo. My wand is quite finicky about charms it wants to perform..." Her voice trailed off as she caught the front page article. "We made the front page," she said, untying the stack and passing a paper to Rylee and Reese each. "Well Hogwarts and our creature companion treasure find..." She sat back with a copy of her own and started reading.
Otter This World ♡ Catpurrccino ♡ Slotherin ♡ Pandamonium
The loud hooting overhead could only mean one thing. Owls. Lots of them delivering the morning letters and papers to the students and staff alike. Right away, Rylee reached out to place a hand over her goblet of juice not wanting any feathers to land in it or for it to be knocked over.
"Ah, a fussy wand takes a bit more focus and time, hm?" she knew that it did but she was keeping the conversation going. "I can work on Reparo with you, if you like." It was one of the charms she knew how to cast already but she wouldn't at all mind working on the strength behind it to fix bigger things.
Hmm. "We did?" What was Quinn talking about. Hogwarts made the front page of the Daily Prophet? Oh. Whatever was in the article was about the creature companion activity... she would much rather forget about that... or at least most of it. "Thanks," she whispered taking the offered paper and quickly scanning the article.
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Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Bread!
Pips looked around taking note of studentsies in the great hall. He needed to dust a few of the benches off before they all came in for their lunch time meals.
*hiccup*
twirling around with fast feet Pips set about dusting off all of the benches the studentsies would be sitting on soon.
With another round of hooting, the owls circled around the hall and left the way they came, one accidentally leaving behind a dropping and another making a quick dive for a sandwich before departing.
Tinka quietly entered the Great Hall and began cleaning and dusting all of the tables. She was feeling lost without all of the house elves working together to keep Hogwarts in tip top shape. Algamus hadn't been himself, and that worried her more than anything else.
Anna was torn. She couldn't decide whether she was having a good time doing this assignment or not. Part of her was happy that she got to do an assignment on what she loved - all things fitness - but the other part was still wanting to whine because it WAS an assignment nonetheless, and she wasn't a fan of those.
That was the reason why she looked indecisive as she carried the notebook with her to the Great Hall to write the last bit of it while having breakfast right before the lesson when the assignment was due. Last minute pressure was the best type of pressure, y'know. That was how she rolled.
Plopping down at the Gryffindor table, she filled her plate with eggs and beans on toast and her goblet with orange juice. Taking the first bite, she opened the notebook next to her plate and started writing, not exactly being careful not to spill anything on it.
Text Cut: Notebook
Reflections:
Planning my workout sessions for the next five months was useful because I had something to follow and keep track of my progress. I found that it was helpful as I can now see how far I have come on each of the modalities of sports I have been training for.
I have improved my running time and know that as I decided it would be interesting to write down my time at the start of the plan and compare it at the end of it. I have shaved off 3 minutes of my 5K PB and that is brilliant, especially as it was already pretty good when I started the plan.
My flying also improved drastically, and I like to think that it is now even better than my running. I'm hoping I will definitely get first place in the broom races this summer.
I have realised I don't exactly need or want to focus much on martial arts. Although I find it interesting and am happy to keep training, I would rather focus on running, flying and Quidditch. For this reason, I did not follow through with the training schedule I created for martial arts 5 months ago, but I kept the training at 10-15 minutes and usually did it before I went for a run.
Unfortunately we didn't win the Quidditch Cup, but I suppose that is not all dependent on my performance as it is all group work. No, I am not blaming anyone for our loss, but I am finding it hard to measure improvement as we lost the Cup.
To conclude, I suppose it is useful to have a schedule and a plan at the start of the year and I have realised it is okay to not stick to that plan, but it can be very helpful to follow through with it as well. I might try and do a year long planning for next year, but I'm not sure whether I will yet.
As she finished writing, the Gryffindor closed the notebook carelessly and put it away alongside her quill. She swallowed her last bit of toast and drank the remaining orange juice from her goblet as she got up and swung her bag over her shoulder. Lesson time!
YesJess! | Captain Goggles | Mama Badger | Eva's Soul Sister | An OG™ | It's all in the Numbers
As Skylar neared the end of her month-long recorded training period and her final year was in the foreseeable distance, the snake captain headed to the great hall for some food and to write up a reflection on how she thought documenting her training went.
Before she started writing, she might have spooned extra food onto her plate and was digging in without reservation because she was an athlete and consumed food like it was water. Okay, stomach full, she removed her black journal from her bag and flipped through it, smiling at the activities she'd both planned for and ad-libbed. And at the end, turned a blank page and started to write.
SPOILER!!: Notes
Overall it was a good challenge because it allowed me to use what I already do on the regular, but to document my activity so I knew exactly what I do. But instead of typical runs, I found myself challenging myself to do more because I wanted to have something impressive to show in my journal. I didn't want it to be just a log of running, but I wanted to be able to say I changed my routine. I found new and innovative ways instead to get my heartrate accelerated and the endorphins flowing.
I don't know if it will be enough to allow me to pass my NEWTs, because I don't sit for those exams until next month and don't know how prepared I am, as it's not something that can ever be known? I do know that as I felt them looming nearer, I've spent more time on the books, rehearsing everything I've learned for seven years. As far as my goal of being accepted to a desirable Wizarding University Program, I've been accepted to three journalism programs and one for Magizoology Healing, most recently. I have not heard back favorably yet from a cursebreaking program, but I'm optimistic. To be honest, my major goals were sort of on the irrelevant side now that I consider them, which I guess means I achieved my minor goal looking back because of how NOT focused I was when I created these goals. Which means I have definitely increased my focus over the course of the past few months.
On the quidditch pitch? I'm not sure, considering I didn't do so well in my final game at Hogwarts and Slytherin lost the Quidditch Cup. Though one thing I do know from my years of playing quidditch is that it takes more than one individual to win a match, so I'm not sure I can be fully blamed.
Would I continue to keep an activity log? Probably not because exercise is something I regularly partake in and while I do enjoy writing, having to take that extra step to document what I did seems wasteful on my time. But I will try to focus to create more relevant goals for myself.
One last thing: don't ever try to sprint up the moving staircases!
Setting her quill down, she re-read her mini essay before closing her journal to drop off at Professor Baldvinnson's hut later that day.
__________________
______________So much is happening to me. So much that I can't even see.
So many words of wisdom that I am trying to be. It'll be in my own time.
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Great Hall 
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