* Harry Potter; Mauraders' Era; lunch (next muggle studies);

[Freak Show Excess]

Sirius clapped and whooped raucously as the sorting hat finished. He was hoping that the song would be short this year, and it was. He rubbed his stomach in anticipation as the students were sorted, cheering along with everyone when one was made a Gryffindor. When Dumbledore stood up again, he listened attently; he had always admired Dumbledore, who was one of the only authority figures to whom Sirius paid attention. He cheered loudest after Dumbledore finished talking, and looked around the table at the amazing spread of food that had appeared.

"Ahh it's about time, then!" he said euphorically, heaping large amounts of whatever was near him onto his plate and picking away at it in his usual graceful manner. "I thought I was going to die before the feast began! Thankfully Dumbledore is smart enough to realise no one wants to listen to a long speech before hand!" He laughed and set about eating as much as he could.  

[comfylove]

Gryffindor seemed to pull a good lot this year after sorting; Remus was quite impressed. They sure didn't look as mischievous and dangerous as he remembered from his sorting; but then again James and Sirius were also standing along side him at that time. For every nervous student that got sorted into Gryffindor, Remus clapped whole-heartedly, clapping some of those nearby on the shoulder as he welcomed them to Hogwarts. He had to pay attention to the faces to make sure that he had all of them while he and the female Prefect gave them a tour of the school, however he could not pretend for once that he was not starving.

When the sorting had ended, Remus hoped for a short speech from Dumbledore. Sure, he respected the Headmaster, but his stomach seemed to be eating him alive and Professor Dumbledore must have known not to stand and chat too long for in only a couple of moments, food appeared in front of him at all different angles.

He groaned slightly while his mouth seemed to water, piling food onto his plate and asking those nearby to pass whatever was out of reach. Yes, this was going to be a good year. "He'll be going on and on about the rules in no time, Sirius, you know." Of course, this would be good. James and Sirius could do with a refresher on the rules.

 

[Mistril]

Venatici listened to all the names that were being called, hoping that when Dumbledore made his speech that it would be short, sweet, and to the point. The list of first years seemed to go on, and by the time the sorting was finished, his stomach was roaring. Dumbledore finally stood to make his speech once everyone was seated in their respective houses. The speech, thankfully, was short, and in no time the plates in front of him were filled with delectable goods and within seconds of the food appearing his own plate was filled and he was eating as slowly as he possbily could so that he wouldn't appear rude.  

[Mistril]

Narcissa was sitting at her table, ignoring the sorting ceremony completely. She was looking at her nails when she noticed a teenie-tiny little crack. Well, that just wouldn't do. She turned to the girl next to her, who was a first year that had just settled down, and quietly demanded that she fix it. Which she did, without a question. After the girl was finished, Narcissa examined it and it looked fine, but she was sure the girl must have done something wrong, so she demanded that it be redone. It looked even better the second time.

It was then that she noticed that everyone in the Great Hall had quieted down, which could only mean one thing. The crackpot was about to make his speech. There was honestly no point to it, so she didn't see why he even had to speak. Or breathe, for that matter. But no less, he prattled on.

It was during his mindless waste of air which people considered a speech that she decided the first year next to her would become her new accessory. She looked at the girl and said "I have decided that you will become my new... Servant. And I don't care what your name is, I will call you Chattel and when I call, you shall come. Simple as that." She paused briefly before adding, "And you will do as I say unless you plan on regrettig your stay."  

[Le Papillon Pleurant]

Hestia didn't quite listen to the names or anything like that. She merely amused herself by running her fingertips over the top brim of the goblet in front of her and staring at the pumpkin juice as the orange substance swirled inside the glass. Bored? Yes. Feeling out of place? Certainly. This was nothing new.

Hestia was smart, but she never felt she was suited to be a Ravenclaw. She on occasion really felt she was suited to be in any of the Houses at times. Hestia was too passive and quiet to be passionate and brave like most Gryffindors. Then again, she was sometimes too outlandish and crazy to be considered a Ravenclaw. Definitely not a Slytherin, they plotted and scoffed too much for her liking. And not a lick of Hufflepuff--they were the cuddly and happy sort. Hestia was too clinically insane to be sweet all of the time.

She thanked her parents for that final trait.

"Oh hell," she groaned as she spilled a bit of pumpkin juice. "I knew that would happen. Why did I do it?"  

[yellis]

Peter didn't really stand on ceremony when it came to food, well he didn't stand on anything he sat, hunched over his plate, trying in vain to fit half a roast chicken onto his plate while maintaining his ample portion of mashed potato. Its not that he was greedy, but in his house dinner was more a competition then anything and old habits die hard, he was always like this the start of term.

"They always lay a good spread on dont they" he half snorted while he took a break to de-bone his chicken leg, totally forgetting about the sorting and the song that he just saw. He really did have the attention span of a fish sometimes.  

[Mmm Bop]

Gilderoy sat at his house table with an amused look on his face. A fine crop of students had been added to the Hufflepuff family. He would have to take the time to introduce himself to each and every one back in the common room. No doubt they may one day need his assistance with their school work or social affairs. He turned to his attention toward the Slytherin table and noticed the young lady serving Narcissa Black. Even though he didn’t approve of some of her activities, he could help but admire her at times like this. There she was, demanding the attention and the girl just gave it, no hesitation, no questions asked. Only beautiful people like themselves could make such demand such and get it.

“Mr. Lockhart,” the girl to the left of him began, “Your food will get cold if you don’t eat.”

Gilderoy turned his attention back to his own table and indeed his plate was already covered in food. His fan club never missed a beat. “Ah, yes. Thank you Alexia. It does look delicious doesn’t it?” He politely nibbled at his food, eating enough to please the fan club, but not too much. After all, idols did not stuff their faces in public, regardless of how hungry they may be.  

[Freak Show Excess]

"He'll be going on and on about the rules in no time, Sirius, you know."

Sirius paused halfway through chewing a particularly large piece of turkey and looked at Remus with a contemplative look on his face. Swallowing hard, he said, "Yes, but I'll have stuffed myself by then and after that I won't care about anything besides going to bed. Anyways, James and I always pay attention to the rules. We're perfectly angellic, isn't that right, Jamesy?" He prodded James in the ribs with his elbow. "I don't know why you'd think we'd need a refresher," he said as he waggled his eyebrows obnoxiously at Remus.  

[Amour De Sheri]

Coughing and spluttering on his treacle tart, James tried to recover from Sirius's attempted homicide. "Angellic, yes!" he replied to Sirius, while grinning behind his hand. "Although, Sirius, speaking of angellic and devilish, or whatever else," James complained, "What's with the elbow in the ribs? I am eating, you know, and would like to make it through the night without choking to death." To Remus, James nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah, we know, Remus. We always pay attention to the rules..." He eyed the full plates around him hungrily, before deciding he could do with a good bit more tart for starters, after having lost the his first bite to a battle with his lungs. Gingerly, he picked up a piece, trying to search around the tarts-which had been bruised by many fingers-until he found some that suited his fancy. Then he moved on to the other dishes around him, piling onto his plate a good portion of whatever was in reach. "So, Pete, how's the chicken?"  

[ieatwood]

Bellatrix was sitting no less than three seats down from her sister, but could see Narcissa picking her nails during the entire speach. Her older sister had never held anything for contempt for Dumbledore, probably because of his avid support of Muggle's and Mudbloods. She sighed softly, resting her elbow on the table, and her chin in her hand. Her dark eyes idely watching as one by one, nervous first years were brought to the front of the hall and Sorted. Most of them looked confused and bewildered, wide eyed, nervous inside their cumbersome robes. A good lot of them ended up in Slytherine, though she was pleased to see a few looked competant enough.

Finally the Sorting was finnished and Dumbledore stood to announce the feast. Suddenly the table was laden with every delicious food imaginable. Bella tucked her hair behind her ear, reaching over her plate to serve herself waldorf salad, roast beast and mashed potatoes and gravy. Their house elf was such a terrible cook and Bella always looked forwards to the food at Hogwarts.  

[Sikhe]

Sybill applauded with the rest of the students as the Sorting finished. She was glad they would get to eat before Dumbledore gave his speech, she was growing rather hungry and the Hogwarts house elves were especially good cooks.  

[comfylove]

Remus snorted, rolling his eyes slightly. If Sirius and James were angelic then Remus must be God. Gobbling down his food, he wasn't even feeling remotely full as of yet, but he was getting quite tired. Pausing, he stretched out his limbs, legs reaching across the Gryffindor table. Accidentally, he felt his leg rub up against another's across from him. Well, Sirius sat across from him and Remus sank in his chair, hopping that it wasn't actually Sirius, but it was pretty likely. Remus retracted in his chair, going back to his food. He blushing like mad, hoping that Sirius would not announce to everyone around that Remus was playing footsies with him.

 

[Freak Show Excess]

"Angellic, yes! Although, Sirius, speaking of angellic and devilish, or whatever else," James complained, "What's with the elbow in the ribs? I am eating, you know, and would like to make it through the night without choking to death."

Sirius laughed at James' complaints and patted him on the head. "Aww, Jamesy, I didn't know you were so delicate. I'll make sure to do nothing more than pet you nicely next time I'm to get your attention. Although, I do that so often that you'll probably just ignore me, so I don't know how that'll turn out."

"Yeah, we know, Remus. We always pay attention to the rules..." Sirius guffawed and had to cover his mouth to prevent bits of food from flying all over the place. "See? You have nothing to worry about. We aren't about to make your first year as Prefect any more difficult or anything. What gave you that idea?" He set about eating again, picking his way through the plethora of delicious foods that kept refilling themselves.

He suddenly felt something brush up against his leg and looked across the table at Remus, catching his eye briefly and looking away quickly. He felt an electric thrill run through him without quite knowing why. Remus had obviously accidentally hit his leg; it wasn't like he was trying to play footsies with him or anything, right? Trying to cover up how awkward he felt at the moment, he slid his leg under the table and bumped Remus back, grinning obnoxiously at him.  

[Okiah]

Elsewhere:

Voldemort sits on a wooden, high backed chair, his fingers steepled. He says slowly, in a sibilant whisper to his snake, "It is finally done, Nagini. I'm immortal..." He trails off, listening to the sounds outside room. I must find more followers, to make the realm fear me more than it does now.

Voldemort lets a low raspy chuckle loose from his mouth, and stands, his black and red cloak following his every whim. "It's time."  

[comfylove]

"Well, I have a certain amount of pride and morals, which is why I follow the rules." Remus said in a snarky tone towards James and Sirius; they of course would know nothing about the sort for they have been breaking rules religiously since they arrived at Hogwarts. Furthermore, if Remus so much as toed the line of rules, somehow his mother would find out and punish him first time he got back home, and he didn't want one of those involving not being able to go back to Hogwarts or not seeing his three friends over the summer holidays.

As Remus tried to ignore the fact that his leg just brushed against Sirius', keeping his face down and looking at his food and he shoveled it into his mouth, he felt someone's foot collide with his own leg, knowing immediately who it was for right across the table, Sirius was giving him that devilish grin that he mastered over the years that got Remus' blood to boil. Not quite knowing what to do or what Sirius was playing at, Remus prayed silently that he wasn't blushing, bumping his leg back against Sirius although gentler this time as it was not on accident.