Welcoming All to Hogwarts [Open]

This will contain the Professor's welcome to the students. This would take place at the beginning of the school year, so make sure to RP accordingly as far as your own plot timelines go (so if you met someone during the year, you haven't met them yet at this point since it's the beginning in this RP XD)

But of course, the beginning of the year is nothing without the feast in the Great Hall. Everyone is welcome to join. You will be sitting with your respective Houses, and the table order is (from the entrance to the far wall) Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. Take a post or two to greet each other, catch up, or get here in style...and then I'll kick start the actual feast and festivities~

***

He sat at the High Table, waiting patiently as the Sorting dragged on. He smiled and clapped politely along with the rest, though his mind was far from the cheers. He had taken a peek into the kitchen (under the guise of making sure the House Elves were working their hardest) and had discovered the most delicious-looking tart, set to appear on the High Table only a centimeter or two from his goblet. He would have to just about knock the goblet into the professor next to him, but surely pumpkin juice could understand the sacrifice he just had to make in order to make that delicious little tart his own.

The tremendous applause in the Hall brought his attention back to the ceremony at hand. Right, now he had to make a short speech before the students could go about eating their meals. He stood, resting his hands on the table (strategically close to that spot, but so subtle only another tart spy could understand his tremendous logic) as he surveyed the students both old and new. The faces that looked back at him were a mixture of nervousness, travel-weariness, and utter starvation. If he remembered anything from his days on the Hogwarts Express, the food there was just enough to keep you living until you got to the castle. Besides, the feasts were always tremendous, as many of the faces he glimpsed could tell a first year.

Arthur was excited for the start of a new year here, but even more excited for the feast that was soon to arrive on the table. Sure, the Sorting ceremony was interesting as always (he'd made it a little mental game to guess which of the first-years would end up in Gryffindor and had gotten quite good at this speculation; most of the students for whom the ancient hat shouted "Gryffindor!" he'd guessed correctly, there were only a few surprises and one or two that'd gone to Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw instead.) but the Welcoming Feast was always the highlight of the evening, in Arthur's opinion. Now all that stood between him and those sumptuous mincemeat pies was a speech from the Headmaster. He could only hope it'd be a short one.

((Sorry for the short (and fail!) post!!!))

((Pfft, oh this year is going to be fun if THIS is what I have to work with 8D))

Kiku sat at the Ravenclaw table, folding a piece of paper. The parchment wasn't as good as the paper he had back home, but it would do for the time being. He had started during the Sorting, and already he had several little paper creations lined up around his place setting. He was only slightly paying attention to the names being called, pausing every so often to contribute to the clapping when one of the students was sorted into Ravenclaw. As he finished off another of his creations, he glanced around the Great Hall to see just how much more time they had until the Sorting would be over. He smiled as he spotted several familiar faces, all wearing either bored or vaguely interested expressions. He supposed those in his year (or older) had become rather tired of Sortings, though they clapped politely whenever someone got sorted into their House.

By the time the Sorting had ended, Kiku had acquired at least thirty little paper creations. Smiling, he tapped one subtly with his wand, mumbling a quiet 'Chartam Animare' and smiling in delight as the paper began to move on its own. Little paper cats began to walk around the table, inspecting goblets and going after the shiny silver. Folded frogs hopped around other students' plates, chasing the paper birds that fluttered only an inch or two off the table. Some of the other students turned and stared at him, looks somewhere between unamused and fascinated written all over their faces. He remained perfectly amused by the whimsical little paper animals until a few decided to brave the rest of the Great Hall (more specifically, the other tables) and jumped/flew/hopped off and made their way towards the other Houses' tables.

'Ah...' He gathered up the papers closest to him, quickly ending the charm on them. However, the other papers had already gone out of his reach, and he could only hope that none of them had decided to wander into unsafe territory (and by unsafe, he meant malicious students or strict Prefects).

Francis could remember the first time he had witness these Sortings. It was exciting and he wouldn't stop marvelling at that hat and how it spoke. Every person it placed into its rightful place had only made him unable to wait for when a teacher would take him aside after the feast for his own private sorting.

These days however the Sorting was really of no interest to him. Every year a batch of new students would join the Ravenclaw house and every year he wouldn't even speak a word to most of them outside of Prefect duties. Most students kept too close to their age group and other than occassional reminding younger students the rules or reversing a case of hex of the Bogies someone used as a prank, he hardly had reason to interact with them.

So while that was going on, he was whispering to the students sitting nearest, striking up some conversation with them every so often. Of course they had to be careful that they weren't being too disruptive. Fortunately they weren't the only students doing so, though some were actually gossiping about the Sorting, wondering who will be next to join their house. Yet whenever someone was sorted, Francis would clap with the rest, trying to keep up this pretense of paying attention when he wasn't.

Honestly, after all the years of being at Hogwarts he still never understood what was the point of seperating students into four houses. They were always being reminded to work together as a school, but this arrangement of having houses made something like that impossible. Then again, they were British. Francis would just remind himself whenever he thought about it that the British couldn't get along with each other that even in their schools they just wanted a reason for competition.

William watched the sorting with the other Hufflepuff students and clapped along with everyone else as each first year was sorted. He could remember when he was sorted and felt nervous because everyone seemed to be staring at him. The sorting hat initially tossed up between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff before finally settling on the latter. Now William couldn't imagine being the member of any other house.

Watching the new Hufflepuff first years he wondered if any of them might have any natural aptitude for Quidditch seeing as some of the team had graduated last year and tryouts for new players would be happening soon for all of the houses. The team had done all right in previous years, but it would be amazing if they won the tournament while William was still at Hogwarts.

He watched the other Hufflepuff students too, and quietly greeted the ones he knew well between sortings. Everyone looked hungry as, and he couldn't wait for the feast to begin either. So he kept watching the sorting and waited until it was done so the headmaster could make his speeches and then everything could begin.

He waited until the noise in the Hall had died down, his fingers inching ever so slightly close to that secret spot. Once silence reigned, he smiled, his gaze sweeping over each table. He was proud of his students, both the old and the new. Already some of the older students were welcoming the newer ones, pulling them to sit with their groups. He knew they would all become fast friends, or at least, learn to treat each other like family. The professors beside him smiled, all sharing similar sentiments with him. He cleared his throat, making sure that he had the students' full attention.

"Welcome students, to another fine year at Hogwarts. As you have already been briefed before the Sorting, or because you have graced our halls many times with your presence, I will keep this introduction brief, and save most of our announcements until after the Feast. Please remember, that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. The list of restricted or banned items can be found outside of the Caretakers' office, with a few new items from last year. Most importantly, study hard and enjoy your time here at our fine establishment."

He swept his gaze over his students once more, though this time he included the staff...just to make sure a certain professor next to him had not caught on to his tart-sneaking moves. A small paper figure caught his eye, and he picked it up with his other hand (the one not close to the tart) and let it crawl over his palm. It was adorable, but it had gotten just a little too close for comfort to his precious, soon-to-be-his dessert. Still, he wasn't about to stifle or end the charm on it. He let it wander over his arm instead, soon not paying it any mind so that he could finish up his speech.

"Now, as I am sure all of you are quite famished and tired of listening to talking, I now officially invite you all to tuck in!"

The instant the words left his mouth, the tables became laden with foods of all shapes and sizes. The House Elves had once again worked hard to put together a feast worthy of royalty for the students of the school. The Professor sat down quickly, his hand already around the tart before the professor beside him could even begin to move for it. Smiling a wide smile of victory, he plopped it onto his plate before reaching for more of the food. The little paper creature chose that moment to leap from his shoulder, and with a cry of "No!", he watched in horror as the poor thing landed splat...right in the creme of his precious tart.

Kiku did his best to multitask, reaching out and swiftly grabbing a paper animal whenever it ventured close to him while simultaneously listening to the Professor speak. Luckily, it seemed as though everyone was focused on the speech and not the few that managed to escape and venture out into the rest of the Hall. He sank down on the bench, trying not to look suspicious. If no one could trace them back to him, perhaps he could avoid trouble. He peeked over at the other students, trying to see just how far away his little creations had gone. He covered his mouth with his hand as he spotted a little paper frog, hopping towards their House Prefect, Francis. He just hoped that the frog would keep going, maybe even hop so stealthily that the blond wouldn't notice.

The call for the feast to begin distracted him, and he sat up straight again as the tables filled with food. 'Well...perhaps I will be lucky and the little papers will be hidden by all of the food.' He mused, beginning to take some of the food nearest to him. The House Elves had once again made generous amounts of everything, as well as created dishes from around the world. The food wasn't exactly like home, but he appreciated their efforts and always tried the things that were supposed to be representative of his own home. He also enjoyed sampling foods from other countries, especially some that seemed to be avoided by other students.

A loud cry from the staff table caught his attention, and he glanced up just in time to see one of his other paper creations landing in the middle of the Professor's plate. The Professor looked utterly horrified, staring down at his plate and the little creature that had taken up residence on what looked to be a most delicious tart. Kiku turned back to his own plate, snatching up another one of the cats that had wandered close enough to him. He was certain now that he was going to be in trouble...and it was only the first day back!

((Poor Professor...I ruined his tart! *sniffles*))

(( Pitying the other RPers here for not having housemates to bother yet XD ))

With the last of the students sorted into their house and the Professor's speech, which Francis and the Ravenclaws he had been whispering to at least bothered to stop talking to listen to, the food was about to appear, and talking erupted all around the hall. That was the cue this small group took to resume their conversation like nothing had interrupted them, only this time they didn't bother to keep their voices down.

"How many wizards does it take to change a light bulb?"

"How many?"

"One hundred. One muggle-born to screw it in and the other ninty-nine to argue over who has the better spell for it."

There was laughter around him. Although he was certain half the students around him didn't even know what a light bulb was. In fact he was trying to figure out what one was himself. It was covered in Muggle Studies, it seemed very familiar so he was sure of it. About a minute later did he finally remember - or at least thought he remembered - what it was. It was that weird glass orb that produced something like a Lumos spell whenever you screwed it into the ceiling.

Reaching out for his cup filled with pumpkin juice, it had hardly been lifted up from the table when something landed directly in it, splashing some of the juice onto the table. Francis turned his attention away from the conversation around him to look into the cup. There now floated a soggy little bit of folded paper that he couldn't completely determine the shape of. Deciding to pick out the piece of paper, he tilted his head and stared at the thing once it was out and resting in the middle of his palm. Putting the cup down he used his other hand's finger to prod it a little, trying to get its original shape. It worked to no avail.

The cry from the teachers' table caught his attention and he quickly looked up. What was going on? He hadn't seen anything happen though, turning a second too late. Others around him seemed to have heard the cry too, looking up as well in curiosity. It would only be a matter of time before someone who did see what happened has passed the word of what happened around the Great Hall. Hogwarts was just that sort of gossip loving school

Now that the speeches were over, everyone was welcoming the newest Hufflepuff students and eating their dinner. Will had barely started on his food when he heard a cry from the head table. He looked towards the Head Table, and the Professor did not look happy. He couldn't see why the Professor looked unhappy, but he was sure the whole school would find out soon enough.

He waited a minute or two, but when nothing happened he carried on eating his dinner and talking about what happened this summer with one of his housemates. He and his parents had travelled to his Grandparents's house in New Zealand, and spent a few weeks with them before returning to the UK so Will could go back to school. He was trying to explain how rugby worked to his housemates when an origami bird landed on the edge of his glass and attempted to drink his pumpkin juice.

"Whoa, little fella!" Will said. He moved his finger so the little bird could hop on it, and then the paper bird hopped onto his head. He couldn't tell what it was doing at first, but he felt it moving and then settled down so he guessed the paper bird would be sleeping on his head. He hoped none of the prefects or professors would notice the little bird on his head.

(Sooooo sorry for being late! I meant to join this RP, but I just never got around to it! I hope I'm not too late?)

Lili was really starving, so she let out a happy smile as the food finally appeared. On top of that, she felt like doing a happy dance when she saw some Spätzle and sausages not far away. She quickly took some and got ready to dig in.

However, as she was just about to, she saw a small and completely adorable paper goat come to her plate, putting its nose to the sausage as if it was sniffing it. She giggled and took it in her hand, petting it as gently as she could. It touched her finger in return, making her giggle again as it jumped down, luckily landing on the table rather than in the food.

"My my, why are you interested in my sausage, kleine Ziege? Aren't you supposed to be a herbivore?" she asked the tiny creature as she started cutting said sausage into pieces, gently pushing the goat away when she had to. But once again, she was stopped from enjoying her meal, this time by a loud scream from the Professor. She tried to stop a small smile from appearing. She wasn't sure what had happened, but the Professor's expression was really hilarious. She tried to disregard him, as she went back to her food once again.

Mei had clapped excitedly each time someone had been sorted in to Ravenclaw. It was always exciting to see who would be joining them. Although she was curious as to who would be spending the most time sitting outside the common room trying to figure out the door's questions. Oh, well, they all learned something by the end of it. When the professor finished his speech and the feast began, Mei turned around to the table and slowly took in the vast array of foods provided.

However, when Mei went to place a nice helping of food on her plate, she found that her plate wasn't empty. A small paper cat had wandered onto her golden plate and was promptly licking its paw. It was an adorable display of magic that someone probably did during the sorting. She glanced up and down the table trying to find the source of the magic, but witnessed paper frog hopped in the prefect's cup. A giggle escaped her mouth. A frog for the Frog, as the English students probably would have said. Although Mei wasn't exactly sure how their Prefect was a frog.

Mei's head went to the staff table when she heard a cry from the Professor. Another frog had made its way into the Professor's tart. That man had a great fondness of sweets. While she was sure he was upset at the loss of his treat, Mei covered her mouth as she giggled at the sight.

When she turned back to her plate, she caught a glimpse of a boy who seemed to be fidgeting and moving constantly. Mei turned her attention to him, watching as he gathered up the paper creatures and quickly disenchanted them. The boy looked familiar, Kiku was his name if Mei remembered right. She didn't talk to him much since he was an upper classman, but she recognized from from the previous years. Kiku was either the source of this adorable magic or wanted it to stop. Either way she smiled at him, not knowing if he noticed her or not, and disenchanted her cat, putting it off to the the side so she could continue her meal. She hoped no one would take the little paper creature while she was eating.

He stared in horror at the same spot for a full few minutes, the poor paper creature still struggling in the creme. He could not bring himself to help the thing, not after it had ruined his perfect dessert. Next to him, the rival Professor laughed at his misfortune, not even bothering to hide it as he pointed at the wriggling legs of the paper frog. He turned his attention to him, sending him a glare, which only caused the other professor to laugh harder. Doing his best to ignore him, Quindervel took a sip of his pumpkin juice before finally taking pity on the poor frog. Gently, he tugged to remove it from the creme, inwardly still mourning the loss of his most perfect treat. He could always have the House Elves make him another later, but then there would be no fun to it. He wouldn't have a competing professor to snatch away the perfect treat from, but at least he would have his tart.

He watched the frog shake itself off, then begin to hop around the table as if nothing had happened. He examined it closely while plating food for himself, watching it explore around his plate. He glanced around the Great Hall, noticing other various paper creatures making their way along the tables and catching the attention of students. The magic on the paper was an animation spell of some sort, though he guessed it was not of Hogwarts origin. They did teach animation to students, but not animation that could give distinct personality traits to so many different pieces of paper. Mentally, he ran through a list of the prominent families attending the school, along with their various choice spells. None stood out in his mind, which meant the spell was a private one.

He could rule out first years, since their grasp of magic was unlikely high enough to invent their own spells. He took a bite of his food (a sweet pasta dish that he recognized but did not know the name of), eyes sweeping over each of the House tables. A student at the Ravenclaw table caught his attention, and he hid a smile as he watched the boy removing the enchantments off of several of the pieces of paper. Aha, so this was the source of the tart-ruining frog! He decided to simply let the matter drop, since everyone seemed to be enjoying the Feast. Besides, it was the first day back, and he personally didn't believe in punishment for creativity...especially fairly harmless creativity. He let his gaze drift to the Ravenclaw Prefect, trying to gauge whether he was aware of the commotion or not. He hoped that even if he did discover the source that he would simply let it go. They didn't really need to get into all of that legal stuff on the first day back, did they?

A movement to his right caught his attention, and before he could stop him the rival professor had scooped up the damaged tart, popping it into his mouth with a smile. Quindervel's mouth opened in surprise, then closed into a smirk as he reached over and plucked a particularly tasty strawberry from the other professor's plate, receiving an equally shocked look back. "I was still planning to eat that, you know. But now it seems that we are even." He sat back in his chair to continue his meal, satisfied with himself despite missing out on the tart.

((It's never too late to join~! Welcome Lili, Mei (Yao)! Enjoy the feast! Also...that was the cutest post ever and Kiku is going to have a lot of explaining to do XD Also, the Headmaster's name is Headmaster Quillius 'Q' V. Quindervel, in case anyone was just tired of calling him 'Professor' or 'Headmaster'. His profile is still a WIP along with the other professors, but his name is set~ He'll answer to 'Headmaster Q' if you can't remember (Professor Q makes him sound like his relation, who teaches Dueling Club and Defense Against the Dark Arts~))

Kiku continued his mad grab for the animated little paper creatures, careful not to spill his food or drink while simultaneously trying not to draw attention to himself. The last thing he needed was for someone to discover that he was the source of the myriad, disruptive little creatures roaming around the Hall. He knew there were far too many that had gotten away from him, probably seeking refuge at the other House tables, and it would only be a matter of time before one completely disrupted someone's meal to the point where they would question who had done such magic. And Kiku really didn't want to be in trouble his first day back, particularly with the other students. He was already unpopular as it was, and his little trick with the folded paper wouldn't help matters.

He removed the animation from as many as he could, a small pile of paper creatures beginning to form next to him. He had nowhere to put them, but he knew he would have to hide the pile soon or risk being discovered. He thought for a moment, then tapped the stack, murmuring a soft spell and watching in relief as the papers shrank to nothing more than the size of a tiny speck each. To anyone watching him from afar, it would simply look like a tiny pile of dust on the table. He carefully pushed the pile into his hand, then placed his hand in his pocket. He could deal with the creatures after dinner, and he resolved to do the same to any others he might happen across afterwards.

A pair of eyes gazing in his direction caught his attention, and he glanced up to meet Mei's kind smile. He blinked at her for a few moments, not quite sure how to react. Had Mei seen him casting the spell? Would she turn him in? If he smiled back, was he owning up to casting the spell? He decided to smile politely back at her, inclining his head a bit to show he acknowledged her. In truth, the two had rarely if ever spoken, since their class schedules and year differences kept them apart quite often. From what he had heard from others and seen of her though, he knew her to be rather cheerful and kind. He noticed a paper cat sitting motionless beside her plate, and his smile turned more grateful. At least it seemed that some people were taking to the small creatures well enough...or else disenchanting them.