put a little love on me ⋆ james potter

TWO

CHAPTER TWO!

- the feast

'having no regrets

is all that she really wants'

⋆ ⭑ ☆ ⭑ ⋆

The Great Hall has always fascinated Florence. Right now the ceiling was reflecting the darkening night sky, shimmering over the four house tables like a chandelier. The hum of chatter echoed around the room as students filtered in from the carriages. The four Hufflepuff girls sat at their table (closest to the door in the hopes of snacking during the sorting ceremony without the teachers noticing). Florence and Deanna sat down next to each other, with Maria and Angela sitting across from them.

Professor McGonagall entered the Hall with a line of first years anxiously following behind her. All of them stared in awe, and some even let out small gasps as they took in all the magic around them. When she reached the end of the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall stopped and pulled out a long list with the names of the first years on. She placed the wooden stool on the floor and picked up the sorting hat.

Once it was picked up, the sorting hat smiled, eyes wide, at the excited first years. This caused them to murmur excitedly towards each other, earning many gasps of surprise. After singing a rather gloomy song about the dark times the wizarding world found itself in, and how everyone needed to stick together, it was time to start the sorting of the anxiously waiting eleven year olds.

Zoning out the majority of the sorting, but making sure to clap and smile whenever a first year was sorted into their house, all Florence could think about was the delicious feast that they were about to have (there was just something about the food at Hogwarts that made it so tasty).

After the last first year was sorted and settled at their table, Professor Dumbledore stood up to welcome everyone back. "Now I know you are all very hungry –" Florence definitely saw his eyes sparkle in their direction, "– so I shall be quick. To the new students, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds, and some of you older students ought to remember that too. The Prefects will go over a few rules with you later on, and will also help you settle in. Now, you may tuck in, and please enjoy." And with a flick of his wrist, mountains of food appeared on each table.

Not knowing where to start, Florence thought it was a good idea to just pile everything onto her plate. Sausages, mashed potato, green beans, lots and lots of gravy, yorkshire puddings. Looking towards her friends, she realised they also had the same idea as her, all (rather unattractively) stuffing their faces full of the delicious food.

"You know, if you keep going like that, you won't have any room left for dessert." Exclaimed Rufus, a quite pompous sixth year Hufflepuff, who had a massive crush on Deanna and always followed the group around.

With her mouth full of steak pie, Deanna replied. "Oh sod off Ruffie, there's always room for dessert!"

Rolling his eyes, Rufus turned back to his plate and continued talking about what he did over the summer, which (unsurprisingly) sounded really boring.

Once everyone's plates were scraped clean, colourful desserts littered the tables. Sweet smells filled everyone's senses as they all stared happily down at the many puddings. There must have been at least every possible kind of dessert on each of the tables (much to the delight of the students!).