Eonian

𝒫𝓇ℴ𝓁ℴℊ𝓊ℯ

The Great Hall was alight with conversion and laughter as hundreds of candles illuminated the room. Clinking of utensils buzzed through the hall as the young witches and wizards of Hogwarts swapped stories of their summers.

Multiple ghosts eerily zoomed around the tables, popping up to scare the first years. The Fat Friar, the hufflepuff ghost, was joyously laughing as he talked to a newly sorted witch while on the other hand, the Bloody Baron, the slytherin ghost was broodily sitting next to Lucius Malfoy who looked less than pleased with the sitting arrangement.

The most noise however permeated from the gryffindor table, where a group of five troublemakers sat. They liked to called themselves the Marauders, load of bullshit if you asked some students (*Cough* Severus Snape *Cough*). The group consisted of 4 boys and a girl. Their names; James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Anaïs Valentine.

Everyone loved them and their little pranks. Well....mostly everyone. They were the professors worst nightmare. They trembled with horror every time the summer vacation ended and they knew that the 5 devils would be back to terrorise the halls of Hogwarts yet again. Horace Slughorn almost resigned the previous year after the ruddy group had targeted his potions classroom and had filled it with live ducks and chicks. The poor bloke still had nightmares about that.

Everyone thought that James and Sirius were the worst of the group while Remus and Anaïs were the most well-behaved but it was actually the other way around. Remus and Anaïs were the inspiration behind their great plans. The masterminds, if you must, behind their pranks.

Anyways, the 5 students were lost in their own world as they talked about the latest prank they were about to pull. A small prank during the welcoming feast had become tradition. No one knew how those terrors managed to create trouble on the first day back, especially since they never left the great hall. Well.....if you asked them they would always smile cheekily and chorus, "Marauder Secret."

Just beside the gryffindor table was the hufflepuff table. There sat Gemma Riley, Hogwarts newest exchange student. Her straight, pearlescent blonde hair cascaded softly down her shoulders, bangs falling in her ocean blue eyes. She was shyly talking to Katherine Bryce, the female prefect, who was filling her in on the ins and outs of the house.

Her pink lips were dancing with a tiny smile as she gazed in amazement at the gorgeous hall. It wasn't like her previous school, Beauxbatons, wasn't glamorous, but it was never this...lively and joyous. The rules were way too strict and uptight for anyone to completely relax and break facade.

Suddenly she looked up and her gaze collided with Remus Lupin's chocolate brown eyes. Gemma passed him a sweet smile, which was reciprocated with a small one from Remus. They both looked down at their plates, soft pink highlighting their cheeks.

On the other side of the Great Hall, Regulus Black was shooting his brother discreet looks, lips twisted down in a frown. Sirius, his brother, had run away that very summer. He had left him alone in that house, where suddenly all the expectations and responsibilities had fallen on his shoulders. Regulus had begged his brother to stay but he had left anyway. While a part of him wanted to resent Sirius, ultimately he couldn't. Walburga Black was horrible to both her children but she was especially cruel to her oldest.

The dark-haired slytherin looked down, toying with chicken on his plate, fork scraping noisily. He let Barty and Rabastan's arguing voices wash over him. He (fondly) rolled his eyes at them. Obviously, as usual they were talking about some stupid shit again. This time it was whether the ceiling of the Great Hall was a ceiling or was it actually the sky. Idiots. (Idiots he loved, even though he would forever deny it)

"I'm telling you", Barty asserted, "No way that's a ceiling! Its too realistic!"

"Well, we're going to have to test it out aren't we?", Rabastan grinned slowly as he pushed his brunette hair back.