𝐎, 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 ⎥ "He wants a fight with
a God? I'll give him one."
﹙ from stardust we came, to stardust we return ﹚
Prisoner of Azkaban - Deathly Hollows
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THE GREAT HALL LOOKED ITS USUAL SPLENDID SELF, DECORATED FOR THE START-OF-TERM FEAST. golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in midair. the four long house tables were packed with chattering students; at the top of the hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing their pupils. it was much warmer in here. harry, ron, elara, and hermione walked past the slytherins, the ravenclaws, and the hufflepuffs, and sat down with the rest of the gryffindors at the far side of the hall, next to nearly headless nick, the gryffindor ghost. pearly white and semitransparent, nick was dressed tonight in his usual doublet, but with a particularly large ruff, which served the dual purpose of looking extra-festive, and insuring that his head didn't wobble too much on his partially severed neck.
"good evening," he said, beaming at them.
"says who?" said harry, taking off his sneakers and emptying them of water. "hope they hurry up with the sorting. i'm starving."
the sorting of the new students into houses took place at the start of every school year. elara had missed the sorting last year, so she was excited to finally see it again. just then, a highly excited, breathless voice called down the table.
"hiya, harry!"
it was colin creevey, a third year to whom harry was something of a hero.
"hi, colin," said harry warily.
elara gave harry a pointed look that said, 'be nice'. she was aware colin could be a little overwhelming, and he looked up to harry greatly.
"harry, guess what? guess what, harry? my brother's starting! my brother dennis!"
"er — good," said harry.
"he's really excited!" said colin, practically bouncing up anddown in his seat. "i just hope he's in gryffindor! keep your fingers crossed, eh, harry?"
"er — yeah, all right," said harry. he turned back to hermione, elara, ron, and nearly headless nick. "brothers and sisters usuallygo in the same houses, don't they?" he said.
"oh no, not necessarily," said hermione. "parvati patil's twin's in ravenclaw, and they're identical. you'd think they'd be together, wouldn't you?"
elara looked up at the staff table. there seemed to be rather more empty seats there than usual. hagrid, of course, was still fighting his way across the lake with the first years; professor mcgonagall was presumably supervising the drying of the entrance hall floor, but there was another empty chair too, and elara couldn't think who else was missing.
