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The Hospital Wing -

To reach the Hospital Wing would require walking down seven flights of stairs. It was located on the first floor, not too far from the Great Hall. As it was the beginning of the year, no one was resting in the beds inside. A few students were being given some calming draughts to aid with their anxiety on the train - one of them being a first year with white hair that hanged to her shoulders and a large moon pendant necklace.

"Miss Lobasca, you'll wish to speak to Professor Snape," Madam Pomfrey told her. "I can assure you, Hogwarts is perfectly safe... Mr. Harrington, what on earth did you do? My goodness," she chided. She moved on over to Artemis, her robes sweeping along the floor as she walked. Chiara gulped down the potion Madam Pomfrey had given her. Madam Pomfrey tsked her tongue slightly, before casting the bone mending charm, healing Artemis' wrist instantaneously.

"There, now try not to break another bone before the start of term, hmm?"

Gryffindor Tower -

"Oh, my summer was smashing! I got to play with the Holyhead Harpies this summer, my mum was in the same year as their captain," Skye gushed. "We gotta nail the cup this year. I hope you and Mintfree are ready, we've got to be absolute mad women if we're gonna win... And we have to." Her family was legendary for their Quidditch abilities, even having invented the famed Parkin's Pincer. It was a move used by chasers, where two chasers would come up on the opposing chaser on either side, allowing the third chaser to fly at them head on and steal the Quaffle.

"My dad got us tickets to see the Chudley Cannons," Bill chimed in. The Weasleys were incredibly poor and they couldn't afford to go to expensive matches - the Chudley Cannons were the worst team in the Quidditch League and tickets to see them were rather cheap.

Skye didn't look really impressed. Her father was a member of the Wigtown Wanderers. "Anyways, what about you, Crane? Mintfree? Get loads of practice in this summer?"

Ravenclaw Tower -

People were coming into the tower, heading off for their dormitories and getting changed. In the fifth year girls' space, Rowan Khanna was feeding her cat, Fuzzclaw. She was a bit of an oddball even amongst the Ravenclaws. She had a habit of growing her hair out to an extreme length, only to turn around the next day and chop it all off. And since there were some magical spells for hair growing, this happened more or less on a weekly basis. Whenever her hair was short, she seemed to be in a bit of a grumpier mood, though she had moments of extreme joy whenever someone mistook her for a boy.

"Oh hullo, Mary," Rowan greeted. "Congratulations on making prefect - I know you're going to be brilliant at it."

Down in the common room space itself, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team was slowly assembling. The players had gotten changed into their robes and they swarmed Zelda like a bunch of needy kittens, with Andre Egwu smirking slightly. Kyle, a Beater, was the twin brother of Philomena, one of the Slytherin Beaters. He was a third year. The Keeper, Josefina, was a sixth year and the seeker, Audrey, was a fourth year.

"So Zelds, you got your eye on anyone to play Chaser and Beater?" Josefina asked curiously. They only had five members of the Quidditch Team returning.

"Maybe Keeper too, if Zelda decides to fire you," Audrey teased, sticking her tongue out.

Hufflepuff Basement -

Penny Haywood came out of the dormitory space for the fifth year girls, her hair done in two braids at the front and the rest of it allowed to flow. She was wearing her school uniform. "Oh, hey Georgie," she greeted warmly. "I'd stay to chat, but I have to go help with the first years... But let me know if you need anything, okay? Or just want to talk?" The two of them had been living in the same dormitory for five years and Penny was a perceptive person. She knew that Georgina was feeling upset over what had happened earlier, only she didn't have the specifics.

More people were coming into the common room now, heading off to get changed into their robes. Once they were changed, they mostly came back into the common space, finding a seat and talking with their friends. A few of them were glancing over at Georgina as they whispered.

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Donning her school robes, Paige left the dormitory and went into the common room. The green lighting and furniture contrasted richly with her wild ginger locks, her hair looking almost like fire in comparison. A few Slytherins had started some games of Wizards' Chess. Others were sitting by the roaring fireplace, discussing the events on the train. Most students in her house had some connection to the Death Eaters - and at least half of them were related to each other in some fashion due to centuries of intermarriage amongst the pureblood families.

Her eyes moved over to the trophy case, grimacing slightly. One of the trophies it contained had her brother's name - Simon Atwell. He had let Hogwarts bring out the worst in him, using his magical skill to terrify innocent people and attempt to establish a racist new world order. Paige's worst nightmare was that she would end up like Simon. No matter how many people assumed she was a bigot just because she was in Slytherin, Paige strived to not just give in and become other people's perception of her. She wanted to blaze her own path - and hopefully win the Order of Merlin, First Class (she was a Slytherin after all, being ambitious was part of the game).

The sneakoscope in her pocket was silent. Maybe it really was busted, as Merula and Ismelda were laughing it up over by the fireplace and it wasn't making a peep.

"Paige!" Barnaby hollered, gesturing at her to come over to where he and Liz Tuttle were sitting. Liz was a fourth year student completely obsessed with magical creatures. She had a bit of a mad scientist sort of vibe to her, wearing thick circular gold glasses.

Paige smiled, tearing her thoughts away from Merula and pureblood supremacy as she wandered on over, taking a seat next to Liz. "What's up?" Paige asked. "Oh, you guys wanna sit together tonight and make bets on who gets sorted where?" she then added. It was always a bit of a fun game, guessing where someone would be sorted just based on their name.

"You'll never believe what Kettleburn is doing this year," Liz gushed, her eyes sparkling. "Therapy cruppies! The OWL students - and me, since I bothered him nonstop about it last year until he wore on down and agreed to do it - are going to raise them and then they'll help out students with anxiety and depression."

"Aww, that's sweet," Paige replied. "But what if we end up wanting to keep the cruppy? I'm not sure I'd be able to raise the little thing and take care of it and just let someone else play with it. Or do you think I could convince Kettleburn that I'm mental?"

"Paige, don't worry about that, just think of the cruppies! I could finally realize my lifelong dream of having a cruppy bath! It's where you have a lot of cruppies, enough to cover you - so more than two - and you let them pile on top of you until they're just a big mound of fluff and cuddles and wiggles!" Barnaby exclaimed.

Paige giggled. "Cruppies poop and pee unexpectedly, you know... Is Kettleburn gonna make us cut tails off so they look like muggle dogs? I always thought that was barbaric and cruel. I'd hate it if someone cut off my arm just so I'd look normal."

"Maybe we could make a petition," Liz suggested. "If enough people signed it, maybe Kettleburn'll have to concede that it's creature cruelty to do that."

Paige's mind briefly darted over to what Dumbledore had mentioned - that he might bring Newt Scamander to talk to them. She wanted desperately to tell Liz and Barnaby about that, they both would have died from excitement, but she didn't dare. Dumbledore had already more or less threatened to tamper with Artemis Harrington's memories. She didn't want to give him a reason to kick her out of the Scamander Society and do the same.

"I'm so excited for the cruppies!! I'm gonna name mine Spot!" Barnaby said, too excited to focus.

"What if it's a girl?"

He paused for a moment, deep in thought. "I think Spot works for girls too."

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"Hello Rowan. Thank you. I'm pretty nervous about it all, to be honest." Mary asked her roommate. She was a sweet girl, and Mary had picked up on the girl's weirdness. She was thankful her hair was long it meant Rowan would be a little less grumpy. Mary let Fuzzclaw sniff her hand and then gave the kitty some scratches. She liked cats well enough, but she was happy to have an owl, especially since it meant it could fly around with her.

Mary wasn't certain if she was needed to help the first years, but she wanted to make sure Apollo made it into the tower okay before running off to help the professors. "I'm going to talk to Zelda, make sure we aren't supposed to be doing something right now. I haven't seen Niah. She's the Head Girl this year. So I bet she's off helping the professors." Mary explained. As much as she didn't care for Zelda, the girl was older and knew the protocol for what prefects should be doing. Though everything was in disarray right now. "I'll see you at the feast if not before then." She smiled at Rowan and then headed down to the common room.

"Zelda, should we be helping with the first years or anything?" She asked. Zelda was surrounded by the quidditch team, so Mary could only hope that her voice would be heard through their clamoring.

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Madalyne smiled brightly at Skye, and nodded towards her she was more than eager to try and win the quidditch cup this year for their house, as she looked over towards Fae. "Oh yeah I've been practicing as much as I could over the summer, you can count on us to win this year." She answered Madalyne would try and practice whenever she could, or go to a few games over the summer as well when she could. She was a little bit jealous that Skye got to play with the Holyhead Harpies, and looked towards Bill she had seen a few of the other games over the summer with the lesser teams on the Quidditch League. "Bill you should totally tryout for the team this year, we'd love to have you on the team." Madalyne said smiling.

Madalyne closed her eyes for a moment and let out a slight sigh forgetting that she needed to go down to the Great Hall and help with the first years looking over at Fae for a moment. "Hey, you and I should head to Hogsmeade tomorrow after classes at the Three Broomsticks my treat, because I feel really bad I keep ditching you it feels like." Madalyne offered her friend, feeling bad she felt like she had been ditching her all day so far as she turned to look at Skye and Bill. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to go and tend to some Prefect duties for the First Years." Madalyne said and gave Fae a little playful punch to her shoulder, before turning and leaving the Gryffindor Common Room and started to make her way down the flight of stairs all the way down to the first floor. Going up seven flights of stairs was a little bit of a pain though but she eventually made it back to the first floor, and towards The Great Hall.

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She headed out of the dorm room and headed back to the main common room and she couldn't help but smile slightly when the rest of her Quidditch Team suddenly swarmed around her and started asking a few questions and all. "I have no idea honestly, but we'll see what happens when tryouts come around. Who knows? Anything could happen with that," she responded to Josefina with a slight shrug, and she gave Andre a slight smile before her attention was drawn away from the rest of her team to Mary of all people asking her a question regarding what the Prefects are supposed to do.

"Well I'm going to point out the slight obvious, we don't really have first years yet since the sorting hasn't happened. However if little Ms. Perfect wasn't paying much attention, I guess I can help you out there. Dumbledore mentioned that since there was time before the feast that Professor McGonagall was going to hold an impromptu Q&A session with the first years that she wanted the Prefects to participate in. In the room off of the Great Hall. Aside from that once the sorting has happened you essentially show the First years to the common room, how to enter the common room, where their dorm is, blah blah blah all of that fun stuff. So hope you enjoy yourself."

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“Totally! Breaking bones is not on the agenda!” Arty said brightly. Handing over his brother’s memory felt like a weight off his shoulders and he could feel his good mood coming back like a freight train. He did a little twirl as the familiar bubbles of excitement brewed underneath his skin, stumbling a little and catching himself. He was just so excited to finally be at school, to finally be at Hogwarts, that everything seemed like it was just a very long bad dream. He sent Madam Promfrey a sheepish smile. “Well, I promise to try at least?” He chuckled and he turned to leave when the girl caught his attention.

She seemed a little worried. He didn’t recognize her even in passing so probably a first year. He felt a little pang of sadness at how different their experiences were. Learning about magic and wizards and witches and Hogwarts helped them. It gave them a reason why all the bad things happened, why it had been so difficult before, and here is this first year experiencing the exact opposite. Without really thinking about it, Arty pulled out his wand and tried to channel all those bubbles still floating around in him into the spell but they just made it harder to concentrate. “Expecto Patronum! Arty said in a sing-song voice. However, only wisps came out instead of the usual dog and Arty pouted, still sending them dancing around the gir; Madam Promfrey was talking to before he showed up.

“Hogwarts is the safest place to be and I’m a muggleborn!” Arty beamed at her as he bounded up next to her. The bubbles made it hard for him to stand still, all the excitement hitting him at once. “Hey, I gotta run but if you ever need a friend I’m Arty Harrington, Hufflepuff prefect! Just come find me if you need help, okay? Tonight was rough but the rest of the year is going to be smooth sailing! Make sure to eat lots at the feast! Dumbledore said the house elves made something special!” Arty waved a goodbye, sent his wispy patronus spinning around the room once more before it vanished, and bounced out the door, making sure to compose himself into a brisk walk down to the Hufflepuff dorm, tapping the familiar rhythm on the barrel two from the bottom, and popping into the dorm.

“Georgina! Gimme a shake of a leg and I’ll be out!” He bolted to his bed, picking up Nonna and dancing around the room for a second with her (much to her protest), and changed as quickly as he could, bursting out into the common room again with all the eagerness of his patronus. “Okay, okay, let’s get this show on the road!”

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"Shut up!" Fae gasped, voice full of awe. She stepped up from behind Madalyne, her eyes wide and her lips parted in an amazed smile. She made no attempt to hide her envy as she quickly breezed past Skye's attempt at pleasantries, instead focusing on what she had opened with. "Fuckin' A, Parkin, it don't matter what I was doing for summer, 'cause it sure as hell wasn't playing with the fucking Harpies! Fuck's sake, you lucky cunt, you've got to bring me with you next time." Despite the somewhat aggressive nature of her words themselves, Fae's tone was elated rather than upset. She released her excitement by giving their captain a friendly punch to the shoulder, though, much like her hugs, there was just a enough strength behind it for it to hurt a bit. "In fact, I'll tell you what: you get me on the field with the Harpies, and I'll give you all of the organs I don't need in order to play. And my house! My mum'll need a bit of convincing, but my pops would totally get it!"

When Bill mentioned the Chudley Cannon, Fae specifically did her best not to react. She knew of the Cannons all too well, though she didn't much care to admit it. Given the financial state of her family, going to a Harpies Quidditch game was something her and her father could do once every couple of years, and only if they pinched their pennies. So often they'd have to settle for the Cannon's, which often resulted in less enjoyment and more stress at the team's ineptitude on the field. Madalyne pulled her attention away from Skye when she mentioned Hogsmeade. Offering to buy Fae anything was usually a chore, as one had to make it seem like they already owed her. If they didn't, she'd insist on somehow paying them back, despite the fact that she often didn't have the money to spare. On the upside, tricking Fae was rarely a particularly difficult task.

"A Gryffindor prefect wants little old me to accompany her to Hogsmeade? Why, I'm honored," she said, holding her hand to her chest in mock admiration. She quickly dropped it, and the sarcasm, replacing them with her normal, more casual grin. "Sounds like a plan," she agreed, before Madalyne began walking away. Before she left the room, Fae called back to her saying, "But next time it's on me!"

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Apollo yelped as his twin brother forcibly pushed him out of thr room. He really wanted to witness his memory again, see if he could pour over some tomes and learn of there was any tie between what he'd experienced on the train and this new group The Basiliks Guild that Dumbledore wanted them to look into. He'd heard thr mention of Chimera, and that was enough of a lead to see if later tonight Apollo could get into a bit of trouble and break out that disillusionment charm. If there was going to be any information to be found, it would be in the restricted section of the library. Perhaps a book on old dark 2izards, or ancient cults revolving around the mythical beast, or rituals that may invoke its name. There were a lot of unknowns that he would need to figure out. Until then, he was beinf promptly shoved by his loving brother out the door and towards Ravenclaw tower. "Awright Awright. Don't get your knickers in a bunch. Watch that arm of yours and I'll make my way to the tower to get ready for the feast."

As Apollo approached the doorway to his dormitory, he was met with a very familiar door. It was wooden and plain with handle save for the bronze eagle knocker on the door. "Here we go." He took a step forward and the bromze figure came to life, asking its riddle. I have cities, but no houses; mountains, but no trees; water, but no fish. What am I? He stood there silentlynfor a moment, knowing he only had one chance as solving this riddle. "C'mon Harrington you've got this." He cleared his throat before finally speaking again. "Its a map. The answer is map." The eagle rested and the door swung open, allowimg him to step inside. He paid no mind to the others, going straight towards his portion of the room and unpacking his suitcase to pull out his school uniform as well as his robes.

He held them up into the air, inspecting his robes to make sure all the patches and colors stayed on, having a more eccentric look rather than the plain black with blue lining. He folded them and placed it on his bed as he carefully pulled out some new records and began to play 'Come on Eileen' to liven the room and give him a bit of juice as he unpacked. His crystals were all meticulously placed on his nightstand, crystal ball in the center with a blue and bronze cloth draped over it. He continued on, dancing along as he placrd his belongings about, stopping when his hands hit his deck of cards. He called back on the three he'd pulled that morning, and felt the dread creeping in, the chorus of Dexy's song distracting him long enough to pull him from wallowing too deep. Getting changed to the beat of the song and awaiting the feast.

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Switching into her robes, Eliza gave her cat one more pet on the head, and walked back into the common room. Looking around, she didn't feel much like talking to anybody here, not especially getting along with any of them. She supposed she could try to talk to Paige, but she'd had enough of that for the day, she thought. Instead, she might as well get a move on and head off to the Great Hall, she had some thinking to do anyway, given the recent events that had come to pass. This was not at all anything she was expecting for this year, but hell if she was going to reject it because of that.

It seemed almost like everything she could ever want, the ability to do good without having to listen to the Ministry and faff about as an Auror. It seemed like they might be able to act with a degree of autonomy that anybody fighting for true Justice needed; it was impossible to stop evil when you had to dot your i's and cross your t's, after all. Still, she wasn't naive, she saw that this would turn her into a child soldier, technically speaking, and that merited recognition. But she wasn't a child really, not anymore, she hadn't been for quite some time.

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Georgina looked up as Penny made her way into the room. The girl was nice and well-liked among the Hogwarts student body. Georgina had respect for her being able to manage it all. "Thanks, Penny. I may take you up on that later." Georgina was still processing everything. Obviously, she couldn't talk to Penny about the new society she just joined, but perhaps she could pick her brain about the other events. The Death Eaters, seeing Callum, watching someone she didn't know die. Then she remembered Hagrid invited her over to his hut. So she had options.

Georgina made her way up to change into her own robes before bounding down. It wasn't until that point that she noticed a group of Hufflepuffs whispering to each other and glancing at her. She was never one to acknowledge gossip because more often than not it was untrue, but given all that had happened, she didn't appreciate that it might be about her. "Oi, if you lot have something you want to ask or say to me, I encourage you to do so." Artemis joined them after, bounding up to his room to get changed.

Georgina eyed the group as he returned. "How's your injury? You good?" She wanted to ask him more, but in present company, that proved dangerous.

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The first years had been fairly evenly sorted into the four houses. To no one's surprise, Charlie Weasley was sorted into Gryffindor. Nymphadora Tonks, Beatrice Haywood, and Chiara Lobasca were placed into Hufflepuff. Each house received about ten first years - some had a few more, some a few less. The dormitories were enchanted, able to magically expand to match the size of the incoming class. The food was about to be served, but Headmaster Dumbledore stood at his podium, candles ablaze around him as he waited for everyone to quiet down.

"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts, especially to our seventh years who are nearing the end of their journey and our first years, who are at the cusp of theirs," Dumbledore began, the Great Hall hushed. "I would like to thank everyone for the bravery and courage they displayed on the Hogwarts Express earlier today. The conductor was one of the escaped Death Eaters disguised via polyjuice potion and he was killed." Dumbledore paused, letting this news sink in. "Rest assured, there is no place safer in the wizarding world than Hogwarts. I would like to thank our prefects and Professor McGonagall for the session they conducted with the first years... but let us move onto happier subjects. We have a new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts this year, Professor Bhengani - would you care to say a few words?" Dumbledore asked, stepping back from the podium.

Professor Bhengani nodded, standing up from her seat between Professors Sinistra and McGonagall. Her elegant robes swept the floor as she walked up to the podium, Dumbledore taking his seat in the headmaster's chair. She didn't need an amplifying charm to boost her voice - she was confident and clear, loud enough to be heard by the 200 some students in the Great Hall.

"I am Nomvula Bhengani," she introduced herself. "I have been teaching at the Uagadou School of Magic for six years now. It's an honor to be invited as a visiting professor to Hogwarts - and perhaps the food is not as bland as I have been told. At Uagadou, we practice wandless magic - so consider this a notice for my students. There will be no wands in my classroom." She had a strong and steady smirk on her face, a smile that seemed to dare and challenge each student in the crowd.

"Thank you, Professor Bhengani!" Dumbledore said, as Professor Bhengani took her seat and he resumed his place at the podium. "Now - tuck in!"

Suddenly, a magnificent feast materialized on the long tables. Facing the Head Table, the tables in order were (from left to right): Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. The feast food was the same sort of things that the house elves prepared every year, although it tasted divine so the lack of originality could be excused. There were beef, lamb chops, steak, potatoes, meat pies, sandwiches, and salads. Pitchers contained most sorts of juice as well as water.

"Fucking ace, I've missed steak," Paige said. She was seated next to Barnaby. Merula was unfortunately across from them. It was hard to avoid her at times. Paige took her fork and jabbed it into a piece of steak, before flinging it onto her plate. She scooped up a huge helping of garlic mashed potatoes and then placed some roasted carrots on her plate (for her health, of course). She started to dig in, only to notice that Merula was hardly touching her food.

She looked at Merula for a moment, contemplating asking her what was wrong. However upon further reflection, Paige realized she didn't particularly care and she went back to cutting up her steak, cramming her mouth with the juicy meat. She liked her steaks medium well, stemming from when she was a little girl and actually liked pink. She thought the pink meat was better.

"They forgot to have vegetarian food again..." Liz Tuttle sighed. She was sitting on Barnaby's other side, grabbing sandwiches for the bread and putting all of the fillings on a separate plate. She then took the potatoes, roasted carrots, and the salad, making her own sort of meal.

"Do you want me to go fight the house elves for you?" Paige offered seriously, talking with a mouthful of steak. She couldn't help but be excited. She had an endless supply of steak in front of her, Merula was being quiet, and they were getting the chance to study wandless magic that year in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Their last few professors hadn't even tried to teach them it, but the applications were endless, especially when it came to Curse Breaking. What if she got trapped in a tomb and lost her wand in the dark? Maybe Dumbledore would give them some pointers on wandless magic in their private lessons, that way she could really impress the new professor.

"No way! It's totally grody by the way, house elf enslavement. We force them to work for us all day and the horrible abuse that they suffer, especially in pureblood households... I think I've lost my appetite," Liz complained, setting down her utensils.

"Of course you'd not get why we need house elves," Merula muttered sourly, rolling her eyes.

"Oh go on, Merula, tell me more about why you're okay with the systemic abuse of house elves and other beings," Liz challenged Merula, fire in her eyes.

"Can't we talk about something else?" Barnaby asked. He was extremely conflict adverse. It was a defense mechanism for the abuse he had experienced growing up. Whenever things got bad, he would run off to his room and cuddle whatever cute magical creature he could fine. He loved crups and had even raised a few kneazle kittens on his own.

Merula got up from her seat. "Hogwarts is really going to the dogs," she spat, grabbing her plate and heading down to the front of the table where the first years were sitting. She shoved one of the first years over roughly, before taking a seat. Merula was eating her food angrily now, as if she was punishing it.

"Urgh, what is her damage..." Paige asked, shaking her head.

"She's horrible, that's what. And she can't handle being challenged on anything," Liz explained. She still hadn't touched her food, despite her stomach growling. "But enough about that tosser... Paige, you need to tell us what Dumbledore wanted," Liz insisted. She then spotted Eliza. "Flame, you too!"

Paige thought on her feet. The best lies were those that were partially true, right? "He's trial running some new class, he wants me to be in it," Paige shrugged. "I dunno why he picked me," she added.

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Mary was frustrated. Zelda had been an ass. Obviously, Mary hadn't meant the Ravenclaw first years. It wasn't Mary's first year at Hogwarts and she wasn't an idiot. God forbid she forget one thing in her life, and ask for help. What was Zelda's damage? This had just reinforced in Mary's mind that Zelda wasn't anyone she wanted to even bother trying to be friends.

Mary had been so frustrated that she even missed part of the sorting, and clapped only cause the kids around her did. Her attention was completely drawn when the DADA professor spoke. Wandless magic! She knew about it in theory. Mary had read it was super-advanced magic. She was impressed that the entire school of Uagadou used it, and was excited to get an opportunity to test her skills at it. She'd have to give it a go with something simple before her first DADA class.

"Oh that is gnarly! I haven't even tried wandless magic yet." She told Apollo. Mary couldn't wait to write home about their new DADA professor. Mary looked at Rowan grinning, "I have a good feeling about this year." She declared. There were just so many exciting things to do this year. The 'special class', the ball, and now a badass DADA professor. "I wonder what cool things she'll teach us. I'm not the best at DADA, but I'm gonna put my best effort in this year. You'll have to extra help me Apollo."

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“I’m totally mega!” Arty chirped, his good mood boiling over into jitters. He threaded his arm into his best friend’s as they walked to the Great Hall. He didn’t have the memory anymore, he wasn’t in pain, he got picked out specially by Dumbledore, and his best friend was talking to him again after the whole debacle. He couldn’t be anything but totally mega! He rubbed at his stomach when it protested its emptiness before they entered. “I can’t wait for this wicked feast! Sweets are not enough for a growing bloke!”

The Sorting was as exciting as ever and Arty cheered extra loudly for one of their newest, Chiara. He was glad to see her get accepted into the friendliest of the Houses, in his opinion. All her concerns would disappear once the feast broke and everyone had some time to greet the new comers at the dorm. When the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor took the stage, Arty stared in awe. Professor Bhengani was definitely confident in her abilities and wasn’t shy about displaying that. It was such an odd contrast to their other resident inspiringly terrifying Professor McGonagall that Arty couldn’t help a giggle escape. “You can do magic wandlessly? That’s so sick!” Arty leaned to whisper in Georgina’s ear. “But, uh, you don’t think she’ll actually do that, right? Like, no wands at all?” That idea made him a little nervous. After all, his wand chose him, right? Why wouldn’t he work with it?

Some movement at the Slytherin caught his attention once everyone could tuck in, making him pause halfway through scooping potatoes on his plate. Snyde was shoving first years already. He huffed a little and sent a meaningful look across the space between the tables at him. The pair had set up a system their first year that they sat across from each other at the same spot of the opposite tables, facing each other. Made linking up a little easier. ‘The daft cow is at it already. Synde’s shoving first years to find a seat. Can’t tell if her little cult finally kicked her out or if she’s just feeling dickish.’ He sent over their link with an eye roll and shoveled a spoonful of food into his face eagerly.

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Apollo sat and listened as Dumbledore and the others gave their speeches. Catching glances at his brother and noting that he was much more chuffed than he had previously been. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was a sight yk behold. Regalness pouring over her with every movement she made, and every word spoken. This term it appeared they would learn wandless magic, a talent that would no doubt come in handy both in the far future of being a curse breaker, as well as the immediate future of dealing with the Basiliks. To say he was ecstatic was an understatement. His smile faded as she insulted the food, calling it flavorless. It may not be to her liking, but even she should be ale to see how extravagant meals such as these are more than enough for students barely scraping by at home. His parents had sunk quite a bit of money into this career path and the meals at home were by far no where near in comparison to Hogwarts.

As he loaded his plate with meat pies, bangers, and mash, he noticed his brother’s eyeline following something just before they linked up and spoke. Apparently Merula was already up to her antics being a real Betty. He shifted his gaze to follow her, delving into her thoughts to find out what got her knickers so twisted. He could hear her complaining about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, having an issue to do with her ethnicity, as well as a fellow Slytherin girl who seemed to be pestering her for both race and speaking up. It was enough to put anyone off their meal. There was a wonder as to why she wasn't picked for Dumbledores new class, and quite frankly it was ironically obvious as she tyraded across the dining table and away from her 'assailants'. "Womans mental i tell ya! Apparently she has an issue with the new teacher being someone of colour, and she wonders why Dumbledore didn't chose her. Ask me shes buggin' but maybe that's something a cheeky little hex can solve. Whaddya say? Think Mary and the teachers would find out?"

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Madalyne stood with the other prefects to answer whatever questions that the first years had, and did her best to answer all of them, once it was all said and done she went and sat down next to her best friend Fae. She ran a hand through her hair as she looked up at the first years as they were all sorted into their houses. Glad to see that Charlie was sorted into Gryffindor to be with his brother Bill as well, once all the first years were all sorted in Dumbledore started his yearly speech. Madalyne was still a little bit surprised that he had chosen her to be apart of the Scamander Society as well.

Then Dumbledore introduced Professor Bhengani to Hogwarts as well. She did really well in her DADA classes, and couldn't help but be a bit excited do learn wandless magic she looked over at Fae for a moment and smiled a little bit and nudged her slightly. "I bet you'd have a lot of fun in her class." Madalyne said softly jokingly at her friend, once the speech was completely done and the food immediately appeared in front of her, she always did enjoy start of the year feast. Madalyne quickly started to fill her plate up with some steak, mashed potatoes, some sweet corn, as well as some bread to, and started to eat it rather quickly closing her eyes as she enjoyed the food quiet a bit as well. "So, how are you doing Fae?" Madalyne asked, since she had been ditching her it felt like all day and she didn't really see her to much aside from the meeting earlier in the day with Dumbledore.

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When the time came, Zelda went down to the Great Hall with the rest of her house, though she did somewhat stick by her Quidditch team, since really they were the only friends she actually had in Ravenclaw House. Though that was perfectly fine with her, she couldn't stand anyone who really resembled her sister's personality or mind set at all, and unfortunately Ravenclaw house was full of them it seemed like. Take Mary for example, she had actually called her a name that she used quite a bit to refer to April, Little Ms. Perfect. It was something that bugged her a lot and definitely one of the reasons she would never be friends with Mary.

Once in the Great Hall, she took a seat with the rest of her Quidditch team, finding a spot next to Andre as the sorting took place, and she was fairly glad that she wasn't a prefect having to deal with teaching the first years where everything was. That sort of thing just wasn't what she wanted to do with her time, she just preferred to be by herself, either that or out on the Quidditch Pitch with the rest of the team. Dumbledore introduced the new DADA teacher before the food appeared. "Huh, wandless magic? Sounds like it'll be fun..." she said, not really talking to anyone in particular. She didn't know all too much about it aside from the fact that it was incredibly difficult and most European witches and wizards couldn't do it, her parents included. It also meant that her sister April couldn't do it, so that definitely piqued her interest, as it would mean that she would learn something that her sister didn't know.

She fell silent (as usual) as she put some food on her plate and started eating, glad that for the moment things seemed to be going back to normal around Hogwarts. Of course her mind started to wander a bit towards the meeting with Dumbledore, and she kind of wanted to talk to Paige about it more, but here lied the problem of having a friend in a different house, it made it difficult to talk to them about something somewhat secretive.

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Fae, unsurprisingly, was tucked snuggly in with her fellow Gryffindors, sitting amongst a number of both Quidditch players and non-Quidditch players. When Madalyne came over to join her, she wiggled to the side in order to make room for her. Her boots tapped impatiently on the ground as the staff spoke, wanting nothing more than to start shoving food in her face. When Madalyne made her teasing comment, Fae shook her head, a quiet chuckle escaping from her lips.

”Hardy har,” Fae mumbled, her gruff voice sounding rather un-Fae-like when reduced to a whisper. She didn’t sound unamused, however, her smirk seeping into her tone. As soon as Dumbledore gave permission for them to eat, Fae stood from her bench, immediately beginning to fill her plate up with steak, lamb chops, mashed potatoes, and really anything else the feast had to offer. ”I mean,” she began, raising her voice to its normal, loud volume, continuing to add to the mountain of food on her plate, ”Most of the ‘magic’ I do is already wandless.” She stopped gathering food for a moment to swing her fork around like a beater bat, demonstrating the type of casting she was most proficient with: physical-violencemancy. She quickly went back to the task at hand. ”Never had a hot teacher before, so that’ll be weird. Might find myself actually payin’ attention,” she let out a snort as she topped her food with a single cherry tomato she picked out of the salad. It was good to be healthy. She finally plopped back down, just as Madalyne asked her how she was doing.

”Hungry,” she stated simply, picking up one of her numerous lamb chops by the bone. She tore into it, devouring it cartoonishly quickly until only the bone remained. She’d made it a bit of a tradition to fast the day leading up to the first day back to school, as a sort of a way to cleanse her pallet of the rather unsatisfying food that her family was used to dining on. ”It’s good to be back, Mads. Stale bread and stringy bird meat ain’t shit compared to Hogwarts food.”

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Scarfing food down her throat as soon as it was available, Elizabeth said, to nobody in particular, "Blimey, I haven't had food this good in months" She said, food still in her mouth. Sure, it was bad manners for her to talk with her mouth full, but with a table full of people that, by this point in their lives, either loved her or hated her, she didn't care much about that. What did pique her interest though, was the notion of being taught wandless magic. Quite frankly, it sounded hard, but she had a penchant for dueling, and she could see it being a massive boon, since she'd still be able to fight if disarmed. Plus, just being able to do magic without going to the trouble of pulling out her wand sounded plenty convenient.

One thing that did bother her, however, and that was Liz not getting her vegetarian food. Honestly, she was surprised the school wouldn't accommodate people like that, but she was gonna help her out as best she could. "Oi, that's rubbish, lemme give ye' a hand. Cibufors!" She quietly said, waving her wand, turning some of the potatoes on her own plate into naan, and passing it over to her, "You and me'll write a very strongly worded letter to the 'eadmaster about this, believe you me." After that, she proceeded to stuff her own mouth some more, apparently having an all consuming pit in place of a stomach.

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This isn't easy for me to do. I'm a very prideful person and this is the first RP since 2016 of mine that I have had to pull the plug on. All the others are either ongoing or have come to completion. Yet as I went to write the update tonight, I felt sick. I grew up on Harry Potter - I basically learned to read from it - but the transphobia and racism demonstrated by JKR is just too much. It feels like if we continued this RP, it would basically be saying that the hateful and hurtful things she has been posted is okay - which it isn't.

I've decided to end this RP.

To give everyone a sense of closure, here is how things were going to pan out in each part

Book One - the Alchemist's Quest:

• This book is heavily influenced by the Sorcerer's Stone. Dumbledore's friend, an Egyptian Alchemist, is worried that the new branch of the Death Eaters called the Basilisk Guild are going to raid his ancestral tomb. The Alchemist believes that they are after panacea - the cure for everything, even death.
• Dumbledore sends the Scamander Society to Egypt, instructing them to go through the tomb and retrieve the panacea before the Basilisk Guild can. Each member is given a pendant necklace with the symbol of the Egyptian God their zodiac sign corresponds to. The tomb is filled with various creatures from Egyptian Mythology and is divided into three pathways: the path of Duat (magic and the dead), the path of the Nile (earth and life) and the path of the Sky. They were going to be divided into three trios: Paige, Zelda, and Artemis - Elizabeth, Mary, and Fae - Georgina, Madalyne, and Apollo.
• After they retrieved the panacea, they would return to Hogwarts for the Celestial Ball. This was going to be largely cute and fun, until a werewolf is spotted on the Hogwarts Grounds. The group would have had to fight the werewolf and eventually realize it is Chiara Lobasca, the young Hufflepuff. (That is why she was afraid on the train when Fae was going off about dark wizards - Chiara was scared Fae would kill her if she knew she was a werewolf).
• The Ancient Runes professor would then be revealed to be under the Imperius Curse and working for Chimera. The Scamander Society fights her, but learns that the Basilisk Guild wasn't after the panacea after all - they were looking for the Book of the Dead.
• Also, everyone was going to have a funny curse from the tomb. Fae was going to turn into a bird-human hybrid, Apollo and Artemis were going to become fish people, Paige was going to have Medusa hair, etc etc.

Book Two: the Dark Arts

• This was going to occur during the winter holidays. The group was going to be stranded at Hogwarts and hunted by some demon thing. It was heavily inspired by the Demon Bear Saga of the New Mutants. They would have eventually realized that it was a manipulation by Chimera, as Penny Haywood would be abducted for some sort of cult ritual. The book ends on that somber realization and Chimera is revealed to be Lyra Burke, the auror from the train.

Book Three: the Gates of the Underworld

• In an effort to save Penny Haywood, the group pursues the Basilisk Guild. They learn that the Basilisk Guild means to control the boundary between life and death via the Book of the Dead they acquired - with it, they could bring anyone they wanted back to life and resurrect Grindewald to begin a new age. What's better than immortality after all? Being able to choose who else can be immortal. The group would have traveled through the Egyptian Afterlife. Some of them would have died.