Ravenclaw Table

[JadieLou]

*When I get to it*

[Nathalie Desjardins]

Nathalie took a deep breath as she walked into the Great Hall with Zach. She felt a bit shaky, but she managed to give Zach a smile as he led her over to the Ravenclaw table. As she sat down, with Zach on one side of her and Aidan on the other, she glanced towards the Gryffindor table. It couldn't have been easy for Ceallach to tell her. She'd go and have a word with her after supper.

She looked around, noticing that the usual cheerful atmosphere was muted. She looked down at her plate quickly, realizing that word of the tragedy must have spread. She felt Zach's hand on her arm, and looked up, grateful for his comforting presence.

[Nathalie Desjardins]

Nathalie sighed as she started on her meal. She'd felt pretty bad for a while. It had turned out that Adam wasn't the only one who died. Chris Marquez, a Gryffindor fifth year, had been found dead near Knockturn Alley, not a mark on him, so apparently someone had used the killing curse. Chris's brother Jamie, a fourth year, still hadn't come back to school.

As she took a sip of pumpkin juice, she heard a murmur and glanced up to see the Headmistress walking into the hall. As she watched, the Professor took her seat, and Nathalie noticed for the first time that Caeleb was already there. What on earth...? The the Headmistress took a seat beside him, murmuring to him. Then they kissed, and a mumur ran through the hall. Nathalie looked down at her plate, her face flaming.

It wasn't that she liked Caeleb any more - but she felt humiliated, finally understanding everything about that night at the Easter Ball. Obviously, Caeleb had only accepted her invitation as a blind; his real date had been the Headmistress! Which explained why she had kept calling him out to attend to his 'duties'.

She looked up at Caeleb, her expression scornful. Well, she was much better off without him, considering the way he used people. She waited until he caught her eye, held the gaze for a contemptuous moment, then looked away, reaching for her glass.

She looked up as Aidan sat down at the table. Where was Zach, she wondered. The twins always ate together. She smiled at Aidan, recalling how kind the two boys had been to her when she found out about Adam. Zach had promised to give her some flying tips some time, and Aidan had helped her out with an Arithmancy assignment. They were nice, just ordinary students.

[samhearn]

Sam had followed the Headmistress into the Hall, just moments behind her. No matter how happy he was with Bella, his fiancee, everytime he looked at Kildara, memories flooded back. He felt disgusted with himself when he thought about her. Good thing Bella wasn't a mindreader! Good luck to anyone who was going out with one!
He sat down in front of - Nathalie? - and gave her a smile. He was reaching for some food, when he heard a rather loud cresendo of whispers and murmurs. He looked up, following everyone's gazes up to the Staff Table. Kildara and - Caeleb! At the Staff Table. In front of everyone! He was confused. Utterly confused. Did that mean Caeleb was no longer a student? But, he was in the same year as Sam. Sheesh. They must really mean something by this relationship. To make it public like that.

[Nathalie Desjardins]

Nathalie returned Sam's smile. The other Ravenclaws had been really supportive. Even though she hadn't actually gone out with Adam - had really only spent time with him at the Easter Ball - they seemed to understand that his death had hit her a little bit harder than most. She remembered what she'd been told on her first night at Hogwarts, that one's house was like one's family. That was really proving to be true.

Speaking of family... she turned around to look at her sisters, Anneliese, Sylvie and Laurelle, seated together at the Slytherin table. As she had expected, their faces were rigid with horror at what was going on at the Staff table. No doubt they'd be telling their parents all about it in a letter tonight. Ironically, that could cause trouble for her.

Nathalie hadn't mentioned anything about the Easter Ball to her parents, she'd been embarassed that her date had deserted her, and her parents would not have been impressed to learn that she'd spent a lot of time with a Gryffindor. It was bad enough, after all, that she'd been sorted into Ravenclaw. Her mother, in particular, had never quite forgiven her for that!

But Sylvie had heard about her going with Caeleb, and had, of course babbled about it. Both of her parents had been impressed that she was associating someone they considered to be of high calibre, and her father had told her bluntly that she should cultivate the relationship. Nathalie had been dismayed, but had murmured dutifully that she would try. Well, at least now she had a legitimate excuse for staying as far away from Caeleb as possible.

But no doubt her mother would write expressing her disappointment that Nathalie had let such a 'prospect' slip through her fingers! Doubtless a lecture on proper conduct would follow during the next holidays. Nathalie shrugged. Lately, she'd perfected the technique of letting her mother's lectures flow past her. Anyway, that was months away, she thought, as she took a second helping, and turned to answer a comment from Aidan.