Opening Feast: Gryffindor Table

Gryffindor Table

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The Gryffindor table is on the far right of the room when walking in, and is next to the Hufflepuff table.

Everything looked different walking into the castle. Her final year as a student of Hogwarts felt heavy, unlike any year before.

Matilda was walking in alone. Every step echoed in her chest, the feeling of emptiness making it hard to breathe. Her friends all looked happy, smiles and laughter all around her. All she wanted to do was go to bed.

The entire night felt like a charade. No Alice. No Drago. No Everleigh.

Over the summer, she had learned that after Hogwarts there would be no education. No career. She was expected to run the home, throw parties, host luncheons, make connections.

Which made this last year even harder.

Everything felt fake. There was no reason to attend. No reason to try, except that her grandparents and Oleg Zdravkova would have A LOT to say about her failing. It wouldn’t be allowed. It would look bad on the families.

So off to Hogwarts she went. Alone.

Exactly one year ago, Matilda lost her mind when she saw Drago at the feast. Her life as she knew it was ending. Very dramatic. Now, a year later, his absence felt like a lead weight in her stomach.

Even after the events of the summer had unfolded. Oleg showed her exactly how the family handled insolence, and in no certain terms explained what the expectations were. Even after her month in Paris and her three weeks of intensive etiquette training. Even after learning she would be living with Drago in Harwood House, the Zdravkova home.

She still loved him with everything she had and missed him terribly.

Blowing out a breath, Matilda tried to stifle down the growing emotion. Taking a seat at the Gryffindor table, she wiped away a run away tear and put on a fake smile for the younger years around her.

One year. Less than in fact. Ten months. She could do that. Random weekend visits. Christmas and Easter break. Time would fly by.

Or at least, that's what she kept telling herself.

So this was it, this was the last time she would be walking in to the great hall for the start of term feast. She honestly didn',t think she would be this emotional about it. For six years this had always been a depressing end to a carefree summer. This year, well the summer had been less carefree than she would have liked and entering now felt very much an end to childhood and the opressive expectation of adulthood. She had been involved in the usual loud behaviour on the train, trading snacks, catching up, teasing the first years. But the walk into the hall was slightly more subdued. She had a mere matter of months to decide what she was going to do with the rest of her life, not to mention NEWTS, whilst her classwork was always spotty and homework was really not something she was a fan of, she tested really well. There might be hope. She saw two of her three sisters, Briar with her weird 4th year friends, it was hard to miss Poppy who was charging around with her 3rd year friends, she was angrily putting her tie on, last time Tulip had sen her sister the tie was around her head, clearly she'd been caught. Blossom was missing always a worrying time.

She moved to the Gryffindor table, and sat at her favourite place on the long benches. It was weird to think, next year this would be someone elses seat, she made a mental note to hex the seat in her last week, give someone a surprise next term. She saw Matilda had beaten her to the table. "Feels odd doesn't it?" she said looking towards the hat, "Remember when we both stood there fresh off the train, now look at us, on the verge of stepping into the big wild world." it was weird and definitly scary.

"How was your summer?" she asked, "I got set out on an internship at the ministry. I met your grandfather over the summer, thank you for telling him nice things about me, he didn't instantly assume I was a fellon." it had been strange walking into a place with someone not muttering Not another bloody Aquith. She wondered if thats what being an adult felt like.

She looked at her fellow Gryffindor and took out her little black book, the book she usually resevered for her various illegal bets "So currently I have you as 2:1 favourite for Head girl, Ruth at 3:1, I'm at 150:1. Benji is odds on favourite, lord knows why, next boy is Barnabus at 25:1" she said reading the odds she had calcuated during the train journey. "fancy putting some galleons of Sickles on yourself?" she asked Tilly, she looked over at the rest of the Gryffindor table "book is still open until the headmaster's speech."