(@Shadow_Pup @Pinch @Schrift007 @Cmeriwether @EmoKitty21 @ThAtGuY101 )
(Discussion thread here! --> https://pokecharms.com/threads/harry-potter-au.22563/)
Just under a year after the Halloween night attack that left all three Potters dead and Voldemort a broken, powerless man, the Wizarding world has convinced itself it is back to normal. Death Eaters from good families were reintegrated into society, while the poor rabble risen up by Lord Voldemort rot in Azkaban with their old master. Hogwarts, who last year awarded the House Cup to Gryffindor in honor of the fallen Potters, has led the charge in turning Death Eaters back into upstanding wizards at the cost of their own reputation. Even Albus Dumbledore, famed Headmaster and one of the world's most powerful wizards, is unsure if he is doing the right thing. And he can only hope it doesn't interfere with his school anymore...
____________________________
After a long and somewhat boring Sorting Ceremony, everyone is at their respective House tables. Slytherins on the room's east side, Gryffindor on the West, with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw given the honor of buffering the two.
Dumbledore could only recall how long it'd taken to change that - all the fights between the two, even on the first day. He'd partaken in similar...formalities, back when he was a student.
Standing up from his throne-like chair, Professors McGonagall and Snape on either side, Dumbledore put his hands up, palms facing the students with his fingers spread. Silence first fell among the older students, then the younger caught on.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," he said simply, quiet in a way that felt personal to every student, "I know last year was tough. An ideological war that split even our very students, and ended with the deaths of two former students who this school still holds in high regards."
Everyone hung their heads in a shameful mourning. Everyone except Severus Snape, who sneered into the ceiling, looking pale and somewhat lost, even as Dumbledore continued speaking.
"There's not much more to say other than that this year must be about healing. As Hogwarts heals, so will our Wizarding world. Reach beyond the bordering colors of your houses and find pride in the qualities of others. If we can achieve that togetherness, we can stand as a spectacle to the world. We can show them that mending a wound takes time, but is not impossible."
Dumbledore looked to either side, lined with Professors like Flitwick, Sprout, Kilvanus and Trelawney. They shrugged or attempted to look impressed. Most seemed unsure, but Dumbledore seemed to ease their minds a little.
Looking back out to the crowd of students he said,
"I do not normally speak this long or sensibly," he paused for a short spattering of laughter, both nervous and genuine, "so I hope that gives credence to how serious our situation is. But with that, I also say: Hogwarts is about having fun, learning and exploring and experiencing and living. Your seven years here and irreplaceable, and every minute is to be cherished. Starting...with the feast."
With a lazy wave of his hands as an uproarious applause broke out, the empty plates and bowls of the table became filled with any course imaginable. Bangers and mash, fried chicken, calamari, sushi, lobster rolls, lentil and black bean burgers, lo mein, ravioli. As if any student who had a craving suddenly found whatever they wanted in front of their eyes, alongside ten things they didn't know they wanted.
The feast had begun.
Shy and serious and moppishly red-headed, the 2nd year Bill Weasley felt his hat snatched up from his head and chased after a couple of his classmates for it, up and down the Gryffindor table. Prefect and Head Boy Milo Powany, shrill and unforgiving had recently having put on about fifteen pounds of muscle over the summer and found himself more authoritative than ever as he commanded Bill's bullies to quit it.
The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were quieter in comparison, but the two house prefects shouted insults at each other in a way that was hard to tell whether they hated each other or were flirting intensely.
Slytherin's table was much quieter, sneering in the same way as Snape had been - and still was. Their own prefect, Arligon Aldean, was refusing to eat. His lean arms were folded across his bruising chest, and he scolded himself for wincing in pain.
"They want to pretend like nothing ever happened," he complained aloud to his close friends and first years alike. Loud enough for the Ravenclaws to hear, even, "that old man is truly a buffoon if he thinks that will happen."
All of this swirled together in a tornado of conversation and emotion, shrouded by the magic that doused the Great Hall's ceiling in a starry night sky. The House banners that hung vertically along the Hall over their tables loomed over their heads with unyielding expectations.
(Discussion thread here! --> https://pokecharms.com/threads/harry-potter-au.22563/)
Just under a year after the Halloween night attack that left all three Potters dead and Voldemort a broken, powerless man, the Wizarding world has convinced itself it is back to normal. Death Eaters from good families were reintegrated into society, while the poor rabble risen up by Lord Voldemort rot in Azkaban with their old master. Hogwarts, who last year awarded the House Cup to Gryffindor in honor of the fallen Potters, has led the charge in turning Death Eaters back into upstanding wizards at the cost of their own reputation. Even Albus Dumbledore, famed Headmaster and one of the world's most powerful wizards, is unsure if he is doing the right thing. And he can only hope it doesn't interfere with his school anymore...
____________________________
After a long and somewhat boring Sorting Ceremony, everyone is at their respective House tables. Slytherins on the room's east side, Gryffindor on the West, with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw given the honor of buffering the two.
Dumbledore could only recall how long it'd taken to change that - all the fights between the two, even on the first day. He'd partaken in similar...formalities, back when he was a student.
Standing up from his throne-like chair, Professors McGonagall and Snape on either side, Dumbledore put his hands up, palms facing the students with his fingers spread. Silence first fell among the older students, then the younger caught on.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," he said simply, quiet in a way that felt personal to every student, "I know last year was tough. An ideological war that split even our very students, and ended with the deaths of two former students who this school still holds in high regards."
Everyone hung their heads in a shameful mourning. Everyone except Severus Snape, who sneered into the ceiling, looking pale and somewhat lost, even as Dumbledore continued speaking.
"There's not much more to say other than that this year must be about healing. As Hogwarts heals, so will our Wizarding world. Reach beyond the bordering colors of your houses and find pride in the qualities of others. If we can achieve that togetherness, we can stand as a spectacle to the world. We can show them that mending a wound takes time, but is not impossible."
Dumbledore looked to either side, lined with Professors like Flitwick, Sprout, Kilvanus and Trelawney. They shrugged or attempted to look impressed. Most seemed unsure, but Dumbledore seemed to ease their minds a little.
Looking back out to the crowd of students he said,
"I do not normally speak this long or sensibly," he paused for a short spattering of laughter, both nervous and genuine, "so I hope that gives credence to how serious our situation is. But with that, I also say: Hogwarts is about having fun, learning and exploring and experiencing and living. Your seven years here and irreplaceable, and every minute is to be cherished. Starting...with the feast."
With a lazy wave of his hands as an uproarious applause broke out, the empty plates and bowls of the table became filled with any course imaginable. Bangers and mash, fried chicken, calamari, sushi, lobster rolls, lentil and black bean burgers, lo mein, ravioli. As if any student who had a craving suddenly found whatever they wanted in front of their eyes, alongside ten things they didn't know they wanted.
The feast had begun.
Shy and serious and moppishly red-headed, the 2nd year Bill Weasley felt his hat snatched up from his head and chased after a couple of his classmates for it, up and down the Gryffindor table. Prefect and Head Boy Milo Powany, shrill and unforgiving had recently having put on about fifteen pounds of muscle over the summer and found himself more authoritative than ever as he commanded Bill's bullies to quit it.
The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were quieter in comparison, but the two house prefects shouted insults at each other in a way that was hard to tell whether they hated each other or were flirting intensely.
Slytherin's table was much quieter, sneering in the same way as Snape had been - and still was. Their own prefect, Arligon Aldean, was refusing to eat. His lean arms were folded across his bruising chest, and he scolded himself for wincing in pain.
"They want to pretend like nothing ever happened," he complained aloud to his close friends and first years alike. Loud enough for the Ravenclaws to hear, even, "that old man is truly a buffoon if he thinks that will happen."
All of this swirled together in a tornado of conversation and emotion, shrouded by the magic that doused the Great Hall's ceiling in a starry night sky. The House banners that hung vertically along the Hall over their tables loomed over their heads with unyielding expectations.
