19 May 2025, 07:57
The First Morning
Extra: Aurette
The Great Hall hummed with a friendly, warm atmosphere. Sunlight poured in through the towering stained-glass windows, creating colorful patterns on the stone floor and on the long tables where students were coming in for breakfast.
The atmosphere was heavy with the sweet scent of hot pastries and infusing tea, a homey smell that already seemed to be home. The ceiling above replicated the pale, cloudy sky outside, a soft grey that softened the light evenly over the crowded scene.
Aurette, her new Hufflepuff robes warm against her skin, trailed the soft flow of first-years to the Hufflepuff table. Her green eyes, wide with silent awe, drank in the view – the easy laughter already circulating between the higher years, and the welcoming piles of food rising on the tables.
It didn't feel as daunting as she had expected, rather like a big, noisy family party. She noticed an empty gap on a bench in the Hufflepuff table next to a girl with gentle, round eyes and a boy with a sandy brown mop of hair who was already tucking into a plate of what appeared to be treacle toast. She went over hesitantly, a tiny, polite smile on her mouth.
"Excuse me", she murmured, her voice hardly louder than general. "Is this seat occupied?", both students turned to look at her, then the girl nodded to her with a smile.
The Great Hall hummed with a friendly, warm atmosphere. Sunlight poured in through the towering stained-glass windows, creating colorful patterns on the stone floor and on the long tables where students were coming in for breakfast.
The atmosphere was heavy with the sweet scent of hot pastries and infusing tea, a homey smell that already seemed to be home. The ceiling above replicated the pale, cloudy sky outside, a soft grey that softened the light evenly over the crowded scene.
Aurette, her new Hufflepuff robes warm against her skin, trailed the soft flow of first-years to the Hufflepuff table. Her green eyes, wide with silent awe, drank in the view – the easy laughter already circulating between the higher years, and the welcoming piles of food rising on the tables.
It didn't feel as daunting as she had expected, rather like a big, noisy family party. She noticed an empty gap on a bench in the Hufflepuff table next to a girl with gentle, round eyes and a boy with a sandy brown mop of hair who was already tucking into a plate of what appeared to be treacle toast. She went over hesitantly, a tiny, polite smile on her mouth.
"Excuse me", she murmured, her voice hardly louder than general. "Is this seat occupied?", both students turned to look at her, then the girl nodded to her with a smile.