Take It With A Pinch Of Salt || OPEN, STUDENTS!

[Albus Dumbledore]

It was time to begin yet another year of learning, fun, and bedevilment at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Albus, quite frankly, couldn't have been happier about that. Each late night feast, each broken rule, each corridor fight... Well, it made it all worth it, didn't it? Yes, this was a place of magic and learning, but the students needed to learn in a different way; they needed to grow and develop, to make their mistakes and grow from them, and just learn what life is really all about. There wasn't a lot that happened within the walls of the school that Albus didn't know about, and he tended to let a lot of that mischief happen, because... Well, what fun would Hogwarts be without a little mischief?

It hadn't take long to notice the absence to two particular students. In fact, it was only the fact that Albus was trying to locate his two new Head Students that he noticed the boys were gone at all. James Potter and Sirius Black. Absent from the opening feast. It could only mean one thing, and Albus couldn't wait to find out just what surprise the boys had in store.  For now, he sat quietly through the sorting ceremony, clapping once or twice for each student, but otherwise remaining still. Once that was over, he stood.

"Welcome, each and every one of you, to another year at Hogwarts. I must remind you that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds, and ask all students to take caution on the Fifth floor. It would appear we have a rogue bookcase traversing the landing." Yes, that had been a rather unusual occurrence. An ordinary bookcase, moving from here to there about the fifth floor with no assistance. Whenever a Professor approached it the bookcase would run away. It was going to be interesting to see whether it acted any differently towards the students, which was half of the reason he'd brought it up.

"Formalities aside, let the feast... begin!" With a clap of his hands platters and plates, appeared on the tables, mountains of food and endless choice. From roast lamb to pumpkin pie to salad, there was any amount to choose from. Only, one table remained noticeably bare. "Calm down, calm down, Slytherin." He clapped his hands again, and the Slytherin's food appeared. So that was what the two absent Gryffindors had been up to, was it? 

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[[OOC: Welcome! This thread is open to ALL students! It's the opening feast, new students have been sorted, and now two key marauders are playing a little prank. The Slytherin's food was delayed, but read on to find out what other tricks they have been up to!]]

[Sirius Black]

Sirius really was not in the mood for the Sorting Ceremony. It promised to be horrendously dull - again - and he could not care less about which first years were going to which house. They would all be subject to his tricks and pranks eventually. And generally speaking, when Sirius didn't want to do anything, he didn't do it. This would be no exception. The first years were still making their ways across the lake while the rest of Hogwarts' students piled in towards the Great Hall - at least, most of them. While people were trying to make their way through the door - too many at a time, of course - Sirius muttered, "Let's get out of here," to his friend beside him and slipped out of the queue, James surely close behind him.

Luckily, with the bustle of students trying to organize themselves through the door without anyone getting hurt, and the staff already inside, it was really too easy to sneak away unnoticed. "I'm starving, and I don't feel like waiting," Sirius explained, quickly following the all-too familiar path to the kitchens in the basement. But getting food wasn't his only motivation. He walked pretty quickly, because you never really knew how fast Sorting was going to go, so they had to go fast. And in no time the two were in front of the fruit portrait that hid the kitchens, tickling the pear that squirmed and laughed before allowing them entrance. "I hope the Slytherins don't mind a wait, though."

The timing was perfect, as it turned out, because the house-elves had just begun loading up the fresh food onto the tables so that it would be ready for when Dumbledore's speech was finished. "Don't do that," Sirius instructed to the house-elves as he maneuvered to the tables, identical to those the floor above them. "Keep going with those three tables. Just not this one." He pointed to the Slytherins' table. Then he snatched a bowl that had already been loaded, taking an apple of it and biting into it. "Apple?" he held the bowl to his friend. Then suddenly, the food on the table vanished. He could only imagine the surprise-turn-to-outrage on the Slytherins' faces as they realized everyone else was dining, and they had none.

[James Potter]

Realistically, having just been named Head Boy, James really should have been attending the opening feast, but seeing as this was his seventh year and he'd attended six of them already, he knew how they went and he really wasn't interested in seeing out another boring sorting. So, himself and Sirius had slipped out of the crowd and headed to the kitchens for a little fun, plotting out their earliest ever prank. 

James grinned, knowing instantly what they were going to do. As soon as they stepped into the kitchens Sirius started bossing the house elves around, stopping them from putting the food on the Slytherin table. James grabbed an apple from the bowl Sirius held towards him and took a bite. "How about we have a little more fun. Grab that salt." He'd already made a grab for a bag of salt and started sprinkling it in graceful proportions over the Slytherins food, nodding to the house elves that they could put in on the table now in they wanted to. There was enough salt that the food would taste disgusting, but not so much that it could easily be seen. They'd have to take a nice bite to realize something was wrong. Within less than a minute the food vanished, and James looked to see whether Sirius had managed to douse the rest of he table. "Awesome. C'mon, let's get back up there." 

James headed for the door, pulling his invisibility cloak from his bag along the way, send a grin towards Sirius. "I wanna see their faces." He set off at a jog back towards the Great Hall, pausing just out of sight so that the two of them could get under the cloak before heading in to see the damage. 

[Dominique Keys]

Dominique had enjoyed a quiet train ride to school, taking some time to think about just what this year meant for it. Yeah, it was her OWL year and everything, but that's not what was on her mind. This, finally, was the first year Dominique was at school without her older sister there. Bliss! But that didn't mean she was out of the danger zone; she still had a reputation to uphold. 

She'd changed into her uniform, or her own variation of it, not long before the train reached Hogsmeade station, and pulled her Slytherin robe over the top to disguise the fact she wasn't wearing the proper uniform items.  She only needed to get to the Slytherin table and then she'd take it off again. 

Dominique slipped into the Great Hall in the middle of a group of Slytherin boys; sixth and seventh years, from what she could see. Several of them she'd already either made out with, or slept with. Yes, she was only just starting her fifth year. Yes, she had done the nasty. So what? She had a reputation to uphold, and it was one of the best ways to achieve it. None of the boys commented on her sitting among them, and one even slipped his arm around her waste. Dominique shrugged off her outer robe, revealing her blouse with an extra button lose to what was really necessary. That caught their attention.

The sorting ceremony itself was boring, but eventually it was over and Dumbledore started his usual blather of do's and don'ts for the year. It was always the same, and no one ever listened. And then food- or not... A number of Slytherin's leapt up, outraged, but Dominique just looked on amused. Oh, so someone was playing tricks on them, were they? Lovely of them. It didn't take long for Dumbledore to resolve the problem, though, and soon their table was back to normal. 

Dominique wasn't the biggest eater, most of the time, and today was one of those days when she wasn't feeling particularly hungry, despite not having ate much on the train. She took her time, taking a drink from her goblet before even looking at the choice of food. And perhaps that was a good thing, looking at the faces of those around her. "What's wrong with it?" They all looked like they'd bitten something sour. 

Outfit: link

[Sirius Black]

Go big or go home, right? While they were here in the kitchens, a lengthy table's worth of Slytherins' food in front of them, they could not simply pass up this golden opportunity. So as soon as James had motioned toward a bag of salt, the house-elves around them rushing now to load up the table with food, Sirius too was reaching for one of his own. Apple in one hand, hefty bag of salt in the other, Sirius poured the spice out starting at the opposite end of the table in excessive proportions onto the food. A little bit of salt could go a long way, and the amount they were doling out definitely was more than enough to raise a few eyebrows; he knew, unfortunately, from experience, but knowing that the Slytherins would share his pain was somewhat of a comfort factor. As the bag of salt drained to empty, he tossed it aside, before following James to the door.

As satisfying as it was knowing that they had successfully made a mouthwatering feast pretty revolting, it would be infinitely more satisfying to see the reactions for themselves. Luckily, the kitchens were just one story below the Great Hall, and a quick run put the two Marauders at the entrance of the dining chamber. Sirius glanced around the doorway briefly in time to see the Slytherins begin filling their plates with the newly-materialized food. Then he seized the other end of the Invisibility Cloak and tossed it over their heads, as if it was old hat - because it was; the cloak had served in their pranks for years now, and they had long since mastered moving beneath it, no matter how much taller they seemed to get. It was much more difficult when all four Marauders were together, anyway, so getting through the doors and to Gryffindor table while staying invisible came without issue.

Rushing back to the Great Hall to see the faces of the Slytherins proved to be a great decision. Their faces went from moderate annoyance - most likely due to the delay in receiving their food - to complete disgust as they began their meals. Some rushed to drown out the overly-salty taste with pumpkin juice, and others even spat their food back onto their plates by instinct. Their comical reactions earned the attention of nearly the entire hall - the head of house and headmaster even left their seats to see what the new problem was, Slughorn's face one of confusion and Dumbledore's one of mild amusement and curiosity. At Gryffindor table, across the Hall, students were standing and craning their necks, mumbling to their friends about what was wrong with the food, it looked perfectly fine to them. Their preoccupation made it all too easy to slip into two empty seats near the end of the table and pull off the cloak without a soul noticing. Sirius quickly piled a small amount of food onto the plate, as if he had already eaten most of his meal. He took a bite from the half-eaten apple he carried from the kitchen, looked at James and shrugged. "Tastes fine to me."

[Remus Lupin]

Remus had seen the other Marauders on the train, and had been with James for the Prefect meeting. When it came to entering the Great Hall, he'd got lost in a swarm of excited students pushing to get to the feast and find friends to sit with. He couldn't see where Peter, James and Sirius got to. Peter had gone off with some other friends, but he had been certain James and Sirius had been just behind him... ah. Off to one side, he caught a glimpse of two familiar figures dashing off in the direction of the kitchens. Those two. He'd have thought they could wait more than a few minutes before making trouble, but that was just how they worked. They hadn't mentioned anything to him, so he was looking forward to see what they came up with.

Knowing that whenever the other boys had done whatever they were doing they would need to sneak back into the hall, Remus figured it would be easiest for them to sit towards the end of the table. As such, he waited for the majority of his House to sit before sitting near the doors, being sure to leave space for the others. It wasn't hard; spaces were left all over the place to accommodate the new first-years. It was impossible to predict how many would be joining each House, so more places were set out than necessary. Said places were filled slowly, only one new Gryffindor sitting anywhere near Remus. He gave her a smile, and she nodded in return. Other than that, the sorting went without incident. Remus liked the sorting. Those fresh young faces were set to meet some great, like-minded people. He played a game with himself, trying to predict which House a student would be in before the hat called out their name. He was right about half of the time, but how much of that was guesswork he couldn't say.

Dumbledore's eyes met his during his short speech. The contact was short enough to go unnoticed by others, but long enough for Remus to notice the twinkle of mirth in them. He knows, Remus thought. Of course he did. That wizard knew everything, he must have noticed that the Head Boy and his partner in crime were missing. Remus knew something was bound to happen soon. James and Sirius wouldn't miss out on the feast for the sake of a prank, would they?

True to his thoughts, the Slytherin table's food failed to appear. They did not look in the least bit amused, but the same could not be said for the rest of the school. Some looked more concerned, but others, mostly Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, were hiding - or not - smiles and laughter. Some of the Gryffindors around him stood or craned their necks to see what was happening. Remus had to look down at his plate to hide his grin.

Dumbledore waved his hands again, and the food showed itself. Remus eyed it suspiciously across the hall as he piled some roast chicken and potatoes onto his plate. That wouldn't be all James and Sirius did. Their standards were higher than just a short delay in the food appearing. Sure enough, disgust spread down the Slytherin table, and this time he choked on his pumpkin juice as he failed to keep back a laugh at the look on each of their faces. He knew he ought not to encourage that sort of thing, but even Dumbledore was enjoying himself, and it was just too funny.

Was that everything? It would appear so. The doors had opened a tiny fraction, unnoticed in the uproar from the Slytherins. Remus had been under than cloak enough times to know what that meant. He looked about, and a moment later James and Sirius appeared a little way down from him, looking for all the world as though they had been there the whole time. He grabbed his plate and shifted past the person next to him, then slid down to sit next to James and Sirius. He grinned at them. "Nice one. That was what," he glanced at his watch, "half an hour? Must be a school record. I wonder if they have a trophy for that," he poured a generous amount of gravy over his food and shoved a forkful of chicken into his mouth hungrily. After a moment of chewing, he glanced back at the Slytherins. "Incidentally, what did you do?" He was just as curious as the rest of the table, but had a better way of finding out what had happened than just staring. It was good to be back in this castle eating a good meal with his friends.

[James Potter]

It was with ease that the two boys slipped back into the Great Hall, slipping into seats at the Gryffindor table easily. They'd had plenty of practice with the cloak and with sneaking around, so this was just a refresher. James quickly stuffed the cloak back into his bag while everyone around them was still standing and trying to get a better look at what was happening at the Slytherin table. A few moments later, Remus joined them. "Definitely a trophy-worthy exploit. Gotta start the year with a bang." He loaded some food onto his plate, a little of this, a little of that. 

James couldn't help but grin as Sirius commented on the food tasting fine. Remus asked what they'd done, and James just reached for a salt shaker and added a little over his potatoes. "Personally, I think a little salt makes a fine addition to a meal..." In excess, however...

[Bartemius Crouch Jr.]

The train ride had gone entirely without a hitch; Barty had spent a little time with those who had he not seen over the summer, a little time reading, and a little time in the Prefects' meeting for the first time. He spent most of the gathering silent, taking note of who the new prefects were and who the old prefects were and who the new Head students were. He only spoke when necessity called, which wasn't much. After returning to his original compartment, the rest of the ride was short and quite uneventful. After piling off of the train and separating from the first years and embarking on yet another ride, on the carriages this time, he followed a crowd of Slytherins through the castle and to their designated table. He had no particular person nor people that he wished to share the feast with, and ended up among some of the older students mostly, patiently - or not - waiting for the Sorting and Dumbledore's rambling to be over with so that they could finally get some damn food.

Like the train ride, the Sorting was entirely uneventful, and dull. It was all too easy to pick out the Mudbloods from the crowd of newcomers; the look of astonishment and wonder to be immersed suddenly in a world in which they did not belong made them stand out. As expected, the hat did not call out Slytherin for any of these first years, thankfully, and instead they went to pollute the purity of the other tables who welcomed them with open arms for the most part. It was kind of revolting, actually, but it was over soon enough, and the Headmaster gave a few words but did not waste much time before summoning their food. Barty had picked up a serving spoon before he realized there was nothing to serve, and the sudden splash of smells and clang of dishes told him that their table was the only one with this problem.

Barty gave no reaction but inwardly felt a slight annoyance at whatever immaturity had conjured up this plan. However, it was fixed within minutes, so he dished himself a plate as if nothing had happened. One bite into a delectable-looking steak and he nearly gagged; any pleasant flavors were masked by a massive salt content that stung his tongue and made an appealing dinner entirely repulsive. As he grimaced but swallowed nonetheless, he reached for a jug of pumpkin juice to flood the taste from his mouth as soon as humanly possible, and heard the voice of a classmate of his who apparently was lucky enough to see the Slytherin house's reactions before eating anything herself. "Apparently they've implemented a new meal plan that caters to people without functional salt taste buds," he said before taking a much-needed swig of pumpkin juice. "At least they didn't add any to the drinks." 

[Colin MacClery]

Colin stared. He didn't want to look like he didn't know what was happening, but he couldn't help it. It was just so fascinating. For one, Hogwarts was actually a real place. Even on the train he'd still had the fainted doubts in his heads that this was all an elaborate joke for a TV program or something. But no, the other students on the train were real, the silly cloak he was wearing was what everyone else was wearing, and he'd seen more evidence of magic. The boats they'd come over here on hadn't needed to be powered by anything. They'd seen ghosts, real ghosts. Colin hadn't known ghosts existed, so it had been a shock when a semi-transparent plump friar had walked through a wall and chatted to the nervous group of first-years while hovering a foot in the air. The candles were floating. The roof didn't look like it was there at all, but clearly was if the supports and shelter were anything to go by. He stared at them all, keeping track of his mouth to make sure it didn't gape open like some gormless fool.

He turned his eyes to the older students. They were arranged according to their House. He could tell by the colour of their ties and cloak linings, something he imagined he'd have to get added to his own cloak after being sorted. The children he'd sat with on the train, all first years, had chatted for a bit about the Houses. He'd been quiet for that, hating to admit he knew nothing. There was Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Each had specific attributes seen in members of their House. He didn't know what those were, as he hadn't asked. His classmates had been excitedly talking about which they would join, their reasoning being their parents were in this House, they'd got along well with someone from another House, their sibling or cousin was in some other House. From what he gathered, the children of wizards were almost all wizards, and it was common for them to be in the same House as their parents. Some of the Houses had a little overlap in their traits, and where families showed such characteristics they often ended up with equal numbers in those two or more Houses.

Each House had its own colour. There was a green, a red, a yellow, and a blue. He didn't care which colour he was sorted into, hoping instead that his House had a reputation for being nice as well as clever. He wanted to be around good people who could join in intellectual discussions with him. Being selected based on certain traits was more likely to make this a reality. He understood there was to be some kind of personality test, but that hadn't happened yet. Did they have to take it in front of the whole school? He ruffled his hair, nervous. He didn't want to take a test in front of all these strangers in a completely new environment. What if he made a fool of himself?

One table, the greens, didn't look at all like the sort of people Colin would want to associate himself with. Some of them seemed all right, but others had a mean look about them. Some looked lazy. They reminded him of the sorts of teenagers he saw around the streets smoking and bunking off school. They intimidated him. "Which House is that?" He whispered to the girl in front of him.

"Slytherin," she saw his anxious look, "but you probably won't be put in Slytherin, because you're Muggleborn."

A rather battered old hat rested on a stool. Colin tried not to look too surprised when it burst into song. Yep, of course it could sing. This was magic school. The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, he had heard of. From what he could tell, he was a wise man to be respected. He looked like the stereotypical wizard with his long white beard and hair and kind old face. Once the hat had finished its song, Professor McGonagall, the witch who'd first told him he was a wizard, unrolled a scroll. She declared that each student, upon hearing their name, should sit on the stool and let her put the hat on their head. She called a name. A boy ran up to the stool eagerly. McGonagall rested the Sorting Hat on his head. After a pause, it declared him a Slytherin, and he ran over to a table of students with green ties and cloaks that had erupted in cheers and hoots.

Colin waited his turn impatiently, smoothing down and ruffling up his hair a few times as he bounced on the balls of his feet. The students at the benches looked increasingly bored, only growing animated when a new student joined their House to get a good look at the new addition. Then, finally, McGonagall called, "MacClery, Colin!"

Colin knew a lot of the other students didn't care, but his heart was in his mouth. A lot of eyes were on him, though many were on their empty plates or their friends. He gripped the stool tightly. Why did he care so much? He didn't know about the Houses, he wouldn't be able to tell if he'd got a good one or not until later. Unless the hat made him a Slytherin, the House it named would be meaningless to the boy. All the same, he was scared of the outcome here.

He felt the brim of the hat brush against the top of his head, and heard a voice before it slipped over his eyes. "Yes, I see, very clever, very very clever... you let that get to your head, you know. You're an easy one, I know just where you'll be your best... RAVENCLAW!" The last word was shouted to the whole room.

As expected, being a Ravenclaw didn't mean anything to Colin. He would learn soon enough what Ravenclaw House was known for. He felt a moment of panic as he realised he hadn't taken a note of which House applied to which colour, but thankfully the Ravenclaw table had burst into loud shouts and clapping, the others staying quiet or clapping politely. Once the Sorting Hat was pulled off his eyes and head, he hurried over to them, not wanting to keep everyone else waiting. He found an empty seat towards the front and sat down, finding it extremely odd to have taken a place at this school. His fellow Ravenclaws were wearing blue ties, he saw. That was his House's colour, then.

When the food arrived, Colin was so busy marvelling at how it had just appeared like that to notice the Slytherin's didn't have any. He had his back to their table, facing the red house. It was only when Dumbledore spoke to calm them that he turned around to see them. Their food appeared then, but after trying some their faces were filled with disgust and many began complaining loudly. He had no idea what was going on. Clearly this was not normal. He looked at Dumbledore, who seemed to be finding all this quite amusing. Down his own table, other Ravenclaws were eating without any troubles, as were the yellows and reds. He took a cautious nibble of a potato. It tasted wonderful. Piling a variety of food onto his plate, he began to eat, looking all around the Great Hall to see what could possibly have just happened. Hogwarts certainly wasn't dull. He would have laughed if he weren't so confused and worried a Slytherin would mark him for it, aware first years would be targets at any school.

[Sirius Black]

In a hall of thousands only one had noticed James and Sirius's sudden appearance among them, and he joined them near the end of the table just moments after they regained visibility. "Actually, it was less," he corrected when Remus suggested they had broken a record with their immediate pranking of the Slytherin table. "Peter and I rigged the compartment doors on the train to douse people in whatever we could find. They probably shouldn't put all the school's student authority in one place at one time." Yeah, they'd gotten a bit bored with the other two Marauders locked up with the rest of the Prefects. So they created a mixture of Dungbombs plus potion ingredients plus whatever they could buy off of the snack cart, and perched it above compartment doors so that whenever they were opened, the concoction would fall on top off the unlucky soul who opened the door.

Counting the train ride or not, they definitely had set some record or another, and it was a damn shame that they wouldn't be back next year to try to break that record. Sirius piled a whole lot more food onto his plate to make up for the time they lost sneaking back from the kitchens. In between mouthfuls of food he was able to elaborate on James's vague but sufficient answer to what exactly they did to make the Slytherins so revolted eating their meals. "This," was his elaboration, and then he demonstrated by taking the salt shaker from James's hands, unscrewing the cap, and turning it upside-down on a bowl of food that was yet untouched. It wasn't targeting the Slytherins if he did it to his own table, as well, right?

Except in this case it was pretty obvious that there was an oversized pile of salt on the food, so those around them knew not to touch it. He returned to his own food. "I trust we didn't miss anything?" he asked Remus, who had been there for Sorting and for the speech, full of rules that he wouldn't have listened to even if he had heard them.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus laughed at word of Sirius' earlier prank. Of course they'd done something before even getting to the school. No doubt if James hadn't been made Head Boy he would have pushed Peter into doing something even more spectacular. "I'm sorry I missed that. The Prefect meeting was important, but boring as ever," he paid attention and make sensible comments and suggestions, but that didn't make it any more interesting. All they talked about was potential new systems they could implement to make the school better, an event perhaps, that sort of thing. It was all quite small-scale, since what with them not being back at school yet none of the students had complaints or suggestions yet. The meeting had mostly dissolved into chatting and getting to know one another. It had been more fun this year with James having some kind of control over it, not that he'd been as bothered by his duties as past Head Boys. Lily took the role far more seriously. He was glad James had been given the role, they could have a lot of fun with that, but it was a good thing Lily was there to stop things getting too out of hand.

He laughed at the two boy's explanations for what they'd done, looking back at the Slytherin table again. They'd stopped trying to eat the food, and were staring sullenly at the inedible but delicious-looking feast or were shouting complaints for new food to be sent up to them. They must be hungry after the long train journey. Some part of him hoped they would get to eat and the prank would be harmless in the end, but another part didn't really care. They weren't a very nice bunch, and it was good for them to know their behaviour wasn't earning them any favours among the other Houses. The first-years hadn't done anything wrong, though... yet.

"Nope. The new Gryffindors seem all right, none of them look that interesting. First-years were Sorted, Dumbledore made his short speech, everything was the same as every other year," Remus replied to Sirius. Wait, there had been something in what Dumbledore said that caught his interest. "Oh, apparently there's a rogue bookcase on the Fifth floor. We could have some fun with that," he told the others. Exactly what the nature of this rogue bookcase was, he didn't know, but it was dangerous and that could only mean pranks to be made. This was their last year, and they had to make it one to remember. Not just by them, but by other students and staff for years to come - the Marauders should be remembered by Hogwarts. With his and James' positions, they could be far more convincing, especially to the younger students. "We should make a point of getting to know that bookcase and imparting our wisdom onto the other students, as fits responsible older role models for young students such as ourselves."

The Slytherins still hadn't shut up. The din wasn't the usual happy chatter he liked to hear in the background at feasts, drowning out everything he and the other Marauders said. This was just an annoying babble. "Honestly, if they'd ever done something for themselves before they might know how to cook their own food," he said in annoyance, still amused by their upset none the less.

[Dominique Keys]

Dominique watched as those around her gagged and spat their food back out. Clearly, there was something very wrong with it. She made no move to put any on her own plate. She watched as Barty struggled through the food, but swallowed non the less, washing it down quickly with pumpkin juice. "Salt? That's an interesting choice. At least who ever did this didn't think to use a potion." That would have been worse, but it would have taken an awful lot of potion to cover the entire content of the table.  

Still watching in amusement, Dominique reached for a piece of chicken that was on one of the plates, laying it face down, and proceeding to carefully slice off the bottom layer with her knife, until just the inside showed. She cut a little piece out of it and tasted it. "It tastes quite fine to me," she cast another amused look around at all the disgusted faces that were still complaining - some yelling - about the state of the food. 

Outfit: link

[James Potter]

A prank on the train? James' eyebrows shot up. "Well, damn..." That stupid meeting meant he had to miss that. He hoped it wasn't going to become a habit. He didn't want this badge to become a hindrance. Remus calling the meeting on the train boring had been an understatement. He sat there, took in who the new prefects were, stared at Lily a bit... but otherwise, it all went in one ear and out the other. 

James was mid mouthful when Sirius casually doused a platter in salt. He scoffed a laugh, quickly cover his mouth with his hand to stop from sending his chewed up mulch of food everywhere. He swallowed it quickly, struggling a little, before he spoke up, grinning. "That's one way of putting it, though I don't believe we were so obvious." He reached over a flicked at a pile of salt that was on the top of the platter, scattering it across the opposite side of the table. The Slytherins were still sulking, and some demanding new food. Grinning, James slipped his wand out and quietly levitated the plate, keeping his wand out of sight, and sent the plate loaded with salty food over to the Slytherin table, before dropping in unceremoniously unto a soup bowl, no doubt splashing the nearest snakes. "Well, they did want more food, right?" He grinned and tucked into his meal again, listening to Remus' description of the events that they'd missed.


The part about a bookcase caught his attention, though. "A rogue bookcase? What the heck?" What was that supposed to do? Attack people with surprise study resources? "Yeah, we need to check that thing out. There's a lot of weird stuff going on around this place. Do you remember all those weird rooms, and people waking up in places other than their dorms? Do you think that'll happen again this year?" He'd been involved in that really early on last year, with Temperance. They'd found some crazy room that led to an underground cavern, and they'd ended up leaving with some really nifty little creatures. They'd grown fast, and he'd released them into the lake, but he could still spot them from time to time. Next time he'd gone back, the door had been gone.

[Sirius Black]

"I'm not," Sirius remarked when Remus said he was sorry he missed it. It was because the two of them were gone that he and Peter got so bored they resorted to giving their classmates really disgusting and unexpected showers. "You kept the halls clear. Thanks for that," he added, giving his friend a gracious pat on the back. It was no surprise hearing that the meeting was dull. What the hell would they have to talk about? He should've let himself be caught pranking people on the train, just to give them something to do. "We were going to get the Prefect compartment too, but Peter convinced me not to," he remarked, which was true. He would totally risk dousing his friends, because there was the chance he'd get one of the prissy goody-two-shoes prefects as well, but Wormtail didn't want to for Merlin knows what reason. Where was he, anyway? 

A few heads were turning as a plate of food floated unsupported through the Hall, but the only ones who seemed to notice were the ones it went right by. Most people had either grown bored by the Slytherins' troubles and had returned to their own meals, or they continued to watch them grow increasingly angry. Some heads looked around curiously for the source of the floating platter, but Sirius pretended not to notice, and James did a fine job of keeping his wand unseen. Anyway, attention was soon turned back to Slytherin table as a clang and a splash echoed where the plate had dropped from the air. It was hard not to smile when cries of surprise and outrage rang out from those who had been unexpectedly doused with soup and salt, and Sirius was one of many who laughed at their continued complications. Part of him wanted to join in and cover a few more of them with food and drink, because, hell, everyone had to know it was them, right? Who else would they suspect? 

He was snapped out of his thinking by the same thing that caught James's attention. A rogue bookcase? How did that work? He certainly would be finding out soon enough. A couple of those young first years that were new among their table and others would be great assistants in this investigation. Sure, he wasn't here for the Sorting, but they stuck out like sore thumbs, wide-eyed and awestruck for the first few weeks. "Sounds like my kind of bookcase," he remarked, because of course, no normal bookcase was interesting enough. "Oh, no doubt, it's the right thing to do," Sirius agreed as Remus said they should 'impart their wisdom' and whatnot onto the younger students, which hopefully went hand-in-hand with his own ideas of what to do with it, pranking unsuspecting first years. "I always seem to wake up in places other than my dorm, and it will definitely be happening this year, " Sirius said in regards to James's question, which of course was not what he was asking but it was true nonetheless. "Yes, I remember. I can't see why it would have stopped."

[Aria Brown]

Aria did walk in the great hall like others. It was her thrid year by now and she was really excited about new school year. She didn't really wanna really miss sorting, she just wanted to see in what house her sister was sorted. So far she was in Ravenclaw house and she did also take a place in that table. She really liked her house and people who were in there.

Soon the sorting ceremony did start and she saw how first years were sorted. When she heard her sister name Brown, Sarah then she was also quite excited in what house she will get. Oh and her older brother was in Gryffindor. She did thought there so she wasn't sure what sorting had said exactly but she did hear it saying Hufflepuff. She was a little bit disapointed, she wanted her sister to be in her house. They all were really different from personality for sure.

After the sorting it was time to began to eat. She even saw that slytherins food was delayed but she didn't really care why it was like that right now. She did just eat her food there quietly what she did had on her table now.