Post by Justin McDowell on Sept 5, 2011 10:06:27 GMT -8
The winds of change are always blowing
And every time I try to stay
The winds of change continue blowing
And they just carry me away.
~Willie Nelson
Thursday, 16 September 2010
First month of 6th year
8:00 a.m. - Great Hall, Hufflepuff Table
Mornings were Justin's least favorite part of any given day, especially when at Hogwarts. If you wanted anything good to eat, you had to wake up insanely early: 8:00 in the morning. Of course, Justin, being Justin, had exacted things to a science so he only had to be up a few minutes before then to get dressed and make it to the table for food with minimal lateness. Showers were saved for after or whenever he had a break, if he had a class right after breakfast. All that mattered was rolling out of bed, wetting his hair, running a comb through it, putting on deodorant, putting on his uniform, rinsing his mouth, and scraping his tongue. He usually seemed to get away with it without anyone complaining about it because he wasn't stupid enough to not shower after Quidditch practices, so he wasn't exactly smelly.
Stretching, Justin took a few staggering steps away from his bed before pausing a moment to let the dizziness pass. Once it had, he made his way up the stairs to the common room and then out the door, stopping to give the knight a fist bump. Even if they didn't have to use a secret handshake to exit the common room, the little metal guy was still like a friend. As much time as he and DC had put into getting the charm just right and making sure the knight would be able to remember and repeat the complicated motions, one would expect as much. Sure, they had practiced on little things over the summer when the idea had struck in the middle of idleness, but that was nothing compared to the amount of work they put into getting this just right. The other things they had goofed off with to an extent.
The Hufflepuff ran a hand through his hair as he walked down the hall, giving a lazy, sleepy smile to some female student he passed and a nod. It was the newly appointed captain, Alyssa Jones. She had received the notice last night, and she had flaunted it despite Hufflepuff's mixed, strange mood last night. Strange Jones was still here, he couldn't help but think. It was such a common name, and it seemed like the commoner names had disappeared for the most part following that paperwork business that had been established a year and a half ago, following the re-establishment of Hogwarts last year. He shook the thought away. Morning was bad enough without thinking about the attack during the middle of his fourth year while he was enjoying spiked pumpkin juice, dancing, and the imminent "Happy holidays!" pranking the next morning that never came to be. Or that subsequent time spent holed up at home homeschooling since his parents wanted to keep him and his siblings close to home rather than send them to Damien Noland's "Interim Hogwarts." Downright good choice that had turned out to be, apparently. From what he remembered, that bloke was a terrorist.
By this point, Justin had ascended the stairs from the dungeons up to the ground floor, and the amount of students around him was enough to distract him from his thoughts. He quickly changed from sleepy to happy as he bumped fists with various house mates and friends before excusing himself to go into the Great Hall. From that point, he swiftly made his way to the table, sitting down in his usual spot where he and his friends always gathered. In that single motion, he swiped a scone from the tray and sat down, grabbing for the butter and jam. May as well start stuffing his face while waiting for everyone to show, he supposed.