A Sad State of Affairs (ALL STUDENTS, STAFF)

[Albus Dumbledore]

Just about a week had passed at Hogwarts since the opening ceremony of the House Championship Tournament, and it seemed like so much had changed. After the hope of the opening ceremony, now Dumbledore could only see worry. <ost of the children were, at this point, unaware that they had reason to worry and were gushing excitedly about the tournament, the champions, and the upcoming Yule Ball. Their happiness touched him deeply, it was innocence and life. He hated to bring them down, to give them such news that would spread the darkness into his life. But he had no choice.

So, a week after the opening ceremony, with its colorful banners and streamers and balloons, now the Great Hall was draped in black for mourning. The students would be arriving for dinner soon, and he would have to tell them of the unfortunate death of Katie Lawrence, a girl who many of them may not have known, but who now would be forever remembered.

[Alice Prewett]

Alice was the first student in the great hall tonight, she and Frank were still avoiding one another but she knew that Dumbledore was supposed to go through this tonight after the Order meeting. She was still in a state of shock and for once she didn't really pay much attention to where she sat. She knew that Frank, Kingsley and Marlene would show up soon as well. She had cried the night after the Order meeting, though for once it had nothing to do with Frank. She'd felt a great sadness at Katie's death and it made her that much more determined to keep it from happening again if she could do anything to stop it.

She shared a sad but determined and brave exchange of eyes with the Headmaster before sitting down in what used to be her normal spot next to Frank. Tonight of all nights she didn't care if they were mad at each other or not. She needed her friends tonight and she knew she could go back to being sad about Frank afterwards. But tonight was about Katie, and she waited for the other students to arrive. Her eyes watchful.

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene arrived just after Alice. She was expecting an announcement, but upon seeing the somber black drapings in the Great Hall, Marlene felt a tear come to her eye. She wished she had tried to get to know Katie, that she wouldn't have been just an anonymous girl that everyone vaguely knew about, but few actually knew. It just wasn't right, for someone so young to die before ever having a chance to live.

"Hey, Alice," she said quietly as she slipped into a seat next to her friend. She wanted to say more, but what was there to say? It didn't feel right to just sit around and chit-chat in such a situation.

[Alice Prewett]

Alice could only nod at her friend, her expression sober and serious. There was emotion of grief and sadness in her eyes but it was mixed with a touch of steely determination too. She reached out a hand to Marlene and squeezed her friends hand in shared support while they waited for more students to join them.

[Marlene McKinnon]

Marlene squeezed Alice's hand back for support. "I just have this terrible feeling," she said in a soft voice, "that this is only the beginning. Things are going to get much worse. These people... they don't really care who they hurt. Pretty soon, we'll all have to be choosing sides."

[Sirius Black]

Sirius and Remus entered the Great Hall together, and both nearly stopped short at the decor. Why was everything draped in black? The two boys exchanged glances, then looked up to Professor Dumbledore, who was sitting alone at the staff table, looking as if the weight of the world was sitting on his shoulders.

Quickly, they hurried over to the Gryffindor table to the only other occupants in the room, Alice and her friend Marlene.

"Hey," Sirius whispered. "What's going on? Why is everything draped in black?"

[Regina Curry]

Regina left from her room and headed down for dinner. Her stomach started growling and food was in desperate need. As she entered the Great Hall, everything was draped in black. A look of confusion fell across her face. What was going on? The only other people in the room were Gryffindors, but Regina noticed Alice and gave her a small wave before taking a seat at the empty Ravenclaw table.

[Frank Longbottom]

Frank entered the Great Hall with a solemn look on his face. They had lost a house member and fellow student, right on campus! How could that have happened? For once, last night his mind was not on Alice, but on the girl who died. He wished that there was something more he could have done, but as of right now the only thing he could do would be keep an eye and ear out.

Noticing that several Gryffindors already were in attendance, Frank sat with them. He took his usual seat beside Alice before they started avoiding each other. Right now, he didn't care about that however. "Marlene, Alice, Remus, Sirius," said Frank in greeting.

[Alice Prewett]

Alice didn't think twice before reaching to hold Frank's hand too. She was sitting between her two best friends and right now that was what she needed. Everything else going on sank into oblivion durring this moment, nothing else was important right now but the girl who'd died and the death eaters obviously responsible for it.

She gave Sirius a look that said he'd find out soon enough and for once to just behave himself and that it wasn't a time for his normal pranks with his friends. It was a stern look but one that showed she cared about her cousin. Worry was etched on her face. She also nodded to Regina as the Ravenclaw showed up but her attention went back to Dumbledore.

[Thane Scotts]

Thane filed in just shortly after Regina and went to sit next to her, it took him a moment before he realized the room was in black. He frowned and reached for Regina's hand and after a questioning look that she didn't seem to know the answer to either he turned to look at Dumbledore quietly.

[Lance Jordan]

Lance walked in with his brother and stopped short at the sight of black drapes where normally there was color... this wasn't good. Whatever it was, the mood in the air was thick enough to cut through already and he looked to his brother before heading to sit down at the table in their normal seats frowning.

[Hallie Monroe]

Hallie was already walking slowly with her head down, and for once, she didn't trip. But with her head down, she didn't notice right away that the room was draped in black. She shuffled over to the table and noticed Regina holding a boy's hand. When had this happened? Had they fallen apart so much that Regina had a boyfriend and hadn't even told her? She was about to say something about it when she noticed the black draping. Quickly, she closed her mouth and looked over to Dumbledore worriedly.

[Regina Curry]

Regina knew that something bad had happened since the draperies were all black. Although she didn't know exactly what happened. She didn't realized that Thane had entered until she felt his hand grab hers. A slight pink tint rose on her cheeks, and her face slightly relaxed, but she was still trying to figure out what happened. Without thinking she gently squeezed Thane's hand and noticed Hallie come in. Regina was glad to see Hallie, but the atmosphere was somber.

"Hallie, I need to talk to you after dinner, so could you wait up for me afterwords," she asked quietly.

[joey]

Joey came walking casually to dinner when she saw the decorations. What on earth? She wondered if they were going to celebrate Halloween all over again but when she got to the table she noticed the mood in the room. She sat near the end of the table with the other first year Gryffindor's. She would have loved to sit next to Sirius and his friends but she didn't want Kris bugging her just for being friends with them. So she sat by herself quietly and waited to see what was going on.

[Kyle Atkins]

Kyle saw Hallie leave the tower and was about to call out to her to wait on him, but he decided against it. She might have been going to meet Ivan or something at dinner and he wasn't going to disturb her. Finishing up his homework, Kyle closed his books and left the tower himself.

Arriving in the Great Hall, he noticed that it was darker. His eyes landed on the draperies. Something bad had happened, he figured. Kyle saw Hallie and didn't see anyone else around her except her friend Regina and some other guy. He walked on over with his hands in his pockets and took a seat on one side of Hallie. He gave her a quick half smile in greeting before he glanced up towards Dumbledore.

[Anya Kresimir]

Anya walked in right behind Joey, she first looked to the Ravenclaw table to see if her brother was already here but she didn't see him so she walked towards the Gryffindor table. She saw Remus right away and went to sit next to him. He was still one of the only people she'd met this week and she hoped he didn't mind too much if she sat there. She was oblivious to the black drapes though, comming from Durmstrangs it wasn't unusual to see black curtains or lack of color for normal occasions.

[Amy Icefire]

Amy left the common room. She had been doing pretty well at avoiding Sirius. It was becoming easier to, considering she was getting used to it. She still didn't like Kris, but she didn't ponder on that for too long.

Upon entering, Amy's eyes didn't look at the draperies first, but they landed on Sirius. Her eyes widened slightly. Kris wasn't there yet, but she wasn't going to speak. She hadn't spoken to him in awhile, so why start now? Why have the chance for tears to come? Amy quickly diverted her eyes to the ground before she locked eyes with him. Either way, she was going to have to walk past him.

Taking a deep breath, Amy kept her eyes downward and walked past the group that Sirius was sitting with and sat down close to another girl sitting at the end of the table.

[Ivan Kresimir]

Ivan came down from the Ravenclaw tower not far behind Kyle and Hallie, though he was sure neither had noticed him. When he walked into the Great Hall he didn't notice the drapes being out of the ordinary either. Where he came from, black was normal and his cousin's appartment was even more filled with black that it never occured to him something was amiss. The one thing he did notice however was the relative silence in the hall and he frowned and headed over to sit at the Ravenclaw table, nodding to the four already seated there.

[joey]

Joey looked up as Amy approached. She recognized the girl but didn't know her very well at all. She just smiled quietly at her and made room for the girl to sit. She didn't say anything other than a quick hello, but mainly because of the quiet in the room she felt like intruding if she said anything else.

[James Potter]

James walked in the Great Hall with Peter and sat with Sirius and Remus, along with the rest of the group. He knew something was up and knew now wasn't the time to joke around or laugh. James glanced around at the table. Everyone seemed to be so quiet, and he couldn't blame them. At first he was feeling happy go lucky, but then he entered the Great Hall, and it was as if he were drained of that feeling. James didn't like it.