A Sad State of Affairs (ALL STUDENTS, STAFF)

[Daniel Tortuga]

"Can you imagine how much more horrible it would be if it WAS a death eater who caused this?" Daniel asked. The fear the students would feel would be horrible. Danile closed his eyes and shook his head at the thought. Then he looked back to Julie. "All we can hope for is that it doesn't happen again..."

[Julie Dean]

"We can't hope for something like that," Julie said, shaking her head. "We have to make sure it doesn't happen again. I feel like it's partially my fault... all of our faults. These students are ours to protect..."

She took in a deep breath. They had failed one student. There would not be more. "Are her parents here?"

[Charlotte Monroe]

Charlotte's smile wasn't vicious, not really, but it wasn't exactly mournful either, "Evening." she relayed to the both of them, "I'm fine, it's an interesting color scheme Dumbledore's done up for us this evening." she said casually.

[Daniel Tortuga]

"Oh Julie we can't blame ourselves," Daniel said. That would only crush each of them internally. "We can only strive to do the best we can to protect them," He took her hand and squeezed it.

"I'm not sure if her parents are here or not, I never even knew her." Daniel frowned and looked around the hall for a pair of faces that would seemingly belong to the parents, but he saw none. As he looked around, he also did a mental head count of the students in his class. Just to be sure. A few were still missing, but they had time.

[Caleb Renneau]

Caleb had gone looking for Adele but returned empty handed and thought that he'd obviously see her in the hall if she was there, but he was luckier than that, he saw her just in the door way, "Adele." she called softly seeing that she was slightly shaken by the event. Still he had to breathe a sigh of relief, he knew she was worried that death was on it's way and she had him worrying about her too.

[Kingsley Shacklebolt]

Kingsley stumbled into the great hall, since the Order meeting life had seemed a bit more bleak. Taking a glance over at the Gryffindors and the friends he had made in this school. It could of easily have been any one of them instead of Katie. Kingsley felt like a little fish in a big sea, his willpower barely holding back the tears he carefully approached Alice and the group she had seemed to acquire. Alice and Frank had reconciled this should be a day of celebration and rejoicing but instead they were here to mourn the loss of a wonderful life.

Sitting across from his friends Alice and Frank he gave everyone he knew a small nod of acknowledgment then buried his head in his hands as the tears slowly began to fall.

[Adele Graham]

Adele turned, hearing her name. Her eyes were wide as she took this in, and seeing Caleb seemed to bring her some sense of relief. He would know what happened.

"Who was it?" She asked, and found that her voice would only come out in a whisper.

She noticed the look on his face... he had been worried. About his sister, she realized. "Is Samantha all right?"

[Leilani Evetts]

"How can you say that?" Lani asked, shaking her head slightly. "Something bad happened and you're making comments on how drab it is?"

She had nothing against Charlotte. In fact, she barely knew the girl at all, but that was cold. She glanced at Dorian, to her right, and Charlotte across from her. Sitting away from Rystain seemed like a worse and worse idea, but sitting near him would have meant sitting near Samantha, and she'd really rather not.

[Julie Dean]

Julie was also doing a mental count of her own students, even though she knew the one who had died was not in her class. Just in case, she told herself. If there was a next time, maybe they'd be able to stop it before it was too late.

Many of her students were missing, but she would give them time.

She gave Daniel's hand a friendly squeeze back. "You're counting them, aren't you?" she asked. "Your students?"

[Andromeda Tonks]

After the last time she had been in this room, when she had spent the entire time in tears, walking into the black-draped Great Hall was like a punch in the gut. But tonight, if she shed any tears, it would not be for herself, but for the young girl who had lost her life.

She had finished moving into the staff quarters, and had let Agamemnon have the run of the castle for the evening. Now she was feeling strong and determined not to let anything distract her from her mission here.

Passing by the Gryffindor table, she stopped and put her hand on Alice's shoulder, communicating her sorrow and sympathy with a meaningful look. She was also happy to see that Frank and Alice were holding hands. She was glad at least one of them was happy.

"How are you guys holding up?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius peered up at Andi. "Are you OK?" he asked. "Alice and I were gonna come see you... I'm glad you're back here now. What's going on? You know about this, don't you?"

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi shook her head. "Don't worry about me, Sirius. I'll be fine." She carefully avoided saying that she was fine now; that would be a lie. Were any of them really fine right now? A young girl was dead, in the safest place in the wizarding world. Were they all in danger?

"Yes, I know what happened. But wait for Dumbledore to speak, OK? I don't want any false information spreading. This is very serious."

She sighed. "I need to get to the staff table. But if you guys need anything, you can talk to me after dinner." She gave Alice's shoulder a squeeze, then ruffled Sirius's hair before moving to the staff table.

[Leo Agathon]

Leo entered the Great Hall for dinner and stopped short at the black draping. Something had happened... his stomach twisted painfully and he immediately looked over to the Ravenclaw table. Rori was there... he let out a sigh of relief.

But there were a lot of students missing, and staff members as well. It was an eerie feeling, kinowing that something bad had happened, but not knowing what it was. He let out a breath and headed over to the Ravenclaw table to sit next to Rori.

"Hey, Rori, what's going on? Any idea?" he asked as he slipped his hand in hers.

[Alice Prewett]

Alice gave her cousin a grateful look and nodded. She had helped her move into the castle and both had been almost quiet while doing so. Between their shared relationship disasters and the death of a student, both needed the support it seemed. Alice still wasn't reconciled with Frank, but for times like these... both knew they could set aside their differences, hurts and pain and would be there for each other. Tomorrow they could go back to their fight but for now.. for now that seemed so insignifigant. Though it made her wonder how much longer it would be until Frank made things right. She hoped he would before the first task, that way she could focus and not end up being the subject of another one of these dinners. She squeezed his hand with the thought.. seeking comfort in having him near in this moment out of time. And she gave her cousin a thankful look before she turned towards the staff table.

[Lily Evans]

Lily left the library late. She had been working on a project for one of her classes and had lost track of time. Instead of heading back to the Common Room before dinner, she just went straight there, books and all. But seeing the black decorations in the hall, not to mention the strange hush that filled the air, gave her pause. Immediately, she felt sad and troubled, too, even though she didn't know what was going on. But it was impossible not to feel worry when the atmosphere seemed so bleak. She swallowed and walked to the Gryffindor table, where the mood seemed even worse. Without a word, she sat down and turned her attention to the staff table.

[Rori Logan]

Rori held onto Leo's hand, relieved that he made it. "I don't know," she said in whisper. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Of course she knew that black was for mourning, but she wasn't sure exactly who and for what reason they were mourning. In a way, Rori was scared. What if the school was going to be in danger of something? So many thoughts were going through her mind.

[Leo Agathon]

Leo hated to see her worried. "Do you see anyone missing?" he asked softly. "I mean, I guess not everyone's here yet... but still... It'd be nice to know who we should be mourning. It's like we're at a funeral, but we don't know whose it is."

He hated the feeling of uncertainty, and the dark fear in the pit of his stomach that anyone who was missing was someone they should be worried about. He put his arm around her shoulders and held her comfortingly.

[Rori Logan]

"I don't know yet," she said still whispering. "I'm sure Dumbledore will tell us as soon as everyone else gets in." Rori squeezed Leo's hand gently.

She leaned into him as his arm went around her shoulders. "I'm scared to find out who it is, and where it happened," she said. Rori knew that something was going on and of course, she didn't know what. After all, Alastor Moody was here. That couldn't really mean anything good.

[Natalie St. Clare]

Natalie walked into the Great Hall and was nearly knocked to the floor by the strength of the sadness and worry that seemed to fill the room. It was more than she could bear, especially since she was going through some emotional turmoil of her own, thanks to the situation with Severus. With her head down, she walked slowly to the Ravenclaw table and sat down near Rori and her boyfriend.

[Caleb Renneau]

"Sam's fine." he told her, and then to her first question, "I don't...I don't know." his fingers itched to reach out and touch her and he knew with a certainty that something had changed inside of him where this girl was concerned, something that wasn't exactly just teacherly and it was so slow coming he didn't see it, still didn't but he knew that something was different, "You're okay?" he finally managed to get out.