A Sad State of Affairs (ALL STUDENTS, STAFF)

[Charlotte Monroe]

Charlotte rolled her eyes, " It's not as if we know what happened, and until we do I prefer to wait to mourn until I know what's going on, there's no use in getting all huffy beforehand, maybe Dumbledore has to close the school for a week and the tournament's canceled." she said with some kind of expression on her face, " That would be a shame but hardly worth tears, besides it'd mean a week's vacation, who knows what's going on, do you?" she asked Lani, " Is the black worth my tears?"

[Robin Slater]

Robin walked into the Great Hall and noticed the black immediately. She didn't stop, but she moved quietly to the Hufflepuff table. There was something going on, but she couldn't imagine what. Rather than gossip about it, she decided to wait until Professor Dumbledore spoke.

[timothy]

Entering the great hall he looked around at the black and wondered what had happened. Seeing Gwen and not Thane he began to worry slightly, Thane was his younger brother and a bit forgetful so hopefully he was looking for a lost item again. Waving at Gwen he hurried over to the Hufflepuff table and took a seat.

[Justine Torrance]

Justine was always at home where things were dark and black, so the black drapings in the Great Hall didn't bother her much. In fact, she felt strangely comforted by it all. Although in recent years, she'd started to get over her childhood obsession with death, seeing the black decor brought her back to that time. Back before school had introduced her to the petty squabbles and meaningless backstabbing and gossip-mongering.

All of those things, she felt, were silly and pointless, things that wouldn't last. Death lasted... it was the one constant in the world. She could rely on it and trust it.

Clearly someone had died, and she was supposed to feel sad for that person. But inside, she felt a small amount of joy for that person, whoever it was, for being lucky enough to get out of this silly game of life.

Silently, Justine moved to the Slytherin table and sat down without a word.

[Thane Scotts]

Thane looked up from Regina at the Ravenclaw table and saw his older brother show up but he didn't seem to notice him sitting there. Sometimes Thane could swear that he managed to even loose himself in the crowd, even where his siblings were concerned. He looked around for his sister, saw her at the Gryffindor table and feeling satisfied everyone was okay he turned back to look at Dumbledore.

[Arachne Weaver]

Arachne sat near the back of the staff tables, and she silently watched all the emotions playing across people's faces. Fear, worry, confusion... it was beautiful. And it made the girls death more worthwhile, although she hadn't been able to torture the child, she could get pleasure from everyone else's pain at her loss. And the best part was that she had a seat right where she could watch it all play out before her. Beautiful.

Her face however was serene, showing little emotion at all and what she did let show was a hint of sadness. Though that sadness was not for the loss of the girl, it was contrived but no one else would know that. She had become very skilled in masking or faking her emotions over the years. Inside she was enjoying this emmensely. And she couldn't help but think that the black made the Great Hall look so much more cozy and like home.

Meanwhile she diverted her eyes to Rabastan just so she'd have something nice to look at, though she did keep her eyes also half watching the champions and keeping an eye out for Bella's entrance. She also did not give Mr. Rookwood another glance.

[Augustus Rookwood]

Augustus, however, saw his oppertunity to make her sweat and he stood from his chair, pushing it in and walking towards the other end of the staff table. As he passed by Arachne, he put a hand on her shoulder, his face appearing to be full of concern. It didn't matter that they weren't supposed to know each other... he was just another concerned employee.

He leaned down and said in a low voice, "Bellatrix isn't the only one who saw what you did."

And he was standing up straight and leaving the next moment, not giving her a chance to respond as he continued down the table and stopped by Daniel and Juliette, two people so good it was sickening.

"You two doing all right?" he asked them.

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani just shook her head. "Well, I don't mean that you should be crying now... just that you're being a little callous for not even knowing what's happened. Someone could have died."

She doubted Dumbledore would do this just to announce that the tournament was cancelled and they had a week off. She realized everyone thought the tournament was a big deal and all, but it wasn't worth this.

[Guinevere Scotts]

Gwen let out a breath she'd been holding when Timothy walked in... both of them were here, good. The protective streak in her could finally lay dormant and she could allow herself to wonder what really happened.

She waved back at him, and her eyes drifted back to Thane for a moment before she focused her attention on Dumbledore as well.

There was one more to wait for, though, and she kept an eye out for him as well.

[Arachne Weaver]

Arachne stiffened as soon as Mr. Rookwood whispered into her ear, though the moment his hand left her shoulder she forced herself to relax and hide her reaction. Inwardly however, she was seething. Damn Damn Damn. Had she been so careless? She was mad as a hornet but at herself. One person had seen her change and died because of it. Bella had seen the girl die but had shown her loyalty to the dark in her eyes by helping hide the body without a second thought. And now Augustus had obviously seen her and Bella at the very least. How much had he seen? Regardless she had been too careless to have had one let alone three people see something they shouldn't. It had been a bad night and now she was irritated.

And to top that off, the last person she needed knowing anything was her boss. What she couldn't figure out is why he hadn't said or done anything until now. It had been a few days and he'd had ample opportunity to turn her over, fire her or worse. Why was he only now saying anything at all and why bait her while she was in this room now. A frown crossed her face which luckily only added to her faux sorrow at the girls death.

These thoughts played in her head like threads of a web as she tried to work them out into a cohesive pattern. Everything had a pattern, each thread woven had a path and now one thread had just disrupted her pattern. She was not happy about this and she was already debating what to do about it. Damn him. She shouldn't have been so careless. And now the scene before her was not near as entertaining as it had been only moments ago as her mind began to work.

[Charlotte Monroe]

"Well then as soon as I know who died I'll show the proper amount of grief, but excuse me for not indulging my inner puppy and crying before I even know what's wrong. It isn't as if black's a protocol for certain death. Until then you can spank your inner moppet or leave mine to myself." she smiled then almost viciously fake, "Clear?" and Lani thought Sam was bad.

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani sat up a little straighter. Callous was the right word to use for sure.

What was it with the girls in Slytherin? Lani didn't get along with any of them. The boys were all fine, even Rabastan when she wasn't busy ignoring him. But the girls were a different breed. How had she managed to get into this house?

"Crystal," she replied.

[Charlotte Monroe]

Charlotte emphasized the smile with a little scrunch of her nose, before the corner of her mouth started to twitch, she was almost provoked to laughter by the little blond. Who the hell did the girl think she was calling her callous? Well even if it was true, someone in Slytherin should inform the girl that her snippy little do good comments wouldn't get her far, in fact it might just land her on someone's bad list.

She rolled her eyes then at last bored with whatever was going on and wondering if she shouldn't just leave, of course this was mandatory but Charlotte didn't give two figs about rules.

[Dorian Knight]

Dorian looked between the two blondes. He never doubted Lani's placement in Slytherin house... she could be a viper when she needed to be. But lately, she'd been too nice for her own good, and he wondered if Rystain didn't have something to do with that.

"Having a good day, otherwise, Charlotte?" He asked.

[Charlotte Monroe]

"I'm having a wonderful day otherwise, Ryan." she answered pleasantly, like a faucet between hot and cold she could be all smiles, but she didn't delude herself into thinking that Dorian didn't know how she behaved, she was the quintessential bit-cah, and she knew it. "You?"

Ryan was different from Lani as well, she sensed in him that same sort of ruthlessness that she possessed, he would make a good asset for anyone, and he didn't let his feelings rule his actions.

[Dorian Knight]

"Wonderfully," he replied, a smile set to his lips that didn't belong in the Great Hall tonight.

She was not the kind of person you trusted or let your guard down around, so he just smiled, content to make small talk until Dumbledore quietted them.

[Charlotte Monroe]

No, she wasn't, but she had her uses too, and she at least knew the game that they were playing, it was always a game with Charlotte, a game that she intended to win, no one ever got the better of her...well only once.

The thought made her look back over to where Sam was sitting and she shivered unconsiously before turning back to Ryan, "That's great."

[Xavier Scotts]

Xavier entered the Great hall and raised his eyebrows at the black drapings. What was going on? Was Dumbledore getting morbid in his old age? He glanced up at the staff table and saw only somber faces, but no clue as to what was going on. Shrugging, he checked for his sister and brothers; first Gwen at the Gryffindor table, then Timothy at the Hufflepuff table, and Thane at the Ravenclaw table. They were all there.

Since everything seemed fine, he quietly moved over to the Slytherin table and sat down. He was about to make a snarky comment about the black decor, but decided against it. There were enough people there that any comment from him would be old and stale already.

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani rolled her eyes at the both of them, settling a look on Ryan that said she was disappointed in him for playing such a stupid game.

Games had their place and time... it was just unnecessary here.

She stood up, trying to find another empty seat along the table. The only one left by anyone she knew was on the other side of Rystain from where Sam was.

At least there would be a person between them.

She left Dorian and Charlotte and moved to the other side of the table.

"Is this seat open?" she asked him.

[Rystain Quandry]

Rystain had not let his gaze fall from Lani durring the whole exchange and when she walked over he responded with "No, it's reserved.." and only paused a moment when he finished his statement "..for you." He held his hand up to help her into the seat.