Effervescence | h.p.

i | xiv. and they were roommates

After every first year that would be attending Hogwarts was sorted, Professor McGonagall gathered the hall's attention with the sound of her spoon hitting her raised glass with a light, but resounding, tink.

"May I have your attention, please," she said with an air of question, but she was stating that she needed everyone's focus on her.

As all the heads in the Great Hall turned to the table of professors, a tall and thin man with long, silver hair stood. Rising from a grand seat that was placed in the center of the table, anyone could assume this was the school's headmaster.

Headmaster Dumbledore allowed his twinkling blue eyes to scan the entire crowd while a gentle smile graced his lips. He waited momentarily for all conversing to cease before he began his speech:

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you, and let the feast begin!"

With that, he sat back down. Everyone cheered and clapped. The first years, along with some of the older students, were stuck between laughing and deciding to stay quietly smiling to themselves.

Lyra turned to meet Harry's wide-eyed gaze, as he asked, "Is he mad?"

Both children burst out laughing with each other before Lyra composed herself enough to talk to an outside source. She turned around in her seat, now facing the Gryffindor Prefect, Percy.

"Hey, Perce," using the nickname she had swiftly fashioned him with, "is he — is he mad?" she asked.

Percy, who had already spoken a little with Lyra before Harry had been sorted, had been keeping an ear open for the quiet little girl's delicate voice after hearing his nickname being called. He responded, enthusiastically, "Mad? He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But, he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Lyra? Harry?"

"Wha- whoa!" Lyra replied, shocked. The golden dishes that had previously been empty in front of her were now filled with various foods. Meats of differing sources, vegetables that Lyra loved and some she wouldn't willingly pick, fruit, and other options were now plated fancily in the table's center.  

As she and Harry were reaching for the bowl of bread rolls to add some to their plates, one of the shiny ghosts from earlier in the night came up through the table, startling them. Ron was so unsuspecting that he jumped up in his seat, gave a small shout, and dropped his chicken leg that he had been holding onto.

"Hello! Welcome to Gryffindor! I don't think I introduced myself earlier? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower," the translucent image said.

"Hey! I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you — you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I'd prefer Sir Nicholas, if you don't mind," he responded quite hotly.

"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Hermione Granger and a sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan asked the Gryffindor-Ghost at the same moment.

"Like this," he responded, quite irritated by the use of his disliked nickname compared to his title. He seized his left ear and pulled, resulting in his whole head swinging off his neck and falling onto his shoulder; it was as if his head was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but had not done it properly.

A few eeks were drawn out of the students, many grimacing and recoiling while looking away to avoid the unnecessary sight.

After many small conversations erupted throughout the Gryffindor table and the rest of the hall, many began eating and focusing on their meals. Some students continued talking with a full mouth, like Ronald Weasley, but many others stuck to speaking between bites, which kept the volume in the Great Hall at a comfortable level.