Dangerously Yours - Mattheo Riddle

Start of Term Feast

Alora looked around her, taking in the new surroundings. She could see the teachers table at the front. At the end nearest her sat Hagrid, who caught her eye and gave her a small smile. Alora grinned back. And there, in the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole Hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Alora spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.

Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Alora looked down at her empty gold plate. She had only just realised how hungry she was. She had only had a small piece of bacon that was left over from breakfast this morning, and Theodore had given her a few treats on the train, but that was it. 

Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

'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!'

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Alora didn't know whether to laugh or not, but she cracked a grin as Astra snorted loudly from beside her, trying to cover her mouth.

'Well he's a bit mad dont ya think?' Astra giggled, looking at Alora in amusement. Alora chuckled softly, nodding her head. She opened her mouth to say something but she was cut off

'Mad?' said Percy Weasley airily. 'He's a genius! Best wizard in the world!

'Doesn't mean he's not mad, does it? Potatoes, Alora?' Astra said with a small shrug, shovelling some potato onto her own plate. Alora's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of her were now piled with food. She had never seen so many things she liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs.

The Dursleys had never exactly starved Alora, but she'd never been allowed to eat as much as she liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Alora or Harry really wanted, even if it made him sick. 

Alora put a small amount of food on her plate. It wasn't that she didn't want to eat a lot, she just didn't want to seem greedy Astra looked at her for a few moments and looked at the almost empty plate. Her eyebrows raised as Alora's stomach betrayed her and let out a grumble. 

"Come on Potter, get some pork on ya fork," Astra said, as she began to put some more food onto Alora's plate. "Rem said there's always heaps of food left over, so dont worry about there not being enough to go 'round or anything," she said. Alora wasn't really sure who 'Rem' was at first but then remembered that Astra had mentioned her godfather, whom she lived with, Remus a few time on the train. 

Astra piled both of their plates with a bit of everything except the humbugs and began to eat. "Holy cow Alora, this is great, you should dig in," Astra said. Alora nodded, smiling as she began to eat the food. It was all delicious.

"You're right, this is great," Alora muttered, her fork digging into heaps of different foods as she tried them all. 

"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Alora cut up her steak.

"Can't you –?"

'I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years,' said the ghost. 'I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower.'