Who: Hogwart Students What: The Great Hall as a new set up When: November 18, 1997 - Dinnertime Where: Great Hall Status: Beginning Rating: PG-13
Instead of the four regular tables that usually graced the Great Hall (with the exception of such events like the Yule Ball or exams), there were only three. Each one was bit longer than the ones they had replaced, but not by much, since overall there were less students to accomodate than previous years.
All trace of house colors had been removed, so it was difficult to determine at first how the new tables were defined. The Professors Carrows greeted each student as they entered the room, handing them a card and directing them to the appropriate table. Stephen, when he entered was immediately gestured to the table on the left side of the room. The table in the center seemed to be the most crowded, while the table to the far right seemed desolate - not just in numbers but in the expressions on the faces of its inhabitants. He noted right off the bat, several Gryffindors and a handful of Hufflepuffs.
However it was not just the arrangement that had changed. Even the food that appeared on the tables seemed altered. While the feast where Stephen sat was bountiful, orphans seemed eating better than those at the far right table. The outcasts. The blacklisted.
Stephen turned his face away from them, quickly scooping a helping of mashed potatoes and roast beef onto his plate.