A Magical Day - Slytherin Table

[Erebus Avery]

For the students of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, those housed above ground, the day began in a dense gloom while Hufflepuffs encountered the bleak, overcast sky almost right away and were easily able to dismiss any hope for one more good day before yet another week would begin- another week of Hell for fifth and seventh years. But for Erebus Avery, who was horridly chipper upon waking, encountering a distinct lack of cheery sunshine after climbing several flights of stairs was a harsh blow indeed. He was used to seeing only darkness until lights were tended to and had long since learned to cope with the slight moisture that came with living under a lake, but he had not registered the above average stuffiness to the subterranean air that would have warned him of the weather.

Blissfully ignorant, Erebus had gone through his routine as bright-eyed as usual and dressed swiftly before heading out. Resplendent in robes of steel blue accented with fine silver embroidery and black piping, he unwittingly doomed himself to be an accessory of a lackluster sky. The stairs he had to take from the dungeons to the Great Hall served to wake him up that much more and he was ready to spread his cheer to others (which tended to actually make them even more tired and irritable than they had started). The bad news had bided its sweet time to be delivered. No self-respecting fortress had windows on the ground floor lest they compromise defense in the event of an attack and Hogwarts was no different. All it had upon construction were sealable openings in the Great Hall for ventilation, which had eventually been fitted with glass rather than wood for aesthetic purposes.

And so the shock had come when its impact would be most damaging, mere seconds before breakfast. Erebus had made his merry way into the Hall and got as far as the Slytherin table before he registered the gloom. Probably to the relief of peers, in an instant his buoyant mood crashed in on itself, developing into a black hole of disappointment that threatened to pull in as many people as it could. He stalked over to the nearest vacant seat and plopped himself down with uncommon lack of grace before staring at moodily at his plate as if blaming it for the weather.

(((OOC: I’m not just here for the entertainment value. I’m here so you can tell people you’re coming to this site for education. Today’s lesson is all about windows; they is bad 4 ur castle . . . The ground floor totally has windows in the movies, doesn’t it?)))

[Severus Snape]

Severus was another Slytherin who rose during the earlier hours of the morning, and it was possible that the fact he and Avery typically had similar hours of functioning was the largest reason for their friendship. The majority of Slytherins preferred to be awake until the sun began to peep from over the lake and sleep in until an hour or two before dinner: Avery's day was almost the complete opposite. As for Severus, he had never been one for much sleep, and consequently rose when the sun was beginning to brighten and usually went to bed not long after midnight. Therefore, it was completely possible that Severus was the only member of his house that Avery ever actually saw on the weekends. This also meant that it was usually Severus who had to put up with Avery's irritating cheer; the older Slytherin had nothing against mirth, but Avery was entirely too elated before noon, and it was quite sickening.

Severus silently slid out of his bed and snatched his wand from beneath his pillow, he always slept with it there, in case he was ever ambushed in his sleep. Absently, he flicked it and while his bed made itself, he tugged his faded pajamas over his head and began to hunt for some robes. Severus cursed under his breath as he groped at nothing: the blasted elves hadn't returned his laundry, forcing him to wear Muggle clothing. Disgruntled, Severus searched the bottom of his trunk until he was able to pull out some sort of outfit* from it. Not even shooting his clothing a glace, Severus quietly dressed and found himself wearing a pair of brown trousers, some sort of dress shirt that may have once been peach and a knobby, green sweater vest. The outfit was fine enough, in his opinion, and brushing his lank hair from his eyes, Severus walked past the snoring mass that was Rodolphus and began the long stroll to the Great Hall.

The weather didn't bother Severus in the least, he had never been a fan of blinding sunlight to begin with, and storms were probably more interesting anyway. Absently, he made his way to the Slytherin table and seated himself beside Avery, one of the few people who was actually awake. Avery was quite unlike himself, normally he had an absurd smirk slapped across his face and glowed with delight at this hour of the day, but at the moment he was more moody than that time when he missed his bedtime. With raised brows, Severus snatched a plate of perogies and commented,

"You seem unusually sullen today, have you discovered a pimple?"

He was sure that Avery's greatest fear was developing skin like Severus', who probably had one of the worst cases of acne currently in the school.

((OOC: But I like windows . . . Besides, Hogwarts is magical, I doubt the windows sacrifice safety.

*Snape: Guhn, no clothes, well . . . *sticks hand in trunk and pulls out some pants and a shirt* This is fine.
Avery: I just died a little on the inside.

And Sev is the king of sweater vests.))