Sabra cut a piece of lamb off the bone, then bit it off her fork. She washed it down with a swig of cold tea, then had a bite of oil-and-garlic string-beans. Her blue plate was loaded up with food, and tantalizing smells rose from the blue dishes in front of her as she relieved then from their contents as quickly as possible.
Neville grinned at her as he reached across the table for a plate of freshly sliced pumpernickel bread. He took two and filled them with pork and mashed potatoes as a five inch sandwich.
Ginny, next to her, rolled her eyes as she busily buttered potatoes. "You sure you can get your mouth around that?" she teased. "I know that you've got a big mouth, but that's a bit much, even for you."
He made a face at her, then opened his mouth as wide as possible and took a huge bite out of it. He chewed slowly for about a minute, then swallowed, with some difficulty. Following it up with a gulp from his goblet, he sat for a moment, then jumped.
"Who did that?" he demanded. "I know I didn't put boot rear in my cup!"
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Allie giggled. Neville glared at her and she attempted to muffle it, but they kept coming out. He glared for a moment more, then slowly, his glare turned into a smile. Soon he was laughing as well, and was soon joined by Sabra, Ginny and the boy on Allie's left.
He shook his head for a moment, then stuck his hand out to Allie. "Nice to meet'cha! I'm Dennis Creevy!" He had short dirty-blond hair and a wide mouth, grinning widely at Allie, with a faint blush colouring his cheeks.
Allie shook his hand and Sabra nudged her in the ribs, giggling. Allie shook her off, then turned back to Dennis. "Alison Dougherty. What year are you?"
He grinned sheepishly. "Third."
"So he likes younger women," Ginny whispered in Sabra's ear. "I wondered if he was a eunuch for all the attention he gave girls."
Sabra laughed again, and reached for another egg, but instead saw a small bowl filled with different coloured spheres. They were about the size of a galleon, and felt smooth and hard as she picked one up.
She snapped in Neville's face, attempting to get his attention. He was busy stuffing his face full of mashed potatoes. Looking down the table, she saw blond boy giving his all to a similarly full bowl of potatoes.
Ginny giggled. "They're being boys," she said. "Neville is trying to beat Dean, but Dean holds the title. They'll definitely be busy for a while with that one. What did you want?"
Sabra showed her the mysterious food, in pink. "I was wondering what this is," she admitted.
"Oh, those." Ginny laughed. "Peppermint humbugs; why don't you try one."
"What are they made of?"
"I'm not sure, but I doubt the house elves would have set it near you if you can't eat it. I do know that there's no milk in it; Lavender's lactose intolerant, but she likes them."
Sabra decided that it made sense, and popped the sweet in her mouth.
It was hard for a moment, then her teeth crunched through the shell. Minty powder flooded her mouth for a moment, making it hard to breath. She closed her throat and breathed through her nose for a few minutes while the powder dissolved in her mouth. She then swallowed, breathed deeply, and began choking and coughing.
Ginny pounded her back and handed her goblet to her. Sabra gulped it down, and coughed one more time. She drank again, then breathed as deeply and calmly as she could.
Looking up, she found Allie, Dennis and Ginny staring at her, trying to hold in laughter. Neville's mouth was gaping open, showing half-chewed potatoes. Ginny grimaced and reached across the table to close his mouth.
Sabra stared back at them, then grinned. "That was fantastic! These are great; I love these!" She reached out and grabbed another handful of the sweets and put them on the side of her plate.
Neville's mouth dropped open again.
As she was about the pick up the pitcher of cold tea, she saw something silvery in the middle of a platter of rolls and oil. She reached out to touch it, then jerked her hand back when she felt an icy-cold mist on her hand.
Apparently her hand wasn't liked either. A whitish head rose in the middle of the table and gave her and cool glare.
Dennis grinned. "Hey Nick!"
"Who?" Sabra asked.
"That's Nearly-Headless Nick," Allie whispered in her ear. "Raven told us."
"That's 'Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington,'" the ghost said, apparently having heard. "I do hate that nick-name."
Sabra took the hint. "I'm so very pleased to meet you Sir Nicholas, and I apologize for my atrocious manners. I've never seen a ghost before, though I realize that doesn't excuse me. I am Sabra Rivka Levi, the new student."
Nick rose higher in the air, and bowed to her. "Likewise on the greeting," he said. "Now I must go greet some more new Gryffindors, but I do hope to see you again." He floated slowly away, talking to every few students.
"What was that?" Allie laughed.
"My tutor taught us how to formally apologize in English. Now I'm glad he did."
"Speaking of that," Neville said. "When did you learn English? You're really good."
"In Yisrael, we have to learn English from third grade. I'm also working on Japanese, though it's terrible hard." Then seeing their blank looks, "Sorry, Yisrael is Israel in Hebrew."
"Ah." Neville nodded his understanding, then went back to stuffing his face full of pork chops. But as his fork descended on his plate again, all the food disappeared, leaving the gold (and blue) tableware sparkling clean. They refilled with every dessert Sabra could possible imagine.
Ice-cream, pastries, Jell-O, pies, Popsicles, cakes, candies, chocolates, puddings, fruits, and crystallized honey and syrup. She gazed wide-eyed at the foods in front of her, and was glad to see the bowl of humbugs was still in front of her.
Glancing at Ginny, then Allie, both girls had mischievous grins on their faces and twinkles in their eyes. They quickly dove for the chocolate and Sabra scrambled to grab a handful of peppermints before two boys took the rest. Dennis loaded a slice of pie onto Allie's plate while Neville set upon emptying the pudding bowl.
Sabra looked and didn't see much she could have, or wanted, other then the humbugs, when a piece of blue caught her eye. Two plates sat undisturbed in front of her, one with baklava, the other had a slab of chalva.
She beamed happily and took a large triangular baklava smothered in honey and filled with nuts. Reaching forward to cut a slice from the chalva, she stopped as the others curious stares reached her.
"What's that?" Neville asked, pointing to the cream-coloured chunk.
"Chalva," Sabra said, cutting a thick slice and setting it on her plate next to the humbugs.
"What does it taste like?" Dennis asked cautiously. The small boy peered at it as if it would bite him at any moment.
She thought for a moment. "Sort of…dry in you mouth, but sweet. And once you chew it for a while, it turns a bit milky-ish, but still sweet. Want to try some?"
"Oh, no thanks," he said hastily. "I was just wondering."
"I will," Allie said bravely, then grinned. "Besides, there's no chocolate left, I'll trade you and give you some dark." She picked up a handful of wrapped candies and handed them to Sabra.
She unwrapped one and put it in her mouth, then broke into a wide grin. "Shokolat!" Breaking a piece from the chalva on her plate, she handed it to the girl. "Just taste first," she cautioned. "You might not like it."
"Yes mother. I mean…" Allie smirked. "Ema." then popped the sweet in her mouth. She chewed for a few moments, then swallowed.
"How is it Red?" Dennis asked, looking sceptically at the block of chalva on the table.
"It's… not bad." she admitted. "Just really weird."
At those words Neville and Ginny reached out and cut themselves slices as well. They both tasted it and Neville smiled and ate more, but Ginny made a face and spit in her napkin. She shook her head, making a face. "No. I don't like that." she looked hurriedly at Sabra. "No offence Sabra, really; I just don't like it much."
Sabra laughed. "Good, more for us."
Neville and Sabra both cut themselves more slices, and in no time, finished off the slab. Neville then set to work on the ice-cream, while Sabra, more slowly, munched on her humbugs and chocolate. During a pause in the sounds of chewing and tableware clinking around, Sabra tapped Ginny on the shoulder and pointed to a quivering, clearish-red, artfully shaped mass.
"What on earth is that?"
Dennis laughed at something Allie said, and Sabra turned for a moment. When she turned back, Ginny was reaching forward to cut a piece of the stuff, and lifted it up to drop it on Sabra's plate. "Jell-O." But when she tipped it off the knife, it dropped, then stopped three inches off the blue plate. It then bounced, by itself, to the edge of the plate and hopped back onto the gold platter.
"I…guess…you can't have it," Ginny said, looking in amazement at the now inanimate Jell-O.
"Awesome spell!" Dennis and Neville said at the same time, then grinned at each other.
"Not kosher, I suppose," Sabra said.
Allie's eyes gleamed, and she reached for the scooper to the toffee flavoured ice-cream; she took a spoonful and dumped it onto the blue plate. It too stopped just above the surface, then drew itself up and hopped neatly to the side, and back onto the platter. She reached for another spoonful, but Sabra quickly grabbed her hand and took the scooper.
"Lo. Lo lo lo. I need this plate to eat off of for the rest of the year, and it had better stay kosher."
"So? If some milk gets on it, the house elves can just wash it off, right?" Neville took the spoon from Sabra's hand and dumped about half the bowl of toffee ice-cream on his plate.
She shook her head firmly. "If even a BIT of chalav gets on the plate, it isn't kosher anymore. It can't even be washed with a chalav plate, or an unkosher fleyshik plate. Thankfully, there are cleaning charms."
"What's…halav?" Dennis asked. "And fleshec?"
"Chalav is milk, fleyshik is meat and parav is neither, like…like…" she paused, unable to find the right word, and pointed to a tray of fruits. "Tapuz, vi…vi…tapuach."
"Fruits?" Ginny suggested. "Vegetables?"
Sabra nodded. "Yes, and bread too."
"What were those things you just said?" Neville said, pausing in his attack upon the food loaded on his plate. "With the Ts."
"Tapuz," Sabra said, "is that," she pointed to an orange, "and tapuach is that," she pointed to a sliced apple on the very top of the fruit display.
Ginny had a thoughtful look on her face, and opened her mouth to say something, when the food all disappeared, leaving the plates as clean as they were before; the sound of a loudly clearing throat startled them into facing forwards.
Professor Dumbledore was standing at the podium again, and smiled benignly at the sea of students. "Now that everyone is pleasantly full, there are a few start-of-term announcements. First of all," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "the list of forbidden items has grown quite large, thanks to a certain new business, that there is a new spell around the castle gates that will not allow any of those items in."
Ginny pumped a fist in the air, along with many kids all around the Great Hall and Sabra thought she heard a whispered word, "willow," to Neville across the table.
Dumbledore waited for the merriment to end before continuing. "Also, it should be known that the Forbidden Forest is, as its name suggests, forbidden, and any students found in it will immediately be put in detention with their head of house. The same punishment will apply to any students caught using magic in the corridors."
There were numerous hissed, "damns," across the room, and many first years scowled ferociously.
He continued. "Before we go to bed, there is a more morose matter at hand. As many of you know, at the end of last school year, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is confirmed to have risen again." The school stayed dead silent, though many wide-eyed glances were exchanged. "But what was not told, it of utmost importance. One person died that day."
Ginny and Neville gasped, and Ginny's eyes opened wide, and became suspiciously bright. Neville reached his hand across the table and Ginny, without hesitation, reached out and took it. There was a bit of a commotion farther down the table, but Sabra didn't see who it was.
Dumbledore continued, his voice grave. "A man formerly convicted of great crimes was found innocent late this summer, alas, too late. Sirius Black, the escapee from Azkaban, was killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, while he was protecting six students from this school. His killer has been brought to justice, but that will never pay for a human life. Sirius Black was found innocent of his crimes, after many trials this summer. With all recent events, please do no hesitate to take every precaution for your safely, as we have. Also, all of the teachers are entirely available if anyone has anything to talk about."
This comment seemed to be directed at the front of the Gryffindor table. Sabra craned her neck to see who it was, and was startled too see a mop of black hair lying on the table while its owner took large calming breaths. Many hands were patting his back, and giving comfort.
She shook her head and turned back to Dumbledore.
"That is the bad news," he said. "And the good new is that we're going to bed in a few moments. Let us just sing the school song first, as so we don't go to bed with pain in out minds."
He pulled out his wand and waved it in the air, and a long black ribbon flew out of the end and twisted into words. "Pick your favourite tune. One, two, three, four!"
Everyone began
Hogwarts Hogwarts Hoggy Warty Hogwarts
Teach us something please
Whether we be old and bald or young with scabby knees
Our heads could do with filling with some interesting stuff
For now they're bare and full of air
Dead flies and bits of fluff
So teach us things worth knowing
Bring back what we've forgot
Just do your best we'll do the rest and learn until our brains all rot
Sabra finished the last few bars of Havah Negilah right as most of the students were finishing. Dumbledore smiled brightly and waved his wand again, the ribbon zooming back into its tip.
"Lovely," he said. "There is only one last announcement. As last year's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was, er, withdrawn from our school by the ministry," a ripple of laughter ran through the Great Hall. "We have a new teacher this year. Professor Cho has come all the way from Japan to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Please welcome Professor Cho."
The entire school shifted their gaze to the end of the staff table, where a tall, pale man with a monocle smiled and waved pleasantly to the school.
"Hakkai!" Sabra gasped.
"You know him?" Neville asked. "Is he good? Will he last the year, do you think?"
Sabra shook her hands in front of her face to ward off the curious stares everyone was giving her. "I don't know him that well; we just talked before. He owns the shop where I got my cat and we had a bit of a conversation. I didn't know he was a professor, though."
Ginny smiled mischievously. "I wonder how old he is," she mused, "'cause he looks kind of cute."
"Ginny!" The other four said, shocked.
"What? He doesn't look that old. None of the teachers really are, actually. Snape is only about twenty-nine or thirty, you know. And professors Vector and Sinastra are both twenty-three." She pointed out the teachers as they rose from the tables, and climbed over the benches.
"Hamoreh Snape looks like he doesn't want to be here," Sabra remarked as she prepared to follow Ginny out of the Great Hall.
"He doesn't," the girl replied. "Wait a second." She turned around and grabbed a boy's sleeve that was passing by her and whispered in his ear. She then turned away from the door and cupped her hands round her mouth. "First year Gryffindors!" she hollered. "First year Gryffindors over here!"
A small bunch of children detached from the main body of students and walked nervously over to them. Sabra noticed similar groups from all four houses around the room doing the same.
"I'm Ginny."
"And I'm Greg. We're your prefects this year. We're going to wait a few more minutes for the rest of you guys, then we'll show you to Gryffindor tower."
In a few moments, Allie walked up talking animatedly with Mheera. The black-haired girl was gesturing wildly as Allie giggled; they walked up to main group and were about to stand next to Sabra, when Ginny grabbed Mheera's sleeve.
"Hey you," she suspiciously. "You're not in Gryffindor; you shouldn't be here."
"Oh, sorry Ginny," Allie said. "I was just talking with her; she's my friend."
"I didn't realize we needed a permit for that," Mheera said sarcastically. "I thought 'inter-house relations' were encouraged."
"I'll take her back," Sabra said. "Just…please, wait for me; I don't want to be lost."
She grabbed Mheera's hand and set off across the room to the Slytherin table, where a bunch of first years were gathering around a pair of tall students. "So how do you like your house mates?" she asked.
"Most of them are a bunch of rich snobs," Mheera replied glumly, then brighten up. "But there's this one sixth year, who came in a bit late, so I noticed him. He's gorgeous."
"Oh." Sabra wondered for a moment if it was Draco Malfoy, the boy who had grabbed her on the train. He was very pretty. Then they arrived at the Slytherin table. She released Mheera's hand and backed quickly up, hoping she was imagining the multiple glares directed her way.
"Bye Sabra!" Mheera called before being assimilated into the crowd.
Sabra walked back to Ginny, Greg, Allie and the group of first years were waiting. "Shall we?" Ginny asked, sticking one arm out, with the elbow crooked.
Sabra threaded her arm into the other girl's and grinned. "We shall." Allie grabbed her other hand and squeezed it as they set off through Hogwarts.