The Great Hall was full of chatter and the sound of utensils clattering over plates, goblets clanged back down onto the long house tables as the entirety of the school (or most of it anyways) enjoyed their meal. There was a sense of calm and relief amoungst the students as they celebrated having survived the first week back to school. Even the Professors seemed to have the same air about them. The first week was over with and the precedent had been set for the rest of the school year. Things were getting serious for the first years as most of the basics had been covered, the fifth years were gearing up to sit their OWLs - if they didn't blast each others heads off first - and the seventh years were solemn with the realization that sitting their NEWTs dictated where they would go after Hogwarts was over for them at the end of the year.

Peyton Wentworth was currently hunched over a plate filled with pork slices, mashed potatoes and boiled carrots. He had his goblet of pumpkin juice in one hand as he looked at his fellow Ravenclaws. There were mostly fifth years around him and he considered most of them to be his friends. Being at the Ravenclaw table enjoying a meal with his friends was much more refreshing and relaxing than being in class with the other houses and having to deal with the ridiculous amount of drama that seemed to be causing the cauldron to boil over.

His cool grey blue eyes looked across the table from him where the dark haired Ruiz was enjoying her own meal. He took a long gulp of his pumpkin juice and filled his fork with mashed potatoes before speaking, "So Megan, is it true that the Mummies actually came back to life? Like wrappings and moaning and all, like in the movies?"

Ever since the school year began again after returning from break, Megan was glad to be back. However, there were the unfortunate consequences of being back as well, like the various rumors that were floating around the school. As always, it was more maneuvering around the rumors, trying not to entice them too much.

Answering those rumors was always so awkward to her. Megan wasn't entirely too pleased with the inquires into what happened. But, it seemed to happen a lot in Hogwarts, like what happened with Sasha. She couldn't blame Sasha for not wanting to answer. However, it did appear that the students at Hogwarts were a curious bunch.

Sitting there at the Ravenclaw table with a plate of steak, green beans, and a salad near by, Megan quietly was eating her own food. Not trying to draw attention to herself, she was quieter recently during conversations. When Peyton questioned her about the mummies, she shook her head. "No they weren't...I mean they were walking....and attacking us," she stammered, the details vague in her response. While she knew she had no part in what happened, she couldn't seem to communicate that fact too well.

Peyton was dense at the best of times. He had heard about the mummy attack at the museum and never really thought about how it had actually affected Megan. He just wanted to know what it was like. He had never heard of actual mummies, nothing outside of movies or books. He found it so interesting that the mummies had actually come to life. It never occured to him that it would have been an emotionally traumatic experience for her, one that she didn't want to talk about.

He did however notice that she was quieter than normal, although amoungst the clatter of the Great Hall it was hard to distinguish why and it could have very well been that everyone else was just louder, "Wow, that's brilliant." He shoved the mashed potatoes in his mouth. Refilling his fork to looked to Megan again, "Must have been frightening, yeah? Heard Reid and Cuthbert were there too. You guys all go together or something?"

Hearing that two Hogwarts Professors had been in the middle of a muggle museum during a real live mummy attack was even more exciting and interesting than knowing that Megan had been there too. It made him wonder whether they had all been the cause of it. He knew the general rumor going around was that Megan had started it all but knowing that Reid and Cuthbert had been there as well made him think that it was more likley to be their fault than hers.

While the mummy attack was very strange and bizarre, Megan gave no impression like she was going to try to chronicle what happened. For that matter, she wasn't planning on painting anything about it either. After all, she figured that if anyone else saw it, it would just add to any rumors in the castle. And, if the unfortunate Sasha gossip told anything about the rumors, they spread quickly, no matter the intent.

Looking down at her plate, Megan ate a few pieces of lettuce. Yes, she was getting quieter, trying to shy away from any spotlight just yet. Once those rumors passed, and the Daily Prophet article long gone, things would die down...Hopefully. Well, that was what she thought anyway. She just hoped that no one else thought it would be funny to keep bringing it up.

Sadly, Peyton appeared to enjoy brining it up. Megan couldn't place why he seemed keen to press for information, unless it was just out of curiosity. She knew that it would be rude to ask him to stop, and it was probably not the best thing to yell in the Great Hall. While the Great Hall was loud during meal time, a well-placed yell could still be heard. So, she kept quiet as Peyton seemed impressed, or rather amused, with her account of what happened.

Picking up her goblet of pumpkin juice, she took a sip, nearly chocking as he questioned her about the Professors involved. Yes, every detail seemed to be accounted for. Blushing, she cleared her throat and nodded. "T-they were t-there, a-and I...but I didn't go with them," she stammered. For that matter, they were further away from the mummies right before the attack, but she decided to keep that part to herself.

Peyton nodded and put another forkful of mashed potatoes in his mouth, "weird." He said simply wondering why the Ancient Runes Professor and the Divinations Professor was there. It wasn't really weird for Megan to be there . After all she had still been on Christmas Holidays with her family, perhaps her parents had taken her, "Crazy that is. Good thing you're alright." Peyton flashed her a smile before taking a few bites of his pork.

His cool grey blue eyes scanned down the length of the table. He swallowed hard and felt a light blush rise to his cheeks as he caught Edmund and Leon at the other end of the table. His stomach flip flopping he grabbed his goblet of pumpkin juice and downed what was left of it trying to settle his stomach. He wished he understood why he got sick every time he even so much as glanced at the seventh year.

He turned back to Megan trying to keep his mind off of it, "So when do you think Leon's going to start practices again?" Quidditch was good, it make for a good distraction and it also helped that Megan was on the team. It would keep him from upsetting her any further with his mummy talk and it would keep his mind off of the older Ravenclaw that had been dominating his dreams lately.

Despite how hard she tried, Megan was clearly not too comfortable being the center of attention of something so major. She should be, especially from her work in the Art Club and Qudditch. The mummy fiasco brought that attention unintentionally on her, and thus that didn't help her too much.

Megan simply shrugged to Peyton. She had no idea why people seemed to think she was such an expert with what happened. Nevertheless, choosing to ignore it all obviously wasn't going to work, especially if she was going to be asked about it a lot. Asking Peyton to stop mentioning it would only raise suspicion. The young Ravenclaw needed to stop over analyzing her problems. "Oh yes, that is a good thing," she responded to him, before taking a sip of her own pumpkin juice.

Megan didn't notice Peyton's reaction to the older Qudditch players as she slouched over her plate, and cutting her steak. Given her uncomfortableness with the current discussion, it would probably be easier for her just to keep her mouth shut. Thus, she continued to do so, as she chewed on a cut piece of steak.

For that matter, Megan didn't look up from her plate at all, until Peyton talked again. This time, changing the subject. Yes, a change of subject would definitely help. Hearing the word Qudditch, she relaxed a little in her seat. While she loved it that Dagan was no longer the Qudditch Captain, she knew that there wouldn't have been nearly enough of time that she would have to rest to be continually bombarded with questions if he was still their captain. It wasn't as if Leon was a bad captain, but she could tell that Leon was no where near as intense as Dagan was. "The sooner the better. We're going to need to get back into the routine of practicing," she commented. She highly doubted that anyone on the team spent their winter break practicing Qudditch at all, her included.

Peyton nodded enthusiastically, "I can't wait to get back out there." He hadn't been able to get a chance to get on his broom when he went back home. He had been too busy dealing the regular holiday stuff and then the whole fiasco with Xavier and his father, things had just gotten too complicated. Perhaps if he had been able to practice over the break everything would have been easier to deal with.

He just hoped that once he got back out on the field this awkward flip flopping stomach deal would cease. The last thing he needed was to lose a game or get knocked off his broom by a bludger because he had been too focused on not throwing up. He rubbed the back of his neck and touched his cheeks to feel if perhaps he had a fever.

He looked back up at Megan, "You know I think I might be sick." He said it casually enough taking another long swig of his pumpkin juice, "Just all of a sudden I feel like I'm going to hurl. My stomach just flip flopping all over the place and I feel like I've got a fever." He shrugged completely unaware of how inappropriate such a topic was at the dinner table. He was also unaware that he wasn't sitting with Allie and Sasha like he usually did, the pair of his best friends were used to him saying such odd things during meals that nowadays they didn't even notice it.