Young Writers Society

Ally

Ally sat down at the Ravenclaw table, her chin rested in her palm. When was this thing even supposed to start? she thought. She wanted to go back to her dorm already, or maybe even see a friend of hers, since most of them weren't even in Ravenclaw.

Glancing around to see if any of the teachers were looking, she made her way over to the Gryffindor table, sitting herself next to Felicia, smling for once that day.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

Adri

I smiled at Felicia. She knew me too well; why did she even bother asking?

"I'll have to talk to you later," I added, passing glances at both Karsh and Matt - who was on the other side of the room - as I spoke. "It's pretty hilarious!"

I had to keep quiet, then, for our headmaster stood up to begin the Sorting Ceremony.

This takes place not too long after Harry Potter, so the headmaster is Professor Mcgonagall

Felicia

Adri turned her attention to the staff table just as Ally, a Ravenclaw in my year, came up.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Not much," I answered briefly, then grinned, "I see you're breaking rules early this year."

Ally was always coming over to see us, I wondered why she didn't have friends in her house. But rule breaking... she didn't do much of that. Not that joining the gryffindor table during the start of the term was against the rules, but we were generally encouraged to stay with our house.

She smiled slowly, recognizing my teasing, "It's not against the rule..."

I cut her off, grinning, "Yeah, I know. Hey listen, I'll catch up with you after the feast. I don't want another run in with trouble this early in the year."

She nodded and smiled, then crept back to the Ravenclaw table.

I remembered how much I had missed my friends.

My attention was averted from my memories, however, when Mcgonagall stood up to start the Sorting Ceremony. For the third year in a row, she awed me and I wondered if Dumbledore had been as... strict as she was. The newest books claimed otherwise, including Harry Potter's autobiography, but I always wondered anyways. Most books claimed Dumbledore to be the exact opposite of her and the photographs I had seen seemed to support that. They had shown an old man with a long white beard, half moon spectacles, and a twinkle in his eyes whereas Mcgonagall wore a strict scowl and always had her hair in a tight bun. Even the way she stood reflected her attitude: tall, proud, a wise look in her eyes. We tended not to mess with her.

"Welcome, students, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she said in the precise manner i recognized, "Before we begin our new term..."

I wasn't paying attention to the rest, I had found Jared in the sea of first years.

Oh please let him be in Gryffindor!

Jared

Shivering, he glanced at one of his peers as she struggled to make it up to the sorting hat. Jared had just went through pure torture; rowing a boat to Hogwarts and falling out of it twice was NOT what he wanted to do!

Shivering again, Jared heard the girl be put into Ravenclaw. A table burst into applause, and then the horrifiying words reached Jared's ears, "Jared!"

Jared's heart stopped, and his eyes widened. He slowly took a step towards the huge Sorting Hat, and sat on the chair, stunned.

What was going to happen? He gripped the sides of the stool that he was seated on.

The headmaster put the hat on his head and the hat started to speak, "Oh, this sorting will be very easy...except for one simple matter...you are smart, yet brave...where to put you?"

Jared gripped the stool harder, the anticipation growing. His eyes were shut tight.

"Definately not Hufflepuff or Slyterin..."

Jared gasped; those were the houses that he absolutely did not want to be in. That only left Ravenclaw and -

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted, and he sighed. Opening his eyes, he saw the entire Gryffindor table standing and applauding. He sighed again and wiped his brow.

"Thank you!" he said to no one. Then he went to go and join with his sister.

I grinned as the young boy sighed and stumbled over to the table. Typical first year. Always a good entertainment.

I chanced another looked at Adri beside me. She returned with a smile, the usual mischievous one. She knew Matt and I's thoughts all too well. She knew what we were getting at, and she was going to have fun with it.

Casually, I pulled my wand out of my robes. I slowly began to wave it in the air. To most everyone, I was just playing around with it. But to Matt, he could see words form in the air from the movements. A simple trick I developed really, much easier than passing notes, and you usually don't get caught.

Adri knows about how we feel. I know she is going to play with us. You think it is worth it? I sent the array of words towards Matt until they were floating in front of his face. He scanned it for a few seconds, and, rearranging a few of the letters, sent the message back.

definitely.

Felicia

I burst into applause with the rest of the Gryffindor table, standing and clapping my hands together so hard they hurt. I could feel the ridiculous grin on my face, wild with excitement.

Jared sat beside me, quivering with joy. His face was lit with an enormous smile and I cupped him hard on the back, "I knew it!"

He grinned, or rather his grin widened, seeing as he never stopped grinning in the first place.

The Sorting Ceremony ended and Mcgonagall rose to give the traditional start of term speech. She went over the rules and restrictions, blah blah blah... I knew the rules. Not that the knowledge kept me from breaking them. I felt a mischievous smile slip onto my face.

"I know that look," I heard Adri whisper beside me.

I gave her a small smile, the one that hinted trouble, and wiggled my eyebrows deviously.

She laughed and turned her attention forward as our plates filled with food. I dug in, ready for a new year.

[Matt]

"So we're going to crush Gryffindor this year, right?"

"How come you weren't made Quidditch Captain?"

"Are you going to send another Hufflepuff to the Hospital Wing this year?"

"Or maybe hot-shot Ferrin? I hate that kid."

It was like this every meal. I could be a complete ass to every single one of the Slytherin underclassmen and they would still pester me every damn time I sat down to eat. I hated them all.

Angrily, I sank my teeth into a fat dumstick, thinking realistically that I would retire early that night.

Felicia

Soon the hall had lapsed into the cheerful, comforting mood brought about by seeing and sharing stories with old friends (and with eating a feast). The bubbly conversation swelled, laughter rang in my ears, Gryffindors enthused on and on about their summer and the subjects they had decided to take this year. It felt like home, as Hogwarts always did.

A momentary interval in my reunions found me glancing over at Adri, wondering once again about her schemes. I studied Karsh, sitting across the table, laughing with a Gryffindor I didn't recognize. He was so... perfect; I knew from the dormitory gossip(ooh, doesn't that sound exciting) that several girls were head over heels for him. He was good looking and Quidditch captain to boot but he was an authority figure in my eyes. Anyone who gets you up at the break of dawn to work your butt off is authority. I wondered if Adri felt the same, but I doubted it.

I looked over at Matthew Corzein, a rather odd Slytherin that I hardly knew. He looked pissed off, even though he was surrounded by a whole gang of enthusiastic conversationalists. Personally, I had never understood him. He didn't seem to care about house groups, unlike most Slytherins I knew, but he sure wasn't friendly. The only time I had ever really come into contact with him was in my first year, when I ran into him (quite literally) on the staircases. He had sworn at me and told me to watch where I was going.

Well that's a big difference in personality, if I do say so myself. Hmmm... this was going to be an interesting year.

I continued staring at the Slytherin for a couple minutes, confused by his attitude. His eyes met mine then and I looked away quickly, better not to provoke any more polite conversation like the past ones.

Well excuse me for looking upon your oh so wonderfulness, I thought wryly, half annoyed, half amused.

Adri, Adri, Adri... I thought to myself, shaking my head slowly, I don't know how you can stand it but it sure makes things interesting around here.

Adri

I glanced from Matt to Karsh, and back again. Already, I had my mind working, sorting out scenarios that would embarrass both of them! They had to pick me to fuss over!

But that was fine. I liked the attention, after all. At home, I was just your average freak.

And here, I was wanted. I had friends. I had places I could go and escape trouble in interesting ways. I could go places you can't even speak of in the muggle world!

This place, Hogwarts, was heaven.

Felicia

Bleh. Hogwart's start of term feast always left me extremely gorged. I waddled (that's what it felt like) over to Ally to see if we had any classes together this year.

"Hey Ally, what's your schedule like this year?"

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sorry guys thats all i got right now!

Jared

Google eyed, Jared feasted until his jaw hurt of chewing. The food was so delcious and wonderful...he didn't know how he could have survived without ever coming here. This was indeed heaven.

Jared's eyelids slowly fell over his eyes and he shook himself awake. All of this food and drinks were making him very tired. Rubbing his eyes, and chowed down some more food, and then the plates suddenly disapeared right as he was about to take a chicken leg.

He gasped and said, "What the -"

Suddenly, the plate was refilled with desserts of all kinds: Jello, pudding, cakes of all flavors. He was extremely please as he cleared his plate and began eating the sweets.

There was this girl that was reading a book across from him. Jared bent down so he could read the title: "Hogwarts A History"

Jared looked at the girl in surprise. "Are you a first year?" he asked her. The girl looked up from her book and nodded. She didn't speak, and turned her attention back to her book.

"Oh," Jared said. His inner voice told him that he should make some friends. But how? Blushing, Jared resumed eating, and the girl looked at him.

"Are you a first year?"

Jared gasped in surprise and food flew into the back of his throat, choking him. He clutched his throat and gagged, spitting food all over his plate, along with his lunch from earlier. The girl made a noise and stood up.

She promptly left, leaving Jared and his barf alone.


(hehe...that was funny!)

(Eww! That was gross!)

Adri

I stood and made my way along the tables, heading back to the common room early. It was too crowded in here, and I was already getting tired of being surrounded by first years...little idiots!

I would just go to the dorms, get my sketch pad, and go find a desolate corner and draw...

Was that someone following me?

HELLO?! ppl, where did you go? *glares* hurry up and come back from wherever it is

(not sure where you're going on the following person yumi, so ill just let you handle that and ill head up to the common room ahead of you so that if its a freakazoid, you can tell me all about it when you get up there!)

Felicia

Ally, however, did not answer. She seemed preoccupied, perhaps something had happened during the feast.

She simply nodded and said, "Sorry, I can't talk right now. Maybe later?" Then she walked away.

I didn't answer, seeing as she wasn't paying attention anyways. I smiled to myself, and decided to head up to the common room early and see who was there.

I ascended the staircase, muttered the password (cant think of one, feel free to invent gryffs!) and entered the cheerful atmosphere of the Gryffindor common room.

[Matt]

A large slice of pie was my only companion as I decended to the Slytherin common room, eating it along the way. En route I saw no one except Filch the caretaker who, in my honest opinion, should have retired years ago. His cat hissed at me and I barely resisted punting her across the hall; I had recieved detention for that as a 3rd Year.

The common room was nearly empty when I arrived. I made straight for the dormitories, finding my trunk in the usual place next to my bed at the far end. Rolling up the sleeves of my robes, I quickly threw down sixty pushups, pausing briefly before doing twenty more. I then sat on my bed, lightly massaging my arms.

I wondered vaguely whether Karsh would try and make any moves tonight.

Ally

Ally walked away from Felicia, finally letting the fake smile drop from her face. She hadn't meant to be rude to her friend. She just.... couldn't talk at the moment. She was frustrated.

Sitting down in one of the chairs in the Common Room, she looked around her. It wasn't that she was unpopular. She had friends all around Hogwarts. They just weren't as close to her, and she definitely didn't have many friends in her own house. It was like she was stuck. She didn't usually mind though, except when the Slytherins would tease her, like they did tonight.

It was bad enough she had to be Prefect. Now this? Her arm still stung from where they had sent a Burning Hex her way. She didn't feel like going to the Hospital Wing.

Finally, the frustration melted away, and then all she felt was guilt. Pulling out a piece of parchament.

Felicia,

Here's my class schedule. Sned it back to me after you read it, and don't forget to circle the ones we have together.

Sorry about earlier.

She didn't sign it. Felicia knew what her owl looked like by now.