Potterbook | *Started*

Owen | Great Hall (one week later)

Owen homed in on his two friends like a well-dressed curse. He squished his way between Matt and Sae at the breakfast table and proceeded to demolish his bacon and eggs without a word of greeting. Matt rolled his good eye at Sae but it appeared she was too busy concentrating on eating breakfast with her cutlery in the wrong hands.

"So," said Owen as he leaned forward, inviting the others to share in a secret he was about to disclose. "It's going to happen today."

"Are you sure this time, Owen?" asked Sae. "After all, you said that every day last week as well."

"Sae's right," said Matt. He lifted his hand to itch his right eye but Owen pushed it away. He'd been doing that all last week too. Matt muttered something about Owen not knowing how it felt.

"I'm certain," Owen said emphatically. "Fiona wants a spectacle and so she's going to set off a load of fireworks in the Great Hall while the First Years are at their first flying lessons." Owen paused for a breath. "The Hall is easily in sight from the practice pitch -- they won't be able miss the show."

Sae stared up at the sky-ceiling for a moment. "I have a Charms class at the same time as that," she said, half to herself and half to the others. "I should still be able to make it though. Meet you here five minutes before class begins?"

Owen clapped Sae on the shoulder before turning to the distraught Matt.

"You're not seriously going through with this are you?" he asked staring at Owen and Sae with equal bewilderment.

Sae nodded. "If I remember."

"Besides," said Owen, cracking his knuckles, "what better way than a demonstration to advertise Duelling Club?"

Fiona O’Connell | The Great Hall


Fiona had tied her hair back for this one purpose. She and her friends, who had cut class, met in the bathroom and snuck down to the Great Hall with determined faces and wands in hand.

Fiona crouched down by the entrance. The floors were cold and her feet were bare, her shoes discarded so she wouldn’t make any noise. She looked at her friends, who looked expectantly back at her.

“Go.” She whispered and nodded to the doors. She held her breath, and waited for the crack of fireworks. What she really heard was a loud scream and a shouted ‘No!’

She entered the room herself to see a few Gryffindors standing. Waiting for them, and more importantly, her. She bit her tongue. The key was not getting angry. She pulled her hair out of the knot, letting it tumble down to her shoulders. She inhaled and exhaled, calmly raising her eyebrows.

“Really?” Fiona asked, “Weeks of planning. For this.” She eyed one of the boys, who wore a Gryffindor scarf and a smirk.

She walked right over to him and crossed her arms.
“Side note,” she said, “we’re indoors and it’s September. Lose the scarf.”

Owen | The Great Hall

The comment stung. Owen liked the scarf a lot: it was his signature style, or at least he thought it was. Every hero needed a little something to make them iconic. For Owen, that scarf was it.

"Maybe if you were a little less scheming and a little more active you'd have let off some fireworks by now," said Owen.

Fiona glared at him. She was a pretty girl to look at, small and delicate and unblemished like an expensive doll. Owen liked the way her eyes were the only sparks of colour against her pale face and dark hair. But right now she was also an enemy and looks changed nothing.

Behind him Matt and the few Gryffindors he'd recruited shifted uncomfortably. They were on edge, understandably so. Owen smirked. They outnumbered the Slytherins, almost two-to-one and Sae hadn't even arrived yet.

"I suppose you think you'll be able to stop us then?" Fiona asked, one eyebrow arched.

"Of course," said Owen with a wink. "I duel even better than I look."

Fiona's gang laughed and shook their heads. What else could you expect from Slytherin girls?

"What a pity," said Fiona as she drew her wand. "To think I was almost taking you seriously..."

Owen snarled. "Come and get some, O’Connell!"

"Expelliarmus!"

Owen dodged the first charm and ducked a second from one of Fiona's lackeys before he could draw his own wand. The Slytherins made the first move and a disarming charm hit a Gryffindor in the chest sending him flying back across one of the house tables.

0 - 1

"Stupefy!"

Owen's spell hit a nameless Slytherin in the arm as she disarmed another of his friends. The force spun her round and she landed face-first on the floor.

1 - 2

Matt disarmed another Slytherin with a somewhat unconventional charm.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The unfortunate Slytherin was fending off another attack when Matt made her cloak float up and cover her eyes. She flailed about, trying to get free, until another stunning spell knocked her onto her back.

"That still counts as mine," shouted Matt over the spell-casting.

2 - 2

"Had enough yet, O'Connell?"

Fiona was backing toward the doorway while keeping up an immaculate defence. Owen aimed a hex at her leg but she deflected it with ease. She'd almost made it to the door when Owen realised what she was really up to.

"Oh no you don't--!"

4 - 3

Owen dashed forward, ducking the red lightning and silver flashes. Fiona hadn't been retreating at all. She was going back for the big crate that the Slytherin's had brought in with them.

Behind him Matt ignited his own cloak and, while tearing himself free, took a stunning spell to the knee.

4 - 4

"Stupefy!"

Fiona blocked yet another charm and turned her attention on the crate. Owen gulped. It was probably full of all sorts of mischief. He couldn't let Fiona--

"Incendio!"

Owen could only watch as the sparks from Fiona's wand touched the crate and engulfed it in flames. The box exploded with a resounding crack and knocked the remaining duelists to the floor. Fireworks rushed into the hall, weaving through the air in a victory dance of silver and green.

They circled the hall once and then separated, exploding into silver chrysanthemums. Defeat tasted foul in Owen's mouth, though he couldn't help but admire how magnificent the fight had been.

Fiona appeared above him. "Time for me to slip away," she whispered. "I think it's best if you don't try and catch me again."

"This is just the start," said Owen from the floor.

Fiona exhaled slowly then nodded. "So be it. Petrificus Totalus."

There was a flash and the next thing Owen knew he was being woken up by Professor McGonagall. She didn't look happy.

Alice Potter | Going to the flying lessons

Alice wasn't in a particularly bad mood today. She had been in worse moods before, to be honest; last week for example, when Fletcher had burned off her precious red head of hair. Not that it mattered right now, at any rate; her hair was back, and Fletcher was going to get what was coming to him during lunch. It was the perfectly hatched plan.

And the elves in the kitchen were so accomodating!

"You're creeping me out," Sammy said for the umpteenth time since they got out of their dorms. Alice and Sammy had been getting on somewhat well since the disastrous Transfiguration lesson on the first day, to the point that Alice had actually began calling her 'Sammy' outright despite the other's protests. 'It's Samara, Samara I tell you! I'm not a boy!' Alice didn't listen, of course; she kept calling her Sammy, until the latter decided to give up on the issue. "What's with that big grin on your face?"

"Someone's going to get busted today." Alice hummed, while both Allen and Samara stared at her. Clearly, they had no idea what she had up her sleeves, but they would find out soon. But, as they started down a spiral staircase, Alice suddenly found herself toppling over, face first into the marble floor; something was going to break, she just knew it--

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

She found herself stopped within an inch of the floor, and almost sighed in relief, until she heard Allen and Samara bickering behind her. "See, that's how you do it!" Samara gloated. "You don't just wave your wand around and mutter it, you have to swish and flick and then pronounce it carefully!"

"Yes, of course..." Allen rolled his eyes as he ran down the stairs to help Alice up. Behind them, a fourth year Ravenclaw--Edmunds, wasn't his name?--had barely managed to stabilize himself by grabbing the stair railing, but his ears weren't doing so well; Sammy had changed targets from Allen to him.

"How could you be so careless?! Another second more and Alice could've been in the Hospital Wing by now! You big oaf!"

"I'm sorry..." Edmunds whimpered. "I didn't mean to, honest! It's just my leg hasn't been doing...so...well..."

"You big oaf!"

"Come on, let the old guy alone, Devereux." Allen mildly waved her hand at her, her French surname tripping on his voice badly. Alice suppressed a giggle. "We have to get to class right now or Snape or one of the other teachers are going to swoop in and have our heads for lunch."

"McGonagall, you mean."

"No, Snape is way scarier." Thus started the infamous Allen-Sammy argument, again. Alice sent a glare towards the fourth year for good measure, and then led the other two outside the castle and out onto the fields where the rest of the first years were standing around in a line. The flying instructor, Madam Hooch, levelled her hawk-like glare at the late trio.

"You're late."

"Sorry, Madam Hooch." The three intoned and joined the other first-years; Alice could swear she was hearing a snicker from Rockharrow's end. She nodded to herself, thinking furiously. Her second and third victims of the year had already been decided.

Bonnie | Flying Lessons

The broomstick at Bonnie's feet was hardly a handsome thing- all splinters and sticking-out twigs. She seriously doubted that it would hold her weight, let alone get to any sort of decent speed.

But even that nagging doubt couldn't quell the gargantuan amount of excitement building up in Bonnie's mind. She was going to fly. On a freakin' broomstick.

"Oh-my-god,-I'm-so-EXCITED!"

On her left, Ben was looking more than a little nervous, but Bonnie was far too hyper to notice.

"I-mean-we're-going-to-be-HUNDREDS-OF-MILLIONS-of-feet-in-MIDAIR!-We're-going-to-be-so-high-up-that-we-won't-be-able-to-see-the-GROUND!-We'll-be-so... Ben, are you okay?"

Ben had gone rather pale, but he nodded at her. Bonnie wasn't convinced, bu she shrugged it off, and did as Madam Hooch had said.

"Come-on,-Broomy,-UP!"

If the broomstick objected to being called "Broomy" it didn't show it, and leapt eagerly into Bonnie's hand.

"WOAH!" She yelled happily, and swung her leg over the side of the broom. There then following several minutes of boredom until Madam Hooch came to check if Bonnie had it right. She was glad to be told that she was exactly right, but it was still yet more time until she'd be allowed in the air.

She fidgeted. And fidgeted some more. Until...

"Right. On my whistle, you will kick off form the ground, hover for a few minutes, then lean forward and touch back down, and no more than that. Ready? Three, two, one."

PHEEP!

Bonnie kicked off with all her might, and found herself spiralling upwards into the air at an alarming rate, feeling the wind whip her hair back, with nothing ahead but the sky.

"WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!"

Bonnie leaned forward, and zommed back towards the ground, bringing the handle of the broom upwards a second before she hit the ground. The angry cries of Madam Hooch seemed distant and unimportant- part of another world. She payed her no heed.

She also paid no heed to the many people she'd accidentally knocked off their brooms.

Allen Selwyn | Flying Lessons

"AIIIIEEE!"

If Allen hadn't been busy screaming in terror, he might have paused to wonder exactly what that high-pitched sound he was hearing was. He also might have wondered why, exactly, it was coming from himself; but seeing as he was too busy panicking to think of those very pertinent questions, he didn't think about them.

Someone swooped under him and caught him before he landed and ended up being all over the ground. "Allen! Relax, I've got you!" He opened his eyes, realizing the person addressing him was right--and that it was Alice that had caught him. They landed carefully on the ground, and he got off; Alice didn't, however. "I'm going to see if I can do anything about Wright!"

"B...be careful...and by the way it's Wray, not--" Allen opened his mouth, but Alice didn't seem to have listened. She kicked off from the ground, strands of red hair pushing back from her face as she raced through the air towards the wild black streak swooping here and there. Alice didn't seem to be scared, and neither did Wright's haphazard movements affect her; she kept in line with the girl, saying something; exactly what, Allen didn't hear.

"Potter, Wray! Get down from there this instant, or I'll have both of you expelled!" Hooch yelled at the two, but apparently if they couldn't hear the woman; Alice kept slipping in and out of Bonnie's movements easily. For some reason, Wray seemed to be laughing; and then she took off, Alice in pursuit. The small group on the ground gawked at the two.

Allen just hoped they were going to be alright.

----

Alice Potter | Flying lessons

"Oi, Wright! Watch it, you're knocking out a lot of people down there!"

Bonnie Wright glanced at Alice as the latter ascended up to her height. She probably didn't register Alice's voice properly, but if she didn't, she responded by taking her broom up higher. Alice swore she could hear Hooch screaming something, but this was too much fun; she had no intention of finding out what Hooch was exactly saying. But Wright pointed downwards. "I didn't MEAN to knock anyone else OVER!" She yelled. "But flying is SO much FUN." So she had heard. Alice got closer to her.

"I agree! Say, why don't we fly together some other time when nobody else is around? Then we could fly as much as we wanted without knocking people over!" Wright laughed. "What is it?!"

"But THIS...is...so...much...FUN!"

Saying so, the other took off, leaving Alice staring after her. The redhead wasn't fazed for long, however; she immediately leaned forwards on her broom and caught up to the other. "Wright, wait! You can't do--"

"Potter, Wray. Get down from there this. Instant."

Alice looked around, only half realizing that she'd gotten Bonnie's last name wrong; Bonnie seemed to have noticed the figure on the ground, as well. Down on the ground, with black hair (still soft and shiny from the Potions accident last week) and billowing robes, was Snape with a glare affixed to his face, but aimed at Wray rather than herself. Alice descended and touched down, Wray a second after her. Hooch might've said something, but she apparently didn't dare when Snape was around; she simply looked to the other first-years, nervous. "Wray, fifteen points from Ravenclaw and two weeks worth of detention for making off with school property and disobedience. Potter, you come with me."

Alice caught Allen's eye as she passed by the group of first-years, and his expression only said one thing. Told you Snape was scary. She just hoped he was wrong, and that the punishment wasn't going to be too severe...

Leopoldina Rockharrow | The Great Hall

Watching Allen Selwyn trying to choose a place to sit on the Gryffindor table because Alice Potter wasn't around was causing Leopoldina a lot of amusement.

Valentina was a few seats down from her absorbed in her soup, and Allen, after much deliberation, eventually plonked down beside her. Valentina looked up and gave him a quick nod as he started helping himself to rolls.

"Recover from flying lessons?" Leopoldina asked in a way that could have been either entirely civil or really really derogatory. It depended on your point of view.

He gave her a dirty look. "Some of us didn't ride a broomstick before we learnt to walk."

While it was meant to be insulting, Leopoldina couldn't help but smile. "I'm good, I know."

"Alice is better."

That made her blood boil. "Just because Potter's a show-off. I could have done anything she did... if I cared enough about you or that Wray girl."

"And therein lies the problem," Allen said philosophically, pointing at her with his butter knife. "Maybe you should start caring about things."

"I care plenty!"

He shrugged and turned to start talking to Valentina.

Leopoldina was furious and finished her food as quickly as she could, then stormed off, just as she saw Potter walking into the Great Hall. The ginger had a big dazed grin on her face like she had just been hit over the head with something.

"Well?" Leopoldina asked coldly. "Did you earn yourself a month's detention?"

"You wish, Rockharrow."

"Seriously." Leopoldina was exasperated at this point. "Why can't you just be normal like everyone else? Okay, I get it, you're the Girl Who Lived bla bla bla. But that didn't mean you had to go acting the hero. It was a flying lesson for Merlin's sake."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Sounds like you're jealous."

"Jealous of what, exactly?"

"Jealous of the fact that I just made the Slytherin Quidditch team."

And thus Alice Potter walked into the Great Hall, still grinning, leaving Leopoldina disgusted in her wake.

Jealous of Potter?

No.

Not in a million years.

Samara Devereux | Great Hall - Slytherin Table:

Samara eyed Allen and the rest of the Gryffindor table. That Rockharrow... She really didn't like the girl. Honestly, she could be nice but instead, Rockharrow was all prickly around people. It made Samara partly amused and partly annoyed. It was like the other girl wasn't even trying half they time. Samara sighed and leaned forward, frowning at Allen's back. Rockharrow had left the great hall now, and Alice was skipping over to the Slytherin table.

"Hey Sammy," she said as she took a seat by Samara, who glared at the red-haired girl.

"I told you; it's Samara!"

Alice just gave her a charming smile--which Samara didn't believe for a second. "Oh, come on, Samara," Alice told her, rolling her eyes. "It's not like you can't live a little."

Samara stared at the redhead beside her for a long moment before she sighed and turned back to watching Allen. "Think we should go save him?" she asked, completely ignoring and disregarding Alice's previous sentence. If Alice pouted or pulled a face, Samara didn't see it. "By the way, I head you got onto the Slytherin Quidditch team?"

"Yeah," Alice murmured absently, "I did." Samara turned to frown at her friend and raised an eyebrow when she saw Alice's thoughtful look.

"What?" Samara asked, scowling at her.

"You know," said the Girl-Who-Lived. "I think we should go save him."

Alice Potter/Allen Selwyn | Great Hall

"Allleeeen. Come and sit with us!" Alice tugged at his arm with all the force she had in her little body, but as had happened at least twice before, Allen refused to budge. He gnawed at the chicken bone in his mouth viciously, an evil glint in his eye as he absolutely refused to move from his seat. Sammy wrinkled her nose at him as Alice started up once again, this time putting a foot at the bench and violently tugging away at his arm. "ALLLEEEEN."

All of Gryffindor stared.

"Alice, I don't think he wants to be rescued."

"I told you..." Allen bit into another drumstick, completely ignoring Alice's attempts to uproot him from his seat. "I don't need to be rescued right now!"

Alice stopped tugging at his arm and stared mournfully at the bit of meat stuck on his cheek. "Don't tell me you're going to drift away just because we're in different houses." She sniffled for effect, and her eyes started to wobble. Allen took one glance at her and choked on his food. He coughed for a bit and his eyes watered before he turned to her and grinned.

"Honestly, you're awful!" he mock-complained. "I sat with you in breakfast today and now you won't even let me try to fit in with my house? Selfish!"

"You belong to us. To US." Alice put her arms securely around his neck, and he made a choking noise and dropped the drumstick. "You never wanted to be in Gryffindor in the first place!"

If Sammy could have gawked, her jaw would've probably dropped to the floor. Instead, she settled for staring at the two of them. "Um, Alice, that's a bit disturbing...and you're choking Selwyn..."

"You come with us NOW." She dragged him away from the Gryffindor table and all the way to the other end of the hall, plopping him down on the Slytherin bench from where they had a clear vision of Fletcher sitting at the Ravenclaw table. Allen made retching noises as Alice let go of him. "Sorry, but you would've missed this little spectacle!"

"You almost...killed...me..." he gasped, but he didn't have any more time to complain; just as he regained his breath, something began to happen to Fletcher's lank hair--it suddenly shot up and...he wasn't sure what he was seeing. But at the end of it all, Fletcher's hair had turned into two-feet-tall purple-coloured porcupine spikes.

The entire Hall went quiet at the spectacle...and then someone started laughing.

Hey Celtic! Can I join???

i already tried there are no openings

goofysmurf2 wrote:i already tried there are no openings

Ok Thanx!

Fiona O’Connell | Great Hall

Fiona was glaring, past the other kids and at that Gryffindor, Owen Pepperidge. She was stull fuming. She won, but he had almost intercepted her. She frowned slightly, busily imagining everything she could do to him. She wished looks could, at least, brutally injure him to get him out of her way. Her dinner sat in front of her, uneaten. She wasn’t hungry. Just ready for revenge.
Alice’s outburst pulled her from her reverie. Fiona laughed, an actual laugh and stood up.

“I think I was right. Slytherins are never that messy.” Fiona said, crossing her arms, “ergo, this girl does not belong in Slytherin.” She slowly walked down to the place where Alice and her friends were sitting.

“I guess you just never learned how it worked. I’m Fiona O’Connell. I never properly introduced myself. But now that that is done, a couple of things. Don’t call attention to yourself like that and we don’t associate with Gryffindors.” She said coolly staring the girl down for a second, then turning back to her spot. She slipped elegantly onto the bench and resumed her glaring at the back of Owen Pepperridge’s head.

Ben Fletcher | Great Hall

Ben had just finished chewing another mouthful of carrots when everyone started laughing. He set down his fork and stood up on his seat, glancing around in hopes of spotting whatever was so funny. His entire body started tipping to one side to the point he needed to steady himself with his hands planted on the table. That's when he saw it in the reflection of his mostly empty plate. What the bloody hell! Purple spiky hair? Then that's what everyone...

His face flooded a deep crimson. Someone thought they could destroy his reputation. His eyes floated around the room before settling on a familiar trio. From the expressions on their faces he had a pretty good idea who was behind this. Lifting his glasses so he could wipe away the liquid that totally wasn't gathering in his eyes, he reared back before playing leap frog between the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin tables. In a matter of seconds, he found himself standing on the table right in front of Alice Potter, his right foot firmly planted in what would have been her dinner. He spoke in quick out of breath sentences, hoping to finish before a teacher showed up.

"You think you're a celebrity, Potter? Just because you're famous doesn't give you the right to bully people! I won't have it! You should be expelled right now, of course that won't happen. Too much of a saint you are, nobody has the spine to punish you," he yelled in the best 'I feel angry at you, rawr' voice he could muster.

He attempted to lean down close to her face for a more personal conversation, but the spiked hair settled on top of her head with his eyes pointing somewhere around her ankles. "Don't worry, Alice. I understand. You marked me as an equal after I attacked you in Transportation class. Promise I'll make a good nemesis!"

Then he promptly sat on the table, and probably a few food dishes.

"So mind telling me when this'll wear off?"