Young Writers Society

Kate raised an eyebrow, then turned to Tallulah.

They exchanged a look.

Tallulah gave the boys a smile and tilted her head. As she did, her hair caught the light just so, and it shone like rippling water on a clear summer day. The seashells clicked together, making a pretty little sound as they did.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, boys," she said. Her voice was smooth as silk, as light as air, "but what does 'Slitherin' mean?"

Her demeanor was an act, Kate knew, but it was great fun to watch.

Luke wanted to jump for joy when the boy said who he was. The name wasn't familiar at all, and the boy definitely didn't recognize him! If he didn't recognize him, that had to mean that Luke wasn't another Slytherin. He was just an unsorted first year!

Luke turned to the girl who had asked the question. Maybe it was something about her voice, but she felt off. If only Dante or Griffith were here - they knew more about things like this than he did. He only knew spells...

"You, um, must be a Muggleborn," Luke quietly said. "Slytherin is one of the houses at Hogwarts. There's Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Slytherin is for the ambitious, Gryffindor is for the brave, Hufflepuff is for the loyal, and Ravenclaw is for those who love knowledge..."

He glanced down at the ground, reaching up to fiddle with a pencil that wasn't currently behind his ear.

"...My brother calls it a fancy personality test with lasting life consequences," he hesitantly added, sneaking a hesitant look at the two girls.

Audrey Winchester was in an empty booth when she came to. She was waking up from her deep slumber that she decided to take after painting about four complex sceneries. She rubbed her eyes at the sight before her. "What..." she got up.

Without hesitation, she opened the sliding door and walked right out. Her clothes were stuck somewhere behind her, making her stop in her steps. When Audrey reached back to free her clothes, she froze. "Bloody hell..." she muttered. The last time she had checked, she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Where did these things come from?

Then she noticed she had a wooden stick in her hand. "What?" she peered at the stick, bringing it closer to her face. Excitement bubbling up inside her, she grinned and waved it around. "A wand!" she exclaimed. Just as she was about to produce a spell to test her theory, Audrey was pushed. "Hey!"

She stumbled backwards a few steps as the person who had pushed her swished past. No matter where you were, there just had to be rude people about. "Idiot!" she called. Another, much kinder looking student, walked past her and gave Audrey a soft smile.

"Now, I'll get back into the room and -" she muttered when he was out of ear-shot, but stopped mid-sentence when she had heard what she was saying. She gasped as realization dawned. "Oh my god!" she screamed, attracting the attention of the kind looking student. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed again, grinning. "Where are we?" she asked, smiling from ear to ear now, her dimples showing.

"Uh... The Hogwarts Express." the boy said, cocking an eyebrow, amused.

"Oh my god!" she screamed. Audrey was buzzing with excitement. She pinched herself just to make sure none of this was a dream. "Ouch... I'm going to Hogwarts!" she cheered. The boy now looked extremely concerned. Either this kid had gone crazy, or she had amnesia.

Without bothering to make sure no one was inside the booth, Audrey dashed into a random one. When she noticed there were four other people in there, she brightened up even more. "Hello!" she smiled. "I'm Audrey and I'm going to Hogwarts!"

Dante didn't wake up naturally - he woke up to someone panicking. The first thing he woke up to was a startled yelp. He instinctively kept his eyes closed, waiting for something else that would explain what was going on. Then whoever had given the yelp started pacing around him, and Dante finally gave in.

He peeked open an eye.

He was sitting in a train booth, which was a little...weird. There was a boy who had to be somewhere in his mid-teens pacing back and forth in front of him, staring down at his hands like they were the strangest thing in the entire world.

And they were, to some extent. The boy looked like he was supposed to be in some kind of Comic-Con - he was wearing black wizarding robes that had a splash of blue on them. He could even make out a wand peeking out of the boy's pocket.

He looked up at the boy's face.

Something about it looked familiar. He stared at it and narrowed his eyes, trying to remember where he had seen it before.

That was when it clicked.

"Griffith?" he asked, only to freeze when he heard how high his voice was. He sounded so young. Why did he sound so young? "Is...Is that you?"

The boy froze for a moment and gave him the same look that Dante had just given him a second before. "...Dante?" Griffith asked, relief flooding his voice. "It-It is you. Oh, thank God."

Dante didn't have the strength to make the pun right now. If Griffith was dressed like a Hogwarts student and years younger than he should have been, then Dante had to be, too.

He looked down and saw a splash of red on otherwise black clothes. The only remnant of his usual outfit was the wooden cross dangling around his neck, which was irony in itself.

Griffith sat down next to him.

"I think we're both prefects," he said. He pointed at the little badge on Dante's chest. "You must be Gryffindor's, and I'm Ravenclaw's."

Dante gave a sigh of relief. "I'm not a Slytherin."

"...Was that ever a question?"

"Yes," Dante said, point blank. "Pottermore kept sorting me into Slytherin! And all of those other Harry Potter quizzes did, too. I was doing them with Lu-"

He paused and glanced around the compartment.

"...Luke's not here," Dante realized.

Griffith glanced around. "He doesn't always end up with us-"

"He's not here," Dante repeated. He got to his feet and headed for the door of the compartment. "I was at Luke's house right before I ended up here. He was asleep on his couch - I feel asleep on his other chair. If I'm here, he has to be here."

Griffith got up again. "He might not be."

"I have to check," Dante insisted. "He has to be a human right now, Griffith. He could get hurt - and you know someone's bound to bully him. I need to find him and make sure he's alright. And if someone wants to hurt him, I'll make them wonder why I was put into Gryffindor and not Slytherin."

Griffith sighed and grabbed a familiar, small black backpack that Dante had been too distracted to notice. He held it out to Dante; Dante quickly slipped it over his shoulders and marched down the hallway.

"Hi Audrey," Ridge says.

The girl is glowing - probably the happiest of the them in the booth. She has dimples (which, in another life, Ridge would kill for), blonde hair (a shade darker than his own) and an energy that frightens Ridge to no end.

"I'm Ridge. I'd introduce you to the others," he drawls, gesturing to the motley behind him, "but I'm afraid I don't quite know them."

The crup hops up just then - Ridge had forgotten about him. He picks him up, and it immediately buries his head in Ridge's chest.

Trying not to blush, he clears his throat. "And this is... um. Beagle. My crup."

Kate scowled at the words 'personality test'. No self-respecting individual who didn't dip themselves in a pot of loose glitter every evening would ever introduce themselves with the results of a personality test. Of all the contrived-

"That's all very interesting," Tallulah had a way of making it sound so very genuine when it was very not. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap. To people who hadn't seen her about to throw hands, it probably looked like she was perfectly calm, but Kate could see her getting ready to snap. Like a rubber band stretched by absurdity after frustrating absurdity.

Kate hooked her foot under the bottom of the wheelchair and dragged her closer. Tallulah didn't look startled in the slightest by the sudden movement, and leaned her head back on Kate's shoulder as the vampire wrapped her arms around Tallulah's shoulders from behind.

Kate glared up at the others, "What about this 'personality test' is so important that you thought it was vital to introduce yourself with it?" she said scathingly.

Luke shrunk back at the look.

"It's...um..." What was he supposed to say to that? He had been working on his confidence for awhile, but it was hard being confident in a time like this. He was tiny, he was pretty sure Kate was a vampire without checking her soul, and Tallulah definitely was intimidating, too. "Um..."

The compartment door suddenly slid open again.

Luke flinched at the noise.

The compartment had already begun to get crowded, so Luke wasn't really surprised at how easy it was to hide in the very back. There were two newcomers this time, and both were taller than anyone in the compartment. Luke wasn't the best at telling ages, but they looked like they could have been classmates - especially when he saw the prefect badges on their chests.

The slightly more composed boy - a Ravenclaw - slipped his wand back into his robes. His Gryffindor companion pushed past the group of kids, saying, "Excuse me - prefect coming through!"

He stopped right in front of Luke.

"You're so tiny," the boy whispered.

That was when it clicked.

"Dante?" Luke whispered. He got his confirmation in the form of a very tight hug on Dante's part. A second later, Dante was behind him with his chin on the very top of Luke's head, looking at the group of children with a very critical eye.

"Did someone say something mean to you?" he asked. "You look like you're going to cry."

Luke frantically rubbed at his eyes with the bottom of his palms. "I'm not-"

"If someone bullied you, just point them out," Dante said, in a completely serious tone, "I'll dock points from their eventual houses and beat them up for daring to hurt my little brother-"

"Dante," the Ravenclaw cut in. It took Luke another second to realize he was looking at Griffith. "None of them have been sorted yet - they can't be older than eleven. You can't fight a group of eleven year olds."

"I can and I will," Dante swore.

"No one bullied me," Luke hurriedly reassured him. "Don't worry, Dante. I'm okay. I promise."

Audrey scratched the back of Beagle's ear and smiled. Eventually she turned to look at the newcomers. "Hi! I'm Audrey and I'm going to Hogwarts!" Her eyes twinkled and she stuck out her hand for them to shake.

"Also, I agree with Mr. Ravenclaw. There's no need to fight anyone." Her eyes twinkled. "Everyone has kindness in them." she pursed her lips and clasped her hands together, waiting for someone to say something. Anything.

Ridge clears his throat.

Six pairs of eyes lock on him. (panicattackpanicattackpan-)

He raises his hands. "No one's bullying anyone." Slytherin knows when to pick fights. And when to make allies. "Just introductions going on. Making new friends, see?"

He makes sure the prefects are appeased before turning to Scary Girl.

"The Sorting is how your house is decided. Slytherin- the cunning and loyal; Gryffindor - stupid and reckless; Ravenclaw - weird eccentric nerds; and Hufflepuff - the ones you can steal candy from and they'll not even complain.

"Everyone has a house. You live with your housemates for the seven years you're at hogwarts, take classes with them, eat with them, take a poo with them, et cetera." He points to himself. "I, for example, will most certainly be sorted into-"

"Slytherin. Understood."

Ridge grins. "The best."

"Hey!" Dante protested. "Gryffindors aren't stupid and reckless. We're brave and courageous-"

He faltered when he saw the look that Griffith and Luke were exchanging. In retrospect, maybe he wasn't the best example of a Gryffindor. He wasn't stupid, but he did have a tendency to be a little reckless.

...Which, considering what one of his jobs was, wasn't exactly a bad thing. He could get away with some recklessness here and there! That's what all the good hunters did, after all. All you had to do was watch an episode of Supernatural to know that.

"I...um...think your explanation is a little biased..." Luke hesitantly said.

He didn't sound as nervous as he usually was around other people, so that was a plus. Still, Dante wasn't going to leave him unless he absolutely had to - he kept standing behind Luke and resting his chin on the top of Luke's head.

"I think houses are more what you value," Griffith suddenly said. He was still standing in the doorway to the compartment - there wasn't much room for him to sneak into it. "It can be based on what traits you have, but it's more about what you think is important. Gryffindors believe in the importance of standing up for themselves, Ravenclaws believe in the importance of knowledge, Hufflepuffs believe in the importance of hard work, and Slytherins believe in the importance of reaching your goals."

Luke gave a nod in agreement.

"Griffith is a Ravenclaw," Dante offered. "I'm a Gryffindor. Luke's probably going to end up in Hufflepuff-"

Luke shifted at the acknowledgement.

"And knockoff Draco Malfoy is probably a Slytherin, like he said-"

Griffith's finger shot up to his lip - a startled, afraid look to his eyes - and Luke noticeably stiffened at the comment. It was only after the look and the freezing registered that Dante realized his mistake. If this was before the events of Harry Potter, then Draco Malfoy wouldn't meant anything. It'd just cause confusion-

Wait a second.

"I'm not going to avoid referencing something like that," Dante said. Griffith gave him a look that was practically begging him to shut up, and Luke looked like he was trying to hide away in Dante's grip. "It's like not mentioning the supernatural existed in Scoobynatural - it didn't end up helping in the plot, and who cares if the story gets messed up, anyways-"

"Other realities exist," Luke whispered. "This...This might be another reality, and not like that..."

As the three boys talked, Audrey's eyes shifted towards each one then landed on Ridge. She shrugged, half a smile still on her face. "I'm probably going to be Gryffindor. I can be reckless, sure, but I assure you, I am not stupid." she said, straightening up her back and raising her brows.

There was a pause. Audrey groaned a bit over dramatically.

"Okay, look. All of us know that we've been brought here. We don't know by who. And to figure out how to get back - which, admittedly, I don't want to do because we're going to Hogwarts -" she grinned at that, "we have to all cooperate with each other, okay? So we'll take a baby step towards that and we'll all tell everyone our names. Puh-lease." she added.

Audrey's grin widened at the thought of learning names. And maybe even giving everyone nicknames.

"Well I'm Tallulah," Kate's seemingly ever-patient girlfriend said. The look on her face was what Kate imagined the face of a siren to be. A patient smile, her head tilted gently, the corners of her eyes crinkled in that pretty way they did when she smiled, her eyes themselves glinting with veiled murderous intent. Kate had to keep from kissing her right then.

Kate was shaken from her wandering thoughts by Tallulah's elbow, which had jabbed her nearly hard enough to crack a rib. "Why the f-" Tallulah gave her a pointed look, "Fine. My name is Kate."