Alanna: ok, so we have to do one of these disclaimer mibobers, here goes. Anything you've seen in the books, or even remotely recognize, except our new characters, we don't own.
SweetCheeksDracoLuver: Well, what are you WAITING for??? READ! I'm sorry if there are parts where we seem a bit… insane… but I was sleep-deprived… I don't know why Alanna agreed to my ideas when I was sleep-deprived but whatever… Oh and about the disclaimer: you know I own Drakie, I know I own Drakie, so it's all good! :}
IMPORTANT!!!!: "the gang" = Monica, Michelle, Yvette, Carlos, and Cesar!
Chapter 1
DREAM (AN: these are bits and pieces. It looks like a slideshow. All of these images are flashing past.)
Monica ran down a passageway, her little toddler feet pattering on the cold stone.
Her friends and her twin ran beside her.
Her parents and friends' parents ran behind her.
A resounding "BOOM!" came from the stone overhead.
Monica screamed, and her twin brother Carlos put a protective arm around her.
Tears streamed down her face.
Her brother's eyes were wide with fear.
Everyone in the passageway picked up their pace.
At the end, there was a trapdoor above their heads.
She and her friends pushed it open.
Everyone ran out, the parents stooping to pick up their 4-year-old children.
They were inside a shop.
All of the lights were off.
They snuck out of the shop, colliding with a couple of chairs in the dark room.
They stepped out into the cold night air.
The door closed soundlessly behind them.
They ran to an alleyway next to the shop.
The parents put them down.
They were all touching a rubber duck on the floor.
Suddenly, a man in a black hooded cloak ran past the alley.
He screamed something and turned around.
A "POP!" could be heard echoing through the alley.
Another tall man stood in front of them and laughed.
The laugh was cold, and chilled her to the bone.
She screamed.
Her mother and brother, who were right next to her, hushed her.
The tall man stared at her for a couple of seconds
She could feel his piercing red eyes boring into her chocolate-y brown ones
He looked around at everyone else.
The other man also stared intently at them. "Slytherins? Gryffindors? Wha-?" he asked, confusion written all over his face.
Then they saw the rubber duck. They seemed momentarily stunned.
"Hold on to the duck!" commanded one of the people in the group.
They did.
They felt as if there were a hook around their necks.
They were jerked away from the alley.
Monica shut her eyes tight.
They landed on soft grass.
END OF DREAM
The alarm clock went off at 6:00 with a "beep, beep!". Monica Sanchez opened her eyes wide. She was covered in a thin layer of cold sweat. She looked at the clock and did what she always did, contemplated getting up, vetoed the idea, and hit the snooze button. She didn't want to have that dream again, but she was too tired to care. She had had this dream many, many times, but she didn't have a clue as to what it could mean.
Her dream self always insisted that what happened in that dream was real, yet her woken self could never remember anything of the sort. The only thing that her dream mind knew was that the laugh came from an evil man. A bad, bad man. After all, she was only four years old in her dream. She knew this, and every time the bad man laughed, she would start sweating and tossing in her sleep, only to be rescued by the alarm clock on her nightstand.
Ever since she had first begun to have this particular dream (nightmare if you will), she had loved rubber ducks. She collected them. Her entire bathroom was devoted to ducks. (Her room was reserved for cows.)
"Slytherin." She whispered. How weird. The word tasted/felt like a hiss; cold, slithering snakes, ambition, and victory.
"Gryffindor." She said. The word tasted/felt like a roar; giant, roaring lions, bravery, and pride.
Somewhere on the other side of the house, she could hear the sound of her twin brother, Carlos, getting up and getting ready for the first day of school.
Ten minutes later, when the alarm clock went off again, Monica reluctantly (VERY reluctantly!) hoisted herself out of bed and blearily made her way toward the bathroom to wash her face. She looked at herself in the mirror. A sixteen year old, maturing girl stared back at her with wide, brown eyes. Her hair was as unruly as ever, and kind of poofed out like a triangle, making her look like she had a yield sign growing from her head. A very dark brown yield sign.
Later in the kitchen, after she had dressed and done all the things people are supposed to be doing in the morning (this included fixing her yield sign hair), she saw Carlos, disgustingly awake. His dark brown eyes reflected his happiness; it was, after all, the first day of school. Carlos LOVED the first day of school.
"Come on Twerp, I'm driving today!" he said cheerfully. Ah, yes, that was why he was extremely happy. They had just turned sixteen and had both gotten their licenses and they both had wanted to drive all of their friends to school. But they obviously couldn't so they had come up with a schedule as to who got to drive which days. Monica was Monday's, Carlos was Tuesday's, Yvette was Wednesday's, Michelle was Thursday's, and Cesar was Friday's. The first day of school just so happened to be on a Tuesday.
"Oh shut up." She smacked his head, messing up his perfectly gelled and spiked dark brown hair. Monica wasn't much of a morning person.
She then had to duck; Carlos had thrown the remainder of his bagel at her as they headed out the door.
Outside, they were met by three of their friends that lived in the same cul-de-sac with them, Michelle Roberts, Cesar Gregors, and Yvette Hennaniz.
Monica looked at Michelle and Yvette. "You guys! You look GREAT!" They smiled and said the same to her. Michelle looked remarkably like Monica. In fact, most people thought they were sisters. Their very similar yield sign hair and brown eyes gave that appearance.
Yvette, however, was shorter than either Michelle or Monica, and had straight brown hair with green/gray eyes. Her long lashes made her even cuter, and NOBODY could resist her puppy-dog face.
Cesar had grown taller over the summer and was a lot more muscular. He had bleached the tips of his brown hair. This contrasted his really round hazel eyes.
All five had been the best of friends for as long as they could remember of all of their sixteen years and their parents were also fairly close.
Piling into the tiny lime green VW bug or 'buggy' as the girls called it, they set off toward school. They sped off, and suddenly the five anxious sophomores got to school.
In the first class of the morning, Geometry Honors, the gang was surprised to find out that the teacher they had expected to see, Mr. Armp, wasn't there, instead, they saw Mr. Schab the principal.
Surprised, but still rather nervous, they sat down with the rest of the class, and waited for the bell to ring. It did all too quickly and they sat, unsure of what to do, until Mr. Schab started to talk.
"Hello, I'm Mr. Schab and I'm your principal, and also, for now, your Geometry teacher. I caught your old teacher, Mr. Armp, in Burger King eating a burger so I fired him, but, unfortunately, the school board couldn't find me another teacher so here I am."
Everyone but the gang (Monica, Yvette, Cesar, Carlos, and Michelle) sat, unsure what to make of this announcement. They knew that Mr. Schab practically worshipped cows. They knew Mr. Schab quite well; in fact, they always talked to him about everything. He was like an uncle to all of them. A hand from one of their new classmates was slowly raised into the air.
"Why did you fire a teacher for eating a burger at Burger King, isn't that what you're supposed to do there?" a girl with long, bushy hair said tentatively.
Mr. Schab looked surprised she asked. "Well, burgers are made from cows," as if that explained everything.
"Right…" the girl said skeptically, although she made no further argument.
"Anyways, it's time to take roll. Just say here when I say your name."
"Anderson, Haley"
"Here" said a girl in the front of the class.
"Chang, Cho"
"Here" said an oriental-looking girl who sat filing her nails in the back of the classroom.
"Granger, Hermione"
"Present" rang out the bushy haired girl.
"Gregors, Cesar"
"Here" said Cesar
"Hennaniz, Yvette"
"Here" said Yvette
"Malfoy, Draco"
"Here" drawled a blonde, pale and, currently, sneering boy in a bored voice.
"Potter, Harry"
"Here" said a dark haired boy with glasses
And so it went, all the way through "Weasley, Ronald", who happened to be a gangly redhead, covered in freckles.
Finally, they started ACTUAL math. The lesson in itself was one of those back to school, what we're going to be studying lessons, and was very boring. The highlights of the lesson were when Mr. Shab was interrupted by Hermione when he did the problem wrong, and a couple of small incidents concerning Ronald Weasley, whoever he was.
INCIDENTS
"AHA, I GOT IT!"
Startled, Mr. Schab stared, and hesitatingly, asked "What, uh exactly DID you get?"
Ronald stared up, and embarrassed said, "Uh, did I say that out loud?"
"Yes you did Mr. Weasley, quite loudly in fact."
"Uh, I just found my calculators ON button." He said, proudly.
"I see,…" said Mr. Schab, who clearly didn't, and continued with his lesson.
"What the heck was that about?" whispered Yvette to the others.
"Dunno, I think he doesn't know how to use a calculator," replied Cesar, in an equally hushed tone.
"That's STUPID!" protested Monica. "EVERYONE knows how to use a calculator! He wouldn't have gotten this far in school if he didn't know how to use a calculator!"
"Maybe he was trying to be funny," Observed Carlos. "Now shut up, I'm trying to learn here."
"Whatever! It was probably the dancing bananas!" said Monica, with a small smile. This was an inside joke of hers and her friends. She accused the dancing bananas of EVERYTHING.
Yvette and Michelle smiled.
The boys rolled their eyes, and they all went on with their math problems.
and
Monica, Carlos, Michelle, Yvette and Cesar were all getting extremely bored. Michelle pointed out that the new kid, Ronald or something, was staring openly at the overhead projector. Yvette could barely contain her giggling when he tapped the Harry kid and asked him, in a very loud voice, where exactly was that light coming from.
The next two classes were pretty much the same, but then the gang noticed something really odd.
They all were in the same classes, but they figured that Mr. Schab had planned it like that. What was really odd was that those five other kids were in those same classes with them. They knew each other, were obviously new, and by listening to the roll call, they found out that the kids' names were Cho Chang, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, and Ronald Weasley,. But they were odd in more than one way, and it seemed to the gang that they had a distinctly British accent.
Ronald, Draco, and Cho seemed to need step by step instructions from the other two on how to operate even the simplest of machines, and in Business Systems and Technology class, they stared in awe at the shiny screens. The rolly chairs were particularly amazing to them. All they did the whole period was roll around the room holding spinning contests.
Soon it was time for lunch, and the gang decided to find out exactly what was going on with these new weirdos that had infiltrated their school. So at the beginning of lunch, they went up to the new kids' table.
"Hey, we noticed you guys were in a lot of our classes," said Cesar.
The new kids looked rather uncomfortable, and Hermione answered for all of them. "Why yes, it would seem as though our schedules all look very much alike. Why don't we introduce ourselves, I'm Hermione Granger."
This sparked a round of introductions, which was fairly pointless, because both groups had heard the others names being called during roll call, although the gang did learn that Ronald's name was abbreviated to Ron.
After they had gotten the introductions out of the way, Cesar, who had no tact, asked bluntly, "So did you guys come from England?"
Looking faintly surprised, again Hermione answered for them all when she replied, "Why yes, but how could you know that?"
The gang exchanged incredulous glances, "Well, you guys do have fairly strong accents, I think that would tip us off," replied Carlos sarcastically.
"So why are you here?" asked Cesar.
"Well we're running from the government, what else do you think would drag us down to this oven you call Florida?" replied Draco in a sarcastic tone. It was the first thing the gang had heard from him other than the quiet drawl of "Here" during class.
"Very funny, but really, why are you here?" asked Michelle curiously.
"Well, we had to move here because of overcrowding at our old school," said Hermione, shrugging.
"So you moved to Florida… riiiight… that makes a lot of sense!" said Carlos sarcastically (again).
"Well it doesn't really matter why, does it? Anyways, enough about us, what about you, how long have you guys lived here?" said Hermione.
"As long as we can remember, all of us have lived here, on our cul-de-sac," replied Cesar nonchalantly.
"That's really interesting, but I see some cheerleaders over there and I have to ask them how to get my hair straightener to work properly," said Cho uninterested in the conversation around her, and she promptly went off to talk to them.
"She could probably use some help, I'd better go make sure she doesn't get into any mischief," said Carlos heading after her, an odd look on his face.
Then Draco piped up, and said, "If Chang can leave, so can I."
"Any one else want to leave?" asked Ron, rather sarcastically.
A chorus of no's and nah's and other basic forms of negative responses went around and the conversation started up again.
"So, is school always this boring around here, or did someone decide to change the system just for us?" Hermione asked.
"Its definitely always been boring, but there are a few classes that break the boringness and qualify as extremely tedious, and a few that are interesting enough to be ranked only humdrum," answered Michelle.
(AN: This, of course, was not true. But you'll learn that later.)
"Great, so we're not missing out. Is it just me or is it extremely hot out here?" said Ron, sweating like mad.
Harry and Hermione looked like they agreed with Ron, but Yvette spoke up, "Not really, were you all here over the summer? That's when it's hottest."
"It's a good thing that we weren't; I think we would have melted," replied Harry.
"It's really not that bad, but if you're from England so I guess you're used to freezing cold weather." remarked Monica with a shrug. She was kind of shy when it came to meeting new people.
"Maybe, but anyways, we know nothing about you, other that you're Floridians, born and raised, and that you all take the same classes that we do," said Harry.
"Well, we can fix that, to start with, we aren't completely Floridian, our parents were all from England at one point or another and they came to the States at around the same time, met, and lived all in the same cul-de-sac. We all have been friends for as long as we can remember, and, yeah, I like to read, I can do my homework and read and watch TV all at the same time. Yvette is a really good artist, and she can draw really well, she took Art 2-D and 3-D last year, Carlos is like this persuasive writer, he writes a lot, um, Monica is an excellent singer, she almost took Chorus this year, but decided against it, and Cesar is a video game freak, he can play any game imaginable. And as for sports, I play tennis, Yvette swims, and Cesar does a little bit of everything, Carlos doesn't believe in organized sports, and Monica just doesn't do that kind of stuff (she's more of an actress). And that's about it, what about you guys?" answered Michelle.
"Cool. So, um yeah, Cho is a ditz, Malfoy is a pain, Hermione is a know it all (in a good way), Ron is an idiot, and I'm, uh, me." finished Harry lamely.
Monica raised one brow, Yvette tried to do the same, (but failed), and Michelle just rolled her eyes impatiently. (Cesar had gone off to get some lunch for them all.)
"Fair's fair. You have to tell us more than that! We went WAY deeper than that!" Said Monica impatiently.
They looked a bit nervous, and Hermione started talking.
"Well, Harry here is really popular," Harry rolled his eyes. "At our school anyways," Harry now was trying to conceal his emotions. He succeeded… barely. Michelle could tell he was kind of mad. "He really likes basketball," Harry looked a bit surprised there but then smiled, as if in understanding.
"Great sport." He said.
Ron broke in. "Well, he IS the best Qui- Basketball player in our entire school!" He finished enthusiastically.
"I heard that." Drawled Draco from behind them. "And Pothead is NOT the best player in the school. I am!" He sauntered away.
"Well, I like to read and I'm top of the class." Hermione continued.
"The whole school, you mean." Said Ron and Harry at the same time. All three of them smiled.
"She's the Gryffindor Bookworm." Said Ron with a smile.
Harry and Hermione's smiles faltered.
Monica felt an odd sensation writhing inside her stomach. Memory sparked. "Gryffindor?" She asked.
"Oh, we have this club type of thing at our school, we named it the Gryffindor club. We have so much fun! Everyone in Gryffindor is like our family!" Said Hermione hurriedly.
Monica looked doubtful, but smiled. "Cool."
Just then, the bell rang, and the gang headed off to their AP World History class. As they arrived, Yvette, who had been leading the group, froze in the doorway. Standing where their usual teacher, Dr. Warner, should have been, stood, yup, you guessed it, Mr. Schab.
"Did he catch someone else at Burger King?" whispered Hermione tentatively.
"Dunno, but if he did, I just wonder how he's going to teach two classes at once!" replied Cesar quietly.
After the class took their seats, Mr. Schab spoke up. "Hello, I think you all recognize me, your principal and geometry teacher, and, for now, I am also your World History teacher. I caught Dr. Warner in the McDonalds down the street, and fired her instantly. Unfortunately, the school board is probably going to re-hire her if they can't find another suitable replacement, because they are still searching for a qualified Geometry teacher. I have looked over the curriculum for this class, and have decided it to be wholly unsatisfactory so, this year, we will be studying the effect of cows on history in general. The first order of business is to learn about cultures that have a special affinity with cows. Break into groups of about ten, and you will be doing a project about the effects of the Hindu's worship of cows. Any and all information you can find on the subject will also need to be included. This will be worth 105% of your grade so do a good job. I would like you to make a video about 15 minutes long, so have fun."
His words had an instant effect. Not only did they get the kids in the class to immediately break off into groups, but they caused Hermione to instantly raise her hand.
"Yes, uh, Hermione?" asked Mr. Schab, looking surprised that anyone could find his instructions anything but perfectly logical and clear.
"uh, how can a project be 105% of our grade?" she asked tentatively.
"Why, it's a very important part of the improved curriculum, but you knew that, and you're right, I think that this project should be worth more than that, so its now worth 110% of your grade," replied Mr. Schab in contemplative tone.
"But, it's impossible for something to be worth more than the class itself! And I wasn't under the impression that cows were the focal point of the AP exams come spring, shouldn't the students of this class be prepared?" said Hermione
"Well, I'll get them to change the test. After all, cows are much more important than all those wars and revolutions they wanted you to study this year, and also much more interesting. And as for the grade thing, well, I'm the teacher, the grades are what I want them to be," answered Mr. Schab patiently.
"Sure…" replied Hermione, looking confused, but she didn't voice any other complaints and went back to her group.
The gang was in a group with Hermione, Harry, Ron, Draco, and Cho. They looked at one another, and the gang had to fight to keep themselves from laughing. They succeded, but it was a near thing. The others looked, well, confused, (except Cho, who looked like she couldn't care less what they were doing) but the gang knew that this whole cow project thing was bound to be a lot of fun, and it wasn't going to be nearly as crucial to their grade as Mr. Schab made it out to be, especially when Dr. Warner came back, they knew she would, as would their Geometry teacher Mr. Armp, because the school board never held to Mr. Schab's firing of people, it had happened before, numerous times, and the teacher was always back within a week of their firing.
"Anyways," Carlos told the group, "We'd better get started on this project soon, what are you guys doing after school?"
Harry answered for all of them. "Well, nothing I suppose, why?"
"Well, we should get started today if we can, and I was wondering if you would like to come over to one of our houses this afternoon," replied Carlos patiently.
"I guess we could, what do you guys think?" asked Harry looking at Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Cho.
A chorus of affirmative noises went around and it was settled. They spent the rest of the period drawing funny cow pictures, to the approval of Mr. Schab.
The following is a new character reference. I used to HATE it when an author made up a new character and didn't explain him/her, and since I think that we didn't explain well enough, I'm putting this down here for your reference!
Name: Monica Sanchez
Talent: Singing
Interest/ Hobby: Anything involving creativity
Descriptive Adjective: Immature (in a good way)
Sport/ extracurricular activity: Acting, Dancing, Singing
Appearance: Frizzy, curly, long brown hair. Tan. Medium height.
Name: Michelle Roberts
Talent: Multitasking
Interest/ Hobby: Reading
Descriptive Adjective: Intelligent
Sport/ extracurricular activity: Tennis
Appearance: Frizzy, curly, long brown hair. Tan. Medium height.
Name: Yvette Hennaninz
Talent: Painting/Drawing
Interest/ Hobby: Anything involving creativity
Descriptive Adjective: Weird (in a good way)
Sport/ extracurricular activity: Swimming
Appearance: Straight, long brown hair. Tan. Vertically Challenged (lol).
Name: Cesar Gregors
Talent: Playing Video Games
Interest/ Hobby: Sports
Descriptive Adjective: Athletic
Sport/ extracurricular activity: All sports
Appearance: Bleached tips of brown hair. Tan. Tall.
Name: Carlos Sanchez
Talent: Persuasive (debate king)
Interest/ Hobby: Reading and Debating
Descriptive Adjective: Intelligent
Sport/ extracurricular activity: protesting sports/ extracurricular activities
Appearance: Brown, gelled hair. Tan. Tall.
Now, its time for you, the reader, to press that reveiw button!, I'll probably be updating every other day, at least till i run out of things to update, just so you know. For those of you who read this by Daluver, bear with me, I do have some new chapters done. if you want to know when the new ones will be posted, do the math, and enjoy!