The Shrieking Shack

My name is Lauren Erin Palmer. I wish it were something more exciting, like Esmerelda. Yeah... then I would make people call me Effie! I have flaming red wavy hair and violet eyes. Everyone in my family has blue eyes, so I figure it was a misaimed spell that my parents never really bothered to tell me about. I'm also the only healthy one in my family. I mean really, a nice apple sounds loads better than a greasy cheeseburger--that's completely off track, though.

The story really starts with me running through the woods, screaming my head off. Why, you ask? Well, I was being chased by what seemed to be a very large wolf. As I'm sure you can imagine, this was quite horrifying. Well anyway, I was being hunted. And more importantly, I had forgotten my wand.

Needless to say, I'm quite the idiot.

Fortunately for me, I saw an old abandoned house not too far ahead, with the door mysteriously open. Unfortunately, it was the shrieking shack. Pondering, I thought I'd much rather face a bunch of bloodthirsty ghosts than a wolf at the moment, but that's just me.

I ran in quickly and slammed the door behind me, sprinting up the stairs, while the door crashed open seconds later. All I could think was, "Lovely place to die in, quite roomy..." When I turned around to meet my fate fearlessly (well okay, maybe not "fearlessly" but bravely, at least…), there was a great black dog and a stag fighting the wolf off.

Utterly confused at the sight of these mysterious animals, I almost forgot to run. 'Almost' being the key word there, but it was too late anyway. In the process of fighting, the wolf threw the dog towards me, whilst still fighting with the stag. My head hit a wall, and I immediately blacked out.

hr /hR

Awakening on a bed, I was sure that it was all a dream. However, when I felt my head throb like mad and my arms sting, it all rushed back to my brain.

"Will she be okay, Madame Pomfry?" asked a hoarse voice, filled with concern.

"Yes, but she will have to stay for quite a while. She scraped her arms on a poisonous Frendrillus tree, and the antidote takes some time to prepare," resounded a motherly, yet stern-sounding woman. "I will be back in a few minutes; she needs some new bandages for her head. That was quite a concussion," she finished distractedly. She hurried off, perhaps into her office.

With the closing of her office door, I tore my eyes open and sat up in my bed, my eyes focusing on the figures about me.

"Who are you? Where am I? What happened?" I questioned without hesitation. I quickly felt dizzy, and dropped back onto my pillow. There were four boys standing over me, surely taken aback by my sudden awakening. The first was short and chubby, with short brown hair and the facial features of a rat. I shook this thought off, knowing it was a rather rude thing to think. The second boy was however, in my opinion, very cute. He had sandy long-ish hair, and deep blue eyes. The third had dark hair, round glasses, and hazel eyes, and last, definitely not least, was the best-looking one of all of them. He had long, elegant black hair that fell gracefully to his shoulders and intense gray eyes that held a mischievous glint. I tried to ignore my sudden heart palpitations, as it simply would not do to get all fan-girlish over a boy I did not know.

The sandy-haired one spoke first, and I realized that he was the one with the hoarse voice.

"Well, I'm Remus, that's Peter, that's James, and that is Sirius. You're in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, and we… erm… found you at the shrieking shack," he finished a bit hesitantly.

"Oh, okay. My name is Lauren Erin Palmer…" I responded, making special care to use my middle name, as it seemed more proper. "…And, wait… I'm at Hogwarts? I go to a school not too far from here, at Hogsmeade School," I said cheerfully, because it surely didn't freak me out to be in a strange school. Actually, I was ecstatic. Exciting stuff like this never happened to me. I was just leading a dull life.

The ratlike boy had an incredibly confused expression on his face.

"There's a school in Hogsmeade?" he asked, and I recognized him as the one named Peter. I gave a look of disbelief. Of course there was! Did he really think they attended the only school in the country?!

"Of course there is! There are over 200 other schools in the country too, you know!" said the one called Sirius. James gave him a strange look.

"Since when did you know stuff like that? That's Moony's job."

Sirius gave him a very dignified look.

"Well, I wouldn't have had to if he weren't so busy staring at her…"

The one they called Moony (who turned out to be Remus)'s face flushed a deep scarlet until he retorted, "I was just making sure she was okay…" Sirius grinned, and then said, "Well it looks like you think that and more, mate."

Seeing as I was sitting right there, I felt the need to say something.

"You know, I am right here if you don't mind talking like so in my presence," I snapped. They looked back at me sheepishly, so I decided not to press the matter anymore. I tried to sit up, only to find that I was too tired to support myself. I collapsed back down onto the bed, once again blacking out.