Story Summary:

Have you ever wondered what ordinary students thought and did while Harry, Ron, and Hermione went on their adventures? Well, now you'll have the answer. This story will follow a boy and girl from each house on their own small adventures, and show how they react to Harry, Dumbledore, and the events posted by the Daily Prophet.

All the main characters are my own OCs, but quite a few others aren't. Most characters and places belong to JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. Bold/italicized writing is quoted from the book.

I'm writing this story as a challenge to myself. I want to get better at character voices, and making each of my characters with different personalities. I also want to be able to write in first person present tense. So if you see anywhere that you think could use changes in these areas, go ahead and point them out.

I will give reactions on how they react to events (ex. Would they blame Harry for opening the Chamber of Secrets once it was revealed he could speak parseltongue? What about how they react to the Yule Ball?) as well as their own life stories. What problems do ordinary students have? Classes, friends, family, and more.

The Sorting | Marisol

Everyone in the hall erupts into cheers as the sorting hat ended it's song of the year. It gives a bow, and then freezes, a regular inanimate object again.

How I would love to put on the hat again. I had always been sure that it had put me in the wrong house, I am a Ravenclaw through and through, just like my older sister Christina.

Anyway, it didn't matter now. I couldn't change my house.

I watch as new students are placed in their new houses. Do any of them feel like me, like they have been put in the wrong place? Or am I the sorting hat's only mistake?

"Mari! Wake up and listen!" my friend Ashli elbows me in the side, and bobs up and down, trying to get a good view of the kid going up to get sorted. Being as short as she is, nothing short of sitting in the front row would give her a good view.

"Mcgonagall said that was Harry Potter! Oh, I hope he's in Gryffindor. D'ya think we'll get to meet him?" Ashli squeals.

"I don't see the big deal here, he looks just as scrawny as the rest of the first years," I say. I really don't see the point. As far as every book I'd ever read had told me, Harry Potter didn't have any extraordinary skill, he just survived. Surviving is a cool talent and all, but still. The kid's only eleven.

"But he's famous Mari, famous!"

I shrug. It still doesn't matter to me, but it looks like the rest of the hall agrees with Ashli. Harry Potter puts on the hat, and he's one of the ones that the hat actually takes it's time deciding on. In the end, it shouts out "Gryffindor!" and I get up and cheer with the rest of my house.

I hope that this potter kid is actually good at getting house points or something, because if he's not, people are going to see him as a real disappointment. One thing I think is worse than having your expectations shattered, is feeling that you've shattered other people's expectations.

For the rest of the meal, I don't really pay attention to the first years, not even the boy-who-lived. I figure enough people will bother him without me staring with my eyes and mouth gaping open like Ashli has been doing for the past minute.

And besides, it will still be a normal year. Dumbledore's odd speech at the beginning of the meal didn't even bother me. Nothing did - at least not until we were about to be dismissed. What was up with the third floor corridor? Surely some kid would venture in there anyway, either because they were lost or because they didn't believe the warning. What was something so deadly doing in the castle?

0o0o0o0o0o0

GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July,
widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault
that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if
you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this
Afternoon.

I read this from my copy of the Daily Prophet while I sit in an armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room. I slam the pages together as Ashli once again tries to wrench the papers from my hands.

"Why won't you ever take a break and do something fun?" Ashli asks me, her face only a foot away from mine. She's holding out various wizarding games that I don't bother to look at even once.

"This is fun. Look," I say, turning the newspaper around and showing it to her. "I, unlike you, know what's going on in the real world. And, one month from now, I'll have all the best grades, and you'll barely be passing."

"Come on, just one round of chess? Or maybe we could go talk to -"

"I'm not going to talk to some stupid first year just because he's famous. And look, he's trying to do his homework now."

We both look across the room. Near the fireplace, Harry Potter sits with a few of the Weasleys bent over writing on a piece of paper, and every once in awhile, checking their textbooks. It was only a couple days into first term, and, as a first year, he couldn't have had that much homework, but I keep myself from reminding Ashli of this fact.

"Oh, I guess you're right," She sighs.

Of all the dumb things in the world, I hadn't thought that would actually work! But yes, Ashli is getting out her own homework at last. Finally, she's given up. At least, she has for now.

I hide a smirk behind the paper I have reopened. Time to get back to relaxing.