WISHES
Prologue
Sometimes I wish that I could turn back time
I check myself 'cause I was way out of line
I only hope that we can start all over again
And I wish that I could have just one more chance
And I wish that I could be your pillar of strength
And I pray that you will see that what I'm sayin' is true
'Cause I, I wish for you
--- Wishes, Human Nature
The noise in the Great Hall was nearly unbearable. But bearable enough for every student seated in there to chat away completely unaware of the chaos surrounding them.
On the Slytherin table Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were leading a conversation aimed directly at how to terrorise the other houses. Well to be honest, Malfoy was leading the conversation, Crabbe and Goyle were just sitting there agreeing with everything he said.
On the Gryffindor table everyone was chatting away about the newest couple to emerge from their house, Lavender Brown and Seamus Finnigan. Gossip was flying around about what they'd done, how far they'd gone and what they were doing at that particular moment (which was nothing but sitting there red in the face and very, very embarrassed.)
On the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables a food fight was about to break out. Students had their forks and arms at the ready and were about to fire when Dumbledore interrupted.
"STUDENTS!" he bellowed, surprising the newest first year students who didn't think the old clapper had it in him.
He lowered his voice now that he had all of their attention. "As a new Hogwarts tradition I am going to ask you to all go back to your house towers and take a piece of parchment from your respective professors. These are 'Wishes' parchments. They are to be used to record what you want to happen in the future- your hopes, dreams, wishes, aspirations and goals. They are to be returned at the end of the week to me, personally, and no one else but you will get to read them. You can write whatever you want as it will be held strictly confedential. You could even write nothing if you wanted but I recommend that you do indeed write as these will be sent by owl to you once you are of twenty-one years of age and you can see for yourself whether you have achieved any of your wishes. if not, then you still have a lifetime to fulfill them."
A loud groan came from the Slytherin table who didn't like anything to do with writing.
Most of the other students seemed positive about the idea and began to make their way back to their house towers.