This story takes place in the near future of summer 2012. Dixie Band Camp is a real place in Conway, Arkansas. I go there every year, and this year I am a captain, so I thought it would be fun to write about what would happen if the Hogwarts gang traveled to the future to Dixie Band Camp. The Muggles named are either captains or my friends who attend Dixie (or are in band at their school and wanted to be in the story). Enjoy!
A/N: Nothing recognizable belongs to me. The camp doesn't even belong to me. All credit goes where credit is due.
Ginny's POV
"What is this 'Band Camp,' Professor?" a confused Harry asks Professor Dumbledore. He is so cute when he's confused.
"Band Camp is a summer camp where students from all over come to further their musical instrumental playing abilities. Since we have recently started a band program here at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall and I have decided that you all should participate in one of the most prestigious camps in the country. It is called Dixie Band Camp and is located in Conway, Arkansas."
"I've heard of Arkansas," Hermione cuts in. "Isn't it in America?"
"Yes," Dumbledore answers. "Very good, Miss Granger."
I can feel the excitement in the smile that overtakes her lips when he gives her that complement. She's taken complements to heart lately. I'm not sure whether to be annoyed at her or proud of her. She is my best friend, after all.
He turns to face the rest of us gathered in his office. "You all will be attending this camp in order to gain more knowledge regarding your instrumental abilities. Plus, I'm doing this as a favor for a Muggle friend of mine. Because of some unknown reason, the camp is running short on captains for a certain year, so you all will help them out. Well, all of you except for Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle. I am sorry for this, but you were not needed as captains at the moment."
I feel sorry for the boys. They are strange, yes, and a little rude, but I don't know what comes over me. I just feel bad for them. They're not too bad when they don't try to kill you. Which is only when I see one of them (mainly Goyle) outside of class and away from the other two. He's quite nice. We've had a few chats, usually about school, but still. He can be kind. Oh yeah, Dumbledore's talking isn't he.
"Not to fear, though," he says as he's giving the boys a smile. "You both are decent tuba players, but the number of captains has been filled. This camp will provide each and every one of you with a unique and wonderful experience that you will remember for the rest of your life."
I remember my first experience with my instrument.
It was for a first year class with Professor Flitwick called, "An Introduction to Muggle Music, or Instrumental Music for Beginners." Most of the students at Hogwarts had never heard of the instruments they were learning to play. They all had to try every single instrument the first day to figure out which one fit them best.
The day I walked into the soundproof music room was the start of a beautiful friendship between myself and my instrument, well, instruments. I had tried every single instrument Professor Flitwick had in his office. I felt like I was about to go through a process much like buying my first wand at Ollivander's. There was a strange black thing with a million keys and skinny long rods running down the entire body that I learned was a clarinet. It looked like something Dad had brought home one day that he called a recordeder, or such. Who knows with Dad. There was also a silver long pipe that had keys attached to it that I learned was a flute. I was okay at the flute, but it didn't seem right to blow into it like that. It was strange. There was a brass-colored curvy instrument that looked an awful lot like the clarinet. I learned it was a saxophone. It squeaked like a goose when I played it. Apparently that was good. I didn't think so. I saw another brass-colored instrument that had bent tubing and opened out at one end. I was told that was a trumpet. It did not sound good when I played it either. I tried an instrument that was similar to the trumpet, but with no valves. It had, what was it called, a slide. And it was bigger. Professor Flitwick said it was a trombone. There were a few more instruments in there—one that had tubes all intricately wound and reminded me of the trumpet and was called a French horn, another that was a larger version of the French horn called a euphonium, and a third that was a larger euphonium called a tuba, but Professor Flitwick didn't make me try those. I had a feeling he was trying to save me from a terrible experience. He, instead, looked at me, giving me an odd feeling. "Hmm," Professor Flitwick said to himself. "I wonder…"
He walked to a corner of the room, a corner with two pairs of what looked like Muggle chopsticks. I had seen some in a picture of one of Hermione's magazines at home. Who knew she read magazines. Something called, um, Rolling Stone I think. Anyways, I took a pair of the sticks from Professor Flitwick. He showed me how to hold them, and it felt natural. We walked over to a drum, which he called a snare. He showed me a rhythm to play, and I did. And thus, I became a percussionist. I smile every time I think of that day.
When our first day as a group of musicians arrived, I stopped and took in the sight. I noticed three things that first day. One, Luna and Lavender played the flute, Cho and Angelina played the clarinet, Parvati and Padma played the bass clarinet (same instrument for both of them, what a surprise), Hermione and Draco played alto saxophone (that didn't seem like it would turn out too well), Lee played the tenor saxophone, Cedric played the bari saxophone (oh, Cedric. Until recently, he would be Time Traveling with us. We had mourned for weeks. The one who hurt the most was Cho, his former girlfriend. I went through weeks of finding her crying in the bathrooms around Hogwarts. On my way to Dumbledore's office, I had to coax her out of misery), Seamus and Pansy played the French horn, Harry and Hannah played the trumpet, Fred and Dean played the trombone (and no I am not dating Dean…anymore…), Ron played the bass trombone, Neville played the euphonium, Crabbe and Goyle played the tuba (why they even were allowed to play an instrument is beyond me…them and Pansy for that matter), and George was my percussion section buddy. I know that was a lot to group as one thing, but I think those all go together. Two, I noticed that Harry looked totally awesome and attractive playing his trumpet (as he still does now), especially when he's trying to out-play Draco. They usually have contests to see who's a better player, and I sometimes get roped into judging. It's annoying sometimes, but I always believe Harry wins, hands down. Anyways, back to my list. Third, I noticed that Hermione was alternating between giving Draco death glares (she never liked sitting by him) and giving my brother Fred loving looks. I was positive they were going to get together. But no one cares about what I think. They're all sure she'll get together with Ron. That's their opinion.
My flashback ends as I hear Professor Dumbledore end his speech. "Do not forget that music is a magic far beyond what we do here. Remember, this is a special assignment. I am trusting you all to not mess it up."
With that last sentence, he singles out Fred and George, who answer with, 'What would we do?' expressions.
"You will be travelling by Time Turners, except we've made a few, erm, adjustments to these particular devices. Miss Granger, please retrieve the altered Time Turners out of my office and give one to each pair of students. For these particular Time Turners to work correctly, you will have to travel in pairs. Please get in pairs."
I look at Harry, who glances at me and then walks over to Ron. What a surprise. Oh well, I'll just ask Hermione. If I lose my man, I'll make her lose hers, well, who everyone thinks she'll be with. They're not together or anything, yet, but apparently it'll happen. I've bet my share on it (for it not to happen and Hermione instead get with Fred), and I'm sure there's some bet going on about me and Harry. The groups are formed, and Hermione joins me. She's holding our Time Turner and we look up as Dumbledore begins to speak again.
"With this particular travel, you all will age to eighteen and be deposited to the year 2012. Because most of you are not of-age at the moment, our law requires me to send an adult with you to chaperone. Ah, here he is now. Sirius, thank you again for agreeing to chaperone."
"Your welcome, Albus. I'm looking forward to it."
I glance over to see Harry smile as he notices his godfather is coming with us. I've always liked Sirius. It would be a shame to all of us if he were to die…
"Now, students," Dumbledore begins. We are about to leave, and that excites me. I love travelling, and I've read a lot about America with Hermione. Well, not about the year 2012, because I can't, but about America's past. I'm looking forward to it. "You will be landing in an abandoned field in the town of Conway, Arkansas. A Dr. Brooks will be waiting to collect you. Ten turns should do it. Have fun!"
Hermione puts the long cord around my neck and begins to turn the knob on the Time Turner. I look around the room and see that the other pairs are following suit. I touch my pocket to make sure my shrunken drum sticks and snare drum are still there. We had shrunk our instruments earlier to make them pocket-sized so we won't have to lug them around all the time. I know for a fact that some of the others have hidden…say…other instruments in their pockets—namely acoustic and bass guitars. We will have to un-shrink them when we get to our destination, but for now, this is much better.
I feel a pull on my naval much similar to the effects of a Portkey. We are now 'en route,' as Muggles say. My vision goes black at the same time I am being pulled in every direction at the same time, but also shoved into a tight ball.
Fred's P.O.V.
Thud. I feel ground and I'm pretty sure we've landed. My vision's back, but something's on my foot. "GEORGE! GEROFF!" My brother has me pinned to the ground. He gets off, and we stand up to view our surroundings. The sun hits me straight in the face and almost blinds me. Apparently we're in an open field, just like Professor Dumbledore said. Wait, we changed age also, right?
Yes.
Bloody hell, what was that? George? Can you hear my thoughts now?
It's twin telepathy, brother. We're sexy now.
I feel him smile at me as I look down at my own body. It's changed. I feel taller (if that was possible) and my voice a little deeper (if that was possible). I look over at the girl I've been secretly admiring for years now. Her once bushy hair is now tamed, and her body has all these—
Oi! Fred! Don't tell me you're going for the girl our brother fancies.
George, stay out of my thoughts. It's getting annoying.
Alright, then. Be that way.
"Hey," my git of a younger brother exclaims. "Who's that?"
A tall man who is almost bald and wears glasses comes over to us. Sirius stands in front of our little group like a protective mother dog or something. This makes me laugh. Mainly because I know about Snuffles.
"Ah!" the man says cheerfully as he reaches our group. "Mr. Dumbledore sent you, right?"
"Yes, sir," replies a now-relieved Sirius. He holds a hand out to the man. He is probably about, say, fifty or so. "My name is Sirius Black."
The man shakes his hand and introduces himself. "I am Dr. Ricky Brooks." He points to us. "And the kids, they have their instruments, correct?"
"Yes, sir," Sirius replies. "Made sure of it myself."
I see many of our group smile to themselves at this. We did have our instruments safely in our pockets—all of them.
"Well, great. I see y'all have not brought suitcases. Is there a reason?"
"I thought Dumbledore briefed you on the circumstances of the matter, and why they could not pack."
"Oh, yes. Why did I forget?" Dr. Brooks's face falls into his hands for a split second. My angel revives him of his mistake.
"Dr. Brooks," she begins.
She's so beautiful now.
Fred.
George, seriously, stop it with my thoughts.
"Is there a shopping center somewhere around here?" asks Hermione.
She's so smart. I can't help smiling as I look at her 'new' body. She's so beautiful. I'm sure I'm grinning like an idiot, but I don't care. Oh, gosh, she's looking at me! Calm down, Fred. Calm down.
Fred, you are grinning like a stupid idiot. Plus, don't forget. She hates you. You know what you did.
Oh, shut it. I look over as Dr. Brooks replies.
"Oh, yes. My daughter is actually here to help y'all shop." He motions for a short girl with dark brown wavy hair to step forward. She is wearing a blue and white Conway t-shirt and khaki Bermuda shorts. "This is Mallory. Mallory, these students need help shopping. They come from, where was it you said you were from? Dumbledore's told me but I forgot."
"We're from all over, but most of us are from Great Britain, around London." Hermione recites our story exactly how Dumbledore had told her. Apparently she's our spokesperson for the trip. I don't mind that one bit.
"Ah, okay, now I remember. Mallory, you can fit five people in your car besides yourself, correct?"
"Yes," she replies. "But I can get more people to help. Excuse me for a moment." She walks off and pulls her phone out of her pocket.
"Alright, now," Dr. Brooks begins. "Boys, you will be travelling to the same center as the girls.
"That won't be necessary," Harry interjects. "We can do with some cheap clothes, such as, what was it, a Wal-Mart or something."
"Oh, that won't happen. You will go to the same center as the girls."
The look he gives us tells us to be quiet. I feel like a fifteen-year-old again.
That's because you technically are.
George! Get out of my thoughts!
"Um…Mallory?" Dr. Brooks looks over at his daughter, who is walking back up.
I look also, and see that she is off of the phone now.
"I was successful!" She smiled. She has a nice smile. I notice Neville looking at her strangely. "Nicole is going to come drive the other girls. And I've contacted Dalton, Daniel, and Austin. They are all willing to drive the boys."
"Oh, thank you," Dr. Brooks looks relieved.
"Dr. Brooks?" starts Sirius.
"Please, call me Ricky."
"Alright. Ricky, how about we leave your daughter to be acquainted with the kids. I would like to learn how your American Muggle machinery works."
Uh-oh. Inevitable wizard mistake. We need to stop saying 'Muggle' all the time.
"What's a Muggle?"
I wince as the only suitable reply to this statement is made.
"Don't worry about it. Sorry." The two leave to inspect Dr. Brooks's car.
"Mallory, right?" Hermione asks.
"Yes," Mallory replies.
"I'm Hermione. I play the alto sax." She sticks her hand out to meet the new girl.
"Wow, so do I! And so does Nicole! You'll meet her soon."
Each of us introduce ourselves to Mallory and tell her what instruments we play. I am suave with my introduction, and when it's Neville's turn, he is a little, well, Neville-y. I can tell he thinks she's attractive. He's not wrong there.
"Your accents are too cute!" Mallory exclaims. This brings smiles and laughs from our group.
Apparently foreign languages are cute to Americans. I remember Ginny telling me something about that.
A small black car pulls up next to Dr. Brooks's. A tall girl with light brown curly hair gets out of the car and walks toward them.
"Hi!" she says cheerfully when she reaches the group. "I'm Nicole."
She holds out her hand to the nearest wizard, who, unfortunately, is Neville. She's very attractive. She kinda looks like Hermione, what with her wavy light brown hair, and jean shorts and colorful tank top.
"Y'all are going to be captains with us, right?" She smiles at us.
Oh my gosh! That accent! I'm beginning to like American girls. Especially Southern girls. And her smile. It's so—
So you're over Hermione now? Good. It's about time.
Dude! Seriously! GET OUT OF MY THOUGHTS!
"Yes, we are," replies Hermione. "It sounds like so much fun!"
"Oh, it is. I've gone to Dixie for six years. Did Mallory tell you she's been to Dixie for, like, twelve years?"
"How is that?" I wonder. This intrigues me. I had thought this Dixie Band Camp was only for students in junior high and high school, well, what Muggles say junior high and high school are.
"Tell 'em, Mal," Nicole prompts.
Mallory looks at her friend with a look that says, 'Now why'd you have to do that?' It is a cute look.
"Oh, alright," she surrenders. "See, My parents are both band directors. My dad is on the Dixie Board of Directors. I've gone every year, but when I was younger I just sat in the break room and played games. Now, I see the younger kids running around the camp and I think, 'that was me once upon a time.'"
She looks as dreamy as Luna when she is remembering those times.
"Anyway," she snaps back into reality. "I can answer any questions you have about camp."
"Have any of you actually been to a band camp?" Nicole asks.
I take it upon myself to answer this question. "No, we haven't."
"Well, this camp is nothing like American Pie Band Camp."
"What's American Pie?" Neville wonders.
"It's a movie." Nicole looks at our group, like we should know what she's talking about. "It came out in 2005?"
We shake our heads to answer. That explains it. 2005 was one of the years we skipped through. Oh, gosh, she needs an answer.
"We don't have a television at our school," I answer confidently.
"Really?" Nicole and Mallory look surprised.
"Yeah. No television."
It wasn't completely true, but how do you explain Time Travelling to a couple of American Muggles?
"What do you do for fun then?" Nicole looks intrigued now.
"Well," Harry begins. I bet he's gonna talk about Quidditch, or dueling, or something that will come back to bite us in the butt. "We play sports, go hiking around our school—we're very outdoorsy people—read" (with this he looks at Hermione, who blushes—she's so cute why did I—shut up Fred, listen to Harry) "and just hang out with our friends."
"Ah, that makes sense. What kind of sports do y'all have?"
Oh, great. Now he's gonna spill our secret and we're gonna have to leave and I'll never—
"We have a game that we made up. It's kind of like your soccer, but it's too complicated to explain right now."
Phew. Harry's smarter than I thought. No wonder Ginny likes him so much.
The conversation shifts to Dixie for the next few minutes until the other three cars pull up. They arrive at the same time. Three tall young men emerge from their respective cars. They walk toward the group, laughing, carrying on a conversation they must have previously had.
Because I'm so keen to notice and remember surroundings—
Sure you are.
GEORGE! STOP!
Fine.
…I notice one boy has thick, straight, dark hair that he apparently keeps messy. He is wearing a black v-neck shirt and dark skinny jeans and converse. Another boy has cropped short light brown hair. He is wearing a purple UCA t-shirt and khaki shorts with black tennis shoes. The third boy has medium length sandy blonde hair. He is tan, and was wearing a teal polo shirt, khaki shorts, and flip-flops.
I glance at George, Harry, Neville, and Ron. We are all wearing large t-shirts, khaki shorts that came above our knees, and old battered tennis shoes. We seriously need a wardrobe update.
"Hey, Dalton," Nicole calls to one of the boys. "Do y'all want to join us or not?"
The one in black answers. "Oh, sorry." The boys have reached the group, so they stand beside the two American girls. "We were reminiscing. Guy time. I'm Dalton."
He flashes a smile at the group, and his gaze landed on Hermione. This makes me upset. I don't think I like him. He's a little—
Jealous, are we?
George, if I have to ask you ONE MORE TIME to stop interrupting my thoughts, you will not live to be a captain at this place.
Fine. Whatever.
Good. Dalton has opened his mouth, and I want to know what the git is going to say.
"So, where are y'all from? Mallory was very short with us. All she said was she needed help for some people her dad had gotten to help us out with Dixie this summer."
"Yes," Mallory says. "because that's all he told me."
"Anyway," the boy wearing a UCA t-shirt chimes in. "I'm Daniel," he pointed to himself, "this is Austin," he pointed to the boy with sandy blonde hair, who waved, "and that guy, who was just about to stop talking and be a normal person around new people, as he said earlier, is Dalton."
Dalton flashes another smile at the group.
Is he some sort of player or something? Seriously, dude, knock it off.
Fred. Calm down. You look like you're going to kill someone.
Sorry. Dalton has opened his ungrateful mouth now. I wanna hear what he has to say.
"Now, aren't we supposed to take y'all shoppin'?"
"Oh, yeah," Mallory remembers. "Let me go tell Dad." She walks off toward where Dr. Brooks is talking cars with Sirius.
"Alright," Nicole begins.
She looks smart. And beautiful. All of the American girls (well, the two I've met today) look smart and beautiful. Why haven't we visited here before?
Well, one, because we live in another decade. And two, because we've been at wizard school for that time.
Touché, brother, touché. Nicole's speaking again. Let me listen.
"Let's divvy up the cars. We can each take five people. I'll take you five." She points at Hermione, Ginny, Cho, Angelina, and Luna. "You other five girls can go with Mallory." She indicates the remaining girls, Parvati, Padma, Lavender, Pansy, and Hannah. "That's all right, right?" She laughs at some inside joke. She has a cute laugh.
"Of course!" all the girls say. They have on fake smiles, since some of our girls, well, for lack of better words, HATE each other. It's nothing new, though.
"You five can come with me." Dalton points to Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Neville.
"My car only fits four, so…you three." Daniel indicates Lee, Seamus, and Dean.
"I'll take the last three." The three remaining, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, look at Austin, their driver.
At least I don't have to spend time with those ungrateful turds.
I look over to see that Dr. Brooks and Sirius are back.
"All set and acquainted?" Dr. Brooks asks.
"Yes, sir," Hermione answers.
Ron gives me a look that says, 'Seriously, is she our spokesperson or something?' I smile back.
"Great! We'll meet you in the Choir Room of Snow at 6:00 p.m. tonight for a captain's meeting! Have fun!"
I follow the boy in black (yes, I will continue to call him that—he's a git, I know this already) to his car. It was a tight squeeze, but we fit.
I look over and see Sirius getting in Austin's car. He also needs clothes.
We take off from the park, as I learn the 'field' is, and I look at the clock in Dalton's car. It is 3:00 in the afternoon. Wow. When we left Hogwarts, it was 7:00 in the evening. I think I'm going to be experiencing some of what Muggles call jet-lag.
A few minutes pass as we drive through Conway. I look out my window and notice that Conway is very nice. There is a little trash on the sides of the road, but nothing like in some parts of England.
"We're here!" Dalton exclaims like the ever-perky tour guide he's been this entire trip. I notice that the sign we're passing says Conway Commons Shopping Center. It is a strip mall with stores on two sides of a street.
We park and get out of the car. The other cars were right behind us during the drive, so they're now parked directly beside us in the shopping center.
"Now," Mallory begins. "We're going to stay as our car groups during shopping, and then meet for an early dinner at Chik-Fil-A at, say, 5:00? Is that alright?"
Again, with American girls and that question.
"Sure," I boldly answer for the group. George looks at me funny, but I don't care.
We look around the shopping center. Most of the girls head for a giant clothing store called, 'Kohl's.' I steer George (and the rest of the group) over to the other side of the center toward a store called Old Navy.
As we're walking, I whisper to George, "Where are we supposed to get Muggle money to pay for this stuff?"
"I actually heard Dumbledore talking to Hermione about this." He smiles, knowing that name makes me mad, but excited at the same time. I glare at him, and he continues. "Apparently, he's paid Dr. Brooks enough money for all of us to get a new wardrobe if we would like."
"But where did he get that money?"
"Dude, it's Dumbledore. I've stopped trying to reason with myself about things that have to do with him."
"True."
I look back just in time to see the group of girls that includes the one I've hurt so very badly disappear into Kohl's, giggling. I wonder what they're up to…
Forge.
Gred, how many times do I have to tell you to STAY OUT OF MY THOUGHTS…
Luna's POV
"She's over here!" I laugh. We are playing around in the clothes section.
"Come on, Gin!" Hermione warns. "Stop acting childish!"
"Oh, Hermione," she pleas. Her head pops out of a nearby clothes rack. "Stop being such a buzz-kill!"
Nicole laughs. She picks out clothes for each of us and hands them to us to try on. She has good style. We choose clothes (and horse around) for a while.
"Guys," she begins. "I'm pretty sure we need to get back to this. We're getting strange looks from people, and I'm not about to get kicked out of Kohl's. Not today."
"Oh," Ginny jumps out of the rack and lands right next to our new friend. She puts her arm around her. "So you've gotten kicked out of here before?"
I start laughing again. My friends are so random sometimes. And they call me strange…
"Well," the American starts. "Not Kohl's, but other stores. My friends can get quite crazy sometimes."
"What kind of crazy?" I ask. "I'm sure it's nothing close to what we've done."
"I'm sure not," Nicole replies. "One of my friends stole—well, not stole but borrowed—a bike and rode it around Target one day. It was one of those little girl bikes. It was super hilarious.He got kicked out."
We all start laughing again. I swear, I've laughed so many times today than I've done in the past few weeks. It feels good to laugh again, especially after what's been going on lately. The past month has been hard on me and my dad. Around this time a couple years ago, my mom was killed. This time of year makes me start (as my friends would say) 'blubbering like Humbdingers.' I'm not sure how Humbdingers, which are real by the way, blubber, but oh well. Anyways, during this time of the year, I am involved in more, say, practical matters. This includes going to my mother's grave and adding another flower to her ever producing garden. This year's flower is the lily. After I've planted the flowers, father and I travel to where they had their first date. We have a memorial service there every year. Ironically, my mother died the day after the anniversary of their first date, which was also the anniversary of their wedding. This whole process—including the preparation—takes a whole week—sometimes two. I am sad, depressed even, for those two weeks. I know it is mainly the Nargles' fault, though. Don't ask me how, but I just know.
As we look through the other racks, I hear some of our other friends in another aisle of the store. I think it might be the boys.
Ron's POV
"Hurry up, Harry!" I call to my best friend. He's been in the fitting room stall for what seems like an hour. "You're taking as long as a bird!"
We have made our way back to Kohl's and the rest of our group. We struck out in Old Navy, unfortunately. Dalton did say that some of the best clothes are found on this side of the center. We just wanted to try both sides. It's been over an hour now, and all of us have our arms full of clothes to buy, well except Harry. He's taking forever—again. The good news is that when we made it back to this side, we ran straight into the group of guys with Sirius, and rescued our 'mother dog,' who is currently sitting in a chair in the corner of the fitting room area. He is trying to not fall asleep.
I look over and see Neville shift in his seat. "Come on, Harry! Fred and George look like they're about to eat me!"
This, however, turns out to be an exaggeration. My brothers are currently messing around with each other, just like normal. The only difference is that they aren't using magic. I look over to our driver, Dalton. He's been giving us weird looks, like he's trying to figure us out. He looks smart, so we're going to have to watch out.
"Sorry, boys," Sirius suddenly says. "But if Snuffles doesn't eat soon, he will get cranky."
Lucky for him, he has found all his clothes early on, and has been waiting for us. He's been patient, but I guess that's worn off. He stands up and gathers his clothes.
"Two questions." Sirius addresses Dalton. "First, do you know how I am supposed to pay for this stuff? And second, where's a good place to get some normal food around here? I heard what Chick-fil-A is, and I really don't want to eat that right now. I'm wanting something different."
"Well, first, I was given a few cards from Dr. Brooks to pay for clothes, so here." He pulls his wallet out and hands a card to Sirius, who takes it and looks at it like it's about to bite him.
"I don't know how to work one of those machines." Sirius looks upset, and embarrassed. Of course he would. We are in Muggle America in the year 2012. How we are to survive this week is beyond me. My head sinks in my hands momentarily, but I look up again as Dalton speaks.
"I guess I could go buy a few of them for you to change into, and then buy the rest later?" Dalton looks at our chaperone, hopeful.
"Yes!" Sirius exclaims, possibly much louder than he'd hoped. "Thank you."
As the two walk away, I look out of the fitting room area door and spot some of the girls, namely one of whom my brother is going to try to get with before the week is over. Oh, and the girl I've totally been in love with since…wait. I'm not in love with her. I can't be! I look back at her bushy brown hair. It looks so lovely in this new time. I smile to myself, like an idiot. Fred smacks me, but I don't care. I stare at the girls, wondering what they are saying.
Hermione POV
"Are y'all ready to try on your clothes?" Nicole asks.
We look down at the growing piles in our arms. I notice Luna is ready, and has been for a while, but Ginny, like me, is not.
"Can we have a few more minutes?" Ginny pleads.
"Well," Nicole jokes. "If you hadn't been hiding in to racks you could've gotten something done. Besides, we don't have that much time left here. We need to hurry if we're gonna hit any more stores."
"Alright," Ginny surrenders.
"Let's go." Nicole leads us to the fitting room.
It is much like the ones I've gone to in London, but much larger. It has more stalls and bigger mirrors. Plus, it is much cleaner. We all separate into our own fitting room stalls. I look around at the giant mirror (well, relatively giant) and bench inside the stall. It is so much different! Shopping for my Muggle clothes has always fascinated me. I've been able to keep up with the ever-changing fashion, mainly because of the magazines my parents send me. However, nothing could have prepared me for the magnitude of what I would find in this store, especially in this time period. It's not that much later than our own, but it feels so very different.
I try on my clothes, and model them for Nicole, who insists on approving every little thing. I can eventually tell what she's going to say before she actually says anything. If she absolutely does not like something, she gets this really upsetting grimace that makes me want to go back in the stall and take that clothing item off right away and change. If she loves something, her smile stretches from ear to ear. With this system in mind, I end up with a 'yes pile' that covers the huge bench in the fitting room stall. As I gather my clothes to go check out, I hear the other group of girls, giggling.
Parvati POV
I enter the fitting room with my arms full of clothes.
I honestly haven't seen this many clothes in one place. Padma and I only shop at thrift stores or consignment shops, or we make our own clothes. Being handed clothes upon clothes by Mallory has been the greatest thing I've ever experienced. We've just never had enough money for nice things.
As I walk into the fitting room, I see the rest of the girls leaving. Their arms are filled with clothes that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe does altogether. I find a stall and start trying on clothes.
"Parvati?" my sister calls. She is in a stall next to mine. "I think this was supposed to go to you."
"Just hand it over," I reply. I see a neon green tank top appear over the top of a stall wall. I grab it and pull it on over my head. "Thanks, Pad!" This tank top fits me very well, and it is just my style. Mallory knows her fashion. I'm impressed. The color brings out the specks of green in my eyes. I didn't know they were present, but with this shirt on, they are.
I walk out of the stall to model for Mallory.
"That's beautiful!" she exclaims. "You look so pretty!"
Her exclamations bring my sister and the others out to see what's going on.
"Parvati!" Lavender cries. She's my best friend, and the one person whose opinion I value over anyone else's.
"What do you think?" I twirl for the group, smiling. Are they going to like it?
"It's beautiful! You should buy it." Lavender returns my smile. "Is that the first thing you've tried on?" She playfully herds me back into the dressing room. "Hurry up, hurry up! We haven't got all day!"
"Yes, hurry!" Mallory adds. "We were supposed to meet the others for lunch—" she checks her watch "—about an hour ago. All of you, get going!"
As I walk back into my fitting room stall, I glance into the store. I see Sirius leaving the store…alone. Why is he leaving? Was he too fed up with waiting for the guys? He's carrying bags, so I guess he's already found his clothes. He's already changed into them. I laugh at myself as I see he's wearing a teal green polo shirt with a pair of khaki pants. I guess Khaki Pants (that boy, Austin I think?) has gotten to him. He does look good though. I disappear into the stall and begin to try on more of this plethora of clothes.
Sirius POV
Walking out of the store is probably one of the best ideas I've had all day. I just can't take another second with those kids. I'm going to kill some of them—especially those dumb Slytherins. Luckily, Dalton gives me some good advice as to where I should go eat.
According to Dalton, "there's a TGI Friday's right up the road. You can walk to it. Just cross the street right out here, and walk past Chick-fil-A and Chili's."
I follow his directions, and arrive at the restaurant, with some Muggle cash in hand. The guys came up with the idea that I just act like I'm from another country and have never used American money to buy things before. Well, that's true, so it's not going to be acting, but their idea is actually quite brilliant.
Opening the door, I notice my eyes have to adjust to the dimmed light. These Muggle Americans don't really like their light to be bright. Apparently the sun is too bright for them, because they wear sunglasses all the time. Muggle Americans are weird.
"How many, sir?" a blonde, attractive young Muggle woman asks me. She's standing by a podium.
"Huh?" She startles me. Then I realize she is asking me about seating. "Oh, it's just me." Oh, I know it's early afternoon, but I really need a drink. Those kids will wear you out. I feel exhausted. I don't know how I'll make it through this week of being a percussion instructor and music theory teacher. "Do you have a bar?" I flash one of my golden smiles at the blonde. She blushes, which lets me know I still have it, even in this Muggle future.
"Yes, sir," she says, shyly looking down at her feet. "R-r-right this way." She leads me across the restaurant, over to a bar stool. I thank her, and then sit down to look at a menu.
This place is nice. I notice many 70s and 80s Muggle artifacts. I'd read about them in Hermione's old culture Muggle books. Don't ask. I was bored. I see a cutout of…Elvis Presley I believe, a lot of old electric guitars, and checkered.
"Everywhere, everywhere is checkered."
"Excuse me?" a voice interrupts my thoughts.
"Oh," I say jokingly, looking over at…wow. The voice belongs to a pretty red-head. "Did I say that out loud?"
"As a matter of fact, you did." This young woman is sitting at the bar, a few seats down from mine, talking to one of the bartenders. She looks…say…early twenties, still in college, and she has fiery red hair. It's not like Ron and Ginny's hair, though. Her red is more…dare I say…sexy.
"Alright, girl," the bartender says to the young woman. "It's time for my break." She glances at me, then back to her friend. "Don't go getting yourself in trouble, now."
"Such a worry wart," she replies with a cute half-smile. "I'll be fine. It's not like I can get in that much trouble one day before I leave for camp."
The bartender makes a face at her friend before disappearing into the back.
"I hear the shrimp and pasta is really good," she remarks matter-of-factly. "Unless you're more of a chicken guy."
"Oh, so you know your stuff, do you?" I look over to her, wordlessly asking her to move down to sit next to me.
"Of course I do." She moves down the two chairs that separate us.
I can tell we're flirting now. Oh, gosh, it's been forever since I've flirted with anyone. I have spent the last 13 years in Azkaban. There's not a lot of sane, attractive birds in there. Luckily, I haven't lost my touch.
"I guess I should introduce myself. I'm—"
I hold my hand up, stopping her from continuing.
"No names. Let's not tell names."
"Okay. Sounds like a plan."
"I'll call you…Red." I give my golden smile to the beautiful red-head.
"I'll call you…Black." She smiles back.
"How original." I laugh. She's gotten my last name without even trying. I don't think she meant to, though. My hair is, well, Black. And that's what I went off of for her nickname.
"Well, you were original too, calling me Red." She pokes me in the arm and starts laughing. Her laugh is beautiful and it makes me smile.
"Can I buy you a drink?" I still haven't eaten.
"It's much too early for drinks here. Why not a coke?"
"Okay, that sounds fair. Then two cokes." I address the bartender, a different one than who she was talking to earlier. "One for me, and one for the lady." I flash a smile at Red, who smiles back.
"How about some food?" I suggest.
"Sure," she answers, a smile still dancing on her lips. "As long as it's not chicken."
"Of course it won't be." I'm still smiling. Gosh, I'm going to be smiling for quite a while.
I order some pasta for both of us. We sit, drink our cokes, eat our food, and talk.
Draco POV
"Draco," I hear Crabbe open his big ungodly mouth. "Stop being such a sourpuss." He punches me in the arm. I flash him a grimace, one that says, 'Shut up and get away from me.'
Sitting here, among all of these people, makes me realize one major thing. I hate people. Mainly Muggles. And girls. I'm pretty sure agreeing to (well, being roped into) this stupid assignment was the worst idea, like, ever. And now, I'm stuck in a dressing room, with my arms full of preppy Muggle clothes, sitting next to a stupid preppy Muggle who's probably never had a girlfriend, with the two biggest oafs in all of Hogwarts (yes, they are my best friends, but they're still oafs—the only person who's a bigger oaf is Potter), in a Muggle realm with my stupid ex-girlfriend who won't stop talking to me and saying how much she misses me, and on top of that, waiting on Goyle to finish trying on the ugliest polo shirts I've ever seen. God, I wish we would leave soon. I should've just taken Sirius's lead and left for dinner already.
"Hey, Greg?" Once Austin had heard of Goyle's real name, he'd taken to calling him that. It was quite strange. "You almost done, man? It's practically time to leave."
"Um, yeah," Goyle calls through the stall door. I hear the rustle of clothes being taken off and put back on hangers, put in piles, all that jazz. "Just let me…finish…this…
one…thing.…" More rustling. "Okay." He steps opens the door and steps out, arms full of clothes. "I'm done. Are we going to go check out now?" He looks at Austin, with a hopeful puppy dog look in his eyes. It's quite strange.
Crabbe looks at me, confused. His look says, "Why is he acting like this?"
I reply with a look that says, "I'm not really sure."
"Of course!" Austin answers Goyle. "Let's go." He ushers us out of the dressing room towards the check-out counter where a few other car-fulls of people are standing, either waiting to be checked out or already in the process.
"I have to get some fresh air," I remark as I put my clothes up on the counter. I cannot take anymore of this. Why, oh, why did I agree?
"Okay, that's fine. Just wait out there." Austin hands our cashier the clothes as I walk outside. I don't want to know, and I don't really care how the Muggle money system works. I wish I had a Time Turner with me right now to take me back to my time at Hogwarts. This week is going to be awful.
As I walk towards the end of the sidewalk, I notice a couple walking around, holding hands. The woman…oh, God. The horror! Her red hair is so bright she could be wearing a traffic cone on her head. Red hair is the worst. I hate it. As I study the couple, who looks so happy (but I cannot reason why), I notice that the man looks a little bit like Sirius. But that cannot be so. Sirius is in a restaurant, and he knows not to get involved with Muggles. Just look how that turned out last time…
Sirius POV
Red takes my hand and leads me to the backside of the shopping center. It is far from the view of the road, and I know what this seclusion means. We stop talking as we make our way the brick of the building. I feel excitement flow through my body. American college girls sure do know how to work it. I look at this red-haired wonder. Damn it, I'm going for it.
My lips crash onto hers with pent-up passion. I've needed something like this for a while now. Everyone's been getting together. Gosh, my best friend is even with my cousin! That's just not right.
I hear a sound coming from her pocket. She sighs, and pulls away from me. She pulls out a…phone (I think it's called that, but it's much different than the ones I've ever seen) and puts it up to her ear.
"Hello?" she asks. "Uh-huh…okay…will do…okay…thanks…I'll be right there…bye." She turns and looks at me with a sad expression.
"What is it, Red?" I ask, intrigued.
"I have to leave." She looks at her phone, checking the time. "I guess I didn't realize how late it is. It's 4:59. I have to go home and pack for camp."
Sigh. "Well, if you have to." I kiss her cheek. "It's been nice getting to know you." We walk back toward the restaurants, back where we'd met.
"See ya," she says as she walks back into TGI Friday's. I continue in the direction of Chick-fil-A, where I see my group of Hogwartians. I glance back to the red-haired wonder, but she's already disappeared.
Neville POV
We pile our bags and bags of clothes in the trunk of Dalton's car, resume the seats we sat in earlier, and drive the length to Chick-fil-A. It is not very far, but I'm glad we drove. We can stay together this way much better. Sirius walks toward us as we exit our vehicles. Even though he cannot stop smiling, he looks even more skittish than me. And that's saying something, considering who I am. I'm pretty sure the Time Travelling has made it worse. I may look, not to be conceited, a lot more attractive than I used to, but that does not stop the fact that I still feel awkward. Girls have never been my strong suit, and all these Muggle American girls who keep looking at me are not helping.
When we walk into the Muggle restaurant, I see that is very clean. These Muggles like their cleanliness.
"So," the pretty Muggle girl begins. I think I remember her name as Mallory. Yeah, Mallory. She's so pretty. She's explaining what foods they have here, since we have never in our lives been to a, what was it, Chick-fil-A. "There's chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, chicken wraps—" She laughs to herself. It's a cute laugh. I must be smiling goofily again, because Ron elbows me in the side.
"But," the other Muggle girl, the one with light brown hair, cuts her off. "Since there are so many people here—" With this she sweeps her eyes across the lot of us. "We've decided to order a nugget platter. And a fry platter."
"Ah," Mallory says, as one of the Muggle boys walks toward us with a platter full of chicken. "Here's the first platter. Thank you, Daniel."
"You're welcome. I'm surprised they were able to make this much chicken in that amount of time. I'm sure that's a record. Dalton is—" He turns his head back to spot his friend. "Here he is. With the fries."
Our group makes its way to a giant table in the middle of the restaurant, where we are given water cups. These Muggles are pretty nice. I am too busy eating (I am starving and these nuggets are delicious) and thinking to pay attention to any of the conversations. But I do notice that the fries are, well, they look like waffles. I guess that's an American Muggle thing. They're pretty good.
After forty-five minutes of eating, getting to know each other, and causing havoc that almost gets us kicked out of the restaurant, the beautiful brunette stands up.
"I'm pretty sure we need to leave now." I don't think I've stopped looking at her since we've arrived at the restaurant. She's so darn pretty. I think she's seen me looking at her. I've caught her eye a few times before I pretended like I was eating or such.
We leave the restaurant and head back to our cars. I stop by the door and hold it open for everyone. As they walk through, I notice Dalton is walking and talking to the Muggle girls. Mallory is laughing. The other one keeps shooting glances at Fred. I give it three days. Hermione is far away from the guys, possibly trying to stay away from Fred. Their relationship ended on an awfully sour note. It was horribly terrifying to watch, kind of like a bad soap opera. George is laughing at his twin, probably because of the faces he keeps making at the girls.
When she gets to her car, Mallory turns around. "Oh," she begins, looking straight at me. "Thank you for holding the door open."
I stand there, dumbstruck. She just said something to me. She just said something to me. I cannot believe she just said something to me. I cannot believe—Ow. Harry.
I cannot believe I just got elbowed in the side by my best friend.
"Um…" I stammer. "Y-y-you're welcome." I smile at her and she smiles back. Hopping in her car, which is right in front of Dalton's, she doesn't take her eye off me. Feeling awkward, I lower my eyes.
"Let's go," Dalton announces as he gets in his car. We follow his lead and get in. He starts the car, and music is blaring. We'd listened to some classic rock music on the way to the shopping center, and the station is now playing, 'Don't You Want Me.' The entire car knows the song, so we sing along to it.
"Wouldn't it be awesome if we had a talent show and someone sang this song?" Fred asks out loud.
Dalton looks at him in the rear view mirror. "Who knows, dude, who knows."
We sing along to a couple other songs on the radio, such as 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Faithfully' and 'Don't Stop Believing.'
When we arrive at the college, I am amazed at its magnitude. Any universities I've seen are not quite this big or beautiful. We park in a parking lot in the back of the college and exit the car. Dalton goes to the trunk and gets out our clothes. He hands each of us our bags.
"Alright," Mallory begins. The rest of the group had also arrived and exited their cars. We formed a circle, each Hogwartian holding a bag of clothes and other toiletries, looking nervous. "Girls will be in Carmichael Hall, the boys in Hughes. Each pair will have a floor to look over. Don't be nervous." She laughs as she sees our faces. "You'll be fine. Let's go to our dorms, set up the rooms, and head to the Snow Fine Arts Choir Room. Here, we will be setting a few things up and getting ready for tomorrow."
I take another look at her before I follow the other boys to our dormitory. She is talking to Cho, who has been crying again….
Cho POV
Well, we've made it back to the college now, Cedric. I've unloaded my clothes and organized my room. You would like it here, you know. There's a lot of green grass, and bricks, and bright, beautiful flowers. Muggle America isn't that bad. I remember reading about it in some of your old school books. That Muggle America is nothing like this one, though. I could stay here forever. If only…sniff…if only you were here. Oh, look, one of the captains I went shopping with has stuck her head inside my doorway.
"Are you ready?" she says. She sees I'm sitting on my bed, holding your picture. She seems sweet, especially when she comes to sit down next to me. "What happened?"
I explain to her how someone killed you, someone who shouldn't be alive, and that you did not die in vain. I tell her that your life should not have been taken.
"No one's life should be taken."
Her kind words hit home as I start bawling again. She pulls me close, and lets me cry on her shoulder.
After a few moments of this, the kind girl stands up and offers me her hand. "Let's go. We have a meeting to get to." She waggles her eyebrows, which makes me laugh. But, Cedric, I feel so bad laughing when you're not here. I wish you were here. I wish you could see this place. I wish—
She's handed me her hand. I take it and walk to the choir room. It's a big, tiled room with mirrors lining the wall. Cedric, I look awful. I look like I've been crying for months. My hair is a ratted mess, my face is red, and I've stopped wearing make-up. The rest of our group is already sitting on the choir risers, so I join them and sit next to Padma.
"Are you crying again, Cho?" my friend asks as she puts an arm around me in comfort. Cedric, she's sweet. I don't know why you don't like her.
A larger man with graying hair steps up to address us. He'd been talking to Mallory and a young man with short light brown hair. I'm guessing they're our, what did they call them, head captains? Yes, I do believe that's what they were called.
"Ahem." Most of the captains that have been talking amongst themselves quiet at the sound of his voice. "For those of you who do not know me—" he looks at us Hogwartians "—I am Mr. David Leonard. Welcome to Dixie Band Camp. You are this year's captains."
Applause and cheers sound from various areas of the room. I just stay quiet and wish for the happiness to stop, if only for a moment.
Mr. Leonard puts his hand up to stop the cheerers, and I silently thank him. "Now, at camp this year, you all will be in charge of a bunch of kids. Seriously. These kids are looking up to you this week to be their parents, but also their siblings and friends…."
You never had any siblings, did you Cedric? Oh, I know you would want to be here right now and meet all these wonderful people. They really are wonderful. Earlier today, Cedric, we were given the chance to buy Muggle clothes, and toiletries, and sheets, and so much more! I know you would have enjoyed the Muggle shops. They're not like the shops we visited. They're much cleaner and smell a little better and…the FOOD! Oh, Cedric, the food. You love chicken, I know. You would've loved the restaurant we went to today. Their fries, Cedric, were shaped like mini waffles. Oh, I ate so many of them, well, when I wasn't crying because I was thinking of you. The Muggles are super nice. There are all sorts of people here, and you would get along with them. There's this boy, Ced, that looks like you. He's got your height, your good hair (but yours is a lot shorter), your talent—he's practically your twin. Oh, he's looking over here now. I must be crying again. I think his name is…Austin. Yeah, Austin. Oh, gosh, he's saying something. What is he saying?
"Do…you…have…a…whistle?" he says, slowly. He probably thinks I'm slow, since I haven't been paying any attention.
"Oh!" I laugh to myself, embarrassed. "No, I don't have one." I shake my head.
He grabs one out of his bag of whistles. "Here." He hands it to Ginny. "Pass this down to Cho."
Ginny takes it and passes it to Padma, who then passes it to me. I look at it, and see that it's lime green—my favorite color. I smile a 'thank you' to the boy and then turn my attention back to the man in front, who I haven't exactly been paying attention to.
"At this time," the man is saying as he gestures toward a group boxes. "We will split into teams to make this go faster." He pulls a list out of his pocket and reads off of it. "One team will be setting up the elective room, another will be setting up tables and chairs in here and in the lobby, another will be making copies of information sheets for the campers, another will be separating t-shirts by sizes and putting them on a table, and the final group will be making nametags."
For the next two hours, Padma and I are grouped to work alongside a few Muggles—two girls that are both dark-haired and dark-skinned called Anna and Christina and then two tall, dark-haired good-looking goofy boys called Jeff and Clay. They are pretty cool. We have the wonderfully boring task of cutting out each name and camper number and then taping that to the circular nametag holders. It is so boring, but somehow the Muggles make it seem not so boring. I find it guilty to be smiling so much when I miss you, Cedric. Hey, I found my nametag! It reads: Cho Chang, Sr010, London.
"Finally," Anna sighs as she puts the final nametag on the table. "We're through." She glances over to the rest of us. "Do y'all want to make pipe cleaner objects?" She slyly pulls a package of pipe cleaners out of her pocket.
"Um, yeah!" Padma exclaims. She likes making things. She's very artistic.
"Where would we do it? Everyone is still working." I look around the room and see that a few groups are almost done.
"Let's go to the ping-pong room," suggests Christina.
"The ping-pong room?" I ask, confused. Cedric, sometimes these Muggles can say the strangest things.
"Oh, you'll see." She stands up and the rest of us follow her out the left hand door of the Choir Room.
This 'ping-pong' room is just that: a classroom-turned-game-room with a giant ping-pong table set up in the middle. I follow suit with the Muggles and sit down on one of the couches lining the inner wall. Anna goes to one side of the room and grabs a giant box of pipe cleaners.
"Here you go," she says, handing some to each of us. "If any of you need some help, just let me know. I'm a pro at this."
We sit back and begin making pipe cleaner objects. I make a tenor sax for you, Cedric, and attach it to my nametag lanyard. After a while, the rest of the captains join us and we make pipe cleaner everything. By the time we have to leave, there are dozens of pipe cleaner instruments, animals, headsets, sunglasses, and just random objects.
I make eye contact with Padma. She smiles at me, and I return the smile. I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it here, Cedric. The only thing I would wish would be if you were here….
Harry POV
We leave the SFA (as the Muggles are calling it) and head back to our dorm. I am super tired. I'm pretty sure I'm experiencing jet lag. I sleepily stumble up the stairs and to the room I am sharing with Ron. I clutch lazily at the key attached to my nametag and try to unlock the door, but my hands don't want to work. Ron materializes behind me and opens it with his key. I wave my hand at him in thanks and stagger toward my bed. Without even removing the sheets we bought earlier, I fall on the bed. I remember we have to wake up early tomorrow, so I turn over and grab the alarm clock Dalton had the sense to buy for us. He was going to buy a cell phone, since that was the most sensible thing to buy in this time period, but we convinced him not to. Besides, when else are we going to use a cell phone? The Muggle technology won't work when we return to Hogwarts, plus the numbers will all be out of date or the people will be too young to remember us. I set the alarm clock and close my eyes. I will sleep to come to me. I need sleep…
"OH MY GOD!" A bloodcurtling scream escapes Ron's mouth.
My head jerks up as I look around the room. Ron is sitting on his bed, pointing shakily at the floor.
"Dude, did you see that?" he asks, terrified.
"Ron," I say, not amused. He woke me up. He woke me out of my slumber. "Is it a spider?"
"Uh-huh," he replies, whimpering.
"Okay, well good-night." I turn back over and begin to close my eyes. Wait, I think. When the Muggles come in here, they'll get a riot out of Ron's face. I want to see this. I turn back over and sit up.
All of the Muggle captains arrive at our door, one after the other.
"What happened?" one, the head captain Will, asks. He scratches his head. "It sounded like something was dying in here."
Laughing, I answer him. "Ron found a spider. He is deathly afraid of spiders."
A few of the boys join me in laughing. One of the boys, Daniel, looks at me, confused. "Aren't you going to kill it?"
"Kill a spider for Ron? What do you think I am, his mum?" I look at my friend, who is still whimpering. "Sorry, mate, but you're just going to kill it yourself." I spy a shoe right under his bed. "Just grab that shoe and squish it."
The other boys stand in the doorway, watching the scene unfold. They are now all on the verge of laughter. Ron stands, poised on his bed with the shoe I just pointed out to him in his hand. In one swift movement he pounces off the bed and onto the floor. The spider tries to run away, but Ron, with a determined face, follows it and slams the shoe down. He slowly lifts the shoe up to make sure he killed it, and then, when he's satisfied, he stands back up.
Applause rang out through the room as the boys in the doorway see what their friend just accomplished.
"Ron!"
"You were amazing!"
"I didn't know you had it in you!"
"You were so terrified!"
Ron smiles and bows at his new peers, and then stands up straight as it sinks in. "I cannot believe I just did that." He is in shock now, I'm sure. I would be too, if I had just killed something I was deathly afraid of.
"Ron? Ron?" I try to pull my friend out of his funk. He is now staring at the dead spider, probably convinced it will come back to life and grow to the size of Aragog. "It's okay, dude. You killed it." I should probably… I get out of bed and grab a paper towel from beside the sink. Grabbing the dead spider off the floor, I take it to the bathroom and throw it away. When I get back to the room, the boys have finished celebrating, so they've left. Ron is still standing in shock, but I manage to coax him back to normal, and then hop in my own bed. This week is going to be a very different experience, I just know it. And you know what? I'm quite excited….
I hope you enjoyed it! I know the first chapter is long, but there's a lot to take in for the first day a person is in a new country, not to mention an entirely new time period. If you personally know any of the captains and I do not do them justice over the course of my fic, I'm sorry. Oh, btw, there will be eight chapters, from Saturday, June 9, to Saturday, June 16. Please R&R! :D :D