I'm not JKR

I stepped into the Ravenclaw common room. In front of a crackling fireplace sat dark blue couches and armchairs. Cushioned wood chairs sat around polished mahogany tables. The carpet was cobalt and bronze, the house colors, and nearly the entire wall was covered in bookshelves filled with books. I say wall because there was only one- the room was circular. The ceiling was painted with stars and there was a marble statue of a woman wearing a tiara set between two staircases. Everywhere kids were laughing and talking, draped over chairs or finding their friends.

"Welcome to the Ravenclaw common room," a voice said. I glanced down from the ceiling and saw a friendly looking guy a few years older than me. He was wearing a prefect badge.

"My name's Sherman Edgecombe. Nice to meet you." He held out his hand and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you, too. This is amazing- all the books. Do you guys have fiction, too?" I asked.

"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you around. Hi Dominique," Sherman greeted Dom.

"Good to see you, Sherm. Congratulations on getting Prefect." She high-fived him and walked away, stopping to chat with some students and to squeal with others.

Sherman led me towards a bookshelf. "This is our fiction section. We have magical and muggle literature-"

"Muggle?" I asked, then remembered and face-palmed. Sherman opened his mouth to explain, though he looked kind of like "who is this person, not knowing what a muggle is".

"Sorry, momentary lapse of memory. In America, we call them No-Majs."

"No- Maj?"

"No Magic."

"I see, you use a slang term."

"Ummm," I said, a little confused.

"Anyway," Sherman turned back to the bookshelves. "Over there is Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy, Arithmancy…" he continued to list subjects, pointing at each space in turn.

"Do you have art supplies here?" I asked.

"Oh, are you of the artistic persuasion?" Sherman said.

"Well, I like to draw and paint and sing and write fiction, so I guess you could call me that."

"Interesting." Sherman studied me. "You should talk to Jamie Thomas. She's really into art."

"What year is she?" I asked curiously

"Fourth, so you'll be sharing a dormitory."

"Oh, well, I guess I'll meet her tonight," I said. Sherman nodded, then he caught sight of someone over my shoulder and his eyes lit up.

"Uh, do you mind?" he asked, indicating the boy. I shook my head.

"Go on, I'm going to go find my dorm," I said. Sherman looked at me in relief before hurrying off.

I wandered over to the stairs, climbing up the one on the left of the tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw that I saw a bunch of girls going up. I passed the first-year dormitory, a seventh-year dormitory, a sixth year one, fifth year, then, aha! The fourth-year dorm. I pushed the door nervously open.

Inside were six four-poster beds. They were covered with poofy cerulean duvets and clean, fluffy, white pillows and sheets. Brown velvet curtains were tied back revealing the beds and a desk and chair sat next to each. Most were cluttered with all sorts of things- posters from quidditch teams, books, art supplies on the one next an empty area. Misty was curled up on the bed, my green backpack sitting next to her. I hurried over and picked her up, cuddling her to my chest.

I sat down, figuring that the bed was mine and stared around. Misty made herself comfortable in my lap. I pulled out my book- The True Meaning Of Smekday, and began to read.

I glanced down at Misty. "You want to go into the out?" I asked, smiling. That was one of my favorite quotes from the book. She meowed. I giggled. "Oooo, Misty!" I cooed. "You want to go into the out?" I scratched her back and went back to my book.

The door opened and Dominique and two other girls came in, laughing. One of them wore a bright scarf tied around her dark afro and a paint- splattered pair of jeans under her robes. The other girl had honey colored hair and honey eyes. She really had the honey aesthetic going there.

Dom caught sight of me. "Hey Eileen!" she chirped. I waved.

"Hey."

Dominique squealed and leapt onto my bed. "Sooo, what do you think of Hogwarts so far?" she asked.

"It's cool! The great hall is amazing," I said.

"I know!" Dominique nodded vigorously. "When I first saw it, I thought that there really was no ceiling. So, did Jamie."

The dark-skinned girl waved at me. "Hi," she said, walking over and leaning on the bedpost. "Welcome to Hogwarts. I hope you have fun here!"

"Thanks," I replied.

"Are you okay?" Dom asked. "Like, do you need anything?"

I shrugged. "I don't think so."

"Okay, well, if you have questions, ask! Also, I'm here to talk! We girls are probably going to be playing our annual game of never have I ever or something, so you can join!" she offered.

"Sure," I said. Dominique bounced off the bed and into the bathroom. I set my book down and the third girl walked over from her trunk.

"Hi," she sat down and shook my hand. "I'm Ellie Cattermole."

"I'm Eileen Holcombe."

"Nice to meet you. Shayla and Caitlyn our other roommates should be getting here soon so we can play Never Have I Ever. I hope you join, it's always tons of fun," Ellie said, rubbing her nose. I nodded.

"I was planning on it."

"Nice! I'm going to go use the loo now, byeee!" she stood up and swept off. I crawled to the end of my bed and pulled my suitcase up, unzipping it. As I dug through the layers of clothes, two more girls came through the doors. I pulled out my toothbrush and PJ's and stood up.

"Hi," I said.

"Hello, are you Eileen?" the shorter one with reddish blonde hair asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm Shayla Runcorn and this is Caitlyn Peakes." She indicated the girl next to her with dirty blonde hair and freckles.

"Hello," Caitlyn said. She looked tough and her tone was guarded. I gave her my friendliest smile and held up my pajamas.

"I'm just going to go put my PJ's on," I said. Shayla pursed her lips and nodded. I scurried off to the bathroom.

Inside, Dominique was washing her face and she, Ellie and Jamie were talking and giggling.

"We'll be out soon," Dominique tossed over her shoulder to me. I nodded, sitting on the toilet to wait.

"Blake Robertson's looking fiiiine this year," Jamie said, giggling.

Dominique grinned mischievously. "I think that that Slytherin, Kendal, has a crush on him."

"Oooh, I ship it," Ellie said. I shot up faster than you can say "fangirl". The girls stared at me with confused smiles on their faces.

"Are you a fangirl tooooo!?" I asked. Dom put her hands up.

"Don't hurt me!" she said dramatically. But Ellie stood up.

"What's your fandom?" she asked, excitedly.

"All of Rick Riordan's books!" I squealed, bouncing on my feet.

Ellie grinned wider. "Me tooo! And Lord of The Rings, have you read those?"

"No but I need to." We high-fived.

"FANGIRLS UNITE!" we said at the same time. Dominique looked between us.

"I think I'm just gonna go. I feel like I'm interrupting something." She scurried out of the room, sniggering.

Ellie and I glanced at Jamie who was watching with an amused smile. "Oops," I said.

"No worries, Ellie always fangirls."

"Yeah, same." We grinned at each other for a little while, then Jamie shook herself.

"I'll let you put on your pajamas now." She left and I stuck my toothbrush in my mouth. Ellie raised her eyebrow playfully at me and swung out of the bathroom.

When I came out of the bathroom a couple minutes later, everyone was sitting in a circle, a sheet of paper in the middle.

"Come on over and play never have I ever," Ellie gestured to me to sit next to her.

"So, rules," Shayla said. "We usually have fifty questions, but this round we're going to have forty-eight questions and each person is asking eight. I trust everyone knows how to play this game?" We all nodded. "Okay, I'll make the score sheet." She grabbed a quill (what was the deal with those things? Why not just use a ball point pen or something?) and bent over the parchment (also, what was the deal with that stuff?).

Caitlyn raised her hand. "I'll go first," she volunteered.

"Sounds good," Shayla said. "Then Dom can go, then Ellie, Jamie, Eileen, and me." She scribbled the rules out on her parchment and looked up expectantly.

Caitlyn took a breath. "Hmm, never have I ever been thrown up on." My eyes widened a little as I felt the familiar surge of adrenaline. No, no, no, calm, calm, calm, I chanted over and over in my head. I closed my eyes for a moment and my reflex calmed slightly. Shayla marked a tally for Caitlyn and glanced around the circle. Dom and Jamie were laughing and shoulder bumping.

"Uh, yeah. When you have a family as big as mine, you're gonna get puked on," Dominique said carelessly. I didn't understand how she could be so calm about the whole thing. My heartbeat was speeding up. I let out a relieved breath when the others raised their hands.

Dominique thought for a moment before opening her mouth. "Never have I ever laughed so hard I peed my pants."

"Uh, duh. Who hasn't?" Ellie asked.

"Agreed," I said. Of course, everyone raised their hand.

"Never have I ever attempted martial arts moves while by myself," she said. "No one?"

"Demo?" Caitlyn asked. Ellie stood up and did a series of very bad kicks and punches.

"For you, my loves. Terrible Muggle fighting." She took a bow and sat down.

Jamie thought for a moment before speaking. "Never have I ever licked/eaten something thinking it was chocolate, but it wasn't."

Shayla and I raised our hands. "What was it?" Caitlyn asked.

"Brown paint," I said.

"Mud," Shayla volunteered. The girls looked at Shayla.

"How did you not tell that that was not chocolate," Ellie said.

"Hey," Shayla put her hands up defensively. "Moving on, Eileen," she said.

I thought for a moment. I was always bad at coming up with questions. "Never have I ever been dumpster diving."

Caitlyn and Ellie raised their hands.

"I've never been dumpster diving, but we go to rummage sales with Grandma," Dom said.

I nodded. "Yeah, my grandma and great grandma used to go junking."

"I'm guessing that means going to rummage sales?" Shayla confirmed.

"Mmhmm, but they also used to buy things and mark up the prices and sell the stuff," I said.

"Isn't that illegal?" she asked.

"Would that stop you?"

"No," Shayla said after thinking for a moment. "Never have I ever shot a gun."

I raised my hand. Dom recoiled a look of surprise on her face. "You guys have shot guns?"

"Yeah, I have, once," Shayla said.

"Of course. My dad went out hunting with a friend one time and he let me try," I said.

"You went hunting?" Ellie asked.

"Well, I didn't want to shoot anything, but my dad thought it could be a cool experience. Plus, with all the issues surrounding the second amendment and all, he thought it could be a way to just KNOW what our forefathers had to…." I trailed off. Everyone was staring at me in confusion. I felt my cheeks heat up. "Err, sorry." I muttered. The girls shook it off and we continued to play.

We had some pretty crazy never have I ever's as well as some not crazy ones. For example, never have I ever stayed up for more than 24 hours, never have I ever been to a music festival, never have I ever used a fake I.D., never have I ever smuggled food or candy into a movie theater (honestly, everyone's done that), never have I ever gotten into a fist fight, and never have I ever gone commando.

Around eleven when we were all tired (and I was super tired what with jet lag and time weirdness and all) we went to bed.

Right before I climbed into the covers though, Shayla came over to me and said, "Listen, be careful around Caitlyn, she's kind of sensitive." I thought back to the hardened features of Caitlyn. She did seem to have a mask that hadn't cracked once, but I decided to just observe. It was only my first day, after all.

"Okay, I'll be careful," I said, nodding. Shayla cracked a smile and held out her hand. I took it and we shook.

"I think you'll have fun this year Eileen Holcombe. I'm hoping we can all become…" she paused in her formal speech, then thrust her hips out and put her arms in the air. "BFF'S!"

Then she went to bed.

A/N: This chapter marks the end of the journey to Hogwarts. I'm hoping the mini panic attacks are written okay. If you think they're good or you have any other comments, review!

W-W-A-J-A-L