What has it been, like two months since I last updated? Sorry for my spotty updating schedule but I'm busy. I hope you like this chapter but you might want to reread the previous chapter because the beginning part is connected to the end of the last chapter. This chapter includes the OCs: Simrin Gomez, Nicholas Night, and Claude Lawrence (unnamed Lunatalon boy). Read and review.
He wondered if he should believe his thoughts, if he really was underestimating himself and if –
Fletcher's thoughts were cut off by a voice saying, "Quiet, quiet, students of Hogwarts. Everyone has been sorted, I believe. I would like to say a few words before the beginning of the Welcoming Feast."
He quickly turned around to see the headmistress, Deborah Eaglesmythe, standing on the stage. She stood with a regal air, commanding all attention to in the room to her. She was pretty, Fletcher decided, but not in a cover girl sort of way. Her long brown hair was pencil-straight without a hair sticking up or out of place. She wore a blue robe that was decorated with stars and swirls that matched her sparkling blue eyes. She seemed to be the perfect mixture of seriousness and gentleness.
The headmistress was talking but all Fletcher heard was blah, blah, blah, blah.He was too lost in his own thoughts. it was like swimming in a sea that was trying to pull him as far back as possible.
Olive, far from Fletcher at the Ravenclaw table, was listening intently to the brief speech and when it ended with the words "Let the feast begin!" she was surprised to see plates and food magically appear on each the four tables. Her mouth began to water. She had not eaten much during the long train ride and just about everything in front her looked delicious. There were juicy sausages, potato chips, grilled steak, seasoned chicken, roast beef, vanilla pudding, strawberry ice cream, jelly doughnuts, syrupy tarts and so much more. Olive was sure she had drooled enough to create a tiny river. Just as she was about to dive into the steak, she remembered her manners and cut it into tiny pieces.
She decided it was time for small talk. A light-skinned girl about her age with waist-length black hair was sitting in front of her, eating slowly. "Hey," Olive said.
"Hi," the girl mumbled, not looking up. It was obvious she didn't want to talk or was shy, so Olive left her alone. She decided to chat with the boy sitting next to her. He had short brown hair with bangs, hazelish and greenish eyes, and his skin was tanned. Around his neck was a golden cross necklace. He seemed to be all arms and legs, like most boys his age would be. He was cute, she decided, but he wasn't her type. The boy seemed more focused on athletics than academics but he still must be pretty smart if he had made it into Ravenclaw.
''Hey," she greeted.
"Hello," the boy said, looking up from his dinner. Now that she could see his eyes better, she saw that they were more hazel than green but still an odd color. They were also a bit slanted, as if he had some Asian blood in him, though all his other features looked distinctly Italian.
"I'm Olive Doyle. Aren't these treacle tarts amazing? Interesting factoid about treacle, prior to the 17th century, it was used as a medicine. They also used it as poison antidote and-"
"Yeah, about that. I really don't care," the boy said. Then he smiled sweetly to show he was just joking around. "But seriously, I'd rather not talk about treacle and its uses. I'm Nicholas, but you can call me Nick." said Nick, holding out his hand for Olive to shake.
Olive shook it vigorously, all the while thinking about how nice Nick was and how she had already made a friend here.
"Like the Gryffindor house ghost," Olive said." Where are the ghosts, anyway?"
"Oh, they're out and about," Nick srugged.
Thre was a brief pause in the conversation as they ate. Then Nick began to speak again.
"I take it you're new here because I've never seen you around here before," Nick said. Suddenly, as if he had a strange impulse, Nick leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "Don't you think it's weird?"
"What's weird?" Olive questioned. There were plenty of strange things about Hogwarts-so many she could write a 9-volume book series entitled The Oddities of Hogwarts.
"Everything," Nick replied. There was an odd glint in his eyes now. "You know what they're trying to hide from us, right? Don't think it's weird how they started the first-timer thing and started getting students from all over the world? Aren't you the least bit suspicious about Minerva McGonagall and Headmistress Eaglesmythe?"
Olive knew whose these people were, of course. After all, the headmistress had just given her speech a few minutes ago. She had read about Minerva McGonagall in her favorite book, A Current (and Constantly Changing) History of Hogwarts. It was the most exact history of Hogwarts, as new facts were added every minute. She didn't know what was so odd about it though. Olive admitted it was a little strange how Minerva had suddenly retired and unknown Headmistress Eaglesmythe had taken her place but Minerva had been old, at least by Olive's standards. She also didn't think the getting students from all over the world thing was as suspicious as Nick made it out to be. Maybe Hogwarts simply wanted to expand their horizons. There was certainly room in the castle for fifty or so foreign students. And maybe doing the first-timer thing made sure a student was ready for magic before they started at Hogwarts. Anyway, most students were still sent their letter when they were eleven. What was Nick so paranoid about? Just a few minutes ago he seemed like an average, nice guy.
"I can tell you what I know," Nick continued. "I don't really know you but I think I can trust you."
Olive was touched by his kind words and now she really wanted to know what he was talking about. Olive was touched by his kind words and now she really wanted to know what he was talking about.
"Do you want to know?" Nick asked a final time.
"Tell me."
Chyna, on the other hand, was not in the middle of a pressing Q&A. She had barely made through the headmistress' first speech (Chyna had never met a woman who commanded such attention yet had such a yawningly dull voice. She had expected Headmistress Eaglesmythe's voice to sound soft yet very important.) and had nearly collapsed through her final words. Chyna had partially enjoyed singing the school song though she thought it was a bit disturbing and would have been a bit more rousing had everyone been singing to the tune. She had finished singing around the time most people had, ending with a rock star flourish, but one gangly boy from Hufflepuff had held out every word for as long as possible before had began to sing the next word. His off-key voice had drowned out everybody's renditions of the song.
Chyna soon found herself in a massive swarm of kids trying to leave the Great Hall. At first she had no idea where to go but she soon found an older blond-haired Lunatalon and began to follow him. He hadn't been too hard to find as Lunatalons were the most likely people to be humming a Katy Perry song under their breath. Plus, he had the purple and white Lunatalon tie slung haphazardly across his neck. Eventually the two found their way to the Lunatalon common room entrance. It was located at the end of an unused hallway with a long tapestry depicting various centaurs roaming through a grassy field. All of sudden, the largest centaur began to speak in a soft, musical voice: "What song has been in Billboard's Hot 100 for the longest and by whom was the song written by?"
"You have to answer to a musical trivia question to get in?" asked Chyna, dumbfounded. "What if you don't know the answer?"
"Not always," the boy answered, "Sometimes it's a painting or an art question or you have to sing a certain song. And if you don't know the answer, just wait till you do. It 'll come to you eventually." This sounded like terrible advice to Chyna but she still had another question.
"Wouldn't that make the common room really easy to get into?" she questioned.
"Ah, but's that's the thing. No one can get in here except for the headmaster or a current Lunatalon. Now onto to the question. Lucky for us, I just happen to know it. The answer is "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men ."
"Correct," said the centaur said. The tapestry lifted up, revealing just enough space for the boy and Chyna to slide through.
Chyna took a minute to take in the large common room. It had large, comfortable-looking violet sofas, a white mantelpiece with dove carving over the blazing fire (it had been a chilly September day) with dove carvings, and thick purple rugs. The shallow purple and white curtains let in lots of light and the pale bookshelves, which would normally be full of dusty old tomes, overflowed with songbooks, painted scrolls, and charms and transfiguration textbooks which Lunatalons naturally excelled at( well, at least, most of them did). The extra touches of lavender benches and stools, glass tables with pretty bouquets of flowers on them, beautiful paintings, chestnut wood cupboards stocked with food, elegant violet tapestries, and a great of view of the Forbidden Forest all in all made the Lunatalon common room seem like a warm and inviting place. Chyna could already see the nights she'd spend here, conversing with friends and hunched over her homework.
It already feels like home, she thought happily.
Per haps the most neglected out of all the ANTs was our beloved Angus Chestnut. He was ignored by his friends( maybe companions is a better term), especially by Olive, the object of his affections. Maybe that helped the hat sort him into Slytherin. But is it really so hard to believe he wouldn't have been sorted there anyway? He wouldn't have made a good fit in Lunatalon nor would he have fit in Gryffindor. Ravencalw wasn't for him either, the only trait he had from that house was intelligence and creativity, and even then he only had that when it came to computers. And he wasn't hard-working or loyal, so Hufflepuff wouldn't be his house. When it all came down to it, Slytherin was the best fit for Angus. He could certainly be cunning and sly if it meant getting what he wanted. Angus wasn't necessarily resourceful, but you couldn't have everything, right?
Which brings us to Angus's current location. He was sitting at the Slytherin table, feasting on a juicy chicken drumstick in one hand and stuffing his face full of mashed potatoes and corn. He had spent most of the headmistress' speech using pick-up lines on cute girls, all of which had rejected his advances. Olive was his true love, but they were in different houses and he couldn't bet tied to just one girl.
When the Welcoming Feast and the headmistress' final speech were over, Angus went over to a female Slytherin prefect. He remembered her because she was one of the girls he had been hitting on. She was so short that Angus hadn't even realized she was beyond her second year until he saw the gleaming prefect badge on her robe. When he'd asked her to lead him to the common room, she'd told he had some chicken bits in teeth and turned away with a flip of her black and yellow coontailed hair. Angus, and being ever so persistent doing it, pleaded and begged until the girl rolled her eyes and said, "I guess it is part of my duties as a prefect to help the first years and first-timers, even annoying little pricks like you. Mind you, I've already got a boyfriend and I wouldn't date and eleven-year-old. Join the group."
Angus would have told her he was twelve but he was too pleased that she had let him join then group that he didn't care. He went to the back of the group but slowly started to inch his way forward. Less than a minute into the walk he was next to the prefect girl again. Angus began to engage her in a conversation, with him asking questions and her giving gritted-through-teeth one sentence answers. It didn't seem like she wanted to talk to Angus or she was shy or both. It was probably the latter, though. It went a little like this:
Angus: Hey, baby.
Prefect Girl: Leave. Me. Alone.
A: What's your name?
PG: Simrin Gomez.
A: Nice name. Do you really have a boyfriend?
Simrin: Yes.
A: Okay, who is this guy?
At this question, Simrin pointed to a pale boy of average height with shaggy black hair walking several paces ahead of them. Their conversation resumed:
Angus: He looks kind of emo to me.
Simrin: Well, he's not.
A: If he really is your boyfriend, why aren't you walking with him?
S: Because I have to lead you first years and first-timers.
A: How old are you?
S: It's really none of your business, but I'll tell you anyway. I'm 15.
A: You know, I'm currently tied down to another girl, but feel free to join my harem of admirers from afar.
S: How kind of you.
And so the chat continued on, Angus asking questions or making vain comments and Simrin rolling her eyes and begrudgingly replying. When they finally arrived in the Slytherin common room, deep in the Hogwarts dungeon, Angus felt peaceful. He also felt like he could use a bacon-wrapped double cheeseburger, but that's beyond the point. Simrin didn't -and probably would have hated to- know it but she had actually helped Angus by merely talking to him. Angus had always known he was different, but now he felt like he had finally found his people. She had helped him realize that Hogwarts would be a better home to him than his own house had ever been.
Home. A new home.
Just the thought of it made his heart soar with glee and made a smile break out on his face without him even realizing it.
Home seems to be a bit of a recurring theme. And don't you just wonder what Nick and Olive are talking about? Don't worry, there's a reason why Fletcher's in Gryffindor. Read and review!
