Please do note that all HP characters are property of JK Rowling. The
characters of Nyx, Brenna, Thursday, Wolfe, Syke, and any other
unrecognized names are property of Denise G., and ME (excluding any
Hogwarts student only mentioned once in the real story)!!!!!
Chapter Seven
The Test
It was now two weeks into October, and Brenna had finally made herself home at Hogwarts. She developed a school day routine of waking up, showering, going to breakfast, attended morning classes, going to lunch, attending afternoon classes, going to dinner, and then hanging around the commonroom till ten o'clock rolled around. Then she headed of to bed. On the weekends, class time had been replaced with hanging out with spending time with her friends.
She grew accustomed to the less than normal happenings and was beginning to be more relaxed. This week, she could tell that something was about to happen. The teachers had been giving subtle hints about it for days, but the never actually said anything. So, by the time Friday morning hit, Brenna wasn't surprised that she still had no idea of what was going to happen, if anything.
"So, when is the next Quidditch match for Ravenclaw?" asked Mandy.
"The first Saturday in November," said Cho, "We play the winner of the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff match."
"You'll be playing Gryffindor," said Terry in an offhanded manner, "No doubt about that."
Brenna had opened her mouth to say something when a loud clinking from the teacher's table sounded through the Great Hall. Everyone there turned his or her attention towards Professor Dumbledore.
"Well, good morning everyone! I hope the school year hasn't been to difficult for you all!" said Dumbledore. There was a murmur of 'yes's' that went through the crowd before for he motioned for silence. "So, then I assume you're all ready for a test then?" he asked. Another louder and angrier murmur fell over the students.
"A test!" Brenna heard Nyx exclaim from the Gryffindor table, "I thought the O.W.L.'s weren't until spring!"
"You're right, Miss Black," replied Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "but I'm referring to is a comprehensive test for you to demonstrate your skills in a practical situation. Well, practical for your age group and the upcoming holiday."
"Professor Flitwick, Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall came up with an idea for a test and presented it to me. I agreed with it and now I am presenting it to you all with a more vague version of what they said. This year, in addition to the Halloween feast, we are allowing you to dress up in costumes." - this brought an excited uproar over the Great Hall - "But here comes the tricky part. You must make your costume pieces out of transfigured, random materials."
"There's always a catch!" exclaimed a red haired boy from the Gryffindor table. Brenna thought for a moment it might be Ron, but she spotted him rolling his eyes at the red headed boy.
"Not always, Mr. Weasley," replied Dumbledore with a smile, "I assure you all that this will be an enjoyable experience, as well as an educational one. All I will tell you is that for third years and up, you will be making your costumes as I have just described. Second years and first years will be making a potion for simple things like hair altering and whatnot. The rest of the details shall be delivered to you in your Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions classes."
An excited chatter raced across the Great Hall and fell over all the house tables, including the Ravenclaw table.
"I'm glad we have Transfiguration after breakfast," Cho said to Brenna," The suspense is killing me!"
"I don't have it till Monday," said Terri glumly.
"We don't have it 'til Tuesday!" said Mandy, indicating Padma as well.
"But we have Charms right before lunch," Padma pointed out. The bell ending breakfast rang just then and they all quickly went to their separate classes.
As Cho and Brenna entered McGonagall's classroom, they nearly ran into Nyx, Wolfe, and Thursday. Of course they had been blocking the doorway.
"Hey guys," said Thursday, backing into Wolfe to allow Brenna and Cho to enter. Wolfe smiled pervertedly and to Brenna's surprise, Nyx didn't try to smack him, she just smiled slyly at them.
"Hey," said Cho, "looks like everyone wanted to get to class early today." Sure enough Brenna saw that nearly the entire class had showed up already, with the exception of Hermione, who was nowhere to be seen.
"That's weird, no one usually straggles in until the last minute," said Brenna.
"You're right," said Ron. We walked up to them, smiling.
"Hello!" said Brenna.
"Hi, Ron," said Cho," Where's Harry and Hermione?"
"I'm right here," said Harry as he walked into the room, "Hermione had to send a letter off before she came. She should be along any minute."
"No doubt to her lovely Viktor!" said Ron disgustedly.
"Honestly, Ron," said Hermione from the doorway, "Aren't you over that yet?"
"Yes, I just like teasing you a bit, that's all."
Shaking her head, Hermione took her seat. And just in time too because Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom from her office. The class immediately took their seats and reluctantly removed parchment and their books for backpacks on the floor.
"Ok, class, settle down," said McGonagall as she lay her books out on her desk, "Today we are going to study the causes of - " She was suddenly interrupted by a raised hand. Wolfe's to be exact. She sighed. "Yes, Mr. . . . er, Wolfe?"
"Since we're obviously not going to listen to you until we find out more about this test," replied Wolfe, "Maybe you should tell us, or explain it, or whatever. . ." The class all shook their heads in agreement. This was something they had all been thinking but only Wolfe had the courage to say.
McGonagall gave another sigh, had a look on her face that clearly illustrated her distress at Wolfe's bluntness. "Fine," said McGonagall, "You may all put your things away."
In their silent happiness, the entire class put away their things quickly. McGonagall had done the same thing except she had brought out a History of Magic book and placed it on her desk. "The rules of the test are fairly simple," began McGonagall, "You are to chose a famous witch or wizard to be the subject of your costume. You shall transfigure or charm random objects so that they become your costume. Then a specific charm will be placed on all the pieces. For your class, you are not given the option of choosing, therefore your subject is assigned and you must decide whether or not to go with a partner. We'll do that first. Accio!" Two bowls zoomed out of a cupboard and into her hands. After setting them down, McGonagall then gave the History of Magic book a tap of her wand, causing the book to fall open. The pages began to flip wildly as names tore themselves out of the pages and separated themselves into one of the two bowls.
Once the names had settled into the appropriate bowl, McGonagall magically swirled the contents of the bowls and began to speak. "For those of you whom wish to go alone, write your name on a slip of parchment and place it here." - she indicated the bowl to her right. - "And for those of you whom wish to go with a partner, place your name here" - she indicated the bowl to her left. - "and it shall match you up with someone."
"Lucky Syke isn't in this class," Ron whispered to Wolfe as everyone wrote their names on bits of parchment and stood to put them into the correct bowl.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," replied Wolfe, "I hear you." He placed his parchment into the partner bowl.
"Which one are you going for?"
"I fancy having a date," said Ron, following Wolfe's example.
"I'm with Ron on this one," said Harry doing the same, "I'd much rather see this thru with a partner."
"Hey maybe you and I will get paired Harry," said Nyx, ruffling Harry's hair. Harry pressed his hair flat and gulped nervously.
"That's what I'm afraid of -"
"Personally, I don't want my mind clouded with that kind of distraction," said Hermione, "I am going alone."
"Only because you don't want to betray your Vicky!" teased Ron.
"Maybe so, and how many times do I have to tell you not to call him Vicky!"
Thursday walked past the bickering Hermione and Ron to place her name in the partner bowl. Wolfe, obvious glad Thursday had done this, gave her butt a playful smack, sending Thursday into giggles. Nyx swung at Wolfe and landed a blow to his head.
"Knock it off!" said Nyx.
"Anyway," said Cho, "I agree with Hermione. Besides, I'd rather go alone anyway."
"Hey," said Thursday, "Have you decided yet?"
Brenna looked up at the pale girl. She clutched her parchment tightly in her hand as Nyx quickly joined Thursday, looking curiously at Brenna.
"What's wrong? Can't make a decision?" asked Nyx. Brenna lied and shook her head. She was torn between the idea of going alone, or with a date. While mulling over the idea, the rest of the class put their names in the appropriate bowl. When Brenna was the last one left, she still didn't know what to do. "Hurry up, the test'll be over by the time you make a decision!" said Nyx.
"You need to make a choice soon," encouraged Cho.
Finally, Brenna let out a sigh of air and placed her name into the partner bowl. "Brilliant choice!" exclaimed Nyx as she clapped Brenna on the shoulder. The force threw Brenna forward. Despite Nyx's pixie-like appearance, she was quite strong.
"Settle down," said McGonagall sharply, eye Nyx beadily. Reluctantly, Nyx flopped down in her seat. "The contents of the bowls are being mixed together to match you up with your subject, and for those of you whom wish to do this with a partner, you are being matched up with partner as well as your subject," said McGonagall. After a moment, she halted the movement inside the bowls with a wave of her wand.
"When I call your name, please come forward and collect your assignment," said McGonagall. A piece of parchment that looked as though it had melded together with the names torn from the book shot from the bowl to her right. She took hold of the parchment and read its name aloud. "Dean Thomas," she read. An African-American boy from Gryffindor that sat in the back row stood and walked up to McGonagall and collected his assignment.
"What didja get, Dean?" whispered Harry as Dean walked back to his seat.
"Merlin," replied Dean with a half smile, "This is gonna be easy!"
"Cho Chang," read McGonagall. When Cho got her assignment and read it, she smiled.
"Hermione Granger. . ."
McGonagall continued to read names from the bowl for several minutes until she'd read them all. Brenna eagerly waited for this, as well as Harry, Nyx, Ron, Wolfe, and Thursday.
The bowl with all the partner's names in it had spit out several names it had not been able to use. McGonagall scooped them up and looked them over. "It seems that not many of you chose to partner up," she said, "In fact," - she counted the names - "only six of you decided to double up. This should go much quicker." A name shot up from the bowl and McGonagall retrieved it to read the names on it. "Wolfe, er, Slytherin and Thursday Alucard."
"Brilliant!" said Thursday as she and Wolfe collected their assignment. The read it to themselves and Thursday giggled excitedly before she and her partner sat down.
"Harry Potter and Nyx Black."
Nyx looked absolutely overjoyed at the news of being partnered with Harry. On the other hand, Harry was dying of happiness but he wasn't upset. Nyx literally dragged him by his collar to get their assignment. As Harry recovered from nearly being choked to death, Brenna eagerly awaited for what she knew was coming next.
"Ron Weasley and Brenna Ollivander."
Ron and Brenna collected their assignment and sat down. Before they had the chance to even look at their assignment, McGonagall began to speak. "The remainder of the class time has been allotted so you may discuss your assignments with others to brainstorm and get ideas."
The class broke apart and gathered into little groups, although most of them wouldn't be brainstorming for ideas. Nyx, Harry, Wolfe, Thursday, Hermione, and Cho grouped up around Brenna and Ron.
"I do believe the pairings were a splendid choice!" said Wolfe with fake sophistication.
"Blah, blah, blah," said Nyx, "What did you get anyway?"
"Romeo and Juliet," replied Thursday, showing them all the slip of parchment.
"I thought that those weren't real people," said Ron.
"Shakespeare's plays were based upon things he had witnessed for himself. It's not surprising no one believed his stories of witches and faeries and tragic romances, but they were in fact real," said Hermione.
"That would explain my assignment," said Cho, "I got Titania."
"Fascinating!"
"Well I'm glad you find it fascinating, Ms. Textbook! I wouldn't want to be some sort of sissy faerie!" said Nyx, "I'm glad you got it instead of me."
"Well then, what did you get?" asked Hermione hotly.
Nyx smiled. "I though you'd never ask!" she said, "I got a Japanese priestess and Harry over here got a dementor."
"I'm not exactly happy about that choice," said Harry, turning a pale shade of green. When Nyx gave him the evil eye he immediately tried to redeem himself. "I meant about being a dementor!"
"I thought so," said Nyx.
"What did you two get?" asked Thursday. Ron opened the slip of folded parchment. He read to himself before reading it aloud.
"Tutankhamen and Cleopatra," read Ron. Brenna looked over Ron's shoulder to read the parchment as well. Sure enough, that's what it said.
"Fascinating!" exclaimed Hermione, "You know, your trip to Egypt may help you, Ron."
"You seem to assume, Hermione, that I spent that particular summer holiday studying! Besides, the trip was two summers ago."
"But why wouldn't anybody want to study ancient Egyptian wizards? I find them horribly fascinating . . ."
"Who would have guessed," said Nyx.
"Well, maybe you're right, it could have done me some good," said Ron.
Hermione smirked at Ron, who was not happy about being proven wrong. Brenna smiled and shook her head at them.
"You never told us what you got," Cho said to Hermione.
"Oh, I guess I never did, did I?" said Hermione, "I chose Wendlin the Weird. That should definitely be fun!"
"Looks like we've got a bit of work ahead of us," said Harry.
"Nah, it'll be a synch!" said Nyx, punching Harry playfully on the arm. Harry rubbed his arm where Nyx had hit him.
"I wonder what charm we'll be using?" Thursday thought aloud.
Everyone was surprised to think that Hermione didn't already know the answer. Then suddenly she spoke.
"I've read about this charm called the Cinderella Charm," said Hermione, "It was first used on a maiden named Cinderella. Her faerie godmother Faerlla created it. This charm, in simple terms, is a morphing charm and is used to make old things beautiful."
Nyx gave a loud and exaggerated yawn. This launched everyone into laughter. When they finally all decided to start brainstorming, Brenna looked towards Ron. He was looking the parchment over as if to get an idea from it.
"I wish I could remember something from my trip to Egypt," sighed Ron, "but all I remember is mutant skeletons and when me and my brothers tried to shut my other brother Percy in one of the tombs."
Brenna giggled. "I didn't know you had brothers," she said.
"Yup. I have five of them. Fred and George are twins, this is their last year at Hogwarts, and Percy works for the Ministry of Magic. Then there's Charlie who's in Romania working with dragons and Bill who's a curse breaker for Gringotts. Fred and George are pretty funny, and Bill and Charlie are pretty cool, but Percy, well his job at the Ministry seems to have changed him, even thought he was always a stuck up, rule-follower."
"Wow, you have a big family!"
"It's doesn't end there! I have a sister named Ginny. She's a year younger than me and has a huge crush on Harry - "
Harry immediately turned around, trying to figure out who called his name. "What? Did I just hear my name?" he asked.
"Ron was just telling me how his sister had a big crush on you," said Brenna. Harry began to blush and hurriedly turned around. Ron and Brenna laughed.
"So, do you have any ideas?" asked Brenna.
"Gold. That's the only thing I know because my mum thought I was trying to kip some of it. All I was doing was looking at it," said Ron.
"We could go to the library and research it," suggested Brenna.
"You know, I think I live in that library sometimes," said Ron, "Hermione always drags us there for one things or another."
Brenna began to get an uneasy feeling in her stomach. In the back of her mind, she began to think that she might end up doing most of the work. That or else receive a lower grade for lack of preparation. "Well, we don't have to go . . ." she said.
"I didn't mean we shouldn't go. I meant that since I've been there so much, it could help us find books a lot faster."
Brenna blinked a few times before blushing horribly. "Oh, sorry."
"No problem," said Ron, "We could go during the homework break. Maybe we could get Nyx, Harry, Hermione, Cho, Wolfe and Thursday to come with us."
"Brilliant idea!" Suddenly, Ron was giving Brenna a strange look. It was then that she suddenly realized that Wolfe had crept up behind her and lain his head over her shoulder. "It's a date!" he said. Brenna gave a little shriek and Wolfe jumped back laughing.
"So you'll meet us in the library then?" asked Ron.
Wolfe nodded. "You can count us in! Have you asked the others yet?"
"No," said Brenna meekly.
"I will for you then," said Wolfe. He turned around to look towards the others, who were only a few feet away. "Hey, Harry, Hermione, Cho, Nyx!"
All four of them turned towards him with startled looks on their faces. "Library, after class, 'kay?" said Wolfe with a wink.
"Er, okay," replied Harry.
"Good."
I really like this chapter. My characters personalities are more developed here. The others are definitely OOC but my friends seem to like it, judging by the fact that they threaten me to finish my story. Don't forget to review 'cause I need some feedback.
Chapter Seven
The Test
It was now two weeks into October, and Brenna had finally made herself home at Hogwarts. She developed a school day routine of waking up, showering, going to breakfast, attended morning classes, going to lunch, attending afternoon classes, going to dinner, and then hanging around the commonroom till ten o'clock rolled around. Then she headed of to bed. On the weekends, class time had been replaced with hanging out with spending time with her friends.
She grew accustomed to the less than normal happenings and was beginning to be more relaxed. This week, she could tell that something was about to happen. The teachers had been giving subtle hints about it for days, but the never actually said anything. So, by the time Friday morning hit, Brenna wasn't surprised that she still had no idea of what was going to happen, if anything.
"So, when is the next Quidditch match for Ravenclaw?" asked Mandy.
"The first Saturday in November," said Cho, "We play the winner of the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff match."
"You'll be playing Gryffindor," said Terry in an offhanded manner, "No doubt about that."
Brenna had opened her mouth to say something when a loud clinking from the teacher's table sounded through the Great Hall. Everyone there turned his or her attention towards Professor Dumbledore.
"Well, good morning everyone! I hope the school year hasn't been to difficult for you all!" said Dumbledore. There was a murmur of 'yes's' that went through the crowd before for he motioned for silence. "So, then I assume you're all ready for a test then?" he asked. Another louder and angrier murmur fell over the students.
"A test!" Brenna heard Nyx exclaim from the Gryffindor table, "I thought the O.W.L.'s weren't until spring!"
"You're right, Miss Black," replied Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "but I'm referring to is a comprehensive test for you to demonstrate your skills in a practical situation. Well, practical for your age group and the upcoming holiday."
"Professor Flitwick, Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall came up with an idea for a test and presented it to me. I agreed with it and now I am presenting it to you all with a more vague version of what they said. This year, in addition to the Halloween feast, we are allowing you to dress up in costumes." - this brought an excited uproar over the Great Hall - "But here comes the tricky part. You must make your costume pieces out of transfigured, random materials."
"There's always a catch!" exclaimed a red haired boy from the Gryffindor table. Brenna thought for a moment it might be Ron, but she spotted him rolling his eyes at the red headed boy.
"Not always, Mr. Weasley," replied Dumbledore with a smile, "I assure you all that this will be an enjoyable experience, as well as an educational one. All I will tell you is that for third years and up, you will be making your costumes as I have just described. Second years and first years will be making a potion for simple things like hair altering and whatnot. The rest of the details shall be delivered to you in your Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions classes."
An excited chatter raced across the Great Hall and fell over all the house tables, including the Ravenclaw table.
"I'm glad we have Transfiguration after breakfast," Cho said to Brenna," The suspense is killing me!"
"I don't have it till Monday," said Terri glumly.
"We don't have it 'til Tuesday!" said Mandy, indicating Padma as well.
"But we have Charms right before lunch," Padma pointed out. The bell ending breakfast rang just then and they all quickly went to their separate classes.
As Cho and Brenna entered McGonagall's classroom, they nearly ran into Nyx, Wolfe, and Thursday. Of course they had been blocking the doorway.
"Hey guys," said Thursday, backing into Wolfe to allow Brenna and Cho to enter. Wolfe smiled pervertedly and to Brenna's surprise, Nyx didn't try to smack him, she just smiled slyly at them.
"Hey," said Cho, "looks like everyone wanted to get to class early today." Sure enough Brenna saw that nearly the entire class had showed up already, with the exception of Hermione, who was nowhere to be seen.
"That's weird, no one usually straggles in until the last minute," said Brenna.
"You're right," said Ron. We walked up to them, smiling.
"Hello!" said Brenna.
"Hi, Ron," said Cho," Where's Harry and Hermione?"
"I'm right here," said Harry as he walked into the room, "Hermione had to send a letter off before she came. She should be along any minute."
"No doubt to her lovely Viktor!" said Ron disgustedly.
"Honestly, Ron," said Hermione from the doorway, "Aren't you over that yet?"
"Yes, I just like teasing you a bit, that's all."
Shaking her head, Hermione took her seat. And just in time too because Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom from her office. The class immediately took their seats and reluctantly removed parchment and their books for backpacks on the floor.
"Ok, class, settle down," said McGonagall as she lay her books out on her desk, "Today we are going to study the causes of - " She was suddenly interrupted by a raised hand. Wolfe's to be exact. She sighed. "Yes, Mr. . . . er, Wolfe?"
"Since we're obviously not going to listen to you until we find out more about this test," replied Wolfe, "Maybe you should tell us, or explain it, or whatever. . ." The class all shook their heads in agreement. This was something they had all been thinking but only Wolfe had the courage to say.
McGonagall gave another sigh, had a look on her face that clearly illustrated her distress at Wolfe's bluntness. "Fine," said McGonagall, "You may all put your things away."
In their silent happiness, the entire class put away their things quickly. McGonagall had done the same thing except she had brought out a History of Magic book and placed it on her desk. "The rules of the test are fairly simple," began McGonagall, "You are to chose a famous witch or wizard to be the subject of your costume. You shall transfigure or charm random objects so that they become your costume. Then a specific charm will be placed on all the pieces. For your class, you are not given the option of choosing, therefore your subject is assigned and you must decide whether or not to go with a partner. We'll do that first. Accio!" Two bowls zoomed out of a cupboard and into her hands. After setting them down, McGonagall then gave the History of Magic book a tap of her wand, causing the book to fall open. The pages began to flip wildly as names tore themselves out of the pages and separated themselves into one of the two bowls.
Once the names had settled into the appropriate bowl, McGonagall magically swirled the contents of the bowls and began to speak. "For those of you whom wish to go alone, write your name on a slip of parchment and place it here." - she indicated the bowl to her right. - "And for those of you whom wish to go with a partner, place your name here" - she indicated the bowl to her left. - "and it shall match you up with someone."
"Lucky Syke isn't in this class," Ron whispered to Wolfe as everyone wrote their names on bits of parchment and stood to put them into the correct bowl.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," replied Wolfe, "I hear you." He placed his parchment into the partner bowl.
"Which one are you going for?"
"I fancy having a date," said Ron, following Wolfe's example.
"I'm with Ron on this one," said Harry doing the same, "I'd much rather see this thru with a partner."
"Hey maybe you and I will get paired Harry," said Nyx, ruffling Harry's hair. Harry pressed his hair flat and gulped nervously.
"That's what I'm afraid of -"
"Personally, I don't want my mind clouded with that kind of distraction," said Hermione, "I am going alone."
"Only because you don't want to betray your Vicky!" teased Ron.
"Maybe so, and how many times do I have to tell you not to call him Vicky!"
Thursday walked past the bickering Hermione and Ron to place her name in the partner bowl. Wolfe, obvious glad Thursday had done this, gave her butt a playful smack, sending Thursday into giggles. Nyx swung at Wolfe and landed a blow to his head.
"Knock it off!" said Nyx.
"Anyway," said Cho, "I agree with Hermione. Besides, I'd rather go alone anyway."
"Hey," said Thursday, "Have you decided yet?"
Brenna looked up at the pale girl. She clutched her parchment tightly in her hand as Nyx quickly joined Thursday, looking curiously at Brenna.
"What's wrong? Can't make a decision?" asked Nyx. Brenna lied and shook her head. She was torn between the idea of going alone, or with a date. While mulling over the idea, the rest of the class put their names in the appropriate bowl. When Brenna was the last one left, she still didn't know what to do. "Hurry up, the test'll be over by the time you make a decision!" said Nyx.
"You need to make a choice soon," encouraged Cho.
Finally, Brenna let out a sigh of air and placed her name into the partner bowl. "Brilliant choice!" exclaimed Nyx as she clapped Brenna on the shoulder. The force threw Brenna forward. Despite Nyx's pixie-like appearance, she was quite strong.
"Settle down," said McGonagall sharply, eye Nyx beadily. Reluctantly, Nyx flopped down in her seat. "The contents of the bowls are being mixed together to match you up with your subject, and for those of you whom wish to do this with a partner, you are being matched up with partner as well as your subject," said McGonagall. After a moment, she halted the movement inside the bowls with a wave of her wand.
"When I call your name, please come forward and collect your assignment," said McGonagall. A piece of parchment that looked as though it had melded together with the names torn from the book shot from the bowl to her right. She took hold of the parchment and read its name aloud. "Dean Thomas," she read. An African-American boy from Gryffindor that sat in the back row stood and walked up to McGonagall and collected his assignment.
"What didja get, Dean?" whispered Harry as Dean walked back to his seat.
"Merlin," replied Dean with a half smile, "This is gonna be easy!"
"Cho Chang," read McGonagall. When Cho got her assignment and read it, she smiled.
"Hermione Granger. . ."
McGonagall continued to read names from the bowl for several minutes until she'd read them all. Brenna eagerly waited for this, as well as Harry, Nyx, Ron, Wolfe, and Thursday.
The bowl with all the partner's names in it had spit out several names it had not been able to use. McGonagall scooped them up and looked them over. "It seems that not many of you chose to partner up," she said, "In fact," - she counted the names - "only six of you decided to double up. This should go much quicker." A name shot up from the bowl and McGonagall retrieved it to read the names on it. "Wolfe, er, Slytherin and Thursday Alucard."
"Brilliant!" said Thursday as she and Wolfe collected their assignment. The read it to themselves and Thursday giggled excitedly before she and her partner sat down.
"Harry Potter and Nyx Black."
Nyx looked absolutely overjoyed at the news of being partnered with Harry. On the other hand, Harry was dying of happiness but he wasn't upset. Nyx literally dragged him by his collar to get their assignment. As Harry recovered from nearly being choked to death, Brenna eagerly awaited for what she knew was coming next.
"Ron Weasley and Brenna Ollivander."
Ron and Brenna collected their assignment and sat down. Before they had the chance to even look at their assignment, McGonagall began to speak. "The remainder of the class time has been allotted so you may discuss your assignments with others to brainstorm and get ideas."
The class broke apart and gathered into little groups, although most of them wouldn't be brainstorming for ideas. Nyx, Harry, Wolfe, Thursday, Hermione, and Cho grouped up around Brenna and Ron.
"I do believe the pairings were a splendid choice!" said Wolfe with fake sophistication.
"Blah, blah, blah," said Nyx, "What did you get anyway?"
"Romeo and Juliet," replied Thursday, showing them all the slip of parchment.
"I thought that those weren't real people," said Ron.
"Shakespeare's plays were based upon things he had witnessed for himself. It's not surprising no one believed his stories of witches and faeries and tragic romances, but they were in fact real," said Hermione.
"That would explain my assignment," said Cho, "I got Titania."
"Fascinating!"
"Well I'm glad you find it fascinating, Ms. Textbook! I wouldn't want to be some sort of sissy faerie!" said Nyx, "I'm glad you got it instead of me."
"Well then, what did you get?" asked Hermione hotly.
Nyx smiled. "I though you'd never ask!" she said, "I got a Japanese priestess and Harry over here got a dementor."
"I'm not exactly happy about that choice," said Harry, turning a pale shade of green. When Nyx gave him the evil eye he immediately tried to redeem himself. "I meant about being a dementor!"
"I thought so," said Nyx.
"What did you two get?" asked Thursday. Ron opened the slip of folded parchment. He read to himself before reading it aloud.
"Tutankhamen and Cleopatra," read Ron. Brenna looked over Ron's shoulder to read the parchment as well. Sure enough, that's what it said.
"Fascinating!" exclaimed Hermione, "You know, your trip to Egypt may help you, Ron."
"You seem to assume, Hermione, that I spent that particular summer holiday studying! Besides, the trip was two summers ago."
"But why wouldn't anybody want to study ancient Egyptian wizards? I find them horribly fascinating . . ."
"Who would have guessed," said Nyx.
"Well, maybe you're right, it could have done me some good," said Ron.
Hermione smirked at Ron, who was not happy about being proven wrong. Brenna smiled and shook her head at them.
"You never told us what you got," Cho said to Hermione.
"Oh, I guess I never did, did I?" said Hermione, "I chose Wendlin the Weird. That should definitely be fun!"
"Looks like we've got a bit of work ahead of us," said Harry.
"Nah, it'll be a synch!" said Nyx, punching Harry playfully on the arm. Harry rubbed his arm where Nyx had hit him.
"I wonder what charm we'll be using?" Thursday thought aloud.
Everyone was surprised to think that Hermione didn't already know the answer. Then suddenly she spoke.
"I've read about this charm called the Cinderella Charm," said Hermione, "It was first used on a maiden named Cinderella. Her faerie godmother Faerlla created it. This charm, in simple terms, is a morphing charm and is used to make old things beautiful."
Nyx gave a loud and exaggerated yawn. This launched everyone into laughter. When they finally all decided to start brainstorming, Brenna looked towards Ron. He was looking the parchment over as if to get an idea from it.
"I wish I could remember something from my trip to Egypt," sighed Ron, "but all I remember is mutant skeletons and when me and my brothers tried to shut my other brother Percy in one of the tombs."
Brenna giggled. "I didn't know you had brothers," she said.
"Yup. I have five of them. Fred and George are twins, this is their last year at Hogwarts, and Percy works for the Ministry of Magic. Then there's Charlie who's in Romania working with dragons and Bill who's a curse breaker for Gringotts. Fred and George are pretty funny, and Bill and Charlie are pretty cool, but Percy, well his job at the Ministry seems to have changed him, even thought he was always a stuck up, rule-follower."
"Wow, you have a big family!"
"It's doesn't end there! I have a sister named Ginny. She's a year younger than me and has a huge crush on Harry - "
Harry immediately turned around, trying to figure out who called his name. "What? Did I just hear my name?" he asked.
"Ron was just telling me how his sister had a big crush on you," said Brenna. Harry began to blush and hurriedly turned around. Ron and Brenna laughed.
"So, do you have any ideas?" asked Brenna.
"Gold. That's the only thing I know because my mum thought I was trying to kip some of it. All I was doing was looking at it," said Ron.
"We could go to the library and research it," suggested Brenna.
"You know, I think I live in that library sometimes," said Ron, "Hermione always drags us there for one things or another."
Brenna began to get an uneasy feeling in her stomach. In the back of her mind, she began to think that she might end up doing most of the work. That or else receive a lower grade for lack of preparation. "Well, we don't have to go . . ." she said.
"I didn't mean we shouldn't go. I meant that since I've been there so much, it could help us find books a lot faster."
Brenna blinked a few times before blushing horribly. "Oh, sorry."
"No problem," said Ron, "We could go during the homework break. Maybe we could get Nyx, Harry, Hermione, Cho, Wolfe and Thursday to come with us."
"Brilliant idea!" Suddenly, Ron was giving Brenna a strange look. It was then that she suddenly realized that Wolfe had crept up behind her and lain his head over her shoulder. "It's a date!" he said. Brenna gave a little shriek and Wolfe jumped back laughing.
"So you'll meet us in the library then?" asked Ron.
Wolfe nodded. "You can count us in! Have you asked the others yet?"
"No," said Brenna meekly.
"I will for you then," said Wolfe. He turned around to look towards the others, who were only a few feet away. "Hey, Harry, Hermione, Cho, Nyx!"
All four of them turned towards him with startled looks on their faces. "Library, after class, 'kay?" said Wolfe with a wink.
"Er, okay," replied Harry.
"Good."
I really like this chapter. My characters personalities are more developed here. The others are definitely OOC but my friends seem to like it, judging by the fact that they threaten me to finish my story. Don't forget to review 'cause I need some feedback.