Disclaimer (yes, I'm actually doing this now): I have never owned HP, and probably never will. Though it would be cool. Besides, why do people put these? We all know nobody here owns the stories.

I'm putting the review answers at the bottom from now on, so I hope you don't mind! Well, the plot is brewing, and I want you guys to like it, so here it goes!

Chapter 4: Writing Samples…with BIG surprises

Evvy stood outside of the Room of Requirement with her miffed and disgruntled staff, including Pansy Parkinson who had been dragged out of her house for the meeting. Evvy was ready to tear her hair out. Everyone had squabbled from the way there, getting in a surprising amount of fights in ten minutes.

"So what do you do again?" she asked Harry, to make sure she didn't do anything wrong.

"You walk past the wall three times, thinking about what you want," Harry shrugged, quite bored after the eventful fights in which he had collected a large amount of scratches.

"So detailed, so detailed," said Draco sarcastically, reduced to insults by a room where anyone could reach in and pull out any number of things hat could harm him quite a bit.

"What was that, my wonderful staff member?" Evvy asked him, her voice dangerously sweet.

He quailed before her. "Nothing, nothing," he said quickly.

"Good. Now where was I?"

"The Room of Requirement," said Hermione, trying to be helpful.

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Sorry," muttered the girl.

"You should be," Evvy grinned. Oh, she loved being in charge. She walked in front of the wall, and strolled back and forth, thinking furiously, I need a newspaper staff room…I need a newspaper staff room…I need a newspaper staff room…

Soon a tall wooden door materialized in front of them.

"Ha! I told you so!" yelled Harry, pointing at it. When he realized that everyone was staring at him, he lowered his arm and muttered, "Oops." Draco rolled his eyes.

"It worked," said Evvy, a bit surprised.

"Of course it did," said Harry, miffed. "When have I ever sent the wrong way:

"Well, there was that time in the first year-" began Hermione, smiling.

"-when you agreed to the Wizard's Duel-" said Ron, catching on. (Woo hoo, it rhymed! Said Ron, catching on…ahem)

"-and we nearly got eaten-"

"-by that three-headed dog-"

"But we weren't," said Harry. "Besides, it was all his fault." He pointed at Draco, who just smirked satisfactorily.

"-not to mention-"

"-the prophecy hall-"

"-where-"

"Don't even go there," said Harry, his eyes gleaming behind his glasses.

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry," said Ron, hanging his head.

"Can we go in now?" asked Pansy Parkinson. "This standing around will make my hair go frizzy." She fluffed it, looking worried.

Evvy rolled her eyes, and seized the door handle. She smiled; the room was like a small staff's dream come true. There were plenty of bookshelves, and tons of parchment, quills, ink, and all the stuff necessary for the writing of a newspaper. There even was a shelf dedicated to-she couldn't call it anything else-spying devices. It had mirrors that showed everyone and anything she needed-good stuff for a newspaper, as well as a map that showed everyone in the school, and when she tapped her wand over it, it said what they were doing and a tiny image also appeared (Yes, this would be considered a Marauders' Map. But since the Room gives you what you want, there was instantly another copy, with new and improved features.). There also was a huge ebony table in the middle with seven seats.

Everyone rushed to get seats, and Evvy sat calmly at the head, Blaise at the other. One side had three seats, and the other had four. You might think the obvious solution was to have the Trio on the three seats, and Draco and Pansy on the two, but nooooo, thought Evvy. They had to do it the hard way.

Harry and Ron dived for the two, leaving poor Hermione to sit over with the Slytherins. Draco ended up in the middle seat, with Pansy on his right and Hermione on his left. Harry, who was sitting across from his friend, flashed her a forgiving smile, but she just glared at him as she and Draco scooted to the edges of their seats. Well, at least Hermione did. Draco sat rigidly in the middle of his seat, looking as though he wanted to get no closer to either of the girls on the sides of him.

"Oh, come on," said Evvy exasperatedly. "You're not three anymore. You both know that neither boys nor girls have cooties." She directed this last comment at Draco-who relaxed slightly-and Hermione-who reluctantly headed to the middle of her chair.

"Cooties?" said Pansy, looking confused. "What's cooties?"

Evvy rolled her eyes. With Pans here, it looked like she'd being doing it a lot lately.

"Cooties are contagious disease that a girl gets if she is touched by a boy. Like this," Draco leaned over and poked Pansy, grinning maliciously. She screamed.

"Icky sticky disease is on me! Get if off! GET IT OFF!" she yelled, slapping her arm and searching her purse frantically for sanitary wipes. She didn't seem to hear the outrageous laughter coming from the surrounding staff.

"Good one, Draco," Evvy said, wiping her eyes.

Pansy had apparently just found her wipes, and used about thirty trying to get the 'contagious disease' off her. She sighed, finally having got 'it' off her. She frowned. "Why is everyone laughing? Did I miss something?"

"Nothing," said Ron quickly, and everybody stopped laughing and hastily said they had all caught a coughing bug.

"Oh."

"Now, back to business," said Evvy, grabbing a clipboard she had found on the shelf. "Since I'm the editor-"

"Wait! Who said you were the editor?" interrupted Ron.

"I was the only one who volunteered, remember?" Evvy hissed through clenched teeth. She was really getting tired of this interrupting business.

"Blaise volunteered," defended Ron stubbornly.

"Ok," she said, and turned to look at Blaise. "Blaise," she began slowly, trying to keep her temper under control. "Would you like to be the editor?"

"It was your idea," said Blaise, shrugging. "You're the editor."

"Hear that?" Evvy snapped. "I'm the editor."

"On the other hand," said Blaise, smirking. "That's quite un-editorial like behav-

"Shut it," said Evvy, grinning. "Now as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted-" she glared at Ron, who smile back sweetly "-since I am the editor, I request you all to write a sample for me, so I can test your skills. Now, it must be longer than one page, but no longer than two. So, get to work!"

They all grabbed some parchment, quills, and ink and for the next hour or so the air was filled with the familiar atmosphere of quills scratching, paper rustling, and coughs and sighs. Evvy smiled as she drew the layout for the paper.

It wasn't going to be like most newspapers, saying how classes are, and such. Evvy personally found that quite boring, so when she became editor of the Durmstrang newspaper, it all changed. What it would be was pretty much a gossip part, a sports page, a few other things, and her personal favorite, Ask Evvy. Ask Evvy was a relationship answering editorial when people send her letters about relationship problems, and she chose one and put it in the newspaper, along with the answer. She answered the ones that weren't published too, of course.

Finally, the time was up. "Everybody done?"

"Yeah," they chorused, and handed her the papers. With disastrous results.

Harry's Sample

There once was a boy named John. He loved Quidditch. In fact, he love it so much, he was obsessed about it. He decorated his room with his favorite players' posters, and fell asleep at night from the swooshing noises of their brooms. He was also the captain of his house's team, and the Seeker. He was a master at the broom, and spent his days doing thousands of tricks. He was the number one player, and his team knew they could count on him. He also had good sportsmanship, so when they lost, he was kind about it. Though they never lost, because he would always catch the Snitch before the other team could score.

Evvy hastily changed papers. She had never met anyone more obsessed. Looks like we found our sports editor, she thought grimly.

Ron's Sample

I went outside. I saw a gnome. I bent down. It bit my finger. I screamed. I smashed it against a rock. It let go. I grabbed it. I went inside. Mom cured my finger. The twins laughed at me. I got angry. I turned red. I threw the gnome at them. It bit Fred's nose. He screamed. I laughed. Mom yelled at me. Fred bashed his nose against a rock. It let go. It ran away. Fred couldn't tell. He smashed it again. He screamed. His nose was broke.

Evvy buried her face in her hands. She couldn't read anymore of it. She went to Pansy's paper.

Pansy's Sample

I am pretty, so pretty that I won an award. It was for the most beautiful girl in the world. Which is me, of course. I went to the mall and bought forty beautiful outfits, and wore the prettiest dress for the rest of the day. Boys stared at me as I walked down the hall, and four asked me out. One asked me to marry him. I went to a spa and came back looking more beautiful than ever, if that's possible. I went home, and ate lunch. I am so thin because I am on a diet. I went to the bookstore to buy the second copy of the diet book, and boys fell at my feet. As usual.

Evvy stared at the girl. No way, she thought, and moved to Draco's sample.

Draco's Sample

My favorite season is winter. I like it because we get to stay here and there is a ton of snow. I like playing in the snow. I also like winter because during break I can explore the castle and find all sorts of new things, like secret passageways or storing rooms. Winter is also fun because Pansy usually leaves and I get to stay at Hogwarts without her, while when I go home, I would be forced to spend the entire break with her. And Crabbe and Goyle aren't here. They follow me around and are really stupid. Another reason why I like winter is…

What did he think this was, an evaluation essay? If that's the type of essay here, Evvy didn't want to stay. She looked at Hermione's.

Hermione's Sample

It was the first day of the big test, and Rowena was excited. She had her lucky necklace on, and she was really excited. She hoped she did well. She got up really early, but was too excited to eat. She couldn't wait.

"DON'T YOU GUYS HAVE ANY TAL-" Evvy began to scream, but stopped herself just in time. True, the samples were completely horrible, but that was no excuse be mean. Just then, Blaise handed her his parchment.

"I just finished. Here," he said.

Evvy opened. She covered her hand over her mouth and gasped. Her gleamed wit tears and anger. She looked up at him. "Is…is this true?" (A/N: No, it wasn't anything about her or anybody else at school. Just a hint.)

Blaise nodded and looked away.

Evvy folded it up and put it in her pocket.

"What does it say?" asked Harry curiously.

"Yeah Blaise, show us," added Pansy, craning her head over Evvy's shoulder as though to look through her pockets.

Blaise's eyes were wide, and he shook his head frantically.

"No, you can't," said Evvy.

"Why? He's my best friend!" shouted Draco.

"Am I showing your sample to everyone?"

"No, but-"

"Am I?"

"No," he muttered.

"Good. I'm glad you understand. Now, all of you, follow me." Evvy strode out of the room.

….

"I thought you had to be seventeen to get your Apparating license," complained Ron.

"In Durmstrang, you get it at sixteen," Evvy said.

"Hermione, is that true?"

She nodded.

"Okay everybody, link hands," Evvy said.

She ended up holding Hermione's hand in her left, with Ron and Harry next to her, and Blaise's in her right, Draco and Pansy next to him.

"Ready everyone?"

A chorus of yes answered her.

"Here it goes…"

….

They were thrown backward, and a rushing sound filled their ears. Suddenly, they were blinking in the harsh sunlight.

"Evvy," said Harry carefully. "Where are we?"

Evvy looked around. They were standing on big plastic boards-surfboards, she thought-surrounded by water. She looked up and saw a huge wave crashing on them.

"Everybody go surfing, surfing USA," sang a peculiar voice in front of them.

They turned to see a squat little man in shorts standing on the boarding front of them.

"Who are you?" Hermione screamed to be heard above the roaring crashing sound.

"What?" he yelled back.

"I said, who are you?" Hermione repeated.

"Honanu Goldni, at your service!" he yelled, smiling at them. "Sorry about interrupting your Apparation process, I just thought you guys should ride this sweet wave! Talk about surfing, dude!" He leaned over, and motioned for them to do the same. They swerved, and found themselves to be in a huge tunnel of crashing water. "Bend your knees!" he yelled.

"What's 'surfing'?" asked Ron curiously.

"It's that," said Evvy, her face deathly white as she stared at the monster wave crashing, creating bouts of bubbling and curling water.

"Should we trust him?" asked Draco.

The man bent his knees and zipped in front of them. The exit of the tunnel was getting smaller by the second.

"We have no choice," Evvy said quietly. Then she screamed, "Bend for your lives!"

They all bent their knees and moved fast, faster than they had ever moved in their lives. But Evvy feared that it wouldn't be fast enough. She was right.

Sure enough, the waves crashed on top of them, careening them underwater. Panicking, they thrashed about, using up what little air they had left. After what seemed like an eternity, they were washed up on the sand, gasping for breath.

"I'm alive!" shrieked Ron, and collapsed on the shore.

"Noooooo! My hairrrrrrrrr!" yelled Pansy. Evvy, yet again, rolled her eyes.

The old man walked by them, dragging his board. "Nice try, dudes," he said, grinning down at them. "Better luck next time!" He strolled by them towards ocean, whistling merrily.

"That man," gasped Blaise, "is crazy." And with that, he rolled over.

"Wrong place," Evvy muttered, grabbed their hands, and they disappeared again.

….

They appeared, yet again, on a beach, but in a different place. Yes, they were still dripping, but it was dusk, and the sun was just beginning to set. They stared in awe at the pinks and oranges as it sank slowly, in inch by inch over the horizon. Palm trees swayed and swished in the distance.

"Wow," breathed Hermione. "It's beautiful."

"I'm cold," complained Ron.

"Shut up," snapped Draco. "I'm watching this."

Evvy flicked her wand at all of them, drying their clothes and restoring them instantly back to perfection.

"This is your inspiration," Evvy said as they all stared at the breath-taking scene.

They all sat on the warm sand, watching as it got darker and darker. Evvy laid her head on Blaise's shoulder happily, and he absent-mindedly stroked her hair. Draco leaned against them, and soon everyone was huddled up together as they watched the beautiful sight.

"This is the most beautiful thing I ever saw," said Pansy in a voice full of awe.

"Quiet," said Ron, not unkindly.

They all smiled, and the sun disappeared below the edge of the world. They all gave a start, and jumped apart hastily, dusting off their robes.

"Did you guys like it?" asked Evvy, smiling a bit.

"Like it?" Harry gave a bark of laughter. "We loved it." No one disagreed.

"Back to Hogwarts," Blaise said regretfully, and they all joined hands silently and disappeared.

….

Evvy decided to keep her couch bed, even though Pansy was here. Even if she had slept in the dorm the first night, she would have instantly made a couch bed anyway, and for a good reason too. Not only was Pansy obsessed with her appearance, she snored too. She shuddered.

Laying down on the couch, she tapped her quill against her chin idly. What to do, what to do. She could talk to Cris and Daena, but she didn't feel like it. She pulled out the map from the Room of Requirement, and looked at it.

She found the dungeons, and smiled. Her father was back. When she tapped the dot, a picture came up of him making some dangerous potion. Then she checked the DADA room.

A dot was moving around in it labeled Professor Emma Russon. Emma Russon, eh? She thought, and tapped it. A huge blob of words came up. "Emma Russon," she read aloud, "is a half-blood 25-year-old who graduated from Durmstrang with degrees in Herbology, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hse has brown hair, gray eyes, and is a bit on the short side for an adult. She enjoys reading, inventing spells-as well as finding old and forgotten ones, and going to exotic places. She ha a great sense of humor, but her biggest pet peeve is being let down. She enjoys a romance with a challenge."

A challenge, Evvy thought slyly. My father's a challenge. Maybe I could set them up!

Who else could I set up? Ron and Pansy, Draco and Hermione, McGonagall and Dumbledore…Evvy grinned and grabbed her Thought-Journal and wrote these ideas down.

For fifteen more minutes, she wrote down her ideas. But who to start with first? She thought. I'll save my father for last. But…I could go and see him and Professor Russon to see if they are alike.

With that decided, she put her robes on over her pajamas, and shoved the map in her pocket. Draco stuck his head out of the boys' dorm room. "Whatcha doin'?" He asked.

"Just going to say hi to my father," she said, thinking fast. After all, it wasn't exactly a lie, was it?

"Ok." He disappeared.

Evvy left the House, and pulled out the map again. Hmmm…there should be a passageway near here…She turned the door and saw a painting of an old monk. He looked up and waved at her.

She walked up to it. "Hello," she said cheerfully. "Are you Monk Chamblo?"

He smiled. "Why, yes I am, little lady," he said, chuckling in a deep rich voice. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, on this map, it says you guard a passageway to the lower dungeons. My father works there, and I was hoping to say hi. Do you think you could let me through?" She looked up at him hopefully.

"Why, of course-"

"Oh, thank you!" she said happily.

"-but you need the password."

"Password?" she wrinkled her nose.

"Yessiree, password."

She looked down at the map and saw herself standing in front of the painting. A little word bubble was by her mouth. She squinted at it. It read 'Nocturnaliosus.'

"Nocturnaliosus," she said, and beaming, the monk's painting swung forward.

"Come back soon!" he called, but Evvy was already on the slide and descending down towards her father's office.

A thump told her she had hit the other side. She pushed forward and a section of the wall swung forward, and she found herself outside the Potions classroom. She smiled, and looked back at the map. She turned a corner and went down a corridor until she saw a large door with a shiny nameplate that read 'Severus Snape'. She knocked timidly on it.

"Who's there?" said an angry voice.

"Evvy."

"Evvy?" it sounded surprised, and she heard someone walking to the door until it opened to reveal her father.

"Hi Dad," she said cheerfully, and he held the door open for her as she walked in.

"Hi Ev. You know, I really don't have time right now for a chat, so if you'll-"

"It'll just take a moment," she said.

He sighed. "Oh, all right,"

"I just want to apologize for springing the exchange student thing on you. It wasn't fair." She hung her head.

"Well, I guess I overreacted a bit myself," he said, and sat down. He motioned for her to take a seat, and she happily complied. "So what have you been up to?"

"Well, I started a newspaper," she said slyly.

"Really? How?" Her father leaned towards her and she told him about all the adventures, including the one today. When she finished, he ran a hand through his hair. "You've certainly been busy."

"Yep," she said. "Now, it's close to bed, so I better get going-"

"Yeah, okay," he said, and held the door open for her. "It was nice seeing you."

"It was nice seeing you too, Dad," she smiled, and he closed the door.

She rubbed her hands together. Now for the DADA teacher.

….

Evvy knocked on the door, and she got the same response as her father's-though not as angry: "Who's there?"

"Evvy," she said.

"Evvy?" said the teacher. "I don't know an Evvy."

"I'm the exchange student," she told her.

"Oh," the door opened to reveal a woman about an inch taller than her. She had long wavy brown hair and twinkling gray eyes. She smiled. "Come on in."

Evvy walked inside and looked around. It was a fairly big room, and a huge desk faced a window. There was a table off the side with a few books, and two chairs. A mug of tea sat in front of one, steaming slightly.

"Take a seat, take a seat," said Professor Russon. She swept off the books and papers with a flourish of her wand, and smiled. She had small dark circles under her eyes, as though she had stayed up for quite a bit. Evvy sat, and Professor Russon sat across from her. "So what can I do for you?"

"Since I'm new here Professor-"

She waved a hand. "Call me Emma," she said, smiling.

"Okay then, Emma, I was just coming to meet all the teachers," Evvy said.

"That's very nice, but I'm afraid I'm not that interesting," She laughed, a sweet noise that sounded like little bells ringing.

"Don't be hard on yourself. I've heard a lot about you."

"Oh really? I hope it was good things."

"Well, I know that you like inventing spells. What have you invented?" Evvy asked, interested.

"Well, I'm working on making a spell called the Maliaphire Spell, which makes the user able to breathe fire for a day." (A/N: Maliaphire, I hope you don't mind the use of your username!)

"Cool! How far have you gotten?" Evvy asked.

Emma smiled, and opened a book. "Well, I've written my progress down here," she said, pointing to the page. Evvy leaned forward, reading it. "If you're going to be here a while, do you want something to drink? Tea? Juice? Coffee?"

"Tea would be great," Evvy said, smiling.

An hour later, Evvy left. "Nice meeting you, Emma!" Evvy said.

"Nice meeting you too, Evvy!" She yelled back, and Evvy closed the door behind her. Emma is really nice, she thought. You know, I wouldn't mind her being my father's girlfriend. And with that, she walked down the hall, smiling.

….

I heart reviews! Though I only got five, I heart the people who sent them!

Zeetah: HI! Sorry…sugar overload…anyway, yeah, you'd love those books! They are amazing! OK, start with: Sandry's Book, Tris's Book, Daja's book, and Briar's book. Yes, those are actually the names of the books. Thanks!

Dracos-naughty-lil-girl: Yeah, I'm a big Draco fan…he's soooo hot XD. Anyway, I'm actually not a big Snape fan, I'm sorry to say. I don't LOVE him, I've just grown to trust his character, you know?

Emmasnape99: yay, tiny button day! Yep, you said that. I'll remember for the story! Yeah, I HATE the block! It sux. Once I get into college, I swear, I'm getting a new email address, and you can email me! Yes, I'm sorry about the end of the chapter but it has to come…so sad…so sad…I hope I got your description right (yes, you are in this chapter)!

Zerrin of the Wind: I'm glad you think so! Hope you update too; it's a great story u got going there too!

Maliaphire: yes, the socks, I love the socks! I had been reading first book again for fun, and came across the socks part, and decided to include it. Yes, a huge shock. Because when you haven't seen someone for a while, isn't it better to see them for a bit, instead of them popping into your life and staying there permanently? Much better to ease in slowly. And I will, don't worry.

OrLaNdOsUx101/Emily: Awwww, thanks, Em. Or Milly. True, maybe it was a tad confusing, but I personally don't see the trouble with being friends with Draco. He's actually one of my favorite characters. No, don't frown at me. He is. Not because Tom Felton is hot-which he is, but because he's a great character to work with. I mean, throw in a tragic past or abuse and you have ample reasons why he is like that. And, of course, you have a character (my fav's Hermione) find that out, crack open the shell, and you have yourself a sensitive nice person.

….

Ask Evvy's Crystal Ball

"Now, it is time to assign jobs," Evvy said, looking around at the staff.

"Ooh, I want the fashion page!" squealed Pansy.

"Shut up!" hissed Draco, and without thinking, he elbowed her.

"Ouch!"

Draco was staring in horror at his elbow. "Oh my god," he whispered. "I touched Parkinson."

Everybody leaned forward for the big scream.

"Ewwwwwwwwwww!"

They all winced.

"Get it off! GET IT OFF!"

….

Record: 15 pages!

….

Ok, end of interesting stuff. Yes, I know, you must all be sad because this chapter is ending. At least don't forget to press the tiny button at the bottom. It begs you. "Push me! Push me!" it cries. Heed the button, I say. HEED THE BUTTON!