Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine.
Elphaba was bored out of her mind. Doctor Dillamond had some business to take care of outside of Shiz, and the substitute was just droning on…and on…and on… Galinda, on her left, was twirling a blonde lock around her finger and doodling in a notebook. Boq, on her right, was staring at Galinda, as usual. He really was quite tiring that way, and Elphaba just didn't understand what her sister saw in him. The only way she, Nessarose, couldn't have noticed is that either she was so besotted with love, which she probably was, or she was remarkably stupid, which Elphaba knew she wasn't. Elphaba began running through a mental list of assignments for the night. There wasn't much; a two-day-old essay on essence of biological intent, read pages 107-123 in the…Elphaba felt something pulling at the back of her head. She sighed; was Fiyero so bored he had to torture her? She twitched her head quickly and forcefully, and was rewarded with a small yelp from behind her. She silently thanked Galinda for insisting to put an ornament at the end of her braid that morning.
Suddenly, the bell rang. The whole class was roused out of their stupor. As one lazy entity, the class dripped its way out of the room. Elphaba shoved her closed notebook into her bag, stood up, and turned around. Galinda had pulled out a small hand mirror and was rearranging her curls, as Boq looked on, fascinated.
"You look fine, as usual," Elphaba said, "can we hurry up here?" She turned to Boq. "If you keep staring like that, your eyes might fall out of your head, in which case I would have to take them and give them to Nessa." Boq started and began stuffing papers randomly into his bag, trying to take his eyes off Galinda but failing miserably. Elphaba mentally smacked her forehead.
Finally, Galinda was satisfied with her appearance enough to pack up her books and leave.
"That was dreadfully boring," she gushed to Elphaba, "Master what's-his-name didn't know a thing about what he was talking about."
"Believe me," Elphaba replied, "I know." Elphaba glanced over at the message board outside the classroom. Usually there was nothing on it of interest to her, but a large purple sign caught her eye.
"Wait a second," she said, and read aloud: "Important: all sorcery students report to the assembly hall at five PM sharp. Huh, wonder what that's about." She glanced at her watch. "Great, that gives us half an hour to eat, thanks to your dilly-dallying. Even less, since we have to go get Nessa."
"Nessa's taking sorcery?" Boq asked, "I thought she was a religious freak."
"Yes, I thought so too," Elphaba said, "until she started taking beginning sorcery. I suppose that's good for you, eh? Frees you of her for the evening?"
"No, that's not it at all," Boq replied, though he couldn't successfully mask all of his relief.
"Whatever," Elphaba said skeptically, and turned to Galinda. "Come on, let's go."
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It looked like Elphaba, Galinda, and Nessarose were going to be late. Nessa had taken a few minutes to copy the last bit of an assignment when Elphaba had gotten there. Then, right before they left for the assembly hall, Galinda decided she needed to fix her makeup, and Nessa realized she had left her notebook in her classroom, so Elphaba ran back to get it. They were running again; it seemed to Elphaba that she hadn't stopped moving for the past four or five minutes. Even with Elphaba wheeling Nessa's chair, Galinda was still falling behind.
"Elphie, wait up!" she called, tripping through the grass in her high heels.
"I can't," Elphaba called back, "we're going to be late!"
"Elphaba," Nessa said, "slow down, my head hurts." Nessa was gripping the arms of her wheelchair for dear life. The large wooden doors loomed ahead; Elphaba reasoned that the momentum she had built up would keep Nessa going, let go of her chair, and dashed ahead. Nessa screamed; Elphaba wrenched the door open, and the three girls clattered noisily into the back of the hall. Madame Morrible, who was up at the podium, stopped speaking and sent a fiery glare in their direction, then continued.
"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted…" Elphaba and Galinda slid into the very last row, leaving Nessa in the aisle next to them, and listened.
"All of you have been taking sorcery for at least a month now," Madame Morrible said, "some of you even more. After visiting a dear old friend of mine, I have arranged for the sorcery students to stay a month at another great school of magic, called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is a wonderful educational and-social opportunity for all of you. But remember, this will not be a free-for-all; you will be expected to take classes with the students there, and you will be sharing their dormitories. I expect you to all be on your best behavior, and that you won't cause any trouble." The last sentence, the whole hall knew, had been directed at Elphaba and Galinda. Elphaba smirked; she knew everything was her fault, and Galinda was just involved by association.
"Your train leaves tomorrow morning at nine o'clock sharp," Madame Morrible continued, "and further information has been sent up to your rooms. I suggest you go and start packing. You may all go, except the Thropp sisters, who are to come see me at once." The whole hall rose to leave. Elphaba pushed Nessa's chair against the current up to the front of the hall where Madame Morrible was waiting.
"I know you've probably heard this before," Madame Morrible said as they got into earshot, "But be careful. Nessa, take good care of your sister. Elphaba, please, at least try to control yourself."
"Best behavior and all that jazz," Elphaba said, "right, got it."
"Your sarcasm is not appreciated," Madame Morrible said, glaring up at Elphaba from behind her glasses.
"Sorry," said Elphaba, glancing down at her boots.
"Good, now go pack."
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It was a good thing it didn't take Elphaba too long to pack. Galinda had hung around at the back of the assembly hall, and walked back to the dorms with Elphaba. Nessa had stayed with Madame Morrible, which Elphaba was glad of, because she would only have one appearance-obsessed, frilly-dressing relation to deal with. Not that Nessa was an over-dresser like Galinda, she just had a lot of…things. Elphaba was perfectly happy to let Madame Morrible deal with that.
At the present moment, Elphaba was sitting on her dresser, suitcase fully packed and buried under all of Galinda's puffy skirts. It was already eight o'clock, and her roommate had packed one trunk. Shoes. Elphaba sighed.
"Galinda, at this rate, it's going to take all night," she complained, "just take whatever is the pinkest and frilliest, it'll look fine." Galinda stood up and pouted.
"Just because everything you wear is dark blue and black doesn't mean everyone should," she said, "and it's not my fault I can't decide what to bring."
"Look," Elphaba said, brandishing a yellow sheet of paper with information about their trip, "It says they do laundry every week, so you only need to bring, what, a week and a half's worth of clothing? You've got enough clothing out to last an entire semester!"
"No I don't," Galinda said, quickly scanning the room, "I've only got thirty outfits out right now."
"Thirty, wow, that's a whole lot less. Just pack all of it, that way you can wear something different every day. I'm sure you've got enough trunks." Galinda brightened up.
"Hey, that's a good idea! Thanks." And she proceeded in dragging the four largest trunks she had into the middle of the room and stuffing all of her frills and flounces into them. "Okay, done."
"Did you pack any books?" Elphaba asked, "or any of the school stuff it says to bring?"
"No big," Galinda replied, and put the entire contents of her desk into another small suitcase.
Elphaba put her suitcase outside their door, and helped Galinda drag all of her things out. Then, she changed and slid into her bed, and Galinda followed suit.
"Sorry about that," Elphaba whispered across the room, "I'm just excited."
"S'okay," Galinda replied, "You know what? Me too."
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"Gah, why does Snape have to be so evil?" Ron Weasley complained loudly, "How could he have possibly known that we had huge amounts of homework in all other subjects?"
"Talent," said Harry Potter, "duh."
"Oh, be reasonable," Hermione Granger said, "It's not that bad-"
"You've got more subjects than either of us, blah blah blah. We know you're taking more classes than we are," Harry said, "But you don't have Quidditch practice all day on Sunday. Angelina's going crazy a month early."
"It's going to take me all weekend to get this done," Ron whined as they reached the great hall. The trio walked over to the Gryffindor table and set about eating. The ceiling was rapidly darkening, and when the sun had completely set, Professor Dumbledore stood up at the high table.
"Students," he began, "you will be pleased to find out that all weekend homework and activities have been cancelled-" The hall erupted in cheers. Professor Dumbledore raised a hand; silence fell, and he continued. "I have recently spoken to an old friend of mine, and for the month of October, Hogwarts is playing host to the sorcery students of Shiz University of Oz. The weekend is to be spent showing our guests around the grounds and familiarizing them with the school and its students. This is a wonderful opportunity for them as well as for you to learn about other branches of magic, how they are studied, and who studies them. I expect every one of you to make our guests feel at home. They will be arriving tomorrow afternoon around lunchtime. Take this time to mentally prepare yourselves. Thank you." Professor Dumbledore sat down.
"Well," Ron said, brightening, "that's a convenient turn of events," and returned to lining peppermint humbugs around the edge of his plate. Hermione, however, looked thoughtful.
"Call me crazy," she said to Harry, "but did he say Shiz University of Oz?"
"Yeah," Harry said, "I was wondering about that."
"What's wrong with Oz?" Ron asked, "Mum and dad went there on their honeymoon, or so they said." Hermione sighed.
"Oz," she said, "is a fairy country in an old children's book. A very good series, as it happens, but that's beside the point."
"Is it now?"
"Well," said Harry, "I guess we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see."
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed this, it's my first attempt at writing with Wicked characters, and with the Trio (I usually write the Marauders). Much love to my beta-readers, Raida and Abby.