DISCLAIMER:

I do not own, nor plan to lay claim, to the rights of the Harry Potter franchise or its characters. Gretchen Giudice, now named Gwenyth (Gwen) Elwyn is, and will always be, my character. I made her many years ago and will never give the rights to her as a character to anyone.

NOW ONTO THE STORY!

Gwenyth Elwyn

and the

Dark Summoning

Chapter One: The Owl, The Letter, The Train

Age Eleven...

A year since leaving the States for England.

The rain fell in thick sheets, soaking the bright, emerald green grass; little rivulets of water spilled out, flowing between the cracks in the ground.

The water seeped out onto the grassy ground, after being splashed by the quick feet of people in a hurry, and was corrupted with dirt and now would be considered mud puddles. There were several of these puddles everywhere, decorating the school's pavements as well.

Gwenyth Elwyn, who preferred to be called Gwen, stared grimly at the school, she was now expected to attend. Her parents had taken her from living in the States to living in London, England. Compared to where she had lived, in the beautiful sunshine state of California, London was dismal, at least to her it was.

It almost always rained there, unlike how it was always bright and sunny in Cali, where there was not a cloud in the sky, with the exception of little wisps of Cirrus and Altocumulus clouds.

But here in London, was another story. The sun rarely poked out of the thick, dark Nimbostratus clouds, that roared a tumultuous sound of thunder with a bright and dazzling display of lightning.

The day was dark, as it usually was, and the school itself was gloomy. The buildings, a cluster of plain, dark, concrete structures, made it seem like they were prisons instead of a school. Gwen's bright, sea green eyes, that shone like glass in the sunlight, were cloudy with depression.

Her voice was heavy as she walked into the school, greeting the lady in the office. She usually had a welcoming, warm smile; a cheery, light voice, and a proud, yet modest, gait. However, that was no longer the way it had been. She was miserable.

It was all because of the girl who was at her school. Her name was Jade Withers and she was as mean as any mean girl can be. She was a wealthy, snobby, spoiled twelve-year-old and she showed such.

As soon as she had come to the school, Gwen wanted to be her friend. This girl had honey golden hair, dark, smoldering, green eyes. She also had a smile that seemed welcoming, but she was anything but that, when Gwen approached her.

"Hello, you must be Jade. I heard everyone has been talking about you, you must be new. My name is-"

"I really do not care what your name is or who you are." Jade interrupted, the sweet smile twisting into the puckered lips of a stuck-up snob. "I can tell you are from those people, with your messy hair and your raggedy clothes."

Gwen self-consciously glanced down at her clothes, were they really raggedy? She then looked at her hair, was it really messy?

"I would never be friends with a loser like you," Jade laughed. "Especially since you are all covered in mud."

"But I am not c-Ahhh!" Gwen cried out as Jade shoved her and she fell into a puddle of murky water.

"Now you are!" sneered Jade as she walked away. "What a loser!"

Gwen was left in the puddle, sobbing bitterly, and alone. None of her friends, if you could call them that, tried to help her. By now they knew she had been marked by Jade. And Jade would be the cool girl, so it was probably smart for them to all fall in with her.

They glanced guiltily at their old friend, Gwen, who had by now gotten out of the puddle, and began wrenching dirty water out of her dress. They quickly glanced away when Jade returned, with someone.

"Oh no!" Gwen let out a cry when she saw that the someone Jade returned with, was this boy she had developed a crush for. His name was Matt Myers.

As soon as Gwen entered the school, he had also entered. She had not noticed him when he was in her other school, because he stayed hidden in the background. Like he was part of the woodwork and not really anybody special at all.

Matt eventually became quite cute, for a twelve-year-old, and had his old dull gray eyes, develop into mysterious, dark, beautiful golden hazel eyes. His hair was a mess, in an intentional way, of jet black and he had a warm, friendly smile.

Now that he had switched schools, he was more outgoing. More noticeable; he stood out immediately, upon entering, and all the other boys wanted to be his friends.

They rushed over to him and he, now being popular, picked out a small inner circle and a larger circle of friends, not excluding anyone who wanted to be his friend, including Gwen.

Now there he stood, his eyes glittering like amber in the bright sunlight, that peaked through the thick gray clouds. He was staring, his expression unknown to Gwen, as she stood in the puddle, her hair stained with filthy water and her dress soaked and dripping wet with it.

"Uhhhh..." Gwen trailed and then she ran off, too embarrassed to stand there. In front of her crush, like this. She found a nice place, to hide and cry. Little did she know, this pillar would be where she would now stay, during her free time at the school, hiding and crying.

If she had stayed, however, she would have seen Matt look at Jade with disgust and walk off. Because in truth, he had always liked Gwen. Even before, he became Mr. Popular and Mr. Cute.

"Hey, Gwenyth!" Jade called out waving at her, a smirk playing its way on her face.

Ohno! groaned Gwen, silently as she continued walking as fast as she could, but then her way was blocked. By a group of her old friends. They stood in the doorway, arms crossed dark or light eyes fixed on her.

"Jade wants to talk to you." one of them said as she pushed Gwen back. "I recommend you listen, Muddy." Gwen blushed.

"Enough, Janice." Jade scolded as she made her way to Gwen, who pushed herself against the wall, to avoid another push. "That is no way to talk to her." The snobby girl finished as she smiled warmly at her. She took the stunned girl's hand and led her away. Gwen thought she must be in a dream, what was going on?

I will tell you what was going on, although Gwen did not know. Jade and the others knew that Gwen was the smartest girl in the school. She had always been, she could not help it, she loved school. Math, English, History, Science, it was her thing. Even right brain stuff, like Art.

And because they all knew this, they, especially Jade, had planned a way to trick Gwen. So that they could steal her answers, also called cheating, off her tests and homework. In fact, that was what was coming up.

A big test. The biggest ever, this test involved every subject, including Logic. What the heck was Logic? Well, Gwen knew and because of this, the girls were determined to get her answers. Even if they had to catch flies with honey, treat Gwen kindly, like she was one of them.

And that is what happened, a friendship was developed. Gwen, eager to please, gave answers to her homework and the small tests. But what happened next, would be unexpected. She ended up doing something different when it came time for the big test, as the students at the school liked to refer to it as.

This time Gwen had caught on, somehow. She had been walking through the hallways of the school, when she heard whispering. She tried the door, where the whispers were coming from, but could not get it to open. Then she tried the windows, those were locked as well. She scampered around the other side, to the other door.

She turned the knob, locked. Then something happened, the knob in her hand began to melt. Not burning hot, however, just cool. Like ice, melting away. Soon she entered the room, it was the library. She heard the whispers, louder now. Caught some words.

"That foolish Gwen, she will be in for a surprise when she finds out..."

"Yeah," said another voice. Which Gwen recognized as her old best friend, Savanna. "But still, I know she will find out and she will be angry."

"So what." laughed the cruel voice of Jade. "I cannot wait for her to find out, then I could push her into another puddle or better yet, I can kiss Matt." Gwen fumed, angry.

The papers, stacked on top of the desks, and books, tucked and stuffed into shelves, began to soar through the air. They whizzed in the direction of the whispering, snide, sneaky girls.

She could hear the screams and shouts of confusion, and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Not even realizing the knob had reformed, to its original shape. Not knowing the crusade of library items had reshelved and restacked themselves.

Gwen now knew, but Jade didn't know that. So as usual, Jade played her part. The big test day had arrived. Everyone raced to the room where the test would be held. Everyone, but Gwen. Who strolled calmly there, she found a seat in the corner, far away from Jade and her army of snobs.

She sat down, took out a small stack of paper. Lined her pencils, she always brought three just in case, and her erasers, three total as well, neatly in a row, at the corner of her desk. She waited.

The clock hit 12:30, the test began. Everyone scrambled to open the test booklet and struggled, brows furrowed, and pencils chewed or scratching heads, to fill it out in the one-hour time slot, they were given.

Jade now figured Gwen had caught on. And she was furious, how dare that loser challenge her! She pretended to drop her pencil, pretending was what she seemed best at (maybe she should be an actress or someone that marries men for money) and then she went over to Gwen's desk. Where coincidentally, not really, the pencil had ended its journey.

"Even your pencil tries to get away from you." laughed Gwen as she continued to write her answers down, no brows furrowed or chewing of pencils from her. "Does everything you touch suffer from your bitter insecurity?"

"How dare you." hissed Jade as she grabbed the booklet from Gwen's desk. "Give me your answers!"

"No!" Gwen shouted, everyone turned.

"Fine." smirked Jade. "I will get them myself." And she opened the booklet.

"What the-" Jade trailed as she stared at the booklet, it was blank. "W-w-where are they?" She looked at Gwen with accusatory confusion.

"What?" Gwen rolled her eyes. "Where are what?"

"Your answers!" shrieked Jade, her eyes beginning to smolder, darker than usual. "Where are they, you-you!" Suddenly her eyes widened, as she grabbed at her throat, as if some invisible hand was tightening around her neck, crushing out the oxygen.

Everyone begin screaming, as from the booklet, the answers flew out, in the form of flies.

"Catching flies with honey, Jade?" Gwen said, smiling coldly. She took the booklet from the gasping Jade and walked off. Everything returned to normal, when she left. Everything except Jade, who would never be the same ever again. She would never mess with Gwen or any other girl, for as long as she lived.

As Gwen walked away, booklet in hand. Something else happened, the booklet burst into flames. Laughing derisively, Gwen threw the book into the air, watching it fall, burning in ashes, to the ground.

Suddenly, she heard a screeching sound. She looked up and saw an owl. A Screech Owl, its wood like feathers glowing in the sunlight as it descended, wings spread gracefully, to Gwen's side. It screeched once it landed, a rectangular object nestled in its beak. Gwen tried to pry the beak open, curiosity eating at her.

"Come on, Owl," she urged. "Open up!"

The owl obeyed, its beak opened, and the letter fell out, to the ground below. Gwen soon realized she was no longer on the ground of the school, but on the rooftop. No way she could have gotten there, the door was always locked and only the custodians had access to it.

"Strange." she mused and let out a sharp cry as the owl pecked her for food. She sighed and dug her hands in her pocket, nothing but buttons. She then dug her hand in her second pocket and noticed a live, squirmy, wriggly thing.

She threw it out, the letter also falling away from her, as the little mouse scurried off, the owl taking off after it, claws outstretched. Then the owl flew away, much to Gwen's disappointment, not to fetch the letter that had fallen to the ground, but back into the sunny sky.

She then sighed with frustration. "Now I have to go all the way d-" But then she was stunned into silence, as she saw something fly upwards.

In the shape of a little butterfly, paper wings extended. It enlightened onto the palm of her hand. Little paper legs, inked with words, tickling the surface of her palm, as it crawled. It then fell apart, back into letter form.

She tore the envelope open, the contents spilling out ashes. She watched as the ashes soared into the air, forming into a birdlike creature, and then it landed in the air, manifesting as a parchment of paper.

Written in delicate ink, were words. And the words were something like this:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

Dear Ms. Elwyn,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

She rushed home and told her parents the news. Tears were shed, both from joy and fear, as her parents drove to a dingy, little pub, called "The Leaky Cauldron." Gwen stared in confusion, but remained silent. Her parents hurried her past the wizards that were in that small and dank place. As they arrived at a brick wall, her dad moved towards it and took out his wand.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

As he tapped his wand against the bricks, in a certain pattern, the bricks begin to part; more as if they folded into themselves, until an entryway was revealed. Gwen was now staring, in awe, at a busy row of shops. With a bustling crowd of people, most wearing pointed hats or long and flowing capes.

Her parents took her to several shops, including one wear she would purchase a wand. The shopkeeper, Mr. Garrick Ollivander, helped her choose her wand, or more like her wand choose her as he explained that,

"The wand choose the witch or wizard, Ms. Elwyn." Then he handed her a wand. "Maple and unicorn tail hair."

She waved it, magic sputtered from the wand, causing a shelf of wands to come crashing down.

"Nope, not that one." Mr. Ollivander said as he carefully took the wand from her hand. "Try this one, holly and pheonix feather."

Gwen took the wand, carefully held it out, and was about to wave it when,

Whooooosh! A stream of magic rushed out, nearly striking the wand maker in the face. He ducked as the stream then shot back and forth, causing a series of small explosions and some destruction. Gwen dropped the wand on the table and apologized fervently.

"That's quite alright." the wand maker huffed as he dusted himself off and placed the wand into it's box. "Last one, yew and dragon heartstring."

Gwen shakily received the wand. She had barely taken it into her hand when all of a sudden a flourish of magical light surrounded her.

"Perfect." said Mr. Ollivander as he walked away.

"Wait, what?" Gwen called out to him, but the wand maker was gone, into the rows and rows of wands.

"Time to go, Gwen." her dad said, his eyes twinkling and clouding over. "Keep that wand safe. It will help you through times that are hard." he said, glancing at his wife, who looked at him, appalled. She said nothing, just smiled warmly and patted her daughter's shoulder.

Gwen walked out if the shop and ran to a store that had cages of owls and bats in front of it. She lookes at the little birds of prey as they screeched at her, blinking their eyes and cocking their heads to the side. The bat clambered in the cage, trying to break free.

"Can I get an animal?" Gwen asked her parents, pointing at the saw dust colored feathered owl.

Gwen got into the car with her new items, safely packed in a luggage cart. Her eyes were wet, as she had been crying because her parents told her they could not afford to buy her an animal.

She would most definitely be the only girl in her new school without an animal to take on the journey to Hogwarts. She road Her parents were distraught because she had not said a word to them until she had arrived at the train, The Hogwarts Express. The scarlet train burst into life and whistled for everyone to board.

Gwen hugged her parents. "Bye! See you next Summer!" she said as she waved to her parents and rushed onto the train. Her parents waved back at her, as she looked out, from the train window, at them, until the train picked up speed and they were out of Gwen's sight.