Hey Guys, remember when I said we were chatting up with the gang on Eelong in this chapter? Change of plans, we're going to see how things got at Hogwarts. Also, I just realized we're on Journal 8, when we ought to be on Journal 7…I'll find a way of working that into the story. So enjoy!
Journal #8, continued
Hogwarts
First things first, we had to get into cloths from the sub-territory, but before that we had to be sorted into different Houses. Dumbledore explained that Hogwarts had four Houses (which I guess are kind of like dorms, more or less); Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. It turned we were to be sorted by the snoring hat (or rather, Sorting Hat, as its proper name was).
"Step right up, no need to be shy. Why don't you go first Patrick," said Dumbledore.
"But won't I look silly being an adult student at a school for kids?" asked Patrick.
"Already thought about it, said you were held back at Salem," said Haymitch (our cover story was that we were transfer students from an American wizarding school that was apparently in Salem, Massachusetts).
Patrick clearly wasn't too happy with this, but walked up to the Sorting Hat and put it on.
"Lovely brain on this one, you'd do well in Ravenclaw, but what's this? Ah, you have doubts about yourself don't you?" asked the hat.
"Uh…"
"Don't answer that, I know. You don't think you'll be able to fulfill your Traveler duties, but you didn't have to embark on this quest, no, you chose to join your fellow Travelers. In the end you are indeed a loyal friend, and that's why you're going to…Hufflepuff!" shouted the hat.
Patrick got a black and yellow robe with a badger on it in addition to the rest of his Hogwarts uniform (typical British prep school style), and Aja step up next. Aja hadn't even put the hat on all the way before it shouted "Slytherin!"
"Okay, you're joking right?" asked Aja.
"I never joke, and you're a Slytherin for sure," replied the hat.
"I want a do over!"
"You only get one chance to impress me. True, you are quite intelligent and would do well in Ravenclaw, and quite courageous and therefore would be great in Gryffindor, but your ambition is what make you prime Slytherin material," said the hat.
Aja stomped all the way to the pile of robes as she picked out a green and sliver Slytherin robe with a snake on it . Next up for the Sorting Hat was Spader.
"Tricky. Yes, courageous to be sure, and loyal as well, but with a fiery passion brewing inside. Ah, a passion for revenge and to prove yourself. I could put you…no, no you'd just get corrupted. So perhaps…but could prove equally bad, just in a different way. Oh, so much clearer now, Ravenclaw!"
"What!" exclaimed Aja.
"Ravenclaw has always been a House of intellect, and brains come in more than just book-smarts," the hat quipped.
Spader eagerly bounded for a blue and bronze Ravenclaw robe with an eagle on it as Siry made his way to the Sorting Hat.
"Much easier. A natural leader, very ambitious, and quite like that Aja girl, and from the same territory as well, more or less. I know just where to put you, Slytherin!"
As Siry got his robe it was down to me, and I was nervous as Hades as I walked up to the Sorting Hat. Obviously not all Slytherins are bad, seeing as Aja and Siry got in that House, but all the same in our briefing on the different Houses we'd heard Slytherin had quite the reputation for being not the best of people, and I was afraid of what might happen to me if the hat put me in Slytherin.
"Hmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes, and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting...so where shall I put you?"
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin," I whispered.
"Not Slytherin you say? You could be great you know, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that. And don't think about charmspeaking me, I'm immune" coaxed the hat.
"I don't care, anywhere but Slytherin."
"Still no? You know, there was one other like you, and that makes it all the more clear, Gryffindor!"
I breathed a heavy sight of relief as I fetched a red and gold robe with a lion on it. After our sorting Dumbledore arranged for us to meet with the prefects of our respective Houses and get a general feel for how things work at Hogwarts. Each House has two Prefects, one boy and one girl of at least their fifth year at Hogwarts, who make sure the Houses stay in order and everyone's needs get taken care; above them are the Head Boy and Head Girl, who serve as Prefects for the Prefects.
The Girl Prefect from Gryffindor was standing outside the dorm entrance reading several books at once; she had bushy brown hair that matched her brown eyes quite well, and looked to be maybe somewhere between fifteen or sixteen.
"Hello, you must be Silena, my name's Hermione Granger. Shall we being?"
"Sure, let's…did that staircase just move?"
"Oh yes, they shift around constantly. Don't really have that in Salem do you?" asked Hermione.
"Not really. So this is where we eat meals and stuff right?" I asked.
"The Great Hall; we also come here for assemblies and to receive daily mail from the postal owls. Mind the step here; it's enchanted so you'll fall thru, bit of a prank that was never mended."
Hermione showed me where all the classrooms were (transfiguration, charms, potions, and divination, just to name a few), as well as the library, the astronomy tower, the secret rooms, and pretty much any all the other academic facilities in the castle. After that she took me outside to show me around the exterior of Hogwarts.
"And over there is the Forbidden Forest, which as the name suggest is strictly off-limits, and over there is the Quidditch field, and over that way is the lake, and then there's Hagrid's hut. Why don't I introduce you to him," said Hermione.
"Quick question: was that a giant squid in the lake?"
"Quite, but don't worry, they're mostly harmless."
"You mean there's more than…okay," I said, getting the feeling I was in for a lot more shocks.
The proportions of the hut made me wonder if Hagrid might be some kind of giant, and it turns out I was half-right (Hagrid's a half-giant); Hagrid was large (obviously), everything from his bushy beard to belly to the cloths he wore were large, but at the same time he had to be one of the nicest people I'd ever met (even if he nearly smothered me with his hugs).
"So tell me Silena, what brings you to Hogwarts?" asked Hagrid.
"Traveling," I said (which was kind of true). "So uh, Hermione tells me your gamekeeper."
"Best there is, I keep all the little beasties great and small in order," said Hagrid, with a certain pride.
"You mean like…dragons?" I asked nervously.
"Oh no, dragon keeping is illegal in the British Isles. I did have a Norwegian Ridgeback a few years ago, named him Norbert, but I had to give him away. I hear he's doing quite well at the dragon sanctuary in Romania."
"Been meaning to talk to you about that, I've been doing some research and I think Norbert was really more of a Norberta," said Hermione.
"But that a girl's name…oh! Well I suppose…always a bit hard to tell with reptiles."
Hagrid brought out some pastries and tea, which Hermione was quick to advise me against eating, so we used the opportunity to take a look at the Quidditch field. The Quidditch field consisted of a green field roughly shaped liked a soccer field, a series of reallllly tall goalpost with sand pits at their bases, and tall bleachers that each had a different House colors. I could see one of the teams practicing on their brooms, and by the red and gold colors of their Quidditch robes I could tell they were from Gryffindor. Soon one of the players flew down to great us; he had messy jet-black hair, bottle-green eyes, glasses, and a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead (in other words, apart from the scar and glasses, he looked like British version of Percy).
"Hello Hermione, is this that new student you were showing around?" asked the boy.
"Silena Beauregard, foreign exchange student from Salem in America, and recently sorted to Gryffindor," I introduced myself.
"Harry Potter…you probably know that already."
"Actually no."
"Really now? The papers in America don't really have much to say about this half of the Pound I suppose," said Harry.
Just then a boy fell out of the sky, or rather, off of his broomstick; the sand in the pit cushioned his fall, but it still looked like it could have hurt none the less.
"Oh my gods, are you okay?" I asked.
"For strapping bloke like me? It was nothing!" said the boy as he brushed sand out of his red hair.
"Silena this is Ron Weasley, and Ron this is Silena Beauregard, she's one of the new exchange students from America," said Hermione.
"And you're a Gryffindor! You know, I happen to be the boy prefect for Gryffindor," said Ron.
"So what's with the leather helmet and the pads and stuff?" I asked.
"I'm the team's Keeper, my job's to make sure the other teams don't score the Quaffle through the hoops."
As Harry and Ron explained it to me, Quidditch involves two the teams with seven players each (three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and one seeker); the Chasers try to get hold of the Quaffle (it kind of looks like a red ball) and score points for their team, the Beaters have these bats that they uses to keep these other balls called Bludgers from hitting the players (which they're enchanted to do), you already know what Keepers do, and the Seeker (which is Harry's position) has to catch this winged ball called a Golden Snitch, and by doing so ending the game and awarding 150 points to their team.
"So do they play much Quidditch in America?" asked Harry.
"Not really as popular, but there are some teams. Of course I don't really keep up with sports, I haven't even been flying before," I said.
"Don't worry Silena, Hermione's not much go at fly either," said Harry as Hermione looked more than a little annoyed.
"Would you like to see if you're any good? You can use my broom," said Ron.
"Ron I'm not sure…" but before Harry had a chance to finish objecting I had already mounted Ron broom and before long I had taken flight.
Ron's broom had a carved and polished handle and the fibers at the end were bound together, and while better than I expected was still clearly stand issue for the Hogwarts Quidditch team. Gliding through the air on a broomstick felt completely natural, almost like I'd been doing it my whole life, but then, pegasus ridding might have played a role in that. As I weaved my way thought the goals my eye caught a small golden glimmer darting about, and I knew it was the Golden Snitch. At that point everything was blocked out from my mind except catching the Snitch; the Snitch could instantly change direct at top-speed, but I was leaning it's moves like a predator leans to know it's prey (I blame Kasha for making me think like a wild animal, for the record). Every turn, every dive, every moment brought my fingers closer to the Snitch.
"Silena! Watch out for that Bludger!" shouted Harry.
I turned around just in time to see a Bludger heading straight for me! There was no time to dodge so I braced for the impact; the Bludger hit me hard on the side and knocked me off my broomstick. I tried to twist in the air, but that only made me land on my arm, which had already taken a nasty hit from the Bludger.
"Are you alright Silena?" asked Hermione as she, Harry, and Ron rushed over to me.
"Ow! My arm, I think I broke it!" I groaned.
"Does it hurt when I do this?" asked Hermione; I winced with pain as she touched my arm.
"Not to worry Silena, a brilliant student like me has just the spell to fix this!" said Ron as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at my arm. "Ossio Dispersimus!"
The tip of Ron's wand glowed for a moment, and then my arm went limp. We I tired moving my arm nothing happened, and when I used my other arm to move it, it felt like it was made of rubber.
"You idiot! You've just removed all the bones in her arm!" said Hermione.
"He did what!" I exclaimed.
"I know these seems bad, but it's really a minor setback," said Harry.
"Does this look like I minor setback to you?" I shouted as I wiggled my now boneless arm to emphasize the point.
"I had something like this happen to me my second year at Hogwarts, we'll get you to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey give you some Skele-Gro, and you'll be back to rights by morning," said Harry.
Before long Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gotten me to the hospital wing and before long word got out to my fellow Travelers and they had made it to the hospital wing as well.
"What a surprise, I leave you alone for a few hours and what do I find?" muttered Haymitch to himself.
"So they're really all gone?" asked Aja.
"Yeah," I said as I flip my boneless arm back and forth.
"Ew! I looks gross when you do that!" shuddered Patrick.
"It was the nargles! Where you around any mistletoe, they live in that you know," said Spader, who was wearing these weird pink sunglasses he claimed let he see these "nargles".
Aja sighed. "We've been over this Spader, that Luna girl is completely insane!"
"But her dad runs The Quibbler, a well-respected news magazine…"
"You actually believe that nonsense they publish in that thing? If you'd bothered to read-up you'd know that most of the articles ignore basic facts about the magical world, such as the fact that nargles don't exist!"
"Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't real!"
"Oh really? How many have you seen?" asked Aja.
"I haven't seen any, but…"
"Just because you believe something's real does not automatically make it real!" shouted Aja.
"Children please! You can take your argument into the hallways if you can't be civilize and show respect for the injured! Now step aside, Silena needs her Skele-Gro," said Madam Pomfrey.
The taste of Skele-Gro was comparable to that of blue gloid, except that it left a burning sensation in the back of my throat, so naturally I spit it out.
"Harry! You said this would make me better!"
"I didn't say it would taste good!"
"Let's try again, and this time try not to spit out dear," said Madam Pomfrey.
With great difficulty I managed to swallow the Skele-Gro, but according to Madam Pomfrey the process of regrowing the bones in my arm was going to take the better part of the night and wasn't going to be exactly pleasant. For that moment at least I tried to put those thoughts out of my head as I tried to relax and watch what everyone doing; Aja and Spader were still arguing over the existence of nargles, Siry was trying to pry a book off of Patrick (because apparently books on magical beast can attack you if you don't stroke them properly), Haymitch was guzzling several bottles of butterbeer (which must have been secretly non-alcoholic, judging by how willing Elli was to supply him with it), and Dumbledore had just come into the hospital wing carrying a large bundle with him.
"There you are Silena, and alas, it appears rumors of your unfortunate encounter with a Bludger and Mr. Weasly's charm skills seems to have proved true. So I had just gotten everyone else's wands to them when I realized I had mixed yours up with an assortment of spares I had in my office," said Dumbledore with a wink.
"But I don't…oh! Right, let's see then," I said.
"Just give them a little flick of the wrist and let's see what happens."
The first few tries proved fruitless, but it wasn't long before I found a wand that felt like it had been personally crafted for me, and when I gave it a flick there was rush of wind.
"Ah, yes, rosewood with phoenix feather core, that's right," said Dumbledore with another wink.
"And I got all your books for class," said Elli as she put them on my nightstand.
Eventually Madam Pomfrey made everyone go away to give some to time to rest and recuperate; after a while I got bored and did my best to read the books one-handed. I tried to familiarize myself with various magical plants, but the only one I could ever remember was Gillyweed (which makes to grow gills and webbed feet for about an hour), I steered clear of the Magical Beast book after what happened to Patrick, and potions seemed like it would be more interesting to do rather than read about. I thumbed through a book Harry had slipped in about Quidditch and familiarized myself with some of the basics of that and the History of Magic book, but it was the Spells book that really got my attention.
The possibilities of what magic could do seemed endless, but I decided to start small with a summoning spell.
"Accio glass," I commanded, and the empty glass on my nightstand flew over to me.
I next used the Aguamenti spell and the glass filled with water; okay, time to step it up a notch. I used the Featherweight Charm to make my books light as feathers, learned Lumos (the light making spell) for when it got dark, and Wingardium Leviosa to make my book levitate in the air. As I was having fun with my new found abilities I heard footsteps approaching that told me that Madam Pomfrey was coming, and I wasn't supposed to be practicing magic! I quickly cast Alarte Ascendare on my floating books and sent them flying into the air, since I figured that if they weighed as much as feathers it would take them awhile to float back down; unfortunately, the Featherweight charm had apparently worn off and they came crashing down like bricks, right as Madam Pomfrey came in.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I can explain…"
"Ensure this never happens again, or I'll be forced to confiscate your wand until all the bones in your arm have healed," said Madam Pomfrey sternly.
I'm going to end the journal here guys, partially because it feels like there's a million splinters in the arm that's having its bones regrown and that's making it realllllly difficult to concentrate. If all goes well I'll be attending my first classes here at Hogwarts tomorrow, thought that seems like an eternity from now. If you can, try to find out what happened to Percy.
As always I love you both and I'll write as soon as I can, Silena.
End of Journal #8.
So what did you think? Just a thought, would anyone be interested in illustrating scenes or maybe covers for the PenJackson series; if so and if you've got a Devonart (or whatever it's called) I'll post the links for all to see. As always, don't forget to leave a review!