As James, Albus, Hugo, Devon, Gary, Todd, Miles, Fred, Roxanne, Rose, Pamela, Ainsley, Rachel, Samantha, Stephanie, Courtney, and Lily all entered the Great Hall, Lily received a sobering reminder of how the world had changed as all four house tables had been expanded and all of the seats had been spread out to be over six feet from each other.
"The chairs literally cannot be moved within six feet of each other, " explained Albus, "They have been bewitched to remain at least six feet apart from each other at every nanosecond."
"The entire castle and grounds have also been bewitched so that no person may get within six feet of another person, " added James, "If a person is occupying a space then it is impossible for another person to get six feet of that space.
"You know what, though, " said Lily clearly, "Let's try not to be too subdued. Let's try to stay upbeat alight?'
There was a muttering of agreement and James informed Lily, "Serious consideration was given to closing the Great Hall and having all students eat their meals by themselves in their dorm rooms."
"Oh, thank goodness it didn't come to that, " sighed Lily, "That would have been so depressing."
"I know, right?" agreed Hugo, "I dreaded the prospect of having to eat lunch alone. But Devon argued strongly against the idea of closing the Great Hall."
"I could handle eating breakfast and dinner alone, " said Devon matter of factly, "But having to eat lunch alone would be such a bummer. I can't ever remember eating lunch alone. Even in preschool, I always ate lunch with classmates. I argued strongly for keeping the Great Hall open with social distancing in place and sick people not allowed in."
"Isolation isn't good for people, " said Lily fiercely, "But do you know if anyone else at Hogwarts has had COVID-19 since my positive test?"
"The student body was mass tested the day you were diagnosed and the day after. Several healers, including Amy, came in and helped Madam Pomfrey with the testing. Fortunately, only one other student tested positive and he claimed he already knew he was positive. The student in question is a first year Gryffindor named Gordon Give. Gordon showed some symptoms the last Thursday before you came up sick, but only informed his mother, who is a muggle physician. Gordon's mom tested him in a muggle way, and it came back positive, but he kept it quiet around Hogwarts until Amy tested him. He's okay now though. He was quarantined and he tested negative this morning not too long before you did, " explained Samantha.
"I'm glad he's okay, " said Lily with a smile, "Does anyone know why the announcement of this year's Hogwarts competition was postponed until today instead of being held on Thanksgiving as planned. "
"Just like the cassette we sent you, that was Samantha's idea, " explained Stephanie, "Samantha convinced the staff to make the postpone under the argument that all students should be able to be present. She fiercely declared that "Two students missing out is two too many."
"Thank you, Samantha, on both counts, " said Lily genuinely, "You are the most supportive and loyal friend I could ever ask for."
""The idea for arrangements to be made for us to come today was made by the staff, " said Courtney, indicating herself, Gary, Todd, Miles, and Rachel.
"I think we're getting close to an announcement, " piped up Fred as he pointed up to the staff table where McGonagall was holding up her legendary purple megaphone.
"We've been told, " smiled Gary, "That this competition will be one that muggles can partake in. I, Todd, and Miles will almost certainly be disadvantaged to those who can use magic but we're nevertheless very curious as to what the competition will be."
Next nanosecond, McGonagall spoke into her megaphone, "I am pleased to announce that this year's competition will be The Hogwarts Drawing Competition. Students will have until one week before Easter to submit their entries. Students wishing to participate in the Hogwarts Drawing Competiton must turn in their drawings to me by no later than before leaving breakfast on the Sunday before Easter and winners will be announced on the Friday night before Easter during our big BBQ feast. Students may use colored pencils, crayons, markers, or similar objects to draw their entries. Competitors may not use magic to improve their drawings and may also not use any paint. Any use of magic or paint will be considering cheating subject to disqualification. The prize structure shall be as follows: First place will receive a gold medal, an Old Faithful bar, and two hundred galleons. Second place will receive a silver medal, a box of Honeydukes chocolate, and one hundred and fifty galleons. Third place will receive a bronze medal, a bottle of Coca Cola Classic, and one hundred galleons. This will be the typical prize structure for most of the yearly Hogwarts competitions. The number of galleons for first and second place last year was upped because The Hogwarts Writing Competition provided the opportunity for the winners' ideas to bring major improvements to Hogwarts. The Hogwarts Drawing Competition is mainly just for fun. I should note that all drawings deemed of high quality will be put on display at Hogwarts for all to see though the end of the academic year, at which time all entered drawings will be returned to their makers. Good luck!"
"I'm entering, " piped Stephanie at once, "I know I've got a real chance at gold this time!"
"You sure do, sis, " smiled Courtney, "I'm pulling for you nine hundred octillion to the nine hundred octillionth power percent!"
"If I may interject an idea, " said Lily hopefully, "Why don't the seventeen of all enter. We'll each draw a picture of something different. I see we have eight boys and nine girls here including me. I would like to find a ninth boy to participate and get us up to an even eighteen."
"I'd like to volunteer to be the eighteenth person, " interjected a first-year boy with black hair and green eyes who was of average size and height who happened to be sitting near them.
"Who are you?" Lily asked the boy.
"Lily, we've met once before, at the Having Fun at Lily's Expense Party. My name is Gordon Give and I was the silver medalist for making the second biggest donation to Worthy Wands, " said the boy matter of factly,
""Oh, yes, " remembered Lily, the image of herself placing that silver medal around Gordon's neck coming back to her, "My apologies for not recognizing you."
"No hard feelings, " smiled Gordon, "But may I be your eighteenth person?"
"Sure, " said Lily cheerfully, "In fact, I think it would be cool to have a first year as part of this."
"Thank you, very much, Lily, " said Gordon gratefully.
"There is one issue, though, " said Lily seriously, "I don't everyone knowing what each other is drawing. I want there to be real surprise when the results come, especially if someone from the group wins. Therefore, I want each of you to drop off a note in my room stating what you want to draw for the competition. I will read the notes and ensure there are no duplicates. If I don't get any duplicate ideas, I will give the go ahead to the group to proceed. I can't fully explain it, not even to myself, but I've great gut feeling I'm not going to get any duplicate ideas.
At that nanosecond food appeared and they all enjoyed a lunch of spicy chicken breasts, fires, and biscuits with Coca Cola Classic to wash it down with.
To Lily's delight, everyone was hasty about delivering notes to her room and she was able to read all eighteen that day. In fact, there were no duplicate choices, so Lily read through the notes again to see what she thought about the actual ideas given.
"Oh, this is going to be really good, " thought Lily to herself after reading all the notes multiple times.
And as the group reconvened in the Great Hall for a delicious dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce and hamburger meat mixed in with a side of breadsticks and Sprite to wash it down with, Lily informed them, "There were no duplicates. You're all good to go!"
"Lily, " interjected Gordon, "Something has occurred to me. I'm all for being surprised by each other's work, but let's say three people from our group win the medals. Wouldn't it be a bit of a letdown to look at the other fifteen pictures afterwards? I'm not saying we should tell each other what we are each drawing, but I say we should all agree to have our pictures completed by the second Saturday before Easter so that we can share them with each other before we have to turn them in the next morning."
"Gordon Give, you are absolutely right, " beamed Lily, "That's the best of both worlds. We'll still keep our work secret while we're working on it so that we can be surprised by what each other has drawn yet still share our work with each other before turning it in while not having to wait too long after sharing our work with each other for the winners to be announced."
"It would be so cool if our group swept the medals, " said Samantha hopefully.
"I've got a great gut feeling that's going to happen, " said Lily confidently.
And with that, everyone in the group, just smiled at each other.
