This chapter only goes up through the bronze medal announcement. I had planned on having all three medals revealed in one chapter but: 1. This chapter is already pretty long. 2. I got very emotional writing this chapter towards the end and ultimately found myself unable to continue writing tonight. It should only take a couple more days before the silver medal chapter is posted. The silver medal chapter will be far less emotional and far more cool/fun.
The next day, Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all met up after breakfast in the Room of Requirement at Lily's request.
"So, "said Lily clearly, "I have called us here today because I wish for our group to have a symbol. I know we decided yesterday to call ourselves the Circle of Eighteen. I want us to have a logo to go along with that name. Any suggestions?"
"Can we use the color red in our logo?" asked Samantha hopefully.
"I love that idea!" said James eagerly, "Red is a bright enough color to represent friendship while simultaneously being a dark enough color to be bold."
"James is EXACTLY RIGHT!" added Devon excitedly, "Let's use red!"
"Let's put it to a vote then, " said Lily cheerfully, "Raise your hand if you approve of red as the color for the logo of the Circle of Eighteen!"
Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all raised their right hands.
"So, with that settled, what should the symbol actually be?"
"The number 18? " suggested Ainsley.
"That's a good idea, " realized Lily, "But not by itself- OHHHH!"
Everyone looked at Lily and she answered their unspoken question of what had come to her mind.
"A red circle with the number 18 in the middle of the circle in red numbering!" burst out Lily.
"YES!" chroused Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily.
"To make it official, " said Lily happily, "Raise your hand if you vote for a red circle with the number 18 in the middle of the circle in red lettering to become the logo if the Circle of Eighteen. "
Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all raised their right hands.
"A red circle with the number 18 in the middle of the circle in red numbering is now the logo of the circle of eighteen, " said Lily joyfully.
Lily now turned her attention to a stack of eighteen white tee shirts sitting on a table in the middle of the Room of Requirement.
Lily pulled her wand out of her right hand pocket and got to work. She took each shirt one by one and performed a partial Color Change Charm on them so that the red circle with the red 18 in the middle that was now their logo appeared on each shirt.
Handing one of the shirts out to everybody, Lily said clearly, "I want all of us to wear these shirts to the BBQ feast on Friday night. Remember that the medalists for the Hogwarts Drawing Competition will be announced then. I want us to present ourselves as a unified group at the announcement. Hold the shirts up in front of yourselves if you agree to do this."
Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all held the shirts with the Circle of Eighteen logo up in front of themselves.
"Good, " said Lily brightly,
"The Circle of Eighteen!" chroused Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily.
The Circle of Eighteen received news on the morning of Friday, April 2nd, 2020. when McGonagall sent Lily a note at breakfast informing her that all eighteen members of the Circle of Eighteen had been selected by the judges of the Hogwarts Drawing Coemption but not to tell anyone but themselves in advance.
Lily passed the note around to Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, and Samantha before Samantha passed it back to her and it disintegrated into nothing.
Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all quietly smiled at each other. There was a feeling of pure joy and satisfaction amongst the Circle of Eighteen. Whatever happened with medals, all eighteen now knew that they had succeeded.
On the night of Friday, April 2nd, 2021, at 5 P.M. Hogwarts time, Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all entered the Great Hall for the BBQ feast and announcement of the Hogwarts Drawing Competition winners.
They were all proudly wearing their circle of eighteen shirts.
The Hogwarts Planning Club's idea of having the Friday before Easter be a big BBQ feast day at Hogwarts every year had to fruition.
Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all felt their mouths water as they filled their plates with BBQ chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, potatoes. corn, and BBQ sauce with drinks of Sprite and desserts of BBQ brownies.
It was all very declivous. In fact, Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all agreed that it was the tasty feast that Hogwarts had ever served. Everybody present in the Great Hall ate far more on this evening than he or she had eaten in a long, long time. In spite of how excited Hogwarts was to know who had medaled in the Hogwarts Drawing Competition, this turned out to be slowest and longest feast in Hogwarts history as they all ate slowly to take in and really savor the delicious BBQ flavor found in all the foods present.
When the feast finally ended, Professor McGonagall withdrew her wand from her right hand pocket with her right hand and conjured three medal podiums that were each six feet apart from each other. The podium in the middle had a gold medal, an Old faithful Bar, and two hundred galleons on it. Standing to its right was a podium with a silver medal, one hundred and fifty galleons, and a slab of Honeydukes chocolate on it and on the leftmost podium was a bronze medal, one hundred galleons, and a bottle of Coca Cola Classic.
Professor McGonagall put her purple megaphone to her lips and said, "It is time to announce the medalists for Hogwarts Drawing Competition. If I call your name as a medalist, then please come up here. I will show your drawing to the Great Hall at some point while you're on the medal podium. So, without further delay, the bronze medal for the Hogwarts Drawing Competition is awarded to Hugo Weasley! Hugo Weasley, please come up here!"
Every member of the Circle of Eighteen burst into loud applause and jumped up and down in his or her seat as McGonagall announced Hugo's name. As Hugo briskly walked up to the bronze medal podium and took his place, every other member of the Circle of Eighteen chanted "HUGO! HUGO! HUGO!" at the top of his or her lungs.
To them, Hugo's triumph was their triumph.
"Due to the need to avoid physical contact amid the Covid-19 pandemic, I will not place your medal around your neck, instead..."
McGonagall made a few movements with her wand and the bronze medal flew off the podium and onto Hugo's neck. McGonagall made another movement with her wand and Hugo's drawing came flying into his hands. Hugo held his lightning storm drawing up for everyone in the Great Hall to see.
Several people in the hall screamed out loud the nanosecond Hugo showed off his drawing, just as Samantha had when Hugo had first shown his drawing to the Circle of Eighteen.
"That's exactly the reaction several of the judges had to first seeing this drawing, " said McGonagall matter of factly, "That's what clinched the bronze medal for you. It really demonstrated how realistic a portrayal of a lightning storm you had really drawn. You barely edged out Courtney Saver for the bronze medal."
At the Gryffindor table, Courtney felt her heart sink to her feet. She had failed to medal. She felt as though she had let her late parents Austin and Morgan down. Courtney quietly dissolved into tears, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Lily.
"Courtney?" said Lily softly.
"Sorry, Lily, " said Courtney, trying, and failing, to control her crying.
"Courtney, " said Lily softly, "It's okay. It's okay to feel hurt. It's okay to be heartbroken sometimes. Our emotion is our humanity and there's no shame in that."
"I-I' " sobbed Courtney, "I let mom and dad down. I dedicated my work on the Hogwarts Drawing Competition to mom and dad and their memory and I promised them I would medal. Mom and dad would be ashamed of me if they knew that I didn't medal after the promise I made to them."
"Courtney, " said Lily in a soothing voice, "I understand how you are feeling. To pour your heart and soul into something only to come up short of your own expectations, that has to sting. That has to cut through your very soul. Even more so in this case because of the personal background attached to it."
Courtney nodded. She could tell that Lily understood.
"Know this though, Courtney, "said Lily comfortingly, "Austin and Morgan would be enormously proud of your work. You may not have medaled but you did medal quality work. That's all you can do. I'm sure Austin and Morgan would feel very touched at the high quality of your work. Search your feelings, Courtney, and let your heart tell you how Austin and Morgan would really feel about your work."
Courtney searched her feelings and after about ten seconds she started hearing Austin's and Morgan's voices.
"Courtney, we're really proud of the work you did on your solar eclipse drawing, " she heard Austin's voice say in her head.
Courtney now felt confused though. Was she convincing herself of things?
"Courtney, please come up here, " asked Hugo.
Feeling that a walk might make her feel a little better, Courtney walked up to the bronze medal podium and stood six feet to the left of it.
"Professor McGonagall?" said Hugo calmly, "The drawing that Courtney did is extremely personal to her. Even if it did get selected for display, I request that you let Courtney show her drawing to Hogwarts right now. I think she needs to hear everyone's reaction to know how much she has to be proud of and hearing everyone's cheers would make her feel better. "
"Very well," said McGonagall, waving her wand and summoning Courtney's drawing into her hands.
Courtney held up her solar eclipse drawing for the hall to see.
In response, there were cheers from all four house tables. Various people gave thumbs up. There were gasps of "That's so pretty!" and "Awesome!" from those were into things like the sun and the moon. Everyone was kindly smiling at Courtney.
Courtney felt her heart warm and addressed the hall.
Courtney did not wish for the entire school to know about the story of the time when Stephanie had ruined her solar eclipse painting because she didn't want to embarrass Stephanie. Instead, she would focus on the story of dedicating her drawing to her parents.
"Thank you everybody, " said Courtney sincerely, "As most of you know, I lost my biological parents and my original home in a tragic house fire last summer. On August 21st, 2017 mom and dad took me and my biological sister Stephanie on vacation to Nashville to see the solar eclipse. It was both an awesome sight to see in person and a great family day. As a way of paying tribute to mom and dad, I drew a solar eclipse drawing for my entry into the Hogwarts Drawing Competition. I dedicated the drawing to mom and dad and promised them I would medal. I poured my heart and soul into making this drawing in loving memory of mom and dad. When I learned that I had not medaled, I felt like I had let moom and dad down and that they would be ashamed of me for not keeping my promise to them to medal. I know better now. Lily Luna Potter, who really is the GOAT of friendship, comforted me with her understanding and kind words and made me see how I had in fact kept my promise to mom and dad by producing a medal quality drawing of a solar eclipse. Hugo Weasley did a wonderful gesture for me by giving me the opportunity to show you all my work tonight. And you have all touched my heart through your kindhearted responses to seeing my drawing. Thank you to Lily, to Hugo, and to everyone for showing me the worth of my work. I'll always remember the kindness and support that I was shown here tonight."
Courtney walked back to her seat and Hugo addressed the hall.
"I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my closest cousin and BFF, Lily Luna Potter for this bronze medal that now hangs around my neck. Ironically, Lily gave me a great piece of help by refusing to help me. I asked her to select an idea for the Hogwarts Drawing Competition for me and she refused and told me she knew I would come up with a great one myself. Lily, your confidence in me means everything to me, " Hugo told the hall.
"I knew you had in it in you, you are awesome, " grinned Lily.
"Congratulations on your well deserved bronze medal, Hugo Weasley. You may return to your seat, " said McGonagall matter of factly.
Hugo picked up the bottle of Coca Cola classic and one hundred galleons he'd won for being the bronze medalist and returned to his seat.
"Hugo, I'm so proud of you, " said Lily warmly, "I'm proud of the work you did to become a medalist and the kindness you showed towards Courtney."
"I remember how gracious Hugo was in defeat when I beat him out for that chaser position, ' remembered Devon, "He showed just as much grace in victory tonight."
"After seeing his drawing last Saturday, I thought Hugo had a great chance of medaling, " said Samantha cheerfully, "Once I got over how startled I was when I first saw his drawing, I quickly came to admire it. Hugo was right on the money when he said lightning storms can make for speculator artwork."
"Hey, Ainsley?" asked Hugo, "Can you conjure two cups?"
"But of course, " said Ainsley proudly, proceeding to conjure two cups and toss them to Hugo.
Hugo took the bottle of Coca Cola Classic and poured half of it into each cup. Hugo then walked as close as he could to where Courtney was sitting while still staying six feet apart from her and set one of the cups down on her place while also setting fifty of the one hundred galleons in prize money on her place.
"The medal is what it is, " said Hugo warmly, "But there's no reason I can't share the other prizes. Courtney, I'll let you have half the bottle of Coca Cola Classic and half the prize money since it was so close, and you would have been a worthy choice for the bronze medal position had you been chosen."
"Thank you, Hugo, " said Courtney gratefully, taking a sip from her cup and feeling more like herself again.
Lily smiled. The friendship of the Circle of Eighteen was a wonder to behold.
