Professor McGonagall spoke into her purple megaphone again and said clearly, "The silver medal for the Hogwarts Drawing Competition is awarded to Samantha Saver. Would Samantha Saver please come up here?"

'YES!" shouted Samantha, "I'm a back to back silver medalist! I won the silver medal in the Hogwarts Writing Competition last year and this year I've won another silver medal in the Hogwarts Drawing Coemption! YOU LIKE THAT! YOU LIKE THAT!"

Samantha zoomed up to the silver medal podium with the speed of the wind of a category five hurricane.

Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, and Lily all clapped loudly, jumped and down in their seats, and chanted, "SAMANTHA! SAMANTHA! SAMANTHA! " as loudly as their voices were capable of.

The Circle of Eighteen now owned both the silver medal and the bronze medal.

As Samantha took her place at the silver medal podium, McGonagall once again waved her wand and the silver medal fastened itself around Samantha's neck.

"This feels great, " beamed Samantha, "Silver looks great on me. I did an outstanding job on my drawing and now I get to reap the rewards of it."

"Samantha, " said McGonagall kindly, "Your drawing was by far the most unique drawing of all of the drawings entered for the Hogwarts Drawing Competition. That carried a LOT of weight with the judges."

McGonagall waved her wand again and Samantha's drawing came zooming into her hands. Samantha eagerly and instantly held her Arizona themed drawing up for all to see.

"This is an Arizona themed drawing, " said Samantha proudly, puffing out her chest and holding her head high.

"That really helped set it apart from other entries into the Hogwarts Drawing Competition, " explained McGonagall, "It was completely unique from any other entry. Samantha, could you explain to everyone in this hall what everything on your drawing is. I know the Circle of Eighteen knows, but this is your opportunity to tell all of Hogwarts about Arizona!"

"I'd love to!" answered Samantha eagerly."

"Be brief though, " said McGonagall clearly, "You'll understand why I'm asking you to be brief a minute and a nanosecond."

"So, " beamed Samantha, "The plants are saguaro cactuses. Saguaro cactuses are amongst the most commonly found plants in Arizona. The mountain is Camelback Mountain. Camelback Mountain is a famous mountain in the city Phoenix, Arizona. The sky with the birds and bright sun represents Arizona's warm weather and extremely hot summers. The Cardinals logo is obvious, and the state flag of Arizona is in the other corner."

Everyone in the Great Hall gave a positive response to Samantha's drawing and explanation. Some people were clapping as hard as they could. Others gave thumbs up. Others still smiled quietly or made comments such "That's a beautiful drawing!" The members of the Circle of Eighteen were chanting "ARIZONA! ATIZONA! ARIZONA!" at the maximum decibel level their lungs would allow.

Samantha felt her insides warm faster than if she'd drank five cups of hot chocolate.

"Aw!" said Samantha sincerely, "It\ can't even begin to tell you all how much this means to me. By embracing my work tonight, you're not only embracing my drawing, you're also embracing my home, my heritage, and the very essence of who I am and where I'm from. That makes me feel so fuzzy and content inside. Smiles and cheers to all of you."

At this, everybody in the hall followed the lead of the Circle of Eighteen and chanted "ARIZONA! ARIZONA! ARIZONA!" with as much volume as their voices would permit.

Samantha's insides were now glowing as though they were sitting in the heart of the sun.

Not being a very emotional person, Samantha's feelings weren't too deep. She just felt a content sense of acceptance, welcome, embrace, and warmth.

"You are all so sweet!" said Samantha warmly, "You know, I could have easily been an outcast at Hogwarts. An albino girl from Arizona could have easily been rejected by the more normal looking British boys and girls at Hogwarts. Instead, I was welcome with open arms by most of Hogwarts from the word go. I'm part of the Circle of Eighteen, of course. But I'd like to acknowledge one particular friend. Lily Luna Potter, who Courtney correctly identified as the GOAT of friendship a few minutes ago, really made me feel wanted and included from the get go. You see, on the day I met Lily on the Hogwarts Express, when I didn't have any money, Lily paid for me so that I could get something from the trolley witch. That gesture really set an early tone for me."

Lily just smiled at Samantha.

"So, " said Professor McGonagall in a businesslike voice, "We're now going to have an Arizona themed party! Samantha what type of weather would like?"

"Nice and warm, but not hot, " said Samantha clearly, "Don't want the June, July, August, even September heat. Make it mid to late October where it's still warm but no longer with triple digit temperatures. Have lots of birds chirping in the sky."

McGonagall waved her wand at the celling and the celling and weather suddenly took on the form of the October Arizona sky, Temperatures were in the high 70s and the sky was blue and clear as the sun shone overhead. Lots of birds could be heard chirping in the background. The floor had been replaced with grass and the seats had all turned into lawn chairs. It was as though they were really sitting in a backyard in Arizona on a nice fall day.

"It's perfect!" cooed Samantha contently.

"Now, " said McGonagall, retrieving a green bag from under her seat. She opened the top of the bag and waved her wand at it. Numerous plastic replica saguaro cactuses sped out of the bag and eventually everyone had one of the plastic replica saguaro cactuses on his or her place.

"I thought, " continued McGonagall, "That in celebration of Samantha's silver medal, we could all keep a piece of Arizona with us. These plastic replica saguaro cactuses are yours to keep. Please keep them on your places for now and when you all leave the Great Hall tonight you can take them back to your rooms."

"Cool!" piped up Hugo, who was really into plants.

"Wow, what a different kind of trinket!" grinned Gordon.

"Arizona is now with us al at Hogwarts!" beamed Lily, "What a neat thing to happen."

Samantha smiled ear to ear. It was her home, her background, her heritage that was being celebrated.

It totally brightened Samantha to see how her Hogwarts family, especially the Circle of Eighteen, was taking to her roots.

Samantha looked around and saw everybody looking fondly at his or her replica cactus and just felt her insides glow.

"Who's up for some mess and noise?" inquired McGonagall.

"Gryffindors never need an excuse to make mess and noise, " smirked Samantha.

"Hear hear!" agreed James, Ainsley, and Lily at once.

McGonagall waved her wand again and summoned an innumerable supply of balloons. These balloons were red but were clearly filled.

"So, " called out McGonagall, "Use your wands to pop these balloons and you'll get some prizes and trinkets out of them!"

Eager and excited, the whole of the Hogwarts quickly took to popping the balloons with their wands.

In addition to the noise and balloon fragments produced, every balloon had something hidden in for the popper.

Some had miniature models of Camelback Mountain in them. Others had small Arizona state flags. Others had Arizona Cardinals replica jerseys of Kyler Murray, Larry Fitzgerald, and DeAndre Hopkins. Yet more contained popsicles, a popular summertime treat in Arizona. A number of the balloons contained Arizona shaped cookies.

Incredibly, when all of the balloons were popped, they all had a complete set of the various Arizona themed products the balloons had offered.

Samantha suddenly found herself, especially her hair, full of balloon fragments. Anyone and everyone had picked up the remints of the balloons and dumped them onto Samantha.

Samantha grinned and giggled.

Lily, who had participated in "ballooning" Samantha along with everyone else, did feel a little bit guilty.

"Oh, Samantha" said Lily guiltily, "We all targeted you specifically. "

"It's all good, " said Samantha cheerfully, "On this night, everyone deserves to have a little fun at my expense."

Samantha stepped down from the silver medal podium and walked around the hall for a bit.

Lots of laughs and giggles were had at Samantha's expense as she walked around covered in balloon bits.

And that wasn't the end of it. A few minutes later, The Circle of Eighteen except for the three muggles, Gary, Todd, and Miles, raised their wands, pointed them at Samantha, and called out, "Confettiicus Fallicus!"

Next nanosecond, Samantha had a stream of red confetti falling down on her.

The whole hall was now rolling in loud laughter, but no one was laughing harder than Samantha herself. Despite being the one who was now the object of humor, Samantha was thoroughly enjoying herself.

Samantha took a few laps draped in the confetti before returning to the base of the silver medal podium and saying clearly, "Look, it's all good and I'm glad I was able to be the source of some fun and funny for you all, but I've had enough now."

To everyone's credit, they all nodded in understanding in Samantha's direction at once.

"Alright, I got a kick of that!" grinned Samantha, adding in a more serious voice, "But I'm ready for it to end. Would anyone be willing to help clean me up?"

"I'll do it, " said Lily kindly, "I'm not even sure we should've done this in the first place, but you were a really good sport about it."

"Don't feel guilty, Lily, I'm all for it having happened. I just don't want any more of it, " said Samantha briskly.

So, Lily pointed her wand at Samantha and cried out, "Scourgify!" and a nanosecond later the balloon bits and confetti were gone, and Samantha looked like herself again.

"Why don't we eat the cookies now?" suggested Samantha.

There were mutterings of accent to this. The cookies were plain sugar cookies and nothing more but were nevertheless enjoyed.

"You can save the popsicles if you'd like, " called out McGonagall, "I put Anti Melting Charms on them beforehand."

There was a consensus decision amongst them all to do just that. Between the feast and the cookies, they didn't feel like eating anything else at the moment.

Instead, each person present picked up his or her Arizona flag and held it aloft.

Samantha's heart and very soul filled with cheer and joy as she looked on at this scene. Arizona was being celebrated at Hogwarts. Her two homes had come together with her newer home embracing her older one.

The Arizona Cardinals jerseys were picked up and McGonagall said, "I give you all permission to take these Arizona themed items back to your rooms for storage, but please come back straight away,"

A few minutes later, everyone was back in the Great Hall, which McGonagall had now tuned backed into itself.

Standing on the silver medal podium, Samantha said happily, "Honeydukes chocolate. I don't feel like eating anything more tonight, but it'll be a nice treat for me in the coming days when I choose to have it. The hundred and fifty galleons are nice too!"

"Samantha you may go back to your seat, " said McGonagall matter of factly.

Samantha held her silver medal aloft as she slowly walked back to her place.

"Back to back silver medalist!" boasted Samantha, "YOU LIKE THAT! YOU LIKE THAT!"

"We do, " said Lily proudly, "I have one more trinket for you."

Lily reached into her left hand pocket and ejected a clear keychain. The keychain was in the exact shape of Arizona and featured the Arizona Cardinals logo in the exact middle.

Lily handed the keychain to Samantha, who took her first look at it and went, "WOW!

"I bought that for you awhile back, Samantha, but was waiting for the perfect opportunity yo present it to you, " said Lily brightly.

"Tonight was the perfect night, " agreed Samantha, "It is awesome! And I have some good news!"

"What's that?" Lily asked Samantha eagerly.

"The one hundred fifty galleons is enough money for me to buy a piece of property in Arizona to host our entire circle next Christmas!"

The Circle of Eighteen erupted at this news.

When the eruption died down, Devon, James, Hugo, Gary, Todd, Miles, Albus, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Ainsley, Courtney, Stephanie, and Lily all chroused "WE LOOK FORWARD TO IT!"

"So do I," smiled Samantha.

SO, the character Samantha Saver is partially based on myself. The three biggest ways Samantha is based on myself are her being an albino, an atheist, and an Arizonan. I live in the Phoenix, Arizona, suburb of Tempe, Arizona, about 4.3 miles south of Sun Devil Stadium! I had lots of fun writing this chapter! After the emotional intensity of the last chapter, I wanted to have some fun with this one. "Grins!" :)

The gold medal chapter is next. I'll say this. The gold medal win will be a nice story for the gold medalist, especially given circumstances surrounding the character at this point in time. I'm planning on posting the gold medal chapter on early Monday morning Arizona time. :)