After their first Charms class with Professor Patil, Devon, Hugo, Samantha, Stephanie, and Lily went to the Great Hall for a lunch of spicy white meat chicken strips, curly fries, and Coca Cola classic with a dessert of apple pie, where they were joined at the Gryffindor table by James, Albus, Gordon, Aaron Fred, Roxanne, Rose, Pamela, and Courtney.
Also joining the group was a girl Lily did not recognize. This girl actually looked quite a bit like Lily. She wasn't small, short, and petit like Lily was. In fact, her size and height were average for her age as she was a second year. But she had flaming red hair that she kept quite long, just like Lily, and her brown eyes looked like a carbon copy of Lily's. She was sitting next to Gordon.
Gordon now glanced over at Lily and said, "Lily?"
"Yes, Gordon?" replied Lily.
"Are you open to the Circle of Nineteen becoming the Circle of Twenty?" asked Gordon with a smile, knowing what the answer would be.
"Of course," piped up Lily warmly as everyone else nodded, "I take it you have found a friend in your own year now?"
"Yes," exclaimed Gordon glowingly, the joy in his voice palpable, "It happened organically. Second year Gryffindors have Charms first thing in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We have Charms just before you. Today, second year Gryffindors learned Cheering Charms. Well, Cheering Charms are an activity that requires a partner to practice with. Professor Patil ended up pairing me with a girl who wasn't at Hogwarts last year but has transferred to Hogwarts this year."
"I am said girl, " declared the girl who looked a lot like Lily, "I've just transferred into Hogwarts this year and have so far been too shy to attempt to make friends. Gordon told me after we'd completed performing our Cheering Charms with each other about this friendship circle. He told me that he hadn't managed to hit it off with any of the Gryffindors in his year last year, but that he had made a group of Gryffindor friends from other years after asking them to part of their joint participation in last year."
: What r's Hogwarts Drawing Competition and being accepted into what became the Circle of Eighteen, and later the Circle of Nineteen. He told me confidently that the circle could become the Circle of Twenty. As I'm clearly being accepted, he was right."
"As much as I like being part of the friendship circle, I'm in, " admitted Gordon, "I have to admit that I'm delighted to have now made a friend in my own year. Having a friend in my own year be part of our group now makes the now Circle of Twenty Feel more complete to me."
"Pairing up is not necessary in most Charms lessons, " said Lily matter of factly, "But it was fortuitous thing that you had your Cheering Charms lesson today, both for you and the new girl."
"My name, " the girl informed them, "Is Penny Portal and I am a muggleborn."
"So?" James asked Penny, ""What school did you attend last year and why have you transferred to Hogwarts?"
"I went to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic last year, " explained Penny, "I was born and raised in Philadelphia. However, there are no magical schools for witches and wizards in Pennsylvania. So, I had to look outside of Pennsylvania to find somewhere to be trained in magic."
"Much like how I, an Arizonan who is still quite proud of my Arizona heritage, had to look outside of Arizona to find a school of magic since there are no magical schools for witches and wizards in Arizona," said Samantha, feeling a bit of a kindred spirit with Penny, "Courtney and Stephanie are kind of in the same boat now, now being part of my family in Arizona. But Stephanie had already done a year at Hogwarts before we adopted her and Courtney."
"I did some research and honestly liked what I had read about Beauxbatons," explained Penny, "I liked what I had read about the educational and living structure of Beauxbatons. However, the language barrier, which I admit I hadn't given nearly enough consideration to when choosing Beauxbatons over Hogwarts, proved to be too big of an issue. I did have an interpreter and she was as kind and helpful a person as you could have hoped to have filled that role. But I was too much of a fish out of water being an English language speaker and at a French speaking school and while I did well academically, I failed to make any friends other than my interpreter and I was lonely. If only there was a magical school in Pennsylvania, I would have gone there."
"When did you make the decision to transfer to Hogwarts?" Albus asked Penny.
"Towards the end of last school year," answered Penny matter of factly, "Feeling lonely and overwhelmingly like I didn't belong at Beauxbatons, I made the decision to transfer to Hogwarts. While there is still no school of magic in Pennsylvania, Hogwarts is an English speaking school with an English speaking student body and staff. Although I've so far been too shy to attempt to make friends at Hogwarts, just the fact of it being an English speaking school with an English speaking student body and staff made me feel more at home here from the start. To be candid about it, I had hoped an opportunity to make friends at Hogwarts would present itself organically and sure enough it did. Thank you, Gordon, for your warm and welcoming attitude towards me and thank you to the entire Circle of Twenty for accepting me. Now, feel free to ask me questions about myself. "
"What kind of wand do you have?" asked James a nanosecond later.
"Eleven inches. Willow and phoenix feather. Swishy. Excellent wand for Charm work. Charms is my favorite subject. Though the most important is Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"WOW! grinned Lily, "Very t to my wand and my late Paternal Grandma Lily's wands except being a bit longer. Charms is my favorite subject too! Defense Against the Dark Arts IS by far the most important though. All who are enlightened in witchcraft and wizardry understand this."
Lily and Penny grinned at each other, clearly realizing they had a lot in common.
"What's your favorite movie?" Stephanie asked Penny.
"The Empire Strikes Back," answered Penny.
"That's awesome!" said Devon radiantly, "May the force be with you!"
"Star Wars is an awesome franchise!" agreed Samantha.
"What is your favorite color?" Lily asked Penny.
"Hot pink," answered Penny, "Though I'm not a girly girl. I hate gossip and such. "
Lily saw that Penny was carrying a hot pink school bag. Looking down at Penny's feet, she could see Penny was wearing matching hot pink socks and tennis shoes that were the same shade as Lily's flip flops.
"Hot pink is my favorite color too!" Lily told Penny.
"Wow, Lily, we have a lot in common. We can be great friends, " said Penny warmly.
"What do your parents do?" Gordon asked Penny.
"My dad is a dentist, and my mom is an eye doctor, " answered Penny proudly, "Their names are Molar and Iris."
"My mom is a muggle doctor, a primary care doctor, " said Gordon brightly, "Hey, Penny, isn't it awesome that we both have parents in the medical profession?"
"It is! smiled Penny, "I can't wait to meet Ainsley and her mom when the time comes too. I have so much adoration for the medical profession."
"So do I," ackwoneleged Lily, "But I want to become a Wandmaker. I'll be taking James's Wandmaking class starting this afternoon!"
"Good luck," replied everyone.
The rest of the lunch period was spent with Penny chatting with her new friends, especially Gordon and Lily.
Penny was looking forward to being part of the Circle of Twenty going forward and already knew one thing:
She may still wish there was a school for witches and wizards. people like her, in her native land of Pennsylvania. Even given that there wasn't, she still didn't belong at Beauxbatons.
Hogwarts was the better fit for her.
