As Susan made her way into the sand pit outdoors at the west end of the campus of Skyward School of Practical Sorcery for the first meeting of the Sand Club, she suddenly had seven handfuls of sand thrown at her as the seven people already in the sand pit aimed handfuls of sand at her, and successfully at that.
Then, Susan saw seven wands pointed at her.
"Sandify!" cried multiple voices at the exact same nanosecond.
Susan felt a storm of sand speedily blow towards her and cover most of her body.
Looking around, Susan saw that everyone else in the sand pit was covered with various degrees of sand.
"Well!" grinned Susan, "That's certainly an appropriate way to be initiated into a Sand Club!"
"Well, " said a pale sandy haired woman, "I sanded the very first student to come here and as each subsequent student has arrived, everyone already here has sanded him or her. As you were the last student to arrive here today, you got sanded the most."
"Cool!" cooed Susan.
"I'm Sarah Finnigan, " revealed the pale sandy haired woman, "I'm going to be the leader of the Sand Club. "
"I'm Susan Bones, " explained Susan, "I'm a second year."
"I believe you already met Miss Lovegood this morning?" Sarah asked Susan, pointing at Luna.
"I did," confirmed Susan.
"Susan and her friends were very kind to me," said Luna warmly.
Pointing at a sandy haired boy who resembled herself and a black boy standing next to him, Sarah said, "These two are my son Seamus and his BFF Dean Thomas."
"Having my mom be our club leader is so cool!" beamed Seamus brightly.
"Seamus is my only child and my muggle husband works as a muggle eye doctor during the day to provide income for the family, " explained Sarah, "Accepting the role of Sand Club means spending less time home alone then I did last year. I welcome that."
"I remember seeing Seamus and Dean sorted into Gryffindor during the super brief time I was at Hogwarts last year, but I never spoke to either of them, " acknowledged Susan, "It's cool to have two of my yearmates in the Sand Club with me."
"We agree with that," chorused Seamus and Dean.
"This is a very nicely balanced club both between boys and girls and between younger students and older students, " declared Sarah happily, "Gender wise, this club has four male students and four female students, so, we've got an even four to four balance of male students to female students. Year wise, we have one first year, three second years, one fourth year, two sixth years, and one seventh year. Let me quickly introduce you to the middle student and older three students and you'll all learn more about each other through today's activities."
Pointing at a black boy with dreadlocks, Sarah said "This is fourth year, Lee Jordan."
"Hi, Susan, " said Lee brightly, happily waving at her.
"Hi, Lee, " returned Susan cheerfully, waving back at Lee.
"Now," continued Sarah, directing Susan's attention to two girls who were standing side by side. One was a tall Hispanic girl and the other was a small and short Asian girl, "These two are both sixth years and longtime BFFs. Their names are Sofia Gonzalez and Xiu Chen."
"It's nice to meet you both, Sofia and Xiu, " said Susan warmly.
"The feeling is mutual, " replied Sofia and Xiu together.
"Finally, " Sarah finished the introductions, pointing out an average sized average heighted boy with golden brown hair and green eyes, "This is our only seventh year and his name is Gabe Grain."
"Welcome, Susan, " said Gabe with gusto, "We're happy to have you here."
"Thanks, Gabe, " answered Susan radiantly with equal gusto, "I'm delighted to be here."
"So," explained Sarah, "Today's activity is sand mines. It's both simple and complex. We are going to simply walk around the sand pit. I have buried eight sand mines that will detonate when stepped on. Now, I am a singularly gifted witch and have bewitched each of these eight sand mines to display your names in a certain way. When your name appears, you will tell the rest of the group a bit about yourself. Understand?"
"Yes," replied Seamus, Dean, Lee, Gabe, Sofia, Xiu, Luna, and Susan together.
"Begin," smirked Sarah.
Seamus, Dean, Lee, Gabe, Sofia, Xiu, Luna, Susan, and Sarah all began walking. Because Sarah had needed to keep the sand mines out of the original meeting place, they had to walk several minutes and several nanoseconds before they stepped on the first sand mine.
When it went off, a stream of sand rose into the air in a smokelike way and as it approached the sky, the sand was transfigured into fireworks.
These fireworks were green in color and when they went off in the sky, they spelled out the name Seamus Finnigan. Although it was daytime, these fireworks were so bright that Seamus's name was quite easy to see.
Seamus, Dean, Lee, Gabe, Sofia, Xiu, Luna, Susan, and Sarah herself all felt a bit of excitement at seeing the sand turn into fireworks and Seamus grinned at Sarah.
"Mom, that was bloody brilliant!" cried Seamus glowingly.
"Thanks, Seamus, " smiled Sarah, "But tell your mates in the Sand Club a bit about yourself."
"I love both fire and fireworks of all kinds, " belted out Seamus enthusiastically, "In fact, I originally signed up for the Fire Club. However, that club was canceled because only three people signed up for it and Madam Abbott decided that she wanted to have a minimum of four people in a club."
"Was your interest in fire and fireworks known at Hogwarts last year?" Susan asked Seamus curiously.
"Yes," said Seamus smugly, "And so was my talent in that area. Sure, I had a few incidents that didn't turn out so well for me, but overall, I had a reputation at Hogwarts as having a particular proclivity for pyrotechnics. And I love that mom used green here. Green is my favorite color by far."
"That's exactly how I want this to go," explained Sarah, "You'll learn a bit about each other's tastes and interests, but no deep or emotional stories will be told here today."
Seamus, Dean, Lee, Gabe, Sofia, Xiu, Luna, Susan, and Sarah walked on and it only took them another twenty seconds to detonate the next sand mine.
When this sand mine detonated, a long and thin rectangular chunk of sand came up a few feet, then vanished, leaving a scarlet pen in its wake. This pen uncapped itself and wrote the name Dean Thomas in the sand.
"That's fitting," said Dean brightly, "I love to draw and I'm good at drawing. Last year, after being sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts, I took a liking to drawing pictures that heavily featured scarlet and gold in them."
"I'm artistic too, " said Luna dreamily, her eyes drifting side to side, "But I don't draw, I paint."
"Art is a wonderful modicum of self expression, " said Dean with a smile.
"That's why art is so beautiful, " said Luna happily.
I'm also a huge fan of the muggle sport of Soccer, " added Dean.
"I love Soccer! Soccer is an awesome sport!" piped up Sofia excitedly.
"We're off to a nice start, " interjected Sarah proddingly, "Let's keep going."
This time, it took about a minute for the next sand mine to explode. When it did, a large chunk of sand rolled itself into a ball that shot itself at Lee. The sand exploded in Lee's face, causing the rest of the group to have a good natured giggle at his expense. When this sand exploded in Lee's face, a microphone fell out of it and landed in Lee's hands.
Instinctively, Lee put the microphone to his mouth and yelled, "Lee Jordan!" into it.
Still using the microphone. Lee added, "I was the Quidditch commentator at Hogwarts the last three years and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Too bad Headmistress Abbott decided to be a wet blanket and not have Quidditch at Skyward School of Practical Sorcery. I also love adventure. I spent a good chunk of time at Hogwarts finding secret passageways and such."
"How many did you find?" asked Sarah curiously.
"Can't tell you that, " said Lee mysteriously, "That's classified information."
"We'll just move on then, " said a disappointed sounding Sarah.
When the group started walking again, it took two minutes for the next sand mind to erupt. When this eruption occurred, a large pile of sand jumped then landed, then arranged itself so that the name Gabe Grain was showing in it, as though a child had fingered it in there.
"I love sand, plain, simple, and sand, " said Gabe with gusto, "Sand is my favorite thing in the world. My world is all about sand, sand, and sand. Plain, simple, and sand. Let's continue our trail. I want to see what the remaining sand mines will do."
As the mission to find all the sand mines carried on, it took only another fifteen seconds for the fifth sand mine to blow up. When this happened, a huge hole was suddenly present in the sand pit. From out of this hole came up a soccer ball. This soccer ball bounced itself in the sand and made indents in the sand that made up the name Sofia Gonzalez.
"Yeah, I love Soccer, " confirmed Sofia, "I much prefer Soccer over the more popular muggle sports of Baseball and Football, and I also prefer it over Quidditch. I'm muggleborn and when I was in elementary school, we always played Soccer at recess."
"Always?'" asked Gabe doubtfully, "There were never days you played on the swing sets on the playground-"
"My friends and I stuck to playing Soccer because we loved it that much," said Sofia matter of factly, "And my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving because turkey is my favorite meat. Though I'm curious about what Xiu's mine will do when we hit it. I hope hers is next."
It took Seamus, Dean, Lee, Gabe, Sofia, Xiu, Luna, Susan, and Sarah ninety seconds to reach the sixth sand mine, which barely made a sound. Rather than rising, the sand quietly spread out. Once this sand had spread out a bit, some it suddenly vanished with the gaps leaving the name Xiu Chen.
"I'm quiet and reserved, " said Xiu gently, "I highly value peace and quiet and I love sleep. I'm also extremely academic minded and place an extremely high value on my education."
"A calm mine is the personification of Xiu Chen, " said Sofia quietly, "Her mine seems to have taken on her very personality."
"I bewitched each mine to be as personal to its individual as I could make it based on what I knew about Seamus and Dean and what the headmistress told me about the others, " said Sarah proudly, "And I have two more to show off!"
As Seamus, Dean, Lee, Gabe, Sofia, Xiu, Luna, Susan, and Sarah wandered along, they triggered the seventh sand mine exactly a minute later.
While this sand mine was also quiet, it was more complex and spectacular than the one before it. Huge chunks of the sand both rose and drifted sideways and formed the shapes of several bizarre creatures. One such creature used its claws to scratch the name Luna Lovegood into the sand.
"I love animals, " said Luna dreamily, staring up at the sky, "Creatures, both magic and muggle, are a joy to behold. I hope to help discover new species when I'm a grown woman. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is my favorite textbook of all time and Care of Magical Creatures is my favorite magical subject while biology is my favorite muggle subject. Aside from that, I love shoes and dresses. Headmistress Abbott, though not enforcing a dress code in general, has banned high heels at Skyward School of Practical Sorcery. High heels are my favorite kind of shoes, but as Headmistress Abbott doesn't allow them here, I wore my blue and bronze eagle sandals today. "
"Seven down with one to go!" grinned Sarah.
Susan's mine was the only one left. It took forty more seconds to reach it.
The outcome of stepping on Susan's mine was that a stream of water shot out from the sand and sprayed the name Susan Bones into the sand.
"I love water," Susan said bluntly, "But Heather wanted each of the members of the Yellow Quartet, Harry, Amy, Hannah, and myself to each join a different club from each other and Hannah wanted to be in the Water Club. I chose Sand Club as my second choice because it still allowed me to be in a club that did stuff outdoors and I love being out of doors. "
"WE ALL DO!" shouted everyone simultaneously.
That was it. That summed it up perfectly.
That was either a major or the main reason why each and every student present had chosen the Sand Club.
To spend time outdoors.
"Well," smiled Sarah, "I think that was a productive first meeting of the Sand Club. You all may go now."
Seamus, Dean, Lee, Gabe, Sofia, Xiu, Luna, and Susan all agreed. They'd gotten to know each other a bit and had clearly naturally enjoyed each other's company.
"I made an excellent choice to join the Sand Club, " thought Susan to herself as the first meeting was dismissed.
A shout out to the following members who have added Harry Potter and the Yellow Quartet to their favorites and/or follows lists since the last update:
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Since I last updated, Harry Potter and the Yellow Quartet has surpassed the awesome milestone of 150000 views and now stands at 151788 views. As this will be the last update to Harry Potter and the Yellow Quartet before Thanksgiving, I'd like to take this moment to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. Much love from Arizona for all the support. Love you all -Michael :)