Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, Lily, Tracey, Daphne, and Astoria wouldn't have to wait long to welcome the newest members of their friendship group.
After overhearing the conversation that Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, Lily, Tracey, Daphne, and Astoria had just had, they were approached by Terry Boot of Ravenclaw, Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw, and Sally Anne Perks of Hufflepuff.
"Well, " observed Terry, "It looks like the three of us are competing to become the twelfth member of this friendship group."
"Not necessarily," said Hermione kindly, "I'm perfectly capable of making table bigger to accommodate as many people as our group has in it."
"I'd actually like to get to fifteen," piped up Harry warmly, "I'd like to add two more Ravenclaws and two more Hufflepuffs."
"I know the perfect Hufflepuff for you lot to add in addition to use three," said Sally, sounding shy but confident.
"Let's hear a bit more about each of the three of you," requested Harry.
"Well," explained Anthony, "I'm the great grandson of Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein. As such, I have a very strong knowledge of magical creatures that has been passed down in my family through the generations. "
"Having a person in our group who has extensive knowledge about magical creatures could prove to be invaluable," realized Ginny wisely, "The Dark Side could use dangerous animals and creatures to their advantage. Having someone in our group who understands the idiosyncrasies of these creatures could be a major feather in our cap. "
"Speaking of usefulness," offered Terry, "I have a very detailed knowledge of ancient runes. The Boot family has historically been experts on ancient runes and much like with Anthony and his knowledge of magical creatures, in my family knowledge of ancient runes has been passed down through the generations."
"That could come in very handy," observed Susan immediately, "I could see a scenario in which bad guys tried to communicate with each other via runes under the assumption that we have no knowledge of them. It could greatly benefit us to have someone amongst our number who has a deep and thorough knowledge of and understanding of ancient runes."
'As for me," spoke Sally softly, "I'm a very talented witch with a wand in my wand. I'm an O student in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration and I am also highly skilled at Offensive Magic. The greatest assets I could bring to a fight against bad guys though is the fact that I've created some spells of my own that nobody but myself has ever seen. I could use them against the enemy to catch them off guard."
"You've made new spells of your own at your age?" cooed Collin in amazement, "That's impressive."
"Sally is certainly prepared for anything that may come," said Dennis matter of factly.
"The person I would like nominate as our fifteenth member," suggested Sally, "Is Cedric Diggory. Obviously, we'd have to wait until November when he returns to Hogwarts."
"Having an older student join our group could be a huge positive," nodded Lily, "Cedric could act as a bit of a mentor figure for the rest of us."
"My thoughts exactly," confirmed Sally, "There have been times at Hogwarts when I've gone to Cedric for advice on various things and he's always given me good guidance."
"If I may ask?" inquired Tracey, "Why do you want to join our friendship group, Sally?"
"I sense the Dark Side is gathering steam," said Sally in a no nonsense voice, "I firmly believe that I can help this group fend off the enemy. I've been a loner at Hogwarts up until this nanosecond, but my heart tells me that my skills and services will be needed and with Harry Potter as its leader of the pack, this group is in the most danger if the dark side becomes powerful."
"So," said Susan respectfully, "A sense of duty?"
"Yes," answered Sally, "I feel an obligation to use my talents for good and I believe joining this group is what puts me on the best path to do so."
"What about you, Terry?" wondered Daphne.
"Anthony and I are the same boat," explained Terry, "Anthony feels his knowledge of magical creatures could be useful to this group and I feel my knowledge of ancient runes could be beneficial to this group. But Anthony and I also both feel we need to go down a different path."
"Why?" grilled Astoria.
"Since we came to Hogwarts," explained Terry, "Anthony and I have been part of a friendship trio with Michael Corner. Or we were until the start of this year."
"Michael hasn't spent any time with us because he's become a girl crazy slut," said Anthony bitterly.
"He cares about nothing anymore except flirting, kissing, and making out," snarled Terry, "As such, we're done with him."
"We're looking for new friends besides each other," continued Anthony, "Joining this group is a perfect opportunity for us to make real friends while simultaneously offering up our abilities for important practical use should the need present itself."
"Let's vote on it," piped up Harry, "Raise your hand if you agree to add Anthony, Terry, Sally, and when he comes back to Hogwarts, Cedric to our friendship group."
Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, Lily, Tracey, Daphne, and Astoria all raised their right hands a nanosecond later.
Hermione stood up and again pointed her wand at the table.
"Engorgio!' cried Hermione and the table expanded so that it could comfortably seat fifteen people and Anthony, Terry, and Sally proceeded to take seats at three of the four empty seats.
Harry, Colin, Dennis, Anthony, Terry, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, Sally, Lily, Tracey, Daphne, and Astoria all smiled at each other. They were all very happy with their now fully formed friendship group and confident it would be a success going forward.
A/N: I finally decided on making the friendship group go to fifteen because this allows for a really good mix of all the four houses. Five Gryffindors, Four Slytherins, Three Ravenclaws and Three Hufflelpuffs means a really good house mix, Adding an older student to the group when Cedric comes back kind of completes the group to me.
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