A Bookish Dinner Closed

This school was magnificent. From the winding corridors lined with living paintings to the gothic towers that seemed to stretch into the heavens, andy person could easily get lost for hours on its wondrous grounds. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Annabellle Wolfe was prone to doing. It was her third day here, and for the third time her sense of direction (or lack thereof) had made her late to lunch. The massive dining hall was no less intimidating than it had been the last couple of days. Anna was a huge fan off people, but even the extroverted girl found herself trembling before the masses of cloaked students. There were people of all shapes and sizes here, with robes and accessories to show their place at the school. Most of the younger students, like Annabelle, had plain black robes. Still, many wore scarves or jewelry- something that made them stand out. The new girl had nothing.

Her hands shook slightly as she approached the Gryffindor table. Her usual confidence and charm weren't quite as reliable here as they generally would be. She was the new kid, after all. Not just new to Hogwarts either, but to the Wizarding world itself. Talking to people at home had been easy, but here? These kids had grown up in a completely different society. Annabelle may have had the gift of magic, but when she looked out at this crowd of witches and wizards, she couldn't help but feel Muggley.

Anna scanned the Gryffindor table for a place to sit. There were several groups gathered here and there, but plenty of open seats. Apparently she had not been given the most common of house assignments. She hesitated to take one though. The young socialite did not yet have a group to fit into, but she dreaded sitting alone.

Just then, as if by some miracle, another Gryffindor paced into the dining hall. Anna wasn't the last to arrive! The girl had wavy, dirty blonde hair, and carried a large book under her arm. She seemed pleasant enough (though Annabelle thought that of most people she met.) Better yet, the girl took a chair surrounded by emty ones. It seemed neither of them had a social geroup to sit with yet. Anna smelled an opportunity for friendship. What the hell? she thought. No harm in saying hi.

"Hiya!" the friendly girl chimed, collapsing into the seat beside the bookish student.

"Hi! I'm Sophie Murphy!"

"Annabelle Wolfe!" It seemed the girl was at the very least willing to speak to Anna. Excited to make aznew friend and oblivious to Sophie's shocked expression, she rambled on. "Nice to meet ya! This place is just insane, don't ya think? I mean, you can order anythign you want. Anything." She summoned neon orange coke into her glass as a demonstration, but then dismissed it as it looked like it would give her radiation poisoning. "I got totally lost on my way here. Which is kinda silly of me since it happened yesterday... and the day before..." She trailed off, searching for something less self-incriminating to say. "That's a cool-looking book! What's it about?"

I got totally lost on my way here. Which is kinda silly of me since it happened yesterday... and the day before... That's a cool-looking book! What's it about?"

Sophie glanced down at the large book clutched tightly into her very small hands. She knew all-too-well what it was about, but wasn't going to go into a large random rant about the wonderful witches and wizards, and how she wanted to be like them, and how she was daydreaming at this very moment.

"O-Oh, um, its about great witches and wizards from the centuries, like Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger! There are also a few chapters about Albus Dumbledore!"

She smiled and glanced down at her beautiful turquoise covered book, the shining Lapis Lazuli on the cover. She flipped open to a random page, and a waving picture of Lily and James Potter appeared. Sophie glanced up, and nodded at Annabelle's confused face.

"This is Lily and James Potter, they sacrificed their lives to Lord Voldemort so Harry could live, um, they were in Gryffindor when they went to Hogwarts, you know! And during the Battle of Hogwarts, it was Gryffindor that stood against Voldemort! The house of the brave has a lot of saviors!"

Annabelle stared at the open tome with wide and curious eyes. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger... these were all names that she'd heard many a time over the past few days. A smile broke out across her face when she saw them in their Gryffindor robes. "All of those famous people were in our house! That's amazing!" Seeing this gave her a sudden rush of confidence. Brave and true... she thought. That was the motto of their house, and that must have been what these heroes were. After all, there was a book about them! Annabelle couldn't remember the last time she'd read a book praising cowardly and disloyal people.

She remembered her first day here on campus, when all of the first-years had been ushered into the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. It had been both exiting and confusing to watch as she stood in the sea of identical black robes. Anna's last name was "Wolfe", so of course she had been one of the last students called up to the hat. That meant she got to watch as child after child walked up to the stage.

"I'm going to be a Slytherin!" One boy had declared boldly. The house of green was certainly the largest this year. Sure enough, the hat had screamed out "SLYTHERIN!" almost the moment it touched his head. Annabelle had asked the girl next to her what that meant exactly. A kid nearby sneered and mumbled that it meant that the boy was evil, but the girl was a much more tactful and friendly person. "It means he's cunning or ambitious, probably both. Slytherins are sharp as whips." That certainly didn't sound so bad. Annabelle knew this would not be the house for her though. She was certainly ambitious, but she doubted anyone would ever consider her to be "cunning."

"I'm probably going to be a Hufflepuff," the girl had said sadly. "I'm not really all that good at anything." Anna had assured her at the time that that couldn't be true but now that she had been here long enough to meet people, she didn't understand the sentiment. Hufflepuffs seemed to have some reputation for being average here in the wizarding world. Yet from what Annabelle had seen, this couldn't be further from the truth. Hufflepuffs were some of the nicest and most talented people she had ever met!

When her own turn had come up, Anna had found herself trembling. She had no idea which of the houses she would be placed in. After seeing and hearing from the other students, her confidence had only waned. She wasn't smart or collected enough to be a Ravenclaw, bright and charming enough to be a Hufflepuff, or clever enough to be a Slytherin... and from the was she was shaking now, she doubted she was brave enough to qualify as a Gryffindor either. What if she got up there and the hat said that this was all a big mistake? What if it told her she didn't belong here, and that she should go back to being a Muggle? Yet the second the brim of the hat had touched her head, she heard its voice echo in her mind.

Gryffindor, obviously.

Anna looked down at the book in Sophie's hands. Gryffindor. That was what the hat had said she was, and the sorting hat was never wrong. She couldn't help but feel that it was the best house. If nothing else, it was certainly the best house for her. In a sudden burst of confidence, she declared "I'm going to be in a book like this one day!" She grinned. "I know, it sounds a bit conceited, but think about it. I grew up in a completely different world. I never knew that anything like this even existed. Yet here I am. Magic is real! And I can use it! There has to be a reason for that, right?" She looked over at Sophie, flashing her a massive grin. "And hey, you're here as well! A Gryffindor, no less. Bet you anything you'll be in a book like this too!"

"I'm going to be in a book like this one day! I know, it sounds a bit conceited, but think about it. I grew up in a completely different world. I never knew that anything like this even existed. Yet here I am. Magic is real! And I can use it! There has to be a reason for that, right? And hey, you're here as well! A Gryffindor, no less. Bet you anything you'll be in a book like this too!"

Sophie instantly thought of how much of a hero her uncles were during the battle of Hogwarts, and, when she was little, how much she wanted to be like them. However, now that she herself was at the famous school, she felt like it would be a disaster to try.

Sophie shrugged a bit in reply to Anna's question.

"Well, my uncles died in the battle of Hogwarts when it happened, and they were heroes. And when I was small I wanted to be like them, but now that I'm older and that I can actually vision myself in that situation, I'm not certain anymore."

Sophie sighed and closed her eyes, when she imagined a terrible vision. 

'Theodore and James Murphy!' Called a young woman. She had light pink hair that was rapidly changing colours. This woman was  Aurora Murphy. However the twins seemed not able to hear her, for they charged head-first towards Lord Voldemort. The twins had their wands outstretched. 'You dare defy me? Lord Voldemort?!' The evil murderer laughed, and pointed his wand at them and shouted a curse forbidden to all wizard-kin. 'AVADA KEDAVRA!' 

Her eyes were snapped open and her face was frozen in horror. Figuring that Annabelle was staring at her, Sophie hid herself in a book.

Annabelle fell silent as Sophie told her of the Murphy family's tragic past. She had never experienced real loss, heroic or otherwise. The optimistic girl could not even begin to imagine what Sophie was going through. Annabelle herself looked up to these heroes, these people who had fought and won a great battle against evil. She had the utmost respect for the heroes who had fallen there. Yet when she pictured herself rising to glory, doing something great fro the world, she had never though of the very real possibility that this would lead to her demise. She certainly had never meant to imply that this is what would happen to Sophie.

"I'm sorry..." she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I had no idea. It's amazing that your family was so brave. And you're brave too, carrying that with you. It's no wonder you're a Gryffindor." She offered a sheepish smile by way of apology. Annabelle had certainly never meant to bring up any bad memories.

"I grew up in the Muggle world, and I never even knew about this place. I didn't know about any of these amazing people, or what they did to save us. That Voldemort guy... he would have destroyed the whole world, wouldn't he? Not just wizards, but muggles too. If it weren't for your family... for all of these people, and what they did for us, I would probably be dead." She had no idea if any of this could be considered comforting, but her mind had already launched into the tangent. "I don't know if I'd be afraid of death. I probably would. I don't think I've been close enough to it to really understand, or have any idea how I'd react. I'd like to think I'd be brave enough to sacrifice myself..." She trailed off. In all honesty, Annabelle wasn't so sure of her own courage. It was easy for her to stand up and speak, or to charge into situations without hesitation. Yet she had lead a relatively safe and happy life. The students who had grown up in this world, their parents... they had lived in a place where death was a very real possibility on a daily basis. This was a place of heroes. No wonder she felt the need to prove herself.

"I don't know. Maybe I would run away? Part of me wants the chance to find out. Is that bad?"

"I don't know. Maybe I would run away? Part of me wants the chance to find out. Is that bad?"

Sophie shrugged down at her book. She had confided in telling people about her uncles death, prematurely because she knew they died of a great cause. Not saying that all death was for a bad cause, but most died for a bad reason.

God, all of this talk of death was reminding her of her transfiguration homework. Not all deserved to live, and not all deserved to die. It really just depended on whether or not you believed someone worth to live their life.

It all just depended. Someone like Voldemort deserved to die and burn in the deepest pits of hell, and someone like Lily Potter didn't deserve to die at all. It really just depended on how good of a person someone was.

She shrugged, her long dirty blonde hair fell off of her shoulders, and her eyes shifted to the book once more.

"Erm, not bad not good I suppose, Neutral like. Are you going to stay at Hogwarts for summer? I am. I'm actually excited, but I do miss mum and dad, but what are owls for? Do you have an owl?"

She forced out words very quickly because she couldn't help it. She felt the need to force words quicker than before her brain could say it was okay. Odd enough.

Annabelle looked up at Sophie, grateful for the change of subject. The eleven-year-old did not much like pondering her own mortality. Moreover, she could not shake the looming fear in the back of her mind that if the time came when she did need to sacrifice herself, she would just turn tail and run. Annabelle wanted to be brave. She wanted to be everything the place, the Sorting Hat, and the Professors were always telling the students that they could be. Yet she couldn't help but feel that maybe she was just a Muggle on the inside.

"I'm gonna stay for a while," she told Sophie. "That summer camp that the Professors announced looked like a lot of fun. After that, it's back to London with me!" Anna was actually quite excited to meet another person who was staying during the summertime. She had been slightly worried that she wouldn't have made any friends to hang with at camp. That was a bit silly considering Annabelle's tendency to befriend anyone who so much as glanced at her, but to the 11-year-old socialite it had been a very real concern.

"I miss my parents too. I don't have an owl, but I do write home to them every day. I mean they made me write them every day so they'd let me go here, but I probably would anyway. I think it's super cool that you can keep pets here, but I can't afford one yet..." She trailed off, thinking for a moment. "I miss my dogs back home, but they'd be way too rowdy for this place. What kind of pet would you want to have?"

"What kind of pet would you want to have?"

Sophie's eyes lit up bright and excited. She grinned. Besides her own owl, Sophie never knew what she would want. A cat would be nice. But Annabelle had dogs, Dogs were so cute and cuddly! Well, cats were cute, but they could scratch.

"Well besides my owl Kiyoko? Maybe a.. a um, hmm. A chinchilla? They're cute!"

Sophie forced a smile. Despite being Half-blooded, she had grown up in both the muggle-world, and the wizarding world. Her mum had been muggle-born and knew both worlds as well. Her father was a pure-blood against muggle-borns.

Funny how much the world can spin.

Sophie took a sip of her pumpkin juice. 

"So, what cabin are you in? I'm in the cabin of the Thestral's. I really like Thestrals too. And besides, Professor Blackburn is an interesting person. Gives the whole thing a nice wrap off."

Sophie smiled loftily. Her emerald eyes glanced from her turquoise blue and Lapis lined book to her newfound friend. She grinned mischievously. She had known something about each person in the book that nobody else knew. They al had story to themselves.

Heroes or not, each person was a story in itself, good or bad, everyone had a story in themselves. All Sophie had to do to be like them, was make her own story. 

"Chinchilla's are so adorable!" Annabelle agreed. She loved all animals, but the cute and cuddly ones got her especially excited. Still, she couldn't help but long for the large fluffy faces of her two dogs back home. They were both about the size of the 11-year-old Annabelle, but they were absolutely convinced that they were lap dogs. Their slobbery tongues and tendancy to sit on her certainly made life back home a bit less convenient, but they made up for it by being the sweetest dogs in the universe. She was hoping that after this summer she'd be able to afford a pet, but... dogs weren't allowed at Hogwarts.

Her options were owls, toads, cats, and rats apparently. All of them were adorable! The thought of bringing a new friend home to the dorms filled her with joy. Of course, that meant she'd have to go back to Diagon Alley. the last time had been... overwhelming. It had been her first venture into the magical world, and of course she had instantly gotten lost. Going back there would be a daunting task for the young girl. Then she was struck with an idea.

Of course! I'll ask her to go with me.

Before Annabelle could ask her new friend to accompany her though, the girl chimed in with a question. "So, what cabin are you in?" Sophie proceeded to tell her about her own assignment and why she was excited to begin summer camp. Anna honestly hadn't thought about it much. She'd signed her name on the sheet and sent an owl begging her parents to let her attend, but the exact specifications of what she would be doing that July were still largely a mystery. She was definitely excited to find out.

"I signed up for Unicorn because... well... I like unicorns." She wished she had a better reason. Professor Cazarez seemed like a good teacher, but she honestly didn't know much about him. "They're so... elegant. They're super graceful in all the stories, which I'm definitely not." Annabelle giggled, recalling various times she'd tumbled down stair or tripped over nothing. She was going to be the least graceful unicorn that ever existed. "Of course, I can't really know where I'm going to end up, but that's the cabin I'm hoping for."