Young Americans

9/5

Dear Diary,

I left for school today. To tell you truth, I haven't been so happy to go in a long time.

To muggles, our house looks like a cheap tiny trailer, with broken bottles on the ground and a barbed-wire fence surrounding it. To wizards it doesn't look much different, other then inside being the size of a small two bedroom apartment and the barbed wire fence posts being topped with the heads of small animals. It's a nasty place, in fact, most people don't want to see the inside, they just turn and run away.

Mom's been so happy lately, singing to herself, and up and about. It's weird.

I'm used to having her passed out in the bathtub, or sprawled out on the couch high as a kite.

Our mother-fucking house hasn't been cleaned since I don't know when, but there she is, scrubbing away with Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover. More than anything, it freaks me out. Maybe she's started popping antidepressants on top of everything else. She's also muttering to herself.

"Everything is going to be wonderful again! After years of waiting, it's happening! And that motherfucking, double-crossing bastard is going to get it as well! He deserved it! Running away when I was pregnant!"

Other than the fact that I look like him, that's all I know about my father.

I've seen pictures of Mom when she was young: shining blonde hair, large blue eyes, full lips and nice curvy figure.

Not the strung-out, shriveled, haggard, toothless junkie she is now.

I have her same eyes and lips. But as Mom has often spat out during a drunken rage:

"YOU LOOK JUST LIKE THE FUCKING BASTARD!"

I guess I do, I mean I have this horrible long, pointed nose; black, stringy hair; no figure whatsoever, and I'm as thin as fucking post with drowned-corpse skin that burns in the sun. It never freckles, so I look like Mortisha-fucking Addam's ugly sister. It didn't come from my mother, who once was a jet-setting beach bunny. It came from him.

Mom used to be rich, happy and pampered, after all, Garwood is an old name, and used to hold a lot of respect.

Plymouth Rock landed on our ancestors or something like that.

Then she got into booze, sex, drugs, dark magic and HIM.

Her downfall was all HIS fault, so she says.

She also told he was messing with her head, and seducing her, then he left her in the wake of terrible scandal.

Her Mama and Papa paid off the right people to cover it up, and had the others who couldn't be paid off fired.

Then almost a year later, they disowned their daughter and granddaughter probably because Mom sold their flying yacht for drugs.

I've never met 'em, and never seen 'em, they're probably fucking snobs.

For the first time ever in my school career, Mom offers to take me to the train station. I'm used to doing this on my own. It was freaky, her trying to help me.

I turned down her offer, then said good bye to Nemesis, our four foot long pet python. She's great, and the only thing I'll miss here. I like it when she curls around my neck like a scarf and licks my hand.

Mom and me think it's fucking hilarious to watch her eat live piglet and rats, especially if they squeal. I say good-bye to Nem, just as the muggle taxi I paid for pulls up.

I'm glad I used to collect Muggle money as a hobby, and that I took that Muggle Studies class, because now I actually know what I'm doing. This year I have too much crap to pack on a broomstick, so I have to go Muggle-style to the train station.

And who else should already be at the train station but that little prick Willy Blythe and his twitchy, Muggle-born sidekick Adiel Hopkins. I don't like Willy, his life is just too good. He's never known any pain, not any real pain at least.

Not two-a.m.-freezing-outside-in-twenty-below-weather-because-your-mom-will-kill-you-if-you-go-inside pain. Hell, his mom probably tucks him at night and gives him hot cocoa. He's so self-righteous, as if everything can be divided up so evenly into good and evil.

Everything about Willy annoys me, especially his damned freckled face, topped with undecided colored hair, blond and orange at the same time. He's so tall, but still has the face of a child, he'd never get into any clubs like that!

And then there's Adiel. I don't like Adiel because he never seems to know when to shut the fuck up, he just keeps on talking and talking. Adiel looks ratty, and he's too skinny. His hair is dirty blond, but his eyebrows are black, and he has a thin face with a smile like a horse.

They're both annoying little spazzes, but they're fun to taunt.

Their first year (my second), I sat in their compartment and really messed with them, and then each time I returned from summer holidays I'd modified my appearance so the freak out factor kept increasing. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling through the whole train ride. After shocking the normals, I was just about to visit with my other house members, when who should appear but one the banes of my existence: Aleatha Watt.

"Oh, Sirenia it's SO good to see you, and hey, cool piercings!" she says, then she hugs me. I don't what I did, but Aleatha thinks by some misguided reasoning, that we are friends. I hate it. Squished between her large breasts, all I can smell is her cheap incense (or pot). And they think I'm weird? She makes her own clothes, and her mind is still stuck in the sixties! After managing to escape, I checked a mirror, and wouldn't you know it but the bitch ruined my make-up.

After having to reapply the black decor, I decided I deserved a reward, for not hexing Aleatha. I took out my zippo lighter and my pack of cloves, and I'm just about to light up when the train comes to a sudden stop. Shit! I still have to change into my mother-fucking robes and get off the train. I grabbed my standard school gray robes, with the little ribbon tie around the neck, and the little SWI (Salem Witch Institute) embroidered on the right.

A nifty bit of trivia: school was founded long before the Salem Witch trials, but they changed their name because of two of the witches who were killed during the ordeal (both graduates of the school).

I hurry up, and soon we're all in carriages going up the mountain. It's rather handy to hide the school, Muggles don't climb the mountain because 'there's a lot danger of rock slides.' I'm not sure where we are in the mountains actually, all I know is the school is on the east coast.

The school is a mixture of different architecture styles; the older buildings look a medieval castle in dark gray stone and the rest are built after the Revolutionary War, in white marble from the Greek Revival Federalist style. Then there are the moving statues. The statue of Willette Wendigo, my house's founder, waves to me and I wave back The statues are funny, they move around and talk to each other and last year two of them even got into a brawl. They had to be repaired by a stone mason, and then they were both placed on opposite sides of the school grounds.

I enter the large main hall with the rest, and look at the tables for the four different houses. There's Delapin, that's Adiel's house and he's perfect for it. They're all a bunch of over-caffeined, neurotic, perky cowards who don't know when to shut up. Then there's Quetzalcorazo: the flaky, pot-smoking, liberal, hippy freaks. Either they're squealing about some imagined injustice, or they're too stoned to care. Aleatha's a member of that house.

Eaglewings are the ones I hate the most, they're stuck-up, self-righteous bastards, who think they know what's good for everyone. It's no surprise that Willy's an Eaglewing.

Finally, last but certainly not least, there's my house, Wendigo. We're all pretty cool, we're the clever ones, and we let nothing stand in the way of our goals. When anyone tries to mess with us, we fuck 'em up good, and we help each other out (to a certain extent, I'm not giving my organs to any of these people).

I sit down between Pike Steerington, and Gregorina Nickelov. I know both of them well, but I wouldn't really call them friends. Even though Pike Steerington is quiet and smart, and even though he's very charming, he's hideous looking. He's too tall and thin, his shoulders are too narrow, his hair is the color of straw and is currently in a limp ponytail. His beady eyes are the color of dried blood, are far too close together, and look small in his bulging forehead. On the other side is Gregorina Nickelov. She's not much better, she has coarse brown hair, deep-set, creepy gray eyes with tiny irises, and she doesn't bathe often. She appears to be dumb and speaks slowly, but I think its just an act. I look for Nicholas Horeferns, but he's not here. He was a seventh year when I was just in my first, so it figures. Out of habit, I always look for him, Nick was handsome, not only was he head boy, but he was captain of the Quidditch team. He took me under his wing, so to speak. His little sister, who is a Delapin, has the same haunted look in her eyes that I had my entire first year.

I looked towards the front of the room and over at the staff table. In the middle sits Headmistress Josephine Leveau, with her long white hair, light brown skin, lined face and ever patient eyes. She's descended from a famous witch who lived in New Orleans. Some people in my house, like seventh year Hiram Mckan, don't like her for stupid racist reasons. I think she's okay, except she always gives the same boring speech every year, and always ends with the same French phrase: "Gardez la foi."

To the left of her is the Charms teacher, Professor Virgil Hawk, an old wizard with very precisely combed silver hair and a face that makes him look like he's got a rod shoved up his ass, but doesn't want anyone to know. The first time I had Professor Hawk's class I was late, and he started lecturing me. I got pissed, told him off, and we've gotten along just fucking peachy after that. He thinks I'm an ill-tempered, ungrateful, troublemaking brat; and I think he's a uptight, self-righteous, judgmental asshole. He's the head of Eaglewings, so it makes sense that they're a house full of dicks, since he's the biggest dick I know.

Professor Glider, the History of Magic teacher, is sipping an expresso, and yakking away (to himself mostly, nobody else will listen) while the sun glints off his bald head, glasses and trails down his brown robes.

Then there's Professor McGraft, he's a fucking old hippie who still wears his gray hair in a ponytail, along with brightly colored robes. He's often got a dumb smile on his lips (The sixties are DEAD AND ROTTING IN THE GRAVE!). He's the head of Quetzalcorazo (surprise, surprise!) and teaches Potions. He's such a pussy though, he never criticizes anyone because "it might hurt their self-esteem," and sometimes instead of doing potions, we spend the whole class sitting around TALKING ABOUT OUR FEELINGS! I wish we actually had a real hard-ass in there, then most of the kids would at least learn something.

Second to the end on the left is Professor Amelia Blake, the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. She is the coolest, and I'm not just saying that because she's head of my house. She's spent about twelve years getting paid for killing the nastiest monsters known, and she even specialized in dealing with the undead. She knows loads about the them; zombies, ghosts, wights, wraiths, vampires and even the dark art necromancy. Not only that, but she's really pretty. With her thick, wavy black hair and nice face, she couldn't be more than thirty at the most. Why is she here teaching when she's still in her monster-killing prime, you ask?

The reason is sitting right next to her in the last seat, and he's got marble white skin, ice blue eyes, shimmering yellow hair, fine chiseled features, pale lips... and fangs. His name is Leblanc. He's a vampire and he's Professor Blake's boyfriend. We don't have to worry about Leblanc attacking anyone, as he is under some kind of charm which makes him incapable of attacking unwilling human victims (Though we haven't told the members of the other that heh heh...). He's great to have around, he'll tell you anything you want know about French history from the 16th century to 18th century (for a price, and if Professor Blake doesn't find out), he's hot, and he freaks out anybody we don't like.

On the other side of the staff table, there's Professor Cuttings, birdy looking bitch (I mean witch) who teaches Herbology. There's also two other witches I don't recongize... one looks younger than Blake, and the other is a slightly older, dark haired witch in brightly colored robes.

I swiveled around as the new students began coming in, all wide-eyed and either scared out of their wits or extremely excited. I caught a glimpse of a taller kid in the back, he looked older... Oh hey, now comes the sorting, which is always fun to watch. Just like every year, the highly polished amethyst globe resting on the velvet cushion is set upon the chair, and the kids are called up. Each kid puts their hands on the globe, and the globe swirls and the name of their house projects out in ghostly letters hanging in the air.

"Adkins, Danielle;" is called, a little brunette girl stumbles up, becomes a Delapin and they cheer at the Delapin table. Adiel has a stupid grin plastered on his face.

"Alleyene, Claire;" becomes an Eaglewing, and so does "Bayford, Niall;" and "Blythe, Cyndi." God damn it, that must be Willy's sister. I get so disgusted that I can't watch, I hate those fucking Eaglewings. A few more kids come up, and there's more cheering, but nothing to get excited about.

"De carlo, Matthew." Finally, this kid is a Wendigo! We all cheer, Gregorina pats him on the back (knocking the wind out of him), Pike shakes his hand, silently dissecting his character, and I smile at him. He looks freaked out for a minute and then calms himself and smiles back, a smile that says "what's the best I can make of this situation?" He's one of us.

I wait and watch as two more twins (Laquisha and Larissa) become Queztalcorazos. By the time I start paying attention again, we're into the G's.

"Geller, Corwin." A Delapin, with shifty eyes.

"Genris, Ingrid." A Wendigo, yes!

"Graham, Ezell." An Eaglewing, fuck him!

"Goldstein, Tamara;" becomes a Quetzalcorazo, and that's when my interest slacked off. It was great that we're getting new students and all, but I was really hungry, and a bit bored... until that taller kid comes up. He's paper thin, shivering and he looks Eurasian. Wincing, he puts his hands on the amethyst, and it swirls for a long time before finally the words "Wendigo" appear in the air. He sees it and scurries over to table like he's been struck.

Finally after "Vaginelis, Philomena." (Delapin, and what a shitty last name) and "Venton, Harlan" (Eaglewing, the bastard) there was one kid left:

"Washington, Jamal;" a black kid with corn rows strides up. He becomes a Wendigo, and I smile as Hiram's face darkened with rage. Headmistress Leveau then gets up to give her beginning of the year speech (Oh boy, boredom fest). She looked around the gathering, smiled and spoke in that voice with the slight accent:

"This year we welcome all the new students, and our one transfer student from the prestigious Amaya Academy Of Magic in Japan. And we have two new teachers as well: Professor Metzler," she gestures to the young witch sitting on the right. "Will be teaching transfiguration, replacing Professor Fauker. And Professor Usnea Vespers," She gestures to the older witch in the brightly colored robes. "She will be teaching a special one year elective: the art of magical painting." Hey, I signed up for that class. Headmistress Leveau continues "Now, most of you know this is the time when I give my traditional start of the school year speech," I groaned at this point. "However, last year as I looked at the student body I noticed that half of you were mouthing along, and the other half of you were sleeping. I decided to give a brand new speech this year." The new speech was pretty good, and as a bonus it was short.

It was dinner time after that: Hot dogs (tofu dogs for those whiny Quetzalcorazos), French fries, and a salad with three dressings: Blue cheese, Italian and a black slimy liquid which everyone was avoiding. I put it on my salad, and as it turned out, the black slimy liquid was Black Raspberry Vinaigrette, and very good.

Off to the dorm after that. Ours has been dubbed 'the fortress.' It's a massive rectangular, gray stone building, with thick walls and a few small slit like windows. There are no visible entrances. The only way in is the protruding small stone shaped like a clasping hand on the left side. You put your hand in its grasp and say the password (RETRIBUTION, this time). If you're wrong, the hand will either push you away or tighten it's grip until you hear the bones crunch in your own hand. We enter the common room: a long, narrow, windowless room, that has one small, but very smoky fire in a fire pit in the center of the room.

The only furniture are three long, crude looking wooden benches, and one overly comfortable chair (with built in massager and heat) that everyone squabbles over. On the north wall is the beautiful but scowling portrait of Willette Wendigo, that glowers at everyone in the room. I acted fast and got the good chair... Pike quickly walks up to me, with his odd slouching walk. He suddenly started spouting B.S like, "Your skin is like moon, your hair is a great swath of darkness, and your eyes are sullen. You are a most gracious, beautiful and generous lady if you would only..." I stop him and tell him he's not getting the chair. He walks away, muttering something and subtly pointing his wand at me. I'm about to say the disarming spell when I hear Professor Blake yell out: "Expelliarmus!"

She's standing in the fire pit (Floo powder or something) and she knocks Pike off his feet. "Steerington, trying to harm your own house member, we don't do that." She sighed and then took ten points off Wendigo.

Pike's bloodclot eyes smoldered as he got up, turned and walked off into the darkness. Professor Blake stepped out of the fire and grinned at me. I got out of the chair and joined the other sixth years on the benches, watching the first and second years shivering on floor, trying to get close to the fire pit. I ended the day now, in my little bunk with the black blankets and red trim. I'll write in you again when something interesting happens, I just wanted to share my first day with you.

Yours Faithfully,

Sirenia Garwood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9/5

Dear Journal,

Today I went back to school. It's Cyndi's first day as well, we got her letter for SWI in the mail this summer. Along with it came all the catalogues: Wally's World of Wands, Terra Firma: Magical Textbooks, Pernal's Potion Supplies and Cauldrons, Rodreick's Robes For Any Kind Of Wear etc. Mom ordered our school supplies this year, although it's expensive and Dad tells us we don't have that kind of money. Mom's been too busy with her project to take us to Paradox Avenue.

I suggested I could take Cyndi to Paradox Avenue (in New York City), after all, I'm 15 and that's more than old enough. But she insisted it was too dangerous.

When I asked Dad, he started telling us that old story from when he was part of the M.L.E. (Magical Law Enforcers) and there was a teenager who went to Paradox Avenue alone and was mugged by an Orge. So I guess it's catalogues, though it was hard wand shopping, since we had to return almost all of the wands up until today, when Cyndi finally got a wand that works. I usually would be a bit more excited about going back to school, after all I get to see my friends and stuff. I'm too interested in Mom's project, though.

You see, Mom was raised by her Uncle Flavius because her parents were killed by a troll when she was small. This year Uncle Flavius died, and Mom was so depressed because he was her only living relative. Then she received this box from his will, and it contained old family records and other things. Mom spent about a year and day on this, and she found out that my great-grandfather (her grandfather) Lambert was from England, and he had a sibling who stayed there and got married. She spent time looking up more records and genealogies and stuff, and eventually discovered that she has a second cousin named Molly who lives in England. She started writing Molly this summer and they've exchanged letters since then.

Mom was so excited about it, at first I didn't care, but then I found out about my cousins in England. There are seven of them and most of them are boys! I've always wished I had a brother, since I'm wedged between Eliane and Cyndi. Though Elaine's just graduated, so it's gotten a bit easier. Molly also sent us a picture of the family, they look just like mom and me, same red hair (though my hair is kinda blondish) and freckled. Eliane and Cyndi have dark brown hair and eyes and happen to be freckles, since they get their looks from Dad.

Not only that, but one of Molly's sons is my age! He must be so lucky, I mean they had the Quidditch cup in England a half a year ago, and I would have killed to see that, despite how dangerous Mom says it was. They also have Hogsmeade, the only all-wizard settlement! We don't have anything like that here... only a few streets, and they're all in the major cities, which sucks. He probably goes to Hogwarts. SWI is cool and all, but they didn't have the Triwizard tournament here, it must have kicked ass to see it up close and personal! Also Harry Potter, the guy who defeated You-Know-Who, goes to Hogwarts. Maybe my cousin even knows Harry or their friends... naw, that's just pushing it a bit. It'd be so cool to be in England. My parents don't think so, they warned me about Death Eaters and how You-Know-Who has risen again, but those are just rumors. I don't believe them at all, I mean wouldn't they tell us if You-Know-Who had really come back?

Anyways, this morning we had a great breakfast, Mom got up early and conjured up something special: pancakes, sausages, fresh orange juice and real maple syrup. It was also her first day back at work, she's an elementary school teacher at Belva Botkins Grammar School For Young Wizards and Witches. Cyndi was crying into her orange juice about how much she'd miss everything at home. Dad just sat there reading his paper, because he usually doesn't like to take part in these things. Mom hugged us good-bye, and she was just about to Apparate off to work when a tawny owl flew into the window and dropped a letter in Dad's lap. He read it and sighed. Some family had their kitchen infested with imps, and they said to come immediately. After all, it is his job as an exorciser to get rid of all kinds of magical pests. Dad sighed again, he said it was the Winfreys again, and muttered about how they never learn.

"Just like time they had the gremlins and the brownies. When will they learn that by feeding these things and calling them cute, they're just asking for an infestation. Sorry Vicki, sorry kids, I can't take you to the train station." He stepped into the fireplace and was about to use Floo powder to disappear, when he paused and looked around. He remarked how the Winfreys would have to wait, they had been foolish enough to let imps in the first place, and the first day of work was too important for Vicki to miss.

We took the portkey there (a empty french fry container), but the only problem is the portkey didn't quite work because Dad bought it at discount, so were dropped off three miles from the the train.

It wasn't a big deal though, we had plenty of time and besides, I liked traveling to school with Dad, he always tells the best stories about when he was a M.L.E. My Dad was one of the best, back then he could handle anything from a drunken duel between teenagers to a rampaging troll. Even the worst threat, Death Eaters - there weren't as many Death Eaters in America as there were in Europe then, we handled almost entirely by ourselves, only using an Auror as a consultant. Dad caught nine of them himself, six of the psychos were locked up in Azkaban and the other three given the Dementor's kiss. I watch him as he tells us and his eyes glimmer, he looks so proud.

Cyndi asks the question I have already asked many times before: why did you quit? Dad answers her right away, he says that being a M.L.E. was getting too dangerous and he had family to think about. Eliane was a toddler back then and he didn't want anything bad to happen to him or his new family. His tone always changes when he says this, the pride is gone. I always wish Dad had stayed with the M.L.E. It'd be much cooler then just being an exorciser. I mean, he could be out defending the world from evil, not just ridding a fireplace of a few stray salamanders. I told him that and he just told us that we were at the train station already.

Cyndi hugged Dad so hard I had to almost pry her off. Then she started clinging to me! Everyone was staring at us! I told her something about being eleven years old and that she shouldn't be acting like this, and that it was upsetting Altara, my owl. I can understand she didn't want to leave home but, oh man, it was embarrassing.

Cyndi immediately stopped when she saw her friends Claire Alleyene and Larissa Freedman, waved and ran off to join them. I searched for my friends, Thoris, Adiel, Dulice, Hypatia and Bob. I spotted Adiel first. I was surprised, Bob's parents are usually on time. Adiel was sitting on his trunk with his face resting in hands.

He looked just as skinny, maybe even skinnier, then he did last year, and his hair was the same dirty blonde hair. And, like always, he was fast asleep. I sprayed a tiny bit of water in his face to wake him up. He spluttered and then scowled, and I quickly asked him what he had been doing that summer. He started talking about all these muggle things, especially video games. He's obsessed with video games, he spent the whole summer playing video games! I don't know, Quidditch is much more interesting, and besides, HE is the seeker for the Delapin team!

Then again, I'm the Eaglewing seeker so I suppose this is a good thing.... but if I'm gonna compete against anyone I'd like to see them in their top shape. Adiel was about to say something but then SHE arrived.

Sirenia Garwood, the biggest bitch I know of. I don't use that word often, but it suits her, and it's not just because of the those rumors about her Mom, or that everyone knows she more-than-dabbles in the Dark Arts. She's so nasty, and has never said anything good to anyone as far as I know, plus, she's creepy looking. Tall and gaunt, with that tangled, oily black waist length hair, waxy white skin, a long curved nose, and those horrid large cobalt eyes which would be pretty if they didn't have this awful hardness in them. She always wears these robes made of layers of black lace in a cackling skull pattern, and black make-up. She also reeks of clove cigarettes.

I remember when it was me and Adiel's first year, when he really didn't know anything and was kinda scared. She made it worse for Adi. She gave him the worst impression of what muggles think witches are like. She sat across from us in our compartment and stared at us the whole time, she never moved, blinked, or showed any expression on her face. She just stared. Even when the snack cart came around, she bought a pack of jelly slugs, and then proceeded to eat them one by one, biting their heads off, never taking her eyes off us. She does it every year and it creeps us out.

Every year since then, she comes back looking even more weird. Our second year, she came back with a tattoo of a moving, carnivorous, thorny vine that covers her entire front except for her face. We could see it growing on her neck and hands, and I heard she has a pacing manticore on her back. The year after that she came back with all her teeth filed into sharp points, and she grinned at us the entire train ride. I wonder what she did this year. Then I saw her face. She had a ring in her nose, rings through both eyebrows, and two rows of gleaming silver rings going up and down both ear lobes. Her lips looked sullen in that same black lipstick.

She caught us staring, gave us a grin, no, actually, more like a cross between a snarl and grin, showing as many pointy filed teeth as she could. She then stuck out her tongue, revealing a shiny metal barbell going through it. Repulsive.

When the train came, she HAD to sit with us like always. This year we ignored her. Adiel got this great new card game down at Insanity Games in Paradox Avenue, it's called Vicious: The Crushing, the cards actually attack each other! He taught me how to play, it was so awesome. After a few sarcastic comments, evil glares and swearing, Sirenia gave up and stalked out of the compartment, to show off to her only friend. The only person who is nearly as freaky as her, is her best friend Svea Mullog. Svea is a suck-up with a weird speech impediment and a thing for telling riddles.

From what I heard outside the compartment, she ran into Althea Watt, who always tries to be nice to everyone, even people like Sirenia and Svea. I think Althea's wasting her time, like my Dad says,"'you take a snake to your breast and it'll bite you." But Althea tries, and to her credit, Sireina didn't say anything nasty this time.

Then Althea came to visit us. She's a seventh year, the Queztalcorazo perfect and really hot with bright blue eyes, wavy blonde hair, and a killer body. Not only that, but she's the kindest person I have ever met. She'll lend you money if you need to get a snack, she'll help you find directions when you're lost, help you study if you're confused about something, and she's comforting when you're sad. She's always mellow and distant, they say that's because she's stoned half the time, but I don't want to believe that. Me, Adiel and Althea had a nice chat. We asked her about what had happened outside, and sighing, she told me that Sireinia has just had a very hard life. To forget about that, we then played a round of viscous. And Adiel lost to her! He said it was because she had some good cards, I know it was because she wasn't wearing a bra under her peasant blouse.

After that, the train had stopped. We got on our school robes and left the train. We saw Sirenia looked even angrier then usual which is never good, she hates almost all of the Professors she either defies them or ignores them, and it seemed like she was about to start the year the same way. Not only that, but last year, her and that Mullog girl (who is nowhere in sight) changed the W in Salem Witches Institute to a B. Luckily, they were both given detention for the rest of the year. We got to the school, and boy, our school grounds sure looked great!

The marble was shining, and the statues were all in their normal spots, looking proud. I'm glad that Cuthbert The Tenacious and Elwin The Argumentative were both on opposite sides of campus, because they were getting into brawls and some people like Steerington, Mullog and Sirenia held betting pools on which one would win! I generally like all the statues, except the one of Willette Wendigo, she always has a sullen expression on her face. However, when Sirenia walked by her, she smiled and waved to her, and Sirenia waved back. It figures when you think about it, Sirenia is the closet thing to a modern Willette Wendigo that there is. Next is the main hall.

That was where Adiel and I parted ways, and he went over to the Delapin table. They're okay. They're quick thinkers, hard workers, and good planners, not to mention a bit hyper and talkative. Some say they're cowards, but I don't buy it just because their house symbol is a rabbit. A Delapin will fight if they're backed into a corner, just as bravely as as anyone else. But I wish Adiel was an Eaglewing, then he'd sit with me.

Next table down is the Quetzalcorazos, in my opinion they're almost as good as Eaglewings. They always try to make the world a better, more fair, beautiful place, even if some of their ideas are little... strange. They try to help people who don't have much, and they fight for minorities. But many of them are potheads, and they're so touchy about political things. I remember this one time in History they got into a debate about the human rights entitled to accused Death Eaters! Why do Death Eaters need human rights, they're evil!

Eaglewings, my table, are where most of my friends are. The cool thing about us is we always fight for what's right, we never back down, we try to be fair about things and we have a kickass Quidditch team!

Much better then the Wendigos. I can't stand those Wendigos, sitting in the corner over there. The whole house was crooked from the start. Their founder was a dark witch, she didn't even use her real name. Willette was the European name she chose, so she'd blend in better after she'd 'reformed.' I mean this woman was evil, with anyone she didn't like, she'd use some kind of charm to pick the person up and drag them along the ground until their feet caught fire and burned away. Then she'd go up in the air and drop them from a fatal height, and then display their bodies as a warning to others! Mostly she did this to poor muggle-born wizards, just because she felt they were unfit or some other bigoted crap. And I also heard she ate human flesh. Then she met Louis Delapin and 'reformed,' learned western magic and helped found the school. Reformed my ass! Most muggles think a Wendigo is monster because of the way she killed people. That whole house is tainted, they're a bunch of creepy, spiteful, cruel, biased, selfish dark-arts users.

They don't even have a proper house mascot, the Queztalcorazo's have a Queztal bird, we have a bald eagle, Delapin's a rabbit and the Wendigo just have gusts of wind, I mean, what the heck? Sirenia is one of the worst of them, most of the Wendigos try to at least pass for normal. She sat right between the oddest ones: Gregorina, who is dumb as a brick and smells like a goat, and Pike, who is ugly, manipulative and shifty. There's also Hiram and his bunch, all inbred, square headed racists; and Svea Mullog...slinking sycophant...who...still wasn't there.

Wow, I can't believe I wrote that much about that bunch of jerks! I mean, I don't like them and everything but... My Mom says if you don't if you don't have something nice to say about someone don't say it all. My Dad always says that most of the Death eaters were from the Wendigo house. I agree with Dad, besides, I didn't say it, I only wrote it. Later I was finally able to catch up with my other friends. Thoris had gotten really tall, but his brown hair was still in the same bowl cut. He'd also learned more jokes over the summer ( " ...if it's anything like a kangaroo we'll need a lot of room."). Hypatia, whose red hair finally grew out, so now it didn't look so poofy, even though I could still spot her from across the room ("but at least no one will say I have a 'fro!"). Dulice has dark, kind eyes, straight short hair; and is quiet as mouse, but is very nice (" Hi, nice shirt.") Then there was Bob, he was cool as usual, he always is ("hey.").

I looked over at the staff table, which is in the front of the room. In the middle sits Headmistress Leveau. She's from New Orleans, and even though I've been here before, every year I'm still amazed at how cool she is. Some people think she may know voodoo or something, but if she does it's the good kind. I can tell about these things.

Our house head, Professor Hawk, sat silently, looking dignified, never a silver hair out of place, as always. He teaches Charms, and is one of the best Professors in the school. He may be strict, but he goes slowly so you have plenty of time to catch up. Sirenia and the other Wendigos are always insulting him. They just don't get how hard he works! If I were him, I would have used a binding charm on their mouths a long time ago.

Professor Glider is next to him, a twinkle in his eyes under those thick glasses, telling Professor Hawk excitedly between sips of his expresso about new pre-Columbian magical artifacts discovered in New Mexico. He's the Delapin house head. He teaches History of Magic, and it's never boring when he's teaching. He loves the subject, and I can't wait to see what crazy stuff he's gonna come up with this year.

Professor McGraft's cool too, he's just so understanding about what's it like to be a student, and he totally understands when you don't get a potion quite right. And sometimes - like after we heard about the Dark Mark at the World Cup - we get to sit around and talk about how we felt about it instead of doing work. He's the head of Queztalcorazo and he's great, I don't think anyone could hate him.

Then there's Professor Blake, she knows waaay to much about necromancy and the other dark arts. She's the head of Wendigo, though she's far too young to have that post, she must have sicced her boyfriend on the last head of Wendigo or something.

That pasty, creepy, wispy-haired Leblanc guy is a vampire who dresses like he's a gay pimp. He's always walking around staring hungrily at everybody's neck and muttering in French.

There was also Cuttings and some new witches up there as well. One of them was sitting in poor old Professor Fauker chair, which means he finally had enough and resigned. He taught Transfiguration, which isn't the easiest subject in the world, not to mention he didn't get any respect from many of the students (mostly the Wendigos). I hope this poor little witch knows what she's getting into, and I hope she does have a last name that rhymes with a nasty word.

Finally came the cool part, the sorting! All the new students filed in, including Cyndi.

This was the exciting part! My heart must have been pounding really hard when they placed the sorting stone down on the cushion. First up was: "Adkins, Danielle."

She looked really frightened, but like everyone else she placed her hands on the stone. She was Delapin. The next two kids up were both Eaglewings, that was cool. After that "Blythe, Cyndi." I was so worried she'd get sorted into the wrong house like Wendigo or Queztalcorazo. SHE'S AN EAGLEWING! WHOOO-HOOO! I just hope she doesn't embarrass me. After that came: "Caban Stephenie(Quetzalcorazo), Cahill Justin (Delapin), Caiazzo Nina(Eaglewing), Cianfarni Rosbela..." I think she became a Delapin, I'm not sure, I was congratulating Nina.

When I looked up again, they were on the D's "Daggs Martian (Quetzalcorazo), D'angelo Susan (Delapin), Davidison Ethelred (Eaglewing)..." He was pretty cool kid, he already knew about Vicious: The Crushing and was showing me a pack of cards when everyone heard a cheer go up from the Wendigo table.

They had gotten a new member, oh shit. I stopped paying attention after the F's because I had to calm Cyndi down, she was upset because Larissa, (or is it Laquisha) her other best friend, got sorted into Queztalcorazo. I suppose it was real dumb of me to say that, to her now all three couldn't gang up and play pranks on me. I'd have to say each house gained about ten to fourteen members. I heard there was a transfer student from Japan, but he became an Wendigo so now there's more of them.

It was time for Headmistress Leveau's speech. I usually find myself drifting off about this time, I can't help it. As soon as she says: "This year we welcome new students...." I start to get drowsy as she trots out the same speech. I usually wake up at the "...Gardez la foi..." bit, which means keep the faith. However, this year we had a new speech, it was a story about a storm approaching a village and how they prepared for it. It didn't make much sense though, I mean it didn't have anything to do with school work. Dulice told me it was an allegory. I already figured it out by then, but why should we prepare for something that isn't coming, for all we know? Headmistress Leveau can get pretty creepy sometimes.

Dinner was cool, we had hot dogs, french fries and salad. I don't like salad but I was able to cover it up with enough blue cheese dressing, so it tasted all right. There was also this nasty looking black oily liquid. Sirenia put it on hers. She's psycho, it looked really nasty.

After that we went to Eaglewing hall, when Cyndi saw it she told me how it didn't look like a hall, but something from Ancient Greece.

I told her what we tell all first years, about how it used to be a wooden hall, but it a magical fire burned down the original building and it was rebuilt better then ever. I mean it looks like a palace with all the marble everywhere, the entranceway's great ionic columns and the statue over the door of an eagle with it's wings sheltering a bunch of students. They all shout hello to us. I love nothing more than to see Eaglewing hall on a dark night with the windows lit up, welcoming and safe at the top of the hill. Cyndi wanted to get inside so bad she rushed the door, but luckily our prefect stopped her.

You can't open the door right away, you have to get past the eye. Right above our entrance way is an amber orb that's called the Eagle's-eyes. Everett Eaglewing himself made it, it is the only thing that survived the fire. It looks into your soul, and judges whether or not your heart is pure, and if it is, it lets you in. I don't know what makes your heart or soul pure, but the eye knows, and I trust it. But now it's still closed and resting. Suddenly it flashed open, was startled by the first years, and began scowling at us. It sends a shiver through you when it looks at you. However we did get in.

The common room was great, it's a large, wood paneled room with two large, warm fireplaces, and overstuffed, comfortable chairs and couches. I stayed up playing Vicious with Ethelred, talking to all my friends, and trying to ignore Cyndi and her annoying little friend. I really don't want to sleep. However, everyone went to bed, and Professor Hawk sent me up to my room, so I have to.

I hate to admit this but I'm scared to sleep, I've been having these dreams lately... and I'm so afraid. Every time I go to sleep I can hear people, they're scared, alone and pleading. I can't face it. I usually sleep just fine here, surrounded by my friends and in the plush, four-poster blue and purple bed. But not now.

I hate being scared, but I have to sleep. Maybe the dreams won't come.

And anyways, Cyndi's here now so I have to be strong for her.

Yours,

Willy.