Worlds Apart

My name is Julie Fawcett, and the account you're about to read is the absolutely true story of my sixth year of Hogwarts. I've taken writing classes - I know you're supposed to show rather than tell, and I intend on doing that. Just let me tell you a few things first.

In general, all Hogwarts students live pretty difficult lives. We've got rotating passageways, "unique" teachers, and what's possibly the coldest, draftiest living quarters from the 20^th century upwards. That's not even to mention OWLs, NEWTs, and the homework load, which can only be described as - well, immense.

But I think us Ravenclaws have it just a bit harder than most. You see, our house has the greatest amount of Muggle-born students, and by a significant amount, too. I suppose it's because Gryffindor and Slytherin - and Hufflepuff too, to a certain extent - have family histories. All the purebloods there can trace their ancestries back through generations of parents and grandparents, all in the same house. So we ended up with everyone else, the "free thinkers". And while that may not sound too important, it affects our way of life. Traditional subjects and all sports besides Quidditch, for example - we had to arrange those all ourselves. The Drama Club was a Ravenclaw idea, and so was the chamber orchestra. We're the ones who arranged to get the Muggle papers - a few English ones, and even the New York Times flown in, so we wouldn't lose touch with the outside world. We've had to lobby for some religious freedoms too - you should have see Professor Snape when my friend Mandy wouldn't sample her potion because it wasn't kosher.

And then there are all the stereotypes about us, which I certainly don't think that we live up to. Sure we study hard, and get good grades, and generally, the Head Boy and Girl are from our house. And yes, we can be bookish, pedantic, and unbelievably elitist. But that's a one-sided portrayal. We're also notorious partiers, for example - and we sneak into our friends' common rooms, cheat on exams, fake sick to get out of class, and all the other normal things that you wouldn't expect from 'goodie-goodies' like us. We just like to think that we do it with a little more style than everybody else.

This year has been the hardest of any - and it's not just because we've started NEWT-level classes, though I'm taking a ton of them. It's also Professor Umbridge - she was in the Ministry before she came to teach here, and she attempted to turn the school into a political entity. And then there were the Quidditch scandals, and the start of the experimental magic, and Harry Potter with Dumbledore's Army... But I'm getting ahead of myself, and after all, this is only a prologue. When you see for yourself what happened this year, it might make sense - or at least the actions will. Even now, looking back, I still haven't been able to figure out why.