The Difference Between Crazy and Insane

Hoggy, Warty, Hogwarts!

"Good good. I'm glad you could all make it," Our headmaster greeted us.

Everyone seemed excited, but not nearly as much as yesterday. The atmosphere was tense with nerves for heading to a new place. Jordan had his arm wrapped around my shoulder as we all stood in silence waiting for Mr. Fontaine to direct us.

"It appears that young Lara is not able to come with us this time around," Mr. Fontaine told us. "Now would everyone please link arms?"

Confused, but never questioning the brilliance of our headmaster, we all linked arms. A sudden sensation washed over me as everything went black. I couldn't breath and it felt as though I was squeezing through a space meant for a bug. After what seemed to be an eternity and a couple seconds we landed on a stone road in some village.

"This is Hogwarts?" Jack asked. He was a scrawny, brown-haired, 16-year old who I knew to be a Horned Serpent.

"No, this is the schools' village, Hogsmeade," Mr. Fontaine corrected. "This is the closest place to the school that we can apparate to."

"But," Jack spoke up and was cut off.

"No more questions. All will be answered with time," Mr. Fontaine told us. "Now, let's start walking."

We all groaned. If that experience apparating was bad we all thought physical labor was far worse. It was still cold outside and none of us had thought to bring jackets. Mr. Fontaine was bringing all of our stuff to Hogwarts for us, but we still managed to become exhausted after walking up a small hill.

I looked over at Jordan and he didn't seem to be having any issue with our trek towards Hogwarts. "Carry me." I told him holding my arms out.

"No way!" he responded.

"Why not?" I whined.

"If you would just exercise more you wouldn't have this issue."

"Yeah, but who wants to exercise?"

"Fine," Jordan groaned. I knew I could count on my best (and only) friend. He crouched down to allow me easy access to his back. I quickly climbed on and wrapped my arms around his neck before allowing him to continue walking.

We climbed a few more hills until Hogwarts came into sight. It was a large grey castle with towers and rooms galore. It was a magnificent sight to see. All the Hogwarts students were lined up outside the castle supposedly waiting to great us as we arrived.

The ten of us stopped in our tracks when we saw a large carriage flying lower and lower towards the castle. The students of Hogwarts watched in awe. Then a ship arose from a nearby lake and also started towards the school. Suddenly I felt our way of arrival was lame and not worth it. Why couldn't we have flown in a carriage?

As we finished the last ten minutes of walking towards the school, I noticed that all of the students and staff had already returned to the safe halls of Hogwarts. I beckoned for Jordan to put me down and sprinted towards the entrance when he did so. Who were they to not wait for us to arrive?

I entered into a place like an entrance hall and went through a second set of doors. My entrance caused a great number of eyes to glance my way and the grey-haired man at a podium had stopped his speech to look as well.

"Why have you already started your welcoming ceremony!?" I shouted. "Did you forget more students had yet to arrive!?"

"Young lady I suggest you calm down. It was my belief that all three participating schools were present," the grey-haired man responded softly.

His kindness didn't calm me down and I continued to rage on. "What do you mean three? There's four participating schools!"

The Ilvermorny headmaster and my other peers came rushing through the door behind me as I shouted at the grey-haired man. "Let me explain!" Mr. Fontaine shouted, seemingly flustered.

I took a few breaths and finally took in more of my surroundings. Students were whispering and staring and teachers were staring at me with wide eyes.

"Agilbert Fontaine, what are you doing here?" The grey-haired man asked.

"My apologies Professor Dumbledore," Mr. Fontaine caught his breath, "I wanted my students to do something fun this year. I heard of your Tri-Wizard Tournament and was eager to join. I apologize for this young one." He ruffled my hair. "She's a bit sporadic."

I stepped out of his grip and Jordan came up behind me and grabbed my arm. I was pulled back behind our headmaster as Professor Dumbledore spoke. "You are always welcome at Hogwarts, but I am afraid I can't permit underaged students to enter the Tournament."

"Our Ministry is different than that of yours Albus. These students with me were nominated by our teachers and gained acceptance from their guardians to attend."

I stood tall as Dumbledore inspected all of us standing proudly behind our headmaster. Finally he agreed and invited us to sit down. We squeezed our way into seats at a table filled with students wearing red colored ties.

"That was pretty cool," I heard someone to my left whisper.

"Thanks," I whispered back.

"I'm Harry," he told me. "Harry Potter." He stared at me seemingly waiting for a reaction to the name.

I didn't understand what reaction he was looking for. "Elise Roberts," I told him. He smiled and looked back to where Professor Dumbledore was speaking.

"Now... I believe it's time for us all to eat." I watched as Dumbledore clapped his hands. I stared at him for a few seconds before I felt Harry nudge me in the side. I looked over at him and he pointed towards the table that was now filled with food.

I let out a soft, "Oh," at the sudden appearance of food and I heard Harry laugh. Now I just feel plain dumb. I'm a fourth year witch at a wizarding school for a wizarding tournament and I'm surprised at the sudden appearance of food on a table. How very smart of me.