noted | oliver w.

ii. an awful play

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1991

gwen griffith's 5th year

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FOR GWEN GRIFFITH, it was a normal (boring) start to the day. Gryffindors thought they had the worst class block for History of Magic, but it was really the Ravenclaws who had to start off the day listening to Professor Binns while forcing themselves to stay awake in the morning with no other class before to get their minds working.

It was dreadful, even for Ravenclaws!

Gwen groaned while walking down the hallway with her best friend and dormmate, Penelope Clearwater.

"I don't want to go!" Gwen complained vocally as Penelope laughed.

Penelope grabbed her friend's hand, "You say that every time, Gwen, for Godric's sake, don't tell me this is going to happen every single day for the rest of the year!"

Both of the girls had just walked from the Great Hall where they had a nice breakfast, eyeing all the new students at each table. Originally, that's how Penelope and Gwen met last year when Gwen transferred to Hogwarts from Uagadou School of Magic in Uganda.

Usually, Europeans don't go to Uagadou, mostly attending Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang, but Gwen's grandmother was one of the Potions teachers so Gwen was able to attend the highly coveted school of witches and wizards known for their speciality in astronomy and alchemy. It was only last year, Gwen and Penelope's fourth year, that Gwen transferred in the middle of the school year to Hogwarts and after meeting, Penelope and Gwen hit it off.

"Godric's sake, hm? Wonder where you learned that?" Gwen giggled and winked at her friend who still held her hand, tugging her down the stone corridors.

Being best friends, Penelope had told Gwen about her secret romantic relationship with Percy Weasley (but if you asked Gwen, she wasn't that impressed with him, a bit of a bore really). But, since Gwen was supportive and didn't tell Penelope about all the times Percy was being an annoying prick, she instead teased her at any opportunity.

Penelope's cheeks were painted with a subtle, but rising pink blush. "Shush, you! We're going to be late to class."

Gwen calculated the time in her head, "But we've still got 10 minutes until we'll be late!" The curly-haired girl exclaimed.

Penelope turned her head to give a look to Gwen, "Late for a Ravenclaw, I mean."

Gwen laughed and the two girls walked seamlessly to class, despite multiple comments made by Gwen on why History of Magic was the worst subject to be taught by Professor Binns.

When they arrived at the familiar classroom, Penelope and Gwen were the last two students to find their seats in the classroom full of Ravenclaws. Everyone else had already arrived and chosen their seats so, unfortunately, Penelope grabbed the seat at the front of the classroom while Gwen was stuck with a desk in the middle all the way to the left of the room.

Gwen looked at the ornate clock hanging above Binn's unused desk and saw that it was going to be another 7 minutes until class arrived. For Rowena's sake, even Binn's wasn't in the classroom.

But, Gwen had no doubt that they would see their professor's body float through the walls within the next few minutes in no time. Until then, Gwen looked around the room to see how everyone else was spending their time.

A third of the class (including Penelope) was reading, whether that was a textbook to get ahead or just a book to pass time. Another third of the class was talking to their neighboring desk buddies as History of Magic was one of only a handful of classes that didn't have you in a double desk. And the rest of the class, the final third, was like Gwen, just waiting for class to start. Most with their parchment and quills ready for class to begin.

That's when Gwen decided to set up for class as well so she reached into her satchel bag that she carried around with her for all her needs (her father had placed an Extension Charm on it), except, she couldn't find one thing she needed.

"Cheeky little bugger," Gwen mumbled under her breath as she ruffled around to find her quill. She found her parchment just fine and her inkwell, but the quill was not to be found.

Of course, Gwen could ask around for a spare quill, and as she was about to lean over to her right to ask the person sitting at the desk beside her, Professor Binns appeared from the wall and the thing about Professor Binns was that he was very strict on one particular rule.

NEVER come to class unprepared.

(and never throw items through his ghostly body)

And boy was Gwen not about to lose any house points at the beginning of the year by getting caught asking someone for a quill, so Gwen tried the next best thing and carefully and inconspicuously lifted the desk table and peeked inside to see if any student had maybe left a quill in the desk.

Gwen sighed a breath of relief when she saw the feathered writing utensil, "Thank Merlin,". But, the quill wasn't the only thing found in the desk.

Besides a few foul and rotten candies and carvings of words into the wooden desk, there was a piece of crumpled parchment stashed like it had been shoved in. Gwen plucked the piece of paper and straightened it out to find lots of lines, x's, and o's.

It was a play, more specifically a Quidditch play (Gwen could tell by the poorly drawn Quidditch Hoops on either end of the paper) and as Gwen examined it more, it wasn't a very good Quidditch play either. Between the spacing of the beaters and the formation of the chasers, the play was heavily relying on the seeker.

So what were Gwen's options?

She could: Leave it in the desk and just ignore it.

Or she could: Correct the play and point out the blatant mistakes and problems with the play with no actual way to know it would end up in the hands of the owner again.

Looking carefully at Professor Binns, Gwen reached for the quill, dipped it in the inkwell, and started correcting the play while thinking quietly to herself.

Whoever wrote this really doesn't know Quidditch...

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a/n

omg, i was ready to publish this chapter when i realized it was only half formatted! anyway, countdown and 216 got new updates/rewrites today as well. brand new chapters will be coming next dump, but i hope you are enjoying meeting my newest oc, gwen. i love her. so much.

since i haven't yet decided, what pet should she have? owl, cat, or toad?

also, please vote and comment, i love getting comments!

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