gooseberryhigh | HOGWARTS VISIT

VISIT TO HOGWARTS

Hogwarts' reputation precedes it, so while Gooseberry may like to brag about being the best and brightest, Hogwarts is a true institution. It has history behind it that few other schools do.

Lachlan Galbraith shares a compartment on the Hogwarts Express with Ms. Vector, who reminisces briefly about her days as a Ravenclaw, and how she'd missed out on becoming Head Girl because she made too many people cry as a sixth year prefect.

The castle is imposing as the Gooseberry students arrive via boats. [Volunteer B] gets a special welcome when the tentacle of the giant squid brushes their hand, which was clutching the edge of their boat. The rest of the journey goes smoothly, and everyone is escorted into the Great Hall. The tables are lined with children ranging from eleven to eighteen, in red, yellow, blue and green. They watch the Americans enter one by one as the Sorting Ceremony begins.

It goes smoothly almost until the very end, when Basil Underhill is called to sit up. Seconds become minutes, and whispers start to spread across the Great Hall. After five minutes pass, it's recorded that Basil is a true Hatstall!

The next day, students can go to Hogsmeade and explore the castle. Cameron Carney is talking a walk through the old halls, and asks a group of preteens for directions. Soon it becomes clear the girls were messing with them, though, as they become horribly lost.

[Volunteer D] can't seem to figure out the moving staircases, and gets stranded on a balcony for an hour.

Hank Hilshire, a handsome Gryffindor, is apparently the heartthrob of the school. He takes a shine to Rosemary Stoker, and pursues their company all weekend, whether or not they're taken. This earns them the ire of more than a few rival girls who'd wanted to go to Hogsmeade with Hank. (Presume he's of an appropriate year, and if the object of his affection is a boy, it's not wholly clear if he's being platonic or not.)

HOW THIS WORKS

Although this post is going up on Jun 3, it actually takes place on Jun 8-11. This is to give you all time to write your scenes for what will probably be an exciting event.

On Fri, Jun 8, all students who plan on going to Hogwarts take a portkey to London's King's Cross Station. Upon arrival, they're brought to Platform 4 3/4, and the Hogwarts Express.

Students will leave Gooseberry at 8 AM, and due to the difference in time zones, will be boarding the Hogwarts Express at 5 PM local time. They'll arrive at Hogwarts just past 6 PM in time for their Sorting and dinner.

Visiting students are given the proper Hogwarts welcome, which means travelling on boats to the castle. Although Gooseberry is technically a rival, the general mood seems to be one of excitement, rather than competition.

The Sorting takes place in front of the existing Hogwarts students, who are arguing and betting on which Hogwarts house will get the most students. Ravenclaw wins by a narrow margin, but are crowing about it (haha) all night anyway.

Previous Hogwarts Students: Facing the Sorting Hat again is optional. If you don't want to wear it again, you can simply go sit with your old House. If you pursue a resorting, the Hat will stubbornly refuse to change its original decision, regardless of how much you ask it or how much you've changed. It's a stubborn thing, and never admits to being wrong.

After being sorted, students are shown to their dorms. Gooseberry students will room in either the boys or girls' dorms together, depending upon where they were sorted. There are 5 beds in every dorm.

CLICK HERE FOR ROOM ASSIGNMENTS

GRYFFINDOR BOYS #1	GRYFFINDOR BOYS #2	GRYFFINDOR GIRLS #1	GRYFFINDOR GIRLS #2
Casper Iliya Lucas	Noel Chad Quentin	Essie Clem Hazel Rosy	Dinah Eve London
HUFFLEPUFF BOYS #1	HUFFLEPUFF BOYS #2	HUFFLEPUFF GIRLS #1
Jeffy Spencer Sebastien Jaime Tobias	Phin Ennis Heathcliff Cameron Webster	January Tuesday Natalie Avery Gwen
RAVENCLAW BOYS #1	RAVENCLAW BOYS #2	RAVENCLAW GIRLS #1	RAVENCLAW GIRLS #2
Lachlan Danny Wilde Salem	Archie Cole Basil Ira Micah	Eileen Roxie Liberty	Nisha Paris Pandora
SLYTHERIN BOYS #1		SLYTHERIN GIRLS #1	SLYTHERIN GIRLS #2
Calvin Yancey Ramon Sylvester Ulysses		Jade Ari Madison Ruby Charlotte	Mackenzie Riley Sofia Lilika Fern

On Saturday, students will be allowed to go to Hogsmeade to shop and enjoy the little town.

On Sunday, the Quidditch match takes place in the morning. Make sure you adjust to the Portkey lag!

On Monday, everyone returns to Utah. They'll leave at 10 AM, and will get home in the wee hours of the morning due to the difference in time zones. Classes are still in session, so consider squeezing in some sleep.

» HOGWARTS EXPRESS: On board the large magical train, students file into their compartments and settle in for a long ride. The scenic Scottish countryside and the looming castle are foreign sights to most of Gooseberry's students.

» THE SORTING HAT: The Great Hall's ceiling sparkles with stars, and there are banners for Gooseberry's houses hung on the far wall along with Hogwarts' own. Line up alphabetically, it's time to find out where you'll be staying tonight.

» COMMON ROOMS AND DORMS: Each house has a common room and an assortment of rooms with 5 beds each. You're informed by a seventh year prefect which rooms you'll be in and with whom.

» gryffindor: Gryffindor's welcome is loud and rambunctious. They accept their new additions enthusiastically and call you all honorary Gryffindors, and immediately set to telling you to stay away from Slytherins.

» hufflepuff: The new Hufflepuffs are greeted warmly, and invited to socialize with the rest of the house. There may be a bit of an us and them divide, but they're not unfriendly.

» ravenclaw: Ravenclaw's still pleased they got the most Gooseberry students. They're very curious about Gooseberry, as well as the rest of you, and end up interrogating the new students.

» slytherin: To no one's great surprise, Slytherin's ready to eat its visitors alive if they take a wrong step. You get extra points for being pretty and pureblood (or at least close to it).

» AROUND HOGWARTS: While Gooseberry is sprawling, Hogwarts is dense. It's easy to get lost in the ancient corridors, and prefects warn the visitors not to wander far without someone to guide them. They're free to explore, though, and the Quidditch team can get in a bit of extra practice on the unfamiliar pitch.

» HOGSMEADE: Saturday is an opportunity to visit the traditional Wizarding town of Hogsmeade. Students can shop, eat, and take in the sights. The residents seem a alternatively baffled, mortified or amused by these loud foreign witches and wizards, taking selfies and dyeing their hair wild colors. One little old witch gives the teens her wifi password. "Poor dears, keeping you disconnected. I couldn't live without my soaps."

» OOC - Questions/Discussion

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lingering behind his friends, hands tucked into his pockets and expression predictably underwhelmed, Casper glances around the vibrant shop without comment. There's no denying that this place is impressively large and well-stocked but for someone who has no use for candy or bright, cheery atmospheres...that's about all it is. No whimsy here. Still. His friends are going to enjoy themselves and that's enough reason to be here.

He pushes back his hair and responds wryly, "A little on the nose, Quayle."

Edited 2018-06-05 18:37 (UTC)

Cameron has heard that American sweets are superior to British sweets except when it comes to Honeydukes, so when Iliya had suggested that they go to the candy store first, Cameron had no complaints. He doesn't have quite the fervent sweet tooth that Iliya does, but he still intends to fill his pockets up and put everything in the shop thoroughly to the test.

"Yeah, not your best, Uly," Cameron agrees, "Which isn't even a high bar to leap to begin with." He picks up a package - Cockroach Clusters - and places it back on the shelf. Maybe he won't be trying everything after all.

Edited 2018-06-05 18:55 (UTC)

'It's called making a point and I did it just fine," Ulysses retorts with neither heat nor genuine indignation. Aw, he missed you guys.

Immediately, instinctively, he reaches out to grab the box that Cameron just put down. Makes a face and, just like his roommate, places it back on the shelf. He should've trusted his judgement when it comes to sweets.

"Cut the kid some slack. He can't always be on point with those clever turns of phrase." Kenzie's trying to not look too awed, because that's not really her image, but She can't hide the way her eyes go wide at the sheer selection. It smells like milk chocolate and warm sugar. Iliya must feel like he's died and gone to heaven every time he visits.

Kenzie is the third person to pick up the Cockroach Clusters, and her face lights up. "I'm buying these."

Edited 2018-06-05 19:15 (UTC)

Iliya grins as he listens to his friends banter. They're always amusing, of course, but Iliya can never hide his delight when he's in Honeydukes. The sheer nostalgia of it leaves him breathless for a moment, and for the first time in nearly a year, Iliya misses Hogwarts. He misses hearing familiar accents and seeing the "u" in the word "flavoured," and the teasing chatter of students who have never in their entire lives worried about dying in the bloody woods.

Then he turns and looks at the faces of his friends, the people he loves most in this world after his own family, and Iliya feels a different kind of nostalgia, sweet and piercing, somehow more painful because he hasn't lost it yet.

Iliya takes a deep breath. "There are also blood lollies." He points past Kenzie to a shiny cup stuffed with dark red lollipops. He's fairly certain those aren't meant for humans, not that that will stop Kenzie.

Casper may be immune to childlike wonder but he isn't immune to disgust and when he finally sees the package that Ulysses, Cameron, and Kenzie have been considering he scowls. That expression only deepens at the mention of blood lollies but at least he can understand the purpose of those.

He shakes his head.

"Any recommendations that actually resemble food?" That he doesn't want anything for himself goes without saying...but that doesn't mean there aren't other people that he could pick something up for. Since they're here.

"Yeah, yuck. I'm not eating anything with 'roach' or 'blood' in the name," Cameron says, making a disgusted face and not considering that he might not be the target audience for these confections. He leans in to rest his chin on Iliya's shoulder. "Okay, show us where the good candies are. You're the expert here."

Kenzie spins so fast towards the blood lollies that her hair whips out and possibly hits Ulysses in the face. "I need to get one for Jade," is all she says before peeling off from the group of boys, all of whom have significantly better taste than her.

Edited 2018-06-05 22:29 (UTC)

Iliya smiles as he watches Kenzie rush away, then tenses a little, feeling Cameron's touch on his shoulder. Hogsmeade isn't like Gooseberry— nowhere is like Gooseberry, where a boy can kiss another boy outside a classroom and no one looks up. It's been months since Iliya's had to worry about it, although of course, he still does. He's still him.

It doesn't matter. He shouldn't care, not now, while he's surrounded by friends he trusts. Iliya takes a deep breath, and lets himself lean back against Cameron. "Chocolate. In America, it is... very sweet. Not as smooth. Not as much cocoa. Here." He picks up a distinctive pentagonal Chocolate Frog box. "Be careful, they will jump away from you. And these—" Iliya shows them a box of Pepper Imps next. "You can breathe fire. And Fizzing Whizzbees, well. We have seen what Billywigs do."

He points out several more items, which only encompasses a fraction of what's on offer. Iliya picks up one of each, and looks over at his Ebonhide roommates. "Do you like the dorms here? What are they like? We are not allowed to see the other common rooms."

Kenzie's hair absolutely hits Ulysses in the face. Ever-mature, he sticks his tongue out at her back as she walks away... and the fact that that's the extent of his whinging is not just a minor miracle, but also a real testament to the extent of his affection.

"Company could be better," he replies and God help him, he's talking about Sy Stoker and not the other Slytherins. "But I suppose the dorms are nice enough. They got these big old chairs out in the common room — plus a fire place, so that's not bad. After Ilvermorny, I was half-scared we'd be living in some sort of cave." Public schools are such a nightmare, am I right?

There's a delightfully under-labeled ("TRY ME!") set of samples on a tray nearby and Ulysses picks through them as he talks, cheerfully snagging the biggest piece he can find and popping it into his mouth.

"Still gross, but honestly? Perfect for Jade," Cameron says to Kenzie's back as she rushes toward the vampire candy. He briefly wonders if Jade is going to really eat it, or just keep it as a memento, but the thought of eating it turns his stomach, so he lets it go.

Cameron can feel the tension in Iliya's shoulders and he can feel when it eventually releases, but he doesn't acknowledge it now. Instead, he slips past him to the shelves full of candies, picking up at least one of everything that Iliya points to without question. "Not allowed? Like at all? Ever?" Cameron says, "Not real big on school bonding, huh?" By now, his robe pockets are filled until they're bulging, but he doesn't seem like he plans to stop stocking up on candy until it's falling out. "Hufflepuff's nice. Real cozy. Ceilings are a little low for my taste, and you would not believe how you have to get in. I swear, they accidentally sorted me into the midget house. It's ridiculous trying to watch me, Jeffy, and Heathcliff."

Whatever Ulysses is getting into immediately catches Cameron's attention, and he wanders over to pick up one of the candies. However, as soon as Ulysses pops it into his mouth, his hair starts floating gently as if with static electricity, like he just rubbed a balloon over it. Based on his friend's expression, something about it is alarming or at least startling. The next words out of Ulysses's mouth are pitched very high, like he inhaled helium. Cameron doubles over, laughter booming through the store loud enough to make several people turn and stare. Once he recovers, he looks down at the sample candy in his palm. The color and shape are different, and he wonders what it does. One way to find out. He pops it into his mouth.

HOGWARTS VISIT

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Re: Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop

Kenzie and the Ebonboys raid a sweets shop