A Sparrow Named Pandora

12 rashers of bacon

I sat up in bed. "Morning Mum," I called blearily. A short, rippling laugh came from the other side of the room. "Get up, Clary. It's nearly 8:15. You'll miss breakfast if you don't hurry," chided my best friend Haley. "What?" I clambered out of bed. "Okay, I'd better hurry then. Quidditch practice until eight tonight. Can you believe Wood?" "Yes," replied Haley. "Hurry up and get your robes on. I changed out of my yellow butterfly pyjamas, glad that the other three girls in my dorm were at breakfast already. I put on a white shirt, black skirt, grey tights, and slung on my black Hufflepuff robes. I slipped my feet into my lace-up shoes, not bothering to tie the laces, and picked up my bag. It was already packed with the books I would need for the day: Herbology, Potions, Divination, and Transfiguration. I also had in my bag a pair of dragon hide gloves, and my potions kit. As I left the room, I grabbed the book on my bedside table. I'd stayed up half the night reading, and I hadn't finished it yet! It was admittedly my fifth time reading it, but... Anyway, Haley led me downstairs and I crashed into a girl. "Oh gosh, let me help," I fretted. "It's okay," the girl smiled. I frowned. She was awfully familiar... "Clarisse?" asked the girl. "What are you doing here?" "I could ask you the same thing, Jessica!" Jessica grinned at me. "I just transferred from Durmstrang." I had gone to the same Muggle school as Jessica for a year. We had been in the school play together. "How's are you?" Jess asked. "Great, thanks. I love this place," I replied. I picked up my last book and noticed Jessica looking at it. "I love that series!" she exclaimed. The book was called Blood of Olympus, and it was by Rick Riordan. Jess pushed her blonde hair out of her face. "Anyway, I'd best be going," she apologised. "Breakfast awaits!" She hurried off, and I turned to Haley. "Come on, slowcoach!" Laughing, we took off into the corridors.
I piled scrambled eggs onto my plate. A slice of toast, some ketchup, and... How many rashers of bacon can I get away with? I decided to go all out and take twelve. It may seem like a lot, but i had Quidditch practice. I was going to needmy strength, especially since I planned to skip lunch. An owl landed in front of me. "Hello, Crystal," I murmured. Crystal was a snowy owl from the Daily Prophet, who brought me my newspaper every morning. But this morning there was another owl, hopping about next to Crystal. "What's this?" I untied a piece of paper from around the brown owl's leg. Only then did I notice the letter G shaved into the owl's chest. "How mean," I muttered. Looking around, I realised there were four owls with the same G. One for me, one for a boy I didn't know, one for Haley, and one for Jess. The paper said,
We are making a TV series of the well known book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and we would like you to come to the auditions. Please come, if you want to, at ten o'clock today to Guide Street in London. Please arrange with your headteacher. Thank you, Clarisse Adams.
I looked at Haley. "What on Earth?"
"I don't know," she replied. "TV series? Us? It seems a little too good to be true." I nodded, agreeing.
"I'll see what I can find out." The whole morning I couldn't concentrate on lessons. Finally half past nine came around and Haley and I went to pick up Jessica and the boy, Leo. I peeked through the gap in the potions door. Leo and Jess were working at a table together.
"I can't smell a thing," complained Leo. Jessi frowned.
"No, nothing that wasn't already there. But that's impossible! I'm 110% sure I got it right!"
"Well, you must be wrong. I can't smell anything!"
"Well, maybe if you hadn't used buckets of that stupid lemon hair thing this morning," argued Jessi with her voice raised.
"You're a fine one to talk! Your apple perfume is giving me an asthma attack!" I decided to break up their argument over the amortentia, and went into the classroom.
"Um, Professor Slughorn? Can I take Jessica St Francis, and Leo Hernandez?" As we walked out of the classroom, Leo hissed to Jess.
"As in St Francis' Home for Orphans and Strays?"
"So I live in an orphanage. What's it to you? Another thing for your stupid friends, I suppose," Jess muttered. I took Jess's arm and steered her in between Haley and me. She scowled at me. "I don't need your help!" For a second I thought I saw light flash in her eyes, but then it was gone. She yanked her arm away and lagged behind. I was glad when we finally reached the place I'd read about: Guise Studios. It was a filming company that made shows for Wizarding and Muggle TV and it cast only wizards and witches. It also liked to cast children with not much experience. And I, Clarisse Adams, had been invited to an audition!