An American Fangirl at Hogwarts 《2》of the ☆Ink and Pixels series☆

Chapter Six: "Who the hell just cawed?"

The bright, warm lights of the entrance hall welcomed students as they piled into the Great Hall. It was then that she parted from the twins and looked for a place at the Hufflepuff table. As she walked down the table, Madison found her usual seat was empty, as was Cedric's. Her eyes found Blaire and Mallory, who were seated just beside the empty seats. Blaire flagged Madison down before rushing to engulf her in a hug.

"Madison! How are you? You never returned any of my letters. I was worried sick," Blaire said quickly, "oh, I brought you a gift back from my trip. Remind me to give it to you later. Oh and-"

"Blaire, babe, less huggy and talky, more sitty. We're blocking the way," Mallory said, guiding her girlfriend back to the table.

The three sat down and chatted before they were joined by Carter and Grace. They took seats beside Madison and across the table, but still leaving Cedric's vacant. Cedric's seat didn't even have a plate. Madison wasn't sure who was responsible for the makeshift "memorial", but she was grateful. She had been worried, yet curious all the same as to who would take his empty seat. Now it was his forever.

"Grace, is that a burn?" Blaire asked, looking over the arm of the girl.

"Oh yeah," Grace said, rolling her sleeve up for a full view, "got it from a baby Hungarian Horntail. It even scratched my other arm,"

Grace pulled her other sleeve up to reveal the deep gash.

"You call that a scratch?" Mallory asked with wide eyes.

"Grace! That thing took a chunk out of your arm!" Carter exclaimed.

"This is nothing! You should see some of the injuries on the other handlers. One guy is missing an eye and two toes," Grace said, waving it off.

"Has he considered a career change?" Madison asked.

"Nope. He and his boyfriend are actually betting to see who could lose the most limbs first," Grace replied.

"Power couple," Madison said before considering for a moment, "I ship it."

"I ship it, too. We should make shirts with dragons on them," Grace suggested.

"Oh talk to Audrey about the shirt designs," Carter suggested, before she looked to immediately regret it as the group all shared a dark look.

"Shit," Carter whispered under her breath.

"Wait-why would Audrey be the go-to designer? What does she know about shirt designing?" Madison asked the group as they all hesitated to respond.

"Uh she made a bunch last year," Mallory said uneasily.

"What kind of shirts did she make?" Madison asked before suddenly becoming offended, "and how come I didn't get one?"

"Uh well-"

"You see-"

"Oh guys, I'm sorry for saying-"

"Carter, it isn't your-"

"We should have told her soon-"

"One at a time!" Madison exclaimed, cutting off everyone's rushed excuses.

Before anyone could continue further, the Great Hall doors opened, silencing the students. In walked the first years as they all crowded around the Sorting Hat. The brim ripped open as the hat's song rang through the hall:

In times of old, when I was new,
And Hogwarts barely started,
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted.