Sucked In

chapter 1

***

I'm a side sleeper, always have been. Which meant that whenever I watched something in bed, I had to position my laptop to be standing on its edge, so that the screen was in proportion with my eye-line. I was comfortable that way.

Tonight, I was watching the entire Harry Potter franchise. I had never seen the series, nor read the books. I used to make fun of the kids who liked Harry Potter. Nerds who would dress up in scarves and fly around on pretend broomsticks. I never really took interest in the books. Until now. Because my entire tiktok for you page was just Draco Malfoy, over and over again. And God, he's hot. But nobody told me he was barely in the movies. Like, barely. So considering he was the only reason I started watching the movies, yet he wasn't in it at all, I became uninterested very quickly.

The movie playing was simply just background noise, my eyes were too heavy for me to actually focus on what was happening. It had been like this for the past ... three movies? Four? Shit, where was I up to? I looked at my screen, where Edward Cullen on a bench looked back at me. Huh. I didn't even know he was in these movies, nobody said ....

My body shivered awake at the sound of a booming noise; "As you know, each and every one of you was searched upon your arrival here tonight." Dumbledore spoke from inside my screen. I know who Dumbledore is, at least. Now the movie was in that Hall, where everybody eats. Did I fall asleep or something? My eyes darted to the time, 3:33 am. 'Hah, angel number'. I thought. 'I should screenshot it, the universe is trying to say ...'

I shivered again and awoke with a jolt, yet this time it was because of the coldness of a floor against my bare legs. The shock of the coldness muted out the hushed whispers that were gathering around me. Only after I had pushed myself up from my position scrawled on the floor I acknowledged the 4 long tables I was standing in the center of, and the thousands of heads turned towards me. I had never experienced a dream that was able to provoke emotions from me until now; my stomach was wrenching so violently that it felt painfully real. I was a social person, I loved being in the spotlight. But something about all these faces, some smirking, some confused, some scowling, put me off guard.

Oh shit, is this one of those dreams where you go to school naked? I glanced down, to see my dad's old Nirvana oversized T-shirt, which I was wearing before I went to bed. When I was watching the movie-

Oh My God.

I look around, at the starry ceiling, at the large windows, at the 4 differently colored tables, at the old man at the head of the hall, at the ghost in the corner, watching me with an intrigued look on his face.

No way.

Dumbledore stepped out from behind the table where he was standing. "Quite an entrance to supper you have made there, Ms..."

The thousands of stares burned harder into me. Do I speak? Do I tell them my name is "Nibley. Uh .. I mean Jaida. Jaida Nibley. "

"Ah, yes. Ms Nibley! Follow me to my office. " His voice was calm, reassured. Did he know me? I glanced around, and half of the students had returned to their food, and most of the puzzled expressions had transformed into those of curiosity. Now this was the kind of attention I liked. I took a moment to bask in the glory where I was this mysterious new girl, until Dumbledore came by my side, and gestured towards the door out of the hall. I followed him, obediently.

He didn't speak a word as he led me through the castle. I was in awe, staring at all the moving paintings, the classrooms. Maybe I did get the hype about these books.

"Chamomile Tea" he said suddenly, and I quickly attuned to my surroundings. A marble staircase was forming from chunks of the wall that were folding and rearranging themselves. 

"My office, Ms Nibley." Dumbledore turned his head to me, and slightly smiled before walking up the stairs. I followed him- trying not to faint.