Riley Madden sat in her advanced Potions class, slightly dozing off.
"Riley, wake up! Professor Stallard is coming she's gonna be pissed off when she finds you sleeping during her class," Riley's best friend, Hazel Lockwood nudged her.
Riley's blue eyes fluttered open and she was greeted by the sight of her beautiful, brown-skinned friend.
Riley yawned and stretched, taking in the surroundings of the dimly lit classroom and the sizzling potions on the desks.
"I'm up, I'm up," she said as she patted Hazel's head, making Hazel roll her dark brown eyes.
"I'm not your puppy so don't pet me," Hazel whispered while swatting Riley's hand away.
A grin formed on Riley's face.
"You don't have to look out for me," Riley replied while sticking her tongue out at Hazel.
"Miss Madden and Miss Lockwood, what have you presented?" a very strict Professor Stallard interrupted the two girls bantering with an evil smirk growing on her face.
Professor Stallard was the most hated teacher in the entire Ilvermorny School. Her pale blond hair was always tied up in a tight bun and she always wore dark robes and wore blood-red lipstick. She had cold ice blue eyes.
She was a pureblood and always had a certain prejudice against muggle-borns like Hazel. Riley was a half-blood and didn't have to worry much but for some reason, the old professor always seemed to have it out for her.
"Um... so, Professor, we haven't finished brewing our Confusing Concoction yet. We have to wait a couple of minutes for it to turn a gray color and, in addition, we have to add these roots," Hazel explained and held the purple roots in her hand.
The older woman hummed in contentment, "I specifically remember saying that the potion had to be done before class ended, Miss Lockwood, and unfortunately the two of you failed to produce a FINISHED Confusing Concoction,"
"5 points from Thunderbird, Miss Madden, and 5 points from Horned Serpent, Miss Lockwood," Professor Stallard smiled immorally, her blue eyes glittering with malice.
Hazel stuttered while Riley simply glared at the teacher, cursing at her in her mind.
"We..uh simply lost track of time. I don't understand why we had to lose house points?" Hazel said nervously as she toyed with her fingers under the desk.
Hazel never really ever spoke out against a teacher because she was mostly shy around them.
This sudden outburst shocked Riley since talking back to teachers was mostly her territory.
Professor Stallard pursed her dark red lips.
"I had SPECIFIC instructions for both of you which you failed to do therefore you are losing house points. Everyone else has finished their potion on time except for the both of you," she smiled sickly.
At this point, Riley had had enough.
"You're being so unreasonable and unfair!" she snapped.
The teacher's face turned a bright red color as she whipped her face back toward Riley.
She had always had a certain hatred towards the girl for her ability to always talk back.
"You always have it out for Hazel because she is a muggle-born and you always have it out for me because...I really don't know. You always have prejudices against everyone and, frankly, everyone thinks you're a huge BITCH," Riley snarled.
The whole class was silent.
"DE-TEN-TION, Miss Madden," Professor Stallard piped.
At that moment, the bell rang and the class was dismissed.
When packing her backpack, the professor walked up next to her.
"See you at 8 PM sharp, Miss Madden," she smiled, showing off her bright, glistening yellow teeth, making Riley internally gag.
This woman does not have the best dental hygiene, she thought.
When she exited the class, Riley caught up with Hazel who was talking to her other best friend, Amira Ahmed.
"Hey guys," Riley smiled at Amira.
Amira grinned back at her but Hazel smacked her head.
"Riley, I cannot believe you got detention and lost house points, AGAIN!"
"Owwww, Hazel, why do you even care, you're not even in Thunderbird," Riley howled in pain.
Amira brought her headscarf to her mouth to stifle her giggles.
"What did she do this time?" she laughed.
"This idiot over here called Professor Stallard a bitch in front of her face," Hazel said, referring to Riley.
"Damn the audacity. I mean I kind of stand by Riley's decision to call Professor Stallard the b word, after all, we can all agree that she is one," Amira's eyes sparkled in admiration.
Hazel gawked at her in betrayal.
"Hey, someone had to say it to her," the girl in the headscarf put up her hands up in defeat.
"Anyways, what class were you in, Mimi?" Riley asked Amira fondly.
"Astronomy with Professor Holden. It wasn't bad at all. We were just learning about zodiac signs," the girl shrugged her shoulders.
"Lucky," Hazel whispered.
Suddenly, the speaker system blasted with words from the headmaster of the entire school.
"Attention, grades 9th through 12th, please meet in the cafeteria immediately for an assembly, thank you"
The three girls exchanged looks of confusion but continued walking toward the cafeteria.
The cafeteria at Ilvermorny was very large. It had multiple different stations for sandwiches, pasta, different drinks, and regular hot lunch. It was extremely dirty and littered with trash and multicolored food stains.
The trio separated to sit by their respective houses.
Riley greeted her fellow Thunderbirds and then sat next to her friend, Noah Sanders. He was also a 9th grader, like her, and they had been friends for two years. Every single girl, and a handful of guys, had a crush on him. He was an Englishman who had brown hair cropped short with a single curl upfront. He also had piercing green eyes.
"Hey Noah!" she gave him a side hug which he gladly returned.
"Do you have any clue what is going on and why they called an assembly?" Noah asked.
Riley shrugged her shoulders and ran a hand through her messy, dirty blonde hair.
"No idea,"
"Good afternoon, students," Principal Cohen started, clearing her throat. Principal Cohen was a middle-aged woman with short, dark hair and very intelligent brown eyes. She was well-liked by most of the students of Ilvermorny.
"You are all probably wondering why I've summoned you all to this sort of...er...emergency assembly," she said.
"It is with great pleasure that I announce that Ilvermorny has been invited to participate in the Triwizard Tournament at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" she gave a warm smile.
The students in the cafeteria's voices rose in excitement. Hogwarts was where The Boy Who Lived went to school. Harry Potter was a very much-discussed topic at the school.
"Oh my god! I wonder if we all are going to go," Riley exclaimed.
Noah shook his head with a huge grin on his face.
"I miss Hogwarts it's been two years since I left. It was so cozy that castle..." he hummed in contentment.
At Hogwarts, Noah was in the Gryffindor house and knew Harry and his best friends and was very close to them. He would get letters here and there from them and his other friends at Hogwarts.
The teachers started shushing the students.
"Now I know you all are excited but let's settle down. SILENCIO," the principal shushed the student body with her wand as the echo of voices was muted.
"We will all be leaving on October 2nd, however, you need to owl your parents for permission to travel to Scotland and reside at Hogwarts for the year. Thank you for your time, you are all dismissed!" she said giddily.
Noah and Riley walked out of the cafeteria together.
"It would honestly be great going back to Scotland, they have nice weather there, it's a bit chilly though," Noah said.
"Noah, I'm pretty sure every other country and state has better weather than Massachusetts," Riley retorted.
"You are from Houston, it is extremely humid there and you can't handle the cold that's why you hate it here so much," Noah laughed.
"You're just a little snowflake, I think that's what I'll call you from now on," Noah continued to chuckle.
Riley shoved him playfully and he mocked being hurt.
"Hey, Riley!" Hazel and Amira greeted. Hazel wiggled her eyebrows suggestively which was followed by Amira hitting her arm and whispering to cut it out.
"Well, I guess I'll see you back in the common room, bye, Riley!" Noah waved as he offered her a sweet smile.
Riley waved back at him.
"Why did you leave him, didn't you see his face? He wanted to stay with you!" Hazel looked at Riley like she was an idiot.
"He looked so distraught, it was so sad!" Amira added.
Riley shrugged her shoulders.
"He'll live and besides, I happen to like your company better than Sanders," Riley said, causing Amira to hug her and Hazel to blow a kiss at her.
"So, what's going on there with you and Noah?" Amira asked as she wiggled her thick black eyebrows, sharing a smirk with Hazel.
"Oh shut up guys, it honestly isn't like that, Noah and I are just friends" Riley rolled her eyes while placing a hand on her hip.
"Well, he is definitely a cutie and I think he likes you," Amira stared dreamily at Noah's retreating form.
Riley laughed and then slapped her head softly.
"I'm serious and stop hitting me, my hijab is gonna fall off!" Amira exclaimed holding on to her headscarf.
"Dude, if a hot British guy had a crush on me, I would totally be all over him, especially if he looked like Noah Sanders," Hazel told her.
Riley looked at her watch and saw that it was 3:10. The school day was officially over.
"Do you guys wanna go to the library and study and have dinner until I have to go to that lunatic's detention?" she asked the two other girls.
"Yeah, for sure!" Amira smiled sweetly and then linked arms with her and Hazel.
Hazel rolled her eyes at the smaller girl.
"How do you even have the energy to be this enthusiastic," she shook her head.
........
After Riley's long worthless detention of writing, 'I will not talk back to my professor' one hundred times she headed back to the Thunderbird common room.
When she entered she was greeted by Noah reading a book silently on one of the gray couches in the common room while crunching on a granola bar.
"Hey, I was wondering when you would show up!" he said with his mouth full.
Riley gagged.
"Noah there are literally crumbs falling out of your mouth shut up," she said as she plopped herself down on the couch.
After he finished eating his granola bar he tossed it in the nearest recycling bin.
"So why did you come back so late?" he asked while grabbing a blanket and sitting on the couch cuddling the blanket close to him.
Riley chuckled.
"I had detention with 'The Bitch' and then I practiced charms in the library with Mimi and Hazel," she noted reliving her memories of the previous hours.
"Cool well it's almost ten don't you think you should go to bed now?" he peered at you from the covers.
Riley rolled her eyes. "You do realize we're the same age right? You're not my mom,"
"Yeah I do, but it's late and you should get to bed," he shrugged his shoulders.
"Whatever," Riley said but still got up and collected her things and stuffed them into her bag.
"Night, Noah," she waved.
"Night, shorty," he winked. He always liked to make fun of her because he was a foot taller than her and 7th graders were taller than her.
Riley went over to the girl's dorms and sat on her bed. Her brown barn owl named Peaches chirped happily at the sight of her which followed in her petting him. The other girls in her dorm were all up and greeted her with a little smile.
"Hey Riles, we're all gonna get to bed right now so we're gonna turn the lights off," a kind Korean girl named Yoonah told her.
Riley nodded and then sat in her bed as she saw the lights flick off.
She took out her wand, a piece of paper that was slightly crumpled, and a pencil from her backpack.
She went under the covers of her bed and whispered "Lumos." A bright light appeared under the covers.
She was writing a letter to her parents asking for permission to be able to go to Hogwarts along with the rest of the High Schoolers.
Dear Mom and Daddy,
How are you? The last time I heard from you both, Daddy you were saying that work at MACUSA has been getting harder. Have you heard the news that Ilvermorny has been invited to participate in the Triwizard Tournament? I was wondering if I could please go. Of course, I wouldn't want to compete because the Triwizard Tournaments are known to be extremely deadly but I would like to watch it because it's been two centuries since the last tournament. We learned a lot about it last year in 8th grade. Also, my grades are looking pretty good so far I have all A's right now and a B which I think I can raise. It's in Professor Stallard's class anyways so I know you guys won't care. Anyways please write back to me soon with your approval or not of course and how you both are doing.
xx Riley
Riley put the paper into an envelope and gave it to Peaches. She then proceeded to open the window. It was cold outside.
"Hey, bud, can you send this off to Mom and Daddy for me?"
The bird chirped happily and took the envelope in his beak and flew off into the night.
Riley smiled and shut the window and then curled up in her bed and slept immediately.
......
That was chapter 1 y'all WOOO this is gonna take a while.
Thanks, Asiya