The Acid Pop Club #1 - A New Adventure

Adlai had leaned over to look at one of the pages in Guinevere’s book when a girl bursted through the door and sat herself down along with her belongs before saying, “...Hi! My name is Saoirse Dwight, how are you guys tonight?”

She found the confidence that Saoirse had to be rather striking. “Hi, I’m Adlai and I’m doing pretty great tonight! I’m glad you joined us.”
Adlai then observed the girl.

Like a majority of the girls here her hair was a shade of auburn and she had pale skin. This causing an unconscious habit of Adlai’s to hide away any stray hairs that had broken free from their prison of silk. However Saoirse had big vibrant blue eyes that added to her positive energy. Adlai had always envied those with upturned eyes which were those of a doe.

Adlai was sure she had possibly seen Saoirse around the Hufflepuff common room before or must have taken a class with her at least. But it was nothing that was worth racking her brains over for, though she would surely do it anyway.

“How are you?” She asked the fellow Hufflepuff turning her body in her direction while fixing her skirt. All the while making sure that her book didn’t get wet from the lavatory floor.

Saoirse followed over to where a girl had patted down and decided to answer the other's question. "I'm great," she looked familiar, another Hufflepuff? It seemed so, she shuffled around for a second as she crossed her legs. Awaiting the other girls to speak she looked at her book, 'Fiona's Luck' it was somehow still a popular children's book even while being released before Saoirse had come along. Her mother and eventually her father would read it to her every-night. She would've brought another book, but she held this one so dear and wanted to share it and possibly create more good memories with it instead.
Her day-dreaming had lead her off into someplace else, so she snapped out of it. Looking around at all the other girls had, their books, their pillows, their blankets. Saoirse couldn't help but feel queasy, only a second did it last though. Pumping herself up she faced the head-leader...Jo, right? She thought back to the poster, she was correct. Jo Morgan, a Gryffindor she had thought for a second, considering the clothing theme. It wasn't entirely red and gold but there was enough of it to show off house spirit. Saoirse liked that, maybe she should also move past just yellow sweaters and black and white striped stockings.

I’m Adlai, Adlai Rod. I don’t have any nicknames other then the ones my family gives me but feel free to call me whatever you see fit I’ll most likely respond to it. I’m obsessed with astronomy! But I also really like knitting, tennis, and gymnastics. I also really like the muggle band Ghost though I know for a fact their music isn’t exactly appropriate for our age group.

Nice! I like nicknames! Maybe we can do nicknames! Jo blurted out to nobody in particular. You know, like as a club thing.

Anyway, the book I bring today is Orlando by Virginia Woolf. This book was inspired by Vita Sackville-West who was Virginia’s friend and lover.

That sounds amazing! Can I borrow that one this time? Her inner nerd burst forth in all of its glory. I really like fiction.

Oh! A book, yeah, I brought one too.

Guinevere spoke, and Jo turned towards her, nearly shrieking in delight as Guinevere pulled out a gorgeous, shimmering red book.

"I used to read this when I was a kid, before I knew that dragons were actually real. It's a muggle kids book, but I've always loved it."

The Slytherin rifled through the pages, the corners of her small mouth turning upwards into a smile as she pointed to a particular paragraph.

This one's my favourite.

She declared.

It's a Tibetan Lung. I don't know much about real dragons, or if these ones truly exist, but when I was a kid I used to pretend I was a dragon catcher.

Jo grinned, although she had never heard of a Tibetan lung.

You can take a look. The drawings are nice.

Adlai leaned over to inspect a particular drawing, while Jo inched towards Orlando. She screamed suddenly, grabbing her own precious notebook out of instinct as a redhead charged through the door without so much as a warning. The pale girl threw her blanket down and seated herself. Jo took a breath, but had scarcely opened her mouth when the new arrival clambered to her feet just as quickly.

...Hi! My name is Saoirse Dwight, how are you guys tonight?

The redhead introduced herself as Jo struggled to steady her breath. Calm down, calm down. Look at her. What do you see? She squinted. A Hufflepuff - definitely a Hufflepuff. Blue eyes, red hair, and earrings - earrings! a Muggleborn, perhaps? Jo recognized the design on them - it was an Irish thing, if she recalled correctly.

It's nice to meet you, Saoirse. I'm Gwen. And you're not late, we've only just introduced ourselves.

Jo smiled as amicably as she could considering that she had just suffered a near-heart attack.

How are you?

Adlai asked the new girl. Jo craned her neck to look at the girl's cat lamp, anxiously awaiting the new Hufflepuff's response.

I'm great.

Saoirse answered. A few heads turned towards her as if waiting for a response.

We've just been introducing ourselves! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your book?

Saoirse's smile began to fade but she quickly brought it back upon the Jo's question.

"Well, I'm a half-blood born in Cork, Ireland but I moved to Dublin when I was three. My mother was a witch and my father is a carpenter, I would like to apologize in advance for any muggle actions I preform during the course of our meetings. I've lived with my father's family for years and they are all muggles and such I have certain muggle customs I respond to. I enjoy reading, writing, and conversations, my favorite class is Potions. I'm loud and talkative as another warning and I like meeting new people." I can't be judged that bad, right?
"And my book, my book is a children's book. I know I seem immature with it but...it was a major part of my early childhood, it was...the greatest physical memor- never-mind." Saoirse sighed and tried to wipe away tears she hoped the others wouldn't see. "It's called Fiona's Luck and it talks about a young girl who goes on a long journey to go and fight the Leprechaun King, who took away all of human's luck. I'm not sure of the exact date but I do know it was released in early 2007."

Afraid of responding in any significant emotional way to Saoirse’s sudden tears, Jo rigidly began to question their source. A dead relative, perhaps? The memory of a loved pet or parent? Perhaps just a fond recollection of a childhood she could never return to. Jo’s mind flashed briefly to a smiling face - a stepsister she would never see again.

You’ll be a’ight! Jo laughed cheerfully, hiding her slightly yellowed teeth (a trait that embarrassed her to no end) behind the notebook in her arms. She cracked her neck with an audible pop.

I’m muggle-raised too! It’s always heartbreaking when nobody can sing along to your songs or get your vine references. The Gryffindor scanned the room. Nobody thinks you’re immature. We’re all attached to our past, and our favorite books reflect that. Jo smiled at the eloquence she perceived herself as having. The Leprechaun King, huh? It's so cool to see how muggles imagine magical creatures to be. In this case, they're probably not too far off! I can't wait to read it later.

Jo winced as a gargantuan drop of green-hued water landed squarely on her forehead. "Ew!" She brushed it off, sticking her tongue out in mock disgust.

I already introduced myself once, so I’ll make it snappy. I’m Jo Morgan. My parents were pureblood and I don’t know anything about them except that my dad was a Slytherin with a blackthorn wand and my mom is a Ravenclaw. A few people who went to school with my dad have told me that he went down a darker path than they expected, whatever that means. I guess I’ll find out later. Anyway, I was adopted and raised in southern Japan by muggle parents and I moved to London a year ago with a family friend before coming here! My favorite classes are Herbology and Charms. Potions is so difficult! Anyway, I like swimming, reading, kelpie-watching in the lake, and…um….uh….that’s about it! My book is Anthem - it's got annotations for kids to make it easier to read. It was one of my favorite books, even when I was too little to really "get" the meaning behind it. She fondly brushed her hand against the blue velvet cover - sending a shimmer of fine grey dust swirling into the air, which was already dirty enough.

Saoirse nodded happily, thankful for the welcoming arms all the other girls gave her. She gave the best smile and tried to speak once again. "So what's today's plan?" She spoke with a cling of sadness still echoing in her voice, which caused Saoirse to cringe hoping it would vanish soon. Caressing her book she scrolled through the pages, narrowly being missed by a drop of greenish...water? It splashed onto the blanket and caused Saoirse to move over a little bit.
She looked around the room, watching the other girls and listening to their small talk. Although noticing the filth that surrounded the room caused her to think back to her book, in hopes of ignoring what kind of area she was in. Awaiting Jo's response was quite irritating, it made her wonder if anybody had even noticed she had spoke. "Hey...?" She muttered under her breath, now she was really setting herself up to just fade into a distant background, maybe that would be a good idea. Maybe if she did that--no, it wasn't right, these people were here to make her feel comfortable and that would just be turning it all away. Waiting, waiting is all she felt would work.

So what's today's plan?

Shit. Jo hadn’t thought of a plan for today.
She fumbled with her words.

Uh…okay….let’s….umm….

Well?

Saorise seemed mildly annoyed, and Jo shuddered at the thought of incuring her wrath. If Lady Aithne’s hotheaded cousin was any indicator, Irish girls had a darn quick temper.

Oh, fie! Um… alright. Plan for today. We choose who’s borrowing which book for the week, and….oh yeah! There’s a new boy’s club in town, and I’m trying to think of the perfect prank! It’s led by Rafael D’Spacito. You may have seen him around - he looks a bit ethnic. Anyway, he’s a pure-blood Gryffindor boy, and I heard he’s literally cooties! Pure-bloods and boys always think they're better than us, and a lot of girls are saying that D'spacito just keeps getting cockier and cockier because there's nobody to challenge his club and people don't want to get on his bad side. What better way to make a name for ourselves at Hogwarts than a crazy, hilarious prank on a rival club? I don't think we should do anything too dramatic that might land us in detention, though, and I'm still on the fence about whether or not we should make the prank anonymous or maybe accidentally "drop" a few notes around the school that point to us. I don't want to come forward with it publicly because I'm worried D'spacito will try to challenge us to a duel, and I don't want us to get expelled.

Okay - for books, Adlai, can I borrow Orlando today?

Jo was beaming from ear to ear, but if she was forced to be truthful to herself (she rarely was), she’d probably notice that she was worried, and a bit sad. The truth was that there was still one flyer left that had been torn from the bulletin board - one final member interested in her group.

She looked towards the door hopefully, as if she wished someone would tear it from its hinges, screaming, “I’m late! I’m late!” because they still cared that much about her club. Wishful thinking - Jo scrunched up her face into a ball, returning her gaze once more to the eager-looking girl in the hijab.

"Oh my god, Oh my god"Wren repeated to herself as she ran after sleeping in again despite telling another one of her dormmates to wake her up. She was going to be late again. She was late to everything, She had even slept through a class once on the second day of school because she could not seem to wake up on time for anything Her dad liked to joke that she could stay asleep even if all hell broke loose. She was running like a madman now, waving the flier in the air as she ran up the stairs. "Crap" she mumbled as she almost ran over the edge of a moving staircase. People were staring at her now."I probably look like a lunatic, running through the halls waving a piece of paper in the air, with my braid all messed up and my clothes wrinkled from tossing and turning while she was asleep.,"She thought to herself. The steps finally got to where she needed to be and as she started running a painting yelled at her "No running in the halls" She abruptly stopped in her tracks. No painting had ever talked to her, in her life, nor had they ever moved. Since she had been raised by muggles (as the wizards here called the humans) she knew nothing of the wizarding world. She suddenly remembered why she had been running. She fast-walked out of that corridor and then started running again, to the girl's lavatory. When she reached it, she burst in out of breath, yelling: "I'm late, I'm late! I'm so sorry I'm late" then passed out, from sheer exhaustion, even after having just woken up from a nap not 15 minutes ago.

Gwen peered tentatively at Jo and Saoirse, observing the tension that the red-headed girl emitted. Her initial sadness at sharing her book had contorted into a visible frustration. Jo's response, however, was enthusiastic. If she had noticed the irritation in Saoirse's voice, the brown-haired witch had made every attempt to appear oblivious as she proposed her idea.

A prank. Juvenile, maybe. But fun? Always. Leaning in, Gwen nodded keenly at Jo's proposal.

"They're not gonna know what hit them!"

As she spoke, the doors of the lavatory abruptly swung wide, and another first-year witch burst into the room. Her panting echoed through the tiled warren of stalls, and her face still creased from her pillow. Her hair hung loose around her face, golden-brown strands escaping from a messy braid that swayed with the momentum of the witch's strides.

"I'm late, I'm late! I'm so sorry I'm late," she cried out. The witch's wide eyes lost focus and slowly rolled upwards, and her knees went limp as she crumpled onto the tile floor.

"Holy shit!" Gwen exclaimed, stumbling to get on her feet. Although her legs were partially numb from her kneeling position, her sprint towards the witch was skilful and urgent; a stride that she had developed over years of sprint-racing and track-running in her muggle life.

She skidded to a halt on the slimy tiles, knelt to the floor, and pressed two slender fingers against the newcomer's neck. A steady pulse thrummed against her own, and her lips parted into an amused smile.

"Ok. Well, she's not dead," she reported, turning to face the rest of the group, "But she's out like a light."

They're not gonna know what hit them!

The Gryffindor smirked mischievously.
Alright! Let’s discuss the pranks further next time! Can everybody bring 3 prank ideas to the next meeting?

I'm late, I'm late! I'm so sorry I'm late!

Jo screamed as a girl bolted into the room, even though she had just imagined an identical scenario playing out. This was the eighth time today she had been scared nearly to death, and hopefully the last.
She turned to her machine-like brain and commanded it to think. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Gryffindor. Round face….The girl suddenly disappeared from her field of vision.

Holy shit!

Gwen shouted as she rushed to the girl’s side, checking the fallen girl’s vitals without even a sign of panic. Jo, on the other hand, was definitely panicking, even though she was only sitting there numbly.

Ok, well, she’s not dead. But she’s out like a light.

Jo breathed a sigh of relief as rational thought returned to her once more. She sprang to her feet and snatched her blanket from under them. Running over to Gwen, she spread her blanket out onto the floor.
With a heave, she grabbed the unconscious new girl by her robe and dragged her onto the blanket, throwing another nearby one over her. Pillow! Jo barked, and when one was handed to her she gently lifted the sleeping girl’s head and let it fall onto the soft plush.

Suddenly, she felt the urge to laugh at the absurdity of their condition.

I…I wonder what her name is. Oh my gosh! I mean… Wow. What do we do now? Do we wait? Should we take her to the Hospital Wing? Merlin!

She laughed again. This meeting was certainly not going as planned.