Hometown Show & Tell [Errand](Closed)

”Ohayo gozaimasu,” Kazuo greeted the students who had gathered for this errand with a smile as he stood before them. ”As I’m sure some of you know, I only moved to London a year ago because of my Father’s work. So my hometown is quite a bit farther away than most of you.” He pointed to the first image in his slideshow, a skyline view of Tokyo.



“This is Tokyo. Tokyo is actually unique because it is made up of twenty-three special wards that are like small cities within the greater area that makes up Tokyo. You may have heard of some of these wards, like Shinjuku or Shibuya. I grew up in Toshima Ward, specifically a place called Ikebukuro.” He switched the slide to show a skyline view of ikebukuro.



”Tokyo is very crowded so most people live in apartments or small houses but my family’s home has been around for a long time and is quite large. We even have our own garden with a sakura tree.”



”This is my house. I had to get my mom to owl me the pictures so she didn’t send very many. Just one of the outside, one of a hallway, and my room. It probably looks pretty boring. Most of my personal belongings came with me when I moved to London so it’s pretty empty right now.”







”Ikebukuro is kind of well known for a few locations. One is Sunshine City, a really big mall. It also has an arcade and a stage where idols come to perform. Near Sunshine City is the Sunshine Aquarium if you like that kind of thing. People like to come to see the penguins they have there.”







”Ikebukuro also has a famous Buddhist temple. Gokukuji Temple was founded by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. It’s also famous for having survived numerous air raids on the city during World War II.”



”Near Gokukuji Temple is Zoshigaya Kishimojindo. It is dedicated to the goddess Kishimojin, who is worshipped as the goddess of children and pregnancy.”



”My family doesn’t visit those big temples very often. They are usually very crowded and tourists like to visit them. We visit the Sanja Shinto Shrine. It isn’t very far from our house and they always hold fun matsuri - festivals - for the locals.”





”Those red gates, we call them torii, they are always part of Shinto Shrines. When you enter a shrine through those gates, you must always walk either to the left or the right, never up the middle. The middle is the path the kami walk. And the fox statues are called zenko, the kitsune who are divine messengers of the kami. In Japanese myth, there are different kinds of kitsune. The zenko are the chosen of Inari but there are also nogitsune who like to play tricks on humans.” Kazuo held up a mask.



”Kitsune are very popular in Japan. Their stories are told often and they show up in popular media all the time. These fox masks can be found almost everywhere now and are often worn at matsuri. The last two pictures I have are my personal favourite places. The first is Cafe Mocha, a cat cafe I like to visit.”



”And this is Edogawa Ranpo’s house. It is part of the Rikkyu University Campus and you can take a tour. Edogawa Ranpo was a famous mystery author in Japan. Taking inspiration from writers like Conan Doyle and Poe, he wrote amazing stories about a detective named Akechi Kogoro.”



”There is a lot to see in Tokyo so it was hard to choose what to show you. I hope you enjoyed this presentation.” Kazuo finished within the time limit, bowing and returning to his seat before the intimidating Professor Kibitzer could yell at him.

Honestly? Carolyn wasn’t quite sure what to do in order to keep the overthinking at bay these days. She studied a lot and she was painting and practicing ballet as usual but it just didn’t seem to be enough. And so, when she heard about the opportunity to make a short presentation about her hometown, she didn’t hesitate to join the event. She listened to the first two students intently. She did love the beautiful nature of Scotland and while she never visited Japan, the second presentation did remind her a lot of her trips to her father’s hometown in Korea, which was very dear to her heart. It was not her hometown however and so she would not talk about Jinhae today.

“Hello, my name is Carolyn Hunt and today, I came to tell you more about my hometown called Chester.” The witch smiled at the fancy projector showing a first part of her presentation.

“Chester is a picturesque city located in Cheshire, England. It has a long history as it was founded in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian in 79 AD. It has seen Romans, Vikings as well as Anglo-Saxons and is still standing beautiful and proud. There are a lot of beautiful monuments to see. One of the famous landmarks are our city walls. They have been encircling Chester since medieval times and represent the most complete city walls in Britain. In fact, much of our architecture has origins in medieval times but to me the most beautiful parts are the typical Victorian black-and-white buildings. As many other historical cities, we of course have plenty of towers and bridges as well, which are best explored by taking a long walks around the city. That way you can witness everything with your own eyes. One of the most beautiful buildings you can visit is the Chester Cathedral but there are many others religious monuments to see such as St. John's Church or St Mary-on-the-Hill, although that one is more of an educational centre now. We do have a castle as well of course and even a Roman Amphitheatre and Roman gardens that were actually originally a Roman bathhouse. So yes a lot of history there. If you ever decide to visit the city, you can learn far more about it in one of our many Museums...Unfortunately with long history, comes a lot of unfortunate events,” Carolyn nodded politely at Professor Kibitzer and the picture on the screen changed “So much in fact that one of our main tourist attractions are the Ghost City Tours. Some of those are unfortunately very true. The paths leading to the woods near St. John's church are haunted by a monk. He appears in a cowl and speaks to people in Anglo-Saxon. In one of the historical houses we have a ghost of John Davies who fell down the cellar stairs in 16th century and accidentally stabbed himself. The impressive walls have their own ghost of a Roman soldier who apparently haunts this area. Though I must admit I have not seen any sign of it myself so that one might be just a muggle story. Then there is a Tudor house, which is about 400 years old. The first floor is apparently haunted by the ghost of a cavalier from the civil wars. He was shot in the head and it is possible he was stuck by a cannon ball. St. Mary's graveyard is especially creepy place as it was used to bury people who had been executed in the castle. According to muggles this includes three witches from the 17th century although it is clear that those were not the only witches or wizards that lived in Chester considering the other ghosts. Still, very creepy so maybe don’t go to those places without knowing the Wand-Lighting Charm or a Skurge Charm?” Muggles are quite lucky that they can't see ghosts clearly or at all. The young witch thought for a second then smiled softly. “But enough of the scary stuff. Chester truly is a lovely and friendly town and if you are not interested in ghost stories, you can always visit our Zoo, which happens to be the biggest Zoo in Britain or our lovely craft workshop to ease you mind. There are also many festivals held in the town including mystery plays, a summer music festival and a literature festival. So if you are tired of the noise and everyday rush of the bigger city do come and visit Chester. I’m confident you’ll find something fun to do there.” Carolyn looked at the clock 5 minutes sharp. “And that’s all from me, thank you for your attention everyone.”

Starlee had recently heard about an event to talk about one's hometown. Starlee simply loved Edinburgh; the city, the architecture, the history, she simply found it all quite fascinating. So of course, she instantly signed up to show off her wonderful hometown to anyone who would listen. While technically she was American, her parents had moved to Edinburgh shortly after the two eloped after college, to escape the wrath of her anti-muggle grandfather. With that, they had been living in the city for a long as Starlee knew, so to her, it was her home.

She watched the first presentations with fascination and after the final one ended, she figured it was now or never to have a go at it herself.

"Well hiya there everyone! My name is Starlee Kennedy, and while my parents are American, I was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. Without further ado, let me show you my hometown!" she said happily motioning to the first photo.


"Well, here it is! The city itself actually began as a fort, which, in fact, the word 'burgh' is an old word for fort, making the cities name mean literally 'Eiden's Fort. Perhaps one of the most well-known landmarks of the city is Edinburgh Castle, which sits at the highest point of the city, on what is known as Castle Rock. Castle Rock is also an extinct volcano! You can see it in the center of this photo, but let's take a closer look!"


"The castle began construction in 1130 A.D. The castle also sits at the end of what is known as 'The Royal Mile', which was the path that royalty took when traveling up to the Castle. The castle is now a huge tourist attraction for the city.


There are even some of the Queen's jewels stored in there on display, the most famous of which being the 'Honours of Scotland,' which are the oldest Crown jewels in Britain. I've been there a few times, and even brought my American Grandpappy once! His face was like WHOA! And... oh... right... let me get back on track here..." Starlee blushed a little and motioned for the next slide to appear.


"Now, similar to the last presentation, another huge draw to Edinburgh is its ghost stories! The city has many different touring companies that take people deep beneath the city. Fun fact, the city is actually built on top of itself... literally! There is an entire network of streets and tunnels below all of what you see today, and it is there that most ghost tours will take people."


"One example of this is the ghost by the name of 'Abandoned Annie.' Some muggles claim they can feel her grab their hand in the darkness of the vaults! Now, these areas actually housed the city's poorest people and because of sicknesses like the plague is why it is now so haunted."

She then turned back to the group. "And that's all I have for you! Of course, there is much more to the city than just this, but I hope this piques your interest!" Starlee gave a little bow to the group, nodded to Professor Kibitzer, and returned to her seat to watch the rest of the presentations.

Nobody in Particular

Reducio

Rolled a d4 to determine House Color!
1: Hufflepuff
2: Ravenclaw
3: Gryffindor
4: Slytherin

Number Rolled: 1
Hufflepuff

Piérre wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to be approaching this presentation, but he was sure going to do his best no matter how much of a fool he made himself in front of the people around him. Today, to evoke a bubbly, friendly demeanor, he had decided to wear a yellow and black striped sweater-shirt that make him kind of look like a bumblebee. Of course, this was his interpretation of a Hufflepuff outfit, and a pair of black jean-like pants completed his look. He had briefly considered pulling his shaggy hair back in a ponytail; it had been a while since he had a trim, but then Piérre decided against it. Next chance he got he would ask someone in his house to do a little trim. Not much! Just a little.

When he sensed a lull, Piérre glanced quickly to make sure that nobody else wanted to go up before him, before leaping to his feet and dashing to the front excitedly. He held a few photos, remnants of his Muggle family’s photo album that he and Romeo had been allowed to keep before they had been sent to their temporary adoption home. He had asked Maddie to send the entire album by owl so that Piérre could be ready for this presentation, and he had spent the night before paining over which photos to include, which to tell stories about, and which ones he should leave behind to avoid a scene. Of course, every single one was of the sights and sounds of Italy, places he had been, and the place where (he assumed) he had been born.

With a smile and a wave, Piérre began.

“Ciao! Mi chiamo Piérre Marchonné! [Hello! My name is Piérre Marchonné!]” He chirped brightly in his native tongue, which came to him easily and more naturally than his English. If anyone had heard him speak English before, the bilingual language he had had to learn alongside his Italian, they would understand now why his lilt naturally emphasized certain words and phrases, as now the accent seemed more natural and uniform. “Sono Italiano e vengo da Firenze! [I’m Italian and I’m from Florence!]” He indicated to himself with a hand, watching the group. Most who either didn’t know him well or didn’t know the language well may have been a bit more than confused at his foreign rant which didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason.

“Okay, um, so probably most of you didn’t know what I was saying, si?” He asked aloud, accidentally relapsing back to Italian. “Basically I introduced myself, and said that I’m Italian and I’m from Florence! The Mediterranean boot!”

Piérre put the first image on the projector; an image of Florence’s most famous church. ”This is probably Florence’s most famous landmark: the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower, better known as the Duomo di Firenze! She is the centerpiece of the city, and she is quite a climb! 463 or so steps, plus some tight spaces, clamber up to the lantern at the very top of the structure, and boom! You got the best view in the house! I was something like three or four when I went for the first time... fell asleep halfway up the climb! Papa had to carry me up the rest of the way.” Piérre trailed off, working on switching the photos hastily as his mind worked to turn the situation positive again.

“This is David! He’s a pretty cool guy; he fought a giant in the Bible with nothing but a sling and five smooth stones, and he knocked the giant out with only one! Didn’t want to show a big picture here, mostly because Michelangelo depicted him in all of his birthday suit’s glory.” Perhaps a few snickers. “Most of Michelangelo’s art is gathered together under one roof, called Galleria dell’Accademia. However, David is definitely the big guy here; he’s 26 feet tall and Michelangelo’s most detailed sculpture, all the way down to the smallest rise and fall of the veins in his arms, yeah, the little tiny things that are blue in your arms. That kind of crazy detail. I wanted to climb that thing so badly, and I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to until I almost touched the_ ANYWAYS!”

More laughs, and Piérre’s ears and cheeks flushed red as the piqued ears themselves tucked downward in faux shame. Piérre, however, offered a sheepish grin instead, laughing a little bit in a way that caused his shoulders to shake.


”But we can’t stay in Florence forever! We can’t forget about Venice’s February celebration; the Carnivale!”

Piérre clapped his hands wildly as the exotic image came up. These had thrilled him more than any other location had. He loved the carnival people; the colors, the dancing, the exotic outfits... It seemed to match his personality brilliantly, and he wasn’t entirely sure why. ”There are lots of different Carnivales in Italy, but one of the better known one is this celebration. As the name implies, Carnivale comes from ‘Carnival’, which literally means 'farewell to meat'. It’s an opportunity to indulge and use up such treats before the start of Lent! It’s been celebrated in Italy for centuries and centuries! Everyone dresses up crazy or grotesque, like a giant masquerade! I had a mask from one of these... but it broke.” He wasn’t going to mention the fact that he had been the one who had broken it two years ago at the Halloween masquerade in a bout of unprecedented anger. That wasn’t what was important right now.

”There are performances and singing, dancing, all sorts of things to make merry in! Exotic wines, cheeses, fruit... It’s not unlike a traveling circus or gypsy celebration for the span of a few days or weeks!”

He had so much more to share, so much more to say... but Piérre knew that he had to step down. His time had nearly all expired, and so with a final shrug, Piérre concluded. ”I can’t share everything about Italy; the beaches, the olive groves, the cliffsides... there’s too much. But I love my Motherland very much, and I admire what she’s been through. I hope you enjoyed this presentation just as much as I enjoyed presenting it. Ciao! [Goodbye]”

A final bow, and the boy retreated back into the group, holding his photos close and watching what everyone else had to offer. He was thinking about his Muggle parents.

He missed them a lot.

1,118 words

Talking was something Callie was great at so when the opportunity arose for her to ramble on about her town came up she naturally jumped straight in. It wasn't that she was arrogant enough to adore the sound of her own voice but rather a genuine desire to share what she knew about her tiny spot of the world to others and hear about everyone else. Whilst the others spoke Callie found herself mesmerised by the tales of places entirely unknown to her. That is until the sudden silence forced her to remember that it was her turn to ramble for a couple of moments.

"Oh! Right, it's me!" She hopped up from her seat and fished a handful of polaroids from her pockets to show off. They weren't perfect images by any means given that they were taken some time ago by a ten year old Callie and it certainly showed. Occasional black spots painted chunks of some of the images alongside the odd thumb creeping its way over the lens. Clearly not a lot of care was put into actually taking these images since at the time Callie was much more focused on running around causing mischief. "Full warning I do not have a career in photography as is alarmingly evident in the photos you're about to see." She held up her hands in mock surrender as a faint grin crept up onto her face. "In my defence I was trying to annoy my brother or run through a puddle or something when I took like all of these...but it's fine! Great things have flaws, right?" She brushed down her robes and cleared her throat. "But anyway back to the issue at hand! I'm Callie Jensen and I come from Inverness which isn't all that far from here! It can get super cold up here in the highlands during winter but that's what makes up the charm, you know?"

Callie smiled softly as a poorly taken photo of Inverness Castle graced the screen complete with her brother posing dramatically in the foreground. Naturally she took a moment to mimic the admittedly ridiculous pose by flexing her non-existent muscles. "Now my friends, THAT is Inverness Castle." She pointed at the castle in a similarly dramatic fashion even if such a gesture wasn't entirely necessary. "The thing has been rebuilt a whole lot over the years since people seem to LOVE destroying it. It even used to house the court! Weird right? They didn't even move the courts until last year! No clue why...nostalgia? Dramatic effect? Either way it's cool and it's a castle what's not to love?" She clapped her hands together before revealing the next image of Loch Ness, complete with a much younger Callie enjoying a sandwich to the edge of the water. "Sadly this one isn't a castle, tragic I know...but it is Loch Ness! You know..the one that's meant to be home to the Loch Ness Monster! It's super cold though so I wouldn't reccommend a swim in there..I found that out the hard way when I fell in! Awful Scottish weather aside it's a pretty place if you catch it on a sunny day." She rocked back and forth on her feet as the next image slipped onto the screen which seemed to be of a forest. "Since I don't come from the city part of Inverness I prefer the wilder parts a lot more. Hey, I'm from a farm, can you blame me? This is Culloden Forest and believe me when I say I have gotten lost in this place more than once. Inside its got St Mary's Well where they did a whole bunch of rituals back in the day, which explains why you'll see rags tied around trees nearby."

Before Callie could continue her rambles she took notice of the time and opted to tie a bow on things rather than continue her usual tirade. "Sure, Inverness is out of the way from the rest of Scotland but it's a pretty spot that's well worth a visit! I could continue for hours if I'm entirely honest but I'd much rather hear more from everyone else! Thanks, guys." She gave the room a bright smile before returning to her seat to engross herself in more tales of the world beyond Hogwarts.

Word Count: 719/400

It was really cool, the idea to have other students speak about their hometowns. Henry hadn’t lived very long where he was born, but it was far more interesting to talk about than London, where he had grown up. Having visited several times since moving, Henry considered the place his hometown, so he was planning to do his presentation there. Besides, how many other students were going to present about London? This would be far more interesting. Also, he had done something similar in his primary school, so he was able to get some pictures from his mum that he had used last time.

He was so focused on listening to the presentations that he almost didn’t realize it was his turn. Startled, he stood and headed toward the front of the room, shuffling his pictures as he walked. “Er, hello! I’m Henry, I grew up mostly in London, but it was born in Holyhead, Wales.” He started, smiling up at the rest of the room. “Holyhead is actually the island town’s English name. In Welsh it’s Caergybi, meaning Cybi’s fort. This is because of the saint who built a church there.” He explained, putting up his first picture to show the castle-like church.



“St. Cybi’s Church is the center of Holyhead and is surrounded by a three walled Roman fort. There are only three walls because the fourth border was the sea, so they didn’t feel the need to build a wall there,” he explained, gesturing to the image. The walls weren’t visible in the photo, but it was a really cool building. “According to some history, St. Cybi was actually in line to be the next King of Cornwall, but turned it down, since he was a bishop when his father died.” Henry put up the next photo and cringed.



“Sorry ‘bout the quality, mum’s camera was being weird when she took this,” he said, turning back to the group. “This is a Roman watchtower on Holyhead Mountain. It’s inside the fort Mynydd y Twr and is called Caer y Twr. This and these, erm,” Henry switched the photos, “stone circles are all part of the hillfort. These stone circles are old houses that could be as old as 12,000 years! Some of the houses have been rebuilt to show what they would have looked like, but my mum didn’t give me a photo of one of those.”



Henry switched the photo again, this time displaying a lighthouse. “This is the current lighthouse. It’s cool to just take a walk in the area, since the lighthouse and fort are all pretty close together. We once spent the whole day just walking the entire area.” He said, remembering how fun it had been to explore the ruins with his siblings.



“Finally, this is the clock tower in town. I just think it’s really-“ Henry was cut off by the professor calling out “NEXT” “-cool,” he finished before gathering up the last photograph and hurrying back to his seat. That had been pretty fun.

Word Count: 504
color code = #5A8697

From the moment Haley heard about the presentations, she knew she wanted to take part. Not only because she liked to talk about her home and share her knowledge about it with others, but also because she was interested in where all the other students came from and what was special about their home.

Haley listened intently to all the presentations that had already been given and was fascinated by the fact that cultures from all over the world were coming together here at Hogwarts. The closer her presentation came, the more excited she became, but she was looking forward to sharing her knowledge with the other students here. Haley had not chosen to talk about London, but about Ireland, the country where she was born. She was often homesick and the preparations for today's presentation only increased her longing, yet she was, as almost always, full of joy.

Haley was following a boy's presentation about Wales when he was interrupted by the professor - "Next". A little confused, Haley looked around for a moment and quickly realised that it was now her turn and so she quickly got up from her seat and went to the place where Henry had just been standing talking about Wales.

"Hey, I'm Haley Rose," she introduced herself loudly and with a big grin, "I'm not going to talk about my home in London today. No, today I'm going to tell you about the home country where I was born. Beautiful Ireland." And with that sentence, Haley showed her first photo.



"And that's probably the first thing most people have in their minds when they hear Ireland. But there's a lot more to this country than green meadows, sheep or the cliffs and the sea." Again Haley had to laugh softly, moving to the next photo. "I was born in Dublin and lived there for a few years before we moved to London."



"And here you can already see one of Dublin's landmarks. The Spire of Dublin, alternatively known as the Monument of Light. This is a large, pen-shaped monument made of stainless steel with a height of 120 metres. The monument was commissioned in 1999 as part of a streetscape redesign." She changed the image again before continuing to speak.



"But now some general information about Dublin. Dublin, or in Irish Baile Átha Cliath, which means black pond, is the capital and also the largest city in Ireland. But black here means more like a deeper body of water that was suitable for building a harbour, because Dublin was originally taken over by the Vikings for their own village."

Before Haley would bore her audience with too many facts, she now came to the next part of her presentation that she had been looking forward to the most. The Irish traditions.
"We Irish have many traditions and I'm sure some of you have heard of St. Paddy's" with these words she moved on to the next picture on her agenda.



"St. Patrick's Day is one of the best known festivals of the Irish and the Irish national saint is celebrated every year on 17 March. The day is traditionally started by attending a church ceremony and then celebrated with the family, at the parade, at Irish rugby or on a pub crawl. And for the last point, Dublin is again perfect, as we are also known for our multitude of pubs. And as you can see from the picture, green is worn especially on this day" This was of course rather uninteresting for the students, but at some point they would all be old enough and maybe one or the other would find themselves in an Irish pub on St. Patrick's Day.

Haley briefly glanced at her watch, she was well on time but didn't have much left and so she moved on to the next subject.



"Not only St. Paddy's is celebrated by us Irish, but also Halloween. In fact, the Halloween festival also has its origins in Ireland, which many people do not know. Already in the times of the Celts, the end of summer was celebrated every year on 31 October, also honouring the people who died. Nowadays, many of the mainly US-American traditions have been adopted and so children dress up on Halloween and go from house to house trick-or-treating."



"Nevertheless, I must also admit that Ireland also consists a lot of green meadows, cliffs and the sea. Not to mention the sheep." Haley grinned broadly at this thought, she missed everything about Ireland but especially the breathtaking nature there. "But that's what Ireland is all about. It's a beautiful country with so many facets, from the bustling inner city of Dublin to the breathtaking views at the Cliffs of Moher you can see in this picture. In Irish Aillte an Mhothair. They are the most famous cliffs in Ireland and are located on the south west coast."

Haley gave the picture one last look before packing up her things again. "Thank you very much for your attention and I hope I could give you a short but nice insight into the world of us Irish. And if you see me dressed in green next month, don't be surprised, but think of St. Paddy's" she joked again as a farewell and cleared the stage for the next presentation.

WORD COUNT: 899

Ashley twisted her long red hair in her fingers, biting her lip nervously. She mentally kicked herself for signing up for this errand, in which she would have to give a presentation - an oral presentation - about her hometown. Oral as in, speaking out loud in front of other people. Ashley shuddered but willed her feet to move forward into the Rehearsal Room. The room was already filled with several other students and Professor Kibitzer. Ashley hesitantly found a spot in the very back of the room, fading onto a corner while gripping her fingers so hard they turned red. A few minutes later, the presentations began. Before Ashley knew it, it was her turn. She gulped and shuffled to the center of the room.
Ashley set up her slideshow and turned to face the front of the expectant room.
"Um, hi," she managed to say. "My name is Ashley. Um, Ashley Coulson. I'm from Isle of Skye, Scotland. And, um, today I'm going to tell you a little about it. So, Isle of Skye is a large island located off the West Coast of Scotland." Ashley took a deep breath and switched on the slide.

"As you can see, it's a really pretty place. People come from all over to see it. Isle of Skye has beautiful landscapes -"

"-lots of wildlife, peninsulas, bays, and mountains. Oh, and tons of cool, old-fashioned villages. I've visited a few, but I live in a pretty ordinary spot. Also, there are a lot of amazing castles, like Armadale and Dunvagen. Dunvagen was built in the ninth century and home to the chief clan of Isle of Skye, the McLeods. The castle is known for being lived in for more time than any other building in all of Scotland. It's a really interesting place." Ashley tucked her hair behind her ear, glanced at her notes, and switched the slide.

"One of the most famous places in Isle of Skye is the fairy pools. The Fairy Pools are gorgeous pools of water that are super clear and blue. Visitors like to swim in them, but they are freezing, so not everyone does. Especially this time of year. Scotland is not an incredibly warm place." Ashley clicked to go to the next image.

"Okay, so, a little history about my hometown. The name 'Isle of Skye' comes from the Norse word 'sky-a,' which translates to 'cloud island' because the Cuillin Hills, a range of mountains in Isle of Skye, were often covered in a cloud-like mist. Isle of Skye has had people in it since prehistoric times. In some places there, you can even see dinosaur footprints, which I think is pretty cool. In the first century BCE, the Scottish began to settle there. It was ruled by the Norse people from the ninth to the twelvth century. This is our flag . . ."

Ashley wanted a few seconds before continuing. "The Scottish took over Isle of Skye a little while later, which is why it is now a part of Scotland-"
The voice of the professor interrupted Ashley mid-sentence - "Next!"
Ashley smiled, gathered her supplies, and walked back into the corner of the room. She had done it. Sure, she had gotten cut off for going too long, but still. She had spoken in front of a large group and she hadn't fainted. Progress!

Word Count - 570/400

Tory was relatively friendly and kind, and wouldn’t ever use shy to describe herself. Nevertheless, she wasn’t a huge fan of talking in front of many people at once. She would much rather be in the corner with a good book, just listening. It didn’t matter now, though, because the minute she had heard that they were sharing about their hometowns as an errand, she immediately gathered all the photos she had and practiced what she was going to say. Why? Because she just had to share about her hometown; Bath, England. It was the definition of what you thought of when you thought of small English towns. It also had many old, stone buildings, standing tall for hundreds of years.

Shuffling her many images once again nervously in her hands, Tory shifted uncomfortably in her chair, waiting to present. “What if they think Bath is boring...” She thought stiffly “There’s no way I can top that girl who talked about Ireland. Or that on one second year who told us all about Italy...” Truthfully, Tory loved old historic villages, but would the other students here to? In fact, the Gryffindor loved history in general. The rise and downfall of certain lords, the way that spells were invented eons ago, and the pattern and ways that history repeated itself.

Tory loved consistency, if anything. And that’s why she liked history. It was pretty consistent. Every couple hundred years, the bad guys fought the good guys, and one won the battle. Then, whoever won became more powerful for a few hundred years, until the other guys got mad at what they were doing and decided to battle again. The cycle continued, and it still was continuing.

Snapping back to reality, Tory quickly realized it was her to turn to share, and as she made her way to the front of the crowd, she frantically thought about how long she had zoned out. Hopefully not long. Taking a deep breath, the brunette craned her neck a little higher and stood a little taller. Confidence was key.

She cleared her voice. “Hello, I’m Tory. I’m gonna tell you all about my hometown and the place I’ve lived my entire life, Bath, England. I don’t actually live in Bath itself, but I live so close it’s useless saying I live anywhere else. Bath is quite historic, really. Some of the buildings are crumbling and my own home is so old there’s at least 5 missing stones on the front and at least 5 crumbling ones on the back.” She began, smiling lightly at the crowd just in case she seemed intimidating to them, which she hoped she didn’t.

“Anyways, one of the main attractions in Bath, and one of my personal favorite places to visit, is the Roman Baths. Now, as many of you may know, the baths are called the Roman ones for a reason, and I must give credit to the ancient Romans for establishing Bath's old, hot springs as a place of relaxation and rejuvenation, although, legend has it that the bath’s healing powers was discovered some 500 years earlier by a British king.” She scrambled through her photos quickly yet confidently, not wanting to seem unprepared. When she found it she held it out to the her peers happily.



After a minute or two of showcasing the picture she gripped it tightly again. “So, those are the Roman Baths, in, quite appropriately, Bath, England. Next, I’m going to talk about The Gothic cathedral of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, or the Bath Abbey. It was founded in 1499, about 522 years ago! But a long time before that, in AD 757, the site had already been a place for warship.

“It was rebuilt in 1499 because some muggle guy named Oliver had this vivid dream of angels climbing up and down ladders to and fro heaven -weird, I know- and I guess he Interpreted this as a sign to rebuild the church, and here we are, exactly 522.347945 years later! And yes, I did do that math myself. Moving on, here’s the photo of the abbey!” Thankful to take a break after giving a lecture about the abbey, she held up the photo that she already had ready so she didn’t have to keep everybody waiting.



Tory knew this image was a bit more blurry then the other one, but she had found it deep under her mother’s bed while cleaning the year prior Hogwarts and decided to keep it, so who knew how old it was. After a good while of holding the dusty picture up, Tory lowered it. “Alrighty, now I’ll show some of the homes in Bath, because every single one is gorgeous.”She shuffled through her pictures and held up the one of the townhomes in Bath.



“These” She explained politely, smiling slightly, “Are some of the townhomes in Bath. Quite boring, really. There’s not much to them, but the architecture is quite nice.” Before they got a chance to have a good look at the photo, Tory held it back. She didn’t want to bore anybody with some pretty average English townhomes. “Next up we have a home that has and forever will have a special place in my heart. My own.”



“As you can see, it’s very old. It’s also more on the cottage side of things. I miss it quite dearly, if I think about it...” Hurriedly, Tory attempted to cover up her words by hastily adding “..But I love Hogwarts too, don’t worry about that..” Putting her photos back in her hand, she smiled broadly.

“Thank you so much for listening to this long lecture about my rusty old town in England. I really hope you learned a thing or two, and just know, if you ever want to come visit, I’d be happy to give you a welcoming place to stay.” She finished, and walked back to her seat, very proud of herself. She didn’t stutter or anything. Just gave them the information clear and flat. She really did miss her home though, she wasn’t just saying that for emphasize. That small stone cottage would forever be her home, but now, Hogwarts was to.

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