InsaneJournal

Gwen's prediction had been right; Hogwarts was a dream.

The fortified stone walls and towering ceilings were a far cry from the humble cottage she called home, vastly exceeding the already high expectations that her parents' description and Charmaine's letters had wrought. It seemed unreal, somehow; while she'd never readily devoured fairy tales the way most other girls her age did, her fascination with the legends of King Arthur filled her with visions of great castles and valiant knights and sinister moats. She'd yet to be attacked by any fearsome dragons or encounter any royalty, but in all other respects, Hogwarts was like a fantasy ripped straight out of an ancient tome. She had long wondered if the epic chronicles detailed in Historia Regum Britanniae were myth or fact. One foot inside Hogwarts' massive entryway – the mere span of which could easily encapsulate her own house – and she was certain every line was true.

It had been over a week since she'd been sorted into Gryffindor, but it felt more like a day. Everything was so breathtaking and immense that she scarcely had a second to catch her breath, let alone process the amount of time that had lapsed since her last class or meal. It was easy to get swept up in the majesty of it all, and Gwen joyfully allowed herself to be swept up. In her heart, Wales would always be her home, but how could sheep and pastures be foremost on her mind when she was learning to turn teacups and levitate feathers?

Perhaps the only real disappointment that she'd encountered was the forcible separation from her best friend Charmaine. She hadn't gleaned much from her father's grunted description of the school's respective houses, save to deduce that he vastly favored Gryffindor. Her mother, conversely, had deliberately stayed neutral on the matter, torn between a desire to see her daughter surrounded by warm friends (Gryffindor or Hufflepuff) and a concern that she greatly needed well-behaved influences (Ravenclaw and Slytherin).

As a result, Gwen wasn't especially married to any house in particular, so much as the longing to share a dormitory with her treasured penpal of three years. Unfortunately, it was a yearning that went unfulfilled. Not only were they not sorted together, but their respective houses were diametrically opposed. It was a concept that Gwen was still trying to full grasp. She knew that they didn't like one another, but she didn't understand why. Moreover, she didn't understand why she and Charmaine – who got along quite fabulously – would be so unceremoniously divided. How could you hate someone you didn't know?

It was that naive mentality that led her to meet with Charmaine whenever they could both spare a moment from the whirlwind of magic and mystery, and it was that naive mentality that dominated her behavior at her 10th supper. When the graceful blonde girl walked past the Gryffindor table on her way back to the dungeons, Gwen waved and offered her brightest smile – much to the vocal disapproval of her housemates.

"Ugh," An older girl groaned. "Why are you talking to her?"

"She's a Slytherin," A boy about her age piped up, though Gwen was more distracted by how scrawny he looked sitting next to an exceptionally burly, flat-faced Gryffindor.

"So what?" Gwen asked bluntly.

"Don't you understand anything?" The skinny boy sighed, staring at her like she was the stupidest creature who'd ever walked the face of the Earth. It was not an expression Gwen appreciated, as evidenced by the hard look she directed in his direction.

"Understand what? That half of us are supposed to hate the other 'cause they're wearing different colors?"

The boy snorted aloud, as if it was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard.

"We don't like them because they're snobs," The first girl explained in a vaguely patronizing manner, casting a venomous look over her shoulder at the students three tables down. "If you're not a pureblood, you might as well be a monkey to them."

"That's not true," Gwen protested immediately. "Charmaine's my best friend, and she's a pureblood!" Thrusting her wrist forward, she displayed the ornate friendship bracelet for all of them to see. "She'd never, ever treat me like an animal."

"I don't see you sitting with her now."

"Yeah, she'd never talk to you with all those serpents about." One of the girls from her dorm pointed out.

"You're wrong." Gwen brought her fist down on the table, deeply disturbed by the false accusations they were waging against her friend, not to mention the assertion that their friendship was some sort of… some sort of lie. "We're not allowed to sit together, that's all! Otherwise… otherwise…"

"Then why don't you talk to her?" The older girl dared her.

"Yeah, if you're so sure she's really your friend, talk to her tomorrow at breakfast, when she's surrounded by her lot."

"I will!" Flustered and infuriated though she was, it didn't even occur to Gwen to pause to consider the challenge. The possibility of anything other than a warm reception was simply too preposterous to consider, however pronounced the disbelief on the faces of her housemates.

"Just you wait," She continued confidently, chest puffed out and head held high. "It'll be right as rain!" Hogwarts may have been a new and frightening world, but if there was one thing Gwendolyn Morgan was certain of, it was the undying loyalty of Charmaine Travers.