We Are Going to Be Friends

Will wandered away from Gryffindor common room. There was some kind of stupid meeting that he had to go to--well, him and the rest of the school. He didn't really care about the rest of the school, though. He just knew that it was an inconvenience to him.

Well, he mused, there was one good thing about the meeting. It meant that he had an excuse to see his friends, since they were in different houses and did not get to meet up quite as frequently as he would like. He planned to meet the gang down in the Great Hall before it started, so they could hang out and kill some time together.

The group of first years listening to Cal's tales of some of the more vicious plants in the Herbology greenhouses were all wide-eyed and hanging on every word. It was fun, to be creative for once and embellish on the details a little while he had the attention. There wasn't much else to do as he killed time, waiting for his friends to arrive.

The assembly, whatever it was going to be about, had been called rather abruptly, but early enough that the word had gotten out in their little group so that they could meet up. Cal hadn't thought, in the beginning, that being in four different houses would affect them all so much, but they had what seemed to be next to no time together. It was going to be to good to see them all at once again instead of a few patchy minutes in class with just one. Cal didn't think himself too terribly attached to them all, but after a long span of talking mindless nonsense to everyone around him, it would be good to see people he could really talk to about things. He went on talking about vicious carnivorous plants and waited for his friends to arrive.

Dancing lightly to music that no one else could hear, Izzy made her way through the castle from the Ravenclaw tower. She didn't care if they thought she was insane or loopy or any other form of not being all there. She liked how she was.

She, however, did dislike the amount of stairs she had to go down to get to whatever meeting the school wanted to have. Oh well. It gave her a good legitimate excuse to see her real friends, rather than the group of Ravenclaws she normally spent her days with. Once she'd reached her destination, Izzy stood in one place, her dancing getting more well dance-y than it had been when she was walking.

Renee was curious, there were very few reasons that the school called meetings. Generally they were given important information over dinner, or by their heads of houses in the common room. She walked through the halls, the students chattering as they made the way to the great hall. The upside of the common room being where it was is that she didn't need to walk up and down ridiculous amounts of stairs to get to the common room.

Standing by the door her eye's swept the hall to find her friends. If she was going to come to a meeting she was going to talk to the other three of their group while the teachers gave them the pressing news that they were getting. With an amused twitch of her lips she caught sight of Izzy, whom was dancing on the spot. The people around keeping a few feet away from her.

"Careful Izzy," she said walking over. "You'll knock some one over, and then they'll miss whatever this important meeting is," she glanced around. "I think I saw Cal on the way over too, so we should probably catch up with him. Although I'm not sure if Will has made an appearance yet. Or if he'll walk in half way through just so everyone notices."

Will snuck up on Renee and Izzy. They both seemed distracted by Izzy being a spaz. However, when he appeared behind them and heard his name being mentioned, he knew he had to reveal his presence.

"Although that's a good plan, Renee, McGonagall would murder me on the spot for trying that. Besides, why miss out on watching Izzy have muscular spasms? I've missed you lot."

Deciding that that was enough sentimentalism for one day, Will looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be there but Cal. It was typical of Izzy to be there first, but he would have expected Cal to be there long before him. Will was not known for his ability to be on time.

Cal felt caught between amusement and guilt when one of the firsty years turned green and scurried off at the description of one of the carnivorous plants devouring a rat. The spot she left, though, made a gap through which he saw his friends, conveniently grouped together for him. "Guys!" he yelled, standing to make himself more apparent and waving an arm at him. The rest of the first years dispersed, clearly less interested in Calvin's social life than his thoughts on vicious plants. He waved Izzy, Renee, and Will over to the table he'd picked out for them ahead of time, eager to get all the greetings out of the way and really see his good friends.

Izzy stopped and looked at her two friends. "It's called dancing, William," she replied coolly. "And just because you don't have any rhythm for it, doesn't mean the rest of us don't." She didn't wait for him to say anything in response to it as she noticed the fourth to their little friendship square waving for them and shouting from a little distance away. "I found Cal," was all she said to Will and Renee before walking off towards where he was without so much as a glance if they were following or not. Although, if they weren't she supposed that would be a hassle in a moment.

"I spy something beginning with a c," she muttered as Izzy walked off to go and talk to Cal. "I think we're meant to be following," she mused to Will, setting off after her. There was no order at the time being, the four houses spaced around the hall. Though most houses were in groups, as most had friends they preferred in their own houses instead of the other three. "Hi all," she said once all four of them were at the same spot. "How's things? Any ideas why the teachers called the meeting tonight?" she glanced quickly around the hall, but any teachers that might have been around were hidden by the masses of students. "My guess would be something important...they aren't going to go to the trouble to get the whole school in one place for something trivial."

Will followed the rest over to where Cal was seated. It always amazed Will how well Cal blended in, compared to the rest of them. Maybe it was because he was absurdly little. Izzy, Renee, and Will were all tall, compared to Cal.

Will nodded, but couldn't maintain the serious attitude for long. "I suspect they've finally come to their senses and decided to get rid of Slytherin house. At least, that's word on the street over in Gryffindor. We've discovered your plot to take over the world." Sadly, that WAS a rumor he had actually heard, although it was from a little first year in the common room. Will had heard a lot of more concerning (and believable) theories, but if things were about to get dark, he would let the professors handle it.

Cal didn't bother to say hi, knowing it'd feel odd when there was already an ongoing conversation. "At first I thought it was about O.W.L.s," he said, grimacing a little at the thought of the exams, "but they wouldn't call the whole school for that." He grinned a little at Will, amused by the fact that even though they were friends, all of them still ragged on each other about their houses. "All of Gryffindor put together couldn't plot their way out of a cardboard box. You only want to get rid of the Slytherins because they make you look stupid." He glanced over at Izzy and smiled. "It's those ones you should be worried about, though. Brainiacs."

Cal was barely even worried about the assembly, really. If it wasn't about O.W.L.s then he wasn't sure just how it could affect him. Things that happened outside of the school never really affected Hogwarts, so it really couldn't be too bad.

Izzy grinned. "I'm a mad genius, all of you should fear my mad skills," she said with a giggle. Looking around the hall, the smile faded from her face and the look became more thoughtful. "But, seriously, what do they even want? They don't just call a schoolwide meeting for nothing or something trivial or anything like that." She frowned. "It's big. It's definitely gotta be something big."

Renee snickered at Cal's comment on the Gryffindors. "You'd be bored out of your brains in Gryffindor is they abolished Slytherin, you'd have no-one to irritate with your idiotic antics. They wouldn't need to worry about the lot of you exploding the castle if they kicked you out, the rest of us might be able to find some peace and quiet," she smirked at him and turned her attention to the issue at hand. She nodded at Izzy. "It would have to be, something important and serious. That they don't want us hearing a garbled version second hand from some one else," she paused thoughtfully and fiddled with the edge of her sleeve. "What though, I guess we won't find out until they start talking to us about it."

Will grinned. "If they got rid of Gryffindor, the rest of the school would sit around twiddling their thumbs. There'd be no life in this place at all. You guys need us to keep things interesting, you know. The Ravenclaws may be brilliant, and the Slytherins may be sneaky, but we Gryffindors keep this place alive."

Will yawned, getting a bit fidgety. "I don't really care what it's about. It doesn't really matter, as long as it goes by quickly. I'll probably sleep through it anyway, so Izzy, I expect detailed notes on whatever it is later." He grinned, knowing that would drive Izzy nuts. She seemed to be in a good mood, though, so he figured he could get away without her usual scolding.

"And no thoughts on Hufflepuff?" Cal asked with feigned disapproval, shaking a scolding finger at his friends. He knew that his house wasn't thought of as very interesting or important, but that was really an advantage in his eyes. It was easier to make friends and excel in school without the pressure of your house's reputation over you.

More of the students were starting to fill the Hall, and Cal didn't appreciate the grim look on the face of the staff members seated at the front. "If you're going to nap, you better get started now, Will. Doesn't look like it'll be long before they start laying down the law."

Izzy took a short moment to give Will a very pointed look that said she was not amused at his comment before reaching over to hit him. "If you so much as close your eyes," she warned, "I'm knocking you over."

Giving him a look that said she absolutely meant it, Izzy looked around, noticing that most of the houses had grouped together upon arriving. Then she looked up at the school's staff members, wondering what exactly they needed to say to bring the whole school together like this and wishing they would just get on with it already.

Renee's lip turned at the corner, amused at Will and Izzy's antics towards each other. Those two could hardly go a few minutes before jumping down each other's throats. It made interesting entertainment that was sure. She glanced towards the teachers, whose expressions made her frown. It certainly wasn't news of excitement they were bringing the students. Renee hoped the news wasn't too dreadful, but she couldn't think of any news that would affect the whole of the school. "Please nap Will," she told him. "Then we won't need to listen to you blather away for the next however long, and could actually listen to what important message we are here to receive."

Will rolled his eyes. "You women make no sense. Izzy offers death threats if I sleep, and Renee tries to order me to sleep. Make up your bloody minds already." He decided that if it was such an important message that even Renee and Cal seemed intrigued, he should probably pay a certain amount of attention. He could probably sleep, but he didn't want to get pushed over by Izzy.

Not that he would ever tell her that that made a difference at all.

"Look, we all know it's not got going to matter in the end if Will hears or not, but if we keep talking none of us are going to hear it." Cal shook his head at the lot of them, always squabbling. He sometimes wondered how they held it all together, but he supposed that was another one of those mysteries he wasn't even going to attempt to solve. Instead he sat up as straight as he could and tried to pay attention to the front of the hall where the announcement was going to come from.