Movie Night

Chapter 5

5 Zanna sat with the rest of the Slytherins in the common room of the Slytherin dorm room a couple weeks after their lost Quidditch game. The large glass wall under the Black Lake was dark and collecting condensation, the fish and creature swimming past the one way glass. "Oh look!" Said one of the younger Slytherins, looking up from her card game, pointing at the window. The giant squid was swimming in the distance. "Wow!" All the first years ran to the window, wiping beads of water from the glass. The fire at the right of the room cracked and sparks flew into the room. The painting above the fire called out to an older Slytherin about the predicament, warning them about the sparks. The student looked at the carpet then assured the painting it was alright. "Excuse me?" Asked a first year, Zanna looked up. "Can you help me?" She held out her potions home work. "Sure," Zanna said, sitting up on the sofa to make room for the girl. "What are you doing?" "I have to write down which potion elements and ingredients do and don't go together, but my hand got tired," She replied. "Okay, sure. You know what does and doesn't go together right," "Right," She paused. "Except for a few, but it's process of elimination at that point," "Yeah," Zanna laughed, "Okay, ready," She situated the paper on the tack board and took out a pen from her robes. "What's that?" The girl asked. "A fountain pen," Zanna said, narrowing her eyes at the girl. "Like a Muggle pen?" "Yes- but it writes like a quill, I just don't have to keep dipping it in ink," "Awesome!" The girl gushed. "I hate writing with the quills so much," "I know!" Zanna agreed, "I mean the rest of the world is discovering the Internet or whatever and we're still writing with quills," "Do you have an extra?" The girl asked. "Yeah," Zanna reached in her robe and magicked another pen into her hand, "Here," "Thank you so much!" She held it up triumpetly. "I can probably finish writing it myself now," "Happy to help," Zanna handed the board and paper back to the girl who retired to her table. "Hey everyone!" Called the Prefect girl, whose name was Evie Knopp, "The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses are coming for game night at eight!" There were cheers around the room and students scrambled to finish their homework. "Did Gryffindor reject us again?" "What do you think Finnius?" "They laughed in our messenger's face, yes," Evie confirmed. "Why do Gryffindors," There was an echo of laughter. When the clock struck eight there was a knock on the Slytherin common room door and Evie and Mitchel, the Prefect boy, went to open it. The Slytherins that had been in their rooms came thundering down the stairs from the dorms and leaped into the common room. The Hufflepuffs filtered into the common room, giggling and bringing smells of cookies and popcorn from the kitchen, which was right by their house dorm. The Ravenclaw house came exactly two minutes later, apologizing for their tardiness and carrying pillows and games they had brought from their rooms. No one minded and they all settled into their groups on the couches, chairs, and floor. "I have an idea," Zanna said to the Prefect girl and boy of Slytherin. "I can set up a movie," "Muggle mechanics don't work at Hogwarts," Evie said. "It's not Muggle, it's mine," Zanna replied. "Let's talk to them," Mitchel said. He walked to the front of the room, "So we have a proposition," He began and the room quieted down. "We can have our normal game night, or we can have a movie night," "Television doesn't work here," Said a Ravenclaw girl. "Zanna has a different way," Mitchel said, "But we wanted to take a vote," "What's her plan?" Asked one of the Hufflepuffs, "I'm willing to give it a chance if I know what the idea is," "Yeah," Said another from the group. Mitchel motioned to Zanna who pulled out her wand. She waved her wand at the wall, "Accio," She didn't usually use her wand, but in front of other students she had to. A sheet appeared from the hallway outside the main door and hung itself on the wall. She then placed her wand on a makeshift stand, pointing it at the sheet which hung like a projector screen. The lights went down and Zanna's wand projected a movie that it had automatically assembled with a spell she had been creating for her new charms and jinxes book. She sat down as the film began to roll. "Wait, what is this rated?" Asked one of the older Hufflepuffs. "PG," Zanna clarified. "Okay," The Hufflepuff sighed. "What genre?" Asked a Ravenclaw. "I don't remember," Zanna said, "A good one," The movie started. "How did you get this to work?" Asked Evie, whispering to Zanna. "Magic," Zanna smiled smugly. Evie rolled her eyes but smiled, sitting down on the floor with a group of her friends. The movie happened to be more in line with Zanna's life adventures then she actually expected. It was based around the time she went with Newt Scamander to New York and almost died and basically destroyed a whole twelve blocks of the city. It was exciting while still being PG, which at one point Zanna had been afraid it might not be completely PG, but it had panned out. The colors were vibrant and the sound echoed around the room and at times the images jumped off the screen and ran around the space. When the buckets of popcorn were empty Zanna waved her hand to refill them and when people were starting to get thirsty she offered to 'go get water bottles,' although she didn't even leave the room. As the movie came to its climax and conclusion the room flashed with color of the final grand battle and the elements began to become more real, the wind whipping around the room and the rain drizzling on the patrons watching. Zanna had to tap on her wand to make it calm down with the effects. The movie finally concluded two hours later and everyone blinked as the lights turned back up illuminating the room. Zanna apparated the sheet back to wherever it had come from and stuck her wand back in her robes. Everyone stretched, talking excitedly about the movie, asking her questions like, where did she find it? How did she know to do such advanced magic? Could they do this again tomorrow night? Zanna answered as many questions as possible without making herself known to ¾ of the school. "Could we still play our game of slaps?" Asked a younger Hufflepuff. Most people agreed to one game, the others just sat to watch to see who would be that night's winner. The players sat in a circle and placed their left hand under the person the their lefts right hand. Then the chant began, "Down at the school that's best of all, Where winners are made and losers fall, The good is great and the food is best, Slap, slap, slap, faster, faster, fast!" The person whose hand was slapped on the last word of the chant was out and the circle grew closer and smaller until only two were left. Then it was a rock, paper, scissors battle to see who the champion of that night's game was. The game of slaps concluded and the Prefects of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses collected their wards and left, saying good-bye for the night and planning a night that they could get back together. The Slytherin Prefects agreed to write to them with the next set of dates they could all get together and the night concluded.