The journey to school

1990s… (let's say January 13, 1990, mid-summer)

Who: Derek, lady in blue robes, phoenix

Where: on the obsidian platform above the volcano

What: Gondola is set gently on platform, giant phoenix perches on it and tucks its wings. Derek hops in, his bag clunking with

Who: Oglet (no one to see her off) with Pierre in his suitcase, orange haze… that becomes a firebird! And gondola

Where: rural, not even a village, large wooden platform

What: “I’m Lorelai, get in, we’re behind schedule, get in get in! Youre on the list, get in!”

Who: Emily & Max, with help of super tall (non-human?) guy with weird hat but otherwise vaguely muggle looking clothes, join the gang

Where:

What: Super tall guy leads them to an entertainment venue, gives them tokens

Who: Kyren

Where: In hiding on a sheep farm, don’t make things or sell them, but still prospering… b/c… magic? Meeting at the top of the botanical garden, through a hedge archway

What: Getting on, but doesn’t know anyone else, and was a bit alarmed that anyone knew they were there. Not afraid (B/c voldemort has been gone for a while), but still private. Offers some pumpkin herring pie to Pierre the rat & they make friends. Lorelai closes the door, tears the list in two, and we head off!

Who: Kyren, Pierre, Derek, Max, Emily, Lorelai

Where: In the gondola!

What: magical snack orders are placed, spectral sheep tows the snack cart to everyone.

Kyren feeds pierre some pie, and Pierre decides to call her “pie.”

Pierre decides to call Emily Sewage Water and Emily calls him P(ee). Clearly friends.

Flying eels guard the towering tree on the way in, slipping in and out of the holes in the trees, hunting lizards and bugs. Sharp teeth. Oglet tosses them a snack and they all dive to catch it.

The library rises up out of the trees. To a muggle, it looks like it has glass walls, but it’s just a magical barrier that keeps the books safe. Books are constantly moving, under the power of the knowledge of the founders. A volume of Food Transfiguration flies into the gondola, and Kyren snaps it up before Lorelai can.

The gondola lands, and we meet Erasmus the gnome, who escorts us along a big, winding staircase into a gigantic domed room, which is larger than the tree that it’s in. Pennants with cabin-symbols, awards and prizes, and a great traditional feast laid out.

We’ll all be clustered together until we have a personal (perhaps bird-poop related) experience with one of the birds of the houses.

Other topics:

Invasive Gnomes! (they invade Old Man’s Beard… the moss… and also old men’s beards!)

- Always barefoot

Underwater tunnel from the volcano to a town called Hastings - colonial wizarding town

Hastings - colonial wizarding town

Lillyland - town inside the volcano, where the volcanumpkins grow, from which you can make Volcanumpkin Pie.