Children's Theatre

Josiah was waiting outside the small children's theatre. Inside, it was hot and stuffy until the special-effects-guy came, and he was always a half hour late. Josiah decided it was best to just sit outside, since his mom always dropped him off too early and nobody would be in there.

That, and he wanted to wait for his best friend. Josiah was sad that he'd be going to Hogwarts and his best friend wasn't, but alas, there was nothing he could do. Anthony would be joining him in a year, it wasn't like they could grow that far apart. It would be impossible!

And indeed, thirty long minutes later after the special effects people had arrived, more kids had begun too as well. Josiah's mother Libby never seemed to realize how odd it was to have her son sitting awkwardly on the curb while waiting for everyone else to arrive.

Anyway, some of the Sawyer's clan members had arrived, including Will who was soon skipping off to flirt with some girl who was at least fifteen, Emily went off to talk with her girlfriends, and Anthony went to sit by Josiah, as everyone waited for the theater to open up.

Anthony was pretty happy with his friendship with Josiah. He was just so cool, and someone he could look up too. Sure, he was starting Hogwarts this year, but being several hundred miles apart couldn't damage a friendship that much, right?

"Hi Josiah!" he said happily, initiating the conversation.

Josiah looked up from the book he was reading. He always decided to bring a book with him while he sat on the curb--it gave him something to do. "Hey!" Josiah practically jumped up, grinning and shoving his bookmark forcibly into the poor book. Josiah was the only one from the Silva bunch, so he felt a bit out of place amongst all of the Sawyers.

"What have you been up to lately?" Josiah asked in his heavy British accent. "The usual?"

"Yeah... just the same, really. What about you? Excited for school?" he asked. Anthony figured that if they talked about school in a low voice, none of the Muggles would know what they were talking about in the first place. They would probably assume it was some boarding school anyway if they happened to overheard anything anyway.

"Extremely!" Josiah gushed. "My mum and dad told me that it's a great place... they said that the Sorting is horrible, but I think they're just lying to me." He rolled his eyes for added effect.

"What, really?" he cocked his head to the side curiously. "MY parents said that they just place a hat on your head. What's so horrible about that?" He asked, ruining any sort of surprise.

"Really? My parents say that you have to fight ferocious animals! Jared says it too!"

"Well... maybe you're right. Maybe MY parents were lying." Anthony looked a nervous and felt a bit queasy, even though he didn't have to worry about that for another year. "What house are you going to be in? Gryffindor like everyone else in your family?"

"Not EVERYONE was a Gryffindor... my uncle was a Hufflepuff, my mom was a Hufflepuff, my aunt was a Ravenclaw, but my dad and uncle were Gryffindors... uhh... I think I've had a relative in every house but Slytherin. I bet I'll be in Gryffindor though! I'm very brave!"

"Huh... my mum was in Ravenclaw, and her sister was in Gryffindor, and my dad was in Hufflepuff... and Sophia is in Slytherin, and..." he began to name off his brothers and sisters and what house they were in and generally rambling about that. He didn't seem to realize how much he was talking.

Finally, Josiah cut across him. "That's cool," he said. "Guess we'd better go on in now, huh? We'll be late."

Anthony turned a little pink, and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, you're right. Everyone is going in." But even as they were going, Anthony tagged along behind, still pelting him with questions. "You'll write to me, okay?"

"Of course!" said Josiah as they entered the building. "Why wouldn't I? I couldn't forget about you."

"I know, I'm just making sure. Have you gone shopping for your supplies? That's one of the only times I get to go to the Alley and it's not as fun because I can't buy anything."